Have you fallen prey to it yet?  You post something on Facebook and then sit back and wait.  You check it every five minutes at first, then maybe stretch it out a bit, and before you know it, you have sat there for an hour or two and what have you been doing?  Waiting to see if someone “likes” you.  Yes, the quest for popularity affects the masses, and many make use of that pathetic craving of ours. 
Political pundits say that the first really obvious affect of popularity was the Kennedy-Nixon debates.  On September 26, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon participated in the first televised presidential debates in American history.  Suddenly election strategy changed.  A carefully manufactured public image and media exposure became essentials for every candidate. 
            Kennedy had only a single and unexceptional term as a Senator on his resume.  Nixon had eight years as vice-president, following a career in the Senate in which his domestic and foreign experience trumped anything Kennedy had.  He was a great opponent of Communism in a time when that really mattered, and even helped uncover the alleged traitor Alger Hiss.  By the summer of 1960, Nixon had gained a lead in the polls.  Then he landed in the hospital with an infection in August and came out pale and 20 pounds underweight.  And so on debate day, a young, bronzed Kennedy confronted a gray Nixon, who was still running a low fever from the tag end of the flu as well.  He had just come off an exhausting campaign trail while Kennedy holed up in the hotel the whole weekend resting.
            After the first of four debates, the pundits scored their politics even, or Nixon slightly ahead.  On Election Day, though, Kennedy won and exit polls showed that politics is not what won the election.  Kennedy was more telegenic.  Over half the voters said the two disparate images during the debate had influenced their vote.  Historians say this was the first time popularity struck a blow in politics.   They are wrong about that.
            After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel, 2 Sam 15:1-6.
            Absalom made everyone feel “liked” and that “stole their hearts.”  But Absalom wasn’t even the first.  In Judges 9:3 the people of Israel had “hearts inclined to follow Abimelech.”  Both of these men were wrong for God’s people and were eventually killed, but that didn’t stop the people from falling prey to what was “popular.”
            Do you think that hasn’t happened to you?  Why do you wear what you wear?  Why do you watch the television shows you watch?  Why do you go to the restaurants you do?  Whatever is popular at the time steals our hearts because we think that by doing the popular thing we will become popular.  The problem comes when that affects us spiritually.  If I am wearing clothing I shouldn’t because everyone else is, I need a stronger character.  If I am watching inappropriate entertainment, I need to remember who I claim to follow. 
            The people of Israel were taken in by what was popular over and over again.  Ezekiel tells us “their hearts went after their idols” and “covetousness,” 20:16; 33:31.  Jeremiah talks about them “going after the imagination of their hearts,” 9:14; 13:10.  And why did they do those things?  Not only because they were the popular things to do, but because falling in with the crowd made them popular too.  Simply put, you can’t be different and popular in the world at the same time.
            What is your heart going after?  If it’s popularity and wanting to be “liked,” then you are prey to popular evils just like 99% of the rest of the world.  God calls us to be different.  A Christian doesn’t need to be “liked” on Facebook or anywhere else as long as God “likes” him.
 
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ, Gal 1:10.
 
