I have a friend who has his pilot's license and a plane. One of my favorite things to do is go flying with him. We flew today, but it was different than before. For the first time, we were an Angel Flight. (Angel Flight Central's mission is to "Serve people in need by arranging charitable flights for health care or other humanitarian purposes.") We supplied the 2nd leg of a 3 leg series of flights to take a woman to the Mayo Clinic. What a cool experience, and I hope there are more opportunities in the future. Below are a few miscellaneous observations from our trip today (not all related to being an Angel Flight and not necessarily all spiritual).

• It is more blessed to give than receive. Doesn't giving feel good? Try it! God has blessed us with so much. How could we not seek to be a blessing to others. Thankful for my pilot friend's good example of this.
• Perspective matters -
  
  • We spent some time today cruising above the clouds at 8,000+ feet. The ride was smooth, the sky was blue, the sun was bright, the clouds were white and puffy below, the ground invisible.
    
  • We spent some time under the clouds. The ride was bumpy, the sky and sun were invisible, the clouds (and the day) were gray.
    
  • We also spent some time in the clouds where all was white.
    
  • And there were various combinations of these.
  • Same clouds. Very different perspectives of the very same reality. I hope I remember that when facing trials. 
• God's power is unmatched. Now He has given man a planet full of resources and the abilities to cultivate those resources. Man has created machines that fly! But the greatest technological achievements of mankind bow before the power of the Creator. At times today we had a cruising speed of around 90 knots and at other times 170 knots. The difference? Sometimes we had a headwind and at other times we had a tailwind. Same plane. Very different results depending on the direction of travel. And God can send weather that won't let us fly at all. Men are amazing creators that reflect His creativity, but He is THE Creator.
• Little things matter - I'll not try to fully explain these here. Feel free to do some reading on your own if you're an aviation junky or just relentlessly curious. But the smallest things can have a huge impact on whether your plane stays in the air or not. There's all sorts of lessons to learn here from being careful on your homework to indulging just a little sin in your heart to whether you put a T or t of salt in a recipe. 
  • Pitot Tubes - (pronounced Pee-toh) - if this little guy gets iced over it can affect the accuracy of the instruments that show airspeed, altitude, and rate of climb/descent. When you're in the middle of the clouds and you're totally dependent on your instruments, you really need that Pitot tube to function correctly. But on a cold day in the clouds is when it's most likely to get iced over. That's why there's a Pitot tube heater. Make sure the switch for that heater is on when there's icing potential.
  • Altimeter settings - the accuracy of the instrument (altimeter) that measures the altitude of the aircraft depends on having the correct barometric pressure setting. If you don't update that setting for the locale where you're flying, you may not have an accurate reading on your altitude. Again. This can be the difference between staying in the air or not.

Loads of fun today. Hope you enjoyed a little window into the ride. Thanks to my friend, Chuck for the good flight and for his careful study and practice of aviation. 

Ever notice this about Hebrews 11:32-38?

• A young wife and mother of 6, known for her cheerfulness and heart to serve. 36
• A wife, mother, grandmother, and remarkably talented pianist who shared her gift for God's glory and to bless others. 62
• A husband, father, and grandfather who loved the church. 74
• A husband, father, grandfather, and pastor who shepherded his sheep and couldn't help but smile and make you smile.  57

All of these are people I am glad to say I knew to some degree or another. But they all departed this life too soon, all within the last five months. I was at three of the funerals and saw part of another online. The brief word given to each of them above can't begin to describe who they were. If any of them were your friends, you know that. The crowded churches at their funerals (in some cases, standing room only) tell you that. What can we say in the face of such loss?

1. I've written about this before, but I don't mind saying it again. I HATE death. Death takes away people we love. Death is not natural. Death reminds us of sin and exists because of sin. Death is evil. Death makes us hurt and grieve to depths we didn't know were possible. 1 Corinthians 15:26 "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." Death is the enemy. When we understand this reality, it becomes clear that grief is a good and right and legitimate response to facing such an evil enemy. Jesus wept over the death of his friend. Just before that, Jesus had declared himself to be the resurrection and the life, and he knew he was about to raise his friend from the dead! His weeping did not negate the reality of the resurrection or his confidence in it. Or we could say, the reality of the resurrection didn't eliminate his weeping in the face of death
2. One day, death will be conquered. The resurrection of Jesus guarantees it, and that is comforting. When he comes back and the dead are raised, "...then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). For now, death still stings. Deeply. But once Jesus comes again, death will be defeated. The certain confidence of that future reality enables believers in Christ to grieve with hope in the present.
3. Death is coming for every person unless Christ comes back first. Either way, all will stand before God the judge to receive their due. Only those who in this life have put their faith in Christ have hope for the next life.
4. It is a moving thing to see fitting tribute paid to sweet servants of the King when they depart this earth. When you live in such a way that you are a genuine blessing to the people all around you, those people will miss you; they will mourn your loss; and they may well show up in droves to your funeral to grieve with and comfort your family and to worship. And that brings praise to the God you serve. That is a life well-lived. That is the kind of life I want to live.

