{"id":8501,"date":"2015-03-09T07:45:48","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T12:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=8501"},"modified":"2015-03-09T08:57:44","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T13:57:44","slug":"adjusting-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/adjusting-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Adjusting to the new reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had to rewrite my resume’ today for our blog and for a program where I’ll be speaking soon.\u00a0 That’s when I realized that somewhere the material should state that I was recently widowed.<\/p>\n

How exactly does one do this? And what’s the best way? And is it absolutely necessary? And why does it hurt so badly to type in those words?<\/p>\n

One of the decisions I find myself making daily is whether or not to tell the person I’m talking with that everything has changed in my life.\u00a0 Does the lady at the dry cleaners need to know? Margaret never came in, so they didn’t know one another.<\/p>\n

I told a complete stranger at Walmart today.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I was browsing the refrigerated section which displays frozen dinners.\u00a0 I was curious about what was available, whether I bought anything or not.\u00a0 A woman employee approached. “Can I help you find something sir?”\u00a0 I said, “I guess not…. I’m not sure what I’m looking for…. I’m new at this…..”\u00a0 And then, “I buried her a month ago,” and the\u00a0 tears began to flow.<\/p>\n

I was pleased she did not overreact.\u00a0 She simply said, “I’m so sorry.\u00a0 Now, the thing about all these frozen dinners, sir, is that they have too much salt. So you really have to be careful.”<\/p>\n

That was helpful.\u00a0 Why, I wondered later, did I blurt out what I did?<\/p>\n

It’s my new reality and I’m still “trying it on.”\u00a0 Is this the new me?\u00a0 Does this work?\u00a0 Can I be a widower, and does that make me handicapped? or am I still a whole person?<\/p>\n

I’ve never had to ask this before or even give it one thought.<\/p>\n

I asked my buddy Jack for his favorite Scripture.\u00a0 Jack knows the brain cancer is fast-acting and in spite of the chemo and other extreme measures he is receiving, at most he is expected to live no more than another year.\u00a0 Jack has requested that a neighboring pastor and I hold his funeral.\u00a0 As brothers in Christ for nearly a half century, Jack and I treasure each other, and I consider this a high honor.<\/p>\n

He did not hesitate. “Second Corinthians 5:17.\u00a0 ‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; all things have become new.'”<\/p>\n

I said, “And why is this text so important to you?”<\/p>\n

He said, “Because it’s the truth.”\u00a0 And nothing more.<\/p>\n

When we receive Jesus Christ into our lives, everything changes to be sure.<\/p>\n

The Lord writes our names down in the book of life.\u00a0 He erases the debt of sin against us.\u00a0 He enters our lives and makes us children of God. He adopts us into His family.\u00a0 He indwells, overshadows, precedes, undergirds, and accompanies us from that moment on.\u00a0 He gives us a new identity, a new name, a new family, and a future out of this world.<\/p>\n

When a new reality takes over your life, it begins to define you.\u00a0 You are no longer who you were.\u00a0 Anyone wishing to know you will need this information.<\/p>\n

That’s why I tell some people about Margaret’s homegoing. And why it’s not necessary to tell others.<\/p>\n

It’s why Jack and I want everyone to know that Jesus Christ has saved us and He is now ruling our lives.\u00a0 It’s our new reality. We are new creations in Him. (Our “new” reality? I was 11 and Jack perhaps 25 when the Lord saved us.\u00a0 But, yes.\u00a0 Life with the Lord Jesus Christ is ever new.\u00a0 Every day is something special, a new creation from His hand.\u00a0 He makes all things new.)<\/p>\n

Adjusting to a new reality takes time and considerable effort.\u00a0 I still weep a lot.\u00a0 And I know enough about the process of grieving to affirm that when the tears begin to lessen, it will not mean I love her any the less or am attempting to forget her.\u00a0 It simply means I’m trying to be faithful for the days remaining.<\/p>\n

Paul said, “If you then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.\u00a0 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.\u00a0 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God…” (Colossians 3:1-3)<\/p>\n

At the grocery, I will not be buying the same list as before.\u00a0 Margaret will not be needing the soy yogurt or the lactose-free milk. The reality for me has changed all that.<\/p>\n

When my friend Jack and I interact with friends old and new, it will not be as the “old man” which we once were. We are “new creations” in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Our minds are “set on things above, not on things on the earth.”<\/p>\n

Adjusting to the new reality is now my plan for the day.\u00a0 For every day.<\/p>\n

And, it occurs to me, up in Heaven, my bride of nearly 53 years is doing her own adjusting to the new celestial reality. And how wonderful that must be.\u00a0 After all, “this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality” (I Corinthians 15:53).<\/p>\n

This earthly body was not meant for Heaven.\u00a0 It has to be laid aside so the new body can be seen and can do its thing.\u00a0 This new body is as much more glorious than the old as the butterfly is to the caterpillar.\u00a0 (Wouldn’t you love to know what goes on in the mind of the butterfly as suddenly he\/she\/it slaps those gloriously beautiful wings and goes soaring off into the sky?\u00a0 Talk about adjusting to a new reality! “I’m not a worm any more!” Smiley-face now and forever!)<\/p>\n

Even so, come Lord Jesus.\u00a0 I can’t wait.<\/p>\n

But I must, even for a short time.\u00a0 Oh, Holy Spirit, help me to be faithful during these few more days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). I had to rewrite my resume’ today for our blog and for a program where I’ll be speaking soon.\u00a0 That’s when I realized that somewhere the material … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,57,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death","category-holy-spirit","category-my-50-year-perspective-on-ministry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8501"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8552,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8501\/revisions\/8552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}