Betrayal night had dropped a heavy mantle of darkness on the hills of Jerusalem, and Jesus, aware that this was his hour to glorify his Father, had been in prayer agony across brook Kidron in Gethsemane. Judas was in the temple area, fitting price to purpose. Suddenly the night air -- electrified by heavy footsteps and harsh voices; clattering swords and rattling sticks -- was a cacophony of mob sounds. The yellowish glow of the torches revealed black grimy bearded faces bent on violence. It must have been a little incongrous to see them stop silent while one of their number planted a kiss on the cheek of the passive face of omnipotence.
As the mob seized Lord Jesus, Peter's heart, like others, did a turnover...this couldn't happen. This must not happen. "Lord, shall we smite with the sword?" But, before Christ could answer, Peter had already taken affairs in hand. Whack...! Off flew Malchus' right ear! The high priest's servant. Peter missed cleaving Malchus' head right down the middle by about three inches. Peter meant business.
A Christian fighting religous battles with a sword...Peter? "Put up thy sword in thy sheath; for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (Matt. 26:52).
Jesus placed the ear back on the head just like a child mends her doll, while and uncomprehending but startled group of people looked on. What a manifestation of Glory!
As the company crossed the Kidron and went back over into Jerusalem that night, three people especially had things to ponder in their hearts...Peter, Malchus and Judas.
Judas just could not stand the remorse and he went out and hanged himself. The man he had death-kissed had put an ear back on...tenderly. Judas flunked the test of repentance and obedience.
Peter, having bumbled so badly, would ponder those words about fighting with swords and profit from having had his carnal nature so greviousy exposed to public eye. I, too, know what it is to have inner-most being stripped naked before public eye. I know a little of how he must have felt. Wonder what Peter did with that sword? Don't you know that sword was as big, heavy and cumbersome as a throbbing thumb? But still, Peter missed the lesson. He was not yet perfected. One more failure loomed large and close before him. He would deny his Lord.
But the man who must have had the most profound revelation was Malchus. In the name of religion, Malchus acting on orders of the high priest, had come out to help take Jesus prisoner. But instead of taking a prisoner, Malchus suffered the indignity of having an ear cut off. One flash of the fisherman's sword and Malchus could understand the full meaning of seeing his ear in the dust...but I wonder if he really understood what it was to have that ear stuck back on again, stitched by kind words and healed with tenderness. He had had an incounter with God and this would awaken to gratitude any but the insensate.
If Malchus became a Christian, did he quibble about a virgin birth? Or theorize about the "God is dead" kick? Or question how many of Jesus' commands demanded obedience? I rather think that he would have said, "Speak Lord, thy servant heareth."
+++Baxter Loe
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Untitled Letter (Wednesday, March 17, 1999)
*on Christian Relief Fund stationary
Ms. Katherine Ketchersid
9010 Briarcroft Ln. Apt. 101
Laurel, MD 20708
The last time I was in your home it was in Houston! What did you mean moving to Laurel, MD?
You sent money to my West Amarillo account which I depend upon for my salary. How about that? I humbly thank you for that gesture.
I get anxious to walk again. But so far God has not seen fit to make it possible. I would just as soon go on if it were possible. I suppose I am stuck in this situation for now.
Ruby Nell is about the same, however she is older than any woman I have lived with--she has turned 70. I am 74 years old.
The old Ketchersid farmhouse is re-habible, so Tony Denn's father's pronounced it. He has been in the homebuilding business longer than I have been alive.
All us heirs are going down there on our vacation's and re-hab it. We will have to start over. There is nothing but the well to start over.
R.N. visulaizes it with a screened-in back porch along the entire east side. And, remove the wall between the living room and the kitchen. And, remove the outside wall on the south end, and take the entire end and encorporate it in the remander of the building.
That is about it.
Your son-in-law,
Baxter Loe
Ms. Katherine Ketchersid
9010 Briarcroft Ln. Apt. 101
Laurel, MD 20708
The last time I was in your home it was in Houston! What did you mean moving to Laurel, MD?
You sent money to my West Amarillo account which I depend upon for my salary. How about that? I humbly thank you for that gesture.
I get anxious to walk again. But so far God has not seen fit to make it possible. I would just as soon go on if it were possible. I suppose I am stuck in this situation for now.
Ruby Nell is about the same, however she is older than any woman I have lived with--she has turned 70. I am 74 years old.
The old Ketchersid farmhouse is re-habible, so Tony Denn's father's pronounced it. He has been in the homebuilding business longer than I have been alive.
