Wrong Flight

February 1

Just before takeoff I notice a friend, Edna, takes a seat up front. Once in the air she comes back to visit. She asks me why I am going to New York? Surprised I said, "I'm not. This plane is going to Baltimore." We check with a flight attendant.

“We said Baltimore when each passenger boarded,” the flight attendant says sternly.
Edna is furious, she had boarded the wrong aircraft.

We can get going so fast that we don't hear the directions for our lives. For a long time I was headed for the wrong gate.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go by it. (Matthew 7:13)

Cancelled Flight

January 31

I call my wife to tell her my flight home has been cacelled by weather. She says, "look around and see who needs help, do the Lord's work." I see a man in a wheelchair fumbling through his ticket folder. I wheel him to the appropriate counter for rebooking.

The agent finds my new friend an alternate flight and then asks for my ticket."Can't get you Sarasota today but how about Tampa?" Wow that is only an hour from my house. I'll be home for dinner afterall.

"you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18)

Late Night Conversation

January 30

I ask my wife how her retreat went.
"Remember how you felt when you had a defining moment?" she said. "Just imagine feeling that for an entire weekend. I didn't want to go home. I didn't know how to leave."

"Were you afraid of leaving God behind?"

"Something like that," she whispers.

“Well you didn’t," I offer, "God is never far away. We just need to stay in touch."

"For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)

Wheelchair Story

January 29

A young lady tells me “ I need to tell you my wheelchair story.” After a few weeks in Florida she sits in an emergency room scared and alone. “Praying softly I hear God say, ‘ I’m sending you an angel.”
She waits. She notices an older man in a wheelchair. They talk and after awhile her name is called to see a doctor. She realizes her fear is gone.. She thanks the man for talking with her and then adds; “I don’t even know your name. I’m Sherry.”
He says, “My name is Angel.”

“And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Matt (21:22)

I Killed a Man

January 28

It’s true! I killed a man. A nice man some people thought. I knew differently. He appeared to be the ideal family man. I knew otherwise.
" He walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelry, drinking parties and abominable idolatry." (1 Peter 4:3)

This man needed to be destroyed. I killed him. With the help of God I killed my old self. I'm a new person. Alleluia! There is a second chance God. Praise the Lord. Now I really know differently.

“ I say to you, unless one is born again, he can not see the kingdom of God."
(John 3:3)

Ice Storm

January 27

Everything is glare ice," creek, crack crash." Branches are snapping off the trees like brittle spaghetti. It is still raining so I retreat from the yard and stand under the overhang. There is a large crack and thud. A huge branch falls from the elm and is imbedded into the ground where I had been standing. I stare in disbelief.
Some would say 'thank your lucky stars.’ That is how I felt once, but now I say luck and stars has nothing to do with it.

“The very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:30-31)

Cranston

January 26

For three days, I clearly hear the word Cranston in my head. Why Cranston?

Today, I find behind other books, The Miracle of Lourdes by Ruth Cranston.
I guess I’m suppose to read this book.
The author goes beyond documenting several miracles at the healing pool at Lourdes. She writes, “The one way to peace and bliss, every great prophet has told us, is to give yourself away.”

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matthew 16:25)

New Van

January 25

My Nephew is driving alone along Route 20 in Charlton Ma. A tractor-trailer drifts over the centerline and hits his van behind the driver's seat pushing him off the road. The rig crashes head on into the car behind, killing the driver. My Nephew is unhurt. The truck driver is arrested.

In an instant, a life is taken, one spared.

"Watch therefore for you do not know when the master of the house is coming-in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, -lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. What I say to you I say to all, Watch!" (Mark 13:35-36)

City Slicker

January 24

I was a teenager from the city and had never ridden a horse. We walked the horses across a divided roadway onto a trail. After a gentle ride in the woods we turned toward home. My horse took off. I was hanging on for dear life. She bolted across Route 1A, horns blasted, breaks squealed and I screamed.

