DOING A LOT WITH A LITTLE - DAY 30

For more of this art go to Biblical Art on the WWW and look for the artist, Isabella Colette.

Do you ever wonder how to get more bang for the buck, more go to the gallon, more bounce for the ounce? One of the secrets of doing more with less is given to us in the miracle of feeding the multitude, with just enough for a boy’s lunch.

Almost apologetically, Andrew announces: “There is a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two fish. But what good is that with all these people” (John 6:9, Contemporary English Version)? They estimated 5,000 men in the group; how many women and children? No wonder Andrew felt embarrassed to even mention it.

During those wonderfully exhausting and stressful years of raising five children on the modest salary of a pastor and a gifted stay at home mom, who with her homemaking skills got the most out of every dollar; I found myself, at times, slipping into the Andrew syndrome: What a limited budget with so many mouths to feed, how can we possibly make ends meet?

One week as I was preparing to preach on our Lord’s miracle of feeding the multitude with five loaves and two fish, I made a great discovery. As John records it: “Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God.” Anyone can be thankful after the marvelous miracle of multiplication. Jesus gave thanks before this embarrassing scarcity became an amazing surplus. The story tells us that after everyone had eaten their fill, the disciples gathered up the remaining fragments and they filled twelve baskets.

The trick is to be thankful before the miracle occurs. Isn’t it true that those who are less than thankful seem to need more of everything and have less to show for it? It’s so easy to grumble about what is lacking and fail to celebrate what God has provided as limited as it may look to our financial calculations.

Now, with the children gone and providing for their own children, my focus of gratitude has shifted a few degrees. When I walk into church I want to say with Andrew: “There is a boy here,” and there is a girl there. They are growing up all around us. We dare not look past them as if they didn’t count until they grow up. The young lad in our story counted when he turned his lunch over to Jesus. Do you suppose he thought of holding back a portion for himself? But when he surrendered it to Jesus his little suddenly became a lot. Some of these children are in our church family and believe me; God will use them to change the world.

THE CHRIST OF THE COSMOS - DAY 29

The above article appeared in The Vine and Branches Vol. 24, Issue 4, 2009, published in Ohio. It reminds us that the historical Jesus has become the Christ of faith. Our Jewish carpenter, the lowly Galilean who lived in the first century, has been exalted and glorified by the power of the resurrection to become the Lord of the universe.

If there is life on other planets, in other galaxies; they too have a Savior who offers them eternal life. The One who in the days of his incarnation never left the land of Palestine, never journeyed more than 100 miles from Bethlehem of Judah, his birthplace, is now available to the furthest reaches of space. To infinity and back communion with our cosmic Christ is available to all who remember him in his broken body and his blood, shed for the remission of sins.

I invite you to take that step of faith to believe that the man known in history as Jesus of Nazareth is risen to dimensions of eternity. This is not a small step; it is rather a giant leap in a person’s understanding of the love that drew salvation’s plan, the grace that brought it down to man and the mighty gulf that God did span in the incarnation and glorification of his son.

DIGGING FOR NUGGETS OF TRUTH - DAY 28

Embedded in Scripture and lying just below the surface, one can find nuggets of spiritual truth. With daily diligence, one can dig them out and turn them into the gold of Christian character. This daily devotional guide is intended as a tool to assist in the mining of such treasure. The secret is to dig into the Word of God on a daily basis.

Like the Manna in the Hebrew Scripture, which would spoil if gathered weekly and stored; fresh insights must be gleaned from the Bible every day. This kind of daily discipline can maintain a growing and glowing personal relationship to our Lord and Savior that can not be done in a hit and miss fashion.

During their wilderness wanderings the people of God gathered the Manna every morning before the sun melted it. This devotional guide recommends that we reserve a period of time in the morning to meditate on the daily Scripture reading, ponder the key concept and reflect on the devotional study, closing with a prayer for the day. Because of its flexibility, this exercise can be done in five minutes or extended to a longer period of time. By the time you get through the three hundred and sixty five days, you will have the foundation you need to begin composing your own devotional literature.

There is a river of life flowing through the Scripture. As you pan for gold, you will discover nuggets of truth that will enrich your faith.

A THIRD DIAGNOSIS BY DR PRAISE - DAY 27

DIAGNOSIS: As one who has provided pastoral care for over half a century, I have observed that people are often constricted by the smallness of their self centered world. They need to break out of their boxes of me, myself and mine and be stretched by a grander more glorious vision of God. There is nothing more expansive than contemplating the dimensions of divine love.

