May 16


Profound but Simple Truth


I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV)


Love covers all transgressions.

Proverbs 10:12 (NAS)


Last Sunday was a great day at church. Not only did we have positive attendance numbers—numbers we hadn't seen in awhile—but we also had an incredible time worshipping God as an entire congregation. And do you know what the highlight of our worship experience was? It was when the children came forward and led us in singing that old favorite, Jesus Loves Me. Up they came, some shy, some exuberant. Pointing, waving, or cowering behind a friend. They began in their tiny but happy soprano. Soon, all across the auditorium, every voice was proclaiming it, and every heart was into it. It was profound but simple truth for all of us.

Is there anything as wondrous or awe inspiring as the love of God? Someone once said, If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it! I believe it. I don’t understand it, but I truly do believe it. God loves us! Isn’t that the best news you’ve ever heard?

No doubt a lot has been written and said about love in general ... in poetry, in movies, and in books. We sing of it, we declare it, and we dream of it. We fall into it, we agonize over it, and we fight about it. It preoccupies our minds, and yet we don’t understand it—and that’s just human love. When we consider God’s love ... well now, that’s overwhelming!

What we do understand is that no matter how rotten we’ve been, how low we’ve sunk, or what we’ve been through, God still loves us! And that will never change. Amazing.

It is profound. It is simple.

Others agree. In 1962, an American reporter asked Karl Barth, the great Swiss theologian, how he would summarize the essence of the millions of words he had published. How do you think this incredibly bright and influential theologian responded? Without hesitation, Barth said, “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.”

No truth is simpler than this; no truth is more profound. And this is the truth I embrace. This is God’s truth ... for all of us.


Father God, bring all to this understanding: “For God so loved the world....” Amen.

May 15


Our Biggest Battle


I am afraid ... you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.

II Corinthians 11:3 (The Message)


For though we walk in the flesh; we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ....

II Corinthians 10:4-5 (NKJV)


And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take every thing the Master has set out for you, well made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is for keeps, a life or death fight to the finish....

Ephesians 6:10-11 (The Message)


My biggest battles are in my mind. My toughest struggles, easiest defeats and greatest victories all occur in my own heart and mind. This is why the transforming power of the word of God and intimate time alone with Him are so important—to open my eyes, to wash me clean. I believe it’s why devout Jews found the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) so powerful in helping their daily walk and also why the early disciples clung to the Jesus Creed (Mark 12:30-31). These became the chief weapons in their personal arsenals to defeat temptation, evil desires and selfish rationalizations. Now you and I are called to do what we must to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” After all, it’s not about us, it’s all about Him.

It’s as simple as that.


Father, thank You for the simplicity that is in Christ. Help us to love You with all our hearts; help us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Camp out in our lives and give us more of Your incredible joy. Amen.

May 14


Finding a Fragrant Life


My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins.

Psalm 38:5 (NLT)


But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.

Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)


I am impressed with my young son's ability to smell. Maybe it’s a gift, or maybe he inherited it. Both of his grandmothers have good noses, so maybe that’s it. Certainly, he didn’t get it from me ... I don’t know what's wrong with me. If it’s a constant cold, my diet, allergies or what. Maybe it's something in the air, but for whatever reason, I don’t smell things very well. That's the background for a recent Family Soderquist episode...

This happened two weeks ago when we were driving to Portland on a newly resurfaced stretch of highway, and Alex piped up from the back seat. “What’s that smell?” I sniffed the inside air as I gazed outside at the towering Ponderosa pines. All my senses could pick up was how fast the cars were zipping by us. And then it dawned on me, I didn’t smell a thing.

“Hmm,” his mom said. “It smells like there was a fire, Alex.” I raised an eyebrow. Are you sure? But then just up ahead we spied a sign, CONTROLLED BURN, and I wondered why I didn’t get even a hint of the smell.

About five miles later, just before the ascent into the Cascade Mountains, Alex asks again, “Ooo, what's that smell??”

“That smells like a skunk, honey.” His mother turned to him with a wrinkled up nose. “Not very nice is it?” Alex shook his head.

Now I was wondering if they were playing a game with me, because I don’t smell a thing. But they look unaware of the man behind the wheel ... the one with the totally malfunctioning olfactory sense.

