A Light to My Path

Last evening as I was dozing off, I heard just a snippet of a television news story that should have surprised me. Unfortunately, it was not shock that I felt, but disappointment. A couple in Southern Ontario has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against a district school board for allowing Bibles to be distributed to Grade five students. The Gideons have been distributing the small New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs since the 1950’s, I believe. You may have kept this volume as a memorable souvenir of your childhood. Many school boards have stopped the practice and some have asked the parents to sign a consent form prior to the distribution of the New Testament. In my thirteen years as a senior administrator in a school board, I received not one question or complaint about the distribution of the Gideon New Testaments to all grade five students. What has changed? Apparently there is less and less tolerance for any mention of Christianity within our schools. I suspect this is not related to multi-culturalism or indeed the growing diversity of religions in Canada. It is more directly related a move to limit as much as possible the spread of the Word of God.

This line of thinking confuses me. I have accumulated no less than five translations of the Holy Bible and indeed I use them almost daily in the writing of this blog. I have recently replaced my paper back copy of the Amplified Bible with a large print leather bound edition. This beautiful volume rounds out the New International Version, the King James Version, the New King James Version and The Message Bible that I use in my study of the Word of God. Online I also consult from time to time the Revised Standard Version, the New American Standard Version and the English Standard Version. The more I read the Word of God, the more I want to learn what it really means. The wisdom found in any Bible is more than I can find in a lifetime of study. New revelations just keep appearing before my eyes. I cannot fathom the need to discourage any student in our society from reading what can also be termed the greatest piece of literature every published. Any student of literature or history in Western society is required to have a working knowledge of the Bible by even the most atheistic of teachers and professors.

This morning I cannot keep from remembering the words of Psalm 119: 103-106.

103 ¶ How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104 Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.

105 ¶ NUN. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

106 ¶ I have sworn and confirmed That I will keep Your righteous judgments.

It is the Word of God that gives us understanding and the ability to discern evil. It gives us the truth and only the truth. It is a light that guides the way through life to heaven. No wonder I have confirmed that I will follow the Word of God. The Amplified Bible renders this as “hearing, receiving, loving and obeying” the ordinances of God.

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The Honor Due

I have had the occasion recently to discuss and think about what a friend once termed “end of life issues”. I am not referring to myself or our generation, although some of us are indeed, as Lozanne terms it, “on deck”. Many people of my generation are now trying to sort out the issues that inevitably arise as their parents become elderly. Difficult decisions confront many regarding the independence, health and required care for their aging parents. It can be an agonizing position to be in having to decide the immediate welfare and future of the two persons who nurtured and raised you. We are much more use to deferring to their wisdom with love and respect.

When I think of our own situation, I marvel how Lozanne and I did not have to make any long term decisions regarding the future of our parents. Lozanne’s mother passed away in 1992 when she was 69 years old. Lozanne’s father and both of my parents entered eternity within a six month period in 2005. Both my parents died 34 days apart and Lozanne’s father died five months later. The grief felt with their loss was great, but it has recently become apparent to me that we did not have to make one decision regarding their aging future. All were octogenarians living independently in their own homes when they passed away. Both of our fathers died after short illnesses and my mother passed away very suddenly in her sleep. We never had to consider the prospect of caring for them in our own home and better yet, we never once entered a nursing or retirement home to find them a safer place of care. I thank God for being spared those agonizing decisions. I like to believe that, if required, we would have risen to the occasion and done the right thing. Jesus made it very clear what the right thing was, and indeed is, in Mark 7: 8-13.

8 "For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men––the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."

9 He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

10 "For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’

11 "But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" ––’(that is, a gift to God),

12 "then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother,

13 "making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."