PRESCRIPTION: Ephesians 3:18-19 is by no means a bitter pill. Rather it is a mind altering medication. “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

PROGNOSIS: Our containers are too small. In order to be filled with the fullness of God we need larger vessels. Our borders of bias and our parameters of prejudice need to be transcended by something as expansive as the universe. That something is the very essence of God which is love: a selfless, sacrificial love that Jesus brought into this world from beyond time and space.

PRACTICE: Let me suggest this exercise. Bring alongside Ephesians 3:18 the most familiar verse in the entire Bible, John 3:16. Notice how they so beautifully dove-tail. What is the breadth of divine love? “God so loved the world….” We often draw circles to shut people out who are different from us. God draws circles which are inclusive of the whole world and everyone in it. What is the length of love? The answer is again in John 3:16-“that he gave his only begotten son.” God went to great lengths to demonstrate his love for us-he cared enough to send the best. His love reaches as far as the cross. What about the depths of love? “That we should not perish….” God sent his son into a perishing world. Truly there is no bottom to the heart of God. Corry Ten Boom (who survived the holocaust) was fond of saying: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Let’s practice on the heights of divine love: “…but have everlasting life.” The goal of love is to find us in the depths of despair and lift us to the heights of life eternal.

CHALLENGE: Spend some quality time meditating on the down reach, the up reach, the outreach and the in reach of divine love and let it stretch you out to your full potential. Don’t allow yourself to be limited by the smallness of a time bound, three dimensional world which shuts you in on every side.

A SECOND DIAGNOSIS BY DR. PRAISE - DAY 26

MY SECOND DIAGNOSIS

DIAGNOSIS: We often think of body, soul, and spirit as we proceed from the external to the internal. The Bible reverses that order and speaks of spirit (the core of our being) the soul (the functions of mind, emotion, and will) and the body. We need a therapy that starts in our spirit and proceeds outwardly. Outward therapies often do not penetrate deeply enough to reach the problem of pessimism. I would like to recommend the Holy Spirit who releases into the inner depths of our human spirit the joy of Jesus which radiates out in a more positive attitude and which ministers emotional and physical health.

PRESCRIPTION: Today, I would like to write you a script from Hebrews 1:9. It describes our Savior in these terms: “God anointed him with the oil of gladness beyond his contemporaries.” When you close your eyes and think of God do you see a frowning face? Do you visualize an angry deity, who can’t wait for the slightest reason to rain wrath on your head? It’s time to replace that with the smiling face of Jesus. He did not come to take the wind out of our sails, the spring out of our step, or the blue out of our skies. He came that “we might have life and have it more abundantly.” To have just a fraction of his cheerful disposition, his positive personality, rub off on us, would turn our mourning into gladness. “He that has seen me has seen the Father,” our Savior said. To see the Christ through the eyes of faith is to get a whole new vision of the depths of divine love.

PROGNOSIS: As we turn our eyes upon Jesus, we see that our Creator is everything an ideal Father ought to be. We are welcome to climb up on His lap, throw our arms around Him and call him “Daddy.” We can look up to a star-studded sky and affirm, “My Heavenly Father did that!” We can feel warmed by Papa’s love and sheltered in His care.

PRACTICE: Through the week let your heart-sing with joy: “This is my Father’s world and to my listening ear, all nature sings and ‘round me rings the music of the spheres.” Our God is not an impersonal force; a first cause; an unmoved mover; the eternal ground of all being. That works well for the philosophical, the rational level of our minds. But deep within us is a crying need for personal relationship. The God Jesus revealed to us can meet this need. “His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.” Jesus told us that not one sparrow can fall to the ground without the Father knowing it and we are worth more than many sparrows.

CHALLENGE: Why should any believer get stuck in the slough of despondency and be mired in the mud of murmuring. With renewed spiritual resources, we can turn our pessimism into praise and glory in the gladness of God’s Son. Let us determine to be loyal to the royal that is within us.

A DIAGNOSIS BY DR. PRAISE - DAY 14

MY FIRST DIAGNOSIS

DIAGNOSIS: You have a body but you are a spirit. As you must exercise your body to maintain physical fitness; you must exercise your spirit to maintain a healthy spirituality. One of the best ways to activate and energize your innermost being is with the daily practice of praise.

