The Adventures of Superman first debuted on television on September 19, 1952.  At least that is the generally accepted date.  Others dispute it, but we are going with that one today.  Based upon comic book characters created in 1938, it starred George Reeves and Phyllis Coates the first year, then Reeves and Noel Niell afterward as Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane.  The show ran for six seasons.
            I realize I am dating myself but I remember afternoon showings in the 60s (reruns) of the old black and white version.  I enjoyed it at that age, but I never really understood how Superman could change clothes in a glass phone booth and no one notice, and why everyone was fooled when Clark Kent took off his glasses.  Then I started wondering how many suits he had and where they went to in all those phone booths.  I realize that I am not supposed to wonder those things, just accept that a man can transform himself instantly into an unrecognizable superhero with a clothes change and a laughably minimal disguise.  At least when Captain Marvel came along in my own children's time, a lightning bolt transformed him instantly.  Now that made more sense.
            But I have seen instant transformation before.  Some kind and pleasant folks, when they get behind the wheel, instantly become impatient, self-centered monsters.  It's all about their schedules, their convenience, and people in their way.  I have also seen it in check-out lines at the grocery store.  The same man who kindly reached a box on a high shelf for me, or the woman who asked a question about which brand of coffee I preferred and then politely thanked me for the information, will, when the line is long and the progress slow, begin huffing and puffing in irritation, heave great sighs of annoyance, and constantly look over to other lines to see if everyone is as slow as this old person in front of her who can't seem to find her wallet in that monstrosity of a carpetbag.
            The Bible does talk about transformation—but not those kinds. 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2Cor 5:17).
…put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and…put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:22-24).
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2).
            Those transformations often take longer than a lightning bolt or even a clothes change, but our commitment to Christ at baptism is supposed to enable it along.  Renewing our minds in study and meditation, living lives of righteousness and holiness rather than clinging to the old worldliness, and striving to do the will of the Father, Paul tells us in the above passages, will all help us in that transformation.  And whenever we find ourselves in those situations that used to transform us into ogres instantly, plan ahead, think ahead, and remember that we are no longer that old person.  We tossed him in the garbage where he belongs.  We are new creatures.  We don't need a phone booth on the corner because this transformation should be forever.
 
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).
 
Dene Ward

Lucas lives five minutes from the beach.  On our first visit we drove across Santa Rosa Sound and strolled the white sand beach, watching the sandpipers’ maniacal little legs dodging the last remnant of a wave as it crept across the shiny wet sand, and looked across the emerald green water for the first sign of a dolphin breaking the surface while the seagulls screamed overhead hoping for an errant crust or dropped crumb.  We plodded along, our feet sinking into the mud, leaning into westerly winds that would blow the curls right out of your hair, our words caught just as they slipped out of our mouths and blown away like dust bunnies in a fan.
            We weren’t alone.  Pale-skinned tourists in floppy sunhats scoured the beach for shells.  Children played tag with the waves.  Older tweens and teens, their hands and legs breaded with sand, carried pails of mud for sandcastles and sculptures, and gathered shells and driftwood for ornamentation.  Lovers of all ages strolled hand in hand, eyes only for one another.
            The beach itself is lined with condos, ten or more stories of glittering glass, reflecting the sun, balconies furnished with umbrella-ed tables and cushioned chairs and potted plants of the sort than can tolerate the sun, the heat, and the salt spray that constantly drifts over the narrow spit of land between the surf and the sound.
            “Wonder what one of those costs?” we often ask, telling ourselves we would never tire of the view and the calming rhythm of waves pounding the shore again and again and again.
            But guess what?  Before long we’d had enough and we piled back into the car for the five minute drive back to the apartment.  The first time we visited, we walked on the beach three times in three days, but soon it was down to one almost obligatory visit, and this past visit?  We didn’t go a single time.
            It’s easy to get used to things.  When we moved to Illinois for two years, I saw snow for the first time in my 21 years of life.  Guess who was out playing in it, digging tunnels through eave-high drifts, throwing snowballs with mittened hands, and building snowmen?  All of our neighbors stayed inside where it was warm, peering through their blinds at the crazy people from Florida.
            A few weeks ago a YouTube video went viral.  It pictured something not often seen these days—a young man helping a poor, elderly woman check out in a grocery line one item at a time because she was not sure she had enough money, and doing it with patience, respect, and kindness.  Isn’t it sad that something like that has become so rare that, just like a landlubber at the beach or a Floridian in the snow, everyone stops in their tracks to look?
            And isn’t it sad that some Christians need the example that young man set?  Giving courtesy and respect where it is deserved and even where it isn’t, yielding our rights, speaking with kindness, affording others the right to make the same mistakes we do without incurring our wrath, and realizing that not everyone operates on OUR timetables—THAT should be so common among us that no one gives it a second thought and certainly wouldn’t take a video of our actions as something rare—even behind a steering wheel.  Instead, we pat ourselves on the back for doing these things once every now and then.
            We should be like the waves incessantly breaking on this world with mercy, grace, and kindness, whether the shore is rough and rocky or flat and smooth.  No one ever questions whether the next wave will come.  It rolls in again and again, over and over and over without a break in the rhythm, so regularly that no one stops to say, “Look!  Here comes another wave.”  If it didn’t come, it wouldn’t be a wave.
            Are you a wave, or just an occasional splash?
 
