Upper-Room Hideout

[1]

 

Matthew 27:62-63 Contemporary English Version

⁶² On the next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate. ⁶³ They said, “Sir, we remember what this liar said while he was still alive. He claimed in three days he would come back from death.

 

John 20:8-9 Contemporary English Version

⁸ The disciple who got there first then went into the tomb, and when he saw it, he believed. ⁹ At that time Peter and the other disciple did not know that the Scriptures said Jesus would rise to life.

 

I feel stunned, with the disciples on that Sabbath day. Jesus, the Messiah, and their Lord, was dead. All hope was gone. They had great plans for the new kingdom. They had given everything to help these plans to materialize. And now, to make matters worse, they felt that they were next in line to be killed. Jesus had told them clearly that He would be killed and would rise on the third day. In their grief they didn’t remember that, at all! I can only imagine how traumatic this must have been.

Over 40 years ago we put out a fleece as to whether we should leave Africa or remain missionaries there. God answered the fleece unequivocally that we should leave Africa, then within five days He sent me a job offer in the U.S. But we had devoted our lives to Africa, especially Sylvia. We ignored the fleece and proceeded with our plans to remain missionaries. However, God removed His peace from our lives. I felt strong physical pressure on me. It only got worse as time went by.

In the disciples’ experience after Christ’s death, the women brought news of Christ’s resurrection. The disciples, John and Peter, immediately dashed to the tomb and confirmed the report. Still the disciples refused to accept the report. It was only after they saw Jesus for themselves, did they accept the fact that Christ was alive. Christ did not scold them harshly for forgetting his promise, however, he certainly chode Thomas for lack of faith and holding his doubt for a week.

At the end of four months of trying to change God’s plans for us, I finally quit my resistance and told the Lord I would do things His way. Instantly I felt the physical pressure lift completely. It took Sylvia a few hours longer to wrestle with her determination to continue as a missionary. However, Christ’s acceptance of us was as swift as it was with the disciples in the upper room.

Thank You Lord for accepting us even after we test Your patience while we delay.  

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[1] http://www.magdalenepublishing.org/novena-pilgrimages/

The Universal Conundrum

 

2 Corinthians 5:21

Holman Christian Standard Bible

²¹ He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

I was talking with someone recently about sin in the world and our individual sin. The conversation came around to the fact that God made a plan for sinners. That plan was that Christ would assume our sin. Since He had no sin of His own, He was not alienated from God. Since we have sinned, we have earned exactly one thing—death. There was no way around this. Sin is simply rebellion against God. Since God has given us life, our rebellion means we automatically reject the life God equipped us with. We must automatically die.

Christ—Who is God—decided before there was any sin and before man was created, that man was His responsibility and that He would actually bear our sin and take our just reward—death—if man were to sin. Since He took our death, we don’t have to die.

Because of this gift, Christ—God—considers us to be righteous in His eyes. Therefore, this gift has actually made us righteous. We have only to accept the decision God made in our case before we existed.

My friend responded that there was no way he could accept this. It defied logic. He had sinned; therefore, he must reap the result, namely death. The Apostle Paul faced this same logical conundrum. He exclaimed in Romans 11:33:

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches

both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!

How unsearchable His judgments

and untraceable His ways!

God, the cosmological supreme court, has made this decision. We cannot do anything else but accept it with gratitude and not die or suffer the consequences of refusing to accept His gift.

Thank You, Lord, for the infinite grace You extend to us!
 

 

God's Hidden Code of Life

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Ecclesiastes 11:5 

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁵ Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.

 

We know that when a human fetus forms, it starts out as one cell. This cell divides into two identical cells. In turn each of these cells divide into identical cells. As this division occurs over and over again, eventually the cells differentiate and form the various parts of our bodies. Some of the cells become the hard bones that give us structure and make our blood. Some form our organs that make us viable and human.

We know that the key to this variation in cell structure is a giant molecule that is in the very nucleus of every cell. This DNA molecule is identical in every cell. It is composed of only four building blocks, called nucleotides. There are over three billion nucleotides in each DNA molecule.

Humans have performed enough experiments to know the position of a set of nucleotides in the DNA molecule determines the entire structure of the human. It tells each cell what its function is. Cellular division continues throughout the life of the person. Built into this division is an instruction that determines when a cell dies.

What is amazing is how the cell interprets the appropriate tiny substring of the DNA to determine which one of the seemingly infinite possible forms it must assume. This results in a recognizably different human being from all others. But they are all equally human beings.

When the cell loses the instruction that determines when it dies, it then goes on living and dividing, forming too many of the same cell. We call this aberration cancer, and it normally kills the person who gets it. So death, cell death, is essential for human life. How thankful we can be that God intended us for life, not death.

Thank You, Lord, for letting us begin to understand the building code You have used to make us. We see in this structure the extreme complexity yet basic simplicity of Your creation.

 

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[i] https://www.zmescience.com/medicine/genetic/human-genome-write-project/

Survive the Pandemic

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Psalm 91:1-2 

Good News Translation (GNT)

91 Whoever goes to the Lord for safety,
    whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty,
² can say to him,
    “You are my defender and protector.
    You are my God; in you I trust.”

We are confined to our own homes. We are not to visit our friends or our kids. The only reason to leave the safety of our own home is to buy necessary groceries or for medical attention. I have arranged to consult my oncologist by phone.

