IF

There is a word in my vocabulary that isn't very big, but has an immense power beyond its size.  That word is 'IF'.  

Try going more than five minutes without using the word.  I doubt seriously any english speaking person can go that long.  I looked up the word 'if' in as many languages as I could and found out that it is a small word in almost all languages.  Yet, as small as the word is, it signifies a profound understanding of the universe around us.  'IF' forms the basis of most computational programs across the globe.  'IF' forms the basis of most of our decisions as humans.  It is common to almost all cultures, and people groups.  IF is also the basis for most religions across our globe.  As a Christian, though, the word IF has come to be a symbol of doubt.  Within the word IF you find uncertainty and to some degree ignorance.  This weekend I made a statement concerning an action I wished to occur and used the word IF.  I was immediately rebuked for doubting and expressing negativity.  After much thought, I came to accept the rebuke, but at the same time I hold the same thought in mind to measure the degree of uncertainty with which I do not know the will of God for the situation I was speaking about.  In other words, God's plan may not be my will.  That is the danger of 'Word of Faith.'  Even when we know God's expressed will about general things in this life, we are often confronted with instances where His plan circumvents or overrides his will.  The problem with 'if' is that it can be presumptuous or it can be fearful.  IF is always a question.  A question implies choices and sometimes we don't do choices well.  We especially don't do choices well when it comes to the will of God.   We know from scripture that it is not God's will that anyone should perish, but that all should come to eternal life.  We also know that there will be those that won't.  Every day people die without repenting or accepting the saving grace of God. This is not God's will, but it is the truth.  The reason for this, is that God loves us so much, He gives us choices.  It is a loving God that allows us to have free will, even when that will brings Him pain, and even when it ends in separation from Him.  God gave us the 'if' so we could be uniquely able to accept or reject Him.  Anyone who looks beyond the next moment is confronted with 'if'.  Our choices determine not only our future, but the future of those we touch everyday, as well as unborn generations to follow.  In my own life, I've come face to face with a bad choice made many years ago by someone I love greatly.  That choice now has the energy to bring great love, or great disaster  to our family.  It was not that person's desire, nor their intent at the time to do harm, but it can.  It also can bring great joy to all affected IF those affected by the decision choose to let go of fear.  That choice so many years ago brought a great goodness into this earth, but the cost could be inestimable if forgiveness isn't offered.  I've seen in my short 63 years upon this earth that when we make decisions or choices that were wrong at the moment, God affords us an opportunity to make it right somewhere along the line.  Giving someone the opportunity to be forgiven is what God is all about. IF can color our days with joy, or sadness.  IF can shade us with peace, or burn us with fear.  Eternity hangs on IF. 

Humankind has immortalized IF in so many ways.  "If only,"  "If he/she,"  "if they", "if I,"  and a host of other variations filled with regret.  We often couch our regrets in "if I could do it all over again," then we fill in the blanks.  The thing with regrets, is that they do nothing to change what happened.  "I'm sorry" is nice as a sentiment, but it reveals a failure to value the 'if' choice.  Sometimes our 'IF' choices result in the death of another, or great bodily injury to another, and the apology that follows rings small in comparison to the harm done.  There are also many 'if' choices that we'll never see the results of, but down the road will play out in future generations.  "I'm sorry," will not remove or ease the sting of those choices.  That is why God gave us two laws to 'live' by.  His commandments should guide us at that point where IF connects with action.  Living by the greater law of love moves us into a higher threshold of IF.  The law of love removes selfish consideration from the 'if/then' equation.  Once that happens, love conquers fear, and peace becomes the expression of that love.  Love makes our choices clearer and less cluttered with IF.  Love is the word of faith we should all live by.  That is why the Apostle Paul could say in 1st Corinthians 13: 13 (KJV)  and NOW abideth faith, hope, and charity (love), but the greatest of these is charity. 

Faith and hope are 'IF's, love is certain.  When you live LOVE, you solidify faith, and strengthen hope.  Without LOVE, faith and hope are empty vessels, heavy weights, and tormenting burdens.  It is LOVE that shapes peace.  

