Flight Paths

On our last camping trip we had reserved an especially good site, along with its neighbor for Lucas, three months in advance.  We arrived and after three hours were nearly set up when the ranger arrived to tell us that the next day a controlled burn was scheduled right on our edge of the campground and we would have to move.  It was not a happy event.  Not only would we have to tear down and start again less than an hour before sunset, but none of the other sites were as private. 

            Privacy is not that important when you sleep in a trailer or RV, but in tents with paper-thin walls it makes a difference.  Our new sites were smack dab in the middle of the campground and so small and close together that I could hear Lucas snoring in his tent next site over.  In fact one night, he and Keith were snoring in rhythm, and the night after Lucas started a snore on the inhale and Keith finished it on the exhale, perfectly synchronized.  Yet when the controlled burn passed the campground we were glad we had moved.  Even with the wind blowing in the opposite direction, the ash would have fallen on our equipment and melted holes in it.

            We also learned a lot about controlled burns.  There are two reasons for controlled burns.  When the underbrush is allowed to spread unchecked, all that extra fuel makes wildfires more destructive.  Also, in a pine forest, the controlled burns keep the hardwoods from taking over.  The day after the burn every small hardwood was smoking and burned to a crisp while the pines stood tall and strong, if a little charred on the bottom.

            As Christians we must experience times exactly like these controlled burns.  Perhaps the most difficult “burns” to understand are the problems among God’s people.  If the church is the body of Christ, why do people behave badly?  Why do divisions happen and heresies lead people astray?  The Proverb writer tells us that God will use the wicked, whether they want to be used or not, Prov 16:4.  Paul says in 1 Cor 11:19, For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 

            The question is not will there be problems in the church?  The question is, when there are problems will we be able to “recognize” those who are not genuine believers?  I fear that too many of us look to the wrong things. 

            Do I believe one side because they are my friends, never even questioning their words, while automatically dismissing the other if among them is a brother I don’t like too much?  Does “family” make the decision for me?  Am I relying on how I “feel” about it, instead of what the Word actually says?  Does it matter more to me who can quote the Big-Name Preachers instead of the scriptures?  Is one side more popular than the other?  Will it give me more power if that side wins the fight?  When I rely on those types of things, I am the one who is showing myself to be a less than genuine believer.

            While these things are necessary, it doesn’t mean God likes them, any more than he liked the Assyrians who fulfilled their purpose in punishing his wayward people. 

            Ho Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he means not so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few... Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks, Isa 10:5-6,12. 

            Jesus presents a similar viewpoint when he says in Matt 18:7, Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must needs be that the occasions come; but woe to that man through whom the occasion comes!  These things have their place and their purpose, but God will punish the ones responsible. 

            Now the hard part:  The apostles did not tell the early church that it was understandable to become discouraged and leave because their idea of the blissful, perfect institution was often marred by sin.  They said to use that experience to double check where we stand, to make sure we are among the true believers, the tall pines that withstand the blaze instead of the scrub brush and interloping hardwoods who try to destroy Christ’s body.

            Those controlled burns in the pine forests happen every three years.  Who knows how often the church needs cleansing but God himself? For me to give up on the Lord and his body because someone causes trouble, because peace among God’s people sometimes seems hard to come by, means I am giving up on God, failing to trust that he knows best. You may get a little singed, but it is cleansing burn, far better than the eternal burn that awaits the factious.
 
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit…Therefore by their fruits you shall know them, Matt 7:15-17, 20.
 
Dene Ward
           

 
Today’s posts is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

Prov 22:1 “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.”

I’ve been doing some study on names and how they were used in the Bible. The word for name is also the word for renown. A name wasn’t just a person’s designation; it was his reputation. It represented to others all the important facts about a person. One got this name by how he had lived his life. He could win a great name or earn a worthless one. His name depended upon who he was and then it represented him from that time on. Solomon says that to get or keep a good name, one should be willing to sacrifice wealth. For some reason, that immediately reminded me of two more passages.

