About a month ago my lovely wife went out on a date with me.  We ate at a lovely--not fancy but lovely--restaurant in our area.  It is a place where mainly vacationers or daters, like us, eat.  It's kind of out of the way for the business crowd.  

The hostess escorted to our table.  As I generally do, at least on date-nights, I pulled out Kathy's chair for her.

 

"Aww, I almost never see that anymore."   said the college-aged Hostess.

"How often would you say you do see that?"  I asked.

"I'd say about once a month."

 

OK, I know you ladies are all independent, and all, and that you don't need a guy to help you sit down.  Kathy works out several days a week and moving a chair and graciously sitting in it present not the least of a problem for her.  I don't help her with her chair, or open the car door for her, or hold the door to a room for her, because she needs me to.  I do it because I want to.  I do it because she is God's special blessing to me.  I do it to honor her.

Once a month!

Come on, guys!

 

 

It's STTA.

  

Two Night's Meeting:

I'm sitting here hoping that last night and tonight canfruitfully meet.

I'm always encouraged when I hear reports from the Gideons.  TheGideons are a very straight ahead group of guys who happen to believe in the power of God's word to change lives.  Every time your heart beats two Bibles or New Testaments are given or placed by the Gideons. A friend of mine, a missionary in Honduras, came to the Lord, from a life of hopelessness, through a Gideon Testament.  A young Apache man I went to seminary with was training to become a medicine man.  He found the greatest medicine in a little student New Testament that his brother was about to burn in the stove.  As I say it is always an encouragement to hear these stories and meet people who are committed to put God's Word in as many hands and hearts as possible.  

 

Tonight, a group of guys are getting together at Covington Bible Church.  It's the beginning of our Men's Weekend.  We'll sit down to a manly feast, enjoy masculine conversation, and, hopefully, admit to needs that are common to men in the 21st Century,  That's where I'm hoping last night will show up.  Via some videos and discussion, Bible teacher Gene Getz will join us.  His Measure of a Man series has helped guys all over the world.  It's not because he is so clever or relevant that his presentation has helped so many; it's because he is sharing the truth of the Bible.  I'm praying that some guys here in the Alleghany Highlands will step up to a new level of commitment to the Lord becoming a greater source of blessing in our needy world.

 

The Word of God is "living, and active."  It still changes lives.  

 

It's STTA.

"My child, listen when your father corrects you.
Don't neglect your mother's instruction.
What you learn from them will crown you with grace
and be a chain of honor around your neck." 

 

These words from Proverbs 1 sure ring true with me.  Wejust recently buried my mom.  For a long she hadn't really been with us. She was the last of my wife's and my parents.  Yet I so often hear their words in my head and feel their influence in my bones.  

 

The writer of Hebrews, writing about what parents do, observes that "no discipline for the moment seems to be joyous, but grievous" (12:11)  I've lived long enough to see those who reject parental discipline, because of its short-term pain, pay a high long-term price.  Many people in their 20s, 30s, and beyond, are still living lives in which rebellion against what their parents were trying to teach them is a major controlling force.  Their lives lack that "crown of grace," and "chain of honor."  

 

It is obvious how these words apply to youngsters still at home, but what of us who are "on our own"?

Sadly, some have grown up in homes, or lack thereof, where nothing of value was given.  All of us, as adults, have to honestly evaluate what we were taught.  Some we keep and some we must reject.  Let us not live our lives in rebellion, though.  That needlessly burns a lot of resources.  Forgive bad parents--at least for your own welfare in your heart.  For the rest of us--and we are by far the majority--take the good you received from your upbringing and cherish it more than you would a valuable heirloom.  

 

As I think back, I can feel heft of that gold chain around my neck.  I pray you can, be it toward parent, or someone who stepped in a filled the role in your life, find a way to experience that.  It is a good thing.

 

It's STTA.

Even imaginary worlds need morals:

Trekkers, as they call themselves can wax eloquent on which of the various Star Trek series, episodes, villains, and heroes is the best or worst.  NERD ALERT!  I just finished watching the series that is generally considered the worst of the franchise, Enterprise.  Not only from a production viewpoint, but from the story-line, the series is rough.  Who are the bad guys and the good ones?  Theprime directive hasn't been invented yet.  The inter-stellar explorers are still figuring things out.  While the ethics of the characters in the series are still in the formation mode, apparently individualism, relativity, and pragmatism are high on the list of guiding principles for the writers of the episodes.  

Even in this light-years broad, multi-peopled, imaginary world,  there are some unavoidable realities.

