Sunday Stories, September 25, 2016

IMAGINATION AND REALITY

Back about 1950ish, a new fangled piece of communication technology made its way into the homes (and culture) of well-to-do families.  It was called TELEVISION.  The Joneses didn’t have one for a couple of reasons.  First, there was a big question (and opinion) about Hollywood and all its corrupting influences being brought into living rooms where its cinematic attractions could destroy good wholesome values.  And then there was the matter of $$$. For most families the expense alone made a TV completely out of the question.  Both issues applied to the Jones family.

Despite the absence of modern technology in my home I had friends with the evil contraption in theirs and on occasion I got to experience this new media in their living rooms turned mini-theater.  My tender eyes were opened to cattle rustling, bank robbing, fast horses and fast guns.  I am so glad, even now, that the good guys were always a little faster on the draw, a bunch smarter and better looking than the outlaws.  And the horses…..I can see them even now.  Gene Autry rode Champion, the Cisco Kid had that beautiful paint named Diablo and of course Roy Rogers was astride Trigger.  My stick horse corral had one of each.  It was from The Lone Ranger I learned exactly how to get the fastest start from my stick horse by yelling  “Hi Oh Silver!”

Up until now, my imagination had been nourished by the prose and pictures of comic books I occasionally came into contact with, probably via friends whose parents were careless about what they allowed in their children’s vulnerable minds.  I learned about the characters and the drama from the printed page but TV made everything so real.  There were bar room brawls from Dodge City to Deadwood and the knock-outs were so intriguing and entertaining.  When an episode was finished, a real mix of reality and imagination began in the alley running through our neighborhood between the coal sheds and smoke houses.  Kids gathered and divided themselves into good guys and bad, cowboys and Indians.  The stick horses were saddled and the imagination/reality games began.  Gun fights were waged mostly with homemade wooden pistols but some of the more affluent kids (probably the ones with TVs at home) had cap guns with real smoke and bang.  The action was childish reality.  The slug-fests were phantom blows but the knock-outs and dead bodies were real, sometimes lasting for as long as 5 seconds.  As I write this, I’m having fun all over again.

Well, it was probably in one of my imaginary fist fights that my dad suggested I have a real opponent.  I couldn’t pass up a chance to take my best shot on so easy and harmless a target as my dad!  The sparring began.  As a small child, I was probably being as aggressive as I could  since it was an opportunity to have a real opponent who wouldn’t leave me in an unconscious heap.  Dad was being mostly defensive to keep a little fist from striking a painful blow to his midriff but somehow his knuckles slipped through my careless defenses and he landed a direct blow.  POW!  Right in the ole kisser. Blood gushed, and in anguish I wailed. Dad’s surprise and dismay were greater than my shock and in that instant all imagination became reality.

Perhaps the only reason I remember this childhood episode is what happened next.  Dad grabbed both me and a hankie and mopped my bloody lip.  On close examination, it was determined that my injury was a long way from my heart and wouldn’t be fatal.  But he knew there was more damage control needed. In his tight embrace, he made a proposition that I couldn’t pass up.  “If you won’t go tell your momma, I’ll give you a nickel to go to the corner store and get a popsicle.” (By the way, a nickel in those days was big bucks.) Guess what!? The popsicle was the perfect therapy for my pain and injury and to her dying day, mom never knew how close dad came to ending my life with a single blow.

The greatest reality in all of this is; in the mix of playful fist-cuffs and unintended injury,  there was a father/son love relationship woven that never frayed. While dad occasionally took a shot at the gable end of my anatomy with a switch as consequence for my frequent misbehavior, I never took another shot at dad.  Yes, we had our moments as I grew and matured but never anything that raised a question about whether I was loved with the deepest and most profound of parental love. Oh, how I would love another chance at a fat lip and a five cent popsicle from the hand and heart of my dad.

