It is the little things upon which great truth rests.

         I heard a man on the radio today quote the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and then go off about how our Constitutional rights are being violated. The First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The man on the radio got pretty wound up about churches having to be closed and about Twitter and Facebook restricting what videos can be played and about protesters who are upset about lock down rules being harassed by the police. But, again, it is the little things upon which great truth rests. There are no Constitutional rights being violated. The first word of the First Amendment says “Congress.” Churches being closed and police breaking up protests are actions of state and local agencies. Congress has nothing to do with it. The federal government has given guidelines, but the states are doing what they see as necessary, which is what the framers of the Constitution had in mind. And, Twitter and Facebook are private companies and are not associated with Congress at all. To me, I do not agree with these restrictions, but to say they are unConstitutional is wrong.

         It is the little things upon which great truth rests.

         2 Timothy 3:16 says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: For me, that is enough. All Scripture is from God. I am not messing with it. When translation takes place from one language to another, the wording is readjusted a little to fit the grammatical make-up of the language the work being translated from to the language it is being translated too. In this case, a direct word for word translation from Greek to English of 2 Timothy 3:16 reads like this; Every Scripture is God breathed and profitable for instruction for conviction and for training in righteousness. (The root word in Greek for ‘inspire’ also means ‘breath,’ so saying ‘God Breathed’ is the same as saying inspired.) Means exactly the same in English as in Greek. However, in two very highly regarded English translations we have something different. Both the Revised Standard Version of the Bible and the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible say,  All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. But the footnote to that verse gives what they believe should be the proper translation, which is, Every scripture inspired by God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Most would say that there is no real difference, but in the actual Scripture it says all Scripture is inspired while in the footnote it can be read that only inspired Scripture is good, insinuating that some is not inspired. What parts are not inspired? Your choice, whatever you do not feel comfortable with. There is nothing in the Greek that allows for that translation, but it is there in the footnote.

         We tend to believe whatever we read or hear on the internet or the television or the radio. It only takes a little bit to research things or read a little deeper. It is very hard for a writer or a broadcaster to keep personal belief out of the equation. But the truth is out there. It is true in politics and it is true in theology and it is true in selling paper towels. We believe without knowing all the facts.

         Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, I was looking for a Bible college to attend. In that time people did not have computers in their homes. You had to get special magazines to look for colleges and then you had to send an inquiry letter to the school to get information. What you can now do in an evening took over a month back in the day because you were dealing with the Post Office. Anyway, one of the schools that responded to me was in Ontario, Canada. I took my pastor’s advice and turned to the section of their catalog that had their beliefs listed. This particular school had fifteen things you had to do to be saved! I was stunned. I burned that catalog in the backyard burning barrel. However, they backed up each point with Scripture. For someone unsure of their own selves or Scripture, they could have been drawn into falsehoods.

         Many of us have encountered people who believe that a person has to have faith to be saved, but we also need to be baptized. Mark 16:16 says, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And Acts 2:38 says, And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, this means we must be baptized to be saved, right? Yes, that is what it says. But, the Greek work ‘baptizo,’ from which we get ‘baptize,’ means to be overwhelmed, or totally immersed. We can be totally immersed in the Holy Spirit. We can be totally immersed in a good book. We can be totally immersed in love. You only know what the writer is talking about by the subject of the sentence. In Mark 16:16 the subject is ‘believe.’ We must be totally immersed in belief (which would bring repentance) to be saved. In Acts 2:38 we have to be totally immersed in our repentance (which requires belief) to be saved. It doesn’t require water to be immersed.

         Salvation is a gift. In Acts 16, when Paul and Silas are in jail, an earthquake comes and releases all the prisoners. The jailer rushes in and draws his sword to kill himself (because his bosses would do worse to him than just killing him) and Paul shouts out to not harm himself, all the prisoners were there. The jailer realizes his life is now in the hands of Paul and Silas, so he calls out, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ He was asking about physical salvation, but the answer was about Spiritual salvation. Paul and Silas answered, ‘Believe on the Lord and you will be saved, you and your household.’ (It seems to be a Biblical theme that when the husband/father comes to Christ, the rest of the family follows.) All the jailer had to do was believe on Christ. Believe that Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sin and rose up from the dead to ascend to heaven to prepare us a place.

