The Heart of the Matter

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 

 He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save himself, nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” 

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 

I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, To give to each person according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds. 

But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does.  

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. 

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. 

(James 1:26, Isaiah 44:20, Jeremiah 17:9-10, James 1:25, Luke 6:45, James 1:22) 

Money Is the Answer

People prepare a meal for enjoyment, wine makes life joyful, and money is the answer to everything. 

To the pure, all things are pure; 

 Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

Honor the Lord from your wealth, And from the first of all your produce; Then your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. 

And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it is all gone, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. 

...but to those who are defiled and unbelieving,.. whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things... nothing is pure, 

Ecclesiastes 10:19, Titus 1:15(a), 1 Corinthians 5:8, Proverbs 3:9-10, Luke 16:9, Titus 1:15(b), Philippians 3:19, Titus 1:15(c) 

A Holy Nation

...He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find him, though He is not far from ech one of us; for in him we live and move and exist... 

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. 

for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you.  

Acts 17:26-27,1 Peter 2:9, Philippians 3:20-21, 2 Peter 1:11-12, 

Ten-Year-Olds

I have a couple ten-year-olds just to make sure no train of thought lasts too long. Scripture records Jesus's habit of often withdrawing to lonely places to pray. That sounds profoundly attractive to a busy parent. Ten-year-olds make sure that doesn't happen, either. You pray out loud on the spot all the time with prayers that begin, 'Oh my God!? What..." In the several times I've been interrupted while writing this paragraph, I've learned what happens to a PB&J sandwich when you roll it up tight, what happens to a bagged loaf of bread when you don't, and how many times a kid can click their tongue against the roof of their mouth while loudly humming out of tune before I completely lose track of my reason for being alive today.

My wife and I recently took a few days off in the White Mountains of our home state of Arizona to celebrate our 25th anniversary. When the nearly forgotten privilege of doing what we want when we want was finally upon us, we were so out of our element that we sat motionless in near perfect silence for hours every day just waiting for interruptions that never happened. It was glorious. Oh. Right.... we were also surrounded by beautiful scenery. But, WOW, you should have heard that silence.

When Grandma Carolyn answered her door after our four days away, the smile on her face was as strained as the ten-year-old voice still trying to hum that high note from the hiding place behind the living room sofa. With his own disconcerting grin, Grandpa Steve looked up unmoved from his recliner like he had lost the battle three days ago and knew his reason for being alive today wasn't coming back to him until our car was out of the driveway and he could watch what he really wanted to. I truly love these people. They even paid us in cookies and soda for the privilege of having the children... or was that getting even?

Time flies. Time parenting flies faster. The idea is that in a few days when our children are grown and shouting spontaneous prayers about their own ten-year-olds, my wife and I will be in Steve and Carolyn's shoes. We'll celebrate the moment the parents are out of sight and we can party with grandkids like it's the end of the world. Then we'll feign good-humored annoyance when their parents return so they won't suspect things went too smoothly without them. And of course, we'll repay them with cookies, soda and bad ideas in their children's heads to make sure they drive their parents crazy enough to return them often. Turns out that's a pretty good reason to be alive today.

All On Us

Always, all on us, 

Our bold, impatient pain, 

Our consequence and struggle, 

The lightening, wind and rain.

Always, all on us, 

The storm will do its task. 

What can be shaken shakes 

To show us what will last.

 

Always, all on us 

This too, has come to pass; 

The stones of blame will crumble 

To sand we cannot grasp.

 

Always, all on us 

Rebuilding day to day 

With chaff and sand and rubble 

What’s never meant to stay.

Always, all on us 

The sun and seasons turn. 

The process must repeat 

The things we must relearn. 

 

Always, all on us, 

Your grace and strength and plan, 

Your ever-present help 

Alike with your demands. 

 

Always, all on us,

All things go as they should. 

Complete, your vison rests, 

Eternal, perfect, good.

Road Rash

 Thursday, May 25th, I left my house shortly after 2:00PM, road my bicycle partway to work and woke up at 3:45PM in the bed of an ambulance at the bottom of Windy Point, a long, steep hill two miles from my house. My last memory is that it was a beautiful day to take the climb easy and enjoy the scenery before the decent. The ambulance arrived due to the call of a motorist who kindly stopped instead of running me over when they found me laying unresponsive in the road in front of them. Some of my burns are simply from laying on the hot pavement while I dreamed about more pleasant things. The rest of my burns are plain old road rash to supplement my broken clavicle, bruised ribs and a concussion. The rest of the event details are as unsearchable as God's ways.

I've often said that you can't study the laws of nature and miss the supernatural. So, naturally, that's where my mind is while I'm recovering from violating some of nature's laws and my wife is graciously helping me change bandages and clothes that I don't quite have the ability to do on my own yet. Thank God that full and timely recovery is expected but we still have to go through the healing process. That is to say, I'm having a hard time reaching the keyboard with my left hand, my mind is getting tired fast and auto correct is working hard to make this a sensible post.

With no further ado, here's the spiritual bit you've all learned to expect from me. When it's obvious that God has spared your life, that's the right time to reevaluate your priorities and make sure they are well aligned with his. Of course, those with higher spiritual IQ's can do that before such an event but here I am wearing the shoe that still fits, even with some fresh scrapes on it. Listen to God's laws and don't make him raise his voice. It will knock you off whatever you're riding same as it knocked Saul (a.k.a. the apostle Pual) off his Donkey. And the lesson isn't quit riding donkeys. It's more like why are you riding one. Motives matter. Time for a nap.

I'll Miss Out

To close the pop-up window soliciting me for the hundredth time to subscribe or face the unmitigated perils of the internet, I had to click the button labeled, "No thanks. I'll miss out". Apparently I need to acknowledge my devotion to simpleton living.

Since I was already humbled and ready to acknowledge my flaws, I had no trouble later when the gas station pump required me to push the "No Loyalty" button to proceed without a points card. Besides, I had already opted to miss out and I didn't want to add being inconsistent to my growing list of character flaws.

I still feel like there's hope, though. Christ's disciples all pushed the "no loyalty" button when it was time to associate with their disgraced and condemned rabbi. And the mobsters of Israel at the time smashed the "I'll miss out" button for lack of conviction that there was any hazard Christ could save them from. In spite of those famous mistakes, the instant any one of them showed enough humility to repent, they were restored to being able to surf the internet and buy gas without doing penance every time. Stick that in your gas tank the next time life demands that you push the "I suck" button. It's a points card you can't lose and you'll get the "life to the full" discount every time.