John 1:1-5, 14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So, He who was to become Jesus was in all ways God. In all points equal to the Father. He gave up that equality (Philp. 2:6-7) to become flesh and dwell with us for the purpose of saving us from our sins. If ever anyone sacrificed wealth, this was the occasion. And what did He receive for this sacrifice?

Philp. 2:9-11 “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

He earned a good name. The best name. The name that is universally known and to which all will bow. He is the proof of the truth behind the proverb.

Now, it should come as no surprise that the Messiah is the epitome of this proverb. Doesn’t He epitomize them all? Yet there is more here. He is the example to us all. In Isaiah 62 there is a prophecy that God would give His people a new name to go with the new covenant. That is fulfilled in Acts 11 where the name Christians was bestowed upon the disciples. Just as God gave His Son a “name that is above every name” because of the sacrifices Jesus was willing to make for that name, Jesus has offered to us a good name which is much greater than riches. Just as the Lord had to sacrifice for His name, though, we must be willing to sacrifice to keep our good name. The Lord says that any who want to be a disciple must “take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matt. 16:24). So, the question is what “wealth” are you willing to sacrifice for the good name God is offering? The Lord gave up equality with God for His name, will you miss NCIS one Tuesday night to teach a friend the Gospel? Would you miss a Gator game to visit the sick? Or cut back on the fishing? Or give up your rights to keep peace in the Church? Or gladly defer your opinion to the elders? Do we really value the good name God offers, or do we hold tightly to our wealth? One thing I know: on that day, I want the Lord to know my name.

Isa 62:2 “. . . and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give.”
Act 11:26 “. . . And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.”

Lucas Ward

I had an extra long wait at the doctor’s office recently.  The former retina doctor had found a place in a private practice in Buffalo and moved on.  The new retina doctor was trying to catch up on all the canceled appointments, plus all the emergencies.  Then there was me—my specialist wanted him up to speed on my case so when we needed him in a pinch—a huge risk for all my procedures is retina detachment--he would know what was going on.  So I had plenty of time to look around at my fellow patients.

            A small-statured elderly couple sat discussing where to go for lunch.  Since it was only 9 am I knew they were experienced at waiting in this clinic.  A young black woman in gray pants and white top, sported a huge bandage on one eye and was obviously nervous—she sat bouncing one leg almost uncontrollably.  Another man, white haired and just as obviously not worried, dozed in his blue chair.  A forty something woman, a new patient it looked like, sat hunched over, filling out one of those seemingly endless forms on a clipboard.  A middle aged man in a gray fleece jacket wore the heavy dark glasses of a cataract patient.  A stylish young Hispanic woman in a brown pantsuit and heels chattered on a cell phone.  A sixty something woman in a gray coat sat reading a book, chuckling every few minutes.  A young couple sat together, too quiet, holding a sleeping infant, and occasionally looking at one another with large frightened eyes.  Something was wrong with their precious child and they were afraid of what it might be.

            We were all there for the same reason—to see a man labeled a great physician by his own medical association.  Each one of us had our own anxieties and our ways of dealing with them.  None of us had any thought for the others at all.  I think that may be the problem with some churches.  None of the members have any idea of the problems the others are going through and they really don’t want to know either.  Is that how we think the church is supposed to work?

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith, Rom 12:10,13,15,16; Gal 6:10.

          We cannot fulfill those commandments without knowing one another.  We cannot fulfill those commandments without taking down the privacy fences and sharing our problems with one another.  We cannot fulfill those commandments without building a sense of trust in one another, a safe place where we know our problems will be held in confidence and not judged by self-righteous hypocrites.

