Fire!

If you follow the news you may have heard of the wildfires in Colorado, as well as adjoining western states.  Colorado Springs, Colorado has been particularly affected this week by the Waldo Canyon fire.  Over 32,000 people have been dislocated due to evacuations, two persons dead and 347 homes have been destroyed, as of this writing.  Thankfully the tide has turned to getting a handle on containing this fire, as the fire containment has gone from 5 per cent containment to 15 per cent and as of Saturday, even higher.  Prayer warriors praying and more needed! 

Colorado Springs is where I recieved my undergraduate degree, and where I worked part time at the Air Force Academy at the Cadet Store in Vandenberg Hall in the Cadet Area as well as the Commissary during those years of study.  So I'm familiar with the place.  Garden of the Gods park, Glen Eyrie castle and grounds - now the home of the Navigators Christian discipleship organization - and Flying W Ranch, home of some really great chuckwagon suppers and cowboy music singin' and funnin' with the Flying W Chuckwagon singers and band are all in the city's west side adjoining the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, next to each other.  I've mentioned them from a south to north orientation.

Flying W Ranch burned to the ground Tuesday/Wednesday overnight.  Glen Eyrie castle still stands as of this writing.  People are now being allowed back into some of the neighboring areas to these locations, but not all at this point.  Continuing need for prayer for firefighters, law enforcement (Colorado Springs Police Department and El Paso County Sheriff's Department) and citizens and visitors present.  Our first responders have been working up to twenty hours a day and need rest and strength for the fiery battle they are engaged in.  At one point there were no hotel rooms available in Colorado Springs, although neighboring Manitou Springs had a few left.  The Antlers Hotel downtown, a foundational institution in the city, resorted to opening their ballroom to accommodate guests!  10 obliged them as of 11:15 PM Wednesday evening.  Sleeping bags encouraged.  Amazing stories, all.

So please pray for these tired, worn, sleepy eyed folks.  They need it. 

Here is my debut into photo album creating and sharing on the Internet, using Picasa.  Several photos of the Waldo Canyon fire are posted for your benefit.  Enjoy! (Hat tip to the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper online, which opened up their e-edition to the general public during the Waldo Canyon Fire.)

First smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire, Saturday, June 23, 2012.  This was taken from the top of Pikes Peak by a tourist.  He didn't know at the time this was the first indication of a major fire, but it became obvious later.

Pikes Peak looks like a volcano in this shot, but it's not.  The Air Force Academy Cadet area and Cadet Chapel are in the foreground.  June 28, 2012

Here's an earlier photo with a closeup of the Cadet Chapel.  Fire is more intense on this date.  June 26, 2012

Fire view from the Briargate neighborhood of Colorado Springs, in the vicinity of Chapel Hills Mall.  June 26, 2012

Fire view from the vicinity of UCCS.  This looks to be from the athletic fields adjoining Nevada Avenue looking west.  June 26, 2012

Fire View from Focus on the Family in Briargate.  Undated, but I found this on Jim Daly's blog Finding Home on June 28, 2012.  You normally see the Rampart Range and the Air Force Academy, with Pikes Peak to the south from this vantage point. . . and lots of blue sky.  Not today. 



Queens Canyon on fire, June 27, 2012.  This canyon is northwest of Glen Eyrie castle, owned by the Navigators, and southwest of Flying W Ranch, which had just burned to the ground hours before. It acted as a bridge allowing the fire to decimate the Flying W Ranch.  Sad.

The Colorado Springs welcome sign alongside southbound Interstate 25.  Normally the sky is blue with Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain visible in the distance.  Not this day.  June 27, 2012 

Problem was, 32,000 people were all trying to move one direction - away from the fire - on the same roads at the same time.  Traffic jams ensued, both on major arterials like Woodmen Road at Academy Blvd. and Rockrimmon Blvd.  I don't know the location of this sign or the road it was on.  June 27, 2012

Hmmm. . . A rainbow!  See, God's promises are from everlasting to everlasting.  He has not abandoned his creation. . . and he forgets not his own who have trusted in Him.  He hears and answers prayer.  Just you wait and see. . . June 27, 2012

The Rockrimmon neighborhood and adjoining areas on fire at its peak.  June 27, 2012

A C-130 flies in support of fire suppression operations with a clear view of Pikes Peak in the background.  June 28, 2012

Waldo Canyon Fire Progression Map June 23 - 28, 2012.

