THE BIRTH OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST

NORTH KOREA AND THE UNITED STATES

     Are you just a little nervous about the rhetoric flying back and forth between North Korean Dictator, Kim Jung Un, and the U.S. President, Donald Trump? Having lived through the terrifying times of the 50's and 60's when words between the USSR and the U.S. sounded very similar, I understand and empathise.
     Simply, trust God to take care of that situation. Pray for God to give the two leaders the wisdom necessary to calm the situation and to come to a peaceful co-existence. Trust the fact that God always has a plan and it is good - and it is always. We need to have our minds focused primarily on God and gathering disciples and being loving examples of Jesus Christ, not trembling in our shoes like non-believers. We need to be the loving and calming community that those in fear of man's material-oriented world flee toward. We will survive all this as long as we "keep our eye on the prize."

PERSECUTION?

     I have heard comments from our fellow Christians about their having suffered persecution or perhaps they comment on having heard or read of others being persecuted in this country for their Christian faith.  It does happen, however, I doubt that it is persecution on the level experienced by the original disciples or Christians in Africa, the Middle East, or India experience for example.  I do hear from many astute Christian watchdog individuals and groups that the tide of persecution in this country is on the rise and expected to continue that rise for the foreseeable future. The extreme that it may grow to they cannot accurately forecast.

     In the publication Christianity Today's  September 2017 issue, a Syrian Christian still living in Syria to aid other Christians cautioned on the rise of persecution in his country, "It wasn't only ISIS that laid waste to the church; our cultural compromises with the government and our divisions against each other brewed for a long time.  We are Damascus, the seat of Christianity; what happened to us can happen to you. Be careful."  In my estimation, division and fighting among the various Christian sects is a major contributor to the weakening of Christianity and the rise of persecution. Though physical persecution is not the chief concern at present, the sheer magnitude of hostility toward Christians is very concerning and, at the same time, self-inflicted to a great degree by our divisions.

     The subject of a recent sermon by our church Pastor, Marty Grubbs, Crossings Community Church, had as its emphasis Christians in this country are not known as loving first and foremost but as judgmental according to studies in this area; not quite what Jesus asks of his disciples. I have been harping on this point for some time. If the mission our Lord gave us was to go out and gather disciples, then we cannot accomplish that task by being judgmental; we must be loving first and foremost. If we are being persecuted in this country, perhaps we are deserving of such.

     In his time upon this earth, our Lord was a revolutionary, and I fully believe he intends for us to follow in his footsteps. He lived, breathed, and died for love. If you don't experience God's love, then you do not know God or give him your precious time. If it is courage that you need, lean on God and ask for all the tools you need to accomplish the tasks he has assigned to you. Did He not promise us he would do as much? What is the most important commandment per our Lord Jesus Christ? Memorize it and make it your everyday - all-day clothing.  Live, breath, and die for his love - your love - loving others.  If we are being persecuted, suffer in silence and with great spiritual joy, serve with humility, and love first and foremost as He does for us.

Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

     "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"

     Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments."

     Remember, one cannot truly love others till he loves himself.

1 John 3:1 (NIV)

     See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

     Are we being persecuted in this country? I believe we are to some degree short of physical violence most of the time. Remember that as disciples of Christ we are different and being different will always carry with it insults and jealousy - persecution.  Let us strive to become known first for our love not our judgment and, perhaps, that will ease the persecution for being different as well as influence and encourage others to become disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Strongly, I suggest we keep in mind that we are all Christians with the same purpose and serving the same and only true God through our faith in Jesus Christ no matter which Christian sect we belong to. Let us not self-destruct. Love!

WHO AM I...?

     I have asked myself and I am certain that you have asked yourself the same question, "Who am I that God should care about me much less want a personal relationship with me, this rough around the edges and lowly sinner?"

      The smart thing to do would be to ask God, himself, and to do that, we must read his word and develop that personal relationship with him that he so lovingly desires. We must begin to understand through his word and through current discussions with him and by looking at all that he has created, not mankind, to get the full impact, the full intensity, of just how important and loved we are to him. Then and only then can you begin to understand who you are and most of all who God truly is - our Father and we his children.

     John 1:12 (NIV)

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -

     Romans 8:17 (NIV)

Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

     1 Corinthians 6:17 (NIV)

But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

     Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

     Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In Love

     Ephesians 1:13 (NIV)

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

     Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved.

     1Thessallonians 1:4 (NIV)

For we know brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,

     So always keep in mind that, other than the faith that is necessary to believe, God puts no charge upon his acceptance of us as his children. His love for us is truly beyond any limit - giving his only son to be tortured and nailed to a cross to die an agonizing death being divine evidence of just how important we are to him. If you read, discuss, study, look around you sooner or later you will bow face-down and prostrate at the thought of how enormous, overpowering, and infinite his love is for all his children and just how far he would go to rescue and save us, his children. 

