Who Remembers Mary?

For millions of people around the world the most important news of the first months of 1980 was not the Polish Revolution.....the American hostages in Iran.....the catastrophic earthquakes in Turkey and other places....the Iraq-Iran war.....or even the American presidential elections. In fact, the number 1 topic, all the way from Auckland to Amsterdam, Philadelphia to Zaire, wasn’t anything real at all. It happened in America on March 21st 1980, and it was the simulated shooting of a rapacious and rich Texas oil baron at the hands of his low-life mistress, his wife’s sister, in a then popular American TV Series, called Dallas.

Mary Crosby was the actress who played Kristen Shephard, the character who shot the series leading man, JR Ewing. Mary is the youngest child of actor/singer Bing Crosby and his second wife Kathryn Grant, and for a short time in the late 1970’s and early 80’s she was the “talk of the town” Since her brief flirtation with fame, she has made a few movies and guest appearances on largely forgettable TV shows, like “The Love Boat” and “Beverly Hills 90210”  

Mary discovered what so many others have discovered…that fame is fleeting. It was C.S. Lewis who wrote, “The personal triumph of an athlete or a girl at a ball is transitory: the point is to remember that an empire or a civilization is also transitory. All achievements and triumphs, in so far as they are this-worldly achievements and triumphs, will come to nothing in the end. Most scientists here join hands with theologians; the earth will not always be inhabitable. Mankind, though longer lived than man, is equally mortal. The difference is that whereas the scientists expect only a slow decay from within, we reckon with a sudden interruption from without-at any moment.” 1

For a short period Mary Crosby was a cult figure, she was hero worshipped by many, elevated to an artificial status, but as she herself has said, now she is just a trivia question. The utter silliness of her
position was lost to all who her placed her on a pedestal, and the false worship of her make-believe character was ultimately doomed to go the way of all flesh…into oblivion.

The Apostle John expressed that eventual futility this way… “Because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. John 2:16-17

The Message Bible puts those verses this way… “Practically everything that goes on in the world--wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important--has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out--but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”

Isaiah, inspired by Holy Spirit, wrote of a far better option than fleeting fame and notoriety…. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you weigh silver for what is not bread? And toil for what never satisfies? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.  Isaiah 55:1-2

… Why does mankind feel so empty in the 21^st century when, in more than any other age, we have succeeded in satisfying all our needs and making over the world for our own use?

Why? Because we have failed to satisfy our real needs, we have, in the words of Isaiah… “Toiled for what never satisfies” We have spent our energy on that which will never satisfy, on that which is ultimately, empty.

There is no contest; fleeting fame, or eternal life… “I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live, so that you may love Jehovah your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them.”  Deuteronomy 30:19-20

  

1 C.S. Lewis, Earth’s Last Night and Other Essays.

 

As Quiet As the Grave

I once explored an old, worked out gold mine. It was an unnerving experience; it was so dark that when I turned my torch off, I could not see my hand, even when it was touching my nose. There was however something more unsettling than the darkness; the silence in this man-made crypt, deep underground, was eerie. This was not so much silence; rather it was, when I stood still, the total absence of sound… any sound!

This overwhelming silence penetrated my very soul, and even the slightest sound I made was almost deafening. The sound of my boots crunching on the stony floor of the mine reverberated and echoed off the walls of my temporary tomb, leaving me acutely aware of my isolation. When I eventually made my way outside into the bright sunshine, it took me several minutes to become accustomed to the normal sounds of the countryside.   

There is, however, an even more disconcerting silence, a silence that I have experienced numerous times. The silence of God!

There have been seasons in my life when I have cried out for God to answer my prayers, and He appears to have failed to have heard them, or at least His silence would suggest so….

I have spent endless hours asking Him for some kind of answer … and nothing!

No response! No answer! Absolutely nothing… other than silence.

I have, at times, felt so let down … so hurt that I have prayed similar prayers to those that David prayed.

I will cry to You, O Jehovah; my Rock, do not be deaf to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my prayers, when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your Holy Place. Psalm 28:1-2 NIV

Long ago I came to the initially disturbing conclusion that not all prayers are answered; now I understand at least some reasons for many prayers not being answered. I take comfort in knowing that I am not alone, others too have wrestled with unanswered prayers.

