Day 63

 

The Lunchable

 

"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"

 

Genesis 25:32

 

 

"So who is your boyfriend?" I asked Michelle.

"I don't have one right now," she said.

This was surprising because I thought I knew who her boyfriend was. She was only 8 years old and having a boyfriend didn't really mean that much except as status at school.

"What happened to Carmelo?" I asked. "I thought he was your boyfriend."

"He was, but now he is some other girl's boyfriend."

"What happened?"

"This girl asked him to be her boyfriend but he said he couldn't because he already had a girlfriend. Then she said she would give him her lunchable if he would be her boyfriend. He was hungry, so now he has a new girlfriend."

I was astonished and amused. "Michelle, you mean you got traded in for a lunchable?"

"Yeah, basically."

Self esteem was no problem with Michelle so I didn't worry about some deep emotional scar over being traded for a lunchable. She had just stopped by my office to chat and we were both laughing about it. It reminded me though of how often we trade in our birthright, as God's children, for something as transient as a lunchable.

Esau was a hunter and would go off on long trips looking for game.  Jacob was more of a stay at home type. One day Esau came in from a long hunting trip and saw Jacob cooking. "Quick, let me have some of that red stew!" Esau demanded.

Jacob was shrewd and the second born (if only by a few minutes since they were twins). So Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright."

The birthright of Esau, the firstborn, was double the portion of any other brothers he might have. There were only 2 of them so Esau stood to inherit two thirds of Isaac's estate to Jacob's one third. It was a steep price Jacob was asking for.

It didn't take much for Esau to cave in to Jacob's asking price and Esau swore an oath to sell his birthright. It is then we read that "Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew."

Esau thought he was trading his birthright for some "red stew", meaning meat stew and what he got was a bowl of beans. It would have been bad enough to trade the birthright for some beef stew but all he wound up with was beans.

It happens like that all the time. As Christians we trade our birthright, our position in God's family, for things we think are going to be really great and we find out what the world has to offer is just a bunch of beans. It is terrible and foolish to trade away a close fellowship with Christ for anything this world has to offer.

Satan tried to tempt Jesus with this same kind of offer. After Jesus had fasted 40 days Satan tried to tempt him with his physical needs (some bread), pride (showing off he was the Son of God by jumping off a high point and having angels rescue him) and power (all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would only worship Satan). Jesus turned down all these offers knowing them to be nothing but beans compared to what his heavenly Father had to offer.

And that is what we need to remember. What God has to offer is so much more than what Satan or the world has to offer. The world offers candy and God invites us to the "wedding supper of the Lamb." (Revelation 19:9) The world offers a false sense of pride and God makes us "co-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17) Satan offers us power and God promises us we will reign with him for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5) The world promises beef stew and delivers beans. It promises you everything and will abandon you for a lunchable.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Genesis 25:24-34

• Who was Isaac's favorite son and who was Rebekah's favorite? (v.28)
• Do you think having favorites helped or harmed the relationship between the brothers?
• Do you think Esau was really in danger of starving or was he just hungry?

 

Read Genesis 27:35-36

• What 2 times did Jacob deceive Esau?    



Day 62

 

Broken Feet

 

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

My son broke his foot. How he did it I don't know. I don't even know how long it was broken before we discovered it. What  sounds even worse is it turned out both of his feet were broken and we didn't know it.

You may be wondering how such a neglectful parent escaped child protective services. In my defense he was walking fine and we noticed he was limping only when basketball season started. Everyday in practice his limp would become more pronounced. We took him to a podiatrist who saw his age (at the time he was in Jr. High) and the shape of his foot  and told us that he would take an x-ray but was sure it was broken. The x-ray proved him right and he explained that kids of that age with feet shaped like his often suffered from stress fractures in their heels. So Ethan wore a walking boot for a couple of months on one foot and then switched it to the other foot.

So you see, my child did not suffer from child abuse. I have abused my lawn mower on occasion and regularly abuse the English language but never my son. The only thing abused on this occasion was my checking account.

We did have medical insurance and I was thankful for that. Not everyone has insurance or a job for that matter. The trouble was that the cost to fix two broken feet was not enough to go over my deductible.

I was thankful for that too. You see a lot of people go over their deductible year after year. My family never goes over the deductible. We are all healthy people and rarely go to a doctor.

Being thankful has a lot to do with perspective. If you look at most things you can find something to be thankful for. You don't have to be thankful for some tragedy but you can be thankful while in the midst of a tragedy.

I am thankful that my son's feet healed. I am thankful I could pay for the care he needed. And I am thankful he only has two feet.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Philippians 4:4-7

• In whom do we rejoice always?
• What can we do about anxiety?
• When we pray with thanksgiving what do we receive? 

 

Day 61

 

The Underwear Patrol

 

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

 

Matthew 12:50

 

Bert and Ernie's favorite thing to do when they got home from elementary school was to strip off their school clothes and watch TV or just play while only dressed in their underwear. I had come to their house because their mom was sick - in fact she was chronically ill and in bed a good deal of the time. As I rang the doorbell I could see the boys through a glass pane in the door and they were running around the living room in their underwear.