Dene Ward

On September 12, 1959, Bonanza made its debut on NBC.  This Western saga ran for fourteen years, and sat in the Top 10 for ten of those years.  It was the most watched show on television from 1964-1967.  It even affected the growth of color television!  Very few homes had a color TV before it premiered, but that changed almost overnight.
            The producer, David Dortort, had a set of values in mind when he created the show.  He wanted Ben Cartwright, the patriarch, to be a strong, wise, and competent man, the father who could teach and discipline and set things right within the family.  He wanted Ben to be a kind and generous man as well.  He might be wealthy, but he was neither selfish nor arrogant, and he raised his sons to be the same.
            Contrast this to 2011 when TV Guide Magazine called the new television season "the emasculation of men on TV."  Christian Kachel of the Washington Times has said that the template for the prime time sitcom is "immature, usually overweight, lazy, spineless men navigating life by accident, dumb luck, or with the help of superior female characters."  Hanna Rosin in The Atlantic characterizes the shows like this:  wives working double shifts and getting promotions while husbands sit around confused; husbands lying to their working wives about how much hockey they watch on TV while they are supposed to be tending the baby; sisters doing homework and brothers feeding the dog their orange juice.
            But all of this is just a reflection of society, I am afraid.  It has become such an issue that books and articles have been written by the dozen with almost the same title as this essay.  When celebrities like Bette Midler are quoted (in the National Review) as saying that "men and religion are worthless," what can you expect?  Ben Shapiro states in the same source that there is "indication of a general belief…that masculinity itself is toxic and must be quashed," citing quotes by such people as Hilary Clinton, using exactly that type of language ("toxic").  He continues, "While they champion the notion that women can do anything they set their minds to (true!), they simultaneously castigate men as the barriers to progress and masculinity as a condition to be avoided."  They believe that boys should not be told to "be a man," but rather should be feminized, because, of course, women are not just equal, they are superior, and all the ills of the world come from men.  According to Kachel, "rambunctious" boys are prescribed Ritalin to calm them down two and a half times more often than the same level of "rambunctious" girls.
            There is now an organization called "Single Mothers by Choice."  These women believe that the only role a man should play is "sperm donor."  They plan to have children and raise them without a father from the outset.  It isn't that something bad happened in their lives and now they have to do this monumental task alone—they believe they can do it better alone.  Now think about the subcultures within our own where the men are noticeably absent and tell me those children are less prone to violence, drugs, and crime, and that they are more likely to grow up to be well-educated and successful in life.  Keith ran an unofficial poll in his work as first, a probation officer and then, a classification officer doing intake in prisons.  He believes that probably 90% of the felons who sat across the table from him were raised without a man in the house.  Maybe those "Single Mothers by Choice" are all professionals who have the money to hire nannies, send their kids to private schools, and then make sure they get into an impressive college.  But what about the single mothers who wait on tables, load the shelves at Wal-Mart, and check out groceries?  Most of them wear themselves out young just trying to keep food on the table and a roof over their children's heads.  They are every bit as handicapped as a man who has lost a leg or gone blind.
            And what does God say about it?  He designed a nuclear family with both a mother and a father.  He gave them roles to fulfill so their children would be raised to succeed in life, but more important, so they would become faithful, righteous children of His own.  The Bible has no trouble at all saying, "Act like a man! Be strong!" (1 Cor 16:13).  And it takes a real man who knows the struggle to teach a boy how to harness his energy, his aggression, his sexuality, and how to get through the curveballs that life will throw his way.  It also takes a man to show a girl what to look for in a mate, by setting the example of provider, protector, spiritual leader, and the one who will "dwell with her according to knowledge," "nurturing and cherishing her."  It is sad when it doesn't work out that way, not something to be celebrated.
           Fathers have a specific role as the authority in the family, and through that role teach their children exactly what to expect from their Heavenly Father.  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  (Heb 12:7-10).
          It's too bad that David Dortort is no longer producing television shows.  But if television truly reflects our society, that is even sadder.  Today I celebrate my man of God.  Promise me you will celebrate your man of God, if you have one, and tell him how grateful you are before this day is over.
 
For I have chosen [Abraham], that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice… (Gen 18:19).
 
