Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: christianity

give yourself — February 12, 2025

give yourself

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I was in the car along with my wife who isn’t always happy with my driving.  But she did a remarkable job of restraining herself.  She didn’t stomp on an imaginary brake or close her eyes when I passed another car.  In fact, when we arrived, she said, “Thank you!”

I said, “Well you’re welcome.”  She said, “I was talking to God!” Just kidding, my wife loves the way I drive.  OK I’m just kidding about that too.

In truth, I greatly treasure my wife, which is why the following story intrigues me. 

A hospice chaplain took on an older man as a patient.  Oddly, the man’s ex-wife volunteered to become his primary caregiver.  Now though they had divorced many years earlier she showed up to assist him in his time of need. 

He was dying, and yet the two of them talked and then decided to remarry.  The chaplain asked his wife why.  There was no insurance policy, nor could he leave her a house or possessions to amount to much.  Their children were not pressuring them.  So why remarry? 

She said, “When we were young, he gave me homes, and cars, and jewelry and much more.  But he never gave me himself.  But now that’s all he has to give.”

That was all he had left to give, and yet it was the best thing he could give.  It was a treasure that should have been shared with her since the day they first said, “I do.”  Some of us may remember these words from our marriage ceremony, “Now that you have been given to each other…”

That’s the simple essence of a marriage – giving ourselves to each other – our heart and soul – manifested by sharing, listening, serving and being with one another; caring for the hurts and pains of each other; sacrificing to benefit one another and being faithful not only in body but soul, to each other.   

If you are married, take a hint. Make sure you are giving yourself to your spouse.  Tune in to him/her.  Listen, empathize, laugh together, cry together, lose yourself to benefit each other and spend lots of time together.  Your marriage will thrive and grow as you do. 

Do you need some help?  Look to the Lord!  Think on the way that He has loved us.  Paul described it in Galatians 2:20 where he wrote that the Son of God, “loved me and gave himself for me.”   Jesus gave Himself.  But how? 

He laid aside His prerogatives as God and clothed Himself in flesh in order to be with us – so that He could walk and talk and do life with us. 

In His quest, He endured misunderstanding and misrepresentation.  He turned the other cheek just as He directed us to do.  With patience and determination, He stuck with us. 

And though we fled from Gethsemane when He was arrested, and hid from the cross when He was crucified, He continued in His commitment to us.

He quietly endured the brutal suffering of crucifixion, the abandonment at His burial and then enjoyed the glory of being raised again.  This is how He gave Himself – all of Himself, leaving nothing left for Himself. 

I am guessing that’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her” Ephesians 5:25. 

There is that phrase again. He, “gave himself.”

I have found that the more we give ourselves, the more of us we have to give.  The more of my life that I lay down for others, the more life the Lord gives to me. 

Like the fishes and loaves – as they were given away and distributed, they were replaced by more and more in the hands of the master.

So, give yourself!  To your spouse for sure, and even your children and most certainly to the Lord. 

Give yourself – because it’s the only thing of real value that you have to give?

A PRAYER: Lord, help me understand what I may be holding back from my wife, and You and others.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

Scripture references are from the NETBible ®

how do we know there is a heaven? — January 15, 2025

how do we know there is a heaven?

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I am sometimes asked about the crazy name of my blog, pickleheavenpress!   So what is pickle heaven!  

It is a figment of my imagination!  I was once a poor college student with a lovely wife and 2 darling preschoolers.  Money was tight, but we made it a once-a-week treat to go for some fast food.

The kids would ask, “Daddy, can we go to McDonald’s?”  I would tease them and say, “Well I was thinking I might like to go to that new place called Pickle Heaven.”  Of course it didn’t exist, but they didn’t know that. 

They whined.  They didn’t want a pickle!  “OK McDonald’s it is then.”  Each week for nearly a year, I would suggest Pickle Heaven, but I was always out voted. Then one day I asked, “Where do you all want to eat tonight?”  My 4-year replied, “Daddy, maybe we should try Pickle Heaven.”  Oops. 

My sweet, naïve, children trusted me and assumed that a restaurant called Pickle Heaven actually existed. But what about the heaven we cherish? 

Could it also be a figment of our collective imagination? 

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to fly in outer space in 1961.  When he arrived, he looked around the heavens for God.  He didn’t see Him, so he declared, ‘Boga Nyet!’, which translates, ‘There is no God!’

