Daddy's Girl!

Saturday afternoon, December 22, 2007

It is 3:00 PM, as I begin writing this perspective, and in two hours quite a crowd will begin gathering here in our home; Amy (our daughter) is hosting a party for the folk who work with her at the Coliseum Medical Center. She has been baking and cooking for several days and, finally, has everything in place—enough food to feed the Salvation Army!

To be sure, Amy has made her Daddy proud and for many reasons, not the least of which is the success she has enjoyed in her nursing career. When she graduated from High School, she immediately began her nursing school career at Georgia Baptist School of nursing in Atlanta, where she proved to others and to herself that she had chosen the right career. Interestingly, her passion has always been in the field of critical care, where emotions run as high as a kite in March and stress is as thick as molasses in December. For all these many years, she has worked in the trenches, always having the lives of several very sick people in her care.

As I write this, I can recall several occasions where her patients rewarded her with quite nice gifts, as the result of her compassion and expertise while they were in her care. I find it strange that some people really do appreciate what others do for them and make it a point to make it evident, while others, for reasons beyond me, believe their care is some kind of entitlement they deserve.

Over the years, some significant others have noticed her abilities and her professionalism and, as a result, she has quickly moved from the trenches of critical care, to being the charge nurse for the step down unit on the coronary care floor, to her present position—Clinical Coordinator.

I never will forget leaving her at Georgia Baptist Nursing School; I honestly thought I was going to have to rent Annis a room with her (she cried all the way home and for the next month!). I mean, Amy was just out of High School, young and green, and we were leaving her about six blocks from the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta! Really!

Well, you can rest assured that in spite of our concerns, she was in “hog heaven,” as we say down here in the South. I never have figured out why she spent so much time at fraternity parties at Georgia Tech, as she never did get a degree from there. Oh well, some things, one will never understand!

In spite of her rather active social life, she was soon cast in the middle of critical care nursing, even working at Grady Hospital in their critical care areas (a very good thing on her resume!), where she got more experience in five minutes that most get during their entire nursing careers.

One thing is for sure: she has NEVER had to look for a job, and from the looks of things, she never will. She has made many turns in the road of her life, but the one turn that was absolutely, positively the right turn, was her choosing to be a Registered Nurse, and not just an RN, but the best one she could possible become.

Needless to say, she has made her Daddy proud and, to be honest, I am looking forward to meeting her colleagues tonight and to watching her serve them a great big helping of compassion and care!

It is now 10:41 PM, the party is over, and it is clean-up time! It really was fun being involved and meeting the folks, all of whom seem really to love and respect my little girl!

Wow! I am blessed and very much so!

A Subtle Deception!

Although, I originally wrote this in November of 2005, it bears repeating (in my not-so-humble opinion!):

As you well know, the members of the secular world are doing everything they can to distract us from the true meaning of Christmas, having launched their schemes weeks ago, even months.

On the surface, it appears that the secularists are using this season of the year to pursue the almighty dollar—to get rich (I heard Bill O’Reilly say, just last night, that the secularists ought to be on their knees thanking Jesus for Christmas; otherwise, they would not be making all the money); however, I am afraid their roots grow much deeper than the mere pursuit of money.

Underlying this façade is the deep root of the power of sin, and it is working overtime; albeit, stealthily, to energize the forces of evil—the demons of hell. No longer lurking behind the scenes, they are out in full force and their goal is not what it appears. The power of sin has them energized to use the commercialization of the holy, righteous, and good day of Christmas to deceive us into believing that God is, somehow, out of control and the true significance of Christmas is being lost. In other words, the power of sin wants us to believe that the forces of evil are winning-out over the power of God! It knows that, as soon as we are convinced, we will launch an all-out assault on the commercialization of Christmas and in doing so, never engage the real enemy. The power of sin knows that wars are never won unless the true enemy is engaged; consequently, it will do anything to camouflage itself.

