Emmanuel Unleashed!

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

When God created heaven and earth he created a place and a people that were new and different than anything previously in existence. The primary difference was that we were his beloved creation but we would not live in his immediate Presence. God wanted to create a race of people (humans) who serve him out of love, rather than requirement. He began by creating humanity to spend time with him in what we know as the Garden of Eden. This was the first experience of Emanuel (God with Us) for our human species. It must have been amazing; to live with God so intimately—like heaven on earth.

As most of you know, this “God with Us” experience was temporary because sin entered the picture and separated us from God. This did not catch God off-guard. He knew it would happen and had planned for it, but it took several steps and much time before “Emmanuel” became restored reality in the best sense of the word. God had to move at a pace with which his human creation could cope. They were not immediately ready and Self-Ish-Ness pulled them this way and that in the years that followed.

God used many methods to bring his people back to the “Emmanuel” lost to sin. He used charismatic leaders like Abraham and Sarai, and Hagar, the persecuted concubine of Abraham who was driven from her home by Sarai in a fit of jealousy. Hagar showed great insight in the search for Emmanuel when she called God “the God who sees me”. By this time humanity’s relationship with God had been largely obliterated and it was only in her despair that Hagar realized God was not only alive, but was aware of her and her unborn child. This was a move toward an Emmanuel or “God with Us” relationship.

The early books of the Old Testament abound with charismatic leaders such as Joseph, the mother of Moses and Moses himself. Eventually he established judges to bring people back to himself but when the people asked for a king things went backward for centuries while the Jewish people tried to exist without God.

“But when the time had fully come…”^{(Galatians 4:4)}, after sending us the law and the prophets, God sent his Son. He even called Jesus “Emmanuel” because he would save us from our sin and thus restore the “God with us” relationship. So when Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin and announced by the angels, mankind experienced a whole new level of Emmanuel. God was literally “with us” in the life of his Son Jesus. Fully God and at the same time fully man, Jesus brought God and his creation together in a way never seen before. Through his incarnational (God in the flesh) coming, Jesus lived among us and showed us God’s true nature instead of the warped nature given to him by godless men and women through centuries of godless human living. But instead of merely gloating about the fact he was one with the Father, Jesus helped us see that oneness with God (Emmanuel) was God’s ideal for all mankind and that through faith in him we, mere creations of the most high God were created not for drudgery and death, but for a glorious relationship with the God of all creation. And Jesus had come to make that possible!

When Jesus finished his work and went back to the Father he had already told the disciples of the next, final, and most perfect level of Emmanuel.

That’s right, Jesus on earth, in the flesh, was not God’s best. It was a step toward the best earthly level of Emmanuel. Jesus made this clear when he promised to send the Holy Spirit, saying “It is for your good that I am going away.” ^{(John 16:7)} Jesus had no intention to stay forever in the flesh. He came to make it possible for the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of the Father and the Son—to come and live in us so that everywhere every Spirit-filled person goes, God goes, because he lives in us and works in us and through us, thus restoring the world to the highest and best level of Emmanuel or “God with Us”.

This Christmas and for all time, if we accept this gracious gift of God himself through his Spirit, the “God with Us” phenomenon reaches its highest earthly level, where God Himself—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, lives in us for His glory and for the good of all mankind.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

   

Nice and Not-so-Nice…

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

There are two kinds of people in the world (sure you’ve heard that before)—there are those who are “nice” and those who are “not-so-nice”. My mom’s been in heaven for decades but I still remember that she didn’t think there were any really bad people in the world just people who were not behaving like they knew they ought to. So as a nod to Mom, instead of saying nice or nasty people, (she would not be happy with me if I said it like that) I’ll call them "Nice“ and “Not-so-Nice”. I thank God for her teaching and example because she helped me understand that even those people who are “not-so-nice” are people loved by God and created in his image.

And when you think about it, most of us are neither totally “nice”, nor totally “not-so-nice”—we are mostly somewhere in between.

We find these two kinds of people in all races and all religions, in both genders, all family groups and in every diverse kind of people we can imagine. If we would stop categorizing people according to race, gender, religion, etc., and just think of them as either “nice” or “not-so-nice” we’d all be a lot better off.

Of course we would still have our problems because not everybody is nice. They could be if they wanted to, but some of them don’t. The great thing about these two kinds of people is that we can choose which group we want to be in. We're all in some groups where we don’t have a choice. I didn’t choose my gender, my skin color or the country where I would be born. Many people think we can't choose our sexual preference, but I really think that is a choice. I could be wrong about that, but I know for sure that each of us can choose to be nice if we want to. Or, we can instead choose to be nasty or not-so-nice.

