Then there’s the account in II Kings 20 of Hezekiah’s prayer-a-thon and life extension. He pleaded with God and received the promise of 15 more years of life. The fame of that event spread to the point that the king of Babylon sent an envoy to Hezekiah. Good king Hezekiah took the Babylonians all around his kingdom and showed them everything – everything. Spies couldn’t have returned with a more detailed report concerning the wealth and security of Jerusalem. OK, I suppose all of us show poor judgment now and then. To me, the shocker is what follows. Isaiah comes to Hezekiah with the news that someday in the future, all the treasure of Jerusalem will be carried off to Babylon. “Oops. Probably shouldn’t have given them the combination to the vault, should I?” 

“No. Nothing will be left, Hezekiah. What’s more, some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be carried off to become servants in the king’s palace in Babylon.”

I would expect some lamenting. I would expect another plea, like he had made regarding his own life. Something like, “Lord, please, I had a lapse of judgment. Please forgive me!” would have made sense in this account. Instead, v19: “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?” 

Seriously? Hezekiah, is that it? Several commentators have tried to posit that this is just a humble acquiescence on Hezekiah’s part – a kind of “Whatever God says I’ll just accept it.” I disagree. I think what we have here is another Old Testament account of something lamentable that happened, simply recorded without commentary. Faced with the news that he was going to die, Hezekiah was all tears and pleading and reasoning with God to change things. Faced with the news that his descendants and Jerusalem of the future would be sacked and enslaved, he thought to himself that there was at least going to be peace and security while he was around. 

Imagine it. What if the nightly news predicted that, within your children’s or grandchildren’s lifetime, there would be a great economic downturn, or that world peace would be threatened, or that the earth would no longer sustain life? What if that was the news, and it was always accurate? Would you say, “Whew! That’s good news…at least that it won’t happen while I’m around!” How self-centered and cold are Hezekiah’s thoughts. I notice his words didn’t fully express what he is thinking. It’s as if it would be too shameful to speak. After all, who would actually say such a thing?

I doubt that many would ever actually verbalize such a thing in the Church, but I sometimes wonder how many of us think it.

Faced with the news that an entire generation of young people are “already gone” in regards to their devotion to the Lord, what is your response? When challenged to give up your comforts or resources for the sake of someone else, anyone else, being reached for Christ, what is your reaction? When you hear the statistics, and witness for yourself the increasing number of people for whom involvement in church is dropping off, what do you say? Peace and security in my lifetime? No. No one would dare speak that out loud. I don’t see that Hezekiah did either.

I am challenged by the words of Erwin McManus in his book, An Unstoppable Force

…It can be sobering to realize that a major portion of our lives is given to preparing the next generation for life. Each generation is connected to the generation before it and the generation that follows. In the prime of our lives we begin the process of replacing ourselves… When a healthy relationship exists within the life cycle, a selflessness of giving oneself away is created. The more one focuses on one’s own living, the less one is concerned about giving life to others. The only way church buildings stay filled through generations is if the church lives and dies and is born again over and over. Soon we realize that the church is not the same church it was twenty years ago or even four years ago. To make the kind of impact in human history that God desires, we must find our fulfillment and the rightness of this life cycle. In the end, it is not so much about prolonging or perpetuating our own life as about giving new life to others. …Jesus reminds us that unless a seed first dies, it cannot produce life. He tells us that unless we lose our own lives, we will never live. …Our future is not to be found in our preservation, but in our investment. p18-19

I can’t promise that the world is going to be a better place for my children and grandchildren. In fact, we have a word from God that says things in this world will get worse. What I can do, however, is promise that I will do all I can to pass ahead the life in Jesus that was passed to me. What I can do is work, not to try to keep the Church the same for me, but rather to focus on replacing myself for the day when the next generation will be called to do the same.

My hope for Central Christian Church is that we, as a church family, will always be preparing the next generation for life rather than just resting in the thought of peace and security in my lifetime.

Reuters reports, Aug. 4, a group of 30 Tibetan Buddhists who purchased 600 pounds of live lobsters from a seafood wholesaler for the purpose of releasing them back into the ocean and saving them from their intended tasty fate. From their point of sale in Gloucester, MA, they were taken by a whale-watching boat out to sea to be released one at a time. August 3 was “Wheel Turning Day” on this year’s Tibetan calendar. On this holiday, the merit for positive actions is supposed to be multiplied many times. So, the monks sprayed lobsters with blessed water, and, with prayers, returned them to the sea. Plop. Merit for your next life! I don’t even like lobster that much, but that would be a tossup for me – merit for when I come back in the form of a halibut, or lobster tail now next to my salmon filet? Here’s a quote from the article:

"Even if they get captured again, they've had a longer life," said Wendy Cook, former director at the Kurukulla Centre for Tibetan Buddhist Studies in Medford, north of Boston.