This is where we are greater than the sparrows.  As I'm writing this the eastern horizon is beginning to glow with the promise of the sunrise.  I can see thin clouds in the grey blue sky, but they can't hide the fact that above them the sun will shine whether I see it our not.  don't worry that the sun isn't shining on me, because I know that somewhere it is shining.  I may not live another day to see the sun shine again, but I know the sun will shine.  As long as I can awaken to God's grace, and love, I will not fear. In that way the sparrow has me beat.   I can hear a dog barking, and yes my gentle sparrows are already chirping and playing outside my office window.  As much as I enjoy the sparrows perch, there is one thing I know... they can't know the love I know in Christ Jesus.  This is the power of 'if' in my life.  When I fulfill the law of Christ, my regrets are fewer, I have less apologies to make, and IF doesn't rule my life.  I can then live in Peace.  

OPEN WINDOW, OPEN HEART

I've been busy!  Our 'new to us' house is livable, and we are moved in.  This makes my days longer and even more blurry than they were before.  It's not a complaint, just a fact.  The journey from our old home out in the country to our home in the city is in its eighteenth month.  I won't call the project complete until the outside is trimmed out and the house is painted.  Then it will be maintenance.  I'm saying all of this because I just opened a window in my office to let the cool early morning air in.   It's a cool Sunday morning, and I can hear numerous dogs barking in the distance.  The sound of traffic is something I will have to get accustomed to.  It doesn't keep me up at night, but it is louder than our old house in the country.  It reminds me of my old office at the church.  Which brings me to the title of this post.
A lot has happened since my last post.  We have a new President of our nation.  We have riots, protests, and hate mongers everywhere.  I'm not sure, but I don't think there has ever been a President who elicited death threats or violence if you admitted to voting for him.  We have angry hateful people calling other people hateful, and those people being labeled as being hateful are becoming less tolerant.  I never thought I'd see the day when colleges and universities would forbid anyone to speak. I never thought I'd see sexual rights (which aren't guaranteed) replace religious freedom (which is guaranteed).  Everyone is hunkered down in their dogmatic foxhole lobbing vitriolic mortars at one another.  If you stick your head up, you risk being sniped.  The 'left' screams resist and the 'right' screams back.  As a christian conservative, I've never felt more uneasy than I do right now. Everything I cherish and hold true is being challenged and turned on its head.  Even as I write this, I realize all it would take is someone reporting my blog as 'hate speech' and Google would close me down, but I digress.
The problem is air conditioning.  We keep our homes locked up solid all year long.  The windows are for looking through not listening. We condition our air, and end up conditioning our lives.  God forbid we should be uncomfortable. We've lost the ability to listen to one another.  When I was a young boy growing up in El Paso, Texas, we didn't have air conditioning.  We had swamp coolers, and you had to have a window open to allow the chilled air to pass through.  That window was usually in my room.  I could hear the neighbors TV sets, their fights with children and one another.  I could hear the street traffic, the sound of dogs barking, and crickets.  When neighbors met during the day, the most common question was; "did you hear 'that' last night?"  (Whatever 'that' was, was usually a neighbor forgetting everyone had a window open.)  Then, everyone started getting air conditioning.  The windows started closing, and amazingly people stopped meeting each other on the street. Chain link fences went up, and eventually bars over the windows.  I saw a picture of our old house not long ago, and it truly looks like a prison with ten foot high chain link fence and concertina wire atop it.  I can remember laying out on the grass in our front yard staring at the stars.  Now there is not grass.  It looks like a prison yard. I used to live in a neighborhood where all the kids knew each other and were free to play outside until nine at night.
Now, my neighborhood is digital.  Facebook, instagram, and snapchat have replaced meeting people face to face.  Husbands and wives text each other in the same room instead of talking.  Children don't even text their parents.  This is not the kind of relationships I want in the city.
Sometime soon, I'm going to put a birdbath outside the window to my home office.  I'm going to put a green table close to the fence and sit at it while my neighbors do their thing.  We are going to invite people over for Sunday dinner.  We'll sit down and discuss the disgust we see around us.  We'll open our windows and hopefully hear the occasional sounds of life beyond the TV set.  I'll be glad to hear the sparrows skittering and splashing in their bath.  I will open my window and open my heart, which is pretty amazing for me considering I'm an introvert.  

