October 11, 2024

                                                  Do Not Lie

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

– Exodus 20:16

Do not steal.

Do not lie.

Do not deceive one another.

– Leviticus 19:11

It happened again today. Another Facebook friend copied and shared “information” that was completely false.

It sounded good to people who want to believe the worst of President Biden and his administration. But it just wasn’t true. It was designed to make good people angry about the federal response to something horrific that happened to people in the path of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

Let’s be clear here: FEMA, the military and many, many volunteers have been in these areas from the beginning. Keep in mind that the catastrophes are wide-spread. There is much ground to cover especially in Western North Carolina where so many mountain roads are washed away.

My cousin who lives just outside of Asheville asked for everyone to share her message. She’s a Republican and absolutely not a Biden fan. But she said that FEMA had been on the ground from the beginning, making sure the homeless had somewhere to live, making sure food, medicine and other supplies were delivered to people who were stranded up the mountain near her home. She said night had fallen but she could still hear the whirl of helicopter blades as the work continued.

As for the $750 everyone throws out, that is just the beginning. It’s for basics. There will be more money to come. Do victims need to fill out paperwork? Absolutely! Otherwise anyone could come in, claim to be a victim, and get money intended for true storm victims.

No. Migrants aren’t receiving money intended for storm victims. It’s a separate fund. Money designated for victims of natural disasters can only be used for that purpose.

FEMA cannot come in and take your home. That’s been a big rumor. People in some cases have refused to evacuate because they’re afraid FEMA will steal their home. It’s a lie. Mother Nature may take your home, but FEMA won’t.

I could go on and on about the misinformation – lies – that have been told recently. As Christians, we have a responsibility to check the accuracy of information before we share it as fact.

Lies have become a daily part of the political landscape. It’s wrong. But what’s worse is that we not only allow those lies, we share them. We make excuses for the lies and the people spewing the falsehoods.

Look at your Bible. What does it say? Don’t lie. Don’t bear false witness against another. Are you sharing false information? Are you voting for a candidate that does that too? Shame on you. Lies don’t become truth just because you want your candidate to win.

September 27, 2024

                                       Help Others

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

– 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Compassion. Kindness. Prayers.

We will go through hard times. It might be a hurricane that takes away our material possessions. It might be power outages and damage to our home. It could be a broken heart caused by the death of a loved one or a marriage that falls apart. It might be an illness or accident that sends your life down a path you never chose.

Why? That’s the question we all ask. We know that God turns all things to good if we give it to Him. (Romans 8:28) But what does “good” look like? 

Sometimes it’s strength to get through whatever we’re facing. Sometimes it’s peace in the middle of whatever happens. And sometimes good looks like walking beside people who are going through what we survived.

There’s a certain kind of compassion that comes when you’ve been there. It’s not about empty words – however well meaning – or platitudes. It comes from the heart of someone who has made the journey.

God uses people like you and me. Someone from church called me after I was diagnosed with cancer. She had no idea I had cancer. She called about something else. We had a beautiful conversation about God’s faithfulness. She’d walked the road I was on. She understood.

As Christians we are part of a fellowship, a family, that helps others. We have our church family, of course, but we also have others to help. We are called to serve. That’s what Jesus told us to do.

Sometimes that looks like taking a meal to someone who is sick. It might be mowing someone’s yard or changing a light bulb. It could be providing transportation to a doctor’s appointment or including someone who is alone in your holiday celebrations.

And sometimes it’s simply showing up and walking beside someone who is in the midst of hard. Compassion. Kindness. Prayers. We hurt so that one day we might be able to help someone else going through what we once faced.

September 26, 2024

                      Help Is Waiting

The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

– Judges 6:14

The photos are sobering. Truck after truck after truck of linemen waiting in various staging areas. Ambulances driving one after another on the interstate. Cargo containers filled with supplies lined up one after another.

They are waiting for the storm to pass. Literally. Then they will begin their last trek toward the horror zone. It’s almost impossible to envision what awaits them. Yet we can. Six years ago Hurricane Michael destroyed Mexico Beach. Now Hurricane Helene is poised to destroy an area further east.

God called Gideon to go. Gideon was full of excuses. He checked and double-checked to make sure that it truly was God calling him. But in the end Gideon went. Why? Because God would be there, leading the way and saving His people.

We forget that sometimes. God is with us. We can ask for and accept His help. Or we can go our own way and try to do it on our own. Sometimes I think God allows the hard because it’s in that place where we are most likely to depend on Him.

The coming days, weeks and years – yes, years – will be difficult for the people who experience a direct hit from Hurricane Helene. But they won’t travel the road alone. Help is waiting on the edge of disaster.

I am so thankful for the people who answer the call to go. May God direct their every movement, keeping them safe as they live out their mission to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

September 25, 2024

                                     Cling to God

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

– Joshua 1:9

As I write this, Tropical Storm Helene is headed our way. It is expected to intensify into a major hurricane. That means, for us, it will likely be a Category 3 or higher.

We are preparing now. This isn’t our first hurricane. Right now landfall is expected east of us but we know, from experience, that the eye of the hurricane can shift quickly and turn toward us.

Life is like that hurricane. Sometimes we are faced with huge storms not of our making but which we cannot escape. I am thankful for advanced weather detection that allows us to know what’s to come but it doesn’t change what is to come. The storm isn’t going away.