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1Pet 2:12
 
Dene Ward

Croquet has a long and unsure history as a game.  The things we do know even seem to be in dispute.  Sometime in the early 1850s, a woman named Mary Workman-MacNaghten, whose father was a baronet in Ireland, went to a London toy maker named Isaac Spratt, and asked him to make a croquet set.  Her family had played the game long before she was born "by tradition," which means no written set of rules, using mallets made by local carpenters.  Her brother eventually wrote down the rules they used.  Spratt made some sets and printed out those rules.  He registered his creation with the Stationers' Company in 1856, but the copyright form gives the date as August 2, 1853, plenty of time for Lewis Carroll to make the game even more famous in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
            When our boys were in middle school we gave them a croquet set.  At first they seemed a little disappointed—croquet?  How boring.  Then we actually started playing and they discovered strategy, like whacking your opponent completely out of bounds with one of your free shots.  Now that was fun.
            We have settled down to annual games during the holidays whenever we get together.  It is the perfect way to let the turkey digest, and we usually wind up playing two or three times.  But that time of year means a less than clear playing field on what is already a rollercoaster lawn.  Our yard, you see, isn’t exactly a lawn.  It’s an old watermelon field, and though the rows have settled somewhat after thirty-odd years, we still have low spots, gopher holes, ant hills, and armadillo mounds.  But in the fall we also have sycamore leaves the size of paper plates, pine cones, piles of Spanish moss, and cast off twigs from the windy fronts that come through every few days between October and March.  You cannot keep it cleaned up if you want to do something besides yard work with your life.  So when you swing your mallet, no matter how carefully you have aimed, you never really know where your ball will end up.  We call it “ultimate croquet.”  Anyone who is used to a tabletop green lawn would be easy pickings for one of us—even me, the perennial loser.
            All those “hazards” make for an interesting game of croquet, but let me tell you something.  I have learned the hard way that an interesting life is not that great.  I have dug ditches in a flooding rainstorm, cowered over my children during a tornado, prayed all night during a hurricane, climbed out of a totaled car, followed an ambulance all the way to the hospital, hugged a seizing baby in my lap as we drove ninety down country roads to the doctor’s office, bandaged bullet wounds, hauled drinking water and bath water for a month, signed my life away before experimental surgeries—well, you get the picture. Give me dull and routine any day. 
            Dull and routine is exactly what Paul told Timothy to pray for.  I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men; for kings and all that are in high place; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Tim 2:1-5. 
            Did you catch that?  Pray that our leaders will do what is necessary for us to have a “tranquil and quiet life” so that all men can “come to a knowledge of the truth.”  God’s ministers cannot preach the gospel in a country where everyone is in hiding or running in terror from the enemy, where you never have enough security to sit down with a man and discuss something spiritual for an hour or so, where you wonder how you will feed your family that night, let alone the next day.  The Pax Romana was one of the reasons the gospel could spread—peace in the known world.  That along with the ease of travel because every country was part of the same empire and a worldwide language made the first century “the fullness of times” predicted in the prophets.
            I don’t have much sympathy for people who are easily bored, who seem to think that life must always be exciting or it isn’t worth living.  I am here to tell you that excitement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  And God gave us plenty to do during those dull, routine times.  It’s called serving others and spreading the Word.  If you want some excitement, try that.  It’s even better than Ultimate Croquet.
 
Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 1 Thes 4:9-11.
 
Dene Ward

I do a lot of self-editing.  When you write as much as I do, you spend just about as much time fixing your errors as making them in the first place.  I find typos and grammar mistakes, misplaced words, and especially missing words because, despite my age, my mind still works faster than my fingers. 
            Since I took several writing courses, both in high school and college, I find I spend the most time on word choice.  In the first place, you want concrete nouns and verbs—words that appeal to the senses, helping you to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel the action.  It will save words and that brevity in its very terseness will stress the point you are trying to make.  You need to avoid delayers ("there is," or "there are") whenever possible.  As their name implies, they delay the point you want to make and that, too, will dilute its power.  And you want to avoid passive voice if you can.  In scholarly works, or even simple expository writing, that is not always possible, but just a little effort will make your writing much easier to read and understand, and more likely to be remembered.
            Don't you wish we had time to edit our spoken words?  How many times have I said to myself, "I could have said that in a better way," or "I wish I hadn't said that at all?"
            You can see from the above that one of the things good writers try to do is omit extraneous words.  The same thing is true for watching your tongue.  The Proverb writer tells us that when words are many, transgression is not lacking (10:19), in other words, edit, edit, edit!  The less you say, the safer you will be.  James tells us how to accomplish that:  Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak… (Jas 1:19).  Slow down.  Listen and pay attention to what you hear.  Then think before you speak.  You are a lot less likely to need editing.
 
​Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble (Prov 21:23).
 
Dene Ward

As a former piano teacher for many years, I cannot help but give advice occasionally.  So I was listening to a young student play one day, a beginner actually, and noticed that he had a problem with his finger numbers.  If you will notice on your own hands, if you hold them out in front of you, they run the opposite from each other, with both thumbs in the middle.  So in piano, where playing with the incorrect finger can keep one from increasing facility and smooth playing, knowing which finger is which is fundamental.  I have always taught my beginners the little saying, "Tommy Thumb is finger 1, finger 3 is tallest finger, finger 5 if smallest finger."  Then I have them hold their hands together so that the fingers of each hand match, and count 1-2-3-4-5, moving the correct finger of each hand with each number.  Then when they spread their hands apart, they can see that the hands are mirror images of each other and do not run in the same direction.  It worked for forty years with countless students.
            So when I saw this little guy playing fingers 1—1—2-3-4---, when he should have been playing 5—5—5-4-3---, I knew he had not gotten the memo, so to speak.  After he finished playing (the whole left hand backwards), I applauded and complimented his rhythm and his touch and then asked if I could show him something.  He was an amenable little guy, so we went through the Tommy Thumb rhyme a couple of times, along with the rest of the routine.  He looked at me long and hard, then started playing again and played exactly the same thing—wrong.  Then he got up from the piano and flounced off, stopping only to turn around and say, "My thumb is NOT Tommy!"
            I must say that I laughed.  It was funny.  And it was new for me, something that had never happened before.  But then, maybe it had.
            A long, long time ago, God sent the prophet Nathan to tell King David a story as if it were real.  After hearing the story, which I am sure you have all heard (2 Sam 12:1-6, just in case), David was incensed.  He pronounced an instant judgment on the evil man Nathan had spoken of.  You see, he didn't get it.  His thumb was NOT Tommy.  Finally, Nathan had to say, "Thou art the man" (2 Sam 12:7).  When it's YOUR thumb, when you are the one being talked about, the picture which had been so very clear, suddenly becomes muddy.  We are all prone to it.
            The most difficult part of studying the Bible is, and always has been, applying the message to oneself.  No one wants to admit wrong, especially when it becomes crystal clear exactly how wrong one has been.  James talks about looking in the mirror and then walking away without changing a thing (James 1:23-24).  If I see my hair is a mess but don't brush it, if I see mustard on my shirt but don't change it, if I see green in my teeth but don't brush them, exactly how much good did it do to even look in the first place?  That is exactly how much good Bible study does for us when we won't apply what we hear.
            The little guy I mentioned is playing quite well now.  He eventually got the message that his thumb was indeed Tommy.  What messages are we missing?
 
