Revelation on Personal Confession

 Our Roman Catholic friends have maintained a great tradition. They continue to provide opportunities for us to confess our sin to a priest in the privacy of a confessional booth. This is a great provision and comes from James 5: 16-17 which advises us to "...confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another... ."

Although James is one of my favorite books and though I have preached on the James 5 passage, it only recently occurred to me what a great verse this is, because it is a deterrent to sin. Yes, you read that right, it is a deterrent.

How so?

Think about it. Do you really want to have to tell another human about your sin? I sure don't. I have done it, and I don't like it at all. I haven't always confessed to another person, though I do confess to G^d. But the public nature of confession to a person makes a strong deterrent to me--and likely to you.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:9.

Let us think of the need to confess our sin, and let us live with purity, and with the knowledge that G^d indeed forgives.

We are forgiven! Praise the L^rd!

Answers to Some Objections to Christianity

 Being recently on 3 U of WI campuses has made me think again about some of the objections to Christianity among the higher intellects. We have been on the road listening to radio which made me think of an argument.

“If G^d is real, why don’t we ever see Him?” someone could ask.

Well, have you ever seen a radio wave?

No, probably not.

Yet do you deny the existence of radio waves?

“Yes, but I can hear radio waves with a radio.”

Well, on two occasions I heard personally from G^d. I know that’s not a lot of hearing, but there are lots of people in the world.

“Well, if there was a G^d He could simply MAKE me believe.”

Well, if you were god, would you make people believe in you even if they weren’t interested?

Can someone be forced to believe something?  Ever hear of Communism? Ever talk to anyone who lived under Communism? Were the Communists successful in forcing people to believe in their doctrine? Why was much of Communism torn down by its citizens?

‘Well I think I am just destined to NOT believe in G^d!”

Hmm, were you destined to believe in destiny of belief?

And, as you know, for a sufficiently committed agnostic, logic and reason are irrelevant. But I suggest sharing the gospel, and do it in few words, and leave the results to G^d. He alone is able to capture people’s hearts.

 

Ministry on the Road…Again

We began the month of November in Eau Claire, WI. We finished a terrific week of racial awareness studying slavery in the port of Charleston, SC where a high percentage of the slaves were brought in from Africa. It was both educational and heart-wrenching. We visited a museum where slaves were bought and sold and where sometimes families were broken apart in the trading. We also learned of heroic acts of slaves, freedmen, and whites in loving and serving their fellow man regardless of status. After studying the institution of slavery we concluded that, "The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil" (I Tim 6:9-10) and that greed can drive all of us to bad decisions (See Luke 18:23). Likewise we of the 21st century must be careful to avoid the love of money that comes so easily.

 From Charleston, we made the long drive to Eau Claire, WI, stopping in Champaign, IL and in La Crosse, WI to see friends. We really enjoyed the beauty of the whole drive as the trees were showing great color most of the drive up, and it was great to see our friends. 
     

In Eau Claire we served alongside our Cru Faculty Commons colleague who was also our host and arranger to speak to faculty and students at the Univ. of WI at Eau Claire, Stout and River Falls. I spoke on each of the campuses, giving 14 talks in various locations.
     

We feel that our best service to the Body of Christ in making these presentations to University groups.

Italian Memories

 We have been returned from Italy for almost a month as I write this (Nov 2021). Traveling anywhere is more stressful than when we were younger, but after a month, that is mostly forgotten.

 We loved the food and the architecture, the art, the food, but mostly the wonderful people we traveled with and met.

One of the people who really stood out to us was Prof N.A. of the Univ. of Florence. The Uni. Has over 50k students wich means they have a lot of profs. N.A. does not know a single Christian professor in the entire Univ. Without any fellowship, it is hard to minister and grow. She does, oddly enough, participate in a US profs group with our friend, Kasia in Ohio. We had a very long dinner with N.A. and some of group from USA. She is a delightful lady with a great testimony.

I have already written about Brandon and his wife and 3 very young children, and also about the Afghani Christians we met. I mentioned my delightful visit with Giosue’. But I haven’t said much about John and Marcia, and John and Vicki G. They were great traveling companions who accepted the challenges with grace. Our leader was Ceil W.  She made all the arrangements and along with her husband, Daryl, shepherded us around the country.

We also traveled w Julie C, who I called “Angelica”, Kathy R, and Lydia M. Lydia had lived in Firenze as an exchange student and got to recall some of her Italian haunts and memories. Haswell and Maria B. Haswell is the terrific translator I mentioned before and Maria is a native Italian who gave us a cooking lesson. Unfortunately it was no more effective on me than it was the last time I took one. Of course it’s always great to be with our old friend and Cru worker Baldwin.

We met so many terrific people including Fabio F who rented us our AirBnB when we first arrived in Roma. All the Agape Italia folks were fabioso also.

 It is a true BLESSING to know terrific people around the world.

A Nice Funeral

 As I write this (12 Nov 2021), Brenda and I are driving back from a funeral—well really a memorial service—for both parents of one of our friends (no I am not driving). We drove down yesterday because the trip was about 300 miles and the service was at 1030 this AM.

 The memorial service was for both parents. It was a Catholic mass, and one of the parishioners told us that this service was the first where she had seen the priest choked up. The two deceased had been his parishioners for over 40 years.

 I had not been in a Catholic Mass in many years, and the liturgy was very appealing. The sermon was good, the music (a men’s choir of average age 65 or so) was good and the eulogy was especially good. In all it was about a 90-min mass. Afterwards there was a reception in the Fellowship Hall where we could speak with all the family members. The Parish feed us very well, and this allowed us to chat with folks in a relaxed atmosphere, and the food was delicious.

 Christ was honored as were the two who had died. The whole memorial was well done. The deceased were honored and all were comforted. It’s hard to think of a funeral/memorial as “nice” but this one truly was.

 I hope my own funeral is nearly so nice. And that day is not too far off for any of us.

Joy of Public Speaking

I have heard on numerous occasions that public speaking ranks as the #1 fear of many people. Well I guess I am abnormal. Well, actually I know I am abnormal. I LOVE putting together some thoughts and speaking to any kind of audience. Just yesterday I spoke remotely to a group of Italian students. Last week I spoke 14 times in 5 days. And, I love these opportunities.

 I am old and have picked up a few ideas and stories over my lifetime. I very much enjoy sharing my ideas with others. My ultimate goal is to have an impact for Jesus the Christ. Fortunately most of my speaking opps are also opps to share the gospel, or at minimum, to encourage people to check out Jesus and the Holy Scriptures.

I think my catalog of talks is over 100 now. I feel sure some of these will never be given again, but likewise, some have been given a dozen or more times. I learn a little every time I speak, and very often I alter the talk I just gave.

 Fortunately, in my ministry I get some great opportunities to speak. My list of talks is so long because I want to maximize my opps. But, as I have said before, speaking is only worthwhile if lives are impacted for eternity.

L^rd make it so!

GBU Torino

 11 November at 2 PM I spoke to some students in and around Torino, IT via Streamyard (a platform similar to Zoom). We needed to be down near Tallahassee, FL that night, and that was over a 6-hour drive, plus loss of an hour moving into Eastern Standard Time.

What to do? A 3:30 PM departure, puts us in at 1030 EST. That’s too late for us to be on the road. These days we like to be off the road by about 8 PM.

I have a good, good friend in Montgomery who teaches at AUM. I asked Hank if I could use his computer access there to give my talk in Torino. He quickly assented, and our plans were set. Right after the Veterans service was ended at Tuscaloosa Christian School, we headed south.

We arrived at the AUM Wellness building about 1250, and none too soon. It took almost 45 minutes to get the computer set up functional. I dialed in at about 1:35 and already my key host, Lorens, was already there. Within the next few minutes the other joined us and we were able to discuss who would do what. We then prayed for the meeting and launched at 2:02, giving 2 min for students to log in. Mostly we had 60 students logged in, though some of these came and went. The talk was recorded, so it may be seen by untold numbers.

The talk seemed to go pretty well with several opportunities to give a word of encouragement with regard to following the Christ. This was followed with the Q&A, which gave still more opportunities to steer students, and at one point to give the 10-word gospel. One of the students asked how to clear her mind of all the stress, depression, etc. so she could study. I told the story of being invited to Oxford and asked to hep the students reduce the suicide rate there at the University. Another couple of questions led to answers dealing with the great value of “Knowing thyself” and even performing simple experiments to see what works for you and what doesn’t.

We ended at the 75-min mark and then the GBU folks stayed on wand we chatted for another 10 minutes or so. I felt good about the talk and the little bit of student feedback immediately available. But you never know.

I reminded my Christian colleagues that if ONE person’s eternal destiny was influenced for Christ, our time was well spent. Even if we loved it and thousands attended, if no one was influenced for the Christ, it was simply a fun time.

L^rd, do the work on souls that only You can do!

Veteran’s Day

Our daughter, Anna, invited us to the Veteran’s Day Celebration at the school where she teaches, Tuscaloosa Christian School. We were duly impressed. The service started with a few announcements and then some beautiful music from the school choir directed by our friend Ann M. They then went to the traditional Military Medley with each veteran standing when their military branch music was played. There was a good group of veterans from all the services except the Coast Guard.

After this, Katie D’s dad, who had 30 years in the US Army, and spent his latter years as a chaplain gave a very nice address. This was followed by an individual recognition of each veteran present where our name, final rank, branch of service and wartime service were announced. This was followed by taps, followed by a final prayer.

In the closing announcements, a veteran in the audience and made a super observation. He noted that the spouses of US servicemen also made major sacrifices for their families and their country. This is an excellent point and I wish I had thought of it.

Afterward we were gifted with a goodie bag, a big bottle of water with Isa. 40:30-31 on it, some delicious donuts and a nice commemorative coin.

In my view, this sort of action would be Scriptural and loving. I felt honored and loved.

Well done TCS.

 

Happy New Year!!

 Wow, it seems we were just celebrating New Year 2021. Now here we are at the beginning of 2022. It will be a big year for us, as we are now required to take RMDs from our retirement accounts. Plus we will turn another year older.

Each year offers 365 days (plus the leap year bonus) of opportunity. How will spend our days. My tendency is to spend them for my personal pleasure. I am always tempted to live in the here and now. I tend to think that this stuff we see is the real stuff. 2 Corinth 4:18, "as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." So, I have it backwards.

I hope that this year I will do better. I hope I will focus on what is unseen, that I will value that which is truly eternal. I plan to do so.

And, I am blessed. I am retired and work for a Christian organization. I try to engage myself frequently in the things of the spirit. I pray with others about 4 times each week, which really helps. Brenda and I pray often together. I volunteer to teach and preach so that I will be really engaged in Scriptures. But still I fail.

Dear L^rd, help me to be closer to you. Help me to invest in the eternal, not the temporal. Give me proper priorities.