Portal to the past

The period before 1935 was called the "Mechanical Television Era". There were televisions then, just nothing like what we have today. In fact, the screen was only about half the size of a business card and really gave no picture at all. Owning one of these television sets was virtually unheard of...there was no reason to because nothing was being broadcast. It was not until 1935 that television stations began to broadcast...mostly test...with a handful of televisions in the hands of consumers.

That being said...the image here is of a radio that I recently acquired. I like this radio for two reasons. First of all, I have a broadcast background and I have always liked old radios. Secondly, I like this radio because it is from 1928. This is significant. You see, television was not around then. Radio was the form of entertainment. When a family finished a meal, they would gather around the radio and listen to their favorite shows. Shows like Amos 'n' Andy, Abbott and Costello, The Bob Hope Show, Gene Autry, Buck Rogers, Batman, and many others. I can picture a family sitting around this very radio. Spending time with one another and enjoying a common interest. Much like a family gathers for a favorite show or movie, families gathered around this radio.

When I think about it, the Bible is just like this radio. Many years ago people gathered around in groups to hear the Scriptures read to them. It was quality time that they spent with one another. They enjoyed listening to the Word of God read to them. It is what they did. So, each time I pick up the Bible I am participating in something that was a central source of entertainment for many people a long time ago.

The problem is this...Families do not gather around the radio anymore for their favorite shows. In fact, radio ratings are based on 15 minute time frames...maybe because people are not interested in it for long periods. The interest in radio has turned from a central means of entertainment to background noise. Many times, we do this with the Bible. The Scriptures become background to our own experiences and other things around us. When the radio took a back seat to the television, people stopped appreciating radio. When the Bible takes a backseat to anything, we stop appreciating the Word of God.

I am guilty of this...like all too many of us are. The television has replaced the radio. What has replaced the Bible in your life? What is your "television"? Think about it...figure it out...it is important. I am trying to figure it out for myself as well.

Plea for blessings

Of late...my wife and I have been seeking a blessing. The very concept of seeking a blessing is quite interesting. As we read Scripture we see numerous blessings. Whether it is a child given to Abraham, seeing your brother raised from the dead, or being one of the 5,ooo people that Jesus feed, people experienced huge blessings in their lives.

We also see blessings in the lives of people around us. People seem happy...in fact some people seem to recieve that blessing that we so earnestly seek. As we sit in the midst of others recieving that blessing...it becomes difficult. Why does God not give us this blessing?

Sure, we understand that God has a plan for our lives and maybe...just maybe...that blessing is not in God's plans right now. Some would say that we should only seek God's will and not seek particular blessings. I disagree...strongly disagree.

This is how I see it. No matter what I pray and what I ask God for, my desire for this blessing is strong. It is there...and God knows this. It is a prayer written on my heart and God has read and continues to read my heart, so when the prayer leaves my lips...it is no surprise to God. The key here is that blessings, I believe, are a means of grace. To experience blessings in your life is to experience God. To seek blessings is to seek God.

We know that ultimately God's plan for us is best regardless of what that is. But, we want to experience God in one way in particular. Asking for this is not wrong...in fact...it is right. To seek God for this is to acknowledge before the blessing is ever recieved that the source of the blessing, and all blessings, is God.

So, we pray, we ask, and we seek. In the end...in some way...we will experience God.

Daddy

The other day, during our Monday night prayer service, a good friend of mine prayed with me. In his prayer, he said something along the lines of, "Lord, show Tony that you are still his Daddy." As soon as he said this, an image popped into my mind.

When I moved to California, to follow God's call on my life, I found myself standing in the backyard (if you call it that...in CA, they don't have backyards, only strips of grass between your house and the house behind yours), saying goodbye to my parents. As I hugged my father, he began to cry, which I think I had only seen him do on three or four occasions. His words to me were, "I'm going to miss you Bozo."

Ok...let me explain. When I was little, my dad always called me Bozo. It was my nickname...probably because I was a little dorky goober.

As we grow up, our relationships with our fathers change. We mature, an naturally, our relationships mature as well. I was making a huge leap of faith in my life. My life was changing drastically. I thought I was all alone. But, as my father hugged me, he reminded me...my father is still my daddy. That will never change.

No matter how old I get or how far away from him I am...he is still my daddy and I am still his little bozo. I should not have to explain how this relationship is like our relationship with God. God is our Daddy. He always will be, no matter how far from home we go.

