Category: One Focus Blog

One Focus Blog

Fear and Panic Can Cloud Your Thinking

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Destitute_man_vacant_storeI do a lot of reading about fear – in the Bible and other sources – because fear and panic come naturally to me. I am always working to conquer both.

Although few Americans owned any stock at the time, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 was the first in a sequence of events that eventually resulted in a wide spread panic and a Great Depression that lasted well over ten years.

With their economic stability threatened, some lost their ability to reason and hope. Some even committed suicide.

Failures of massive financial institutions in the U.S. in the fall of 2008 began another economic worldwide crisis. The stock market crash of that year has now been described as the Wall Street Panic of 2008.

By definition, a stock market crash is a result of panic. “A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a significant cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic as much as by underlying economic factors. They often follow speculative stock market bubbles.” (from Wikipedia)

Regardless of why a stock market crashes, the resulting impact is very personal. Loss of resources you have worked hard to acquire is a major blow. Having to start over again in middle age or retirement age can be devastating.

It does take money to live. You cannot obtain food, clothing or houses without it. If you are responsible for a family, the concern is magnified.

8b29516rHowever, despair is not inevitable. As President Roosevelt said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

If a major lifestyle change has become necessary for you, it need not ruin your life. Solutions begin with a positive attitude and a faith that God is with you.

The choice is yours. You can panic and lose hope or you can explore creative ways to provide what you need.

Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred (Proverbs 15:16-17).

One Focus Blog

The Justice System

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Once, when our insurance company refused to pay some legitimate claims (totaling thousands of dollars), we had to get an attorney involved. Thankfully, he was able to accomplish what we couldn’t. Without him, though, we would not have had a chance. We had reasoned all we could. We had made every call we could make. We had sent in every document they asked for. They said no. We appealed. Their committee said no. We had only one chance left. We sought professional help. We needed an advocate – someone with authority in the justice system. A few weeks later, the insurance people apologized and paid the bills – finally.

GavelSpiritually, we owe an enormous amount of debt. It keeps adding up. In this case, we have no legitimacy in which to file a claim. The debt is ours. The One to whom we owe the debt could rightly send us to prison because we have no means to pay those bills – whatsoever.

Enter our advocate Jesus. He knows we owe that debt and we can’t pay, but He has absolute authority in the spiritual justice system. He doesn’t make any calls. He doesn’t write any letters. He doesn’t have to. He is the One we owe. He does something remarkable. He pays our debt for us. Our bills are stamped “paid in full” never to be drudged up again.

The reason God does this is hard to comprehend. He does it for His own sake. God’s standard is perfection so if we are to fellowship with Him, our sin debt must disappear – forever. Our holy and just heavenly Father demonstrated His love with the gift of the perfect life, sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son. “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

There is no committee that meets to consider our debt problem, but there is a judgment rendered. In His courtroom, He is prosecutor, defender and judge. The case is presented. Prosecutor (the law of God) makes the case. Our defender (Jesus) knows we are guilty. His plea is not that we are innocent, but He and the Judge have decided that He be allowed to take our punishment on Himself. Even though the cost is great both to the righteous Judge and His innocent Advocate, the substitution is accepted. His innocence is then transferred to us – the ones who deserved a guilty verdict but through faith in Christ became a child of God.

God’s standards did not change for us once we became part of His family. He wants us to be holy as He is holy. As God’s children, we have escaped God’s wrath for eternal damnation, but we can still cause Him grief by continuing to sin. I think the sins of a child of God must cause Him more pain than sins of an unbeliever. We should know better. We should be grateful our debt has been paid.

Our sin separated us from God and crucified His Son. The sins of His children can pierce the heart of the Father by treating the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus lightly. Amazingly, His grace continues to work to bring us into right standing with the Father.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).

One Focus Blog

It’s All About Who You Know

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During an international conference, my husband met a man who shared with him an experience he had while trying to enter the United States of America. My husband and I travel so much that I am very aware of how tricky it can be to enter some other countries, but hadn’t given much thought as to what others go through trying to enter my home country.

800px-US-VISIT_(CBP)This gentleman had come to America many times as part of a mission organization. Once when he arrived in America and went through customs and immigration, he was interrogated thoroughly. The agent asked him, “Why do you come to America so much? Why don’t you just stay home?” The rudeness of this comment nearly took my breath away and I was embarrassed to think that this man had received that kind of treatment from Americans.

