If You're Not against Us--You're For Us

 

[1]

Mark 9:38-40
Good News Translation
³⁸ John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man who was driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop, because he doesn't belong to our group.”
³⁹ “Do not try to stop him,” Jesus told them, “because no one who performs a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say evil things about me. ⁴⁰ For whoever is not against us is for us.

 

In 1979, we had just joined Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts. When we went to church on Sabbath, an elderly gentleman approached to me and asked, “Are you Wil Clarke?”

“Yes indeed,” I admitted, somewhat puzzled.

“I’m delighted to meet you in the flesh!” he said and threw his arms around me. “I’m Elder X and am retired here in South Lancaster. It’s wonderful to have another missionary from Africa here!”

It never ceases to amaze me how a person’s brain can process surprise information extremely rapidly. Within less than a second, my mind was flooded with memories.

Eight years earlier, we had been at Ikizu Training School in Tanzania for 5 years, and it was time for my salaried nine-month furlough. In June 1971, I had received a letter from Pastor X, treasurer of a division of the General Conference. It stated categorically that I had no furlough coming since I had only worked for the division for a year and a half. The Tanzania Union (TU) had been transferred from the another division to this division a year and a half before.

I showed this letter to Pastor Y, treasurer of the TU. Ikizu was a TU institution. He told me, “Don’t you worry. You have earned this furlough, and we’re not going to let him take it away from you!” Letters went back and forth between X and Y. I never saw those letters, but Pastor Y kept me informed as to progress. He sighed several times as he told me that the responses he got from X were not even Christian in spirit . Finally, a committee overruled him, and I got my furlough.

Here he stood with his arms around me. I felt like throwing up. I had the overwhelming urge to tell him what I thought of him.

By God’s grace, I returned the Christian embrace and said with all the enthusiasm I could muster, “Brother. It’s great to meet you!” We chatted for a few minutes, catching up on our African experiences.

Thank You, Lord, that friends are better to have than enemies; and we won’t have any enemies in heaven.

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[1] https://www.amazon.com/Avinu-Apparel-Love-Your-Enemies/dp/B093QYKGVN

Content Whether Full or Hungry

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Philippians 4:12-13

Good News Translation

¹² I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. ¹³ I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

 

In 1986 we moved to California. The sale of our home in Massachusetts had fallen through, so we were still making house payments on it, and we were paying exorbitant rent on the house we were living in. We now had three kids in church school. I remember lamenting to the Lord, “Not again, Lord, please!” Then our house back east sold for approximately what we paid for our home in California.

A year after we were first married, I was as grad student, and Sylvia had a good job, but it fell through. We were able to borrow enough for me to finish school and move to Africa. Then our second year in Tanzania, the TAD made a big mistake in our salary, and we were with no money for six months. Things eased gradually until I went back to grad school with two kids. Then we had to go on food stamps for a couple years, but the Lord blessed, and we lived very well towards the end. In fact, we were living better than we had previously throughout our married life. Back in Africa double digit inflation and another bigger mistake by the TAD (Trans African Division that employed us) thrust us back into a hand-to-mouth existence. In spite of this, we have always had a roof over our heads and have never gone hungry.

We moved to Massachusetts, and I took a second job so we could afford to buy a house. In spite of my two jobs, our bank balance would drop to less than $10 at the end of most months. Still the Lord was good to us, and we were able to grow at least half of the food we ate for seven years. The old clunkers we drove kept right on clunking. Then in California I again took on a second job. God heard my lament, and things did improve—slowly but steadily until my retirement in 2013. I remember walking in the hills and praising God for the prosperity he had granted us. I also remember having a premonition that things would change. … Again.

Since then, West Nile virus, threatening blindness, and cancer take their toll. This miserable pandemic has cramped our style. It appears that we, as a nation, are facing serious inflation and possible national financial collapse. In spite of all this, I have a solid confidence to say with Paul, “I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me!”

Thank You, Lord, that everyone reading this blog has the very same promise that God will continue to look after them, too.

 

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[1] https://line.17qq.com/articles/oohncpdov.html

A Time to Comfort

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Ecclesiastes 3:1

New International Version

 ¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 

Tippy was a loving black Labrador retriever. Like many in her breed, she was extremely intelligent. She had lived with us for a number of years and was an integral part of our family.

We lived on Main Street, and I used to worry that our pets might get run over by all of the heavy traffic. One Sunday Tippy got out of the house and dashed away. I hurried downstairs and called for her, not knowing where she had gone.

I walked out to the front of the house and called again. Then my heart about stopped. I saw her on the other side of the street running to meet me. The street was empty, but just as she started across the street, a lone car came whipping down the street at about twice the speed limit. The driver didn’t try to brake or show any sign that she was watching the road.

She struck Tippy and threw her twenty feet or more. Tippy got up and limped over to me. She lay her head down on my foot as I tried to comfort her. Within a minute blood came out of her mouth, and she quit breathing.

I stood there stunned with unrestrained grief and remorse that I had called her when I did. Tears welled up inside of me, and some flowed down my face. Everything about me was blurred.

The woman who had been speeding stopped and came over to me. I recognized her as the wife of the conference treasurer. She didn’t recognize me, nor did she try to. She admitted to being distracted as she was driving and not watching the road. She asked about the dog, and I told her that she had died.

“You know,” she continued, “this is a good illustration of how tenuous life is…”

Heartlessly, she launched into a sermon about death and being ready to meet our creator and judge. She warmed quickly to her subject, lecturing me on the coming judgment. 

I stood there numb. Tippy’s head still rested on my shoe where she had died, loyal and obedient to the last. Blood had soaked through my shoe and onto my foot and pants. And this heartless Christian fanatic went on and on about my soul. I resented her callousness and her lack of human sympathy. Anger welled up within me that anyone could be this unfeeling.

Finally, I said something about having to take care of the dog and turned my back on her. She walked back to her undamaged car, still lecturing away. Little did she know that if I had not already had a personal encounter with my loving Lord and Savior, I would then and there have sworn never to have anything to do with Christianity. Any religion that could leave someone so unfeeling, unsympathetic, and unkind would not be for me.

Lord, help me to be sensitive to the fact that there is a time and a season to say things and a time to refrain from doing so!

 

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[1] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-drags-dead-dog-through-8147076