Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 8, 2018

John Bisagno, a Truly Remarkable Man!

A Memorable Life

Sunday, August 5, 2018 our beloved former pastor, John Bisagno, went home to be with the Lord. We cannot even dimly understand the wonder and joy he has been experiencing these last several days. I have no doubt some of the first words he heard from our Lord were “Well done thou good and faithful servant!”

It would be difficult, to nearly impossible, to estimate the depth of the contribution he made to our family as a pastor and friend. His ministry, in combination with the music ministry of Gerald Ray, was an essential part of our family life for literally decades. We felt privileged to be members of First Baptist Church, Houston and a part of the choir.

Our worship experience at First Baptist, Houston, set a standard of Christ honoring excellence that we have not found since. Our children grew up in that church and my daughter’s wedding was conducted by Brother John and our son’s wedding was conducted by Gerald Ray.

We joined First Baptist when it was still located in downtown Houston and vividly remember the old building and the tall office building that was used for the Sunday School classes. We remember climbing the stairs to the seventh floor because the waiting time to take one of the two elevators was just too long to get to class on time. All of these memories combine to create a storehouse of great blessings.

A Family Decision

My company had transferred me back to Houston after a few years out of town. We had sold our house in Austin and had two weeks to vacate which meant we had to find an already built house in an area we liked; we found one that seemed to fit and got moved in as required. We had been members of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin and started looking for a church in the Houston area we could attend.

Brother John’s sermons were being broadcast live on TV in those days and we started watching his sermons; needless to say all three children and their parents were impressed so the decision was made to visit First Baptist, Houston. It didn’t take long for the whole family to decide this was where we wanted to go to church in spite of the distances involved.

Shortly after joining First Baptist we had a personal visit from Brother John in our home; this was to be one of only two times a senior pastor ever visited our home; the second time was again Brother John on the death of our grandson, Brent; Brother John was there to help in both the good times and the difficult ones.

The Vision and the Move

When Brother John was called to First Baptist Houston it was a dying church with a dwindling membership located at a busy corner in downtown Houston; the church had made arrangements with local office buildings to use their parking garages for church attendees on Sunday mornings. Brother John’s dynamic preaching changed all that and people, like us, started coming to First Baptist from all over Houston to hear Brother John preach the Word of God.

It did not take very long for the leadership of First Baptist to develop a vision for growth that included relocating the church to its present location on West Loop at Katy Freeway; needless to say the congregation was enthusiastic about the idea of having our very own church building with parking immediately available. As the plans and progress developed, the entire church membership was getting very excited about the move and was looking forward to the new location.

As the time for the move approached, the congregation was asked to volunteer some time to help get the final work done; I remember the request going out for volunteers with vacuum cleaners to come to the new building on a Saturday morning to clean the carpets that had just been laid down so the chairs might be installed the next week.

I joined with many others and have vivid memories of using our vacuum cleaner in the huge Worship Center to clean the carpets before any chairs were installed; that was a lot of carpet! It was a striking sight, that huge space with a carpeted contoured floor and not one chair! The following week the chairs were installed and the Worship Center looked as it looks now.

Brother John preached his first sermon in the new building; we were there and just as excited as everyone else to finally be in our new church home.

And it Came to Pass

Over the following years we accumulated a vast storehouse of memories about our experiences at First Baptist Church including Brother John playing the trumpet. I was ordained a deacon by Brother John and taught a Sunday School class while my wife served in several capacities including Sunday School Director. We both wound up in the choir under Gerald Ray and have totally great memories of singing a wealth of beautiful Christian music and hymns accompanied by the pipe organ, elegantly played by John Hemmenway.

Our daughter was the first one to get involved with pageant followed by my wife and finally me; pageant had been at Jones Hall but was moved to First Baptist where it continued for many years as a classic Christmas event in Houston. While participating in pageant was extremely demanding it was also very rewarding; we felt saturated with Christmas good will and joy as we spent the necessary hours in preparation for the many performances that followed.

There were many happy years and countless memorable experiences that followed at First Baptist for the entire family. Eventually the time came when Brother John announced his retirement and we knew that an era was ending. It was Brother John and Gerald Ray that had been the catalyst for the quality of worship at First Baptist and we believed that once they left change would be inevitable.

By that time the children had grown up and had moved on to begin their lives with families of their own. My wife and I were getting older too and were having a bit more difficulty doing those things which had previously come so easily. We made the decision when Brother John retired we would try and find a church closer to our suburban home so the travel would be less of an issue.

We have always rejoiced in our experience at First Baptist, Houston and felt a sense of gratitude to our Lord for giving us the opportunity for such blessings. The memories are still vivid and continue to bring joy to our lives as we remember those times!

Brother John’s important role in the life of our family will never be forgotten!

