A Good Life

        Do you have six friends you could call with an emergency in the middle of the night and they would step up to the plate for you?

        According to Dr. Robert Waldinger, quoted by Ken Budd in a Saturday Evening Post article in the September/October 2024 issue, your answer to this question indicates whether you have a good life now and will predict if you will have a good and happy life as you age.  The article "What Makes a Good Life?" claims "Relationships are vital for us as humans. They are vital for good health, for happiness, for a long and fulfilling life."

        I won't go into the details here, but beginning in 1938 a study followed Harvard grads from affluent backgrounds and young men from some of the poorest and worst neighborhoods in Boston.The study followed these men and their wives and even children through questionnaires, interviews, medical records, and so on.  All of the information was to track their happiness and satisfaction with life.  The conclusion reached:  good relationships make us healthier and happier.  Our relationships--not our career achievements, not our possessions, not our bank accounts--provide satisfaction in life.  "The inner city guys were no less happy than the Harvard guys as they went through their lives," Waldinger says of the study.  In a study asking millennials what their life goals were, more than 80% 0f them wanted to be rich, while 50% wanted to be famous.  But of the 80 year olds in the Harvard study, not a one of them mentioned money.  Their greatest pride was about their relationships-they were a good dad, a good husband.  Their greatest regrets were that they had spent too much time working and not enough time with the people they loved.  

        If relationships are that important, how do we strengthen our friendships and even create new ones?   Ken Budd in this article suggests six friendship builders. 

1. Use the internet the right way, not in mindless scrolling, but in deliberately connecting with old and new friends.
2. Follow your passions.  Do something you care about.  You will find others who share your interests.
3. Reconnect with old friends through a text, an email, or a phone call.
4. Repair damaged relationships.  Remove that stress.
5. Connect with strangers.  Even a momentary connection will build satisfaction in our lives.
6. Cultivate relationships.  "How can we get together more?  How do we stay current with each other's lives?"

        I want to turn now to the greatest book of advice on friendship, the Bible.  When I looked up verses on friendship, I had far more suggested than I could use.  Many were from the book of Proverbs, 

• Proverbs 18:24,  "A man who has friends must himself be friendly."
• Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loves at all times."
• Hebrews 10:24, "Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works."
• Proverbs 12:26, "The righteous should choose his friends carefully."
• Romans 12:15, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep."
• Philippians, "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."

        Scripture is full of advice on how to build relationships (a good place to start a study), but let me end with this one.

        Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.  For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.  But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.  Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?  And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him.  A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart."

        Let's work to build those relationships!

                                                                            ~~Faith Himes Lamb

                                                                        

A Gospel Welcome

 

I enjoy watching survival shows. I have young children - it feels relatable. When I was watching one of these shows recently, I was struck by such a meaningful gospel moment. I wanted to share it with you.

          In the show Outlast*, the season was coming to an end and there were two teams left surviving in the wilderness of Alaska. Think freezing cold temperatures, surviving on clams and mushrooms and occasional squirrels for weeks on end. Bear country, frost-bite, grueling work, creating your own shelter, etc.

           There was one man, Joey, who had jumped to different teams throughout the show, never remaining faithful to one group, and having this mindset of “I’m playing only for myself.” Even though in order to win, you must remain a part of the team. Because of his sneakiness and betrayal, he wasn’t one of my favorite characters.

           The team he was on during this special scene was called Delta. On Delta was another man, named Joseph (I know, similar names). From the beginning, Joseph introduced himself as a “man of God,” and throughout the show you see him standing out in many areas: clean language, peaceful behavior, praying in front of and with his teammates. He made a stand that he never wanted to destroy or manipulate another team in order to win.

           As the season winds down and the prize is in sight, Joey sneaks off to see if he can join the other team, Bravo. Bravo says no, so Joey tries to sneak back to his original team. This “sneaking” involves crossing a river in a boat and team Delta sees him making the return voyage back to them.

           As expected, many of his current teammates are upset, feeling betrayed, not wanting to let him back in. Joey answers some questions with lies and evades others. And this leads to a one-on-one conversation with Joseph.

           Joey is at a breaking point, feeling guilty, but not wanting to lose. He still doesn’t care about the people on his team. He just wants to get away with this betrayal. So Joseph goes to him and begins asking him some pointed questions. Joey says, “I just want to get to the finish line; I still don’t feel that I’ve betrayed.”

           Quiet, calm Joseph takes it all in - the obvious lies, the nervous behavior and says, “...whatever story he was telling, I kind of didn’t even want to hear it ‘cause I know it’s not the whole truth… And I just asked, God, give me a sign. Give me something. So I just listened and I was being still.”

           Now, let me jump in here and say that I as the audience member thought that was it for Joey. Wise Joseph knows he’s lying. They’re going to vote him out and rightly so! I was caught off guard by what happened next.

           Joseph continues aloud to Joey, “Man, you got your wife and your kids. You know how good of an opportunity you have right now?” In his interview he says, “I’m not gonna lie, I was sad and disappointed, but being a man of God, I was trying not to judge and just give him the benefit of the doubt. Even though I don’t want to, I believe in forgiveness.”

           A few minutes later he continues talking with Joey, “One thing I won’t do is give up. On you, or all the people back at camp… So, Joey, you’ve got it.” You see Joey standing in stunned silence with tears in his eyes as he receives a hug from Joseph. Joey says, “honestly I was expecting something completely different. Joseph comes down, he really kinda leans in and says exactly what I needed to hear, and just asks me to stay…”

           At that moment another teammate who had been listening to that whole conversation, who had been angry and ready to send Joey away, walks down and tells him he’s good, he’s staying, and also offers him a hug. The ripple effect of that grace is seen immediately.

           Joey states, “...There’s a bit of shame, of going over and pitching myself and getting denied. And they just welcomed me back with open arms.”

           What a picture. The gospel in action. It was such a notable moment because it was so counter-cultural. And that counter-cultural welcome is what you and I have received. While I was sitting there rooting for Joey to be sent home, truly I was sitting there with a deceitful, sneaky heart of my own. One that without Christ is unrescuable. But God doesn’t leave me there broken, lost and hopeless. No, He offers the forgiveness that is not earned and the open arms that are full of grace, welcoming me back with the gospel.

           Pastor Kelly O’Rear mentioned this quote from You’re Not Crazy in his message the other day, “The finished work of Christ on the cross is not God’s way of saying to us, ‘You’re free to go now’ but ‘you’re free to come now.’ He’s not sending us off, but inviting us in.” May we know that undeserved but so-freely-given welcome in our own hearts, so that we too can offer it to others without pride, or entitlement. May we look for the opportunity to share that gospel love with someone in our own lives even today.

 

-Sandy Gromacki

 

Faithful Through Every Change

 

On Friday morning, I caught a lull in the rain and wind and took my Bible and coffee to the front porch for a few minutes. There was still enough wind to coax a few yellow leaves off the trees, and I enjoyed watching them dance about in the air before finally touching down. If you’ve been a reader of this blog for a few years, the ideas you’re about to read are not new, but every year I feel compelled to again mention God’s faithfulness in bringing about each season in its time.

We’re all familiar with the passage in Ecclesiastes 3:

 

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;

 

All summer I’ve been enjoying “pluck[ing] what is planted,” and soon that season will be over. Right now there are still tomatoes in my back yard, and I have one more watermelon on the vine. On Friday afternoon, I pulled up some chives growing in the wrong place, cut them up, and dried them in the oven. In the coming months, they will flavor potatoes and eggs.

 

Leaves just starting to turn will provide a beautiful distraction in another month or so, and the goldenrod will continue to show off for a few more weeks. My hummingbirds have not yet headed south, but I believe they will any day now.

 

How do I know that what I’m predicting is true? Because God has built into this world a picture—indeed many pictures—of His faithfulness. Here are a few passages to ponder:

 

He appointed the moon for seasons;
The sun knows its going down. (Psalm 104:19)

He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.(Daniel 2:21)

 

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:22)

 

I find great comfort in the regular, predictable changes from day to night and summer to fall. These regular changes are an expression of God’s constancy. He is the eternally faithful one.

 

I acknowledge the obvious changes in our climate patterns over the past few years, but even so, God is keeping the world on course and turning as He created it to do.

 

In the coming weeks, I will enjoy watching the falling leaves and the changing sky, and in a few months, God willing, I will say with Solomon, See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone (Song of Songs 2:11).

 

--Sherry Poff

The Great Storyteller: Happy Hobbit Day!

 

Today happens to be one of my favorite nerdy holidays, Hobbit Day. September 22 is the birthday of hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This has become a day to celebrate Tolkien’s writings as well as the simple living of a hobbit from the Shire. It’s also an opportunity to partake in second breakfast. :) 

If you have known me for any significant length of time, you know that I am a huge Tolkien fan. I have clothes, jewelry, and home décor that nod to the stories, and I know a couple elvish greetings. But what I want to talk about today is why The Lord of the Rings captured my imagination as a child and why I still love the extensive mythology that Tolkien created. The simple answer is that Tolkien’s work is a dim reflection of the great story that God has written through history.

Tolkien did not originally set out to write a masterpiece of storytelling. He was first and foremost a philologist, a studier of language. He enjoyed studying the history and origins of the English language and began creating languages of his own. But he didn’t settle with merely creating languages, he wanted to explore the evolution of language over time as peoples move toward and away from others. This resulted in an extensive mythology detailed in the well-known The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as works published posthumously such as The Silmarillion and The Histories of Middle-Earth.

Though one can enjoy The Lord of the Rings on its own, it becomes richer when one has also read Tolkien’s other works detailing the history leading up to those stories. There are countless moments throughout the trilogy that refer back to what happened in previous ages. Sam Gamgee makes an interesting observation as he and Frodo are discussing their journey: “Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end?' 'No, they never end as tales,' said Frodo. `But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended. Our part will end later – or sooner.'” Frodo and Sam and the rest of the Fellowship are a small part of the greater story.

 You and I are a small part of the greater story of the world. The stories of history weave together with the stories of today as a part of the Great Mythology. And this story is true! God is the Great Storyteller who is writing the greatest story of all, and any story written by man is a reflection of this. In his essay “On Fairy Stories,” Tolkien discusses the mythological quality of the history of the world: 

“The Gospels contain a fairy story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories. They contain many marvels—peculiarly artistic, beautiful, and moving: ‘mythical’ in their perfect, self-contained significance; and among the marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe. But this story has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the ‘inner consistency of reality.’ There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many sceptical [sic] men have accepted as true on its own merits.”

He goes on to write, “It is not difficult to imagine the peculiar excitement and joy that one would feel, if any specially beautiful fairy-story were found to be 'primarily' true, its narrative to be history, without thereby necessarily losing the mythical or allegorical significance that it had possessed.”

This is why stories such as The Lord of the Rings appeal so strongly to me. Smaller stories that weave together into greater stories give such a rich picture of how the world works. We all affect each other in seemingly small ways that ultimately tell a greater story. And not only is God the Great Storyteller, He entered into his own story as a character in order to redeem us. What story could be better than that?

 

--Concetta Swann

Contemplating Compost

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The other day I cut some okra from the garden for frying and freezing. Some of the specimens didn’t look so good, so I cut them up and put them in the compost. Silly, I know, but I said to them, “It’s okay, you still have purpose even though you’re not fit to eat.” Those pieces were ugly, tough, and diseased, but later they will turn into a rich, black soil that will nourish next year’s garden. It will be a quiet process out there beside the shed with the weeds that grow up through the blocks and the fire ants that greet me with a sting when I visit. It will take a long time. They will be turned, heated, moistened, and broken down by bugs, worms, and bacteria. It won’t be pretty, but the outcome will be rich. 

Some people get a rough start in life. They might have a history of abuse or neglect or illness. If they are willing to be “processed” by the Master Gardener, they will become someone wise and full of knowledge. They will think profound thoughts and bring value to the lives of others (gardeners pay a lot of money for compost). It could take a long time. It could be painful. It might mean hard work. The success of the process depends on the humble, submissive attitude and willingness of the heart. But if a person is willing, then, he will be prepared to fulfill the purposes prepared specifically for him beforehand by God. Ultimately, all our God-ordained purposes result in the glory of God – no matter how humble our beginnings.  What are those purposes? Check this out.

 Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

What good works have you been prepared to do? 

 joyce hague

What Does Jesus Look Like?

 

How do you picture Jesus when you read the gospels or think of Christ? Do the flannel graph pictures you saw in Sunday School come to mind? Or perhaps the illustrations from a storybook bible you had as a child or read to your own kids? The gospels themselves don’t give much physical description of Christ. We know from the prophet Isaiah that nothing in His looks made Him stand out as exceptional or majestic (Is. 53:2). When we read the gospels therefore, we picture Him, rightly I think, as an average-looking Middle-Eastern man. But what about His resurrected body? What does He look like now as He sits at the right hand of the Father? We would do well to picture Him no longer as the average-looking thirty-something man who got hungry and tired.

In fact, the apostle John gives us a glimpse of what he saw when He was allowed a heavenly view of Christ. The description startles us, and perhaps even confuses and frightens us.

“I saw... one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined, in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (Rev. 1:13-16).

How are we meant to understand this? Should we really picture Jesus now with white hair and a sword coming out of His mouth? Here we must keep in mind the text of Revelation and its purpose. As apocalyptic writing, Revelation is filled with metaphors and figurative language. We are not meant to take everything literally – rather we understand that John is communicating truth through word pictures and images that meant something, especially to this first century audience. These references regarding Christ are actually found in the Old Testament in descriptions of God Himself or the coming Son of Man (Daniel 7 & 10). John mainly wants His readers to make this connection, realizing that Christ is both one with God and the promised Messiah now high and lifted up.

Let’s take a quick look at these images and what they may communicate about Christ.

-- The robe and golden sash remind of the priesthood as well as royalty. Jesus is our High Priest who intercedes for us (Heb.4:15). He is King over all.

-- His white hair connects Him to the Ancient of Days described in Daniel 7 and reminds us that He is eternal and all-wise.

-- The eyes like flames of fire are able to see right into humanity, to judge the hearts and motives of the people He created.

-- Christ’s feet are described as being like bronze that has been refined in a furnace. This could refer to Christ as a firm foundation for us to build our lives on. It could also refer to His ability to crush any enemy. Both are true.

-- Jesus’s voice is like the sound of many waters. It is loud, unavoidable, authoritative. It cannot be ignored, and we do well to listen.

-- John sees Jesus as holding seven stars. The seven stars, we are told, are the seven angels of the seven churches that John is writing to (Rev. 1:20). The sense may be that Jesus is holding His people close. He is not letting them go. In chapter 2, John sees Jesus walking in the midst of His people.

-- Not only is His voice authoritative, but His words are like a sword. We see in Hebrews as well that God’s Word is like a two-edged sword (4:12-13). He speaks words that expose and judge. He also speaks words of salvation and comfort.

-- Jesus’s face radiates. It seems to John that it is shining. John may have thought back to when he saw Christ at the Transfiguration where “his face shone like the sun” (Matt. 17:2).

            John’s view of Christ was of a divine Man, powerful, radiating, truth-speaking, wise, and with a penetrating glance right into the heart. And it brought John face-down before Him “like a dead man” (Rev. 1:17). It should do the same to us. Let us also picture Christ in this way and in response fall on our faces before Him in awe and humility. And then, may we too feel Christ reach out, place His hand on us, and say, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last” (1:18).

Sisters, I pray that as we dwell on this description of Christ, not the flannel graph one, that we would be transformed, not only in how we view Him but also in how we view this world. We need not fear the rulers of the world, the uncertain future, or the circumstances that seem out of our control. Jesus, high and lifted up, is sitting on His throne. And still He reaches out to us. He walks among us. And one day, all will hear His voice and all will be made right.

--Amy O'Rear

Contentment vs. Complacency

 

It’s a beautiful morning and I find myself toting a coffee cup in one hand and in the other hand, my Bible, Journal, and a favorite magazine. Where am I headed? The back porch of course! I can feel the calmness settle through me and as I get settled, I feel ever so content! I read my Bible and begin to contemplate what I just read and what I need to pray about. Which leads me to this question that I have been pondering for a few weeks now. Is contentment in every situation a good thing? Or can we confuse contentment with complacency?

Webster’s dictionary defines contentment as “the state of being satisfied.” The Oxford Dictionary defines contentment as “the act of satisfying; the process of being satisfied; satisfaction.”

I don’t know about you, but I have always thought that contentment in life really shows that we are dependent on God and I can find many scripture references supporting the need for contentment…

·       Philippians 4:11, Paul says “…for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”

·        I Timothy 6, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.”

·       Nehemiah 8:10, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

·       Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

But I really wonder if sometimes we confuse contentment with complacency. We are so focused on our own contentment in the Lord that we become complacent in our everyday lives. I found some scripture in the Old Testament that I believe supports this:

·       Isaiah 32:9, “Rise up, you women who are at ease, And hear my voice; Listen to my word, You complacent daughters. (This was a warning to the women of Jerusalem.)

·       Amos 6:1, “Woe to those who are carefree in Zion…”

·       Ezekiel 16:45, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.”

Webster’s dictionary defines complacent as “self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction.” Perhaps there is a fine line between being content, trusting in God to take care of us in every facet of our lives, believing He will do it or being so complacent in our own self-satisfaction that we sort of go about our day forgetting to even acknowledge that God is providing for us each moment of each day.

Does our prayer life reflect contentment or complacency? In a sense can contentment lead to self-satisfaction which then leads to complacency? Should we not in our contentment still be motivated to cry out to the Lord for things that are most important to us? We are reminded in Luke 18, Jesus told a parable about a widow who continued to “bother” a judge to give her justice against her opponent. The judge finally gave in because he was tired of her bothering him. This woman was no doubt filled with passion for this ruling. I suppose she could have sat back and waited for him to eventually rule, but who knows how long that could have taken and what his ruling might have been?

So, is it possible to be content in the Lord, but still have major things we ought to be praying about? Should we be busy doing the work of the Lord or sitting back and letting it be done by someone else or not at all?

Is it possible that the Joy of the Lord which Nehemiah talks about gives us the strength to do the work of the Lord and yet still be content in Him?

I believe that it is! I believe we can be so content that we are complacent, and we don’t even know it. We love the Lord and know that He loves us. We have a relationship with Him and know as believers we have eternal life to look forward to. But are we really reaching our potential in our prayer life? Are we passionate in our requests to the Lord or do we simply say a prayer and check it off our list?

I hope you will ponder these questions, as I am. I believe God wants us to be passionate in our requests to Him and in our service to Him. After all, if we are to do everything to His glory, it must be with passion, and we cannot be complacent.

--Pam Dratnol