Ducks Maiden Voyage

The other day, my step-son, Matthew, brought three ducks home that he had been raising at his Dad’s house.  The ducks had never seen water except for what they had been given to drink inside the small cage that had been their living quarters for the several weeks that they had been alive. 

Matthew and I picked up the cage and carried it down to the edge of the pond behind the house and opened the door of the cage.  The ducks hurried from the pen and splatted nervously with their webbed feet into the edge of the pond.  It took about two seconds for them to figure out that they were made to be in the water.  They quickly swam and dove, played and frolicked in the edge of the pond.  It was obvious right away that they liked it…a lot! 

It was also crystal clear that they had no intention of going back to life inside their old pen.  They were done with it!  They had a new life now and it was the life that they were intended to live!  They now knew that their webbed feet were made for paddling!

I couldn’t help but think about the life of new believers in Jesus Christ.  We are much like the ducks.  The Bible tells us in Romans 6 that we are enslaved to sin which leads to death.  We are living a life inside of a pen that is controlled by sin.  We aren’t living the life that we were meant to live.

Only by trusting our lives to Jesus Christ are we set free to live the life that we were intended to have, free from the bondage to sin.   Paul says it best in 2 Corinthians 5:17; “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 

So if you become a believer in Jesus Christ, you get to live life the way that God intended for it to be, like ducks to the water that they were created to enjoy.  So tell me, how’s the water?

Mom

Proverbs 31:30-31; “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.  Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.”

I remember the day when I was 4 years old and my brother, 8, that the letter came which ripped our world apart.  My Dad, who was in the military stationed in England, wrote to ask Mom for a divorce.  Everything turned upside down for us that day.  Mom would trade the apron of a homemaker for the smock of a factory worker as she went to work in order to support us.

Mom would have to dig very deep to find the wherewithal to raise two young sons alone.  It would be a long, hard road filled with many trials and tribulations.  One thing was for sure, she wasn’t going to do it alone.  She immediately threw herself into the loving arms of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He would be her strength in the long days of labor at home and at work.  He would comfort her as she dealt with the pressure of being a single parent living on a shoestring budget.  With the Lord’s help, she found a strength and determination deep within that propelled her ever forward against the stiff winds that she faced head-on.  A fire of tenacity seemed to crackle just below the surface as she toughened enough to be a firm, guiding hand for two hardheaded boys.

Mom never relented and did her best to raise us up to the Lord as she made sure that we were in church every Sunday, rain or shine, often against our violent protests.  I recall seeing her break down during the meal blessing in those times when she didn’t know how she would pay the bills that we faced.  Mom never apologized or shied away from showing us how she depended on the Lord for everything. 

I thank God that He saw fit to give me a mother who cared enough about me to raise me and my brother up to know Him and to trust in Him.  Although she wasn’t able to be the doting mother that she wanted to be, I know that she loves me because I’ve felt her firm hand of correction on my backside and had her live out an unwavering faith in God right before my eyes.

Thank you, Mom, for caring enough about me to show me the way, even though you had to fight against me throughout the process.  Surely, your reward will be great.  I love you.  Happy Mother’s Day!

Kim rang the doorbell as we stood at the front door of a beautiful home plopped at the front of a sprawling cow-filled pasture near Magnolia, Texas.  The front door opened and we were greeted by a warm lady who invited us into her home.  She escorted us through the living room into the breakfast nook where Miss Laura sat staring at a half-eaten biscuit smeared with butter and grape jelly. 

We took turns giving Laura a hug before we sat down for a nice visit with her and found out about the beautiful retirement community where she would relocate.  When I asked her if she liked it, she replied, “No.  It’s just not home.”  After living your whole life in and around one community that she loved so dearly and where she was loved in return, I can see what she meant. 

It is impossible to express in a few short lines how much of an impact that she has made on her church and community during her ninety-some-odd years.  Suffice to say that you couldn’t set foot inside the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church of Garrison, Texas, without being welcomed by her.  Within a few days you would also receive a card from her welcoming you on your visit to the church that she always called her “family”.  There were countless other things that she did as well, but chief in my mind is her famous Italian Cream cake that she made for special occasions and when she wanted to say a special “I love you”. 

Needless to say, she will be missed greatly by her church and the entire Garrison community.  In similar ways, this scenario is being played out all over America as the mantle of church service is being passed down from those who have carried the load for decades to a new group of disciples.  For those of us to whom the mantle is passed, the need is great for us to rise to the occasion and follow Christ’s call to be loving servants.      

I hope that Miss Laura and others like her rest well from their labors. I pray that the rest of us will be inspired by the Laura’s of our churches who have given us their hearts and that we who remain will meet the challenge to carry the torch that is being passed on to us.  With God’s help, we will succeed.  When in doubt as to what we should do, we can always follow Miss Laura’s lead and bake an Italian Cream cake for someone who needs a little TLC. 

It seems like only yesterday that my family and I traveled to the other side of the world in pursuit of answering God’s call on our hearts to adopt a little girl.  That little girl had been abandoned by her birth mother on the day after she was born and was found wrapped in a blanket lying on the steps of an orphanage in a city in southern China. 