         Do you know you are going to heaven at the end of this life? If you don’t, take a moment and ask the Lord to save your soul. Jesus said no one can go to the Father except they go through Him. You don’t have to clean up your life first. You don’t need to be baptized. You don’t need to join a church. Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

         It is the little things upon which great truth rests.

         Most people love normalcy. Whatever normal is in our lives, we like the feeling. When something out of the norm comes along, we back away. We are resistant. Someone will say, “Treat it like an adventure!” Truth is, we don’t care much for adventure. Give us the routine. Give us the normal. You do the adventure. Take some pictures. Get back to me on that one.

         That seems odd. Of all God’s creation, mankind is the most adaptable. Take an iguana from Miami and fly it to the Army base near Fairbanks, Alaska and release it on January 30 and it will freeze solid before it has taken a step. 40 below will do that. The human who brought the iguana will naturally modify his breathing, cinch up his coat and go get a coffee at the Post Exchange. Humanity can deal with just about anything. But that doesn’t mean we like it.

         This COVID-19 situation has caused life to be dramatically different. There has been one constant, though, that I have heard from a lot of people, myself included. “I CANNOT WAIT TO GET BACK TO NORMAL!” We can all identify with that feeling. However, for the last two weeks I have been hearing something else. “I wonder what the New Normal is going to be?” You cannot dress that up by calling it an ‘adventure.’ The New Normal is frightening.

         We have all experienced new normal. A baby is a new normal. Marriage is a new normal. Chronic illness is a new normal. Death of a loved one is a new normal. Moving is a new normal. There are many new normals in life. But we usually have some control or some say in that new normal. It may not be welcome, but we see it as necessary or inevitable. There is a new normal on the immediate horizon, though, and it is uncontrollable.

         I was asked last week, “What is the new normal going to be like?” Being who I am, I made a joke. “So long as there are Tootsie Rolls, we will be fine.” It wasn’t the time or the place for a joke, and the joke was not appreciated. This is serious business to people. In the ministry, I have become accustom to thinking in terms of new normals. Any Spiritual growth is new normal and I have always been about that in myself and in those around me. The new normal in this case, however, is not the same.

         What activity will be curtailed? Are we going to continue to be banned from hospitals and extended care facilities and restaurants? Am I going to be able to get my hair cut or talk to a cashier who is not wearing a mask? Will we be able to gather again for any reason? And, if the new normal is restrictive, will people resort to violence? That is not an idle question. People will allow their lives to be turned upside down only so much before they start to react in a negative way.

         So. New normal. What will it be? Will you be ready for it?

         Think about the disciples just two weeks away from Resurrection. That is where we are right now. They were trying to get used to Jesus being able to walk through closed doors. Daniel and many others were carried away to captivity and had a new normal. Noah and his family went from one kind of climate to another in a relatively short while. So many in the Bible had to change constantly. What enabled them to do so was not their adaptability, but their Spirituality. When you lead your life for Him, the rest will fall into place.

         Don’t let the new normal get you down. It will only be new for a while. Education will change. Church will change. Entertainment will change. Priorities will change. But the Lord never changes. He will never leave you nor will He ever forsake you.

Trust and Obey

When we walk with the Lord

In the light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way
While we do His good will, He abides with us still

And with all who will trust and obey

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies
But His smile quickly drives it away
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear
Can abide while we trust and obey

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet

Or we'll walk by His side in the way

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go

Never fear, only trust and obey

         Mary Magdalene is a perfect example.

Mary Magdalene was a prostitute from whom Jesus cast out seven demons, as mentioned in Luke 8. She was the sister of Lazarus and Martha. She was in love with Jesus and may have actually been married to Him. Quite the woman, Mary Magdalene.

