¿Se encuentra usted alguna vez muy entretenido en lo qué el mundo llama "noticias" (lo cuál realmente no es nada menos que un refrito de la misma materia vieja por periodistas ensimismados y expertos políticos retrasados para su jubilacion)? ¿Es fácil hacerlo, verdad? Ahora mismo especialmente, cuando los informes financieros negativos abundan, las naciones terroristas obtienen la energía nuclear, y la avería moral de la sociedad se intensifica a niveles nunca antes imaginados. Y aún …

Esta mañana cuando oré y busqué a Dios para una palabra de estímulo, Él me dirigió al Libro de Lamentaciones-al lugar aparentemente raro para encontrar una palabra de esperanza o un rayo de luz. Pero cuando lo leí, yo sabía que este era en efecto el lugar en donde yo tenía que estar en las Escrituras para ver la fidelidad de Dios más claramente. Ya que como ustedes pueden ver, mis queridos amigos, es cuando nuestro mundo parece estar en lo más oscuro que la luz de Dios es la más brillante. La clave es recordar donde está nuestra esperanza… y donde no está.

Sin tener en cuenta nuestra convicción política, si realmente queremos brillar por la luz de Dios en un mundo oscuro, debemos entender primero que ningún candidato humano en una posicion política puede "salvarnos" de los líos de nuestra propia fabricación. Ningún presidente o Senador, Miembro del Congreso o Juez pueden limpiar la suciedad del pecado humano. Si nos consideramos conservadores o liberales, Republicano o Demócrata (o ninguno de los susodichos), nosotros no podemos rechazar y rebelarnos contra Dios sin cosechar por último las consecuencias de una sociedad atea. Y aún como es tan claramente demostrado en el Libro de Lamentaciones, escrituras escritas por la mano de Dios por medio del “del profeta lloroso,” Jeremias - es en  medio de oscuridad y desesperación que la esperanza verdadera es encontrada, y donde la piedad de Dios y la compasión y la fidelidad son más apreciadas.

Sin tener en cuenta lo que vemos continuando alrededor de nosotros, mis queridos amigos, recordemos la promesa que Dios nunca dejará o abandonará a Su gente, y que donde dos o más de nosotros nos juntamos en Su nombre, allí está Él en nuestro medio. Con eso como nuestra esperanza, podemos descansar con júbilo en Sus piedades, que son nuevas cada mañana. ¡Grande es Su fidelidad!

 

September 25, 2008

 

 

            Do you ever find yourself being caught up in what the world calls “news” (which really isn’t anything but a rehash of the same old stuff by self-absorbed talking heads and overdue-for-retirement political pundits)? It’s easy to do, isn’t it? Right now it is especially so, as financial gloom-and-doom reports abound, terrorist nations obtain nuclear power, and the moral breakdown of society escalates at levels never before imagined. And yet…

            This morning as I prayed and sought God for a word of encouragement, He directed me to the Book of Lamentations—a seemingly odd place to find a word of hope or a ray of light. But as I read, I knew this was indeed the place I needed to be in the Scriptures to see God’s faithfulness most clearly. For you see, dear ones, it is in when our world seems darkest that God’s light shines brightest. The key is to remember where our hope lies…and where it does not.

            Regardless of our political persuasion, if we truly want to shine God’s light in a dark world, we must first understand that no human candidate for office can “save” us from the messes of our own making. No President or Senator, Congressman or Judge can clean up the dirt of human sin. Whether we consider ourselves conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat (or none of the above), we cannot reject and rebel against God without ultimately reaping the consequences of a godless society. And yet—as is so clearly demonstrated in the Book of Lamentations, written by God through the hand of the “weeping prophet,” Jeremiah—it is in the midst of darkness and despair that true hope is found, and where God’s mercy and compassion and faithfulness are most appreciated.

            Regardless of what we see going on around us, beloved, my we hold fast to the promise that God will never leave or forsake His people, and that where two or more of us are gathered in His name, there He is in our midst. With that as our hope, we can joyfully rest in His mercies, which are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!

           

 

 

            Every so often the familiar and even somewhat predictable “amnesia scenario” is resurrected for another made-for-TV-movie or sitcom. The actor stares blankly into once-loved faces and professes no recognition whatsoever. Places, sounds, smells, even names—nothing seems familiar. Memory has been lost; hence, a sense of identity has been lost as well.

            And that is exactly what has happened to us—all of us. We have lost our memory. Like the prodigal son’s older brother who toiled endlessly and joyously in the fields, we have forgotten who we are and where we came from. But the forgetting goes beyond the pigsty from which the Father has rescued the prodigals. It extends back to the beginning—to a time when our identity was secure in our fellowship with the Father.

Before the rebellion…

Before the fall…

Before the exile.

As a result, our world is in the midst of an ongoing identity crisis. We walk around, day after day, year after year, generation after generation, trying to find our way back to…somewhere…hoping that when we get there, someone will recognize us and tell us who we are.

