Too Good to be True

    All the genuine Christians I know believe the Bible, but there are some verses we seem rather reluctant to accept, not because they are so awful, but because they seem too good to be true. John 6:37 is one that is especially important to me because God had that verse waiting for me on a card in the mail when we came home from taking Trace to rehab in Billings. It was an additional reassurance that God was taking care of Tracy's soul. Jn. 6:37 All those the Father has given me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. Though it does not detract from our responsibility to share the gospel, and the hearers' responsibility to respond, all those the Father gives as love gifts to his Son, will come to believe. And all that have come to Jesus will never be rejected. Even through years of doubt and disobedience, God does not let go.

   I have shared this verse with other Christians, but some seem to brush it away, even when it would be great comfort, as in the death of a prodigal loved one. I understand their doubts, I shared them. Were they too young when I led them to the Lord? Did they mean it? Did I present it right? Those thoughts are natural for parents and grandparents, but they ignore the reality of the spiritual transaction that is salvation. Our spiritual birth is a fact that God will not, and we cannot, undo. There are many verses that support this, but it just seems too good to be true.

   Another "too good" Bible truth is Is. 55:11 So is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. What we often wonder as we look at prodigals who grew up knowing and memorizing scripture is, was it all for nothing? Have they forgotten God's word like it seems? Like they sometimes claim? But this verse says it is not possible for God's word to have no effect, to achieve no purpose. And doubting that truth reveals more about our faith than theirs. It seems to good to be true. But that should come as no surprise because--everything about salvation is too good to be true!

Revelation Comes

    We have reached the last lesson in our BSF study of Revelation. Although every part of the Bible is a blessing, Revelation is the only book that specifically promises a blessing for reading it. Part of that blessing is renewed perspective on earthly things and renewed urgency for the lost. I have had opportunities to give my books and Randy Alcorn's "Heaven" booklets to people I ordinarily would not. People I barely know. When I asked the Lord if I should give them, his answer was, The time is short. The stakes are high. That sounds like a yes to me. I wanted to write one more poem as a very brief summation of Revelation. It was a blessing to study it again.

 

 

  Revelation Comes

 

The Word of God revealed to man

the culmination of His plan.

 

The scroll that was read is done at last.

All that it said will come to pass. 

John, who stood near heaven's throne,

returns now to his exile home.

 

Judgment will come, but beauty too.

The earth and heaven will be made new. 

We'll live in Paradise again.

God Himself will dwell with men.

 

We yearn for our eternal home.

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come!

 

 4/28/25

 

 

 

God's Health Plan

     I was at a Christian women's group recently where we were going around our small circle sharing prayer requests. The woman next to me, who by her 60's should have recognized some correlation between aging and health problems, shared that she and some of her friends were getting illnesses. She attributed this to some kind of spiritual attack because "God wants us to be healthy so we can serve Him." The leader said "No!" and added two more no's for emphasis, and I said, "Just the opposite." For me it was kind of like sighting a kangaroo. I knew prosperity gospel converts were out there, but I did not expect to see one up close. What I really wanted to say was, "Yikes! What kind of Bible are you reading?" It must not include the last verses of Hebrews 11 because, after commending many Old Testament servants of God for their faith, the chapter ends with a list of the spectacular suffering of those of whom the world was not worthy--flogging, chains, imprisonment, stoning, sawed in two, killed by the sword, destitute, persecuted, mistreated. It is true that the Bible does not say they were sick when those things happened, but it could not have been good for their health.

     Jeremiah, for instance, probably would have been in better condition to serve God if he had not been stuck in a cistern for a long, involuntary, lower body, mud bath. And when Jesus sent Ananias to give Paul his "Welcome to the Ministry" speech, He promised to show Paul how much he would suffer for Christ's name. Being blinded, beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, starved, flogged, etc. is not much of a health plan. Would Fanny Crosby have had time to write all those wonderful hymns as a sighted person? Would Nick Vujicic inspire so many to trust the Lord if he had normal arms and legs like everyone else? What would Joni Erickson Tada, who has been quadriplegic since her teens, battled cancer, and is now in chronic pain, say to the idea that God wants us to be healthy in order to serve Him? 

