The shelter of God

Psalm 91:1 (NIV)

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

He that dwells, that sits down, in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty; he that by faith chooses God for his guardian shall find all that in him which he needs or can desire. [Matthew Henry]

In 2005, a Vietnamese pastor known as Silas was told by local authorities that he could expect to see trouble if his church continued to operate without a permit. "Be careful," one official told him. "Watch out."

This was a threat as much as a warning. In Vietnam, as in many other Communist (and some Islamic) countries, governments commonly deny or delay church permits, then jail Christians for meeting without a permit.

Silas shot back: "I don't have to watch out or be careful; God will care for us." He went on to thank the official for the harassment and opposition that Vietnamese authorities had meted out, as he felt it had unified the country's Christians.

"Your persecution has made us stronger," he told the officer.

Moreover, the pastor told him that he loved him. "You can shut down our churches, jail us, torture us. It doesn't matter, because we'll still love you," he said. "We'll love you, because God loves you and wants to see you come to know Christ's salvation." Then he delivered the final, loving blow—asking the official if he didn't feel badly about mistreating Christians. Silas told him he suspected it was tearing him up inside.

The official stalked away. Late one night, he came back. When the pastor heard him knock on the door, he assumed he was going to be hauled off to jail. But the official's manner was more like that of Nicodemus visiting Jesus, the pastor said. He needed to talk. He was depressed.

Silas invited him in, and in tears the officer told him how he did, indeed, feel badly about forcibly restraining Christians from worship. Most upsetting, though, was that he feared for his job if he did not beat and otherwise harm Christians. He himself felt mistreated at the office; peers who were lesser officers than he looked down their noses at him, advancing through the ranks by purchasing successively higher positions. The force was rife with such corruption.

Silas told him that God had a sterling plan for his life, and that he would care for him and guide him if he would only follow his son, Jesus. Before the night was over, the official prayed to receive Jesus. The next miracle was that the official advanced to a high position—without bribes. He advanced high enough to know when church raids were about to take place, so he could tip off Silas.

"He would tell us on Saturday that the police were coming on Sunday morning, so they'd come and find nobody there," the pastor said. "Then we'd meet for worship in the afternoon."

These miracles, the pastor concluded, could not have happened without the prayers of believers worldwide. Many other oppressed believers tell of receiving supernatural consolation in the midst of their ordeals. Suffering Christians are actually protected, comforted, and rescued through our prayers.

[Jeff Sellers, "Cure for the IDOP Holiday Blues," ChristianityToday.com (11-16-05) ]

A dream for nations

Proverbs 23:24 (NIV)

24 The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.

Children will be a joy to their parents if they be righteous and wise. Righteousness is true wisdom; those who do good so well for themselves. [Matthew Henry]

Last night I was listening to the news as they were summarizing the shooting that took place in Orlando, Florida. Some experts gave their opinions that second generation immigrants, in particular, Muslims, had a hard time assimilating into the US culture. The reason given is that they were caught between two worlds, a country that didn’t fully accept them, and a culture and religion of their parents.

I would dare say most parents want their children to grow up and have prosperous and meaningful life. Parents want to see their children develop into a healthy and well balanced person. I think it is a shame when they fell they cannot be a part of the culture they have arrived into and fall back to a culture that does not have the same principles and values as the country they live in.

I pray that parents can help their children be righteous and wise. I pray these children can bring joy to their parents for many years. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have a child give away their life before the life of their parents have passed.

Righteousness is true wisdom. I pray all people will do well for themselves so they can be found righteous in the sight of God. God bless those who assimilate into other cultures so they may learn the ways of the country they have entered. I pray all people will be accepting of each other. I pray the words of Martin Luther King Jr. finds its way into the hearts of people - “I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” May God make that dream come true for all nations.

