The Food that Satisfies

How often have we cried, "I'm starving!"  "When's dinner going to be ready?" "I'm so hungry I could eat a cow!"

One of our family gatherings...waiting to be fed...

As I look back on my life I know I've said that zillions of times...especially as a growing child.  And how often have we heard our own children say the same things? Probably more times than we could possibly count.

Now, let's tell the truth...how many of those zillions of times were we truly starving? How often were we (or our children) really so hungry that we could "eat a cow"?   (A nice juicy steak might be nice...)

Yes, I am well aware that there is tremendous hunger in the world, and possibly closer than we think, and it is an immensely horrific problem for millions of people.  As much as I would love to solve world hunger, that is not what I am really talking about tonight. That is an issue that is larger than my capacity to solve.

No, the kind of hunger that is really on my mind is soul hunger.  If your soul could speak, how often do you think it would cry, "I'm starving!" ?  Probably more often than we care to admit.  Could it be possible that a person could attend church every week, listen to Christian music, attend all kinds of "Bible Studies" or other spiritual help groups, conferences, and concerts and still have a starving soul?

Yes...highly possible.  How could that be? I mean, wouldn't that be the right kind of "diet" to have a well nourished soul?  It should be. But I've seen people come and go from church to church, Bible study to Bible study, all manner of conferences and groups, etc., etc, etc., and still not grow and mature in matters of the soul. They never can get enough food to satisfy the hunger of the heart and soul. Why?

Perhaps because we get so caught up in the frenetic search for answers and just the right "food" that we overlook the most basic important nutrient of all...a total ingestion of the best food ever offered; The Bread of Life...Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to His disciples in John 6:35

"I Am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, 

and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."  

And in verse 48-51

"I Am the bread of life.  

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

This is the bread which comes down from heaven,

that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread,

he will live forever;

and the bread that I shall give is My flesh,

which I shall give for the life of the world."

The rulers and disciples did not truly understand what Jesus was saying to them at the time...and for a complete discourse on this I commend the whole 6th chapter of John's Gospel to your reading.

But what we need today, what I need today, is a buffet table full of the Bread of Life...open for you and me to partake of freely...to breathe Him into our hearts and minds so fully that we no longer crave the running to and fro seeking every special program, every marvelous speaker, the over abundant diet of  constant activity of worship, studies, preaching, teaching...having "itching ears", heaping "up for themselves teachers" and possibly even having turned "our ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."  (See 2 Timothy 4:1-5)

You may wonder how can someone get too much of Bible study and preaching and teaching, etc., and not be fed properly?  It's simple...

We get so busy chasing after more knowledge and the better "worship experience" that we lose sight of the One Who stands there waiting for us to 

"Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 

for I am gentle and lowly in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30  

Now, please don't think that I am against going to church, Bible Studies, conferences, etc., etc.  But on the other hand, the warning is this...Don't become so addicted to eating more and more "food"...even when it is so-called food for the soul, that you overlook the most valuable nourishing meal of all: Jesus Christ, the living Lord, the Bread of Life who gave His life for your soul...Who stands at your heart's door knocking, waiting on you to let Him enter into the innermost part of your very being...

Warner Sallman's picture of Jesus Standing at the door knocking

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,

I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

Revelation 3:20

Yes, this is the food that comes down from heaven...Jesus Christ...knocking at your door (and mine)...waiting for us to invite Him in...to dine with us...for eternity! How wonderful is that? 

Lord Jesus, I'm starving...I'm hungry, hungry for more of YOU.  Help me stop the frantic frenzy of chasing after the rich foods that will never satisfy...and fill me with YOU...and YOU alone. YOU ARE the Bread of Life who came down from heaven....seeking for me. Please come in and dine with me...forever. Amen. 