Jesus is openly and plainly scolding the powerful Pharisees for their propensity to dream up new rules that better suited man, not God. They are man made rules that have no basis in the word of God. One of their practices was, when they became a Pharisee, to ignore the needs of their own parents because they gave that portion of their wealth directly to God. Indeed they are breaking one of the Ten Commandments in order to satisfy their own man made rule. Jesus makes our obligation to honor our mother and our father very clear. We are to look after them when and if they need us. I marvel at how little God required of us to fulfill our responsibilities. I pray that our children will have the same blessing.

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)

What a friend

When our eldest daughter was about three or four years of age, she had an imaginary friend. This relationship was not a brief and fleeting one, as you would normally expect. Wendy, pronounced Mendy by Tamara, was part of our lives for about eighteen months. Her presence was with us constantly. We had to be careful to acknowledge her at all times and to include her in all family plans. We had to be cautious of shutting the car door on her hand and to ensure that a chair was always ready for Mendy’s comfort. Mendy’s bedtime was coincidentally at the same time as Tami’s. Saying goodnight to Mendy was not an option, but mandatory. Mendy accompanied us on family trips and indeed was usually well behaved. I remember her well. Mendy disappeared from our lives as Tami began to explore the neighbourhood and made real friends. Their names were Beverly and Doreen or as Tami referred to them, Bef and Dream. I suspect the eldest child in a family may be more likely to have an imaginary friend. I thought of Mendy this morning for the first time in many years as I was contemplating the famous words penned by Joseph Scriven, a fellow Canadian, in 1855. The first verse of this famous hymn is as follows.

“What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!”

These words describe our need for a relationship with Jesus. It is this all important relationship that saves us, not religion. Jesus made the relationship so very clear; however, in one single and simple verse found in John 15:13.

13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

Jesus did exactly that for anyone who wishes to be called one of His friends. He voluntarily went to the cross in order to pay our ransom once and for all. Through His sacrifice, the sacrifice of God returned to earth, we are redeemed. We don’t get what we truly deserve, but through His grace we are assured heaven and an eternity with our friend, Jesus. “What a friend we have in Jesus.”

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)

Six Million Dollar Man

When our son Jeremy was about four years old, he announced to us in a rather matter of fact manner that he had just swallowed a quarter. It was more of an announcement for our information than any cause for concern. Without thinking to ask the inevitable question of why he would do such a thing, we drove him to the emergency room. There we met with our family doctor. Imagine meeting your family doctor at the emergency room in our new modern and improved health care system! An x-ray did indeed confirm an object that looked much like a large coin wending its way down the digestive tract and indeed no further action except confirmation of exit would be necessary. The doctor did have the presence of mind to ask the question, “Why did you swallow a quarter?” The answer was simple and logical. Jeremy was playing “The Six Million Dollar Man” and he had charged his batteries.

“The Six Million Dollar Man” was, for the young and uninitiated reader, a television series that was popular in the mid seventies. The hero of the piece was a man who had been horribly injured in an accident and had been put back together again with the use of man-made bionic parts. This of course made him somewhat superhuman and as a result of great value to those who had paid the six million dollars to have him fixed. He did go about doing good things as I recall. I wonder what the six million dollar figure would be in inflated cost in this day and age. He did indeed have batteries that needed charging from time to time. I doubt that swallowing quarters was the way it was done, but I am sure it is about as logical as what was portrayed on the show. I must admit that the show was what had to be characterized as a cleverly written imaginative story. It bore little resemblance to reality. Thinking about “The Six Million Dollar Man” this morning puts me in mind of something Peter wrote in 2Peter 1: 16-18.

16 ¶ For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

Peter is telling us that the power and majesty that is Jesus Christ is not some contrived story. Peter, James and John were there on the mountain and witnessed with their own eyes the transfiguration of Jesus. They saw with their own eyes Jesus speaking to Moses and Elijah. They heard with their own ears the actual words spoken by God Himself. Peter goes on later in this same chapter to tell us that the same is true with regard to prophecy and scripture. What the Bible tells us about Jesus is not some cunningly devised fable, but most certainly the inerrant Word of God. Peter, as were many others, was an actual witness to the power and glory of Jesus during the years of His ministry on earth. Peter knew Him personally and even watched from the shadows as He was condemned and crucified for our redemption. Men and women will continue to cunningly devise fables for our entertainment or worse, but the story of the gospel is not one of them. We have this assurance from an actual historical eye witness to all that was Jesus on this earth.