I wish we didn't have to think about death. But praise the sovereign God that we have Christ Jesus the conquering Savior to give us hope as we face that last enemy.

I haven't posted around here for awhile. Nothing since June 27, to be a bit more exact. Remarkably, the world has continued to spin without my musings to get you through the day. So I don't anticipate that this post will be life changing either, but perhaps just an encouragement to continue on the way towards a greater day, relying on the strength of the One alone who can get you there.

Some of you will know that back in 2011 I went into a black hole of a place in my life. I was low: full of doubt, fear, anxiety, worry, and uncertainty. It's not my purpose here to get into what happened and why. Rather I want to give you an example of one of the things that was helpful during that time and in the days since. It could be summed in 3 statements and is the accumulated wisdom of various authors and faithful people in my life. (Some of you have heard this from me before.)

1. Talk to yourself, don't listen to yourself.
2. Stick with what you know, not how you feel.
3. Fight the Devil's lie with God's truth.

Really, those 3 statements are different ways of saying essentially the same thing. And if you've every found yourself overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings of despair, fear, doubt, worry, anxiety, etc., you may well know the value of speaking God's truth to yourself. Well, I recently came across an example of this in Psalm 77.

It sounds like the Psalmist (Asaph) is in a black hole of his own. Psalm 77:1-4 "I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. (Selah) You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak." Been there before? It's scary, isn't it? But I love that the Psalmist doesn't stay there.

Psalm 77:5-6 "I consider the days of old, the years long ago. I said, 'Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.' Then my spirit made a diligent search..." Notice how he talks to himself. And here's something that struck me. Fighting the lie with the truth isn't easy. We have to force ourselves to meditate on the truth. It will require a "diligent search." Fighting fear and depression is war; it takes work to preach truth to yourself.

And then it seems like we get a window into some of the troubling thoughts he was struggling with. Psalm 77:7-9 "'Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?' (Selah)" Ever felt that way? Thankfully, these five questions answer themselves. No. God has not forgotten or failed to love his people. He never has and he never will. But when the doubt and worry come, you'll have to work to remind yourself of that reality.

Psalm 77:10-14 "Then I said, 'I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.' I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples." He goes on to enumerate some of God's mighty deeds. And so should we - examples from Scripture and history and our own lives. It's hard to look back when the present is so overwhelming, but it's worth the effort to realign our perspective

Beautiful example of the struggling psalmist getting a hold of himself and reminding himself of what he knew to be true about God when what he felt was far different. We would do well to do the same.

Have you ever been frustrated with the slow process of sanctification...in someone else? Go ahead, raise your hand. No one's going to see you on your phone or at your computer. Unless you're at Starbucks. But you've been frustrated, right? You see a brother or sister in Christ and you wish that they knew better; or even worse, they do know better but it seems they aren't doing anything about it. They should be much further along in maturity, self-control, serving the saints, Sabbath keeping, honoring their parents or whatever it is that's bothering you. Interestingly we are often quick to spot faults in others which may be relative strengths in our own lives. But we're not so quick to identify our own shortcomings. (Just FYI, someone else is probably frustrated with your and my slow progress in some area too.)

So what should you do if you find yourself frustrated with another's slow growth in grace? Well, Scripture does call us to encourage and exhort one another, to confront others in their sin, and point them to the Savior. But God's Word also gives us some ideas on how to do that. You probably aren't surprised that we are not to encourage and challenge one another as holier-than-thou saints looking down our noses at our morally challenged brothers and sisters. So how should we seek to help one another on the way to glory? Two thoughts.

1. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” Yes! I get to admonish, encourage, and help people. I know at least 3 lazy people that need a kick in the pants. I'll get right on that. Well. We do need the family of God to come along side and admonish and encourage and help. But don't miss the last command in this verse. Be patient with all; with the idle, the fainthearted, the weak; with that person you're so frustrated with. Patience is the order of the day. Bear and suffer long with them. Rejoice in even the smallest baby steps in the right direction.
2. Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” Add some gentleness to your patience and your admonishing will likely be better received and more effective. 

