Monthly Archives: September 2019

Pastoral thoughts

Lessons From a Trigger Finger

Last week I had minor hand surgery to repair a trigger finger. And, man, did I learn a lot! I certainly learned some things about trigger fingers, hands and tendons. But that was minor compared to the learnings God brought to my mind.

This spiritual learning started when the surgeon came and took my right hand. While holding it he verified who I was, which finger was the problem, and that he was going to help by doing the surgery. He then marked on my hand, with indelible ink, an arrow to the finger and placed his initials next to the arrow. It was his way of making sure everyone knew I was his patient and that he alone was responsible for the surgery. Then, when he was ready to begin he once again held my hand up and verified everything, for my sake and for the confidence of all the staff around us. Then he went to work on my hand, doing the surgery to release the finger. When the surgery was about done he again held up my hand and asked me to move the finger to assure us all that he had done what he had promised to do.

The most valuable learnings – perhaps more reminders than first-time learnings – had to do with how God, through Jesus, has His hands on us.

God, through Jesus, reminds us who we are – we are His!

  • But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.                (Isaiah 43:1-2)
  • “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him… he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ…” (Ephesians 1:3-5)

God, through Jesus, has taken responsibility for us.

  • “From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.”            (Isaiah 43:13 New Living Translation)
  • “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.”                                                    (John 10:28-29 New Living Translation)

God, through Jesus, helps us.

  • “For I hold you by your right hand – I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.”                (Isaiah 41:13 New Living Translation)
  • “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;and when you pass through the rivers,they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” (Isaiah 43:2-3)
  • “Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.”                    (Hebrews 4:15-16 Contemporary English Version)

God, through Jesus, does surgery on us.

  • “He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness…he has turned his hand against me…he has made my skin and my flesh grow old and broken my bones…he walled me in (and) weighed me down…he pierced my heart…I have hope because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is his faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:1-23)
  • Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35)

Wow! From a brief minor hand surgery came these powerful major lessons from God. I am the richer for it. I certainly have a new appreciation for the old saying, “There are no minor surgeries!”  So “Thank you trigger finger. Without you, I would be the poorer.”

 

 

Pastoral thoughts

Oh That Crazy Bird!

It was a fascinating yet frustrating experience. We had a beautiful but crazy red-winged blackbird (1) visiting us very regularly – multiple times a day, in fact. He watched us and even sang to us. But it wasn’t all that nice. Now before you start thinking I’m a bird-hater, I assure you I love watching birds – just not this one.

Here’s the scoop. For some reason, out of all the houses around, he decided to stop by our back porch for a rest. The problem is he spotted our patio door – and in the patio door he saw a reflection of himself. But he didn’t know it was just his reflection. He thought it was a rival male blackbird invading his new territory. So he sat on the railing, spreading his wings, and squawking in an effort to scare this ‘other bird’ away. (It appeared like he was watching our every move! Kind of creepy!) But when this ‘other bird’ didn’t fly away, he made a beeline for our patio door. Of course he crashed – but when he bounced off the door he went back to sitting on the railing, only to repeat the scenario over and over again. I played a blackbird squawk on my computer, hoping he’d be frightened by an invading sound. It didn’t work. We put chairs up against the window hoping to break the view. He began flying to the patio screen door and hanging on to the screen. So we hung paper bags on the outside of the patio doors to deter him. It didn’t work. “Get a life!” I screamed. It didn’t work. So we hung bigger bags on the inside to wipe out his image (and our view of the outdoors!). He finally stopped crashing and sitting on the railing. But I knew he was still hanging around – I kept hearing his familiar squawk. (2)

I wondered, “Why is he so persistent?” I concluded it was because he was selfish and wanted his own territory – he wanted what he wanted and no one else could have it. As I thought about that, I realized there are people just like this blackbird. They see someone they believe is a threat to them, or who opposes them, or who stands in the way of getting what they want and they become obsessed with them. They will try to attack and scare off the ‘enemy’ or opposition at every opportunity. And why? Because they’re selfish and want their own territory – they want what they want and no one else can have it. It’s their way or the highway. It doesn’t matter if they’re right or wrong or in the minority – just get out of their way; only then will they leave you alone. Does this describe anyone you know?

I believe this is called selfishness. The Bible (3) has something to say about this. “An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.” (Proverbs 18:1-2) Ever met anyone like that? In contrast, the Psalmist wrote, “Turn my heart towards your statues and not toward selfish gain.” (Ps. 119:36) And Jesus told us to lose our lives for His sake – to stop being selfish and self-centered and seek to live Christ’s way. That, He said, is how we truly find our lives. (Matthew 10:39)
Apparently there were those who caught the vision. The apostle Paul wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:3-4)
Are you more like a blackbird or like Jesus?

(1) Photo by Syed Ali on Unsplash
(2) Photo by Adam Muise on Unsplash
(3)Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash