View from Mars Hill

When the Apostle Paul stopped by Areopagus Coffee in Athens, he was favorably impressed.  While the baristas there all sported the logo of Mars, the Roman god of war, these people were at least spiritually aware.  They had posters to all sorts of gods and goddesses, and they even had one reserved for “the unknown God.”  And there were special red cups for the dark elixir offered as oblations.  They were celebrating, but not sure just why.  And so Paul was able to tell them some very Good News.  In their sad and generic, spiritually bankrupt and shades-of-grey world that lacked all sense of wonder, Paul let them know the single most wondrous truth in the entire universe.  Some mocked; some believed; some said he should come back and tell them more about this God-Man they had unknowingly yet instinctively acknowledged.  “The god of the red cup” became an opportunity to speak of the one true God loving us so much that He chose to dwell among us, seeking and saving those who are lost.

A Time to Speak

Some of you may be tiring of my continuing references to the Planned Parenthood situation. I can only explain that about 26 years ago I was faced with a question: What would I tell my three children and their children when they grew up and asked me what I had done for the unborn during "those dark days" in U.S. history? I cannot apologize to you...without later needing to apologize to them.

You may choose to look away,

but you can never say again that you did not know.

William Wilberforce

Praying for Our Police Officers

We need to pray for the police officers who protect us every day. People working political agendas have placed them in new kinds of danger. A split second of hesitation can cost them their lives, but pulling the trigger may cost them their jobs, their reputations, and the opportunity to live quiet and peaceful lives. Their families, who always face that nagging thought that a loved one might not come home from work, now face even greater challenges.  Take a moment to ask the Lord to protect and encourage them.

Our Legacy

The Congressional Budget Office has calculated the Medicare cost we might incur if we prohibit abortion of the unborn who make it to 20 weeks. Who even thinks in such terms? If it's a baby (and this is incontrovertible--try telling a 5-months pregnant mom that "it" is something else), then it is a baby. We have lost our way. Thomas Jefferson's name can hardly be mentioned these days without someone saying: "Yes, maybe a great man...but he owned slaves." One day will people look back on us and say: "Yes, but they allowed abortion"?

WE BEHELD HIS GLORY

Some atheists have been putting up billboards around town, busily trying to bah humbug Christmas.  It's a curious thing, finding one's identity in a disbelief; thinking it important to dissuade others from faith.  If they are right, what possible difference would it make what anyone thought.  Or did, for that matter.

Nearly 40 years ago, Francis Schaeffer wrote these words: If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. There is no good reason why mankind should be perceived as special. Human life is cheapened. We can see this in many of the major issues being debated in our society today: abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, the increase of child abuse and violence of all kinds, pornography, the routine torture of political prisoners in many parts of the world, the crime explosion, and the random violence which surrounds us.

I'm happy that these folks are using their resources to start a conversation.  Other faiths reject the idea that we are image bearers of God, and they might take violent offense to such messages, but I am encouraged that they continue to be bothered by the very possibility of a holy and righteous God.  May we all revel in the deep truths of Christmas this year.  God loves us so much that Jesus came to live among us.  We beheld His glory.  And He suffered and died on the cross that we might have life by trusting in Him.  The answer to all of the upheaval around us (and in us!) lay in that manger long ago.  Have a blessed Christmas season!

Long-Term Praying

When each of my three children was born, I began to pray for the someone each would someday marry.  While I had no idea who that individual might be, I figured she (for David) and the two he's (for Beth and Joy) were out there somewhere, growing up and learning things and forming godly character.  It recently occurred to me that I started praying for Evan two years before he was born.  When Joy becomes Mrs. Evan Leister on September 20, I will have experienced the third great answer to those many prayers.  I am so very grateful to the Lord for providing godly, loving mates for my children.  Our four grandchildren hopefully have four corresponding little ones out there somewhere, learning to walk and talk and say the alphabet.  And learning about the great love of Jesus for them.  So my work is not done.

May I challenge you to do some long-term praying for those you love...and for those you will one day love?  Marriage is a wondrous and challenging thing.  Can't think of a better wedding gift for Evan and Joy than 27 years of prayers.  Can't think of anything better than seeing God answer so fully!

A Thankful Dad

Better to go into a house of mourning... (Eccl. 7:2)

I was honored recently to share at the funeral service for a dear lady at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church.  Selena was born in 1927.  She lived during a challenging time in our history, as a teenager in World War 2 and as a registered nurse throughout the Civil Rights Movement years.  As I sat in the packed auditorium of the church where she had faithfully served as a member and teacher for decades, I contemplated how her world changed in that lifetime.  People told stories of how Selena had touched their lives in profound ways.  And I learned so much I had never known about her.  She and her sister have been a part of our Community Bible Class for the past 20 years.  Just a month before her homegoing, she stopped me for clarification.  "Now, when I am teaching this to my class, I want to get it right...."  May I finish my race still learning and growing like that.