Living Generously

For most of our adult lives, Helen and I have had some very deep friends. I say deep because we have shared many deep moments, important moments in our lives together.

We are so excited for our deep friends, Steve and Patty because they have moved to Redding, California to focus their lives on experiencing daily the kingdom of God.

In their blog Redding Revelations they shared an experience recently where they were able to help a friend in a time of need. When the need became more acute, their help became more abundant. They also realized when their Pastor asked if anyone had a need for money that they adopted a demure attitude (like we all tend to do) and posed a response of “ no, we do not have a need for money.”

They then related an experience where God showed them that He knows their hearts. He surprised them with a financial blessing. The timing of the blessing was a clear message to them. He recognized generous hearts such as theirs. And just like a great father, he ignored their “we don’t need money” typical response and blessed them beyond belief anyway.

Here is what I realized when I read their story.

1. The financial blessing was in the works for a long time. But God chose to put it into their laps, not in a time of high need, but at a time when they were manifesting hearts of generosity.
2. We all like to manifest a little Protestant ethic and deny ourselves. The Pastor’s question of who needed money got that response from them. But in reality, if our hearts are for His kingdom and our hands are open in a posture of generosity then yes, we need money. We need it because we see others we can bless with it.

Their story makes me want to immediately figure out how to incorporate the things they experienced into my life.

How can I be generous with what I have? Not that I need to show God my generosity, but I just want to make that a more natural and routine part of my life. What has God blessed me with, or what do I have plenty of, that I can pass on and bless others with?

I Did Something Right

Thirty-five years ago I stepped up and took a chance. I walked forward and said, “I do.” As you can see from the photo, I was really young. I had no perspective about such things as marriage except a naïve and innocent love of the incredibly cheerful, happy, and beautiful young blond lady standing next to me. I married Helen. She took my hand and joined my life in college, then on a farm, then in a small house in a strange town. She never complained and she always remained at my side. We had children together and we raised them. Now we are a couple again.

We learned something along the way. In Ephesians Paul says to men, “Husband love your wives as Christ loves the church”. The “love your wives” part in the Greek means to continually, daily, express your love to your wife. I learned that wives need the daily expression of love. Husbands don’t need that so much. But wives remain faithful and committed to their husbands when husbands express, show, demonstrate, spell out, hint, or just tell their wives they love them – daily.

A few verses later, Paul tells the wives to respect their husbands. Husband don’t need words of love as much as they need words of respect. Men need to conquer the world. But they need someone to conquer it for. A guy can get up and face the opposition every day if his wife believes in him. It doesn’t matter if his boss, his competition, his coworkers, or his customers don’t believe in him. If his wife believes in him, and expresses it daily, then he can do anything.

So here’s to my bride of 35 years. She believes in me! And I love her!

Wherever I Stand - I Stand With Israel

I’ve read the book. I know the plot line. Every nation of the world abandons Israel. They all have to. Israel needs to be in a position where no nation comes to its aid. It needs to be backed into a corner where its only hope for salvation is God himself.

Just the same, as this political season moves forward, watching the attitude of our country change before our eyes is very hard to take. Watching what is happening is like watching a horror movie and shouting at the lady as she backs into a dark room. “Don’t do that! Turn around and watch where you’re going!” But the lady has a script to follow. I know that in the end, the hero saves the lady.

Fortunately, for us, our future is tied with our God. We are not only readers of the book, we are in it. No matter what our government does, or when it does it, individually, we are with the winning side.

But how is it that so many Christians are becoming backers of the Palestinian movement instead of backers of Israel? Why is it that whole denominations are making official statements in support of the Palestinian position claiming their rights to the land of Israel? Why has the erosion of support for Israel not only been in the political realm but simultaneously in the religious realm as well?

The answer is that “replacement theology” is going mainstream. Replacement theology is a “christian” belief that Israel forfeited its right to the actual land when it rejected Jesus. Christians therefore replace the Jews as God’s chosen people and the land of Israel becomes a metaphor and not an actuality.

Why is this theory growing so much in popularity? Because it lines up with the only reasonable approach that many people can see to bring peace to the region and therefore to the rest of the world. For “christians” who believe that God only acts through the affairs of men, it makes sense. Where peace is the objective, they cannot see any other possible way. And peace is a christian objective.

The other end of this phenomenon is that the Christians who hold that God gave that land to the Jews will be looked upon by the rest of the world as unrealistic extremists. Our only justification for defending Israel will be that we believe that the Abrahamic Covenant is still in force. It is rapidly coming about that no government will hold that position. It is rapidly coming about that no reasonable, peace loving world citizen will hold that position. The only two groups that will hold that position will be a portion of Christianity and a few ultra-religious extremist Jews.

What will I say when I am labeled as one of those extremists? “GUILTY AS CHARGED!” I know that when God makes a covenant, He keeps it. And I know that He is gathering to himself people who desire to keep their covenant with Him. As the saying goes, wherever I stand, I stand with Israel.

Truth Wins a War

When the Allies stormed the beaches on D Day in 1944, the implications of the success were huge. The opposition couldn’t stop them from landing and establishing positions on the mainland. If the Allies could do that, then the implications for the opposition was that the war was lost. It was only a matter of time.

Today is D Day again. A beachhead has been established. The opposition has lost the beachhead and will not be able to push them back. It is now only a matter of time. Let’s hope that the opposition recognizes the implications and abandons their effort. After all, it is now inevitable that their side has lost.

Today, a large group of the most reputable scientists in the world in the field of climatology have issued the most detailed report ever done. Their conclusion, the beachhead, if you will, is that the man made global warming theory is undeniably false. The report is not something that can be ignored. It is so detailed that it puts the “scientists” who have supported the theory on notice that their hypotheses have been busted. Something so thorough invites the opposition to challenge it. After all, that is the way science moves forward. These scientists do not deny the challenge. They only lament that the world leaders have bought into a “theory” from “scientists” who themselves discouraged challenge. They lament that “scientists” allowed politicians to hijack their discipline for their own purposes. That is the beachhead. They are taking their discipline back. Truth cannot be denied.

Interestingly enough, they do not refute that climate change is upon us. They acknowledge and document it. They simply refute that man has significantly participated in it and that man can significantly alter it going forward. So this study isn’t a tome on denying the need for conservation efforts. However, it is the wooden stake in the heart of the political movement that says that large scale economic restructuring is the only way we can hope to survive the horrible future we have purchased with our technology.

When I have talked to people who have bought into the global warming cause, I have been rather shocked that they were unable to separate the good cause of conservation from the politically socialist cause of economic wealth redistribution. These people identify with Al Gore’s passion, but fail to understand the sinister socialist framework that he claims is necessary to solve the problem. In his future, power and wealth then fall to the ones who make up the rules of redistribution (socialist world leaders) and away from those who have created and earned it (us).

Now, the choice is clear. If you are a truth seeker, you cannot believe in the man-made global warming theory. If you believe in the man-made global warming theory, you cannot be a truth seeker.