God's angel directed traffic that day and even provided the mud for a soft landing when I fell off in front of the barn.

"He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways."
(Psalm 91:11)

God's Birds

January 23

Dr. Jerry Kirk, a preacher from Cincinnati, said, "God's love for us is unlimited but our ability to receive that love is limited because our receiving mechanisms have been damaged by the world around us.” He asked Dora, twice a widow, what made her so upbeat. "Every cardinal, I see I hear Jesus say I love you.”

The notion of damaged receptors speaks to me. The solution shared by Dora and Jerry changes how I look at all birds.Now when I see a bird I hear God say, "I love you."

"Consider the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap… yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26)

Pat's Vision

January 22

How insignificant I feel when I think of the vastness of God's creation. How can God have time to care about me with all those stars and galaxies out there to be concerned about?

Pat shares a vision of feeling tiny and lost in a throng of singing worshipers. “Then Jesus, rising, says to the Father,'these I have called unto you.' Laser beams emitted from His fingers falls on each head, including mine."

"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 10:32)

Water Towers

January 21

Driving the rugged arid parts of Arizona and Colorado, I notice a single pile of rocks up on top of a mesa. I learn that these are called "water towers." These rocks tell travelers below that from this point you can see water.

Those Native Americans and pioneers who erected these water towers more than a century ago were pointing the way to survival for whoever followed after them. The water towers are no longer needed but stand as monuments of brotherly love. I need to be a water tower to my neighbors.

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 23:39)

Historic Inauguration

January 20

Today Barrack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America.
It is a historic inauguration and we are all witnesses. As I watched the ceremony on television and the millions who braved freezing temperatures on the Mall in Washington DC a proverb came to to mind for our new Commander in Chief.

"Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding,
acknowledge him in all you ways and he will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6)

Join me in praying for our new President. In these challenging times remember these comforting words:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6 NIV)

Some Lines to Think about

January 19

“Nothing to excess.”(my dad’s line)

“Lust says get, get, get. Love says give, give, give.” (a retired pastor)

“An eye for an eye…and the entire world would be blind.” (Mahatma Gandi)

"If you are going through hell, don't stop there." ... (a businessman)

"Freedom involes trust and obedience inside a relationship of love." (The Shack*)

“God scorns the proud,but gives grace to the humble.”..(Proverbs 3:34)

*If you haven't read Paul Young's inspired story make sure you do.

Locked Out

January 18

Normally when my car is unlocked the trunk is unlocked but now the car is unlocked and I can’t get the trunk open even with a key. The garage owner tries several times-no go. “Take it to a locksmith,” he says. This morning at homeI notice a lone key on the rack. I try it. The trunk opens. For most of my life I was trying the wrong keys to open the meaning of my life. Then I found the one key that stands alone. Who holds the key to your life?

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

It Is Our Choice

January 17

“He is 18, on drugs, is unemployed and has been arrested for stealing. She is 17,pregnant by him and drinks heavily. Both are school drop outs.”

The speaker, a minister, lecturer, and author, is addressing a men’s retreat. He asks, "You are the parish priest and this couple comes before you, wanting get married. What do you tell them?

After the laughter fades, he says “That couple was my wife and I twenty three years ago.” His point is we are in life exactly where we have chosen to be.

Life is a result of the choices we make. We can choose to believe or not. It is our choice.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already…”(John 3:1)

In Whose Image

January 16

Genesis says God created man in His image. My wife asks, “Do we see God in our image rather than seeing ourselves in His image?"

I'm sure my perspective is seeing God in my image. That means God has feelings, emotions, thoughts and memories. OK so far. However, holding God in my image would also mean God has limits. That's not good. That is not God.

So how do we see ourselves created in His image? It begins with belief! God created us in His image.

Isaiah. knew in whose image he was created.
"Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint."
(Isaiah 40:31)

A Late Night Traffic Ticket

It is 11 p.m and I exit the interstate. I trun right at the light and a patrol call lights up with flashing lights.

