Month: August 2018

Matthew 23:26-28 “Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

I Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia defines lavish luxury.  It has a lineage that traces back to 1778, with its current structure built in 1913.  The hotel’s beautiful façade provides an indulgent escape for the rich and famous, perfect for presidents and prime ministers, and kings and queens.  Yet, for several decades during the Cold War, there was more to the Greenbrier than met the eye.

In the late 1950s, the United States Government coordinated with the Greenbrier to build a massive underground bunker beneath a new addition to the resort.  This bunker, which could house 1,100 people, was to be the emergency relocation center for Congress in the case that a national emergency would prompt their evacuation from Washington DC.  It was ready at all times, and constantly stocked with fresh supplies for over three decades though it was never used.  Only those staff members with the most stringent security clearances and the tightest need-to-know rationales ever knew what was going on underneath the surface.  It was only after it was revealed by a 1992 news story and subsequently decommissioned that the vast majority in Congress even knew of its existence. The subterranean was cleverly hidden from view, though its existence played a major role in the overall character of the resort.

Sometimes in the lives of Christians, the subterranean is cleverly hidden from view, though its existence plays a major role in the overall character of the individual.  God directs that it would not be so.  We are to be outwardly and inwardly righteous.  While man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart.

PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR INTEGRATED CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY WOULD BRING HONOR TO GOD.  May we never allow subterranean subterfuge to hinder our ability to serve the Lord.

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:  for it was founded upon a rock.”

During our family’s recent move, we crossed our nation from coast-to-coast.  In doing so, we spent a significant time in the car and saw the incredibly varied sources of natural wealth that make up this great nation. We literally traveled from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam.  Indeed, God has blessed America!

During the transit from the mountains to the prairies, we came across a great spiritual truth related to the pressure applied on us (and our things) by the world around us.  While driving, we noticed that the water bottles we finished drinking while at the lower-pressure higher altitudes would be compacted and sometimes crushed by the forces at the higher-pressure lower altitudes. Though the pressure changes were almost imperceptible to us while driving (other than a little popping of the ears), it sometimes disfigured the bodies it was acting upon.

In our lives, there are pressures applied to us at all times that sometimes slightly and sometimes dramatically impact us.  Throughout the course of our lives, the pressures during the good times do not cause us to bear a substantial weight, nor do they demonstrate whether we can handle the bad times.  It is only when we are tested, do we know whether our foundation will enable us to stay strong or whether the pressures will cause us to be compacted and possibly crushed.  Do not be fooled, the rains will descend, the floods will come, and the winds will blow. Without the right preparation, they will disfigure the bodies they act upon.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A FOUNDATIONAL RESILENCY THROUGH CHRIST THAT CAN WITHSTAND THE PRESSURES OF THE MODERN WORLD.  The world will try to compact and crush you, but through Christ, you can avoid disfigurement.