One Fall from Being in Serious Trouble

My wife Jeanette has walked with a slight limp as long as I have known her. She has had joint issues that required her to exercise caution when moving about. For years some degree of numbness has been present in her hands and feet. Earlier attempts to identify and correct these matters were not successful. So, she learned to adapt, endure, and move forward without complaint. Her aches and pains have not stopped her from taking care of her home, serving as a pastor’s wife, being a denominational servant, or serving as a mission volunteer. But in recent years these issues have become more of a challenge. In the past two years her pain has been excruciating and her mobility has been limited. In the past year she has required a cane and then a walker to move around the house. The pandemic slowed the journey to discover the causes of these problems. Our efforts were further delayed by deaths in the family. But in the course of time, it was revealed that she had spinal stenosis in her lower back and neuropathy in her feet. Medications and physical therapy helped with the pain and enhanced her mobility to a degree but it was obvious that her problems were numerous and complicated. In January we had a consultation with a neurologist who did a thorough examination. He concurred that she had neuropathy in her legs and suffered from stenosis, but these things should not be causing the current level of weakness in her legs, her unnatural gait, enhanced reflexes, and the tingling and numbness in her feet and hands. He ordered a battery of blood test and though he was not convinced of the need for it, determined that an MRI of the neck should be performed. Within a couple of hours, we saw the results of the MRI on line. It revealed severe spinal stenosis in her neck at the C-4 ,5, and 6 area. That very afternoon the neurologist office secured an appointment with the neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon showed us the MRI images and explained how the spinal stenosis was putting severe pressure on the spinal cord and that surgery to relieve that pressure was necessary. He did not promise that it would correct any of her existing problems but said the surgery needed to be done in order to prevent much more crippling effects.

Jeanette had surgery on February 15. The surgery went well. Later that day the surgeon’s physician assistant was visiting with Jeanette and in the course of conversation asked her “when was the last time you fell”? She replied that it had been 3-4 months. He said they could tell by the bruising on the spinal cord that she had endured a blunt force impact that likely had been caused by a fall. Then he said, “one more fall and you would have been in serious trouble”. When My wife relayed that story to me my soul cried and rejoiced at the same time. The Lord had been gracious, and she had been spared from severe physical injury. She is now recovering from the surgery, we have seen some positive results, and we await to see what the next steps of the journey might be.

But the words of the physician’s assistant keep ringing in my heart and mind “One more fall and you would have been in serious trouble”. There is a spiritual lesson in those words for us as a missionary people. Every day we encounter people who physically and spiritually are on the pericope of death and Hell. They are one fall from an irreversible eternal destiny. You and I stand before them with the healing gospel of the Great Physician. The saving power of the gospel is the only hope they have. We are the ones who must confront them with the truth about the severity of their predicament and we are the ones who must deliver the crucial plea for them to believe the gospel and come to faith Christ. The gospel may sound like foolishness to them, but “one more fall and they will be in serious trouble”.

Resurrected Wounded

Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb on the morning following the Sabbath for the purpose of anointing the body of Jesus for burial. But when they got there the tomb was open and it was empty. There they encountered an angel who said to them “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:6-7).


We learn here of a bodily resurrection. A man who had been publicly butchered on a cross, pronounced dead, and hastily buried inside a nearby tomb sealed by a huge rock had come back to life. Not just enough life to make a few restless movements where he was laying but enough life to get up, shed the burial garments, move the heavy stone and walk out. That had never been heard of because it had never happened before. A dead man had come back to life. This once dead man was on his feet walking and the angel knew his plans and whereabouts. Knowing his plans the angel gave the women an errand “Go tell his disciples and Peter that he will meet them in Galilee”. This was a bodily resurrection. Jesus had not been whisked off to heaven. That would happen later but for now he was on earth in same body he had had for 33 years. He was walking around in the same body that had been killed. That body bore the marks of crucifixion. Jesus had been resurrected but he was resurrected wounded.


We know this to be true because after the resurrection Jesus presented himself alive to all of his disciples except Thomas. Not being present Thomas refused to believe saying “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe”. (John 20:25). Shortly afterwards Jesus appeared to them again and gave Thomas the opportunity to place his finger in the mark of the nails in his hands and place his hand in the gaping wound in his side.  Seeing and being with the wounded resurrected Jesus was necessary to prove his dominion over death and to build faith not only in the lives of the disciples but all the generations since that time.  


