DOCS GALLORE – The Passenger’s Log-Stardate 7 April 2022
The ‘Lander’ craft of the Starship Genesis two-seven is shown in the photo here to help relate the story of God’s goodness over these past weeks.
Ofev, the drug of choice to battle the onward push of the IPF disease in my lungs has been elusive. First, it was difficult to find and then, once it was found, it was getting the insurance company to approve paying for it. The cost of the medicine runs around $60,000 a year. A phone call from Dr. F’s office this past week informed us that the insurance company had agreed to pick up the tab with us having to pay the co-pay. The co-pay is just under $800 a month Then Dr. F’s staff enrolled us in a program that is designed to help cover co-pay costs. In this case, they are covering 100% of the co-pay. This has certainly been a concern for us and it is a blessing from God to see that it has been covered. Likely The Passenger will begin the new medicine around Easter. The side-effects of this medicine may outweigh its usefulness, particularly since we know it is not expected to cure the disease but simply try to hold it at bay. It will become an issue of quality of life. I remain, however, fully convinced that God will heal me from this disease and I will be present at all of my grandchildren’s weddings!
As this ‘VOYAGE ‘ is penned, the Passenger has been afflicted with a chest cold for the last few days. It may have developed into something worse. (By the time I publish this the real story is known and conveyed here.)
We are off to the hospital (it is the weekend) to get some bloodwork drawn and an x-ray. A follow-up now as, publishing this was delayed, I can tell you that thankfully, there is no pneumonia found. A second trip this time to see the folks at Primary Care are hitting me with a strong wide-coverage antibiotic trifecta including a great shot in the bum just for good measure! A panel of some sort is being run, that procedure required a swab from the back side of my naval and to access it, the nurse stuck the stick up my nose! Because I was reducing my steroid rate and was now quite low, that likely along with this infection is making my body’s ability to fight it that much more difficult. So, back up to the top of the steroid ladder to take a firepole back down within the next two weeks. I will not need to go to an amusement park this summer, the roller coaster ride I’ve been on now for awhile will suffice quite nicely, thanks!
The doctor’s office reported the results of the bellybutton swab. I cannot begin to spell the name of the virus that has attacked my lungs in addition to the disease already there but it is an aggressive one. The doctor said that with the combination of the two, this particular virus and my disease, it certainly could have killed me. Thank you Lord that it did not!
It’s been an interesting time with doctors, dentists, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers these past couple of weeks. Okay, nothing with the b, b, and c crew but besides the physical maladies, Dr. DW, my eye doctor found at least a partial explanation for my eyesight getting worse and it is an opportunity for him to keep his surgery fingers nimble, a cataract has reappeared on my one eye and that needs removed. And last week, I broke of a section of a molar so the dentist, Dr. F gets to take a ‘crack’ at it! One would think I was trying to get my supersonic-level insurance deductible met in three months!
But, I said this is a report on God’s graciousness.
The eye issue is a quick and easy repair. The broken tooth did not create a root sensitivity. I was able to see Dr G. for my regular pain management check-up and in that time we discussed the need for me to see Dr. C who did my first and second spinal fusions to address the left leg pain that is keeping me awake at nights, and if necessary, Dr. G will do injections into the trigger points to forestall the pain! However, each and every issue that has come up is treatable with little if any downtime. I can report that God’s goodness is plentiful and fully felt.
As to matters for prayer there are two specifically and a third for good measure.
1. For the family… it is tough on each of them, in their own walk in life whether a young elementary student or the wife of an aged goat, watching the Passenger have to make this Voyage is never easy.
2. For me, being surrounded daily by reminders of my disease, the pills, the oxygen, the worried looks on faces… is very difficult. I have a need to escape and go from time to time from this reality to another one. At times, it has been to God I must go. I turn off the world and just visit with Him and there are times that I need to just go somewhere, anywhere for some length of time. I’ve done one such trip with Aaron to Phoenix, or when its warmer, some fishing time on the lake or maybe take an Amtrak ride to somewhere no one but Amtrak goes is the ‘ticket’!
3. Pray for the family as they deal with a Dad who sometimes makes no sense (it’s been like that for decades!) There are times now when I think they look at me and wonder “What in the world is he thinking now?”
Thank you for your continued support. I have no idea what the future holds but I know who holds the future. I commit it to Him and the changes that are coming in my life and the lives of those closest to me and pray that everyone involved will be comforted and even blessed by what may transpire.
I carefully began opening the wrapping paper, so intricately designed, and precisely folded. It was the highest grade designer paper. It must have cost more than most of other gifts strewn about the table. I could not begin to imagine the gift inside. Before I went any further with the opening of this incredible package, I felt drawn to the package not so well adorned. It wasn’t my birthday. In fact, you could say it was almost the opposite. People were gathering and giving me presents, cards, stopping by our house with food for the ‘family’ just like they would do had I ‘passed’ and I’m not talking a mid-term exam! I was even getting cards and comments by folks thanking me for what a blessing my life has been and how doing everything I do even as I am dying is so incredible. Okay, sounds a bit crazy doesn’t it? This isn’t really happening, at least not to the degree emphasized here. But, you have before you the conspicuous two-sided coin. These are things I’ve learned recently some are insights that have come through events and some in thanks to a very special person who has been asked to join the crew.
INSIGHTS
We should be telling people the positive things we enjoy about them. We should be doing random acts of kindness for folks just to say, ‘hey thanks for being you.‘ It does do some good for the family of one deceased to hear how much their loved one meant to others, it is cathartic. But it would have done the newly deceased some good to have heard it too, before he lay with coins upon his eyes for the boatman.
But wait… could there be a third side to the coin? If you choose to make certain that someone knows how much they mean to you, tell them now… don’t wait! Perhaps there is someone for whom you’d like to do a random act of kindness. Do it. BUT, please do it before you learn that they have a terminal disease with no known cure. To be continually treated like you either have already died or that your death is such a far-gone conclusion both will zap the fight out of just about anyone. If my death is eminent and the inability of medical science is such that there is very little hope, then why prayers for healing or pleas for a miracle? Then why try? We can say we are praying for a miracle but do we really believe they happen? Does our attitude instill courage or inflict hurt on our brother or sister in Christ?