Bert came to the door and without opening it asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Brother Jess with the underwear patrol", I told him.

He took off down the hallway towards his mom's bedroom and I heard her faintly ask, "Who is at the door?"

"It's Brother Jo with the underwear patrol," he told her.

In his excitement he got the Brother part right but used my wife's name (Ms. Jo, his Sunday School teacher) instead of mine.

On another occasion we had to pick up Bert and Ernie from school because their dad had to take their mom to the hospital While we were driving home Bert asked me, "Brother Jess, why did your mother name you Brother?"

My mom did not name me Brother, but I am called that more than anything else. To my family I'm just Jess or Dad, everyone else, other than old friends, call me Brother Jess. You see I have a lot of brothers and sisters. In a biological sense I have 3 brothers and 1 sister but in God's eyes I have more brothers and sisters than I can count.

Jesus tells us that, "whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister." So if I do God's will and you do God's will then we are Jesus' brothers and sisters and that makes us brothers and sisters. We are also "co-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17) It wasn't my mom that named me Brother, it was Jesus.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read John 7:1-5

• Did Jesus' own brothers understand him?

Read Matthew 12:46-50

• Is Jesus saying anything negative about his family?
• Somewhere along the way did Jesus' brothers come to understand him and follow him? 

 

 

 

 

Day 60

 

WWJD

 

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

 

Matthew 16:24

 

The kids in the class were all wearing their WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets. They had discussed what the WWJD stood for and had moved on to a craft project. There was only one tube of glue and Bert wanted it. The only problem was another little boy was using the glue. Bert asked for the glue but the other boy refused to give the glue up. So, Bert got a ruler and whacked the other boy upside the head with it and said, "Give me the glue!"

The teacher startled by the sudden assault said, "Bert, remember your WWJD bracelet. What would Jesus do here?"

Bert replied, "If Jesus was here he would make him give me the glue!"

Even when we are 5 years old we have a hard time discerning the difference between our will and God's will. One thing is for certain though, what Jesus would have done would not have included whacking a kid with a ruler.

The popularity of the WWJD bracelets have come and gone. You just don't see them that much anymore. We have moved on to new slogans and printed new t-shirts. Hopefully we have not discarded, along with our bracelets, asking ourselves what Jesus would do.

I believe if we consistently ask ourselves what would Jesus do  we would all be much better off. Anybody who invested in a get rich quick scheme could have saved themselves a lot of money by asking, "Is this something Jesus would do?" Anybody who has wounded a friend deeply by saying something they should not have said could have saved a friendship by first asking themselves, "Is this something Jesus would say?" The list is endless: Would Jesus raise his kids this way? Would Jesus spend his money on this? Would Jesus sit and listen to this?"

Jesus tells us if we are going to do the things he does we must take up our cross and follow him. Taking up our cross is not a burden we bear (like bad eyesight or a mean mother in law) the cross is a instrument of death. We must die to what we want to do and follow Jesus doing what he wants to do.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Matthew 16: 21-26

• What was Jesus explaining to his disciples that he must do?
• Was this what the disciples wanted to happen?
• How do we find real life? 

Day 59

 

Chicken Pox: The Gift that Keeps On Giving

 

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

 

Psalms 32:1

 

I had the chicken pox when I was a kid. Not being a selfish youngster, I shared them with my dad. I was pretty young so I don't remember it much. I remember the spots and itching and my dad being miserable but the rest of it is a blur.

Once Ethan had to fill out a form that listed all his immunizations. I was thinking as the form was being filled out that I had not been immunized for several of those diseases, I had just had the disease. I had the mumps, which I shared with my mom (wasn't I the most generous of children?). I had the measles and the chicken pox. Ethan has been immunized for all of those.

They announced the beginning of the chicken pox vaccine while the chicken pox was going through Ethan's pre-school class. Every kid in his class but him and one other boy got the chicken pox. Ms. Juana, a daycare worker from El Salvador who absolutely adored Ethan, was afraid he would get the "chicken pops." I told her that chicken pops was a breakfast cereal and that chicken pox was the disease. To be fair, her English was way better than my Spanish. Maybe in El Salvador they do get the pollo pops. Whatever they call it, Ethan didn't get the pops or the pox and I was able to get him immunized.

Several years ago I was getting ready to go to a Promise Keepers Conference with a bunch of guys from church. I was not feeling well and told my wife I wasn't sure I was up for the trip. I had these bug bites that were driving me crazy. I was getting on the church van when I told my doctor (who was going with us) that I was becoming the biggest wimp because I had these bug bites that hurt big time. He asked to see the bites, so I lifted up my shirt and showed him. He told me the reason my bug bites hurt so much was because they weren't bites, I had the shingles.

The shingles is the chicken pox coming back to haunt you. I had a mild case but still the spots on my stomach felt painfully connected to the spots on my back. I had a new found admiration for those whom I knew had suffered and endured the shingles for extended periods of time and suffered from a more severe case. Recently I got a shingles vaccine because I don't ever want to go trough that again.

