Because I Love You

    I had to write to tell you how much I love you and care for you. Yesterday, I saw you walking and laughing with your friends; I hoped that soon you'd want me to walk along with you, too. So, I painted you a sunset to close your day and whispered a cool breeze to refresh you. I waited -- you never called -- I just kept on loving you.

    As I watched you fall asleep last night, I wanted to touch you. I spilled moonlight onto your face -- trickling down your cheeks as so many tears have. You didn't even think of Me; I wanted so much to comfort you.

     The next day I exploded a brilliant sunrise into glorious morning for you. But you woke up late and rushed off to work -- you didn't even notice. My sky became cloudy and My tears were the rain.

    I love you, oh, if you'd only listen. I really love you. I try to say it in the quiet of the green meadow and in the blue sky. The wind whispers My love throughout the treetops and spills it into the vibrant colors of all the flowers. I shout it to you in the thunder of the great waterfalls and compose love songs for birds to sing for you. I warm you with the clothing of My sunshine and perfume the air with nature's sweet scent. My love for you is deeper than any ocean and greater than any need in your heart. If you'd only realize how I care.

    My Dad sends His love. I want you to meet Him -- He cares, too. Fathers are just that way. So, please; call on Me soon. No matter how long it takes, I'll wait -- because I love you.

Your Friend, Jesus

A Gentle Thunder

Once there was a man who dared God to speak.

"Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God. And I will follow."

"Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, God. And I will fight."

"Still the waves like you did on Galilee, God. And I will listen."

And so the man sat by a bush, near a wall, close to the sea and waited for God to speak.

And God heard the man, so God answered.

He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church.

He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin.

He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of the soul.

And God waited for the man to respond.

And he waited...

And he waited...

And waited.

But because the man was looking at bushes, not hearts; bricks and not lives; seas and not souls, he decided that God had done nothing. Finally he looked to God and asked, "Have you lost your power?"

And God looked at him and said, "Have you lost your hearing?"

(by Max Lucado)

"The Cross" by John Newton

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agonies and blood;
He fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath,
Shall I forget that look!
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayest live.”

Thus while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too!

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles, and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But she's right: they didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right: they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV or radio in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for them. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded-up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right: they didn't have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But they didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space just to find the nearest pizza joint.

But that old lady is right: they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

(Not original to me.  Printed on GCFL as received from Pam Clark)

Seven "Ones"

Have you ever worked at a job where you felt a strong bond with your co-workers? Perhaps you were united by a sense of mission, or by a respect for your boss, or by the belief that a prosperous company will benefit everyone financially. The more points of agreement among members of a group, the more they will be unified, the better they will perform, and the less likely they will be to fight among themselves.

Christians have a built-in list of unifiers that can keep them working together with a oneness of spirit. In Ephesians 5:4-6, Paul listed seven uniting "ones." Think of how helpful they can be to any group of believers working together on the same project:

One body — we are a single family unified for one purpose

One Spirit — we all have the Spirit as our power source

One hope — we all look forward to the same future

One Lord — we all trust the same Person in charge

One faith — we all trust Jesus' sacrifice for our salvation

One baptism — we all have a single identity

One God and Father — we all share the same source of our existence

What a difference it would make if we all could dwell on those seven "ones." —Dave Branon

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love!
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above. —Fawcett

Followers of Christ should focus on what unites them,
not on what divides them.

(from Our Daily Bread, 11/17/05)

He knew it was coming

How can I tell you that God knew that I was going to have cancer?  I must assume that you are a Christian in order to understand what I am about to say.  If you are not a Christian or you are a skeptic, then you will not believe me nor will you understand.

The question most naturally asked is, “Why would a good, all-powerful, all-mighty God allow bad things to happen to good people?”  The truth of the matter is that neither God nor the bible ever guarantees that we will have a good life.  Life happens.  We get sick.  We get discouraged.  We fail time and time again.  Yet that good, all-powerful, all-mighty God, who loves us, knows these things will happen and provides a way for us to bear up under the burden.  Sometimes He takes it away immediately.  Sometimes it lingers around before it is taken care of.  And sometimes He lets it run its course in our lives.  Why does He do this?  So that we might recognize our dependence upon Him and give Him praise for what He does.  This increases our faith and trust in Him and allows others to see Him through us in the way we handle life’s adversities.

The natural progression is, "If God knew it was going to happen, why didn’t He stop it?"  Consider the life of Job.  God allowed Satan to test Job.  He was told that he could do anything that he wanted to except take his life (Job 1:12).  God allowed testing to come in Job’s life in order to prove his faith and to bring glory and honor to the name of God.  Did God know it was going to happen?  Yes.  Did God allow it to happen?  Yes.  Did God take care of Job?  Yes.  Will he take care of us too if we have the faith of Job?  Yes.  Is that Fair?  Not from our perspective but it is from God's perspective.  Romans 9:15, 18 says, "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth."

When I say that God knew it was coming, I mean that God is omniscient.  That means that He knows everything before it even happens.  Why do I believe that?  Because I believe in Him.  The bible teaches that He knows us before we were even born.  In Jeremiah 1:5 KJV) it says, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”  And in Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NRSV), “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.  Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.  When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.”  You might say that that was spoken to the prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament and while that is true, it is also true that every word of the bible is spoken to us also.

The idea is that we are on a journey.  And on every journey there are certain things that need to be done in order to make that journey successful.  The outcome of our journey is to come into the presence of God.  The things that happen to us here on earth are used by God for the purpose of preparing us for that event.

You Have Cancer

I sat in the doctor's office that first week of November in 2008.  The doctor solemnly looked at me and said, "Mr. Bowien, you have cancer."

Wow!  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  Well, not really so hard.  I kind of suspected it all along.  I had been having some health issues that my primary care doctor was treating me for.  You know the kind ... the ones dealing with normal body functions caused by eating food and it going through the normal channels on its way out.  It was a numbing effect hearing those words ... "you have cancer."  I wanted to cry.  I think my wife was already crying.  The doctor told me that the only option that I had was surgery and then chemotherapy.  There ... its laid right in my lap.  Cancer!  People die from cancer.  I thought, "am I going to die?".  People suffer with cancer.  I thought, "am I going to suffer?".  I thought, "O, Lord, what am I going to do now?"

I began to ask all the same questions that I had heard from those that I had ministered to with cancer.  "Why me?"  "Why at this point in my life?"  "What will happen to my wife and family when I die?" (not if I die - I had cancer - when I die).  And then it came over me all of a sudden.  I had peace with it.  God began to speak to my heart and He told me three things that I want to share with you.

God said ... "I knew it was coming."

God said ... "I know how to take care of it."

God said ... "I want you to figure out its purpose and use it to help people going through the same thing."

With those thoughts going through my mind, I put complete trust in what God was going to do.  I said to the doctor, "Let's get this done.  Schedule the surgery and let's get started."  As I trusted God; complete peace about what was going to happen came to me.  My attitude changed to a positive outlook toward the future.  My perspective changed about the way people deal with cancer in their life.  I was actually excited about what God was going to do.  Now, perhaps, writing about it will be a blessing to others.  I hope to give you some real insight about faith, hope and trust.  Be looking for my next issue dealing with, "I knew it was coming."  I hope and pray that as you read about my experience, that you will be encouraged to find hope and peace in your experience.