The Lord My Shepherd I''ll Not Want

When I left my family and came to Australia as land far away, I felt so isolated and far removed despite the modern technology that kept me close to my loved ones. Being together in person and expereincing the intimacy is a unique social creation of God that we cannot deny in our so called modern world.

How terrible it must have been for David as well when he left his family and was always on the run as a fugitive. Saul was after David as he was a threat to his throne.

How really David felt God's presence in his life as a fugitive is reflected in Pslam 23 . The Lord was his shepherd he will not want, he writes in Psalm 23. He makes him to lay down in green pastures despite his being away from home. He had all he needs.

The Lord's being good to me to have Mark and Marion Schubert as my guardian in Adelaide when I am studing Hebrew for my research work at Charles Sturt University in Sydney. They are concrete guiding and shepherding hands of God to me. I can clearly the Lord's staff protects me, leads me to quiet pools of water and feeds me.

GOD IS SO GRACIOUS

Becoming a grandfather is not just a natural phenomenon, but it is a human psychological explosion. It blows the essence of human life to enjoyable pieces where one experiences as contributor to the continuity of human species. It is so rewarding to see through having children; we do not only keep our own family tree alive, but also the entire human species going. I just become a grandfather. Seeing my grandson melts my heart to appreciate just how marvellous and beautiful human life is.
My grandson, yet to be named, came into the world at 1.00am (EST) on the 10th of March, 2011. He is the son of my first son and his spouse, also first daughter of my co- worker. He weighted 3.1kg and was so healthy that the hospital discharged him hours later. When he was brought to our humble of home, the all family welcomed him. We just stared at him and fondled him till late night, many of us, including myself fell asleep and slept on cold concrete floor.
My daughters, now aunties of the baby argued over who would do his nappies. Their brother, not the father of the baby, who came late when baby was brought home demanded that all of us who wanted to touch the baby should have our hands thoroughly rinsed before we hold the baby. There was joy in house and all of a sudden those joy and happiness demanded rules to guard them. While those activities go on, my grandson slept innocently and peacefully in his bed, trusting fully well that his parents will protect him, feed him, guard him and keep him safe from all harm and danger.
As Christians and belonging to the Lutheran faith, we reflect on the great reformer Martin Luther who theologizes such human experience in his writings. He writes elsewhere, ‘ook at a baby as an example to trust God in your life. When every other persons and things seem to experience turbulence, the baby in his/her mother’s lab trusts that it will be fed and taken care of regardless of whatever else happens around him. It sleeps so confidently. Do the same. Trust in Lord and everything will come to pass.’ Jesus teaches us too. Look at the birds in the skies, do they care and worry about tomorrow? They seem to soar as high as they fly, grace over the creation beneath as smoothly as they can, and seem to fear no one, worry nothing and forget that there is tomorrow. God feeds them. God cares for them. How important are we (human beings)? Very important, indeed, so important that Christ gave his life for us, in order for us to trust in him that whatever else would not he give us, if he gave us his life. What else is important that he will withhold, but to let go his life? Nothing, he let go his life, whatever else is so less important or nothing compared to what he already gave up. For this reason, we are so important he cares for us every day.

The birth of my grandson does not only help continue my family, tribe and clan, but brings a joy that I cannot compare to what other earthly things can give. It is a joy that a life is given to the family to reflect that God is so gracious that his salvation of new life is experienced right here. Rebirth and new life we are born into in our baptism is experienced here in the birth of a new life. He is born, though of earthly parents, the new baby brings forth new life from God. With this new life also brings responsibility to the family to remind of ourselves that new life in Christ is also a life of responsibility. It reminds us of God’s care and love. Despite the troubles of the world, we are to lay confidently in God’s arms of protection, caring, and love and believe God is in-charge.
With joy I receive my grandson, and with responsibility I become a grandfather. I know and trust in all this , God is with me.

