From The Sheep Pen

September Celebration

It’s late afternoon in mid September. The afternoon sun slants obliquely like lattice work over the driveway. A slight breeze riffles through the half dozen small aspens which have volunteered alongside. Their leaves flutter and twirl, a dance of light and air within the stiff  pine trees. It’s still quite warm during the day, but mornings are down right chilly until my bones  warm up.   It’s definitely now fall weather for I’ve traded out shorts for jeans and flannel shirts.

This week I remember several family birthdays: my brother Joe on the 22^nd; grandson Christopher on the 23^rd; and beautiful granddaughter Bridget on the 26^th. We don’t have a very large family, but  birthdays seem to cluster during  the months of February, May and September. February is especially crowded because both of my parents, my husband Dan, younger brother Peter and several aunts, uncles and/or cousins were born then. It was   a month to celebrate our little German tribe.

Last night at Sunday’s evening service in New Meadows, we were asked to reflect upon what the future will bring.  There are so many “what ifs” in the  question, about families,  church, country and  culture – the uncertainty of  ground shifting under our feet.   What will happen with the election? Will the pandemic end soon? Will the economy rise or fall next year?  The future we’ve always hoped and planned for doesn’t seem very promising.   As grandparents we’re rightly concerned for our grandchildren’s  lives.  We want the next generations to have the same blessings that we’ve received but realistically, who is not concerned about all the “new normals”  children (and their beleaguered parents) must live with.

Questions about the future can rattle us into a dither if we forget that the believer’s future is already secure. Jesus has given us an eternal  future which no earthly force can take away. Through faith in Jesus  our Redeemer  and in the power of the Holy Spirit who has sealed our redemption, after death we will  share  in the eternal,  divine life of  God our Father . My brother Joe’s life was cut short by cancer. His earthly future was simply not long enough for those of us who loved him and miss him.  But this week on his birthday I am celebrating  the  wonderful life he’s having with the Lord.  I know there’s a celestial birthday bash going on in heaven and that my brother sits at one of  the  grand  pianos he designed,   plunking away endless new songs  and praising God.

Joe became a Christian a few years before I did. He never proselytized his new faith, but his   joy, happiness, courage  and kindness were infectious. While I was still afar off, he lovingly gentled  me with Jesus. That love drew me to the Lord more than any sermon in church. I am thankful for his life and quiet witness even during the last dark months of  cancer.

Our children and grandchildren are not yet believers.  But I’ve faith that some day they will celebrate new birthdays, their rebirth days  in Christ.  I pray for all my  grandchildren’s future, but especially for this week’s  birthdays kids.   My prayer is very simple: Heavenly Father, draw them to Yourself. Let them know the saving grace  of Jesus.  May  Dan and I – and my brother Joe’s life – be your witnesses.

… then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. Mathew 8:26

The summer season is rapidly changing. Nightly temperatures are dropping into the forties and even frigid thirties. While they still look lovely, my flower and veggie gardens are slowing down. The hillsides are bone dry, tinged with early fall colors. A few  hummingbirds still feed from the red geraniums and  purple petunias. And of course, the deer forage everywhere, being especially partial to Dan’s babied tomato plants.

I’m not looking forward to colder weather, but truthfully summer’s not been one where “ the living is easy” in our country. I can’t bear to watch the news or listen to the talking heads – most of  whom dispense  political and cultural gloom and doom like free samples of toxic food. Despite the still beautiful  weather outside,  who has lately not felt the storms of strife and feel the winds of fear  trying to defeat us. Whether it is the ongoing pandemic or the upcoming presidential election or our personal adjustment to the so-called new normal, the air we breathe is charged, crackling with energy more powerful than lightning.  A violent storm is at hand.

