A Boomer in the Pew

How King David Would Handle the Boston Marathon Bombing

King David in Prayer, by Pieter de Grebber (c. 1640)

The horror or the recent Boston Marathon bombing, and the subsequent vision of the events coming through today's various media sources, is deeply saddening.

As humans, we rightly morn for the innocents and rattle our sabers for revenge against the evildoers. 

This morning, as I reflect on these circumstances in light of my latest chronological journey through the Bible, a few striking thoughts come to mind:

• It was God who established the nation of Israel, and it was God who established the United States of America.  In no way am I suggesting that America holds the unique character of being God's unique chosen nation, but I do believe that God established our country as a place where his children might be free to worship, work, enjoy their lives, and revel in all that God has created for his own.
• Every single time the nation of Israel strayed from obedience to God's desires, Israel found herself being tormented, slain, and a few times devoted to complete destruction.  
• Several times we find it recorded that when Israel would seek to avenge herself, without first calling to Yahweh, she found defeat and was left to running with her tail tucked between her legs.

I'm currently on the 109th day of my journey through the Bible, and King David, in the book of 1st Samuel, is currently hiding out in caves under the unjust persecution of King Saul.  

As I consider David's life, and read his recorded words, I think David would have come at our Boston Marathon bombing situation with a mindset far different than crying for only a righteous revenge.  

I think he would:

1. Get on his knees and seek the face of Yahweh.
2. Search his own heart, seek to purge it of evil desires, and call for God's forgiveness.
3. Understanding that it is God who moves the hearts of men, and directs the movement of every molecule on earth, he would ask God to see His revenge on the evildoers.
4. Then, armed with the blessing of God, David would bring God's revenge to those who perpetrated evils upon God's chosen.

I wonder, might we as a people be jumping from the slaughter of innocents to our own revenge without the necessary heart-work, and doing business with God?  

The book of Psalms is full of laments from King David during his unrighteous onslaughts from Saul.  In Psalm 17, we hear David crying to the Lord, "Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry!

Dear friends, it is right for us to cry for justice and revenge.  The prayer of my heart is that we might all first seek to do some heart-work with God, ask God to seek his revenge on the perpetrators of this evil, and then allow ourselves to be the tools of his almighty hand.

I think this is how King David would handle the Boston Marathon bombing.

Thoughts?

 

Yearning for the Beauty Behind the Beautiful

This is a photograph of Sadie Grace Unkovich that I swiped (with permission) from her mother's Facebook page.

This is the very first granddaughter of a very dear friend, and ever since Sadie's birth a few short months ago, I've noticed a wellspring of joy, love, happiness, and generosity flowing deep from within her heart.

And who wouldn't?  Oceans of emotions arise to anyone who spends a few minutes exploring this beautifully captured moment.

Not to take anything away from beautiful Sadie, or the ceaseless joy I find in all those around her, I not only find great beauty in this scene, but I find myself also drawn to the beauty of her Creator.

Nicholas Kallivourtzis, an 18th-century theologian said:

“Every time you feel in God’s creatures something pleasing and attractive, do not let your attention be arrested by them alone, but passing by them, transfer your thought to God and say: ‘O my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy are Thou Thyself, Creator of all!’”

Think about all of the beautiful experiences that have come your life's way.  A sunset, a snow-capped mountain, the ocean, a lake; watching a marriage ceremony, fire fighters selflessly running into the World Trade Center on 9/11, or even beautiful baby Sadie Grace.

If these things are so delightfully beautiful to our senses, how infinitely more beautiful must be the Creator of all.

Oh my soul, yearn most of all for the beauty that exists behind the beautiful.

 

 

Attempting to Understand Suffering Through the Eyes of Job

Job, by Léon Bonnat

I need to make a confession: I am stubborn man, and my stubborn pride many times prevents me from quickly learning the things that God would have me learn.  

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've learned life's lessons the hard way.  Experience is a good teacher, but many times painful.

You should also know that I possess stubbornesses kind cousin, determination. I many times get them confused with one another.

This year, I'm making another annual journey through the Bible, but this year I decided to make my journey through Eugene Peterson's  The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (affiliate link).

There is hard-wired in every man, woman, and child a sense of justice.

