Two Brown Hair Beauties

My wife swiped her “Mema card” in my “what were you thinking” meter and with a bewildered and peering looked asked me, “Why didn’t you say anything about your two new granddaughters?!?” I didn’t have an answer and shrugged my shoulders. I had thought about running their pictures at the beginning of my PowerPoint but somehow didn’t get it done and then I had intended to include them in the announcements but forgot… woe, with me, who will deliver me out of this body of forgetfulness and failure? So, too little, too late but on the 19th our tribe increased with little Miss Trystyn Marie Crutcher who weighed in at 6 pounds 13 ounces and sporting 19 and a half inches crowned with long brown hair. Then, just a little more than 12 hours later on the 20th little Miss Finnley Pearl Johnston arrived weighing in at 6 pounds 6 ounces and matching her cousin with 19 and half inches and long brown hair. Yes, Mema and Pappy have two brand spanking new brown hair beauties and we can’t wait to have our chance to hold them!

These babies are not only beautiful because they are our granddaughters but they are babies that parents worked hard for. Both moms suffer with PCOS infertility problems. Forget the initials and medical mumbo jumbo… it’s a Sarah thing. Both Taina and Leah are persistent moms that had to pray a lot and pay a lot to bring these girls home! And now that they are here their Pappy shouldn’t have forgot to announce their arrival to one and all! They are gifts of grace and proclaim the wonder of our Maker! He is to be praised for their safe arrival and His presence in their lives until He brings us all home! In the midst of such terrible events like the earthquake in Haiti it’s a refreshing reminder that God is Creator when we hear about two brown hair beauties!

Now, if you thought this was just about a make-up test for a senile grandparent let me suggest this about our two new gals: “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise… (Psalm 8:2).” New life reminds us all of the wonderful spiritual, “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands!” Yes, He’s got you and me and the little bitty baby in His hands! Could there be a better place to be? Aren’t you glad that God watches over us all and receives His greatest praise from the coo of an infant… the cry of two brown hair beauties! -DAN

Virus Protection

Early last week I discovered that I acquired a vicious computer virus that presented itself as a virus protection program. This cunning virus scanned my computer effectively infecting my files with a death grip that shut off any avenue to halt its annoying blue shield popping up taunting me! I never found out its name but discovered that many people I knew had been infected as well. I took it in to Office Depot hoping for a rescue mission to only have it returned with condolences and a refund. Art Armstrong told me he had met up with this blue shielded menace and discovered that at the end of the week all was well on the home screen front! So, I held out hope and to my surprise found my demon possessed computer dressed and in its right mind this morning. (Yes, I now have new virus protection installed and hopefully poised for any blue shields!).

Lesson learned: Never be without virus protection that is up to date! Spiritual application: Never forget “a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough (1 Corinthians 5:6).” That is, never forget to keep up to date your Satan protection plan by walking in the light and staying as close to God as you can get (cf. 1 John 1:7; James 4:7-10). And never, ever forget this about the enemy: “…Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).” That is, spiritual protection is fully aware that evil often presents itself as good. It might look like a protective shield but it’s really weapons of mass destruction!

For the life of me I will never understand what drives these computer hacking dweebs (and yes, I said “dweebs”) to create these destructive programs! What’s the thrill here? I think the answer might be one that explains the connection between computer virus and sin. These hackers are motivated by the same degenerate and malevolent motives Paul describes in Romans 1:29-32. They follow their sinister path because they disregard what is right and delight in others following their path. It’s the demented side of 15 minutes of fame. It is all about telling the story that I’m the one who took the cookie from the cookie jar! Sin is not just about taking a wrong turn or missing the mark but sometimes is about becoming a cancerous agent to spread evil. Yes, “be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).” -DAN

Preacher of Righteousness

I often joke with Pam by asking her if she ever in her wildest dreams thought she would be playing house with the preacher. People have such a wide variety of ways they view and think about the preacher. My favorite will always be the youngster in Ukiah who on his first Sunday there came up to me and said, “I know who you are… you’re the creature!” Those who proclaim the good news have brandished many a title from evangelist to pastor to the common but encompassing label, minister. Truth is, they are just labels and ultimately every preacher is who he is… me, I’m Dan. However, I am both challenged and intrigued by Peter’s reference to Noah as a “preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5).” I’m intrigued by it because it not only suggests that preaching is about a message but about living. Now, don’t get me wrong… by living, I don’t mean preachers exude some superior behavior and model citizenship (I’m with Paul that righteousness comes from God –Philippians 3:9) but I do believe in mom’s advice: Practice what you preach!

The mettle of ministry and the art of preaching are in the balance between preaching and practicing. You see, righteousness is about faith in God’s good work in transforming, shaping and developing lost souls. It’s a resolute determination to rest in God’s grace while we work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12, 13). Our rightness is neither self-guided or personally powered but relies on God as He calls our faith to task. We really do need to “trust and obey.” Noah was at the preaching business for a long time while he built the ark. Nothing is said of doomsday homilies or gopher wood placards inscribed with, “turn or burn (oops! I mean repent or sink like cement).” The only thing the text tells us is the repeated refrain, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him (Genesis 6:22; 7:5). His righteousness was in his trust and obedience, or as the text describes it, “he walked with God (6:9).”

So, preaching and preachers are about claiming and proclaiming the good news that in Jesus is found the righteousness of God. Preachers get their beautiful feet (Romans 10:15) not from pedicures but from a message of good news that victory is in Jesus. Victory over sin, victory over arrogance and delusions of self-grandeur and victory that will not let go of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37-39)! I’d like to think that such is walking with God and that’s the kind of “creature” I want to be! -DAN

Disabled

The other day as I was driving to work the vehicle in front of me caught my eye. It wasn’t because it was stylish, though it was, or because it was maneuvering like batman on the way to a crime scene, as it was… it was because it had a disabled person license plate and a ski rack on the top. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t those two items seem to be mutually exclusive? As I cocked my eyes to the side gesturing my puzzlement, my imagination took over and I wondered if I was in the presence of the world’s greatest handicapped skier? Or possibly this disabled person had felt a social burden to assist struggling snow bums with rides to the mountains? Or could it be that a disabled mom took enormous pleasure in driving her brood to the snow to vicariously watch her family have great fun skiing? And then in midstream of my ever flowing sarcasm I came to a screeching halt and realized what was in front of me was the gospel!

The good news had opened my eyes to see that I was the disabled one because I didn’t have the full story. The Pharisees couldn’t understand why Jesus would eat with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:11), so Jesus chides them because they ignorantly assumed he was a glutton and a drunkard who chose his company poorly (Luke 7:34). The kingdom of God was not the one-sided law keeping exclusive club they had perpetrated but rather a rebirth and spiritually transformed community that enabled the disabled to see beyond the external. The gospel is “good news” because it speaks of reconciliation, forgiveness, grace, mercy and understanding. The gospel never looks to the story as one-dimensional but coaxes one to look deeper, to dig deeper and to expect deeper meaning to the story to which we can never be outsiders. The gospel is not exclusive but inclusive for the single purpose to draw all men unto God.

I’ll never know the full story of my disabled ski rack toting friend but I thank them for reminding me not to disable my vision by jumping to conclusions. And I am thankful that the gospel is good news the enables the disabled… especially me! May God bless us all with eyes that see beyond the moment and measure all things by heaven’s intrusion into our myopic world! -DAN