RESCUE

The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials...
-- 2 Peter 2:9

My son and I just returned from a guys trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. One of our adventures was rafting the Poudre River. The river level was down a bit, being late summer. However, there were still several Class IV rapids along the route.

Another product of the late season water level? Rocks! Rocks normally safely under the water were exposed. They were route-changers. To my flat-land, still-pond mind, they were raft-eaters. Paddle-breakers. Trip-enders.

There were six people in our boat: Three from Amarillo (more flat-landers - one of whom apparently liked to swim through some of the rapids rather than stay in the raft), my son and me, and one other. It was this one other that made all the difference.

His name was Guide - though I think that is not what was on his birth certificate. And his job matched his name. Guide knew the river. He knew the rocks. He knew the rapids and the eddys. And Guide knew the route through the turbulence.

Guide told us our job was to 1) Listen to his commands; 2) Paddle hard; 3) Work together; and 4) Stay in the boat. However, Guide said that someone would more than likely leave the boat somewhere along the way. The word he used was ejected.

Prior to hitting the water, Guide walked us through the process of rescuing the ejected. Depending on where we were in the river, Guide might do the rescuing himself; or Guide might position the raft to have someone else do the rescue. Either way, the swimmer became a rafter once again at Guide's direction and positioning of the boat.

Today there will turbulent rapids. Guide knows the route.
Today there will be rocks. Guide knows each one.
Today some will be ejected. Guide has a rescue plan.

Listen to his voice... Paddle hard... Work together... Stay in the boat.

God, you are my Guide.

For now...
D

WINNING!

The caption on the photo read:

Winners focus on winning... losers focus on winners!

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, 

and straining forward to what lies ahead, 

I press on toward the goal for the prize 

of the upward call of God...

-- Philippians 3:13-14

For now...
D

(Photo from Imgur)

EVERYTHING...

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness...
-- 2 Peter 1:3

We have everything we need.

That is a simple statement, but a hard truth to comprehend.

As I write, I am sitting on the couch in my air-conditioned house, drinking coffee. I am about to head to an air-conditioned church and sit in a padded chair - and drink more coffee. Most who read this will be in similar comfort. My point: I've never known extreme poverty or the desperation of searching for a meal. I can only imagine how foreign the statement, we have everything we need, might sound to a family who is being evicted, having just buried a father, or to a mother combing scraps in the Matamoros Mexico dump to feed to her toddler (which I've seen).

Trite answers don't work. And American Christianity seems to often boil down to triteness and self-focus. I'll take it a step further (since it's my blog), trite and self-serving Christianity is not Christianity. And in my Christian journey, I am often guilty of "unchristianess." (Again, my blog, I can invent words.)

When we read Peter's words above, we often miss some important depth.
His divine power - Whose power? God's. (As in, "God's, period!" Not yours, not mine.)
...has granted - past tense, with continuing and ongoing results. (It's a Greek grammatical tense thing.)
...to us - This promise is given to the community of faith. And though it has individual impact, it is us, not me. (More on this in a moment.)
...all things - we have everything we need (keep reading).
...life and godliness - to live as God intends for us, (for our calling and purpose.)

This statement may sound trite, but it is true: We have everything we need in Christ. 

I have often heard it said that God will never allow me to face more than I can bear. I struggle with the statement, though the fact that I am alive and well (and writing), sings the melody of its truth. That stated, I'd like to amend the platitude: God will never allow us to face more than we can bear... together and through his strength and presence.

The Christian life is a life lived in community with others from whom and with whom we share strengths, weaknesses, joys and pain. And it is a body (Paul's analogy) that is completely interconnected drawing its strength and power from Christ.

So, with all these concepts in mind I can confidently state: We have everything we need.

I, for one, tend to want more... to look for more. A blog post I wrote in davidmstanleykineticlife.blogspot.com quotes Bono from U2, whose lyric cries, But I still haven't found what I'm looking for. 

But here is a truth I've learned and am learning: The real and worthy search in this life is not about looking for more. The worthwhile search is not the constant desire for something else, something other. The better journey is one that leads us to deeper understanding of WHO IS this one who provides, and who he has made us to be for ourselves and others.

That for which you search is not out there somewhere. It is instead found in a God who is a whisper away.

Keep searching... deeper.

God, I have everything I need... in you.

For now...
D

THE ARROGANT ANXIOUS

...casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 

-- 1 Peter 5:7

Here is an uncomfortable modus ponens.* (Yes, I do remember something from my junior year Logics course.) Think of it as a word equation of implications.

Anxiety = Lack of trust

Lack of trust = Belief we are in control

Believing we are in control = Arrogance

Therefore, if we are Anxious, 

it is due to our Arrogance. 

Ouch.

Choose to apply (or not) my experience with anxiety:
When I am anxious, I project into the future. Though I am in the here and now, my thoughts are in the there and then. And in some way I feel that I can change it; that I can be there/then... that I have power in the future.

But I don't.

In fact, anxiety is not only fruitless, it is also counterproductive. When I attempt to live in the future, I am robbed of life in the present; which, in reality, is the only place I have the power to live. (And I am not negating the importance of preparing in the now for the then - this is also a scriptural principle).