In the home where I was raised, the instructions for modeling the love of our Heavenly Father were more than words on a page.  They were life.  There was no make-believe …no phantom motions, and no pretending.  My parents lived them around the clock and around the calendar.   St. Paul’s directives in Ephesians 5 & 6 on familial relationships were followed to the “tee.”  “Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.”  (Ephesians 6:4 THE MESSAGE Eugene Peterson)  It was at home that my perspective on God’s love was shaped and nurtured. It was and is personal, intimate, unfailing and enduring.

Living in His love,

Bryan Jones

Saturday September 24, 2016

I thank my God every time I remember you. Philippians 1:3

All of Paul’s letters being with some variation of this beautiful salutation.

When I finally finished college and secured a teaching job I posted these words above my desk so that I would never forget the gift of students and the people invested in who I became. As the years have come and gone, my gift list has grown considerably.

Today, I encourage you to consider those you share life’s intimate moments with. Reflect on the miracle that God has woven you together in this moment in time and space.

You can’t help but smile and feel all big inside.

Have a great weekend!

Gretchen

Friday September 23, 2016

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. Acts 20:28

Paul is bidding farewell to the Elders of the Ephesian churches. He is on a quest to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost where he knows his passionate proclaiming of the Gospel will end with him in chains. He does not expect to ever see these friends again this side of Heaven.

Over 200 times in the Bible, God’s people are referenced as sheep, members of a flock. I am not a person of great agronomy skill, although I know those who are. But in the mean time there is google where I find that sheep are hardy, social animals that can exist in almost any habitat in the world and they have excellent hearing. However, poor eyesight makes them easy prey to the hazards of the wild and even the tame. Does this sound like anyone you know?

Paul’s plea to the shepherds, who happen to be sheep also, is to be wary of the evil that never sleeps and who’s sole work is to destroy the church.

My friends, if I knew that I would never write another word, never see, hear or talk to you again, I would spend my final breath telling you this…..Listen to God’s voice, He will guide you and keep you out of those pits and the mouths of wolves. His loving staff will bring you safely home.

Gretchen

Thursday September 22, 2016

Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name. II Samuel 22:50

David’s biography is full of unprecedented triumph and devastating failure. In all circumstances he recognized God alone is worthy of praise.

Praise was vital to David’s spiritual victories:
It let satan know who’s side he was on.
It turned his face to the Throne of God.
It drowned out the voice of doubt.
It kept him in his place and God in His.
It granted clarity to every situation.

Praise will do the same for you.

Love,
Gretchen

Wednesday September 21, 2016

At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Daniel 6:4

Ethics: What you have when no one’s looking. Hypocrisy: What you have when the person everyone sees and the person no one sees aren’t the same.

There are many many things to be learned from Daniel’s story, (I encourage you to read it) but the bottom line is this: Daniel’s ethical behavior made a difference in the world and glorified God to both kings and serfs.

If the only bad thing someone can say about you turns out to be fictitious, then you’re in good company with Daniel and you will probably change the world too.

Live Boldly!

Gretchen

Tuesday September 20, 2016

See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. Isaiah 65:17

There is a place being custom created for you! New Heavens and earth!

Where, “The former things will not be remembered.”

The pain of disease…..won’t be remembered!
The shame of mistakes……won’t be remembered!
The grief of loss……won’t be remembered!
The darkness of hurt…..won’t be remembered!

Are these things going to be negligently nullified? No! They will be replaced with a love so amazing that anything we suffer will become completely irrelevant because, “Nor will they come to mind.”

It is God’s choice to provide redemption and salvation, it is His choice to forget our sins AND it is His choice to create a place where we will live for all eternity in purity, Holiness, love and peace!

Gretchen

Monday September 19, 2016

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90:2

The eternal existence of God and the eternity of space…….difficult and intimidating concepts to fathom. From the very beginning of Biblical narrative God shows us He has alway been and always will be and space continues on forever without beginning and end.

We are a people of definitive experiences. We like the cause column to always equal the effect. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, what goes up must come down. Faith would be much easier if we could define God quantitatively or linearly. So what do you do when your minds won’t rest in what your heart knows?

Do what the psalmists did. State it. Praise Him for it. Ask for peace when “From everlasting to everlasting” overwhelms you. He is quick and immediate to answer. Forever and ever is your’s too.

