Proverbs: The Antidote to Ego

9/1/2021

Proverbs 13:14 NIV

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.

Recently, a long time friend, fellow minister and fellow staff at CrossRoad Church just celebrated his 92nd Birthday.  A few days after that date, he asked if I would write a forward to a book he was preparing to publish.  Since I have never written a book (though I wrote enough sermons in 40 years to fill up about 3 to 4) of course I would write this.  These are the closest chances to see my thoughts in a published book. 

Once I got over my own ego, I knew pretty much what I was going to write regardless of the content of the book.  Just knowing a person, who at 92 is still inspired to share his knowledge of the Bible and his unique personal relationship with the resurrected Jesus Christ is reason enough to recommend!   Don Bloch, became at follower of Jesus Christ in his early 40s.  He and his wife Anne, have blessed a lot of people with their prayer ministry.

Though I wasn’t always listening, I am very grateful for the people in my life who were wise.   Looking back, just being with them inspired wisdom and maybe through osmosis I absorbed their wisdom and probably didn’t even know!  Quite frequently, I read through Proverbs in the Old Testament , just to keep me honest and to make sure my ears were open to God’s Wisdom!

Like most things in my life, I kind of stumbled into a blessed life!  It has been a constant journey of bumping into wise people, reading God’s Word (particularly Proverbs) and seeking to know Jesus Christ recorded in the New Testament as well as through His Resurrection reveled through the Holy Spirit!

As human beings, we walk a fine line between self-reliance and relying on others for help!  It is tedious, but try to keep your balance!

The Blessing and Curse of Free Will

8/1/2021

A few days ago the death of Nanci Griffith was announced by her management company.  In a music world of high fashion and high profile, Nanci was truly an exception.  Low key, down to earth and similar adjective phrases would not do justice to her!   She could sing soft sweet ballads about her childhood, but could also growl a little like Dylan and maybe even make Springsteen stand up and listen!  Her Genre was probably best described as Folk/Country, for which I have always loved and considered that probably the essence of who I really was a singer/guitarist. 

Oddly enough, her most recognized recording was “From a Distance” which was later performed by quite a larger than life performer, Bette Midler. Nothing against Ms Midler, but you do have to smile at the irony. 

Several things about her death struck me.  First we are the same age, born in 1953.  That is always sobering!  Second, she instructed her management company not to publish her death immediately and not to publish the cause of her death.  In a world that is increasingly media driven, I find this quite refreshing!

The lyric to From a Distance, though not written by her, certainly gives some insights to who she was.  (It would be worth it to find performances of hers and Bette Midler’s out there in digital world )

From a distance
The world looks blue and green
And the snow capped mountains white

From a distance
The ocean meets the stream
And the eagle takes to flight

From a distance
There is harmony
And it echoes through the land

It’s the voice of hope
It’s the voice of peace
It’s the voice of every man

From a distance
We all have enough
And no one is in need

And there are no guns,
No bombs, and no disease
No hungry mouths to feed

From a distance
We are instruments
Marching in a common band

Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They are the songs of every man

God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us
From a distance

From a distance
You look like my friend
Even though we are at war

From a distance
I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting’s for

From a distance
There is harmony
And it echoes through the land

And it’s the hope of hopes
It’s the love of loves
It’s the heart of every man

It’s the hope of hopes
It’s the love of loves
This is the song for every man

God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us
From a distance

Oh, God is watching us
God is watching
God is watching us
From a distance

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Julie Gold

From a Distance lyrics © Wing And Wheel Music, Julie Gold Music

As one who follows Jesus Christ and uses the Bible’s writing to inform me about the nature of God, this song embodies the paradox of the life that we live following Jesus.

At the core of the Bible is God’s willingness to give Humanity Free will.  In doing so, the Bible reveals what a mess Humanity makes of that Freedom, so much that it is easy to surmise that God is distant and maybe not even involved in Creation and with Humanity.  The song does, however, gives us hope that God may not be absent from the world, but possibly from our ability to see just how active God is actually.

For me, the song is a wakeup call to remember that God did enter the world through His own Flesh and Blood as Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  That distance is bridged by Jesus!

Free Will is a terrible thing to waste!  God is watching to see how well we will use it!

Set Free

8/14//2021

Today, I led the memorial service for a longtime friend of mine who spent his life in a wheel chair due to his premature birth causing Cerebral Palsy.  Over the years I have thought of what the moment would be like when he would wake up in Heaven and have the use of all his limbs.  Heaven will be a wonderful place for so many who were never able to live up to their human potential, because of the place they were born, their gender, or the lack of nurture from family and friends (this is a very short list of things that limit us).

At times, I have envied those who would be set free from their limitations.  If I were to brood (which I am capable), I can certainly mourn some situations and events that have limited me, but by and I large I am a part of large group of people who whose lives have been blessed and know that it is only by God’s Grace and no particular effort of my own.

As I envisioned my friend my whole in Heaven, God sort of whispered into my heart, “Gee, one day you will also be free from things that have crippled you!”  For a moment, I was reminded that the life, to which I aspire as a human being, is a pale shell of life in the Resurrection. 

1 Corinthians 13:12 New American Standard Bible 1995 12 For now we see in a mirror [a]dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

It is certainly going to be painful for a moment, to enter Heaven and see the wheel chair and crutches on which I have depended to make me whole: Popularity, Security, Wealth, Accomplishments, conditional love…. just to name a few!

What a great day it will be to see genuine love, know true security in the presence of God the Father and my Savior Jesus Christ!

Father, Forgive my finite way of determining life.  Free me to live knowing that you are with me in my limitations (even those I can’t see)and one day I will truly see perfection!  In Jesus’ Name!