Faith Reflections

Quote to Reflect On

“People know we have a heart when we give a hand.”

A Lesson from the Life of Saint Patrick

This past Wednesday was Saint Patrick’s day so I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the man who this day honors. First, to expose a few misconceptions about Saint Patrick. He’s not really a “Saint” in that he was never canonized by the Catholic Church, though he’s a saint in the same way as anyone who’s responded to Jesus Christ’s saving effort. He was not Irish (we’ll get to that in a moment). Most likely he did not come up with the analogy of the three leaflets of the shamrock representing the Trinity. OK, enough of the debunking of myths.

Patrick was about 16 years of age (in approximately 405 AD) when he was kidnapped from his father’s British farm and sold as a slave in a very pagan Ireland. He worked as a herdsman for six years. During his time of servitude he clung to the faith he had ignored as a teenager, praying daily. Prompted by a voice in a dream, he escaped and made his way home. When in his mid-40s he heard another voice in a dream, a voice of the Irish calling: “We beseech you to come and walk among us once more.” Patrick returned to Ireland as a bishop. Familiar with the Irish clan system, his strategy to reach the island for Christ was to convert the chiefs first. His efforts proved quite successful.

Patrick’s life can inspire us to see the good that come from problems and pain. We can be quite certain Patrick was not happy with being abducted and sold into servitude for six years. The reality is, however, that we would likely never have heard of Saint Patrick if his life hadn’t taken the nasty turn it did for him at age 16. If he had not been sold into slavery in Ireland it’s doubtful he would ever have gone there as a missionary.

We’re always having to deal with experiences and  face events that are not to our liking. We wish they could be different, but they aren’t. It was when Patrick was not where he wanted to be and doing what he didn’t want to do those six years in Ireland that His faith grew and the stage was set for his life’s call (to serve there, years later, as a missionary).

Our first reaction when life takes a turn we don’t like is to express frustration; it’s certainly true for me. Far better is it for us, with God’s gracious help, to express faith, faith that God can use everything to further His purposes for us. He did so with Saint Patrick, He can do so with you and me as well!

Here’s a piece reported to be penned by Saint Patrick….

“Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.”

Quote to Reflect On

“God uses our waiting to help us grow.”

Quote to Reflect On

“The glory of God is a person fully alive!”

Quote to Reflect On

“Pray because God is resourceful!”

Quote to Reflect On

“God is not limited by our limitations!”

Walking toward God

The morning fog hung low over the woods and field out back of our house where I was taking my morning walk this past Tuesday. Unlike most fogs that cover everything evenly, making it look as if you’re viewing the landscape through a frosted lens, this fog had edges to it. Distinct streaks and pockets of fog alternated with clear spaces and splotches that offered random clarity of the landscape.

I picked out an area of heavy fog in the middle of last year’s corn field and started walking toward it. I’ve done this in the past, walked into a spot of heavier fog. The fog is a metaphor of the Holy Spirit of God for me. The act of God creating in Genesis is introduced with the observation that “The Spirit of God was hovering…” (Genesis 1:2) Soon my walking led me into the thicker fog. It surrounded me, I was breathing it (presumably), and, from an imaginary observer at the end of the field, I had disappeared into the fog or at least had become ghost-like myself. My prayer focused on telling God I wanted to be near Him.

Of course I really wasn’t walking toward God for He’s not limited to dwelling in fog. However, the mist was a meaningful metaphor for me, a sacramental use of the fog. It also reminded me that every day I can walk toward God or away from Him, I do so many times throughout the day.

Every headline in the news that shouts the great fall of a person from grace because of everything from embezzlement to adultery to murder started as the prolonged entertainment of a bad thought, the adoption of a nasty attitude, and the acceptance of often inconspicuous but wrong actions. On the other hand, people acclaimed for being great and godly have made many private decisions of how to think, spoken countless inconspicuous words, and done many little-observed acts of kindness that, because of their cumulative affect, have inspired the praise of others.

Every seemingly small decision as to what we think, say or do is another incremental step toward or away from God’s purpose and plan for us, a step toward or away from God Himself. A good question to ask ourselves is which way are we heading right now, this hour, this day?

Quote to Reflect On

“Let Yourself Be Found By God”

Of Fretting and Faith

“Do not fret…” is what King David states three times in his Psalm that we’ve numbered 37 in our Bibles. Three times, mind you!

This command to refrain from fretting was called to my attention in an essay by Carolyn Arends in Christianity Today (p. 56, Feb. 2010) Frankly, I hadn’t thought much about fretting being something a person of faith should address as being a negative factor, as being sinful.

I’ll confess I’ve done my share of fretting. Even this day has been far from fret-free. I’ve asked myself what’s the difference between acceptable frustration and when does it move into fretting? Jesus, after all, was frustrated at times, with His disciples and others. But I don’t see Him fretting.

It seems to me that fretting is prolonged frustration, frustration to which we fail to apply faith. When we feel things are out of our control – that we are at the mercy of someone else or the victim of a set of circumstances – we fret. What King David states in his psalm is to replace fretting with faith. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret…” (v.7)

I know, fretting actually feels good in a perverse sort of way. That’s the problem, it’s a perverse pleasure and does us no good, but harm. Fretting causes us all kinds of problems, including making us envious and jealous of others who don’t have our high standards and yet seem to get ahead. “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong…” Fretting also leads to anger. One of King David’s statements references this. “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil.” (v.8)

I looked up the word “fret” and found that it’s from the Old English word “fretan” which means to devour! Fretting eats away at us! It’s a cancer of the heart, an acid of the soul!

Sometimes we feel powerless to influence or change people or circumstances. It’s easy to fret about it. Instead, we should be focusing on putting our trust in God, that He’s still in ultimate control. I’m convinced a faith-filled day can lead to a fret-free day! You too?

(The above photo of my tennis shoes and a bowl I dropped and broke while drying dishes has sold 16 times on iStockphoto and has earned me $9.00.  See!  Good things come of bad.  Diann’s no longer mad at me for breaking the bowl, because it was worth less than $9.00.)

The BIG Questions — # 2 What about Evolution & Creation?

There are dog lovers and cat lovers. I wonder if they ever get into a fight and the dog lover chases the cat lover up a tree?

Special breeding over the centuries has provided both dog and cat lovers with a vast array of breeds from which to choose. You can have a chihuahua or a great Dane and it’s still a dog, or a short hair or Persian and it’s still a cat. But no one has yet bred a cross between a dog and a cat. What would you call it, a cog or a dat?

In all of our expertise with breeding better plants and animals we’ve never created a new species. (Even if we did, it would only prove that it takes intelligence and intention to do so.) There seems to be a giant barrier between the species. Yet, it’s interesting that the theory of evolution largely depends on the belief that life has evolved countless times from one species into another.

Author Philip Johnson writes, “That Darwinian evolution can gradually transform one kind of creature into another is merely a biological hypothesis, not a fact.” (Darwin on Trial, p. 10) Why is this theory accepted when it takes such a giant leap of faith to do so? Probably because those who hold to it so tenaciously don’t believe there’s another alternative.

But many have come to the conclusion that there is a valid alternative, that God created the great diversity of species, that this is more believable then the theory of evolutionary change. In this cause and effect cosmos where we believe every cause has an effect why not hypothesize, propose, conjecture, yes, believe that there is an outside cause?

The ancient Biblical record describes the creation of the various species. “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:24)