Just Believe

You have everything you need.....if you just believe........."Believe" from Polar Express

What is it about Christmas that has the power to evoke the tenderest of memories, our deepest longings, the faint possibility of hope when all seems dark? Come with me here for the rest......



Are you ready?

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:66-69


I had just finished reading John chapter 6 during my prayer time a few mornings ago. I closed my eyes as I digested all I had read......this chapter is swirling with action. I needed to reflect for a moment on all I had read. It was just getting light out and I heard a dove calling from a few houses away. My little candle was flickering away silently casting a reflection in the little shop window.

I was surprised by a question that was breathed into my heart.....I had just read that saddest of verses, the one where many of Jesus disciples hit the road. It was another instance where Jesus had just finished confounding people with the truth, and it wasn't want they wanted to hear.

"Are you ready to be my Disciple?" that was the question I heard.

I sat there conflicted. "Of course I am," I thought. But then I remembered how many of them ended up.

And what was required. Am I ready to take a plunge off a 500 foot drop? Am I ready to commit the rest of my life to a God who commands the wind and the rain? Who can speak the world into existence? Who is many times unpredictable and scary? Am I ready to go wherever He asks? Wherever He leads?

Then I thought about life itself. If someone would have asked me when I came into this world, knowing what I know now, all I would go through, would I have so been quick to say, "Bring it on?"  I most likely would  have said no, I am not ready. Who is ever ready? 

But do I want to do it anyway, also knowing what I know now? And has it been worth it thus far?

To that I can give a resounding, and emphatical "Yes."

God, in His great wisdom, chooses to bring us through a bit at a time. He allows some pain for growth, but also baptizes us with joy and wraps us in His love and comfort through His Holy Spirit.

That is where I stand today and rejoice along with the 12, for as Peter so rightly said,  "To where would we go?"

Indeed.

Thank you Lord, for giving me the chance at this wonderful adventure of following you. Everything this world has to offer pales in comparison to what You have to give. Amen

I love you God, but.......

"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.......Exodus 3:1

"I love you, God....." But after I said it, I could hear how it sounded to my own ears. What must it have sounded like to God's? I was weary of myself so I could understand how He could be weary of me. Of my same prayers.......my same requests. I was feeling like a bad actor before a Holy God. And the act of sitting out there felt like a charade this morning.

Here I am Lord, again. Don't you get tired of me Lord? I would if I were you. It was a prayer, but there was a "but" behind my "I love you" that didn't belong.

If I knew how Holy the ground was beneath my feet, these Teva sandals would be off my feet in a New York minute. The truth is, sometimes it is just hard to feel the Holy when we are down here on what feels right now like a grubby little planet. The dirt and debris has piled up near the door from yesterday's dust storm and I stepped through it to make my way to Him, to the place of our morning meeting.

I'm still the same old me. I have not lost the ten pounds I wanted to lose by the trip to California in July and the month is half over. I will shock everyone with the blinding white of my skin when I put on my bathing suit. I also need to dye my roots.

And today my prayers sounded more like exasperated sighs than reverence for you.

I wasn't feeling it today. But I know better now. I have learned you can't always trust feelings. I am, however haltingly, learning to trust Him.

I turned where He directed, to the story of Moses. I wanted to read about the bush that God lit with Holy fire and it didn't burn up. And then God taught this slow learner another lesson. He showed me that Moses was a big bundle of inadequacy and nerves and fear just like me.....

The words were truth.....leaping out through the pages. Moses was just like me. Over and over again, he tried to convince God of all that he wasn't.

But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” 

God answered, “I will be with you."

And later on......after God explained all the wondrous signs and miracles He would do, Moses protests once again......“What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”

Lesson number two came when God told Moses to grab his staff which has now turned into a snake.

Sometimes you have to grab hold of that snake before God produces the miracle.

Moses then proceeds to work on God's last nerve, and boy don't I do that every single day?

Yet God is so full of love for Moses that he produces some help in the form of Aaron. Then the tears came and once again my love for God was as real as the flame in that bush. And there was my prayer, and this time it was real.....

