It Never Stops

Life continues to improve. Seems like I say that every day.

This morning, I thought about a problem many people have. They work all their lives and achieve things that are important to them, and then they slow down, and finally, they are no longer able to do what they used to do. They sit on the sidelines and reminisce and feel ignored. Nostalgia makes them suffer, which makes sense, since “nostalgia” is formed partly from a Greek root meaning “pain.”

A Christian who walks by faith should not have this problem. When you walk by faith, God never stops challenging you and putting you to use. Your function may change, but you’ll always have to get up in the morning and set your heart on obeying God. You’ll have to make a conscious decision to ignore the ever-present deceptive evidence that he will not stand by you and help you. Faith is a job from which you can’t retire. And because it never stops, you should expect to keep growing as long as you live, barring dementia.

That’s a wonderful thing. Maybe nostalgia for your glory days is a sign that you were chasing the wrong dream. Christianity is about progress; it’s not about amassing a certain number of achievements and then waiting to die. It’s always about the present and future. Maybe this is what the Bible means when it says God will renew our youth like the eagle’s.

My pastor makes our worship team learn new songs all the time. It’s annoying, because probability guarantees that new songs are not as likely to be good as old ones, and because you can’t sing along with a song you don’t know. But he does it anyway, because he wants us to continue renewing our minds. He mentioned it last night. He said he didn’t want us to get Alzheimer’s. He understands the need to keep moving.

Whatever a Bible-believing, Spirit-filled Christian may lack, he always has something other people may not have: a bright future. There is nothing you can do to us that God can’t turn into a great blessing later on. Eleven of the Apostles were martyred, but they died in victory, because their futures were assured. How can you top that?

Worldly people and Satan own the things that dissolve and pass away. God and his servants own everything else. If you don’t believe, you’re like a passenger clinging to a sinking ship. You can take supplements and have yourself injected with cells from aborted babies and have plastic surgery and exercise compulsively, but the ship will still sink. Sooner or later, you’re going to be in the water. The thing that makes you feel secure is going to vanish. The thing that makes a Christian feel secure can never be touched. We’re like the Whos down in Whoville. You can’t steal our Christmas. You can’t take away a reward which is in a world you’ll never be allowed to enter.

Paul used a word meaning “dung” to describe the things he valued before he came to Christ. Can a man with that attitude ever feel nostalgia? Can he ever feel that his past was better than the present? I don’t see how.

So anyway, life continues to improve.

The church has a new mixer on the way. A commercial mixer was too expensive, so we’re getting a Bosch Universal Plus with a stainless bowl. This will be fantastic. I’ll be able to make dough for 14 pizzas at a shot. If I run this thing twice in a day, I’ll cover my needs. This is going to get me out of the kitchen.

I’m also preparing to do pizzas with better toppings. Pepperoni isn’t solving all our problems, but I didn’t want to do toppings on demand, because it would require maybe ten bowls of prepared toppings, and it’s also a logistical impossibility, since most people won’t wait long enough for specially prepared pies. I realized I could put together toppings for a loaded pizza and then add them to pies as needed. I’d only have to prepare toppings once a day, and we’d have some variety. I’m thinking I’ll do a mix of ham, black olives, onions, and green peppers.

I can also do other varieties from time to time. I need to find out whether people will eat pineapple. If so, I’ll do pineapple, ricotta, onions, and ham.

In fact, I think I’ll do that whether they ask for it or not. Sometimes people have to be trained.

Mike will be in town soon. That will be a blast. I’m going to put him to work making garlic rolls for the church.

I’m thinking about making a trap for my BB gun, so I can put targets up in the garage and do rapid-fire drills. A frame about two feet wide and three feet high should work. I think point-shooting skills will be a great asset to me, and it’s much more fun than slow fire.

My weight loss continues. I’m down 26 pounds now, and I’m doing virtually nothing. It’s all God’s work. I’m getting into clothes I couldn’t wear for years. I haven’t been this thin since about 1996.

My social life gets better and better. I feel like part of the church now. I don’t wander in and out unnoticed. I enjoy the people tremendously, and their wonderful outlook is a powerful remedy to Miami rudeness. It’s hard to tolerate Miami when you never get a break from the hostility, but now I have a stronghold to which I can retreat.

Christianity is not just about avoiding hell or getting dribbly bits of help in a catastrophe. It’s about a God who will show his power in your life every day, in proportion to your devotion and willingness to pray. The God who fed Elijah and parted the Red Sea and made Solomon rich and reanimated the rotten corpse of Lazarus is still in business. I’m a witness, and I have nothing to gain by telling you.

Hope your day will be as blessed as mine. Or more.