Look before you cut someone off

I was driving while talking to my wife on the phone. I was looking for an exit and didn't realize it was backed up for a mile. Having passed the end of the line, I looked for a gap and slid over into the line to exit. My wife on the phone said "someone in a truck with a Texas A&M sticker just cut me off..."

Check the details

When I told my mom, a United Methodist deacon, this story, all she said was "Always double check the details."

At church this morning there was a baptism. The pastor was holding the baby and said his normal words to the parents and congregation. Then, while placing his hand in the bowl of water in the baptismal font, said, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost... HEY! I have a problem! I don't have any water!" He held up the empty bowl to show. An elder quickly jumped up and grabbed the glass of water from the pulpit and provided it to the pastor. The pastor apologized and continued on.

I thought it was pretty funny.

God smells

Psalm 145:8-9 tells us "The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made." Let's hope his mercy is over even the children.

My children normally do a simple prayer at dinner to the tune of Frere Jacques that goes "God our Father, God our Father, We thank You, We thank You, For our many blessings, For our many blessings, Amen, Amen."

The other night my 3 year old sang "God our Father, God our Father, We thank You, We thank You, You smell like a donkey, You smell like a donkey, Happy birthday to You, Happy birthday to You."

Halloween

Today at church during the sermon, our pastor made mention of Halloween. He mentioned that some churches have fall festivals or other alternative activities. He said that because of this, many of our neighbors walk by our empty, dark houses while they are trick or treating.

He said this wasn't appropriate. We as Christians are called to interact with our neighbors, even those who are not Christians. We are called to be in the world. We are not to be holed up in a Christian castle avoiding all other people.

He said that we should participate in our society's trick or treating tradition. He said giving out tracts would ensure noone would come by. He instead recommended giving out the best candy on the street so that all your neighbors will come by and you can meet them. By doing this, we can meet our neighbors and develop relationships to enable us to share the gospel.

Our society treats Halloween as a time for children to dress us in costumes and go get candy. This is nothing that a Christian should fear. But I'm not going to give out full size candy bars. That's too much money. I'll stick with the fun size snickers bars.

Basic Theology

I enjoy theology. I enjoy debating the merits of different theological perspectives. Calvinism vs Armenianism, covenant vs dispensational, pipe organs vs guitars.

Theology is good for us. It is studying our God and knowing more about it. It involves spending time in the Word, in prayer, and in studying who God is and what he has done, is doing, and will do. It is good for us. But at the end, I am willing to let it all go for nothing but Jesus Christ and his death for my sins.

I cling to this as my most basic theology. It is the foundation everything else is built upon. The house may burn, but if the sure foundation of Jesus and his death will remain, I am safe.

I once was discussing creation with someone who strongly subscribed to 6 day creation. Their argument was that if you didn't take the creation literally, you believed that death came before sin, and therefore their is no need for a savior. Now I could come up with arguments of how the effects of sin could be felt before sin, since the effects of Jesus' death were felt before his death in the saving of the faithful before ~33AD, however, a stronger argument is found in what if you are wrong? In this perspective, if one wrong on creation, then their entire faith collapses.

In theology, one should be OK with being wrong in things. We are dealing with things beyond our human understanding. Jesus told Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" When looking at theology, we are dealing with God himself, the alpha and omega. Our theology may be wrong in some areas. Be OK with that, because you placed your hope, your salvation, your all, on the death of Jesus and not the beliefs of man.

Why we should love our neighbor

When asked the greatest commandment, Jesus responds with two, saying they are similar. Jesus said to his questioner, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Jesus quotes both of the commandments from the old testament. The first quote is the Shema Yisrael. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." The second is from Leviticus. "You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

So as Christians, little Christs, we are called to love our neighbor. Therefore, we love our neighbor because God tells us too. That's a pretty good reason, but as humans, we aren't good at doing what we should just because we are told too.

John gives us an interesting justification for loving others. " We love because he first loved us." We love our neighbor as Christ loves us only because God loved us first and moved us by the Holy Spirit so that we could love as Christ loves.

But even deeper than that, there is an intrinsic reason for loving other humans and valuing them, no matter who they are. They too, were created in the image of God.

Moses records in Genesis 1:26-27, "Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

The word image in Hebrew is tselem, meaning image, likeness (of resemblance).

A key in the Genesis 1 passage is that humankind is made in the image of God, not just Christians or Jews, or specific individuals, but all humans. Regardless of who the individual is, they are made in the image, the likeness, of God. They have a resemblance of the creator of the universe.

This gives the individual value. To be made in the image of the creator places value on the creation.

For the Christian, this is the starting point of dealing with any other human being. No matter who they are, you are dealing with someone who was made in the image of God. That makes loving them the default option.

Love your neighbor, they too are made in the image of God.

Is your gospel enough?

Andrew White is the Vicar of Baghdad, the pastor of St. George’s Church in Baghdad. He has multiple sclerosis. He is in Iraq seeking to make peace through love. He is currently working with refugees from the ISIS occupation.

Says he has been "hijacked, kidnapped, locked up in rooms with bits of finger and toe and things." He has "been held at gunpoint, been attacked – the usual thing."

Follow is a little more about him from a bio sheet.

Now he experienced faith under fire but most of all, love. His church has been seriously damaged by bombs and rockets. He has soldiers and 35 security people around him, he wears body armour to church as it is outside the green zone. He has seen many of his congregation killed and kidnapped. The children suffer terrible loss, injury and devastation. He sometimes has to leave because of threats to his life. He has been kidnapped. However he knows that most people in Iraq have no choice but to stay. Rich and powerful have left. The poor have to stay. This life can only be endured with love. He and his congregation love the Lord and each other. He says ‘we knew that Jesus was all we needed when Jesus was all we had left’.

Does your gospel give you the strength to endure that? If not, you need a better gospel.

Have mercy on me, again

In the gospel of Luke, a story told by Jesus is recorded.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

I appreciate the tax collector. Some days, that's all I feel I can say to my God. Though I am a new life in him, some days I feel the only thing I can say is have mercy on me, Lord, for I am a sinner.

Jesus said he went home justified. But I doubt he came back day after day to the temple saying "thanks for having mercy on me, unlike that guy." I bet when he came back, he continued to say, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" And every time I bet Jesus said to those around him "this man went down to his home justified."

There is hope for even us sinners. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am a sinner.

The Big Sur

We lived on the Monterey Peninsula. On the south side of the peninsula is Carmel. South of Carmel is the Big Sur.



We spent a lot of time in Big Sur. I'll attempt to capture our favorite parts.

Camping
We've gone camping in the Big Sur a few times. Our favorite place is along the water at Kirk Creek.

Kirk Creek Campground is a National Forest campground, but is run by a private contractor.

They do take reservations; however, half of the sites they leave for first-come first-serve.

We arrived on a Tuesday in the summer about 9:30AM. A first drive through didn't reveal any open sites, so we decided to make a stop down in Gorda at the store to pick-up a few supplies. Returning about 10:15 found an open spot.

The Kirk Creek campground does not have running water, so make sure you are prepared for that. You can get water from another campground just a few miles south near Sand Dollar Beach.

The great thing about Kirk Creek is every campsite over looks the ocean.

Beach below Kirk Creek campground

Beach below Kirk Creek campground

Kirk Creek Campground

Sunset from our site at Kirk Creek Campground

Our second favorite campground is Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It is located in a red wood stand along the river. Kids enjoyed playing in the river. They also have ranger programs, so we hit up the morning junior ranger program for story time and arts and crafts.

We've camped at Limekiln SP, It is under a bridge and is real narrow. The sites are pretty close together as well. Since we had all our kids, they were able to play with lots of other kids.

There is also camping in the mountains. I've only stayed at the Boy Scout camp, Camp Pico Blanco.

Beaches
Most people like Pfeiffer Beach. Most of the time, it was cold and windy. Not my favorite beach. But it does have an arch and purple sand.

It is tricky to find the first time. It is located 2 miles down a one lane road. To find the road, drive south on CA 1 past the Big Sur Ranger Station. Sycamore Canyon Road is on the right, the sharp turn. If you reach the post office, you've gone too far.

Arch at Pfeiffer Beach

My favorite beach is Sand Dollar Beach. It is day use only. Like most beaches here, there is a steep dropoff to the beach, but it is worth it. There is a cave on the north end of the beach. There is also a sign about the whale migration that marks the location of the USSR.

Trail to the beach 

Trail to the beach

Sand Dollar Beach

If we wanted to go to the beach without the long drive, Garrapata SP has a good beach. It isn't marked on the highway, but look for gate 17 or 18. Park on the shoulder of the highway and follow the trail down to the beach.


Always be on the lookout for waves. Sneaker waves can come up on the beach and turn what looked like a great beach spot into the ocean. We've been on the receiving end of one of those and got lucky, but it could have been disastrous.


Food
There are several nice restaurants in Big Sur. I've never eaten at them! I've only eaten at one place down there.

The River Inn is located in the village of Big Sur on the Big Sur River. There is a restaurant there with great food. There is also a gas station (you pay a premium for gas in Big Sur) and a bus that sells ice cream. Behind the inn is a great grassy yard on the river. Kids love to play in that yard and play in the river. There is also a general store with a good selection of supplies and wine.


Other
Wildlife is abundant, but you sometimes have to look for it. Whales while driving were a common site. Keep an eye open for their spout. Deer are common. I did see a California Condor once. It was just below the road and when it took off, its wingspan was larger than a car. I did see its yellow tags, but couldn't make out the number.

There are lots of trails in Big Sur, as much of it is the Los Padres National Forest. One trail I did was the Rocky Ridge and Soberanes Canyon loop. A tough trail that starts along a creek, goes through red woods, then peaks out on a mountain overlooking the Pacific.

The coolest place in Big Sur is Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP. They have a waterfall that drops into the ocean. There is a parking lot, but you have to pay for it. Park along the edge of the highway and follow the trail to the observation area.

Cove at Julia Pfeiffer Burns

McWay Waterfall

McWay Waterfall

McWay Waterfall

The Bixby Bridge is a well known Big Sur landmark. There is a pullout on the north side of it for viewing.

Bixby Creek Bridge

Because parking on the highway is free, you will see lots of cars parked around the state parks. There are also a lot of bicyclists. The road is narrow and the shoulder lacking in most places. Be mindful of them.

There must be more

1 Corinthians 10:13 reads No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. In life, we will meet temptation, but Paul assures us that God will give us a way to endure. However, that way of enduring may be him redeeming our life in the life that is to come.

In the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the King orders the three to bow down and worship the false gods, else he will cast them into the fiery furnace. The three respond, "If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.” Their response is much more than just saying God can save them. They say even if God does not save them, they will still refuse to sin and worship false gods. They were willing to die than to reject God and worship another god. This can only be done if we have an eternal perspective.

This eternal perspective is the knowing that our hope isn't in this life. It is found in the life that is to come.

Jesus tells us to not fear death in this life, but death in the life to come. In Luke 12:4-5, he says "My friends, listen to me. Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t do any more than that. I will show you whom you should be afraid of. Be afraid of the one who has the authority to throw you into hell after you have been killed. Yes, I tell you, be afraid of him." 

Peter reminds us of this hope in the life to come. He opens his first letter with Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Our focus when in times of struggle, hardship, or temptation must be eternal. We must focus on the redemption promised in the life to come, not the hardships promised in this life.

I've recently listened to Joel Osteen on XMRadio. His sermons have a common theme. You are struggling in life. This struggle is related to not trusting God. Turn over your desire to God, then he will grant you the promotion you desire. The result of trusting God is redemption in this life. This message doesn't translate well when we are proclaiming the Gospel.

