WHERE’S YOUR WEED WHACKER?

Luke 8:14  “And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” (English Standard Version)

HYMN:  I Surrender All

“THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!  THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!”  Weeds.  It’s the Summer in America and if you own a lawn or pass by one you will know about the battle of the weeds.  In your grass, in your garden…they’re everywhere.  You may not even be near one but you know they’re around because of what they do to your nose, causing you to sneeze.  But even if none of those situations is true for you, you know all about weeds because they’re in your heart and mind.

JESUS tells the story about how the process of people learning about Him is a lot like planting a garden.  The Gardener (Christian) tosses out the seed (tells about JESUS) in all directions (to all around). Some words fall on “deaf ears”, those who aren’t ready for it and the devil snatches it away.  Some falls on the hardhearted and although it springs up quickly it doesn’t take root and has no effect.  Some grows but the weeds of loving this life more than eternity choke them off.  And some are successful through patient nurturing by the hearer to grow into a fruitful Christian life.

If you feel a sting at hearing about those who aren’t prepared or are hardhearted, don’t judge GOD on why He hasn’t prepared them or has hardened their hearts.  But ask yourself “Am I prepared?”  If not, why not? Have you allowed your heart to become hardened toward GOD?  Why?  And if it seems unjust that others aren’t prepared  or have hardened hearts what are you doing to prepare or soften them?

The answer to all of those questions is probably about those weeds.  Wanting something and not getting it.  Or getting it and being so attached to this life that you get distracted and end up not being a conduit of His Life to ourselves or others (bearing fruit) as you should.

So what’s the answer to the weeds?  JESUS, the Spiritual Weed Whacker.  The human Fruit of the womb of Mary, fully GOD and fully Human, who watered the world with His Blood on the tree of the Cross and rose again after His burial.  Only love for JESUS outweighing love of this world can stop the distractions of the temporary in favor of the eternal life He came to give us.  Only after completely surrendering our lives to Him will we be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to love Him and each other as only He can through us, because “God is Love.”  But even that surrender is nothing to take credit for any more than fruit can take credit for rainwater, soil or sunlight.  It’s the natural byproduct of the gift of faith.

It is no accident that humanity started out in a Garden with GOD.  The implication is there was nothing there that shouldn’t have been, but everything had been planted, as it were, by GOD.  It was only after Eve and then Adam chose what was not of GOD that those things that could distract them were allowed to flourish.

In the same way, having been given eternal life in JESUS, Believers are then empowered to help in the garden by patiently cultivating the fruit freely blossoming in them from the Holy Spirit.  We are invited throughout Scripture to allow the impetus of the Holy Spirit to empower us to change and grow and flourish by putting off old ways of the flesh and putting on new ways the Spirit teaches us.  Then the Father will continue to prune us, increasing our love for Christ and our fruitfulness for Him empowered by the Holy Spirit.  The result?  A garden of Believers changing lives of others for now and forever as their fruit is used to plant seeds in others.  Until, ultimately, all Believers bow in worship like trees in a windstorm before the throne of GOD at Home in His Kingdom leaving the fruit of their lives at His Feet.

SONG:  “IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.

“Can you hear them?  Can you hear them?  It’s the buglers!  And they’re blowing the ‘Charge’!…”

The movie is “Stagecoach.”  It’s the first big starring role of the ultimate cowboy, John Wayne, and director John Ford makes sure the hero bursts on the scene with guns blazing galloping into the screen in a stunning close-up.  He volunteers to ride along on a Stagecoach going through dangerous country with its occupants  (a “washed up” old doctor, a prostitute with “a heart of gold” looking for a new life, a helpless pregnant woman searching for her soldier husband, a misguided soul who thinks he’s in love with the married woman and a “milquetoast” fellow) as well as the sweet befuddled coach driver who is trying to scratch up enough money to settle down with his Mexican sweetheart.

