Jeremiah 17: 9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
"Mrs. Miniver" a 1942 movie-- see video above-- answers some of the questions that we may have in this season of pandemic, wars, floods, fires, earthquakes, and loss. I recommend this movie as I found it helpful for inspiration to keep doing what is right. I recalled Elizabeth Elliot's advice to do the next thing when going through a tough time. Below is the poem that inspired her.
Do it immediately;
Do it with prayer; Do it reliantly, casting all care; Do it with reverence, Tracing His Hand, Who placed it before thee with Earnest command. Stayed on Omnipotence, Safe ‘neath His wing, Leave all resultings, DO THE NEXT THING.
(an old Saxon poem)
I am comforted because we know that in the end we will see God's glory:
I Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
I've been a lukewarm Christian. I made plans and pushed on with my life without consulting God. It was when my two year old sent me to my knees that I finally surrendered my life to Jesus. Today Pastor Steve Walker of Canyon Hills Community church in Bothell, WA started a study on the book of Jude. We are warned about a lukewarm Christian life. First, we learn how much God loves us, and then we are tasked with preserving purity both in ourselves and in the church.
Many churches have studied Romans this year. I noticed echos of Romans in Jude. In Romans 1 we are told to avoid every kind of sexual sin:
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, mencommitting shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Then next, because of the sexual sin, God gave them over to even more sin:
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
In like manner Jude calls Christians to persevere in these last days. The last verse of Jude is sung in the You Tube below:
I love singing the last verse of Jude as a doxology. It gives glory to God for keeping us from falling.
I enjoy second place. It makes for less pressure and stress. Unfortunately I've been forced to replace the person who was first place several times.
In 1964 I was EWU ROTC Sponsor Corps vice commander. Sadly for me the commander quit school and got married. I had to take over. I had no idea what I was doing. Somehow I muddled through with help from some of the Sponsor Corps members and some of the R.O.T.C. cadets.
In 1966 when the Spokane School district was desperate for teachers the Dean of EWU Women talked me into teaching at an elementary school in Spokane. She happened to be the substitute teacher who needed replacing!
One time in 1970 I showed up for work at the library in Spokane. I was told that I had to replace a librarian in a movie that was being shot that day.
I believe that my mom was competitive but my dad was not. I don't know if that is true. But if it is true I tend to take after my dad.
I am awestruck every time I see the Olympic athletes put everything they have into their sport. Maybe if I had been more competitive I would have achieved more with my life. But then again God will give us the desires of our hearts if we are obedient and follow Him. My desire was to be second place and spend more time having fun!
I particularly liked this article about the Olympics by John Stonestreet. Click here to read.
Olympic Stories More Lovely Than Silver and More Costly Than Gold
Left to right Uncle Ernest, Uncle Hollis, Grandma Isabel, my dad David --1977 --photo by Chris
The first story my mom related about Uncle Ernest, (5 November 1916 to 15 January 1980), was that she was on the North Central High School journalism staff with him. One day he took her books from her and threw them down the school hallway. She was stunned. Then he went and picked up her books and gave them to her. He asked her out on a date. When she went home and told her family that she had been invited out, her older sister Evelyn, insisted that my mom get dates for her and their friend so that they could go as a group. When my mom told Ernest that her sister and their friend wanted to be included, Ernest brought his two brothers, Hollis (25 May 1912 to 10 November 1985), and David (22 June 1914 to 11 March 2003), along with him. From then on my mom and dad were a couple. Uncle Ernest met is wife Emily when he attended the Pilgrims Club at the Congregational/ United Church of Christ. Both couples were married in 1939-- Ernest and Emily in September and Dave and Grace in November. Hollis and Jeanne were married in March of 1940.
The second story my mom told happened when I was two years old in 1945. We were enjoying a day at a beach. My mom loved to swim so she asked my Uncle Ernest if he would watch me. Ernest assumed that I would be like my brother, Jay, and cousin Kit, and play in the sand. No such luck. I took off after my mom and jumped off the dock into the deep water. Ernest had all of his shoes and clothes on but jumped in after me and brought me to shore. He assumed I wouldn't do that again. Unfortunately I took off again and jumped in and he had to rescue me again.
When I was a senior in high school Uncle Ernest advised me to develop a passion about something, and to choose that as a major in college. I developed a passion for boys and dated as many as I could!
When I was in college Uncle Hollie gave me a whole bag of candy bars. I was very popular in the dorm as long as they lasted. When our daughter, Heather, was born, he built a rocking horse for her. She still has it and used it with her children.
Hollis photo by Chris
Rocking horse by Hollis
I'm thankful that Uncle Ernest out lived his mother, Isabel,(26 March 1887 to 3 September 1979), by a year. It is too difficult for a parent to loose a child to death.
My dad chose II Corinthians 12:9 as his life verse for the grave markers below -- "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