That morning the women found an empty tomb and received that wonderful message from the angel “He is risen; he is not here.” With excitement they left to spread the news and Jesus met them on the way. They saw the wounded resurrected Jesus and Jesus reiterated the assignment the angel had given them “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Matthew 28:9-10).


Let’s understand the magnitude of that. It is 78 miles from Jerusalem to the town of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. That is a 3 day walking journey if you go through Samaria. If you take the longer but safer route it is a 5 day journey. Jesus is going to make that journey on wounded feet. The Roman government with encouragement from the Jewish community had put him to death in the most debilitating way ever devised by man. He was buried and then with the miraculous powers of heaven was resurrected in human bodily form. In that human wounded body he was going to make a 3 day journey along mountainous goat trails and dangerous roads.


But why was he going to Galilee? First of all it was a safe distance from Jerusalem. The reality of the empty tomb and the rumor of resurrection would have the government searching for him. Secondly, Galilee was home. It was a place where Jesus and his disciples could feel safe. Jesus had spent three years ministering in the region of Galilee. It was from there he had called them and instructed his disciples. Now he is calling his them to re-gather with him. It will be a time of fellowship. It will be a time of forgiveness. Peter had betrayed Jesus terribly. But we should note that the angel specifically said that Peter should be given the word that Jesus wanted to see him in Galilee. “Go tell my disciples, and Peter, to meet me in Galilee”. Peter was a failed soul but Jesus forgave him and had a great plan for how he would be involved in the kingdom. For Peter and for all of the disciples Jesus needed to gather them in order to instruct them and make his commission clear in their lives.


Jesus went back to Galilee in his wounded human body to demonstrate to his disciples that they could go into their worlds in their human bodies with all their faults and frailties to tell his story and fulfill the commission that was given to them. It is the same for us. We are called to serve Jesus. We are not called to serve him with what we do not have but we are called to serve with what we do have. What we have are our human bodies and our human minds. We are not Jesus and we have not been wounded in the fashion that he was. But we have been wounded. We have first of all been wounded by our sin but Jesus has forgiven us. We were dead in our sin but in Jesus we have been resurrected to new life. Because he lives we shall live also.  We have been hurt in this world but we have the comfort and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. We live wounded but in Jesus we can go forward with the imperfections of our wounds to fulfill the commission of Jesus and promote the character of Jesus.


After a period of time Jesus went back to heaven where he reigns forever glorified. As believers we can look forward to a time when we will be with him with a new body in heaven. But at the present time we are the resurrected wounded. So let us strive to fill our wounded hearts and minds with the compassion and love of Christ. Let us journey forward with wounded feet. With wounded hands let us serve others, bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Tatooed on the Palms of God's Hands

On September 12 of this year we lost a giant among Illinois Baptist. Bill Weedman was a faithful servant of our Lord, first as a pastor and then for 25 years on the IBSA staff. He was a humble man, beautifully educated with a PHD from Southern Seminary, yet people rarely addressed him as Doctor. He was quiet and unassuming in so many ways, never drawing attention or recognition to himself. On the other hand all eyes were upon him because you knew he was someone who would be true to His word and what he knew to be truth. If you needed a job done correctly you called upon Bill. He was a wealth of information. If you asked him a question you better be ready for the long answer. He would start exhaling information and about the time you thought he was through he would inhale a breath of air and start exhaling more facts and figures and stories. And he could preach! His sermons were scholarly and at the same time pastoral, his delivery clear and without a note. Bill pretty much worked until failing health got the upper hand. For the last 6-8 years his public presence faded until it was non-existent. When you are not seen your importance dwindles and slowly you are forgotten. If people’s memories of you dwindle you just slowly fade away.

 

His memorial service was not held at a church but a funeral chapel. From 1:00PM until 3:00PM is not prime time. I think it is correct to say that while Bill knew a lot of people he had close relationships with only a few.  When time and memories of a person have elapsed and what is left of the physical body is just a sack of cremains maybe it is hard to justify showing up at a memorial service. I am not sure how many people came to the chapel and signed the guest book and left but when the memorial service began 29 people were in attendance. Only 29 people, just two dozen and 5. I was not among the crowd. My wife was there and I am taking some solace that I at least paid my respects by proxy.

 

I find it a little sad. It is disheartening that after a life of ministering to people and assisting others in ministering to people that only a small crowd comes to acknowledge your importance. If we view this only from the eyes of this world it is a discouraging thing.