And no buts about it.

The Foolish Cross

Cross at Canaan in the Desert, Phoenix Arizona

 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“ I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for [p]signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,  but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

All of our technology and all of our human intellect has done nothing to improve the moral climate of this world. It seems the more educated we are, the worse we mess things up. Don't get me wrong, I am all for higher learning and education. But lets say we offer up the most brilliant thinkers of all time, even if we could combine them all into one person, we would only be left with one very intelligent person.

If in fact, there is such a thing as intellect and reason, and there is, it follows that there is a source behind it all that is infinitely and vastly superior.

What kind of language would that intelligent being have to use, to bridge the intellectual and moral chasm that lies between us?

Something almost too foolish for us to understand.

Something confounding, something almost too simple to be believed. Something preposterous.

Something like the cross.

Something that really messes with our intellectual pride. Picture a human being going to live in the ant world. And God would have to shrink Himself down much further than that......

He would have to make Himself look like Jesus did. Totally non-threatening. Gentle as a lamb, but with all the power of the universe at His disposal. Able to tell a raging storm to pipe down. Able to command death itself to go back where it came from and bring Lazarus out of the tomb alive.

And able to raise Himself from the dead, in order that we could be raised too.

God has proven that there is nothing He won't do to make Himself accessible to you.

He loves you that much.

Remembering.......

It is close of day........Maundy Thursday evening. The evening He gathered with His friends for the last time. Work is done and the events of the day settle around me...floating down like dust moats in my mind. Every Easter week that comes around I wish once again that I had it off.....not just Sunday, the whole week.

I look up services on Maundy Thursday and I lament the days gone by, where businesses really did close on Good Friday. It seemed right and it felt good to live in such a world, such a town, such a time that did this. Things seem different now. People rush around as if they don't know what day it is, and sometimes I get caught right along with them, stupified about what I thought I needed at Walgreens.

But as I work all the way up to Sunday, I will exchange the upper room for some quiet moments in my prayer closet, and tomorrow, that darkest of days,  I will take a quiet walk on my break and thank Him again for doing such a monumental thing for this world. For me. For you.

I wonder how in the world He thought we were worth it, but I am so glad He thought we were.

I will wish for clouds to cover the sun tomorrow because that seems right too.  But this is Arizona after all, and the sun will most likely be shining brightly overhead. And that will be right too, somehow. Events will unfold and we will be distracted as we go from one thing to another.

More than likely we won't have enough time to reflect on what it all means. We are in the thick of life, work, kids, traffic, deadlines and bills. But this is what really matters. That in those moments when we pause and thank Him, we will feel Him close. We carry our upper room right along with us and He is there. Right there in the midst of us.

Tomorrow I will carry Him with me, and He will carry me mostly.

In my moments of remembering, I will picture the silhouette of a lonely cross against a stormy sky and a earth that quaked in revolt at such an impossible event........the creator and Lord of the universe on that same lonely cross. And a small band of very sad followers at the foot of it.

And John pulling Mary close as Jesus says, "Woman, behold your son....."

In every thing I have to do, in between all those things, in between my every breath, every step.....He will be there with me. And I will rejoice because the reality of Easter is this,

He lives!

Childlike Faith

But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Mark 10:12,13

When Jesus heard the disciples rebuke those parents, He in turn rebuked them. He really upset about it, in fact. I like coming back to this picture of Jesus again and again, because it is clear how much He valued the childlike faith of children.

Why is it so easy for children to believe.....to have faith in something they can't see? Not only do they have the faith, they act on it. It is no problem for them to grasp the concept of knowing in order for something to really work, they have to put it into practice. They leave money under the pillow for the tooth fairy.....and lo and behold, the money is there when they wake up. It doesn't really matter to them how it works, they just take it in faith that it will because their parents told them it will.

And somehow it happens just that way. That is, until they find out it was their parents all along hiding the money under the pillow and putting the cookies out for Santa.  