Dene Ward

We swapped computers in 2015.  The new one was supposed to be so much better for someone like me, someone whose vision is becoming more and more limited.  Why, it has no wires!  You could pick it up and carry it around with you and no, it was not a laptop.  It was one of those new “all-in-ones.”  Part laptop, part tablet, but with a screen the size of a large desktop.  You didn’t even need a mouse and keyboard.  Rrrrright.  In my viewpoint it will take them a few more years to make this no-mouse-no-keyboard thing work smoothly enough that you don’t find yourself wanting to throw the whole thing through the window at least once a day.
            But it would have been a much easier transition if it hadn’t been a Lenovo.  Does that ring a few bells with the techie crowd?  In 2014, Lenovo began building a third party adware program called "Superfish" into its consumer PCs.  If you have read anything about it, you already know where this is going.  There was so much adware embedded in this thing we couldn’t even read a line of text without pop-ups flooding the screen.  If the cursor ran across a magic word, another would instantly appear.  And the thing kept track of every website you visited, producing even more ads.  Sometimes they popped up so quickly that when you were trying to click on something on the legitimate page, you wound up clicking on an ad instead.  We couldn’t even load our desired programs for all the pop-ups.  But this wasn't the worst of the problem.  This adware made it much easier for hackers to break through HTTPS entirely, and such an attack occurred shortly after the program became public.
            As far as I know, we were never hacked, but this stuff was so deeply embedded that it took at least three trips to Geek Squad to get it out.  And after every scrub, we had to spend time loading the programs we wanted yet again.  The first four months we were actually able to use the computer about 4 weeks.  Finally on September 5, 2017, Lenovo settled the lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission agreeing to procure affirmative consent for any future adware programs and to have audited security checks for the next 20 years.  They also agreed to pay $3.5 million as part of a state level settlement.
            Satan embeds his adware into our culture the same way.  When you can’t even watch a hamburger commercial without “soft” porn invading your living room, when the teasers for the shows you avoid include language your mama would have washed your mouth out with soap for using, and when we are constantly told that we aren’t hip, cool, smart, happy, or the most interesting people in the world without beer, hard liquor, cigarettes, or dancing the night away in skimpy clothes on a rooftop somewhere exciting where whatever you do stays, then you need to watch out for your souls more than ever before.
            The world will laugh at you if you mention Satan.  He isn’t real, we are told.  Only the ignorant believe in a mythological character like that.  If you are a Christian, you must believe in Satan.  If you don’t accept that part of the Bible, why would you accept any other part?
           Growing up I thought the only New Testament verses that mentioned Satan were the ones around Jesus’ temptation and the good old roaring lion in Peter.  Imagine my surprise when I looked it up.  I counted 19 outside the gospels, less one for the Peter passage we all know, for a total of 18 others.  Then there were the ones who called him something else like “the god of this age,” and “the Devil.”  And many of them talk about his “adware.”  Check a few of these out.
            2 Cor 2:11 mentions the “devices” of the devil.  Eph 6:11 speaks of his “schemes.”  2 Cor 4:4 tells us he “blinds the minds.”  2 Cor 11:14 tells us he “disguises” himself.  All I have to do is look around and see those devices and schemes every day, not just on television but in the speech and behavior of people who have already been taken in.  Have you ever seen the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”  Some days I feel exactly like Kevin McCarthy, looking over my shoulder to see where the pods are, and wondering which of my neighbors have been replaced.
            One of Satan’s devices are his ministers.  The New Testament warns again and again of false teachers, false messiahs, false prophets, and false apostles.   They fashion themselves as “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor 11:15).  Not only do they appear to be doing good, they even look good.  False teachers on the whole are good-looking and charismatic.  A lot of what they say sounds good and is, in fact, good.  But 90% of rat poison is good too.  It only takes the 10% to kill the rats.  When you keep finding the good in a man you know is teaching error, maybe Satan’s adware has taken hold of your heart already.
            Our culture has become embedded with evil masquerading as good.  We had to have our computer “scrubbed to the bones” to get rid of the adware.  Maybe it’s time we all used a spiritual scrub brush on ourselves before we are taken in too.
 
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.  2 Pet 2:1-3.
 
