Looking Backward

As a former cadet at North Georgia College, I am on the school's Foundation mailing list. Last night I received their latest mailing. In it was an article that caught my eye, "Vietnam Vets Remember NGC of The Sixties." Since I attended the school in 1969, I was interested to find out if I knew anyone in the article. Of course, I didn't recognize the two individuals as they both graduated before I arrived. However, their stories were extremely interesting, especially that of Ralph Colley.

Ralph Colley was a 1966 graduate of North Georgia College. Speaking about his Viet Nam War experience, he called it “8 very exciting months in Viet Nam and one really bad afternoon.” Near Cu Chi (1967), Ralph Colley, then a 1st Lt. and platoon leader in a rifle company of the 101st Airborne Divison, came in contact with a land mine, and lost his left arm and both legs in the ensuing explosion. Colley said that at the time, “My spiritual dimension helped, of course.” In the article he also said:

“My war period was four decades ago. Even with all I’ve done since, that was the most exciting, interesting, demanding, challenging period of my life, a time lived more fully and with greater intensity than any other. Despite all the negatives – and I will say I wouldn’t ever want to do it again – I got immense satisfaction from showing myself I could be tested and found capable. North Georgia was a huge part of that.”


I was inspired by the way he was looking backward with no regret and reflecting on how those experiences "tested" him and he determined he was "found capable." Oh that we might all look back with "immense satisfaction" knowing that it has prepared us well for the present and the future.

Paul wrote Timothy saying, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8 NIV)

Can you look backward on life with no regrets? Facing our hardest trials and testings of life become our greatest moments. They prove us.

The Taste of God

Jeanne & I read these word this morning from The Message in our devotions:

1 Peter 2:1-3
So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. 2 You've had a taste of God. 3 Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God's pure kindness. Then you'll grow up mature and whole in God.

I like the comment, "You've had a taste of God." Once we have a taste of something good, we want more. And the more we eat of our favorite food the healthier (or unhealthier) we become. Spiritually, what are you tasting? How is it changing you? for good? for worse? Peter points out that as we taste of God our talk changes. It becomes less hurtful and filled with kindness.

You Make Others Complete

A New Year is before us. Happy New Year everyone!

I was reading James 5:7-12 this morning in preparation for a small group study wth some really awesome twenty-somethings on Friday night. As I was reading the words "Just say yes or no" (James 5:12 from THE MESSAGE) my thoughts turned to a gift that I had received from a dear friend many, many years ago. I was about to begin a passage or spiritual journey as a church planter here in Maine. I was leaving the comforts and the known of New Jersey for the unknown. Jean gave me a framed, hand painted picture of vines surrounding the words "Yes Lord" written in Old English. That gold framed gift still graces the wall of my office and is a daily reminder to me of my commitment to God and His plan for my life, regardless what it might be, whether known or unknown.

"Yes Lord" has led me a long way in my 36 year (and unfinished) spiritual journey. Which brings me to my point this morning found in Hebrews 11:40. I turned to Hebrews 11 after reading the James passage to refresh my thoughts of those who have gone before me in the past in their journey. Men and women of the past who also had said, "Yes Lord." I was facinated with the concluding words in Hebrew 11.

Hebrews 11:40
God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours. (THE MESSAGE)

The previous verse says that none of the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 got their hands on what was promised to them, even though their lives were lived in an exemplorary manner. Yet, they were commended for their faith. The writer concludes by letting us, the readers, know that their lives of faith will not be complete or made whole, without our completing our faith journey. Wow! Stay true to God in 2008. Your faith will make me complete. My faith will make you complete.