The problem is, even if we figure out where that “somewhere” is, we cannot get ourselves back there, contrary to a song that was popular in the late ’60s and early ’70s that proclaimed the need to get ourselves back to the Garden.

The Garden--that "somewhere" that calls to us from the deepest recesses of our heart. The songwriters had that much right. They knew where we came from, and they were trying to express our universal longing and need to return. But they were wrong in thinking we could get ourselves back there, even though our homesickness almost overwhelms us at times, beckoning us...to the Garden, where we once lived, even if only in the loins of Adam. To the Garden, where we once walked in intimate fellowship with our Father in the cool of the evening. To the Garden, where we once had dominion over the plants and the animals and the birds. To the Garden, where sin had no place and death did not reign...and hard hearts were unimagined.

But we made a choice to go our own way, and so we had to leave. Of course, like the prodigal son, we can turn around and go back to the Father...but not to the Garden. When we left the Garden, the Father stationed angels to guard the entrance. And yet the world continues to try to find the way back, longing for the Garden but rejecting the Father. For those of us who have found the One Way back to the Father, may we recommit ourselves to lighting the Way for the lost who are even now stumbling down the road that leads to nowhere.

 

*Adapted from Beyond Me: Living a You-First Life in a Me-First World by Kathi Macias.

¿A riesgo del sondeo trillado y previsible, cómo puedo no mencionar el hecho que hace siete años hoy,  aproximadamente 3,000 personas fueron asesinadas por terroristas que pensaron que ellos hacían la voluntad de Dios?   ¿Cuando uno de mis hijos toma un avión hoy para volar a Chicago y ver a su hijo/mi nieto graduarse del entrenamiento básico y oficialmente hacerse un marinero en la Marina de los Estados Unidos, cómo no voy a recordar yo lo que le pasó a tantas personas que confiadamente abordaron aviones por motivos personales y comerciales, solamente para encontrarse lanzados a la eternidad cuando sus aviones se estrellaron contra los edificios o se estrellaron contra la tierra?

Pero justo cuando reflexionamos en lo peor de la naturaleza humana y las profundidades del engaño en el cual podemos caer sirviendo a un dios  que no es el verdadero Dios biblico, también vemos el sello de la imagen de Dios sobre la humanidad reflejada en el heroísmo y amor desinteresado de aquellos que dieron su vida para sus amigos. Todd Beamer y los otros a bordo de uno de aquellos aviones desdichados no tuvieron ni idea de lo que pasaría cuando ellos atacaron a los terroristas que los tomaron a ellos y a los otros compañeros de viaje como sus rehénes, pero ellos sabían ya lo suficiente para entonces tratar de hacer algo para evitar aún que otro avión no se estrellara contra un edificio. “ “Let’s roll,” (“vamos a rodar”) ha penetrado en nuestras memorias como las últimas palabras de un hombre valiente que salió por delante de su propio miedo e hizo lo que tuvo que ser hecho. Como resultado, aunque cada uno a bordo de aquel avión murió (e indudablemente habría sido de todos modos), una gran catástrofe que habría matado a muchos otros fue prevenida.

September 11, 2008

 

 

            At the risk of sounding trite and predictable, how can I not mention the fact that seven years ago today approximately 3,000 people were murdered by terrorists who thought they were doing God’s will? As one of my sons boards a plane today to fly to Chicago to see his son/my grandson graduate from basic training and officially become a sailor in the United States Navy, how do I not remember what happened to so many people who unsuspectingly boarded planes for personal and business reasons, only to find themselves being catapulted into eternity as their planes were flown into buildings or slammed into the ground?

            But even as we reflect on the worst of human nature and the depths of deception into which we can fall when serving a god other than the one true biblical God Himself, we also see the stamp of God’s image upon humanity reflected in the heroism and selfless love of those who laid down their life for their friends. Todd Beamer and others aboard one of those ill-fated planes had no idea what would happen when they attacked the terrorists who held them and their fellow passengers hostage, but they knew enough by then to realize that they had to try to do something to stop yet another plane from being flown into a building. “Let’s roll” has become seared in our memories as the last words of a courageous man who pushed past his fear and did what had to be done. As a result, though everyone aboard that plane was killed (and undoubtedly would have been anyway), a major catastrophe that would have killed many others was averted.

            9/11/2001—a “day of infamy” much like December 7, 1941—is a day of tragedy and loss, but it is also a day of heroism and great love, a selfless love that laid down its life for others, a love that was modeled most perfectly by our Savior 2,000 years ago. That was truly a day that lives in infamy, as the powers of darkness danced and rejoiced over their seeming victory, but it is also the precursor of the greatest day our world has ever witnessed: the day our Lord Jesus Christ burst forth from the tomb in triumphant resurrection.

            Today, as we reflect on the heartache and tragedy of 9/11 and honor those who lost their lives that day, may we also remember that because of the greatest love of all, our risen Savior has guaranteed that resurrection follows death for those who believe and follow Him. With that in mind, fellow believers, “Let’s roll” as we follow Jesus in modeling that great love the world so desperately needs….