Context

"Scott Francis O'Grady (born October 12, 1965) is a former United States Air Force fighter pilot. On June 2, 1995, he was shot down over Bosnia by an SA-6 mobile SAM launcher and forced to eject from his F-16C into hostile territory. After nearly a week of evading the Serbs he was eventually rescued by Marines. Previously he took part in the Banja Luka incident where he fired upon six enemy aircraft. The 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines is loosely based upon his experiences." (Wikipedia)

He ate bugs, drank water that trickled off tree leaves, and only moved under cover of darkness. Like a typical guy, he did not stop and ask for directions!

Context is everything. If Scott were doing these behaviors in down-town New York, he might well have become a candidate for placement in a medical facility. On the other hand fellow New Yorkers might never notice.

Context is everything. When reading the Bible it is common for the reader to view subject matter within the framework of their own experiences. The term, "wilderness" in the Bible is not the same as the Kentucky home that Daniel Boone called, "Wilderness". Our imagination formulates more than simple geography. Our sense of morality, or honor, or "right and wrong" are defined within the limitations of what we have seen, heard, felt, possibly even told. Not knowing the context of the Biblical writer could have us bewildered over a Jewish Judge offering his daughter as a sacrifice, Jephthah in Judges 11, (OK, that is pretty weird even after a lot of education and study).

The Bible says the secret things belong to the Lord. So some subjects will remain hidden to us in this life and maybe even into the next. There are things though that we human beings can get fairly wrapped around the axle, confused as to their message when we could in fact get better knowledge.

            Colossians 2:16-19, " Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an

             holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but

             the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and

             worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his

             fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having

             nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God."

There is reason to stay under the authority of a local church and it's pastor. These things beyond our selves may well have already been well hashed out or have solid information as to context.

Yes, all men are open to fallibility, even one so revered as the pope. We could be open to error, so never stop reading Scripture and seeking God's "Face" in prayer. Until such day that we stand before our Creator-God, it is our Divine duty to "search the Scriptures to see if these things be so,". (John 5:39, Acts 17:11)

What is "right"?

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What is "right"?

I was thinking about the song by the group Linkin Park called, "Castle of Glass" this morning. It was just running through my mind when a phrase got stuck in my head.

"Take me down to the river bend, Take me down to the fighting end, Wash the poison from off my skin, Show me how to be whole again".

I had heard someone asking why we had so many soldiers come back from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan struggling with mental health and suicide? Why were so many coming back with PTSD, and not so much in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam?

My first thought was this most recent generation is living in an era where EVERYTHING is in the movies, on TV, or certainly on the Internet. Maybe previous generations were not televising all the dark secrets. Maybe families found ways to hide the relative who had, "shell shock" (as it was often called back then).

My second thought was that prior to 1970's, America had a stronger Christian/Religious community. Were soldiers going off to war with stronger Faith convictions and coming home to a stronger Faith support system? We are being told that in the last 20-30 years, children becoming adults leave their faith behind as they leave their homes behind.

Going back to Linkin Park, the question is asked, "show me how to be whole again". To my knowledge, the band makes no profession of faith. Watching the official music video, the seeming central figure goes from being the child that loses his father to war, himself becomes another cog in the, "Castle of Glass". It would appear that despite best of intensions, we are all just pawns in the hands of higher powers.

I felt there was also such a hopeless situation in the movie, "The Kingdom". Here the story line revolves around American Agents trying to get "legal" revenge for some of their own getting killed in Saudi Arabia. Rumor leads to testimony of a bomb builder with three missing fingers that was central to the Americans getting killed. After a lot of gun-fire, car chases, explosions and legal wrangling, the bomber is found and killed. The story closes with a flash back to the beginning where it is revealed what one agent tells another after the first news of the Agents getting killed. The group leader whispers to an underling, something like we will kill them, we will kill them all. The movie then has the grandson of the Saudi bomb maker getting told, we will kill them, we will kill them all.