Volunteers at Care and Share, one of the many nonprofit organizations that makes Colorado Springs the great place it is to live, take time out to say "Thank You!!" to the First Responders and other supporting volunteers.  A great deal of food and drinks was distributed by them and other organizations during the course of the Waldo Canyon Fire.  Care and Share does a lot of free food distribution to area residents year round.  June 28, 2012

Ahhh. . . a refreshing thunderstorm!  Now that's more like how the Springs is climatewise in the Summer.  June 28, 2012

One of the 50 livestock from Flying W Ranch that made it through the Waldo Canyon Fire.  Notice the burnt black udders.  This animal may not ever be able to give milk to its young ever again due to the injury sustained.  The buildings burned to the ground, but every living thing made it out alive!  Praise God for that!  June 28, 2012

Thank You Manitou Springs Fire Department, Colorado Springs Volunteer Fire Department, Manitou Springs Police Department - Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Information Center on Manitou Avenue, Manitou Springs.  Areawide, more governmental agencies and nonpofit organizations/church and parachurch organizations to thank than just these, but for Manitou Springs, its all they had room for in the sign.  June 28, 2012

Flagstaff Fire photo near Boulder, Colorado June 28, 2012.  Hat Tip to my brother Steve Cox for this.  "Beautiful and scary at the same time!" my brother Kevin Cox responded back at Steve's emailed photo to us.  Other fires are still active in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona and perhaps more as of this writing.  A tough fire season this year and the Summer has just begun.  Pray!


Finally, I'll leave you with the link to a photo slideshow/gallery, courtesy of gazette.com:  http://www.gazette.com/sections/slideshow/?id=14914887 (Day 4/June 26) Not sure how long the free coverage by gazette.com will last, so if you are interested click around and view them while photos may be had. . . before the Gazette pulls the plug.  There's photo galleries there for every day of the Waldo Canyon Fire.  Check it out. 

Spiritual. . . But Not Religious

How many times have you heard from others "I'm spiritual, but not religious?"  I have!  It's cropping up more and more often when I converse with people these days.  The "rub" here is that if you are "spiritual," you have it together, you're real, you're a good person.  The "religious" person, by contrast, is not together, fake, and a bad person. . . in short, a "hypocrite." 

I ran across the following dialogue lately, and thought I might share it here. 

*  *  *

In George MacDonald's novel Robert Falconer, there is a bit of dialog which highlights the folly of today's conundrum regarding "spiritual, not religious" ideas. The segment is taken from Chapter 8 "My Own Acquaintance."
‘We are a church, if you like. There!’
‘Who is your clergyman?’
‘Nobody.’
‘Where do you meet?’
‘Nowhere.’
‘What are your rules, then?’
‘We have none.’
‘What makes you a church?’
‘Divine Service.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘The sort of thing you have seen to-night.’
‘What is your creed?’
‘Christ Jesus.’
‘But what do you believe about him?’
‘What we can. We count any belief in him—the smallest—better than any belief about him—the greatest—or about anything else besides. But we exclude no one.’
‘How do you manage without?’
‘By admitting no one.’
‘I cannot understand you.’
‘Well, then: we are an undefined company of people, who have grown into human relations with each other naturally, through one attractive force—love for human beings, regarding them as human beings only in virtue of the divine in them.’
‘But you must have some rules,’ I insisted.
‘None whatever. They would cause us only trouble. ...'"

*  *  *

Hat tip: the late Chuck Colson/The Colson Center for Christian Worldview 

http://www.colsoncenter.org/twominutewarning/entry/33/19026

 One of the Christian nonfiction books I read early in my Christian life was Ray Stedman's 1972 classic Body Life.  Stedman, longtime pastor of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, brought to life just how the Body of Christ is meant to live and operate. . . then, now, and for the future.  A classic easy to read primer on what Paul wrote about Spiritual Gifts and the ekklesia, the Body of Christ, and yes. . . the worldwide, universal church.  Another way of saying it is the catholic - "notice the small "c" denoting "universal and worldwide - church.  A useful passage is Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV): 

  ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds^[c] and teachers,^{[d] 12} to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,^[e] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Lots to chew on in that passage!  I'll briefly point out a couple of observations.  The Body of Christ is plural.  It is made up of many persons ("saints") who the Apostle Paul refers to as "we."  So the church is plural, not singular.  Many persons, not one. 