     I will soon lose a good friend in Christ and this is dedicated to him, Joe Bowling. We live forever in Christ, my friend. This is not the end, but the beginning. But you know this so well. As disciples of Christ we are meant to have a joyful spirit in the midst of the trials and tribulations that our Lord promised would come, but it is tough and we need his help. You belonged to him before you belonged to the world.

LET GOD HANDLE THE WORRYING

Let God handle the worrying and let's go about the business of gathering disciples for Him as he directed us to do. While we're at it, let's love, love, love, and love some more - so that we may become more perfect like Him. It all begins by loving ourselves unconditionally as God loves us and a simple smile like the one He gives us each morning when we awake. 

When you love even your enemies- you have no enemies. My goodness, didn't our Lord ask us to act really weird? He told us His kingdom is not of this world and that applies to his faithful, also. Isn't it a great feeling to be different - a revolutionary like our Lord? Smile!

 

WE ARE ALL EQUAL AND ALL BLESSED WITH GIFTS

     I am certain that some of those reading the articles, short stories, book, or whatever I write think that I am a self-righteous old fool or maybe a person that thinks I am a prodigious Christian academic, in other words full of himself. The truth is this; I direct my writing at myself as well as others. I spent a large amount of my life being a not-good influence on others and, surprisingly, God points out to me that those days of bad influence gave me a lot of training in forgiveness and empathy for others and yes, for myself as well. You must first learn to love, forgive, and like yourself before you can truly do the same with other people. So have empathy for yourself, first. I think a lot of people that are down on themselves and seeing their lives as hopelessly mired in the trash heap of their own making are in need of hearing it is never too late and they are loved unconditionally throughout in God's eyes. God brings us to our knees by his love.

     God tells me that if I influence or open the eyes and heart of even one person encouraging them to look to him for rescue then it is worthwhile. What I must have forgotten was that he was the one who sent me on this mission, and when God sets a task for you, you will not fail for lack of resources or strength if you just keep your focus on him and his purpose.

     So, my friends, I am no better nor greater than you. I am not a perfect and righteous person that sees himself above or better than you or any other person living now or in the past. Neither am I more loved by God - now or prior to my giving him my all. We are all equal in the eyes of God. I am certain that you have a talent, something to offer to God. I promise you that, if you do not already know, working for, serving our Lord is the most exciting and intoxicating thing you or anyone else can possibly do. I am not going to spend hours here relating the mountains my Lord has moved to help me accomplish the tasks he has set before me. There have been many times when I have just stopped in my tracks and said, Wow, that was the coolest, most astounding thing I have ever witnessed! And each time he does it, it is better than the first time. I cannot overstate this point because mankind has no words capable of completely stating much less overstating God's powerful loving will when you behold it moving mountains right before your eyes. Until you give yourself fully to him in faith and lay your talents at his feet. Yes we all have talents that God will use, called spiritual gifts: "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work." So wrote Paul in Corinthians 12:4-6.

     Paul gives us examples of these spiritual gifts in Corinthians 12:7-11: "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines."

     What may not be evident to you as a Spiritual gift, will probably be evident to others - ask other brothers and sisters in Christ what they see in you.

     Some feel and some definitely are and some are afraid of being persecuted for their Christian faith, a faith that transforms one causing them to put on a new set of clothing before the world. Don't be afraid of the persecution and do not seek revenge or be hateful to your persecutors, but get excited from that persecution. Matthew 5:10, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It gets better and more empowering when in Matthew 5:11-12 Jesus says, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

     If you think you are not worthy due to the horrible things you have done in life before having faith as so many are, forget those things - God has. People have a tendency to think, why would God want me after all that I have done? Read what Jesus said about this in Matthew 18:12-14. "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish." And that means you and I. How great is our Lord!

     The best description is that serving our Lord is just simply exciting. Love yourself. You are a creation of God, and that fact makes you special from the start. Forgive yourself, God did. Have empathy for yourself for it is good for your spirit and gives you practice so that you can empathize with others. Compassion for those less fortunate, the poor, the rich. Yes, the rich. Just because you are materially wealthy doesn't mean that you are a bad person, you may be giving huge sums quietly and humbly, as Christian giving should be, to help those in need. The rich are some of the most spiritually needy of us all. Include them in your daily prayers. As Philo of Alexandria, an ancient Jewish philosopher, said, "Be kind to everyone you meet for everyone is fighting a great battle on the inside." Extend that to prayer and include everyone in your prayers and let God be the judge of good or bad - just love everyone as our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us. Contrary to the old saying, "you can't live on love," you can - so says our Lord and so commands our Lord. And lastly, find your Spiritual gifts, and do not put them on a shelf and let them grow dusty from lack of use. 

