Do not be afraid, for I am with you... Isaiah 43:5
When the girls were small we were fortunate to have a family house at the beach. With all the water around, Al and I thought it was important for them to learn to swim. We did put them in swimming lessons but to supplement their lessons, I would play that fun game, Swim or Drown in our calm shallow bay.
How this game worked was I would take one daughter into bay where I could stand but she could not. I would tell her to swim to me, and as she approached I would step back. And back. And back. She would yell to me "Mommy, don't move." And I would smile and say back to her "Swim or drown!"
Before you call DYFS on me, let me point out that, both daughters survived to ages 17 and 19. Both can swim and my older one is a swim instructor and life guard at the YMCA. I would never play this game with other children, only my own. The trick with my own daughters was this: they knew I loved them and would do anything for them. They knew I would never let them drown. So while they huffed and squealed, they were never really afraid because they knew I might let them go under once, but I would never left them drown.
My walking backwards encouraged them to try when they otherwise would quit. My presence gave them confidence. And they knew for sure that I could swim.
Because we have had a busy ministry week at church, I was reminded of this game. I felt what God was playing Swim or Drown with us. Stretching us, allowing obstacles to be thrown in our way, walking backwards almost, to encourage us to know all that we can do in His power.
And when children get sick, cars get hit, people have other obligations and cannot help, roofs leak, technology limits us, even the size of our building constrains us, I huff and squeal and say, "Father, don't move." But our game make us stronger. Builds our faith. Reveals His power. Demonstrates His willingness to use us broken vessels for His glory.
Despite the trouble and confusion, His presence gives us confidence. And we know for sure He can swim.
And yes, I am tired when it's over, but I always want to play again. Join me, won't you?
Friday, March 23, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Free Coffee, Free Mercy
This morning I stopped at StarBucks. I needed a caffeine jolt and decided to treat myself. There was a longer line than usual, but I was willing to wait. When I ordered my small coffee, I found out why there was a line. The smiling man behind the counter said, "Good news! Today is National Coffee Day and your small coffee is free!"
I looked doubtful and so he continued his well-practiced speech. "Yes, today, between the hours of 10 am and 12 noon, at any StarBucks, you will receive your small coffees free." He finished pouring my coffee and placed it on the counter. I continued to look at him, mouth hanging open, I suspect, wondering what the catch was. It sounded too good to be true. "Do you want anything else?" he asked.
"No," I replied, willing the test the waters, thinking he was going to say I had to buy something else in order to get the free coffee. "I only wanted coffee."
"Ok," he said, grinning broadly and handing it to me, "Thanks and have a great day."
I walked out of there shaking my head. I still couldn't quite believe it. But I was thinking, "Gee, what a great marketing trick! We should try this where I work!"
I work in a church. And I thought, yes, we do this too. All the time.
Every day, all day, and all night too, God gives away mercy and grace for free. That's the good news. For the asking is love and acceptance, forgiveness of sins. Every tear will be wiped away. Every wound will be healed. We are offered an eternal relationship with the Creator of the universe. Just show up to enjoy community with the the King of kings and all His children. Joy, peace and life eternal.
Jesus Himself has poured the cup for you. There is no catch, nothing else to buy. Free, free for the asking.
Just one thing. Don't forget to drink it.
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14
BTW... At our church we do have free coffee and bagels, every Sunday, after services.
I looked doubtful and so he continued his well-practiced speech. "Yes, today, between the hours of 10 am and 12 noon, at any StarBucks, you will receive your small coffees free." He finished pouring my coffee and placed it on the counter. I continued to look at him, mouth hanging open, I suspect, wondering what the catch was. It sounded too good to be true. "Do you want anything else?" he asked.
"No," I replied, willing the test the waters, thinking he was going to say I had to buy something else in order to get the free coffee. "I only wanted coffee."
"Ok," he said, grinning broadly and handing it to me, "Thanks and have a great day."
I walked out of there shaking my head. I still couldn't quite believe it. But I was thinking, "Gee, what a great marketing trick! We should try this where I work!"
I work in a church. And I thought, yes, we do this too. All the time.
Every day, all day, and all night too, God gives away mercy and grace for free. That's the good news. For the asking is love and acceptance, forgiveness of sins. Every tear will be wiped away. Every wound will be healed. We are offered an eternal relationship with the Creator of the universe. Just show up to enjoy community with the the King of kings and all His children. Joy, peace and life eternal.
Jesus Himself has poured the cup for you. There is no catch, nothing else to buy. Free, free for the asking.
Just one thing. Don't forget to drink it.
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14
BTW... At our church we do have free coffee and bagels, every Sunday, after services.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Al's Testimony, in his own words
On Friday, April 8, 2005, it was a chilly, raining morning. About 6 am, I was just finishing my route in Belmar, coming down Belmar Boulevard, and stopped at the light. The light changed for me to go and I proceeded. When I was crossing the third lane on the highway, lights on the right side of the truck caught my eye. I saw an 18-wheeler bearing down on me, coming into my front side door. I made a hard left and the truck hit my front right door, only a couple of feet away from where I sat. The impact sent me and my truck flying about 160 feet into the grassy fields towards the NJ Power and Light gas lines, which the truck narrowly missed.
As I went flying in the truck, a angel of the Lord helped me to have a soft landing in the cab. When I picked myself up, I asked myself, “why was I spared?” I was shaken but I only had a scratch on my hand. I felt that the Lord had spared me for some future purpose.
In the accident, when the angel gave me a soft landing, I felt like my heart was ripped open. In the next six months, I recovered from the physical shock of having the 18-wheeler barrel into me. After the first six months, and the shock subsided, the trauma to my heart began to to allow me to experience emotions that I had never felt before.
In the year that followed, my wife, Barb, and my daughters were confused as to exactly what was happening to me. There were days when I was angry for no apparent reason and other days when I showed love for everybody. I also remember at times, my love for Barb was changing from a physical attribute to more of an sentimental, emotional loving and caring. But as the months passed, it seemed like a roller coaster ride of different feelings that I had no control over.
Almost a year and a half later, on October 2, 2006, my uncle Donald suddenly died. At the wake, cousin Louise relayed this story to Barb and I.