It is no coincidence that just before writing, casting all your anxieties upon him..., Peter writes:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God...

-- 1 Peter 5:6 

Humbling ourselves precedes - or is at least an element of - true faith. God is not bound by your past. By the way, neither are you. And God is the only one who knows the future.

So here is another logical equation:
If God cares for us (and he does)...
And if God is the only one who knows the future (and he is)...
And if this God who cares deeply and knows all, is completely powerful (and he is)...
Then I can trust him.
Wait... allow me to rephrase:

I must trust him.

I have always had a distaste for Christian cliches, (you know, bumper-sticker theologies). One of these is LET GO, AND LET GOD. Cliche or not, there is truth to the idea. Faith is a letting go; a total dependence; a leaning on God.

God, help me to let go, and to lean on you... my arrogance has made me anxious.

For now...
D

*Disclaimer: I vaguely remember my Logics concepts. I take no responsibility for the misuse of Modus Ponens -- after all, it made my point.

THE FURNACE...

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
-- 1 Peter 4:12

TV preachers who talk of happiness and abundance as the true results of faith, tell only part of the story. We cannot appreciate abundance without knowing lack. We cannot be happy unless we've known joy in the midst of pain.

Through $30,000 smiles and caked makeup, they tell a half-true story. But where there is half-truth, there is falsehood.

I've always wondered how their message would sit with the Apostle Paul. "Paul," they might say, "if you truly have faith, you should be on a yacht and not in a dungeon. God wants you to be rich and happy." Paul might smile to himself - or cry - and continue writing the words:

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. 

In any and every circumstance, I learned the secret 

of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 

I CAN DO ALL THINGS 

THROUGH HIM WHO STRENGTHENS ME.  

-- Philippians 4:11-13

Yes, God does want us to know joy. Jesus is the embodiment of joy. His presence is the fullness of joy. As one (non-makeuped) preacher put it... KNOW JESUS, KNOW JOY. NO JESUS. NO JOY. 

Yes, God does want us to experience abundance. And sometimes with that abundance comes wealth. But wealth measured in only stuff and money is not true wealth. 

When we buy what the half-truth-tellers sell, we pay the consequences. We are surprised by trial. Worse, we feel deceived or defeated by trial's mere presence.

If you will allow an old preacher to preach for a moment (through morning-coffee teeth and with a new blemish on my cheek (who gets those at my age anyway?) - in other words, no $30K smile or makeup)... 

The fire of trial will not defeat you. It may burn away some things that, though painful, ultimately hold you back. But it will not consume you. The fire of trial will REFINE you. It will FORGE your character. It will make you who can be. And in the midst of the heat, you will find the presence of JOY. 

I can't say that I have learned to look forward to trials. I don't necessarily embrace them (before or during). But I am better for the pain. And I bear the scars with an odd joy (and almost pride). I don't look forward to my next fiery trial. But I fear it less. Because within every furnace I've walked, there has been one who walks with me.

God, you have always been with me through the fire of trial, refine me. Forge me...

For now...

D

Explain yourself...

... always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect...
-- 1 Peter 3:15

Explain yourself.

When necessary use words. 

There is A HOPE within you; and within me. This hope is a person, and everything he is, stands for, has done, and promises. Peter calls it a LIVING HOPE.

Others should take notice of this hope within us - if it is there. I do not mean to imply that we are to drum it up in some way. Theatrics repel. Authenticity draws. And if the hope is real, there is no need for theater. If hope is authentic, it will demonstrate itself.

How? In what we do (and how we do it). In what we say (and how we say it).

LIVING HOPE within produces actions (and behaviors) that match our words; and words (and attitudes) that match our actions. The Christian life is an equation that must be balanced on both sides of the equal sign (=).

WORDS = ACTIONS

ACTIONS = WORDS

(If I recall 8th grade algebra, I believe it is the Communicative Property... kind of. Maybe it's part Associative, or Distributive. I don't know. What I do know is I've now led you WAY off  track.)

Peter tells us to ...always be prepared. Prepared to DO good... prepared to SAY good. (Not good grammar, but I think you get it.) To do so, we must train. We must train for actions and train for conversations.

This little blog is not a "How To..." In reality, we know "how to." Our problem is usually less a problem of "how to," but of "want to."

Prepare yourself. Today you will have opportunity to present hope... to reveal the living hope that is within you. Act on it. Speak about it. In doing so, you will find joy. In doing so others my find life.

God, you are my LIVING HOPE.

For now...
D

What we do...

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 
--1 Peter 2:15

What we say matters. What we do matters even more. 

How can a mind be changed? How can a heart be won? How can a culture be healed?

Right words are important. Right ideas expressing truth, spoken with right attitudes, are vital. But without right action, words fail.

Doing good pleases God. Doing good builds our character. Doing good brings light into darkness. And a by-product: doing good silences ugliness.

There is enough ugliness in our world. There is too little good. Allow me to rephrase, there is overwhelming good. But there must be more doing good. That is you... that is me... today.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
-- Micah 6:8

God, you made me good in Christ, now help me to have the guts to do good.

For now...
D