Because there are people in every society who refuse to be nice, we sometimes have to do things to protect ourselves from each other. Thankfully we have families, churches, schools, and various other organizations to help us deal with those “not-so-nice” people and in the extreme situations we have police and the military to protect us from them. Most of the police and the military in our nation are in the “nice” category, but they can be pretty firm if necessary when dealing with “not-so-nice” people and sometimes the results can be painful. Unfortunately, a few of the people in power, whether they be police or military, employers, parents, politicians, etc.,  are “not-so-nice” and the powerless or less powerful need to be protected from them.

I could name some “not-so-nice” people, but I won’t because you all know some so you know what I mean. However, after writing this article and thinking I really need an illustration to make it complete, Carol (my wife) shared an article with me she found on the internet about Andrew luck, star quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. He is one rough and tough football player and isn’t afraid to mix it up with the best of them, but what the article was about was his style of “trash talk”. According to Kevin Clark, the author, (Nice Trash Talker, Andrew Luck) when Luck gets hit really hard he is likely to yell at the player who hit him and say, “Great job!” or “What a hit!”

Clark writes

“When New England pass rusher Rob Ninkovich pulverized Luck last month in a Patriots’ 42-20 win, he got the customary congratulations. As Ninkovich tells it, he found himself paralyzed with confusion by the well-wishes, so he blurted out “Thanks for...uh...accepting that hit?” before running back to the huddle.

It doesn’t matter what color we are, what job we do or just about any other real or imagined division we experience, there are “nice” and “not-so-nice” people in all groups.

I don’t always succeed, but I always try to be in the “nice” group and I hope you will too. We do have a choice.

I'm Rick Blumenberg and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

 

A Life of Quiet Inspiration

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

In most churches we celebrate those loud and boisterous souls who preach our sermons, lead our singing, build enthusiasm and in general carry out their extroverted tendencies as they serve the Lord with gusto and enthusiasm. (We could be more spiritual and call it passion.)

Thank God for the Extroverts!

We love them! They add excitement and zeal to worship and often get us to do things we never thought we would do but find we even enjoy doing—well at least sometimes. I really do thank God for the extroverts, and one reason we love them is because they are so noticeable. They are usually up front both literally and figuratively.

But I also thank God for the introverts

You won’t see them up front. They are usually at least three rows from the front and maybe way back. (Unless, like my poor wife, they move up just to make their extroverted spouse happy.) The introverts in the church (and in the home, the office, and everywhere else) are often not appreciated for the value they bring to church and many other areas of life, partly because we may not notice them. But that’s okay with them. They prefer it that way. You could say they definitely do not want to be noticed. It is also because they like to do background tasks that are so important to our lives, but often fly quietly under the radar of public view.

These introverts are often really good at (and enjoy) those background jobs. They may never teach a class, but they may be good at a ministry of prayer without which teachers, pastors and worship leaders would be worthless.

In Bible School they are more likely to work in the craft room where they may discover a future Leonardo DaVinci or Claude Monet when no one else has noticed. They might send that future artist out of the craft room feeling "God can use me just the way I am.”

Or that quiet introvert may be in the kitchen making food that nourishes the body (the temple of God) while the extroverts are working on the soul.

The problem is,

too often we sell the introverts short.

While we applaud the extroverts with hand claps and hearty “amens”, those quiet introverts are thinking about how to feed the extroverts who are too busy to even think about it until they are ravenous.

Introverts, of course, are not perfect—none of us are. They sometimes get bogged down, like Mary’s sister Martha, with the details of life so they’re caught up in what we call the “tyranny of the urgent” at the expense of what is really important. However, in doing so they often accomplish things we extroverts (and many introverts) don’t want to do without, but don’t really want to do.

So I thank God for the introverts

You find them at home, at church, at the office and just about everywhere in life (except the platform, the podium and the center of attention.) They are glad we more extroverted types get most of the attention, because these introverted types are happy with lives of quiet inspiration.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

   

Could Unity be a Spiritual Gift?

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

The small congregation where I have served as pastor for the past year is facing some changes in the next few weeks and months. They are combining with another neighboring congregation and together, under the leadership of Pastor Herb Smith with his daughter Rachel Green as worship leader, they are beginning an entirely new congregation of the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) in a building that has been around for more than a hundred years.

I’m using this experience to introduces thoughts about the uniqueness of church groups, associations, denominations, etc., as a part of the greater fellowship of Christ. Several years ago I worked for a Christian Music radio station in advertising sales. I met Christian business men and women in a wide variety of churches and we worked with a wide variety of church groups through the station.

During this time I became convinced God also gives spiritual gifts to different church groups. The various Mennonite and Amish groups clearly have the gift of service and they have taught the greater church so much from their giftedness.

