Left Behind

The Things We Leave Behind The Daily Post at WordPress.

It hadn’t occurred to me where I might be going, I just knew I was to leave Jerusalem very soon. I also knew it would be a long time before I’d return. I sorted out some things to give away, and other stuff not worth keeping I simply tossed. I packed a box of things to send to my folks; they’d store them in their attic with other things I’d left there. I knew I needed to travel light. I had only one thing left, my autoharp.

Some years before I’d learned to play the autoharp while staying in Morro Bay, California. It was the only instrument that I did well at playing. As a child, my mother tried to teach me piano. She was a graduate of the London College of Music. She’d played at a Welsh National Music Festival, the Eisteddfod. I was born with music in my soul and poetry running through my veins. I was not a good music student, much to my mother’s disappointment. The trumpet and the clarinet were next, but never truly did I master them. Later I tried the guitar and the recorder. Neither seemed to suit me well. But the autoharp, that was me.

I enjoyed singing praise songs accompanied by the autoharp. I felt a bit like a modern King David, praising the Lord with his harp. One year I and my autoharp traveled from Greece to Wales on a series of buses and trains, with stops along the way. I spent a “pilgrimage” on Mt. Athos, where I sat near an old monetary playing that autoharp and singing praise songs to the Lord. Through Turkey and the old Yugoslavia, Italy and into to France, autoharp in hand, backpack slung on across my shoulders. Across the Channel and through England and finally to Wales.

When I went to Israel, my autoharp went with me. I fell in love with Israel, especially with Jerusalem. I loved the Hebrew folk music and psalms I learned. I loved the people with whom I worked, and to whom I ministered. But when it was time to leave, I knew it was time to leave behind my autoharp. It was time to say good bye. I played that autoharp near the Temple. It had to stay. How could I play it any where else? It felt like it was part of Jerusalem and must remain. So I donated it to a music academy.

I think about that old autoharp every once and a while. One day, Lord willing, I shall return to Jerusalem. The music academy said, when I left the autoharp there, that I could use it whenever I was back. That was over twenty-five years ago. Will it still be there where I left it behind?

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon you. . .

By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How shall we sing the LORD’S song
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
—Psalm 137:1-6

Proclaiming Y’shua

Some years ago, while attending a church in California’s Bay Area, I found myself disturbed by something at first I couldn’t explain. The Sunday service began as do most Bible-based churches, with a time of praise and worship led by a music or praise minister. This church’s praise minister was also the senior pastor. The musicians were excellent. While there was no choir, as a more traditional denominational church might have, there were several vocalists that stood with the band. A large screen formed the backdrop to the stage and displayed the words to the songs. Each Sunday it was like attending a rock concert. . .

That was it! Praise is to be directed toward Heaven, not stopped at the stage. The musicians, the vocalists, the worship leader is there only to help the people direct their praise, their worship, toward the object of our faith, toward G-d the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Here at this particular church the praise was too perfect, too well rehearsed. The people sang along but their praise didn’t leave the church, rather was absorbed by those on the stage performing for the people. They performed, not for G-d, but for the people.

Apostle Paul said “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Y’shua Mashiach as L-rd.” As ministers of Mashiach—Messiah, Christ—we are obligated to proclaim Y’shua as G-d. When we perform for the benefit of people, we are proclaiming ourselves, not Mashiach.

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus ‘sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. —2 Corinthians 4:5,6

There is another side to this matter. I once attended a workshop on music ministry. I recall that the pastor talking about Christian musicians’ failures when they fall prey to an audience that directs its worship toward the artist rather than the one that made the artist great. How many times have we seen a secular musician’s “fans” get out of control in their desire to just touch a celebrity? All the time. According to the pastor leading the workshop, this same type of thing happens in church, too, though not as overt, not as visible. Perhaps it begins with admiration of the praise team and its leader.. Eventually the praise team begins to feel it is something special and worthy of this admiration. This lead to P R I D E. What goes before failure, a fall? P R I D E.

As ministers of Mashiach, we are obligated to be aware situations in which we are becoming prideful. We are held to a higher standard. Our failures are greater, affect more people. When we are offered a simple praise, such as “Thank you,” our response may simply be “you are welcome.” But can we rather direct all praise to L-rd Y’shua Mashiach? Can we not answer the “thank you” with “Praise the L-rd!”

Fall Thoughts Continue

The temperature outside today reached into the low seventies. The chilly evenings we’ve had hit the bugs hard, and not one was around to bite me while I dug some holes. It’s fall so it’s time to plant some bushes. There’s an area in front of my house that grass has trouble growing. Over this area looms a large river birch. My wife and I cleared what grass remained and dumped in about three yards of top soil, building several mounds, and just raising the area to be even with the base of the birch tree. The bushes we plant out front are mostly inedible, unlike the variety in the garden that takes up most of the area behind the house.

As the day progressed, the wind picked up and more leaves fell from the trees. I hauled some rock and clay, removed from the holes I dug, around back and stood amazed at the contrast of a large Russian sage bush with red heads and bright green shoots against the brown leaves that collected all over it. And there are still many wild roses with bloom remaining. Thought the mint is thinned now, some is still available for harvest, as are a few cone flowers.

I thought with thanksgiving about the way our G-d provides such beauty amid the practicality of our natural surroundings. Thanks to the Spirit of G-d Who drew me to the Lord Y’shuaJesus, I can look at Creation with wonder and awe. Things didn’t just happen. I didn’t just happen. Like creation, I was created. I belong. I can hear the song from long ago flowing through my mind, “I am my Father’s and my Father is mine.” I am not an orphan. I am a son.

You are a son, a daughter, too.

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:29-31

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

A Song of Praise

A Song of Praise. Of David. I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

Psalm 145:1-5

“Those who, under troubles and temptations, abound in fervent prayer, shall in due season abound in grateful praise, which is the true language of holy joy. Especially we should speak of God’s wondrous work of redemption, while we declare his greatness. For no deliverance of the Israelites, nor the punishment of sinners, so clearly proclaims the justice of God, as the cross of Christ exhibits it to the enlightened mind. It may be truly said of our Lord Jesus Christ, that his words are words of goodness and grace; his works are works of goodness and grace. He is full of compassion; hence he came into the world to save sinners. When on earth, he showed his compassion both to the bodies and souls of men, by healing the one, and making wise the other. He is of great mercy, a merciful High Priest, through whom God is merciful to sinners.” (Matthew Henry, from his concise commentary)

In Mr. Henry’s comments, I find that the reward for “fervent prayer” during trials and temptations will be that some day I’ll “abound in grateful praise. I shant disagree with Mr. Henry; certainly there are always rewards at future times for today’s righteous acts. I will add, however, to Mr. Henry’s comment. David sang to his Lord, our Lord, “I will extol you, my G-d and King, and bless your name forever and ever.” When David sang this, he could not help but be elevated into the joyful realm of G-d’s Heavenly Kingdom, if only for a minute, even an instant. And one minute, even one instant, of Heaven is enough to change one’s heart for the day of troubles that follow.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Have you every heard a stone cry out?

The other day, an acquaintance said that his neighbor, who is also an amateur radio operator, told him the hobby is dying out as a result of cell phones and internet. I disagree. I told him that hams are very inventive people, and that experimentation with new electronic communications is ongoing. Radio communications became possible through the vibrations, or oscillations, of a tiny piece of crystal—a small rock—to which electricity is applied. The size of the crystal determined the rate of vibration, its frequency. Today, no longer bound to crystals, receivers and transmitters have a large spectrum of frequencies available to tune across with one radio.

I’ve enjoyed ham radio since the mid-1970s and am continually amazed how this “hobby” has evolved to include satellites and a worldwide email system. Despite the modern advances, the old methods still prevail: moving the tuning dial on a receiver, listening for someone calling “CQ,” which is a general invitation to talk, and then broadcasting an answering call. Yes, ham radio is really the first Social Media, predating Facebook by a hundred years.

One of my favorite activities is the Bible nets. Nets are gatherings of hams on a particular frequency (sort of like a channel) at a particular time and day. There is one called the Bible Fellowship Network that operates daily very early in the morning. There are other Bible nets that operate in the afternoons. Bible nets are usually a round table affair with hams commenting on a scripture, giving a report on something for which they wish to praise the Lord, or requesting prayer and being prayed for over the air waves.

Given radios humble beginnings with a crystal vibrating, is it too much of a stretch to say that rocks to cry out?

I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

Luke 19:40
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Five Lessons in Boat Handling

In his article in Good Old Boat magazine (Nov./Dec. 2011) Sigmund Baardsen wrote of his modest success racing a Naples Sabot dinghy in 1949. He’d complained to his mentor, Ray Wallace, that while he had superior speed, the other kids got past him when rounding the marks and in close quarters.

Mr. Baardsen’s mentor considered the problem and offered a solution. “You have to practice to get better control over your boat,” he’d said. “Early in the morning, before the wind becomes too strong, sail to a quite basin in the harbor where you can be undisturbed and unobserved. Take along the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times, your lunch, water, and sunscreen; you’ll be there all day. Wad up the front page of the paper and pitch it over the side, turn back, and try run it over. When it sinks, throw out another page. Repeat that until you can do it perfectly. Then start passing as close as you can without touching the paper. When you can do that perfectly, start throwing out two wads of newspaper and sailing between them. Then start making figure-eights between the paper wads. When you are comfortable with that, start throwing out three wads of pper and start tacking and gybing among them. By the time you get through the hundres of pages of the Sunday Times, I guarantee you’ll be the best boat handler in the fleet.”

The author of the article went on to say that the advice was good enough to move him to the championship. In his article, he goes on to speak of five lessons for boat handling: Practice, observation, restraint, patience, persistence. It seems to me, these are exactly right for us in our Bible Walk as we prepare to come into the presence of our Lord Y’shuaJesus.

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Revelation 4:8-11

Regarding the cited scripture, Matthew Henry wrote: “The heavenly throne room is characterized by unceasing joyful praise, thanksgiving, and worship toward the Lord by all the creatures present. As believers here on earth consistently engage in similar worshipful living (e.g., 1Th 5:16-18), we prepare to live in the presence of the Lord.

This preparation, this “worshipful living” to which Mr. Henry refers is in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian Church (5:16-22):

Rejoice always!
Pray constantly.
Give thanks in everything,
for this is G-d’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Don’t stifle the Spirit.
Don’t despise prophecies,
but test all things.
Hold on to what is good.
Stay away from every form of evil.

To become a champion at worshipful living, like racing a sailboat, we need to practice. Perhaps this is something that gets forgotten. Once we are saved, we are spiritually in the presence of the Lord and spiritually perfected. But we still have the flesh. We stray and it’s called “backsliding.” We need more practice. We need to think not that we won’t fail, but that we will practice and practice and practice. The five lessons Sigmund Baardsen wrote about totally apply here. We begin our practice alone, in calm seas. We observe the people of G-d in the Bible and those in the Lord’s Church. There is a measure of restraint in our walk that keeps us from moving too quickly through our lessons. Patience helps us resist discouragement in our failures. And finally persistence in pressing onward in our Bible Walk.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .