Out of Context

I got up early to watch the sunrise over the gulf waters. I quick tied on my shoes, grabbed my camera and headed east along the Ft. Walton shore toward the pier to capture the glowing salmon-colored sun rise above the clouds sitting on the horizon that morning. It was gorgeous. As I walked toward the pier, a woman came out of her condo and started walking behind me. I noticed she stopped every time I did so she didn't walk into the photo I was taking. Since we were keeping pace with each other, we started talking. She'd been coming to the beach there from Michigan for 30 years and had many tips on what to see and do in the area.

After walking and talking awhile, I pointed to the hotels and condos along the beach and asked: "Is there a building code stipulating that six to seven stories is as high as they can be built? They're all the same height." She said she didn't know then said, "Sometimes you'll see a crane on the beach."

Now, since we'd just been speaking about the buildings on the seashore, I thought she was talking about mechanical cranes for construction and heavy lifting. Then she continued with her sentence pointing to a building to my left ... "They fly over from the Gulfarium right there." The Gulfarium is a facility for rehabilitating injured marine animals. They also do dolphin and seal shows.

I thought it was funny that until she completed her sentence I was thinking of a mechanical crane. Out of context, I was thinking of the completely wrong thing and the thought of it flying was pretty comical to me.

The same is true of taking Scripture out of context. So often people will take one verse out of Scripture and run with it, forgetting to read what is written before or after. For example I had an atheist youth tell me Christians were murderers breaking the Ten Commandments anytime we kill an animal for food based on Isaiah 66:3 which reads: "Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human being." The youth took this verse out of context. This section of Scripture is reminding us to be humble and reverent before the Lord, otherwise our outward rituals are just for show and even an abomination to our Father. Likewise, often women balk at the "Be submissive to your husbands" verse in Ephesians 5:22 forgetting that just one verse before Paul says, "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ." He even continues on to instruct husbands to love their wives like their own bodies and as Christ loves the church, willing to die for it. Within context, the verse makes divine sense for an ideal marriage of unconditional love.

We need to be careful as Christians to not take what someone tells us is in Scripture until we look it up ourselves and more importantly read what comes before and after it to see what the Holy Spirit is instructing here. Otherwise we could be missing the point.

Imagine a mechanical crane flying over the gulf ... ludicrous, yes, and sure doesn't have the same grace at all as the waterfowl. Likewise, neither can a verse of Scripture when taken out of context. It's often misconstrued ... and is certainly without the same Grace.

All The Waving

I'd forgotten about the waving. When we lived in Georgia I was surprised by the number of people who waved at you. Total strangers waving as you walked or drove by. It surprised me because in other locations I've lived, people just kind of ignore each other as they walk or drive by strangers. Not to be rude. We just don't know each other after all.

I had a friend in Tennessee once tell me that he waves to everyone. He said, "What if I get a flat tire some day? They'll remember I waved and stop by to help me." He said it jokingly, but his intentions were true ... "I'll make every stranger a friend."

When I lived in Georgia I wrote a weekly column, and one column was about the waving and my surprise with it. It just seemed so odd to wave to someone you didn't know. People would wave at me and I'd think, "Do I know that person? Nope. So why are they waving?" A different culture, that's all. But I'd forgotten about it after moving from that region.

Our family moved to Alabama in January and since then I think just about everyone in town has waved to me. Complete and total strangers wave every time they drive by me as I walk. At first I'd think to myself, "Yes, hi, how are you? I don't have a clue who you are, but I'll just wave anyways." But then I got to thinking, this may be my brother or sister in Christ! Or may be one who needs to know the love of Christ. When I get to Paradise and my life is flashing before me, do I want to be the person who waved or the one who looked away? An Our Daily Bread devotion I read this morning by David Roper (09-26-09) quoted a man who said, "When I stand before my Lord, I hope He'll say of me that I've loved too many, rather than too few."

I'm back in the habit of being the first person to wave, verses the one waving back. And it's so surprisingly comfortable. No, I don't know these people any better than I did before ...but I hope to someday.

Mushrooms

Lately we've had a lot of rainfall in Alabama. And anytime that happens, up come the mushrooms. I have never seen so many different kinds of mushrooms in my life. Not just the wide-topped brown mushrooms or tiny white ones I'm used to seeing, but tall white ones and some tan ones with cauliflower looking tops. I've seen lawns full of these various kinds of mushrooms. I actually think they are kinda cool looking, but my guess is they are not a welcome sight to homeowners, as often I'll see the mushrooms tossed into the curb and shriveled.

My daily flip-a-day inspirational calendar had a quote recently that made me think about the mushrooms. It said, "God is often more concerned about your response to the problem than he is in removing the problem."

See, the lawns are lusher and greener than ever with all our rain, but with those blessings to the lawnscape comes the unwelcome mushrooms. Could God prevent the mushrooms from popping up? Sure. But He doesn't.