We forget what was once so easy.....so natural. We get too smart to put our faith in something we can't see. Like God. But the problem is that God says that unless we do just that, we will never see Him. We will never enter His kingdom.....

So we spend the rest of our Christian walk trying to get back to that place of faith.

I miss my childlike faith. I too have cashed in on the world system. Let's face it, it's easier. I go to work, I get paid. I buy what I need. I get sick, I go to the doctor. Then if I don't get better I pray.

It's a process of going back, all our lives. Of letting go, unclenching our fists to give back to God what was His all along. I miss my childlike faith.

My Mom tells me that when I was first saved at aged 14, I was the one who really gave her the faith to give when she didn't have it. I remember praying together for a refrigerator when ours went out. My Mom had no idea where the money would come from. There was certainly not enough for one of those. Then, God answered our prayer of faith by supplying one that was almost new.....for 25 dollars!

I remember that refrigerator lasted for years and years.

I love to watch my niece at the beach. It is no problem for her to believe she can build a castle fit for a queen out of water and sand. The water washes it away and she starts all over again......

She has faith that whatever she believes can happen.

Lord, give me that kind again.

A Free Gift

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8,9

News leaves me cold these days. We are, all of us, inundated with information.....most of it useless. How did we get to be a society, a people, so influenced by culture and what it says. I don't care about any of it so I scan over the headlines as quickly as I can. It makes me weary, nothing changes, only the faces of the latest celebrity of the minute, the hour, the week.  

I skim past them, glancing at headlines, stopping every now and again as I shiver at the violence, destruction, loss that is now part of our normal. At what shouldn't be, but is.

I stay just long enough to know what is going on in the world. And I am reminded of one thing:

 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

But faith is one thing that never gets old. It gets renewed again and again. Increases in power, with constant use. It is stretched but never can be broken beyond repair. It stays gleaming and shiny new as that moment when we first grabbed onto it. Whether it was out of desperation or hope as slim as a spider's thread......it was real.

The other day in a book I was reading one of the characters said, "I just can't believe, I don't have that gift of faith." That is when I remembered again what a gift it really is. To believe. To have faith in what we can't see.

It is something we could never do on our own.....for even the act of believing comes from God Himself. Otherwise we could never do it. But He holds it out to us each day. And I believe, I really believe that though He will never force it on us, He holds out hope that we will accept it.

And I don't believe it is too late until we take that last breath.

Thank you Father for such a wonderful gift. 

The LORD is my light and my salvation;Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 21:1

 

Sometimes when words are few.....

A few pictures say some things in a different way......

A stroll around back can give a different perspective.....

A look above can make the heart sigh......

when words are few.

Lately I have found words difficult. They are all swirling around inside me but none will come out the right way. Be still, says the Lord.....And wait on Him. So until He brings the words, waiting is what I am doing.

Maybe we can wait together?

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:13,14

He is more than enough

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

I got home the other night and she was outside on the patio. My best friend of the endless positive attitude...the natural born fixer, the supervisor and mediator of people and situations, cannot fix her Mom. There is no fix for Alzheimer's.....yet. The look on her face said it all. She was done....spent. Finished. "She drove me nuts today," she said. "I prayed all day and it didn't work." I said, "Yes it did, she is still alive and so are you." Sometimes it is all you can do to get through the day with your mind and body intact.

Everything she tried to do for her Mom ended in complete and utter frustration.

A woman who used to scream at them for getting in the kitchen while she was cooking, now stands in the middle of the kitchen as her daughter cooks, staring a hole through her. It is disconcerting to say the least.

And then the endless pacing....up and down, back and forth. In her squeaky shoes. Suggestions are met with hostility and you never know when.....It is like walking in two worlds. The regular world and the Alzheimer's world. Applying the normal rules doesn't work in an abnormal world.

Harder still, is when you have no good memory bank to pull from because your Mom was never emotionally available to you or for you......never nurturing. What do you do when your own supply of love and devotion is not enough, and when you feel like the sun has gone down and taken every scrap of your strength with it?

When the last thing you want is another thing you have to do.

