Overwhelming the Mind

I hear a great deal of cow mooin' this morning; I wonder what is up with that? Probably something along the lines of all the cat meowin' I heard somewhat earlier. Animals like to be heard when feeding time arrives, and it doesn't matter what day we think it is, or for that matter what time we think has not yet arrived. God likes to hear from us, but that doesn't mean that we belabor the almighty ears with repetitive complaints and whining wants. But, I did some weed chopping in the garden this morning, and all I can feel are the creeping things and phantom spider webs all over me! I do so want to go on about that for a while. Like the beasts, we have some earthly needs that tend to overwhelm the mind at times.

The urge to scratch an itch has driven many a military recruit quite near the edge at times. The instructors take days and weeks to drive discipline home, and mostly it works. The urge is not shut off, but simply overcome for a time. A better system might be to install an off/on switch, and the military is probably working on that in a lab hidden deep within Area 51. Even better might be to become so at peace with all of God's creation that passing critters don't stop to take samples, play with hair follicles, or invite the entire extended clan over for a feast. There is hope for this in the prophecies of Isaiah. One day the mind will not be overwhelmed by tiny trespassers. Whether they will be gone forever or we will live in peace with them, I do not know. But it sounds like a good program to me!

Have a restful and fun weekend in Christ!
Bucky

The Lord's Tender Care

Woop, woop! It's Friday and a holiday weekend! I hope you have some exciting plans for this weekend. Perhaps something in a wilderness area or maybe some white water rafting; 'cuz I sure don't and reporting on the weekend would be a lot more fun if one of us risked life and limb. Therefore, I volunteered you. I hope you feel properly honored!

If the Lord truly desired our swift justice for each and every sin, would any of us still be here? Of course that is the negative way of trying to prove the lovingkindness of the Lord. A better way is to approach His lovingkindness through love. Well, when you look at it that it way it does make some sense. I mean, love to lovingkindness, yeah, I can see the root word there, I think. No, no, we're not talking just words and such. We want to look at the decision the Lord made a long time ago to love His creation, even when they went bad.

As Adam cowered in the bushes, a probable origin of the term 'coward', the Lord came looking for the man. Now, the Lord did not need to discover that Adam had sinned, for the Lord knows all things. Even with that rebellion already taken place, the Lord still came looking for His beloved creation. Why not introduce forgiveness and mercy right there, and then continue the evening walks in the Garden? Well, God had a plan for this rebellion, and it probably wasn't made up on the spot. God's love came down to earth in the form of himself as a human being. God would defeat sin on the cross and redeem mankind and all of His creation. But, we often miss that other thing that didn't happen: God didn't execute swift justice on the man's sin in the form of outer darkness, hell, eternity and such. Without God's love, we wouldn't be here to discover God's love!

Have a wonderful weekend in the love of Christ!
Bucky

Facing the Impossible, Then Giving It Up

Good Thursday morning! Let me check that out...okay, calendar and computer date seem to agree that this is indeed Thursday, so we're good. Today, something you face probably seems impossible to you and me. A lot of things are impossible with us, but the Word says that nothing is impossible with God. So... there seems to be an obvious solution there: take all that seems impossible to the Lord in prayer.

It seems odd or worse to us to take the impossible to the altar of sacrifice and there give it up to the Lord. We think that this life is a struggle against the impossible and that we are destined to push up against that impossible wall until we die. Impossible belongs to us, after all, how can we set our throne above God's if we don't overcome the impossible? Oh no! That sounds a lot like a line spoken by another, a certain adversary of ours. Yes, by claiming our right to the impossible we may well be in the camp of the enemy standing behind the wrong banner.

Dear Lord, help us please to overcome the impossible in the right way. By looking to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we can overcome in His strength and to His glory. Let us give up the impossible to the One who said, "With God all things are possible." Thank you, Lord, for taking on the impossible facing me today. Amen.

Bucky

Did I Write One Yesterday?

