Texas Forever

When Vicki and I drove into Texas the first thing we noticed were silky smooth roads. Then we saw Texas flags flying high and wide over every ranch and farm; many restaurants, some businesses and houses displayed the Lone Star flag blessing the wide blue skys; monstrous Texas flew proudfully over every car dealership. Cowboy hats and boots were everywhere. Sometimes we saw spurs attached to those boots. (We avoided the Interstates.)

And, of course, wide enthusiastic smiles, spakling eyes and a robust "howdy" greeted us everywhere. I could give numerous examples of Texas friendliness except that it takes me many minutes to write a sentence on this blasted iPad.

We may live in Virginia but our hearts throb in Texas beat by beat.

Be Careful

Be careful of your thoughts

for your thoughts become your words.

Be careful of your words

for your words become your actions.

Be careful of your actions

for your actions become your habits.

Be careful of your habits 

for your habits become your character.

Be careful of your character

for your character becomes your destiny.

What I Believe

God calls us to confess Christ as Lord and savior:

• That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  Romans 10:9-10

Salvation is a free gift of God unearned by good deeds:

• For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith---and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God---not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:8

God's unconditional love allows us to choose our destiny:

• Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7: 13-14

The Bible is the inspired word of God guiding our paths:

• Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17

God expects praise, gratitude and joyful living from us:

• Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  1Thessalonians 5: 16-18

God desires that we use our gifts to please him and serve others:

• We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work. Colossians 1: 9-10 

Our choices are crucial in the battle against Satan's evil intentions:

• Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.   Ephesians 6: 11-12

Love and Loss

This morning I read an essay in Christian Ethics Today by Robert Baird, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University. I have summarized and rewritten his words here:

As we age we lose people that we have loved. We lose friends, neighbors, co-workers, grandparents, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. We lose teachers, mentors, relatives, wives, husbands and sometime we may lose our little girls grownup and our coltish boys turned men.

Grief tears holes in our hearts whenever someone we love dies. Our scars are a testament to the depth of our love. The deeper the love, the more dreadful the scar. 

Scars testify to the richness of life. Scars bear out a life lived deeply. And scars affirm that we can suffer the unkindest cuts of all and continue to live and love.

Grief comes in waves. At first wreckage overwhelms us as we gasp for air. The waves tower above us, pummel us, exhaust us. Down, down we sink as we drown in grief. We cling to beguiling memories that hold us up, stop the sinking. Friends and loved ones swim out to help us endure the engulfing waves. 

After a while, maybe weeks, perhaps months the towering waves that wash over us billow farther apart. Crushing breakers continue flooding over us but in between we can breathe, we can function, we can live.

The undulations recede, but remain and then in a certain season or an anniversary or on a birthday they come rolling back washing over us with sweet memories of cheerful times past. We reach out to pull loves past toward us but as we do these recollections fade as with an ebb tide.

They keep coming, the waves, but we go on. We survive. We love again with a richer, more profound love born by loss, sustained by remembrance of things past, renewed by hope in the eternal.  

When Someone Offends Us

A friend of mine, Chad Thompson, MD, gave me these two ways of responding to offensive words. 

When someone offends us we can:

• Tell others about it.
• The listener begins to think less of my offender (and/or less of me).
• They join me in thinking negatively about my offender.
• I have succeeding in creating division in relationships; making myself more upset by rehashing the details over and over; and knowing and willfully disobeying God's will by reacting according to the flesh rather than to the spirit.

OR when someone offends us we can:

• Go directly to God in prayer.
• God listens and the Holy Spirit gives me a better perspective.
• I feel peace! And the impulse to vent to others is gone.
• I have honored God by valuing unity and harmony over dissension, discord and the temporary pleasure of gossiping.