I'm not saying don't say anything. No! We need to encourage and challenge one another. But we would also do well to remember how patient God has been with our painfully slow growth in grace. We would do well to remember the gentleness of God toward us. And that, friends, requires humility. So go help your brother or sister. But go humbly, recognizing your own weakness. Go gently. Go understanding that change often doesn't happen overnight. Have patience as you remember God's patience with you.

The other day, I did one of the most interesting, fun (and probably some other adjectives) things I've done in a long time: a ride along with a Warsaw Police Department officer. He used to be my neighbor and one day asked if I'd like to come with him on one of his shifts. Of course, I said yes! And so on a Thursday evening from 5pm-10:30pm or so I got to go on patrol in a WPD squad car with one of Warsaw's finest. Here are a few miscellaneous observations from the time. (I loved it, by the way.)

• My idyllic life on Lincoln Street is very different than the struggle for existence on ______ Street across town.
• So far, my reasons for needing the police in my life (to protect and serve) are not the same as the reasons many folks need them (to correct and intervene). Who makes me to differ? It's all grace.
• People in certain neighborhoods know the officers by name. They're there a lot.
• If you mess with the police (run, hide, generally be stupid), they don't like it.
• People call the cops for, um, less than important things.
• I learned how to profile! Cars, people, not racial profiling. Some cars are begging to have their plates run and be pulled over.
• Driving fast, lights on, siren blaring, and people getting out of your way is fun. 
• I don't think I've heard as much profanity as I did last night since playing soccer in high school and a year in college (not, by the way, from the officer I was riding with).
• If there's a police car behind you there's a good chance your plates are being run.
• Juvenile detention is not a place you want to go.
• Not every kid who goes there is a complete jerk. Some might actually ride peacefully the whole way with no need for handcuffs, might say thank you to the officer who bought him a soda and m&ms, might listen respectfully to that officer encourage him to rethink his life and the choices he's making, and might listen and respectfully respond to a complete stranger sharing the gospel from the front seat. 
• There are still good cops out there.

Racial discrimination is not imaginary or a fabrication of the media or politicians. It is a fact. It may well be exacerbated and exaggerated by selective, inflammatory media reporting and camera hungry politicians, but it is not created by them. Racial discrimination comes out of proud, sinful hearts of men. (If you think it is imaginary, travel somewhere in our country or to another country where you are in the racial minority and see how it feels to have certain things assumed about you because of the color of your skin.)

Given this reality, should the church say anything about race and racism? It is the work of the church to proclaim the truth of God's Word. So, does God's Word have anything to say about the issue of race? The answer, of course, is yes. Quite a bit, actually. Here are a few examples. (This is NOT an exhaustive list. All references are from the ESV.)

• Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
• John 4:9 "The Samaritan woman said to him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?' (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)" 
• Romans 10:12 "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him."
• Colossians 3:11 "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all."
• Revelation 7:9-10 "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'"

Here are a few thoughts. They are not the only or the final thoughts or the thoughts to end all others. They are just some thoughts that I hope will be helpful and not hurtful.

First, scriptural principles regarding race we can draw based on the passages above (and others).

1. All men are created in the image of God. The same Lord is Lord of all. Red, brown, yellow, black, and white (and every shade in between). All are precious in his sight. When David says the Lord knitted him together in his mother's womb and that he was fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14), we are to understand that God does this with EVERY human being - not just David and not just the ones who are the color we like best.
2. Men, out of sinful hearts, produce all sorts of evil, including racism. Because we are proud, races of men (or other classifications - gender, giftedness, nationality, socioeconomic status) will view themselves as better than others and act accordingly. This is sinful. Period. James 2:1.9 "My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory...But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors." In between verses 1&9, the example is economic status, but the principle applies across the board: show no partiality.
3. Jesus challenged racial and national prejudice and division. He associated with and spoke highly of Samaritans with whom the Jews had nothing to do. (See the woman at the well in John 4, the one leper out of ten who thanked Jesus in Luke 17, and the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10.) And of course he came to bring light to Jew and Gentile alike.
4. Those in Christ have far more in common than the things that separate them; so much so that Paul can say there is no Jew/Gentile, male/female, etc. He's not arguing for flattening of racial or gender distinctions. He's showing the depth of the bond in Christ; this trumps every other distinction, and it will be so for all eternity.

