God In a Box

We have met a lot of people over the last three years, ‘out on the road’. Let me be more specific~a lot of religious people. People who make claims about God, but seem to have forgotten to read the scripture pertaining to their particular subject.

One instance that comes to mind was from a Baptist pastor in Brevard, NC. He not only pastured a small congregation on a huge, unused campus, but was also a teacher at the local Baptist seminary, Fruitland.

In his ‘message’, he said that God does not speak audibly to His people anymore. He gave no reason; just that it didn’t happen anymore. A few sentences later, he said that God never changes, then quoted the scripture that says God is the same today, tomorrow and forever. My immediate thought was ‘Pick one, Mister. You can’t have it both ways.’

One young man, ironically named Christian, came to his youth pastor, who we were guests of, and asked him what the pastor meant. He relayed the story of his salvation while at a Christian youth camp. During the night, he had heard his name being called, and likened it to the story of Samuel. When Christian experienced this, he was 13 years old. He told the youth pastor that it didn’t matter to him what the old pastor had said. He knew it was God’s voice he heard calling him to salvation.

One of the things that we have seen over and over again is some people want to take the God that created this:

 

yet is small enough to live here:

 

and try to put Him here: 

 

Shame on those people who, because of their own lack of education and understanding, lead others astray. Let God be God, and let us esteem ourselves to reach His level of wisdom, instead of dumbing Him down so that He fits in the confines of our minds.

The Glory of a Woman

In September of 2010, we were in the small town of Mountain View, Arkansas. We were traveling with a minister friend of ours, Jamie Coulter. While we were there, I decided I needed a trim. My hair had not had a professional touch it since 2004, but I had clipped it myself a lot over the years.

There was a hair salon within walking distance from where we were staying called Linda’s Curl Up & Dye. (Yes, seriously! See pic above.) I sat down and flipped through the style magazine, found something that I liked, and waited for her to finish with her scheduled client.

When it was my turn in the chair, she complimented me on my choice of style, cut a lot off the back of my head, and charged me $20 for about 10 minutes of work.

She talked while she cut, remarking that I shouldn’t be wearing my hair the way I had been because I looked like a Baptist preachers’ wife. I almost burst out laughing. I was (am) a minister’s wife, but I had not told her anything about myself. So, that was my experience in Arkansas.

When we returned to South Carolina, and found ourselves out ‘on the street’, we were taken in by a church member whose close relative had her own salon. Tina Dixon was a terrific singer. She could raise the roof with ‘How Great Thou Art’. Yet, two people that she saw twice a week for over two months that really needed some grooming, she totally ignored. But, she did manage to show off her new purse, shoes and clothes every week.

Her purse was a very pretty purple. I didn’t begrudge her the purse, nor anything else she talked about ‘getting on sale’. But, what I saw was that most of the women of the church had an underlying competition going on as to who got the most new things for the least money each week. There was no Jesus in that. God had presented her with someone hungry, naked and sick, as is talked about in Matthew 25. We also need a haircut, but no help in that area was provided, either.

In the spring of 2011, when we came into Haywood County, in North Carolina, we were a part of a church in which one of the members, Katrinka Webb, owned her own salon. (Which she uses for the glory of God!) We had been there about a month when my birthday came along. She wrote me out a $25 gift certificate from her shop, Shear Glory, and gave it to my husband for him to give to be as a birthday gift.

In the meantime, she gave me a free haircut, the same style as I had had in Arkansas, but finished it to perfection. She was not concerned about time or money; she simply wanted friendship and fellowship.

We left the area before I had a chance to redeem the certificate, but I’ve carried it with me for two years now. Two weeks ago, while passing through Haywood County, I met a homeless man that had just come from Tyler, Texas, because the Lord had told him to go to there. He is an ordained minister, and is ministering to the homeless at the food kitchen called The Open Door.

He was in bad need of a haircut, so I gave him the certificate, then sent Katrinka a message on Facebook telling her what I had done. She said she would honor it. Her shop is less than a mile from The Open Door.

I have told of these three experiences, all dealing with the glory of a woman to point out that, sometimes God puts needy people directly in our path. What we do with that opportunity is going to dictate whether we receive a blessing or a curse. Me? I want a blessing. And, to receive a blessing, a person must BE a blessing.

　

Jesus Didn't Speak 'Shakespeare'

The English language has helped in spreading God’s word all over the world. That is a good thing. However, there are some people that think that the written word as we know it is the way it's always been. It is sad, but true. Three years ago, we had an old, country preacher tell us that if the King James Version of the bible was good enough for Paul, it was good enough for him. We waited for a punch line. It never came. The man was serious.

Unfortunately, there is an element of society that has neglected to expand their minds to learn the meanings of the English words they speak, much less the Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek languages, and the cultures described in scripture, are all about.

Jesus said (Matt. 11:29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. Did that mean to just learn about the 'spiritual' Jesus~the part that saves us~and not about the 'earthly' part~the part that tells us who Jesus was as a person? For example, how did the cultures, both Jewish and pagan, influence the actions of the people in Jesus’ time, and afterward?

Moreover, how did the introduction of Christianity, and its expansion throughout the last 2000 years, change cultures in the process? And, how many cultures have tried to alter Christianity during that time?

I am a firm believer in the adage “With knowledge comes responsibility.” I see a generation of Christians before me that have failed to ‘learn of’ Jesus.

We do not have to know about Jesus’ life, His culture, or cultures since, to receive Him, and have a relationship with Him. However, if I have pledged my life to someone that has given His life for me, I would want to know as much about Him as possible.  Am I the only one?

Jesus spoke an Aramaic dialect. Hebrew and Phoenician are derived from the Aramaic. There are disputes in some denominational circles as to whether the Greek should be ‘trusted’ to speak the New Testament truth.