            We are all here to see the Great Physician.  Whether we want to admit it or not, we all need him and the forgiveness and grace he offers.  But one of the rules in his waiting room is, “In as much as you have done it to the least of these my brethren you have done it also to me,” Matt 25:40.  If I want his help, I must offer it to others.  If I want his help, I must not be too proud to accept it from others.  If I want his help, I must join in with all who want his help, caring even more about them than I do myself.  We cannot sit here ignoring one another, each in his own world, and expect to have our turn in his office.  He will simply cancel the appointment.
 
And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints, 1 Thes 3:12,13.
 
Dene Ward

Yesterday was a special anniversary for our country.  It was also a special anniversary for my family.  We lost someone precious to us. This is what I wrote on that day five years ago.
 
            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.

            I will not cry floods of inconsolable tears.  I may shed some because I will miss his gentle ways and constant concern—he was still my daddy and no matter how old I have grown he never forgot it.  But I will smile through the tears because I know that he is finally pain- and worry-free for the first time in many years.

            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.  I will not deny the faith he lived every day and taught my sister and me.  He did not just talk the talk.  He walked the walk and effected more people than he ever knew.  His gentleness was only surpassed by his passion for living as a Christian. 

            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.  I will celebrate his life with joy because his eternity is not unknown to me.  His was not a desolate life of despair, but one that touched others with its grace.  Men he worked with and for respected him.  Some may not have liked him because he was “too straight an arrow,” but no one ever doubted his honesty.  In a day when we suspect practically everyone of lying to get ahead, to get a promotion, to win an election, to get out of trouble, to salve a conscience, it is truly remarkable that no one who knew him ever doubted his word.

            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.  I will do my best to continue my life as he lived his, facing problems with prayer and optimism, caring for those whom God had made him responsible for, and seeing to every other need that came his way. Many small churches sit in pews he bought, sing from songbooks he paid for, and have preachers they now support only because he helped support them in the beginning.  He never preached sermons there, but they exist in part because he existed.

            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.  He will be wearing white.  What goes with white?  Red, blue, green, purple, even pink maybe.

            Anything but black.
 
For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.  For verily in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life.  2 Cor 5:1-4.
 
Dene Ward
 

It started the night before, a strong pain in my lower abdomen, a little lower than an appendix might be, I thought, so I ruled that out, and slowly it began to subside and I managed a little sleep that Saturday night.  The next morning all was fine, but just as I finished dressing for morning services, it started again, even stronger this time and it gradually spread up over my right hip and around to my back.  Suddenly memories came flooding back to me.  I had two 9+ pound baby boys, one 21 inches and the other 22, and they were both posterior—“sunny side up.”  That meant all my labor was back labor, and here for the first time in over 35 years, I was having it again.
 
           “Kidney stones,” my doctor told me and sent me straight to the emergency room.  Notice that:  “emergency” room.  Doesn’t that mean everyone should be hustling around to make this pain go away?  But no, I had to answer a couple dozen questions, then list medications, then get the vitals, all while leaning over trying not to groan too loudly, before I even got my own little room in the back. 
             
            And what happened there?  More waiting while people strolled around, talking to one another about their Saturday night fun, ostensibly giving orders on my behalf but no one treating it like orders.  And while I lay curled in a fetal position in that sterile little room on that narrow gurney, surrounded by stainless steel trays on which stood clear glass jars of cotton balls and swabs, pink plastic tubs, bedpans, blue open-backed hospital gowns, and plastic squeeze bottles of clear, blue, and orange liquids, up on the wall for my amusement hung a television.  SpongeBob SquarePants cavorted soundlessly with his fellow weirdos.  Really?  SpongeBob?  This is how you treat an emergency?  I lay there strongly tempted to start my Lamaze breathing—if I could only remember how to do it.  Maybe if I actually gave birth, someone would notice.

           Of course that was not a life-threatening emergency, even if it did feel like one.  I am sure if my heart had stopped, someone would have come running.  At least I hope so.  But isn’t that exactly the way we treat soul-threatening emergencies all the time?  No big deal.  We’ve got time to talk to him.  We’ve got time to teach them the gospel.  We’ve got time to bring that lost sheep back to the fold before a wolf gets him for good.  Do we?