This group goes careening through the countryside in their Stagecoach at the mercy of nature, circumstances, and enemies out to get them on every side.  None of them quite sure of where they are going or why or whether or how they will get there in the end.

We are each like those occupants of that stagecoach.  Each of us have our personal problems, pains, hopes and dreams.  And we are each on the wild ride of our lives, not sure of where it will lead from one day to the next with the world, the flesh and the devil working against us at every turn it seems.

Who is your John Wayne?  Who is the hero you count on to get you through?  It may be a loved one, a parent, a spouse, a friend or family member.  It may be some hero or heroine you’ve fashioned in your own mind, perhaps with yourself in the starring role.  But the problem is, they, too, are on the same journey.  Even John Wayne has his limitations, as in this movie when he is over run by the enemy and all seems lost.  Even the foolish dreamer with his fantasies about the married woman prepares to put a bullet through her head rather than see her fall into enemy hands and “a fate worse than death” when suddenly that woman cries out…”Do you hear them?  Do you hear them?  It’s the buglers!  And they’re blowing the ‘Charge!’…”

From her short time with her soldier husband she had spent enough time in the safety of the forts to know the sounds of the Cavalry and the bugler signaling their arrival.  When all seemed lost, suddenly the Cavalry came charging in to save the day.  (Except the man who was in love with the pregnant woman.  It’s too late for him.)

No earthly hero or hero of our own making will do.  Our rescue comes not from the Cavalry, but from Calvary, from JESUS CHRIST,  Who died on a cross there to rescue us from the wild ride of life, Who turned the unknown wilderness into a waterpark adventure, because we go through it with Him in charge.  On those crossbars of wood and nails GOD Himself gave His life for us to rescue us as only He could to  bring us safely Home to our Heavenly Father and our ultimate destination.  His cross is our stagecoach to Eternal Life, for the acceptance and believing.  And once we realize that, we willingly ride with Him to the end of the line.

But we are waiting and listening, too.  Waiting and watching, serving JESUS out of love for Him until His return.  And listening for the sign He told us to listen for…the shout of His triumph over all of the enemies attacking us.  The bugle call of “Charge!” by the angels who are coming to pick us out of the dying world and prepare us for a new creation.  JESUS CHRIST is coming back for us.  He is coming for His own who trust Him for eternal life and who are living for Him, working for Him, waiting for His return.  And listening.  Always listening for the sound of their rescue.

The shout shall come.  The sound of the trumpet will blast.  All of the faithful dead will rise and be translated in an instant as will those who remain alive in an instant after that.  Are you trusting some foolish dream, some earth-bound delusion like the man who allowed himself to fall in love with a woman he could never have?  Or are you waiting for the One who survived death for you to love you to Life?

Are you deaf to the calls of GOD to find life in Him?  Or are you watching, working, waiting and listening for your Savior’s return for you?

“Can you hear them?  Can you hear them?  It’s the buglers!  And they’re blowing the ‘Charge’!”

TOLD YOU SO

Luke 16:31   “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’

I Told You So

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve17O3EJ2hc

Luke 16:31   “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’

JESUS was invited to the home of one of the Pharisees on the most important days of the week for the most important meal of the week, the Sabbath dinner.  When we pick up on Him here in Luke 16, JESUS has been speaking for two straight chapters telling parables, one after the other, with the Pharisees crowding around him, listening, and eager to catch Him at something.  They, like He, believe in the LORD and the Law, even angels and the resurrection of the dead.  But they just can’t understand how He allows Himself to be surrounded by the worst of society.  Or to scoff at riches when He is obviously a pauper Himself and should be happy for as much money as He can get.

It’s unclear whether all of the parables are told in the house at dinner or in various other spots, perhaps as they leave the dinner in the Pharisee’s house and move around town.  But they are all linked.  Humility in doing the right thing for others, like healing the sick or rescuing their livestock and livelihood, even on the Sabbath.  Humility in not assuming the best spots in front of others but considering others more worthy than yourself and letting others raise you higher. Being humble enough to seek those who are in need of you and what you have, what you know, running to the prodigal with forgiveness rather than waiting on the porch in resentment, and being faithful in the use of money because it shows faithfulness of spirit with spiritual riches much more valuable than any money.