 

In Isaiah 49 we discover a word of hope for Israel. They were a land, a nation, a people, who surely were depressed. Their city was in ruins and governments who were not sympathetic to their history, values, and faith ruled over them with a contrary hand. But the prophet says they ought to take courage for God has seen their affliction and is responding in compassion for them. God is writing a new song that will break forth as such decibels that the mountains around them dance in singing.

But they have not experienced that yet.

 

Isaiah 49:14 “But Zion said. ‘The Lord has forsaken me; My Lord has forgotten me.’”

             

Here is God’s response.

 

Isa. 49:15-16 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, That she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”

 

It is unfathomable that a mother would forget her nursing child. It is almost unheard of that a mother would forget the child she has borne. It could happen but God would never forget His people. This is a strong affirmation of God’s love and care for His people. God opens His hand and challenges them to look and see what is “engraved” on the palm of His hand. He has done this not with some kind of weak ink that can fade or be erased. But it is permanently carved into His metaphorical flesh. The object engraved on the palm of God’s hand is a drawing of the walls of Jerusalem. But which walls? Is it the broken down walls or the glorious walls of the future city? I say that it does not matter. The walls of Jerusalem is a reference to the people of God that had been and those that were yet to be engraved on the hands of God. It is a picture that tells us that God remembers us whether our walls are erect or whether they are crumbled on the ground.

 

How does this apply to you and me today? We are not Israel. We are not Jerusalem. We are not a nation enclosed with geographical boundaries. No! We are better than that! We have seen the Messiah. We have heard his teachings. We have seen Him crucified on a cross. We have acknowledged His resurrection. We have heard His gracious offer of forgiveness and salvation and by faith we have accepted that offer. We are a part of the church of the living Lord Jesus. We are the new Israel, we are the new Jerusalem. As such we are the recipients of all God’s promises and blessings and we are the ones responsible for propagating His mandates.

 

Thus this word of hope that Isaiah preached applies as much if not more to us than it did to those it was originally spoken to.

 

God has not forgotten us and He never will. He remembers us now here on this earth and He will remember us for all eternity. This promise is ours corporately as the church and as individuals.

 

Isaiah 49:16 is a beautiful picture of how God remembers and cares for His people.

 

The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) translates that verse like this “Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands; [O Zion] your walls are continually before me”.

 

What’s that?  Did it just say that God has a tattoo? Isn’t that something? God has a tattoo!

 

I dislike tattoos. I don’t understand why somebody would want one. The reason is that I have written so many dumb things in my life that I have learned that before I publish something to make sure it is something I don’t want to erase.

Recently a young woman told me she wanted to get a tattoo on her arm. My response was "please don't do that. Someone as beautiful as you does not want to mess up her beauty with a tattoo”.

 

But God has a tattoo. I suppose that if you are going to have a tattoo you ought to make sure it is of something significant. God’s judgment is great enough that He would not tattoo something onto His hand that was not significant.

 

His tattoo is a picture of His people. It is an image of His church corporately and it is a picture of you and me individually!  I ask the question: God why would you do that? God’s answer is “I love you so much, and I think you are so beautiful that I have tattooed a picture of you on the palms of both of my hands”.

 

Let me make three quick applications in regards to what this means for us.

It Speaks of  God’s Protection. 


He has engraved our image not on the back of His hand but on the Palms of His hands. In the palms of His hands he hides us and protects us. If the tattoo was on the back of His hand we would be subject to all the elements of the world. We would be exposed to gawking of all our enemies and all the enemies of God. In one sense we experience that anyway because we cannot be followers of God and live reclusively and still be effective. Yet we can rest assured that though the world around us may gawk at our faith and our values and even our existence we find security engraved on and enclosed in the palms of God. 


We are not forgotten. Jesus said “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand”. John 10:28 


 It Speaks of God’s Preservation 


Why do we protect something? We protect it so we can preserve it and thus be able to enjoy it. 


I have a picture of my wife Jeanette and me taken just after we were married. I used to carry it in my wallet but now I keep that picture in a drawer in my desk. Every now and then I get that picture out and look at it and I get a visual reminder of what she looked like then. I get the picture out and look at it so I can enjoy it.  


God tattoos an image of us on the palms of His hands so that we will be preserved for His eternal enjoyment. Now is part of eternity! We are going to be in heaven with the Lord forever but God enjoys even now and He carries around an image of us on the palms of His hands. He can open His hands and look at us anytime He wants to.  


