Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. – Philippians 4:4 (NRSV)
How do you go about rejoicing in the Lord? Why can you rejoice? What do you do that hampers your joy in God? Why do think Paul repeated himself, “again I will say, Rejoice”?
The following story was sent to me via e-mail:
A boy was sitting on a park bench with one hand resting on an open Bible. He was loudly exclaiming his praise to God. “Hallelujah! God is great!” he yelled without worrying whether anyone heard him or not. Along came a man who had recently completed studies at a local university. Feeling himself very enlightened in the ways of truth he asked the boy about the source of his joy.
“Hey,” asked the boy with a bright laugh, “Don't you have any idea what God is able to do? I just read that God opened up the waves of the Red Sea and led the whole nation of Israel right through the middle.” The enlightened man laughed lightly, sat down next to the boy and began to try to open his eyes to the “realities” of the miracles of the Bible.
“That can all be very easily explained. Modern scholarship has shown that the Red Sea in that area was only 10-inches deep at that time. It was no problem for the Israelites to wade across.”
The boy countered with, “Jesus rose from the dead.” The enlightened man responded with, “Jesus no more rose from the dead than the Israelites walked through the Red Sea. Common sense will tell you all that. If that book can prove they crossed on dry land I'll believe Jesus rose from the dead and eat my hat.”
The boy was stumped. His eyes wandered from the man back to the Bible laying open in his lap. The man, content that he had enlightened a poor, naive young person to the finer points of scientific insight, turned to go. Scarcely had he taken two steps when the boy began to rejoice and praise louder than before. The man turned to ask the reason for this resumed jubilation.
“Wow!" exclaimed the boy happily, “God is greater than I thought! Not only did He lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, He topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in 10 inches of water.”
The man said, "Do you have any salt?"
Sometimes as life goes on and people try to bring us down we need to be reminded to rejoice in the Lord always. I’ve been told that when you become important to God you become important to Satan. Situations will arrive that will try to rob us of our joy. Paul has some advise for us in those situations. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice!”
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Some Good Medicine
A cheerful heart is a good medicine,
but a downcast spirit dries up the bones. – Proverbs 17:22 (NRSV)
How do you know this is true? When have you been good medicine for someone who needs it? When have you dried up bones because of a downcast spirit? Can you give life?
The following is a story that came from LiveScience.com on May 26, 2006 and was written by Jim Fitzgerald.
Dr. Samuel Weinstein, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery for Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, went to El Salvador in 2006 with Heart Care International to provide life-saving operations for poor children.
It would take more than expertise and advanced equipment to save the life of Francisco Calderon Anthony Fernandez, eight, however. After twelve hours of surgery, the boy began to bleed out of control. The hospital lacked both the medicines to stop the bleeding and the blood to give the boy transfusions. Francisco’s blood type was B-negative, which – according to the American Red Cross – is present in only 2 percent of the population.
Dr. Weinstein had the same blood type. So he set aside his scalpel, took off his gloves, and began washing his hands and forearm. Then he sat down and had his blood drawn.
When he had given his pint, Dr. Weinstein drank some bottled water and ate a Pop-Tart. Then – twenty minutes after stepping away from the table – he rejoined his colleagues, who watched as Weinstein’s blood began flowing into the boy’s small veins. Weinstein then completed the operation that saved Francisco’s life.
I am sure the good doctor could have given up hope after twelve hours of operation, but instead somewhere within he found the source of good medicine. Jesus said that whoever has faith in him will be able to do greater things than he did. I’ve heard that Christians built 90% of the schools and hospitals ever built. I’d say that is doing great things. We could look at the world and become downcast, or we could be cheerfully determined to be good medicine. Good medicine can save a life!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
but a downcast spirit dries up the bones. – Proverbs 17:22 (NRSV)
How do you know this is true? When have you been good medicine for someone who needs it? When have you dried up bones because of a downcast spirit? Can you give life?
The following is a story that came from LiveScience.com on May 26, 2006 and was written by Jim Fitzgerald.
Dr. Samuel Weinstein, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery for Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, went to El Salvador in 2006 with Heart Care International to provide life-saving operations for poor children.