JESUS reminds them of Moses and the prophets calling them back to faithfulness to GOD but that they have been unfaithful to the very laws of Moses and the prophets by twisting the laws and allowing divorce and remarriage and justifying it.  Their confusion of priorities, earthly pride and riches that back it up over spiritual purity and strength, is leading them to hell.  Then JESUS tells them one more story to explain His authority in warning them about all of these things.

JESUS tells the story of a very rich man who could afford to dress himself in the best of the best and lavish every luxury of the day upon himself.  He lives in the best part of town and those who care for the poorest man in town, Lazarus, hope to provoke his mercy by placing Lazarus, so poor he can’t afford a doctor for the sores covering his body, at the rich man’s gate.  They hoped that the rich man could not help but notice Lazarus as the man went in and out of his house.  But he ignored starving Lazarus just the same.  The only attention Lazarus got was from dogs who licked his sores because he was too weak to fend them off.

Both men die and the rich man who had ignored Lazarus is in hell suffering flaming torment but can see Lazarus through the flames and smoke as if across a great canyon in coolness beyond, being hugged by Abraham the father of the Jewish faith.  The man cries out for mercy he never had to Abraham to send Lazarus (whom he still ironically considers unworthy of addressing) to help him.  But Abraham explains that they are each receiving the results of their actions.  The fruit has been harvested and it is too late to put it back on the tree.  The rich man in hell cries out for mercy again, this time on behalf of his family, but Abraham says they already have the Law and the Prophets and that if they do not believe those they will not believe even if a person comes back from the dead to warn them.

JESUS intentionally names Lazarus, perhaps thinking of one of his best friends.  But He deliberately doesn’t give the rich man a name.  We are each the rich man.  Each of the Pharisees listening to Him tell the story could put himself in the rich man’s place with his own name.  Even if we are not materially wealthy (though most of us are compared to most of the world), we are spiritually blessed with having all of the law and the prophets to study.  And, in them, to find JESUS, as He said that they spoke about Him.  (John 5:39)

Abraham and the prophets were calling to the Pharisees of the day.  They are speaking to you now from the Bible somewhere in your memory, in a hotel room drawer, in your house, in a church near your home, on the internet.  They are saying “I told you so.”

We have chosen what GOD is not and sought death instead of life.  Only the sacrifice of blood could atone, symbolized by the blood of a lamb and fulfilled by JESUS, the Lamb of GOD who came to take away the sins of the world through death on the cross.  Fully GOD and fully man.  He rose from the dead to give us life.  By faith in Him alone we can have eternal life and be restored as part of the new creation of His bringing all things back to GOD the Father through the power of GOD the Holy Spirit in us, all for the asking.

Ironically, JESUS is telling this story just a short time before He will die because of these same Pharisees with the same mindset as we have (had), denying Him.  He would die and come back from the dead.  He will be the One to come back from the dead to persuade them to choose Life in Him.  But would they believe Him?  Will you?

Those who choose Christ choose to die to this life in order to live His life in and for Him.  If you’re reading or hearing this, you now have the choice to either believe and accept that life in Him or have no excuse because I told you so.

In the movie “The Never Ending Story” a boy finds a magic book where the characters seem to come to life.  He can’t help reading about their adventures and suddenly one day sees them cross the barrier, looking through their reality into his, telling him that he must accept that he is the one being addressed.  He is the point of the story  He must accept his place in that life and existence he was destined for.  This reflects what JESUS says in John 17’s High Priestly prayer where He says that He prays not only for those disciples who where standing around Him.  He looked through the ages, through the pages of the Bible, and into your eyes as those who would believe because of their witness, like the prophets before them, of Him.  He is calling you to Life.

On that someday day after, when we find ourselves no longer in this world, how many will find themselves saying “If I had only known…” to hear Abraham, all the prophets, all of the disciples, all Believers throughout the ages and JESUS Himself looking at them as He looks up through this Scripture today across time, saying “I told you so.”

DEAD MAN’S FLOAT

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:4-6 “…God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”

SONG:  “Love Lifted Me”

As I write this, Summertime is upon us and with Summertime comes thoughts for most folks of swimming.  As you can tell from my athleticly pear-shaped body, I don’t do much exercise.  But one thing I know I am an expert in is the swimming maneuver of “The Dead Man’s Float.”  Not because I know the technique, but because, being placed in a large body of water, I will struggle and fight until I am literally dead so I will float like a dead man naturally.

You may know how to swim, even very well, physically.  But I am here to remind you that we must all remember to do the Dead Man’s Float spiritually.

The quickest way to make yourself dead when in trouble in the water is to struggle and fight.  Struggling drowning people are notorious for drowning those who try to save them because the drowning person refuses to simply relax and let the Rescuer do the work.  This is exactly the case in the Spiritual world, too.

We all get into trouble in spiritual storms of life:  temptation, lust, greed, anger, wrong choices, selfishness, pridefulness, deceit and self-deception.  And all it takes is that one moment of indulgence in any of these things to separate us forever from the shores of GOD’s Presence and drown us in the depths of the devil’s deceptions.  At such a time, we all need a Rescuer, a Savior, and He is JESUS.

Our Scripture today reminds us of how much GOD loves us.  We were spiritually dead through our willingness to choose anything other than Him and His desires for us.  He sent His Son, JESUS Christ, fully GOD and fully Man to be our Rescuer.  No fear of our struggles physically killing Him because they already have.  That’s the point.  Our sins led to His physical death to bring us back to the Father.  Now He lives to bring us new Life.

But there’s only one way to accept that Life, and that is to float and not to fight by trying to do things our way.  We are too far from GOD and cannot get to Him on our own.  We must float in faith of what JESUS has already done for us.

Some people say “Oh that’s wonderful that I don’t have to do anything to be rescued but trust the Rescuer because I know how to do it myself!  So between the two of us…Watch THIS!”  And they start to try some fancy swim maneuver.  Even those who have been Christians for years, even ministers, start believing that what they do has added that extra “something” to “help” GOD save them.

But their struggles and attempts to save themselves only lead to their death.  Even a little bit of water in the lungs will kill you though you think you are perfectly fine.  Even the tiniest amount of sin will kill you spiritually.  You cannot do enough to save yourself.  Only JESUS can.  And He did.

By grace are you saved…totally without any effort on your part, when you were “dead in the water” and helpless to help yourself.  All you must do is float in faith that JESUS has done all that is necessary to bring you to Life.

Relax.  Float, don’t fight.  Trust JESUS the Rescuer.

Once you have given yourself completely to Him, and are in His grip, lift your head up to GOD and keep your focus on Him.

When lifting your head to GOD, breathe as deeply as you can of His Spirit.  The more deeply you breathe of the Spirit the stronger the faith in your spiritual lungs.  He will give you instructions on how to hold onto Him as He brings you Home to your Father in Heaven.

And on the way, others will see your example, trust the Rescuer, and find Life in His Name as well.

You must float like a dead man in order to live as a Believer. May you find that life in the arms of the Rescuer and rejoice with Him on the shores of salvation forever.

Audio Version:  http://www.arielion.com/dmf.mp3

http://www.arielion.com/bfc.mp3

JESUS Who?! (John 1)

Song: Only JESUS can Satisfy the Soul

Do you remember the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?  (Hopefully you remember the original and not the nasty newer version).  The ideal product of a magical candy maker was the Everlasting Gobbstopper. You could chew it forever and it would never be gone. That sounds messy to me.   (What do you do with it when you’re tired of chewing but don’t want to swallow it?)

