ARE YOU READY?

While  much of the country was enjoying sunny and warm weather this past weekend, things have been different for us here in the Southern California Mountains. We have had temperatures in the 20's and have been under a winter storm watch. We ended up getting between 8 inches of snow here in our community.

How many of you rush to the store, when you hear about a snow storm coming into  your area? Personally, I went to the store early on Saturday morning,  just to pick up a couple of things… Needless to say, I was not alone.

The store was full of other shoppers, looking to do the same thing.  As I reflected upon this phenomenon later, I thought about the parable of the ten maidens in Matthew 25:1-13. You remember the story, a bridegroom was coming and the maidens had to be ready when he came, and his intent was to surprise them.

I read about another way to tell this story, but don't know who came up with the idea, but here is my rewrite of the story someone else shared.

"The kingdom of heaven is like ten people who sat down one night to watch the evening news. Before long, the All-Wise, All-Knowing and Always Accurate Weatherman appeared on the TV set and spoke.

"Behold," he said, "A snow storm of a severe nature approaches, so be prepared. At midnight, it shall be upon you and in the morning, there shall be whiteness on the ground which shall reach up to your knees. Thus says your weatherman.

Five of the ten people were prepared, so they sat comfortably in their homes and watched the rest of the news. But the other five were not prepared. They had no milk, they had no bread and they wondered where they had left their winter gloves.

So, they jumped into their cars and raced to the store with money in hand, desperately hoping they could lay an offering upon the altar of the Cash Register and get a few last minutes things in return.

But behold, they were too late. The door to the store was locked. The gods of commerce would accept no more offerings until the morning. The five people went home and asked their neighbors, "Do you have any bread or milk I can borrow?" Their neighbors said, "No, I don't. I only have enough for my family.

A curse upon you who hear this warning and do not prepare… The snow approached and you paid no attention to the day or the hour. You should have been prepared. Now you shall be judged wanting in the day the snow cometh…"

I know it is a silly little story, but does that make it any less true? If the Lord were to come tonight would you be ready?

TIME TO CHANGE

Here we are at that time of year when the time changes once again. You know, "Spring forward," "Fall back" Daylight savings time. It's actually only a small sign of how much life changes as time goes on. Life is definitely different for ever person, each of us have our own particular view of life, what it should be and how it should be lived. I wanted to share some thoughts on living!

Sign on a storefront in Great Britain: 

"We have been established for over one hundred years and have been pleasing and

displeasing customers ever since. We have made money and lost money, suffered 

the effects of coal nationalization, coal rationing, Government control, and bad

payers. We have been cussed and discussed, messed about, lied to, held up, robbed,

and swindled. The only reason we stay in business is to see what happens next."

If we ever hope to make it through this thing called “life,” then we are going to have to have 

the right attitude. I tend to think of life as an adventure, while I know folks who think of life as 

only something to be endured until something better comes along. Those folks never seem 

truly happy! They are always worrying about what bad thing is going to happen to them next. 

Melody and I have been married for 45 years and often talk about the great adventure it has 

been for us. That doesn’t mean that we haven’t had our up’s and down’s, our have and have 

not times in our life, but I think it speaks to how we view life in general. 

We have a faith in God that lets us believe that clouds do have silver linings and things do 

really work out for the good (Romans 8:28). Our faith allows us to see things differently 

from much of the world. We believe the promises we find in the scripture that God will 

provide for the necessities of our life if we make the effort to follow his word, 

(everything else is a bonus). 

Jesus speaking in the “sermon on the mount” tells us in Matthew 6:25ff   “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” Go ahead and read the rest of the passage, it’s powerful and will test your faith to believe it, but then that’s one of the purposes of life isn’t it? To test our faith and see just how much we really do trust God to keep his word?

So, how do you deal with life? Is it an adventure or a burden to be endured? On a movie title a while back, were the words: “And the adventure continues!” It may seem strange, but I pray that for your life the adventure may continue or maybe more, and that you may view life as an adventure looking to Christ for your strength. Take a look at Hebrews 12: 1-2 about running the race to see what it’s all about..

May God continue to bless you with a sense of adventure and then some...

MEN DON'T READ

Well, it is obvious from the feed back I got from my women readers regarding my last post that Men don't read! Why do I say that, because apparently more than one man pointed out my "learned" expertise to their wives as to why they didn't get flowers or candy.