Time: An invaluable creation of God

Genesis 1: 3
‘Let there be light and there was light.’ The light God called it day and the darkness night. ‘There was morning and there was evening, the first day.’ The most previous and invaluable commodity that God created here is time. Before that there was timelessness. God has no time. God is eternal-eternity has no time- there is no end and no beginning. To God a day or decade was just the same. It has no relevance to him. The Genesis story tells us of a creation that must now centre around time in which its relevance will affect man and his livelihood. Death and life is determined by time. Seasons are times as reaction of environment. Environments produce certain fruits or weather pattern per time in their specific location of the universe.
When God created light and dark and as it passed time ticks into action. Biblical writers called it the ‘first day,” a segment of time that distinguishes from a period when light was shining to a period when darkness covers the light until next light shines. The eternity is demarcated by segments of day and night and one can give names to the cycle of day and night and created a calendar out of it.
Today church denominations argue against of the name of the day which is determined by a segment of day and night to denote one as important to another. We do this to think that God also will agree with us to pick one day more important than to another. We, in fact, take human assumption into God’s mind and force him to think as we, humans do. We fail to see that time is not determined by the activity of God, but activity of God determined time. For example, God commanded, let there be light and there was light, He separated light from darkness and it was first day. It was not on Monday God created day and night, it was the first day, the activity that identifies with the first day was light and darkness. It could be Monday, or Sunday or even Saturday because the name of the segment of activities of God in the creation determines time. The names of time was a very late invention.
Physically, we cannot tell the difference between Saturday and Sunday. We can only, however, tell by the cycle of day and night as the creation of God functions. If you were left unconscious in a desert or an inhabited island with no watch etc (like Tom Hanks’ Castaway), you can create your own calendar. You can name the cycle of day and night with the same names differently from the world. Would it make any difference? Absolutely not! You can set a day for worship which might be Wednesday in other countries in the same time Zone, but designate it as Sunday in your calendar. Does it matter? It is really not as far as a name is concerned, but it matters as far as worship is concerned, you rested and worship God. Is that what God intends for human beings, to know or rather have time so that we labour for certain time and worship him on certain time.
Time is made for man and not for God because God is timeless. He is eternal and where He is, there is life. There is no death in God thus time is irrelevant. Time is synonymous with man because time determines man’s life. When life is no more that is when death do take over man- there is no time. That is to say, night and day do not happen to the man. Time is just gone.
What does it teach us about this important creation of God, the time? It, one teaches us, that time is a previous gift and is only meant for us, human. We have to use it properly and wisely because it is not renewable and cannot be rewound. We live once. Two, it teaches us that God is eternal and time is not relevant to God therefore we must always see him as the ever living being and worship and praise him for who he is. Three, there is a hope that we can live in eternity; we can pass from timeness to timelessness by believing in Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John Christ said, “he who believe in me shall not die but have life eternal. He passed from death to life.”

The Big Picture

Genesis 1-2:35

‘Get the Big Picture’

A good friend of mine gives me a gift. It is a priceless gift, a bible. It is a devotional Bible titled ‘Today’s Light Bible that has 2year devotional readings. If I constantly and faithfully read it daily, it will take me two years to journey through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. That demands commitment and faithfulness on my side as a Christian, yet it is grace on the side of God to inspire me with his Holy Spirit to find joy in reading in His Word and live by it. It is a big task especially for me because I always pray daily as my devotional exercise, and once in a while I would read the scriptures.
I begin with the first page, the readings on Genesis. The text is Genesis 1-2:35 with the title “Get the Big Picture.” It stresses the creation of God as gift of God, He gives to us ourselves, and those things we see and cannot see unconditionally. The text helps us to see not only ourselves and our ego that many times confine us to think of ourselves, what we need, want and do, and ignore other people and creations around us. The creation story awaken us from our slumber of ignorance to look at creation around us to see what God puts into it to bring them into their existence. Where ever we live, just take a moment, see the beauty of your surrounding and praise God for it. Many people who do not believe in God believe Him just by looking at the majestic surroundings of God. The composer of the song ‘O Great Thou Art’ may be an atheist believed in God just by looking at the big picture of God’s creation. We can sing like this writer to praise God for His mercy and love we inherit through Christ, our Lord.
Look at the big picture, God created the world out of grace. God saved his fallen humanity also out of grace. Let us get out of our confinements of ourselves and see God’s bigger picture, his creation around us to help, save, mend, comfort and witness this great God.