The Journey

Whenever there are people in the world out there who genuinely care about each other, God is being served. Whenever they are compassionate toward each other, God is being served. Whenever they sacrifice for each other, God is being served. Whenever they are supportive of each other in the quest for truth, God is being served.

When He was about to embark on His public ministry, Jesus was tempted in the desert to choose mammon over God. Jesus chose God and, as God’s supremely faithful Servant, He died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and became the Source of our Resurrection Hope.

Now, we are being asked to choose. But remember, if you say you have chosen to be God’s servant, it is not just a title you have opted for, but a way of life. You have opted for life in Christ. You have chosen to be an apostle of Resurrection Hope in a world shrouded in hopelessness. You have chosen, deep within yourself, to say, “Yes! The gift of God’s Love is so good for me, so life-enhancing for me that I will put my whole being into my response. I will let the Holy Spirit baptize my time, my skills, my feelings, my mind, my body, as I offer them to God through the service of others.”

On the night before He died, Jesus’ last lesson to the disciples was a practical illustration of the art of servanthood. He took a towel and a basin, knelt down and washed and dried their feet. “Do you understand what I just did for you?” He asked, “You address Me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and fittingly enough, for that is what I am. But if I washed your feet — I who am Teacher and Lord — then, you must wash each other’s feet. What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so must you” (Jn.13:12-15). Understanding this was difficult for those first disciples. And, we know from our own experience, the difficulty we have in understanding and accepting this role of servanthood from Jesus.

The chief personnel officer of a major airline was describing the difficulty of recruiting and training new employees — especially for jobs requiring the employee to give direct service to the public. He said, “Service is the only thing, really, that we have to sell. But it is the part of the job that is hardest to teach. Nowadays, no one wants to be thought of as a servant.” He is right, I think. Nowadays, nobody wants to be thought of as a servant. But it presents us with a serious problem because the Gospels make it perfectly clear that Jesus intended for each one of His followers to be precisely that: a servant.

In God’s eyes, we are worth infinitely more than our bank account. In God’s eyes, we are worth dying for. Jesus, Son of God, came to serve us in this way. So it’s time to come down from the hills or wherever you are. Come down on your knees, take a towel and a basin, and discover what it means to be outrageously happy just doing for others. You may remember the imagery and the words of the best-selling author — for indeed, there’s a bigger mountain out there! But most of all, remember always the Word of the Lord: “You cannot be the slave both of God and money … Anyone among you who aspires to be greatest must serve the rest.”

Lord, I need to be a servant… touching all the people of the world in all circumstances and conditions. Help me to see, and experience my calling to be Your servant… send me out to serve. Amen.

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You are a beloved child of God. You are loved by God individually, uniquely, and He wants you for His own, for all eternity.

Let the mystery capture you! Let the mystery inspire you! Cherish it! View it from the heart! And, inevitably, you will measure the worth of every human being by God’s standards, which are wrapped in mystery, of course.

And whenever you are tempted to question the worth of another human person — “How can God’s infinite love extend to that wretched person?” — remember that the Mystery of God’s Love is not for you to solve, but to experience, and to cherish! To do so is the most creative thing you can do in life — the finest of all the fine arts.

A mother wrote to her Pastor, explaining that until recently, she didn’t know what love was, despite the hundreds of sermons she had listened to over the years. This mother had been reared in the highest echelons of society in a southern U.S. city. She was very active in the Church, always on the right committees and in the right places and everything was just right. And she really believed she was a Christian. “But,” she wrote, “I had a problem. My daughter had been giving me a lot of trouble. She learned how to say ‘No’ at a very early age and just kept on saying it. This didn’t fit into my way of life. It disrupted my comfortable routine and I began to resent my own daughter. This became obvious to her until, finally, she ran away from home. The note she left said, ‘It’s obvious, mother, that you don’t love me, and it would be better for both of us if I go away.’

“My world collapsed. At first, out of sheer humiliation, that I, a prominent society person and a prominent Church woman should have her daughter leave home under such circumstances. Then the humiliation gave way to a deep sense of despair when I finally became honest enough to say to myself, ‘I don’t love my daughter. I don’t even love myself.’ And I just had to get down on my knees and somehow begin this whole business of being a Christian over again!

“And the words I’d been hearing all my life about God’s love and about Grace and forgiveness and reconciliation, suddenly grasped me for the first time, and my whole life changed, from inside out. And when I found my daughter, the reconciliation began. Not only that but my relationship with my husband, my relationship with my other children, my relationship to the Church — everything was different.”

