Questions For You

 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.  You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.

I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.  For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

 This is an excerpt from the Book of Acts, chapter 20 where Paul the apostle addresses the leaders of the church at Ephesus before he goes to Jerusalem.  He knows that he will be met with severe opposition there.  And indeed he was beaten by a Jewish mob and arrested by the Romans.  That incident led to his being sent to Rome In an appeal to the Caesar and his imprisonment for at least two years.

But I want you to put yourself in Paul’s place if you can, as you read what he said to the Ephesians.  Paul saw, heard, and communed with the risen Jesus Christ.  He was very well-versed in the prophecies of the Jewish scriptures regarding the coming of a Messiah.  He was able to perform miracles of healing and exorcism, and felt the power of the Holy Spirit in his life.

What he tells the Ephesian leaders is a succinct summary of his years of ministry.  He says he has served in ministry with humility, tears, and intense opposition.  Yet he continued to teach both publicly as well as more privately in small groups and even one-on-one.

This was Paul’s life.  This was his work.  This is how he spent his days…his time.  Paul was driven to, as he says, “proclaim to you the whole will of God.”

I asked you to put yourself in Paul’s place if you could as I reviewed for you his words to the Ephesian leaders.  I know we’ve not experienced the manifestations of Jesus Christ as Paul did.  I know we have not experienced a conversion quite like Paul did with the blinding light, the blindness, the healing, and all that came with those things.  Our conversion experiences are probably more, shall I say, conventional than Paul’s.

I had to personally wonder if I could come even close to having the mind of Paul that I see in his words to the Ephesian leaders.  I know I don’t have the same talents, abilities, and opportunities to teach as Paul did.  I can’t heal and exorcise demons.  I haven’t physically heard the words of a risen Jesus as he spoke to me.  I’m not a circuit-riding preacher.  But I do have a ministry.  And I have to wonder just how much I have encouraged others to “turn to God in repentance.”  I have to wonder just how much I have testified “to the good news of God’s grace.”  I have to wonder if I have unhesitatingly proclaimed “the whole will of God.”

And I have to wonder how many tears I have shed in humility, and if I really consider my life worth nothing to me, but rather desire to “finish the race and complete the task that the Lord Jesus has given me.”

I know I’ve asked a lot of questions…and I’m wondering if I dare answer them truthfully.  Putting oneself in the sandals of Paul the Apostle provokes a contemplation not often done.  It also evokes a certain terror, knowing his experiences with opposition, pain, suffering, and prison.

Our culture, I think, tends to make us lazy.  We tend to become lukewarm in our faith.  We don’t see the need to bother our neighbor, our relative, or our friend with the good news.  We become satisfied with life as it is, assuming it will always be.

Paul was a man driven.  A man on a mission.  A man who knew the eternal importance of what he was doing.  A man who had given himself totally over to the work of God.

Eternal reality demands that we look honestly at the life of Paul, and the lives of those others who have given and are giving their lives over to the Lord.  How do we measure up?  What are some things we need to shed from our lives?  What are some things we need to clothe ourselves with?  How can we better fulfill our responsibility to serve our Lord and Savior?

May we all, with prayer and guidance from the Spirit of God, seek to serve our Lord as He would have us do in the days that remain for each of us.

An Old Song

 Good morning.

For some reason this morning, as I was doing normal office-type things at the office, the first line to the words of an old, not-often-sung hymn titled “Sometimes the Shadows Are Deep” written in 1871 by Erastus Johnson came to mind.  Now, you may not recognize this hymn because it is not often sung anymore, and its message is not one of joy and happiness.  I don’t know why the words of this song came to me today.  Sometimes things like that just pop  up in my mind and then remains there all day, asking me to consider the meaning of whatever that thing may be.

In the event you may not know the song, here is the first of three verses.  O sometimes the shadows are deep.  And rough seems the path to the goal.  And sorrows, sometimes how they sweep like tempests down over the soul!

As I said, the song is not one of rainbows and unicorns.  I did some research on the song, and found that Mr. Johnson wrote the song as a result of the financial panic of 1871, begun in Chicago as an aftereffect of the Great Chicago Fire.  The panic spread to those who had been wildly speculating on railroads and real estate, resulting in bank runs and insolvency of financial institutions.  In those days, there was no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to guarantee the liquidity of bank deposits.  Everyone was pretty much on their own.  The economy spiraled down with a renewed depression beginning in 1873 that lasted almost 20 years.

However, let’s not stop with just the first verse of the song.  Because Mr. Johnson brings the thoughts of the poem around to the Rock of stability in the midst of great uncertainty and panic.  Here’s what he says in the song.

 O sometimes how long seems the day, And sometimes how weary my feet; But toiling in life's dusty way, The Rock's blessed shadow, how sweet!

3. O near to the Rock let me keep If blessings or sorrow prevail, Or climbing the mountain way steep, Or walking the shadowy vale.

And then the chorus:  O then to the Rock let me fly, To the Rock that is higher than I; O then to the Rock let me fly, To the Rock that is higher than I!

It has been many decades since I sang this song in a church service.  I have no clue why those words suddenly appeared in my thoughts today.  I’m not especially burdened, depressed, or otherwise in the dumps.  Perhaps it’s the message of the last part of the song and the chorus that was meant for me today.  God is indeed compared to a rock in Scripture…a symbol of stability and refuge.  Other hymns have been written with that thought in mind as well.  Rock of Ages comes to mind immediately.  You may be able to think of others.

