Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Coming in January...
Everybody gets the blues sometimes...Suffering rolls in like a thunderstorm over the Mississippi Delta, sadness rides in on a lank horse and sits for a spell, and when you need water, life gives you gasoline.
In those moments, hope can shine through because of Christ and His work.
Join us in January in the Crossroads class as we look at how we can be set free and leave the blues.
Crossroads Single Adult Bible Fellowship meets at 9:30 in room 2230-2231 at Sevier Heights Baptist Church.
For more information about The Singles Ministry, or to contact us, go to: www.sevierheights.org (click on "singles").
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
“Why would a ‘good’ God allow suffering?”
I’ve been asked this question quite a few times over the last 6 months. With senseless terrorist attacks sinking hooks of fear deep into many, the overall state of the world economy, and the general anxiety over the future of our nation, it’s easy to see why this question would be something mulled over at times. But sometimes the question is directed at moments much more localized, toward personal hardships and private pain.
So, why would a good God allow suffering?
Epicurus tackled this idea many years ago in ancient Greece:
“Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot;
Or He can, but does not want to;
Or He cannot and does not want to.
If He wants to, but cannot, He is impotent.
If He can, but does not want to, He is wicked.
But if God both can and wants to abolish evil,
Then how come evil is in the world?”
(By the way, Epicurus’ name is attached to a certain school of thought: Epicureanism. Simply stated, for an Epicurean, pain and pleasure were indicators of what was bad and good. They believed that entire point of philosophy was to live a life that was happy and peaceful and without any fear or discomfort.)
So, how do I answer when someone asks that question?
Though I may be oversimplifying for the sake of space, some use suffering as a "reason" to disbelieve in God, while others wonder what God is doing when He allows for suffering.
First, I've been told by some, “Suffering proves there is no God.”
My response is always the same: “Why, what’s wrong with suffering?”
Usually the person isn’t very happy with that question, and I get a passionate response along the lines of: “Suffering is bad, unfair, and wrong. A good God wouldn’t allow it!”
And there’s the problem with that thinking. If I think suffering is bad, unfair, wrong, unjust, cruel, or any other thing that carries with it a value judgment, and I also hold to the assertion that God does not exist, then from where does that idea of bad, unfair, wrong, unjust or cruel arise? (And where do we get the idea of a "good" God?)
If there’s no God, and if truth is determined only by the culture in which we live, then there are no absolutes that transcend culture and time. There’s no objective standard. If that’s the case, then morality is relative too…and the notion of right and wrong…and good and bad…Quite simply, without a God, there’s no real "fair" or "unfair."
Let me give you an example…I had an Anthropology professor in college who, in the first half of a lesson, taught how life and culture are subject to evolutionary processes, and in the next portion of the lesson she talked about how everyone should have equal rights, no matter their status, education, IQ, physical traits, or abilities. I had to wonder why that might be the case. Those two ideas can’t coexist (at least not in any sensible way). If evolution is true, then there is no fair and unfair; one must use whatever means necessary to survive. So get faster and more fit because there’s no fair and unfair, only “good for me” and “too bad for you.”
Yet we know that there is a thing called unfairness…and cruelty... and suffering.
The recognition of suffering points to a standard, something perfect…God.
And it underlines an important point: Things are not as they should be…
And then some believe in God, but still struggle with the reality of suffering in the world. I keep returning to the big idea that has helped me most through times of suffering: Suffering points toward a restoration.
But what of the end of suffering then? What’s the point? Does it end? And what do I mean by a restoration?
Let's see...
Vance Havner once said, “Adam and Eve bit the apple and our teeth still ache.”
We’re born into a sinful world. We live in a sinful world with all the things that sin brings with it. But there’s more to come…and better things…
Matt. 19:28 So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Do you see what Jesus is saying? He says that He is the One who will set all things right, make all things over, and bring His justice upon the earth. He’s the way. He will restore creation…
Is. 65:17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
Acts 3:19-21 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
II Pet. 3:11-13 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Rev. 21:1-5 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
But He not only will restore the physical world, but He restores us. He is the resurrection. He brings the dead to life…He is the new birth.
II Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
II Cor. 5:1-5 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Our mortality, and all the suffering with it, will be “swallowed up by life” that Christ offers.
So what do we make of it all…that the universe and all who are His will be restored to a perfect state, yet we experience suffering here and now?
Rom. 8:18-25 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
We wait for Him to return and restore us…A word from Mr. Lewis:
“They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.” --C. S. Lewis
We groan, yes, but we point to Christ. The world is sinful, we are born into sin, and each and every one of us is offered an opportunity for repentance. He can restore us, and then use us to bring the message of the hope found in Him to the world that needs restoration by His power.
The people of former rebellion can be the people of future restoration by sharing the hope that is within us with a world in need of restoration for the glory of God. We are not perfect, so we should be able to easily share and relate to those who do not know God, yet being in a struggle with the flesh, we long greatly for the redemption offered by Christ.
So, when it comes to suffering and restoration, I always think of my childhood…
When I was small, sometimes I would get a cut or a scratch or skin my knee. The result would be a band-aid…and then a popsicle or a bit of candy to placate the tears. A consolation for the pain I endured; “Poor little guy. Here, have something sweet.”
I often thought of Heaven as being that: a long struggle here, a consolation offered on the “other side,” as it were. God leans down and says, “Poor little one, you’ve been through so much, here, have something that will take your mind off that.”
But that’s not restoration…
The future restoration of which the Bible speaks may be more akin to not a bandage and a confection, but a brand-new knee, with new skin, that never ages, or experiences hurt, and that is completely beyond any kind of skin that anyone could ever image…perfect. But not just a knee, but a new body and a total being without the desire to sin (try to wrap your brain about that).
Heaven is not a popsicle…it’s a new knee. That’s our hope.
John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
So, why would a good God allow suffering?
Epicurus tackled this idea many years ago in ancient Greece:
“Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot;
Or He can, but does not want to;
Or He cannot and does not want to.
If He wants to, but cannot, He is impotent.
If He can, but does not want to, He is wicked.
But if God both can and wants to abolish evil,
Then how come evil is in the world?”
(By the way, Epicurus’ name is attached to a certain school of thought: Epicureanism. Simply stated, for an Epicurean, pain and pleasure were indicators of what was bad and good. They believed that entire point of philosophy was to live a life that was happy and peaceful and without any fear or discomfort.)
So, how do I answer when someone asks that question?
Though I may be oversimplifying for the sake of space, some use suffering as a "reason" to disbelieve in God, while others wonder what God is doing when He allows for suffering.
First, I've been told by some, “Suffering proves there is no God.”
My response is always the same: “Why, what’s wrong with suffering?”
Usually the person isn’t very happy with that question, and I get a passionate response along the lines of: “Suffering is bad, unfair, and wrong. A good God wouldn’t allow it!”
And there’s the problem with that thinking. If I think suffering is bad, unfair, wrong, unjust, cruel, or any other thing that carries with it a value judgment, and I also hold to the assertion that God does not exist, then from where does that idea of bad, unfair, wrong, unjust or cruel arise? (And where do we get the idea of a "good" God?)
If there’s no God, and if truth is determined only by the culture in which we live, then there are no absolutes that transcend culture and time. There’s no objective standard. If that’s the case, then morality is relative too…and the notion of right and wrong…and good and bad…Quite simply, without a God, there’s no real "fair" or "unfair."
Let me give you an example…I had an Anthropology professor in college who, in the first half of a lesson, taught how life and culture are subject to evolutionary processes, and in the next portion of the lesson she talked about how everyone should have equal rights, no matter their status, education, IQ, physical traits, or abilities. I had to wonder why that might be the case. Those two ideas can’t coexist (at least not in any sensible way). If evolution is true, then there is no fair and unfair; one must use whatever means necessary to survive. So get faster and more fit because there’s no fair and unfair, only “good for me” and “too bad for you.”
Yet we know that there is a thing called unfairness…and cruelty... and suffering.
The recognition of suffering points to a standard, something perfect…God.
And it underlines an important point: Things are not as they should be…
And then some believe in God, but still struggle with the reality of suffering in the world. I keep returning to the big idea that has helped me most through times of suffering: Suffering points toward a restoration.
But what of the end of suffering then? What’s the point? Does it end? And what do I mean by a restoration?
Let's see...
Vance Havner once said, “Adam and Eve bit the apple and our teeth still ache.”
We’re born into a sinful world. We live in a sinful world with all the things that sin brings with it. But there’s more to come…and better things…
Matt. 19:28 So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Do you see what Jesus is saying? He says that He is the One who will set all things right, make all things over, and bring His justice upon the earth. He’s the way. He will restore creation…
Is. 65:17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
Acts 3:19-21 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
II Pet. 3:11-13 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Rev. 21:1-5 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
But He not only will restore the physical world, but He restores us. He is the resurrection. He brings the dead to life…He is the new birth.
II Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
II Cor. 5:1-5 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Our mortality, and all the suffering with it, will be “swallowed up by life” that Christ offers.
So what do we make of it all…that the universe and all who are His will be restored to a perfect state, yet we experience suffering here and now?
Rom. 8:18-25 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
We wait for Him to return and restore us…A word from Mr. Lewis:
“They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.” --C. S. Lewis
We groan, yes, but we point to Christ. The world is sinful, we are born into sin, and each and every one of us is offered an opportunity for repentance. He can restore us, and then use us to bring the message of the hope found in Him to the world that needs restoration by His power.
The people of former rebellion can be the people of future restoration by sharing the hope that is within us with a world in need of restoration for the glory of God. We are not perfect, so we should be able to easily share and relate to those who do not know God, yet being in a struggle with the flesh, we long greatly for the redemption offered by Christ.
So, when it comes to suffering and restoration, I always think of my childhood…
When I was small, sometimes I would get a cut or a scratch or skin my knee. The result would be a band-aid…and then a popsicle or a bit of candy to placate the tears. A consolation for the pain I endured; “Poor little guy. Here, have something sweet.”
I often thought of Heaven as being that: a long struggle here, a consolation offered on the “other side,” as it were. God leans down and says, “Poor little one, you’ve been through so much, here, have something that will take your mind off that.”
But that’s not restoration…
The future restoration of which the Bible speaks may be more akin to not a bandage and a confection, but a brand-new knee, with new skin, that never ages, or experiences hurt, and that is completely beyond any kind of skin that anyone could ever image…perfect. But not just a knee, but a new body and a total being without the desire to sin (try to wrap your brain about that).
Heaven is not a popsicle…it’s a new knee. That’s our hope.
John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Monday, December 1, 2008
The Best Laid Plans
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” Prov. 16:9
Sometimes I have an image in my mind that looks something like this…
It’s a cold morning, just before dawn, and I’m sitting in my truck at the edge of a recently cleared plot of land. Beside me is a rolled-up plan. It’s the plan for my life. I’m about to meet with God so that He can look it over. God shows up (I really don’t pay any attention to what kind of vehicle He drives…). I pull out the plans and lay them on the hood of my truck and He looks them over. “Did you do this?” He asks.
“Yes.”
“All by yourself?”
“All by myself.”
“But you didn’t ask Me.”
(pause)“But I’m asking now.”
“Asking for what?”
(another pause, longer this time) “Asking for You to bless them.”
He looks at the plans again. “So, where do I fit in?”
“Excuse me?”
“Me. Where do I fit in your plans?”
I flip a page or two of the sheets, “Here, right here, see, there You are. And You are in some other places too.”
He just looks at me.
“Let Me show you something,” He says. And, with that, He takes out His own plans and places the roll of papers on the hood. “You made plans all by yourself, that’s the problem. And the plans you have made by yourself would be really good plans, if you want to accomplish them all by yourself. These are My plans for you now.”
He unrolls a tiny bit of a corner for me to see. I look at it and say, “And…?”
“Do that, and then I’ll show you more.”
“But I would like to know the rest now.”
“You have plenty to do with this one corner now. Besides, these are My plans for you, not your plans for Me. You are a part of My plan, not the other way around. So, if anyone needs to get his plans in line, it’s you.”
I find myself confronted with that reality at times. I can get comfortable and so focused doing “my own thing” and ignore the One who has plans for my life. And, sometimes, the “corner” that He lets me see makes little or no sense at the time, because I can’t see the entire picture. He’s not an “add-on” or “optional equipment.” He’s the Architect of the plans I am to follow and Builder.
He doesn’t need my wisdom to make His plans for me (“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent” (I Cor.1:19b)), but I need His wisdom to follow the plan (James 3:13). The problem lies in forgetting Him; for us to see a work that can be done by God alone, we must first see a work that is impossible for man alone.
The only thing I can really offer to the accomplishing of the plan is my trust, obedience, and dependence upon Him. “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (II Cor.12:10b). Are you a part of His plans, or is He a part of yours?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Sometimes I have an image in my mind that looks something like this…
It’s a cold morning, just before dawn, and I’m sitting in my truck at the edge of a recently cleared plot of land. Beside me is a rolled-up plan. It’s the plan for my life. I’m about to meet with God so that He can look it over. God shows up (I really don’t pay any attention to what kind of vehicle He drives…). I pull out the plans and lay them on the hood of my truck and He looks them over. “Did you do this?” He asks.
“Yes.”
“All by yourself?”
“All by myself.”
“But you didn’t ask Me.”
(pause)“But I’m asking now.”
“Asking for what?”
(another pause, longer this time) “Asking for You to bless them.”
He looks at the plans again. “So, where do I fit in?”
“Excuse me?”
“Me. Where do I fit in your plans?”
I flip a page or two of the sheets, “Here, right here, see, there You are. And You are in some other places too.”
He just looks at me.
“Let Me show you something,” He says. And, with that, He takes out His own plans and places the roll of papers on the hood. “You made plans all by yourself, that’s the problem. And the plans you have made by yourself would be really good plans, if you want to accomplish them all by yourself. These are My plans for you now.”
He unrolls a tiny bit of a corner for me to see. I look at it and say, “And…?”
“Do that, and then I’ll show you more.”
“But I would like to know the rest now.”
“You have plenty to do with this one corner now. Besides, these are My plans for you, not your plans for Me. You are a part of My plan, not the other way around. So, if anyone needs to get his plans in line, it’s you.”
I find myself confronted with that reality at times. I can get comfortable and so focused doing “my own thing” and ignore the One who has plans for my life. And, sometimes, the “corner” that He lets me see makes little or no sense at the time, because I can’t see the entire picture. He’s not an “add-on” or “optional equipment.” He’s the Architect of the plans I am to follow and Builder.
He doesn’t need my wisdom to make His plans for me (“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent” (I Cor.1:19b)), but I need His wisdom to follow the plan (James 3:13). The problem lies in forgetting Him; for us to see a work that can be done by God alone, we must first see a work that is impossible for man alone.
The only thing I can really offer to the accomplishing of the plan is my trust, obedience, and dependence upon Him. “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (II Cor.12:10b). Are you a part of His plans, or is He a part of yours?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Hold Whatcha' Got...
