Monthly Archives: October 2020

The other day, I dragged through my exercise period and my prayer period, neither with much enthusiasm. Perhaps, I had a subroutine running in the back of my computer-brain. That subroutine is a visual display of all the things “wrong” with the world, our Country, and with me. Should you open the program, you’d find it strangely familiar, strangely boring, and strangely depressing.

God gave me the computer-brain, and He told me what programs to run on it. The Apostle Paul voices God’s choice of programs in Philippians 4:8,9.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice . . .

It appears, though, that I would rather choose to run my own programs. It also appears that such is a continuing theme with me. I suppose those aberrant subroutines could be likened to “bloatware” on your new “Samsung Galaxy X,” you know, those programs that you don’t want, and that eat up memory, but that you can’t get rid of unless you are a software engineer, which I certainly am not. According to one writer, on a new, out of the box, top-of-the-line phone from a major maker, he found 54 “bloatware” apps.[1]

To purge me of some of these subroutines, God sent me on a walk. At first, I didn’t want to go because I had already “slothed through” my exercises and was in no mood to learn anything. Honestly, I had no idea what God was “up to” in sending me on the walk, but I guessed that if I felt a strong impression from God to do it, I ought to go.

The walk wasn’t long, only about 20 minutes, and for most of it, I was just walking and thinking. As I walked and thought, I heard a bird sing, and then another, and then another. An unusual cloud formation blown by a brisk wind drew my attention to the autumn-blue sky, and I noticed a few hunter-green leaves turning red and yellow and then falling. As I heard and saw these marvels, I sensed that something was up.

As I rounded the clubhouse turn and headed for the home stretch, I imagined an old hymn, a hymn that could be found in most any denominational hymnal due to its universal nature.

This is my Father’s world. All nature sings, and round me rings, The music of the spheres. This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise, The morning light, the lily white, Declare their maker’s praise. This is my Father’s world; He shines in all that’s fair; In the rustling grass, I hear Him pass; He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father’s world: why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad![2]

God said to me,

“In the Beginning, [I] created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1.) After that, I unveiled a grand plan for the universe, and I AM in the process of working out that plan. It will be as I say it will be. It will roll out as I say it will roll out. Along the way, a bunch of events that appear from your perspective to be bad, even catastrophic are, in actuality, only “small stuff.” Don’t sweat the small stuff.

The aforementioned Apostle Paul admonished in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22,

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

You know, viewed against the backdrop of creation, the unscrolling of God’s grand plan, and the anticipation of that plan’s coming to fulfillment, the bad things that occur are not as important as hearing birds sing, seeing clouds roll along, and feeling the autumn breeze. Perhaps, the point of this exercise was to show me that no matter how bad it seems to get in my “old man” mind, God is still in charge. 

So let it be written, so let it be done.

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[1] Savov, Vlad. “Isn’t it time we Declared our independence from Bloatware?” The Verge, July 4, 2018. Accessed October 25, 2020.

[2] Babcock, Maltbie Davenport. “My Father’s World,” a poem published posthumously in 1901. Tune: Shepherd, Franklin L. Terra Beata (Blessed Earth,) 1915.

In a piece entitled, “The Astronaut,” q.v. I asked a series of questions to myself, and then I solicited responses from my faithful readers.

If I don’t spend time in prayer, I am sinning in unbelief, [thus,] do I not believe that God is there? Do I not believe that He is Who [He says] He is? Do I not believe that He will do what He says He will do?

There were many thoughtful responses, however, one both troubled and convicted me.

We are forever secure because of Jesus shed blood, His Resurrection, and [His] Ascension.  When we repented of our sin [and] were forgiven, . . . we are kept by the power of God. John 10:27-30. Could [a] lack of desire indicate one is not a sheep? (Emphasis added.)

Am I Not a Sheep? For an answer, I go to the Scriptures. Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory.” (NIV.) One whose counsel I most trust is that of my daughter, Amy. She is a Godly woman who is a wise counselor as her high school students will attest. When I am deeply troubled, I seek her counsel. I base this piece on her response to the question of whether I am, indeed, one of Christ’s sheep.

Amy reminds me, infra, that human relationships ebb and flow. Our human emotions, and thus relationships – because relationships are inextricably intertwined with emotions – run hot and cold. Sometimes our relationships sizzle like the sidewalk in downtown Montgomery in the middle of July, and sometimes they freeze as icy as the stare of your ex-spouse upon seeing you with your new one in a restaurant.

It is to humans that God has given time and the events of time. These events affect us. Some would argue that to some extent, these events, or at least our reactions to them, are what make us who we are. (That may sound a little like “psycho-babble,” but bear with me.)

For whatever reasons, I’m “feelings – challenged.” As relates to most everyone except Amy, I always keep an emotional distance out of an irrational fear of being rejected, told that I’m not “good enough,” or ultimately deserted. 

For better or worse, I learned from my adopted, single-parent mother that “to love is to do rather than to feel.” I’ve never gotten over that, and it has been a handicap in relationships with which I have had trouble. 

In reply to my query, Amy asked, “Would ‘Not a Sheep’ even be contemplating these things, asking these questions, praying for people, or holding [telephone] conversations with elderly church members?” She cites pertinent scriptures addressing the subject of doubt.

As for Our Lord’s dealings with doubt, Amy cites Mark 9:24. “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Jesus did help the man’s unbelief and healed his child. Further, Amy adds that Matthew 26:41 quotes Jesus as saying, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Weak, indeed. (KJV.)

The Apostle Paul wrestled with personal doubt in Romans 7:15-20, a doubt that he ultimately resolves, at least, theoretically, if not practically. Note his use of the pronoun, “I.”

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do. . . For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (NIV.)

“Counselor Amy” continues.

If our desire, or dedication, or faith never wavered, would we even be human? Or in a true relationship? Do we always feel a “desire” for our spouse? Does that make us any less married? Relationships ebb and flow because we are human. God does not . . . Yet, in His steadfastness, He is able to absorb/provide for/redeem our fickleness, and He desires relationship with us none-the-less. Jeremiah 17:9 provides, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?”

In a passage that is the subject of sermons from both of my pastors, Jay and Alan, Amy continues.

Are real sheep always concerned with the shepherd? No, they’re concerned with a hungry belly even when it leads them into trouble. Are they any less sheep? [The s] ame [obtains] with children, etc. However, the Good Shepherd [and] the Good Father love, lead, provide, and protect just the same. . . “His sheep know His voice.”

How many . . . times have you and I been loved, led, provided for, and protected by our God [even when] we didn’t feel especially interested in the things of God? How many times has He spoken truth to us through lots of different avenues [even when] we weren’t particularly asking or [even when] maybe we were trying NOT to listen[?] “Not a Sheeps (sic.”) do not experience these things! Without the Holy Spirit’s prompting, they don’t even care or notice. . .

She closes, “From one sheep to another, may your soul find peace and a renewed heart’s desire in the Truth” of the 23^rd Psalm, q.v. All I can add is. . .

So let it be written, so let it be done.

(The following is a sermon to myself. Though I’m sure it doesn’t apply to you, you are welcome to listen in if you like.)

. . . Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10. NIV.

The sign-off of a segment on the now-canceled Prairie Home Companion, a long-running radio program starring Garrison Keillor, “Guy Noir, Private Eye,” in a Phillip Marlow voice, intones, “A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets, but, one man is still trying to find the answers to life’s persistent questions…..Guy Noir, Private Eye.”

One supposes that there are many of “life’s persistent questions.” “Who shot JFK?” “Did man really land on the moon?” “Who is “Q-Anon?” While these are answers “inquiring minds” would surely like to know, it goes without saying that they pale in comparison with my favorite question, “How does one stay tethered to God?” And the follow-up, “Knowing the answer, why don’t I do it?”

Perhaps, this author has watched ‘way too many science-fiction movies, but may I submit that the astronaut’s tether compares favorably with our tether to God – prayer. Marie Barnett’s iconic 2001 praise song, “Breathe,” recorded by Michael W. Smith,” asserts that God is “. . . the air I breathe. Your holy presence living in me. . ..” Prayer provides two-way (yes, two-way) communication with God. Further, prayer stabilizes us by giving us something to hold onto in a world that appears spinning out of control in a seemingly unconstrained “death-spiral.”

“Tethered,” a nautical term borrowed by NASA, conjures up images of countless, dauntless astronauts tied to a spaceship by an umbilical cord performing “space-walks.” The “tether” is truly a “life-line.” It provides O² for the astronaut to breathe, two-way coms contact for them to communicate with the ship, and stability – a mechanism to keep them from floating off into space, joining myriads of other dead items of “space-debris.”

Just as the astronaut will die physically absent connection to the tether, the Christian will die spiritually absent connection to the Source, God, through prayer. The obviousness of this truth, notwithstanding, it begs the question, “Knowing this spiritual fact, why don’t I (we) do it?”

The question slaps me up aside the head. It’s personal.  (This is ipse est sermo ego annuncioa, a sermon that I’m preaching to myself, remember.) 

What is my excuse? Busyness? Other “stuff” I gotta do? More important things? Fatigue? Guilt? Laziness? Distraction? Boredom? Disappointment? Inadequacy? Pride? Addiction? “The Pandemic?” Unbelief… O wait! Stop the bus – “unbelief.” Let’s examine that one more closely. Could all of these other excuses indeed be covers for, or manifestations of, unbelief?

For many years, I’ve thought that man’s first and greatest sin was pride. Recently, though, an article or book, the name of which I cannot remember, pointed out that “pride” was Satan’s first sin. It is true that the Prophet Isaiah, in a passage that has been interpreted as comparing Satan to the King of Babylon, prophesies:

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:13,14. NIV.

But, assuming, arguendo, that Isaiah is, indeed, speaking of Satan, he is speaking of Satan – not Adam. In Genesis 3:1b, the serpent asks of Eve, “Did God literally say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” During the conversation, Eve entertains a doubt that God spoke as He did. That, my friends, is unbelief, and it is the beginning of my – maybe your – unbelief.

“So, Geraldine[1],” you may ask, “did the Devil make me do it?” The solution to that question is too easy an answer, and it quickly shifts the blame to something else. The hard truth is that if I don’t spend time in prayer, I am sinning in unbelief. Do I not believe that God is there? Do I not believe that He is Who He is? Do I not believe that He will do what He says He will do?

An astronaut on a space-walk must stay tethered to the mother ship if he has any hope of survival. No excuses will do. It’s simple, “Stay tethered or you will die.” May I submit that the same holds true for me – for us – in our spiritual lives? “Stay tethered to God our you will die (or at least dose off to sleep.”) God is the “mother ship” and prayer is the tether.

The last statement raises another one of those “persistent questions, “How do I (we) put unbelief behind us?” The question seems to require circular logic, but that may be one of those antinomies that we can never resolve. God, Himself is a bundle of such antinomies. Deal with it.

There are many “persistent questions” in life. The most important ones involve God as well as do the answers. The best news is that I – we don’t have to resolve the antinomies; we don’t have to search for the answers to “life’s persist questions.” We don’t have to decipher the code. We just have to believe God. The rest, including a longing for prayer, will resolve itself. Any questions? I didn’t think so.

 So let it be written, so let it be done.

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[1] The late comedian, Flip Wilson hilariously performed the character of “Geraldine Jones” throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. The punch-line of the joke was always, “The Devil made me do it!”

. . . [I]t is appointed unto men [and women] once to die, but after this the judgment. Hebrews 9:27. KJV.

Montgomery, Alabama, October 4, 2020, 6:00 pm CST.

On Friday last, we all awoke to the news that the President of the United States had announced via Twitter® the news that he and Mrs. Trump had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the official name for the Covid-19 virus. As of this writing, while Mrs. Trump remains in the White House with mild symptoms, the President, a 74 y/o man with several risk factors for the disease, finds himself in The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, colloquially referred to as the Bethesda Naval Hospital. His condition appears to be stable and possibly improving, but details are somewhat obscure. His infection presents writers and readers a cautionary tale.

