Flight Paths

We had a pleasant surprise this year.  Besides the usual wrens’ nest in every odd place you can imagine, we had two hawks’ nests.  Two!  Hawks are very territorial, but they had set up their nests on opposite sides of the property, one just inside the east fence, and one just inside the west fence, as far from each other as they could possibly be and still be on our property.
            We have learned a lot about these birds and knew when to start listening for baby hawk noises.  Finally one morning we realized the mother was no longer in the east nest.  We peered long with the binoculars and called up to the nest.  Nothing.  A few days later we finally saw the dirty white downy baby head and the big black eyes.   
            After another week the baby sat up tall and we had a clear view for the first time.  It isn’t a hawk—it’s an owl!  A barred owl.  Although they usually have one or two siblings, this one appears to be an only child.  Its mother usually sits nearby on a low branch in a live oak arching over the run, a two foot high chunky brown and gray bird with a round head and no ear tufts, horizontal bars across its shoulders and vertical streaks running down its chest.  In the evenings she flies to the garden and sits on a tomato post, just as the hawks have done for years now, occasionally swooping down to the ground to find dinner for the nestling. 
            The hawks have hatched now as well, two downy white babies that sit in the nest and peer over at me when I make the trek to the west side of the property to talk with them.  Both of their parents sit nearby when they aren’t out hunting up food, circling above and screaming their distinctive cry.
            Having two nests is great, but I have a problem—I can't watch both at once because they are so far apart.  I have to walk the entire long side of the property to see one, and then back to see the other.  I have often seen the hawks as they first learn to fly.  I may miss that this time if I am watching the owl learn to fly on the same day. 
            Have you ever heard someone say, “I know God has more important things to deal with than my little problems?”  Is this supposed to be an excuse for a poor prayer life?  Is it supposed to be a proclamation of humility?  What it winds up being, if you think about it, is a lack of faith in the ability of God.  I can’t watch two nests, but God can.  Of the sparrows Jesus says, “Not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight,” (Luke 12:10).  Then he adds, “Fear not.  You are of more value than many sparrows.”  Not only does God consider my small problems important, He wants me to tell Him about them.
            The pagans of the world create gods they can understand based upon their own feelings.  The ancient Greek gods were the height of pettiness, malice, and cruelty.  Why?  Because the humans who created them imputed those far too human characteristics to their personalities.   We do exactly the same thing to God when we put Him in the box of our own human understanding.  “I know God has/does/thinks/feels…” is the height of presumptuousness.  It is not for us to be describing God in any manner in which He does not describe Himself.  “I just know God would never…” may be the most obvious way we limit God, but it is not even the most common.  Even in our zealous attempts to be reverent by inventing words like “omniscient,” we are guilty of limiting Him to our own ability to understand.  God is Eternal—you cannot quantify an Eternal Being because you cannot even comprehend Infinity.  He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” Eph 3:20.
            Simply let His Word describe Him and our (in)ability to comprehend Him.
            Behold God is great and we know him not, Job 36:26.
            "Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven--what can you do? Deeper than Sheol--what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea, Job 11:7-9.
            Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable [immeasurable], Isaiah 40:28.
            For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts, Isaiah 55:8-9.
            God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things we cannot comprehend, Job 37:5.
            Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" Romans 11:33-34.
            It is not my place to figure out what God is doing or why, or even the possibilities of His power—He says it’s impossible to do so.  It’s not my business to decide whether my problems are big enough to bother Him with—He says to bother Him.  It’s not my business to decide what He might say or not say, do or not do, think or not think.  To do that is to limit Him to my understanding and to be a disrespectful child who thinks he deserves an explanation from a Sovereign Creator.  He has told me everything I need to know.  Reverence means I just accept that.
 
When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out, Ecclesiastes 8:16-17.