PRESCRIPTION: Take a big dose of John 7:38, “Whoever believes in me out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” Notice, this prescription is for any and every believer. It’s not limited to super-star Christians who are gifted with special enlightenment. This promise is for you. You have locked up within yourself, not just tiny trickles but rivers. Living a life-style of praise is not a matter of getting more of God into your life. Rather, a vital spirituality is a matter of opening the flood gates of your soul and letting out what you already have flowing within you.

PROGNOSIS: Think of a garden hose lying in the sun. When you first turn on the faucet, the water is warm and tastes like plastic. As it flows, it gets cooler and sweeter, loosing that artificial flavor. That’s my prognosis for you fellow traveler. As you become a practitioner of praise so much of the superficiality and staleness in your life will be washed away, bringing refreshment to yourself and others.

PRACTICE: As a general practitioner I subscribe to the therapeutic principle that love will find its way into an open heart. But as a praise specialist, I like to emphasize a reverse therapy. Love will find its way out of an open heart. As love flows out, the stream becomes a river, which carries us along on the current of caring. So find someone that you discern is gifted in some area. Perhaps they don’t recognize their gift but you have observed it in action. Without flattery (which is manipulative) affirm that person in a simple and direct way. You don’t want to spread it on too thickly causing them embarrassment. Just let them know that you appreciate their attitude of kindness which has lifted your spirit.

CHALLENGE: Why should any believer stand on the bank and just observe, while others are splashing and frolicking in a river of living water, which cleanses the soul and inspires praise in the heart? We can find ways to release the indwelling spiritual resources which are flowing just below our level of consciousness.

TRYING IS WINNING - DAY 25

We live in a culture which is profoundly influenced by the professional sports mentality that winning is all important; nothing else matters. If you’re not a winner you can’t attract the fans in sufficient numbers to pay the bills. This philosophy, I believe, prevents many people who are not world class athletes from competing.

Happy Chappy subscribes to a different value system. I believe that the only ultimate failure is to give up on trying. All those who try are winners in my book even if they come in dead last. That’s how I feel about Space-A travel; or anything else for that matter. I may not have the strength to do it at my age. I’m not sure I can motivate myself to face the uncertainties of not having a confirmed reservation. But that should not keep me from trying. So, here I am a few days later, with a wireless lap top computer to make reservations ahead and stay in contact with family and friends. That way, they will know where I am and what I’m doing.

My workouts at the Fitness Center are building my strength and my confidence. I’m giving it the good old college try. That makes me a winner regardless of the outcome. Are you with me?

Here goes an easy one to get me started. I have a reservation to fly to my son’s house and spend time with the grandchildren. Then what? a cruise, bus trip, train ride learning as I go? When I run out of money, I’ll have to come up with another plan.

I have a senior friend who goes from cruise to cruise. She claims it’s less expensive than a rest home and they do it all for you and provide plenty of entertainment when you get board with the ocean. Now that lady has some spunk!

What about timid little me? Can I strap on the back pack and the money belt and with passport in hand face the world? Time will tell. Whatever the outcome, I consider myself a winner. Just keep trying to fulfill your dreams and you will be a winner in your eyes, regardless of how the world sees you. Amen, that will preach!

A GRASSHOPPER MENTALITY - DAY 24

It's sound advice that we should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. On the other hand the pendulum can easily swing to the other extreme when we think too lowly of ourselves. To find that delicate balance between haughtiness and humiliation is true humility.

A case in point: when the people of God first entered the Promised Land to possess their possessions, their task seemed daunting. The walls were high and the cities well fortified. They seemed like impregnable fortresses whose inhabitants were gigantic. In stark contrast they saw themselves as grasshoppers. "To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them" (Numbers 13:33, New Revised Standard Version). In reality these "giants" were cowering behind their walls having heard of the miracles God did in liberating his people from their bondage in Egypt. They were fearful that what had happened to the Egyptians would happen to them.

The people of God couldn't see their position of strength because they were demoralized by the negativism of a grasshopper mentality.

After they got a few victories under their belts, their problems didn't look so formidable and they began to have a more healthy respect for their own resources. I think something similar will happen to us, after we get some experience traveling the world. Something of the can do attitude of Caleb will deliver us from grasshopperitis. "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it" (Numbers 13:30). Now that's the spirit we need.