It Speaks of God’s Presentation


There is going to be a day when we all stand before God. It is a day of judgment, a day of accountability. Frankly, I have a little fear of that day. But my fears are calmed because I know that standing beside me on that day will be my savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who was and is the physical hands of God on this earth. 


I don’t know what that day will look like but with a little sanctified imagination I hear my name being called and I see Jesus opening his hands and presenting me, presenting you, presenting His church to the heavenly Father. Can you get that picture? There in the midst of the nail scarred hand is a tattoo of me and you and all the redeemed of all the ages. We are not forgotten but we are presented to God eternally secure.

Conceived in Eternal Love

Conceived in Eternal Love

By Brent Cloyd, 2017

 

Joseph was a young man excited about life

A maiden named Mary was pledged to be his wife

But then he received news that he could not ignore

News that hurt and the community would deplore

Though they had not come together she was with child

This kind of shame would cause them both to be profiled

 

Being a good man he did not want to cause her pain

To force public disgrace, there was nothing to gain

I’ll quietly divorce her, he fretfully resolved

This will be better for all the parties involved

But as he was dreaming in the blackness of night

An angel appeared, spoke to him, and set things right

 

Take Mary as your wife, and do not be afraid

Years past the prophet spoke of a plan that was made

The child that grows in her is a gift from above

Wrought by the Holy Spirit, in eternal love

She is carrying in her womb a precious son

Through him for mankind abundant life will be won

 

You will call Him Jesus, a savior from heaven

In His powerful name God will stop sin’s leaven

Through His life and story God among us will live

By His atoning work He has much grace to give

So Joseph arose, as commanded, without delay

Took Mary as his wife, The Lord he did obey

 

Scripture said that from a virgin Christ would be born

To allow otherwise would create righteous scorn

So they refrained from sex until after the birth

Denying themselves the natural urgings of earth

When the time came there was born a child of great fame

God’s precious gift, a savior, Jesus was His name.

 

 

 

It Won't Be Very Long

My Grandfather Morgan Williams was a hymn writer. He had some 46 songs published. The most popular one was entitled “It Won’t be Very Long”. It gained some notoriety in Stamps Baxter singing circles. It can be found in a few of the old hymnals one of them being “Heavenly Highway Hymns”.
But I know it because my mother sang it from memory all the time when I was growing up. She was quite proud of the hymn and of her Dad who wrote it.

 I am remembering it tonight as my mother’...s life appears to be slipping away in a nursing home in Blacksburg, Virginia. Alzheimer’s has depleted her to an earthly shell. But awaiting her is a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.

I am singing my Grandfather’s old hymn tonight. And I think I am hoping that maybe there is a recording somewhere in a hidden corner of my mother’s mind that is playing this hymn and giving her comfort.


It won't be very long till this short life shall end,
It won't be very long till Jesus shall descend;
And then the dead in Christ from beds of clay shall rise
To meet the Lord and King up yonder in the skies.


It won't be very long till here we cease to roam,
It won't be very long till all the saints get home;
And then with smiling face we'll walk the streets of gold,
And sing the Savior's praise where saints are never old.


It won't be very long till bur-dens we lay down,
It won't be very long till we'll receive a crown;
And then we'll shout and sing with angels round the throne,
And when we meet up there, we'll know as we are known.

It won't be very long till earth shall pass away,
It won't be very long till works of men decay;
But Jesus has pre-pared a happy dwelling place,
For all who look above and trust His matchless grace.


It won't be very long,
It won't be very long
Till Jesus shall appear;
That day is drawing near;
Will you be ready then
To meet the ransomed throng?
Get ready for that day,
It won't be very long.

Let's Go to Bethlehem and See

Recently I traveled to Israel. I had the opportunity to visit Bethlehem. In preparing for this event and because of this event I wrote the following poem.

Let’s Go to Bethlehem and See

By Brent Cloyd, 2014

Come travel to the town of Bethlehem with me

Let’s observe the venue, reflect upon what we see

 I see a place where politics is harsh and shrewd

Where feeling forgotten, people have a vile mood

I see an Emperor who made a great decree

Go home take the census; you owe taxes to me

I see a young man, responsible, able, and proud

Who complied with the order, did not complain loud

I see significance in his ancestral line

The connection must be claimed, they could not decline

I see a young woman, greatly pregnant with child

Her time would come soon; the journey would not be mild

I see a man and woman, tested but in love

Confused, yet convinced of their mission from above

I see a crowded town without a lodging place

For poor strangers there was little mercy or grace

I see the pain of labor, loneliness, and stress

With groans, desire, and effort; a birth did progress

I see a happy face, immaculate with joy

Overflowing with love for a her baby boy

I see a stable, filled with the stench of manure

No place for a new born, vulnerable and pure

I see a child lying on a mattress of hay

Who humbly had arrived in the natural way

I see a baby wrapped securely in strips of cloth

One sent from heaven resting in a feeding trough
 
I see a proud mother gazing at her first born
Unaware that others will stare at him with scorn

