Life is a Journey

Today's post is dedicated to my Cousin, John William Butler, who passed away last week. John was my namesake and was a great influence on me from the time I can first remember. I was privileged to be asked to speak at the funeral. In his honor, I wrote the following poem comparing life to a journey. John loved to travel. He made many trips abroad and met many different people. But the place he loved the best was home (Tallahassee, Florida) and his favorite people were his family and dear friends.

Life is a Journey
For John William Butler May 29, 2006
By John R. Wible

“Life is a journey,” so they say, with fits and starts at break of day,
And many’ a stop along the way, yes, “life’s a journey,” so they say.

And, as we trav’l our measured road and walk the miles by episode,
Beside come friends to share the load as we travel our measured road.

Loved ones dear, our cause to sing as our seasons move past spring,
Who to our lives true focus bring, these loved ones dear, our cause to sing.

And all the places we may know as our trip moves ‘way past “go,”
Stretch our horizons, Oh, watch them grow! ‘Mid all the places we may know.

And then we look down to the sand and find the steps where we did stand,
Those prints to the next one we must hand as we look down into the sand.

And those steps stay but for a while and help the dear ones, bring a smile,
And then – they fade from mile to mile, those steps that stay but for a while.

Last, we find the place loved best of near and far between the rest,
Heart’s home is really where we’re blessed. Home – the place we find the best.

Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ

Our class has finished the Book of Luke and are moving on to Acts. This weeks' lesson is directly about missions. Before we moved on, I wanted to summarize what we learned. Being a lawyer, i decided to do it by drafting the Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ. That is what follows below. Besure to see the footnotes.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF JESUS CHRIST

I, JESUS CHRIST, also known by more than 140 others names including, but not limited to Lord; Master; The Amen; the Faithful and True Witness; Alpha and Omega, First and Last; Only Begotten Son; Word of God; Beloved Son of God; Blessed and Only Potentate; The Bridegroom; Messiah; Anointed One: Chosen One; The Head of the Church; Consolation of Israel; Emmanuel/Immanuel, God with us; Savior; Messiah; King; being of sound and disposing mind and memory and over the age of eighteen (18) years and not being actuated by any duress, menace, fraud, mistake, or undue influence, do hereby make, publish, and declare this to be my last Will, hereby expressly revoking all Wills and Codicils to Wills previously made by me.

I. PARTIES

I declare that I am not now and have never been married.[1] However, my Father in Heaven is preparing a spiritual Bride for me[2]. I declare that I have no physical children. I declare that I have one Father, known alternately, among others as God, Elohim, YHWH, Jehovah, Adonai, Theos, Deus, hereinafter referred to as my Father in Heaven.

I declare that my Mother is Mary of Nazareth, of the Tribe of Judah, a descendant of King David, hereinafter referred to as “my Mother.” I further acknowledge her husband, Joseph, Son of Heli[3] my Earthly guardian and mentor who predeceased me. I acknowledge my Earthly brothers, among them are: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas[4] and my sisters whose names and number I pretermit here.

II. BEQUESTS:

It is my intention by the making of this Will to dispose of all the possessions that have been entrusted to me by my Father in Heaven of which I am permitted to dispose. I hereby will, devise, give, and bequeath unto the persons named below, if he or she survives me, the Property described below:

