I grew up in Tampa.  I learned to drive down Busch Blvd when there were actually empty, weedy lots between Temple Terrace and Florida Avenue.  I drove on I-75 with a learner’s permit, what is now I-275, and even into downtown Tampa where my eye doctor had his office in a 20 story “skyscraper”—by Florida standards anyway.  I drove down 75 past Howard and Armenia to shop at the only mall in town, Westshore Plaza, in an era when sometimes you wouldn’t see more than 3 other cars on your side of the interstate.  Yes, it was a long, long time ago.
            I took Driver’s Ed at King High School.  They had a little driving course in the back of the school.  A two lane “street” painted on a parking lot with stop signs, yield signs, diagonal parking, and pylons for practicing parallel parking.  I could drive that course without a hitch and usually even managed to parallel park without crushing a pylon.
            But we never practiced U-turns.  So one day after I had passed my exam and had my own brand new driver’s license complete with the requisite peon-home-from-working-the-field picture, I was headed west on Busch Blvd and realized I had passed my turn-off.  Time for my first U-turn.  I pulled into the left lane and patiently waited for the traffic on the other side to clear.  It may have been years ago, but traffic was not kind that day.  Those cars were spaced just so that I had to wait far longer than if it were a normal left turn.  I knew I needed time to straighten out the car and get back up to 45 mph before any oncoming traffic reached me.
            Finally there was a break, just barely big enough for me to maneuver, if I hurried.  So I spun that wheel hard to the left and pulled out and hit the gas.  My little Mustang made it to the far right lane before completely turning, but almost immediately I was in trouble.  I had kept the wheel turned too long.  The tires screeched as I crossed back over all three lanes and was headed for the median.  Even though I needed to let go of the steering wheel I couldn’t.  I had thrown myself nearly into the passenger seat and was hanging on for dear life.  Thoroughly panicked, I finally let loose enough for the wheel to slide between my hands and allow the car to straighten.  I took my foot off the gas and shifted back into the seat just in time to miss the median and straighten myself out in the left lane.  No one and nothing was hurt but my pride.  I slunk in the seat as the oncoming traffic caught up and passed me, hoping no one I knew had seen that.
            That’s what a lack of experience will do for you.  I was old enough to drive.  But I had never performed that maneuver before, and had probably never paid enough attention to my parents as they did.  “It’s just a longer left turn,” I thought.  No, it’s a bit more than that.
            U-turns in life can be difficult too.  I have seen so many young people completely disillusioned because they thought making those U-turns after their baptism would be a cinch.  Now that I’ve turned my life over to God I won’t feel those temptations any more, they think.  I will suddenly be a changed person, able to live perfectly from here on in.  Once again a lack of experience is showing.
            We can be forgiven from our sins, but very often the consequences are still there to live with.  That can mean things as difficult as serving jail time or fighting addiction or dealing with people we have hurt physically or emotionally.  It can also mean the urges of a besetting sin.  You will still have to work on it.  You may need to change not just your life, but your schedule and your friends in order to see a difference.  The same things that tempted you before will continue to tempt you, and the Devil will try even harder because he thinks he might have lost you.  Why work on the ones who are securely under his belt?
            Tell your children these things.  Tell that neighbor you are trying to convert.  If they are not prepared for reality, they may lose hope.  But also tell them that now they will have help, help that can strengthen them enough to overcome anything—not necessarily easily, but certainly.  Help that understands what you are going through and will bear with you as you learn and grow with experience.  You may throw yourself across the highway the first time or two, but eventually you will learn to navigate the roads of life, and those U-turns will become easier to make. 
            And, if you have been “raised in the church,” you may find that the U-turns you need to make are of a completely different sort.  It is all too easy when you have never been involved in what we call “the big bad sins” to look down one’s nose on those who came from that background and judge them unworthy because they still struggle.  That is the U-turn you must make:  away from a judgmental attitude toward compassion, the same compassion Jesus showed for an adulterous woman, a thieving publican, and a convicted criminal.  Your U-turn may be the most difficult of all, but he still expects you to make it.
 
