Favorite things

The piano sat motionless downstairs in the basement. A layer of dust had settled on the ebony keys suggesting that it had been some time since it had last been played. The finish was streaked and faded from years of sitting in front of a sunny window. It had a matching bench with a seat that hinged upward to reveal a hidden storage area beneath that was completely filled with all manner of sheet music. As I rummaged through the pages of music, I found nestled among the classics several popular tunes from the 1960’s. 

The thing is I remember this piano, from my early years as a child, when it stood so regally in front of the window overlooking my grandmother’s garden which, by the way, was always neatly tilled and filled with a variety of blooming gladiolas, chrysanthemums and roses. When her window was open the sound of her playing could be heard floating on a gentle breeze out across a small front lawn and out into Pine Street. Neighbors could be heard humming or singing along to lyrics like “I need a revival in my soul” and “Take it to the Lord in prayer”

The lighting in the basement was very dim, so I squinted as I continued searching through my newly discovered treasure chest of memories. Lurking near the bottom  I found a familiar movie score from The Sound of Music and began to sing the lyrics out loud “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things.” It was as if a cornucopia of memories were flooding in around me and now I had only to feast on the colorful offerings set before me.

What a wonderful world the Lord has created for us to enjoy! He’s given us beautiful sunrises and breathtaking sunsets that greet us and wave goodbye as the earth continues to carry us on our journey through time. While traveling through the cosmos, the earth’s tilt creates the right condition for our unique four seasons. How beautiful our world appears when viewed through these seasons of change. For now, the cooler fall season has arrived but soon it will cautiously beckon colder winter weather to come for a visit. 

Fall also brings us the opportunity to relax and enjoy a well deserved rest as it continues to unfurl before our eyes. Multiple shades of red, orange and yellow burst from leaves that will eventually end up falling to the ground below. Our tables will entertain pumpkins of various shapes and sizes; some will hold candles which when lit cast eerie shapes on walls through hastily cut holes. Spiced apple cider, hot buttered rum and sugar cookies send warm aromas down the hallway of our home just as the door bell rings and our family and friends arrive. What a bountiful harvest we have been given by our God.

Even the mountains and valleys display His omnipotence as a master designer. He has cut and carved the awesome granite walls of the beautiful Yosemite Valley in California, painted the sandstone red on the rocks of the majestic Colorado River gorge and seeded the mountains of western Colorado Rockies with quaking aspens and yellow pine. Antelope can still be found roaming the great salt flats of southern Utah as elk, deer and big horns freely roam the high mountain passes all the way to the Canadian border.

These places are surely on my list of places to visit but it’s my grandmother’s house on Pine Street complete with all those flowers that is still at the top of my list of favorite things. The garden was always so well cared for and the flowers seemed to smile as they opened up to the heavens above them as if to thank God for His goodness. I can still hear Grandmother playing her piano as melodies softly sail out into the afternoon breeze calling sinners to repentance and the lonely to fellowship but to all an invitation to come and partake of the Master’s table. “I need a revival in my soul...” the chorus would continue, beckoning all creatures both great and small to come and wash in the fountain that graced a corner of her garden.  

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy –meditate on these things.”  The words of the apostle Paul resonate in my mind as I close the bench seat and suddenly find myself back in the dim light of the basement.

All roads

“Well, if you haven’t been baptized then you won’t go to heaven” barked the man from the church on the corner.

“But I’m not a bad person, why wouldn’t God allow me into heaven just because I haven’t been baptized?” asked the young shoe salesman as he stopped to listen to the men who were talking near the bus stop.

“Listen, I pray every morning and evening, surely Allah has heard my prayers” replied the service station attendant who had just finished topping off a 1953 Bel Air convertible.

“You’re all so narrow minded, if you would just meditate, empty your mind then you would realize heaven is the universe that exists all around you” said the professor as she stepped into the bus and searching for an empty seat.

As the bus was pulling away from the curb, an unshaven man with a sandwich board slung over his shoulders and held on with a rope, slowly made his way through the crowd that had gathered at the corner. As the town herald made his way across the street all heads turned to read the sign hanging on his back “Repent for the end is here!”

From the very beginning it has been man’s desire to cover his sin and shame from the eyes of a holy God. Adam and Eve desperately sowed fig leaves together to hide themselves from their Creator, ushering in the very first religious service on earth. Years later, Cain lied to God about Abel’s whereabouts as his brother’s blood cried out to God from the earth beneath his feet.

Originally, in the beginning, God only wanted our love, fellowship and devotion but as our hearts grew colder we invented more and more profane ways to come to God until His presence, and His glory disappeared altogether. Our wickedness continued to grow as men began to carve representations of gods out of wood and stone. The last straw came as men began offering their own children in sacrificial fires of false worship.   

