Flight Paths

A long time ago my piano teacher organized her students into something called a junior music club, and one year I served as president.  Because we students were members of this club, we were eligible to participate in several special events and recitals, including something called “the Festival” where our performances were rated by a judge, who also gave helpful comments and encouragement.

              Twenty years later I joined a local chapter of the Florida Federation of Music Clubs and eventually attended one of their State Conventions.  As I watched, listened and learned, all the pieces began to click into place.

              FFMC is a group of “senior clubs.”  Unlike a professional organization, parents of students and music lovers in the community are allowed to join, along with the independent music teachers, which greatly increases your volunteer pool as you try to spread the love and appreciation of music and support music education in your communities. 

              Each teacher in the local senior group was supposed to organize her students into a junior club.  My teacher, whom I later discovered had been a State President of FFMC, did exactly that.  Here is the genius of that plan—you are growing your own replacements, teaching them what the organization is about, making them as useful as possible in whatever capacity they can manage at their various ages. 

            Unfortunately, few teachers did anything more than put their students’ names on a roster so they could take advantage of the privileges of membership.  Responsibility was never taught. And worse, the senior division, all the way to state level, did not use their younger members, even though they held “state elections.”  My son Nathan, who was also my student, was elected state president of the junior division in his senior year of high school, but I had to suggest, recommend, and finally push for him and his fellow officers to be used as real members.  No one had ever thought of that, which is probably why I did not at first recognize FFMC years later.  No one had taught me the ropes.  As a student I was a member in name only.

              The same thing happens in the church.  We look at our young people and call them “the future of the church,” and then sit back and assume that someday in that future they will “grow up in all things unto him” (Eph 4:15). 

              Here is the problem:  We treat baptism like flea dip for our dogs.  We get our children wet and say, "Whew!  Got rid of all those sins, now they're safe."  But Romans tells us that when we are baptized, we are raised to walk a new life.  Something has changed.  Do they know that?  Can young children even articulate what needs to change about themselves?

              Jesus says you don’t make a commitment to Him until you count the cost.  Have we helped them count the cost of discipleship to the Lord?

              Colossians tells us that we are raised from baptism to "walk with him."  "Walk" means a lifetime not a moment.  Are they old enough to even comprehend that sort of commitment?

              1 Corinthians 12 says baptism makes them “members of the body” (I Cor 12:13).  If they aren’t ready to be working members, committed servants who put others before themselves, then they aren’t ready to be baptized.
If all we teach them is that they must be baptized or they can't go to Heaven, all we have done is terrorize them, and shame on us.  It is simple to indoctrinate a child well before he is able to count the cost of changing his life, make a lifetime commitment and actually begin serving.  The New Testament knows nothing of junior members in the church; babes, yes, but even babes participate in on-the-job training, and most of the "babes" we see in the New Testament are physically adults.  This is the point:  Either they are members or they aren't according to Corinthians.  Consider the following.

            A working member does more than read the Scripture and pass the plates.  For one thing, what about the young ladies?  These young people may not have the deep knowledge and wisdom to participate in every aspect of the work, but they should all be able to serve the Lord’s body.  Teach them how and expect it of them.  Or else do not baptize them.

              Take them visiting with you—the sick, the lonely widows, even the bereaved.  If you don’t think your child can handle that, then think again about whether he was really mature enough to commit.  Have them help clean the houses and do the yard work for those who no longer can.  Keith had a stroke one year in the middle of leaf season.  Half a dozen young high school men came to our home—a thirty mile drive—and raked all morning.  Another group helped unpack when my mother moved, and another helped clean.  They were thrilled to help, returning to me again and again with, “What should I do now?”  These young people are obviously ready to serve.

              Teach them to take responsibility for their own Bible study.  That’s what a committed disciple does.  Expect them to not only do their class lessons without being told, but to develop personal study habits.  If you always have to remind them, are they really as devoted to the Lord as their baptism should have shown them to be?  If you are making excuses, especially in regard to their age, then once again you may be admitting that all you did was scare your child to death, not make them dedicated disciples.

              Take them to the extra Bible studies with you.  I do run a Tuesday morning Bible class for the women, but I also hold one on the third Sunday afternoon of the month for those who have secular jobs or other daytime commitments—like high school and college.  I have had teenagers as young as sixteen take part.  They do their lessons and comment almost as freely as the older women. 