But [I] declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. Acts 26:20

Dene Ward

I started teaching women’s classes far too long ago.  I was too young to have any idea either what I was doing or even what I was supposed to be doing.  But at the first place Keith preached—it was a part-time position under the oversight of elders—one of those elders asked me to teach the teenage girls.  I was only 20, but he said no one else would do it.  Then at the next congregation the ladies elected me the first night I attended the class that was already in existence.  Even though there were women forty years older than I, they thought that being “the preacher’s wife” made me automatically qualified.  I, who should have been sitting at the feet of older women, was frantically learning as I went.  I cringe sometimes wondering how many women I confused or misled with my inexperience and lack of wisdom.

I hope I have improved.  I certainly have age and experience now, but the wisdom is an open question—always.  One thing about the age factor:  I have heard every excuse there is for not attending the women’s Bible study.  Are there truly valid reasons?  Yes, of course there are.  But there are far more of the other kind.  Let’s examine a few.

“It’s so difficult to pay attention with the little ones in tow, and it’s so embarrassing when they cause distractions.”  Yes, it is difficult, but there is no need to be embarrassed.  Over thirty years ago when my current Tuesday morning class started up, we all had children still at home.  We made comments over the heads of playing toddlers and it was not uncommon that a few mothers would occasionally have to throw down their books and Bibles and run comfort a crying baby or settle a small-fry squabble.  We were all in the same boat and understood, but we never let our children be the excuse we gave the Lord for not finding time to get together and study.

“But these lessons are so hard and take so long to do.”  I am afraid my lessons do tend to be this way.  But really now, what kind of hours would you expect to put in if you went back to school either to improve your job (vocation) or to get a promotion?  This is your spiritual education we’re talking about, and what you know will make a difference in how you conduct yourself in your spiritual vocation (Eph 4:1; 2 Pet 1:10) 

A long time ago a brother went to the elders about one of Keith’s classes.  “It’s too deep,” he complained.  Those good shepherds were wise enough and strong enough to tell that brother what he needed to hear instead of what he wanted to hear.  “If I had been a Christian for forty years like you have,” they said, “I would be ashamed to say something in the Bible was too deep for me.”  Are you aware of Jesus’ statement when the apostles asked him why he spoke in parables, making it harder for people to understand?  Because the ones who care enough will work hard enough to understand it, he told them.  Do you care that much?

I don’t make my lessons hard on purpose.  They seem difficult because the material is new to you.  I am trying to teach things you do not know, not rehash the things you do know.  That really would be superfluous and not worth a busy woman’s time.  Isn’t gaining a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Word of God worth rearranging your schedule, both in time to study and time to attend?  Can’t you give up something in order to study—like a TV show in the evenings?

“Well they are so hard I don’t even know what to write down in the blanks.”  Ask anyone in the class how I run it.  Despite the reputation I must surely have for being a mean old lady who likes to mortify people, I never put anyone on the spot.  If you don’t know the answer, leave it blank.  But how will you ever find the answer if you don’t come and listen for it?  A good percentage of the class does exactly that, and one even laughs about how much erasing she has to do.  Now that’s a great attitude.  Can’t you follow her example?

“My schedule is just so full.”  So is mine.  So is everyone’s.  The difference between those women and the ones who do not come (but could) is priorities.  They decided to make the time in their schedules for a Bible class.  They schedule things around it instead of the other way around.  They have trained their families to know, “Oh! It’s Tuesday,” or “the third Sunday,” and it really wasn’t that hard to do when they insisted on it.  And let’s just put this out there in black and white, plain and simple:  if you are too busy to study the Bible, you are too busy, and yes, maybe even sinfully busy if it causes you to neglect your Lord and His Word.

