Of Mice and Men

Last night I heard them again … the critters … the mice that had left their droppings in our utensil drawer. I had been sleeping in the Blue Room right off the kitchen (not because I was in the dog house but because our niece, Lily, is staying with us) and at about 2300 I’d hear a mouse or mice rummaging through our kitchen drawers – dirty rats! Mind you, this is a rental house that we’ve only been in a month. At our house in Livingston we had two possums living under our house. It seems like these crazy animals are drawn to us.

            Anyway, being the good wife that she is, Amanda was proactive and got some traps. Of course, being the good husband I am, I baited them and placed them. After placing them, Amanda and Lily went back to our bedroom to settle down and watch a movie because I was in the Blue Room watching Hurt Locker and didn’t want our visiting 11 year old niece to watch a war movie. So I’m sitting there watching the EOD guys do their thing and all of a sudden – SNAP – and then the twitching and kicking of an animal trying to escape its inevitable death.

            Sure enough, I put the movie on pause, walked over to the drawer, slid it open and Jerry mouse was twitching the last few seconds of his life away. Out of respect for the dying (I don’t think it was that formal to be honest with you but I’m just trying to make this thing dramatic) I closed the door and allowed him to go home to the great Cheese Head in the sky alone. He died alone!

            Of course, I felt compelled to share this great victory with Amanda so I went to the room and told her that with 15 minutes of putting out the trap we had our first KIA. She had a look of disgust on her face but asked, “How big is it?” That planted a seed in my mind: “Why not take a picture of it and text it to her?” I did. Haha. Amanda heard the second trap snap around 0200 and sure enough, the mice community had sent out a second mouse either for recovery or recon. Either way, it paid the ultimate price.

            Now this morning – while I’m doing my Bible study – these mice came back to mind and as God so often does, He uses them for an illustration. These mice – in some people’s mind – weren’t doing anything to hurt anybody. Maybe so but they were where they weren’t supposed to be and they were taking a dump there to spite us! Knowing that mice want food, Amanda and I set out a trap with bait we knew would be attractive to them.

            Isn’t that how Satan works us? Think about it! Think about the Garden of Eden.

¹ The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

² “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. ³ “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

⁴ “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. ⁵ “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

⁶ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. ⁷ At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

            Satan knew exactly what Eve wanted! He knew the desire was for that which looked, smelled, and in fact, tasted good. But it was that very thing – that bite – that forced the trap to snap down on her “neck,” break it, and choke the very life that she was searching for right out of her.

            Aren’t we all like that? Don’t we go after what looks good, what’s appetizing, knowing full well that it’s not the best? It’s not God’s will that we simply feed our appetites. We are to be fed – by the Spirit. We are to be filled – by the Spirit. We are not to feed the flesh.

The Greatest Show on Earth

It's been about a month now that Amanda, the kids, and me moved over to Knoxville. Despite it being a tough decision to move with the distance now between family, friends, church, and the great land that makes up the Upper Cumberland, Amanda and I both feel like it was good decision.

Obviously, one of the perks of moving from a small, rural town to a larger city is that you get a wider variety of things of which to be exposed. For instance, Knoxville has a great Greenway trail. It also has a great view of the Smokey Mountains from almost anywhere in the city which means proximity to the Park and to Beech, Sugar, and Cataloochie for skiing (if and when it snows)! There's also a variety of dining, shopping, sporting events, and education. The number and variety of churches here is pretty amazing here too.

As I mentioned before, along with variety comes proximity. We no longer have to drive an hour and a half to see a show we might want to see. Case in point, the circus. It was in town over the weekend and we took the opportunity to take the kids and one of our nieces. It was a lot of fun. WB&BN would still make P.T. Barnum proud (and I say that like I know the old boss).

It's been billed as, "The Greatest Show on Earth," and people still come from miles around to see what kind of "magic" the performers and animals will create. The only disappointing comment I heard was from an older spectator who complained that there were no lions! Oh well. There was a guy who let the Clown drive a Jeep loaded with people over him! That's right! Drove it over him!

People came eagerly - expecting to see something. There was a woman like that in the Bible. She had a nasty medical issue for most of her adult life and all she wanted was to be healed. So she went doctor to doctor trying to get healed. It wasn't until she approached The Greatest Show on Earth - Jesus - in the midst of a crowd that she really began to fully understand how great He really was. She just touched his garment and was made whole.

How many of us are willing to do that? Press in despite the mob? Press in knowing that his power will overwhelm us? Press in despite the inadequacies in every area of our lives - the ones we try to hide as well as the ones that are easily exposed?

One of the coolest things I saw at the circus this time was the acrobat who walked upside down 100 or more feet off the ground ... with no safety net ... just sticking his feet in some contraption that was loops hanging from the scaffolding. Amazing!