              Turning your baptized offspring into working members will also do this for you—if I expect to teach my child what it means to be a member of the Lord’s body, I need to be showing them how myself.  Nothing made me a better Christian than having that red, wrinkled, squirming infant placed in my arms.  The same thing should happen when your child becomes a babe in Christ. 

              And speaking of babies, do you know why we have adult infants in the church?  Because we scared the innocent to death instead of teaching them early enough about conversion, service, and commitment.  There may be no better way to ensure the demise of the body of Christ than turning it over to the coddled who were taught that baptism was only about escaping Hell.

              Don’t call your young people by that unscriptural term, “the future of the church.”  Either they are members of the body or they are not.  Prepare them.  As the old saying goes, the future is now.
 
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1Cor 12:13

And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need. And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved. Acts 2:44-47
 
Dene Ward

The past few years have seen a lot of damage to my optic nerves, especially the one in my left eye.  The nerve is measured by superimposing in your mind a set of ten equally sized vertical bars over it.  A hole sits in the center of the nerve and its diameter should cover no more than two of those bars.  That would be classified a “point two” nerve--perfect. 

            Nerve endings are destroyed from the center outward, so the hole becomes larger.  By the time you reach your 70s or 80s, a “point three” nerve would not be unusual, and if you have the standard open angle glaucoma of ten percent of the senior population, even a “point four.”  Even though still in my 60s, my right eye is already at “point five” and the left, the one that has seen the most procedures and the highest pressures, sits at “point five to point six.”  Point nine is as high as you go before the nerve is totally gone.

            Fluctuating pressures do the majority of the harm.  It’s odd though.  I cannot feel anything, and most times I cannot tell much difference in vision day to day.  It’s a silent process.  Usually you don’t know it’s happening, unless you stop to think how well you could see a few years ago.

            Sometimes we lose our faith that way.  Things seem fine.  I still attend services as often as possible.  I still read my Bible and pray.  I still don’t do those “big bad sins.”  My faith is the same as it was last year.  But if you examine yourself closely, like a doctor who uses a special lens to see into the back of the eye, you would notice a difference between your faith now and your faith ten years ago. 

            It is so easy to become satisfied with ourselves, so satisfied that we cannot see the problem until it is much too late.  Malachi talked to the returning Jews about this complacency in 1:6-14.  “You despise the name of God,” he tells them.  “You pollute his table and consider service to him a burden.”

            They were astonished.  “How do we do this?” they asked at least twice, and Malachi told them in detail.  When you read what they were doing, offering polluted food, and blind, lame and sick animals in sacrifice, it seems obvious.  Yet they had become so smug in their position as “the people of God,” they could not see it.  Years before they would have, but the attitude had come upon them so gradually they hadn’t even noticed where they were headed.

            This morning examine your service to God.  Examine the attitude with which you greet every opportunity as a disciple of Christ, every chance you have to serve him by serving others, every occasion to show your faith in your own circumstances of life, and the appreciation you have for your salvation.  Have you experienced some nerve damage?  My optic nerve endings cannot be regenerated, but my spiritual nerve endings can, and that hole in my service to God and devotion to his Son can once again become the size it should be, and my spiritual vision normal.  So can yours.
 
How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you and your righteousness to the upright of heart! Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away, Psa 36:7-11.

Dene Ward

Who hasn’t stood in a grocery aisle and heard a child demand that her mother buy something?  Not even asks with a polite please, but demands and follows up by a scream that echoes through the store when the mother says in an apologetic and almost fearful tone, “Not today, honey”.  Us old-timers have things we would love to say that would probably get us in trouble with everyone, things like, “Keep that up and I’ll give you something to scream about.”  The problem is, that laxness in training has brought us a whole generation that makes demands of God too, demands just as insufferable and spoiled, like “How can God let me suffer like this?”

              I have a friend, a sister in Christ who has her own medical problems—not the kind that could steal your vision, like mine, but the kind that could steal your life.  She is a bit older than I so the aches and pains and increasing exhaustion of old age plague her as well, but here is her attitude:

              “I pray to God for just a measure of health.  I don’t expect to be what I used to be.  We all get old, that’s just part of life.  I just want enough energy to do what I need to do to take care of others and help them.”

              We live in a world of increasing self-absorption, where “Poor little me” is plastered all over Facebook and peppers every conversation.  Instead of being grateful children, we have become demanding children who think God owes us for our faith.  “I’ve been so good and done so much.  Why is this happening to me?” 

            Thanks to the words of my friend, this is now my prayer:  Lord, just give me enough vision, for long enough, to do what I need to do to help others.  And someday soon, it will likely be, give me enough faith to keep helping others despite my lack of vision.

