Lost in the Fairway

Losing a golf ball in a thick rough or wooded area hurts, but losing it in the fairway is a real killer.

How can a ball just disappear? Do invisible alien creatures in invisible futuristic golf carts zoom onto fairways, snatch up golf balls and carry them off to some outer-space research lab? Of course not! Sometimes a ball is lost in the fairway because a golfer’s ego won’t let him look for it farther back than he knows he hit it. Sometimes it is lost because it came to rest in a grass-covered depression. Sometimes a golfer walks or rides past a lost ball. Looking afar, he fails to see what lies under his nose.

The Bible teaches that human beings are lost until the Savior finds them (Luke 19:10; 2 Cor. 4:3). We Christians understand this truth. We were lost until Jesus found us. We understand, too, that Jesus commissioned us to share the good news of salvation with the whole world. However, we may fail to understand that many people are lost “in the fairway”; that is, in the center of our Christianized culture. Living in communities where evangelical churches flourish, where Christian television broadcasts enter their homes, and where Christians live nearby, why are so many people still lost? Perhaps, like golfers passing by a lost ball in a fairway, we expect to find the lost only in some faraway place like Africa or Asia.

© Jim Dyet

Christmas Cactus

My wife showed me a colorful newspaper advertisement for Christmas plants. Featured with poinsettias in the ad was a Christmas cactus. The leaves were deep green, and the blooms were bright red. Called “Christmas cactus” because they bloom at Christmas, these beautiful plants add a nice touch to our home’s Christmas decorum.

But back to the ad: It identified the Christmas cactus as a “zygo cactus.” Apparently secularists have invaded horticulture and stolen Christmas from the cactus family. But they can’t steal Christmas from our family. We will continue to call our cactus, “Christmas cactus,” and enjoy its beautiful flowers.

What’s next? Will geographers rename Christmas Island “Holiday Island” or “Zygo Island”?

Brrrr!

Brrrr! A cold front invaded Colorado yesterday and is expected to stay through Thursday. Colorado Springs recorded a new low temperature of -8 this morning. The weather prognosticators are blaming this cold weather on Canada. “An Arctic front has dropped down from Canada,” they say. Strange, I grew up in Canada and never heard anyone blame the U.S. for a sudden influx of warm, humid air.

Very little snow accompanied the dramatic change in our weather, but the drive to church yesterday was perilous. The highway from Colorado Springs to Penrose, where I am interim pastor, bobs and weaves through the foothills. Yesterday morning it was icy and snow packed, visibility was almost zero at times, and the temperature varied between 9 and 11. Accidents attested to the hazardous driving conditions.

The drive was worthwhile. Church attendance was better than I expected. The potluck after church was superb, and I had the privilege of baptizing three adults, three teenagers, and six children. You can better appreciate the faith of those twelve if you know I baptize by immersion. Getting wet all over on a bitterly cold day takes genuine faith, eh?

Our church is gearing up for Christmas. Next Sunday we will observe Communion, enjoy a choir concert, and a candlelight service. Oh yes, there will be a sermon, but it will be brief—kind of a Christmas present to the congregation.




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Happy Holidays!

“Happy holidays!” Holiday shopping. Holiday decorations. Holiday greetings.

What ever happened to “Christmas”? Apparently some grinches sneaked into city halls, advertising agencies, media headquarters, and stores and stole “Merry Christmas. In its place, they substituted “Happy holidays.” Now political correctness pervades the season, having relegated the reason for the season primarily to pulpits.

I don’t think the grinches will return the Christmas they stole, but I would like at least one of them to tell me which holiday they think people are celebrating at this time of year. We have already observed Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving, and whoever heard of stringing lights and exchanging gifts on New Year’s Day. So Christmas must be the holiday the grinches refuse to mention.

Strange how times change! Christians used to object to “Xmas,” insisting the X crossed Christ out of Christmas. They missed the point: X is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ. Also, Christians used to identify Santa Claus as a usurper and an antichrist. Now we would be pleased to see Xmas displayed in public, and the grinches who stole Christmas view Santa as a Christian symbol. I wish we could get back to simpler times, when neighbor greeted neighbor with “Merry Christmas,” carolers greeted shoppers with strains of “Silent Night” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and public schools didn't schedule Winter Break but Christmas vacation.

Christmas will arrive twelve days from now; therefore, very little time remains to prepare for the holiday that has become almost unmentionable. I have almost finished my CHRISTMAS shopping. Our CHRISTMAS decorations are in place. I have mailed our CHRISTMAS cards, and now I want to wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Fat Albert Is All Aglow

Christmas lights adorn the two evergreens in front of our house. Phil, our next-door neighbor, climbed a ladder yesterday afternoon and strung lights artfully on the Fat Albert. This blue spruce wannabe has grown tall since it was planted in 2002, and it has developed the shape of a perfect Christmas tree. Nine years from now I may consider donating it to the White House. Phil, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, doesn’t mind climbing a ladder. The experience probably seems tame compared with his years of piloting F-15s. Stringing lights on the other evergreen doesn’t demand any bravery; it’s a dwarf juniper. So now our front yard looks a lot like Christmas; and it was beautiful no-jacket-necessary day for stringing lights and enjoying neighborly conversation.

Three weeks from now Christmas lights will come down and everyone will occupy their thoughts with plans and hopes for 2009. However, the brightest lights will still shine throughout the world. Ephesians 5:8 identifies Christians as “children of light” and instructs us to “live as children of light.” As the world grows darker, let’s increase the wattage of our light.