Family Visit to the National Mall (July 10, 2016)

We went out this evening looking for a place to eat supper. While out, I took a few pictures.

Family Visit to Arlington Cemetery

My family visited Arlington Cemetery for the first time today. Little did we realize how powerful the experience would be. Here are some pictures and comments ...

As we made our way into the cemetery, two things struck me:

First, how many graves there were, and

Second, how beautifully and symmetrically they had been placed.

If you go to Arlington Cemetery, you absolutely must go to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Every top and bottom of the hour, as the bell tolls, the changing of the guard takes place.

It is such a quiet, solemn, precise experience that it inspires awe in everyone present.

Part of the changing of the guard.

It was an absolutely beautiful day!

Inscription: "Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier known but to God."

Kim, Zach, Sean and Joseph observing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

This picture was taken from Arlington House at the highest(?) point of Arlington Cemetery.

Robert E. Lee lived here for 30 years but his family lost the land when he lost the war.

Arlington House with flag at half mast. I assume it is because of the horrible tragedies that have

happened across our land in the past couple of weeks.

Below Arlington House rests J.F.K.'s body alongside his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

One of the quotes J.F.K. is best known for saying. This appears a few yards from his resting place.

Family trip to Lexington, Virginia

My family is headed to Washington D.C. where we will spend a week visiting the monuments and museums on the National Mall while Kim works in the National Gallery of Art. On the way, we decided to visit Lexington, Virginia.

I've been a fan of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson for many years. I have enjoyed watching "Gods and Generals" where Stonewall Jackson's story (that begins just before the Civil War began) was beautifully depicted. I have also enjoyed reading James I. Robertson, Jr.'s massive biography, "Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend." While I would hardly consider myself an expert on General Jackson, I have developed a love and respect for this man that makes me long to spend time with him when we share our eternal reward in Heaven.

Rather than make this a lengthy, wordy blog that recounts our visit in Lexington, I will simply post pictures and put some comments underneath each picture.

This is T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson's home. He lived here from 1851 until he left for the Civil War.

While here, he taught at the Virginia Military Institute which was a half mile walk away.

While visiting here, it felt surreal to stand in the rooms that he occupied about 150 years ago.

This picture was taken in the back of Stonewall's home. A garden is visible in the background

that may be very similar to the one he grew while alive.
We were asked by the tour guide not to take any pictures inside. Wish I could have.

If you expand this picture, you can read a brief history of the Jackson house.

If you expand this picture, you can read a very concise biography of Stonewall Jackson.

This is Lexington Presbyterian Church where Jackson attended while in Lexington, VA.

While in Mexico years earlier, Jackson considered the Catholic church. Later, the Episcopalian.

Yet, in the Presbyterian Church, he found a home. Particularly, he agreed wholeheartedly with

their view on predestination. He staunchly believed that God had ordained the events of this life

and that nothing, absolutely nothing, to thwart God's hand. Therefore, he was able to stand bravely

on the battlefield as the bullets pierced the air around him. He believed that if it wasn't his time to

die, he wouldn't. If it was, there was nothing he could do to stop it. So, his bravery was based upon

a deeply theological believe in God's sovereign control of His creation.

This monument rests atop Jackson grave and the graves of his close family.

This monument is in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery about a third of a mile SW of his house.

Couldn't believe I had the opportunity to visit this man's gravesite!

The day of his death is the day of Kim's and my anniversary, May 10th - separated by 134 years.

This was the tombstone of his original grave site about 25 yards from his monument.

However, it was later agreed that such a war hero needed a much larger monument. His body, and the

body of some of his family were exhumed and put under the large monument that bears his image.

This is Lee Chapel on Virginia Military Institute's property about a third of a mile from Stonewall's house.

This it the plaque that hangs outside the front door of Lee Chapel.

One may not expect to see President Washington's picture inside of Lee's Chapel.

The explanation is given below in the picture: "Educating to Build and Rebuild a Nation."

This picture hangs on the right side of the stage wall of Lee's Chapel. You wouldn't expect to see

such a thing in a chapel, right? Yet, it was made clear that while chapel services occurred frequently during

Lee's time here, it was no longer used for chapel services. Only infrequently did gatherings take place here.

The sign on the wall reveals where Robert E. Lee sat during his time as President of Washington College.

This recumbent statue of Robert E. Lee was "backstage" from where the pulpit used to be in this chapel.