It would take more than expertise and advanced equipment to save the life of Francisco Calderon Anthony Fernandez, eight, however. After twelve hours of surgery, the boy began to bleed out of control. The hospital lacked both the medicines to stop the bleeding and the blood to give the boy transfusions. Francisco’s blood type was B-negative, which – according to the American Red Cross – is present in only 2 percent of the population.
Dr. Weinstein had the same blood type. So he set aside his scalpel, took off his gloves, and began washing his hands and forearm. Then he sat down and had his blood drawn.
When he had given his pint, Dr. Weinstein drank some bottled water and ate a Pop-Tart. Then – twenty minutes after stepping away from the table – he rejoined his colleagues, who watched as Weinstein’s blood began flowing into the boy’s small veins. Weinstein then completed the operation that saved Francisco’s life.
I am sure the good doctor could have given up hope after twelve hours of operation, but instead somewhere within he found the source of good medicine. Jesus said that whoever has faith in him will be able to do greater things than he did. I’ve heard that Christians built 90% of the schools and hospitals ever built. I’d say that is doing great things. We could look at the world and become downcast, or we could be cheerfully determined to be good medicine. Good medicine can save a life!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
God Is There
Don't panic. I'm with you.
There's no need to fear for I'm your God.
I'll give you strength. I'll help you.
I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you. – Isaiah 41:10 (The Message)
When did you panic last? What was going on? Of what are you afraid? Where is God? What is God doing?
This came from the Christian Century on July 26, 2011:
When Fred Rogers received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy award in 1998, he asked the celebrity audience to take ten seconds of silence to think about people who had loved them into being and helped them become who they are.
Within seconds weeping and sobs could be heard throughout the audience. Then Rodgers said, “May God be with you,” and sat down. Eliot Daley, a Presbyterian minster who had worked with Rogers, says it is significant that Rogers didn’t say “God bless you.” Rogers knew that the people were already blessed by God. He wanted the people in the audience to be aware that God was with them.
Sometimes when things seem hard we forget the many blessings that have saturated our lives. However, even when the world seems more full of curses than blessings God is still with us. I know we need to be reminded of this from time to time, because I know I need to be reminded of this from time to time. When we walk in valleys so deep they can be called the valley of the shadow of death, God is still there. Even though God tells us not to panic, not to be afraid, and all the rest we will be. Today let us pray that we may be filled with faith. In that way when fear knocks on our doors we may open them and discover God is there.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
There's no need to fear for I'm your God.
I'll give you strength. I'll help you.
I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you. – Isaiah 41:10 (The Message)
When did you panic last? What was going on? Of what are you afraid? Where is God? What is God doing?
This came from the Christian Century on July 26, 2011:
When Fred Rogers received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy award in 1998, he asked the celebrity audience to take ten seconds of silence to think about people who had loved them into being and helped them become who they are.
Within seconds weeping and sobs could be heard throughout the audience. Then Rodgers said, “May God be with you,” and sat down. Eliot Daley, a Presbyterian minster who had worked with Rogers, says it is significant that Rogers didn’t say “God bless you.” Rogers knew that the people were already blessed by God. He wanted the people in the audience to be aware that God was with them.
Sometimes when things seem hard we forget the many blessings that have saturated our lives. However, even when the world seems more full of curses than blessings God is still with us. I know we need to be reminded of this from time to time, because I know I need to be reminded of this from time to time. When we walk in valleys so deep they can be called the valley of the shadow of death, God is still there. Even though God tells us not to panic, not to be afraid, and all the rest we will be. Today let us pray that we may be filled with faith. In that way when fear knocks on our doors we may open them and discover God is there.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Friday, July 29, 2011
Minister's Minute from August Issue of the Journal of Hope and Joy
We brought her home the other day. Our little daughter that is. She is so tiny she makes her brother seem like he is far closer to adulthood than I would like. Everyone always told me life moves quickly, and they were all right. It did not move quickly as a child, but it does now. As I age more I imagine it will move even faster.
Such a thought is equally sobering and horrifying. It is sobering in that I know that now, and therefore should not be surprised when I find myself with far fewer years to live than I have lived. It will happen. It will come up fast. Somehow it will be a surprise, because it seems to surprise everyone. “Where’d the time go?” I’ve heard so many ask. “How’d I get to be so old?” is the same sentiment asked another way.
