, Author at The Narrow Path

June 16, 2018June 16, 2018

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Last time I was with you I posted about the coming of the Holy Spirit on that long ago Day of Pentecost. As the Apostles were gathered in The Upper Room, the Holy Spirit made an auspicious entrance. He settled upon The Twelve and their lives were instantly changed. His presence was witnessed by many, the Disciples spoke in tongues that were foreign to them and the gathered crowd understood in their own languages. Peter became the Rock upon which the Church was built and thousands of souls joined their souls to Jesus. The gifts of the Holy Spirit were introduced to the world that wonderful day.

I shared with you a personal revelation in that the Holy Spirit is not only intended to be our internal, personal guide and spiritual helper as indeed Christ had foretold. His wisdom and strength are meant to also work in an Upward and Outward path, helping to spread the Good News of Christ even to the ends of the earth. Wisdom and strength are not the only gifts that the Holy Spirit brings us. These gifts are first mentioned in the Old Testament, Isiah 11:1-3a. ESV.

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
²And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord”

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church has long recognized the gifts of the Holy Spirit as being wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. All these gifts are intended to work together inside of us to increase and perfect our ability to show the greatest gift of all which is love. Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote (in Summa Theologiae) that the four gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel direct the intellect and the remaining three gifts (fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord) direct the will toward God.

Wait… Hold On…Stop!

Y’all, I just realized I was going into book report mode! Holy Junior High! That is not what you should expect to find on TheNarrowPath. That isn’t me. I can’t imagine that is why you are here. Let me get back on track.

Haunted

As I write this, I am listening to one of my new favorite songs. The message is simple and comforting. I hope that you will give a listen to Ghost by MercyMe. (I apologize for the commercial.) I woke up yesterday with this message playing in my head. I had an overwhelming feeling that I was to share it far and wide. So I called K-LOVE to make a request (boy, that sent me back a couple of decades!), but they didn’t have it yet. Everything is digital these days.

“Holiness keep haunting me”.

“Lead me through the darkness. Lead me through the unknown.

Oh, lead me Holy Ghost”.

Thanks, guys. Guide, comforter, teacher, mover, and shaker; the Holy Spirit is all of these and more.

Baptized in Water, Cleansed by the Holy Spirit

We, as Christians, are baptized in water and cleansed by the Holy Spirit. His gifts are bestowed on us all. Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit guides us in the use of His gifts.

“⁴Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ⁶and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.⁷To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.⁸For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” Matthew 12:4-11 ESV

It is my prayer that each of us is aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and that we use His gifts to grow in Faith, that we allow Him to guide us in the service of God and that through the power of the Holy Spirit we will spread the Good News of Jesus Christ even to the ends of the earth.

Next time … the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

June 2, 2018

Pentecost and the Holy Spirit

A couple weeks ago we, in the Anglican Communion, observed the Holy Day of Pentecost. On that day we celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus after His Ascension to Heaven. Held on the seventh Sunday after Easter, Pentecost is celebrated 10 days after the Feast of the Ascension which is celebrated 40 days after Easter. Chapter 2 of Acts of the Apostles describes the arrival of the Holy Spirit like this:

¹When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4 ESV

This was no casual deal. It didn’t just slip by unnoticed. A multitude of Jews from all over the land observed this raucous commotion. They thought the Apostles were in their cups, too much wine. On this day Peter finally found his voice and his conviction as the rock upon which the Church would be built (Acts 2:14-41 ESV). He boldly spoke to the gathered crowd as he was moved by the Holy Spirit and around three thousand souls were saved.

The gift of the Holy Spirit

Jesus had promised the Apostles, as he prepared to ascend into Heaven, that He would ask the Father to send a Helper.

¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17 ESV

The Spirit comes in so that the Gospel goes out…

I read a great blog post on the gift of the Holy Spirit recently on RookieAnglican that described the Holy Spirit in a way I had not previously considered. The article introduced me to the idea that the Holy Spirit was not

meant to only dwell inside of us, to speak in that small, quiet voice, guiding us in our personal faith journey. The article describes the Spirit’s movement as something Outward and Upward rather than something to cling to as a point of personal pride. Unshared, the Holy Spirit made the Apostles look pretty silly, even drunk when first settling upon the Upper Room. When the Spirit moved Peter to speak to the crowd, thousands of souls were given to our Savior. Outward – to send the message out far and wide, Upward – to lift souls up to God. The Spirit goes out, so that all might be lifted up.