As mankind was once again was on the verge of self destruction, God Himself was required to come to earth in order to cover our sin. So He chose the nation of Israel to reveal Himself to an unbelieving world. Through the tribe of Judah and the throne of King David, God brought the Messiah into the world. God Inspired the prophets to write down what would take place in the future.

When the time was right, God sent His own Son into the world to pay our debt and lead us back into a relationship with Him. Jesus Christ was born at the perfect time, in the right place successfully fulfilling hundreds of prophecies. He arrived on earth heralding God’s love for all creation and before his death spent three and a half years preaching and teaching us to love one another.

However, evil men conspired against Him and power hungry, lust filled religious leaders plotted ways to silence Jesus forever. The crowd who had only days earlier shouted “Hosanna to their King” now screamed that they would have no king but Cesar. Jesus died as a large crowd mocked Him at the foot of a Roman cross. All hope temporarily vanished from the hearts of a few faithful followers as Jesus gave up His spirit. It seemed that their Messiah was dead.

Religion had once again reared its ugly head as men tried in vain to cover their shame by silencing Jesus. Even though He made the iron for the nails, the wood for the cross and the hill where it stood, He willingly died for the crowd who screamed “Crucify Him!”  There is no greater love than that.

With all certainty, I can tell you this: all roads don’t lead to God, the universe will never whisper any eternal cosmic truth to an emptied mind no matter how much sand slips through the hourglass and finally, senseless religious arguments over the significance of baptism, the necessity of speaking in tongues or the true meaning of hell will never draw a lost soul to Christ.

The apostle John was the oldest surviving disciple of Jesus Christ. John always stayed close to Jesus and was the only disciple watching at the foot of the cross when Jesus passes over his brother James to put John in charge of His own mother. So in John’s wisdom and at a ripe old age, he wrote this: “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” 1 John 3:23.

unveiled

Sahar peeked through the veil of her heavy burqa desperately trying to see over the wall that surrounded the Catholic Church. School was in session and the boys and girls were outside busy playing a variety of games, some of which were soccer, hopscotch and jump rope. She had often stopped along this section of wall and would watch the children playing in the compound. However, she knew that if someone discovered her they would drag her off to the village cleric where she would be punished severely. 

Sahar was turning thirteen today and had been secretly reading a bible she had found along this very same wall. Oh how she loved all the stories she read on those pages about Noah, Father Abraham and the ancient city Ur of the Chaldeans. Many times she would imagine that she was a Mesopotamian Queen on her way to Jerusalem to visit King Solomon. In her mind , she watched as her entourage went on for miles with tall camels carrying loads of jars full of wine, dates and assorted spices as gifts for the king.

“Sahar! What are you doing? Get down off that wall immediately before someone sees you.” shouted her brother Omar, who was on his way to the mosque for morning prayers.

Sahar’s heart raced as she lost her grip and slid down the steep face of the concrete wall that had been constructed with fragments of broken glass embedded into the surface. Although her heavy burqa was ripped in several places, she herself was unscathed. Her father had warned her not to climb the wall of the church and reminded her that Allah was a jealous god and demanded her full devotion. As she went to the well for water she wondered if her brother would tell her father what he had seen her doing.

While she waited at the well for the shepherds to water their sheep, Sahar secretly pulled out her pocket sized bible. As she leaned against the trunk of a date palm she was able to conceal the book from the view of the others who had gathered at the well. Time seemed to stand still for the moment as Sahar turned to the book of Ruth and began reading. She loved this time of the morning and even waiting for her turn at the well seemed to fly by as the cool morning air circulated through her veil.

  

Sahar reads through the pages as the poverty stricken widow Naomi realizes she must return to her homeland in order to survive. Orpah, one of her two daughter-in-laws decides to remain in Moab, but Ruth decides differently saying "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me." 

Sahar loved how devoted Ruth was to her mother-in-law Naomi and how she truly and wholly wanted to follow the One True and Living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As she continued to read something was happening inside of her, it was a warm feeling in her heart and it made the hair on her arms stand to attention. All her life Sahar was forced to worship Allah and never felt a connection to him like the way that she felt when she thought about the God of Naomi.

On her way home, with the jar of water on her head, Sahar asked God to reveal the truth to her about who He was. The cool morning breezes had left and were now being replaced by strong east winds that began blowing sand. The sun too was hot and it made Sahar stop at an oasis that was midway to her home. Once again she called upon God for help “Oh, Great God of Naomi please reveal yourself to me as I want to know You! Please help me to walk the same path as Ruth and become my God!” the young teenager penitently prayed as sand fell through the palm branches.

It was too hot to walk the rest of the way home and the blowing sand did not relent so Sahar pulled back out her pocket bible and read as the pages turned to John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”