Rough Spots Along the Way
Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
….Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
….Let the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord, for he is coming!
….He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
….and the nations with his truth. Psalm 96:11-13 NLT
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Overall, I have pretty good roads on my bus route, but I can tell you where about all of the rough spots are along the way. One of the big culprits is when counties and townships have to replace culverts. I don’t know of any that are as smooth as the road on either side of those areas. Most often there is a pronounced dip where they have taken place.
Another bad place is a turnaround in a driveway of my high school/middle school route. It is not paved or cement and has not had new gravel put down in some time. Backing into it isn’t too bad but when I pull out of it, the whole bus rocks back and forth because of the difference in height from the driveway to the paved road.
Yet there is one good side effect of the ice and snow we had coming into last weekend, many – but not all – of those dippy, rocky places are barely noticeable! The snow and ice have filled those areas and frozen solid. So as long as it is below freezing, I get a smooth ride. The bus didn’t rock at all pulling out of the driveway today!
In life, I think we can all agree that relationships can get pretty rocky. We just know that when we have to interact with certain people things are not going to go smoothly. A contributing problematic factor is that we know. So, before we even get to the interacting part, we are bracing for the worse…and most often we are rarely let down. Our anticipation raises the stress level and then our interactions raise it even further
What if there were some way to cool the stress and friction that so often occur. Do you know there’s a verse for that? Proverbs 10:12 tells us,
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers and overwhelms all transgressions [forgiving and overlooking another’s faults] AMP
We know God can do anything. We also know that God has unlimited resources of love…compassion…forgiveness…and patience – just to name a few. All we have to do is ask! He freely gives us what we need!
At least for me, the problem is remembering to ask for His help before I step into those situations.
Lord Jesus, may we be a reflection of You. In and of myself, I often fall short of doing that, but I would pray that You would prompt us to pray before we get into those dreaded interactions. Fill us with all that is good of You and may we be a vessel that freely disperses it to all around. Amen.
Feb 7th, 2022, Mon, 7:48 pm
Meet Me on the Porch!
Father, as I come to sit before You, may the many thoughts of this day fade if they impede my progress. Use what You will, myself included. Amen.
Acts 5:12-16 (<<click here to read the passage)
One thing about our house that I am not satisfied with is that by our front door all we really have is a stoop. Alright, you might say it’s a large stoop, but I think it would be a fair stretch to say that it is even a small porch.
I’ve seen a lot of homes in our area that have large wrap-around porches. They are large enough for swings and chairs. Often, they provide places to hang planters of beautiful flowers in season. Of course, the question would be, do people really use their porches for anything but decoration?
Rev. Rod Buchanan, a pastor acquaintance of mine, shared this in a sermon about growing up in the 40s and 50s:
We lived in a large city, Indianapolis, but our home, like many others, had a front porch… We had chairs and a swing. I can still remember being on grandma’s porch swing and watching people walk by on the sidewalk. Everyone said hello because everyone knew each other. Sometimes they would stop and talk, or even come up on the porch and sit a spell, and grandma would bring out lemonade. Almost all the homes had porches, and people sat outside in the evening since they did not have to air-condition. Friends would stop by unannounced to visit. There was a connectedness among neighbors and families.
In today’s text, Solomon’s portico (colonnade) is referred to. According to the ancient historian Josephus, Solomon’s Portico was a double-columned porch on the east side of the Temple near the court of the Gentiles. It was about 23 feet wide, and the columns were about 40 feet tall. Basically, it was a big fancy porch.
Why did Peter and the other disciples return to this location? On the one hand, it is a likely location for teachers to gather with their disciples to discuss the Scripture. According to John 10:23, Jesus taught his disciples there, so Peter and the disciples are continuing the practice of Jesus by gathering on the Temple Mount. Perhaps that is the reason Jesus went there – it was simply a great place to find religiously inclined people! (Reading Acts)
I cherish the folks who have been so faithful to join us for our virtual worship service since the beginning of the pandemic (almost 2 years now) – they are a vital part of our churches’ congregations. But I will say meeting one another face-to-face has great benefits.