Buddhists from the centre typically liberate masses of the expensive seafood a couple times each year.

Cook, a yoga instructor, led a ceremony that included prayers, mantras and walking boxes of the lobsters in a circle around blessed objects. This develops a karmic connection for the animals' future lifetimes and help ease future suffering, she said.

…

In India, Geshe Tenley said, cows, sheep and even goats are purchased and saved from slaughter. But here in New England, saving the lobsters and extending their lives -- even if just for an hour -- is most practical and a real way the group can make a difference in the lobsters' existence and their own.

"It's rethinking the way you normally see these creatures," said Victoria Fan, a graduate student who participated in the ceremony steps away from a sign for $15.99 lobster dinners.

"You're supposed to view them equally. Their happiness is as important as your happiness, their suffering is as important as your suffering," Fan said.

My name is Sherm Nichols, and I see food differently! Actually this article does make me think. I read this and I wonder, “Is it possible to find a lobster dinner around here for $15.99?” 

I also find 2 facts inescapable. First, this is a good example of the logical conclusions of a non-Christian worldview. If all life is equally important, then indeed we ought to be saving our under-the-sea brethren who have tentacles and exoskeletons! We should likewise be concerning ourselves with single-cell animals – innocent little paramecia and amoebas – you know, the ones that cause amoebic dysentery. Without intervention, these “equally important” lives will be mercilessly slaughtered by the billions today at the ravages of soap and water worldwide. Maybe these folks should “rethink the way” they normally see those creatures too, along with their view of fleas, lice, ticks, mosquitoes, and bedbugs. 

The other fact this highlights is the folly of saying this is “most practical and a real way the group can make a difference in the lobsters' existence and their own.” Plop. Practical? Those same lobsters are just as likely to be recaptured and eaten as they were before, except now their location is pretty easy to figure out. Thousands of dollars will have been spent by the time those things have been taken for their 3^rd boat ride with the same final destination. While Tibet ranks lowest among China’s 31 provinces, these monks are throwing supper in the Atlantic. I suppose that, knowing their condition to be terminal, it’s nice to have a kind of “Make A Wish Foundation” for seafood that gives them the Disney-like experience of being raised from the ocean floor, thrown around, and then dropped back in. (Sorry, I left out the “blessed water” shower, the mantra concert, and walks in a box around the boat deck! Perhaps they could add a viewing of “The Little Mermaid,” with the chef in the kitchen scene edited out, of course.) Plop. This does indeed also make a difference in the monks’ existence. It makes them the deserved target of ridicule and wastes the hours of life they could have used to actually do some good in the world. I would find it even more humorous to learn that a lobster or two had employed his freed pinchers on one of his rescuers. Maybe that would make a difference in the lobster’s existence, even if just for a short time.

OK, have you had a good chuckle now? Here’s the knife part. How much of what we call “Christianity” and “Church” is actually just as foolish as Operation Rescue for lobsters? How much of what seems so important to us at times really is just as foolish in God’s eyes as giving seafood a brief vacation before their final dip in the hot tub? How much of what we protect so fervently, rather than use, is one day going to rot or wear out anyway? Sea life should be managed, protected, monitored…and eaten. In the same way, all things that God has given us to use for the sake of building His Kingdom should be used, and sometimes expended, rather than becoming an end in themselves.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:25 HCSB) God has created and entrusted to us resources to use for His Church. We also have developed those resources into buildings, technology, programs, schedules, traditions, and events. Some of those can get really impressive and demanding, and all of those “created” things have the potential to own our service rather than the Creator. No matter what we do with them, they are one day going to be gone. Their purpose is to be used for God’s desires now. So, material things like the building and the vans and computers and books, will and should wear out. They aren’t here to be preserved. They are here to be managed, protected, monitored…and used up. Programs, events, and ways of doing things will sometimes run their course and be done. They are a means, not an end in themselves.

Plop. Sure God wants our sincerity, but not sincere delusion. If you find that the cover on your Bible is in pristine condition, but the words of that Bible are not hidden in your heart, you’ve rescued a lobster. If you find that the condition of the building matters more to you than the condition of the people who enter it, you’ve rescued a lobster. If you find that just perpetuating a class, a group, or some program has become more important to you than whether or not it is accomplishing God’s plans, you’ve rescued a lobster. And somewhere out there will be some guy who looks at the foolishness of that and writes an article ridiculing the Church.

