First Love

Jesus told the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) that the only issue He had with them was that they had left their first love.  But He didn’t tell us what that meant.  Supposedly the Ephesians knew what He was talking about.

Reading the preceding verses, it’s hard to imagine what they were missing.  The were some pretty active church folk, as we might say today.  They were hard workers, did not tolerate evil, tested people who claimed to be apostles, and hung in there through a lot of struggles without growing weary and giving up.  Isn’t that a pretty glowing list of accomplishments?  So what else do you want? 

I don’t know about the Ephesians, but as I meditated over this passage this past week, I know what it means to me.  You might get the idea that I meditate over scripture often.  But I don’t.  I’m a busy guy, doing a fair amount of church work, and a fair amount of other things (school, family, work).  About the only time I really sit down and meditate over scripture is when I’m on the road, and there isn’t much else to do in a hotel room.  And I’m about to get busy with my capstone project (one more semester of classes, and this capstone project and I’ll be finished with school). 

Not only will that project consume a lot of time, but I know there are a number of time nibblers I need to turn away from in order to get back to my first love – reading and meditating over scripture, and walking daily with my Lord.

So, I’m taking a break from this blog for a bit – not closing down the site, but it may be a while before I’m back.  I’ll send an email to the people I know are reading, and maybe post on note on my Facebook wall when I return (there won’t be much there, either).

1000 Word Essay

Slow and Easy

P.S. NO I did NOT take this picture while driving; the truck was parked in the lot next to my office in the refinery.

Variety

The wonders of technology include attending class on-line, in pursuit of a so-called higher education.  And, if by chance I’m not able to be “in” class at the appointed hour, it can be recorded for my viewing pleasure at my leisure.  Since I wasn’t able to attend class this past week, I downloaded the recordings and spent an afternoon at Starbucks (inside Barnes & Noble) watching class.  Watching a recorded class is just as boring as watching it live at home.  There were, however, some distractions.  People watching, to be exact. 

What would you expect to see people doing at the Barnes & Noble coffee shop?  Here’s what I saw (some things you’d expect, some not):

• reading books from the store (are they previewing, or “stealing” reading time?)
• talking on the phone
• checking email
• highlighting workbooks (for some other class?)
• eating fried chicken (from Kroger’s, with ketchup), after polishing off a Starbuck’s muffin
• comparing used cars in Consumer Reports
• playing dominoes
• sharing conversation over a cup of coffee with a friend
• table hopping (visiting with people at multiple tables)
• reading the newspaper
• having a snack while the rest of the family is shopping
• reading a STACK of magazines and books (and leaving them on the table when finished),
• dozing off….oh, wait, that’s me!

A good reminder that while we were all created in God’s image, His definition of image must surely be different than mine – because there is not only an incredible variety of physical shapes, sizes, and looks, but a really interesting variety of habits we all have.  What an awesome creation we are!

Remembering Mom

There’s no telling when it will come, but someday I expect we’ll be getting another poem from Whitney.  My dad called on Saturday morning and simply said “Mama’s gone.”  I wanted to ask “gone where?”  Like, the hospital (again)?  or the store? (couldn’t be; she can’t get out by herself).  You know how your mind can think a thousand thoughts in a fraction of a second – and then it stops.  And I knew what he meant.  And I didn’t know what to say.  “Oh.  Uh.  Okay.  Umm. Uh.  I’ll get some things together and be there this afternoon.”  Mom had been sick for so long, and I had prayed many times for some kind of healing or relief for her suffering, that there really was no shock, and no breakdown crying.  Mostly worrying about Dad and whether he was doing okay.  And some measure of thanksgiving that she passed peacefully.

 While I knew that my mother was loved by a lot of people, I didn’t really know the extent of lives she touched until her funeral earlier this week.  Most of the people in her small church family are either family, or friends she’s known since she was a kid.  One of them said, commenting on her ailments of the last 20 years, said that if you only met her in the last 20 years you really didn’t know her.  And there were so many people at her funeral and visitation that met her before that time.  People she worked with (she stopped working a LONG time ago), people Dad worked with, people she went to high school with, people she went to grade-school with (yes, they called it grade-school “in those days”), people who lived near her (one lady who signed the guest book listed her address on the first street Mom and Dad lived on; Dad doesn’t know who she is).  Kids I grew up with in the neighborhood.  People who came from 100+ miles away. 

 Everyone thinks their own mom is the best mom.  There were a lot of people here this week who told me so.  I am so thankful that she is no longer suffering, and now I can stop worrying about her pain and start remembering the good things she brought to so many lives (including mine).  And now, I’m praying Dad will continue to keep his routine, and his days will be filled with all the tinkering and gadgetry that he loves.

Basic Bread

When I first considered starting a blog (two or three years ago), I thought about calling it “Basic Bread,” because at the time I was really focused on bread – in a lot of ways.  I decided against that title because I didn’t want to be bound by trying to feed my mass of 5 or 6 readers some deep spiritual insight on a regular basis.  Not that I think I’ve got any deep insight – just a few interesting musings (well, interesting to me anyway).

But, I’m thinking about bread again.  I’ve always been a food lover – I’m (almost) ashamed to say that I live to eat, but I’m trying really hard to learn to eat to live.  As much as I enjoy food, bread was never high on my list of goodies to seek out.  It was always just a bland, tasteless filler.  Debbie, on the other hand, loves bread.  And a couple of years ago I caught on.

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but at some point I connected John 6:32-35 with physical bread on my table.

Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.  For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”  They said therefore to Him, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.”  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life…”

Jesus is compared to lots of things in the Bible (my other favorite is light).  Why bread?  And then it occurred to me that despite the vast differences in foods across time and cultures, there is one constant among every culture that has ever existed.  Bread.  The most basic food of all cultures.  You might think fresh fruit or vegetables are more basic because we can just pick them and eat them as-is – as He gave them to us, with no preparation.  But, there is no fruit or vegetable that is common to EVERY culture since the creation.  EVERYBODY eats bread.

So what better way for Jesus to define himself – as the most basic element of our subsistence and survival.  In that same verse, he also mentions that living in Him will satisfy your thirst, too.  He will fill our most basic need.

And now I’ve added a good, hearty artisan loaf of bread to the (long) list of foods I enjoy – particularly when I think about Him while I’m eating it.