Good morning on this fine Wednesday! Good heavens, memory does take a tumble after 50. Maybe it was after 40, I can't remember. Everything was going fine after a great lesson yesterday, then the busy monster attacked me and I don't think I ever caught up. I'm going to go with this morning's devotional; it's just too late to worry over yesterday. Often we face a day wondering what happened the day before. This is sometimes called middle age, other times labeled absent-mindedness, or if you are fortunate to be young enough, not paying attention. Jesus called for us to live in today, this day, and not all those past ones where we blew it, made a mistake, forgot, left something off/out/on/over there and out of here. The car keys are in my right front pocket, thank you very much, but only because I have made a habit of always placing them there and checking before I lock the doors. Well, okay, there was that one incident with the wasp hive where I left them on the kitchen counter and locked up the house with me on the outside, but I claim exhilarating circumstances in that one. Years later I can remember much of that incident, but yesterday is a bit of a mystery in too many ways.

Sigh, short-term memory loss, I suppose it's time to start shopping for a nice coffin; plain wood will do for me. As many will tell me though, middle age only means there is much living to do yet. The Christian may find it easy and even wonderful to ponder on Heaven, meeting Jesus, and eternal communion with God, but there is this thing called life. We stumble, fumble, and sometimes bumble our way through it with our Lord Jesus right beside us with just a bit of the untouchable about Him. We long to touch our Lord as Thomas did, but we have to wade through this life thing first. Dwelling on the transition out of this life is just too depressing for the day. The call to come home will arrive when God wills. Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. If you or I missed a date, appointment, or privilege yesterday, then it is gone and today is here, live for today and in Christ!

Have a great day, and whaddya know, I wrote one today!
Bucky

We Are Not Prey, We Pray!

Good Monday morning! In this life, perhaps especially on a Monday morning, we can feel a lot like helpless prey must feel. The humanists would have us to rise up in our strength and just get over it. There are those times we know when strength from down below is just no way to go...and then I was caught in a rhyme, ho, ho, ho. At other times we may think knowledge is the way to ease the burden. We take up the study of the enemy and his ways, and we may even fall to giving the Adversary credit for all that happens in a bad way. However, we are not to give glory to the unholy one. It is strange to us that we not seek a cure of something through intense study of the problem and its causes. However, with sin we cannot learn the right things by studying the one who caused the fall of man. We must look to the One who brought the cure, and learn what we need by studying Him and His word.

The disciples of old would at times literally follow their master in his very footsteps. Of course, the actual footsteps of Jesus are lost beneath the dust of centuries in Old Judea. We have a way to study with our Lord though, and that is in prayer. In prayer we are no longer helpless prey, but a prayer warrior. We get to swing the sword of the Word and wear the whole armor of God. Helpless prey doesn't get to do those things. You and I may not feel like the stout-hearted ideal of the prayer warrior, but whatever we feel must be better than feeling like helpless prey.

Have a great new Monday in Christ,
Bucky

Spitefully Treated

Good Saturday morning in Christ! "And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them." (Matt 22:6) The text today is taken from the parable of a wedding feast. We may think of it as happened, but Jesus may well have wanted us to think in terms of happening instead. The prophets of old were indeed treated spitefully and killed back in their day, but we should rightly see that this parable of the kingdom of heaven continues in our day. Many are those who would enjoy treating us spitefully simply because we bear the name of Christ.

In the parable, the king who arranged the marriage for his son takes this abuse for a while. The good news for us is that the taking doesn't last forever. The king turns angry, sends out his army, and the evildoers get theirs in the end. Jesus would have us to know, I believe, that this season when the kingdom appears to be overcome at every turn and in many lands will come to an end, and our Lord will rise up in his anger. The losses we mourn will be quickly stopped and the king will reign.

Rest in Christ this Saturday,
Bucky

Devotions' Greatest Hits

Good morning! I must admit that I did start out by writing 'Thursday' before finding myself moving my perceptions to the correct day. I should know the day because this morning was the weekly gag and choke treatment for mosquitoes. This morning, I want to take a look at your music collection. One or more of them probably says something like 'Greatest Hits' or 'Anthology', or another term meaning about the same thing. Are you sure all of those songs were great? Some of us may have a greatest hits album from a group that apparently had no hits. We like greatest lists, mainly I think to wonder how someone could consider 'that' movie or book a part of the greatest anything. I notice that among the classic works of literature in my Greatest Books Ever Written collection that being a part of the collection does not necessarily mean the book is enjoyable to read. Some of those books attempt to hook the reader with boredom, others with disgust. Yet, someone considered that book as being greatest. Ah, I think we have the clue we need in 'someone'.

