Joy in the Journey

  As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work- which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and turned to meaningless talk. 1 Timothy 1:3-6 It would appear that our world is going mad. It’s not unexpected, Jesus warned us to expect things like this, family members on opposite sides (Matthew 10:34-39), people telling us what we want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3) instead of the Truth, to name a couple of examples. It should not surprise us that things will get worse before they get better. I’m not surprised but I am saddened.           Just the other day my sweet friend Donna put a message on social media asking that people share pictures

  Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 My grandson Abram is anxiously waiting for his rocks to be finished. These are rocks that he brought back from Tennessee, his new favorite place. After panning through the dirt, Abram was so pleased to find several big rocks and even more small ones. He was not terribly pleased with the fact that they weren’t as pretty as some of his Pop Pop’s stones. Pop patiently explained to Abram that the rocks had to be tumbled and that tumbling is a pretty long process. Today we are just three days from the finished product and Abram is beside himself with excitement. He has big plans for those rocks.           A few minutes ago I read the verse from Philippians my first thought was of a conversation that I had yesterday. In dealing with one of my more stubborn students I had to stop and take a deep breath and remind myself of his limitations,

  You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. John 14:14 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and they are safe. Proverbs 18:10 Just yesterday I heard a young woman tell a story about her father. Her father held a position of responsibility in our community and so when Whitney found herself in a little mess, she smiled her stunning smile and said basically here’s the ten reasons why what I did wasn’t all that bad and by the way, my dad is Mr. Important. Problem solved. Except it wasn’t. Her dad truly was a pillar in our community, a man of actual integrity not just approval seeking pseudo- integrity. As Whitney went on to say, facing the actual consequences of her actions would have been far easier than what she faced at home after dropping daddy’s name.           Her father reacted as he did certainly to teach his daughter a lesson, to put a little fear into her but I think there’s more to it than that. Perhaps more than either