04-26-2012 Fixed

The one sitting on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new!" He said,

"Write this: 'These words are trustworthy and true.'"         Rev 21:5

            There was my friend Lew, confined by intravenous hoses and equipment, lying in a hospital bed, waiting for his last moments, in this life, to be completed. Sitting in a chair nearby was Lew’s daughter, Valerie, whom I had not met before, but had certainly heard about through Lew’s many boasting about “his daughter”. Interesting point Adonai, I don’t recall him calling her by her name before, just “my daughter”, proudly distinguishing her as not just another person, but as a cherished prodigy.

            Lord, as I walked into the dark room, I didn’t know how to help, what to do, what to say. Lew, even in his failing condition, took the lead. His face brightened and he reached for my hand. I could see a smile refusing to be contained by the oxygen mask over his mouth. Lew’s eyes and his still firm grip spoke for both of us. “It is good that we are here.”

            Still I wondered if You had a purpose for me in this place. I’ve been here before – with my mother, with friends not terminal, but certainly struggling with pain. What was I to do? Or was I just to be present? Such a difficult assignment for a man who has been taught all his life to fix what is broken – was Lew broken?

            It seemed right, at that moment, to better introduce myself to Valerie. I explained that her father and I attended a Sunday School class together and that he was a great inspiration to me; that we had shared fellowship, books and great conversations. She responded, saying she was so glad I had come and that her dad had not been this alert for a while. She apparently saw an opportunity and came to sit on the other side of the bed and spoke to her father.

            She began by explaining to him, that my presence seemed to have helped him and that, since he was improved, they needed to talk about “the next decisions”. She then reminisced about how Lew had helped her in her earlier years when she was not doing well with her hand writing. Now she helped others with their handwriting as a teacher. She described how, when she was learning to drive, he had taught her about warning lights – green, yellow and red – and that had really helped her in other parts of her life too.

“Now is a time of warning lights for us, Dad”, she continued. She described his time in the hospital, having friends and family constantly visiting, as “good moments” and that a warning light was signaling this would soon change – they would have to make some decisions about his quality of life as his breathing became more difficult. She patiently and lovingly laid out the plan for his transition, allowing him time to nod or shake his head as she offered difficult, but necessary choices.

            Suddenly, as I held Lew’s hand and listened, I had one of “Your moments”. You know the ones Rabbi, when You shine a brilliant light into my heart of hearts and whisper softly, “Don’t miss this.”, and shockwaves flow through my soul. The blurry picture before me focused perfectly. I heard Lew’s wisdom, his beautiful solid voice of reason, coming out of the mouth of “his daughter”. The words were not hers…or even his. They were Yours, originally seeded into my friend through his life experiences, fed and nurtured years later into Valerie through her life experiences and now, tenderly given back as a matured flowering gift to their original planter: Lew speaking to Lew through his beloved child. You were telling him; You were telling all three of us, “See, I make all things new.”

I can only pray for such a day, when You bless my children, my family, my friends to speak into me in this way; revealing what I have yearned to offer them over the years – the only thing of true value I have to offer – Your love and relationship.

            Had I helped to somehow on Lew’s behalf? Was Lew broken? Does it matter? Not anymore. My Brother in Christ is now on the other side – no distractions, no suffering, no trials to bear. He is healed – the Greek word that you, Jesus, used was iaomai – to be made whole.         Lew is made whole – dancing, rejoicing and focused on what still is the only thing of true value in life; Your love and relationship.

            I miss him Lord. Now what do I have? What do the friends and family of Lew have of him? Oh…right…I remember: we have the flowering messages You spoke to us, through him. We have life pictures of a man who had struggled with cancer for many years…no that doesn’t describe it well enough…who had accepted his affliction and turned it, as he did everything in his rich life, into an opportunity to witness, even to nurses, doctors and others as he lay in a hospital bed. We have an example of an ever positive, ever Up-looking man through whom You used to constantly demonstrate Your love and healing power.

            You have made Lew whole…fixed, and I am fixed with him.

Thank you God for the memory and gift of my friend, Lew.

Mark A. Cornelius

4-12-2012 Rocks of Ages

Standing Stones on the Gospel Trail

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

      1 Peter 2:4-8

Ancient City of Shechum

It’s the number one crop of the country, Lord; so many are available that anyone can have one (or many) for the asking. Hewn and worn with purpose: You gave specific instructions on their use, even emphasizing altars be built to Your honor made from this material – already prepared by Your hand, not in any way retooled by our efforts.  Ancient battles were won and lost by their use as weapons; condemnation was executed with these as the preferred tool of execution. Buildings and empires rest on their foundations.

Korazim

Even You, Unchanging Creator, have been compared metaphorically to their qualities. And you, Jesus, though thought of as a carpenter, in reality would have worked less with trees (there just aren’t that many!) and more as a “tekton” carving and working with this resource for construction.

Of what do I speak? Rocks, of course.

Tel Megido

As we traveled through The Land, it became crystal clear that rocks are what the land is all about. The structures of old were fashioned; monuments to great moments of conviction were erected: using stones of all sizes. There is nowhere to turn, even on the most fertile plain where rocks do not influence and define the culture and the history.

Temple Ruins in Jerusalem

Where am I going with all of this, Adonai?  What I saw of Israel taught me that it is the stone that lasts, it is the rock that instructs; these are the enduring concrete of Your plan that will not break down.