This child would be embraced by a loving family and bond with a new mother who had longed to hold her since before she was born.  That mother, Judy, was so proud of her and tried her hardest to love away the hurt that she knew this child had faced in the long months of life in an orphanage.

Ironically, Judy would end up in a losing battle against cancer, which would take her life less than two years after our trip to adopt our daughter.  Once again, this little girl was motherless.  It seemed to be too great to expect a three-year old child to understand how she could lose two mothers so early in life.

Just last night, I eavesdropped on my daughter’s prayer time with her new Mom, Kim.  This Mom that God has given her looks resembles her as they could pass for biological mother and daughter.  I listened as my daughter prayed for her little classmate’s father who is in a life and death struggle against cancer, a trial that my daughter knows all too well.

I can’t help but marvel at the love of God and his wisdom.  It could only be God who could work such a miracle as I listen to my little girl express the love that she sees through her eyes.  Psalm 52:8-9; “I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.  I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will trust in your good name in the presence of your faithful people.”

Parrot in a Tree

I turned off the highway into our neighborhood like I’ve done a thousand times before, and immediately saw a strange sight.  Several people were just ahead on the side of the street looking up into the top of a tree.  My neighbor had pulled alongside in her car as she must have been just ahead of me.  I slowed down and glanced upward, but didn’t see anything so I kept on driving.  I got out at my house about a hundred yards past them and stepped out to the street.  My neighbor was getting out of her car, so I asked her, “What are they looking at?”

She replied, “Their pet parrot has escaped and flown up into the tree.”

“Oh, no!” I responded.  As we continued to watch, I could hear the strange singing of the parrot that seemed to fit better in a rainforest than in a sweetgum tree in East Texas.  A few moments later, the parrot took flight and flew away to the dismay of the family that watched helplessly.

I couldn’t help but think of the old spiritual that I had heard sung so many times: When the shadows of this life have gone,

                   I’ll fly away;

                   Like a bird from prison bars has flown,

                   I’ll fly away.

                   I’ll fly away, Oh Glory!

                   I’ll fly away (in the morning);

                   To a home on God’s celestial shore,

                   I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).

For those who have saving faith through Jesus Christ, we know that the best is yet to come.  Christ has promised us beginning in John 11:25; “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.  Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.”

Furthermore, He has won the victory over sin and death through the cross and resurrection.  Don’t be discouraged, but trust in the One who has already won the victory!  One day we’ll be just like the little parrot and we’ll fly away to be with Him who took the nails for us.  Thanks be to God!

Fighting the Pond Primrose...Again

It was that time again.  I had dreaded it for quite some time.  My neighbor did his and now mine looked horrendous.  I had to do something.  I couldn’t be the dregs of the hood.  I grabbed my rake, gloves and laced up my boots.  It wasn’t a job for a lightweight ‘cuz it was messy.  I mean real messy!

I slipped the gloves on my hands, got a firm grip on the rake, stood at the edge of the pond in the backyard and began to drag the pesky pond primrose onto shore, uprooting it from its home in the edge of the water.  It came fairly easily to the bank, but that’s when the fight began.  I wrestled with the water logged plants whose roots were saturated and heavy.  With great effort, I pecked away at the mass of aquatic nuisance little by little until I got it upended on shore.  There it would be exposed to the full heat of the sun’s rays that would slowly drain the life from it. 

It had been a long time since I had gotten serious about dealing with the blight in my own backyard, but now was the perfect time.  I had procrastinated long enough.  If I didn’t attack it now, it would likely take over the entire pond before long since it had a tendency to spread with a vengeance. 

I couldn’t help but ask myself the question: “How long has it been since I took a spiritual inventory of my life?”  In other words, am I doing all that I need to do to be the person that God would have me to be?  If not, where do I need to make changes to get rid of the weeds in my heart and soul? 

The only way to approach a spiritual inventory is utilizing the tools for the job: prayer, God’s word, and transparency before the Lord.  As I take the time to seek God through prayer and diligently search the Scriptures, God will help me to know what I need to do to realign my life with His will.

It didn’t take long for God to show me some areas of my life that needed the weeds removed.  It wasn’t a pleasant job, but God is merciful and gracious.  The Lord is faithful to help us if we will only seek Him.  King Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 3:5-6; “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Heart Cath

My cardiologist recently discovered through a routine physical that I had a heart blockage which needed attention.  Through an angioplasty procedure, he located several coronary blockages, and placed three stents in order to correct the disease that had affected my heart. 

After the procedure, my doctor related that he thought that the term “widow maker” was appropriate in my situation.  In other words, without the discovery and the treatment, I was a dead man walking, only awaiting the heart attack that would likely take my life.

I am thankful to God for intervening to save my life.  I am also mindful of the sacrifice that my cardiologist went through in order to be in a place to help me and many others.  He endured college, medical school and specialist training, plus likely a huge debt in the process in order to be able to help people like me. 

Because of what he has done to give me life, I consider him to be my personal friend.  He is welcome in my home anytime.  We visit and share with each other.  He has sacrificed a lot and I appreciate what he has done.  I owe him a lot.

