Pure

One sunny spring day I walked into the store.  I was sweating, not from the heat, as it was a cool day, but rather from the stress.  Never had I been quite so anxious about walking into a store before.  My heart was thumping against the inside of my chest like a caffeine hyped hamster in a snake tank.  My palms were sweating. My throat was dry and my pocket was bulging with 200 one dollar bills.

I hadn’t taken two steps past the sliding glass doors, when a tall man in a dark suit named Andre accosted me, “Hello sir, what can I help you with today?”  His French accent was smooth…and fake.  (I had watched enough Pink Panther movies to know that much.)

“Well…umm…I guess I am looking for a ring…I’m just looking though…you hear me!?...just trying to see what is out there.” I stated with mock authority.

“Of course, of course, Monsieur. Might I ask what the occasion for such a ring might be?  Class ring? College Ring? Or perhaps, it is…how do you say, something a little more special?”

“An engagement ring…or wedding ring…or whatever…I am not sure which is which and stuff.”

“Congratulations! Right this way Moi Garcon. She said oui then?”

“Well…umm…no, not exactly.  I haven’t asked her yet.”

“Of course, of course! A little surprise for the girl, oui?”

“Umm yes.”

Andre led me to a vast display of rings.  As he did I had wished that I had brought my sunglasses to shield my eyes from the shine of the glittering diamonds and gold. 

The fake Frenchman opened a glass case and pulled out the largest ring resting amid the vast array of options.  The diamond was the size if an almond and as the light struck the facets I fully expected John Travolta to leap out of the back room and dance to Staying Alive under the disco ball like light.

“This is a nice one! It is a full carat marquee cut, very nice…very nice.”

Apparently he had not noticed the Pizza Hut uniform that I donned, as I was on my way to my next delivery shift.

“How much is it?

“Very good diamond, very high quality,”

“How much”

“How do you put a price tag on your love?”

“Easy…is it over $200?”

“Oh…I see,” said Andre, his French accent being suddenly replaced with common upper Midwestern. 

He slipped the ring back into the case and waved me further down the line of cases.  Near the very end, tucked into a corner was a small case of about 5 rings.  “Maybe something like this is more in your realm.”

I pointed to a dainty and simple ring with what I felt was a respectable diamond and asked, “Tell me about this one?”

“Sure, it’s simple…maybe a bit plain…1/4 carat…but if you like it.”

“Are there any flaws in the diamond?”

“Ha! We don’t sell flawed diamonds…here let me show you.”

He took the diamond and placed it under the magnifying machine and said, “Take a look.”

I did so. I noticed a couple of tiny black spots and white streaks. 

“What about those black spots and that white streak?” I asked.

“Oh…well every diamond has some of those…that is to be expected.  There really is no such thing as a 100% pure diamond.  Three factors are used to evaluate diamonds; cut, clarity and carat.” He said.

“Are they not still considered flaws?”

“Ehh…kind of…but not really…”

It didn’t make sense to me, but I let it go.  I told him that I would take it and provided him with every dollar in my pocket…which covered a mere 25%.  I came back several weeks later after I had earned enough tip money to pay for the remaining balance.

This has caused me to wonder, is there anything in life that is 100% pure? Even what is known as pure raw honey has impurities, though the antibacterial properties keep it from spoiling.  We can purify water, killing perhaps all bacteria and still when the liquid makes contact with your glass it has suddenly become unpurified.  Our disinfectant wipes only kill 99.9% of germs. You get the idea…is anything really pure?

I have come to learn that I have no mental compartment to contain what it would mean to be “totally pure.” Yet, Scripture has a word for it…the word is HOLY.  God is HOLY.  He is the great I AM…the Holy One.  JESUS…IS…THE I AM…JESUS IS THE HOLY ONE.

John 8:12-58, reveals Jesus as the I AM! He is pure and he is Holy!

The pure and Holy one of God…God himself, came to be born and laid in the most impure place…the world…in a cave…with animals…in a feed trough. 