This is what the Apostle Paul was so concerned about when he wrote his letter to the Galatians. They had heard the Gospel preached but it was apparent that it was not making a real difference in their lives. They were “keeping the faith” on a very superficial level, in their Church-going and in their show of allegiance to the Law. But they had not been consumed with the Grace of God’s love at a level deep enough to make a real difference in their lives and in their relationships. Paul, therefore, says to them: “Out of love, place yourselves at one another’s service. The whole law has found its fulfillment in this one saying: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you go on biting and tearing one another to pieces, take care! You will end up in mutual destruction!” (Gal. 5:13-15).

Don’t you see? We need to stop talking and singing about God’s Grace long enough to start living in it. Don’t you see? We need to immerse ourselves in this love of God. Don’t you see? We need to become ever more aware that God’s Love is deep within us and at this very moment a miracle can occur.

Those of us who have been hearing this all our lives at one level will hear it now at a deeper level and at a new level because God is here, God is present, God’s Grace — the Grace of reconciliation — is in you, in me, in all of us. Don’t you see? We will all do better when we get down on our knees, position ourselves before God, and begin this whole business of being a Christian all over again! Do it now and experience the miracle of God’s Love deep within.

Come Holy Spirit, I need you Now. Amen.

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The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen once was asked to describe his “Most Inspiring Moment.” This is what he wrote:

“A few years ago, I visited a leper colony in Africa. I brought with me 500 small silver crucifixes to give to each victim of the dread disease. The first leper who came up to me had only a stump of his left arm. The right arm and hand were full of those telltale open sores of leprosy. I held the crucifix a few inches above that hand and let it drop into the palm.

“At that moment, there were 501 lepers in the camp, and the most diseased of them all was me. I had taken the symbol of redemption, of Divine Love for man, of the humiliation of Divinity into our fallen human nature and had refused to identify myself with all that that symbol implied. It is so easy to love humanity in general but so difficult sometimes to love a man.

“It is easy to help the lepers, but when one meets a specific leper, then a special effort is required. Seeing myself in the full shame of refusing to identify with this victim, I looked at the crucifix in the putrid mass of his hand and realized that I, too, must become one with suffering humanity. Then I pressed my hand to his hand with the symbol of love between us and continued to do it for the other 499.”

“Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” Jesus said on the cross. “Whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple,” Jesus is saying to us now. God is waiting to receive us in love. If you want to be the uniquely beautiful person God made you to be, then renounce your ego-centered, fear-driven, achievement-oriented self and follow Me. If you’re going to make your life worthwhile, take up your cross and follow me. In other words, Consent to love up close and personal.

Lord, we don’t have any problem loving and giving sympathy and compassion from a distance… a comfortable safe distance… but now we realize you are really asking us to take the leper by the hand and in the name of Christ sharing the love and mercy of our heavenly Father. Help us do exactly that here and everywhere for all your people. Amen.

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“The man who humbles himself will be exalted.” We’ve heard that one before, many times, perhaps but how do we respond? What is Jesus talking about? Another Sunday dose of hopeless idealism? Another example of what we have come to expect when we come to Church? One gets the uneasy feeling that nobody expects anybody to take this kind of talk seriously. One senses a response, as though on cue, in the form of an impatient, irreverent, congregational wink.

At rock bottom, to humble oneself means to put others first; to be at the service of others; to give oneself unselfishly to others. That is as good a description as any, of the high cost of Christian discipleship. But, in our self-centeredness, we are reluctant to pay the price. We grow fond of listening to the voice of exaltation saying from within, “Don’t give! Take! Get all you can for as little as you can!” And then we use and exploit other people.

Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors in history, lived in a large house with a massive fence around it. Visitors had to push open an enormous iron gate to enter the compound and then push it back again until it clanked shut. One of Edison’s friends complained to him about the tremendous amount of energy required to open and close that gate. With a twinkle in his eye, Mr. Edison escorted his friend up onto the roof of the house and showed him an elaborate mechanical device made up of levers and pulleys and pumps. “What you don’t know,” said Edison, “is that everyone who opens and closes that gate automatically pumps a gallon of water into my tank up here on the roof.”

To be honest about this, we all do it. People come walking into our lives, and we say, “How do you do,” meaning, “What can you do for me? How much water can you pump into my tank? Can you amuse me? Can you fatten my wallet? Will you praise me, adore me, exalt me?” But when Jesus Christ becomes real to us, a subtle but very profound change takes place, making it possible for us to become What can I do for you? Kind of persons.