Yes, in life we have to deal with the uncertainties.  We have to pivot at times from where we were heading to go in an entirely different direction.  We don’t know what the future holds for us.  Our priority list sometimes gets upended with a phone call, text, or letter.  We sometimes have to scramble to just make it through the day.  I get it.

But for those of us who are children of God, there is a refuge from the uncertainties and turmoil of everyday life and living.  The God who sees and knows all is not flustered by the happenings in our lives.  He’s not in heaven wondering what He will do now that things have apparently gone south.  He isn’t calling a meeting of his angels for suggestions on how to handle the situation.

No, He is very much aware of past, present, and future, knows exactly what He is doing and why, and is working to carry out His will & plans even when it seems like nothing is moving…nothing is happening.  Our job is not to panic, but to trust.  And that’s the theme of the song.  As much as it goes against our grain as human beings, our job is trust instead of panic, peace instead of chaos, faith instead of doubt.

Some of the Psalms of David demonstrate this very well.  He wrote several Psalms during his exile and flight from Saul.  He sometimes wondered where God was or what God was doing.  But then at the end of the Psalm, David broke out in praise to his creator and Lord, trusting in his God.

One of those Psalms may well be the 28^th Psalm.  I’ll close with a portion of it.  And this Psalm, by the way, is one of those places in Scripture that refers to God as a Rock.

To you, Lord, I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me.

For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.

2Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.

And then David says,

7The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

Blessings,

A Conversation

 Good morning.

 As you may already know from observation as well as hearing about it on the news and in other places, there is a segment of the population which does not have a place they can call home.  They live on the street, in parks, in cars, or sometimes with friends.  They often have no money or source of income.  They often are relatively easy to spot due to their attire and general lack of cleanliness.  They are the homeless population.

We in the homed population often don’t understand why some people are homeless.  We tend to adopt an “out of sight…out of mind” attitude toward them.  We often are leery of getting too close to them physically…sometimes out of fear and sometimes just because we don’t want to see how some people survive day to day.  And we often have short and pat answers to their homelessness.  “Get a job,” is one of the most common platitudes we spout as we drive by an encampment.

According to Sedgwick County commissioner Ryan Baty, there are approximately 2,000 unhomed individuals in Wichita and surrounding area.  Of those, about 1,600 will find housing within a reasonable period of time.  For those 1,600, homelessness is a temporary setback that they can work out of reasonably well.

About 200 of the homeless are more chronically unhoused, and are taking advantage of resources that are available to help them get out of the homeless whirlpool and into housing.  The Second Light shelter is one of those places in Wichita which provides support for those in that category.

The remaining 200 are the chronically unhoused who are either unable or unwilling to take advantage of the kinds of resources which can help them with a solution to their homelessness.  Commissioner Baty describes them this way.  He says, “We simply call (these people the) ‘hardest to engage.’  These are often individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, debilitating addiction, or a developmental disability.  Many of these folks simply cannot sustain independent housing, even if given to them.  We no longer institutionalize as a society for a variety of reasons — and there are no viable group homes with this level of acute care.  Many of these individuals aimlessly wonder, mostly in downtown, where food services exist.  It’s heartbreaking.”

This is Jay again.  Many of these 200 are mentally ill or emotionally so crippled that they are unable to make the decisions necessary to take advantage of the kinds of services which could help them become housed.  It is these 200 which are the most difficult to work with or help in any way, no matter how much we in the homed community would like to help.

The issues with these folks often seem to be intractable.  The mentally ill cannot be involuntarily committed for treatment unless they are a danger to themselves or others.  They will not voluntarily commit to treatment…some aren’t capable of making that decision.  Others don’t want to do so.  Additionally, few beds and little money are available to provide the necessary treatment.

If someone does go through treatment, they often are dismissed with a prescription for medication they cannot afford, and don’t understand that they need that medication on an on-going basis.  There is often little follow-up with someone who had been in treatment to determine needs.  Transportation is an issue for many…getting to the pharmacy or to an appointment.  Finding a job and a way to support oneself is difficult, especially if one has no legal identification, which is not at all unusual.

Even obtaining an ID card can take months of running through the bureaucratic red tape.  Without an ID, there is no Social Security or disability or other benefits.  Housing is virtually non-existent.  Access to services is problematic.  Going to work is out of the question.  With no ID, a person effectively becomes a non-person in the eyes of many.

Commissioner Baty, who I mentioned earlier, is taking a bold step.  He is organizing a round-table discussion for later on this summer, keying in on those approximately 200 unhoused who are the most difficult to work with productively.  I don’t know who will be a participant in the discussion, but I know I want to hear what is said.

I have often said that I don’t have the answers to a lot of these kinds of questions.  And I’m not even sure I know the questions to ask.  Ryan is at least putting the questions out in public, along with any possible answers.  That’s progress.  I don’t know if any answers will come of the discussion.  The group may not get much farther than understanding the questions.  But I suspect Ryan will keep at it for as long as he believes things are moving along toward some kind of solution.

We may have to change some laws regarding mental health treatment.  We will have to provide better public education.  Somehow, we will need to find the resources to provide the services these folks need, and will take advantage of.  And, we may have to understand that we may not be able, despite our best efforts, to shelter and serve everyone.

This promises to be an interesting discussion…one in which I am very much interested.  I hope you too will have an interest and participate in it.

Thank you for listening.  May your day be blessed and may you be a blessing to others.