One thing to appreciate about the Bible in general and the psalms in particular is that we need not pretend that all is well when it’s not. Psalms 38 and 39 describe such a period in the life of David. Here are some highlights.

O Lord, don’t punish me while you are angry! Your arrows have struck deep; your blows are crushing me. Because of your anger, my body is sick, my health is broken beneath my sins. They are like a flood, higher than my head; they are a burden too heavy to bear…Meanwhile my enemies are trying to kill me. They plot my ruin and spend all their waking hours planning treachery. (Psalm 38.1 – 4…12, TLB)

Psalm 38 ends with a prayer. What else can he do?

Don’t leave me, Lord; don’t go away! (Psalm 38.21, TLB)

The problems continue into Psalm 39, written to be performed by Jeduthun, whom we met yesterday.

“To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.”

I said to myself, I’m going to quit complaining! I’ll keep quiet, especially when the ungodly are around me. (Psalm 39.1, TLB)

Then a perspective on the brevity of life:

Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. And so, Lord, my only hope is in you. (Psalm 39.4 – 7, TLB)

And he ends, again, with a prayer:

Save me from being overpowered by my sins, for even fools will mock me then…Lord, don’t hit me anymore—I am exhausted beneath your hand…Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry! Don’t sit back, unmindful of my tears. For I am your guest. I am a traveler passing through the earth, as all my fathers were. Spare me, Lord! Let me recover and be filled with happiness again before my death. (Psalm 39.8, 10, 12, 13, TLB)

Deliverance seems to come in Psalm 40. Stay tuned. In the meantime, life was tough for the Apostle Paul, also:

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11.23 – 27, ESV)

A shout-out to those who are persisting in our reading through the Historical Books of the Old Testament… 1 Chronicles is tough going, opening with nine chapters of genealogy and closing with several chapters of how David’s kingdom was organized.

I’m pleased to say that an entire chapter is devoted to the musicians, of which I am one (see bobplayspiano.com). Here’s a sample:

David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals…the sons of Jeduthun…who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the LORD…the sons of Heman…the king’s seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the LORD, all who were skillful, was 288. (1 Chronicles 25.1 – 7, ESV)

Trained singers and instrumentalists: cymbals, harps, and lyres. “All who were skillful…” 

Sacred music has a long and storied tradition! I know there are a few church traditions who do not use instruments in their worship services. While I admire the quality of their a capella singing, scripture seems to support the idea that God likes it all: singers AND musicians.

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD! (Psalm 150.3 – 6 ESV)

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5.8 – 10, ESV, emphasis mine)

A good word from Sahil Bloom, August 21, 2024…

Advice is overrated (and action is underrated).

There’s a famous story about Mozart that I love:

A young man asked Mozart how to write a symphony. Mozart replied, “You’re far too young to write a symphony.” The young man then said, “What? You were writing symphonies when you were 10, and I’m 21.” Mozart smiled and replied, “Yes, but I didn’t go around asking people how to do it.”

You can read a lot of books and talk to a lot of people, but ultimately, you just have to figure things out for yourself. Advice gathering can quickly become procrastination in disguise if you let it.

Prioritize action: Take some advice, act on it, adjust accordingly.

…

The beautiful thing about life is that no matter where you are today—no matter how deep in the darkness—you are always just one good decision away from being in a better place tomorrow.

Focus on that one decision in front of you. Don’t worry about the hundreds or thousands of decisions that you still have to make to get to where you want to be—just focus on the next decision.

Just start walking. – Sahil Bloom

It’s good counsel. On balance, of course. It’s always good to seek counsel, but not interminably. I just talked with a friend whose former pastor couldn’t make a decision and wouldn’t even act on decisions allegedly made by the board of elders. I told a young friend who has just been appointed to a leadership position, “Don’t be that guy.” As Sahil wrote in another newsletter, which I quoted a few months ago:

Stop gathering more information and start acting on the information you already have.

Keep traveling steadily along his pathway… (Psalm 37.34, TLB)

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. (Nehemiah 2.17, 18, ESV)

Two local news stories are making the same point, that meeting an ill-constructed standard is meaningless.

The first involves the amphitheater I wrote about a few days ago. The real and ongoing story is the excessive noise. Some folks who live several miles away claim they’re being kept awake if they try to go to bed before the concert is over. But the response of officials, dutifully repeated in the media, is the noise levels are within the boundaries set by the City Council.

Ford operates under an agreement with Colorado Springs that allows it to exceed the usual 50-55 decibel (dB) limit placed on outside, human-made sounds in residential areas. Fifty dB is equivalent to normal conversation levels, car traffic or kitchen appliances. But thanks to its Noise Hardship Permit, the city raised that significantly. The agreement states that amplified sounds are not allowed to exceed more than 110 dB for five minutes at a time, or average out to 105 dB for the same amount of time. – Denver Post, September 5, 2024

110 dB isn’t twice 55 dB. It’s a logarithmic scale, and every 3 dB is a doubling of sound intensity. 103 dB is a jet flying over at 100 feet. 110 dB is a jackhammer. So to say, “I don’t know what you’re complaining about. Our sound levels are within legal limits,” doesn’t mean anything if the legal limits are outrageously high.

