Flight Paths

 About five years after we married, a thirty year old woman we knew lost her 35 year old husband to one of those rare heart attacks in young people.  It quickly became apparent that in his bid to be "the head of the house" he had taken care of everything except the cooking, cleaning, and child care, because the woman did not know anything about their day to day business.  She had no idea how much money was in the bank, how much outgo in regular bills they paid, whether or not they had things like life insurance, health insurance, or any other kind of insurance that wasn't required by law, nor who they had them with.  She didn't even know how to drive.  That was when Keith realized that in taking care of me he was actually doing me a disservice because if anything happened to him I would be in the same shape as she—well, at least I could drive.

 So I took over the bookkeeping after a lesson or two in how to balance a checkbook.  I now know far more than he about what to pay when and how much, plus whether we can afford a new whatever now or if we should wait till next month when we don't have the semi-annual car insurance to pay.  But all things being equal, with him six and a half years older, I am likely to be the one left behind and it is indeed a benefit for me to know where the money comes from and how much there is.  To be honest, I have a system, which I would hate for him to mess up.  Once I had to take my ledger into the bank because they insisted that we had ten cents more than my books said we did.  They took one look at my system and didn't argue with me.

 But sometimes I do make an error.  I have been known to mis-add or mis-subtract because my writing wasn't clear in that spot and I thought it was a different number than it was.  Once I was writing a check to the mortgage company and instead of writing it for the amount due, without thinking I wrote it for the amount we usually pay over every month (which is how we usually pay things off ahead of time).  The mortgage company was not pleased with the wrong, and lesser, amount, but once we explained the mistake and they could readily see by the numbers themselves what had happened, they allowed me to rewrite the check for the correct amount and didn't even charge us a late fee.

 Mistakes in accounting can cause all sorts of difficulties.  When mistakes are done purposely, we have added a criminal element to it.  Envoice has an article on their website called "The Ten Worst Accounting Scandals in US History."  Because of one of those, on September 15, 2008, Global Financial Services' provider Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. had to file for bankruptcy.  The problem?  They hid over $50 billion in loans disguised as sales, and sold toxic assets to Cayman Islands banks with the understanding that they would be bought back eventually, leaving the impression they had $50 billion more cash and that much less in toxic assets than they actually did have.

 Because of this, they were forced into the largest bankruptcy in US history.  People lost jobs, retirement savings, and homes.  The company was deleted from the New York Stock Exchange.  Ironically, the year before, Lehman Brothers had been ranked the number one most admired securities firm by Forbes magazine.  Oh well…

 Accounting "figures" in the Bible in more places than you might imagine.  In Romans 4, the word in the 1901 American Standard translated "reckon" is actually an accounting or mathematics term.  It means to run the numbers, calculate an amount, or add a credit to a ledger.  When my social security check comes in, I "reckon" it to my bank account.  When I pay a bill, I am "reckoning" it to that company's account.

 [May I just add a note here:  the later translations that use the word "as" miss this deeper sense of the word.  In fact, they give a tacit credence to Calvinism by making "faith" the same "as righteousness" rather than something that will be counted toward righteousness.]

 Think of paying your bills.  Every bill comes in with both an amount and a due date.  That due date is the "day of reckoning," the day that you must pay what is owed.  I remember a time after Keith had been shot in the line of duty.  Expenses were enormous and we were living on the fumes of money in our bank account.  The week before I had gone to buy groceries with $32 in the bank.  I carefully counted everything I bought and wrote a check for $31.76 at the checkout.  That afternoon, our well went out.  We called the man who had been taking care of us for nearly 20 years.  He arrived promptly and repaired the well.  We owed $90 and we asked if we could pay him on Friday.  Since he knew us and we had always paid in full and on time, he said, "Sure!"  After he left, we looked at each other and shook our heads.  We had no money coming in that week.  We had no idea how we would pay that bill.

 With the "day of reckoning" fast approaching, we walked to the mailbox, half a mile down our lane, on Thursday afternoon.  It seems that one of the music teachers' groups about 60 miles away had heard about Keith's shooting.  They wanted to do something for their fellow music teacher (me) and all they could think to do at that distance was to take up a collection.  In the mailbox that day we found a check for $340.  It was almost too much to take in.  The next morning we took the check to the bank and stopped by the well man's office on the way home and paid his bill.  On our day of reckoning, someone else paid what we owed.