As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it (Ezek 33:30-32).
 
Dene Ward
 

If I asked any one of you if Bible study was essential to a godly life, I would be surprised to hear anyone say no.  We all understand that God expects us to learn His Word.  We devote a lot of time, energy, and funds to our class systems to make sure our children are well-taught, even expecting the church to do our duty as parents, but that is another post for another day.  Still, we do understand that Bible study is essential.  We put “edification” in those ubiquitous “acts of worship” lists and if questioned about it will happily list Bible classes along with sermons as the means for that particular “act.”
            But is knowing God’s Word the purpose of Bible study?  I would hope we all know better than that.  There may well be theological knowledge we must all have to appreciate our salvation and keep our faith strong, but the practical purpose for Bible study is to learn how God wants us to live our lives. If your Bible study does not affect your life, why do you bother?
            So how are you doing in the practical application of your study?  Here is a test for you.  When you hear a sermon, does something about you change?  When you learn something in a Bible class, do you think about it and perhaps alter your schedule, toss a few things out of your wardrobe, raise your contribution, pray more often, or put a few TV shows on your family’s verboten list?  Do you forgive a wrong, pray for an enemy, or stand up for the truth in a room full of atheists?  Does what you learn affect you in any way at all?  And does it go past a onetime thing to a life-changing habit?
            All right, so maybe you have been a Christian for a few decades instead of just a few weeks, and you have already made many changes.  Good for you.  But do you think there is nothing you can make better, that you already have all your ducks in a row, perfectly aligned so they waddle in step and quack in unison?  I’m not there yet.  Surely even you can make a few adjustments, tweaking your life just a bit.
            Sometimes the changes you make can be a little more philosophical and effect the genuineness of worship.  I passed my Psalms lesson book on to a Bible class teacher in another church many miles from here.  He told me that it has made a definite difference in his prayer life—the Psalms may be poems set to music for both individual and group worship, but they are also prayers.  And, since he also leads singing, he told me it has changed how he does that as well.
            The class had just finished Psalm 89, a long psalm that praises God by discussing His attributes—love, faithfulness, righteousness, justice, power, holiness.  So the next Sunday he chose his songs according to that pattern, God’s attributes.  They sang “Wonderful Grace,” “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and “Because He Loved Me So.”  He told the good people there what he was doing and why.  They paid more attention to the words they were singing and their song service was, in spite of singing “boring old songs” as some these days might call them, more moving and admonishing, and sung with much more “understanding” than usual.
            Just a little Bible study caused a whole church to worship more sincerely than they had in a long, long time.  What has your Bible study done for you lately?  It’s up to you how much you get out of it and what you do with what you learn.
 
​Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. ​Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. ​Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! ​Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. ​Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Ps 119:34-38
 