The Holy Spirit, for sure, was sent to live inside of us, to guide us, comfort us, teach us, to be God’s Presence in our lives. But the Holy Spirit, like the Gospel of Christ, was meant to be shared, to the ends of the earth, that all might know the glory of God.

Next time we will reflect on the “Gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Until then, may your paths be illuminated by the Power of the Holy Spirit. I pray that you be moved to share His light with the world.

May 24, 2018

Get Thee Behind Me Satan, Part II

When we last spent time together, I began to tell you a bit of what has been going on in my life lately. Most of what I shared was good, very good. I am richly blessed. But not all was good. I am afraid that because of the good and also due, in part, to my own lacking prayer life; I became the target of Satan’s attention and thus fell victim to some of his provocations and vexations. Satan’s attacks are obviously a clear and present danger today. They are growing more prevalent by the hour.

I believe that the Evil One takes particular pride in causing trouble for those who belong to God. If the Devil owns your soul, why need he bother to hinder you or cause you misery? He does not need to test the depth of your faith. However, it his very nature to sow doubt in the minds of Christians. The Devil is crafty and sly. He has been tempting man and plying his slick skills since the Garden. I believe Satan doubles his efforts to distract or cause trouble for those of strong faith, especially those who are doing the work that God has given us to do. We are taking away souls to whom he lays claim, helping them to choose Good over Evil. To choose Christ and be saved.

A Blip on Satan’s Radar

Last time I wrote about the successes I believe that I was having in the name of our God. I was careful not to claim any of the glory for myself. I am guarded

to boast in God alone. I am pretty sure that God has not been taking me down a peg or two due to my own pride. All that I need, is to know that I glorify God. I am driven to use the gifts that He has given me for His glory. I am guilty, however, of dropping my guard. I was lax in my praying for God’s protection from the Evil One’s ministrations and I believe he wanted to be a speed bump in the road of my ministry.

The Attacks Begin

The first obstacle and distraction took place as my blood sugar took a serious plunge. As a diabetic (type 2) I watch my numbers carefully and have my levels under control. Out of the blue, my blood sugar readings at midday started regularly hitting the very low 60s and down in the 50s. I started being dizzy and disoriented, my vision blurred and I got very jittery, nearly like a palsy. I panicked, my wife panicked, even my endocrinologist panicked. With warnings of potential diabetic comas and the like, I was schooled in emergency measures to take and I now carry a special kit in case I pass out due to dropping blood sugar levels.

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming…

As if this was not enough to bench me, there would be a second and third attack to take me out of action for a while. I began to cough and have labored breathing. After going to the doctor, I found out that I had walking pneumonia. I was given a prescription and sent home to rest. After a week I realized that I was not getting better, in fact, was getting worse.

After returning to the doctor., having five vials of blood drawn and a series of chest x-rays; I found out that I had full blown pneumonia. Fluid in both lungs. I was prescribed more antibiotics, steroids, two types of cough medicine and again sent back home to rest and get better. At least I was not hospitalized as well. I was, however, cut off from all of you. Silenced in my mission, but not in my prayers.

Faith Wins, Every Time

I am now back to work, building up to a full day. Pneumonia saps your strength and leaves you with no energy. I am told that I should expect to take about a month to fully recover. I realize now why so many of our older folks die from having pneumonia. Whether from having too much pride or from not girding myself from evil, the Devil stopped me in my tracks. But no more! God protected me, after all. Get thee behind me Satan! Be gone. You hold no power over me, for I belong to God Almighty! By the Power of the Holy Spirit, I will continue my Commission!

May 14, 2018

Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!

Dear ones, I am under attack. I believe that you are the reason, and it makes my heart sing out with joy! In the last couple of weeks since I last posted, my life has been rocked by hardship. My very life has been threatened by sickness by which I have been cut off from everything. I have become the target of the Evil One. This is my simple prayer. I declare in the Name of God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy Spirit that the powers used against me, and you, cannot stand up to the Power of the name of our God. Get thee behind me Satan, be gone!