Of course, these legends are not true. She did have seven demons cast out, but there is nothing in the Bible about her being a prostitute. There is nothing in Scripture that suggests this Mary was the Mary who was the sister of Lazarus and Martha. The attachment to her name of Magdalene indicates where she was from, that being the town of Magdala, which is over 90 miles from the town of Lazarus and Martha, so she could not have been their sister. Scripture does not say that she loved Jesus in a romantic way and it certainly does not say that they were married. (There is a family in France who claims to be the last living descendants of Mary and Jesus. The local Catholic church accepts this claim.) So, how did this woman from a small lake side town come to be an example of a sinful character turned to be the recipient of wonderful redemption and chosen to be one of the women at the tomb?

I have no idea. I know that she is mentioned thirteen times in the New Testament, all in the four Gospels. According to Mark and John, she was the first to whom Jesus appeared after Resurrection. There were seven women in the New Testament named Mary, most designated by who their children were (as in Mary, the mother of James) and Mary Magdalene was designated by her town of origin. Both practices were very common in the New Testament. By the way, the name ‘Mary’ means ‘rebellion’ and was given to many girls as a hope that one day the people would rise up in rebellion against Rome. That aside, Mary Magdalene is a very special person in the New Testament because she had the courage to be there and to take an active role in the death, burial and Resurrection of Jesus. But she was not the person she is painted to be by the Catholic church and some Protestant churches.

The only thing I can figure is that man seems to have a need to make everything much more dramatic than the truth. The Bible doesn’t say that Pilate washed his hands dozens of times a day out of guilt until he died, but we are taught that he did. The Bible does not tell us that Peter was the first Pope, but we are taught that he was the first Pope. Historically, we are told that Napoleon was such a good general because he was making up for being short, but in fact, he was of normal height for the time. We do like our sensationalism and drama.

 Right now as I look at the on-line headlines I see that a new poll says that those who have defied the social distancing guidelines were also those who voted for Trump in 2016. The ones who obey are the ones who voted for Clinton. I see that computer models (which have yet to be right about anything) are saying that May 26 is the earliest that it will be safe to reopen around the country. I see that the plunge in oil costs is going to wreck the stock market. I see bad news on top of bad news. Now that deaths seem to be leveling out there is not as much news about the deaths. And, of course, nothing about recoveries. All that is important is the news that is depressing and gloomy and bad and sometimes spectacularly bad. You have to dig to find good news.

But there is good news, if you really look. The fabled curve is flattening. It appears tens of thousands of people had the virus and never knew it because they didn’t have symptoms, but now they have antibodies in their blood. And Spring is here in all its beauty! Yes, things are different this year, but the farmers are ready to hit the fields. So many things have been canceled, but families are drawing closer. Entertainments are gone, but people are making their own entertainments. There is a new appreciation for teachers. Folks are seeing a new breed of superhero emerge; the healthcare workers.

And the best news is this; we have given it all over to the Lord. We have been told in Scripture that there would be periods of time like this, times of disease and famine and war. But it is all in His hands. We all have a ministry right now. Actually, it is the same ministry we have always had, but now it seems much more urgent. Our ministry is to walk with the Lord. We are to show the way to Christ. We are to break out of the mold the world is mired in and create something new.

I talked to Doris Mattern this week. She told me of sitting on her deck and one of the neighborhood ladies walked up and they started to talk. More than six feet separated them, but they were able to visit. Then another lady walked up. Then another and then another. Five ladies visiting, following social distancing. These things do not have to stop us from being good and kind and loving people. Christ can use any situation.

Don’t let what other people say define your situation. People say that Mary Magdalene was a harlot, a gold digger, someone who had no faith. But actually, she was a Godly woman determined to do the best she could do for Jesus. And today she walks with Him.

 Please folks, just because people say things, don’t turn from Jesus. Give it all to Him.

