Gifting Greatness

This time of year, my mailbox is absolutely jam packed with catalogs and various promotional materials.  Any company with which I have ever had contact thinks I am likely to purchase a Christmas gift from them.  It is true that years ago when I was home-schooling my children, I began to do much of my shopping via catalogs.  It was easier than trying to find time to shop in a store when I had very little time away from the kids.  These days, the catalogs help me to make decisions before I shop online.

One of the pieces I received recently was from Omaha Steaks.  It says, “Achieve Gifting Greatness.”   So evidently, if I order some “perfectly aged, tender steaks” for someone, there is a chance I too can achieve gifting greatness.

But actually, there is only one who ever achieved gifting greatness in giving a gift at Christmas time.  God Himself gave the ultimate gift with the Incarnation of Christ in the form of a helpless baby.  He entrusted this gift to a humble couple whom He judged by their hearts not by appearance or status.  The gift was not for them alone, it was for all of us.  He gifted them with a baby.  He gifted the world with a Savior.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”  John 3:16 NIV

He has given the gift, but we each need to individually receive it.  If you have never accepted His Great Gift, do it now!

Staring at the Sun

Two days ago, there was a solar eclipse which was clearly visible to many people in the United States.  I saw pictures of people looking at this event with special glasses.  It caused me to remember a previous solar eclipse which my son, who was in home-schooling at the time, got to watch through the glass on a welder’s helmet.  In contrast, a physics teacher I knew, who had carefully prepared his class to view not the sun itself, but the image created on the back of a pinhole camera, was informed by the school administration that he could not take his class outside to view it.  They were afraid of their liability if some student should think he or she could get away with looking directly at the sun.

Most of us know instinctively that it is not wise to stare at the sun, although we have probably stolen a glimpse when there is enough cloud cover to chance it. There have been cases of people who have blinded themselves by looking directly at it for something other than a quick glance.  It does fascinate us!  This great ball of fire is a part of our daily lives, and we are totally dependent on it.  It is the ultimate source of our energy…not just the obvious solar energy, but all energy.  The sun’s energy was captured by photosynthesis in plants which we eventually release by burning wood, coal, peat, oil or gas.  The movement of the wind comes from unequal heating.  Nuclear power copies the reactions on the surface of the sun.

We accept that we cannot stare at the sun, but we do not think enough about the one who created it, and whose power is greater.  The one who is the source of all life and who dwells in unapproachable light.  I Timothy 6:15-16  God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.

We can not stare at the sun without an appropriate shield, and we cannot approach God without something/someone between us.  Approaching a holy God in our sinful condition causes not only blindness, but death.  (Exodus 33:20 …no one may see me and live.)  This was the purpose of Christ coming to earth and dying in our place.  Now when we approach God, it is with Christ, our mediator, our shield, between us. 

Hebrews 4: 14-16 …since we have a great high priest…Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess….Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

By the miracle of God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice, God does not blind us or strike us down when we approach Him.

If we cannot stare at the sun without an appropriate shield, we certainly cannot approach the Creator of the sun without the blood of the Son between us.  If you have not acknowledged your need of Jesus Christ to be your personal Savior and Shield, do it today.  None of us knows when we will have to stand before the one who dwells in unapproachable light.

Severe Mercy

 When Bill died so unexpectedly and suddenly, a friend told me that God had granted me a "severe mercy."  I had heard the term before and knew what he meant.  I did not have to stand by watching Bill suffer as he died little by little from cancer or dementia.  The cardiac arrest was so abrupt, he didn't suffer any agonizing pain.  He slept until that moment.  When we decided we had to take him off the ventilator and let him go, there was wonderful hospice care available.

There is a level on which I know I should be grateful.  His passing in this way was God's gift to both of us.  I recognized immediately that God had made it as easy on me as possible.  I was near family and friends who were supportive.  I was done with the school year except for one last day, and I had "happened" to leave an open book quiz on my desk.  When he was transferred to a hospice never having regained consciousness, our apartment was only a block away, easing the stress of those final three days as he quietly slipped away.

However, I have felt Bill's loss...his absence from my life...so keenly, that I have struggled to maintain the gratitude.  It is one thing to recognize God's hand in the process, and another to come to grips with the situation as part of God's long range plan for His glory and our good.

It has been 15 months and 5 days since he breathed his last breath.  Fifteen and a half months since we had our last conversation.  I don't remember much of the last day he was conscious.  I think the trauma of the cardiac arrest wiped out some of my memory of the prior day, but I do remember that last day talking with him about the upcoming running events for which he had registered.  He had just run 6 miles and was evaluating how he would do the next week at the National Senior Games.  We had no idea where he would actually be a week later, and that he would be running his final race.

I am doing my best to focus on being grateful for the "severe mercy."  I know God understands my sorrow, but that He sees the big picture which is hidden from me.

Sitting in the Stillness

“I’m alone,” she thought.

“The presence is gone,

The throbbing pulse of energy

Which had become part of myself.”

 

He danced through life.

Exuding a vibrant persona

Of agility and strength,

Both physical and mental.

 

So she sits in the stillness,

The space too quiet,

The air hanging heavy

With overwhelming grief and loss.

Forever

 I didn't just want

"Til death do us part. "

I wanted forever.

Your loss broke my heart.

My only solace,

The hope that I live in,

We'll be together forever, 

Someday in heaven.

Are there absurdities in the Bible?

An understated oddity lies in the Bible’s account of creation, wherein Light was manifested on the first day, while the sun, stars, and moon didn’t make their celestial debut until the fourth day (Genesis 1:3-19). This account presents a delightful absurdity, as Light typically is a byproduct of these celestial bodies.

One might be amused imagining a universe aglow with Light yet devoid of its familiar celestial bodies. It’s a quirk of the text that can spark many questions and debates, reminding us of the intriguing challenges in interpreting ancient texts.

The above is quoted from an internet posting about the “absurdities in the Bible.”   I am afraid it represents both arrogance and ignorance.

To begin with, they/he/she include the moon in their list of sources of light.  The moon has no light of its own.  Its light is reflected from the sun.  Secondly, rather than being “absurd” the creation of “light” as the first thing made before the sun and other stars makes perfect sense, if you realize that light is a form of energy.  Since light and matter are interchangeable (E=mc²), it is totally logical that an energy form preceded matter.  Since men in the era in which this document was written would have had no knowledge of the link between matter and energy, I have always taken this as a confirmation that the writer of Genesis was getting his information from the creator himself.  To me it is an example of the inspired word of God.

I have no intent of attempting to debunk all of the 50 supposed absurdities, but some of them are based on a misunderstanding of the text.  Others may seem to represent impossible situations, but that is because we have finite minds.  If there really is an all-powerful God who created and sustains the universe and everything in it, then nothing is impossible for him.  He may choose whether or not he abides by the laws of physics.  It is also clear that he has created laws of physics that we do not yet understand.  Quantum theory is an example.  Human knowledge is finite.  The most brilliant among us are having difficulty stretching their minds around some emerging concepts.

It is ignorant for us to assume we possess all knowledge and arrogant for us to think that everything we don’t understand is absurd.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.  I Corinthians 1:25

Unfortunately, there are people who will believe what is posted on the internet.  Knowledge of the Bible is in short supply, and there are those who will dismiss it as a book of absurdities without examining the mentioned passages themselves and/or without thinking deeply about what has been written.

I have read the Bible cover to cover multiple times.  It is NOT a book of absurdities.  It is a book describing many situations which the human mind has difficulty comprehending, but no thinking person should dismiss it as ridiculous or irrelevant.  It deserves an open-minded examination. 

It deserves a prayerful examination…open my eyes, Lord.

Providence: John Piper's View VS Mine

I have just begun to read John Piper’s book Providence.  It will take me awhile since it is 711 pages…but I figure I made it through The Count of Monte Cristo as a high school student, so I can handle this.  I am wondering what insights it might give me as I struggle with the loss of my husband.  I believe in God’s sovereignty and providence.  I believe God orchestrated my husband and me meeting, so I must also believe it was His hand that brought about our parting.  Sovereignty and providence bring comfort.

John Piper and I graduated from Wheaton College the same year.  I would not, however, presume to call us “classmates.”  We were never in an actual class together, I never spoke to him until decades later at a conference, and we did NOT travel in the same circles.  As a college student, he was already “known,” and his potential recognized.  I was an obscure oddity.  I entered college having already completed nursing school.  I was paying my own way through college, so I was off campus a great deal working.  Also, I was a chemistry major.  Nurses normally majored in Nursing and took a watered-down chemistry course referred to as “nurses chem.”  I had developed a fascination with the chemistry of the body and the way in which medications worked.  Chemistry satisfied me intellectually.

If known for anything, girl chemistry majors were maligned.  The notion circulated that we were only there to meet guys who were going to be doctors in hopes of an advantageous marriage.  My senior year there was an article in the campus newspaper discussing the best places on campus to study.  A male chemistry major stated that the best place to study was the Chemistry Library, because “have you ever seen the girl chemistry majors?”  His meaning, of course, was that guys would not be distracted by our physical appearance.  If I had not been already engaged at that point, I am afraid I might have carried out something about which I have since fantasized.  At the age of 23, I had rather “stunning” proportions which I modestly disguised.  I would have loved to have maximized them and strutted through the library in a clear attempt to distract. 

All of that to say, I was an unknown entity.  I am not now, nor have I ever been a theologian, so it is probably presumptuous for me to give my view on Providence.  Nevertheless, I am guessing that John Piper has taken 711 pages to say what I have been saying for decades:

All of the elements of the universe and of our individual lives are like pieces in a gigantic and infinitely complex Rubik’s cube.  The hands of God move the pieces about in such a manner that they are always working toward His glory and our ultimate good.  He alone knows the solution and exactly how to achieve it.

Three sentences versus 711 pages.  I just finished page 45.  I’m sure John’s approach is more scholarly than mine, and that I will enjoy and be challenged by it.

Now about that complementarianism….