On November 18, 1928, Steamboat Willie, AKA Mickey Mouse, made his film debut in the animated short called by that name.  Although he had appeared in two other cartoons before that, Walt Disney considered this one his "birthday" possibly because it was the first to use synchronized sound.  The "sound" was actually Walt Disney himself making an assortment of grunts, whistles, and laughs—there was actually no dialogue at all.  Steamboat Willie was a smash, and Walt Disney began a career that led to at least 142 films earning Walt Disney himself 26 Oscars, and eventually to Disneyland and Disneyworld.
            Those two amusement parks earn their big, big dollars with the concept of making dreams come true.  Where else would you find the castle that inhabits every little girl's dreams and the spaceships that fly little boys into space?  Where else can you see ghosts and not be harmed, fly in a magic car, and wander around a treehouse for castaways that has all the comforts of home?  "If you can dream it," Walt Disney famously said, "you can do it."  And everyone has heard Jiminy Cricket advise us that "If you keep on believing, the dream that you wish can come true."  Maybe it depends upon what you are dreaming about.
             We have done a lot of babysitting for the grandchildren over the years.  The spring Judah was twenty months old, we kept them for a week.  Every evening he climbed into my lap as I drank my last cup of coffee.  It took me a minute to figure it out the first time his little hand reached out into the air.  Finally I realized he was trying to catch the steam wafting over my mug, and was completely mystified when it disappeared between his little fingers.
            A lot of people spend their lives trying to catch the steam, vapors that seem solid but disintegrate in their grasping hands.  They do it in all sorts of ways, and all of them are useless. 
            Do they really think they can stop time?  Over 11,000,000 surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures were performed in this country in 2013, and we aren’t talking medically necessary procedures.  The top five were liposuctions, breast augmentations, eyelid surgeries, tummy tucks, and nose surgeries.*  I doubt the number has decreased any.
            Then there are the folks chasing wealth and security.  Didn’t the recent Great Recession, as it is now called, and the economic problems of 2020 teach them anything? 
            Others are striving to make a name for themselves.  These are usually the same folks who tell Christians how pathetic we are to believe that some Higher Power would ever notice we even exist on this puny blue dot in the universe.  Yet there they all go, looking for fame, fortune, notoriety, beauty, or even their version of eternal life.  All of it is nothing more than a dream.  It will disappear, if not in a natural disaster or an economic meltdown, then the day they die—and they will die no matter how hard they try not to.  They are the ones grasping at dreams which are only a vapor that disappears in a flash.
            Our dream isn’t a dream at all.  It is a hope, which in the Biblical sense means it is all but realized.  Sin and death have been conquered by a force we can only try to comprehend, by a love we can never repay, and by a will we can but do our best to imitate.  Yet there it is, not a wisp of white floating over a warm porcelain mug, but a solid foundation upon which we base our faith.  Heb 6:19 calls it “an anchor.”  Have you ever seen a real anchor?  If there is anything the opposite of a wisp of steam, that’s it—solid and strong, able to hold us steady in the worst winds of life.  Tell me how a pert nose and a full bank account can do that!
            It's time to leave the amusement parks and the words of cartoon characters.  The world thinks it knows what is real while we sit like a toddler grasping at steam.  When eternity comes, they will finally see that they are wrong.  Spiritual things are the only things that last, the only real things at all.
 
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal, 2 Cor 4:6-8.
 