Dene Ward
 

In 1868, fifteen year old George Watt Park began selling seeds from his back yard garden in Libonia, Pennsylvania.  He put an ad in the Rural American, an ad which cost him the exorbitant amount (at that time) of $3.50.  Within a few weeks he had orders totaling $6.50.  He continued selling seeds, even making his own catalogue, an 8 page booklet using woodcuts for the only two illustrations.  By 1877 the catalogue had gone through a couple of name changes and alterations and was now called Park's Floral Magazine, with a circulation of 800,000.
            In 1918, George married one of his customers, Mary Barrett, and eventually moved the company to Greenwood, South Carolina, her hometown.  The company continued to grow, becoming a fixture for gardeners all over the country, until 2010 when the recession finally hit home and Park Seed declared bankruptcy.  Blackstreet Capital acquired the company on August 23, 2010, rescuing it financially, along with Jackson & Perkins, best known for their roses, for $12.8 million.  Park Seed Co continues to send out its catalogues and furnish gardeners with all their needs.  This pair of gardeners is thankful to still have them around.  The vast majority of our seeds and supplies come from them.
            We plant a lot of tomatoes in our garden.  We have learned by trial and error that it is far better to plant more than you think you can possibly use of several different varieties.  Some years one type produces better than the others.  Some years one will be wiped out by a disease that doesn’t touch the others.  Usually there is neither rhyme nor reason for any of it.  By planting several types, we can be sure to have some, if not all, bear fruit, and by planting too many, if it’s a bad year, we still have enough.  On the other hand, if it’s a good year, we can be generous with friends and neighbors.
            We have also learned which types work best in our area.  For a long time we could always find what we needed in plants, but gardening has become the fashion now, and just like clothes, certain types of tomatoes are popular, and practicality seldom has anything to with it.  You used to have to search far and wide for heirlooms.  Now you must search far and wide for the ordinary hybrids.  The problem with heirlooms, at least in our part of the country, is that they bear about 5% as much as the ordinary hybrid.  We usually plant 90-95 tomatoes to fill our needs in fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salsa.  If we used heirlooms exclusively, we would need to plant nearly 2000.
            If we can’t find the reliable varieties of plants in the garden shops any longer, we can find their seeds in the catalogues we receive.  It’s a lot more trouble.  In our small home, we have to use the entire back bedroom to lay out the seed sponges and set up the grow-lights.  When they outgrow the sponges, they are still too small and delicate to place outdoors and the weather still too cold, so we have to transplant each one into a larger cup—all 90, one by one.  Then, when the weather finally turns, we have to carry them outside every day, a little longer every day, to harden them for the final transplant into the garden where they will be prey to sun, wind, insects, birds, and animals.  Because of our careful preparation, most of them make it.  We seldom lose more than half a dozen.
            All that because fashion has taken over in gardening instead of common sense and proven track records.  It happens in every area of life. 
            Don’t get me started on the organic craze.  People had been eating organic foods for thousands of years when Jesus came along and there were still plenty of sick people for him to heal and raise from the dead.
            Everyone knows how music changes.  As far as our songs in the assembled worship, we are seeing a whole lot more rhythm and a whole lot less depth in the words.  Or, “Wow!” someone says—usually someone with a music background—“this one actually uses Dorian mode!”  Yes, but can an untrained congregation sing it easily enough to focus on the lyrics and actually do some “teaching and admonishing?”
            Teaching has its fads.  We gave up phonics and wound up with “Johnny Can’t Read.”  In Bible classes we stopped teaching Bible facts to our children because we wanted them to develop the “heart” and not just the knowledge.  So now we have ignorant people tearing churches apart over things they should have been taught as children.  We used to be known for our Bible knowledge—now many of us are as clueless as any unbeliever on the streets.
            Yes, some things are changeable, and I have agreed with most of ours.  However, those things should be carefully weighed not only for their rightness, but also for the sake of pure old common sense.  Do we want to do it because it will work better for this group of people, or because everyone else is doing it?  Some of us wind up planting 2000 tomatoes just so we look good to the world, when 90 of the right kind would do just fine, probably better, at fulfilling the need. 
            The seed is the word of God, Jesus said.  Maybe it’s time we used the seed instead of chasing around looking for something new and exciting.  God’s way works, but only if you know it, and only if you use it.
 
