Was He Not Ashamed?

Good Friday morning! The date makes me feel a ten-ten today. And I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. This morning as I walked I thought of Jesus, the Son of God, and how the soldiers volunteered a man from the crowd to help Him carry the cross. In that moment, Jesus proved that He suffered fully as a human. He didn't exercise His godly power to make the burden any easier. He didn't call down some pain medication from Heaven's pharmacy, or bring down those 12 legions of angels to scatter the mockers. Choosing to suffer as only a human, our Lord did not make Himself less than God. He was meek to His Father's command. By His forbearance, He was gentle to those who harmed His body and mocked His apparent lack of God-sized action. Why did Jesus choose to suffer this way?

I believe that we seek that very answer in our suffering, and the answer is the same - a larger purpose and a bigger prize. Jesus walked underneath the cross to save the world, that's us. We are His bigger prize and His higher purpose. Was He not ashamed as the man, Simon of Cyrene, was called forth to help? (Mattt 27:32) Surely the Accuser was there to tell our Lord that He should be ashamed to have a mere human helping out. That method of shaming and self-pity mongering has not changed even today. Yet, Jesus bore the burden of His humanity just as He bore the affliction of our sins. Jesus did not suffer the cross from a perverse nature, for that belongs to us fallen sinners. Jesus did not cry out like David because He was God, but because He was one of us, suffering the wages of sin and death.

Wait, we say, I have never cried out that the Lord has forsaken me. Oh? Is not asking the Lord why He didn't provide this thing when we thought we needed it at that exact time, asking that very thing? When we expect a miracle and don't see one provided, do we not ask God in different words why He has forsaken us? Do we dare for a moment think that God in His great love would not rush to our aid with all that great and matchless resource that belongs to our God? Unless, there is a higher purpose that only God can see, and we do not yet have the vision and wisdom to see it too. However, there is also an end to suffering.

God's purpose is achieved, His justice satisfied, and His glory revealed in the due time. Jesus died, the suffering of His body ended when God's justice was satisfied. Our suffering will end when God's higher purpose is achieved. We like our Lord Jesus will not suffer forever. God has not forsaken us, the time will come when we too will be called up and taken home. We have no need for any shame, for our suffering has its better purpose. It is difficult to bear, and we may need help from other mere humans.

Jesus looked down from the cross and told the Father to forgive, not because He was one of us but because He is God. In that moment, Jesus probably looked like the weakest being in all creation. No way He held the authority to grant anything from that cross with a body nearly spent and all power dying out. But, He said it, and that, my friends, was the God-sized action that they missed back in the day. Dying on the cross, He forgave. Rising from the grave, He lives!

Bucky

Am I The Worst of the Worst?

Good morning! Jesus saved Peter, but I denied our Lord four times. Jesus turned Paul's life in a new direction, but I could never be turned. When the stoning came, Stephen prayed for their forgiveness; I told the Lord to blast 'em. Of course none of that is true. But we must admit that at times we think that somehow Jesus is not quite mighty enough to save us, and that amounts to the same thing. We might ask, "Am I the worst of the worst?" Pride tries to sneak in the backdoor and say that the sin in us is too much for Jesus to forgive and save us from. Our argument goes: some of those old sinful thoughts remain, therefore, I must be beyond salvation or something like that. No, no, no! Verily, Jesus would say unto each of us, "My sacrifice covers you and all of your sins."

You and I may be great at sinning, but no sum total of our sins is beyond the saving grace of our Lord Jesus. The sins of our past may be as rotten as a landfill, but Jesus is mighty to save. We may look in the mirror of the mind and say that we are not lovable, but Jesus says emphatically, "I love you!" The cross proved the love of God beyond any sin. The resurrection proved our salvation for all eternity. The return of Jesus is near, and that is for sealing His victory over all sin by bringing us home to present us to the Father.

No, no matter what the Devil, his minions, or the carnal part of us says about how bad our sin is, you are not the worst of the worst and neither am I. Praise God for the saving blood and grace of our Lord Jesus.

Bucky, your friend in Christ

Fanged Resources

Good morning on this beautiful and rather dark morning. I have plenty of time to write as it is still dark. Oops, can't count on that measure anymore. Seems like just a few days ago that getting up before the dawn meant lots of time; now it means I could be late. Strange title this morning; where did that come from? I'm talking things we think we are glad to have that might have a little bite to them. That new house appeared perfect for the family needs when we looked at it. After the closing, something comes up that is a long way from perfection. The business has gone so well, but now a new piece of machinery is required and after it shoves its way into the budget there will be no profit this year. You bought a new car a couple of years ago, but just now found out that the replacement tires require a rubber that only comes from a small plantation in a country that just erupted in civil war. The cost of new tires suddenly becomes about half the price of the car. We nod along, remembering experiences similar to these.

But, this is all melodrama. We deal with these sorts of things so often that we have a raft of stories to tell. There is nothing fanged or biting about the situations, we live them as a part of life in a fallen world. The only perfection is in God our Father. The only problem is in expecting a human-made thing to be perfect. We know that in a new home we get the best we can afford and give our gratitude to God. If we want perfection, we look to Christ Jesus learning all we can in our imperfect state about the perfect and sinless One. Cars will break down or require expensive replacement parts to prevent them from breaking down. There is no surprise in this, no fangs, no biting. Life in a fallen world is, well, fallen.

Therefore, be grateful to God today, for you and I have endured and won over a great many fallen things in this world. In Christ, we have triumphed in many a battle, both large and small. Who do we pity? Those who try to endure this world without Christ Jesus in their lives. Amen.

Have a great new day in Christ!
Bucky

Movin' On

Good morning as the dew point kinda sorta happened between my drive to the Bible study and the drive home. Dry windshield at 6:10, wet at 7:10, how do these things happen? Well, movin' on. Some things are no longer worth the time to chronicle. A day from the past reaches out to grab me, but let us move on to better things. The doors to fix my truck heater have arrived, but now the real work begins. It seems that I am about to learn more about what goes on behind my truck's dash than I really want to know. That space back there is much like the engine compartment. Do steel pistons bang up and down in the cylinders from exploding fuel air mixture and sparks, or is it little bitty trolls jumping up and down on the crankshaft? Does it matter? No, the truck goes and all else is what we pay mechanics to fix. I will assume there is good reason for naming those folks mechanics and not troll doctors.

When a past event reaches out to grab us, we must move on. That is not to say that it will be easy. Anniversaries of the negative type are recognized in mental health science as well as by the patients. The key is in thanking God for what we have now, and not what we lost then. Consequences of the past try to beat us down. We must gather up our faith in Christ and move on. Jesus warned us, "In this world you will have tribulations." Oh, Bubba, do we ever! But the Lord also gave us some good news with that: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

The forces at work in the world are too big for you and me, but our Lord has overcome!

Bucky

That's the Story Too

Good morning! If it weren't dark outside, I might be able to mention something about the autumn leaves. I guess that is the story of autumn too, dark mornings and shorter evenings. Night belongs to the story of life as much as day, though we sleep through much of it. Knowing when to relax and take a break belongs to the story of work as much as the moments of all-out effort. You and me belong to the story of Jesus as much as Mary and Joseph. We belong to the story of the apostles as much as John and Peter. Jesus came to save the people of His time and He came to save the people of our time. All of it is a part of His story.

That afternoon on the cross when Jesus said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do," we too were there receiving that forgiveness. When Jesus gathered a few around and gave the Great Commission, that was for us too. When Paul wrote about those who would not sleep but be snatched up in a moment, the blink of an eye, he spoke of you and me as much as those back in the day. Time appears to separate us by centuries, yet I'm not sure that God see it that way. 3,000 years may seem long to you and me, with David a part of a distant, almost unimaginable past. Yet, his psalms and story still educate and enlighten us about God our Father. For that too is the story. God connects us across all those years. Jesus saved Moses, and David, and John, and Paul, and many people in between 95 AD and 1995 AD and me, and you, and babies not yet born, and all who believe in Him.

I think that when we meet one of the ancient saints in Heaven, it won't be as one speaking the Hebrew of old and one speaking the American vernacular of now. While we may spend time telling King David about IPads and Google and cars and such, we will understand each other through the connection of Christ and the cross. And, with the thought of your great connection of the story of Christ, go on to work this morning!

Bucky

Temptation: Resistance is Not Futile

Good morning on this windy and cold Friday morning! Fox News: "Man allegedly shoots down neighbor's drone with shotgun." I'm trying to write a devotional about successful resistance to temptation, and I start out with an example like that. Whatever is wrong with me? Depending on the circumstance, say the drone is obviously armed with a hi-def camera and is hovering outside your windows, resistance may indeed be futile. Not good enough for you? What if the teenage daughter is out back sunbathing and the drone is hovering over her? Yes, one shotgun probably isn't enough. A battery of them will do nicely in that circumstance. Maybe some friends from the trap club along with some hounds to track the owner's scent off the soon-to-be-demolished large flying mechanical insect. Neither of these hypothetical circumstances fit what happened out in New Jersey, but the drone age is coming and there will be some problems.

The temptation age began almost before man and woman could enjoy a quiet afternoon together. Since then, we haven't done much better than Eve at resisting temptation. We have a sacred duty to resist, but we need such help in making a successful fight. We are not alone, and resistance is not futile. Jesus gave the great commission at the end of Matthew, and He said one very comforting thing: "...and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Through His Holy Spirit, we can make a fight of it and resist that temptation. Jesus did it, and we can too...with His most excellent help.

Enjoy the cold of autumn this morning!
Bucky

Not My Idea of Heaven

Good morning on this Thursday! I've said it twice, therefore it must be true. Today is Thursday. So, why then was there a moment of doubt? Those slippery days! I hope I can get ahold of them better in Heaven. Hmm, maybe and maybe not. We like to spend a lot of time imagining what Heaven will be like. Most of our ideas of Heaven are some cure for what is going on here in this life, or some extension of this life. The extension part is when we think that there will always be plenty of our favorite chocolate in Heaven or perhaps we'll have two puppies in place of one and they'll be puppies forever. We would most likely be saddened to receive the news that there will be no puppies or chocolate in Heaven. I don't know that, but such a thing is possible. Many are left wondering by the words of Jesus when He said that there would be no marriage in Heaven. Could it be that much of what we consider, sorry for the pun, heavenly here, will not be in Heaven at all? Maybe and then again, maybe not.

You see I have a basic problem with my idea of Heaven, it's my idea of Heaven. What I will enter on that great day is not my idea of Heaven, but God's idea of Heaven. And, the Bible addresses that too. Paul wrote: But as it is written:
​ ​​“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, ​​Nor have entered into the heart of man ​​The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Quoting Isaiah 64:4, Paul let us know that all those things we think of Heaven are likely to be short of the reality. Stuck here, mired here, or assigned here as an ambassador, whichever you feel at the moment, we have very earthly ideas of the place God has prepared for us. While at the same time, God has very godly and heavenly ideas about what is best for us in His Heaven. I shall be very interested to see what God has prepared for us, because I love Him.

Take a bit of time this day to think of the very best Heaven you can, and then realize that what God has prepared is far better.

Bucky

Denied Something

Good morning on this great day in Christ! Something you want, even so much as to pray for many times, is denied you. It has happened to me, and we can tell each other that denial of that sort is not much fun. It may be that the thing is bad for you and me, and God has said an almighty 'No!' It may be that the world has priced this thing beyond our reach financially. Even the very rich don't get everything they want. Perhaps we do have the means, but at the big auction we find a fellow who will pay so much more that we find we don't want the thing quite so much as we thought. I had that happen a few times back in the day. I guess the point is that having a want denied does not mean the end of life, nor does it mean that God has stopped looking out for us.

