Bill’s Front Porch

OK, I know that I am sounding older and older, but there truly are things that I learn experientially the older I get. I mean, in my younger years, you knew things were true, but I knew them through head knowledge, but as I got older, I am experiencing their truth in my life. That is really a great thing about getting older.

What I am specifically talking about is the proverb, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” This proverb has been on my mind lately for different reasons, but it hit home for me again Tuesday morning.  We were having staff clean-up day (when we just get rid of the junk that has accumulated since the last day, there is a spiritual lesson in that, but not today.) and Alice brought in donuts for breakfast.  I ate one (confession is good for the soul, if not for the weight!) and Doug was kidding and said, “Is that going to show up on your blog?”  Well, here it is, but not because of the donut so much as because of the way iron sharpen iron.  Doug was kidding, but it made me think (and possibly kept me from eating another one).  As I was working, I thought more and more about the way we do sharpen, or dull, each other. I am thankful for those who have sharpened me over the years.  Dolan, you have been a blessing to me and have really helped keep me a little sharper!  My brother-in-law has sharpened me many times.  Tim, you and I have not always agreed on everything, but the conversations have helped sharpen me.  Doug and Trevor help sharpen me daily.  I believe that there is something special about the male to male sharpening relationship, but I have been sharpened by women as well, Cami seems to send me an email, or just says something that will grind that point a little finer in me.  Of course the one who keeps me the sharpest here on earth is Karon (no I am not saying that she is a grinding person!).    There is nothing that can take the place of that marriage relationship.  There are many more people that God has/is using in my life, but there is not enough space for all to be mentioned, just know you are a blessing to me and God knows how I thank Him for you.
I am thankful for the people that have, and continue to, sharpen me.  I want to be a sharpener to others as well.  We, especially as men, can really serve to sharpen or dull each other.  Let’s be careful.

Elizabeth sent me this link and everyone needs to see it!
Bill

OK, I am sitting at work (early, I might add) a little frustrated because my exercise time has been interrupted again!  This is really amazing to me!  It seems like every time that I start this thing (for several years) all of a sudden things start happening at the same time.  For instance, I am getting phone calls at 7:00 in the morning!!! Who calls at 7:00 in the morning!  Rebekah is sick at home, she is 15, not feeling well, has the opportunity to sleep in the upstairs room with no one to bother her, it is 7:15.  What would you do??  She chooses to come down to see what I am doing!  OK, good time for one on one time, but still…

I was thinking about this in the shower, “Why is the devil so interested in my health??  Why doesn’t he hit the bigger sins more than this??”  (I know, not theologically correct, but you know we all think of big and little sins).  Anyway, I got to thinking that maybe these less noticeable sins are like a hedge around the bigger ones.  It seems like I am always working on the little sins to get them out of the way before I hit the big ones!  Maybe my health and lack of exercise (more acceptable sins) are a Satan created barrier to protect the more destructive things in my life.

I would love your thoughts on this.  Not sure if this is on target or “missing the mark.”

Bill

Man, I have missed this porch!  Got to be careful, though.  Doug, our beloved pastor and my boss is on the porch too!  I’m getting back to work now!!!

I am so thankful to Dolan for cleaning up the porch.  It was a mess and I was unable to do it (I guess that’s what brothers are for).

I love the porch because it is always spring out here and that makes me feel better too.  Before I go any farther, I want to remind or inform everyone what the porch was started for.  We started to hang out on the porch because it is a place that we can go, talk about our views on things, and not worry about being condemned or criticized.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t have disagreements (there have been plenty of them on the porch up to this point), but we do it with love.  After all, that’s what a porch is for!

That being said, I am sitting here on this nice clean porch, a little discouraged after the election yesterday.  I am discouraged because I am afraid for our country.  Not because Obama has been elected, but because of us as a nation choosing some of the social issues that we chose.  I mean, I don’t know about the economic packages that both of them propose.  I didn’t vote for McCain because of the “drill here, drill now” policy.    Even the war was not the central issue to me, although I think it very important.  What was most important to me was some of the issues that, in my opinion, went directly against Biblical teachings.  It saddens me that abortion will continue to be promoted as an option for birth control.  I don’t know the numbers, but if even one child dies for convenience, it is way too many!  It saddens me that we think that the homosexual issue is debatable when the Bible clearly states that it is sin.  I don’t like the idea that someone that does not contribute might get a tax rebate when the Bible says that if you don’t work, you shouldn’t eat (paraphrased).  I am discouraged to think that hard work and good stewardship is going to be rewarded with money being taken away and given to someone else for the cause of “fairness.”