God knows how weak and vulnerable we are at times. He knows what lies ahead far better than anything we could ever predict. Sometimes He doesn’t take away the storm but God always promises to be with us. He will strengthen us and help us as we go through it and as we rebuild from it.

I learned this verse from Joshua many years ago. I had volunteered for VBS and it was the scripture that the children memorized. I hope they have kept it in their hearts. I certainly have.

None of us really know what tomorrow will bring. For some, it’s the hurricane that might take their home and all their material possessions. For others, it might be the life of someone they love, the job they needed or the health they took for granted. But God is there standing with us, strengthening us and reminding us to be strong and courageous.

Bury His word deep in your heart. Cling to Him. God is faithful and He will carry us through whatever is to come.

September 23, 2024

                                    Be the Light

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:43-45a

How do you respond to hatred? How do you react to bigotry? How do you combat lies engineered to fuel unrest?

Haitian migrants have moved to our community. No one seems to know exactly how many but the numbers are small. They’ve been here for about 10 months. And now certain people have decided to use the migrants as a political agenda based on hate.

The migrants haven’t caused trouble. They haven’t “drained” our resources. For example, one elementary school in our town has ONE Haitian child. They are working people who are trying to build a new life.

This has caused some people to react in anger. Their hostility mirrors the hate they are attacking. Their loud voices will not change the opinions or hearts of those who attack people they don’t even know. It will just create an escalation that does no one any good.

It came up before and after church yesterday. While some were focused on what we can do to help integrate the Haitian migrants into our community, others were more focused on lashing out at those who have unfairly attacked the migrants.

I am all about freedom of speech and freedom to express your opinion. I am an editorial columnist after all. But there is a way to make your point without inflaming an already bad situation.

Martin Luther King, Jr. put it this way:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

I would go a step further and say that hatred begets hatred.

How much more powerful to simply love on the people who are now facing such vocal cruelty? How much better to SHOW how to live a life of faith than to try and argue with people who are filled with hate?

I know. Many of the people who are behaving so ugly are also people who are in church most Sundays. But do we allow them to drag us down or do we, by our own behavior, lift them up?

Jesus told us to love our enemies. He went on to ask what it will accomplish to love those who are good to us? The power, if you will, comes from loving people who aren’t behaving in a loving manner.

We are to be the light. It’s in the Bible. Read it for yourself. Let go of the darkness and pray for those who would do harm. God can do anything if His people will only seek from the depths of their hearts.

September 21, 2024

                 Don’t Excuse Lies

There are six things the LORD hates,

seven that are detestable to him:

haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are quick to rush into evil,

a false witness who pours out lies

and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

– Proverbs 6:16-19

Does a lie ever justify itself? Is it okay to excuse a person for lying when he explains its purpose? Is it okay to stir up strife to further your own agenda?

A candidate running for vice president of our country now admits he lied about Haitian migrants eating people’s pets. He explained that he just wanted to draw attention to the migrants who are being located into different communities in our country.

JD Vance has done great harm with his repeated lies. Springfield, Ohio, has dealt with bomb threats against their schools. The tension and fear torments residents, including the Haitian migrants who are here legally. They have sought refuge in our country because of the violence in Haiti. Now this?

The ripple from Vance’s lie, which Trump has also told, has spread to other towns. This week a meeting over the Haitian migrants in my own town packed a local church. A church? The media wasn’t allowed in. I didn’t attend.

The police chief did speak to a reporter. He said the migrants haven’t caused any trouble beyond normal percentages throughout the community. (All groups – white, black, hispanic, etc. cause some trouble from time to time.) The Haitians seem to be hard-working people who simply want to build a life here.

Hatred and fear born of a lie. We’re so afraid of taxing our resources by people who “shouldn’t be here.” Have we forgotten that God can multiply anything that we give to Him so that we have more than enough?

It’s appalling to me that a church would host such an event. I am furious that political candidates would continue to stir up hatred and fear to further their own political ambitions. And I am more than disappointed that Christians fall into the mob mentality and blindly follow and excuse evil.

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

– 1 John 4:20-21

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

– John 13:34-35

Are you stirring up hatred or are you reaching out to others in love? Don’t claim to follow Jesus and demand that people made in God’s image be removed from your community. That’s not love. That’s not what Jesus would do.

September 20, 2024

                 Be Kind to Jesus

Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD

And He will give a reward to the lender.

– Proverbs 19:17

Who are the poor? Do they look like you? Do they live in your community? Are they lazy? Are they children with parents who don’t care? Are they women escaping violence? Are they the person sitting next to you on that church pew?

Increasingly, we have no care for the poor. We’ll gather items for shoeboxes. We’ll contribute diapers or clothes to an organization of our choosing. We might even put a few cans of food into a donation box for the food pantry.

But we don’t want to do anything that might get our hands dirty. We don’t want to associate with people who don’t look like us or speak the same language we speak. We really don’t want to see the poor or associate with them.

Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew’s gospel?

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?

The king will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

– Matthew 25:35-40

Our world is filled with hate and entitlement. We proclaim a faith we don’t live. We quote scripture but refuse to live it out in our own lives.

Don’t tell me what the Bible says. Show me. Get your hands dirty. Make a sacrifice for someone you don’t know who can never repay you. Do the right thing even when the wrong thing would be far easier and less costly.

Following Jesus was never meant to be easy. Stop thinking that it is.