As a child, growing up on a farm, there were plenty of opportunities to fix fence, split wood and find lost cattle. At times the cattle proved too adept at escaping the confines of the fences, so the posts were lengthened and more levels of plank were installed. One day as my father and I worked on the fence, he came alongside me and showed me what he needed me to do. He measured a section of fencepost, then scored it with the point of a 40 penny nail and lifted the heavy end of a plank, pushing it up to the mark on the post. "All I'm asking you to do is hold it to this mark," he said. "After I level out the other end and nail it, I'll come back down here and nail this end." So I stood there, with my back to his work, staring out into the pasture, holding this plank. The first few moments weren't bad…then time seemed to wear on…and on. I became tired and distracted. Before long, my father was standing beside me looking down at the post.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Wha-?"
"You've let the plank slip."
He was right. He lifted it back up and said, "Hold whatcha' got. That's all you have to do for now. I'm going to work on the other end, and then, then I will come back down to this end and we'll nail it up. I haven't forgotten about you. Just hold whatcha' got."
I think about this at times when I'm shouldering a load, a responsibility, a task that God has given me. He places it into my stewardship, and then he seems to take His time working elsewhere. I grow tired, and impatient while I wait on Him…and I slip away from His mark on my post. It's at those times that He draws alongside and says, "I haven't forgotten about you. Hold whatcha' got." I can trust Him in these moments, after all, He did make some promises: "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" (Ps.27:14), "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (Gal. 6:9), "For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."( Heb. 13:5b).
If the burden is great, "hold whatcha' got" until He lifts it. Concern yourself with the "mark", the standard, that He has laid out for you. He hasn't forgotten you; He may be working on the other end. He knows what He is doing…and He knows right where you are.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Wha-?"
"You've let the plank slip."
He was right. He lifted it back up and said, "Hold whatcha' got. That's all you have to do for now. I'm going to work on the other end, and then, then I will come back down to this end and we'll nail it up. I haven't forgotten about you. Just hold whatcha' got."
I think about this at times when I'm shouldering a load, a responsibility, a task that God has given me. He places it into my stewardship, and then he seems to take His time working elsewhere. I grow tired, and impatient while I wait on Him…and I slip away from His mark on my post. It's at those times that He draws alongside and says, "I haven't forgotten about you. Hold whatcha' got." I can trust Him in these moments, after all, He did make some promises: "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" (Ps.27:14), "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (Gal. 6:9), "For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."( Heb. 13:5b).
If the burden is great, "hold whatcha' got" until He lifts it. Concern yourself with the "mark", the standard, that He has laid out for you. He hasn't forgotten you; He may be working on the other end. He knows what He is doing…and He knows right where you are.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
"Why does Mr. Jefferson have a goatee?"
According to government statistics, in 2006 alone, counterfeit US bills totaling $56,200,000 were discovered after entering into circulation. With home-production of illegal funds posing such a growing problem and the arrival of advanced copiers and better computer printers, the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing in recent years has upgrading the security features of some of the most commonly-counterfeited bills, thus making it much harder for would-be crooks to produce “funny money.” Color-shifting inks, watermarks, and security strips, increase the uniqueness of American currency. According to the US Secret Service website, even the paper that bills are printed on can not be legally produced by an individual. It is of a specific composition, pressed to a particular thickness and contains tiny red and blue fibers (you can see them if you look closely enough).
However, one of the best ways to determine a real bill from a fake one is the simplest: human touch. Because of the characteristics of this closely-guarded paper, a difference can be discerned by the fingertips. Interestingly enough, the best way for one to become skilled at determining counterfeit bills is not by intensive study of the fake money, but by taking every opportunity to handle real currency. When a person knows exactly what the genuine article feels like and looks like, spotting an attempt at deception becomes easier.
The same proves true in matters of spirituality.
There are many voices speaking many things conveniently labeled as “truth,” but not all of these hold up to scrutiny. You can’t believe every person on television who claims to preach the truth, no matter what kind of ratings they might enjoy. Nor should you recommend a particular book simply upon the basis that you found it in a Christian bookstore. And just because a movie mentions God doesn’t make it a religious film. We need discernment.
Hebrews 5:13-14 reads, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” We must train and exercise our spiritual sense of “touch” by disciplined application of Scriptural truth so that we can recognize the counterfeits when they arise.
If you want to spot the frauds, spend time with the truth.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
However, one of the best ways to determine a real bill from a fake one is the simplest: human touch. Because of the characteristics of this closely-guarded paper, a difference can be discerned by the fingertips. Interestingly enough, the best way for one to become skilled at determining counterfeit bills is not by intensive study of the fake money, but by taking every opportunity to handle real currency. When a person knows exactly what the genuine article feels like and looks like, spotting an attempt at deception becomes easier.
The same proves true in matters of spirituality.
There are many voices speaking many things conveniently labeled as “truth,” but not all of these hold up to scrutiny. You can’t believe every person on television who claims to preach the truth, no matter what kind of ratings they might enjoy. Nor should you recommend a particular book simply upon the basis that you found it in a Christian bookstore. And just because a movie mentions God doesn’t make it a religious film. We need discernment.
Hebrews 5:13-14 reads, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” We must train and exercise our spiritual sense of “touch” by disciplined application of Scriptural truth so that we can recognize the counterfeits when they arise.
If you want to spot the frauds, spend time with the truth.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Bellyache
I have a close friend who has been a part of my men’s small group for the last two years now, and I can remember the first time he gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever been given. One day, I related to him the trials of the previous week and the turmoil they had caused. When I finished, I waited for a response. Honestly, I expected the equivalent of an emotional slap on the back and some line about “you’ll make it brother” (how pat we are sometimes in our response to other Christians in straits). Instead, he looked right at me and said, “You know what your problem is? You need perspective. Why don’t you try to get some?”
Not the answer I wanted, but true nonetheless.
It wasn’t the first (nor the last) time that I’ve needed a good dose of perspective. Oftentimes, God brings that perspective through events that you never would have chosen for yourself. Take Jonah for example. Here’s a guy who gets a message from God: Arise, go to Nineveh and preach to them. Now, in all fairness, Nineveh wasn’t the best place for him to go, it might be dangerous; they were, after all, an evil people, God said so Himself. But God Himself also gave a personal command that should have taken priority over Jonah’s desires. So what does Jonah do? Grab a ticket for a cruise in the opposite direction. “But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (Jon. 1:3). But since we have a better chance of losing our shadows than escaping an omnipresent and all-powerful God, He still works His plan in Jonah’s life. He is pitched overboard and swallowed by a “great fish.” 3 days and 3 nights later he is spit out onto land. God speaks to Jonah a second time, “Arise, go to Nineveh” (3:2). This time, he obeys.
What changed? Nineveh was still evil, the mission commanded by God remained static, and the sun continued to rise and set for those 3 days and nights. The world didn’t change; Jonah did. Floating around in the dark gullet of an animal, covered in fish juices (and other stuff you don’t want to imagine) had a profound effect on him. There are changes in perspective that you gain only by spending time in the belly of a fish. Those dark, stinking places and hard, despairing times that we go through shape us more deeply and define us more clearly than most other experiences. They point out our weaknesses and underscore the fact that God has none. Jonah cries out from his own literal fish belly, “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD” (2:7). Our response to difficulty should be no different. Only by remembering God can we have the right perspective.
The Jonah drifting into the deep in the ship’s wake toward the awaiting fish’s mouth was not the same Jonah gulping the fresh air on the shore after being spit out. Likewise, the way you view God, others or even yourself can change dramatically after a period of time in the fish’s belly.
When you do land on the shore, let your first breath be one of thanks, and go to your own Nineveh with a new perspective of the One who holds your life.
Dustin C. George
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Not the answer I wanted, but true nonetheless.
It wasn’t the first (nor the last) time that I’ve needed a good dose of perspective. Oftentimes, God brings that perspective through events that you never would have chosen for yourself. Take Jonah for example. Here’s a guy who gets a message from God: Arise, go to Nineveh and preach to them. Now, in all fairness, Nineveh wasn’t the best place for him to go, it might be dangerous; they were, after all, an evil people, God said so Himself. But God Himself also gave a personal command that should have taken priority over Jonah’s desires. So what does Jonah do? Grab a ticket for a cruise in the opposite direction. “But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (Jon. 1:3). But since we have a better chance of losing our shadows than escaping an omnipresent and all-powerful God, He still works His plan in Jonah’s life. He is pitched overboard and swallowed by a “great fish.” 3 days and 3 nights later he is spit out onto land. God speaks to Jonah a second time, “Arise, go to Nineveh” (3:2). This time, he obeys.
What changed? Nineveh was still evil, the mission commanded by God remained static, and the sun continued to rise and set for those 3 days and nights. The world didn’t change; Jonah did. Floating around in the dark gullet of an animal, covered in fish juices (and other stuff you don’t want to imagine) had a profound effect on him. There are changes in perspective that you gain only by spending time in the belly of a fish. Those dark, stinking places and hard, despairing times that we go through shape us more deeply and define us more clearly than most other experiences. They point out our weaknesses and underscore the fact that God has none. Jonah cries out from his own literal fish belly, “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD” (2:7). Our response to difficulty should be no different. Only by remembering God can we have the right perspective.
The Jonah drifting into the deep in the ship’s wake toward the awaiting fish’s mouth was not the same Jonah gulping the fresh air on the shore after being spit out. Likewise, the way you view God, others or even yourself can change dramatically after a period of time in the fish’s belly.
When you do land on the shore, let your first breath be one of thanks, and go to your own Nineveh with a new perspective of the One who holds your life.
Dustin C. George
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Friday, November 7, 2008
On fear...
Not all things that make noise beside the path come down the path.
---Traditional African proverb
He called it the Wampus Cat. My grandfather loved to talk about it. We would listen wide-eyed as he wove tales of the massive, mythical, predatory cat. I learned that it’s big: “Once, I heard about a Wampus Cat carrying off an adult cow.” It’s fast: “He can outrun cars, so you can’t get away in one.” And it has some kind of special power over its prey: “If you look at his eyes, he will hypnotize you, your feet will stick to the ground and you won’t be able to call for help.” As a small child, I had a healthy fear of the Wampus Cat because of the powers it was said to possess, but that wasn’t the most terrifying aspect, not at all. The one thing that gave that sick feeling of being cold and hot at the same time was the habitat of the Wampus Cat. It lived everywhere. If a softball rolled far under the porch, a warning came from the rocker with the squeaking runners, “If you climb under there, the Wampus Cat will get you.” I couldn’t stray too close to the woods, go into the old barn, or wander around after dark (or in daylight for that matter). Wherever I went and whenever it might be, the Wampus Cat was watching, waiting.
One warm summer evening all the years of the stories and the resultant wariness funneled into a single defining moment. My brother and I were playing at twilight near the edge of my grandparents' yard near the rusted barbed-wire fence hanging heavy with twisted honeysuckle vines that blocked a clear view of the pasture. As my grandfather, returning from fishing, heard our voices across the fencerow, he crept over to the fence and gave the honeysuckle a shake. We froze. “What was that?” my brother asked. We moved slowly toward the noise. He shook the vines again. We took a few more careful steps. With each shake, we drew nearer and nearer. Finally, when we were squinting in the dying light, trying to make out any detail of the source of the noise, my grandfather gave a loud “Wampus Cat yowl.” Instantly, I yelled, “It’s the Wampus Cat!” (Boys often brag, “If I found myself in such-and-such a situation, I would do so-and-so…” We like to think that we would be heroic and brave, unwavering and sacrificial, but when true terror sweeps over you, you tend to forget all of that.) I left my brother and ran as fast as I could go.
I covered the distance of the yard with the speed that comes from knowing that if you are not fast, you will be eaten. I threw open the screen door so hard that it never closed quite right ever again. Running screaming through the house, passing my mother and grandmother, I found a suitable spot in the kitchen between the stove and the countertop that you wouldn’t think that a 18-year old boy could fit into…okay, seriously, I wasn’t 18, but I’m sure that I aged greatly in those few moments. It was one of the most frightening experiences of my young life.
I’ve been scared since. I was fearful when I finally stepped out in obedience to God and left the only place I had ever known as home to move to a new state where I knew no one. Terror gripped me again as I fell off a cliff face in a rock climbing accident. And, every time I stand to preach, waves of absolute, perfect fear wash over me. It’s my greatest joy, yet my greatest fear. These fears are real; you may have fears too. Relationships, health, job situations, financial concerns…each and all may snap at your mind with the teeth of panic and worry. Each person faces a personal Wampus Cat.
The good new is this: we are not left without encouragement or defense. “Fear not“ is a command found often in the Bible; God understands that we can be fearful people. Living under the cloud of worry may overshadow life to the point that any fleeting ray of light will not be enjoyed, but rather anxiously watched in the fear that it will dim far too soon. “Do not fret, it only causes harm,“ wrote the Psalmist (37:8b).
How can we face fear? First, by the gift of God: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Tim.1:7); He has equipped us in Christ with power. As a Christian, you can face your fear because He is with you; “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Heb.13:5b-6). But the key that makes both of the above possible, and enables a person to avoid unnecessary fear, is a necessary fear…the fear of the LORD. It is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Prov.9:10), it keeps us from sinful ways (Prov.16:6), and brings satisfaction and life (Prov.19:23). “The Angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Ps.34:7).
This isn’t to say that we won’t face hardships, loss, and fearful situations; we will. But in the midst of the storms, I must remember the focus: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Ecc.12:13b). Christ is present, and you are to approach Him with fearful reverence.
So let the Wampus Cats yowl as they may, The Sovereign King of the Universe will bring you through.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
---Traditional African proverb
He called it the Wampus Cat. My grandfather loved to talk about it. We would listen wide-eyed as he wove tales of the massive, mythical, predatory cat. I learned that it’s big: “Once, I heard about a Wampus Cat carrying off an adult cow.” It’s fast: “He can outrun cars, so you can’t get away in one.” And it has some kind of special power over its prey: “If you look at his eyes, he will hypnotize you, your feet will stick to the ground and you won’t be able to call for help.” As a small child, I had a healthy fear of the Wampus Cat because of the powers it was said to possess, but that wasn’t the most terrifying aspect, not at all. The one thing that gave that sick feeling of being cold and hot at the same time was the habitat of the Wampus Cat. It lived everywhere. If a softball rolled far under the porch, a warning came from the rocker with the squeaking runners, “If you climb under there, the Wampus Cat will get you.” I couldn’t stray too close to the woods, go into the old barn, or wander around after dark (or in daylight for that matter). Wherever I went and whenever it might be, the Wampus Cat was watching, waiting.
