Secret Heroes and Memorial Day

 bob-maclafferty  1 Response »
May 252015
 

Heidi Heming, 27 yrs-old, left, of Chattanooga, Tenn. is comforted by volunteer Marina Clifford, 12 yrs-old, while visiting a loved one's gravesite at Section 60 on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, Monday, May 27, 2013. Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are buried in Section 60. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)Here I sit, Memorial Day morning, in my safe house, on my safe street, in my safe valley. It is so easy to forget that every day, someone is risking, someone is wounded, someone is dying, for that comfortable safety I feel right now. When someone pokes fun at a young woman in uniform in the airport, leaving family and friends behind, does that make her risk less? When a fellow customer impatiently pushes past a limping middle-aged veteran, does that make his wound any less permanent? When a government leader callously minimizes a passed veterans service with careless public rhetoric, does that make his death any less of a sacrifice?

At this very minute, in every hospital in America, and at Ukiah Valley Medical Center, skilled laboratorians practice their trade using experience and technology to support you and your loved ones today. Helping to diagnose infections, strokes, heart attacks. Providing safe blood for trauma victims. Giving answers to tough questions every hour of every day. If you don’t know of their presence, does that make their duties less critical? If you don’t understand what they do, does that make their knowledge less important? If you don’t know why they serve, does that make their service more trivial?

At this second, my Jesus stands in heaven, wrist-ripping scars still evident, the single living veteran who gave His life in a war on crime, a war against evil, a war to bring down the sin walls of separation between us and the Father. If you don’t believe in Him this morning, does that make His sacrifice less valuable? If you don’t acknowledge His role in your life and future, does that make His love for you any less intense? If you refuse to admit that there is such a Person, does that mean that He didn’t die just for you?

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  -John 15:13 NIV.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  -Romans 5:8 NIV.

On this Memorial Day,

To members of our Armed Services here and abroad, even if we don’t acknowledge you, to laboratorians serving you right now, even if we don’t know of you, to Jesus, dying for me and for you, even if you don’t believe in Him, I say thank you, thank you, and Thank You!

Identity Crisis

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
May 022015
 

identityI finally reached the dusty counter of the country store. I reached back for my wallet… It was gone! All my cash was gone. Worse, I realized that my  identity, my I.D. card, was gone as well! Still worse, I didn’t know the name that was on it. I didn’t know my name! The last large town, I remembered showing my I.D. and having someone tell me, “Sorry, that name is already in use. You’ll have to pick another name!”

A new name? But I’ve always had this name! It made no sense to me, but I had dutifully gotten a new I.D. card with a new name, Freddie. I’d only had the new name for a week when I realized I had lost it. I couldn’t remember my new name! My brother  walked over just then  and said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure that when you called Mom about your name change, she wrote it on the calendar!”

And then I woke up! What a dream. The rest of the story, including a cattle drive, a handful of Chinese toddlers and a bag of bread…. well we’ll just leave it at that.

I actually did call my Mom early yesterday morning, more as a joke than anything, I think. Just checking the calendar.

So, if I was in doubt about my identity, who better to call than Mom! Mom and Dad gave me a name before I was born. They guarded my first steps. The guided my words and actions as I grew. They built things into me that became who I am. Regardless of my foibles as a child or adult, they always remind me where I belong and that I have a place in their hearts. That is a powerful and grounding thing.

Not all of us are blessed with receiving powerful and grounding identity from their parents. There is still one better source for identity. One best source for connection and belonging.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!     -1 John 3:1 NIV.

Look higher! There is one foolproof method for determining who you are. One reliable Source for clarifying your  identity. One Person who is sure of who you are, who wants you and always has.

I am called a child of God. And that is who I am!

 

The Truth will Set You Free

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Feb 282015
 

The truth will set you freeJess fumed and sputtered to herself,”Here it is, our fifth anniversary and he’s already forgetting! “The truth will set you free,” what kind of sarcastic text response is that? I’ll bet he comes home with a pitiful box of Great Value chocolates… and not even dark chocolate! If I find a Walmart receipt for after 6:00pm, I’ll… well I’ll… well I don’ t know what I’ll do, but he’ll become reacquainted with the couch tonight, that’s for sure!”