All us heirs are going down there on our vacation's and re-hab it. We will have to start over. There is nothing but the well to start over.
R.N. visulaizes it with a screened-in back porch along the entire east side. And, remove the wall between the living room and the kitchen. And, remove the outside wall on the south end, and take the entire end and encorporate it in the remander of the building.
That is about it.
Your son-in-law,
Baxter Loe
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Little Things Count (10/26/1980)
*formerly titled 'I WAS CONTEMPLATING SUICIDE'.
MINISTERING TO HUMAN NEED IS SUCH A REWARDING JOB: Yesterday I visited with a big black man whom I had not seen for several months. Many times I have urged him to worship with us at Forest Hill. Till now he has not but he and I are friends -more than friends we have a genuine affection for each other.
Yesterday, when I met him, he sat down to tell me, "Mr. Loe, I want to thank you again. I am ashamed to tell you, but that day when you asked me if you could help me, I was near suicide. I was so frightened and desperate that I could only think of getting out of it, but since that day, things have been getting better every day. I now have a savings account; my own home with a two-car garage and my family is happy. It would not have been so, if it were not for you. That kind of talk, whether it is true or not, really gets one's attention.
The deed he refers to is a letter--to Congressman Jack Hightower. I had asked the man if he would like for me to attempt to get him government a id for he has one lifeless arm and a crippled leg -for handling TV's . He said, "Yes, I have been trying for ten years, but I cannot get anywhere." He was obviously in need. So, off went a letter. We had a return on it in a week asking for more information. Inside of a month this man had been able to get food stamps, get enrolled in Amarillo College electronics school, and had been provided with a huge tool case full of tools--enough to make the best craftsman jealous. He would report to me, "I am at the head of my class." All he needed was an opportunity. He finished that electronics school to become a good TV technician. And yesterday he told me, "Mr. Loe, Five weeks ago I enrolled in radar electronics school. I will go for 6 years. I already have people asking me to work for them from as far away as San Diego. I can name my price when this is completed, and I owe it all to you."
I would like to take some glory about this, but do you know what my total effort was? Two letters. That's all. It would be so wonderful if more efforts paid dividends like that. BL
MINISTERING TO HUMAN NEED IS SUCH A REWARDING JOB: Yesterday I visited with a big black man whom I had not seen for several months. Many times I have urged him to worship with us at Forest Hill. Till now he has not but he and I are friends -more than friends we have a genuine affection for each other.
Yesterday, when I met him, he sat down to tell me, "Mr. Loe, I want to thank you again. I am ashamed to tell you, but that day when you asked me if you could help me, I was near suicide. I was so frightened and desperate that I could only think of getting out of it, but since that day, things have been getting better every day. I now have a savings account; my own home with a two-car garage and my family is happy. It would not have been so, if it were not for you. That kind of talk, whether it is true or not, really gets one's attention.
The deed he refers to is a letter--to Congressman Jack Hightower. I had asked the man if he would like for me to attempt to get him government a id for he has one lifeless arm and a crippled leg -for handling TV's . He said, "Yes, I have been trying for ten years, but I cannot get anywhere." He was obviously in need. So, off went a letter. We had a return on it in a week asking for more information. Inside of a month this man had been able to get food stamps, get enrolled in Amarillo College electronics school, and had been provided with a huge tool case full of tools--enough to make the best craftsman jealous. He would report to me, "I am at the head of my class." All he needed was an opportunity. He finished that electronics school to become a good TV technician. And yesterday he told me, "Mr. Loe, Five weeks ago I enrolled in radar electronics school. I will go for 6 years. I already have people asking me to work for them from as far away as San Diego. I can name my price when this is completed, and I owe it all to you."
I would like to take some glory about this, but do you know what my total effort was? Two letters. That's all. It would be so wonderful if more efforts paid dividends like that. BL
REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING (3/6/1982)
This gem of instruction came from a nursing supervisor to one of her nurses. The nurse came into the supervisor's office almost unable to unbend. "What's wrong?" "Than man in the room down the hall must weigh 300 lbs. Lifting him almost broke my back." To which the supervisor replied, "Honey, remember your training; it is not the weight of the burden but how you lift it that counts."
My, but how we need to remember this! Likely, most of us have had adequate teaching on how to carry our burdens, but we have to do our own training, for training is putting theory into practice. And if we have not attended to the training, then when heavy burdens come, we may falter under them.
It is difficult to remember our teaching if we skip the training til the time something crashes in on us. A death in the family, a rebel child, rejection by an employer, a checkbook suddenly found to be floating in red; these can really put us in a tailspin if we have not been practicing what we preach.
