Attending Worship

Not long ago, the world watched as three gray whales, icebound off Point Barrow, Alaska floated battered and bloody, gasping for breath at a hole in the ice. Their only hope: somehow to be transported five miles past the icepack to open sea.

Rescuers began cutting a string of breathing holes about twenty yards apart in the six-inch ice. For eight days they coaxed the whales from one hole to the next, mile after mile. Along the way, one of the trio vanished and was presumed dead but finally, with the help of Russian icebreakers, two of the whales swam to freedom.

In a way, worship is a string of breathing holes the Lord provides his people. Bruised and battered in a world frozen over with greed, selfishness, and hatred, we rise for air in church, a place to breathe again, to be loved and encouraged, until that day when the Lord forever shatters the ice cap. How is your attendance at worship these days?

On a medical note: the good news to report is that my bili-rubin is now in the single digits at 8.5 and we give thanks and praise to our God for this!!!!!!! My next MRI is scheduled for August 17th. Thank you for all of your prayers and concern.

Venting, Whining and Complaining

Reportedly, we spend a third of our life eating, and a third of our life sleeping. I believe we spend the last third of our life complaining or venting about everyday grievances. When we complain it is with a sense of discontent with people, things or circumstances. We imply that God is not doing His work properly, that if He would only trust us with His work, everything would be solved - and in quicker time, too. Are women the complaining sex? Well, everyone complains, but in one study, when a doctor (female) asked subjects to write down as many personal annoyances as they could come up with, women jotted down nearly four times as many as the men did. I am certain that the Israelites in Numbers 11 were made up of men and women who complained about the absence of fish, cucumbers, melons, onions, garlic and more. God was totally displeased with their attitudes. If you and I are to be blameless sons of God in the midst of a crooked country, we need to take serious God's command in Philippians 2:13 to do all things without murmuring and complaining. Maybe the best antidote is to read Psalm 103 daily until the habit of complaining is broken.

On a health note, blood was drawn today. We are hoping that the results will show continued movement in the right direction in respect to the liver.

Flesh and Spirit in Opposition

I heard some dog owners recently tell their dogs, "Stop barking." This was followed up by further commands such as "stop scratching." Some dog owners lengthen the list with orders to stop chasing. We often tell our own dogs to stop eating solar lights, water sprinkler heads, plants from the greenhouse and more. I have a tendency not to recognize that dogs will be dogs and engage in dog-like behavior. People are the ones created in the image of God and Christians have a new nature and should manifest a different standard of behavior. We don't have to yell at our children with the excuse, "I'm just tired." We don't have to engage in envy with the excuse that I wasn't really coveting those things. Paul states in Galatians 4:17, "For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." We need to rid ourselves of the illusion that personal freedom is the paramount priority. We need to subordinate our fleshly responses to the Spirit-controlled temperament. Believers need to stop making excuses, rationalizations and justifications for wrong behavior. "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." (Gal. 5:25)

Medical update: the good news we received today is that my 5th MRI showed no change from those previously - it was clear! We give thanks to God for His loving kindness and answer to our prayers.