Dead or Alive?

From childhood I was preoccupied with the thought that someday I wanted to be a “good enough” Christian so that if I ever “needed” to die for Christ I would be able to do so. When I was in my early twenties, I was talking to a friend of ours who had been a Christian for a long time and had helped my husband and me to really commit our lives to Christ.

“I hope that I never have to die for Christ,” I said, “but I want to know that if I ever need to, I will be able to do it.”

I expected Ed to begin a lengthy discourse telling me how I would be able to reach a point where I could be sure that I would be able to accept martyrdom if circumstances ever required it. Instead, he was almost dismissive, “Don’t worry about that,” he said. “It’s much harder to live for Christ than it is to die for Him.”

That exchange took place more than forty years ago, but Ed’s words continue to impact my life. I now know that we can never die for Christ unless we first live for Him. Conversely, we can never live for Christ unless we first die for Him.

How can that be? The Bible teaches that sin’s power over us is broken when we become Christians and are baptized to become a part of Jesus Christ. By choosing to follow Him in baptism, we declare that our old sin-loving nature is dead and buried with Him and that when God brought Him back to life, we were born again as new creatures in Him. Thus, we must die for Christ before we can live for Him. (Romans 6:2-4)

The Bible also teaches that when we accept Christ, we are no longer slaves of sin. We are now free to live for Him. When we face trouble, or danger, or death it is never because He does not love us. He has given us power to overcome the world and to live our lives so that others can be won to Him through our good example. Thus, we must live for Christ before we can die for him.

I no longer wonder whether I will be brave enough to die for Christ if circumstances ever require it. I am busy living for Him. I trust Him to give me the power to do whatever is necessary to serve Him best. I join Paul in declaring, “We are not our own bosses to live or die as we ourselves might choose. Living or dying we follow the Lord. Either way we are his. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, so that he can be our Lord both while we live and when we die.” (Romans 14:7-9, Living Bible)

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The Names of God--Part IV: The All Sufficient One

Long before I knew that the Bible contains many names for God that describe the various aspects of His personality, God revealed himself to me as El Shaddai—the All Sufficient One. That encounter changed my life.

In 1975 Alexandra, my oldest child, was approaching her fifth birthday. At that time John made an appointment to tour a Christian school in El Paso and reserve a spot for her so that she could be enrolled in the first grade the following year. The night before my husband’s scheduled tour, however, I had a dream that changed everything. In my dream God spoke to me, “Do not send the child to school lest she be corrupted. My wisdom is sufficient.”

When I awoke, I was very disturbed. Shortly after her birth my husband and I had decided to send Alexandra to this excellent Christian school.  As we had other children, we were equally certain that they would also attend the school; we had never considered doing anything else. Now, the night before that plan was to be set into motion, I had a dream that threatened to spoil everything.

I told John about the dream, and we agreed that he should cancel his appointment. We began praying about our situation and asking God for guidance. I found the entire dream puzzling, but the part that was most difficult for me to understand was what God meant by, “My wisdom is sufficient.”

After spending several weeks in prayer, we decided that I would teach the children at home. I was very frustrated because in 1975 homeschooling as we know it did not exist. There were no homeschool support groups and no other homeschoolers that I could locate. In fact, I did not meet another homeschooler for eight years after I began teaching my children. At that time the idea of a mother teaching her children at home was considered ludicrous.

Nevertheless, in 2000 my youngest child received his Master of Arts in the humanities through the independent study program with California State University at Dominguez Hills. My ten children had not only earned their master’s degrees through homeschooling, they had earned them at age sixteen.

Twenty-five years as a homeschooling mom had taught me a lot. Perhaps, the most important lesson I learned during those years teaching my children, however, is that God really is sufficient to meet all of our needs.