Sin is kind of like the chicken pox. Sometimes it has consequences that come back to trouble us a long time after the sin. If we confess our sins God forgives us and our relationship with him is restored but we still have to suffer the earthly consequences of our actions. God can and sometimes does remove those consequences, or he might lessen them but most often he lets us endure them to discipline us. We do the same thing for our children.

So next time you are tempted to sin just think about the chicken pox. Like the chicken pox sin is painful and disfiguring. And some day down the road, like a case of shingles, your sin can come back to zap you again.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Psalms 32:1-5

• What do you think it means by "in whose spirit is no deceit"?
• What happened when the psalmist kept silent about his sin?
• Did God forgive him of the guilt of his sin or the consequences of his sin?

 



 

Day 58

 

Of Mice and Men

 

He who did not spare us his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

 

Romans 8:32

 

Mice seem to be attracted to houses that I live in. They are uninvited guests to be sure but I really can't blame them since I am a big fan of air conditioning myself.

While I don't blame the mice for wanting to move up in the world I would prefer they move up somewhere else. Being a non-violent kind of guy I used to try and catch them in one of those yuppie "let's not hurt the mouse" traps. It is a little cube that with a one way door where the mouse goes in but can't get out. The idea is like catch and release. I figured I could catch them and then release them at the home of a deacon who was giving me a hard time.

It turns out that mice don't really like to check into mouse hotels. They did like to take a dip in my pool, when I had a house with a swimming pool. What they didn't know was that my pool was like Las Vegas. What went into the pool stayed in the pool. I constantly had to toss out drowned mice into the woods behind the house.

The mice that bypassed the pool and made it into the house (through some hole I was never able to locate) always wound up in the same place. I could hear a mouse at night and find him the next morning in an old fashioned spring trap placed by the hot water heater. That location never failed. The first time we put a trap there we caught a mouse within 5 minutes.

When Ethan was a preschooler, catching a mouse was an event. We had mouse funerals. On one occasion we sang Amazing Grace and I asked Ethan to say a few words about the mouse. He said, "He had big ears." I said, "Amen."

At the graveside service I said, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if the trap doesn't get you the cat must." Then we laid little Mickey to rest.

Humans are tough on mice. Some people have pet mice that they raise to fee to their pet snake. And will humans willingly share their spacious home with a mouse? No! And if you are a mouse you best not let a scientist get a hold of you. He'll have you running endless mazes or drinking so much coffee your nerves are shot. Or worse, some scientist will get you hooked on little mouse cigarettes to see if you get cancer.

Some people think about our relationship with God in mice and men terms. They think God is sending us through a maze of weather disasters, financial crises and relationship troubles. They believe God just keeps sending bad stuff our way to see how much we can take.

But that is not God at all. In Romans 8:32 the Bible tells us, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" God loves us and gave his best for us, his Son. The "all things" he gives us in this context refers to salvation and that nothing can separate us from the love of God. It doesn't mean that we will get all the toys we want or that we will be free of troubles. It does mean that with Christ we have all we need to overcome those troubles.

Where we live now we have solved the mouse problem with an accessory that came with the house. A cat. But if you should catch a live mouse I have a list of addresses you can send it to.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Romans 8:31-39

• Is there anyone who can bring a charge against one of God's children that could somehow separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus?
• Is there anyone who can condemn a child of God and somehow separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus?
• Can any of the things Paul mentions defeat us and separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?
• 

Day 57

 

Stray Dogs and Grace

 

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."

 

Ephesians 2:8-9

 

We had a white dog named "Brownie." I know the name doesn't exactly fit but my then 4 year old son, Ethan, picked the name out before we picked out the dog. He had his heart set on a dog named Brownie so that became his name. And actually we didn't pick out the dog, he picked us out. He was a stray.

When Brownie came to us he was in a bad way. He had an open wound on his shoulder, was covered with ticks and fleas, had mange and was just about starved to death. We couldn't bear to see the dog starve so we fed him and he stayed. My wife, Jo, is a nurse and she doctored his wound as best she could. We got some worm medicine down him and after a shampoo to get rid of fleas and ticks we applied some mange medicine to him. Brownie started looking like a half way decent dog.

So, Brownie found a home. We rescued him from  death, or at least a very hard life.We saved him; it was an act of grace. You see Brownie had never pulled one of us out of a burning building or rescued us from a lunatic gunman. Brownie had never loved us, known us or thought of us. But we took pity on Brownie, a poor, ugly, sick, starving, stray dog. We fed him, we healed him and we gave him a home. It was grace.

I was a spiritually poor, sin sick and starving for a relationship with God stray boy when Jesus took pity on me. Jesus healed me of my sin, his word and his Spirit feed my soul and I have a home built in heaven. It was and is and will be grace. I didn't, don't and never could deserve it.

I didn't go looking for Brownie, he came to my house. In contrast, Jesus came down from heaven looking for me. It was wonderful, loving and amazing grace.

Brownie turned out to be a pretty good dog. He was no Lassie barking out a warning that the dam was about to break and flood the whole valley. But then again, maybe he did. Perhaps the problem was that I was no Timmy and didn't understand what he was barking about.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Luke 18:9-14

• Who did the Pharisee measure his goodness against?
• Did the tax collector make any claim of worth?
• Is it better to "justified by God" or to be self-justified?