 

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 6, 2018

Finding the Peace God has for You, concluded

One More Imagined Obstacle to Entering Your Sabbath Rest

It has occurred to me that there is one more very threatening giant in the land that attempts to scare you off and keep you from entering your resting place, your rainbow room of faith. This is the giant of shame, of remembered sins, the knowledge of past misdeeds that can hover in your memory. This giant is always whispering in your ear, bringing to mind things in your past where you failed miserably to measure up to God’s standards.

This giant is one of Satan’s most effective warriors in the spiritual warfare; he is an expert at immobilizing Christians, Satan’s enemies, of causing them to stumble and fall. He challenges their worthiness to even fight in the battle; who do they think they are, they with their many transgressions against the God they claim to serve.

The sad truth is all of us have sins in our past that we wish we could forget but all too often come back to haunt us. The Apostle John warned of this in 1 John 1:8-10 when he wrote:

“8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

God knew, from eternity past, that we would sin and fall short of the glory of God; that is why Christ died on the cross, to pay the penalty for our sins, past, present, and future. When each of us received Christ as Savior, the penalty for those sins was paid in full; the sin debt has been erased by the shed blood of Christ. Just as God had promised the land to Israel, God has promised us our sin debt is paid in full by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. I have written more on this in “Is There One Unforgivable Sin?”

You are Free of all Condemnation!

You must not listen to the giant called shame, he is whispering Satan’s lies to you hoping to immobilize you and keep you out of the land.  By faith you must join with Joshua and Caleb and believe God when you are told in Romans 8:1-4:

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

You have been Transformed!

Paul explains our changed condition in Ephesians 2:1-10 when he writes:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

When God, the Father, sees you He sees the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ; this is God’s free gift to all who receive Christ as their Savior. It is not deserved, it cannot be earned, it is truly a free gift given by God’s grace, mercy and love to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and God. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12

Every morning when you wake up and begin your new day you are standing right in front of your Rainbow Room, your very own promised land; you have the option of spending that entire day in your Sabbath Rest, of entering your promised land, or turning your back on God and wandering that day in your very own wilderness. In his grace, mercy and love, God has NOT already condemned you to spending the balance of your life wandering in your wilderness of sin until you die as he did the Israelites.

You have the option, every day, to believe God and walk by faith right into your Rainbow Room of faith or reject God’s promise to you and walk by sight in your very own wilderness of sinful unbelief!

Believe God, Believe His Promises and Enter into Your Rest.

Painting “East of Eden” by Adele Bower©

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | July 27, 2018

Finding the Peace God has for You continued

What Was Different About Joshua and Caleb?

Let’s think about Joshua and Caleb for a moment; as two of the twelve spies that were sent into the land why did they have a different report from the other ten spies? Didn’t they all go together and see the same sights? Did they not also observe “the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large? We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Of course, they saw those same sights but with a different perspective; they saw those sights mixed with faith in God. God had told Israel He was giving them the land and Joshua and Caleb believed God. That is a profound difference that resulted in their going into the land while the others perished in the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb had no idea how God would accomplish this but they were confident He could be trusted and would let them take the land as their new home. They were confident that God would step in and provide the help they needed so the land could be taken and their enemies defeated!

They saw the same problems the ten spies saw but had confidence in the promises of God and believed that God would not let them down; that is walking by faith and not by sight.

You are Faced with the Same Choice Every Day!

As Christian men and women, life will inevitably present us with giants in the land, threats that take many different forms, but we have the same options Joshua and Caleb had available to us every day, we can walk by faith or walk by sight. Each of us face powerful people, some form of large fortified cities, those who are stronger than we are, even giants that make us feel like grasshoppers by comparison; will you see these as obstacles or opportunities?

What happened to Israel when they later entered the land under Joshua’s direction; were they not encouraged and emboldened when they saw those giants fall before the mighty hand of God? Didn’t the fall of those giants demonstrate again the faithfulness and power of almighty God? It became the giants turn to cry all night and grumble!

The Door is Still Open, the Invitation Still Stands!

“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.” Hebrews 4:1

As members of the true church, the body of Christ, we have a standing invitation to enter into God’s rest; this is a marvelous blessing which all should earnestly seek and find. Israel, on the other hand, lost its opportunity to enter the land and was compelled to wander in the wilderness until that generation died off. You have not and will never be shut out of God’s rest; even if you have failed to enter his rest to this point in your life, you are still presented with the opportunity of entering God’s rest and may do so at any time; the door is open, the invitation stands!

 A Bible Study on Hebrews

My wife taught a Bible study group in our home and was studying the Book of Hebrews with her class one fall. She was using a sermon series on Hebrews and sent this follow-up message to her class.

“I want to emphasize two of the pastor’s illustrations in his sermon last Monday night. (The church where the sermon series was preached had a special place where children stayed while their parents were in the worship service; it is called “The Rainbow Room.’)