We live in a world where every man, woman, and child holds a sense of right and wrong, good and bad, even if it is built on false perception. Some say there is not honest truth but all is mere perception. From person to person, neighborhood to neighborhood, all the way up to nation against nation, all is just perception. There is nothing to, (again Linkin Park) "Wash the poison from off my skin, Show me how to be whole again".

Is the whole world just a replay of "The Hatfields and The McCoys"? Each individual convinced that there is a grievance that needs to be avenged. Some people I know believe that all the corporate heads of industry are collectively evil, robbing the working class of our country. Could it not also be possible that these executives themselves believe that some incident their life or ancestral past was justification for getting all the wealth (revenge) they can lay hands on, legal or otherwise.

I believe the Bible tells us otherwise. In it God creates man, Man rejects God's rule, Man makes his own rules. We read that, "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Psalm 14:3), "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Romans 3:12). If people are involved (even "good religious folk") they will still have evil clouding their actions.

The hope we have is that God loves us and wants to redeem us. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins," (1 John 4:10).

The problem is twofold. 1) Not every person takes hold of this gift. It is singularly through Jesus, the only name among men, the Bible tells us. 2) Even those who have called upon the name of Jesus, still have to battle with their natural tendency of rejecting the rules of God, and still treat their fellow man in evil ways. It would be nice if Faith changed all our behaviors to kindness and honesty. I can only hold to the Hope that is within the Gospel that in the life after this, all will be washed away and all will be made new, for those who die in Jesus.

For those who are hurting, confused, questioning life, the suggestion that there is hope only in the next life may seem empty. I get that, as I live with Mitochondrial disease, living in constant pain, fatigue and a brain that is foggy. I likely won't be cured in my lifetime. I can only have faith for what will be. It is faith, I can't put it in a test tube, or lay it against a ruler. It is what I hold as the truth.

When I am weak

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For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I started to struggle the other day. I had several things get interrupted or just would not work. My health issues have kept me from working for income, for the last eight years and money is very tight. My right eye would not focus. The bus is on hold while we wait for enough more funds to buy it (I don't want to think of title and taxes). Despite the sunny day outside, I was feeling dismal.

While thinking there was no wind in our sails, a verse came to mind. "For when I am weak, then I am strong" 2Cor. 12:10. While looking for that reference, I came across 1 Cor. 1:27, "God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong". I was getting the message that it was God's plan for me to NOT be able to work out the means in which "I" could get things done. In this I am reminded that, "For MY thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways MY ways".  I have to let go of the reins, to let God move in His time and way. A lesson that has come many times in my life but have not yet mastered.

There will need to be a sequence to how I use my limited energy. Do I pursue getting the bus registered as an RV, to reduce the license and insurance? Do I tackle the oil leak so it can be driven if needed? Do we put in hours getting connected to an agency for our mission work or go out solo? All are valid needs, if Home Missions is the path Jehovah has set for us.

Today I am just staying in bed. My muscles feel like I just finished running several miles, something I have not done in the last eight years. I miss the quiet time of jogging while in prayer and praise. Shuffling down a lonely dirt road, just God and I, was a holdover from being a drill sergeant at "Boot Camp". It was an anchor in an unstable world. Another thing that "Mito" has stolen away.

The losses which mitochondrial disease has imposed on my life make me simultaneously angry and sad. Being now 56 years of age, I've had many years of living independently, until January of 2007, when Mito arrived in a flash. I now have to rely on the kindness of family and friends. I know that there will come a day when I will need to stop driving. I hope to keep on preaching and teaching, yet I know my mind is getting clouded, and words will sometimes not come out of my mouth. I am thankful for my harmonicas, as my singing voice is limited to one or two verses of one song.

