Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 20

The Tree of Knowledge

Whenbad things happen, everyone asks – why would God do this? Why would a loving Fatherallow believers to suffer? Why would He let innocent little children die painfuldeaths?

Peoplesearch all over the Bible for answers to those questions, and they sometimesfind good ones. I’ve asked God all those things – and more – as I struggledwith pain and a list of other maladies over the past eleven months. And I’vefound some answers in the Bible, too. But way back in the second chapter of thefirst book of the Bible is the answer which works best for me.

Then the Lord God placed the man in theGarden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. He told him, “You may eat thefruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of whatis good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do,you will die the same day.” (Genesis 2:15-17, Good News Translation)

Maybewe just aren’t supposed to know why things happen. Maybe if we knew the answersto those questions, we wouldn’t be able to handle it. Maybe we just need totrust God that He knows what He’s doing. He has knowledge and that needs to be enoughfor us.  

Who Is the Holy Spirit?

“If you love me, obey me; and I will askthe Father and he will give you another Comforter, and he will never leave you.He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who leads into all truth. The world at largecannot receive him, for it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. Butyou do, for he lives with you now and some day shall be in you. 

"No, I will notabandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you. In just alittle while I will be gone from the world, but I will still be present withyou. For I will live again—and you will too. When I come back to life again,you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. The one whoobeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will lovehim; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him.” (John 14:15-21, LivingBible)

Onceagain, the apostle John packs a lot into just a few verses. So, I’m going tofocus on just one thing here – the Comforter. Other versions of the Bible referto this as the Advocate, Encourager, Helper, or Counselor. But Jesus sets us straight when He says that this is the Holy Spirit.

Whenwe think of God the Father, we can picture a grandfatherly man or anotherolder person with a kind yet strong demeanor. Everyone has pretty much the samepicture in their head when they think of God the Son – you know, that paintingof Jesus with shoulder-length brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard, eyes looking heavenward,wearing a white tunic. (I’d share that picture here, but I want you to see itin your own mind.)

Butwhat comes to mind when we say God the Holy Spirit. He’s a spirit, right? So maybeHe doesn’t have human form and maybe that’s why He’s the hardest element of thetriune God for us to understand.

Butmaybe He should be the easiest. Read what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit – Heis with you forever and will never leave you, He lives with you now and laterwill be in you. And remember, He is also your Comforter, Advocate,Encourager, Helper, and Counselor.

Andalso, usually portrayed as a dove, and not the goofy bird above.  

Another spin of the wheel, or of the merry-go-round

The only amusement ride I've ever liked. 

I’msorry that I didn’t write a blog on Wednesday, but the Wheel of Misfortune spuna new one on me. This time it wasn’t pain, it was vertigo. Room-spinning,floor-tilting, nauseating vertigo.

I had one ER trip, one doctor’s office visit, and one therapy appointment, inthree days. If any of you have ever had this – medical term usually being BenignPositional Vertigo, or BPV – you know it can be debilitating. We’ve all been dizzyor off-balance, but this is like having had too much to drink and then steppingon an amusement park ride, but there’s nothing amusing about it.

Thecure is simple – something called the Epley Maneuver. (I know BPV alreadysounds a little sketchy and then you do some kind of maneuver? Creepy.) (Justkidding.) 

Workingin health care, I’ve heard of this before, but silly me, I was under the assumptionthat this little maneuver would cure the vertigo after one hit. Nothing is everthat easy, right? And certainly not that easy in my life.

So,I do this thing – turn my head and lay down and let the dizziness pass – twice aday and it should get better in a few weeks. It’s all from crystals in our earsgetting into the wrong canal and this move makes them shift back to where theybelong. I still find it hard to believe that this is actual traditional Westernmedicine.

Anyway,wish me luck, once again.

Will Jesus Answer our Prayer?

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believesin me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I amgoing to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will doit, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything inmy name, and I will do it! ( John 14:12-14)

Whata great thought! Believe, do as Jesus has done, and then ask for anything; itis as good as done!

So,then, how come all our prayers don’t get answered? How come we can pray nightafter night for a relative to be cured of cancer? Or for a loved one to come toknow the Lord? Or for safety during a tornado or other disastrous event? Andthose prayers don’t seem to be answered?