Noticeably absent were the rebel flags that used to hang on the back corners of this room.

This is where Robert E. Lee's body rests in the basement of the chapel.

This area is directly below the recumbent statute.

This picture that hangs on the lower level of the chapel explains what Washington and Lee had in common.

This picture which also hangs on a wall in the lower level shows how George Washington

and Robert E. Lee were related.

Some might ask me, "How can you respect a man who was known only for his valor in serving as a Confederate general?" The answer to that question would take longer than you are willing to read but let me provide four responses:

• First, he was a devout follower of Jesus. He didn't simply claim Christianity - it impacted every area of his life. In fact, as previously mentioned, his valor on the battlefield wasn't simply a part of his character. It was rooted in a deeply-held theological belief of predestination. He believed that God had already ordained the time of his death. So, his task was not to worry about when that time would come, only to be ready when it should overtake him. This is how he could sit atop his horse unafraid as the bullets pierced the air around him.
• Second, he wasn't fighting for slavery. He would have never done such a thing. He was fighting for states' rights. His loyalty was to the state of Virginia. He only wanted to answer to it. He did not want some overarching government, made up primarily of people who did not live in his state nor care about his state, telling his state what to do. (Regarding slavery, he believed it would die of natural causes.)
• Third, his Sunday School class was made up of black children. Further, it was an illegal class - he was teaching them how to read and write which was against the law. He believed that if they learned these skills, he could assist them in their plight in life and even help them to secure their freedom. When he went off to war, he continued to send money back to the Lexington Presbyterian Church to guarantee that the class would continue to teach young black children these needed skills.
• His life was filled with tragedy (too many things to recount here) but he persisted. And, he continued to improve himself. He never gave up. Finally, eventually, he was provided an opportunity for which he had been tailor-made as he served in the Mexican-American War and then the Civil War. When he was shot in 1863 and his left arm had to be amputated only days before his death, Robert E. Lee showed how much he valued his general when he said, "Stonewall has lost his left arm and I have lost my right one."

Well, that ends my reflections on our time at Lexington, VA. I'm looking forward to visiting Washington D.C. and provided even more reflections on the memorials and sights there!

Perspective and praying for revival

Perspective is powerful! Two people can look at the same thing and have two very different perspectives and, therefore, two very different responses.

We see this in Ezra 3. Solomon's temple had been destroyed. But now, under Zerubbabel's leadership (Ezra 3:8), construction on a second temple had started.

But notice the responses as the people look at the size of the foundation of this new temple...

Ezra 3:11:13

With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord: 

“He is so good! 

His faithful love for Israel endures forever!” 

Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid. 

But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance. 

Many shouted and sang for joy! However, the older folks wept.

Why?

Because this temple was the only temple to God the younger folks had seen. They had no frame of reference. So, they were excited about the construction project.

Yet, older folks had seen the glory of Solomon's temple. They saw its splendor. This new temple paled in comparison to the original in size and beauty. How could they not weep when they saw how inferior this new project was?

Application:

Too many followers of Jesus have not seen Him move powerfully among his people. All they know are lifeless church services and a sense of duty to do what He has called us to do.

Yet there are others, young and old, who have seen God "show up" before. They know what it's like. They've seen the most unexpected people give their hearts to Jesus. They've seen enemies reconcile with tears of repentance flowing down their cheeks. They've seen unfaithful husbands fall on their knees and repent before God and their wives as their marriages were restored. They've seen the joy of the Lord radiate from the faces of those who have experienced God's forgiveness and are enjoying sweet fellowship with him. They've seen followers of Jesus who cannot help but share the gospel with those who so desperately need it. Etc., etc., etc,.

And then they look around them and see that things are not as they once were.

Let us join together and pray that God would move among us again. While we are grateful for what He is presently doing among us, there is so much more of Him to experience and enjoy.

Essentially, let's pray for revival!

When God shows up...

It is quite possible to worship the Lord in our weekly gatherings and not be graced with His presence. The fellowship may be sweet, the music beautiful, the teaching/preaching informative, and yet it all seems to be lifeless. There are no tears of repentance. There is no joy of the Lord. No one gets saved. No one surrenders their life to Jesus' authority. It's just a lot of good, lifeless, religious activity.