“Once I get older and have less to do, then I will start attending ladies’ Bible class.”  Wait a minute!  Who are the older women told to teach?  Not the older ones who “have less to do” but the younger ones, that’s who!  The things we older teachers have to tell you will actually help you during your younger years.  If you listen and use these things, you might just avoid the problems that so many of your friends have.   What good will it do you when you finally come to class and all you have to offer are the things you have learned not to do from hard experience instead of wise teaching?  All my “old faithfuls” began young.  The vast majority have stayed with it—that’s why the class looks like a bunch of older women, not because they are the only ones who have time. 

Many of the ones we have lost have moved to other areas.  I regularly hear from them how much they miss a class where they actually learn something new.  “We don’t have deep classes like this,” a visitor to our class once told me.  But here it is free for the taking to anyone who cares enough—and so few do. 

I know I am not some popular, funny, good-looking teacher.  I know my lessons stomp on toes because I make applications that are real to life instead of feel good fluff.  The truly good teachers I know do the same.  We want to help you.  We want to share with you what we have worked hard to obtain, what means the world to us and should mean the world to you. 

We also want to find young women who can take our places someday.  You simply must start early if you ever hope to do that.  I was 21 when I began serious, deep Bible study, and there is still so much left for me to learn and to share.  You could carry it on if you prepare yourself, but I can only give it if you are there to take it.
 
Older women likewise…are to teach what is good and to train the young women…Titus 2:3,4
And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful [women] who will be able to teach others also. 2Tim 2:2
 
Dene Ward
 

The Adventures of Superman first debuted on television on September 19, 1952.  At least that is the generally accepted date.  Others dispute it, but we are going with that one today.  Based upon comic book characters created in 1938, it starred George Reeves and Phyllis Coates the first year, then Reeves and Noel Niell afterward as Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane.  The show ran for six seasons.
            I realize I am dating myself but I remember afternoon showings in the 60s (reruns) of the old black and white version.  I enjoyed it at that age, but I never really understood how Superman could change clothes in a glass phone booth and no one notice, and why everyone was fooled when Clark Kent took off his glasses.  Then I started wondering how many suits he had and where they went to in all those phone booths.  I realize that I am not supposed to wonder those things, just accept that a man can transform himself instantly into an unrecognizable superhero with a clothes change and a laughably minimal disguise.  At least when Captain Marvel came along in my own children's time, a lightning bolt transformed him instantly.  Now that made more sense.
            But I have seen instant transformation before.  Some kind and pleasant folks, when they get behind the wheel, instantly become impatient, self-centered monsters.  It's all about their schedules, their convenience, and people in their way.  I have also seen it in check-out lines at the grocery store.  The same man who kindly reached a box on a high shelf for me, or the woman who asked a question about which brand of coffee I preferred and then politely thanked me for the information, will, when the line is long and the progress slow, begin huffing and puffing in irritation, heave great sighs of annoyance, and constantly look over to other lines to see if everyone is as slow as this old person in front of her who can't seem to find her wallet in that monstrosity of a carpetbag.
            The Bible does talk about transformation—but not those kinds. 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2Cor 5:17).
…put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and…put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:22-24).
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2).
            Those transformations often take longer than a lightning bolt or even a clothes change, but our commitment to Christ at baptism is supposed to enable it along.  Renewing our minds in study and meditation, living lives of righteousness and holiness rather than clinging to the old worldliness, and striving to do the will of the Father, Paul tells us in the above passages, will all help us in that transformation.  And whenever we find ourselves in those situations that used to transform us into ogres instantly, plan ahead, think ahead, and remember that we are no longer that old person.  We tossed him in the garbage where he belongs.  We are new creatures.  We don't need a phone booth on the corner because this transformation should be forever.
 
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.
 