Over the next hour, she heard rustling and banging from the back deck, but she refused to even go to that side of the house. Suddenly she heard a tentative knock on the back door. She ignored it, thinking of the unwanted chocolates. A minute passed. Another gentle knock. Sighing, she resigned herself to her fate and got up, stomping her way through the house. She opened the back door with an exaggerated sigh….

and her mouth dropped open as she stared at her allegedly forgetful husband, dressed in a tuxedo, standing by a table complete with a linen tablecloth. The deck was lit with torches, soft music playing from somewhere. China, silver, and crystal shone in the light of two tall candles gracing the table. She saw pasta, steamed vegetables, a small salad, crusty bread in a basket, and a chocolate cheesecake waiting on a side table. And yes, it was DARK chocolate!
“May I escort you to your usual table, ma’am?” he said with a smile.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 NIV.

How often do we spend energy worrying up ideas in our heads about what might be, when the truth is actually far better, or at least not near as bad as we imagine? Can you think of an example in the last few weeks?

Maybe you make assumptions about a teenager and their homework. Maybe you imagine someone at work snubbing you. Maybe missing a church meeting notification has you assuming you are being excluded.

Later you find out that the teen stopped to help a struggling, elderly neighbor cover some bushes before the night’s frost. Your friend at work was fighting a fever and was about to go home sick. You wrote your email address down for the church secretary as .com instead of .net. The truth will set you free. Free from worrying about fairness, free from anger, free from misguided angry thoughts and responses.

I choose to leave the assumptions for others. Will you? Let’s focus on what really is, instead of what might be. If you do, as Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.”

A Good Place to Turn Around

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Feb 212015
 
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Have you ever messed up and thought, “How am I ever going to get out of this mess? How do I get this turned around?  I know I have. I’m not going to be talking about my mess today, but someone else’s mess.

A friend comes to you and says, “I’ve really blew it. I borrowed your mower without asking and just backed over it with my truck.” You’re thinking, “That was a BRAND NEW MOWER! I just gassed it up. I just started it once. It’s not even dirty yet!”

I hear second hand that an employee has been very critical of me behind my back. I call her into my office and ask for an explanation. She breaks down crying and said that a decision I made had upset her and she had just started to be openly critical about everything.

Coming in from working in the yard, you surprise your son taking cash from your wallet on the dresser. He desperately tries to cover up.

Made a mess of my whole life
Burned every bridge I crossed
Am I too far gone? Which way is home?
How did I get so lost?

I’m looking for a good place to turn around
And get off this road that I’m headed down
I’ve gotta find some peace of mind
Lord, send a sign somehow
I just need a good place to turn around. –Point of Grace

What environment do I create for people around me who have made mistakes? An environment of criticism, judgement, punishment, and separation? Or do I recognize the wrong deed, accept the apology, lavish forgiveness, and cultivate a renewed relationship?

Do I create a good place for others to turn around? I know Jesus does. Each time, every time. I count on it. Can others count on me for a safe place to turn around? Can I forgive and forget the past and allow others to start over? Making messes, burning bridges, lost… all of us, sooner or later, just need a good place to turn around.

 

Second Coming Caboose

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Feb 072015
 

cabooseWhat do you know about cabooses? For some reason, I woke up early this morning, thinking about cabooses, punctuation, and Jesus’ Second Coming. I know that sounds strange. Hang on and see where this train takes me.

While growing up, I’d strain to see the caboose while waiting at a rail crossing, seeing it as a sign that the end of the train was coming. These were a manned safety feature of most trains until the 1980’s. They can still be seen on legacy trains like our own Skunk Train that crosses Mendocino County, even though they are more common in model trains.

Functional or not, we always watched for the caboose as a dramatic end to the train’s thundering, whistling magic. We might not focus on any number of interesting and colorful boxcars lumbering by, but “There’s the caboose!”

Writing experts among us might screech and complain about its misuse and abuse, but the exclamation point is the way we make a dramatic end to a statement that excites us. A period with vertical flair, An end with blast off potential! “I love you, oh, so much!” I say to my girls. BAM! A statement I want them to focus on. “This is important!” the exclamation point says. “Look here!”

My Bible tells me that Jesus is coming to pick up His friends one day soon. I am at peace, knowing that He’s coming for me. Yes, imperfect, messed up, failing me. Obviously not because of my perfection (there ain’t any),but because I belong to Him, period. I mean exclamation! With earthshaking sound and mind blowing graphics, He’ll come to mark the end of our time living apart!

