Ooze!

I never know what I am going to see each morning when I push up the blinds in our master bedroom.  It is a western facing window with views of our front lawn, the wooded commons area next to our property, and in the opposite direction, the far side of our backyard.  What I do know though, is that my eyes will almost always be met with a visual treat of mother nature and the many little critters that occupy the land around us.

Many times it is one, two or three brightly colored Cardinals pecking at the grass looking for delightful tidbits for breakfast or padding for their nests.  On other days it could be the sight of a couple of squirrels frolicking with each other as they run across the side picket fence, across the lawn and up into one the many trees around the yard.  Once I was awestruck at the sight of the beautiful hawk that frequents the woods all around us as he sat majestically on one of the fence posts.  When I put up the blinds on that particular day, he just calmly sat there and seem to nod his head in acknowledgement of my presence at the window.

Today as I looked out over the land I didn’t see anything of importance until I sat down on my bed across from Piper’s and began to pray and confess our morning healing scriptures over her.  As I was speaking the Word, I caught a movement in one of the trees near the road in front of our property.  When I focused in, I realized that it was a small colorful woodpecker tapping away near the top of the tree.  I wasn’t close enough to be able to clearly describe the bird and a glance over to Piper’s dresser showed me that the extra pair of binoculars that I normally keep there for times such as these weren’t there… mental note: find the binoculars and put them back where they belong Jim!

But nevertheless, I couldn’t help but take in the morning show and think about the goodness of God in nature as well as His working mightily in the everyday activities of our lives.  One thought that popped into my mind as I watched that little bird today was that although I may not know from day to day what will be outside our bedroom window first thing every morning, I do know that there will be something beautiful for me to cast my eyes upon around this gorgeous piece of property that the good Lord has given to us to enjoy at this time in our lives.  In the almost three years that we have lived here, I guess that I have come to expect it each and every day!

The familiar scripture in Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (God’s Word ©) and like my expectations when I look out that window each day, I’ve come to expect that what He’s done in the past that He’ll do again today and, in the future, as well.  Over the years that truth has just become a part of who Piper and I are.

When Piper and I were given the medical evaluation from those first brain scans back in 2007, we IMMEDIATELY knew that the only choice we had was to trust in God and the truth of His Word.  When we returned home to California we expected our friends and family to fall right in with that line of thought… and as you now know… not all of them did!  But although it was difficult for us, we soon came to realize that the way others thought about Piper’s condition and the steps we were taking to deal with it… really did nothing to change our plans and our chosen course of action.

Piper just had a visit with the Nurse Practitioner from hospice, and to be honest, not all of her examination brought good news, but you know… it still doesn’t affect what we are believing for in line with God’s Word, or with the course of action we are taking.  James 1:22 tells us “to be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas.” (Good News Bible)

This verse says a lot of things and is a very important command for believers to follow.  It’s an action verse that should direct the way we think, speak and act.  It tells us what to do and what happens when you don’t!  In the simplest language possible, it is telling us to not just only read and/or hear the Word of God but to put what you’ve heard into action… or else you blind yourself from the truth and make a fool out of yourself by advocating and following false ideas.  We’ve seen that happen over the years as well as when we returned home after Bible School and believe-you-me it can be quite embarrassing for the one’s involved!

What I particularly like about the directives of this verse is found at the very beginning where the author says  “to be…”  Be what?  A doer of the Word.  According to the original Greek a “doer” is an individual who “performs” what the Word says.  This person is one who “obeys or fulfills” what the Word says to do. (Thayer’s)  Robertson’s Word Pictures describes it as “an old word for ‘agent.’”  So, a Christian is an agent… and not necessarily a ‘secret agent’ for God.  We don’t hide our beliefs from public view but visibly perform them for all our world to see.

The Jamieson-Faucet-Brown commentary says that in order to “Be doers” we must “do the Word… systematically and continually, as if this was your regular business.”  Like I’ve stated many times before, that description paints a very accurate picture of how I came to see my wife during the early days of our relationship while still in High School!  I’d never seen anything like it before.  For all intent and purposes, she would have been one of those “religious” folks who I usually made a point of staying away from.  But she was different. 

Her Christian walk was who she was… you couldn’t separate her Christianity from everything she thought, said and the actions she took.  Every time I squeezed her (and I did that A LOT!) out oozed Jesus… That may be a funny statement, but it was and still is true!  Can you honestly say that about yourself?  It’s like I was saying to the hospice nurse just a few moments ago.  Since this attack on Piper’s health, I’ve seen a lot of people squeezed with their emotions over our situation and what’s come out hasn’t always been nice!

What do you think?  What type of ooze would you emit?  Have a great new week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “If squeezed, am I expecting to be a ‘doer’ of the Word today?”