Turn your focus to . . .

      A recent trip to an amusement park with my grandchidren bought parallel to our current situation    I like a fast, swirling rides but I don’t do upside down and am not a fan of the “ship”.  You know the wide, long, boat shaped ride that swings like a pendulum back and forth.  I successfully avoided it for two rides until the little puppy-dog eyes and sad voice saying “please, please ride with me,” persuaded me to get in the boat.   I have discovered a successful way to ride those rides that scare me.  Fix your eyes on one spot in the car and never waver while you are flung to and fro.  Don’t look outside the ride, keep your eyes lasered on one spot.  On this particular experience, I was seated facing a little boy about six years old who was terrified, not scared, terrified, His eyes were wide and bulging and his face frozen in fear.  As the ride gained speed and height, he wailed and turned his head from right to left.  Over the din, I shouted, “Look at me, look at me.”  He stared at me across the safety bar.  “Just look at me,” I shouted again.  “Don’t look outside or around , just look at me.” For a few seconds he and I rode peacefully with eyes locked;  almost unaware of the movement and the laughter around us.   Then he looked above my head and started screaming again.  He gripped the safety bar and buried his head in his mom’s arm.   The ride was over but not soon enough for he and I.

   The first parallel is clear.  In the midst of a wild ride that terrifies us and the wonder if it will ever end, we have to focus our eyes on one thing.  Jesus. In the midst of Covid, riots, upcoming elections, “distance learning” misadventures; turn your eyes upon Jesus.  The things that terrify us become strangely dim. The old chorus has more meaning  today than every before.  I love Francesca  Battistelli's take on this.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjmZ2v0niCI

  However a second application occurred to me.  As I became aware of the little boy across from me and his fear, I focused on him and his needs.  In the wild ride of our moment, I noticed someone else who seemed to be in more need than I.  I found my deliverance from fear in looking at his fear and striving to help him. We are surrounded by those who are in worse situations than we.  Many of those around us have no hope, no where to look for peace.   When we focus on the needs of others, our fears seem more manageable. 

   In the midst of our current crisis,  upcoming election and social unrest,  I'm going to remember that boat ride and that little boy.  

   I’m thinkin today about focusing on Jesus and others.   

Need to Know Basis

    “Need to know” is a military term meaning one is told “only the facts needed to know at the time you need to know and nothing more”.  God operates on a “need to know” basis.  Often my perspective of what I need to know does not match what He thinks I need to know.  The disciples certainly lived on Jesus’s idea of “need to know”.  It frustrated them too.  In Acts 1:7, (CEV) Jesus told them, “You don’t need to know the time of those events that only the Father controls.”    As I meditated on that, I decided that “those events” are everything in my life.  He controls all the events.  I can’t plan a one, especially not in these days.

     The disciples had heard their entire lives about this coming Messiah.  As males, they had been schooled in the Torah and knew all the prophecies about their Savior. (Catch The Chosen for a realistic look at this!)    Now, here He was!  They walked with Him witnessed his miracles, heard his teaching, saw him die and resurrected.  They were sure, positive, confident, certain that the kingdom was at hand.  They asked Jesus repeatedly when He would overthrow their oppression.  Jesus’s response, You don’t need to know.   

   Seems like history is repeating itself.  I’ve heard my entire life about the rapture, second coming, end of time as we know it.  I’ve read all the books, seen all the films, studied the chart stretched from one end of the platform to another, heard all the sermons; facing today I ask, “is this the end?”  Numerous preachers, speakers, authors, friends and family say a resounding yes.  I look to the Word, pray and study and Jesus says, “you don’t need to know”. 

   In scripture the time of the end is always spoken of as “hidden”.   Matthew Henry calls it “forbidden knowledge”.  But, he continues, “He (Jesus) had given his disciples instructions for the discharge of their duty, both before his death and since his resurrection and this knowledge enough for a Christian,”.  Matthew Poole says “Our Savior does not in his answer tell them what they desired to know; he tells them what is more expedient for them to know.”   

    Here’s what we need to know:   whether Jesus returns today or not, He may call me or you to His side through an accident, cardiac arrest, Covid; there are a multitude of ways for a body to die.  With that in mind, as long as I (and you) have breath; we walk in the way He sets before us.  We do what He calls us to do on a daily basis.  We share the good news of eternity with those who are worried and burdened about what they don’t know.  We live on a need to know basis and today I know I am loved, redeemed, blessed and Heaven bound.  MacLaren says “Why be anxious about what 365 days MAY bring, when we know what eternity will bring?”

Thinkin’ ‘bout that.     

Your Hut's on Fire!

   Once upon a time,  a remote village of people  lived on opposite sides of the river.  Both groups built their huts in a semi-circle facing the river and never looked behind them.   One day the people on the right side of the river noticed a faint cloud of smoke rising over the ridge behind their neighbor's huts.  The next day they caught a glimpse of flames over the ridge.  The third day, the flames topped the ridge and started down the mountain.  The people across the river began to discuss among themselves if they should mention the flames to their neighbors.  It was reallly none of their business what the people across the river knew or didn't know.  They didn't want to say anything that might offend.  They couldn't be positively sure the flames would catch the huts on fire.  Maybe they knew the flames were coming and just didn't care.  Maybe they like fire.  So,  the people said nothing.  The flames reached the back of the huts and as they began to burn,  the people still said nothing.   After the village had burned and all it's inhabitants had died,  the people on the right side of the river mourned for a time, then,  they carried on with their business.  It was too bad and so sad about the people across the river. 
   People of God,  we need to call out to our neighbors,  YOUR HUT IS ON FIRE!  We no longer have the luxury of  being politically correct.  We cannot afford to worry about offending someone who's eternity is not sure.  We can't assume they know and just don't care.  We must act on what we say we believe.  If we believe the Biblical account of eternity and the requirements for where one spends eternity,  we must proclaim to the lost,  Your hut is on fire!
    I confess, I'm not evangelical and sharing the gospel message does not come easily to me.  I like to be the "only Jesus some people see"  rather than speak about it.
   I, too,  have heard my entire life about the rapture and second coming of Christ.  I've sat in the meetings and been told it could happen tonight.  I heard the stories of people who lived on a mountain for weeks waiting for the return.  The message has always seemed sure but far away.  It's not just my age that tells me the rapture is closer than it's ever been. 
   Covid became very real to me yesterday,  I can no longer boast that I don't know anyone who's had it and worse,  I now join the ranks of those who lost a friend to the deadly disease.  I can only believe God is sparing her the world we must inhabit. 
   Among your friends, neighbors, acquaintances, family;  are those who huts are on fire. There's no time to waste.  We must  throw them a hose and some living water. 

Thinkin' 'bout sending some texts, emails and making a few phone calls.