Indubiously

What started out as a look into many of Piper’s favorite scripture verses for a memorial plaque that my kids are working to have placed at a memorial park in our hometown, turned into a week-long study on the thought and idea of ABANDONMENT.

The circled scripture in Piper’s trusty New American Standard Bible that we had given her as a birthday gift in the early 1990’s, that I honed in on is found in Jeremiah 29:11. In this portion of Biblical history, the Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah, declared to the children of Israel… as well as for us in the church today saying… “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

As is my normal Bible study process, one of the first things that I did was to look through many of my different Bible translations in order to gain a better and maybe more modern twist on what was being said.  The last one I looked at was in the paraphrase of The Message Bible.  These words written in current terms sort of jumped right off the page and dove into my heart!  Here Jeremiah plainly states the Lord declaring, “I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” 

Without any hesitation or shadow of doubt, I can indubiously* state that this was a scriptural truth that my wife lived her life by 24/7.  What really got my attention though, was the fact of this Word, that we saw personally and upfront during our battle for Piper’s health… worked for us!  The Lord promised us that He would not and... He did not ABANDON us.

I was a little taken by surprise though when my thoughts went to some of the people that we felt had ABANDONED us and instead of feeling the normal twang of pain that Piper and I had felt at the time… I began to feel pain in my heart for them!

As I sat back in my desk chair, it dawned on me how difficult it must have been for many of the people that we interacted with as they found themselves having to struggle with their faith.  To “not abandon you” or “not have plans for calamity” as the NASB puts it, is defined in the original Hebrew by Strong’s and Brown-Driver-Briggs, as to not have thoughts (or plans) of “adversity, displeasure, or misery, or be disagreeable or unhappy or sad,” and to not react “viscous in disposition.”

The modern English definition of ABANDON is “to cease to support someone, to completely give up on a course of action, or the practice of a way of thinking” or to respond to someone with “a complete lack of inhibition or restraint and/or with recklessness.”**

When I read all of those definitions for ABANDON, my jaw practically fell on the floor… because it astutely described what Piper and I experienced with different folks on both coasts!  In many respects, watching someone struggle with their faith in a situation that I was up to my eyeballs in… was almost more difficult than seeing the deteriorating changes in my wife… mainly because I knew that her strong faith would not fail her! 

Today as I look back, I hurt for them.  I can’t hardly imagine how hard it must have been to them.  At the time, their reactions confused me as it was very different than where Piper and I were in our faith.  And again, at the time, it was not what I expected and to be honest… it irritated me.

I cannot imagine having to go through what we did without a deeply personal knowing of how intimately God loves us and is therefore, absolutely true to His Word… that when He says that He will never ABANDON us… He means it!

I’m not too sure what to say at this point.  I still pray for those different folks… and I pray for each of my readers… that you will continue to grow in your deeply personal, experiential knowing of how intimately God knows and loves you… and that He proves it to us… on a daily basis… but being true to His Word!

So… When you hear the Lord saying to you: “I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for (or the future you are expecting)"...  that you do whatever you need to do to get yourself to the point in your faith that you absolutely and indubiously* believe it… BELIEVE HIM - without a doubt!

 

*“Indubiously” (meaning without doubt or certain) was a favorite term of my best male friend in high school.  He had a way of interjecting the word into the middle of a discussion that would get us all laughing in an instant!  John… if you’re reading this… please give me a shout out!

**Oxford Online Dictionaries

Future Expectations

My kids, with the local assistance of Piper’s sister, are working together to have a memorial plaque of their mom placed on a special remembrance wall at the Santa Rosa Memorial Park in our California hometown, near where the rest of her family are interned.  Piper’s and my wishes were to have our ashes scattered from the top of our favorite peak, in our favorite camping location in Plumas County, California.  This location not only holds years of memories of family camping and hiking adventures with our children, but it is also the first and the very last place that Piper and I vacationed at alone.

That said, I have also wanted to have a physical memorial to her where her life is remembered with a visual representation of some sort.  I have looked into doing it here in Broken Arrow, and while we will probably still do that, the hometown memorial seemed like an excellent way to honor her in the city in which she grew up, flourished and left her mark.

I received a text over the weekend from my two older kids asking for input on Piper’s favorite scripture.  That had me stumped for a moment, simply because she had so many of them!  After a minute of thought, I retrieved her two most used Bibles and began to leaf through them, thinking that her underlining and circling would give me some hints.  As I looked through the books though, I had to laugh for it was difficult to find a single page that didn’t have scriptures highlighted in some manner!

But the more I looked through the Bibles, the more I began to associate memories with particular verses.  One of the very familiar words of truth that popped off the page to me was the Lord’s words in Jeremiah 29:11.  Here the Lord promises us, in the translation of Piper’s well-worn NASB Bible, “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

While reading this verse aloud, it was quite easy to recall many special instances of Piper standing on, teaching, praying or simply sharing this verse with friends, family, neighbors and students through the many years of our relationship.  It was one of those life-blossoming verses that she came to memorize and apply practically and intertwine in situations that she was involved with during her lifetime.  Because of her example, it also became a favorite tool in my scripture toolbox as well!

When I recently studied this verse, I came across a modern interpretation in The Message Bible where the Lord declares, “I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”  A little bit of research shows that the word “hope” would be better translated as “expectation.”  In fact, the King James version tells us that the purpose of God’s plan is “to give you an expected end.”  In The Companion Bible, E.W. Bullinger notes that the Lord is informing us that this end is “an end which I have caused you to expect.”