 

Day 56

 

Having Eyes But Are Blind

 

Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.

 

Isaiah 43:8

 

 

Ethan was really terrible at playing hide and seek. He did okay in the hiding part; he could find imaginative places to hide. What he couldn't do was seek. Well, he could seek, he just couldn't find.

Once we were playing in the house and it was his turn to find me. I went and hid in his room. My hiding place was that I was lying in his bed, no covers up, just lying there in plain sight. He came into the room and looked in the closet but didn't see me.  A short time later Jo snuck into the room, immediately saw me and climbed in the bed with me. Ethan came into the room looking for us both and though we were in plain sight he could not find us. There was nothing wrong with his vision, he just didn't see us.

The Bible talks about people "who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf." On numerous occasions Jesus says, "He who has ears, let him hear." The problem is not being physically blind or deaf, it is being spiritually blind.

I've talked to so many people who are on a pathway that leads to destruction and you would think it would be quiet evident to them, but they don't see it. They do things that they should not and are mystified when the consequences are bad. It should be clear that their way of living has led to misery  and that they need a Savior in the most desperate way.

It is like it is their turn to seek, to seek out salvation, a better way of living, and they can't find Him. They look in the bottom of beer bottles  or in empty prescription containers and don't find Him. They try sitting in a certain position, chanting some nonsense, breathing in incense thinking it will clear their vision and don't find Him. Some don't even try to find Him, they think as long as they play by the rules that they are winners but they never stop to ask what the rules really are. 

All the while Jesus is in plain sight, on a hill called Mount Calvary, lifted up on a cross.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read John 3:5-16

 

• What did Nocodemus not understand?
• What event in Jesus' live corresponds with Moses' lifting up of the snake in the desert?
• What must we do to have eternal life?   

Day 55

 

Mother's Day

 

Give her the reward that she has earned and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

 

Proverbs 31:31

 

For some men the only redeeming quality they seem to have ever had is their ability to pick a good wife. I am always amazed when some sorry character manages to convince some sainted woman to marry him. I was 33 years old before I ever got married, and I had many a bachelor friend who married above his market value. It used to frustrate me to no end when a nice Christian girl gave me the "I love you like a brother" speech, and then she would marry some goofball a year later. (Of course, some did way better than me.)

I had friends who were worried that I would never get married. A standard gift for me at Christmas time or for birthdays was cologne.  People seemed to think I needed all the help I could get. If smelling good was the key to winning a girl's heart, I could have had a harem. Why at any time I could have smelled like a brute, a canoe, a pair of chaps or a karate expert. I could have smelled like old spice, English leather. I could have smelled like Halston, Chanel or even Zorro. I had colognes, aftershaves, deodorants, musk and soaps on ropes. At one time I had over 30 bottles of cologne. To my knowledge none of it did me any good because all the soap on a rope never helped me lasso a wife.

I don't know what made my wife say "yes" when I proposed. She is normally very intelligent, a graduate of Rice University, the "Harvard of the South." I am grateful for her momentary lapse in judgment. She is a good wife, a good mother and a good person.

Years ago my son, Ethan and I brought her some flowers for Mother's Day. It was hardly a suitable reward for that she had done for us but if we had got her chocolates we would have been the ones to eat them. Let me tell you what she did with her flowers.

First she took a couple of flowers out of her arrangement  and put them in a little vase that was filled with water that had food coloring added to it. She did this science experiment for Ethan so that he could see the flowers change color and learn how plants grow.

Most of the rest of the flowers were gone by the end of Mother's Day. They were given to children at the church to give to their mothers. The flowers she had earned she freely gave as a gift.

After she had given them away she asked me if I minded. I didn't, of course. I thought what a great illustration of why we have Mother's Day. It is because our mothers give, often sacrificially. They put their joy second to that of their families.

One of the great things about my wonderful wife Joanne is that she didn't marry me because of my cologne. She is allergic to the stuff. It is a real ego boost to know that she didn't fall for the greatest cologne collection east of the Pecos; she fell for me.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Proverbs 31:10-31

 

• Is it easy to find a good wife?
• What does a good wife do for her husband?
• What does a good wife do for others?

 

Day 54

 

Daddy

 

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

 

Romans 8:15

 

 

My son has always been the curious sort. He likes to know why people do certain things and how things work. When he was 4 years old he liked doing science experiments (he grew out of it by the time he could get school credit for it). Being just a little kid his science experiments were sometimes just playing in water but at other times it was real science.

 

One night he said he wanted to show me a science experiment with eggs. He had evidently heard something on TV about how eggs would sink in regular water and float in salt water. So, we proceeded with the experiment.

 

We put an egg in a clear glass of water and it sank, just like it was supposed to. Then we got a glass of warm salty water. (The warmth helps the salt dissolve I think). When we got the water good and salty we dropped an egg in it and sure enough it floated.

 

I was clueless as to why this happened so my wife explained this to me and Ethan. Evidently the salt makes the water denser so that it actually becomes heavier than the egg, so the egg floats. My 4 year old understood this explanation but I had to take it by faith. We put the eggs up but not wanting to let things go to waste I decided to gargle the salt water. I'm told gargling with salt water is good for your gums (which is something else I take by faith).