For a continuation of this "series" of thought, go to my next post, "Be Still And Know"

Autumn Reflections and Reality Checks

I feel so far behind in my writing and reading of other blogs that I enjoy...please forgive me, friends, for not commenting and communicating.  As many of you know, we were on vacation last week, visiting our son and his family in Maine, and then when I got home I had to play catch up at work and here at home. Still trying to climb out from under the dust and laundry and mail, well, you know how it is.  You need a vacation to recover from your vacation!  I'll get there eventually, but some things just have to be set aside and overlooked for now.

Therefore I would like to reflect a bit on the journey I've been traveling for the past few weeks.  I am calling this "Autumn Reflections and Reality Checks".    First for the Autumn reflection part:

Yes, this is a real picture of a real place.  It was so serene and tranquil, I told my son to stop the car immediately and pull over so I could take a picture!  My family became rather accustomed to these sudden outbursts as we traveled through the woods and mountains of the White Mountain National Park in Maine and New Hampshire. Unfortunately, there weren't always great places to pull over and/or the traffic was such that it wasn't safe to do so as quickly as I wanted, but we did manage to capture a few great pictures.

I won't bore you with a travelogue of our entire trip, but suffice it to say, the scenery was magnificent...and the company was even greater.  We were there to celebrate our grandson's 14th birthday and spend time with our middle son and his family. We live in Florida, so the visits with this part of our family are way too few and far between.

And that brings me to the "reality check" part of the journey.

You see, our son has cancer. He is in the fourth year of this battle against the rare "childhood cancer", Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor, (DSRCT) that hit him when he was 37, and the reality is, he's not getting better. I guess you could say he's "maintaining"...not exactly getting worse, but not improving either. And unless someone comes up with a cure or a better treatment plan, he can't stay doing what he's doing for much longer.  Chemo is poison...and although its purpose is to kill the cancer cells, it also kills good cells, and after a while the body just can't take any more of it. Other parts of the body start breaking down and there is even the possibility that other forms of cancer could develop. So it isn't a winning proposition.  Without a miracle, the future is not very bright.  I've had to face this reality, and it isn't pleasant. It hurts deeply. I don't want to think about it...I want to ignore it and hope it will go away, but that's not being realistic. I have to acknowledge the reality that my son is not getting better and that we could actually lose him.  But we are not without hope.

While driving to work one day this week, I listened on the radio (JoyFM) to a portion  of a message from Pastor Francis Chan, who was speaking at a conference for high school and college young people.  Here is the full message: Francis Chan, "God is Faithful" from Passion 2013 Conference, if you want to listen.  The part that I heard that struck me was found around the 26.00 section on the progress bar of the video.  He played a clip from a friend of his, a radio show host, who was talking about death and does man actually have a soul, and how our bodies are just the earthly container that holds our real self, our soul, our spirit...the part that lives on for eternity.  The example this man gave was that he drove a motorcycle, and that he knew that at anytime on the freeway a vehicle could drift over into his lane and cut him off and he could be killed instantly...but he was saying that if that were to happen not to grieve for that broken bag of bones left on the freeway, because that is not the real person, that's just his body.  The real person is the soul, which goes immediately to be with the Lord in heaven.  The amazing part of this story was that just 3 hours after this man made this statement on the radio, he got on his motorcycle and headed down the freeway, and the exact thing he spoke about happened to him.  He was struck and killed that very day.

None of us are guaranteed any number of days or years upon this earth. Only God knows the number of our days. Psalm 139:13-16 tells us that God formed us in our mother's wombs, and that He has known us since we were "skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth."

Verse 16 says, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them."  

II Corinthians 5:1 tells us that "if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

Verse 2: "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven."

Verse 4: "For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by LIFE." (MEANING: ETERNAL LIFE).

Verse 5:  "Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, Who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee."

Verse 6:  "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord."

Verse 7: "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Verse 8: "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

Verse 9:  "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him..."

Our hope is in the Lord, who made heaven and earth, and Who created us in His image.

II Corinthians 5:17 tells us, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

We have this hope in Christ Jesus. We know that our son is a child of God, a follower of Christ. We are confident that if he were to die today, he would immediately be in the presence of God, in heaven.