Certain principles of natural law apply among sentient beings of blue, pink, and green complexion.  Creatures who share the same world, whether humanoid, reptilian, or insectoid, must share certain common ethical standards if they are going to function together.  Across the array of star systems traits like honesty, and loyalty are esteemed.  Treachery leads to disaster anywhere in the universe.  

It's not great literature, but Jonathan Archer and his figure-it-out-as-we-go-along crew serve as a pretty good illustration that there is a basic morality that operates in this world.  It is like gravity--one violates it at his own risk, and the potential harm of others.  

Let's get our feet back here on Terra Prime (For those of you who have never voyaged with Archer, Kirk, Picard, or Janeway, that's Earth.)  We live in a world where people have been rejecting the basic, obvious-to-anyone-who-looks morality that enables us to function together in reasonable peace.  We are rejecting this natural revelation at our peril.  Look around.  God has made this world so that it works in a particular way.  In that sense we are part of His world.  You can look around and begin to see the truth.  To get the whole story you need to look in God's word.  I encourage you to open your eyes to both of God's revelations.

 

It's STTA.

The alarming condition of many alarms:

I finished yesterday's message with a story about my late father.  He wouldn't mind.  He told me one time that if he could serve as an illustration to help others to grasp a truthfrom God's word, he was just fine with that.

Dad bought a car one time--I can't remember which one; Dad owned a lot of cars--that had a warning sound, bell or buzzer, that would go off when the car's speed got to a certain point.  At the time Dad was fond of driving fast, so this feature really bugged him.  It took him a while, but he finally found how to adjust the speed-dinger.  Dad got under the dashboard and cranked the thing up to 95 or so.  The alarm worked just fine.  Any time you got up to 95 the thing would warn you that you were going too fast.  

Duhhh!

It is an amusing story, but I had a point I was making.  I'll generalize it a bit, here.  We have all kinds of internal warning lights, bells, and buzzers that go off when we are moving in the direction of sin.  One that I have is a "Female skin alert!"  I have found that when a large amount of it is displayed, the likelihood goes up that I will descend into sin.  It is good when the buzzer goes off before I slide into mental iniquity.  The problem is the world in which I live is like Doc Merrell under the dashboard "cranking that thing up so it won't bother me any more."  

I need to recalibrate.  I need to consider the "specs" from God's word and I need the consultation of the Holy Spirit as I do so.  The list of warning lights/sounds on the dashboard of our mind is almost limitless, but I offer a suggestive list.

• A Hebrews 10:25 beeper
• A taking-my-wife-for-granted flashing-strobe.
• A tongue-outrunning-my-mind siren.
• A junk-in-junk-out warning light.

Like I say, my list is suggestive.  Whatever the warning system is that needs recalibrating in your life, open the Word, consult the standards, make a date with Holy Spirit, so He can look over your shoulder, get your screwdriver, and set that alert so it will actually do some good.

 

It's STTA.

 

 

 

On our website, covingtonbblechurch.com, put your cursor over the "Devotional and Study Aids" tab and select "Thirty Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God."  Follow the link.

   

Spending Time With Evil

I can't say that I recommend it, but I found it profitable to spend a day with evil.

It's not something I sought out, or lingered over with anyinappropriate interest.  Some are interested in the kind of lust, greed, prurience, and downright meanness I saw.  I'm not.  I didn't volunteer, I was summoned.  You can draw your conclusions from that.

 

Though an experience like mine is depressing, disturbing, pity-inducing, and at times even revolting there are redeeming qualities about it.

 

I spent several hours with the human condition in its most awful state of corruption.  Some who serve us have to wade that cesspool on a daily basis.  Officers of our courts, social workers, police officers, jailers, and, I'm sad to say, many involved in our school systems deal daily with the dregs of society and those who are drug through the mire by them.  The innocent are scarred,by the guilty, who go about their wicked business with scarred consciences. The Bible speaks of those who enforce the law as "ministers of God."  After a brief excursion into their world my appreciation for what  they do is greater.

 

Literature, music, TV, and movies often glamorize evil.  The bad guys are frequently painted as beautiful, glamorous, to be envied, sometimes even noble.  What I saw was pitiful, ugly, repulsive, and markedly stupid.  The adage of an old preacher, whose name I have forgotten was born out by the sorry parade I saw:  "Sin makes you stupid."  These were folk driven by lust, blinded by evil, and made senseless by continuing lives that make no sense.

 

Too often we see laws as entities which limit freedom.  The result of the lawlessness that I saw is the complete loss of liberty. And I'm not speaking of concrete wall, tempered glass, or iron bars.  Many of these folk were so bound by fetters of their own making, that incarceration in society's jails will provide a measure of liberation for some of them.

