See You Later!

When our children were very young, our family prepared for a big move. We were leaving the only home and environment the children had known, packing up and relocating to Erie, Pa. To help make the transition, a friend gave them a book titled “Little Duck’s Moving Day.”

Little Duck was moving, too. He was putting his familiar toys and books and precious possessions into a box, and as he did, he told each one of them goodbye. Overhearing him, his wise mother said, “Little Duck, you will be seeing those things again when we get to our new home. So instead of saying goodbye, why not say, “See you later”?

Or to put it another way…

C. S. Lewis and his friend Sheldon Vanauken often met for lunch at Oxford’s Eastgate Hotel. Vanauken relates that after their last meeting at the Eastgate, “when Lewis had said his farewells and crossed High Street to the Magdalen side, he looked back at ‘Van’ with a big grin and roared across the noise of the traffic, “Besides, Christians never say goodbye!”

They never need to. There will always be another meeting – if not here, then there. That is the direct result of the resurrection of Christ. Because He lives, we shall, too. Eternally. Together. It’s cause to celebrate the risen Christ - and it’s incentive to be praying and witnessing to those who don’t yet know Him.

There are still some big moves ahead for all of us. Some major relocation and separation and transition. But let us not grieve as those who have no hope. Let’s not be putting precious things in a box and telling them a final goodbye – not if they know the Christ we know.

Let’s muster a grin, and shout across the noise of pain and sorrow and temporary separation, “Christians never say goodbye!”

“See you later!”

The Big Picture

I once quizzed a group of teens on Bible history, a quiz similar to the American history questions Pastor Rick referred to in Sunday’s sermon. Questions like… Did the Flood occur in the Old or New Testament? Did the apostle Paul live before or after Christ? Who was the most famous writer of the Psalms? The results were eye-opening and discouraging.

Discouraging, because this was not a group of kids off the street. These were, for the most part, children of devout parents, moms and dads who had brought them to church – and Sunday School - all their lives. These kids had heard all the stories – Moses at the Red Sea, David and Goliath, the Christmas story, the Easter story, Paul and Silas in jail… I scratched my head over their apparent ignorance. Had they been so poorly taught all those years? Or hadn’t they been listening?

And then I remembered that to me, also, these once were piecemeal stories. Accounts I knew very well… but I didn’t know how they fit together. I was probably well into my teens – or beyond – when I saw that the Bible reveals, in orderly progression, God reaching closer and closer to mankind, with a purposeful plan that will culminate in the final closing of the gap between Him and us, forever. The whole thing made a lot more sense when I saw it that way. And, if I might say it, God did, too.

Have you discovered the big picture yet? If not, here are a few suggestions…

Get a Bible timeline. Our local Christian bookstores likely have charts available. Or go to http://www.sundayschoolresources.com/timeline.htm to view one online. It’ll help place biblical people and events in sequence and perspective.

Read the Bible through. Yes, clear through. You can do it. Get an easy-to-understand version, pick it up in your spare time instead of the latest Christian novel, and take it in beginning to end. Or, if this is too daunting…

Find a good, chronological children’s Bible story book, and read it cover to cover. Don’t be embarrassed to read on their level – it might be a lot more fun and informative than you imagined. And you might as well get one with good illustrations!

Why go to all the trouble? Why make the extra effort to know when God did what He did, and how it all fits together? Well, if you’ve been struggling to trust God’s faithfulness, or hungering to know His heart, or wrestling with doubts about His love for you, or feeling insignificant in the overall scheme of things, it can help a lot to see what He’s been up to over the last several thousand years. How much you have been on His mind and in His heart.

Because He did it all to get close to you. It’s right there in the Bible. Read it for yourself – all of it.

The Call to Order

The very word “order” connotes somebody in charge. Somebody with a plan. Somebody with the power to make it happen.

“God is not a God of confusion and disorder but of peace and order (1 Cor. 14:33 Amp).” And He’s always been that way – just look at the creation of the world. He made something out of nothing. Brought order out of chaos. Meaning out of randomness and confusion.

If He’s really that kind of God at heart, that tells me a few things:

1. He doesn’t just want order in our church services. He wants it in our lives, our ministries, our homes, our relationships.
2. Where you and I are concerned, He’s very intentional. He knows where He’s going with each of our lives, if we’ll give Him permission to carry it out. And why shouldn’t we? One look at creation tells us He can be trusted to pull off something better than we could have done – or imagined.
3. He doesn’t need a lot to work with. Our insufficiency doesn’t hamper Him; the improbability of the situation doesn’t hinder Him. He’s got a history of making something from nothing, with no help from anyone else.

If these things are true, then I guess we could bring anything to Him – that chaotic job situation, the hopelessly confused marital relationship, the decision that pulls us in three different directions, anything and everything that breeds disorder and confusion in our life – and expect Him to dispel the ruckus and overwhelming helplessness, and restore order and peace. To implement a plan. To take charge. To change our world – or change us.

So why don’t you and I let Him do it… today?

Constructive Criticism

Pastor Rick acknowledged Sunday that some criticism was almost certain to come his way in response to his treatment of the topic at hand: the gift of tongues and its application in the church today.

I believe that the Lord led him to a balanced, thoughtful, and Scriptural approach, and I don’t have any criticism to offer. However, so as not to disappoint him or others who were braced for it, I do have a two constructive criticisms to offer… on other topics, and not my own observations. You might say they were overheard, and I am passing them on, for whatever good they might do us (for it is said that in every criticism there is at least a grain of truth).

The first came my way some months ago when my husband Dave, still an elder at the time, was give the elder-job of contacting a lady who had stopped attending FAC. (The idea is to let the people know they’re missed, find out what is keeping them away, see if there is anything we can do as a church for them, etc.)

When Dave got off the phone, he shared with me the reason this person had switched churches. “She said we were too serious about our relationship with God.” I smiled. It was constructive criticism, all right, well taken. It constructed in me a gladness that FAC is dead serious about knowing God personally and walking in a way that pleases Him. And it shows when people come to visit.

I overheard the second criticism while sitting in my pew one Sunday morning waiting for the service to start. Two people behind me were discussing Epic Faith, and one commented on an acquaintance who had attended one of their services. “He didn’t like it,” she reported. “He said it was too friendly.”

Once again I jumped for joy inside. Oh, I understand that maybe this man was shy or trying to hang back and check things out, and just wanted to be incognito… but what an encouraging critique!

Too serious about God… too friendly to visitors. Those are charges that shouldn’t be ignored. They should be celebrated! And may the grain of truth in them multiply and be fruitful!