The End of the Roadhouse

Sunday mornings, for many years, meant going out to breakfast with my children.  I would wake them up at dawn, and within minutes we were on our way, on foot, to one of the local coffee shops or bakeries for our weekly treat.  The kids got a free meal out of me, I got to spend quality time with them, and my wife got to sleep in by herself - it was a good deal for everyone involved.  I suggested one morning that we walk to Roadhouse Coffee Stop, a local breakfast institution in town for many years.  It served excellent, fresh coffee, and the pastries, when dining in, were served piping hot with extra butter.  The owner, who was getting on a bit in his years, was well known to the locals, and his employees were uniformly friendly and personable.  The food was a bit more costly than the competition, so I only visited the shop on special occasions.

The special occasion in this instance was that I had a coupon for a free cup of coffee.  I received the coupon several months previously from Rachel, an attractive young lady with heavily tattooed arms that glistened with color when she poured the coffee.  Not recalling ever seeing me before, she offered me the coupon, with my name and her name written on it, to encourage my patronage.

"Come anytime.  My treat.  There's no expiration date."

It seemed like a good deal.  I saved the coupon, knowing that I'd cash in some day when the coffee bug would bite me.  This was going to be my lucky day, as I pulled out the coupon just across the street from the shop.

We eagerly approached, only to see that Roadhouse Coffee Stop closed...permanently.  The owner decided to retire, and closed the business a few days beforehand.  Disappointed, I stuck my now worthless coupon in my pocket as a souvenir, as we joined some of the old Roadhouse regulars at the local Starbucks.

We tend to hoard things that seem to be of much value in this life.  These may be cash, retirement funds, the newest electronic gadgets, cars, expensive food, entertainment, and even reputation.  We treat them as our keys to happiness, and spend much time not only acquiring them, but also worrying about them and protecting them, not thinking that they will be of no value when we reach the end of our lives.  Knowing our hearts, Jesus reminded us to reset our priorities,

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

May we focus our energies on loving and enjoying God.  The value of this will never expire.

Backseat Sojourner

“Glenn, there’s a big problem.  I need to talk to you.”

My eyelids were heavy as my wife, Karen, called me, while she remained transfixed on the computer screen.  She had been working on our upcoming vacation plan for days.

“I read all the online reviews about this place, and they highly recommend this hike, which will take a couple of hours.  But, we only have two days there, and we also have to go to the lake for the sunset, and I heard that the boat ride is good, but it’s expensive, and I can’t decide whether to do the boat ride or the horseback riding, and if we do this on the second day, you’ll have to drive two hours at night in the dark, but the boat does not run on the first day…what do you think?”

I can’t remember what I said…probably something along the lines of, “Whatever you think is best, Honey.  I trust your judgment.  It doesn’t really matter anymore what we end up doing, I’ll make sure that I enjoy it no matter what.”

Karen is often described as one who is very high in “uncertainty avoidance.”  When she wants to visit a new place, she would read reviews on multiple web sites regarding what are the best attractions there, and then research every single option in painstaking detail.  She would weigh the pluses and minuses of every conceivable option to the point of exhaustion,  make a choice, and then rescind her choice as soon as she finds out more information that was overlooked, to start the process all over again.  I often wonder how much more time she spends preparing for a trip than actually taking the trip itself.  I used to be the one who planned our family vacations, but eventually chose to take the wise path, and allowed my wife to do the work instead, as she found my lack of attention to detail in these matters intolerable.

The result of such meticulous planning is that our vacation experience tends to be, more or less, exactly what Karen planned.  The trips were wonderful, but the process of getting there seemed anything but.

This picture of a family vacation seemed in stark contrast to my memories of family travels as a young child.  My parents would put my brother and me in the back seat of the car, and our journeys would start with me knowing very little about where we were going.  We would have picnics on the grass, stop for restroom breaks while my dad paid for gas at the service station, eat pancakes for dinner, go to museums, play at the park, pose for pictures, and listen to my dad explain something that made him sound very smart and me feel very proud of having a smart dad.  I had a rough idea of what we were doing and seeing, but I did not have to worry about the trips, and I had a wonderful time.  I’m sure that my parents spent plenty of hours planning these vacations, but it was none of my concern.  I was a backseat sojourner.

We often approach life in the same way that some of us do vacations, in that we try to plan for everything, including details on what school we want to attend, the kind of person we want to marry, at precisely what age we want to have children and how many, what kind of job we want and how much money we want to make, how many years we want to work and where we want to spend our golden years.  If we could, we would have planned the same for our children as well.  We view our lives with the delusion that we are in control, not realizing that our very breath is utterly dependent on God.  We act like children in the back seat of the car, pretending to be holding the steering wheel and making the car move.  Unfortunately, we then become angry, anxious and/or fearful when life eventually goes off-course, and our lives become unraveled because things somehow don’t go as planned.  We forget that only God is truly in control of our destiny:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”  As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.  (James 4:13-16)

May we embrace God’s wisdom for our lives, and trust in His sense of direction.  There is joy and adventure in being a backseat sojourner.

Collector of Good Vibrations?

Kaitlin was a most challenging patient.  I diagnosed her with inflammatory bowel disease when she was only a child, and her condition never seemed to be under control with medications, despite me trying her with multiple treatment options.  Kaitlin had an attractive smile, but her face always seemed pale from anemia, and she was malnourished.  Her disease prevented her intestines from absorbing nutrients properly, and because she constantly had nausea, stomachaches and diarrhea, she was afraid to eat.  I worried that her intestines might not be able to properly absorb the medications that I prescribed, and ordered a laboratory test to measure her drug level.  It was undetectable, and I eventually confirmed through Kaitlin’s confession that she had not taken any of her pills, because she developed a psychological fear of taking any form of medication.  By the time she entered high school, Kaitlin’s symptoms often seemed to provide sufficient reason for her mother to keep her home from school, and her numerous school absences soon alerted the school administrator to call the local police to investigate the family.  To make matters worse, her parents’ marriage disintegrated, and her father ended up in jail shortly afterwards.

Things were definitely not looking up.