Things have been going well here on The Narrow Path. There has been a growing number of believers who have found their way here every day. Because of the blog, I was recently asked to preach a sermon at a statewide teleconference Bible Study called Thee Real Bible Class. I was honored to be invited, but I am no preacher. However, I do love a good soapbox to stand on and I believe that God has put me to work to use the gifts that He has provided.

God uses the Broken

I spoke to the group about God’s Divine use of the broken to accomplish His work in this world. The Holy Spirit guided my words and the message went over well. The next day I got confirmation of the power that there had been in the message. Apparently, the group wanted me back. All the glory be to God! My prayers had been answered and my mouth had opened but His words came out.

There were more new subscribers to sign up here on TheNarrowPath.net and the week finished with a bang. God had shown pleasure in my mission to reach out to those in need of His presence in their lives. I could feel it and I dropped my guard. That is when the manure hit the rotary oscillator.

I believe that, as Christians on a mission to carry God’s message, we are susceptible to the attention of Satan and his minions. That he places obstacles in our paths and, at the very least, attempts to distract us from our missions. He takes pleasure in making our lives uncomfortable if he can; if we let him.

Prayer for Protection

I have been making it a part of my daily prayers for some time to pray to be surrounded by a hedge of God’s protection to keep the Evil One and his machinations at bay so that I, and my loved ones, might be safe from harm. The Devil loves to cause trouble for those whose souls do not belong to this world. We, as individuals, are not strong enough on our own to fight all the darkness that he has at his disposal. But he cannot stand against the power of our God, The Name of Jesus, or the Light of the Holy Spirit. We must not hesitate to call upon The Trinity to come to our aid and have faith that we will be rescued.

In taking pride in God’s works, my prayers slipped. I did not include my prayers for protection for a few days and I left myself vulnerable to attack. The Evil One saw a chance to slow down one of God’s servants, even one who plays as small a part as I, and he began his work to disrupt mine.

Next time I’ll fill you in on exactly what has been going on but, in the meantime, please pray for your own protection and that of your loved ones. The Devil cannot take you from God’s Love and care but he can sure cause more misery in your lives than you care to experience. God can fix that. Seek Him. Ask Him. He wants to hear from you.

Until next time,

April 19, 2018April 23, 2018

Where Are Our Churches?

The world is a hot mess! Not many would argue this point. There are murders in our streets and in our homes. Children are being bought and sold by sex traffickers. Hatred and intolerance are the order of the day. One cannot trust the media or the government. Morality is at an all-time low. Family values are a thing of the past. Video games and social media are the central influences of our youth. The debauchery practiced during the reign of the Roman Empire does not hold a candle to the practices of today’s society. Laws protect the criminal. Surely we are on the express train to the End of Days. Armeggedon must be just over the horizon. All these statements lead me to the big question. Where are our Churches?

More than just an hour a week

Don’t get me wrong, I think there are many strong Christians congregating together to grow in the image of Christ. However, it isn’t enough to meet for an hour on Sunday and then go about the status quo. We should take a lesson from Christ tossing the money changers from the Temple. It is way past time to stand up. Be heard. Make a difference. Jesus was not a pushover. We shouldn’t be either. We are supposed to love each other. Does the father show his son love if he does not offer him direction and correction if needed? Does God the Father not guide and correct his errant children.

Churches as Something for Everybody

Churches have obviously not caused the downfall of society as we know it. They did not destroy family values. But why have they not taken a wider stance in rebuilding the lost values of our people? Have we grown too comfortable in our pews hearing messages to make us feel good? Have our churches, with their coffee bars, and stage performances, their gymnasiums, and their pablum-for-the-soul preachers rotted our perception of what we are to be about? Beloved, if your Pastor is not challenging you to be more like our Savior, to pick up your cross and bear the weight of its burden, you may as well have stayed home. We were made in God’s image, not He in ours.

Casting Crowns is one of the leading groups in Christian music today. One of their most popular songs challenges the complacency of today’s Church. The lyrics to If We Are The Body get right to the marrow of the matter:

“But if we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching?
Why aren’t His hands healing?
Why aren’t His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?”

Where are our Churches?

