Your OWN Understanding . . .

Coffee -- Tim Horton's at the Camp

Wayne and I love to go for coffee at various drive through windows. Our favorite is Dunkin Donuts. It's just one of those luxuries that we allow ourselves (all too often). That wouldn't be so bad, but Wayne has an AARP card. If he shows that at the double D's window, it entitles us to a free donut of our choice with the purchase of a large coffee. It is usually chocolate glazed. Mmmm!

This ritual of ours is a good starting place to talk about our responsibility to rely on the Lord in every aspect of our lives. The Bible says in Proverbs 3 that we should trust in the LORD with all of our heart and that we should not lean on our own understanding. If we are honest, we can easily look at our lives, our decisions, and the consequences and see that we can and should profit from wisdom outside ourselves. When we take an objective look around, we have to realize that we can and do make a major mess of things. That often happens when we trust our own opinions and decisions and fail to adequately consider and heed the clear teaching of the Bible and the good advice of people who love us.

Well, what does that have to do with drive-through coffee and a free donut? It is a matter of human nature and our propensity as sinners to turn in the wrong direction. This becomes confession time:

-- At first, Wayne ate his donut and I refrained.
-- After a few trips, I wanted a bite. Mmmm.
-- Over time we began to split the donut. Mmmm and Mmmm some more.
-- Here and there, we began to take one free donut and buy the second (not every time).

Now, a donut isn't wrong for most people but it is for me. I am a Type II Diabetic who opted to go without medications and control it by diet. That has worked very well for about eight years. My tests have always been good, but the good test results emboldened me to modify my regimen even more. Where will that end if I continue that path? I know. Things are on track now. Please pray for me if you think of it.

I don't know how a daughter becomes a mentor to her mother, but with her Biblical knowledge and nursing degree, I have gleaned much wisdom from Valerie and I appreciate it. We like to swap advice and do so seriously. Recently she wrote this and I think it fits into tonight's topic since it tells us three things that constitute good reasons for seeking godly counsel (among other things):

1. Satan hates those who are in Christ. He despises us with a white-hot hatred, a murderous passion. Nothing pleases Him more than to see Christ and His Word blasphemed in our lives.

2. Satan is a liar. Not only is He a liar, but He is an exceedingly good and very effective liar. If you think you cannot be deceived, you underestimate him and overestimate yourself.

3. If we have sense, we will be absolutely certain that we are not better or stronger than the millions who've been struck and hurt before us.

Friends and loved ones, we need each other. When we have big decisions to make -- especially those that impact our Christian lives -- we ought to quickly seek the counsel of someone who is willing to search the Scriptures with us and pray with us so that we will not fall for any of the myriad of lies waiting to overcome us. Remember that the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking anyone he may devour -- not literally eat up, but destroy. He wants to destroy our faith, our confidence, our reputation, our peace, our future. Don't rely totally on your own smarts.

Need someplace to lean? Lean on God. Lean on His Word. Lean on godly friends and family.

Conflicted Over Christmas

David Buza Adds the Angel

Christmas has always been a happy time in our family. This year it is, for me, a time to remember:

• When I was a child we always took a ride as a family just to see the beautiful lights and displays at homes, schools, and businesses. The air was punctuated with glowing sights and breathless exclamations. "Look at THAT!" "Oh, WOW." "It is so beautiful". 
• Another fond memory was our Sunday School program. Once my cousin Andrea kept stealing baby Jesus from the manger (her doll) and I kept grabbing it away and returning it until someone finally let her keep her baby! 
• I loved it when I was "big enough" to help pack the boxes of candy, nuts, and popcorn that were given to each child attending the Christmas program at Church. 
• Our children, for quite a few years, always gifted us with their own, costumed rendition of the nativity. Their Dad usually played the inn keeper from his seat on the couch and offered Mary and Joseph his stable. 
• We liked to cook Christmas goodies, a tea ring for Christmas morning, and we loved decorating our tree. 
• Family devotions grew at Christmas time until we added our own family communion service, using unleavened bread that we made at home. 
• Practicing and singing in the Christmas Cantata was something Wayne and I always enjoyed. 
• In our later years we try to go to each of our children's homes sometime in the last week or two before Christmas. Of course, that is a rare thing with Valerie's family. Time with our family members is cherished deeply. 
• And we love Christmas Eve service and singing the beautiful carols that we do not hear often enough!