I recently met someone whom I haven’t met yet. If that sentence confuses you, then buckle up buttercup. An instiller of hope, a believer in miracles this person works in international trade and has lived most of their life on two continents. This person, whom we have dubbed Guardian M, has a strong faith in God and I have invited M to come aboard the Starship Genesis Two Seven as a spiritual caregiver and as special counsel. Already doing these tasks in real life for an uncle who no longer can subsist on his own, Guardian M stepped in to meet his needs. There are actual points where Guardian M exists in a person but there are also ways in which Guardian M is a composite of a church family who put together some books they knew the Passenger would have an interest in, or the pastor who reached out to make an open invitation to talk, flail wildly in the air with fists drawn tight, or howl at the moon when the mood is just right. Guardian M is also the long-time friend with whom all false fronts are down. But this one Guardian M, in the flesh, the one who is the inspiration for this piece, has grabbed on to the promises of God, His willingness to move mountains, to breathe life back into the lifeless and has said to me, you shall prevail and in the decades ahead will scoff at the idea that death was the only available door.
Guardian M aboard the Starship Genesis two-seven
THE CLEVELAND UNIVESITY HOSPITAL VISIT
This visit for which we have waited, labored over phone calls to insurance etc. for what seems like the last four months. It will come to fruition this Wednesday, Feb. 23 and the CAT scan was completed for the new doctor to see as they provide the information back to Dr. N. The Passenger had a chance to review the CAT Scan report. Here are the basics:
If we skip all the big words, the distribution of all the indicators of IPF is seen most anteriorly and at the lung bases. It goes on to say, “Mild worsening of nonspecific fibrotic lung disease… Overall, this is mildly worsened from 09/04/2021. There are a few new small patchy ground-glass densities mostly in the upper lobes.” It is not getting better. We knew it wouldn’t minus God’s intervention. So, we have to pay close attention to Guardian M with the emphasis the divine.
On MARCH 17 The Passenger will be back with Dr. N for a recap of these reports and an idea of where we are headed next!
For me, though, it still took the reality of a terminal illness and watching how such news affects my strong, yet fragile, wife and my fairly large family.
The words of the officiant reading ancient Scripture describing the union of two in marriage is often heard and disregarded as mere tradition. It takes some time, in my own case now over forty years of marriage, to see how there is more to that statement than even the most reflective may note.
Some, including this author, have said that married life can be like a rollercoaster ride. There are, no doubt, lots of ups and downs, twists, and turns but perhaps the rollercoaster isn’t the best descriptor.
In my own case it has taken multiple decades, the difficulties of my own children and their marriages. and the concerns that come in the way of grandchildren who have their own trials, some medical and some just life to bring me to where I am today. For me, though, it still took the reality of a terminal illness and watching how such news affects my strong, yet fragile, wife and my fairly large family.
After careful reflection, I am abandoning the visual picture of a rollercoaster and replacing it with the visual of a DNA helix. To survive the stresses of life, there cannot be a more important foundation than that of a strong Christ-based faith. Our faith must be in our DNA – informing everything we do and all that we are. With that are the dynamics of the helix. If the image is turned on its side and we see the curves more as ups and downs, one of the keys to success is timing. No matter our strength, there are days when I will be down and on those days I need my wife, my partner to be up. Then her strength and faith can help uphold me. There will days when my wife will succumb to the pressures of family life and an ill husband with a bleak diagnosis and have her down days. I must be refreshed and strong with my faith in tune to help her through her tough times.
Notice, too, on the helix, there are times when the bands cross. There will be days when, no matter how much faith we share, both of us will have down times. In addition to the Holy Spirit’s presence is how our family with their separate strengths can bring one another back to an even keel.
Thankfully there are times when those bands cross and we are both up. It certainly is not an even distribution that for every up there is a down. Many, in fact, currently most of our days are coming together for both of us to have up days. We should rest as best we can in knowing that all the twists are in the Father’s divine care and we, as with the roller-coaster analogy should remain buckled and ride with our hands and feet inside the ride until the ride comes to a complete halt!
I may have too many days in the past and not nearly enough days in the future, but one thing is certain, TODAY is a day I have been given and I don’t want a single moment to tick off the clock with a regret hanging on to it
Rev. Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Chief of Police Retired, The Passenger
As most of you know, I’ve been writing a blog journaling my ‘voyage’ on the Starship Genesis Two-Seven, the analogy being the journey I am now on as I have a diagnosis of a terminal lung disease known as Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. That journal of ‘The Passenger’s Log’ can be found at www.rossriggs.com/voyage. For the most part, the blog is an update on the most current medical info I have and the tests I’m going through. There are other issues though that come up I need to wrestle with as the voyage continues. When those get a bit long in their wording, I turn to a Ministry Minute to think (or write) it through. The writing is, for me, cathartic. I hope you will come along and comment as you feel inclined! This is one of those talk throughs…
One of my most precious crewmates, Ally, is in Children’s Hospital right now, over a week battling her own medical issues which she will survive, no doubt but her life will be changed. (My family, conscripted upon my Voyage are ‘crewmates’ and those of you who sign-on to be with us are ‘shipmates’ and I appreciate every one of you!)
As a Papaw, it would be easier, and my preference would be, to take on all that my precious crewmate is dealing with and free her from it. I know her parents and my first-mate feel the same way. It gives us a small reminder of how God must have felt when His own Son suffered so. Jesus taught His disciples, recorded in Matthew 7:9-11, “9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
It seems that God has had much to teach us this first half of 2021. I think perhaps one of the biggest tests has been our faith. Faith, not just in the fact that God is God and Jesus is exactly who He says He is and that the Holy Spirit is always present with us to help us with every moment of every day, of that my belief is solid. More so, it is the faith to stand for what we believe. I am reminded of our responsibility, particularly with government, to question when we see things that don’t make sense to us. Finally, when it comes down to it, what is really important in life and what is not. Living a ‘life sentence’ is actually something we all do but we don’t think of it that way and I find that, even now, I have days where it does not come to mind so frequently. Other days, I am reminded almost continually that sooner, rather than later, I will see my wonderful Savior, face to face. That brings an incredible clarity to life here. Still, I have every hope that God will override the doctors’ prognosis and whether through the use of a lung transplant or other miraculous act on His part, I will speed past the 3 to 5 years I’ve been ‘allotted’ by the human physicians and go on for many years, if not decades to come. Whatever God’s plan, it is perfect and I will trust Him totally.
About those responsibilities to stand for what we believe, that comes upon me because of the raucous and almost unbelievable age in which we live with governments at all levels dictating for the citizen the inanest rules. These rules come without the strength of a law behind them and the people fall in line as herds of cows to a cattle car. The end of the line for that car is only that, the end of the line. Like so many sheep without any sense of a shepherd, people blindly fall in and do whatever dictate is demanded by government. They all but roll over and play dead at the merest insinuation that ‘action will be taken’ against you or your business if you do not. Sadly, the same has been true for our churches. Under the fear of either governmental action or a mysterious virus that no one seems to be able to quantify nor clarify, they buckle under as if their only faith is in the government edicts and not the supreme Lord of the Universe. Many are driven by good intentions, not wanting to incite more fear or panic into their members. Some try not to create some split between those who will not stand for the unconstitutional edicts of government’s interference with religion in the name of public health and those who are dreadfully scared of the virus quoting Scripture to say we are to honor government. (That is a theological argument not meant for these few pages.)
