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Children of Light

Called with Hope

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“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.”  Ephesians 5:8

When I’m up to it and the weather is nice, I like to ride my bike to the gym.  Today was one of those days.  I didn’t expect it to be warm enough, but the sun was shining which made the air pleasant.  I had dressed for cooler weather, so I became a little warm as I rode.  While at the gym, I was concerned that I might get too warm on the way home.  However, while I was there, a heavy cloud cover rolled in and the ride home was actually a little cooler than I like.  What a difference a little sunshine can make and what a difference various forms of light make in our lives.

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Image Control

Becoming Transparent

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“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  John 13:34-35

I grew up in a household that was greatly concerned about what people thought.  I don’t know whether it was driven by my parents’ upbringing, the culture of the era, the fact that my father was a minister or some combination of these factors.  In any event, I was keenly aware of three things at an early age:  as a pastor’s family, we were being watched, scrutinized and held to a different standard; people will quickly judge others without necessarily having all of the facts; and information is power.  As a result, I quickly learned how to be open and welcoming without providing any information about myself that was not “a matter of public record”.  In short, I quickly learned how to manage how I was perceived.  Whether or not we are willing to admit it, we all do a fair amount of image control to be accepted by others.  And there’s the problem: the fear of not being accepted or understood because of some real or perceived flaw in our body, personality, or soul.  Other concerns arise due to our history or circumstances.

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What’s in a Word?

Willful or Persevering?

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Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:1-2

A couple of weeks ago I was traveling and stopped to get gas.  The screens on the gas pumps not only provided instructions, but also weather, news and entertainment.  As I pumped gas, the screen showed “the word of the day” and displayed the word “pertinacious”.  The definition that it provided was “willful” and the example of usage that it gave was “He became pertinacious in his old age.”  As I thought about this, I immediately thought about Solomon, Joash and Amaziah.  The connection came from a chart of the kings of Judah that I’ve been using to keep them straight.  These three are all listed as having done right in their youth and evil in their old age.  They started strong but their resolve waned as they aged.  As I investigated the meaning of the word further, I found that there are two very different meanings to the word.   The one that commonly comes up first is determination or perseverance.  However, it is the secondary definition that reflects willfulness.

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Pure Delight

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“I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”  Psalm 40:8

Sunday morning I was reading Psalm 40 and verse eight jumped out at me.  It says:  “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”  I had to ask myself if doing God’s will was truly my delight or if I have allowed distractions to keep me from true joy.  Not only that, but the word delight has been on my mind since then.  It’s not a word that I hear a lot these days.  When I looked up the definition, the definitions of both the verb and the known had a modifier.  It doesn’t mean to please or pleasure, but it said “to please greatly” or “great pleasure”.  Merriam-Webster adds that an archaic definition is “the power of affording pleasure”.

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Thoughts From the Beach Pt. 3

Riding the Waves

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“Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am.  Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.  Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.  And now, Lord, for what do I wait?  My hope is in You.”  Psalm 39:4-7

Last week I suggested to my wife that we go on a WaveRunner tour which we did.  To understand the significance of that statement, you need to understand that while I love going to the ocean, I’m not a fan of venturing very far out into the ocean.  When I do, I like it to be on a very large boat, e.g. cruise ships, ferries, etc. and I prefer to have land in sight at all times because, in a word, I’m fearful. 

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Thoughts From the Beach Pt. 2

The Walk of Faith

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The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.  Psalm 37:31

Once again, on our first night here after settling in to our lodging, eating dinner and getting groceries, we finally had a chance to walk on the beach.  The condo that we have rented is at the southern end of the island with a large beach behind it that must be crossed to get to the ocean’s edge.  As is our usual custom we were both barefoot and quickly found this to be problematic as the area is not covered with the typical smooth sand.  By contrast, we were walking on broken sea shells while dodging dead sea urchins and vegetation.  Consequently, we had to be vigilant in keeping our focus on the placement of our feet for each step.  Enjoying the scenery took a back seat to self-preservation.

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Thoughts From the Beach Pt. 1

Praise the Lord Oh My Soul

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“Praise the Lord, my soul.  Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.”  Psalm 104:1

My wife and I are currently on vacation staying in a seaside condo.  We determined a few years ago that we are “beach people”.  We like to see and visit other places, but our first love is a seaside beach.  Marie grew up by the ocean in New England.  I was inland; consequently, my only encounter with the ocean was an overnight stay in Daytona while on a college choir tour.  She was excited to get me to the ocean and once there I was hooked.  At dinner last night we were talking about that fact.   As we talked while eating seaside, Marie observed that it is quite possible that I love the ocean more than she does.  I agreed stating that trips to the ocean are as much or more about my soul than rest and relaxation.

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Green With Envy

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“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”  James 3:14-16

For the first few years of our marriage, my wife and I lived on Lookout Mountain.  I loved the view that the mountain provided and the drive off of it was always beautiful.  When storms rolled in, they might be above you, below you or surrounding you.  The occasional snow storm added winter beauty, but ice storms made the mountain sparkle.  My absolute favorite was the fog.  I have never figured out the attraction, but I always loved it when the fog rolled in.  Since we “lived in the clouds” it was rather frequent.  However, one of the down sides of living there was the way it hampered contentment. 

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The Father’s Love

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When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?  Psalm 8:3-4

Chronic illness can be lonely.  When severe enough, it often leads to isolation either because we are not able to get out or because we just don’t feel up to the task mentally.   However, isolation is not limited to illness.  Personal tragedy, loss or grief can also lead to isolation whether it is circumstantial or self-imposed.  When we do not sustain a close relationship with God to guard our souls and do not maintain connections with godly people who challenge us and draw us out of our isolation, it’s easy to let feelings of insecurity and doubt take center stage in our thoughts and erode our faith in God and man.  It causes our world to darken and makes our future seem bleak.  We often feel small, insignificant and of little value…we may even feel abandoned.  In those moments, we need to consider the answer to the question posed in Psalm 8:3-4.

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Point of View

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“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,  while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”   2 Corinthians 4:16-18

In 1996 I was evaluated for a pain management clinic.  At the end of our meeting, the doctor stated that he thought that I was depressed.  As my wife and I left his office, I looked at Marie and said something like “Do you think?”  I had been struggling with severe pain for five years and seizures for two with no clear cause or treatment plan for either; eating was a struggle causing me to be significantly underweight; and a few months before, my mother had died.  It was a bit much to handle all at once and I was more than a little depressed.  A few years later as God began to educate me with respect to reconciling my illness to His promised love for me, I had a major hurdle.  I had recently read that a woman with symptoms similar to mine had live to be 89 years old.  I was only 39; the thought of living like this for another 50 years was overwhelming to say the least.  I felt like I was being tortured.  But when I yielded to God and began to open my heart to accept His plan for me, the weight of it all began to lighten.

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