THE THERAPY OF A HAPPY HEART - DAY 23

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones
(Proverbs 17:22, NIV). For those who have eyes to see it the heavens are aglow with God's shining face.

Praising God anyhow, anytime or anywhere. Dr Praise would like to recommend to you the medicine of a merry heart.

A distinguished looking man was walking by a park bench when he overheard a boy praising God with enthusiasm. He stopped and asked, “What are you so excited about young man?” The boy replied: “O mister our God is so great, it says here in my Bible that God delivered his people from bondage and opened up a way through the Red Sea so they could cross over on dry ground!” Having a background in Bible knowledge, he sat down by the boy in order to enlighten him. “Scholars tell us that the Hebrew word translated ‘Red’ should be translated ‘Reed’ Sea. It was a marshy area of reeds adjacent to the Red Sea that often had only 6 inches of water in it. The people could have easily waded through it. It may not have been a miracle but a natural event.” The boy looked down at his open Bible with confusion on his face as the man stood up and started to walk away. He had only taken a few steps when the boy began to praise God even with more gusto. The man stopped and asked: “What are you so enthused about now?” The boy replied: “O mister, our God is even greater than I thought. He not only delivered his people but he drowned the army of Pharaoh in only six inches of water!”

Life is often not fair. Bad things can and do happen to good people. A sanctified sense of humor can help us transform tragedy into triumph, pain into praise. The greatest disappointments can become divine appointments and the most difficult circumstances can be a call to praise. Even if one could explain away every miracle and attribute them all to natural causes and coincidence, it would not quench my spirit of rejoicing.

HOUSE SITTING - DAY 22

Greetings fellow travelers,

Well I just found something else usefull I can do: I can baby sit the house while my daughter, son-in-law and 3 grandchildren fly off on vacation. For 2 weeks, I have the place all to myself: feeding the cats, walking the dog and reminising over old family pictures hanging on the wall. The dog has just brought her leash to me, so I guess she's ready for the daily pilgrimage.

We start walking up hill. She is full of energy, so she pulls on the leash and gives me a needed boost. Coming back down the hill she is tired and I no longer need her exuberance. I have joined the over-the-hill gang. But at least, I am over the hill and not under the ground pushing up daisies.

At last: back home and ready to sit down with my blogging for dummies book, plunk on the piano (I told someone, I don't play on the white notes or the black notes, I plunk on the cracks inbetween) read my German Bible and just chill-out. I'm thankful however, because I see this adventure of house sitting as another baby step in leaving nursing care behind and launching out to a wider world.

My kids have abundantly stocked the refrigerator with groceries, so I can live here rent free for 2 weeks and save money for my coming cruise; God is good! Perhaps we can't eliminate the negative but, in the words of the old song; "we can accentuate the positive."

So, let's keep stretching beyond ourselves and leave the rest to our Maker.

LOCKED IN WITH LOVE - DAY 21

Today I was fantasizing on my upcoming cruise through the Panama Canal. In my mind’s eye, I could see that gigantic ocean liner positioning herself in one of the locks. Sea water from a higher source flows into the lock effortlessly lifting those two thousand passengers and several thousand tons of steel to the next higher level in her stair-stepped journey. The lifting power of water is truly amazing.

For over half a century, I was wed-locked to one of the finest women who ever walked the earth. Her selfless, sacrificial love flowed freely and lifted me to the next higher level in my cruise through time toward an ocean of eternity. Human love, at its best, is a reflection of divine love. There is no bottom to it. It gets under us and flows around us lifting. The heaviest burden is carried, like a feather, on the buoyancy of such love.

My Easter faith leads me to believe that not even death can quench it. When the transition is made through the canal of time, it keeps right on loving.

DESPERATE AT THE DELL - DAY 20

When my son offered to drive me down to San Diego to visit an old friend I’ve known for 50 years, I jumped at the chance. One night we went to the world famous Dell hotel in beautiful Coronado to listen to a band that was led by my friend’s grandson. We got in as guests of the band. What a wonderful evening listening to the music and watching the sun illumine the beach and set behind Point Loma.

I did something, however, that I never do. I took my credit card out of my wallet and put it in my front pocket. The next morning my credit card was no where to be found. “Panic!” as I imagined someone finding it and going on a shopping spree. Thinking I had pulled it out of my pocket when I withdrew my cell phone, we phoned the hotel and security checked the area. They found nothing.