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. Hosea 14:9
 
Dene Ward
 

Roller coasters were never my favorite ride.  I much preferred Ferris wheels.  Riding it at night was a special treat—the cool air, always nice in Florida, whipping my hair around my face, the little flip my stomach gave as we came up and over the top and down to the ground, and, if I was really lucky, being at the top while the operator stopped to empty each swinging bench while I looked over the entire fairground and even saw deep into the streetlight-brightened city around us.
            But roller coasters?  They rattled my teeth, slung my head around painfully on my neck and didn't just flip my stomach, they yanked it up nearly into my throat.  I had boys, however, and Ferris wheels were far too calm and boring for them.  So roller coaster we did, up and down and around till I just knew the flimsy little car we sat in would fly off the track at any moment.
            Roller coasters have been around a long time.  They are direct descendants of huge ice slides, sometimes as high as 70 feet, which were popular in Russia in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Riders slid down them on sleds, crashing into a pile of sand at the bottom.  The French imported the idea, but since France was much warmer, they began using wax instead of ice.  They eventually added wheels to the sleds.  Then back in Russia, in 1817, the cars were finally attached to tracks.
            On August 16, 1896, Edwin Prescott was awarded a patent for the first Loop-de-Loop roller coaster, or as it was also called, a vertical loop.  In an attempt to improve comfort, he added rubber wheels and an elliptical shape to the loop rather than a circle.  Still, a lot of people complained.  The forces on the human body caused aches and pains that many did not care to experience.
            The same is true of living on a roller coaster in life.  While it is true that we will have our ups and downs, that peaks and valleys in life are normal, letting them have constant sway in our lives will make our faith vulnerable and the steadfastness God asks of us only an impossible dream.  Yes, we may falter once in a while.  Many passages speak of faith in flux, but as we mature in that faith, the flux should become smaller and smaller.  David speaks of the opposite of a roller coaster faith, even when he is running for his life in Psalm 57:7.  “My heart is steadfast, O God,” or, in several other versions, “My heart is fixed.”  In a time of fear when others would have wavered, David is able to keep his faith in God steady. 
            So the question is, how do we avoid the roller coasters in life?  First, let’s make it clear—you can’t avoid the park altogether.  I hear people talking about life as if it is always supposed to be fun, always easy, always good, and something is wrong when anything bad happens.  Nonsense.  We live on an earth that has been cursed because man sinned.  When God curses something, he does a bang-up job of it.  To think we would still be living in something resembling Eden is ridiculous. 
            We are all dying from the moment we are born.  Some of us just manage to hang on longer than others.  Some of us catch diseases because they are out there due to sin and Satan.  Some of us become injured.  Some of us have disabilities.  Some of us are never able to lead a normal life.  It has nothing to do with God being mean, or not loving us, or not paying attention to us one way or the other, and everything to do with being alive.  Everyone receives bad news once in a while—it isn’t out of the ordinary.  Everyone experiences moments of fear and doubt.  We all go through trials.  But just because you are in the park, doesn’t mean you have to get on the roller coaster.
            We must have a steadfast faith no matter what happens to us.  “The Lord is faithful; He will establish you…” 2 Thes 3:3.  Our hearts can be “established by grace,” Heb 13:9.  But those things are nebulous, nothing we can really lay our hands on in our daily struggles.  Am I supposed to just think real hard about God and grace and somehow get stronger?  Yes, it will help, but God knows we are tethered to this life through tangible things and He gives us plenty of that sort of help as well, help we sometimes do not want to recognize because of the responsibility it places upon us to act.  Why, if God gives us help, I no longer have an excuse for my failure, do I?
            We must be willing to be guided to that steadfastness by faithful leaders, 2 Thes 3:3-5.  We must be willing to obey God’s law, James 1:22-24, and live a life of righteousness, Psa 112:6, before steadfastness makes an appearance.  We must become a part of God’s people and associate with them as much as possible, Heb 10:19-25.  We must study the lives of those who have gone before and imitate their steadfastness, laying aside sin if we hope to endure as they did, Heb 12:1-2.  Every one of those things will keep us off the roller coaster.
            Yeah, right, the world says--to change one’s life and become part of God’s people, the church—for some reason those are the very things they will laugh to scorn.  And we fall for what they preach--a Jesus who “loves me as I am” without demanding any change, and divides His body from His being, labeling it a manmade placeholder for the true kingdom to come.  “I can have a relationship with God without having a relationship with anyone else,” we say, and promptly climb aboard the roller coaster, Satan laughing gleefully at us from the control booth.  Guess what?  That’s who we are having a relationship with.
            Get off the roller coaster now before he has you riding up and down so fast, with your head whipping back and forth at every dip and turn, that you are unable to reach the grounding your faith needs.  You may still have moments of weakness and doubt, but those things will grow less and less if you make use of the help God has given you.  You can have a steadfast faith, even if it finds you, like David, hiding in a cave from your enemies.  My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast…For your steadfast love is great to the heavens; your faithfulness to the clouds. Psa 57:7,10
 
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58.
 