Matthew 8 describes an unusually tempestuous storm on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had spent the day ministering, healing and teaching the multitude and afterwards got into a boat with the disciples. He fell asleep, probably because He was exhausted. A storm arose, threatening to capsize the boat. It was not an ordinary storm, had contrary winds and huge waves which flooded what must have been a sizeable fishing boat. The men were experienced fishermen who surely had braved many storms, but this time they  freaked out and came to Jesus, crying out for Him to do something. “Lord, save us. We’re perishing!”  Jesus arose , rebuked them first for their lack of faith and then quieted the storm  “so that there was a great  calm”.  What an amazing story! Who is this man  whom the wind and sea obey?

Mark’s Gospel  includes a few details which Matthew does not. I found that curious  because  Mark usually wrote in a terser, less descriptive style. He adds that other little boats were alongside, that the waves beat into the boat and that Jesus was asleep in the stern on a pillow.  This small overlooked detail shows Christ doing what we all do – sleeping, trying to rest His weary head on a pillow.  It’s a touching reminder of Jesus’ humanity, that in all things He was just like us, especially exhaustion.

  I wonder what Jesus’ pillow was like?  Most likely it was  a rolled up oily tarp, stinking  of fish and stiff with salty sea water. Perhaps he folded up His own rough robe  against the boat’s gunwales. It definitely was nothing like my two soft, down filled pillows or Dan’s specially contoured ones designed for support.  We all know the ads for My Pillow and the guy who made them famous – and himself a multi millionaire in the process.  He guarantees his unique pillow (and mattress and sheets) inventions will give us  deep, restful  and restorative sleep. His pillow was definitely not Jesus’! More importantly, his promise for better sleep is not the promise of rest we need.

Mark adds that the disciples not only awoke Jesus in terror, but asked,  “Teacher, do you not care that we’re perishing?”  Oh, we of similar little faith. How often  have we felt the same, that God doesn’t see us in our storms and afflictions, in the waters threatening to wash us overboard  into the violent sea? Like terrified children we lose faith in Jesus because the bogey man is keening  like a contrary wind at the window.  We forget that Jesus  asleep on a pillow is always doing the Father’s will, knows the dangers around us and is our  perfect storm shelter.   

In another storm account, Peter  falls into the waves when he takes his eyes off the Lord and looks into the violent waves.  When storms rage , do we identify with Peter?  We want to keep  focused on  Jesus’ face,  but too often see the whitecaps below and we panic.   Mark 6 is a good reminder that in a tempest when Jesus is at rest in a flooding boat, He invites you and me to come closer, to rest our heads   next to His.  His Voice commands  every storm at sea or on the land:

…they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed . Psalm 107:28-29.

Peace. Be still!

And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”2. Corinthians 6:18

I have been thinking a lot about daughters, especially since both of ours recently visited. We’ve seen Laura more often because she lives in Boise and there is more opportunity to see each other, but Lisa is in Salt Lake City and has not been here for months due to the health concerns of coming from out of state. Dan and I miss both “girls” and their families very much and I pray daily for this family-separating virus to be banished to the farthest ends of the abyss – yesterday!

One morning as we were preparing yet another meal, I watched as both of them poked around in the kitchen, in the pantry and cabinets and refrigerator, just making themselves right at home. Laura especially likes to check out what we’ve gotten from Costco or the extras supplies stored on garage shelves; she has no qualms about hinting, very politely of course, if she can take something home. We never say No, or deny her what she might like and can’t afford. Lisa as the older sister is less obvious, but is as comfortable in our house as in Salt Lake, whether cooking, cleaning up or sitting around chatting. For all our family but especially the daughters, it is literally, Mi casa, su casa.

There is something about daughters, more than sons, always being at home in their parents’ house. I remember going back to New York for visits. No matter how many years I’ve lived elsewhere, I was “going home.” Like my girls, I knew every inch of my mother’s kitchen and where she kept all her dishes, linens, silver and glassware, clothes, books and every treasure she and my father owned. I knew the house and garden, my Dad’s cluttered workshop and basement shelves filled with odds and ends. Everything was familiar because my indulgent parents had always given me full access to what belonged to them. I respected that, never took advantage of their generosity but also knew in my heart, they wanted me – and my brothers- to have what was theirs. The unspoken permission was a privilege which we also give to all our children, but especially to my daughters. I wasn’t quite as free wheeling with my father, even though I knew he’d give me whatever I needed, if he could. Too often I didn’t ask often enough.

