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”.

    

A Prayer We Don’t Expect to be Answered

By Rick Blumenberg  / @rickblumenberg

There is, it seems, one prayer Jesus taught us to pray that we Christians don’t expect God to answer. We are to pray to our heavenly Father “Your kingdom come, your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.” However, very few Christians really believe the time will ever come on earth when God’s kingdom will come as it is in heaven. We seem to expect the world to get worse and worse instead of better and better, which is what we should expect if God’s will is done.

The prayer Jesus taught us to pray has always been God’s plan for the world. The best Old Testament description of this prophecy is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34 where God spoke of the new covenant he would make when Jesus would come. We read in verse 34, “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Apparently God expects a time to come when everyone on earth will love and serve him. Apparently too, Jesus is calling on us to help bring this about through our prayers.

How often do we pray in faith for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done here on earth? When we pray the “Lord’s Prayer” do we really think about what we’re asking for and do we pray in faith that it will be answered?

I think our pessimism about the future of Christianity may come from a misunderstanding of Jesus’ statements quoted in Matthew 24:7-9 and Mark 13:7-9. I believe Jesus was talking about the early days of Christianity, not the last days, as these verses are usually interpreted. He was bracing his disciples for the fact that following him would not be easy. And sometimes it will be exceedingly difficult. What did Jesus mean when, after mentioning these things, he said, “these are the beginnings of birth pangs”. Could he have meant, when this happens to you remember, you are birthing a new world order and births come with great pain. Satan and the then current world order did not want the new era to be born and resisted it with ferocity. Resistance is still very real. Persecution is happening in many places of the world, but this is not the end. God is still on his throne. On the other hand, we know when it is finished, giving birth brings great joy.

Our task, as followers of Christ, is to do what he told us to do—pray in God’s Kingdom! As we pray, of course we must work, but we are confused if we think the work is more important than prayer. We live now in the “greater works” time Jesus spoke about. Greater works than the miracles Jesus did? Absolutely! Jesus still lives and is still working, but in a much greater area through his Holy Spirit. He continues to do the works of God with great power. But he set the world up to operate on our prayers and our faith. He counts on us to pray in God’s Kingdom!

Here is the really tough question: Would Jesus teach us to pray a prayer he knew would never be answered? I don’t think so!

This was an assignment for all Christians—to pray faithfully for God’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus gave us the assignment and the method to bring it about—prayer. If we use God’s method we can pray in God’s Kingdom! Do you want to know what happens when we don’t use God’s method? Just look around and see for yourself. Alright then, now that we know let’s do it!

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

    

If I Become your Pastor… We will follow Jesus

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Recently I preached to the congregation I serve as Interim Pastor about how things will go if I become their permanent pastor. That was only a possibility, but if they considered this I wanted them to know what they are getting into. I thought perhaps what I have to say would be helpful to my blog readers, so my theme for today is “If I become your pastor….we will follow Jesus.

My point is that a pastor is always an “under-shepherd” rather than the primary shepherd. Jesus is the head of the church. Any organization that does not have Jesus as the primary leader may be a good and beneficial organization, but it is not the church. My task, and I believe the task of every pastor, is to help our congregations learn better how to follow Jesus.

It is really a simple and clear guideline, but the implications are earth-shaking. Living out that goal is the most difficult and most satisfying task of our lives. As long as we try to do it pastor and church will be in a learning mode. We’ll never learn it all. God always has new and beautiful things to teach us and sometimes painful lessons to learn and difficult applications we must carry out. I could write a book on the subject if I was smart enough, but for today, it will be a simple blog post.

Here are my basic points as I completed the thought.

We, as a church, will do everything God tells us to do (John 3:33-35)

We never ask can we do/afford this. We only ask…“What is God’s will in this situation?” After we ask, we pray. Individually, corporately, we pray, and continue to ask, “God, what is your will in this situation? After we pray, we vote and the majority rules. It’s not a perfect system. In almost every church some who vote never pray or seek God’s direction and because we’re human sometimes even when we seek God’s will we fail to understand or follow. Not perfect, but the best way I know.

We lead our personal lives with Jesus Christ as Lord

No saint on Sunday, Sinner on Monday-Saturday business—every day is God’s day. All of life belongs to him and everything we own belongs to God. We are mere stewards. What is most important to God must become most important to us. Our goal is that “God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Just as fully, unhesitatingly, joyfully, as it’s done in heaven. Not just in the church, but also in our personal lives! Now we are human and sometimes we will fail. When we do, thankfully, God forgives.

We tithe our income to God (See Malachi 3:6-12)

We stop robbing God and begin to really trust. If we don’t love and trust God with our finances, we don’t really love and/or trust him. Our church doesn’t have enough income to survive. We’re dying financially! One reason we’re dying is because we’re robbing God. If I become your pastor, we must begin to tithe our income. It’s important to note, this scripture is for all; individuals, families, churches.

You’re not going to believe this, but after I preached this sermon the church voted unanimously for me to become their pastor instead of merely an interim. This may be the only place in scripture where God says “test me in this”. He goes on to say, thru the prophet Malachi, “see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (v. 10)

This tiny congregation doesn’t have enough income for the minimum bills necessary to keep the doors open. It doesn’t make sense to give away ten percent when we are in such bad shape…unless God is real and alive and at work in our world today. If that is true (and I know it is) we can trust him.