Dene Ward

For twenty-two years on the rural five acres we owned in North Florida, we didn’t have a carport.  For over two decades our vehicles were at the mercy of sub-tropical sun, thunder and lightning, hail, hurricanes, and even once an inch of snow.  Not a single time were the cars or trucks we owned damaged during that time.
            Finally we had a slab poured and a carport erected.  “Whew!” we sighed with relief.  “Now we’re safe.”
            The next summer we were expecting guests and since the forecast called for a few showers, we moved the car out so the children would have a dry place to play.  Everyone left and we went inside to clean up.  When we came back outside to move the car back under the carport, a tree limb had fallen and put a dent in the trunk—a big one, and knocked off a half dollar size chunk of paint too.  All those years we were concerned and careful, nothing happened.  As soon as we thought we were safe, we weren’t.
            One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless, Proverbs 14:16.  How careful are you out there in the world?  Do you heed the warnings about evil companions corrupting good morals, and the Devil as a roaring lion hunting his prey (1 Cor 15:53; 1 Pet 5:9)?  Or are you so confident in your own righteousness that you are careless, moving away from the safety of the “carport?”
            How many times has a parent sent his child out with all the usual cautions only to have that child sigh and roll his eyes and say something like, “Yes, yes, I know,” shaking his head as he goes out the door?  I don’t care how well your life has gone until now, how safe and smart you think you are, one bad decision can ruin everything for a lifetime.  Keep it under the carport!
            How many times has a happily married man, supremely confident of his self-control, seen someone attractive, flirted a little “just for fun,” and wound up doing exactly what he never thought he ever would?  No matter how strong you think you are, don’t dally with the Devil—keep it under the carport!
            How many times has a Christian stepped over the line “just this once,” “to see what I’m missing,” or “so I know what I’m up against,” meaning to return immediately to the fold, but never making that return trip because that little fling cost him his life?  Life isn’t certain—keep it under the carport!
            You think I’m crazy don’t you, just because a limb fell on my car.  The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice, Prov 12:15.
            And if coming from me isn’t good enough—and really, why should it be?—then how about God?  By the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil, Prov 16:6.  My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments, Psa 119:120.  Job said if he had done anything wrong, then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty. 31:22-23. If no one else can do it, then let God put the fear in you—keep it under the carport!
            We wear seat belts every time because we never know when we will have an accident.  We get our inoculations because we never know when we might be exposed to a disease.  We have smoke alarms in our homes because we never know when a fire might break out.  We do all these things because it’s common sense.  So are the things God’s Word tells us about how to stay out of the clutches of sin and the Devil. 
            You’d better believe that from now on, my car will stay under the carport!  How about your soul?
 
