The Perfect Environment

(what about those fish? on the ark? not on the ark?)

A few months ago I was reading a book about Noah’s Ark to my daughters. We covered the pages about Noah and his family being righteous and Noah building the ark while the other people made fun of him. There were pictures of tigers and elephants and alligators filing up the ramp, the torrential rain falling and the ark floating along with giraffes poking their heads through the roof. It was great fun, but something caught my eye. There, underneath the ark, were an assortment of fish and other sea creatures just floating blissfully along. I wondered, “Why aren’t they in the ark?”

The answer, of course, is that they didn’t need to be! They would have been perfectly fine in the water; they were already in their perfect environment. The account of the Great Flood in the book of Genesis mentions only that: “two of all birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark”. So it seems plausible that fish and aquatic life might have ridden out the storm unaware of and unharmed by the destruction and turmoil happening right above them.

We can have our own perfect environment, our own place to ride out the storms that life brings. Trusting in the care and provision of God, surrounding ourselves with caring, loving friends, and continuing to seek answers and guidance from the Bible can keep us from harm too!

Brian

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Rejoice

(I grew up with Woody Hayes and "that team up North".. I'm a big Buckeyes fan so yes I was rooting for UM to lose on opening day)

Rejoice…

I had the chance to attend the opening game of the Ohio State University football season this year. The Youngstown State Penguins never really had a chance of course, but they played with enthusiasm. The alumni band was there providing the bodies needed for not one, but four simultaneous Script Ohio’s. It was a beautiful day, the company was great and we won! What could be better?

Well an interesting thing happened that day. Not only did the 105,000 people have the chance to rejoice in the victory of their beloved team, but they found themselves rooting for their arch rival to lose. Every time an update was posted to the scoreboard the crowd would roar. And lose that rival did, in surprising fashion. After the game it was hard to tell which event was more pleasing to the departing crowds!

Now I know that even though this is the biggest rivalry in college football, it was just a couple of football games. And I now rooting against your rival doesn’t make you a bad person. But taking that kind of an attitude out into the rest of your life is clearly not the thing to do. In his letter to the Romans, Paul encourages us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice: mourn with those who mourn.” In other words, show empathy, show respect for other’s feelings, and show that you want to succeed because of your own merits, not because of other’s failures.

Yes, maybe even on Saturday afternoons.

Brian

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Abundant Life

(the world want's us to seek after stuff, but true happiness comes from somewhere else)

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10

What is an abundant life? If you follow the model of the modern media, it has a lot to do with how we look and what we own. It is based on being famous for being famous, for having a dog that fits in your purse, for the clothes you wear and who you parents are. It’s also about being wealthy, wrecking cars and going to rehab, with plenty of people paid to clean up the messes you make in your life.

What is an abundant life? If you follow the Biblical model it’s quite a bit different. It’s a life lived with a pure spirit that endeavors to make good decisions based on the solid information contained in scripture. It’s a life lived free from guilt, secure in the knowledge that a bad decision need not be followed by another and another, that we can stop the cycle and move in a different direction at any time.

An abundant life is filled with the knowledge that we have taken responsibility for the consequences of our decisions, that we didn’t run away and hide. It’s a life filled with hope, secure in the grace and mercy available through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The scars of the past can be healed.


Brian

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