Interpersonal communication is difficult, though by no means impossible, in a virtual setting. But we literally see our fellow worshippers; all kinds of things can happen. We laugh, we cry, we encourage, we share, we call on Christ’s name via many different means – the body of Christ comes alive!
Lord Jesus, may we take full advantage of our time together. May our virtual congregation make some extra effort to interact with one another. And may our in-person congregations not miss the great benefits of being together face-to-face! Amen.
Feb 6th, 2022, Sun, 6:06 pm
We Care Far Too Much About What Others Think
Businesswoman Being Gossiped About By Colleagues In Office
Father, I am grateful for some downtime as well as the opportunity to work on things for Sunday’s services and some other important things. May our time together here be fruitful. Amen.
Acts 5:1-11 (<<click here to read the passage)
At the end of my high school / middle school route, I have a turnaround. I have one student on that stretch of road, so I drive down to a crossroad and turn left, take another left, and then take a right. So, where I was heading south, after the turnaround I’m now heading north. A huge water tower sits in the middle of that triangle.
I don’t know why it bothers me, but if someone is behind me, or coming towards me, just about every time I think to myself. “There probably think I’ve lost it! Any normal driver would have taken a left at the first road I come to, instead of going the long way around!”
But doing it that way gets me the result that I need – to drop that one student off in the safest manner possible. There’s no other way for me to do it.
Why do we care so much about what people think? Many of us struggle with what we wear, how our yard looks, or who we hang out with (or who we avoid!) all because we care far too much about what others think of us.
As we’ve talked about in these first verses of Acts, many in this new fellowship were selling properties and giving the proceeds to the apostles to help the less fortunate. It was a great idea, and many benefited from their generosity. The thing is nobody made anybody else do it. There was no real pressure placed on anyone to take part.
More than likely Ananias and Saphira were overall pretty good people. They saw others selling and donating and decided to do the same. We can only speculate as to why they decided to hold back some of the proceeds. And truth be told, nobody would have thought twice if they had done so. But the thing is they must have thought someone would think less of them if the truth were known. So, in essence, the only pressure to make it look like they were giving all they had received from the sale of their property was the pressure they placed on themselves. Basically, they just cared far too much about what others might think. And they paid the ultimate price for their pride and hypocrisy.
Now it’s easy to think that their punishment for lying – of all things! – was pretty harsh. As my Life Application Study Bible states, “I thought God was supposed to be loving and forgiving. I thought all that wrath stuff was for Old Testament times.” With an emphasis on grace and mercy, it’s easy to overlook the equally important truth of God’s holiness. We must remember that God has not changed (Malachi 3:6). He still hates sin as much as he ever did…even today.
Lord Jesus, I pray that we all will see the seriousness of sin. Help us to forsake it all, for serving You has greater rewards than anything we might be able to achieve here. Amen.
Feb 3rd, 2022, Thurs, 4:00 pm
Hey Boo Boo!
(This isn’t me, but it’s from around the same era!)
Father, as a potentially significant weather system approaches, I would specifically ask for Your watchcare over law enforcement and emergency personnel as they will likely find themselves in harm’s way over the next several hours. Amen.
Acts 4:36-37 (<<click here to read the passage)
Nicknames. I know that they can be used in a detrimental way but many times they are just fun! I remember when I was small, I had an inflatable punching bag. It was generally the shape of a big bowling pin. You could punch it and because of the weight in the bottom of it, it would set itself aright so you could punch it again!
The one I had had Yogi Bear on the front and his sidekick, Boo Boo, on the back. We spent many of our holidays with my mom’s side of the family, and during that time my nickname became Boo Boo!
Nicknames can be things people associate with us and other times we get those monikers because of characteristic traits. In today’s passage, Barnabas was one of those nicknames. He was a Levite from the island country of Cypress. His given name was Joseph, but because of the way he lived and acted, the disciples called him, Barnabas – which means Son of Encouragement. What a name! Interestingly enough, he ends up becoming an integral person in the early church and you never hear him called Joseph again. From that time on, he is referred to as Barnabas!