Go ahead and look a lobster in the eye. If you can possibly find it in you to endear yourself to that spiny, pinching beast, take him home to your saltwater aquarium. Let him live out his existence in peace and die of old age. Meanwhile, I’ll be on the lookout for that $15.99 lobster dinner to score some brownie points with my wife.

“Foolishness!” you say. Yes, remember the Scriptures refer to the whole cross message as “foolishness to those who are perishing” and “the foolishness of what was preached.” Actually, I’m glad to hear that the cross is still offensive to these 4 who deny the Lord. That doesn’t surprise me. How I wish sometimes that the Church felt as strongly about the cross as its enemies. The sadder day will be when the sight of the cross has been reduced to such inconsequential status that no one bothers to try to conceal it. When the atheists cease to be offended, beware!

Paul told the Corinthians (I Co 1:21-25), “…but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” A stumbling block to the Jews – “This isn’t the Messiah! This isn’t the fate of our anointed Deliverer!” Foolishness to Gentiles – “Who in his right mind follows after some convicted man who got himself executed?” And to Americans? Does the cross really represent to us the power and wisdom of God? This summer I heard of a “church” that was designing their new building, and they were opting to exclude the cross from any of the architecture. Their rationale: they didn’t want to offend anyone and thus hinder them from coming into the building. Wow! Talk about a reason for dyspepsia, symptoms of depression, headaches, anxiety, and mental pain and anguish!

May I remind us all that the cross will always be what Paul said it is. The day that the Church’s presence or message ceases to disturb its enemies is the day that we had better check ourselves carefully to see if we are delivering the correct message or delivering any message at all. When you see the cross, anywhere, remember it, repeat it, speak it: Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

“Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?” (Jeremiah 18:14a)  Answer: no.  The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 doesn’t sit and wonder it’s going to snow in the winter.  Of course it’s going to snow!  Instead, she plans on it, clothes her household with scarlet, and “is not afraid of the snow.”  The writer of proverbs 25 also understood that snow comes, expectedly, at a certain time of year.  “Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters.” (Proverbs 25:13)  Snow at the wrong time is “not fitting” (Proverbs 26:1).

What is the significance of the regularity and predictability of the seasons, and of snow?  I can think of a couple.  First of all, they are a very tangible reminder of the power and sovereignty of God.  The world was drastically changed with the Flood, but right as Noah disemb-arked God made an interesting promise: "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." (Genesis 8:22)  Please, don’t act surprised that it snows.  This has been forecasted for some 5,400 years!  It rains and snows to water the earth, to make it bear and sprout, and to furnish seed to the sower and bread to the eater. (Isaiah 55:10)

I’m also mindful of the fact that there’s a lot of math involved “out there” in space – math that was set up by God.  He didn’t have to make seasons.  He didn’t have to make there be a cycle of growth, decline, rest, and renewal, but He did.  Aren’t you glad?  The seasons tell me that God isn’t boring!  He creates variety and change along with systems and predictability.  One day, when the earth is completely remade and we live on the “New Earth,” there will be a river of life, with the tree of life standing over both sides of it.  It will have 12 growing seasons, bearing fruit each month.  Even when it’s all changed, God still will have in place some “seasons” of growth.

Snow, and the fact that there is such a thing as winter every year since the flood, tells me that God is in control.  It happens because He said it would.  So, with that in mind, I’m going to make a bold prediction: until the Lord returns, there will be seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night. 

Don’t be overly impressed with my prediction.  I’m a personal friend of the Weather Maker!

I’m looking out my window.  It’s snowing again.  And, once again, I’m working to accumulate my own biblical understanding of the significance of this white-faced wonder.  Surely it’s useful for something more than just packing into a ball and throwing at some unsuspecting soul.

I’m not surprised that snow drifts into parts of the Bible that are classed as “poetry.”  The beautiful design of a single snowflake, when you study it, is an amazing piece of artistry.  Most snowflakes aren’t the perfect, symmetrical wonders that you see preserved in special photography.  But the amazing variety and complexity of the more beautiful flakes is incredible.  People smarter than me can explain to you about molecular structure and crystal formation, including the hexagonal (6-sided) structure of flakes.  I’m content to say, “Wow! Look at that one!” and then wonder how on earth you photograph something so fragile that it vanishes the moment it feels your breath. 

It’s one thing to study pictures of those little delicate wonders in a book; it’s another to go out and shovel it, or to be driving on the interstate…say, I-70 going across western Kansas March 23, 1987…in the middle of a blinding, deadly blizzard.  Snowflakes may be fragile, but when they get together by the billions, they can become a raging avalanche traveling 100 miles an hour down a mountainside and sheering away everything in their path.  The Psalms cite the witness of God’s power in this delicate monster.  “He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes.” (Ps 147:16)  “Fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word;” (Ps 148:8)  The snow, like so many other impressive displays of nature, remind us that God is powerful.

God pointed to the power and wonder of snow to help Job (and us) remember man’s place.  "For to the snow [God] says, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the downpour and the rain, 'Be strong.' (Job 37:6)  Rockford’s meteorologists can attempt to predict the weather, but God is calling the shots.  Job was even reminded how much about snow he didn’t understand.  "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail…?” (Job 38:22)  Loosely paraphrased, “Job, I can drop a bazillion snowflakes wherever I want, whenever I want, and you can’t even tell where it comes from or how it forms.”  Like so much of creation the complexity of snow’s smallness, and the power of its massiveness both tell us about the God Who is powerful beyond our greatest ability to imagine, and yet personally involved in the most minute details of everything.

If God is able to organize the molecules of a snow crystal into a flake, and also able to collect them into a storm that can shut down the interstate system, I suppose he’s able to help this sometimes flakey servant with his issues in life.  Do you wonder if God can do something about your challenge?  Take a look outside today.  I’d say He’s pretty well got it covered.

*Snowflake photos used with permission, www.SnowCrystals.com

As I pondered on the frozen, crystalline form of this most common of substances on earth, I began to recall places in the Bible that mention snow.  The fact that it’s there at all should make you think twice.  When you picture the Middle East, is snow really one of the first images that pops into your mind?  Ski the Golan Heights?  White powder in Iraq?  But, sure enough, at least 24 times we have God’s word referring us to snow and its properties.  It’s not a modern discovery, and it’s not unique to our part of the world.

Four different Bible references to snow are concerned with one of its more pleasant features: whiteness.  Can you think of anything whiter than snow?  On clear days now, to look out the window with the sun blaring is difficult, because it’s so bright.  Jeremiah, to contrast the dirty, haggard, worn appearance of the besieged Israelites with their previously privileged lifestyles describes them as “purer than snow, they were whiter than milk…” (Lamentations 4:7)  But, as a result of their suffering, they were now “blacker than soot…shriveled…withered.” 

Job, in his anguish to figure out why he was suffering like he had done some terrible wrong, was trying to figure what kind of a washing would make him an innocent man.  "If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,…” (Job 9:30)

As David repented in Psalm 51, he asked God to wash him, because he believed the outcome of God’s scouring would make him “whiter than snow.”

Anyone who is honest understands that our formerly perfect state of our innocence has become hopelessly sullied.  Remember that favorite shirt or sweater or coat that you used to wear?  Remember how good it made you feel; the way it fit you just right?  Remember the spot that got on it – the oil, the makeup, the sauce – and how it was never the same again?  We wear our life histories like a white T-shirt that has fallen victim to a thousand chili and spaghetti dinners.  With Lady Macbeth, we scrub with frustration at the spot that won’t come out. 

God has an invitation to people: "Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)  How glad I am that snow is in the Bible at this point!  God wants to clean us up, and He can.  The promise is real.  The most belligerent sin stain can be washed - no, better than washed – to the point of pure whiteness like the blinding snow.  Without God’s cure, we were just hoping we could somehow cover it up.  God has bigger plans.  Pure, spotless white.

Whiteness, by the way, isn’t the absence of any color.  Technically, white is the result of the presence of all colors.  Black is the absence of all color.  When light is separated, you can see all those colors.  Isn’t it interesting that our improved, corrected state is actually the most full of color?  Despite our failures that clouded it in the first place, despite our second-rate efforts to fix it later, the most wonderful and beautiful state of being is when we live washed clean by God.

The next time you look out the window and have to squint, remember.  Remember that God has pronounced those who receive forgiveness through Jesus whiter than snow.  Thank God for the cleansing, and thank Him for the picture of it all over the ground outside!
 

I’m a dependant.  There’s even a box where I could check that off on the 1040 form this coming April 15. 

Don’t get all judge-y on me.  You’re a dependant too.  If you were born, you were dependent on your parents…to even exist, and then to nurture you.  If you were ever a child, you were dependent on someone providing for and protecting you for a number of years at least.  In school, you were a dependant because all you learned came through books written by other people, and you were taught by others too.  This morning, you depended on others to bring the news of the day, and you’re even accessing this blog by means of your dependence on service providers onto a computer that someone else designed, built, and powered!  Go ahead, say it: “Hi, I’m _______, and I’m a dependant.”  Doesn’t that feel better?  Now, we may not like being dependants, but that’s simply a part of human existence.  Don’t worry, I think no less of you for being that way.  But let’s not get caught up in you at the moment.  Let’s think for a moment about the next generation of dependants. 