1. To my Mother, I leave the remaining portion of the gold, frankincense and myrrh brought to me by the Persian Wise Men [5] and the memory of all that has happened that she may ponder them and treasure them in her heart. [6]
2. To my brothers and sisters in Nazareth, I declare that I no Earthly property to leave, no home or place to lay my head.[7]
3. To the angels attending my birth, I leave the promise of my return to their presence as they are eternally with my Father in Heaven.[8]
4. To the Shepherds also in attendance, I leave the joy they knew that night which shall never diminish but shall only grow and grow.[9]
5. To Simeon and Anna in the Temple of Jerusalem, who predeceased me, I have already given the right to be with my Father in Heaven based on their faithfulness and recognition of me.[10]
6. To my boyhood friends in Nazareth, I leave the happy memories of joyous days of childhood and my thanks for their friendship. I further leave my regrets that they later in life rejected me to their own detriment. [11]
7. To the Rabbis in Jerusalem who listened to me as a 12 year old boy, I leave my thanks for their attention and tolerance with the childish questions of a neophyte learner.[12]
8. To the people of Capernaum, I leave my thanks for allowing me to live among them and for hearing my gospel.[13]
9. To Simon Peter I leave forgiveness three times over and the keys to the Kingdom of the ministry to the Jews.[14]
10. To my other disciples, hereinafter referred to with Simon Peter as the Twelve, namely: Andrew, James, John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James Ben Alphaeus and Simon Zealotes, I leave the seeds which I planted in them.[15]
11. To the people at the mount, I leave the truths I taught them.[16]
12. To the Roman Centurion, I leave a healthy servant[17]
13. To the followers of John the Baptist, I leave my thanks for preparing the Way.[18]
14. To “Sinful Woman” at the Pharisee’s house, I leave a legacy of remembrance that will endure as long as does the Bible.[19]
15. To Legion, the Gadarene Demoniac, I leave freedom from the chains of demonic possession.[20]
16. To Jarius’ daughter, I leave life.[21]
17. To the woman with the discharge of blood, I leave healing that shall never end.[22]
18. To the 5,000 who I feed, I leave my Body which is broken for them – take and eat. [23]
19. To my 72 ambassadors, I leave the ability to live as sheep among a world of wolves.[24]
20. To Mary, Martha and Lazarus, I leave my friendship which shall endure the test of time.[25]
21. To the Pharisees, I leave the meaning of the parables of the 3 lost things and my sadness that they led in error.[26]
22. To the ten lepers, I leave healing as white as snow. Though their sins be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.[27]
23. To all the little children, I leave the ability to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and declare that unless all of us become like them, we shall not so do.[28]
24. To the Blind Beggar on the Jericho Road, I leave sight greater than that of most men.[29]
25. To Zacchaeus, I leave an open invitation to “dinner at my place.”[30]
26. To the Temple Authorities in Jerusalem, I leave great regret that you along with the Sadducees, Pharisees, Levites and Priests missed the great blessing that my Father in Heaven had for the people whom you led.[31]
27. To the Widow who gave the mite, I leave the knowledge that the mite has grown to a talent and to a gerah as your example lives from generation to generation.[32]
28. To Judas who betrayed me, I leave the woe you have brought upon yourself.[33]
29. To the soldiers and authorities who arrested me and the Romans who crucified me, I leave my forgiveness, you did not know what you were doing.[34]
30. To Simon the Cyrene, I leave the blessing of carrying someone else’s cross.[35]
31. To Pilate and Herod, I leave the knowledge that you shall be judged as you have judged. [36]
32. To Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, I leave the blessing having known the Truth and having buried it, seen it live again.[37]
33. To the women who buried me and then found me go, I leave that eternal joy you first knew when you realized that I was risen just as I said.[38]
34. To the relatives on the Road to Emmaus, I leave the teaching and the bread that shall never go stale.[39]

III. LAST INSTRUCTIONS – COMMISSION

I declare that it is my desire and my commandment that you and each of you love one another as I have loved you and that as you go out into Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and even on to the ends of the world, that you will take Me with you and break me off and give me away to all those you meet that you all may come to live with me in Father’s house where there are many mansions.[40]

XII. SEVERABILITY AND SURVIVAL:

If any part of this Will is declared invalid, illegal, or inoperative for any reason, it is my intent that the remaining parts shall be effective and fully operative, and that any Court so interpreting this Will and any provision in it construe in favor of survival.


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I, JESUS CHRIST, hereby set my hand to this last Will and Testament. So let it be written, so let it be done.