             I understand “speaking truth in love” and I do my best to do that all the time.  But some people define that so narrowly that sin-sick people do not get the treatment they need for their desperately—terminally—ill souls.  Our culture has raised a generation that cannot take correction of any kind unless it is so camouflaged it completely slips past them as correction.  “Woe is me.  Someone dared to tell me I was wrong about something.  Someone actually hurt my feelings by rebuking me.  Poor little me.”  And in society in general, that means the corrector is rebuked, usually unjustly, and the one in the wrong gets off scot free—in fact, he usually becomes a hero.  “Look at the poor mistreated miscreant who stands against injustice!”  And let’s riot a little if such doesn’t occur.  Don’t think for a minute it doesn’t happen in the church. 

           And so instead of treating him like someone in need of emergency care, we give him a comfortable little room with SpongeBob prancing on the TV, followed by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as I recall—I was in there for both of those two shows and the beginnings of another before my problem was even diagnosed (even though we already knew what it was) and dealt with.  Good thing it was kidney stones.  I wasn’t likely to die of that.  But there are souls out there who need a good dose of medicine to even have a chance of saving them, and we’re just patting their hands and watching TV with them while they fade off into an eternity in Hell.
 
And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Jude 1:22-23
 
Dene Ward

I have been a Star Trek fan since Captain Kirk sat on the bridge of the first USS Enterprise—the first Starship Enterprise, that is—on September 8, 1966 (our time).  I wasn’t even a teenager then and didn’t realize until years later how ahead of its time it was, nor that the strongest episodes were really parables.  Remember the two aliens who had faces half black and half white, and who hated one another because one had the black half on the right side and the other’s black half was on the left?  Our biases make just as much sense, that episode taught us.

            The show worked for me because of the characters and their relationships with each other.  If it had been all about gizmos and explosions, I would have lost interest quickly.  I knew who they were, their backgrounds, their likes and dislikes, and their pet phrases.  When Star Trek: The Next Generation came along, the producers really hit the jackpot and this time people were ready for it.  It’s a shame that the television movers and shakers still looked down their noses.  Patrick Stewart deserved a couple of Emmys. 
Brent Spiner deserved even more.

            Get a couple of Trekkies together and they will talk for hours about favorite characters and episodes.  To them these people are almost real.  And they will spot the discrepancies between episodes or movies in an instant.  When Scottie showed up on TNG, having survived in a continuous transporter buffer pattern for 75 years, and thought Jim Kirk was still alive, my antenna twitched.  You see, in Star Trek: Generations, the movie that put Capt Kirk and Capt Picard together for the first and only time, Scottie saw Jim Kirk die.  He would not have expected to be saved by him.  The producers should have caught that.

            I’m sure you are already getting the point.  When we are really interested in something, we will spend hours on it.  We will take it in and remember it.  We will catch on to every detail, no matter how trivial and useless.  Why, who is to say it’s useless?  Have you noticed that no fictional character will sneeze or cough unless he’s doomed to a virus that affects the plot?  And everyone knows that the previously unknown character in the red shirt will soon be zapped by the alien.

            Doesn’t it strike you as odd that people who claim to be children of God know so little about His word?  That people who call themselves disciples of Christ have a problem remembering the main events of his life?  Forget about the details.  (Quick!  Name Jesus’ brothers.  How about his cousins?  Name all eleven of the Simons/Simeons in the Bible.  Which apostles were known by at least three names?)

            As people of God we should be interested in Him.  We ought to want nothing more than to know His will and do it.  We should be able to talk about it for hours and look for every opportunity to learn even more.  I know people who can list Erica Kane’s husbands in order, or recite the starting lineups for all their favorite pro teams, including stats and colleges.  Some of these people are Christians whose Bible knowledge wouldn’t fill a thimble.