And yet, I certainly believe heaven exists and here’s why. 

The Scripture speaks of it

Scripture is our primary and utterly reliable source of truthful information.  It clearly affirms the existence of heaven.  There is the OT assertion in Psalm 23

 “And I will dwell I the house of the Lord forever.”  And there is the NT corroboration where heaven in mentioned 228 times.  Jesus promised the thief on the cross that the two of them would be together in Paradise that very day they died (Luke 23:43).  If heaven is a piece of fiction, then Jesus misled us.

Belief in heaven is a universal phenomenon

The university of Oxford sanctioned a study involving 57 researchers who conducted over 40 separate studies in 20 countries that represented a diverse range of cultures. Their goal was to find if concepts such as God and an afterlife are taught generation to generation or are they imprinted at birth.  The studies found that belief in an afterlife is a universal and innate part of being a human being.  Throughout time, in every culture and place, people have possessed a belief in the afterlife.   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110714103828.htm

This is no surprise!  Solomon described this phenomenon in Ecclesiastes 3:11 saying, “He (God) has set eternity in the hearts of men.”

There have been eyewitnesses to heaven

As a hospice chaplain I have been privileged to hear stories and sometimes even witness the transition of people into the afterlife.  Just recently one of my patients, an elderly Christian woman, was unconscious for a couple of days.  Then she unexpectedly sat up and fixed her gaze on something beyond the walls.  She reached out her hand and said, “Jesus” and then soon passed.  

Just recently my friend lost his daughter to a terminal disease.   According to him, her very last thrill-filled words were, Wow! Wow! Wow! 

Most hospice workers have witnessed similar stories.  

But where is heaven?  We don’t know.  Author Randy Alcorn says, “It’s referred to as “up” in location in the Bible (Luke 9:51) It could be a place in the universe beyond the earth or it may exist entirely outside of our space-time continuum.  (In Light of Eternity, pg. 28)

God hasn’t revealed the exact address of heaven, maybe to avoid the scads of folks who would try to locate it and barge their way in.  Yet, we have proof that there is a heaven, and that Jesus is the way to get there. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.

I sure hope to see you there!

A PRAYER: Lord, thank You for making room for me and all those I love.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Scripture passages are from the NIV

the secret of Chick-fil-A — November 6, 2024

the secret of Chick-fil-A

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I passed by the Chick-fil-A today.  As usual the drive-through was jam-packed with fowl-hungry feeders. 

I sometimes wonder why the chain is so successful.  True, the food is tasty, and the employees are friendly. But I suspect the most important factor has to do with their practice of closing on Sundays.

Obviously, the Lord has blessed their commitment to honor the Lord’s Day, but I think there is more.  You see, when we drive by a Chick-fil-A store, we experience a subconscious urge – a thought that goes something like this: “I can’t always get this when I want it, so I’m gonna get me some right now.”

Let’s face it – we are chicken hoarders.

But seriously, the fear of going without, tends to fuel a stockpile syndrome within us.  That pallet of post-Covid toilet paper in your garage is proof enough.

The prices these days only seem to exaggerate this tendency.  The cost of the basics jump up every week. We want to buy 3 of an item at the current price because we know it will be more expensive the next time.  

I was shocked recently to find that my car insurance went down by a couple dollars.  .05% to be exact. I nearly cried tears of joy.

OK, but what if we had an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-caring, greater than life God, who would intervene and actively care for us?  Would that be enough to quiet that fear?

According to Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ and His disciples were well overdue for some R&R time.   So, they took a cruise on the sea of Galilee to a lonely place to be by themselves (6:31) But the ambitious mob that followed Him, took off on foot, and intercepted them on the other side.    

Jesus saw them and understood their desperate need.  Mark says, “He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (6:34).  Because of that compassion, He reengaged and began to feed them with His life-giving teaching.

It turned out to be an all-day session.  The sun began to dip beneath the sea and His disciples wanted to wrap things up because it was dinner time.  They were in a desolate place, and they told Jesus that the people were hungry. Or maybe it’s because the disciples were hungry. 

There wasn’t enough money to feed the multitude and even if there was, the nearest bodega was many miles away.  Of course, that’s when Jesus decided that He would literally take things into His own hands, by miraculously multiplying the 5 loaves and 2 fish.

But what I find curious is that the event started with some instructions, “Then He directed them all to sit down in groups on the green grass” Mark 6:39.