Philippians 1:21 says, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."  

I know, you are probably saying that it's easy to say all these things now, while he is yet living. But what will you say when that day really comes?

I sincerely pray that day will not come for many years. But the reality is, it could happen any time...to any of us. Those of us who are healthy could be like the man on the motorcycle...perfectly safe and healthy one minute and even talking about it...and go out on the highway and be struck dead in a moment...or have a heart attack...or some other disaster could hit us.  The important thing is to be ready. Always ready.  And to realize that this earthly temple is not the real me, or you. The REAL me will live eternally. So will my son. I can live with that reality.

What about you? Do you have that same hope and confidence? If not, perhaps you needed this reality check as well.  I hope you will think about these things today...and seek God while there is yet time. He loves you and would love to introduce you to His Son. If you need some help with this...let me know. Maybe I can help you find the answers you are seeking.  It would be my pleasure to do so.

Are You Being Renewed Day by Day? Updated 7/23/13

Originally written 7/25/11, just about two years ago exactly...Not much has changed since then...I'm still on the "downward slope" physically, but I'm working on the renewal part inwardly day by day...how about you? Some good things to think about here...

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day."  2 Corinthians 4:16

I had to ask myself the question that I wrote as the title of this particular blog: "Am I being renewed day by day?  What exactly does this mean?  The verse quoted above states that "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day..."  

Can this really be me?????

It is pretty obvious to me that my "outward man (woman) is perishing"... The signs are all there...a wrinkle or two (or three or four) here and there, a stray gray hair (again, more than just a few) sticking right straight out, much more visible because of its tenacious curl (friz) and coarse texture refusing to obey the smooth curves of the rest of the style I'd worked to hard to achieve.  A few extra inches to pinch in places I'd prefer not to have noticed by anyone..numerous creaky joints that crack and pop and slow me down when I'd prefer to run a little faster...yeah...my outward woman is definitely on the "downward" slope.  Even with all the tender loving care I've tried to lavish upon myself over the years...age has a way of catching up with us sooner or later, whether we like it or not.

So what about the "inward man"...is there something I can do about that to keep it from going downhill as rapidly as my "outward man"?

If we go back to verses 8-9 of this same chapter, we can read about the trials and tribulations of the Apostle Paul  and the other early church leaders:

"We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed..."

And yet, even though these early missionaries for Christ suffered many things at the hands of those who wanted to see the cause of Christ stamped out before it could firmly take root...these saints of God persevered...held fast...moved forward...yes, even though their outward man was perishing...their inward man was being renewed day by day...

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."  2 Corinthians 4: 17-18

Have you ever experienced these kinds of trials in your life: hard pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, struck down?  I think we all have had our share of heartaches, disappointments, anxieties and sorrow.  Most likely we didn't feel like it was a "light affliction" at the time...and we probably also didn't feel like it was working a "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" while in the midst of the struggle. 
But one thing I have learned in the midst of such difficulties is that when I allow myself to let God take control of the situation...I begin to understand that the work that is taking place inside of me is actually the renewing process that God wants to accomplish in me...it's not something that can be seen outwardly...at least not at that particular moment in time, but it is working that metamorphosis within that is eternal and complete.  My insides are being restored, renewed, revived and preserve for eternity. 

Now that's change we can live with!!!  Amen?  Amen!

Father God, Help me to let you finish the work that You have begun inside of me.  Help me to not just grab for the immediate temporary repair jobs...but to seek and desire that eternal restoration that will give the most rewarding and lasting results!  I pray this in Jesus' Name...Amen.