We have such wonderful heroes to imitate in courage! It was when enemies surrounded him like a pack of hungry wolves that David sat down and calmly composed those famous lines: "The lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."
When he could scarcely tell which enemy was worse, the one in the church or outside the church, Paul bent over his parchment and calmly dipped his quill: "Forgetting those things behind, I press forward to the mark."
Then night of nights when Jesus was in Gethsemane he prayed "Not my will, but thine." For 2000 years people have looked at how he bore burdens and became inspired. BL
My, but how we need to remember this! Likely, most of us have had adequate teaching on how to carry our burdens, but we have to do our own training, for training is putting theory into practice. And if we have not attended to the training, then when heavy burdens come, we may falter under them.
It is difficult to remember our teaching if we skip the training til the time something crashes in on us. A death in the family, a rebel child, rejection by an employer, a checkbook suddenly found to be floating in red; these can really put us in a tailspin if we have not been practicing what we preach.
We have such wonderful heroes to imitate in courage! It was when enemies surrounded him like a pack of hungry wolves that David sat down and calmly composed those famous lines: "The lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."
When he could scarcely tell which enemy was worse, the one in the church or outside the church, Paul bent over his parchment and calmly dipped his quill: "Forgetting those things behind, I press forward to the mark."
Then night of nights when Jesus was in Gethsemane he prayed "Not my will, but thine." For 2000 years people have looked at how he bore burdens and became inspired. BL
JEAN JAMESON - 1948-1982 (3/6/1982)
It is Wednesday morning, March 3, 1982. The bulletin that would have been has been scrapped. Jean was found dead in her bed this morning. As late as yesterday evening she had talked to her sister by phone and had responded to queries about her health with: "OH, I feel fine." But, she had told her moth last evening, "I think the end is very near." Bravely and cheerfully she had braved hodgkins and other forms of cancer for years. She was most ready to drop the curtain on this act.
Left to mourn her are her mother and sister and brothers and her step-father. Left also is her church family that had grown to love her.
This preacher watched her form leave her mother's home for the final time and felt an ultimate helplessness while his soul searched the deepest depths it could fathom for meaning, for appropriateness. Emotions too deep to express remained captured in a heavy mass of grief. Too heavy to move.
What shall I say, Oh my soul? Like the black marker on an electricity meeter turning, turning, turning: "What shall I say, OH my soul?"
Well! Goodness has diminished from the earth! The goodness of one woman. That's what!
From our midst goodness, mercy, faith, patience and love have diminished.
Therefore, the most fitting thing we can do today and tomorrow is to have a bit more good-ness in our lives. A bit more mercy, a bit more faithand patience and love. For her sake let us begin anew to embody those traits for her memory's sake.
BL
Left to mourn her are her mother and sister and brothers and her step-father. Left also is her church family that had grown to love her.
This preacher watched her form leave her mother's home for the final time and felt an ultimate helplessness while his soul searched the deepest depths it could fathom for meaning, for appropriateness. Emotions too deep to express remained captured in a heavy mass of grief. Too heavy to move.
What shall I say, Oh my soul? Like the black marker on an electricity meeter turning, turning, turning: "What shall I say, OH my soul?"
Well! Goodness has diminished from the earth! The goodness of one woman. That's what!
From our midst goodness, mercy, faith, patience and love have diminished.
Therefore, the most fitting thing we can do today and tomorrow is to have a bit more good-ness in our lives. A bit more mercy, a bit more faithand patience and love. For her sake let us begin anew to embody those traits for her memory's sake.
BL
HOW THE COWBOYS BECAME GREAT (9/14/1980)
In every season and in every game there are heart-stoppers while the game hinges on one play. BUT can you imagine what kind of team the Cowboys would be if they did not have to meet such players as the Rams and Redskins? They would never amount to much, and they would not thrill us.
Likewise can you imagine what Christianity would have been had it not been born in adversity. Suppose, for a moment that Christ was welcomed into every home in Israel. We would have missed those vivid scenes where his divinity showed. We would have had no back-drop against which to judge his wonder. The events that produced his grandest moments would have been denied us. We would be unable to affim him to be the Messiah.
Likewise, suppose Paul had been well received every-where he went? There would be no soul-stirring records of his mighty deeds to inspire us. And sustain us, and give us hope, for these records give us hope. Others had it said of them, "they were tortured, refusing to accept release; mocked, scourged, in chains and in prison. Stoned, sawn in two, killed with the sword, destitute, afflicted, ill treated...of whom this world was not worthy. With these we identify. From these we draw our strength. From these we gain our hope. Because our time, too, is not a bed of roses.
Creative living--creativity--is born out of adversity! It stems from thwarted impulse that has to achieve and perform in order to keep from turning cynical or revolutionary. Creativity flourishes when one meets with immoveable obstacles, and brings to the fight a passionate desire to achieve. It shines best when striving in dead heat; laboring to overcome; working with face flushed and heart a'flutter, and mind-birthing ideas. Creativity is born of tension,. There is no music to be had from a sagging string, but it has too be finely tensed. Likewise the human spirit. That's one reason for America's hope--we are tensed for action. So is the church! strive on!
bl
Likewise can you imagine what Christianity would have been had it not been born in adversity. Suppose, for a moment that Christ was welcomed into every home in Israel. We would have missed those vivid scenes where his divinity showed. We would have had no back-drop against which to judge his wonder. The events that produced his grandest moments would have been denied us. We would be unable to affim him to be the Messiah.
Likewise, suppose Paul had been well received every-where he went? There would be no soul-stirring records of his mighty deeds to inspire us. And sustain us, and give us hope, for these records give us hope. Others had it said of them, "they were tortured, refusing to accept release; mocked, scourged, in chains and in prison. Stoned, sawn in two, killed with the sword, destitute, afflicted, ill treated...of whom this world was not worthy. With these we identify. From these we draw our strength. From these we gain our hope. Because our time, too, is not a bed of roses.
Creative living--creativity--is born out of adversity! It stems from thwarted impulse that has to achieve and perform in order to keep from turning cynical or revolutionary. Creativity flourishes when one meets with immoveable obstacles, and brings to the fight a passionate desire to achieve. It shines best when striving in dead heat; laboring to overcome; working with face flushed and heart a'flutter, and mind-birthing ideas. Creativity is born of tension,. There is no music to be had from a sagging string, but it has too be finely tensed. Likewise the human spirit. That's one reason for America's hope--we are tensed for action. So is the church! strive on!
bl
Untitled (3/30/1980)
By gait; by size; by color; by smell
THE SHEPHERD KNOWS THE SHEEP. AND KNOWS HIM VERY WELL.
There were ninety and nine that safely lay,
In the shelter of the fold,
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold,
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender shepherd's care.
Ira Sankey
Sometimes the stories behind the famous hymns are as inspiring as the hymns themselves. Those famous lines were discovered by Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey as they were looking at a newspaper while riding a train between appointments. Sankey showed it to Moody who was unimpressed, but a few nights later Moody spopoke on the subject of the Good Shepherd. He turned to Sankey for music after his sermon and Sankey heard those words roaring through his head. Now was the time for such a song. Suddenly those strains that have some to mean so much to Christians everywhere, came to him, and he began to play. That must have been a night at the foot of the cross!
That beautiful hymn portrays beautifully the love and compassion of our lord. One cannot read those words or hear those strains without being reminded of that laden parable of the Ninety and Nine that comesto mind in Mat. 18:11-14. It tells us how important to Him every one of us is. Pity the wanderer who expects the shepherd to come with a chastening rod and raving, YOU FOOL! YOU INGRATE! YOU ARE NOT FIT! YOU ARE TOO DIRTY! It is at that time we need to review the parable of the lost sheep with them. BL
THE SHEPHERD KNOWS THE SHEEP. AND KNOWS HIM VERY WELL.
There were ninety and nine that safely lay,
In the shelter of the fold,
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold,
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender shepherd's care.
Ira Sankey
Sometimes the stories behind the famous hymns are as inspiring as the hymns themselves. Those famous lines were discovered by Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey as they were looking at a newspaper while riding a train between appointments. Sankey showed it to Moody who was unimpressed, but a few nights later Moody spopoke on the subject of the Good Shepherd. He turned to Sankey for music after his sermon and Sankey heard those words roaring through his head. Now was the time for such a song. Suddenly those strains that have some to mean so much to Christians everywhere, came to him, and he began to play. That must have been a night at the foot of the cross!
That beautiful hymn portrays beautifully the love and compassion of our lord. One cannot read those words or hear those strains without being reminded of that laden parable of the Ninety and Nine that comesto mind in Mat. 18:11-14. It tells us how important to Him every one of us is. Pity the wanderer who expects the shepherd to come with a chastening rod and raving, YOU FOOL! YOU INGRATE! YOU ARE NOT FIT! YOU ARE TOO DIRTY! It is at that time we need to review the parable of the lost sheep with them. BL
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)