             If you are having a rough time, remember why you are here, remember whom you are following, and if you can’t find a good example among your peers, use this beautiful moment courtesy of my beautiful friend, a true disciple of the Suffering Servant and faithful daughter of God.
 
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. (John 13:14-15)
 
Dene Ward

Coming up on twelve years ago I had to make an appointment with a world famous eye surgeon at the Cincinnati Eye Institute.  He did not have an opening for two months.  Unfortunately, my problem was time sensitive.  Too late and I would lose one or both eyes.  They told us not to despair but to call every week, and the very next week a cancellation had made a vacancy two days later.  It was a madhouse here trying to get ready for that long trip on such short notice, but it was important and we made it.  And that vacancy gives me a springboard for today's thought.

            Jesus told a parable once about a man giving a great banquet (Luke 14).  After his servants sent out the invitations, people began to make excuses.  “Sir, we have done as you commanded and still there is room,” the servants told the man (v 22).  And so others were invited to fill the vacancies.  In fact, the man rescinded the original invitations altogether.  “For I tell you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet” (v 24).

            Pay special attention to the fact that none of the excuses were about sinful things.  They were simply about everyday life.  It isn’t wrong to get married.  It isn’t wrong to buy property.  It isn’t wrong to take care of your business, whether farming or manufacturing or accounting or sales.  What makes the Lord angry is placing those things above him.  Immediately after that parable, he talks about people loving family more than him.  He does not tolerate that either.

            And please note this:  The banquet may be free, but it is not without cost, his next subject (v 28).  Family, in fact, may be one of those costs.  Jesus adds that self is the biggest cost—“Whoever does not bear his own cross, cannot be my disciple” (v 27).  You must understand that when you bear your cross you are on the way to your crucifixion, your death.  It has nothing to do with bearing some disability or illness or low lot in life.  Those things are not voluntary; they happen to people regardless their affiliation, or lack of, to the Lord.   No, Christians choose to carry their crosses, to crucify themselves, for his sake.  “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

            We sing a song, “There is room in the kingdom for the small things you can do.”  That songwriter understood the cost--service.  We may partake to the full of his mercy and grace, but we are expected to serve because we have become disciples of a greater Servant.  The room available is not for the lazy or the selfish.  Neither is it for those too proud to accept help when needed—that is how they serve, by crucifying their pride. 

            God has room for us--plenty of room.  He wants us to dwell with him forever, beginning here and now.  In fact, if we excuse ourselves from living with him now, on the day when it really matters, when we need an eternal room, all we will see is a sign in his window, one especially for those who refused his invitation in this life, one that says, “No Vacancy.”
 
There is none like God…who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms, Deut 33:26,27.    
 
Dene Ward

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)
 
              “Examining” the scriptures—think for a minute your reaction if you had been feeling ill for weeks--fever, nausea, exhaustion, pain in some specified location--and your doctor examined you the way you examine God’s word.  If you didn’t sue for malpractice, you would at least change doctors.  At least that’s the way most people study their Bibles. 

              We simply do not think it’s that important.  Don’t object—if it were important, you would find the time and do it that way, a deep examination.  Jesus said of the Jews, You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, (John 5:39).  At least they had the right motive, eternal life.  At least they did the work.  We can’t even seem to get that part right—we’re too busy, and memory verses are for kids, right?  What their children memorized in the synagogue schools would put us to shame.

              But putting forth the effort is only half the battle.  In the next verse, Jesus says they missed the obvious—Him!  They could quote till Doomsday and still not get it right if they did not open their minds to what the Word teaches.  First let me refer you back to the Jan 24 post, “A Little Knowledge.”  Opening the mind isn’t as easy as you think it is, and most of us not only don’t do so, we don't even realize we haven't.

              A few years ago I had a request for study tips.  I think now I am ready to share what has taken me so long to figure out myself.  A couple of years ago I had a five or six part series that took you through a basic method I use, step by step.  If you are interested, you can find it by clicking on Bible Study on the right sidebar and scrolling down till you find it.  This time I will be sharing little tips I use all the time almost without thinking because they have become so automatic, rules (yes, there are some), and also the results of my studies that might be new to you.  What is learning for, if you don’t share it? 