This virus, although it has some lethality, is no more than annual visits of influenza we see every year. Additionally, citizens, businesses, churches kowtow to the demands the government has put upon the people, such as the wearing of microbe infested and virus breeding masks that do nothing to stop the spread of any virus but hamper the best possible filter the human body has for such filtration, the God designed human olfactory system. Such masks and shields are absolutely useless and more likely harmful. Still, people wear them when alone in their cars, outside for a walk in the fresh air and every other minute of the day, all fear induced. Just recently in an obvious political move, the Ohio governor has abolished all such rules minus long-term care facilities and nursing homes, still which makes no scientific sense but helps breed more germs. Anyway… that short stop atop the soap box brings me back to the purpose of this post and that is the clarity of living life after being notified that your allotted time is going to be apparently much shorter than you had hoped.
Tim McGraw wrote a song back in 2004 that really is powerful. I think I make the analogy between Tim McGraw’s song and the freedom that comes from such awareness of one’s mortality because in our current day we need to remember that we live in a country wherein God’s providential blessings are ours. We call them ‘inalienable rights’ which have been bestowed upon us by God and not government Those blessings are recognized as the highest law of the land, though not without detractors, of course. We have lived in a time recently where they have been forgotten or at least ignored. I suppose that is not surprising, so much of America’s ‘leaders’ seem to have forgotten or are ignoring God, much to their personal peril and to our nation’s death knell. For seventy years the National Day of Prayer has been hosted at our nation’s capitol building. Not this year. It was refused. Also, this was the first time there was no mention of the name Jesus Christ at the event.
Tim McGraw
When the narrative of Tim McGraw’s song is actually your own, it brings with it a freedom, and an urgency to act on that freedom. Although each of us lives under the diagnosis of death, excepting the return of Christ, few of us live like it. I know I have not and I, as The Passenger aboard the Genesis two-seven,can celebrate, in one sense, the freedom it brings now that I do.
Someone once said that young men should always be concerned about dating a girl whose father is older because when a man reaches a certain age, the threat of a life sentence is not much of a deterrent. I am now at an age that allows me the freedom to do pretty much what I choose and to say what I feel without fear of retribution. My guiding restriction is to never do anything to grieve the Holy Spirit nor taint my testimony. Granted, burying a boyfriend with the John Deere or the Case in the back forty is probably not on the wise things to do list. I didn’t say it wasn’t on a list, just not on the wise list! However, with the added advantage of a small glimpse into the future, plus the freedom given me by age (read that: wisdom)… I can say and do most anything, within reason. Whether or not anyone listens is up to them.
Allow me to explain and I apologize in advance for the length of the post. If you choose not to venture on, I won’t be offended. I have a tracker on the blog so I know who actually reads all of this and who doesn’t, but don’t let that bother you. Feel free to drop out of the text anytime… I may notice but I won’t hold it against you… You may be mentioned in my eulogy someday but, hey, no worries…
Here is what Tim McGraw wrote in “Live Like You Were Dying”
“I was finally the husband That most of the time I wasn’t And I became a friend a friend would like to have And all of a sudden going fishin’ Wasn’t such an imposition And I went three times that year I lost my dad I finally read the Good Book, and I Took a good, long, hard look At what I’d do if I could do it all again
What kind of a world would we be living in right now if everyone lived each day with their last day in view?
W. C. Fields
There is a story told of W.C. Fields, on his deathbed I must share. First, you must know that Fields was a famous, if not, infamous, comedian of the early 20th century who was known for quips like, “I like children – fried.” “There’s no such thing as tough children, if you parboil them for seven hours, they always come out tender.” “Children should be seen and not heard from – ever again.” Supposedly, on his deathbed it was reported that he was seen carefully reading the Bible. When asked, “Why?” Fields replied, “I’m looking for loopholes.”
When it comes to having the real sense of freedom, I believe it can only come when you absolutely know and understand that each day you have in your hand is truly a gift and there is no guarantee of the next. Yes, I know we all say that, but we don’t live like we believe it. Recently I heard a man say, “Yesterday is dead. Tomorrow isn’t promised. Today is all you really have.” Worrying about what has been, is crazy because it’s gone. Worrying about what may be is crazy because it likely won’t be and if it is, do you really have any power to change it? And truly wasting the precious moments of today by worrying is crazy because when those minutes tick off on the clock, they are gone and you don’t get them back. Squeeze the life out of every single one of them! Wasting them on worry or on something that is sucking the joy out of life is hurting yourself and why would you, or I, want to do that?
No Regrets
I may have too many days in the past and not nearly enough days in the future, but one thing is certain, TODAY is a day I have been given and I don’t want a single moment to tick off the clock with a regret hanging on to it. Besides, regrets are messy and hard to clean up when they drip to the floor.
As I was finishing this post, a song came on the radio and the refrain pretty much says how I have decided to live in these days by God’s grace. The song is by Natalie Grant, titled In Christ Alone and the words are: “Till He returns, or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.” May you stand this day in the power of Christ. Do not allow some government politico to tell you what you can or cannot do without the strength of a moral law behind it. Trust in the Sovereign Creator of the Universe not a bureaucrat physician who hasn’t seen a human patient as a clinician in thirty years but sits behind a desk and generates Pablum for peasants rather than prescriptions for patients.
There is only the truth of God’s word. It is timeless and it covers every possible contingency.
There are times when I listen to a speech or sermon; even read an article, and I find parts of the message which are inconsistent appear clear to me. Inconsistencies within an article on the components of a spiritually filled life, such as trust in God for allthings has been troubling me. The article was all about trust and how we can completely, totally rely on God, the magnificent Creator. Yet, I look around at our society with the folks, those who claim a Christian faith, so terrified about being without a mask, searching for places to get their vaccine and even churches still doing only parking lot services and I am deeply concerned. I was beside myself! (Not literally, that would have been a violation of the six foot rule!)
I thought, who are we trusting? Is it God who created our bodies with our amazing immunity and a protection system of skin and noses with membranes and cells designed to stop infection or were we trusting some politician who was told something by someone, not a believer in Christ? We must not be trusting God because now we wear man-made masks not designed to prevent infection. Instead, these masks are more likely to hold onto germs and nasty things in the air so we can breathe them directly into our own lungs? It is not possible to believe what was being taught and rely on masks which are proven to do more harm than good. That was where I came down on the question. How would God respond to such a lack of faith? I began to chew on the spiritual questions here. Realizing that at least more than once in my life I have been wrong about something, I decided I needed to think and pray this through.
