My Rational for the Next 7 posts…. FYI, this 7 post scenario has been weeks in the making. After chickening out twice prior….

in a few minutes it will detonate and be irreversible…..

I have attempted below to explain my rational for exposing you to seven consecutive posts from Chapter Three titled “Going Deeper” from Wedell Martin’s “GO NOW: From the Innermost Parts of the Heart to the Uttermost Parts of the World.”

First, I desire that you can experience Wendell’s real life practical exposure of the struggles as a young man involved in going deeper, spiritually “warts” and all, and perhaps, we be reminded of the intricacies of the twists & turns, even the highs & lows, of our own spiritual journey. Indeed, there are likely hundreds of such written encounters out there, but I do believe because many of you readers share both Wendell’s childhood niches of geography and faith traditions, his written accounts may become especially meaningful as we reflect on our earlier personal struggles of “going deeper,” as many of us are now, or about to, be coming down our life’s ladders, preparing to enter our “count-down years.” And by now, you surely better be aware it is past time to be strategically prepared!

Second, I am sensing a profound disconnect in too many professing Christians, perhaps not fully practically believing that God loves them and wants them to experience the assuredness of peace and both the abundant and eternal life. As with I, this discontent has plagued their spiritual peace for decades with no definitive resolve. Yes, God did create us in His own image to have an abundant life. He did not make us robots to automatically love and obey Him, but rather, with a will and freedom of choice. Early on in our lives, we may have chosen to disobey and go our own willful way, never exiting the compelling fast & furious Interstate for His township gravel road (sometimes a mere footpath) in search of the Celestial City, such that even yet today, we are still living separated from God. Just imagine, being around the church all your life, and never been “grafted,” or adopted in, or ever seated at His table. “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Rom. 8:15. 

Third, we may have in our desperation during key life events attempted to reach a Holy God to experience His peace and abundant life, so we chose for a time, to do good works, to live a morally exemplary life, to join a church, may even read our Bible and other Christian books about being a successful Christian, but we never really ever have faced the reality that God’s remedy is THE CROSS. Jesus Christ died on the Cross and rose from the grave, such that He paid the penalty for our sin thus bridging that impossible gap between a Holy God, and we, as sin ravaged men & women. NO BRIDGE REACHES A HOLY GOD EXCEPT ONE – HIS CROSS!

Therefore, EACH PERSON MUST MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICE…EITHER WE MUST TRUST JESUS CHRIST AS LORD & SAVIOR & RECEIVE HIM BY PERSONAL INVITATION, OR NOT! If our response is to claim His gift of salvation, the Cross of Christ is the link we as convicted sinful & rebellious people claim the Holy God’s gifts of peace, forgiveness, INCLUDING an abundant & eternal life! Do understand when we IGNORE HIS Call, we are refusing His invitational gift of our lifetime.

Folks, that’s the way I see it this morning, always speaking to myself, first & foremost! To be continued…

The Needed D I S C I P L I N E of the Lord (#101)

Utmost For His Highest Aug 14

Son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. Hebrews 12:5

It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God. We do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly,Oh, that must be from the devil!”

“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right–standing relationship before God.

“…nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.” We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed and things didn’t turn out right anyway. So, I’m simply going to give up on everything.” Just think what would happen if we acted like this in any other area of our lives!

BOTTOM LINE:

Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself?

Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me.

Sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me.

But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost. (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24).

And that’s the way I see it this morning, always speaking to myself, first & foremost!

Are His Temples Today Being Built On God Ordained Flesh & Blood LEGS, Rather Than Stone & Concrete Built by Man?

2nd Corinthians 6:16 “I will dwell in [you] and WALK (mobile) [with you]. I will be [your] God and [you] shall be my people.”

Perhaps, we as His saints, since Pentecost, were never meant to be confined under a specific roof when worshiping, as in the era of Solomon’s temple, or even today’s, miniscule quaint chapels or Europe’s majestic cathedrals.  How would your logistics of worship change if you could begin to see yourself as a “humble servant in His circulation”, or perhaps for sure, a temple on your own two legs, so that as God has said, “I will dwell in [you] and literally WALK [with you], I will be [your] God and you shall be my people.” (II Corinthians 6:16)

Would your practical view of worship become more meaningful if you took your worship “on your road of life”, so that you rejoiced, prayed, expressed your thanksgiving, exalting Him everywhere you might find yourself?

Some of His children may be drawn to His love by your demeanor emulating Christ, while encasing or enveloping, the love of God & Christ to everyone in proximity to experience Him with & through you. For that is one essential element of a temple, isn’t it? It’s a place for others to come to FELLOWSHIP together in God’s name, at the invitation of your spirit, soul, & body, heart, mind & will, wherever the opportunity and audience arise.

Please consider the versatility of your location today, by being mobile on your two legs, you will not have a confining space, be they ceilings or walls, but rather, the expanse of his majestic stars, even with His unlimited punctuation of sizzling cracks of lightening followed by the window shattering rolling thunder, and after the crowd all goes home, God smiles presenting His quiet reassuring promise and truth of the rainbow, through which we all can experience the living God, just as they did in the Jerusalem temple before & after Pentecost or any other worship destination, until this very moment in our history.

BOTTOM LINE:

We are now focusing, since the out-pouring of His Spirit at Pentecost, on the very idea and reality of His Holy Spirit coming to live within us, actually possessing us, not merely in buildings, and certainly not solely for the purpose of we having some private experience, but rather, in order that we can serve God in His arranged moments with whomever, however, whenever, wherever, that He may arrange for our good & His glory! That’s the way I see it this morning, always speaking to myself, first & foremost!

Thanks to David Jeremiah for his 2002 devotional titled “Temple On Wheels” January 7 from his book Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God, as it was was the necessary exquisite inspiration for me to write the above.

P.S. We incorrectly call our churches “sanctuaries” today (notice again how key faith words today are being redefined by our culture) because churches are where we draw together weekly to worship God and hear His word proclaimed. But God does not dwell in buildings in this age; He dwells in His people. At present, we cannot “see” His presence as we will be able to in heaven. Instead of merely dwelling “in” us in heaven, He will dwell “among” us in our very presence. Just imagine that! Forget Disney World, Niagara Falls, or a European cathedral; nothing will compare!

Introduction to SANCTUARY:

Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to His people. Praise be to God! Psalm 68:35 NIV

Finding refuge today is not yet a concept most of us relate to in the physical sense. We have our comfortable homes and vehicles and the freedom to come and go without restraint. The physical freedom we experience can sometimes hide the emotional need for refuge until someone or something brings it all to the surface, and we can no longer ignore the reality of our need. It is at this very point in time that our concept of God comes clearly into focus.

If we’re not careful we can spend all our lives around the circumference of the circle of knowing about God but never actually get to the center of knowing God in a personal intimate relationship. It’s so easy to get caught up in the mechanics of living a Christian lifestyle and not truly understand what it means to live a Christian life.

Webster defines sanctuary as a “sacred holy place as a building set aside for worship, a place of refuge or protection.” In the New Testament we are told that our very bodies are the temples of God. We are to live as a sanctuary of His presence.

Many Christians make the mistake of thinking that just because they are believers in Christ, just because they read the Bible, just because they have the Holy Spirit living in them, they should be immune from the trials and pressures of this earthly life. Doctors’ and counselors’ officers are filled with sincere Christians who find it difficult, if not impossible, to maintain peace and a meaningful life perspective in a stress filled world.

Oftentimes for Christians our practice comes first, and our theology follows behind it. We decide what we’re going to do, and then we try to find a theology that makes us comfortable in doing it. But God is not affected by what we believe about Him. Our opinions of Him don’t change who he is. If we don’t know who He is, we may end up either creating a God in our minds who meets our fancies, OR, letting other people create God for us. We personally need to find God in His Word and through His Son Jesus Christ. We need to know the God who is our refuge.

