“Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” – God to Adam, Genesis 3.19

Nothing like reading Job when Ash Wednesday comes around…

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath! (Job 7.6, 7, NKJV)

“My life is a breath.” We just saw that last week…

Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. (Psalm 39.5, NKJV)

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4.14, NKJV)

When May 4 rolls around, the Ewellogy has been known to pay tribute to Star Wars: May the 4th Be With You. But not until my friend John Ed Mathison posted a blog last year, had I ever thought about “the only calendar day that’s a command:”

March 4th!

March Forth! It’s not a bad word.

…but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, NKJV)

Sounds like March Forth to me! What’s the alternative?

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. Proverbs 24.30 – 34, ESV)

Let’s not be like that!

The righteous keep moving forward and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger. (Job 17:9, NLT)

Trick question: are there lies and untruths in the Bible? Of course, beginning with Satan in Genesis 3:

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. (Genesis 3.4, NKJV)

But there’s no bigger collection of falsehoods than we’ll find in Job. It’s part of Satan’s destructive strategy. He took not only Job’s wealth, health, and children, he sent three friends:

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. (Job 2.11 – 13, NKJV)

The next long section of the book consists of alternating discourse among Job and these “friends.” The problem is that these men are shot through with “Santa Claus Theology.” One time when I read Job I put a little “SCT” in the margin whenever I saw it. For example:

For you have said, “My doctrine is pure, And I am clean in your eyes.” But oh, that God would speak, And open His lips against you, That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves. (Zophar – Job 11.4 – 6, NKJV)

Iniquity? Remember that God himself said in chapters 1 and 2:

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1.8, NKJV)

Santa Claus Theology? “He’s making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice…” Good boys and girls get presents. Bad children get lumps of coal. To Job’s friends it was simple: “Good comes to good people; bad comes to bad people. You’re experiencing bad. Therefore, no matter what the appearance, you’re a bad person. Confess your sin!”

Very helpful.

Then Job answered and said: “I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul’s place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you… (Job 16.1 – 4, NKJV)

So as you read Job, keep an eye out for Santa Claus Theology. Just because a sentence is in the Bible, doesn’t make it true. It depends on the speaker!

If this looks familiar, I apologize. I accidentally posted this blog on February 23. Now is when it should be coming out.

No putting it off…here we go into everyone’s favorite Old Testament book: Job. No? I’m with you. It’s a tough read, especially the first two chapters when Job loses his wealth, his health, and his children despite:

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1.8, NKJV)

Blameless, upright, fears God, shuns evil. Wow. Then he shouldn’t have to suffer, right? Wrong. As Eugene Peterson puts it in his introduction:

It is not suffering as such that troubles us. It is undeserved suffering.

Almost all of us in our years of growing up have the experience of disobeying our parents and getting punished for it. When that discipline was connected with wrongdoing, it had a certain sense of justice to it: When we do wrong, we get punished.

One of the surprises as we get older, however, is that we come to see that there is no real correlation between the amount of wrong we commit and the amount of pain we experience. – from Introduction to Job in the Message Bible, emphasis mine

As I write, I’m coming out of a long “pause” between June’s fall on December 7, and my bout with an enlarged prostate beginning January 17. I read about Job, and I think, “I shouldn’t complain. Others have it way worse.” I said that to a pastor who had called to check on me, and he responded, “Yes, but that doesn’t help, does it?” He’s right.

So over the next weeks, we’ll catch some of what God wants to say to us through the story of Job, but I need to say one more thing before we start: do you know what Santa Claus Theology is? Stay tuned.

Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1.20, 21, NKJV)

Navigator colleague Denny Holbert has written a lovely article on his ministry, similar to mine, of helping pastors have an effective disciple-making ministry. I commend Pastoring Pastors: Cultivating a Culture of Disciplemaking in its entirety. For this blog, I just want to highlight his action steps:

Practical Steps for Pastors to Prioritize Disciplemaking

To help pastors make disciplemaking their church’s heartbeat, I guide them through these actionable steps:

1. Model It First – A disciplemaking culture starts with leadership. If pastors don’t intentionally disciple a few people, their churches won’t follow suit. I challenge them to invest deeply in a few, just as Jesus did.
2. Focus on Relationships Over Programs – Churches often mistake events for disciplemaking. I help pastors shift from running programs to fostering intentional relationships that lead to transformation.
3. Equip Others to Lead – Disciplemaking shouldn’t rest solely on the pastor’s shoulders. I encourage pastors to train and release leaders who will multiply the work.
4. Measure What Matters – Many churches track attendance and giving but fail to measure spiritual multiplication. I help pastors assess disciplemaking progress—who is growing, who is discipling others, and how the culture is shifting.
5. Make It Simple and Reproducible – Overcomplicating disciplemaking kills momentum. I work with pastors to create a process that’s clear, sustainable, and easy to replicate.