A little 2-year-old boy boldly and happily charges into the “Rainbow Room” every Sunday morning at their church because:

He belongs there! He is welcome there! He is loved there! He is happy there! He is brought their by his parents who belong to the church!

The point was; we have a “Rainbow Room”, too, ….a place where we belong, where we are completely welcome, a place of complete rest from our works, our worries, a place of joy, and happiness (and we have been brought there by Jesus to whom everything belongs.)

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” Hebrews 4:9-10.

The pastor’s daughter visits Buckingham Palace and sees the Queen of England.

The pastor was not bragging about his daughter. It really happened. While attending a university in London, she was invited to attend a very special event; a family member who works in the Royal household was to be decorated with a high honor. He was receiving this award for his years of outstanding service to the Queen. Because the pastor’s daughter is a member of the family, and was WITH him and his family, she was invited and permitted to be in this relatively small room with the Queen and many other high-ranking officials and visitors. None of her friends back at the university believed her. She was given a video of her visit, and we have seen it. Impressive. One friend told her later, “I believe that you believe you were there!” So funny.

The pastor’s point was; his daughter was admitted and welcomed to that inner circle because of whom she was (a member of the honoree’s family) and who she was with.

We are invited to the “Rainbow Room” (The Sabbath-Rest), because of who we are, children of the King of Kings. We go in with Him; He says “She’s with me!” and we are permitted into this special place of rest and peace…..NOW, right NOW. We enter by complete faith in Him, our Savior and Redeemer. Remember, the writer of Hebrews is writing to believers; he is not talking about our eternal presence with the Lord after death. That is settled; whether we enter His Sabbath-Rest in time is our choice for the here and now.

Do we go boldly into our Sabbath-Rest (the Rainbow Room) and find peace every time or do we stand outside in our unbelief and fear, looking in and continuing in our worries and complaints…always doubting the Lord’s ability, love, and promises?

Pray, believe Him and go on in. You are welcome there!”

I thought this summed up the nature of your opportunity to enter into God’s rest very well and add my best wishes for your successful entrance into your very own “Rainbow Room;” this is God’s promise to Christians and most especially to you!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4

 

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | July 20, 2018

Finding the Peace God has for You

 

This Morning you Made a Critical Decision!

This morning you made a critical decision which will impact your entire day. Whether you realize it or not you made a decision which will have a profound impact on everything else that happens today. It is a decision which is inescapable and cannot be delegated to anyone else; you decided whether you will spend this day in your promised land of faith or will, instead, wander in your wilderness of sin.

While you may not even be consciously aware of making this decision, there is no way you can escape the consequences of your decision. In the next three essays I will explain what I mean and the options available to you.

A Gift to Israel

In Numbers 13:1 the Lord makes a wonderful promise to Israel when He told Moses:

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”

Israel had seen the mighty hand of God deliver them from their oppressive servitude to Egypt, part the Red Sea, drown Pharaoh’s pursuing forces and lead them safely to the borders of their promised land. Now God was telling them to go and check out God’s great gift to them. This should have been a time of triumphant rejoicing as they took their first glimpse at their new home, a land flowing with milk and honey as they reported to Moses:

“27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.”

If they would only have stopped there, their lives would have been totally different; sadly, they threw in a “but” that would have devastating results on all but two of the spies that went into the land.

28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”……..31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

That was the report of ten of the 12 spies that were sent; there was a minority report from two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, who insisted, to no avail, that they could take possession of the land:

30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Unfortunately for Israel, they believed the majority report and we are told in Numbers 14:1-2:

14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!

Their words would come back to haunt them because in Numbers 14:27-30 the Lord tells Moses and Aaron:

26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.”

What a tragic failure of faith; instead of going into the promised land, Israel would wander about in the wilderness until all those 20 years of age and older had died in the wilderness; ““If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!” became a reality for all of them.

What Would You Have Done?

As we read that familiar story we may wonder how we would have chosen, would we have joined with Joshua and Caleb or the ten faithless spies? We would certainly hope we would have joined with Joshua and Caleb but would we have actually done that? Can we be certain we would have chosen to walk by faith and not by sight to join with two men when there were so many who doubted?

The fact of the matter is we are presented with that option every day; we can choose to live our lives by faith or by sight; we can choose whether or not to enter into our rest every day that passes! In Hebrews 3:7-19 we are warned to not harden our hearts against the promises of God.

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

The Challenge to You Today

Today there can appear to be giants in the land; these take many forms and can threaten to overwhelm us. These giants may appear at work, at home, or anyplace and threaten our peace and safety. We too have promises from God and invitations to trust Him to watch over us and care for us.

Sadly, I get all too many letters from Christian men and women which remind me of the report of the ten faithless spies; their letters are filled with countless reasons why they must be miserable and suffer at the hands of circumstances; they seem to insist on being miserable and not entering into the rest God has promised.

