This is the day...... !

OK, friends, full disclosure here:

Earlier today I posted on Facebook a picture of the Pittsburgh skyline on a cloudy day with the caption: Cloudy, rainy, cool - "This is the day the Lord has made" in Pittsburgh, PA!

Well, I now have the opportunity and challenge to live in the reality of that truth! I ran an errand this AM and came home to notice black smoke pouring out from under the hood of the car. When John raised the hood flames shot up! :o]  He quickly sprayed the engine with water to put the fire out.  Guess I won't be going anywhere today! 

This is STILL the day the Lord has made in Pittsburgh and wherever you are!

The rest of Psalm 118:24 instructs me: 

²⁴ This is the day the Lord has brought about.
We will be happy and rejoice in it.  (NET)

Criticism? Not So Much!

  

Criticism? I don't even like the word especially when it applies to me! BUT, that being said, I've been on the receiving end of plenty. I've spent my entire adult life as the wife of a pastor. Some people have loved me! Some people have criticized! I like the love; the criticism? Not so much!
Aristotle is right: There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
I have watched the rise of Dr. Benjamin Carson to popular national prominence with great interest! He already had international prominence due to his statue as a pediatric neurosurgeon and head of that department at Johns Hopkins. I already knew who he was prior to the National Prayer Breakfast. 

Here is a man of character and principle who doesn't give a fig for saying and doing the "popular" thing! In full view of POTUS (Barack Obama) and FLOTUS (Michelle Obama) sitting only a few short steps away from where Dr. Carson stood at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 7, 2013 Dr. Carson confidently but winsomely stated:  

"The PC [Politically Correct] Police are out in force at all times ... We have to get over this sensitivity ... PC is dangerous, because you see, this country, one of the founding principles was freedom of thought and freedom of expression. And it [PC] muffles people. It puts a muzzle on them."

It is incredibly refreshing to see character, leadership and intelligence fully displayed without apology speaking truth to power! 

Aristotle speaks from ancient times the same truth Dr. Carson speaks into our time! Thank you, Dr. Carson for your courage and leadership!

What the World Needs Now!

Men despise religion; they hate it and they fear it is true. (Blaise Pascal, French Christian who was also a physicist, 1670)

As far as it goes this is an interesting and thoughtful observation by Pascal. The kink is that religion is despicible! What matters is Jesus! It's a real relationship with Him that the world needs and that my heart needs! It is the Gospel of grace that reaches my heart and the hearts of the watching world because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life!

What is Truth?

I love to read! I read for pleasure. I read to learn. Usually I have more than one book going at the same time. Recently my husband and I listened to a fascinating "book CD" while we were traveling. It's an exciting novel with intrigue, terrorists, plots and counter plots and more - The Bourne Betrayal.

One line struck me particularly as applicable in other contexts. Two of the Arab terrorists are talking about truth. One says to the other, "There is no truth in the desert. In the desert the sands shift constantly like the truth. ... The law of the desert demands it!"

What a compelling metaphor of life in 2008! Truth has been diluted and disregarded until the lines between truth and lie are so blurred that even "high-powered magnification" makes it difficult to distinguish between them. Truth is no longer considered absolute in most circles - even by some in the church. Truth is thought to shift like desert sands blowing with the winds of whim or personal preference.

What compels me about the statement the terrorist made is WHERE such "truth" exists - IN THE DESERT! We have come to a desert in many ways in our society. Truth is thought to be relative so that what is truth for me may not be truth for you. Truth is considered adjustable and constantly changing.

No wonder we live so badly most of the time! No wonder we love others so badly! We have no standard for a code or to measure where we are on the continuum of values. We have been taught overtly and covertly by media, education and society that our truth, values and ethics are fluid and situational. Few people understand that there is "TRUE TRUTH" (as Dr. Francis Schaeffer used to describe real truth).

In the desert places of life, shifting sand is no place to anchor. Truth that is real and true exists everywhere and anywhere we are. God has given us standards by which to evaluate and process truth in the words of Scripture. We don't get God's truth by osmosis, however. We MUST read it. We must contemplate it. God's truth must sink deeply into our hearts and minds. God's truth must change how we think and act.

Jesus told a story about two men who each built a house. One built his house on shifting sand. The other built his house on the rock. When the storms of life came, Jesus said the house on the sand "went smash"! Jesus said the house on the rock stood firm!

Storms come in life. God's truth, God's love and grace and grounding on the Rock (Jesus Himself) are the ways we can stand even in the storms of life as well as the sunshine! And that is true truth!