With the scriptures now translated into so many languages, as well as ’versions’, it should make those less educated interested in where it all came from. ‘Alas!’ (A nice Shakespearean word!) It does not.

We have met some pastors that have never heard of a Geneva Bible, which came out some 50+ years before the 1611 King James. Still others do not know who Martin Luther is, other than ‘King’, the civil rights leader and minister gunned down in the ‘60’s. In addition, others have never heard of John Calvin, yet are a part of a denomination founded on his interpretations of scripture. Scary, isn’t it?

I have realized in my studies over the past few years  that the English, regardless of the ‘version’, leaves a lot to be desired for the real, meaningful definitions behind the words first written in Aramaic or Hebrew, and even the Greek. Not only have I gained a deeper understanding of the scriptures in general, but also studying the cultures that were prominent throughout ‘Bible-times’ makes me understand my Savior all the more.

He was God’s word in the flesh. What does that mean? It means that whatever God spoke, Jesus did. He was God's words in action!  What is it that John said? Chapter 21, verse 25: And there are also many other things which Jesus did, if everyone was written, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. His actions spoke one word loud and clear, regardless of language, or version of the bible: LOVE!

Jesus did not say 'ye', ‘thee’, ‘thou’, and ‘thy’. Nor did the verbs He used end in ‘eth’. Jesus did not speak 'Shakespeare.' 

His language is love.

Watching Us Grow

Back in October, the lady of the house that hosts us was given an orchid as a gift. It was covered with large, white blooms. But, after a few weeks, the blooms faded and dropped off. Having never had an orchid before, Solveig asked me what she should do with it. I trimmed back the dried stem to the base of the plant, put it in her sunny kitchen window, and we began to watch it.

In about two weeks, a little 'knob' began to form just beside where I had cut the previous stem. I mixed up some liquid fertilizer, saturated it, then drained the excess. Then, Solveig began an ongoing vigil each day to see how much it had grown.

At first, nothing much happened. Finally, the 'knob' began to grow, but it seemed slow. Then, after it got about an inch long, it just took off. I made sure I kept it on a regular feeding schedule.

Every day we would 'oooh' and 'aaaah' over it. After the initial 3 to 4 inches of growth, it began to grow about 1/2 inch every 24 hours. The bloom stalk is now just under 30 inches, and is beginning to branch off at the top to form the smaller stems that will hold the blooms. We should see blooms by mid-February.

This past Saturday, Olav and Solveig had a couple over for lunch. The elderly woman had had major heart surgery and a pacemaker put in in October, and is just now getting out and about.

When the phone took Solveig away, I found myself at the kitchen sink talking to this frail woman. I told how I had cut the plant back, then watched as it grew a new stem. I explained how it grew so rapidly, yet was a very strong stem.

I picked up the plant and show her the new stem that was just beginning to 'knob' out, and the two roots that had grown since the new stem began. In the back of my mind, while I was amazing her with the story of the orchid, I thought of God, and does He look down at us like that?

"As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourishes." Psalm 103:15

When we are planted in God's garden, John 15:2 tells us that He prunes away what will not bear fruit. The branches that are left, He prunes back even more to produce more fruit.

But, what has to happen before we can bear fruit? We have to bloom! When plants are in bloom are when they are the most beautiful, and the most desirable.

We all have to grow, beginning at the place where we were pruned back to, with a new stem, new growth, new buds to develop new blooms that will become the pod that holds the new seed within the fruit.

Solveig and I are eagerly awaiting blooms. I wonder if God looks down at us, seeing us grow from our pruned-back state, with as much fervor and excitement as the two of us has had over this orchid. Is He watching us day after day, anticipating the development of the bud, the bloom and, eventually, the fruit?

I wonder if we each examined ourselves, what stage of growth would be be in? Are we still being pruned, to get all the dead wood cut away? Have we just been grafted in? Have we began to grow? Or, are we in a place where we can see the fruits of our labors, and know that the seed has been passed on?

Update: March 20, 2013

The Doctor is IN

A few years ago one of my good friends came down with an awful cold/flu so bad that caused her to behave rather strangely. On one of her worst days, her temperature was up, but the temperature outside was down near freezing. Being a young mother with 2 little ones, and a self-employed husband who was tinkering with his dump truck outside, she tried to carry on as normal as possible.

 

The house had a free-standing fireplace that was their main source of heat. When the husband came in for a sandwich, he remarked that the fire was getting low, and made a move to put wood in. She interrupted him, saying she would do it, for him to go ahead and eat, which he did.

 

After a while, he came back in to warm by the fire, which was almost gone out. When he opened the door and looked in, there were just a few orange coals glowing dimly. He questioned her, but she was adamant that she had put wood in just after he had left earlier. It was obvious, even to her, that no wood had been put on, yet she stuck by her statement that she had. Her husband soon had the fire up and roaring again, and all was well.

 

Later on, when the supper call was made, the husband opened the refrigerator to pour milk for the kids. There, in front of the carton, was a split log of hickory, leaving just enough room for the door to close.

 

It's been more than 20 years since this took place, but it still brings laughter every time the story is told. But, this morning, as memories of that story came across my mind, so did an analogy of the Christian life when we are spiritually sick.

 

How many of us are adamant that we have done our God-called job, and done it well, only for it to be discovered that our fire has almost gone out because we put our effort in a place where it does no good? How many of us Christians are so bound and blinded by spiritual illness that we 'misplace' the very elements of God that keep us warm and comfortable? How many of us have caught the spiritual flu, but tried to carry on as if nothing is wrong? And, lastly, when we have taken our spiritual penicillin-a dose prepared especially for us by the Great Physician-do we follow the doctor's orders to get some R&R? Rest and Repentance?