Yes, the greatest hits the world offers up are always a part of some person's opinion, informed or otherwise, professional or popular, crazy or crackpot. Do you have a greatest hits of the Bible? No, I realize that a question like that gives you cause to run to the correct answer. "All of the Lord's word is precious to me!" you might speak in fear of the Lord or in fear of what others might say. Fine, but you know that isn't always the answer in your heart. Around Christmas, we might say Luke 2, Matthew 1, Isaiah 9, you know, the Christmas stories take their place for a while as greatest hits of the Bible. Easter features the stories from the end of the gospel accounts. A time of stress might feature a lot of psalms. Those raised on comic book heroes, action/adventure movies, and similar genres might tend toward the stories of Samson, Gideon, and David. The Bible is big and powerful, we will naturally tend toward some parts over others at times. Fear not! The Lord works through our 'greatest hits' selections too. Favorite selections or not, the good part is being in the Word!

Have a great Friday in Christ!
Bucky

P.S. Oh, look, I done went and wrote against some church policy. Horrible, terrible me! Hey, I trust the Lord's Holy Spirit to lead us on from our favorite parts of the Bible. Hold off on your legalistic cudgeling of me for just a bit. See where God leads in His gentle might.

Got Up With The Stupids

Good morning on this, uh, day. That little dumb-sounding interjection holds the place where I edited out all the words describing August conditions that we don't need to be reminded of to start the day. This morning I kinda felt that I got up with a case of the stupids, so I went to God in prayer to begin the devotional. That move is of course not stupid at all. See, a cure begins just by turning aside from the stupids and going to the One who answers prayer. Hmm, sounds like someone hauled in a load of loose-packed rock barrels this early morning. I guess he should have gone to the Lord in prayer first. Hold it there, mate! Let us not make 'going to the Lord in prayer' a euphemism for calling someone stupid. How words can twist around on us if we are not careful!

In this old world, it does seem at times that even the smartest of moves can be turned around on us. I'm sure that Paul heard himself called things that would make you and me blush. Of course he did! They called Jesus "Beelzebub", how opposite can you get? Paul, undoubtedly one of the sharpest tools in the 1st Century shed, probably heard people refer to himself by the worst sorts of names belittling his intelligence. What did Jesus hear in the thoughts of those who did not believe in Him? Better to not know that lest we be tempted to speak those things even by accident. Whatever you or I felt like when we got up this morning, we must remember one thing: We got up in Christ, and that was as far from stupid as we can get. Praise the Lord!

Bucky

Before We Are Ready

Good morning! I know it has been hot out, it is August after all, but those autumn cold fronts will start up before we are ready. At this time of the year, it is hard to say something like that and believe it. Day after day goes by and the temp stays up there in the 90's. Yet, prophets of a sort warn time and again that autumn and its colder temps will come. Of course this leads into another subject. We're not here to introduce a weather class! For just a decade or two shy of 2,000 years, a bunch of Christian prophets have warned in a similar manner that Christ will return. We stand on the authority of the word of God, and it tells us that there is a second coming in the works. However, in a stout test of our faith, Jesus also said that no man will know the date. No, I don't think He meant to go ask the women in this case. That does work in some things, but probably not this one.

One morning, we may not get up before we are taken up. We may reach for the light switch one night, and instead see the arrival of the Light. We don't have to think about it every day, but once in a while we should send out the reminder that Jesus will return soon, probably before everyone is ready in fact. Once again, that is not some prophetic vision on my part, but a bit from the Word. Jesus told a parable about bridesmaids; some were ready to go, others missed the party because they weren't ready. It is okay to be surprised when Jesus returns, all of us will be, but we very much want to be ready.

Have a soul-ready day in Christ!
Bucky

What Message Did We Miss?

Good Tuesday to you! If Lazarus had lived and died and lived and died about 2,000 years later, a book or two would tell us what went through his mind during the days before and after those four days in the tomb. Wouldn't you just like to know what Lazarus had to say about that whole resurrection, after life, and after death thing? What did he say to Jesus? Of course the first things he said sounded a bit like, "Mfff, hmff, hrmf!" before Jesus told the startled crowd to let him loose. But, what do you say to the man who just called you forth from four days in the grave? What do you say to the thousand and one questions he was no doubt asked from that day? Where have you been, Laz? Did you see God? What's it like over there?