*Information from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
 
Dene Ward

I have been doing a lot of outside reading for some classes I am teaching, and find myself reading blurbs on the backs of these books at odd times, usually when my mind needs a rest from all the scholarly stuff my old and feeble brain is trying to make sense of.  I saw this one a few weeks ago and it stopped me in my tracks.
            “In Story as Torah Gordon Wenham showed how biblical narrative texts little used by ethicists, can inform Christian moral teaching.”  John Barton, University of Oxford.
            In other words, the man has written a book in which he uses the Bible “stories,” as we are prone to call them, to teach us right and wrong.  First, I do understand that the word “inform” has a special meaning in scholarly circles, but it still seems plain to me that the critic is saying that using the Bible this way is highly unusual, in fact, a groundbreaking idea. 
            I sit here wondering why they are reading their Bibles at all if they have not figured this out before.  We do this every Sunday in Bible classes.  I did it every day when my children were growing up.  I do it now when my grandsons come for a visit.  We talk about the Bible narratives and how they teach us we should be behaving in our lives.  We talk about Noah and how “everyone is doing it,” proves that “it” is probably wrong.  We talk about Daniel and how important prayer is, and how God takes care of the faithful.  We talk about Elijah and the One True God.  We talk about Judas and betrayal, about Peter and impetuosity—and then forgiveness.  We talk about Jonah and God’s love for everyone and our responsibility to share that love.  My children grew up knowing what the Bible is for.  What in the world did these people think they should do with it?
            And we can laugh at them and think ourselves so much better than they, but are we?  We know the Bible is to be used to “inform” our lives, but does it?  Does the sermon go in one ear and out the other?  Do the Bible classes become exercises in finding yet another way to bring up my pet hobby, or to show everyone how much I know instead of finding something I need to improve on?  Do I give the right answers and then go out and live the wrong ones?
            Before we laugh at men who have become a little too smart for their own good, let’s check our own behavior.  We may know better, but are we doing it?
 
Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come, 1Cor 10:6-11.
 
Dene Ward
 

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.  It is the last in his series on Proverbs.
 
In a world of situational ethics and the forced acceptance of all beliefs and lifestyles, does it really matter if I live a righteous life?  Is there really any kind of standard?  Who enforces it?  Are there really any consequences for not living righteously?  Again, Solomon weighs in, with at least 68 passages in Proverbs dealing with the idea of blessing for the righteous and punishment for the wicked.
 
Who enforces the standard?
Prov. 17:3  “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.”
Prov. 15:3  “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” 
God is the judge.  He tests hearts like a goldsmith tests gold.  He sees everything, whether good or bad.
 
Is it really that important?
Prov. 23:15-18  "My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.  My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right.  Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.  Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off."
Prov. 15:24  “The path of life leads upward for the prudent, that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.”
Prov. 19:16  “Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life; he who despises his ways will die.”
If you continue in the fear of the Lord, you have a future.  (What's the alternative?  No future.)  The prudent life leads up, away from hell.  The commandment keeper also keeps his life.  Otherwise, he dies.  Is it that important?  Yeah, I'd say so. 
 
Yet, it's not only important because it averts destruction, but because God blesses the righteous.  You see, righteousness allows for hope.
Prov. 10:24, 28  What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. . . . The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish." 
While the wicked have nothing but dread, the righteous can confidently expect the joy of the Lord. 
Prov. 11:18  “The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.”
Prov. 11:23  “The desire of the righteous ends only in good, the expectation of the wicked in wrath.”
Christians should never feel hopeless.  Because we are living righteous lives, we have a hope that can be counted on. We can wait for the sure reward.  God has also set up many other blessings for the righteous.  (Perhaps this is a good place to remind ourselves that proverbs are general statements that are generally true.  The temporal blessings all carry that caveat, the eternal ones do not.)
 
The righteous are established.
Prov. 10:25  “When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.”
Prov. 10:30  “The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.”
Prov. 12:7  “The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.”
Prov. 12:19  “Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”
The wicked often seem to get ahead, but their status rarely survives even in this world and when death comes, they are truly removed.  The righteous remains, and when death comes he is truly established.
 
The righteous are a blessing to their children.
Prov. 11:21  “Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.”
Prov. 20:7  “The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!”
The children of the righteous are blessed and delivered.  They are inherently better off than the children of the wicked.  How often does a kid get a second chance because of who his parents are?  Not the evil influence of powerful men, but a situation like this:  "This is Joe's kid.  Joe's a good guy.  I'm going to give his kid a second chance."  That happens, quite often.  Why?  Because the righteousness of the parent blesses the child.
 
The righteous are provided for.
Prov. 10:2-3  "Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.  The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked."
Prov. 13:25  “The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want.” 
Have Christians ever starved?  Yes.  But the general truth is that, unless he needs them as modern day Jobs, God provides for His own.
 
Prov. 22:4  “The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.” 
Prov. 28:25  “A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the LORD will be enriched.”
We are not proclaiming the Prosperity Gospel, but, generally speaking, if a man is righteous and follows the principles in Proverbs, he will do well for himself.
 