Why are more of our churches not present in the inner cities, teaching children to read? Should not more church groups be feeding and clothing the homeless? Why are there not enough church-run food pantries? Should not our churches and our pastors be incensed by the lack of respect and love for our fellow man that has become so evident in our youth culture?

What are they teaching?

There are far too many mega-churches today, with edifices that cost millions of dollars, preaching the gospel of prosperity, conforming God into our image, hardly ever making congregants squirm in their pews because the message from the stage confronts their sinful lives. Letting their people pick and choose which sins to overlook.

We as a brotherhood of Christians have become lazy. Our Churches have allowed that to happen. It is apparently too easy to attend services on Sunday and retreat back to our comfort zones. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are not being challenged effectively. We cannot be the hands and feet of Jesus if we are not making the effort to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It is way past time to reach out to our neighbors in need. It is time to put down our smartphones and parent our children. We may not feel that we can change the world but we can change our part of it. We just have to show up. Stand up.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34 ESV

I don’t believe that Jesus was proclaiming the need for violence but challenging His followers to be different from the rest of the world. To stand up for Christian principles, and challenge the world to bring change. When has there been a greater need than now to do just that? We must stand up, become warriors for Christ. Pick up our swords and fight for God. If your church is not moving you toward making a stand, to reach out to those in need of some Jesus in their lives, not moving you to be the hands and feet of Christ; then maybe it is time to change…churches.

April 18, 2018

There Is No Place Like Home, Part II

When last we were together, I shared that the life of a young person in a military family can leave quite a mark on the makeup of a young mind. That the transient lifestyle that I lived caused me to crave something permanent. Left me believing that I might never have what I wanted most, a place that I could call home. I left the story having experienced an epiphany. The lightning bolt of realization had struck. Indeed, there is no place like home!

You have been cordially invited… Home

I may have come late to the party but I had been carrying my invite in my back pocket for some time and didn’t even know it. The permanence that I longed for was something that I possessed all along. I just had to claim it. I have written before that we are “just passin’ through” this world. There was never meant to be any permanence here. My home, and yours, is already waiting for us. Our place has been reserved. Jesus has gone before us to prepare the place. He told the Apostles:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3 ESV)

When Jesus spoke of the final judgment, He said

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34 ESV)

When I had been Baptized I had been given the invitation. The deed to my permanent home was in my unworthy hand. I need not look any longer in this world.

The Communion of Saints

In this world, we are called to fellowship with other Christians as we are instructed throughout the Gospels and Epistles. I believe that we do this for several reasons. We are surely in training in this realm for our eternal life in the next. The Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Hebrews:

^“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)

I am pretty sure that we can all use the support, the prayers and the encouragement that should be part of meeting regularly with our fellow Christians. I may be the one amongst us that needs it the most. What better place to prepare for our Heavenly home than in the midst of those who are striving for the same things in life.

Jesus came to heal sinners

When the scribes and Pharisees asked the Disciples why Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus responded:

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17 ESV)

I have often heard that church is not a country club (or hotel) for saints but a hospital for sinners. This last statement has been attributed to many from St. Augustine to Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby). Whoever said it, I believe they had Jesus’ words in mind. Though the building in which we meet is by no means our home, I believe that Church is a place we belong. We are called to congregate together, to support each other, to pray for each other and the world. To praise the One who made us. A place to rejoice in our blessings and share the Grace of God with each other. To celebrate our various gifts.

A place to belong

The communion of Christian fellowship is a place to gain the strength and renewal needed to face the world. Our Churches should be full of the Love of Christ, one should be challenged and encouraged there, uplifted and confronted. Even this transient heart can find comfort and peace there, a sense of belonging. It is a place to help us find our Home. It may not be our final destination but it is a great place to start. After all, there is no place like Home!

April 14, 2018April 14, 2018

There Is No Place Like Home

I have previously shared that I am the son of a sailor. That will create a lot of different thoughts amongst my readers, I expect. It brings forth many things about my character that will strike a shared chord with other military kids. Most who were children of non-military families may not readily relate to what I am about to share. There are a couple of striking givens to being a military brat. Having no real home is among the worst of them.