Dene Ward
 

Eduard Friedrich Poeppig was born July 16, 1798 in Plauen, Germany.  He studied and qualified as a physician by 1822, but evidently that is not where his heart lay.  Immediately after graduation he made a 10 year expedition to the Americas, spending several years in Cuba, Philadelphia, and South America.  He was only the third European to travel the entire length of the Amazon River.
             His trip was financed by several friends in return for plant specimens he discovered in each of the areas he visited.  In all he sent back or took home over 17,000 of them.  When he returned to Germany he became the Zoology professor at the University of Leipzig for the remainder of his life.
            One of the plants he discovered on a hillside in Chile was the amaryllis hippeastrum, one of the most beautiful plants in the world.  I have well over a dozen now, in a bed begun after a piano student gave me one for Christmas one year.  The deep solid red is probably the most common, but I have that and everything from pale pink and bright apricot, to stripes of white on red, pink, and apricot; pink throats on a pristine white, or white throats on deep orange or red as well.  They are gorgeous, but sometimes they don’t bloom, and that leaves me disappointed, usually with half the bulbs every year.  So I decided to find out what keeps amaryllises from blooming to see if I could remedy the problem.  Here is what I discovered and what I extrapolated.
            Amaryllises will not bloom in full shade.  They may not need full sun, especially in this sub-tropical environment, but they need enough light to draw that big thick stem up out of the bulb and through the soil and mulch.
            The New Testament tells us we need the Light, too.  John says that as long as we walk in the light, we won’t stumble (1 John 2:9-11).  It variously calls us sons of light and children of light; it says we are “of the day not the night.”  And because we have that Light and live in it, we then become “the light of the world.”  Certainly a Christian who does not live in the light will never bloom.
            Amaryllises need sufficient nutrients.  Just as a larger animal needs more food, this large flower needs good soil, and ample food and water.  Many of my amaryllis bulbs were as big as softballs when they came out of the package, and many of the blooms are broader across than some of Keith’s garden cantaloupes.  Especially in this poor sandy soil, we must be sure to supply the proper nutrition if we want anything to come out of it.
            We need nutrition too.  Peter tells us to “long for the pure spiritual milk that by it we may grow up into salvation” 1 Pet 2:2.  How can we do that if we neglect all the feeding opportunities our shepherds have offered us?  How can we do it when we shun the healthy spiritual food and feast on the junk in this life?  I have seen many brothers and sisters go hog wild with the organic, all-natural, non-preservative craze when taking care of their physical bodies, yet starve their spirits with skimpy servings and junk food.  No wonder their blooms are so scarce and puny.
            This might be surprising, but not allowing them to rest will also keep amaryllises from blooming.  You can force blooms at certain times of the year, but then you must prune both the stem and leaves and water them prodigiously until they go dormant.  Then leave them alone! 
            God did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired.  He rested because He was finished, but in that rest he also ordained a day of rest for His people.  Do you understand what that means?  In that ancient time, the common people lived hand to mouth and they worked sunup till sundown seven days a week just to survive.  But not God’s people.  As long as they observed their commanded Sabbath, He made sure they had plenty.  God knows what you need and sometimes you need to rest.  It may no longer be a religious observance, but it is certainly a matter of health.  And rest doesn’t mean going on a vacation that leaves you more worn out than rested.  It means a day with no schedule, no stressful situations, nothing hanging over your head that “just has to be done.”  Spend some time with your family—just one full day a week, any day—rest your body and your mind, and talk of the blessings God has given you all, especially the time you have to be together because He has taken such good care of you.
            And this last one really surprised me.  If you take your amaryllis bulbs out of the ground and store them in the refrigerator, you should not store them with apples.  Apples will make an amaryllis bulb sterile, or so I have been told.  Apples?  Apples are good things, right?  But even things that look good can make a plant sterile and unproductive it turns out. 
            Haven’t you seen the same thing happen to Christians?  They become so involved in things of this world, good things, that there is no time left for producing the fruit God wants from us.  Or they hang around with people who are not their spiritual brothers and sisters to the point that what matters most to those people becomes what matters most to them.  Other people, people who do not understand that we are to encourage one another and build one another up spiritually, who care nothing for the spiritual warfare we are involved in, who would, in fact, think you are nuts to even talk about such a thing, can hinder your productivity for the Lord.
            So take a look at your amaryllises today if you have them.  Think about the things that affect those gorgeous blooms.  See if any of them are affecting you too.
 
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful, Titus 3:14.
 