One warm summer evening all the years of the stories and the resultant wariness funneled into a single defining moment. My brother and I were playing at twilight near the edge of my grandparents' yard near the rusted barbed-wire fence hanging heavy with twisted honeysuckle vines that blocked a clear view of the pasture. As my grandfather, returning from fishing, heard our voices across the fencerow, he crept over to the fence and gave the honeysuckle a shake. We froze. “What was that?” my brother asked. We moved slowly toward the noise. He shook the vines again. We took a few more careful steps. With each shake, we drew nearer and nearer. Finally, when we were squinting in the dying light, trying to make out any detail of the source of the noise, my grandfather gave a loud “Wampus Cat yowl.” Instantly, I yelled, “It’s the Wampus Cat!” (Boys often brag, “If I found myself in such-and-such a situation, I would do so-and-so…” We like to think that we would be heroic and brave, unwavering and sacrificial, but when true terror sweeps over you, you tend to forget all of that.) I left my brother and ran as fast as I could go.
I covered the distance of the yard with the speed that comes from knowing that if you are not fast, you will be eaten. I threw open the screen door so hard that it never closed quite right ever again. Running screaming through the house, passing my mother and grandmother, I found a suitable spot in the kitchen between the stove and the countertop that you wouldn’t think that a 18-year old boy could fit into…okay, seriously, I wasn’t 18, but I’m sure that I aged greatly in those few moments. It was one of the most frightening experiences of my young life.
I’ve been scared since. I was fearful when I finally stepped out in obedience to God and left the only place I had ever known as home to move to a new state where I knew no one. Terror gripped me again as I fell off a cliff face in a rock climbing accident. And, every time I stand to preach, waves of absolute, perfect fear wash over me. It’s my greatest joy, yet my greatest fear. These fears are real; you may have fears too. Relationships, health, job situations, financial concerns…each and all may snap at your mind with the teeth of panic and worry. Each person faces a personal Wampus Cat.
The good new is this: we are not left without encouragement or defense. “Fear not“ is a command found often in the Bible; God understands that we can be fearful people. Living under the cloud of worry may overshadow life to the point that any fleeting ray of light will not be enjoyed, but rather anxiously watched in the fear that it will dim far too soon. “Do not fret, it only causes harm,“ wrote the Psalmist (37:8b).
How can we face fear? First, by the gift of God: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Tim.1:7); He has equipped us in Christ with power. As a Christian, you can face your fear because He is with you; “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Heb.13:5b-6). But the key that makes both of the above possible, and enables a person to avoid unnecessary fear, is a necessary fear…the fear of the LORD. It is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Prov.9:10), it keeps us from sinful ways (Prov.16:6), and brings satisfaction and life (Prov.19:23). “The Angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Ps.34:7).
This isn’t to say that we won’t face hardships, loss, and fearful situations; we will. But in the midst of the storms, I must remember the focus: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Ecc.12:13b). Christ is present, and you are to approach Him with fearful reverence.
So let the Wampus Cats yowl as they may, The Sovereign King of the Universe will bring you through.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Monday, November 3, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Tear Down That Wall...
It was Christmas day, just before I graduated from high school (dating myself here, I know), when I opened a gift from my parents and found inside a small chunk of concrete. Yes, concrete, not coal, but concrete (I must have been a really bad kid). With it was a certificate of authenticity indicating that it was a piece of the Berlin Wall.
Let’s revisit history for a moment…
Construction on the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961 (when it was a barbed-wire fence), and it went through four different phases of building until reaching the point of being the formidable barrier separating East and West Berlin and thus East and West Germany (interestingly, in the Soviet Union, the wall was called the "Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart"). This wall was an icon of the Cold War, a time of the West and the East each attempting to grow stronger by the undermining of the other. It stood for 28 years until November 9, 1989 when East German officials allowed people to freely cross the border into West Berlin. In the days and weeks following, many chipped, hammered and pounded at the wall to take home a piece of Cold War history.
This is how I came by the lump of concrete sitting on a shelf in my office. Some forward-thinking person bought multiple sections of the wall on the East Berlin Side (which is why my piece has absolutely no graffiti on it, seems that in East Germany merely approaching the wall with a look of suspicion was a good way to get oneself shot; evidently graffiti is not an art that one would die for). The sections were then imported to America, broken up, boxed with certificates of authenticity, and placed on sale in department stores in time for Christmas. It has always struck me how such a symbol of Communism could be shattered and then distributed all over the world by capitalism…
Every time I think of the Berlin Wall and remember watching the fall of it on television, I think about the soreg. The soreg was the low wall that surrounded the temple in Jerusalem and kept Gentiles (non-Jews) from entering. Jewish worshippers could go and come passing in and out of the 13 places of entry, but no one else. In fact, there were inscriptions around the wall written in Greek stating: “No foreigner is to enter the barriers surrounding the sanctuary. He who is caught will have himself to blame for his death which will follow.” There probably wasn’t any graffiti on the soreg either.
Then, in Ephesians, we find that even though we were once cut off from God (...without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12)), for the Christian there has been a change: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13). Paul continues, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity (2:14-16).
That “middle wall of separation” mentioned in verse 14 is the soreg. We are separated from God no longer, and all who follow Christ as the only Savior and as God Himself are now united in the same family. No more walls, no more soreg. No matter what we look like, how we dress, how much money we have in the bank, or what side of town we call home, as Christians we are part of the same body, the Body of Christ. Since this is the case, what keeps us apart?
Back to Germany…
Now, years after the fall of the wall, there are still people who focus on the cultural differences of East and West Germans. So much so that a 2004 poll indicates that 12% of East Germans and 25% of West Germans wished the Berlin Wall still snaked through the city, cutting the groups off from each other. This view of each other is referred to, in German, as “Mauer im Kopf” (“The wall in the head”).
Even though the physical wall that separated them is gone, there is still a mental barrier when they think of each other. Maybe sometimes, as Christians, we’ve got “the soreg in the head.” If God tore down the wall, what gives me the right to build it again…even if it is in my mind?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
www.threadsmedia.com/life/article/tear-down-that-wall/
Let’s revisit history for a moment…
Construction on the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961 (when it was a barbed-wire fence), and it went through four different phases of building until reaching the point of being the formidable barrier separating East and West Berlin and thus East and West Germany (interestingly, in the Soviet Union, the wall was called the "Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart"). This wall was an icon of the Cold War, a time of the West and the East each attempting to grow stronger by the undermining of the other. It stood for 28 years until November 9, 1989 when East German officials allowed people to freely cross the border into West Berlin. In the days and weeks following, many chipped, hammered and pounded at the wall to take home a piece of Cold War history.
This is how I came by the lump of concrete sitting on a shelf in my office. Some forward-thinking person bought multiple sections of the wall on the East Berlin Side (which is why my piece has absolutely no graffiti on it, seems that in East Germany merely approaching the wall with a look of suspicion was a good way to get oneself shot; evidently graffiti is not an art that one would die for). The sections were then imported to America, broken up, boxed with certificates of authenticity, and placed on sale in department stores in time for Christmas. It has always struck me how such a symbol of Communism could be shattered and then distributed all over the world by capitalism…
Every time I think of the Berlin Wall and remember watching the fall of it on television, I think about the soreg. The soreg was the low wall that surrounded the temple in Jerusalem and kept Gentiles (non-Jews) from entering. Jewish worshippers could go and come passing in and out of the 13 places of entry, but no one else. In fact, there were inscriptions around the wall written in Greek stating: “No foreigner is to enter the barriers surrounding the sanctuary. He who is caught will have himself to blame for his death which will follow.” There probably wasn’t any graffiti on the soreg either.
Then, in Ephesians, we find that even though we were once cut off from God (...without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12)), for the Christian there has been a change: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13). Paul continues, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity (2:14-16).
That “middle wall of separation” mentioned in verse 14 is the soreg. We are separated from God no longer, and all who follow Christ as the only Savior and as God Himself are now united in the same family. No more walls, no more soreg. No matter what we look like, how we dress, how much money we have in the bank, or what side of town we call home, as Christians we are part of the same body, the Body of Christ. Since this is the case, what keeps us apart?
Back to Germany…
Now, years after the fall of the wall, there are still people who focus on the cultural differences of East and West Germans. So much so that a 2004 poll indicates that 12% of East Germans and 25% of West Germans wished the Berlin Wall still snaked through the city, cutting the groups off from each other. This view of each other is referred to, in German, as “Mauer im Kopf” (“The wall in the head”).
Even though the physical wall that separated them is gone, there is still a mental barrier when they think of each other. Maybe sometimes, as Christians, we’ve got “the soreg in the head.” If God tore down the wall, what gives me the right to build it again…even if it is in my mind?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
www.threadsmedia.com/life/article/tear-down-that-wall/
Face to Face
“The extent to which people in a relationship can bring up and resolve issues is a critical marker of the soundness of the relationship.” ---Dr. Henry Cloud
I’ve been thinking about those conversations that one has from time to time. Not via email, not over the phone lines or through the cell towers, not on silent paper dropped into the mail, but face to face. Certainly those other modes of communication have advantages (the speed of email, the convenience of a phone, and the thoughtfulness and anticipation of a letter), but there is something about a face to face conversation that is both deeply meaningful as well as somewhat unnerving (at times). When we face another to communicate, we seek to have as many boundaries removed as possible. We see the expressions, hear the tone of voice, and read the body language. But, too often we are unbalanced in our approach to one another. Dr. Henry Cloud, in his book Boundaries Face To Face, addresses this imbalance (I realize that what follows is a longer quote than I would use usually, but it speaks directly and clearly to my point.):
Many of us live in two worlds when it comes to relationships. In one world we have friendly conversations in which we avoid all disagreements; in the other we have major conflict-type conversations that tear everybody and everything up. In the first world we have connection without truth, and in the second we have truth without connection. God did not design us to live in these two worlds, having these two types of relationships. He wants us to live in the one world, where He lives and where truth and love coexist as allies, not adversaries. Our connections are best when they are truthful, and our truth is best when we are connected.
If I am not careful, I can approach God the same way. I can try to avoid addressing anything that might be in the way of my relationship with God and function on a purely surface level. Or I can focus solely upon the facts and become legalistic, distancing myself from God by my own self-righteousness. God expects us to live with Him face to face. Today, as I read Psalm 27, I saw verse 8; “When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face LORD, I will seek.” Seeking God’s face in the Old Testament meant that you were seeking the presence of God. And He calls us there, to the place where we sit before Him and worship, communicating with our Creator in truth and love, connected with the One who desires for us to come face to face with Him.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
I’ve been thinking about those conversations that one has from time to time. Not via email, not over the phone lines or through the cell towers, not on silent paper dropped into the mail, but face to face. Certainly those other modes of communication have advantages (the speed of email, the convenience of a phone, and the thoughtfulness and anticipation of a letter), but there is something about a face to face conversation that is both deeply meaningful as well as somewhat unnerving (at times). When we face another to communicate, we seek to have as many boundaries removed as possible. We see the expressions, hear the tone of voice, and read the body language. But, too often we are unbalanced in our approach to one another. Dr. Henry Cloud, in his book Boundaries Face To Face, addresses this imbalance (I realize that what follows is a longer quote than I would use usually, but it speaks directly and clearly to my point.):
Many of us live in two worlds when it comes to relationships. In one world we have friendly conversations in which we avoid all disagreements; in the other we have major conflict-type conversations that tear everybody and everything up. In the first world we have connection without truth, and in the second we have truth without connection. God did not design us to live in these two worlds, having these two types of relationships. He wants us to live in the one world, where He lives and where truth and love coexist as allies, not adversaries. Our connections are best when they are truthful, and our truth is best when we are connected.
If I am not careful, I can approach God the same way. I can try to avoid addressing anything that might be in the way of my relationship with God and function on a purely surface level. Or I can focus solely upon the facts and become legalistic, distancing myself from God by my own self-righteousness. God expects us to live with Him face to face. Today, as I read Psalm 27, I saw verse 8; “When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face LORD, I will seek.” Seeking God’s face in the Old Testament meant that you were seeking the presence of God. And He calls us there, to the place where we sit before Him and worship, communicating with our Creator in truth and love, connected with the One who desires for us to come face to face with Him.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Cramping Your Style
We had a bull on our farm when I was young. Great animal, except for one little thing: he hated being confined to a pen…or a pasture…or multiple pastures for that matter. When he decided that it was time to take a little walk through the fence (and I do mean through the fence) or take a leap over the fence, then he would do so and casually stroll wherever he might want to go. Any barrier, whether perceived or real, would be seen as a threat to his freedom and would be dealt with accordingly. One particular summer night stands out in my mind because on that night, discovering the bull was out and roving about the neighborhood, we went to find him in our truck. Before the night was over, the truck got a little too close and had its grille torn to pieces by the calmly-executed movement of a well-placed horn. The lessons learned were simple: he didn’t like fences or anything else that came too close. He was good-natured, so long as he had room to do just as he pleased and we didn’t invade his “space.”
I’ve seen that those things that stand in opposition to the work of God (the world, the flesh, and Satan) work the same way as the bull. So long as you don’t “cramp their style” they will leave you be. When you allow God to come against those towering strongholds and the fallow, unproductive ground in your life, you can be assured that there will be opposition. Areas that were once no real threat are now seen as places where the power of God is seen at work, and Satan won’t like it, the world won’t like it, and your flesh won’t like it. I’ve talked to people who seem mystified that when they try to live for Christ in the workplace they are ridiculed by people. They are stunned that a life with Christ has troubles, amazed that Satan would launch a counter-attack or attempt to undermine what God wants to do in the life of the Christian. Even more unsettling is the activity of the flesh, the habits of who you were before coming to Christ, fighting against the work of the Spirit of God.
This is why Jesus says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18,19). In Romans we find the command, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14). And Peter writes, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. 5:8). You are to watch and take great care when doing the will of God. The world, the flesh and Satan will combat your every move toward obedience to Christ and everything done for His glory. If you aren’t in the battle, then you will never have to face the arrows, but if you are facing the arrows for His sake, know that He is doing something in your life and in your personal ministry that is a threat to the enemies of God.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
I’ve seen that those things that stand in opposition to the work of God (the world, the flesh, and Satan) work the same way as the bull. So long as you don’t “cramp their style” they will leave you be. When you allow God to come against those towering strongholds and the fallow, unproductive ground in your life, you can be assured that there will be opposition. Areas that were once no real threat are now seen as places where the power of God is seen at work, and Satan won’t like it, the world won’t like it, and your flesh won’t like it. I’ve talked to people who seem mystified that when they try to live for Christ in the workplace they are ridiculed by people. They are stunned that a life with Christ has troubles, amazed that Satan would launch a counter-attack or attempt to undermine what God wants to do in the life of the Christian. Even more unsettling is the activity of the flesh, the habits of who you were before coming to Christ, fighting against the work of the Spirit of God.
This is why Jesus says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18,19). In Romans we find the command, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14). And Peter writes, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. 5:8). You are to watch and take great care when doing the will of God. The world, the flesh and Satan will combat your every move toward obedience to Christ and everything done for His glory. If you aren’t in the battle, then you will never have to face the arrows, but if you are facing the arrows for His sake, know that He is doing something in your life and in your personal ministry that is a threat to the enemies of God.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Keep Your Words Soft and Sweet...You May Have to Eat Them
“I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.”
