The Cream of the Crop

2/18/2015 0 Comments

Let me tell you a sad story.
    A long time ago, Keith had one of those “try-out” visits that churches offer preachers.  I’ve often wondered whether these things would go better if the church considered itself being “tried out” that weekend as well, but that’s another blog for another time.
    We had lunch and spent the afternoon with a couple who would probably have been considered “pillars” of the church, primarily because they were better educated, had more money, and could quote more scriptures.  
    The church sat smack dab in the middle of farm country amid acres of melons, corn, peas, and tobacco.  Most of the members lived in old frame farmhouses and had dropped out of or barely completed high school.  A remark was made about the church members that gave me pause, but I was very young, wrestling with a two year old and an infant so I didn’t trust myself to have good judgment on the matter or even to have heard it well enough to comment on, so I let it pass.
    I shouldn’t have.  We hadn’t been there six months before the same woman told me I needed to meet the “cream of the crop” in the county.  She proceeded to take me to a gathering of what she considered such women.  Having grown up with parents who told me that the best people in the world were those who sat on the pew next to you on Sunday mornings, I was shocked to see who this Christian considered “elite.”  
    As we ate our finger sandwiches and mingled, I discovered that they all had money, judging from their dress and jewelry, and later the vehicles they left in.  Most were professionals or married to one.  Some of the others were farmers all right, but not hardscrabble farmers or sharecroppers.  These farmers owned large farms or ranches, big business enterprises, or had inherited both the farms and the money from generations past.  And notice this--we were the only Christians there.
    Now consider David’s statement in Psalm 16:3.  As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.  David took delight in the saints in Israel, their social class notwithstanding.  
    Where do I find “social class” in that verse?  The word translated “excellent” in the psalm is translated “nobles” in 2 Chron 23:20 (KJV), and they are grouped with high ranking military officers and governors.  In Judges 5:15 it is translated “lordly.”  Jer 25:34 calls them “principals of the flock” and Psalm 136:18 says they are “famous.”  Just to make sure you know who we are talking about, Nehemiah complains in 3:5 that those “nobles” were too good to work like the common folk.  Now do you know who we’re talking about?  
    Our culture idolizes the cult of the rich and famous—how they dress, how they talk, how they live.  We call them “America’s royalty.”  We do the same when we show partiality in the church based upon wealth, popularity, education, and social status.  It is a tacit admission that we consider ourselves better than our brothers and sisters who do not have such “assets.”  It is the opposite of “each counting the other better than himself,” Phil 2:3.
    David says the true “nobles,” the “excellent ones,” are the people who fear God, who live the life they preach, with justice, fairness, kindness, goodness, and grace.  These people “delight” him.  Now ask yourself:  who do I spend most of my time with, especially in the church?  Are we as wise as David?
    One of the common questions in an interview is, “Who would you like to have dinner with?”  Journalists choose that question because the answer tells a whole lot more about that person than they seem to realize.  The person you want to eat with is the one you want to develop a relationship with, the one who interests you, the one you might even model your life after.  The answer to that question shows who you consider the aristocracy in your world.
    Who is on your list?
    
The righteous is a guide to his neighbor; But the way of the wicked causes them to err, Prov 12:26.