We are all given the daily opportunity to respond by sight or by faith so how will you respond, with the ten or with the two? When you face the future are you all too often weeping and grumbling or with confidence in God’s promises to you, “14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled” or do you display the spirit of faith in the promises of God and say, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” The choice is yours, choose to walk by faith and not by sight!

Next time, “God’s Promise to Christians.”

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | July 13, 2018

Peace for You in Your Lifetime

A Widespread Problem Facing Christians

Each day I get letters from all over the world and a great many of those letters have to do with troubles and problems in the lives of Christians; we live in troubled times and pressures on the Christian community all over the world are increasing rapidly.

Global Media Outreach cautions the online missionaries about a growing list of “Sensitive Countries” where care must be taken to avoid any reference to Christianity in the headings of letters sent to residents in those countries.

We are warned in the Bible about the last days when the persecution of Christians will increase; from the looks of it we are moving into that time period. The Bible itself is under increasing attack because of the stands it takes on issues that have become politically incorrect; Biblical morality is being viewed as out-of-step with the times.

While bringing peace to the world is infinitely above our pay grade it is possible to bring peace within us; to enjoy a peace which passes understanding, to let the God of peace reign and rule in our individual lives.

God’s Promise of Peace to his Children

While the world searches futilely for peace and some world leaders attempt to broker peace treaties between warring nations; there remains a peace for God’s children; a moment by moment rest available from God to those who will believe him and trust him. I am particularly fond of Paul’s advice to the Philippians in chapter 4, verses 4-9 where it is written:

“4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

Verses 8 and 9 pretty well sum it all up, there are things we must do which will be followed by something only God can do for us, give us his peace; I, for one like the sound of “the god of peace will be with you.”

A Sabbath Rest for Christians

In Genesis 2:1-3 it is written:

“2 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”

Here we read of the establishment of the seventh day as a Sabbath which is later incorporated into the Mosaic Law as the seventh day Sabbath. While the Mosaic Law creates several days involved with the various prophetic feasts of Israel as Sabbaths the seventh day Sabbath held a special place in the hearts of the Jewish people.

At the time of the First Advent a new covenant came into being, a covenant of grace which rested on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ; a new kind of Sabbath was introduced wherein those, under the New Covenant, enjoyed a moment-by-moment Sabbath before the Lord. The Lord had moved from a Sabbath Day to a moment-by-moment sabbath rest for his children.

In Hebrews 4:6 it is written:

“6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today.”

Today is the time for you to enter God’s rest if you have not already done so. The following three essays will discuss the problem and God’s solution to the problems we face living in very troubled times.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | July 6, 2018

The View from the Top

New York City from the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building http://www.esbnyc.com/explore/top-deck-102nd-floor

The Higher Floors Usually have the Best Views

It is no surprise to discover the higher you go the better the view; distractions and obstacles dwindle into insignificance as you get higher and higher; you can see farther and farther as the vista opens up before you. It should be obvious the potential view from the 85th floor would be broader in scope than the view from the floors below.

I insert the word “potential” as the distance one can see is dependent on the direction faced; if one is looking inward the nearest wall may be the only thing in view but if one is looking outward the horizon may fade into a hazy distance.

It has occurred to me there is a parallel between elevation and age; it seems the older I get my view of the world and life in the world is undergoing sweeping changes. I have mentioned before in “A Surprising Discovery,” how my perceptions of life were being changed by age; while the essay was written just over two years ago the rate of change has not really slowed so far.

I’ve never visited the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building but I have visited other famous high points and noticed how often there seem to be powerful binoculars and guide maps to help one identify notable sights that can be seen. Thinking again on the parallel between elevation and age, God in his grace, mercy and love has provided a guide-book to life called the Bible which is available to all who will use it as a guide to the panorama of life that is spread out before us by the world in which we live.

I have found the process of aging has broadened my perspective on life and opened up wide vistas which have solidly reconfirmed the value of the guidance provided by the Bible.

On Being Young

I have an advantage which the young are not yet able to share; I have experienced every age between 1 and 85 one year at a time: “been there, done that, got the T-shirt” as the expression goes. I have countless memories of childhood and beyond which are available for recall at any time. I can remember how I felt as a child, as a teenager, as a young adult, as a middle age adult and can sympathize with those who are living in those seasons of their lives.

I remember the priorities and pressures I felt as a young man and know how powerful they were to me at the time; it was difficult to look past them and glimpse the bigger picture of life that was obscured by their demands yet sometimes life requires we look at the wall and not the horizon. Young people are faced with the need of making many decisions which can profoundly impact the balance of their lives; wise decisions at this point can pay great dividends later.

