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Return to Radnor 2

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For the first time in 2018, I returned to Radnor Lake State Park. There’s something truly magical about getting back to nature, with some wildlife thrown in as a bonus.

I think I saw 15 deer, along with an assortment of squirrels plus a chipmunk and a turkey.

I still think that even though Radnor lies in the heart of Nashville, it’s almost like stepping out of the normal 24/7 world of traffic and noise into something like Narnia or Lothlorien. I almost expect to see satyrs, fauns, elves, and maybe a hobbit or two.

I’m thankful for places like Radnor Lake State Park. It’s a little slice of heaven, or what I hope heaven will be like. It’s also a place of serenity, quiet, and tranquility that never fails to put me in a good mood.

I still hate to profane the silence with words. The only appropriate response for this place is reverential awe and gratitude.

My goal is to come back a lot, take pictures, try some different trails, and just soak it all in. So far, so good.

Charcoal Fires and Forgiveness

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“The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards[a] from shore. 9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread” (John 21:8-9, New Living Translation).

I learned something very interesting today in church. Yes, I do pay attention and take it all in (when my ADD isn’t kicking in).

Apparently, there are only two times in the entire Bible when the word translated as charcoal fire is used– this passage and the one where Peter betrays Jesus three times with his Lord within hearing distance. In fact, after the last one, Jesus looks at Peter.

I love how special pains are taken to parallel the two scenes. In one, Peter is at his weakest. You’d think that denying his Lord would be unforgivable. Maybe you’d think that Peter should just go back to fishing– the regular kind that involves fish and not people. He should give up on being a disciple.

But Jesus went out of His way to include Peter in His post-resurrection appearances. He said to get all the disciples — and Peter– together.

Peter thought he’d blown it. He was sure Jesus could never speak to him again, much less forgive him. Peter had gone back to what he knows best, fishing.

In this same chapter, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me, Peter?”

I like to think that’s one for every time Peter pretended not to know Him.

It’s not so much that Jesus needed to hear that Peter loved Him but that Peter needed to know. Peter needed to know that the forgiveness offered through the cross was for him as well as everyone else.

Peter spent the rest of his life living out his gratitude for what Jesus did for him in front of that charcoal fire. Forgiveness is a beautiful thing.

 

Listen

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“Listen, Israel! The Eternal is our True God—He alone. You should love Him, your True God, with all your heart and soul, with every ounce of your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, The Voice).

I heard something today that I’d heard before, but it was worth the repeat. I can’t claim any originality in what follows.

The first and greatest commandment that Jesus embraced and taught to His followers is to listen. Not merely take in sound via your ear canals but to actually listen with the intent to comprehend and obey what you hear.

Jesus is saying that the utmost way we show love to God is by listening to Him. Repeatedly, Jesus says, “For those who have ears, let them hear.” In other words, “Pay attention, because this is something you really need to know.”

The greatest way you can show love for someone else isn’t by sacrificial acts of service or by words of affirmation and affection. It’s by listening to them.

I confess that most of the time I’m not the best listener. I can be engaged in a conversation and walk away and not remember the bulk of what the other person said five minutes later. I oftentimes am listening to respond and not to comprehend.

The culture doesn’t encourage listening. It’s more about making your own voice heard and talking over those who don’t share your views and opinions. The art of dialogue is becoming a lost art.

But you gain authority to speak by listening to understand. Above all, you gain wisdom by being attentive to the voice of God and constantly listening to what He’s saying.

“Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don’t have to do anything else. We don’t have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen” (Margaret J. Wheatley).

Happy Easter, Everyone!

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“O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen” (The Book of Common Prayer).

It’s officially Easter. It also happens to be April Fools’ Day. It seems fitting when most of the world looks at Christians as fools for believing and living as they do.

It does seem foolish to strive for greatness by becoming the servant of all.

It does seem foolish to turn the other cheek instead of striking back.

It does seem foolish to seek to gain your life by losing it and to pick up your cross daily to die to sin and to follow Jesus.