I guess I've come to accept this as one of my weaknesses. For sure, not having a sense of smell has it’s better moments, but I'm sure I miss out on some of life's truly wondereful fragrances: subtle-smelling flowers, my wife's perfume or the sweetness of the morning air. So ... there are good smells and bad smells, and my plight reminds me of how oblivious we are to the way our lives can offend God—the high points of our lives, the things we are so excited about, floating up to heaven like some wretched odor.

Certainly, we would agree our gross sins are an abomination to heaven—David confesses that rather well in Psalm 38. What we don’t seem to grasp is how our lives offend God when we think our good deeds or righteous acts must impress Him. Isaiah knew better. In fact, this Shakespeare of the Old Testament went so far as to say our good deeds were not only unacceptable, they were repugnant. Totally objectionable! Nelson Study Bible theologians footnote Isaiah 64:6 with this: “Filthy rags refers to garments stained during menstruation.” This is what God thinks of our righteous acts? Get rid of them. Replace them with something better!

But our God doesn't leave us out to hang. He is a merciful God, and so He sent Jesus not only to save us from our sins, but to give us something as well. Paul tells us in Romans 10:

“Salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is the message we preach—is already within easy reach.”

In fact, God is so good, He gives us the righteousness of His Son! Paul goes on:

“For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. ... “Anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed.” Romans 10:8-11 NLT

This is Good News and I can confess, I believe Jesus is the Christ. As my Lord and Savior for over forty years now, His righteousness has not been a disappointment.

So while I can’t smell much in this physical world, my concern now is having a life that is fragrant to God. To do that means living in His power and not my own. This will take a whole lot of listening, and trusting as I make the changes that please Him. What about you? Will you join me in this pursuit of what He considers holy? His ways are so much better than ours. Let’s trust Him to lead us through this grand journey we call life....


Father, thank You for this truth from Romans 5:1: “we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us ... we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”

May 13


The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun


Before Abraham was, I am….

John 8:58 (NKJV)


All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:3-4 (NKJV)


Ryan has given me a gift and I am totally into it. He knows I love music, but little does he know how special gifts of music are to me.

I stand at the open door as arctic-like air sticks to my face. It’s the start of a glorious new day and the sun is getting right to it ... lifting its bountiful rays onto frost-covered roofs. Silver-gray clouds hang overhead like warriors’ arrows waiting to be strung, anxious to plunder the crisp air. The mountains seem closer than usual, encrusted in pink dust—their color and mood matching the music from my Bose CD player. The sweet sound of Ryan’s gift treats my soul. Celtic Woman has transplanted me into some mysterious northern kingdom as Chloe, Maev, Lisa, Mairead, Orla and Hailey take me by the hand and introduce the new day. Their tender harmonies and moving words guide me to the Ancient of Days. This has become a toast to my Lord and the glorious moment of here and now.

I whisper, “Thank you, Ryan.”

And now I share their words with you….


The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun

High is the moon tonight…
Hiding its guiding light,
High.

Heaven and earth do sleep,
Still in the dark so deep,
I will the darkness sweep…

I will the moon to flight,
I will the heavens bright,
I will the earth delight…

Open your eyes with me,
See the paradise with me,
Awake and arise with me…

I am the Dawn; I’m the new day
begun;
I bring you the morning; I bring you
the sun;
I hold back the night and I open
the skies;
I give light to the world; I give sight
to your eyes;
From the first of all time, until Time
is undone,
Forever and ever and ever and ever,
And I am the Dawn and the Sky
and the Sun—
I am one with the One … and I am—
the Dawn.
I am the Sky and the Dawn and
the Sun,
I am the Sky and the New Day
begun,
I am the Sky and the Dawn and
the Sun…

Brendan Graham


Lord, thank You for Your sweetest gifts of here and now!

May 12


Table Acceptance


… let us pursue the things which make for peace … let each of us please his neighbor for his good….

Romans 14:19, 15:2 (NKJV)


May God who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other … So accept each other as Christ accepted you….