The Pentecostals and some high church groups have taught us much about worship from widely divergent worship styles, and the greater church has benefited from them both.

The Baptists, particularly Southern Baptists, but really most of them, simply by exercising their evangelistic gifts, have made us all better evangelists. There are many other examples, but I think you get the point. I thank God for spiritual gifts, both individual and corporate.

Perhaps our (Church of God, Anderson, Indiana) fellowship has a spiritual gift in regards to our ability to work with both the liberal and conservative wings of the church. One place where I was pastor I belonged to two different pastoral fellowship groups—one very conservative and one quite liberal. I had great fellowship and worked cooperatively with ministers, ministries and organizations from both groups, but I was the only pastor in the community who was normally present for both.

This may be stretching it a bit, and I’m not sure what spiritual gift that would be, but I do think our concept of the unity of all believers has developed into a ministry in which many Church of God pastors are involved.

So could Unity be a spiritual gift? I really don’t know, but I thank God for that ministry and for all of you who are involved.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

     

Blessed Are They That Mourn

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

Whatever you do, don't tell people who are bereaved and heartbroken not to mourn. I have heard such statements at the death of a saint, and although I know they were well intentioned, such admonitions are neither helpful nor wise.

In that awesome address we call the “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus told us about nine blessings from God that are amazingly helpful in the process of living well in our time world. One that is often misunderstood is when he said, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

I think he meant that mourning is God's method of sharing his comfort when we suffer loss. In the event of a great loss such as the death of a loved one the grief often comes back over and over again, especially in the time closely following. Try to realize that grief is God's way of helping us and loving us and leading us through a horribly difficult time. Accept the grief as a blessing from God and a reviver of good memories of the past.

Don’t misunderstand and think Jesus meant that the loss we suffered was the blessing. When Jesus stood at the graveside of his friend Lazarus, the Bible tells us “Jesus wept.” Jesus knew he planned to resurrect Lazarus and that it would bring glory to God, so why would he weep? Wouldn’t it be more logical that he would rejoice at what was about to happen?

Perhaps he wept for the pain Lazarus’ friends and family were experiencing. Perhaps he wept because he knew the temporariness of life and all things earthly in our time world would often bring loss, and the death of a loved one would bring excruciating loss that would stay with us for a lifetime.

We need to understand that even with the anticipation of a reunion in heaven there is still the loss of an irreplaceable earthly relationship.  Anyone who has lost a loved one knows full well this is true. Even if the death was “timely” as with a very elderly person who is ill and ready for heaven such a loss is still great and should be properly mourned. Jesus was teaching us that as we mourn such a loss, we then experience God’s loving comfort.

Part of preparing to grieve our losses is to recognize we all are temporary. Most children and youth do not believe that, but at some point in life, we are shocked to realize that someday we will all die and the world will go on without us. This can cause great pain, even agony, for some people and we often try to run from it. Humanity has always sought the “fountain of youth” and it grieves us when we finally learn it is only a fairy tale, not only for all humanity, but for each of us, personally. For a healthy view of life, we must grieve our own mortality so we can move on and enjoy the life we still have. Otherwise, we will spend those last years running from the inevitable instead of living the abundant life while we can.

God blessed us when he gave us the ability to mourn and, as a result, be comforted in our losses. Grief is one of God's healing methods for which we should be thankful and of which we should make good use of rather than reject. The person who refuses to mourn—for whatever reason—will only find grief turning inward and often doing physical and emotional damage.

Grief is not the enemy. It is God's blessing and should be embraced. Grief is the path to God’s loving comfort.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

    

Free e-book available!

My theology book

Let's Get Down to Basics—

An Introduction to Christian Living"

The ebook is now available

free!

 by download to your computer as a .pdf, epub. or mobi file. If you would like to try it, go to

 http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstub

and enter the code

1230000285941

Then just follow directions. You can save it to your computer to read and share with anyone who would appreciate it or share this information so they can retrieve it for themselves.

If you like it but would prefer a real book you can buy it at  Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com or xlibris.com at  http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-000969874/Let'sGetDowntoBasics.aspx 

Or if you would like it as an ebook for Kindle, Nook or some other type it is available at all three of these online bookstores for less than $4 ea.

I would also appreciate it if you would go to any of these online stores and do a review of the book.

The 1991 paperback edition is still available from me for $5 postpaid. Just personal message me on Facebook on place a comment to this post. 

Thank you!

Rick

The Autumn Song

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

Walking along Tanner Creek with Carol we took this picture to show you what a special place we live in. My blog for today is a song-poem I wrote years ago and sing often at this time of year. I call it The Autumn Song and this view of Tanner Creek reminded me to sing it again. I hope you enjoy

“The Autumn Song”.

