My friend Hanh Pham, a Jesuit priest from Viet Nam, showed me this poem he wrote back in 2004 after visiting Cambodia. He said the most striking thing he remembers is the number of wheelchairs at the churches. So many people with missing limbs. Hanh reminded me that Jesus still carries the wounds from the cross in his resurrected body and invited Thomas to touch them:

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20.27, ESV)

Hanh said that Jesus is still inviting us to “touch the wounds” of the people around us. It’s part of Jesus’ ministry and should be part of ours. For example,

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth…[Jesus] spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. (John 9.1 – 7, ESV)

Here is Hanh’s poem, presented without further comment. It is titled “A Herald for Survivors’ Rights” and starts with “Survivors of war, There were times…”

(If you can’t see the picture, you can access the full text of the poem here.)

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. (Matthew 25.35, 36, ESV)

It’s rare that you hear a report of a pastor articulating what, unfortunately, many churches are about. Steve Cleary of RevelationMedia sent out an email Sunday, March 16, talking about his stint as a youth pastor a long time ago. He had been trying to, in his words:

…speak about world missions, Christian persecution, Christ’s second coming, and our roles and callings as Christians to win the lost. We wrote letters to Christians who were imprisoned for their faith (in Russia during the Communist era), and we took opportunities to volunteer at outreach events. Of course, we also had times of fun, games, and weekend outings, but my primary goal was to help the students develop a Biblical worldview. – Steve Cleary, May 16, 2021, speaking of his goal as a youth minister years ago

It turns out some parents and even the pastor didn’t want this sort of emphasis in their youth program. Steve tried to plead his case. Finally the pastor said,

Look, your job is to keep these kids out of trouble until they grow up, get married, pay their tithe, and serve in the church. – a senior pastor to Steve Cleary, at the time, a youth minister

Really? That’s your goal? That kids grow up, get married, pay their tithe, and serve in the church? That’s what you think God requires…of you and of them?

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6.8, ESV)

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV, emphasis mine)

At age 74, I experienced this verse on Saturday:

So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day. (2 Corinthians 4.16, TPT, emphasis mine)

I cut the grass with my electric lawn mower (not self-propelled!) for the first time since 2017. With knee surgeries in 2018 and 2020, I’ve been using either the old tractor I got from my neighbor when he moved or I’ve hired it done. Two hours over two sessions, and I was beat! (This being the first cutting of the season, the tractor wouldn’t start.)

Anyway, I felt OK while doing it, but after, I think I feel my age. It’s a good thing the Lord promised us new bodies! These verses make more sense as I get older!

So, while living in this “tent,” we groan under its burden, not because we want to die but because we want these new bodies. We crave for all that is mortal to be swallowed up by eternal life. And this is no empty hope, for God himself is the one who has prepared us for this wonderful destiny. And to confirm this promise, he has given us the Holy Spirit, like an engagement ring, as a guarantee. That’s why we’re always full of courage. Even while we’re at home in the body, we’re homesick to be with the Master—for we live by faith, not by what we see with our eyes. We live with a joyful confidence, yet at the same time we take delight in the thought of leaving our bodies behind to be at home with the Lord. So whether we live or die we make it our life’s passion to live our lives pleasing to him. (2 Corinthians 5.4 – 9, TPT)

My mathematician friend Dr. Alexander Soifer also teaches European cinema. Occasionally he invites me to a film he showing to his class. I’ve had a hard time understanding most of them, but I’ll have to say Leviathan was an exception.

It’s a depressing story of how the corrupt mayor of a Russian village, with the help of a corrupt judicial system and a corrupt church, steals the beach-front property of a citizen. The book of Job is quoted in the film and gives the film its name – God speaking to Job:

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? (Job 41.1, 2, ESV)

Although Job is quoted, it’s really the story of King Ahab stealing Naboth’s vineyard (See 1 Kings 21.) I’m writing today about a conversation between the mayor and a bishop. The mayor has been threatened with having his past misdeeds exposed, and he’s trying to get some solace from the bishop when this exchange occurs:

Bishop: “Do you go to confession and take communion?” 
Mayor: “Yes, every week without fail [ p a u s e ] I try. Of course, sometimes I am too busy.” 

