Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Mathew 10:28 – 31

“So, don’t be afraid.”  I cannot even begin to recount the number of times that I grasped this phrase and, like a blanket, wrapped my head in it!  I discovered that being a follower of Jesus is the most wonderful thing imaginable.  Blessings pour in constantly.

However, it is a way of life that, but for the empowering of the Holy Spirit, is not even remotely possible.  So once again, we have these dual realities, new life to be enjoyed in Christ and new battles to be fought with Him.

Following Jesus is the most glorious thing, it is also the most daunting.  These are twin realities in the life of all believers.

We go on with the words of our Good Shepherd ringing in our ears, “Do not be afraid.”  This phrase appears here in these few verses three times.  Jesus knows what these disciples will meet so he is encouraging them.

Those of us who are disciples cling to this promise and, behold, in my 89^th year of life, it is the only way.  I speak for all of us, spread across this planet, and for those who have gone on before us.  “Do not be afraid.”  And for all who will embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, forever.

This is the only picture we have on the day of our wedding, here standing at the Charles residence, December 24, 1949.  Don’s Best Man is on his right, his brother Duane, and Anna Ruth’s Maid of Honor, Barbara Keener on her left. A hugely significant step on a looong but meaningful journey.  May God be glorified!

I see that Don’s coat fits better than Duane’s. Oh, well.  Dear brothers. And I see that Anna Ruth’s coat has style!  Poor Barbara, in black, black.

After lunch we set out on our honeymoon to Florida, days engraved in the memory.

It was December 23, 1949, that is many years ago, 67 to be exact.  Anna Ruth and I were scurrying about doing last minute things in preparation for the huge event, our wedding!  I could not find the certificate or license that showed we had passed all the physical tests, and that we were ok for marriage. After a hectic dashing about I found the papers in my inside coat pocket!  In the coat that I was wearing.  Will I never learn?  No further hitches.

A remarkable wedding the morning of the 24^th, Christmas Eve, in the Jacob and Cora Charles front room, presided over by Bishop Henry Lutz.  Anna Ruth’s brother’s prayer still rings in my head.  Words something like this – May their love be as deep as the ocean and the hardships like the foam on the waves.  I forget the exact wording but every year since then, on our wedding day, I remember those wise words. I am sure the kind Bishop had similar meaningful phrases, but I have since forgotten.

That was a marvelous way to mark a threshold in our lives – the initial steps in a journey that we are still on, and ever aware of the hand of God that is on us.  I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to God for Anna Ruth and for our blessed life together.  I am blessed more that I could have ever imagined.  Amazing!

Raymond, Jacob, Cora and Anna Ruth at the grape vines at their place on Marietta Pike. This is a few years before our marriage but is an insight into this amazing foursome.  Raymond had the most infectious laugh imaginable.  Jacob is a loving pastor of souls.  Cora, always trim and proper, loved us all and was a queen, indeed.  Anna Ruth flashes that lovey smile, to match Raymond’s, a harbinger of our precious life together.  Our marriage on Christmas Eve was a gift from the hands of our Savior.

But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 10:19, 20

Welcome, dear friend, to life in Jesus Christ!  Just now, a few days before Christmas the atmosphere is full of joy because Jesus was born. Lying in the manger or on the lap of his mother he is calm and sweet.   I kneel with others at his side, thanking God for this unspeakable gift, Jesus Christ.  The whole scene speaks of hope, peace, joy and life everlasting.  It is all there in this quite ordinary baby.  Christmas is a happy time.

Fast forward 31 years.  That baby is now a man.  He is the promised Savior.  Listen to his words, startling words, that he utters when he first sends out his disciples.  “When they arrest you…”  Why would they do such a thing?  That was not the immediate concern of Joseph and Mary as they embraced the little child.  But for many of us, we like him as a baby, small, innocent, hungry, crying now and again.  But we shudder a bit when that baby, now a man, warns us that his followers face arrest just for sharing the love of Jesus.  Should not everyone love that little baby?

Welcome, fellow disciple, to the world of Jesus, the Messiah. It is not a strenuous life, it is absurdly impossible!  Those are not welcome words, but hard.   Jesus know that.  Be assured, he said, that it is the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  His followers will be strengthened, in a sense, carried, by the power of God Almighty.