 “Look, I am coming soon! Revelation 22:12 NIV.

Now that deserves an exclamation point! While I am blessed with peace and strength and joy in the middle of  the struggle and pain and loss we experience on this ailing planet, I know He plans much more for me, and soon!

Whether I think of it as a caboose or an exclamation point, it will be a dramatic end to this part of the journey and the victorious start of the next!

Is God Real to Me?

 bob-maclafferty, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Jan 232015
 

I need to rant about God for a few moments. I see popular blogs bashing churches. I see blogs bashing the bashers. Why people are walking out of churches. Why churches think some people should leave….  Why churches think their God only lives within their walls of stained glass and soaring ceilings. Everyone has their opinion of what is real and true.

What is real to me? Is God real to me? Do I even know what that means? What do I really know? Here it is….

Deep in the woods, standing before a roaring waterfall, I grew hoarse raging at God for what was happening in my life. And what do I hear? Him telling me to let it all out. Him trading my anger for peace. That was real.

I struggle through my work week, fighting resentment, defensiveness, selfishness, and impatience. I ignore Him in my actions and words. I fail to reflect Him to my coworkers. And yet, when I come crawling back, exhausted and disillusioned, I feel Him clearly whispering to start again and refreshing forgiveness washes over me. Real.

I walk alone through my beloved redwoods at dawn. Shocked into silence as I crane my neck to see the tops of the trees crowding around me. I can’t seem to choke out a word as I am humbled by the evidence of my Creator God everywhere I turn. That… is so real.

I slide into the pew at church. I feel a strong hand grip my shoulder. Turning, I see white hair and a big smile. My good friend looks me straight in the eye and asks me how I am.  He listens to my doubt and discouragement without wavering or letting go. That…. is God real.

I see a nurse who never, whether in the back of a kindergarten class at church, or zipping down the hall in the hospital, never…ever passes me without a hug. God…in that hug… is real.

I wrestle with indecision, pushing God for answers, the problem too confusing for me to unravel. I finally drop off to sleep. I come sharply awake at 2am and cannot go back to sleep. Rising, I prowl the house, scavenge coffee, end up in my office, writing as my listening turns into thoughts and words and clarity. Wisdom beyond me. An answer full of balance, strength and grace. That is real.

I know what I feel and hear from God in my life. That is real. I match that with what I read in the Bible and it fits.

I know that while I was yet a sinner, Jesus gave His life for mine. I know that He takes me each and every day where I am, and pulls me closer and closer to Him. When I speak harsh words at home, when I criticism creep into my voice with my girls, when my words to coworkers come out sharp and unkind, when I harbor dark thought about those who have wronged me, when I am disgusted with my procrastination and waste, when I ignore hurting people in my path, He takes my sinful, messed up self, just like that, with no qualifications or limits, no reservations or conditions,no prerequisites or boundaries, and sometimes whispers, sometimes pounds a message into my heart. I am loved. I am accepted. I am treasured. I am wanted.  That is real.

I celebrate by letting Him work on me, believing that His work will make me look more like Him. Real.

Is God real to me as I read through a dusty lesson at church, struggling over a teaching full of polysyllabic words and churchisms? Not so much. But His love is real through the touch and acceptance of those around me. Is God real to me as I see church members pulled apart by worship and music style arguments? No, but He is real to me as I lead children singing, “Jesus loves me, this I know…” Is God real to me as I see all the pride, vanity, deceit, selfishness, apathy, and blindness in church? Yes, since all those things find their way into my life and I know I have plenty of like company there. And I know that what’s real is a God who loves to have us bring to Him all our broken puzzle pieces so He can heal and complete and reset us.

Am I one of those walking out of church? Yes! Thank God, Yes! I walk out every week, still messed-up me, but reveling in His creation and hoping to serve. And I walk right back in the next week, to worship, sing, pray, and to touch other sinful, failing people just like me. Very real.

My Light, His Light

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Dec 132014
 

flashlightI love flashlights! I have lots of them. I have large 3 Dcell ones, tiny pocket-sized ones, solar-powered ones, hand-cranked generator ones,LED head-mounted ones, even one that generates a charge by shaking it! My latest is a very powerful compact model that can change brightness just by rotating my hand and remembers the mode it was in the last time it was used!

