When I was about 12 my family took a vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. My parents had been there previously and had befriended a family who lived nearby.  So we were thrilled this trip to have personal tour guides and help with translating Spanish.  Kind friends always make things more fun. We got to go horse back riding out in the jungle, take a ride across the bay and then climb up to a gorgeous waterfall and generally see some sights not on the normal tourist itinerary. Our friends owned an apartment in Guadalajara so their children could attend college and they invited us to stay there with them over the weekend. One epic night we rode through the old town in a horse drawn carriage and they hired a mariachi band to serenade us all during dinner.  Such good hosts!

This kind of cheer reminds me of the joy with which John writes to his friends in the book of 3rd John. This one chapter book is the third in a series of books to encourage and challenge his friends.  John's main points this book where to cheer joyfully on their faith and to encourage them to practice hospitality for follow believers. 

It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.  3 John: 2-3

Our trip to Mexica was fantastic.  And then near the end of our time there, my family all got sick. Barfing, way too much time in the bathroom, thought we were gonna die Montezuma's revenge kind of sick. And this is when our hostess really kicked in. 

I'll never forget the care of this sweet mama. She welcomed us into her home, made us the most lovely tea, went to the local pharmacy for electorolite drinks so we would not become dehydrated and generally comforted this lot of pitiful travelers.  We felt better.  Not so much in our bodies - that took a few days - but we immediately felt better in our souls. 

This is what good hospitality does. It makes you feel welcome, included, comforted and known. This mama made me feel better 30 years ago and I still am grateful. 

John was a traveling pastor - as were many of those believers in the early church.  And the local people who gave them room and board made all the difference.  So John spends the rest of this chapter reminding them to show hospitality - and to call out those who don't. 

We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. 3 John 1:8-10

Over my life I've had other times when friends and believers made me feel welcome. When a meal made all the difference between hope and despair. When I wasn't sure how to continue and someone had a cup of coffee, made me laugh and encouraged me forward.  

Some people are intimidated by hospitality. They get caught up in a cycle of comparison, self doubt and shame.  My guess is this is partly fueled by too many instagram posts of perfect dinners and the predictable Pinterest fail.  

Listen.  Hospitality doesn't have to be fancy.  My friend in Mexico gave us hugs, looked us in the eye, made us a cup of tea.  She didn't need fancy to show love. And neither do we. This is work we can all do.  And its joy giving.  

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. 3 John 1:11

​A neighbor was sharing with me a story from when they lived in Oklahoma. We had got onto the subject of tornadoes and the odd things they  do.

A family had just sat down to dinner one stormy evening when the tornado watch alarm sounded. Being in Oklahoma, they had a storm cellar that they could immediately retreat to safety.

The tornado ended up hitting their home spot-on! Unharmed, the family eventually emerged from their storm cellar to find that their home had been completely demolished. They soon, discovered, however, that their dinner table had somehow remained untouched. Everything, including the food, was in perfect order still awaiting for them to resume their evening meal.

How fantastic is that!? I have heard of tornadoes doing strange things, but this one floored me the most.

There are days when we see the tornadoes of evil that seem to be swirling in our world more viciously than ever. These things we are witnessing can sometimes feel like an unbearable weight on our spirit.

My husband sent me a cute Peanuts meme of Pigpen stating, “Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ.”

Do you know what else spins? The spin cycle of our washing machines. And what is it’s purpose? To pull out all the final impurities that the rinse cycle has brought out of our clothes.

The spinning tornadoes we face in life can do the same in us if we look to God to see us through. He can use them to pull out the impurities in us so we can shine more each day in the midst of the grey stormy clouds.

God is our “storm cellar”. With faith, we have to believe that He has us fully covered and safe in the midst of the worst of evil’s tornadoes that seem to beat mercilessly. When the tornadoes end, because eventually they do end, we will rise above it all, shining and pure and “ we shall see Him, face-to-face”. (I Corinthians 13:12).

He will be glowing brighter than the sun and He will have a banquet table set perfectly for us and we will celebrate the final end of all storms!

After the lunch we hustled over to our appointment with the Skamania Lodge Adventure team and spent a couple hours zip lining.  The longest zip line was 950 feet long - over three football fields worth of trees and wind and fun.  ​

Our guide pointed out a massive old growth Doug Fir in the middle of their forest.  He said the reason it hadn't been cut when the rest of the area had been logged was because it had been hit by lightening.  The bad event in this tree's history had saved its life.  Interesting idea to ponder. 

But even cooler was the fact that this tree had split at the top because of the lightening and over the years seeds had fallen into the split and spouted two new trees.  Up in the top of this gorgeous senior tree there are two sisters reaching high. And one of them isn't even a Doug Fir.  Its is a Spruce.  I love this.  