-Publius, a Greek sage
Have you ever been talking to someone, and you reach that point where an internal monologue begins? Your brain says something like this: “Stop talking already. You’ve said too much. Hello, mouth, are you listening to me?” Yet your tongue keeps galloping along no matter how hard you might tug on the reins. We have all been at that place. Those words spoken without thought (or any words for that matter) can never be called back. And we watch helplessly as they stampede along. If only we could discipline ourselves in the area of speech.
I taught high school for a number of years, and one thing I often asked of students was to think before speaking. Often they did not, but on occasion, they did. One particular student comes to mind. After numerous interruptions, I told him that our first step was to give him the opportunity to remedy the situation. I asked, “What do you think would help?”
“Maybe if I thought before I spoke.”
“How long would you need?”
“How about 5 seconds?”
“Alright, here’s what we’ll do. You have a thought, or a question, and you raise your hand. I will keep teaching until at least 5 seconds have passed. If your hand is still up then, and you have thought about your question or comment for that time, then I’ll call on you. But if I call on you, and your response is one that can be taken as an attempt to be silly or disruptive, we will have to find another way to deal with this.” That was our guideline.
The next day, I reminded him of the agreement. I remember the first time that he “self-governed” himself. His hand shot up, and his mouth opened; I just held up my hand, and then spread my 5 fingers. I kept teaching, and saw his expression change to a brow knitted in thought. He nodded to himself and lowered his hand. I asked him later what he had been on the verge of saying. “Nothing I should have said,” was his response.
It’s so simple, think before you speak. I remember reading once that Winston Churchill said of someone, “[He] has the gift of compressing the largest amount of words into the smallest amount of thought.” That’s how many of us can be characterized at times: too many words, not enough thought. Yet the warning in the Bible is clear: “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who is restrains his lips is wise” (Prov. 10:19).
“But,” one might say, “I have so much to say; I couldn’t wait 5 seconds.” If I waited 5 seconds before I spoke, and used those seconds to think. I would have much less to say, and much less to ask forgiveness for.
Would a 5 second-rule be a good idea for your speech?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
-Publius, a Greek sage
Have you ever been talking to someone, and you reach that point where an internal monologue begins? Your brain says something like this: “Stop talking already. You’ve said too much. Hello, mouth, are you listening to me?” Yet your tongue keeps galloping along no matter how hard you might tug on the reins. We have all been at that place. Those words spoken without thought (or any words for that matter) can never be called back. And we watch helplessly as they stampede along. If only we could discipline ourselves in the area of speech.
I taught high school for a number of years, and one thing I often asked of students was to think before speaking. Often they did not, but on occasion, they did. One particular student comes to mind. After numerous interruptions, I told him that our first step was to give him the opportunity to remedy the situation. I asked, “What do you think would help?”
“Maybe if I thought before I spoke.”
“How long would you need?”
“How about 5 seconds?”
“Alright, here’s what we’ll do. You have a thought, or a question, and you raise your hand. I will keep teaching until at least 5 seconds have passed. If your hand is still up then, and you have thought about your question or comment for that time, then I’ll call on you. But if I call on you, and your response is one that can be taken as an attempt to be silly or disruptive, we will have to find another way to deal with this.” That was our guideline.
The next day, I reminded him of the agreement. I remember the first time that he “self-governed” himself. His hand shot up, and his mouth opened; I just held up my hand, and then spread my 5 fingers. I kept teaching, and saw his expression change to a brow knitted in thought. He nodded to himself and lowered his hand. I asked him later what he had been on the verge of saying. “Nothing I should have said,” was his response.
It’s so simple, think before you speak. I remember reading once that Winston Churchill said of someone, “[He] has the gift of compressing the largest amount of words into the smallest amount of thought.” That’s how many of us can be characterized at times: too many words, not enough thought. Yet the warning in the Bible is clear: “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who is restrains his lips is wise” (Prov. 10:19).
“But,” one might say, “I have so much to say; I couldn’t wait 5 seconds.” If I waited 5 seconds before I spoke, and used those seconds to think. I would have much less to say, and much less to ask forgiveness for.
Would a 5 second-rule be a good idea for your speech?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Waiting for a Plane
World War II ended many, many years of geographic isolation for some of the inhabitants of certain South Pacific islands. Many of these islands were used by the allied forces as supply depots as planes would drop cargo from the air via parachute or unload the supplies after landing on temporary airstrips. Natives who lived on the islands beheld such wonders as Zippo lighters that produced flames from one’s hand, Jeeps roving over the landscape, power tools and machinery that leveled trees and moved earth, and food eaten from cans. The tribes came up with an interesting, but erroneous, line of thought. The “rituals” performed by the troops (talking into a radio, marching around with guns, having hangers with small planes inside them) would usher in the arrival of larger planes from the gods, laden with “magical” wonders from the modern world. So, when the war ended, “shrines” began to be erected on the islands: bamboo and vine cargo planes inside mock hangers near crudely-constructed landing strips lined with native-built (non-functioning, of course) control towers. Some natives went through “drills” that entailed marching around in ranks with sticks resembling guns and talking on coconut headsets. Objects such as lighters, cameras, pens and any other modern trappings became venerated icons. All the while, they watched the skies, waiting for the gods to smile upon their efforts in replicating the details of the “rituals” and reward them with a low-flying cargo plane heavy with treasures.
Sadly, some missionaries found great difficulty in evangelizing these groups because they weren’t looking for the God, but for what a god could bring to them. Even showing up on the islands with modern items would give the natives great joy because they believed that finally, the second coming of the cargo gods had occurred.
It’s easy to dismiss the “cargo cults” with a chuckle and a shake of the head, but stop and consider the questions and statements that are posed to God today: “What does Jesus have that I need?” “What is in church for me, because I deserve a lot?” “I did my part, now this is what I want to see happen from you God!” Essentially what is being said is this: “God, where’s my cargo?”
Colossians reminds us that “All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (1:16b-17). He created all things for Himself…that includes me. God doesn’t exist for me, I exist for Him. My acts of worship are to be offered to Christ because He alone is worthy of the praise, not because I’m trying to get something out of Him. As one great preacher of old said, “[It’s] not what you can get from Him, but what He will get from you.”
You don’t have to be living in America in the 21st century to be materialistic, and you don’t have to be a native in the South Pacific to have the wrong view of God.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Sadly, some missionaries found great difficulty in evangelizing these groups because they weren’t looking for the God, but for what a god could bring to them. Even showing up on the islands with modern items would give the natives great joy because they believed that finally, the second coming of the cargo gods had occurred.
It’s easy to dismiss the “cargo cults” with a chuckle and a shake of the head, but stop and consider the questions and statements that are posed to God today: “What does Jesus have that I need?” “What is in church for me, because I deserve a lot?” “I did my part, now this is what I want to see happen from you God!” Essentially what is being said is this: “God, where’s my cargo?”
Colossians reminds us that “All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (1:16b-17). He created all things for Himself…that includes me. God doesn’t exist for me, I exist for Him. My acts of worship are to be offered to Christ because He alone is worthy of the praise, not because I’m trying to get something out of Him. As one great preacher of old said, “[It’s] not what you can get from Him, but what He will get from you.”
You don’t have to be living in America in the 21st century to be materialistic, and you don’t have to be a native in the South Pacific to have the wrong view of God.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Monday, October 20, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Take Me Out-...Were You Ever In?
“Bullfight critics row on row
Crowd the enormous plaza full,
But only one is there who knows,
And he is the one who fights the bull.”
I went to a baseball game a while back and participated in all those traditions of the great American pastime: soft pretzels, hard seats and loud hecklers. We listened to a man seated behind our group shout commands and comments to the batter, the umpire, and most pointedly, to the guy on first (and his name wasn’t “Who”). All evening long this guy gave clear color commentary on what was wrong with the pitching, catching and batting and exactly what should be done to remedy the “problems.” I glanced back at him to see just what this “keeper of all wisdom” looked like and saw a middle-aged guy settled comfortably in his seat with a drink in his hand. Though he was amusing, this gentleman may have been right on some points and, on others, he might have been positively wrong. One could debate many of the things that he said, but one thing was absolutely certain: he was not in the game. Though he was full of energy and full of even more opinion, he wasn’t wearing a jersey, didn’t have a bat or glove, and his name wasn’t called out in any lineup. He was, despite all his posturing, a complaining spectator. Being in the ballpark didn’t mean he was in the game.
I couldn’t help but wonder how many times the same thing happens in church.
It’s not an issue that has appeared only recently. James makes it clear that the problem of complaining has been in the church for a long time, “Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” (5:9). We are reminded elsewhere “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:14,15).
Our attitude will influence how, and if, we shine as “lights in the world.” That’s a weighty responsibility, but a responsibility that we must understand if we are really “in the game.” We may share opinions to further the team’s progress, and we may speak candidly, and yes, passionately in certain instances and in the appropriate places, but love for Christ and His Church must govern us. Just being in the ballpark didn’t mean that guy was in the game; just being Christians, regardless of the opinions we might state, doesn’t mean that we’re actively participating in the Body of Christ.
If you are in the game, support the team.
If you aren’t in the game, there’s a place on the team for you…but it’s not in the bleachers.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Crowd the enormous plaza full,
But only one is there who knows,
And he is the one who fights the bull.”
I went to a baseball game a while back and participated in all those traditions of the great American pastime: soft pretzels, hard seats and loud hecklers. We listened to a man seated behind our group shout commands and comments to the batter, the umpire, and most pointedly, to the guy on first (and his name wasn’t “Who”). All evening long this guy gave clear color commentary on what was wrong with the pitching, catching and batting and exactly what should be done to remedy the “problems.” I glanced back at him to see just what this “keeper of all wisdom” looked like and saw a middle-aged guy settled comfortably in his seat with a drink in his hand. Though he was amusing, this gentleman may have been right on some points and, on others, he might have been positively wrong. One could debate many of the things that he said, but one thing was absolutely certain: he was not in the game. Though he was full of energy and full of even more opinion, he wasn’t wearing a jersey, didn’t have a bat or glove, and his name wasn’t called out in any lineup. He was, despite all his posturing, a complaining spectator. Being in the ballpark didn’t mean he was in the game.
I couldn’t help but wonder how many times the same thing happens in church.
It’s not an issue that has appeared only recently. James makes it clear that the problem of complaining has been in the church for a long time, “Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” (5:9). We are reminded elsewhere “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:14,15).
Our attitude will influence how, and if, we shine as “lights in the world.” That’s a weighty responsibility, but a responsibility that we must understand if we are really “in the game.” We may share opinions to further the team’s progress, and we may speak candidly, and yes, passionately in certain instances and in the appropriate places, but love for Christ and His Church must govern us. Just being in the ballpark didn’t mean that guy was in the game; just being Christians, regardless of the opinions we might state, doesn’t mean that we’re actively participating in the Body of Christ.
If you are in the game, support the team.
If you aren’t in the game, there’s a place on the team for you…but it’s not in the bleachers.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Practice Stillness
When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else--we are the busiest people in the world. ---Eric Hoffer
Have you ever tried to dig a hole in dry sand? One shovelful comes out, another slides in from the edges. You dig and dig and keep finding more and more sand in the hole. It’s tempting to say, “That’s enough; I quit!” Chances are (if you are like most) you find yourself busily attempting to dig yourself out after the tasks of life slide in upon you. As a matter of fact, you might be reading this on a break, or have had to put off reading this until later because you are so busy. The responsibilities of career, family, a social life and church can seem never-ending. The “to-do” list grows to multiple pages. Each hour of each day of the calendar fills. Someone asks, “What do you do in your spare time?” You respond, “Spare time? What’s that?”
When is the last time that you took time to be still? Do you remember? I remember times in my own life when I’ve experienced true stillness: standing alone in a humid Costa Rican rainforest at dusk, intense times of prayer when all distractions seemed far removed from me, a moment in the National Cathedral in Washington, and some other instances come to mind. In each case, the busyness of life was overridden in the stillness by the presence of God. But then, I had to be still first. I wonder how many times I was so busy making and carrying out my plans, that I missed God in the process. He’s there, and I shuffle about under my load, head down, and miss that moment with Him. Since every worthwhile relationship takes time, could it be said that your relationship with Him is being shown as worthwhile by the time you spend with Him? You say, “But there’s the hole, and the sand, the growing ‘to-do’ list and the day planner. There is no time!” Yes, life is busy, there is no mistaking that. But there is time for God, assuming you make time. Martin Luther once said, “I have so much business to do today that I shall not be able to get through it with less than three hours’ prayer.” You must make time before God to be still.
Ps. 46:10a reads, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Be still, quit grasping, stop trying to do it alone, wait quietly upon Him…Be still and you will know that He is God.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Have you ever tried to dig a hole in dry sand? One shovelful comes out, another slides in from the edges. You dig and dig and keep finding more and more sand in the hole. It’s tempting to say, “That’s enough; I quit!” Chances are (if you are like most) you find yourself busily attempting to dig yourself out after the tasks of life slide in upon you. As a matter of fact, you might be reading this on a break, or have had to put off reading this until later because you are so busy. The responsibilities of career, family, a social life and church can seem never-ending. The “to-do” list grows to multiple pages. Each hour of each day of the calendar fills. Someone asks, “What do you do in your spare time?” You respond, “Spare time? What’s that?”
When is the last time that you took time to be still? Do you remember? I remember times in my own life when I’ve experienced true stillness: standing alone in a humid Costa Rican rainforest at dusk, intense times of prayer when all distractions seemed far removed from me, a moment in the National Cathedral in Washington, and some other instances come to mind. In each case, the busyness of life was overridden in the stillness by the presence of God. But then, I had to be still first. I wonder how many times I was so busy making and carrying out my plans, that I missed God in the process. He’s there, and I shuffle about under my load, head down, and miss that moment with Him. Since every worthwhile relationship takes time, could it be said that your relationship with Him is being shown as worthwhile by the time you spend with Him? You say, “But there’s the hole, and the sand, the growing ‘to-do’ list and the day planner. There is no time!” Yes, life is busy, there is no mistaking that. But there is time for God, assuming you make time. Martin Luther once said, “I have so much business to do today that I shall not be able to get through it with less than three hours’ prayer.” You must make time before God to be still.
Ps. 46:10a reads, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Be still, quit grasping, stop trying to do it alone, wait quietly upon Him…Be still and you will know that He is God.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
It Wouldn't Have Worked On Me...I Hate Marshmallows...(Dark Chocolate, a Different Story)
“The trouble is that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t.”
--Dr. Phillips Brooks
The psychological experiment is legendary now…Stanford University in the 1960s, a number of four-year-olds, and bags of marshmallows all converged to produce a study on waiting and rewards. A single marshmallow was placed on the table in front of each child tested. The children were told that they would be given another marshmallow in addition to the first one if they did not eat the first one before the researcher returned (usually within 15-20 minutes). If the first one was eaten before time was up, they would not receive the second marshmallow. Each child was then left alone in the room with a single, tempting marshmallow for company and was watched from the other room secretly to record the behavior.