That commentary got me to question myself by asking, “In line with this verse, ‘what exactly am I expecting?’”  The first phrase in Jeremiah 29:11 that caught my eye was the statement that the Lord plans to take care of me, and not abandon me.  That truth brought back a flood of personal examples where the Lord did just that in Piper’s and my life together… up to and including the last eight years of her life when I literally focused my entire attention on her physical care - 24/7.

While in the natural realm, we did experience the shock and hurt of people abandoning us, the Lord stayed true to His promise and never left our side, provided for our every need, and gave us the constant encouragement and love that we hungered for and required.  Thinking back today, that was the end of that chapter in our lives that we both expected!  Looking ahead, I can say without a doubt, that it is also precisely what I am expecting in this new chapter of my life without her at my side.

I actually chuckled at that revelation yesterday for I realized that Piper has already taken her next step, and now I am thanking the Lord for His showing me what my next steps are.  I also had to smile because Piper always seemed to be one step ahead of me when it came to spiritual things, and her stepping through the veil into heaven… was to be no different!

The strong assurance that causes me to fully expect God’s continued best for me is found in Hebrews 13:8 where the truth is stated, saying that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (God’s Word ©)  Therefore, I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT that if He made Piper’s and my time together to be the best time of my life… then I EXPECT my future to be the same… if not even better!

So… what is the end that you are expecting… be it for today, tomorrow and/or into your future?  Remember that God is NOT going to abandon you at any time… So, look forward to and continue to EXPECT God’s best for your life!

Have a wonderful time this week in your Great EXPECTATIONS of His involvement in your life!

Cameras and the Right Filters

I am not quite sure when I became enamored with cameras and the art of photography.  It may have come from the fascination I had as a kid whenever my Dad pulled out his trusty Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20 folding bellows type camera that was made by the Eastman Kodak company between 1940 and 1948.  It could also have been the exciting high tech, new Kodak Starmite camera that replaced the Vigilant Junior as the family camera or more possible, the Kodak Instamatic 100 that was the very first camera that I could ever call my own!

I quickly became known as “The Photographer” in the family and practically never left home without my trusty Instamatic at my side.  The real leap though, came in 1970 when I purchased the camera of my dreams in the form of a Minolta SRT 101 SLR. That camera brought me into a whole new world and level of photography.

In the fall of 1970, I began taking photography classes in high school and never looked back after that!  In my two years at the Santa Rosa Junior College, I took every photography class that was available and later on at Sonoma State University completed all the advanced Photography courses that they offered.  Following those on-site school courses, I took various mail-order (pre-internet days) specialty classes through the years, subscribed to numerous photography magazines and began to build up my hardbound and paperback book photography library!

Throughout the years I continually experimented with various photo accessories, all kinds of color and black and white films, different lens sizes and types and a variety of photography styles and subjects.  I must also freely admit, that it didn’t hurt that I had a very attractive girlfriend who later became my wife, who was most comfortable in front of my lens and had an adventurous side about her.  This accounted for her being a  more-than-willing subject for a vast majority of my different school projects, in all kinds of locations, and for test shots when I was experimenting with new poses, equipment, locations or creative ideas that I dreamed up.  In this (and most other regards), she and I were a match made in heaven!

Now… I said all that to say, that in the course of my photography development, I became interested in the unique and/or differing effects that FILTERS can have with the various types of film that I had loaded in my camera.  As you can imagine, over the years I amassed quite a collection of FILTERS.  Then when I switched from Minolta cameras to Canon in the early ‘80’s and its smaller filter size lens system, I was forced to duplicate most of the FILTERS that I already had.

I became infatuated with the various ways in which a FILTER could completely change the looks, the mood, the tones and the meaning of the scene I was recording as an image on the color or black and white films I used.  One of my all-time favorites was a shot I captured with color film of a sea-gull flying over the ocean at Bodega Bay California.  I was using a red FILTER at the time and the finished product projected a red sky with white clouds and a darkly colored bird in full flight, soaring overhead.  We proudly hung a framed 16 X 20 picture of that shot in our living room for years… until the red in the sky faded away.

In my Christian walk over the years, I have also come to understand how most of us look at the world and/or certain events in our lives, through a system of pre-set FILTERS in our minds eye.  This became especially evident to me when Piper’s health began to deteriorate in 2007.  It was an eye-opening time for me when I began to realize how differently the people around us saw our situation and the varieties of ways in which they dealt with it.

I’ve told the story on multiple occasions of my experience on my knees in the lawn chemical storage section in the back of the outdoor garden department at the South Tulsa Home Depot where I was working, after receiving the first negative and heart-stopping diagnosis of Piper’s initial brain scans in 2007.  At that moment in time, I gave our situation and everyone of Piper’s needs to the Lord and never looked back.

When Piper and I read verses of scripture like Jeremiah 29:11 when the Lord declared, “I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for” (The Message Bible), we simply took Him at His Word… and I was amazed when many of the folks I expected to agree with us… DIDN’T!

Through the years of our fight for Piper’s life, I began to understand that although we may be looking at the exact same scripture… many people see it or understand it differently.  A good example of this was the difference between Piper and her immediate family.  Although they all came from the same stock and family Christian experience, they many times saw things differently.

In many respects they were all a very intellectual group of individuals… but somewhere down the line, as her faith and trust in the Lord grew, Piper, when it came to her personal faith in the Word of God, made the decision to remove some of the customary FILTERS of things that ask questions like, “What if?” - “But?”- “How?” and cause us to stop and make statements like, “I can’t afford that” or “that’s not possible.”  In Piper’s (and my) understanding, those thoughts inhibited the Lord to work miracles in her life.  And like I stated earlier in this post, Piper had a more adventurous side about her that enabled her to step out in trust of the Lord.  Some called it foolishness, but we always saw it as faith.