Encouragement is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we find in Romans 12:8. And this Spirit-filled man greatly impacts God’s Kingdom by living out his gift. If it wasn’t for the respect that Barnabas had garnered, who knows what would have happened to the man who would become known as the Apostle Paul?
Paul – formerly, Saul of Tarsus – was a great persecutor of the Way, those who followed Jesus. But Jesus got ahold of him and Paul became His frontman to the Gentiles. When he arrived in Jerusalem, those of the Way were understandably reluctant to welcome him with open arms! But Barnabas stepped forward, got to know him, and understood that Jesus had got ahold of him…and the rest is history.
The thing I want to point out is the fact that most of us wouldn’t put encouragement at the top of the list as one of the most important and impacting gifts that we could get from the Holy Spirit…that is until you think about it. We all like people who can bring the best out in ourselves and others. Who doesn’t like to be around an encourager? To be sure it is not a person spouting empty flattery, but it is someone who can see the good in others, the potential in others, and is very capable at fanning the flames to the point that their gifts grow and blossom having their own impact of God’s Kingdom.
Pray for encouragers. We are all the better for them and should encourage them to keep up the good work!
Feb 2nd, 2022, Wed, 8:20 pm
Of One Heart and Soul
Sitting in our home office this the sunning is shining brightly, and our bird feeders have been quite busy. They are preparing for a storm heading our way. The Creator is guiding His creation. Oh, if only we were so attuned to Him!
Acts 4:32-37 (<<click here to read the passage)
A prickly point of ideology in our society today is socialism. I have made it very clear before that overall, I am not one to share my stand on particular political or sociological viewpoints, but I want to put out a simple comparison – one that brings to light one of the big differences between socialism and communism.
I found this to-the-point explanation, and it seemed that most other sites agreed. It stated, “…under communism, most property and economic resources are owned and controlled by the state (rather than individual citizens); under socialism, all citizens share equally in economic resources as allocated by a democratically-elected government.” (source – ThoughtCo.com)
The reason I bring this up at all is that I’ve often heard it spouted that socialism is a biblical mindset and those who proclaim it point at today’s Scripture to drive home their point.
Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one [of them] claimed that anything belonging to him was [exclusively] his own, but everything was common property and for the use of all… There was not a needy person among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them, and bringing the proceeds of the sales and placing the money down at the apostles’ feet. Then it was distributed to each as anyone had need. vs32, 34-35 AMP
What needs to be made clear is that both of the aforementioned governmental mindsets are of humanity. Period. God can factor in, as much as He is allowed to, in either one but obviously, both are a human-driven way of doing things.
The early church was full of humanity but the heart and drive of what they did and how they did it definitely used their humanity but was driven, motivated, and inspired by the Holy Spirit. What they were able to accomplish and the great impact they had on the world was most assuredly Spirit-driven!
I realize that there are a lot of good people in the world. People who love and care for others and go far above and beyond to not just love and care but to actually do something about the need so blatantly visible around them. But they are greatly outnumbered in our world by those who care only for themselves.
Remember there was a great spectrum of people that made up the early church. Among the apostles alone, there were fishermen, a zealot, and a tax collector. In the 5,000+ that they now numbered there were the wealthy and the poor, those well-educated and many others were unlearned, priests alongside the common man, and we can’t forget the slaves and slave-owners. All in all a pretty even slice of society.
The only thing they really had in common was the Holy Spirit – but that was more than enough! The love that filled their hearts was enough to even the playing field. Those with far more than they needed willingly gave out of their plenty to help those who were lacking in any way. A Spirit-driven heart, soul, and mind ruled the day! And as it says in the passage, “There was not a needy person among them…”
I know of no communist, socialist, or any other form of society that can claim to have accomplished anything even close on such grand a scale!
Lord Jesus, may we be open to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives today. May we, like the early church, impact the world around us, so as to make them stop in their tracks and realize that we are a part of something supernatural! Amen.
Feb 1st, 2022, Tues, 12:53 pm