“Perspectives” – Day 6 Featuring Jared Collins (Lieutenant) “The Fickle Nature of Love”

“The Fickle Nature Of Love“

I found out early last week that a young man, Reggie, who was in our corps youth programs a few years ago was arrested for the murder of a 15 year old kid. I found myself going through an interesting thought process as I sought to make sense of the needless act of violence. My first thought was, “What could I have done better as a person who had influence on this young man’s life that may have changed where he is today.” I then was immediately ashamed of the thought. Because I, like so many of us, had made the whole situation about me instead of others. So then I thought about Reggie. And I thought about where he was at that particular moment.

At the College for Officer Training we, as has been a long standing tradition, went to the Cook County Jail during Christmas time to sing some carols and do a little devotional for the occupants. My small group had an interesting time as we were sent to a cell block that was much smaller than those visited by our other groups so we were finished much more quickly. So they sent us to a group of individuals who were just finishing being processed and awaiting a more permanent cell assignment. It was one of the more profound moments of my Training for me.

These (mostly) young men were just then realizing the gravity of their situations. Most of the others in the cell blocks we had already visited had been there for quite some time. Even though it was a jail and not a prison some, we were told, had been there in the process of their trial and, therefore, in that jail for over 10 years. But these young men we were sent to had just been arrested hours before. We quickly realized this wasn’t the place for some flippant Christmas carols and a message that would, no doubt, fall on deaf ears. So we put the music and message aside in favor of individually speaking with each person who wanted to talk. Almost every one of them was in the same mindframe – shock at the prospect of where a good deal of their future may be taking place.

And I thought about Reggie in those young men’s shoes. We had gone to Stateville Prison as well while at CFOT and had met all the men who had (mostly) come to accept their sentences. But, if Reggie was like those young men who were just finishing processing, he was a long ways away from a peaceful frame of mind.

So I wrote Reggie a letter. It wasn’t long or particularly articulate, but I really felt led to tell him two things: I love him and God loves him. Nothing about the arrest or the trial, just a short message of love. I don’t know if Reggie truly murdered that 15 year old boy, but I do know that I love him and that God loves him.

Which led me to the shame I felt after mailing the letter. Maybe shame isn’t the right word. It was more a reflection on the fact that I had mailed that letter without much thought for the deceased 15 year old or his family and friends.

The article that talked about Reggie’s arrest said that the arrest came with “the help of the community and social media.” So I looked up Reggies facebook profile and saw that he had, indeed, posted something about the 15 year old’s death – expressing shock and dismay at the thought of losing someone whom he called a friend.

His post was shared dozens of times, all from people who were outraged by his alleged audacity at posting something feigning innocence and ignorance when he may have pulled the trigger. One comment was particularly interesting as it was filled with expletives and hate towards Reggie and ended with the innocent comment, “My prayers are with the [deceased’s] family.”

Now I know that not all who use that last phrase are practicing Christians and it could just be a kind sentiment not meant to convey actual spiritual convictions, but I was struck by the seemingly two-faced nature of the comment. On the one hand tearing apart and expressing hate while simultaneously expressing compassion. I won’t say that it shocked me. Nor will I say that I can’t imagine how someone could do that but, implicitly, I think my subconscious was saying to me that I would NEVER say something that duplicitous.

And yet…

I’m writing this right now as my wife is in the hospital with a beloved congregant because she was, just minutes ago, physically assaulted, maybe with a gun, and maybe raped. And as a reasonably well balanced person I’m more than a little disturbed to have been sitting here contemplating going over to the residence of her attacker and sharing a piece of my mind and, perhaps, my fists. This urge has been tempered by the understanding that the attacker has been taken into police custody but this understanding has NOT tempered my anger and maybe even hatred towards this man.