            These will not be regular, like one of my Monday morning series, but more like the series I do on hymns (Do You Know What You Are Singing?)    Look for the opening tag “Study Time,” as in the title above.  In the beginning while I have several things to share already lined up, you may see it a couple times a month, and after that a little more irregularly as things occur to me.  If you think you might have missed some, you can always check the archives under Bible study or go to that month’s archives and scroll back through the week you might have missed checking.  I post five days a week, I just don’t link them all, so you can also check up on other articles about other subjects that you might have missed.

            Just remember this, if our opening passage means anything it means that God judges us by our Bible study.  If we want Him to find us “noble,” and if we want to “find Eternal Life,” the way we dig into the Word of God will show it.
 
Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. (Ps 119:97-99)
 
Dene Ward

It was popular in 1978 and I still remember it after nearly 40 years.  Not an original part of the musical “Grease” the song, sung by Olivia Newton-John, was added during the filming, even though the producers were not crazy about it.  Eventually it won a Grammy and was nominated for a Best Song Oscar:  “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

              I wonder what all those starry-eyed, romantically inclined teenagers would think if they knew what God meant when He wanted you to “devote” something to Him.

              Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Jer 25:9

              Jerusalem was to be “devoted” and that meant “destroyed.”  And no, it’s not a onetime use of the word.

              But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.   Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.  And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Josh 6:18, 21, 24

              Jericho was “devoted” to God by fire.  It was totally destroyed.  When Achan “took of the devoted thing” he was stealing from God.

              So here’s the question for today.  How do I devote myself to God?

              We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Rom 6:6

              I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20

              And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

              The cross you bear is not some illness or disability or trial you go through.  Most of those things just happen to us.  Jesus is talking about something you do voluntarily, and everyone knew that if you saw a man carrying a cross he was on his way to his death.  Jesus says you kill that old man, crucify him, daily.  Then and only then can you be “hopelessly devoted” to him.
 
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Col 3:5-10
 
Dene Ward

I think this might be something I am looking forward to most about Heaven—putting faces to names.  We have studied them so often and at such depth, that each of us has probably pictured Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Esther, Mary (all of them!), Peter, John, Paul and so many others in our minds.  Stuck as we are in our own culture and generation, we probably have erred in our portraits.  Jesus certainly was not the pale, brown-haired, blue-eyed, six foot man in the unstained white robes we see in practically every painting.   

            In fact, if you do as I do sometimes on Sunday mornings and picture him walking among us as our host, communing with us in the feast, you probably see him in robes then too, don’t you?  Yet Jesus came down as a man in a time when everyone wore robes.  The fact that he blended in so well and looked so ordinary was one of his problems—“Who does he think he is?  Isn’t this just the carpenter’s son?  Didn’t we watch him grow up among us?”  No, if Jesus had chosen this generation to make his appearance, he might very well have been in khakis, or even blue jeans, and some of us would have had just as much trouble accepting him as the scribes and Pharisees did.

            Putting faces to names in Heaven will be a revelation.  And we won’t have any problem talking with these great people.  I am sure you have had the experience of needing to speak with someone who is important, someone who is very busy—perhaps the preacher or one of the elders, or someone who is “popular” in whatever venue you happen to find yourself.  You stand in line waiting your turn, and if you are lucky you get 30 seconds before he or she is distracted by something or someone else.  You almost feel like a nuisance, and most of the time I find myself avoiding people like that just so I won’t be any trouble to them. 

            That will not happen in Heaven.  How do I know?  Because it’s Heaven.  Isn’t that the very definition of the word?  No more problems, no more trials, no more feelings of inadequacy.  We will know everyone and they will know us, and no one will need to wait in line for thirty seconds of token time.
Do you know what?  We have that now with God, a taste of Heaven whenever we pray.  He is instantly listening.  He is intent on our every word, even filling in the ones we can’t seem to get out right.  He knows our names and our faces, and with that he knows every problem or fear or anxiety, and we have his undivided attention for as long as we want it.  Our faith means we know him, not just his name, and because we trust him, he knows us too. 
           
            Putting faces to names in this life can be a lot of fun.  Putting a face on God will be amazing.
 
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure, 1 John 3:1-3.
 
Dene Ward

Before I am labelled an old fuddy-duddy, let me say that this is meant to be a simple request to all song leaders of the Lord’s people to please look closely at your selections before you actually get up and lead them.  You may not realize it, but you are entrusted with the task of enabling God’s people to worship Him in song AND teach one another. You are also in the unenviable position of having to satisfy different tastes, abilities, and knowledge levels.  Wouldn’t it be wise to choose a good mix of different types of hymns, different lyric types, different music types and styles?  Let me show you one problem when you don’t do this.