Now I was fit to be tied fearing the worst. We drove back to the Dell to make our own search. Tracing our steps back to the entrance, we passed some birds perched on a tree looking very peaceful and contented. They seemed to be saying: “Why are you fretting, fuming and fussing? Don’t you know you have a Heavenly Father who knows when one of us falls to the ground. O you of little faith.”

Entering the area, I walked over to the couch and there, partially hidden behind one of the legs was my credit card safe and just waiting for me to find it. Instant relief came to me. Those bird brains got it right: we do have a Heavenly Father who watches over us ! Why can’t my human brain get it? Why am I so fidgety about escaping my dependence on assisted living, becoming a traveling man and a blogger? Why can’t I rest and relax in the awareness that I am in the hands of a Higher Power?

I will keep relearning that lesson and maybe someday, I can launch out in faith and enjoy whatever opportunities present themselves. In the meantime, in between time; let’s just let life teach us how to trust.

BATHING BUTTERFLIES HOLD THEIR WINGS UP - DAY 19

As a child, one day I was walking past grandma’s bedroom when I saw her kneeling at her bed, Bible open, head turned up like an overflowing cup and her hands lifted in the air. I was shocked and surprised. Normally she prayed with her head bowed and her hands folded in a very subdued manner. At mealtime and at church this was her style of worship, so this was new for me and different. I asked her about it and she simply said: “Bathing butterflies hold their wings up.” It has taken me years to decipher her meaning.

True enough; when a butterfly lands on a pond, it holds up its wings, as sails, to skim over the surface. Granny was sailing on a pool of praise and catching the winds of the Spirit. Even then, I could catch a glimpse of the inner beauty that shined through her wrinkled face.

I have no doubt that as she lifted her hands and her heart to God she was including me in her prayers. Whatever serenity and smooth sailing I have experienced is somehow mysteriously connected to those bedside intercessions. Decades later, the memory of it still inspires me to be and do my best.

In my church indoctrination, I have been trained not to get too exuberant. That doesn’t stop me, however, from letting my spirit soar on the inside. As I told a friend: I may be sitting on this pew with my hands folded on my lap looking very dignified. But if you could see my spirit soar you would realize that, like granny, I’m holding my wings up for the slightest spiritual breeze that may be moving through the congregation.

GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH "NO" - DAY 18

As a child, it seemed that everything was a “no-no.” As a teenager growing up in a religious home, I felt intimidated by the thunderous negatives of the 10 commandments.
“Thou shall not” seemed to tie me up in knots. What is God trying to do; fence me in and take all the fun out of my life? It’s only as an adult that I began to realize that life outside of borders is ultimately enslaving and life lived within divine prohibitions is liberating. No one is more restricted than the person who does what he wants when he wants it. He quickly is entrapped by his own desires. To do what we ought not as an obligation but as an act of love is far more fulfilling.

How can we get comfortable with divine imperatives? For me the answer has been to turn those negative prohibitions into positive principles, which produce praise. Turned from tails to heads, “you shall not steal” becomes you shall respect the person and property of your neighbor and honor his right to ownership. When we go around to the back door, we find that each commandment has a friendly side where we can enter without knocking and get comfortable.

Did Jesus follow this same course? He turned all the negatives into one glorious positive: “You shall love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” One might say: “love and live as you please.” Motivated by love everything that pleases God will be pleasing to you and everything that pleases you will be pleasing to others. Assuming that you have a high respect for God and a healthy regard for yourself, this first and greatest commandment is all you need. Kick off your shoes, loosen your tie and get comfortable.

THE THERAPY OF LAUGHTER - DAY 17

There is nothing better for the health of soul and body than a good belly laugh. The ancient proverb has it right: “A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). When we take ourselves too seriously and fail to see the humor of our situation, our life becomes as dry as dust. Holy hilarity is a lubricant that makes everything work better.

I have only two tools in my box: duck tape and WD-4. If it moves and shouldn’t I tape it; if it doesn’t move and should, I squirt it. Duck tape is like the laws of God. They hold everything together lest they fly apart. Laughter is like a lubricant, it keeps everything running smoothly with less friction.