We may start out as children in the Christian faith (v. 14), but we don't stay there.  We are to grow up!  (v. 15)  This reminds me of the famous line in the film Shadowlands, where Anthony Hopkins as C. S. Lewis declares to his church congregation, "We need to grow up!"  We do. . . and so do I.  All of us.  Staying as children is unnatural and does not become us.

As I tell my wife on a regular basis, "Ministry is a team sport!"  No "Lone Rangers" in the Christian life! 

Worshipping God together assembled as Christ's Body, the church these days and being connected and accountable to Christ as He expresses Himself through His body is so countercultural in the present day culture.  Yet it is scripturally taught.  The easy way out is to say "I'm not religious. . . I'm spiritual!"  The harder path is to - as the Apostle Paul and C. S. Lewis would say - grow up and be a willing part of Christ's Body. . . the church, warts and all.  No, the church is not perfect.  But she is still Jesus Christ's bride whom He sought and bought with His precious blood on the Cross.  Respect her - the church - at least that much.  Work to better her and let God cleanse her from her sins, not condemn her and walk away like a Lone Ranger.  Hope to see many of you in church this Sunday.  

Selah.  



A Day in Your Courts

Time for the ultimate classic: God's Word.  Simple.  Unvarnished.  Never surpassed.  The best there is!  What my heart and yours was made for.

Without further adeiu. . .

*  *  *

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of Heaven's Armies.  I long, yes I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD.  With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar.  O LORD of Heaven's Armies, my King and my God!  What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises. 

Interlude

What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become the place of refreshing springs.  The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.  They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.  

O LORD God of Heaven's Armies, hear my prayer.  Listen, O God of Jacob.  

Interlude

O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield!  Show favor to the one you have anointed.  

A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!  I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.  For the LORD God is our sun and our shield.  He gives us grace and glory.  The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.  

O LORD of Heaven's Armies, what joy for those who trust in you.  

Psalm 84, New Living Translation   

*  *  *

I hope the above has refreshed your heart, as it has mine. 

Selah.

  

Songs in the Night

I had mentioned in my previous post about the music rumbling through my head.  Music that has hung around in my memory banks for well over thirty years!  No, it's not Rock and Roll.  It's something different. . . very different.

Let's "set the table" so to speak and provide some background to the topic.  When I became a follower of Jesus Christ in the turbulent 1970's, I became attached to a local church in Oceanside; First Baptist Church of Oceanside, to be exact.  Shortly after I was baptized and joined the church there, the leadership called James E. Boersma to become the Minister of Music.  I didn't know what that was at the time.  I was about to find out. . . 

He moved to Oceanside from Hollywood, where I learned he was well entrenched in a house there he had owned for decades.  So this was a big move and change for him.  The church members helped him move, as I recall.  Lots of stuff. . . and a grand piano to go with all the furniture.  Was that ever impressive the first time I saw it in his new house, the former model home and sales office for a housing tract - College Terrace - just outside of Mira Costa College in Oceanside.  He even purchased the asphalted adjacent lot next to the house to park his orangish sun faded 1970 Oldsmobile 98 sedan in.  The house's garage was the model home's sales room, and he kept it carpeted and intact the way the real estate company had it, locating his grand piano dead center in the middle of that garage room.  This suited him perfectly for playing his grand piano and "working," as he called it.  Playing music all the time was more like it, though.  "How could playing such a beautiful piano all day long be considered work?" I thought to myself then.   

In due time, I found out.  Pastor Boersma, or "Brother" Boersma to some in the church, arranged, composed, edited, conducted and played music.  He was the consummate musician. . . but not any secular variety musician.  A sacred music musician.  What was Sacred Music?  We church youth who attended the first vocal youth choir and handbell choir - five octaves at that - soon found out.  Sacred Music was music that was devoted to God and His purposes in one's life.  But nothing dull and boring, necessarily. 