I spent many hours working with Kaitlin and her mother, and am thankful that she eventually responded somewhat to a treatment regimen (it was a medication that the nurses had to give intravenously in the clinic, so that we did not have to worry about her not taking her medication).  We developed sufficient familiarity with each other over the years that the mother started to share with me various concerns, many of which I was unable to help directly.  During one of these conversations, I asked the mother’s permission to pray for her, as I did not know whether she was a Christian.

“Oh, that is so nice of you, Dr. Duh.  Sure, I am always happy to have positive healing energy sent my way from people of different faiths.”

I did pray for her, but was also a bit dumbfounded by her response.  Sending positive healing energy?  I knew how to send a prescription to the pharmacy, and I’ve sent many letters.  I’ve even sent flowers to my wife, but I’ve never knowingly sent energy before.  Was I supposed to call the post office?  FedEx?  UPS?  How is this positive energy supposed to be packaged, in a box?  Bubble wrap?

Praying for a person is not the same thing as sending him or her positive thoughts or healing thoughts.  When I pray, I am praying to God, the sovereign Creator of the universe, who can do all things.  My thoughts have no power, and my prayers are useless if they are not directed to God.  If I say that I am sending healing thoughts, positive thoughts, positive vibrations, healing energy, or even “prayers” to a person, I am presuming that I can harness divine forces, even control and manipulate God to do what I want, in the same way that we harness wind and solar power.  May this never be!  God is the source of all our existence, visible or invisible, and He is not amused when we presume to take His place or find a substitute:

“‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.  (Deuteronomy 32:39)

I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.  (Isaiah 45:5-6)

  remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me, (Isaiah 46:9)

I will not send healing thoughts to a person.  I will instead pray to God, the Healer, whose thoughts have more power than anything that fallen mankind can conjure.

What's the Catch?

“Good afternoon, sir!  Would you like a free can of soda or bottle of water?”

The young man looked at me incredulously as I waved at him, standing beside a large cooler with a can of soda in my hand.

“What?  You’re giving it out for free?  What’s the catch?”

“Oh, no catch at all.  It’s a hot summer afternoon, and some of us at our church just want to show God’s love by giving out cold drinks.  Would you like one?”

The man wasn’t too easily convinced, but he eventually walked off with a can of soda, a little confused, and surprised that I didn’t try to talk to him about Jesus or ask for money.

This happened many years ago during the summer, when I attended a church retreat near San Diego, California.  The speaker exhorted us to show love and compassion for our community through service, and as an exercise, he led us to a busy shopping center, with cold drinks in tow, ready to be given out to thirsty shoppers.  The beverage containers were attached with small tags written with Bible verses and words of blessing, but we were informed to simply give the drinks away, without any condition.  Some of the shoppers happily took the drinks, but many others were much more skeptical, and a few even insisted in giving us tips or donations, which we politely declined.  We couldn’t possibly be just giving the drinks away, right?

We have long been taught to believe the expression, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”.  In other words, what seems free often has a cost attached to it.  This is often true in science (as in the laws of thermodynamics), in business, and in relationships.  I recently visited the local Dunkin’ Donuts store on National Donut Day (yes, there is a story behind this, celebrated on the first Friday of June in the United States), to see whether the store was giving away free donuts.  I came out with my free donut, but the donut was only free if I purchased a beverage, a cup of coffee that cost me $2.50.  Dunkin’ Donuts was going to get my money, one way or another.

This notion of “no free lunch” is often seen in our views of religion as well.  Many of us believe that in order to go to Heaven, we need to be good, and do good things.  We need to go to church, put money in the offering plate, not say bad words, and be nice to others, otherwise God will be unhappy with us and will send us to Hell.  However, while it is true that Christians indeed do all these things, eternal life in Heaven is actually free:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)

Going to church cannot save us, and doing good works won’t get us into Heaven.  Eternal life is a free gift – only God can give it, and we are asked to receive it.  Changes that happen to those of us who believe in Jesus is the consequence of our belief, not the condition for our faith.  We give in joy and in obedience because we have received first.  This gift of God is free, but it is not cheap.  Jesus already paid the price for it with His blood.

Well-Watered Hillsides

California is nicknamed The Golden State, apparently for multiple reasons.  The golden poppy is the official state flower, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is instantly recognizable worldwide, and there was a gold rush here in 1849.  While never actually confirmed, I was once told that California was also called the Golden State because much of the land looks yellow most of the year, colored by the dried up vegetation that covers the landscape.  Having lived in Southern California, where it often does not rain for 6 straight months or more, the images of yellow, tinder-covered foothills that get set ablaze during the hot summer months are all too familiar, especially during the most recent period of extended drought that lasted from 2011 to 2017.  The drought in California was eventually declared over in early 2017, thanks to torrents of heavy winter precipitation, and this brought forth the most unusual transformation to the Southern California landscape.  The dried yellow-brown hillsides have been replaced with carpets of green, awash with beautiful wildflowers in various shades of yellow, orange, white and purple.  My daughter and I have taken literally thousands of photographs at local state parks, nature trails and flower fields.

However, I know that this transformation of color is short-lived.  There hasn’t been much rain for the last 3 months.  The vegetation will be yellow again in a few weeks, and the late summer heat will bring forth blazing brushfires that will soon consume many hills until rain returns in the winter.

Just as the plants and flowers of the hills need rain to grow, our spiritual condition requires regular nourishment and watering as well.  When we feel far away from God, we often say that we are spiritually “dry”.  David expressed his longing for God as a consuming thirst for Him:

As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?  (Psalm 42:1-2)

We become spiritually dry when we are separated from God, our creator, and the source of meaning for our existence.  Nothing separates us from God quicker than unconfessed sin in our lives:

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.  (Isaiah 59:1-2)

On the other hand, he who walks in obedience to God’s ways are described as a well-watered tree:

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.  (Psalm 1:1-3)

How are we doing?  Are we like well-watered plants, thriving, flowering and fruitful, or are we parched and lifeless?  We do well to examine ourselves to see whether sin is keeping spiritual nourishment from our lives.  If we continue to do what displeases God, even if we seem to thriving, it won’t be long before the soil beneath us dries up.