John 1, even the first verse, 1:1, is like that. You could chew on it forever and never fully understand it or stop being in awe of it or the GOD it describes.
But it’s messy because if you believe John 1 it will…the One it describes…will change everything.

Because the One this chapter is talking about is JESUS. Oh yeah, HIM. We know about Him. Tell us about giants and mysteries instead, you might think. But this chapter, again, reveals enough about JESUS to ponder over for a lifetime.
But it’s messy, too, because it’s not politically correct to believe in JESUS.  People today think it’s not even polite because what the Bible says about Him seems so exclusionary.  They’d rather believe in a JESUS of their own construction rather than the testimony of the people who saw Him every day: His cousin, His half-brother, His best friends, walking, eating, camping overnight with Him for three years.  Who did they say JESUS was?  This first chapter of John says it all:

The Word,
with God,
God Himself (keep chewing!)
Creator (without him was not any thing made that was made…or ever has been or ever will be made!)
The Life (In him was life)
The True Light (Who lights every person that comes into the world)
The One whom His own creatures ignored while He was in the world (He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not)
The One Who alone gives the power to those who believe on His Name to become the sons of GOD
Made of Flesh (fully Man as well as Fully GOD)
Dwelt among us
Full of Glory
Full of Grace & Truth
The Only Begotten of GOD the Father
The One who John the Baptist (His cousin and friend) gave witness to
The One of Whose fulness others have received, and grace for grace.
Greater than Moses
Giver of Grace and Truth
In the Bosom of GOD the Father
The Only human being to ever see GOD (fully) and declare Him
The Christ, the Anointed Messiah, promised Savior of Israel & the World
The Lord
The One prophesied by Isaiah (hundreds of years beforehand, the Suffering Servant who would die for the sins of the world on a cross)
The One Who stood among others and was unrecognized for Who He was
The Lamb of GOD (the One who was the fulfillment of the Jewish sacrifice symbolized at Passover by the shank bone of a lamb)
The Only One who can take away the sin of the world
The One John witnessed seeing the Holy Spirit descend upon and remain upon
The Only One who can baptize with the Holy Spirit
The Son of GOD
The Master Teacher
The One others realized was the One Moses and the prophets wrote abot
Born into the household of Joseph
The One who can see you when you don’t realize He’s watching and knows you though you don’t know him (like Nathaniel)
The King of Israel
The One upon whom angels would ascend and descend

That’s a lot of chewing!  And that’s only one chapter!  But it’s messy.  Nowhere does it say He was just a wise man (though He was).  Nowhere does it say He was just a nice man (though He was).  JESUS is “very GOD of very GOD”…a messy thought to deal with, especially as He would later say that He is the only way to GOD, the only means of eternal Life and the only Hope of humanity.  He is your only hope.  Messy as the thought may be, niceness and rule keeping won’t cut it.  It’s JESUS or nothing.  But if we “come and see” as the chapter and those it describes invites us to do, we’ll see that He satisfies as only GOD can do.  JESUS Who?  JESUS the Son of GOD, the very expression of GOD, who lived to love us, died to save us from our wandering ways and rose again to give us Life and usher in a new heaven and a new earth starting with a new heart and new life for you.  Hard to swallow, but the only real satisfaction for the soul.

“Fixing our eyes on JESUS the Author & Finisher of our faith “, Hebrews 12:2

Hymn:  ”Be Thou My Vision”