With that being said, God has reminded me that He is still in control and that my role in all of this as a believer is to pray for him constantly and to support him.  So… I will pray for my country and that God would not let us go to our own devices and I will pray for President-elect Obama that He would seek to lead in accordance with God’s word and His precepts.  I guess what I am saying is that I am now a supporter of Obama.  I may not agree with everything and I will fight when something is against Biblical principles, but I will seek to be the man that God wants me to be and pray.

I was told recently that the light is out on the porch and there are cobwebs that need to be cleaned out so I am spring cleaning in the fall to get things back in order.  It is beautiful to sit on the porch in the fall and watch the leaves change.  God truly is incredible.  I wonder what heaven is going to be like if it just took 6 days to create all of this beauty!  He has been working on heaven and my house for a lot longer than that!!

Anyway, I wanted to talk about Sr. Adults and what is the difference between that generation and me.  Malda has been in my office twice in the last week for prayer for the mission team from our church.  She is a Sr. Adult lady that has been involved in her church and in missions for longer than I have been alive!  It was just a simple gesture, but it got me to thinking.  She just bent over (not an easy task for one her age) and picked up a dime and put it on my desk.  Didn’t say anything, just set it there.  She started saying something else, but I didn’t hear her because my mind had changed channels at that point (watch the ADD comercial) and I got to thinking about how many times I have stepped over that same dime and just left it lying there.  It puzzled me why she, in her age, had bothered to pick it up and me, not nearly as old, chose not to.  Well, a few days later she was in my office again.  One of the secretaries had slid a piece of junk mail under my door.  I left it there as I was busy getting the day going (it was morning and I would pick it up later).  Well, you guessed it.  She came in, we prayed, and she picked it up and left it on my desk.  By this time I am feeling a little ashamed that a Sr. Adult lady was having to pick up after me!  Well, I let that one pass too.  So later on I am listening to talk radio or WLBF and I hear an interview with someone (I had just gotten in my car and came in on the middle of it) and they were talking about how morality has changed.  The person being interviewed said something very interesting.  He said that the World War II generation was a special generation.  That they shined the brightest when things were the darkest.  Very few generations have come up to their level of commitment and giving.  Since the ensuing generations could not come up to this level of morality and generosity, they just changed to rules for living so they would not have to.  I’ll let that sink in for a moment…………………………………………………  I wonder if that is not true.  Maybe these two incidents have nothing in common, but maybe they have everything in common.  Ms. Malda picked those things up off of my floor because it was the right thing to do and didn’t even think about it.  It wasn’t a fluke because she did it twice.  She didn’t really do it for me per say because it was done without thinking.  It was just so ingrained in her that she just did it.  I hope that you all can take this further because I know what I am feeling, I am just having a very hard time putting it into words.  Have a good day and try to be kind to a Sr. Adult today.

Even though Karon continues to maintain that this is really not a porch and has even questioned my sanity, I had to get away and sit and listen to the birds, get some tea, and pet the dog!  Things get so hectic sometimes that you just got to get away for your sanity.

 Well, as most of you know, we are dealing with cancer a third time.  What do you say after that?  I had a joke in mind, but didn’t want you all to think I was inappropriate.  Sometimes you have to laugh about it.  Karon is really doing well.  I wanted to share a prayer with you that she prayed this morning.  It really touched my heart and I think that it even surprised her (there’s that Holy Spirit praying again!).  She was praying and she said, “Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to have cancer a third time because I know that you can be glorified through it!”  I was a little speechless, and she was too when it came out of her mouth.  She really means it, though.  Her main prayer for the last few days is that God would be glorified in this.  I watched her minister to a lady in the surgeon’s waiting room yesterday as she was struggling with the knowledge of her father-in-law having cancer.  She had very wet eyes and Karon jumped up, sat next to her, and started quoting scripture and testifying about God’s faithfulness to her.  It was a blessing to watch.

Things won’t be the same.  As you go through this some things change forever, but God never changes!  I’ve learned some really great stuff through the last two times and God has made me a better husband and minister because of it, so it’s all good at the end!

One more thing before I go back inside.  Some of you have questioned if it is ok to talk to Karon about it.  She wants to talk about it and it seems to help her.  So if she EVER gets on the porch again, feel free to discuss things.

Bill

Karon and I are up to Ezra in the Old Testament in our Bible Reading.  We read Ezra 3 this morning and I saw something that I hadn’t seen before and I thought it was interesting about human nature and about the way the devil works.

In Ezra 3:12 it says:
    But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.

