Missing Limbs

We are not the sum of our parts. The Summer Olympics of 2012 were replete with stories of athletes who overcame great odds to compete in their sport. Double amputee, Oscar Pistorius, from South Africa was one of the most visible. Most of the people I am acquainted with have suffered great loss in their lives. Some of those losses are merely inconvenient, and some are tragic. I am thinking of a family member who lost a thriving business and most of their retirement income. A friend lost a great job when the company downsized. Then there is the younger brother and son who committed suicide. A beloved minister who touched the lives of many, who contracted aids in the later years of his life. Many have endured the pain of a marriage that grows cold and falls apart. I have a friend who is in that process as I write this. Many of us live with scars of regret for things we wish we had not done and equally painful scars of regret for opportunities we missed. There are skeletons yet undiscovered. None of us will come to the end of this journey in the same state that we began it. And it is not about "fault". Throughout scripture the metaphor of a tree is used to illustrate the life process in a person. It's roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit, all have a type in our lives as does it's size, shape, health, species, and even it's location. I have large oak trees where I live and there is rarely a morning that I do not find a limb from them laying in the yard, dead, and broken. Oak trees shed their old, dry limbs. With my peach trees and fig tree it is not so. I have to cut the old limbs off myself. Sometimes the limb is healthy, supple, and full of leaves. But I know that it is in the wrong place,growing in the wrong direction or sprouting too low on the trunk. It will rob the limbs above it of nutrients and energy. In cutting the limb off, I will often change the shape of the tree. It looks odd and uneven. But I also know that other limbs will grow. In the fall, there are roses that have every limb cut off and only a stalk remains! Then in the Spring, new limbs emerge strong and healthy and loaded with fragrant blooms. The real health of a tree or a person is not the amount of leaves or the shape it is in but the fruit it bears. I have many friends who spend their lives cultivating a good looking tree full of leaves with flawless shapes and strong branches. Sadly, they produce little if any fruit of the spirit. Fruitfulness is the crowning glory of God's work in you. "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit." John 15:8 The tree of your life is made up of growth, change, choices, actions, paths, plans,and events. These are not fruit but merely limbs or branches which will hopefully bear fruit. These produce other branches which produce still others. Through the years you grow, learn, experience, act, and respond. You mature hopefully, marry perhaps, have children, work, earn, build, and provide.It is the stuff of life. You will also loose. You may lose a job, a home, your health, a marriage, a ministry, or children. You may loose these limbs by the natural process of age. You simply get too old for it. A thing starts out good but goes bad. Sometimes you are damaged by someone else and a limb is lost. Sometimes it is your fault. You sinned, or did something else stupid, willful, and stubborn. Sometimes God takes something away to keep it from harming us or wasting our energy. None of these losses are pleasant or comfortable. All are painful and most are embarrassing. They can leave us feeling lopsided and off balanced. We may live life with the feeling that something is "missing". Parts of us are incomplete. What is MOST important is that you understand that no single branch of your life defines you. Not even the missing ones. Nor do they reflect all that you are. You are not "the divorcee", "the loser", "the adulterer", "the drunk", "the bankrupt", "the cripple". Oscar Pistorius ran in the Olympics because he did not want to be relegated to only the paralympics. He did not mind that he did not even come close to winning a medal. What was important was that he would be known as an "Olympic Athlete". Missing limbs would not define who he was on that track. And so we will remember him for what was in his heart and the fruit it produced! God cares less about the shape you are in and more about your willingness to surrender what remains to Him and see what an abundance of fruit it can produce!

Making Friends

Making Friends
by Samuel Lee Frank on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 12:44pm.