 

To make water dense enough to float an egg it has to be very salty. So when I gargled with it I made a horrible face and spit it out and quickly rinsed my mouth out with fresh water.

 

My son thought my funny face and the spewing out of the salt water was hilarious. He started laughing and then paid me the ultimate compliment a father can get. He said, "Daddy, of all the daddies in the world, you're the daddiest." I'm not sure what it meant but I guarantee you I was sure proud to be it.

 

In the Bible several names are given God. The name used most often in the New Testament is "Father." In this day and time with so many dead beat, sorry, no account dads, to hear that God is our Father doesn't carry the impact it should. God is our Father and we are his children and the Bible tells us the relationship can be a close intimate one. Paul tells us we can call God, "Abba." "Abba" is Aramaic for "Daddy." It is the name Jesus used when he cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was crucified. Loosely translated he said, "Daddy don't let this happen to me, but not what I want Dad, what you want."

 

God wants to be your dad. He wants to have a close personal relationship with you. He wants you to come to him and say, "Daddy, of all the daddies in the world, you're the daddiest."

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Galatians 4:6-7

 

• Because we are God's children what does he do?
• What is the difference between being God's slave and his son?
• What do we, as children, stand to inherit? And how do we inherit it?

 

Day 53

 

The First Day of School

 

These commands I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk to them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

 

On the day my son started school I didn't have to worry about which bus route he was on. He was so excited he needed to register a flight plan with the F.A.A. I had never seen anyone so eager to start  kindergarten. I thought about taking him to have a genetic blood test to see if he was really mine. Maybe babies got switched at the hospital and some very intellectual parents were wondering why their son would rather stay at home and gaze into a kaleidoscope.

 

As excited as he was I could tell he had some fears as well. As much as we had told him about school it was still a great unknown for him. But the truth was it was I who was the most apprehensive as he started school.

 

I told my wife, "Now we will get to find out if we have done a good job or not." I wondered how he would handle peer pressure. At home he was never pressured to do anything wrong, not that he didn't manage to do it on his own. At home he could grow and mature at his own pace. At school there would be older kids and enticements that age and maturity had to offer. He was an only child and had been the center of attention from the time of his birth when newspapers across the country told the story of the "miracle baby." I wondered if he would learn to get along in a universe he was not the center of.

 

We prayed before he went to school. We prayed for him that he would have a good day. We prayed for his teacher. No one knew better than I how much his teacher  would need our prayers. My son could talk to you until your ears bled.

 

I was not real concerned about academics. He was very bright and knew how to read before he went to school. I knew he would do well. My wife was complaining that in a few years he would be taller than her. I told her, "What are you worried about. In a few years he will be smarter than me." He would wake up in the morning and the first thing out of his mouth was some new fact he had learned. He would open his eyes and say, "Hi Dad. Did you know panda bears aren't really bears? If I was a big eagle I would be strong enough to hold different things in each talon." He was a human Discovery Channel.

 

It was hard for me to believe he was in school. It seemed like it was just a few days before that I was amazed at his abilities when he made gurgling sounds and blew spit bubbles while shaking his rattle. I could not help but think how proud my first wife (who died when he was a 1 year old) would be of him. And I couldn't help but be thankful for the amazing job that my wife Jo had done with him. They had both been selfless when it came to him: The first risking her life that he might be born; the second giving up her freedom to be his mother.

 

Even though I had a lot of concerns about him going to school I was confident he would be okay. You see, I knew what motivated my son. I knew that more than anything he wanted to please his dad, to make me proud. He gave me that awesome power over him. I pray I have used it wisely.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9

 

• How deeply committed are we to be to the command of God if we expect our children to be committed to them?
• How diligent are we to be in letting our kids know what God expects of them?
• Whose responsibility is it to teach your child the ways of God?

 

Day 52

 

Tossing Cookies # 2

 

So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot or cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

 

Revelation 3:16

 

 

When I started dating after my first wife died I was looking for someone not just for me but for my 3 year old son as well. I had to make sure that a person was not only up to the task of being my wife (which is a difficult job in itself) but also up to the task of being a mother. All women were not up to that task.

One young lady was very nice and we hit it off well enough. Then on Ethan's third birthday I had some friends over and she brought Ethan a baseball bat that was sized for an 8 year old and a big floor puzzle that I had difficulty putting together. She clearly didn't know a lot about kids (but I guess to be fair I suppose she could have learned).

Jo and I had started dating and she came over to the house to spend the afternoon. We had a supper of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese (okay, so I'm not a gourmet chef) and we played with Ethan until time to put him to bed. He wasn't in bed long before I heard him in his room calling for me. I rushed in to find that he was sick and had thrown up in his bed. Jo came in and offered to help clean up but I told her, "No, that's not your job. He's my son, I'll clean up the mess. If you want to help you can hold him while I clean up the mess and get fresh sheets for his bed."

