Walking Dirt Roads

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Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.” Luke 5:26

Have you booked your flight yet?  Virgin Galactic (www.virgingalactic.com) is taking reservations for future spaceflights. The flight will take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico and will last about 90 minutes. This amazing out-of-the-world experience will only cost you $450,000.

Unless they take frequent flyer miles, I may not get to experience this out-of-the-world adventure. Though I may not get to see the earth from outer space, I have experienced some amazing adventures on dirt roads.

My childhood home in rural Oklahoma was next to a dusty dirt road. Growing up in poverty, I only dreamed of adventures beyond the dirt road. Grateful for an amazing church and city library that allowed me to read about places and people around the world, placing myself in their stories and experiences. Unbelievably, that dirt road would someday lead to a dirt road in Africa.

Maybe God has a great sense of humor since Connie and I found ourselves in Bophuthatswana with a house facing a dirt road. Similar to the Oklahoma dirt road, you knew someone was coming long before they got to the house by simply seeing the cloud of dust.

Dirt roads have been a path of adventure for us. Dirt roads that have brought us to places and people that we would never have encountered otherwise. Places and people filled us with awe as we walked these roads.

We drove on dirt roads that led to small church buildings in the middle of nowhere, yet where you experienced the very presence of God.  We walked on dirt roads that led to medical clinics where the physical needs of people were met and their souls found encouragement in God’s love. Dirt roads that ended up at majestic mountain ranges, breathtaking canyons, thundering waterfalls and beautiful thatched hut villages.

Dirt road driving in America is now mostly confined to weekend warriors with their dirt bikes or 4-wheel drive pickups. We simply take for granted that our driving will be on paved highways. However, through most of history, dirt roads were the normal surface for transportation. These dirty, dangerous roads would connect one community with another.  Jesus’ main method of traveling was by foot on dirt roads. Roads that brought him within reach of people that needed hope, healing and a Savior. Dirt road walking leaves you ready for the unexpected.

Jesus used the dust from the roads in Luke 7 to confront Simon, a Pharisee and leader in the community, about his lack of forgiveness and humility. A nameless woman, broken and scared from her sins, finds her way to the house where Jesus will be eating. Uninvited by the host, she makes her way to Jesus, washes his feet with her tears and then anoints his feet with the bottle of perfume in her hand. Instead of grace, Simon offers condemnation to the woman. Instead of condemnation, Jesus gives forgiveness to the woman, “your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus used the dust from the road writing forgiveness and grace for a woman caught in adultery in John 8. A woman, mocked and humiliated by the religious leaders, after being caught in the act of adultery was thrown into the dirt at Jesus’ feet. A woman, condemned as an outcast by society, finds forgiveness and redemption in the dust at Jesus’ feet.  No longer would she have to listen to the voices of shame, now she would only hear Jesus’ voice of love and acceptance.

I bought a plaque in a North Georgia gift shop that says it well. “Of all the roads you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” I never dreamed where that dirt road in Oklahoma would lead. I have learned dirt road walking does lead to some amazing adventures. I hope you find yourself on some amazing dirt roads in the years to come.  As you journey the roads ahead of you, may this portion of prayer by Benedict of Norcia encourage you:

LORD, be with us to guide us,

within us to strengthen us,

without us to protect us,

above us to raise us,

beneath us to uphold us,

before us to lead us,

behind us to guard us,

ever about us,

this day and evermore;

this day and evermore.

Amen.

 

God is great,

Tell the Next Generation

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After the plague the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, “Take a census of the whole congregation of the Israelites, from twenty years old and upward, by their ancestral house, everyone in Israel able to go to war.  Numbers 26:1-2

Florida State University legendary coach Bobby Bowden died last year. Bowden’s football record and accomplishments were truly impressive.  One of these was being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Yet his football accomplishments paled in comparison to his spiritual legacy. Bowden’s son, Tommy said of his father that he “coached until age 80 because the high-profile profession offered so many opportunities to share Jesus with others. He wanted to coach as long as he could to advance the kingdom of God and that his dad wanted to take as many people as he can to heaven with him.”

His football fame will become interesting statistics but his spiritual impact will last for eternity. Bowden once said, “Faith allowed me to stay focused on things within my power while leaving the rest of it in God’s hands.” The most important parts of Bowden’s past continue to impact the future.

 

“Close to you I waken in the dead of night, and start with fear-

are you lost to me once more? Is it always vainly that I seek you,

you, my past?

I stretch my hands out, And I pray- and a new thing now I hear:

The past will come to you once more, and be your life’s enduring part,

through thanks and repentance. Feel in the past God’s forgiveness and goodness,

Pray him to keep you today and tomorrow.”

 

These are the words from the last stanza of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s poem, The Past. Our past is really forever since our tomorrow will soon be our past. Our past is both the ordinary and spectacular events that makeup life and yet, the richest part of our past is the people who intersected with us in life. They are the individuals who shaped us, taught us, loved us, and occasionally hurt us. We remember events most often because of the people who shared that moment of time with us.

Bonhoeffer’s understanding of the past as reflected in his poem most likely formed his understanding of the importance of connecting the spiritual generations together. Writing from his Tegel prison cell to his nephew at his baptism, Bonhoeffer said:

“You are the first of a new generation in our family, and therefore the oldest representative of your generation. You will have the priceless advantage of spending a good part of your life with the third and fourth generations that went before you. Your great-grandfather will be able to tell you, from his own personal memories, of people who were born in the eighteenth century; and one day, long after the year 2000, you will be the living bridge over which your descendants will get an oral tradition of more than 250 years.”

Moses had walked faithfully with God through the wilderness leading the nation of Israel. God commanded Moses to count the people by their family heritage. The census became a family tree for those getting ready to enter the promised land, a record of faith that has been passed down from one generation to the next. It was a past that was not always glorious, but a past that linked each generation to the next.

Biological family trees are critical in reflecting our connection to life. However, maybe just as important is the richness of one’s faith family tree. Our spiritual family creates a unique bond that establishes generations together in ways our biological family is unable to do.  Our faith family trees often include many of our biological family members and many others such as school teachers, neighbors and Sunday school teachers.  These relationships add much depth and richness to life. “To be deeply rooted in the soil of the past makes life harder, but it also makes it richer and more vigorous.” (Bonhoeffer)

Who makes up your faith family? What relationships, writers, artists or places have shaped your ways of believing and worshipping? Try the following exercise during a personal spiritual retreat. Create a faith family tree of spiritual influencers in your life by drawing yourself at its base. Then on the branches and trunk nearest you, write the names of those most directly engaged in your spiritual journey. As you move away from the base, place names or descriptions of other influences on your spiritual life.

Allow this exercise to become holy ground for you as you pray and reflect upon those who God has used to water and shape your tree of faith.  Pray over each name, place, or event that shaped you as a gift of gratitude. In this personal retreat experience, let it become a precious and moving time of worship.

“Take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.” Deuteronomy 4:9

God is great,

Walking Billboards for Jesus

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The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Leviticus 19:1-2

Leviticus – the third book in the Bible, that many try to speed read on their way through their “Read the Bible in a year” plan. However, if and when we slow down in our reading we realize that “Be holy, for I am Holy” is at the heart of Leviticus. We come face to face with the holiness of God.  If your church still has hymnals, pick up one and let the words of this great hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy” speak to your heart in a new and fresh way.

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee:

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Leviticus is not normally read as good news and most certainly not in the context of how the world now determines what is a modern, culturally acceptable worldview. However, J. A. Motyer looks at Leviticus differently. He writes, “Leviticus is good news. It is good news for sinners who seek pardon, for priests who need empowering, for women who are vulnerable, for the unclean who covet cleansing, for the poor who yearn for freedom, for the marginalized who seek dignity, for animals that demand protection, for families that require strengthening, for communities that want fortifying and for creation that stands in need of care. All these issues, and more, are addressed in a positive way in Leviticus.”

Spend some time meditating upon chapters 18 and 19 in Leviticus. Try reading these verses as one who seeks God, treating life as holy, and allowing God to have control of your life. At the heart of each requirement is the holiness of God in the life of his people, a people set apart from the world. Culture no longer determines the standards, only God does.

As you read these two chapters, mentally or literally, create two columns. At the top of the columns, title one “God’s values” and the other “Human Values.”  It doesn’t take long to realize God’s values and human values are worlds apart.

Augustine wrote that “The LORD himself not only shows us the evil we are to avoid and the good we are to do (which is all that the letter of the law can do) but also helps us to avoid evil and to do good things that are impossible without the spirit of grace. If grace is lacking, the law is there simply to make culprits and to slay; for this reason, the Apostle said; “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6)”

Unfortunately, chapters 18 and 19 are not a Golden Corral buffet of principles. We don’t get to go through the line choosing what we like and leaving out the others. It can be so easy to pick a verse and sling it at someone, yet at the same time avoid verses we would prefer to overlook. The problem is that God didn’t give us a choice. Each requirement interlocks with each other forming a strong family, church, community, and culture.

Leviticus’ requirements set a people apart from the other nations. Jesus would take the law and empower it with grace. “Christ came provided with the Holy Spirit after a peculiar manner…that he might separate us from the world, and unite us in the hope of an eternal inheritance.”—John Calvin

Living a life set apart from the world requires God’s grace. Our focus shifts from the world to God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.”

New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis won the NFL 2021 Bart Starr Award for outstanding character, integrity, and leadership on and off the field. His wife, Tamela told the Christian Post, “Our primary mission has always been to be a walking billboard for Christ, so that others may be able to see and encounter Him through us and our experiences.”

Undoubtedly, Leviticus is a challenging book with some difficult passages, yet what a difference when our heartbeat is that of being holy. Take some time in prayer and reflect on where you are in light of God’s values. What will it take to restore and empower you to live a life set apart for God? Thomas Kelly wrote, “It is said of St. Francis not merely that he prayed, but that he became a prayer.”

Maybe in a world that is growing indifferent to God’s message, the best way we can reflect a different image is to become “walking billboards for Christ,” or as Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” –Matthew 16:24

God is great!

Almost!

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Then Agrippa said to Paul “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.”  Acts 26:28-29 NKJV

Lots of words could fall into the sad category, but I tend to think the word, almost ranks right at the top in this category. Almost is a word filled with missed opportunities. It is a word filled with regrets, bitterness, and struggles.  You are so close yet so far away. I almost won the race, but I came short. I almost took that new job, but I didn’t apply. I almost won the election, but I failed to enter the race.  Almost!

Merriam-Webster defines almost: “very nearly but not exactly or entirely, very near but not quite.” This little adverb finds itself in the company with words such as about, all but, more or less, nearly, somewhere. Words reflecting myriads of “could have been” and “should have been”.

Almost could be the defining component of lottery expert Brett Jacobson’s research. According to Jacobson, a total of $2.89 billion was never claimed by winners in 2017. Recently, a $14.6 million prize expired in Arizona because no one came forward to claim the money. Hung Nguyen lost out on $1,08,624 because he lost the ticket. Almost winners, but no one claimed the prize.

Stefan Thomas fits nicely into the almost category. He almost had $220 million except he lost the password. Thomas made headlines last year when he revealed forgetting the password to access his bitcoin account. The Business Insider story said, “the secure hard drive, on which 7,002 bitcoins were stored, was an IronKey device. It gives owners 10 chances to guess their password before encrypting the contents.” As of January, this year, he has two attempts left to unlock his riches or the contents will be permanently encrypted. Thomas said of himself that the mistake left him feeling like a “complete idiot.” “But much worse than the loss of the money was my self-reproach: I simply couldn’t believe I had lost something so important.”

This little word almost keeps many of us from discovering the beautiful vista of life just over the mountaintop. We get tired and give up before we scale the peak.  Almost finds energy at the bottom of our valley experiences. They are the moments in our lives fueled by fear, lost opportunities, lack of self-confidence, empty bank accounts, and a host of other things. Things that make saying almost, too easy.

Reading scripture, you find stories filled with almost moments:

The Israelites almost made it to the promised land but disobedience kept them out.

The rich young ruler listened well to Jesus and almost followed except for his money.

King Agrippa almost became a Christian but he couldn’t give up the pomp and power of position. Paul, the prisoner, carefully and meticulously lays out the case for Christ in Acts 26. Almost but never became King Agrippa’s ultimate decision of his life.  “If only Paul had been a little more eloquent. If only Agrippa had been a little more receptive, a little braver, a little crazier. If only God weren’t such a stickler for letting people make up their own minds without forcing their hands. But things are what they are, and almost is the closest Agrippa ever got to what might have changed his life. “ — Frederick Buechner

“It is sad enough to miss God’s invitation. But to just miss it is sadder still, especially when an apostle is trying to help you discover it! May almost never mark our spiritual journey.” –Faith that Matters

The world is filled with almost millionaires. The world is filled with politicians who almost won their election. The world is filled with lots of almost moments.  Unfortunately, hell is filled with almost persuaded people who will miss the opportunity of a lifetime. “If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead.” –C.S. Lewis

In our spiritual life, almost can rob us of the life that God desires to give. For King Agrippa, almost persuaded is as close as some will get to experience the greatest joy of life, Jesus. Is there an almost that is keeping you from enjoying the life that Jesus offered? Life is too short to let almost be the defining word of your life.  So maybe the category for almost isn’t sad but tragic.

Jesus is the best answer to an almost lifestyle. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” –John 14:6

God is great!