“Let the greater among you be as the servant.” These are Jesus’ words, not mine. And He intended them to hit His listeners right where they were living. He talked to real women and men about the real problems they were having. His words got under their skin, churned around in their hearts, shook up their souls, demanded a response, either affirmative or negative. Jesus had a manner of speaking that made people listen, made them take His words seriously — so much so that those who responded negatively, responded violently, and they crucified Him.

How easily words can be used to twist reality, to cover up! It has become standard practice. Not only have we been conditioned to expect it, but also, we have learned to accept it and to participate in it. In the stereotypic rhetoric of politics, the candidate promises to be the servant of all the people, knowing that nobody takes this kind of talk seriously anymore. On TV and radio, advertisers stretch words to their outer-limits to promote sales.

Our children are learning at a very tender age that twisting reality with words is to be expected and accepted in the game of everyday living. And when they begin coming to Church, do they have any real reason to believe that we are not still participating in the ordinary game of saying-one-thing-and-meaning-another?

“Let the greater among you be as … the servant …The man who humbles himself will be exalted.” Jesus is speaking to us as real persons with a real problem in dealing with the question: “Who should be regarded as the greatest?” There is no mincing of words, no twisting of reality: the person who serves is greatest. “I am in your midst as one who serves you,” Jesus said. Jesus, remember, repeatedly described God’s judgment in terms of how we feed and clothe and otherwise minister to the least of His brothers and sisters. It is not our position in life that counts, but what we do with it. It is not the mere exercise of power and authority that counts. What matters is how we exercise that power and authority (as parents, for example).

Jesus is telling us that Christian Faith is not a status symbol, but the very foundation of human living. Jesus is telling us that Christian Faith is not merely something to be acquired now so that after our 50 or 80 years on earth, we will be able to enjoy the luxury of happiness in the afterlife. Jesus is telling us that Christian Faith is not luxury; it is a necessity. It is necessary now because now is when we need to know who we are and how God wants us to live.

During Jesus’ Passion, on the very night, before He is to die, His closest friends ask Him to settle a dispute concerning which of them “should be regarded as the greatest.” He replies: “Let the greater among you be the junior, and the leader among you the servant … I am in your midst as one who serves you.”

We are free to choose. Do we enter Christian Communion with others? Do we begin to live for others? Or do we oppose the solidarity and brotherhood which Christian Faith inspires?

Don’t wink in disbelief as Jesus speaks of living for others as our rule of life. No, let us instead close both eyes and repeat the words of our anguished Jesus on the Mount of Olives: “Father … not My will but Yours.”

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We need to set this in the context of the whole Gospel message, which tells us that we all have been created for life with God. We are like branches that need to be nourished by the main vine. And if we become detached, we begin to wither and die. We cannot be who we’re supposed to be on our own. But we try. Oh, how we try!

Some of us try to do it by making money and possessions and the thing we call “security” our number one priority. There is nothing wrong with money and possessions in themselves, but we tend to put all our trust in them to make our life worthwhile. And it never works. Some of us try to do it through the exercise of control over other people. It gives us a temporary sense of power, but it’s always temporary and, ultimately, self-defeating. Some of us try to do it with excessive alcohol or drug abuse, and we experience a temporary high, but it’s always temporary — and then comes the crash.

There is a beautiful, true story about a woman who was preparing to sell her house. She had her seventy-seven-year-old mother and some others come in to help get the place ready for showing to prospective buyers. The mother was one of those “take-charge” persons, and she started by organizing the work, giving orders, telling everyone what to do. In the afternoon she went out in the yard with her seventy-four-year-old sister to rake leaves. She began raking up a storm while the sister worked at a milder pace. Finally, the older woman shouted over her shoulder, “Annie, if there’s anything I can’t stand it’s a lazy person.” Annie leaned very gracefully on her rake and replied, “Edna, did you ever stop to think that if there’s anything a lazy person can’t stand, it’s you?” There are a lot of us like that. Ego-driven, we tear around like spoiled over-achievers, trying to get everybody to do things our way, trying to be in control and, in the process, making life miserable for those around us. We may accomplish some good things, but because we are so ego-driven most of the good ultimately drains away. Worst of all, many of us, like the Pharisees, turn our praying and our worship and our good works into this ego-structure. We continually try to justify ourselves before God and man.

The only power that is great enough to break through that ego-structure — to bring us to our senses and free us from the bondage of our ego-centeredness — is the power of God in Jesus Christ. We need to experience the power of God’s Love to discover our true worth as human persons. Apart from God, we cannot be our true self. Apart from God, we cannot give our consent to the good life that makes everything worthwhile.

