The Savor Of A Life Well Spent

Is there anything more sobering than death? Why so morbid Gordon? What's up? These are the things I'm thinking on: death and eternity. Technically, sleep may be a better term for death. I say this because Jesus equated death to sleep, right before raising Lazarus to life. But, wasn't he really dead? Yes, of course, so much so, that decomposition was already at work.

Why? Why am I talking or thinking like this? It's simple, in just a few hours it will be a one year death anniversary of a beloved pastor and friend of mine: Ed Simmons.

Now Ed is in a place with no more pain. Ed is in a place without sorrow. Ed is in a place that Jesus built just for people like Ed. Ed is in Heaven, his flesh went the way of all flesh. His flesh vanished in the vapor called life. Awe! Heaven... you got the jump Ed, but I'll see you soon.

Ed's body may sleep in the dust of the earth, this is true. Yet, the Ed I know and love is at home with Jesus. Still I miss him. For now I know he is in that great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12) cheering us on. Ed, though gone, is doing what he always did. He is preaching and teaching in his soft gentile way through our thoughts, memories, compact discs and first and foremost, through his family. Ed could be proud of the way the little body of Christ in the foothills is thriving in Christ. Ed could be proud, but he wouldn't be. Because Ed knows his service was but a gift from the giver of all good gifts. Thanks Ed, for loving Jesus!

I Know

Testing, this is only a test. I've been blessed with a new laptop and I'm getting used to it finally. Tonight I finally installed a word processor and I'm taking it out for a spin. I'm not one that remembers certain things well. What's that old saying, “Use it or lose it.” It's so true! And spelling is one of those things I lose. It happens regular enough that without spell check, I would look particularly stupid.

So, rather than show off my lack certain skills, I opted to wait before writing much of anything. Instead of writing, I've been reading more. I'm coming to humbling places in God's word more and more often. Daily doing Gods will is my goal in life. Becoming more Christ like is my plan. Still I look at myself and sometimes just wag my head. Why? It's because I see that over and over again I let certain sins knock me off balance. I still see that being Christ-like is an impossibility without Christ at the helm and every now and again I try and grab that helm. I'm that living sacrifice that tries to dodge the filet knife; all along I know the knife of the Word of God there to cut out the cancer: sin. I'm that sacrifice that clinches on the corner alter, wanting to get off the alter. Yet to do so would sever me from the vine, so I don't dare go there! I do all of this! Do you?

I know my Lord and Savior well enough that I can trust Him. So I let go of the helm and let Jesus drive. Funny how thing go much better when the designer takes the wheel. I know well enough that only with the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave is being Christ-like possible. I know that God gave grace and gives grace freely. I know that if I come to Jesus and tell Him I'm wrong and You are right, He will forgive me. So I do just that. I come to Him and keep coming. I come everyday to the throne of grace, if for no other reason than the purpose of confessing my sins a fresh. I know He hears me and forgives me.

Jesus knows us and knows us well; Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Jesus even knows and understands where we are at and what is going on inside our mind— both spirit and soul. We are the little ones that are weak, earthen vessels. Jars of clay filled with an eternally future soul.

Psst! Gordon, don't you remember Jesus loves me. Of course I do! The bible tells me so!

Technical Difficulties

My hardware upgrade isn't going smoothly and I'm down for repair. Lord willing, I be up and running soon.

In the mean time, talk to and listen to our God and Creator: Jesus!
And trust Him.

         "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fail and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,

 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

For the director of music. On my stringed instruments."

Habakkuk 3:17-19 NIV

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

Dig it!
Do you?
Do you hear what I hear?

Noisy keys and noisy chimes keep on a ringin' long aft' their time.
When time is spent, it don't leave change.
Still those chimes they keep a ringin' long aft' their time.
My ears are noisy, ain't kiddin', they press my mind.

Keep it sane now, keep it in time; still those chimes be ringin' through my mind.
Ain't no solution, no Doc's unlocked the mind.
They say, "It's damaged! Boy you just wastin' time."
But those chimes a be ringing; please fix my mind.

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After working in a sawmill for over a decade, a decade later, my ears ring like the "ding" of a boxing bell that never stops. Or it is like the test tone from the old Emergency Broadcasting Network, just it never stops (though much of the time I can just ignore it). The noise! Won't someone turn down the noise! I suppose I should state what I'm even talking about: tinnitus. That nasty ringing in the ears that goes on and on, long after any sound makes a sound. Usually, hearing loss accompanies tinnitus, just not in my case.

I can hear really well. I know hearing anything is a gift from God. Hearing well, well we take it for granted.That is, until you can't hear or you are around someone who cannot.  Being round my wife's dad, who has only about 15% of his hearing, makes you appreciate the gift of hearing God gave me. And believe me I do! Last year I finally got tired of the ringing a went to an ENT doctor. The doc had an audiologist measure my hearing. I told the attendant I could hear fine.  It was that just sinus pressure made the ringing worse and gave me a bad headache too. She did the test and measured my hearing. Sure enough, she was shocked. "You have the hearing of a child." she said.

So okay God, what do I do? One might ask, "Why?" Why bother asking God "Why?" Why not accept it? His ways are above our ways. Sometimes the pressure mounts and the sinus pressure makes my head feel like it's going to explode. Those are the moment when the ringing becomes unbearable--not true, we have to bare the moments. Just bare those moments with Jesus on the other side of the yoke. He will make the load lighter.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:28-29 NIV