Jesus taught that our Father in heaven is far more generous than we are with our own children. No matter how indulgently I allow my daughters to take what is of mine, God is infinitely more accessible, generous and indulgent.
So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”Luke 11:13

Jesus promises that my heavenly Father will give me anything I ask according to His will. All the riches of heaven, all the abundance that God has for us in Christ Jesus are stored in His mansions. I’d like to think He’s waiting for me, His daughter, to rummage around his storehouses, His royal household furnishings, His special treasures, His cosmic mysteries of delight and say, “Father, can I have this? “ Yes! “ Father, You promised me … , remember in Your Word?” Yes and Yes. “Father, I could use this bottle of Holy Spirit oil, this bread of Jesus’ holy life and crown of power and authority. What do you have wrapped up on that back shelf? Father, how you spoil me with Your creative love!

I’m learning the wonders of poking around in the Father’s House, in His secret places for His good and perfect gifts. Our loving, indulgent Father already knows before we think to ask ask and He keeps saying, Yes and yes and yes… to us, His special daughters. As I journey closer homeward to the familiar, Su casa, mi casa.

…The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:13

Earlier this morning I was in the back garden needing to water before it gets too hot because today will be another scorcher, in the high 90’s. The snow peas along the fence are finally producing abundantly. I planted the seeds months ago because according to the directions, one can do so as soon as the ground is workable. That seemed pretty easy. And according to the cute little packaging and the graphic showing Idaho planting time, I could look forward to harvesting them in just 60 days. Wouldn’t that be lovely! Something from my own garden in a mere 2 months. Well, that was back in late March (snow was gone, ground was a bit muddy but not frozen .) It’s now August so I conclude those planting guides are not written by an actual gardener. Or human.

Nevertheless, it was pure joy to search for and pick snow peas. The vines have grown higher than the fence and set origami shaped white flowers which transformed into pea pods almost overnight in the recent heat. They dangle camouflaged on the vines like hidden jewels. I marvel at the mottled coloration of the vines curling on the fence, the snow white flowers and bright green pods and how God uses such a simple color scheme to create something of beauty. I asked, “Lord, what did you have in mind on the Third Day when you made the herbs of the field? When you created peas for men to eat? Why did you make them so graceful, so unique? Was it to please the eye as being good to eat? Or did you also know my joy this morning watching them grow upon the fence? Your gifts are endless, surprising delights.

Near the top of the vines peas in the sunlight are translucent. I can see tiny seeds tucked within the pods, like fairy babies in a child’s story book. Life was regenerating itself right before my eyes. The seeds grow vines, produce pods and the pods mature to carry and reproduce more seeds exactly as spoken in Genesis on God’s third day of creation.

I also think of the Lord’s teaching in John 15:5.
I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.

Jesus used the illustration of grape vines and branches to illustrate that the disciples’ fruitfulness depends on being grafted into Jesus’ life. The Christian life depends on Him, flows out of Him and matures in Him. In His light and tight embrace, our nascent fruit is revealed as it matures by the Spirit. I rather like the idea of my being a branch on His vine – or like greening snow peas clinging to Jesus. That’s how the Father ordained His Garden. It’s how He calls you and me to ordain whatever and whomever we grow and tend.