I see a very significant parallel between “the power of sin and the commercialization of Christmas” and “the power of sin and the Law.” If you remember, the power of sin used the holy Law of God to convince Paul that his relationship with God was determined by whether or not he kept the Law, i.e., if he kept the Law, God would be pleased with him; however, if he failed to keep the Law, God would be displeased with him. In other words, the power of sin convinced Paul (at least for a while) that because he could not keep the Law, try as he might, it was his enemy, the enemy that prevented his living in continued fellowship with God. As you can see, the power of sin was purposing to deceive Paul into believing the lie of all lies (righteousness comes through the Law), which by the way, will always make the Law appear to be your enemy.

One must admit that in Paul’s life, the power of sin was successful; at least, for a predetermined season. For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me (Romans 7:11). I think it goes without saying; if Paul was susceptible to this deception, so are we!

Ultimately, the power of sin did not want to be revealed as Paul’s enemy for the same reason that it does not want to be revealed as the enemy of Christmas—it knows that wars are never won unless and until the true enemy is engaged. To be sure, the power of sin did not want Paul to see the Law as his true friend, the one that would drive him to Jesus, because it also knows that when that truth is revealed, its power is terminated.

The power of sin uses the commercialization of the holy and good day of the birth of Jesus to deceive us into believing that the success or failure of the celebration is determined by how effective we are at eradicating the commercialization. In other words, the power of sin wants to get the onus off its own back and onto the “back” of the commercialization of Christmas. It would much prefer that we focus our energies on eradicating the commercialization of Christmas, rather than on resting in Jesus’ finished work, that way its power continues its effectiveness! You can rest assured that the power of sin wants us to see the commercialization of Christmas as our enemy, certainly not as our friend. It does not want us to realize that it is the commercialization of Christmas that drives us to the true meaning of that Blessed Holy Day because it knows-well that the moment that truth is revealed, its power is terminated!

MY PERSPECTIVE: If we allow Satan to deceive us into viewing the commercialization of Christmas, instead of the power of sin, as our enemy, we will become so preoccupied with “righting” what is “wrong” that we will miss what is “right”—The Celebration of the Birth of Jesus! What we can see becomes much more important than what we cannot see, and Satan laughs—loudly and proudly!

Thought I would remind you—

Laughter in Pain

Wednesday morning, December 19, 2007 [Less than one week ‘till Christmas!]

Last night Annis and I attended a Christmas party with some long-time friends, along with some not-so-long time friends, at O’Charley’s restaurant here in Macon. Hmmm, let me count; there were seventeen of us present and accounted for, with two of the group “missing in action.” We ranged in age from 20 something to 70+, with 8 males and 9 females. Although we came from different backgrounds, eleven of us had one particular commonality—to one degree or another we are involved in funeral service. Three of us are actually licensed as Funeral Directors/Embalmers and the rest work in various supportive roles. Two of us are ordained ministers! Needless to say, O’Charley’s will never be the same!

From my vantage point, everyone had a great time, as was evidenced by the abundance of laughing and talking and EATING, and that is a good thing—a very good thing! As God’s providence would have it, I was honored to sit next to the other “ordained minister” and, as you can imagine, we had quite a time (well, I did, to be sure!). Although he is much younger than I, he is almost as crazy as I (not yet certified crazy, but almost!), so believe me, we had fun!

As I watched everyone laughing and having a grand ole time, I couldn’t help but think about what was beneath the surface of the laughter. Because I know each of them, I was very aware that our laughter was like a medicine, a medicine we all needed. Without exception, every person in our group is very familiar with the heartache and pain and confusion and sense of helplessness that so often accompanies this life. You would be hard-put to imagine a difficulty that someone in this group has not experienced—family problems, financial problems, marriage problems, children problems, medical problems, vocation problems, ad infinitum.

One of the group told me that his brother and sister-in-law were recently involved in a motorcycle accident, both with serious injuries, no insurance, no money, two children, and intoxicated at the time of the accident; another of the group had a young family member commit suicide not too long ago; several of the group are dealing with children who have addiction problems; one of the group just had shoulder surgery; another of the group has a son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren serving in the Air Force in Korea; another of the group had a very-near-death experience resulting from a ruptured aorta, that left him with several permanent physical problems; and on and on it goes.

