Category: Published Works

The Biblical apocalypse is a powerful event filled with terrifying horror and shouts of jubilant elation.  Which will you experience?  Why must it occur?  What did Jesus say about Judgment Day?  We explore the descriptive verses of various Biblical authors spanning centuries of history.

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Published in Forward In Christ magazine in 2014

Sitting in a hospital rocking chair, holding that baby boy just hours after he was born, I took “the oath”.  I’m guessing most fathers have taken it at one time or another although it really isn’t written down anywhere.  It’s as much a conviction of the soul as a set of words.  With that baby in my arms I silently swore I would spend my life protecting him, caring for him, guiding him even after he was able to stand on his own two feet and care for himself without me.  As a Christian I also promised I would do my part for his soul, giving him every opportunity to get closer to God and live the faith that would receive the gift of eternal life.

That’s a lot to ask of a mortal man.  Yet it’s when our children are helpless or heartbroken that we realize it’s the commitment that must be made.   Three and a half years later I took “the oath” a second time.  It was a different hospital room, I was slightly more fatigued, but another son was trying to make sense of the strange world around him.

Over the years, as expected, I found there were limits on my ability to keep the promise. I couldn’t stop my first son from getting pneumonia.  When the second was diagnosed with autism at the age of three I was reminded that we keep the oath in different ways depending on the circumstances, not on our grand design.  Even when things worked as planned it was good to have help.  I used assistance from fellow tax-payers and fellow church members.  Sometimes my ability to guide and instruct was lost in moments of anger, the roar of a raging wind instead of the quiet breeze of patient instruction.  Through it all, my loving Christian wife and I were working to keep the same promise.  But admittedly, there were times when we were all home together and I didn’t keep the oath with the same conviction I had when I made it.

That’s why as the country marks another traditional Father’s Day it’s good to remember that God is indeed our father.  (Isaiah 63:16, Jeremiah 31:9, 2 Corinthians 6:18)  Jesus tells us God is “Our father in heaven”.  When Jesus took on flesh as the only son of God, he lived to bring all his “brothers and sisters” into that relationship.  At times the Holy Spirit moves our souls to cry out in our prayers “Abba, father”.  Like newborn infants we need those parental arms around us and have no hope if they aren’t there to care for us.  Thankfully, our Heavenly Father promised to care for all his children, telling us that he has committed himself to us with a promise having real power.

The bible also calls him father in a physical sense as well (Isaiah 64:8, Psalm 139:13).  Just as he formed Adam out of the dust of the ground, we are his offspring, his creation.  He gave us a living illustration of this relationship in the nation of Israel.  He conceived it, gave birth to it, guided it with rules of wisdom and acts of forgiveness, bore patiently with it and finally gave it the light of salvation. Yet they were rebellious children and so are we.  So, it is in Christ that we are more than just hand crafted, physical offspring, claiming the love and the promises of our father to be ours personally and powerfully.

By faith in Jesus we too, like the Israelites, are his spiritually adopted children (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:5, 1 John 3:1).  When I first took the oath, the baby in my arms was not mine legally or genetically and it was months before the adoption process was complete.  In a similar way, even with a sinful heritage and nature, God calls us his children and makes us his top priority, working and waiting for his children to join him in heaven.  He takes “the oath” at baptism that we are his children and he will do everything for our good.

It’s as if we were that newborn baby in the birthing room, trying to make sense of the world around us.  We know that voice of our father just as an infant knows the voices of his earthly parents that he’s heard for months in the womb.  He speaks to us in our spiritual infancy and, though we don’t always understand the words, we know he loves us.  In fact, just as a family “oohs’ and “ahhs” over a newborn, our father lavishes his love on us, seeing us as perfect in his eyes in spite of any physical imperfections that come up under examination.

The arms that hold us are gentle, but strong enough to protect against all danger.  No one can snatch us out of his hands.

Though we may suddenly be seized with hunger and wail for help, our father already knew what was coming before we “asked” for it and so begins a lifelong process of our father anticipating and supplying what we need, giving us what’s best while we just cry out for the first thing that comes to mind. (Yes, our heavenly father also employs angelic and earthly means to get things done, much as an earthly father relies on a mother at times like this)

Like that newborn, we don’t realize that our heavenly father knew us before birth and planned out for us the good works and life he had in mind for us.  Our father will continue to guide us as we grow, discipline us as needed; reveal his heart of love when we have doubts, answer our questions when we ask.  He wants us to grow up to be like him.  He will bear with us in all things, even when we treat him with indifference or rebellion instead of responding to his love.  We may never truly comprehend it, but nothing can separate us from his love in Christ.

Perhaps as adults we lose that view of “a giant of a father” holding us in his arms and promising to care for us always.  Perhaps we’ve gotten so used to taking care of ourselves we think of God as the father who’s got his life of retirement and we check in with him every once in a while. But isn’t it good to stop and remember that “heavenly father” is more than just symbolism, more than a phrase?  So Happy Father’s Day Lord, from your child, and the children you have given me to care for, until we all meet in our heavenly home.