Most of us know the story of Nadab and Abihu:  "Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them.  And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD." (Lev. 10:1-2)  This occurred on the day that Aaron and his sons completed the week long process which consecrated them as priests.  What a start!  It was a sharp lesson that God expected more of those who have the closest relationship to Him.  "Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace." (Lev. 10:3) 
           When God gave Moses the instructions for building the tabernacle and all the furniture in it, He emphasized the importance of the altar of incense.  Alone of all the things in the tabernacle, the altar of incense is said to be "most holy unto the LORD," and the High Priest must "make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year" (Ex. 30:10).  A careful warning is also made:  "You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it." (Ex. 30:9)  Add to that warning a command that the fire on the altar of burnt offering should never go out (Lev. 6:12-13) and the event witnessed by all that God Himself lighted the altar of burnt offering (Lev. 9:24), and the conclusion should have been reached that they should be careful with these things.  So when Nadab and Abihu offer incense with unauthorized fire, they pay the price for not treating God with the fear and reverence He deserves.
            Immediately after the explanation and instructions regarding Nadab and Abihu's  deaths God says that priests should never enter the tabernacle having drunk wine "that you die not" (vs 9).  Given the events that had JUST taken place, Aaron knew that the threat of death wasn't just an absent-minded emphasis.  God wasn't just speaking strongly to make a point.  If they did not sanctify and glorify Him in their actions, death awaited.
            Leviticus also teaches the lesson to take care in following the instructions of God.  Here God gives the delineation between clean and unclean animals.  "Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat." (vs 3)  That instruction should have been enough, but God painstakingly emphasizes the rule.  The camel, rock badger and hare all chew the cud but don't part the hoof and are therefore unclean.  The swine parts the hoof, but does not chew the cud and is unclean.  In other words, a partial obedience to God's instructions doesn't cut it.  For God, there is no such thing as "close enough".  
            Since modern Christians are called a "royal priesthood" by Peter (2:9), we bear the same burden as Aaron and his sons.  Who are closer to God than the members of His family?  (Rom. 8:16, Eph. 2:16)  Since the law was to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24) and is profitable for the perfection of the man of God (2 Tim. 3:16), then the principles it teaches about how to approach God are viable.  Therefore, we must show by our lives that God is holy.  Our lives should bring glory to God in the sight of the world.  Part of so honoring God is to take care to follow His instructions exactly--not to be saved by our rule keeping, but to demonstrate that God's wishes are important.  That they are THAT important.  All of which explains why we are so careful about how and when we worship God and why we are so strict about how the church's money is used.  It is why we should be careful in our daily lives:  about how we speak, what we laugh at, how our free time is used and how we raise our children.  To sanctify and glorify God (Lev. 10:3) ought to be reason enough for a people saved by the sacrifice of God's Son, but perhaps an even baser reason will resonate:  "that [we] die not". 
 
2 Thess. 1:7-8  "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."
 
Lucas Ward
 

I just pitted two pounds of fresh cherries.  I knew there was a reason I liked blueberries better.
            Even with a handy-dandy little cherry pitter, it is still quite a chore.  You have to do them one at a time, well over a hundred, and sometimes the pit does not come out the first try.  You have to fiddle with the cherry until you get it in there just right—so the little plunger will go right through the center.  Then there is the clean-up as some of those wayward pits bounce across the counter and floor, staining everything cherry red.
            Not worth it you say?  You have obviously never had a cherry pie made with anything but canned cherry pie filling!  Some things are worth the trouble.  Like children.  Like marriage.  Like living according to God’s rules.
            Satan will do everything in his power to make it seem otherwise.  He will tell you his reward here and now is greater, like a ready-made store-bought pie.  He will tell you that God’s reward is mediocre, like a pie you can have in the oven in 10 minutes with canned filling and refrigerated pie crust.  He will tell you God’s reward does not even exist, that there is no such thing as a pie with a homemade crust and fresh cherries—it’s all an illusion.  Everyone knows pies come in a box in the freezer case!
            But God’s reward is real; it is better than anything this life and that Enemy have to offer.  It takes some effort.  Sometimes we fail and have to try again.  Sometimes people make fun of us.  Sometimes we work till our backs ache and our fingers cramp up, but when you put God’s reward on the window sill to cool, everyone knows it was worth it.  Even the ones who won’t get to taste it. 
 
Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, great is your reward in Heaven.
So that men shall say, “Truly there is a reward for the righteous; truly there is a God who judges the earth.” Luke 6:22,23; Psa 58:11

Dene Ward
 

Unfortunately, I have a sweet tooth.  I have never understood rail thin women who complain about a dessert being, “too sweet,” “too rich,” and certainly not, “too big.”  That probably explains why I am not rail thin.
            I had a good excuse for making desserts with two active boys in the house.  Their favorites were plain, as desserts go—blueberry pie, apple pie, Mississippi mud cake, and any kind of cheesecake.  Nowadays, since there are only two of us and we two do not need a whole lot of sweets, desserts are usually for special occasions, and so they have gotten a little more “special” too.  Coconut cake with lime curd filling and coconut cream cheese frosting; chocolate fudge torte with chocolate ganache filling, dark chocolate frosting, and peanut butter ganache trim, garnished with dry roasted peanuts; lemon sour cream cake with lemon filling and lemon cream cheese frosting; and a peanut butter cup cheesecake piled with chopped peanut butter cups and drizzled with hot fudge sauce; all these have found their way into my repertoire and my heart. 
            But one thing I have never done is feed my family on dessert alone.  Dessert is for later, after you eat your vegetables, after the whole grain, high fiber, high protein meals, after you’ve taken your vitamins and minerals.  Everyone knows that, except perhaps children, and I would have been a bad mother had I given in to their desires instead of doing what was best for them. 
            So why do we expect God to feed us nothing but dessert?  Why do we think life must always be easy, fun, and exciting?  Why is it that the only time I say, “God is good,” is when I get what I want?
            God is good even when He makes me eat my vegetables, when I have to choke down the liver, and guzzle the V8.  God is good when I undergo trials and misfortunes. God is good even when the devil tempts me sorely.  He knows what is best for me, what will make me strong and able to endure, and, ultimately, He knows that living a physical life on this physical earth forever is not in my best interests.
            Eating nothing but cake and pie and pastries will create a paradox—an obese person who is starving to death, unable to grow and become strong.  God knows what we need and gives it to us freely and on a daily basis.  He doesn’t fill us up with empty spiritual calories.  He doesn’t give us just dessert.  Truly, God is good.
 
Rejoice the soul of your servant, for unto you O Lord, do I lift up my soul.  For you Lord are good, and ready to forgive and abundant in lovingkindness unto all them who call upon you.  There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, neither any works like your works.  All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and they shall glorify your name.  For you are great and do wondrous things.  You are God alone, Psa 86:4,5,8-10.

