Month: December 2019

The other morning, one of my employees delivered several cases to me and as she turned to leave my office, she hesitated and asked me, “Why don’t you wear your glasses when you are looking at your microscope? Don’t you need them to see?”

 

“Good question!” I replied. “When I first began my pathology training, many years ago, I had contact lenses. I was used to placing my eyes very close to the microscope eyepieces. However, a few years ago, I needed to wear glasses for reading and distance. When I attempted to use the microscope, I found the glasses separated my eyes from the microscope objectives. It was only a few millimeters but that distance bothered me so much that it hindered my diagnostic ability. So, I continued to use my microscope without my glasses. I can see because I adjust the microscope focus to compensate for my weak eyes.”

 

I reflected upon my explanation. It is only a few millimeters but this distance prevents me from performing my job with peak efficiency. Sometimes close is not close enough. What about my spiritual relationship with God? The Bible has numerous comforting verses about the nearness and closeness of God to the seeking believer. How does one get close to the Creator of the entire universe?

 

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…

James 4:8 (ESV)

 

If we seek God’s presence and blessings, all we need to do is draw near to Him. How do we do this? If we confess and repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will immediately be filled with the presence of God, the Holy Spirit. If we allow the Holy Spirit to work within our lives, God will draw near. God is always close to us and we should seek to always be in His presence because this is why we were created.

 

With God, close is never close enough!

 

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

 

There it was again!

 

In his curio cabinet were wooden, crystal and ceramic pineapples. On the bookshelf, on an end table, and framing a mirror-pineapples! The covers on the light switch and the doorbell had a pineapple design. Even the necktie he was wearing had a pineapple design!

 

I was being welcomed into the home of my wife’s godparents. My wife did a portion of her dental training in a city in the eastern United States and upon arriving there, met an older couple, also from the Philippines. They immediately bonded and graciously adopted my wife as their own daughter, looking after her and becoming her surrogate family. Now, many years later, I was being introduced to this loving couple to whom we affectionately referred to as Tito Jake and Tita Sally.

 

“Tito Jake!” I exclaimed. “Why so many pineapples?”

 

“When I first arrived in the United States, I was teased a lot. People would call me all kinds of names but the one that most people called me was Pineapple! They thought I was from Hawaii even though I was from the Philippines. ‘Hey Pineapple!’ they would say. At first, I was upset but then I looked it up. Pineapples are the symbol of hospitality. So I thought, why not? I welcomed others calling me that and I began to make the pineapple my own. I decorated our home and my office with pineapples. If someone called me ‘Pineapple’ I said, “Thank you!’ “

 

Tito Jake was able to take a racist slur that was directed at him, turn it, and make it a positive statement about himself. I admired his ingenuity and willingness to roll with the ugliness that life sometimes presents to us. I don’t know if I could have done the same. For many years, I struggled with racial slurs that were hurled at me. I attempted to ignore or laugh them off but the experiences would always return. Sure, sticks and stones, but names do sometimes hurt, even more than physical attacks. 

 

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.

Ephesians 2:14 (NLT)

Accepting and following Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the highest standard of ethical and moral behavior that anyone can attain on this earth. In Jesus Christ, there are no races, cultures, nations, or even pineapples. Why should we bother with such labels? We are all united through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is His power over life and death that allows us to overcome racial prejudices and begin to heal centuries of hostility that have separated many groups of people. Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior for every person on this earth. All of mankind finds its unity in Him.

 

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

 

I was viewing a dramatic series chronicling the adventures of a master spy. The show was depicting a flashback to an earlier time in the spy’s life when he was living in New York City. As the scene shifted to a grainy view of the Big Apple from the 1990s, my heart was pained as the camera panned the familiar skyline of Manhattan. There it was, the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center, standing in its glory, the tallest building in the world, at that time.

 

Like a generation earlier for those who witnessed or heard of President Kennedy’s assassination, I remember the exact moment I saw and witnessed the hijacked jet planes crash into the towers on September 11, 2001. I also remember the collapse of both towers, compounding the tragedy. For days, I was devastated and joined millions in this nation and around the world who mourned our collective losses. Even to this day, on every 9/11, it is impossible for me to not remember with great sadness, the tragic events of the day. 

 

Today, on a portion of the site where the Twin Towers once stood, there is a memorial and museum, a solemn tribute to the thousands of people who perished on that horrific day. For those who had seen the Twin Towers in its former glory, visiting the memorial is bittersweet. The image of the original magnificent towers is burned within the memories of so many and it would never be seen again. Yet, from the ashes of that horror, hope arises that a better world, one marked by peace and cooperation may someday prevail.

 

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Ezra 3:12-13 (ESV)

 

I can imagine the mixed feelings the Israelites had when they witnessed the new temple being built. This older generation had witnessed many of their family members and fellow priests slaughtered by their Babylonian conquerors, over 70 years earlier. They witnessed the destruction of a temple that King Solomon had built hundreds of years earlier, a temple that was a testimony to the greatness of God and Israel. They wept loudly for the grandeur of the former temple and their loss. Yet a new generation was also filled with hope for a better future and they shouted for joy.

 

This is the lesson that the tragedies of life teach us. Once gone, we should never forget the glories of our past, but we do not dwell upon these losses. Our hope is in God who always directs us to a greater and more glorious future. Only in God do we have hope that surpasses all understanding.

 

God is holding each of us-tenderly, so that we may cry; firmly, so that we do not despair.

 

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.