Reluctant Retiree

Today Hurricane Sally hit the Gulf Coast. It brought high winds, torrential rain and storm surge. Thousands of lives will be impacted by the ensuing devastation. It will take years for many people to recover. Our prayers go out for the people affected by this storm.

My wife and I have helped with disaster relief on several occassions. One thing that has surprised us is the damage done by water. Flood waters go everywhere and there is virtually no stopping it. The damage can extend for months. Everything touched by the water is subject to mold, which destroys and promotes illness. We went to the Houston area several times after hurricanes. Some people had not recovered from one hurricane when another hit two years later. We fixed things up but there is no telling how long before another storm disrupts their lives again.

We face the storms of life in the same way. We can be sure that they will come. Whether we can face these storms confidently with strength depends upon how we have built our lives. If we build with the world’s treasures of wealth, fame or accomplishments, our lives may not stand up to the storms that take these away from us. However, if we build our lives upon love and righteousness, we are equipped to handle the storms. In the end we will be judged by how we built our lives.

I Corinthians 3:12-13 says, “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.”

Today we hear about protests and demonstrations regarding justice and equality. Emotions are strong, having been built up over centuries of injustice and inequality. Change is definitely required and long overdue.

But can we manufacture this kind of change? Are we, human beings on both sides of these issues, able to change our attitudes and behavior this radically? Can we will ourselves to justice and equality for all people? Is it simply a matter education and understanding?

Frankly, I don’t think so. I don’t believe that we can simply educate people and they will change at these basic levels. I believe that the change must come from inside each person.

Only God is perfectly just all the time. Only He can see the whole picture and knows the innermost thoughts of all people. Only He has a perfect love that casts out fear. Only He has loved us while we were yet His enemies. Only He would sacrifice His own Son so that we may live. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demostrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In addition, His love for us is eternal, abounding and steadfast. Psalm 136:26 says, ” Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his lovingkindness is everlasting.” Go to God for real change and everlasting love. He won’t let you down.

Over the last year and a half I have developed a passion for fruit. I not only eat it every meal and at snacks, but I eat a lot of it at those times. I love strawberries, pineapple, grapes, apples, cherries and melons. We have to go to the grocery store two times a week just to keep stocked up in fruit.

One of my favorites is honeycrisp apples. They are grown nearby but still can be a bit expensive. Last year at this time we came across an orchard where you could pick your own. I have been eagerly awaiting the orchard’s opening this year. Today we went and picked. The apples looked great and we made quite a haul. We will joyfully share them with others.

What constitutes good fruit? The size, shape and consistency matter, but the ultimate value of the fruit is in its taste and nutrition.

How do we find the fruitful life? What do we need in our lives to be truly fruitful, bearing good fruit? Proverbs 8:19-20 is speaking about wisdom when it says, “My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield better than choicest silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice.” So to bear valuable fruit through our lives, we need God’s wisdom to walk in righteousness and justice.

College and professional football began this past week. The pregame and postgame shows are out in their full glory telling us why we should be excited. Fandom is somewhat muted by crowd limits, banned tailgates and other restrictions. Nevertheless fervor for the game and favorite teams remains high.

Like other sports, football is making room for social justice issues. Before the Kansas State versus Arkansas State game on television, the K-State players gave an inspired, thoughtful and empassioned plea for equality. Other teams and schools have produced other quality presentations on this theme. All of them make us think and, hopefully, work toward worthy changes.

I applaud these efforts, but I am also skeptical of our ability to change ourselves. By nature we are all somewhat selfish and self-centered. These characteristics make it difficult to consider the worth of others, leading us to mistreat others.

Real change has to happen within each of us. For this to happen, God has to work in us to transform us into his character and help us to truly love others. God promises to do just that if we will only submit to his work in us. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

It is election season once again. The political ads dominate the media. My observation is that the accusations and meanness seems to be increasing with each new campaign. Rather than using positive words about the candidate’s plans, politicians are choosing to criticize, not just the policies of their opposition, but also the character of the opponent. They don’t seem to attempt to promote unity and hope. How does this help the country heal and move forward?

I am afraid that this style of talking has moved to the personal level as well. The news programs frequently tell us stories of irate fast food customers verbally assaulting workers. We see reports of out of control anger directed toward service people, car drivers, and passing pedestrians all the time. Often these people are using language not suitable for public consumption. The name, Karen, has been derogatorily designated for this type of person.

However, even in our quieter and more serene moments we often use words that hurt others, intentionally or not. I am sometimes guilty of using sarcasm to make a point, only to find out later that I had hurt the feelings of someone. I am not talking about the feelings of the ultrasensitive cancel culture. I am talking about how we interact with each other in private moments.

The words we choose are important and can have a negative or positive impact upon others. Proverbs 15:5 puts it like this;”A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.” Let us all be more uplifting and considerate in the words we speak.

Have you ever traveled along, cruising along a smooth road, only to be jarred suddenly by a dip, hole or speed bump in the road. When that happens to me, my bones rattle as I am hit by the surprise. It takes me quite a while to recover.