Jesus is like that ... amazing? He does that which is breathtaking! He does that which is well worth the price paid!

Symphony of Destruction

Tonight, Amanda and the Pooheads were back in Livingston so I was up in the Island Home residence (that sounds so snobby doesn’t it?) and was doing some Chaplain Accession stuff and homework, had iTunes running and one of my favorite songs from yesteryear came on: “Symphony of Destruction” by Megadeth. At the risk of getting Dave Mustaine fired up because of copyright laws, I’m going to reprint the lyrics and you tell me how fitting the words are for our current national situation:

You take a mortal man

And put him in control

Watch him become a god

Watch people’s heads a’roll … a’roll …

Just like the Pied Piper

Led rats through the streets

We dance like marionettes

Swaying to the Symphony of Destruction

Acting like a robot

It’s metal brain corrodes

You try to take its pulse

Before the head explodes … explodes …

CHORUS

The earth starts to rumble

World powers fall

A warring for the heavens

A peaceful man stands tall … tall …

CHORUS

What’s the Word saying to you on this one??

Facing the Giants

            So I’m reading my Life Journal schedule for today and it includes a couple of chapters from Numbers, some stuff from Psalm 90, and some stuff from Mark 2. Obviously, Numbers always seems like a challenge when you sit down to read it because of its very name. I mean, really, who wants to sit down and peruse the Bible like an accountant? Not bashing CPAs or anything but it’s just not my cup of tea, sitting around, crunching numbers.

            Moving on … one of the great stories in Numbers is that of Moses sending out the 12 spies into the Promised Land. From a military stand point, it was a recon mission by the best of the best. These guys were all tribal leaders of the people of Israel. They were hand-picked by Moses to go and bring back an assessment of what they were about to face.

            Now, the interesting thing about all this is that God had already brought them out of Egypt. He had already delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. He had provided for them with manna and quail in the desert. He had promised them that they were going to the Promised Land; that he would deliver it to them! ^“The LORD now said to Moses, ^‘Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes’” (Numbers 12:1-2).

            So, here’s what happened next:

²⁵ After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned ²⁶ to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. ²⁷ This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. ²⁸ But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.”

³⁰ But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

³¹ But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” ³² So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. ³³ We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”

Only Caleb was bold enough to say, “Let’s move forward on this.” Why is that? We often get this story told to us in some form or other and hail Caleb as the one, who walked in faith; the one who “faced the giants.” Here are just a few observations from my reading this morning and how God was speaking to me:

·         The key is verse 2: “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.”

o   Caleb was already walking in what God had promised the people.

§  Despite all the heartaches that Israel caused God through their disobedience and whining, there were some who truly followed him.

§  I believe that’s why Caleb was the only one who said, “Let’s go!”

·         He was the only one truly prepared to lay it all on the line because he’d been laying it on the line up to that point already.

o   Preparation + Opportunity =

o   Caleb, despite the giants, decided to believe what God had said and therefore overcame any fear that he might have had.

§  This makes me think of Peter walking on the water (Matthew 14:24-33).

·         Peter, despite his doubt later, got out on the water and walked!!!

·         The Church was built on what he did through the power of the Holy Spirit!

·         The key is that he walked in faith in a calling already given by God.

o   He was already in God’s will.

o   He was obedient.

o   And he was relentless about its pursuit.

§  He was eager to go claim it NOW given the opportunity!

My question then becomes: what is the Word saying to you? To follow along with what Alex Kendrick and the film Facing the Giants points out … what giants do you need to overcome? You’re already called so what’s holding you back? Is the thing that’s holding you back really bigger than the destination to which God is calling you to journey?

You know, it’s the journey that prepares you to take the destination. I pray that we allow it to prepare us as much as I pray that we push through the obstacles and challenges to get to our destinations!

Overcome Evil with Good

Yesterday, my Pastor at Lifechurch in Cookeville, Bobby Davis, reminded me of a Scripture that was all but forgotten to me. I’m sad to admit this but I had not stood on this verse in a long time. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21 NKJV). The reason I share that is because God brought it to my mind when talking to my children later that evening.

Pastor Bobby shared something to the effect that we – the Church – are on the defensive rather than the offensive. By that, I mean, that he was utilizing the metaphor of a football team to describe the Church. Obviously, there are different positions that each person within the Church are chosen to play by God. Over time, though, we often allow our comfort zone to become that which hinders us from advancing the kingdom.

Pastor referenced his own “education” in things of the Church. There was an expectation of “don’t do this” or “don’t do that” when in all actuality all that was being done was giving his sin – and everyone else’s – a name. “For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (Romans 3:20). Maybe you’ve been told that from those who practice religion within Christianity. “Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Don’t have sex. Don’t chew. Don’t hang out with those who do.” Now, granted, advocating abstaining from certain practices is absolutely wise but to make the “tradition” higher than the “relation” is worse than the sin.