Acouple of things are happening in the short final sentence in the above Bibleverse.  First, “Ask for anything in myname.” Did you ask in Jesus’ name? Sure, you said Christ’s name in yourprayer, but did you mean it? Did you feel it?

Anddo you know what it really means to pray that way? It means you have turnedyour request over to Jesus, and it’s now his decision how he “will do it.”Godisn’t a puppet on a string to do our every bidding. We must trust that both Godthe Father and God the Son have our best interests and will take care of us andour prayers.

Going over the Falls

I shared this story before, and I’m not sure why I felt compelled to share it now. Perhaps I just needed to recall a time when I was young and daring and able to climb around and do crazy stuff. 

In March of 1993, just thirty-one years ago, my sister Pat and I decided to start photographing all the waterfalls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I don’t remember how many we got, but I know we didn’t come close. 

Our first one was O Kun De Kun Falls. This was the first time we had been there, but it quickly became one of my all-time favorite waterfalls. 

Even though the sign at the start of the trail read 1.3 miles, we didn’t think that was very far. 

As we tramped through the woods, the cool July morning turned into a warm early afternoon, and before long, we were sweating in our jeans. 

Finally, we burst out of the pine trees at the river’s edge, just at the top of the waterfall. A series of several short falls ended in a plummet to the Baltimore River, some 20 feet below.

“Hey, there’s nobody around,” I told Pat as I stripped off my pants.

“Look,” Pat pointed, after she had laid down her freshly-shed jeans. “A ledge goes all the way behind the falls.”

“That would make such a cool picture,” I replied. 

“I’ll hand you your camera after you crawl back there.” I had a flashback to a similar conversation many years before. Dad had brought home this huge safe, and Pat bet I could fit in it. Why did I always do the dumb stuff she suggested?

So, of course, I crawled behind the waterfall on a slimy eight-inch sheet of rock. Just as I was in position and about to reach for my camera, my foot slipped. I have no idea how I hung on, but somehow, I kept myself from going over the falls. The picture I snapped from behind the falls wasn’t really worth it. And the shot Pat took of me? This is the first time it has seen the light of day. 

Maybe that’s why I decided to share this story again, along with the picture. I’m getting too old and have been through so much over the last year. There’s nothing left to embarrass me.  

Three in One

       Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.”

       Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you stilldon’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are youasking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father andthe Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who livesin me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and theFather is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. (John 14:8-11)

Sometimesit’s hard to comprehend that God is three persons in one – the Father, Son, andHoly Spirit. What did Jesus mean when he said that his Father was in him and hewas in his Father? It didn’t make sense to the disciples who lived with Jesus; howcan it possibly make sense to us?

Iwas visiting Holy Hill Basilica in Southeast Wisconsin many years ago, when Ioverheard a little girl asking her mother what it meant that God was three peoplein one.

Themother replied, “Well, your daddy is one person as your daddy, another personas my husband, and a third person as the manager of where he works.”

Thelittle girl bought her mom’s story, but I think we all know that the Triune Godis way more than that. But as Jesus said, “Just believe.”

What Was Lost

 Twoweeks ago, when I was taking my walk, I found a cell phone on the ground on theside of our road. I picked it up and quickly discovered that it was locked. Ilooked up and down the road as if the person who dropped it would still be insight. I debated a moment, then decided I needed to take it home, get it out ofthe elements, and try to track down its owner.

Icalled or texted the people I know who live along our road, but it didn’tbelong to any of them. I called the local radio station and asked that they putit on the air. Later that day, when I hadn’t gotten any response, I posted iton my Facebook page.

Ithought about turning it in to the sheriff’s department but figured they musthave better things to do. Then I remembered what a crime-ridden county I livein – not.

Anyway,I left the phone on the dining room table and went to bed that night, hoping itwould somehow find its way home.

Hubbyand I never set an alarm to wake us up in the morning. We both have prettyaccurate clocks in our heads. If I have to be up at a specific time, I tellmyself to wake myself up at that time, and it works 95% of the time. My one andonly superpower.

