In Spite of Ailments

Genesis 39:20-21

The Voice (VOICE)

²⁰ So Potiphar, Joseph’s master, put him into prison and locked him up in the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. Joseph remained there for a time. ²¹ But the Eternal One remained with Joseph and showed him His loyal love…

Helen lives a half an hour from us. Widowed, she lives alone in a tiny apartment. Prior to this she lived in suburbia where she kept a lovely garden. Many of her neighbors there were drug dealers. When police busted some of them, and because she was usually out in her garden, they assumed she had been spying on them and turned them in. After they vandalized her home, she knew she had to leave there.

At 90, Helen walks with obvious pain. She said, “I have arthritis from here to here,” as she hesitatingly pointed first to her chin and then to her thigh. She wears a neck brace to keep her neck from hurting.

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I took Sylvia over to see her and her collections of nutcrackers and ceramics. She has well over a hundred brightly painted nutcrackers ranging from one inch to five feet tall. The nutcracker “guarding” her front door stands taller than she and wears a fur hat.

She is proudest of her ceramics. She has scores of figures arranged on shelves and decorating her furniture. Each one is exquisitely sculpted down to the finest detail and then painstakingly colored before being fired. She made them all. She carefully picked one example of her work off of a shelf and lovingly handed it to us. It was an 8 inch tall perfect statuette of a neighbor. The neighbor was unhappy because it accurately reproduced all her wrinkles and blemishes.

“In my old home I had a big kiln; now I just have a little one that can take up to 8 inch figures,” she confided. She showed us a number of other items that were in various stages of completion.

Helen is no hermit. Neighbors often gather in her tiny home for parties or teas. Like Joseph who was unfairly thrust into prison for years with no direct communication from God, she lives above her ailments. She continues her creation of beauty and delight.

Lord, like Helen and like Joseph of old, may I continue to bring joy, comfort, and faith to those about me in full confidence of Your love.

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 [i] http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/nutcracker-figures-22437332.jpg

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Song of Solomon 6:11

King James Version

¹¹ I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded.

We were invited to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with a group of junior high students from a Christian school. As you can well imagine, all was noise and bustle. Everyone dashed around setting up tents, spreading out sleeping bags, making supper. The camp was nestled under a great canopy of ponderosa pine which gave the whole camp that fresh clean piney smell.

Now it was time to see the Grand Canyon. We walked along a trail bordering the mighty cliffs on the edge of the canyon. Squirrels whistled our approach to a wary world. Shade from the tall trees made the air cool and caressing and pleasantly scented. Lizards hung on spots on the rocks in the late red and warm sunshine.

Here and there along the trail bright bursts of color told us spring was here to stay. White cliff rose blossoms looked pink in the evening sunshine. Multitudes of showy yellow flowers greeted us at every turn mingled with a scattering of red and blue ones to add variety.

At close to 9000 feet (2700 meters) this region is often still under snow at this time in spring. But the winter was dry with a warm, early spring sun that had brought out the blossoms like the lovers discovered in Solomon’s nut gardens.

Then to seal all this, as the sun set silently and gently beyond the western cliffs, the facing cliffs turned to rose. I walked back to the parking lot in awe of God’s magnificent artistry.

Thank You Lord for the resurgence of life every spring, and how this lifts our spirits from dull winter drudgery and renews our faith in Your promises.

Bring Back Our Girls

Zechariah 4:10

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁰ For who hath despised the day of small things? 

On the night of April 14-15, 2014, as many as 200 armed men invaded a girls’ school in Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria. An estimated 276 senior high school aged girls were kidnapped. The extremist Islamic group called the Boko Haram claimed responsibility for it. Their aim is to destroy western education, especially that of women. They have been credited for having killed at least 4,000 people during the first three months of 2014. In Boko Haram’s announcement, they indicated that the girls would be sold as “wives,” in reality sex slaves, at the going rate of about $12 each. The Nigerian government initially denied that it had happened. Finally on May 4, once stories surfaced from parents of missing students and from students who managed to escape and it became known internationally, the government stated that it was doing everything it could to find the girls. However, no increased government presence had been felt in the area. The first I heard about this atrocity was a brief mention of it on a 5:30 a.m. news cast on May 6. This news was not felt important enough to be mentioned at the normal times that I listen. Almost a year has gone by now and hardly anyone even remembers the event. None of the girls have been rescued.

[i]

What was my response? I was very upset about it. Being the father of two daughters, I imagined how bad I would feel if one of those kidnapped were my daughter. What would I do? I sensed the totally helpless feeling a father must have to be up against such a force of evil. Looking at Google Earth, I saw a huge forest just to the north of the town. It would be really easy for these terrorists to disappear into that jungle. Going into that jungle alone would be suicide. Even if I could have raised a posse, we would be no match against the Boko Haram.

What can I do about this or other similar situations as I sit in southern California suburbia? Very little! If I write my congressman and my senator, what good would that do? Probably none! If every reader were to write our representatives in government and if all of our friends were to write and if all of their friends were to write against this renewal of the slave trade, then the combined pressure could possibly force action.