And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Luke 2:49

I recently raised the question which Philip asked of Jesus. “Show us the Father,” Philip said to the Lord . How can we know the Father whom we can’t see? Philip wanted something tangible. Jesus replied that the only way to know the Father was through Himself. If we know Jesus, we also know the Father. Jesus’ answer and claim is a contentious point for worldlings who refuse to accept that a loving God could be so exclusive as to insist there’s only One Way through One Person, Jesus. A supposedly loving God wouldn’t condemn someone for not believing in Jesus. There are many ways to God, they shout. Wrong. Very, very wrong. Jesus’ claim is non negotiable and attested by the rest of Scripture. He did not have a universalist Father who called Him to the cross.

Jesus’ intimacy with His heavenly Father was unique, mysterious and incomprehensible to the disciples. The Father of Jesus was a spiritual paradigm shift in their history. For the Jews, God was YHWH whose Name couldn’t be uttered, God who could only be approached through temple sacrifice. He was the invisible Creator of all the heavens and earth, the God of the Exodus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But Abba, as Jesus called Him, why that was unheard of! Philip (and the others) may have looked at their own fathers wondering, “Is Yahweh like that?” Surely, not. Many of us have responded the same. Our human parent often did not or could not “father” us as he should have and so our concept of Father God is very warped.

One of the earliest indications of Jesus’ extraordinary relationship with the Father is in Luke Chapter 2. Jesus and His parents went to Jerusalem for Passover but on the way home, Mary discovered He was not with their relatives. They returned to Jerusalem and found the boy Jesus, age 12, teaching in the temple. When Mary expressed her concern and worry, Jesus makes two statements: Why did you look for me? Don’t you know l’m doing my Father’s business?

At the age of 12 when Jewish boys traditionally became adults, Jesus already knew the Father, what the Father’s business was and His calling to that business. God’s purpose for Jesus was already clear so obviously Jesus had spent much of his 12 years discovering the character of His heavenly Father so as to learn “the business:” to bring the good news to a fallen world.

As followers of Christ we know the Father not only by faith, but particularly through Jesus’ life and testimony. His Abba – and ours- calls us to His business: to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Amazingly, our Father chooses to include us in the work. That fact alone is a healing epiphany. Many of us yearned for our human fathers to call us into the workshop or office or practice to learn their business but were excluded or rejected. Now here is Jesus’ God and mine actually saying, “Come inside , Dear.” I want to show you what I’m doing. Shall we spend lots of time together? I’ll teach you by my Spirit. Stay and learn. Jesus did. Not only that, but let me show you what the glorious outcome of my business will be. I trust you and will empower you.

Will you be about My business? As Jesus did.

And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; Mark 1:11

During these last months and especially since Father’s Day, my father has been on my mind more than usual. He passed away in 2013 in New York after a very short illness. He was 104 and had never been seriously sick in his entire life. In fact some medical folks were very interested in finding out the “secrets” of his longevity.

He lived through an entire century, fought in two world wars and experienced unbelievable changes in the world’s societies, politics and technologies. He came from a village with no electricity and passed away in the age of robotics and computers. I’ve been wondering how he would cope during the last six months of health pandemics, civil unrest, protests and counter protests, public shamings etc., ad nauseum. I know what he’d say to anyone who sought to have him “mask up” or keep “socially distant.”

My father was an honest, decent man, religious, kind in his own way and a good parent in providing for his family. I knew his stories, his history and many parts of his personality. But I did not really know my father at all because our relationship was patriarchal rather than relational. For most of my life, I did not know the difference. Like so many of us with father wounds, finding God as personal, loving, approachable Father/Parent has been difficult. He and I are still working it out together. But, recently He’s reminding me n that the true way to Himself is through Jesus. All that’s needed is to ask, “How did Jesus manifest His Father’s character and will? What did He say or do which reflected Abba, His Father in heaven?” What do the Scriptures reveal?

It seems that the disciples who lived for three years in close proximity with Jesus were very confused about Jesus’ closeness to the Father. In the first part of John 14 Jesus was teaching the disciples about His Father and makes the startling statement that no one can come to the Father except through Himself and thus, He claims a most unique relationship – that of exclusive, divine Sonship. He is in the Father (as His only begotten Son) and the Father is in Him. The disciples didn’t get it. I honestly identify with skeptical, practical Philip who wanted Jesus to show Him the Father. Don’t we all want the same thing? To have hard, visual, concrete evidence of the Father and everything about Him. That would surely be enough for us. Wouldn’t it?