              We generally have two hymns before the lesson.  What if the song leader chose “Glorify Thy Name” and “I Will Call upon the Lord”?  This is what you will be singing:

Glorify Thy Name
Father (sung 1 time)
Jesus (sung 1 time)
Spirit (sung 1 time)
We love you, we worship and adore you (3 times)
Glorify they name (12 times)
In all the Earth (9 times)

That means you sang “Father/Jesus/Spirit we love you, we worship and adore you, Glorify thy name in all the earth,” and that was the extent of the teaching in that song.  Pardon me if I am underwhelmed, but let’s check the second song too

What do we sing in “I Will Call Upon the Lord”?

I will call upon the Lord (6 times)
Who is worthy to be praised (4 times)
So shall I be saved from my enemies (4 times)
The Lord liveth and blessed be the rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted (4 times)

That means you sang this:  “I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised.  So shall I be saved from my enemies.  The Lord liveth and blessed be the rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted.”  Yes some of this is very good, but it isn’t really very much in quantity.

            It seems to me that we are singing an awful lot to say very little.  Maybe those two songs should not be sung on the same day, especially if that’s all there is to our singing.

              Please compare any song written before 1960 and, while you will still find some fairly worthless songs, you will find far more who give us line after line of truths straight from or alluding to God’s word in a deep and thoughtful manner, songs that, if meditated upon and sung “with the understanding” will enrich your spiritual life far more than many, maybe most, of the newer songs.

              Let’s now clear up some misunderstandings.  I have heard it said, “The Psalms are full of repetition.”  Have you studied them?  Only one that I can think of is “full” of repetition, number 136.  It was obviously meant for group worship in a time when hymnals were unheard of.  It is a type of psalm called “responsorial.”  Only the leader—the choirmaster or chief musician--knew the words, but to help the congregation participate, they were given the phrase “His lovingkindness endures forever” to repeat after every line he sang, twenty-six different lines, by the way, with no repetition in them.  That was a remedy for a situation that no longer exists.  Every place I have worshipped has a hymnal for every person.

            Other repetitions in the Psalms are nowhere near that level, and were sung as refrains, the same way we sing a chorus after a verse nowadays.  They tend to come after stanzas that cover several verses, none of which is repetitive.  Usually you won’t find the refrains more than three times, sometimes only twice.

            For the record, I like both of the hymns I have listed above.  Do you know why?  I like the harmonies in “Glorify Thy Name,” and I like the music and style of “I Will Call Upon the Lord.”  But are those good reasons to sing them?  Not on your life.  For one thing, music in those days up through the first century and several centuries beyond, was not about harmony and metered rhythm—they hadn’t been invented yet.  Even melody was more akin to a chant.

            Hymns should appeal to us because of the lyrics, not the music.  I far prefer the older hymns that help me recall passage after passage after passage.  In them I can find references or quotes of literally dozens of verses, not just one line or verse repeated ad nauseam.  Aren’t the words supposed to be the most important thing in our singing?  How else do we “teach and admonish?”  Certainly not by syncopated rhythm!

            So let’s sing one of those occasionally, maybe to get the interest of the younger folks ignited, but let's not leave our older folks in the dust.  And let’s remember what we are supposed to be doing and pick out a few hymns with deeper meaning. Let’s check to see how much teaching is actually being done on a given Sunday morning.
 
What is it then, brethren? When you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. 1Cor 14:26
 
Dene Ward

Magdi has been gone 10 months.  She was definitely the dominant dog.  She made sure Chloe knew it with a couple of painful lessons.  Once that was established they got along fine.  Sometimes Magdi snapped impatiently, but most of the time they played well together.  Though Magdi would have been loathe to admit it, Chloe kept her active longer as the arthritis set into her hips in her last two years.  She couldn’t have that little whippersnapper outdoing her.

            But we have seen the effects of Magdi’s domination since she died.  When people come to visit, Chloe hides.  Even from children, Chloe hides.  If we happen to be swatting at a fly, she runs for cover.  She will sit next to us for only a brief amount of time, then she is off to herself somewhere across the yard because that was always Magdi’s spot.  In spite of our diligent efforts to treat them the same, Magdi definitely taught Chloe her place.

            We thought about another companion for Chloe, but decided it was not a good idea.  She would immediately become submissive again because that is all she knows.  She needed time to become “her own dog,” and to know that this was her territory to defend.

