Seeing the Other Side

Thanks to my friend, the late Colin Gage for the suggestion.


Acts 7:55-60

But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.

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Life is like a mountain railway
With an engineer that's brave
You must make a run successful
From the cradle to the grave

Watch the curves, the hills and tunnels
Never falter, never fail
Just keep your hand upon the throttle
And your eyes upon the rail

Blessed Savior Thou will guide us
Till we reach that blissful shore
Where the angels wait to join us
In Thy praise forevermore

"Life's Railway to Heaven" by Charles Davis Tillman and recorded by The Amazing Rhythm Aces on "Stacked Deck"

Stephen had some real guts. He was brought before the council to speak to his beliefs and his actions. So he told them.

The council loved most of what he had to say. And why not? He was recounting the faith, their faith. He was recounting Moses, the father of the faith. He was telling them what he knew and what he knew too. I imagine the council was a little smug at this point, thinking this Stephen, this "disciple of Jesus of Nazareth" was denying this rebel rabbi and coming back to the faith, back to the fold.

That'll show those rebels!

That is until he came to the end. Stephen ended his speech saying, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”

This is when their question and dismay turned to blind anger. This is when the stoning began.

"Life's Railway to Heaven" gives us the wonderful vision of the successful run of this life, a look at the path that runs to the other side. A run that from cradle to grave; through curves, hills, and tunnels; never falters nor fails. It's a life that moves straight ahead, the only direction a train can travel on a track to make any progress.

Saint Stephen knew where his path would take him. He knew where his trip on the mountain railway would lead. He was a brave engineer on the steam engine that was burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit. He knew the track would take him to his death. And he was confident that in Jesus death in this world was just a station to pass through before being with his Lord forever.

He left this world with the angels in their praise of God forevermore. And more, his prayer was that God would not hold the sin of the men who stoned him against them. Stephen had faith in repentance. Stephen had faith in the one who calls us all to repentance. By his faith he was able to see to the other side. That's the great thing about life's railway to heaven, God is willing to accept all who tie their tracks onto his and is ready to fuel their engine by the eternal Spirit of God.

Four years ago when I first wrote this entry, I was asking friends and readers to suggest songs or scripture for the "Rock and Roll Devotional" treatment. One who provided several suggestions was my friend from Kansas City, Colin Gage. Cancer took Colin about a year ago. Colin loved life and loved music. He was a beautiful man. Love and blessings to his wonderful widow Laura.

Seasons and Seasons to Follow

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die

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And when I die, and when I'm gone
there'll be, one child born
in this world
to carry on, to carry on

"And When I Die" by Blood, Sweat, and Tears

For everything there is a season, and the best thing about seasons is that they come and they go. Seasons work in cycles. There needs to be a winter for the earth to recover before spring can come and the world become restored. In a wheat field, one kernel must die to produce a stalk that will supply more kernels. As there is a season for life, there will come a season for death. As there is a season for death it will lead to a season of new life.

John 11 reminds us in the face of the death of his friend Lazarus, he wept. Jesus wept. Is there a more emotional sentence in scripture? Nothing greater has ever been said in fewer words: Jesus wept. Jesus shares our human pain. Jesus mourns with us. In this single moment, the fully-human fully-divine Lord has never been more human. Jesus wept.

Jesus wept knowing full well that he would raise Lazarus from the dead. He could have been filled with joy and glee, he knew this illness wouldn't end in death, John 11 says that too. But when he sees Mary, when he sees her grief, Jesus weeps. Then Jesus goes to work. In this moment this first season of death for Lazarus comes to an abrupt end with his return to life, new life in Jesus Christ.

For everything there is a season, a time to live and a time to die. Blood, Sweat, and Tears shares the word of Ecclesiastes that this season will surely end in our death. And just as surely that death will lead to new life.

Thanks be to God that the death of Jesus leads not to the death of faith, but the death of death itself. Death will come, but death is already defeated. Death is already conquered. The season of new life in Christ began that Easter Sunday and continues. By this there'll be, one child born in this world to carry on. To carry on.

What Your Life Can Truly Be

Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine; for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
    and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
    and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

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Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be
Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be
Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be

"Shooting Star" recorded by Earth, Wind, and Fire written by Maurice White, Larry Dunn and Philip Bailey from the album "That's the Way of the World"

This scripture is another which is read during Epiphany. It could be seen as a reference to the risen light the wise men followed to Judah. When the light appeared the Lord rose. How's that for a wonderful image. They came together.

The world was dark, the world was covered in the darkness of time. Then the light rose and the glory of the Lord arose. When the Lord arose his glory rose along with him. As his glory rose the gentile, the pagan kings came amd met the young Lord Jesus. These men from the nations came to see his light. They came to see the brightness of his dawn. From there, they took his name back to their nations.

The hope to see what our lives can be is a multi-billion dollar industry. It's medical. It's psychological. It's physical. It's spiritual. Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be.

What's amazing about this Grammy award winning song by Earth, Wind, and Fire is the way the chorus ends. As the song ends, the music begins to die out. The pieces of the band drop out a couple of instruments at a time. Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be.

But when the last line is sung, there are no instruments. It's just the singers. The last three lines are done wonderfully and simply. But that last line, sung a Capella, takes away all of the gloss and all of the shine. It takes away all of the luster and all of the polish. Stripped down, it gives a real look at what the light of the Lord can really look like. Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be.

Thwarting the Will of Pharaoh

Exodus 1:15-19

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

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Why; our backs are now against the wall
Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage
Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage
Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage
Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage

"Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys

In the beginning of Exodus, we learn that time had passed. So much time had passed that there wasn't a king in Egypt that remembered Joseph or what he did to save Egypt. Also since the death of Joseph, the Hebrew nation had grown mighty in number. So between forgetting the historic relationship between the two nations and Israel growing mighty in number, Pharaoh worried Israel was becoming "mighty" within his borders. He worried that if the Sons of Israel had become too mighty that they would conquer Egypt, and that's no position a monarch wants to be in.

So what did he do? He demanded the infant sons of the nation of Israel be slain by the midwives while their mothers were on their birth stools. How nasty is that? Pharaoh expected the midwives to use the knives which would cut the umbilical cord to slit the newborn's throat. Pharaoh expected the midwives to wrap the umbilical cord around the throat of the boys and strangle them. Pharaoh expected the midwives to obey, but they did not.

It's easy to understand their fear, they feared God. Who wouldn't? Slaying a baby immediately after the mother gives birth has got to be among the nastiest, coldest evils a person could ever do. When you see God after this little thing, you'll have some 'splaining to do. It's also quite a tyrant could expect a subject to do this. If the king could expect a midwife to slay a baby it's hard to imagine what else the king is capable of doing. It's easy to understand that they would fear Pharaoh.

They would have been foolish if they hadn't feared God; and they would have been foolish if they hadn't feared Pharaoh. The midwives had two fears, one for each course of action. Each action could have cost them their lives. But there are differences in their fears.

Fearing Pharaoh they could die. Lying to the king is never a way to make friends and influence policy. They could have died. Once.

Fearing God, they feared the one who could take their life and so much more. In the end they chose to fear the One who could give them life as well as take it away. They feared the One who gives life, and because they did they were rewarded with children of their own.

Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage! Because the midwives chose to thwart the will of the King of Egypt, because they chose to sabotage the will of Pharaoh they saved the lives of many Hebrew boys, including one we know as Moses. Le chiam to the sisters who helped preserve the law.