Have a Beautiful Monday,
Gretchen

Sunday Stories September 18, 2016

Withholding Applause

I don’t remember a time I didn’t want to be a pianist. My home was full of music, everything from Porter Wagner to Richard Wagner. I had grand dreams and ‘illusions/delusions’ of fame and fortune with my talent and stage presence. Please grant me grace though, I was only 4 and 5 years old.

Piano lessons began about the age of six. I hated practicing the rudiments that might have led to proficient technique and tonal agility. Instead I had my favorite little songs that drove everyone to ear tears. Mom and dad threatened me with ‘last lessons.’ But each Saturday morning off I’d go to my patient tutor, lumber through my unpracticed assignments and return home promising to do better in the coming week.

Well, the rule of piano lesson etiquette is; If you take lessons, you participate in spring recital. I planned to perform one of my favored little ditties but my teacher and my mother were of another opinion. Mom advised that the song I was rehearsing was not the piece on the printed program. I begged to differ. She conceded with the sound warning that I should at least take the sheet music in question just in case. I assured her there was no need, I had it under control.

This is not a mystery novel so you know what happen. I should have gone ahead and played the music I knew but I made a valiant effort to execute from memory a piece I never even practiced with any enthusiasm. IT…….WAS……AWFUL!!!!! In the end I just got up and left the stage to the weak cadence of pity applause. Everyone clapped but my little sister.

Following the afternoon’s final performance everyone gathered in the fellowship hall of the hosting church for a brief reception honoring the aspiring musicians. It was there amid the “God Bless You,” pats and the “No one even noticed” encouragements that my father shared my younger sister’s response to my shame, “I ain’t clappin’ for that!”

Gayle has never seen the need to state anything but the obvious and that day I began my maiden voyage on a journey of deep theology and respect for the power and security in truth. Gayle is my truth speaker and everyone should find themselves one as great as mine.

In John 14:5-6 Thomas the doubter is worried about finding his way after his friend and teacher leaves. Jesus’ response is, “I am the Way, I am the Truth and I am the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Truth is a noun. It is not a word to describe a noun. This is big! Truth is the main idea, not a colorful way to enhance the main idea! Jesus is the Truth, God is the Truth. It is a normal phenomenon that history gets rewritten and revised to tailor fit man’s perspective. Some of it is acceptable human error, but more of it is man’s deliberate effort to control and manipulate his own world. When this occurs……man just named himself god. That’s dangerous ground folks.

Many years ago my precious little sister withheld her applause and when my dad humorously retold the episode a flood of peace fell upon me. Somebody was brave enough to tell me I did terribly and I was strong enough to handle it. Truth is power. Find it, remain in it and rest in it.

Love,
Gretchen

Saturday September 17, 2016

You will see it with your own eyes and say, “Great is the LORD-Even beyond the borders of Israel!” Malachi 1:5

The Jewish people were in the midst of economic hardship, constant physical threat and opposition. They felt God had forgotten them although He promised restoration.

Malachi’s message? GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES FAR BEYOND OUR COMPREHENSION, NO EXCEPTIONS!

Our faith and our hope rests in God alone. His love is constant and continuing and is not dependent on our actions but His will. His will is His faithfulness to us. Our only appropriate response is absolute faith in Him.

Gretchen

Friday September 16, 2016

I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

Very popular words from Philippians. Here’s the prequel……”I am not saying this because I am in need,  for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Verses 11 and 12.

So what can Paul, the author, do? Yes, all things…… the most essential things ……..contentment in all circumstances…….faithfulness in need and discomfort, grace in plenty,…….

What can we do through Him who gives strength? Persevere and become what Christ died for us to be: redeemed, missional, compassionate……..

Pulled out context this phrase seems to be an endorsement for pressing confidently toward human ambition. It is not. It is Paul’s humble affirmation that Jesus as friend, redeemer and hope is a reliable constant and that is enough. I’m with Paul, He is enough.

Love,

Gretchen