THE END OF MY DANIEL FAST

WARNING:  THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LONG POST 

Fifty days!  If you’d have asked me at the beginning of this fast what I was thinking, I couldn’t have told you. It began as a simple whim in response to one sentence my daughter Amanda made while having lunch with me.  That one sentence was a seed that quickly began to take root.  The gist of what she told me, was that her Church in Wynne, Arkansas does a corporate 21 day Daniel Fast at the beginning of the year.  They do it for clarity, and direction, but as I sat listening to her, I became intrigued.  After I decided I wanted to do this for myself, I sat down and made a list of things I wanted answers for in my life, and things I wanted for the faith fellowship I love.  Then came the decision for how long I would fast.  It was one week before Resurrection Sunday (Easter) and I’d already embarked on a partial fast that week.  By Wednesday night, I felt impressed to fast till Pentecost Sunday.  That simple, that easy. 

As some of you have kept up with my journey, you’ve probably wondered what I was asking prayer for, and what I’ve gained. Others of you will probably care less.  I didn’t give you specifics, because I didn’t want someone artificially pumping me up, or purposely working me. One thing I will tell you from the outset, food was not on my mind when I began this, but it became abundantly clear, that food was at the core of everything. 

MY PRAYER NEEDS:

As an INFJ (Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Judging) personality type, (of which I score in the high 70’s multiple times),  I often find myself at odds with what is expected of me as a father, husband, friend, and pastor, and what I ‘feel’ like doing.  My nature is to withdraw quietly within myself, and only allow a handful of people to get close to me.  I like my little home, with my little office, and the seclusion it affords. When I don’t like something, or someone, it is easy to withdraw, ignore, and isolate myself.    If someone hurts me, or makes unreasonable demands of me, I can simply escape to my little turtle shell.  Not always good, but at least it's safe.

My first prayer request was for God to show me how to love beyond hurt, and pain. 

Loving those who treat us good is easy.  Loving those who agree with us is especially easy.  Loving those who are constantly giving to you is easy.  I like easy.  It’s like those “Staples” commercials with the ‘EASY’ button. Who doesn’t want to keep pressing the ‘easy’ button all the time?  While I've been on this fast, EASY is not what I got.  Almost from the very first day, I was thrust back into past hurtful relationships, confronted with angry clients, and forced to do things I despise.  For example, every job I got called out on for the first two weeks was something I hated to do, and sometimes humiliating.  At 60 years old I was doing the very same things my father had me do when I was fourteen!  Digging holes, cleaning up crap from people’s messy lives, raking rocks, and wrestling railroad ties seemed to be all I was called to do. EASY was not on the menu.  The Holy Spirit was backing me into a corner where there was no way out.  MY PRIDE WAS HURTING. No matter how far I withdrew into my little turtle shell, the Holy Spirit was like a bulldog trying to get me to come out.  One particular day when a long time client cancelled a very long term job, I found myself battling all kinds of evil thoughts.  I won’t tell you the thoughts that came into my mind, but suffice it to say they were feelings of rejection, betrayal, and worthlessness.  I battled these thoughts for two days; “God! I’m supposed to be getting closer to you”  I screamed as I thought of ending the fast and burying my sorrow in a big puffy marshmallow cream filled ‘long John.’  “Where are you God?”   “What’s going on here?!!”  “What’s the use of being on this fast, if things in my life don’t get better.”  Then came the real anger.  “Well, that’s just like ‘so and so’”  I thought to myself.  “He got me all excited about doing a job and then backs out on me.”   By the end of two days I was mad at God, and darn right hateful toward the client.  (Yes, I do get mad at God, and I’m not afraid to admit it, because in the end, I am in fearful awe of Him.) What I think hurts God more than being mad at Him, is when we are angry at one another.  I nursed this anger for another day until Pastor Eric taught on ‘forgiveness’ that Sunday morning.  I’d allowed my desire for EASY to be the bait Satan used to make me angry at a good friend, and a good God.  I didn’t see my friend’s sorrow, nor did I care.  It was all about me.  I went home that afternoon from Church and bawled my eyes out, even as I wrote my blog.  I wanted to tell everyone what had happened, so I could get sympathy, but the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me.  I had to write the blog three times before my ‘Editor’ (the Holy Spirit) would let me post it.