For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3
 
Dene Ward

When I was very young, radio evangelists were fond of ending their broadcasts with the directive to “put your hand on the radio and just believe.”  That was supposed to instantly transform the person who did nothing but sit in his recliner with a cup of coffee (or a can of beer?) into a Christian, a true believer, a person of “faith.” 
            Most mainstream denominational theologians believe in this doctrine of “mental assent.”  Faith is nothing more than believing, no action required.  Surely that must be one of those things spawned by the itching ears of listeners who wanted nothing required of them.  Just look at a few scriptures with me.
            For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Galatians 5:6.  What was that?  “Faith working…?”  Faith isn’t supposed to “work,” or so everyone says.  Did you know that Greek word is energeo?  Can you see it?  That’s the word we get “energy” and “energetic” from.  I don’t remember seeing too many energetic people sitting in their recliners.
            Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, Philippians 1:27.  Striving for the faith?  Even in English “striving” implies effort.  In fact, the Greek word is sunathleo.  Ask any “athlete” if mental assent will help him win a gold medal or a Super Bowl ring and you’ll hear him laughing a mile away.
            Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all, Philippians 2:17, ESV.  Now that can’t be right.  Everyone knows faith has nothing to do with outward observances of the law like sacrifices.  Well, how about this translation?  The ASV says “service of faith.”  Anyway you look at it, whether sacrifice or service, it requires some sort of action on our parts.
            Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses,1 Timothy 6:12.  Faith is a “fight.”  That Greek word is agon from which we get our word “agony.”  If you are a crossword puzzler, you know that an agon was a public fight in the Roman arena.  Anyone who did nothing but sit there, with or without a recliner, didn’t last long.
            To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12.  And there you have it in black and white:  “work of faith.” 
            Nope, some say, the trouble is you keep quoting these men.  Jesus never said any such thing.  Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent, John 6:29.  If faith itself is a work, how can we divorce the works it does from it? 
            We do have examples of mental assent in the scriptures, three that I could find easily. 
            You believe that God is one; you do well: the demons also believe, and shudder. James 2:19
            But certain also of the strolling Jews, exorcists, took upon them to name over them that had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, who did this. And the evil spirit answered and said unto them, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? Acts 19:13-15
            Those first two examples are powerful.  The devil and his minions believe in the existence of God and the deity of Jesus.  In fact, they know those things for a fact.  They even, please notice, recognize Paul as one of the Lord’s ministers.  So much for not paying attention to his or any other apostle’s writings.  Then there is this one:
            Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; John 12:42.  Those men believed too.  They would have been thrilled to know they could put their hands on something in the privacy of their homes and “just believe.”  They could have had their cake and eaten it too—become followers without actually following.
            And therein lies the crux of the matter.  It’s easy to sit in your recliner and listen.  It’s too hard to work, to strive, to sacrifice and serve, and way too hard to fight until you experience the agony of rejection, tribulation, and persecution.
            Guess what?  Some of us believe this too.  We just substitute the pew for the recliner.  It doesn’t work that way either.  God wants us up and on our feet, working, serving, sacrificing and fighting till the end, whenever and however that may happen.
 
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Corinthians 13:5
 
Dene Ward

            When I was in college while almost all of my friends were discovering and devouring C. S. Lewis, I was a music ed. major.  That meant I didn't just take a music theory class that twisted my synapses and burnt out a few hundred brain cells a day—don't let anyone tell you that a real music class is an "easy A"—but I also accompanied voice lessons, participated in no less than 2 ensembles a term, and also practiced 12-15 hours a week along with all the academic courses and assignments.  I had semesters when I took over 20 hours to get it all in.  Then on Saturdays I taught 8 piano lessons and on Sundays taught a teen girl Bible class.  So I was a late bloomer when it came to Lewis because he was never required reading in my classes and I simply had no time for anything that wasn't.
            Maybe that is why, when I first began this book oh, so many years later than my friends, I was somewhat disappointed.  "What's all the fuss about?" I wondered.  "Where are all the great insights, the moments of head-slapping realization?"  Well, perhaps it's that I am no longer a college student.  I'm a good deal older than my friends were when they were introduced to this author, no longer naïve and a lot less likely to almost adore a man just because he has a way of putting things that seems so revolutionary to the young and inexperienced.  And most of his arguments were old hat to me—I had been hearing them all my life.
            But having said that, I found myself becoming more and more impressed as I read.  I will admit that at the beginning some of his logic was a little convoluted for this old lady, and a few illustrations left me cold, but as he progressed, that happened less and less.  The last half of the book finally began to take hold of me, and I am left with two things that stood out more than anything else.  First, his summation of religion—to make us all into little Christs—made many passages in the New Testament suddenly become clear.  And second, his definition of the cost of discipleship—everything—was spot on with everything Jesus and writers like Paul said again and again. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me, just to name one.
            And for those two things especially, and the elaboration on them, I am more than glad I read this book.  I am sure you will find other reasons as well.
 
Dene Ward

Note:  I read a large print version put out by Walker and Company of NY,NY.  It has many typos in it that will lay a speed bump or two in your reading, but you can always figure them out. dw

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.
 
