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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When It Seems Everything Goes Wrong!

Psalm 23:4

Good News Translation (GNT)

⁴ Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me.

It was four o’clock in the morning. I tossed and turned. My mind started toiling through a long list of recent setbacks.

Our faithful, gas-guzzling pickup had just done a seven thousand mile trip. Now suddenly on the last fill-up, its mileage had dropped to a third of what it had been on the trip. We had double checked the calculations. Google told us this happened to other owners, and they had a terrible time finding out the cause. One had even replaced the engine, to no avail.

Our water main had broken and we had been without water for twenty-four hours. Our neighbors let us take showers in their home, bless their caring hearts. I had spent the whole day repairing it, and now the sprinkler system wouldn’t work. The temperatures were in the hundreds, and the trees and plants were starting to seriously wilt from lack of water.

The Internet and phone company had spent four days doing a “simple” upgrade, and still neither the phone nor the Internet worked. Since our home is up a little valley, even our cell phones don’t work unless the Internet works or we go outside and stand in the middle of the street to make a call. So we were thrust back into the nineteenth century reliance solely on the post office for our communications.

Katie, our beloved one-year-old, still-chewing-everything puppy just chewed up Sylvia’s C-PAP breathing apparatus. The insurance company tells us we can’t get a replacement for at least another month. When I walked Katie in the hills in front of our home, a young coyote was walking shoulder against shoulder with her trying to coax her back to the pack and the kill. Katie wasn’t sure whether she should go with her new “friend” or come back to me.

While we were on our trip mentioned above, our son Fred phoned us to tell us he was engaged to Uni, a lovely girl he has been dating on and off for a number of years. Then he phoned us to tell us they are getting married later this month. They plan to meet in Oregon and see the August eclipse and invited Sylvia and me to go with them. I am eager to see the eclipse and even more eager to be with Fred on the trip. But I’m also still recovering from my battle with West Nile Virus. I seemed to lose some ground on our 7,000 mile trip in which we took everything very easy, so I fear a rush trip of 2,000 miles may set me back even more.

A smiling doggy face and furniture-beating tail greets me as I roll out of bed at six o’clock. I happen to read our familiar and much beloved Shepherd Psalm. I reread verse 4, and peace covers over my many concerns. My Lord is still with me.

Thank You, Lord, that I can rely on You to solve my problems as You have so frequently in the past!

Prayer

1

Matthew 14:23

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

²³ Then he went up on a mountain where he could be alone and pray. Later that evening, he was still there.

Thousands of people had the personal commitment to follow Jesus way out into the mountains at considerable discomfort to themselves. They hadn’t planned to stay very long, so most of them had not brought even a small lunch. They thrilled to Jesus’ love and oration and witnessed miraculous healings. Finally their human weakness overcame them: they were tired and hungry. Once they started talking about it, their hunger dominated every thought and feeling. Here were 5,000 men who were extremely hungry. Very likely there were at least 5,000 women present, too.

Several times when we worked in Africa, we stopped way out in the bush and broke out a picnic lunch in what appeared to be a totally deserted spot. Within a very few minutes we would have 20 or 30 children appear, as if spontaneously generated, and stand around watching us eat. After a little more time a few adults would appear and silently observe. If things were like that in Jesus’ day, (and I have no doubt but what they were), there must have been well over 20,000 kids in the crowd, curiosity written in every face, eagerly commenting to their friends about what they were seeing or hearing.

Jesus had everyone sit down in groups of fifty to a hundred. He took five buns and two fish, blessed them, started breaking them, and passed them to his disciples. They in turn probably walked to one of the people in each group of fifty, broke the bread and fish, and gave them to that one person. He or she had then repeated Jesus’ actions and personally experienced the same miracle of multiplying the food. Every single person eventually participated in this astounding miracle, each sharing with the next.

