Category Archives: Uncategorized

many of us who work in schools (students and teachers alike) LOVE to see the snow falling! it often means we will get a day off or a late opening… so during school we watch the web to see the latest on the storm and hope its enough to get school canceled…

on those quiet mornings after a storm, before the kids go out for snowmen and sledding, i linger over the view outside my window to look at the landscape covered by a fresh blanket of snow… i am always mindful of the words of Isaiah: “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;…” and “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness”

the snow covered ground is a reminder to me that all my wrongs have been covered; though i am really not worthy, i have been covered and made ready… “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;…”

the next time you look outside at a fresh snowfall, remember this idea and be thankful for the beauty

my mobile rang this afternoon and a crying voice said to me “Dad another classmate is dead” another young life has ended, tragically.

when a young life is ended, it is tragic no matter the circumstances.

what does one do? what does one say? how does one respond? how do we react to the sadness that exists among family and friends when there has been a loss?

we grieve

experts tell us there are stages to grief:
– denial
– anger
– bargaining
– depression
– acceptance

so we look to experts and hear that we can expect to go through some of these stages when we suffer loss. But to help us get through these stages, we must look for help.

I remember when my school lost two grads in two weeks. There were home visits to make, funerals to attend and participate in, people to talk to. Often, the visits consisted of only being present. The presence of loving people does a lot to help in times of hurt and need. There are gestures, words, our simple presence, all of which intended to bringing comfort…

Hear some words of comfort…

Don’t let your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe in me as well. My Father’s house has so many rooms for us: if these places were not there, I would have told you. In fact, I’m going there to prepare a place for you. Since I’m going there to prepare this place for you, I will come back, to take you with me so that you may be with me. And you know where I go and the way there… Thomas said, Lord, we don’t where you are going; how can we know the way? Jesus said to him:

“I am the way,
the truth,
and the life:
no man comes to the Father, but with me.”

I remind myself, that all I can do is to bring the truth. I am just very glad that this person knew the truth… “Don’t let your heart be troubled.” Know the way… Jesus, he is the way. For me there can be nothing more soothing… I was playing my guitar and singing and these words really spoke to me in this moment of need, listen to these words of hope…

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of his mercy
(“All Who are Thirsty” by Brenton Brown and Glenn Robertson)

Now, I know this is will demonstrate a generational gap… but I heard about people who stood in line (they actually sat) for eleven hours to buy the latest video game system. Then I heard about a womon in a neighboring city punching another woman over a TV at one of those early sales the morning after Thanksgiving… I don’t know what to say… 11 hours… punching over a tv…

So I was talkin’ to a friend the other day whose son is about five years old and this young fellow made an astute observation about Thanksgiving… “Thursday is Thanksgiving, we will have to be thankful.”
I think that my experience tells me that this young fellow is expressing that which is very normal for us: not having an attitude of thankfulness. That’s why it is good that we have a holiday that allows us to stop and be thankful. In the West, we have so much to be thankful for, but all of us have so much to be grateful for, the heartbeat, the breath, these involuntary functions that we hardly ever consider.
Let’s be grateful for we have been provided with life, and for so many of us, a life of abundance. Life is a great gift, it is Grace, from Him that came to be the Life and Light of men.

A friend who is a missionary but now in America for a while before going to their new home made me think of the whole “culture shock” thing… part of what I wrote him was this…
May the Love of God be ever apparent to you in your time of struggle in this place [America]… I once heard it said that missionaries should be carefully observed as they prepare to GO to ‘the field.’ I am beginning to think that is exactly opposite of reality… I am beginning to think that this culture is SO screwed up that in many ways ‘the field’ is way less stressful…
I remember the culture shock I have experienced upon returning to America after some long (2 yrs) and even not so long (2 mo) times away…
I think EVERYONE should make the opportunity to travel away from the US for a while… not only to gain a fresh appreciation for what we have, but for what we need…

During the UVa – Tech game (‘er… debacle) I saw a commercial which intrigued me. The commercial was for a new video game and the premise of the commercial led to a question posed toward or at the end… “If there is no law, do we do anything wrong?” (my paraphrase – I don’t care to see the commercial again to check, nor am I naming the game) But this has intrigued me… partly because for days I have wanted to post something, but also because I am gearing up for my annual trip through Romans. So what about it… before law was there anything wrong? Which I think leads us to the question, is there right and wrong? Why do we have laws? Why are some things okay and others are not? I think the questions are important to think about… Why do we need law? Because we do things that hurt others… Why do we hurt others? Well, I don’t know about you, but when I hurt others, it is because I am thinking about myself first, I’m being selfish. You know, when I said that thing that hurt that person because I was being thoughtless… Selfish. I was putting myself first. I was not thinking about the other person. And the crazy thing is that sometimes I am right, but I am selfish in not considering how I might say something. So— why am I selfish? I am selfish because I am fallen, I am separated from God by the fall. I am broken, a cracked pot… And I do this bad stuff by nature, because I am selfish by nature… Because I am not the way I was intended by He who made me… But, thankfully, that’s not the end of the story, because He who made me in His image and gave me/us the freedom to choose has not given up on me/us, He has made the way toward understanding and healing possible through Jesus whose resurrection proves who He is as He who came to make things right, and He sent His Spirit to help us know better… You remember when an adult would say “You should know better”? Well, they were right, but usually its not about not knowing better, its about choosing wrong… So that is why we have laws, to point out to people like me (who should know better) what they should and shouldn’t do… I think that’s why God gave Moses the law, to point out to the Hebrews that which they should know, but didn’t do… He gave us the law to guide us… C.S. Lewis says theology is like a map, if theology is like a map, then the Law is the compass. Pointing us to that which God wants, the direction that he intends for me. The law isn’t the way, it just points me to the way, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life… The law isn’t the way, it just shows me I need Him. So He is greater than the law, so yes, there is real right and wrong because God is right, I may be wierd, but that comforts me to know that there really is something greater than I am to which I can look, upon which I can depend, thanks be to God.