Dene Ward

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Testimonials

2/17/2015 0 Comments

We finally gave up and bought one.  With my personal situation it seemed inordinately stubborn not to use what could be a real help when I was stuck somewhere unable to get home, or at the doctor’s office when out of the blue I needed a procedure.  It has happened more than once already.  So we bought a cell phone.  
    We did not buy one of those expensive phones with “plans;” just a cheap little prepaid phone with an hour of talk time good for three months.  After a year I can still count the number of times I have used it without taking my shoes off, and I have amassed enough minutes to carry on a peace conference between two double-talking diplomats.
    Yet I do keep it handy, and I forgot it was in my sweater pocket the day I happened to think that the load of laundry I was running was perfect for that sweater, and the sweater was dingy around the cuffs from petting dogs and sitting around smoky campfires.  So I threw it in the washer as I went by, and found the cell phone in the bottom a half hour later, sparkling clean but dead as a doornail.
    Not because we thought it would work, but because we have had to be so frugal for our entire married life, we let the phone dry out completely, then tried charging it.  It has worked fine ever since.  It even remembered the phone numbers Lucas programmed into it for me.  I bet you would like to know the brand, wouldn’t you?
    I have something else that is a whole lot more valuable than a cell phone, and many times more amazing.  Why can’t I bring myself to talk about it just as easily?  Actually, it has been easier lately.  I think we worry too much about how to do it, instead of just letting it happen.  Evangelism happens as you live your life.  
    If I had simply told you that I had this cell phone, it would not have made an impression on you.  But when I told you how it has helped me in difficult situations and then how dependable it was in spite of how I abused it, it suddenly became much more interesting, didn’t it?
    That makes my daily life a much more important part of my Christianity.  How can I expect to have any influence when I do not live like I have anything more than anyone else has?  If they do not see me overcome, if they do not see me return good for evil, if they do not see joy and contentment regardless of my financial situation, if they do not see peace in my life when others with the same problems are falling apart, my life is not evangelism.  In fact, it is quite the opposite.  What we perceive as a lack of interest in the gospel may simply be a lack of interest in what we have because of how we are behaving.
    Live your life like a testimonial.  You will have more opportunity than ever to spread your faith, even without some sort of special “program.”  People will only want what you have when they see it in action.  

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shines unto all that are in the house. Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matt 5:14-16.

Dene Ward

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Jesus' Four Statements at Trial

2/16/2015 0 Comments

Today’s article is by guest writer, Lucas Ward.
Just as it was prophesied in Isaiah, Jesus didn't speak much during His trial(s). In fact, He never once responded to any of His accusers.  Not the false witnesses at the Jewish sham trial, not the Chief Priests before Pilate or the Jews before Herod.  In all these cases, He stood mute.  His silence enraged the High Priest and astounded Pilate. (Mt. 26:62-63, 27:12-14)  In fact, the only times Jesus spoke were in answer to direct questions from the prosecutor/judge in reference to His identity.  Even then, His answers weren't what one would normally expect from a defendant.  Let's examine each of the four times He spoke and then see what conclusions we can draw.

Mat 26:63-64 "But Jesus remained silent.  And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."  Jesus said to him, "You have said so.  But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.""  Notice that Jesus didn't merely answer in the affirmative, He went beyond that.  "Seated at the right hand of Power" can only mean with God and in fact is a claim that He not only was the Christ the son of God, but that he was fully divine and equal to God.  Who else could sit with Power?  He adds to that statement that they will see Him coming in the clouds of heaven.  Throughout the literary prophets, God coming in the clouds signified God coming in judgment to destroy a city or nation.  Jesus is saying, not only am I the Christ, I'm God and I'm going to come in judgment on you!  Immediately, the Sanhedrin declares that He is worthy of death for blasphemy (a charge which would have been true had anyone else uttered those words.)


Luk 22:67 ""If you are the Christ, tell us."  But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer.  But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God."  So they all said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" And he said to them, "You say that I am.""  One of the proofs that this session is separate from those recorded in Matthew and Mark is that the whole line of questioning  is different.  There are no false witnesses, and Jesus' answer to their question is a bit different.  This is the formal "official" trial, and they need to get His "blasphemy" on record.  This time when they ask, He tells them there is no point in answering, because they are too stubborn (and stupid?) to believe.  He then continues to say that He will be seated with God and finally confirms that He is the Son of God.  They again condemn Him to death.

Mat 27:11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"  Jesus said, "You have said so."  John gives a much fuller account, but this is sufficient.  Jesus claims to be a king to the Roman governor.

Joh 19:10-11 "So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me?  Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?"  Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.""  While there may have been some slight compassion for Pilate on Jesus' part here – after all, Pilate was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, unjust and self-interested as he was -- He seems also to be thumbing His nose at Pilate.  He tells Pilate that Pilate's power and authority count for nothing when dealing with Him, that Pilate would have no authority over Him except that God had so arranged it.