It is one thing to kneel before the Christ child in awe and thanksgiving, as we do at Christmas.  It is another thing to witness to others later on, that he is indeed the promised Messiah who has come to set up His Kingdom among men, with an open invitation to enter the Kingdom by rebirth, and to labor in the Kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That is what it is all about!  It is a life of joy and suffering, braided into a strong cord of hope.

The blue jays stay the winter long.  Here is one on our heated basin.  Lovely birds, indeed.

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Matthew 10:16 – 20

Can this be?  Is this what we are called to experience?  Or was that for just that time?  Could it be that our calling is to have a nice life, a perfect family, problems solved, prosperity aplenty, peace in our hearts, hope of more of the same, even better in heaven?

I am now trying to look back on my own walk with Jesus, along with my dear wife, Anna Ruth, with whom I walked through thick and thin for these sixty-seven years?  A quick answer is, our hope overcomes our challenges. 

Let me explain how I see it.  Both of us knew that following Christ was both a joy and a challenge.  As we found God leading us into a life of one battle after another, battles within and without, we somehow had the fortitude to cling to Jesus and push on.  Had we known the uphill battles we were called to fight, maybe we would have been daunted and fearful.  Instead, looking back over the years, the fears never did obliterate our hope and joy in knowing sins forgiven, empowering of the Holy Spirit and friends who loved us.  Maybe if we had known how our faith would have been tried and tested, how difficult it is to say “no” to self and “yes” to God, we would have been reluctant to step out and face a series of challenges that would require every ounce of faith we had.

I think of the struggles of our early life together, trying to find our way with one another and with this world, we praise God for sustaining our faith that became ours personally in our dedication of ourselves to God. Then the calling that took us to another world, Africa, where we faced the challenges of raising children and serving God in a culture and world unlike our own.  I am amazed how we passed through those times.  I suppose we had dual feelings, one the joy of being a follower of the Lamb, the other being that of a struggling learner, prone to hold our own opinions and judging others unlike ourselves. As I look back, the joy of being called by Jesus and supported by him in every way took precedence in my thinking and living.

A wee secret, if I had known the forces working against us I may have been fearful.  Somehow the hope and joy in the Lord prevailed!  That is all I can say.

So our calling was not as harsh as that of the twelve in Matthew 10, thankfully.  Yet, as we look back, what happened to us and continues to happen contains the very same elements, challenges and hope, with hope in Christ dominant.

The maple in our back yard serves as a perfect perch for this female cardinal, waiting her turn at the feeders.  I admire the tail feathers of this fine bird, don’t you?  A beautiful bird, indeed!

 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Matthew 10:7, 8

The Twelve, we must admit, were a mixed group, to say the least.  All of them were from Galilee, the place often referred to as “Galilee of the Nations,” except one whose home is in ancient Judea, Judas Iscariot. The fact that there was but one from Judea that was the very heart of Israel, where the Temple was located, must have played a part in the dissension that ultimately revealed itself among the 12, leading to Jesus’ apprehension and crucifixion.  Judas of Iscariot was at the center of that betrayal.

That is a couple of years away.  Now Jesus sends them out with a message and a ministry. They fan out across the land as proclaimers of the new day.  The message was the declaration that the Kingdom of Heaven is come.  It is a kingdom quite unlike any other.  It is new, a fulfillment of the prophecies, an entirely new way to envision the purposes of God.  It is not an earthly kingdom at all. The Messiah has come, the promised King of king and Lord of lords.

The disciples could not say much more than that the kingdom of God is among them.  For the children of Israel, a king is a monarch, a political ruler.  Jesus was nothing of the sort, but it was a declaration that stirred the imagination of the Jews.

Accompanying the announcement of the arrival of the promised kingdom, Jesus gave them extraordinary power to upset the works of Satan.  They had power to “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.”  Their ministry was to announce the arrival of the Kingdom and to heal and cast out demons as an expression of the power of God among mankind.  If people could not grasp the truth about the Kingdom, they certainly could see power released, power, not over others, but power over Satan and his kingdom of rebels.

I have been thinking about the expansion of Christ’s Kingdom these days and find that these twin facts blend, the fact that the Kingdom of Christ is here and the fact that those in the Kingdom are healers of the nations, like Jesus. We need to hold these two together, in word and deed.

It is getting bitter cold, so I rigged up my heated basin to enable birds to drink.  This white-breasted nuthatch thanked me.  What made the circular wave on the surface stumps me. Anyway it makes for a friendly picture.