When Jesus was ready to go back to heaven, He gave one assignment to the apostles. He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Making disciples is one thing, but being a disciple is quite another without the next words He spoke: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (v. 20). God is with us! We celebrate that truth when we call Him “Immanuel.” It means “God with us.” Not God somewhere beyond the stars, but God here with us encouraging us, ministering to us, helping us.

In times when we’re tempted, we understand He is here, and it brings us up short in our conduct. And in times when we have difficulties in life, we know that we don’t go through them by ourselves. His consistent message throughout the whole Bible is that He will be with us. Because God is with us, we are His sanctuary and He is our Refuge.

Sanctuary by David Jeremiah. Copyright 2002. Integrity Publishers Brentwood, TN 17027 Helping People Worldwide Experience the Manifest Witness of God.

Promises and Predictions: Later, the Reality!  September 3

  “Look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28

In 1949, the magazine Popular Science predicted “Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”

 In 1977, Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, said, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

Bill Gates said in 1981, “640k ought to be big enough for anybody.”

Making predictions is a risky business – unless you are God. According to John Wesley White, the coming again of Christ and the end of the age occupies some 1845 scripture verses, and each one offers sure and certain hope for the Christians. Just consider these promises:

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpets of God. And the dead of Christ will rise first.” (I Thessalonians 4:16).

“I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3).

“Behold, I am coming quickly!” (Revelation 22:7).

Vance Havner said, “We are not just looking for Something to happen. We are looking for Someone to come! And, when these things begin to come to pass, we are not to drop our heads in discouragement or shake our heads in despair, but rather lift up our heads & hands in pure delight.

BOTTOM LINE:

Quick Question! After your Sunday worship dismissal yesterday, did you observe heads dropping or shaking? Hopefully, it was heads & hands uplifted in pure delight! Another prediction & promise (that soon became a fact) with the computer age was “GIGO.” (garbage in – garbage out!) There are many passages of scripture (begin by reading Romans) to explain the undergirding factor for today’s prevalent lack of heads & hands lifted in pure delight, but I don’t know of any verses anywhere that are as succinct & spot-on for the church today as the 4 letters GIGO!

And what I find so ironic, it is this very digital media hype with its continual subconscious narratives promises & predictions when coupled with our innate yet un-surrendered desire for “SELFISH GAIN” that is making fools of too many of us in the kingdom! That’s the way I see it this morning, always speaking to myself, first & foremost!

Thanks to David Jeremiah for this devotional up to the addition of my Bottom Line, from his book Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God.

LIFE COMMAS

Words by Joel Salatin

Do you ever finish? No, not really. The old adage “A farmer works from sun to sun, but the woman’s work is never done” speaks to the untold expectations, demands, and busyness of life. Without strategy and structure, work can easily hurt ourselves, our families, and our spiritual development with an over-achieving, obligatory, frenzied mindset.

To come apart, to rest, to recharge requires setting a pace and creating memorials. To be sure, nobody perfectly balances life and work. Our vocations and household duties shape who we are and our life’s legacy accomplishments. Few of us want to be considered lazy or half-hearted workers.

When we greet each other, we don’t ask “What did you do last week to recharge your emotional batteries?” We ask simply, “What did you do?” The implication is that if we didn’t accomplish a project, we didn’t do anything. If we don’t have checkmarks down our To-Do list, we squandered our time. As humans, perhaps our greatest temptation is to be successful at good things and not the most important things.

The interchange between Jesus, Mary, and Martha challenges me as a borderline workaholic. That Jesus chides Martha for bustling about serving guests instead of sitting at his feet, like Mary, almost gets my hackles up. “Well, who do you expect to feed these folks? After all, Jesus, you’re here and all the folks want to see you, so somebody has to be hospitable to them, don’t you think?” That’s what I would say.

I don’t think Jesus is opposed to hospitality—in fact, it’s one of the gifts clearly designated by Paul. But Jesus, who could feed 5,000 with a little boy’s lunch box, could certainly take care of other needs. He wasn’t dependent on Martha’s busyness. Mary was focused on the moment, on immersing in something special. In this, we see both women had missions, but Jesus appreciated one more than the other.