I apologize to my women readers for the miscommunication with their husbands. But as I said, they obviously didn't read my post, only the title... Let me point out a couple of things recorded in that post that some men didn't read.

Question: Why didn't I give my wife roses for Valentine's Day?

Answer: Because I gave her favorite flowers to her a few days before, which were 3 dozen Carnations. I also mentioned that I buy her flowers on a regular basis, not just on holidays.

Question: Why didn't I give my wife a box of candy for Valentine's Day?

Answer: Because she prefers Hershey's chocolate bars with almonds so I gave her several of those.

Question: How did I know that doing those things would please her?

Answer: Because I listened when she mentioned those things through the years!

So, guys, if you read this…. And you didn't buy flowers or candy for your wife, go out immediately and buy either or both and give them to her. You may not understand why it is important to her, but it is, OK… Just take my word for it!

I DIDN'T GIVE MY WIFE FLOWERS FOR VALENTINE'S DAY (or a box of candy either).

I DIDN'T GIVE MY WIFE FLOWERS FOR VALENTINES DAY (or a box of candy either).

By Russ Lawson

I know that the heading above may bring a negative response from some, (especially wives who didn't get flowers for Valentines Day either). However hear me out (and yes, this is directed mainly to my fellow men).

Now, do you want to know why I didn't get her flowers for this special day? You see, being a minister I deal a great deal with death. I have seen countless husbands mourn their wives who have died. I have heard them say all the things good husbands do about how they should have treated her better and if only they had it to do over it would be different.

 My wife and I have been married for right at 46 years and I have always tried to do special things for her. However about 20 years ago I decided I didn't want to be one of those guys who said, "I wish I had." So, when I have been able to afford it, which is quite often I bring home flowers. The last few years we have been in a situation that allows me to buy flowers for her just about every week. So, I didn't buy flowers for Valentines Day, I didn't need to, I brought home 3 dozen carnations a few days before. I also, rarely buy roses. Why, because I know she prefers carnations.

I also didn't buy a box of candy (heart shaped or otherwise). Why, because I know that she doesn't care for most of the candy that you get in a box. She much prefers Hershey's chocolate bars with almonds or M&M's peanut. How do I know? Because at one time or another she has told me these things and I actually listened.

Now for you wives who might be reading this, I hope you notice that my wife actually told me what she liked at some point in our relationship. Please don't fall back on the old, "he should have known" saying. Because most of us guys, just aren’t that perceptive. Tell us what you like and we will do a much better job of getting it right.

So what did I do for the love of my life for Valentines Day? I made our bed for her, gave her a card and a Hershey's bar, took her out to Starbucks and then later to a movie. We actually prefer to eat at home most of the time, so nothing fancy there. She did make me a special breakfast, gave me a hand crafted card telling me how much she loved me and we sat and held each other's hands for awhile. Oh, and I made sure I told her how much I loved her and how great she looked, because she wore my favorite earrings and took special pains to look good, just to spend some time for me!

You see, love is not $45 roses or $65 candy, it is caring enough to do special things, things that may not cost anything.

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 5:28 "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself."

BEAM ME UP

Most of us have heard the phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty" at one time or another, but do you know who said that phrase in the old Star Trek TV series? This phrase is famous isn't it; we see it everywhere from bumper stickers to posters.

Most of us have heard that some famous phrases may not be just as we have heard them or thought they were, or even said by the people we thought said them. Such as the phrase, "Play it again, Sam," which was never really uttered in the movie Casablanca?

OK, who said, "Beam me up Scotty" in the series? You may have guessed that it was Captain Kirk, (William Shatner), but the reality is that he never said this exact phrase. In fact the answer is that no one in the series ever said that exact phrase. The closest Captain Kirk ever got to saying it was on the cartoon version of the series. On the original TV series the closest that the Captain ever got was "Beam US up, Scotty".

How many things in our memory do we accept as being true which we really have no real idea where they came from? For example, which of these following statements come from the Bible?

1.      A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

2.      Beggars can't be choosers.

3.      Charity begins at home.

4.      Cleanliness is next to godliness.

5.      Everything that glitters is not gold.

6.      God helps those who help themselves.

7.      Honesty is the best policy.

Well, in principle most of the thoughts can be found in the bible, but those phrases all come from men's writings. Yet, if I had asked you personally, what would you have said. Would you have in all honesty thought that at least one or two were found in the Bible?