So why am I conflicted? It is partly because the most important thing to remember about Christmas does not take its proper priority. Christmas is not primarily about lights, cookies, gifts, and spending money. Not at all. Christmas is a day that was set aside to remember the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Deliverer, the Redeemer, the Messiah. It is a day set aside to remember and celebrate one of the two most significant days in all of history (the resurrection is the other). Christmas is the day to remember a birth, the most extraordinary and most important birth EVER. 

Another reason I am conflicted is the controversy over creche displays, the public singing of traditional Christmas Carols, even calling our national tree the Holiday Tree instead of a Christmas Tree. People say "Let's Keep Christ in Christmas". I understand that on the one hand, but on the other hand I wonder why unbelievers would even want to celebrate Christmas? If it is about sharing love and gift-giving, that could happen at any time. What about New Year's Day? The fact is that without trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, Redeemer, and King, there is no reason to celebrate the Incarnation. Only the Christian understands why. We know that people need Christ in their lives far more than we need Christ in Christmas. 

If your are a Christian, please consider the following verses and take them to heart during our celebration of the first advent of Jesus Christ. Remember and cherish in your heart that the day of His birth in Bethlehem was the day GOD became flesh to live on this earth for thirty-three years and then to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sin:

" Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." From Philippians 2 (ESV)

A Broken Stove

The Bible says, "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. . . " (Philippians 4:19)  In context, this promise was being made to people who had been very generous in giving toward the needs of others. So is this a promise only to those people? Is it a promise to all who are "givers"? Or is it a general promise to ALL believers?

It is not my purpose to answer that question. I can only say that I have seen the Lord's hand in meeting many needs we and others have experienced. Let me tell the story of a broken stove just to illustrate God's gracious generosity to His children. 

Once upon a time, there was a wonderful stove on Craig's List in Wisconsin. It was a white Maytag stove with a double oven and a black glass top. It was a perfect stove for a large family. It had self cleaning ovens and the top was super-easy to wipe down. The price was right, too. Even though there were many ways the money could have  been spent, a stove is a necessary item. The purchase was made, and what a blessing! 

Not so long after the stove was hooked up in the kitchen, a spice bottle fell from the cabinet and cracked the glass top. This was very disappointing and left the family with only three working burners. Over time the crack in the stove top grew larger and larger. Finally the stove was no longer safe to use, since spattered oil or grease could run under the glass top and catch fire -- Thanksgiving was coming along and how were we to cook the turkey? The vegetables? It was time for Valerie to check Craig's List once more. 

Ha! A stove was listed. Someone else needed to be able to cook the Thanksgiving turkey but they had a broken element in the bottom oven -- same stove, but the stainless steel variety! They couldn't get it fixed in time to cook turkey, so they bought a new stove. The OLD one was available for $200.00. What a buy that was! Check: money was available. Check: that stove would fit in the back of our minivan. And, yes, the stove was still available. Time to go to Illinois for a replacement stove. 

A few hours later, our crew arrived at home with their purchase. Once home, Valerie discovered that a few pieces of the cracked glass had totally broken off, so there could be absolutely NO top of the stove cooking any more. God provided and He provided at the perfect time. The stove lasted until the very day it was replaced. 

Back to business. Things were moved around, and the floor under the stove was cleaned.  Amalie (13) removed the bottom heating element of the new stove and replaced it with the old one. The ovens, the broilers, and the burners ALL worked, and what a NICE stove! What a wonderful provision from our gracious and kind Lord. Not only did the stove WORK, but it was the very one that Valerie hoped to have. 

Just an aside: The door handle to our Maytag stove at home was broken -- a replacement would be $100.  Valerie gave us the handle to her old stove and it WORKS for our oven door. What a blessing for US! 

As I end this story, I hope you see the wonderful lesson that the LORD cares about every aspect of our lives and that He delights in providing for our comfort and joy. 

Thank you, Lord! And thank YOU for the new oven door handle to fit our stove here in Maine.