You see, the tragedy of the human experience is not that we’re lazy, lack objectives, or are unsuccessful. The tragedy of the human experience is that too often we’re successful at the wrong things. We develop hydrogenated vegetable oil successfully and then find out it should never have been ingested—any of it. We develop glyphosate as a weed killer only to find out it’s carcinogenic and kills earthworms. My dad used to say that we humans are clever enough to invent and develop things we can’t physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually metabolize.

We invented fractional reserve banking. History is full of successful innovations that turned out to be a mistake. The question, then, is not whether or not we should invent, develop, and work, but what kind it should be. At the very least, whatever we’re working on should increase soil, breathable air, clean water, and functional immune systems. Known as “the commons,” these things measure God’s Return on Investment (ROI) in creation. The physical universe is all God’s stuff; increasing its vibrancy and functionality is a fundamental human purpose and mandate.

Specifically and practically, making a dead zone the size of Rhode Island in the Gulf of Mexico indicates tremendous success at destroying God’s stuff. How many people, for years, have devoted their life’s work toward making that dead zone possible? Does God care? Perhaps such a legacy is the result of too many Marthas and not enough Marys.

Being a Mary does not mean letting the cows go unmilked or eggs ungathered. It doesn’t mean letting the weeds take over the green beans. Don’t run away from the context. What it does mean is choosing the right thing at the right time for the right reason. It speaks to the why of our busyness. It dares to question the ultimate values that drive our mission. Farmers who send chemicals down the Mississippi to create the dead zone have a mission.

Their mission is defined by our culture’s agri-industrial orthodoxy, also known as official USDA policy. Here are some of those low-value missions: feed the world, cheap food, fewer farmers. May I suggest a different higher-value mission? How about building soil? Encourage earthworms? Increase nutrition? Develop more–and cleaner–water? Detoxify the environment? Build livestock immune systems? Give farmers access to neighbor customers by eliminating atrocious food police regulations?

I would suggest the first element in work-life balance is to eliminate the tension of purpose. Too often our vocations militate against what we know are higher purposes. My heart breaks for people who work for companies whose values don’t align with their personal values. “Well, it puts bread on the table,” seldom brings solace to the tormented soul. Abraham’s nephew Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom “vexed his righteous soul.” I’m incredibly grateful that I’m not growing chickens for an outfit that refuses to ask how to produce happy chickens. Or an outfit that stinks up the neighborhood and dumps poop in the streams.

For folks whose awareness now leads them to question their work situation, I appreciate your conundrum. But if you find your soul vexed, begin today looking for something that brings congruity to your belief-work life. If we’re honest with the deepest recesses of our soul, we know what feeds us versus what drains us. Finding what feeds us in all dimensions of life brings us to the foundation of balance because nothing imbalances us like constant tension between personal belief and public vocation.

In addition, few things are as enjoyable as complete symbiosis when our highest personal values express themselves through our daily work and vocation. In the sweet spot, our vocation becomes like a vacation. One of my mentors used to say, “If you have to take a vacation, don’t come back.” Another mentor told me that his life’s goal was to eventually get to a place where his daily routine did not require him to do anything he didn’t enjoy doing.

Unfortunately, Satan doesn’t take a break just because we get our beliefs and vocation aligned. He then tries to make us obsessive about our new-found noble and sacred work. He even tries to make us think God loves us more because we’re obsessed about it. That’s when I need the Mary challenge again. What is most needful?

May I suggest commas? In writing, a comma indicates a pause. When reading aloud, a comma indicates a good place to take a breath. Often it means a separation between closely related thoughts. But in its most fundamental form, it means a change of pace, a change of cadence. Too many people helter-skelter through the year in order to take a two-week vacation. We justify our busyness by anticipating the vacation. Here’s my confession: I’ve never taken a vacation. I’ve never been tempted to take a cruise, go to Disney, or go skiing. But I spend hours reading and visiting with people.