“God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us,” Paul has written. This will become real to us only if we open our inner-space by renouncing the things in life that will not allow God’s Love to break through. When we let go in this way, God is there.

And so, we pray: Lord, help us to see how caught up we really are in our own ego-driven life-style. We have become so good at it that we can’t see it anymore. Open our heart to your example of humility that we may break free to see you in our midst. Amen.

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Tonight I ran dry as dust. I just couldn’t think of a thing to write. So, I just need to pray.

Most merciful and compassionate God,
Giver of Life and Love,
hear our prayers
and let our cries come unto you.
We weep with your people 
We hear the cries of orphaned children and laments of bereaved parents
We feel the desperation of those searching for loved ones
We behold the silence of vanished villages.
We see the devastation.
We are overwhelmed by the enormity of it all.
Our hearts are hushed, our minds are numb.
Let not our hands be stopped, our voices dumb.

God of the universe,
Open our hearts to feel your compassion
Galvanize in us the act of continued giving
Bond us to our sisters and brothers in need
Comfort and heal the injured, the bereaved, the lost
Strengthen the aid workers and medical personnel
Bolster the resolve of governments and those with power to help
Open through this tragedy pathways to partnerships and peace
In Your Name of mercy and healing and compassion we pray. Amen

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I was watching the news reports and interviews with this lady in the Bahamas who was so emotional she could hardly breathe. She kept saying: “It was indescribable. No one can tell you what it was like. It was like seeing hell.” I am surprised this lady didn’t have a heart attack. Being asked what do you need, everyone says: “We need everything… from A to Z, cause we have lost everything. We need help. We need help.” It is estimated there are 75,000 people in need in Bahama right now. The Bahamian health minister reports that the death toll has risen to 30, but he expects it to rise too much greater numbers.

I can’t seem to get these pictures out of my mind. They are, indeed, most indescribable. I just stare at them in shocking amazement that such destruction can happen… where nothing is left. And I can’t imagine wind gusts up to 250 mph… How do you escape that? It does my heart good to see our Coast Guard flying those life saving choppers, taking those in the most medical need to emergency medical care on the main island. They are making many trips each day… and saving many lives. Semper Paratus!

A man in Florida (who wants to remain anonymous) spent almost $50,000 on generators and supplies for the Bahamas saying: “I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing when I can get up and do something.”

Samaritan’s Purse is sending planes to the Bahamas taking hospital supplies and equipment to meet the critical medical needs.

The famous Italian chef, Massimo Bottura, is taking food to the Bahamas to feed those in need at no cost to them. He states: “It is absolutely necessary to give back some of the luck in the life you’re living. So feeding the poor is about giving back. It is what we need. We need dreams. If you don’t dream and you don’t dream big, you know, you cannot change the world.”

My heart is so warmed by these giving, caring people stepping up to make a difference. They dream big… and if we all join them with our little bit… altogether it is the big dream which will change the world.

The devastation is indescribable… the way back is indescribable… but the love of God in God’s people is more indescribable than all the rest. The biggest dream of all… the one that will change the world is God’s people joining hearts to care for God’s people all over the world.

And so, I Pray: Lord, you know the need, the hurt, the emptiness and lostness these people feel. Take us, who claim to be your people, and use us to dream big and lift up the needy people of the world. Put that burning desire in our hearts which pushes us to be the Samaritain in the world today. Get us up and use us. Amen

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I seem to be almost to the point where I just don’t want to watch the Evening News… it all seems so devastating and depressing. Tonight we are still watching the Dorian tract… hoping and praying that our family and friends, indeed all people are safe from any more destruction. I look back at the Bahamas which has lost so much to this monster hurricane. Their islands look like a trash dump… after Dorian just sat there and spun its disastrous havoc… destroying everything in sight. My heart is broken for them. I can’t imagine what they are feeling. They must feel lost, abandoned, and alone.

I watched Norah O’Donnell tonight interviewing some of the survivors of this disaster. One young man watched his young son washed away by the flood waters… with his hands reaching toward his dad. My heart broke. An older couple told about their home saying “It was all gone. Nothing is left, nothing.” His wife cried as she said (pointing to her soiled dress) “I’ve had this on for four days.” I look at this and feel almost in shock at the mass scale of this disaster. The pictures look out across the landscape and there seems to be total destruction everywhere you look. Everything is destroyed.

The Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Hubert Minnis said the other day: “It was like war and the enemy had all the weapons and we had none.” He broke down in tears addressing a news conference, calling it “probably the most sad and worst day of my life.”