601px-Aiga_immigration_invIt got worse. The agent told him he did not have appropriate documentation and that he would be sent back to his home country on the next flight. He spent quite some time waiting for all the arrangements to be made when another agent came to him and asked, “Don’t you have any kind of paper that gives you permission to come here to do what you do?” The man opened his briefcase and pulled out everything he had. In doing so, he and the immigration officer came across a letter from Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State) that was addressed to “whom it may concern.” He asked that anyone representing this organization be given the best of treatment. Even though this man had never personally met Henry Kissinger, his name was on the list. The agent immediately said, “Why didn’t you give us this in the first place? We would have escorted you through ourselves without any problem.”

I could never enter through the gates of heaven on my own. Neither could you. Through Jesus our entry is guaranteed.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:31-32).

One Focus Blog

To “Our Father in Heaven” on Father’s Day

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“Our Father in Heaven” we say
When we start to talk to God.
“Please give us our bread this day,”
As your Son taught while on earth He trod.

How can You be both His Father and ours
When You are God and we are only men?
How can we partake of Your power
When our lives are so full of sin?

Incredible though it may be, but true
You had this plan before time began,
That our sins would be hid in You
When Your Son became a Man.

The love You give freely to us
Is more than we can understand;
All You require is absolute trust
In the One You sent, the Son of Man.

“Father in Heaven, how can we say
Thank You for adoption into Your family?”
On this, what we celebrate as Father’s Day
We remember Your love crucified on a tree.

With a heart full of gratitude, we say,
“We want You to be pleased with us,”
As we remember on this and every day,
You are the Heavenly Father we can trust.

One Focus Blog

First and Last

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Traveling exposes me to an interesting array of circumstances. Whatever mode of transportation I use I observe human nature at work. Watching crowds operate – and being a part of those crowds – is an educational experience.

Most of the time I board an airplane using a jetway from the waiting area in the airport. As a frequent flyer, I may be one of the first people to enter the airplane although I am often one of the last to disembark because I purchase tickets in economy and my seat is usually located in the back of the airplane.

At other times boarding requires riding a bus out to where the airplane is parked on the tarmac. People often line up early in order to get on the bus first, but I have noticed something interesting when that happens. Airport personnel require those who enter first to go all the way to the back of the bus in order to make room for the others who are boarding. The scurry to be first on often results in being last off.

Jesus knew this principle well when He said,“But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Matthew 19:30, 20:16, Mark 10:31).

Matthew 19:30 and Mark 10:31 record the same situation. In response to Peter’s statement that His disciples had left everything to follow Him, the Lord tells Peter His true disciples will have reward in heaven. He then said, “But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.” I get the feeling He is telling Peter many people will be surprised.

800px-Rembrandt_-_Parable_of_the_Laborers_in_the_Vineyard

Rembrandt Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

In Matthew 20, Jesus, as He often did, was telling His disciples what the kingdom of heaven was like. A landowner needed laborers for his vineyard. Early in the morning he hired some agreeing to pay them a denarius for the day’s work. He hired more at the third, sixth, ninth and even the eleventh hour. At the end of the day, he paid each one a denarius, no matter how long they had worked. When the ones who had been hired first, and had worked all day long, grumbled at the generosity of the landowner, he replied, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? So the last shall be first, and the first last.”

When all is said and done, we may be in for a few surprises. Our way of accounting and God’s way are not the same. He knows who has tried to push and shove his way into heaven with a false belief that he deserves to be there. He also knows who is truly grateful for His generosity, painfully aware that without His love and grace we would not be able to enter at all.

One Focus Blog

The Necessary Ingredient for Washing Dishes

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Many homeowners in America have an automatic dishwasher in their kitchen. I don’t. I have had one in the past but I don’t miss it. Many of my dishes don’t fit in a dishwasher and my pots and pans are supposed to be washed by hand anyway.

I do have one good looking dishwasher I really appreciate – my husband!

Over the years of washing dishes by hand, I have learned the value of soaking dishes. I run a sink full of water while I am cooking and try to keep the dishes washed up but it is not always possible to finish them. Sometimes it is necessary to leave them until a later time. Maybe we have company and we just want to sit and visit. Maybe we eat dinner and then sit down to watch a good movie.

