Month: June 2023

For if you listen to the Word and don’t obey, it’s like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like! James 1:23-24

A blind spot is defined as any area immediately surrounding you which cannot be directly observed by you within your normal field of vision. Lately, I seem to be more aware of this term especially when driving around our area. The last few weeks seem to have been especially bad as folks are throwing caution to the wind and only concentrating on getting somewhere as fast as they can! Several accidents have been caused because we don’t see someone on one side of us because they are in our blind spot.

Blind spots aren’t found only during driving, they can appear in relationships, friendships, work, and even our spiritual lives. Have we ever stopped to consider that each of our lives possess some blind spots? Sometimes life has a way of blindsiding us We never see something coming because it’s in our blind spot. Just like traffic accidents occur when someone changes lanes with out checking their blind spot. and soldiers are wounded in battle because they never saw the enemy approaching on their blind spot, we can experience them during our daily lives.

In 1985, one of Spain’s most famous matadors, Jose Cubero, was killed in a bullfight at the age of 21. At the end of the bullfight, he thrust his last sword into a bleeding, disoriented bull, and the bull collapsed. Thinking that the battle was over, Jose turned to the crowd and bowed in acknowledgement of their cheers. Unbeknownst to Jose, the bull was not dead. What he assumed to be cheers of victory were actually shouts of terror. The bull arose and lunged at the unsuspecting matador piercing his back and puncturing his heart with his horns. The bull was in his blind spot. If only Jose could have seen what the crowd saw, he might have lived to fight another day.

Whether we will admit it or not, all of us have blind spots. These blind spots in our lives can be anything from treatment of others, to our past, to our pain, or simply human conditions or limitations. It is important to identify the blind spots that are causing us to stumble and take some time to understand why they have a hold on us. The blind spots only become a problem when we are unwilling to check on them or maybe even admit that we have them.

There are many blind spots, but three have come to mind this week. First, spiritual blind spots are common in our lives. We see how we want things to be, how we think things should be, or how we want to see things, but we miss what God is doing right in our midst or even right next to us. God is out there performing miracles and creating holy moments for us every day, but we allow our blind spots to overshadow the good.

We also have emotional blind spots in our lives. It’s easy to become encumbered with the idea that life isn’t fair. We can find ourselves beaten down with what we perceive as being “bad things that happen to good people” and try to rationalize God’s role in all this. It’s all right to shed tears, but rest assured all the hurt means something to God, and our life, our experiences, our pain is recorded and precious to Him

Finally, we have the blind side of apathy. Our generation is becoming one of indifference or sleep walking. We aren’t literally asleep, but we pay little or no attention to what’s going on around us. As pressure from the world around us intensifies bringing so much stress to our lives, we finally reach a point where we just say, “Who cares?” The Bible would disagree with this attitude and warns us to “be attentive, watch, and pray always.”

When we identify our blind spots and replace them with the presence of God in our everyday life, He can remove the spiritual and emotional hindrances and replace the apathy with action helping us make this crazy unpredictable life we live meaningful.

This week learn from the one who leads you, look to the one who lives for you, and listen to the one who loves you!

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

In his book, The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis writes the following about Friendship. “In a perfect friendship, appreciative love is often so great and so firmly based, that each member of the circle feels in his secret heart humbled by the rest. Sometimes he wonders what he is doing there among his betters. He is lucky to be in such company especially when the whole group is together watching each one bringing out what is the best, wisest, or funniest in all of the others. Those are the golden sessions when four or five of us have come to our “inn” after a hard day’s walk; when our slippers are on; when our feet are spread out toward the blaze, and a drink is at our elbows; when the whole world and something beyond the world opens itself to our minds as we talk. No one has any claim or any responsibility for another, but all are free men and equal as if we had first met an hour ago. At the same time an affection mellowed by the years enfolds us. Life, natural life, has no better gift to give. Who could have deserved it?”

In 1976 Randy and I took our first appointment as minister in charge of a church congregation. We were assigned to a two point United Methodist circuit in the small town of Newborn, Georgia, and we served that church as well as the Starrsville church which was about ten miles away. We arrived that June with a three month old baby, our dog, Chief, and our few personal belongings to move into the parsonage there. There was no church staff, no church office, and no secretary. The office became a room in our parsonage, the staff became volunteers, and the secretary’s position was left to me! Randy preached at both churches every Sunday and alternated times at each.

