Ask And Ye Shall Receive

 

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Do you ever wonder if the Lord gets tired of forgiving you, especially for the same things? In spite of the scriptures many references to the Father's longing to forgive His children, guilt can override our desire to be recociled to our Maker. The following, from December of 2005, is about the value of ASKING!

I learned a lesson today. I rarely use my MasterCard. (I do contribute back to my alma mater, Harding University, with each use!) My only consistent bill is the $20 monthly fee for my book's website. Somehow, probably because of Thanksgiving, I was four days overdue with my payment. My bill came in several days ago with a $15 late fee, pretty steep when the original charge is only $20. Trying to do what I believe is my Christian obligation of being a good steward and getting every penny back I am legally entitled to, I asked Jean Adams, our school accountant and a CPA, if the late fee could be written off as a business expense. She wasn't sure but she did say there was an alternative. Jean suggested calling MBNA, the parent company, and ask if they would waive the late fee because I pay my bills on time. Her idea terrified me. I am the least confrontational person you'll meet and the thought of asking for debt forgiveness made me shake. I mean, the person on the other end of the line might get mad at me. But, fifteen dollars IS fifteen dollars so I bit the bullet. Of course, I sat in Jean's office for moral support- she even dialed and pushed the option buttons. A voice came on the other end, the unknown, unseen Debra. Guess what? She looked at my record and was happy to do it- I mean she almost acted thrilled! It was like I was doing them a favor by my request! She went on and on about what a valued customer I am- and remember, my total debt works out to less than 60 cents per day. I was glowing when I hung up the phone. It was so easy. What was I so scared of? Just think; if Jean hadn't brought it up, I would have let it keep eating at me.

I know you know where I am going with this. Most of us need forgiveness from someone but we won't ask. We have a million reasons so we let it go and it never solves itself. It might be a relative, a co-worker, a neighbor, or most importantly, the Lord. It's there- go for it! Maybe my task today is being for you what Jean was for me. It's only a phone call, an e-mail, a knock on the door, or a prayer away. Go on! To quote Jean, what do you have to lose? The answer-GUILT! Happy forgiveness!

Applicable quote of the day:
"The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness." 
William Blake

God bless,
Steve, 'The Forgiven'
Luke 18:1

The Mind Of John Milton

 

The Mind Of John Milton

I'm always in awe of the talent the Lord has put into people. This is from August 14, 2014.

You probably don't remember this but on December 30, 2012 I wrote a devotional printed here called, "Hymn Not Me." The gist of it was that I had made the decision to write a hymn sometime in my life. I'm not really any closer to authoring a musical tribute to the Lord but I have thought about it. I'm much more in tune with the older hymns than the ones often preferred today. One of the reasons hit me when I was worshipping in Vietnam where the church I worship with uses English hymns translated into Vietnamese, and incidentally, sing every verse. I like the old church songs because they have distinctive verses and choruses. Each verse sounds like the others and each time you sing the chorus/refrain, it is identical. I like a starting point and ending point and repeating. With many of the newer hymns, all the sections seem to me to blend into each other and run together. It isn't that the message lacks depth or spirituality- I just get lost. I would guess that comes from the familiarity I have with the type of hymns we sang when I was a boy in worship services and with our family.

The other day I was thinking about the type of hymn I would like to write, not the longevity or acclaim which would be nice, but more the style. One of my favorite hymns from childhood, Let Us With A Gladsome Mind, popped into my head so I googled it. I discovered several surprising facts in the process. First, the author was John Milton, probably best known as the author of Paradise Lost. Secondly, Milton penned the hymn in 1623 as a paraphrase of Psalm 136. And thirdly, the stunner to me, he was fifteen years old when he wrote this timeless hymn. FIFTEEN! That's younger than half of my students this year. Immortal words that I can never approach from the mind and pen of a young man who could not get a driver's license should he reappear in 21st century America. In 1st Timothy 4:12, Paul wrote his young colleague to, 
"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."
Milton must have taken Paul's admonition to heart. I hope my students will this year as well. They can change the world. They just have to believe it.

Let us, with a gladsome mind,
Praise the Lord, for He is kind.

(Refrain)

For His mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

Let us blaze His Name abroad,
For of gods He is the God.

(Refrain)

He with all commanding might
Filled the new made world with light.

(Refrain)

He hath, with a piteous eye,
Looked upon our misery.

(Refrain)

He the golden tressèd sun
Caused all day his course to run.

(Refrain)

Th’horned moon to shine by night;
’Mid her spangled sisters bright.