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)

More than Can be Numbered

There is a distinctly unique sound that is generated by an air cooled car engine. Once you have driven a Volkswagen Beetle or van from the sixties the sound is always with you. Indeed you may quietly wish that your much more luxurious and modern car had that very sound. It was a kind of a whine that became slightly more high pitched with the changing of each gear as you accelerated. It was a comforting and yet exciting sound at the same time. I recall that sound vividly when I remember a Sunday morning in the fall of 1968. I was on my way alone for a week of practice teaching. It was the first of the eight required weeks spent in real classrooms. I was nervous about the prospect of having to actually teach the class by myself later in the week. I was driving to a boarding house in Huntsville, Ontario. Lozanne was expecting our first baby and had remained at home.

Our blue 1962 Volkswagen Beetle with its very modest 1200 cc engine was responding well to its young driver; the same foolish driver who decided that the car ahead on the two lane highway was moving just a bit too slowly. I saw nothing coming and pulled out to pass on what appeared to be a long straight stretch of road. I was about to learn a terrifying lesson in passing safety. To my horror, a car exiting a gas station ahead of me turned without looking to the right into my lane. There I was right beside the car I was passing about one hundred yards from a head on collision that in a small car with a rear engine would have most certainly been fatal. Speeding up quickly was not an option. Neither was slamming on the brakes. The driver beside me sized up the situation and attempted to slow down and pull over on the right to give me enough room to get by. I was positive, even as I pulled over at the last second, that I was about to hit the car with a terrified looking couple coming toward me. To this day, I am certain that I missed both cars by no more than one half of an inch. All three cars pulled off the road hundreds of yards apart and sat in stunned silence. No one got out. We just sat and contemplated what could have been for about fifteen minutes. Since that day, I do not pass a vehicle when there is an entrance to the road on the passing lane. All too often, drivers will look to their left, but quickly forget that someone could pull out to pass and neglect to look to the right. Indeed when I pull onto a highway, I look both ways each and every time.

As I sat in that idling car on that morning, I was sure that my escape was nothing short of a miracle. As I recall the vivid detail of that memory, even today, I still feel it was a miraculous escape. I also know that even then, twenty-eight years before I would come to know the Lord, His hand was upon Lozanne and me. His plan for us evidently would unfold later in life. The irony is that the miraculous escape from death or injury was nothing compared to what the Lord would do for me further down the road of life. He sought me out at just the right time and offered to me forgiveness and redemption through salvation. Who can even fathom His infinite mercies and His long suffering patience? Indeed his interventions and constant mercies are more than can be numbered!

5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. (Psalm 40:5)

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)

Me and My House

On the wall of our rustic dining room is a sign of great historical significance. On the sign are the burnished words “Bummers’ Roost”. Hanging just below that sign hangs another which reads “The Halls”. The signs are large and the varnish shows signs of some outdoor duty. These prized pieces of heavy wood were inherited from my parents who hung them outside of their several recreational vehicles as they camped in many campgrounds. They were a gift from my sister and her husband who had them custom made by a craftsman from Victoria, British Columbia. One glance at these two signs reminds me of my parents full of life and vitality many years ago. The signs hung outside of my youngest son’s cottage for a year or so until they were put up inside our country home.

The significance of the term “Bummer’s Roost” is one that could get lost in the mists of time. My paternal grandfather often told stories of lumbering at the beginning of the twentieth century. As a very young man, he spent several winters in various bush camps in and around South River, Ontario. Somewhere deep in the bush was a hotel frequented almost exclusively by these rough and tough bush workers. He loved to recall some of the colourful anecdotes that may indeed have been half legend and half truth about this almost surreal location called “The Bummers’ Roost”. It was apparently a lively spot frequented by young and strong men. By the very definition of the word bummer, some of the patrons were plainly loafers and dawdlers. My parents made the name live on after my grandfather’s passing by acquiring the signs now in our house. As I age myself, I am struck with the richness of the memories of those gone before us. I marvel at thinking of them when they were much younger than I presently am.

I believe it to be very important to carry on family traditions within our home. The signs are a constant reminder of my parents, my grandparents and their lives. Of much greater importance to me; however, is a decision made and kept in this house. Joshua, the faithful warrior who took over from Moses and led the chosen people into the land of Canaan, knew the importance of this decision and stated it very clearly in Joshua 25:15.

15 ¶ "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Joshua in a very concise statement summarizes a choice we all have to make. There is no alternative other than making one clear choice. You simply believe and accept the lordship of our saviour or you do not. There is no middle ground. You serve and worship Him or you don’t. God Himself has left that choice to us. After many years of trying to avoid the decision, Lozanne and I made the all important choice. There is no looking back. There are no regrets. We look forward to the glory of heaven.

There is another sign in our home. It resides at the front door and it was made for us by a wonderful Christian woman who now resides in heaven. That sign states clearly, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”.

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)

Our Refuge and Strength

This morning I find myself wondering about global warming. I really don’t know where to point the finger and get it all fixed, but I do know ultimately Who is in control. I have observed lately some different behaviour in nature. We have had, so far, a very mild winter with not a lot of snow. Several days ago, I found tracks made by a very large moose close to our home. I can’t recall seeing such mobile moose in the winter before. As I was looking at the huge tracks in the snow and enjoying Marley’s olfactory delight in finding them, a very large bird caught my attention. The largest eagle I have ever seen in eastern Canada was hovering in the wind about a hundred feet above us. The wing span must have been six feet or more. I suspect that this noble creature was actually contemplating a run at Marley, but realized that her fifty pound weight would be impossible to manage. I am glad that I did not have a small lap dog outside instead of the medium sized Marley. What a magnificent predatory creature that eagle was. I would suspect the warmer weather has made hunting easy and thus the size of that full grown adult bird. Near our home, Marley has found multiple field mice actually burrowing in the snow. I have never seen this behaviour before. Usually field mice look for much more protection against the elements. Unfortunately for them, Marley has found a new sport in hunting them down. Although she does not eat them, they do not survive her enthusiastic greetings.

The fourth observation is something I have never in my life experienced. We have ants in the basement. It is February and we have ants! I normally do battle with ants twice per year, once in May and once in July. It is just considered a normal natural phenomenon when you choose to live in the country. For about a week, I put out multiple ant traps, pour powdered soap into outside ant hills and place an ant repellent around the foundation of the house. Eventually I win, or at least the ants make me think so, but it would appear that my only weapon during the winter months will be ant traps. I suspect my favourite hardware store staff may look at me a little strangely when I attempt to purchase some. The only logical explanation I can think of for the appearance of ants in February is that the frost has not gone down very deep into the soil.

Whatever the cause, we have had a very mild winter. All of nature seems to be reacting differently to the conditions. Although so far the consequences of so called global warming have not been widely catastrophic, with the exception of a few very mean hurricanes, the natural world is upset. I wonder what changes my grandchildren will experience. I wonder if those changes will be catastrophic. That contemplation of the future this morning has taken me to Psalm 46: 1-3. I have quoted from Psalm 46 in past blogs and I suspect it will appear again in my writing.

1 ¶ To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Despite the troubles brought on by our mismanagement of the God’s resources, ultimately we know Who is in charge. I see the power of God in all of them, the moose, the eagle, the mice and the ants. I can simply observe and know that He is in control and indeed I can rejoice in that fact. The final two verses of Psalm 46 sum up that rejoicing much better than I can.

10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)