We might tend to think we missed an important message by not having an account from Lazarus. But in that thinking, we may well miss the message that is Lazarus: Jesus has power over death and the grave, and not just after His resurrection but always had that authority and always will. We need not fear death and the grave while our Lord is sovereign.

Have a great Tuesday,
Bucky

Unlimited God

The moon is shining and the trains are zinging by on this early morning. Crickets have the backing soundtrack. Once in a while, I have this little discussion with myself: God's work will go on when some people or me get out of the way. You may have heard something like that before sometimes. Then, I think about God. Who can limit His work? No one. If God can be stopped, then what hope do I or you or anyone else have? I cannot call God the Almighty, but then say that He can be limited by any of my puny efforts. Yes, God does allow us freedom to choose, but that is not a limitation of His power.

Take water for example. I can choose to hold some in my hands for a while. With just a little time though, the water leaks out and the hands dry. I was wet for a little while by my choice, but it didn't last. When God parted the Red Sea for Moses, the children of Israel passed through on dry ground. There was no leakage. When the army of Pharaoh tried the same thing, the water by command of God went back to where it was before. God could have done the same with the Atlantic Ocean and Israel might have been located over here on this side of the pond. But no, Jerusalem was where it was and Israel was and is going to be over there. God established it, but not all that God established happened right away.

On the other hand, what I choose is limited and temporary. I am not all mighty. What God chooses may seem limited because not all of it has happened yet in our time-limited view. However, we will note in the Bible that what God establishes in His prophecy always happens in the due time. Hundreds of years passed before the arrival of the Christ child, but happen it did. Thousands of years may pass before Jesus returns, but in God's limitless power it will happen in the due time. All we do is limited, except for those things God decides to keep. And when we decide to believe in Jesus, we are kept forever in God's almighty hand.

There it is for a Monday,
Bucky

Are We Doomed?

Ah, I like the sound of a sprinkler on Saturday mornings. The big pumpkin is going all Bronco orange. Football games begin for real very soon. And, those school places are getting populated once more, but it's still hot out. Must be the bottom end of August. Does any of this mean that we are doomed? Surely doesn't appear so from a casual glance at what is pretty much normal for this time of year in this environment. But, isn't that the time when we are to look for the coming of Jesus the most? Weeelll, since the seasons come and go as promised, and, depending upon what you are looking at or reading at any given time, the times they either look hopeless or normal about all the time. We will find it hard to concentrate on preparing for the Lord's coming in our puny little strength of will. Oh, sorry, your will is powerful and intense? How's that latest diet going?

I think God gave some us diets and the need for such simply to remind us that we are dependent upon Him alone. The times and seasons do not themselves tell us that we are any closer to the end than they were in the year 1859 or 1776 or 1082. Jesus did remind us that things at the doorstep of the very end would be just as they are now - normal with a chance of Apocalypse. Kind of the way they have been since Paul's time, and in Augustine's time, and Spurgeon's time, and... you get the picture. This of course means that we must keep up our guard all the more, and we need God's steadfast love and enduring strength to do that without falling down on the job. I'm too easily distracted to watch constantly, and likely you are as well. As always, whether the times they be normal or the times they be so horrible that the end must surely be tomorrow, we be needin' Jesus.

Have a great Saturday!
Bucky

Not Too Seriously, Folks

Good morning! It's Friday at last and I can't be too serious on a Friday. The team is out there practicing football at 0600 on a Friday, now that's serious! It's better than the afternoon practice here in the dog days of August. Known as dog days because leaving your dog outside in the afternoon might cause the poor thing to burst into flame. In those black uniforms, I sort of expect a kid or two to spontaneously combust one of these days. Tell the Julesburg mothers I'm not serious of course, they only melt into oddly-shaped black puddles. The coaches haul out a Shop-vac and suck the melted players into the ice pack cooler where they solidify shortly after the end of practice, or right about the time the head coach yells, "Showers!" Kids are remarkably resilient that way. One moment surely at death's door, perhaps even getting measured for a harp and robe; the next, up and running for whatever motivates life into a teenage body.

