by Warren Baldwin

Most of us travel with a road atlas. It instills confidence in one's journey. Life as a journey requires a road map, too, and for many of us Jesus is our road map.

In John 14:6 Jesus makes a very bold statement about his role in our journey of life, especially in our journey to the Father. In response to one of his disciples asking where he was going Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me." Jesus' statement actually comprises three statements about his nature or his role.

One, "I am the way." Jesus is claiming that of all of the approaches people use to get to God only one has any substance. Buddhism, Islam, modern-day Judaism, and various new age, postmodern-type approaches all fail to get us into a relationship with God. Only Jesus is capable of ushering us into the presence of the Father. That's bold.

Secondly, "I am the truth." I like this statement because it personalizes truth. We often think of truth as a proposition or as a concept, something that we can give mental assent to. But Jesus says truth is more than that. Truth is a person. Earlier in John Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free." We typically look for truth in statements or ideas. "Yes, that sounds true to me." And if it sounds true, we acknowledge it as truth.

But truth as a statement can be rather cold and sterile, don't you think? "Baseball is a sport played on a field." Well, that is a truthful statement, but it certainly doesn't capture the emotion of being in the stadium watching the Colorado Rockies whip up on the NY Mets, does it? "My wife is the person I married." Well, nobody would argue the truthfulness of that statement either, would they? But does that statement capture the emotion and love of twenty years of being married? Having kids, buying your first house, the love and comfort you share and receive from one another ... statements of truth can't capture all of that emotion or passion, can they?

And when Jesus says, "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free," I don't believe he is saying to memorize a few facts, nod your head in agreement to a few truthful statements, and you'll be a free man ... free from sin, free from guilt, free from oppressive religious systems. No, what I think Jesus was saying is, "Enter into a relationship with me and I will set you free. And I can do that, because I am the truth send from God. I am his son. Know me, and let me know you. That will set you free."

Thirdly, Jesus says, "I am the life." Life here, and life after here. Abundant life here, forever life after here.

We live in an era today when people are searching. Searching for meaning, for relationships, for truth. And people are looking all over, at all different kinds of ideas, experiences and relationships. And they need to look no further than to Jesus and the life he offers.

by A. A. Neale

People will eventually disappoint me, but not God. He may not do everything I want or expect him to do, but he never breaks his word nor acts against his character. I may not always understand his ways or purposes, and I may question where the path leads or the whys of my life, but God will be the constant to keep me going.

The pain of intimacy is seeing, in another and in myself, the inconsistencies, the expectations, the absurd demands that sour the joy of relationships. Yes, we may, and should, leave these aside and concentrate on the good, but there will always be an effort, a limp, a wince, in the best of human relations.

Not so with God. I may wince at my own expectations of him, but never at him. I may cringe at my own inconsistencies, but never at his. I may make absurd demands of my own spirituality, but never of him.

Abraham may have had reason to wonder, to question, to feel disappointment when the Lord told him to take his son of the promise and offer him as a sacrifice. But the holy text only says that the patriarch got up early in the morning and obeyed.

The psychologists and psychiatrists have gotten us so psyched out that we have to take our emotional pulse every 30 seconds. We have yet to approach the sufferings of Job, but we are more than ready to take up his mantle of wondering and questioning what God is doing. Unlike that wise old man, we sometimes permit the mental and emotional acrobatics to swing us into the cold regions of disbelief.

God will never disappoint, as long as I let God be God. He is true to himself, true to his word, true to his people. If I give him room to work, time to conclude, he will always come through.

That last paragraph borders on blasphemy. Who am I to "let" God be God? Who am I to "give" anything to God?

It is I who needs to be proven, not God. If I submit (ah! there's a better word!) to the Almighty, he will prove me. And never disappoint. And I'm thankful for that.

"To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed" (Psalm 22:5, NASB).

"For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed'" (Romans 10:11).

If you're checking in to see what happened to the email list, please know that we're still here on site, but the email list server (associate.com) has been down since Saturday, 31 May. The owner was supposed to go on vacation the 2nd, and as things will happen according to Murphy's law, it must have crashed about as he was traveling.

