Menagerie

 Life’s priorities change when you get old. I called my 81-year-old brother who has been homebound for 5 years as a double-amputee diabetic.  He asked me to hold on a minute.  The stray dog that wandered over to their house was hungry and needed to be fed.  And the stray cat that his wife hauled to the vet where she spent $200 to have its ear infection treated was also there.  The cat, which they call Catter, always wants to watch the dog eat.  And, of course, afterward, the cat wants to be fed.  And the birds!  The birds are emptying the bird feeder every other day.  “It’s like Grand Central Station,” he said.  So, I hung on until they cared for their menagerie.

 I informed him that they aren’t the only ones who feel the pressure.  I told him I have started feeding the  rabbits that live under our deck. I even had to rescue a bunny that fell into our window well. So, now I chop up a carrot, peel off a leaf or two of lettuce and leave it on the deck for them.  And, then there are the birds, the squirrels and the mice. We have a bird feeder out back that I have been able to hang from a limb so the squirrels can’t get it, and another outside our kitchen window I built for my wife on Mother’s Day.  I mounted it on a pole which I greased to dissuade the squirrels. Those critters can empty a bird feeder before you know it.  And the mice. When I went to retrieve the sack of bird seed from our shed it had a hole in the bottom where the mice have been gorging themselves in secluded safety.

 When we were working and raising children, we did well to feed the family cat.  We didn’t have time to notice these wild and roaming creatures.  I assume they would get along just fine without us.  But it brings us pleasure to help them out with a few scraps, some bird seed and a little attention here and there.

 Since we moved to Colorado, we have made an annual pilgrimage to Estes Park to view the elk in the fall.  They come ambling out of the woods into scattered clearings, the bull elk’s bugle call echoing through the canyons.  They make themselves at home, not just in the open spaces, but on the golf course and in the streets.  One bull elk walked into a store and sniffed the merchandise.  Once we were delayed while the local police directed traffic through a herd that blocked the road.

 It is humbling to realize that we are but one species of God’s marvelous creation.  These animals, and millions more, have occupied this earth and survived for eons.

 According to Genesis, God takes pleasure in all of his creation and allows us to have a part in it.   “Then God said, ‘Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”  … God made the animals of the earth according to their kind, and the livestock according to their kind, and everything that crawls on the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good,” (Genesis 1:20-25).

Liberty and Justice

 Every time we voice our pledge to the flag, we are reminded of our American commitment: “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”  Justice is important.  We cannot have liberty without justice.

I once stood beside the execution table in the death chamber at Huntsville, Texas. The sense of the place was haunting.  Many have gone to their deaths in that room guilty of the crimes for which they were convicted.  Others, it appears, were innocent. John Grisham’s novel, “The Confession,” underscores the difficulties.  Although a work of fiction, his story of a young black man wrongly convicted in Texas and executed in Huntsville is chilling.  It is reminiscent of scenes from Steven King’s novel, The Green Mile. 

 Last Tuesday, September 25, the state of Missouri executed Marcellus Williams even though the victim’s family and the jury that convicted him opposed the execution. The prosecutor’s office that convicted and sentenced him also admitted they were wrong. 

 The best-known person ever condemned and executed for crimes he did not commit was Jesus.  He was wrongly accused before the courts of his day and appeared before the Roman governor, Pilate, who, after yielding to social and political pressure, sentenced him to die.  He was then tortured and crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem according to Roman law.

 I still believe we have the best judicial system on earth.  But no system can rise above the people involved in it, including lawyers, judges, juries, officers and those called upon for testimony.  As believers who worship the One who suffered the world’s greatest injustice we need constantly to commit ourselves to truth, honesty, integrity and ethics that preserve the freedoms we hold so precious.

