In 1967, soldiers stood outside the Pentagon with their rifles extended towards people protesting the Vietnam War. One of the protesters, George Harris, walked up to the line of soldiers and calmly inserted a carnation in one of the gun barrels. A photographer for the Washington Star captured it on film and it became one of the most iconic images of 1960’s flower power movement.

Flower power. Does such a thing exist? Buy your sweetheart a rose and find out. Flowers have fascinated mankind throughout history. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Kings, princes and people of great wealth have spent vast fortunes to grace their homes with elegant and expansive gardens. Americans spend over six billion dollars a year on flowers! Maybe we love flowers because we have genetic and latent memories of the Garden of Eden.

I was jogging down a sidewalk today when the wind carried the scent of flowers across my path and made me stop to enjoy. That’s when I noticed that the closest flowers were twenty yards away! Pretty potent stuff for such delicate and fragile things. Flowers can have a very strong influence on our feelings and moods. This dynamic is the basis for aromatherapy.

We tend to assume that flowers that please the eye will also please the nose, but this is not always the case. There are a large number of attractive flowers that carry no pleasing scent at all. Some actually stink! We are always surprised when we find a flower that looks good, but smells bad. Then there are those rare flowers that don’t stop at just looking and smelling good -- they taste good, too. Consider the Orange Blossom. It smells great, bears lovely white petals, and is accompanied by a juicy orange.

If you were a flower, what type would you be? Pretty, but stinky? Pretty and good smelling, but without flavor? Or would you be like the Orange Blossom? Jesus revealed our appearance is to have an attraction that emanates from our deeds. He said, let your light so shine before men that they may SEE your good works and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven. So, we can look good, but can we also smell good? Paul told the Philippians that their financial contributions contained the odor of a sweet smelling sacrifice to God. John said the prayers of the saints rise like incense before the Lord. So, we can look and smell good, but can we taste good, too?

Paul told the Galatians that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit would produce the bearing of fruit, specifically; love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. So out of our lives of faith, and from the Holy Spirit, fruit comes forth for the world to taste and be moved by the flavor of God. In the same way that David exhorted his readers to taste and see that the Lord is good. You and I should be giving out free samples of the Lord’s goodness to everyone we meet. Let’s look good, smell good and taste good to a world desperate for the beauty of the Lord.

Flower power. Maybe it isn’t so far-fetched after all.
Pastor Dave

We are surrounded. What and who surrounds us might be shocking. Years ago, right after 9-11, two houses within 100 yards of our home were charged by dozens of FBI agents with their weapons drawn. The families were arrested under the suspicion of being part of a terrorist cell, and their belongings were confiscated, including military-style weapons, grenades and blueprints of government buildings. The two families had lived in our neighborhood for a couple of years. We were “surrounded” by them and didn’t know it.

Yesterday I was driving into my neighborhood and noticed two deer grazing a stone’s throw away. They were beautiful. As I wondered where they came from, I began to recall the other special animals I’ve seen in our relatively suburban neighborhood. In addition to the deer, I’ve seen hogs, panthers, alligators, rattlesnakes, foxes, coyotes, bald eagles, herons, cranes, ducks, bobcats, raccoons, opossums, armadillos, and a sasquatch. I feel like Marlin Perkins. Anyway, these animals live in the woods surrounding our home, but we see them only occasionally.

It may not be by wild animals and terrorists, but you are surrounded. The Apostle Paul told us there are invisible and malevolent spiritual entities all around us. He said we are wrestling with principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and hosts of wickedness – even if we don’t realize it! Paul also revealed that Satan is the prince of the power of the air. This dangerous environment is the reason we must put on the armor of God and rely on faithful obedience to God rather than on carnal weapons of warfare.

Don’t despair. We are also surrounded by another Presence. The Psalmist assures us that the angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
and delivers them. Jesus promised that He would never leave nor forsake us and remain with us until the end of the age. Even when walking through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with us. His rod and staff will provide us with comfort and safety.

There’s more. Just as Elijah was encircled by angels in flaming chariots when trapped by the armies of Syria, you and I are blessed by the protective power of ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation. We do not need to fear. Those that are with us outnumber those that are with them.

There’s still more. The writer of Hebrews admonished us to have courage, patience and endurance because we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. This category could include both angels and believers that have gone to Heaven before us. We are never alone.

Years ago, I was in Israel on one of the mountain peaks near Syria. Our tour guide was a retired Israeli war hero. He told us the story of he and another tank soldier defending this hill from hundreds of Syrian jeeps and tanks. For his bravery, he and his friend received Israel’s highest military commendation. When describing the predicament, he looked at us and smiled and said, We felt sorry for them. They had us surrounded.

Yes, danger is all around. Much of it you will never realize. But no power, entity or force can hide from the all-seeing eye of God. Nothing that surrounds us can breach His security. We are surrounded by unseen enemies, but they are surrounded by our unseen friends. They are all around.