"Let me see your license please? You didn't stop for the traffic light back there."

"I was going right on red, no one was coming."

"You didn't come to a complete stop," he corrected.
I'm going to have to give you a citation."

When the Trooper returns he explains I can appeal the ticket, pay the fine or eliminate the points by attending driver improvement classes.

Driving home my wife breaks the silence. "Are you going to pay the fine or go to driver improvement classes?"

The way she said those last words did it. I take a deep breath and say; "Lord take away these ugly feelings." He does! "I'll pay the fine."

"Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus." (Romans 15:5.)

Newspaper intern

January 13

The publisher came into the city room yelling "whose old Plymouth is that out front?"I confessed it was mine. It was my second day as a student intern at the Westerly (RI) Sun. He escorted me downstairs to remove my car.

Later, Abe, the city editor, lead me to the rear of the building. “You park there,” he said; pointing to a large paved area behind the Jewish Temple. “If anybody says anything tell them Abe sent you." Abe was my neighbor that day.

A lawyer asks Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"
Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan and asks; "so which do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?
The lawyer says, "He who showed mercy on him.”

"Then Jesus says, 'Go and do likewise."
(Luke 10: 36-37)

My Sister's Class

January 12

My sister, fresh from graduate school, began teaching in the high school where I was a senior. I was enrolled in her journalism class. One day she walked into the room just as I was throwing a pear at another student. She took one look at me and said sternly, "Get out!"

I reported to the assistant principle. Without looking up he asked, “Why are you here?”

“My sister threw me out of her class.”

He stopped writing in mid sentence. I was given two weeks detention and I was grounded at home. I gained new respect for all my teachers, including family ones and a greater appreciation for learning.

"Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; keep her for she is your life.”(Proverbs 4:13)

Getting Out of a Rut

One night, when I was a boy, my mother told me a simple story. A little frog landed in the middle of a deep tire track in a muddy road.The other fros gathered at the edge to cheer him on but jump as he might the little frog couldn’t get out. The other frogs headed back to the pond for the night. Splash- little frog was back.

"How did you get out,” the others demanded?

"I just jumped out," said the exuberant little frog, “you see a truck was coming.”

Deborah Deford writes in The Simpler Life, "We get into a rut and all of life takes on the color and texture of old mud. But staying in a rut is a choice.”

I was in a worldly rut for years. Then I saw the truck of complacency coming and made the choice to jump free.

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

I Was a Stranger

I was a stranger in a strange land. I was lost and tired, alone and worn down. I thought of giving up and then something happened that I don’t fully understand to this very day.

It was January 5th 1986 and I was launching my own independence. Having attended college close to home I was venturing into a seminary that was across the country I packed up all my worldly possessions and my father drove me to the Atlanta airport at five o’clock in the morning. I got on a plane headed for San Francisco for my whole new adventure in life.

I knew in five hours I would begin that adventure. A representative from the seminary was to meet me there and take me to my new home. Not only was I beginning a new path in my seminary training but for the very first time in my life I was there on my own. That was my journey and there was only one detail between me and that destination and that was the Dallas airport where I was to have a quick change of planes; but you know what they say, “The Devil is in the details.”

While we were in route to Dallas a thick fog settled on that airport and it was closed down. Scores of planes that were headed for Dallas, including ours, were rerouted to Lubbock Texas. Now the small airport there was totally unprepared for the role now thrust upon it to be a major hub and transfer point. Chaos reigned in that airport. I sat in the Lubbock airport for more than eight hours. I was finally put on a plane, not headed for San Francisco but instead for Los Angeles where I waited another three hours before I boarded a plane for San Francisco.

Finally I got there very late at night. What was suppose to be a five hour journey had turned out to be a fifteen- hour journey. The seminary representative was long gone. There I was in the airport feeling lost. I had no idea how to get to the seminary. No idea what bus to take or what stop to get off at. and the worse thing of all was that my luggage was nowhere in sight. I had only the clothes on my back.