“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him” (Romans 6:1-8).

But getting back to the point, Sophia and Angus had gotten up from their nap. Amanda and I had already decided to split the afternoon/evening with them to give them each some one-on-one time. I had plans to take Sophia to Lowes and then get a bite to eat at the Manchurian Palace. The AFC Championship game was on. It was the final quarter and hard to leave when you’re hoping Tom Brady – who you don’t normally cheer for – has to do everything within him to stop Ray Lewis and the Ravens from going to the Super Bowl.

Needless to say, we got out of the door later than expected, but as we were loading up, Sophia asked me, “Daddy, can we go to a restaurant.” I began to answer her with a list of “Yes we can if you don’t ______.” How awful! Rather than giving her a yes or no, I put stipulations on her request. That, in and of itself, isn’t the bad thing about it. What’s bad is that my initial response was to give her a list of “don’ts.”

God nailed me with what Pastor Bobby said earlier; “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21 NKJV). What a great place to show Sophia that we can do things in a positive light! So I changed my tone. I said, “Yes, we can go to the restaurant if you have what?” Sophia said, “If I’m nice, if I smile, and if I hug myself?” She melted my heart! Thank God for little girls.

It’s a no-brainer that I’ve often acted like I don’t have a brain in the issue. Why bring my child up with the negative side of options all the time. I can teach her to begin with the thought that a lot of teachers utilize in school. The students start out with 100 or an “A” average. It’s only by jacking things up do their grades get any lower. So by doing the right thing, the reward is exactly what they expected and sometimes even richer!

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good – Romans 12:21 NLT

Here’s your challenge: read Romans!

Value

            Amanda and I have been looking for a place to rent in Knoxville. It’s a time-consuming, sometimes overwhelming process. It’s so much easier to move when you’re single and don’t have little people about who to be concerned. Fortunately, my case is that I do have others involved in the process. I never really understood how much of a difference my thinking would become once married with children. I guess I used to rib my mates who were married. They always seemed so much more “concerned” with the logistics of things. Wives who were mommies, in particular, always seemed to let me know how much more they knew about “real life” than I did. I can see their point – to a degree – now.

            The housing market is crazy. One house on a street runs 200K and two doors down one runs 400K because in the winter – when there are no leaves – if you stand on the right corner of the property, you can see a small portion of the Tennessee River. Now, I don’t really know that as the reason for the price increase but it sure is fun to speculate on a house you find quite attractive and pleasing to the eye.

            My question throughout our day of house hunting on scene was this, “Who really determines the value of something?” Why can the retired little, old lady who owns five of the surrounding properties ask 1K/month for a house that, anywhere else, would only draw – at the max – half that amount! It’s funny. I just haven’t been out on the market in a while so it’s been an eye-opener in regards to seeing what the perceived and accepted value of property is these days.

            Consider the parable of the Hidden Treasure:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.” – Matthew 13:44

           

And what about the parable of Choice Pearls:

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!” – Matthew 13:45-46

            It’s all about the value of something. What do I value in regards to where I want my family to live? What about the values Amanda has? Are they the same? Do we need to step back, reevaluate, and move forward again with tenacity? Maybe it’s simpler than even that because we want the best for our family – we want God’s will.

            “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” – Luke 12:34

            I started thinking about all this because of the Life Journal reading for today. *** In particular, I was reading from Genesis and hit a scripture that has really sparked my interest in the psyche of man, especially those of us who have engaged in combat. This scripture makes me wonder if this is the origin of the issues that warriors face with combat stress, post-traumatic stress, and PTSD.

:

“And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.” - Genesis 9:5-6

            After reading this post, if you have any insight to offer especially concerning Genesis 9:5-6, I would love to engage in some dialogue.

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.” - Philippians 3:8

***      (If you’re unfamiliar with Life Journals and would like a way to engage the Bible, check out www.lifejournal.cc. Check out www.lifejournal.com for an even deeper technological experience with your Life Journal).

What I Do - First Lyrics of 2012!

What I Do (I Don’t Want to Do)

Copyright © 2012 by Malcolm Rios

Well I know the Lord has shown me the way

He’s taken my darkness and thrown it away

But there’s something deep inside me

That wants me to stay the same

Yeah, there’s something deep inside me

That doesn’t want me to change

And what do I do

To keep on runnin’ to you

What I do I don’t want to do (x4)

Well sometimes I think it’d be easy to do

Walk away and turn my back on you

But there’s something deep inside me

That keeps me from turnin’ away

Make a choice for the hope of a lifetime

Instead of hanging on a moment today

But what do I do

To keep myself runnin’ from you

What I do I don’t want to do (x4)

And what I don’t want to do

I always end up doing to you

What I do I don’t want to do (x4)