“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.              Mark 13:32

Many of my readers will recall the 1970’s, especially the turmoil around the oil embargo and energy crisis that left many Americans waiting in long lines at the gas pumps. We were restricted sometimes to the number of gallons allowed to be purchased at one visit. Prices went high, and for the first time, many people worried that the world’s oil supply would be depleted.

This spawned a great deal of social, political, and religious unrest. In the evangelical Christian world, authors such as Hal Lindsey, Salem Kirban, Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, and others began to write about “end times” prophecy. There was great interest, and not a little anxiety, around the second coming of Jesus. There were predictions of that return, and I recall that there was quite a stir about Jesus returning in 1988 (September, specifically, to coincide with Yom Kippur). That, you see, was the 40^th anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel.   

 It struck me then as pretty odd that we spent so much time worrying about end times theology. Today too, there is great interest in eschatology- end times theology- and there are even political discussions based upon a particular theology.   

Jesus said this about the end of times on earth, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. I take that as Jesus saying, “don’t waste your time trying to figure out something you will never know. Just live your life in such a way that, whenever that time comes, you have served your God”.

So, dear readers, you and I do not know when this world will collapse and Jesus will return. Living in the present is the best way to avoid the anxiety of living in the future.

Prayer: Lord, help is to keep the main thing in mind- to love others until whenever the end comes, Amen

I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. Ecclesiastes 2:13

Today’s beautiful hint of Spring got me thinking about sunlight, and its role in Serotonin production. Being active in the sunshine is a great way to increase Serotonin levels.

I recall an interesting article from my friend and colleague Joe Wegmann, the Pharmatherapist. Joe wrote about the theory of chemical imbalance in depression, specifically the concept of Serotonin depletion as a cause of depression.

Joe indicates that it is too simplistic, and very inaccurate to blame Serotonin depletion alone for depression. Depression is a multi-factor illness, with roots in the physical, social, emotional, and spiritual parts of our being. Serotonin depletion can be found in depressed individuals, but is it a cause or effect, or even a by-product of depression? Yes, Serotonin depletion is real, but to blame depression on merely low Serotonin levels is not doing a justice to the complexity of the illness.

That being said, anti-depressants which help to raise or maintain Serotonin levels are still beneficial for many patients. If you are taking an SSRI, don’t stop or change dosage without serious conversations with your therapist and your physician. Yet, realize that depression is multi-faceted, and that the remedy too must include all parts on one’s life. Strong social and familial connections are still the best tools one has in dealing with depression.

If you are a reader of this blog for any length of time, you will also note that I strongly suggest regular and even vigorous exercise, and close attention to one’s spiritual life as tools to effectively combat depression.

So, recognize that you do have tools to deal with depression, and that others around you want to help.

Please reach out to them.

Prayer: Lord, you have given us many people around us to lean on in hard times. When we are depressed, remind us again, Amen.

…From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.                                                 Luke 12:48

I think about this verse often. It is a simple bit of wisdom, perhaps even a statement of justice. When we are given an abundance of anything- wealth, health, resources, intelligence, safety- you name it- we are required to use it wisely, and in the service of those who are not as blessed.

I think of this in the area of power. Those who have been given a great deal of power, such as elected officials, leaders of organizations, leaders of countries, etc. are required to use it wisely and beneficently for those whom they lead.

I think how one uses power is a mark of character. If the one(s) in power use their power mostly for their own benefit or desires, that is a serious character flaw.  Those who strive to share that power, or to empower others, would have, in my opinion, high character.

Power and gifts have been ordained by God for the common good. Yes, we live in a fallen world, where our own desires crowd out, and can even drown out the need to benefit others with our gifts and talents.

So, we need to keep in mind that we are just stewards of those benefits and gifts, and much is required of those who possess them.

Prayer: Lord, we are grateful for the gifts you give us. Help us to use them wisely, Amen

…From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.                                                 Luke 12:48

I think about this verse often. It is a simple bit of wisdom, perhaps even a statement of justice. When we are given an abundance of anything- wealth, health, resources, intelligence, safety- you name it- we are required to use it wisely, and in the service of those who are not as blessed.

I think of this in the area of power. Those who have been given a great deal of power, such as elected officials, leaders of organizations, leaders of countries, etc. are required to use it wisely and beneficently for those whom they lead.