The end of this life and beginning of the next for us will be quite similar. One moment we may be laying in a hospice bed, the body struggling for one more breath, with an angel patiently waiting for us to let go and move it on over to a new life. Then, Jesus orders us home and we let go from this life, and just like that kid, we are running to meet our Lord faster than we ever thought possible to run. A remarkable renewal and recovery awaiting us just past that dark doorway. If there is a cloaked figure with a scythe, it will attend only to help us by cutting our last clinging suckers away from that old life. No need for fear; embrace the life God has given us, and when that order comes, take the transition and run to Jesus.

Have a great Friday (Oh sure, now that I talked about that Death fellow, 'have a great Friday,' he says!)

In Christ,
Bucky

Starting Small

Good morning! Often I have quailed at the size of a task or project when I looked at the entire thing and catalogued all that needed doing. Nothing unusual there, many folks do that very thing and it prevents many a project from completion. We take on a lot big projects, or have them assigned to us, and we set some lofty goals in this life. However, we also put the self through a lot of pain by trying to work the entire thing in our anxious little heads all in one day. Imagine that God spoke to you through a burning bush today. His assignment: move the Atlantic Ocean out of the way so the lands can come back together again. Of course you or I would immediately give up because the job is too huge, beyond our capability, and with the wars going on over there we don't particularly want to do this thing anyway. Like Jonah, we might just run up to the ticket counter at the nearest port (Yes, airPORT will do fine.) and head off in the opposite direction.

First, we failed to take account that God is in us and with us always, including all those gigantic projects. Second, we probably should start small, ya know, like that proverbial eating the elephant thing. This morning, or more accurately - last night, I once again decided to improve myself through a deep Bible study each morning. "Time, time, time," the self hollered to the little operations center up high in the brain, "We don't have time to add that into all the morning chores!" So, I decided through the Spirit's leading to start small. Each morning, I want to remember to remind myself that I am accepted in Christ.

Seems fairly small, but it is so important. Recalling my acceptance reminds me that I am first acceptable to Him. This is an important point for every Christian to recall. We tend to look at our condition, both inside and out, and say to God, "Unacceptable!" Of course we are going to have a difficult relationship from that point! We like to call that humility, but how can that be with God saying that we are acceptable to Him. Which is the perfect and holy one in this relationship? Ah, maybe humility is listening to and receiving what God says about us. Thus, my small beginning each morning. Acceptable to God includes all those good things like mercy, forgiveness, grace, love, lovingkindness, imputed righteousness, salvation, and His provision - a lot of very wonderful and important things we do like to receive from God. All available to me if I can just start small and remember that I am accepted in Christ.

Have a great new day in Christ who loves you!
Bucky

Division of Feeling and Opinion

Good morning on this Wednesday just before school begins in our little town. The boys or young men, whichever you consider them, are out practicing for football both early and late this week. I don't remember football practice as being much fun, but I also don't remember doing as much as this team across the campus is doing each day this week. They work quite late into the evening. Alright, so Robin Williams chose to end his life the other day. The opinions I have seen differ on whether suicide is a selfish act or not. Some believe that it is because it leaves "me" to deal with it each day. Yes, that was a me in there, and they typically say it without a trace of awareness of what they just spoke or wrote. Selfish or not may not be the question we should look at.

After the act is done, suicide, homicide, or genocide, we the survivors both near and distant are left to sort out the feelings. Some feelings are considered proper, others gross, and some leave us wondering. Those at a distance may be a bit ashamed of the lack of feeling or coldness that they feel. Perhaps not realizing that such is a defensive reaction to all the stories of death available to us in the media these days. If we felt profound grief for each death we can read about each day, our grief would indeed be never ending. Those nearby in the relationship may wonder if the grief will end too soon or not soon enough. Some of us may run into what is called survivor's guilt. Why we feel this is open to speculation, but it does happen. (Typically there is no danger of that with a celebrity given that we only know the person through the roles they played or the public face they presented to us.)

In every death, we have this division of feeling and opinion on what is right or wrong, proper or gross, questionable or rock-solid-facts-that-other-fellow-is-an-idiot. Social media gives the last one opportunity to ventilate their opinions as never before. Often you can find opposite sides of it in the same discussion. What matters I suppose is that no matter what caused the person to depart from us, we are left here to obey one important command from our Lord: Love one another.

