Month: October 2016

During World War 2, the people of London lived with the constant threat of enemy bombardment and strafing of city streets. My father-in-law, Leonard Sloas, was in the Army Air Corps during those harrowing days when the Nazis were still trying to retain their hold over the city. V2 rockets would fly overhead, dropping their devastating payload on citizens and soldiers alike.

One day, it is told, a school girl was walking home from class when the wail of the air raid sirens pierced the air. As she had been taught, she dropped her books where she stood and ran home as quickly as she could as low-flying German aircraft flew overhead, engaged in battle with the Royal Air Force.

When she and her sister arrived home, their father quickly took them into the darkness and safety of the bomb shelter below their home. Once there and safe, she laid her head in tears on her father’s shoulder, and asked through her sobs a question: “Daddy, can we go someplace where there is no sky?”

We feel sometimes as though “the sky is falling” as our world rapidly changes with ISIS insurgency, the cultural and moral changes sweeping in around us, storms pounding nations to our south and earthquakes threatening our west coast. How much more can our “sky” endure? As I write this blog post, the National Hurricane Center has placed Jacksonville in their “cone of uncertainty” for a hit by Hurricane Matthew.

But the reality is, all of us live in a “cone of uncertainty” when it comes to this world and this life. And while the Bible does not offer false hope that things will get better and better, it does offer the ultimate hope for the believer-that one day the “eastern sky” will split as the King of Kings and Lord of Heaven’s armies returns. On that day, the sky will no longer bring a threat except to those who have refused to own Jesus as their Lord.

Until then, we wait. But we do not wait hopelessly… but hopeful for the day when the sky brings only eternal day. When the storm clouds have passed.

When the Kingdom comes and God’s will is fully done.

FOR MEDITATION: For you do not know the day or the hour when your Lord will come.   Matthew 24:42

FOR REFLECTION: The next time you are tempted to collapse in despair over the conditions and circumstances in our world, ask yourself one important question: Where does your hope ultimately lie?

What does prevailing prayer really look? Prevailing prayer can be defined as praying until an answer comes. But how long? It seems to have much to do with… confidence in faith.

An elderly, Jewish man named Honi was seen by many in the Holy City as a holy man; a man of prayer and faithfulness. Once, during a period of prolonged drought, the leaders of the community came to Honi asking him to pray for rain to end the drought that had plagued the city for months. The shofar blew daily calling the people to pray together to God to send rain.

Honi agreed to pray. He came to the city center and with all the eyes of the people on him he took a staff and drew a circle in the dry dirt. Then, he stood inside the circle. He said, “I will not leave this circle until God answers my prayer.” And he began praying and as he prayed, large drops of rain began to fall… some said they were the size of eggs!

But to their surprise, the people heard Honi say, “Not for this rain I have prayed.” And suddenly the skies turned ominous and thunder rumbled and a deluge of rain fell flooding the city street and streams and brooks with an onslaught of water. “Not for this rain I have prayed,” Honi prayed again, “but for your rain of mercy, of faithfulness and of gentleness.” And the rain suddenly grew quiet and a gentle dousing of rain began that continued for days until the drought was ended.

According to the historian Josephus, Honi the Elder became known as “The Circle Maker.” Where does your circle of prayer need to begin today?

FOR MEDITATION: This is the confidence we have, that when we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 John 5:14-15

FOR REFLECTION: What area of your life does a circle need to be drawn around? Are you willing to be “the circle maker” in your family, your workplace, your world today?

We have now officially entered the most volatile, election season in my lifetime, if not our nation’s lifetime. Even the vitriolic and acerbic comments that flew back and forth from newspaper headlines to pulpits to public debates between candidates preceding the days of the Civil War are paling in comparison to what is happening today.

With the forward movement of social media, the commentary is not limited to TV ads or newspaper editorials or radio spots. It is now ever present with us; on our phones, and computer screens. It seems the onslaught is relentless and toxic.

In the midst of this, the Christian community has a role to play. We are to be Light. We are to be Salt. We are to be… different.

But are we? Can a lost world see the difference in what you are saying and how you are thinking about this election? Is it possible for you to disagree with another person without needing to destroy them because their opinion differed from yours?

Our country has seldom, if ever, been more divided than it is today. There are not clear and easy choices to be made. But there is one thing that is certain. Our witness… and our vote… matters. Our vote matters because we are citizens of America. We have an obligation to exercise, as the world watches, this amazing privilege we have of electing national leaders.

But our witness matters even more. We are people with “dual” citizenship. We have an obligation first of all, to another kingdom… one that Jesus said, “is not of this world.” And our testimony for that King… and that invisible Kingdom… must remain before us as our priority at all times.

Simply put: we dare not surrender our testimony as ” ambassadors for Christ who are to, by the mercies of God, appeal to all men to be reconciled to God” for the sake of forwarding our political agenda in a temporary world.

So before we press “send” on that next tweet or post a Facebook message designed to communicate a political message in a less than civil way, ask yourself one important question…
What will the King say?

FOR MEDITATION: We are therefore ambassadors for Christ….    2 Cor 5:20

FOR REFLECTION: How can you bear witness to the Heavenly Kingdom through the controversies of this election cycle? Can we let our light shine in the confusion of our day?