As a kid, we moved around a bunch as my father was transferred from base to base. From one house to the next, but we didn’t live there long enough for any place to feel like home. In fact, I was never in any school more than 2 years until I got to high school. My father retired in 1968, my freshman year and I begged him to let us stay at his last duty station so that I could have a normal high school experience. He relented after much discussion and, oddly enough, I went to high school (all 4 years) with the kids with whom I had been in first grade. Auntie Em, “There is no place like home.”

Good and bad baggage

Life moving from pillar to post taught me two life lessons at an early age. The first is that nothing is permanent. There is a built-in obsolescence to everything. Relationships, if you formed them, were never meant to last. A

pretty heavy piece of baggage to burden a young person with. Secondly, because of the first lesson, one had to learn to be outgoing, introverts had no chance if you were going to grow even a temporary relationship. The good news, I guess, is that I learned the second lesson well, developing a gregarious, outgoing personality on the outside, secretly (for the most part) dreading the “next shoe to fall,” wondering when my world would be shattered with a new move.

Home is good while it lasts

My teen years were not uncommon for the late 60s and early 70s. My grades were good and I had friends that I still have today, several decades later. We made wonderful memories, the kind made by people who shared much and laughed often. My friends and I enjoyed all the mischief that our small town would tolerate and some that it would not. We were richly blessed, but my transiently-trained heart still longed for something. Not quite trusting all that I loved about my life to remain solid. Not to turn into an ephemeral cloud of smoke to vanish into thin air.

Self-fulfilling expectations

I longed for something permanent. Most of my adult life I struggled with the haunting carry-over, the psychological stigma of the expectation that everything ends too quickly, nothing is permanent. Not meant to last. My marriages suffered, as did my early job history. I desperately wanted something permanent, something rock-solid, something that I could call my own. If things were going too well, I would manage to begin to eat at them causing a rift that would eventually cause the split I expected. For much of my 30s and 40s, I thought that the something I craved, my permanent thing was a home. I was not wrong but my mind was not yet ready to see a truth, the Truth that had been waiting for me all my life.

Was blind but now I see

The thunderbolt of epiphany struck one day while having a conversation with my Rector at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Collierville, TN. While speaking

to Fr. Jeff Marx, he told me that St. Andrew’s was my home. The conversation had been a fairly serious one, light-hearted but full of meaning and I don’t really think that Father Jeff was even aware of the stunning understanding that had opened up before me. Nonetheless, my eyes had been opened like the blind man before Jesus (Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43, ESV )

Please join me in a few of days as I reveal what I learned. I am sure that it changed my life. Not just in part but the whole. There truly is no place like home.

April 4, 2018

Good(?) Friday

Bound, scourged, beaten, mocked, spat upon, made to carry/drag a heavy load up a hill, nailed to a cross, made to suffer the tortuous death of a criminal although an innocent man. This does not sound like the way a good day should play out. In fact, it sounds like a terrible day. The worst day. Throw in the fact that the Light of the world was extinguished. Big storm. The curtains of the Temple split asunder. Good Friday? Not by a long shot, except for one miraculous detail.

Not a very good Friday

Having seen many crucifixes hanging on the walls of homes and Catholic Churches, I have always been struck by the almost antiseptic look of the crucified Christ. Nearly all the sculpted images show Jesus as being in pretty good shape. Pretty pristine. Not until I saw The Passion of the Christ, the 2004

movie by Mel Gibson, did I truly connect with the absolute brutality with which Jesus was treated. I am still horrified nearly to tears at the images of the scourging. The scourge that was used on the Lamb of God was an instrument designed to inflict ultimate pain, to wreak incredible havoc on the human body. A whip-like device, the scourge had pieces of metal or bone incorporated into the several lashes which were meant, not just to bruise and cut, but to savagely rip flesh from the body on the receiving end of its sting. Jesus was not just whipped. He was scourged! Not a good day for any man.

Via Dolorosa

After being further mistreated by the Roman guards, made to wear a crown of thorns and beaten on the head with a rod Jesus was made to carry his own

cross, his device of further shame and eventual death, up the Via Dolorosa (meaning sorrowful way) from the Praetorium, where He had been sentenced, to Golgotha, the Hill of Skulls. Hardly able to stand, losing large amounts of blood, falling twice, finally Simon the Cyrene was enlisted to carry His burden. Good Friday? This is sounding like a horrible day and it is not nearly over.