 

I came out of that time with a better understanding of God’s Presence in the midst of our greatest betrayals.  It is easy to think God doesn’t feel like we do.  He’s God, right?  Nothing touches Him, right?  Wrong!  The next day, as I drove to my first job the Holy Spirit spoke into my resignation.  

“I was betrayed, too.” came the tender voice of the bulldog. “More times than you can imagine.”    

“Come on, God!  You’re wearing it out”  I said to myself.

The Holy Spirit wasn’t about to let me sulk.  “I gave everything I could give, and still people betray me.”  “I make such beautiful plans for people’s lives, and still they choose their own way. I have to watch in sorrow as they cancel out on what I could do for them.”  “You began this fast asking me to help you love beyond yourself, and instead you’ve whined and complained about what’s happened.  I’m asking you to trust me, that this will all be good in the end.”   That morning, I realized I’d slipped into self-pity once more. 

I had to accept that loving beyond myself isn’t a one-time easy fix.  It will be a lifetime of people doing and saying things that hurt me, especially those I cherish most.  Loving them in-spite of themselves is what I’m called to do, even if I don’t like it. 

MY SECOND PRAYER REQUEST WAS TO BECOME MORE DEPENDENT ON THE LORD.

From a strictly human viewpoint, that was the stupidest thing to ask God to do.  For me it was a behavioral change.  I’ve always trusted God, sometimes to the confusion of those who believe I should be more practical.  Still, I felt that there was a deeper dependency than what I’d already given.  I thought when I began it would be about him sustaining my strength without my usual diet.  EEhhhhhhh, No!  What came out of this request was something I’d not even expected, and which is still working in my life.  It was summed up in something my wife said to me during a not too pleasant conversation.  Still the answer was in front of me all the time.

 

As a faith filled Christian, who believes in living my faith out loud, it is hard for me to balance that against my natural skills, abilities, and proclivity to solve things for myself.  Simply put, I’m a doer. I wouldn't be a handyman if I wasn't.   I take after my Dad, who if things are quiet for more than ten minutes, believes something is wrong with his world.  As the ‘fast’ wore on, I found myself confronted with a sudden drop off in work, and cancellations.  I shared a little bit of this with you in an earlier blog, so I won’t bore you with a re-hash.  Suffice it to say, this has been one of the driest two months in the history of my doing the handyman business.  I’m down to the last $600 of my savings, and I don’t have any jobs on the docket.  I’ve questioned God, questioned me, and began thinking of whether I should try to re-enter the ‘employed’ economy.   I was driving home from a small job three days ago (Friday), when I began to murmur about the lack of work, and God’s apparent abandonment of me.  I wondered what the use was of being on this fast if it didn’t produce anything good in me.  Didn’t God see the sacrifice I was making?   Everyone at home, in my church, and in my family is looking at me, and it looks like I’m a fool. ‘Look at super spiritual Dave, he’s on this fast and everything is falling apart around him.’  

“I trusted you, God!”  I screamed out as I pounded my steering wheel.  “Where are you?”   I pulled over at the top of the hill overlooking the city, and sobbed like I haven’t sobbed in a long time.  From deep within me, the Holy Spirit began to calm the tears, I know it was Him, because it was feeling good to keep on crying.  If no one else would give me sympathy, I could at least enjoy a good pout.

NOT!

“When was the last time you asked me for work?”  came the voice of the Holy Spirit from deep within me.

“Umm, Thursday, Lord.”  I answered back smugly.  “Remember I asked for the prayer group to pray for me.” 

“When was the last time YOU asked me for work?” 

I hadn’t.  I’d been too busy, proclaiming, speaking positive, thinking positive, trying to not be a disappointment to my faith. 

“Lord, I need work.”  I said meekly. 