Romans 15:5, 7 (NLT)


One of the most accepting things I experience is when my friends are transparent with me. Sometimes it’s in their words, but many times it’s in their faces. A genuine smile, a softening of the eyes, a small nodding of the head—these can speak volumes. But the thing is, to develop this level of trust can take a little time, some patience and, in some cases, a lot of listening. This is the value of the table—a symbol for any physical object that draws us together. It could be a city park, or a corner booth at a diner. It could be a beach or a bench at school, a fence or even a tree. Whatever this table is, it is a place where we come together, we listen, we get real. Perhaps we laugh too, and in time we come to accept. This is part of loving our neighbor—just like Jesus did. It is key to building community and in establishing society, just as Jesus established a society for the good and benefit of others….

I remember an extreme table experience from my own life.

It happened in May of 2002, I was just finishing up a 1-year remote tour to Saudi Arabia where my daily duties included negotiating air traffic clearances face to face with officials of the Royal Saudi Air Force in downtown Riyadh. It was not a cushy job, and I was anxious to get home. This was 8 months after 9/11 and we were thick into Operation Enduring Freedom, taking action against Tora Bora and other Al Qaida Afghanistan hideouts. Everyone was stretched.

Working with the Saudis was especially challenging, and I'll never forget what happened one day with my American counterparts. It occured just before a Joint Task Force staff meeting in the Operations directorate. A lieutenant colonel friend of mine began railing about his 16-hour a day job in the Combined Air Operations Center. He worked in an extremely fast-paced environment under the watchful eyes of a slew of colonels and several general officers. It was non-stop. Brutal, in fact. He was in the hot seat everyday, and everyone felt badly for him. So there he was talking about his pressure-cooker duty. He was really getting into it and said something like, “I’ve had it. This job is the pits. I’ll gladly trade jobs with anyone!” Then he looked around the table and saw me. His eyes grew big as he sat back and pointed at yours truly. “Except you! They couldn’t pay me to take your job!” A few people nodded their heads. For some reason, people didn’t like working with my friends the Saudis. It wasn't that bad, was it?

After a year in the scorching desert, and the daily every-man-for-himself drive into downtown Riyadh, I was beginning to wonder. I was more than anxious to go home, but then a special request came down. Could I stay for the Air Clearance Conference in Jiddah? It was important. To execute the war in Afghanistan took an array of clearances and special permissions from nations all around the Arab Gulf. This was an important conference because the Saudis were a kingpin in the region and now they wanted some things from us. So, we were not just negotiating our own clearances, which also helped support wartime ops in Afghanistan, we were also going to work out the details for granting Saudia Airlines and the Royal Family clearance to fly into the U.S. as well … a sensitive issue back then given the citizenship of so many of the 9/11 hijackers.

So there we were, almost 50 of us sitting at huge tables formed into a square. The Americans on one side, the Saudis taking the other three sides. Our greatly outnumbered U.S. team had State Department people, embassy personnel, U.S. military and FAA representatives. They had Saudi Ministry of Defense authorities, Air Force officers, Air Clearance authorities, Saudia Airline executives, their own embassy people from Washington D.C. and their prince. Negotiating with this gaggle was not easy. Some hardly spoke English, and once or twice the Prince had to interrupt his interpretter to ensure an accurate English translation. Essentially, they wanted a blanket clearance to fly in to a number of our largest metropolitan areas. We suggested they might be able to land in Maine or Montana or somewhere a little more remote. Fringe, America perhaps. We made our requests and got similar responses. Soon we had broken up and gone into back rooms to rethink our positions, and make a few phone calls before trying again. I don’t know how many times this happened, but finally the Prince said, “Enough! Please, it is time for lunch. You will be our guests….”

So we loaded up into our American-made rental cars while they got into their BMWs and Mercedes and we caravanned across Jiddah. It was a typical day in the Kingdom—a ton of sun, too much heat, and not a cloud in their incredible blue sky. We passed beautiful buildings, green parks, and contemporary sculptures on our way to the shore. The prince took us to a dramatic restaurant surrounded by lush foliage. Its entranceway started on green grass then the entire structure jutted out into the Red Sea with plenty of glass for viewing the clear, calm water. Most impressive.

