THE NEW JERUSALEM

Mike gave me a cross that I wear almost every day.  He bought it after we finished our Revelation study.  It says "Jerusalem" on the front and it makes me think about the new Jerusalem and what's ahead one day.  I'm grateful that the Lord left us a description of His coming kingdom to encourage our hearts; He knew we would need to have our eyes lifted toward the prize.  Here are some thoughts from our study that I love to run over in my mind.

Our teaching leader is named Bill and he told us about a time when he was in the family engine-rebuilding business.  He said that such a business was not all that glamorous, but it did afford a nice perk...a trip to a piston rings convention in Europe.  Bill's dad was not interested in going and so Bill and his brother went and took their wives.  They all tried to talk their dad into going along.  But the dad said he had been to Florida and California twice, so why would he want to go to Europe?

When the four travelers came home, they brought slides and stories about what Europe had been like.  And Bill said, "I must have done a better job of selling Europe than I realized because the next year he and my mother WENT!"  Then Bill continued..."in this chapter of the Revelation, God has done a wonderful job of telling us what it will be like so we will want to go".

I LOVED that.

Also, Bill said that when he and April were first married, they were in school up in Fayetteville and lived in a 350 square foot apartment.  The first time the parents came to visit, they spent three days cleaning to get ready.  At this point I am already killing myself laughing about meeting "in-law expectations" and the length of time to clean 350 square feet.  So Bill says he goes in and April is cleaning the commode for about the third time.  She's standing on her head getting under the rim.  And Bill says "why are you doing THAT?"  April replied "my mother will look".  He says "you are crazy, she won't look THERE!".  But later Bill goes by the bathroom door and catches his mother-in-law inspecting.

Bill went on to explain, "we spent THREE days in preparation for our parent's visit.  God has spent TWO THOUSAND YEARS preparing a place for us!"  

These thoughts and all the other new thoughts collected from the book of Revelation have renewed our minds.  I guess my previous understanding of heaven had been that I would "go up" somewhere.  Now I have a different scenario of what the Lord will do as He makes a new heaven and new earth...and the New Jerusalem.  For me personally, just reading about all the precious stones in the city was a trip.  I'm a beader and I find it exciting NOW to drive to North Little Rock and look around in the bead shop.  One day I will have access to dazzling colors and varieties of precious stones that exist to declare God's creativity and reflect His glory.  I can just "see" the gold pavement and clear sparkly jewels.

Our Revelation study has increased our sight and made us thirsty for the city whose builder is God. 

"And the city (the new Jerusalem) has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb." Revelation 21:23

LAGUARDIA LIFE LESSONS

We were in our airline seats on the ground at LaGuardia as our flight was boarding.  I was chitchatting with an aisle passenger from Long Island named Stacey.  All of a sudden, the tenor of the air in the cabin changed magically.  It was like fairy dust had been sprinkled when a large group of children boarded.  They had been to a Down Syndrome competition in New York.  And as they came down the aisle, their joy was spilling over as they laughed and hugged and freely shared their love and excitement.  Their community's bubbly ways just seemed to lift all our collective spirits.  They were a force for good...true free love that the 60's would envy.

But five minutes went by and the boarding line got clogged up.  People who were backed up in the aisle pursed their lips and shifted carry-on loads.  A large man rudely hollered "CMON!  We need to get off the ground here!"  Stacey and I froze for a minute.  We were so hoping the problem was not coming from the special needs section.  But we couldn't see far enough in the back to know.

The line mercifully eased a bit and now the man was about three rows behind us.  We could hear him excoriating someone.  "Get up!  You're in my seat!  That's MY seat!"  Then he screamed..."MOVE!"  Someone down the line asked what was wrong.  The answer was relayed back "someone doesn't know their alphabet".  Stacey and I cringed again.  

Thank goodness now the stewardess was making her way down the aisle, offering "may I help"?  It turned out that the problem was a lady who did not speak English.  She was reseated across the aisle and back a few rows.  A very kind man spoke up and volunteered to sit by Irateman. The trouble was diffused until the next time life will meet Mr. Irate where he dwells...fixed on the edge of rage.