We know, for example, that a man should not rape a woman. And, God forbid, if a man does rape a woman, we feel a sense of justice when he is apprehended and locked away in jail for many, many years.

We say to ourselve's, he had it coming.  He performed great evil, and got his just rewards.

Eugene Peterson say's this in his introduction to the book of Job:

"One of the surprises as we get older, however, is that we come to see that there is no real correlation between the amount of wrong we commit and the amount of pain we experience. An even larger surprise is that very often there is something quite the opposite: We do right and get knocked down. We do the best we are capable of doing, and just as we are reaching out to receive our reward we are hit from the blind side and sent reeling. This is the suffering that first bewilders and then outrages us. This is the kind of suffering that bewildered and outraged Job, for Job was doing everything right when suddenly everything went wrong. And it is this kind of suffering to which Job gives voice when he protests to God." (Peterson, Eugene H. (2011-03-11). The Message Numbered Edition Hardback (Kindle Locations 22152-22157). Navpress. Kindle Edition.)

In our minds, we really, really struggle with something that might be called unjust suffering.  

We cry out when a loved one dies unexpectantly, when we are unjustly wronged, or when a great depression ravages the savings we've worked all our lives for.  This list is endless.  

In the book of Job we feel for Job's seemingly unjust suffering.  Why, God himself tells Satan that there is no one quite like Job.  Job is honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hates evil.

Yet, God seems quite willing to let Job go through intense suffering by taking all that he has.  His wealth, his health, his children, and even the respect of all that know him.

To further Job's pain, three of his friends come along and repeatedly instruct him that his suffering is brought about by his sin. To which Job vehemently spends thousands of words refuting.

However, in spite of the finger-pointing of Job's friends, or the "God wants you rich, healthly, and happy" mentality of many in today's church, the truth that Job teaches us is that suffering is a mystery.

In fact, God, in the contemporary language of The Message comes to Job and says, "I’m in charge of all this— I run this universe!"

Job wisely submits to God sovereignty, and says, "I'm sorry - forgive me.  I'll never to that again, I promise!"

Now, before you quibble about Job's response, you simply must read the whole book of Job.  Only then will you have the beginnings of an understanding.  Deal?

Here's a final thought from Eugene Peterson's prologue to the book of Job:

"When people go through suffering, their lives are often transformed, deepened, marked with beauty and holiness, in remarkable ways that could never have been anticipated before the suffering. So, instead of continuing to focus on preventing suffering— which we simply won’t be very successful at anyway— perhaps we should begin entering the suffering, participating insofar as we are able— entering the mystery and looking around for God."  

I don't know about you, but I've learned that the thumb-sucking woe-is-me attitude hasn't served me very well.  

Oh my soul, in suffering, learn to enter the mystery and look around for God.

Even as I write those words, my heart says, but God, can't I just have my life's savings back.

Oh, the journey continues...

Pondering the Passing of Another Year

 

As beings who live within the construct of time, the marking of time is a behavior common to all those who draw breath.

To keep track of this thing called time, we have watches, iPhones, computers, the sun, the moon, the stars, calendars, and the passing of time is clearly evident in the aging of our bodies.

Today, as we collectively add a higher digit to our calendars, my morning reading in the Bible had me contemplating this creation of God that we call time.

You see, according to the Genesis account, time was something that was created and had a beginning: 

And God said, 

“Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Genesis 1:3-5 ESV)

Furthermore, the book of Revelation tells us that a day is coming when time will be no more.  A new heaven and a new earth will usher in a new paradigm of eternity to the children of God.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Revelation 21:1 ESV)

So you see, out of eternity past, God has measured out a construct that we call time.  It has a beginning, and it has an end.  

Giving further consideration to this thing called time, when Jesus began his public ministry, the first words out of his mouth were:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2 ESV)

So, it would appear that we are nearing the end of this thing called time.  As the Mayans have recently demonstrated, no one knows when this day will be.  

Where in the World is Dave Porter

It has been nearly a month since I have posted in this little corner of my world.

I suppose, some of you might be wondering where in the world I have gone.

Well, a couple of things are happening:

• Our The Roaming Boomers online travel magazine continues to gain popularity and requires more and more of our time.
• We are about to shoot 20 video "travel tips" for a national PBS affiliate.  If all goes well, we could be their "travel experts" and been seen regularly to millions of viewers all over the country.

