Trust . . . again?

I have written about trust before.  In fact, several times.  You're probably beginning to think I have a trust issue.  As a matter of fact, I believe that assessment would be correct, sadly.  As the father of the possessed boy said, "Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)  I admit, there are times when an overwhelming fear crawls up my chest and seems to hang there on my heart.  It darkens my thoughts.  It distracts my focus.  It has shaken me to my core, at times.  What could I possibly be afraid of?  Plenty. It really doesn't matter, does it?  I'm afraid of dying, spiders, snakes, big dogs, pitch black, plane crashes, etc.  Anything that could create fear.  I am also afraid of failing.  There, I said it.  Sometimes, I'm petrified of failing.  I'm also afraid of change, of losing my job, of not finding a job, of not being considered worth giving a job to, of being so undervalued that no one would even glance in my direction.  Yep, I'm afraid.

So, you ask, "With all that fear, why did you title and begin this post about trust?"  Well, stop and think about it.  What causes fear?  An absence of trust in God.  It's that same trust that Abraham exhibited when God told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees to go to a land "that I will show you."  Really?  If it was just Abe, no problem.  But, he had a household.  He was married.  He had people, lots of 'em, that he was responsible for.  Pack up and leave?  Where to?  Doesn't matter.  It was a place that God would show him at some point in the future, not even at the point of departure, but sometime in the future.  Abraham would know when he arrived.  Until then, God was asking Abraham to start the journey.  The underlying and most important lesson and actual end result of the journey was that Abraham trusted God. That trust was "counted as righteousness".  Abraham relied on God, trusted Him, and rested in God.  ALL the time?  HA!  Nope, sure didn't.  In fact, Abraham blew it majorly sometimes.  At one point, he flat decided to take his life into his own hand and tried to trust in his own wits.  Wrong move.  You know what happened between Abraham and a king or two.  God says, "Trust ME!"  So, back to the father mentioned above (Mark 9:24).  I can almost hear Abraham in that father's words.  "God, I believe, but only almost. For some reason I keep thinking I can 'do it on my own.'"  Yet, like Abraham, when I do that, I find myself full of fear.  So, "Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.  Help me to rest in you!"  Trust Him, folks.  He has proven trustworthy through all of life.  We may not fully see it, but He has never let us down.  Why do we think He will let us down now?  If He has proven true and trustworthy in the past, the best thing you and I can do is just trust Him.  When we live in that trusting relationship with God, our trust will also be "accounted to [us] as righteousness".

Better or worse?

Last week, I was privileged to go to breakfast with my oldest brother and my nephew-in-law.  Great time!  Good food!  Hearty conversation!  (or was it hearty food and good conversation?)  We get together every month to have breakfast and chat.  It's a wonderful way to stay connected.  Things will get even better soon, I hope.  But, that revelation will be for another time.

Matt (nephew-in-law) asked an interesting question that has bothered me ever since.  I've tried to continually justify my response and, while my opinion remains unchanged, my openness to other options has increased dramatically.  Matt asked if the world was getting better.  My response was an immediate and quick, "No!"  So, we talked about it.  Following in a short summary of our thoughts.

I don't believe the world is getting better.  I look at the morality (btw, that was my brother's word and I agreed with it) of this age and recognize it as continuing downhill.  Abortion is off the charts; drug use is being supported by law; countries are devouring themselves and threatening to destroy others based on either a twisted sense of righteousness or pure greed.  I don't see this getting better.  In fact, I believe the scriptures support my opinion.  Curt (my brother) pointed out 2 Timothy 3:13, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."  Matthew 24 talks about all of the evil that will transpire before the end of time and God judges the whole earth and its inhabitants.  As I look at the overall moral status of the world, I don't see a general rise in morality but a decline.  Whether we hear more about it or not, it seems that men have a difficult time resisting temptation and women participate in some form or another (yes, I'm being vague on purpose).  Honestly, I'm not hearing strains of Battle Hymn of the Republic or Arise, My Soul, Arise, encouraging the saints to take on the evil of this day and stand up for God's holy way. Instead, I feel like the Church is rolling over and playing the protectionist game - protect what we have or we'll lose it.  At least in the U. S., political correctness has won the day and the Church is succumbing to pressure to stand in our own little corner and be quiet.  Where's the "Moral Majority" or movements for right living?  Where's the "PromiseKeepers"?  Quietly, quickly, disappearing.  So, I stick to my opinion.

Matt, on the other hand, looked a little at the history of the world.  Roman times up to current times, we've fluctuated between righteousness and debauchery.  The Roaring Twenties, slavery, the well-documented debauchery of the Roman Empire, Nero, and the list goes on.  Still, we have great revivals, where it seems that the world is turning their hearts toward God.  Today, Christianity is growing like crazy in Asia and Africa.  It appears that God is on the move in those continents.  What is one to believe when faced with their own reality versus that which we hear about or read in the news?  To Matt, I believe he sees the possibilities and the realities of God's movement in other locations.

So, who's right?  I don't have that answer.  I still believe the world is getting worse.  Matt will assure you that the world is not necessarily any worse than it was a century ago but that God is working in the care and concern of missionaries and others who are offering to help.  Again, I don't believe the world is getting better.  However, were I to have been born in Jesus day, I would have said the same thing.  If I had been born in the 1940's around the time of the New Hebrides Revival, I still would have said the same thing, at least leading up to it.  Here's the conclusion I've come to: while I'm a believer in God and His ability, I also see reality and recognize the status of "things".  At the same time, I cannot discount the fact that God can move when and as He will.  Do I see that happening?  No.  As I've just related, I probably wouldn't have seen Jesus coming, the New Hebrides Revival, nor any other so-called "great awakening".  But, that doesn't change the possibility.  It is not our place, as Christians, to become wall-flowers.  We are to be busy doing God's work, trusting Him to produce the results.  We MUST be the light in a dark world.  We MUST maintain our relationship with God so that women and men of all ages and through all time will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.  If, in His good pleasure He chooses to send another mighty outpouring of His Spirit on all humanity, then He will receive the glory.  Until then, we live and breathe in Him. So, Matt, keep the courage.  Keep believing.  And, may it be so!

Another James Morrison spectacular

Man, this guy is great!  Take a listen.

Not your regular run-of-the-mill harmonica!

I just listened to this. WOW!!! How in the world does he make that much sound come out of this one instrument. Enjoy!!!

Explaining God

This was written by an 8-year old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista, CA. He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to explain God. 
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One of God’s main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn’t make grownups, just babies.

I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn’t have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers. God’s second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn’t’ have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off. God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps him pretty busy.

So you shouldn’t go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad’s head asking for something they said you couldn’t have. Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church. Jesus is God’s Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn’t want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him. But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn’t know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said OK! His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn’t have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God; like a secretary, only more important. You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.

You should go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God! Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the bach. This is wrong, and besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway. If you don’t believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can’t go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He’s around you when you’re scared, in the dark or when you can’t swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids. But…you shouldn’t just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime He pleases. And…that’s why I believe in God.