Some of the compositions we sang, played and enjoyed while worshiping God with Pastor Boersma - in practice session or in performance - were There's a New Song In My Heart (Since the Savior Set Me Free) - often used as a Call to Worship number to start the worship services on Sundays, I'm So Happy and Here's the Reason Why (Jesus Washed My Sins All Away), and When the Saints Come Marching In.  The youth handbell choir often played as a Call to Worship Love Divine (All Loves Excelling) and This is the Day That the Lord Has Made (Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad In It).  I found out through experience that Pastor Boersma was a fan of Ralph Carmichael, and later as an adult found out he was well known by him.  So we had lots of Ralph Carmichael compositions to sing in choir.  Anything by Singspiration was also the standing order of the day.  Bill Gaither compositions - new at that time - and other well liked songs by fellow Sacred Music composers he knew from that period rounded out the overwhelming majority of the musical selections performed, besides hymns, of course.  Fairly lively stuff for a Baptist church to have performed in it during the 1970's from what I later as an adult figured out.   

The adult choir would always close with Think on These Things from the well known passage from Paul's letter to the Philippians.  "Whatsoever things are good. . . whatsoever things are true. . . whatsoever things are holy. . . Think on these things.  And the peace of God shall be with you. . . the peace. . . of God. . . shall be with you. . . .  Wow. . . Just wow. . . that closing always sent shivers up my spine back then.  Now too, if I could find out where to hear a copy of it.  Very, very comforting words for folks living through the turbulent 1970's. . . a decade where a good number of Evangelical Christians thought the Rapture could take place at any time and, to quote the words from yet another song from the period, I wish we'd all been ready. 

In the course of my time as a youth handbell choir member, I learned several hymns that I never would have known or heard the lyrics if it weren't for Pastor Boersma's practices.  Sun of My Soul.  Day is Dying in the West.  It is Well with My Soul (a more mainstream hymn).  Beautiful restful Sacred Music.  What a gift it was to go as a youth handbell choir to Oceana in Oceanside - a Senior Adult planned community - and play these very numbers to an appreciative, but limited audience of seniors.  I knew they enjoyed the music.  I enjoyed playing it for them.

Last but not least were the cantatas.  Easter Song.  Independence Day patriotic and Sacred Hymns to mark the day - including a very memorable July 4th, 1976 Bicentennial performance.  And of course the "Living Christmas Tree" open air Christmas Hymn and Carol free concert held each year at Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad.  All with vocal choir(s), handbells - adult and youth ensembles - and orchestra, which Senior Pastor Harvey M. Lifsey would continually mispronounce as "orchester". 

I'll never forget one Sunday morning on July 4, 1976 when I had to get my Bass bell ringing position playing in sync with the right bell at the right time.  If you know anything about handbell choirs, the bass position is the one that deals with the heaviest, most easily to be clumsy and make a "clang!" with kind of bells.  It fell to me.  I was slow on the uptake that final rehearsal that Sunday morning, but I finally got it right.  Pastor Boersma was very concerned his "star" Bass handbell player wasn't going to "get it right" but God was in control, and worked through me to get it on key and in tempo.  Now that was work. . . all praise to God.

* * * * *

All that said. . . who was James E. Boersma?  There used to be a whole page devoted to him on the 'Net some years ago, but I can't find it now.  Here's what some of his contemporaries said about him:

It was through Dr. Coleman Phillips, Pastor of the Cathedral of the Valley FourSquare Church in Escondido, that I was priviliged to meet such great men of the faith including Dr. Jack Hayford, James Boersma, one of the great arrangers who also introduced me to the Ralph Carmichael organization, and of course Dr. Roy Hicks who became a good friend and mentor.    --Larrie Dee  http://www.larriedee.com/humor.html

I have known James Boersma, music editor for the Rodeheaver Company, longer than almost anybody in this business.  Jimmy and I go back a long way -- clear back to teenage days, and I'm not telling how far back that is!  Jimmy Boersma can do just about anything that has to be done in music.  He composes, he arranges, he conducts, he edits.  Jimmy is one of the most talented men in this field, and a real Christian gentleman.  --Rudy Atwood (Go to Page 117 for the source citation)  http://www.ccel.us/rudyatwood.ch15.html

From those who knew him well. . . even better than I.  Well said!  A great man of the faith.  One who can do just about anything that has to be done in music.  A real Christian gentleman.  Indeed!  I quite agree.