Lord, help us not to despise the day when all we can do is small things!

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[i]  http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/05/29/article-2641976-1DC5ED1600000578-287_634x352.jpg

Fearful Threat of Eternal Damnation

Hebrews 10:26-27

The Voice (VOICE)

Now if we willfully persist in sin after receiving such knowledge of the truth, then there is no sacrifice left for those sins—only the fearful prospect of judgment and a fierce fire that will consume God’s adversaries

On Sabbath, Pastor Sam told the experience of a student at La Sierra University who grew up under the must Puritanical form of legalism. This governed everything she ate, everything she wore, everything she did, and everywhere she went. No matter how strictly she followed her upbringing, she couldn’t find joy; only the fearful threat of eternal damnation hung over her head.

I couldn’t help but feel empathy with her because of similar feelings in my upbringing. As I considered our plight, I remembered Martin Luther’s experience. In 1505 he had finished a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in law. He was wending his way down a dirt road to Erfurt when a sudden storm blew up, and a lightning bolt struck the ground near him. Paralyzed with fear, he promised Saint Ann he would become a monk. He did and took up every aspect of a monk’s life, with fervor. He prayed, fasted, slept in the bitter cold without a blanket, and whipped himself with a zeal that almost took his life. But he found no peace, no joy, and no freedom from his fear of eternal punishment in hell. Finally, while reading and meditating on the Psalms and the book of Romans in the word of God, he fastened his faith and hope in the grace of Jesus Christ.

Martin Luther wrote “So when you are frightened by the law, you can say, ‘Lady Law, you are not the only thing, and you are not everything. Besides you there is something even greater and better, specifically, grace, faith, and blessing. They don’t accuse, frighten, or condemn me. They comfort me, tell me to expect the best, and assure me of my certain victory and salvation in Christ. So there is no reason for me to despair.’”[i]

For many years now, I have rejoiced in the freedom and peace that comes from a certain knowledge that Christ has forgiven me and saved me−not because of anything I have done, but because of His love and sacrifice for me.

May I be the means of today helping someone find this same peace in You, Lord Jesus.

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[i] Martin Luther, By Faith Alone edited by James C. Galvin published in 1998 by World Bible Publishers, Iowa Falls, Iowa; in the March 15 devotional.

Evidence of Great Love

John 15:13

The Voice (VOICE)

¹³ There is no greater way to love than to give your life for your friends.

King was my dog. He went everywhere I went as a boy, except to school, of course. But he would be lying there waiting for me when I came home. We had the run of several thousand acres of untamed hillsides. I collected insects and pressed the flowers from the rich Western Cape fynbos. King enjoyed the explorations and bundu bashing as much as I did. His rich red and white collie coat would flare out in the perennial Cape Southeaster.

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These halcyon days came to an end when I turned 12. Dad accepted a new job fifteen hundred miles away. Grandpa died, and we buried him there at Helderberg; then we got into the car and drove to the new job, new environs, steppe country rather than fynbos, and boarding school for me. King remained behind.

A new family adopted him. They had young boys who loved him as much as I had. King adopted his new family and loved them as much as he loved us. He lived happily with them for some four or five years. He also took the boys on the great adventures through the fynbos that we had pioneered.

One day they came upon a downed power line. The kids had no experience with such danger and were immediately attracted to the flying sparks. King sensed the impending danger and kept getting between the boys and the wire and pushing them back. But there was only one dog and two curious boys. Finally, in desperation King grabbed the wire with his mouth to pull it out of the boys’ way.

The boys watched in horror as King was electrocuted. The family gave King an honorable burial and sent us word of his love and heroics in saving the boys.

Thank You, Lord, for love, self-sacrificing love not only between You and us or between people, but also between dogs and us. May my life today show others this kind of love.

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[i] http://www.dogbreedhealth.com/rough-collie/

Forgive--How Many Times?

Matthew 18:21-22

The Voice (VOICE)

Peter: ²¹ Lord, when someone has sinned against me, how many times ought I forgive him? Once? Twice? As many as seven times?

Jesus: ²² You must forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven.

At one point I had a coworker whom I’ll call Landen. He had the rather obnoxious habit of remembering every real and imagined mistake I had ever made. He would pop into my office unannounced, sit down and start recounting all of my short-comings. He would continue berating me until my heart would be racing furiously with the pent up anger I felt within me. I would argue, fruitlessly, that he was misrepresenting my motives and actual facts. He would often spend an hour or more because he relished making me livid. This would, of course, only add fuel to his vitriol. This went on mercilessly for several years, and I was seriously thinking of dumping the job and finding something else to do.

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During this time I walked to and from work, about a half-hour in each direction. As I walked, my mind replayed over and over again the injustice he was heaping on my head. I could feel my blood pressure rising higher and higher within me. I knew that this was taking a serious toll on my health.

Finally I decided that I had to do something different from what I was doing. I started praying earnestly for Landen, for his health, for his well-being, for his prosperity. I prayed for his soul, for his salvation and for his spiritual walk with God. It took serious effort on my part to seek his welfare. I no longer prayed for an understanding between us.