It does seem foolish to proclaim Jesus words that He is the way, the truth, and the life in the face of so many others who would tell you that there are many paths to God.

It does seem foolish to follow a carpenter’s son who wrote no books and led no great revolts. His ministry lasted barely three years and He died as a criminal in the worst way possible.

Yet what seems like foolishness to most is the wisdom of God.

That same carpenter’s son lived sinlessly, and after dying on the cross, defeated sin, death, and hell forever by raising from the grave after three short days.

We now mark history by His life and there are billions who profess to follow this Jesus, who is both Lord and God.

So once again, happy Easter. May both your words and your actions testify to this foolishness that is wiser than the wisdom of men.

 

Hurry Up and Slow Down

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“Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen” (The Book of Common Prayer).

I attended my church’s annual Maundy Thursday service. As usual, it was a small and quiet affair with only the music from a string quartet to break the silence. There was no preaching, no singing, but only the taking of the elements.

My prayer this year is to not rush through another Easter season. These days, my life already goes by at breakneck speed. I certainly don’t want to hurry it up any further.

So I’m doing my best to savor this season and not let any of its rich meaning be lost. I want to remember how Jesus, sharing God’s very nature, made Himself nothing and took on the form of a slave, becoming obedient even to the point of death.

I remember how Jesus was silent in the face of false accusations against Him. He did not open His mouth to defend Himself, even though He was innocent, choosing the way of crucifixion and death so that I the guilty may go free and be declared innocent in the eyes of God.

Let me take it all in and not lose a single iota of it. Let not one crumb of bread or drop of wine be lost. I want to hurry up and slow down.

“He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, THE VOICE).

 

 

 

Gideons and the Gospel

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I had a random flashback of a memory from me as a child sitting in a church pew with a Gideons Bible in my grubby little hands. I was decked out in my Sunday best, which for an 8-year old means my most uncomfortable clothes. I still recall the look and feel of that Gideons Bible. To this day, I still remember how in the front pages of the Bible in bold letters was John 3:16 translated into all the known languages.

That little memory apparently has stuck with me through a lot of transitions and changes in my life. I think now I understand more of what it means than I did then.

It means that God so loved the world. Not just the people who think and act like me. Not only the people with my skin color and language and ethnicity.

God so loved all the nations and ethnic groups in all the world with all their various languages and dialects that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever from anywhere in the world, no matter how dark or light their skin, who believes in Him should not perish but have full and abundantly everlasting life.

That included 8-year old me with the grubby little hands sitting in that church pew way back when. That includes anyone and everyone ever born into this world. No one is exempt from this saving grace. No one gets left out.

The only prerequisite is faith. Whosoever believes in Him, to use the old King James word, will not perish.

That’s still good news to me 38 years later, with all the knowledge and life lessons I’ve obtained through the years. That simple verse keeps coming back to me, reminding me that I never outgrow my love of and need for the gospel that saved me back in the day.

Covered by Blood

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“Choose a one-year-old male that is intact and free of blemishes; you can take it from the sheep or the goats. Keep this chosen lamb safe until the fourteenth day of the month, then the entire community of Israel will slaughter their lambs together at twilight. They are to take some of its blood and smear it across the top and down the two sides of the doorframe of the houses where they plan to eat” (Exodus 12:5-7, The Voice).

Blood is not a topic for polite dinner conversation. Or any polite conversation. Or any conversation for that matter. Some people get queasy at the sight or even the mention of it.

Lately, any songs about the blood are becoming more and more taboo at many churches. People like to believe that we’re generally not that bad and that our mistakes aren’t that serious.

Any time that I sing about or hear about the blood of Jesus, it’s a stark reminder of the seriousness of my own sin. I’m reminded again that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not that I’m okay, you’re okay, so let’s all try to be better people in the future.

The gospel is that we all have sinned and missed God’s mark. That sin always comes at a cost. Romans 3:23 say “The payoff for a life of sin is death.” There’s no loophole or any other way around that. Sin earns spiritual death now and physical death later.

But read the rest of the verse– “but God is offering us a free gift—eternal life through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King.”