It is sobering because it means that I know I should pay attention. I should enjoy the time I can get on the webcam with my parents or better yet I should visit more because one day I will not. Not because I will not want to, but because I will not be able to do so. I should enjoy watching my little daughter move and squirm around, and the way her eyes take in everything. I should enjoy the way my son becomes a boy because one day he will be man. I should enjoy the way clouds move in the sky. The way a Sunday service is always unique. The way people smile when helping others. I should pay attention because it is all fleeting, momentary, and worthy of my attention. I should pay attention because somewhere right now God is at work.
Yet this thought is horrifying because while I know I should do all of these things, I probably will not. I still struggle not to check my e-mails when I am having a phone conversation. I still think about what I have to do during the day when my son is talking to me over breakfast. I still am always trying to stay two-steps ahead of whatever life will throw at me. All I am doing is losing the moments I have. One day I will say with actual puzzlement, “Where’d the time go?” or “How’d I get to be so old?”
Well the time is going on right now. Somewhere my wife is playing with our little girl. Somewhere my son is running around. Somewhere a prayer is being uttered and it might be for me. Somewhere a smile is beginning. Somewhere the wind begins to blow through the leaves and braches of a mighty tree. I will not be able to see it all, but wherever I am, if I pay attention, I will be able to see something. Perhaps it is an awful sight or possibly a great one, but it is there!
A woman dying of cancer told me about the last time she went to the beach. She described the waves, the sound, the smell. The way her feet went into sand as she stood at the cusp between the shore and the ocean. She saw a crab disappear into the sand. She smiled as she told me about what her husband looked like searching for a shell to take home with them.
Two days after telling me about this she died. And maybe she wondered where the time went and maybe she did not. Alas there was a moment she had at the beach that transcended time, and God smiled. In that moment she lived eternally if only because she lived in the moment.
I need to stop writing. I need to turn off my e-mail updates, and facebook pushes, and… it is time for me to have a moment, because it is here where God is.
Riding the wave of the Holy Spirit,
Garrett
Such a thought is equally sobering and horrifying. It is sobering in that I know that now, and therefore should not be surprised when I find myself with far fewer years to live than I have lived. It will happen. It will come up fast. Somehow it will be a surprise, because it seems to surprise everyone. “Where’d the time go?” I’ve heard so many ask. “How’d I get to be so old?” is the same sentiment asked another way.
It is sobering because it means that I know I should pay attention. I should enjoy the time I can get on the webcam with my parents or better yet I should visit more because one day I will not. Not because I will not want to, but because I will not be able to do so. I should enjoy watching my little daughter move and squirm around, and the way her eyes take in everything. I should enjoy the way my son becomes a boy because one day he will be man. I should enjoy the way clouds move in the sky. The way a Sunday service is always unique. The way people smile when helping others. I should pay attention because it is all fleeting, momentary, and worthy of my attention. I should pay attention because somewhere right now God is at work.
Yet this thought is horrifying because while I know I should do all of these things, I probably will not. I still struggle not to check my e-mails when I am having a phone conversation. I still think about what I have to do during the day when my son is talking to me over breakfast. I still am always trying to stay two-steps ahead of whatever life will throw at me. All I am doing is losing the moments I have. One day I will say with actual puzzlement, “Where’d the time go?” or “How’d I get to be so old?”
Well the time is going on right now. Somewhere my wife is playing with our little girl. Somewhere my son is running around. Somewhere a prayer is being uttered and it might be for me. Somewhere a smile is beginning. Somewhere the wind begins to blow through the leaves and braches of a mighty tree. I will not be able to see it all, but wherever I am, if I pay attention, I will be able to see something. Perhaps it is an awful sight or possibly a great one, but it is there!
A woman dying of cancer told me about the last time she went to the beach. She described the waves, the sound, the smell. The way her feet went into sand as she stood at the cusp between the shore and the ocean. She saw a crab disappear into the sand. She smiled as she told me about what her husband looked like searching for a shell to take home with them.
Two days after telling me about this she died. And maybe she wondered where the time went and maybe she did not. Alas there was a moment she had at the beach that transcended time, and God smiled. In that moment she lived eternally if only because she lived in the moment.
I need to stop writing. I need to turn off my e-mail updates, and facebook pushes, and… it is time for me to have a moment, because it is here where God is.
Riding the wave of the Holy Spirit,
Garrett
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