June 2005

Dancing Word Writer’s Network has been kind enough to offer me a writing column on their website. Follow the link and click on Dancing Word Writer’s Ink on the left. The fourth column down, Welcome to “Chocolate, Tea, and Ponder With Me” is my column.

Annie McDonald offered me this opportunity – thanks Annie! I hope you will all stop by and check out my musings from time to time. The plan is for this to be a weekly column.

In other writing news, this is proving to be a busy summer. I have three major projects I’m working hard to complete before the ACFW Conference in September. One is almost finished and ready for submission, the other a close second. The third, is going to take a bit longer as I still have about half of the book left to write.

I’m planning to attend a writer’s retreat in August, as well as, the writer’s conference in September. This retreat will be a first for me, but I’m looking forward to brainstorming with author friends and also see the sights. I’m hoping to bring my family along, but my two adult sons will probably be working, and whether they can get away or not remains to be seen. Sigh. I miss family vacations.

I think that’s the hardest part about change. Some changes are good and exciting, while others bring to an end something I truly enjoyed. I love traveling with my family. When I think back on it, we’ve been to a lot of places over the years. I have great memories of our trip out west and down south, to Niagra Falls and Mackinac Island, to Disney World and the Holy Land Experience. We’ve explored forests and caves, mountains and oceans, man made parks and God made wonders.

And I wouldn’t trade a single memory for all the money in the world. But alas, time does move on, and change is bound to happen. This column, for instance, is a good change in my writing life. Along with this blog, it gives me an outlet for my ponderings. I hope you’ll all come to visit me there – and check out the rest of the Dancing Word site.

We’ve been studying Luke 22 in our Sunday School class at church. This past Sunday, Jim (our teacher), made an interesting statement that has stayed with me. We were discussing the trial before the crucifixion of Christ. If you read the verses, you will notice that the soldiers blindfolded Jesus, and then punched him, then called out, “Who hit you?”

They were playing parlor games with God.

Jim suggested that this was not just one person one time playing “Blind Man’s Bluff” with the Lord. Apparently, the text suggests that they either put on the blindfold, hit him, took it off, and then asked, “Which one hit you?” over and over again. Or they possibly blindfolded him and every person but one punched him, and then the question would have been more leaning toward, “Who didn’t hit you?”. In other words, all but one might have particpated, so how could Christ tell them who didn’t?

What they did not realize is that, had He chosen to do so, Jesus could have told them their names, where they were born, what street they lived on, how much money they made, and what they were thinking on the spot. He could have won every round of “Blind Man’s Bluff” and wowed their socks off.

But He knew this would have done nothing to fulfill Scripture. It would not have brought those men to their knees in repentance. It would have simply encouraged them to want to play more games, to show off his powers. They would have been impressed, but it would have done nothing to change their hearts.

Still, I wonder what would have happened if they had truly seen, if they could have glimpsed the whole proceeding from God’s point of view.

They would have noticed that this was one parlor game they really weren’t winning.

I’ve been reading Proverbs the past few days and am reminded afresh of the wisdom of Solomon. When I think about Solomon’s life as a whole, the way he went from a young man suddenly in charge of a vast kingdom to an old king who knew that his son would not enjoy the same peace he did during his reign, I’m reminded of how easy it is for us to stray from the truth.

Solomon’s mother was Bathsheba, and though she remained one of David’s favorite wives until his death, the whole nation held a tainted view of her and her son. If David had not named Solomon as king in his place, one of his brothers was ready to usurp that authority, and he had a host of people backing him up.

But later, when David passed from the earth, Solomon indeed, found himself in charge of the kingdom, and he knew what a daunting task lay before him. On top of that, his father had given him the charge to build a magnificent temple to the Lord – a task that would require much wisdom along the way.

So when God came to Solomon and asked him what one thing he desired, Solomon did not ask for riches or long life or any other earthly thing. He asked God for a heart of wisdom, so that he might know best how to rule the people God had placed under his care.

Proverbs records much of that wisdom, and is still good advice for us today. Some of my favorite verses from this book are Proverbs 3:5-8:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and depart from evil.
It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones.

It’s so easy to lean on my own understanding or think that I am wise in my own estimation. Solomon knew better, and across the pages of time he reminds us of what it true. God is the one who gives wisdom. To fear Him is where it all begins.

I didn’t plan to talk about death again, because if I do have any regular blog readers, I don’t want to drive you all away. But my heart is heavy today, and I guess I need to express myself about this issue once more.

Another member of our church died today. We’ve seen a number of deaths this past month, starting on Memorial Day. This makes the fourth one that is connected to our church family. Unlike the others, this one was so unexpected.