I wonder if our special needs friends were aware of what went on in the aisle that day.  I can't remotely IMAGINE one of them ever speaking to another person in that way.

Who knows what earlier events combined to bring Mr. Irate to his emotional state that day. But once on the plane, many people witnessed his co-performance in a seminar the Lord was offering about having regard for others.  Contrast is such an illustrative teacher.   I wish Mr. Irate could see the video replay.  

And maybe one day in eternity, he will... 

"In this act (of sending Christ) we see what real love is.  It is not our love for God, but His love for us.  Since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other."  1John 4:10,11

THE GOD WHO SEES

Lately I came home from a WalMart run with a huge blessing.  As I was pushing out my cart that was full of prizes, I noticed a teaching friend from years ago named Sue.  Sue was shamelessly hugging two WalMart associates.  She was flushed and emotional, so I went up and asked why she was loving on strangers.  Turns out she had just been a victim of a theft!  Sue had been checking out and her wallet was up on the little counter.  The felonious associate smoothly walked by and swiped the wallet without Sue even seeing. Then he just disappeared.

Sue was frantic.  She had $300 in cash, which was the least of her worries.  All those cards in the wallet brought vulnerability that made this over-seventy lady feel like she was twisting in the wind.  She did all she knew to do.  She prayed and went to tell a manager.  Then she sat down on one of those front benches to wait...afraid her goose was cooked.

WalMart is a wonderful company.  We love to shop there and save money; we love to park there in the RV and feel their security cameras keep us safe.  And this day, those inside security cameras were doing their thing.  They recorded the incident and within minutes security found the perp before he exited the store.  Her wallet was brought back...$300 and all.

After we enjoyed her restoration, I said "I've been studying the names of God.  Let's think who took care of you this morning."  Sue said "oh, I have one of those charts in my Bible".  But she was still so discombobulated she couldn't think.  And I began to think out loud..."well, there's Provider God (Jehovah Jireh).  He provided help, but that doesn't seem just exactly right."  I thought a few more moments and then it hit me.  The One who took care of Sue that morning was El Roi, the God who sees.  He used the WalMart camera eye, but it was God who knew Sue's plight and answered her prayer.

Similarly, Genesis 16 tells the story of the outcast Hagar.  She was in the middle of the wilderness (think that's how Sue felt?) with neither water, food, nor options for her child or herself.  An angel came to Hagar with help and Hagar said "Thou art a God who sees!"  Our Bible translates the word that Hagar used as "God"...but in the original Hebrew, it was "El Roi", one of God's specific names that refers to a trait that He is displaying.

El Roi was very gracious to Sue that day at WalMart.  He saw and He acted on her behalf just as He acted for Hagar.  We've always heard of God's everlasting arms.  It's a comfort to know He also has all-seeing eyes that look to show Himself strong for hearts that belong to Him. 

"For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His."  2 Chronicles 16:9

TENDERIZING A SMALL HEART

Nate and I were hanging out one Saturday in the Pooch Coach; Beth and Mike had gone to the Razorback game.  We were watching the Noggin channel and there was a good program about three friends who have adventures in NoWhere Land.  There's Maggie, the imaginative little red-haired girl whose stuffed animal friends come to life... Hamilton Hocks, the pig who likes things to be in order, loves to cook for his friends, and bursts into song spontaneously...and Ferocious Beast, who is anything but ferocious with his tender heart and huge body with red polka dots (which fly off when he sneezes).

The storyline told of Hamilton getting a prize that he had won in a cooking contest.  The pig's prize was a pushtoy with popping balls and he was SO excited because he'd always wanted that toy.  His friends watched Hamilton as he gleefully played with the popper.  Then Maggie and Hamilton left on an errand.