Do you see a theme threading through these statements by the Lord?  In every case, He said precisely what would enrage His questioners most.  Before the Jews, He not only claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God, but fully divine Himself and promised that He was coming in judgment upon them.  He later repeated most of that while hinting that they were too stubborn to believe the truth. Before Pilate, He claimed to be a king.  What was the primary responsibility of the Roman governors?  To keep the peace and stamp out insurrections before they could get started.  The fastest way to earn a death sentence was to claim to be a king and to gather followers around you. John records that not only did Jesus confirm to Pilate that He was a king, He also said that He had servants who would be willing to fight if He ordered it. While Pilate seems to have considered Jesus a harmless crazy person, this claim would have caused his antennae to twitch.  Finally, Jesus tells Pilate that he holds no true power over Him.  For a power hungry bureaucrat, this was a serious insult.  All of Jesus' answers seem to be designed to upset His judges in the worst way.

Unlike the case for most defendants, victory for Jesus entailed being convicted. His purpose was to be condemned to die. Always the master of what was going on around Him, He said exactly what He needed to in order to ensure that His condemnation came to pass. He wanted to be crucified and made sure that it happened, because that was the only way He could save us.

Lucas Ward

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I Got Purple

2/13/2015 0 Comments

We did some more babysitting last month, and the first afternoon that we picked up Silas from kindergarten, he came rushing out to the car shouting, “I got purple!  I got purple!”
    In his school every child starts the day on green, and his behavior moves him either up the color chart to blue and ultimately purple, or down the chart to yellow, orange, or red.  Red means mom and dad have to come in for a serious talk.  Usually all the obedient, well-behaved students end up on blue, and everyone is perfectly satisfied with it.  But purple?  Purple takes something extra-special.  It is the height of achievement for a student.  No wonder he came out running, shouting, and grinning a smile as wide as our windshield as we watched him through it.
    Why is it that I can’t have the same glee, the same sense of accomplishment and exhilaration when I overcome a temptation or grow out of a bad attitude?  Why don’t we all come running to share the good news with one another?  I’ll tell you why—because we are a bunch of judgmental grumps that’s why.  Two things are going to happen if anyone opens his mouth about these things.
    First, someone is going to gasp and whisper to another, “You mean he has trouble with that sin?”  We can’t share our accomplishments when we are afraid people will look down on us, will lose respect for us, and will probably gossip about us at the first chance they get.  “Did you hear about so-and-so?  Did you know he has these problems?”
    Second, someone else will puff out his chest and say, “Tsk, tsk.  Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall!”  We can’t share our successes without someone thinking they have to knock us down a peg because of our “pride,” as they so hastily judge it.  
    In both of these cases, shame, shame, shame on us!  Those are unscriptural, even sinful attitudes.  Gossip, which is nothing less than slander, is included in that horrible list of sins at the end of Romans 1.  And what in the world do we think it means to “Encourage one another?”  It means when a pat on the back has been earned, give it!  Don’t hoard it with the self-righteous notion that we are doing what is best for the person’s soul—“wouldn’t want him to get the big head.”  Would you do that with your children?  Would you never praise them for their successes, but only criticize their mistakes?  
    AA doesn’t do it, and God doesn’t do that either.  And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”  Job 1:8.
    The Psalms are full of statements by people of God who know they have done right.  The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me. I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight, Psalm 18:20-24.
    Don’t tell me it’s because the Old Testament people did not understand grace and were all about “earning” their salvation by keeping the Law.  “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart…Deut 9:4,5.  O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy, Dan 9:18.
    Those people knew they had not earned God’s love and mercy, but they also knew when they had done well in keeping His commandments.  Why do we think it’s a sin to recognize that?  The apostles didn’t.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing, 2 Tim 4:7,8.
    When my grandson came running out that day I could easily have told the difference between arrogance and joy.  Why can’t we tell the same thing about one another?  Why can’t we share victories over Satan and expect others will be just as happy about it as we are?  God wanted us to know we were saved; he wanted us to be confident in our destiny. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life, 1 John 5:13.
    I’ll tell you this, if we are going to “become as little children” and so inherit the kingdom of heaven, we had better stop acting like peevish, petty grown-ups.  With that sort of behavior we will never be able to run down the streets of Heaven shouting, “I got purple!”

Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: Yea, let them say continually, Jehovah be magnified, Who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant, Psalm 35:27.

Dene Ward

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An Outstretched Hand

2/12/2015 0 Comments

Keith went out in the dark one night last summer to check for armadillos.  We have found our garden, yard, and flowerbeds torn up nearly every morning for the past two or three weeks, and he was out to rid the world of a few of those pesky critters, a fruitless venture it turned out.
    As he stood in the black, heavy, humid air amid the croaking frogs, his eyes not yet used to the dark, he put his left hand down, knowing full well that Chloe’s head would find it whether he could see her or not.  It did, and he scratched her between the ears and told her what a good dog she was to help with the hunt.
    The Bible mentions God’s hand being held out as well.  Jeremiah speaks of God creating the earth with great power and an outstretched arm, 27:5.  Moses tells the Israelites that same mighty hand and outstretched arm brought them out of Egyptian bondage, and thus they should obey His commandments, Deut 5:15ff.  Later in their history Ezekiel warns them that, since they disobeyed, His hand would be held out with wrath poured out, 20:33,34.
    That is not the way God wants to hold out His hand.  We have all seen animals or children cringe when a hand was held up.  It speaks volumes about the kind of treatment they are used to receiving.  But God has held His hand out in fellowship from the beginning.  We are the ones who ignore it or push it away.  
    In chapter 11, Hosea tells of God teaching Israel, his son, to walk, and I cannot help but picture a father standing just a step away with his arms outstretched, urging his small child to take that first trusting step into his arms.  That is the hand God wants to hold out to us.
    The question is do we naturally gravitate to the one who loves us, or do we simply ignore the pleading hand and go about our foolish ways?  Chloe is always looking for her master’s hand, even in the dark.  How about you?

Fear thou not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you; yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm; For his lovingkindness endures for ever, Isa 41:10; Psa 136:12.

Dene Ward

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February 11, 1650--Think!

2/11/2015 0 Comments

Monday morning I was outside for a good while, exercising Chloe, feeding the birds, pruning some dormant perennials in hopes of a good summer’s bloom.  While I puttered around, my mind wandered here and there, but eventually stayed on an idea for a devotional.  By the time I finished I had the thing half-written in my head, a good introduction, a nice outline, and even a punchy ending.  But I came in needing to study for my Tuesday morning class, a study that took nearly three arduous hours and left my brain frazzled, my neck aching from poring over the books and papers, and my eyes needing to do something besides focus so intently.
    The next day I spent in town, our usual one day a week of Bible class and all the stops we need to do at once to save gas.  Then Wednesday we left early for a dentist appointment that was one of the worst ever, leaving me fit for nothing but going to bed with a pain pill.  Then Thursday we had more appointments and by the time I sat down on Thursday night to type, my half written devotional was nothing but a vague memory in the back of my mind.  I sat for nearly half an hour trying to grab onto it as it floated just out of reach.  Finally I gave up and here I sit without that wonderful piece I was so excited about.
    I know this forgetting thing happens to you too.  Do you know how frustrating it is to teach something in a class, then six months later when it comes up in a sermon by a visiting preacher you can hardly get your next class started because everyone is so excited about this new truth they just heard the past Sunday morning?  I find myself sitting there thinking, “Where was your mind when we did this six months ago?”
    Keith feels the same frustration when he un-teaches a faulty concept that many have grown up with, watching the light bulbs go on one by one, only to have those same people repeat that faulty concept yet again the next time that passage comes up.  Yes, it happens to all of us—we forget what we have learned all too easily.
    Do you know how to avoid that?  I keep a notebook handy to jot down ideas that come up in my head when I don’t have time to sit down then and write.  The problem last Monday was not getting inside as quickly as usual and so forgetting to even put the idea in my notebook. 
    Learning involves some work.  I just sat through a wonderful class on a prophetic book I have never studied before, and never heard taught in any church anywhere.  What amazed me was the fact that only two of us were even bothering to take notes.  How much do you think the others remember now, several months later? 
    Come let us reason together…God says to His people in Isa 1:18.  That Hebrew word also means argue, convince, correct, dispute, judge, and many other words that involve thinking.  God will not listen to anyone try to argue, dispute, or convince Him of anything if that person has no clue what he is talking about.  I will be that clueless one if I do not study the Word of God and meditate (think) on it.  I will be equally clueless six months later if I have done nothing to help myself remember what I have learned.  I certainly won’t get it by osmosis from the pew I am sitting on or by an airborne germ just because I am sitting in the building where it was taught.
    Rene Descartes was the French philosopher who came up with this famous idea:  "I think, therefore I am."  The guy did a whole lot of thinking his whole life long, but on February 11, 1650, he stopped thinking.  He died.  At least he had that excuse.  What’s yours?