 We all have a day of reckoning coming.  On that day, we must pay what we owe for our sins--unless someone else pays it.  When we believe and act through that belief, God graciously offers to pay that debt, to "reckon" Christ's payment on the cross to our account.  This is no error and certainly no scandal, but an unbelievable gift.  Don't neglect to take advantage of it.

For what says the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.  Now to him that works, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt.  But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.  Even as David also pronounces blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckons righteousness apart from works, [saying], Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Rom 4:3-8.

Dene Ward

More than once I have been outside weeding and accidentally pulled up a fistful of thorns.  Usually it’s a blackberry vine, though stinging nettles are not far behind on the list.  Either one makes for pain and blood loss for at least a little while and I try hard to look a little closer before the next pull.

Not too long ago I saw a picture of a plant called “Crown of Thorns.”  It’s an import to our country, a type of cactus, but one that is notoriously picky about its surroundings.  You can only grow it in Zone 10 or higher, but once you get it going, it’s nearly impossible to kill.  It is heat and drought tolerant.  Long after other houseplants would have died from neglect, it will even bloom.

The photos I saw made me think of the crown of thorns we are familiar with as Christians, the one the soldiers wove and placed upon Jesus’ head.  I doubt it was the same plant, but it looked as I imagined that one would, a thick stem covered with long sharp spines.  I cannot even imagine trying to weave the thing without leaving yourself a bloody mess.

We sing a song with these lyrics by William Featherston:

1. My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
    For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
    My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
    If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

2. I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
    And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
    I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
    If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

3. I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
    And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
    And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
    If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

4. In mansions of glory and endless delight,
    I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
    I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
    If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I missed it all my life until Keith pointed out the thirds lines of verses 2 and 4.  “I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow,” and, “I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow.”  Jesus wore a crown of thorns so I could wear a crown of glory.  If it was anything like those plants I saw, it was a bigger sacrifice than one might ever have thought, but the symbolism is profound because everything he went through that horrible night was for me.  And you.  Even that prickly crown.

Now, as his disciples, what sort of crown am I willing to wear for others?  Can I, as the Corinthians were chided to do, give up my liberties?  Can I concede a point even if I know I am right because in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter?  Can I stop an argument instead of continuing one?  Can I let someone else have the last word?

Can I give up my time and convenience for the sake of someone who needs an encouraging word?  Can I skip a meal to visit the lonely?  Can I miss a ball game to hold a Bible study?

Can I stay up a little later to pray a little longer?  Can I turn off the TV to spend some time in the Word?  Can I make teaching my children about God a priority instead of something we just try to fit in when we can?

None of those things will cause the kind of bloodletting those thorns did, but if I cannot even do those paltry things, how can I even hope to wear that “glittering crown on my brow?”  If that makes me uncomfortable and ashamed, good.  That’s why we sing those songs.  They are to teach and admonish, not produce feel-good pep rallies.

When I am weeding in the garden, I do my best to avoid the thorns.  Maybe in life, I should be out there looking for a few to wear.

And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe, John 19:2

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing, 2Tim 4:7-8.

Dene Ward

 Despite 14 years of blog writing, I am still a Luddite when it comes to my knowledge and understanding of computers.  I can do the necessary, but should anything go wrong my stomach sinks, my heart pounds a mile a minute, and I go running to my younger brother in Christ who now hosts this blog and makes it run in spite of me.

 My new blog has a contact page, just as my old one did, but this one is much easier for me to handle.  Unfortunately, it must be much easier for everyone else too because I regularly delete four to five dozen spam (spams?) a week.  It doesn’t take that much time—I don’t even have to read past the first three words usually to know it’s headed for the trash bin.  What has become annoying though, are the three or four who send exactly the same mail word-for-word, several times a day.  No, I am not interested in the $27,000 jackpot, nor the earth-shatteringly inventive dog harness.  So my young friend has found a way to block them without them knowing about it and without losing the people who really need to contact me.

 That is what worries me—deleting someone I don’t want to delete.  Spam filters are notorious for that.  They don’t like my email address with the French name.  I have lost count of the times my own emails have wound up in the spam folders of people I was trying to reach, so I do not want to do that to anyone else.

 We all come with a built-in spam filter.  How many times have you seen someone come up your walk and you instantly prepare yourself to get out of the sales spiel as quickly as possible before you even open the door?  How often do we see someone come into our meeting places, someone a little bedraggled who seems a bit uncomfortable, and we instantly think, “They want some money?”  I wonder how many legitimate opportunities to reach the lost or to help a true brother in Christ we have missed out on.  I have told you before of the time we forgot out Sunday clothes when we went camping and had to go to worship in a strange town in our jeans and flannel shirts, only to be shunned as soon as we walked in the door.