Theologians speak of human depravity, or the totally depraved condition of people.  People who come from quite ordinary circumstances are capable of great evil.
We are fond of saying that there is a spark of greatness in every child.  If one goes God's way, I think that is so.  The evidence I saw is that the seed of evil is in each heart.  It's fruit is frightening to behold (see here).

 

It's STTA.

  

SCANNING

  As I type on one computer, I'm sitting in front of another.  The screen tells me a program is doing a "Full System Scan."  I put it more prosaically.  "I'm trying to figure out why the achin' thing runs so slow.  

The screen tells me that Norton (Is he related to the character on the Honey Mooners?  I hope not.) has found and fixed  13 "risks."  I hope one of them is the fix.

 

About any computer savvy person will tell you thatregularly--probably more regular than I do--scanning a machine is a good practice.  Identify those nasty bugs, broken strands of data, and mal-ware before they gum everything up and cause the apparatus to be nothing more than a box that hums. 

 

Long before Norton or Gates, or any other geek, David knew the value of a thorough scan.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." (Psalm 

                                                          139:23-24, NLT)  

 

I invite you to join me in praying the ancient words of the Psalmist.  

 

It's STTA.

Hey, Washington, You Can Do Better!

Opinions about the government shutdown are in abundance. If we could figure a way to put a per word tax on those who wax eloquent about the current stand-off. We could likely raise enough money so we wouldn't need to raise the debt ceiling.
It's the President!
It's congress!
I shared an article the other day that gives a view we don't particularly want to hear--It's us!

 

About the only thing we can agree on is this 

shouldn't be happening.

I was in a meeting last night with a group of guys whose pay grade is well below that of US Senators, Representatives, and the President.  I believe, though, if we could capture the spirit that animated our meeting we could get something done up in DC.  

• There was a marked lack of selfishness, or attempt to establish self-importance.
• A desire to focus on bigger long-term goals was evident.
• Maybe more than anything else that distinguished out meeting from the wrangling in the Capitol is the fact that we trust one another..

I want to, and want to encourage you to, do more than just complain and whine.

• Pray for our leaders.  That is something Romans 13 encourages.
• Remember that in our system of government we are not only the governed, we are the ones who govern.  If you are not impressed with the pettiness of our current leaders, lobby for, campaign for, and vote for better.
• Wherever we can, we need to change the entitlement culture, the tendency to protect our narrow set of interests at the expense of others, and the debating style that features volume rather than substance.
• Finally, let's be careful about our rhetoric.  There are people who, just like the rest of us, just show up to work for various government agencies.  They aren't the enemy.

I still wish I could bring my group to the Capitol.  I hear the chairs are comfortable, and I really think we could get something done.

It's STTA.

  

"Nahh, Yeah, I Guess So."

When I heard this piece of news my reaction was "Nahh, that can't be."  But then when I heard and read some data, I said, "OK, I guess it's so."

 

The most dangerous mammal in North America is the Whitetail Deer.  

That's right.  Bambi will get you.  I'm not figuring there will be a scary movie about Odocoileus virginianus, complete with music that gives shivers in the spine,  any time soon, but it's true.  

The current numbers of deer in North America are about what they were before Miles Standish arrived, but the current number of us has increased greatly.  Much of the vast woodland where deer roamed freely, providing food for bears, cougars, and Native-Americans three millennia ago, has now become shopping malls and freeways, roamed by, well, us.  The problem is the deer get in the way--or perhaps more accurately we get in their way.  Something like 1.5 million times a year car meets deer with disastrous results.

Everybody who has ever had such an experience raise their hand.

One of the less graphic pictures I found:

I thought so.  You'll notice both my hands are up.  Fortunately no one in my car was hurt either time.  I can't say as much for the deer.  Add to that the spike in Lyme Disease--deer are a key component in the transmission of the disease, and, "Wallahh," the graceful shy creatures easily rank as North America's deadliest.

 

 

So, is this just a nature lesson, and a lame one at that?

 

No, the point I hope you will take is that we often fear the wrong thing.  Because something is familiar we tend to discount its potential for mayhem.  The spiritual implications of this concept are great.  I'll give the Apostle Peter, and his fisherman buddy John, the last word.

 

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour"  (1 Peter 5:8, ESV). 

 We just don't pay much attention because, 

"[T]he whole world lies in the power of the evil one"(1 John 5:19, NASB).

Watch out!

It's STTA.

It's odd.  