I learned in many interactions with different folks in the places where we lived across the country, that people all sit in various places along the spectrum of faith… and I believe that it is the personal FILTERS that we have in operation at any given time, that dictates where we fall along that line.  One of the harder lessons I learned was when I realized the reason why we kept butting heads with some of those who disagreed the loudest with my decision making for Piper’s care… was because we tended to reside on total opposite ends of the faith spectrum for this situation.

In the pursuit of my love of photography, I experimented with many different films, lenses, lighting techniques and other kinds of accessories including the use of filters.  And through those years of trial and error, experimentation, good results and not so good… I learned what does and doesn’t work in the various locations, rooms and conditions in which I took pictures… and I am still learning today… especially with the whole new realm of digital photography.

I believe that the same can be said and followed in our daily Christian walk.  Our responses to the different situations of our lives can be positively influenced with the simple change of the FILTER that we screw onto the end of the lens on our mind’s eye! (sort-of-speak!)  Like I’ve said… Life is a constant work in progress!

Are you up to the challenge?

Have a great weekend, and as you do… keep EXPECTING God’s best in your life!

A Lingering Aroma

If you read my last post (Mangia - 7/19/21) then you’ll recall that I shared some of what the Bible describes as AROMA’s and SWEET FRAGRANCES.*  I likened the experiences of those olfactory senses to my Mom’s exquisite Italian culinary skills.  In the scripture verses we discussed, I also referenced the words, actions and lifestyle of my high school sweetheart and how she seemed be a living and breathing example of what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he penned, “To God we are the aroma of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are dying.”* 

Well… I received a surprise confirmation to my statements about my girlfriend’s and then wife’s Godly life in the form of a phone call from one of Piper’s cousins late last night.  She lives in California and didn’t quite realize the time difference, but it didn’t matter to me as she is always a joy to talk with.  Even though there is around an eight-year age difference between them, Piper and her older cousin were very close… and when I came along, I had the pleasure of becoming a part of the friendship that eventually included her cousins’ husband as well.

As it turned out, Piper became a spiritual mentor to them and much of their thankfulness to her came out in our conversation last evening.  There are many members of the clan on Piper’s Dad’s side of the family that I had heard stories told through the years, but yet never met them personally.  So, when Piper’s cousin regaled me last night, with many more stories of this, her side of the family… many that included Piper in her childhood, I felt like I already knew everybody and had a good laugh!

Similar to experiences that were related to me by past members of our various Children’s classes and Youth groups when Piper passed, I was blessed, proud and brought to tears with many of the personal conversations and words of wisdom from Piper that her cousin and her husband mentioned that I’d never heard about before.  Statements of the heart made over the many years that still ring special in their life today.

2 Corinthians 2:14 in The Passion Translation states that,

“God always makes his grace visible in Christ, who includes us as partners of his endless triumph. Through our yielded lives he spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere we go.” 

Piper was one of those special individuals whose yielded life spread the FRAGRANCE of the knowledge of God everywhere she went.  But, different from the delicious AROMA of the sweet combined FRAGRANCES of tomatoes, garlic, sautéed onions, basil and the other special seasonings that combine to make a thick, delightfully exquisite marinara sauce that will dissipate over time, the wonderful, life-changing, life-giving, sweet FRAGRANCES of the knowledge of God introduced into a person’s life will… as Piper’s cousin and her husband affirmed, linger for years to come!

Piper, who’s most likely laughing and dancing in the golden streets of heaven today, may be absent from us on this earth now, but the gracious AROMA and sweet FRAGRANCES of her life that was totally yielded to the Lord, still touches and flavors ALL the lives that she touched.

I can only hope that the same might be said for you and me someday as well!  Wouldn’t you agree?

Have a great rest of this week, and as you do… keep EXPECTING God’s best while you seek to season the lives of those around you!

 

*2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Mangia!

I was reading in my Bible this morning from 2 Corinthians 2:14 where the Apostle Paul wrote,

“But I thank God, who always leads us in victory because of Christ. Wherever we go, God uses us to make clear what it means to know Christ. It's like a fragrance that fills the air.  To God we are the aroma of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are dying.  To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to others we are a life-giving fragrance…” (God’s Word ©)

As I read about “fragrances that fill the air” and “the aroma of Christ,” I couldn’t help but to think back to my childhood, living in an 100% Italian household, with a mom who had a passion for cooking.  To her, as with my grandmother before her, cooking was a very part of who she was!  Dinner wasn’t just something the family did together, it was an event that started first thing in the morning.

It really didn’t matter if it was a school day or on a weekend, I can recall coming into the kitchen in the morning and not only find my mom preparing breakfast for the family, but also planning the evening meal, pulling out foods that needed to be defrosted, making sure that she had the proper seasonings, spices and side dishes and then running out back to the family garden to see what goodies it could contribute to the dinner extravaganza!

On most days, final preparations and cooking began just about the time we got home from school.  My mom started working a part-time job when I was in seventh grade, but it never seemed to interrupt her cooking schedule!  She left for her job managing a Real Estate office after I left for school and was normally back home by the time I returned from school.

One of my favorite days was Monday, because I knew that as soon as I hit the long, curved driveway up to our front door, that my olfactory sensory neurons would go into overdrive as the overpowering and taste-tantalizing aroma of my mom’s pasta sauce drifted from the front kitchen window!  You see, Mondays was always spaghetti and meat balls day, and believe-you-me… I’d start dreaming about it as I watched the clock in my last period class tick down to the bell! 