How peculiar!  Why specify that they needed to be seated on “green grass?”  Why was this minor detail so important to Jesus? 

Well maybe because green grass is not necessarily common there.   The land is brimming with rocks and dirt.  There is green for a short part of the year until the heat quickly turns the grass brown.   But evidently there was some green grass nearby, and Jesus insisted that they get off the rocks and dirt and sit upon the grass.

Why? Well, where else would you expect sheep to be when it was dinner time?  Those sheep without a shepherd were led to graze in green pastures by the Good Shepherd who deeply loved them and made sure they had what they needed.

I believe Jesus wanted them to connect their experience with Psalm 23 where David wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” (Psalm 23:1-2) KJV

What a wonderful picture of Jesus our Good Shepherd!

Hey, maybe it’s time for us to lose the hoarding mentality.  Let’s leave the rocks and dirt behind and trust Him to provide the green grass.

A PRAYER: Lord, we want to trust You and your provision.  Please strengthen our faith!

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Scripture passages are from the NETBible ® unless otherwise noted.

my redneck tesla — September 11, 2024

my redneck tesla

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I decided to convert an old Toyota Sienna into a camper van.  My kids thought I was crazy (and I guess I am).  I had fun doing the conversion myself.  Now folks who follow behind me on the road may be puzzled by the 3-prong household plug that pokes out of my van.   I tell people that’s where I connect my redneck Tesla to the charging station.

Power is necessary to redneck Teslas and to Christians in general.  Our gracious God understands this, and He provided the Holy Spirit to be our charging station.

So, what do we know about the Holy Spirit?   He is not an “it” or a “something,” nor is He the holy “influence” of the Father.  Seven times Jesus referred to Him as a “He” in John 16.  For instance, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13).  He is a full-fledged person possessing intellect, emotion, and a will.  

Granted, He is a different kind of person, existing as a spirit.   But He has the capacity to manifest Himself in a physical form such as He did at the Baptism of Jesus.  Then He appeared in a form that compared to a dove (Matthew 3:16).  

What’s more is that He is a “holy” Spirit – a member of our triune Godhead.  He possesses the same attributes as God.  He is all knowing (1 Corinthians 2:10-12); all powerful (Job 33:4); omnipresent (John 14:16); and eternal (Hebrews 9:14).

All three were present at the Baptism of Jesus.  The Father spoke from heaven, the Spirit descended from heaven, as the Son was dipped in the waters of the Jordan (Matthew 3:16-17)

And He plays an extremely important role in the life of the believer.  When Jesus ascended to heaven, He made sure that His replacement descended and took up residence in the life of a every born-again Christian.  The apostles and their brethren were gifted on the day of Pentecost.  Believers today receive Him the moment we come to faith (Ephesians 1:13).

His role is to teach us (John 16:14); to convict us of sin (John 16:8); to intercede for us (Romans 8:26) to guide us (John 16:13); to gift us (1 Corinthians 12:4-11); and especially to empower us.

Before Jesus left, He wanted His disciples to know that the Spirit would be sent to energize their efforts.  He told them to, “Stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” – Luke 24:49. Like an American Express Card, they were not to leave home without it.

This Pentecostal power filled their prayers so that the supernatural became a reality (Acts 12:5-8). It bathed them in courage and conviction to be bold witnesses of the risen Christ (Acts 1:8).  It strengthened their battered hopes (Romans 15:13); and provided a means with which to resist the caustic influence of sin (Ephesians 3:14-21). He empowered them, and today empowers us to live victorious lives.

And this power is continuously supplied.  We don’t need to stop every 272 miles and plug into an EV charging station and sit there baking beneath the windshield for 10 hours. 

This power is always there for us, unless we should offend the Spirit.   Because this power comes through a person, we can sometimes disappoint and even grieve that person through spiritual insensitivity, disobedience or rejection (Ephesians 4:30).  When this happens, the power goes poof!

And there amid the 12- lane highway of life, during rush hour, with the draft of semis shaking our car – we helplessly sit – powerless.   

But because He is a gracious and forgiving God, He welcomes a contrite plea for forgiveness and will respond to a request to be filled again (Ephesians 5:18).  He is our recharging station, and how blessed we are that He resides within us. 

If your spiritual batteries are full, good for you!  If not, talk to the Holy Spirit about it.   

A Prayer: Lord, more power please!