From the vantage point of hindsight I cannot overemphasize the importance of heeding God’s advice on life and living during this critical phase; the Bible is a sure source of instruction on making the right decisions for the long-term.

On Being Old

I am completely at peace with being old; I know some seek to avoid acceptance of the reality of their age but I am not one of those. By God’s grace my wife and I enjoy reasonably good health although we do move a little slower these days. One of the advantages of being married for over 65 years is our ability to share our life experiences and fully relate to what the other one is feeling.

One thing I have discovered is how liberating old age can be; I have been freed from many of the pressures besetting the young and can accept and enjoy life as it has become. I have watched so many generations come and go I fully realize the transient nature of life and thank God for the opportunity he has given me to enjoy the years he has allotted to me. It is rather sobering to watch little babies you have bounced on your knee become grandparents.

I have read the term, “and it came to pass” occurs 1,265 times in the Bible; the years have shown me this is the normal pattern of life, everything on this earth comes to pass, from the largest to the smallest. Both institutions and individuals come and go with a regularity that is predictable and becomes even more obvious as one looks back over the years.

On Being Wise

While wisdom does not come automatically as one ages, age has the potential to help develop a wise perspective on life and living if one seeks to find it. I’m convinced the only wisdom that really counts is a spiritual awareness of God and his dominance over all of his creation. I deliberately choose to ignore the so-called wisdom of this world and delight in my ignorance of much of the worldly way of life.

I’m reminded of the famous quotation by Thomas Grey: “where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise.” Knowing too much of the world can be very depressing if care is not taken; it sometimes appears the world seeks out the ugly and seems to feature the bad things that happen, the evening news being a case in point.

The opportunity to enjoy one’s life is much greater if the Bible is consistently used as a guide; one thing age and experience has taught me is the validity of living life as God has instructed in his guidebook for humanity, the Bible. I’m particularly fond of the section in Philippians 4:4-9 where it is written:

“4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

Be wise, rejoice in the Lord always!

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | June 18, 2018

Making Peace with Who You are; God’s Plan for You

 What now, where do you go from here?

In the first article I mentioned how much of who you are was beyond your control; your genealogy was instrumental in the creation of most of your physical characteristics. There are, however, many significant areas where you can make a difference in your life on this troubled world. A great deal has to do with how you perceive yourself and your situation which is largely dependent on your worldview; how do you see the world and your place in it?

I delight in seeing the world as God’s creation and seeing myself as a small part of his creation; it is a cause for great joy to know my very existence is dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ and I exist as an expression of his will. Starting the day with that thought helps keep the events of the day in a proper perspective; adding to that my favorite life verse, Galatians 2:20, completes my daily mindset package:

    “20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Your Journey Through Life

As we live our lives on this world it is vital we recognize only one decision on our part has intrinsic, eternal value; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!

I concluded my article on “What is Reality” with this statement:

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will have effectually and successfully responded to true reality; your life will have been a success regardless of whatever else may happen.”

Once a commitment to Christ has been made we begin the process of being conformed to the image of his son, Jesus Christ; that process is unique for each of us and can lead us over many diverse paths. As we traverse those paths we are given many gracious and loving promises on which we can depend; I have come to depend on several which are given to God’s children in the Bible, I’m sure you have yours.

It is important to realize that this process of being conformed is a journey and there are things we must learn as we travel our journey. I frequently think on Paul’s statement in Philippians 4:11-14 where it is written:

11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Note particularly how Paul writes, “I have learned;” no one is born with the knowledge needed and it must be learned if we are ever to successfully put it into practice in our lives. What is critical is we learn this from a source on which we can depend, the Bible.

Evaluating our Lives from a Biblical Perspective

If our lives are to be a true success we must evaluate our priorities in the light of eternal values, not temporal ones; while the world attempts to convince us of the beauties and values it can offer it is vital we look beyond what is perishing to what has eternal values. We read in Mark 8:36-37:

36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul?”

The world and all it contains is destined for the fires of judgment; it is truly foolish to place one’s hopes and expectations in something which will not last.

In Micah 6:6-8 we are given a glimpse of how God sees us and our lives:

“6 What can we bring to the Lord?
Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
with offerings of yearling calves?
7 Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?

8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.”

I think we can all agree that is simple and straightforward enough; to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God! Perhaps all beyond this simple declaration is of the world and not of God.

Receiving and Believing True Reality

I have found the best choice in life is to trust God and fully believe and act on what he has written in his holy word, the Bible; when I am told he loves me and is working all things together for my good I choose to embrace such a wonderful truth as a basic reality of life. When I am told he works all things after the counsel of his own will I am compelled to add that to the list of what I believe about reality.

When I am told his love for me will never fail and I am his forever, I rejoice in that truth and let it dominate my thinking; I am his and he is mine, is enormous and simply must provide the foundation for everything else in my life!