I’ve probably said it before, but pasta is still my favorite meal.  I could eat it every night… and come to think of it, Piper did serve different renditions of it multiple times a week for our growing family!  I usually got to cook my own rendition of my mom’s pasta sauce and meatballs on one of those days!

And the tradition is still going on as I sent my youngest son my recipe for pasta and meatballs just last week so that he could surprise his wife on her birthday!  I also encouraged him to keep my mom’s other tradition of tossing the last raw meatball to the family dog… to which Fiver can attest… that I still do as well! 

So, whether it was the wonderful fragrances of the many Italian meals that my mom cooked, the strong fragrance of garlic that seemed to permeate everything in the kitchen, the aroma of fresh coffee in the percolator, the sweet sensations of the home baked goodies that she would surprise us with, or just the joy that she emanated as she danced around the kitchen… today, I always find myself aware of and drawn to the many fragrances and aromas the fill the air wherever I may go.

The idea of me having the ability to be a “life-giving” or a “deadly” aroma or fragrance to other people really shook me up this morning.  In the course of reviewing my childhood memories, I thought about how good, joyful, warm and even safe those wonderful aromas that filtered from my mom’s kitchen made me feel. 

Then I thought of the one meal that she occasionally made which literally turned my stomach and made me want to run the other direction… and yes… you guessed it… liver and onions! The awful and raunchy (to me) smell of liver that wafted to my nose as my mom placed it in the frying pan would bring about an almost instant dread and fear of what happened the last time I attempted to swallow it… (no explanation needed)!  Thank God that my mom finally gave up trying and found other foods that gave us the same nutriments as the liver.

This may sound funny to you… but I’d much rather come off as the aroma of delicious pasta to someone else, than the stench of a plate of liver disguised under a mountain of onions!

Along with “a distinctive, typically pleasant smell,” one of the meanings of the word aroma as found in the Oxford Online Dictionary is “a subtle, pervasive quality or atmosphere of a particular type.”  This tells me that we can carry along with us a sweet aroma or a stench of foul air, by the quality of the atmosphere that surrounds us.

As a Christian, I can attest to the fact that this is true… because I first experienced that atmosphere whenever I was around my future wife in high school.  The word pervasiveness is defined as “the quality of spreading widely or being present throughout an area or a group of people.”  As I’ve stated in many blog posts, the quality or presence of Jesus Christ was simply all over Piper and present throughout everything she did… and she most likely never had to even mention the name of Jesus or say anything about church!  It was just the sweet aroma of the love, peace, patience and acceptance of Jesus that hovered in the atmosphere around her!

And you know?  That’s exactly what Paul was talking about in our scripture above… and after having intimately known Piper for close to 50 years, I can say without a doubt, that it was pretty much unplanned, unrehearsed and totally off-the-cuff for her.  Like I said previously, it’s like it had become a part of her DNA!

That’s the aroma I want the people whom I cross paths with during the day, to catch a scent of from me!  How about you? 

That being said.  It is not something that happens overnight.  It is quality that one has to develop.  It takes a decision, an attitude and a hunger for the greater things of God.  Piper came from a strong Christian family, but she also had a hunger that to me, brought her beyond the rest of her family.  She tended to surround herself with mature Christians in her home church and continued to do so along with me as we dated and then got married.

For us it was a lifelong quest… not a job, but a joyous adventure in faith!  Some people thought that we were crazy for going to Bible School at 53 years of age.  But we knew we were called to go then and I am still going forth in and for Him today!

So… maybe it is NOT so crazy to want to have the same affect in other people’s lives, that the sweet aroma of marinara sauce that’s being poured over a plate of penne pasta has on one’s olfactory sensory neurons…

Now I’m getting hungry for more of God… and for a plate of pasta… MANGIA!

Have a great new week, and as you do… Keep EXPECTING God’s best in your life!

Knee-Jerk Reactions

Okay… be honest with me... how many times have you been outside somewhere, when some little bug unexpectedly lands on your arm… and without thinking you swat it away?

When we lived in the country in North Carolina, going out after dark into our expansive backyard could be quite an adventure, as I never knew what critters, bugs, birds or reptiles might be gracing us with their presence.  This was more prevalent in the hot summer time, but you’d be surprised what can show up in the cold and/or snow!

Just opening the screen door to the deck could be an exciting event, for you always risked things flying into you as you exited the house or uninvited guests flying in before you could slam the door shut!  For a while there, it wasn’t unusual for me to find some of the most interesting bugs hovering around the lamp on the nightstand next to our bed when we would retire for the night.

I finally purchased a fairly expensive LED electronic zapper light for the back deck that made quite a difference in the dusk to dawn traffic around the sliding door!  I didn’t put an expensive bug light on the front porch as we hardly used that door, preferring the kitchen to garage door where I had built a ramp for Piper’s wheel chairs.  The one sort of fun thing about that decision was the joy of watching the beautiful red Cardinals coming up to the front glass storm door each morning and munching on the deceased bugs lying around the porch.

The thought about swatting away bugs from my person, came to mind this morning as I read from I Peter 5:6-7 where Peter encouraged us to, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (KJV) 

It was the practice of “casting” our cares upon the Lord that got me to thinking during my Bible study time.  The word that the King James Version translates as “casting” means “to throw upon” (Strong’s) and comes from another word that explains this action as “through the idea of a sudden motion, or with a quick toss, and thus differing from a similar word which denotes a deliberate hurl” (Strong’s)

As I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that “casting” as used in this verse, is like an individual who responds to certain stimuli with a quick and almost unplanned or cognitive thought reaction to any care, worry or anxiety that crosses that person’s mind… kind of like what some would term as “a knee-jerk reaction!”