(Refrain)

All things living He doth feed,
His full hand supplies their need.

(Refrain)

Let us, then with gladsome mind,
Praise the Lord, for He is kind.

Applicable quote of the day:
You know when you're young you think you will always be. As you become more fragile, you reflect and you realize how much comfort can come from the past. Hymns can carry you into the future.

Andy Griffith

To listen to Let Us With A Gladsome Mind, copy and paste the link below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVJ9ePKw0ls

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Shame On You, Shame On Me

 

Shame On You, Shame On Me

We live in a culture where profanity and crudeness of speech has become the norm. Call me a sexist- I've been called worse- but it bothers me more when girls use language unbefitting to themselves or their families or the Lord. The following is from July 17, 2008.

She didn't see me. I was in a big department store yesterday replacing some of the items stolen along with my suitcases last Saturday in Honduras. (A friend read of my plight and mailed me a $50 gift card. She also left explicit instructions that I had to replace my Lucky You Cologne before my China adventure which begins tomorrow!) The she who did not see me is a former student of mine who now attends another school. I was looking for khaki shorts and she was strolling the shoe aisle when she very loudly called one of the girls with her, "B****!" She wasn't mad at the other girl; she was just engaging in teenage conversation. I made sure she did not catch sight of me until minutes later when I walked back to that section and greeted her. She was genuinely glad to see me and I told her quickly about my Honduras mishap. She has no idea I heard what she said...and I'm glad. To be truthful, I hope it would have upset her if she knew and I believe it might have. If it had happened in my classroom, I would have been mad but I wasn't angry yesterday. I wasn't even really disappointed. Probably the most accurate way to describe my reaction is that I was embarrassed for her. She just wasn't embarrassed for herself.


If you have been keeping up with my recent entries, you know I was held up getting through Customs Saturday night, causing me to miss my flight and requiring an overnight stay in Miami as the guest of American Airlines. I wasn't sleepy when I plopped down on the bed in my luxurious hotel room so I turned on the television to catch up with the world after a week with little outside contact. The first station to pop up was the one belonging to the hotel. As I recall, it had a welcoming message but then there was this: They informed their boarders that adult entertainment was available and could be ordered. That was no shock. What was printed next caught my attention, and I think this is close to word-for-word.
"No titles will appear on your bill so no one will know what you watched."
There you go! You can have your pornography and your privacy, too! Apparently, some folks would like to keep their viewing habits to themselves and this is the solution to their dilemma. Honestly, most of us have watched things on television, the movie screen, or the computer monitor that caused our consciences anxiety. Obviously, the hotel is attempting to keep the consciences of its guests off limits to those (spouses, bosses, parents) who might question what is piped into a particular room on a given night. In Ephesians 5:12, Paul wrote,
" For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret." Secrecy, to some extent, masks our shame and lets us present whatever side of ourselves we choose to the rest of the world. The privacy of a hotel room can tempt our baser nature. At times, we need the presence of others to restrain our behavior. I think my visual presence would have tempered the language of my former student, who still is one of my favorite kids in the world. I guess I'll never know...and neither will she.

Applicable quote of the day:
"Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.”
Seneca

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

The Answer Is, "TOMORROW!"

 

The Answer Is, "TOMORROW!"

We all need reminders! This is from May 17, 2018!
Over the years at WCS, we've refined the way we collect the change the students collect in their bottles for our Honduras project, which is now the Honduras-Haiti project. The kids basically used to come to my classroom and dump the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters into receptacles from which we would sort and count. A number of years ago, I began sitting in the high school lobby where all the middle and high school kids can see me. We've brought the receptacles to them! This is a voluntary program- we hand out the bank bottles in January with most of our kids accepting the challenge of helping the less fortunate in nearby poverty stricken nations. We put a blurb in the announcements during the last two regular weeks of the year as a reminder that I will be awaiting them, along with members of my basketball team. (We forfeit a few minutes of our workouts each morning.) So, for ten school days, from 7 AM to 7:42 AM, I'm the first person many of our kids see at school. I park myself right in front of the door with clear intentions. Most forget especially in the early days but they have a stock response for me:
"TOMORROW!"
Over the years, it's become a running punch line! Sometimes, I'll kid the kids with, "That's what you said yesterday!" It's in fun and my guess is we usually return about about 75% from the high school students. But just in case someone doesn't understand, we've started posting a marker board beside me with tomorrow spelled out in a number of languages, as our school family includes many nationalities. As you might guess, we get a lot of smiles..... and hopefully some unconscious reminders to bring us some pennies!