Summer has its happy times

      and winter has it joys.

            Spring is like a melody in rhyme.

When I think of all the seasons

      that I’ve known since just a boy

            Autumn is that very special times.

So when I see the wild geese

      flyin’ overhead

            And feel the snap of Jack Frost in the air.

And I hear the band a playin’

      at the high school football game

            I know that it's time for county fair.

Chorus:

So When the Autumn comes

      and leaves are falling down

            I remember scenes of long ago.

Skippin’ through the fallen leaves

      upon the frosty ground

            Laughing down the lane to school we’d go.

I thank God for the colors

      and I thank him for the smells—

            Even smells of smoke from burning leaves.

But every day and every way

      I thank God for the earth

            And beauty He created with the trees.

I thank the Lord for falling leaves

      and autumn days of yore.

            I thank him even more for autumns now.

I thank him for the people

      that he’s sent to bless my life--

            Who love and serve him well and teach me how.

I'm Rick Blumenberg and that's 
                                  My View from Tanner Creek.
   

Mary Jo Tomasini, Congratulations on Living Life Well

Here is a “Linked In” congratulatory note I sent to Mary Jo Tomasini on the occasion of the 21^st anniversary of her company.

“Congratulations Mary Jo on your great success at making Competitive Edge such a blessing to the business world, the community, and the families of your employees! There are many kinds of people in the world, but two very special types are job makers and job takers. There is nothing wrong with being a job taker; we all need employment for income, self satisfaction and self worth and of course employers need workers all the way from professional level to entry level in order to do the tasks that need to be done so businesses can succeed. However (and this is where you come in, Mary Jo) there would be few jobs if it weren't for people like you who have the initiative, skill and insight to begin and run a business and thus create jobs for those who want to work.

So I really do congratulate you, not just on your 21 year anniversary, but that you have lived those 21 years so well and have been such a blessing to so many people.

I also congratulate you on marrying such a great guy and bringing Fred to our community!”

I hasten to add, however, that Mary Jo is only one of many entrepreneurs and business persons who have the courage and initiative to start a business or grow a business that takes on a life of its own under their leadership. Others are able to take a struggling business and turn it into a successful enterprise or take a thriving business and make it even better.

I’m a churchman, and gladly so, but I am often exasperated when the church appears to only appreciate the openly spiritual people who are up front and helpful in preaching, singing, teaching and other obviously spiritual tasks. Nothing wrong with that, but we all too seldom give attention to those business leaders and workers who take a Christ-like spirit and Christ-like morals into the marketplace and quietly live their lives of quiet inspiration. (Note I didn’t say desperation, but inspiration.) They thus show by their values and hard work what it is like to be a genuinely Christ-like person in the midst of many who don’t know Christ and would never come to know him without the day-to-day witness of their co-workers.

So congratulations Mary Jo, and all the rest of you who take Christ to the marketplace. Through your efforts to be Christ-like in your everyday lives you show the world just how awesome He really is.

I'm Rick Blumenberg and that's "My View from Tanner Creek".

     

Basics now Available online

“Basics” now Available on

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Let’s Get Down to Basics is a simple but thorough introduction to Christian theology for those who are not from a Christian background. It is written for the lay person, not as a scholarly work.

It is also a book for new Christians who want a solid beginning for a lifetime commitment to Christ, as well as for mature Christians who want to review some basic teachings of the Christian faith.

Written originally as church curriculum in a class for new Christians and for those new to the church, Let’s Get Down to Basics is recommended for that purpose.

This is a new version in larger type with105 pages. The official price is $14.49 for paperback, ebook Kindle is $3.99 and Nook is $3.49

If you would like the book at a lower price I still have the original version (in much smaller type) for $5.00 including postage. Good for SS class or small group study.

 

The Solarium

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

Sin— a dark and dirty dungeon with no windows and only one door, built with the bricks and mortar of my own selfish living.

Guilt— living in that underground dungeon and knowing I built it as a place for me to live, a place where I always keep that one door tightly closed so no one who passes can see what I'm really like on the inside.

Satan— the con man who convinced me I wanted to live in such a place. He made it sound so enticing and convinced me that sunlight was somehow unnatural, unhealthy and totally unde­sirable. I believed his lies and lived in the shadows, keeping the door tightly closed against the truth.

God's love— the sunlight that constantly shines on that door, even though (because of the bricks and stones of my selfish living) the sunlight cannot reach inside to reveal the spiritual poverty in which I live.

Confession— finally admitting (first to myself and then to God) that I am living inside this dun­geon with the door tightly closed as a result of my own selfish choices.

Repentance— when I become aware of the awful sinfulness of wasting that beautiful sunlight after Jesus, the Christ, the only begotten Son of God, paid such a tremendously high price to make it available to me, and wishing with all my heart I had never built that dungeon at all.

Faith— believing the sunlight is out there even though I can’t see it.  And believing it was cre­ated for me by a loving God who wants me to live in the light and enjoy it, and believing it so much that I have the courage to open the door and allow the radiance of his Son to come in.

Forgiveness— when Jesus comes through that open door and I experience the light and healing power of God's love that radiates from his very being, surrounding me with his warmth and spilling over into dark corners of my life, driving out darkness and fear I've been living with so long.

Salvation— watching in amazement as the marvelous light of God's forgiveness burns away the impurities of guilt, fear, hurt, and loneliness that have been such a painful part of my life for so very long.

Sanctification— allowing God's Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, to knock out the walls that hide my life and block the sun, and replace those ugly walls with beautiful transparent glass that changes my dungeon into a solarium, full of light and life and beauty and warmth so I can live joyfully in the precious “Son” light of God's amazing grace!

Compassion— feeling heart pain because so many wonderful people are living in dungeons of their own guilt and despair, even though God loves them, and wants them to open their doors and allow the “Son” light of his love and forgiveness to pour in.

Evangelism— finding as many ways as possible to tell those people who live now where I once lived, that the solarium where I now live is not of my own making and I take no credit for it.  It’s a miraculous work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And if they will only trust Him, He can also transform their dungeons into houses of light and life and eternal beauty!

Christians— my brothers and sisters. Ex-dungeon dwellers all who now live in the "Son" light. People called of God to take the Good News of His marvelous love to other people who still perish without Him in dungeons of their own de­spair. Never can we forget the dungeon from which we came, and never can we cease to praise Jesus, who transformed our own personal dungeons into the beauty of His Presence.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

   

Cure for the Sin Malady

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

The "Good News" of the Gospel is that God sent his Son Jesus, the Christ, to be the remedy for the malady we call sin. Adam and Eve, our first parents, committed sin against God and each other and thus infected not only themselves, but their prodigy with the “disease” of sin—a deadly inherited disease for which there was no cure. The good news in this sad story is that God, knowing that with the freedom to choose, mankind would sin, had already prepared a remedy through Jesus Christ his Son. When Christ died on the cross and God raised him from the dead all mankind was provided with the antidote for past sin, plus an inoculation against future sin we might otherwise commit.

Both the antidote and the immunization are applied by way of a process called faith. In much the same way that medical treatments can be given by various methods including pills or hypodermic needles, the spiritual antidote for this disease is called active faith in Christ. Even as an immunization for a particular disease is created to cure the disease and is available for everyone, the sin cure (Christ’s death and resurrection) was made available by God for everyone. The bad news, however, is that much the same as with medicine available for health concerns, the cure is only effective for those who take the medicine.

We also know that all medical treatment is a two step process. It must be given by someone who has the ability to prescribe it and the infected person must be willing to take the treatment. God has prescribed faith as both the antidote and the immunization but it is our responsibility to accept by faith, the death and resurrection of his Son in our behalf. If we don’t accept the treatment as an act of faith and take the only medicine that can help, we never receive its value.

We already have the terminal illness we call sin and we all need the antidote to prevent spiritual death.  By accepting Christ as Savior and then Lord of our lives and allow him to fill us with his Holy Spirit we are also given a limited immunity against future sin. I say “limited immunity” because even as born-again Christians we still have to choose godliness and reject Satan’s temptations if we want to continue in this glorious state we call spiritual health.

The concept of immunization is also valid when we think of a child who grows up in a godly home and is taught from childhood of the loving-kindness of God. Having been taught to love God these children often find faith as natural as breathing and never go into deep sin before accepting Christ as Savior. This Christian home upbringing is the inoculation or immunization against open sin so the child accepts Christ as Savior as soon as they understand the concept and thus never experience the horror of deep sin.

The godly child still needs the antidote for sin because they have inherited the deadly disease and without a personal relationship with Christ through faith they will not know the grace and love of God personally and will eventually lose the inherited relationship of a godly upbringing. This faith child who responds affirmatively as soon as they realize the need, is saved from just as much as those persons who waste their lives in sinful pursuits and are later saved from them. The good thing is that the child of faith is saved from sin’s horrors before they commit the sin instead of afterwards.

So there you have it—my medical theory of the atonement.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

   

I am the Light of the World

By Rick Blumenberg  / @rickblumenberg

According to John, the Gospel writer (John 8:12), these words were spoken by Jesus when he was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. He had been teaching in the temple but the Pharisees refused to listen and even heckled him, apparently trying to distract people from giving him their attention. Here was the Son of God, who had come into the world to bring desperately needed light, but they refused to listen and even tried to stop other people from hearing him.

When Jesus said “I am the light of the world,” he didn’t mean the religious world. He also didn’t mean only the world of the Jews. He meant the whole world—not even limited to planet earth. He could have been light to the Pharisees. He came to bring them light, but apparently they preferred their darkness.

He went on to say “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” Jesus Christ neither leads into darkness nor leaves us in darkness. The word “Walk” implies something that is continuing. Now we know that sometimes even Christ-followers find themselves in darkness—tragedy strikes, disappointment comes, people we depend on fail us—but if we continue to follow Jesus he always leads us out of the darkness into his brilliant light. And when we find the darkness closing in we need not be afraid. God never allows the dark periods in our lives to be wasted, but uses them all to teach us things we can’t learn in the light or perhaps to show us how much we can trust him when those dark periods invade.

Jesus also said, “Whoever follows me will have the light of life.” Sometimes when life brings those dark periods we learn we can trust God in the darkness, knowing there is no darkness to which Christ cannot bring the light of life. And the light he brings is powerful, mind-blowing, inexpressible light. But Jesus took this analogy a step farther when he introduced an entirely new concept.

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus said to his disciples “You are the light of the world”! What an amazing thing to say! Not only is Jesus the Light of the World, but you too, if you are a follower of Jesus, are light as well. We not only have the light, we are the light! Everywhere God’s people go we take the light of Christ!

His financial light overcomes poverty.

His emotional light overcomes despair.

His educational light overcomes ignorance.

His spiritual light overcomes sin and death and hell.

I could go on and on for a long time, but suffice it to say, God’s people take the light of Christ wherever we go. We not only walk in the light but we are the light of the world because Jesus Christ lives in us, lighting up our lives with his truth, wisdom, and guidance, so that His light also shines through us! His light becomes our light and we take it wherever we go, whether it be local or international or somewhere in between.

The darkest places in the world are the places where the light of Jesus Christ is not allowed to shine. But there is no wall, no barrier and no border that can block the prayers of God’s holy people. Jesus taught us to pray for God’s Kingdom to come and God’s Will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” We can change the world for good even in places we cannot go by using this all-powerful tool we call prayer to light up the world’s dark places.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s 
“My View from Tanner Creek.”

      

Our Greatest Privilege

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Prayer is our heavenly Father’s gift to connect us with Him and with His power source. It is sort of like our speed dial to God. We don’t have to look him up, find an excuse to talk to him or go through any sort of defense mechanisms. He is always available on our prayer speed dial and what it all boils down to is that prayer is our greatest privilege. Any good we want to do, prayer helps us do it better. Imagine the difference between an electric light and an oil lamp. Except for the beautiful ambiance of an oil lamp, there is no comparison. Just as we get more light from electricity than from an oil lamp, any good we want to do, prayer helps us do it better because it connects us with God as our power source.

The primary or first privilege of prayer is being able to commune with God. We were created for fellowship with God. Quiet talks, yes. Also praise, thankfulness, desperation, anger, etc. It’s all communion with God and that’s what he wants from us. Prayer is not only a duty, but a privilege and a blessing from God! On the other hand, sin is what separates us from God and destroys that communion. That’s why God hates sin so much—because it hurts the people he loves. But prayer is also God’s solution to that vexing problem. Prayer enables us to do away with sin by claiming Christ’s death and resurrection for our own salvation, enabling us to experience blissful communion with God.

We do need to recognize, however, that not all communion with God is blissful. Sometimes He needs something done that is really, really hard and He asks us to do it. The best example is Jesus coming to earth and his subsequent death on the cross. He didn’t want to face death any more than you or I would. But Jesus knows God’s way is always right and He was being asked to do something that just had to be done—something no one else could do. So he did it. Christ needs to be our example, knowing God will be just as dependable for us as he was with the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here on earth as a human. If there is something difficult God wants us to do, he will empower us to do it.

This brings up the second privilege of prayer, to accomplish God’s Will. That’s what Jesus told us to do in what we call the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10) for God’s Kingdom to come and God’s Will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. This phrase should be in most of our prayers, because God accomplishes his will at least partially through the prayers of faithful persons. We not only try to do his will, we help to bring it about through our prayers.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Pray also for me,…” (Ephesians 6:19) and this shows us another important privilege of the ministry of prayer—to work together with God. Prayer is the best method of Divine-human cooperation—our primary way to connect with God and His power. God gives us wisdom, guidance, empowerment, protection and many other helps and we give him our love and a physical body through which he can work. That’s a really good trade-off.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

     

On Being Christ-like

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

The goal of most Christ-followers is to become like Jesus. In reality we cannot “become” like Jesus by our own efforts, we must be “made” like Jesus—a work only God can accomplish. But God only does it with our cooperation and with the full Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—fully involved.