Separated But Not Disowned

"Lisa, how are your parents?  Are they in good health?"

My wife started the conversation with our friend while we were carpooling to a fundraising event recently.  We talked about her parents' strong Christian faith and service, which came as little surprise, as Lisa, a physician, is herself a strong believer who lives out her faith through her love for others.  Our conversations drifted to Lisa's plans to take a short-term medical missions trip to Mexico, but within minutes we were sharing stories about our own children, as parents are wont to do.  We talked about the challenges of raising children in a Christian family, and my wife asked Lisa about her own childhood, assuming that her parents were Christian during her youth.

"Actually, my parents were Muslims...and they were so strict in their religion they almost killed me when I accidentally ate a piece of pork...it tasted sooooo good!"

It turned out that Lisa became a Christian in an austere Muslim household.  Her parents were so upset at her conversion, they seriously considered disowning her.  Being disowned would mean that she would have lost all ties, physical, financial, and perhaps emotional, to her parents.  Thankfully, they relented, and by God's grace, whatever thread of connection that remained allowed Lisa to restore their relationship, and she eventually became the instrument of their salvation.

Similarly, when Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, God could have disowned them completely.  Mankind could have been annihilated in an instant, and if somehow God allowed us to exist, we would have been eternally separated from God, to the point that we would have no connection with our Creator in any form.  Yet He chose to remain connected with us.  God had compassion on Adam and Eve, that He provided for them before they were driven from the Garden of Eden:

And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)

Mankind became separated from God, but not disconnected.  In subsequent generations, Cain and Abel presented offerings to the Lord, Enoch walked with the Lord, Noah found favor with God, and God called Abraham to become the father of nations.  God did not disown mankind, but continued to intersect with our lives throughout the generations of His people, until at the appointed time, He sent Jesus to fully restore our relationship with Himself.  We get to return to our heavenly Father, never to be separated again.  The thread of connection is God's word:

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  (John 20:31)

Getting Stuck in Deep Sand

"Yeah, but I read that it's easy to get stuck in the sand, and that it's really hard to get out..."

I listened in as my wife chatted with one of the local residents, after having second thoughts about her wonderful plan for us to hit the Oceano sand dunes the next day.  She had already paid a sizable deposit to reserve ATV (all-terrain vehicle) rides for the family, but she also read about possible dangers of vehicles getting stuck in the sand, collisions, and rollovers.  We were all ATV novices, and had never driven in sand dunes before.

"Oh, you'll get stuck in the sand a few times, but it's no big deal.  You'll probably have to push and move the thing to get it out.  If you keep throttling the engine, you'll get deeper in the sand, but only stupid people do that."

OK, I got this covered.  I wouldn't do anything stupid, I thought.  Unfortunately, it didn't take long before I did exactly what I wasn't supposed to do the next day.

After we received our mandatory safety briefing and instructions, I sat on a Honda 250 cc ATV, barely remembering how to throttle, brake and shift.  I figured that as long as I didn't kill the engine, I would somehow return intact after our two-hour rides.  I tried to act confident as I steered the vehicle out of the lot and into the dunes.  All was well, for about one minute.

I started to feel my right rear tire losing traction.  Somehow my right side ended up in very soft sand, and it was a matter of seconds before I realized that I was stuck.  Naw, that couldn't possibly happen, not barely a few hundred meters into the sand!  Perhaps I wasn't really stuck, I thought.  I hit the throttle.  I felt the right rear tire sinking deeper in.  OK, I was stupid.

Dozens of other vehicles passed me as I got out of my ATV, looking and feeling, uh...what is that word?  Fortunately, that feeling was transient as I managed to lift the back of the vehicle out of the soft sand, and after repositioning it on firmer ground, I managed to power the thing clear of the sand pit.  All was well again...except that my daughter also ended up stuck in the sand.  This would be a learning experience.

Many of us also tend to "be stupid" when we are mired in the sand as we cross through treacherous dunes in our journeys through life.  The soft sand traps are our bad habits, addictions, and dysfunctional situations in our work, relationships, and families.  Unfortunately, because of our own sinful inclinations, we find ourselves often digging ourselves in deeper the harder we try to drive ourselves out.  Change can only happen when we admit that we are stuck, be willing to get out of the cockpit, and resolve to point our vehicles in a new direction.

We need to repent.  We need to turn away from sin, for it is written,

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)

How do we turn away from sin and receive this free gift of God?  When Peter proclaimed the message of salvation to the multitudes, the first word he said was "repent":

And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  (Acts 2:38)

Hit the throttle.

Rocky Voyage

"Hey, Glenn, we're thinking about going to Green Island for the weekend.  It's just a quick boat ride from the harbor.  Want to join us?"

"Sounds like a lot of fun.  Sure!"

It was an autumn day in 1991.  I was on hiatus from medical school to participate in a 6 month short-term medical missions project in Taitung, Taiwan.  Some of the missionary doctors thought that it would be nice to spend the weekend at this local tourist spot, a small volcanic island about 21 miles offshore.  Although I grew up in Taiwan, it had been a while since I was there, and I forgot a minor detail about the local climatic patterns.

"By the way, there's supposed to be a typhoon that is approaching in a few days.  If the weather is too rough, we'll probably have to fly back instead."

As we waited for the boat in the harbor, one of the missionary doctors opened up a bottle of medication, and handed each person a tablet of meclizine, an anti-nausea medication, in case the waters got rough and we got seasick.  While swallowing the pill, I looked out and saw a man strutting in with a large family idol.  It was an elaborately carved and painted wooden figure that measured about 2-3 feet across and 2 feet high.  He mentioned something about the idol protecting the boat during the trip.  I guess he heard about the typhoon also.

The boat started to rock heavily as we entered deeper waters, and it didn't take long before many of the passengers started to look kind of miserable.  A young boy who sat in front of me cried in fear for the entire trip, but his parents were vomiting, and too sick to pay much attention.  A crew member staggered up and down the aisle passing out plastic bags.  This was normally a quick 45-minute ride, but our Gilligan's Island-type voyage proved to be more than twice as long, as strong winds slowed down our progress.  So much for protection from that big family idol.  The man with the large wooden figure was vomiting just as badly as everyone else.