For a young mother with no teaching experience and only a high school diploma to undertake the task of educating her children from first grade through master’s degrees is ludicrous, but I was relying on God’s wisdom, not my own. Because of His guidance we were able to locate excellent schools at every grade level so that our program never lagged. Even though I gave birth to ten children in twelve years, I was able to keep both the school and the household running smoothly. I was able to study the subjects that were unfamiliar to me and learn them well enough so that I could teach them to my students in a simple straight-forward manner. Our family dealt with financial crises and serious illnesses, and, through it all, I was able to keep our school in tact and on schedule.

How did I do it? It’s simple. I am a very ordinary woman, but I serve a very extraordinary God, and He is more than sufficient to supply my needs. If I had been relying on my wisdom, I would never have been able to finish the race. In 1975 being obedient to God’s calling on my life required a step of faith on my part. Now I have experienced Him as the all sufficient one, and I know that He is sufficient in every circumstance.

If you have not yet met El Shaddai—the all sufficient one, I hope that you will take a step of faith and put your trust in Him. If you do, you will never be disappointed.

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The Names of God--Part III: The Lord Who is There

Long before we had our first child John and I made a commitment to Jesus Christ. We were new Christians and did not know exactly what living a Christian life entailed, but we were determined to try.  The result of that search was an encounter with Jehovah-Shammah—The Lord who is there.

In the Mid 1960s I worked as a secretary in a large bank building in downtown El Paso. Since I usually did not leave the building during my lunch break, I often picked up some yogurt at the concession stand on the first floor. Because I saw the woman who owned the stand nearly every day, we soon struck up a friendship. She often mentioned that she was making more money on her concession stand than she had ever dreamed possible, and from what I could observe of her rapidly expanding business I had no reason to doubt her claims.

One day she told me that a new Holiday Inn was being built downtown about three blocks from our building. The owner had approached her about putting in a concession stand at the Holiday Inn, but she felt that she could not run both. She told me that if I wanted the Holiday Inn concession stand, she could definitely get it for me. Then she added excitedly, “You will make a lot more money there than I do here because you will sell liquor.” She went on to say that there is a huge profit in selling packaged liquor. She would teach me everything I needed to know and help me get my business set up. I immediately felt uneasy about selling liquor, but I did not say anything. I told my friend that I would talk to John about it.

That evening I told John about this “business opportunity,” and he was very excited. However, John agreed that selling liquor might not be what Jesus would want us to do. The next day I told my friend that we would really love to have the concession, but we did not want to sell liquor. She responded that selling liquor was a condition of being awarded the concession.

John and I prayed and asked God if selling liquor would be okay, and for the next few days we constantly discussed the matter between the two of us. This was our reasoning:

If people want to drink, they are going to buy liquor whether we sell it to them or not.

1. We are not going to try to persuade anyone to buy liquor; they will be coming to us.    
2. Most of our sales will come from other items; everyone staying in a hotel needs toiletries, snacks, and reading material.
3. The people who buy the liquor will be taking it back to their rooms to drink it so, in a way, we will be keeping them safe by preventing them from driving drunk.

One evening when I came home from work I pulled a tri-fold flyer from the mailbox. Someone had circled a portion with a pen which read: “Satan never endorses God’s enterprises. God’s true friends never support Satan’s enterprises.”

John and I were blown away! The only ones who knew about our situation were John, me, and God!  We had received our answer. God had sent us mail! I kept the flyer for several weeks, and from time to time I took it out and looked at it. I was naïve, but I was pretty sure that there are no post offices in Heaven.

Finally, one day as I stood staring at the perfectly circled message, it dawned on me that since this was a tri-fold, maybe I should open it and see what was inside. When I did, I saw that it was from an acquaintance of ours who was a lay preacher in the Methodist church. He had circled his name and the time that he was going to be delivering a sermon in the church where the flyer had originated.  The date of his sermon had long since passed, but the ink had bled through and made a perfect outline around God’s message to John and me. The line was so sharp and circled those words so precisely that it was difficult to believe that this was not the message our acquaintance had meant to send.

Remember this: When you really, sincerely want to know something, all you have to do is ask God. He is Jehovah-Shammah—the Lord who is there, and He will answer—even if He has to send you mail.