I was so tired. My food intake for that entire day could be measured in peanuts. I was afraid my worldly possessions would not be found again. Worse of all, for the first time in my life, I felt totally alone, no one to turn too, no one to call, no one to help me. I felt so despondent that I began contemplating taking a flight back to Atlanta. But then I heard an announcement and my name.

“Delta Airlines,” it said, “paging passenger Paul Kerbas. Please report to the agent at the courtesy desk.” That couldn’t be my name, I thought, perhaps I misheard it. The message was repeated. It was my name. I went to the desk and said, “I’m Paul Kerbas.”

The agent said, “That woman over there is looking for you.”

I looked over and saw her. She was a kind looking woman in her early fifties. I walked over to her and said, “I’M Paul Kerbas.”

“Oh Paul, “ she said, “you must be so tired. What a journey you have been on. I suspect you are very hungry and it doesn’t look like your luggage is coming until much later tonight. My husband and I live pretty close to the airport. We have been putting off dinner until you came, Why don’t you come to our house, eat dinner with us and rest in our guest room and then I will bring you back to the airport later tonight to check on your luggage.”

I was so surprised. I asked, “How did you know about me?”

She said, “Paul one thing you will learn is that here at the seminary we are a caring community.”

We drove to her house, a lovely home on a steep street in San Francisco. I enjoyed a perfectly hot meal that just hit the spot. I went into her guest room and fell asleep for an hour or two. At about 11 p.m. that night she brought me back to the airport and sure enough the luggage was there. She set me on the right bus and told me what stop to get off at. And as quickly as she had entered my life she disappeared. And I got back on my journey, no longer feeling tired, hungry and alone. I felt renewed, refreshed and wondering perhaps- had I been touched by an angel.

Now twenty years later I can’t tell you anything more about that woman.I could not trace her at all. No one in the seminary could tell me her name and to this day she remains a mystery. I am left to wonder if she was a kind hearted soul who reached out to me in need or is it possible on my bumpy road to seminary an angel paved the way?

Dr. Paul Kirbas,
Sarasota, Fl.

A Dusty Dog

January 10

One weekend my sister and I took our dog Dusty to a park. Suddenly head down and nose to the ground he followed a trail down an incline. We watched from the top of the hill. A rabbit appeared and hopped up on a large flat rock. Dusty sniffed right by that rock and continued down the hill. When the dog was a safe distance away, the rabbit darted away.

There have been days and even years when I have been so focused on living my life that I haven't looked around me. Like Dusty, I was too busy with what I was doing at the time to look up and see the prize. I need to stop sniffing out what I seek and pay attention to what God wants for my life.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give hope and a future.”
(Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

A Dinner Conversation

January 9

Joy and I are dining in the home of a minister friend and her guests. A marriage counselor says he worries about couples who say they never fight.

I pipe in with a brief version of a tiff that Joy and I had earlier at home. Joy wisely said for us to pray and God brought love and gentleness to both of us.

Driving home Joy says, "My heart soared when you had the courage to be vulnerable and say what you did at dinner. I love you all the more.”

She could have been embarrassed or angry. Instead she is filled with love and compassion. These are clearly God-given attributes!

"Let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." (Ephesians 5:33)

Trusting the Pilot

January 8

A winter storm is howling at BWI Airport in Baltimore. My flight to Tampa is delayed as crews plow the runways.

Finally it is our turn to take-off. While I pray the plane roars down that snowy runway and up into the swirling storm clouds. The aircraft shutters and shakes until we climb above the storm. Thereafter, it is a smooth flight to Tampa.

When I entered that plane I had totally given up control and put my life in the hands of that pilot. So why do I struggle giving the controls of my life to the Lord? Why can't I trust God to pilot my life’s journey? After all, who has had more experience?

"Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

Judgement

January 7

He said his name is Bill Young and he was looking for work and needed some money for breakfast. I handed him a couple of dollars and mentioned softly that he might have a better chance of getting a job if he didn't have alcohol on his breath.I asked him if he knew Jesus.