The morning of Uncle Donald’s death, his son, my cousin Don, stopped by his house to try to convince my uncle to be more tenderhearted with Aunt Olga, his wife. But my uncle and aunt were having problems and my uncle had hardened his heart. He refused to heed my cousin and instead shouted, “I’m going to hell and I’m taking your mother with me!”
That evening, as he sat to watch TV, Uncle Donald had a massive heart attack and died. By the time the paramedics arrived, he was already gone.
When cousin Louise told us this story, my heart sank deep; it was badly hurting. By that time, I knew about accepting the Lord. Barb had been talking to me about this for a long time, but in that final month, she had been repeating this to me. I remember her emphasizing letting the Holy Spirit enter your heart and letting Him work from within.
But I wasn’t quite ready to give up my identity as a Ruglio.
My grandfather, Frank Ruglio, was a strong-willed person. Either he liked you or he didn’t and you always knew where you stood. He had a stubbornness and meanness at times but he also had a big heart. He also was intent to show he was the head-boss, which was something I always admired. He always knew what was the thing to to do at the time.
My father was the head of the family also. All or most decisions had to go through him for approval. My mom never questioned this. This was how I was raised. I thought these were great character traits to have and to show.
However, the problem with stubbornness is that you are not open to other people and their feelings. You are not open to the Holy Spirit either. You know best and that is just the way it is. This was the trait of my grandfather, and then my father and his brothers and it passed on to me and my brothers.
When Barb and I argued, it was always my logic against her feelings, and since they were only feelings, they were invalid to me. Once my heart was opened by my experience in the accident, I started to change inside. But the story of my Uncle Donald was the part that totally broke my heart.
On October 8, Barb and I left for the Poconos to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. She was reading a book by C.S. Lewis called The Great Divorce and we were still discussing the implications of what had happened to Uncle Donald.
The book illustrated, in a more meaningful way, how I was putting worldly idols in front of the Lord. It explained specific things that I had to do in order to accept the Lord into my heart. It explained how my life was full of sin, because idolatry was sin. I never really understood this before.
Also I had a heaviness in my heart because of my uncle. It just felt so sad that my uncle had said that just before he died and for some reason, I didn’t want to go that way. It just wasn’t right and it wasn’t what I wanted.
Barb and I continued to talk about it, and before she fell asleep, on October 10, she prayed with me, about accepting the Lord into my heart. She fell asleep, but I had a rough night. It was like a whirlwind came into my house, and it was throwing out things that no longer belonged. That whirlwind was the Holy Spirit. He changed my attitude, and I felt what I later read about in the Bible. He helped me to die to all the things that no longer belonged in my life. That night I promised to keep the Lord in my heart, for Him to be part of me. It was a very emotional night.
The next day, I had a peace and a different outlook. We went to a Poconos Christmas store and they sold items about the Lord Jesus and St Nick, but I felt repelled about the St Nick items, that he was stealing the attention that rightfully belonged to my Lord.
The next night the Holy Spirit returned to me for more house cleaning and afterwards a love and a peace totally overcame me that night.
I thought Barb knew what had happened to me, although I didn’t outright tell her. My feelings were so strong that I thought it showed. However, a week later, I realized that she didn’t know and this was how I told her.
She was standing at the sink with a cup of water in her hand. I stood up and took hold of her finger. “You can do this,” and I placed her finger in the water, “or you can drink it.” Then she knew.
All this time, I had been in a house surrounded by Bibles and believers, but I had never received it myself. Now, it was inside of me too. I had drank the Living Water.
As I went flying in the truck, a angel of the Lord helped me to have a soft landing in the cab. When I picked myself up, I asked myself, “why was I spared?” I was shaken but I only had a scratch on my hand. I felt that the Lord had spared me for some future purpose.
In the accident, when the angel gave me a soft landing, I felt like my heart was ripped open. In the next six months, I recovered from the physical shock of having the 18-wheeler barrel into me. After the first six months, and the shock subsided, the trauma to my heart began to to allow me to experience emotions that I had never felt before.
In the year that followed, my wife, Barb, and my daughters were confused as to exactly what was happening to me. There were days when I was angry for no apparent reason and other days when I showed love for everybody. I also remember at times, my love for Barb was changing from a physical attribute to more of an sentimental, emotional loving and caring. But as the months passed, it seemed like a roller coaster ride of different feelings that I had no control over.
Almost a year and a half later, on October 2, 2006, my uncle Donald suddenly died. At the wake, cousin Louise relayed this story to Barb and I.
The morning of Uncle Donald’s death, his son, my cousin Don, stopped by his house to try to convince my uncle to be more tenderhearted with Aunt Olga, his wife. But my uncle and aunt were having problems and my uncle had hardened his heart. He refused to heed my cousin and instead shouted, “I’m going to hell and I’m taking your mother with me!”
That evening, as he sat to watch TV, Uncle Donald had a massive heart attack and died. By the time the paramedics arrived, he was already gone.
When cousin Louise told us this story, my heart sank deep; it was badly hurting. By that time, I knew about accepting the Lord. Barb had been talking to me about this for a long time, but in that final month, she had been repeating this to me. I remember her emphasizing letting the Holy Spirit enter your heart and letting Him work from within.
But I wasn’t quite ready to give up my identity as a Ruglio.
My grandfather, Frank Ruglio, was a strong-willed person. Either he liked you or he didn’t and you always knew where you stood. He had a stubbornness and meanness at times but he also had a big heart. He also was intent to show he was the head-boss, which was something I always admired. He always knew what was the thing to to do at the time.
My father was the head of the family also. All or most decisions had to go through him for approval. My mom never questioned this. This was how I was raised. I thought these were great character traits to have and to show.
However, the problem with stubbornness is that you are not open to other people and their feelings. You are not open to the Holy Spirit either. You know best and that is just the way it is. This was the trait of my grandfather, and then my father and his brothers and it passed on to me and my brothers.
When Barb and I argued, it was always my logic against her feelings, and since they were only feelings, they were invalid to me. Once my heart was opened by my experience in the accident, I started to change inside. But the story of my Uncle Donald was the part that totally broke my heart.
On October 8, Barb and I left for the Poconos to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. She was reading a book by C.S. Lewis called The Great Divorce and we were still discussing the implications of what had happened to Uncle Donald.
The book illustrated, in a more meaningful way, how I was putting worldly idols in front of the Lord. It explained specific things that I had to do in order to accept the Lord into my heart. It explained how my life was full of sin, because idolatry was sin. I never really understood this before.
Also I had a heaviness in my heart because of my uncle. It just felt so sad that my uncle had said that just before he died and for some reason, I didn’t want to go that way. It just wasn’t right and it wasn’t what I wanted.
Barb and I continued to talk about it, and before she fell asleep, on October 10, she prayed with me, about accepting the Lord into my heart. She fell asleep, but I had a rough night. It was like a whirlwind came into my house, and it was throwing out things that no longer belonged. That whirlwind was the Holy Spirit. He changed my attitude, and I felt what I later read about in the Bible. He helped me to die to all the things that no longer belonged in my life. That night I promised to keep the Lord in my heart, for Him to be part of me. It was a very emotional night.
The next day, I had a peace and a different outlook. We went to a Poconos Christmas store and they sold items about the Lord Jesus and St Nick, but I felt repelled about the St Nick items, that he was stealing the attention that rightfully belonged to my Lord.
The next night the Holy Spirit returned to me for more house cleaning and afterwards a love and a peace totally overcame me that night.
I thought Barb knew what had happened to me, although I didn’t outright tell her. My feelings were so strong that I thought it showed. However, a week later, I realized that she didn’t know and this was how I told her.
She was standing at the sink with a cup of water in her hand. I stood up and took hold of her finger. “You can do this,” and I placed her finger in the water, “or you can drink it.” Then she knew.
All this time, I had been in a house surrounded by Bibles and believers, but I had never received it myself. Now, it was inside of me too. I had drank the Living Water.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Who is the enemy? Who is my Hero?
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
It is not them.
It is him, the enemy of my soul.
he wants me to despair
he wants me to give up
he wants me to think this is death and not only a valley.
It is not them.
It is Him, my Savior, Beloved Jesus, Mighty God, Love of my soul
He fills me with HOPE
He is Stronger than my enemy
He is Trustworthy and True
He is the Giver of Life
He will build His church
He is Victorious!
I must tell Him -- He is Able
I must trust Him -- He will Do It
No one else
No one else
No one
None
Because You alone are Lord.
They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God. Isaiah 37:19-20
It is not them.
It is him, the enemy of my soul.
he wants me to despair
he wants me to give up
he wants me to think this is death and not only a valley.
It is not them.
It is Him, my Savior, Beloved Jesus, Mighty God, Love of my soul
He fills me with HOPE
He is Stronger than my enemy
He is Trustworthy and True
He is the Giver of Life
He will build His church
He is Victorious!
I must tell Him -- He is Able
I must trust Him -- He will Do It
No one else
No one else
No one
None
Because You alone are Lord.
They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God. Isaiah 37:19-20
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Confessions of a Control-Freak
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
As a control-freak, I must confess that judgment is the first leg of the journey to control. First you look at what someone else is doing with a critical eye. You see how they could do it so much better (your way, of course!) and then you try to figure out how you can convince them (read: control them) to doing it your better way. For their own good, of course.
As an aggressive control freak, I am up front and in your face about it. I have friends however (and of course, I love you dearly!) who are much more subtle about it. I call them, (affectionately!) passive-aggressive. I love my mother-in-law's middle of the road technique. She starts those conversations with "I don't want to tell you what to do, but..." You just have to giggle because she is just cute.
Here, our Beloved Jesus tells us not to judge, but He implies that you can help someone else, but only after you have been through it yourself.
Having teenagers is like that. It is easy to watch a friend struggling with a rebellious teen and say "You should do ..." as long as all your own kids are in grade school. Or if none of your own kids developed a rebellious streak in their teens. If you have really suffered through this yourself, you would be much more likely to listen to your troubled friends while you are hugging and weeping over them and then pray earnestly for them.
First take the plank out of your own eye.
When you have finally seen your own plank, when you have experienced how difficult it is to get it out and keep it out, how much you must depend on Christ to do it, then and only then, can you be of any real service to your sister who has a speck in her eye. If you have not experienced it yourself, you just have NO IDEA. Really.
Jesus, Beloved, forgive me for so often judging. You tell us that Your yoke is easy and that means for us control-freaks that You only will be judging us for us, not for them. Your easy yoke does not include fixing them, only ourselves. And then only with Your divine help!
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
Jesus in Matthew 7:1-5
How many times have I read this, but suddenly reading this yesterday, it made new sense.As a control-freak, I must confess that judgment is the first leg of the journey to control. First you look at what someone else is doing with a critical eye. You see how they could do it so much better (your way, of course!) and then you try to figure out how you can convince them (read: control them) to doing it your better way. For their own good, of course.
As an aggressive control freak, I am up front and in your face about it. I have friends however (and of course, I love you dearly!) who are much more subtle about it. I call them, (affectionately!) passive-aggressive. I love my mother-in-law's middle of the road technique. She starts those conversations with "I don't want to tell you what to do, but..." You just have to giggle because she is just cute.
Here, our Beloved Jesus tells us not to judge, but He implies that you can help someone else, but only after you have been through it yourself.
Having teenagers is like that. It is easy to watch a friend struggling with a rebellious teen and say "You should do ..." as long as all your own kids are in grade school. Or if none of your own kids developed a rebellious streak in their teens. If you have really suffered through this yourself, you would be much more likely to listen to your troubled friends while you are hugging and weeping over them and then pray earnestly for them.
First take the plank out of your own eye.
When you have finally seen your own plank, when you have experienced how difficult it is to get it out and keep it out, how much you must depend on Christ to do it, then and only then, can you be of any real service to your sister who has a speck in her eye. If you have not experienced it yourself, you just have NO IDEA. Really.
Jesus, Beloved, forgive me for so often judging. You tell us that Your yoke is easy and that means for us control-freaks that You only will be judging us for us, not for them. Your easy yoke does not include fixing them, only ourselves. And then only with Your divine help!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
23 Minutes in Hell - A book report
There is something singularly compelling about a personal account. And that is what is so intriguing about this book by Bill Weise. And whether or not we choose to believe his experience, we cannot discount the scriptures that support his story, and there are many.