Reading in the book of Judges this morning, I was struck by our status of spiritual dependency.  You see, the whole book is a mostly sad account of Israel’s stumbling and wandering away from God.  Joshua’s time of leadership has just drawn to a close.  Israel has been led into the Promised Land, and the Lord has led them to eradicate the Canaanite nations, except they haven’t quite done that.  Then, in Judges 2, Joshua dies, and the elders who have led Israel with him eventually die.  By verse 11 Israel has walked off from God.  Verse 10 says, “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.”

Judges serves as multiple reminders that it is possible for the Lord to be forgotten in “one generation.”  After one generation of faithful people died, the next abandoned Him.  We might learn from this that every generation is dependent on its predecessors in order to know the Lord.

We need to be witnesses to God’s power.  There needs to be someone around saying, “You should have seen what God did when I was younger!”  The adults and experienced people of the Church today should take this to heart.  We should be telling the stories of what God has done in the past.  It’s not about waxing nostalgic.  We must bear witness to the mighty works of God!  Can I have a witness, please?  Someone younger is depending on this!  Maybe there should be a regular platform for someone of experience to stand and say, “Here’s something I once saw God do…”  It should include the work of the Lord in general and the work that the Lord has done among us too.  Can I have a witness?! 

We also need to receive upon ourselves the responsibility of assuring that the next generation knows the Lord.  Whose fault is it if they don’t?  I know, at some point they must choose for themselves the direction they will go.  But while they’re young enough, where does the burden lie?  How backwards it is of us when we look at the current younger generation and run them down for the direction they are headed! They’re children, for crying out loud!  It might be more fitting for them to look at us and say, “Hey, more experienced people, don’t allow the next generation to walk off from the Lord.  We’re dependants, just like you were dependent on the generation ahead of you to lead the next generation the right direction.”

I speak to myself and all the rest of us dependants here.  How important is our task to help the next generation of children and youth to know and love the Lord!  We had to have it done for us.  Let’s be sure we’re doing all we can for them!  They’re depending on us!

Sherm

Suppose that the leaders of this revolt were godly people.  What might they say?  It’s likely they would turn to biblical ideas about God’s intent for mankind.  It’s likely they would point out the way their current situation isn’t what God desires.  After all, when you appeal to the Highest Authority, the Source of all civil authority, who can argue against it? 

So, when the Declaration of Independence was drafted, it immediately ran to this moral high ground.  The colonists were going “…to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitles them.”  From there, the Declaration cites several “self-evident,” objective truths: “…that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”  It wasn’t by accident that the Creator God was mentioned three times in the opening lines of the Declaration.  It was the foundation for the whole thing.

What would justify, in the minds of the founders of this nation, a revolution?  Simple: God the Creator has created every person with a certain set of rights that ought to be equally upheld.  While the founders didn’t sort it all out at the time, this even provided the basis upon which slavery ultimately could not be a part of this nation’s structure. 

It matters that the founders were men who believed in God.  Without that underpinning, there was no moral ground.  Remove it, and we are simply a nation of rebels with a regrettable and shameful past that we should be seeking to escape. Some have assumed such an attitude.

Consider it.  What happens when you take God out of the picture?  What happens when the Declaration of Independence is altered to say, “…they are endowed with certain unalienable rights…” but it doesn’t say who or what endows them?  We aren’t radical for insisting that faith in God was present in the forming of this nation.  We are simply adhering to the very ideas that hold it together.  Take that away, and my rights, your rights, anyone’s rights, are simply a grant from the State…if it chooses to be benevolent.

So much has been given to us at such great expense for us to have this great nation today.  I urge you to study those who are running for office, to use godly discernment, and to vote this next Tuesday.  Remaining a GREAT nation means GREAT opportunity for the Church to carry out our Lord’s GREAT Commission.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”  (attributed to Edmund Burke.  Accurate quote or not, it sure makes sense!)

My Church

My Church is composed of people like me.

 We make it what it is.

I want it to be a church that is a lamp unto the path of the pilgrims,

 leading them to goodness, truth, and beauty.

 It will be – if I am.

 It will be friendly,

 If I am.

 Its pews will be filled,

 If I help fill them.

 It will do great work,

 If I work.

 It will make generous gifts to many causes,

 If I am a generous giver.

 It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship,

 If I bring them in.

 It will be a Church of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith, and a church with a noble spirit,

 If I am filled with these qualities of a true church member.

Therefore, in the quietness of this morning worship and in the silence of my own soul, with the help of Almighty God, in Christ, I shall dedicate myself anew to the task of being the kind of person that I want my Church to be!