Two of my favorite verses are found in Proverbs 3:5-6 where it is written:

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.”

Those verses have provided a secure anchor in some very serious times of testing; praise God for his loving mercy and grace! May our Lord bless and guide you as you seek to honor and glorify him with your life!

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | June 12, 2018

Making Peace with Who You are

How Does who you are and What you are Doing fit in with your Dreams, Hopes, and Aspirations?

Living today exposes all of us to many pressures to conform to the wishes of others concerning our lives and how we live them; we are inundated with advertising that tells us how wonderful our lives would be if only we should do what we’re being told. Most of us learn very quickly the promises of amazing transformations are hollow and false and should we follow those instructions we are left without all of the vast improvements to our lives that were promised.

We are all products of a variety of influences which have helped shape us over the course of our lives. Some of the most influential factors were completely beyond our control; we had nothing to say about who our parents would be or the fact that we would be born into a fallen race whose members are born spiritually dead. It is helpful to reflect on the fact our parents and their parents and all previous generations of parents have been faced with this same dilemma.

Factors beyond our control would determine whether we were born male or female; the general configuration of our bodies was genetically determined by our DNA and we had no input into key physical properties that would influence the balance of our lives. We had no say in our general body types, hair color, bone structure and simply Making Peace with Who You are had to play the hand we were dealt by our parents.

As we grow up we begin to sort things out; we start to identify those things that really matter to us and start building a life that we think, and hope, will be our very best choice. We are under a tremendous amount of pressure during those early formative years, in addition to pressures from without we must deal with pressures within which can all too easily exert a disproportionate influence on our decision-making process.

Finding Help

The mere fact of living in a modern society means we are surrounded by the things of this world; we are constantly barraged by a world view which is totally opposite from the view described in the Bible. The world seeks to convince us of what is real and what is not and, in this process, can present us with choices that are ultimately very destructive.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of discovering and practicing a Biblical perspective on reality and life. I have written on these many times and stress the importance of a realistic worldview as the basis for all other decisions. I’ve written on this in “What is Reality”, “The Painted Veil That Hides Reality” and a seven part series that starts with “It’s All True, All of It! Part 1“.

To ignore the Bible is a sure invitation to failure as there is no other source where eternal truths are clearly presented! I wrote in “What is Reality;”

“All of us have heard the expression “get real” which usually means to deal with life as it really is and stop dreaming. That is good advice as reality is the ultimate judge of the value of all of our actions and decisions.”

If we are to make decisions of real value then it is critical we use the best information available and I promise you that information is only found in the Bible!

Lessons we Must Learn

The Bible is very clear as it pinpoints the situation each one of us faces; the fact of our spiritual death in Adam is a case in point; we are told that we died in Adam in the Garden of Eden and at the time of our physical birth we were spiritually dead. We are also told of the necessity of our new birth as we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior; if we are not born again we can have no part in God’s kingdom.

Once we have been born again, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we are eternally indwelt by the Holy Spirit as a down payment on the inheritance God has planned for all of his children. We then begin the journey of a lifetime as God continues to conform us to the image of his son, Jesus Christ.

We must learn, as Christians, we exist on two planes, a spiritual one and a temporal one. Spiritually we have been given the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ, seated in Christ at the right hand of the Father, and are totally free of all condemnation; temporally we occupy a fallen, unredeemed body, and still have a sin nature within us which seeks to sabotage our lives as we endeavor to grow in our faith as children of God.

It has pleased God to leave us on this world with many responsibilities; we are not only children in God’s family and joint heirs with Christ, but soldiers in the Lord’s army, royal priests, and ambassadors for the Lord to a fallen world which is truly no longer our home. We are told that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

In this same context we are told: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” It is important that we recognize and accept the reality of our situation; we’ll live out our entire mortal lives as soldiers fighting a spiritual battle on a spiritual battlefield. I have written on this in a three-part series, “To the Soldiers in the Spiritual War“.

Next time we’ll cover where you go from here.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | June 5, 2018

An Adventure Trapping Wild Animals

Abby Cat as Ninja Kitten

How it all Began

People who know me probably don’t realize I’ve actually been involved in trapping wild animals. While this is not one of my ordinary pastimes there was one occasion when duty demanded I engage in the trapping of wild animals. While the animals were truly wild they were not really dangerous, in fact the wild animals were five very active kittens who needed rescuing.

This is how that all came about; my company had transferred me back to Houston after a few years in Austin, Texas and we found the house in which we now live. We were the first occupants of this house which was one of several new houses on the block, some of which were still under construction. One house across the street was being framed and, as a builder, I watched its progress with interest.

After a few weeks the house was close to being completed when it came to the attention of the builder and the neighbors that a mother cat had given birth to a litter of kittens in the attic of the house. The builder was growing increasingly annoyed by the situation and didn’t want the kittens to delay closing of the house to the new owners.