I am not going to abandon A Boomer in the Pew, but I am going to take a continued hiatus until I sort all of this out.

Thanks for your readership, your friendship, and your patience.

In the meantime, come on over to The Roaming Boomers and follow our adventures there.

The Dangers of Busyness, Success, and Prosperity

We just returned from a wonderful two-week adventure in Hawaii for our "The Roaming Boomers®" online travel magazine.

Although the pathway still seems quite foggy for this enterprise, we have enjoyed a fair amount of success and we are at one of those critically important break-though points that any business will face in its evolution.

You see, I must figure out how to transition from being a pure technician (blog writing, photograph taking, video shooting), to one who can wear the hats of technician, owner, and entrepreneur (dreamer) without letting one dominate the others.

It is this one challenge that prevents many businesses from achieving the success they desire.

I say all of that because I must admit that I currently don't have it all yet figured out.

And, with all of the busyness, excitement, travel, changing time zones, and dizzying schedules, I left out the most important piece of the whole puzzle:  my alone time with God each day.

When I'm home, I've developed a consistent habit of rising early each day to invest this time, but this most recent trip completely threw me under the bus with a very busy schedule, time zone changes, and incorporating other players into our enterprise.

If the monumental challenges of the past three years have taught me anything, it is that I simply must stay firmly rooted, and spending daily time in my growing relationship with God.  Otherwise, my pride will lead me once again far astray.

Although I'm frustrated that I allowed this side-step to occur, I'm pleased that I caught myself upon my return home.

It is clear that I must reevaluate my commitments to the many irons I have in the fire, make certain that I establish my priorities, and build systems and schedules to accommodate them.

Furthermore, I must figure out how to carve out my little hiding place alone with God each day, regardless of what time zone I might be in.

The above photograph reminded me of my grandmother's hiding place.  She had a place in her living room where she had a comfortable reading chair, a reading lamp, and a small bookshelf where she would keep her devotional materials along with her somewhat tattered, and well-read Bible.

I can still see her sitting there.

I'm very thankful for her influence in my life, and her remarkable, lifelong example.

For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, please forgive my absence, and I beg your patience as I seek to realign my commitments in the coming weeks and months.

Feeling Jealous of Moses' Dinner with God

I was reading in Exodus this morning, on my annual journey through the Bible, and came upon the following verses:

"Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank." (Exodus 24:9-11)

Perhaps it is wrong, I'm not sure, but whenever I read of these men of old coming into the presence of God, I find myself filled with a bit of jealousy.

Not jealousy in the way of seeing something spectacular, but jealousy because I desire to be in the presence of my adopted Father.

I desire to be with the one who chose me, who created me.  The one who adopted me as his son, and has given me an inheritance beyone imagination.

Not being a Greek scholar, I'm not sure what "saw" here means, as I know that no one has fully seen God. 

Nonetheless, can you imagine the things that these people witnessed at the foot of Sinai?

As I was trying to decide what image to use for this post, I decided to use an image from the Hubbell telescope as those images are about the most wonderful, and mind-bending images I have ever seen.

Here's a question to ponder:  If you were able to interview Moses after his descent from the presence of God, would you ask, "What was it like?", or would you ask, "What was He like?"

Ponder the difference.  :)

Rightly Raising My Angry Fist To God?

When various trials occur in our lives, it is very common for our human nature to murmur. 

I'm not suggesting that murmuring is necessarily a good or right thing.  I'm just saying that it happens.

Here's what I am saying:  when we murmur, our angst is generally misplaced.

One thing I have learned, in my two journeys through the Bible, is that God is absolutely sovereign.

Theologian R.C. Sproal puts it this way:

"If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God."

When we lost 45% of our cash assets in October of 2008, I said to God, "God, look at what happened to me!"  When a business agreement went south, and significantly impacted our lives, I said to God, "God, look at what this guy is doing to us!"

Misplaced angst?

When Israel began their wandering in the desert, only three days after crossing the Red Sea, they murmured to Moses.

"Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”"

Here's C.H. Spurgeon on this scene:

"Observe—and this is worthy of note—that the murmuring was not ostensibly against God. They murmured against Moses. And have you ever noticed how the most of us, when we are in a murmuring vein, are not honest enough to murmur distinctly against God. No: the child is dead, and we form a conjecture that there was some wrong treatment on the part of nurse, or surgeon, or ourselves; we lay our hold on that for which there may not be a shadow of proof, and the murmuring is upon that point. Or we have lost money, and have been brought down from opulence to almost poverty; then some one person was dishonest, a certain party betrayed us in a transaction by failing to fulfill his part; all the murmuring is heaped on that person. We deny, perhaps indignantly, that we murmur against God; and to prove it we double the zeal with which we murmur against Moses. To complain of the second cause is about as sensible as the conduct of the dog, which bites the stick with which it is beaten. It owes no anger to the stick, but to the person who uses it. Is there evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? Whoever is the instrument, the Lord overrules. In our heart of hearts our rebellion is against the Lord himself. We have not quite honesty enough to rail against God openly and avowedly, and so we hypocritically cover up our repining against him by murmuring against some person, occasion, or event."

God is not Santa Claus, only there to provide good gifts to us.  God is Lord of all, and sometimes he ordains that trials come upon us.

At the end of the day, am I saying that it was God who removed 45% of my cash assets?  Am I saying that it was God who allowed a written business agreement to head south costing us a significant loss of income?

Yes.

I am learning that it is foolhardy to place anyone, or anything at the very root of life's path.  I'm not suggesting an irresponsible passiveness when we encounter such things, only that God Almighty uses these things to teach and test.

The Israelites should have mumbled to God.  When we lost 45% of our cash assets, I should have mumbled directly to God.  When our business agreement went south, I should have mumbled to God.

It would have been more honest for me to point my finger at God, rather than blaming others, or circumstances.

God is big enough to receive our misplaced angst, and in time will teach us to bow before him as King, Lord, Savior, Creator, and more importantly, Father.

The Dark Winter of the Soul

I maintain a website for a men's Bible study called The Marketplace Bible Study. 

I thought our most recent topic might be of interest to my readers, so I copied the post below.

Occasionally, in our walk with God, we can find ourselves in what seems to be a dark, cold place apart from God. 

The Bible is full of accounts where God is seemingly quiet. 

In such cases, it is not uncommon for our spirits to grow confused, afraid, and perhaps even despondant in what many have called the dark winter of the soul.

Pastor Jamie Rasmussen shared with us that "when it comes to God, and our relationship to him, faith and faithfulness are higher values than emotional or physical experiences."

During these times, Pastor Jamie put forth these four points:

• Use suffering and dry seasons to fortify your faith. (Matthew 26:36-42)
• Remain steadfast and determined in the disciplines of your faith.  (Revelation 2:5)
• Practice obedience.  (Philippeans 2:12)
• Persevere.  (Psalm 30:5)

Listen as Pastor Jamie Rasmussen explains:

Winter of the Soul

Note:  hover your mouse over the above player to find the start button.

Extra! Extra! Scottsdale Man Raised From the Dead

Sensational headline...right?

If this headline were to appear across the national media, I suspect it would likely be the story of the century.  Or, with our cynical post-modern minds, we immediately presume "tabloid headline".

Perhaps the greatest understanding for mankind to wrap its mind around is a beginning understanding of God's grace.  We've all heard the term. If fact, there are countless churches around the world where "grace" is even a part of the church's name. 

Yet, if we were to ask 100 people in the church to describe what's so amazing about grace, sadly many would stumble to answer.  And to be completely honest, I was in this camp for many years.

Here's the deal. 

The third chapter of Genesis describes the fall of man, and throughout the Bible's testimony we learn that there is a physical death, and a spiritual death.  It seems that we are all "born into sin" and into the most precarious position of being physically alive and spiritually dead. 

Here's Paul in Ephesians 2:1-7:

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

As my pastor (Jamie Rasmussen) pointed out in his message on Sunday, the word "dead" here is from the Greek word "nekrós" and means ... dead.

So, why do the angels in heaven rejoice with sounds of great praise when someone places their faith in Jesus the Messiah?  It's because God has just raised the dead to life. 

If you force upon yourself the discipline to plumb the depths of this understanding, then you too will be melted in the deepest parts of your soul and proclaim loudest praise to God for his amazing grace.

Dear reader, please set aside 40 minutes and listen to Pastor Jamie Rasmussen explains our position before holy God and why his grace truly is amazing.