Tragically, this is true regardless of the group; it is simply impossible to gather a group of people together who are not very familiar with the very difficult difficulties that accompany this life. We do a pretty good job of pretending most of the time because we do not want others to think that we are going through difficult times—we do not want others to feel sorry for us, or to know about our personal stuff, certainly not to think less of us than they already do!

I found this very revealing last night: after the party but before I had left the room, someone was already talking with me about some very difficult “stuff” that he was presently experiencing. Yes, we can laugh loudly and heartily and it is good to do so—VERY GOOD; however, as hard as we might laugh, that all-too-familiar pain is always lurking just beneath the surface of the laughter, eagerly awaiting to sink it claws into our hearts again, doing its best to bring about death.

A good Funeral Director does everything he/she can to make death look like life and, believe me, sometimes that is no easy task.

A Matter of the Heart

Wednesday morning, December 12, 2007

My computer just reminded me that I have an appointment with my cardiologist Friday afternoon at 2:00, which at first glance is no big deal, especially when compared to having my prostate checked; however, this woman is my HEART doctor and it has “sick sinus syndrome,” which requires that I have a pacemaker. Now, a pacemaker is no big deal—really!—until it gets to be five years old (which mine is and then some), which is when the battery begins to run out of energy (possibly!). Of course, this means that I have to have it checked often, like every month, to be sure it is in “Copper Top” condition (this was done last night!). The problem is this: no one ever tells me whether the battery is “full of energy,” “half-way full,” or “almost dead”. Since I am yet alive, I can only assume that it has at least enough energy for the moment!

Getting this pacemaker checked is quite high tech; I call somewhere in Connecticut or New York and speak to someone who does not speak true English (Southern!) and tell them that it is time for my pacemaker check. The rest is very routine: I place the telephone receiver onto a device that transmits an EKG from electrodes that are attached to my wrists to Connecticut or New York. This goes on for 40 seconds, and then I place a magnet over my pacemaker for another 40 seconds, which by the way shuts it off so they can determine how much energy is left in the battery (they NEVER tell me, however!), while I hope it comes back on (of course, the only way I can tell for sure is that I continue breathing!). Finally, I repeat step #1, only to hear, “PERFECT! Call us if you need anything!” Now, that “perfect” does NOT mean that my pacemaker’s battery is perfectly filled with energy; it simply means that the tech received a legible EKG.

As you might imagine, this continues to go downhill. This tech passes the EKG along to some monitor tech in India or Afghanistan or Iran, who decides if a REAL doctor needs to see it. If so, then the strip is sent via fax or carrier pigeon or email to a REAL doctor in Uzbekistan or Istanbul or Iceland, who determines if MY cardiologist needs to be brought up to speed. Well, this works out very nice because I get to see her once a year, unless her office calls to cancel my appointment due to some emergency, which means that it will be at least 6 more months before I see her. Well this ain’t (Southern for is not) rocket science; the way I figure it, it is entirely possible that I could have been dead for 19 months before MY cardiologist ever found it out, unless she reads the daily obits and happens to recognize my name.

For those of you who know me, you have probably already figured out that I have casually mentioned this to her, only to learn that she hates the way this is done, too, but Medicare won’t pay for it to be done in her office, so she has no other choice. Well, heck, even though I am eligible for Medicare, I only have part A because we (my wife and I) have other insurance until she turns 65 (which ain’t long), so Medicare wasn’t paying my bill anyway, but that isn’t the point.

The point is this: if we aren’t careful, the government is going to be taking charge of the treatment of our other heart—the one that really matters—and when it does, we won’t like it anymore than I like the way my physical heart is treated now. You can rest assured of this: if (probably, when) the radical Muslim world takes charge of the USA, what we know as freedom of religion will no longer exist and someone from Iran or Istanbul or some place, will be dictating more than you and I desire.

Just a reminder that complacency ain’t a good idea!