You rest in the knowledge that

you know...... that you know...... that you know

He is more than enough

His love takes over when ours runs out

He will never, ever ignore His child who prays

Know that the power that raised Him from the grave is enough to raise you.......^"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20

When God Speaks

I was going to write about something entirely different today, but then I read Duane Scott's post over at Michelle's place. I remembered something my Dad told me when I was back home this last time......As I read about what Duane so rightly calls, the hard hallelujah, 24 years fell away and I thought about my own period of deep grief and all the events that threatened to swallow my family whole.

Dad told me about the night that God spoke.......It was a Tuesday evening and he was getting ready for a prayer meeting he usually attended. Something kept holding him back. He chalked it up as laziness and continued getting ready. But there was a weight, a heaviness that seemed to be holding him back.

He went but didn't participate in the prayer......He sat quietly in the back, trying to pray, but feeling like he wasn't supposed to be there.

Oppressed by a darkness he couldn't explain.

He says it was as if a strong undertow was pulling him back home. The voice, the Holy Spirit within him was growing louder and more insistent as the night wore on. "Go home and go quickly."

It wasn't audible, it didn't have to be.

Right after he got home the phone rang. It was me calling from Mexico and to this day I don't remember either calling, or the conversation. What my Dad did understand was that the man I had just married three days before had died in an accident and I was left alone.....in a country not my own.

On what was supposed to be my honeymoon.......

If my Dad had not heeded God's voice, my Mom would have had to take that call alone. I don't think she could have handled it.

So while the glow of the wedding was still bright and fresh, the bouquet still in bloom....while relatives had barely had time to get home, they had to come back for a memorial.

And I had to figure out what to do with a future I had all planned out.

The grief was so deep I thought I would never get out. It affected us all. God watched me mess up, veer wildly off the path at times. He watched me deal with the grief all wrong, and that must have been painful for Him to watch.....But in all that time, He never left me.

There are no words for sadness that goes so deep. I remember we all said, "How can the birds still be singing?" In all of our hard hallelujahs no words of comfort ever sound right. But now that I am so far on the other side of that grief, I can comfort others in a way someone else can't and I know it.

But how to comfort when there are no words? The best thing can be just your presence, a hug....shared tears. A listening ear........Stopping by after everyone else goes away.

You might ask the question, "Well, if God spoke once, why didn't He speak another warning? Why didn't He intervene in the big thing that happened.....Why didn't He prevent it?"

There is an answer that comforts me, and I know it to be true. I know my God. There is a reason He didn't intervene, but I don't know what it is. Maybe it was because He was saving me or someone else from an even greater grief further down the road. That is what I choose to believe....it's how I find comfort.

I didn't always have peace about it, but I do now. All these years later, the "why" question matters less and less. Heaven is not nearly as far as we think. The joy that springs up in the heart even in the midst of unbearable sorrow is proof. For we know where they are.......

Though He didn't keep the awful event from happening, I know He loves me more than anything, and I know He was with me every step of the way.

The death of a child is much harder for me to understand. I can't imagine that kind of grief.

All I know is that He loves us so very much, even more than we can imagine, and He loves our loved one even more than we do.

Whoever reads this, please whisper a prayer for Duane, the grieving parents of his nephew and all the family. Thank you Duane, for such a beautiful and real post today and thank you Michelle for sharing it.

Finding beauty when and where you can

There are times when you simply no longer recognize your life..........It happens slowly sometimes, gradually. You look up and find yourself surrounded and in the mire, you feel stuck. You wonder what happened.

Other times it happens with life events, all of a sudden. Leaving no time to prepare, "to lock and load" against the barrage coming at you.

Right now it seems that everywhere I look.......in the lives of those I hold dear, major adjustments are having to be made. My Aunt is packing up some of my Uncle's things since he has had to go to the nursing home. She is living in a strange land now. The land of dementia......She told me, "He is here, but he's not here. I am grieving him and he is still alive." Tears come easily for her. She is packing his shop, and I am sure all the memories along with it.

