HOLY HAMMOCK…!

It might sound silly, but it could just be that my hammock has some kind of supernatural healing power. Five minutes suspended in mid air and I feel like a new man.

It’s usually some time in the evening, generally after dinner, when I slip into the hammock at our home. The sun is setting and from my horizontal vantage point I look up to see the branches of our large oak trees swaying in the breeze, the last rays of sunlight dancing on their leaves. In the background I hear the evening birds, usually robins, chirping away as they prepare to nestle in for the night. The cardinals are climbing all over our feeders and filling their bellies one last time before calling it a day. And if the sky is cloudless I watch as plane after plane flies northeastward, heading toward Newfoundland and then on to Europe, with crisscrossing white contrails marking where they’ve passed

My hammock is a beautiful thing, but what makes it so, is not its power to relax. No, it’s my hammock’s uncanny ability to inspire deep thoughts and feelings. It’s really quite amazing. All I have to do is stretch out for a few minutes and I get lost in a kind of reverie of religious reflection which inevitably, and I mean this sincerely, transports me to an Eden-like reconnection with the goodness, greatness and glory of God’s love. Let me say it again, it’s really quite amazing.

Is there something miraculous or mysterious about my “holy” hammock? Nah! It’s just that the quiet time it facilitates enables me to realize what the Bible prescribed for our spiritual health centuries ago, Be still and know that I am God… Psalm 46:10.

So…what is your hammock?

Love and blessings,

David

CLOSED OPEN MINDEDNESS…

No one’s more closed than an open-minded, theological liberal. Sound shocking? Maybe to an open minded theological liberal it does, but to a conservative such a statement represents experiential truth. I’ve been the beneficiary, recipient or victim (choose your word) of “closed” open-mindedness on many occasions. Let me explain. When I articulate to a theological liberal, i.e., someone who thinks that all religions are equally true, that I believe Jesus is the only way to salvation, I’m met with disapproving scowls and not-so-subtle expressions of vitriol. I then say, “Hey, wait a minute, I thought you were open to all beliefs. Why are you closed to mine?” The open minded liberal then has no intelligent response because they’re suddenly confronted with their own double standard. Yes, they believe, as liberals, in theological inclusiveness, but not if that inclusiveness has to include someone who doesn’t believe in theological inclusiveness. What a sad irony!

Let’s face it, no one is completely open, including and perhaps especially the so-called open minded, theological liberal. Their open-mindedness is a ruse, a smokescreen, a disguise masking the kind of closed-ness that, at face value, they’re so much against. So let’s name it for what it is, hypocrisy. The theological liberal is quick to call conservatives narrow-minded bigots. Should we just accept this and feel bad about ourselves? Or should we lovingly, but firmly, point out the duplicity of their ways? My opinion is that we’re doing them and the Lord no favors by simply rolling over and playing dead.

It’s time we who are theologically conservative held our heads high and let it be known that we’re proud to be who we are, men and women who believe that there is exclusivity attached to the truth of Jesus Christ. If a theological liberal wants to call this closed, so be it. I call it courageous…and honest, more honest than those whose zealous commitment to open-mindedness has blinded them to their own pretense.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved…Acts 4:12.

Love and blessings,

David

Amore´

AMORE´…

For me the wedding season has begun. Over the next eight weeks I have six weddings scheduled and what makes this so special is that two of the weddings involve septuagenarians. Both brides and grooms-to-be were widowed and when they least expected it, fell in love again.

I wish you could have joined me as I met with each couple…warm smiles, interlocking hands and joyful countenances all of which belie seven plus decades of life’s weathering.

Romantic love is truly a remarkable thing. It can command an old soul, “Be young again!” and miraculously the soul’s wrinkles fade away. And yet, as remarkable as it is, it pales by comparison to the love that springs from the heart of Christ. His love doesn’t just reconstruct youthful beauty; it is Beauty itself. His love can cleanse the conscience of sin’s guilt, sweep away bitterness, heal hurts, instill purpose and create an inner serenity so deep and immovable that it’s described in the Bible as passing understanding. Maybe this is why I cringe when I hear cynics angrily accuse Christians of trying to “foist” their faith on others. Christians, at least those committed to Christ and not just Christianity, aren’t foisting anything on anyone. They’re simply sharing the wealth.

So unique is the love of Christ that it has its own descriptive word in the Bible, agape. It’s a love so transforming that it can cause a person to lay down his or her life for the wellbeing of another, even if that other happens to be an adversary. Again, cynics see this as ludicrous. Christians on the other hand, see it as the centerpiece of God’s wisdom.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him…1 John 4:16

Love and blessings,

David