The Lord is my Shepherd

Come and hear, all you who fear God, let me tell you what He has done for me (Ps. 66:16)

I woke up this morning with a vivid memory of the time I was almost kidnapped.  I don't know what triggered that memory this morning, but then I opened my meditation book to read the excerpt from Psalm 66 above.  And I realized that I needed to tell the story.

It was a beautiful spring morning.  I was 5 years old and not allowed to cross the street, so I was sitting on the sidewalk at the corner, watching children playing in the next block.  I can still recall the feel of the pavement under me and the soft breeze around me.  We lived on one of the only connecting streets between Airline Hwy and Metairie Road, so I was used to constant traffic on our street.  An old red pickup truck passed me and then braked about halfway down the next block.  I remember thinking that the driver must have wanted to turn at the corner where I was sitting.  Before the truck began to back up, I heard a commanding voice just above me and on my right hand side:  RUN, GAYLE, RUN!!  

At the time, I had never heard anything about kidnapping.  I'm quite sure the word was not in my vocabulary.  But the Voice that spoke to me was not to be questioned or ignored.  I was not really afraid, but just obeying the Voice.   I got up and started running for home, hearing the truck backing up and stopping at the corner.  There were only 3 houses on our block, so I was at the second house when I heard one of the men say, "Get her, Joe."  Then I was afraid, but when I turned up the driveway to my house, the two men turned back to their truck.  I ran in the back door, screaming, and wrapped my arms around my mom's legs. 

When I could tell her what happened, she called the police, but there was little I could tell them other than the red truck.  A few days later, I asked my mom whose voice has spoken to me.  She told me that it was my guardian angel, the first I had ever heard about a guardian angel.  But when I started school the next September, there was a very large painting in my first-grade classroom of an angel shepherding two small children across a narrow bridge -- and I knew then what a "guardian angel" did.

I have often wondered why I was preserved that day, when so many children have suffered kidnapping and harm.  But I have never forgotten or taken for granted the Voice and the Angel that saved my life. 

The Divine Energy

C. S. Lewis once wrote, "If we want to possess the Divine Energy, we must get very close to, or even into, the thing that has it." (I am quoting him from memory, so I may not have the exact wording here, but it's close enough.)

The church-- the gathering of those who have "put on" Christ Jesus--- was born on Pentecost, with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.  From them, the energy spread to 3000 people who heard their words that day.  And from that 3000, that energy was carried to the ends of the earth, reaching down 2000 + years even to us today.

Being a Christian means "putting on Jesus."  It does not mean striving to be holy or perfect, but rather allowing His energy to permeate our lives and penetrate our thoughts in everything we do.  Paul tells us that we "have the mind of Christ."  In order to have the attitude, or mindset, of Christ, we must have His Spirit influencing our minds, as well as our bodies: just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man (Adam), so let us bear the likeness of the man from heaven (Jesus) (1 Cor. 15:49).

The book of Galatians tells us that "all who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ." Now, if we have been "clothed" with Christ, His Spirit animates us in thought, word, and deed.  It is not that we have suddenly become perfect; but rather, that the Spirit of Christ continues to work in us until He has made us perfect.  Much has to be destroyed in the process, for at one time, we were all subject to the "ways of this world and to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient" (Ephesians 2:1).

In other words, either we are living by the energy of Christ at work in us or we continue to live by the energy that animates the world around us.  The energy unleashed at Pentecost transformed the world for all time; it can transform us as well.  The book of Ephesians (3:20) contains a sentence that should encourage us daily:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

If we imagine that somehow "we" have to "do" Christianity, we are hopelessly lost and incompetent.  That is the meaning of saying we are sinners -- we have not within ourselves the least capacity to reach God.  But He has seen our helplessness and sent His Son into our hearts to do the impossible.  He has raised us in Him from dead works to joyful living.  C.S. Lewis is exactly right -- if we want the energy of God, we must get near to, or even into, the thing that has it -- Jesus Christ.

Another Advocate

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate/Counselor to be with you forever---the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you (Jn. 14:16-17).

This takes my breath away ---  "another" Advocate?  Who is the first Advocate/ Counselor/ Helper? 

Were I to ask the question, I would know the answer immediately.  "Have I been with you so long, and you do not still know Me?"  

Jesus is, has been from the beginning, our Advocate, our Counselor, our Helper.  He came not to judge us, but to save us from ourselves, from the enemies that overwhelm us --- the world, the flesh, and the devil.  And now, He has gone back to heaven, but He has not left us orphans, without help.  He has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, as Advocate, as Helper, as Counselor.  

He speaks in us and for us --- and yet, we seldom trust His Voice in us.  We think we are speaking for ourselves and to ourselves.  We shrug off His help in us because we cannot believe that God would be speaking to us.  After all, we aren't on "that close" a  communication line with Him.  If only we knew!  He longs to speak with us daily, even momentarily.  But our ears are stopped by unbelief!

What if we could believe for a moment, for a day, that the Advocate is here, and that He wants -- in fact, IS, speaking in our hearts, in our minds?  Would we not worry less? put down our mental burdens? and begin to enjoy the days, the weeks, the years we have left?  Would we not laugh more, secure that we are safe? that we are being taken care of?  that we can let go and let God?

We have "another" Advocate.  I do not have to fear the world around me, the people around me, for I have a Protector, an Advisor, a Helper living within me -- and His Voice, His Power, is greater than anything there is to fear or worry about!  I can speak with Him freely, as someone speaks to a friend who will not judge or condemn, but only support and comfort.  In fact, that is His first name -- the Comforter!  and "Com/fort" means "with strength!"  