When it comes to the issues with COVID, I know all the data, the 99.5 plus percent that survive COVID, the numbers of people who are affected even worse by the flu, those mostly at risk being over 70 years of age, same as the flu. I was pretty certain I was on the correct side of the issue. We trust God, toss the masks, and get our churches open and running!
Then, Matthew 7:3-5 hit me like a wooden spike right through the eyes.
Years ago, my doctoral dissertation was titled, “In Times of Crisis: A Plan for Creating Contingency Management Teams in Missionary Sending Churches and Agencies.” Based on scriptural truth including the work of Nehemiah in rebuilding the temple with workmen and armed protectors working side by side, the entire concept is that God gives us the tools and ability to help ourselves while at the same time being completely in charge of all events in our lives. Our natural fears which prevent us from stepping in front of a train are part of God’s survival system for us. With the violence in our world and because of my experience as a police officer, now retired, I carry a firearm every day, everywhere. It provides me the capability of intervening on behalf of those at risk of serious harm. There are people within certain church circles who would say (and have said directly to me) that my contingency planning and other preparations are hypocritical. They say, God is in charge of all things so any preparation on our part is a sign of not trusting in Him. One mission agency leader staunchly opposed my arguments for preparation, and made his opinion quite clear. (Anyone who says Baptists don’t ‘ex-communicate’ don’t know how some organizations work!)
It was time for me to really get down into the desert and wrestle this one out. I already have severe hip pain so, here we go! Where is the line between using the tools God has given us to prepare and protect ourselves and others and ‘letting go and let God’?
I still maintain the truth worked out within my dissertation is correct. God is in charge of all things. The day we are to die is known to Him before we are born, as is every day of our life. From before time began He knew this of us. Nothing is outside His control. He also gives us the ability to protect ourselves and others. If this weren’t so, we would have no need of police. Jesus taught in some instances to go prepared for whatever might come and other times He instructed His disciples to go and allow God to provide completely for them. I believe God has given us gifted physicians and surgeons, researchers, and care-givers. God still determines our length of days, but these gifted persons help us preserve our quality of life, if not our quantity. The planning by Nehemiah was with God’s favor and the use of armed men guarding the workers was prudent because of the risk. Could God have totally protected them? Of course. Most often, particularly in today’s economy, He chooses to work through humans, often Christians. Could the guards have also been a ‘Linus VanPelt security blanket’ to ease the minds of those under the threats and with God’s approval? I believe the answer to that is also, ‘yes’.
So, what about the masks and opening services? I passionately believe they should be open and, if anyone feels the need to wear a mask, whether because of age or illness, they should do so without any awkward stares from folks who suddenly judge themselves as ‘more spiritual’ because they are ‘simply trusting God.’ Still, my time woodworking (or perhaps in the woodshed) was not finished. I still had some wrestling God wanted me to do.
There is an old story of a young farmer trying to get his mule to move. Pulling and tugging on the reins, screaming, and cussing at the mule were all to no avail. An old farmer stood watching with interest. He told the young farmer the only way to get the mule to move was to talk softly, lovingly, encouragingly to the mule. The young farmer scoffed and, handing the old farmer the reins said, ‘Go right ahead!’ The old farmer smiled, picked up a 2×4 and smacked the mule right across the head. The young farmer was shocked! “I thought you said to talk kindly and softly to him?” The old farmer replied, “You do, but first you have to get his attention!” Sometimes, I can be a mule in need of a 2×4. (More woodworking!)
As if it was important to test my thesis, before I finished writing this short article, I had to see the doctor to determine why I was having such extreme episodes of shortness of breath. The doctor’s visit turned into a CAT scan which led to appointments with a pulmonologist and in-home oxygen. As I write this I am waiting for a biopsy of my lung tissue to be scheduled. I’m told it’s not expected to be a cancer. It isn’t COVID. Could it be the remnants of an old Covid infection? Possibly. Still, though, there are a lot of variants that don’t fit that. I’m also told that if I get COVID now, the flu, or a similar infection; it could be life-threatening. Do I make sure I wear a mask now every time I go out? Which side of the faith fence does that fall on?
After much consideration of this new question, I can say to you I am 100 percent comfortable not wearing a mask anywhere. I am not afraid that I will get an infection and I totally trust God to do whatever He wants to do. However…
What about the oxygen? That becomes a common-sense method to help with quality of life, not quantity for me, at least.
There is yet another consideration. If my family, those I care for more than any, ask me to wear a mask and do other things to prevent the risk of any infection, what would I do? If the doctor, who is a born-again believer tells me to prevent infection of any kind I should mask up, what do I do? If I wear it to keep them comfortable and because I respect their wishes, but I know God knows my heart and He knows I trust Him, is it Okay? What if it impairs my Christian witness for others who do not know the back story, they just see me, “Mr. No-Mask” suddenly wearing one. Is my testimony hurt?
Sometimes a question doesn’t have an immediately clear answer. Sometimes, maybe there is more than one good option. That is where we can trust God’s word. You can be certain, there is only one truth. Regardless of what the Oregon school board believes, 2+2 still only equals 4. There is only the truth of God’s word. It is timeless and it covers every possible contingency. The truth is that God is in control. He will always do what is best and will bring glory and honor to Himself. If I can trust God with my every breath, I can trust Him to make certain my testimony is not damaged while I take the prudent course of action and do as I am asked by family and instructed by my physician. If I say that God has placed physicians in our lives to help us with our quality of life and then I refuse to follow their admonitions, I am not honoring God. I will do as I am told.
According to God’s word, every individual is responsible to God for his or her own actions, for the condition of their heart. That said, no one can dictate to you on an issue such as whether you are trusting God either by wearing a mask or by not wearing a mask. That is between you and God. He knows your heart and you can always ask Him to strengthen your faith. I am certain I will do that as I go through whatever lay ahead. I believe our churches need to open up and trust God and not allow politicians to push us by decrees that are not laws and are not passed in an open session of our legislatures (state or federal) to make laws, by votes of elected representatives. That, honestly, has always been my biggest sticking point regarding ‘mask decrees’.
If the governor decreed all Christians to wear a yellow crucifix sewn to our outer garment, would we do it just because he said so? Just wondering. If it is under the threat of death, would we? I am not judging any past groups of peoples. The Jews persecuted by the Nazi 3rd Reich showed incredible fortitude and no one can walk in their shoes today. But we, as a church, better decide now, before it happens, where do we draw our line in the sand? The time is coming when we will either hold that line or acquiesce. Prepare now to stand strong when it comes, not if it comes.