There’s one that I owe even more.  As we encounter Christ during this Holy Week, may we reflect on the great price that He paid on Calvary to atone for our sins.  1 John 2:2 says; “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins– and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”  He gave His all so that you and I might be forgiven and share everlasting life with Him.  As much as I am indebted to my cardiologist, I owe Jesus Christ infinitely more for saving me from sin and death through the cross and resurrection. 

I am thankful that Christ came to set everything right between me and God…to give me a new heart that beats for Him.  How can I not consider Him my friend?  How can I not invite Him into my heart and home?  How can I not share my life with Him who paid such a dear price for me?

As Good Friday approaches, please consider whether you would invite someone into your home who had sacrificed in order to save your life.  How much more does Jesus deserve to be invited into your life and home and share in all that you are and all that you have? 

Broken Cellphone

“What are you doing?” Kim asked with a quizzical look on her face. 

“I’m trying to get this stinkin’ cellphone to work!” I exclaimed as I pounded on the keys with my finger.  Alas, in my frustration, it was obvious that the phone wasn’t working properly.

“Why don’t you call and get a new phone?  We’ve got the insurance protection,” she responded.

“I’ve tried.  They have me do little technical adjustments to it and try it.  Nothing they’ve had me do to it really works for long,” I replied.

“Sounds like you need a new phone to me,” she answered.

“I think you’re right.  The one that I have is definitely broken,” I sighed.

It’s a difficult thing to admit that our cellphone is broken even after we’ve tried countless strategies that don’t work.  Customer service will have us try countless technical strategies to fix it, but when it’s broken there’s no fixing it. 

Funny thing, the same is true with our lives.  We can walk around in various states of brokenness, trying different strategies that we are told will do the trick for us.  We try everything to bring healing to our cracked situation.  In the end, we end up frustrated and still broken. 

Jesus offers to bring true healing and newness to our fractured existence.  Paul tells us in 2Corinthians 5:17; this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

If you’ve tried everything to get your life pulled together and it is still obvious that there are major problems, I encourage you to give Jesus a try.  He will pour His love and grace into your world in abundant measure and help you to live a new life filled with His Spirit.  He will guide and direct you if you’ll only let Him.  Only He can bring true healing and wholeness.

Now, where is the phone number for customer service?  I’ve got to get me a new cellphone because mine is obviously broken. 

Ducks & Squireel

The cloudburst subsided for mere minutes when I peered out my bedroom window to see a strange sight.  I hollered, “Kim!  Look at the birdfeeder!”

Kim strolled from the kitchen to the backdoor.  “Wow!  I want to get a picture of that!” she said as she quickly stepped to grab her phone from the kitchen counter.

“Be careful when you open the door or it’ll spook them,” I cautioned.

I continued to look through the blinds at the squirrel munching from the bird feeder and the two mallard ducks lurking underneath for the seeds that the squirrel dropped to the ground.

It was a sight to see.  Kim got the picture before the ducks heard her and began waddling toward our back porch to beg for a morsel of bread.

I’m sure that our neighbor didn’t have this scene in mind when she put the bird feeder in her back yard.  I suspect that she intended for birds to fly in to eat from the feeder and not squirrels or ducks that waddled up from the pond.

I’m reminded of God’s chosen people, Israel, and how what God intended for them came to be enjoyed by the Gentiles.

Romans 9:25-26 says; Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, “Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.”  And, “Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

Regardless of our race, nationality or language, we are all accepted by God as His children if we only believe.  We all share in the promise of life everlasting through simple faith in Jesus Christ.  What a wonderful plan that God has for us!  I pray that you, too, are a child of God.  If not, then why?  God is reaching out to you today.  All you need to do is reach out to Him and believe.  There is a place for you, too, in the family of God.

World Clock

The sound of the Apostles Creed washed over us as Kim and I stepped into the side door of the church out of the rain.  Everyone was standing in the crowded sanctuary as they affirmed their faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together as Christ’s church.

Looks of surprise followed us as we made our way into the church and found a seat in the back.  The kids came in and followed us as we settled into the last pew.  Shock registered on every face as they didn’t expect to see us after my heart procedure this past Thursday.

Kim and I looked at each other with confusion as we knew that we had gotten to church a few minutes before service started but found that they were almost finished with the service.

Then Rev. Charles Danheim, who was filling the pulpit for me, said something about the time change.  That’s when it hit me…we had forgotten to advance our clocks last night.  It wasn’t a few minutes until 11:00 but rather, a few minutes to 12:00!  We had just arrived for the end of the worship service!

I would have been embarrassed except for the dozens of folks who came up to us as the service ended, to shake our hands and say how good it was to see me.  It was a great blessing to see everyone, to hear that they had prayed for me and to see their relief as they saw that I was okay.

Isaiah 61:3 says; “To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.”

Regardless what believers have to face in this life, God will continue to be a source of beautiful blessing to them, the same way that He has been to me and my family in all of our trials, including our most recent.

If the trials of life are getting you down, you can always turn to Christ, who will give your life purpose and a deep sense of joy that you are loved by God who gives everlasting life to those who believe in and follow His Son.  Regardless what time that your watch says, there is no better time for you to follow Christ than right now.