SPOTS!

I found myself following a rabbit trail when studying a particular line of thought yesterday morning during my Bible study time.  I was looking through some of the various translations that I have and when I finished looking at the NASB in a stack of Bibles next to my desk, I reached for the next one under it and pulled out Piper’s TLB Illustrated paperback version and began to thumb through the Old Testament on the way to the New Testament verse that I was hunting for.

Once again, I found myself captivated by all the verses that she had circled and underlined, as well as the hand written notes in the margins.  Each one seemed to be a harbinger of a special memory, a footnote in time or a vivid picture outlining the heart of my wife.  When I finally completed my journey to the end of Hebrews 10 and the beginning verses of Hebrews 11, I was drawn to a large and heavily inked asterisk next to a totally underlined Hebrews 10:23 where the writer of the book stated,

“Now we can look forward to the salvation God has promised us.  There is no longer any room for doubt and we can tell others that salvation is ours, for there is no question that He will do what He says.” 

When I finished reading this especially marked verse of hers, I suddenly gasped for a breath of air and spoke aloud with great wonder saying “WOW!  Piper wrote these notes and circled and underlined these scriptures some 40 years ago… and NOW… she is ACTUALLY LIVING THEM, with The ONE who inspired those words… together, in her new heavenly abode!”

I am not sure how that thought hits you, but it sure got me excited… especially for her!  You see, the vast majority of our life’s goals were centered around and led by our faith.  Without a doubt, it is something we talked about every day.  It governed the way we thought, talked and acted.  It wasn’t something that we ever took a vacation from… even when we were on vacation.  We didn’t necessarily find a church to attend when camping over the years, but we always planned and actively participated in our own family service. 

And now… Piper is in total peace and joy… Ephesians 1:4 and Psalms 16:11 describes her as being “Holy, Happy and Perfect in His presence.  Where she is living eternally in the home of the One she loved and served for 65 years.  Can you imagine the smile that must be radiating from her face today?

When I finished reading the verse that I was looking for in the first place, I continued to thumb through the rest of Piper’s Bible to see what other treasures I might just find.  Well, I got about four books past my original stop and burst out laughing at a footnote that she had written, as I remembered the bit of history that it brought back to my mind.  The notation read, “God, help me to love (her first boss).”  It was written next to I John 2:10 where John wrote,

“But whoever loves his fellow man is ‘walking in the light’ and can see his way without stumbling around in darkness and sin.”

Let me explain… You see… As I’ve told before, Piper was a very joy-filled, spontaneous and creative gal who learned to temper her enthusiasm over the years, in order to best fit in with the various personality types that she interacted with.  Her new boss, on the other hand was an older lady who, although she was very nice, was very reserved and some might say… "ridged" in the way she ran things.  As a twenty-two-year-old, bursting with ideas and energy, Piper and her boss… well let’s just say that they tended to butt heads a lot!

It wasn’t something that provoked anger, but was, I’m sure, very frustrating to both of them!  Piper would definitely come home at times feeling frustrated and confused.  She really loved the gal and wanted to please her.  The kid’s adored Piper (as was evidenced by the multitude of Christmas gifts that her students gave her each year!) and she was well liked by the rest of the teaching staff.  

I laughed because of the memories of all our conversations that it brought back.  At the time, I had felt like Piper was really doing her best to meet the gal’s desires but got more and more discontented as the years went by.  But… through it all and however difficult it became… Piper was determined to love her boss with the love of the Lord and let her Christian light shine bright! 

As it turned out… at the end of three years, the two met and mutually decided that it would be best for all if Piper didn’t return for another year.  Which actually turned out to be a blessing for us, as she started a job right after that, working in an office at the Santa Rosa Junior College making a lot higher wage than she had before… and from there ended up at Hewlett Packard where both of our long-term relationships with that company (and the births of our four kids) began!

As I thought about all of this this morning, I couldn’t help but to see a resemblance (in an opposite type of order) between Piper’s personal example and the results of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict and the way the mainstream media covered the case.  My overall thought was the saying that “You can’t change a leopard’s spots!”

From what I could see, the prosecution’s entire case seemed to be based solely on a line of thought or ideology and not on the facts of the case… which was the same ideology from which the mainstream media manufactured their coverage.  Then… even though the truth came out… as the prosecution’s star witness also collaborated the case for the defense… and the jury deliberated... and the clearly correct verdict was announced…

The mainstream media networks still continued to spread their false and untruthful narrative… now proven to be completely invalid and false.  Like I said, “You can’t change a leopard’s spots!”  It would seem that for certain groups of people, the truth doesn’t matter… only the message… Their message!

Oppositely, in Piper’s case… it was also THE MESSAGE that counted!  The one of truth and love and the importance of living her Christianity… even when difficult circumstances arose.  In other words… Her spots didn’t change either!

How about you?  What kind of spots do you have?

 

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