Ferocious Beast told his friends he didn't want to go with them because he had something to do.  But the truth was that he wanted to stay behind to play with Hamilton's new toy.  And he had fun...until he stepped on the popper and the dome came off and the balls went everywhere.

FB was distraught because he had not asked to play with the toy and now it was broken and his friends were coming back.  The Beast began to cry.

At that point Nate got up from the floor.  That should have been a no-brainer clue to me. Everyone knows kids watching TV don't break their eye-lock, even if you yell "CANDY BAR". But Nathan came and stood beside me at the sink, then grabbed onto the side of my britches and held on.  His little heart is very tender towards the feelings of others.  I also found out later that Nate had been learning that same lesson about telling the truth the week before.

I gave Nate a hug, but hadn't really put it all together about how the program was affecting him. June Cleaver would have leaned down and talked Nate through his feelings.  I must have been in my "Martha mode" and it didn't dawn on me until later why my little buddy was standing there.  I missed a great opportunity and that reminded me that I'm too old to do two things at once.  So much for multi-tasking.  

And what about Hamilton's plight?  The segment ended well with Maggie (clearly the problem-solver of the three) gathering up the balls and popping the top back on.  Voila!  The pig's problem went away and he shared his toy with his friends.  Don't we all long for the simple life that ends so idyllically ?  Wouldn't it be great if everyone's motives and actions were pure? Wouldn't it be great if there were no hurt feelings?  Or that you could pack up your troubles as easily as Maggie snapped the top back on the popper?  But wait...isn't that day coming?

"He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  For the old world and its evils are gone forever."  Revelation 21:14 NLT  

MOCKING GOD 

Have you ever gotten that email entitled "Untimely        Deaths"?  It includes the Galatians verse about God not being mocked and it lists different people and their mocking statements (like John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe, etc.) right before they died.  Well, I got that email again recently and it made me think...

And as I chomped on those big thoughts, I was also watching a commercial for Bill Maher's new movie RELIGULOUS.  I have read several reviews and watched clips, but haven't seen the whole movie.  But the clips sure seem to set the "mocking bar" up high.  I saw one place in this "Borak-like" film where Maher speaks to an actor who is playing Jesus at a Christian theme park.  Maher sarcastically poses the question "well, why doesn't God get rid of the devil and put a stop to evil in the world?"  And the 'Jesus' says..."He will!"  Maher replies "oh, yeah...he will? What's he waiting on?"

Mr. Maher, I can answer that.  Although your sarcasm makes me angry, I want to move beyond that to say that God is waiting for the last one to come into His kingdom and that includes YOU.  Imagine how the Lord puts up with all that garbage, giving Maher the last possible chance to come to Him.  And when that last chance occurs (and BTW the last chance is unknown to anyone other than to God who sees all the future choices ahead for man, although He graciously extends free choice)...and Maher has run his string of chances...God in His infinite kindness will remove Maher that the man might not accumulate any more incriminations against himself. 

Neither God nor His character ever changes.  He is infinite in LOVE (not wishing for any to perish), infinite in PATIENCE (putting up with Bill Maher's continual best shots at Him), infinite in KINDNESS (preventing Maher from hurting himself any further).  I have no idea why God loves us all this way.  Bless God.

But God also is infinitely JUST and would have the right to zap any of us because we all continue to sin.  Thankfully, that is not how He works.  He sent Christ to hang helpless for the things (sin) that keep us from Him.  Does that mean Jesus died for Maher and John Lennon? He did...regardless of their choices.  But God weeps when their choices transport them to hell.

Now I will have to hand it to Maher that he gets some good jokes off in the movie.  A joke about real truth is the only humor that really 'works' because it is truly funny. And to his credit, Maher is an equal-opportunity jokester; he pokes at Christianity and Judaism, but also at Islam.  That took a chunk of chutzpah.  The god some in Islam serve (whose very name means "submission") does pack a zapgun for people who mock.