“Not good enough.”  Replied the Holy Spirit.  “I know you need work.” 

“What do you want?” 

That’s when the conversation with my wife came back to my mind.  We’d been discussing in not so easy terms, how people can come off as appearing arrogant when they don’t ask for help.  The modern church has become good at doing the business of church.  As the Church, we’ve become so good at it, that we’ve abandoned the basics of doing ‘CHURCH.’   We  don’t want to impose on people, or make unreasonable demands on people, therefore we often come off as not needing people.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re good at asking for money, or church attendance, but more than that is an imposition.  The truth is, WE ALL WANT TO BE NEEDED. As we become more like Christ, it becomes stronger in us.  Why?  Because that is what God wants, He wants us to need Him.  As our ‘Daddy’ He still gets rocked when we need Him. Our need for His provision is the beginning of our faith if we let it work in us.  He likes it when we get specific with Him.  Why?  Because, the more specific we become with Him, the less chance we have of just passing it off as something other than Him.  Come on, admit it, He’s generically good to all mankind.  He gives rain, to the just, and unjust alike.  Our planet continues to spin as it always has, and will continue to do so for as long as he deems it.  His specific blessings are to those who ‘depend’ on Him.  Every lesson to the Children of Israel throughout the Old Testament was based upon His desire to be their provider.  When we rely upon our own strength to do the impossible, we end up with the feasible, reasonable, and rational.  When we rely on God, we end up with the truly miraculous.  NOW FOR THE EARTH SHAKING TRUTH MOST CHRISTIANS WILL NOT LIKE; God often uses us to be the miracle someone else needs.  We become the only God someone may know. We can become the miracle God wants to work. 

Our greatest disappointments with one another as Christians arise because we didn’t ask or place a demand upon one another.  We assume that the Holy Spirit will inform our brother or sisters of what we need, and that it will just happen.  We assume that simple loving kindness will make our brothers and sisters do the right things, and be all loving, and caring.  That isn’t the case.  Why?  Because most of us, (myself included) are so self-absorbed, battle scarred, or focused on living this life, that we don’t think of other people as we ought to.  I’m the biggest offender.  When we don’t specifically ask for help, we end up carrying  a great big trash bag of disappointments we’ve gathered, and when someone doesn’t think about us as we think they should, we throw it in the bag, and drag it around behind us.  Before long, we become so bitter, we never let the one’s we love off the hook.  I had this lesson taught to me years ago when the Holy Spirit gave me an intimate view into the lives of people who’d disappointed me in my past.  Now, nearly thirty years later, I’m going over the same lesson in a different way.  Here it is in a nutshell.

Ask for help, and ask specifically!   That way, the answer will be yes, no, or maybe later. (Which is yes, but not now.)  Give people an informed opportunity to either disappoint you, or surprise you.  Forgive them when they disappoint, and acknowledge them when they surprise you.  If we don’t give people a chance to disappoint us, we come across as arrogant, and conceited. We have to afford people the opportunity to be the outstretched hand of God.  This makes us yielded, and vulnerable at the same time.  The bible calls it being submissive, which doesn’t only apply to being a servant, but also to allowing others to serve us.  When we’re vulnerable, we’re transparent. 

I’ve learned over the past 60 years, that some people are marvelously adept as meeting the needs of others, and other people simply want to feel needed by being asked.  We also have to learn to be honest, and forthright when a demand is placed upon us. Generic requests for help doesn't acknowledge the gifts we see in people's lives.  We all want to feel that what we do is valued, whether it is making that special cake, or cookies, or knowing how to fix a car, or providing transportation.  Yes, it can become routine, and even expected, but then don’t we treat God the same way.  We treat God like a vending machine that we believe spews out goodness just because we do good things, when actually he’s a cupboard full of good things waiting for us to ask if we can have some.  His favor is that we can ask.  It isn’t necessary to be strong all the time.