But it is his personal story that will make your hair stand on end. Hell is not something we like to think about, much less talk about. It is a negative reason to choose Christ when there are so many positive reasons. In a culture where it is wrong to suggest that anything is absolutely wrong, the concepts of judgment and punishment are not popular.
Unfortunately, they are also true.
And so I present to you my thoughts of this book.
Bill, a newlywed and a believer at the time, was taken from his bed in the middle of the night and spent 23 minutes in the depth of hell, afterwards was rescued by Christ Himself and instructed to tell his story to a world where his story would not be popular. It was not just hot there. Bill was left naked, was beaten by huge demons, tortured by heat, noise and smells that made him yearn for death, but it could never come. There was no escape, no respite from the terror and loneliness. He was protected from some of its pain and some of it was removed from his memory because no one could experience such torment and live.
Hell is a place devoid of the love and mercy of God, because it is God Himself who is love and mercy. Hell is a place devoid of comfort and peace and beauty because God Himself is comfort and peace and beauty.
People have a choice. God desires only our true love and there can be no truth to love without free choice. So He leaves us free to choose Him. Or not.
When we choose God, we go to live in His house. Heaven is our true home. I was recounting to Al yesterday why I studied the Bible for 7 years before I accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. It was like I was willing to date Jesus, but I didn't want to marry Him. To visit with Him on occasion was ok for me, but I wasn't ready to commit myself totally, all my life to Him. It was only when I said Yes to Jesus, that I was able to receive His Holy Spirit and become a citizen of Heaven. It is only the Bride of Christ that can return to the home of her Beloved.
When others reject God , they can only spend eternity where God is not. And that is hell. And I am thinking that the only reason why hell is like that is because it is totally devoid of God and His Spirit and His people.
While reading Bill's book, I found myself thinking of The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. I liked Bill's description of hell better. While The Great Divorce's hell seemed vague and only mildly uncomfortable, Bill's count was franker, harsher certainly, but more realistic and unfortunately, accurate to the scriptures if incredible to be believed.
What do we do with this? Should we run and tell our families and friends..."you need to repent or you will go to hell and it's a really bad place?" Well, maybe not.
Certainly though, it was an urgent reminder that evangelism is urgently important.
But it is his personal story that will make your hair stand on end. Hell is not something we like to think about, much less talk about. It is a negative reason to choose Christ when there are so many positive reasons. In a culture where it is wrong to suggest that anything is absolutely wrong, the concepts of judgment and punishment are not popular.
Unfortunately, they are also true.
And so I present to you my thoughts of this book.
Bill, a newlywed and a believer at the time, was taken from his bed in the middle of the night and spent 23 minutes in the depth of hell, afterwards was rescued by Christ Himself and instructed to tell his story to a world where his story would not be popular. It was not just hot there. Bill was left naked, was beaten by huge demons, tortured by heat, noise and smells that made him yearn for death, but it could never come. There was no escape, no respite from the terror and loneliness. He was protected from some of its pain and some of it was removed from his memory because no one could experience such torment and live.
Hell is a place devoid of the love and mercy of God, because it is God Himself who is love and mercy. Hell is a place devoid of comfort and peace and beauty because God Himself is comfort and peace and beauty.
People have a choice. God desires only our true love and there can be no truth to love without free choice. So He leaves us free to choose Him. Or not.
When we choose God, we go to live in His house. Heaven is our true home. I was recounting to Al yesterday why I studied the Bible for 7 years before I accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. It was like I was willing to date Jesus, but I didn't want to marry Him. To visit with Him on occasion was ok for me, but I wasn't ready to commit myself totally, all my life to Him. It was only when I said Yes to Jesus, that I was able to receive His Holy Spirit and become a citizen of Heaven. It is only the Bride of Christ that can return to the home of her Beloved.
When others reject God , they can only spend eternity where God is not. And that is hell. And I am thinking that the only reason why hell is like that is because it is totally devoid of God and His Spirit and His people.
While reading Bill's book, I found myself thinking of The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. I liked Bill's description of hell better. While The Great Divorce's hell seemed vague and only mildly uncomfortable, Bill's count was franker, harsher certainly, but more realistic and unfortunately, accurate to the scriptures if incredible to be believed.
What do we do with this? Should we run and tell our families and friends..."you need to repent or you will go to hell and it's a really bad place?" Well, maybe not.
Certainly though, it was an urgent reminder that evangelism is urgently important.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
The Haunted Look, the Smile of Grace
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
I looked in your eyes today and I knew you needed help. Last week you looked that way, and today, only more so. That haunted look, I know so well. I see it in the mirror.
You did not know, but our Beloved sent you to me, because He knows my struggles and my sins. He knew I would understand and that by hearing my thoughts come from your mouth, that I would see this in a different way, as He does.
Sharing your sorrow and your tears, I see I am not alone.
Can it be possible, Beloved, that You too struggled with this particular sin as You walked on the earth? It seems impossible, yet does not scripture tell us You were tempted in every way?
We do not want this temptation, but it is the burden You have given us to bear. This temptation may indeed be the thorn in our flesh You give us to make us humble and You intend to never take it away.
But we can still smile, and it is not phony, because You will hold us in Your hand, You will forgive us when we wander to close to the edge, and You will not let us fall. We smile because You are with us and we trust You. And no matter what, You love us. No matter what.
Thank you for bringing us together this morning and allowing us to see we are not alone. And to help me recall, You are with us too.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
I looked in your eyes today and I knew you needed help. Last week you looked that way, and today, only more so. That haunted look, I know so well. I see it in the mirror.
You did not know, but our Beloved sent you to me, because He knows my struggles and my sins. He knew I would understand and that by hearing my thoughts come from your mouth, that I would see this in a different way, as He does.
Sharing your sorrow and your tears, I see I am not alone.
Can it be possible, Beloved, that You too struggled with this particular sin as You walked on the earth? It seems impossible, yet does not scripture tell us You were tempted in every way?
We do not want this temptation, but it is the burden You have given us to bear. This temptation may indeed be the thorn in our flesh You give us to make us humble and You intend to never take it away.
But we can still smile, and it is not phony, because You will hold us in Your hand, You will forgive us when we wander to close to the edge, and You will not let us fall. We smile because You are with us and we trust You. And no matter what, You love us. No matter what.
Thank you for bringing us together this morning and allowing us to see we are not alone. And to help me recall, You are with us too.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Hand over the machete
The winds have changed and suddenly, I am not longer the leader.
I never wanted to be the leader. Not really. I just kept turning around and all these lost-looking people were behind me. Maybe it was my gift of helps that made me decide to be what they needed. Sheep without a shepherd.
Being a leader was like having a bunch of people following you in the jungle. You are the one in front, with the machete, cutting through the undergrowth. There are no maps, only branches smacking you in the face and you slice into the brush, praying that you are leading these others in the right direction.
I was the spiritual leader in my home, a leader in women's ministries and often I would find myself as the senior person in the church building with the others looking at me for direction--as if I had any. I often thought I ended up in that position because everyone else had taken a step back.
Now, I find myself trailing more to the back of the crowd. I am ready to hand over my machete. My husband now ready to take over the spiritual headship of our home, the others in church moving up to the front of the line, or maybe it's just me being tired and older and moving towards the back.
Following Al reminds me of our younger days when we would ride his motor cycle. I would ride with him in front, me behind, arms around his waist, leaning my head on his back, watching the scenery pass, safe from the wind. All I had to do was the lean in the direction he leaned, and not pull in the opposite direction. No matter where we went or how fast the scenery passed me, I always felt safe, because I trusted Al.
That's what I want to do now, Lord. Lean in towards the way You are leaning. I want to be protected from the wind. I want to hand over my machete. I want to trust You.
I never asked to be the leader, Father. You thrust it upon me and now You have taken it away. It's all ok with me.
Maybe this time of following is a preparation for a later time of leadership for me. Maybe the time of leadership I experienced was preparation for this time of following. Whatever way it will become, I trust You, Lord to have great and wonderful plans.
Have Your way with us.
I never wanted to be the leader. Not really. I just kept turning around and all these lost-looking people were behind me. Maybe it was my gift of helps that made me decide to be what they needed. Sheep without a shepherd.
Being a leader was like having a bunch of people following you in the jungle. You are the one in front, with the machete, cutting through the undergrowth. There are no maps, only branches smacking you in the face and you slice into the brush, praying that you are leading these others in the right direction.
I was the spiritual leader in my home, a leader in women's ministries and often I would find myself as the senior person in the church building with the others looking at me for direction--as if I had any. I often thought I ended up in that position because everyone else had taken a step back.
Now, I find myself trailing more to the back of the crowd. I am ready to hand over my machete. My husband now ready to take over the spiritual headship of our home, the others in church moving up to the front of the line, or maybe it's just me being tired and older and moving towards the back.
Following Al reminds me of our younger days when we would ride his motor cycle. I would ride with him in front, me behind, arms around his waist, leaning my head on his back, watching the scenery pass, safe from the wind. All I had to do was the lean in the direction he leaned, and not pull in the opposite direction. No matter where we went or how fast the scenery passed me, I always felt safe, because I trusted Al.
That's what I want to do now, Lord. Lean in towards the way You are leaning. I want to be protected from the wind. I want to hand over my machete. I want to trust You.
I never asked to be the leader, Father. You thrust it upon me and now You have taken it away. It's all ok with me.
Maybe this time of following is a preparation for a later time of leadership for me. Maybe the time of leadership I experienced was preparation for this time of following. Whatever way it will become, I trust You, Lord to have great and wonderful plans.
Have Your way with us.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Secrets
Secrets. Even You have them, Father. You hide eternity
in Your hand and then release it, day by day.
The ones that I know now, I am so glad they were hidden.
Worlds turned upside down--but You always knew.
You knew yet in Your mercy kept it secret.
And yet there are more to reveal, next week, next month,
next year, even tomorrow.
We can only count on Your constant love.
And so we too must love constant. We must cover each
other's sins with a multitude of love.
Forgive, forget, move on.
It will never be the way it was.
But we have yet to see what it will be.
It is a secret, hidden in Your hand that You release
day by day.
Not yet, You say. Stay by Me.
It looks like the end but it is not yet.
It will be as clear as the light across the heavens.
You will not miss it.
Stay close by Me. Don't rush ahead.
humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God
that He might exalt you in due time
casting all your cares on Him
because He cares for you...1 Peter 5:6-7
in Your hand and then release it, day by day.
The ones that I know now, I am so glad they were hidden.
Worlds turned upside down--but You always knew.
You knew yet in Your mercy kept it secret.
And yet there are more to reveal, next week, next month,
next year, even tomorrow.
We can only count on Your constant love.
And so we too must love constant. We must cover each
other's sins with a multitude of love.
Forgive, forget, move on.
It will never be the way it was.
But we have yet to see what it will be.
It is a secret, hidden in Your hand that You release
day by day.
Not yet, You say. Stay by Me.
It looks like the end but it is not yet.
It will be as clear as the light across the heavens.
You will not miss it.
Stay close by Me. Don't rush ahead.
humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God
that He might exalt you in due time
casting all your cares on Him
because He cares for you...1 Peter 5:6-7
you got a problem with ME?
Jesus said... "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."
Luke 17:3-4
I have a friend who periodically has melancholy moods. This used to bother me but eventually I started to ask my friend the question..."do I need to appologize for something today?"
The response was always no. Actually my friend was good at telling me right away when I did or said something hurtful. Eventually I stopped asking, confident that if what was wrong was about me, my friend would have told me.
How freeing this is!
I tend toward introspection. Something said in passing conversation can make me wonder about my relationship with a friend. Sometimes, all it takes is a look.
But does the instruction of Matthew 18:15 (If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.) work in reverse? If my brother does not tell me my fault, does that mean that I can assume there is none? If my brother is truely my brother in Christ, can I not trust that he will forgive me?
When he does not forgive me, that is his burden and not mine. I mean, after I have confessed and repented, is there more I need to do?
Beloved, I have done my best to heal this and reconcile, and whatever they have now in their heart, must be dealt with by You.