The righteous walk surely.
Prov. 10:9  “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.”
Prov. 11:3  “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.”
Prov. 15:19  “The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.”
Making decisions about how to live can be hard, but if we follow the principles of righteousness we can be sure of the path.  Our lives will be like a level highway that we can cruise.  Not that everything will be easy, but choosing the path and knowing where to go can be easy if we are guided by righteousness and integrity.
 
The righteous can rely upon God.
Prov. 14:26  “In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.”
Prov. 18:10  “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”
Prov. 29:25  “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”
Prov. 21:21  “Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.”
We can trust in the Lord and have a refuge.  He will be a strong tower to keep us safe and as we pursue righteousness, we will find life.  If we live in righteousness, we can count on the Lord for help and protection.
 
Finally, the righteous live.
Prov. 19:23  “The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.”
Prov. 11:19  “Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die.”
Prov. 14:11  “The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.” 
These passages not only show the security of the righteous, but the end of the wicked: death.    We can be blessed by God for living righteously, or we can live in dread because of our wickedness and, ultimately, die. 
 
So, how do I live righteously?  A few quick passages:
Prov. 12:10  “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”
Prov. 29:7  “A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.”
A righteous man is kind even to animals and doesn't squash the rights of the poor.  Instead, he treats them as people too.
Prov. 13:5  “The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.” 
Prov. 15:28  “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.”
The righteous man never lies and thinks before he speaks.
Prov. 19:11  “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.” 
Prov. 12:26  “One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
The righteous man can control his temper and his life is a guide to all who see him. 
 
So, yes, there is a standard, set, and watched, by God.  It does matter because the wicked will be destroyed while the righteous enjoy many blessings both here and eternally. 

Prov. 15:9  “. . . He loves him who pursues righteousness.”
 
Lucas Ward

Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. 2Cor 10:7.
            We’ve been examining all the repeated lessons in the New Testament, the ones the writers felt needed a rerun because they were that important.  Usually we look at the passage in context.  This one we will take squarely out of context.  The message still works and it is rerun again and again, in every context imaginable.  We obviously need, as the passage says, reminding.
            Some of the Corinthians were still having difficulty accepting Paul as an apostle.  In this short verse he reminds them of what should have been obvious:  We both belong to Christ.  That should have had an impact on them when they considered what he was telling them and how they received him.  Don’t you judge the motives of a brother differently than anyone else?  You ought to because you know he has sworn allegiance to the same Lord as you, the one who demands a lifestyle that abhors sin.  He isn’t a pagan.  And that kinship creates an instant bond no matter where you may run into one another.
            This lesson has been taught in the scripture since the beginning.  The fact that Cain killed his own brother made that murder even worse.  When Lot and Abraham began having difficulties, Abraham came to him to work things out.  It shouldn’t be like this, he told Lot, because, “We are brethren,” Gen 13:8.  When Moses saw the two Hebrews fighting he said to them, “You are brothers.  Why do you wrong each other?” Acts 7:26. 
            Yes, if we are brethren, if we both belong to Christ, it should make a difference in how we treat one another.  Peter goes so far as to say that obeying the truth should have the effect of producing in us not just cold, formal love for each other, but an intense and passionate love, one that never pretends.   Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 1Pet 1:22.  If I do not feel that way about my brothers and sisters, he seems to be saying, then maybe I haven’t really “obeyed the truth.”
            John agrees.  He says if we do not love our brethren, we are in darkness and in death; that we are liars and murderers, 1 John 2:9-11; 3:14-19; 4:20,21.  Christ died for us all.  If he loved me that much, he loved you that much, too, which means I should love you that much and you me.  We are instantly bound together in the same emotional context of gratitude and wonder and unity. 
            I know, I know.  You’ve heard these “love” lessons all your life.  When you hear another starting, you almost sigh and roll your eyes.  “Again?  What else is there to say?”
            Nothing.  It’s a rerun, but it’s a rerun found in nearly every book of the Bible.  That means it’s worth our hearing again.  And again.  And again. 
            Unless you think you’ve already got this one whipped?
 
With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Eph 4:2-3.
 
Dene Ward

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly, 2Pet 3:1-7.