Some children sang songs and hummed to distract themselves, while others stared around the room, intentionally avoiding the sight of the marshmallow. One child crawled under the table to avoid eating the marshmallow and others sat holding their heads. At least one of them placed the tip of his tongue on the tabletop…as…close…as…he…could… possibly…get to the marshmallow without actually touching it. There were some of the children who sat very still, very patiently, for a very long time (at least, a long time for a four-year-old) and waited. Then there were those who simply looked at the marshmallow and devoured it, thus missing the reward of twice as many later, opting instead for immediate gratification.
Patience can be hard to maintain, regardless of age. I sometimes ask groups of people, “How many of you have ever prayed for patience?” Usually a large number of hands go up. Then I ask, “How many of you have ever prayed for patience more than once?” Usually the vast majority of hands drop. Why? Because God does not so much give patience to us as develop patience in us. It’s not something that is usually dropped into a person’s life easily by a one-time installation, but it is a virtue developed over time, through difficult and trying circumstances. During those situations, God seems to take His time with us to grow patience within us. God is “the God of patience” (Rom. 15:5).
We, as His children, are to bear the same characteristic. We too, are to wait calmly and allow “patience [to] have its perfect work” (James 1:4). Often we think we have signed up for a spiritual 50-yard dash, but in actuality, we are slated for the marathon.
The marshmallow study mentioned earlier didn’t end in the 1960s. Researchers tracked these individuals who were tested and studied them again, thirty years later, as adults. The results: the children who didn’t wait tended to become adults who were impulsive and sought instant results, whereas the ones who waited tended to be more disciplined and structured and patient in all areas of their lives. Lives of impatience, left unchecked, continually produce even more impatience.
Far too often, because of impatience, we sacrifice the “best” yet to come and settle for the “good enough” now. We seek to gratify the flesh instead of glorifying Christ. All the waiting and patience yields rewards…and they are greater than a second marshmallow.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
--Dr. Phillips Brooks
The psychological experiment is legendary now…Stanford University in the 1960s, a number of four-year-olds, and bags of marshmallows all converged to produce a study on waiting and rewards. A single marshmallow was placed on the table in front of each child tested. The children were told that they would be given another marshmallow in addition to the first one if they did not eat the first one before the researcher returned (usually within 15-20 minutes). If the first one was eaten before time was up, they would not receive the second marshmallow. Each child was then left alone in the room with a single, tempting marshmallow for company and was watched from the other room secretly to record the behavior.
Some children sang songs and hummed to distract themselves, while others stared around the room, intentionally avoiding the sight of the marshmallow. One child crawled under the table to avoid eating the marshmallow and others sat holding their heads. At least one of them placed the tip of his tongue on the tabletop…as…close…as…he…could… possibly…get to the marshmallow without actually touching it. There were some of the children who sat very still, very patiently, for a very long time (at least, a long time for a four-year-old) and waited. Then there were those who simply looked at the marshmallow and devoured it, thus missing the reward of twice as many later, opting instead for immediate gratification.
Patience can be hard to maintain, regardless of age. I sometimes ask groups of people, “How many of you have ever prayed for patience?” Usually a large number of hands go up. Then I ask, “How many of you have ever prayed for patience more than once?” Usually the vast majority of hands drop. Why? Because God does not so much give patience to us as develop patience in us. It’s not something that is usually dropped into a person’s life easily by a one-time installation, but it is a virtue developed over time, through difficult and trying circumstances. During those situations, God seems to take His time with us to grow patience within us. God is “the God of patience” (Rom. 15:5).
We, as His children, are to bear the same characteristic. We too, are to wait calmly and allow “patience [to] have its perfect work” (James 1:4). Often we think we have signed up for a spiritual 50-yard dash, but in actuality, we are slated for the marathon.
The marshmallow study mentioned earlier didn’t end in the 1960s. Researchers tracked these individuals who were tested and studied them again, thirty years later, as adults. The results: the children who didn’t wait tended to become adults who were impulsive and sought instant results, whereas the ones who waited tended to be more disciplined and structured and patient in all areas of their lives. Lives of impatience, left unchecked, continually produce even more impatience.
Far too often, because of impatience, we sacrifice the “best” yet to come and settle for the “good enough” now. We seek to gratify the flesh instead of glorifying Christ. All the waiting and patience yields rewards…and they are greater than a second marshmallow.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
You Never Know How Far Your Care Will Reach...Or Your Neglect...
I was struck by a story that originally came from Gary LaFerla’s book Finding Your Way. It’s an account taken from the U.S. Navy’s records recording events from WWII. Elgin Staples was aboard the USS Astoria when it was attacked by the enemy in the battle for Savo Island in the Pacific. This is the remainder of the story found in LaFerla’s book:
About 0200 hours a young Midwesterner, Signalman 3rd class Elgin Staples, was swept overboard by the blast when the Astoria’s number one eight-inch gun turret exploded. Wounded in both legs by shrapnel and in semi-shock, he was kept afloat by a narrow lifebelt that he managed to activate with a simple trigger mechanism.
At around 0600 hours, Staples was rescued by a passing destroyer and returned to the Astoria, whose captain was attempting to save the cruiser by beaching her. The effort failed, and Staples, still wearing the same lifebelt, found himself back in the water. It was lunchtime. Picked up again, this time by the USS President Jackson, he was one of 500 survivors of the battle who were evacuated to Noumea. On board the transport, Staples hugging that lifebelt with gratitude looked at that small piece of equipment for the first time. He scrutinized every stitch of the lifebelt that had served him so well. It had been manufactured by Firestone Tire and Rubber of Akron, Ohio, and bore a registration number.
Given home leave, Staples told his story and asked his mother, who worked for Firestone, about the purpose of the number on the belt. She replied that the company insisted on personal responsibility for the war effort and that the number was unique and assigned to only one inspector. Staples remembered everything about the lifebelt, and quoted the number. There was a moment of stunned silence in the room and then his mother spoke: “That was my personal code that I affixed to every item I was responsible for approving.”*
Mrs. Staples in the story above could not have thought that the lifebelt she held in her hands and looked at so carefully would be in the hands of her son who would also study its construction after it saved his life, yet she had a personal responsibility for the safety of the one to use the belt…even if she never knew who would use it.
Every time God places you in someone’s path, or someone in your path, He is giving you an opportunity to minister. I think about Paul’s comment that he would only boast of what God had done “within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you” (II Cor. 10:13). This “sphere” was the area where God had placed the apostle to minister and included those to whom he wrote. It was a personal responsibility given to him by God. That person you encounter in your “sphere”, like the lifebelt, may just as well have a “personal code” written on them: they are your responsibility, an opportunity given by God to share with that individual what He has done and is doing in your life. You may not have the opportunity to pull out a tract and go over the plan of salvation, more likely it will be you conveying Christ in your behavior and manner and speech.
You may never know the impact that moment makes upon that person. God may choose to use that seemingly ordinary encounter to convict, encourage, minister or challenge…or to save a life.
What responsibility do you take for those around you?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
About 0200 hours a young Midwesterner, Signalman 3rd class Elgin Staples, was swept overboard by the blast when the Astoria’s number one eight-inch gun turret exploded. Wounded in both legs by shrapnel and in semi-shock, he was kept afloat by a narrow lifebelt that he managed to activate with a simple trigger mechanism.
At around 0600 hours, Staples was rescued by a passing destroyer and returned to the Astoria, whose captain was attempting to save the cruiser by beaching her. The effort failed, and Staples, still wearing the same lifebelt, found himself back in the water. It was lunchtime. Picked up again, this time by the USS President Jackson, he was one of 500 survivors of the battle who were evacuated to Noumea. On board the transport, Staples hugging that lifebelt with gratitude looked at that small piece of equipment for the first time. He scrutinized every stitch of the lifebelt that had served him so well. It had been manufactured by Firestone Tire and Rubber of Akron, Ohio, and bore a registration number.
Given home leave, Staples told his story and asked his mother, who worked for Firestone, about the purpose of the number on the belt. She replied that the company insisted on personal responsibility for the war effort and that the number was unique and assigned to only one inspector. Staples remembered everything about the lifebelt, and quoted the number. There was a moment of stunned silence in the room and then his mother spoke: “That was my personal code that I affixed to every item I was responsible for approving.”*
Mrs. Staples in the story above could not have thought that the lifebelt she held in her hands and looked at so carefully would be in the hands of her son who would also study its construction after it saved his life, yet she had a personal responsibility for the safety of the one to use the belt…even if she never knew who would use it.
Every time God places you in someone’s path, or someone in your path, He is giving you an opportunity to minister. I think about Paul’s comment that he would only boast of what God had done “within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you” (II Cor. 10:13). This “sphere” was the area where God had placed the apostle to minister and included those to whom he wrote. It was a personal responsibility given to him by God. That person you encounter in your “sphere”, like the lifebelt, may just as well have a “personal code” written on them: they are your responsibility, an opportunity given by God to share with that individual what He has done and is doing in your life. You may not have the opportunity to pull out a tract and go over the plan of salvation, more likely it will be you conveying Christ in your behavior and manner and speech.
You may never know the impact that moment makes upon that person. God may choose to use that seemingly ordinary encounter to convict, encourage, minister or challenge…or to save a life.
What responsibility do you take for those around you?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
"Kumba" lit. the Congo word for "Roar...while you hang on for dear life."
At the time, it was the highest and fastest roller coaster in the Southeastern United States. Rising above the city like a green twisted silly straw, The Kumba reached 65 miles per hour in the initial drop and continued into a maze of track wrapped and woven through the trees and walkways in the amusement park. It was the first roller coaster I had ever ridden. I rode it once, went back into the line again, then again. On that third trip, like the previous two, I sat in the car, but I sat in a seat that had been vacant on the other trips. And as the cars began the slow climb up the initial ascent, I pushed against the padded safety collar that had been lowered over my head and shoulders before we started to move. When I pushed, the collar lifted away from me, pivoting on the hinge at the top of the seat’s headrest. It didn’t open completely, but it did swing up until it was above the 90 degree mark; I could lift it up above my sightline, quite far enough for me to be ejected from the seat in the loops. I slammed the collar against me, hard. It didn’t lock. I tried again and again to force the harness into the proper position, but to no avail. I looked at the stranger next to me. He was a heavily tattooed motorcycle-type. He said only one sentence, “You, my friend, are about to die.”
You know how, when people go over the top of the ascent and begin the initial drop on those rides, they yell out in excitement? There were only stark-raving-fear-yells coming out of me. I had the forethought to lace my arms through the metal handles on the safety collar and brace my feet against a tiny metal lip near the edge of the car’s floor. This ride, this 45-second ride, seemed to span hours. With every loop, I lifted from my seat into a half-standing stance. When the ride finally ended and went into the station for unloading, I slumped down in my seat and dropped my arms. The collar rose up (while all the other’s remained locked). The attendant looked at me wide-eyed and said, “Your collar didn’t lock?”
“No, it didn’t,” I replied. He shouted out to another attendant to block off the seat until repairs could be made. I staggered out of the car, right behind Mr. Motorcycle Guy. His friends met him on the sidewalk, “How was it?” they asked.
“It was awesome, lots of fun!” he responded.
What made the difference? What was the difference between his experience and my last ride? We were on the same row, in the same car, on the same ride. But the two feet from the center of my seat to the center of his made the difference. Two feet over and he would have been yelling for his life. As a matter of fact, I had sat in his seat for the two previous rides and whooped with enjoyment. Now, two feet to the left, it wasn’t the same.
I’ve been thinking lately, how many times must I have sat two feet from someone in need of encouragement and didn’t recognize it (or worse, I recognized it, but didn’t offer encouragement)? I’m going along enjoying the ride, while a fellow passenger, white-knuckled with buckled knees, looks on at the same ride with terror. What’s the difference in us? Two feet.
Isaiah refers to God on a number of occasions in the context of the comfort He offers (Is. 40:1; 51:3; 66:13). But, too often when that comfort from God is given to us out of His great mercy and grace, we see it as completed action: “Now that I’m comforted, I never have to consider that problem again.” We move on and promptly forget the circumstances that brought us to the point where we needed the comfort. Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” II Cor. 1:3,4. Those verses make my response to God’s comfort clear: when God offers me comfort and consolation, when He brings me to the point where He speaks truth to my heart through His word and His work, I am then to turn and offer that same comfort to others who find themselves in my seat, the seat that is just a couple of feet away.
Who can you reach out to and encourage and comfort today?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
You know how, when people go over the top of the ascent and begin the initial drop on those rides, they yell out in excitement? There were only stark-raving-fear-yells coming out of me. I had the forethought to lace my arms through the metal handles on the safety collar and brace my feet against a tiny metal lip near the edge of the car’s floor. This ride, this 45-second ride, seemed to span hours. With every loop, I lifted from my seat into a half-standing stance. When the ride finally ended and went into the station for unloading, I slumped down in my seat and dropped my arms. The collar rose up (while all the other’s remained locked). The attendant looked at me wide-eyed and said, “Your collar didn’t lock?”
“No, it didn’t,” I replied. He shouted out to another attendant to block off the seat until repairs could be made. I staggered out of the car, right behind Mr. Motorcycle Guy. His friends met him on the sidewalk, “How was it?” they asked.
“It was awesome, lots of fun!” he responded.
What made the difference? What was the difference between his experience and my last ride? We were on the same row, in the same car, on the same ride. But the two feet from the center of my seat to the center of his made the difference. Two feet over and he would have been yelling for his life. As a matter of fact, I had sat in his seat for the two previous rides and whooped with enjoyment. Now, two feet to the left, it wasn’t the same.
I’ve been thinking lately, how many times must I have sat two feet from someone in need of encouragement and didn’t recognize it (or worse, I recognized it, but didn’t offer encouragement)? I’m going along enjoying the ride, while a fellow passenger, white-knuckled with buckled knees, looks on at the same ride with terror. What’s the difference in us? Two feet.
Isaiah refers to God on a number of occasions in the context of the comfort He offers (Is. 40:1; 51:3; 66:13). But, too often when that comfort from God is given to us out of His great mercy and grace, we see it as completed action: “Now that I’m comforted, I never have to consider that problem again.” We move on and promptly forget the circumstances that brought us to the point where we needed the comfort. Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” II Cor. 1:3,4. Those verses make my response to God’s comfort clear: when God offers me comfort and consolation, when He brings me to the point where He speaks truth to my heart through His word and His work, I am then to turn and offer that same comfort to others who find themselves in my seat, the seat that is just a couple of feet away.
Who can you reach out to and encourage and comfort today?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Authorized Signatures
I was in a bookstore a couple of years ago and placed my credit card on the counter. I had not signed the card because I didn’t want someone to have my signature if the card happened to be stolen or lost. The woman behind the counter scanned it, then looked at the back and said, “I can’t accept this unless it’s signed.” I explained to her my reasoning, and she smiled and said again, “You’ll have to sign it to complete your purchase.” Not wanting to hold court over the matter, I signed the card. She then handed me the receipt to sign…and promptly compared the signatures, nodded, and returned my card to me. I wondered just how much safer my identity had become…
There is much talk of “identity theft”. We speak of the future of DNA identification, certain Internet upgrades to prevent user fraud, the placement of “biometric” data on credit cards (like a fingerprint) to secure information. All are to prevent our “identities” from being used by others. According to the standard estimate, $56.6 billion was lost last year in the United States due to identity theft. It’s a serious and costly threat; people rob you of your personal information to do with it as they wish and show little regard for you and your privacy.