AUDIO VERSION

My eyes don’t work very well. Some say it’s because I’ve spent too long looking too hard for chocolate. I don’t know. But there’s an eye condition I wish I had. I wish I were cross-eyed!  And I wish you were, too. Not the kind of cross-eyed where your eyes point at each other, but the kind that this Scripture talks about, to see all of life in the context of Christ’s conquest on the cross.  To have our eyes fixed on JESUS and what He did on the cross for us. In the previous chapter, we’re given a long list of all that the early Believers have suffered because of their faith that a rescuer was coming. They refused to accept anyone else’s false promises to save them from the results of this sin-filled life and to deliver them safely Home to GOD in the life to come. In our verse today we’re told that they were looking for the One neither they nor we can do without, JESUS. JESUS set the example by looking past His suffering and death to the Life He earned for Himself and on our behalf. And in His Name we can get through anything this world throws at us if we keep our eyes on Him. People who would be glad to destroy us as enemies look like simple fellow sinners when we look at them with the cross in our hearts. We find the strength JESUS sent with the Holy Spirit to pray for them instead of hating, fearing or envying them. We see them as His creation not our enemies. Pleasures of this world are seen as the dangerous distractions they are  They are detours, pretty paths that are passing away and can’t be compared to the Father of All Comfort. Looking at JESUS through the cross we can see the joy He has for us to share forever if we don’t let the momentary distract us from the momentous.

The word for the joy JESUS earned for Himself and for us is described elsewhere as that shouting, dancing, singing holiday kind of joy. There’s a party in Paradise and we are invited by the Guest of Honor. Don’t miss out by not looking for Him.

Problems of this life that seem so huge and dangerous are just blurs in our peripheral vision when we stare at JESUS instead of our fears.  He has already promised to get us through the worst anything in all creation can do to us. JESUS is our path to peace in any storm. Peter learned this walking on the water.  No wave of worry or lightning of loss can get hold of our minds or imaginations if we keep staring at JESUS through it all. The word for fixing our eyes means to stare, like when the enemies of JESUS tried to stare Him down or those who were waiting for healing stared expectantly at Him. We stare at JESUS today when we pray, praise and concentrate on Him. Staring is never rude when you do it in love and you’ll find JESUS is gazing at you in love all the while. May we be “cross-eyed” seeing everyone and everything in light of JESUS purchasing eternal joy for us in spite of us putting Him to death with our sins. And when He wipes every tear from our eyes , and we see Him as He is, the smile in His eyes will make it all worthwhile.

“The people surrounded him (JESUS) and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name.But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.30 The Father and I are one.” (The Gospel of John,  10:4-29, NLT)

Father's Hands

(Photo copyright 2009 Monica Mason Higgins; Used with Permission)

When I first saw this photo I immediately thought of John 10:29 “No one can snatch them from my Father’s Hand.”  In this simple photo you can get much of the impact of these words. More fool he who tries to harm this infant in the firm but loving grip of his father.  Held with a grasp probably remembered from handling a football but with the delicacy of indefinable love, sound asleep swaddled in safety and security, the baby rests snuggled and safe.

JESUS is being attacked by those who are facing internal struggles.  Part of them wants to believe that JESUS is the embodiment of all they’d hoped for in Messiah, the One who would rescue them, but He’s not acting like He’s “supposed” to act.  They don’t know what that missing thing is but they don’t want to trust Him wrongly because they are living in the fear of not doing the right thing rather  than in the freedom of the love of GOD Who already did all the right things for them.

JESUS explains that what He has said and what He has done is enough and all that is required of anyone to be His is to rest in those two things.  There will be times when action will be called for.  His own will listen to Him and follow Him.  (v27) Paul will call for us to put aside childish ways as we mature as Believers. (1 Corinthians 13:11) But in the sense of belonging to GOD and having eternal life, there is nothing to be done but to rest in JESUS and the security of what He has said and done for us.  We are His lambs, His infants, snuggled securely in His grip, which is loving yet eternally strong and invincible though every other power that ever has existed or ever will comes against them. Because all opponents are created by CHRIST through the Father so none are greater than the Creator.  The Father is no nasty, bloodthirsty being that “poor Jesus” must appease. They are One in the mystery of unfathomable love, power and joy of love in Trinity with the Holy Spirit and toward us.

JESUS Himself started out life as an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes.  He was made absolutely powerless by human hands so His infant hands wouldn’t scratch His face before tiny mittens were invented, so he would stay warm and dry, safe and secure even in a hay bed.  The Son of GOD allowed Himself to be wrapped in restricting flesh for our sakes.  Years later He would allow other human hands to bind His Hands and Feet again, this time on a wooden cross with spikes.  He was bound to free us from the need to think we need do anything other than acknowledge Him to find the love of those resurrected Hands around our hearts and our souls securely His forever.

