View from My Ceramic Throne

Daily I sit on my ceramic throne. From this lofty perch I gaze over the bathroom floor of our rented home. The floor is covered by laminate with an imitation wood finish. (For those who are not familiar with it, laminate comes in 6" x 36" planks with adhesive tabs for easy installation.) When I look at the flooring, I see the flaws. There are a couple of places where there are significant gaps between the planks. In other places, there are no significant gaps, but the seams are quite noticeable. As I look with a scornful attitude, the Lord reminds me of a particular tile on another bathroom floor that I laid with great pride few years ago. In the months that followed, due to environmental factors, "significant gaps" appeared on all four sides of that tile. Everybody sees those gaps when they walk into that bathroom.  Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged." [Mat 7.1-2]

I am temporarily humbled, but my haughty spirit did not give up. I think, "the laminate is just cheap plastic, and wood finish is fake." As I gaze, I start thinking that this laminate looks awfully familiar, and then I remember, it is very similar to the laminate that my wife and I laid on our dining room floor in our house on Merribrook Trail. We chose it because it was durable, water resistant, easy to clean, easy to install, and quite affordable. And it looked nice too. My attitude was very different when it was my floor material. Humbled again. I now remember the challenges of laying that laminate, and many of the seams did not turn out as well as I would have liked. The honest truth is that I didn't do any better with my dining room floor than those who installed the laminate at my feet. "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged."

I now look away from the seams and turn my attention to the actual wood grain pattern which covers 99.9% of the floor. It looks very realistic, complete with knots and shifting colored contours. Each plank looks like an accurate photograph of a real plank, cut from a real pine tree, growing in a real forest. Dendrologists tell us that the knots and contours in the wood give us a history of the tree. So, here at my feet are faithful representations of complex stories from the past lives of real pine trees. Wow.

Praise God for the complex trees he has created. Thank God for the durable, water resistant, easy to clean, and nice looking floor at my feet, by which I benefit through no effort of my own.

New Name, Same Disease

I have a disease. It was first diagnosed in 1986 as Glandular Fever. In 1988 it was diagnosed as Epstein Barr Virus Syndrome. Then in 1995 I was told I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I just learned that my disease has a new name, Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease. It is a new name, but I still have the same disease I got in 1986. The symptoms vary a little, but it is still the same disease.

The intensity of the disease has varied over the decades. When the intensity is high--like now--I spend a lot of time lying on my back doing nothing, or at least trying to do nothing. During this time, I am never really alone. There is someone else who is known by many names--the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan, and the deceiver of the whole world [Rev 12.9]--who is constantly prowling around like a roaring lion, trying to devour my soul. He sows into my mind seeds of guilt, bitterness, lust, pride, despair, fantasies, or whatever fancies him at the moment.

Why does the dragon bother with someone so insignificant as me? Because of the other person who is always with me whom the dragon hates. This person has more names that anybody--King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Son of Man, Son of David, Son of God, Lamb of God, Word of God, Redeemer, Savior, Healer, Judge, Rabbi, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with Us. He is with me. [Rev 17.14; Isa 9.6; etc.]

There is a battle over my soul. The dragon seeks to destroy, while Emmanuel seeks to redeem. Emmanuel uses different weapons than the dragon. Recently he has been using phrases of hymns or worship songs that I am familiar with: "Majesty, worship his majesty," ... "who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men," ... "singing until the evening comes." ... Sometimes just a fragment of a tune and one or two words play over and over in my head, and I wrack my brain trying to  remember what song the fragment is from, so I can sing more of it. (Sometimes I have to resort to the internet.) All these songs are rooted is scripture, the Word of God. As long as I receive these musical fragments graciously and meditate on them, the dragon is kept at bay.

The battle has many names and takes many forms throughout history from Gen 3 to Rev 20, but it is the same battle through the ages. Remember, keep on singing until the evening comes.