 Justice, of course, extends beyond the courtroom.  We establish or erode a just society every day by the way we live, by being truthful and honest in all our dealings.  My middle son once stood in line for more than half an hour to return a few dollars to a department store that the clerk had mistakenly given him in change.  When he finally reached the counter, the workers in the service department were dumbfounded.  No one had ever stood in line to return money.  Their system wasn’t set up to handle it. An older man standing in line behind him and watching, stopped him.  “Young man. If you ever need a job, you call me.”

 Every lie, every slander, every dishonest deed destroys a nation. Every truth, every encouragement, every honest action, builds up a people.  Deuteronomy 16: 20 says, “Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.”  Micah 6:8 states, “What does the Lord require of you?  To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

What Dogs Can Teach Us

 Over the years our family has included both cats and dogs that helped us raise our kids.   They became our companions. Our cats seemed willing to allow us the privilege of living with them.  Our dogs seemed grateful for the privilege of living with us. They taught us the difference between dog theology and cat theology.  

 It might sound strange, even sacrilegious to a few, but Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison have developed whole seminars and books around “cat and dog theology.” Simply put, cats say, “You feed me, shelter me and care for me.  I must be god.”  Dogs say, “You feed me, shelter me and care for me.  You must be god.”  If you have ever had a cat and a dog you know what I mean.  Cat theology is me-centered.  “What can God do for me?” Dog theology is God centered. “What does God want me to do?”

 A tri-color corgi named Buddy was a member of our family for 14 years until dog years caught up with him in 2022.  Here are a few things I learned from Buddy.

 I need to trust God.  Whenever I got in my truck he jumped in and took his place, ready to go.  He didn’t know where we were going or what we were going to do. But if I was driving it was okay. I always want to know where we are going, when we are going to get there and what we are going to do once we arrive.  I need to jump in the truck with God and give him control of my life.

 Buddy wanted to be with me.  He didn’t care if he was at the lake running, splashing and rolling in the mud, sitting in a chair next to me on the patio or in my study lying at my feet while I write.  He just wanted to be where I was.   I need to spend time with God.  What made the early disciples different was the fact they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

 Buddy followed me.  He even followed me from room to room in the house. Whenever we went for walks on an empty beach, I let him off his leash and he ran free.  But he kept an eye on me.  He developed a radius of his own, about thirty yards from wherever I was.  Within that radius he felt comfortable sniffing washed up driftwood and marking sand dunes.  When I called his name he came running. Not real fast, but as fast as he could. After all he was a Corgi.   He reminded me of what Jesus said to His disciples, “Come, follow me!”  “My sheep know my voice.” 

 Dog years are not people years and we had to lay Buddy down, but Buddy left behind his own book, Buddy the Floppy Ear Corgi, on Amazon that tells how he was rescued off the streets and how he learned to love himself and others just the way God made them. I wrote it “just the way he told it to me.”  Since God has rescued me, I can love myself and others too, just the way He made us.

God Is Bigger Than You Think

 We like to keep God in a box.  We use different labels. Some are religious: Hindu, Buddhist, Islam, Christian, Jew.    Some are denominational: Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Pentecostal, Non-Denominational.  Some are theological. Some are philosophical.  But God is bigger than we think.  God cannot be defined or contained in any box, religious, theological, philosophical, or physical.  God is bigger than any nation, any generation, any time, any galaxy or universe. God is greater.  

 We sometimes use our God boxes to decide who can be included and who must be excluded.  Do they believe what we believe?  Can they be included in our God box? Are they one of “us?” 

 God is always blowing up our boxes.  This is the reason He sent Jesus.  He is beyond theology and religion.  John writes of Him, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind.  And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it,” (John 1:1-4)

 Jesus continually blew up the God-boxes of His day. For this reason, He was taken to the Cross and crucified.  He had blown up the “God-box” of the Jewish authorities, and they would not stand for it.

 He continually did this with His own followers.  He did so when He stayed behind at the well in Samaria and conversed alone with a Samaritan woman, remaining two days and including the half-breed Samaritans in His Kingdom. 

 He did this when He responded to a Roman Centurian who sought help for his ailing servant. “Truly I have not seen so great faith in all of Israel.”  He did so when He touched and healed lepers and included tax collectors among His followers. He did so when he told the story of the Good Samaritan and redefined what it means to be “neighbor.”

 Whenever we encounter questions that we cannot answer or problems we cannot solve, we can always know that God is bigger than we think.  He is bigger than our own God-box. God is bigger than your biggest dream, greater than your greatest joy.

 The Bible gives us clues about God.  He is beyond time.  While our lifespan is approximately 78 years, He is eternal.  A thousand years in his sight is like yesterday to us, or like a single hour in the night. (Psalm 90).   He is not merely “omni.” Omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. He is personal.  His character is best revealed in the person of Jesus.  “He that has seen me,” Jesus said, “has seen the Father.”

Surprised by Oxford

 I have always loved to read. When I was a boy, I built a treehouse in the persimmon tree outside our kitchen window, a haphazard assembly of used boards that made a comfortable platform between the limbs where I sat concealed and shaded above the roofline of our house.  I spent hours in that tree reading. It was like a time machine, transporting me to distant places, past and future.  I still read constantly and enjoy a pretty wide spectrum.  I appreciate a good book.  

 A few weeks ago, a good friend, a retired physician, suggested a book he thought I should read.  On the strength of his recommendation, I downloaded a copy of Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Webber. Carolyn grew up in Canada.  Her mom raised her and her sister in a single parent home after her father’s alcoholism destroyed the marriage.  Her home life was poor, but Carolyn emerged as a particularly gifted and brilliant student.  Upon graduation she was awarded a full scholarship to study literature at Oxford University.

 She arrived in Oxford, a starry-eyed freshman with a healthy case of skeptic agnosticism. She says she grew up in a loosely European Catholic household.  The last thing she expected to discover in her studies at Oxford was faith.  She says of herself, “I had been so focused on the head that I did not see what was coming for the heart or, perhaps for all of me. … I had no real need for believing in men, God incarnate or otherwise.” 

 Years ago, my young nephew asked to meet with me.  He was in college and had chosen to study literature. He said he discovered that most great English literature makes constant references to Scripture.  He said he felt at a loss.  He had never studied the Bible and knew little about it.

 In the context of her literature studies at Oxford, Carolyn Webber began to read the Bible. She says, “I found it the most compelling piece of nonfiction I had ever read. … It unwinds and recasts the world and our perception of it: that the Holy Grail is more likely to be a wooden carpenter’s cup than the golden chalice of Kings.”

 In her book, Surprised by Oxford, Carolyn Webber articulately and honestly describes the journey that led her not only to MPhil and DPhil degrees at Oxford, but to a genuine discovery of abundant faith, a faith that other Oxford scholars have known, including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

 She wrote, “To be one person one moment, lost. Then to be another person the next moment, found. It is the difference, as they say, between night and day. Outwardly, I seemed the same, but inwardly everything had changed.”

  She went on to teach Romantic Literature at Seattle University.  She also taught at Westmont College, University of San Francisco and Oxford University.  She was the first female dean of St. Peter’s College, Oxford.

 Her book won the Grace Irwin Award , the largest award for Christian writing in Canada.  Surprised by  Oxford was made into a movie and released in theaters in September 2023.

Love Never Fails

 Five years ago, Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder.  She had returned to her apartment after a long day as a Dallas police officer to find what she thought was a intruder in her home. She drew her gun and fired, killing a young black man, 26-year-old Botham Jean.  But, it wasn’t her home. The apartment she entered was one floor directly above her own and the man she killed was her neighbor, at home eating a bowl of ice cream.

 Amber, who is white, was fired from the Dallas Police force.  It took a year for the trial to work its way through the courts.  The jury unanimously found Amber Guyger guilty of murder.  She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.  Many celebrated the fact that a police officer was held accountable for killing an unarmed and innocent young black man. 

