Busted but Liberated

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

I have been liberated! Jesus promised us that we would know the truth, and that the truth would make us free (John 8:32). That’s what happened to me at church this morning–I was reminded of the truth, and it set me free.

Here’s the foundational Scripture for the message at church:

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them [the spirits of this world], because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

1 John 4:4 (NIV, clarification in brackets added)

The sermon was given by Pastor Eddie Hoagland. The point of his message was that one of the ways the evil one tries to disrupt our relationship with our loving Creator is by feeding us lies via the spirits of this world. God gave us the Holy Spirit to protect us from these foul spirits, but we get ourselves into trouble when we listen to them more than we listen to the Holy Spirit, which is the presence of God dwelling in us.

It really felt like God was using Pastor Eddie to convict me with his words. The message shone a bright light into some darkness that has been creeping into my consciousness recently. It helped me realize that lately, I have been listening more to the lies from the spirit of this world than I’ve been listening to the Holy Spirit. This is not good, so that’s why it’s so helpful that God pointed this out to me.

I generally do fairly well at walking with God each day, which has often allowed me to be filled with His peace and joy. But the enemy opposes this and will do anything he can to disrupt it. One strategy he seems to resort to repeatedly is by feeding me these lies:

  • God has more important things to worry about than the circumstances of my life, so if I want to achieve the outcomes I desire, I’d better take matters into my own hands
  • I don’t matter to anyone

Thanks to today’s message, I’ve been able to recognize that these are lies from the spirit of this world. God has not been saying these things to me, and never will. And nobody I care about has actually been making me feel like I don’t matter.

I feel dumb for believing these lies, but I wanted to put this out there in case you have struggled with believing these or other lies. If so, you can take some consolation in knowing that you are not alone.

And now that God has pointed His spotlight on these lies and reminded me of the truths I should believe instead, my chains are broken. I am free! I can step out of the darkness and into the Light. I can once again bathe in the peace of God that transcends all understanding.

How great is that?! Thanks be to God.

P.S. I wrote a poem about a spiritual journey I went on today (part of which is described in this post). If you’re interested, you can find it here.

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I Am Not Who I Think I Am

Posted on June 11, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

(Escape from Pain, Waking Up Again)

Who is this “me”
I speak of and 
Obsess over so often?

This is me:
I am a man.
I hike, I breathe.
I write and take pictures.
I love some and
Laugh a lot.

Wait, no.
That’s not me.

This is me:
I think, so I am.
I solve business and
Technical problems.
Better yet, I
Anticipate them and so
Avoid them.
I lead teams,
Make them better than
The sum of their parts.
I plan, therefore I am.

Wait no.
That’s not me, either.

 
This is me,
The real me:
I am 
More than my body,
More than my mind.
I am
Transcendent in this sacred space.
I am 
Resting like an infant in
Your everlasting arms,
So, I am eternal.
When I am not my body,
Joy courses through
My ethereal veins.
When I am not my mind,
Peace permeates my being,
Renewed each time
Beauty touches me,
The real me—
A rose whose petals
Glow in golden afternoon light
Or hide in cool shadows,
Absorbing warmth but
Resting from the heat
Of the day.

In the arms of the
One who carries me
Into eternity,
Today cannot hurt me.
Tomorrow does not exist.
This is how I escape
From pain, from fear;
This is how I immerse myself
In a pool of Peace:
I reach for You and
I don’t let the “me”s who are not me
Get in the way.



David K. Carpenter

June 11, 2023
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Every Ending is a New Beginning

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

In the Daily Audio Bible this week, we finished the fourth and last of the Gospels–the book of John. It was a little sad to wrap that up since the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ earthly ministry have loomed large in the New Testament since the beginning of the year. And now Jesus is gone.

Or is He?

Why not? you may ask, and I’m glad you did.

Well, for one thing, He appears in His resurrected form to the disciples in the first chapter of the book of Acts, before He ascended to heaven. And for another thing, even though He is not present in bodily form for most of the rest of the New Testament, His fingerprint is emblazoned upon nearly every remaining page.