God is our Daddy! It is so great to say! When I am in pain and hurting...He is my Daddy. When I am alone and scared...He is my Daddy. When I need a refuge for safety...He is my Daddy. So, it is with pride that I say...My Daddy loves me...and I love my Daddy!

If we listen

As I read through the Gospel of John I come across two passages that I find to be personal favorites of mine. I list the passages to follow:


After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’ ” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not a sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
John 5:1-14


But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
John 8:1-11

I can't help but put myself in one of these situations. How many times have I experienced the healing power of Christ in my life and not know how to fully explain it. To be confronted with questions about how and who and where and when. What a wonderful feeling to know that Christ will give us the power to walk when we think we don't have the strength.

At times, I feel as though I can relate with the woman caught in adultery. Caught in a sin. A sin that I should have known better not to commit...yet forgiven by the amazing mercy of a loving Savior. To stand in front of your Lord and Savior and face the consequences of your poor moral decision, and to hear the words..."I do not condemn you." The relief that you have at this time. The peace that you are overcome with. The joy of hearing those words from the one who can speak those words and know that it is ultimate reality.

However, I have yet to touch on the area of these stories that entice me the most. The important part here is what Jesus says after His healing and forgiving are completed.

To the healed man, Jesus said, "Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you."

To the woman He says, "Go. From now on sin no more."

It is here that I hear the strong message that rings ever so loudly. It resounds. Jesus tells each of them what He had done for them saying, "I have made you well" and "I do not condemn you." It is following thes statements, the statements that Christ has done a work in your life that only Christ can do, that this command is made. Stop sinning! Flea from sin! Strive to perfection!

Our response to Christ loving us and dieing for us and raising from the dead for us is simply this; leave our lives of sin behind. This is what we are called to do. This command does not simply reside in these two verse. It stretches from Genesis to Revelation. We are to be "perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mat 5:48). We are to strive to be conformed into the likeness of Christ. This is our goal to strive for. This is what Jesus is calling the adulterous woman and the healed man to do. This is also what Jesus calls us to do. All we have to do is listen to Him. He is speaking. Are we listening?

I imagine that if I took the time to listen after Christ does something great in my life, I could hear Him say..."Tony, leave your life of sin behind." If only I would listen...maybe I could hear the whispers.

Invisible Lines

As Melissa and I were flying back from a weekend in California, I found myself doing the same thing I do every time I fly. I was looking out of the window wondering what state we were over at the time. This time, it got me thinking. We, as a culture, are surrounded by invisible lines.

We mark off invisible lines that divide countries. Invisible lines divide states. They divide counties, and even townships. Property lines, many times, are established with invisible lines. Some of us...me for example...have invisible lines of "personal space". Our world seems to be overrun by these invisible lines and we live our lives obeying the restrictions and barriers that these invisible lines manufacture.

However, as you fly over this wonderful country of ours...you see none of these invisible lines. All you see is a mass of land that is shared by everyone below...each car...each home...each person. They all share the same place. I imagine God looking at things from a "high" place much like I was in our small aircraft. He sees us all sharing the place that He created. There are no invisible lines in God's eyes. There are no countries...there are no states...there are no townships...there are no property lines.

We are intended to live in harmony and peace. Unfortunately, this is very difficult because of our invisible lines. We hear of wars over these invisible lines. We even hear of arguments over which state is better. Don't we all live in the same place. All of our land is connected...therefore, we are all connected. But...we don't like that. We like our invisible lines because it separates us from one another. The invisible lines tell me that you and I are not alike. I am from Indiana...and most likely...you are not. If you are...you are probably not from the same town and certainly not from the same property (home).

Maybe a lot of the struggles that our culture endures is caused by the invisible lines. Many people refer to the "Acts 2" church. It didn't seem as though they had many invisible lines and things seemed pretty good there. So good that people today desire to establish congregations that are modeled on the "Acts 2" church. I just wonder how much each of us struggle with invisible lines. How much does it hurt our ministry? How much does it hurt our friendships? How much does it hurt our marriages?

As I sat high above the earth in my cramped seat I couldn't help but think...what does God think about our invisible lines? What would God want us to do about our invisible lines?

Maybe something that we need to do is erase the invisible lines. I know that the reality is that this is difficult if not impossible...but isn't it worth a try? In order for these lines to be erased, we must first start small. By small, I mean those invisible lines that we draw around ourselves, our heart, our minds, and our souls. It is only then that we can even begin to focus on bigger invisible lines.