Easter is all about how Jesus took the punishment and death that we deserved because of our sin, giving us the free gift of eternal life to all those who repent of their sins and place their faith in the final and finished work of Jesus.

I may not like the sight of blood or always like to talk about it, but I’m thankful for the blood that Jesus shed, not sparingly but freely, for my sake and for the sake of all of us who have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

Here’s how to know for certain if you belong to Jesus:

https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/salvation-through-christ-a-matter-of-faith.html

 

Waiting

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I’m waiting on my retro Nolan Ryan jersey to arrive in the mail. If it’s anything close to the picture on the ebay listing, then I will be thrilled.

I feel like I spend a lot of my life waiting. It’s exhausting at times and scary at times but always worth whatever time it takes.

I remember when I found out that Mafiaoza’s was coming to The Factory in Franklin. It felt like forever. I drove by several times and it seemed like nothing was happening. Then boom, one day there it was, all filled with customers and glorious pizza.

Most of us will spend most of our lives waiting on one thing or another, whether that be a spouse or a career or a place to live.

I still don’t believe that waiting is sitting idly by, like waiting for the phone to ring.

I believe waiting involves action.

That action is mainly preparing yourself to receive what it is that you’re waiting for.

The Bible says that those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Again, it’s not an idle and passive kind of waiting, but one that involves surrender and constantly being vigilant to the voice of God.

As my pastor has said more than once, when God calls you, you won’t have time to get ready. You’ll have to be ready. And waiting is the process of being made ready to answer God’s call when it comes.

Waiting is hard. The temptation is always there to give up or to take matters into your own hands to achieve your own desired outcome. Sometimes, the bravest part of waiting is simply showing up and not giving up for one more day, one more hour, one more minute.

Good things come to those who wait, not passively and idly, but with expectation and readiness.

 

It’s Not All Good

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“We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan” (Romans 8:28, The Voice).

The popular rendition of this verse is that in God all things work together for good. Note that it does not say that all things are good but that all things work for good.

In other words, it’s not all good.

All you have to do is watch the news, read the newspaper, or catch the headlines on any news website to know that. Creation is beautiful but broken, due to that original sin that messed everything up.

It’s not all good when racism still exists and people are looked down upon as being less than for skin color, ethnicity, or gender.

It’s not all good when schools aren’t a safe place to learn, as too many students have died from gun violence.

It’s not all good when parents bury their children, when women want desperately to have children but can’t, and when someone else gets a cancer diagnosis.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not “I’m okay, you’re okay.” It’s not an “It’s all good.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ says that God can take anything, even the worst kinds of evil, and work it into something good and beautiful.

The gospel says that one day, all will be made right and there will be no more pain or tears.

So no, it’s not currently all good, but the cross proves that God can take even the very worst and redeem it.

That’s all good.

 

No One Should Be Left Out

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“Praise the Eternal!
Praise the True God inside His temple.
    Praise Him beneath massive skies, under moonlit stars and rising sun.
Praise Him for His powerful acts, redeeming His people.
    Praise Him for His greatness that surpasses our time and understanding.

Praise Him with the blast of trumpets high into the heavens,
    and praise Him with harps and lyres
    and the rhythm of the tambourines skillfully played by those who love and fear the Eternal.
Praise Him with singing and dancing;
    praise Him with flutes and strings of all kinds!
Praise Him with crashing cymbals,
    loud clashing cymbals!
No one should be left out;
    Let every man and every beast—
    every creature that has the breath of the Lord—praise the Eternal!
Praise the Eternal!” (Psalm 150:1-6, The Voice).

As I read the words to this particular Psalm, I was reminded of something that John Piper wrote. He said that worship is the ultimate purpose of the Church. Missions, he said, exists because there are places where worship does not. Missions exists because there are people who still have not heard of God’s saving power in Jesus and of His worth and value and of His redeeming love.

Missions will not always exist. The Bible says that one day there will be a multitude of people from every ethnicity and race and language gathered around the throne of God and that the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the seas.

Until then, we have the Great Commission, so that no one is left out of the opportunity of an eternity with God.