If I were to take a peek in your medicine cabinet, I might find all sorts of over the counter and prescription drugs. When taken in the right dose and for the right ailment, they can be very therapeutic. When taken in the right dose, the medicine of a merry heart can be a powerful potion.

Sometimes we get all wrapped up around the axel and so close to our struggles; we can no longer see the forest for the trees. We need something to help us unwind; we need a buffer zone to put some space between ourselves and our situation. The great comedians knew that quite well; so many of them came out of tragic childhoods. Many have told us, they turned to comedy to cope with the pain of the past. They found that the exhilarating effect of making people laugh was just what the doctor ordered for their own remedy.

In my view, Jesus was no frowning saint. Children were drawn to him like iron to a magnet. They delighted in his joyful spirit. He often exhorted his followers: “Be of good cheer.” They were so prone to becoming glum and grouchy. He who was “anointed with the oil of gladness” could put a smile on the direst of circumstances. Hopefully just a fraction of his positive personality will rub off on us.

TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS - DAY 16

I can’t help believing that if we could only look at others through the eyes of Jesus, we could penetrate the crumbling clay of mortality and catch a glimpse of the immortal spirit hidden therein just waiting to escape. A psychology professor once confessed to me that he was a psycho-ceramic, meaning a crack pot. But then he added, with a twinkle in his eye, there is a lot of light shining through the cracks. The brightest light of our inner beauty shines through the cracks in our humanity. Oh that we had eyes to see it. Those who first discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls hidden in a Palestinian cave, at first, had no idea of the priceless ancient manuscripts contained within the pottery jars.

In like manner we are often blind to the inner beauty which is contained in every life. The following anonymous poem touched my heart with a new awareness of that. It was found in the personal effects of an elderly man who died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in North Platte, Nebraska. It was believed that he had nothing left of any value. Later, however, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

Now this little old man, with nothing left to give, has these simple but profound words winging across the Internet and touching the hearts of thousands.

CRABBY OLD MAN

What do you see nurses? What do you see?
What are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice; 'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice the things that you do
And forever is losing a sock or a shoe?

Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding the long day to fill.
Is that what you’re thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters who love one another.

A young boy of sixteen with wings on his feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at twenty my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows that I promised to keep.

At twenty-five now, I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide, and a secure happy home.
A man of thirty My young now grown fast.
Bound to each other with ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies play 'round my knee.
Again, we know children my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my wife is now dead.
I look at the future and shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own.
And I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man and nature is cruel.
Tries to make old age look like a fool.
The body it crumbles, grace and vigor depart.
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young guy still dwells.
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living life over again.

I think of the years, all too few gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people open and see.
Not a crabby old man; look closer see ME!!

A VIEW FROM THE TOP - DAY 15

What if you stood at the top of the earth near the North Pole? You could be amazed by a vista so different from anything you had ever seen before. From that vantage point, you might see the sun shining at mid-night, appearing to hang beneath a greatly enlarged, partially illuminated moon. At any other position on the planet such a view would not be possible. It illustrates the importance of perspective.

I have a memory trace as a child, playing around my mother’s knees. I looked up as she was embroidering. I remember her saying “pretty.” Looking up at it from the bottom, I saw only knots and threads going off in all directions without apparent rhyme or reason. When she turned it around, so I could see it from the top, a colorful design greeted my eyes. I repeated back to her, “pretty.” It was one of the first words I learned to say after dada, mama, no, and mine.

By faith, I believe, we can rise above circumstances and view them from the top. What was confused and chaotic can now be discerned as having plan and purpose. Our angle of observation is all important.

I am told that in India rugs are hung vertically and woven from the backside. Only the master craftsman can see the pattern developing. He instructs the workmen how to weave. What if they make a mistake and sow the wrong color or stitch? Does he have the mistake pulled out of the pattern? I am told that if he is truly a master craftsman he can leave in the error and direct the workers to weave around it so that the finished beauty of the carpet will be enhanced by the mistake.

This does not give us an excuse to mess up. But it does comfort us to realize that when we make serious errors in judgment and behavior our God is great enough to use them to beautify our lives with his grace and mercy. Let’s try to see this from the top.

The Magnificent Monarch - Day 13

Nature is full of surprises! Who could have imagined that a tiny insect, the Monarch butterfly, could migrate a distance of sixteen hundred miles from Canada, along the west side of the Continental Divide, to winter at various locations in Northern California. Several generations have passed along the way, yet the following generations somehow remember the exact location of their destination.