Our relationships, both good and bad, are like a garden. Some things have to be tended to to be their best. Tended carefully and consistantly, they will flourish and produce fruit and seed into future generations. Ignored, and unattended, they will die or go to seed and their usefullness and beauty is lost, although the plant is still there. True frienships are GROWN, NURTURED, and VALUED. They take time.
All relationships are not good, and this is normal to the human experience. I have relationships with various types of weeds. They range from encroaching grass, to the noxious, rash-inducing variety. The typical treatment for them is to give them as much attention as the good plants by constantly pulling, digging, and spraying to get rid of them. Since weeds all start with seeds, the best treatment is to go to Home Depot and get a bottle of "pre-emergent" granules and blend it into the soil so that the seeds of weeds cannot sprout in the first place. They rot and die. Healthy plants are not affected.

Bad relationships are inevitable. How much influence they have over us is up to us. These can range from simply annoying, to toxic and abusive. Some bad relationships need to be severed completely. Some need to be destroyed at the roots, and others can be ignored and they will go to seed and die. Our good relationships, beginning with God, will act as a "pre-emergent" and keep these bad ones at bay or at a minimum.

Eggplants In Heaven!

Eggplant In Heaven
by Samuel Lee Frank on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 3:25pm.

I loved the squash. The tomatoes were excellent. The field peas were incredible! The eggplant however made me gag! Sometimes, in spite of our best efforts, a potentially good relationship goes bad. We have to forgive and move on. Holding a grudge is like going out to the garden every day and smacking the eggplant plant with a stick, stomping it into the ground and calling into question it's maternal genetics! We are all just human. We will all spend eternity with God or without God. Would it delight you to know your worst enemy might spend an eternity in torment without God? So saints hold grudges against pastors. Ministers against congregations. Spouses against spouses. Victims against abusers. Children against parents and vice versa. Pride convinces us that our small, forgivable sins are nothing compared to what has been done to us by others and we worship God and thank Him for His gift while holding a grudge and unforgiveness! But, what IF those who sin against us end up forgiven and saved (hopefully along with you)!? WHAT??? Am I saying there WILL be eggplant in Heaven?!

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We Are Never More Like God, Than When We Forgive

Can I Be Saved With Unforgiveness In My Life?
by Samuel Lee Frank on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 5:00pm.

Unforgiveness is a sin. It has pretty dire consequences (unless the Lord was just being dramatic in Matthew 6). It is an offense against God chiefly because it is born out of our PRIDE (i.e. "reserving the right to have the final say").Put another way, "like Satan, we intend to come out on top with our argument". Unforgiveness is the will saying "I would rather be right than free". Author Paula Sanford in her book, Healing Victims Of Sexual Abuse, quotes her son as saying it this way:

"He says that if a person has not known or chosen to put on the full armor of God (Eph. 6:13-17), he will wear some other kind of armor. Either we wear God's armor consciously, through prayer and relationship with Him, or we wear our own fleshly armor. It is not possible to wear no armor at all. Since nature abhors a vacuum, to the degree that trust in human authority and God's power and faithfulness have been shattered, a person who is hurt or threatened will build his own defense mechanisms, which are self-made armor. A demon may then be attracted and will mold itself in the shape of those defense mechanisms to "help" the person practice them. A person, for instance, has said, "I'll never forgive, so that I will never be vulnerable enough to be hurt again."

That determination becomes armor instead of the breastplate of righteousness"

Unforgiveness is also and attempt to justify ourselves, or "place ourselves in a position to not need forgiveness". This is the analogy of the parable of the unforgiving debtor in Matthew 18:23-35.

I don't know about you but I could never dip so much as a finger into the pool of God's forgiveness if I had unforgiveness in my heart. How could I walk free by God's mercy, while I imprison someone else with my lack of it?

I don't have to like eggplant. I do not have to tolerate weeds. I may not have a "good relationship" with someone, but I do have to let them go free while I cultivate the good ones. There are those that I chose not to have a relationship with in this world, but they are free and I can live in Heaven with them. ( Hold on... this gets HEAVY!)

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Real Friends

In Spite of How Many Friends You Claim On Your Face book Page!
by Samuel Lee Frank on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 6:06pm.