 But the courtroom was stunned when the victim’s brother, Brandt Jean, asked permission to speak.  Nervously tugging at his collar, Brandt looked at Ms. Guyger and said, “I personally want the best for you. And, I wasn’t going to say this in front of my family or anyone, but I don’t even want you to go to jail.  I want the best for you. Because, that is exactly what Botham would want you to do.  And the best is to give your life to Christ.” He paused, wiped his eyes and spoke to the judge. “I don’t know if this is possible, but, can I give her a hug?” The judge consented.

 Brandt Jean met his brother’s killer in front of the judge’s bench.  He said to her, “If you are truly sorry, I know … I speak for myself, I forgive you. And I know if you go to God and ask him, He will forgive you.”  They embraced one another as they wept.

 The courtroom that a few minutes before was jubilant with vengeance fell silent except for the sound of people sobbing.  After the courtroom was cleared Guyger asked the judge, Tammy Kemp, if she thought God could forgive her.  Kemp told her, “Yes, God can forgive you and already has.” The judge then gave Guyger one of her personal Bibles.  None of this, of course, changes anything in terms of the verdict and the sentence that Amber Guyger is serving. But it changes everything in the matters of the heart. 

 Five years ago, in a Dallas courtroom the conversation changed from prejudice, vengeance, resentment and rage to acceptance, forgiveness and love. 

 Jesus said, “For if you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions”

 Jesus gave us the supreme example when he hung upon the Cross, lifted His eyes to heaven and prayed, "’Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34).

William Tinsley's Civil War Novel,  BOLD SPRINGS is FREE as an eBook on Amazon September 3-6. Click the image to the right. 

Significance of Labor Day

 Next weekend our nation will pause to observe Labor Day.  First proposed in 1882, it became a Federal Holiday in 1894 and has been celebrated on the first Monday of September ever since to honor labor and recognize the significance honest work adds to our lives.  We celebrate it with the scent and sound of sizzling steaks at the lake, rooting for our favorite football and baseball teams. And, of course, America’s favorite pastime, shopping. 

Labor has always been an important aspect of the Christian faith. Jesus grew up in a carpenter’s home and continued in the trade after Joseph’s death. Those who knew him in Nazareth referred to him as “the carpenter,” (Mark 6:3).  The Apostle Paul worked as a laborer mending tents in Corinth. He wrote to the Colossians, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve,” (Colossians 3:23-24). 

Our work can be the most effective means for improving the world and sharing the message of the risen Christ.  A few years ago I met Debra.  She went to Uzbekistan on a short-term mission assignment and decided to stay.  She started a tailoring business, enlisted two women to work for her, mentored them as followers of Christ and helped start a new church.  After two years, she gave the business to her co-workers and returned to the United States.  I asked her what her church thought about what she did. She said no one asked.

When I served as interim pastor in Nuremberg, Germany, I met Kim. She and her husband had moved to Nuremberg a year and a half before.  She said they were “firmly convinced that God was using my husband’s company to bring us over to be “believers on the ground in this country.  We are very involved in our German church, seeking to help them develop a strong gospel and cross-centered emphasis, to support and help in any way we can.”

I was reviewing my sermon notes prior to the church service in Nuremberg when Eddie Wong walked in.  I introduced myself and asked if this was his first time to the church. He said he had attended the Nuremberg church a couple years ago, before going to China.  He came to Germany and worked in a bakery to learn the trade, then moved to China where he worked in a bakery as a means to share the gospel with others.

Debra, Kim  and Eddie are examples of a multitude of believers from all over the world who are discovering that work is far more than a way to make a living.  It is the place where we demonstrate daily the character and presence of Christ and it can be the vehicle that enables us to share our faith anywhere in the world. Perhaps this Labor Day can serve as a reminder that our work can be far more effective in communicating the gospel than many church programs.  How we use our professions to honor God and to serve others can change the world.