         The root of the problem, I think, is that there is a lack of understanding. And that lack of understanding is, well, understandable.

         I don’t know if there is any single industry in this country that is more pervasive than the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry covers music, film, television, plays, musicals, sports of all kinds, basically anything that can turn our minds, however briefly, from reality. To shut down entertainment, even for a short while, would be unthinkable. Yet, in the interest of preserving one’s own life and the lives of their loved ones, people are not squawking too loudly about it. The hot new movie is forgotten. The big games, while lamented, are just canceled. Television becomes a sea of reruns. People are posting things on Facebook and You Tube that they never would have thought of posting just two months ago, but now they are bored just enough to put the family cat on the web. Board games are being dusted off, families are talking, phones are ringing. People are finding out that entertainment can be had within their own homes and with their own families. Big entertainment is canceled, yet still the world goes on.

         Work. We hear a lot about people who play the system and who get through life without breaking much of a sweat. But there are millions and millions of people who get up and do whatever it is they have to do to get ready, then go to their jobs. Shutting anything down for very long would make people crazy. Yet, again, in the interest of preserving one’s own life and the lives of their loved ones, people are accepting restricted work situations. Some have had hours cut. Some are working from home. Some are laid off. Some have just lost their jobs. Some are working because their jobs are essential, but they do so with fear. It is getting to where folks are suffering economically, but they will hang in as long as they can. Even my son, the picture of a workaholic, is now off for fourteen days and he is philosophical about it. It is a little hard for me to grasp that he is sitting at home and doing……nothing? But people have accepted a different work situation.   

         Then there is travel. Travel is way down. Airline companies are struggling with massive layoffs. Amtrak, which has always had problems, is really suffering now. Even getting into a car or truck and going to see Aunt Matilda can be problematic in some parts of the country. And this coincides with the fact that fuel prices are lower than they have been in decades. The roads and the air should be packed, but people are being advised against it and most folks are taking that advice.

         So, with all the restrictions and all the cutbacks and all the hardships that have swept the country, and the way the American people have accepted it, you can hardly be surprised that authorities around the US are flummoxed about the fact that there is a subset of people who really want to go to church, even at the risk of infection.

         Indiana’s governor, Eric Holcomb, understands the situation. When he put out the travel restrictions, he encouraged churches to post their services online, either through recording or by live stream. However, the governors of Michigan and Kentucky, and numerous other states, are baffled by the desire to be at worship. They can hardly be blamed for reasoning that if people can give up pro and college sports and horse racing and work and travel, they can surely give up church. Most people don’t attend church regularly anyway. Church was the least of their problems.

         What they didn’t realize, probably because they themselves are unfamiliar with the Christian life, is that to a Christian who is walking with the Lord, being in church is one of the really important things in life. Not because it is fun, although it can be, and not because it is required. But for a Christian who is in sync with the Lord there is an urgency, a drive to be with other Christians for the gathered worship experience. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. We are supposed to come together. For a Christian who is walking the path, nothing else is quite like coming to the gathering.

         I am not saying we should abandon all restraint and flock back to the church. I think we have to realize that there are things that need to be done right now. We are not being banned from worship for life or any such thing. What I am saying is that there should be within us the desire to gather. We will, too, and fairly soon. But some of you can hardly wait to be back, while some are OK doing as it is at the moment. However, it does my soul good to hear folks say they are really looking forward to being back in church.