He took a small Bible from his sack. He turned to Luke 16-19," you read it," he said. handing me his Bible. It is about the rich man and poor Lazarus eating crumbs.

“ The poor man died, and angels took him to the place of honor next to Abraham." I stopped. "Read the next line," he urged. “The rich man also died, was buried and went to hell and was suffering terribly."

I stood convicted of my arrogance and smugness.

"Judge not that you be not judged." (Matthew 7:1)

How I quit smoking

January 6

At age 14 I started smoking. I felt dizzy and was sick to my stomach but I continued to smoke.
At 30 the Government warned tobacco could be harmful to your health. I continued to smoke.
My dad finally quit when his doctor said he had emphysema. I continued to smoke. After some chest pains, I switched to a pipe and decaffeinated coffee. I continued to smoke.

One night my son Rob, then seven, asked, " Dad can you get heart disease from smoking a pipe?"

I hadn't heeded the other warnings, but when God sent my son, I heard the message. I quit! For good.

Come to think of it, God sent His only son with an important message for all of us. Hear him!

“I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” (John12:47)

Latch Key Children

January 5

This year my granddaughters became latch key children. Their mother joins their dad in the work force to make ends meet. A grandson is in day care.

The worry side of me goes wild thinking of what could happen during those few hours after school. Movies like "Home Alone" just add fuel to the what ifs? Their parents say, “The girls are eleven and twelve and they know what to do.”
Then I hear, “Remember when you were eleven?” The world was at war and my Mom went to do peace work. After school I returned to an empty house.

I WAS A LATCHKEY CHILD.

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)

Vantage Point

January 4

There is a full moon as I walk around the neighborhood. I muse how the ancients viewed this same moon, fearing it and even worshiping it.

John Glenn, the first American to orbit our planet and have a moon’s-eye- view of earth, takes another trip 36 years later. Now 77, Glenn catches the world’s attention on his "flag lap" around earth. Walter Cronkite is back to report the event and the Australians light up their country for Glenn, as they did in 1962.

From space Glenn says, "Looking at the Earth from this vantage point, looking at this kind of creation and to not believe in God, to me, is impossible."

What say you?

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

Leaving Home

On a walk around my neighborhood, I notice a small boy pulling a little red wagon with a suitcase in it. As I near the house a man comes out, looks in the direction of the boy.

"Leaving home are we," I ask? The man nods.

That boy is testing his boundaries but what he really wants to know is that his parents still love him.

I have walked away from my heavenly Father pulling my wagon of things. I didn’t get far on my own and I desperately wanted to know that God still loves me.

God tells us all the time that He loves us. We just have to pay attention and listen.

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good!
His faithful love endures forever." (Psalm 136:1 NLT)

Airport Delay

My flight from Hartford to Sarasota is canceled.

I call my wife, Joy, and she says "Look around and see who you can help. Go do the Lord's work."

I spot a man in a wheelchair looking at his ticket. I wheel him to the next gate.

The agent redoes his ticket and turns to me.

"Oh I'm not on his flight," I tell him, “I ‘m going to Florida but my flight to Charlotte was canceled."

"I can get you to Tampa. Will that help?" Tampa is an hour north of Tampa. I arrive home in time for dinner afterall because I helped a fellow traveler.


" Lord when did I see you a stranger and take you in? Surely I say to you when you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to Me."
(Matthew 25:38-40

A New Year

January 1

It isn’t a typical start to a New Year.

My wife Joy wants to let God orchestrate this New Year. At Christmas Joy asked that we give Jesus something on His birthday. We realized that meant giving something of ourselves. Lord, I thought, give me the opportunity to share this idea with others.

The day after Christmas the associate pastor of our church called saying,” I was praying for someone to talk on New Years resolutions and how they differ once you become a believer…and your name kept coming to mind.”

What a way to begin a year, in His will.

“In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)