Unfortunately, some people have the same view of God.
“Let’s say I give my entire life over to Him,” the reasoning goes. “He will take away my friends, my fun, and everything I really want. God will, in fact, ruin my life and take away who I am. He will steal my identity.” I’ve (sadly) spoken to more than one person about this subject. I always think about Matthew 16:24-26: Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” What exactly is Christ speaking of losing? Do I lose my identity and become a part of a faceless, nameless bowl of “spiritual pudding”? Do I fade into a type of Christian anonymity, absorbed by the masses? Look at what Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So, spiritually, who I am before I begin to follow a life with Christ dies when I commit my life to Him (the Bible refers to this as the “old man”), but according to Jesus, when that happens, I find my life (“but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it”). I don’t lose a life that is worth keeping when I come to Him…I gain one beyond compare.
The person God wants you to be, the best and most valuable identity you could ever possess, is found only in a life with Him.
Are you living the identity He desires for you?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
There is much talk of “identity theft”. We speak of the future of DNA identification, certain Internet upgrades to prevent user fraud, the placement of “biometric” data on credit cards (like a fingerprint) to secure information. All are to prevent our “identities” from being used by others. According to the standard estimate, $56.6 billion was lost last year in the United States due to identity theft. It’s a serious and costly threat; people rob you of your personal information to do with it as they wish and show little regard for you and your privacy.
Unfortunately, some people have the same view of God.
“Let’s say I give my entire life over to Him,” the reasoning goes. “He will take away my friends, my fun, and everything I really want. God will, in fact, ruin my life and take away who I am. He will steal my identity.” I’ve (sadly) spoken to more than one person about this subject. I always think about Matthew 16:24-26: Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” What exactly is Christ speaking of losing? Do I lose my identity and become a part of a faceless, nameless bowl of “spiritual pudding”? Do I fade into a type of Christian anonymity, absorbed by the masses? Look at what Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So, spiritually, who I am before I begin to follow a life with Christ dies when I commit my life to Him (the Bible refers to this as the “old man”), but according to Jesus, when that happens, I find my life (“but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it”). I don’t lose a life that is worth keeping when I come to Him…I gain one beyond compare.
The person God wants you to be, the best and most valuable identity you could ever possess, is found only in a life with Him.
Are you living the identity He desires for you?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
"Making Tools Chant That Saints Might Sing"
It’s an old story, but one worth the retelling.
A man was walking through a city in Europe many, many years ago and came across the construction site of a cathedral. Everywhere workers scurried to and fro, busily focused upon differing tasks. Inside the half-finished shell of the sanctuary, the man neared a stonecutter, arms covered in a layer of fine stone powder, hammer and chisel in hand, and asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m chipping away at this stone to fit it into one of the columns there.” He returned to his work.
The man found a carpenter and asked him the same question: “What are you doing?”
The carpenter replied (without looking up), “Carving the altar rail.”
As he left the sanctuary, he came across a man stooping over to collect bits of stone and chips of wood and placing them into a worn wooden bucket. “And what are you doing?” The man stood up straight, looked at his questioner, and said, “I’m building a cathedral.”
We often lose focus of the true importance of our job. We get so wrapped up in the tasks at hand (or watching the clock on the wall, computer screen or phone) that work effectively becomes reduced to nothing more than something to “get through.” We get up, go to work, take lunch, work some more, leave, go home exhausted, go to bed, get up the next day, etc. It’s helpful to think, “Why am I doing this?” or, like the story above asks, “What am I doing?”
Ask that question in your workplace and you will likely get answers such as:
“Making a paycheck.”
“Paying the bills.”
“Accomplishing tasks.”
“Working for the boss.”
We need people who will be “cathedral-builders.” No matter how humble, insignificant or thankless the job may seem to be, those people say, “I’m building a cathedral. I’m working for God.” Do you see your work as a sacred duty or a dull drudgery? Maybe you need to realign yourself with the command from Col. 3:23, 24: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, and not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
A man was walking through a city in Europe many, many years ago and came across the construction site of a cathedral. Everywhere workers scurried to and fro, busily focused upon differing tasks. Inside the half-finished shell of the sanctuary, the man neared a stonecutter, arms covered in a layer of fine stone powder, hammer and chisel in hand, and asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m chipping away at this stone to fit it into one of the columns there.” He returned to his work.
The man found a carpenter and asked him the same question: “What are you doing?”
The carpenter replied (without looking up), “Carving the altar rail.”
As he left the sanctuary, he came across a man stooping over to collect bits of stone and chips of wood and placing them into a worn wooden bucket. “And what are you doing?” The man stood up straight, looked at his questioner, and said, “I’m building a cathedral.”
We often lose focus of the true importance of our job. We get so wrapped up in the tasks at hand (or watching the clock on the wall, computer screen or phone) that work effectively becomes reduced to nothing more than something to “get through.” We get up, go to work, take lunch, work some more, leave, go home exhausted, go to bed, get up the next day, etc. It’s helpful to think, “Why am I doing this?” or, like the story above asks, “What am I doing?”
Ask that question in your workplace and you will likely get answers such as:
“Making a paycheck.”
“Paying the bills.”
“Accomplishing tasks.”
“Working for the boss.”
We need people who will be “cathedral-builders.” No matter how humble, insignificant or thankless the job may seem to be, those people say, “I’m building a cathedral. I’m working for God.” Do you see your work as a sacred duty or a dull drudgery? Maybe you need to realign yourself with the command from Col. 3:23, 24: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, and not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Lone Wolves Have No One to Hear Them Howl
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words, but to pour them all out just as they are, chaff and grain together knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
–George Eliot
Let me ask you something: When was the last time that you talked to somebody else? Really talked? About the hard, rough, and bothersome parts of your life? (At this point some of you probably feel like stuffing your hands in your pockets and looking at the ground…or perhaps you think, “I don’t like the tone of those questions; I’ll just quit reading this now.”) The questions could be more directed: Do you have a person in your life with whom you can be completely open and honest? One that will listen, not out of duty, but desire? To whom do you talk?
We insulate and isolate ourselves from others, both from speaking to them and from hearing from them, and then wonder why on earth we don’t connect. And, when we do speak, it’s something like this, “How are you?”
“Fine. You?”
“Okay.”
I do realize that this common exchange is not the place to bring up the weighty issues of life. No one expects the greeting to sound like…
“How are you?”
“Let me tell you all about it, first…”
Nor should it sound like that, but the vague, pleasant and safe “fine” (when, in fact, things are not “fine”) rings hollow in the mouth of the speaker and pushes him farther and farther from others. And somehow, at times, we take the same approach when speaking to God. God asks, “How are you doing?”
“Fine.”
“Really?”
“Really, I am.”
And all the while we know that He knows.
Then I read Psalms and realize that David didn’t keep much to himself…
I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" (Ps. 42:9).
My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me (Ps. 55:4-5).
Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! (Ps. 58:6).
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Ps. 42:1-2).
I will extol You, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable (Ps. 145:1-3).
Whether mourning, confused, angry, or filled with praise, David made it clear to God (and moreover himself) what was going on within his heart and mind. Yet we go about as though we have no need to be known, no need to be honest, no need to share with a friend the deepest hurts, disappointments or anxieties. We need that connection to grow. That sharing may take place in a small group setting, or with a person willing to pray for you, or with that close friend with whom you can share your heart and be safe. Whatever the context, we must remember: We are not designed to be “lone wolf” Christians.
Are you being completely honest with God?
Do you have a friend to whom you can talk openly and freely?
Do you see your need for authenticity?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
–George Eliot
Let me ask you something: When was the last time that you talked to somebody else? Really talked? About the hard, rough, and bothersome parts of your life? (At this point some of you probably feel like stuffing your hands in your pockets and looking at the ground…or perhaps you think, “I don’t like the tone of those questions; I’ll just quit reading this now.”) The questions could be more directed: Do you have a person in your life with whom you can be completely open and honest? One that will listen, not out of duty, but desire? To whom do you talk?
We insulate and isolate ourselves from others, both from speaking to them and from hearing from them, and then wonder why on earth we don’t connect. And, when we do speak, it’s something like this, “How are you?”
“Fine. You?”
“Okay.”
I do realize that this common exchange is not the place to bring up the weighty issues of life. No one expects the greeting to sound like…
“How are you?”
“Let me tell you all about it, first…”
Nor should it sound like that, but the vague, pleasant and safe “fine” (when, in fact, things are not “fine”) rings hollow in the mouth of the speaker and pushes him farther and farther from others. And somehow, at times, we take the same approach when speaking to God. God asks, “How are you doing?”
“Fine.”
“Really?”
“Really, I am.”
And all the while we know that He knows.
Then I read Psalms and realize that David didn’t keep much to himself…
I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" (Ps. 42:9).
My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me (Ps. 55:4-5).
Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! (Ps. 58:6).
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Ps. 42:1-2).
I will extol You, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable (Ps. 145:1-3).
Whether mourning, confused, angry, or filled with praise, David made it clear to God (and moreover himself) what was going on within his heart and mind. Yet we go about as though we have no need to be known, no need to be honest, no need to share with a friend the deepest hurts, disappointments or anxieties. We need that connection to grow. That sharing may take place in a small group setting, or with a person willing to pray for you, or with that close friend with whom you can share your heart and be safe. Whatever the context, we must remember: We are not designed to be “lone wolf” Christians.
Are you being completely honest with God?
Do you have a friend to whom you can talk openly and freely?
Do you see your need for authenticity?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Make Sure Your Blocks Are Stacked
When the Spanish conquistadores marched into Peru in the 1500’s, the land was ruled by the Incas. Upon invading, the Spaniards found Incan walls and foundations built of stones fitted together without the benefit of any mortar. Many of these walls still stand today. Some of the stones used in the construction weigh in at over 100 tons and took hours upon hours of painstaking labor to shape using other, smaller “hammer” stones to chip away the excess rock on the faces and to smooth the rough edges of the block so that it would match exactly with the contours of the adjoining block. The stones were fitted so carefully that even now it is impossible to insert a razor blade between many of them.
In 1950, an earthquake shook the mountains of Peru and destroyed or damaged 90 percent of the capital city’s modern buildings. Upon inspection, only a few of the joints in the Incan walls had shifted a small amount, but the walls, undamaged, still stood firm.
I thought about this today when I read Titus 1:1 where Paul writes of the “acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness.” The word Paul uses that is translated as “acknowledgement” doesn’t mean that God’s truth is given a courtesy nod, but it speaks of a precise knowledge and correct understanding of the truth. This understanding in turn accompanies (or “accords with”) godliness or reverence for God.
Our personal beliefs sometimes may fail to match God’s truth precisely. We might adopt and adapt truth to “fit” our scheme of thought, but in reality, when we try that approach, we weaken the entire structure. If we desire our beliefs to stand the shaking and the uncertainty that rises daily against them, we must have a correct and precise knowledge of the truth. Beliefs must be established upon, shaped by, and conformed to an unchanging standard, fitted so carefully that nothing can wedge itself between the belief in the truth and truth itself.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
In 1950, an earthquake shook the mountains of Peru and destroyed or damaged 90 percent of the capital city’s modern buildings. Upon inspection, only a few of the joints in the Incan walls had shifted a small amount, but the walls, undamaged, still stood firm.
I thought about this today when I read Titus 1:1 where Paul writes of the “acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness.” The word Paul uses that is translated as “acknowledgement” doesn’t mean that God’s truth is given a courtesy nod, but it speaks of a precise knowledge and correct understanding of the truth. This understanding in turn accompanies (or “accords with”) godliness or reverence for God.
Our personal beliefs sometimes may fail to match God’s truth precisely. We might adopt and adapt truth to “fit” our scheme of thought, but in reality, when we try that approach, we weaken the entire structure. If we desire our beliefs to stand the shaking and the uncertainty that rises daily against them, we must have a correct and precise knowledge of the truth. Beliefs must be established upon, shaped by, and conformed to an unchanging standard, fitted so carefully that nothing can wedge itself between the belief in the truth and truth itself.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Hardball
I saw one for the first time when I was in 4th grade. It was a hardball. I know that we use the term “hardball” to differentiate a baseball from a softball, but this was no baseball, it was a true hardball. A kid named Chris brought it to school; he was the guy with the crew-cut hair and the hands stained from playing in red-clay dirt. A group of us were playing tag when Chris showed up with this thing in his hand. “Who wants to play?” he asked. If I remember correctly, we tried to run away, after all, it was a hardball.
It was a little smaller than a baseball, but was not made of a leather-cased, rubber core wrapped with twine. This ball was solid, with a seam running around it like an equator, and was scarred from impacts against brick walls and gravel driveways. This was no toy; it was a miniature planet…a world of hurt. He held it up in the sun for us to see and chided us for our cowardice.
“What if it hits one of us?” a friend asked.
“Do you know how much that would hurt?” said another. Someone suggested that we roll the ball to one another. Others nodded with enthusiasm, rolling seemed so much safer. Chris snorted, “You throw hardballs.”
And that’s what we did. At times, seeing that ball drop down from a blue sky toward you, the only thing you could think was, “It’s going too fast. It will slip through my fingers and hit my head.” And sometimes you would sidestep the hurtling little planet and watch as it thumped against the ground leaving a sharply-defined crater near your feet. But, at other times, you would step up, stretch out your hands, and catch it.
God plays hardball. He is a loving God, a God of comfort, and a merciful God, yet He is a God of truth. He plays hardball. John gives us the response of some of Jesus’ disciples after hearing Him teach on the subject of His coming death; “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" (John 6:60). John goes on to write in verse 66 “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” The hardball was pitched, and they stepped out of the way.
Having taught high school English for some years, I had developed one unit about knowing and acting upon the truth of a matter. I would always ask at the beginning of that unit the same question, “Would you rather hear the hard truth, and possibly have to make corrections to your life, or believe a “soft” lie, and remain comfortable, not having to change anything?” Many, many students chose the second: the comfortable, soft, non-challenging lie. That’s what Jesus encountered. “Don’t give me the truth, give me something easy.” His followers wanted the comfort of the miracles, but cared little for the core of the message. Sidestep the hardball, let it fall to the ground; it’s safer that way.
Perhaps God is playing hardball with you. Maybe you’ve been reading His word and He has pitched a ball to you. You are in the game, but then you see it dropping out of the sky, and think, “I should step aside.” Or maybe you would say, “God, why don’t You roll the ball to me? It’s safer.” Maybe you’ve grown so scared and discouraged that you’ve stepped from the game. Don’t step aside, don’t complain, and get back in the game. Step up to the truth, even if the corrections you face are painful. Remember, His goal is to make you like Him; “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
It was a little smaller than a baseball, but was not made of a leather-cased, rubber core wrapped with twine. This ball was solid, with a seam running around it like an equator, and was scarred from impacts against brick walls and gravel driveways. This was no toy; it was a miniature planet…a world of hurt. He held it up in the sun for us to see and chided us for our cowardice.
