On Being Renewed

New Year’s Eve, 2008


I just celebrated my birthday this week and it suddenly feels unbelievable that I even made it to this age.

I’m 54, the age that my parents died.

I used to think that this was old, but it sure as heck doesn’t feel old when you get there yourself. Seriously, life is short.

I suppose we have two choices. We can either think, man, I’m getting old and go out drinking or get depressed because so little time is left.

Or, we can look at a birthday as a day of new beginnings. We get to draw a line in the sand and start afresh! It is time to turn the page and start a new chapter of life.

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (New International Version)

16-18So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (The Message)

I think it’s essential that we be mindful of the brevity of our lives in a healthy, spiritually-aware kind of way. Perhaps too many people go through life in a haze and come to the end of it without ever having given it one deep thought. Now that’s pitiful.

James says that we are like a vapor that is here one minute and gone the next and no one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. (4:13-17)

The Psalmist asked God, give me a heart of wisdom to number his days aright. How fleeting is my life and yet we have God’s protection as a mighty eagle hovering over us with his wings while we rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 39:4-7, 90:12, 89:47 and 91:1-16)

Consider the lyrics to Who Am I by Casting Crowns…

Who am i? That the lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am i?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wondering heart.
Not because of who i am.
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what i've done.
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow.
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when i'm calling,
Lord you catch me when i'm falling,
And you told me who i am.
I am yours.
I am yours.

Who am i?
That the eyes that see our sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again

Who am i?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.
Not because of who i am.
But because what of youve done.
Not because of what i've done.
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow.
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when i'm calling,
Lord you catch me when i'm falling,
And you told me who i am.
I am yours.
I am yours.

Knowing God gives life new meaning that’s for sure.

Dear Lord, thank you for renewing us as the eagle.

God's Yardstick - Part I

The Forgotten

Here it is, New Year’s Eve and many of us are taking stock of our lives. In addition, I just celebrated a milestone birthday, so thoughts about where I’m going with my life have come to the foreground. Traditionally, many of us set new goals for the future and make ridiculous New Year’s resolutions. We’ll hear some on the news tonight.

Okay, they’re not all ridiculous, but perhaps futile is a better word. We make the same ones every single year but nothing changes, right? I read that only one out of five people will actually stick with a New Year resolution past a couple months!

Usually, the resolutions people discuss openly revolve around weight loss and dieting. Even Oprah apparently set her number one goal as losing lbs. People say things like, I’m going to get on that treadmill and exercise more. I remember hearing one man shout into the anchor’s microphone, “I’m going to floss everyday!” And I was startled. Is that really someone’s goal for the year? I mean, isn’t there more to life than taking care of our teeth? I have a dear friend who tells me I think too much. But seriously, are we put on this planet merely to avoid gum disease?

I get it though. Basically, these are things that have gone undone, though we all know we should pay better attention to maintaining health. When we were young our parents nagged, cajoled and urged us constantly with reminders to brush and clean off our plate, to wash our hands and say please and thank you. Maybe, in some small way, we revert to that part of our collective conscience when we think about starting a new year. Let’s see, what would my mother say to me? What am I forgetting? Where am I out of whack in my life?

There can be a lot of guilt wrapped up in these resolutions. In other words, I’ve been failing at some important areas of my life. What must I do to make this next year a better one? Sadly, the world’s most cited answers deal with physical appearances. The whole focus is on the externals and totally disregards the inner soul where so much remains untended in our lives. It’s on the inside that we harbor grudges and unforgiveness. The outer body can be trim and tanned while the inner man is tarnished with pain and sorrow.

And getting back to Oprah, a woman who has it all, I did notice on my Comcast home page that she set other goals after slimming down. She hopes to honor herself, reverence herself and then to have increased harmony in her life. Interesting. A woman whose assets are in the billions, exceeding a majority of third world countries, wants to find internal peace. And she's brave enough to admit it.

I think a more important question needs to be asked. What would God say about my life? And if he had one, what would be his yardstick with which to measure?

A Hot Love Affair
When asked about New Year resolutions, I’ve found that Christians often say they want to be more faithful with spending time in the Word of God and prayer. These are the things we’ve neglected or let slide, but we know we should tend to more faithfully to be healthy and fit in spirit. We too, definitely fall into the trap of paying too much attention to the externals of our busy lifestyles and day after day, week after week, we leave the Lord out of our daily affairs.

Then, when things run amuck, we come scurrying back “to find his grace in time of need”. Of course, when we come to him, he is always there just as he promised, but we have lost out on the relationship side of things. We’ve drifted far out of the currents of a love affair into the milder waters of lukewarm seas.

Yes, on what should be a honeymoon cruise with the love of our lives, we’re still stuck in the harbor. The U.S.S. Relation Ship is still tied to the moors. Think about it. Have we really become intimate or even consummated the relationship with our God? (And if you don’t know the answer to that one, please don’t even wait for the ball to drop at midnight! Shoot me an email.)

Ask yourself, have I become filled and intoxicated with him? Or, am I still too busy planning the wedding or packing my suitcases or just being distracted with the guest lists to have even allowed myself time just to be in his arms? To smell his cologne and nestle on his neck and to feel his arms around you? That nearness, those intimate moments, should be so desirable that you crave it above all else. This, the essence of a love-based relationship, is exactly what your God wants with you! He is the lover of your soul!

Now, I have to pause a moment to look at this a little more. Wouldn’t it be ludicrous if a young woman, espoused to be married, remained content her whole life just to know that someday she will be with him, but never spent any time getting to know him? No phone calls, cards or gifts? Not one romantic date or passionate embrace? Indeed, if she didn’t even know his voice, you would certainly conclude there must be no love there. This must be a marriage of convenience, of status, or political unions, of necessity, or some other thing, but this isn’t true love.

I want the hot love affair with God, do you? I would rather have some passion than some old stale religion. I can’t wait to be with him at the marriage supper. I can’t wait to spend eternity in his heavenly city and to revel is his presence, but don’t you want to know his voice and hear him more now? Today? Shouldn’t his love color all your days and quicken your heart?

Heaven help us not only to untie the Relation Ship and get out of the harbor, but to become head over heels in love with the Lord. To learn what it means to walk hand in hand with him on the deck. To feel his kiss at the sunset and to hear his whisper of love in the winds. To stay the course with our heavenly Father whose love surpasses everything and anything this earthly life offers, and not from a sense of guilt or failure, but true desire, a hot and passionate love that burns deep in our spirits.

God, teach and mold us into the image of your perfect love. Touch and transform us deeply within so that love becomes us. Just as in marriage, the mysterious example of Christ and his bride, and just as Jesus said in the garden his last night on earth, bring us into complete unity that we may be one. (John 17)

Now that’s a powerful resolution.

God's Yardstick - Part II

Remember when you were a child, how your mom and dad would take a yardstick to see how tall you were? At the annual family reunions on the Fourth of July you would hear your dear Uncle Bob and Aunt Betty exclaiming how you’ve grown like a weed, but you couldn’t see it. You sure as heck didn’t feel any different than the last time you saw them. Well, maybe your pants were only down to your ankles standing up, (and they barely covered your shins sitting down!), but maybe they were shrinking in the dryer, right?

So when you were told to stand up against the wall and the yardstick came out of the broom closet, you knew we were finally going to set the matter straight. Exactly how much have you grown since last year? An inch or a quarter? Place your bets ladies and gentlemen. The truth is about to be revealed! Is your godfather really right and your pants the same size, or is it just a figment of their imagination? And they would put a little pencil mark on the wall, lest anyone would dare to question it for the next year.

When I’m reading the Word of God, his unchanging standard for truth, it’s just like that, except for one thing. I’m usually brought up shorter than I thought I would be. Actually, this is just what He tells us in Romans 3:23, there’s no exception among man, but “all fall short of the glory of God.” And again, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” (Romans 12:3) Coming before God in his Word is the time I get to stand up to the wall and see where I am, regardless of what anyone else says or thinks. And if I’m smart, I’ll pay attention to the markings.


What is Love?
Let me give you a great example.

The Greek city of Corinth was at a crossroads in Biblical times. It was a melting pot of the nations, much like Boston is today. And with the prestigious status of being a Roman colony in the days of Caesar, there came great wealth and prosperity. In an atmosphere of intellectual pride there was material affluence and moral corruption much like we see flourishing in the neighborhoods around Cambridge and across America today.

Likewise, the early believers were living in the midst of an anti-Christian environment in which people were encouraged to indulge every sensual desire. Gee, the similarities are astounding and it seems nothing’s changed in these two thousand years. Today, instead of meeting at the Roman baths, we have Sex in the City, Desperate Housewives, and a host of other programs piped in on cable and lauding the same pagan messages right into our homes.

We know the Corinthian church was riddled with problems. Jealousies, broken homes, and social pressures were rampant. Arguments and theological factions threatened to undo their fellowship. So what did God do? He went to the broom closet and put up a yardstick!

I Corinthians chapter 13 is where we find the so-called “love chapter” of the Bible, where God Himself invites us to step up, “Now stand tall, and see how much you’ve grown, my child.” Through his messenger, an apostle named Paul, the Lord preserved for all time some markings to help us see how he defines love. Read it through a couple times and think about God’s incredible standard.

First, here it is in the New King James Version, the widely loved and revered NKJV. Many of us memorized these words at some point in our lives. So they ‘ring’ with a certain familiarity like the lyrics of a Christmas carol or the national anthem. Maybe they are words that we haven’t really paid attention to in a long time. I challenge you to read slowly.

Remember, this is God’s definition of love written to the conflict-ridden church, to people who know him and like to imagine that their lives of service and worship are counting for something. In reality, they were filled with controversies, factions and divisions, and striving against one another.

Paul writes through the direction of the Spirit of God:

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

And here is the Message translation, Eugene Petersen’s contemporary parallel… See if the modern lingo does anything for you.


1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.

3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. 12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

How are you doing? Are you still standing tall or like me, did you feel the hand pushing down on top of your head, and the unyielding wall against your back?

“Hmmm,” the Lord whispers, “you’ve only grown a quarter of an inch in my love. You have a long way to go honey!” But be assured, your Heavenly Father never speaks with anything but the utmost tenderness.

“My child, I have such high aspirations for your life. If you let me, I’ll bring you up into all that I’ve dreamed for you! I will strengthen those sagging spiritual muscles and nourish those weak limbs of faith. My plan for you is growth and maturity. I WANT to see you growing like a weed kid! I want you to attain to your full stature and go on to enjoy a happy, productive life!”

Sure, we don’t really like standing up to the wall to be “measured”, and yet it’s just part of showing us where we are and where we need to go. Just like a birthday or like New Year’s Eve. This is a healthy time to stop and think about what’s important in life.

My prayer for you, dear reader, is that you stand up tall and let God show you truth. Let Him make a mark on the wall and then you set some wonderful resolutions for the New Year. By His grace, you will be wonderfully encouraged as you grow in his love.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2009!
(Let’s make it count!)

What a Trip!

ON THINGS ABOVE...

A friend in Moscow sent me this link (see below) after we spent a couple afternoons discussing the ways we see God's fingerprints in our universe. Karina is still an atheist, but she is asking all the right questions. (I keep telling her that she needs to ask the One who has the answers now.) She was right to assume I would love this site.

For me, it is mind-blowing in a great healthy way (no drugs involved!) My father, the late Vaughn Thomas Judd, impressed me with a delight in things like this from an early age because as an engineer he was fascinated with the wonders of the universe. You know, he took us kids to the museum of science all the time and we sat in the garage to watch electrical storms and things like that. If he was still alive I'd send it to him too. Come to think of it, he's probably already seen it since this stuff is scenery en route to heaven! And we'll all get to take this scenic route someday too. What a trip that will be!

When you stop to think about the scope of all this, something like a couple hundred million light years from one place to another on this vast canvas of God's, it's a wonder that mere mortal can even produce photographic images like these. Some of these galaxies also span more than 100,000 light years across, too!

With names like Magellanic Clouds, Interacting Galaxies, or Star forming Region, you realize the awesome immensity of life. There's the polarized light of Boomerang Nebula, the swirling rings and marbled luminaries of such distant edges of all that is known to man. Yet, you get the distinct impression that it is a mere sandbox to our Creator.

One Supernova remnant resembles a gigantic red ribbon and I would name it Rahab's Scarlet Cord. It seems to whisper in your ear that God kinda likes that little story of redemption. And the Polar King Galaxy is like a giant golden cross. Another one of God's favorites!

The Reflection Nebula looks just like an enormous keyhole. Again, the Lord smiles as mankind seeks to find answers to the riddles that confound us. He is there, waiting to answer all who seek him. Come unto me, he beckons! Cry out and I will answer you! And who can gaze at the Planetary Nebula and not imagine that you are being watched by the beautiful all-knowing eye of God? You are the God who sees, as Hagar cried in the Genesis account. Speak to me Lord! Know my heart oh God, my Father.

The Star Forming Regions and planetary nebulae look like human cells as we would see them through a microscope. The Monocerotis Light Echo looks like a sonogram of a child in the womb. Then it hits you. All of life is patterned after something out there so much greater than we have ever realized. We are part of this incredible and expansive universe, and the One who stretched all this out across the canopy of the skies is the same One who made you and me. Our very life was breathed into us from the One who lives forever.

These are the most mind-blowing pictures of our universe that I’ve ever seen. You can put on some inspirational music and browse through them for a tremendous uplift to focus your thoughts and "rise above" when you feel sad or afraid or overwhelmed by the obstacles and challenges in life. Remind your soul that our GOD is GREAT (and here's where I wish we had an even greater vocabulary to express the awe that I feel) and that HE who created the heavens and spread them out like a bedsheet is ABLE to do everything he promised. The God who hung the sun, moon and earth upon nothing is able to sustain us, all the way to eternal life!


https://owa.newenglandmoves.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html


“Since then, you have been raised with Christ,
set your hearts on things above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Colossians 3:1-2

THE WONDER OF THUNDER SNOW

IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS


We're having a blizzard all across New England today. It upset my son's plans to move cross-country with a U-Haul trailer, my Christmas party was postponed, and of course area schools closed at noon.


Many heeded the advisories this year and stayed off the roads because a similar storm last December bogged things down so much the commute was anywhere from three to eight hours long. I myself needed nearly four hours to go twenty miles that day. I nearly lost my life on the way home, really, and a thing like that stays with you. Just to be sure, this morning I saw a tape of the Governor's message, urging people to stay off the roads.


It makes me wonder, how many canceled appointments and postponed deliveries were there? How many meetings didn't convene or classes didn't get taught? How many sudden schedule changes, deletions, and no-shows were there as people everywhere adjusted their priorities today?

I like to think of some positive probabilities too. Maybe people will get to spend more time together. Fathers may get to ignore their cells and play with their kids instead. When's the last time they made a snowman or threw a snowball with their sons? Mothers may get to shut down their laptops and cook a hot meal or bake some pies instead. Maybe they can snuggle their babies a little longer today. Fireplaces may be lit and games may come out instead of rushing to the malls for this final commercial weekend before Christmas.


Of course anytime you turn on the news channels it is the main item. We see pretty women wrapped up in scarves and earmuffs standing beside the highways to tell us how fast it's coming down and how much is accumulating of the 14" we're expecting. The sight is a familiar one for anyone who grew up in the northern states, yet you can still learn something new every day.

Take "thunder snow", for example. I grew up here and never even heard the term until recently. In fact, just like el nino, it's not even in my dictionary, but the weathermen are saying thunder snow is when we get an incredible 3-4 inches per hour. Wow, isn't that like God dumping it out of the skies in buckets? Is this something new? Will wonders never cease!

So, here we are, a highly educated, highly populated northeastern beltway of the nation, grinding to a halt and left looking upward. There are two more storms coming on the heels of this one, so we're in for a very white Christmas and our old friend Bing would be dreaming happily now.


All this is a great reminder that life is not something we can control. There are greater forces at work out there. It is baffling, mysterious, and change can come sweeping down upon us in a moment.

When I lived in the jungles of New Guinea however, there were no forecasts whatsoever. Things like earthquakes and tsunamis came out of nowhere. Floods and monsoon storms appeared with no advance warning. In fact, we could take off in a small boat and hit a wall of rain halfway up the river. Or, board a small plane and fly an hour over the tree line only to discover our airstrip was nowhere to be found! Life was full of surprises out there in a world without CNN and Fox News.

In stark contrast, today's storm started right on schedule at 2:00 sharp! We're pretty good at predicting and measuring. We're astute observers of our world, but no, in the grand scheme of things, we're not in control. Not the least bit. The sooner we awaken to this truth, the better off we will be.







There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you...?


Now listen, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.


Instead, you ought to learn to say, If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is wrong... James 4:12-16



Is any among you in trouble? He should pray... James 5:13