She struggles with false guilt. She thinks that because she is a Christian she should be handling it better. But what prepares you for this?

Still she has held onto her humor, her eyes still find the beauty in her life.

She still thanks God for all the time she had with him. She has hope in her Savior.

The joy of the Spirit has not left her.

Because of who she is, she still sees the beauty in each new day. She still has her marvelous sense of humor. She called my Mom and asked on a particularly hot day...."Do you want to lay out?" She and my Mom used to sunbathe until they were black....baking for hours. Now they each have standing appointments at the dermatologist as a result.......Laying out in the sun at 80 years of age is now laughable...

And laugh they did.

One friend has a wayward adult child living at home once again......he has suffered many setbacks and can't seem to get back on track. He has made bad choices, and now this Mom and Dad are being dragged along for the ride. They love him so much it hurts.

There is one thing, one BIG common denominator in all these people's lives........they know Jesus. I refute those studies that say there is no marked difference in the lives of believers and unbelievers, the things they do or don't do. Frankly, they can stick those studies where the sun don't shine. They really make me mad, can you tell? I know better. I have seen it with my own eyes.

In my best friend, my own parents, my Aunt, my dear friend and her husband, and many others.

Since I started in a caretaking role myself, there are so many things I understand now, better than I did before. And I am thankful for that. God saw fit to "learn me a lesson." He does that mostly through other people. My life has changed very much over that past year or so. I am still adjusting.

I hope I can grow to be like the heroes I see around me. Still finding the beauty and not losing my sense of humor. I feel that many times lately I have missed the mark. I have become kind of a grumbler.....but inside where no one can see. But God sees my heart, and He knows I don't want to be a grumbler inside or outside.

Sometimes just finding that quiet place for a few moments is difficult, but necessary. To regroup.

How does your faith help you in your everyday life? Does it make things easier? I welcome any and all thoughts....

All photos taken by me at the Disney Grand Hotel

Where we came from

“ Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert." Isaiah  43:18,19

Yesterday I was listening to Glen Beck and he was talking about how we as a nation are in danger of forgetting where we came from, losing our ideals as a country. Those are not his words, but were the gist of what he was talking about. You hear all kinds of talk today about how America is no longer a Christian nation. We have kicked God out of every public arena possible in the name of the first Amendment, which actually was written to protect religion, not limit its expression. But that is another topic.

I don't know if we could call ourselves a Christian nation any longer, but I do know this. All over this great nation today, there are people gathering for Bible Studies, holding hands around a table, sharing their concerns about their families, work, praying over everything that is in their heart, and sharing their love for God. And not just a few. Thousands upon thousands. All through the week and not just on Sundays. They don't just call themselves Christians, they courageously live what they believe until it hurts.

This is what my relatives came to America for. They came with hope flaming in their hearts for that freedom, not only to work and make a life for themselves, but to believe and practice without fear. I like to imagine what they felt when they saw the first glimpse of Ellis Island......and our Lady Liberty. Maybe the sun was shining on her, maybe it was dark, but there is no doubt that they saw something in her that our modern eyes could never see.

My Grandmother came over from Russia and almost died on the ship when she was 6 months old. Many years later she met my Grandfather and they bought land in North Dakota. They worked from sun up to sun down. Sometimes my Grandmother took over for my Grandfather at the plow, in place of the beast of burden. And they suffered a great tragedy. Their sweet little Annie was accidentally shot by a foster child at two years of age. My dear Grandfather left the rifle out only once. I believe he took that guilt with him to the grave. When they left for California, they left their farm and all the animals, most of whom they named.

They left Annie's grave too.

When they got to California, my Grandmother's relatives didn't treat her very well. They gave her all the jobs nobody else wanted to do. When my Aunt and Uncle came, they lived in a chicken coop in back of the house. These were strong people, people of character.

They persevered, went to church, raised their families, and eventually started a successful business.

They didn't believe anyone owed them anything. They knew they would have to sacrifice to get what they wanted. They knew the importance of waiting.....patience. Personal sacrifice.