May we see that the HOLY ONE of God has come.  He is Immanuel…God with us…the Great I AM.

 GPS (A Light has Dawned)

 

I have hunted deer in the North Woods of Minnesota for 37 years.  Astoundingly, I have never missed a hunting season in the vast northern wilderness.  There may come a day when I am no longer able to navigate the challenging hills and valleys of the tumultuous topography, hopefully not until the day that I am dead.    

My affection for this land runs deep.  It began many years before my 12 year old maiden voyage into a deer stand.  Even as a preschool boy, my dad used to take me and my brothers into the forest each October in preparation for the upcoming November hunt. 

For nearly 45 years I have been navigating these lands, committing all of the ridges and vales to memory.  I know this land exceptionally well and yet on several occasions I have found myself in a position where I no longer knew where I was. 

On one such morning, I led my son to his stand while it was still dark and began to walk the relatively short distance to my own stand.  Unfortunately, I could not seem to find my regular trail and wandered aimlessly for 45 minutes looking for any sign of my trail or my stand.  My son would later express his confusion as to why the light of my headlamp was wandering all over the woods while it was still dark that morning.  In order to save my dignity, I assured him that I was just trying to trample down all of the brush around his stand to give him a clearer shot, should the opportunity arise.   

After working up a fully drenching sweat and finding my glasses fogged thicker than grandma’s mashed potatoes, I flopped myself down on the side of a hill, exhausted and blind.  By this time it was fully light and still nothing looked familiar.  I had meandered for nearly an hour on familiar knolls and dales and yet had no idea of which direction to head.  I could head south and eventually find the road, but I knew that I could not be all that far from my stand and so I resisted the notion to completely start over. 

At this time I slid out of my backpack, pulled out my water bottle and took a big draft.  Next, I dug deep into the bottom of the pack and found my GPS.  I powered up the handheld device and waited several minutes for the unit to lock into the satellites and triangulate my position. 

Once my position was found, I commanded the device to take me to waypoint #1…”Ryan’s Stand”.  I selected “Go to,” and instantly, I knew where I was and where I needed to go.   I was a mere 75 yards south west of where I needed to be.  A few minutes later I was in sitting in my stand, with my sweat soaking the ground below me. 

I believe that every human being has suffered this same fate…though in a spiritual sense.  I fear that far too often however, we never realize that the answer is there right before us…and we never turn to the proverbial GPS. 

In roughly 740 BC, God gave a prophecy to a man named Isaiah.  To this man God said, “A world living in darkness has seen a great light, on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned…for unto us a child is born, a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God everlasting father, prince of peace….He will reign on David’s throne…forever.”

Approximately 800 years later this prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus.  Jesus himself speaks of this light that is fulfilled in him, but says that “people loved the darkness instead of the light.”

We have the answer…it has been given to us…we simply have to put our trust in Him and not ourselves.  He is the light…He is the way…and I am not.

May we come to see Jesus as the light and follow his ways and not our own ways this Christmas.

Watermelon

I remember my Social Studies textbook sitting open atop my desk in Mrs. Wright’s 4th grade classroom.  It was not uncommon, that I would find myself in a panic as I awaited my turn to read the one of the upcoming paragraphs.  Mrs. Wright would regularly have each student take a turn reading one paragraph at a time from the assigned portion of the day’s unit.  I rarely listened to what the other students read, rather, I spent my time counting students and paragraphs in order to identify which paragraph would be my assigned portion.  Once I found the prospective section, I would attempt to read it over several times before the arrival of my turn, so that I could read it smoothly and avoid embarrassing myself any more than my poor reading skill usually warranted.  Despite my preparatory efforts, Anna Harrington usually derailed it by reading her paragraph flawlessly…and then the next one…and the next one…throwing the whole rhythm of the unified recitation. Anna would continue to expel the words fluently from her lips…the lips of the devil if you ask me. 