         It is completely amazing. When I started in the ministry there were very few television ministries. If you wanted to reach a wide audience you made yourself a radio program. Once a week. Cost depended on the time you were on the air and how many minutes your program ran. If you were going to have fifteen minutes on a Sunday morning between the hours of 7 AM and noon, you were going to pay a lot of money. Of course, that depended on the radio station. Some stations could barely be heard a mile away. Those were fairly cheap. Some stations could be heard in ten states. That was expensive. If you ran a broadcast on a small station at 2 AM on Tuesday morning, you could do it fairly reasonably. Of course, maybe six people would hear you. Here, though, we have our own web page. That was already in place. The per year cost of the page is very small. It was on the heart of a couple of people in the church to put a video of the weekly message on the page and they donated the equipment to do so. We have a small number of people who are willing to do the work to produce a weekly program that, right now, takes about an hour. Our cost is next to nothing and we have world wide access. Someone might say that only our locals will listen. But get this; Mary and I write blogs that are also on the webpage. I don’t think Mary’s blog is set up to record readers in various countries. But my blog has been read in 79 countries. How can that be for a little blog written in a little bump in the road in Indiana? There are millions of people who are hungry for the Word of God! And they are searching. We can track how many are watching our videos each week. So far, since we posted on Sunday, 897 people have accessed the web page and 438 people have accessed our worship video. God is so good.

         When we do come back, we will still post a video each week. It will just be out by Tuesday at noon rather than on Sunday morning. But no matter how good that is, it will never replace the joy of being in the same room at the same time and greeting each other.

         Our web site is urbanayokeparish.com When you get there you will see the menu bar at the top of the page. That will direct you where to go. So, until we can gather together as our heart’s desire causes us to crave, we will touch base there.

         Blessings.

         It was a pretty big funeral. Large enough that I was nervous. The owner of the funeral home was the funeral director that day, but I was the person who was tasked with making all the little details work together. It was May, 2008. I was dealing with some pain and not in the best of moods. As far as anyone could tell, I was my normal self. But I knew better. I didn’t want to get irritated because, as David Banner would say just before turning into the Hulk, “You wouldn’t like me angry!”

         The day before our maintenance man ran into an issue where he needed some help. He needed to move something heavy. He asked me if I could help him for about five minutes. I did so and managed to wrench my back. I also came away with a pain in the middle of my chest. In the middle of the night I was called and needed to go to a home and help pick someone up who had just died. This did neither my back nor my chest any favors. So, the funeral was not a welcomed thing.

         But it was what I did during that phase of my life. It was a wonderful time to minister and work with people in a dark place in their lives. That day went off without a hitch, so it was good.

         When I got back to the funeral home from the cemetery, I went to the owner’s office. “Trevor, I need to go home. When I helped Joe yesterday I hurt my back and I think I pulled a muscle in my chest.” Trevor was just a few years older than my son and really pretty young to be in his position. His father, the former owner, was helping him with the transition. But his Dad had been off for a few days because of a slight heart attack. Trevor leaped to his feet so fast it startled me.

         “Your chest is hurting?” “Well, yeah, I think I pulled a muscle and…” “Sit down, right there! I’m calling an ambulance.” It registered to me then that Trevor’s father’s close call had weighed heavier on Trevor than I had realized. And, Trevor’s Dad was just a few years older than me. Of course he would think I was having a heart attack.

         “Whoa, whoa, Trevor. It is just a pulled muscle, man! I just need to go home and relax a bit! Really, it’s OK.” “No way! You aren’t going to have a heart attack on me, too!” So we had a little argument that drew the attention of several others, each telling me I needed to go to the hospital. Finally, I got Trevor to agree to letting me go home so long as I promised to have Marsha take me to the ER. I figured I would walk into the house and tell Marsha that my back was hurting and then sack out on the recliner for the afternoon. But no. Trevor took me home, explained to Marsha what was going on and made her promise to take me in. After Trevor left, I laughed and told her I was going to sack out. She informed me that we were going to the hospital or she was going to call Trevor and let him call that ambulance. So, we went to the hospital.

         In October 2016, I had a chest pain while walking in downtown Wabash. In April 2017 I had my surgery. During the interim I had a series of tests to determine if I needed surgery. On that day in May of 2008, I had all those tests in about two and a half hours. The end result was that my heart was fine and I had pulled a muscle in my chest. But the doctor was worried about my back. I explained that I had chronic back problems, but he said no one needs to have pain. I had an MRI, which the doctor didn’t like, so he decided I needed a draw of my spinal fluid to see if there was blood in the fluid. Now, Brothers and Sisters and all you little boys and girls, let me tell you; during that I learned what the definition of pain really was. Yes, sir! I can now tell you what it is like to see pure white while some idiot says, “This is going to pinch a bit.” Oh, yeah!