Bucky

The Age Of Not-So-Glamorous

Good Tuesday morning! It is nice outside right now, quite cool with just a touch of humidity. This morning, I am nursing a slightly pulled hamstring. Now, in the days of youth I would have come up with some glamorous reason for this injury. Perhaps something like, "Started that crossfit program last night. Really tough workout!" or that I was playing football, maybe that I had to crouch too long because the deer would spot me. I think that part of growing toward old age comes when a person realizes that the truth of a strained muscle may not be quite so much fun as it once was. Yup, strained my hamstring bending over too long while cleaning out the cat box yesterday. Might make a good line for a comedy show, but the action-adventure hero wouldn't touch it. Not wanting to touch it is of course part of the reason I had to bend over so long.

There comes an age when this life on earth just isn't so glamorous anymore. The younger folks don't give us a second glance unless it is to laugh at something only they can see. More time is spent in uncomfortable places, and some nights our bed qualifies as one of those places. The question might arise, "Why does God let us run down like this?" Of course, we know that God's plan for Eden and life was different than this. Disobedience brought in the effects of sin and we get to suffer those effects from that cause.

Each day, us middle-aged and older folks get many reminders that the first sin has far-reaching effects. However, we also are reminded that Jesus walks with us always, and He did not return from the grave all crippled, old, and bent over. God does not just wind up these battered old clocks again when we finally run down. Paul reminds us that heaven is a new place and we get new bodies. All of creation groans under the curse of sin. One day, we get to see the new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven. New is what our Savior is all about. Near the end, Jesus says, "Behold, I make all things new!"

Have a new day in Christ!
Bucky

Why That One?

I named my new pet 'Brunhilda'. She isn't very cuddly or pettable or even glamorous, but she has something other forms of pet do not: Brunhilda coexists with the great backyard predator. Three bunnies and various birds have died this year at the paws of the cat, but not Brunhilda. We are not talking the same yard coexistence either, but on the same small patch of concrete just outside the back steps. I come out in the morning to feed the cat, which runs slightly ahead of me to the garage door, and Brunhilda hops a couple of times out onto the concrete. I suppose that if you happen to be small, greenish, and adverse to getting stomped on, you might well do the same. Well we might wonder how this little toad, perhaps two or three mouthfuls for the cat, is allowed to live while so many of the so-called cute animals are not. Their cousins the frogs get good press, but toads not so much.

If someone were to look down from a lofty view on the human race, and was allowed to know which of us held the assurance of an eternal home with God, he or she might do well to wonder: why that one? In truth, the Christians we know typically do not worry about the paparazzi, grace the covers of magazines, and earn a billion dollars each year. Somehow, though I certainly think that you all are deserving of those things (Okay, maybe not the paparazzi), we didn't make it into that crowd. When I look up 'success' in the dictionary, my picture didn't make the page, well, perhaps a bit further down beside 'sucker'. Looking at celebrity, famous, and other words the world strives after, we didn't make those definitions either. Yet, the Savior walks with us on this day.

On a Monday morning, we might wake up feeling a bit toad-like. We don't see great physical beauty in the mirror. We left our talent and grace asleep beside the bed when we got up. And great wealth not only lapped us in the rat race but laughed and shoved us into the ditch as it passed us by. The world doesn't consider us for Who's Who, and probably wouldn't list us in Who's Not. Yet, the Lord of Creation listed us in His book titled, Who's Mine!

That will make a better day for us!
Bucky

The Season or Just Today?

Good morning on this Saturday! August seems to be one month where writing is more difficult than others. Is it the weather, the draining influence of late summer, or that more days of resistance or reluctance are strung together at this time of the year? Is all of that begging the same question in different ways? As we read the psalms of David or the letters of Paul, we find words where the author seems to bear a heavier weight than at other times. Whether we compare this life to a race, a struggle, a fight, or a season of toil, times will come where the finish line seems too far, the weight too heavy, or the fight an obvious mismatch. All of that comes from looking at the failures, pains, weaknesses, and all the things that say "ME!"

I cannot help but think that Jesus didn't promise to always be with us at the end of Matthew for the purpose of coming along to watch us fall flat and enjoy a good laugh. No, the powers of this world do that sort of thing. Jesus is the one picking us up after the fall, and telling us to look to Him. We tend to look to the future with its mountain of imaginary dangers. We look at the past while the Adversary highlights only the failures and regrets. And we look at the entire project and estimate that it is beyond our human power. Well, yeah, the season can be tough if you look at the picture that way. Our Lord reminds us to look to Him one day at a time.