If I do need to wait to wash dishes, I make things a lot easier for myself if I leave them soaking in water. When I neglect to soak them, food hardens and becomes difficult to remove. It takes more elbow grease, time, detergent, cleansing powder and/or scouring pads and sometimes frustration to clean dishes that have not been soaked. I learned that lesson the hard way. Although I don’t mind washing dishes, I do mind spending more effort, time and money than necessary.

Our_Father's_house_soup_kitchen_dishesWhatever method you use to wash dishes – automatic dishwasher or hand washing – it takes water to get them clean. Advertisers claim their best automatic dishwashers remove caked on food from the dishes, usually with better or more water jets than other models. If you wash dishes by hand, soaking them accomplishes the same thing.

Like dirty dishes, we are caked with the grime and dirt of the world. Occasionally, I have heard someone say they were reluctant to come to God because of some evil they had done. Embarrassed, they wanted to get cleaned up first.

We don’t come to God because we are clean. We come to God because we need cleansing. Only God can remove the sin in our lives. Through Jesus Christ, the Living Water, He did so. Those of us who trust Him as Savior and Lord get the cleansing we need.

Without Him, we remain filthy. In Him we become clean and pure.

But we are like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6 NKJV). Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”… “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'”…”If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (John 4:10, 7:38, 1 John 1:9)... just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27 NASB).

One Focus Blog

Vintage Values

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I enjoy collecting antiques and have several pieces. They were made so well many years ago that they have stood the test of time. Antique furniture was often made by hand. Now most furniture is mass produced by machines. In the past, only hard sturdy woods were used for furniture. A great deal of modern furniture consists mainly of pressed wood or particle board which doesn’t stand up to moisture or major usage. You can often see these pieces of furniture in front of homes awaiting pickup for transport to the city dump.

KINDLE_CAMERA_1375635137000Vintage glass, especially that which was produced just before, during and for a few years after the Great Depression are of special delight to me. Although not the finest glass, they are beautiful.

Prior to the Great Depression, there were over one hundred manufacturers of colored glass. After the Great Depression ended there were less than half that number. Although bankruptcy closed many of these companies, fire was a prominent reason for shutdown. If the company was destroyed by fire, the owners could not afford to rebuild.

During the lean years, much of this glasswareKINDLE_CAMERA_1375635070000 was distributed free as promotional pieces – placed in oatmeal, cereal or soap boxes or given away at the theater or gas stations.

During the Great Depression, companies made production of each piece last as long as possible. I have some pieces of red depression glass, which is ordinarily a deep ruby color, which are practically orange or opaque because they were cast at the end of the dye lot. The company was stretching production by producing as many pieces as possible before they had to add new dye.

Antique furniture and Depression Glass are becoming scarce. Rarity of the pieces have resulted in a spike in prices. Some people have paid thousands of dollars for the rarest pieces of Depression Glass. In order to stock antique furniture, buyers often go to old farms where they might find a piece stored in fragments or even left out in the elements. The experts know how to put them back together but it takes a concerted effort to bring them back to their former glory.

Those who work on and collect vintage merchandise will only do so if they believe it is worth it. They believe there is value in the vintage piece itself.

Unfortunately, society’s values have gone the way of antique furniture and Depression Glass. Personal standards of behavior have changed dramatically. One’s principles and judgments of what is important in life is much different in the twenty first century than it has been in the past – especially in America.

A society’s values are reflected in their practices in the workplace, involvement in their churches and community and the entertainment they enjoy. The traditional values of America can now be placed in the vintage category – mainly because those values were based on biblical standards.

It is worth the effort, however, to do what we can to restore America to the values it once held. Biblical standards have stood the test of time because they were given to God’s people by God – who never changes.

…in the last days… men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…You, however, continue in the things you have learned…the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:1-4, 14-17).

One Focus Blog

Deadly Words

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I remember when I was in grade school and some child was being bullied and was brave enough to say to the bully, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” In trying to get the other child (or group of children) to stop, the bullied child was trying to imply that their taunts were not getting anywhere.

WikibullyWe now know those poor children were wrong. Words can hurt you. Not only can they, but countless numbers have been so adversely affected that the damage to their self-esteem lasted for a lifetime. Withdrawal and depression often result from being bullied in the past.

The most serious consequence for this callous behavior has been suicide. New words have even been created for this terrible outbreak. “Bullycide” refers to a suicide committed as a result of being bullied. Cyberbullying is so prevalent that new laws and policies are constantly being developed to try to control it.

