Peace

Peace.  Certainly singable, it is also generally agreeable that, as Jackie Shannon sang in 1965: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” But a necessary precursor to love is peace. Love could walk up to our door and knock, but it is peace who opens the lock and welcomes love inside. However, real peace and genuine love are in short supply on earth. What the world has now is hate, bitter hate. The wars that exist in various places are merely the inevitable ramifications of hate-filled hearts. “Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!” (Psa. 120:6-7).

At best, peace is elusive. It appears here or there in pockets, but it is rarely a constant companion if peace is defined as warlessness. Even the famous Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, that covered the ancient Mediterranean World from 27 BC to 180 AD was enforced by the unrivaled Roman Army who, on their extensive road system, could travel anywhere in a few days, squashing mercilessly any whiff of uprising. Is that peace? It seems like thuggery.

Biblically speaking, peace is not the cessation of hostilities but the relational and spiritual harmony with God, self, others, and even the created world. Peace is a Person. “For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (Eph 2:14-17). It is Christ who brings to earth the peace from God (Eph. 1:2), who makes peace with God (Rom. 5:1), who offers the peace of God which passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7), because he is the God of Peace (Phil. 4:9).

Everyone's Got a Plan

Everyone’s Got a Plan.  “Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the face” (Mike Tyson). I had a plan for this year, sort of a lighthearted resolution, but I got punched in the face. This was the year to dust off my good camera and carry it with me, resuming my interest in amateur photography. Many things last year made me regret not always having my good camera with me, like many unexpected Americana landscapes across all four seasons of the year, lovely old barns, wildlife, and still shots of the “sound of freedom” near the end of the runway of the 4th Fighter Wing.

Alas, I didn’t have my good camera as I drove to church this morning. For the first time in my life, I saw a bald eagle finishing his breakfast barely 15 feet off the road. He was impossible to miss, but I missed my chance. My dinky camera phone was inadequate, even though I turned around and pulled over. Opportunity lost: the blurry eagle image looked like a large chicken.

So, I’m starting off 2025 with photographic regret. But what will I do with this self-inflicted punch in the face? Will I freeze, quit, or adapt? Regret can be a huge motivator! I will adapt, optimistically, that my next fifty years will see another bald eagle in the wild, 15 feet away. Have you already broken a New Year’s resolution, too? Were you caught unready for the opportunity? Will you consume the rest of the cake because you already ate one piece too many? Will you crumple up your plan because you got punched in the face? No! The point of the plan is not to attain perfection but to retain pliability to variables outside the plan.

A plan without flexibility is rigid; it has a glass jaw to continue with the boxing phraseology. Or, as Solomon in Proverbs 16:9 wrote: “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps,” which sounds a lot like the Yiddish saying, “Man plans and God laughs.” A wooden translation of the biblical proverb shows its agility: The heart of man himself reckons his road, but the Lord fixes his life-course. God grants genuine though limited agency to us to “live, move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28b), but we do not exist in an open system absolutely. We are contained “in him” (Acts 17:28a). Based on the available data, wise and capable humans should make their plans, but it is the Lord who steers their paths according to his grand purpose, even when they get punched in the face. Punches do not surprise God!

Making a plan is neither wrong nor unwise, but worshiping a plan is both. In life, we should carefully navigate the landmarks and negotiate the terrain with advanced thought. But by faith, we understand that God moves or removes the whole map according to his good pleasure. God does not mock our plan, though he holds every right to mock our belief in it when it eclipses his sovereignty. That is why, whichever plans we might activate, it must be our primary purpose to know God as we are known by him, and to make him known by others.

Happy New Year

Psalm 90:1-17 – A Prayer of Moses, the man of God 

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 

3 You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!" 

4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. 

5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 

6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. 

7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. 

8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 

10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. 

11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 

12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. 

13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! 

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 

16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!