So now I ask myself, “What’s the difference between this attacker and Reggie?” Should I not be just as outraged at Reggie for allegedly taking the life of a teenager? Will I be writing a letter to this attacker telling him that God and I love him? The obvious difference is in the knowledge and relationship that I have with the victim of tonight’s attack and with Reggie. Because I know them and not the 15 year old boy or the attacker of my congregant, I am more prone to love and forgive them than I am those I don’t know.

It’s a double standard, I know. And it’s based on no rationality and I even acknowledge that it’s wrong and sinful for me to hate the attacker of my friend. And I think, more than anything, it boggles my mind as I attempt to grasp the mind of God and the measure of his love and forgiveness.

I think I finally understand where some of the 1st century Jews must have come from in their incredulity at the inclusion of the Gentiles into the family of God. How can God offer forgiveness and love towards them?

I am a very loving person (though I don’t often express it in any grandiose way) and yet it is very difficult for me to find the love within myself for the attacker of my congregant because I know what he has done to my friend. And to think that God, knowing the heart and actions of this man would still have love for Him makes no sense to me because I seem to be incapable of doing it myself.

And so I know that this offers no new insight. It’s almost a cliche to say that God loves you no matter what you’ve done. He loves Reggie. He loves the duplicitous writer of the facebook post. He loves the family and friends of the 15 year old boy. He loves my congregant. He loves her attacker. And he loves me, even though I struggle to always love them and myself for having conflicting thoughts.

None of this is particularly revelatory except when I think that I, as a pastor, have the capability of harboring hatred in my heart. It was naive of me to think that any massive change would happen to make me impervious to hatred or sin in general when the trim on my shoulders turned red. But it scares me to think that these feelings may be in the hearts of my fellow pastors and officers. And we may think little of these feelings because we implicitly believe they’re somehow outweighed by our “holiness” and righteous deeds.

So it’s to us that Paul is writing the entirety of Romans 2. But specifically verses 17-29.

¹ Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ² And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³ But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who will render to each person according to his deeds: ⁷ to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; ⁸ but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹ For there is no partiality with God.

¹² For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; ¹³ for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, ¹⁶ on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

¹⁷ But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, ¹⁹ and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,²¹ you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? ²² You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴ For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵ For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶ So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷ And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? ²⁸ For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹ But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

(NASB)

Thank you, God, for verse 11 – for showing no partiality towards or against us. Forgive us for the times that we fail to feel and, even more, to show that impartiality to others.

I want, dear Lord, a love that cares for all. A deep strong love that answers every call. A love like Thine, a love divine, a love to come or go. On me, dear Lord, a love like this bestow¹.

Create in me a loving heart, that people may see your impartial love through me.

In His Service,

Jared Collins

¹George Galloway Jackson. I want, dear Lord. SASB#426

May 3, 2014 1

“Perspectives” Day 5 – Featuring Timothy McPherson “Vulnerable”

Vulnerable

I’m an introvert. I once saw this Internet meme and thought it was hilarious and aptly described me:

I do not like exposing myself to too much scrutiny, examination, and prominence. It’s a protective measure. I don’t like getting hurt emotionally.

Those who know me and have seen me voice my opinions on Social Media would beg to differ. I tend to be quite “vocal” in my online presence; more so than I would have ever had the courage to do so in public. I have no scientific data to support my claim, but sometimes I feel the Internet, and especially Social Media, makes extroverts of introverts. It’s almost like a buffer zone for me. I am able to think, process, and then articulate my thoughts and feelings regarding various topics.

If you know me outside of Social Media, you might tend to view me as very reserved. This sometimes has gotten interpreted as being stuck up. While I was at our College for Officer Training (seminary) my now-wife was advised not to get to know me because I was too intellectual and too theological for her. I am very grateful that she did not heed that advice!

That being said, I love to preach. I love to teach. Standing up before a crowd or being part of a discussion group brings out what little extroversion I possess. However, since I am an introvert, releasing all of that mental muscle to expose myself before a group of people always leaves me exhausted afterwards. I retreat, find a book, or go to sleep.

The Problem

Enter the plight of the introverted clergy. We can get very lonely.

