My tiny sacrifice helps me see the bigger one:

Something To Think About The Cost of Discipleship:

I’ve read about those hearty missionaries who packed their belonging in a coffin, because they didn’t expect to return.  The folk who first came to the region where I am living, would book passage on a ship, be rowed ashore at their destination, and then they would figure it out.  Relatives would marry, children would be born, and loved ones would die.  These faithful servants wouldn’t know until, sometimes years had passed.  The fact that I’m sending this over an internet connection, from my comfortable apartment, certainly indicates that what I’m doing bears almost no resemblance to what those pioneers did. Almost--the “almost” was driven home the other day when I received news from my pastor that a good friend had died.  I remember sitting in his living room chatting with him about a month ago.  He was a man in his eighties, but just a babe in Christ.  I had known him for a number of years.  He had been a “prayer project” for Kathy, me, and a number of others.  We rejoiced when he put his faith in Christ.  His health had been in decline.  He had enough problems to keep a whole class of medical students busy for a semester.  As I looked at him that day back in his home in Virginia, I knew there was a strong possibility that I wouldn’t see him again in this life.  There was a pull.  Maybe I shouldn’t go after all. Just yesterday I read the words of the Lord Jesus to a would-be follower, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60, NIV).  Various interpretive spins have been put on the statement.  I think it is likely that the man’s dad wasn’t dead, yet.  Often Jesus answered not only what people said, but what they thought.  It could be that the son’s concern was not related to future grief, but to present greed.  He needed to be there to make sure his inheritance was secure.  Clearly the Lord’s words need to be put in the context of His overall teaching about the cost of discipleship.  He spoke about denying one’s self, cross-bearing, and a willingness to make all other relationships secondary to devotion to Him.  Clearly, the cause of Christ is supreme. The next time I see my friend he won’t have a cough.  He’ll extend his arm fully—something he was not able to do for as long as I knew him—to shake my hand.  That grasp will allow us to pull one another into an embrace.  We’ll have a cup of heaven’s best coffee, and catch up a bit.  There will not be the least doubt that it was right for me to tell him good bye that day in Virginia.  “I might not see you down here again.”  It would be really cool—and just like I’m sure there will be coffee in heaven, I’m confident it is a place where cool things abound—it would be really cool if about then somebody came by and told about some impact my work here on the other side of the world had in their life.  I can see the twinkle in my friend’s eye as we enjoy that moment.  It’s STTA

Wind & Growing Stronger:

Something To Think About Bucking the wind:

For the last two days I’ve ridden my bike to work, here in my new home.  It’s not too far, I’d say a mile and a half, though this morning I tacked on an extra mile so I could intersect with Kathy on her morning walk.  About half a mile from my apartment there is a bridge that I cross, connecting the Islands of Koror and Malakal.  Every time I’ve crossed it, going toward Koror, on foot or riding a bike, I’ve noticed that there is a stiff headwind that pushes against me at that point.  Downshift.  Pedal faster and harder. At breakfast this morning I read an essay by the High School Senior Student of the Universe, 2016.  Well, that’s the opinion of her grandmother and me.  Carrington was named the student of the year at Sterlington, Louisiana, High School.  She’ll graduate from SHS in a few months.  She is being considered for the honor of student of the year in her Parrish (that’s Louisiana talk for county).  Her essay is part of what is involved in being considered for this recognition.  I read Carrington’s words aloud so her grandmother could hear them.  Hearing, as well as seeing, her words gave them even greater impact on my heart.  Carrington spoke of times when she had to pass from one place in her life to another.  Some of those transitions were not pleasant, and they involved bridges that weren’t all that secure.  A few minutes later as I felt the ocean gale blowing in my face, I thought of the stiff winds she had faced at critical times in her life. Carrington’s not a biker, soccer and running are her sports, but she’ll know what I mean when I say that she chose to downshift and pedal harder. It makes us stronger. With inspiration from a lovely young lady, It’s Something To Think About.