Dene Ward

I have just spent an inordinate amount of time on the telephone with a person I have never met in my life.  I let her tell me what to do and I obeyed instantly.  I believed everything she said.  I trusted every decision she made for me.  And this is not the first time I have done this.  I have made it a habit in the past twenty years.
            I have decided that you need to have a bent for technology in order to get along in the world now.  Gone are the days when you can go out, buy something, take it home, plug it in, and it works.  Everything has to be set up, programmed, deprogrammed, downloaded, uploaded, or in-loaded.  I obviously do not have the mind for it.  When my computer asks me a question, I cannot even comprehend the words much less know the right answer.  Which is why we have a contract with Geek Squad.
            Geek Squad was originally an independent company founded on June 16, 1994 by "Chief Inspector" Robert Stephens to offer computer-related services for its clients. It later merged with Best Buy, retaining Stephens as the primary corporate leadership for the subsidiary.  Evidently there are people out there who have a talent for these things and don't need companies like Geek Squad.  We are neither of us one of them. 
            They have saved our bacon more than once.  Those techs on the phone are amazing.  They can understand my poorly phrased, obviously ignorant questions.  They can tell me exactly what my computer screen looks like, what to click on, and what will pop up next.  They can find their way through twenty different steps I never even knew existed, and magically make my computer do what it’s supposed to do.  It has happened over and over for years now.  That’s why I go to them as soon as I have a problem, and do exactly what they tell me to do, no questions asked. 
            We have never carried on personal conversations.  I have no idea what their qualifications are.  I have never taken a regular computer class from them. All I can see are results--when I need help, they always have an answer and it always works.  And so I even listened to them the time one said, “Ma’am, you need a new computer.”  We went out and bought a new computer.
            I wonder if we can’t learn something about evangelism from all this.  Maybe it isn’t about your qualifications as a Bible scholar.  Maybe it isn’t about people wanting to sit down and study with you on a regular basis, at least not at first.  Maybe it isn’t about you being able to come up with Bible verses for every occasion.  Maybe it isn’t even about the fact that every Sunday they see you load up the family and head off to church.  Maybe the thing that matters is your life.  Maybe because they see that you can handle whatever situation you find yourself in with grace and endurance, they know you have something they don’t have.  Maybe because they see your marriage last for years and years in spite of the trials of life, they know that the two of you have more than just a commitment to each other, but to something larger.  Maybe because they see that your children have turned out to be good solid citizens, they realize that what you believe as a family has lasting value.
            Because they see all that, they will come to you for advice.  They will ask how you do it.  And when they do, then you can talk about those scriptures in the Bible.  Then you can discuss the eternal purpose of God from the foundation of the earth.  They don’t want what you have to sell until they see the results in you. 
            Do you want to save souls?  Show them how it’s done.  If you cannot "work out your own salvation", why should they listen to you?
 
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…Phil 1:27
 
Dene Ward

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ (2Cor 11:3).
            I am afraid that too many of us think the verse above cannot possibly apply to us.  We would never be tricked like that, we think.  Paul, speaking earlier in the epistle, states that he is not "ignorant of Satan's devices" (2:11).  Unfortunately, despite our self-confidence, we often fall for his bait, hook, line, and sinker.  Let me give you an example.
            Many years ago, a young woman shared with me that her neighbor, who was a Wiccan, had invited her over for a meal.  She had gone in order to get to know her better, and to learn about her beliefs with a desire to reach her, if possible.  Fish, it seems, was on the menu, and her hostess had laid out the fish, stroked it with both hands, and then thanked the fish for giving its life to sustain hers.  "Isn't that beautiful?" the young woman asked me, "and oh, so spiritual."  As usual, finding the right thing to say did not occur when I needed it.  In fact, it took a few years, but now I might wonder aloud why thanking God for our meals is less spiritual than thanking the fish or the cow or the pig or the chicken?  Because that is who we are supposed to thank—God is the one who gave us those things.  Warning of a coming heresy that would forbid certain foods, Paul tells us that our meals, even that same fish, God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving (1Tim 4:3-4), thanksgiving to God, that is.
            It is not my intent to list the belief system of Wicca, but the Mother Goddess, nature, fertility, seasons, and the cycle of life are essential elements.  That should immediately make a Christian's ears tingle.  Of those sorts of beliefs Paul says,  …they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen (Rom 1:25).  The neighbor's actions were a perfect example of worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator.  Although it will be presented as an almost hyper-spirituality, Paul says it is a lie. Yet that is how paganism, which is what Wicca is, has made deep inroads into our culture, even among Christians who should know better, who should be able to see past this false spirituality. 
           Wiccans are known to be peaceful, even harmless.  But folks, they are deadly to our souls.  Certainly, be friendly to your neighbors and strive to be an example and teacher of your faith as you serve their needs.  But keep your eyes open and don't be taken in.  Satan is not so stupid as to make them look like evil personified.  He is simply reeling out a bait that looks delicious.
 