The burden of unforgiven sin is great. A favorite counselor of ours said in a recent teaching, "When you are angry and you bury it, you bury it alive." How true! And after a while, it leaks.
Beloved, I must rest that if I do right from now on in these areas, You will deal with the hearts of others.
You are mighty, You love me, You love them and I trust You.
Luke 17:3-4
I have a friend who periodically has melancholy moods. This used to bother me but eventually I started to ask my friend the question..."do I need to appologize for something today?"
The response was always no. Actually my friend was good at telling me right away when I did or said something hurtful. Eventually I stopped asking, confident that if what was wrong was about me, my friend would have told me.
How freeing this is!
I tend toward introspection. Something said in passing conversation can make me wonder about my relationship with a friend. Sometimes, all it takes is a look.
But does the instruction of Matthew 18:15 (If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.) work in reverse? If my brother does not tell me my fault, does that mean that I can assume there is none? If my brother is truely my brother in Christ, can I not trust that he will forgive me?
When he does not forgive me, that is his burden and not mine. I mean, after I have confessed and repented, is there more I need to do?
Beloved, I have done my best to heal this and reconcile, and whatever they have now in their heart, must be dealt with by You.
The burden of unforgiven sin is great. A favorite counselor of ours said in a recent teaching, "When you are angry and you bury it, you bury it alive." How true! And after a while, it leaks.
Beloved, I must rest that if I do right from now on in these areas, You will deal with the hearts of others.
You are mighty, You love me, You love them and I trust You.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Buzybody? Who me?
Several weeks ago our pastor preached on 1 Thes 4:9-12. The title of his message was “Fanatics, Busybodies and Loafers.” It was painful to listen to.
This week, in our Bible study, we are at 1 Peter 4:14-15. In it, Peter tells his flock, “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you…but let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer or as a busybody in other people's matters.” Great. Here Peter does not group busybodies with loafers but with murderers and thieves. It’s hard to miss his meaning.
When I was a teen, I went to church with my friends on Sundays. We would walk there, sit in the back and try to keep quiet, because where we churched, being quiet in church was the norm. So we would say to each other “don’t laugh,” and that would always send us into a torrent of giggles.
Why is it that rules, in and of themselves, have no power? In fact, they almost beg us to break them! What then gives us power to obey Christ?
Another sermon was one that I found more helpful. The title of it was “Drinking Seawater” and it was about sexual immorality. I found even the title more encouraging, because in it, pastor was not simply identifying the sin, but telling us all why the pursuit of the sin was so damaging to us. Drinking seawater is just how it is to engage in sexual immorality. It looks good, it looks like it would quench your thirst and it certainly is plentiful. But in truth, it only makes you more thirsty, and in the end, will kill you.
Sometimes when we can uncover God’s truth in a matter, it can help free us from the power over a sin. In this case, being a busybody.
If I am Princess Busybody, my mom was the Queen. It’s so hard to break a generational habit, because with the habit we have been trained in the falsehoods that perpetuate it. Even though I did not want to become like my mother, she has taught me all the lies that make her that way. So let’s shine some light on the subject and get back to the truth.
On That Day, Jesus will not ask me how others did in their lives. He will only ask me about my own. In some cases, I should share my thoughts, but only in humility, gentleness and love. And then, once or twice is usually enough. After that, the Lord of Hosts is well able to use my words and repeat them to others if they have merit and purpose in His Kingdom.
Murderers, thieves and busybodies. How seriously You take this matter, Beloved! Perhaps I should take it more seriously too and seek forgiveness and obedience in this matter. Because not only will You not hold me responsible for other’s behavior, but You will most definitely hold me responsible for mine!
This week, in our Bible study, we are at 1 Peter 4:14-15. In it, Peter tells his flock, “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you…but let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer or as a busybody in other people's matters.” Great. Here Peter does not group busybodies with loafers but with murderers and thieves. It’s hard to miss his meaning.
When I was a teen, I went to church with my friends on Sundays. We would walk there, sit in the back and try to keep quiet, because where we churched, being quiet in church was the norm. So we would say to each other “don’t laugh,” and that would always send us into a torrent of giggles.
Why is it that rules, in and of themselves, have no power? In fact, they almost beg us to break them! What then gives us power to obey Christ?
Another sermon was one that I found more helpful. The title of it was “Drinking Seawater” and it was about sexual immorality. I found even the title more encouraging, because in it, pastor was not simply identifying the sin, but telling us all why the pursuit of the sin was so damaging to us. Drinking seawater is just how it is to engage in sexual immorality. It looks good, it looks like it would quench your thirst and it certainly is plentiful. But in truth, it only makes you more thirsty, and in the end, will kill you.
Sometimes when we can uncover God’s truth in a matter, it can help free us from the power over a sin. In this case, being a busybody.
If I am Princess Busybody, my mom was the Queen. It’s so hard to break a generational habit, because with the habit we have been trained in the falsehoods that perpetuate it. Even though I did not want to become like my mother, she has taught me all the lies that make her that way. So let’s shine some light on the subject and get back to the truth.
- First lie…I’m only trying to help. No. I am trying to control the situation. I do not like how it’s turning out and I want to fix it, fit them, know what is going to happen, be prepared.
God is in control. If it is their issue, He will talk to them about it and not you. If He doesn’t like how it’s turning out, He is well able to fix it. If He needs you to be prepared, He can prepare you too. If He wants you to be unprepared, you can be unprepared and still survive. It is ok.
- Next lie…They need my help. No. You are not smarter than them, more educated, better prepared. If they want your help or advice, they can ask you. If they do not, they may want to figure it out by themselves.
When we do for others, sometimes they feel incompetent and unable to care for themselves. They will never learn how to take care of their own business if we are always in it.
- Last and biggest lie…If I don’t help, something awful will happen. Well, maybe. But it doesn’t matter. Sometimes this is the only way people learn and to take away their opportunity to fail is to stunt their growth. When people make mistakes, even if they are close to us, like our children, our husband, we are NOT responsible for it.
On That Day, Jesus will not ask me how others did in their lives. He will only ask me about my own. In some cases, I should share my thoughts, but only in humility, gentleness and love. And then, once or twice is usually enough. After that, the Lord of Hosts is well able to use my words and repeat them to others if they have merit and purpose in His Kingdom.