But, if and when God shows up in His power, those in attendance will never forget it. Many who are locked in the grips of sin will be broken, will repent, and feel the cleansing forgiveness of God's grace wash over them. Those who are unsaved will be drawn to the Savior. Severed relationships will be mended. Joy will be pervasive.

Simply put, all of the things we really long for, those things that ultimately satisfy down deep in our souls, are only met when we have a meaningful encounter with God.

Let us pray that as each of us approaches Sunday that God would honor us with His powerful, healing presence in each of our congregations.

2 Chronicles 5:13-14
"The trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to praise and give thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they raised their voices and praised the LORD with these words: 
    'He is good! 
      His faithful love endures forever!'
At that moment a thick cloud filled the Temple of the LORD. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple of God."

Reflections on 1 Peter 1:10-12

A member of the church I pastor recently sent me a list of questions regarding 1 Peter 1:10-12. I enjoyed sitting down and punching out my understanding of those verses and his questions.

First, the text and then my response...

1 Peter 1:10-12
"Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look."

Introduction

This is a FASCINATING text! In it, we see some of the mystery of divine inspiration revealed. Divine Inspiration is a term used to speak of how the Holy Spirit used fallible men to write an infallible Book. The Holy Spirit did not put them into a trance and take over their bodies. Instead, he ‘influenced’ them (in a way we cannot adequately understand) and used their experiences, their vocabulary and idioms, grammar and so much more to pen the Bible. Yet, in some way, while they may not have been conscious at the time that they were penning Scripture, at some point they came to understand that God was speaking through them and they went back to discover what God was saying through them.

v. 10 - 'prophets', who specifically? Daniel and Isaiah. I give these two names because both 'predicted the sufferings of Christ', as stated in v. 11.

·         Peter seems to be intentionally ambiguous about who the ‘prophets’ were. He seems to simply give a blanket statement.

·         In fact, I believe that Peter could have been referring not just to Isaiah and a couple of others but to every God-sent prophet in the Old Testament. If we look at how the writers of the New Testament quoted the Old Testament when speaking of Jesus, we come to see that they were convinced that everything in the Old Testament pointed to Jesus. For instance, while the Psalmist didn’t realize as he was penning Psalm 22 that he was describing in great detail the scene of the crucifixion, we now realize that is exactly what happened.

·         Further, we need only to look at Jesus to see that every Old Testament prophet spoke about Him. When He was on the road to Emmaus and speaking to the disciples who were perplexed with the crucifixion and rumors of a resurrection, Luke 24:27 tells us: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he (Jesus) interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Clearly, Jesus believed that every prophet in the Old Testament (including Moses and ALL the prophets) spoke about Him.

·         So, I believe “the prophets” is simply a blanket statement for the folks in the Old Testament who spoke on behalf of God and, without their knowledge, were speaking of Jesus.

v. 11 - 'Spirit of Christ', should I interpret this to mean Holy Spirit

·         Most certainly the “Spirit of Christ” is the Holy Spirit. This is divine inspiration. Men spoke on behalf of God as God’s Holy Spirit “influenced” them. When they were speaking the words that would eventually end up in Scripture, they spoke infallibly (no incorrect grammar, vocabulary, untruth in what they said, etc.)

·         2 Peter 1:21 “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

v. 11 - 'in them', does this imply the Holy Spirit embodied someone prior to Acts 2?

·         The Holy Spirit indwelled people before Pentecost. Yet, not in the same way as He does now.

·         In the New Testament, ever since Pentecost, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the experience of every single believer. In fact, if someone does not have the Holy Spirit within them, they are not saved (Romans 8:9). Further, the Holy Spirit will never, ever leave a believer until He has safely delivered them into God’s presence after death (Ephesians 1:13-14).

·         However, the Holy Spirit did not indwell every follower of God in the Old Testament. He limited His work to those who were in positions of leadership and influence (i.e. Israel’s kings, prophets, etc.). Further, the Spirit didn’t come on someone in the Old Testament at the point that they became a God-follower but at the point that they were set aside for godly leadership as in David’s case (1 Samuel 16:13) or at some particular point that they needed more resources than what they humanly had as in Samson’s case (Judges 14:6). Yet, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit could depart from someone who He had been indwelling rendering them ineffective at carrying out God’s task such as in Saul’s case after His obedience (1 Samuel 16:14). Because of this, David felt the need to pray, to beg(!), that God wouldn’t take His Holy Spirit from him after his own personal sin (Psalm 51:11).