A ground swell of enthusiasm and support erupted in their dinner conversations. People cheered in support of this mighty miracle worker who had not only fed them but also made them miracle workers. It was obvious that Jesus must be made their leader, their commander, their king. Jesus disciples could not but have shared the common determination to elevate him to king.

Satan must have presented to Jesus how he could use this mighty miracle to not only become their king but also accomplish his self assigned mission of saving the human race. Jesus could rally an unbeatable army, capture Rome, and then the entire world. His human heart must have glowed with deep satisfaction that he had had such marvelous success in helping so many people. Surely this must be the way to finish his work and achieve his ultimate goal.

But there were red flags going off in his mind. They signaled, perhaps weakly but persistently, that this would not accomplish his genuine goal. Using his irresistible divine power that had so excited the people, Jesus now ordered them to leave. With extreme reluctance they all finally left. He stood alone.

His humanity was exhausted by the effort and cried for rest. Resolutely Jesus turned and went deeper into the mountains. Mustering his failing energies, he prayed to God. He sought wisdom and power to pursue his mission to save mankind by the only absolutely effective way—to die for them. This urgent prayer and communion took all evening and well into the night. Eventually, under divinely renewed power, Jesus strode forth, even across the storm enraged lake, to his destiny.  

Almighty, loving God, help me to so commune with You.

[1] https://thebarkingfox.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/bfb140303-feeding-the-five-thousand.jpg

I Haven't Done a Thing All Day

Jeremiah 31:14

Revised Standard Version (RSV)

My people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
                says the Lord.”

My wife, Sylvia, has an oft repeated lament. “I haven’t gotten a thing done today!” She was reared under the philosophy that, no matter how much good she accomplished, there was always room for improvement. As a child she remembers that when she brought home a good report card from school, or when she received a compliment for a beautiful musical performance her father would reply, “That’s good! But you still need to work on …” She remembers never receiving an unconditional statement of approval for anything she did.

Her parents had taken to heart the biblical and Spirit of Prophecy cautions about indulging oneself in pride. Gradually over the years a feeling of inferiority, a sense that nothing she ever did measured up to an unreachable standard, clouded her entire life.

She has earned a Masters degree in English and a TESOL certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Her perceptive linguistic aid has enabled many a foreign doctoral student to submit their dissertations in excellent English. She periodically receives acknowledgements from these grateful professionals.

She has fought a lifelong battle against chronic depression. Now she counsels many others with depression on how to overcome this debilitating disease. Many an hour she has spent on the phone encouraging and counseling this person or that who is on the verge of doing themselves harm.

She loves children, and they love her. Seeing their special needs, she has produced a CD of her own music that is directed towards giving a child grace for the day and courage to meet the night and the future. She often gets reports from grateful parents about how their child loves her CD and goes to sleep listening to it every night. Many have memorized all the words of her songs.

Lord, bless Sylvia and everyone else who is dissatisfied with their own lives and accomplishments with satisfaction in Your goodness that makes up for their sense of lack. Amen

Water in a Drought

Jeremiah 32:17

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁷ ‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too difficult or too wonderful for You

[1]

Ikizu Secondary School and Seminary is located in the great steppe country near Lake Victoria in Tanzania. Steppe country is characterized by 4 feet tall grass punctuated by picturesque flat topped acacia trees. It is only slightly better than desert. Being very close to the equator it receives two rainy seasons a year, two weeks in November and December and six weeks in February and March.

The year was about 1969, and I was a math and science teacher in the secondary school. It also became my responsibility to take care of all physical maintenance on campus, including providing the campus with electricity and water. I had some great student helpers that actually made the maintenance possible. One of these was Abraham Sando.

One Friday morning Abraham knocked on my door. “Sir, we are getting no water from the pump.” He broke the news apologetically but with finality.

“Has the pump broken down? Is the engine working okay?” I queried.

“Yes, sir!”

“Did you turn it off last night?”