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen, 2 Pet 3:15-18.

Dene Ward

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Fowl Weather Friends

2/10/2015 0 Comments

The catbird is back.  Finally the weather is turning and he is back for an easy meal.  Funny how he only comes to the feeder when finding his own food becomes too difficult.  The rest of the year I do not have the pleasure of his handsome company.  He is flying out there enjoying himself with scarcely a thought in my direction.
    How many times do we usually pray in a day?  How many conversations do we have with a Father who loves us more than anything else?  If you are like me, I call many more times when things are difficult than when they are going well.  That may be normal, but does that make it right?  Any parent worth the name wants his child to call when he needs help, would, in fact, be angry if he did not receive such a call, but it certainly goes down better when those calls come at other times too, doesn’t it?  
    Solomon set forth the principle in Proverbs when he personified wisdom as a woman offering her gift to any who needed it.  Too few take her up on the offer and she says, Because I have called and you refused to listen, I have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me, Prov 1:24-28.  
    Oh, but that would never happen with God, some will say.  Jesus loves everyone, even the vilest sinner.  Neither will ever refuse to help someone who asks.  Listen to the words God spoke through Isaiah to his chosen people, who continually fell away, repented when times got hard, only to fall away yet again.  I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in, Isa 65:12.  
    We want this relationship to be one with a revolving door-- we can come in and out of it as we please.  We want to live like we choose to live and then come running to God for help when our foolish choices bring us pain and misery.  We expect Him to snatch us from the jaws of disaster and make everything right again.  That’s what He’s supposed to do!  But God will not tolerate being used; He has a right to expect certain behavior from us.  Even if He were not so good to us, He is still our Creator and that gives Him the ultimate authority in everything we do.  Perhaps one of the biggest dangers of living in a democracy is thinking we have rights when it comes to our dealings with an Almighty God.
    Are you like the catbird who only comes calling when times are tough, or are you there every day, building a relationship with your Father through constant communication, obedience, and dependence?  Maybe you should make an appointment with Him sometime in the next few minutes.

They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words.  They have gone after other gods to serve them…Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble, Jer 11:10,14.