What I take are commas. God established a comma once a week. But even the rest day too often becomes the busiest day of the week. I recently spent time in Israel and enjoyed Shabbat with a Zionist family. Let me tell you, they know how to do a rest comma. My hostess had forgotten to bring in some tomato seedlings she had out on the back patio and suddenly realized it was going to frost. Her serious Levitical beliefs prohibited her from going out to rescue the seedlings. But then she mused, “I could wish for a Gentile to go out and bring them in.” I quickly rescued the flats by bringing them into the house and we had quite a laugh.

I’m convinced God’s plan for Sabbath and festivals was more about commas and memorials than extended vacations. Sprinkled throughout the year, these short interruptions were like signposts of celebration and rest. On our farm, we have several picnic spots. On the mountain, by the creek, in the backyard—these encourage commas in life. Rather than one big annual vacation, routine spontaneous commas a couple of hours long let everyone in the family know that right now, we’re going to focus on a relationship memorial.

BOTTOM LINE: Most of us as adults, thinking back on favorite childhood memories, find the best ones tucked along spontaneous commas. They weren’t major undertakings. They weren’t expensive. They were as simple as roasting hot dogs over a fire and finishing the evening off with s’mores. They were a simple picnic as part of a short outing. They were the lighthearted conversation around a hay wagon shoved under the barn roof just as the thunderstorm descended. Sometimes nature forces commas on us like that.

My dad had a habit of turning off the tractor after a frenzied hay-baling day, telling us to sit down and watch the sunset. A 30-minute comma. Some of the best commas are the ones commemorating a project’s completion. One of the ongoing rests that we began decades ago was celebrating the end of chicken processing with ice cream. We process in the morning, finishing by noon, and then clean up the scalder, kill cones, evisceration table, feathers, and guts for about an hour. With the freshly killed birds safely chilling in ice water and a cleaned-down floor, we all sit around and eat ice cream.

That’s a comma. And a memorial. Even though our crew is now far more than family and much bigger, we keep up the ice cream tradition. It’s a favorite comma and one of the best investments we make. You could call it a Mary moment.

Joel Salatin co-owns, with his family, Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. Four generations of his family currently live and work on the farm, and his farm services more than 5,000 families, 50 restaurants, 10 retail outlets, and a farmers’ market with salad bar beef, pigaerator pork, pastured poultry, and forestry products. When he’s not on the road speaking, he’s at home on the farm, keeping the callouses on his hands and dirt under his fingernails, mentoring young people, inspiring visitors, and promoting local, regenerative food and farming systems. Salatin has published 15 books, and he is the editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer, granddaddy catalyst for the grass farming movement. He passionately defends small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm.

The Brave Friendship of God. Utmost Aug 4

He took the twelve aside… Luke 18:31

JUST IMAGINE the bravery of God in trusting us!

Do I hear you weaseling say, “But He has been unwise to choose me, because there is nothing good in me and I have no value”?

That is exactly why He chose you! As long as you think that you are of value to Him, He cannot choose you, because you have purposes of your own to serve.

But if you will allow Him to take you to the end of your own self–sufficiency, then He can choose you to go with Him “to Jerusalem” (Luke 18:31).

And that will mean the fulfillment of purposes which He does not discuss with you.

We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a good Christian.

It is not a matter of our equipment, but a matter of our poverty;

not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us;

not a matter of natural virtues, of strength of character, of knowledge, or of experience— all of that is of no avail in this concern.

The only thing of value is being taken into the compelling purpose of God and being made His friends (see 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 ). God’s friendship is with people who know their poverty. He can accomplish nothing with the person who thinks that he is of use to God.

As Christians we are not here for our own purpose at all— we are here for the purpose of God, and the two are not the same.

We do not know what God’s compelling purpose is, but whatever happens, we must maintain our relationship with Him.

We must never allow anything to damage our relationship with God, but if something does damage it, we must take the time to make it right again.

BOTTOM LINE:

The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, BUT THE RELATIONSHIP WE MAINTAIN AND THE SURROUNDING INFLUENCE AND QUALITIES PRODUCED BY THAT RELATIONSHIP. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is CONTINUALLY under attack.

Oswald Chamber’s Wisdom:

God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of NOTHING ELSE! From The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L

NEXT UP: Seriously, Whoever Would Teach on Disillusionment?