~Anonymous

I guess the question this raises is "What kind of Church will Central be?"  And, I guess the answer is, "What kind of member of Central will you be?"  I would love for CCC to be characterized by all those qualities mentioned above.  My daily prayer is that the Lord will look upon us and be pleased with what we have made of His Church.

Sherm

This past Sunday, my family and I went for a ride on the perfect fall day to Edwards’ Apple Orchard.  It was our first visit there, and since there was no Bears or Packers game, the orchard was packed to the crust with apple pickers, peruse-rs, and purchasers.  But one feature that made this trip especially memorable was that we rode in the Stewarts’ 1928 Model A Ford 4-door.  We didn’t break speed records.  That’s not the goal of traveling in an older model car.  It was fun sitting in the backseat, waving at all the people whose heads turned with a curious grin and who couldn’t seem to resist waving to us like we were on a float in a parade.  They even honked the ooga ooga horn a few times – something you don’t hear much of anymore. 

We learned a bit of the history of the Model A, and of this particular car.  Stan and Nan had several pictures of events they had visited with it, and of its 2-year restoration process.  It doesn’t look like it did when they first obtained it.  A lot of TLC went into making it useful again – no longer as a utility vehicle, but as a shiny piece of mobile nostalgia.  As it turns out, there are several people in the area who have model A’s.  A group of them even borrow a room of our church building to get together.  They have this shared love for that old classic, and having that interest in common means enjoying being together.

You may have noticed that some of the members of the Central Christian Church family are classic models – genuine antique persons!  You may even be a 1928 model yourself (I did the math – that makes you 82 this year).  There are some things about older model people that I appreciate.  For one, they tend to be filled with a lot of interesting memories, and they can be pretty good at creating new ones.  Grandmas and Grandpas can be a storehouse of neat stuff waiting to be learned for the first time in this generation.  If that’s you, I hope you’re making sure to pass along your heyday to kids who actually would like to hear it.  There’s something about you that is intriguing; something that we otherwise don’t hear much of anymore.  I also hope that, if you’re an older model, you realize that you’re not useless because times around you have changed or you’ve changed.  OK, so what you contribute isn’t the same as it used to be.  So what?  There’s a necessary place for you in the Family of God, a role that the rest of us rookies need to see.  Please don’t park yourself away in the shed just because newer models are faster or get better mileage.  Go on, turn some heads, and wave back.  You can actually contribute in ways that others can’t, and you can bring a lot of smiles!

As for the newer models (and those somewhere in the middle), keep in mind that these classics need TLC.  They need for us to make sure that they’re cared for in a way that keeps them on the road.  If you haven’t taken the time to realize it, slow down and have a look.  Their lives were put together with thoughtful craftsmanship that got them to this point in history.  Younger people are trying to become what they are – older models.  Of course they’re different!  If we were all the same, we’d be pretty boring to have around!

Being in the family of God means we all have this shared love for a large variety of people.  As a whole, we’re pretty interesting!  That’s one reason to enjoy being together, just like a slice of warm apple pie on a crisp fall day.

Yeah, we like that one, don’t we?  Psalm 14 and 52 start with these same words.  Those people are toast, and besides that, they’re fools!  No God?!  Get real!  How do you deny the existence of God?  The demons believe in God.  Over 80% of the people of our nation say they “believe in a god.”  Even in our post-Christian society, it’s still in vogue to say you believe in some form of God, whether you live like it or not.  Even though Stephen W. Hawking has decided for us that science has made God unnecessary, it’s still OK to say He’s there.  So, you believe in God?  OK.  That’s not an overly heroic assertion, not really.

Now I’m reading in Psalm 94 about a different group of people.  In the New American Standard translation, they are “senseless” and “stupid ones.”  That sounds a little more up close and personal than “fool,” doesn’t it?  They are the people who know there is a God, but who act like He’s impotent.  They commit evil, and know it’s wrong, while they fall back on, “The Lord does not see.” 

I guess the difference here could be compared to a teenager who chooses to be rebellious.  He doesn’t run around and say, “My parents don’t exist.”  That would be just plain foolish.  I haven’t met many rebellious teens who would try to say this.  But there are plenty like the one who says, to others or himself, “My parents will never find out about this,” or “My parents won’t be able to do anything about this.”  As it turns out, that’s not unique to rebellious teens.  It’s the necessary rationalization of every person who believes there is a God but chooses to disobey Him.  It’s you and me when we know what’s right but fail to do it.  You believe God is.  Great.  Do you live like He’s able to do anything about you?