It is folly to think that a block of carved wood would provide protection from bad weather.  The prophet Isaiah wrote about such idols made from wood, the same wood used also for making fire and cooking food,

From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says, "Save me! You are my god!"
They know nothing, they understand nothing;
  their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
  and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
"Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?"  (Isaiah 44 17:19)

God is not a block of wood that we carve with our own hands and carry around as a good-luck charm.  Trusting in it would be foolish, but trying to make the return trip by the same boat would be equally unwise.  We returned to Taitung by air the next morning, just as the local weather service sounded the typhoon warning.

Absolute Surrender

“Mr. Duh, here is the consent form for the surgery.  Please read it over to make sure that you don’t have any questions.”

I sat before an anesthesiologist to go through the pre-operative paperwork for my back surgery.  The event occurred nearly 20 years ago, but a few of the anesthesiologist’s words still echo in my head today.  I had been experiencing severe back pain and leg numbness from a slipped lumbar disc, and the neurosurgeon whom I saw recommended a fairly routine type of lower back surgery to correct the problem.  As I went through the various paperwork regarding the planned hospital admission and surgery, I signed them through fairly quickly, thinking that as a young physician myself, I knew all about these things.  True, I was a bit nervous because my wife Karen was about 6 months pregnant with our firstborn son at the time, and she occasionally expressed to me her anxiety about the “what ifs” of surgery and anesthesia, but I did my best to suppress whatever fear that attempted to surface at the time.

As I was about to sign the surgical consent form, the anesthesiologist looked at me seriously, and asked,

“You know that you can die from this procedure, right?”

I paused.  His candor was a bit unexpected and took me by surprise.  He was right - once I am put under anesthesia for the surgery, I would be completely powerless to do anything other than to completely entrust my life to the surgery team.  It would be absolute surrender.

This was a tall order, but it was not any more than what our Lord Jesus asked of his believers when he said to them,

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Jesus demanded radical surrender from his disciples, to the point of living each day as if they were dead to the world.  To “take up his cross” practically means that we are to regard ourselves as dead to our own will, just as one who is bearing his cross is, for all practical purposes, dead.  However, Jesus did not simply demand it of us.  As the one and only Son of God, he uttered the ultimate words of submission and surrender on the eve of his crucifixion,

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

I signed the surgical consent form.

If we desire God to transform our lives, we will also need to surrender our will to Him.  Absolutely.

Paternal Affection

"Hey Chris, hope you have everything you need for next week.  Give yourself a hug from me.  Love ya!"

I sent my son the above text message 3 days after my wife and I helped him to move into his college dorm room, shortly before his first day of classes at Indiana University.  I realized that Chris was probably too excited about moving out of the house and starting college to think about much else, but I wanted him to at least realize that his old man cared about him and was thinking of him.

My son did not respond that day, nor the next day.

On the third day, I sent him another message, knowing that it was his first day of school, and that he had an 8 a.m. music theory class:

"Congratulations on getting through your first theory class.  Hope things are going well."

He would have received the message about an hour and a half after the class, and I knew that he had 3 hours between classes that day.  Still no response from my son for the next several hours.

I started work that morning in a melancholic state, wondering whether my son and I were not merely physically separated by distance (nearly 2,000 miles between Los Angeles and Bloomington, Indiana), but that our hearts might also be rent by a great divide.  I longed for some acknowledgment from him, if only a simple "Yo!" or a smiley in response.  It was God's mercy and provision that I had a very busy day in the office, which supplied necessary distraction.  Thankfully, my son eventually responded later that day, and my mood was restored after a few minutes of messaging with him on the computer.

Just as I wished to communicate with my son during those days, God also desires to fellowship with us and commune with us, and created us in His image so that we can do so.  How often have we spent an entire day living under God's blessing, enjoying the goodness of his provision, guidance and protection, and respond with nary a thought of thanksgiving, living as if He does not matter and does not exist!  May we be eager to seek the Lord at the beginning of our days, as the psalmist wrote,

O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.  (Psalm 5:3)

But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steafast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.  (Psalm 50:16)

May we seek our heavenly Father as Jesus did before the break of dawn,

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.  (Mark 1:35)

Lord, forgive me for failing to acknowledge you and not remembering you until the end of the day.  May I daily live under your presence, and realize that outside of you there is no good thing.

Standards of Living

"Hi Glenn!  Nice tie you're wearing - is that a Ferragamo?"

Audrey, one of the pediatricians in our department, took some fancy at the new tie that I wore to work that day.  The necktie had a shimmery light blue background and a repetitive pattern of tiny grey dolphins wearing yellow caps.  I thought that it would be something fun to wear when spending time with young children and their parents in the clinic, but I didn't know what she meant about it being a "Ferragamo".  I often pride myself in living significantly below my expected standard of living, and have never purchased an expensive necktie before.  The one I wore was discovered at a thrift shop in Tokyo during a family vacation, for the price of about a hamburger, French fries and a soda.  I would eventually come across some very nice looking Salvatore Ferragamo ties at airport duty-free shops, and was shocked to find that a single necktie at the store cost more than my shirt, necktie, trousers, belt, shoes, socks and wristwatch combined.  I was content to settle for my Ferragamo look-alikes that was purchased at less than one-twentieth the price.  Besides, if I actually wear one of those very expensive neckties, does that mean that I also need to buy expensive shirts and suits to match?  That would get very costly very quickly.

While I am very reluctant to sport any kind of "status symbol", I do enjoy looking at other people's expensive toys.  "Ooh, that watch must cost at least $20,000 (mine was for $49.95)...wait, check out that guy's newest electronic gadget...whoa!"

As my eyes wandered around town, suddenly a distinct roar of a sports car's engine caught my ear as a silver Ferrari passed by.  I would later find the same car parked only a few hundred feet from my home.  Hmm, there much be a very wealthy person in the neighborhood, or someone who knows a very wealthy person, I thought.  A couple of days later, the Ferrari was replaced by a Maserati, and the next day by a BMW, and a few days later by an Audi R8 sports car that costs more than some pieces of livable real estate.  Not only was there a wealthy person in the neighborhood, it was a wealthy person who liked European sports cars.  Was I jealous as I slowly drove past the vehicle du joir in my Toyota Prius?  Nah.

