"I'm Riding By!"

I live in a world of small success and tiny victories. I serve in a place of whispered blessings and tempered enthusiasm. I minister in a church that led one friend ask, "What are you doing there? You should be doing something IMPORTANT!" I remember answering back, "I AM doing somethig important!" But I confess, it gave me pause to wonder, and remember the words of Proverbs 22:29 "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men." Then I recall this truth, no matter where we serve, we do serve, THE KING, almighty God! Though I must also say, sometimes I feel like a kid trying to get God's attention, I want Him to...

“Look at Me, I’m Riding By!”

I’ve never gotten over it,

the urge to put a playing card

into the spokes of life and say

“Look at me, I’m riding by!”

And it makes a sound that, well,

sounds like a sound that’s trying to sound

important, but it sounds just like

exactly what it is, a fake!

But I pretend that I am proud

and you are polite, so you join in

perhaps in kindness, or more deep,

so I will play along with you.

And together bonded by the lie

we forge ahead with flapping cards

to prove that we are everything

“They” all wish that they could be.

How silly it must look to GOD!

When we invent reality

because we can’t accept a truth

that doesn’t fit into our plans.

And with a funny flapping sound

we rattle on past what we need

to chase a thing that isn’t there,

a product of our fantasy!

I’ve never gotten over it,

the urge to put my foolishness

into the spokes of truth and say,

“That’s a sound I understand!"

Soup Pot On My Head

One of my favorite comics is the now retired, FAR SIDE strip by Gary Larson. One particular favorite is the image of a knight in shining armor, obviously ready to go into battle, except that instead of a helmet, he is wearing a soup pot. Obviously, uncomfortable with the situation, yells (and this is the caption of the cartoon) “Kids! Where did you put dad’s helmet this time?

And I find it humorous I guess because I lose my stuff so often. It seems like I am always on the hunt for something I cannot find. And if you think I feel this way about losing my keys, forgetting my computer and leaving my phone on the charger, you can imagine how I sometimes feel in my spiritual life! I feel like I am going out ill-equipped, ill-prepared and ill-fitted!

I sometimes feel so out of balance with God, instead of striding to meet my day with a victorious attitude, it just sometimes feels like I am walking into the world with a soup pot my head! Thanks be to God that His love is never lost and His love is never hidden. 

Happy New You!

2 Corinthians 5:17

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are new creation: the old has gone, the new has come.”

I don’t know if you stay up late to ringin the New Year. I remember as kids wanting to stay up late and watch the clock strike midnight and bang on pots and pans and make a big noise. I didn’t really know why we were so happy, it was just another day. And for all of our trying, most of the time, we fell asleep around ten o’clock. I remember our favorite thing to do, was to say to people all that day, “See you next year!”

Well, now that I have kids and a mortgage and  responsibilities, I understand what all the celebrating was about. The New Year is a marker, a milestone, a moment in my accelerating life, when it is acceptable to reflect and what has been and dream of what could be. A chance to start with a clean slate, a whole New Year. A moment to resolve to make the New Year better than last year!

Usually, my resolutions are broken pretty quickly, though for a lasting change, I believe 2 Corinthians gives us the best chance for serious change! “If anyone…” that includes me, a servant of God who wants to be better than I am. “Is in Christ…” not so much a location but a lifestyle that is immersed in the world of our Saviour. “They are a new creation…” not a retread of the old me, a completely different person, forgiven from failure and blessed for success! How can that happen? “The old has gone” and in its place, “The new has come”. So, “Happy New Year, and Happy New YOU!

Blessings!

Ron Spence

Crumpled Snowman

At first light, running through my neighborhood during the Christmas Season, I have witnessed the same scene enough times to give me pause. It seemed on every other lawn, there was a deflated something. Sometimes it was Frosty, reduced to a crumpled pile of nylon on the front lawn. Sometimes it was a Santa or a reindeer. There was even a huge deflated Winnie The Pooh, having lost his shape, the air long gone from his insides. It looked like a parade of flaccid Christmas icons, waiting for another charge of holiday cheer. Probably the most poignant of the scenes was what was once a particularly huge Santa. His motor had been turned off and he too had fallen into a pile of bright fabric. Yet, in an ironic grasp at redemption, his giant deflated Santa arm fell over the manger of a nativity scene on the same lawn. As if Santa tried for one last grasp at the true meaning of the season!

And I think of all of this as I look forward to the charge card bills to come in, and anticipate taking down Christmas lights and put the boxes back in the rafters. For a few brief days I will be all aglow with the Christmas Spirit and pumped up on the joy of the season. Then, the day will pass and peace on earth will gave way to stories of the war and goodwill toward men gave way to gridlock, return lines and daily pressures and my Christmas Spirit will sag like a deflated Snowman. Yet, like the sagging Santa, with one hand, I can still reach for the manger, the baby, the gift, the Lord! The light that doesn’t burn out, the joy that doesn’t fade, the hope that doesn’t lose its promise! Jesus Christ, born, given, risen! And even though the world tries its level best to drain us of our joy and make us a crumpled mess, one truth remains, “Greater is He that is in me, than He that is in the world!”

So let’s stayed pumped throughout the Christmas Season and into the New Year!

God Bless

Paradise on Fire!!! Please PRAY!!!

I live a few miles from one of the big fires here in Southern California. We are asking everyone to pray for all of the people who are in harm's way, and for those who have lost homes as well.

Times like these bring us to our knees and closer to God and then the next question is, WHY? What an impossible, pressing and crushing question. We see the TV coverage of various natural and human created disasters and we shake our heads and feel bad. We are moved by the scope of the devastation and burdened by the depth of loss.

Thanks be to God, that He is big enough for our questions, deep enough for our sorrow, wide enough for our wandering and near enough for our wondering. 

Thanks for your prayers!

Blessings!

Ron