 

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Caution!

When my son Benjamin was three or four years old, the children and I were in the car together when I saw a traffic light ahead of us. I decided that this would be a good opportunity to determine whether Benjamin knew what the various colors represent.

“What does red mean?” I asked.

“Stop,” he responded.

“What does green mean?”

“Go.”

“What does yellow mean?”

“Hurry up!”

Everyone thought that Benjamin’s reply was hilarious, and Benjamin was thrilled to be the center of attention. After we had all finished laughing, I told him that yellow means “caution” or “be careful.”

That incident occurred thirty years ago, but I still think about it from time to time. Benjamin had concluded that yellow means “hurry up” from observing his parents’ driving habits, and that was somewhat disturbing. What is even more disturbing, however, is that most of us interpret life’s “yellow lights” as a signal to speed through whatever is ahead of us without weighing the risks involved.

The more I think about what a yellow traffic light really means, however, the more I am inclined to believe that it means a  great deal more than “caution.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines “caution” as, “careful forethought to avoid danger or risk.” While that message is implied in the appearance of the yellow light, other messages also come into play when that light appears.

The appearance of the yellow traffic light means that the light is about to change from green to red. No amount of wishing that the light would remain perpetually green will have even the slightest effect on the changing of the light. When the driver sees the yellow light, he must make a decision regarding his best course of action. Does he have time to proceed through the intersection before the light turns red, or will he find himself half-way across when the light changes and he is broadsided by a driver traveling at forty miles per hour on the adjacent street?  By checking his rear-view mirror the driver may observe an SUV traveling closely behind him that will almost certainly rear-end him if he opts to stop while the light is still yellow. Change is coming, and the driver has only seconds in which to decide how to best deal with that change.

Our lives are filled with yellow lights that signal change is coming. Some of those changes are welcome, and others are not. Some of us are dealing with life-altering changes such as the death of a loved one, divorce, the loss of a job, or the loss of a home.  The one thing that we need to remember is that we cannot wish change away; nothing will keep the light green forever. When we see the yellow light, we must react.

The Bible says that the wise man thinks ahead (Proverbs 13:16) and that he is cautious and avoids danger (Proverbs 14:16). When we are overwhelmed by the change that is taking place in our lives, we should step back and really seek God. Only He knows the future, and only He can determine the best course of action for us to take.

When we find ourselves in a crisis situation, we are often advised to “do something, even if it’s wrong!” Clearly, this is not good advice. We must respond by taking action, but we frequently do not know what action is best. At these times it is important to remember that God never makes a mistake, and if we seek Him, we can trust Him to guide us to take the best possible course of action in any circumstance. Even when things look hopeless, God is in control, and He has promised that he will never desert us. That knowledge certainly makes all of those yellow lights seem less scary.

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The Names of God Part II: The Lord Who Heals

I have been blessed many times to encounter Jehovah-Rophe—the Lord who Heals, both in my own life and the lives of my family members. Today’s post deals with my mother’s healing from cancer that brought our family much joy but was not well received by the Christian community.

In 1991 my mother, who was seventy-years old at the time, was diagnosed with colon cancer. I was both stunned and devastated, and I cried and prayed for three days. After the initial shock wore off, however, I became convinced that God would heal her. She underwent surgery and a year of chemotherapy and, during that time, I prayed for her constantly. The chemo made her very ill, and the doctor finally advised her not to take the final two or three treatments.

During the following nineteen years Mother remained cancer free and healthy. Then, in 2010, at age eighty-nine, Mother told me that she was experiencing occasional “stomach aches.” She said that they were not severe, but she believed that her cancer had returned. 

She asked her doctor to run some tests, and they revealed that she had a mass in her stomach about the size of a man’s fist. Even though the blood tests indicated that she might have cancer, because of her age, the doctor did not advise surgery. Mother was adamant. “I want this out of me!” she shouted to everyone within shouting distance—including me on the other end of the phone.

Finally, the doctor told her that he was going to do a biopsy to determine whether the mass was malignant. The procedure would be performed on an out-patient basis on the morning of October 4, and she would be back home by early afternoon.

I prayed that Mother would not have cancer and that the biopsy would come back negative, and I was totally convinced that she was cancer free. However, my husband and I made arrangements to fly to Kansas on the afternoon of October 4 so that I could take care of her in the event that she did not feel well after the biopsy.

When John and I arrived at my mother’s house about 5:00 P.M., no one was at home, and we immediately drove to the hospital. When we arrived, we discovered that the doctor had made a very long incision across Mother’s stomach, and that she was recovering from what appeared to be major surgery.  We visited for a while and then took my step father home.

The next day the doctor said that he wanted to talk to me privately. He told me that prior to surgery they had done two different scans to determine the size and location of the mass. He had examined the results and knew exactly what he had to do to perform the biopsy. However, when he made a small incision, he could not find the mass. He continued to make the incision longer in order to locate it. Finally, he made the incision long enough so that he could “look under everything” to locate the mass. But, there was no mass! Mother was not only cancer free, she was mass free!

I was thrilled and did not even try to hide my enthusiasm. “I knew it!”  I kept repeating. 

When I returned to El Paso, I began to tell everyone what God had done for my mother. I was very surprised, however, to learn that hardly anyone shared my enthusiasm. The most common response was something like this: “Why would God do that? We have prayed for lots of young people with cancer who weren’t healed. They died and left families behind. Why would God heal someone who is eighty-nine years old?”

No one knows why some people are healed and others are not. But we do know this: We have been conditioned to believe that some lives have more worth than others, and we tend to “write off” people whom we believe are too old or too sick or too much trouble to deserve God’s help. Many Christians also have a mind set that God has a finite supply of miracles that He dispenses from time to time. When they are gone, they are gone. Therefore, healing should not be imparted to anyone who can no longer make a meaningful contribution to society. Those people conveniently forget that God’s power is limitless.

Fortunately, God has a different perspective on human life. We are all precious to him. Sometimes He takes us, and sometimes He heals us, but He always loves us. And sometimes, just when things look the darkest, we are privileged to meet Jehovah-Rophe, the Lord who Heals.

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The Names of God: Part I--The Lord Who Provides

The Bible is filled with names for God that describe various aspects of His personality. Today’s blog deals with a time when our family was experiencing extreme financial difficulties, and I encountered Jehovah-Jireh—the Lord who Provides.

After No Regrets was published Alexandra and I both accepted as many invitations to speak as possible, and the money we received as speakers was an important source of income for our family. Our expenses were paid, and we received an honorarium. In addition, we sold our tapes and books at these events.

In the spring of 1991 Alexandra spoke to a group of homeschoolers, and on the return trip her plane was delayed for several hours. When all the passengers were boarded and the plane was finally ready to take off, the stewardess announced that to make up for the delay the airline would be giving one lucky passenger a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the United States. She then announced the seat number of the winner.

Alexandra did not even bother to check her seat number. The stewardess kept calling for the winner to identify himself, and finally the man sitting next to Alexandra said, “It’s you. You’re the winner.”

I was thrilled for her. Alexandra gave everything she had to the family, and I felt that this was God’s way of doing something special for her. I asked her where she wanted to go with her free ticket. She told me that she did not have anywhere that she wanted to go.

The ticket was good for only one year, and as the months passed, I began to exert some pressure on her to use it. I kept saying that she needed to treat herself to a vacation with that free ticket. She was working as a history instructor at the El Paso Community College and would have been doing well if she had not given every penny she earned to the family. She could use some of her own money to have a nice vacation with that free ticket.

 In February, 1992, when my mother was seventy years old, she was diagnosed with cancer. She had surgery and afterwards had to undergo chemotherapy. I really wanted to visit her, but I knew that was impossible so I talked to her on the phone and prayed for her, but I never said anything to my family about wanting to make the trip.

One day Alexandra came to me and said that she was certain that God had given her that free airline ticket so that I could fly to Kansas to see my mother. I adamantly refused; she insisted. Finally she told me that she had checked the expiration date on the ticket and that it would expire in one week.

I quickly made my reservations and was able to spend three days with my mother right after she came home from the hospital. My stepfather was with her, and she had plenty of money. I did not really need to be with her, but God knew that I should be with her, and He provided a way for that to happen a whole year in advance.

I made a 1400 mile round trip with only ten dollars in my purse. I took my best “at home” slacks, a pair of old Dockers with an iron-on patch on the knee, and an old dress that still looked pretty good. My step father had his birthday while I was there, and I did not know what to do for a gift. I finally went to Braums and bought two ice-cream sundaes to go, one for my mother and one for him, and I wished him a happy birthday. When my mother asked me why I had bought only two sundaes, I said, “I didn’t want one. I’m on a diet.”  Ten dollars wasn’t much, but it was enough.

The day I flew home was the expiration date for the ticket. God has great timing!

One of the most important lessons that I learned during those thirteen years is that what we want and what we need are rarely the same things. God did not always give us everything we wanted, but He always gave us everything we needed. During that time, I came to know Him as Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who Provides.

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Tears in a Bottle

Tears are the first and most basic way in which we express ourselves as human beings. From cradle to grave, whether we are male or female, tears are part of the human experience. We all enter this world amid a flood of our own tears, and when we leave it, more often than not, we depart through a flood of other people’s tears.

During the course of my life, I have cried more than my share of tears. I have shed tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of physical pain, tears of emotional pain, tears of regret, tears of repentance, tears of gratitude, tears of disappointment, and tears of relief. I am certain that I have shed several other kinds of tears that I cannot recall at the moment. Although I may give the impression that tears are a frequent presence in my life, that is not true. I sometimes go for months without crying, and since I am not a person who uses tears to manipulate or evoke sympathy, most of my tears are shed in private.

In our society tears tend to be given a bad rap. We are told that nobody likes a cry baby. We are told that crying doesn’t help anything. We are told that boys don’t cry. We are told that if we cry, our eyes will look red and ugly. The list of reasons not to cry goes on and on. Nevertheless, as long as we live on this earth, tears will be a part of our lives.

Fortunately for our tear-sodden human race, God does not have such a negative view of tears. As Jesus entered Jerusalem just prior to celebrating the Passover and being crucified, He began to weep for the fate of those in the city saying, “Eternal peace was within your reach and you turned it down, and now it is too late.” (Luke 19:42, Living Bible) His concern for the people of the city was so deep that it produced tears.

God does not take our tears lightly either. David wrote, “You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book.” (Psalms 56:8, Living Bible) How comforting to know that when we weep, God is always with us—not just wiping our tears but collecting them as a remembrance of all that we have suffered.

The next time you find yourself reduced to tears, remember that you never cry alone, but also remember that there are no tears in heaven.  We have God’s word that He will be among us to wipe away all tears from our eyes, “and there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4, Living Bible) That is a promise that should dry anyone’s tears!

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Trapped!

God delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt by performing a series of miracles on their behalf. He led them through the desert by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. The cloud and fire were never out of sight; thus, they were able to travel either by day or night. That is heady stuff! The Israelis must have felt really special. Therefore, when God led them to a spot between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal-zephon, and instructed them to camp there along the shore, they must have felt confident that all was well.

 God alone knew that Pharaoh had decided that he would pursue them and take them back to Egypt as slaves. When the children of Israel saw the Egyptian army approaching, however, they were terrified, and they began to rail against Moses: “Have you brought us out here to die in the desert because there were not enough graves for us in Egypt? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Isn’t this what we told you, while we were slaves, to leave us alone? We said it would be better to be slaves to the Egyptians than dead in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:11-12 Living Bible)

The children of Israel were trapped, but it was a good trap. God had brought them to that spot so that he could perform yet another miracle on their behalf. God told them through Moses, “The Egyptians you are looking at—you will never see them again. The Lord will fight for you, and you won’t need to lift a finger.” (Exodus 14:13-14 Living Bible)

God parted the sea and dried the ground with a strong east wind that blew all night. During the night, He moved the pillar of fire behind the Israelis so that it stood between them and the Egyptians. That single pillar of fire gave light to the children of Israel but darkness to the Egyptian army so that they could not find them.