Check out the funky branches half way up. They aren't branches. They are roots. Spread out to capture more rain to feed the host tree and the two grafted offspring trees.  ​

Which brings me to the book of Second John.  Its short. One chapter long. John is writing to his fledgling churches. John had seen hardship over his life. Lots of it. But his continuing message to those who followed behind is to keep on.  The message didn't change. 

It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his command. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 2 John 1: 4-6

This big birthday adventure was full of the same kind of joy I've been sharing with this man for over 25 years.  A little adventure, some good food, some pretty spectacular roots.  We've had some rough patches - a little lightening here and there - but our goal is the same as the one John had. To support our family (those born to us and those grafted in) and to continue to walk in love.  

I echo John.  And this incredible tree.  Weather the storms.  Spread out your roots.  Make room for others.  Walk in love.  

My first car was a 1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with a 350 engine. The car was brown with tan interior. The headliner had lost integrity so hung down until I get sick of it rubbing my head. I ripped it down. Then instead of a drooping headliner, I had orange foam above my head which periodically would rain down. The car also had a minor coolant issue so most of the time it smelled like maple syrup. This was a very fast, very brown and orange slightly smelly car. I was grateful my parents gave me a car to drive and so I didn’t complain. Much. 

After a while the car developed an issue with headlights.There was some sort of short in the high beam / low beam controller. As a result the headlights would randomly blink off. If I held the control stick very steady the headlights would come back on. I always forgot to mention this problem to my parents. Likely because I was always just sliding into the house at curfew and the relief of making curfew would kick any thought of car maintenance out of my head. During the day I didn’t use the lights so I didn’t think about it.  And of course I’m old enough I didn’t drive around with a cell phone.

The problem was getting worse. Instead of always staying on when I held the light now it would only mostly stay on. Mostly having headlights is not ideal. Especially in the dark country roads I traversed on my way home. Light is important. The 

 The book of 1 John is a letter to the early churches from the apostle John. The book has two main messages.  God is light - so stay in it.  Second - God is love - so love one another. Not complicated. But important. 

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you; God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifiers us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful nd just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.  1 John 1: 5-9

I finally had a night where I could NOT get the headlights in my car to stay on. Quite stupidly I inched home in the dark. The next morning I finally told my father. He’s an electrician. He knows all about lights. He immediately got the car into the shop and the lights fixed. The fact that my father was an electrician did not solve my light problem - because I didn't bother to stay in communication with him. The second I did so - the light problem was resolved. 

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  I John 2: 8-10

The wonderful thing about my parents is they were thrilled to fix my car.  They wanted me to be safe driving. They didn't want me to crash in the dark.  And here is one of my favorite verses about God the Father - He has great love - and He lavishes it on us. 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  1 John 3:1

I suppose the logical question is why does it matter that God loves me?  What do I do with this information? 
Think about my car again.  If I had never gotten the headlights fixed and had continued to drive in the dark - death or paralyzing fear would be next. ​ Once the car was fixed I could trust the headlights to do their job.  So what I did next was drive.  I moved forward.  And that's what happens when we have the light and love of God.  We move forward.  Without fear.  We can go into our future and love as we've been loved. 

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.  1 John 4:18-19

Any kid who grew up in church in the USA during the 80s knows this song.  The rest of you might as well join in.  It's as good a summary of 1st John as any. 

And this one.  Straight from 1st John - and the 80s.  Kids Praise Psalty style.  We sang this all lined up in front of church.  These words are written on my heart after hours of practicing this round.  Fancy.  Listen in - you'll feel like you are five again. 

And if you still don't understand 1st John - here are the guys at the Bible Project with their walk through in Read Scripture.  Check it out   This video actually includes 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. 

 
The family and I went camping last week. My husband is a master packer. He manages to pack a week's worth of camping gear, several tables, tents, chairs, food and two bikes into the back and top of our LR3 Landrover. This time we each had items tucked in around our feet. Well. Not the driver. But the girls and I had blankets, towels and a friend's birthday present to hold us in place during the 3 hour drive to camp. 

My husband is an awesome packer. He's not great at waiting patiently in traffic. We all have areas in our life to grow right? At any rate, several times we passed people driving slower. One little slow Hyundai hybrid we happily left in the dust. 

About a half hour away from camp we came around a corner and saw the traffic ahead was stopped. Cars turned off, people standing on the side of the road kind of stopped. My spouse groaned and slowed. Stopped with a grimace and turned to me.   

"Why don't you get out and see if you can find out what happened?"

So I untangled myself from my nest and took a stroll up the road. I stopped by a little crowd of people and asked what was going on. I'm not sure why I thought they knew. They were parked up maybe five cars ahead.  No cell service.  What did they know?  