            Trekkies are called that for a reason.  They know that James T Kirk was (will be?) born on March 22, 2228, in Riverside, Iowa.  They know that Spock’s full name is S’chn T’gai Spock.  They can even speak a few words of Klingon, a language that doesn’t even exist! NUQ DAQ YUJ DA’POL = “Where’s the chocolate?” a phrase everyone should know, whether Klingon or Terran!

            Christians are called that for a reason as well.  Do you fit the description?
 
But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you, Psa 9:7-10.
 
Dene Ward

It’s been over a week now and there hasn’t been a mouse in my house.  If the supply is endless, at least it is experiencing a lull at the moment.  But it’s only a matter of time…

            …which itself is not endless.  God tells us over and over that time will eventually stop.  Eternity will begin and never end, which is a lame definition, because by its very definition eternity neither begins nor ends, so how can you describe it by using words like “endless.”  We will no longer say, “in a minute,” “before long,” or “after a while.”  There will no longer be a “then.”  Everything will be “now”—or will it?  Will that word be irrelevant as well?

            This is getting just a little too deep for me, and maybe that is something I needed.  I have grown impatient with people who make such a big deal out of things that happen in this life, whining and complaining, “Why me?” seeming to forget that we are promised an eternity that will make even the longest ordeal here look less than minuscule.  Even God made a point to remind us over and over about the relative unimportance of physical life compared to an eternal one.  Over fifty times the scriptures use phrases like “eternal life,” “everlasting life,” “life evermore,” and “live forever.”  So it must be easy in the midst of pain, and sorrow, and surrounded by death, to forget.

            Use the help we have been given to remind yourself, especially when things are tough, that eternity is what matters, not what happens in the here and now.  If I could find fifty passages, maybe you can find more—maybe they are nearly endless.

            Just for the sake of having a way to describe it to us temporally bound souls, eternity is not the last “endless supply.”  Another one awaits us, perhaps one even better.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you,  1 Pet 1:3,4.  “Fades not away” refers to the quality of that eternal life.  Unlike this world we find ourselves in now, we will never wish it could end, for the joy of being with the Lord will never run out either.
 
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Cor 15:53-58.
 
Dene Ward

You would think it would go without saying.  You would think that looking around at the world God made would make it obvious.  It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. Jer 10:12.  If God can do that, certainly his power is endless.  Nothing is too big for it to handle, and it will never run out.

            So why have I heard on more than one occasion, “I know people who have it worse than I do, so I try not to bother God with my piddling little problems”?  It’s almost like they think they will cause someone else not to get the help they deserve if God helps them too.  It’s almost like they think God’s power could actually run out.  Let’s review a few scriptures.

            O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Deut 3:24

            I am the Lord!  There is nothing too difficult for me, Gen 18:14.

            Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel--he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God! Psa 68:35

            And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, Eph 1:19,20.

            Did you catch that last one?  “The immeasurable greatness of his power.”  There is another endless supply if ever I heard it.  Later in the same epistle Paul adds, to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, 3:20.  Sounds like Paul agrees with those messengers who promised Abraham and Sarah a son at their advanced age.  Nothing is too hard for God.

            What was Jesus always telling those apostles when they hit a snag?  “O ye of little faith.”  Maybe that’s our problem too.  By not asking God for the hard things, we aren’t making it easier for Him, we are making it easier for us!  If I don’t get a “No”, I won’t be disappointed and my faith will not be challenged.  I won’t have to deal with finding the lesson I am supposed to learn from having to deal with a trial.  I won’t have to change and grow.  That is what’s too hard, not the thing we ask of God.

            Paul says in 2 Cor 13:4, For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but…we will live with him by the power of God.   The same power that raised Christ from the dead, helps us live a godly life.  If we sin, it is because we are refusing the only power that can make it possible.  It is a choice on our part, not on his.  He is more than happy to help us.  And that leads us right back to our first endless supply—grace.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work, 2 Cor 9:8.  The good you can do is endless, but only when you trust that His endless power can supply you with an endless amount of grace to accomplish it.