All of this to say, the Scripture in the email is true.  God will not be mocked.  If Bill Maher leaves us today, or next year, or in ten years...it will be because his time was complete.  Maher's death will not be untimely.  He will just have received his last chance to choose God.  And God can use Maher's life even without Maher knowing it.  After all, it caused me to have big thoughts today.

The ironic part about the email is this:  it evidences by the examples of John Lennon et all that their mocking was punished immediately.  Perhaps.  The truth is that we can't see any of their hearts at the last moment and God only knows.  But the email goes on to offer an interesting solution to the dilemma by offering a prayer that would "cover" folks so the same fate might not befall them.  And that prayer solution is "Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart and bless me, my home, my family and my friends".  I might humbly offer that THAT PRAYER gets close to doing the very thing the email decries...mocking God.  How?  

Read the words again and see if the prayer sounds like a "gimme" prayer or like a contrite person falling on their face before God because they see themselves as God sees them and are then begging Him to cover up their sin with Jesus' sacrifice.  Only the latter prayer saves.

The Galatians verse also goes on with a second section that shouldn't be forgotten.  "God will not allow Himself to be sneered at-scorned, disdained, or mocked.  He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap."

Bill Maher seems to fit that bill by sowing scorn in his movie.  His choice so far is to live independently of God and encourage others to do the same.  Truly, he will reap what he sows. Unfortunately, the kicker is...Maher's chosen independence from God will be now and also for eternity.  Let the Reader not delude themselves with the gimme prayer.  Eternity is a reality ahead for EVERYONE.  We either see our need of Christ and humbly reach for Him on this side...or never acknowledge our need and get that default choice and face eternity alone.

OUR NEW PRESIDENT

 

Many of you know Dr. Al Mohler.  No, you didn't miss anything...he's not our new president.  But he IS the president of Southern Seminary.  His blog this morning was ever-articulate and I would invite you to consider what he had to say:

 

"The election of Sen. Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States came as a bang, not a whimper.  The tremors had been perceptible for days, maybe even weeks.  On Tuesday, America experienced nothing less than a political and cultural earthquake.

The margin of victory for the Democratic ticket was clear.  Americans voted in record numbers and with tangible enthusiasm.  By the end of the day, it was clear that Barack Obama would be elected with a majority of the popular vote and a near landslide in the Electoral College.  When President-Elect Obama greeted the throngs of his supporters in Chicago's Grant Park, he basked in the glory of electoral energy.

For many of us, the end of the night brought disappointment.  In this case, the disappointment is compounded by the sense that the issues that did not allow us to support Sen. Obama are matters of life and death - not just political issues of heated debate. Furthermore, the margin of victory and sense of a shift in the political landscape point to greater disappointments ahead.  We all knew that so much was at stake.

For others, the night was magical and momentous.  Young and old cried tears of amazement and victory as America elected its first African-American President - and elected him overwhelmingly.  Just forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, an African-American stood to claim victory as President-Elect of the nation.  As Sen. Obama assured the crowd in Chicago and the watching nation, "We will get there.  We will get there."  No one hearing those words could fail to hear the refrain of plaintive words spoken in Memphis four decades ago.  President-Elect Obama would stand upon the mountaintop that Dr. King had forseen.

That victory is a hallmark moment in history for ALL Americans - not just for those who voted for Sen. Obama.  As a nation, we will never think of ourselves the same way again.  Americans rich and poor, black and white, old and young, will look to an African-American man and know him as President of the United States.  The President.  The only President.  The elected President.  Our President.

Every American should be moved by the sight of young African-Americans - who, for the first time, now believe they have a purchase in American democracy.  Old men and old women, grandsons and granddaughters of slaves and slaveholders, will look to an African-American as President.

Regardless of politics, could anyone remain unmoved by the sight of Jesse Jackson crying alone amidst the crowd in Chicago?  This dimension of election day transcends politics and touches the heart of the American people.