Rock of my salvation; is the picture of stones over the landscape crucial to my own shaping? Could it be You are telling me that I too am nothing but hard spiritual matter to be worked over a lifetime? You have carved me differently, just as You have crafted each soul to Your desire.  And so, just as each building and structure wears the signature of its builder, I too carry Your mark.

Ruins near Mt. of the Beatitudes

Samaria

 It appears then, even in a in a vast field, strewn seemingly with random rocks of no importance, each has a unique purpose in Your plan. Even this small stone – who sometimes feels lost and unimportant among greater ones which You have worked – is cared for and cherished, just as You have cherished all the others throughout history.

Qumran

I am blessed then to be a Living Stone to Your honor, Rock of Ages.  I stand as a testimony to the incredible love You display. Demonstrating that even a pebble in Your hands can be used to topple giants, build bridges of healing and exclaim to the world that Your covenant of love with Your people is...rock solid.

Amen.

4-4-2012 Oh, by The Way

As he was drawing near--already on the way down the Mount of Olives--the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

Garden at Mount of Olives

He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

Luk 19:37-44 

Elohim, I’m having some difficulty keeping the “lens” correctly focused. I’m not even sure my spiritual camera is pointed in the right direction.

It’s a memory I’m looking at:

Triumphant Entry Path

We’ve just come out of the Church of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives and we’re walking toward the Old City of Jerusalem.  Mike, our faithful tour guide mentions, “Oh by the way. This is part of the path that we believe Jesus took on his triumphant entry.”

Wait, stop. I look around me to capture the moment. The path, a narrow road…make that almost an alley…winds downward as we get closer to the bottom of the Kidron Vally. Cars are actually using this passage and as they come from both directions we have to squeeze to the side. I remember wondering if this is a two way road and what would happen if two vehicles came at the same time from opposite directions.

But here we are. You, my Savior, riding on a donkey, the crowds shouting “Hosanna”! This is when everyone expected you to step up to the plate and hit your home run, turning the Romans and the Ruling Class into puddles of nothing. This is where you wept.

Church in Kidron Valley

And yet it is considered an “Oh, by the way” moment? It makes me wonder, what else I’m minimalizing or missing altogether, because it seems secondary, when in fact, it could be the most important of things,

For instance, the Resurrection: No Father in Heaven, I’ve not forgotten that Jesus died on the cross and was raised again, but I do tend to mistranslate WHY it happened.

My temptation is to leave the focus of my lens on the fact that you, Savior, died for me and for all mankind, that I and the world might be saved. That’s not a bad thing…is it? But it begs the question: Saved…for WHAT?

Worshipers at the Western Wall

At Easter time our family gets all dressed up, we climb into the car and travel to a beautiful ceremony with lots of others who look a lot like us. There we sing and praise You for redeeming us and dying for our sins and all of that great stuff…but then we drive off in our cars with all that great stuff in our heads and…do nothing with it!

“:WHAT”, some may ask, “are we to do with this stuff?” I confess, Living God, I have asked this too.

Is it about us – what You have done for us? How we are changed, how we are secured for eternity? Was that the purpose of you Jesus, bringing your message, standing firm as God and Man, and not budging from that message even when bloodied and beaten and tortured and killed? Was it just so we could get a “condemnation pass” if we believe all that?

Or is the focus something else entirely? Could the focus be…You?

Maybe I’m making too fine a point here, Lord (I’ve been accused of doing so at other times), but I think, not – only because I know this one from scripture and experience. Even the ancient Israelites got wrapped up in their worship procedures and rules and their outcomes rather than their Creator. Even I get caught up in what benefits and privileges I get out of the deal, instead of…?

…Instead of living in a world where it is not I who receives the glory for what has been done. Shouldn’t I be glorifying You who did this thing? Shouldn’t that be my “soul” purpose, 24/7? The Crucifixion and Resurrection (parts of an intentional plan for the fullness of time, designed from a beginning we can’t truly comprehend); don’t they point with laser like focus to the one who did the dying and the resurrecting? Aren’t I supposed to be the one weeping (NOT YOU!) with my face to the ground worshiping Your magnificence? Is that what everyone else is doing and have I just missed my focus?

Sign on door inside Garden Tomb

Resurrection day is not about my bounty or my wish for You to change the world. The world IS changed, I AM CHANGED…but I’m living as if it’s not all that important. I excuse myself from telling anyone, EVERYONE, that YOU are GOD and there is no other! HURRY, come with me to the tomb – see? HE IS RISEN INDEED! 

The world tells me I am misbehaving when I speak more loudly than a whisper about You. I must be silent and courteous in order for my belief to be tolerated.

Oh by the way. 

You are The Way, The Truth and The Light. If Resurrection is to be about You, then I can’t validate any other god – not even myself.

If I believe this, I can’t live the other 364 days of the year as if You are still hidden in the tomb, afraid to come out, lest You embarrass or offend someone.

Sea Of Galilee-near Chapel of the Primacy

After all, I am your slave, aren’t I?

Tell me how to worship You, show me where to worship You. Convict me to put away my selfish desire, my fearful ways, and follow You, the Risen Lord Jesus, Savior and King of the Universe: no matter what, no matter where or when.

Resurrection Blessings to my Lord; my Focus,

Mark A. Cornelius