The potter's house

 We had just arrived on the mountain for a huddle at camp May Mac, a secluded Santa Cruz Christian camp. Small contingents of my wife’s family, fifty-five in all was just getting out of their cars and were busy hugging and shaking hands. The Santa Cruz Mountains are beautifully placed between the beach town of Santa Cruz and the major metropolitan area of San Jose, California. A gentle westerly was blowing and everything in bloom was sending out fragrances of spring into the air.

The camp staff had just finished preparing a wonderful meal for us to enjoy. A large brass bell was being rung calling us to the dining room to eat as camp workers were busy setting up tables. The staff was all part of a program that helps men and women get off the streets, drugs, alcohol and sexual additions. As I walked through the buffet line each food tray was manned by someone from the program who graciously heaped food onto our plates. It wasn’t the food but their pleasant faces and their smiles that caught my attention.

These were not the expressionless faces of bored, disgruntled employees but the shining faces of joyful bond servants that had been set free from bondage and were truly grateful to be serving us dinner at the camp. They were laboring as unto the Lord and their sincerity and love poured out on us like butterscotch and stuck to all our senses. It was good to see the Lord working in the lives of these young men and women from Teen Challenge and how God had His hands on them actively molding their lives.

The scene made me think how our Lord has put such a great treasure into these plain earthen vessels. It made me consider going down to the potter’s house and watch as he created some of his wares on the wheel. Soon my feet were heading down the hill and within minutes I arrived at the workshop’s white picket fence, unlocked the gate and stepped quietly into the potter’s studio.

In the afternoon sunlight I stood silently and watched the potter clasped his hands around a lump of clay that was spinning on the wheel. He pulled and pushed on it up and down a few times as the clay went round and round the wheel. At the right moment, he put his thumb into the middle of the lump and began forming a hole. Within seconds the hole enlarged and transformed the lump into a beautiful vessel.

Unfortunately, as the lump turned a small imperfection made a large bulge in the wall of the vessel. It looked almost perfect except for the bump that now wobbled. The clay continued to bump and thump each time it went around the wheel as it hit the potter’s knuckle. Soon it weakened and collapsed and the beautiful vessel was now a broken and worthless mass of clay unable to hold anything.

Determined the potter gathered up all the clay and put it back into a ball. Skillfully he applied just the right amount of pressure to the lump re-centering it on the spinning wheel. Now, with the imperfection taken away the lump was allowed to spin free. Soon the wheel stopped turning, and within a few weeks the vessel was fired, glazed and is now holding olive oil in the camp’s kitchen.

In the above illustration, we are the clay, God is the Potter and the wheel represents our lives with all of its challenges, circumstances, trials and tribulations. We all have imperfections that cause our vessels to be out-of-balance. Our vessels are often cracked pots that are unable to hold anything. Its only when we ask God, the Master Potter, to intervene in our lives that He is able to take a broken, marred lump of clay and turn it back into a beautiful solid vessel.

Once we become vitrified, through the intense heat of life’s fire, we are now able to hold oil. The oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. God wants desperately to use us as vessels of honor which are set apart for only His use. His desire for our lives is that we continually ask Him to be re-filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit. 

As I looked at all the friendly faces of the workers serving us food at the camp I realized how they all had at one time been broken, worthless lumps of clay. However, God in His limitless grace and mercy had re-created them into vessels of honor that were being used by the Master Potter to graciously pour out the gospel of eternal life on the people that they were serving.

Sweet fragrances

 Pastor Doug was running late as always as the line at the bank drive-thru began to lurch forward. He had to make a deposit for the church, speed home to eat dinner then back out on the road to make a pastoral visit at Mercy Hospital. Even though the bank’s drive thru were three lanes wide it was Friday and everyone was making deposits before the weekend. 

Pulling up to the vacuum tube equipped kiosk Doug sorted through fifty checks making sure that they had the church’s endorsement stamped on the back. He then made sure they were right side up before inserting them into the plastic capsule. The capsule made a slurp, whooshing sound as it disappeared down the tube. Several minutes later Doug heard the voice of a young girl asking “Sir, I’m sorry but I have to ask you a question?”

Doug paused to remember if he had indeed signed all the checks, included the cash or had forgotten the deposit slip? The girls’ voice reappeared. “Can you tell me the name of the fragrance you are wearing?” Puzzled, Doug remembered that he must have had some remnant of Old Spice left on his hands from this morning’s shave. The left over fragrance had been transferred to the checks while he sorted them into the capsule and that aroma had traveled all the way over to the teller behind the bullet proof glass.

Kenny took the city bus everywhere. This morning he had an early appointment at the library where he was applying for a clerk’s position sorting through books. As he stepped off of the bus he caught a whiff of something wonderful in the air but it was fleeting and soon replaced with the foul smell of the bus’s diesel engines. 