My time woodworking has been beneficial to me. I hope maybe it might help you think through some things for yourself. I’m not as ‘spiritual’ as I was before. Now, I am just thankful for each breath and I’ll keep on, one breath at a time.
If we use a biblical lens to look at the idea of whether we should stuff our problems away because they are small compared to someone else’s, what do we see?
In the last week I faced a tough question. Is it possible to face another surgery? The immediate public answer is, ‘of course!’ While Gunner (my Black Lab, Shepherd, Chow mix) and I were actively involved visiting patients at the local hospitals, I met a great many heroes. Lots of them are young children and have faced many more surgeries than me and are facing many more. They have an internal fortitude, often a faith, but each I met had a tenacity that was far and above my own. I tried to count the number I have had. It is somewhere around twenty. After breaking my leg (the left fibula just above the ankle) in October, wearing a cast for weeks, undergoing PT then learning that my bone was still as broken as it was on day one; I was scheduled for surgical repair this past February. Two weeks with a special cast then a regular cast and then a boot and finally… this past Wednesday, April 30th set free! The doc said all looked good and I was free to ambulate!
Freedom lasted about five hours until I tripped in my bathroom and twisted the same foot! It is possible I have torn one of the extensor tendons which run the length of the top of the foot. I will know this coming Thursday if it is torn and if it is, it will require surgery. Of course, as summer approaches, my Harley sits longingly in the garage and my bass boat cries out from storage for release. Those things are going to be put on hold yet again! I have been feeling like each recovery has taken some of the fire from my soul. I was all set to talk myself into a truly blue mood.
Then, news came from a dear friend, younger than me, who has been battling cancer and was hopeful that it was annihilated. The cancer remains, however, in a small tumor. It is not devastating news, but it is not the news we wanted. To be very honest, such news makes my entire first two paragraphs seems totally ego-centric and whiny!
Are they? Do we need to measure our hurts, anxieties, and stresses by considering what others bear? Each of us have been there, just not feeling well, being down in our spirit, aching for something we cannot describe and we long to lay it out before our Heavenly Father. Then we hear of a horrific battle being fought by another and we push all our stuff back into the box where we keep those hurts we don’t share with others. We paint a fake smile on our face and keep on going. Is that what God wants us to do or is it what He expects from us?
I think perhaps we have a true, two-sided coin. When we are facing a challenge, it can be an encouragement to us to see how others have battled and won. We can also put our own in a better perspective and it helps us be grateful for our blessings. Both of those are positive and can help us meet our own challenge with a renewed vigor, a fresh outlook and a deeper faith.
Pushing your own feelings back in the box and painting on a face, with an everything is Okay kind of look is what I call the ‘Sunday morning smile.’ We have all seen it and we have all done it. If you are a churchgoing, worship-gathering kind of person, it happens in those quick passes in the hallway with the ‘good morning’ greetings and ‘how ya’ doing’ questions. It is easier to just smile and say, ‘I’m better than a mosquito in a blood bank’ than to look them in the eye and say, ‘I’m having a tough week and could use some prayer.’
If we use a biblical lens to look at the idea of whether we should stuff our problems away because they are small compared to someone else’s, what do we see?
Peter writes, “Cast all your anxiety on him (God) for he cares for you.” Notice the words… anxiety, your worries and struggles and the adjective ‘all’. Peter does not say, ‘Cast all the care you have that is important enough for God to consider’ or ‘all your care that is greater than everyone else’s care’, he writes all.[i]
Matthew writes, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So, don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”[ii]
It appears to be about balance. We need to be encouraged by other’s victories and we need to be mindful we have much for which to be grateful. Gloomy-Gus Christians who can only moan about the burden of life without seeing any positives, feeling any grace or recognizing blessings need to spend some time in introspective prayer and Bible reading. Unbelievers who look toward Christ to bring them from the brink of despair and meet only the Christian so wrapped in their own misery will not find hope in such hopelessness.
Worse, though, are those who feel an obligation to not let anyone know they are struggling. Whether it is pride or their false persona of SUPER CHRISTIAN that keeps them silent, they are in for a rude awakening. For them, a Christian faces every storm and never has a moment of struggle or grief. Anyone who believes a real Christian must not worry and bottles up everything inside, is on a collision course with reality, is going to get hit hard and there is always collateral damage.
I knew such a man. (Spoiler Alert – if you are of delicate sensibilities, you may want to skip this paragraph) He kept up the persona of a great husband and father, community leader, business elite, everything neatly packed in his calf-skin briefcase and his never off-the-rack suits. One day I stood next to him, still in his expensive suit now soaked through with blood. His calf-skin briefcase had fallen open, the contents carried by the wind through the woods where he had walked before sitting at the base of a tree and eating the business end of his shotgun. Not a very pretty picture, is it? No one seemed to have any clue there was a problem brewing beneath his well-protected façade. I have no doubt his family would have gladly accepted a father who told them he was struggling and work with him to find help. It would not have made him less of a great dad. Certainly, the option he chose did not do anything to help his family.
So, what about this feeling I have that it is getting harder to bounce back from each additional surgery and recovery period? Do I face the possibility of another up-coming surgery with dread and a morose attitude? Do I bottle it up and put on my Sunday morning smile because others truly are much worse off than me? Do I step from the nearest phonebooth[iii] in my tight leotards with my flowing cape and the large C on my chest as SUPER CHRISTIAN who can withstand this, declaring, “HAVE NO FEAR SUPER C IS HERE”?
Perhaps, the best tack may be not worrying about tomorrow because, as Matthew writes, “…tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”[iv] There is a good possibility this will be just a bad sprain and I will not even need surgery. If it is a tear, as my mom would have said, be glad the Bible says: ‘It came to pass’ not, it came to stay!
I have an amazing support team! All will be fine. If torn, it is a simple tear and not a life-threatening malady with beau coup complications.
Finally, with every surgery and resulting recovery, God has taught me something about myself and about others. In this too, there shall be a lesson. Will it stink to not be riding my Harley for a while or to have some restrictions on my fishing? Absolutely. I think I can survive.
I should also use this time to be reminded of those facing life-altering medical issues and seek to pray for them, encourage them and be ready to assist should the opportunity present itself.
It is also a great time to count my many blessings and thank my support team for all their awesome love and attention to caring for me even when I am at my most unlovable.
The dead of church (as a noun) is witnessing the re-birth of the church as an action verb.
The dead of night is a phrase with which any night worker can relate. As a long-time night shift cop, there was a certain sense of foreboding with the true concept of the dead of night. The stillness of the air, the quiet eerieness that seems to put the astute officer on edge are all part of the deeper meaning wrapped in the dead of night.