We are proclaiming the Gospel of a man who was nailed to the cross. We are proclaiming the Gospel along side the martyrs who gave up everything to spread the Word and to die at the hands of those who oppose God. This Gospel isn't a gospel of material success in this world, but a gospel that opens the cell of the person on death row, frees the captive, heals the one who is suffering from a incurable disease. It does this, because it proclaims that we can be reconciled to God our creator and he will dwell with us forever, in the life that is to come.

We can endure all hardships, temptations, and struggles in this life because there is a life to come.

But our focus is not on eternity only when times are bad. When the 70 disciples return to Jesus after he sent them out in the surrounding area, they were joyful because they could cast out demons and heal the sick. Jesus told them "See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Even in the best of times, our hope to endure remains in the life that is to come.

There must be more for us to endure hardships that may cost us our lives. Good news, there is.

To God be the glory

Today's Psalm reading from the Revised Common Lectionary is Psalm 130.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

    Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you,
    so that you may be revered.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord
    more than those who watch for the morning,
    more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is great power to redeem.

It is he who will redeem Israel
    from all its iniquities.

What stands out to me most from this passage is But there is forgiveness with you,
    so that you may be revered. That we are forgiven by God, so that honor and glory shall be his.


It reminds me of the Fanny Crosby hymn, to God be the Glory.




The first verse and refrain of the hymn are:

To God be the glory, great things he hath done! 
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin, 
and opened the lifegate that all may go in. 

Refrain: 
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, 
let the earth hear his voice! 
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, 
let the people rejoice! 
O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son, 
and give him the glory, great things he hath done!

Ms. Crosby beautifully captures the idea of the greatest thing God has done for us is redeeming us by the death of Jesus and that our response is to come to him and give him praise and glory.


Do we use our forgiveness as a way of showing the world God's greatness? Do we turn back to God when he forgave us in a way that demonstrates to the world how great and wonderful God is? Or do we live our life in a way to seeks to bring glory and honor to us because we claim to be in Christ?

Two men went to the temple to pray. One prayed, Thank God I am not like that sinner. The other, God, grant me mercy for I am a sinner. Jesus said only one of those two people went home justified. One sought forgiveness to give him glory. The other saw only the glory of God.

A childhood dream realized

Growing up as a kid in the 1980's, the space shuttle program was the basis for my dreams of space exploration. I would watch launches on television, had a Commodore 64 game, Project Space Station, where you ran the space program, and was a member of the Young Astronauts at school.

I always wanted to go to Florida to watch a launch. The closest I got was in November of 2009, watching Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-129, launch from Kennedy while I was on an airplane at 37,000 feet off the west coast of Florida on a flight from Atlanta to Key West.

Now that the program is over, what is there for kids to dream about? I have taken my kids to see two of the shuttles on display, but I think I'm much more excited about them than they are.

We saw Endeavour in Los Angeles at the California Science Center in summer of 2014.

 

Yesterday, we saw Discovery at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

While I would certainly go see Enterprise if in New York, let's face it, she is a wanna-be space shuttle. Therefore, I consider my childhood complete in having seen the remaining 3 of the 5 orbiters to have gone into space.

Look it up

Today in church we sang a new song, Come, Behold the Wondrous Mystery.



I don't know how new it is, but it was new for me at least.

The first verse includes the lines: Look to Christ who condescended, took on flesh to ransom us.

That sounded bad to me. In context, I could tell the line meant to look towards Christ who came down from Heaven to be man to die for us. But I had always heard the word condescended in a bad term, like someone in a higher position talking down to you because of your lower position.

Turns out there is more than one definition in the dictionary.

The third definition of condescended reads

to put aside one's dignity or superiority voluntarily and assume equality with one regarded as inferior

That makes a lot more sense.

Even if you don't know what it is, avoid it

Pastor at my church yesterday read from Isaiah 30 as part of his sermon. Verse 6 reads 

An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,    from where come the lioness and the lion,    the adder and the flying fiery serpent,they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,    and their treasures on the humps of camels,    to a people that cannot profit them.

 I asked him after the service what the flying fiery serpent was. He said, "I don't know, but I sure don't want to meet it."