Before we get to the meat of the matter, please notice the beginning of this little reminder Peter wrote.  He wanted us to remember “the commandment of our Lord and Savior through your apostles.”  Did you catch that?  A lot of people out there insist on red letter editions not so the words of Jesus will be obvious to them, but so they can ignore anything in black and white.  “Only the words of Jesus,” they say, are worth listening to.  The apostles and their teaching do not matter.

Oh yes we do, Peter says.  Where do you think you got those words of Jesus?  We reported them to you.  We wrote them.  As Jesus Himself said (in red letters) “Teach them to observe all things I command you,” Matt 28:20.  If you ignore the words of the apostles you are ignoring the words of Jesus, whether they are red or purple or blue with pink polka dots.

And his words continue on to remind us that God will indeed destroy this world.  When?  That we are not told, but do not, Peter says, forget it.  Do not count God as unfaithful to His promise.  The people in the time of the flood didn’t believe either.  And they only had 120 years to wait.

But think of this:  the Jews had been waiting for thousands of years.  They waited through the times of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the growth of that family from one “only begotten son” to a clan of 70.  They waited through the slavery in Egypt, about 400 years.  They waited through the times of the Judges, another 350 or so.  They waited through the united and divided kingdoms, another 400 plus or minus.  Then they waited through a horrible destruction, captivity, and eventual restoration, about 300 more, and finally they waited through 400 years of absolute silence from God.

Yet the faithful were still looking when the Messiah came upon the scene.  Some seem to have given up, but the Joseph and Marys, the Zacharias and Elizabeths, the Simeons and Annas, the Salomes and Zebedees, there were enough still waiting, still believing, to form that first church on Pentecost.  And they found yet more.

We have been waiting about the same amount of time they did, and we have something more.  We have the examples of promises fulfilled, from the flood, to the Abrahamic promises, to the coming of the Messiah.  God kept all those promises and He will keep this last one. 

Our unbelieving society will tell you it’s just a myth, it won’t happen, if it does, it will be man’s doing and not God’s.  So go ahead and live your life as you please.  You are not accountable to a mythological being who doesn’t really exist anyway.  That is Satan talking.  He will use every ruse in the book and making you feel foolish for your faith is just one of them.  Don’t climb on the bandwagon with the rest of the world.  God has given us evidence.  Clear your mind and examine it. 

You can be among the faithful few who still looked, who still hoped, who still dreamed of the day when their Lord would come in power and glory.  They saw that Messiah come to earth, perform miracles, teach Divine truths as they had never been taught before, and rise from the dead.  Don’t give up hope, Peter says.  Remember all the times God kept His promises.  Remind yourself often.  It may be the most important rerun of a lesson you ever hear.
 
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed, 2Pet 3:9-10.
 
Dene Ward

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire, Jude 1:5-7.
            If ever we need a rerun of a lesson in this age it’s this one:  Jesus absolutely, definitely, most certainly will punish.  Too many times we who “once fully knew it” fall into the false security of the world, calling Jesus the gentle, the loving, the merciful, which is all true, but it is meant to imply that he would never punish anyone for a sin.  Maybe God would, especially that mean, angry Old Testament God, but certainly not Jesus.  The people Jude wrote to must have forgotten as well.  Jesus, the same one who saved the people out of Egypt, turned right around and destroyed a whole lot of them not long afterward. 
            Then Jude gives us three things to watch out for specifically.  First, in his allusion to the Israelites, he mentions unbelief.  How could they not believe in a God who spoke to them, who caused Sinai to shake, who had previously demonstrated His power in the plagues and at the Red Sea?  The Hebrew writer tells us, And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief, Heb 3:18-19.  He equates disobedience with unbelief, and it only makes sense.  If I really believe what God says, that He will do what he says He will do if I disobey Him, then I will not disobey.  Disobedience means I think I can get away with it, so it means I do not believe God, and Jesus, will punish.
            Then Jude mentions the angels “who left their proper dwelling.”  This cannot be talking about being cast out of Heaven because it says “they left,” which seems voluntary.  The understanding I get from scholars is they went beyond the bounds God set for them.  If a man walks into work and begins ordering people around like he was the boss, firing, hiring, and changing orders, he has “left his proper dwelling.”  Who are you supposed to submit to in your life?  Your husband?  Your elders?  Your boss?  Your government?  How about your fellow Christians (Eph 5:21)?  Have you left your proper place in life?  Jesus will punish.
            And then there is the issue of the day—sexual immorality and unnatural desire as exemplified by the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Jesus will punish.
            Remember, Jude tells them.  You used to know this.  What happened?  Maybe the same thing that has happened to us—listening to the culture we live in turn Jesus into a weak, instead of meek, pushover.  You can make him angry (Mark 3:5).  He will punish.  Don’t give him a reason to.
 