But you know what tomorrow is? The last day. No more tomorrows after tomorrow. Then they'll have to come find me as we'll be on a completely different schedule for the remaining four days of testing. That's not all. It's the last day of basketball together for this team I love so much. It's the last time classes will meet. Finals are not administered by the teacher and in high school, the testing sites are alphabetically arranged. It's the last day of junior high for 8th graders, the last day of high school for seniors, and the last day for many parents to have a child enrolled in the education system mandated by society. The problem is, though, that not everything runs its predicted course. I ask my students what they are doing after school today and they give some answer but the truth is, none of us know. That's what makes life so great and maddening simultaneously.

Several days ago, I read the FACEBOOK post of a former student in Georgia who spoke of a second grade child she knew from school who drowned on Mother's Day this past Sunday. No way her family ever dreamed they would be burying their baby this week. Life has no guarantees of tomorrow. James wrote in the fourth chapter of his epistle that we should always say, "If it's the Lord's will,..." when referring to the future- we just don't know what it will bring. The question for us then becomes;
"Who have I wronged and not corrected it?"
"Who do I love that haven't I told I love lately?"
"Who am I still in debt to?""Who hasn't heard the good news about Jesus Christ?"
Like it or not, those are time and chance issues if we let them be. Make the time, and don't take the chance of letting the clock run out on your opportunity. And, don't forget! Bring your bottles since tomorrow, in ten hours, I'll be out there picking up pennies for the last time this school year! Let me add a PS- Lord willing.


Applicable quote of the day:
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia. 
Charles M. Schulz

Gd bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

No Good Option

 

No Good Option

Jesus said the poor will always be with us. This is from March 23, 2014.


I met a man outside a local chain pharmacy ten days ago. Earlier that day, I had ordered some pictures to be developed from my camera's memory card and I was there to pick them up. He was in a wheelchair and told me he had been hit by a car while riding a bicycle; he didn't tell me how old he was when it happened. He asked if I were a preacher- I was wearing my cross outside my shirt- and I told him I teach Bible at Westbury Christian School. He then told me something that really floored me. This guy I just met told me he can't read or write. My guess is that he is in his 40s. I was shocked- I'm so used to working with educators and kids who are excellent readers, even in kindergarten, that the thought of an illiterate American shocked me.... but it shouldn't. Ironically, the pictures I picked up will go out in letters tomorrow to family and friends who support me in my work to improve English skills.... in Vietnam.

As I drove away, I asked myself which situation the man faced would be hardest for me to deal with personally, the inability to walk or the illiteracy. Truthfully, I can't fathom either option since I've been walking and reading since my memories began. I mean, what would I do if confined to a wheelchair? On the other hand, I tried to grasp what I would miss if I couldn't read or write, which I do most of my waking moments! In class this past week, we took notes over the paralyzed man brought to Jesus, carried by four friends and let down through the roof of a house to gain access to the Savior. We note that the first thing Jesus did WAS NOT heal him, the obvious reason for the man's coming, but the Master forgiving the man's sins. I make the point that Jesus took care of the biggest issue first. After I state it like that, I ask the kids what the lame man's # 1 problem was, paralysis or sin? They correctly answer sin but I'm not sure that's what he was thinking as he was being lowered in front of the man he hoped could set him free from his handicap.

As we look at the story, I tell the students about my nearly cutting off my thumb when I was working at York College. I share what the orderly said when he took the towel off of my hand ('OH MY GOD!') and how that did not help my demeanor at all. I ask them what they thought my reaction would have been if the doctor had come into the emergency room and wanted to take care of a mosquito bite on my face instead of the possible losing of a thumb or going into shock from blood loss. They think that's pretty funny. The good doctors always addresses the biggest need first and of course, Jesus was The Great Physician. I ask the kids, without raising their hands, what the biggest issue is in their life and throw out that it might not be what the world would expect. But God knows and Jesus died to provide the cure. And you don't have to go to WALGREENS to fill the prescription.... but you do need to see the doctor.

Applicable quote of the day:
“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.”
Kofi Annan

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

When Darth Vader Played Isaac

 

When Darth Vader Played Isaac

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4SyrQ_aIss 
 (copy and paste this clip!)
I love film clips to illustrate my points in class! This is from September 27, 2013.