Euphemisms are often thought of as a way to smooth over another statement that is too harsh such as downsizing for firing employees. For our purposes here, it is best defined as a literary tool which enables the writer to convey a deeper meaning more than is possible with a simple statement. It is not necessarily negative. Perhaps it brings a picture to mind that helps elaborate on a message, to give the icy chill on the back of the neck to the reader or causes one’s temperature to rise with his heart beat. In any case, there is a definitive image which brings with it a clearer understanding of the writer’s intent.
The dead of winter evokes a special meaning for those of us who despise winter! It holds a different, peaceful, crystal white stillness for those who love it. In either respect, there is something in the phrase which brings out a fuller, deeper, wider grasp of the winter season.
In a seminary class, we read a study in church growth titled, New Life from a Dead Stump. The concept was formed from the picture of a small sprout for a new tree emerging slowly from the apparently dead stump of a fallen, diseased and dead tree. The analogy was the dead stump as the remains of a body of believers, a church which had fallen through sin or some other disease. The tree had been robbed of life. Now after time, a new, fresh life was beginning to grow from the midst of that dead stump.
A new chapter, or at least a long footnote, for world and American history has appeared in the form of COVID 19. It includes shuttered businesses, travel suspended, individuals and families sequestered in their homes while trying to slow the spread of the deadly virus. Week upon week many find the ends of their ropes begin to fray as they struggle with unpaid bills and curtailed income. Children, unable to attend school, find themselves shut inside while weather, particularly in the northern states, precludes much outdoor activity. This has led to a combination of house fever and sibling rash brought on by constant irritation.
Church organizations are finding new ways to fulfill the admonition by the Apostle Paul to not forsake the assembling of themselves together. A unforeseen advantage of this new decentraized concept of worship is the re-discovery for many that church is not the building or the organization, the 501c3, or the pastor and staff; but, the church is the universal body of believers who do assemble for corporate worship, training, teaching, communal prayer and the observation of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper when it is possible to congregate. However, the necessary abondoning of corporate gatherings has pushed the church to function as it was intended. Believers, led by the Spirit, are spreading the Good News of Christ in their daily lives. Living out the Gospel by caring for the sick, feeding the hungry and sharing the message of salvation has breathed life into the dead of church.
The first-century church in Jerusalem had become quite comfortable with their growth and glad times. Persecution forced it to spread new life in every direction as members of the church extended its reach to Judea, Samaria and the untermost parts of the earth.
My family is blessed to be part of a body of believers, a church, that defines its mission as making the most of Jesus to everyone, every day all the time and has developed a de-centralized ministry focus with MC’s (missional communities) which are small groups who gather for worship, Bible study and ministry. Other small groups gather by some other common denominator, all with the focus of living out the Gospel. Even so, the comfort of four walls and a Sunday routine have been replaced by live-streaming worship through social media resources. Every possible part of ministry has taken on new life forms. The dead of church (as a noun) is witnessing the re-birth of the church as an action verb.
For me, at times this mandated time of slowing has been less of a be still and know that I am God and more like an extension of an already long recovery from breaking my leg last October and surgery on the leg in February. Just when I should be ready to fly, my wings got clipped! Still, though, with time to quiet my inner self and count my blessings, I know I am far more blessed than I could ever deserve. I am cherishing the time I get to spend with family and I am learning to be still in the presence of God.
For many who may struggle to heed the be still command, God finds ways to intercede into our storms to calm the seas for us. Satan would like to declare our time in these days, the dead of church. May we take these daysto grow and trust God. Let’s remember well this passage by Paul to the church at Rome:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. – Romans 5:1-5 ESV (Emphasis added)
As I write this it is the Thursday before Good Friday. In my sanctified imagination (a term I’ve borrowed from a seminary professor), I see it now being about the time Jesus and the eleven are headed to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The Last Supper completed, Judas has gone to sell out the Savior. Jesus speaks of the growth of the branches attached to the true vine even as they ascend the Mount of Olives. I have had the honor of standing in that garden, along the hillside overlooking Jerusalem. I can picture the path they walked. May I never forget what love and devotion it took for my Savior to walk that path. May I never whine about my lot in life; but, rejoice in the grace by which I stand.
Would it be incredible to get rid of dozens of small problems in your daily life? What if you could lose a hundred or more daily problems?
It is just the beginning of the rush hour and you are needing to be on the far side of the local mall in time for your grandson’s basketball game. The person in front of you must have last driven in heavy traffic a minimum of seventy years ago in places where the speed limits were no more than 40 miles per hour or so it seems. The aggravation boiling up in you along with your high blood pressure is not affecting the driver in front of you one iota. It is all your issue and not his. In actuality, the driver is driving the speed limit, you are just upset he is not driving ten or more miles per hour over the limit like you would be if you could. It is your perception which has colored your interpretation of the difficulty. In fact, there truly is no difficulty; even driving the speed limit, you will arrive in plenty of time for the basketball game.
Would it be incredible to get rid of dozens of small problems in your daily life? What if you could lose a hundred or more daily problems? Okay, let’s imagine you have the capability of eliminating ten thousand temporary problems. Sound like a type of scam or old-time medicine show selling snake oil to cure you of every malady known to man from colon cancer to postnasal drip? Stick with me for just a bit before you abandon the reading, thinking my A-train has slipped off the track and is plummeting down a 1000-foot ravine.
by Luis Duran
I used to have a small sign in my study which read: TWO RULES of a STRESS-FREE LIFE: 1. Don’t sweat the small stuff. 2. It’s all small stuff. Okay, that sounds trite; but, there is more depth there if you scratch at it for a bit.
Aiden Wilson Tozer, better known as A.W. Tozer, born 1897 and died in 1963, was an American pastor, author of multiple books, and editor of a Christian magazine. He is known for his depth of thought, clear understanding of scripture and his ability to share those cumulative thoughts on theology with the general public in a way the wisdom was well understood by his readers.
Referring to A.W. Tozer, Dr. Ron J. Bigalke[i] writes, “The majority of a person’s difficulties in life are not circumstantial; rather, they are perceptual.” Bigalke quotes Tozer’s writing in The Knowledge of the Holy. “A person’s faulty concept of God ‘is the cause of a hundred lesser evils.’ However, the one who believes in God as He truly is will be ‘relieved of ten thousand temporary problems.’” There you have it! The equation for ridding yourself of thousands of temporary problems can be showed as:
A = A faulty concept of God
B = Life
Cx = Temporary Problems
A + B = Cx
The equation indicates that a faulty concept of God plus life results in temporary problems exponentially multiplied.
To reverse the process, more than just subtracting A, add to the equation the inverse of A or 1/A so that:
(A-A) + 1/A + B = C0or the elimination of a faulty concept of God plus a proper understanding of God plus life results in temporary problems to the power of zero, or nil. A caveat is in order. As my children were growing and needing help with homework (and now the same for my grandchildren), if their questions involved history, government or language arts, they came to me. If their questions involved the sciences or mathematics, they went (and still go) to their mother. That I have included a mathematical equation to better express a concept, do not expect it to be a new revelation in complex calculus. Had it not been for a friendly high school senior who sat next to me, a lowly freshman in Algebra 1 back in 1971, I would probably still be in that class!
Jesus, quoted by John in John 16:33, said that we would have trouble in this world; but, He had overcome the world and because of that, we can have peace.
Let’s return to the statement by Tozer. The person who believes in God as He truly is “will be relieved of ten-thousand temporary problems.” Can Tozer make such a statement and back it up scripturally or is it simply a panacea? It makes us think of bumper sticker theology which can be all warm and fuzzy but it really isn’t theologically sound. It sounds too good to be true, getting rid of ten-thousand temporary problems.
There are many scriptures which declare the omnipotence of God such as Psalm 24:1-2.
The King of Glory and His Kingdom
A Psalm of David.
24The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the [a]waters.
1/A is having a proper understanding of God. Psalm 24 shows us the magnificence and supreme authority of the divine God.
There was a Christian children’s program several years ago which had some great theology in its music. The following is a line from one of their songs:
“God is bigger than the boogie man. He’s bigger than Godzilla, or the monsters on TV.
Oh, God is bigger than the boogie man. And He’s watching out for you and me.”[ii]
De-escalating the effects our problems have on our lives is to grasp they are temporary. Just as life itself is short, so are the problems we face during it. The biblical author James provides a handle.
James 14:13
“13 Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow [h]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit;’ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”(NKJV)
Bigalke writes that the Bible “reminds one that even the worst problem is only temporary; yet God is eternal and His glory is what endures forever.” What begins to be clear is that understanding the divinity of God and His eternal nature is critical to our perception of our problems as they compare to God’s power. Remember the quote on page 1? Let’s finish Bigalke’s thought. Bigalke writes, “The majority of a person’s difficulties in life are not circumstantial; rather, they are perceptual. Humanities greatest problems are the result of an inadequate understanding of who God is.” (emphasis added)
Go back to your drive to your grandson’s basketball game. All of the problems you had with the driver in front of you were because of your perception not your circumstances. It was not that you were actually going to be late. It was not that the driver in front of you was going slower than the speed limit. Your mis-perception of the time it takes you to get to the game and your perception of the driver’s speed were the cause of your aggravation.
If we understand every single trial or adversity which we are undergoing is temporary, it will change our view of each problem. Imagine a person in a gulag for his faith, with no expectation he will ever be released. If he can truly grasp the situation, even if life-long is only temporary as compared to eternity, it will change his view of the circumstances of his life. None of us are very likely to face a life-sentence to a gulag; but, perhaps our circumstances are horrific in human terms. How can knowing those horrific circumstances are only temporary and heaven is our eternity change how we deal with them?
How does truly understanding God’s power and divinity help us face circumstances which are not likely to change in any short period of time? Can we not just place those circumstances in God’s hands and ask Him to deal with it on a daily basis? Our hearts are hurting and breaking over a loved one’s pain. Can we help both ourselves and our loved one by re-focusing our perception of God’s divine power over our circumstances? I believe it will help everyone involved.
A.W. Tozer wrote, “I take refuge in the fact that although I don’t know everything, I do know someone who does.”
[i] Bigalke, Dr. Ron J., Midnight Call magazine, The Work of Christ: Messianic Psalms, Dec. 2019
Can you bind the chains of the Pleaides, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens or fix their rule over the earth?”
Recently, I felt compelled to pen a letter to the editor of a Christian magazine after an article on India’s space exploration program. The letter is re-printed here for your consideration in part due to a conversation I had with a brother-in-Christ just this morning. We spoke of enjoying and encouraging the imagination of our young children and grandchildren. We reminded each other of times spent as children ourselves staring at a sky with white puffy clouds and calling out what animal or other images we saw the clouds forming. It is an amazing joy I share with my grandchildren as we sway lazily on our hammock under the shade of a sprawling oak tree. Imagining ourselves in the clouds ourselves must be on the mind of many future space explorers! With that in mind, I wrote the following to Mr. Arno Froese.
Rev. Ross L. Riggs, D Min
Arno Froese, Executive Editor The Midnight Call P.O. Box 84309 Lexington, SC 29073
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I write to say how much I enjoy Midnight Call and to beg a question of you from the September 2019 Issue, under World Focus “Moon Landing”. You pose a question as to the purpose for India to be so involved in space exploration and putting a rover on the moon. You answer your question with, as you say, “one word: pride.” For those who set themselves a nest among the stars, Obadiah declares the Lord, those shall be brought down. Still, I could not settle myself on the idea of condemning the Indian exploration as sin, i.e. pride and leaving it go at that. I think of God who is the Creator magnificent who takes great joy in His creation, all of it, man, animals, earth and space. God, in putting Job into a correct understanding of God’s greatness, asks, “Can you bind the chains of the Pleaides, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens or fix their rule over the earth?” (Job 38)
I believe God is quite pleased with his heavenly creation and
given proper attitude of His human creation, He would welcome and has blessed
our exploration of it. God proclaims in Genesis 1:14 of the heavens which sepearate
the day and the night, “let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days
and years.” Men of Issachar could watch the heavens and thus understood the
times (1 Chron.12
Can we begin to know, even in these last days what wondrous
discoveries that might lead to cures of human maladies, stop the suffering of
children or feed more poor than gleaning will be spun from a laboratory’s accelerator
after exploration of space? More importantly, can we know another man’s heart?
Can or should we ascribe guilt of sin to everyone attached to a nation’s space
exploration program?
When considering the purposes of space exploration, we should
also mention, the very real threats now looming like the Sword of Damacles
across the globe for any maleficently minded country leader to shock our world
with electronic pulses. Must we not know and have a command of space to stop
such threats? I venture to say there are many noble purposes for space
exploration. Although pride may be the Achille’s heel for some within such
programs, still let us ask God to bless such work for learning more about our
Creator and His creation as well as what boon to mankind it might bring.