…when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, 2Thess 1:7-8.
 
Dene Ward

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people, Titus 3:1-2.
            You would think a Christian wouldn’t need such reminders, but look at the things above.  Aren’t these the most difficult things for us to do?  To submit to someone else’s decisions, especially if we seriously disagree with them; to obey even when you had rather not; to be eager to serve others; to stop arguing and just accept; to be kind, even to those who do not deserve it; and to be courteous, even when people are not courteous to us—none of these things comes without effort.  In fact, they usually don’t come at all, and when their opposite surfaces, we are full of excuses.  He did it first; he needs to see what it feels like; if he can do it, so can I.  No you can’t.  Not and stay faithful to the Lord.
            Did you notice that most of these things are simply a matter of submitting one’s will to another?  And God always says that the reason for this is “the Lord’s sake” not the sake of the person you are submitting to, and that’s why we fail so often.  We look at the wrong person and when we see that person doesn’t deserve such submission, we find excuses.  You see it every day on the pages of facebook—rants about the government in words that are hardly “submissive.”  Even if you do obey, the submission is not there.  Let me ask you husbands, would you call a wife who rants at you in the same words you do at the President and congress “submissive?”  Parents, would you accept the attitude of a child who, while he ultimately obeyed, rolled his eyes and made sarcastic remarks while he did so?
            And so we have to be reminded to behave ourselves, every bit as much as a child needs that reminder, and because, like a child, we are “slaves to our passion” (v 3), especially our passion for self.  We submit our desires, our opinions, and that pesky thing called “self” because when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life, v 4-7.  We do not deserve our salvation any more than those people deserve our submission, service, and courtesy.  Are you going to give it up just to prove a point?
            No, we do not have to be reminded to do the easy things, so obviously these are difficult.  We need the reminder.  We need sometimes a reminder as sharp as a slap in the face.  Read the prophets.  They were good at that.  And the New Testament writers were not far behind.  I’ve been told that sometimes I’m not either.
 
But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder…Rom 15:15. 

Dene Ward

If you watch much television, you have just finished a season of reruns.  I would say THE season if it were still my childhood.  Back then a show lasted at least 9 months and you didn’t have any reruns at all until summer.  Nowadays you are likely to have one by Thanksgiving, and then off and on all year long. 
            One thing about growing older—reruns are a lot more interesting.  You don’t always remember what happened the first time, or whodunit or why.  In fact, since I usually watch only older shows, I really don’t remember.  It’s like watching a brand new show, and since it’s an older one, it’s a lot more palatable too.  Have you noticed that even when they care to “bleep” these days, they leave so much of the word you might as well have heard it in the first place?  Talk about unpalatable.
            A year or so ago Lucas said about the blog, “I finally read a new article that had something in it you already said!”  What in the world is he thinking, I wondered.  I've written over a thousand of these things.  How in the world could I NOT repeat myself?  And I have scriptural authority to do so:
            Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things, 2Pet 1:12-15.
            All things being equal, my departure should not be quite as imminent as Peter’s, but I will follow his example as long as I can by reminding you of things you have already heard at least once, if not a hundred times.
            And all that got me to thinking about the admitted reruns in the Bible—things the writers said were repeats of former lessons.  I did some research and have found a list of things these inspired men thought they should remind people of.  And that means I have a scripturally sound, ready-made list of things to remind you of.  And that’s what we will do this week.  I hope you don't find these "reruns" too boring to read.  If God thought these things were worth repeating, we should probably pay close attention.
 
