I remember my first day of work at the grocery store. Barely 16 years old, the fast paced atmosphere and the energy of working with a team was more fun than expected. I was learning tons every day and meeting new and interesting people. Everything was going great, until I received that first paycheck. $3.35/hour didn’t sound like much when I started, and the pay slip proved that it indeed was not. Though momentarily discouraged, the task remained ahead and I kept with the work for many years.

One summer in Middle School I spent a couple of weeks with my Great Uncle Wayne, helping on his farm in central Indiana. It was a ton of work, but also buckets of fun, learning about farm life, eating huge lunches with lots of fresh corn, operating a small tractor and front end loader and all kinds of other equipment we had only in miniature at home. Probably the highlight though was getting to drive his pickup truck on the road. I hadn’t driven much at all before this, but of course it was something I dreamed about often, anticipating the day when I finally had the freedom to drive on my own! 

In December of 1880, near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, Sheriff Pat Garett finally apprehended the notorious Western outlaw, Billy the Kid. He was put in prison, and sentenced to be hanged in May. Just weeks before the scheduled hanging date, he killed two prison guards and escaped. Most assumed he would flee to Mexico, where he would be free to live life without worry of re-capture. But Billy didn’t want to go to Mexico, he wanted to stay near his network of friends and loved ones. He thought he was savvy enough to handle any problem and get out of any situation. And so a few months later, while walking into a friend’s house near his very place of capture, Fort Sumner, Pat Garett was waiting. This time the Sheriff didn’t take any chances and shot Billy dead.

Last week our country celebrated our national freedom. An estimated 3 billion dollars were spent on fireworks in America (I think most of that was in Valley Station!) We celebrate freedom from a foreign ruler, but the kind of freedom that man experienced after baptism is far more powerful. That’s why our memory verse this month is Galatians 5:1, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” If you are carrying around anger, bitterness, or unforgiveness toward your parents, or anyone for that matter, it’s important to forgive them (which is complicated and may still mean you need to set boundaries). Ephesians 6:2-3 says it so well, “Honor your father and mother… that it may go well with you.” The anger and bitterness toward them isn’t hurting them nearly as much as it is hurting the person carrying it around. When we honor our parents, it goes well with us. We find freedom!

In an effort to become relevant, the Church of England has become completely irrelevant. I wrote that sentence in the margin of the article next to the 1.7% statistic. They thought that updating doctrine to match the culture would help them become more relevant when actually the exact opposite has happened. People have left in droves. In fact, it seems pretty clear that almost no one in England really cares about the Church of England. The same seems to be happening to some American denominations that have increasingly strayed from biblical authority, especially Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. 

The eye represents the lens or filter through which we take in information about reality, the way we process truth. If your truth filter is off or “bad”, then you will not be able to see truth. In fact, Isaiah says there are those whose spiritual eyes are so cloudy they “call evil good and good evil.” Their moral compass has completely flipped!

How do we keep the eye clear? Part of healing my scratched eye involves some high powered eye drops. To bring clarity to the eye of the heart, we apply the soothing ointment of God’s Word. And not just occasionally. My prescription requires dropping in some fluid almost by the hour. It’s a steady application of healing drops. The more you apply God’s Word to your heart, the more clarity it brings. Be generous with his Word! 

Coming off of Vacation Bible School, and headed into a summer where we have reduced church programming, it’s easy to slip into a spiritual malaise, stuck in the doldrums, going through the motions. We all face that at times, so let’s pray that our church moves forward, with wisdom, counting our days, and even our minutes, so that we don’t drop off into apathy, but keep moving forward in health and growth.

Every day we have to decide what we’re going to do when faced with the truths of Scripture. Are we going to continue to believe things that we learned in this world that are lesser copies of a true reality, or will we renew our minds with the truth of God’s Word? This is why we memorize Scripture. We memorize verses like Romans 12:2 that talk about the importance of renewing our mind, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Every time we open our mouths we have a choice to either give or take life with what we say. Dr. York chose to give life that day, and though I’m guessing he forgot about that conversation before the day was over, I still think about it. How often do I do the opposite? Or not take an opportunity to give life to others and instead focus on myself?