Murderers, thieves and busybodies. How seriously You take this matter, Beloved! Perhaps I should take it more seriously too and seek forgiveness and obedience in this matter. Because not only will You not hold me responsible for other’s behavior, but You will most definitely hold me responsible for mine!
Discovering God's Will for My Life
In any relationship, the only way to know how to please the other person is to spend time with them. For example, this Christmas I noticed it was easier to select a gift for my co-workers and close girl friends than some of my family members. I just had spent, recently, much more time around my friends than some of my family, even though I knew my family much longer. I was more in tune with them.
Likewise, the only way to know how to please God is to spend time with Him. Like you would your friends, you listen to them, you do things with them, you observe them in different arenas of life, and as you do, you will discover how they drink their coffee, if they are larks or night owls, if they check their email regularly or if they leave their cell phone on as they drive home from work.
When we spend time with God, in Bible reading, prayer, worship, service to His children, we learn about Him.
The other factor is God is constantly preparing us for the next adventure. He wastes nothing. No activity, no event, no pain, no joy is wasted in your training, your sanctification, to use the official “churchy” word. As my brother Gabe said yesterday, “As soon as Maria (his daughter) was borne, I embarked on this journey of training her. Everything I did, as I did it, I thought of how I would use it to teach her a new lesson about life.” God is like that. Everything can be a life lesson for us, if we are open to it.
So that brings us to the next important step: we need to do everything with all our might, opening our heart to the lesson in it our Heavenly Father has for us. If we focus on the thing “in your hand” (Exodus 4:1-5) then He will train us for the next thing. He has told us to train our children “when you walk by the way,” (Duet 6:7) and likewise, He trains us. If worry about pursuing the “next step” we may miss what He has for us now, that we need to prepare us for that step. God’s word is a light for our feet (Psalm 119:105) – meaning that we get enough light for the next step only most times. When we rush ahead or we can miss the necessary preparation.
Often it’s so hard to wait on God. But we need to wait for His timing in all things. Recently I went to a service where we remembered our youth pastor, PJoe, who went to be with the Lord a year ago. The night before, in response to preparation work we were doing for this service, I had blogged about PJoe, but I was not sure it was appropriate to read it. But I emailed it to Pastor Jeff, who was presiding over the service, and then tucked it away so I had it with me. Later, at the service, Pastor Jeff sat nearby me, and during one of the closing parts he looked at me and nodded. And so I felt confident to get up next and read what I had written.
This incident touched me as representative of how it can work well to seek God’s will:
Often we can feel that a person or situation can block God’s will for our lives, but that does agree with scripture which teaches us that no trial, no person, can interfere with God’s plans for us (Rom 8:37). God is sovereign. There is no trial we encounter that God is taken back by, that God has not counted in His great plans for us. Look at the life of Job, where God has literally pulled back the curtain and allowed us to see His conversation with Satan before He allows him to interfere with Job’s life (Job 1:6-12). Look at the life of Joseph; he was treated so cruelly by his own brothers and in the end his testimony was “God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20).
We can embrace every trial knowing that God sees, He is in control, and He will work it out. When we rest in that knowledge, we can experience the peace that passes understanding.
Likewise, the only way to know how to please God is to spend time with Him. Like you would your friends, you listen to them, you do things with them, you observe them in different arenas of life, and as you do, you will discover how they drink their coffee, if they are larks or night owls, if they check their email regularly or if they leave their cell phone on as they drive home from work.
When we spend time with God, in Bible reading, prayer, worship, service to His children, we learn about Him.
The other factor is God is constantly preparing us for the next adventure. He wastes nothing. No activity, no event, no pain, no joy is wasted in your training, your sanctification, to use the official “churchy” word. As my brother Gabe said yesterday, “As soon as Maria (his daughter) was borne, I embarked on this journey of training her. Everything I did, as I did it, I thought of how I would use it to teach her a new lesson about life.” God is like that. Everything can be a life lesson for us, if we are open to it.
So that brings us to the next important step: we need to do everything with all our might, opening our heart to the lesson in it our Heavenly Father has for us. If we focus on the thing “in your hand” (Exodus 4:1-5) then He will train us for the next thing. He has told us to train our children “when you walk by the way,” (Duet 6:7) and likewise, He trains us. If worry about pursuing the “next step” we may miss what He has for us now, that we need to prepare us for that step. God’s word is a light for our feet (Psalm 119:105) – meaning that we get enough light for the next step only most times. When we rush ahead or we can miss the necessary preparation.
Often it’s so hard to wait on God. But we need to wait for His timing in all things. Recently I went to a service where we remembered our youth pastor, PJoe, who went to be with the Lord a year ago. The night before, in response to preparation work we were doing for this service, I had blogged about PJoe, but I was not sure it was appropriate to read it. But I emailed it to Pastor Jeff, who was presiding over the service, and then tucked it away so I had it with me. Later, at the service, Pastor Jeff sat nearby me, and during one of the closing parts he looked at me and nodded. And so I felt confident to get up next and read what I had written.
This incident touched me as representative of how it can work well to seek God’s will:
- Serve God: I was busy making preparations for PJoe’s service and then, while doing that, God spoke to me. When we are doing the right thing, even when others may misunderstand or be angry, we are always on safe ground. Even if others do not notice, God always sees and rewards us.
- Do what God prompts you to do: I went home and wrote the blog entry.
- Check your spirit and your gift: I sent it to Pastor Jeff, to make sure I was on the right track. I let myself be accountable to someone with wisdom and integrity. For a change, I was gentle and humble, not self-righteous and pushy.
- Be prepared: I brought the blog with me to the service.
- Wait for the nod: I was prepared to speak, or not, not depending on my reasons or my feelings, but was waiting on God.
- Move out in confidence and courage: Got up and shared my blog with those who had come. And it didn’t matter the feed-back I got, really, I needed then to do God’s will only, in obedience.
Often we can feel that a person or situation can block God’s will for our lives, but that does agree with scripture which teaches us that no trial, no person, can interfere with God’s plans for us (Rom 8:37). God is sovereign. There is no trial we encounter that God is taken back by, that God has not counted in His great plans for us. Look at the life of Job, where God has literally pulled back the curtain and allowed us to see His conversation with Satan before He allows him to interfere with Job’s life (Job 1:6-12). Look at the life of Joseph; he was treated so cruelly by his own brothers and in the end his testimony was “God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20).