Dene Ward
 

Did you know there are 336 species of hummingbird in the world?  The United States is home to 16, but Florida to only 3, and two of those, the black-chinned and the rufous, are rarely seen, and then only in the winter.  The ones who visit our feeders are all ruby-throated hummingbirds.  These little rascals are about three inches long and weigh about ¼ ounce.  Everyone loves hummingbirds.  "Widdle buhds," my grandson Judah called them when he was two, and, "Oh, so cute," all the adults say.  Well, guess what?  As a Smithsonian article I once read said, ounce for ounce, hummingbirds are the most vicious creatures on the planet.
            If you have ever watched a hummingbird feeder, you have seen the aggression.  And who can really blame them?  Their wings can beat 80 times a second and their hearts can beat 1000 times a minute.  They must eat every 30 minutes to get enough calories for that high metabolism. They have no down under their feathers, which helps them fly because they are so light, but it does little to keep their tiny bodies warm.   When they sleep at night, they are in danger of dying from starvation or cold, so their tiny bodies go into a state of torpor that slows their heartrate and lowers their body temperature.  And how many calories do they need?  Usually they take in 3-7 calories a day in nectar, which may not sound like much, but when you translate that to something the size of a human it is 155,000 calories a day.  We can easily see why they are so aggressive at feeders—it is literally a matter of life or death.
            They are especially aggressive in early spring when claiming territory.  Females are more aggressive in protecting the walnut-sized nest after she lays their eggs.  Then, as they prepare to migrate in the late summer and early fall they must put on 40% more of their total body weight to survive the trip, often as far south as Central America.  They will fly over the Gulf of Mexico rather than following the shore around it, 18-72 hours of nonstop flying over open water.  No wonder they do not want to share!
            A hummingbird's aggression increases by stages, depending upon the results he gets at each level.  First he will sit off to the side of the feeder, buzzing and chirping and squeaking, gradually increasing volume as the intruder feeds.  After that he will "posture."  He may flare his gorge, spread his wings or his crown, or point his sharp little bill like a sword.  If you see one diving at other birds on the feeder, he has moved on to the third level of aggression.  If you are in the middle of filling the feeder, or simply standing too close by, he may dive at you too.  If the dive does not get rid of the interloper, he will actively chase him away, following him for several yards to make sure he is gone.  And finally, when all else fails, hummingbirds will fight, and fight to the death, using their talons and beaks as deadly weapons.  On occasion ornithologists have actually found two dead hummingbirds, one dead with the other's bill through his body so far that the attacker could not extricate himself and died too.  See what I mean by "vicious?"
            But here is the thing:  hummingbirds are wired that way by their Creator.  It is the only way they can survive.  If somehow you could stand there and say to them, there is plenty for all of you and I promise to keep filling it up, none of them would understand.  It is the bird's job to survive in the ways he has been given and to see any intruder as someone who could cause his or his lady's death.  You simply cannot change the nature of a hummingbird, and no one would expect you too.
            We are not like that.  God expects change from us.  "But that's just the way I am," won't cut it with Him.  He knows who and what you are, and what you can and cannot do, and He has said from time immemorial that He expects us to change.  The word "repent" is found 105 times in the KJV Bible and that doesn't count the various forms of the word like "repentance."  And what does that word mean?  To put it simply, "change."  And it wasn't only the doom-saying prophets and so-called angry God of the Old Testament who said this.  "Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish," said Jesus, not once, but twice (Luke 13:3,5), and in other places as well.
            What did he say to the woman taken in adultery?  "Go your way and sin no more" (John 8:11).  Sounds like a change to me.  In fact, he constantly demanded such complete commitment (change) that many turned and left.  "Let the dead bury the dead."  "Go sell all you have."  "Hate your mother and your father."  Become "a eunuch for the kingdom's sake."  "Take up your cross [crucify yourself] and follow me."  Jesus never coddled anyone into the kingdom.
            So here is our question for the day.  Are you a wild creature who has no sense of right and wrong and therefore, no self-control and no self-determination?  Or are you created in the image of God, a creature who can not only know right from wrong, but can actually choose which one to do?  If you don't know, God does.
 
Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works  (Rom 2:4-6).
 