FAITH IN THE POWER OF PRAYER

     Making an important decision without praying is telling God -

I don't need you - I am smarter than you.

 

HE IS JUST SOME OLD MAN

     As was his habit on most fair-weather days the old man sat in an old wooden rocking chair on his front porch slowly rocking back and forth while looking but only half seeing all that passed before him in the street, in the yards of his neighborhood. Usually, he kept his right hand loosely balanced on top of an old wooden cane, rounded at the crest and the bottom tip resting on the floor with the left hand and forearm placed on the left arm of the chair with fingers idly tapping out some unknown beat that ran in the background of his thoughts. His feet covered in worn slip-on sneakers remained attached to the floor and transferring their energy into keeping the gentle rocking motion going. At times, he appeared as if sleeping with his eyes open. While at other times, he appeared to be staring absently into the scene before him.

     None of his neighbors knew the old man's name. To be quite frank, if they even noticed him, it was to say things like "There's that old man that always sits on his porch" or "That's one creepy old man" as they drove or walked quickly by. On the days when the porch went unoccupied, never a person raised a concern as to his welfare or wellbeing.

     Once a week a van was seen in his driveway with the sign "SOUTHSIDE GROCERS" on the door. The van brought groceries ordered by the old man through his phone. It was a service his daughter had arranged over the internet because she lived two states away. Three years previous, he wasn't sure, he had been forced to give up driving after a stroke had caused his right leg to quit working reliably and he had been involved in two minor accidents. A son lived on the opposite side of the country, and, with his busy family and career, had many excuses but no  time to visit. When doctor appointments came up, the old man called the senior center that offered free transportation to doctors and the Social Security office.

     The old man had lost his wife of sixty-one years four years previous. It was as if someone had cut out his soul, his heart, his will to live. Most of the thoughts running through his head as he sat on the porch were of her. He pictured her in his thoughts the very same way he pictured her up to the moment of her parting; she remained young and the most beautiful and kind-hearted person he had ever known. His memories flooded his mind with pictures of her walking beside him gently holding his hand, listening to his griping always taking his side, fretting over him when he worked too many hours or skipped meals, or all the other wonderful things this selfless woman did that made his world and that of others so much brighter. He missed her, but, through his faith, he knew someday they would be together in spirit.

     Once in awhile his thoughts played reruns of his wartime experiences when he had been called on to save the lives of his fellow soldiers like the time he had faced almost certain death when circumstances had forced him to run across fifty open yards to neutralize an enemy machine-gun nest that was wounding and killing many of his fellow soldiers. He remembered praying while running, "God, you know that I have complete faith and trust in you, but you are scaring me to death!" His good friend, who had exposed himself to the intense enemy fire to bravely help cover him while he ran zig-zagging toward the enemy position, asked him later who that person was running beside him the whole way? The old man remembered how shaken he was upon hearing this. He knew exactly who it was - my Lord - and his buddy never challenged him on this conclusion.

     The old man remembered fondly the time his wife greeted him upon his arrival home from work one day with the usual kiss and how was your day? But on this particular day she also carried an envelope in one hand, an envelope with no writing on it but sealed. When he took it from her, he immediately surmised it to be filled with cash - a great deal of cash. She looked at him with those somebody-needs-our-help eyes saying, "You know our neighbor, Frank Carter, has a new job starting next week, but he has been out of work for some time. Well, after much prodding, Helen told me today if they don't have a house payment in sometime tomorrow the bank is foreclosing, and I peeked in their refrigerator and cabinets when she was in the bathroom - there isn't any food. You know that could be us someday, and God..." He smiled when he recalled cutting her off by chiding her with, "Now, you already had me before you brought God into the mix. Give me that envelope and after dark, I'll sneak over and tape it to their door. Let me write on the envelope 'God hears our prayers'"  

     He and his wife had purchased this current home thirty five years ago when it and the neighborhood was new, pristine with neighbors that talked and helped one another and shouted out greetings or, at the very least, raised their hands to wave when they came upon or drove past one another. Over time, the homes had aged and those neighbors moved or even departed from this world. Naturally, the neighborhood along with its personal relationships began to die, too. The paint on the houses was no longer kept fresh or the lawns mowed regularly. Many homes became rental properties with families moving in or out having stayed only a short time with the opportunity never there nor the effort expended to get to know one another casually, much less personally. Few people had a stake in ownership or pride, and the ones that had ownership showed little pride in themselves and less in their neighborhood.

