TerryLema

This year I’m hopping right over Halloween … heading straight to Thanksgiving, so, every time I see a Halloween display, I begin to praise aloud for the goodness of God in my life. Yesterday I wrote about the first of three things that struck me when I walked around my neighborhood and saw so many of the homes decorated for Halloween. The first thing I came to understand about my dislike of this day is that Halloween is darkness and I am a child of light. [Colossians 1:12-14]

The Second: Death versus Life. One of the houses I passed on my worship walk last week was decorated with nothing but skeletons and tombstones. As I walked past, I began to praise my LORD for life! My body may one day succumb to a temporary death, but my soul and spirit are going to soar right past that grave and into the beloved arms of my Savior. And even my old body will one day be transformed!

“Just as we have borne the likeness [the body] of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven [our Savior Jesus Christ].” [1 Cor 15:42-49]

Our Christianity is all about life! Jesus promised, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” [John 10:10]

Because of all that Jesus did through His sinless life, His death for us on the cross, His resurrection and ascension and His exchange of His righteousness for our punishment … death has lost its hold on us! We live! We live now in the power of God’s Spirit! We will live forever in the presence of our God!

Even though I am aging, even though I know that one day this temporary body will cease to function, even in these “later” years of my time on earth, it is never, ever, about death. It is about the joy of life, about the freedom that is coming! Halloween can keep its death, skeletons and tombstones, I am thanking God today for L I F E!

At the beginning of September, when all the Halloween stuff hit the store (and some of the front yards where I live) I made two decisions. First, to hop right over Halloween and go straight to Thanksgiving. Second, that as I passed the “Halloween Homes” on my worship walk, I would praise and thank my LORD aloud! So far, that’s what I have been doing.

I was walking around a new section in our development last week and came across more “Halloween Homes.” When I began to praise, I was reminded why I just don’t like this holiday. Three things immediately came to mind.

The First: Darkness versus Light. What I first notice in the Halloween stores and home displays is the atmosphere of darkness. There is so much blackness. Even the celebrating is done at night, after the sun has set. To me, there is enough darkness in this world, creating more (or dressing our children in it) troubles my soul.

As a believer, I am a child of light. I hate the darkness of this world that manifests itself in the ways we treat each other, in the arrogance, and greed, in the power struggles and hatreds and prejudices. Evil loves the dark where it thinks it can remain hidden and its sins can have free reign. “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” [1 Thessalonians 5:5]

As believers, we no long live in darkness. Paul reminds us instead to thank our Father God “who has qualified [us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” [Col 1:12-14]

My heart and my soul are forever grateful to God for the light of His Son. I never – ever – want to abide in that darkness again. Thank you, Precious Savior!

If you have ever been on Facebook, you probably realize your page can be set to different languages. Mine has always been in English, partly because that is the way it defaulted, but also because English is the only language I can read or speak. (I still can’t remember why I allowed my high school counsellor in California to convince me to take Latin as a second language.)

So, you can image my surprise when right in the middle of posting one of these devotions to Facebook my page appeared to have lost its ability to present in English and was now filled with characters I assumed where some form of Chinese. The actual posts and people’s comments still appeared in English, but everything else, every menu item, every instruction, every option was in Chinese. I panicked for just a moment when I hit the little information icon (i) and typed in, “how do I turn my page back to English?” and the instructions came back in Chinese.

Someone tried to help me by telling me the numbers of menu items to count down, and then number of options by count, etc. Finally, on one of my pages there was a tiny little word, English, at the very bottom. When I clicked on it, English returned and I could understand once again what Facebook was telling me.

In 1Corinthians 2:10b-16, Paul talks about the deep things of God and how they must be spiritually obtained. The deep things of God are unintelligible to someone without the Spirit of God, they even seem foolish to them. (It was like my Facebook page; all the words were there but I did not have the ability to understand what they meant.)

I have known many who know the words of the Bible, some have even studied them, but they still cannot understand what God is saying to them. It is impossible to know God without the Spirit of God’s illumination.

“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” [1 Cor 2:12]

I am doing something today I haven’t done in ages. I’m hosting a party for 16 people. That shouldn’t be difficult, I once organized the catering for a wedding for 350 people. It’s just that I’m a bit out of practice. Still, I’m really looking forward to opening the house and saying “thank you” to the people who minister alongside me at The Way.