As one would expect, social media exploded at the news, some writers shocked and wishing the First Family well, others – not so much for such is the divided nature of our Republic, indeed, the whole world.

Citing 1 Timothy 2:2, Christianity Today recorded: “Several pastors and ministry leaders encouraged Americans that this was a time to pray for the president and the country regardless of their political stances.”[1] On Friday morning, I posted the following on Facebook®.

Concerning the news that the President and First Lady are infected with the virus that has scourged the world for 9 months, this is a time for those who consider themselves Christian to put away thoughts and emotions that come from the dark side and to truly pray, in good faith, for the health of our President’s body and soul. The same goes for the First Lady. We are all God’s creatures whether we like each other’s ways or not.

Unusually, there were quite a number of “likes” and a few shares leading me to believe that my post evinced a common sentiment for thoughtful Christians.

Of course, I suspect that there have been many less “thoughtful” posts – even by Christians. Without even reading, one can imagine what might have been said. The “cold open” of Saturday Night Live, on the air truly “live” for the first time in months, alluded to such. The crowd loved it. But, that’s what “the world” does, and, contrary to the popular song title, “We Are [Not] the World.”[2] Thus, the cautionary tale.

In Sunday school today, we were finishing up the Book of James. Of the several points in Chapter 5, of great note, is the fact that James finishes with an admonition to prayer.

As we discussed, a thought re-occurred to me, “Given the current situation, how can one pray for another if one does not honestly wish well for the other person? What does one say when one’s heart tugs to the contrary?”

“Surely not,” a stalwart Believer might inject. “Perish the thought.” Really? No one has asked himself that question in this or another situation? No “stalwart Believer” has wrestled with the conflict of will and Biblical teaching? Give me a break. Hang your nun’s habit, monk’s cassock, or even your “kāṣāya” on the nail by the door. Check your “Sunday School Mind” for cobwebs.

May I submit that the question is not whether we have ever entertained such aberrant thoughts, but what did we do about them. The answer to the second clausal question is complex but reduceable to five possible answers: a. Give over to rank carnality and enjoy the misfortune of others; b. Put self-will aside and pray for a favorable outcome (whether you mean it or not;) c. “Fageddaboutit;” or d. None of the above. Like so much in life, each answer is fraught with risks, rewards – and consequences.

There is, however, a fifth possibility, one of which the Apostle James would approve: e. Ask God for His wisdom in praying about the matter, and don’t pray anything else about until God has answered. Have you ever asked God for wisdom only to find that He did not provide it? I seriously doubt it – not if you were truly paying attention. This option, however, also comes with a caveat, though.  Once you have asked for God’s wisdom and waited for His answer, when He speaks, and He will, you’d better pray as He directs.

In my own life, all too many times, I have failed to take prayer seriously. That is a grievous error. Prayer is too great a gift to be wasted or used casually. Irish Gaelic folklore tells of Cóiste Bodhar, the silent “death-coach” that makes an appearance at the time of one’s death. In their mythology, once Cóiste Bodhar has been summoned, it cannot be re-called. Like the words spoken by the tongue about which the Apostle James writes in Chapter 1 that cannot be re-called, such is prayer. It has consequences. Neglected, it reduces the stalwart Believer to a quivering wretch, hiding from the shadows that permeate the world; Misused, prayer trivializes the greatest Christian; But, as James writes in Chapter 5, “. . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16 b. KJV.

The above and foregoing may be true, but how-in is it a “cautionary tale?” It’s not the one you might have thought. As Former Vice-President Biden might say, “Here’s the deal.” Truly, all men and women die, but our prayers live on after us. Consider them carefully. The Jacobite “much” of 5:16b carries consequences in this world – and the next.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

[1] Shellnut, Kate, “Christians Call for Prayer After Trump Tests Positive for COVID-19.” Christianity Today, October 2, 2020.

[2] “We Are the World.” USA for Africa, 1985.

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