Perhaps a common misconception is that introverts don’t want friends. This is not true in the least. For myself: I do want friends. Sometimes it’s a desperate longing. Then the inner battle of introversion begins: being vulnerable versus not being lonely. It can be a bitter struggle. Often times, I feel surrounded by a group of strangers who are watching my every move and hoping for a misstep.

In my case, my self-defense became too bitter and overran my life. I had no one (other than my wife) with whom I could express my fears, frustrations, joys, sorrows, accomplishments (or the lack thereof). I hated it. However, I was not willing to open myself up to the possibility that friendship is possible with others. My marriage suffered. My ministry suffered. I was a living hypocrite talking about loving my neighbor when I had the hardest time doing it myself. I began to look at myself repugnantly. I hated who I had become and began to hate myself.

My walls of defense had kept me safe for a little while, but in the end, they crumbled and collapsed on top of me. I was a mess.

The Hard Lesson

I realized (very slowly) that I needed to change. I began to open myself up to others. It was an arduous task. Protecting my own insecurity had led to my downfall. There were other factors mixed in that made things extremely difficult, but I at least could control my friendships. Finally, I decided to open up.

That has helped me out extremely. Trust is hard for me to give out. I had been hurt too often in the past, but then I realized that the benefits of trusting people far outweigh the hurts that I might otherwise receive from those who would betray my trust. I am by no means out of the woods and I need to continually improve myself. One of the most difficult things for me to do is to make friends in my own community. Being an officer in The Salvation Army tends to be isolating. There seems to be an unspoken rule that fraternizing is not allowed. However, I believe that actually goes against God’s command to love each other as we love him.

Being vulnerable to others is a discipline that I am still learning. I hope someday to be proficient at it. I will always be an introvert, but I don’t have to be a lonely one.

May 2, 2014 2

“Perspectives” Day 4 – Featuring AmyJo Ferguson

“Holiness and Tomatoes”

Reverend Wiley advised me not to divorce him

For the sake of the children,

And Judge Somers advised him the same.

So we stuck to the end of the path.

But two of the children thought he was right,

And two of the children thought I was right.

And the two who sided with him blamed me,

And the two who sided with me blamed him,

And they grieved for the one they sided with.

And all were torn with the guilt of judging,

And tortured in soul because they could not admire

Equally him and me.

Now every gardener knows that plants grown in cellars

Or under stones are twisted and yellow and weak.

And no mother would let her baby suck

Diseased milk from her breast.

Yet preachers and judges advise the raising of souls

Where there is no sunlight, but only twilight,

No warmth, but only dampness and cold—

Preachers and judges!

From Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

Once we lived in darkness. I once accidently grew some tomato plants in darkness. They were supposed to have a nice sunny window, but before they sprouted, I stashed them under the entertainment center to hide the dirt from some visiting guests. I remembered them a few weeks later.

They came out not looking so pretty. They were crooked, yellowish and weak. Edgar Lee Masters in Spoon River Anthology writes about people who are similarly twisted because they had been raised in “twilight” instead of sunlight and without warmness, “only darkness and cold.” In some way that it is the human condition: we have been born into a world which is sick with sin. The light of God to us in this condition is best described as “twilight” rather than sunlight. We turn out crooked and weak.

Romans 3:9-18 (NIV)
⁹What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
¹⁰As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
¹²All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
¹³“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶ruin and misery mark their ways,
¹⁷and the way of peace they do not know.”
¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Into this condition, shines the light of Jesus Christ. When I brought these tomato plants into the light and began to care for them, the change was remarkable. They turned their leaves upward. They began to green. Through initial sanctification, salvation, we are plunged into the light of Jesus Christ. Our sins are cleansed and the change in us is dramatic, YET, it is still evident that we are still plants raised in darkness.

Even though my tomato plants were now living in the light, I had to prop them up with small sticks and string. In the life of a Christian, initial sanctification can and does bring a wondrous change to our lives; however, in some ways the sin problem is still quite problematic. There is still a pull to remain crooked to grow as we grew before we knew the light. As William Booth writes, “I remark that in the early stages of Christian experience this deliverance is only partial. That is, although the soul is delivered from the domination and power of sin, and is no longer the slave of sin, still there are the remains of the carnal mind as roots of bitterness left in the heart, which, springing up, trouble the soul, often lead it into sin, and which, if not continually fought against and kept under, grow up, attain their old power, and bring the soul again into bondage” (The Privilege of All Believers 9).

At some point, I had to take radical steps with my tomato plants or they might not give me any tomatoes at all. They needed to be completely transplanted into good fertilized soil. Most of their crooked, weak stem had to be buried in this new soil which allowed completely new and perfectly aligned growth to occur.

Romans 6:20-22 (KJV)
²⁰For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
²¹What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
²²But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

This is like entire sanctification. When we consecrate our lives to God and he faithfully takes us and transplants us completely into his grace. Romans 12:1 (NIV) “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.” Like the tomato plants that now grow in perfect alignment to the sun, our lives grow in alignment with God’s Son.

Entire sanctification is the door through which holiness (the acts of entire sanctification) enters into our lives. Through entire sanctification, we dedicate our all to God and in turn, God miraculously heals the crippling effects of sin in our lives. He straightens us out, in order for us to bear fruit for him.

May 1, 2014 1

“Perspectives – Day 3” Featuring Sean Wise (Lieutenant) “Transparency”

Transparency

April 30, 2014 1

“Perspectives” Day 2 – Featuring Dennis Strissel (Colonel) “Clipping Toe Nails”

Opinion–8-ed
(A series of eight installments)
Number four – Clipping Toe-Nails

“Lieutenant, can you clip my toe-nails?” I couldn’t remember the toe-nail clipping class at the CFOT, so I thought the request a tad unusual. Elmer was in his mid-eighties and, for the most part, bed-ridden. He had been a long-time Salvationist and his wife still attended the church meetings without him. In fact, our very first Christmas dinner together as a married couple was with Elmer and Mabel, huddled around a very small kitchen table sharing fried rabbit together. Some things you just never forget…
“Lieutenant, can you clip my toe-nails?” I heard the words again and they kind-a woke me out of my contemplation of the request. It wasn’t a matter if I could or not…it was a matter if I wanted to or not. Do you understand my dilemma? I smiled at Elmer, grabbed his big old German foot and commenced to clipping. As I dodged the clippings flying off his toes, the thought crossed my mind that I never expected that the list of my service to the Lord would include clipping toe-nails.
For those readers still with me and not running to the bathroom sick to their tummies, my journey, and it might as well be yours too, is full of things we never thought we’d be asked to do as a service to others, as unto the Lord.
“Hey Lord, can you call me through a burning bush like you did for Moses? Can you cause a great revival of mean, God-hating people like you did for Jonah? Can I be of service to you and kill a giant like David did?”
Now those acts of service sound like great projects and worthy of a servant of the Most High God. However, I have discovered that service looks more like dishing up a plate of spaghetti for the homeless, reading a book to the first grade class, putting away tables and folding chairs for the officer or pastor, and, you guessed it, clipping the toe-nails of an elderly person. It’s not so much about the MIGHTY things as it is about the MUNDANE.
Do you remember the story Jesus told about the ruler, leaving ten servants in charge of the kingdom while he went away? He entrusted them with varying amounts of money and even though the money was small, he complemented and rewarded them upon his return.

Luke 19:15-19

15 “When he came back bringing the authorization of his rule, he called those ten servants to whom he had given the money to find out how they had done.
16 “The first said, ‘Master, I doubled your money.’
17 “He said, ‘Good servant! Great work! Because you’ve been trustworthy in this small job, I’m making you governor of ten towns.’
18 “The second said, ‘Master, I made a fifty percent profit on your money.’
19 “He said, ‘I’m putting you in charge of five towns.’
THE MESSAGE.
They were faithful in the mundane (small job) and were found faithful and rewarded for that faithfulness. Why? Because service is not so much about making the supreme sacrifice as it is about making a personal investment in someone or something else.
Gordon B. Hinkley said “Though my work may be menial, though my contribution may be small, I can perform it with dignity and offer it with unselfishness. My talents may not be great, but I can use them to bless the lives of others…. The goodness of the world in which we live is the accumulated goodness of many small and seemingly inconsequential acts.” (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/service?page=1).

Stop looking and longing for the service show-stoppers and the roof-raisers and concentrate on the everyday, little areas where you can lift the lives of the few by your personal investment in their lives, while honoring the Lord with yours…even if it means clipping toe-nails.
Dennis L.R. Strissel

April 29, 2014 2

Perspectives Day 1 Featuring John Mowers (Major) -” A Testimony From a Jar of Clay”

A Testimony from a Jar of Clay

“You have pulmonary sarcoidosis.” The doctor said it like I should know what that meant. He then asked me if I’d ever heard of sarcoidosis. I replied “only on TV” – that it is always the wrong diagnosis on the popular television drama, House, M.D.

What it meant was that the chronic shortness of breath that I had been experiencing had a cause, and I would have to begin taking a strong steroid medication to control it and prevent the spread to other organs. I recall how anxious I began to feel. Nobody told me that the medication itself would heighten my sense of anxiety or that coming off the medication would induce feelings of depression. But I made it through the 15 months or so of treatment, although I put on 40 pounds of extra weight. I felt well enough to ask to return to corps work for the last four years of my officership. I’d been stationed at Training Colleges for 11 years and I wanted to pastor a corps again. So we were transferred to a corps in crisis. I plunged into the pastoral care and preaching and administration that mark a large corps totally confident that we were where God wanted us to be. Just to be safe I found a new doctor in the new city and started regular checkups. Soon I was feeling the familiar shortness of breath and asked for some tests to be run.

Less than two years after my original diagnosis, a new doctor confirmed that the sarcoidosis was indeed worse and announced that the disease had progressed to stage four – meaning unlikely to respond to treatment. “What can we do, doc?” I asked hopefully. He shrugged and opined that I would be too old, too fat, and ineligible for a lung transplant due to the complicating pulmonary arterial hypertension I’d developed. I began having to use oxygen at night and then for the exertion of strenuous activity. Within three months strenuous activity included showering and tying my shoes.

As a corps officer, preaching had been one of my passions. I had to give up a lot of direct programming because I couldn’t keep up with the kids. I had to give up playing in the Corps Band, and sometimes singing with Songsters. But my preaching had been unaffected. Somehow, each Sunday, God gave me the strength to preach the message I’d developed and crafted. Until the Sunday after Easter.

All morning long I struggled; I couldn’t catch my breath. Usually I put the oxygen tank aside to preach but I knew I couldn’t do so that morning. So I swallowed my pride and informed the congregation that I would be preaching with the cannula hose attached to a portable oxygen tank. Then I made a joke that the noises from the valve make sounds like Darth Vader breaths.

Somehow I got through that message and people seemed to have been helped and blessed. As I reflected on what God may have been saying to me on that Sunday, the fourth chapter of 2^nd Corinthians came to mind and I read again verse 7:

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

I guess I would have a right to be embarrassed if I failed to deliver the powerful message I’d crafted — if that message had been from me. But God had laid the issues on my heart. He had inspired the scripture I was expositing. If power happens to leak out during the sermon, it is his power, his choice. I am a vessel – a clay pot.

Paul goes on in verse 16:

¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

My outer man had seen better days. The wasting away had begun in earnest. This disease took away my freedom, my natural powers, my dignity. What I needed was the inner renewal because I seemed to be more prone to lose heart. I mourned my losses and sometimes was depressed. I felt so selfish – me, me, my, my, I.