The number of known cases of COVID-19 in California is over 1,500 as I write this. The number of deaths in California attributed to it is 27, and in Riverside County it is 5. Each number is rising—Exponentially. The uncle of a friend and neighbor has tested positive. We are voluntarily confining ourselves to isolation in the hopes of starving the virus. Will it work?

Are we worried? No, not really. Will we get it? Only the Good Lord knows. He has given us this mighty Psalm 91. I urge you to read it again. I know you have lost count of how many times you have read it. This time read it and put yourself in as the recipient of these great promises.

Verse 3: He will keep you safe from all deadly diseases.

Verses 4&5: You need not fear the plagues that strike in the dark.

Verse 7: 1,000 may fall at your side and 10,000 fall all around you, you will not be harmed.

Verse 10: No disaster will strike you.

Verse 11: God will put His angels in charge of you.

Verse 12: They will hold you up with their hands.

Verse 14: God will save you who love Him.

Verse 15: When you call on Me, I will answer you.

Verse 16: I will reward you with long life.

These promises are written for you. Go to the Lord for safety. Remain under the protection of the Almighty. You may get tired of staying under that protection—stay there anyway. Don’t do anything brash or stupid—just stay there. Have faith that what God has promised, He will do. His promises are trustworthy. Let others do the worrying. Should He decide that now is my time, I still trust His protection.

We spread out this psalm daily to You, Lord. We claim it because we believe that You mean exactly what You say here! 

  

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[i] https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms-91-1_Inspirational_Image/

Cancer Recovery

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Isaiah 40:31 

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

³¹ but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.

This week I completed my last chemo infusion. I started the chemo five months ago in January. At that time I had made remarkable recovery after the West Nile Virus bout I contracted a year and a half before. Our dog Katie and I would walk over the La Sierra Hills in front of and behind our home. Katie would come home dragging her tail behind her and trying to duck into the shade of every desert plant that looked like it might offer a bit of cool respite.

Then I started the chemo. Within a scant fortnight I was winded just walking up to the Pumpkin Rock nestled on a low point on the ridge to the west of our home. Since then I have only once or twice made it up to the saddle point—an even lower destination. Otherwise I have restricted my goings to the almost level area in our valley. I walk with uncertain steps and brace myself for any slight slip on the dirt. I feel this constant headache that decries my actually being upright. Sylvia walks next to me gently pushing the middle of my back on the uphill stretches.

Meanwhile Katie runs joyfully around and digs energetically in every gopher burrow and rabbit hole she can find. I have pushed myself to walking about 2,000 steps according to a pedometer program I have on my smart phone. Then I return home and sit in the recliner and allow my heart and lungs to catch up with my body. Usually I am too tired to even sleep, but if I do, it will often be an hour and a half before I awaken. That is unless Katie suddenly explodes into a barking session.

Now that I am no longer being infused with the chemo poison that is supposed to zap the cancer I’m carrying, I eagerly await the renewal of my strength in a very literal sense. The Lord brought me back from a much closer brush with death during my West Nile episode. I fully trust that he will again fulfill this promise in Isaiah.

I thank You, Lord, that I can trust in Your promises and that You have seen fit to preserve me a second time. Let’s go for it, Lord!

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[i] https://www.google.com/search?q=pumpkin+rock+hike+norco&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS744US744&source=lnms&tbm=i

Old Age

Titus 2:2

King James Version (KJV)

² The aged men [are to] be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

Seventy-five years have gone by since I was ripped out of my mother’s womb. In my youth my parents had a lot to be proud of and a lot to be disappointed over. I have pushed the limits in most things that came my way. In some directions, pushing the limits has been both exciting and rewarding. At other times it has been embarrassing and even on occasion expensive.

I purchased a Ford F150 4x4 pickup that I don’t need on a daily basis in my line of work. It averages 12 miles per gallon of gasoline, which makes it the most expensive vehicle I’ve ever owned.

It has taken me through hundreds of miles of raw desert, both beautiful and ugly. It has brought home a trailer load of my daughter’s belongings from Kansas down a thousand miles of glare ice and falling snow. Numerous times it has taken me across the Rocky Mountains on sand, dirt, and rocky trails sometimes barely visible. I have confidently challenged roads and trails from Key West, Florida, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It uncomplainingly sports thousands of scratches running from the front grill to the tail gate from desert thorn bushes crowding the tracks.

Sylvia, my faithful life partner, loves adventure as much as I and has supported and accompanied me in our varied experiences. We installed a cap over the pickup bed, and on long trips we put a mattress back there. This allows us to sleep almost anywhere we can find a spot to pull over, including Walmart parking lots. We have slept—or sometimes tried to sleep—in our F-150 during fierce, tornado-alley rainstorms, desert heat, and mountain frost and have actually done very well for ourselves.

In many ways our experience with the F-150 parallels what God has put up with in my life. He has supported me through near death from West Nile Virus and on Los Angeles freeways. He has rejoiced with me in celebrations like children’s weddings and graduations and commiserated with me through loss of many friends and the death of my parents. Like the Ford, He has given us of the beauties and bounties of life and walked with us during poverty, scarcity, and sickness. 

Lord, as old age embraces us ever more firmly, continue to support us, and renew our faith, love, and patience.

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