For example, He trained Peter on how to lead this band of misfits, and Peter led them well. Jesus also planted His message on the heart of a young religious scholar named Saul, and that man–whose name He changed to Paul upon converting him–wrote most of the rest of the New Testament, imploring them to follow the real Jesus and not the savior they often wanted Him to be.

These are important new beginnings in the life of the church that would not have happened if Jesus had not ascended to the heavenly Father. So, even though some endings can be emotional, in the long run, they are usually OK since they lead to new beginnings, just like God planned them to do.

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Ultimate Gratitude

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

On this Memorial Day in the United States, I wanted to take a moment to express my ultimate gratitude to those who have stood in harm’s way and made the ultimate sacrifice–and for those who have been willing to do so–on our behalf. They did this to help build the greatest nation under God that the world has ever known and to maintain freedom for all. I pray their sacrifice was not made in vain.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Abraham Lincoln

The price of freedom

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Holy Spirit, Come

Posted on May 28, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

Today was Pentecost Sunday, the day on which God breathed the Holy Spirit into the early church believers, just as Jesus had promised would happen. The scene is depicted at the beginning of Acts chapter 2. The funny thing about the Holy Spirit is that He is kind of the underrated part of the Trinity, especially in many of the more “rational” western churches. Maybe like that weird third kid who used to hang around with you and your best friend, who couldn’t tell how awkward he or she could make things. Father, Son, and that other guy.

And yet, the Holy Spirit is the presence and power of God that dwells within us. Because of this, He may be the voice we hear when we feel like God is speaking to us or directing our thoughts. Also, and I’m not trying to split hairs with this speculation, but He may be the aspect of God that knows us better than we know ourselves.

Ultimately, so long as we cultivate a deep, personal relationship with God, it doesn’t matter if we feel like we are communing with the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, our outstanding senior pastor at New Life Church, Brady Boyd, has encouraged us to start each day with this simple prayer:

Holy Spirit, come.

And so I do, right before my quick trip to the bathroom! (I’m in my 50s…). It’s a great way to start the day.

As a brief postscript, I felt God–OK, probably specifically the Holy Spirit!–tap me on the shoulder to suggest that I include this odd little poem that I wrote way back when I was a baby believer. I never knew why I had kept it all these years, but now I guess I do, LOL. Anyway, here it is:

Spirit

For

               you

               me

               free?

ever.

Copyright © sometime in the last hundred years by David K. Carpenter

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Trust God

Posted on May 21, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

I was speaking with an atheist friend of mine yesterday about some concerns I have with things going on in my life. Interestingly, his response to me was, “Trust God.”

Even though he doesn’t believe in God, he knows that I do. And his belief is that what I think of as God is some sort of cosmic force that he refers to as “the universe.” Regardless, it was a good reminder that whatever is going on in my life or in the world, I need to trust that God is in control and that He is working for my good. And I need to remember that I make a lousy god, so I should stop trying to do God’s job for Him.

It was just funny that this reminder came from someone who doesn’t believe in God, or at least thinks that God is “the universe”, but sometimes that’s just how God works. I wonder if He ever gets a chuckle out of using an atheist to accomplish His purposes…

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A Mother’s Love Reflects Our Father’s Love

Posted on May 14, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

There is perhaps no greater illustration of God’s love for us than a mother’s love for her child. A mother’s love is fierce and boundless, just like God’s love is for us. Our mothers love us on our worst days, just like God does. A mother’s love for her child is sacrificial, and God’s is, too.

It is with this simple assertion in mind that I wish a Happy Mother’s Day to my wife and daughter, and to the memory of my mom.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us.

1 John 3:1a (NIV)
Photo by Manuel Schinner on Unsplash
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Everyone Did What Was Right in Their Own Eyes

Posted on May 7, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

This past week, those of us journeying through the Bible in a year with Daily Audio Bible completed our trudge through the book of Judges. This book represents a dark period in the history of God’s chosen people. And in plain language, I think the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, explains why. There’s a phrase woven throughout the book–in fact, they are the final words of the book: everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

The book of Judges is difficult to read (or listen to). It has some very strange and disturbing stories that result from the degraded moral condition of Israel during the period between Joshua’s death and the establishment of the monarchy. Throughout this time, the Israelites continuously fell into idolatry and sin, leading to periods of oppression and suffering at the hands of their enemies.