Wendell’s Early Years: Part Five Conclusion of Ch One

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (Rev. 3:20NLT).

         I had received a taste of God’s goodness and love in a simple miracle as a child. It awakened an appetite that became a deep craving for more of the reality of God, of His presence, power, and, most of all, love.

         As I moved trough my teen years, like many of my peers, I was on a quest to define my own identity. Among a host of external forces eager to dictate who I should be, it seemed an unsurmountable task to define who I really was. The person I was evolving into was not the person I wanted to become, yet external and internal forces seemed determined to shape me into someone I did not like or want to become. In all this, more painful concerns of youth that demanded immediate attention compromised the hunger for God. Thus, my teen years were filled with much searching, self-doubting, and frustration over circumstances and pressures that seemed beyond my control.

         Throughout this season, there remained that distant flickering memory of the encounter I had experienced as a child. The memory called to me, as if from a dark, distant place, like an invitation to something better than the fate I was tumbling into. While I hoped I could live a better life, the reality was that I was plunging uncontrollably into a place of depression, fear, and self-rejection, like someone hopelessly floundering in quicksand with no way of escaping. Yet the distant memory of the reality of God’s love offered reason for hope.

           As I moved through the latter part of my teen years, I explored numerous paths, from Eastern religions to strict adherence of traditional Christian practices, searching for the reality of God. From time to time, I would sense that He was near, as if He were teasing me onward in my search. I didn’t understand then that it was the Holy Spirit drawing a discontented teenager toward the love of His Father in heaven.

         This searching, however, eventually led to a dark time that gripped me with a persistent sense of being lost. It seemed the more I searched, the more I discovered how lost I really was. It felt like a hopeless entanglement in a bizarre, never-ending maze, a place of total disorientation where fear grows until it overwhelms and finally paralyzes. In a strange paradox, I was afraid of moving in any direction while at the same time afraid of not moving at all. I was fearful of the known and the unknown.

         Yet despite the paralyzing fear, moving was the only feasible option. As the world closed in and I found myself drifting into isolation and despair, I still sensed there was a place of hope and safety. There had to be. From time to time, it seemed within reach, but what I was so desperate to grab hold of somehow always seemed to slip away. What was most frustrating was that I didn’t understand what it was I had actually let slip away and why it had happened. There was a destiny calling to me. I knew that my life had been cut out for something better!

BOTTOM LINE:

         “I am the same, yesterday, today, and forever.” Those simple words of hope were like a distant whisper of truth, a memory of an enticing tidbit form God’s banquet table. These simple words continued to nudge me forward through the murky and turbulent season of youth.

merlin now: Perhaps you are thinking I’ve just dragged you through the above five post summary of Chapter One simply because I’m thinking we oldsters may not ever choose to meaningfully revisit the spiritual benchmarks from our childhood and youth. Hopefully, were we blessed with children, our mentoring encounters with their spiritual passages created the “maker-spaces” not only to assist them in transitioning from “milk” to “meat” as discussed in I Cor 3:1-3 & Hebrews 5:11-14, but also hopefully, in the realities of our present age & affliction, a clarifying, confirming & qualitative review of our personal historical spiritual foundational transitions….. Perhaps after reading the next post tomorrow, you’ll better understand

NEXT UP: One reader’s response to my Aug 22 most opened post ever, Scrolling Ourselves to Death….

Wendell’s Early Years: An Encounter With 52 Warts… Part Four

What do you do after you have an intimate encounter with all-powerful God? Everything in life is changed, even for a ten-year-old hyperactive boy. Everything is seen from a new perspective. Values are transformed.

However, many people in my small world did nor seem to understand. Even the very nice people from church who had taught me all about Jesus didn’t seem to understand that Jesus really is the same as this very moment as He was several thousand years ago. At least that is how I perceived it from my childlike vantage point.

They sang songs about Jesus, prayed in His name, and acted like they believed He really was with them, but I never really saw the evidence of His presence in a way I could understood. In some ways, it almost seemed that people were bothered by Jesus. To avoid unpleasant eternal consequences, they had just enough fear that Jesus might actually exist to be pressured into behaving in a way that they thought He required.

