Monthly Archives: March 2025

Trash Trucks

trash truck

There is dead-end alley in the back of my house where the trash dumpsters are. I use the alley to pull my car out of my garage in the morning and drive to the street on my way to work. But some mornings I can hear the trash truck beeping in reverse down my alley. When I hear this, then I know I will not be able to get my car out of the garage until after the trash truck has passed by to unload the trash in all the dumpsters in the alley.

One time as I waited for the trash truck to go by my garage on its journey to get rid of all the garbage my neighbors and I have placed in the alley, I realized that this experience is like Lent in a way. The season of Lent makes us stop in our tracks, quit our busy schedules for a moment and watch Christ dispose of the refuse of our sin that has cluttered our lives for far too long. Then after the the filth of our sin is taken away by the power of Christ’s journey to the cross, we are free to move forward in our work for the Lord. Watch for trash trucks this Lent and pause to remember that we have a Savior who removes rubbish and makes us righteous.

Camping

Three tents

Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying. Luke 9:33

When I was a child, my family often went on camping trips. Some were nearby our home and some were far away—Glacier National Park being the most memorable. Most times when we were camping, we never wanted to leave.

That is where we find Peter right after Jesus was transfigured before him with Elijah and Moses standing by. Peter did not want that experience to end. So he suggested they all camp out there for awhile. Now that would have been the ultimate camping trip.

But immediately the moment passes. Moses and Elijah disappear and Jesus is standing there looking like his normal self again. Jesus, Peter, James and John then return to their regular lives.

Wanting to “camp out” in the places where things are good is a natural human tendency, but as Peter discovered, the good times do not last in this broken world. But the good news is that there will be a time to come when Jesus will return and we will go with him to be with all believers in heaven where we will be able to hang out with our Lord and our brothers and sisters in Christ forevermore. That will be far better than any camping trip here on earth. Just you wait!

Overflowing

cereal

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. Luke 6:38

I have always loved the word picture this verse creates in my mind. For some reason, I envision an overflowing box of cereal being dumped into my lap and me laughing like a little child. At first blush, it seems this verse is all about God’s overwhelming goodness toward us and our giving spirit that comes from him.

But I was surprised to see the context of this verse when it was part of the readings for a Sunday recently. Here is Luke 6:38 again with the end of Luke 6:37 (in italics) preceding it:

Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

How does the inclusion of verse 37 change the meaning of verse 38 for you? For me, it shifts the focus of verse 38 to a discussion of the effects of showing mercy. It is no longer about just good gifts of any kind. It is a verse about forgiveness being a very precious gift and a gift that “keeps on giving,” as they say. Being generous with our forgiveness has long-term abundant and very personal blessings for us.

Notice, too, how even the words are so similar from one verse to the next: forgive and give; forgiven and given. We give something of ourselves when we forgive. And we are given something from our Lord himself when we are forgiven. Forgiveness is something that brings us very close to one another and very close to Jesus. And it is these close relationships that fill us to overflowing in love and harmony and happiness—happiness like that of a little laughing child.

Living Branches

tree branches

In your one body let us be
As living branches of a tree,
Your life our lives supplying

The lyrics above come from the hymn “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright.” I am drawn to the concept of us being like “living branches on a tree.” What do we know about branches? One thing we know is that branches cannot grow and thrive if they are not provided with nutrients from the roots below. And branches are connected to other branches that also are fed by the roots below.

The application to Christian living is obvious, but sometimes forgotten in this world where we are becoming more and more isolated and autonomous. Christian living cannot happen in a vacuum. We need to be part the lives of those around us and we need to receive energy from our Lord and Savior, who said quite clearly, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

I see this in action in my neighborhood trees. Branches attached to the rest of the tree stay strong. Those broken off from the tree, fall to the ground and die. So what are we to do to remain “living branches”? Listen to Jesus, let him guide and direct your growth, and reach out to fellow Christians to love and care for them and help them grow in their own connection to Christ. We often talk about our place in our biological family trees, but we need to talk more and more about our places in our spiritual family tree. Who knows how far we can reach as “living branches” for the Lord? Or how high.

God the Smelter

smelting

After singing “pure and free from sin’s alloy” in the hymn “As With Gladness” on Epiphany Sunday, I did a deep dive into the meaning of “alloy” in this context. This took me to Isaiah 1:25, where God says:

I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.

Isaiah is depicting God as a smelter here. And what does a smelter do? A smelter burns off the impurities, the “alloy,” from metals so that they are pure again.

This is a good imagery for us during this Lenten season when we spend these 40 days focusing on getting rid of the impure things in our lives: bad habits, unclean thoughts, recurring selfish behaviors. We can’t get rid of them by ourselves, though. We need the help of the Smelter. Only he can completely do away with our impurities. The process in metalwork is not easy. Burning off something is not pleasant. In the same way, it can be difficult and even painful for us as humans to have our sins excised. That is why Jesus took on the task for us by going to the cross and putting all the impurities of our sins on himself that they might be permanently eliminated through his death.

What a blessing it is for us this Lent to remember that we have been made pure through Christ.

Dust and Ashes

ashes

Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.” —Genesis 18:27

Even Abraham knew he was but dust and ashes in the sight of the Lord. So on this Ash Wednesday, we acknowledge to ourselves, to God and to one another that we, too, are but dust and ashes. It is in essence an understanding that we are nothing in and of ourselves. We are only something because of our God. We are only precious because Christ came to suffer and die and become nothing for us on the cross. We are only alive today because the risen Christ lives in us. Everything we have and are we owe to him eternally. So we put a cross of ash on our foreheads today, but we know we will one day wear a crown of glory on our heads in heaven with Jesus.

Extra Gifts

extra gifts

On my most recent birthday, I decided to take the day off work and stroll the streets of old town St. Charles, MO, with its brick-lined streets and charming local shops. What I did not expect was the rain. So with umbrella in hand, I hopped over puddles and dodged downpours to enter into each store and find no other shoppers inside. The shopkeepers would then ask, “Why are you out shopping on a rainy day like this?” And I would say, “Well, it’s my birthday, and I wanted to spend the day in St. Charles, so that is what I am doing.” Then surprisingly, one store owner after the next kindly said, “Well, then have a cookie, a drink, a discount…on us.” How unexpected and how nice! Extra gifts beyond the the gift of life for another year.

The experience helped me realize that we receive extra, surprise gifts not only on our birthdays, but on every day of the year. They come from the Holy Spirit. They are even called gifts of the Spirit in the Bible. They are wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and joy in the Lord’s presence always (Isaiah 11:2-3). These are gifts upon and beyond what is expected in life, like the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae. We didn’t do anything to deserve except be alive. So we treasure them; we enjoy them; we don’t take them for granted. Life is a little more special because of them. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit,” the Bible says. So that means using the gifts the Spirit gives out on top of everything else we have been given by God all the time.