That's OK; none of us can know everything in the Bible, can we? But what is enough? When do we know enough, when have we grown enough in knowledge and understanding. Peter urges his readers in 2 Peter 3:18 to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

My earnest prayer for you is that you will continue to read, study, and come to a greater understanding of Christ and his purpose for you. Read you Bible daily, search the word, and know God better.

It's not what you might think!

At one time or another, most of us have seen notes, headlines or articles such as these in your local church bulletin: "The eight graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet on Friday. You are invited to attend this tragedy." Or " The Low Self-Esteem group will meet Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Please use the back door." Or "Remember to pray for the many who are sick of our church and community." Or one of my favorites, "Don't let worry kill you, let us help."

Then there are the newspaper headlines which are designed to catch our attention such as these: "Sun or rain expected today, Dark tonight." Or "Psychics predict, the world didn't end yesterday!" Or "Cincinnati Dry Cleaner sentenced in suit!" Or again one of my favorites, "Tips to avoid alligators: Don't swim in waters inhabited by large alligators."

Of course each of these sentences, were trying to convey a thought which could very easily be interpreted another way. That's not what the authors intended, it's not what you might think after reading these statements. How do we know what was the intention of the author? If we know them it helps, if we have some insight into the culture and social events that helps also. But if we are readers of their other writings often they will explain what they mean more clearly in one place than another.

Of course I want us to think about this in regards to God's Word. I have been encouraging you to read God's word daily. I don't care if you have a particular plan or not, just let God speak to you every day. It's important to do that if you ever want to understand God's message for yourself and not have to just take someone else's word for what He says!

Many years ago I was in a religious discussion with another preacher. We disagreed about the meaning of a particular passage of scripture which I though was very clear. I finally asked him to explain to me what the scripture meant. I was shocked by the response of: "I don't know what it means, but it doesn't mean what it says!" I still shake my head in amazement at that answer from a religious leader. I can't fathom the idea that God's Word doesn't mean what it says.

I know that some of you get confused by all of the different beliefs and teachings you hear. I can sympathize with you as you are sometimes overwhelmed by what someone might say. Here is one of the keys to understanding God's Word (and ending the confusion) that was driven into my thinking over 40 years ago when I was a preaching student. "Let God's Word interpret itself." In other words, read and study the bible daily. Allow God to speak to you through His Word and you may be amazed at how your understanding will grow. Don't worry so much about what preachers, writers, or commentators have to say, let God's Word teach you and you will find a much less confusing world.

Spend time in God's Word, it just might not be what you think at all!

Another point of view

        

 

Have you ever thought of how we get locked in to one way of thinking about things? Really, while most of us may feel that we are open minded or at least not locked into only one way of thinking, we sometimes are. It is sometimes the little things in life that help us to refocus, things that jar us out of our rut and cause us to re-think things.

There is a cute story I ran across that illustrates this point (I think). Notice the "other point of view" seen here: While I sat in the reception area of my doctor's office, a woman rolled an elderly man in a wheelchair into the room.

As she went to the receptionist's desk, the man sat there, alone and silent. Just as I was thinking I should make small talk with him, a little boy slipped off his mother's lap and walked over to the wheelchair.

Placing his hand on the man's, he said, "I know how you feel. My mom makes me ride in the stroller, too."

That story brings to mind the words of Jesus found in Matthew 18:1-4. "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."(NIV)

Throughout the four Gospel books Jesus confronted the Scribes and Pharisees. In general I don't believe it was because they were bad people, but they could only see a thing from the context of what they had been taught was the way to believe and act. They could not understand that the one they claimed to serve was standing in their midst, they were in a rut, locked into seeing only through the filter of men's teachings.

I will readily admit that I am somewhat fixed in my thinking. I know what I believe and more importantly, why I believe what I believe. I admit that I have a filter through which I see and interact with the world in general. It is the filter of the Word of God. I know that I sometimes fail, but my goal it to be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 and search the scriptures every day to see that my beliefs are in line with God's Word. I strive to filter my relationships in the same way that I might see others as the child in the story, without prejudices, only with a desire to help. I know that I don't always succeed in this, but that is my goal.

I pray that God will help each of us humble ourselves, if necessary to see things and people differently, so that we might be worthy of His kingdom. How do you see the world around you?