“Yes, sir! And I started it this morning again.” He and I walked over to the water pipe that came up from the well, which was a mile down in the valley next to a creek that usually had a little water in it. There was definitely no water coming up the pipe. We had received no rain in the short rainy season. It was now the beginning of March, and we had received no rain so far this rainy season. The dam the villagers got their water from had dried up completely. Villagers had dug 6 and 8 feet deep holes in the bottom of the dam where a pitifully meager supply of water would trickle in overnight. The creek was dry, too.

My thoughts ran quickly to the more than 200 students and staff who depended on our well for water. We had a tank, but it would not last more than about three days.

“Please go back down the hill and turn the pump off,” I said resignedly to Abraham. “We’ll leave the pump off until Sunday morning, and I hope water will run into the well in the meantime. Hopefully we can pump on Sunday.” He smiled in agreement. He was also worried about the dire consequences we faced without water.

As soon as George Dunder, our principal, arrived in his office that morning, I went in and alerted him to our predicament. He asked for my suggestions. After a discussion of what we might do, I suggested that we make Sabbath a day of fasting and prayer for rain. We did exactly that. Really the only alternative would be to close the school down and send all of the students and staff away.

On Sabbath I overheard a number of students discussing our water situation. These particular students tended to be very skeptical all the time. They reasoned that the day of fasting and prayer was really worthless. After all it was in the middle of the longer rainy season, so if it started to rain, it would not be God answering our prayer; it would simply be the natural course of events. On the other hand, if it didn’t rain, then God clearly hadn’t answered our request, if He existed at all. I couldn’t help seeing their reasoning and wondering how God would answer our prayers and preserve His integrity. I said nothing to them because all I had was questions, too.

Our water tank was nearly empty by Sunday morning. After Abraham came up from starting the pump, we walked over to check the flow in the pipe. We had a tap located on the main water pipe. We measured how fast the water was coming up by opening the tap and timing how long it took to fill a five gallon can. Water was indeed coming up the hill but only at a quarter of the normal rate. I asked Abraham to check this tap every hour or two during the day to gauge how much water was running or see if the well had again run dry.

He checked in with me that evening and reported that the water was still pumping at the same slow rate. We normally ran the pump about 8 or 10 hours a day 6 days a week, and this kept us in ample supply of water.

“Good! If we are still getting water, let’s run the pump night and day until either the flow of water returns to normal or until the water runs out entirely. When you go down in the evenings, just fill up the diesel tank to run the pump engine and check the oil. Then watch the flow of water up here on the hill several times during the day. Don’t go down there on Sabbath. I will personally do the Sabbath duty.” I didn’t want him to worry about whether he should work on Sabbath.

For the next six weeks we continued on this regimen. There was not even a hint of rain. The tropical sun burned down on us every day from a clear blue sky. But we had just enough water to meet our needs.

One day in the middle of April, well into the dry season, a black storm came up. It rained hard and long. All the creeks started running. Some water ran into the dam, more than filling the holes the desperate villagers had dug. A great relief filled my soul. And the well ran totally dry!

I said to the skeptical students, “What do you think? You suggested that either way our need was met, it couldn’t be the hand of God. Now you are witnesses. You have drunk the water God provided for six whole weeks without rain.”

For once in their smug skepticism they were speechless.

Thank You, God, that Your might power and outstretched arm is still as mighty today as in the time of Jeremiah and that You have ways of meeting our needs that we would never even dream of!

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[1] https://www.hipporoller.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/gokwe-dry-dam-zim.jpg

Tread on Serpents

April 25, 2017

Luke 10:19

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁹ Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

[i]

Thirty or more years ago when we were searching for a home near La Sierra University, we spelled out several criteria. We wanted a home near enough for me to walk to work. It had to have four bedrooms, one for us, one for our boy and one for our girls, and one for a guest room especially for grandparents. We hoped it would have a swimming pool so we could keep an eye on what our kids and their friends were doing. We also hoped it would have access to countryside where we could walk for recreation. Of course, it also had to be in our price range.