Wants are so very subjective. What I want today may seem much less immediate and desirable tomorrow. What you simply must have this morning may not even break into your thinking this evening. Wants are one of those worldly guides that we cannot trust. Wah, someone emptied my coffee cup; I want some more! Well, that is a very minor want and easily fixed. Be right back! Wants come and go with some regularity, as opposed to needs which are fairly constant. What I want this moment is subject to my whims of the next moment. And all of us are subject to those suddenly changing circumstances that push wants of the day to a far place. Much later, we may even stop a moment to wonder why we wanted that past thing in the first place. Some of us may have homes or garages full of those things. Maybe what we want this weekend is a good old fashioned yard sale. A little denial of things may not hurt all of us. I confess to having been in that position a few times. Why did I want that thing so much back then?

It may be easy to become bitter if all wants are denied us. At the same time being denied something is not always a bad thing. The best want is that God loves us and wants the best for us. When the thing God wants is fulfilled and we are with Him forever and ever, much of what we think we must have now will be a distant and at times ridiculous memory. I expect many laughs over some of the things I thought I wanted so very much back in this day.

Have a bit less want-y day in Christ!
Bucky

What Right Have You?

Good morning after the goodly rainfall! Usually, asking 'What right have you?' in a certain tone of voice is the start of a good old fashioned row. This morning, I have no wish to begin a fight. Instead, I want to give you confirmation of a right you already have. Yes, given to you by the Lord Himself. You have the right to become children of God. Now that's quite a right. John tells us of that right. However, a little catch brackets that right. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13) We can't just grab that position, or strive for that place, or latch onto that right: we must receive Him and believe in His name and be reborn. Of course, who does all the work in that? God enables us to receive Him through His Holy Spirit, knows beforehand those who will believe, and we are born again through Christ Jesus. All we really have to do is decide to believe in Him and accept the right He gives to us. What a deal!

Have a wonderful day as children of the Most High God!
Bucky

Trust God and Get to Work!

Good morning on this new Monday. Yup, no question, this is the first Monday I've had all week. Fortunately, I'm allowed to say dumb things on a Monday. I have in the past thought that I had the first part of that title well committed in my mind. How do I show that I trust God though? That is where employing the second part comes. This may not always be as obvious as it sounds. We may be called to wait upon the Lord in one area of life while getting to work in another. We may get those areas confused and wonder why no progress seems possible for all our effort. Discovering God's will for our lives is a journey, and we haven't all arrived at the destination yet.

Money is the world's game right now. Even those nations who claim to be communist use money. Have too much and the person must worry over losing it. Have too little and the person cannot get what he or she needs. If for a moment the person says, "I have just enough," circumstances will rise up to shatter that delusion. Too much of our days are spent earning it, getting it, grabbing it, or suffering a lack of it. With that in mind, is it then any wonder that with the enmity of the world on us as Christ's followers some of us might suffer in this area?

If you said 'no', I'm glad that you have not suffered. I'll just slink on back to my cave of the judged and read Job alone by candlelight. Loaded reference there! God himself presented Job as a righteous man. Yet, Job lost everything but his life. His wife told him to curse God and die; his children were murdered by the evil one; and a few friends dropped by to really put the screws of guilt to the suffering man. "Confess your sin and have peace (and a return to prosperity)," they told him again and again. We would like it, we think, if it worked that way. Follow a religious path of human goodness and prosperity is ours. Poverty is the well-deserved abode of the sinner. We would like to think that, maybe even have tried to believe it from time to time. That way we get credit for our wealth and those going without have only themselves to blame. Er,hmm... did I mention Job?

Getting to work in faith is good, but the works of God in Jesus Christ are better for us. There is grace for the poor and the rich, for the sinner and the saint, for those overworked and those unemployed. God has brought each of us to His appointed place. The trial of the day, severe though it may be, will pass as God leads us on to His holy mountain.

Have a wonderful Monday in Christ Jesus!
Bucky

We Need Upper

Good morning on this Friday! The day being the one that it is, a Friday and all, I thought we need upper. Not 'an', but just upper. We need uplifting, up thinking, and up longing. We need to think of Jesus! Looking at me there is some reason to be down. (Wait, I didn't mean that the way it sounded!) Looking around me at the circumstance may bring even more reason to be down. (Man, really letting myself have it today.) Looking up to Jesus brings hope, joy, peace, patience, and all the other fruits of the Spirit. Looking up to Jesus reminds me of His love for me. A difficult concept if I'm caught up looking at only me and my circumstance, but the love of God in Christ is perfectly normal and understandable if I keep my eyes on Jesus. We need upper in the mind to keep away from the downer the world shovels onto us. Hmm, I'm almost sounding a little sixty-ish there. Hippie culture has infected the devotional, run for your lives!

60's, dude that was like a long time ago. Yes, it was, and since I got out of the Sixties at like six years old, I can't really say too much about it. As I recall, the Sixties mostly involved Big Bird, a fellow named Mr. Rogers, and The Electric Company. The other stuff I had to discover much later, and like every history book you've ever picked up, I had to take on faith that hippies and such actually happened. Exactly! When we read the word of God, the same thing happens. We take it on faith that Jesus happened and that His words are true. I wasn't there, you weren't there, (unless you're a lot older than I thought), and we didn't get to live it. But, looking up to Jesus, I can believe through the loving power of His Holy Spirit. As for hippies, I'll just have to take the stories of the eyewitnesses as history.

Have a blessed day in Christ Jesus,
Bucky

No Rehearsal, Just Wing It!

Good morning on Thursday of this not-so-autumnish week! If the weather prognosticators are correct though, it would seem that autumn begins next Monday. A few weeks ago, I heard a song lyric from an odd source that really hit the ol' nail: "Life's a song you don't get to rehearse." Yes, that seems to sum it up rather well. No rehearsal for this life, you and me gotta wing it as we go. Indeed, we look to our elders as a source of wisdom because we hope they have been exactly where we are now. To some degree that is true, but no one was ever exactly where you or I am right now. They may have faced similar situations, but the very fact that it was them then, and not you or I, puts the exact part of it out of reach. We can receive advice, but there are so many answers we may not hear the one we need in that moment of decision. And, of course, there's always the situation that occurs without an elder in sight when you need one.

We are all like actors tossed out on stage without a script or even one rehearsal. We have some idea of what we are supposed to be doing, but only the bars on our crib hold the big, scary world at bay. Is it any wonder we cried so much as babies? Strangely to us, those who do everything right the first time are most to be pitied. How will they ever learn their need for salvation? The self-righteous persons back in the day wouldn't come to Jesus to be saved. The stumblers, bumblers, and fumblers came to be saved and healed, just as we do today. If you have ever sought Jesus in a church, a friend, a devotional writing, or a song, you probably didn't do so because you knew beyond any doubt that you were already perfect. Nope, a past littered with mistakes and heartbreak brought you seeking the one who can save us all. Physical pain, emotional ache, loss, and failure are those things that keep us searching until we find the Savior...only to realize that He had found us all along.

Jesus does have a certain advantage in knowing all His sheep. While we search, Jesus waits for us to turn from our wicked ways and ask Him to save us. That's it, just ask? Well, yes, but without that rehearsal, it's just something we have to discover in our searching. Praise God for sending the Shepherd before the sheep-ers knew to look for Him!

Bucky

Signs of Failure

Good early morning! A sprinkler head broke over at the school. Ever try to sleep to the sound of a deluge? I got up and did my morning walk at 0300, and left a little blue flag to mark the sprinkler in need of repair. I didn't particularly appreciate the sprinkler's buddy hosing down my leg in return for my good deed, but that is the way of this world. Speaking of failures, after two years my coffee maker is showing signs of wearing out. The coffee just doesn't come out as hot as it once did. Maybe the vinegar treatment will help. Signs of failure warn us before the event occurs. Unfortunately, if we look closely enough at all of man's inventions, the signs of failure surround us. Often the best we can do is maintain the equipment in working order, so easily does the newness fade. That's the pessimistic view for this morning.

The other view shows an amazing inventiveness and industry. We may want to give God a "Hallelujah!" for all that man makes each day. Airplanes fly, and they do it well and more safely than some other forms of transportation. Autos allow us a greater range of movement in a given day, and for the most part the trips are safely taken. A few hundred years ago, any peasant would have called us loony for claiming to travel five hundred miles in a day. Yet, for us such a distance is commonplace in our world.

Yes, we can look at the signs of failure in all of these machines and constructs, but we can also give God the glory for creating us and the things we can make and invent together. God's creature is quite creative in so many wonderful ways. We are obviously made in the Creator's image. We also work to maintain many things, much like Adam tended the Garden of Eden. So, why don't we give God a rousing hallelujah when that trucker comes into town on the Jake brake waking up half the county? Well.. there's this thing called sin, and it causes a whole lot of folks to forget that golden rule Jesus gave us for using those wonderful machines responsibly.

Have a praising day in Christ Jesus!
Bucky

Not What We Expected

Good morning! Happy autumn, it's gonna be 86° today! Wait, what happened to the start of fall? Well, as often happens, the seasons don't always go by our calendar thingy on the wall. God does promise they will always come though until the world ends. Soon enough, we'll have plenty of cold to whine and moan about. Wait, we don't whine or moan; we take note of God's weather and make appropriate comments. That's right, don't be mentioning that whining and moaning stuff this morning.

A day may not be quite what we expected. Some of us will be glad when it is warmer than expected, others will be taking note and making appropriate comments. When that unexpected bill comes in the mail and funds are short, we take note and make appropriate comments; and then we bring it to God in prayer complete with appropriate comments. Sometimes those appropriate comments might be colorful, strained, and perhaps sound just a bit whiny, but that's just us taking note of God's bounty in providing for us.

The unexpected may catch us unprepared and precipitate a few words that we didn't want God to hear escaping our suffering lips. We don't want to grumble as the ancient Israelites did, but we may be close to that during times of stress. It's alright! Take it up with God in prayer and pour out those appropriate comments to Him. Let the healing begin by not trying to keep the steam bottled up until an explosion occurs. Seek counsel with the Spirit and your friends in Christ. Ask forgiveness when the need comes; which, I'll admit, happens all too often. Just don't grumble and boil before God. Let it out to Him, and let the Lord heal your crying, oops, suffering spirit. Amen.

Bucky

We Are Such a Disappointment

Autumn arrives today-ish, but the weather forecast says 'Not just yet!'. We sometimes, not often, but sometimes disappoint each other in various ways. A small thing at times, perhaps we didn't pay attention and missed a chance to wave a hello at a friend. Other times, it may be a larger disappointment. With so much disappointing going around between us, we surely must be a huge disappointment to God our Father. Indeed, the Bible speaks often of God's anger at a sin. That is not quite the same though. When it comes to the 'us' part of things, the Bible has a wholly different message.

Love, joy, delight, everlasting and steadfast seem to be the melody to God's music. The Father may hate our sinful actions, but yet love us with His mighty and steadfast love. We might look at in this way. The kid or pet comes into the house covered in some smelly, sticky goo. For 'smelly' imagine the stink of a skunk, and for 'sticky' think of tar. At first, you may feel a bit of anger at the child or beast, but then you realize that the stuff is just a coating and that you have the cure. Now this is not a perfect analogy, for God always had the cure to sin and is not so easily angered as we. While we can control the door to our homes only at times, God has complete control over who enters His house in Heaven. Yet it does help us in that we see the kid or pet under the mess, and the same goes for God who looks upon us with love even as we wallow in sin. We follow after God our Father in that we want to clean up the beloved child or animal, and we desire that he or it should learn not to do it again. Of course, God has the more difficult job; sin is not just a nasty coating, it lays deep within us.

Now, since God delights in us, and loves us, and is more than up to the job of cleansing us from sin, why should we think He is disappointed in us?

Praise the Lord for His holy presence!
Bucky

What I Think I Know (or Maybe Not)

Good morning on this Friday! This morning I thought of the fourth trumpet in Revelation. It goes like this: "Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night." (Rev 8:12) Of course, I think that from this the world may see blizzards in the Amazon basin, glaciers over Canada, and a frozen Atlantic Ocean. What if it isn't that way? What if what I think I know is not to be relied upon in the Tribulation? God commands 1/3 less sunlight on the earth, but nothing in the climate changes. A crisis of science? And perhaps that is the point. God may send forth the trumpets to knock the rules over for a time. What we have learned in years of school gets tossed as God's power overcomes. The people of the world get further proof that their faith is misplaced, and yet many of them still refuse to believe in God and His Christ.

Meanwhile, the raptured saints in Heaven look down and wonder, "Wouldn't there be more snow?" Not if God commanded the climate to remain steady while this darkening went on. Indeed the scripture does not mention snow or ice in relation to that fourth trumpet. It says just what it says, things will be a bit darker for a time. It comes back to the Proverbs advice: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." (3:5) Reading what I think I know into prophecies in the Bible may lead into expectations that are not correct. But, while I may be wrong about a great many things, Jesus never is, and He gave those prophecies.

Have a great and godly Friday!
Bucky

Most Of It Just Goes By

Blurg! Heavy, low, overcast, a night that should have been cooler but was not to be. A morning not comfortable for walking. A night that will go down in history as too muggy and... Yeah, sounds very melodramatic, but in a few days or probably much less, I will have forgotten. Weather comes and it goes and little of it is remembered for long. The perfect day or night has not arrived, and all the imperfect ones in memory get archived and never recalled. For most of us only the extremes of weather and work days are easy to recall. Without some difference in a day, I would be hard pressed to separate one day of last week from another, or even from the week before. Yet, looking back through life, we often find a heap of tragedies that do stand out.

It is those days that help us learn contentment in the present. A perilous situation on this day would indeed cause it to stand out from the many others in life. Abounding excitement, adventure, and a goodly dose of life or death fear will really shake up the day. Thanks to experience, I am content to live this day peacefully in the love of Christ. Younger folks with less experience can wish for that exciting day. They too will enjoy the love of Christ, but may not realize it in the rush of the moments. I am content to do my work and take the time to note well the love of Christ for me and you.

If we don't take the time to notice God's work in us and all around us, we may miss something quite wonderful.

Have a patient day in Christ!
Bucky

Down That Terrible Tube!

Ah, mid-week, mid-month...uh, oops, no missed that last one by a bit, September passed the midpoint and I missed it. Mornings pass by and suddenly it's, "Aauggh! I'm going to be late!" Got that dreaded appointment next month...ach, no it's this month now! Years pass by and suddenly, it seems, Christmas time has come around again. Ah, the terrible thrill of getting older. Time becomes like that big whirlpool in the tub, sucking all the weeks, months, and years into its awful vortex. My biological clock isn't ticking down, it's slowing to a more comfortable pace. Unfortunately as that happens, the clock on the wall no longer crawls toward the end of class, it leaps forward hours or days at a jump. Calendar pages fall out like those missing hairs on the top of my head. Where did they go?!

Time, I think, becomes more slippery as we get older. In the big corp, I was told and told to account for every minute and hour. Now I'm doing good to remember what I did for half a day. A couple more decades of this life and I might well have trouble accounting for last week. If I live to be 150, I might look back upon this decade as a time when I grew older for ten years. Specifics would of course be a forgotten memory of times no longer known. The interviewer might ask in that august year of 2113, "In 2013, you turned 50. What happened in that next decade?" Me: "Uh, I got older." Time just isn't ours to keep for very long.

About 2,000 years ago, Jesus told his disciples to pray for the harvest for the fields were ready, workers were few and time was of the essence. Two thousand years ago, just enough time for the scoffers to really think that nothing is going to happen with all that rapture and apocalypse thing. How wrong they are to think that. As for me, I don't expect to make 100 years old, much less 150. I fully expect Jesus to call us to that big group homecoming well before that time. In place of time running down that terrible tube, we will be raised up to the wonderful heavenly reunion with our Lord.

Enjoy a quickly passing day in Christ!
Bucky

Roll With It

Good morning from the office today. Yup, Tuesdays seem to the be the day of the odd schedule in my week. Might as well roll with it and type the devotional from wherever I be on this day. Sometimes we find ourselves making a stand on something that has changed. Much as we would like, the old ways are gone, the new schedule is in effect, or as God did with Peter in Acts 10, something is declared cleansed, and what was forbidden is now good to go. The change may be tough. If we were raised with a certain thing in a certain way, a change to that thing may give us a lot of difficulty. Even that thing where we got to a ripe old age and discovered that we were taught wrong by the teacher back in the day can be tough to change. Learning the new way takes time and effort, concentration of the will, and maybe a turning to prayer.

We often think of our best help last. It's time to make a change, so we marshal the forces of the self. God patiently waits for us to get done exhausting our selves and turn to Him in prayer before He steps in with His mighty forces. I'll admit it; I have tried and tried self-improvement, self-coaching, self-criticism, and self-shaming. None of them work without God and His authority. When it is time for a change, maybe the first change we need to make is to come to God in prayer first instead of last.

Have a better day of change in Christ!
Bucky

So, We're Not Going to Talk About That

Good morning on this most excellent Monday! Can a Monday even be excellent? Garfield doesn't think so, but we won't ask any comic strip cats. This morning, I decided that since I have never married, we're not going to talk marriage, divorce, and such things. As I have no personal experience in getting married, then no talking about it. Yup. Do you suppose such an attitude might bring down the entire radio talk show industry? Those with personal experience are allowed to tell their stories; experts with years of training are allowed to weigh in, and the host is forced to just be quiet. Probably wouldn't work. A lot of people likely listen to the program to hear the talk show host "let 'em have it." Mocking is big in the industry, and entertainment is what many of the listeners seek in a show. Outlawing shooting from the hip by the untrained and inexperienced might just shut down an industry. Come to think of it, how can anyone expect any help with marriage issues from those sects and denominations who don't allow their preachers to marry?