All the girls in my family have flashlights. Standard sized ones by the bed, Tiny pink ones in their purses. I love the technology. I love the light!

I love to be able to control what I see and when. With my flashlight, I can focus my attention on what is important to me. I can see what is at my feet. I can look at the path I want to take. I can exclude anything I choose.

My daughter, Kayla, and I spent lots of time one-on-one on our farm as she was growing up. Clearing fence rows, saddling up our horses to meet the sunrise on horseback.  In the evening, the barnyard lights would give us light to work by as we put away tools and tack for the day. Sometimes the moon would be full, bathing the pastures with light outside of the reach of the barn lights.

Some nights, with no moon, the night seemed pitch black. Needing to check a distant gate or fence, we would step away from the bright lights, turn our flashlights off, and walk hand in hand through wooded paths, edging through pastures, making our way across the farm. At first, we could see nothing, our eyes blinded by the artificial light of the barnyard. Moving further and further away, we started noticing our galaxy and others, uncounted millions of stars, bathing our world with light.

As our eyes adjusted, we could make out dark shapes of grazing horses. Soon we could differentiate heads and tails, then colors and smaller features. The further in time and distance we got from the barnyard, the more we could see. Still hand in hand, we confidently crossed the rest of the farm, seeing everything we needed with just the light God provided for us.

When we use our own, seemingly powerful, light sources, we choose what we see, we decide upon what to focus. When we use the light provided by the Creator God, the lights he made just for us on the fourth day of Creation, our horizons expand. We see as HE wants us to see. We see other paths, other beings, other directions.

When we walk in our own light, we selfishly go through our days, ignoring what God has in store for us. We miss the people right next to us, just outside the circle of our light. We ignore those needing a hand to hold, blinded to them. We make our own life directions, unaware of loftier goals, bigger obstacles, more heavenly missions, all seemingly unlit to our eyes blinded by our own light.

In your home, in your workplace, in your church today, turn off your light, grab the hand of someone next to you, and let your world and your direction be lit by the only One Who really knows the best path for you.

 shared at UVMC October 29,2014

 

Jonah’s Whale Overrated?

 bob-maclafferty  1 Response »
Nov 012014
 

whale and graceJonah and the whale. Such a dramatic story! Most of us have heard the story since we were children. The big takeaway message in the book of Jonah is a shocking surprise.

Let’s pick up the story post-whale. Jonah is finally following God’s instruction to go preach His word to the city of Nineveh, a city known as a hot bed of evil. “Forty days and this city’s going down!” Jonah preached. He anticipated fire from heaven, or some other dramatic end to evil and evildoers. In his self-righteousness, he preached with vigor and passion!

Wow, what an uplifting message! So full of hope, grace,  and promise! NOT! And yet, somehow, God spoke to the people of Nineveh and they turned to Him en mass. Even the king proclaimed,

“Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.” Jonah 3:8 NIV.

In spite of the message and the messenger, the entire city changed their focus, reaching out for something they had never experienced.

“Then God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion….   Jonah 3:10 NIV.

 “I knew you were going to do this!” Jonah complained to God. “That’s why I tried to get out of this gig in the first place! You are so full of grace and compassion! I told them they were going to die and You saved them. I’m so embarrassed. Just kill me now!”

Jonah stalked out of the city and found a bench to sit on so he could watch the city- just in case it still burst into flame. The sun burned down on him and he started to get very uncomfortable.  Suddenly, a God-powered vine grew up next to him and over his head, giving him refreshing and cooling shade! Jonah sighed. He was very happy about the vine.

Okay, you can’t tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor. First thing the next morning, He sent a worm to cut the vine and it quickly withered. A hot wind blew up and the sun beat mercilessly on his head and he started to feel light-headed. “Go ahead and kill me now,” he said to God once again.

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—     Jonah 4:9-11 NIV.

Over and over again, God teaches us. We ALL have sinned and come far short of his perfect plan for our lives. And yet, that fact fades into the background when overshadowed by His forgiveness and grace. Weak and wounded, faulty and fearful, He’ll take all comers, banishing all our history, mending our mangled lives, lifting us back up close to Him where He can patiently reshape us to look like Him. One crazy kind of love. Just sayin….

shared by Bob MacLafferty, devotional, Ukiah Valley Medical Center leadership, 9/29/2014.