 Perhaps we should work on un-installing those spam filters.  It takes me a whopping 5 minutes twice a week to get rid of the spam, going through it one at a time, but I never miss the contacts I truly need to see from people who need help or just have a question to ask.  They are worth the time I spend on the canned pork!

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.  For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything1Thess1:6-8.

Dene Ward

We are well over a thousand now—and counting.  I have been writing up these little things so long I can’t watch something happen without thinking the phrase above.  In fact, more than once Keith and I have looked at one another after some oddball event and said it in unison: “There oughtta be a devo in that.”

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard.  Consider her ways and be wise,” Solomon wrote.  “Look at the birds,” Jesus said, and, “Consider the lilies.”  Both of them taught valuable lessons from the things around them.  The parables were nothing more than every day occurrences with analogous meanings.  Parables were not uncommon in the Old Testament either, and many of the prophets taught lessons with the visual aids of their own lives or actions.  Hosea and Ezekiel come instantly to mind.

Even the writers of the New Testament used athletic contests, farming truisms, and anatomical allegories to teach us what we need to know about our relationship with God, with one another, and in our homes and communities.  Telling stories is a time-honored and perfectly scriptural way of teaching God’s word.

In fact, maybe if we started looking at the world that way, at the things that happen in our daily lives as if they had some meaning beyond the mundane, some deeper spiritual use, it might just be that our lives would change for the better.  It might be easier to see where we need to grow, maybe a place we need to make a one-eighty before we get much further down the road.  There is something about watching a dumb animal and thinking, “I didn’t even have that much sense,” that will straighten out your attitude.

If I have done nothing else for you in all these years, maybe I have accomplished this.  Maybe you have learned to look at the things around you and say, “There IS a devo in that—I need to make a change.”

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? Job 12:7-9.

Dene Ward

I was checking my stats last month.  It is helpful to know which posts receive the most pageviews, the most shares, and the most likes.  It is instructive to see which days of the week are most active and which are least.  It’s just plain interesting to see where my referrals come from—some strange places sometimes, real head-scratchers, but even accidental evangelism is evangelism I suppose.

So in all that checking I discovered that on November 16, 2015, someone “unliked” a page, which I suppose means they had liked it in the first place and then changed their minds.  I think I must have hit a nerve.  Can I just say this at the beginning?  None of these posts is meant to make people angry.  I appreciate being challenged as a Christian.  I want to improve.  I simply assume that if you are bothering to read these, you do too.

Why is it that people don’t realize what they are revealing about themselves when, as the old saying goes, “The hit dog howls?”  If the preacher’s sermon is about gossip and I become angry and show it, isn’t it obvious that I bear some guilt over that subject? 

And here’s a novel idea—if someone steps on your toes, how about moving them?  A long time ago when I was young and extremely naïve, I actually thought that when you showed someone they were doing something wrong, they would quit doing it, especially brethren.  Now I know better. Only a few will take that high road.  Everyone else will find fault with you, tell others how mean you are, sometimes even spread lies about what you supposedly did to them.  Yes, even Christians—I use the term loosely.  Have I become your enemy then by telling you the truth? Paul asked the Galatians (4:16).  Evidently the answer is yes to some, unfortunately to many.

And this is what they tell people about themselves: Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man and he will increase in learning, Prov 9:9.  Becoming angry over correction means a person is neither wise nor righteous, which is what that November post was all about.

Which brings us full circle, and for all I know, will get me “unliked” again.  I guess we’ll see.

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it…Ps 141:5.

Dene Ward

But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish” Jonah 1:4-6.

From what I’ve heard all my life, you’d think that the “big fish” in Jonah is the only thing worth talking about.  Our Prophets class found far more and this is just a quick overview class, nothing as detailed as verse by verse.

The passage above may not be the first lesson we garnered from Jonah, but it is one we need more than we realize.  Here is Jonah, the only Jew, the only member of God’s covenant people, on this boat as a mighty storm threatens to engulf it and take them all to a watery grave, and he is the only one not praying.  In fact, a heathen captain has to take him to task to get him started.

Have you ever been embarrassed by the zeal of a “heathen” friend or neighbor when that zeal should have come from you first?  Have you ever fallen to pieces while one of them calmly said, “Let’s pray about this,” and did?  Have you ever related a wonderful occurrence in your life without once mentioning the goodness of God only to have someone else “give God the glory” with every other word?  Have you ever had your door knocked on by someone looking to convert a soul when you have never even invited a friend to services?  We are Jonah, folks, far too many times.

