Monthly Archives: January 2017

“A Snow Day from Heaven”

On January 5, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Thursday, January 5, 2017

“He (i.e., God) directs the snow to fall on the earth . . . .” (Job 37:6, NLT)

The first snowfall of the winter!  I could choose to curse it, because I have to shovel it and because it may delay my sweetheart’s return home (or, worse still, make her journey hazardous).  Or I could worry about whether I will try to make it into work this evening.

Or I could see its beauty, revel in it, feel its coldness, build a snow man if it is wet enough, or make angels in the snow.

I think I’ll choose to do these last things.  I think that I will revel!

Will I still shovel it off the driveway?  Yes!  Otherwise, I or my sweetheart might slip and hurt ourselves, once this loveliness gets packed down and changes to ice.  But, as every child knows—even this sixty-five-year-old child—snow is for more than shoveling.

When I was little, I thought that the snow was wonderful.  Why should I think anything else now?

Mark Cable has a wonderful song called “Snow Day.”  In it, he says,

“It’s a snow day from heaven,

And that’s a slow day for free.

Abandon your agenda

Without penalty.”

How about helping me to make a band of snow angels today?

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“On Hitting a Bump in the Road Instead of a Wall”

On January 4, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I had a very close call on the road last night.

I was coming home from waiting tables at Bob Evans, Kenwood.  It had been raining, and I was coming down Muchmore Road near Plainville.  I guess I took a curve too fast, and the curve very nearly took me.  I lost control of the car, and was headed for a solid stone wall.  If I had hit it, I would almost certainly have been seriously injured.  Even a thirty-mile-per-hour collision with an immovable object is a serious matter when you’re driving a Hyundai Accent.

However, at the last second my wheels hit a large bump that I suppose was the edge of a concrete water diversion channel.  This had two effects: It slowed the car a bit, and (more importantly) threw the car back onto the road.  I drove the car home—slowly.

Sometimes life itself is like that.  We are tooling along, driving too fast for road conditions.  We lose control (or did we ever have control?), and are headed for a serious meeting with a solid wall and maybe a meeting with our Maker.  But something diverts us at the last second.  We hit a bump in the road that slows us down and throws us back on the road.

Perhaps we don’t actually see the wall we were about to hit.  If we don’t, then we may curse the bump in the road.  “Why did I not get that job?!” we ask.  “Why did that person reject me?” we whine.

But it’s the bumps in the road that are often God’s messengers—our guardian angels, if you will—that save us.

So, today I will give thanks for all the bumps in my life.  Who knows?  They may all save me from a fatal crash.

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“STRENGTHENING MYSELF IN THE LORD MY GOD”

On January 3, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

1 Samuel 30:6 David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the LORD his God.  (New Living Translation)

I wasn’t feeling particularly strong this morning physically, emotionally, or spiritually.  So, I thought of 1 Samuel 30:6.

A literal translation of that last sentence would be “And David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”  It was something he did to himself.  (For Hebrew students, the verb translated “strengthened” of “found strength” is a hithpa`el.)

We are told in 1 Samuel some of the things that had taken place up to this point.  David had been on the run from King Saul for years.  He had finally taken refuge with the Philistines, but they did not altogether trust him.  He had offered to go to war on the side of his Philistine host.  We are not told whether the offer was sincere or not.  As is often the case, David’s motives are opaque.

David was sent back to the town he and his marauders had been given by the Philistines, Ziklag.  However, as they drew near, all they saw was a pile of burned rubble.  The Amalekites had raided Ziklag, and taken all the possessions and family members of David and his men.  David’s men seem to have been very loyal to him generally, but loyalty has its limits.  They were so devastated that “they began to talk of stoning” David.

But then, we are told that “David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”  We are not told how he did that, just that he did it.

How do you strengthen yourself in the LORD?  I don’t really know, but I do have some suspicions.  Here is what works for me.

  1. I strengthen myself by reading and meditating on the Scriptures.  I am committed to reading the entire Bible through twice this year.  Sometimes, the Word of God encourages me, sometimes it brings me up short, sometimes it just puzzles me, but it always strengthens me.
  2. I strengthen myself by other readings.  I am rereading The Narnia Chronicles, for example.  I also find Martin Buber’s Tales of the Hasidim to be a continual source of strength.  The Jesuits have a very helpful (and free!) “Three-Minute Retreat,” which you can sign up for through Loyola Press.
  3. My twelve-step meetings and brothers and sisters are extremely strengthening.
  4. I like Christian music.  I like old hymns and modern Christian music, monastic chants and Promise Keepers’ favorites, instrumental and vocal music.  I find that listening to such music makes me stronger.
  5. I remember what God has done in the past for others and for me.  I am strengthened by these memories to believe that God will take care of my present struggles.
  6. I try to be of service to others.  It may seem counterintuitive, but when I serve others, I find that my strength is not depleted, but rather that my strength is strengthened.
  7. Gratitude is also a wonderfully strengthening activity.
  8. Prayer can help a great deal.  Prayer isn’t primarily about getting answers, at least it isn’t for me.  Prayer is about acknowledging the reality of me and the Reality of God.  When I am in touch with my reality and with the Reality of God, I find myself strengthened.
  9. The final way I strengthen myself in the LORD is to remember that weakness is not the problem.  Indeed, weakness is a wonderful opportunity for God to work in my life.   The Apostle Paul writes in NLT  2 Corinthians 12 about a thorn in the flesh that he had.  He doesn’t tell us precisely what that thorn was, but he does tell us that he earnestly prayed to God that it would be taken away.  Thorns in the flesh are no fun!