But She Hit Me First! Fair or Not Fair?

 bob-maclafferty  1 Response »
Aug 302014
 

fair or not fairRANT WARNING! OK, I can’t count how many times I’ve had conversations with colleagues at work this month that were variations on, “But she hit me first!” “It’s not fair!” OMGoodness!

One deliberately slowed work down, neglected some tasks, spewed negative vibes all week, just because of a perceived wrong done to her by another. Something wasn’t fair to her. Something that was as much my fault as anyone and not really anyone’s fault.

One accelerated a complaint campaign, focused on one coworker who was perceived as getting preferential treatment. Caused unrest and total communication break down among coworkers.

When confronted for slipshod performance, one got verbally abusive and excused their behavior by claiming that it was someone else’s job anyway.

Two different situations where individuals make repetitive procedure omissions, not doing their jobs completely  just because everything in their work life isn’t arranged their way. Somehow things aren’t fair.

And no, not all of these are in my department! But they are within my sight and hearing. Patience is wearing thin. Frustration levels rising. I’m talking about mine!

Fairness is one of the most abused words in the workplace. More energy has been wasted on the job by individuals trying to ensure that they do not expend one more calorie of effort than anyone else around them. It’s the perfect method to help us all do just a little less each day. Working no harder than anyone next to us. Serving no more than anyone else. Helping only those who can somehow help us to the same degree. Offering our effort, talents, and abilities only to those who somehow are judged deserving by some invisible yardstick we use.

I am SO thankful that God does not teach fairness! I am grateful that His work for us is not measured by equivalent effort from us.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NIV.

God does not measure His actions by what we do. God does what He does because of Who He Is! No reciprocity expected. No tit for tat. No favor for a favor. No investment where there is guaranteed return. Good for goodness’ sake.

How can I model this in the workplace? How would my department or company feel if each one of us performed, cared, sweated, only measured by our ability to do so and completely independent of others actions? Forget about fair.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.  Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV.

I challenge myself to work and care like Jesus, with no thought of fairness or what I might get in return. Just because it’s the right thing to do. Just because it is copying Him. Will you do the same? Together we can cause a revolution of unfairness that can change our worlds and inspire those around us to do likewise. As we celebrate this Labor Day, let us focus on laboring with another criteria. Let’s labor based on what we can give, not what we might get.

 

 

The Right Blood

 bob-maclafferty  1 Response »
Jul 192014
 

The Right BloodThe patient in the ICU lay dying, the offending unit of blood pulled from his IV too late. His body was tearing itself apart fighting an unseen enemy.*

The wrong blood…. is death.

Another patient. In the ER for just minutes, his heart  rapidly pumping his blood onto the floor through a huge gaping wound. Fast acting physicians, rushing nurses, racing laboratorians, all worked together to provide the blood that saved a life that night.

The right blood…. is life.

When Moses stretched his hand over the river, a river worshiped by the Egyptians, a river full of fish worshiped by the Egyptians, the river turned to blood. All of the fish turned belly up. The river no longer a source of life to the fertile countryside.

The wrong blood…. is death.

Some days later, Moses instructed the Israelis to kill a lamb and spread its blood above the door and on the door jambs signifying that they were God-followers. Later that night, when the death plague passed over them, they were spared.

The right blood…. is life.

Good or evil. Right or wrong. Helpful or hurtful. Life or death. As leaders, employees, parents, friends, we make choices every day. We have conversations. Will they uplift or tear down? We post on Facebook. Will it be positive and supporting or negative and destructive? We interact with children and youth around us. Will we affirm, value and safeguard or criticize, discard, and endanger?

And what about Jesus? Do I choose to minimize and trivialize His work for me? Choosing a path that leads far from Him? Or do I choose to accept His grace gift of salvation? Horribly expensive grace. Grace bought through His suicide on the cross. Grace shown when He acted out His choice of death over losing me.

it was not with silver or gold that you were redeemed, but with the precious blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18,19 NIV excerpt.

My hope is build on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

Jesus’ blood…. is my life.

What right choices will you make today?

*Note that laboratory and nursing professionals across this country go to extraordinary lengths and use tiers of redundant safety mechanisms to ensure that patients receive safe blood every day, every time.

excerpted from Sunrise service sermon Ukiah 6/21/14

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