The seasons of difficulty will come, but we have only today in this moment. I go on about this a lot, because I need reminding of it a lot. Sorry about that, please try to bear up with me in Christ. We are needy, and we most certainly need our Savior daily!

Have a better Saturday by looking to Jesus!
Bucky

Hidden Things, Uncovered!

It's Friday morning; that means...uh, that I at least have some sort of idea what day it is. Meanwhile, they lurk in small towns among us and sometimes one comes out of the deep, dark closet to peek at the light of day. Subversive elements of the worst sort, that's right, weather data reporters. One came out yesterday morning, and I had never suspected that he was one of them. One just never knows the dark side of a little town until it lays exposed. Years ago, a man spoke an interesting prophecy. "Therefore, do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and nothing hidden that will not be known." (Matt 10:26)

It is likely that Jesus was not referring to weather data reporters specifically, but one never knows. We do seem to live in an age where secrets cannot be kept. From your online identity to government documents, all is unsafe on the information superhighway. E-mails reveal underhanded stunts at various government agencies; secrets of celebrities spread far and wide across social media, and in general the prophecy of our Lord comes true in so many ways each day. At the same time, let us not be part of the wave of revealing.

Good thoughts and good deeds revealed only bring glory to God. We must have no secret sin life to be exposed. How do we do that? We need Jesus and His godly power, for none of us can have victory over the desire to sin without our Lord.

God's love to you on this most excellent Friday,
Bucky

Best Answers

Good morning on this second day after Monday, not including the one I missed pretty much all around. Oh, yes, poor planning, worse execution, I had it all yesterday; and probably a little help from the powers of this world too. I missed appointments, didn't get the devotional even started, and after wandering by happenstance right into a funeral procession, I kinda thought that I really wasn't meant to be in Sidney yesterday and got myself on home. Fortunately, I suppose, the funeral procession turned out to not be my own, so that was a good thing. Mostly because, had it been mine scheduled for yesterday I would have missed it entirely along with all the other stuff that didn't work out. Is missing scheduled things always the worst answer? It may seem so to you and me, but perhaps the best answer is what actually happened.

You and I may never know, but we can have faith that God's control hasn't slipped at all. Perhaps a day like happened to me yesterday was all in God's plan. However, whether I received God's best answer or not should never give me cause to excuse my bad decisions. It is too easy to look back on some decision and give myself a pass. "Foul ball!" the umpire yells. A bad decision on my part is not necessarily God directing my steps or His best answer. I don't get to shrug the shoulders and blame God for my bad choices, and then chalk it all up to His sovereign will. I believe Paul's words that all things work together for our good, but that is all due to God's grace and love working every day. Only God can take all of the bad choices, sins, good deeds, right decisions, and all that other stuff that goes into life and make you and me into what He desires. I suspect though that the journey of life would be much easier without some of those messed up days that sometimes happen from a string of bad choices that at first may not seem to relate to one another. I may well have missed God's best answer yesterday, but I have faith in His restorative power.

Take the hit for a messed up day, and give it another try in Christ!
Bucky

I'm a Christian and One Weird Dude, Nice To Meet You!

Beautiful music, lovely voices; oh man, one week till school and all its noises! This morning, Beethoven's 7th Symphony and the ability to crank it up or turn it down to my pleasure. Next week, the cacophony of kids without volume controls. Of course some of the music I listen to at other times will sound to many a lot like that second group, Kw/oVC. Looking back to the small group Jesus gathered about Him in the day, we might find some disparate musical tastes as well. Simon the Zealot might have enjoyed a group that sounded like an ambush of a Roman supply train; sort of a precursor to the modern heavy metal band. Simon Peter on the other hand might have lived more for the quieter waltzes of the day, something that wouldn't frighten the fishes away. Matthew would have enjoyed the sounds of Pink Floyd's "Money" had he lived in this age. We have choices even among the disciples of which type of follower of Christ we most identify with.

Jesus chose individuals, and not just any individuals but persons as different from one another as can be imagined. Paul noticed it when the church was young and relatively small. Peter was there for an outpouring of different languages by the Holy Spirit as even at the very start God began calling His followers from many different nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. I may be weird to a Christian from over there (or those right here), and you may be accounted weird to another Christian from far away. Some would count us intolerant, but we praise God for our diversity. How weird we must seem to the world of unbelievers!