The Weight of the World

Our Saviour was surely reaching the lowest point in his young life. The devastating torture was horrible but maybe not the worst of Jesus’ pain. Along with everything that Jesus had and was about to endure, Jesus was carrying the weight and suffering caused by shouldering the sins of the world. Not just man’s previously committed sins but all of mankind’s future sins as well. What a crushing load!

Back to the cross. . . Jesus was nailed, hand and foot, to this object of punishment and shame, then hoisted into the air to hang for hours. Designed

to make it excruciatingly difficult to breathe, Jesus embraced the indignity of the cross. Suffering, bleeding, extremely weak, laboring to breathe, he still mustered the compassion to pardon the sins of one of the criminals who occupied this despised hill alongside his own cross. He may have been spared, due to his condition, the further insult of watching the guards cast lots for his clothing.

The Light of the World is extinguished

He finally gave up His life in an indescribable cry of anguish, asking God to forgive his persecutors. Enter the aforementioned storm and curtain tearing. The Lamb had been sacrificed for the sins of many. Jesus was innocent. He knew no sin but became sin. The Light of the world was extinguished. The WORD had been taken out of the world He came to save. Jesus’ lifeless form was taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb.

Good Friday transformed

Here is the big payoff. The miracle that turned the worst of Fridays into Good Friday. The best of Fridays. On the third day, Jesus arose from the tomb. The grave could not hold Him. Prophesy was fulfilled in the Resurrection of the Christ. All that heinous punishment that was dealt out on Friday was necessary to fulfill the Profits. The U shaped drama had been acted out. God

came down from Heaven and became man. He suffered death on the cross and was buried. He defeated the grave and rose from the tomb. In forty days he would ascend to His seat at the right hand of the Father. No slight of hand. No conspiracy. No mass hallucination. The mystery of Faith is etched on the hearts of Christians everywhere. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. Hallelujah!

March 29, 2018

Praise Him in the Storm, Part 2

After the last post, I would like to share with you a bit about one of God’s Saints who defined the strength of faith and the ability to praise Him in a storm. We should all be gifted enough in our lives to know someone like this. I was fortunate enough to be loved and blessed by this daughter of our King. Cynthia (my wife) grew up with and got into the mischief of her youth with Donna. I came to know her later in life but was instantly given a place in her heart and the hearts of her family. She was still full of mischief and the sparkle in her eyes was a beautiful advertisement for what was brewing in her head. Sadly, we lost this precious light after a crushing storm. These words are in memoriam to Donna after the storm.

Donna’s storm

Donna was diagnosed in September of 2016 as having Glioblastoma, a very aggressive, devastating form of brain cancer. This is the same cancer as John McCain was diagnosed with. I must say here that I am not a doctor nor am I a trained clinician, I have a layman’s understanding and must speak as a layman. When Donna was first diagnosed, she was given only three months to live if she went untreated. If she agreed to the rigorous treatment plan she might have a year. Donna prayed with her family and friends for guidance and for healing. In the end, she decided to follow the doctor’s advice and try to remove the tumor. Surgery was a success and the surgeon proclaimed that scans showed that they “had gotten it all.”

The insidious thing about this particular cancer is that it grows appendages that dig deep into the brain. On the ends of those appendages the cancer plants seeds in the brain’s tissue. As I understand things, it is nearly impossible to remove all of this deadly intruder. As you might surmise, “we got it all” soon turned into the cancer is back and it has grown. Donna’s faith never wavered. She kept believing in God’s healing Grace. She told everyone that all was well, that she was in God’s hands.

Donna and her husband, Fred, traveled to MD Anderson Cancer Institute in Houston, TX, for treatments that left her drained and sickened. Away from her family and loved ones, living in a travel trailer loaned by a friend for weeks at a time; Donna and Fred did the best that they could to live a “normal” life and they never stopped praising God for His goodness. They never stopped witnessing about the healing power of God, of the love of the Father.

There were many treatments. Many trips to MD Anderson. Houston soon became their second home. The tumor’s growth might slow for a bit but it continued to grow. Donna continued to tell everyone that God would heal her of her cancer. She continued to inspire all whom she came into contact with because of her trust in the Lord. We continued to pray but Donna was getting weaker and the effects of her cancer were taking their toll. During all her ordeal there had been momentary breaks in the clouds, the rain had slackened up for a bit but the storm still raged. For everyone except Donna.