PRAYER REQUESTS FOR MY FAITH FAMILY

My prayer requests for my faith family are still in work.  I’ve already told you one thing I would like to see done in our church, and I'm waiting for the answer.  We have so many needs in our old building, and I become so frustrated when I either don’t have the time or the money to fix them. I'm believing God for the funds to allow me to be employed full time at the church,  That’s what I’ve been praying for.  I know, it’s self-serving.  I grimace when I write it.  Then, when I step into our building, I hurt because I know what I could do.  I’d just like to spend my last remaining years doing what I do best for the Lord. Then somebody call the Waaambulance before I die of self-pity. 

THE GOOD STUFF

OKAY, now for the good stuff, or maybe not.  This fast put me in touch with my body in a way I’ve never experienced before.  I’ve learned what sugar has done to me.  None of it good.  AS OF TODAY I’ve lost 28 pounds.  I now weigh 160 pounds!  Now, at 5’ tall, this isn’t an ideal weight, and I still have a belly.  I’m down to a 34” waist, which is what I had when I left the Air Force back in 1995.   When I left the Air Force I weighed 148 pounds, although my ideal weight is supposed to be 95 to 127 pounds, I haven’t weighed 95 pounds since my junior year in High School.  I weighed 128 pounds when I went into the Air Force.  So, with all of that said, I would be happy to weigh between 128 to 135 pounds as I cruise toward the end of my life.  I lifted weights while stationed on the Stealth Fighter, and I expect that a good deal of my ‘excess’ weight is muscle mass.  When I get down to 140 pounds I’d like to do a real BMI test to discover how much of me is muscle, bone, and fat.  Charts, and calculators don’t take into account people’s  body style.   So the weight loss was exciting, and addictive.  As I step off the fast, I intend to stay as close to the fast as possible.  No more soda pop, no more added sugars, and a huge change in bread intake.  Hamburgers, and hot dogs are a thing of the past.  Not because of the meat, but because of the breads.  I’ll have to be careful with potatoes, because I do love potatoes. Mostly, one of the things that’s changed is a desire to stay on this for my wife Glenda.  She’s been battling diabetes for the last fifteen years that I know of, and who knows how long before that.  I didn’t begin this with her in mind, but as I saw the correlation between her ‘diabetes’ diet and the Daniel fast, it became a powerful reason to stay into it.  I can continue this forever, if it allows her to be healthier longer.  That wasn’t in me before the fast. Before the fast, it was ‘her problem’, and I didn’t want it to affect what I ate.  I would take her out to eat with little concern for what it meant for her.  Now, I find myself understanding her situation.  So much of our western diet is more than we need, and not good for us.  Oh, it tastes good going down, but it ends up debilitating us in our golden years.  I realize how much I love fresh veggies, (just not asparagus, because I think of ‘Junior Asparagus’ every time she gets one from the garden.)  I also realize what I’ve done to my metabolism by ingesting all the sugar that I have.   

END OF LECTURE.

Finally, if the weight loss wasn’t reason enough, I also learned how sugar affects my moods, and my drive.  If I’d not been doing the fast, and still going through everything I’ve gone through this last fifty days, I would have lost it.  My emotions are on a much more even keel.  Believe me, as you’ve already seen, I still make mistakes, and occasionally my old stinking thinking tries to wake up, but overall, the fast has shown me how sugar regulated my life.   I’m actually looking forward to another Daniel fast, but this time I’d like it to be a 21 day fast with my faith family.   Heck, if a meat and potatoes guy like me can go 50 days, anyone can.  

Oh, and by the way, I ended the fast with a plate of Chili Colorado from Nopalitos here in Harrison Arkansas.  I didn't eat the rice, I had refried beans without cheese, and corn tortillas.  All in all, I feel good.

So, here is to believing God for more than I can ask for, more than I can dream of, and more than I can hope for.  I'm ready God. 

God Bless, thank you for all your prayers, and may all your desires be God’s desires.  