Our citizenship in heaven

Philippians 3:20 (NIV)

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

We stand related the that world, and are citizens of the New Jerusalem. This world is not our home, but that is. There our greatest privileges and concerns lie. And, because our citizenship is there, our conversation is there; being related to that world, we keep up a correspondence with it. The life of a Christian is in heaven, where his head is, and his home is, and where he hopes to be shortly; he sets his affections upon things above; and where his heart is there will his conversation be. [Matthew Henry]

In April, 2011, Newsweek magazine featured an article about Arnold Schwarzenegger, movie star and former governor of California. Here are some of the most telling excerpts from the article:

Life at 63, for Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a titanic clash between human frailty and dazzling possibility. "I feel terrific about where I am in my life, when I look back at what I've accomplished," [he said], "but I feel [horrible] when I look at myself in the mirror."

It's a jolt to hear Schwarzenegger—a five-time Mr. Universe and seven-time Mr. Olympia before he was Conan the Barbarian, the Terminator, and ultimately Governor—musing about his own decay …. Still strapping in shirtsleeves, a fine specimen of aging movie star, he has lost an inch and a half from his previous 6-foot-2 height, the 31-inch waist has ballooned to 36, and the vaunted 57-inch chest has shrunk by a half foot.

"I'm not competing, I'm not ripping off my shirt and trying to sell the body," he tells me. "But when I stand in front of a mirror and really look, I wonder: What the [heck] happened here? What a beating!"

Thirteen years ago, when he was 50, Schwarzenegger had surgery to replace a defective aortic valve …. At some point in the next several years the valve will wear out, and surgeons will split his chest open to install a new one. "It does quite a number on you for quite some time," [he] tells me, "because even though you're strong willed, you know from now on you're damaged goods." He adds with a chuckle: "As with most things, I live in denial."

Three weeks after the publication of this interview, Schwarzenegger admitted that his 25-year marriage was breaking up due to his extra-marital affair.  [Lloyd Grove, "Arnold's Wild Road Trip," Newsweek (4-25-11)]

Our citizenship is in heaven that is where our mind should be and our conversations are on the things to come. But when we focus on this world we lose sight of what is to come and the glorious things to come.

The two gates

Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Dr. John Stott's last bit of advice to his assistant before he died in 2011 was simply this: "Do the hard thing." Stott believed that choosing the easy trail, the road most taken, and the path of least resistance can only end in mediocrity—even if it comes with praise. [The Gathering, "David Brooks: A Holy Friend" (10-2-14)]

The question today is, which will you take, the narrow gate or the wide gate? For the narrow gate leads to a narrow road that leads to life and only some are willing and seek to find the narrow gate. The wide gate leads to a broad road that leads to many roads of destruction. There are many who enter because it is the easy thing to do. Will you do the hard thing today and take the narrow gate that leads to Jesus Christ?

God Alone

Psalm 90:2 (NIV)

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

Against all the grievances that arise from our own mortality, and the mortality of our friends, we may take comfort from God's immortality. We are dying creatures, and all our comforts in the world are dying comforts, but God is an ever living God, and those shall find him so who have him for theirs. [Matthew Henry]

As a cold-case homicide detective, J. Warner Wallace called himself a hardcore atheist and "evidentialist" because he believed the truth was always tied to the evidence. But at the age of thirty-five, he took a serious look at the evidence for Christianity and became a follower of Christ. Here's how Wallace summarized his conversion:

As an atheist, I was very comfortable as the captain of my own ship … I had been a police officer for nearly ten years and was used to being in charge in difficult situations. I didn't like intrusions, and there was no room for God in my life. I am not a theist today because I was raised by believers—I wasn't. I am not a believer because I was hoping for heaven or afraid of hell—I had no sense of value for either. I am not a theist because I was trying to fill a "void" or satisfy a "need"— I felt none. I believe God exists because the evidence leaves me no reasonable alternative.