Seemingly unrelated but making the same point is this story about demonstrating math proficiency for high school graduation:

Colorado next month may lower the passing score on high school math tests many students use to meet graduation requirements, the latest potential fallout from test scores that fell dramatically this year.

Without such a change, it’s possible graduation rates could drop for the Class of 2025, Colorado Department of Education officials told the State Board of Education on Thursday.

To graduate from high school in Colorado, students must show proficiency in English and math. Using SAT scores is the most common way that districts offer students to meet that requirement, since the test is already administered to students in their junior year…

The proposed change the State Board is considering would lower the minimum passing score on the math portion of the SAT from 500 to 480. Without that change, officials say the percentage of students who can use their SAT score to meet graduation requirements will drop from 45% in 2023 to 39% with these results. That means about 3,400 students might be looking for a last-minute alternative to meet graduation requirements before May. – Denver Post, September 3, 2024

Let me see if I’ve got this right: some kids can’t do math well enough to use their SAT scores to meet the standard for graduation so the solution is to lower the passing score from 500 to 480. Nowhere was it suggested that the solution might be to double down on math teaching so the kids were competent in math! By the way, 500 is not a high score.

Neither has it yet been suggested by the amphitheater owner that the amphitheater should decrease its volume. “After all, we’re within the standard!”

Jesus’ standards haven’t changed. Salvation is free, but discipleship is hard:

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior… (Titus 3.4 – 6, NIV)

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14.25 – 27, ESV)

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. (John 6.66, ESV)

Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth. – John Wesley

Speaking of being part of the process, Frank Dennis, the missionary doctor, 95 years old, that I wrote about a few days ago, just passed on a story that supports two themes. One is that we don’t work for God, we work with God – part of the process. The second theme is that God is not just an idea, he’s real and involved. Frank and his wife, newly in Taiwan, were driving…

We came to the town of Yuli and I remembered that a missionary I had met at a conference was working there. I asked where does the foreigner live and knocked on his door. Blake Bradley opened the door and said, “Frank ,you are an answer to prayer!” At that very moment members of the Bunan tribal church were having a prayer meeting at his home, praying for a member and elder of the church who had been bitten by a 100 pacer snake and was at that moment on the operating table in the nearby government hospital . They were in prayer because the surgeon wanted to remove his leg to save his life but the family would not sign the permit. They felt he would be better off dead than to be a one-legged man in the mountains. In 1966 artificial limbs were not as good as they are today. The special meeting was praying for what to do next? And I knocked on the door! That was the first and last time I was ever in that village and my timing was obviously an answer to their prayer. Blake said, “Let’s go to the hospital immediately.” and of course I agreed but was thinking, “What am I going to do in a hospital where nobody knows me and a government hospital at that!“

But I saw God was answering their prayer and that should include opening a door for me, right? “Let’s go!” No one was in the hospital to stop us as we went to the OR. Ignoring the keep out sign I pushed open the OR doors and from inside behind a mask someone said “Tan Yisheng, Jin lai, bangmang!” 譚醫⽣，進來幫忙！ “Dr Dennis, Come in and help!” “Who are you and how do you know my name?” “I am Dr. Li. When I was at the Air Force hospital in Chiayi I took time off and visited the Pingtung Christian hospital, and you taught me polio operations!” He was the only doctor that ever did that about a year earlier! God had really opened a perfect door!

Now the question was what am I gonna do for this poor man. I had very little experience with snakebite but it was obvious that his problem was that his blood would not clot because of the poison of the venom. “Why do you want to amputate his leg? “”Because he cut the wound with a dirty knife and if I stop the bleeding with silk sutures it will get infected and he may get gangrene and die. “Why don’t you use catgut suture which will absorb? That should prevent the infection.” We don’t have any! “A nurse said we have some in the storeroom that no one has ever used. Using the catgut suture the worst bleeding was controlled, but not only his wounds were bleeding but also there was blood in his catheter and from his nose and eyes.

“He will have to have a lot of fresh blood to really control his bleeding. Keep giving it to him until he stops the bleeding. The fresher the blood the better!”