When the ground was dry, the Israelis crossed the sea, and when they were all safely on the other side, the Egyptian army was able to see them again and pursued them. As the Egyptians crossed the sea, however, God caused the water to close over them and the sea to return to normal. Of the entire Egyptian army that chased after Israel through the sea, not one remained alive.

As long as Pharaoh’s army remained intact, the people of Israel would never have been safe. God, therefore, wiped out the entire army without any help from the Israelis and provided yet another example of His loving faithfulness to His children.

The Bible is filled with examples of good traps set by God to bring His children to the exact place they needed to be: Jonah was trapped in the belly of a whale; as a result, the entire city of Nineveh was saved.

Likewise, when Syria was at war with Israel, the King of Syria sent his army to Dothan to capture the prophet Elisha. When the inhabitants of the city awoke the next day, they discovered that they were surrounded by a huge number of troops, horses, and chariots. As the army advanced, however, Elisha prayed that God would make the army blind, and He did. Elisha then went out and told them that they had come to the wrong city. He said that he would take them to the prophet; instead, he led them to Samaria, the capital city of Israel, and turned them over to the King of Israel. Elisha then instructed the King of Israel to give the Syrian army food and drink and to send them home. After that the Syrian raiders stayed away from Israel.

Do you feel trapped? Has life squeezed you into an impossible situation? Are you struggling with your job, your finances, your broken relationships? Stop thinking of the “impossible” circumstances in your life as traps. Maybe God is squeezing you a little so that He can deliver you in a miraculous way that will build your faith and change your life.

When we find ourselves trapped by circumstances beyond our control, we frequently want to give up and retreat into slavery or surrender to the enemy. Instead, let’s resolve to turn to Jesus and trust Him with all of our hearts to deliver us and to set us in that perfect place in the center of His will. It is scary for a while, but the results are amazing.

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How Can You Know?

A few years ago one of my sons was doing some video work for a local church. Part of his assignment was to ask people on the street how anyone can know that he is saved. Camera in hand, Israel hit the streets to record the various responses.

When Israel shared some of those responses with me, I was very surprised to learn that even among the people in the video who identified themselves as Christians, there was no real consensus about how we can be certain of our salvation. Since I always have a lot to say about almost any subject relating to the Bible, Israel asked me if I would answer the question on camera. I responded as follows:

 Romans 10:9 says that salvation comes from trusting Christ and that “it is as near as our own hearts and mouths. For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord, and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Living Bible).

Salvation is the result of Grace. It cannot be earned. Nevertheless, we see from this scripture that assurance of our salvation is two pronged. First, we must believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead. Second, we must tell others that Jesus Christ is our own personal Savior—the Lord of our lives.

If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God has raised Him from the dead, we cannot really keep such good news to ourselves. We look for every opportunity to share Christ with others. It is not an obligation; it is a privilege.

Romans 10 illustrates how faith and works combine to bring about salvation. We must believe in our hearts, and we must speak with our mouths. Salvation is never the result of works, but works are always the result of salvation. Paul said that he could not be given any special credit for preaching the Gospel because he could not restrain himself from doing it—even if he wanted to. His heart was so full of his love for Christ and his appreciation for what Christ had done for him that it overflowed into his speech.

And that is how we can know that we are saved. We believe that Jesus Christ is exactly who He says He is—the Son of God who was born of a virgin, died for our sins, and rose from the dead so that we could be saved. Because we believe this wonderful message, we gladly share the gospel with others and proclaim Christ as our savior whenever we have the opportunity.

For more articles by Joyce Swann, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/.