It reminds me that if someone were to ask me, “Bob, do you have your time with God?” And I would reply, “Oh yes, absolutely, without fail…I try – of course, sometimes I am too busy.”

In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. (Psalm 5.3, NIV)

Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD. (Proverbs 8.34, 35, NIV)

I had an interesting experience with my smartphone the other day – somehow I got sap on the screen. We were out of town at the time so I tried some soap and water at our hotel room. Oops. Made it worse by not only not taking it off but also spreading it around. Kind of like Lady MacBeth trying in vain to get the (invisible) blood off her hands;

Out, damned spot! Out, I say! …What, will these hands ne’er be clean? – Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1.

When we got home, June suggested I try acetone as found in nail polish remover. And here’s the thing: I got the acetone and some gauze preparing to work on it for a few minutes, and as soon as the acetone-dampened gauze hit the screen, the sap disappeared. Nearly instantly! I was amazed at how fast it worked – how fast the right product worked.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. – Old Hymn

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1.7, ESV)

Growing up in South Carolina, a lot of my friends had boats that they used for water skiing on nearby lakes. A lot of those boats were powered by Evinrude motors – a very big name in boat motors then and now. But a name is just a name, and I never gave a thought as to where Evinrude motors came from…until this week.

John Ed Mathison, whom we met yesterday told this story on his blog, Wednesday, May 12. A fellow took his girlfriend on a picnic on a Wisconsin lake. After they got there, she expressed a desire for ice cream so he rowed across the lake, 5 miles each way, to buy some ice cream. While en route, he said to himself, there’s got to be a better way to move a rowboat! And so Ole Evinrude invented an outboard motor. Here’s part of the official history:

What’s the application? John Ed’s was that we should be looking for opportunities whenever we encounter obstacles. That’s a good one. Here’s another: there’s not much a guy won’t do to catch a girl!

There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman. (Proverbs 30.18, 19, NIV)

But mainly, I think of the wonders of creative work. God has allowed humans to share in his ongoing creation from the beginning (e.g., Adam named the animals in Genesis 2). And today, people from Ole Evinrude and his descendants down to the guy who picks up your trash are serving people by their work. (I wrote about work in more detail in my third book: The Disciple’s Work.)

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (Genesis 2.15, NIV)

My friend and former pastor John Ed Mathison, still going strong in his 80s, writes a weekly blog on Wednesdays and posts a weekly video on Mondays. This week, he was talking about profanity and how we ought not to use it because God is listening. It’s a good word with a story involving a carpenter working on a project in John Ed’s church. The carpenter couldn’t swear because “I’m in church, and God is listening.” John Ed pointed out in the video that God is everywhere.

It’s a good word, and I want to add to it, or rather, I think God wants to add to it. If God is everywhere, watching and listening, what is he watching and listening for? Just that we don’t use profanity? Not swearing is a worthy habit, but I’m afraid often we confine our self-improvement to just that, self-improvement. The day I watched the video, I read this:

6 Heartlessly they murder the widows, the foreigners, and even the orphaned children.
7 They say to themselves, “The Lord God doesn’t see this. Their God, the God of Jacob, he doesn’t even care!”
8 But you’d better watch out, you stupid fools! You’d better wise up! Why would you act like God doesn’t exist? Do you really think that God can’t hear their cries?
9 God isn’t hard of hearing; he’ll hear all their cries. God isn’t blind. He who made the eye has superb vision and he’s watching all you do. (Psalm 94.6 – 9, TPT)

God doesn’t care only that I don’t swear. He wants me to not oppress orphans, widows, sojourners, and the poor.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart. (Zechariah 7.9, 10, ESV)

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. (Matthew 25.35, 36, ESV)