Could God give us anything greater?  Jesus referred to the Advocate as "the Gift of the Father."  How much I long for everyone I know to walk moment by moment with and in this greatest of all Gifts!

The Great Gathering

In the opening chapter of the Gospel of John, John the Baptist identifies himself as the "voice of one calling:  In the desert prepare the way of the Lord; make  straight in the wilderness a highway for our God."

Few of us realize that this, the second part of the book of Isaiah, was spoken to the Jewish captives in Babylon (540BC).  This part of Isaiah is called the "Book of Consolation," as the second Isaiah was promising the captives return to their homeland of Israel.

All through the prophetic books, the expectation was the Messiah, when he came, would gather in the lost and forsaken, those who had been scattered, taken captive, and exiled from their homeland.  He would reunite the lost tribes of Israel. So, when John the Baptist quotes Isaiah here, he is identifying Jesus as the One Who would gather back those who had wondered away from the Father.  In fact, the same chapter of Isaiah (40) speaks of the Shepherd who "gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart..."

In many images of the resurrection, Jesus is pictured emerging from the tomb with a tall banner, the kind armies traditionally carry in battle.  Once the troops are scattered on the battlefield, they know to search for their banner -- the one with the distinctive mark of their regiment -- to find their way "home."  Jesus, overcoming the enemies of God and the forces that scatter us to the ends of the earth, including death, now carries the banner that calls us back together.

The older I get, the more I begin to feel the longing of Jesus to "gather us in" to the heart of the Father.  The night before He died, He said, "Now this is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (Jn. 17:3).  And He says that He has been given authority over all people "that he might give eternal life" to all those he has been given.

More and more, when I come to pray, I find myself opening my arms and my heart to gather in all those who do not know the love of the Father, given to us in Jesus.  I pray for my children, for my brothers and sisters, all the next generation, for my friends, for the members of my church, for my neighbors, for the Jehovah's Witnesses who come to my door, and for all my former students.  I just want them to know intimately the God Who has been my God all the days of my life.  I want them to know Jesus Christ, that He might lead them to the Father.  And I want them to recognize the action of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

There is nothing greater in this life than intimacy with God; there is nothing that can compare to walking in His Presence daily.  If I could, I would scatter this richness to everyone I know.

Ordinary People

Been thinking about the saints lately.  And then I found a long email from one of them.

Back in 2001, I was heading a committee at the college to change the method of faculty evaluation.  Purportedly, faculty evaluation existed for the purpose of "improving instruction" and for rewarding those teachers who did just that.  Realistically, however, the system did not achieve its purpose.  Rather, supervisors had in mind a bell curve -- a few superior teachers at the top, a few poor ones at the bottom, with a middle curve of so-so/ mediocre teachers at the bottom.  And they wanted to distribute merit pay along the lines of the bell curve.

The effect of this system was that the good teachers got better; the poor ones got worse, and the ones in the middle argued that they too deserved an "outstanding" evaluation because they too had accumulated the required points in the system.  In the meantime, no one really was looking at the improvement of instruction.

Then an article appeared in the local newspapers about a book by Tom Coens:  Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire and What to do Instead.  I have found that the Providence of God always provides exactly what we need when we need it, like manna in the desert.  Reading Tom's book was an answer to an almost unsolvable dilemma -- how to change the culture of performance evaluations and the mindset that "evaluating" people would actually make a difference to the students.

I wrote to Tom Coens, who had spent more than 30 years working in human resources, quality management, and labor law.  I explained the mindset I was facing at the college and the struggle we had to actually use faculty evaluation to improve instruction.  I thought maybe he could suggest a speaker who would persuade the college to take another look at the way they were doing evaluation. I could offer only 3000 dollars to a speaker, which would have to cover travel expenses -- plane fare, hotel, cabs, food, etc.  The honorarium worked well for local speakers, or for those in education, who were used to subsidizing their salaries with speaking engagements, but those at the top level of management were used to drawing much higher fees for speaking.

To my surprise and shock, Tom wrote back to say that he himself would come to the college, and that he would bring his wife.  I was amazed that this man would extend himself to a small community college, and take on not only the faculty at large, but the administrators, who had been looking with some distaste on the direction in which our committee had been heading.  When he came, he spent two full days addressing the leadership of the college, answering their questions and addressing their concerns, in addition to a morning address to the college at large, along with afternoon workshops.

I was stunned by this outright gift from heaven.  His presence, knowledge, and experience gave my small committee the weight it needed to move forward with a whole new concept of faculty evaluation -- changing the culture of the college for the better, I felt.  At the end of two days, Tom was exhausted, but he and his wife met me and my husband for dinner before I took them to the airport.  I felt I was in the presence of holiness -- someone whose whole life was dedicated to the good of others at the level of management, where it could make a difference.  We had a wonderful evening, which ended in his inscribing my book.

A few months later, I received an email from Tom, telling me that he was battling stomach cancer.  After explaining his treatment, Tom wrote:

I have lots to do, and will fight, with God's Grace, meaning that I accept His Will at a comfortable level regardless-- I do want some more quality time with my children and grandchildren and my work, my mission....but I must see how this plays into the bigger scheme of things, all in God's hands.  The Gospel this week was about Jesus out on the water calling Peter out and Peter losing faith starting to sink.  I keep thinking about that and me in this situation.  

Tom died a few months later, leaving me a profound sense of loss that the world had lost a great saint, and a profound sense of gratitude that God had sent him to me in my hour of need.

We have all encountered "ordinary" people like Tom who were/are extraordinary in their union with Jesus Christ, and who allow Jesus to work through them to save the world from itself.  Deo Gratias!