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” John 14.8

Jesus’ admonished Philip with a twinge of sadness and frustration.

Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? John 14:9

Later, Jesus taught about our abiding in Him even as the Father abides in the Son. If we know Jesus and allow Him to indwell in us, we will know the Father of us all. Believers also have spent much time with Jesus and yet, are often confused. In my personal journey to seek God as my heavenly Father, I’ve made a lot of false starts and found far too many dead ends because I was using my own father as the doorway to understanding. Jesus said that He is the “Way, the Truth and the Life.” He is the Door providing access to the Father. How? Through His life. Through God’s Word.

… Land, that I love. Stand beside her and guide her, through the night with the light from above.

And happy birthday to you! May we celebrate today the very reason for this country’s existence which is freedom from tyranny and the birth of a new nation. We have forgotten that today is a national birthday party about “new life” and the blessings bestowed upon it from God to our forefathers and mothers through his “servants” who shaped the republic.

I was thinking about this earlier. We celebrate all kinds of things today for all kinds of reasons. Barbecues. Fireworks. Family and Friends. Sentimentality. Pride. Patriotism. Speeches. Unfortunately, there will also be heated disagreements in families and more civil unrest. The politics of the day will take over much of the conversation. However, the reason for everything USA today is this: the country was first born and did not create itself. We celebrate its life as a people of life. That life comes from God alone who is the life source in individuals as well as nations.

Oh, I can hear the rants of those who would pillory my archaic, narrow minded, unenlightened “racist, privileged” Christian view that God is critical to the story. How dare I say that the Almighty was involved in our history? How dare I be so exclusive…and … intolerant! It’s about power of the people. It’s about personal rights and social justice and moral relativism. It’s about ME! Sorry, but No. It’s about the divine power and righteous purposes of God for this arrogant blink in the universe which for His unfathomable reason He continues to love and sustain.

He has raised up nations and those who lead them since time began. It is God who causes them to exist for better and for worse. The testimony is in the Bible, especially in the p book of Daniel, the prophet who foresaw nations rise and fall throughout history. God’s providential hand is always in the life and death of nations: Jewish, pagan and modern Christian. When all those nations fail in the end, there will be only one: Christ’s kingdom, Christ’s life, Christ’s authority. Every knee will bow before Him either in worship or in damnation. His life won over death and it wins eternally.

Is it any surprise that the growing culture of death in this country wants to destroy its Christian, reliance on God foundations? Abortion even after birth, countless babies murdered for fetal tissue profit and lives of mothers destroyed, violence as entertainment, all racial injustice, euthanasia for the helpless, genocide of biological sex, (i.e., procreation). The death of reason. Lawlessness. Antifa. Marxism. Fists raised and knees taken before the devil. The hit list of the death squad grow every day but its main target is not groups of people. It is always against God Himself. Relentless attacks on the life and moral cornerstones of any nation/people is the tactic as old as the serpent in the Garden. The same ancient enemy and ceaseles hater of human life is at work wearing a different face. (Dare I say mask?) We who should know better have been as silent as the proverbial church mouse skittering under the pews.

Today, choose life as you celebrate the Fourth. Choose to honor God’s gift of life and be thankful for the privilege, yes, the divine privilege of living free instead of in bondage. God is the only hope, the only “living God” who can guide us “through the night, with His light from above.” Thank you Kate Smith, for the exuberant reminder.

Happy Birthday, America!