A Little Assistance, Please

Thursday afternoon, December 6, 2007

I just posted the following onto my church blog (http://gcfmacon.blogspot.com) in an effort to encourage my local congregants to prepare themselves for Sunday’s message. As you can tell (after you read the posting), I am in way over my head. Anyway, please go ahead and read the following:

This is an easy text: "If anyone sees his brother committing (sinning) a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death" (1 John 5:16-17). A piece of cake! Right?

Hmmm, well maybe not, at least not from my vantage point. In the first place, what is this "sin that leads to death"? I thought all sin lead to death! Even more, what is this sin that does NOT lead to death; again, I thought all sin lead to death!

As you can see, I have three options: (1) Bypass this text, like most exegetes do; (2) make a few inane guesses; or (3) admit the fact that I am clueless but also wait, watch, and listen. Rest assured that I will pursue the latter and hope against hope (really!) that He will bring into existence that which does not exist, namely some understanding of this text.

Thanks! Now, having read the posting, I am interested in hearing your ideas concerning this text. If you have any wisdom, please feel free to send it to me, as I will welcome it! The truth is this is not the first time I have encountered this text but it is none-the-less difficult. I always purpose to keep in focus the context of any text and this one is, certainly, no exception; however, doing so really doesn’t bring much light.

Yes, I know: it would be so much easier, if I would simply bypass this one, but I am really hoping to hear something fresh from Him, so I will wait and watch and listen! And by the way, you might do a bit of that, as well; who knows, revelation just might come upon us, and that would be a good thing!

Anyway—I will be eagerly waiting on your responses!

Blessings,

Mac

Surrendered Prayer

Sunday afternoon, December 2, 2007
This is what John said about prayer: “And this is the confidence which we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14-15; NASB).
In the first place, I do not think John meant for the likes of you and me to get bogged down in dissecting this passage and miss what he is telling us about prayer; even so and at the risk of becoming bogged-down, I do want to point a few obvious things: (1) I do not understand most of what he is saying, and that should be obvious, at least to those who know me; (2) I do, however, understand some of what he is saying, not the least of which is this: If we ask God for something He wants us to have, He will give it to us; (3) I also understand that he is telling us that our “asking” is important (not so much for God but for us); however, I must be careful here because I would not want to lead you to believe that God will only give us that for which we ask (think about how much He has given to you without your asking!); (4) Furthermore, I also understand that our having to ask confirms and declares our dependence and our helplessness; it forces us to deal with our pride (the boastful pride of life), not to mention that it also forces us to admit that we are not God; (5) I also am very aware that he is NOT telling us that God will give us whatever we want, and for this I am very thankful (if He had given me everything I have wanted, or thought I wanted, I would be in one huge mess—one bigger than the one I am already in); (6) I also understand that John is attempting to show us that most of our praying is centered on our attempting to talk God into giving us what we want, without even considering that our desires might be (probably are!) diametrically opposed to what He deems best for us; (7) To be honest, this is somewhat “fuzzy” to me: “. . . If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (vs. 14). I do understand that this could, simply, mean that He will always give us what He wants us to have (whatever is according to His will for us), especially if we ask Him for it, and if this is true, then the key to effective praying is knowing His will for us and asking Him for that and only that. I wonder, however, if this line does not have more to do with the manner in which we ask, than it has to do with our knowing what is will for us might be. If this is true, then we should be focused on knowing HOW to ask, rather than on what He might desire for us. Take a minute to read the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane—the place of crushing—and listen, carefully, to how He presents His request to His Father. Obviously, this “place of crushing” had worked its work in His life, and He was, therefore, before His Father, as a child—scared and frightened out of His wits. While sweating drops of blood, He cried, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not My will but Thine be done” (you can look it up for yourself).
My point: Jesus had come to that place that I am choosing to call “The Place of Surrendered Prayer”; He had come to that place, where He was finished trying to change His Father’s mind about what was in front of Him; He was ready for God’s will to be done—regardless. Now notice this: Jesus’ coming to this place of Surrendered Prayer did not cause God to back down and change the next several days for Jesus—not one bit—instead, it equipped Jesus for what was in front of Him.
Ask from that place of Surrendered Prayer—no longer attempting to manipulate God, just surrendered to His will for your life. It will be tough getting there—I promise!