The promise remains though, "when I am weak, then I am strong". I am convinced that God is planning to work in me because I "can't do" stuff. "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ", Philippians 1:6. I know that everything we have or do is from Him. In taking away, He is going to do greater than I could do if I was healthy. I could be His vessel of honor if I put my trust in His power. "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" 1 John 4:4. It will always be a struggle to not try to do in my strength, even if my strength is small.

In yesterday's Sunday School class, we were in John 1 where it is written,

"and to them gave He power to become the Sons of God, even to them who believe on His name".

I looked up the greek word for "power" expecting "dunamis" and found "eXsousia" instead. Dunamis is the dynamite explosive kind of power but eXsousia is most commonly translated as authority. That was encouraging because it does not reflect on the good that I did, I do, or will do. If Jesus gave us dunamis to become the Sons, I would feel bad that I haven't used the force to be better. It is not a Credit Card based on works, but a Debit Card that He pays for.

Thinking of the prodigal son, one of the things that the father first put on the returned son was a ring. The ring was most likely a signet ring, the "authority" ring where they used hot wax put on a document or letter, then imprinted with the ring. Even though the son no longer had any wealth of his own, he could use his fathers ring to purchase goods.

I have the family "eXsousia" card to get through the day, desiring to do the works because He loved me first, knowing I am no longer dead in trespassing of sin, but still have the "eXsousia" to yet still be called a son.

One woman commented that we are called "sons". While we all agreed that both genders are accepted, she thought it was good to be sons because daughters don't inherit, as according to Law, so being a "son" she was glad to be a joint heir with Jesus.

Finding Beauty

We have had the privilege of visiting Yellow Stone National Park twice. We went once in 1986 and once in 1990. The great geysers, wildlife, and incomparable panoramas amazed us. We saw the buffalo, deer, and got a close-up of a moose cow and her calf.  We took rolls of film and kept even more memories. The moose shot was likely a foolish one, we passed them while driving down a park road, and I stopped and got out as she stood on the road behind us, the calf off the edge in the woods that lined both sides.

Our travels to Yellowstone are not the only wondrous visits we have been able to enjoy. There could be very deep debates of what is the "best" place in America, (over the earth?). Even the geysers are not unique to that area of rugged beauty. Wolves, buffalo, birds and other scarce pieces of creation are seeing the park as a refuge from what might otherwise be extinction. It could be said that Yellowstone is one of the most diverse pieces of real estate we can so easily get to.

We saw the park twice, once before the fire, once after. Like most Americans, we sat by television news reports of the destruction. There were comments of how it might never recover. Supposed authorities cried this would be a tragedy from which there would never be full recovery.

Our second visit confirmed what some were very surprised to find. The burned areas had found new life. Small plants that had been shielded from the sun, now flourished. Diversity of life exploded after the fire. Even the animal life continued to go on and even multiply. The new life in the park would not have been except by the fire's passage. We learned that the lodgepole pine tree cones don't open except in forest fires.

There are things in life that do not come easy. Some great things only follow what others would define as hurtful. Expressions of love, depth of concern, level of compassion, and other big qualities of our humanity, are rarely seen or known by other means. People with Mito, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and other silent thieves are the "Petri dish" of growth for those who must care for those who our society calls ill. These "ill" people (of which I count myself) are not the debris of life. These lives challenge our sense of normal, in love, in giving, in going beyond ourselves.

These lives are the foundries of greater being. Too many lives fill their length without doing anything memorable. Lives that breathed, ate, slept but never reached out beyond simple day-to-day that is called life (by some). It was my answer to such a call that led me to be a living liver donor. I saw a life that was nearing a sad end, potentially leaving a wife and three kids behind. The doctors were able to remove a part of my liver and completely replace the liver of a man I will call friend. I did not get paid for this (such is illegal), and it was not I who could gain that drove me. I gained being able to help. Now I am receiving from others having become one in the "Mito family".

I believe in God. I know that when we have given to others, He knows and remembers. Maybe we should get T-shirts that say, "I am a lodgepole pine!" for the depth of challenges that care-givers experience.

Does big equal best?