Over a few days observation by both neighbors and builder it had been fairly well confirmed there were five kittens in the attic. The attic situation made it virtually impossible to catch the kittens for all the obvious reasons and the builder made it known that he would have to dispose of the mother and her kittens if they could not be removed quickly.

Our entire family loves animals and the thought of such a horrible fate was totally unacceptable to us but we were just as perplexed as everyone else as to how we might affect a rescue of those kittens.

The mother cat was friendly and could be approached and petted but the kittens scattered all over the attic when anyone came up to visit. I decided to accept responsibility for the rescue and told the builder to give me a couple of days and I would figure something out.

The Plan

Being by nature a meticulous planner I knew I needed a plan that would work the first time without fail. The challenge would be rescuing all five kittens as any time someone approached they would all run in different directions for inaccessible locations in the attic. By that time the walls and doors had been installed and it would be theoretically possible to trap the kittens in one room if they could somehow be lured into that room from the attic. I inspected the second floor and found a room with attic access that seemed a good choice for my plan.

Since the mother was friendly I decided to use that to our advantage; I would take the mother and put her into a cat carrier and take her home and leave the kittens by themselves in the attic to get hungry and thirsty. Then the next day I would take some cat food and water over to the house and use that to try and lure them into the room.

The room I selected to use as a trap was on the second floor and had an attic access door on the back wall. My plan would be to close the door to the hall and stuff a towel under the door as the gap was large enough for a kitten to slip under it. There was a boxed-out window on one side of the room and my plan called for me to sit very quietly in that window until all the kittens were in the room then jump up with a towel, close the door to the attic and stuff the towel under the door.

The success of my plan depended on getting all five kittens into the room at the same time; I didn’t want to lose any of those precious lives.

Putting the Plan into Action

As time was getting short I decided to put the plan into action immediately; I took a bowl of cat food over to the house and the mother cat smelled it and immediately came out of the attic to eat. I shut the door to the attic and let her eat then gave her a good pet and put her into the cat carrier and took her home. I knew the kittens would need some time to get hungry so I waited over night to put the rest of the plan into action.

The following morning, I got our other cat carrier, cat food and water, some leather gloves and two towels and went across the street to put the rest of my plan into action. The kittens weren’t making a sound but I was very confident they were hiding in the attic. I went into the room, closed the door to the hall and stuffed a towel under the door.

Then I placed the food and water in the far corner of the room, as far away from the attic door as I could and took my position in the boxed-out window; the waiting game began. For several minutes I sat quietly in the window, hardly daring to breath but no kittens appeared. Then after several more minutes one kitten appeared and walked over to the food and water; then another and another until four were there but no sign of number five.

At that point I began to worry that one of them might go back into the attic before the fifth one made its appearance; but just as I was beginning to wonder if my plan would work, number five made its appearance and walked over to the food and water.

I instantly jumped up, ran to the attic door, slammed it shut and shoved the towel under the door. Those five kittens went crazy with fear and started running around the room looking for a way out but there was no way out. I had them all trapped where I could eventually catch them all. Needless to say, my next step was to put on those heavy leather gloves as I really wanted to avoid being scratched and bitten by angry kittens.

It took some time, as trying to catch five kittens even in a closed room is not an easy task but eventually I had them all in our second cat carrier and closed and locked the door to the carrier. Now I had five very upset kittens in a cat carrier and the mother in another cat carrier at home.

I carried it to our house and decided I would reunite mother and kittens; I stood the cat carrier with the mother on its end and rather unceremoniously dumped the five kittens on top of their mother. I don’t recall how the kittens reacted to seeing their mother again but it must have had some sort of calming effect on them.

Safe at Last

The following day we took the mother and her kittens to the animal shelter where I was told the kittens were young enough they could probably adapt to people and be adopted. Needless to say, after all that, I truly wished them the very best!

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | May 29, 2018

Why do People become Killers?

9/11

There are only three reasons — Here they are

I recently read an “Opinion” in Fox News By J. Warner Wallace, Fox News; Why do people become killers?   In the article Mr. Wallace lists three reasons: “Human misbehavior is motivated by: financial greed, sexual – or relational – lust, and the pursuit of power.” The article was interesting and in the last paragraphs of the article Mr. Wallace wrote:

“Unless we, as a nation, are willing to embrace and promote a worldview that helps us understand the proper role of money and financial stewardship, promotes sexual purity and restraint, and helps us place the needs of others ahead of our own desires, we can expect more of the same.

Those restorative values may sound familiar to you; they used to be part of our collective heritage and our common worldview. They are also our last and greatest hope if we ever expect to minimize and contain the only three reasons anyone commits a crime.”

I was particularly interested in Mr. Wallace’s conclusions regarding the importance of a worldview as I share that belief wholeheartedly! I would even venture to say that the qualities identified might accurately be classified as a partial list of the essential components of a Biblical worldview! (I later discovered that J. Warner Wallace is a Christian apologist and author.)

In November of 2015, I published an essay which I’ve updated and attached below on the subject of the importance of a realistic worldview of everything. While Mr. Wallace lists a number of very important factors there is one factor that I do not see in his list and that is the spiritual factor and the proper role of mankind in relationship to God.

“Your Worldview Shapes Your Perception of Everything!

In my last essay, we considered the negative impact of disobedience to God on the quality of our lives. We reviewed Solomon’s failure to effectively deal with the basic realities of life when he placed more emphasis on the creation rather than the creator.

At some point in our lives we too may start asking questions about who we are, why we are here, and what is our purpose in life; life itself does not provide easy answers to those questions leaving them open to speculation and theorizing.

I suspect a tremendous amount of time has been devoted to discussion and debate on these basic questions of life since they become increasingly important the older we get.

As young people we likely had dreams of what we would like to be and what we would like to do someday. My dream was to be a world-famous conductor of music and lead great music ensembles in the performance of classical music. The closest I ever came to realizing that dream was the opportunity I was given as a teenage boy to conduct the Houston Symphony Orchestra in concert.

As I grew older the realities of my life began to dramatically change my goals and dreams and I realized I had to reshape my thinking to conform to my actual life situation; I had to face reality, my youthful dreams were no longer viable.

Face Which Reality?

The dictionary defines reality as “the quality or state of being real: something that is neither derivative nor dependent but exists necessarily.” Could it be that reality is vastly different from what is generally believed and if so then what is it like?

All of us have heard the expression “get real” which usually means to deal with life as it really is and stop dreaming. That is good advice as reality is the ultimate judge of the value of all of our actions and decisions.

The idea to “get real” would most often refer to the reality as expressed by the world in which we live but the so-called reality of our world is, I believe, both derivative and dependent. I suggest to you that this is not true reality at all but little more than a facade, more similar to a stage setting one would find on a movie set.

It is admittedly a complex and involved stage setting and has the appearance of permanence; permanence, however, from a finite point of view. The tragedy is that most people devote their entire lives to responding to the stage setting and ignore the true realities of life; this appears to be the mistake Solomon made.

If the world and all we see is nothing more than a stage setting then what is reality? The answer is both simple and yet complex beyond our ability to understand; as always, the only source of truth about anything ultimate is the Bible.

The Creator Revealed

Although the beauty, intricacy and harmony of creation demands a Creator, it is only in the Bible we discover the existence of the Triune God; an eternal, unchanging God that is one in essence yet composed of three persons. That basic revelation already moves us to a point beyond our understanding.

Ultimate reality then is the Trinity; everything else is both derivative and dependent!

The Trinity is the absolute uncaused cause and present before time was created by the Trinity. It is impossible for us to imagine what the Trinity’s existence was like before the decision was made to create; it is equally impossible for us to imagine a timeless eternity that has no beginning and no end.

We know from the Bible a decision was made to create therefore the heavens and the earth came into being. The Bible also reveals that the Second Person of the Trinity was the instrument of creation and actually continues to sustain the existence of creation by the exercise of His power.

All creation therefore derives from and is dependent upon the Creator.

In other words, all of creation, most specifically including you and me, are sustained from moment to moment by an exercise of the will and power of the Second Person of the Trinity; the Bible identifies the Second Person of the Trinity in His incarnate humanity as the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Triune God, in His grace, uses terms that have some familiarity to mankind to identify the three Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. I doubt that these terms even begin to describe the complex relationship that has always existed between the three persons of the Triune God.

The World as a Testing Ground

Considering the true nature of our being it should be obvious that the focus of our attention had better be on the Triune God, not the creation as altered by man into the stage setting in which we now live. To only respond to the stage setting and not to the Creator is most seriously delusional and potentially catastrophic!

I’m reminded of a science fiction series written by Arthur C. Clarke referred to as the Rama series in which a gigantic spacecraft is sent to earth to provide a galactic civilization an opportunity to evaluate earth people for inclusion in a galactic empire. A cross-section of humanity moves to an earth-like environment in the spacecraft and immediately reverts to type, completely forgetting or ignoring the fact they are being judged for membership in the galactic empire.

We too are being individually judged by God for inclusion in His eternal family. The only truly significant decision with intrinsic value we can make in life is our membership in God’s family; all other decisions are insanely trivial by comparison.

God has made that decision as easy for us as He can; just believe on His Son, the Second Person of the Trinity as one’s personal savior and membership in God’s eternal family is secured.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will have effectually and successfully responded to true reality; your life will have been a success regardless of whatever else may happen.”

I encourage you to adopt a Biblical worldview!

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