     When it was my turn for prayer requests, I explained that aging and arthritis are the cause of my joint pain in my ankle and shoulder. Nothing works as efficiently as when we were young, including our immune system. But it is a normal part of the aging process, not a Satanic attack. I call this phenomenon "Age Related Body Degeneration." If God wants people to be healthy in order to serve Him, He is not doing a very good job at making that happen, especially as we age. God does not promise health, He promises suffering, but He also promises His grace to endure it, and reward for serving in spite of it. Service to God comes with many benefits, some of those will involve health, because obedience to God's word protects us from the physical effects of sins like drunkenness, sexual sins, and the stress of guilt. Caring for our bodies is part of our stewardship to the Lord, but the specifics of our health are for God to plan.

 

Why I'm Okay with Chaos

      When Donald Trump was elected for his first term and started keeping his campaign promises the moment he took office, we told our youngest son to take note, such a thing had never happened in our lifetime. Generally how it works is, the newly elected president carefully avoids keeping his promises in his first term. That way those who did not vote for him will think he is not too bad, and those who voted for him the first time will have to do it again so he can fulfill them on his second term. Donald Trump did not do that. Although he was interested in a second term, being president was simply one of many things he has invested in, although this investment was in America's interest, not his own. This president was unprecedented.

    But if Trump's first term was a whirlwind, the second is a tornado. He brought Elon Musk and his  DOGE (Dept of Goverment Efficiency) team to stop Washington's waste up the wazoo spending spree. We could call this mechanism a bullDOGEr. Then the president had the audacity to order the deportation of illegal alien gang members from American soil and to remove the revolving door the previous administration left at the border to keep letting them back in. Trump has revised America's role from Sugar Daddy to every multinational group we are allied with, to equal partner. He is attempting the same with the unfair tariff situation our nation has been in for decades. And in his spare time, he is encouraging peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Hamas. 

   In response, this president has been blocked at every turn by activist judges and the ACLU (which is either the American Communist/Abetting Criminals/or Anti Christian Litigation Unit) depending on the case. Mainstream media, as always, maligns him, but not as loudly as when they thought most Americans agreed with them. Countries that had no money to police their borders or fight the flow of fentanyl before Trump's election, miraculously found the funding. Huge price increases and financial disasters are still predicted, the stock market, including our retirement savings, is on a roller coaster ride worthy of Six Flags.

   But I am willing to ride it out because the alternative is to return to business as usual:

• To a government that threatens to shut down every few months unless we borrow money from other countries (even if they hate us).
• To support a bloated bureaucracy that gives taxpayer money to frivolous, redundant, and even revolting causes.
• To continue subsidizing our allies' share of their own defense budget because America is a generous nation. 
• To allow criminal gangs unlimited access to our nation to recreate the violence so many immigrants fled here to escape. 
• To give money to ease suffering of the poor in middle eastern countries, because America is a compassionate nation, only to have their leaders give it to terrorists who sponsor and celebrate suffering. 
• To be trapped forever in unfair trade deficits because America is a wealthy nation.
• To prolong wars by providing money and weapons, because America is a powerful nation, instead of using that power to arbitrate peace.            

   For those of us who have spent all our adult years feeling trapped in a system we were not only powerless to change, but forced to fund, even a roller coaster ride is preferable to the slow slide into stupidity we have been on. If there is a remote chance Donald Trump's policies can change some of the things I hate about the country I love, then I am okay with chaos.

 

    

  

All the Words I Did Not Say

     This spring's "sadiversaries" have not been what I expected. Since talking about Tracy, telling his stories, has been so helpful in past years, I thought we would have opportunities to do that. As I said in my previous blog, though we had many opportunities to talk to people, it was not about Trace. However, God's purpose for all those conversations was not necessarily about us. He takes care of other people's needs that way too. I also expected to be writing poems about losing Tracy, but could only come up with the first verse . . . until the last couple days. As usual, God does not work from a formula, especially about grief. His care is as personal as it is loving.

 

All the Words I Did Not Say

 

I thought a lot of you today

despite the words I did not say,

and memories I did not share,

still treasured in my heart somewhere.  

 

But on these "sadiversaries"

I can't hold back the memories, 

and wouldn't want to if I could,

not the sad ones nor the good. 

For you will never cease to be

son of my womb, a part of me,

however old we both may grow

or far apart, our hearts will know

 

that we two started out as one,

joined together mom and son.

And someday we will join again 

not on this earth, but in heaven.

 

 I trust the one whose loving plan,

  holds both our souls within His hands.

I'll greet you, when I'm called heavn's way,

with all the words I did not say.

 

  4/7/25