Why do we read the books of church leaders that have thousands of members on their lists? Did the leader create the faith that converted their souls? Do the numbers really mark success?

1 Corinthians 3:6-8,

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor." 

Since church growth is of God, Pastors of small churches are no less faithful if the measure is the size of the congregation. Even if we could see the measure of Faith in the membership, that Faith is not the result of gifted speaking. Sermons, lessons and prayer are parts of ministry, but not the result of man's efforts.

Ephesians 2:8-10, 

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

If the Faith that saves is not of works, then the rule applies to the church leader as well as to the individual believer. Why then does God choose to make some churches large and others tiny? While we are on the topic of God's moving among people, why are there a disproportional number of churches in one country versus the next?


Isaiah 29:16,
"Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"

God works in the small and in the large. Jesus gathered for Himself, twelve, and one of them was a traitor. In the public ministry, Jesus had crowds measured in the thousands. Did these masses stay in Jesus's teaching?

John 6:63-68,
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."

Jesus knew how the crowd would respond. He didn't go running after them crying, "Oops, I'm sorry, I didn't really mean that. Please come back." Jesus let them walk away, KNOWING they would never return. The heart of His disciples was his concern, not the numbers. Not everyone will believe, in fact the John passage shows The Father has a specific list, and "few the be that find it".

To the leader of a small group I write, (to myself as well) obey God, teach His Word and His Way. The Father will draw to Himself those that He chooses. 

Galations 6:9,
"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

2 Thessalonians 3:13,
"But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing."

We need the books written by leaders of the few, as well as the leaders of many.

I had a vision today, my father shaking hands with Miriam's dad. It would not be that unusual, in the past they have shaken hands, and there was no animosity between them. They likely agreed when Miriam and I were about to wed (Dec. 21, 1978) that we should have waited til we were more mature, more financially secure, and maybe out of college. Now thirty years later, well their concerns were rational but we have remained committed in love.

No, the uniqueness of these two Christian men shaking hands is tested in that Miriam's Dad died back in the early 1990's. My Dad died this morning. In full assurance and confidence, they are rejoicing in the presence of our Lord. I venture that they have few thoughts of us in our earthly doings. It isn't that they are heartless or cruel, but rather they have entered into the rest of our LORD and have left the trials, pains, and burdens of this life behind. Jesus has promised to "wipe away all tears". For them to leave behind sin and this sin filled world, God may have a way for them to cheer on those of us who are still running the race, but not be discouraged by sight or sound or ...marks of evil that are in abundance around (and in) us.

I have pondered that Jehovah is the master of time and eternity, so when we, those before us, and those to follow will step off the "Heaven Express" to arrive at the same station, same time, ready to join in the jubilee.

Dad was a farmer, electrician, mechanic, teacher, preacher, welder, father, husband, and outdoors sportsman. The Master Architect, Father God (of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Daniel...and a bunch of Westbrooks) has woven together an incredible and sometimes unrecognized bigger picture built from seemingly disjointed lives. In giving back to God, the people around us receive grace from the things HE has put in our hands, or made our hands to do. Love lived out by our skin and bones.

It was in one of those giving plans, that Dad got his ticket home. As farmers tend to do, one helps another by supplying what the other lacked, then in turn giving with what the second had. Brother lifting up brother. One of Dads hobbies involved collecting and rebuilding, and rebuilding, and rebuilding bulldozers (his cats). The project was somewhere that required a dozer being put on a truck with a "lowboy". In the steps of driving the dozer up, something went wrong. It fell off and rolled over. Dad was gone just like that.

I know where he is, and look forward to joining him, at a date not yet identified. His hope is in the Lord, my hope is in the Lord. The blood of Jesus was sought to purchase us back from Death and Hell. That is our only claim to allow us into "the joy of our Lord". Were Dad to be able to speak aloud to me, I'm sure he would say, "Come anytime, I'll be here, Our Father sends His love".