Selling Jesus

I've only been a salesman once in my life.  I'm not knocking it for those who do it.  Back in 1976, I did a short stint selling Harley Davidson Motorcycles, (Actually bowling pin motorcycles, as they were owned by AMF at the time.)  I grew up around Harleys, and I believed in them, so, selling them wasn't hard for me.  I actually enjoyed selling them, because I enjoyed selling people something I enjoyed myself.  There was a day when being a 'peddler,' or 'merchant' was a noble profession.  I can still remember the Fuller Brush salesman who knew my mother by name, or the milkman who delivered the milk to my grandmother many years ago.  Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware, and on, and on, and. . . .Well you get the picture.  Men, are more industrial in their acceptance of sales people.  I myself tend to despise the salesman who tells me I have to have his product.  I especially despise the salesman who calls me without having tried to meet me first.  I despise gimmicks   Sell me the product, not the peanut brittle you have in your hand.  AND, when you leave, leave the peanut brittle.  If you are the manager of any sort, you know what I mean.  

What concerns me is the selling of Jesus.  I'm not talking about the shameless hucksterism that has always been a part of the Christian experience.  From the birth of Christianity, there were always those who saw a quick buck to be made in selling Jesus.  The Apostle Paul bemoaned their existence, but looked at them as one more way that people came to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.  He didn't care how Christ was glorified, but was overjoyed that Christ was preached.

I don't know if I'm as tolerant as Paul.  As the pendulum of public approval for Christians begins to swing back toward antagonism, I wonder if the hucksters aren't doing us more damage than good. I don't think you can 'sell' the relationship that is derived from the presence of God being in your life. I'm not talking about those people who offer you dancing angel mirror balls for your generous love offering.  These people are like the money changers in the Temple court.  They are obvious, and at the same time oblivious to what they are doing.  What I'm talking about are the people who promise you that a life with Christ will be a bed of roses, a walk in the park, tea at tea time, and a host of other platitudes that are far from truthful.  This thinking is clearly seen when you start pushing against them with even a hint of persecution, or let discomfort, or trials enter into their life.  BUT, I thought. . .  You said . . . .I spoke. . . I claimed. . . .WHY!!!!!!???????  Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.  I don't want to be different.

The real Presence of God will make you different.  The Presence of God will raise the hackles on the back of the 'world.'  The Presence of God casts it's light into the dark corners of men's lives, and makes them uncomfortable.  The purveyors of the pasty, wimpy, and murdered Jesus, don't want you to realize the power of the resurrected, living Jesus.  Jesus on the cross is acceptable, Jesus in the tomb is preferred, but Jesus cooking fish by the seashore is offensive.  The Presence of God burns away the desires for the things of this world and leaves you a smoking offering of love to a dying world.  COMFORT?   I don't think so.  You can sell a hundred thousand crosses, but few people want to carry their own.  Those who sell a 'feel good' Jesus don't really believe in what they are 'selling.'  They aren't familiar with the product.

We don't have to sell Jesus.  All we have to do is give away what he gave us to give.  Therein lies the problem.  He gave us the power to Heal, Save, and Deliver men, and women.  He left His Spirit here for us to know He was still here.  You can't sell these things.  I can't sell you something you can't see, taste, or touch.  What I can do, is be Him for you.  THAT'S THE HARD PART.  That is how you will know He is real.  I know this much, I can't live without him.  I want you to feel the same way.  That is my heart set before all men.  I love this man named Jesus Christ, even though I've never seen him.  My life with HIM is not the same as it was without him.  I've been sick, injured, addicted, persecuted, beat down, destitute, and looked death in the eye, but in all of this I've never felt alone.  That, my friends, is the testament to His Presence.  He said he would not leave us as orphans.  He will not abandon us, even if we abandon Him.

oooooppppps!  I'm selling Jesus.

Try Him, I think you'll like Him.

ONE DAY IN YOUR COURTS

From the sparrows perch, it becomes clear that there is a world of difference between the 'courts' of the tabernacle, and the Holy Place where it nests. From it's perspective, sin is a gory detestable business that defies explanation. The unending parade of men, and animals through the gate is punctuated only by the fact that the people come in carrying the lamb on their shoulders only to leave a short time later without the lamb. It is a mystery to the sparrow.  The lamb did nothing to offend the creator, yet it is the one slaughtered upon the smoking altar at the front of the sparrows home. Outside the tabernacle, men have even put out snares for trapping sparrows, that they might be sold as an offering. 

Wouldn't it be easier just to stop sinning? 

From the sparrow's perch it would appear that it is impossible for men to quit sinning. The stench of the courtyard is beyond comprehension as bile, blood, and flesh are cooked in the mid-day sun. 

THIS IS WHAT SIN IS TO GOD.

What I've discovered among those who claim to be Christians, is that there is an unspoken pact not to discuss sin. Don't get me wrong, we're often the first ones to bemoan the woeful condition of the unbelieving masses. Murderers, thieves, child molesters, homosexuals, abortionists, and a host of what we decry as affronts to the heart of God. We make it our job to remind the world of it's deplorable, depraved, and wicked condition. We've become geiger-counters for sin. We are like little children who've been caught with our hand in the cookie jar, only to point out what our sibling did yesterday. 

In my last blog, I hope I proved how stupid this mindset is, especially in light of the fact that there a probably a million things we do everyday that offend the holiness of a HOLY God. Our spiritual geiger-counter would be pegging even when no one else is around. No matter how splendid our religious gown is, no matter how many things we do, there is no way we can avoid the fact that we are naked before the Lord our God. Problem is, we think our rag-tag religious robes cover our shame. Many who call themselves Christians have no real idea of the SIN they've been pardoned of. They are so busy sewing sparrow feathers together, they don't even realize they're still naked before the eyes of God. Suddenly, through the words of Christ, we come face to face with the certain knowledge that the offense isn't outside of us, it is within us. There wouldn't be enough animals to sacrifice to cover our offenses to a HOLY God. Yet, Christianity has become one big animal skin business, chucking out weekly doses of feel good designed to smooth over the fact that very few of us are truly renewed or transformed. From the sparrows perch, it is business as usual. Same courtyard, same stench, different buildings.

I promised you I would explain what God's solution was for our nakedness and shame. You see, there is a notion in the mind of man, that Adam's sin caught God by surprise. IN that one thought you've just robbed God of his omniscience. At best, you've made HIM a bumbling fool, who blindly created this lump of flesh with the naïve hope it would serve him. You've relegated him to being no different than a man or woman wishing to have a child. It negates the fact that the “lamb was slain from the foundation of the earth.” Even in his disappointment, God proclaimed the salvation to come. His promise to the woman was as dear as any husband whose caught his wife in an adulterous affair. You see, even while Eve was Adam's help-meet, she was God's lovely bride. He lovingly formed her from the bone of man, and only after he'd made her, could he pronounce that mankind was “very good.” From this union of woman and man would come death, from the union of God and woman would come life. The promise of pain in birth, is also the promise of life. That salvation wasn't at the cost of countless animals, religious observances, nor the endless bowing to a religious idea. The salvation of man would be the man God intended us to be from the very start. Christ the Son of God, became the atonement, the passover, the sabbath rest, the scapegoat, the redemption and deliverer of all men. That is how the holiness of God is resolved. Outside of man, yet through man. The sin issue becomes a non-issue. In Paul's letter to the Romans, he tries to make it clear how we are saved through the sacrificial work of one man. (Romans 5:19 specifically) From the Sparrows perch, something amazing happens. The unending parade of men and animals ends. The bleating of sheep and goats no longer fills the courts. The lowing of cattle, and the soft call of turtle doves no longer echoes through the tabernacle. The parade of death unto death is over.

In my old age and long walk with the King of Kings, I've come to realize that all the energy I've expended trying to avoid offending God was wasted effort. Through the sacrificial work of Jesus upon the cross, I've stepped into a place of relationship. I don't have to avoid anything, his Holy Spirit leads me now. I know one simple rule and it is all I need to know, if it isn't love, (real love, not lust) then I've missed Him. If I miss him, Jesus is still there to restore me to righteousness. When I am restored, I can join the Sparrow as he flies freely into the presence of God. I can sing joyfully as I embrace the righteousness I could never purchase. Now the tiny sparrow can sing joyfully in my heart as he makes his home in this well worn tabernacle. Sure, it will soon be pulled down, and rolled up, but the presence of the most high will one day restore it to better than new condition.

Sing tiny sparrow, sing.