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you!

Scripture passages are from the NETBible®

no skin off his feet — May 22, 2024

no skin off his feet

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I have a friend who has three passions: basketball, the guitar and frugality.  One day they all came together.  It was in his college days when he played a lot of hoops.  So much in fact, that he often developed large blisters on the soles of his feet.

He would meticulously cut away the dead skin and apply ointment to his wounds.  But one day he looked at an excised patch of skin and wondered. 

He placed it between some books for a few days, where it dried out and became perfectly hard and flat.  He then trimmed it into the shape of a guitar pick. 

Pleased with his new economical creation, he began to strum his guitar.  Unfortunately, his organic guitar pick, quickly disintegrated into a puff.  The skin of his foot turned to dust in his hands. 

What a great reminder of the truth in Genesis 3:19. Adam and Eve had forfeited everlasting life in the garden when they chose to snub the will of God.   God detailed their consequences in this way, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat food, until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”    

Dust from whence we came, and dust to where we’ll all go.   From Adam to the present day, the number crunchers believe that about 109 billion people have lived and died.  That’s a pretty big dust heap, isn’t it? 

The fine folks of the funeral industry tell us that “dust to dust” is not just a poetic expression.  It takes considerable time, but the final remains of a person are eventually reduced to a handful of dust. 

This stark reality prompted Job, the Old Testament Patriarch to ask the question, “If a man dies, will he live again?” – Job 14:14

Good question!  Will he?  Will a person who dies ever live again? 

Jesus must have thinking of Job when He spoke these words in John 11:25. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies…”

Yes, a person can overcome death and live again IF they have believed in Jesus. 

This life comes to us in at least two installments. In John 10:10 the Savior said, “I have come so that they may have life and may have it abundantly.”

He assumes what many of us experience.  We wander through life like zombies.  There is a deadness that grips our emotions and strangles our hopes and dreams.  It is a shallowness that cheats our relationships with others and with God.  We often feel like a soda that’s lost its fizz! 

But Jesus promised to resurrect us from this soul death with new life – abundant life.  A life worth living and wonderfully rewarding. 

The second installment comes later.  In 1 Cor 15:51-52 Paul wrote, “Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” 

A time will come when the dust of those 109 billion will be stirred and the saved will be raised to everlasting life. 

But how can we be sure?  There are other isms that hold to some form of resurrection.  They may believe it, but only one faith leader has died and has been raised to life again – and that would be Jesus.

On the third day He arose again according to the Scripture and there were over 500 skeptics who saw Him, spoke with Him and were convinced.  (1 Corinthians 15:6)  We shall be raised by that same almighty power.

It’s good to know that no dust cloth will be needed in heaven.

A Prayer: Lord what a wonderful hope you have given us.   Help us be generous enough to share the news of it with others.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord be with you always.

Scripture passages are from the NET Bible ®

the way we drive — May 15, 2024

the way we drive

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It occurred to me the other day that the way we drive a car tends to reflect the way we do life in general.  The reckless teenage boy screams around the corner assuming he is all but immortal.  The cautious elderly lady motors along a good ten miles below the speed limit.   We really do tend to express our personalities by the way we drive.

So, what if they traveled by car in the first century?  What if Jesus had entered Jerusalem in a Mustang convertible instead of on the foal of a donkey? 

Let’s start with Paul. I picture him in an ambulance, screaming along at 120 miles per hour, passing through town after town with the life-saving message of the Gospel.  He actually was quite a driven individual.

Peter, we might find pulled over by a car with red flashing lights.  The patrol officer says, “You were going 70 in a 50 mile an hour zone.  Peter says, “I did not!” “Yes, you did!” says the officer.”  “It wasn’t me!”  “Yes it was,” says the officer.  To which Peter replies, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Then suddenly a song from Sheryl Crow begins to play on the car radio.

Clueless Philip, he would be the guy driving the wrong way on a one-way street. 

You might find doubting Thomas arguing with his wife in the car.  “Thomas the GPS says turn here!”  “I don’t believe it,” he says.

Diabolical Judas, he would be the guy who bypasses the traffic jam by driving on the shoulder of the road.  Ooh I detest that guy.

We might find the sons of thunder, James and John, duking it out over a parking spot.  

And Jesus, well He might just pick up every hitchhiker He saw.  And when they left His car He might say, “Go and hike no more.”