Dene Ward
 

Some have called eggs the perfect food with their own perfect container.  I recently heard a TV cook say they are “hermetically sealed.”  Eggshells themselves are stronger than their reputation says.  After all, birds sit on them for days, and it takes a good deal of effort for a baby bird to peck its way out of one.
            However, it doesn’t take more than one instance of carelessness to discover just how easily they will break.  Mine usually make it home from the grocery store in one piece, in spite of being placed in a cooler with a couple of bags of groceries and an ice block, and then traveling thirty miles, the last half mile over a bumpy lime rock lane.  Only once in nearly 30 years have I opened my cooler to find eggs that have tumbled out and cracked all over the other groceries.
            You must also be careful where you put them on the counter.  Most recipes require ingredients at room temperature, so I take the butter and eggs out a half hour or more before I plan to use them.  I quickly learned to put them in a small bowl so they couldn’t possibly roll off the countertop onto the floor, even if I did think I had them safely corralled by other ingredients.  Somehow they only roll when you turn your back.  As I recall, that recipe required a lot of eggs, and suddenly I was short a couple.
            Because of their relative fragility, we have developed the idiom “walking on eggshells.”  When the situation is tricky, when someone is already on a short fuse, we tread carefully with our words, as if we were walking carefully, trying not to break the eggshells under our feet.  Sometimes that is a good thing.  No one wants to hurt a person who has just experienced a tragedy.  No one wants to carelessly bring up a topic that might hinder the growth of a babe in Christ.  Certainly no one wants to put out a spark of interest in the gospel.          
            But sometimes the need to walk on eggshells is a shame, especially when the wrong people have to walk on them.
            I suppose every congregation has one of those members who gives everyone pause; one who has hot buttons you do your best not to push;  one who seems to take offense at the most innocuous statements or actions.  The shame of it is this:  in nearly every case I can remember, that person is over 50, and most over 60.  “You know old brother so-and-so,” everyone will tell newcomers.  “You have to be careful what you say around him.”  Why is it that younger Christians must negotiate minefields around an older Christian who should have grown in wisdom and forbearance?
            Do you think God has nothing to say about people like this? 
            The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult. Pro 12:16
            Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Pro 10:12
            Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. Pro 19:11
            Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Cor 13:7
            Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Pet 4:8.
            Now let’s put that all together.  A person who is quick to take offense, who is easily set off when a certain topic arises, who seems to make a career out of hurt feelings is a fool, imprudent, full of hate instead of love, divisive, and lacking good sense.  That’s what God says about the matter.  He didn’t walk on eggshells.
            On the other hand, the person who overlooks insults, who doesn’t take everything the worst possible way, who makes allowances for others’ foibles, especially verbal ones, and who doesn’t tell everyone how hurt or insulted he is, is wise, prudent, sensible, and full of love.  Shouldn’t that describe any older Christian, especially one who has been at if for thirty or forty years?
            So, let’s take a good look at ourselves.  Do people avoid me?  Am I defensive, and quick to assume bad motives?   Do I find myself insulted or hurt several times a week?  Do I keep thinking that everyone is out to get me in every arena of life?  Maybe I need to realize that I am not the one that everyone always has in mind when they speak or act.  I am not, after all, the center of the universe.  Maybe it’s time I acted the spiritual age I claim to be.
            Maybe I need to sweep up a few eggshells.
 
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Col 3:12-14.
 
Dene Ward

There are probably as many recipes for meat loaf as there are families who eat it.  Up until a few years ago, I thought the only excuse for making meat loaf was the sandwiches you made with the leftovers.  In fact, I was happy to forego eating it at all the first night, and use it only for sandwiches the next day. 
            Then I found a recipe for Southwestern Meat Loaf.  It’s still meat loaf—ground meat, finely chopped vegetables, filler, binder of eggs and dairy, seasonings, and a tomato product on top. 
            Instead of white or yellow onions you use scallions.  Instead of bell pepper, open a can of chopped green chiles.  Instead of bread crumbs or oatmeal, grind up corn tortillas in the food processor.  Instead of milk, sour cream fills the dairy bill with the usual eggs.  Along with the usual salt and pepper, sprinkle in chili powder, cumin, and chopped fresh cilantro.  Instead of ketchup, mix 3 tablespoons of brown sugar in a cup of salsa.  Pour a quarter cup of that over the top; save the rest for heating and passing with the finished loaf.  Fifteen minutes before it’s done, sprinkle it with Monterey Jack cheese instead of cheddar.  Voila! (Or whatever the Mexican word for that is.)
            You know what?  It still looks like meat loaf, smells like meat loaf, and tastes like meat loaf, just with a different accent, one we happen to prefer.  But if someone else came up with a recipe using chunks of beef, broth, potatoes, onions, and carrots we would all think he was nuts to call it meat loaf.  It bears no resemblance to the meat loaf pattern—it’s beef stew.
            For some reason, that made me think about God’s plan for the church.  We can find verse after verse where the apostles, particularly Paul, tell us that God expects us to follow a pattern in each congregation—1 Corinthians 4:17; 7:17; 16:1 and 2:Tim 1:13,  just to name a few.  But sometimes we mistake an expedient for a flaw in the pattern, and try to legislate where God did not.
            Take the Lord’s Supper for instance:  grape juice and unleavened bread on the first day of the week.  What kind of grapes must the juice come from?  What sort of flour must the bread be made of?  Most of the time here in America, we use juice made from Concord grapes.  They did not have Concord grapes in first century Jerusalem.  The grapes they had in Corinth were probably different, too.  Today we use wheat flour, usually bleached, all-purpose, white flour.  Most likely the early Christians in Palestine used barley flour, and I bet there was nothing white about it—pure, whole grain was all most of them could afford.  (Funny how that is the expensive kind today!)  In Rome the Christians might have used semolina flour.  But there is one thing for certain—everywhere in the world, grapes of some sort are available, and everywhere in the world people eat bread.  All they have to do is press the grapes and remove the leavening from the bread recipe.
            Following a pattern does not mean we make rules God did not.  Two women can each make a dress from the same pattern.  One uses satin and trims it in lace; the other can only afford gingham and trims it with rickrack.  Did they both follow the pattern?  Are the sleeves the same length in the same place?  Is the neckline the same?  Do they both have a gathered skirt, or is one A-line?  Oops.  That one changed the pattern.  It’s really not that hard to tell, is it?
            And that is how we tell if a church is following the pattern.  Sometimes we try to force every church into satin and lace, when they are really more suited to gingham and rickrack.  But the essentials are there.  It is not my job to go around making judgments about details (cultural expedients) as long as the basic pattern is sound. 
            But that pattern does matter.  It has always mattered with God.  Read about Nadab and Abihu, Uzzah, or King Uzziah.  Then let’s make sure we have found a group of people who do their best to follow God’s pattern, and who do not add their own rules to God’s.  After all, meat loaf is meat loaf is meat loaf.  But beef stew isn’t!
 