Things changed dramatically over the next few weeks. The change was my attitude, not Landen’s behavior. Whenever he came in and settled down on a chair in my office and started berating me, I didn’t attempt to apologize or defend myself or set him straight on his misconceptions or outright twisting of the facts. Instead I would laugh and admit that what he was describing was rather unfortunate, stupid, or whatever. The effect was almost magical.

Now I began to sense that this was Landen’s way of talking with everyone. I watched him do it with my colleagues, including the department chair. As our relations, normalized he would stop in and tell me about his conversations with various upper management, and I would realize that he was treating them the same way he had treated me. My blood pressure no longer shot up into the stratosphere. I could talk with him again as a colleague and not as an abuser.

Lord, continue to grant me the wisdom to forgive perceived wrongs and to seriously seek the physical and spiritual well-being of those I encounter on a daily basis.

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[i] from cbsnews.com

Praise God Continuously

Revelation 4:8 

The Voice (VOICE)

⁸  All day and night they were singing.

Four Living Creatures: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God who is the All Powerful, who was, and who is, and who is coming.

One Saturday night our family had been playing games and enjoying a fun time together. About midnight the phone rang. I answered it, wondering who might be calling that late.

“This is Officer Joseph[i] from Richfield, Utah, Police Department. Do you know Elvin Oblander?”

“Yes,” I replied guardedly.

“PRAISE GOD!” He exclaimed excitedly, a huge amount of relief in his voice.

“How do you know him?”

“He’s my wife’s uncle.” Again I said this cautiously.

“PRAISE GOD!” with even greater fervor.

Officer Joseph went on to tell me that they had found Elvin driving the wrong way down the I-70 freeway. They had taken him in, given him a drink of water, and then started him back onto the freeway. He headed down the right direction but began weaving back and forth across lanes in a haphazard way. This time they felt they couldn’t let him drive further for his own safety as well as that of others. They had asked him whom he knew, and he couldn’t remember a single person’s name, just that he had a sister. They searched his car and pockets and found lots of pieces of paper.

Officer Joseph had called everyone whose name they found on any of these pieces of paper. Either the person didn’t pick up the phone or claimed they didn’t know him. Finally he found a piece of paper where Sylvia had written her name and phone number (minus area code) and personally put it in his pocket.

I explained how Elvin was exhibiting the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. But he had seemed to be able to get around just fine. He had been invited to the reunion of a nursing class whom he had befriended and taken on outings in his car many years previously. The added pressure of extremely high temperatures and his not drinking enough must have accentuated his problems.

“You understand we can’t let him drive anymore. Is there any way you could come and get him?” Officer Joseph inquired.

I asked him how far Richfield was from Riverside and then did a quick calculation in my head. It was roughly a 24 hour round trip. If we left right then and drove all night we would get to Richfield by about noon. Allowing a couple hours to get him and his car and eat lunch, we could be home by about two o’clock Monday morning. I had to teach at eight o’clock that morning. So it was doable. Sylvia would have to go with me to drive Elvin’s car.

“Yes, we can do it.”

“PRAISE GOD!” This was at least the eighth time he had praised God. Once we learned more details of his trip and the mishaps along the way, we too praised God for Elvin’s safety.

Praise God! for looking after His own, especially when they are suffering from dementia and heat stroke.

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[i] I don’t remember his actual name.

40 Years

Nehemiah 9:30

The Voice (VOICE)

³⁰     Year after year, Your patience endured.
        Your Spirit animated prophets, and they spoke many warnings to them.
    In not listening and turning away from the prophets,
        they turned directly into their advancing enemies.

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Forty years is a common number in Scripture. I have always enjoyed looking at numbers and how they are used by Bible writers. For starters God took the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert to the very edge of their promised land of Canaan. Then the people did a strange thing: They raised a hue and a cry about wishing to die in the wilderness. God, in His love and mercy, said to them in effect, “Okay, I see that you feel inadequate for the war in front of you, I’ll grant your wish.” Over the next 40 years their wish was fulfilled to the last person. Meanwhile God waited patiently for a completely new generation.

In the period of the judges, the Lord raised up warrior-leaders. He brought deliverance from severe oppression, and at least four times the peace lasted for 40 years until the death of the judge (Othneil, Deborah, Gideon, Eli). Again for 40 years they languished under the power of the Philistines until Samson delivered them. The kings of the united kingdom, Saul, David and Solomon, each reigned, mainly in peace, for 40 years.

Why 40 years? Obviously I can only guess. The old retirement policy of the Adventist Church required 40 years of service to get full retirement benefits. In all these instances the useful career life of a person is roughly 40 years. God is patient. His patience can outlast our stubbornness.

There is an end to God’s patience when one willingly turns away and rejects Him. God’s Spirit worked with the people in the time of Noah for 120 years, three periods of 40 years, before He made an end to their rebellion. Even then it was not until He saw that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5) that the flood came.

Thank You, Lord, for being patient with us for so long and for Your willingness “to cut it short in righteousness.” (Romans 9:28) Please don't give up on us, however.

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[i] Google images: www.seattleartblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/childhood.jpg