 

 

Published by the Forward In Christ magazine in 2009

Jesus used the lives of the blind and the deaf to powerfully demonstrate the relationship between God and man.  In today’s world we have few blind, deaf or lame people that we can relate to.  But we do have other disabilities that are more common.  Dealing with my 5 year old son’s autism reminds me how I am, by nature, far from God.  Caring for him reminds me how complete God’s power to save is.

Autism, and other related disabilities, change your way of life.  I suppose our condition is similar to families who care for children with cerebral palsy or for elderly loved ones with Alzheimer’s.  The needs of the disabled become the focus of daily life.  In the same way, our needs and spiritual disabilities are the focus of God’s existence.

To God, we must seem like children with autism.  Here’s how:

We are abnormal.  Children with autism often truly do live in their own little world.  They make strange motions and express themselves with strange noises.  For example, my son “kisses” me by grinding his chin into my forehead.  And they seem oblivious to obvious dangers like speeding cars.  In God’s eyes we live in a strange world of sin.  We do and say things that are inexplicable and offensive.  And we seem driven to walk a path that leads to hell no matter how much we are warned.  “and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 1 Corinthians 15:8”

We scream and shout in reaction to our environment.  The autistic reaction to frustration caused by miscommunication with others is often an angry tantrum.  Although we “normal” people can understand the world around us, we too often react harshly when the world doesn’t agree with us.  “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.” James 4:1, 2

We injure ourselves to block out the noise or pain.  The mind of a child with autism is often bombarded by the sights, smells and emotions around them.  A grocery store can be full of thousands of minute details his mind tries to process all at once.  And it’s not unusual for such a child to repeatedly slam both fists to his/her head in response.  I’m not sure if it’s out of frustration or just a way for the brain to focus on something it can readily interpret, such as pain.  But how easy it is for us turn to drugs, alcohol, perversion and excess when dealing with emotional pain in our lives.  Some do it to block out their disappointments and some because of the sensation their body craves.  “²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. 2 Samuel 17:23”

We obsess on the meaningless.  For years my son has enjoyed standing Legos on end in symmetrical patterns and then, with his head to the cold hard floor, eying each block from different angles.  (Heaven forbid if you should knock one of those blocks over.)  It makes no sense to me.  Just as it makes no sense to God for us to be constantly worrying about the future or living as though the universe belongs to us.  ¹³Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  James 4:13, 14

We don’t communicate.  As a toddler, my son refused to speak even a single word for a reward.  If he had said “up” I would have gladly and joyfully whisked him off his feet.  If he had said “candy” I would have quickly put a piece into his hand.  But his mind couldn’t see the need to use words.  Do we, as children of God, speak to our father in prayer?  Too often, we don’t.  Don’t we know how easy it is, how much we can benefit or how quickly our heavenly father will respond?  “¹⁰ Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹ “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”     ¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.” Isaiah 7:10-12”

We don’t respond.  If you’re a child with autism you only think in concrete terms and the world around you is confusing.  Consequently, you don’t respond to people, even people who love you.  As children with a sinful nature, we only think in selfish terms, the world around us is full of temptations and we tune out God’s voice.  “Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline. Jeremiah 17:23”

As our perfect heavenly parent, God cares for his disabled children.

He longs to take away the imperfections.  Even before our son was diagnosed, we longed to take away whatever was causing his distress.  Not just so we could get a good night’s rest or sit through a meal without screams and tears.  We wanted him to enjoy life, to appreciate and explore all it had to offer.  In the same way, our heavenly father longs to take away the effects of sin in our lives.  Ultimately, he wants us to experience the joy of perfect love, of never being lonely and never having to say “I’m sorry”.  “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelations 21:4”

He works at it every single day.  To treat autism you have to be as relentless as it is.  Treatment is most effective when the child is young and your window of opportunity seems very short.  We try to keep our son engaged and learning every waking hour.  We keep a daily log of his behaviors and activity in hope that we will find a clue as to what works and what doesn’t.  God is relentless in caring for his children.  He knows our struggle is constant and our life appears only for a little while.  His angels are always on duty and his Spirit is always at work within us.  “Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” John 5:17”

He commits everything to the cause.  Learning that your child has autism creates a feeling of urgency and commitment, a commitment to do everything in your power to fight for this child.  Hasn’t God felt this as well?  Wasn’t this part of Jesus motivation as he firmly strode to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday?  When the lash was digging into his flesh, when he was painfully gasping for breath while on the cross, he was fully committed to fight for his children.  “⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in very nature^[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the very nature^[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!  Phillipians 2:5-8

He provides the cure.  Here’s where the comparison to earthly parents doesn’t fit.  We experiment with different treatments and can only dream of providing a solution.  For God, the cure is already working and invigorating our bodies with new life.  “⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.  Ephesians 2: 4&5.”  As Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”  John 6:63.  This new life is not just a feeling or wishful thinking.  “¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  Ephesians 2:13.”  Nor is it a remedy that might wear off.  “⁴For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  2 Corinthians 5:4&5.”   Though the disease of sin still has its effect, one day his children will finally be free of it.

I’m thankful that God sees my natural, abnormal condition and lovingly cares for me until he can remove my disability forever.  I pray that he would work that same miracle in my children.