…even as Moses is warned of God when he is about to make the tabernacle, See, said he, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you in the mount,  Heb 8:5.

Dene Ward
 

I imagine you have heard it being said yourself for the past two or three decades.  We are "dumbing down" America.  Because our education system has left the classical learning methods and begun to "teach to the test," because it is interested in having everyone pass, even if it leaves some 32,000,000 American adults still unable to read* (roughly 10%), many of them college graduates, we are no longer the leading country in public education.  In fact, we are way down the list.
            The term "dumbing down" is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content for some agenda or other.  It happens in many ways.
            "The term 'dumbing down' was a secret code used by film writers in the 1930s to revise scripts to appeal to viewers of lower intelligence…today's Americans are in serious intellectual trouble…in danger of losing all cultural and political capital because of illogical rationalism, diminished civic education, false idealism, and lowered expectations…Cogent knowledge is replaced with rumor, gossip, half-truths and non-truths."**
            This is not a political page and I do not ever intend it to become one, but this springboard will help us in a spiritual area as well.  In several ways, we have started "dumbing down" God's people. 
            Recently, I posted a quote which suggested that the Scriptures should make us uncomfortable, undermine our complacency, and upend our usual pattern of behavior.  It was meant to be a wakeup call, something we need in an era where no one wants to upset anyone, and certainly not warn them about God's righteous indignation.  And, as I should have expected, someone came in to remind us that God is a loving God and his Word will encourage and comfort us, too.  Of course it will, but that comment completely undermined the effects of a needed message.  A young man once told me that he listened to sermons his entire life that never made him straighten up despite the fact that they were entirely scriptural.  What finally changed him was sermon after sermon by a man who was not afraid to say, "Repent or perish," just like Jesus did.
            This has been a problem with God's people for centuries.  Look at these passages below, all of them spoken to the people of God by the inspired prophet Jeremiah.
            They have contradicted the LORD and insisted, “It won’t happen. Harm won’t come to us; we won’t see sword or famine.” The prophets become only wind, for the LORD’s word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them (Jer 5:12-13).  No matter what Jeremiah told them, they would not listen.  "God won't do that to us."
            Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and there call out this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place. Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD (Jer 7:2-4).  They still had the Temple.  How could God ever destroy it and them, his chosen people, they asked in wide-eyed wonder?
            For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated My people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace (Jer 6:13-14). And I replied, “Oh no, Lord GOD! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you true peace in this place.’ ” (Jer 14:13).  This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the LORD’s mouth. They keep on saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said: You will have peace.’ They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ ”  (Jer 23:16-17).  Just like today, they had people who wanted to focus only on the goodness and mercy of God.  "God is a loving God.  He would not want us to be unhappy."
            What did Jeremiah say about all of that?  Your prophets saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your guilt and so restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were empty and misleading (Lam 2:14).  When we focus only on the kindness and mercy of God and forget his promise of punishment to the disobedient, when we do our best to take away the sting of some difficult passages because we "don't like them," or when we undo the warnings of the men of God who preach them, we are no better than the false prophets of old.  We have successfully "dumbed down the church" with a diet of pablum instead of the meat they need to chew, and chew hard on.
            The next time you see or hear a tough message, thank God that someone still has the chutzpah to preach it, and then make yourself a little uncomfortable by heeding it.
 