Much later I met Blake and asked him what was God doing with that amazing exhibition of answered prayer. He said, “Well first of all the Bunan church members were lined up to give blood for him. The hospital staff were very impressed at the love of the Christians for each other. When he was finally well he went around the mountains preaching very effectively that his life was saved by the blood from the serpent’s poison by the blood of people who loved him, just like his life was saved from Satan’s poison which we all have by the blood of Jesus. Jesus didn’t give his blood into a nice clean blood bag but on the cross for our sin. People realized that Christianity isn’t just another religion but is actually all the people who have been saved by Jesus’ blood… It’s a personal thing, not just something you sign up for. All a sinner has to do is to is admit that he needs a savior and then ask Jesus to become his Savior and Lord.”

Frank would have been 37 years old in 1966, just starting out, and he’s still working with God nearly 60 years later!

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” (John 5.17, ESV)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace… (Ephesians 1.7, ESV)

I wrote yesterday about a poorly performing pianist giving a concert. It was clear to me that whatever strengths this guy has, music isn’t one of them. I’m reminded of the movie Rudy. It’s the true story of an undersized guy who wanted to play football for Notre Dame. He wasn’t even academically qualified to get into Notre Dame, but he persisted academically, got accepted to Notre Dame after several tries, walked on to the football team, and ended up on the daily practice squad. He finally gets into the last game of his senior year. It’s an inspiring story. I teared up again just reading the plot synopsis.

But it’s the same question as yesterday. Why would a guy want to do something that he’ll never be good at? StrengthsFinder is a popular assessment tool, and the book that introduces the concept opens with the story of Rudy. Author Don Clifton, while acknowledging that it’s a feel good story, is not a fan. He argues, as I asked, why would someone pursue an activity that’s not within their strengths?

My friend Ray, who loves the movie, answered the question:

He wanted to be part of the process.

As I wrote about my Lego Notre Dame Cathedral, each of the 4,383 pieces is an essential part of the structure. Some are not even visible. Some parts are generic – you might see parts just like them in another Lego project. Other parts are specialized. But all are vital.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2.21 – 22, NIV)

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2.10, NIV)

Continuing with yesterday’s concert theme, June and I had a profound experience recently that we’re still processing. I think I’ve finally come to a conclusion worth writing about. See what you think.

Sparing you unnecessary detail, the short version is we attended a piano concert at a church, and the pianist was terrible. I know, I know, we are pianists ourselves, and I have several very imperfect CDs out there (www.bobplayspiano.com), but trust me in this. One impartial, non-musician friend who heard a clip from the performer’s website said, “He sounds like a beginning piano student.”

But he’s not “a beginning piano student,” he has a master’s in music education, taught in the public schools, and now at about age 50, I’m guessing, continues to cobble together a living making music, including playing piano for a small church.

Questions abound:

• Why would a guy try to make a living doing something he’s not very good at?
• Is the general public not able to discriminate between an acceptable performance and poor quality?
• How good should one be to perform in public?

That last is probably the key question. Maybe it’s like Jesus at the feeding of the 5,000:

And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” (Mark 6.38, ESV)

And he said, “Bring them here to me.” (Matthew 14.18, ESV)

“What do you have? Bring it to me.”

While I admire excellence wherever I see it, and I would never advocate doing slipshod work, maybe the best we can do is good enough. I perform all the time at considerably less than “professional” quality, but God has seen fit to bless people with my music over the years.

Maybe, as a friend said, “We’re all him.” We take our gifts and abilities, and we offer them in service to Jesus, such as they are.

I have one more thought. Stay tuned.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1.26 – 29, ESV)

Here’s a bit of whimsy that falls under the category, “You can’t make this stuff up!”

There’s a new outdoor concert venue north of Colorado Springs that’s getting a lot of bad press due to excess noise in its neighborhood. That’s all I read on NextDoor these days. But that’s not what this blog is about.

The new Colorado Springs venue was called Sunset Amphitheater while it was under construction, but then they sold the naming rights to Ford Motor Company so it’s now the Ford Amphitheater.

Decades ago, President Gerald Ford maintained a home in Vail, and the town named an amphitheater after him. You can see where this is going can’t you? Here’s the story:

The Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail has never branded itself as the Ford Amphitheater, but the shortened handle has stuck nonetheless.

It has never been an issue until this summer when a new venue in Colorado Springs sold its naming rights to the Ford Motor Company, and the Colorado Springs location chose that moniker.

Some concertgoers predicted it would be an issue. On Instagram, in a post announcing the venue’s new name, one user predicted that there would be “a lot of (upset) people who bought tickets to the wrong venue.”

Dave Dressman, the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater’s event director, said that prediction did indeed come to pass recently when concertgoers showed up in Vail to see The Beach Boys with tickets to the Colorado Springs venue. The Beach Boys played the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater [in Vail] on Aug. 15 and the [new] Ford Amphitheater [in Colorado Springs] on Aug. 16. – Denver Post, August 23, 2024

Oops!