            You don’t need to make excuses for God.  You don’t need to protect him from a possible failure.  Job said it best, when he recognized that even with all the amazing things in the world that testify to the power of God, we have only seen a tiny bit of what is available.  By his power he churned up the sea…By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.  And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him.  Who then can understand the thunder of his power? Job 26:12-14.

            God’s power is endless.  It will never run out.  Now go out there and live like you believe it.
 
…that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1 Cor 2:5.
 
Dene Ward

We have never had much trouble before now.  Barn cats do an excellent job.  Even after the second in a row went hunting one evening never to return, we had no trouble because a garter snake moved into the enclosed crawl space under the house.

            For four or five years that snake minded his own business, which was good for us—we seldom had a mouse in the house, in spite of living deep in the piney woods.  Sometimes we’d see him stretched out in the sunny yard, nearly four feet long thanks to his dark pantry beneath our floors, but we would turn and go the other way to keep the dogs off of him until he had returned home.

            One fateful summer day last year, he ventured out while Keith was mowing.  He assumed the snake would turn and slither back into the flower beds as he approached.  Just as he passed by, the frightened reptile turned and darted toward the mower.  Keith groaned aloud as he rode right over him, scattering garter snake to the winds.

            The trouble started in the winter, of course.  I began hearing them gnaw on the bottom of the house.  So Keith crawled into that dark, dusty cavern with packets of poison, a flashlight, and a pistol, in case a less benevolent snake had moved in.  In a couple of days the noises stopped, only to start again three or four days later.  The packets of poison were empty.  More crawling, more packets, and once again quiet reigned in the night.  In about two weeks, we seemed to have the problem licked.

            Two months later, when Keith rose at 4:30 am to get ready for work, he found a mouse sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.  We set out traps this time, as well as poison.  Sometimes I hear one in the middle of the night crunching the poison pellets.  Then we’ll have two or three nights of quiet before the next one arrives.  You see, where we live there is an endless supply of rodents.  Mice will never make the endangered species list.

            Not all endless supplies are bad though.  The grace of God is a good case in point.  Christ told Paul, “My grace is sufficient” (2 Cor 12:9) to help you handle your problems.  It isn’t that you need to get rid of the problem, he told him; it’s that you need to trust that there is enough grace to help you through it.

            Paul told Timothy that God’s grace was “exceeding abundant,” 1 Tim 1:4.  The root word means “to abound,” a word that brings to my mind that Southern phrase “a gracious plenty.”  Yet in this passage Paul attaches an intensifier, huper (from which we get “hyper”). So it means “to abound exceedingly.”  Not just a lot, but a whole lot of a lot.  You simply can’t need more grace than God has to give, no matter how big a sinner you may think you are, nor how often you sin; no matter how big your problems are.  That means he’ll have enough for your neighbor too—you won’t lose out if you share.  Yes, in this case, an endless supply is a very good thing.
 
But not as the trespass, so also the free gift. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many.  And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly: that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Rom 5:15,20,21.
 
Dene Ward

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 8:00 am:
            Hoo boy! Time for another day among people who don’t even care about God.  Why did this mission get put off on me?

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 12 pm
            Well, we got run out of another synagogue.  On to the next town, but I haven’t had a decent meal in three days.  And can anyone please find me the nearest Stella-cerva coffee bar?

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 3 pm
            Did you hear what Proditor of Seleucia did to us?  How can he claim to be on our side and speak out against us like that?  It’s hard enough what we must bear without a traitor among us.  No one understands what it is like to have this job and what it demands of you.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 5 pm
           The government and everyone in it is corrupt.  I can tell you a few things I heard when I was in prison.  The guards talked to one another all the time and all we prisoners overheard everything.  One time…(See more)

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 7 pm
            Here is more proof of what I have been saying about those Roman senators.  Go to this link to see for yourself: http:Allpoliticiansshould(bleep).  (Sorry about all the foul language you have to navigate, but this is really good.)