Dene Ward

We talked a few days ago about that difficult conversation you must have with your spouse—about how he wants to be cared for should he become unable to make those decisions himself, about what treatments he does and does not want, and even about the handling of his physical tabernacle after he is called home.  It is not an easy subject and the longer you wait the more difficult it will become.  But God expects this of a wife who "does him good and not evil all the days or her life.”
            A few have asked and yes, we have had that conversation.  At this point it is still just a “someday” so it was relatively easy.  We even managed a joke or two to relieve the tension.   Another ten years and that might not have been the case.  Give yourselves the same gift.
            There is another conversation you need to have, the one with your parents.
            First we are going to presume that those who bother to read this already understand their obligation to their parents and are willing to take care of it.  Jesus seemed to presume that God’s people understood that responsibility himself (Mark 7:9-13).
            The difficult thing in this case is recognizing the time when the roles have made a complete reversal, when you might need to make the decisions for your parents instead of allowing them to make them.  It will not be easy.  They may even resent it.  But think about this:  at one point in your life, they made all the decisions for you and many of them were difficult.  You ought to know from your own parenting experience that children change your life and your schedule, that they become the first and last things on your mind day and night, that you sometimes cry long and hard as you decide to do things you know they need but will not like, and that may even effect your relationship with them.  It comes with the job.  That’s what parental responsibility is.
            Now take every one of those things and turn it toward your care for your elderly parents.  It may change your life, your schedule and your priorities.  That’s the way it is and as it should be—you did the same thing to them the day you cried your first lusty little cry.  You may have to give up parts of your life for them—just the way they gave up things to raise you.  And you may need to go against their wishes for their own good, even if it makes them angry.  That is NOT disrespecting your parents.  That is taking on the responsibility of their care.
            A few suggestions.  If your parent is the independent sort, you may need to be the one who says, “You can’t live alone any longer.”  She may beg you not to take her into your home or put her into assisted living or whatever option is best, but if her balance is poor, if she can no longer see to her basic needs, if her mind is not clear enough to take her medications properly, then it may just be that difficult time.  It is not a sign of respect to allow her to live in filth because she can no longer clean up after herself—it is actually a danger to her health and the ultimate indignity.  If she falls easily, who will be there to call for help, or will she lie there for hours until you come to make your regular check on her?  If she cannot cook any longer, how will she get the proper nutrition?  Would your parents have allowed any of that to happen to you as a child?  Then why would you allow it to happen to them and call it “respecting their wishes?”
            Go to her doctor’s appointments and find out exactly what the doctor says, not what she reports that he has said.  She may forget something or simply get the information wrong due to an unclear mind.  AND TELL THE DOCTOR EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING AT HOME.  He may make a decision based on seeing her for a five or ten minute appointment that would be completely different if he talked to her for twenty or thirty minutes.  You need to tell him if she doesn’t take her medicine as he prescribes.  You need to tell him if she repeats the same thing every thirty minutes.  He needs to hear that she can no longer perform simple tasks like putting toothpaste on her toothbrush or deciding whether she needs a spoon or a fork to eat soup.  You are not tattling—that’s a playground term.  You are taking on the responsibility God expects of you to care for a parent, and you are doing it even when it might cost you that parent’s goodwill for a while.  Someone has to be the adult when she no longer can be, and that someone is you.
            Get a list of her medications.  What will happen if you make an emergency run to the hospital and you cannot tell them what she is taking?  If she is unable to do so, the proper care may be delayed or the wrong care may result in disaster because no one had that information.
            So talk about it now.  Ask her (or him) if, when the time comes, she might like to live with you or another sibling, or whether she would prefer assisted living.  And recognize that things can change.  My grandmother lived 98 years.  By the time she needed that care, my father was ill and my mother was his caregiver 24/7.  She could not take her mother in, too, so assisted living was the only way to go.  When the time came for my mother, we lived way out in the country where she would have no visitors and no place to walk for exercise on uneven ground, plus a home with steps and doors too narrow for her walker to fit through, and where her doctor and the nearest hospital was nearly 30 miles away.  We could not afford to move and the doctor said she needed to be close to him.  So, once again, assisted living was the answer.  She was not left alone.  We saw her between 1 and 3 times a week, took her to all her appointments, had her out to our house for every holiday and many times for a meal in between, and called every day we were not there.  Our church family was marvelous about visiting, and even taking her out for lunch.  Of course, she was a pretty marvelous person to visit with too.
            Talk about possibilities now, before the decisions are hard. The longer you wait, the more heartbreaking it will be.  And since when has God ever accepted ignorance as an excuse? 
 
But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God, 1Tim 5:4.
 
Dene Ward