Yet, the issues and the politics remain.  Given the scale of the Democratic victory, the political landscape will be completely reshaped.  The fight for the dignity and sanctity of the unborn human beings has been set back by a great loss, and by the election of a President who has announced his intention to sign the Freedom of Choice Act into law.  The struggle to protect marriage against its destruction by redefinition is now complicated by the election of a President who has declared his aim to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.  On issue after issue, we face a longer, harder, and more protracted struggle than ever before.

Still, we must press on as advocates for the unborn, for the elderly, for the infirm, and for the vulnerable.  We must redouble our efforts to defend marriage and the integrity of the family.  We must be vigilant to protect religious liberty and the freedom of the pulpit.  We face awesome battles ahead.

At the same time, we must be honest and recognize that the political maps are being redrawn before our eyes.  Will the Republican Party decide that conservative Christians are just too troublesome for the party and see the pro-life movement as a liability?  There is the real danger that the Republicans, stung by this defeat, will adopt a libertarian approach to divisive moral issues and show conservative Christians the door.

Others will declare these struggles over, arguing that the election of Sen. Obama means that Americans in general - and many younger Evangelicals in particular - are ready to "move on" to other issues.  This is no time for surrender or the abandonment of our core principles.  We face a much harder struggle ahead, but we have no right to abandon the struggle.

We should look for opportunities to work with the new President and his administration where we can.  We must hope that he will lead and govern as the bridge-builder he claimed to be in his campaign.  We must confront and oppose the Obama administration where conscience demands, but work together where conscience allows.

Evangelical Christians face another challenge with the election of Sen. Obama, and a failure to rise to this challenge will bring disrepute upon the Gospel, as well as upon ourselves. There must be absolutely no denial of the legitimacy of President-Elect Obama's election and no failure to accord this new President the respect and honor due to anyone elected to that high office.  Failure in this responsibility is disobedience to a clear biblical command.

Beyond this, we must commit ourselves to pray for this new President, for his wife and family, for his administration, and for the nation.  We are commanded to pray for rulers, and this new President faces challenges that are not only daunting but potentially disastrous. May God grant him wisdom.  He and his family will face new challenges and the pressure of this office.  May God protect them, give them joy in their family life, and hold them close together.

We must pray that God will protect this nation even as the new President settles into his role as Commander-in-Chief, and that God will grant peace as he leads the nation through times of trial and international conflict and tension.

We must pray that God would change President-Elect Obama's mind and heart on issues of our crucial concern.  May God change his heart and open his eyes to see abortion as the murder of the innocent unborn, to see marriage as an institution to be defended, and to see a host of issues in a new light.  We must pray this from this day until the day he leaves office.  God is sovereign, after all.

Without doubt, we face hard days ahead.  Realistically, we must expect to be frustrated and disappointed.  We may find ourselves to be defeated and discouraged.  We must keep ever in mind that it is God who raises up nations and pulls them down, and who judges both nations and rulers.  We must not act or think as unbelievers, or as those who do not trust God.

America has chosen a President.  President-Elect Barack Obama is that choice, and he faces a breathtaking array of challenges and choices n days ahead.  This is the time for Christians to begin praying in earnest for our new President.  There is no time to lose.

 

  

YESTERDAY

I officially turned around yesterday.  I'm a self-confessed political junkie, glued to emails and newscasts.  But my fretfactor kept rising like Arkansas' triple digits in August.  It turns out my natural interest in politics wasn't particularly helpful personally.  I just kept knowing more and enjoying it less.

Although my stated worldview was that God is in control, practically my ever-increasing knowledge was driving me crazy.  

Then I heard a sermon yesterday.  And truth resonated way down deep in my spirit.  I felt the careening vehicle "rrrrt" and come abruptly to a halt.  My confidence sat down on a verse.  They were just some little words the Lord said as He was leaving earth.  It was as if He said...I'm leaving, but don't worry because "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me".  Well!  If He is the seat of all authority, that trumps whatever breaking news might crawl across my TV screen tonight.  Or any scheme of man.  I like that!