Writingexplained.org describes “a knee-jerk reaction” as “A response that is automatic, rather than carefully thought out.”  I have also heard it explained as a well-trained response.  Therefore, one could see the practice of “casting” every anxious thought, worry or care, as an automatic response that we do… because it is a well-practiced trait inside of us!

A quick definition check on the word “all” in the phrase “casting ALL your care upon Him” accurately describes the amount and frequency of the action that the Apostle Peter is talking about.  Strong’s simply tells us that the word means “the whole.”  Wuest’s Word Studies goes into a little more depth by saying that we must “come to the place where we resolve to cast the whole of all our future worries upon Him.”

In other words, casting ALL of our care, anxiety and worry upon the Lord… and NOT personally receive them… it is an irrevocable decision that we make and then practice until it becomes an unconscious part of who we are!  I always remember a story that Piper told me from her experiences while teaching in a pre-school/daycare here in Broken Arrow when we originally moved out here in 2006.

Having worked with kids and youth in ministry for many years, raising and homeschooling our four kids and her combined five or six years in the Early Childhood Education field, there were certain things that she learned to do… without even thinking about it, when different situations suddenly arose. 

One day when she was still pretty new to the position here, one of their students fell down in the playground, hit her head and started bleeding profusely.  When I picked up Piper after work that day, I was impressed when she said, “you know, I didn’t even think about it, I just automatically put my arm around her to comfort her and quickly applied pressure over the womb to stop the bleeding…” which is exactly what happened.

What was even more impressive to me is that Piper normally didn’t do very well around other people’s blood!  This time though, she never had the time to consider her normal physical reaction to blood.  She simply responded out of her years of experience and training and never gave her normal negative response an opportunity to express itself… it could have been pretty wild scene… if she had turned white as a sheet and passed out next to the little girl… wouldn’t you say!

Worry is an interesting response to the situations of life.  Most of us are taught that it is a normal and even an expected reaction to the events in our lives… some would say that there is something wrong with a person if they don’t demonstrate the symptoms of worry, care or anxiety in their lives.  (Both Piper and I had been accused of that many times!)

But that’s not what the Bible says… right?  I mean… let’s face it, the guy who wrote that verse, the one who was telling his readers to not worry about anything… was the biggest example of flip-flopping back and forth in his emotions, strictly based on what he saw at any given time or because of what people were saying around him.  So, if the Apostle Peter, among all people, could say that living a worry-free life… because we can cast all of our cares upon the Lord… was possible… believe-you-me… IT MUST BE SO!  And it is easy to see that even though he struggled with this throughout most of his recorded life, that he had grown and matured into a strong example of trusting in the Lord… at all times and in any place.

So, what do you think?  Is it possible for you to accomplish this level of worry-free living?  I believe that we can!  But, that is not to say that you won’t be tempted (I could tell you many personal examples that I’ve experienced over the last ten years alone…), but what does Peter tell us to do in those times when the cares of the world are knocking on your front door?

He encourages us to quickly and immediately cast that care upon the Lord.  To take… what some might call a positive knee-jerk reaction and swat that bug of anxiety away from you!

I’ll sometimes physically move my arm like I am casting or throwing a pesty care away from me when they pop up… It may look strange to others… but it helps me to cement the irrevocable decision in my mind and determination!

So, again I ask… What do you think?  It’s a decision that you’ll thank yourself for making, repeatedly through the rest of your life!

Have a great weekend, and as you do… Keep EXPECTING God’s best for your life… and don’t worry about anything as you do!

46

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect this morning when I got up.  I had spent a lot of time over the weekend thinking about today… for today would have been Piper’s and my 46^th Wedding Anniversary.  But when I got up and looked from the calendar on the wall near the door to the bathroom and the collage of Piper’s pictures on the wall next to the bed, I felt… well… I felt NOTHING!  So, I slipped into my loafers, brushed my teeth, somewhat managed to get my unruly hair under some semblance of control and slumped off to the kitchen to make some coffee.

Then with my insulated mug of what turned out to be a pretty bland cup of hot java, I followed the dog into the study, sat at my desk and got my computer Bible Study program running.  From there, I just sat and stared at the opening screen of my e-Source home page.

After a few moments, I finally had the wherewithal to begin to pray and asked the Lord where in my Bible I needed to be on this very special… and yet very emotional day.  And my immediate thought was Philippians 4:19.  So, I flipped my digital King James Bible to that verse, grabbed a mechanical pencil, sighed with great relief and satisfaction and read and wrote simultaneously, “But my God shall supply all my need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

I’m not sure if I was so happy because that particular verse had meant so much to Piper and I throughout our total of 48 years together, or because the Lord was reminding me that He was there with me to meet the need I had right then and there!  Isn’t God Good!

After that and another five or so verses, the fog I was in began to lift.  I got to thinking that I can be really THANKFUL for the wonderful, special and in many ways, unique relationship that Piper and I enjoyed together.  Through all those years we held many different positions and roles with each other.  First, we were classmates (I’m still surprised that we didn’t get thrown out of that English class because we talked so much!), then the next year we became boyfriend and girlfriend which quickly lead to becoming lifelong best friends that continued through our fiancée stage and then as husband and wife.