Bad human relationships as well as the good ones are equally based on the actions and interactions of our human perception and nature. In this they are limited at best. We can only be so much and do so much for each other. Proverbs 18:24 says that if we want friends we must be a friend. Also a true friend is closer that a member of your own family.

There are 3 patterns of a true friend.

1.A friend is present to me physically. He makes a great effort to stay in touch. Even long distance. Social networking and cell phones make that easy.

2.A friend is present to me emotionally. Proverbs 18:24 Your friends will love you at all times (unconditionally) It is a mistake, however to say or think that a friend will ACCEPT you as you are. One mark of a true friend is that, while he is present to my weakness and failures, he holds me to a higher standard. A friend knows the best I could be and INSISTS that I get there and ASSISTS me in doing so.

3. Our friends are present to us spiritually. They are aware that there will be an eternal relationship as well as an earthly one. They pray for me. They hold me before God when I cannot stand on my own.

This is a wonder in the Kingdom. Jesus said that in Heaven, earthly relationships would be dissolved and consumed into a greater and holier relationship with each other and God. "We will "be as the angels." Matt. 24:38 This is the only way I could live in eternity with a bad relationship from this world. There are those in this world that get on my very last nerve. There are even those I do not need to see at all in this life and I know for a fact that there are those who feel the same way about me. But I cannot think of ONE human soul that I wish to be in Hell!

I wondered about this mystery and I believe God showed me this in a "vision" or dream or something.

Bear with me in my folly....

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On Friendship and Forgivness

SAVE THE DATE! The Marriage of The Lamb
by Samuel Lee Frank on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 8:58pm.

One morning, some time ago, in that moment between sleeping and waking, I found myself standing among a vast crowd of people as far as I could see, from every part of the globe. They were of every age, race, culture, and language. We were all standing outside in a vast open paved place with no trees. The day was beautiful under blue skies and light clouds. Everyone was standing and talking excitedly with friends and family in small groups or couples. It was a joyous reunion and except for the individual groups, we were all strangers and there was no community among the vast crowd as a whole. It was much like a large conference or community event would be. We were all together as a group, but separate in our awareness and interactions. The laughter and talk was light and guarded with furtive glances around to see if we might recognize someone in the crowd. Eye contact was politely avoided.

Suddenly the sunlight was blocked by shadow and every single face turned upward to see a dark object falling from the sky. It plunged downward toward the crowd not far from where I stood. The crowd somehow parted, moving back to leave a large circle of space and the object slammed downward to the brick paving among us. As we all looked at the object we instantly recognized it. It was a lamb. It was matted in blood, dirty, limp and dead. As the creature laid there on the hot pavement, in death, that entire multitude grew suddenly silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Then as one voice, a great keening wail swelled up from every single individual. The noise became a moan of sorrow and broke out into the heart rending cries of mourning in every tongue and culture. Every thought and every eye was directed toward that lamb. Not a single person was distracted from focusing on that small pitiful creature. We sorrowed as one.

Suddenly as the cries reached a fevered pitch, the lamb stirred to life and like a flame rose up from the pavement and grew large as it was transformed into the form of a man. Standing taller than any there, the figure stretched out his arms to show clearly visible, red, jagged scars across his palms. the sight of those scars silenced the crowd instantly as every eye looked on him and every heart recognized him! Then suddenly again, a deafening roar, as praising, shouting, singing broke forth toward Him!

And in that moment of recognition, we all became one. Every ego vanished. Every reference of the past fled away. There was nothing but HIM, and me and YOU! And Oh how we loved HIM! We were one! All memory of past was gone. There was only now, and here, and us, and HIM! It was not an end but a beginning. There was no sense of relief, for there was no knowledge of past. There was only incredible excitement and thrill at the "NOW" that surrounded us as he moved among us and KNEW us and one by one, welcomed us home!

Then I woke up.