But not to disappoint the drivers on the side of the road told me there was a wreck ahead. It had just happened. No one had cell service so no emergency responders had been summoned yet. Apparently one of the other drivers had turned and headed back to the other side of the mountain to call for help. The nice woman said she thought the best option was to turn around, drive 30 minutes back and grab the alternate highway to go around. Or sit and wait it out. 

I walked back to my family. Gave them the news and the proposed plans.  

My husband had another idea. 

"See that little road right there? A couple of people went up it and haven't come back. The Landrover's GPS looks like it meanders around and pops out just down the road. If we follow them we'll avoid the wreck,  save ourselves the back tracking and we'll be at camp soon.  Should we try that?

I said "Sure."   

This was not wise. 

The book of 2 Peter is a last message from the great church leader Peter. He has become convinced his time left on earth is short so he wrote this book as a plea to the other believers. 

​I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.  2 Peter 1:13

Peter's message to the church is to not be sidetracked.  He wants them to stay on course.  He knows hardship may come and false teachers will try to drag them off the road.  But his plea was to stay on task. 

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.  2 Peter 1: 5-9

So here my family and I were on the side of the road. We didn't  suck it up and wait patiently.  We didn't listen to wise counsel and stay to the main roads.  

Nope.  We saw the other people headed off path and we followed. 

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them - bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Peter 2:1

​For a while the drive was lovely. Wide vistas. Beautiful trees. Nice gravel road following the GPS line on our screen nicely. Around one corner we came upon a view of a herd of horses galloping across a wide field.  Gorgeous.  We were free!

We soon saw a little Hyundai hybiyd kicking up a cloud of dust. It looked suspiciously like the one we had passed a couple of mountain passes back. He had apparently not waited as long as we had to take the less beaten path.  At any rate we started calling him "car guy" and figured if a little four door could make it surely our big tough landcover would be just fine.

For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. they promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity - for "people are slaves to whatever has mastered them."  2 Peter 2: 18-19

I recognize this analogy isn't perfect. Taking a side road is not being a slave to depravity - but we weren't patient, we were boastful about the features of our vehicle and we were blindly following a clearly out of element hybrid. Did I mention this wasn't wise?

Pretty soon the little gravel road became a smaller dirt road.  We kept going. 

The road became a path. Large ruts appeared. Trees had sprouted in the middle of the path. Clearly this road hadn't been used lately. 

We kept going. 

The road completely disappeared. Our GPS said there was still a path. But our eyes didn't see the way. 

We headed down a hill. 

The girls by this point were poking me in the side and whispering they were scared. I had started to roll my eyes. 

Large noises came from under the car. 

Finally we had a pow wow with the car guy and determined we were in fact at a dead end and had to turn around. 

We started to back track. The car guy was slowly coming behind. I didn't want to hear on the news in the days to come that some man had disappeared off road in a little Hyundai. So we kept his puff of dust in the rear view window.

And then the road widened out and we were on flatter ground. 

The loud noise underneath got louder. I looked in the rear view mirror. 

Flat tire. 

Shredded flat tire. 

Middle of no where, no cell service flat tire. 

We pulled over. 

The spare was covered by our mountain of camping gear. We started to unload all our belongings into the dirt on the side of the road. My youngest wanted to get out. I said no. Snake country. Too much to handle. 

My spouse and I do many things well together. We throw a mean party. We do not change tires well together. 

I was concerned. My spouse was annoyed. 

And then up pulled the little Hyundai. It was sporting some new undercarriage and front bumper damage.

The driver got out and asked if we needed help.  

I said yes. 

​The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

Turns out the car guy is a very nice man named Patrick who works for Boeing as an airplane mechanic.  

Praises to Jesus.  

Patrick and my husband changed the tire. 

I told Patrick he was a hero and had saved our marriage from a rather large roadside fight. 

He grinned. 
​
We repacked all the crud in the car. It didn't fit the same way as before. The girls were buried in extra gear.  We threw the flat shredded tire on top of the roof and headed back to civilization. 

By the time we got back to the main road the original accident was cleared away and no traffic remained.  Our detour had taken hours. We hit Les Schwab with only 15 minutes to store closure and the nice team of tire guys stayed open and happily sold us an entire set of new tires. All wheel drive ya know. Have to replace them all. $1200 lesson in patience. 

Our bruised spirits finally made it to camp.  

Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking I them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.  2 Peter 3: 15-16

I've heard of several people lately deciding to give up the faith. They say it's too hard to understand. That God's decrees can't be right. Too much judgment. Too difficult to hold the line. They have listened to the voices in society preaching an easy freedom.

Peter's message is a simple one.

Don't believe the lie. Stay the course.

​The road with its rules and signs and guardrails is the place to stay. The wandering path leads to destruction. 

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  2 Peter 3: 17-18

Here you go!  Helpful as always.