         Finally, it was over. (For the record, I had a muscle pull in my chest and a muscle spasm in my back. If I had just been allowed to sack out in my recliner….. But I am not bitter.) I had never before, nor have I since, had pain enough to cause tears to run down my face. The nurse was about 20. She said, speaking loudly so the elderly could hear, “Sir, I can give you something for pain. Would you like that?” In my mind I am thinking, ‘Last night I picked up a dead person. I CAN ARRANGE IT SO YOU ARE MY NEXT PICK UP!!!” But all I said was, “Yes, please, that would be great.” She came back pretty quickly with a pill in a little cup and another little cup with water. I swallowed the pill and laid back, waiting for the pill to ease the pain.

         In just a few minutes I began to feel strange. Not better at all, just weirder than I had ever felt. It clicked in my head that this wasn’t right. I took a deep breath and bellowed “NURSE!”

         When I opened my eyes I was in a completely different room. A room with all sorts of monitors that beeped and buzzed, with red lights and green lights. I was in a bed and I was wearing a hospital gown. I had a headache and my hand went to my head. As it did I brushed my cheek. I was surprised to feel some serious whiskers. What? Where? Then I remembered why I was in the hospital. I’VE HAD HEART SURGERY! But the only tape I could find on me was the tape holding in the IVs. And then I realized that I had my funeral home cell phone in my right hand. That made no sense. (I was told later that I wouldn’t give it up in ER, which I remembered. I always considered myself on call. Seriously. They told me after I passed out my hand was so clenched around the phone that they finally decided to let me keep it.) There was a window, sort of, in the room and it was dark outside. I had been here a while. I thought about Marsha probably worried. I needed to call her and let her know I was OK. I turned the phone on and was shocked to see that it was 2 AM and I had been in there for three days. I hit the speed dial, got no answer and so, figuring she was asleep, I left a message. “Babe, just calling to let you know I am OK. I don’t know what happened, but I’m here in bed and I am thinking of you. Love you, Babe.” And that was all I could do. My battery was dead. And I fell right back asleep.

         In a few hours I scared the cleaning woman half to death when I said ‘good morning.’ She rushed out and in about thirty seconds a doctor and a nurse rushed in. It turned out that the ER nurse had given me the wrong medication. They actually didn’t know if I would live. They called Marsha at home and in a little bit, she and our son came in. All was going to be OK. Another day of observation and I could go home.

         That afternoon, the hearse driver from the funeral home, Jimmy Trisket, and his wife came in. I had only met the wife once before, but Jimmy was good people. Right now, Jimmy’s wife looked stern and a little angry and Jimmy looked sheepish. “Hey! What’s up to the Triskits!?” Mrs. Triskit pulled out a cell phone, punched in some numbers, turned the speaker on and I heard this coming out of Jimmy’s cell phone, “Babe, just calling to let you know I am OK. I don’t know what happened, but I’m here in bed and I am thinking of you. Love you, Babe.” I had called Jimmy’s cell at 2 AM thinking I was calling Marsha. “Pastor (everyone called me ‘pastor’ there), please tell Betty there’s nothing going on between you and me!”

         What prompted this recollection was the fact that Steve Runkel’s uncle had surgery today. When he went into surgery, he had no family there and when he woke up, there was no family. Family is not allowed right now. I remembered waking up in that hospital room, disoriented and unaware of what had happened, and it was frightening until I was able to order my thoughts. Among all the other things this virus has taken away from us, it has also seemingly taken away our humanity. Remember those who are so terribly isolated. It is a lonely and scary feeling.

         Blessings.