I think how one uses power is a mark of character. If the one(s) in power use their power mostly for their own benefit or desires, that is a serious character flaw.  Those who strive to share that power, or to empower others, would have, in my opinion, high character.

Power and gifts have been ordained by God for the common good. Yes, we live in a fallen world, where our own desires crowd out, and can even drown out the need to benefit others with our gifts and talents.

So, we need to keep in mind that we are just stewards of those benefits and gifts, and much is required of those who possess them.

Prayer: Lord, we are grateful for the gifts you give us. Help us to use them wisely, Amen

They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. Mark 15:17

This tree caught my attention as I was walking in the woods last week. The rugged thorns immediately took me to picture the crown of thorns placed upon the head of Jesus before his crucifixion. We know the story of that horrific torture of Jesus. Humankind has come up with some particularly gruesome and creative ways to torture other people. This crown of thorns was another of those extraordinary torture techniques inflicted on Jesus. The crucifixion itself is a horrible way to die. The added dimension of a crown of thorns was gratuitous cruelty.

I touched the thorns and they were sharp and stout. They could penetrate the scalp with just a bit of pressure placed upon them. I cannot imagine the pain that this added to the suffering of the already depleted body of Jesus.

We don’t like to think that civilized humans can come up with such creative tortures, but we can and we do. Rather than think of the awful minds of the torturers, we care called to think on the willing mind of Jesus who endured this suffering for his people- you and me.

Prayer: Lord, we can hardly imagine the love that motivates Jesus. Help us to come close to sharing it, Amen

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.                                                                                                                               Philippians 4:8

I recently spoke with a client who struggles with anxiety, specifically around how she relates to others, and what are proper responses in dealing with other people. She often projects onto others thoughts of her own, especially around their acceptance of her. Sadly, she often feels unaccepted, and she has low self-esteem. Though she would want others to like her, she often does not like herself. She tends to judge other people, assuming that they are judging her. In short, she overthinks many social situations. Overthinking situations is a cause of anxiety, but is also perhaps a result of it.

We had discussion about what she is responsible for and what she is NOT responsible for. That being said, anxiety control is often about knowing what we CAN control and what we CANNOT control.  

She is responsible for her own actions, and her responses to others. That is why we have executive function which filters our responses to others before we blurt out something hurtful. We cannot always control the thoughts that come into our head, but we can control what comes out of our mouth.

This woman is very bright and insightful, but her anxiety frustrates her and causes her a great deal of emotional pain. Letting go of overthinking is easy to say, but hard to do. If it were as simple as “letting it go”, nobody would suffer from anxiety.

So, “let go and let God” is a nice trite saying, but let us be sure that we are not trivializing the pain that so many who suffer from anxiety endure.

Prayer: Lord, help us to be accepting of those who struggle with anxiety, Amen

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”                                                   II Corinthians 12:7-9 (NIV)

I recently spoke with a client who has a chronic physical problem, and she has been frustrated for years regarding its effects on her life. It is not a life- threatening problem, but it is certainly a “life-limiting” one.

We discussed her frustrations about living with this condition, and then she asked me, “Will I ever get over these feelings of anger and resentment? Will I ever get to the place of acceptance?”

It made me think about what acceptance really is. Paul in the Bible struggled with a “thorn in the flesh”, a phrase that has worked itself into our culture as an example of chronic suffering for which there may never be a complete remedy.   

Paul took the occasions of such reminders of suffering not to curse the condition, but to have it be a reminder to him of God’s ability to be sufficient even in our suffering- that God’s power is displayed when we are at our weakest.

I told my client that acceptance is “honest ownership of what we are feeling”. The question is not  “Will I ever stop feeling this way”, but rather, “what will I do when I recognize that I am feeling this way?”

My client has the tendency to condemn herself when she gets angry or frustrated about her situation. I suggested to her that frustration is a pretty normal response to her suffering, but honest appraisal of the unwanted feeling is the freedom she needs. Acceptance is not becoming complacent with how we feel, or ignoring how we feel, or even liking what we feel. Acceptance is honest ownership of that feeling. It is only then that we can be aware of the power that God can give us to transform the suffering into something that can enhance our human experience.

No one likes pain, and we try very hard to avoid it, naturally. But when we respond honestly to our feelings about it, we can start to redeem the pain into something of benefit to ourselves or to others.  

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength to honestly look at our responses to suffering, and to look to you for redemption of it, Amen

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;                                                                                                             I Corinthians 6:19

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.                                                                                                                   II Corinthians 5:1

What is the best way to honor God as a Christian community? Is it better to build a temple or a tent?