     In the last month there had been two drive-by shootings and three people killed as further evidence of deterioration. After the last shooting, which happened just one block over, the old man while sitting on the porch had watched a car with several seedy-looking characters fly by at high speed. He talked himself out of calling the police. Today he saw that same car come slowly down the street with the same young men inside peering out with sneers on their faces and cigarettes hanging out the side of their mouths and one tipping a beer between drags. He watched closely and noticed the absence of a car tag. The car cruised slowly by and down the street turning at the next intersection. It was at this moment that he became aware of the two little girls playing in the yard of the house next door.

     The girls playing were maybe five and seven he surmised. He had seen them several times playing always unattended, dirty and unkempt in appearance, but cute as a bug's ear he thought. Their parents often got out of their car with a beer in hand and looking the worse for wear. Frequent visitors at odd hours of the night had raised the hair on the back of his neck when he combined that with images of the conditions the little girls might be living in. He highly suspected drug dealing - it wouldn't be the first time he had witnessed the neighbors of late participating in such nefarious activities.

     It was while he watched the girls running and shouting, laughing that he noticed that same car with the thuggy-looking characters come slithering unhurried down the street.  He came quickly to the conclusion that this was going to be another drive-by-shooting event. At the same time he was sure that it was going to be directed at the house next door, the home of the little girls playing innocently in front of the house.

     The fairly new-to-the-neighborhood people across the street from the old man sat watching television in their front room that contained a large picture window with open curtains. The wife happened to stand up at this time to close the curtains as the evening was darkening quickly. She commented, "I've never seen that old man across the street out of his rocking chair and off the porch before." Her husband just nodded absently.

     The old man stood up to shout to the girls to get in the house, but knew what he really needed to do was run to them, grab them, and take them to safety. That is when the lady across the street saw him come off the porch and begin to race toward the girls. The old man, as was his custom in life or death situations, said a prayer, "God I'm gonna need my right leg to work for a bit here, and I have faith and trust in you to do just that to give me any chance of saving the lives of those little girls." That said, he let go of the cane and took off like a young man of twenty something toward the little girls that had taken absolutely no notice of his actions.

     The lady looking out her front window across the street let out a shriek, "Lynn, that old man is going to abduct those little girls playing in the yard across the street! You've got to stop him while I call the police." That is when she noticed the same car with the thugs the old man was seeing. She also had seen that car in the neighborhood and thought it suspicious and not called the police.

     The old man got to the girls a fraction of a second before the car came even with their yard. In that fraction of a second, he launched his old body into the air as though it had found the fountain of youth and grabbed both girls pulling them to the ground and safely under him all in one smooth and almost effortless motion, an action he had practiced while serving in the army so many years ago, the same action he had saved a comrade in arm's life with back when he was so, so much younger.

     The lady and her husband across the street looked on in horror as they heard several shots fired and add themselves to the barbarity of the act. The old man and the girls were hidden by the car as those shots were fired, but, as the car quickly sped up and flew away, there was no mistaking the real purpose the old man had in mind as he ran toward the girls. The woman's husband flew out the door running toward the scene while his wife finished the call to police and followed his same path.

     The husband reaching the bodies first saw the two girls wiggle their way out from under the old man. Not wasting any time, the man grabbed the girls and shuffled them back to his approaching wife. Next, he cautiously bent down and pulled the old man over. "He's dead - I can't believe it. He was just running over here - now - he's dead. I'm telling you, this old man is a hero. I have never seen anything like it. He didn't even hesitate. He just dove on top of them to protect them. That's real courage. He had to have known that he was dead the moment he took off running." He said all this in a quiet and reverent sort of way as was due the old man.

     His wife stood staring down at the old man with her arms around the girls with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I just thought he was some old grumpy man. I didn't even know his name. Oh, God, I wonder if he has a wife or kids? We know absolutely nothing about him. Bless his heart. How could someone this good be just across the street and we never even so much as say hello?"

     The police cars came streaming in and filling the street while neighbors began to pour like water from the surrounding houses. One neighbor blurted out, "Who is that guy?" Another said, "He's just some old man that lives in that house over there."

     The policeman that was bending over the body covering it with a sheet from one of the neighbors took offense to that identification. "He's not just some old man. He's a a creation of God, a hero. Take a good look everyone of you. You won't see many people like this in your lifetime. Strange, but last night I opened the Bible to study and it opened to John 15:13, 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' When you do that, your name is Hero, plain and simple." The policeman finished carefully and lovingly covering the body, then proceeded to stand up, and, with tears rolling off his cheeks onto his shirt collar, saluted the Hero.