And they knew that every blessing they received came straight from the Almighty Hand of God.

It is those ideals that I feel America and many Americans are in danger of losing, and not just our youth.

Would anyone you know endure harsh treatment from relatives and live in a chicken coop now? Would I?

It is what I am pondering today.

Because He lives, life is worth it!

“Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! Job 19:23,24

I am continuing my reading through Job. It is slow going, but that is okay. It is tempting to skim through Job. It's painful reading.....As I read through his life, I am starting to feel like I am watching a dear friend suffer, and it hurts. Job wasn't just a very wealthy man with a large family, he was also well known for doing good in the community. He was actively involved in taking care of the poor, opening his home to others, sticking up for the underdog. He wasn't satisfied to just  sit back and enjoy all of God's blessings when he knew others were suffering and in need.

It is tempting to skip through the long winded speeches of his so called friends. I want to tell them to be quiet! But maybe I am being too hard on them. There is truth in much of what they say, I just don't think much of it applies to poor Job. Anyway, I can learn from their words what not to do. There is a time to speak and a time to comfort in silence.

So I am going slow. I am going back when I catch myself scanning instead of reading....because every word is important.

Right after Verse 18 when Bildad winds up his speech, Job starts speaking again. And his words stun me because I always thought this verse came from Isaiah. In the midst of his excruciating suffering, the Holy Spirit speaks a beautiful prophecy spoken through the dry, split lips of suffering Job. Like manna from Heaven the words float down.......

I know that my redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

Right there in the middle of Job....... a well known aria from the Easter portion of Handel's Messiah! I know, I know, there are people, Biblical scholars, who say that this has nothing to do with Jesus, but I disagree.....I think that Job knew exactly who his redeemer was, and that he also knew that when his time on earth was through, that he would see the One who redeemed him. He knew like one who has been through the refining fire of suffering knows......He lives! And maybe it took the suffering for Job to know that he truly did believe....

To echo the old song that I used to sing in church......."Because He lives, I can face tomorrow." Because He lives, I can get up and go to a stressful job. Because He lives, every day is a gift. Because He lives, it's all worth it! "......And life is worth the living, just because He lives!"

And lest you beat yourself up because you feel you should be leaping out of bed instead of praying face down on the carpet, remember this: "There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus".....That was one of the first verses to spill out of the CD player this morning on the way to work. I take great comfort in the fact that He doesn't love me because I am perfect, but because I am His child!

In the end, Job got his prayer answered. The book of Job is considered one of the most beautiful literary works of all time. His words stand the test of time and eternity......

Photo by Andrea Schafthuizen, public domain pictures

A Sparrow Story

Paul Harvey relates a modern parable about a religious skeptic who worked as a farmer:

One raw winter night the man heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.

Touched, the farmer bundled up and trudged through fresh snow to open the barn door for the struggling birds. He turned on the lights and tossed some hay in the corner. But the sparrows, which had scattered in all directions when he emerged from the house, hid in the darkness, afraid.

The man tried various tactics to get them into the barn. He laid down a trail of Saltine cracker crumbs to direct them. He tried circling behind the birds to drive them to the barn. Nothing worked. He, a huge, alien creature, had terrified them; the birds couldn't comprehend that he actually desired to help. The farmer withdrew to his house and watched the doomed sparrows through a window.

As he stared, a thought hit him like lightning from a clear blue sky: If only I could become a bird - one of them - just for a moment. Then I wouldn't frighten them so. I could show them the way to warmth and safety.

At the same moment, another thought dawned on him. He grasped the reason Jesus was born.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

A Different Kind of Lent

"Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies." 2 Corinthians 4:10

A couple weeks ago I was praying and speculating about whether to give up something for Lent. Being raised in a Baptist church, we didn't do Lent, but I have always liked the tradition. Coffee, books, sugar....those are the things that came to mind right away. I was keeping my heart open......Soon after that, events transpired that made it necessary for my best friend's mother to move in with us. Suddenly we had to figure out how to make a two bedroom house big enough for three.