Warner added:

Jurors evaluate evidential cases every day across our country, and they are asked to make a decision even though they don't have every question answered or every possible detail explained. When the overwhelming evidence points to a reasonable conclusion, jurors make a decision … The standard of proof (SOP) in the most critical of criminal trials is "beyond a reasonable doubt," not "beyond a possible doubt." I've never conducted the perfect investigation, and we've never presented the perfect case before a jury. But in my career as a cold-case detective, I've never lost … If there's enough evidence to make a decision, they're asked to make a decision. When it comes to the case for God's existence, there's enough evidence. [J. Warner Wallace, God's Crime Scene (David C. Cook, 2015), page 183]

God and God alone created all these things we call our own - From the mighty to the small the Glory in them all is God's and God's alone. (Steve Green)

Put your love and trust in Christ

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

It is a desirable thing to have Christ dwell in our hearts; and if the law of Christ be written there, and the love of Christ be shed abroad there, then Christ dwells there. Christ is an inhabitant in the soul of every good Christian. Where his spirit dwells, there he swells; and he dwells in the heart by faith, by means of the continual exercise of faith upon him. Faith opens the door of the soul, to receive Christ; faith admits him, and submits to him. By faith we are united to Christ, and have an interest in him. [Matthew Henry]

In his new film (2016), A Hologram for the King, Tom Hanks plays a middle-aged American businessman who is sent to Saudi Arabia for a special project. The film addresses an important issue we all face: no matter what we've done or how much we've accomplished, there still comes a point when we ask "How did I get here?"

Hanks said that he felt particularly connected with his character's sense of self-doubt and dislocation. "No matter what we've done," Hanks said, "there comes a point where you think, 'How did I get here? When are they going to discover that I am, in fact, a fraud and take everything away from me?'" Despite having won two Academy Awards and appearing in more than 70 films and TV shows, Hanks says he still finds himself doubting his own abilities. Hanks put it this way:

It's a high-wire act that we all walk. There are days when I know that three o'clock tomorrow afternoon I am going to have to deliver some degree of emotional goods, and if I can't do it, that means I'm going to have to fake it. If I fake it, that means they might catch me at faking it, and if they catch me at faking it, well, then it's just doomsday. [NPR: Fresh Air, "Tom Hanks Says Self-Doubt Is 'A High-Wire Act That We All Walk,'" (4-26-16)]

If you look to the world and ask, “AM I GOOD ENOUGH”, there will always be someone to come back and say, no, you are not good enough yet.  But no matter where you are in life, Christ will always say, I love you and you are good enough for me. Put your love and trust in Christ!

A Noble Wife

Proverbs 31:10 (NIV)

10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

Throughout Proverbs there are verses that speak about the problems between husband and wife. However, Proverbs 31 focuses on a special woman, a woman who honors her husband, brings him delight and cares for the household and the children of the home.

After ten years of marriage, Cindy and Chip Altemos were in the long process of getting a divorce. The proverbial baggage they brought from previous marriages seemed too great to overcome, so they separated and even agreed to date other people.

Five years into the painful separation, Chip was in the hospital with kidney failure. With his health deteriorating rapidly, his soon-to-be ex-wife came to his aid—in spite of Chip's being in another relationship at the time. "He was still my husband. There was no way I could walk around with two kidneys, and he had none," Cindy told the press. "It was the right thing to do." She agreed to donate a kidney, telling Chip there were no strings attached—no written agreement concerning a better share in divorce court.

The transplant took place on February 21, 2007, and a funny thing happened as they both recovered in the hospital: they fell back in love. Chip thought to himself, Why would I want to date someone else, when I have a woman who would give part of herself so I can keep living? He put an end to his other relationship and asked Cindy to come back home with him. The two will be married 17 years in October.

[Sam McKee, Sunnyvale, California; source: Associated Press, "Kidney Saves Marriage," www.foxnews.com (5-6-07)]

Sometimes it takes looking at what another person is willing to give, before you realize what you could be giving up. I have seen couple break up and then get back together because they realized there was something special they were leaving behind.

My wife and I are celebrating our 37^th wedding anniversary today. Marriage is not always perfect. There are problems and obstacles you will always face. I’m thankful for a wife who has watched over the affairs of our home, watched after our children. She is a noble wife that I have full confidence in, although there are times I probably haven’t expressed it as well as I should. In fact there are things I know I have said that I shouldn’t have said and things I should have said and didn’t. She is a woman who honors God and lives the life He would have her live.

I love you Robin and I thank you for the 37 years of marriage with you. Thank you for being a loving wife and a mother who has cared for her children. Happy anniversary!!!