Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: 3 John 2

don’t spoil your dinner      — May 10, 2023

don’t spoil your dinner     

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When I was young, I might ask for a snack at 4 o’clock and my mom would say “No we are going to eat at 5, and you don’t want to spoil your dinner.”  And yet maybe I did want to spoil my dinner.  We might be having liver and onions that night. 

But what was she trying to communicate – that the roast would become toast if I ate a cookie?

That wasn’t it.  She just wanted to take my appetite and direct it towards dinner, rather than allow it to be fooled by a snack.  She was concerned with what I needed, not what I wanted.

Sometimes I wonder if God does not parent us in the same way. 

As we age, our bodies show the scars of time.  I can still see the discolored spot in the heel of my hand where I accidentally punctured it with a pencil in Junior High School. 

The physical aches and the pains from the breaks and the strains of the past catch up with us.  They become the eventual cause of knee and hip replacements.  Aleve can relieve some of it, but there is much left to courageously endure. 

The only time I feel really good these days is right after a colonoscopy.  That anesthetic is amazing. 

Our aches and pains create somewhat of an appetite – to be healed and pain free.  That becomes our pet prayer, doesn’t it?  “God I just want to sleep without that shoulder pain tonight, would you please help me?”  But God sometimes says, “I could give you a snack, but it will spoil your dinner.”  

He used the apostle Paul to explain.  In 2 Cor 5:1-3 Paul compared the human body to a tent that is breaking down.  He wrote, “For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.  For in this earthly house we groan, because we desire to put on our heavenly dwelling…”

Paul wanted us to know that it is standard operating procedure for the human body to break down over time.  We can thank Adam and Eve for that legacy. 

But he went on to argue that the sad state of our bodies, creates in us an appetite for an eternal home, not built by human hands.  He says, “we groan – with desire” for that time when we will be given glorified bodies in heaven – where we will be forever pain free.  

That’s what we really need, and our bodies desire it.  They groan for it. 

I’ll tell you – that hour between 4 and 5 was tough.  I had been playing all day, and my body had burned every calorie over twice.  I was in pain – hunger pain.  Didn’t my mom care about that? 

Sure, she did, but she also knew that the pain would be brief.   At 5 she would serve up a fantastic meal that would satisfy both my appetite and the nutritional needs of my body. 

But hey it’s OK to pray for healing too.  The apostle John wrote to those he loved and he said, “I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.” –  3 John 2

It isn’t inappropriate to ask for a snack.   But don’t let it ruin your appetite.

A PRAYER: O Lord give us the grace we need to suffer through the present and help us fix our hope on what is to come. 

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavnpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you 

Scripture references are from NETBible.org ®

fik it daddy — June 2, 2021

fik it daddy

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audio version

My boy learned that I was a handy man.   The toddler would run in the room and hold up a Lego car that had crumbled in his hand and say, “Fik it daddy!”   So, I did.  At other times the fix would require a screw or some glue, but I always managed to “fik it” for him.

All of my kids looked to me to be a fixer.  The third-grade class shunned my daughter – the new kid.  I sent her to school the next day with treats to share with her class.  Crisis averted. 

My son K.C. acquired a car that required lots of attention.  I believe that he and I replaced twice as many parts as the car actually had.  But dad was there to “fik it” for him.

I was famous for fixing with my kids, but the challenges became more complicated as they grew older.   

K.C. has a darling little 6-year-old girl who is facing open heart surgery.  They will break the sternum of my granddaughter which breaks my heart.  It was a horribly tough decision for mom and dad to make, but the surgeon says it’s necessary to seal and heal the hole in her heart.  They are stressed but intent on trusting God. 

As for me, I just want to “fik it.”  I want to fix it more than anything I have ever fixed.  I want to find a way around it – a way to address the problem without doing the surgery.  But, it’s just not possible says the doc. 

It’s a helpless feeling to be a fixer, who is unable to fix.

And yet it is not a new experience for me.

Many years ago, I worked as a maintenance man in an apartment complex.  I was tasked with installing a new dish washer.  I pulled the old one out and slipped the new one into place. 

I still needed to connect the machine to the water supply.  I lay on the floor and reached underneath it with my crescent wrench to the very back of the unit.  It was an awkward stretch.

I labored and I sweat over it for a good ten minutes.  I paused to rest and then gave it several more frustrating minutes.  It didn’t happen.  I wanted to swear but I didn’t.  (OK I might have thought a word or two) 

I stopped and lay flat on the floor in exasperation really close to tears. 

I prayed – sort of.  I reminded God that I had a job to do.  There was no one else to do it.  But it wasn’t happening

And right then He brought to my mind something I had read in my devotional time the night before.   Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.” – John 15:5

It was that last part that parted my skull, “apart from me you can accomplish nothing.”

I thought, “Nothing?  Not even making a water connection?”  He whispered, “Not even that.” 

So, I asked the Lord to help this humbled helpless fixer.

With a new attitude and my divine plumber’s helper, I picked up the crescent wrench (which I had previously thrown across the room) and went back to work.  

And I, or should I say we – succeeded on the very first attempt. 

Well this situation with my granddaughter is far more beyond my control than was the dishwasher.  It is not beyond His, however. 

So, my wife and I have been praying for months now in preparation for the surgery.  It is proper that we do.  John the apostle wrote this in his third epistle, “I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.”  (vrs. 2)

So, encouraging!  John prayed for the health of those he loved – and so do we.

In fact, tonight, when my wife and I pray together again, we will say to our all-powerful and incredibly gracious Father in heaven, “Fik it Daddy!”

A PRAYER: “Daddy, you are always there when life breaks down.  Remind us to pray when we think we can fix it without you.”

All Scripture References from the NET Bible ®