Now switch that 185 mph wind and 18 to 23 feet of storm water surge to your home town – to your neighborhood. I wonder what we would have left. Certainly we build our structures to withstand 150 mph winds (as the Bahamians did) but I doubt many would pay the difference to build to withstand 185 – 200 mph winds and the associated water of a storm like this.

Perhaps we should do as the Prime Minister said: “We can pray.” And so, I pray: O Lord, I do not pray that you will keep me safe and just save those poor people. I pray that you will not leave our hearts alone until we get actively involved in helping people in the Bahamas who now have no homes, family members lost or deceased, and people wondering about their own existence. Help us reach out the hand of compassion and mercy to help our brothers and sisters. Amen.

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The other day, the day we hoped to be leaving Hotel California (Cone Hospital) in walked one my cousins. We grew up together in small visits and summer stays with our Mama Martin. They lived next door. I remember on Sundays we would always play the game in season. Football in the Vaughn’s side yard. Baseball in the field across the street, and basketball after they put up a goal. Four boys who always meant a great deal to me. Jimmy, Billy, Kenny and Ricky… great group of guys. Then you add Lonnie and Johnny and you have a fabulous group of kids.

Kenny Sechrist walked into my room with a smile on his face and hope in his heart. We talked about several things: Duke (he is an Iron Duke), family, ancestors, the VA in Kernersville, and my other cousin’s back problems. He was a very welcomed surprise… and put a smile on my face.

Each year in December we have a Sechrist/Martin reunion. It is so good to get to see them each year. I have to add three ladies Peggy Sechrist and Alicia Martin Cassidy (cousins) and Ethel Sechrist (wife of a cousin) who is the same as a cousin. All these people are very special to me even though we don’t see each other that often. They keep me in touch with Madison-Mayodan: The church, the towns, the people and many wonderful memories.

Ken’s visit said he cared. But more than that it said maybe I need to get out of my cocoon and make some visits myself. Not only to my my cousins but others who may need to hear that I care.

And so I pray: Lord, I do thank you for having such people as cousins and friends from the past who lift me up and let me know they care by their presence. Help me to take up that same path – visiting those who may need to know that someone cares. Amen.

My brother, Phil had bladder surgery today to remove four tumors. They could not surgically remove them. However they burned them out, filled the bladder with chemo, drained the bladder after about an hour, and sent him home. He is not a happy camper right now. Remember him and Emily in your prayers.

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When you’re hungry what type of food do you eat? What’s your favorite food that satisfies a deep craving you may have? Is it sweet, crunchy, salty or creamy? After you’ve eaten it, how long do you feel satisfied? When I am really hungry I open the cupboards and look for a jar of unsalted peanuts. Several handfuls of this snack food often satisfies my physical hunger when I have gone too long without eating any food. What do you turn to when you have a deeper emotional or spiritual hunger inside?

In Psalm 81:10 God says to the writer “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it with good things.”Later in verse 16 God is saying “But I would feed you with the best of foods. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”

In this Psalm, God is saying that if we turn to Him and follow His ways that He will take care of our needs. When we have a deep, deep need to be satisfied He does not want us to try to meet that need by going to the refrigerator and eating any food that might temporarily meet what we think is physical hunger. He wants us to go to Him to meet what really may be a spiritual need. God wants us to have the “best of foods.” Peanuts, a piece of cake or a bowl of ice cream do little to satisfy an emotional or spiritual need. Only God can do that, as these verses tell us.

The Hebrew word for ‘rock’ used in verse 16 of Psalm 81 is sur meaning a place of security and safety. That’s what God wants to be for us. When we need a place of security or safety He wants to be that place for us. When we are stressed over a life situation and are looking to feed the temporary emotions like loneliness, fear or pain, God does not want us to turn to physical foods to be satisfied. He wants us to turn to Him. He wants to “feed” us in a way that really satisfies our deep needs.

The next time you have a deep need because of a situation or event in your life, try turning to God. Put on a favorite CD or plug in your MP3 player and listen to songs that remind you of God’s nature. Open up the Bible  and read your favorite scriptures. Read some other material that helps you understand God better. Or consider getting down on your knees and pouring out your heart to Him in a deep and meaningful way. Give God a chance and see if He won’t meet that deep ‘hunger.’ He is waiting for you.

And so, I pray: Lord, sometimes I feel like I am just about on empty and need to be refueled deep inside. Let me know that I am always wrapped in your loving arms and always being fed by your mana from heaven. Help me to be satisfied with that grace you give me each day. Amen.

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