The security of the wrappings, symbols of loving hands, have calmed and reassured generations of infants for thousands of years.  And GOD seeks to swaddle us today.  We kick and scream and flail about in life, mostly out of our insecurity..  “The economy is going to hell!  What will we do?”  “We’re going to be attacked, invaded by madmen!  What can we do?”,   “What if…”, “Where will…”, “Who will..”, “When will…”  Yet in it all, all that really matters is what JESUS has already said and done. Believe Him for whom He says He is and what He has done for us in the Name of the Father and the Power of the Holy Spirit.  Rest in the security of His grip that no one and nothing, not even our own efforts against it, can break.

As Believers in JESUS Christ as GOD in Flesh Who died and rose from death for us to free us from death forever, we are like that baby.  We are loved in spite of all the fussing and screaming we do, no matter how often we do it.  We are secure in spite of all the “messing” on ourselves we do.  There is nothing we must accomplish to be accepted other than existing as His accomplishment.  Sometimes all GOD expects of us is a smile in recognition of Who He is and for us to relax and enjoy His snuggles.

I am responsible for training the Staff and Faculty at my school in the topic of Knowledge Management.  I wanted to “grow” them into it by having them experience the collaboration aspect and see what’s most comfortable for them, then telling them why it works, introducing them to the theories, practices, formal classes for those interested, etc.  Instead, the powers that be have decided to formally train 20 people in a week-long course of formal classes in a classroom with PowerPoint given by a contractor and to certify them all to the same level as yours truly.  I’m already getting backlash from this from folks who are being forced to attend, and don’t enjoy classroom training, especially  when it will take up one of their vacation days that Friday.  Not everyone likes formal training and I feel as if i’m being set up for failure.

My solution to reach those who will be “turned off” to the whole concept of Knowledge Management now is to send an email *after* the class and set myself up as the “good cop” to whom they can still come with their ideas.  I’ve included the proposed email below.  Let me know what you think.

Ptooie!

That’s right. I said it. PTOOIE!  You may be one of the folks who hates sitting in a clasroom watching PowerPoint slides and being forced to sit through a week of formal training just gave you a bad taste in your mouth.

My point is, forget the formal stuff. If the only thing that week of Knowledge Mnagement training taught you is to sleep without snoring or doodle better, give me a chance to show you it’s the opposite of boring.

My job is just to help you. Period.  Getting you what you need to know when you need to know it and getting what you know to those who need it when they need it & in the best form for them.

So, “keeping it real”, KM is about Keeping it Meaningful for you, and for others. How can we do that best?  What are your ideas?
You tell me…stop by & chat or email, give me a sketch…whatever’s more comfortable to you. Let me know what you think. And I promise not to use PowerPoint unless you’re into that kinda thing.

Christ’s Checkers

Scripture:  Genesis 4:3-7  So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.  But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,  but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

Hymn: “Victory in JESUS”

Sadly, it isn’t readily apparent in my life, but I have been a Christian for a long time.  And in that time I’ve learned that it is pointless, and probably disrespectful, to ask “Why” of GOD.  He’ll let you get away with it.  You can vent and scream and cry all you want to let it out.  But like Job you probably won’t get much of an answer beyond that.  Because every other question (Who, What, Where, When, How) will draw you closer to GOD.  You can do something about each of those questions.  But you can do nothing about “Why.”  And it challenges GOD’s wisdom and right in making decisions.  But as I say, I am not a very good Christian.  So I found myself asking the “Why” question of why we are still given challenges even in spite of our best efforts.  And, in His Grace, I think the LORD gave me some leniency just this once and gave me the answer below which I share with you in hopes that it helps you as it helped me.