“What if it hits one of us?” a friend asked.
“Do you know how much that would hurt?” said another. Someone suggested that we roll the ball to one another. Others nodded with enthusiasm, rolling seemed so much safer. Chris snorted, “You throw hardballs.”
And that’s what we did. At times, seeing that ball drop down from a blue sky toward you, the only thing you could think was, “It’s going too fast. It will slip through my fingers and hit my head.” And sometimes you would sidestep the hurtling little planet and watch as it thumped against the ground leaving a sharply-defined crater near your feet. But, at other times, you would step up, stretch out your hands, and catch it.
God plays hardball. He is a loving God, a God of comfort, and a merciful God, yet He is a God of truth. He plays hardball. John gives us the response of some of Jesus’ disciples after hearing Him teach on the subject of His coming death; “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" (John 6:60). John goes on to write in verse 66 “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” The hardball was pitched, and they stepped out of the way.
Having taught high school English for some years, I had developed one unit about knowing and acting upon the truth of a matter. I would always ask at the beginning of that unit the same question, “Would you rather hear the hard truth, and possibly have to make corrections to your life, or believe a “soft” lie, and remain comfortable, not having to change anything?” Many, many students chose the second: the comfortable, soft, non-challenging lie. That’s what Jesus encountered. “Don’t give me the truth, give me something easy.” His followers wanted the comfort of the miracles, but cared little for the core of the message. Sidestep the hardball, let it fall to the ground; it’s safer that way.
Perhaps God is playing hardball with you. Maybe you’ve been reading His word and He has pitched a ball to you. You are in the game, but then you see it dropping out of the sky, and think, “I should step aside.” Or maybe you would say, “God, why don’t You roll the ball to me? It’s safer.” Maybe you’ve grown so scared and discouraged that you’ve stepped from the game. Don’t step aside, don’t complain, and get back in the game. Step up to the truth, even if the corrections you face are painful. Remember, His goal is to make you like Him; “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Living Sacrifices Can Crawl Off the Altar
“Like the sisters of Lazarus, sometimes we must experience a death to our own vision before we can catch a glimpse of God’s perfect plan.” --Dr. Don Rauniker
“If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, how would you live differently today?” I’ve been asked that question on numerous occasions, and my answer is usually something along the lines of: “Tell everyone I care about what they mean to me, write out how and by whom I want my funeral conducted, and eat way too much ice cream.”
I suppose that we would all live differently if we knew that today was our final day of life.
Then I read Mark 8:34…“When He [Jesus] had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Taking up the cross doesn’t mean just bearing a burden; someone taking up a cross is about to die. Though many did (and still do) give their lives for the truth of God, this command isn’t about a one-time death to self, but consistent self-sacrifice. This kind of denial of self, a dying to sin and self, is to be a part of my daily walk with Christ. The problem is clear: Though I’m a new creation in Christ, and who I was once is now dead (II Cor. 5:17), those old habits and old patterns of who I was before Christ exert influence over my life now. I must die daily to those influences and live for Christ by His power. So then, the pressing question is not, “If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, how would you live differently today?” The more important question is this: “If you died to self each day, how would your entire life be different?”
To quote a great pastor from years ago, “Might we go to our own funerals” each day, dying to self and living for Christ.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
“If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, how would you live differently today?” I’ve been asked that question on numerous occasions, and my answer is usually something along the lines of: “Tell everyone I care about what they mean to me, write out how and by whom I want my funeral conducted, and eat way too much ice cream.”
I suppose that we would all live differently if we knew that today was our final day of life.
Then I read Mark 8:34…“When He [Jesus] had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Taking up the cross doesn’t mean just bearing a burden; someone taking up a cross is about to die. Though many did (and still do) give their lives for the truth of God, this command isn’t about a one-time death to self, but consistent self-sacrifice. This kind of denial of self, a dying to sin and self, is to be a part of my daily walk with Christ. The problem is clear: Though I’m a new creation in Christ, and who I was once is now dead (II Cor. 5:17), those old habits and old patterns of who I was before Christ exert influence over my life now. I must die daily to those influences and live for Christ by His power. So then, the pressing question is not, “If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, how would you live differently today?” The more important question is this: “If you died to self each day, how would your entire life be different?”
To quote a great pastor from years ago, “Might we go to our own funerals” each day, dying to self and living for Christ.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Ever Been in a Too-Small Pot?
I decided to repot a plant recently, and found, when I pulled it from the pot, that the entire plant slipped out easily. The roots were tangled and matted together into a dense, tightly-woven mass. The plant had become “root bound.” I repotted it, put it on my balcony, and forgot all about it… until today. I was talking to someone on the phone while looking out my sliding glass door at the plant. This conversation with another, added to the image of the plant before me, led to a confrontation from God…
How can you tell if a plant is root bound? The experts say that a plant suffering from the condition will be stunted in growth. An indication of this (when buying a plant packaged in a planting bag) is that the bag will not “give” when pressed because the roots have filled up the container completely. A root bound plant has roots that do not spread out for nutrients, but ones that circle the interior of the container until they conform to the shape of the pot.
At times, and about certain things, I am root bound. I’ve grown only as much as the pot I’m in allows, but I don’t want another pot…I like this one. If you were to check my root bound areas, you would find that I don’t give easily when pressed. I’m rigid, hard, and unyielding. I don’t want to change my way of doing things. My roots circle, never spreading out, becoming more and more tightly constrained until I’ve used up all the moisture and nutrients in my already too-small pot. It’s a comfortable pot, yet I’m not growing…I’ve come to match my surroundings, circling the inside of my heart, never reaching out beyond what I perceive as the limit.
When I repotted the plant on my balcony, I did something to it first: I slashed the root ball repeatedly with a knife. I didn’t cut the major roots, but broke up the network of secondary ones to encourage them to branch out.
That’s what God does. He uses situations and circumstances to slash through those things that hinder us from branching. He doesn’t put us in a larger pot without some major adjustments to our root system. Paul prays that the Ephesians would be “rooted and grounded in love” and that they “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (3:17b-19a). Perhaps my love, both for God and for others, has grown “root bound” and limited. Maybe God needs to slash open the repetitive cycle so I can branch out from the tiny pot in which I have placed myself into the infinite soil of Christ’s love.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
How can you tell if a plant is root bound? The experts say that a plant suffering from the condition will be stunted in growth. An indication of this (when buying a plant packaged in a planting bag) is that the bag will not “give” when pressed because the roots have filled up the container completely. A root bound plant has roots that do not spread out for nutrients, but ones that circle the interior of the container until they conform to the shape of the pot.
At times, and about certain things, I am root bound. I’ve grown only as much as the pot I’m in allows, but I don’t want another pot…I like this one. If you were to check my root bound areas, you would find that I don’t give easily when pressed. I’m rigid, hard, and unyielding. I don’t want to change my way of doing things. My roots circle, never spreading out, becoming more and more tightly constrained until I’ve used up all the moisture and nutrients in my already too-small pot. It’s a comfortable pot, yet I’m not growing…I’ve come to match my surroundings, circling the inside of my heart, never reaching out beyond what I perceive as the limit.
When I repotted the plant on my balcony, I did something to it first: I slashed the root ball repeatedly with a knife. I didn’t cut the major roots, but broke up the network of secondary ones to encourage them to branch out.
That’s what God does. He uses situations and circumstances to slash through those things that hinder us from branching. He doesn’t put us in a larger pot without some major adjustments to our root system. Paul prays that the Ephesians would be “rooted and grounded in love” and that they “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (3:17b-19a). Perhaps my love, both for God and for others, has grown “root bound” and limited. Maybe God needs to slash open the repetitive cycle so I can branch out from the tiny pot in which I have placed myself into the infinite soil of Christ’s love.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Orcas With a Focus Problem
I was just reading an account earlier today about a number of killer whales that mysteriously beached themselves and died. When the marine biologists investigated, they found that the whales were not seeking the larger fish found in the deeper waters but were chasing after smaller fish in the shallows…minnows to be exact. They gave their lives running after something small.
I had to stop and think, “What is the real size of those things I pursue?” Sometimes the most noble-seeming idea may occupy much of my time, energy and thought, but at heart, is it something for which I am willing to spend my life?
I have a friend who says often to me, “You know what you need? New perspective.” Looking at how you spend your life will give you that much-needed, new perspective. Do you find yourself pursuing just to make your point? I’ve found too many times that I can fight and fight to make the statement I’m trying to make, and win…only to lose. I’ve seen how much time can be spent chasing one itch that turns into a full-scale flea hunt. And, probably like you, I’ve looked back on times of worry and concern and wondered, “What exactly was the worry or concern?”
Paul had perspective. He writes to the church at Corinth, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (I Cor. 2:2).
One thing was on his mind; he had a single-minded focus upon the task at hand. If he was going to spend his life (which, according to history, he did) on something, it would be something worthwhile.
I could do well to take a lesson…and stop chasing minnows.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
I had to stop and think, “What is the real size of those things I pursue?” Sometimes the most noble-seeming idea may occupy much of my time, energy and thought, but at heart, is it something for which I am willing to spend my life?
I have a friend who says often to me, “You know what you need? New perspective.” Looking at how you spend your life will give you that much-needed, new perspective. Do you find yourself pursuing just to make your point? I’ve found too many times that I can fight and fight to make the statement I’m trying to make, and win…only to lose. I’ve seen how much time can be spent chasing one itch that turns into a full-scale flea hunt. And, probably like you, I’ve looked back on times of worry and concern and wondered, “What exactly was the worry or concern?”
Paul had perspective. He writes to the church at Corinth, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (I Cor. 2:2).
One thing was on his mind; he had a single-minded focus upon the task at hand. If he was going to spend his life (which, according to history, he did) on something, it would be something worthwhile.
I could do well to take a lesson…and stop chasing minnows.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Looking Back to Something I Wrote in the Summer...
From the summer…
It has been oppressively dry around here lately. Temperatures have soared into the 90-degree range, have hovered there for weeks, and the only thing that has come along is a passing afternoon heat shower. People have been trying to keep watch on lawns and gardens while taking care that they themselves don’t get overheated and dehydrated trying to take care of the lawns and gardens. Everyone has been watching for relief, for the right cloud to pass over and bring a break from the drought. Everything has been thirsty.
Then, last night, relief came. It rained…then again today, a few times. The rains have come back for a time.
I was thinking about that last night when I was looking at the last great annual feast of the nation of Israel, the Feast of Tabernacles. The feast was to celebrate the way that God provided for the Israelites as they wandered through the desert after being brought out of bondage in Egypt; it was a time to remember the provision and deliverance of God. The feast also took place at the time of the year when the rainy season was about to begin. All eyes were upon the skies as the anticipation built for the life-giving rain. Throughout the feast, water was poured from a golden pitcher into a basin in the court of the Jewish Temple. This water symbolized the providence of God and reminded Israel of their dependence upon the LORD for survival and sustenance, both in the nation’s past and present. During this ceremony, Psalms were sung. One of the main Psalms recited was 118, one which contains verses that point to the coming of the Messiah (the Anointed One, the Deliverer). On the last day of the feast, the celebration surrounding the water-pouring ceremony was more elaborate than any of the previous days. Everyone was focused upon the beginning of the rainy season and the promise of the One who would be sent by God as the great Deliverer, the One who was the fulfillment of the thirst for eternal provision…
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37, 38).
These were asking for the provision of God, and God was in their midst to answer. Jesus was saying, “You’re anticipating the Messiah? I’m the only One who can meet your deepest level of spiritual thirst.”
Maybe the skies in your life have been as cloudless and stark recently. Perhaps the rains have not come as you have anticipated that they would. Maybe, like the ground around here lately, you’re just thirsty and dry. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink…”
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
It has been oppressively dry around here lately. Temperatures have soared into the 90-degree range, have hovered there for weeks, and the only thing that has come along is a passing afternoon heat shower. People have been trying to keep watch on lawns and gardens while taking care that they themselves don’t get overheated and dehydrated trying to take care of the lawns and gardens. Everyone has been watching for relief, for the right cloud to pass over and bring a break from the drought. Everything has been thirsty.
Then, last night, relief came. It rained…then again today, a few times. The rains have come back for a time.
I was thinking about that last night when I was looking at the last great annual feast of the nation of Israel, the Feast of Tabernacles. The feast was to celebrate the way that God provided for the Israelites as they wandered through the desert after being brought out of bondage in Egypt; it was a time to remember the provision and deliverance of God. The feast also took place at the time of the year when the rainy season was about to begin. All eyes were upon the skies as the anticipation built for the life-giving rain. Throughout the feast, water was poured from a golden pitcher into a basin in the court of the Jewish Temple. This water symbolized the providence of God and reminded Israel of their dependence upon the LORD for survival and sustenance, both in the nation’s past and present. During this ceremony, Psalms were sung. One of the main Psalms recited was 118, one which contains verses that point to the coming of the Messiah (the Anointed One, the Deliverer). On the last day of the feast, the celebration surrounding the water-pouring ceremony was more elaborate than any of the previous days. Everyone was focused upon the beginning of the rainy season and the promise of the One who would be sent by God as the great Deliverer, the One who was the fulfillment of the thirst for eternal provision…
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37, 38).
These were asking for the provision of God, and God was in their midst to answer. Jesus was saying, “You’re anticipating the Messiah? I’m the only One who can meet your deepest level of spiritual thirst.”
Maybe the skies in your life have been as cloudless and stark recently. Perhaps the rains have not come as you have anticipated that they would. Maybe, like the ground around here lately, you’re just thirsty and dry. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink…”
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
Buttercup Wasn't Yellow
Everybody should try it…once. You get two teams of generally athletic people, take them to a basketball court, place them on the backs of donkeys, pitch a ball into the mix, and have them compete in a basketball game. While I was teaching high school, I was part of this grand experience…donkey basketball. Those two words, “donkey” and “basketball” seem to fit together very poorly. I have news for you: the words don’t clash nearly as much as the actual event.
Before we went out to play, we signed a waiver for a long list on possible injuries (including death), donned helmets, and were told, “If you are thrown, get up fast. The donkey will try to stomp you.” I thought, “What kind of animals are we facing here?” Like some reluctant gladiators of old, we were lined up, and the donkeys were brought in. Small, soft, lazy-looking donkeys. I thought it to be a joke, until the second half. I had done so well on my donkey for the first half that the “donkey coach” came over and said that he would be giving me “Buttercup.” (To name this donkey “Buttercup,” I discovered, would be analogous to tagging a Great White with the title of “Pooky” or “Snookums.”)
