Reflections

Who or What Do You Fear?

/ Bob
From the Back Porch

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

There is so much fear controlling our thoughts, actions, and relationships. And perhaps the greatest nexus of that fear is the corona virus. People run from one pundit to another, from one politician to another, and from one fact-checker to another hoping to find something that will put their minds at ease. Then, when people arrive at a perceived solution, they respond in fear to those who have arrived at a different solution. For example, consider the vaxxers and the anti-vaxxers. One group is fearful that the other group will help sustain the pandemic causing more people to die while one group is fearful that the other group will kill them with masks full of germs or the vaccines themselves. However, it doesn’t ultimately matter what the talking points of each group may be, because the ultimate issue is death.

The central focus of the COVID-19 story has been death. Death rates and daily death counts have been on every news station and the totals of cases and hospitalizations are given as precursors to death. Haven’t you heard the reports that death statistics lag behind case and hospitalization statistics? The only reason for making such a statement is to say, “Death is coming and coming soon.” Well, here’s some news – if you don’t die from COVID, you’re going to die from something else. Ain’t none of us getting out of this thing alive.

Taking precautions against the things that can sicken us or even kill us are good – no one wants to get sick, much less get sick and then die. No argument there. Even God instituted many laws for the Israelites that pertained only to their health and physical well being. We should be mindful to care for the bodies God has given us so that we can serve Him and honor Him more completely. My thoughts here are not about health practices, but perspective.

So whether you choose to vax or not vax, mask or not mask, distance yourself or crowd up at a sporting event, you need to consider this. How you die is not nearly as important as what happens after you die. God has established hell as a place for Satan and his followers. (Matthew 25:41; 2 Peter 2:4) It’s real. Jesus talked about hell (yes, He believed in hell) in Matthew 10:28. Often we like to refer to “fear” in the Bible as reverence or respect, but here Jesus is saying, “Be afraid – be very afraid.” He goes on to talk about God’s love and care, but the point is made. We need to be afraid of what is truly fearful and trust God for our very lives both now and when we die. God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. And for those who would say that He hasn’t done anything yet, I would encourage you to consider 2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” (NLT) Failure to trust Him should fill us with a sense of impending doom because that is what our future holds without Christ.

I respect your decisions concerning how you will respond to the corona virus. Furthermore, I understand your desire to convince those you love of what you have found to be the best response. But while we’re at it, we should wake up to the real life or death question that we all face. There is a point in time when each of us will die. (Hebrews 9:27) We should take this opportunity to look honestly at that which we fear – death – in order to find peace. And peace can only be found in Jesus. “While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.” (2 Corinthians 5:4 NLT) “ For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’” (2 Corinthians 15:53-55 NLT) As excited as we were when the hope of a vaccine was declared on the news, how much more should we be excited when the scripture declares that Jesus offers the hope of eternal life? Jesus Himself said, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 HCS)

Is death a reality? Yes. Can we experience victory over death? Yes – in Jesus.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26 NAS)

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

/ Bob

I had a doctors appointment this morning. On October 16 it will have been one year since my prostate cancer surgery. This was to be my one-year appointment. As I walked through the kitchen I saw out of the corner of my eye the glowing colors of dawn. I stepped out on the back porch and watched as the sun slowly crept over the horizon. That is the picture that you see here.

I was filled with a sense of God‘s presence and God’s protection as I prepared to face the doctors report. At all of my three month appointments I received good news – there was no PSA detected and hence, no cancer. Still, there is something unique about that one-year mark. But as ominous as the event itself may have been, I left the house with peace of mind; peace that only God can give and peace confirmed by the striking sunrise He had provided.

The doctor had good news. Still no detectable PSA, still no cancer. Cancer-free is a sweet, sweet phrase. However, a sweeter phrase than that is “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Corrie ten Boom once said, “No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still; with Jesus even in our darkest moments, the best remains and the very best is yet to be.” After today’s experience I can truly say that, even in our darkest moments, He is the light that breaks through the night – the sunrise in the midst of the darkness.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see:
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923

In All Things – Trust God

/ Bob

As I was reading Psalm 46 this morning I was reminded of all disasters around the world which appear on my daily newsfeed – floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, droughts – and the list goes on and on. I do not wish to engage in any arguments over what is man-made and what is natural when it comes to disasters. What I saw this morning in Psalm 46 is simply that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, whatever the cause.

We tend to fret and worry over the disasters that may or may not come our way when what we should do is trust God no matter what lies on the horizon. We can perhaps do some things to mitigate the effects of nature’s force but ultimately we must trust God before, during, and after the storm. Verse 10 of Psalm 46 tells us to be still and know that He is God and that He will be exalted in all the earth. If nothing else, surely the magnitude of a hurricane the size of the Gulf of Mexico or an earthquake that rocks the very ground of several states should remind us of how big God is and how small we are in comparison.