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14.12, ESV)

I’ve written about Dr. Frank Dennis before. His stories of adventures as an orthopaedic surgeon in Taiwan are always inspiring. Frank is about to turn 95, and I received this email “report” of his ongoing activities. I’m inspired. I hope you will be, too.

I soon will pass the 95 milestone.  I thought I would send out a little update, sort of an inventory of what is still on my shelf and how God is still keeping me going.  I will be celebrating in 3 different places and with a Taiwan Zoom call in the midst of one of them.  Chocolate cake seems to be abundant in which case I may skip my daily routine  of a 30-minute nap, followed by a small cup of coffee and. a chocolate nugget. That routine keeps me perky to 9 or 10 most evenings. I sometimes feel old!

I dress like a cowboy with a big hat.  In the hat I keep handouts to explain the Key of Promise in Ephesians 2:10, ”You are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for Good Works, which God has prepared in advance for you to do”. (NIV) I also have one that is “How to use the Key” for those who are looking for ways to advance the Kingdom and want to buy more ($2.50).  Sad that very few Christians realize they were created to do a Good Work appointed by God!   I buy keys 250 at a time and have them engraved EPH 2:10. We must use this tool before keys become obsolete!

The hat also has a lot of paper strips for making the world’s cheapest educational toy, a paper helicopter which  teaches  1/3 and 1/2 very simply and is fun and an intro into a conversation. I have a lot of fun in restaurants with kids and grandparents while they wait for food.

Portrait of Frank by a pastor’s wife in Taitung, Taiwan

I also am enjoying giving lovely gift books of the “Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ”… a vey readable sequential record from the Bible, just a straight read all together.  If you want to get in the game, just go to plusnothing.com and ask for as many as you can give away.  These are FREE!

I still preach once a month at  the Colorado Springs Chinese Evangelical Church, drive when Billy [his son] isn’t available, Billy will be flying to Taiwan for two weeks so I will see how I get along without him.  My granddaughter, Anna Saracoff, is living downstairs and will be a help. She is also making Blessing Bracelets which she and I love to sell ($10) to remind the wearers to give thanks for their blessings, a blessing for each of the 4 or 5 beads. “Count your blessings, name them one by one ,and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”  It helps cultivate the attitude of gratitude.

My book, “Come, Let’s Work Together with God.” has been printed in Taiwan but we are having distribution problems with the English version.  The Chinese version is available in Taiwan.  Billy is hoping to sort out the problems.

I am scheduled to go to Taiwan Oct 14 for about 10 days to show my face at a drama production about our work, always a lot of fun and to see many friends and speak here and there.

I always appreciate your prayers which have opened many doors and have preserved me so long. I am not sure I like that word “preserved” but you know what I mean. Please keep praying God will be pleased and Jesus will come soon.

Still in His glad service,

Dr Frank Dennis, AKA。譚維義 or 譚爸爸, Papa Tan

Again, the man is 95. I get tired just reading about all his activities. Frank embodies this section of Psalm 92. I want to be like Frank when I grow up!

The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Psalm 92.12 – 15, ESV)

1 Chronicles 23 – 27 is much like the first nine chapters: names. This time, not the genealogy but the organization of the temple and the military. I’m supplementing my reading by continuing through the psalms, landing on one of my favorites: Psalm 37. I encourage you to take a few minutes to read it. I’ve linked to the translation I’m using for the psalms, The Living Bible.)

There’s a lot in there. For example, perspective:

Never envy the wicked! Soon they fade away like grass and disappear. (verses 1, 2)… For the wicked shall be destroyed, but those who trust the Lord shall be given every blessing. Only a little while and the wicked shall disappear. You will look for them in vain. (verses 9, 10)…The Lord is laughing at those who plot against the godly, for he knows their judgment day is coming. (verses 12, 13)

The wicked are temporary. Good to know. Of course “temporary” could be decades…

There are also verses that in years past I might have called promises:

• Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires. (verse 4)
•  I have been young and now I am old. And in all my years I have never seen the Lord forsake a man who loves him; nor have I seen the children of the godly go hungry. (verse 25)

As I get older, I’m not sure we should call these promises. Verse 4 certainly didn’t seem to work for black slaves in pre-civil-war America. With respect to verse 25, an American missionary to China told me, “That might have been King David’s experience. It certainly hasn’t been mine.”

No matter, there is still a nice list of things to do (or not do): prescriptions:

• Never envy the wicked. (1)
• Trust in the Lord instead. (3)
• Be kind and good to others. (3)
• Be delighted with the Lord. (4)
• Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and he will. (5)
• Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for him to act. (7)
• Don’t be envious of evil men who prosper. (7)
• Stop your anger! Turn off your wrath. Don’t fret and worry. (8)

The bottom line?

Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing, and you will see the wicked destroyed…Evil men shall be destroyed, and their posterity shall be cut off. (Psalm 37.34, 38, TLB)

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. (James 5.7 – 9, ESV)