Statistics are staggering. At the time of this writing, nearly 30 percent of students are bullies or victims of bullying, bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to commit suicide than non-victims and in Britain at least half of suicides among young people were related to bullying.

Relationships have been crushed and lives have been destroyed because of words. Even in America, where the law clearly states that one is innocent until proven guilty, the mere accusation of a crime can ruin a life.

The Bible is full of warning about this very thing. The verses that have to do with our controlling our tongue – our speech – are abundant throughout scripture. Once when I did a detailed study of Proverbs. I was taken with the number of references to the words of the wicked.

Jesus was on the receiving end of this kind of evil. He was human and I am certain those words hurt. His bullies eventually had Him hung on a cross. For your sake and for mine, He allowed this to happen so that we could be with Him someday where words will never hurt us.

Jesus said,” Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12:34-37).

One Focus Blog

The Owners of the Instruments

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My husband and I once had lunch in the home of two lovely young ladies who use their musical gifts in the church where we were working. These ladies had left their home countries to come to Vienna so they could study with the best teachers to help them sharpen their skills on their instruments. It took a lot of sacrifice for them to get accepted into their schools. They and their family were also sacrificing a great deal to keep them there. God miraculously provided for them. They were honoring Him with their lives and their gifts.

706px-Philippe_Mercier_-_The_Sense_of_Hearing_-_Google_Art_ProjectIn junior high school I played viola and then violin in our orchestra. When I moved, there was not an orchestra in the next school. There was only a band. So I didn’t continue with violin lessons, but I had played long enough to know how very difficult it is to get a good sound out of the instrument. I had just gotten past the squealing stage when I had to quit.

These sweet girls played the violin and the cello. They had purchased what they could afford. Their instruments were not the best. Neither were the bows. The violin player even laughingly described the crookedness in her bow. I can attest to the fact that these girls made beautiful music come out of those instruments. They told us others had tried to play their instruments but always complained stating they didn’t know how these girls are able to play with them. The girls admitted that the music was not the same when others tried to use their instruments.

The Touch of the Master’s Hand by Myra Brooks Welch is a well-known poem that describes an auction where the bid for an old violin increased one thousand fold after an old man came to the front and played a sweet melody on it. The difference was the touch of the master’s hand.

In the case of my two friends, the master’s touch was so intimate that each of them was the only person who could make beautiful music come out of what others considered an inferior instrument.

I belong to Jesus. In His hands I can be an instrument of usefulness – but only in His hands.

for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

One Focus Blog

The Three Dimensional Life

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Eleanor_Roosevelt_and_Human_Rights_DeclarationEleanor Roosevelt was a remarkable woman – dedicated to her husband, her country and public service. She wrote several books, but when she wrote You Learn by Living, Eleven Keys for a Fulfilling Lifeas at the age of seventy-six, she had acquired experiences that enabled her to give good advice for those who want to live a full life. The high premium she placed on learning is a great example for us all.

She was very honest in her assessment of herself. She shared many instances of how others taught her the value of learning, but an example (in her first chapter) of an adjustment in her own thinking set the pattern for the rest of the book.

“Perhaps the most essential thing for a continuing education is to develop the capacity to know what you see and to understand what it means…As an example, many years ago the Consumers League asked me to check on conditions in department stores. I made my report. it was valueless.

“But,” I was asked,”do these women have any stools to sit on behind the counter when they are not waiting on customers or must they stand all day?”

For years I had gone to departments stores, I have seen women behind counters. It never occurred to me that perhaps they could never sit down and rest. I hadn’t looked….

When I began – so slowly – actually to look around me and to try to understand the meaning of what I saw, everything I encountered became more interesting and more valuable. It was like a two-dimensional picture seen in three dimensions, with depth.”

This was not the last time Mrs. Roosevelt mentioned questions that made her think. She learned by listening and looking.

Mrs. Roosevelt did not indicate that she was talking about a lack of spiritual eyes, ears and understanding, but her example reminded me of Jesus speaking of people who have eyes, but cannot see and ears but cannot hear. That would, I believe, present the two-dimensional picture that Mrs. Roosevelt described. We live in a three dimensional world, but we can ignore a lot of it. Depth of living and learning comes from observing the world – as much as possible – from God’s perspective.

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.” And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:17-21).