Now, a few thoughts on how to apply these principles.

1. Love your neighbor as yourself; no exception clauses there. Jesus' model of one who loved their neighbor (Luke 10:25-37) was from a hated class of people in Judea: the Samaritans. In world where little love is shown within a race let alone between races, our light should shine brightly here. Racial tension may flare in various places around our land, but let it not flare in our hearts towards the people around us. Perhaps as with marriage, our best witness and help to the world around us might not be shouting the definition of marriage, but a church full of joyful, thriving, Christ-centered, God-honoring marriages. I don't think this will solve all problems, but if the church doesn't get race (or marriage) right in our churches and communities, we shouldn't expect the rest of the world to. I don't mean to suggest that I or our church get this exactly right. I love GBC, but the lack of racial diversity makes me sad.
2. John 4:39 "Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me all that I ever did.'" Great good came because Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman. Would our prejudices have kept us from speaking to her? Do they keep us from speaking to other races today? Worse, do we demean other races by our words to them or about them? We should be gladly engaging the lost, whatever their race, with the gospel of Christ. Right after Romans 10:12 cited above, we read, "For 'everyone [Jew and Greek] who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?'" (Rom. 10:13-14). Christ must be proclaimed to all races under heaven! If your practice is to mock other races, don't deceive yourself into thinking you'd gladly share the gospel with them given the opportunity.
3. Get comfortable with other races now, because they'll all be around the throne worshiping in heaven! As we are to strive for likeness to Christ in every other area, we must here as well. Then when we see him, we will be like him, and every trace of racism will be removed from our hearts. Just one more reason to look forward to heaven.

Last Sunday evening, Pastor Jason Webb from Grace Fellowship Church in Bremen, IN (the church that planted GBC) came and preached for us during our Lord's Supper service. What a good word from God he brought to us that night! It was so good that I want to tell you about it. I was foolish enough to neglect to record it, so you can't listen to it, but you can read my limited thoughts on it in this post. I also managed to dig it out of the archives from when he preached that message at GFC and you can listen that iteration here. (What follows is a mixture of Pastor Jason's message and my own thoughts triggered by what he preached.)

In a day when the Lord's Day is largely marginalized and unimportant (and that's among Christians!), it was refreshing to be reminded of what makes for a truly good Sunday evening. Jason opened up John 20:19-20 to show us what happened on the night of the Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord."

So  what makes for a good Sunday evening? John 20:19-20 describes a pretty remarkable one, and we heard 4 things that made it so for the disciples:

1. Who they met. Jesus was there! The disciples met their RISEN Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ there in that room. The presence of Jesus makes for a very good Sunday night.
2. What they heard. "Peace be with you." They heard that they, though they were sinners, though they had abandoned their Savior when they most needed to stand by him, though they were cowering in fear that night, still they could have peace. This is the good news of the gospel, that sinful man can be reconciled, at peace, with the very God against whom they have rebelled.
3. What they saw. They saw his hands and his side, signs of his dying love. They saw that his blood had been shed for their sins. With Jesus sin never has the last word; his love does.
4. How they felt. Joyful! The fearful, mourning disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

That's a good Sunday night indeed, and as we gathered around the Lord's table to worship this message warmed my soul and encouraged me that I was in exactly the right place. Because Sunday night, Jesus met with us. We heard the good news that sinners like us at war with God can have peace with him because of Jesus. We saw signs of his dying love in the bread and the cup. And we were glad in contemplating these realities. 

It's interesting. When we treat the Lord's Day like it's our day so that we can do more of what we want because we think that will be good for us, we actually miss out on the real blessing of what the Lord's Day should be.  

Be careful what you preach. You may have to practice it. 

Some time ago, I preached on trusting in the Lord - not our skills, talents, money, houses, alliances, jobs, wisdom, strength, and for good measure I even threw in "the cloud." You see, I tend to trust in the cloud. I feel quite confident in my ability to survive a computer crash because I save most files to the cloud. They're not stored locally on my computer, so I can access them from any computer. But I noted as I preached that even the cloud can fail you. I know that. But even after preaching it, I still trusted the cloud.