I miss my Mom.

For the past several years Mom lived with my sister five-hundred miles away.  A year or so ago, I stopped trying to talk to her on the phone.  Even when I would visit she didn't know who I was, and was unable to respond to even simple questions, like, "How are you?"  I'd call and ask how Mom was doing, but it had been years since I had really talked to Mom.  Even though, before Mom died I was elsewhere, my mind was engaged in other tasks, going other directions, and my Mom's death--a week ago today--was a was blessed release from her no longer functioning body, yet, in spite of all that, I miss her.

Though my Mom's body was so emaciated and ravaged by time and disease that I had no desire to see what was left of it, until a little after noon last Monday she was here.  Though I was too far away to do so myself, someone could touch her.  I was concerned that her physical needs be met, and I'm glad that they were.  I was always interested in hearing about any report of something Mom said, or some flicker of recognition that came to Mom's eyes.  Mom, Mom's body, the body that used to contain Mom--there is somewhat of a mystery here; it's hard to know exactly how to identify just what my family buried last week--now lies less than a mile away from where I sit.  Yet the gulf that separates me from my Mom can no longer be crossed in a day's drive.  She was taken.  She is not here.  The finality of. "She is dead." is the new reality.  Though I welcomed the news that death had delivered Mom from the near total disability that gripped her, the news brought a volleyball sized lump to my stomach that has been reduced to tennis ball size, but is still there.

I miss her.

I was proud of my family.  We didn't make any effort to put lipstick on the pig of death.  The body we put in the ground is the body that engulfed each of us for the first nine months of our lives.  The hand that lays across Mom's breast is the hand that touched my face to see if I had a fever, that combed my hair, that spanked me, and prepared thousands of meals.  To see that hand stilled is a horrible thing.  Yet we join with the Apostle Paul in looking death in his hideous eye and saying,

"O death, where is your victory? Odeath, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

(1 Corinthians 15:55-57, NASB95)  

I miss my Mom, but I take Paul's words to the Thessalonians to heart.  I don't "grieve as do the rest who have no hope."  But, I miss my mom. 

It's STTA.

 

 

On our website, covingtonbblechurch.com, put your cursor over the "Devotional and Study Aids" tab and select "Thirty Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God."  Follow the link.

   

:

There is lots of information about the one Who died so that we could have life at our webpage, covingtonbiblechurch.com.  Click on "Life's most important question."

A day full of sin, death, grace, and angels:

When I awoke this morning, the hard drive in my headbegan to whir.  About the first thing I remember thinking was, "It can't be onlyTuesday."

It's been a full week already.

I know all the Theological reasons for starting the week with the Lord's Day, but in my little preacher world,Sunday is the end of the week.  Monday - Saturday is, in large part, spent getting ready for Sunday.  Sundaynight, Kathy and I exhale and crash.  So, when I woke this morning I was only thinking of one day.  

Yesterday was a microcosm of life on this sin-cursed planet.  Kathy and I were with a family, at a crisis point in the their lives.  Sin has done its work and these dear friends of ours were left to sort through the pieces and put things back together.  Don't get the idea its hopeless, far from it.  We can see God's grace shining through.  I'm expecting great things!

Part of that grace--much of it, in fact--is packaged in
human flesh.  A couple of other friends are reaching out to this family with love-in-shoe-leather.  It's the kind of thing angels do.  When you are at the end of your rope, they show up to 

 help.  

In the midst of that, I got word that my mom had died.  It was no surprise.  In fact the surprise was that she was still with us yesterday morning.  There was no "I better sit down." kind of shock, like there was when my dad died with a sudden heart attack, just a dull lump that settled somewhere in my lower abdomen, and wouldn't go away.  Again grace appeared.  God is good.

Miles were traveled, emails sent, phone calls made,conferences had, and plans put in place.  Surely it must be Thursday or Friday.

Life is not a smooth line.  It's like looking at the wave pattern of a speech, full of peaks and valleys.  Across those jagged lines that make up the whispers and the ear piercing screams of life, I find one constant.  I don't know how others live without.  Call it a homing beacon, a steady light, a constant tone, maybe, as a song says, it is the "rhythm of his 

Be Still and Know - Steven Curtis Chapman - Worship Video w/lyrics

unfailing heart of love."

 

Yesterday was full.  I'm glad I can say it was not only full of stuff that happened, I can also look back and see an abundance of God's grace.

 

It's STTA.

 

 

(The little angel at the top?  My mom made I don't know how many of them.  They are around the world.  This morning it is a pretty good reminder of God's grace.)