I would blame it on such a fervent desire to avoid false doctrine that we pushed the pendulum much too far.  I would do that except for this—nowadays I am not even sure we know which “false doctrine” we are trying to avoid.  It has simply become tradition.  We don’t do anything to call attention to ourselves, nor to God for that matter.  We want to be quiet and comfortable, certainly not “out there” with our religion, and so our God is not praised nor thanked nor acknowledged when He should be.  “We don’t do that,” I’ve heard it said.  And I, for one, would like to know why.

None of those things is foreign to the scriptures.  You find all of them abounding in the epistles and saturating the Psalms.  God is everywhere.  What He does is always mentioned.  He is the reason for praise, for fear, for awe, and He expects us to acknowledge it. 

Why didn’t Jonah do so?  Because he was trying to get away from God.  He was trying to avoid his mission.  He had God placed in a box in a town in a covenant land and thought if he got far enough away, God would forget about him. 

Is that why we do it?  Are we trying to avoid God everywhere except the church building?  Is it far more comfortable to hide ourselves with silence than to proclaim our faith?   

When the world can shame my faith, can I even keep calling it that?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths, Prov 3:5-6.

Dene Ward

 The title alone will make you want to read this book, and the size of it—just over 100 pages—will make it an easy thing to do.  In the process your eyes will be opened to things you should become wary of in your own congregation.  As the man described 14 different churches in various stages of dying, I had no difficulty as all putting a congregation of God's people that I knew on the list. 

 The greatest benefit will be seeing it before it happens and doing what needs to be done to keep your group from dying.  The greatest difficulty will be making yourself see what you don't want to see.  Things that seem harmless now can become anything but and he will show you how.  Don't be like those people in the Bible who refused to see what was so plainly evident to everyone else.

 Autopsy of a Dead Church is published by B&H Publishing Group.

Dene Ward

 It must be the American Dream—living on easy street with every luxury available and no worries or responsibilities.  The Bible, however, tells us that Easy Street is the most dangerous place in the world to live.

 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery...  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth Deut 8:7-14, 17.

  And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,  and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”Luke12:16-21.

  I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked Rev3:15-17.

 Those are perhaps the largest passages about this problem.  I challenge you to find any passage about wealth that calls it “good.”  No, it is not a sin to be well-to-do, but if the Word of God means anything, it means that wealth will put your soul in danger as much as any other temptation out there, perhaps more.  It makes you complacent, it makes you dependent on yourself more than on God, and it can easily lead to greed and a miserly spirit instead of a generous one.  That is why Paul warns the rich:  As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life 1Tim 6:17-19.

 And by now you are shaking your head and thinking, “But I’m not rich.”  You are wrong.  Compared to about 90% of the rest of the world, we are all rich.  People in the rest of the world live day to day.  I buy a week’s worth of groceries at once and have a freezer that would feed us for several months if suddenly all the stores in the world ran out of food.  Every Sunday I look in my closet and choose between ten dresses to wear.  I know women who have at least 2 dozen pairs of shoes, and still say, when they get a new dress, “I need a new pair of shoes,”—to match the new dress, I suppose.  Every family I know has so many cars they won’t all fit in the garage, and sometimes not in the driveway.  This is “rich,” folks.

 A roaring lion prowls your neighborhood every day.  He isn’t just trying to get you to commit the big, bad sins like adultery.  He is also in your wallet, in your bank account, in your IRA, and in your portfolio.  Please be aware.  That’s only the first part of the test and most of us flunk before we get past that.

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven Matt19:23.

Dene Ward

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs, Amos 7:14.

Amaziah, the [false] priest at Bethel had just told Amos to go back to Judah.  They were tired of his scare tactics, what they viewed as rebellion against their king, Jeroboam II.  That is how we learn of Amos’s occupation.  While some view him as the owner of the sheep rather than the shepherd who actually slept outdoors watching his flock, you cannot get away from the humble position of fig picker.

Sycamore figs (also spelled sycomore figs) were not the figs of the upper classes, but a smaller fruit, slightly sweet, watery, and a little woody.  This is what the poor people ate.  The only way a sycamore fig would ripen was for someone to pinch it, causing it to bruise.  About four days later it was fit to pick and eat.  Can you imagine anything much more tedious than pinching every single fruit on every single tree in an orchard?  Then going to the next orchard and doing it all again?  And again?