I’ve known many married couples through my various secular jobs as well as in the different church in which we served who were friends with each other… but not best friends.  There were also a few who weren’t friends at all!  I readily admit that with our experience, I have a difficult time understanding how any couple can get to the point of wanting a divorce.  Losing Piper to sickness is without a doubt the very worst experience that I have ever had to manage my way through… but the thought of divorcing her… and then seeing her with someone else would be much more difficult and awful… maybe an unsurmountable event for me!

But the good news, of course… Is that the very idea of divorce NEVER had any place in our thoughts, let alone in our marriage.  It was a subject that we simply NEVER entertained… why would we?

I remember attending a wedding with Piper around the time we were celebrating our 25^th Anniversary, when they asked all the couples to go to the dance floor.  Then as the song was played, they started calling out the potential years of marriage and requested the couples to sit down when they called out the current year of their marriage.  Piper and I got to stay on the floor for quite a while but finally had to retreat to the sidelines when they called out 25 years.  We were both surprised as there were numerous couples who had been married longer, with the last remaining couple celebrating 50 plus years. 

I clearly remember Piper and I talking on the way home that day, happily agreeing that someday, we would be the last couple dancing the couples dance at another wedding in the future!

I had always desired that we make at least 60 years together… but alas, even though we didn’t quite make that goal, we did get to spend 43 spectacular years of marriage together.  I often times think about how much God must love me to have given me a gal like Piper… and I would tend to think (hope) that she would say the same about the guy she married! 

What more can I say?  God really did supply all of our needs… and desires… and dreams… according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!

Have a great new week, and as you do… keep expecting God’s best in your life… just like I did with Piper!

 

Fresh and New!

I just got home from dropping off Fiver to the Vet for a much-needed bath and regular checkup.  When I walked back into the house, my immediate subconscious thought was on the little game that we play almost every time I return home after being out for a while.  I’ll call out his name and then peek my head around the hall archway, look into the study… where he is laying on the couch… and say “well?”  To which he responds by flying off the couch and running up to me!

This time though… I had to catch myself from calling out… and stood in the kitchen absorbing the utter quiet that was surrounding me.  It was almost a little unsettling!  I can’t remember the last time that I was totally alone in the house… whether here or in North Carolina.  Since Piper’s promotion to heaven, the dog has been my almost constant companion.  The house today feels rather empty without him!  But… he’ll be back home in a few hours and life will return to normal once again.

Or will it?  What is normal?  That has been a question that I’ve been asking myself ever since the morning of September 2, 2018 when Piper left this world.  One of the main themes that I keep rehearsing is how different things are today in contrast to the way they were fourteen years ago when we received that first negative diagnosis of Piper’s health.  I often times wonder if I should have returned to California and attempted to reintegrate into my old life, instead of moving to Oklahoma after she passed.

I once again found myself running that old scenario over and over in my mind while lying in bed after turning off the light for the night last evening.  I’ve discovered over the years… beginning when Piper was sick… that those first moments of fresh darkness after a very busy day, tended to yield themselves to intimate times of conversation between the Lord and I… and last night afforded itself to one of those revelation moments.

As I laid on my back staring up at the darkened ceiling… with the occasional snore of the dog as he snuggled into his bed on the floor against the wall, where he also tends to begin his evening rest on his back with his feet resting on the wall… I audibly addressed the same conversation that the Lord and I have had countless times about the past… When I suddenly had the revelation that when Piper and I went to Oklahoma and Bible School in the late summer of 2006, we were going forth with an exciting vision of starting a brand-new chapter in our lives.

We drove out of town on that Wednesday evening knowing full well that things at home would never be as they were again.  The old jobs in both the secular and sacred positions I had held were over and they most likely would not be there when we returned.  Piper’s long tenure as a homeschooling Mom would come to completion in the next school year and she was looking forward to attending Bible School.

After serving in various ministry positions, assisting the senior Pastors and their visions for over 30 years, we were beyond ourselves in excitement with the possibility of starting up and pastoring our own church.  We weren’t even planning on returning to the old hometown.  Yes, we planned on returning to northern California, but to another town away from our home county so as to not interfere with the ministry of the Santa Rosa church, that had begun in our living room in the 1980’s.

I’m not totally sure why that revelation meant so much to me, but it most definitely blanketed me with a warm covering of God’s love and peace!  Sure, we were side-tracked from our original plan with a long-term, life-changing and horrific event, but I am beginning to find deep comfort in knowing that my position today is one of returning to the plan and purpose that Piper and I had already prayed over and initiated together.

And while some of the players, locations and circumstances have changed, all the experiences, education, preparations, both planned and un-planned, have stayed on track for the vision of the Lord to continue through me in these mid-summer days of 2021, here while in my new home in Oklahoma (like the 1946 Roy Rodgers movie with a similar title)!

The Apostle Paul tells us in The Message Bible “that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!”  The Passion Translation says “All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.”  And while I understand that in the context of the usage of this verse, he was talking about the Born-Again experience, it also lends itself to the plenty of other verses in the Bible that tell us to take each day as a new and fresh experience in God’s mercy, love, grace, peace or any other promise that the word of God holds for us who believe.

So folks… for me… and for you as well… God is presenting before us a fresh and new beginning.  You and I are most likely very different in our family backgrounds, life experiences, levels and types of education and a whole bunch of other areas… but I firmly believe that God made me to be me and you to be the person you have become for special purposes and callings that only you and I… with our unique equipping… can fulfil for Him!

Sometimes I look back at Piper’s and my combined experiences and note how very wide-ranging, sometimes seemingly unrelated to anything else, and in many ways… totally different than the rest of our perspective family’s life choices and experiences and wonder what God was up to with that! 