On one occasion, I recall Mrs. Wright blowing my dyslexic mind by saying, “Everyone…take a moment and look at the picture on the bottom of page 61.  What do you think of that image?”  It was a famous picture depicting the revolutionary war.  The image included a piccolo-ist with a bandaged head along with a couple of drummers and someone carrying a very tattered version of an early U.S. flag.  I don’t recall all of the details but I do remember Mrs. Wright stating with pleasure, “You know a picture is worth a thousand words!”

“Wow!” I thought.  “If Social text books could be written with strictly pictures it may solve all of my reading problems.”

The words are important.  Words express thoughts and ideas.  Words contain power, but not all words are true.  I remember my dad telling me one time that I had a watermelon growing in my belly after I had swallowed a watermelon seed.  Needless to say, I believed him.  In fact, not only did I believe him…I worried about the excessive fruit growing in my belly for the next couple of months.  Honestly I was scared to death! I had no idea what this would do to me…and how in the world would I ever get it out!  I had heard of mothers having babies and they always talked about the excessive pain in child birth…is that what this was going to be like?

Six to eight weeks after the initial lie from my father I asked him, “Dad, how long does it take for a watermelon to grow?”

“Most of the summer, why do you ask?”

“Because I swallowed that watermelon seed.”

“Oh yeah! I forgot about that.  Let me see your belly.”

I showed him.

“Yep, looks like it is growing to me!”

This did nothing to ease my panic.

Here I am 43 years later and no watermelon has passed…at least that I am aware of.

I have come to believe that the things that we say should reflect who we really are at all times.  Despite the fact that I believe this…I do not live this.  Perhaps this is one reason why John 1:1-14 is so impactful to me.  This powerful passage speaks of Jesus as being the very Word of God…and that Word is God.  Jesus is the expression of God himself…in the flesh. Everything that God says is trustworthy and true.  Jesus is full expression of God’s truth and love to mankind. 

May we come to see the truth of who was really placed in that manger more than 2000 years ago…it was God himself…in the flesh…named Jesus.

 The Sheep and the Wolf

I remember my first varsity wrestling match. I was in 8^th grade and worked off 7 lbs to drop to the next weight class and claim a spot on the Wadena Varsity Wrestling Team.  I still recall the excitement of running out with the team under the low lit gymnasium and the pep band playing an anthem by Queen.  As I ran around the circle, second from the front, I almost believed that I…even I…a lowly 8^th grader at 112 lbs…would in fact… “Rock You!” as the song suggested. 

Despite my brief wave of confidence, I was quickly brought down to reality as our 103 lbs wrestler, the first of the night, received a quick forfeit and propelled my time to shine to the forefront.

Beings that this was my first varsity match ever…and that I was a mere 8^th grader…and the fact that I was going up against a state ranked senior…I was a strong underdog. 

After our sweat-less 103 pounder received his hand raising and walked off the mat; the coach gave me a swat on the back side and said, “Go get him!”

Even at this young age I was a believer in my Savior Jesus Christ, and so I took to the scriptures to find comfort.   However, the only passage that I could bring forth from the nether reaches of my mind was, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves…you will be hated…don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body…we are considered sheep to be slaughtered…”

This was not comforting…it was terrifying.  Yet, there was no other choice before me.  It was my job to walk out onto the center of the mat and do battle with an elite wrestler 5 years my senior. 

The outcome however was better than I had expected…it only took 34 seconds.  My opponent graciously helped peel me off the mat after he had laid me out with a half-nelson that nearly broke my neck.  He smiled at me, we shook hands and he said to me as the referee raise his hand, “Good match.”

Obviously this guy didn’t have any qualms about lying.

This passage in Matthew 10 is a challenging scripture for sure.  In this text we find Jesus taking the time to describe what his disciples (and followers of Christ) should expect as they continue to follow him and do the things that he is asking them to do.

Yet, woven throughout these verses, we find a canvas of encouragement.  In no way do the commands of Jesus seem easy, however, the love of God is revealed and it is good! 