We had always had friends from our respective home towns, college, and our first appointment, but it was here in this small community that we really learned the value of friends and friendship. In this parsonage with no air conditioning, no dishwasher, and none of the conveniences to which we were accustomed, we learned what it’s like to have people there to help in every situation and love you no matter what. We also learned to make do with what God provided and to trust Him for all we needed.

These families made us a part of their family and included us in all their celebrations. People visited on our front porch after leaving us fresh vegetables from their garden. They were encouragers, supporters, and confidants. The women of the church helped us get a fresh look to our parsonage, while the men worked on repairing the roof and chimney in our new home. Volunteers worked on every church project, and the bonds of friendship here were strong and lasting.

We served and loved in this community for two years, and when we left, the ladies of the church made a friendship quilt with the names of each family of the church included. I had an occasion to pull out that quilt lately and all the names and memories came flooding back. It made me stop and give thanks for all the wonderful friendships which have come into our lives over these many years.

This brought two questions to my mind. First, what makes a good friend? Next, what qualities allow a friendship to survive over time? In my mind, there are two qualities which permanently cement any friendship; honesty and loyalty.

Honesty is the quality which a real friend exhibits consistently. They may upset us sometimes by telling us the truth, but he or she will be honest nonetheless. A friend may not always tell us what we want to hear, but if they truly love us, they will tell us what we need to hear. In the short run, it may hurt, but in the long run it will only help.

There are two questions to ask the other person. First, can I trust you to be totally honest with me? Secondly, can I be totally honest with you? Only a true friend can expect and survive such mutual honesty.

Loyalty is the next quality. Proverbs 18:24 says “There is a friend which sticks closer than a brother.” The word stick refers to how skin sticks to the bone, and it is a poignant picture of how closely knit one friend should be to the other. Loyalty is the one thing that one friend should never have to question about the other. A true friend will always be your defense attorney before he or she becomes your judge. There is no such thing as a fair weather friend. We don’t need friends in fair weather, we need them when the weather gets nasty. It is said that a fair weather friend is no friend at all.

All these years later, we are so grateful for our friends; past, present, and future. What would our life be without each of you which we are so privileged to call friends? In the words of C.S. Lewis, “Who could have deserved it?”

Let me tell you why you are here. You are here to be salt seasoning that brings out the God flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Matthew 5:13

The compound salt is really a pretty interesting substance. Basically it is a compound in the form of crystals which is composed mainly of sodium chloride that is used in seasoning and/or preserving. The compound salt is really a miracle. It is composed of two poisons, chloride and sodium. which if either is ingested by itself can cause death, but if we put them together they bring something extra to life. All of us need salt for fluid balance and muscle and nerve function, but too much salt is bad for us, so we hear, and that statement has made us a “salt conscious” society.

Prior to Covid, every restaurant table came with a salt and pepper set for patrons to use to season and enhance their food. Now, in most places, these elements are available only on request. It’s like people are trying to get us to take the salt out of our food and settle for a more bland version of them.

There is the seasoning side of salt, but there is also the physical side of salt. In this world, where would we be without people who add salt to our lives? These are the folks that enter a room, and you just know the atmosphere is about to change! Dads have that kind of effect on families in most cases. These special people show love, compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance in a salty way that might be a little different from the approach of a Mother.

Our Daddy was what I would call a Salty Dad. Although his name was John, he had so many colorful nicknames that showed his salty nature that it was hard to keep track. He was Bubba to his brothers and sisters, Big John to friends and many in town, Mr. John to our boyfriends, Flash to the snow ski instructor, Running Bear to the game warden, and Honey to my Mom. We just called him Daddy, and our children knew him as PaPa. He was funny, opinionated, loyal, a talker, a little crusty, and fiercely protective of his three girls and his family. His reputation proceeded him with our dates as he was known to be mowing the grass around 11 at night when we returned home with them! When he entered a room, the salt would be sprinkled and sometimes even poured all around. Although he left early every morning to go to the farm, he was home every night with his family, and the amount of salt he sprinkled usually depended on his day.

Jesus was a believer in salt as we see in Matthew 5:13 where he told his followers: “You are the salt of the earth.” He was addressing the common people such as fishermen, shepherds, laborers, and he was telling them that they were worthy and virtuous. These were those who were of great kindness, reliability, and honesty. I think he was referring to the value of all of us in the furthering of His kingdom.

We are called to be the salt in our families and this world, and as Christians there are several reasons why. First, the flavor of salt is distinctive, and it can make things totally different from other foods on our plates. Christians are asked to be distinctive in their beliefs and attitudes in order to make a difference in this world. What good is it to be a Christian if there is nothing distinctive and good about your that others can see?