It is usually considered wise not to live an extravagant lifestyle, and indeed, in The Millionaire Next Door, authors Thomas Stanley and William Danko noted that the typical American millionaire lived considerably below their expected standards of living and eschewed the lifestyles of the rich and famous in order to accumulate earthly wealth.  The Bible also contains many verses that urge us to use our resources wisely.  However, such rules do not apply when it comes to spiritual riches for the Christian.  In the opening verses of Ephesians, the apostle Paul exclaimed,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  (Ephesians 1:3-4)

God has blessed those whom He chose with "every spiritual blessing".  God, the infinite source of all things, has made us who are Christians spiritual billionaires and gazillionaires, and as long as we abide in Him, we have no fear of these blessings being depleted.  Yet, we often live considerably beneath our spiritual means.  Why do we despair and worry when God has given us joy and peace?  Why are we stingy with our concern and prayers for others when God has sent his one and only son to die for our sins?  Why are we impatient, intolerant and angry?  Why do we try to live as if we would be annihilated and cease to exist after our earthly existence is over?  May we remember the richness of our spiritual blessings, and move up to a higher standard of living for God's glory.

Squiggly Image

"Oh, this one's going to be hard..."

Years ago, my family was playing a game of Pictionary with some friends from church, and it was my son Christopher's turn to do the drawing.  Pictionary is a guessing game that is similar to charades, where one person draws pictures to provide clues to a secret word or phrase that others must guess correctly as quickly as possible.  As an example, if the word is "chicken", the person who knows the word will try to draw a chicken, while the others blurt out what they think is being drawn until someone says "chicken!".  Sometimes the word or phrase is easy (most people know how to draw a chicken), but others can be practically impossible, and requires all the creativity and imagination that one can muster.  It appeared that my son would have to pull out some trick out of his sleeves for this one.

Tension filled the air as the timer went off.  Suddenly my son's eyes brightened as he approached the large piece of paper.  He drew what looked like a canoe.

"A boat!  No, a ship...a dinghy...an aircraft carrier!"  I started to yell mindlessly as the little vessel started to take shape.

He shook his head, and kept drawing.  Now he started to draw what appeared to be a person on the boat.

"Man on the boat...a sailor!  No, pirate?  Captain Hook?"

No luck so far, and the timer ticked on.  What could it possibly be?  Meanwhile, my son started to put some squiggly hair on the person's head, and drew a hat on top.

"George Washington!"

My son stopped drawing and fist-pumped into the air.  "Yes!  You got it!"

The air stood still for a second before everyone else in the room let out a collective gasp of shock and awe.  It seemed beyond understanding how I could correctly guess the words "George Washington" from the drawing of a person with squiggly hair and a hat standing on a boat.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out.  Chris was drawing Washington crossing the Delaware!"

It just happened that my son and I recently saw a reproduction of that famous 1851 Emanuel Leutze painting.  Chris' rendition of the man on the boat was not much closer to George Washington than Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland, but a little intuition led me to the proper conclusion.  It was, albeit an imprecise one, an image of the first President of the United States of America.

In a way, we are all somewhat imprecise images.  On the sixth day of creation, when God created man, it was written,

So God created man in his own image
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27)

Sometimes it's hard to imagine that there is much in us that reflects God in any way.  We are blemished, selfish, arrogant, shameful and without self control.  Some of us are tall, short, fat, skinny, funny looking or without fashion sense.  A well known pastor has often said that if you don't think that God has a sense of humor, just look at all the people around us.

Yet, despite all our shortcomings, each of us still bears God's communicable attributes.  God is beautiful and creative, and we enjoy the beauty of His creation.  God is righteous, and our conscience tells us what is right and wrong.  God is the source of life, and we value life and admire those who save lives.  God is community as a triune Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we are made not to be alone, but to live with those we love.

May we always remember to live our days as if we are created in God's image, though we may appear only as little squiggly lines when compared to our Creator.  May we also value each and every person, regardless of what we see, as someone who also bears His image in an unique way.

Ceaseless Pursuit

"Hmm, even you are among the 'tribe with their heads lowered'?"  My mother remarked somewhat indignantly in Chinese after I casually pulled out my smartphone to check the latest basketball scores while waiting for our food at the restaurant.  I quickly took a glance around, and indeed, my wife and kids were all gazing intently on their phones as well.  My mother happened to not have a smartphone, and when she made the remark, I wasn't sure whether she was upset about our phone use, or that she wished to also have one herself.  I put my phone away and managed to keep it in my pocket through the rest of dinner; however, there wasn't a whole lot of conversation with all those heads lowered.

Our seeming dependence on these phones have become so prevalent that I've heard several versions of a tasteless joke that involves a person who has a phone surgically implanted on his or her hand.  Our phones wake us up with various ringtones, buzzes and pings during the night, and it occupies our attention throughout the day, whether we are in the toilet, in the car, at work, at school, and unfortunately, even at church.  We have become so dependent on our phones, that temporarily removing our children's phones as a discipline measure is now considered cruel and unusual punishment for some.  Our chats, status updates, tweets, posts, selfies and shared photographs of that incredible lobster dinner or chocolate cake are the fruit of our worldly desires, and we crave their transient pleasures that unfortunately do not satisfy.

Although smartphones did not exist when the books of the Bible were written, and our forefathers were not aware of the kind of hold that such devices have on our lives, there are numerous biblical references to things that we ought to be utterly dependent upon, which are worthy of ceaseless pursuit.

Jesus commanded,

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  (Matthew 6:33)

The apostle Paul wrote,

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.  (Philippians 4:4)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  (Colossians 3:16)

pray without ceasing, (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

So, we need to seek the kingdom of God and pursue righteousness before all else, rejoice unconditionally, have God's word infiltrate every fiber of our being, and pray always.  That takes a lot of time...all of our time.