Let's see how many questions we can answer with this one text.  Read it slowly and carefully:
"And the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD. “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate. “Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered. “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness. “For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! " (Ezek 14:12-21).
 
I am currently reading a book wherein a noted scholar apologizes for God allowing bad things to happen in the world. The atheists accuse God of genocide and he sets about to prove it is not so. But, suffering does not happen because God allows it, it happens because God sends it. HE says so! (Besides, when one allows someone to steal, lie, et.al unopposed, he is responsible too.) But, again, note: "When I send."  A lot of babies and children died in the flood. When we defend God for what He clearly says He did or make excuses for Him as if He needed our approval, we are sitting in judgment and declaring Him guilty.
 
And, many seem to think that because they attend the right church doing right things, they are OK. A little history lesson reveals that these people in the passage above did the "right" worship (Jer 7:8-12), something we also claim with great pride. Yet God says that though Noah, Daniel and Job were in the church, it would not save you. Only righteous living every day saves.
 
Along with that one, some think that we are the salt that will preserve the USA. Nice one, but a friend looked up every occurrence of salt in the Bible and it is always used of flavor or the use is vague; salt is not used as preservative clearly anywhere (despite the commentaries concerning "Ye are the salt of the earth"). Besides, God said that even Noah, Daniel and Job would only save themselves, not even their own children.
 
"Everybody does it," or "I'm doing the best I can," and, "God's grace through my right worship will cover me," seem to be our belief that God will forgive our daily failures to learn and live righteously like those three men did in the wicked worlds they lived in. The passage is clear that this is not so. Thinking very hard about Jesus' sacrifice on Sunday will not make up for indifferent living all week either.
 
Maybe a serious study in the "things written aforetime" would stop a lot of our foolish reasoning and motivate some to live self-controlled, righteous, and godly lives. (Titus 2:12 -- ESV & NASB).
 
"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. " (1John 2:3-6).

Keith Ward

As soon as the garden is planted it starts—our evening stroll to see how it fares, what has come up, what is bearing, what is ripe and ready to pick the next morning, which plants show signs of disease or insects, and then, what should we do about it.  It’s a habit, a ritual almost, one we look forward to every year.
            Sometimes I think that God must love gardens too.  The first place he built for man, the perfect place, was a garden--and Jehovah planted a garden, eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed, Gen 2:8.  And it was in that garden that He walked with man every evening.  I wonder what they talked about.  Probably a lot of the things we talk about—but then maybe not.
            What will be ripe tomorrow?  Yes, they might have discussed that, because Eden probably produced a bumper crop.  Do we need to spray for bugs?  No, not that, for bugs were not a problem.  What will be ready for supper tomorrow night?  Yes, the choice was probably endless.  Do we need to pull the plants that are infected with blight so they won’t infect others?  No, definitely not that question--at least not at the beginning.  Eventually, though, Adam was discussing with Eve exactly what we discuss about our far from perfect garden.  Yes, we need to spray.  Yes, we need to water.  Yes, we need to pull those weeds out before they choke out the plants, and I sure hope there’s enough produce to put up for next year too!
            We each have a garden.  The Song of Solomon uses the term to refer to the physical body and chastity.  I have no trouble using it to refer to my soul as well.  Shouldn’t I be out there every evening with God, surveying that garden, examining it for pests and disease, looking for wilt and fungus, making decisions about how to save that garden and make it bear the most fruit for the Lord?
            Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Corinthians 13:5
            Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. Psalms 26:2
            Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!  Psalms 139:23-24
            We even sing that last one.  Do we mean it?  Do we really want to look closely enough to see how to properly tend our gardens, gardens that belong to God?  Are we really willing to look through His word long enough and deeply enough to find our faults and fix them?
            Every evening God expects you to meet Him in that garden of a soul, to plant His word in it and tend it as necessary, even if it becomes painful.  He knows it is the only way for that garden to produce, so that you can someday be in the new Garden of Eden with Him.
 
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Psalms 92:12-15
 
Dene Ward

Growing up in the church, I fell prey to the notion that there was only one right way to pronounce those difficult Bible names, and we white Anglo-Saxon Americans had it nailed.  I remember times when a Bible class teacher used a slightly different pronunciation and I wondered how a teacher could get it wrong.  Tell me you haven't thought the same thing at times.  Our intellectual snobbery continues in all sorts of ways.
            Finally, about 30 or so years ago, I was handed some VHS tapes (that tells you how long ago it was) to review for our children's Bible classes.  The live action films had a voice-over reading the Bible text as the action took place, with the characters themselves speaking the words.  All of the actors were from the Near East so that they would look and sound "authentic" and know how to pronounce words and names from that language.  Imagine my surprise when, in the first tape, one character looked at the other and called him, "Kah-een," and the other called the first one, "Ah-behl."  So much for our English "Cain" and Abel."
            Of course, it is perfectly fine to translate a name from one language to another.  John, Jean, Sean, Johann, Giovanni, and Ivan are all the same name, just in different languages.  On the other hand, some names we might think are the same are not.  The apostle Paul had two names, one Hebrew and the other Latin (since he was a Roman citizen).  "Saul" means "prayed for" and "Paul" or more properly in Latin, "Paulus", means small or humble.  Luke calls him Saul when he is primarily dealing with Jews and Paul when he begins to travel among and focus on Gentiles.  But they are not the same name in the sense that John and Johann are.
            And I suppose we could also bring up the new way of pronouncing God's name that has sprung up, first among scholars and lately among the rest of us in the church.  "Yahweh" is the new "Jehovah."  To me it's a little bit like demanding someone say "John" even when they are standing next to the Eiffel Tower.  "But there is no J in Hebrew!" I keep hearing.  So why do the same people keep saying "Jesus" when it more likely was pronounced "Yeshua," or something similar?  I am afraid that I grew up with Jehovah, I speak English and English does have Js in it, so I don't see the problem.  I am told that "Jehovah" actually came from a German translator, and Germans do not pronounce Js either, hence Johann!  The larger problem is those who insist on the correct pronunciation without the same sort of vigilance in their reverence for that name.
            We all know the third commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."  Usually we limit that to cursing, but the word translated "In vain" actually means "for falsehood."  We have already spoken about other ways to take God's name in vain ("Three Ways to Profane God's Name").  It would do well for all of us to review that post because we are not quite as careful as we ought to be when we claim Him as our God and then live in a way He hates.  But today, even some of His people are careless with His name.  OMG comes to mind.  When even our children are spouting that with every other sentence, we have lost our respect for the Name of God and we certainly haven't taught them to honor it. 
            I found a website with this statement at the top:  "This page contains the Name of God.  If you print it out, please treat it with appropriate respect." (jewishvirtuallibrary.org)  I may not agree with their theology as a whole, but I wish we were that careful about using the name of God.
            Whether you pronounce it Jehovah or Yahweh, what really counts is how you "pronounce" it by your way of life.
 
Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God (Prov 30:7-9).
 
Dene Ward
 

After installing several new feeders recently, along with some new bluebird houses and a couple of small birdbaths, both the numbers of birds visiting us, as well as the varieties, increased proportionately.  The very first day we spied a new one.  It didn’t take long to find him in the bird books I have—a brown-headed cowbird.
            The cowbird is a member of the blackbird family, and it is easy to think him some sort of blackbird.  That brown head is not obvious at a distance.  He stretches 7 to 8 inches from head to tail, glossy black with a chocolate brown head and a pointed gray bill.  Cowbirds do, however, have a negative trait—they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, then go off and expect that bird to raise their young.  Sometimes the host bird will destroy the unfamiliar eggs, but far more often, they will raise the cowbird nestlings, often neglecting their own.  Cowbird chicks are so much larger than the hosts’ chicks that they take most of the food and leave the others hungry.
            Do you know what they call birds that steal nests and abandon their young to others?  Parasite birds.  I had never thought of it that way, but it is a legitimate biological classification.  Cuckoos do it.  Wood ducks do it.  In fact, about 750 species of bird do it.
            Humans wouldn’t do that, would they?  We wouldn’t ignore the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, breaking up a home at will just because “I want him now,” or “I don’t love her any more.”  Why can’t I steal someone else’s nest if I want it?
            I have things I want to do, a career that makes me important.  I’m not made for taking care of children--I shouldn’t be saddled with these kids.  Why can’t the government raise them for me?  Why can’t I hire someone to do the dirty work?  Why can’t I lay my eggs in someone else’s nest and expect them to be responsible for my children?
            Why do I have to work to support my family?  Why should I have to control my physical hungers?  Why can’t I live as I want and not have to bear the responsibility of what follows?  Why can’t I deposit my burdens in someone else’s lap to pay for and tend to?
            I wonder if biologists have a class of human called “parasitic.”  “Entitlement” comes to mind; “selfishness” as well, not to mention “irresponsibility.”  God holds us accountable for our lives, for our health, for our families, for all the privileges we claim, especially in the most blessed society in the world.  He expects us to exercise self-control.  He expects us to be mature in our choices and responsible for them.  He expects us to be considerate of others in those choices too.
            Now that I have about 95% of you agreeing with me, let’s take it one step farther.  What about Christians who deposit their children in Bible classes and expect the church to teach them?  Sometimes parents will see that the child does his lesson, but sometimes the teachers are lucky if a workbook accompanies a child at all, much less one that has been well-studied and filled out.  The Bible tells us that parents are to teach their children, not the church.  It is certainly commendable to take them to Bible classes, but the example they see many, many more hours a week at home is the one that they learn from.
            The brown headed cowbird is one of the most disapproved of birds in the avian world.  Why is that we think the same sort of behavior, in any of its manifestations, should be acceptable, even applauded, in ours?
 
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without natural affection, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 2 Timothy 3:1-5

Just like in our old place, my elliptical machine sits on the back porch.  So, as I trudge off to nowhere for 45 minutes, I take in my surroundings in probably more detail than I ever would just walking through it.  Unfortunately, there is not much to take in.  The yard is postage stamp small. The back porch and patio take up most of the backyard.  Around the edges we have a wood pile for the portable fire pit and grill which sit on the patio, narrow strips of ground to store garbage cans and watering cans, and a raised bed for flowers eventually—once we find some that can survive both the almost perpetual shade and the morning sun reflecting off the white back fence for the few minutes a day that it does.  So far, no luck.
            The fence comes thanks to our neighbors on each side and the HOA which has one surrounding the outer edge of the neighborhood, against which we sit.  And that is where we see most of the activity.  Squirrels run across it, jumping into the oaks on the other side of the wall or scampering across accessible rooftops.  Cardinals, wrens, mockingbirds, blue jays, and a few bug eaters we have yet to identify perch along the top.  The neighbor's cat walks it like a tightrope.  Then there are the lizards.
            I had a bad encounter with a lizard as a child, so these are not my favorite creatures.    So far, only one has stealthily crept into the house and I hope it is the last.  I am not certain of all the varieties we have.  The ones we see the most are called anoles.  They were brought into southern Florida from the Caribbean and have spread into the southeastern United States.  The anole is a "redneck."  What looks like his throat is actually a dewlap which he can inflate into a red balloon larger than his own girth.  I know because, as I march along on the elliptical, one of them lies on the fence just opposite me and inflates his.  With my vision, it's the throat I see, not the rest of him, but it's not that difficult to figure out.
            Why does he do this, you ask?  Two reasons, I have read.  First, he is trying to scare away competitors for his territory, and/or his enemies.  Second, he is trying to attract a lady anole.  I have often wondered what would happen if I cared enough to get close and punctured his balloon with a needle.  Turns out that has happened to many an anole from things like thorns on bushes or splinters on pieces of wood.  So, will he be less able to defend his territorial rights?  Will he be less attractive to females?  Will he become sterile altogether?  No one really knows because no one has set up the experiment to find out.  It is too difficult to set up a closed system, evidently.
            But that big red balloon of a throat always makes me think.  It seems that anole comes looking for me every day because I never see that big balloon of a throat, relatively speaking, until he creeps just opposite me.  Then he moves up and down doing mini-push-ups, just as if he were pumping up a bicycle tire, and gradually that red balloon grows to a size I am certain he is proud of, and he will not leave.  He stays there as long as I do.  Yet he never manages to scare me off.  So why not go another way?  The very idea that something so small and virtually harmless could scare away something thousands of times its size and weight is ridiculous.
            And when it all boils down, isn't the Devil nothing more than a redneck lizard?  Do not get me wrong; I understand that he can be dangerous to anyone's soul.  But the truth is, he has already been defeated.  The moment Jesus wakened from the dead and left the tomb, his end was decided.  When the seventy returned, having performed miracles, including the casting out of demons, Jesus said, I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven, Luke 10:18.  Already, he meant to be saying, he is losing the battle for men's souls.  If we don't finish the course, it is not because we couldn't, but because we wouldn't.
            Not a big red dragon, but a tiny little lizard compared to the power of Jesus and his resurrection, pumping up his tiny balloon of a throat, trying to scare us into submission.  That's all Satan is compared to the power of Christ in us.  When I get off the elliptical machine and walk outside, that little lizard runs for all he's worth.  Make Satan do the same as you wield all that mighty armor against him.  Don't let him stake his territory on your soul.
 
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil… withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one (Eph 6:11,16).
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (Jas 4:7).
 
Dene Ward
           

I sat with my hands in my lap, listening to the announcements.  When it came time for prayer, instantly two hands reached for mine and held them until the amens echoed around the building.

The hand on my right was my husband’s.  After spending fifty years together, it seemed only natural.  We are always touching, patting, and hugging.  To walk past one another without some sort of physical contact is unthinkable.  What has made this relationship even more remarkable though, is the spiritual sharing and touching.  When two people pray for the same things, hope for the same things, and endure the same things with the help of the same Comforter, two people who were so unalike in the beginning that several people tried to talk us out of this marriage, the closeness can only be with the help of the Divine Creator who united us in far more than holy matrimony.

The other hand came from a friend, someone I have known for several years now, who has supported me in every way imaginable, who has stood by me and has lifted my name up in prayer, who has shared her own trials with me and allowed me to help her as well, someone who lives nearly fifty miles from me, whom I would never have known except that we share the same Savior and the same hope and a place in the same spiritual family.

Some people view holding hands in prayer as nothing more than an outward show of emotionalism.  To me those hands signify the unifying power of the grace of God.  That unity began with 12 men who would never have come together in any other way, and soon spread to add one more.  Some were urbane city dwellers who looked down on lowly Galileans.  Some were working class men while another was a highly educated Pharisee.  Some had Hebrew/Aramaic names while others’ names bore the influence of Hellenism.  One was a Zealot and another his political enemy, a tax collector.  Yet the Lord brought them all together in a unity that conquered the world.

I have held black hands, brown hands and white hands.  I have held plump soft hands and rough calloused hands.  I have held the tender hands of the young and the withered hands of the old.  I have held the hands of lawyers and doctors and plumbers and farmers, teachers and nurses and secretaries and homemakers, hands that hammer nails and hands that type on computer keyboards, hands that cook and sew and even hands that carry a weapon on the job.  We all have this in common—our Lord saved us when none of us deserved it.  That is His unifying power. 

The hand of God is the one that makes all of our hands worth holding.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15:5-7

Dene Ward