Interesting that when God was trying to manifest himself to the ancient world, he told the Israelites to build a temple. That temple would be a manifestation of the presence of God on earth. The Israelites of old were the carriers of the “God message” to a heathen world. That is, there is one God, and he is to be worshipped above the many false gods that were around. The Israelites were to be witnesses of the True God to world lost in idolatry.  However, when Jesus came to earth, he was the fulfillment of that promise- God was now literally present on earth.

It seems that we are drawn to building temples. When Jesus was manifested in glory at the Transfiguration, Peter wanted to immediately build three memorials on the mountain- one to Jesus, one to Moses, and one to Elijah. Peter was overcome with awe and his first reaction was to build a memorial.

Nice thought, but Jesus wanted a more flexible witness. He planned to send his Holy Spirit into the world to invade the hearts of people. The memorial would not be bricks and mortar, but our bodies to serve as the temples of the Holy Spirit.

Paul called our bodies mere tents which house our Spirit. I am thinking that the best response to proclaiming God to a fallen world is pitching our tents where people are- not building temples that people must try to find.

Prayer: Lord, help us to be flexible witnesses, tents where you can dwell and be seen by others, Amen

Protect me, O God, because I take refuge in you.                                                                                     Psalm 16:1

COVID-19 changed the world when it hit in early 2020. It is hard to believe that it has been six years since those dramatic changes took place. It was March 11, 2020 when my office changed from in-office counseling to telehealth. That was my first day in providing mental health services by way of distance counseling. Now, of course my agency, New Creation Counseling Center, offers both in-office as well as telehealth services. Ever since March of 2020, remote work has expanded exponentially in all areas of the business and education fields.

COVID-19 was a scourge that brought death and fear into the world. We saw on the news pictures of mounds of coffins in Italy. We saw makeshift morgues in New York City and other large cities around the world. People stayed home, and only ventured out with their own small circles of family/friends. Churches and businesses were deeply affected. Our entire lives were changed, with some of those changes lasting to this day. I can still remember the joy we had when we could find the new vaccines which had just been developed.

COVID-19 is still with us today, but it has mutated often and has become less virulent. Indeed, it is an evolutionary tactic to mutate and become less virulent, lest all the hosts of the virus die off and there is no more way to propagate itself. The influenza virus that originated in 1919, (the wrongly named Spanish Flu) is still with us today in forms that are not nearly as deadly as a century ago.

We have learned to live with COVID, and now people often get the virus and shrug it off with words like, “I felt bad for a couple days, like a cold, it was probably COVID but I didn’t bother to test”. Yes, that virus is still with us, but we have learned to live with it.

However, our culture has been permanently changed by that virus in many ways. Many churches lost swaths of attenders; working remotely has become quite commonplace; faith in institutions has eroded; and our cynicism has grown like the virus.

We learned a lot about ourselves in facing crisis. We had a lot of heroes at work during the COVID crisis, and we had people who became opportunists and found ways to scam vulnerable people.

As we look back, I hope we have learned some lessons about how to respond to health crises in the future.

Prayer: Lord, look favorably on your people who are often like lost sheep, Amen

“Blessed are those who recognize they are spiritually helpless.
The kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Blessed are those who mourn.
They will be comforted. Blessed are those who are gentle.
They will inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:1-5 (God’s Word translation)

The Sermon on the Mount is a hallmark event of the teachings of Jesus. The first five verses (above) are examples of paradox. A paradox is a statement or sentiment that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true. Jesus loved to live in the paradox. He turned the world upside down- and still does- by challenging the prevailing wisdom of the world.

That sense of paradox, paradoxically enough, is the concept that drew me to a better understanding of Jesus. The idea that the simplest ideas are indeed profound; that the poor are the ones who see God’s favor; that what appears as wisdom to man is foolishness to God; that those who are last shall be first; – these concepts inherently rang true to me.  

Jesus came to change the world in ways that the world could understand only by clinging to him as the embodiment of a loving God. Jesus was rejected by many in his time because they did not understand him. In the world today, Jesus is still rejected by those who do not understand the paradox of his loving nature, often because they do not see his followers as loving people.

Our job is to be the loving people of Jesus so that others can truly see his simple message.

Prayer:  Lord, help us to be faithful carriers of your loving message, Amen