It doesn't say it from the limited research I've done just now, but Pastor Boersma actually wrote Sacred Music and led worshippers in song at Angelus Temple, historically famous as the 20th Century church where Aimee Semple McPherson was Pastor before scandal broke in her life and she was tainted with its effects.  He was her contemporary and knew her very well.  I remember how he would sometimes have our bell choir begin practice by saying "Let's pray for (famous name actor or performer) that they come to know the Lord soon!"  He actually knew such folk through his life and ministry in Hollywood.  But he never made a big deal of it.  Humble about it to the end. 

Pastor Boersma was also fond of saying "Smile!  It takes more muscles to make a frown than to make a smile.  Do you want your muscles to work harder or easier?  So let's do it!  Let's see everyone smile!"  . . . as he demonstrated a winning Christ loving smile on his lips, baring his smaller sized teeth which were in pretty good "ivory white" condition for someone of his older age.

Here's to you, dear Pastor Boersma. . . with fond memories and thanksgiving to God for all you exemplified to me and those in the music ministry at the church at that time. . . I look heavenward at the Lord and you with, yes, a smile.  Your work and ministry still gives me Songs in the Night!  

Thank You for Being a Friend

In a moment or two of spare time - such as that is for me at this station in life - I began to remember where I started out my walk with God, and how that all came about.  In large part this was prompted by a church membership application (my wife and I are joining the church we attend. . . Praise God!).  The simple question on the application is "When and how did you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord?"  I remember.  I remember all so very well. 

But I don't often have the opportunity to share those memories with those I know and love.  We get older, graduate from school, move away, find a job, and before you know it. . . you lose touch. 

This is the "magic" of Facebook: it reconnects you to those you remember - even those who have since married and now use their husband's name (who you might not even know at all) and allows you to "friend" them.  Reconnect with them and their lives.  Even after several decades of nonconnection and apparent silence.  Amazing technology at your keyboard's fingertips.  

I still have hanging in my house an old black and white photograph of my youth group performing as a handbell choir (five octaves) and vocal choir in our church's "Living Christmas Tree" program which was offered to the public free of charge at the regional shopping mall in the area, Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad, California.  Always memories when I look at that photo, now framed in a simple wooden glass enclosed item which I found out after the fact may have ruined the photo.  The photograph is slightly too large for the frame!  I was told years ago I would have trouble getting it out of the frame, and to just simply leave it in.  I've done so.  

One of those friends from long ago was a tall blonde girl who was rather friendly and energetic, and was always good for a laugh.  I thought she was interested at the time in a certain blonde left handed bell choir member romantically, but I was wrong.  She married "out of the choir," but definitely inside that local church.  Solid catch from what I remember.  Solid family relations in that family, too.  Ones I never had in the way they did.  I secretly envied them back then.  What a neat family!  The dad oftentimes sang tenor solos before the sermon back in those days.  What a beautiful voice God gave him.  I enjoyed those solos very much, and still have a lot of music from that period rumbling around in my head.   

I found her (updated married) name on Facebook easily enough, and, upon being certain it was indeed her, pressed the "friend" button.  Not something I do everyday, especially to people I've not been in the company of for decades.  Worth a try.  "Up to you, God. . . " 


What do you know. . . in short order, she "friended" me back by accepting my friend request!  Wow. . . life, kids, grandkids, husband, boating. . . just wow.  That was very nice!  Nice to hear happy endings.  And the best part is from what I read, they all are still walking with God and keeping to that Pilgrim Way as I am doing as well. 


"OK," I say to myself.  "Let's see who she knows that I know" (or remember).  Wow upon wow. . . "Hey, there's that really zealous on fire guy with the funny wire glasses" (as I remembered him).  "Wonder if he remembers me?"

Sure enough. . . he did!  Pure wow!  And do I ever love what he said about the Internet and Facebook in particular: "Let's Redeem this thing called Facebook!"  Amen!  You got it, my friend.  Good to hear about your loved one making it through their medical situation and you staying steadfast with the Lord God.  Keep on sticking with Him. . . He is ever faithful and true. 