It's the same with our spiritual journeys. Some are misled to believe that once you've become a Christian, all the world is a happy place. Your lawn is green and lush forever. However, this is not the case, at least not on Earth. Mushrooms pop up all the time, smack dab in the middle of the lushest and greenest of times. You can try to yank those mushrooms up if you want, but that doesn't necessarily prevent them from coming back, and sometimes more plentiful.

So how do we react to those times? With God as our anchor, sustainer and guide, with grace we can handle anything unwelcome that pops up in our lives. And if the problem doesn't seem to be going away any time soon, we can delight in knowing God is in control of the situation and maybe just wants to grow us a bit ... make us a hardier lawn, so to speak.

In the meantime, it doesn't hurt to take good care of the lawn, fertilizing with a good solid dose of the Word ... the best weed killer there is.

Leave Your Name And Number

I've just finished watching the HBO series "John Adams" based on David McCullough's biography. I learned many things about this Founding Father and second president of the United States. One thing that so impressed me was the devotion between John and his wife, Abigail. Their devotion is public knowledge because of the myriad of letters they wrote each other that have survived the times. They were married 54 years and lived through many hardships and work-related separations. For one period during their marriage, they spent three years apart while John was in Europe for diplomatic reactions. During this time, John sent few letters to his "dearest friend" for fear of interception by the British during the Revolutionary War and because, the movie tells us, he didn't want to share his failures with his wife. Three years with little to no correspondence between a couple that thrived on it.

Today while walking I had my cellphone up to my ear. I was calling my daughter in North Carolina to ask her how her peanut butter chocolate chip cookies turned out. She had called me earlier to say she was headed out for salted butter and would call me when she got home. Later she called to say the cookies were amazing. Three calls in about three hours. While I walked, I passed a driver in an SUV talking on his cellphone. He had obviously just left home and apparently needed to talk to someone right away.

So here's John and Abigail with hardly any communication in more than 1,000 days and then there's Ayla and I communicating over cookies, 400 miles, 180 minutes with the modern invention of the wireless telephone. I prefer this century, to be sure. Now, I have to say there have been times when I've tried to call my daughter and can't get a hold of her. She may be in class or working. Times she tries to call me and the result is the same. You get voice mail and leave a message or know that the "missed call" will brighten our tiny screens as a reminder to call back.

That got me to thinking about prayer. I can go to the Father anytime. Anytime. I can talk to him as I slowly drag myself out of bed in the morning asking Him to bless the day and open my eyes to His children. I talk to him during my devotion time, before I eat breakfast or any other meal, while I drive to work, while I walk, while I worry for a phone call from children who may be late, in song ... even on the toilet.

Not once in any of these times have I ever got a voice message. Never has the Father listened to me talk only to say, "Hold on a minute, I have another call coming." He has always been there for my correspondence. And He responds in kind by filling me with the Holy Spirit. Now, there have been times, sometimes long periods of time, when I don't pray. And I wonder why I'm feeling lost or spiritually dry. I see the Father, like Abigail, wondering to Himself why I'm not communicating.

We have this direct, always open line of communication with our Father and how often we let time slip by without speaking to him. First Thessalonians 5:17 says to "pray without ceasing." Keeping the communication open with God can only enhance our relationship with Him, giving us an overabundance of His blessings, wisdom and guidance.

Letters. Bah. Cellphones. Humbug. We have prayer! An invention that's been around since the beginning of time working with the same efficiency that it's had since its Genesis. How blessed we are to be given such a gift of communication. Were John and Abigail given that way of communicating to each other, would they have neglected it? Neither should we. It's communication in it's finest form with the greatest Love of all.

Oh Father, how I love you. I felt your rain on my face today as I was walking. I listened to the breathtaking "Magnum Mysterium" on my Ipod, tears in my eyes, and glorified you for your Creation. Lord you are so amazing, loving and gracious. I am blessed and bursting with thanksgiving for my soul seems to glow from within as your Holy Spirit fills me. Holy Lord! I love you, love you, love you. Thank you, as always, for listening. I am listening for you Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Running Out Of Time

This morning while lifting weights I was watching some television. It takes my thoughts off the biceps, triceps, lunges, etc, and time goes swiftly by. Flipping channels to find something interesting, I checked out the History Channel. This day the show was about 2012 ... the year all apocalyptic folk are talking about. The Mayan calendar ends in 2012, folks say, therefore the end of the world is near. Actually, scientists say the Mayan calendar starts and ends with a planetary alignment and is actually circular, just starting all over. However, it's got people comparing prophecies of the Bible, Nostradamus and apparently even the Hopi Indians to see if our world will come to a cataclysmic end in three years. There's even a movie coming out this autumn called "2012" talking about that very thing. Everyone wants to know if and when the world will end.

Even Jesus said he didn't know when it would end. Mark 13:32 tells us only the Father knows (guess that eliminates Nostradamus, the Mayans and Hopi), then he tells us to be alert and watch the signs He mentions earlier in the chapter.