The home we got couldn’t have matched these criteria any better. Its selling point to me was that it was situated in a little valley with desert hills on three sides. We could walk up into the hills by simply walking past three houses, and we were into the hills. During a normal year the hills turn a rich green color in the winter rains. For spring, summer and fall the hills are the color of dried grass.

Almost every day over the last 30 odd years we have walked at least some distance up into the hills, usually with a dog at our heels or galloping merrily ahead. The dog’s favorite pastime is chasing, unsuccessfully, every lizard that makes a mad dash to get out of our way. Occasionally it would be a bird, ground squirrel or rabbit. Even more rarely, there would be a lone coyote or as many as four or five them to give us a short thrill of the chase.

Sylvia and I have delighted ourselves in counting the number of species of flowers actually blooming on a particular walk. Usually we count anywhere between a dozen and two dozen species. During spring after the hills have turned brown, we find the richest number of flower species. The other day we had counted over 40 species and were at the very top of our La Sierra range and heading home down a very rough trail.

As I walked I suddenly felt something soft under my right foot, not the usual rock hard surface. In the shortest of moments, far shorter than it takes to think it, let alone write it, I shifted the weight off my right foot and made a lunge for Sylvia. I grabbed her by her waist and pushed her backwards and away. I guessed it might have been a snake I had stepped on and didn’t want her to be bitten. She thought I had lost my balance, which I have been doing since my bout with West Nile Virus, and fought to keep me upright. Neither of us fell, and I swung around to see what I had stepped on.

Right where my foot had trod a thick red western diamond backed rattlesnake was slithering slowly away from us. It hadn’t so much as tried to rattle and warn us. It had also not bitten me. I don’t know whether it had tried or not. I was wearing heavy jeans and thick leather shoes, so it might have tried but failed to penetrate to the skin. Furthermore, red western diamond backs are known to be reticent to bite unless directly attacked. But I do feel that I was under the direct protection of the Lord. In the words of Christ in the next verse:

"Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Thank You, Heavenly Father!

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[i]  http://www.desertusa.com/reptiles/red-diamond-rattlesnake.html

The Desert Shall Blossom as a Rose

Song of Solomon 2:12

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹² The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove.

It was twelve years ago, in 2005, that we last had a season like this one. The desolate desert meadows of Anza Borrego were blanketed in the royal purple of the sand verbena punctuated by the lush desert primroses. Hundreds of people walked delicately through the blossoms. Lovers hugged each other in the irresistible romance the flowers leant to their courtship.

In recent years, the entire desert longed for relief from a fierce sun, desiccating winds, and a drought that seemed never ending. Then the winter of the year of our Lord 2017 finally came with lavish, soaking rains. They washed the mountain crags clean. At long last the former lakebed caught the rain and allowed it to sink deeply into the ground again and again over a number of weeks.

On a recent Saturday Sylvia and I drove down to Anza Borrego State Park again just to see with our own eyes the fruit of rains that had brought so much green to our desolate, desert hills. As before we found hundreds of people, starry eyed lovers, excited children, and rejuvenated old folks all wandering, entranced, amongst the desert gold flowers. This time the golden blanket was punctuated by the purple sand verbena and the white desert primrose.

Besides the flowers, we were blessed to see several types of birds.  Not only did we see doves (mourning doves) but great raptors and tiny hummingbirds as well. The hummingbirds benefit the most from a plenitude of flowers. In addition, great, fat, striped caterpillars sat in the shade of the withered leaves gorging themselves on the rich feast, unknowingly heading toward their transformation into creatures with beautiful wings and delicate antennae.

The hand of the Creator stretched out and reminded us that, in the midst of the desert of death and sin in this old world, God is still personally interested in us, in our joy and happiness. He is still interested in instantaneously changing us into beautiful, imperishable immortality.

Thank You, Lord, for these beautiful reminders of the bright future You have already prepared for us!