I am reminded of the poem by Jahn Gillespie Magee Jr., the last lines
which read, “while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod, the high untrespassed sanctity
of space, put out my hand, and touched the face of God.” President Regan quoted
this poem after the Shuttle disaster many years ago. When it comes to space
exploration, the heavens are a creation which reveals the very nature of our
God. We should relish every touch we can have with it.
t may be a pity too few may read this post for, even though many seem driven to cast a pall over America’s horizon and bemoan how Americans will never be what they once were, there is a brighter hope I see emanating from the shadows cast by all the nay say-ers
InSCIghts is one of a half-dozen titles under which this author writes
some basic and other more detailed and complex concepts of law enforcement
relations with their communities. Sadly, it is also one which has been bereft
of any serious works of late. In thinking about why and trying to explain it to
my son, I made the comment, ‘life happened’ but such has more in common
with an excuse than an explanation. In hopes of filling the void on my web’s
blog sites and reviving what once was a plethora of article submissions – to
which several quality magazine editors would let out a long sigh when they saw
the familiar SCI logo in their ‘in-box’ – I take pen and paper in hand and
begin to swipe at the cobwebs of my mind and see what awakens! Okay, so I use a
laptop and mouse not pen and paper and most of the cobwebs which have begun to
take over my ‘attic’ are too entrenched to go with just a swipe. It is going to
take a shop-vac on full suction to get those bad-boys out of the corners!
It
is a combination of the ‘Patriot Day’ just passed which brought with it friends
lamenting how communities and neighbors were so much closer in the weeks
following 9-11 and the simple realization that students now high school
seniors, to graduate in the Spring of 2020, were not yet born in 2001. They
cannot share the common experience of Americans from that fateful day; nor can
any of their classmates who come after them. These thoughts began to stir in me
a desire to write. I realize when I pen an article or blog, there may be only a
handful of people taking the time to read it. But, that’s okay. Writing is
cathartic for me and if, by chance, it does some smattering of good for someone
who is inclined to read it; all the better.
It may be a pity too few may read this post
for, even though many seem driven to cast a pall over America’s horizon and
bemoan how Americans will never be what they once were, there is a brighter
hope I see emanating from the shadows cast by all the nay say-ers. What began
as a faint glow and then was just an unsteady glimmer has begun to brighten and
is overcoming the darkness one front porch at a time, or perhaps a back deck;
maybe one kitchen at a time or within the family rooms of people who share a
common bond.
When
traveling abroad for many years; Karin and I were taken by how a sense of
community existed in a bond between people of the town and it seemed founded
upon the small groups which would appear like magic on front steps or back
patios, even along fence rows, as men and women, their work done for the day
did not retreat behind closed doors,
shuttered windows and loud televisions. Instead in what were some of the most financially destitute villages, we
enjoyed these visits; when the evening light was fading and the one or two
streetlights would crackle and buzz until the dim light within came on,
brightening and lessening as the available amount of electrical current along
the line would fluctuate and neighbors sought out neighbors to do nothing more
than share time. In a world driven by money and possessions, those with the
most of each seem to have less time than those who could not afford a
cellphone, even if service was available. These folks were rich because of the
way they valued and used their time.
The
people who graciously gave us of their time and allowed us to share ours, in
these far-flung villages were Christ followers. Not Christians because their
names were dutifully entered into a ledger of some national church at their
birth but people who had found the richness of the grace of God irresistible
and they had given in, fully and completely plunging themselves into the love
of Christ and learning what it meant to live in a community of believers. The
New Testament has a name for such communities of believers, they are called the
church.
What
I am finding refreshing and the provider of hope for America, is these
‘old-world’ ways – the appreciation of time, the enjoyment of being involved in
an event for the event’s sake and not for what each may get out of the event as
another notch on their social status belt or recognition of their worldly
wisdom. Men and women of America, more and more, are re-learning the joys of being.
They are enjoying being together, being involved in others
lives, being accepted and even needed – not for some thing they
offer to the group but needed to just be part of the group. Those who
seem to be succeeding at this new adventure seem as if they are living in an
older, simpler time. Likely it was not truly simpler – maybe – just less
complex, but not simpler. What I mean by that is; those who lives
were less complex back in my parent’s and grandparent’s days were still not simple
lives. There was pain and hurt, financial troubles, World Wars and much
more. Still, their lives were less complex. They took time to have
time and to share time with others. Family time was held sacrosanct.
You did not find an excuse to miss family time, no matter how, as a teenager
one might believe family time to be lame; or as a young adult might have too
much work or something else as a priority, there was no excuse for missing family
time.
There
is, thankfully, an extension of family time. People, some related by DNA
matches but many more who are together, making time, sharing time, enjoying
time in simpler ways on front steps and back patios, even over fence rows and
no one is looking to see what time it is or how late it is getting. These people
begin to grow together and learn to care for one another building into one
another’s lives. It all happens because they are blood relatives. All are saved
by the precious blood of Jesus. They are Christ followers, not perfect
people, hopefully not legalistic people or judgmental but similarly they have
come from a past of yuckiness and brown stuff and found how
Christ can forgive and forget and He loves them all the same, anyway. These
followers of the Yeshuah are laughing and loving; learning and praying; hurting
and crying; living and thriving – enjoying time together. Seldom is the
television on (unless its football season – there can be a little leeway here –
and it doesn’t matter because you would not be able to hear it over the talking
and laughter anyway. Sometimes when they gather, they study their Bible or
discuss ways to cope. No matter the mix – within it is hope. They are communities
of believers in Jesus Christ who love one another and love getting together –
the New Testament called it the church.
Is
it perfect and without problems? Nope. But, there’s hope.
In
this group, when it is believers who are mostly American citizens, there can be
a range of political beliefs but politics which divide are not part of the
ingredients of these groups. What is incredible is how these groups can become
the strongest fiber, the most level foundation, the walls of support for a
nation such as ours who desperately needs to know Jesus. These men, women, both
young and older people of prayer will be what holds the American experiment
together – not just because America is exceptional but also because
these Americans are exceptional. What makes them exceptional? The God
who made them. Their faith and trust in Him will hold them while the ship of
state rocks on heavy seas.
If
there was ever a time in America’s history when people of faith needed to be
strongly united in being Behind the Line – the Thin Blue Line – it’s
now. Together, prayerfully asking for God’s blessing and faithfully following
His lead; Americans can overcome all of the dark forces which are vying for
America’s lifeblood. Behind the Line – that is where I want to be – yet at the
same time, Christ has asked His believers to be on the front line and it
is possible be both. Christ is who He says He is, and He will do what He has
said He will do. In the in-between time; when the day’s work is done and the
streetlights falter, then flicker on; its good to get together and spend the
most valuable resource you have in life – time, and it’s better when you
spend it together.
Doc Riggs' Ministry Minute 