It's not like I hadn't heard that verse before.  It's just a timing thing.  Is the uneasy situation still there?  Oh, yeah.  So what changed?  Just me.  A fearful heart melted into sweet relief.  There also is a verse in Philippians that says God will supply all my needs in Christ.  He did that for me yesterday in a nanno second.  He very kindly took me out of the stewpot of my own making.  Our Advocate is tenderhearted in His shepherding; when He acts, it is unmistakeable.  There was no way I could calm myself down about our country's future.  I had been down that cul-de-sac more than once.  But He did it in an instant.  There is no one like our God. 

"Remember the former things long past, for I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying 'My purpose will be established and I will accomplish all My good pleasure', truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.  I have planned it; surely I will do it."  Isaiah 46:9-11

BRICKS OR STONES?

When the Cruses built, we chose red brick over rock for the outside of our home.  We're traditional.  But there's something about bricks being oh-so perfect that has always bothered my creative side.  So we chose "tumbled" brick to have a little variation.  

Stones, on the other hand, are unique.  God made individual rocks with their own size and shape and texture and color.  How about those amazing rock formations in the Badlands...or the red rocks out West?  I think my favorites are the big gray Arkansas rocks covered in electric green moss.

I was reading Rabbi Daniel Lapin recently and something he wrote made me think.  He made a correlation between bricks/stones...and political worldviews.  What could that analogy look like?

First consider bricks.  Man makes brick; quality control assures that they are exactly alike. Society can also make people feel less unique and more cookie-cutter by treating them all the same.  We might call that "fairness".  Fairness lives in similar housing, travels mass transit, gets identical medical care, and educates children about equal lifestyles.  Is quality uppermost? The Rabbi points out that it's not quality, but equality that is king.  And while we're at it...give me some of your money because you make too much and I'll give it to someone else who could use it.  If you took one of these citizens out and put another in, everything would remain the same. These citizens of collectivism are all alike and they are more like "bricks".

But stones are different.  Stones are made by God and not by men.  Think the Grand Canyon. People are made by God, too...uniquely in His image...uniquely different in looks and gifting and purpose.  A society must value and encourage that uniqueness so that our common good benefits.  Just think of society's gifts from the creative minds who invented, and the adventurous minds who liked to discover, and the scientific minds who doctor.  We can't flourish without creativity and individuality.

Rabbi Lapin went on to bring God into the analogy.  He talked about the bad connotation that bricks had in Scripture as they represented toil to the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.  Later, man used bricks at the Tower of Babel when they tried to reach up to God.  But God had told them that when they came to worship Him they should build an altar of stones.  Man was using his thinking rather than God's instruction.  That didn't end so well.

In our society it doesn't seem fair that some people have "boo-koos" and others struggle. Perhaps it is well-intentioned for one political party to try and even things out.  Or perhaps that has been tried before in other countries.  Russia comes to mind.  It has even been tried in our country; last month Hawaii quit Universal Child Healthcare after only seven months. Also you may remember your history teaching that 44 years ago LBJ declared war on poverty.  Later President Reagan quipped that we declared war on poverty but poverty won!  That's because while the percentage of the poor went down slightly, the total number of poor is greater than it was in 1964.  Well, that didn't end so well, either.  Well-intentioned or not, some things will work and some things won't. Think subprime mortgages.  Think welfare's destruction of the black family structure.  Perhaps we should look to Scripture for our ideas.  That should make the left tremble.

Jesus said we would have the poor with us always.  Did He mean we should just write off the poor?  Of course not!  But Christ's benevolence can best be extended through His people and His institution, the church.  Rick Warren says it well.  Listen to his words:

"Consider this: the Red Cross noted that 90% of the meals they served to victims of Hurricane Katrina were actually cooked by Southern Baptist churches. Many churches were able to jump into action faster than the governmental agencies or the Red Cross. Why?

The Church is literally everywhere and Christians who could provide help to the Gulf Coast communicated with Christians in need of help so relief could be sent immediately."

In a time when our country is moving away from God's answers to our huge problems, little stones should be running the other way!