Mourning Earth

Climate change, climate change, climate change! Talk, talk, talk. Evidence, evidence, evidence. Is it so hard to see climate change? Well, that depends on your definition of climate change. The question begs: What is today’s climate? What are the world’s biggest problems? Doesn’t that depend on who you ask? Some list: Energy, economic collapse, taxes, poverty, terrorism, crime, surveillance, over population, food production, clean water, foreign aid, drugs, racism, when do you want me to stop? I have my own list: religious liberty, sanctity of marriage, human rights, media manipulation, corrupt politics, education, right to life, when do you want me to stop?

God created this climate perfectly. We’re the ones who have nearly destroyed it. We have been our own worst enemy. Perhaps, Walt Kelly phrased it best in 1970 when he himself said: “We have met the enemy and it is us.” What is today’s climate? Short and to the point. Sinful, sinful, sinful. Don’t worry; we can combine the two climates. The earth destroyed by man and one by Satan through man.

Let’s look at earth’s natural climate changes. Changing people’s minds about climate—with facts, tables, predictions, satellites, and those pesky scientists—has proven extremely difficult if not unpredictable. Instead of heat, drought, natural disasters and other acts of God, we might look toward guilt, anxiety, anger and ignorance about how we’ve caused the decoration of mother earth. What about sin?

What about your hearts and souls? Are we ignoring our emotional and spiritual connections with our home base—earth? What about that connection with our Creator? With all the white noise swirling around climate change—meteorology, science, politics, sensationalism, fatalists, and natural disasters themselves—drown out the voice of a loss so profound that it rests unnamed in our souls? Are our breaking hearts a part of the reason we are immobilized? “The heart is most deceitful” you know.

Strength In Numbers

What strikes fear in your hearts—a roaring lion, a grizzly bear, Great White sharks, ladybugs? That’s right, the dreaded Harmonia axyridis! It reproduces quickly, it is a cannibal, it eats aphids, and, it eats other ladybugs. And it can destroy some plants. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but the Asian beetle is a real problem in England where they are used to control crop pests. How is that a problem? They make it hard for the homegrown native species to survive. It’s risky to have one species be dominant without competition to keep nature in harmonious balance.

The Lord Our Banner

Flags and banners have been used since before we began recording history, to symbolize movements, peoples and even individuals. Every country in the world has a flag—some considered beautiful, some considered weird, some considered boring (like Libya’s flag for instance—plain green and nothing else). It is a matter of individual opinion. Flags are thought to have been originated in China and India. Nepal is the only flag in the world that is not rectangular (it is a combination of 2 pennants). States, cities, counties, neighborhoods, a variety of schools and churches have their own flag.

Banners or flags express our loyalty to a cause or belief. The image of brave men raising the United States of America flag at Iwo Jima may come to mind. In the Old Testament, when Amalek fought with Israel in Rephaim, Moses held up his arms and Israel won. To celebrate, Moses built an alter and called the name of it “Jehovah Nissi” or Jehovah My Banner.

We are constantly reminded that, “The battle is the Lord’s, the victory is His alone”. The Christian has infinite resources to overcome every trial, every emergency, every Amale; as long as we serve under the banner of Jehovah-Nissi. In World War II, Britain claimed that God was on its side—so did the Germans!? Fact: God doesn’t take sides: God stands alone. It is our choice to side with God. In our battle with the World, the forces of evil, the Flesh, and the Devil; you must choose which banner you serve. “He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.” Song of Songs 2:4

A Walking Paraplegic

Joni Eareckson Tada is a paraplegic. She went swimming as a teenager and broke her neck causing paralysis and resulting in her confinement to a wheelchair. She will tell you that the most productive years of her life came as a result of her paralysis. It wasn’t easy adjusting to a new lifestyle. Realizing her life had changed from self-locomotion to the speed of a wheelchair; she adjusted, adopted, competed and then conquered. She is a successful artist, a successful author, a successful public speaker, and a successful representative for the Kingdom of God. If she wasn’t a paraplegic she could very well be just another of the world’s great unwashed, living a life of vanity and rushing down that broad road paved with good intentions, headed straight to hell. She didn’t choose self-pity she chose a life of service.