                                                  
                          

To Tell the Truth

Over the weekend I saw a television show in which a man told about his terrifying experience when he was kidnapped by four heavily armed thugs while he was standing on a sidewalk in New York City. Stan was forced into a car, and his kidnappers told him that they were going to drive him to an ATM where he was to withdraw a specified sum of money. 

Stan described himself as a “wimpy little guy” who had spent his youth trying to talk his way out of being beaten up by bigger, stronger guys. Those years of verbal gymnastics would be put to good use that night as Stan established a rapport with his kidnappers and even displayed a sense of humor. The thing that really struck me about Stan’s conversations with his kidnappers, however, was that every time they asked him a question, he told them the truth—even though it did not seem as if the truth was the best option.

On the way to the ATM the kidnappers asked Stan how much money he had in his savings account. Stan said that he realized that if he lied, they would be able to determine the correct balance by looking at the ATM receipt, and he answered truthfully, “about $150,000.” The kidnappers then changed their plan. They blindfolded Stan with his own scarf and took him to their apartment to wait for the bank to open the following day. When the bank opened, they planned to force him to withdraw $50,000 and give it to them. They had found Stan’s father’s name and address in his wallet, and they told him that if he did not do exactly as they said, they would kill his father.

As the night progressed, the kidnappers asked Stan what he would be doing if he were not with them. Stan then answered truthfully that it was his thirty-eighth birthday and that he would be celebrating with friends by attending a concert.

The next morning the kidnappers asked a still blindfolded Stan what he did for a living, and again Stan answered truthfully, “I am a U.S. Attorney.” The kidnappers were now the ones who were terrified. As they talked among themselves, the kidnappers agreed that if Stan were a U.S. Attorney, the FBI would be brought into the case immediately. As they discussed the situation, they became more and more agitated. Finally, they told Stan that they were going to take him out of the apartment and warned him not to “try anything” or they would shoot him. Once again they forced Stan into their car, and Stan “knew” that he was going to die. After driving for a short distance, however, the kidnappers pulled over to the curb, took him out of the car, and told him to start walking. Stan did not try to remove his blindfold as he began walking down the sidewalk in the direction that they had pointed him. A few seconds later, he heard the car drive away.

Because Stan had listened so carefully to everything that was going on around him, he was able to give the police excellent information. As a result, all of the kidnappers and one of their girlfriends who was present at the apartment during Stan’s ordeal were arrested within fifteen hours of Stan’s release.

What a testimony to telling the truth! If Stan had lied about the amount of money in his savings account, they might well have withdrawn a few hundred dollars and then killed him. Stan must have considered it risky to tell his kidnappers that he was a U.S. Attorney, but if he had lied about what he did for a living, they would not have seen him as a threat. Because Stan was truthful about his occupation, his kidnappers could not wait to get rid of him. No lie, no matter how elaborate, would have made such an impact on them.

Stan’s story is a good reminder that truth is always the best defense. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” He also said that He came to bring truth to the world. As Christians we need to always remember that honesty is not only the “best policy,” for those of us who follow Jesus, it is the only acceptable policy.

Sometimes life is scary, and telling the truth does not always seem like the best option. Nevertheless, we must believe that God will honor our commitment to tell the truth and protect us—even when the truth feels dangerous.

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What is it?

Manna--bread from Heaven sent by God to feed His people as they wandered in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. What delightful images that word conjures up in the minds of Christians and Jews alike! Can any person of faith hear that word without being moved? Considering the monikers that have been attributed to manna, it seems unlikely.  A list of synonyms from Merriam-Webster includes: “feast, joy, delight, pleasure, treat.”

Exodus 16 gives a detailed description of the first time manna fell. After being delivered from slavery in Egypt, the people of Israel were hungry, and God sent vast numbers of quail into the Israeli camp so that they would have meat. The following morning when the dew disappeared, it left behind tiny flakes on the ground that were white and flat and tasted like honey bread. The Israelis called the food “manna” and ate it for forty years until they arrived in the land of Canaan where they had crops to eat.

