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“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16: 33) Jesus spoke these words to His disciples just before His betrayal, arrest and eventual crucifixion. He  prefaced them with the explanatory remark, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.” (John 16:33) His words are both a reminder and a source of comfort for us in this millennia when we are bombarded daily with print headlines and electronic news scrolls that alert us to the latest “troubles of the world.” Separation of immigrant children from their parents and their placement in detention camps. (Why did I think of Germany of the 1930’s and 40’s?)  Foreign influences in our democratic processes  such that  we have doubts about the legitimacy of the results of the  last presidential election. Cultural divisiveness based upon racism and bigotry running amok. Dr. King’s idealistic dream that his children would one day be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin squashed. Surely  the words of  James Russel Lowell written in 1844 as the crisis of slavery confronted the nation are applicable now: “Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, – Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown, standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.” Now as then we feel the troubles we face are almost beyond our ability to alter or correct. Yet, Jesus prepared us as He did the believers over 2000 years ago for such a time as this. The inevitability of “trouble” is part and parcel of human existence. It is always with us. As believers we must not lose hope, but instead find our peace in the Savior’s victory over the world’s evil by His resurrection.  Because He lives, we can do all in our power to resist the evil of our time imbued with the peace He gives us even in midst of the troubles we face.

Love. Joy. Peace.

One of the dangers of citing holy scripture to justify questionable practices is forgetting or not knowing that  there are contradictions and varying interpretations within the Bible. And if you aren’t prayerfully careful, the merit of the  scripture you reference to support a position can be  refuted by another. That was my reaction to the attorney general’s quoting of Romans 13 to justify the government’s decision to separate immigrant children from their parents who were in the country illegally. The passage written by the Apostle Paul during the reign of Emperor Nero suggests that irrespective of the morals and actions of the heads of government, believers are to submit to government authority. The attorney general justified the incarceration of more than a thousand children in a warehouse environment to await the rulings regarding their parents. In his opinion and with this action, he and those carrying out this outrage against children were simply obeying the law.

Now I  don’t argue that after Jesus himself, Paul is perhaps one of the greatest influencers of the Christian faith. His writings account for the bulk of the New Testament. But whenever I read anything from his many epistles that give me pause – as do his words in the beginning of the aforementioned passage – I turn to the author of our faith for clarity. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus speaks to those He calls the “greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Children. Not government authorities. Not presidents or attorney generals. Children,  who He declares,  set the standard for who enters God’s kingdom. And further He states, children are not to be subjected to anything that might cause them harm or lead them to sin. They are not to be looked down upon or treated unjustly. The contemporary gauge for Christian behavior is always the answer to the universal question, “What would Jesus do?” We don’t have to be biblical scholars to know that He would not do what the government is currently doing with these children. He would know that such forced separations and caged holding environments are emotionally, mentally and spiritually harmful to them.

I suggest the attorney general and all other government officials who claim biblical authority for this egregious treatment of children, consider Jesus’ words regarding children in Matthew, chapter 19: “the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  And I further suggest that they read carefully His words in chapter 23 when He discredits the argument that they must obey and do whatever  the teachers of the law and the Pharisees say they must. Jesus declares, “But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”  In other words, we do not go blindly along with government decisions that contradict what Jesus taught simply because someone uses scripture to justify their wrongdoing. Mr. Attorney general, this decision flies in the face of the Christian faith. Jesus is not smiling.

Official blogging begins. A day seldom passes when during my devotional time, a thought registers that prompts written expression.  It is these musings that will fill this space and which I offer for your reaction. Our purpose? Engagement in the practice of our faith via this website to encourage, inspire, convict and ultimately share this journey to eternity.

Today’s opening line in one of my devotional staples, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, was surely written for me.   “I am creating something new in you: a bubbling spring of joy that spills over into others’ lives.” My sister-friend echoed just that sentiment yesterday as we marveled at what the Lord is orchestrating  in this season.  My third book is in production with a traditional publishing house and now this website up and running, if not perfectly, well enough for me to employ it as a vehicle to share the good news of the gospel   through the medium of the written word. And believe me, there is joy, joy in my soul. It is joy born of the ashes of situations beyond my control; of the struggles of loved ones; of the conditions of the nation in which I live that contradict our moniker, “Christian nation.” How, you ask, can such realities produce joy? Because the kind of joy I possess has nothing to do with the material, with what’s in my bank account, with where I live or what kind of car I drive or what secular affiliations I claim. No, the joy that fills my soul is joy only Jesus gives because it flows from the peace He blankets me in each day. Because I am at peace, I am open to His creation of this new season of word craft, spilling over into the lives of others as they read and discuss my writings.

Love. Joy, Peace.