Even in the Old Testament, there were folks in church that looked back and cried that things weren’t the way they used to be!  This temple foundation was smaller and wouldn’t be as elaberate, so they wept.  It is sad that they missed what God was doing and how He was bringing His people out of exile.  He was in the midst of them, blessing them, fulfilling His promise to them, yet they didn’t see any of it and cried because it wasn’t like the old.  I’m sure that this put a damper on the enthusiasm of the ones that were celebrating as well.  I can just hear the conversations like, “Boy, can you believe what God is doing?  He has allowed us to come back and begin building this temple!  How great is our God!”  And the other one saying, “Yes, but this isn’t anything like the old one.  It is really a sad copy of that one.  You should have been here when the old one was here, it would make this one look pitiful!”

It just hit me again how much damage a backward look can be for a church and how sad it is for the members that do it.  Let’s look at what God is doing now and what He wants to do in the future!  Let’s look outside our church to a community that needs Him.  Let’s look inside ourselves to see what needs to be yielded to Him before He can use us!  As that warthog on the “Lion King” said, “Let’s keep our behinds in the past!”

I just heard a short devotional on the radio and it REALLY made me think about things!  It asked the question, “Are you working for Christ for nothing?”  THAT got my attention, and I listened to what followed.  It was so very short that he didn’t get a chance to go deep enough, but the main point was that if you are working for Christ and are grumbling, complaining, telling everyone how much you are doing or how much you are sacrificing, what you do will not be rewarded.

I got to thinking about how much of what I have done will not be rewarded.  I also got to thinking about how much of other people’s “good deeds” will not be rewarded either.  If we are “working for the Lord” and are grumbling about others, holding grudges, griping because we have to be there, etc. it will be all for nothing.  I shared with our praise band the other Sunday how blessed we are to be here, early, and be able to do what we are doing!  I think that Satan has really gotten us to think backwards about what we do for God.  He has convinced us that it is sacrifice, or “work” (in the bad sense) and that we have a right to complain, or to talk about others while we are doing it, as long as we do it.  (Another scripture just came to mind about people standing before God saying that they did all of this stuff and He says, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”  That is really scarey!)  Well, all of this is to say that I am really trying to make my work count for Christ and not complain, or grumble, or talk about others, or whatever.  I am also trying to look on the things that I do as gifts from the Father. (Before I accepted God’s call, I used to sit in the auditorium of our church and think, how great to work here every day!  It’s time to return to that line of thinking!)

Well, I guess that is all for now.  I could really go much deeper, but I will leave that to the rest of the folks on the porch.

The reason that I entitled this “Am I A Jellyfish??” is that they have no backbones.  They just kind of lay around and “go with the flow” so-to-speak.  They have no direction, they don’t swim very well against the tide, and they always seem to end up on the beach laying there and looking pitiful.

OKAY, the reason I ask this is because I ABSOLUTELY HATE CONTROVERSY!!!!!  I used to tell myself I enjoyed debating, and when I know that no one is mad, then I’m alright with it, but when I feel that someone may be getting angry or upset (whether real or perceived) I have to make everything wind down so everyone is happy again.  I used to think it was just being a “jellyfish,” then I thought that I was a peacemaker (which made me feel better), now I’m just not sure anymore.  Is anyone out there having an identity struggle with this as I am?  Is it natural to hate conflict, or is it just being a “jellyfish”?  I mean, I will confront when I have to, but ONLY when I have to!

I mean, it seems like some people exist for the debate.  Is it the way that God has “wired” us?  Oh well…just a thought.

I just read a very thought provoking blog on dolan’s blog (axegrinder.org).  I’m sorry that I still can’t seem to learn how to do a link, just hit the axegrinder link on the side and go to it.

 Anyway, he talked about moral relativism and legalism and how some people can be convicted of a sin (such as drinking alcohol) and some people are not.  I realize that this is a touchy subject, but I am really not talking about that subject so much as to where it led me.

I came to the point that we ask ourselves the wrong question when we deal with these areas because, I think, we are operating out of different frames of reference when it comes to motivation.  I think that people want a line that they can get to, but not cross, so they won’t sin.  Youth do this alot when it comes to dating.  They ask, “How far is too far?”  The question is, “Is it holy?”  When you ask how far, you are asking how close can I come to the sin without actually sinning.  Carrying this a little farther, we can say that we are asking “How far away from God can I live without actually being too far?”  Shouldn’t the question be, “How close can I get to God?”  When we ask the “Is it holy?” question we are living our lives from the point of view that I want to draw close to God.  If whatever it is does not do that, I don’t want to do that.  The closer you live to a cliff, the greater the chance that you will fall off of that cliff and be crushed on the ground below.  When you seek to live far from the cliff, your chances of falling off decrease tremendously.  The cliff is still there, you are just not in a position to fall off of it.

I think many of us, as believers, are looking too much like the world because we are operating from this mindset.  How much can we enjoy the world, live like the world, look like the world, and not become the world.  Let’s try the opposite thinking of seeing how different from the world we can become!

Just a thought.