We are in the middle of the Jacob and Esau saga in my Bible classes. We've taken quizzes over the arranged marriage of their parents, Isaac and Rebekah and the subsequent selling of the Esau's birthright for a simple meal. (I made the comparison of swapping a Jumbo Jack burger from Jack In The Box for a brand new Jaguar. I asked the kids how they would describe someone who would do that and the word that came to mind was stupid.) Yesterday, we took a quiz over the hoodwinking of Isaac by Rebekah and the younger of the fraternal twins, Jacob, to illegitimately get the blessing from Isaac that rightfully belonged to the older brother, Esau. On our test next Friday, the essay will revolve around whether a not a case can be made for Rebekah actually doing the right thing instead of just being an interfering mom playing favorites. Esau, who in Hebrews 12 was called Godless and had already married two pagan women, was obviously unfit and his elevation would go against prophecy. I told the students the story of Jacob and Esau and next week's episode where we throw Jacob's father-in-law (and Rebekah's brother)Laban into the mix would be a great soap opera except it seems so outlandish that no one would take it seriously!

Everyday in my classes except for test days, I show a film clip that goes along with our topic of the day. Last night, I found this hilarious bit on YouTube  You have to suspend your sense of reality temporarily as in this scene, the stealing of the blessing, is played out by characters from Star Wars. When we finished, I asked my laughing classes what was inaccurate from a Biblical perspective about this portrayal. The answer was..... nothing. Take three minutes and watch and giggle. The longer I teach, the more thankful I am of technology and the realization that there is more than one way to tell the Biblical story in a way that kids will enjoy- and remember.

Applicable quote of the day:

Oh, what a tangled web do parents weave, 

when they think their children are naive."
Ogden Nash

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

The Marriage Manual

 

The Marriage Manual

We are entering into wedding season! Often when I preach a wedding, my students stand in for the real life couple so I can practice. This entry is from 11-15-06.

I have been practicing for Emily and Josh's wedding in my Bible classes. Yesterday, my 10th grade Gospels classes went through the whole wedding ceremony. Emily DeWitt was played by Corley Carter, Rachael Mumbach, and Jackie Marini. The role of Josh Wood was handled by Asa Davis, Christian Broussard, and Jordan Walker. Twice, we used the church auditorium for the run through but in my eighth period class, we cleared a center aisle from the desk rows and turned Room 258 into a wedding chapel. (I bet Emily, when she spent two years in that same room as one of my students, never envisioned what would transpire within those walls in the coming years!) In conjunction with the wedding, I have allowed the students to cast their vote and select the tie I will wear during the ceremony: they chose a grey-silver number given to me last year by Destiny Ngwaubala. Today, I had all my classes read my devotional entry entitled The Princess Bride And MookDa's List. This piece centered around an eleven year old Malaysian girl who compiled a list of qualities she will require in a husband. MookDa presented her manifesto to a missionary who mentioned that she might have some interest in his thirteen year old grandson. After reading, I had my classes commit their own list to paper in the same fashion as MookDa. I have selected four of the students' lists. These four represent the diversity of our school. Chaul is from China, Eduardo comes from Mexico, Waltia lives in The Bahamas, and Glory is a first generation American whose parents are from Nigeria. Here are their thoughts:
Chaul
1. He must have a job.
2. He can speak both Chinese and English.
3. He could be an American citizen.
4. He will be a college graduate.
5. He must play the violin or any other stringed instrument.
Eduardo
1. She has to love me.
2. I have to love her.
3. I have to feel that everyday, I love her even more.
4. She has to accept me for who I am.
5. I have to feel something special for her, something that she makes me feel without pretending to be someone else. Someone that just being herself makes me happy.
Waltia
1. He must be a Christian and not abusive.
2. He must be smart and graduate from college.
3. He must be tall!
4. He must have dreams and determination.
5. He must be a horrible singer so I can sing better than him.
6. He does not have to be cute because looks do not matter.
7. He has to have great teeth.
8. He especially has to have a good sense of humor.
Glory
1. He must be a Christian and truly fear God.
2. He must be Nigerian or first generation American-Nigerian.
3. He loves me for me and is willing to work at the relationship.
4. He must be handsome.
5. He must have wealth to give me security.

I thought all my classes did a good job. I was again struck by the difference in the thought processes of boys and girls. Many female students mentioned employment requirements and many boys listed cooking ability. The girls had more sobering answers, ofter citing they would not marry an abusive man or anyone with a temper problem. In five years, will all my students have the same checklist? Probably not...but at least they are thinking. I just wish I still had Emily's list from five years ago: we could find out if Josh really fit the bill. I have the idea he would do just fine.

Applicable quote of the day:
"Before marriage, a man will lay down his life for you; after marriage, he won't even lay down his newspaper."
Helen Rowland

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1