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Rom 11:22).

*Statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
**William Haupt III, "The Dumbing Down of America" in The Center Square.
 
Dene Ward

I have been a Star Trek fan since Captain Kirk sat on the bridge of the first USS Enterprise—the first Starship Enterprise, that is—on September 8, 1966 (our time).  I wasn’t even a teenager then and didn’t realize until years later how ahead of its time it was, nor that the strongest episodes were really parables.  Remember the two aliens who had faces half black and half white, and who hated one another because one had the black half on the right side and the other’s black half was on the left?  Our biases make just as much sense, that episode taught us.
            The show worked for me because of the characters and their relationships with each other.  If it had been all about gizmos and explosions, I would have lost interest quickly.  I knew who they were, their backgrounds, their likes and dislikes, and their pet phrases.  When Star Trek: The Next Generation came along, the producers really hit the jackpot and this time people were ready for it.  It’s a shame that the television movers and shakers still looked down their noses.  Patrick Stewart deserved a couple of Emmys.  Brent Spiner deserved even more.
            Get a couple of Trekkies together and they will talk for hours about favorite characters and episodes.  To them these people are almost real.  And they will spot the discrepancies between episodes or movies in an instant.  When Scottie showed up on TNG, having survived in a continuous transporter buffer pattern for 75 years, and thought Jim Kirk was still alive and had come to his rescue, my antenna twitched.  You see, in Star Trek: Generations, the movie that put Capt Kirk and Capt Picard together for the first and only time, Scottie saw Jim Kirk die.  He would not have expected to be saved by him.  The producers should have caught that.
            I’m sure you are already getting the point.  When we are really interested in something, we will spend hours on it.  We will take it in and remember it.  We will catch on to every detail, no matter how trivial and useless.  Why, who is to say it’s useless?  Have you noticed that no fictional character will sneeze or cough unless he’s doomed to a virus that affects the plot?  And everyone knows that the previously unknown character in the red shirt will soon be zapped by the alien.
            Doesn’t it strike you as odd that people who claim to be children of God know so little about His word?  That people who call themselves disciples of Christ have a problem remembering the main events of his life?  Forget about the details.  (Quick!  Name Jesus’ brothers.  How about his cousins?  Name all eleven of the Simons/Simeons in the Bible.  Which apostles were known by at least three names?)
            As people of God we should be interested in Him and his life.  We ought to want nothing more than to know His will and do it.  We should be able to talk about it for hours and look for every opportunity to learn even more.  I know people who can list Erica Kane’s husbands in order, or recite the starting lineups for all their favorite pro teams, including stats and colleges.  Some of these people are Christians whose Bible knowledge wouldn’t fill a thimble.
            Trekkies are called that for a reason.  They know that James T Kirk was (will be?) born on March 22, 2228, in Riverside, Iowa.  They know that Spock’s full name is S’chn T’gai Spock.  They can even speak a few words of Klingon, a language that doesn’t even exist! NUQ DAQ YUJ DA’POL = “Where’s the chocolate?” a phrase everyone should know, whether Klingon or Terran!
            Christians are called that for a reason as well.  Do you fit the description?
 
But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you, Psa 9:7-10.
 
Dene Ward