How did God answer Paul’s prayer?  “Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”

Weakness, when acknowledged and submitted to God, is the strongest form of strength.

 

 

 

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“PUNCTUALITY, PATIENCE, AND PRACTICE”

On January 2, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

KJV  James 1:4:   “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Sometimes I get exercise, even in areas that don’t relate to any part of my physical anatomy.

Take today at Planet Fitness as an example.

My wife and I went there to work out.  Silver Sneakers is a wonderful program, in large part because it is free.

I had told my sweetheart that I was going to do a longer workout today, and perhaps she should take her Kindle or a book.  “Are you going to go anywhere?” I asked.  “No,” she replied.

However, as she finished her own workout, she asked if it would be okay for her to run over to Wal-Mart.  “Sure,” I said.  However, she decided to go to Kroger’s to pick up some groceries as well.  So, I waited.

And waited . . .,

And WAITED!

Okay, so I didn’t really wait that long.  Perhaps it was half-an-hour.  However, since waiting time often seems longer than real time, it probably wasn’t even that long.

But here is the amazing thing: I really didn’t get terribly upset.

That might not be amazing for a normal human being, but I am not usually a normal human being.  I can’t tell you the number of times (but it was a lot) that I have gotten furious about these kinds of things in the past.  I said harsh, hurtful things that I later regretted.  I’ve wasted hours pouting, making both my sweetheart and me unhappy.  When the kids were little, they also had to witness my multiple temper tantrums.  What an absolute jackass I was!

So, while I was glad for my response this time, this little incident helped me to acknowledge how wrong I had been in the past.  I asked my sweetheart’s forgiveness, and she graciously gave it.

Another thing: As I reflected on this little non-drama, I realized that I was actually continuing my exercise program.  I was exercising patience as I waited for my wife to pick me up.  Virtues are gifts from God.  They are, however, gifts which need to be unwrapped and exercised for them to be able to grow and do their job.

The real issue wasn’t punctuality at all.  The real issue was patience.  Today, I bench-pressed a few pounds, but it’s a beginning.  Tomorrow, perhaps I’ll be able to bench a bit more.  Opportunities for patience abound.  I just have to make good use of them.

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“And the Word for the Year is ‘Focus’”

On January 2, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I got off to a bit of a rough start in this day and this New Year.

I couldn’t find my keys for a while, and then I discovered them in the door where I had left them, when my sweetheart and I came home last night.  (Security is so important to me!)

Then, it took me three attempts to send out the daily challenges to some of my students who meet with me once a week to read the Old Testament in Hebrew.  You want to hear the details, you say?  No, you probably don’t, but I’ll tell you anyway.  After some preliminary words in the e mail, I forgot to paste the challenges in the e mail before I hit the send button.  I quickly realized the error of my ways, and prepared to send another e mail with the challenges.  I was typing an explanation as to why I hadn’t sent them the first time when I accidentally sent the e mail—without the challenges.  Finally, on the third time, I succeeded in sending the challenges.  Sending challenges proved to be quite a challenge.

Here is the irony of the situation.  Jon Gordon encourages his readers to come up with one word to set the tone for their year.  (See http://www.jongordon.com/blog/one-word-that-will-change-your-life-2/.)  It sounded like a good idea.

It took me a while, but I finally settled on the word “FOCUS.”  Perhaps focusing on focus sounded good to me because I struggle so much with staying focused on the things that really matter: my relationship with God, my devotion to my wife, being good to others and myself, using my gifts properly.

So, how do I plan to be focused?  Well, dear readers, I am open to suggestions.  But here are some things that help me stay better focused.  At least they help when I remember to practice them.

  1. Gratitude helps me to focus on what is important.  When I focus on being grateful, I tend to be more focused on what really matters to me.  Furthermore, I am more likely to be on the lookout for important things to be grateful for.  Sometimes, those important things can seem little, but they often turn out to be little components of very large and important things.
  2. Accountability to and with friends helps me to stay focused on what really matters.  Of course, my friends themselves matter.  But they also help me to realize what other things I need to focus on.
  3. Slowing down helps me to realize what is truly focus on.  If I let my life become a blur, I can’t really focus on much of anything.  However, I am responsible for my own blurry living.
  4. While they are often despised, I find to-be-and-to-do lists helpful.  I write things down, but then I need to take another step.  I need to pray and ask God what God wants me to do.  Otherwise, I may be wasting my time focusing on things that aren’t really worth the bother.

One final thought: Focus is a choice.  I have Attention Deficit Disorder, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t focus, only that it may be more difficult for me to focus.

 

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