A Time for Everything

Where did we get the phrase “fly by the seat of your pants”? Language-lover Gary Martin points to a 1938 newspaper article entitled 'Corrigan Flies By The Seat Of His Pants', which appeared in The Edwardsville Intelligencer:

“’Douglas Corrigan was described as an aviator 'who flies by the seat of his pants' today by a mechanic who helped him rejuvenate the plane which airport men have now nicknamed the 'Spirit of $69.90'. The old flying expression of 'flies by the seat of his trousers' was explained by Larry Conner, means going aloft without instruments, radio or other such luxuries.’

‘Two days before this report Corrigan had submitted a flight plan to fly from Brooklyn to California. He had previously had a plan for a trans-Atlantic flight rejected (presumably on the grounds that the 'Spirit of $69.60 wasn't considered up to the job). His subsequent 29 hour flight ended in Dublin, Ireland. He claimed that his compasses had failed. He didn't openly admit it but it was widely assumed that he had ignored the rejection of his flight plan and deliberately flown east rather than west. He was thereafter known as 'Wrong Way Corrigan' and starred as himself in the 1938 movie The Flying Irishman.”

Many of us can identify with Wrong-Way Corrigan. Flight plans keep getting rejected. Compasses fail all the time. Life happens, and we just go with the flow, live by the seat of our pants and trust God to help us get through whatever comes. And if we were honest, we’d further admit that sometimes life “by the seat of the pants” is a cover-up for willful rejection of God’s plan. It’s smiling and feigning ignorance while drifting east rather than west; it’s steering toward a selfish goal after submitting all the right plans to the Father.

Yet the apostle Paul had a warning for Wrong-Way Corrigans. “Look carefully how you walk [or fly]. Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as sensible, intelligent people, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17 Amp, adapted).

“Look carefully,” he says… there’s a clock ticking in your life. Pay attention to what time it is. “Live purposefully”…there’s a season passing by… don’t waste it. “Make the most of every opportunity”… there’s a purpose, an activity, that’s just right, that’s beautiful in this time. Don’t neglect it.

“Firmly grasp the Lord’s will”… because it’s safe to say that if you don’t, unlike Wrong-Way Corrigan, there will be no starring roles in glamorous movies. No wiggling out of negligence by blaming a failed compass. Our Compass, the Holy Spirit, cannot fail. He knows the time. He knows the season. And He knows what you should be about. Ask Him.

Extreme Heart Makeover

Driver… MOVE THAT BUS!!!

The TV show Extreme Makeover Home Edition is exciting. Talk about Solomon’s 100,000 workers! It seems that Ty Pennington has resurrected that crew and put them right back to work. And what they produce is surely only a little less grand than one of Solomon’s houses…

I’m not casting suspicion on the generous intent of the cast, but I sometimes do wonder… How do the recipients of such a lavish gift cope with their success? How does it feel, beyond the initial rush, to be suddenly elevated above everyone in your neighborhood? And to be introduced to a lifestyle that no part of your background has prepared you for?

And I’m plagued by other questions… How do they pay the taxes on those monstrosities? For that matter, how do they clean them? Who pays for the upkeep of such grandeur, and the repairs on high-tech equipment? And what happens when, in three years, Mattie outgrows her ballerina bedroom?

No doubt the new homes are a Godsend to some of these people, a literal answer to prayer and a solution to agonizing dilemmas. But my guess is that for most of them, the homes are mixed blessings. And for those who bank on finally having their problems solved, they’re a huge (no pun intended) disappointment. Many of those problems follow them right in the front door of their new home. Broken relationships, dysfunctional interaction, emotional baggage, fears and addictions will all claim their territory under the new roof. We’ve all found it to be true.

It’s time we stopped looking hungrily at the shiny apples Satan still holds out to us. No use being peeved at Eve; we haven’t learned to say no either. We haven’t learned that if you can see it, you can lose it. If you can touch it, it can disappear. Happiness and satisfaction are offered by another hand, a nail-scarred one. It’s an empty hand – Jesus doesn’t want to give you something; He wants to give you Himself. He wants to draw you into Himself.

Think of it as being invited into your new Makeover home, and that home is Christ. Do you really want to see Him? Then make a spiritual fuss about it! Insist that the bus be moved – the Bus of Trivial Pursuit – so that you can see Him in all His glory. Go ahead - rush for the Door. Exclaim over His astonishing beauty. Run through the hallways of His promises. Open the doors of His goodness and blessing. Explore the wonders of His grace.

And relax. If anyone is in Christ, the old is gone (it didn’t follow you through the front door) and the new has arrived. Solomon in all his glory never had such a dwellingplace.

Enjoy!

All Things are New

I think Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes in Erie (he must have traveled more widely than historians realize) and in February. Like ours, his “life under the sun” was full of gray skies and low-hanging clouds. But unlike us, he had no spring to look forward to. He wasn’t anticipating warm breezes and bright sunshine and colorful spring tulips… There was nothing new under his sun. The meaningless, changeless gray was there to stay.

Solomon, Solomon. Weary, jaded, cynical. Except ye become as a little child - faith-filled, hopeful, eager – you will always miss the new. And, yes, there is new everywhere. Brighter spirits than yours wrote of it in the Old and New Testaments:

New mercies every morning
New covenant
New creation
New heart
New commandment
New fruit
New name
New Jerusalem
New heavens
New earth
New song

In fact, they wrote that if anyone places his trust in Christ, all things are become new - not just in the bye-and-bye, but here and now. Today, in each of our lives. And if we’re listening expectantly, we’ll hear a Voice saying, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Is. 43:18-19 NIV).

Tested by Fire

In its “Across America” segment, Fox News recently reported a happy turn of events in Massachusetts. There a family was thrilled by a surprising discovery in the smoldering ashes of their home. They’d assumed that their cats and two litters of kittens had perished in the blaze, but to their amazement the animals survived, and later emerged from the ashes one by one.

Paul wrote about surviving a fire in his first letter to the Corinthians. All believers, he wrote, are building on the foundation that has been laid – Jesus Christ. We’re constructing by our deeds, our works. But we have a choice of materials: gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, straw. And one Day what we have constructed will be shown for what it is. It will be tested by fire.

That firelight will reveal what we’ve constructed. And the blaze will test the quality of that construction. If what we’ve built survives, we’ll receive our reward. If it is reduced to ashes, we will “suffer loss… [and] be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Cor. 3:15 NIV).

It seems from our sermon series, How to be Rich, that what withstands a fire here is combustible in heaven, and vice versa. On earth, gold and other precious metals are refined and purified in the fire, but wood, hay and straw – things ordinary and insignificant – are quickly turned to ashes. On that Day, however, wealth and material possessions will prove highly flammable, to the dismay of many who trusted in them. And a surprising discovery will be made. Unsung deeds of kindness in Jesus’ name, unheralded efforts to point people to Christ, and uncompromising commitments to God’s glory will emerge, one by one, like trophies from the fire. And won’t the world be surprised!

It’s a Day that’s coming, for sure. Are we working here for what is incombustible there?