Category: hope

Every 21st of the month, until his first March birthday, Emma sent a few pictures of baby Wilkes, showing his growth. Kinsey has followed the same path, sending monthly pictures of Owen on the 26th of each month, anticipating a big birthday in June.

A few days ago, between the first picture and the last, the baby took a tumble. Thankfully, Jordan’s strong hands saved the day.

“The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.” (Psalm 145:14)

What would we do without the Father who rescues His children? What hope would the wandering sheep have if there were no Good Shepherd to search and save?

Of course, God does not encourage us to wander. I remember as a boy walking off the trail on a Fall day to get a better look at a river. Before I knew it, my feet had slipped and I was sliding down a steep slope into the cold Chickamauga.

God gives His children encouragement to walk boldly in the Spirit, but to avoid sin. “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love… So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Galatians 5:13,16)

Let’s give thanks to the One who can keep us from falling.

“But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.’ These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

“But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

“Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

“To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” Jude 17-25

Paul was called to do many things after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus in Syria… a country still very much in the news. Establishing and encouraging churches, addressing specific problems, warning of Satan’s strategies… were objectives of this man who the Lord called His “chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” (Acts 9:15) “Carrying Jesus’ name” was Paul’s main goal. How did he do this?

When he visited cities and towns, Paul did not want his talents or abilities to be the focus of attention. “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and preaching were not with persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (I Corinthians 2:1-5)

Paul constantly pointed to the Father, Son, and Spirit; he was Trinity-centered. In the first three chapters of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentioned God fifty-two times, Christ or Lord thirty times, and the Spirit twelve times. In seventy verses, the Persons of the Trinity are mentioned ninety-four times.

Paul clearly wanted all readers to know that his message is from God, the Creator of all, who planned to save His children through Jesus, His Son. And the promised Holy Spirit is the essential gift we must have to live an abundant life in Christ.

So what does this mean for us today? Though we live two thousand years later, we have as many problems as did Corinth… and our hope is the same. This hope is not found in an elite education or amassed wealth or a political movement or any type of human plans… the hope is only in Jesus. Christ is the Answer and, as in the days of Paul, the world will reject this message.

Wherever we live, whatever our occupation, no matter what our status… God wants us to be Trinity-centered. “You yourselves are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you.” (3:16) “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1:22) “Jesus Christ has become our wisdom from God – that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” (1:30) “We have the mind of Christ.” (2:16)

We might say, “A person will be laughed off the stage if he constantly points to Jesus.” But Paul concluded: “So be it. My message is Christ because that’s God’s message. There is no hope in man. I trust the Holy Spirit and I do not mind being a ‘fool’ as long as I am in Him.”

“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’; and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’ So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” I Corinthians 3:18-23

I am back in the math classroom this school year and I am happy John Turner is one of my students. Though Taylor, who had me for Algebra II, warned John that I would be tougher on him than anyone else, John reported this week that math was his second favorite class. (It’s hard to beat art.)

One of our recent lessons was an introduction to charts and graphs. I gave my students an example of a beautiful graph I received from my doctor just a few days ago. Sixteen years ago yesterday, I first learned I had the blood cancer Multiple Myeloma, which still has no known cure.

The graph shows the increase of cancer from December of 2015 to July of 2016. This has happened at least a dozen times over the years and it always requires a change in treatment. In the spring of this year, we changed drugs and the results were not good. Not only did the drug not drive the cancer count down, it was much more difficult on my body.

This chart shows the average measure for a healthy person is between 10 and 25. By July this count in my bloodstream had grown to 360 so we changed drugs again. As you can see, after one round of the new regimen, my count dropped to 12.1, the measure of a normal person.

We praise God for His continued goodness and grace. Susan and I never take such good news for granted as we have lost many friends and acquaintances in our Atlanta support group over the years. We thank God first, then so many of you who have faithfully prayed for us. We also thank my doctors and nurses whom I’ve gotten to know quite well over the course of time.

We will continue this treatment as long as it is effective. Meanwhile, I pray I can be a good husband, father, son, teacher, and grandpa. (If you haven’t heard… it is a lot of fun being a grandpa.)

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.” II Samuel 22:17-20

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”

I read these words from the Gospel of John at the funeral of a friend this past weekend, words that Jesus spoke to Martha. Pat Rising is a child of God, a loving husband, a great father, and a wonderful grandfather… and he loves Jesus. I use the present tense, because Jesus says he still lives. How can this be?

“Do you know what Jesus said next to Martha?” I asked the congregation. “He asked, ‘Do you believe this?’” There, in front of a few hundred people, I asked myself: “Do I believe this?” Martha gave an instructive reply that didn’t really seem to answer the question but was accepted by Jesus: “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

“Here’s how Pat still lives,” I proposed. “Pat Rising lives in Christ. When he passed away from this earth, he still remains in Christ. Since Jesus lives at the right hand of the Father and Pat is in Christ, Pat also lives.”

Paul wrote: “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…” Ephesians 2:4-6

After the funeral, all were invited to go to the fellowship hall of the church building for a meal. Wonderful reunions took place and all the family members were encouraged. People hung around for quite a while. As I was getting ready to leave, a friend of the Risings, older and wiser than me, shook my hand. “I loved what you shared about Pat being alive in Christ. Here’s another thought: our bodies are just tents. Pat’s tent was in decline because of cancer but his soul was always alive. And his soul lives with Jesus today.” Praise God for His great love!

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

“Therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
II Corinthians 5:1-10

The trial drug that was so effective for me last year has not worked well for Barbara, but she is not discouraged. I saw Barbara at our last support group meeting and she encouraged me again with her wisdom and attitude. A native of Jamaica, she shared a difference between her culture and ours.

“I come from a culture where dying is a part of life, so I am not worried. Here, people worry and worry and strive and strive… I think it is killing them.”

I chuckled, knowing that most in the room believe cancer is the main enemy. “How old are you, Barbara?” I asked. “I am 73, almost 74. The Psalm says: ‘The days of our years are three-score years and ten,’ so I feel I’ve had a bonus.” Barbara looks twenty years younger and I think she has unusual peace because she knows God. I must admit that our society hesitates to talk much about death.

Though the apostles did not comprehend, Jesus spoke often of His death… knowing it was a huge part of the purpose of His life. After the resurrection when Jesus restored Peter, He told the apostle that God would receive glory through Peter’s death.

“’I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will lead you where you do not want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said, ‘Follow Me.’” (John 21:18-19)

Guests at our house sometimes express dismay when we tend to joke about death, but don’t we as Christians believe we will enter God’s presence and be at home with Him? We are to follow the Master as He leads us here on earth and then follow Him to the place He has prepared. He has overcome the world and removed the sting of death! I think He wants us to live with this truth in mind.

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

“’Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I Corinthians 15:55-58