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As Wise As Ever After 84 Years…

21 May

IMG_20140103_185334_566From the blogging files – a story that I thought might merit a retelling – from January of 2014…

We had quite a celebration this past Friday night.  Mom turned 84.

Annie was out of town, but the rest of us made big plans to take the birthday girl to Culvers where she enjoys Root beer and cheeseburgers.  I knew the frigid temperature and biting wind could be a factor in our scheme, but I guess I didn’t realize how much.  In the end, we actually made three attempts to get her from the warmth of the Christian Homestead into my waiting car, but she howled in protest each time we ventured outdoors.  We compromised by bringing A & W to her.

Josh, a CNA who has actually worked a few shifts at the Homestead, noted like a sage that you often don’t know what a person with Alzheimer’s actually wants and needs – but when you do know, well, of course, you try to meet those desires.  And we knew.  She wanted to stay inside…where it’s warm.

She’s always been a smart lady.

And that never really stops, even though nowadays she can’t have a conversation with me about the latest book she’s read (she used to devour novels) or pontificate about what’s going on in the Nation’s Capital (she was once the definition of a political junkie).

Anyway, as I think about her 84 years on planet earth, and my years with her, one lesson in particular stands out:

It was late 1982 or 1983 – I was a new Christian, home from recently resigning at West Point and growing in my newfound faith at the Antioch Evangelical Free Church.  The following year I would head to the U of I to pursue a business degree, but for now I was working days at a factory in Addison, Illinois and spending much of the evenings at a Bible study or hanging out with other single adults from our church.

One night I came home at about 10 p.m., relatively late in light of the fact that I would be getting up around 4:30 or 5 the next morning for work.  Dad had gone to sleep, but she was up, surely waiting for me, and when I walked in, she asked me how my day had been.

“Fine,” I said curtly, “but I can’t talk now – I haven’t read my Bible yet, and I’m committed to the daily quiet time.” And I was off to my room…to do the most important thing.

I thought no more of it, that is, until the next day, when I came home from work and found a note on the desk in my bedroom. Though I don’t have the letter she wrote today, the thought behind it is as fresh as the day she wrote it.

“Rog, I appreciate your desire to read the Bible.  It seems like that is something a good Christian should do.  But in the future, you might want to also consider something the Bible itself teaches, words of one of my favorite passages of Scripture…”

You know what she wrote out, right?

That afternoon on the desk in my bedroom in our duplex at 650 North Avenue, I found the immortal words from Paul the Apostle to the church at Corinth.  She wrote out the whole of 1 Corinthians 13.  I’ll just give you the first part:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

1 Corinthians 13:1 – 4 (NIV)

And after reading her note that day, I like to think that maybe, just maybe…I’ve never been the same.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Mom.  Thanks for everything.  Let’s keep warm, huh?

For Friday, May 21st: 1 Corinthians 14

 
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Posted by on May 21, 2015 in Uncategorized

 

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A Sacrifice…That Costs Me Nothing?

28 Apr

It happened toward the end of King David’s reign that he sinned against the Lord and needed to make a sacrifice. Gad the prophet came to the repentant King and told him exactly where to do this – at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. And as David approached him, Araunah went to meet the King and pay homage to him…

And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be averted from the people.” 2 Samuel 24:21 (ESV)

And Araunah said what most of us would have probably said – you’re the king, take whatever you need:

Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.”

And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” 2 Samuel 24:22-23 (ESV)

David had a sacrifice to make, and Araunah was offering to give him whatever he needed to do it, and yet, David knew in his heart that something was not right about this arrangement. After all, they don’t call it a sacrifice for nothing:

But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel. 2 Samuel 24:24-25 (ESV)

David knew what all of us know: there is something about a sacrifice, you see, that should be…sacrificial. We know this in our hearts. The widow of Mark 12 certainly did…

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.

And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44 (ESV)

The rich people put in far more than the poor widow, but the difference was that they gave a “sacrifice” that cost them…nothing. It came from their abundance. In other words, they weren’t going to miss it. In contrast, she put in everything…all she had to live on.  And her sacrifice pleased the Lord. And when you step back to consider things from God’s perspective, it all makes sense.  It’s not as if He needs our money, or our cattle or threshing floors. For the Psalmist said that He “owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” (Psalm 50:10) But the Lord would surely agree with His apostle:

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. Philippians 4:17 (ESV)

I don’t pretend to understand it all, but as she gave so sacrificially, more than bringing blessing to others, she was able to bring blessing to herself, as Paul said, “the fruit that increases to your credit.”  But it begs the question…why? What led her to give so sacrificially? Now Jesus doesn’t address the question of motivation in this story, but Scripture leads us to a definite understanding of why someone would make such a costly sacrifice: such gracious giving is ultimately not about currying favor with God, nor even largely about increasing favor to my credit…but about love. Undoubtedly, the widow gave sacrificially because she loved deeply.

Love is, after all, what brought about the most costly sacrifice ever:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 (ESV)

 

Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 29: Mark 13

 
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Posted by on April 28, 2015 in Uncategorized

 

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What the Top Two Commandments Teach Us About God

30 Jan

rulesWhat would you say is the most important item of obedience that parents can teach their children? Think back to what you were taught as a child. Maybe it was, “Wash your hands before you eat”? How about, “Don’t speak unless spoken to.” Then there was the ever important, “Never talk to strangers.” Or what decent house could live without this one: “Don’t talk back to (a.k.a. ‘sass’) me.”

I suppose there are a myriad of different possibilities. What was the number one commandment in your house growing up? Though I’m asking the question, I’m not sure what I would come up with, but some people would definitely know – their parents drilled it into them all of their days. And when a commandment rises to the top like that, call me crazy, but I think it says something about the parent.

We are known by our commandments, aren’t we?

And so, when Jesus was tested by a lawyer as to the greatest commandment of God, it’s fascinating that the Lord answered with two different commandments…of love.

First, love God.

And second, love each other.

How simple…and how beautiful. And surely it says a lot about Who God is, for the Apostle John wrote in his first letter: “God is love.” (1 John 4:16)

Think about it this way, when you get right down to the basis of Who our God is, what do you come up with? If you say he is the Creator, you’re right on the nose, but you do know that He wasn’t always that, right? Go back 20 trillion years – He was no Creator then. Well, then, what was He? He was Love. And here we begin to see the incredible importance of the Trinity.

Many Christians are under the unfortunate opinion that the doctrine of the Trinity is one of those things you’ve got to agree to when teaching about God; but when you do, you sort of cough and cover it up, like needing to admit that the strange man in the corner is your crazy uncle. Oh, but how sad this is, for the truth that God is Trinity is one of the most wonderful things about Him. The doctrine of the Trinity says that first, God is one, second, He exists in three persons (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and third, each person is fully God. Hard to understand? Undoubtedly…but most gloriously wonderful also. Here’s why:

You see, 20 trillion years ago the Father was still the Father, and do you know what He was doing? He was loving the Son through the Spirit. And the Son, of course, was loving the other two persons of the Trinity also.  And so on…  In fact, though we cannot say that God has always been creating, He has always been loving.

Compare the True God Yahweh to another god called Allah. Allah is considered eternal by Muslims, so we might ask what was he doing 20 trillion years ago? Well, it’s an imaginative question and I don’t know what Muslims would say, but they certainly can’t say he was loving. How could he have been? There was no one to love. Muslims, in fact, denounce the doctrine of the Trinity. So Allah cannot be love like the true God, and if you wonder what that would do to His followers, the Psalmist gives us a clue:

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands…Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them. Psalm 135:15-18 (ESV)

And what about those of us who follow the true God…the God who is love? Well, the One we worship in truth should change everything about us…

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV)

 

(For more on this topic, consider picking up one of my favorite books in recent years, Delighting in the Trinity, by Michael Reeves.  It’s not stuffy at all, and will bring great joy to your soul.)

For Monday, February 2nd: Matthew 23 

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2015 in Uncategorized

 

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As Wise as Ever After 84 Years

07 Jan

IMG_20140103_185334_566We had quite a celebration this past Friday night.  Mom turned 84.

Annie was out of town, but the rest of us made big plans to take the birthday girl to Culvers where she enjoys Root beer and cheeseburgers.  I knew the frigid temperature and biting wind could be a factor in our scheme, but I guess I didn’t realize how much.  In the end, we actually made three attempts to get her from the warmth of the Christian Homestead into my waiting car, but she howled in protest each time we ventured outdoors.  We compromised by bringing A & W to her.

Josh, a CNA who has actually worked a few shifts at the Homestead, noted like a sage that you often don’t know what a person with Alzheimer’s actually wants and needs – but when you do know, well, of course, you try to meet those desires.  And we knew.  She wanted to stay inside…where it’s warm.

She’s always been a smart lady.

And that never really stops, even though nowadays she can’t have a conversation with me about the latest book she’s read (she used to devour novels) or pontificate about what’s going on in the Nation’s Capital (she was once the definition of a political junkie).

Anyway, as I think about her 84 years on planet earth, and my years with her, one lesson in particular stands out:

It was late 1982 or 1983 – I was a new Christian, home from recently resigning at West Point and growing in my newfound faith at the Antioch Evangelical Free Church.  The following year I would head to the U of I to pursue a business degree, but for now I was working days at a factory in Addison, Illinois and spending much of the evenings at a Bible study or hanging out with other single adults from our church.

One night I came home at about 10 p.m., relatively late in light of the fact that I would be getting up around 4:30 or 5 the next morning for work.  Dad had gone to sleep, but she was up, surely waiting for me, and when I walked in, she asked me how my day had been.

“Fine,” I said curtly, “but I can’t talk now – I haven’t read my Bible yet, and I’m committed to the daily quiet time.” And I was off to my room…to do the most important thing.

I thought no more of it, that is, until the next day, when I came home from work and found a note on the desk in my bedroom. Though I don’t have the letter she wrote today, the thought behind it is as fresh as the day she wrote it.

“Rog, I appreciate your desire to read the Bible.  It seems like that is something a good Christian should do.  But in the future, you might want to also consider something the Bible itself teaches, words of one of my favorite passages of Scripture…”

You know what she wrote out, right?

That afternoon on the desk in my bedroom in our duplex at 650 North Avenue, I found the immortal words from Paul the Apostle to the church at Corinth.  She wrote out the whole of 1 Corinthians 13.  I’ll just give you the first part:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

1 Corinthians 13:1 – 4 (NIV)

And after reading her note that day, I like to think that maybe, just maybe…I’ve never been the same.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Mom.  Thanks for everything.  Let’s keep warm, huh?

 
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Posted by on January 7, 2014 in Uncategorized

 

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Preparing For The Hunger Games

15 Mar

Our tickets are purchased for next Friday morning at 12 midnight – the adventures of Katniss and Peeta in The Hunger Games. Everyone in the Knowlton clan except our youngest has read the book, and we’re fired up to silently salute Rue with two fingers on the lips. It should be quite a night.

If you haven’t read Suzanne Collins’ trilogy, there’s still time to get the first one under your belt before the movie. As for the second two, I read them, but as far as I’m concerned, they don’t compare. The first book was masterful, though – a delight. I read it when we went to Disney last year, and as much as I enjoyed the Magic Kingdom, I was almost tempted to stay home and read.  I hope the movie doesn’t disappoint.

THE PLOT?

The story: Sometime in the distant future, a post-apocalyptic world has emerged in former North America, and the country of Panem remains.  Within Panem, there are 12 districts, all ruled from a utopian like, technologically advanced city – Panem’s “Capitol.”  As punishment for an uprising nearly 75 years earlier, the Capitol now requires each district to hold a lottery each year, selecting one boy and one girl between ages 12 and 18 (24 in all) to head to an undisclosed location for a gladiatorial contest, a fight to the death where only one will survive.  And it’s all on television, yielding a combination of Ancient Rome and Survivor for your viewing pleasure (unless, of course, you’re a mom, dad, brother, sister, friend…or decent human being, for that matter).

Our heroine is 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, whose father has died in a mining accident sometime in the recent past.  She cares for her little sister Primrose (Prim), not to mention their mother who has never quite recovered from losing her husband.  Katniss is a hunter, illegally going outside the walls of District 12 with her male friend Gale to bring home food for her family, and to sell in the open market. 

When the lottery comes to pass, it just happens to be 12-year-old Prim’s first year of eligibility.  What are the odds she will be chosen?  And if she is, might just her sheltering older sister, the huntress, volunteer in her stead?

WORLDVIEW?

As I tried to think through what the book was saying (all books say something, even if the author herself is not clued in.) I thought to the comparisons with Ancient Rome.  It’s a fair comparison, and not original with me; however, there is one big difference – there are no Christians here, in fact no religion per se anywhere.  No mention of God or Supreme Being.  Nada.  John Lennon would be proud.  And yet – here’s the rub – throughout the book you will find great sacrifice, heroism, and deep, deep love. 

It’s funny, isn’t it?  We live in a world that assumes we can have characters like Katniss, including all the benefits of Christianity, morality and virtue, yet without…Christianity.  To be sure, the world Collins creates is predicated on a depth of great evil, but where does someone like self-sacrificing Katniss come from?  You see, it is assumed by most people in our culture (our public school system, of which our son is a part, is a classic example) that we can have moral excellence without God. I almost wish that were true, but it’s definitely not.  Such virtue may last for a while, while the vestiges of Christianity (including Christian teachers and the like) remain, but such goodness cannot last generation after generation.  Dinesh D’Souza, in What’s So Great About Christianity, quotes a man who makes this point, and I for one, was surprised to hear it from him:

The life of the West, Nietzsche said, is based on Christianity. The values of the West are based on Christianity. Some of these values seem to have taken a life of their own, and this gives us the illusion that we can get rid of Christianity and keep the values. This, Nietzsche says, is an illusion. Our Western values are what Nietzsche terms “shadows of gods.” Remove the Christian foundation, and the values must go too.

So read the book, go see the movie, and rejoice in the picture of love and sacrifice you will see again and again.  Yet know…and always remember, where such wonderful love ultimately comes from:

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV)

 
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Posted by on March 15, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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