Goofy thoughts for sure, but it illustrates the fact that we express our personalities by the way we drive.

And I am ashamed to admit this – because my driving has often sent the wrong message.  When I was a young Christian, there was a bumper sticker that was popular with believers.  It said, “Honk if you love Jesus.”   People assumed I was a passionate Christian because I honked all the time – but it was out of frustration rather than a love for my Lord. 

I have been challenged by words like these in Titus 2:7-8.  There Paul encouraged Titus to… “be an example of good works in every way. In your teaching show integrity, dignity, and a sound message that cannot be criticized, so that any opponent will be at a loss because he has nothing evil to say about us.”  

Titus was to be a good example in, “every way.”  This surely would have included his driving habits!  For him it possibly meant, “make sure you maintain a safe distance from the donkey ahead of you.” 

For us it means to be polite on the road.  If you are cut off don’t go racing after the perpetrator in rage.    Yield that parking spot to the elderly man in the station wagon.   Respect the laws including the speed limit. 

Paul told him that a good example should especially permeate the way that Titus delivered the Gospel message.   To do anything less would open the door to criticism and provide fodder for the Gospel foes. 

Oh my!  I know there were times when I had just taught a Bible study and then drove home in a way that tarnished the message I had just delivered.  Sometimes I would honk at someone and then hope that they were not from my church.

Well, I am glad to say that as the Word of God has taken root in my life, I am far more patient and attentive to the rules of the road than I once was.  I hope the same can be said of you. 

A Prayer: Lord I know I’ll be tested again in this area.  Help me to respond well!

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you always!

Scripture quotations are from the NETBible ®

a full cup — March 28, 2024

a full cup

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Our church was participating in communion.  A group of us stood at a table.  The bread had been received and we were preparing to drink the grape juice.  The pastor held up a tiny cup and said to us, “This is the cup of His blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. Take and drink.” 

And we did – except for the guy standing right next to me.  His cup was empty – dry as a bone.  Wow!  I wondered, “What sin did this guy commit that was so bad that he was denied communion?”   

Or maybe this was still another evidence of “shrinkflation.”  Just not enough Welch’s in the bottle to serve everyone.  

Well, it’s most likely that the juice in the cup had leaked out or those who had pre-filled the cups accidentally skipped over that one.

Regardless of why, the pastor quickly handed the confused guy a replacement – and he was able to commune with the Lord and us.

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic rite, but our little service made me wonder, “Is it possible for an individual to stand before God one day, and find that he too is holding an empty cup?”

Communion was given to perpetually remind us that Christ shed His blood on a cross to cleanse us from sin and put us in good standing with God. 

So, I suppose the question here is, “Did Jesus shed His blood for some and not all?”  John the Baptist said no.  He saw Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29. According to John there is a cup for everyone – world-wide.

Jesus also told us that His sacrifice was for all.  He said in John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  He gave Himself for the lives of those in the entire world!

Paul agreed in 1 Timothy 2:6 where he told us that Jesus gave himself as a “ransom for all.”

Evidently there is a cup of redemption poured out and prepared for every individual who will have ever lived.  No one will ever peer into an empty cup when they stand before the Lord.

But – not all will be redeemed!   Though Christ died for the whole world, many in the world will nevertheless perish in their sins.

I have officiated at many communion services, and inevitably there have always been some present who have declined to participate.   Their reasons varied, but for some, they chose to let the tray pass, because they did not identify with Christ.  They had never come to believe in Him and trust Him as their Savior.

Maybe they came to church out of curiosity.  Or maybe they were grandparents who were visiting family and the family asked them to go to church with them.

But the tray is passed to grandpa, and grandpa quickly passes it on.  There was a full cup prepared for him in that tray, but he let it slip by – a tragedy.

Equally tragic – I recently sat down and spoke with a mother, who had come to faith late in life.  But she was passionate about Jesus and wanted her adult son to have his chance to meet the Lord. 

So, she set the cup before him, but he refused to drink.   This mom is now profoundly sad, because her boy was recently involved in a car accident which took his life.

She is inconsolable now because he is gone and because he had never come to Jesus.  She doesn’t expect to ever see him again. 

The cup is full!  Continue to drink from its lifegiving flow if you know Him.  Take your first sip if you don’t.   

A Prayer: Lord thank you that there is a cup of redemption for each one of us.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you always.

Biblical references from the NET Bible ®