It would seem easy, perhaps even right for me to drop out of the witnessing in certain areas. However, God gave us something that covers many of those areas we need to know but have no experience or training. We may need to listen with a sympathetic ear as a Christian brother suffers a divorce. We might need to answer the questions of the Christian sister whose husband just got up one day and didn't come home ever again. A friend in Christ might come to us for advice as his wedding date approaches. We may need to warm those feet up a bit, or tell him to call it off. What right of wisdom or knowledge can we use in these cases?

The Bible tells us a great many things of which we are completely ignorant in our experiences. One of those is that we have the right and privilege to ask God for wisdom. James tells us that we have not because we ask not. Solomon received his great wisdom from God. We can easily tell from their stumbles and fumbles that the heroes of the faith did not get classes in leading a nation out of Egypt, ruling Israel, or building a church from a small group of believers. We cannot know every area of knowledge well, and the wisdom we need comes only from God. One time the wise thing to do may be to shut up and lead the suffering seeker to a Christian you know with experience in that area. Another time, it may be just you, the Holy Spirit, and the Word; more than enough to handle any problem or question.

Now, get on with life in Christ!
Bucky

Lack of Obsession?

Good morning on this very cool September morn! As I stood bonging and banging a knife on various jars and stuff in the kitchen while waiting for the toast to pop up, I thought that most of us do not have the obsession required to become truly proficient at some skill. How many hours of kitchen percussion work would be required for me to become musical? Some say 10,000 hours would turn the trick. For someone in my kitchen suffering a headache this morning, it might have seemed just about that long. The obsessed creative person would have gone all day practicing with jars, cans, and other things, perhaps even changing over to a pair of forks. Me, when the toast popped up that was enough of the noise and I was gone. The distraction of food takes its toll on another budding musical talent.

Through an obsession to practice and train over many an obstacle, some few persons do achieve worldly success in some endeavor. They pile up impressive amounts of earthly treasure, enjoy fame, and win a few awards, not necessarily in that order. Unless the obsession is Olympic curling or such, then the treasure is little, fame passes by, and the awards quietly go into the cabinet at home. Does any of that matter in eternity? Win or lose on this earth, do we gain by it in our eternal home? Paul didn't seem to think so.

We may know some people in heaven who brought impressive earthly resumes with them. Paul would be one of them. Paul was like a one-man Jewish Inquisition back in his day. He had the training, the teachers, the talent, and the obsessive zeal. Someone said Christian cults had popped up in Damascus and Paul was on the way with his letters. He had the drive and the resume, and he thought the authority, but someone else brought him up short on that road. Later, Paul would say that all of his accomplishments, talent, training, and former obsession was nothing but trash to be thrown away. Sometimes we may moan about our lack of obsession or success in an area (or all of them), but I don't think we'll find Paul flashing his earthly resume in the heavenlies.

Trust in God, Live in Christ, and have a wonderful Saturday!

Bucky

That Anxiety Trail

Good morning! There may be some cold football games this evening. Gardens look kind of sad this morning with blankets draping their plants. Yet, at the same time flowers seem to peer out looking for the sunlight. The autumn rains came without waiting for autumn on the calendar. Cold, wet, and a sign that I need to get the heater doors fixed on my truck. Wet and outside or dry and warm on the inside of a house, you can probably find something to be anxious about without looking very hard this morning. We all have trials and tribulation in an ongoing state. Houses seem to fall apart without any help from us. Roads and bridges crumble with the passage of vehicles that are themselves falling apart. That old weather can change at any moment. Governments either want to make war on each other, or they will take a shot or two at their people. And there's just no telling what part might fall off of our bodies this day. Worry, fear, dread, and anxiety have plenty of targets to choose from on any given day. If you weren't thinking of anything to be anxious about, I gave you plenty in that list. No need to thank me, really.

Probably worse than worrying over one thing is that anxiety trail our adversary would gladly lead us down any ol' time. If my health seems good, the enemy will bring up the health of someone I love and dump all manner of dread and fear in my mind. If everyone else seems to be doing well, then my health is the target. Every good day can be turned into a bad day by following the enemy's anxiety trail. Jesus said to be free of worry; the enemy attacks with every worry in his black book. One thought leads to a darker thought that leads on to truly anxious thoughts, and so on. Soon, the Christian witness is buried in an avalanche on the anxiety trail. If you have never experienced one of those landslides of dread, worry, and anxiety, be thankful to God, for they do make a very dark time in life.

As with all things on that dreadful and dread-filled trail, the best cure is to first avoid a trip down it. This takes prayer and practice, as that trail head is never marked and often cunningly hidden in a bright, sunny day. The potential victim may be you on one day, me on the next, and someone we know or meet on the third day. The Adversary is not particularly choosy on most days; he just wants a victim to lead onto the anxiety trail for burial in an avalanche he has set up. Even the unbelievers can be caught on that trail, but there does seem to be bonus points awarded for Christian ministers, pastors, witnesses, and all those who believe in Christ.

Of course, we also have the most powerful help looking out for us, no matter what trail we may be on today. Praise God for His sovereign care and love!

Bucky

The Roar of Righteousness

Welcome to the joy of our Lord Jesus on this rainy day! Much of the time we go about sounding much like the mice of misery. Today, I want us to think about the Lion of Judah and the righteousness He has imputed to those He saved from sin. That's right, we have right standing before God through Jesus our Christ. We should sound the roar of righteousness to the world. C.S. Lewis was right to remind us through his character 'Aslan' of the Lion. Recall the joy of the unfrozen lion near the end of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe? (Thanks for that rather cumbersome title to type, Clive.) That lion ran about telling everyone over and over, "He said 'us lions'!" We must needs remember that today; we are lions of the tribe of Gentile following our Lord, the Lion of Judah.

We like to look at the sin of our past and present. This is at first a good thing as the Spirit makes us aware of just how much saving Jesus had to do at the cross. However, we shouldn't wallow in that over much. We are made righteous in Christ. Yes, we are in the fight of our lives against the carnal desires of the flesh and the powers of this present age. But, we are declared righteous in Christ now, and we know that one day all sin will be vanquished and put far away from us. So let's hear that roar of righteousness to start the day! Seize upon the knowledge that Jesus has made you and me righteous before God. Live in Christ, and don't squeak about like the mice of misery.

God's love to you on this righteous day,
Bucky

What We Know

Good morning! This just in: Son of famous evangelist declares that the signs are right for the end times. All Christians must go forth and spread the good news of Jesus Christ! And in other news: The Scoffers Society released a response stating, "All is just the same as it was since the fathers died. Pay him no mind." What do we know really? This morning, I wore a jacket on my stroll about the streets. I know that not all of my windows are open and that it is about 15° cooler than it was yesterday morning at this time. Those are things I know, and I know that those signs point to the arrival of autumn very soon, perhaps even earlier than in the past few years. Exactly! Jesus used the fig tree to tell us that is the very point. We can know that the signs point to the end times and that the arrival of our Lord is indeed very near. This may be the last autumn we see on this earth, or we may see many more before that end time arrives.

We do know the signs pointing, but we don't know the date when Jesus will call us home. This can indeed cause a problem in our witness. It is difficult for the worldly man to see the end times when the bills keep coming each month, work or school must be attended, and the daily grinder continues grinding him. We've all heard of the daily grind, but where exactly is the daily grinder?

I once thought it might be the electric coffee bean grinder I used. A sound I described as 16 seconds of pure audible hell. This is of course hyperbole and exaggeration to the max. If I heard that many seconds of the sound from Hell each morning, I would, I think, be very familiar with the sound of hopelessness. I believe every hair on my body, and even the several that are lost somewhere, would stand on end in horror. Maybe we should hear a little of that to get us going in our ministry. Uh, no... the whip didn't work, God proved that already. The Law of Moses was the whip but its stripes couldn't heal us. There must be a better reason to bring the good news, a higher cause to stand on.

Perhaps, just maybe, the Good News itself provides the cause. A message of love from God, who loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die to save us. Yes, I see very good news in that message. Love will send forth the 144,000 witnesses in the Tribulation. Love sends us out in our various ways and means to spread some good news. Love reaches out while the world stands on the very brink of final judgment. Paul tells us: "Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor 13:13)

Have another day in God's great love,
Bucky

What May Not Happen

Good morning as the day dawns quite a bit later than it did a month or two ago. Science fiction promised laser weapons long ago, and it always seems to be just around the corner. Not that we need any more weapons, the ones we can obtain do the work quite well, but as an exercise in what may not happen. In place of personal laser weapons from the space age, we have lasers playing spinning discs for entertainment, lasers measuring our walls and floors, and lasers to level that drop ceiling. The police use lasers to measure the speed of cars and doctors use lasers to zap flaps in our eyeballs. But the space alien blasting us into puddles of goo for later analysis or ingestion just not happening. That's okay, we really don't need that sort of thing on a Monday morning. Once upon a time though, you or I might have been locked up or burned at the stake for suggesting a machine that uses air to suck up dirt from the floor and frighten the pets.

Biblical prophecy is more along the lines of what did happen. A vacuum cleaner is common stuff for us, and so one day the fantastic things spoken of in the Bible will be to those who see them happen. Common in this case meaning that they will have it in common, and not that it will seem at all common. Global earthquakes, a plague of selective stingers, and rivers turning to blood are not exactly commonplace. Other prophecies sound much better, children playing near venomous snakes, lambs and wolves getting friendly, and all animals eating grass seems pretty far-fetched to us in these days of predation. Yet, that prophecy we read in the Bible too. Just as the light did shine in Bethlehem, so these other things will come to pass as well. What science guesses may or may not happen. What God speaks arrives in the time God sets.

Have a wonderful week in Christ!
Bucky

Happily Painting the Corner I'm In

Good morning! I got up to start the watering, but God had taken care of it for me this morning. Sometimes we paint ourselves into a corner as the old saying goes, and we know it. Other times, we may be found happily painting the very corner we are in. This happens most often I believe in conversations. The mouth runs along, we feel the audience perhaps is on our side, instead of stopping in our little painted corner with an "Oops!", we look down metaphorically speaking, and dump the remaining paint on our feet to cover that corner. Good job! In the aftermath, we see a nice pair of bare footprints in the corner where we stood, and maybe we sense the taste of paint in the mouth from where our feets went before we could regain control of our tongue. Even us normally quiet folk have been there.

It happens, but the grace of Christ has not taken off on holiday. The sin of today is no less covered than the sin of yesterday. Many a time I have happily painted the corner I worked to get myself into, and every time Jesus has covered those stupid footprints with His grace. That does not mean the consequences are hidden or washed away. No, like the saints before me, I may still have to walk in some wet paint to get out of the room.

If we liken the life of a Christian to a long hallway of painted rooms, we would find many a set of colored footprints coming out of some rooms. In those cases, I suspect that two sets of footprints might appear to those reviewing that life. The Christian himself might recall going into the room alone, even painting into that corner alone, but somehow he was led out of that room even as he felt so alone.