That is how I understood the message the preacher was often trying to express: God was annoying with all the people in the world, including me. How well I behaved, or at least pretended to behave, determined how much God would tolerate me.

However, at the same time, I found there were some who seemed to experience and talk about Jesus in the way I was beginning to discover. Something was different about them. It was confusing.

         The old pendulum clock on the church wall seemed like accurate representation of the somber God our church worshipped: acting stern, demanding our sacrifices of time, and required proper behavior. Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk, the clock scolded sixty times a minute. Its stiff hands were so different from the arms of Jesus that had wrapped a young, scared boy in His love and healed him.

         This real living Jesus, who seemed to walk out of the pages of the Bible and into my life, conflicted greatly with the distant and impersonal Jesus I had previously experienced. I had yet to learn that countless numbers of Christians around the world were also relating to Jesus Christ in similar ways as I had.

BOTTOM LINE:

         My encounter with Jesus was like a little seed of truth planted in my heart but then quickly covered up with the dirt of doubt and confusion. It took many years before that seed finally found its way out of the darkness to break out on the surface of my troubled heart and once again eagerly reach out for the Son.  (Anyone recall? Am I grateful for His invitation / Sonshine?

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW:

Wendell’s Early Years: An Encounter With 52 Warts… Part Three

“God, why are you letting this happen to me?” I whispered toward the cross hanging over the foot of my bed. “Why couldn’t I be alive two thousand years ago, when you could just snap your finger and heal anybody of anything? Why don’t you…” I paused mid-sentence in an attempt to hear what seemed to be a voice whispering out of the darkness in response.

         I paused, not daring to breathe. Then I heard it again. This time, I recognized the voice. It sounded like my own! It was reciting the Bible verse I had memorized just a short time before.

         “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” I listened to my own voice repeat the verse several times. Then came a shift as a different voice seemed to take over. “I am the same yesterday and today and forever, Wendel. And guess what? I am the same as always, even at this exact moment! Yes, I healed every kind of sickness yesterday, and I heal every kind of sickness today! In fact, I can always heal any and every kind of sickness you can imagine.”

         I pulled the covers over my head, uncertain if the voice was just my imagination or if Jesus was really talking to me. Not daring to move for fear of disrupting this special moment, I waited. Then suddenly, in a burst of joy and wonder Bible verses I had memorized over the many past months exploded into my mind and began to fit together, forming a simple yet profound truth. It was like finally discovering several pieces of a puzzle that locked perfectly together to reveal part of a bigger picture.

         This was a revelation of spiritual truth. It sailed into my heart like an arrow, bringing new hope and simultaneously striking death to the childish fears and doubts that had haunted me night after night.

         Excitement swept over me. I knew Jesus had come to me and that He would heal me! I knew it! Yet I also knew I needed to do something to activate the faith I had in what I knew Jesus would do.

         After some careful thought, I quietly whispered into the darkness, “OK, Jesus, I’m not going to look at or touch my knee for two weeks. When I take a bath, I will not wash my knee. I will not talk to anyone about this except You. I believe at the end of two weeks you will have taken away all the warts. Thank You!

**********     **********

         Those were perhaps the two longest weeks of my young life. I was extremely careful to remain completely oblivious to what might not be happening to my knee. Finally, the day came when the two weeks were over. I watched the clock until the exact preset time arrived.

         Then I looked. I was astonished at what I saw. I could hardly believe my eyes! Yet I had to believe, for there was not a single wart to be seen, not even the slightest indication that there had ever been fifty-two warts there. My knee had been totally and completely healed.

         I began shaking as the realization sank in that Jesus, my same ancient hero of the Bible, now so much more than that, had really come into my bedroom and really talked to me two weeks earlier. He had heard my declaration and observed my act of faith. Jesus, the God of the universe past, present, and future, cared for me. Me!

         He had revealed himself to me. He had wrapped me up in His love, and I knew it.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW…