The Faith of a Child

I walked past the pool deck in our back yard about thirteen years ago. We had an above-ground pool and a high deck on one side so we could get in it. The deck was about four feet off the ground. My son, David, was about two years old at the time. Just a little guy.
As I walked past the deck, David, who was standing in the middle of it, suddenly ran to the edge at full speed and jumped off of the deck at me. I just happened to see him out of the corner of my eye. I quickly turned and caught him in my arms, spun him around, and set him on the ground. He ran off in one direction and I continued on my way.
When I read what Jesus said about having faith like a little child, that's what I think of. David had total and complete faith that I would catch him. If I hadn't caught him, he would have crashed to the ground, possibly hurting or killing himself. He didn't give it a second thought. He made the leap of faith and never looked back.
Please understand me: I had already earned his trust or he wouldn't have given it to me. God has also earned our trust with the Bible and his intervention in our lives. David's faith wasn't a blind faith, it was an earned faith, supported by the evidence of my behavior up until that moment in his life. Our faith in God is also supported by the evidence. But faith takes you one step - or leap - past what you know for certain. David couldn't empirically prove I would catch him, but his faith told him I would.
A child's faith is also a humble faith. Jesus said so himself. A child knows he needs you to catch him and it doesn't bother him at all. Jesus said if we do not become like a child, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, we must realize we need him to save us. A child has no problem asking for help. Some adults feel they can earn their own entry into heaven, but Jesus said we cannot.
Do you have the faith of a child? Have you made the leap into his arms? If he drops you, you'll crash to the ground, but you trust him anyway. You have evidence, but your faith takes you one jump beyond it. If you place yourself completely at God's mercy, you are right where he wants you to be. Take the leap of faith. Adventure - and heaven - is waiting.

Jasper, Clear as Crystal

I preached a couple of Sundays ago from Revelation 21 where John said the new Jerusalem shone like “jasper, clear as crystal” (Revelation 21:11). I looked up jasper and found it to be green, red or even beige, but not clear. I wasn’t sure what that could mean, but I presented the scripture as it was written.
Of course, I didn’t think any more about it. Then, four days later, I was driving home from Tyler. I noticed a new building being built by one of the local hospitals. This building’s sides are made of tinted green glass. In other words, it’s a normal, windowed building that we all see all the time.
Then it hit me. Wait a minute, that’s what John saw – tinted windows. Of course the new Jerusalem would appear just as any modern city. But John had never seen glass. He had never seen a building – or a whole city – made of tinted glass. That must be what the new Jerusalem looks like!

John was trying to describe something he had never seen before, just as he described helicopters in Chapter 9: 7 – 10.
And some people still don’t believe the Bible is true?

Memorial Day 09

We went out to the Texas State Railroad Park to see the military displays, including a reinactment. Really neat.

A Miracle in Colorado

Has anything like this ever happened to you? I was a kid on vacation with my family, sometime back in the ‘70s. We were in Lake City, Colorado. We had arrived the day before and, as far as I know had not fraternized with any of the locals.

Sunday morning we got dressed and went to the local Baptist church. (This picture is what the church looks like today.) No big deal. I’m sure my mom is the one who insisted that we go. Anyway, when we walked up onto the front porch, a lady met us at the door. None of us had ever seen her before, but she said something astonishing. She pointed at my dad and said, “I believe you are a song leader.” Then she looked at my mom and said, “And you are a piano player. Will you lead us in worship this morning?”
My dad led the singing and my mom played the piano. From what I recall, it was a small crowd. I don’t even remember who preached, but I’m talking to my folks to get a clearer picture of what happened that morning. Mom says my dad even sang a solo. I don’t remember that. But I do remember what happened on the porch. I saw it with my own eyes.
So, how did the woman know that my dad routinely led the singing at our church? More astonishing, how did she know my mom could play the piano? If she had asked, “Can you lead in singing, and can you play the piano?” It would have been completely different. But she didn’t ask – she said it, then asked if they would do what she already somehow knew they could do.
I’m working on piecing this together – when exactly we arrived, what year this was, how old I was. When I get more details, I’ll post.