Moses begged God to let him lead his people into the Promised Land. Moses died on Nebo’s peak, his request seemingly ignored. Paul prayed three times for the removal of that “thorn in the flesh.” However, he was compelled to make the best of it for the rest of his life … God did not answer those prayers!

Even Jesus himself in the garden cried out for release from the cross. Instead, he had to suffer the pain of it.

Someone once said, “Non-Christians don’t pray, because they are afraid God will answer them. Christians don’t pray, because they are afraid God will not answer them.”

In one of those paradoxes that we encounter in Christianity from time-to-time, we know that the Bible tells us that God answers prayer, but experience also tells us that sometimes He doesn’t answer ours. 

John 9:31 says, “He is ready to listen to those worship him and do his will.”

Psalm 34:15 reads, “The Lord watches over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help.”

Psalm 66:19 declares, “But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer!”

When Franklin Roosevelt was President of the United States, he often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who came down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with phrases like, “Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir.”

It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Nonplussed, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, “I’m sure she had it coming.”

I know that despite whatever you or I might be feeling, God is listening, He might be silent, but rest assured He is listening. Regardless of what answer we may be seeking from God, we must never look past the fact that the answer is already written in His Word!

At such times we are forced to live with this proverb in our hearts… Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

 

 Hitch your wagon to a star. Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Punching Holes In The Darkness.

Deep in the subtropical rainforest that covers much of the wildly beautiful and mountainous West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island, there is a place that silently marks a tragedy. The name Cave Creek is forever etched in the minds of New Zealanders. The creek begins its life when it exits a relatively small cave, carved out of soft mudstone and tumbles down a steep, boulder strewn watercourse, until it finally debouches into a bigger river many kilometres (miles) away from its birthplace.

In 1995 a newly built viewing platform that had been erected high above the gorge through which Cave Creek ran, collapsed when 20 students from an outdoor recreational course were standing on it. The entire structure plunged more than 15 meters (49 feet) down into the creek, ending the lives of 14 of the students on the tumble of rocks below and leaving 4 more with terrible injuries. This tragic accident sent shock waves across our small nation.

There is another danger lurking in the dense forest of this area, waiting to trap the unwary. The mudstone or sedimentary shale of the region is relatively hard, yet soluble in rain-water that has been acidified by decomposition of plant materials. As a result of this unfortunate accident of nature, the entire area is riddled with caves and “sink-holes”. The caves are usually obvious… it’s the sink-holes that can be a trap for the careless. Most of them are no more than a meter (yard) wide at the top, but many of them are very deep; adding to their danger is the simple fact that they are frequently invisible! Well, not so much invisible, just completely obscured by the ever present moss and other forest floor litter.

It’s possible to stand right beside a sink-hole and never see it; it’s not until someone drops a rock in the centre of the hole, and watch as it’s swallowed up by the moss which quickly resumes its original shape, as if nothing had disturbed its surface. The moss often absorbs any noise of the rock falling into the void far below. The only way to avoid falling into one of these “accidents waiting to happen” is to never stray from the solitary road in the valley, or stay on the few walking tracks, that now only lead to the scene of the tragedy.

 Life is full of such “sink-holes”… avoiding them is a talent that many have yet to develop! The best advice for avoiding such pitfalls is as simple as it is clear… “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin”. 1 John 1:7

If we perpetually “walk in the light” then even carefully hidden dangers can be avoided. Walking in the light is no mere “imitation” of Christ… it’s an essential element of our very existence as Christians… our lives as believers are to be a lamp in this darkened world of ours.

What does it mean to “walk in the light”? When the Bible talks about “walking” in the spiritual sense, it principally means to order and frame the course and actions of our moral life, that is, to live our life so far as we are capable of living in subjection to God’s Holy Spirit that resides within us. The light that we walk in will illuminate our world.

This does not mean that we are equal to Christ, but rather that we are in the process of becoming His likeness. If we have fellowship, either with other believers or, more importantly, with God, then the sink-holes that trap the unwary will be avoided.

When Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and other stories, was a young child, in the
days of gas street lighting, he was looking out the front window of his house one evening, fascinated by a lamplighter coming down the street, lighting the gas street lamps. He called to his grandmother, “Nana! Come quickly! There’s a man coming down the street punching holes in the darkness!”

The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. Proverbs 13:9