You might even have had similar thoughts about the story of your life!  But you and I can rest in peace knowing that God has planned for everything.  I don’t think that we could ever catch Him off guard.  He knows exactly what He is preparing each of us for!

When I had my Mustang, I would go out into the garage every-so-often and wipe down the car with one of my expensive polishing cloths and then stand back and just enjoy it from every angle.  (Hummm… come to think of it… I liked to do that with Piper as well – and she’d just stand there and say “Jim!” and then give me a cute wink and one of her patented gorgeous smiles!)

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if God does the same thing with us!  He’s very proud of us, His kids.  That’s why there are so many words of encouragement from Him to us within the pages of our Bibles!  He prepares us and then sends us out to do His bidding with the knowledge that “We can do everything through Christ who strengthens us.” (Philippians 4:13 God’s Word ©)

I’m looking forward to stepping out for Him… HOW ABOUT YOU?

Have a wonderful weekend... as me and my poofy-haired, very clean dog do the same… and while you're at it… Thank the Lord for everything that He has put in you over the years and get ready to EXPECT God’s best for you (while you give Him, your best!)

 

Harmonies of Life

I awoke this morning at 4:00 AM to the sounds of dissonance… and finally realized that the dog was rolling around on his back on the carpet next to my bed, with his collar medallions clinking together and him singing happy guttural tunes… most likely thinking that I would be a cheerful participant in his early morning melody… Well, I wasn’t… but I didn’t say anything. I simply turned over in bed and pulled the covers over my head… hoping that I could return to some semblance of what had already been a night of fretful sleep.

But alas, it didn’t work and I twisted and turned for a half hour and finally tossed back the covers thinking that I might be able to sleep after I took Fiver out for an extra-early morning backyard excursion.  Once outside, the morning was warm and quiet, with a clear and starry sky above.

I have to admit that there is something special about being out in the pre-dawn calm of the day.  While Fiver did his thing and sniffed around the freshly cut lawn, I leaned back and enjoyed the heavenly view towering over the yard.  While taking in the sights above, I noticed a blinking set of lights flying toward the western horizon.  I don’t know why it is, but there is always something comforting to me about the presence of a distant aircraft flying in the night skies.

I think that it might just release the pioneering spirit that was always present in both Piper and I.  We both loved to tackle new adventures, explore new methods of ministry and hike up mountain trails or neighborhood paths… just to see what was around the corner!  Watching that plane disappear over the horizon got me to dreaming of all the new and unchartered places out there that are beckoning for me to come!  At that particular moment in time this morning… I heard the HARMONIES of life singing deep inside and felt a peace that had been evading me all night.

When I returned to my darkened bedroom, I grabbed the flashlight off the nightstand, plucked up one of my Bibles off the floor, and flipped it open to Philippians 4:6-7 and read:

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition, along with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.”  (EMTV)

The thought of having “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding” captivated my heart and I slipped back under the covers for a couple hours of restful slumber.

Later when I got up and with a hot cup of coffee in my hand, I headed to my study, greeted Fiver who was now snuggled on the leather loveseat in that room, and looked up Philippians chapter four in my computer Bible study program.  I still had the thought of God’s peace on my mind and poured through multiple translations of Philippians 4:6-7 before looking at the commentaries on the verse.

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible really caught my attention and seemed to flow in tune to the peaceful song that was beginning to softly emanate from my heart.  He explained the phrase “And the peace of God” as “That harmonizing of all passions and appetites which is produced by the Holy Spirit, and arises from a sense of pardon and the favor of God”

The idea of our passions and appetites coming into HARMONY struck a chord with me and I shook my head thinking about how out of tune and far from HARMONIC my life has seemed to be since Piper graduated to heaven.  I got to thinking about how much I enjoy a good HARMONY in the vocal presentation of a song.  It is one of the main reasons I was drawn to Christian music through the beautiful and unique HARMONIES of The Second Chapter of Acts in the early 1970’s… and it is why I have come to enjoy modern Southern Gospel in recent years.

And it just happened to be something that Piper was very good at!  She had the knack of picking out and/or creating the perfect HARMONY when we sang together and later on with our various Youth and Children’s Ministry performances, as well as when our family sang together.

She also was the one that brought HARMONY into the song of my life… and I as well, into hers (after she taught me how to harmonize)!

But now… as with this morning’s example of the noisy dog… there seems to be a noticeable dissonance in the tempo of my life.  I had to laugh at the memory the other day of the occasional time when Piper and I would be getting ready to lead a song in worship at the various churches we served in… and I would blank and forget the key.  But Piper knew that look and would softly press the correct note on the keyboard or piano and instantly put me and the song back on track!

I never really considered how much we depended on each other in order for the sweet melody of our life together to bring HARMONY into all that we sought to do.  But this morning I realized that there are new songs, new HARMONIES and new rhythms to be written in my life.

When I stop and think about it, I can clearly see the unique steps that the Lord has been leading me through in what some people call the “Grieving Process.”  I see the progress and am learning the places where more time, work, effort, trust and confidence are needed, and also the areas where its easy to write new music.

I am thankful for the truth and faithfulness of God’s Word in my life.  It, like Piper’s little finger pressing the right note ♪, has been the steady, sweet resonance that has kept me in tune and on key through it all!  The HARMONIES of our past are helping to lead me into my new home HARMONIES for my today and tomorrow.  And like I’ve stated earlier… I have always enjoyed a good ensemble’s HARMONY and am excited to see what beautiful and unique HARMONIES there are waiting for me to sing in the coming years.