Dene Ward

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Directions

2/9/2015 0 Comments

Men and women are different when it comes to directions.  Men want exact road names and exact number addresses.  Women?  We’re happy with, “Turn by the weeping willow and it’s the house with the closed-in carport.”  Even if I have been there before, Keith does not feel secure if he doesn’t have something more than, “Two roads past the firehouse and the next door neighbors have a yard full of crabgrass.”  I always thought it was my vision—I haven’t been able to read street signs in years, forget those numbers on the houses.  But no, all my women friends give directions exactly the same way:  turn left at the round-about and it’s halfway around the next curve where the honeysuckle blooms on the mailbox.  Can we help it if men can’t tell the difference between honeysuckle and plumbago?
    Funny how that also describes the difference in people in spiritually.  Some people want a list.  Here, they seem to say, I’ve done this and this and this, so I ought to be all right.  Then there are others who go by what “looks right” or “feels right.”  I recently heard a young woman who has decided she wants to be a preacher say this: “When I walked into the room, I just felt at peace, so I knew God was saying that was all right.”  And this woman wants to preach the gospel?
    Just like you need a good balance of exact address and some helpful landmarks when following directions, maybe you need a good balance of exactly what is right and what is wrong plus the common sense to know when something just doesn’t “feel right.”  In Galatians 5 Paul ends that list of the lusts of the flesh with, “and such like,” and the fruit of the Spirit with, “against such there is no law.”  “Such” means he hasn’t listed every single thing, but if you are honest, you should be able to figure this out for yourselves.  It should be obvious to anyone with a normal IQ, he seems to be saying, but here is a list to get you started.
    “The Bible doesn’t say it’s wrong,” is as an excuse as old as my grandparents at least.  I’ve heard it all my life.  It’s just an admission that the person doesn’t have the sense God gave a goose, the common sense He expects us to use when we are trying to determine His will.  
    You can’t check off your service to God as if it were nothing more important than buying groceries and you can’t tell Him it felt good so you fell for it, even if it did violate the plain words of scripture.  
    God gives us directions that are easy to follow—as long as you want to do His will.

If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood, John 7:17-18.

Dene Ward

Being Green

2/6/2015 0 Comments

Several years back we camped at Cloudland Canyon one autumn week, enjoying the new varieties of bird, the mountains carpeted with fall colors, and the spectacle every morning of clouds wafting through the campground from the cliffs just beyond it, cliffs high enough to look down on hawks as they soared by.  
    The neighbors twenty yards away were a small family, a man, his wife, and two little boys, the older about 7 or 8, and the younger just barely past the toddler years.  This was obviously a planned family outing, one that probably didn’t happen very often but that the parents were determined to make a good experience.  They did everything in a planned and almost regimented fashion.  “It’s time to light the fire.”  “Now it’s time to tell ghost stories.”  “Now it’s time to roast marshmallows.”  In between all this, the mother was on her cell phone every hour or so, sometimes for as long as a half hour, seeing to her business.  
    And both parents became impatient at the drop of a hat.  If the boys didn’t react to every activity as they thought they should, they became frustrated and almost angry.  (Who should be surprised if a ghost story terrified a four year old?)  They had mistaken the stereotype of a camping trip for the spontaneous fun of the real thing.  They had probably fallen for that “quality time” myth.
    And because we can’t seem to stop helping out, we offered them a few things, like some lighter wood to help get those campfires going more easily, and we occasionally stopped by on the way back and forth from the bathhouse, to talk and reminisce with them about the times when our two boys were that age.  They seemed appreciative, especially the father, who, we discovered when we got closer, was about 20 years older than the usual father of boys that age.
    As we talked we noticed that the older boy always wore Baylor tee shirts and sweat shirts and had a Baylor hat, so Keith talked to him some about football and asked how Baylor was doing—this was long before RGIII.  The father sighed and said, “He doesn’t know anything about Baylor football.  He just likes the color green.”
    They left after just a weekend, and it sounded like they were leaving one night early, perhaps disappointed that this hadn’t turned out quite like they expected.  
    You can learn a lot yourselves, just considering this family.  It’s always easier to judge from a distance.  But that little boy can teach us all something today.  Why is it that you assemble where you do?  Why did you choose that place?
    We would all understand the fallacy of going to the handiest place, regardless what they taught.  But how about this:  Do you go where you are needed, or to the place considered the most popular in the area, the most sociable, the one where you wouldn’t mind having people see you standing outside hobnobbing?  Do you go where the work is hard or where the singing is good?  Do you go where the preaching is entertaining or where the teaching is scriptural and plain?  Do you go expecting the church to do for you, or because you want to do for them?
    Too many Christians look upon a church in a proprietary way, as if they had the right to judge everything about it and everyone in it, especially the superficial things—the singing, the preaching, the way the people dress and their occupations and connections in the world.  The way some people choose congregations, they might as well go because they like the color green.  
    The church belongs to Christ, that’s what “church of Christ” means.  It belongs to God, that’s what “church of God” means.  Christ’s church is there to give me an outlet for my service and a source of encouragement toward doing that service.  It is not there to serve me and my preferences.  
    Someday that little boy will grow up and learn to examine the football programs he roots for, choosing them for their character and integrity instead of their colors.  Maybe it’s time we grew up with him.