As I was pondering this in our Tuesday morning class, I suddenly thought, “And isn’t that what happens to us?”  The only way for us to ripen as a disciple of our Lord is to be bruised.  In my ever increasing number of years, I have seen only those who reach their lowest point realize their need for God.  If I am proud, smug, self-reliant, self-righteous, all too sure of my own knowledge, I will never be able to prostrate myself before an Almighty Creator and commit my life, my belongings, MYSELF to Him.  I will never be able to take up the cross of self-denial and self-sacrifice and serve my Savior and my neighbor. 

Some people have a stronger spiritual sense and can recognize their need for salvation quickly.  Their bruising is a bruising of the spirit that occurs when they recognize their sin and remorse hits them like that proverbial ton of bricks.  Others need a physical bruising.  You see it often when tragedy strikes—a serious illness, a devastating accident, the loss of a loved one.  A bruising in this physical life may be necessary for them to see the need in their spiritual lives.  I have often heard it said by preachers that the best time to reach your neighbor is in a time of tragedy, and the scriptures bear that out as well.

Isaiah preached imminent destruction.  In the latter chapters of his book he tells those impenitent people that God will be waiting to take them back—not before the calamity, but afterward—after they have been bruised by a physical destruction the like of which they had never seen before.  That, after all, would be the time when they would finally listen.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. ​For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, ​creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal him. Isa 57:15-19.

Ezekiel says much the same: I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice,  Ezek 34:15-16.

And who does Jesus offer His invitation to:  Come all you who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls, Matt 11:28,29.

And so each of us must face our bruising.  The more quickly we yield, the easier that bruising will be, not because trials will cease, but because our humble hearts will accept both them and the help we will have to face them.  We won’t be alone any longer, a state of affairs that only comes to the stubborn, who refuse to surrender to Divine love and protection.  Sometimes it takes a “fig-pincher” to help with the process, someone who, like the prophet Nathan, can stand before us and proclaim, “Thou art the man.”  And like the sycamore fig, we will ripen into the fruitful child of God each of us has the potential to become.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint, Isa 40:29-31.

Dene Ward

Canning tomatoes is one of the more difficult garden season chores.  You wash each and every tomato.  You scald each and every tomato.  You pound ice blocks till your arms ache in order to shock and cool each and every scalded tomato.  You peel each and every tomato and finally you cut up each and every tomato.  How many?  In the old days about 5 five gallon buckets full, enough to make 40+ quarts.  Then you sterilize jars, pack jars, and process jars.  Only 7 jars fit in the canner at a time, so you go through that at least 6 times.

 And you will have more failures to seal with canned tomatoes than any other thing you can.  As you pack them in, pushing down to make room, you must be very careful not to let the juice spill over into the threads of the jar.  And just in case you did that heinous crime, you take a damp cloth and wipe each thread of each jar.  Tomato pulp will keep a perfectly good jar, lid, and ring from sealing.

 In order to have that many tomatoes you must be willing to cut up a few that are half-rotten, disposing of the soft, pulpy, stinky parts—and boy, howdy, can they stink!—in order to save sometimes just a bite or two of tomato.  Now that there are only two of us, I usually limit myself to 20 + quarts.  I still put one in every pot of spaghetti sauce, one in every pot of chili, and one in every pot of minestrone, as well as a few other recipes, it’s just that I don’t make as many of those things as I did with two big boys in the house.  Now I can afford to be a little profligate.  If I pick up a tomato with a large bad spot, I am just as likely to toss the whole thing rather than try to save the bite or two that is good, especially if it is a small tomato to begin with.  Why go to all that work—washing, scalding, shocking, peeling, cutting up, packing—for a mere teaspoon of tomato?

 But isn’t that what God and Jesus did for us? For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leads unto life, and few are they that find it. Matt 7:14.

 The Son of God, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Phil 2:6-8.  And he did that for a half—no!--for a more than half rotten tomato of a world.  He did that to save a remnant, a mere teaspoon of souls who would care enough to listen and obey the call. 

 Sometimes, by the end of the day, when my arms are aching, my fingers are nicked and the cuts burning from acidic tomato juice, my back and feet are killing me from standing for hours, and I am drenched with sweat from the steamy kitchen, I am ready to toss even the mostly good tomatoes, the ones with only a tiny bad spot, because it means extra work beyond a quick slice or two.  Aren’t you glad God did not feel that way about us?  It wasn’t just a half rotten world he came to save, it was a bunch of half rotten individuals in that world, of which you and I are just a few.

 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. Rom 11:4-5

Dene Ward