So while we in our human impotence try to determine what we should do in the face of disaster, we should first and foremost seek God in his omnipotence and trust him over and above anything that our finite minds can conceive.

1God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

4There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

7The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

8Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.

10Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

11The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Psalm 46 (NKJV)

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Yom Kippur ~ Day of Atonement

/ Bob
Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, begins this evening just before sundown and ends tomorrow evening when the first stars appear. It’s the annual Day of Atonement when God covered and removed the sin of Israel.

For Christians it is a reminder that Jesus, our Messiah, became our complete atonement – the scapegoat on which our sins were laid. Through His death and resurrection we are cleansed and our atonement is sealed with the gift of
the Holy Spirit for all eternity.

Therefore, on this special day I offer these words: “G’mar Chatima Tova” – a good final sealing.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be [Yom Kippur] the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 23:26-28 NKJV)

“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat [d]shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.” (Leviticus 16:20-22 NKJV)

“This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.” (Leviticus 16:29-31 NKJV)

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Get Up! Get Your Stuff and Go!

/ Bob

It doesn’t matter what ails you. It doesn’t matter what obstacles stand in your way. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been for help, what solutions you’ve tried, or how many years you’ve been dealing with the problem – Jesus can help. In our study of the 5th Chapter of John we saw Jesus heal a man who had been a paraplegic for 38 years. Only Jesus could speak hope into such a situation as this. Only Jesus could bring physical healing to this man. And only Jesus could save him from a fate worse than his physical state because only Jesus could save him from eternal death.  That same saving power is ours through the blood of Jesus Christ.  It reminds me of the song, “In Christ Alone” by by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand

Here is the link to our Agape Life Bible Study class session from the 5th chapter of John in which Jesus heals a man at the Pool of Bethesda.

He’s With Us Through This Whole Thing

/ Bob

Today marks 9 months since my prostate cancer surgery. I had my 9-month visit with my doctor this week and my blood work has remained unchanged ever since the surgery. There is no detectable PSA and consequently no detectable cancer cells. He was thrilled to see me as he has been at every checkup. He told me again how happy he was with the results and I flippantly asked, “What did you expect?” He replied, “I fully expected you to be on radiation at this point as well as hormone therapy. You really should not be doing this well.” He said that when he saw the pathology report and when he saw the MRI and then when the report came back from M.D. Anderson that showed my entire prostate had been taken over by the cancer and that it had taken over the seminal vesicles and that it was in the margins (the marginal tissue of the prostate next to the surrounding tissues) and that it had moved into the lymph nodes – well he figured I would be struggling. Then he looked me in the eye and said that “the Lord was definitely by my side throughout this whole thing.” All I can say is AMEN.


But here’s the even greater truth – even if none of this good news had come, the Lord would still have been by my side through this whole thing. The three boys in the fiery furnace knew that God was able to deliver them and even told the king that, but then they said that if God didn’t deliver them they would still worship Him and Him alone. And who showed up in the midst of the fiery furnace? Jesus showed up – He was with them throughout that whole thing. God didn’t promise us deliverance from the the trials and troubles of this life. In fact, he promised us that they would come. But He also said that He would be with us throughout this whole thing.

“And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

My Uncompromising Mother

/ Bob

My mother grew up during the depression as one of 9 children of a Baptist preacher. Times for hard for all of them, but especially for a young lady who was taller than the average man. And quite frankly, she probably could have taken on any average man and won the fight. She grew up in a God fearing home and became a God fearing wife and mother and she was a force to be reckoned with. (I tested her many times and I don’t recall one time I came out on top.)

In her work for the state of Texas in Child Protective Services she was that same force only in the cases with which she dealt, she took it personally. When she came across a child who had been abused there was nothing that would keep her from protecting that child and seeing to it that the abuser would never have that opportunity again. Judges, Sheriffs, other Law Enforcement Officers, District Attorneys, Defense Attorneys, and even her own staff and her bosses in Austin feared her. She was relentless. She saw abuse as evil and believed strongly that it was not to be tolerated, but to be obliterated.

I learned much from her tenacious spirit, but one of the things that sticks out is her uncompromising faith based on the Word of God. Today we think of compromising as good and uncompromising as bad. It’s true that compromise is something we have to learn how to handle in order to get along with people around us. But there are times when we need to be uncompromising. When it comes to our faith in Jesus Christ we must stand firmly on the truth of God’s Word. We don’t have to be belligerent or obnoxious when we take our stand, but we must stand tenaciously holding to the truth. Thanks, mom, for teaching me that sometimes we have to firmly stand and oppose the things in this world that are evil, and thanks for teaching me that God’s Word is truth – truth on which we can stand firmly and not compromise with the values the world calls good.