Have a great new life in Christ!
Bucky

That Means...Ugh! School

Oh, it's August and has been all weekend and back into Friday. That means the 's' word is lurking out there, somewhere near, full of its dreadful connotations, contractions, verbs, nouns, math, science, and all those other subjects. Learning in this life seems to bear a price of some sort. School comes with rigid hours, strange cold\hot buildings, uncomfortable chairs, and much noise. Experience brings pain, sorrow, suffering, and other less-than-happy freight. We learn little from happy times except that we want more of them. Sorrow times seem to linger like the smell of dead bunny in a hot garage. Why else do we inflict 9 months of school on the kids and only 3 for summer vacation except to let them know the value of suffering to learn over skating to enjoy? Why do we recall that vague uneasy feeling at the start of August from our school years, and then laugh at the kids when that same look comes over their little faces?

Of course, knowledge may well be worth the price we pay. Most of us paid dearly in time, effort, money, and suffering for the knowledge we have, or at least to avoid being stupid. Whether that all worked for me is of course open to your interpretation. Our knowledge of God, His Son, and other needful things came under instruction from ministers, mentors, and Bible reading. But, is there any other perhaps experiential knowledge of Jesus that comes to us? Sure, but you have to believe to receive it. Often I marvel at how one person can see God and another cannot while both sit in the same situation or program of learning. We know since our salvation that it has all to do with the decision to believe. It is like we have the key to open the lock, while others in their stubborn unbelief pound at a locked door. Therefore, be glad that the tough, sometimes harsh, experiences and training in this life go to a good education in Christ. We're gonna need it for eternity!

Enjoy a great new week in God's love!
Bucky

Other Things Second

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. (Psalm 62:5-6)

Admit it on this fine Saturday morning, we have placed our hopes and expectations in other things first at times. Perhaps it was one of those carnal, uncontrollable reactions that did it. Maybe it was a conscious and wrong decision that did it, but did it we done did and the sin is in. Our hopes and expectations, our safety, surety, and security must be based in God first and foremost. It is easy to count on the things of this world that we can see and hold, except for those things that experience has taught us cannot be trusted. Peter reminds us that all the things of this earth will one day perish in fire. Prefer to look back to what has happened? The deluge in Noah's day should warn us that the things of the earth are not permanent.

Moses sung that God is from everlasting to everlasting. Which then should we trust in, the impermanent, movable, and changeable earth, or in God? How can a mere man say that he cannot be moved? By basing that fact on God alone, just as David did so many years ago. Our first and best hope has always been God. Who sent His Son to save us? The earth and its powers certainly didn't. I'm placing my faith in the One who saves!

Enjoy the Saturday in Christ alone!
Bucky

The Body of Christ

Good morning on this Friday! We are part of the body of Christ. That means you like Metallica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, black cats, and good lasagna, right? Don't we like the same things now that we are a part of one body, the church? No? 'smatter with you? By now, you have probably come to realize through the characters you've met at church, Bible study, and heard or seen on the media that the body of Christ brings in a whole lot of very different people. In the Revelation we read about the coming to Christ of people from all nations, peoples, tribes, and tongues. With differences in language going all the way back to Babel, simply a different speech is more than difference enough, but it gets worse.

There are people in the body of Christ who do not believe every point of doctrine the same as you or me. There are Christians who won't eat meat, and others who do not believe mankind was created to nosh on vegetables. We don't come in the same color, height, weight, sex, or age. We live in diverse places and under strange governments. (Everyone put your hand down please.) Some worship on Saturday, others on Sunday, and some worship every day. And, by yiminy, some of 'em like some mighty strange music! Who we all have in common is Jesus, and sometimes you have to wonder if that is about it for commonality.

Only God could bring together a bride for His Son from all the different peoples, tribes, nations, and tongues of the Earth. We have persons of marvelous physical abilities, and those whose abilities have all but departed them. We enjoy music of surpassing skill, while other brothers are tone deaf like the football bat. A Christian may like cats, dogs, both, or be unable to stand pets at all. And by George, even our politics may not agree on all points!

Have a great Friday in the body of Christ,
Bucky