Now the fact that God only does it with our cooperation doesn’t mean that until we cooperate there is nothing God can do but wait for us to act, or to open ourselves to the guidance and/or direction of God. The Bible (Rev. 13:8) speaks of “the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world”. This tells us God planned our salvation before the first human was created.

So before human creation, God, through his Son Jesus Christ made provision for our redemption. God knows how difficult earthly life can be; a place where we battle with Satan to avoid his dominion in our lives and over our world. God knows we are not adequate for such a life in our own limited strength. But He also knows Christ can make us more than adequate by defeating sin and death and hell through His life, death and resurrection.

The next step in this amazing process is the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 16:7 (vv. 5-15 for context) “It is better for you that I go away” because “I will send him [the Comforter] to you”. Later in that same passage, he said, when “…the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth.” (v. 13) So for us to become Christ-like people we need to cooperate with the Spirit of God so he can work freely in our lives. Jesus also said (John 16:15) “All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.” This helps us understand that the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. Not two Spirits, but One. So when we speak of God, that word encompasses the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who while being revealed to us as three persons in the God-head or Trinity, is only one God.

At the top of this post you see one of my views of Tanner Creek, the stream that runs past our house and from which I chose a title for my blog. When I look at the creek through the culvert under our driveway it reminds me of looking at life through the eyes of God’s Spirit. When we do that the Spirit makes life become progressively more vibrant and more alive in Christ.

The primary work of the Holy Spirit is here on earth. He is Helper, Comforter, and the Spirit of Truth who guides us into all truth. These are only three descriptions that so inadequately portray God’s Spirit. There are many more excellent words, but even all together there are never enough words to fully describe him. Understand, however, that the primary work of God’s Spirit is to glorify God by making we who are human progressively more like Jesus. The glory of a human being is to be like Jesus. This is a work of God in us. As long as we give full cooperation, God’s Spirit will continue to work in us to make us more and more Christ-like so we can bless the world around us with the Spirit and person of Christ. What an awesome privilege we are given—to live as a temple for the Living God.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

     

Dad’s Moonlight Prayer

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

It was a warm summer night on our family farm in Southeast Missouri. I was in my middle teens and our home was small with no place to be alone. It was late in the evening, about ten, and before I went to bed I went outside into the moonlight. It was quiet except for the croaking of the frogs, the chirping of the crickets and an occasional hoot of an owl. In the distance I could hear the sound of a foghorn from a riverboat pushing barges down the Mississippi River just a few miles away. 

I thought I was alone, but instead, I happened upon my father as he knelt in prayer beside an old wash kettle that lay upside down there among the clutter of the back yard.

I have many pictures of Dad in my mind, working on the farm as he drove the tractor, milked the cow, or fed the pigs. Often he could be seen walking along the edge of a field with hoe in hand as he chopped down the many weeds or clumps of Johnson grass that had somehow escaped the plow. I can also see him leading singing, or Wednesday night Bible study at Pulltight Church, or preaching to a small congregation from the Word at the Mounds congregation.

They are pleasant pictures because he was a good father. But the best picture of all and the one that most influences my own life is the memory of seeing him talking to our heavenly Father that night in the moonlight.

He was a great man of prayer with a gift of evangelism. His example and heritage of faith lives on in the lives of his descendants and many others here on earth and in a multitude of those redeemed to whom he witnessed and won, and who’ve gone on to rejoice with him in the Presence of the Most High God, our Heavenly Father.

On this Father’s Day weekend I have good memories of Roy Blumenberg, my earthly father, whose example still helps me to love my Heavenly Father even more.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s “My View from Tanner Creek.”

     

Choose Your Brain Talk

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Your brain talk is your destiny. Change your brain talk—change your destiny!

Most of us don’t think about what we tell our brains. Maybe we think it doesn’t matter. Maybe we don’t realize we even have the ability to talk to our brains, but we do and the way we do impacts our lives tremendously.

The brain is amazing. Even an unintelligent person has an amazing brain with the ability to manage bodily functions and teach ourselves about new things we face every day. But the brain is a servant rather than a master. Or, perhaps we should call it a servant-leader. The point is, our brains do what we tell them to do. If I tell my brain I am a dummy and especially if I really believe it, my brain will obediently work hard to help me be dumb. If I tell my brain I am fat, my brain will help me be overweight. My brain is my servant and I need to understand that. If I don’t understand it I may inadvertently use my own brain for personal defeat.