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds (2Cor 11:13-15).
 
Dene Ward

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 8:00 am:
            Hoo boy! Time for another day among people who don’t even care about God.  Why did this mission get put off on me?
Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 12 pm
            Well, we got run out of another synagogue.  On to the next town, but I haven’t had a decent meal in three days.  And can anyone please find me the nearest Stella-cerva coffee bar?

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 3 pm
            Did you hear what Proditor of Seleucia did to us?  How can he claim to be on our side and speak out against us like that?  It’s hard enough what we must bear without a traitor among us.  No one understand what it is like to have this job and what it demands of you.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 5 pm
            The government and everyone in it is corrupt.  I can tell you a few things I heard when I was in prison.  The guards talked to one another all the time and all we prisoners overheard everything.  One time…(See more)
Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 7 pm
            Here is more proof of what I have been saying about those Roman senators.  Go to this link to see for yourself: http:Allpoliticiansshould(bleep).  (Sorry about all the foul the language you have to navigate, but this is really good.)

Saul/Paul of Tarsus Yesterday at 9 pm
            The end of another long day and little to show for it.  I am not sure I can take much more of this.  Surely twelve hours a day is enough to give to this thankless task.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 12 hrs ago
            Here we go again.  And I had little sleep because John needed some counseling at 2 am.  Seems he is not sure he can handle any more.  What a wimp.  So now I have to write two epistles and get together a new synagogue sermon on little if any sleep at all because of his selfish waste of my time.
Saul/Paul of Tarsus 10 hrs ago
            Now what?  Have you all heard the latest from Corinth?  Can’t these immature brats get anything right?  It’s not about me, me, me, people.  In fact, maybe the few of you who are on my side, need to head across town and start a new congregation.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 8 hrs ago
            What?  No comments on that last one?  Surely you see how wrong they are.  If you do, let me hear from you!

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 6 hrs ago
            Oh, so now I am being too harsh?   True believers won’t let something like this pass without comment.  If you are real Christians, copy and paste this to your page.  We’ll find out who is truly faithful to God.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 5 hrs ago
            Here’s a fun pic of me and the guys taking a quick dip down at the river.  We’d already gotten wet baptizing people, so we just chucked the robes and had a good time.  Everyone deserves some fun! : )

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 4 hrs ago
            Here I am trying to spread the Word as hard as I possibly can and all I get is criticism.  Really people.  Someone find me an Stella-cerva coffee bar ASAP!  I won’t get through this ordeal without one.
Saul/Paul of Tarsus 3 hrs ago
            All right.  I’ve had it.  I am a Roman citizen.  I do not deserve to be treated the way they are treating me.  Everyone meet me at the agora at dawn tomorrow and we will show this government exactly what we think of it.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 2 hrs ago
            I am so tired.  No one has to put up with the things I have to put up with.  Can’t you all take care of yourselves for a change?  Do you really expect love and encouragement from someone who has so little and has sacrificed so much?  It’s not fair!

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 1 hr ago
          Was that really necessary Peter?  After all, you are a Gentile-hating hypocrite.  Keep your criticisms to yourself.

Saul/Paul of Tarsus 30 min
           Nearing the end of another 12 hour day and I did not accomplish a thing.  Does anyone have any idea why?
 