O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Psalm 96:9

Often as I am reading my Bible, certain expressions will pop out to grab my attention. It’s the Holy Spirit’s golden highlighting of the Word, usually pertinent to some knothole where I am stuck. This morning I was listening to the soft, rhythmic rain playing on our tin roof, a sound that is soothing as a lullaby when my heart and mind need God’s gentling and there came to mind, “the beauty of holiness” from the Psalms. Now I know what beauty is and meditate on holiness, but when two such powerful words are conjoined, it usually means there’s more to it, especially when repeated in Scripture.

In the Old Testament, (1. Chronicles 16.29; 2. Chronicles 20:21) the phrase is found in prayers when preparing for battle which for the Israelites always and foremost included worship. It refers to the priests being arrayed in the splendid, Torah ordained garments of their religious office as they went into battle, so as to glorify Yahweh, victorious over pagans and their idols. They were ceremoniously dressed for battle, visibly consecrated and holy unto the Lord who is HOLY. I imagine that the Canaanite enemies also paraded magicians, soothsayers and priests who were dressed up for their gods, probably in fierce, hideous gear with lots of skulls and horns designed to terrorize their enemies. (Maybe I’ve watched too many apocalyptic movies!) The contrast between the two couldn’t have been more stark. The Hebrew priests manifested Yahweh, great in power, majesty and above all holiness, the living presence of the Almighty going before them. All of the pagan tribes , the “…ites” of Canaan were invoking and serving their gods, subservient to the unholy one who “steals, kills and destroys.”

In the Psalms, the call to worship in the beauty (splendor, majesty, magnificence) of holiness correlates to God’s name and calls forth the glory due to Him. Psalm 29 speaks of the Lord’s power in natural elements, of thunder and lightning, His voice which splinters trees, divides flames of fire and causes deer to give birth. His holiness is in such majesty and beauty it shakes the natural planet, strips it bare and causes all the earth the cry out, “Glory, Glory Glory.

What then is the response of today’s worshipers before “the Lord, enthroned on the flood” who sits as King forever? In every Scriptural reference I found, an encounter with “the beauty of Holiness” causes a violent response, to fall down in fear and trembling before God. In the German translation, it is literally throwing oneself down before the Lord in awe, fear and absolute awareness His Divinity. God’s beauty, holiness and glory are more than we can bear. There’s nothing quaint or picturesque about it. We do not climb mountains just for the view.

As New Testament Christians, we no longer need resplendent priests to glorify God for us, especially in the face of enemies. Jesus is Himself our High Priest in whose kingdom we are called to be His priests. Instead of gorgeous clothing, we’re now arrayed in Christ Jesus, far more beautiful, holy and wondrous than mind or imagination can conceive. Shall we not honor Him with our love but more so with the fear and trembling due to His glorious Name? To Him be all honor and glory and worship forever!

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2

Last night we had a power outage. Unlike those often caused by storms, this one was planned by Idaho Power who gave us the information ahead of time so that they could upgrade their service. Power would be shut off from 10:00 p.m. for several hours. Since I’m usually in bed reading at that time, I prepared with an industrial sized flashlight to read by (didn’t help) and my trusty phone light which illuminated the book quite nicely. At precisely ten o’clock, the house went completely dark. All the ambient lights, the computers, microwaves, appliances, stair lights, clocks, ceiling fans and furnace blower shut down. It was silent as well as dark and a little disorienting when I had to get up. We forget how much light we have, even at night because we’re almost never in complete inky blackness. I experienced that once while a mile deep inside Carlsbad Caverns when our tour guide turned off the lights. The darkness was so deep and thick, it felt like it had form.

The last months have driven us into cavernous darkness deeper than any we’ve ever known. Listen to the news, any news, and one’s heart is crushed by how quickly we’re sliding into an abyss. Everything I believe about morality and justice and truth and goodness seems to be under attack. The current anti- police protest, i.e., rebellion against law and order, is the visible symptom of rebellion against God’s laws and God’s order for this world. We’ve thrown out the Ten Commandments and now practice “freedom” from all restraints, from all ethical and moral plumb lines. The world kneels before the Self, god of this and all other ages ( ever since Lucifer refused to bow down to God) which it’s erected at the entrance of Satan’s personal domain, a lightless, suffocating cave.