Buttercup seemed calm enough, until the second-half whistle blew. The first time I was thrown, I fractured my finger. The next time, good Buttercup pitched me over her head into a complete flip. The last time she threw me, it was headlong into the table with the scoreboard equipment on it. The metal legs of the table managed to catch one of my shoulders and stop me cold. It’s a humbling experience to crawl across a hardwood floor from under a table, holding your ribs, trying to catch your breath, making slow progress back toward a creature looking at you with a resolute eye, knowing that you pose no threat no matter how many you may breathe.
No matter what I did, I could not wear this donkey down. She simply persevered without fear. Too stubborn to give up, this soft little creature had inside an I-beam of steel.
Makes one think of endurance…
The bible speaks of those who endured hardship (Heb. 12), and how we are to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:1b-2a). The word used for “endurance” in this passage literally means, “a remaining under.” The pressure is there, the trials are present, yet we are to remain resolute, stubbornly holding in place despite the storms that rage. I’d like to be more Buttercup-like, calmly facing the second half of the game with the confidence that no matter what happens, I can endure it. But sometimes it seems so hard. Of course, the key for that attitude is the second part of the passage from Hebrews above: “looking unto Jesus.” He is the ultimate example of patience, endurance and perseverance, and I can never hope to last without Him.
As I look to Him, I can be, by His power, calm and resolute under the pressure, even if it takes a long while for the trial to pass.
All of this came to mind recently as I read a passage written by John Killinger retelling a story from The Atlantic Monthly about the breaking of horses to lead in the early days of the West…
“A little burro sometimes would be harnessed to a wild steed. Bucking and raging…the two would be turned loose like Laurel and Hardy to proceed out onto the desert range. They could be seen disappearing over the horizon, the great steed dragging that little burro along and throwing him about like a bag of cream puffs. They might be gone for days, but eventually they would come back. The little burro would be seen first, trotting back across the horizon, leading the submissive steed in tow. Somewhere out there on the rim of the world, that steed would become exhausted from trying to get rid of the burro, and in that moment, the burro would take mastery and become the leader…The battle is to the determined, not to the outraged; to the committed, not to those who are merely dramatic.”
I pray that I would be so determined when harnessed to the trial.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Before we went out to play, we signed a waiver for a long list on possible injuries (including death), donned helmets, and were told, “If you are thrown, get up fast. The donkey will try to stomp you.” I thought, “What kind of animals are we facing here?” Like some reluctant gladiators of old, we were lined up, and the donkeys were brought in. Small, soft, lazy-looking donkeys. I thought it to be a joke, until the second half. I had done so well on my donkey for the first half that the “donkey coach” came over and said that he would be giving me “Buttercup.” (To name this donkey “Buttercup,” I discovered, would be analogous to tagging a Great White with the title of “Pooky” or “Snookums.”)
Buttercup seemed calm enough, until the second-half whistle blew. The first time I was thrown, I fractured my finger. The next time, good Buttercup pitched me over her head into a complete flip. The last time she threw me, it was headlong into the table with the scoreboard equipment on it. The metal legs of the table managed to catch one of my shoulders and stop me cold. It’s a humbling experience to crawl across a hardwood floor from under a table, holding your ribs, trying to catch your breath, making slow progress back toward a creature looking at you with a resolute eye, knowing that you pose no threat no matter how many you may breathe.
No matter what I did, I could not wear this donkey down. She simply persevered without fear. Too stubborn to give up, this soft little creature had inside an I-beam of steel.
Makes one think of endurance…
The bible speaks of those who endured hardship (Heb. 12), and how we are to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:1b-2a). The word used for “endurance” in this passage literally means, “a remaining under.” The pressure is there, the trials are present, yet we are to remain resolute, stubbornly holding in place despite the storms that rage. I’d like to be more Buttercup-like, calmly facing the second half of the game with the confidence that no matter what happens, I can endure it. But sometimes it seems so hard. Of course, the key for that attitude is the second part of the passage from Hebrews above: “looking unto Jesus.” He is the ultimate example of patience, endurance and perseverance, and I can never hope to last without Him.
As I look to Him, I can be, by His power, calm and resolute under the pressure, even if it takes a long while for the trial to pass.
All of this came to mind recently as I read a passage written by John Killinger retelling a story from The Atlantic Monthly about the breaking of horses to lead in the early days of the West…
“A little burro sometimes would be harnessed to a wild steed. Bucking and raging…the two would be turned loose like Laurel and Hardy to proceed out onto the desert range. They could be seen disappearing over the horizon, the great steed dragging that little burro along and throwing him about like a bag of cream puffs. They might be gone for days, but eventually they would come back. The little burro would be seen first, trotting back across the horizon, leading the submissive steed in tow. Somewhere out there on the rim of the world, that steed would become exhausted from trying to get rid of the burro, and in that moment, the burro would take mastery and become the leader…The battle is to the determined, not to the outraged; to the committed, not to those who are merely dramatic.”
I pray that I would be so determined when harnessed to the trial.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
I Never Figured Out How to Swing on a Vine While Holding the Sword
Zorro and Tarzan were my childhood heroes. Zorro could wear a mask in public and play with swords with no one ever telling him that he shouldn’t do so. Tarzan, counter-cultural “ape-man”, lived in a tree house and swung around on vines all day long. For me, at the time, both seemed like great ways to live. (I still think that living in a tree house might have its perks.)
It was always great to play “Zorro.” I would wear some cloth around my head (into which I had cut eyeholes) while I brandished a fencing sword made from a straightened coat hanger and a Dixie cup. I didn’t play Tarzan much, probably for a lack of vines in the immediate area around our house. But no matter how much I pretended, no matter how I thought my costume looked, no matter how well I could use my…coat hanger, it simply did not make me Zorro. I was pretending to be something else.
Children aren’t the only ones who pretend.
We don masks at times to hide who we really are and to present a better image. The reasons are varied. It may be because of shame, or fear, or pride that we attempt to disguise ourselves. We don’t want to let anyone know just what is going on inside, so we take great care to arrange the window-dressing in our storefronts. The mask may insulate us, but it isolates us as well. Sometimes, if you’ve been wearing that mask long enough, you might even begin to fool yourself and think yourself to be much better than you actually are; you might even begin to believe the front you’re showing everyone else. It takes some strong truth to get through the mask.
Jesus confronted some “mask-wearers” of His day with the strong truth:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to me, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt. 23:25-28).
Jesus uses the word “hypocrite.” This is a term which literally means, “one who wears a mask.” According to Jesus, if the outside doesn’t match the inside, then it is hypocrisy.
Maybe it’s time to stop pretending.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
It was always great to play “Zorro.” I would wear some cloth around my head (into which I had cut eyeholes) while I brandished a fencing sword made from a straightened coat hanger and a Dixie cup. I didn’t play Tarzan much, probably for a lack of vines in the immediate area around our house. But no matter how much I pretended, no matter how I thought my costume looked, no matter how well I could use my…coat hanger, it simply did not make me Zorro. I was pretending to be something else.
Children aren’t the only ones who pretend.
We don masks at times to hide who we really are and to present a better image. The reasons are varied. It may be because of shame, or fear, or pride that we attempt to disguise ourselves. We don’t want to let anyone know just what is going on inside, so we take great care to arrange the window-dressing in our storefronts. The mask may insulate us, but it isolates us as well. Sometimes, if you’ve been wearing that mask long enough, you might even begin to fool yourself and think yourself to be much better than you actually are; you might even begin to believe the front you’re showing everyone else. It takes some strong truth to get through the mask.
Jesus confronted some “mask-wearers” of His day with the strong truth:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to me, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt. 23:25-28).
Jesus uses the word “hypocrite.” This is a term which literally means, “one who wears a mask.” According to Jesus, if the outside doesn’t match the inside, then it is hypocrisy.
Maybe it’s time to stop pretending.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
"Sunshine Station Between the Nations"
His name was John Romulus Brinkley, but he called himself “Doctor.” Attending a school that taught non-traditional medicine and receiving a certificate (valid in only eight states) gave him the supposed right to confer such a title upon himself to lend reputability to his “practice.” He sold his cure-alls via radio show broadcast beamed from a 1000-watt tower in Milford, Kansas. When Kansas pulled his medical “license” and caused him to lose credibility, Brinkley ran for governor as a write-in candidate (his main motivation seems to have been to become governor so that he could reinstate his own medical license). Quickly converting the Milford radio station into the central means of self-promotion for the campaign, Brinkley made blatant comparisons between the way he was being treated and the trial and death of Jesus, and proclaimed his own brand of quack-medicine to be the salvation of the masses. Ultimately, he did not win the governorship though he tried more than once. Upset by his losses, Brinkley moved to the border town of Del Rio, Texas and set up a radio transmission tower across the Rio Grande in Villa Acuna, Mexico. Whereas the United States had a limit upon the wattage of a radio transmitter (50,000 watts), across the border this regulation was not in place. The new station, XERA, operated with an effective wattage of one million watts. Locals said that birds flying near the tower would drop dead, the old dynamo-powered headlamps on trucks in Del Rio would flicker, and barbed-wire fences would hum all over Texas when XERA operated at maximum power. The “X” overrode the transmissions of Atlanta, Chicago, and even some Canadian stations. So powerful was the signal that it is reported that transmissions reached Russia where the organization that was the precursor to the KGB used the broadcasts to give English lessons to the spies-in-training. Brinkley’s messages of bizarre treatments, fortune tellers, and promised restored health helped him to rake in a reported sum of $12 million in five years. Letters and payments came in from every state of the Union as well as from 14 other countries. These letters were written by the hurting in the hope that a quack doctor with a widespread voice sitting on the banks of the Rio Grande could cure what ailed them.
Sometimes we wonder why confusion and uncertainty exists at such a level today. Could it be that we listen to too many voices? Not every voice that speaks of the promise of comfort and peace is the voice of God, no matter how loudly, widespread, promising or authoritative that voice may sound. Messages pound us daily, but we must select the station to which we listen. In the din of multiple voices, all blaring at once (and sometimes contradictory in meaning and purpose) we must make the time and effort so we will not miss hearing the “still, small voice” of God (I Kings 19:12). We must be aware of the false messages that bombard us, but listen to and follow the truth offered from only one source: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Sometimes we wonder why confusion and uncertainty exists at such a level today. Could it be that we listen to too many voices? Not every voice that speaks of the promise of comfort and peace is the voice of God, no matter how loudly, widespread, promising or authoritative that voice may sound. Messages pound us daily, but we must select the station to which we listen. In the din of multiple voices, all blaring at once (and sometimes contradictory in meaning and purpose) we must make the time and effort so we will not miss hearing the “still, small voice” of God (I Kings 19:12). We must be aware of the false messages that bombard us, but listen to and follow the truth offered from only one source: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Who Is In Charge Here?
There’s an old joke about the visiting pastor who is very passionate about his message and is roving about the stage limited only by the reach of the long cord running from his lapel microphone back to the sound system. Waving his arms and shouting loudly, he comes very near to the edge of the stage more than once as the microphone wire pulls taut. A little girl on the front row leans over and asks her mother in a panicked whisper, “What happens if he gets loose?”
We like to keep things safe. As long as everything is within our control, battened down and secure, we can rest easily. When something, or someone, seems outside the reach of our control, we grow worried, disturbed or panicked. There is a necessity for order and structure, but we sometimes think that our personal idea of control holds sway over the entire corner of creation in which we may find ourselves. We like to know what to expect and when we can expect it. And sometimes, if we aren’t careful, we expect God to abide by the rules of our own making and refrain from any surprises.
I read a story recently about a little girl named Amanda in Boulder, Colorado who had received a Bible from her church. One member asked to see it, and she replied, “Okay, but don’t open it.”
When asked the reason why, Amanda said, “You’ll let God out.”
Too many of us worry about what God might do if He “gets loose.” We try our best to keep Him “under control” so He isn’t “let out.” But we are mistaken. He’s still in control…always has been. “He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” (Dan. 4:35b). He does as He desires to accomplish His purpose, and never once has He asked for advice from anyone.
Quit trying to rein in the work of Christ; open yourself to Him with a spirit of surrender and “let Him loose” in your life.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
We like to keep things safe. As long as everything is within our control, battened down and secure, we can rest easily. When something, or someone, seems outside the reach of our control, we grow worried, disturbed or panicked. There is a necessity for order and structure, but we sometimes think that our personal idea of control holds sway over the entire corner of creation in which we may find ourselves. We like to know what to expect and when we can expect it. And sometimes, if we aren’t careful, we expect God to abide by the rules of our own making and refrain from any surprises.
I read a story recently about a little girl named Amanda in Boulder, Colorado who had received a Bible from her church. One member asked to see it, and she replied, “Okay, but don’t open it.”
When asked the reason why, Amanda said, “You’ll let God out.”
Too many of us worry about what God might do if He “gets loose.” We try our best to keep Him “under control” so He isn’t “let out.” But we are mistaken. He’s still in control…always has been. “He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” (Dan. 4:35b). He does as He desires to accomplish His purpose, and never once has He asked for advice from anyone.
Quit trying to rein in the work of Christ; open yourself to Him with a spirit of surrender and “let Him loose” in your life.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
But Wait, There's More!
Whether it’s thick-papered, glossy ads for various products, a truck with rotating billboards along the side, advertisements on the Internet, or my recent discovery of talking razor blade dispensers in some stores (I kid you not), so many products promise to make you become (or at the very least, seem to be) more hip, smarter, of the socially elite, happier, and/or fulfilled. I suppose the question must be asked, “If all this ‘stuff’ can meet our deepest needs, why do we still want more?”
This inability of material possessions, social position or human accomplishments to meet our needs did not arise with the age of pop-up advertising…it has always been so. Years ago, Mick Jagger sang, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” But long before that, around the early third century AD, we find the Roman leader Septimus stating, “I have been everything, and it is nothing.” Back up further, and we find the wisest man in the world writing, “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on all the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind…” (Ecc. 1:11).
Strange how we pursue objects, titles, and recognition only to have them prove to be dry wells, yet we shake off the disappointment, dust our hands, and chase after another notion seeming to hold promise of satisfaction of our thirst. We try our best to use a human-created means to meet a divinely created desire, yet come up short. The conclusion of Ecclesiastes includes the statement: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (12:13b). The longing for something more is not met in what I can become on my own, but in knowing Who He is. The real reason that all the things can never satisfy is simple: they aren’t big enough. Only Christ is.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
This inability of material possessions, social position or human accomplishments to meet our needs did not arise with the age of pop-up advertising…it has always been so. Years ago, Mick Jagger sang, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” But long before that, around the early third century AD, we find the Roman leader Septimus stating, “I have been everything, and it is nothing.” Back up further, and we find the wisest man in the world writing, “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on all the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind…” (Ecc. 1:11).
Strange how we pursue objects, titles, and recognition only to have them prove to be dry wells, yet we shake off the disappointment, dust our hands, and chase after another notion seeming to hold promise of satisfaction of our thirst. We try our best to use a human-created means to meet a divinely created desire, yet come up short. The conclusion of Ecclesiastes includes the statement: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (12:13b). The longing for something more is not met in what I can become on my own, but in knowing Who He is. The real reason that all the things can never satisfy is simple: they aren’t big enough. Only Christ is.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
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