TODAY

             January First is the beginning of a new year. We celebrated it as such when we watched the ball drop, or the Moon Pie (Mobile) or whatever else was dropped to count off the remaining seconds of the old year. Back in the 1950’s Charles Dederich, a recovering alcoholic who founded the Synanon organization for alcoholics and drug addicts, coined the saying “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” The truth of that sentiment is obvious. Therefore each day is a “new year.”

            No matter what has come before, good or bad, today you have a new beginning. If there is anything you want to change about your life, your habits, your spirituality, etc. there is no better time to begin than today, because today is the first day of the rest of your life.

            Not only is today the first day of the rest of your life, it is also a good day. We agree with the Psalmist, “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) Now you may have troubles or challenges in this day, but it is still the day the Lord has made and He can make it a good day. In Him we have the victory.

            “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”            (1 Corinthians 15:57) 

Grace and peace.

AMBROSIA

             Families have different traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas. Certain foods are always on the menu for Christmas. Like at Thanksgiving, many families also cook a turkey for the Christmas season. In Liz’s family their traditional dish was boiled custard. In our family the traditional dish is ambrosia. Ambrosia, in Greek mythology, is the food of the gods and Nectar is the drink of the gods. Their food and drink was believed to give the Gods immortality.

 Our dish called ambrosia is so named because it is so delicious it is worthy of the name. There are dozens of dishes called ambrosia, but for our family there is only one ambrosia. When I was a child and a youth the ambrosia was made each year by my bachelor uncle, Roy Tom. When Roy got to the place he could no longer get it together, I took up the mantle of ambrosia maker using the same ingredients my uncle used: sectioned oranges, crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries and coconut, sweetened to taste. So each Christmas season I find myself at the kitchen sink peeling dozens of oranges and mixing them with the other ingredients. I then take a portion of ambrosia to each family gathering. 

            I don’t claim my ambrosia confers immortality no matter how good it is. There is food, however, which does give you immortality. Jesus said, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you,…” (John 6:27) 

Grace and peace.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

            Thank each of you for the cards and other communications wishing me and my family a Merry Christmas. We stopped sending Christmas Cards some years ago. Serving several churches with many members, it became impossible to include everyone. 

            Author Richard Armour wrote, “You cannot reach perfection though you try however hard to, there’s always one more friend or so you should have sent a card to.” Over 150 years ago Sir Henry Cole, founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, had so many Christmas greetings to send that hand writing them was impossible. So in 1843 he commissioned a painter to paint a card wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. He could then send copies of the card to all he needed to contact. So the first Christmas card was born in England. For more than 30 years Americans had to import Christmas Cards from there. Today, in our country, Christmas cards have grown into a six billion annual business.

            Christmas cards have thus far resisted the paperless revolution of email. An email or text message doesn’t seem to have the same significance as a hard copy card.  But please allow me to use this blog to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And this greeting is quite sincere as I think of you individually.  “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” (Philippians 1:3) 

Grace and peace.

REMEMBER ME

             I don’t have Alzheimer’s disease. Nor do I have dementia. I probably share some signs of senior memory loss by not severe. My greatest memory challenge is with the computer. I wrote last about a computer virus. This memory challenge has to do with “user name” and “password.” I can’t remember them. I use less than a half dozen of each. But I have a hard time remembering which goes with which account. I handle the problem by keeping a little book in my desk with all my accounts and their user name and password. If my first or second try to log into an account fails, I look it up in the book. A few I log into often I do remember.

               I find it is true with other things also. If I don’t write down a name after being introduced, I won’t remember it. Anything I want to remember, I know I need to write it down. 

              God, of course, can remember everything, except He has or will forget our sins. “For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) God will not forget us, but I am so glad that the Lord’s has me written in the “lamb’s book of life.” In his vision of heaven the Apostle John says he saw no one who was not written there. “But there shall by no means enter (heaven)…only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Revelation 21:27)           

   Grace and peace.

FORGIVING HACKERS

            I’m sure it has happened to millions of others but you do not pay attention until it happens to you. One afternoon a few weeks ago a virus invaded my computer. I have no idea how it gained access,(I have Norton security and Webroot)but it succeeded in encrypting every one of my saved documents. There was a link which supposedly would allow you to reverse the encryption. I was unable to get the link to work. I have a contract with the Geek Squad, so I took the computer in to the local Best Buy.  They were able to remove the virus and a couple of more but were unable to reverse the encryptions. As a result I lost all my document files. To make it worse the thumb drive I was using for a backup was plugged in at the time and I lost my backup files also. So I lost all my documents. Gratefully my email accounts were OK.

            Thus far the breech in the computer has not been used to gain access into any of our financial accounts. I‘ve kept a close eye on them. It seems the virus is just a malicious plaything for some deranged hacker. Of course I do not know this hacker, or his/her motive. But I am obliged to forgive him his trespass. In teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus gave them a model prayer. In that prayer He petitions “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) Most interpret this to mean that we be forgiven in the same way or to the same extent that we forgive others. This is sufficient motivation for us to forgive others. So I forgive the hacker. Please don’t do it again. 

Grace and peace.

ELECTION OVER

            Hurray! The election is over for now. I grew so weary of the political ads. It seemed that ninety five percent of them were negative and personally attacked an opponent. We are told by political analysts that negative ads are more successful than positive ads. I wish it were not so. Positive or negative I grew so tired of these ads that on Wednesday week ago I felt I was released from prison. If you wanted to watch any television offerings in the weeks leading up to Election Day, you were compelled to also watch the ads. I am so glad the election is over for this cycle.

            I trust you exercised your right to vote.  Some say that if you didn’t bother to vote you don’t have the right to complain. The truth is it doesn’t do any good to complain. No matter what you think of the election’s results, those elected are now in charge of our government and deserve our support and prayers. Surveys indicate most citizens are frustrated with the government. The best thing we can do is pray for our leaders, collectively and individually. They need the Holy Spirit to direct them in their decisions. We need the Spirit to protect us from unwise actions of those in power. And prayer is not a wasted effort. We are told in James 5:16 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  I believe that! As I pray I know I have real input into the political process. 

Grace and peace.

I AM MALALA

             I just read a new book by the name “I Am Malala.” It is written by a Pakistani teenager, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot on her school bus by a member of the Taliban. Then just this week Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize, who at seventeen years of age, is the youngest person to ever receive a Nobel Prize. She was targeted for death by the Taliban because as a twelve, thirteen and fourteen year old she had become a widely known advocate and speaker for girls to go to school. The Taliban doesn’t think girls should be educated, or work outside the home. They are to stay in the house and when they do go outside they are to wear a burka (a full body covering with a slit for the eyes) and be accompanied by a male family member.

            The book is an inspiring story of this young girl and her courage. But I also recommend you read the book for a close look at the Taliban and the society they wish to create. Some of what they believe does have roots in Muslim teaching. But, like Christians, there are those who are moderates, liberals, conservatives and radical conservatives. But it isn’t the radical teaching of the Taliban which causes concern, it is their intent to kill anyone who does not agree with them, such as the girl Malala. Also, where they have power they kill anyone who will not convert to the Moslem faith. In this book one can glimpse the stupidity of their beliefs and their utter cruelty. My prayer is that God will save the Pakistanis and all other peoples from such a group as this.

            Knowing the Taliban and what they want for us and everyone else, I recognize them as our enemies. And I remember the instruction of Jesus, “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) With the Taliban, that will be hard to do. 

Grace and peace.