Under the Rainbow

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
Kermit The Frog sat on a lily pad in a swamp and sang this song back in ‘79. Every once in a while, it becomes an ear-worm for me (can’t get it out of my head), though not as bad as Over the Rainbow. If happy little bluebirds fly; They’re in my head, why won’t they die, and freeee me?
One thing that really surprised me as I researched rainbows is that not every culture sees them as a blessing. A number of them see rainbows as giant, demonic snakes. They will make their kids go inside and forbid them to even look at them. Where we enjoy thrilling beauty, they go hide in the closet! I’m glad to have a different perspective, aren’t you?
I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. Genesis 9:13
What started me thinking about this was a quote I saw stating that the six or seven colors we associate with rainbows - Red and Orange, Yellow and Green, Blue and Purple, too (I can sing a Rainbow, can you?) - are a drop in the bucket when compared to the million or so that are also there but we can’t see. Which means we could be (actually are) immersed totally in light all the time, and perceive that we are in darkness, simply because we aren’t equipped to “see the light”. Infrared, ultraviolet, and who knows how many more. Actually, I know Who knows:
1 Timothy 6:16 [He] alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
It’s a good thing we have Someone to open our eyes to what we’ve been missing, isn’t it?
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
He is our “rainbow connection”, the full spectrum of all the Light that is. He is the fulfillment of the Covenant that marks the end of Death and the start of Life, revealing what cannot be seen otherwise, ALL the colors, and much, much more!
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore, [Jesus] is always able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

Put Them Off

But now you must put them all off: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Colossians 3:8
There is a legendary story in my family, and if I have anything to do with it (hint: I DO), it will become ever more legendary as time goes on. It goes back to the olden days, when my first born child - let’s call her “Gary" to protect her anonymity - was only about a month and a half old. At the time, we were living in Fort Worth, and I had just changed jobs so I had no vacation time. We were desperate to take our newborn “home” to show her off to the grandparents and siblings, so, being young enough to physically pull this off, we pulled an all-nighter.
I worked all that day, got home about 5 pm, showered, loaded the car, and set off for Grandma’s house, about a 13 hour drive. Oh, and there was a record-setting cold snap that year that left all the gas-station restrooms (and not a few restaurants) frozen solid, making pit-stops a bit difficult. Mississippi and Louisiana are still not ready for single digit temperatures, and I doubt they ever will be.
Anyway, around about 3 am, I began to notice evidence that a diaper change was in order. You know the signs: eyes begin to water uncontrollably, the hairs in your nostrils spontaneously combust, oxygen masks drop from the ceiling. When we finally got to an exit, she was practically swimming - quite happily - in her, um, car seat. Immediately, with all hands on deck, we assaulted the problem using every baby wipe in the known world and brought peace back to our olfactory nerves, and dryness to the back seat.
The only problem remaining was what to do with her clothes.
We hemmed and hawed about it for a little while, but there was only one answer: rinse them out in a gas station bath room and put them back on her.
Ha! Only kidding! They went in to the next dumpster we found, and we never looked back. How ridiculous that would have been, knowing what those clothes had been through, reliving that desperate hour every time we put them on our precious little poop monster. It was no hardship at all to “put them off".
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9-10
All that sin and iniquity that you were swimming in Before Christ is at least as offensive to God as that 3 am emergency was to me. You would never consider leaving a baby in such filth, why would you do that to your spiritual self? Put off that old stuff, put on Christ’s new stuff, and leave the stench behind!

Heart Written

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9
Whenever I’m asked to do a funeral, I always want to look at a Bible owned by the deceased. You can tell a lot about a person from that. It’s been said that “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone whose life is not.” If the cover is pristine and the pages crackle as if they’d never been turned, that’s not a good sign. But what I’m really looking for is notes, underlining, and highlights. They usually tell me a great deal about someone’s faith.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to imply that if someone doesn’t mark up their Bible they are somehow not a Christian, or not faithful. Lots of kids were strictly forbidden from marking in any book (got a few of those spankings my own self), and that’s a hard barrier to cross. One way around that is to keep a ledger of Bible readings and especially those times when God speaks deeply to your heart from His Word. That’s a treasure beyond compare to your heirs, as they discover things about your walk of faith and your prayer life that they might not have otherwise known.
Trouble is, for a while now I’ve been using electronic Bibles for study. It’s possible to highlight text, but I don’t find myself using it in the same way, and electronic devices can fail leaving you with only your memories (and a fair amount of anguish). Which made me think of Hansel and Gretel.
Not the gingerbread house or the witch who was going to eat them, but the trail of bread crumbs - easy to leave, hard to keep safe. When you get right down to it, even marking a physical Bible has its risks. They can get lost or damaged or be inaccessible, inconvenient to carry around.
That’s why God says to write them on your heart.
I know, I know: “I have trouble remember-izing stuff. It’s hard!” Sure it is, which helps make it more precious when you discipline yourself to do it. Plus (and this should be a big bonus to those of us approaching Old Timers) memorizing Scripture (putting your mind to work) may actually help stave off dementia. Not to mention, if it’s in our hearts it’s easier to find when we need it. And we will need it in this fallen world!
I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You. Psalm 119:11