Bonus round: looking around again on his friend list, I came across the very one who invited me to church (not with her. . . not a date. . . just a friendly invite to be with others like herself).  This was immediately after I received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  Wow!  Pure unadulterated Joy at this. . . and Wow!  And hey. . . you haven't aged a bit.  You look as I remembered you.  The older photos of you back when we were in high school or shortly afterwards add a nice touch.  Don't lose 'em, you hear?  (wide grin)

OK, let's try this thing again.  I typed in a name one night.  Next morning, I was friended back!  He moved with his wife to Oregon. . . never would have known them to be there.  They look and sound great from what I see and read.  Amazing. . . and wow!

My heart is filled with gratitude at your kindnesses, folks.  Thank you for remembering. . . thank you for caring. . . thank you for praying for me when I was nothing much to be pleased about and a real "work in progress". . . and thank you for being a friend despite the disconnections over the decades in our lives.  You are loved. . . but most of all by God for your kindness and willingness to identify yourself with Him first, and myself second.  Thank you for being such upright, faithful, Godly friends. 

Now let's walk this Pilgrim trail together.  Not exactly as in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. . . but you get the picture.  Let's go!   

Freud's Last Session

 And now, a (live) theatre alert. . .

If you are in the Los Angeles, California area or will be in the near future. . . and have the opportunity, you might wish to take an unbelieving friend - and yourself - to see a new off-Broadway play coming to LA.  Intriguingly titled "Freud's Last Session," the play pits the famed 20th Century psychoanalyst against another famous 20th Century figure, Athiest turned Christian author and professor C. S. Lewis of Oxford.  The imaginary debate, set in the early World War II period, is both witty and profound.  It's also downright winsome, according to Eric Metaxas, Breakpoint radio commentator and noted author in his own right. 

The link to the Breakpoint commentary on this subject is here:
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/19573
 
This sounds like a splendid opportunity to invite your intellectually oriented and/or skeptical friends to come hear an evenhanded discussion about the meaning of life.  I'd encourage that.  Should I find anyone who meets the intellectually oriented criteria - like many of my workplace sites' faculty colleagues - I will likewise do what I can to invite them to come and view this new smash hit play. 

More information on worldwide locations for this play is here: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/157473-Freuds-Last-Session-Goes-International-Dec-9-Opening-in-Sweden

And here, via their press release: http://freudslastsession.com/moving_press_release.html

Nothing with definite dates for Los Angeles or other world cities at the moment from what I see, but it's always good to have that "heads up" on knowing about this play beforehand. 

Hat tip: Eric Metaxas/Breakpoint

You Number My Wanderings

From Psalm 56 in the New King James Version:

⁸ You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?
⁹ When I cry out to You,
Then my enemies will turn back;
This I know, because God is for me.
¹⁰ In God (I will praise His word),
In the Lord (I will praise His word),
¹¹ In God I have put my trust;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

A little background on the "wandering pilgrim" meme I have used to describe myself to others down through the years: credit Entertainment industry arranger/producer Brett Perry, who I met a couple of decades ago at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood (California) with that description.  At the time, he was working with and collaborating with Twila Paris, the Christian singer and lyricist.  Her song Wandering Pilgrim is one that Brett helped produce for her, among others during that period.  Brett remarked to me once "David, this song describes you very well.  I guess it's meant for you too!"  (Humble bow)

How interesting it was to find in today's "Reading the Bible in a year" passage in my Bible reading plan for the day the above verses.  Never did see the word "wandering" there before.  Not all English translations say it that way, of course.  But New King Jimmy does.  Interesting. . . 

God numbers my wanderings.  "He knows my every thought," is a lyric from another song I love, "He Knows My Name."  He is that knowledgeable, concerned, and caring.  He knows our story even better than we do!  Makes one shiver at the thought when you get down to it. 

God also sees your tears as precious. . . precious enough to value them enough to bottle them.  We bottle Coca-Cola, hot sauce, and all kinds of other things. . . but tears?  Amazing that the Lord values even our tears in that kind of personal way.  Takes one's breath away when you think about it reflectively enough, doesn't it?

David (the writer of the Psalm here, not I who is named after him) in this instance was captured by the Philistines and imprisoned.  Notice what he says in response: God is for me, I will praise His word, and the immortal words of verse 11.  "In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me? 