The Wisest Person I Know

/ Bob

Wisdom is a trait often sought by people who have to make decisions; who have trying times and want to know how to deal with them; for people who are just tired of bumping up against the road blocks of life. We seek wisdom and yet we seem to find very little of it.  God tells is in the book of James that if we want wisdom we should just ask God for it and he will be glad to give it to us. However, too often we just want to talk to someone, talk to someone who agrees with us, or maybe just talk to someone in our own mind because we know that person will definitely agree with us.  No matter. We just want wisdom.


What a blessing it is when the person who you consider to be the wisest person of all is also the one to whom you are married. Pam is without a doubt the wisest person I know. Of course, if you ask her if she is wise she would deny it vehemently. But that she truly is. And the best part is her wisdom is not earthly wisdom but rather the godly wisdom she has gained from reading and studying God’s word. I cannot number the times she has answered my concerns with scripture or with some godly principle she has been developing. She is able to see straight through my angst to the heart of the matter and speak truth to me.  Sometimes I wanna hear it –  sometimes I don’t, but it is truth nonetheless and it is always applicable truth.


Last fall I had to have a radical prostatectomy. During the process God gave me peace I had never known before. Peace that, no matter what the physical outcome, God was still God and that all would be well with my soul. I found myself in the hospital with so much peace that I prayed with my nurses and doctors and found great joy in doing so. Since the beginning of the year I’ve been dealing with some serious back and hip problems. In the process I had to get an MRI which is no fun for a person of my size. (When they bring in a tub of lard to grease you up so that you will slide into that small tube, you know you’re in trouble.)  When I came out I talked with the technician as he was wheeling me out.  I asked him to stop so that we could pray. I prayed for him and again found great joy in doing so.  He told me he was a believer and we enjoyed great fellowship in the labyrinth of hallways leading to the front door. The pain was still there but the joy completely overrode the pain. 


When I told Pam about the day and about praying with the young man at the hospital she was happy for me. Then her wisdom immediately kicked in and she said the when I’m in the hospital I am full grace and peace knowing God will take care of me. She went on to say that sometimes here at the house I forget how God has helped me by strengthening me and giving me peace when I needed it. She went on to say God is ready to grant me that same peace at home. There it was – God’s wisdom coming from the mouth of my wife. Too often, when we get home, we think we can relax because we have arrived at our personal sanctuary – a place we go as a retreat from the world around us. But in our struggle against the wiles of the devil we can never relax. 


Now your response might be “Well, Duh.”   The fact is when you are in the midst of the struggle you often don’t see truth as well as you see circumstances. Pam helped me see the truth in the midst of the circumstances and it’s only by God’s wisdom that she was able to discern the truth.  It’s also God’s wisdom that showed her how and when to say it.  

Without a doubt, she is the wisest person I know.  And, if you aren’t convinced, consider this – she married me!

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”  James 3:17

Shuppim & Huppim

/ Bob

I was reading through 1 Chronicles this morning as part of my daily Bible reading. In this particular section – Chapter 7 – we find one of the countless lists of names. I actually enjoy reading through the genealogies, primarily to look for names that I recognize so that I can see from whence they came. I also enjoy the times when the scripture highlights something particular concerning one of the people mentioned like when Ephraim’s daughter, Sheerah, built Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah. Fascinating!

However, today I was struck by the fact that we are absolutely boring when it comes to naming our children. My name is Bob. Just Bob. Three letters and two of them are the same. In 1 Chronicles 7:12 we find the names Shuppim and Huppim. I am in hopes that someone reading this will name their twin boys Shuppim and Huppim when the time comes for naming their precious bundles of joy. You may find it cruel but I dare say that, much like the boy named Sue, they will grow up strong and able to deal with anything that comes their way.

I can hear Ma Kettle now – calling Shuppim and Huppim to come in for supper. Try it. You’ll like the way it sounds.

Our Nation Is in His Hands

/ Bob

5Then the LORD gave me this message: 6“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. 7If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, 8but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. 9And if I announce that I will build up and plant a certain nation or kingdom, making it strong and great, 10but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless that nation as I had said I would.Jeremiah 18:5-10

God spoke these words to the people of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah. While we should be cautious about taking any prophecy concerning the nation of Israel and applying it to any other nation such as the United States of America, we should take note of the general description of God’s sovereignty as we look at verses 7-10. In fact, we could replace the words “a nation” and “a kingdom” with the informal name, America, and it’s truth remains the same.

5Then the LORD gave me this message: 6“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. 7If I announce that America is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, 8but then America renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. 9And if I announce that I will build up and plant America, making it strong and great, 10but then America turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless America as I had said I would.

We must renounce our evil ways. We must turn away from evil and turn to the One who alone holds us in the palms of His hands . . . before it’s too late.