The grace and peace of Christ to you,
Bucky

We Won't Know What Day It Is

So, Monday was the first day of a new month, but also a holiday. Today is Thursday, I think, and that must be why the numeral 4 is staring back at me from my computer monitor. The holiday makes it a short week, so it has been busy in the office. Sounds like just the kind of day that Jesus will return. Didn't our Lord say that no one will know what day it is when He returns? Jesus must be coming back during a holiday week. We won't even get the luxury of a 'poof' as the Lord will come in the blink of an eye. A poof in the mouth takes longer than a blink of the eye; try it, you'll see. You may even be nodding your head right now. We are easily distracted by the world and its quick pace.

A little flipping of words, a bit of distraction, and suddenly the world isn't paying attention to the heavens. Jesus said that people will be getting married and the time will arrive. That's right, when you are about to say, "I do", take a quick peek at the audience and make sure all are still present and accounted for. It is so easy to be distracted by the words of the prophecy and forget the lesson. If you're still working on the poof and blink thing, don't worry, it took me a few minutes to overcome my tendency to do it sequentially. The parable of the bridesmaids spoke of being ready to be with Jesus in a moment. It was not a lesson to make sure that you have an oil lamp in your house and that it's always topped off with oil in the tank. Paul used the blink of an eye to show how quickly the rapture will happen, not as a command that we all stand around blinking and wondering why it didn't happen that last time we blinked. Someday the world may outlaw marriage in an attempt to stop the return of Jesus, but that was not the point of the prophecy. Get on with life, and suddenly the return we hope for and long for will arrive.

Have a great day, whichever one it is, in Christ Jesus!
Bucky

I'm Still Here!

Good morning! The Saturday morning edition for sure, but maybe the Friday evening issue carried the headline about one man who tried to start yet another cult but died at the hands of the executioners. That news was premature. The man walked out of his tomb on a Sunday morning. Had he held a press conference that day, the headline might have begun with "I'm still here!" At various times in our history, God has been declared dead. Other times the Bible, or the followers, or bits and pieces of the ministry have suffered the same declaration. Yet, you and me, preachers of old, saints of bygone days, and perhaps our children to come will say, "I'm still here!" We may say it in Heaven, on the new Earth, or right here today, but alive in Christ we remain.

Many is the thing that should have killed us. Our sin from the earliest days of life condemned us to eternal death. Yet, alive and redeemed we stand in Christ. The enemy has knocked us down. The Law clouted us like Pilgrim. We have despaired in the Swamp of Despond, and languished in the pits of self-loathing. Yet, someone came and picked us up with a promise and a kind word. Our statement in the face of fierce and relentless opposition may well be, "I'm still here!" Ironically, our great hope is that our Lord will snatch us up to His heavenly home, and with perhaps a small "I'm gone" wafting down behind us we will leave the place where we stood in Christ.

Rejoice in the day in the love of Christ Jesus!

Bucky

P.S. I'm probably behind (but not 'left behind') in this news since I don't have television service, but it looks like another movie based on the Left Behind series will premiere one month from today. Don't look for the big bad in the first movie.

Using the Knowledge and Making the Adjustment

Good morning! Let's see, holiday yesterday, that means today is Tuesday and not Monday as my brain wants to lay on me. First day of work week is Tuesday, that means internal calendar all messed up this week. Okay, as long as I continue to compensate for that, I'll be good to go. Sometimes we have knowledge that something is wrong, but we fail to do anything about it. The apostles and epistlers of old admonished us about this, but we may still find the sinful self doing this from time to time. As I like to remind myself, God gave you a human brain, use it!

There are those things that God will take care of if we just let things be. But, there are also those things that God has placed under our authority, and we need to get on 'em and make the necessary adjustments. How you discern which is which comes in prayer between you and God. Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit and is what Solomon asked for in his wisdom. Righto! We tend to think that Solomon gained wisdom because he asked for discernment, but think of how much wisdom he had to possess already to give the Lord the right answer first. We have some wisdom too. You may not think so this morning, but you were wise enough to come to the Lord for salvation. We may even be wise enough to come to the Lord in prayer and ask for more wisdom.

It may not feel like it to you this morning, but I do believe that I detect a positive direction in our lives courtesy of God's Holy Spirit. Let's give Him the praise!

Bucky

The Streets of Grossness

The unequal contest between vehicles and the toads seems well decided. I think about the best the little toads can hope for is to escape to fight another day. Perhaps one side in this contest didn't realize a war was on, but the casualties laying in our streets are a gross sight to walk over. With all that in mind, I cannot but help think of the biblical plague of frogs just before the Exodus. When the Bible uses plague, I suspect that what we have here in Julesburg is not even close. A plague of toads would be something more along the lines of stepping on six or eight toads every time you took a step, waking up with a few dozen toads on top of the blanket (assuming any sleep were possible), no place to sit because of the toad population and a very pathetic and funny mental picture of the cat looking mournfully at me as he tries to get some sleep with a pile of toads on top of him. Once more, what we face each day in this life pales to minor inconvenience when compared to the biblical plagues of old.

Does everything we face in this life compare only weakly to the Bible? Perhaps, but what we cannot do is face what is thousands of years in the past. If it is suffering that we want on a biblical scale, we have the Apocalypse coming up. But, what we face each day is all we have to live with. I cannot feel the suffering of the ancient Israelites. You cannot suffer with the saints of old. It matters less to us what Doeg the Edomite faced, than what we can learn from it to apply to this day, the one you and me must face with Christ our Lord.

In case you have forgotten, old Doegie was the one who carried out Saul's order to execute 85 of God's priests who had helped David. Probably not something we would want our name remembered for as long as the Bible lasts. This may also explain why 'Doeg' is not often chosen as a biblical name to christen children in this age. Whatever you and I must face this day, at least we don't have to face God having executed a whole bunch of the priests who helped the Lord's anointed king. I suspect the old 'the king made me do it' excuse will carry about as much weight as the devil one when judgment time comes.

This day, I only have to face my tribulations with a clean slate, forgiven and forgotten by God through the death of His Son. Whatever our past holds, it cannot keep it when God places it as far from His memory as the east is from the west.

Have a fine Labor Day,
Bucky

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