They’re all good, but I really like #4, “Measure what matters.” I wrote most recently about measurement on February 12, 2025: What Gets Measured Gets Managed. Denny suggests we count:

• Who is growing?
• Who is discipling others?
• How is the culture shifting?

The first two, especially, seem simple and doable. We should be able to identify folks who are growing, not just in increasing knowledge through Bible studies, but increasing in their discipleship skills. And then, those folks should be helping others do the same. I wrote about this recently in How To Help the Flock?

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.1, 2, NIV)

Just before 3:30 p.m., Oct. 15, 2023, 30 railcars of a coal train derailed near milepost 109, roughly 5 miles north of Pueblo along I-25. Six railcars dropped to the highway below, killing a truck driver and closing lanes of I-25 for days. – Colorado Springs Gazette, February 19, 2025

I wrote about this when it happened because my son Mark and I with my granddaughter Kesley had driven under that bridge just 25 hours earlier.

Why am I writing about the derailment today? Because they’ve discovered the cause:

Sixteen months after a fatal derailment of a coal-carrying train crossing above Interstate 25 north of Pueblo, the final investigative report about the crash has been released, pinpointing blame on a bad track weld done earlier that year…Last week’s report cited the probable cause of the derailment as a failed thermite weld, done less than five months earlier. The report indicates that two sections of track were offset by three-sixteenths of an inch, and that the ensuing gap wasn’t properly handled by the welder. (emphasis mine)

“…wasn’t properly handled by the welder.” Solutions involve more inspections and retraining of welders.

I’ll bet you haven’t given much thought to the folks who weld train tracks together. Me neither. Every job is important. Every worker is important. There’s no such thing as “just a welder.” This is the person responsible for the safety of trains and even road traffic under railroad bridges.

Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines… (Song of Songs 2.15, NKJV)

Jesus went on to make these comments: If you’re honest in small things, you’ll be honest in big things; If you’re a crook in small things, you’ll be a crook in big things. If you’re not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store? (Luke 16.10, 11, MSG)

Folks, thank you all for praying. The procedure couldn’t have gone better, everyone was very nice, and we were home by 2p.

Dr. Mancini said it was a VERY large prostate…”I haven’t seen one like that in a long time.” I’ll keep the catheter in until Monday, after which I hope to be OK and “out and about.”

But as of today, I declare myself officially “on the mend.”

Kudos to our oldest son, Mark, for spending the afternoon with us, walking the dog, picking up lunch and prescription meds.

I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40.1 – 3, NKJV)

Today’s the day, and I’m publishing early. Surgery to relieve my enlarged prostate is scheduled for today, Thursday, February 27, 10:30a, MST. Please pray for my friend and fellow believer Dr. John Mancini and his team. It’s an out-patient procedure. We report at 9:00a and can go home as soon as I recover from anesthesia.

We finished Book 1 of the Psalms yesterday with Psalm 41, which opens:

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Blessed is he who considers the poor; The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed. (Psalm 41.0 – 3, NKJV)

“The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness…”

Psalm 41 and Psalms, Book 1, ends:

But You, O LORD, be merciful to me, and raise me up, That I may repay them. By this I know that You are well pleased with me, Because my enemy does not triumph over me. As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And set me before Your face forever.

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen. (Psalm 41.10 – 13, NKJV)

As we progress through our reading program in the Wisdom (Poetry) section of the Old Testament, we’re nearing the end of Psalms, Book 1. We’ll start Job on Thursday. We’ve already observed there A LOT of prayers for deliverance.

Psalm 40 opens with praise:

I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40.1 – 3, NKJV)

As I await tomorrow’s surgery, I’m resonating with this.

Psalm 40 also contains a verse June and I claimed during the early days of our marriage (56+ years ago!):

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. (Psalm 40.5, NKJV)

And we have certainly found that verse to be true.

And even though the psalm opens with praise for deliverance, it closes with yet another prayer for deliverance:

Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me!…But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God. (Psalm 40.13, 17, NKJV)

There’s nothing like being sick to remind us of our frailty and mortality. June fell on December 7 and broke several small bones in her pelvis. Right after she turned the corner on January 15, my prostate decided to act up. I’ve been out of commission ever since, now awaiting surgery coming up in a few days.

Psalm 39 is clear. Life is temporary:

LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them. (Psalm 39.4 – 6, NKJV)

James agrees:

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4.14, NKJV)

As does Moses in Psalm 90:

For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90.9 – 12, NKJV)

As June and I approach 80, we’ve been keenly aware that our warranties ran out at age 70! I pointed this out to Pastor John who called to check on me recently, and he responded: “To be exchanged by a lifetime warranty.” Amen.