Road Rage

Galatians 5:24

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their corrupt nature along with its passions and desires.

Years ago I was teaching an evening class at Fitchburg State College. One evening as I was driving to class going down an almost deserted city street, I came up behind a motor cyclist doing about 15 mph (25 kph). He did his best to stay exactly in front of me. I began to realize that he was enjoying keeping me crawling along the street.

We came up to a red light, and I stopped next to him to await the green. He must have been dreaming for a moment because I quickly pulled ahead of him when the light turned green. I continued on down the road at the speed limit. This must have angered him because he pulled up right behind me and tailgated me down the street. In my rear view mirror I could see him riding so close to me that his front wheel was almost touching my bumper.

This went on for several blocks. There was no traffic, so he could easily have whipped on around me, but instead he clung to me like a leach. I could feel my corrupt nature seething with anger. A sudden all controlling, irresistible, diabolical urge to hit the brakes hard flooded my entire being. It took full possession of me. I could just see him wrapped all over the back of my station wagon. It would be his fault since he ran into the back of me. There was no possibility that he could avoid the wreck. It would teach the leach some manners and might indeed kill him. Death was too good for him!

But my corrupt nature was literally crucified. Its hands and feet were nailed down and couldn’t move. It had no way of hitting the brakes. Soon a cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I realized what had tried to take possession of me. I began to imagine how I would be able to live with a possible murder on my conscience. I have thanked the Lord many, many times for nailing my corrupt nature down at that time.

Oh Lord, continue to keep my corrupt nature nailed securely to Your cross.

To Treat or Not To Treat

Genesis 42:1-2

The Voice (VOICE)

Now when Jacob found out there was grain to be had in Egypt, he talked to his sons about it.

Jacob: Why do you just keep sitting here looking at each other? ² Listen! I’ve heard they have grain for sale in Egypt! Go down there, and buy grain for us so that we have enough to live and won’t die of hunger.

Mom used to tell of a neighbor they had in Oklahoma, whom I’ll call Joe. He had the reputation of being the laziest man in the county. One day during harvest time another farmer took pity on Joe. The farmer drove up to Joe’s home on a wagon stacked high with corn and drawn by a couple horses. Joe’s field was filled with corn and overgrown with weeds. His family was destitute and wearing mere rags. Joe was sitting in a rocker on his front porch and staring vacantly at his fields. The farmer called to Joe, “I’ve got a good load of corn here. Can you use it?”

Joe queried, “Is it husked?”

“No, you’ll have to do that yourself.”

After a minute’s reflection Joe drawled, “Drive on! The Lord will provide.”

Dick, a colleague of mine, had a grapefruit size tumor on his lower abdomen. I asked him how he was treating it. He replied that he wouldn’t use chemotherapy because of the harmful side effects it had on the body. He obtained a natural remedy from Mexico and used it faithfully. Esmé developed a brain tumor. She told me of the pain it caused her and how she was not going to have surgery and radiation. She was afraid of the effects this treatment would have on her memory. She, too, found a natural remedy that she could rely on. Then there was Robin who had prostate cancer.

There are two things that Dick, Esmé, and Robin had in common. For one thing, they all had a deep and abiding faith in God and His healing power. The other is that they all died from their cancers. Did God forget His promise to heal all our diseases (Psalm 103;3)?

One cannot help but query; since God had promised to make a great nation of his descendants, did Jacob deny his faith by sending to Egypt for food rather than waiting for God to provide it in Canaan for him? Was Joe showing more faith than Jacob? Are we denying our faith when we use modern medicine? Are we showing less faith if we combine modern medical treatments with natural treatments?

Dear God, whenever a crisis arises, You have an ideal solution. Help us to see and follow Your solution.

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Into Civil War or Not

Proverbs 16:9
The Voice (VOICE)
⁹ People do their best making plans for their lives,
    but the Eternal guides each step.

After five very interesting years at Ikizu in Tanzania, we returned to Iowa City so I could work on a Ph.D. The General Conference secretariat instructed me in writing that they were letting me study but there would be no place for me in the Afro-Mideast Division when I was through. The letter directed me to find another job when I graduated.

After three full years of study, the end was in sight, and I started looking for a position in the Adventist educational system. Two places sought me, the first to teach math at Middle East College in the Afro-Mideast Division and the second also to teach math but at Helderberg College in South Africa.

The call to MEC came first, and we started preparing ourselves for the eventuality of going there. We talked to several returned missionaries from Beirut, Lebanon, where the college is located, and they painted a mixed picture. Lebanon was in the midst of a deadly civil war. Each of these missionaries would talk with me about the plusses and minuses. Then, invariably, he would reach into his pocket and pull out a spent bullet.

“This came through two walls and embedded itself in a third wall in our daughter’s bedroom. God was looking after us and no one was hurt,” was a typical story.

You can imagine that this might be a bit disconcerting to a novice unused to living in a war situation. However I don’t remember being afraid. I figured that the Eternal was in charge. If He wanted us at MEC, then He would look after our safety.

At this time a group of Egyptian students were studying at the University of Iowa, and they advertised a semester long class in Arabic as a goodwill gesture. I signed up and attended regularly. Since Swahili has derived a lot of its vocabulary, including its numbers and abstract nouns, from Arabic, I made excellent strides. My teachers were very pleased with my progress.

But the Eternal had other plans for us. As the fourth year of study went by and I approached graduation, He made it abundantly clear that His place for me was at Helderberg, a continent away from Arabic and MEC.

Thank You, Lord, for guiding each step of our lives. I ask that You continue doing so in the future.

To Obey or Not to Obey

1 Peter 3:6

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

⁶ For example, Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her true children, if you do right and don’t let anything frighten you.

The standard wedding ceremony I attended as a youth in a very traditional South Africa used the wedding vows from the Book of Common Prayer. During the service the bride and groom would repeat the following

Groom: I,____, take thee,_____, to be my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.

Bride: I,_____, take thee,_____, to be my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.

Sylvia wrote the vows we made at our wedding ceremony. We memorized them so the minister, her father, didn’t need to have us repeat after him. The vows were similar to these but replaced some of the archaic forms. They also did not include the bride’s promise to “obey” her husband. I commented on its absence and was informed that she certainly was not planning to obey me. I dropped the subject. By God’s grace we have lived up to our vows for almost 50 years now.

Apparently a lot of women and men have been uncomfortable with pledging to obey anyone−so much so that the 1928 version of the Book of Common Prayer also included an alternate version that omitted the contentious word.

These days, unfortunately, it seems that too many couples have no intention of living by their pledges of any form. Some even cheat on their spouses as early as while they are still on honeymoon.

Lord, give us the grace to live up to our vows to You.