And so this past Thursday night before going to bed, I turned on my (not quite 5 month old) computer. Except it didn't turn on. Stone cold dead. No indicator lights. No powering down after holding the power button down. No sign of life. Nothing. Did I panic? Nope. Was it because of my confidence that God was in control. Sadly, no. It was because: the cloud! Sure, earlier that day, I had put together about 7 or 8 pages (out of a usual 12 or so total) of my sermon for the coming Sunday. But I went to bed without qualms. I knew I could fire up my old computer or borrow Erin's and be back in business; finish off the last few pages of the sermon, clean it all up and be good to go for Sunday. I did get out my old computer that night so it could start updating since I hadn't used it in a few months. I was so confident and at peace, that I didn't even try find or open the sermon file that night or even Friday morning, for that matter. I was not pleased that a fairly new computer wasn't working, but figuring out the problem wasn't urgent, and it was still under warranty.  

Some time around or after lunch on Friday I got on my old computer and went to the trusted cloud to fetch my sermon and start working on it again. You know that sinking feeling in your gut? The one you get when you're pretty sure something bad has happened, but you're not quite sure. Yup. Sermon wasn't there. I poked around and couldn't find it. I was not a boiling pot of rage, but I was pretty sad and stressed about how to get my sermon done. I'll spare you a blow by blow of my afternoon trying to get my computer on again to find the file, finally giving up (quite aware that all the time I spent running around doing that I could have been re-writing my sermon).

And so, the sermon I preached yesterday was not quite the one I originally wrote on Thursday. I am aware that losing 2/3 of a sermon on a Friday afternoon is not the end of the world. Unpleasant as it was, no big deal in the big picture. The point is more that all too often my trust is misplaced. Cloud = peace. No cloud = less peace. Something's wrong with that picture. We're supposed to rest easy in the arms of our faithful Savior who is always with us. If it takes a lost sermon to remind me of that, then good. Hopefully I will learn and grow. We can be thankful for our health, strength, friends, houses, jobs, wisdom, bank accounts, and yes, even the cloud. But if we ultimately trust in those things, we will be disappointed. We have misplaced our trust. That's something that we will never be able to say about faith fixed on our faithful God and Savior. In him our trust is never misplaced and it will never be disappointed.

(For those of you freaking out that you could have found my sermon for me, etc. Here's what I think happened. Thursday I was working at my "other office," Martin's, where I sometimes have trouble connecting to their network. I think that in the absence of an internet connection, files set to save to "the cloud" are saved locally on the computer and synced to the cloud the next time you are online. That' no problem, unless your computer crashes before the next time you connect to the internet. And it looks like the problem with the computer may be the power cord. Time will tell.  I'll still use the cloud. But I hope my faith will more truly be in the Lord.)

Recently the Center for Medical Progress has posted a series of undercover videos exposing some of the atrocities being carried out at Planned Parenthood (PP) affiliates across the nation. If you have not seen them, they are painful to watch. It is disgusting and heart rending. But you should watch them anyway. The videos (and more are expected) have pulled back the veil on "pro-choice" rhetoric and euphemisms. And that leads me to what you'll find below. These are certainly not original thoughts, just a compilation of things I've seen from others and my thoughts. These will make more sense if you've seen one or more of the videos. 

If it’s just a blob of cells or products of conception...

• ...then why are the videos such a concern?
  
• ...then why did PP apologize for the tone of the first video?
  
• ...then why is PP talking about harvesting liver, tissue, head, heart, lungs?
  
• ...then why is PP so concerned about pointing out that only 3% of their services are abortion? (That figure is profoundly misleading. Here's one example of an article that exposes why.)

If it’s just a fetus...

• ...then why did a PP worker say, “And another boy” while digging through the "products of conception.

If it’s really about women’s rights and women's health services...

• ...then why are abortion techniques being altered in the best interest of preserving fetal body parts instead of considering the best interest of the woman in whom the "products of conception" are found?     
  
• ...then why should abortion be "rare"? (Though abortion advocates seem to me to be drifting away from the old mantra of safe, legal, and rare.)

If it’s not about the $...

• ...then why is PP willing to negotiate the cost of "specimens"?
  
• ...then why are the videos being attacked as unethical, heavily edited, etc.?

Now, go through and replace the "If it's..." with "Because it's not..." and you'll have your answer to the "then why..." questions. Please don't be silent on this issue or bury your head in the sand as though you don't know what's going on. The veil has been pulled back. May God use this as a tipping point in our land to bring to an end the evil of killing the unborn. Make no mistake. This is the human rights issue of our time. May we be courageous to give voice to the voiceless. You can sign a petition calling for congressional investigation here.

Add further "If...then..." thoughts in the comments below or on the facebook post.