I guess what this psalm leaves me wanting to say is “Don’t be senseless!  Don’t be stupid!  God sees!  God hears!"  (Eyes and ears were His idea, by the way, as were light and sound.)  I don’t want to be classed with the senseless.  God wants me to live like I think He can and will actually call me into account for my choices.  Otherwise, I’m internally conflicted about what I really believe about Him.  I’m at an age in life where I have enough “internal conflicts” in my body without adding more!  Praise God that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him!  Lord, help me not be "stupid!"

Psalm 94:12 (NIV)  Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD, the man you teach from your law

I’m not sure we give enough thought to an eternal, transcendent, immutable God and what it means for Him to insert Himself in self-imposed confines.  God doesn’t change.  There is no variation or shifting of shadow about Him.  The essence of God will never change.  But, from a human perspective, God does make changes around Himself.  For instance, “before” creation, God was not Creator of Heaven and earth.  Once He did that, there were some changes.  God obligated Himself by creating man and being involved in that creation.  God made promises, promises He didn’t have to make, but now that He has to keep.

Then we get to places like Hebrews 5:9, and there are words applied to our unchanging God that you don’t use about unchanging beings – “…made…became…”  Ponder the mystery with me.  Jesus was “made perfect.”  Jesus “became” something.  My understanding is that this whole concept is tied to the incarnation.  God “became flesh” and lived among us.  The unchanging God not only took on a different form, but took on a form and journey that would require Him to be “made” and to “become.”  Before His suffering and death, Jesus’ earthly status was not complete.  For 33 years, from the manger to the cross, Jesus was becoming the source of eternal salvation.  He wasn’t until it was finished.

Jesus became.  How shallow and pathetic my own nature sounds next to these words.  The Lord calls me to grow up, to make and keep commitments, to be transformed by the renewing of my mind.  And what do I do?  I resist.  My flesh resists the change.  My flesh, in this transitory, ever-changing world, resists becoming the better things the Lord has for me to become.  I don’t like to have to adjust my tastes and comforts.  I don’t like to change my plans.  I don’t like to give up bad habits, or to add new practices and disciplines for growth.  My mind doesn’t like to be stretched.

I plan, one day in Heaven, to praise the Lord not only for Who He is, but also for what He deliberately became for me.  God made Him, Who had no sin, to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  Turns out that not all change is bad.

My friend Greg is a godly man. He is a husband, and father of 4 girls. Greg not only serves in the church, he’s also a servant to his community. He has leadership qualities, and is well-trained to put them to good use. My friend Greg also has inherited a disease that for the past few years has begun to rob him of his health. In the past year, it has become serious to the point where, without a kidney transplant, he would have to start dialysis treatments to stay alive. The need for a live kidney donor for Greg was made known in his home church and through other circles of acquaintance. Christian brothers and sisters all over began to pray for Greg’s situation, and continued to pray, which is the only explanation for how Greg is doing as I write this.
The number of people who added their name to the list of potential donors and underwent preliminary testing was a number that, according to the doctors, “doesn’t happen.” Greg’s ability to continue to work and function over the past year, though with difficulty, was another thing that “doesn’t happen” with someone in the condition to which he had degraded.

A donor with an excellent match was found – a young lady named Trish who had been a student of Greg’s in law enforcement school. Not only was she someone whose life was influenced by him, but she was also a sister in Christ and a member of a Christian family. The surgeries were “textbook,” taking far less time than everyone in the waiting room expected. The recovery rate for both of them was ahead of schedule. Trish’s visit to Greg’s room in ICU, the evening of their surgery day, was something that the ICU nurse had “never seen” in her 15 years of doing this. 3 days after her kidney was removed, Trish attended church services back home. 4 days after his transplant, Greg is headed home too, with the prospect of health that he hasn’t had for some time now.

The hospital in St. Louis does some 245 of these surgeries every year. They don’t all go like these did. There were some other things that “don’t happen” around this surgery too – like a circle of prayer by gathered friends the night before in the lobby of the hotel. There were the 37 people in the waiting room, and the rest of a huge network of prayer warriors who lifted Greg and Trish to heaven’s throne. There was the Family of God, providing emotional, financial, and practical support of all kinds, to help both these families through this amazing journey. The number of “not happening” things that happened is far from coincidental.

Greg could choose to question God and bemoan all he has had to go through. Instead, he and his wife Cindy have worked to take the teachable moments and spoken about the obvious work of God in all this.
As for me, I just sit back in wonder at the way God works. This Household of God, of which you and I are a part, is truly amazing. How blessed I am to be a part of it.