He surrounds us,
Pastor Dave

“Greater is He that is in us, that He that is in the world.” - John

A cute squirrel was on the sidewalk. He was sitting up and holding something to his mouth with his two little hands. He quickly jerked his head around to look at me jogging towards him. Once I crossed into his red zone he dropped his treat and bolted for the bushes and trees a few yards off the path. When he was about five feet away from a low hanging branch, he leapt towards it with outstretched arms. He either misjudged the distance or his hands were too greasy from the snack, but his gymnastic maneuver failed. His hands just made it to the branch. His body swung on by, and his grip loosened. He flipped upside down and fell to the ground flat on his back. Close, but no cigar! The squirrel was cute. The squirrel was quick. The squirrel was probably smart. He just missed the mark.

Limitations don’t necessary define us, but they certainly help paint the picture the world sees. No one sees me as a professional athlete because of my lack of ability (and possibly a bias against Choctaws). No one views me as a singer, scientist, artist, businessman, model, or author because I have limited skills. Wait, I think I just got depressed. Anyway, limitations are used by the Lord to mold and guide us, but they do not define us. That cute little squirrel was still a squirrel even though, at that moment, he wasn’t very good at doing what squirrels do. That being said, he did successfully escape in spite of his limitations.

You and I are far more than our limitations. We are also far more than our abilities. We are children of God – a designation that bears witness to God’s limitless abilities as He resolves our spiritual inadequacies in both our salvation and sanctification. The Apostle Paul wrote, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

It’s easy to allow insecurity, doubt, failure, inadequacy, and limitation to form our expectations, inhibit our courage, and weaken our faith. It’s not only easy, it’s also our tendency. The Bible calls it walking by sight. What God has called us to do does not require special talent and skill. It requires faith. The kind of faith that releases obedience. The kind of faith given by God. The kind of faith that relies on God rather than self. When it comes to what God wants us to be and do, Paul told the Thessalonians, He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. He assured the Philippians, It is God who works in you both to will and do of His good pleasure.

We don’t need spiritual athleticism to please God. Pleasing God is a matter of obedient faith. God accomplishes His will through the obedient thoughts and deeds of His children. He is seeking to use the weak, humble, and unnoticed hearts in tune with His. Hanani told King Asa, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. God chooses. When His choice is realized in our lives, He doesn’t want us to glory in our abilities and accomplishments, but in Him. This is not because God is an egotist, but because flesh glorying in His presence is preposterous. If we get prideful, we can even miss the mark when He uses us. He can use anyone He chooses, anytime, for any reason, to accomplish anything He pleases. He is looking for squirrels that don’t always succeed when reaching for the branch.

May we be what He is looking for,
Pastor Dave

Even though there are only two types of vultures in North America; turkey vultures and black vultures, I think I recently discovered a third. I noticed a black animal sitting by the edge of a pond near my house. It looked odd, and I couldn’t make out what it was exactly, but I settled on a hog. I couldn’t recall ever seeing one relaxing by a pond out in the open, but there’s a first time for everything. Then it stood up, stretched out wings, and flew away! It was a vulture. A really fat vulture – a hog vulture -- so fat it had to sit instead of stand.

How does a bird get this fat? Probably the same way we do, eating too much and exercising too little. Vultures are scavengers. That means they sit in trees or float in the sky looking down on things they hope are going to die. I often see them hovering around me when I’m running. Birds of prey work for a living, so do seed-eating birds, humming birds, and water fowl. But vultures? They don’t catch anything on their own. They just watch and wait. And have you seen their heads? What is that?!

Vultures don’t just eat dead things; they prefer to eat dead things that are rotting. The more it stinks, the better it tastes. They can smell things that are alive, things that are cooking, and things that recently died, but they LOVE the things that are in decay. Maybe that’s why there is no market for vulture meat. Vultures eat a lot of unsavory things. If the old saying is true, you are what you eat, vultures are nasty.

So, here we go. I think there are at least three ways that Christians can resemble vultures. Ok, four if you include gnarly-looking heads. First, we can be vulture-like by not hunting for our own spiritual food from Scripture but depending on someone else to do that work for us. It is easy to settle for the crumbs we can scavenge from the preacher’s sermon, or to gnaw on dead clichés, lifeless lessons, and the high-fat calories of religious sounding truths. Whether we end up looking malnourished or fat, we will still be unhealthy.

Secondly, we can be like vultures by consuming that which is unsavory -- the dead wisdom of the world. The ways of the world has a way of drawing us in. When Jesus asked His disciples if they were going to leave Him, they replied, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life. Oh, that we were like those disciples! Instead, we tend to ignore, neglect, or dismiss the meat of God’s Living Word and settle for dead axioms of life, or an artificial sweetener of feelings. It often seems as if we will read anything other than the Bible. As Keith Green once sang, Your Word sits there upon our desk, but we love our books and magazines the best.

Thirdly, we can be like vultures by hanging out with other believers who have no interest in the things of God. Once a vulture begins to eat something rotten, it doesn’t take long for other vultures to gather around and enjoy the feast. Our friends influence us (and we influence them) far more than we realize. The Bible tells us to sharpen each other the way iron does iron, but we belly up to the trough of pleasure instead. Our friends help shape our appetites, our expectancies, and our practices. If we want to be eagles that rise up to soar on the currents of God’s grace, we can’t do it while eating with vultures.

When it comes to consuming truth, God wants us to search for the meat of His Word and to fellowship with those who are doing the same. He wants us to eat that which is living, not that which is dead. He wants us to be more like birds of prey, than like scavengers -- especially not hog vultures.

Let’s mount up with eagles’ wings,
Pastor Dave