But God gives the blessing of seeing his power at work in the words he has inspired me to preach. My sermons seemed to help people. I preached in Spanish at a Hispanic corps, and two seekers made their way to the altar. As I reflected on that morning, I recalled what Paul heard from the Lord when he begged for his “thorn” to be removed (also in 2^nd Corinthians):

⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me… For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV)

I couldn’t boast about my weaknesses yet. I needed some more grace for that. But I experienced from time to time the soothing of renewal of my inner being (2 Cor. 2:16). It wasn’t a magic bullet that killed my doubt and depression with a single shot.

The future seemed to be certain for me – irreversible lung damage and an early “promotion to glory.” Ironically like an episode of House MD, further testing revealed that the disease wasn’t sarcoidosis, rather a fibrosis disease within the lungs, and there was no cure. We had to retire early. We moved to Texas so that when I died, Nancy would be with our daughter, Jennifer. We attend the Dallas Temple Corps where I was able to help with the Hispanic Ministry teaching the Spanish Sunday School class.

My new doctor in Texas surprised me when he urged me to consider a transplant. Remember that the Michigan doctor had told me I was ineligible for a lung transplant, but this hospital used different criteria. I was approved for transplant in January, 2014, and received a bilateral (double) lung transplant two weeks later.

My recovery has been amazing. I don’t need supplemental oxygen. I can speak without shortness of breath. I can sing again.

I take medications that suppress my immune system and leave me open to infection, flu, and colds, all very dangerous when one has a compromised immune system. Nothing is certain. My body may yet reject the transplanted lungs. There is no guarantee that I’ll be able to continuing preaching and teaching.

But I am convinced of this — that God uses jars of clay – the power is his, not mine. He decides when and how it comes out. And I am so grateful for God’s great grace.

Major John Mowers

April 6, 2014

The Colony, TX, USA.

April 28, 2014 3

Click the blue link to listen:

“Walking with a Stranger”

Sermon Podcast – “Walking With a Stranger”
Date: April 27th, 2014 At The Brainerd Lakes Salvation Army Corps.
Also available for free download via itunes/podcasts/brainerdcorps

Luke 24:13-35 (NIV) 13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” 25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

“Walking with a Stranger”

April 27, 2014 0

A Little RobBellion…a Jesus Show or Sell-out?

I’m open minded…and hopeful.
Recently, famous preacher, thinker and author Rob Bell announced via numerous social media sites that he would be beginning a new television show. Relevant Magazine reported it here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/tags/rob-bell. Rob’s new television show will be called simply “the Rob Bell Show”…interesting. He’s also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealrobbell

Again I’m open minded, but images like these pop into my head when I think of “Christian” television shows:

Anybody else?

I don’t want to prejudge something before it happens. I don’t want to think the worst, but I physically shiver when I think of the likes of Jimmy Baker and the “golden” throned TBN channel…I seriously hope that his show doesn’t go THAT way.

on the other hand…

I really hope Rob Bell’s new show doesn’t become a Universalist show where everything is embraced as truth. That notion to me is also troubling.

Again, I don’t want to prejudge the new show before seeing it, but I have to wonder were Rob Bell’s critics right? Has he sold out?

I have been seriously challenged by his books (yes I’ve actually read them). Some of Rob Bell’s critics even rushed to write books to challenge His book “Love Wins” before they had even read it or even before it even hit the bookshelves in stores. His book was more about asking tough questions like ‘does God’s grace actually extend far beyond our human grace and our understanding?‘ and less about dispelling doctrinal and bible truths. Rob Bell asked more questions than he did present some “heretical theology” like some had assumed of him and that of his teachings.

Still I wonder about this whole tv show thing.
I wonder if the lure of courting fame has taken its toll.
I wonder about a lot of things.

Unlike many of the critics of Rob Bell, I’ve been truly challenged by him.
I have found him to be honest and refreshing.
I have found him to be a break from the old fashioned traditional molds of what the “Christian Teacher” should look like.

Was he just a trend?
or was he for real?

I guess time will tell. Like I said at the beginning I am keeping an open mind. I’m hopeful.
After all, the Christian church has certainly had its fair share of sell-outs, wanna-be’s and phonies.

My only fear in all of this is that if this doesn’t pan out and his television show is all Universalist wishywashy mumbo-jumbo …how many people will it lead astray?

Again…for now, I’m hopeful and waiting with an open mind.

April 25, 2014 0

TOUGH QUESTION: Do you REALLY know your Enemy?

Matthew 5:43-45 …“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.…”

April 24, 2014 0

TV Review of CW’s “The 100”

I’m a sucker for Science Fiction television shows. If you’re anything like me then perhaps you have your DVR set to record many offerings within this genre too. I’m still upset after all these years that they canceled Firefly

I digress:

The new television show “The 100” follows a group of young people (It’s like Peter Pan’s “Lost Boys” meets “Lord of the Flies”) who apparently were all imprisoned for being rebellious while on Earth’s final hope, the space station, which has been orbiting Earth for nearly a hundred years.

Earth nearly destroyed itself through nuclear war and those who survived on the Space station currently don’t even know if Earth is able to sustain life yet. So they send the prisoners…oh here’s one more catch – the Space Station is quickly degrading and running out of oxygen. The population on the Space station has outgrown the original design of sustaining life.

back to the prisoners –

They are sent to earth in a space pod (wow they can fit a hundred people in that thing? that must be cramped!) and each of the 100 has been given a vital signs life tracker on their wrist.

The adventure begins and the world isn’t as empty as they once suspected. There are others living on the ground that ironically the 100 pod-people label “grounders” (how original).

Long review short –
There is suspense. The directors and creators of the show ensure that you are clinging to your seat and take nothing for granted because ANYTHING could happen. Sure, it’s a teen/young adult catered audience…most actors look like aeropostale or abercrombe and fitch models…but death and betrayal permeate the plot like a pair of stinky gym socks in a locker-room.

Society and Culture:

For me, one the underlying themes of this show is that anarchy reigns within the 100 although there are a few trying to keep the order and peace. Some have their own selfish agendas, some are power hungry, and some are just psychopathic killers…this really bodes well for us on post-apocalyptic Earth! Another message – don’t trust a bunch of teenagers and young adults with an important mission to go to Earth in the hopes of saving the human race. As a matter of fact don’t trust ANY of these (or many) of these “criminals”.

It is rather telling that the Adults in Space also have ulterior motives, plots lead to real curve balls and just when you think you figured out where the writer is taking the story you get kicked to the curb.

Conclusion:

If you like a little drama/soap opera with a Science-fiction flair then perhaps you’ll like this show. One word of caution though, the writers seem intent of killing off numerous characters as the episodes continue so don’t get too invested in many of the sub-characters because anything could happen. It’s a roller-coaster sort of ride, there is some adult themes from time to time so parents please be advised!

My grade – I give it a

But what do I know, I’m just a Sci-fi Junkie who is still bitter Firefly was canceled.
let me know what YOU think, respond below with your comments. I’m interested in your television recommendations and thoughts.

April 24, 2014 0

Author: Pastor'sPonderings

“Perspectives” – Day 6 Featuring Jared Collins (Lieutenant) “The Fickle Nature of Love”

“Perspectives” Day 5 – Featuring Timothy McPherson “Vulnerable”

“Perspectives” Day 4 – Featuring AmyJo Ferguson

“Perspectives – Day 3” Featuring Sean Wise (Lieutenant) “Transparency”

Transparency

“Perspectives” Day 2 – Featuring Dennis Strissel (Colonel) “Clipping Toe Nails”

Perspectives Day 1 Featuring John Mowers (Major) -” A Testimony From a Jar of Clay”

“Walking with a Stranger”

A Little RobBellion…a Jesus Show or Sell-out?

TOUGH QUESTION: Do you REALLY know your Enemy?

TV Review of CW’s “The 100”

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