Always His

Her family was constantly gathered at her side. Though she was now spending most of her time confined to bed, weak and hardly able to speak above a whisper, her faith in God was so many times larger than the tumor that refused to relent. “I’m in God’s hands”, she would tell us in her labored breath. We began to hold vigil as Donna slept. Having to be content with holding her hand, whispering I love you in her ear, kissing her brow while there appeared no let up in the storm.

Donna’s Storm is Over

At 5:45 AM on August 30, 2017, the storm was over. Donna left this world behind. Her suffering was over. She had been right all along, she was in God’s hands, in His loving arms. As she took her last breath on this earth, she took the next breath in Paradise. She is looking down on her family and loved ones from Heaven, doing exactly what she always did. She is praising God, walking with Jesus, and casting her love out to all those whom she counted hers.

Donna had proven more right than we had known. God might not have healed her cancer in this world but He had certainly healed her in the next world. Her illness, as horrible as it was, had been for the good. She blessed her children and grandchildren with her ever solid faith. Donna was a shining example of what we should all aspire to be. Donna lived her life in this world for the Glory of God. She shared her faith with so many people. My friend had been a Warrior for Christ and through her faith, she became the Hero of many. She certainly found a triumphant reception in Heaven. Donna has found the rainbow after the storm.

March 27, 2018

Praise Him in the Storm

I trust that everyone here is the “Praising God” type. Let’s hope so anyway. I hope most of us pray and praise our Creator as is His due. Some of us are more consistent or frequent than others. I make no judgment, only observe my own occasional inconsistency. For most of us, it is so very easy to praise God when everything is coming up roses. When you score the big raise at work or make the grade on a test that you dared to hope for. For many, it is not so easy to be thankful when struggling, unappreciated or stressed. I encourage everyone to remember to praise God when their skies are not so bright. Praise Him in the storm.

On a day when we are feeling unloved, who loves us more than our God? He loves us in our brokenness, in our tattered, tortured state as much as when we are all shiny, maybe more. This is the God who through the power of a thought and a breath, the passing of His mighty hand created all there is, in all its perfect synchronicity. And yet He not only created us to be in communion with Him, He knows us so intimately, He knew us before we were born and He knows the number of hairs on our heads.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

“Why even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” Luke 12:7 ESV

Count your blessings

Even in the midst of our troubles, physical or financial, are we not richly blessed? Have we not enjoyed God’s favor? Did we not wake up with a roof over our heads, don’t most of us have shoes on our feet or some change in our pockets? Most of us know where our next meal is going to come from. Most of us didn’t have to walk for miles to fetch water.

Even during the downpours of life, we are still children of the One True God. Jesus came down from Heaven, became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit, and died on a cross. The curtain of the Temple was torn asunder so that we were granted personal access to the Father (something mankind had only known on limited occasions since the Garden of Eden) and we know forgiveness for our sinfulness. Jesus was resurrected and ascended to Heaven to make a place for us. Beloved, those are reasons to rejoice, reasons to praise our God above. Praise the Creator for His creation, for His love, and for His Mercy.

Learn to Dance in the Rain

Do not be afraid to rejoice in troubled times. When are we in the most need of lifted spirits? Lift up your face to the heavens and make a joyful noise for the things by which you are blessed. They are myriad, after all. I remember, as a child in Florida, playing in the warm rains of summer, barefoot, soaked to the bone, having the times of our lives. I believe we had it right. There are times when it is quite alright to be as children. Kick off your shoes, learn to dance in the rain. It can wash your cares away, as the water washed away your sins.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 ESV

Just Passin’ Through

I believe we should try to live your lives on this earth as they truly are meant to be. We are, after all, only temporary visitors on this island planet. Our true home is in Heaven with the Father where there is no sickness, no worries, no taxes or unemployment. We are here to prepare, to learn what we must know, how we must live in the next life. The life we were made for. Rejoice in it. Celebrate it. Live it to the fullest, but never forget to lift up praise to the Father. We owe Him everything!