Yes, we’re moved in. No, the boxes are not all unpacked, but we’re getting there. Yes, we do like Rockford. That’s the short version. Let me elaborate now…
Our move involved a lot of people giving us a lot of help. On the Joplin end were some 16 or so of our friends who helped us in getting our house in selling shape, packing, and loading up. Then there were 4 dear friends from Central who traveled to Joplin just to help us drive everything up here. Before that, there was a crew of volunteers who gave the Guilford house an extreme makeover. I won’t guess how many hours went into that project. On the 21st, more people than I could number showed up to unload 2 truckloads of stuff. Along with all the unloading, there were cards, food, and a lot of warm welcomes. Our first Sunday night here we were helped with groceries and gift cards to fill our pantry. After the heavy rains, the “A Team” came over to help keep the basement dry and move things around for us. Oh we’re very moved in, and we’re very thankful to all of our brothers and sisters in Christ for all your help without which we couldn’t have done it. For whatever part you may have had in any of that THANK YOU!
 

Every day we’re managing to make the Guilford house home. The number of boxes keeps going down. Until that’s over, it’s like Christmas every day – never quite sure what you’re opening! Still, it may be a while before I can bring myself to watch any boxing (sorry, I had to say it).
 

And Rockford – yes, this is a new culture for us. Being 3 times bigger than where we’re coming from, it will take us some time to figure a few things out about life here. We’ll adapt. We’re glad to make this our hometown along with the rest of the gang here, realizing that all of us are actually waiting on a city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. No, that’s not Wal Mart, by the way. I just notice about this city that there are plenty of people in need of Jesus. We have our work cut out for us, and we have job security as the Church.
So, our experience of moving here so far has been a very positive beginning. It’s humbling to be on the receiving end of much sacrifice and obvious effort. It serves to remind me that the family of God is a wonderful, functional variety of members when it works according to its design. Our family is enjoying getting to know this family a little at a time. That will take a while, but it will be well worth it.
 

Thanks be to God for the way He cares for His people. So often that’s through one another. Today, I’m thankful for the “anothers.”
 

We're looking forward to adding to the pool of relationships that are a precursor to Heaven.  Sure, we'll miss our friends who remain in Joplin, MO, but we won't discard them.  We simply get to increase the size of the circle we call "friends."  I guess that's what's on my heart this Monday.  As my sister often says, "God is good, and that's that."

We have only one Sunday left at Villa Heights Christian Church.  We are realizing that many of the direct contacts we have with people here now may well be the last we share this side of Heaven.  We are also realizing that over the past 11 years here we have formed many deep and lasting friendships.  That's the way it should be.  The connections we make because we serve the Lord together are some of the greatest and strongest of all.  I am reminded of my dad, who loved going to the North American Christian Convention just to stand around and see people he knew after years in the ministry.  As difficult as it is to realize we'll be putting 600 miles between ourselves and many people who are dear to us, we also realize that we have many new friends to make now in Rockford, IL.  We also realize that no relationship in the Family of God is only as long as this life.  These connections are just the start of forever together.  As we arrive at Rockford, Lord willing, on the 20th, we already anticipate some deliberate work to get to know and be known by the Church family there.

Thank you for your prayers and your contacts.  Knowing that we're "moving to something good' is not only a great help to us, but a fact we're glad to share with our friends in Joplin who are also looking out for us.  Just for the fun of it, I'm including another photo.  The wedding provided a great opportunity for photos that we rarely manage, including this one of my 5 older siblings and my mom.  I'll let you sort through who got the good looks and all that.

On the list of life's most emotional experiences, I'll now add walking your only daughter down an aisle and then giving her away to another man's care.  Wow!  I've seen only one other bride more striking.  It was also fairly amazing to see Andy in a tux.  Carrie and I are so proud of our little girl now turned grown woman.  At the same time, we felt so humbled by the outpouring of love and help that made this past Saturday so memorable.  My mother, my five siblings, and many of their children were there.  That was just the Nichols side. In addition to over 80 family members who came, there were dozens of our dear friends decorating, running errands, taking care of details, cleaning, and providing support of all kinds.  Some of those prayers and good-wishes came from new friends there in Rockford.  Thanks for helping to make a wonderful day for our favorite daughter and, gulp, son-in-law.

On to the next thing.  From here, we are setting our sights towards the move to Rockford.  We are saying a lot of goodbyes, checking off a "Joplin Bucket List," and working on our house to make it marketable.  ("Marketable" must be different than "liveable" because somehow I have a lot of things to fix that we've lived with just fine!)  We expect to be present and started up at Central by July 25th.  So, we are experiencing some major transition right now.  That's code word for "change."  I'll reflect more in the future on change.  For now, let me just say that it's exciting, interesting, tiring, and stressful.  As change comes charging toward us like a stampede of wildebeests, I am so thankful that God does not change.  He tells us that, in part, for moments when every other thing seems to be in flux.  While we look ahead to change, we're also looking at the loving and gentle Father, Who will be the same today and forever.