Tried With Fire

My dad finished his race and was called home last night. We lost someone we love, but we are rejoicing for his gain. He will never experience sin, sickness, pain, sadness, or worry ever again. And one day we will be reunited with him and be with the Lord forever. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we ...

Life becomes harder and more complicated when you grow older. I'm not there yet, but my parents are. I've just come home from helping move my mom into memory care, and I will be heading back to help move my dad into assisted living. The packing and physical move were the easy part. The hard part is the emotional and mental adjustment to living in a new place, which is difficult for anyone let alone for someone with Alzheimer's. It's also hard to watch and try to help from afar; the lion's share is on my sister and brother-in-law. I'm thankful for my parents and how God has kept them. I also want to use this situation to learn and adjust now before it will become harder to do so. On the drive home, I shared with my daughter the lessons I want to learn, so here they are. Maybe they will help you too. 1. Don't wait to declutter. The saying goes, "You can't take it with you," and maybe my daughter won't want to take it with her either. Ask ...

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so here you go: Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering , Kelly Kapic, IVP Academic, 2017, pg. 33.

From Jeremiah Burroughs: Question: "How does the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead come to be a means of giving hope?" Answer: The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the cause of true lively hope in the hearts of the saints. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, God has declared that He is fully satisfied for the sins of man, and that the work of redemption is fully wrought out... Read the rest here .

I am getting old enough to remember the good ol' days. It's fun to reminisce about life before personal computers, the Internet and smartphones. I remember when gas was less than 30 cents a gallon, and you could buy two pieces of Bazooka bubblegum with a penny. But it's also easy to romanticize the past. When you're a child, there are many things that go over your head, so childhood memories, while personally meaningful, may not be the best with which to assess society as a whole. If you go back to the days before those nasty feminists and pot-smoking radicals, what about segregation? What about civil rights for minorities? What about laws that protect women from domestic violence and give them legal rights apart from their husbands? If you step further back, what about child labor? What about slavery? What about the upper class that was terrified of teaching the lower classes to read let alone write for fear they would rise about their restricted sphere in life? Wha...

I am Out of the Ordinary today writing on the hope of the resurrection even in the midst of Alzheimer's. I sometimes imagine what life was like in the Garden of Eden. There was perfect harmony with God and between all of creation. There was no illness or death, which is hard to fathom. Yet this was the reality of the state of innocence before the Fall. But that reality is no more. Once sin entered the picture, a new reality took hold. What was once whole and healthy is now broken and dying. Even if you never had a single sick day in your life, the rate of decay is going to eventually outpace the rate of cell growth. Surgery may be able to nip this and tuck that. Medical research may provide new treatments, but there is no fountain of youth. There is no elixir of life. The sad prognosis of this present reality has been on my mind quite a bit lately because I have a family member with Alzheimer's. The disease is still in its early stage, and I'm very thankful for the...

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:22-25. "There is all the difference between the groan of death and the groan of life. Now, the apostle sets the whole matter before us when he said, "The whole creation groaneth," and you know what comes after that, "travaileth." There is a result to come of it of the best kind. We are panting, longing after something greater, better, nobler, and it is coming. It is not the pain of death we feel, but the pain of life. We are thankful to have such a groaning." C.H. Spurgeon, Creation's Groans and the Saints...

Some good words from the Doctor the day before the election: The world goes round in circles - better, worse; better worse; up and down. Look at secular history and you will see this - a constant cycle, as if we are going to arrive and we never do. And then back we go, with always a dark age following an age of enlightenment - round and round in circles. Is there no hope? There is! And here is the hope, that the triune God is still interested in this world; that God did not abandon it when men fell in his folly and listened to the devil and became the dupe of the devil. God is still interested! The doctrine of deism, which means that God made the universe like a watchmaker making a clock, winding it up, and then putting it down and having nothing more to do with it, is absolutely wrong. God is not only transcendent he is Immanent, and he is concerned and he is involved. Not only that; the whole story of the Bible is that God is still controlling the world. That, far from abandoni...

This time last year, I prayed that God would restore my joy. My verse for 2009 was 1 Peter 1:8, Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory . God was faithful and restored my joy. He even restored my odd sense of humor. I probably laughed more in 2009 than the previous three years combined, even though this was a hard year emotionally. It just proves the power of God's grace. It seems like a lifetime was rolled into one year considering all that happened in 2009. I am so grateful to the Lord for upholding us through this difficult season. I am so grateful to the church and saints who have prayed and stood with us. As 2010 draws nigh, I am praying for hope. The coming year is full of unknowns and more change. I dislike unknowns, and I don't like change. I also realize that I am somewhat afraid to hope. Perhaps it's because the one thing I hoped and prayed for was answered with a "no...

At prayer meeting this week, Pastor Ryan shared briefly from Romans 8: 28-29. He commented that verse 28 is often pulled out of the rest of the chapter. Yes, it is a promise from God that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. However, Pastor Ryan brought in verse 29 as well, " in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." The aim of the all things working together for good is that He, Christ, might be the firstborn or the first. He encouraged us to see that the goal of the working together for good is not a change in our circumstances but the goal is that Christ would be first. Even our being foreknown, predestined, and conformed to His image is in order that He might be the first of many brothers. This got me thinking about the good and when do we experience this good? In one sense, the full reality of this is deferred to the future. One day, we will be with the Lord forever. But the best th...