Thousands of years ago, Isaiah warned in similar circumstances because the people had no light in them. They sought the occult, not the word of God.
Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.8:22

The prophet then offered the ever wayward Israelites the beautiful promise of Messiah who would not leave them in gloom and distress.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2

The promise is fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus. Read the first chapters of John and be struck by the ongoing theme of Light in darkness. In John, the Greek word for “light” is phos for illumination or enlightenment and John echoes the first Word spoken by God in Genesis: Let there be Light and there was Light. Jesus was the Word in the beginning, with God and of God. His life is the light of men which shines in the darkness of all ages and times. The darkness of this present 21st century has no power to distinguish Christ’s Light no matter how often it throws us into the shadows. The Word says, “the darkness cannot comprehend, (that is overcome), it. Darkness has no substance of its own and no separate reality. It is the absence of light and if absence exists only in context with something else, then Jesus’ Light will always shine into any void, if we accept Him.

Interestingly, Jesus performed two astounding miracles in front of “caves”: the calling out of Lazarus from the tomb and the healing of the demonized man in the caves of Gadarenes. The linchpin of our faith is Christ’s resurrection from the tomb, His light/life overcoming the darkness of death. Jesus is victorious over all and every cave in front of us.

The world needs us as believing Christians to be children of light, not giving an inch of Christ’s victory to the powers of darkness. Let our fervent, trusting prayer be to the One whom Isaiah named with royal, divine and holy appellations: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,”

To those worrying, fretting and fearful about the times and the seasons, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”Ephesians 5:14

Like so many Christians I mourn the recent loss of Ravi Zacharias, the brilliant apologist of the faith who succumbed to a virulent form of bone cancer. I believe the world has lost a giant thinker comparable only to C.S. Lewis or Derek Prince in his ability to use logic, reason, humor and compassion to argue the moral case for God’s existence against post modernism and moral relativism. His was a steady, reasonable voice of ethical sanity in the growing world of immoral subjectivism.

Ravi’s special gift was to answer questions about Christ and the Christian faith clearly, precisely and always with kindness for those who not only did not believe but were often openly hostile to him, especially in large university settings where students would test him. He was never dismissive and always respectful to them. He consistently used God’s Word to support his reasoning and never wavering conclusions, that only the God of the Bible could answer the most basic questions we humans have: What is truth and reality? Why am I here? Is there a God? Where is He in evil and suffering.? Prove it to me!

I discovered him years ago on videos and was immediately fascinated. I’d found a mentor. Ravi had a prodigious memory and rarely relied on notes when speaking. He could recite poetry and quotes as well as Scripture by heart, intersperse logic with stories like a story teller. His arguments were surgical in their precision even as his mind overflowed like a well coursed river. At all times, in every questioned answered and argument he made, the Gospel of Jesus Christ shone through. Ravi had one central ministry and that was to spread God’s Word to the world by gentle, irrefutable persuasion.

I was struck by his utter humility. While he often mentioned his Indian heritage, how he‘d been saved from teen suicide and transformed, he never dwelled on the details of his former life except as a reference point from which his calling came. Like Paul, Ravi was overcome by God’s love and was sold out to the one thing: the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone.

In a video posted in January, he was vibrant, lucid and as brilliant as ever. But he also seemed more pensive, perhaps already knowing the end which was coming very soon. He was asked what might be his first words to the Lord when meeting Him. Ravi answered that “I would be absolutely silent because I’d be terrified about what God’s first words to me will be!” The man who reached millions earlier this year stood in true and humble fear of the Lord, concerned first with God’s opinion of his life. The only accolade he desired was to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Surely, he received the accolade he longed for.

His crown is now laid elsewhere in the heavens, but his legacy remains here on the planet, particularly in my life. Thank you God for the precious gift.