            If there had been such a thing as social media in the first century, Paul would never have used it in those ways.  So why do I see these sorts of things from people I know are Christians?  Why do I see whining and “poor little me?”  Why do I see diatribes against brothers and sisters?  Why do I see posts designed to cause an uproar, and the writers then sitting there all day to gloat over it?  Why do I see people railing against the government they are supposed to obey and respect whether they agree with it or not?  Why do I see pictures of Christians in scanty clothing, doing questionable activities and passing along items with crude and vulgar language on nearly every line?  And why do I see idlers who cannot seem to get anything profitable done because they are posting all day long?
            If Paul were alive, how would he use social media?  Just look at his epistles, the social media of his day.  He edified.  He encouraged.  He counseled.  He commended brothers and sisters to one another.  Yes he did rebuke, sometimes harshly, but even then with the design to save souls not to exalt himself.  Yes, he did talk about some of his ordeals, but the percentage was minuscule and always with the purpose to teach and admonish.  Yes, he did ask for prayers, not because he deserved them but so he could continue to preach the gospel.  Yes, he did pass along personal information and requests (“Bring me the parchments,” etc.), but always with a humble attitude, not as a petty tyrant abusing his authority.  He never for a minute sowed discord among brothers.  Instead he told us all to do as he did:  be willing to take wrong for the good of the gospel.  His sacrifices were willingly given and never resented.  He knew others sacrificed as well and never put himself above them, even though he probably could have.
            So maybe we should consider this:  If Paul wouldn’t post it, maybe you shouldn’t either.
 
Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God: even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. 1Cor 10:31-33
 
Dene Ward

Neighbors are different out in the country.  First of all, they are a whole lot further away.  Instead of zero lot line houses barely five feet apart, they are 5 to 50 acres apart.  You seldom even see one another to wave, except maybe at the lineup of mailboxes out on the highway.  In the country, if you want to see your neighbors, you have to make it happen.
            In the city a good neighbor often boils down to this:  he’s quiet and doesn’t cause any trouble.  There may be a particular neighbor or two you really become friends with, taking turns having one another over for dinner, going fishing together, loaning your lawn mower and babysitting once in a while, but the rest are confined to a nod when you pass one another on the street and a quick word over the backyard fence if you both happen to be out at the same time.
            In the country, because you are so far out of town and away from help, “neighbor” takes on a much larger meaning.  The very lifestyle means you have far more need of one another.  You pull one another’s vehicles out of the mud.  You tag team generators when the power goes out for more than a couple of hours.  You feed one another’s livestock when the other one has to be out of town a few days.  You swap garden tilling for tractor mowing and tomatoes for blueberries.  You help one another shell peas and shuck corn, and then work together one hot afternoon to get it all put up.  You help load sick, but heavy, pets in the pickup for a trip to the vet.  You trade shooting lessons for help wiring the shed.  You loan cars when one is in the shop, or chauffeur a sick neighbor to the doctor if you need it yourself.  If a widow is alone, you load up her woodstove and get it set, ready to light on a cold night.  If a husband is away and there is a household emergency—like the refrigerator door falling off!—you head down the lane immediately and screw it back on.  When a storm passes through and leaves a live oak half out of the ground leaning over a house, all the neighbors drop everything and run with their tractors, chains and chainsaws to help.  There is something a little more primal about being a neighbor in the country.
            We’ve had neighbors like that and we’ve tried to be neighbors like that in return.  I think it’s the sort of thing Jesus had in mind when he told the story of the Good Samaritan.  This isn’t a matter of borrowing a cup of sugar.  It isn’t about keeping the TV low in the wee hours or not parking on someone else’s property.  It’s about real life and death matters, real trials and suffering, and aiding in whatever way you can.
           Maybe the Levite and the priest were used to city neighbors.  This guy on the side of the road certainly wasn’t being a good neighbor to them, causing them all sorts of trouble and a delay in their schedules if they had stopped to help.  But the truth is, you can be a bad neighbor anywhere, country or city, and the Lord expects a whole lot more from us than that.  He expects us to do just as that Samaritan did, helping beyond the expected—just think what a couple night’s lodging would cost today—and yes, for a perfect stranger.  Was he a good guy or a good-for-nothing?  We don’t know and that’s the point.  If someone needs our help, we help, even a stranger and even when we don’t have time to check and see if we are being good stewards of our money.
           “Love thy neighbor as thyself” was recognized by Jews as the second greatest commandment.  Yet they argued long and hard over who exactly their “neighbor” was.  It most cases it boiled down to a good practicing Jew.  We’re big on castigating those Pharisaical Jews who knew the Law but explained it away.  I think we just might have the same problem.
 
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Gal 5:14)
 
Dene Ward