So, she sat on the floor holding Ethan in her lap while I cleaned up. I had just finished cleaning up the mess and was putting sheets on the bed when I heard Ethan barfing all over Jo. It was gross and not exactly the best way to make a good impression on someone you are dating. But Jo was not fazed and it was then that I knew I had a keeper. Jo and I got married 6 months later.

God tells the church at Laodicea that because they are lukewarm that he wants to spit them out of his mouth. It is not a pleasant picture and not a pleasant thought to think that God feels that way about us. Why does God dislike lukewarm Christians so much he wants to toss his cookies? I think that if you are cold or indifferent toward Christ you are not a bad witness because people just don't associate you with Jesus. If you are lukewarm you claim Christ but show no change in your life and are a bad witness and I think that is what God finds so distasteful. So, what is your thermostat set on?

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Revelation 3:14-22

 

• What was the church at Laodicea's main problem?
• Where the people at Laodicea as self sufficient as they thought they were?
• What does it mean to overcome? And overcome what?  

Day 51

 

The Ways of God

 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.

 

Isaiah 55:8

 

 

My son got ear infection after ear infection. I would get frustrated every time I called his pediatrician's office. I would tell them what was wrong but they wouldn't believe me.

I would tell the nurse, "My son has another ear infection. I need y'all to call in to the pharmacy a prescription for some antibiotics." The nurse would ask, "How do you know he has an ear infection?" And I would say, "I know because I am his father."

That was never good enough for the office personnel. I would next be asked, "Does he have a fever?" I would say, "Yes, he has a fever."

She would ask, "What is his temperature?"

I would say, "I don't know I haven't taken it."

Then she would say, "Then how do you know he has a fever?"

I would repeat, "I know because I am his father."

I knew these things. I could tell by the way he tugged his ear and the glassy look in his eyes. After his mom died it was just the two of us and we spent a lot of time together. I knew the ways of my son.

Eventually they sent us to a surgeon to have tubes put in his ears. After having a hearing test the technician told me, "Once he has tubes in his ears he will hear a lot better, develop a bigger vocabulary and talk more."

I had to ask, "Is that a good thing?" You see, I knew my son, she didn't. He already talked my ears off, I wasn't sure I was ready for more.

As for his vocabulary, it was quite developed too. When he was in kindergarten he came home from school complaining one day. "Bobby was choking me in recess so I told him, 'Bobby, you're hurting my larynx.' But he wouldn't stop."

I told him, "Ethan, Bobby doesn't know what a larynx is."

Ethan said, "I told my teacher that Bobby was hurting my larynx and she didn't do anything."

I told him, "Ethan, your teacher doesn't know what a larynx is."

Anyway, the point is I knew my son. I knew if something was wrong. I knew what he was capable of. I knew his ways.

God tells us that his thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways. That is bad news, not knowing the ways of God. The good news is that he doesn't keep them a secret. In fact he has written his ways down for us in his word. We can learn his ways, study his ways, meditate on his ways. With his Spirit to guide us maybe one day if someone asks us what God thinks about something we can tell them, "I know because he is my Father."

 

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Isaiah 55:6-11

 

• Though his thoughts are higher than our thoughts is God approachable?
• What are we supposed to do with our way?
• Whose way will prevail in the end?

Day 50

 

The Groupie

 

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!"

 

2 Samuel 12:7

 

 

 

He was a book store groupie. He was in the store almost every day. There were others that were groupies too. Two little old ladies would come in frequently and put some new books on lay away. That wasn't so odd except that they always had something on lay away. They would find a new set of books they liked, return the books that they had on lay away and had not paid off, then put the new books on lay away. They never actually made it home with books or paid something off out of lay away, they just had this revolving lay away going. Anyway, back to this guy.

 

He was a young man in his twenties and worked at a gas station near the book store. He was not too bright but he was curious. He had a new question for me every day. He didn't buy any books he just tried to look up answers in the books and when he came to a dead end he would ask me for help. Normally I didn't mind this and I would help him find what he wanted in a book or just answer the question that he had. He genuinely wanted to know more about the Bible. Sometimes his questions would be odd or we would be real busy and he would just pester you for his entire lunch hour.

 

On one busy day he came to me and asked what the Hebrew word for water was. It was not something that I knew of the top of my  head but I knew how to find out and what book to look in. It was too complicated for me to explain to him to find on his own because as I said he wasn't too bright. (In fact I'm reasonably sure he had some sort of learning disability). As busy as we were I didn't want to take time to look it so I just gave him a flippant answer. I told him that oddly enough the Spanish word for water and the Hebrew word for water are the same they are both "agua."

 

That is completely wrong. Well agua is the Spanish word for water but it is not the Hebrew word. (The Hebrew word for water is "mayim" just in case you are wondering or doubt my ability to find these things out). I thought I had got rid of him in a harmless and amusing way.

 

The next day he was back in the store only this time he wanted a job application. I asked him what happened to his job at the gas station and he informed me he had been fired. He told me his boss had warned him that customers were complaining because he was always witnessing to them and that he needed to stop. He hadn't stopped and had witnessed to one too many people and gotten himself fired.

 

Then he said, "My dad is going to be so mad at me for getting fired." He began to cry and said, "All I want to do is make my dad proud."