VERY REAL RAGS
I once heard a story about the Southeast Asian people who captured and domesticated wild water buffalo to use as plow animals. One of these huge beasts, whose massive weight and strength could destroy an entire village if it was so inclined, was captured, not with force, ropes, guns, or whips but with a far more powerful tool - FEAR. The villagers would go into the marshes and waterholes where the critters lounged and begin to make a loud racket by banging on cans and limbs while shouting and waving bits of cloth and rags. The giant animals would lunge in fear away from the noise and go crashing through the brush into a clearing prepared ahead of time. Around the clearing, old rags and colored pieces of cloth were draped over the shrubs, creating a corral of fabric. The buffalo would careen into this makeshift pen and skid to a complete halt. Frozen in bewildered fear, they kept a safe distance from the strange barrier and, day after day, the captors would talk to them and feed them until, having gained the animals' trust, they were able to lead them around the pen by a ring in the nose. Soon, with the touch of a slender stick, even a small child could ride on the back of the huge beast.

It is impossible to fear the past. We can only fear things that are future. A perception of what might happen tonight, tomorrow, next week, when I'm old, when I die, and even eternity. There is the school of thought that says the future is not a reality. It has yet to happen because it is still in the process of being formed. It is a convergence of events. What you do or don't do right now, combined with what others do or don't do right now. And of course, when that convergence finally happens tomorrow or next week, it will not be the future - we will then call it "now".

So our brains fill in the gaps and work out the scenarios in advance and if what we "image-ine" is negative, we are afraid. More than likely, we freeze in fear and do not dare take a step forward. The rags that our mind drapes around are as effective as a concrete wall in stopping us.

If we were to see beyond the wall or approach it and press against it, we would find that like old rags, there was never anything to fear at all.

Jesus said, "Do not be anxious (in a state of suspenseful fear) about tomorrow". He reminded us that tomorrow's troubles will be balanced out with its good things, and to those who walked in trust with Him, completeness. He used the word, "sufficient", which meant you will have everything you need available to you to make the day complete and full.

So why do we fail to understand and accept this?

I am not doing very well with the aging process. I confess that I have spent most of my days in the last few years anxious and worried. (You know the dream about walking in slow motion down the school hallway, in your underwear, looking for your locker, to get the book you forgot, for the class you can't find,to take a test, over subject matter you haven't covered or studied, at all!)

I have wracked my brain trying to figure out how to re-gain what I view as lost years, lost productivity, lost income and all the things I don't have and didn't do. I seem to always catch the red light while the guy in front of me on his cell phone pokes along and HE gets through on yellow and I get the red! And what is the universal law of motion that puts the two thousand cars on the feeder road just as I need to enter it from a side street? The pattern seems to be that I am always fifteen seconds late! This is partly a middle-aged thing and partly because my mom gave birth to me fifteen seconds late! I also think it is determined by how many times you have to move the car seat back to make leg room! Because of the Time/Space Continuum in the Laws of Relativity, all of these things have an accumulative effect on you for the rest of your life.

Obviously, my middle age fears would never be cured by a Harley and hairpiece! I could only hold one of them up anyway!

Don't get me wrong. I am grateful for so many things. I love life and all of its beauty and joys. Who woulda thunk it, that a goofy, co-dependant boy from alcoholic parents with a truckload of fear and low self esteem would have such a wife as Brenda Casey to love him and have three great kids who grew up and give him three fantastic grandsons, Casey (my favorite), Corban (my other favorite), Caleb (my favorite also), sweet little Kylee, and Lilly Grace due in September, to call me "Poppa"! These are the best things, and if I didn't do anything else right, I sure got that right!

It's just that now I want to dig wells in Africa and put shoes on the feet of kids in Haiti, and facilitate dental care for children in impoverished communities both in the U.S. and abroad. I want to offer a hot meal to a homeless person and respect their dignity while I do it by waiting on them at a table as they sit and order. I want to be His hands and feet.

I have no idea how to do these things but HE does. He sees beyond the rags.
So stand back. I'm not sure what's out there or what tomorrow will bring, but I know He said He had overcome this world and would be with me. So let's see what's beyond those rags!