willing workers

All day today two-three men have been working in a small bathroom adjacent to our church offices. The local authorities have said that our office structure, an old house built in the 1870's, had to be brought up to building code for safety, A littany of small, painstaking tasks were identified and a small cadre of faithful men have been diligently tackling each one.

They are not being paid, and the tasks they are doing they have had to do, undo, and redo, due to the mercurial nature of local building inspectors.

But as I listen to them today, they are laughing, singing,visiting, verbalizing together the wonderful unity of men with a common purpose working together to serve the Lord in the most menial ways.

When I say "menial", it is not a form of deprecation; I admire these men. They are skilled laborers--an enginer, a school shop teacher, a mechanic. What may seem "menial" from a worldly point of view, is incredible craftsmanship to me as they figure out how to apply new standards to an old tired victorian house.

I am in my office, doing administrative work and trying to study. I am tired. The work I do everyone notices and even sometime applauds. The faithful work of these willing workers goes by largely unnoticed...except that I am confident God takes note and seesall that we do as workman to His glory and for His glory.

I appreciate the willing workers around me, who serve God behind the scenes. They make the work I do in the office seem menial, in comparison to theirs.

I am glad that God sees us all.

What does Harold Camping do now...?

In 1994 Harold Camping wrongly suggested he knew the time of Christ's return and we have just "survived" another Harold Camping "prophetic" prognostication about a May 21st return...same results. He is now correcting his data and assuring us that October 21st will be the date.

Notwithstanding the clear declaration of Jesus that no man knows the day or the hour of Christ's return, we now must deal with the mockery and ridicule of the entire Christian community that sadly are grouped together with Camping and his unhappy followers. One of his disciples acknowledged that he had given $141,000 of his money to help advertise the May 21st event and it is rumpored that ten million dollars was used by Camping's ministry/business to finance this travesty.

I rarely speak out against a fellow minister by name but it is hard to not wonder how many people will continue to be duped by someone posing as a minister of the gospel and misrperesenting the truth of that gospel. Have we not learned that the Word of God is true, that it can be trusted, and that men who disregard its truth will ultimately be exposed as imposters and false teachers.

No, Harold. The third time will not be the charm!

usama bin laden's death and judgment

When I awakened this morning to engage in my ritualistic remote control calisthenics between CNN and FOX news, I watched about thirty minutes of uninterrupted news about bin laden's death--"What was it like inside the compound?" "Didn't the nearby Pakistani military govenment have some inkling that he was hiding there?" "Should we stay in Afghanistan now that bin laden is death?" "Did the villagers have and observations to share about the traffic around the compound?" "How were the Seals' forces trained for this covert assault?" etc.....

However, the most bizarre for me revolves around this question, supposedly to be resolved today--"Shall we release a photo of the dead usama bin laden?" Allegedly, a high level conference was being scheduled to make that determination.

As Bev and I watched FOXES' over-the-top coverage several thoughts emerged in my mind, and I am writing them down as I reflect on them (You may or may not be pleased I chose to record them...)

1. Is the picture for the benefit of Amricans seeking "closure"...sleeping better now that they knopw bin laden is dead?

2. Is the picture meant to be a vengeance release for the families of 9-11 who have been grieving the loss of loved ones in the attack and desiring some little bit of revenge to "ease their pain"?

3. Is the picture a way for our nation to move forward in "triumphal procession" with the body of bin laden on view for all the world to see?


4. Is the picture a way of visually making President Obama a "national hero"? Under the presidential watch of Clinton and Bush such a conquest never happened.

5. Is the picture a means of "finessing" the continuation of waterboarding as a means of securing information from political prisoners (it is alleged the information helpful in locating bin laden came from an informant who underwent the tortuous waterboarding)?

I am not certain of why this is such a hotly-debated issue. What I ponder this morning is the truth of Hebrews 9:27, "...man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment..."

The judgment for every unrepentant sinner--including me--is eternal death, "The wages of sin is death", Romans 3:23. Usama bin laden is dead and God's judgment awaits him, as it awaits any of us who reject Christ.

Bin Laden is dead; I don't need to see the picture of his corpse. I am simply reminded that life is short and how we live it has eternal consequences.