/S/ JESUS CHRIST_______________________ [Signature]



Witnesses:
Witness our hands and seals.
/S/ God the Father
/S/ God the Holy Spirit
[1] Assertions in The DiVinci Code notwithstanding
[2] Rev. 21:9
[3] Luke 3:23
[4] Matt. 13:55
[5] Matt. 2:11
[6] Luke. 2:19
[7] Matt. 8:20
[8] Luke 2:9-13
[9] Luke 2:8-10
[10] Luke 2:25-39
[11] Luke 2:41 and 4:14
[12] Luke 2:49
[13] Luke 4:24
[14] Matt. 16:19; Luke 5:8, 22:54, 24:12; John 25:15-18
[15] Luke 6:13-16
[16] Luke 6:20
[17] Luke 7:1
[18] Luke 7:18
[19] Luke 7:36
[20] Luke 8:26
[21] Luke 8:40
[22] Luke 8:43
[23] Luke 9:13
[24] Luke 10:1
[25] Luke 10:38
[26] Luke 14:1; 15:1
[27] Luke 17:11
[28] Luke 18:15
[29] Luke 18:35; 23:26
[30] Luke 19:12
[31] Luke 20:11
[32] Luke 21:1
[33] Luke 22:1
[34] Luke 22:47; 22:63
[35] Luke 23:6
[36] Luke, Chapter 23
[37] Luke 23:50
[38] Luke 22:55
[39] Luke 24:13
[40] Matt. 28:19:20; Acts 1:8

You Have Motive

Today’s lesson from Luke 23 seeks to help us grow in our witness for Christ by learning to boldly tell others about His death and resurrection. This is the dark, Palm Sunday lesson. Next week will be filled with light – I promise.

Motivation and “The Method” - Actors are taught to act their part using the Konstantin "Stanislavski Method," named after the drama teacher who invented it. Actors using the “Method” imagine an emotional event in your own life that might parallel the event they are portraying at this moment and attempt to use their own personal motivation to show how their character is likewise motivated. One of the great “Method” actors was Marlon Brando, famous for many roles perhaps the most famous being the portrayal of Stanley Kowalski, the heroine’s brother in “A Street Car Named Desire.”

“A Streetcar Named Desire,” by Tennessee Williams and set in the New Orleans French Quarter after World War II, is a study of mankind without Christ and gives a platform to explain why we should be motivated to share Him with these people.
In 1951 the famous play was made into a movie starring: Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois; Kim Hunter as Stella; Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Karl Malden as Mitch. In the play, the DuBois sisters were once a patrician Old South Family seized of a great mansion up in Mississippi. Times change, the family and the mansion had been lost.

The story opens with Blanche DuBois coming to New Orleans to visit her sister, the pregnant Stella, and the sister's husband Stanley Kowalski. To get to their seedy apartment, she has to take a streetcar named Desire. Thus the Desire streetcar became the most famous street railway in the world.

The three principals in the story represent facets of mankind without Christ. Stanley is the “ape man” who views life through his “desires” and thinks life is about what he can get by his own efforts. He represents man in supposed total control of his own destiny. Blanche views life as she wishes it were and cannot see or believe reality. She represents the totally intellectual view of life that denies reality. And Stella, pregnant Stella, sees life exactly as it is. She represents man (woman) who is in the middle of life and who is overwhelmed by it. Neither view is totally wrong but neither is totally correct either because none of their views have a spiritual aspect. They are, thus two-dimensional.

This is a picture of man without Christ. Man, left to his own devices will view life through his own lens – and he will be totally lost in that view on the “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” It is for this reason that God sent His Son, Jesus into the world to give man life and life more abundant. John 10:10. If we are to receive life and life abundant, we must believe whole-heartedly on Jesus. That’s where we are going with this. What must we believe? We must believe in Him intellectually, spiritually and physically. For Jesus to be the Messiah, He must have fulfilled all these of these aspects of God. To leave out any of them is to make Jesus less that God and less than our Worthy Savior.

Many more folks believe in Jesus intellectually than believe in him all sufficiently. Many of the religions of the world teach and many of the world’s lost people will tell you that there was a Jesus and that He was great teacher. That’s good, but as Dr. Van Tuyll would say, “it is not enough,” because if that’s as far as we go, then we are limited by our intellect. I don’t know about you, but my intellect is fairly limited! It is imperative that we believe in Him physically. It is for that reason that He came physically and had to suffer as He did, die as He did and be raised on the 3rd day as He was. Thus, we study the physical aspects of His death to learn that they are real. If they aren’t real, then He is as the Gnostics held, merely a phantom. But, they are real.

It is interesting to note that over the centuries, many scholars have tried to disprove the facts of Jesus life, death and resurrection. Periodically, they uncover a here-to-fore unknown “gospel” that seems to cloud the issue They try, but in vain. The Truth lives on.
So, why should we believe this? Jesus was asked by the lawyer what the greatest commandment was. He said it was to love God and love man. If we do not believe what God says, then we do not love God. If we do not love God, we are hopelessly lost.
If we do not have a burning “desire” to tell others, then perhaps, just perhaps, we do not “love man,” because there is plenty of “motivation.” Let’s examine it.

Forgiveness of the Past (Luke 23:32-39.) On the cross, Jesus forgave the sins of the very men who were putting Him to death. “Father, forgive them,” He said. The best part of that story is that in so doing, He forgave you and me as well. Is that enough motivation for you to share? In Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” there is the very dramatic crucifixion scene. In the scene, Jesus is on the cross on the ground. As the soldiers begin to drive the nails into His hands, the camera isolates on the hands of Jesus and the hands of the Roman driving in the nails. In real life, that man was Mel Gibson. Gibson wanted to make the point that it was his (Gibson’s) sin that nailed Jesus to the cross. By extension, it was ours. Yet He says, “Father, forgive them.” Without that, we’d still be lost. Still need more motivation?

Assurance of the Future (Luke 22:40-43.) Jesus took time out from dying to forgive the sins of a fairly worthless rogue who merely cried out to Him. Jesus assured him, “this day you will be with Me in paradise.” Will, that’s a word of certainty, isn’t it. Jesus did not temper the import of those words nor confuse them with an “if – then” clause as we see so prevalent under the Law in the Old Testament. He simply said, you will be with me. As great as that promise is for the dying thief, the better part is that this promise also flows to us. Jesus promises that we will be with Him in paradise when the time is right. Will, what a great word. We can be assured that we will be in paradise with Jesus. He said, “in My Father’s house are many rooms and I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you will be also. John 14:2. Still a little uncertain of your motivation?

Glory to God in the Present. (Luke 23:44-47.) As Jesus dies, because of the eerie nature of the day, even the battle-hardened Roman Centurion says, “surely this was the Son of God.” This was probably the man who was in overall charge of the crucifixion detail. He was a man who had literally seen it all. But this was something he had not seen before – the Son of God. Now, he saw it clearly. The details of the crucifixion show just how great God is. The more you read the story, the more of the glory you see. And that’s our God, our Father. We serve a great God!.

Epilogue. Need more motivation? Are you ready to share this Christ with those around you? You are, really? What about when you are tired or scared or disinterested or tied up in you own stuff. Was Jesus tied up in His own stuff? Thank God, you were His stuff and He was totally tied up in you (and me.) Let me submit to you and to me that if we are not ready to share Christ, we need to check who we love more. Jesus asked Peter, “Simon Bar- Jona, do you love me more than you love these?” John 21:15. He asks us the same question. If the answer is not “yes,” then we need to get to “yes.” If it is, then there was a follow-up. Jesus said, “then feed my sheep.” John 21:17. What do you feed them? Jesus said, “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4; Luke 4:4. Feed them the gospel. Don’t let them starve to death. Starvation is a very physical death, but Jesus is a very physical Savior who has the power “to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10.
Now, are you motivated?