"Someone Worth Dying For"

"To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him."  Deuteronomy 4:35

Last week was a very traumatic time in our house...and yet a very awesome thing happened in the midst of it all.  The picture of the van at the left is the wreckage of a vehicle in which a man was killed.  We did not know this man or his family.  We still don't...only his name.  But this man did something amazing for us...and you may not understand this...and neither may his family. First of all let me say that my heart has been burdened greatly for this man's family...and I have prayed for them daily ever since this has happened. Perhaps one day there will be an opportunity for me to tell them so,  not just yet...but in God's time.  You see, last week this man had a divine appointment with eternity.  I am certain that on the morning of July 27th,when he left his home for work, he had no idea that he was heading for this divine appointment.  I would imagine that if he had known he probably would not have left his house. But he did was he was supposed to do on that day, which appeared to be an ordinary day for him of going to his job. 

At about the same time that morning my son also left our home and was headed for his new job up the highway about 50 miles away. Everything was looking good for him...he had just recently decided to come back home from up north and look for work down here since things weren't going all that well for him in his previous location.  He was amazed that he had found a job so quickly upon arriving here, and he was actually enjoying working outdoors again in the fresh air and sunshine after being cooped up indoors in the cold north for so long. He was feeling pretty good and enjoying the ride in his pretty car that he was so proud of..."the love of his life" you might say. 

Suddenly everything changed for these two men on the same road heading for different places...due to a series of unexplainable and terrible events their lives literally collided on that highway...and as the beautiful red car strangely spun out of control and into the path of the van, the man in the van did what I am sure any of us would have done...he tried his best to avoid that vehicle and the person sliding right before his eyes...and as he swerved to miss him, he too lost control of his vehicle, and the two vehicles went careening down over the embankment to the swamp down alongside the road.  As my son looked back up toward the highway from his backwardly skidding car, he was shocked to see the van hurtling and flipping directly toward him.  He barely had time to duck down in the front seat as he felt the spray of glass from his t-tops above showering down on top of him.  Then he heard the loud thud of the van landing in the swamp just behind his own car, and he leaped out of his car to see what had happened and called to the man in the van...but there was no reply.

As he wandered around in shock he called us on his cell phone and cried as he told us about the accident and we could hear the fear and anguish in his voice as he told us that he thought the other man had died. We dressed as quickly as we could and headed up the road to be with our son and bring him home.  We did not get to see his car as it had already been towed away, but we saw the van as they were dragging it out of the swamp, and our hearts throbbed for the soul of the man who had lost his life in that mangled hunk of steel.
When we reached our son we held him and cried and thanked God for saving his life and restoring him to us whole.  And again we prayed for the soul of the man who had met his destiny that day...and for his grieving family.

Little by little the details came out...and even a few days later as our son viewed his vehicle for the first time since the accident...the true impact of what had happened that morning began to make its impression on his and our hearts and souls.  When our son saw his car he realized that it was much much worse than he had known the day of the accident...he had not known that the hood of his car was badly smashed by the other vehicle, and that only an angelic bubble could have stood between him and the crushing weight of that hurling missile that apparently had literally bounced off his hood and over the top of his car, completely missing him and leaving him physically unscathed.  What really hit all of us hard was the fact that this man had actually sacrificed his own life in attempting to avoid hitting our son's car...and his life was taken away, while our son's life was spared.  That is what really came through loud and clear...this man died and our son lived. Why? Only God knows for certain.  We can't explain or understand...we can only be grateful.  I think the thing that has hit my son the hardest is that his life has been spared for a reason...and he wants to be worthy of that.

We all have a date with destiny...a moment in time when we will meet our Savior face to face.  We hope that we will be counted worthy of heaven at that time...but the truth is, none of us is worthy in our own strength.  It is only because of Christ that we can even hope for eternal life...not because of our good works or "worth". 

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."  Romans 5:6-11

Someone Worth Dying For by Mikeschair  Please click on the link and listen to the song by "Mikeschair"... maybe you are the one who doesn't believe that you are someone worth dying for...but you are precious in God's sight...so precious that He sent His own Son to die for you so that you would be redeemed to God for eternity.   If you don't know this Jesus...I hope you will just ask Him to reveal Himself to you...and give you a purpose for living...and a hope for eternity.  We never know what may lie ahead in the road for us each day...we need to be reconciled to God  while there is yet time.  You ARE someone worth dying for.