We ought to resist checking our phones in bed and the first thing when we arise, when we sit around or walk (or drive), and literally having them stuck to our bodies.  Only then will we have room in our hearts to observe the greatest of all commandments,

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Not just some of the time...ALL the time, and EVERYWHERE:

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:7-9)

It's like having God's living word surgically attached to our bodies.

Voluntary Participation

"OK, Dr. Duh.  Looks like that's it for the questionnaire.  You seem to be a good candidate.  The next step will be for you to get the necessary blood tests..."

I listened quietly to the voice of a young woman on the phone.  I may be a doctor, but that doesn't make me enjoy the thought of having needles stuck in my arm any more than most people.

"The test results will take several days, but if you turn out to have a serious infection, we will notify you as soon as we receive a positive test result.  After you clear this phase, we will contact you about the two options that I mentioned earlier..."

Neither of the options that she mentioned sounds like much fun.  For the first option, I will need to get an injection every day for 5 days, which will make me feel ill as if I have influenza, and then I will have to sit for 4 to 6 hours while a machine sucks blood out of one arm and puts it back in the other.  The second option involves me being put under anesthesia while someone sticks a thick needle into my bone to suck out a bunch of stuff, and I was reassured that most people manage to make it back to work after several days.

"Dr. Duh, do you have any questions?"

"No.  Thank you."  Actually, I was sort of wondering how I got myself into this in the first place.

"Great.  I will send a consent form to you by e-mail.  Make sure you read it through, sign it and return to me...and please remember that your participation is purely voluntary.  If at any point you wish to withdraw from this process, please let me know immediately so we can look for other potential matches."

The phone call was from the National Marrow Donor Program.  I gave two blood samples at a church bone marrow drive 20 years ago in response to an urgent plea from the family of a dying young Asian woman with cancer who needed a bone marrow transplant.  The person on the phone informed me that my marrow may have finally met its match in an older man with acute myelogenous leukemia, and that it may potentially save his life.  Unfortunately, donating one's marrow involves some inconveniences, and not a little discomfort.  Needles, medications, more needles, and maybe a couple of holes in my hips.  I was reminded that I don't have to do it, and if I refuse, no one would know, as all records are confidential for my protection.

What am I to do?  For possibly saving someone's life, I guess a few holes in my body is worth it.  Needles...ugh!

Nevertheless, anticipating a bit of discomfort is nothing compared to the earthly experience of our Lord Jesus, who knew from the beginning that he came to do the Father's will:

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but raise it up on the last day.  (John 6:39)

Jesus came to save every single soul that the Father has given to him, and he knew well that it was not going to be an easy task:

And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised."  (Luke 9:21-22)

Anticipation of what was to come caused Jesus unspeakable anguish.  He would have to give up himself voluntarily in obedience to the Father's will:

"Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."  (Luke 22:42)

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  (Luke 22:44)

As I shared news of the phone call with one of our pharmacists, she told me that it's wonderful that I get to save someone's life, and that she also participated in the program and was hoping to get a call some day.

Bring it on.

...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

Heavenly Reunion

I started to teach Sunday school at church a few years ago when our youth pastor asked me whether I’d be willing to help out with the 8th grade class.  I agreed, thinking that it was only a temporary assignment, and, as they say, the rest is history.  The youth pastor recently offered me to teach the 12th graders, and I am very eager to take on this challenge, not only because my son happens to be in the class, but also because I became a Christian 30 years ago, during the summer prior to 12th grade, and my first Sunday school teachers, Tien and Cheryl, were both medical students. This therefore is an opportunity for me, now a full-grown physician, to give back all the life-changing ministry which I received back then.

One of the great joys of Sunday school ministry is that I get to see many of my students continue to grow and mature in the Lord. I remember hearing testimonies of people with near-death experiences recalling being at the threshold of Heaven and being greeted by significant people in their lives, including parents, grandparents, other loved ones, and Sunday school teachers. Hopefully, if I get there first, I’ll be among the ones to greet my students. It will be sooooo exciting to see them saved by grace, justified by Christ's righteousness, sanctified, and with glorified, imperishable bodies.

Unfortunately, I am also tormented, knowing that many of my students will not be there, because they have rejected the faith of their parents and the Gospel message. I know, because at least once a year I would ask my students questions like, "Raise your hand if you are a Christian", "If you die tonight, do you know for certain that you are going to Heaven?", "Do you believe the message of the Gospel?", and "What is the Gospel message?" The responses have unfortunately been very disappointing. Many highly intelligent, academically, athletically and musically accomplished children of God-fearing parents either do not care about God, do not have any desire to live under God's presence (as if we even have a choice to hide from God), or openly reject the message of the Gospel. I often ask myself whether it is because of something I said or shouldn't have said, and am afraid that I might have caused some to choose Hell rather than Heaven, to choose temporal, sinful pleasures instead of eternal life under God's presence. I feared for my own soul, as teachers are admonished by the apostle Paul that they would be judged more strictly. Woe to me if I cause one of these young ones to fall!

Thankfully, the Lord addressed my anxieties via the words in John's gospel. For many years I didn't like the book of John as much as the other gospels, because it seems so tedious, and Jesus' words and prayers just went on and on and on through those really long verses and chapters. However, as I studied God's word more, those words came alive and became so meaningful.  It recorded these words of Jesus:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of the Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  (John. 6:37-40)

Jesus came to earth in order that every person that God the Father ordained before the creation of the universe to be saved would be saved. Christians are the Father's gift to the son, and Jesus promised that not even one of those that the Father gives to him would be lost. Not even one! That is great assurance for me, because whether my students believe depends not on my providing convincing arguments about the Gospel, or being clever and funny, or being a good salesman for Jesus. It is God's work and His doing. When I teach, I am only an instrument in the Master's hand. It matters not whether I am a paintbrush, a pencil, a chisel, a shovel or a sledgehammer in God's hand, I need only to do my job faithfully. If my students truly understand the depravity of their condition, truly repent, truly believe that Jesus came to earth to die for sinners, that he rose from the dead, and that Christ's righteousness is imputed to those who believe and call him both Lord and Savior, all the glory belongs to God. It is nothing that I have accomplished.  Conversely, if they do not believe after I have given my best efforts, I need not despair of my performance. To paint a picture you need the canvass, a bunch of paint, brushes, solvents and all sort of stuff. If God meant me to be a pencil for the first sketch, I may be indispensable, but also be totally invisible in the end. The important thing is not me, and it is not people. It is God. I only need to worry about being the best pencil or sledgehammer that I can be, to be used for His glory.