 

It hit me hard. I knew that I had not made my heavenly Father proud the day before with that flippant answer to him.

 

It's not pleasant when God hits you right between the eyes. Kind David stole Uriah's wife and arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle. It is amazing the things we can do and not feel guilty.

 Eventually God does get our attention and we see the enormity of what we have done. For David it was the prophet Nathan telling him a story about the theft of a poor man's lamb and then looking David in the eye and saying, "You are the man!" For me it was a guy crying who just wanted to make his dad proud.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 2 Samuel 11:1 - 12:4

• Do you think David thought he had gotten away with stealing Uriah's wife?
• What was David's reaction to the story Nathan told him?
• What was David's reaction when he realized the story was about him? (2 Samuel 12:3)

 

Day 49

 

Angels

 

See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

 

Matthew 18:10

 

Starting an argument with the guy who just handed you a job application. wouldn't seem to be the most intelligent thing to do but that is what he had done. I wasn't terribly surprised though because I remembered him from years before. It was also clear he did not remember me.

 

I first met him when he had visited a church where I was youth minister. He filled out a visitors card and I went to his apartment to visit him and invite him back to church. It was a strange visit.

 

He had a map of the world prominently displayed on a wall with push pins all over it. I asked him what the pins were for and he explained it to me. He was tracking fleet movements he said. The red pins represented the Soviet Union ships and the blue pins represented the United States ships. Exactly how he knew where the ships were, ours or theirs, I had no idea. What he planned to do with this information was not clear either. He was only getting started.

 

He had a collection of Elvis's gold records. (Elvis Presley not Elvis Costello or I might have been a little more impressed). There is nothing really strange with that, Elvis has a lot of fans. He also had an Elvis scrap book. Nothing strange with that either. He felt compelled to show me his Elvis scrap book. Now it was getting a little weird. On the last page of the scrap book was a picture of dead Elvis lying in state awaiting burial.

 

He showed me the picture and said quite seriously, "I don't think this is him. Look how pale he is. Elvis was never that pale."

 

"You could be right," I said. What I was thinking was, "Of course he's pale. It's hard to have a rosy glow when you are stone cold dead."

 

Now, about 12 years later, I was working at a Christian bookstore and he was looking for a job. I handed him the application and he said to me, "Y'all shouldn't be selling those angel figurines because they are all women. Angels aren't women; they are men."

 

First of all I had no control over what we sold other than actually ringing it up at the register. Secondly I was not too fond of the figurines myself. I don't know why the angels had to look like babes from Baywatch with wings. They were more discreetly dressed being angels, not lifeguards, but I still found it distasteful.

 

It was his comment that angels were men that got me. So I told him, "Setting aside the fact that angels are not male or female but angels, what makes you think that all angels are male?"

 

"Because they all have guy names," he said. "Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer are all guy names."

 

"Aren't there thousands of angels?" I asked. He affirmed that there were. I continued, "That's only 3 names. How do we know that all the rest of them aren't named Suzy 1, Suzy 2, and Suzy 3 and so on?"

 

He went away vowing to never work at the store unless it got rid of the women angels.

 

The word angel in Greek and Hebrew literally means messenger. They are celestial, super natural beings that are neither male nor female. They preform various tasks and one of their primary being God's messengers. This is most prominently displayed with the angel's message about the birth of Jesus. Angels will also assist God in the time of judgment and on occasion minister to God's people when they are in need. A phrase you often hear is "guardian angel." Several times  we see angels in this role. Michael is the guardian angel for Daniel (Daniel 10:13). Angels guarded Elisha from the Arameans (2 Kings 6:8-23). I guess the guys who made  the Baywatch angel figurines were just making life guardian angels.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Matthew 18:1-6, 10-14

 

• What is the pathway to greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven?
• What is the importance of their angels "always seeing the face of my Father in heaven"?
• What is the Father not willing to do?

 

Day 48

 

Single Parenting

 

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling.

 

Psalm 68:5

 

 

I have the utmost compassion for single parents. It is hard enough being a parent when there is 2 of you, let alone just 1. I know this because I experienced it.

For the first 7  months of Ethan's life his mother had been at home so I had a little training on how to take care of a baby. After Cathy died I was on my own. It is a good thing that kids are close to indestructible because I had a lot to learn.

I learned the difference between spitting up and throwing up. I was used to spitting up but when projectile vomiting started I was amazed. How could someone so small blow chunks across a room? I thought I was in a scene from The Exorcist. I kept waiting for his head to spin around. When it started pouring out the other end too I didn't know which way to point him.

I also learned about giving a baby a bath. I had some friends over one night and I excused myself from the conversation to give Ethan his bath. After his bath I brought him back into the living room and one of the women there asked me how come Ethan was so red?

I told that he had just had a hot bath. She asked, "How hot?"

I told her that the water was about as hot as I liked it. I was then informed that babies are to be bathed in warm water not hot water.

I didn't know it was too hot. He never told me it was too hot. Of course he hadn't learn to talk yet. I guess that is why he always looked like a fresh cooked lobster after his bath.

People would always tell me, "I guess you have to be his mom and his dad."

I would answer, "No, I just concentrate on being his dad." I figured that if I tried to be his mom he would grow up with the strangest idea of what women are like.

The most memorable thing about being a single parent is being tired. I would work all day, come home and take care of my child until he went to sleep and then have to do all the work I couldn't do with him awake and under my feet. I actually grew to appreciate Barney videos, not because I thought they were entertaining, but because they would hold his attention long enough for me to cook supper.

The Bible teaches us that God cares about single parents. Time and time again you can read how God has a special place in his heart for widows and orphans. In the Old Testament there were laws that had provisions for the care of single parents and their children. (Then as it is now most single parents were moms). In the New Testament we see that help for those single parent families should come from their church family.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Timothy 5:3-8

*Please note that generally in Bible times you became a single parent by being widowed.

• A widow with children (a single parent) should learn to do what first?
• Where is the single parent in need supposed to place their hope?
• Should a single parent live for themselves?

Day 47

 

Someone To Call On

 

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

 

1 Peter 5:7

 

 

When my first wife died an older woman friend of mine told me, "You are going to be a popular man with the ladies." She didn't mean I had suddenly started looking like Brad Pitt; it was that I was a bachelor with a cute little one year old boy. The more noble part of me likes to think that women  became attracted to me because of the tragic story and the adorable baby. The more cynical part of me thinks there were some desperate single moms out there that saw me as an answer to some of their problems. I suppose there were some of both.

 

It had only been a month since my wife had died when the phone started ringing. I was never sure what to think about women calling me. I'm old enough to have heard from my parents that, nice girls don't call boys." I was also young enough and worked with teenagers enough to know that these days nice girls do indeed call boys. But these weren't girls, they were women. They called, short ones, tall ones, skinny ones, not so skinny ones, pretty ones and some who in our politically correct times could only be described as beauty challenged. Some of them I knew fairly well but most of them I barely knew. They all called to, "offer my condolences."

 

There was one in particular that I remember. She was a pretty lady that I had just met. She had a son that was starved for male attention that I had played catch with at a church picnic. She seemed to be nice but I really didn't know her.

 

When she called she said, "If you ever need someone to talk to please give me a call. I'm not a stranger to death, so I know what you are going through. My mother died when I was 12 and then my fiancé died in Vietnam. My sister died a few years later and I had only been married a couple of years when my husband died. Other than my son my dad is all I have left and he is back in Colorado and has cancer. I don't expect him to live but another year at most. So, you can see I really am no stranger to death. If you want to talk just let me know."

 

I was somewhat stunned by this oration but managed to mumble out, "I appreciate the offer but I'm doing okay right now." What I felt like saying was, "Lady, I wouldn't touch you with a 10 foot pole. I want to live!" I wasn't even sure it was safe to have talked to her on the phone.

 

It is nice to have someone you can call on, a friend who will listen and encourage you. As Christians we have such a friend. That friend is Jesus. The Bible tells us we can call on him "because he cares for you." One of the great encouragements of the gospel is that not only is God able to help us, he cares about us and wants to help us. We always have someone to call on.

 

After I didn't respond to any of the women who called and finally met my quota of condolences the phone stopped ringing. At the right time God brought just the right woman into my life. She has been a good mother to my son and a good and loving wife to me. And best of all my relationship with her is not life threatening.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Matthew 11:28-30

 

• Who does Jesus call to himself?
• What does Jesus promise?
• What does it imply to take on a yoke?

 

Day 46

 

No Wasted Sorrows

 

"...the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God"

 

2 Corinthians 1:4

 

There was a lady in our church whose goal in life was to live long enough to take care of her husband. Her husband was in advanced stages of a disease that left him disoriented, incapable of caring for himself and with a multitude of medical problems. It was a full time job to take care of him and she was determined to do it herself at home.

 

The problem was she was in poor health as well. Most of her problems were heart related. I visited her in the hospital on several occasions when she was in heart failure and she told me of her prayers to recover and take care of her husband. God answered her prayers.

 

About a month after my wife died this lady's husband went into the hospital. He was put in an ICU in the same hospital my wife had died in. I went up to the hospital to be with her and the family.

 

It was decided that they would take her husband off of life support and let him die peacefully. The family invited me in to the ICU with them and the life support devices were turned off. This dear woman looked at me and asked, "What do we do now?"

 

Just one month before I had been in that same hospital in that same situation. I knew what was most likely going to happen. God was not letting my sorrow and suffering go to waste. I was to use it to help that family.

 

I encouraged them to tell him good bye and that they would see him again. He was unconscious but you never know what they might hear or sense. And as that wife told her it was okay to go I watched the line on the monitor go flat. 

 

In 2 Corinthians Paul talks about how God is the "God of all comfort." And God comforts us not so we can hang on to that comfort selfishly but so that we can, in turn, comfort others. When God says, "All things work for good of those who love him," he is letting us know that even our sorrows will not be wasted.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 2 Corinthians1:3-7

 

• Besides Paul calling him the "God of all comfort" what other comforting title does he give him?
• What is the comfort of God supposed to produce in us?
• Why is Paul's hope for the Corinthians firm?