On the other hand….

What if I understand the power of my brain to help me be the person I want to be? What if I say to my brain, “Sure, I have done dumb things in the past, but I am an intelligent person with abilities I have never taken time to fully develop. I want to do better in the future and develop the ability to…..(put your own word in here).” Then subconsciously my brain takes charge of helping me reach my goal.

Before Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda, he asked what, on the surface, may seem to be a foolish question. He asked, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6b^NIV) Of course he wanted to get well!

Not necessarily. The man gave Jesus an excuse about why he couldn’t be healed, but he didn’t say he wanted to get well. Our brains know the difference between what we say we want and what we really want. Perhaps the man did not want to get well. Perhaps he was comfortable in his affliction and didn’t want to change. Jesus wanted to know, however, what he really wanted.

A few years ago a parishioner asked me to pray for him to quit smoking. I thought that would be good, so I agreed. A few weeks later he asked me to stop praying that he quit smoking. When I asked why, he said, “I think you need to pray I’ll want to quit smoking.” I realized this was genuine wisdom. I assumed he wanted to quit, but he had the maturity and insight to know he did not. He knew he would never be successful unless he really wanted to do so.

The brain is not a magician. It cannot snap my finger and make something happen overnight, but it is really good at helping me learn habits and behaviors that help me reach my goals. If I tell my brain what I want to accomplish, it helps me do it.

Years ago I cut a tendon in my right hand. Until it was repaired I could move my thumb right and left, but not up and down. Carol took me to the emergency room and the doctor reattached the two ends of the tendon and I eventually regained full use. As the doctor was working on my thumb I ask him, “Doctor, do you think I will be able to play the piano after this?”

He quickly answered, “Of course.”

To which I replied, “That’s wonderful because I couldn’t play before this happened.” I thought it was a good joke and appropriate for the occasion, but my surgeon was not amused.

My point is, the brain is not a miracle worker. It won’t help me do something I’m not suited for or be a replacement for skill development through practice. But it can be a great help.

I thank God for his healing power and I thank God for the medical profession, but I also thank God for innate abilities to heal and help ourselves through this magnificent organ we call the brain.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s “My View from Tanner Creek”.

    

Take Jesus to the Marketplace

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Recently I heard an advertisement that said, “We put our customers first because we don’t have shareholders.” Now I have nothing against privately owned businesses, but having stockholders should not mean we treat customers or clients any differently. Jesus Christ didn’t call we who are believers and followers of him to just come to church on Sunday morning. He called us to take our faith into the marketplace, the home, the school and neighborhood and anywhere else we go. If the Christian faith doesn’t work in the marketplace it isn’t worth having.

If we go somewhere that serving Christ is out of place, we need to quietly, but genuinely serve Christ whole-heartedly anyway and pray for opportunities to impact the situation with the love of God. Some of Jesus’ greatest criticism came from those who didn’t want him to associate with “sinners”, but he didn’t let that slow him down a bit. So we need to be in the marketplace, but it should influence how we do business and if our faith is real it will impact how we relate to all the people we meet.

Those businesses led by committed Christians or any other honest person are able to serve both clients and shareholders equally well. We don’t need to choose one over the other. If customers are served well, but the stockholders lose money the customers will lose in the long run. A business must be profitable if it is to survive and reasonable profits are not the least immoral or unchristian. The majority of those stockholders are probably not wealthy businessmen or women and most are not billionaires. They are just working people in all sorts of occupations who have invested their savings and/or their retirement income in a business. Most of them want the company to serve their clients well at a reasonable price so the company will be both long-lasting and profitable.

When Jesus was here in the flesh he never played one group against another, but was emphatic about all of us seeing the value of all people. He is still here today through his Spirit and he lives in the hearts and lives of billions of people who carry his Presence and his values into their daily lives. His message hasn’t changed—people matter! All people—rich and poor, educated and illiterate, red, yellow, black and white. We are all people to him and he loves us every one.

Wherever we go on Monday morning, whether into the kitchen or washroom to prepare food for the family or wash their clothes, or off to Wall Street type areas to run a public or private company, Jesus wants to go with us and work through us to impact the world with the love of God. He can only do that when we give him hands, feet, brains and skills to meet the needs of those around us. Whether we teach school (at home or in the schoolroom) run a business or purchase from one, he can impact the world through us in positive ways if we’ll genuinely give him our lives and follow his lead.

God loves clients and stockholders, as well as all other kinds of people, and thankfully he sent Jesus to save us all and Jesus sent his Spirit to live in us so we can be Jesus wherever we go.

Go! Be Jesus! Change the world for good!

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s “My View from Tanner Creek”.