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Pet 4:9-13    

Dene Ward

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City Slickers

2/5/2015 0 Comments

It never ceases to amaze me.  Folks from the city move out here and, even though they believe they are so much more sophisticated and knowledgeable than we country people, they will soon learn at least one lesson the hard way, possibly more, and we country people will just shake our heads.  It’s okay not to know; but it certainly is arrogant to act like you know when you have absolutely no experience to back it up.
    A few years back a couple moved out with their dog, letting it remain outside with no pen or fence installed, “so he can run free like animals are supposed to.”  When farmers near them started losing livestock it couldn’t be that “my sweet Scruffy” had anything to do with it.  They did not understand that dogs are pack animals and when they are left alone at night, “free to run,” they will join up with the strays and wreak havoc.  They didn’t understand until a farmer called the sheriff and there lay three or four dogs shot dead, next to an equally dead calf, nearly torn to bits. Among the dead dogs was Scruffy, the calf’s blood smeared all over his mouth, throat, and chest.  The farmer, of course, was not at fault—he was protecting his livestock from a pack of wild dogs.  At least he only lost one calf that time.
    On a less somber note, we have a neighbor now who would not listen when Keith told him he needed to ditch the edges of his dirt driveway.  It may be the dry season now, but when the summer rains start, he will soon be looking for a friendly farmer with a tractor to pull him out of the muddy drive that has nowhere to drain.
    We once had a neighbor who moved to the country “because there are so many more stars out here.”  He wondered why he couldn’t see them after he moved in.  Probably because of the street light he had installed outside his door.  The reason the country seems so much starrier is the lack of light pollution.  The more city people move out here, the fewer stars we can see because they are so scared of the dark.  Far better to install a motion detector floodlight than a constant mercury lamp, one high enough to avoid the rambling coons and possums.
    And then there is the garden.  Thirty-five years ago I was a city slicker too.  I thought having a garden from which you could pick what you wanted for supper every night was a wonderful idea.  Unfortunately, that is not the way it works.  You don’t tell the garden what you want when you want it.  It tells you what there is and when it is ready, and if you do not want it to go to waste, you take care of it then regardless of your schedule.  If you wait, the produce will ruin.  If you do not plan to tend it when it needs tending, pick when it needs picking, and put up when the crop comes in, don’t plant one.  Do not spend a hundred dollars on supplies, then let a thousand dollars worth of groceries spoil.
    I could go on and on, but this is not a treatise on country vs. city.  Let’s take this lesson today.  I recently heard someone say that Christians were people who had one foot in this world and one foot in the next, like that made them weird.  Isn’t that the way we are supposed to act?  In fact, maybe we should have a little more of the second foot in the next world too. 
    No, we do not act like ordinary people—at least we shouldn’t. As new Christians we have to learn a new way of living. Our citizenship is in Heaven.  Our minds are set on spiritual things.  The cares of this world do not upset us the same way they upset others, because they do not mean as much to us.  We have far better things to think about.
    City slickers may think country people are a little strange, but guess who knows how to get along out here the best?  If the world thinks you are strange, don’t worry.  You will manage far better than they.  One day, they will call frantically and ask for your help.  Hope and pray it is not because the trumpet just sounded, but because they have finally figured out that you knew more than they thought, and there is still time to do something about it.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.  They are of the world: therefore speak they as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he who is not of God hears us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:4-6.

Dene Ward

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