When we truly come to learn to put our trust in Jesus, we will live our lives as a testimony to him.  Jesus tells us that this testimony that we live will lead to heavy persecution, but the eternal promises of God…are worth every bit of it.

May we come to live our lives as a testimony of the saving grace of our great Savior…trusting that He will do all that he says that he will do!

 Rocket Fuel

A woman shared a story with me recently.  Apparently she was shopping at a local store making her purchase of pasta noodles and garlic mushroom sauce, when the young woman working the register engaged her in conversation.

“Looks like Spaghetti is on the menu for tonight!”

“It sure is.  Imagine my surprise when I went to get it started and didn’t have the noodles or the sauce!? I have a pan of browned burger but nothing to go with it.”

“I know that! I don’t have either in my pantry either. Looks like you will be feeding quite a crew, two boxes of noodles and two jars of pasta.”

“Not really, I just like to buy two of each so that I actually have it in my pantry for the next time I want to make spaghetti.  Not to mention, it is often a little cheaper to buy two of each than just one of each, I like to try and save whatever money I can in this economy.”

“Tell me about it, I can’t even afford one box of spaghetti and one jar of pasta.  As of now, I have nothing…nada…not a cent to buy groceries.”

The woman didn’t know what to say. She finalized her purchase and walked out the doors to her vehicle.  She climbed in, started the engine, dropped the transmission into reverse and pondered at the grocery bag next to her. 

She didn’t take her foot off the brake, she just sat there, looking at the bag…thinking…filled with compassion.

Making up her mind she set the vehicle back into park and killed the motor.  The woman reached into the bag and removed one box of noodles and one jar of sauce and walked back into the store.  She walked straight to the checkout area and placed the two items in front of the clerk and said, “I want you to have this.”

“No! you don’t need to do that!”

“I know, but I want to and even more so I want YOU to have them.”

I don’t know that either of these women said anything else to each other or not, but the impact is clear.

It was clear to me as to what led to this exchange…compassion.  One person had compassion for another.

Compassion is like a match that ignites transformation. Compassion leads to reconciliation. Compassion is the catalyst that takes the Good News…the Gospel into the entire world. It is the rocket fuel for evangelism. 

In Matthew 9:35-10:8, Jesus sees the crowds of people and he has compassion on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd.  They are lost and wandering.  His compassion is a catalyst for change.  It is what motivates him, motivates his disciples and transforms those who will put their trust in him. 

Are we ready, to allow the compassion that we have received overflow in our testimony as we live our lives for him. 

 Desperate

Many people are not aware that when I was younger, I was the survivor of an abduction attempt.  By younger I mean that I had just turned 40.  I was alone in the church one Sunday night…at least I thought I was alone.  I heard some scuffling of feet approaching my office from a nearby hallway. This seemed unusual as it was already past 8:30 p.m. and unless there was an appointment…which there wasn’t…there was no reason for anyone else to be in the building.  I rose from my desk and made my way to the office door to inspect the hallway.  When I looked to the right I saw five young men of various statures looking at me with curious smug smirks. 

“Hello boys, is there something I can do for yo…”

“GET HIM!” the largest of the 5 yelled, and I was suddenly bear hugged from behind.

I saw large heavy white zipties appear in the hands of a long haired mugger and heard him bark, “I got his feet!”

This was not good!  Instinctively, I allowed 20 plus years of wrestling experience to take over and I fought back.  With the use of my arms, hands and legs I was able to bring one of the five assailants to the floor and reverse the position of the bear hugger.  Fortunately for me, another of the five was either not expecting the retaliatory fight back or was too anxious to continue the attempted abduction, because he fled, leaving only four.

Two of the remaining four would be considered smaller in stature than average, but the other two were much more stalwart.  I was able to keep the four young men from securing me with their bonds for a fair amount of time before my ankles were finally encased in the zip-ties…though not yet securely. 

