Zapped!

When my dermatologist greets me every six months, he uses one hand to shake my hand and uses his other hand to shake a can of liquid nitrogen. Yesterday, he zapped me about 20 times with liquid nitrogen. Today, my head looks raw, but it should heal in two weeks or so. According to the dermatologist, I have had significant exposure to the sun.

Exposure to the sun in Colorado Springs is normal, and skin cancer is fairly common. I wear a hat outdoors, but the sun seems to penetrate it. So I have an appointment in December to visit the top-gun dermatologist again.

Exposure to the sun may be hazardous to the skin, but there are no harmful effects of exposure to the Son. If we stay close to Him, our lives will show only beneficial results. Galatians 5:22 and 23 identify them as “the fruit of the Spirit: and list them. They are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Keep walking in the Sonshine!

A Salute to Our Miltary

About 80,000 retirees live in Colorado Springs. Fortunately our neighborhood is home to quite a few military personnel. Some are retired; others are active military. I think the Air Force is more fully represented than the Army, but all our military neighbors are excellent neighbors.

Our next-door neighbor is a retired Air Force colonel. He and other Air Force and Army neighbors have applied their military discipline to the care of their homes and vehicles. They maintain their homes, yards, and vehicles spotlessly. They also display the flag proudly on national holidays and at other times. This show of patriotism adds a special touch to our neighborhood.

These neighbors with ties to the military are demonstrating good habits we can apply to the Christian life. The disciplined Christian conducts himself as “a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3). He maintains a “spotless” lifestyle (2 Pet. 3:14), and unashamedly demonstrates loyalty to Jesus, our Commander-in Chief (John 12:26; Rev. 2:10b).

Let’s represent our Lord well today!

Where He Leads Me, Will I Follow?

Are we truly followers of Jesus? Or are we simply followers of
Jesus’ favors? In other words, do we give ourselves to Him wholeheartedly and do what He wants, or do we give Him only lip service, hoping He will give us what we want? In our consumer-driven culture of worship, we ought to ask ourselves these tough questions.

Each of the four Gospel writers narrated the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. The story demonstrates Jesus’ compassion and highlights His deity. Only God could do so much with so little. But the multitude turned away when Jesus predicted His sufferings. Suffering has never been a popular subject, and it never will be.

Like the crowds that followed Jesus for the free handout, are crowds attending church today for what they hope to get from Jesus? What might the crowds do if they learned they might have to suffer for Christ?

In the October 1992 issue of Covenant Companion, John Fischer wrote a brief but provocative reflection that addressed consumerism in the church. His thoughts are still relevant.

“As the church today gets more and more hip—more and more need-oriented, responding to the buttons that people push in their pews— I find myself longing for more of a historical faith. I find all my needs met as much as I want to meet God, and sometimes I wonder if he’s really interested in the noise of our contemporary clamoring. Like my dog who can’t seem to get anywhere because he keeps having to stop and scratch his fleas, I wonder if we are so busy scratching where everybody itches that we aren’t taking anybody anywhere significant”