Those Monarchs that fly east of the Rocky Mountains travel as far as three thousand miles to various arrival points in Central Mexico. Research has shown that the magnificent Monarch is even capable of transatlantic migrations. How could such delicate wings carry them such great distances? It’s another of nature’s mysteries.

One year, I found myself at Natural Bridges state beach in Santa Cruz, California around Thanksgiving, when the Monarchs, with their distinctive orange and black colors, arrived on schedule. They clung to the drooping branches of Eucalyptus trees to feed and recover their strength.

What fascinated me the most was the way their overlapping wings, like shingles, could shed the moisture and lock each one into place. When a stray butterfly would approach, they would hold their wings up in unison as though they were saying: “there is room here for you,come, join us.” Then, when the stranger slipped into place, they would lower their wings as one. They had traveled over a thousand miles to form such interlocking clusters that would give birth to the next generation.

A sense of community is all important. We need not cling to life in our own strength. We may have to travel far, but we can find fellowship with others of faith. There is a welcoming community out there that is willing to lift their hearts in acceptance and receive you into the fold.

Borne on Eagles' Wings - Day 12

How did the people of the Hebrew Bible survive hundreds of years of enslavement in Egypt and 40 years of wandering in the Arabian Desert? How could they have endured exiles and a holocaust without losing their identity and perishing as a nation? It seems clear to me that throughout their long history from Father Abraham, they have been carried and lifted by a power greater than themselves. In the Hebrew Scriptures we find this inspired explanation: “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4).

I’m told that soaring in a glider and piloting a propeller driven aircraft are totally different sensations. When you reach a designated altitude and the cable is released connecting you to the mother plane you are sitting in an eerie silence. There’s no sound of a motor turning a prop pulling you through space. The pilot often feels the need to over control and to make something happen by trying to steer the glider. It takes a while to just sit back and relax and trust the updrafts to carry you as high and as far as they will. Losing altitude might cause some panic even with a seasoned pilot. One needs an instructor in the cockpit to help one trust and wait patiently for the next current to provide the needed lift. Just let go and let God, it will come. We have a sacred promise on which we can rely: “Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31).

What happens when it’s time for the eaglets to fly for themselves? They will probably need some poking and some prodding. The nest is so cozy and comfortable. It’s so nice to have your meals flown in without any effort on your part. That’s when the adult eagles begin to “stir up the nest” (Deuteronomy 32:11) nudging them closer to the edge of the cliff. One last push and they are tumbling out into empty space flapping their wings while falling to the earth. That’s when old baldy and his mate fly underneath them, catching them on their wings, and bearing them aloft. On reaching a safe altitude they do a sharp banking maneuver and off they go again tumbling through space. After three or four of these elevator rides they are beginning to get it. It won’t be long and they will be soaring on their own like tiny specks in the sky.

Is that not nature’s metaphor of what God is doing in our lives?

The Treasure of the Snow - Day 11

“Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? Or have you seen the treasures of the hail” (Job 38:22)? Living three millennia ago in an arid region of Mesopotamia, snow would have been a rare delight to Job. But there is a special treasure locked up in every snow crystal that Job could not have imagined. Since the invention of modern methods of magnification, it has come to light that as complex snow crystals form, they branch out in amazing patterns of diversity that gives each one a uniqueness that makes it different from all others.

In a high school science class, I was taught that no two snow crystals are exactly alike. My skeptical adolescent mind thought: “how could they know without examining every snow flake that has ever fallen?”

According to Kenneth G. Libbrecht, who is a physicist at Caltech, “it is unlikely that any two complex snow crystals, out of all those made over the entire history of the planet, have ever looked completely alike.” For more information you can go to his fascinating web site, SnowCrystals.com.

I simply want to take his scientific expertise and give it a theological application. “For it was you who formed my inward parts … I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). If snowflakes are so complex in their intricate designs, how much more the formation of a human being? Even in the case of identical twins that come from a division of the same fertilized egg, there are significant differences in personality characteristics and environmental factors, which make them unique individuals. There’s no one that is an exact duplicate of you. As we often say, when God made you he broke the mold.

For me, all this amazing complexity and diversity boils down to this simple affirmation of faith: The value of every human life is so awesome and wonderful it must not be cheapened. Rather, it should be regarded as a sacred gift to be treasured.