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

    

Signs of the Times. . .In the Christian Life

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem astride a donkey that Sunday before his death and resurrection, he entered a city filled with the Passover crowds. This was soon after he raised Lazarus, and the story was known in the city because Jews from Jerusalem were present when Lazarus came out of the tomb.

When you put all the parts together, the huge Passover crowds, the lengthy Roman oppression and the long-held faith in a coming deliverer—God's Messiah, and add the raising of Lazarus you have all the ingredients for a mob.

Jesus knew the mob would be there and he would have no opportunity to speak to the crowd and tell them his real intentions, so he spoke to them with a sign. He Painted a Picture with His Actions

Zechariah prophesied of the Messiah, “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday, he deliberately gave a sign he was the long-awaited Messiah. The donkey meant He would be a King of Peace. Some wanted a Messianic Warrior to battle Rome. Were this Jesus’ intentions he would ride into town on a stallion war horse, but Jesus rode a donkey and although His voice could not be heard, this sign is recognizable yet today.

He did not come to war against Rome, or to set up an earthly political kingdom. He came to be the King of Peace and to establish a rule of love in the hearts of His people!

There Are Times When Actions Speak Louder Than Words!

Symbols are forceful impressions. Jesus spoke of the “signs of the times”.  This triumphant ride into Jerusalem was a sign of the times.  Never before had Jesus claimed to be the Messiah in this unique way and never since. No one before and no one since has had the right to ride into any city in the world and through this symbolic action call himself the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God.

Jesus knew our need for signs of important life events. As on Palm Sunday, he gave symbols to guide us. These symbols, or ordinances, are the Signs of the times in the Christian's life.

The first Sign of the times in a Christian's life is a testimony that a radical change has come. This change really makes a difference! It changes the outlook, the ambitions, the habits, and the desires. It changes the person so dramatically it is best described as being born all over again. The change is so great we become new people.

This is not turning over a new leaf.  It happens only when we confess our sin, repent, and accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. At his call, we die to selfishness and come alive to Christ—like a grain of wheat that falls to the earth and dies, but gives birth to a head of many grains. The first sign of the times in the Christian life is

Baptism—the Sign of a Radical Change

It says the old selfishness is dead and gives evidence to a new kind of life in Christ. Going into the baptism water represents death to sin and burial of the old life. Coming out of the water shows we are raised to new life in Christ.  The sin is left symbolically behind, because it no longer has power over us because the old life of sin has already been left behind in our salvation. But the change must be real for the symbol to be meaningful!

If Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem that day without actually being the Messiah, he would have faded from the pages of history as an obscure and unremembered fool. The symbolic act during the triumphant ride into Jerusalem has meaning today, because,

Jesus is who He claimed to be, the King of Peace, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

In the same way, the symbolic act of Baptism is meaningless and empty unless it is evidence of a real change from the selfishness of sin--to the righteousness of Christ!

Another sign in the Christian's Life is

Communion, or the Lord's Supper— The Sign of Fellowship

The world is no place to face alone.  We need the presence of a living God and we need the fellowship, love, and concern of a caring family to lift us when we are discouraged, to share joy in our happiness, and our sorrow in tragedy. We need to know we are loved by the Father and by the family regardless of our worthiness or unworthiness.

In Communion, we symbolize communion with God and fellowship with the Saints.  Jesus said,

“as often as you do it, do it in remembrance of me."

The bread of Communion symbolizes the mutilated body of the Lord Jesus destroyed by our sin. The cup represents the blood of the Lord Jesus shed because of our sin. We must be careful, however, that the Lord's Supper does not become a memorial service for a dead Jesus.

Remember not only his persecution, bleeding, and dying— but especially remember his resurrection, and eternal Presence in the world, in the lives of individual saints, and in the Church.

Communion however, like Baptism, is only symbolic, with meaning only if we actually are in communion with God and in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ and in the world. Through the Lord's Supper, or Communion, we sit at the Lord's Table—a sign of fellowship with Him and with Christians around the globe.

The third sign in the Christian Life is

Foot-washing— The Sign of Christian Service

Jesus said he came "not to be ministered to, but to minister". If we do the Lord's work, we too, must serve. In washing the disciples’ feet Jesus broke every law of custom and tradition.  Foot-washing was common with the dirt roads and daily walks, but it was done personally, or by a servant, never by a free-man, and certainly not by a Rabbi or teacher. By Jewish custom, Jesus could not ask his disciples to wash his feet—yet, He washed theirs!  And he said, "If I your Lord and master have washed your feet, you then, ought to wash one another's feet." (John 13:14)

In the Church of God, where I am a minister, we practice foot-washing as an ordinance because of what Jesus did and said. But in this too, the power of the symbol is in what it represents. The foot-washing symbol is meaningless if we are not willing in everyday life to do the most menial tasks for those in need.

When we try to live the Christian life and not make Christ Lord of our lives, it doesn't make sense. Christianity is Jesus Christ— alive, redeeming His people, living in His people, working and serving through His people. In the same way, if these three symbolic acts, baptism, communion, and foot-washing, have meaning they must symbolize real life experiences of repentance to God and forgiveness of sin, communion with God and with the saints, and service for God by serving those in need.

These are the signs of the times in the Christian Life. Just as Palm Sunday is the sign of the true Messiah, Jesus! Just so baptism is the sign of a radical change, communion is the sign of an inclusive fellowship, and foot-washing is the sign of Servant Leadership.

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