And, I look forward to having the most joyful Sunday school reunion when we the Lord calls us home!

Fan Support

"Hey, you are wonderful!...I admire you!...You are great!...I love you!...Thank you for being who you are!..."

It was a cool June Sunday morning in San Diego, and this thin, graying man in a T-shirt and running shorts appeared to have been belting out these phrases like a recording for at least half an hour by the time I passed him.  Oh, please, don't say that you love me.  That would be awkward....

"Sir, you are an inspiration to me!"

"Thank you!"  I quickly responded as I breathlessly ran past him.  Whew, that was close.  I didn't know who this man was, but I had seen him at roughly the same spot at the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon several years in a row.  26 miles and 385 yards is a beast of a distance for a race, and this man was on a mission to make it just a little easier. He had no clue who most of the roughly 30,000 runners were, but no one seemed to complain.  As the race unfolded, other spectators also yelled out words of encouragement.  "Looking good, Glenn!"  (I had my name on the race bib)  "Good job!  Keep it up!"  "It's all downhill after another mile!"  "Nice legs!"

When people ask me why I'd put my body through the torture of marathons, I often reply that it's cheaper than psychotherapy.  You pay a nominal fee, then go run down the street to have people say that you're wonderful, you look good, and pretend that you are some sort of a big deal.  Bands play for you.  Japanese taiko drummers rouse you with thundering rhythms.  During a half-marathon in Los Angeles, we were greeted with bone rattling pulsations by a high school drum line as we emerged from a tunnel.  The sensation was surreal.

However, those drums, bands and encouraging fans paled in comparison to the Wellesley College girls near the halfway point of the Boston Marathon.  Runners, from elite athletes to back-of-the-pack qualifiers, are greeted by the "wall of sound" that is audible more than one mile away, and the sound rises steadily for several minutes until they are met by a screaming frenzy of college women waving arms, banners and "kiss me" signs.  The reception is reminiscent of the Beatles appearing at the Ed Sullivan Show.  I seriously want to qualify for Boston again, if only to relive the thrill of the Wellesley sonic boom.

Jesus did not run marathons when he lived among us in the flesh, but he was no stranger to being the attention of large gatherings.  As his reputation grew, great crowds followed him as he healed the sick, taught about the kingdom of heaven, and fed many thousands of men, women and children with only a few small loaves of bread and some fish.  Crowds also appeared days before his crucifixion, laying down palm branches before him and crying "Hosanna!"  Yet, Jesus did not come to earth to receive admiration, praises and glory from men.  He came with another purpose:

For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.  (John 6:38)

Jesus' life on earth was an act of obedience to the Father, such that...

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  (Philippians 2:8)

Jesus never succumbed to pride as the crowds gathered with increasing strength.  Instead,

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.  (Luke 5:16)

May we be eternally grateful for Jesus' single-minded submission to the Father's will and love for us, such that when crowds gathered one last time around Jesus, shouting "crucify him!", he responded in near solitude on the cross with the words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."  (Luke 23:34)

Should we not seek to please God, rather than to merely hope for the praise of men, and of a few thousand screaming college coeds?

Unquenchable Fire

A brilliant fire never fails to attract attention.  Shimmering stars in a cloudless night are wonderful, but they rarely garner the "oohs" and "aahs" of a golden, firey meteor streaking across the sky.  It catches our eyes, and refuses to let them go.  Similar mesmerizing powers can also be found in fireworks, as the lighted missiles scream into the expanses above and explode into marvelous colors and patterns, temporarily turning darkness into blinding light.  More "oohs" and "aahs".

We also like to use fire as a metaphor for other phenomena of brilliance.  A famous professor, entertainer or politician may be described as having a "meteoric" rise in prominence, stature or achievement if he or she seemingly comes out of nowhere to become a dominant presence.  An exceptional performance in the concert hall, the ballpark, the stage, the courtroom, the racetrack or the pulpit, and a person or team is described as being "on fire".  It feels good to be on fire, because you are achieving greatness in something, and everyone seems to be watching you step head and shoulders above everyone else.  It is a feeling that one cherishes...

...because it doesn't last.  Unfortunately, most fires eventually go out.  A star will spend only a very short part of its lifespan as a white-hot supernova before it shrinks into a white dwarf, and eventually into a black hole.  The superstar celebrity loses his or her grasp on prominence, and gets replaced by someone else who flashes upon the scene.  The on-fire performance becomes a once-in-a-lifetime event, never to be repeated by the same person.  If we forsake all sensibilities and work ourselves to the bone to try and fan ourselves into flame again, we are perceived as a candle being lighted on both ends.  We burn out.  We get consumed.  Spent ashes we become.

Burnout and decay appears to be the inevitable end of human endeavors.  However, there is a fire that burns but does not consume.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”  (Exodus 3:1-3)

The bush was probably just a plain, regular bush.  If it was set on fire, it would burn into ashes, just like any plain, regular bush.  However, the fire was from God, and the bush was not the fuel.  It would burn brilliantly for however long the Lord wanted the fire to remain on the bush.

May our lives be like the bush, faithful and obedient to being used by God for His purpose, that we may be instruments for His glory.  May we not endeavor in the quest for our own brilliance, lest we have little to show for in the end but smoke and ashes.

Game Over?

Basketball is a fast paced sport that is at its most exciting when it is highly competitive, when two evenly matched teams go after each other relentlessly in a closely matched contest.  Leads are changed frequently, scores are tied multiple times in such a game, and the outcome remains unknown until the last second, when a team loses or wins on a last-second missed shot or buzzer-beater.  The game is a bit less compelling, on the other hand, when one team soundly outplays its opponent, so that the outcome of the game is essentially determined several minutes before the final buzzer.  Chick Hearn, the late great radio announcer of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, when seeing that one team had an insurmountable lead, would often calmly announce, "This game is in the refrigerator, the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are getting cold, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O's getting jigglin."