Andon the off chance my brain didn’t listen to me the night before, we have anannoying cat who wakes us up crying and walking over our heads around fourevery morning, 365 days of the year.

Forsome reason, for the first time in her three years of life, she didn’t wake usup the next day. Instead, at five a.m., we were awakened by music coming fromthe dining room. The alarm on the lost cellphone was going off!

Whatwere the chances the one morning that our brains fail us, the cat sleeps in,and Hubby needs to get up at five for work, that someone else’s alarm wakes usup?

Thefollowing morning, I still had the phone, and its alarm still went off at fivea.m. But we had already gotten ourselves out of bed. I did, however, feel badthat somewhere out there was someone who might have slept in two mornings in arow. 

Icalled our sheriff’s department later that morning. I told them about the phoneand that I could drop it off in their lost and found that afternoon. Instead, afriendly officer came by our house ten minutes later and picked it up. Heseemed confident that they could find its home, even though the battery wasdead by then.

“Or take another illustration: A woman hasten valuable silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and look inevery corner of the house and sweep every nook and cranny until she finds it?And then won’t she call in her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her? Inthe same way there is joy in the presence of the angels of God when one sinnerrepents.” (Luke 15:8-10, Living Bible)

Ihope whoever lost that cell phone had it returned, and he or she was able torejoice.

My Father's House

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trustin God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’shome. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare aplace for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that youwill always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said.“We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

In 1993, the Christian rock band Audio Adrenaline released the song "Big House". Some of the lyrics are "Come and go with me, To my Father's house. It's a big, big house, With lots and lots a room." 

In fact, God's house – the one in heaven and not here on earth today – is more than big enough for everyone alive now or who has ever been alive. And He wants everyone to live in His house one day. 

Don't miss out on that! God offers us a fantastic invitation, and you'll want to live there with all the other believers.  

And as far as the answer to Thomas's question, I answered that last week, so you'll have to go back to last Sunday. But hopefully, you already know the answer. 

(I was trying to find the official music video of "Big House" to share with you, but didn't have much luck. You'll have to do your own internet search for it; the song has an upbeat sound which will get stuck in your head, and the words are easy to remember.)

Two Holidays in One

   Everyone knows it’s Valentine’s Day today, and I think most of you know it’s Ash Wednesday as well. 

We begin the observance of Lent today. After the Valentine’s roses are wilted and the candy is eaten, we still have the remaining weeks until Easter to solemnly remember what else this time of year is for. 

When I was growing up, most of my friends were Catholic, and so they were expected to give something up for Lent – usually candy or swearing (not that any of us swore back then). Sometimes, this Lutheran friend would go along and give up something, too. And over the years, I’ve often continued that tradition. 

This year is different. Back on November 28, when I saw the naturopathic doctor, and she prescribed a strict anti-inflammatory diet, I immediately gave up gluten, all processed sugar, almost all dairy, fried foods, fast foods, my morning honey-nut Cheerios, my nightly bowl of ice cream, my mid-afternoon candy bar, and so much more.

This diet has not eradicated my chronic pain, but most days, I feel a lot better than I had in the months prior to starting it. And once Easter has come and gone, I won’t be returning to any of those foods. I think this may need to be a lifelong diet change. 

I think that’s how the spiritual side of Lent should be. Why should anyone make any sacrifices during Lent? Because Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Though nothing we do or don’t do can ever compare to that, I think any little loss we choose to experience could be a good thing. And it should be for the entire year and not just the six weeks of Lent. 

The Way, the Truth, the Life

Overthe last couple of weeks, I’ve tried to commit these Bible verses to memory –Proverbs 19:21, Romans 12:12, and Matthew 11:28. They are in my head for now,but I think I will have to keep refreshing that old mind of mine.

Here’sanother verse many of us are familiar with:

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth,and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you hadreally known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know himand have seen him!” (John 14:6-7, New Living Translation)

Iincluded verse 7, not to memorize, but because I read through this entirechapter of John 14 and thought it contained some good stuff. Okay. I know – theentire Bible contains lots of good stuff. But this Wednesday we begin Lent andevery Sunday in Lent, I’ve tried to write a series of blog posts around onetheme. This year it will be this chapter from the book of John.