My self-sacrificing friend is now sleeping in the Arizona room, which the cats had previously taken over. She gave up her room to her Mom. At first the cats gave the bed a wide berth, a bit apprehensive when they saw it being wheeled out to "their" room, but they are now thrilled at having another place to sleep.

She has a tough job. Her folks are not easy to care for. They are not positive people and never have been. They have taken much and given little. There is one consolation when all is said and done, she will know that there is not one thing more she could have done for them.

There are times, however, when this is not much consolation, especially when your own sanity is in question.
In spite of everything, she remains positive, gracious and a joy to be around. I don't know how she does it, but then again I do.....loads of Grace, and Prayer. Did I mention her Mom has Alzheimer's?

In the midst of insanity, and chaos, and stress, there was some humor yesterday.

The remote control was ringing

Lipstick seemed like a good idea on cheeks

She lost her pants, which were in plain sight on the dresser

She programmed the microwave for 1 hour and 55 minutes to heat coffee

And this was all within the first hour of the day. When she saw her Mom furiously scrubbing her face at the bathroom mirror she figured out what she did. And then they both had to laugh.....Grace. Life and death side by side. Things like Alzheimer's have a way of making death more visible and just when you think it is gone forever the old life comes back......that's what makes it tough.

And every time we give up something and make room for His grace we wear a bit of the sacrifice of Jesus.

"But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6

The Best Offering

"It was by faith that Abel brough a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel's offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith." Hebrews 11:14

The question was posed to me, "How can a loving God send a person to hell when all their life they have done good things, maybe living a better moral life than a believer?" Many people have grappled with this question, and it has become a major stumbling block. It has caused some to question their faith, and it has kept some from seeking a relationship with God. The problem is, they are looking at it from the wrong angle. They are thinking that the works themselves are what makes a person righteous, when in fact, works by themselves can never save anyone.

The person who counts on their own good works to get them into God's good graces, rejects God's plan and provision for salvation. They are saying in effect, "I think my offering is good enough." Look at what Isaiah says: "We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind." 64:6

And it's not only unbelievers who can fall into this trap, many in the church today are trying to do good works apart from the Holy Spirit, and as a result they are burned out, discouraged, and ready to quit. We were never meant to do anything apart from the Spirit. Sometimes we try to go back to doing things through our own efforts we fall flat on our face. And God lets us!

It's kind of like what happened to Cain. He thought his offering was good enough and then was mad when it wasn't accepted. Abel, however sacrified from the choicest of his flock to give back to God. Somewhere along the line, Cain held back his best. He rejected God's plan, and then sulked even when God came to him:

“Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” Genesis 4:6-7

God never intended anyone to go to hell, in fact He is not willing that any should perish......and all we have to do is reach out and take God up on His offer of salvation. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us so that we might become righteous. He is our righteousness!

The best offering.............
Blessings of this past week.......continued strength and humor inspite of difficulty and challenge......the joy of the Spirit in the midst of joyless company......good conversations about God......fellowship and shared commiseration with friends.....knowledge that we are in the midst of Grace at all times......fruitful quiet times that carry me through, and enable me to help others go through.....questions from others that renew my faith....the support of a best friend who understands.....continued good health......furry ones who give comfort....#647-657



Photo by Brunhilde Reinig: public domain pictures

Fellowship of the Unashamed

An African martyr's last words.......

I am part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

The die has been cast, I have stepped over the line.

The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is

redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.

I'm finished and done with low living, sight-walking, small

planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions,

mundane talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way

is rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.

I won't give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I've preached up, prayed up,

paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.

I must go until He returns, give until I drop, preach

until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no

problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes........." Romans 1:16

Since time is short today, I thought I would share this writing that I found. When I read it I can hear the echoes of the Apostle Paul as he travels from city to city with the Gospel message. Once his life's work was persecuting the church, and by the end of his life he is ready to die and does die for the cause of Christ. What happened in between? He met Jesus. What happened to this African martyr? He met Jesus.

Will He be able to recognize me?......it is a sobering question, but one I think I can never stop asking.

 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

The view from the top

The climber climbs for the joy of it, and because he believes the view from the top will be worth it. We climb too, knowing the Keeper of our steps holds our feet fast; though we slip He keeps us from falling headlong. Though the climb is strenuous and sometimes difficult He surprises us with joys unspeakable on the journey at every turn and infuses us with the hope of victory at the top where He waits...... 

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. Acts 17:24-27

There will be many people at malls in the coming weeks, and rushing too and fro on the freeways, working, eating, visiting, sleeping, and all the while there is a God who waits for them to look His way. He does not need us, but He wants us!

His heart aches for knowing that those who do know Him will not speak of Him often enough, though they know the wonderful truth, the wonderful story.......Lord, make Your Word sing in our hearts and make the melody so bright, so clear, so strong that we can no longer keep it in!

A Rational Response

Faith is a rational response to the evidence of God's self revelation in nature, human history, the Scriptures, and His resurrected Son. W. Bingham Hunter, "The God Who Hears."

In my reading of Scripture today about Jesus resurrection I was thinking about how people want proof that God is real, proof that the Bible is real, proof that Jesus really was raised from the dead. If they only had "proof" they say, then they would believe. Yet there was proof. Is proof:

Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:19,20

All the evidence is in.......Jesus was seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses after the resurrection. Nobody ever denied that the tomb was empty, but instead they offered up different theories as to why it was empty....by His very resurrection from the dead, He proved that everything He said was true. Mary was the first to see the empty tomb, then she ran to tell the disciples. Peter and another disciple ran to the tomb and saw it empty......."Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying." John 20:8-10 

But Mary stayed behind at the tomb and Jesus appeared to her......... John 20:11-16

He is a rewarder of all who seek Him.

"A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God." Ravi Zacharias

Continuing my gratitude count today, gratitude that God has left so much evidence around us.....He wants so very much for us to find Him, to know Him......Thankful today for the endless traces of His presence.....Just enough oxygen for us to breathe, just enough warmth from the sun, just enough heartbeats to keep us going, just the right amount of blood that pumps through, carrying life......shelter from the elements.....laughter to give us hope, just enough gravity to keep our feet on the ground and keep us from spinning off the planet, enough wind to make us wonder.....enough faith and joy to keep us from giving up, and more than enough love to save us, even when we don't deserve it.....#538-548

In the trenches of life

Tlaquepaque Chapel, Sedona Arizona

"But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them, that those who love your name my rejoice in You." Psalm 5:11

This morning wasn't a calm prayer time for me......I was restless, I was worried. I was wondering why circumstances seem so hard for people who are just trying to do the right things. Why does it seem that certain people sail through life with little difficulty? If they need something done they just pay to have someone do it, with money no object they are unscathed by the things that bog the rest of us down. They don't have to mess with details, they don't lose sleep over what is not getting done because someone else is doing it.....or not. Either way, they live above the fray unaffected.  

So this prayer is for the rest of us here in the trenches of life. The ones who look around and realize they are standing alone, with no backup in sight. The ones who get robbed themselves because they are caring for others. The ones with anxious prayers like David, who was not a stranger to adversity.

He lost sleep, he was anxious, fearful, distressed and tired. But He also knew his God. He knew that his God was big enough to handle anything. He also knew that God was a refuge where he could always find shelter.

As I was reading, but mostly worrying this morning. I read these lines.....the ones that God highlighted for me, the ones where my finger stopped moving across the page.

"In the morning O Lord you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation."

I pray, but so many times I don't wait in expectation, I try to figure things out my own way. I don't wait in expectation to see what God will do, I don't even give Him the chance. I believe that is what He wanted me to see this morning. I marvel at the faith of David, a man after God's own heart. He knew how to wait the right way. 

I love how David poured out his heart to the Lord. I can always find comfort in the Psalms because I know that I can find everything there that mirrors exactly what I am feeling at any given moment!

"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" Mark 9:24

Jesus with children, Sedona Art Studio