I succeeded in immobilizing one of the smaller assailants with his own zip-ties and held one of the larger attackers securely in my arms, preventing his efforts. Despite this, the remaining two continued to attempt to bind me and I knew I could not win this fight. I felt myself becoming desperate. 

I considered my options which were few.  Then I noticed the long locks of hair hanging from the tall skinny mugger and I did what I had to do.  I reached up with my only free appendage and I grabbed a handful of the 28” rockstar hair and I pulled.

“Oh man! Dude! Not the hair! Ahhh! The hair! He’s got my hair! Let go of my hair!”

I did not let go.  In fact nothing short of death was going to get me to let go of this fistful of hair.  In fact, I took the liberty of pulling the hair harder and in different directions with every shift of my fighting body.

“Whoa! Ryan! Take it easy!  Let go of Daniel’s hair!”  Said the largest of the remaining four, “We just wanted to take you out for your 40^th birthday!  We asked Sarah if we could kidnap you and she said , “yes.” So that’s what we are doing.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“What?! We were going to throw you in the trunk and take you to Buffalo Wild Wings for your birthday.”

“I repeat…What’s wrong with you?...Next time…just ask.”

We went to BWW’s, and it was amazing.

There comes a time in our lives where we will in some way find ourselves desperate. These are the times when we may be willing to do things that we wouldn’t normally think ourselves capable of.  It is possible that may find ourselves desperate and looking for hope and will do just about anything to find help.

In Matthew 9:18-34, we find a series of events, filled with desperate people.  We find desperate parents, desperate men and desperate women, of which all have something in common…they are desperate for something that can only come from the hand of God.  Jesus meets them in their desperation.

May we too find Jesus in the moments of our desperation.

 Uncontainable

It is well known that I am an exceptionally frugal individual.  What perhaps is lesser known is that my wife also shares this deep value.  I am pleased to report that this super power has become evident in our offspring as well.  Most notably, the older that our children become, the more frugal they seem to become.  This would leave our youngest in the greatest need of growth in this area and our two college students are exemplifying their parents well. 

It was just this last summer that while my son was gathering with some of his friends in St. Cloud MN, to hang out and eat and do the stuff that recent high school graduates do…(trusting that it was not like my decision), that he found himself needing to buy himself a supper.  He insisted that the entire group take him to Sam’s Club where he could get his entire supper for $3 while the remainder of the group spent somewhere $10-$20 for their respective meals.  It is quite possible that he converted several of his friends to the power of frugility that day.  “Wow Isaac! You got all of that for $3!!!”

That’s my boy!!

I have noticed that over the last 6 months or so my children have been saving disposable coffee cups and glasses in order to make their own custom hand crafted coffee beverages at home as opposed to paying the exorbitant prices of other coffee shops. 

I am so proud. 

It is painful for me to take a moment to admit…that sometimes frugality can be a detriment. There is only so much life that a disposable coffee cup can endure.  Be sure to look for the warning signs.  If the rim begins to get wobbly, or you find yourself wondering, “Why is my leg feel like it is both wet and on fire,” at the same time, then it is possible that coffee is dripping from the bottom and all over you pants.  These could be signs that it “might” be time to get a new disposable cup.

There comes a time when an old cup just cannot contain the goodness of a strong dark roast coffee any longer. In fact, if you insist on using an old disposable coffee cup with fresh hot coffee, you may find yourself ready to sue a specific fast food chain to somehow ebb the pain that the scalding coffee has caused on your already sun burnt skin…and pride.

The problem is that an old worn out coffee cup was not meant to hold the treasure of a delicious dark brew.

In a much more magnificent illustration, Jesus talks about how the incredible Gospel of Grace cannot be contained in the confines of the old way of thinking and understanding.  Jesus has brought a new and living way and the mercies that are new every morning cannot be walled in with self-righteous thought.

Jesus is ready to blow our minds…and our containers, with his uncontainable mercy as found in Matthew 9:9-17.

May you find yourself ready to be overflowed with the uncontainable mercy of Jesus Christ.