Why did the people of Israel call the food “manna?” The word sounds exotic to our English language ears. If we did not know better, we would expect it to mean something equivalent to “God’s gift to his people” or “provision” or “bread from Heaven,” but manna means nothing of the sort. When the people saw it, they said, “What is it?” Even after they realized that these tiny flakes were food from God, they did not even bother to give it an appropriate name. They just continued to call it manna—a Hebrew word meaning “What is it?”

Manna was a free gift sent by God to nourish his people as they waited to enter the Promised Land. During those forty years, the manna was a constant; the people never lacked for food. Were they grateful? Of course not! They complained that when they were slaves in Egypt they enjoyed garlic and leeks and cucumbers, and they looked back to that time of horrible bondage with longing.

Fourteen hundred years later the people were again in bondage. They were living in the Promised Land, but they were now living under Roman rule, and they felt hopeless as they struggled under the oppressive Roman yoke. God chose this time to send them more bread from Heaven.

This second bread came in the form of a baby born in a manger in Bethlehem. He grew to manhood and became both the most loved and the most hated figure in history. He multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed the multitudes literal bread. The night before He was crucified, He broke bread which He gave to His disciples saying, “This is my body, broken for you.”

Unfortunately, Jesus Christ, God’s second gift of bread from Heaven, was treated in just about the same manner as the manna. For the past two thousand years, people have been looking at Him and saying, “What is it?” Some say that He was a “good man.” Others say that He was a prophet. A few argue that He was a charlatan who staged His life and death to fulfill the scriptures of the coming Messiah.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians recognize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was crucified and rose on the third day so that we could have eternal life. We never need to look at Jesus and say, “What is it?” We know that He is the bread from Heaven that completely satisfies our souls.

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What’s in That Box?

Not long ago I heard Franklin Graham tell the story of a little girl who received one of the Christmas shoe box gifts from Samaritan’s Purse. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this ministry, Samaritan’s Purse delivers gifts packed in shoe boxes to orphans all over the world. Those who wish to participate fill a shoe box with items for one child and then indicate whether the gift is for a girl or boy and the age of the child for whom the gift is intended. Before delivering the boxes, volunteers pray over them and ask that God will put the right box into the hands of the right child.

The particular little girl who was the object of Franklin Graham’s story was an orphan in Eastern Europe. Although most children are thrilled to receive their boxes, when the volunteer handed her a Christmas shoe box gift, she declined to take it. “I don’t want this box,” she said. “The only thing I want is parents.”

The volunteer talked with her for a while and told her that she did not have any parents for her, but she wanted her to take the box anyway. It took some time, with the little girl remaining adamant that she did not want the box, before the volunteer was finally able to convince her to take it.

When the child opened her box, she found an assortment of age-appropriate gifts in which she showed little interest, but when she reached the very bottom, she found a picture of a smiling middle-aged American couple along with their names and address and an invitation to the child who received the box to write them a letter. The little girl and her benefactors began a correspondence that ended a few months later when they adopted her.

What are the chances of finding two parents in the bottom of a shoe box?  Practically speaking, not good.  Fortunately for us, however, God is not practical. He is able to take a shoe box prepared by a loving Christian couple and send it to a little girl whose life appears to be hopeless. While that box is making its way through numerous stops and transfers, He makes certain that it stays right on course and that those future parents are resting safely in the bottom.

I wonder how many gift boxes from God we have declined during the course of our lives. The problem is that we have preconceived ideas, not only about how things should work out but how they should be worked out.  It takes a lot of faith to look for two loving parents in the bottom of a shoe box, but sometimes that is exactly what we have to be willing to do in order to receive God’s blessings.

As Christians we believe that God is able to do anything, and we believe that He loves and cares for us. When the going gets really rough, however, we too often give up because it seems to our carnal minds that the miracle we need is just too big—even for God.

The next time you receive a shoe box gift from God, I hope that you will open it. Even if it doesn’t seem to contain the answer you were seeking, unpack it carefully. You may be surprised to find that the thing you wanted most is tucked safely at the bottom.

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