In other words, it's basically "game over".

Such was the sentiment when Jesus was nailed on the cross.  When Jesus first appeared on the scene as an adult, Satan challenged him repeatedly, "If you are the son of God..." and tempted him to turn stones into bread, to leap off a high place, and to bow before Satan.  In each occasion, Jesus countered with words of Scripture, and held his ground until Satan left him, and angels came and ministered to him.  (Matthew 4:1-11)  For the next three years, he healed the sick, raised the dead, fed the hungry, and expelled demons.  Jesus seemed to be building a comfortable lead over Satan until the final hours of his earthly existence, when the situation took a dramatic turn.  

Instead of Satan tempting Jesus to turn stones into bread to fill his hunger, he tasted bitterness at Golgotha,

"they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it."  (Matthew 27:34)

Instead of Satan tempting Jesus to leap off a high place and be saved by angels, he was mocked and scorned as he lay hanging on the cross,

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!  If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross."  So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself.  He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God, let God deliver him now, if he desires him.  For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"  (Matthew 27:39-43)

Instead of Jesus being tempted to bow before Satan, he was jeered as the soldiers bowed before him,

And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand.  And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head."  (Matthew 27:28-30)

Satan pressed on as Jesus gasped his final breaths on that fateful Friday afternoon.  Would darkness reign?  Was this "game" in the refrigerator?

Jesus' final words..."It is finished"  (John 19:30)

It was not over.  Jesus finished, or accomplished his purpose on earth.  He died for us and paid the penalty for our sins.  Sunday was coming, Jesus would rise again, and death was defeated.  Salvation has come.

It was no contest.

Game over.

Deep Roots

"Wow, look at those palm trees...how tall do you think they are?  80 feet?  Maybe 100 feet or more?"

Those trees had been around for years, but being in Southern California, palm trees don't necessarily get as much of our attention, since they are everywhere.  They certainly didn't seem to impress the rest of my family as we passed by them on the way back home from church one beautiful, clear Sunday afternoon.

"Those?  Oh."  My wife responded sleepily, then closed her eyes.

"Mmmph..."  My kids were nearly as enthusiastic in the back seat about these towering giants.

"Yeah, aren't they huge?  I was just thinking, it'd be a very bad thing if one of those trees ever falls over.  Imaging all the damage it can cause."

The problem with having a lot of tall trees is that they sometimes will fall, and occasionally in bunches.  A major windstorm in late 2011 put the normally inconspicuous Temple City, CA, for several days on national television as unusually fierce winds knocked down about 500 trees in the city and caused about 10 million dollars in damage.  Some of the power lines toppled likewise, and we were without electrical power for 5 days.

"Glenn, you're wrong."  Suddenly my wife woke up.  The opportunity to correct me must have energized her.  "I guess you don't know that palm trees have very deep roots, and they don't fall like other trees.  Did you realize that not a single palm tree fell during the windstorm?"

I couldn't verify the facts while driving, but I knew that my wife was correct.  She is, after all, the gardener and landscape expert in our family, and being a member of the local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), she would have much more first-hand information when it comes to disaster information and readiness.  Indeed, the palm tree is characterized by the presence of both a network of shallow, fibrous roots, as well as a very deep anchoring root, whose purpose is to prevent the palm from toppling.  Palms sway and bend in the wind, but they don't break.

Just as deep, anchoring roots keep palm trees standing during windstorms, a deep-rooted and deep-anchored faith will keep our lives from collapse when severe trials and difficulties arise in our lives.  Job was described as being the wealthiest man in the world, but because his faith was in God and not in his great wealth, he was able to weather the loss of all his possessions, all his children, his health, and the respect of his wife and friends, until God not only restored his possessions, family and reputation, but provided him abundantly more than before.

Our roots also need to be in Christ and in applying his words:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.  (Colossians 2:6-7)

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  (Matthew 7:24-25)

May we be deeply rooted and stand in times of adversity, like the mighty palm tree during storms.

It's a good thing that there aren't any coconut trees in the neighborhood.  Flying coconuts can be a problem....

Blinking Red Lights

The day was off to an uneventful start.  I woke up, ran around the neighborhood for exercise, ate breakfast, drank coffee, showered, dressed, and ushered my two teenagers into the car at 7 a.m. for their 8-minute ride to school.  I didn't really have to be at the office until 8:30 a.m., so there was plenty of time to drive to work.  The traffic, however, was unusually busy that day, and the city's main thoroughfare was flooded with a sea of red brake lights from the cars in front of me.  I strained my neck to discern the situation down the road, and saw that the traffic signal half a mile ahead was blinking red, indicating a malfunction.  I tried to look for a detour, but none was available.  I glanced to my side, and saw a Los Angeles County Sheriff patrol car also mired in the same traffic.

This was going to take a while.

The half-mile trek to the intersection with the malfunctioned traffic signal took over half an hour, enough time to listen to all the late breaking news on the radio, along with reports on the weather, stock markets, and details on every single professional football and basketball game over the weekend.  I did manage to make it to work on time, but barely.  It would have been nice if the police officer in the patrol vehicle beside me was out there directing traffic rather than being stuck in it himself.

Traffic signal malfunctions are thankfully quite rare during my daily drives to work, but a single malfunction at the wrong place and wrong time (this one happened to be at a major intersection in front of a high school during rush hour) could spell total chaos.  It is easy to complain about getting stuck behind a red light at the intersection under normal traffic conditions, and give little thought to how intricate and vital traffic control is in the city until it fails.  In the same way, we also take for granted the intricate order and physical laws of the universe, and occasionally even fantasize of worlds where some of these laws could be tinkered with in time travel machines, anti-gravity footwear and the like.  Fortunately, God is sovereign over the universe and all creation.  The Bible begins with the declaration that God is responsible for everything that has ever existed:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  Genesis 1:1

Creation responds by declaring God's glory:

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Psalm 19:1

We can be confident that there will be no "malfunction" in our universe as long as God sustains it.  All existence will cease in a moment if He does not.