·         So, in the NT, the Holy Spirit fills every believer and it is permanent. In the OT, the Holy Spirit only indwelt those set aside for godly leadership and it could be temporary if the leader abandoned God and fell into repeated, willful sin.

v. 11 - 'glories that would follow', does this imply glory exclusively comes after suffering? I ask because NT authors advocate rejoicing during the suffering.

·         Peter wrote this letter specifically to persecuted Christians. 1 Peter 1:1 says that he wrote to “the exiles of the Dispersion.” Persecution had come and Christians scattered.

·         It MAY be true that there are specific rewards on Judgment Day for those who suffer for the sake of Christ. Yet, in 2 Timothy 3:12, we are told that every single Christian will suffer persecution to some extent.

·         So, the thought of “glories that would follow” may simply be referring to the blessings of God’s presence and Heaven that awaits every single believer. This is certainly what motivated Jesus to endure all that He did (Hebrews 12:2).

v. 12 - 'not serving themselves', does this mean OT prophecies about the Son of Man were meant to benefit only those believers following Christ's death, resurrection and ascension, and not those prior to Christ?

·         The Old Testament prophets and the folks who listened to them benefited from God’s words.

·         What the Lord seems to be saying in this passage is that there is a much greater understanding and, therefore, blessings that are ours because we live on the opposite side of the cross. Many of the things that they said before Jesus’ incarnation just didn’t make sense to them but we understand them because the cross is in our frame of reference. (Just read Isaiah 53. Isaiah could not have seen nearly the power and beauty of what he said as we now do simply because we live after the cross and can see much more clearly than him.)

v. 12 - 'you', does this pronoun simply refer to Peter's audience?

·         While Peter intended for the “you” to mean his audience, the truth that he is conveying is true of every single believer since the cross, resurrection and ascension.

v. 12 - 'even angels long to look into these things', three questions: what does this mean? are angels uncertain about the will of God? if so, does this imply others in the presence of God (e.g. Heaven) are uncertain about his will?

·         Angels were created as servants of God. Yet, God never made it possible for them to be made right in His eyes if they sinned as God has done for us. When Lucifer (Satan) and those angels who followed Him sinned, they were cast out of Heaven (Isaiah 14:15; Ezekiel 28:16-17; Luke 10:18) with no hope of redemption. Those faithful angels that remain are interested (fascinated!) with what God has and is doing for mankind who rebelled against Him. They are ever learning about God’s will.

·         Those in heaven most certainly do not fully understand God’s will. God is omniscient (He knows all things) but we never will. In fact, we are told in Revelation 6:9-11 that there will be martyrs who ask when God will administer justice on those who took their lives. The very fact that they are asking a question from their place in Heaven means that they do not have all knowledge and do not fully understand God’s will. Heaven isn’t all about us having a perfect knowledge. I believe that God wants part of the joys of Heaven to be the thrill of discovery. We will continually grow in our knowledge and experience of God and, in so doing, be continually motivated to worship and enjoy Him for eternity as we discover more about Him.

Law Enforcement and the Murray Half Marathon

There are many folks who helped to make today's Murray Half Marathon a success among whom were all of the law enforcement personnel.

One incident illustrates the caliber of men and women who serve the people of Murray and Calloway County...

I was running north on 641 and was approaching 121 where

the race route made a left hand turn. Since there was about 50 yards between me and the runners in front of me, a Murray Police Officer let traffic go through the intersection as I continued to get closer. As I got within about 10 yards or so, he motioned for a driver in a red truck to stop so I could make the turn. The driver, for whatever reason, wasn't stopping. So, what did the officer do? He continued to hold his hand up to the driver ... as he stepped directly in front of the truck (the driver had to brake hard!) to make sure a runner could pass safely. That, my friends, is an illustration of how seriously and sacrificially our law enforcement perform their duties.

Besides that, our own sheriff was in the race. It's impressive when those in leadership positions realize that their influence can be leveraged in areas beyond their duties ... specifically to encourage others to pursue health and fitness.

As the race progressed and I passed each of the guys and gals in law enforcement, I tried to make it a point to thank each of them. Our country is going through a mess as an anti-cop culture is brewing. Don't be a part of it! Those guys and gals are in their positions to protect you and uphold the law. Find opportunities to show your gratitude and support.