            Things are coming along, but slowly.  She has started digging up moles in the yard.  She did this before, but Magdi always took them away from her.  When she dug up the first one after Magdi died, she left it for her.  Now she knows it’s hers to do with as she pleases.  This year the moles have made our yard look like a topographical map, so we are happy to let her do it, even if it means we need to fill in the holes, and we encourage her every time we come across a tunnel. 

            The neighbor walked his dogs the other day-- two huge Great Danes loping along the fence line like a couple of horses.  Chloe wouldn’t go to the fence to challenge them as she used to do with Magdi, but instead of hiding under the porch as she has since Magdi died, she sat out on a raised mound and actually barked at them.  Last week some repairmen came.  She went out to the road and barked at the truck!  The next day when guests came, she hid under the porch again.  Oh well, progress is often measured in inches instead of miles.

            This morning she walked up to the gate with me.  There on the other side was another dog sniffing the ground as dogs do, checking to see who had been around lately and whether this was a place he could claim as his own.  I stopped to see what would happen.  Instantly Chloe’s ears popped up.  She straightened her stance and her tail stood at attention.  A low growl began to erupt from deep within her chest, and before I realized what was happening, she spun out, charging the gate with a ferocious bark.  That other dog took one look and hightailed it back up the road to his own place, the place Chloe had just put him in with her vigorous defense of her people and her property.

            No, it doesn’t mean that things are suddenly right.  She still has a long way to go, but she is doing better.  We showed her that it was her job, and she has stepped up to the plate, at least once in awhile.  There may be things she can never do as well as Magdi did, but there are things she can do even better—like hear the moles in the ground and dig them up. 

            Haven’t you known a young man who had to follow in the footsteps of a dominant father, one who accomplished much and had many admirers, a young man who thought he could never do the same, and so quit trying?  It’s our fault when that happens.  We expected him to be his father instead of being who he was.  It may very well be that the man he is can do other things equally well, or better, but our expectations have kept him from even discovering those things. 

            And so in the family of God, as each generation comes along, it is our duty to teach them “the ropes.” Excuse my mixed metaphors, but it is also our duty to step out of the way and pass the torch.  No, we don’t put old men out to pasture.  If they can still teach or sing or preach or pray, then they need to do that.  They have an obligation to God to do that as long as they are able.  But we must also allow the next generation time to grow, time to make a few mistakes and learn from them, time to become their own men in the Lord.

            “Passing the torch” takes humility.  You know you are better so you keep it and run another mile.  Meanwhile, that young man, the one with fresher legs, gets no experience, no on-the-job training, and no encouragement.  Then, when the old men are gone, he can do nothing.  Or perhaps worse, he believes that the things he can do don’t count for anything.  Where is the wisdom in that?

            Being a young, or inexperienced man takes humility too.  Those men before you know what they are talking about when they give you advice.  Listen to them.  You will not match their prowess at the beginning, but with their help and God’s help and your own hard work, you can be every bit the men of God they are.  And by the way, the same goes for the women in the church too.
 
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one…I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one, 1 John 2:13-14.
 
Dene Ward

Today’s post is by guest writer Keith Ward.
 
Most of the things we remember from early childhood were traumatic in some way. I could not have been more than 4 or 5 when I was playing with matches in the kitchen floor. Mom was in there and now that I have been a parent, I suspect she knew what I was up to. Naturally, I burned my finger. She turned to my cry and said that hell would be like that but it would not ever stop.

Cruel?

Maybe, but the memory of that has kept me from a lot of sins. You see, I happen to believe that she was right. Oh, I do not expect literal flames any more than I expect literal streets of gold, but Jesus described hell in the worst possible terms imaginable. Consider them a while and it will help you stay on your diet—you won’t want to eat.

Would you warn your child firmly and frighteningly of the dangers of a snake? Or of some other hazard?

Some people treat HELL like it is a joke or only a mild curse word. We do not hear about it much anymore. We have become ashamed of frightening people into obedience. Jesus was not ashamed like that, “It is better to pluck out your eye than to enter hell”. I hold Dene when she jumps up and down from the pain of one of her eye medications and I can only imagine the pain of pulling out an eyeball and that is BETTER than hell?? In other words, “be good or else, big time or else”. We are not showing much love when we fail to warn people. We would jerk an enemy back from a rattlesnake or push a stranger from in front of a train, but we will not warn our friends of eternal hell.

My mom loved me.
 
And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ Luke 16:23-24
 
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Matt 25:41
 
‘Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. Mark 9:48-49

Keith Ward