Secondly, salt is used to preserve. It keeps things from decaying or deteriorating as it cleanses and disinfects. Just like salt, we as Christians are called on to keep on praying and working so that our families, this nation and our world will hold on and preserve the Christian heritage from which it came.

Next, salt penetrates into the food to which it is added. It can change the flavor from dull and bland to flavorful and tasty. We are called on to penetrate the community around us and change it from boring and unconcerned to excited and involved.

Lastly, salt flavors. It changes the taste of food to make it more appealing. Just like salt, we need to flavor the world around us for the cause of Christ. We have got to spread the salt so that the flavor of God’s grace and love can be experienced.

The world in which we live is becoming bland and tasteless. It’s up to us to sprinkle a little salt and influence people toward the greater good. On this week of Father’s Day when we pause to honor and show appreciation to and for our Dads, it is a perfect time to reflect on how often they bless us by pouring on the salt! Thank you to our Dads living both here and in their heavenly home!

Happy Father’s Day!

But now in a single victorious stroke of life all three – sin, guilt, death – are gone. The gift of our Master Jesus Christ, our Lord. With all this going for us my dear, dear friends, stand your ground, and don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time or effort. 1 Corinthians 15:57-58

There’s a new trend floating around these days called quiet quitting. I have to admit that I was completely oblivious to this until a woman in my aerobics class pointed out that members of the staff at the workout facility were participating in quiet quitting. Quiet quitting refers to doing the minimum requirements of one’s job, and putting in no more time, effort, or enthusiasm than absolutely necessary! The employees don’t believe in staying late, arriving early, or staying for non mandatory job meetings or extra activities.

It’s a sad commentary on a culture when employees slack off because their job is so unrewarding that there is no pride or joy in a good well done. The job market is so tight at this point, that employers have been forced to tolerate this behavior because employees are so hard to replace. In a Gallup survey results showed 32% of workers were engaged in their respective jobs, 18% were making no secret of their dissatisfaction with their job, and 50% were quiet quitters meaning they were dissatisfied with their job but didn’t broadcast the fact!

A friend of ours who is a successful businessman often visits the offices of his company early in the morning or late in the afternoon to walk around and see what’s going on with his employees. He reported that less than 20% of the workforce arrived before 10 and even less remained late in the day to finish up the day’s work. Many never bothered to show up but rather said they were working from home on several of his visits.

His remedy was genius! He sent out a memo inviting everyone to Breakfast with the Boss. As expected, almost everyone accepted the invitation. Next, he amended the invitation with the place and the time. The time was 5:00 am. Now our friend is an early riser, so he arrived at 4:30 am and waited to see who would show up early. Interestingly, not only were only 5% of the employees early, but over half straggled in late. Is this an example of quiet quitting or just a picture of our society these days?

The sad thing is that quiet quitting is also becoming apparent in other nonwork aspects of our lives such as marriages, relationships, spiritual life, and church life. Covid 19 left many people with the quiet quitting mentality. Our world was suddenly smaller, and we suffered from loneliness, isolation, and fear, but we also became content to quit on a lot of the things that made our lives meaningful. We took the lack of things we needed to sustain our life, and substituted other less important things. Some people quit on their marriage, some quit on their job, some people quit on friendships, some quit on their health, some quit on their church, and others quit on God. The trouble is, we have never taken those things back, we just quit on them and cut them out of our life.

Scott Peck reminds us in his book The Road Less Traveled that “Life is hard. All of life’s music is not in perfect harmony. What starts out to be a symphony becomes a cacophony, and discordant notes can dominate the score.”

So, how do we avoid quiet quitting in our lives? First, we need a change of perspective on life and our view of it. We should shift our thinking from quitting on this life because we believe it has treated us wrongly to the nearness of God and the fact that He is stronger than our pain and provides a light in the darkness. Even Paul carried a thorn in his side, but instead of quitting, he said, “I can do all things through God who strengthens me.” He had the right perspective.

Next, it would be helpful to return to many of the things upon which we quit, and renew the joy they brought to our lives. We need to persevere.

Finally, go back to our trusting God and others. Robert Burns said, “We need to have some certainty, some things that we can trust, some one who will stand with us and for us.” So many things that we encounter in this every day life is not worthy of our trust, but there is one who is always trustworthy. C.S. Lewis said, “Look for yourself and you will find hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him. and with Him everything else is thrown in.” Only trust Him.

Quiet quitting is still quitting, and as a Christian that is not an option. He called us to be doers not quitters, and we need to be about doing His work all around us! Don’t quit!