How about YOU?  What HARMONIES are you singing or planning to sing… or hoping to sing in YOUR present and future?  Remember that God’s Word can also be the steady and sweet resonance that you need to stay in tune…

Have a great rest of the week, and as you do… Keep EXPECTING God’s best in your life!

Covenant

I’ve found it kind of interesting that I have been thinking a lot about covenants… and to be more precise… Blood Covenants… over the entirety of this Fourth of July weekend…

Yesterday morning at church, I was reminded during the serving of communion, of the covenant that Jesus Christ made with us through the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of our sins and the subsequent ability for us, once again, to have a way to enter into a new and everlasting covenant with our Father God.

Then as I looked at pictures of Piper throughout the house and at the golden band that I still wear on my left hand, I am continually reminded of the covenant that we entered into on a sunny July afternoon in 1975 and consummated later that evening at the Sea Ranch lodge within the breath-taking, panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean.

And then last night as I watched the spectacular display of fireworks over our nation’s capital, I couldn’t help but think about the 56 men who signed our American Declaration of Independence back in 1776, with the full understanding that they were basically signing this covenant with their very own blood.  That if the war with Britain was lost… that they most assuredly would be among the first to be executed for treason against the Empire.

As a Christian, I have pretty much spent my entire adult life serving the Lord in ministry, seeking to live according to the standards of the Bible, and although I know that I have not always succeeded… to be a good example of Christ’s love, His grace, His joy and at times… to be used as a vessel through which His power has come forth to minister to those in need.

Hebrews 12:24-25 speaks of the Blood Covenant that Jesus made with us stating,

“And we have come to Jesus who established a new covenant with his blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat; blood that continues to speak from heaven, ‘forgiveness,’ a better message than Abel’s blood that cries from the earth, ‘justice.’  Make very sure that you never refuse to listen to God when he speaks…!” (The Passion Translation)

I’ve heard it preached that the Blood Covenant is the strongest covenant ever known to man.  In Biblical times it was a well-known and practiced ritual that people adhered to… all the way to the point of death.  Most translations of the Bible actually refer to the titles of what we today refer to as the Old Testament and the New Testament, more accurately as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant and directly reference the titles to the Blood Covenants that were initiated and active in the times when each was written.

We in the Western parts of the world tend to not understand the full impact, importance and sincerity of the Blood Covenant as it is not a part of our relatively modern history.  The entire basis of the Christian theology of the shedding of Christ’s blood for our salvation is completely formed on the reality of Christ’s sacrifice and the utmost importance that His blood… that was totally free from sin… was the only blood that could be sacrificed as justification for our sins.

I don’t think that I ever had a full comprehension of the importance and impact of the blood covenant between Jesus and me until Piper was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  It was my very personal realization of His intimate love for Piper and I… through what He did on Calvary… that empowered me to believe in Him and His Word without doubt… even as my world seemed to be crumbling before my very eyes.

At that time, I can also attest to the fact that I didn’t fully appreciate my role as her husband and the importance of our marriage covenant, that was sealed with the issue of blood on our honeymoon night, until my commitment to her was challenged by some in her family. 

To say that I was taken by complete shock and surprise at these accusations would have been the understatement of the century!  When I first heard of this, I was awash with emotion (and I humbly admit) with anger and my very first and only response was, “What are they talking about?  I made a covenant with her… a blood covenant that I would NEVER, NEVER break!”  Then to add insult to injury, when I mentioned this to another family member and they just laughed it off… I was left shaking my head, totally amazed, disheartened, hurt and thinking that any and all trust was broken with their response.  To this day, it is still the only negative memory that upsets me…

I recently concurred with a comment I read in a blog named “Your Marriage Restored” where the author stated,

“Covenant in Hebrew means a cut-where-blood-flows. The purpose of covenant was to create a binding agreement, more powerful than a contract or agreement. This was to be forever - the life span of the participants, it was to be holy, sacred, to violate the covenant would mean death. The blood covenant was the ultimate insurance of loyalty and fidelity. Marriage is the closest agreement to the blood covenant in modern society and, sadly, marriage is today closer to a contract than a covenant.”

And with the spectacular beauty and the patriotism that it inspired in me as I watched the fireworks last night, I can only stand in thanksgiving and honor in memory of those who sacrificed their blood… and their lives… so that we here in the USA can openly enjoy and participate in all the freedoms that are available to us as American Citizens.  There is no other country in the known world that offers those freedoms and liberties as our country does. 

But today my heart cries every time I look at the news and see how an ever-growing number of individuals are using those same liberties to encroach upon the freedoms of others with whom they may disagree.  With those who want to re-write our illustrious history with its trials and tribulations, lessons learned and ever-growing record of improvements in human rights… that cannot be matched by any other nation in the world.  And those who would even propose to change our language in order to better fit their agenda and confused beliefs… and thereby limit the great variety of expression, cultures, beliefs and lifestyles that have successfully co-existed, interacted and blended together for what’s getting to be near 250 years.

So yeah… I’ve been thinking a lot of the Blood Covenants that were made in my lifetime that have been a major part of the strong foundations on which you and I live our lives on a daily basis!  And as I consider all of that in the midst of America’s 245th Birthday… I can only reiterate how proud I am to be an American and acknowledge the fact that I will always stand proudly when I see our flag flying, stop and put my hand on my heart when I hear the national anthem being sung and have tears come to my eyes whenever I hear “God Bless America” being sung!

Won’t you join me in these sentiments?  PTL!

I pray that you are having a wonderful time as our 245th 4th of July celebration winds down today… and as you do… remember the impact and hand that Christianity had on the founding of our country and… keep EXPECTING God’s best in your life today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!