All week I’ve been looking through old recipes, trying to come up with a good menu, one that will satisfy those who must watch what they eat, and those that will eat almost anything. I also need to keep it a bit simple since I only have standard kitchen appliances, not restaurant-sized ones. More than anything, however, it must taste good!

“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” [Ps 34:8-10]

“Taste and see that the LORD is good.” What a wonderful invitation. God invites us to come to Him and to allow Him to prove His Word for us and in us. He invites us to partake of His promises and His presence as we would sit down at a sumptuous meal. He tells us that in Him we find plenty. He tells us that if we trust Him, we will lack no good thing.

The more time I spend in partaking of the promises and Presence of my LORD, the less this world’s delights appeal to me. They are like shiny baubles that glitter for a season and then tarnish or waste away. But the LORD … He is more precious than silver, most costly than gold, more beautiful than diamonds. And nothing I desire compares with Him.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lord+you+are+more+precious+than+silver+lyrics&view=detail&mid=6BD175B977D24CB5CBF86BD175B977D24CB5CBF8&FORM=VIRE

I’ve known for a long time that doctors often struggle making a diagnosis. It isn’t easy when symptoms can be the same for many different ailments. We think, “well, just run a test.” I’ve also learned that medicine is a bit like philosophy, which says, you must ask a correct question to get a correct response. In medicine, you must run the “right” test to get the “right” diagnosis. There is no one test for all ailments. Sometimes you can even run the “right” test and still not have a definitive diagnosis.

I came out of the doctor’s office with a tentative diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). A “sed rate” test was being run and the results should show that’s what I have. The results are supposed to come back higher than normal, which if I read the report correctly, normal is from 1-40. Mine came back 4. Yep, low. My doctor’s response was “I’m really shocked.” Ah, not sure it’s good to shock a doctor.

Turns out a very low percentage of people don’t have a high “sed rate” but still have PMR. I may be one of the few out of the many. So, we are going to “treat” it and if it “responds,” then I’ve “got” it.

I trust my doctor, as I was leaving her office, her last words to me were, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” and she will. She’s proven that over and over. But even more importantly, my trust is in my LORD, and I know He will take care of me. He’s proven that over and over.

“The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” [Nahum 1:7]

The LORD is good … He cares for us. God, who sustains all of creation, the Almighty One who is high and lifted up, our Rock cares for us out of His goodness. I can’t wait to go for my worship walk today, I have much for which to praise Him, beginning with the fact that I am cared for by the Great I Am.

Moses sought the LORD in Exodus 33. It was a perfect example of Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

 First Moses asked God to teach him God’s ways. And God responded with a yes. Next Moses sought God’s Presence to continue with them as they headed to the Promised Land. And once again God responded in the affirmative. Finally, Moses, who was now 2 for 2, really started knocking on the door, “Now show me your glory.’

It was then Moses got a qualified “yes” response. “And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence…but you cannot see my face, for no one may see my face and live’” [vs18-19]

Moses would experience all the goodness of the LORD, as well as all the wonders contained in the LORD’s Name. However, he would not be allowed to see the face of the LORD because as yet, Christ had not come and opened the door into the very presence of the LORD. Still … to experience all the goodness of the LORD … how amazing is that?

As believers in Christ, we have it all. We not only have all the goodness of the LORD and all the wonder in the name of the LORD, we see Jesus, made in the image of God … and we live!

In Christ, the door is open and we have life and that more abundantly! Praise His Holy Name!

Psalm 27 is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It begins, “The LORD is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid?”

David must have been experiencing troubles all around him when he wrote it. His troubles drove him to return his focus and desires to the loving protection of His wonderful LORD. As I read it this morning, I changed it just a little bit … “The LORD is my light and my salvation — whom [or what] shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life — of whom [or what] shall I be afraid?”

God’s goodness has been on my mind for weeks now, even before I came back from the doctor with a couple labels for what has been ailing me. I have been almost overcome at times just thinking about His goodness. I’ve been brought to tears several times when the presence of His Goodness overwhelmed me on my worship walk.