The walking green illuminated as Kenny rounded the corner of Main Street. As he strides past the laundry mat the smell of fresh, clean clothes poured out through the open double doors of the laundry mat reminding him it was wash day. Half way down Main Street Kenny smelled the same heavenly aroma that he had briefly enjoyed when he had first stepped off the bus.

It made him think of apple pies, bagels, donuts and freshly baked bread. Soon he came to the bakery and watched as the baker removed a loaf of freshly baked bread from a wood fired oven. He started to salivate, forgot all about his appointment at the library and turned into the shop to buy a slice of fresh apple pie.

Paul penned in Second Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

Beautiful fragrances can remind us of people in our lives, they can cause us to turn into a bakery or be attracted to someone. Sweet smelling aromas of orange blossoms, star jasmine and freshly baked bread are wonderful and put a smile on our faces. There are also foul odorous aromas that repel us and cause us to turn and walk away in disgust.

The apostle Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 3:2 “ You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”

 We represent Jesus Christ everywhere we go in our lives and during the course of each day. For many, we will be the only bible people will ever read. 

We are to be sweet smelling aromas by diffusing love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, gentleness, goodness and self control to the people around us. People should be drawn to us because of our aroma of kindness asking “How can I get what you have?”

Unfortunately, many of us have foul aromas that repel people from wanting to know more about God. We demand too much of people living by the letter of the law rather than by the Spirit. Many times we as Christians cause strife, dissentions and contentions because of our selfish ambitions. It might be our drunkenness, out bursts of wrath, an unkind word or even just participating in gossip that causes strife in our families and churches.

What we need is a daily, supernatural re-filling of the Holy Spirit in order to love and be kind to others as we diffuse the sweet smelling aroma of Jesus Christ. “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.”  

Spring cleaning

 Spring time is a wonderful season to observe as it unfurls before our eyes. Leafless, deciduous trees that have been asleep for months magically bud, swell and burst open to unfurl new growth that quickly spreads out to soak up the sun. Bees are always busy, but at springtime they seem to be in hyper drive and all the more motivated to collect nectar from every flowering plant, shrub, bush and tree they can find. 

It seems that what’s happening to the bees outside this time of year eventually begins to affect my wife inside the house as well. It is as if her internal alarm goes off every April 1st reminding her that the garage, my closet, attic, my shop and other areas I never knew existed need my immediate attention through a good thorough cleaning. 

It is not long before I hear the garage door open and her wading through a sea of clutter eventually discovering the door to my office. Suddenly, at that moment, spring cleaning gets extremely personal and I find myself being compelled to sort through stacks of papers, books, un-opened mail and boxes filled with things I sorted through last year. For the record, It is not that I am a sloth or even a slob it is just that I am challenged when it comes to getting rid of un-used and what she calls use-less items.

I realize that my mind is limited, being a man, but I happen to know something that my wife is completely oblivious to; when you throw out any item that seems use-less it is usually less than two weeks before you find yourself on a pilgrimage to the hardware store to purchase another just like it. If I was smart I would be better off taking my use-less stuff to the Salvation Army where I could buy it back two weeks later for a fraction of what the hardware store charges.

I don’t like the idea of surrender and having to admit defeat but it does feel good to do just a very small amount of spring cleaning. One major drawback to spring cleaning is that I am easily distracted. If for instance, while in the process of sorting through things, I find something I misplaced it usually takes me down to my shop where I continue my sorting for a completely different item. It is not until I finish with my new task that I remember what it was I was doing back up in my office and on and on it goes until I hear my wife calling me to dinner.

One major mistake, if not the biggest mistake, any spring cleaner can make is to have someone else do the cleaning and or organization. When it is finished you might think that your decision was a huge triumph with every surface cleaned off, floor swept and totes chock full of odds and ends. Joy is bubbling out of you, that is, until you try and find something you need. Now the content of all those so called “organized” boxes gets dumped back out onto the floor and work bench. 

So as the bees buzz and my wife’s alarm continues to remind me to stay out of her sight, I’m reminded that there is something more important than cleaning spaces in my house. No, instead spring time is a great time to find a hammock or chaise lounge and take a break from all the hustle and bustle of life. This season reminds me to look inside at my own stuff and do some much needed soul searching. It’s a great time to reflect on my priorities to see if I need to get rid of any use-less items.

Just as our offices collect un-wanted stuff; our minds can be filled with un-opened and often un-needed thoughts. Spring allows us time to reduce the clutter by taking a walk with our loved ones, going to see a movie or just going out to have sushi. Taking time for ourselves is a great way to reduce stress, bolster relationships and spend time with our Creator.

Spring allows us time to take a step back and just take in a deep cleansing breath. It is the season for new life and needed changes in the way we eat, exercise and especially the time given to prayer and bible reading. If we seek first the kingdom of God then all these other things will be provided for us. 

So that settles it, I am on my way to find my hammock and to start some overdue heart inspection. As I walk through my shop I grab a pair of ear plugs which I believe will work nicely to eliminate any unwanted disturbances.