Yesterday I observed that the Philistines ran an elaborate experiment to prove that God was real, but they did not follow that discovery with worship and obedience. I noticed that the disciples were guilty of much the same thing in Mark 8. Jesus had just fed the 4,000 and been challenged by the Pharisees to produce a “sign from heaven.” (Feeding 4,000+ people isn’t enough?) In the boat with his disciples, Jesus warns them metaphorically about the Pharisees:

“Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees.” (Mark 8.15, NIV)

The disciples, not all that bright, are trying to figure out what he’s talking about and can conclude only that they are in trouble for not bringing more bread. Here is Jesus’ rather stern response:

Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus said to them, “Why all this fussing over forgetting to bring bread? Do you still not see or understand what I say to you? Are your hearts still hard? You have good eyes, yet you still don’t see, and you have good ears, yet you still don’t hear, neither do you remember. When I multiplied the bread to feed more than five thousand people, how many baskets full of leftovers did you gather afterward?” “Twelve,” they replied. “And when I multiplied food to feed over four thousand, how many large baskets full of leftovers did you gather afterwards?” “Seven,” they replied. “Then how is it that you still don’t get it?” (Mark 8.17 – 21, TPT)

We know that God can help us and that he has helped us in the past, but we sometimes don’t apply that truth to the challenge we’re facing right now.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41.10, ESV)

I recently read the story of the Ark of the Covenant’s adventures in Philistine territory, 1 Samuel chapters 4 – 6. Go ahead and read it – I’ll wait! Here’s the short version:

• Israel was under the leadership of Eli the high priest and his sons Hophni and Phineas. The sons were evil, and God had already predicted their soon demise. (See 1 Samuel 3.11 – 13)

• So in chapter 4, it happened. The Israelites went battle against the Philistines and lost. So they decided to bring the Ark so that “it” might save them.

And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. (1 Samuel 4.3, 4, ESV)

• There’s a lesson right there – it’s not the Ark, it’s the God of the Ark. But God decided to let Israel be defeated and the Ark captured:

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. (1 Samuel 4.10, 11, ESV)

• Here’s where the fun starts. Even though God did not respond to the superstitions of the Israelites, he did communicate to the Philistines through the Ark:
  • The Philistines put the Ark into the temple of their god Dagon, and the next morning, Dagon is facedown before the Ark! The next morning, Dagon is missing his hands and head! (See 1 Samuel 5.1 – 5)
  • Then the Philistines were afflicted with tumors, and the people of Ashdod, the original location, sent the Ark to Gath and then Ekron. (See 1 Samuel 5.6 – 12) The people of Ekron weren’t stupid. They said, “We need to get this thing out of here!”
• So the Philistines decide to send the Ark back and run an elaborate experiment at the same time.

Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. And take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence. (1 Samuel 6.7 – 9, ESV)

And here’s the reason I’m writing about this: as you know if you read the story, the two milk cows pulled the cart with the Ark straight to Israeli territory, and the Philistine leaders saw it. Their test proved that God was real. So the leaders went back to their people, told them that God was real and that they should be worshipping the true God. Oops! That’s not what the leaders did. In fact, nothing happened with respect to the Philistines’ relationship with God. Belief does NOT equal commitment! That’s the lesson, and there’s a verse for that:

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2.19, ESV)

We just went through the lovely story of Ruth, with Naomi, the destitute widow, Ruth the foreigner, and Boaz, the wealthy farmer – ending with Boaz and Ruth, both mentioned by name, in the line of Christ. And here’s the biggest lesson of all, hidden in the very first phrase of the book:

In the days when the judges ruled… (Ruth 1.1, ESV)

How weird is that? What kind of days are we talking about? Have you read Judges, the book that opens, “There arose a generation who knew not the Lord...” (Judges 2.10), and closes with:

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21.25, ESV)

Some of the ugliest stories in the Bible are in Judges – read chapters 17 to 21, for example. Even most of the heroes of Judges leave a lot to be desired. Read the story of Samson, for example, chapters 13 – 16.

In those days, the days of the judges, God did something behind the scenes in an out-of-the way place, with a widow and a foreigner. God’s story plays out…in the worst of circumstances.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. (Luke 3.1, 2, ESV. Those were pretty bad times, too!)