The Bible records numerous people being healed from sickness and injury:

• The centurion’s servant lying home paralyzed suffering terribly. -Matthew 8
• A paralytic was brought to Jesus by some concerned friends. -Matthew 9
• Two blind men followed Jesus hoping to be healed. -Matthew 9
• A demon possessed mute was brought to Jesus.-Matthew 9

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues,preaching the good news of the Kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” Matthew 9:35

Can a paraplegic walk? With the help of science, a body fitting exoskeleton, some highly trained physical therapists and dogged determination—maybe. Can a paraplegic walk into heaven? With the help of science, a body fitting exoskeleton, some highly trained physical therapists and dogged determination—no. Then, how does a paraplegic, or anybody, make it in?

“Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

You cannot find your way to heaven on your own. Besides, all roads do not lead to heaven. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 Are you on the right road? Do you have a false assurance of salvation? It is one thing to confess with your mouth and your words verses your actions. Believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven, because he alone died for our sins and made us right before God. Living His way may not be popular, but it is the true and right way. Thank God there is one way! Jesus is just not ‘a way’ he is “the way”. It’s not just a path, it’s a person. Jesus says I am completely trustworthy, because he’s one with the Father.

Joni Eareckson Tada’s purpose in life is to lead other’s to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. What a witness!

Heavenly Food

It’s the hope and dream of every one on a diet that one day scientists will find a way to transform potato chips into a perfect health food like: broccoli. Food is essential to keep body and soul together. Always has been. From the Garden of Eden to your kitchen table, food has played a crucial role in life. Food is one of the few pleasures in life that offers anticipation, pleasures, variety, and gastronomical delight for minimal effort and cost.

Chefs the world over constantly invent new methods to deliver the same food in a unique and varied method that excites all our human senses and then nourishes us while waiting for another delight to stimulate our palate.

One thing chefs cannot duplicate is that perfect food found in the Bible. It provided all the daily nutritional requirements, was provided fresh daily, and was ultimately satisfying. Best of all it didn’t require aging, marinating, sautéing, slicing, dicing, or any herbs to season to taste! The Bible doesn’t mention food all that much, so when a perfect food comes along, maybe we should pay attention. After all, the perfect food could only come from the Perfect Chef!

In the Exodus from Egypt, God kept the Israelites safe in their travels. The people had a complaint though; they missed the food they ate in Egypt! After complaining to Moses, God provided them a perfect food that both nourished and satisfied! Exodus 16 says it was like bread that fell from heaven! This mysterious food appeared every morning fresh! The people ate this special bread from heaven for “Forty Years”! They didn’t know what it was, so they called it—Manna. The Bible says it tasted like wafers made with honey! Don’t let it ever be said God turned from those in need.

Where God guides—God provides, especially when the chips are down!

Clear Thinking

What is clear thinking? What happens when your eyes and brain don’t agree? Take a moment. Focus on the ball at the center of the picture. Does the scene seem to vibrate, move, and distort your vision? If you move your head slightly forward and backward, does the color field of the rosette appear to pulsate? You ask yourself, what’s going on here anyway? Is this a brain game? 

Research and scientists have several theories about how our eyes and mind collaborate to create an illusion of movement—although the precise neural mechanics remain unknown. Is the visual picture a prank? No, the vibrating rosette combines several illusory effects. When you fixate on a pattern, it momentarily remains on our retina as an after-image. It is technical, but eye movements cause a ghost image to overlap with the actual image on the page—called a moiré effect: similar, repetitive patterns merged together at slightly different angles, creating a rippling effect. Got that? By adding two high-contrasting colors, blue and yellow to the picture the effect is enhanced. When you approach an object, our brain normally makes adjustments so that the object’s size and brightness appear to remain constant. But when you move your head back and forth, the alternating dark and light patterns in the rosette change in both size and brightness. Magic—no? Our visual system cannot bring the blurred boundaries within the image to focus, and the brain cannot adjust. Fuzzy thinking or fuzzy seeing? Does it hold true when reading? Absolutely. Different people take away different things from a book.

We have a choice to believe its ‘fuzzy seeing’ or ‘fuzzy thinking’. Clear thinking is critical when understanding God’s Word. God gives you the choice to believe in him or not and nothing, not even God, will force you to change your thinking. What does God have to say about thinking? He says we are responsible for our mind and body. God says think great thoughts. God reasons with us, he said in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.”” To reason together with God is to know his character, study his thinking, and obey his Word. Remember, his ways are higher than ours. God has a good, pleasing, and perfect plan for his children. He wants what is best for you; he gave his Son to make that possible. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 In other words, think about yourself as the Word. Ephesians 5:29 points it out clearly: “After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body.”