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 9 pm
            The end of another long day and little to show for it.  I am not sure I can take much more of this.  Surely twelve hours a day is enough to give to this thankless task.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 12 hrs ago
            Here we go again.  And I had little sleep because John needed some counseling at 2 am.  Seems he is not sure he can handle any more.  What a wimp.  So now I have to write two epistles and get together a new synagogue sermon on little if any sleep at all because of his selfish waste of my time.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 10 hrs ago
            Now what?  Have you all heard the latest from Corinth?  Can’t these immature brats get anything right?  It’s not about me, me, me, people.  In fact, maybe the few of you who are on my side need to head across town and start a new congregation.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 8 hrs ago
            What?  No comments on that last one?  Surely you see how wrong they are.  If you do, let me hear from you!

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 6 hrs ago
            Oh, so now I am being too harsh?   True believers won’t let something like this pass without comment.  If you are real Christians, copy and paste this to your page.  We’ll find out who is truly faithful to God.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 5 hrs ago
           Here’s a fun pic of me and the guys taking a quick dip down at the river.  We’d already gotten wet baptizing people, so we just chucked the robes and had a good time.  Everyone deserves some fun! : )

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 4 hrs ago
            Here I am trying to spread the Word as hard as I possibly can and all I get is criticism.  Really people.  Someone find me an Stella-cerva coffee bar ASAP!  I won’t get through this ordeal without one.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 3 hrs ago
            All right.  I’ve had it.  I am a Roman citizen.  I do not deserve to be treated the way they are treating me.  Everyone meet me at the agora at dawn tomorrow and we will show this government exactly what we think of it.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 2 hrs ago
            I am so tired.  No one has to put up with the things I have to put up with.  Can’t you all take care of yourselves for a change?  Do you really expect love and encouragement from someone who has so little and has sacrificed so much?  It’s not fair!

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 1 hr ago--
          Was that really necessary Peter?  After all, you are a Gentile-hating hypocrite.  Keep your criticisms to yourself.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 30 min
            Nearing the end of another 12 hour day and I did not accomplish a thing.  Does anyone have any idea why?
 
            If there had been such a thing as social media in the first century, Paul would never have used it in those ways.  So why do I see these sorts of things from people I know are Christians?  Why do I see whining and “poor little me?”  Why do I see diatribes against brothers and sisters?  Why do I see posts designed to cause an uproar, and the writers then sitting there all day to gloat over it?  Why do I see people railing against the government they are supposed to obey and respect whether they agree with it or not?  Why do I see pictures of Christians in scanty clothing, doing questionable activities and passing along items with crude and vulgar language on nearly every line?  And why do I see idlers who cannot seem to get anything profitable done because they are posting all day long?

            If Paul were alive, how would he use social media?  Just look at his epistles, the social media of his day.  He edified.  He encouraged.  He counseled.  He commended brothers and sisters to one another.  Yes he did rebuke, sometimes harshly, but even then with the design to save souls not to exalt himself.  Yes, he did talk about some of his ordeals, but the percentage was minuscule and always with the purpose to teach and admonish.  Yes, he did ask for prayers, not because he deserved them but so he could continue to preach the gospel.  Yes, he did pass along personal information and requests (“Bring me the parchments,” etc.), but always with a humble attitude, not as a petty tyrant abusing his authority.  He never for a minute sowed discord among brothers.  Instead he told us all to do as he did:  be willing to take wrong for the good of the gospel.  His sacrifices were willingly given and never resented.  He knew others sacrificed as well and never put himself above them, even though he probably could have.

            So maybe we should consider this:  If Paul wouldn’t post it, maybe we shouldn’t either.
 
Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God: even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. 1Cor 10:31-33
 
Dene Ward