And it was all because everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

Doing what is right in your own eyes means making decisions based on what you want, and your own definition of right and wrong. This means that everyone can have their own definition of truth. It is a self-centered way of living that disregards God’s laws and His will for each of our lives. It leads to moral decay and chaos.

Sound familiar?

Unpleasant Examples

In one challenging example, described in Judges 17-18, there’s a story about Micah. He created his own shrine, complete with an idol, and hired a Levite to be his personal priest. This behavior was a clear violation of God’s commandments, yet Micah saw nothing wrong with it. He had made up his own religion, which he believed was right in his eyes.

The most disturbing and disgusting story in Judges (and maybe the whole Bible) is told in Judges 19. A Levite traveling through Gibeah was offered hospitality by an old man, but during the night, a mob of men from the city came and demanded that the Levite be handed over to them so that they could sexually assault him. The old man offered his own daughter and the Levite’s concubine to the mob instead, and the Levite’s concubine was brutally raped and murdered.

The behavior of the men from Gibeah was a clear violation of God’s commandments, but they saw nothing wrong with it. They were doing what was right in their own eyes, and their actions led to unimaginable suffering and violence.

Not How It Was Supposed to Be

Yuck. This isn’t how it was supposed to be.

So, why do I bring this up? Why focus on such a challenging book in the Bible?

For two reasons. First, to point out that this is not the way God intended things to be. He created us to live in close relationship with Him, not so He could watch us like a mean overlord, making sure we didn’t have any fun. Quite the opposite, actually. He wanted us to live close to Him so that what happened in the book of Judges doesn’t happen to us. This is the reason He gave us His laws–He wants us to enjoy life unfettered by anything that will lead to our destruction.

I wonder how it came to be that our culture seems to believe the contrarian lie from the evil one that God is against us, that He condemns us, that He doesn’t really care all that much for us.

It’s not easy–in fact, it’s impossible–for us to live 100% according to God’s law. But that’s OK. God wants us to depend on Him to help us live the way He wants us to. But when we screw up and try to become our own gods, He will accept us back with open arms if we only repent for our ridiculous behavior.

The Light of God’s Redemptive Power

That leads to my second reason for discussing this strange book of the Bible–in the midst of chaos and sin shines the light of God’s redemptive power. I’ve already mentioned the benefit of this to each of us personally, that God forgives us when we repent of trying to be our own little gods. He receives us and restores us, thanks be to God.

But the seed of redemption on a broader scale is also planted in the awful story that takes place in Gibeah. The actions described led to a civil war within Isreal, one in which the tribe of Benjamin is nearly eradicated. And yet, many years later, when Israel begged God to give them a king and God allowed it, He selected Saul as the first person to fill that role. Saul came from the smallest of Israel’s tribes–the tribe of Benjamin.

Would you like to take a guess where Saul was from? Gibeah.

This is not because God condoned what had taken place there many years earlier. No, I think it could be God’s way of assuring us that no matter what filthy, disgusting things we have done before, He can redeem us. Nothing is too far gone for Him to reach us.

How It Was Supposed to Be

All we have to do is recognize the mercy–not judgment–in His eyes and reach out our hands to grasp the one He has already extended to us. He pulls us out of the dumpster fire of our past. He grabs some ashes while He’s at it and paints a beautiful picture of the people He intended us to be. And He helps us try to live into that.

He wants us, after all, to walk with Him in the garden in the cool of the day, the way things were meant to be.

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I Heard the Voice of God, and He Sounded Like My Wife

Posted on April 30, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

I don’t know about you, but I often struggle to hear God’s voice with everything else rattling around in my brain. At least, that’s the way it seems.

But maybe it’s because God answers me in ways I don’t expect, so I don’t think I’m hearing His voice.

