Other considerations

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

-Mark Twain

Rock reality

Well-trained with clear eyes, the soldiers from the South surveyed the hillside. They would kill an intruder if they located one – and the little puff of dust had aroused their steely view. What had slid down the hill? They searched intently.

They ignored the boulder at their feet, standing close enough to see there was nothing hiding behind it.

This scene from the movie The Two Towers prickles with suspense for we know what the soldiers do not. The boulder is an illusion. We know that the heroes, Frodo and Sam, are huddled beneath an elvish cape, which is only a cape from the inside. But from the outside, where the soldiers stand, it is a solid rock.

We sit nervously, wondering if the soldiers will spot the deception. Will Frodo and Sam trust the cape or their own legs? Might they give up on the cape’s protection and make a run for it?

They stay and the soldiers shrug their shoulders. Probably a small animal tumbled down the hill. The men return to their battalion and we, along with Frodo and Sam, sigh in relief.

How easy it would have been for Frodo and Sam to trust their own eyes rather than trust the cape. How easy to craft a scheme of escape based on what they could see.

We’re under that cape, too. We see what others see and yet we trust what seems to be impossible. We can’t see from the other side, where the enemy stands.

I am reconciled to God through Christ. It all seems ridiculous. I live in a world where my own plans and schemes are thought to be the only solution. I see the inside of the cape just like those around me.

Are you ever tempted to throw aside the cape and make a run for it? Do you ever shudder as enemy boots stand solidly inches from your toes, ready to kill at a slight flutter? Do you trust the Cape?

From our side, the cape looks like ordinary cloth – unable to protect anything. But from the other side, it’s a rock.

It’s a Rock.

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Eph 6:13

Keep walking

Jamie hugged her books against her chest and threw back her head with determination. She had two minutes to get to Biology class, two minutes to maneuver Jock Alley. She’d tried a lot of different strategies.

Sometimes it worked well to keep her eyes on the floor as she walked. Other times, she followed so closely behind the cheerleaders that she almost blended into their group. But on football game day, they had all been in uniform and her mousy everyday clothes were a sore thumb that drew jeers.

She turned the corner in the locker-lined hallway to see tall, dark-haired, handsome Tommy Fletcher. “Ooooh,” he said in a low coaxing voice. “Here comes the Princess! What elegant clothes today. And that hair!” He howled with a practiced coyote voice. “Sexy! Hot Mama today!”

She got that she was plain. She wasn’t drawn to the high fashions and the latest hairstyle. On she walked.

The howling continued for a few seconds before the boys grabbed their books and walked off with a group laugh.

At least after Biology class was freedom. Jamie could leave this crazy world that squeezed her heart every day and step out into the place where she could breathe, smile, laugh……

She knew it wasn’t just the athletes. At her cousin’s school, the athletes had all gotten saved and were nice. There, it was the drama kids who formed the gauntlet line. Sometimes it was the guys in building trades or the girls in art class.

It wasn’t what they were doing but what they were inside.

The Biology classroom had the faint smell of formaldehyde and Lysol as she settled in. Not much longer and she’d be out of here.

"If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19

Ever feel like a junior high student? Keep walking.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph 6:12

Friday Five: God Forever

Lives forever

For this is what the high and lofty One says--
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,

Isaiah 57:15

King forever

But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God, the eternal King.

Jer 10:10

Existing forever.

Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.

Psalms 41:13

Priest forever

The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind:
"You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek."

Psalms 110:4

Righteous forever

“He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

2 Cor 9:9

Covenant Child

How could a child born of privilege and promise grow up with nothing? That’s the question of the Holbrooke twins, born to incredible wealth but growing up as Goodwill kids.

But the bigger question in Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock is: how will a promise be kept? For the Holbrooke twins, orphaned at a tender age and shuttled off to live with greedy grandparents, had been promised by their step-mother Amanda that she’d take care of them. She had inherited the family millions and offered boundless wealth to the twins.

Blackstock has crafted a familiar story in today’s culture of custody battles and legal maneuvering. We travel with the twins, who endured the loss of their parents at a young age, been wrenched from Amanda’s loving arms and raised by Eloise and Deke, who spray their torn house with ugly lies and greedy wastefulness.

Kara and Lizzie grew up marinated in hatred, sure that Amanda stole their money. They blamed their hopeless lives on her self-indulgence. But Amanda, in the face of such anger and bitterness, never forgets her promise to the girls.

Though they reject her in ugly ways, Amanda continues to offer love and provision. Lizzie first accepts her generosity but Kara rejects, sure she is sniffing out a scam. Although she detests Eloise and Deke, she believes their world view. The final confrontation will move you.

Although the opportunity didn’t blossom, I thought I might be teaching a Bible study at our local women’s prison facility. I was going to use this book to teach hardened hearts the nature of promises and grace.

Covenant Child is a can’t-put-it-down sort of book. You’ll take another look at covenants after following Amanda, Lizzie and Kara through this poignant roller coaster. It’s worth the ride.

If Christ....

If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ

is not risen-- nothing else matters.

– Jaroslav Pelikan

Spread the word

It was a common challenge, this prospect of raising up a new generation, and the people of Israel did it poorly. Joshua had led the nation into God’s promised land, conquering areas as God directed. But time marches on.

Joshua passed on as did the people of his generation. Now settled in a new land, a new generation grew up “who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10)

If you’re familiar with the book of Judges at all, you know it overflows with accounts about weird doings: stealth stabbings in the outhouse, clubbing in a woman’s tent, a conqueror brought down by a woman’s rock. Samson is laid low by a haircut and Gideon, after leading a victorious mission against the Midianites, turned to idolatry.

The key to Judges is that “each man did what was right in his own eyes.” Surrounded by nations who were led by kings, Israel opted for a theocracy: God was their king.

Only they quickly forgot. God was no longer king; personal preference was.

But in the words of that famous theologian Bob Dylan, “you gotta serve someone.” We serve God or we serve Satan but we always serve that which we follow.

The lesson in Judges is that people need a king. Left to their own, they fall in the base vulgarities we see at the end of the book of Judges.

Yesterday I mentioned the Josephson Institute survey about our teenagers. Surveys deal with generalities and there are abundant exceptions. But are we so different than the generations in Judges? We worship relativity: each does what is right in his own eyes.

We need a king as surely as did the people named in Judges. There are no perfect parents except God and look what happened to his first children. They rebelled. This is no slam on parents who have wayward children.

But where do we go from here? Choose your king and follow him. Point the way for the next generation and sacrifice to give them a chance to find guidance.

We need more than honesty and character today. We need the absolute of God’s nature. Spread the word.