And it all came down to a checkers game of all things.  Now checkers seems like a sissy thing to do to many folks these days, something reserved for old folks on porches in movies.  But this checkers game is very different because Christ is in this match and your soul is involved.  No, your life is not “just some game” to GOD, but there are lessons we can learn from checkers that explain why we are given challenges we don’t understand in life.

In order to have a victory you need an opponent.  And victory in those challenges lead to the Kingdom.  Every one of us faces some crisis, maybe not even a major event but just becoming overwhelmed by the day to dayness of life, the dread of the drudgery of days ahead  “Tired of living but scared of dying” as the old song says.  Or maybe there is some critical crisis that comes up.  Either way the question comes up “Why?  Why this?  Why me?  And what am I supposed to do now?”

The answer is a simple yet profound one, just as it is in checkers.  Move forward. Just one step forward, more as you’re able; mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically. Move one step more and into the arms of GOD, Paraclete, the Holy Spirit & coach Who puts His arm around you, strengthens & encourages you to go on. He is your impetus to get over that next obstacle of the enemy on your way Home.  He is the Advocate your soul is longing for to take up your cause and speaks eloquently for you when you can only grumble or groan in pain.

In our Scripture passage today, we literally see the fruit of the sin of Adam and Eve growing.  When they chose disobedience to GOD, and decided to go after what GOD is not instead of GOD though He offered Himself to them, they brought pain and sickness and death into the world.  Part of the consequences of their actions was GOD putting a curse upon the fruit of the ground.  (Genesis 3:17)  But either they didn’t tell their son Cain, or he ignored them, because although their son Abel knew how to offer an acceptable sacrifice to GOD, Cain either out of stubbornness or ignorance offered he cursed fruits of the ground back to GOD.  GOD was displeased.  And Cain threw a tantrum over it.  GOD says, in so many words, “Check yourself. You did it wrong.  But you can still fix it.”  ODD doesn’t explain why to Cain.  Maybe because Cain should have known why or did.  But GOD explains how to get back on track.  And He explains that this is a growth opportunity.  We meet challenges because the objective is to conquer them, to move forward on the checkers board and defeat the opponent.  The challenge is the purpose not the obstacle.  As our souls, red in the blood of Christ, are empowered by Him to move on, we skip over the dark spaces of life  That gives us encouragement and more power in the here and now (spiritually, physically, emotionally, relationally, mentally or educationally) but also builds our strength for eternity.

What is your challenge?  It’s ironic that GOD describes sin as a beast, even perhaps a man or a demon, crouching outside your door, lusting after your soul.  Those who lust after women in pornography will be victims of a demon lusting after them if they succumb.  Those lusting after power will be ripped up by the beast of sin, stronger than any bear, drooling for them just outside the door they are rushing toward.  Whatever is waiting for you outside that door as a result of your sin, you are meant to defeat it, to “jump” it in Christ’s power and to bring that thought into captivity in Christ.  And all you need do is move one step forward, more if you’re able, with GOD.

CS Lewis knew this when he used the phrase “Further up & further in!” which is just a translation of the old battle cry “Excelsior!”

GOD will give you the strength and power to do it if you want it. And when you reach that last row on earth, when you’ve gotten as far as He means you to go, the Hand of GOD will collect you to Himself.  Then you will find, ironically, that those thoughts that were  captured are used by GOD in your crown as He “kings” you before all the souls that ever lived, a winner in His Name, just as captured pieces are used to “king” pieces in checkers.

Christ is the Checkers Champion. You can have victory only in Him. In this world you will have troubles but He has overcome the world & means for you to do the same, super-conquerors, through His win on your behalf. He tells you each move & empowers you to make it.And in the end you will enjoy His victory as He cries “King Me!” crowned with us as His glory as we share His.

What will you do?  Stand still and sin, as Cain did?  Or move one step more, just one, more if you’re able as you are held by the nail-pierced Hand of Christ, GOD in the flesh who came, bled, died and took life up again so you can live with Him in triumph?   It’s your move.