The associate.com service has been excellent in all regards, so I cannot complain too much, especially considering it is a free service. So we wait patiently until the service returns.

In the meantime, please check in daily here on the site, because we won't stop writing and working. --Editor

by J. Randal Matheny

[Note: This article is translated from yesterday's communion meditation in Sao Jose dos Campos.]

In his book, Bad Mood Power [O Poder de Mau Humor], Brazilian author Ruy Castro quotes film director Glauber Rocha, "Tears do not change history."

So true. If tears could change history, many mothers would have their dead children back. Many harsh words would return to the mouths that spoke them. Many crimes would be undone and their perpetrators released from prison. Many wars would be avoided, lives spared, and destruction averted.

If tears could change history, that horrible error of mine in the past would be fixed. And my life would be so different.

If tears could change history, Esau would have had his inheritance back.

But tears do not change history. So that is why the Hebrew writer insists,

"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; ... that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears" (Heb. 12:15-17, NASU).

If tears could change history, Gethsemane would have been sufficient. Once more, Hebrews says, "In the days of His flesh, [Jesus] offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety" (Hebrews 5:7).

Certainly, in the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus' sweat fell as drops of blood upon the ground, he prayed intensely with tears, in order that the cup of suffering might pass from him.

But tears do not change history.

Recognizing that truth, Jesus rose from the place of prayer and went to confront the multitude coming to arrest him, in order to crucify him.

Afraid of the authorities, Peter denied Jesus three times. When he heard the cock crow, he went out and cried bitterly. But tears cannot change history.

When Jesus died, all the crowds beat their breasts, as a sign of great grief ... and went away. Because tears do not change history. If they could ...!

Before the empty tomb, Mary cried because she did not find the body of Jesus. Filled with tears, her eyes did not perceive that angels announced the resurrection of her Lord; they confused Jesus for a gardener.

Tears not only cannot change history, but sometimes they keep us from seeing the new reality.

Those who do not obey Jesus will be cast out, in the dark, where there will be crying and gnashing of teeth. So let us dry now our tears and convert the crying -- present and future -- into celebration.

Because he is not in the tomb; he has risen.

Tears do not change history, and that is why we are here today united around a Cross.

by Emmett Smith

Many in today’s world are offended by the assertion that something is evil. In an article posted on May 28 under the headline “Guest Chaplain's Prayer Offends”, WorldNetDaily reported that certain members of the U.S. House of Representatives were offended by a prayer invoked by the guest chaplain. The offending portion was quoted as follows, “leaders who will seek your truth … who accept that a lie is a lie and not spin; that it is immorality and not an alternative lifestyle; that it is murder not a procedure; that it is stealing and not creative accounting; that rebellion is rebellion no matter what name we give it.”

If you’re wondering what might have been considered offensive you must not have been paying attention to the political correctness trends of the past several decades. Representative Barney Frank, an avowed homosexual, said “…The statement is a condemnation of gay people. There are appropriate places where you can say those things." This statement causes one to wonder what places Mr. Frank thinks would be appropriate for such statements. He obviously doesn’t think it inappropriate for him to speak his mind wherever he wishes.

Edmund Burke once said, "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." Mr. Burke was speaking of events in England in the mid to late 1700s, but the statement is equally valid today. England is a generation or two more “progressive” than we Americans have yet become. If we would think about what has transpired in England and Europe, and equate those events with what is happening here, we should be able to see many parallels.

And those of us who still subscribe to Biblical standards should be concerned. Indeed, we should have been concerned much sooner. Good men must associate, and do what we may to prevent further moral decline. This is not an unprecedented situation. Israel was often condemned for her moral relativism. Isaiah (Isaiah 5:20) spoke of those who call good evil and evil good.

In the third chapter of Malachi similar statements were made, and a harsh condemnation pronounced. But in the midst of the condemnation was a remarkable statement of hope. Verse 16 says “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.”

Today, those who fear the Lord still must communicate regularly. As the guest chaplain said, rebellion is rebellion no matter what name we give it. May many more good men and women have the courage to stand for the truth in times to come. May God’s book of remembrance have many more entries!