Lots of implications and personal applications there in that verse.  In these days of increasing tribulation, be ye glad. . . and remember this:  they can kill the body, but they can't take your soul.  Not if it's Jesus' that he bought with the price he paid at the Cross.  You are set free in the Spirit through what Jesus provided for us.  Rejoice, my friends,rejoice!

Selah. 

Does Anyone in the Media Ever Read the Bible?

Today's guest post is by Eric Metaxas.  You'll note from my last post that I am quickly becoming a fan of his and his work, whose site is here: http://www.ericmetaxas.com/  This op-ed is one which I easily could have written. . . it's that good!  But he did it, and the necessary research that provides the screws that tighten up the irony inherent here.  Kudos to Eric for all that. 

Here's the link, courtesy FoxNews.com: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/12/23/does-anyone-in-media-ever-read-bible/

I'll be spending today preparing for my role as precinct Inspector for the Registrar of Voters and  prepping our neighborhood polling place for the election Tuesday.  I've read one account where statewide in California the election turnout may well be light.  Hope you take the time to vote Tuesday June 5th. 

You'll note this post is in a larger Font size and a different Font than past posts.  I'll eventually get around to changing the previous posts to this Font scheme.  Thanks for the feedback from those who gave it.  I appreciate your input to my work here. 

A Few Words About Being Real

I came across (hat tip to Jonathan Macy on Chris Johnson's Facebook page) an incredible video of a gentleman who I have never heard of - at least I think I haven't as yet - giving a very compelling, winsome, humorous, engaging talk at the National Prayer Breakfast held last February 2.  The speaker is Eric Metaxas.  The President and First Lady were present, as were 4,000 others at the Washington Hilton that day.  Lots to digest and learn from here.  Enjoy!

Have You Ever Seen This Happen?

A couple of situations to chew on:

Ambulance

Normally, the general practice (and the California Vehicle Code) is to pull over and stop when an ambulance approaches you.  If yhou can't pull over and stop, then stop where you are in the lane of traffic you happen to be in.  All this is for the benefit of the ambulance driver and the patient they are carrying, or are enroute to carry. . . to save precious time in the event of a life threatening medical situation. 

The other day, I was returning home from running errands when I witnessed the following: not only were drivers not pulling over or stopping on my side of a three lane each direction city street - a busy suburban street heavily used within eyesight of a hospital at that - they were not pulling over or stopping on the heavier traveled opposite direction of the street!  Granted, that side of the street at that midday hour was full of cars, and it would have been difficult to pull over.  The ambulance driver gamely stayed in the heavier traveled lanes going his direction, and kept airing his siren, though at a low pitch as though he was resigned to not see the situation get any better for him to move more efficiently. 

My wife has spent her working career in the nursing field, and has been a Registered Nurse for years.  I reported what I saw to her.  She said that was crazy that drivers wouldn't pull over and show any courtesy or consideration.  I quite agreed.  I've frankly never seen this kind of thing happen anywhere before, at least in the United States.  So I called the Sheriff's Department about it. 

The deputy I spoke with told me that there was nothing he could do about it.  "When we see it and we are out there, we do ticket drivers like that," he remarked.  "Thanks," I sighed as I hung up the phone. 

This situation is sooooooo lamentable.  Have we as a society - as a culture - lost respect and compassion for those in trouble and in need of emergency medical assistance?  Is it really all about what's in front of one's nose that counts?  Selfishness?  I know, the deputy I spoke with said that if it were their loved ones - the driver's own family or friends - in the ambulance, they would behave differently and pull over.  But how about the rest of the drivers remaining?

Appointments

I was calling around to several doctor's offices lately.  I'll recount my experience with one younger doctor and her staffer at the phone here. 

Me: "Hello, I'm calling about seeing a doctor."

Receptionist: "You need to see her now?  She doesn't take patients now, and not even today.  She's booked up. . . booked until (two weeks later).  You'll have to make an appointment, or see urgent care somewhere else."

Me: "I don't need to see a doctor now.  I don't even need to see a doctor soon.  I just got out of the hospital!  I'm just inquiring about if your office takes my medical insurance."

Receptionist: "Everyone else has to see the doctor right now.  You don't?  You're sure about that?"

Me: "Yes, I'm sure.  I'm just calling around to see about seeing another doctor."

*****

Galatians 5 (from The Message) has some good words on these matters:

^19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
^22-23But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Selah.