Dene Ward
 

On April 9, 1939, African-American contralto Marian Anderson stood before a mixed race audience of 75,000 on the National Mall and sang a concert.  She had been banned by the Daughters of the American Revolution from singing that program in Constitution Hall, which they owned, when she was invited to sing there in a concert series for Howard University.  First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was outraged and resigned her own membership in that group.
              NAACP executive secretary suggested the Mall, and because it is a national monument, Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, did the planning and arranging.  The crowd stretched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.  Even though she could, and did, sing many Italian arias from the operas she sang across Europe, Miss Anderson's first song was "My Country Tis of Thee."  One wonders if the irony shook the ground as she sang the lyrics, "Let freedom ring."
              To Americans, liberty is almost a sacred word.  As Christians, we, too, have liberty, but we seem to have misplaced the emphasis.  Most of the verses that proclaim our freedoms are talking about freedom from sin and the liberty we have in Jesus.  What we often want to proclaim instead is the liberties to do certain right things no matter the consequences.  Can we just point out today that it is possible to do right things and still be wrong?
              Right things can become wrong when they are given too high a priority for their actual level of importance.  There are many things that are right to do, but when they keep us from doing things more necessary, when they allow us to excuse ourselves from duties God has given us, they become wrong.  When we use our work, for example, to excuse our serving, that right thing—making a living and providing for our families—has become wrong.
              Right things can become wrong when they are done from the wrong motivation.  How many times have you thought of "doing good to your enemies" as the ultimate revenge instead of the correct attitude of heart for a disciple of Christ?  But God commends his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8).
              Right things can become wrong when they will leave an obviously wrong impression.  This one can be abused by petty tyrants who want to micromanage everyone else's life according to their sensibilities, but when the babes (not the wolves) are involved, we must bend over backwards.  …but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.  (Rom 12:17).
              Right things can become wrong when they cause others to sin.  Don't use that word "offend" because you will miss the point.  This isn't about someone who considers himself a strong Christian not liking what you are doing.  This is a babe who does not have the knowledge that he needs to understand difficult distinctions.  But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to the weak.  (1Cor 8:9).
              Right things can become wrong when they come between me and my service to God.  It is good to care for your physical temple.  It is not good to spend more time on that than you spend on serving God, or when something like obsessive dieting keeps you from spending time with brethren or fulfilling the sacred duty of hospitality.
              While the world may consider a Christian's life to be a life of chains, they do not understand the true liberties we have in Christ.  We are no longer in bondage to sin and Satan and the corruption of this world.  We can control ourselves and are not "mastered by anything."  But we must always remember to use those liberties wisely and compassionately, with tender regard to the weak and those we are trying to reach.  To do otherwise is to make a mockery of our freedom.
 
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Rom 6:22-23).
 
Dene Ward

Baseball in America was first played as an official game in 1846, but uniforms were not worn by the teams until the New York Knickerbockers did so on April 4, 1849.  It took fifty more years for all Major League baseball players to wear official team uniforms.  Today nearly all sports players wear official team apparel.
              Uniforms have several purposes.  First, it helps to be able to identify at a glance who your teammates are.  If the quarterback threw to the wrong receiver, or the point guard passed to the wrong center, chaos would ensue.
              Second, everyone wearing the same colors helps develop unity, and motivates the players to do their best for one another.  It also fosters a sense of equality.  Everyone wears the uniform, not just the star players.
              For a couple of years now I have seen some college football teams wearing odd uniforms splotched with camouflage here and there, and with “names” like Honor, Courage, Integrity, Commitment, Service, and Duty sewn on the back where ordinarily the player’s name would have been.  I have discovered that this is a joint effort with the Wounded Warriors Project, a nonprofit organization supplying programs and services to injured servicemen and their families.  After the game, the uniforms are auctioned off and 100% of the proceeds go to the project.
              What a worthy endeavor, yet wearing those uniforms has caused some amusement among sportscasters.  At least twice I have seen “Integrity” commit a personal foul, and don’t believe for a minute that the announcers ignored all the possible jokes they could make about it.
              That made me wonder what would happen if Christians wore uniforms.  As much as I hate the way we take those lists we find in the New Testament (fruit of the Spirit, Christian “graces,” etc.) ignoring them as a comprehensive unit, and using them instead like individual casseroles on a buffet line from which we can pick and choose, what if one of those traits were printed on the backs of our jerseys?  Would people find our actions so amusing?  If “self-control” became angry and threw something across the room, if “mercy” gave as good (or as bad?) as he got, if “kindness” snarled at someone in his way, how would that effect the way others view the faith we so casually claim?
              Wait a minute!  This might actually be good for us.  If each one of us had the trait we have the most difficulty with posted on our backs, maybe we would be aware every minute of the day and actually behave a little better.  For you see, that is the problem with most of us.  We go through our lives without thinking; we just react, and that is when the “automatic” happens instead of the new characteristic we are supposed to be developing.  If we wore that jersey every day for a month, don’t you suppose “automatic” would become the right thing instead of the wrong thing?
              So today, think what needs to be written on your back—not the thing you find easiest, but the thing you find the hardest to do, and pretend it is there every minute of the day.  You see, your friends and neighbors are not ignorant of the personality a Christian is supposed to exhibit, and they know where you fall short.  They see that very word on your back every moment and it is what they use as an excuse when you try to recruit them.  Why would they want to be on a team where Integrity cheats on his taxes, where Commitment ogles the women in the office, and where Service never did a thing for anyone if it didn’t offer him a good return?
              Put on your uniform every day.  Remember what is written on your back, and do your best to live up to it.
 
Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, Phil 2:14,15.
 
Dene Ward

In the late 1800s a small settlement in New Mexico began with the John Cross Ranch over Geronimo Springs.  The place became known for its hot springs and was incorporated under that name in 1916.  By the late 1930s it boasted forty hot springs spas.  At the time there were about 3000 residents.  Evidently those residents were not satisfied with the growth of the town and they took an unusual step.
              Beginning in 1940, Ralph Edwards began hosting a radio show called "Truth or Consequences."  The show was so popular it ran on the radio for many years before becoming a television show that lasted until 1988, with hosts the likes of Edwards, Jack Bailey, and Bob Barker.  Edwards ran a contest stating that he would air the show on its tenth anniversary at the town which was the first to change its name to "Truth or Consequences."   On March 31, 1950, Hot Springs, New Mexico, changed its name to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, and the next evening the show was broadcast from there.
              Edwards continued to visit the town the first weekend in May for the next 50 years.  The town still holds a "Fiesta" every year in Ralph Edwards Park to continue the celebration.
               That may all be a quaint and amusing historical fact, but let's make it a bit more serious this morning.  What does it take for me to finally wake up and repent, or just examine myself for faults that need correcting, and then get to work fixing them?
              Raising children and now, interacting with our grandchildren, reminds us of a basic truth of childrearing—reward or punishment (consequences) must immediately follow the deed.  A child’s attention span is short, and the younger he is, the more important the timing.  Even a child younger than one can quickly learn what “No-no” means when it is accompanied by consistent motivation—by consequences for his action. 
              But are we any better?  Peter tells us that when God delays judgment for sin out of longsuffering and patience but we don’t respond, that we “willfully forget” (2 Pet 3:5-10).  Paul says that when God forbears yet we do not repent, we are “despising his goodness” (Rom 2:4).  It isn’t that we have the attention span of a toddler—we’re just plain stubborn.
              Is that any more mature than a toddler?  We have all seen children who understand the consequences and take them anyway.  We cluck at their lack of common sense, their apparent unwillingness to learn any way but the hard way.  We wonder what sort of adults they will become.
              But you really don’t have to wonder.  You are surrounded by them.  Or, are you one of them, too?
 
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Ecclesiastes 8:11.
 
Dene Ward
 

Robert Frost, one of the greatest American poets, was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco.  After his father died of tuberculosis, 11 year old Frost moved with his mother and younger sister to Lawrence, Massachusetts.  He spent many years teaching and living in Massachusetts and Vermont, dying in Boston on January 29, 1963.
              Frosts' most famous poems include "The Mending Wall," "Nothing Gold Can Stay," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," and the one I want to focus on today, "The Road Not Taken."
 
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
 
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
 
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
 
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
 
              Forks in the road--life is full of them.  As a Christian, you will likely take the one Frost recommended—the one less traveled by--and yes, it will make all the difference in your life.  What choices exactly are we talking about?
              Where will you go to school?
              Will you marry and if so, then whom?
              What career will you choose?  Or will you decide to be a stay-at-home mom and then a servant of the church after your children have grown and left the nest?
              Where will you live?
              Will you take this promotion?
              With which congregation of God's people will you choose to serve?
              In what ways will you serve?
              By the time they reach my age, most people believe the forks are all behind them.  All that remains is the final leg of the journey, one about which we may have very little choice, especially due to health.
              They couldn't be more wrong.  There remains one huge choice we must make:  how will we allow the past circumstances of life to affect us?
              I've seen older people become bitter and unsympathetic because of the "raw deal" they believe they were handed.  But I've seen others with just as trying ordeals radiate a quiet, compassionate wisdom.  One permeates the air with the fetid reek of selfishness while the other offers comfort and encouragement.  They may have both suffered great losses and disappointments—of such is life—but only one has "the mind of the spirit," recognizing that this life is not the be-all and end-all, that the first moment of Eternity will make it seem as nothing.  And that final fork in the road will be her choice to continue serving God by leading others to the same fork, rather than driving them away with spiteful comments, cynicism, and complaints.
              This fork may be your last chance.  Even if you chose poorly all along the way, you can use your failures to help others avoid them.  One right choice at the end can still make your life useFUL instead of useLESS.
 
Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live. (Ezek 33:14-16)                                                           
 
Dene Ward