Pain--Body & Relationships:

Something To Think About, Problems:

An old navy saying goes something like, If you aren't leaving a wake behind you then you aren't underway.  A while back I preached a couple of messages on a controversial matter.  At the end of my presentations I observed that some folk, from both the right and the left, were upset.  A friend wisely observed, "You probably got it about right."  I sure hope so. Many of us have an automatic response that kicks in any time trouble, or relationship problems are on the horizon--avoid it, makeit go away, get rid of it as soon as possible. Trouble in relationships, misunderstandings, etc. though, can be like pain in our body.  Have you noticed that frequently when you have an injury the people who first see you don't give you anything to kill the pain?  I'm sure there are a number of reasons for that--reasons that I, not being a medical professional, don't understand--but I have heard one reason is the pain is an essential indicator of the problem.  When the examining physician shows up he/she will ask, "Where does it hurt?" Sometimes the physician will even probe with her/his hands and ask, "Does this hurt?"  They will ply the suffering patients like, "On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate this pain.?"  "Is it a sharp pain, a burning pain, or an ache?"  I have vivid memories of one such exam though it was decades ago.  I still remember my gasping, wincing reply, "YES!"  in response to the Dr. pressing a place on my shoulder and asking, "Does it hurt here?" In both physical maladies and relational issues before one just makes the pain go away, he should ascertain what its cause is.  Broken bones and relationships hurt.  They should hurt.  Asking and answering the "Why?" question can add to the pain, at least for a time, but it can be a necessary part of the diagnostic process.  Just walking away from a painful relationship may prevent one from an opportunity to learn, grow, and come out on the other side a better person. It's Something To Think About.

Looking forward to Heaven:

I look forward to heaven.

And it's not just because my knees ache.  

Over the past few days I had the privilege of visiting with old friends and hearing from some others.  I miss them.  I received news of the birth of a great niece, named after my grandmother, and I am processing the ongoing process of my mothers gradual decline toward death--a process that long ago robbed her of all that makes her who she is.  

I'm acutely aware of the separation of miles, and more touched by the gaps that grow between people because of the friction of life here on this sin-cursed globe.  

An acquaintance just died one of those "senseless" deaths--as if death ever surrenders to good sense--and a friend, younger than me, who very much needs to stay with us--Lord, are you listening?--is battling a life threatening disease.  To top it off I just attended the funeral of a little guy who never got to come home from the hospital.

As my late pastor used say, these things "cause us to long for heaven."

I want to be in a place that is not controlled by the wicked one.

I long for a place where distance and stupidity do not come between friends.

I am looking forward to being in a realm where the only mention of death will be to observe that it is dead.

My knees won't ache, and in the same way some wonderfully sweet people I know, won't be hampered by thinking apparatus that doesn't work up to spec.  (I figure were all in that group to one degree or another.  I know I am.)

I desire the completion of what my Lord has begun.

I want to thank Him.

Yep, Heaven is looking good.

But, enough of that.  God is the conductor who punches the tickets.  Until then I need to be faithful.  The Apostle Paul, somebody on my list of people I want to meet, has some things to say about that in Philippians 1 & 2 Corinthians 5.

Lord, help to live here and now, with then and there on my mind.  Amen.

It's STTA.

The Face of Evil

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT What does the face of evil look like? We see it all around us, but most often we see it in silhouette, if you will.  In fact, often as we sort through the aftermath of grotesque wickedness, like the law-enforcement investigators in Boston, we see the horrendous aftermath, but we don't see the face that perpetrated the crime.    The fact is, evil wears different masks:  They are found all across the spectrum from the distortion of extreme righteousness, so called, as was the case with evil on that first Good Friday, all the way to the just out-and-out, unadulterated badness, that too often stalks our streets.     The Bible is clear that evil is here.  The Devil is not merely a personification; he is a real, spiritual person, Satan, Lucifer, the Dragon, and he gets around, and gets a lot done.  In the book of Job, he describes the territory he has marked with his foul scent:  "I've been 'roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.'"   (Job 1:7)  In the New Testament he is described as the "Prince of the Power of the Air."  (Ephesians 2:2)--no more localized than the air we breath.  He is not the evil opposite of God.  He lacks, for instance, the omni attributes: omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. He does get around, though, he is cunning and powerful, and he does have help.  His network is so widespread and effective that John says "The whole world lies in the power of the wicked one."  (1 John 5:19)    Not only are these spiritual entities busily spreading evil, you and I, the Bible makes clear, have evil in our core, and in the same way that the physical ecosystems of our world are degraded, the moral spiritual realm is polluted.  (Read Romans 8, and Ephesians 2:1-10 for both description and hope.  An evil tempter, tempting people with a propensity to sin, in a world that is skewed in an evil direction--there is a recipe for a mess.   Carnage, like that in Boston, gets our attention and causes us to cry out for answers:   "Who?" "Why?" "Where is God?" As to the last question, I assert that God is both here, with you, and in Boston.  The Bible teaches that He doesn't take coffee-breaks.  Look here, here, and especially here to see some things I have written after past tragedies. The face of evil is sometimes sanctimonious, at other times on fire with raw hatred.  It often is heavily colored with selfishness.  If you look around the eyes you can detect deception.  Ironically, and in a way that troubles me the mouth on the face of evil is often seen to be grinning.   I guess what troubles me most about thinking of the face of evil is I sometimes see it looking back at me from the mirror.   It's STTA.