Life is just like that sometimes. Everything can be going smoothly for a while and then , BOOM a pandemic interrupts life. Or, BOOM, we are overtaken by a sudden illness. Or, BOOM, the economy takes a sudden down turn and our job is threatened. Any number of things can disrupt our lives and shake us up. It may well take us a while to recover.

For those of us who believe in Jesus, many of those disruptions are called trials. They come to test our faith, so that we know where we stand and where we need to find strengthening. James 1:2-5 says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

The weather and how people react to it fascinate me. A local news program can have several certified meterologists on its team and still rarely be completely accurate in their forecasts. Now I don’t blame them as unforeseen conditions can alter the weather. Many years ago we lived in Dayton, Ohio. The poor meterologists never had a chance as the local weather was impacted from four different directions. Our son once lived in the Denver area and the weather hit extremes at opposite ends of the spectrum within the same day.

It seems to me that people also react strangely to weather. Some people are always cold, no matter how high the temperature gets. And some people, like myself, are always hot, no matter how cold the temperature gets. We often use extremes to describe how we feel also. We say, “I’m freezing” or “I’m melting” when both of these descriptions are highly inaccurate. I’m also convinced that our memories regarding the weather are highly inaccurate. We will talk about the weather last year and be completely wrong.

Despite all these inaccuracies in forecasts and our memories, the weather is a common topic of conversation. I think it is because the weather affects us all. It also affects what we can and cannot do to some extent. We can’t paint the house exterior or mow the grass on rainy days, for instance.

It is my observation that we also do not judge ourselves very accurately as well. We often have either too high opinion of ourselves or too low. We also often think we are wiser than we truly are. These misjudgements lead us to say and do things that we shouldn’t.

In the Old Testament, Israel wanted a king. The first king was Saul, a strong and handsome man. He proved to be a bad king. When it came time to choose another king, God chose David, a man after his own heart, although David was small and not too strong. David became Israel’s greatest king. You see, God’s wisdom is not like our own. We would do well to seek His wisdom over our own. Psalm 107:43 says, “Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, and consider the lovingkindness of the Lord”

Government generally enacts legislation to protect and benefit the people. Included in this category are consumer protection, traffic, safety and health laws. Another category of legislation is government sustaining laws. These include tax, election and government organiztion legislation.

It is election time so the candidates are making all sorts of promises about the laws they will put into place. They also promise that these laws will benefit us.

Whether or not they follow through after the election depends on many factors. They probably intend on fulfilling their promises but they will definitely face opposition.

Rules and laws have a funny affect upon people. Once a law is established, people will try to get around it. This behavior starts when we are young. Mom tells us not to touch something and we immediately want to touch it.

God gave his people, Israel, a number of laws. Every law was for their benefit. But the people rebelled over and over again. The laws, therefore, had the ultimate effect of showing the people that they were sinful and needed forgiveness. God’s Word, the Bible, does the same thing for us today. It shows us who we should be so that we know we have sinned and need God’s forgiveness. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Why not settle accounts with God today and claim his forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ?

Why do we find it so hard to forgive others? People hurt us, intentionally or unintentionally, and we hold onto the pain. It runs through our minds over and over again, many times gaining intensity with each iteration.

Do we really expect others to be perfect, never doing anything wrong? Do we really expect to never suffer hurt from others?

These are unreasonable expectations. None of us is perfect in these ways. Deep down we understand this, but it still hurts when we suffer in interpersonal relationships.

However, when we refuse to forgive, but instead hold onto the pain, we are the ones who suffer. The relationship remains broken. We are left with loneliness and a broken heart. We may even suffer physically as a result.

The obvious solution is to forgive others for the wrongs we suffer. It is not easy, I agree. I know that you have been wronged, maybe tragically, but you are the one holding onto the suffering, not the offender. Release them and you will be free.

We have a great example in Jesus. He gave his life so that we can be forgiven. His selfless sacrifice on the cross provides for our salvation and redemption. He asks us to follow his example and forgive others. Colossians 3:13 says, “bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

We have the awesome privilege of caring for our 1 1/2 year old granddaughter this morning. She is just about the cutest thing you would ever want to see (bias admitted). She talks nonstop and moves endlessly. I wish that I could tape into her energy source. Wouldn’t it be great if we had the same energy at 70 years old as a toddler does now?

We all possess different types of energy and at different levels. Some have the intellectual energy to solve calculus equations and some of us can only hope to make the correct change at the store. Some of us need emotional energy to handle big personal tragedy and others may only need to cry at a touching movie scene. Some need the physical energy to do hard manual labor while others only need enough of this energy to turn an accounting spreadsheet.

What about spiritual energy? Some of us need spiritual energy to handle failures, weaknesses, and heartaches. Where does this energy come from? We can try on our own strength, but will only encounter more failure. Isaiah 40:31 tells us where to find this strength, “but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Go to the Lord for the strength and energy you need today.