Finding God's Plan for Our Lives

Are you teaching your children that God has a purpose for their lives? Are you teaching them to fulfill their destinies? I heard Charles Stanley say that we should tell our children every day that God has a purpose for their lives. Good advice, but do we teach them that God has a specific plan for them?
A familiar scripture, Jeremiah 29:11, says, "I know the plans I have for you...", but what scripture tells us God has a plan for us? Does God have one plan -- one destiny -- for everyone?
The Bible says that God sees our whole lives before they happen. He saw us before we were born, knows everything we are going to say and do, and knows how many days we have. Somehow, God in his Wisdom knows what we are going to do, yet he has given us free will so that it is our choice. He knew you would read this column before you were born, but he didn’t make you read it, that was your decision, he just knew you were going to make it. Perhaps God has given us all certain interests and bents, and then uses them to point us where he wants us to go.
What the Bible teaches is that God's plan is to present us in heaven without fault and with great joy (Jude 24), his purpose for us is to build the Kingdom (Matthew 28:19-20) while we love Him and love each other (Matthew 22:37-38). His will is that we be perfect (Matthew 5:48). Anything short of that just falls, well, short.
So, does God have a plan for my life on earth or not? Does God have a plan for my children's lives or not? I think the right question is: "Am I living in harmony with God's plan?" The right thing is to realize that I am just a pixel in God's big picture. I am just a thread in God's master tapestry. (But God loves me individually.)
My goal, then, is to do my best at what I am, where I am. To grow where I'm planted. To ask each and every day if I am loving God most and building his kingdom on earth. That's where true joy comes from -- knowing that I have that purpose.
I think we put extra pressure on our children if we stress that they have some great job to do. The Bible teaches that we should do whatever we do for God, but it doesn't teach that everyone should preach or go to Africa as a missionary. Yes, we should share our faith, but that may or may not be our vocation.
Whether my children become plumbers, lawyers, teachers, office workers or preachers, they can still live out their purposes. They may do something really spectacular, like curing a disease or becoming an evangelist, or they may just live quiet lives loving God and their families. Either way, I'll be pleased.
We're not God's pets, robots or puppets. He gave us our own minds. Many things shape what we become. God somehow uses that to weave his master plan. Only a God powerful enough to create a universe could do that. I think God's true plan for us will only be revealed in heaven. Any plan for us on earth is stained by this fallen world. Some people are murdered -- could that really be God's plan for them? It's a deep and difficult issue and I'll leave it to God to sort out.
I'm teaching my children to fulfill God's will, sure, but I'm also encouraging them to do what they really want to do. I'm reminding them that they have a purpose, but finding God's plan is a little more tricky. I want them to delight in God, then follow their hearts. If they do that, they will have fulfilled their destinies and somehow fit nicely into God's master design.

Paradise Lost and Restored

If you were God, how would you handle the world and people in it? You are the creator of the universe and have absolute power. What would you do? Me? Well, I would create paradise and walk in person with my people. They would have every need provided, never shed a tear, and have a warm, loving relationship with me forever.
Isn’t that what God did? But there was a problem and he knew there would be. He knew that the people would have to have free will in order to truly love him back. Love cannot be coerced or manufactured, it must be freely given. I can’t make my wife and children love me, it must be their choice. And God wants us to love him. The Bible says it is the most important commandment.
So God gave us free will, knowing full well that we would choose to rebel against his authority. That’s how important love is. The price? Paradise lost. That’s the incredible story of the Bible in a nutshell: Paradise Lost and Paradise Restored.
God knew subsequent generations would need to see and touch him in order to believe he exists. So, he used prophets to announce that he would come and walk among us. And then he did. Because God is God, he is absolute holiness, so he cannot overlook rebellion – if he could he would not be truly holy, and therefore, he would not be God. So, someone had to pay for our sins so we can have a right relationship with him. God took care of that on the cross. How would he prove it was really him walking among us? Miracles and rising from the dead should do it.
But he isn’t going to come to each generation and walk with us. If he did, we would be back in paradise, and paradise doesn’t fit into a fallen world. So, he left witnesses to tell us he came and walked with us. The only question is, are the witnesses reliable? We have two thousand Greek manuscripts, extra-biblical writings, the emergence and growth of the church, conversion of the skeptics, and some 350 internal prophecies fulfilled testifying that the scripture can be trusted.
If you were God, would you come and walk with each generation? Would you die for each generation? Or would you place your Spirit in their hearts? (Remember, you are an omnipotent God)
Nature tells us there is a God. Only a fool would deny that. The big bang is an empirically-proven fact. Something outside the universe had to cause it. The only way a person could not see this is if he refused to. The incredible diversity and complexity of life on earth tells us there is a designer. Only a fool would deny that. Computer code doesn’t write itself and neither does DNA code.
But which god? The internal prophesies that Jesus fulfilled, and the evidence of his resurrection show that the God of the Bible is the right one.
We must experience some suffering now, but God has told us that he will walk with us and that this life is only temporary. Our true existence is back in paradise with him. There, he will walk in person with us in a warm, loving relationship forever.
Again, how would you do things differently if you were God? Would you treat the people you created like pets? Would you treat them like robots? Or would you give them free will and the capacity to truly love you back (more like children)? Would you allow everyone into your heaven – or would you screen out those who chose not to love you?
My mind is finite and God’s is infinite, but I’m trying to understand why he has veiled himself from us so that only the humble will find him – and why we need faith. When I think it through, it really does make sense.

Crown of Thorns Galaxy

1. Have you seen this? What an awesome sight for Easter.

This photo was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Wow!