Theological Translation:

Something To Think About Theological Relevance:

A simple definition of Theology that I have used says, “Theology is an all-encompassing philosophy of life that puts God in His proper place.”  It’s more of a statement to be preached, than a formal Systematic Theology definition.  That’s why I allow an obvious problem with the statement to stand.  Nobody puts God anywhere; we can only recognize where He chooses to be.  The little proverb-like definition seems to have more punch, though, worded as it is.  It tells me that there is something I need to do. We find out about God from the Bible, the book where God reveals Himself.  Bringing God’s truth into the realm where I live and thus recognizing the place that God totally deserves to occupy in my little world involves answering some questions.  Millard Erickson calls this process “contemporizing the Christian message.”  At this level everyone who has any concern at all for living a life that is pleasing to the Lord is a Theologian—we need to “put” God in the right place.  Erickson identifies three ways that would-be Theologians do this. There is the group that was quite prevalent in the culture in which I grew up.  Little, if any, effort is put into making the “old, old story” relevant to today’s culture.  The fact is the Bible has universal relevance.  The way we package it, not so much.  These folk recognize that God is in control, but they erect a wall of tradition and obscurity around Him so that contemporary people have little chance of seeing which way He is pointing. Other’s allow the culture to be in the pilot’s chair.  If some affirmation or prohibition found in scripture is not palatable to the ears of the culture in which these so-called Theologians are operating, they simply declare that word to be old-fashioned, irrelevant, or to be based on a primitive view of life.  In essence they say, “Move over God.  We know better about these things.” Erickson rightly points out that the task of the true Theologian is to “retain the essential content of the biblical teaching,” while, “translat[ing] into more modern concepts.” The first group is loud but irrelevant.  The second is friendly, and pseudo-relevant.  Those who speak to the real needs of real people are those who do the hard work of asking, “What does the Word of God have to say to people today, and how do I best say it?”  Kind of like the leaders in the Book of Ezra who, “read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.”   (Ezra 8:8, NIV) It’s Something to Think About. Today’s STTA is drawn from Introducing Christian Doctrine, Millard Erickson, chapter 2.

Habits

I have lived in Palau for all of 2 weeks.  Speaking from the viewpoint of typical American cultural arrogance that would make me an expert.  As was irritatingly popular a few years ago, “NOT!” I have had some opportunities to interact with habits, both mine, and those of the folk I’m working with here in this lovely nation. Two unrelated facts merge to create an odd situation in regard to driving in Palau.  Palau has had a long association with the United States.  The US was the prime influence here following World War II, the era in which Palauans were put on wheels.  I’m just an old preacher taking in the surroundings, but I figure that’s why we drive on the right side of the road.  However, it’s a long way back to California, or even Hawaii, so it makes sense that most of the cars here come from Japan, where they drive on the left-hand side of the road.  So my fifty year habit of keeping to the right stands me in good stead.  For that half a century, however, I’ve gone to the left side of the car to slide behind the wheel.  I’ve had cars with shift-on-the-column.  The shifter was on the right, the turn-signal on the left.  It’s been a long time since I owned a car with the gear-shift on the steering-column, but all the cars and trucks I’ve ever owned had the turn signal on the left of the steering-column.  Not now.  That lever on the left turns the windshield wipers on. Several times I’ve walked up to the left side of my Subaru, opened the door and slide behind the wheel only to see that the wheel was a figment of my habit fed imagination.  The real controls are where they have been since this car came off the assembly line in 2007, on the right.  I always hope no one is watching as I get out and walk around.  The first time I drove a couple of miles without mistakenly turning the windshield wipers on I was quite proud of myself.  Even putting the car in gear with my left, instead of my right, hand feels odd, as does having my left hand “free” to reach for something, tune the radio, etc. Habits, ruts, patterns-of-behavior, call them what you will, after most of a lifetime they are well established.  So far none of my American driving habits have proven to be disastrous.  I just have to talk to myself a bit more than usual.  I’ve read that it takes six weeks to establish new patterns.  Remind me in a month and I’ll let you know.  For now, though, I just want to remind you that the habits we build are more powerful than we realize.  The fact that we habitually do things without thinking can be very good, or very bad.  Until a couple of weeks ago, the fact that I didn’t have to write down, or think about which side of the car to get in has been a good thing.  It has probably meant that at least a week of my life has been spent on more productive matters.  I could carry on a conversation, or think about a difficult Theological issue and still land in the right—by that I mean “left”—seat. Here is what I want you to think about, though: Especially for those of us who have arrived at a certain age, could it just be possible that the habits that unconsciously control our lives, no longer work very well in the world in which we live?  Could it be that we are trying to get by with left-hand-drive patterns of life and ministry in a right-hand-drive world?  Even worse could it be that we are just stubbornly clinging to the way it used to be?  Maybe not, but it is Something to Think About.