I see a town that ignorantly missed the sign
Thus ignored the presence of this infant divine

I see shepherds on guard in the dark of the field
Keeping watch over their flocks with protecting shield

I see night interrupted by an angels face
As the glory of the Lord was shone in that place

I see heavenly beings with great news to proclaim
The joy of one who surpasses every name

I see a choir of angels as their voices ring
Glory to God in the highest heaven they sing

I see them praising God in sounds of sweet release
God sends His favor, in Messiah there is peace

I see shepherds, curious, gazing, with minds stunned
Leaving their flocks at night to see what had been done

I see action, let’s go to town right now and see
This savior the angels sang about with such glee
 
I see a young family, a man and his wife
Loving and guarding their child, in a world of strife

I see shepherds, with amazing joy in their eyes
Who left telling a story of this great surprise

I see a mother treasuring the day’s events
Pondering her involvement in God’s great intents

I see myself, a sinner, as part of the story
Praise Jesus my savior, to God be the glory.

 

 

 

Somewhere Near Here

While traveling in Israel I wrote a poem and shared the poem with our group at our last devotional time in the Jerusalem.

In old Jerusalem near cross and sepulcher

Transgressors and confessors searching for a cure
Weary Pilgrims assembled in this place ornate
Guilty, broken, sad, sickened, from life’s heavy weight

Here we remember how our sin once did molest

How selfish deeds and hateful thoughts God does detest
Yet for us sinners Christ in love performed His grace
His sacrificial work makes this a holy place

Somewhere near here religion organized deceit

They drug him to the pavement to make his end complete
Somewhere near here truth was twisted, justice denied
Somewhere near here, misinformed, crucified they cried

Somewhere near here with cruel whip his back was beat

Somewhere near here Rome drove nails in Christ’ hands and feet
Somewhere near here the savior wore thorns for a crown
Somewhere near here the savior’s blood trickled down

Somewhere near here they punctured a sword in his side

Somewhere near here for our sin our blessed savior died
Somewhere near here, hanging shamefully on a cross
Jesus was sacrificed to restore human loss

Here listening to vile words the crowd did sputter

An announcement of forgiveness he did utter
Here on these grounds the lamb without blemish or flaw
Orchestrated the salvation the Father foresaw

The execution done His body was removed

The task was now completed, the Father approved
In a tomb near here his slaughtered corpse was encased
Still, dead, and buried, His accomplishments erased

For three days in the dark of the earth he did lay

While the Sabbath left His friends to mourn in dismay
But on the third day, somewhere near here, before dawn
There came a rumble and He awoke without yawn
 

Somewhere near here before the daylights detection

Breath was restored in mighty resurrection
The women and the disciples saw him near here
Then to more than five-hundred he dared to appear
 

I’m quite impressed with these walls and decorations

But they provoke neither joy nor celebration
For I’m on a journey to see the saviors face
And perhaps that’s the lesson of this wondrous place

For nails, nor cross, rocks, or cave can keep Jesus still

Resurrected our savior moves around at will
He will not be confined to places around here
But where ever we go our living Lord is near.

 

Putting Away Childish Things

During the Sunday School hour this morning two eleven year old girls spoke to me about being baptized. I talked with them about their faith journey and what it meant to be a believer in Christ and the significance of baptism. I helped them understand our tradition of “coming forward” during the concluding hymn of the worship service so that together we could express their desire and allow the congregation to rejoice with them. They said they were going to do that and at the conclusion of the morning worship they walked forward together. A thirteen year old boy came as well and allowed us to rejoice with him in his decision to follow Christ. It was a good day at North Side Baptist Church. But as our worship service was unfolding today I observed a subtle action that demonstrated a great truth. I noted that the girls did not come to the front for the children’s sermon as they usually did. I smiled inside. I thought to myself, something has changed today. They have made a decision to follow Christ and that has served as a right of passage for them to sit at the back and observe the children’s sermon rather than be a part of it. They have grown up. I wish all believers could understand the Apostle Paul’s admonition that when we grow up it is time to put away childish things.