One thing popped in my mind however while doing my repetitions: if the world would come to an end in 2012, have I told everyone who needs to hear about the saving grace of Jesus?

I had a dream several years ago where the Lord was teaching me about discipleship and the expediency of it. In my dream, I was in a multi-car wreck on a highway. I jumped out of my burning car unhurt, but noticed the hundreds of cars around me also on fire. I asked God, "What should I do?" And he said, "Open the doors and show them the way." Of course, I found some excuses why I couldn't complete this task: "But Lord, some of these people are unconscious. How will I wake them? Some are much larger than me. How will I carry them away from the firey cars? "What if I pull some and they don't listen and get out?" He said to me, "I have other people to do those jobs. You just open the doors and show them the way." I looked to my right and saw ambulances arriving with professionals to rise the unconscious and carry the injured away. Then I heard the Lord said, "After you show them the way, send them back to the other cars to open the doors and show them the way." Seeing all these cars on fire, about to explode and kill the people within them, I knew I had little time to open these doors and rushed to complete the job.

Yes, very profound. I woke up shaking and in tears. We are running out of time. People truly are sitting in burning cars about to be consumed by eternal death, and we as Christians have the job to open those car doors and show the people the Way. And we need to do it now.

Who knows about 2012? The end of the world could be anytime. Anytime! We need to start telling God's children about Jesus and do it immediately.

They're running out of time.

Directions

Recently, my son's car died. The 1996 Dodge Intrepid suffered long Wisconsin winters, and the snow took it's toll on the underbelly. The brake lines were rusted through. We determined the cost to put into repairing the car could be neverending as auto mechanics told us it might never be completely fixed. So we made the decision to donate our teal baby to the high school's vocational technical program.

Before handing it over, however, we had to clean it out. We removed the jugs of mixed antifreeze, empty plastic drink bottles, insurance papers, CDs and took off the license plate. While digging through the center storage unit, I came across tons of papers all folded up of various sizes. When I started going through them I discovered one was directions to my children's youth group leader's home. One had directions to the mall. Another had directions to the college tech school where my daughter attended and so on. My daughter had driven this car for more than a year before she passed it onto her brother. Everytime she needed to know where to go, I had written, typed or copied directions down for her. What was so comical is that every single one I'd ever given her, she had saved.

Perhaps she just never got around to throwing them out. Perhaps she kept them just incase she forgot how to get where she was going.

I have a GPS device that does the same thing those papers did for Ayla. It tells me "turn right" and I do. It tells me "stay left" and I do. It's designed to get me to my destination the quickest and shortest way. By listening to that GPS, my trips are typically smooth and direct.

On the Sunday School wall of the 6-8th grade at our church in Wisconsin, a slogan on the wall reads: "BIBLE: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth." It's funny and clever ... and true. Our Bible is chock full of directions, from commands to love, to how to tithe, forgive, worship, pray and ultimately spend eternity with God our Father. It's not just basic instructions before leaving Earth, but also directions on how to get to Paradise. John 3:16 tells me that if I just believe in Jesus, I will have everlasting life with God. Hallelujah! I do believe in my Savior who died to pay the price for my sins. So you know what that means? I am going to Heaven! I will get to see the Lord God Almighty sitting on the rainbow throne and worship Him with songs at the top of my lungs about how much I love Him. I will get to run into the arms of Jesus, weep at His shoulder to beg for forgiveness and thank Him over and over again for His amazing sacrifice, not to mention for sending the Holy Spirit to guide and teach. I am going to Heaven. HEAVEN! Yahoo!

Just like Ayla saved the directions to all those places she needed to find, I plan on holding on tight to the Word. It's directions will not only get me to that final destination of my dreams, but will hopefully mold me into the person God is trying desperately for me to grow into.

I'll bet He's hoping I follow the Bible's commands as completely as I do the GPS device. It would sure make the journey a lot smoother.

Sure Foundation

You can still see the evidence of it. Just driving through my neighborhood, you see where the tornado tore through this city a year and a half ago, leaving empty lots in it's wake. On one road, three lots are bare, with little to show a house once stood there ... not even a foundation.

One of those lots is in the process of getting a new house built on it. I've watched every day the changes to the new home. First the concrete slab (no basements here in Alabama), then the wood frame, then the roof, etc. It's been exciting to watch the progress. But I just can't help but think if another tornado comes by, it just doesn't stand a chance. It would be reduced to toothpicks and pebbles in no time.

We face those same crazy storms in life. Some with the metaphorical gale force winds, hail and lightning attempting to destroy everything in its path. Spiritually, these storms can do a lot of damage. But unlike the tornado, if your faith in Christ is secure, you will not lose that foundation ... ever. He is that sure foundation. He promises to be there. Isaiah 28:16 says: "See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation." Hallelujah for Jesus Christ, that sure foundation. I know I can face any storm.