Did you know that the goodness of God is one of the most frequently mentioned attributes in the Scriptures? Perhaps because it’s one of the most needed and cherished by God’s children.

God is the source of all goodness. All goodness comes from and is measured by Him. God would never work circumstances to do evil to His children. In fact, as Romans 8:28 reminds us, it is exactly the opposite; God takes even the worst circumstances and works them for our good.

I never confuse life on this earth with God … what happens here is often difficult and trying, but even in the midst of all that, God is always good. David remembered that also. He ended his song with, “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” [vs13]

Went to the doctor last Wednesday as a follow-up for an urgent care visit a month ago about my neck. The initial diagnosis was a muscle strain. Was given a treatment protocol and told to see my regular physician if it didn’t improve. Well, it did improve somewhat (the muscle strain seemed to lessen), but I was still having some discomfort.

As I talked with my doctor, she said I had probably strained something, slept wrong, etc., but she’d do a baseline x-ray so that if I ever did need an MRI, insurance would be more likely to cover it. We discussed some other issues and then she sent me down the hall for the x-ray.

I wasn’t back in the exam room for very long when she came in wide-eyed and with half a smile. Her first words were, “how are you even holding up your head?!”

Apparently, I have severely degenerative discs in my neck, and even have bone fragments that have broken off and are irritating the surrounding muscles. She said, “I’ve never seen anything like this!” Well that made me feel good.

I left the doctor’s office with that diagnosis and a second possible one called polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) – neither of which I expected.

Life does throw you a curve on occasion. At the same time, I left that office the same way I went in, a child of God greatly loved by my Father. None of this took God by surprise. He’s not up in the heavenlies wiping His brow saying, “Boy, I didn’t see that coming!” or wondering “now what am I going to do?”

This diagnosis did not change even one iota of the truth found in Ps 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Thank you Father.

Wow, the last day of September. Boy, did that “ber” month fly by fast. I love the “ber” months (September, October, November, December) better than all the other months. (If you are like me, you just ran through the rest of the months checking to make sure there are no others!)

Autumn is here. Football is back. The dog days of summer are behind us. Trees will be turning soon, some have already and the smell of fallen leaves is in the air again. From now through December is my very favorite time of the year. Even more so this year since I’m skipping over Halloween and going straight to Thanksgiving.

As I walked once again by a display of Halloween in the local store, I praised and thanked God for all He is. My heart is filled with more joy than I thought possible.

Studying for yesterday’s message, I was reminded that we can’t follow Christ only during the good times and call ourselves the church. Being the church means we remain faithful to Him even during those times that involve suffering. No matter what life hands us … even when things are bad … God is still good.

It is God’s goodness that I am focusing on today. It is His goodness for which I am thankful and praising Him. We are probably familiar with, “God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.” But do we really believe that? Do we act like we believe it? Or are our moods governed by life, rather than by God’s goodness. David wrote in Psalm 31: “How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.” [v19]

Doesn’t that make you want to sing. God’s goodness is stored up for us – just waiting there for us to make a withdrawal!

After leaving the library on Monday and my encounter with the “lady of joy,” I decided to stop at Dutch Bros for a coffee. I usually stop for coffee once a week on Sunday after church, but I wasn’t feeling very well that day and just wanted to get home and put my feet up.

As I drove in, a young woman, maybe 18-20 years old ran up to my window. I told her I wanted a “Medium Nitro Cold Brew, iced, straight up.”

“Straight up” means nothing added, just plain strong black coffee. The server laughed and said, “you are a hard-core coffee drinker.” The rest of the conversation went like this:

Me: Yes, I am, drinking coffee strong and straight up since I was 13. (Almost six decades now)

Her: So, what are you doing today?

Me: Nothing much, it’s my day off.

Her: What do you do when it’s not your day off?

Me: I pastor a church in Middleton.

Her: Oh wow, I live in Middleton. Which church?

Me: The Way, on Hawthorne down the block from the Post Office.

Her: The log cabin! Is that a “regular” Christian Church?

Me: Yep, a regular Pentecostal Christian Church. I like my Christianity the way I like my coffee–strong and straight up!

She laughed and said that I made her day.

As I left I thought—I really do like my Christianity as I like my coffee, strong, and straight out of the Bible, with nothing mixed in!