It would be just like God to act in ways that we don’t expect or understand. I mean, we just recently passed through Good Friday and Easter. What more explanation is needed than that?

So, I often pray for discernment, that I can determine what God’s will is for a big decision in my life. What I hope to get from God when I do that is a clear picture of what He wants me to do. But then again, I wonder if I am trying to avoid making the decision myself, so I pawn it off on God. Hey God, I don’t know what to do here, so You decide for me.

I also often wonder if God isn’t helping me to know His will in ways I don’t recognize. Like maybe the feeling I have about the decision after praying about it is really Him nudging me–or kicking me in the pants–C’mon already, beloved son! How obvious do I have to make this for you??

And here’s another thing. In hindsight, sometimes I am able to recognize that God has shown me His will through the words of people who love me. People who He has placed in my life. I think He gives us each wisdom, but it is never complete. I wonder if this isn’t so that we will realize that we need each other. No one person has all of the answers, but collectively we have many more of them.

For example, this morning, as we were getting ready for church, my wife and I were having a discussion, during which we reached a disagreement. With a few moments of reflection, I realized she was right. She was speaking wisdom into my life. I sure didn’t want her to be right, but she was.

Now, I’m not saying that she’s always right, but neither am I. That’s one of the benefits of having people I love and trust in my life. They can help me see things from a different perspective–one that might very well represent God’s will in my current situation. That’s also the benefit of speaking and listening to one another.

For better or worse, God gave us all each other. It can be messy sometimes, but I think He intended for us to help each other navigate life and, ultimately, find our way to Him.

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The Incredible Lightness of Restoration

Posted on April 23, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

Last week, I wrote about how Jesus restores us when (not if) we screw up. Peter was the biblical example I used, referring to Jesus’ beautiful restoration of one of His best friends, since He knew Peter would have been beating himself up over betraying Jesus.

Today, I wanted to take a peek at what happens as a result of being restored.

Fast-forwarding a little bit in time, and jumping from the Gospels to the Book of Acts (which is really the second volume of Luke’s Gospel), we see a new Peter. He had been so afraid (after promising to be brave) that he swore he didn’t know Jesus. But in the second chapter of Acts, we see the birth of the church, thanks in large part to Peter’s bold proclamation that Jesus was and is the Messiah (and I’m sure God had something to do with creating the church, too).

Then a few days later, Peter has an opportunity to recall how he felt after Jesus had restored him following his darkest days. He must have remembered this with tremendous fondness when he said this:

Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.

Acts 3:17-20 (NIV, emphasis added)

He’s telling anyone who will listen–including us–that God does not leave us to wallow in the filth of the bad things we have done and said and thought. As he remembers his friend and Savior extending a hand of grace to pull him out of his pit of self-pity, he says that we have the same opportunity. All we have to do is repent and grab hold of Jesus’ extended hand–or probably even just the hem of his robe–and He will restore us.

He picks us up–He picked me up. He dusts us off. He renews our relationship with Him. He tells us to go forth and sin no more, knowing that we probably won’t live up to that for even a day. Maybe not even an hour. But He is so patient with us that He doesn’t mind how quickly we end up back there, reaching again for His hand of grace.

But do you think He does this just so we will feel better about ourselves?

I don’t think so. His primary motivation seems to be so that we can spend eternity with Him in paradise–the result of our acceptance of His grace and mercy and forgiveness.

But that’s not all.

Returning to Peter’s story, we see that he is telling others about his story, his walk with Jesus. He is making the world a better place by building a body of believers who are sharing literally everything they have with each other and anyone in need. He makes a lame man’s day (probably his life) by healing him.

Obviously, God gave us all different gifts, so He does not expect that we all will respond in exactly the same way as Peter to His gift of restoration. Maybe your response could be something as simple as speaking kind words to everyone you encounter–even someone who was rude to you. Or it could be a random act of kindness, like paying someone else’s tab at a restaurant. Maybe you could really go crazy and write a positive blog, or post an affirming message on social media.

This is our chance to shine God’s Light into the darkness all around. Let’s each of us decide how we can reflect the incredible lightness of having been restored by the Savior of the world. And then do it.

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