George had heart problems in the past year, but we thought he was doing better. He went to work this morning like any other day. I have no details other than that he passed away at work. He leaves a wife and nieces and nephews and many people who loved him.

The things I remember most about George are his joking ways and his smiling face, evidenced just this past Sunday. George liked to tap you on the shoulder on the opposite side of where you would look, kind of in a “made you look” sort of way. He loved to laugh and joke and I don’t think I ever saw him without a smile.

Sunday, as I stood and chatted with Debbie, the pastor’s wife, he came up behind Debbie and tapped her shoulder, then scooted on by with a smile into the sanctuary. I guess that’s how I’ll always remember him.

It’s pretty sobering, dealing with all of these losses. I can only imagine how awful it must feel for the people who were closest to the ones who are now gone. For George, he is with the Lord.

What is it like there? What did he see when he walked through heaven’s door?

The Bible says, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” The best thing George will ever see is Jesus, and he is with Him now.

I know this will be a comfort to his loved ones. We do not mourn like those who have no hope. Still, it is raining outside my window tonight not far from George’s home. I’ve noticed that it often rains at times like this.

Maybe it’s just coincidence. Maybe it’s just the normal way of things.

But I’d like to think that just maybe, the rain that comes at funerals is sent to comfort His children, like a gentle cleansing shower.

Sorry if that sounds morbid. It’s actually the title to an Agatha Christie book that just blew me away with it’s “twist” ending. I read it years ago, so maybe it wouldn’t “wow” me today as it did then, what with all of the movies out there with twist endings. But the title sure stuck with me. And lately I’ve been mulling over what that really means.

Maybe it’s because we’ve heard of so many funerals these past few weeks, but death is something worth pondering. Especially since it really does come as the end to all life, whether we like it or not. And where we spend eternity will be going on a whole lot longer than where we spend our life on this earth.

I think sometimes that we get too wrapped up in today. People live for the here and now with no thought to the future. We avoid talk of death in a positive way – and yes, there is a positive side to it – but fear of the unknown makes us push it far from our thoughts.

Ecclesiastes tells us that it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting because in the house of mourning, where someone has died, the righteous will ponder their own mortality and take it to heart. (My paraphrase)

So that’s what I’ve been doing – thinking about the lives of those cut short, wondering where they woke up when they closed their eyes forever on this earth.

For some, they woke up forever separated from God, in a place called hell. I know, not a popular word these days, but it is a real place. For others, they opened their eyes to the glory of God and forever left behind all that troubled them here.

The thing is, we need to remember that our life here is temporary, so pondering what comes afterward is a good thing. Taking care to find out whether we are on the right track, trusting in the right things, finding the real truth, is wise.

Look around and see – death happens, like it or not. And despite centuries of searching, no one has found an eternal fountain of youth or invented some pill to keep us alive for eternity on this earth.

I know of two people who died on Memorial Day. One was 86 and had been sick for years. The other was 21 and was killed in an unexpected car accident. One was an old friend of the family, who loved the Lord. The other was a distant cousin that I never knew, and I have no idea what kind of faith she possessed, if any.

Death is no respecter of age. It does not care how much money or power or fame we possess. It falls on the evil and the good. Death comes as the end.

And that is something worth thinking about.

As I stood in church yesterday singing the song, “Here I am to Worship”, I was transported in my mind’s eye back to the ACFW writer’s conference last September. Certain songs do that to me, and I can’t forget the sheer joy it was to worship with my fellow believing writers.

But this time, when we got to the interlude, I had a different kind of imaginary vision. I was transported to the cross, and my thoughts were on what Jesus saw from the cross as He hung there.

The interlude to the song goes like this: “I’ll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross.”

As Jesus suffered there looking down on the soldiers and people who mocked him, I think He saw something else, something far distant that only God can see. He saw every saint both of Old Testament times and New Testament days, and every person who would ever put their faith in Him, on their faces in the dust before Him.

Spread out across the rocky soil of Golgotha and through the sands of time, He saw each one who would be lost for eternity if not for His shed blood. He saw more clearly than we ever could, the lives that were dependent on His choice to stay there. While some stood by and scorned Him, only He could see the souls kneeling at His nail scarred feet.

Seventy-two thousand angels stood at the ready, willing to come to His aid to take Him down from that cross and smite His enemies. But it was love for those He could see in His mind’s eye that held Him there. Their very souls depended on Him.

In that moment as I sang those words, I could “see” those people in my imaginary vision as well, because I am one of them.

No, I will never know how much it cost Christ to nail my sin to that cross with Him. But I got a tiny glimpse of why He did it.

What love is this?