We were directed again to a long array of tables arranged like a box, but this time we were intermingled, Saudis seated next to Americans, and all in a most relaxing room over the sea. Soon, waiter after waiter came serving us the most delicious food. They came in waves with appetizers and entrees, breads and vegetables, meats and seafood, desserts and the most delicious fruit drink I’ve ever tasted. We'd get three fork fulls in our mouths or two sips from our flutes and there they were, again! Amazing. The conversation came surprisingly easy and the mood lightened. Everyone relaxed and soon guests and hosts started sharing stories with the whole group. At the end of the meal, the prince surprised us all by asking me to share a poem with the group. Gulp!

But for the grace of God, I think I would have croaked on the spot. I can only imagine it was the Spirit of God who prompted me to write something down the night before. So I stood up, took the paper from my pocket and delivered one of the shortest poems I had ever written. It wasn’t much, I guess, but it got me through the moment. And I think it might have done something more. It relayed a certain amount of respect for our host and his party. The respect all men and all nations seek. The respect that comes from a certain degree of transparency and trust. So, for better or worse, here is what I read:

Faces

It’s in our friends' faces
We finally get to see
The respect we desire—
A daily sort of thing
For it’s in their eyes,
Their voices
We come to feel this way—
Respect, even admiration, and
A deeper sense of worth.

With that, we adjourned and piled back into our vehicles. After making the pleasant drive through Jiddah and settling back into our negotiations, we were able to work things out and actually begin preparing the official documents. The stale ice had been broken, and new understanding achieved.

Two weeks later, I flew out on an airplane the Saudis cleared for departure. Within 36 hours, I was home from my grand Arabian adventure, delighted to sit at my own table, gaze into loving eyes and offer my own smile—a smile of peace and restoration.


Lord, grant that we would learn to accept others as you have accepted us. For Your glory, for Your Kingdom. Amen.

May 11


Zacchaeus


Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Luke 19:1-10 (NLT)


I love this story of Zacchaeus. It is such a beautiful tale of transformation. We can see in our text that people absolutely hated this tax collector. His greed, his drive, his selfish ambition must have offended nearly everyone. But, here he is wanting to see Jesus. When I think of Zacchaeus, I picture Danny Devito in sandals and a tunic scrambling up that sycamore tree.

He’s way ahead of the dust and the crowd now, totally ignored by everyone ... but Jesus. So what happens when Jesus shows up? Jesus stops, looks up and calls to Zacchaeus ... by name. Jesus gets personal, even friendly! The crowd is greatly disappointed, but Jesus doesn’t care what people think. He’s focused on the harvest ... picking ripe fruit ... and witnessing spiritual transformation. Jesus’ bold, unexpected attention absolutely delights this notorious sinner, and Zacchaeus is transformed that day.

The lesson is simple: when we have opportunity to do something good, to grab someone’s attention, reach their heart and witness God’s transforming power, we must not hesitate. The harvest is too important. Stop. Do the bold thing ... and see life as you’ve never seen it before!


Father, grant that we may see and boldly take advantage of these opportunities. Give us a part in your harvest, and may many be transformed. Amen.

May 10


Kingdom Society


Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.

Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”

Mark 2:13-16 (NLT)


Jesus teaches me a new formula for life: HUMILITY + HOSPITALITY = SOCIETY. In Jesus’ day the table was a great means of fellowship. Friendships were formed and bonds made when people gathered and shared a meal.

In genuine humility and love, Jesus practiced an open table. It was hospitable, inclusive and like an open door. Jesus said, “Whosoever will come....” and they did. The result was society, a greater society than they had ever known. The kingdom of heaven was at hand.

If Jesus’ table was an open door then, in contrast, the Pharisees table was a wall. Typically, they were not inclusive but exclusive. To sit at their table, one had to be clean, pure, and undefiled. Their’s was the religious, country club set. They were elite and their society was hypocrisy. This is not the society Jesus calls us to.

When we begin to truly love our neighbor as Jesus wants, we ditch hypocrisy, we avoid exclusivity and we shuck our silly pride. Jesus’ call for genuine hospitality begs us, Tear down your walls! Open your doors! And when we do this, we discover the transforming power of kingdom society.


Father, teach me to open doors like Jesus. Amen.