We can embrace every trial knowing that God sees, He is in control, and He will work it out. When we rest in that knowledge, we can experience the peace that passes understanding.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
True Beauty
Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty.
What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.
1 Peter 3:1-6 MSG
Yesterday my friend Donna was telling me that she had a asthma attack in the middle of the night.
"It's hard to call 911 when you are by yourself having an asthma attack," I told her.
"Yes and it's even harder to answer the door when you are lying on the floor," she replied.
Always practical and a nurse besides, Donna continued on about how she did not want to be found dead in that way, "with drool running down my chin, no make up and in my bathrobe."
I promised her that if I ever found her dead, I would clean her up, touch up her make-up and put on her favorite outfit. What a true friend.
Donna is the most beautiful woman I know. She has a true beauty that is delightful to be around and gaze upon. Her gentle, compassionate, sweet spirit is utterly captivating. She has the beauty that only comes from devotion to and connection with our Beloved Jesus.
One of the movies that has most disturbed me was one called Death Becomes Her, with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn playing two jealous, conniving women who allow a spell to be cast upon them that gives them eternal physical life and perfect physical beauty. The catch? They are really dead and cannot no longer die. In the end of the movie, their physical beauty succumbs to the accidents and wear and tear of the world and they look hideous. In trying to become beautiful, they became more and more ugly. And their ugliness was permanent, as they could never leave their outward bodies and embrace death. Their anger, jealousy and bitterness made them miserable.
The way we make ourselves beautiful is by being in the presence of the True Beautiful One, Jesus. As we read His love letters to us, as we tell Him our deepest secrets and fears in prayer, as we adore Him in worship, as we serve His children here on the earth, His beauty rubs off on us and we are made more and more beautiful too.
Ok, truth be told sometimes we, with the stress of life, lose our sweet spirit and and we allow pride, anger and doubt to creep in. But more and more, as we walk with my Beloved, that happens less and less.
One day you may find me dead. You can clean me up, make me up, dress me up, and put me in a pretty box if that would comfort you. Or you can give my left over shell to science and medicine or burn me to ashes. It's all the same to me.
Because then I'll be in the arms then of my Beloved Jesus and mine will have been made a perfect beauty.
What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.
1 Peter 3:1-6 MSG
Yesterday my friend Donna was telling me that she had a asthma attack in the middle of the night.
"It's hard to call 911 when you are by yourself having an asthma attack," I told her.
"Yes and it's even harder to answer the door when you are lying on the floor," she replied.
Always practical and a nurse besides, Donna continued on about how she did not want to be found dead in that way, "with drool running down my chin, no make up and in my bathrobe."
I promised her that if I ever found her dead, I would clean her up, touch up her make-up and put on her favorite outfit. What a true friend.
Donna is the most beautiful woman I know. She has a true beauty that is delightful to be around and gaze upon. Her gentle, compassionate, sweet spirit is utterly captivating. She has the beauty that only comes from devotion to and connection with our Beloved Jesus.
One of the movies that has most disturbed me was one called Death Becomes Her, with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn playing two jealous, conniving women who allow a spell to be cast upon them that gives them eternal physical life and perfect physical beauty. The catch? They are really dead and cannot no longer die. In the end of the movie, their physical beauty succumbs to the accidents and wear and tear of the world and they look hideous. In trying to become beautiful, they became more and more ugly. And their ugliness was permanent, as they could never leave their outward bodies and embrace death. Their anger, jealousy and bitterness made them miserable.
The way we make ourselves beautiful is by being in the presence of the True Beautiful One, Jesus. As we read His love letters to us, as we tell Him our deepest secrets and fears in prayer, as we adore Him in worship, as we serve His children here on the earth, His beauty rubs off on us and we are made more and more beautiful too.
Ok, truth be told sometimes we, with the stress of life, lose our sweet spirit and and we allow pride, anger and doubt to creep in. But more and more, as we walk with my Beloved, that happens less and less.
One day you may find me dead. You can clean me up, make me up, dress me up, and put me in a pretty box if that would comfort you. Or you can give my left over shell to science and medicine or burn me to ashes. It's all the same to me.
Because then I'll be in the arms then of my Beloved Jesus and mine will have been made a perfect beauty.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Remembering PJoe
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them...
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...
Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good.
(For Good - from the Broadway play Wicked)
Tomorrow night we will spend an evening remembering our dear friend and pastor, Joe Fields.
Joe was so many different things, all wrapped into one quirky package.
He was a mere boy really, and that was the best part of him. He was young enough to be my son, well, if I had him really, really young. He loved jokes and games and legos. He laughed out loud, sang off key in the hallways, left dirty dishes in the sink. He would do whatever you asked him. We would take out the garbage together. We would line up the chairs in the sanctuary together. We would go to Costco and buy tons of food and jam it into my car together. No job was too messy for Joe to enjoy with you. And just being with Joe made any job enjoyable.
I have two daughters and never longed for a son. Until I met Joe and realized what a great thing I had missed out on.
Joe was a wonderful man of God. He had incredible far-reaching wisdom for one so young. For a young man so sick, he was really the most healthy person I knew. He understood how to relate to people and he knew how important that was. He knew his Bible and how to explain it in simple terms. He knew how to talk about God to my teens, and he knew when and how to talk about their life issues too. Joe was great with teens, he was great with old people. He could keep up with Celia and I in discussion, yet do the boy thing with Jim and the youth boys. And he loved playing with his baby Ethan. His range was awesome.
Joe was a man of passion. He was passionate about God, his work, his family, his friends, and he had lots of them. He was not half way about it at all. He may have had a lot of commitments, but he was a man of commitment and integrity. He had the rare gift of knowing what he was about, knowing where he was going and knowing why he was going there. He may have not had a lot of money but he was rich beyond measure in his friendship and his peace.
Joe was a man of wisdom. One of the worst parts about me dealing with Christina being pregnant initially was that I could not tell Joe. He would have known what to tell me and her. He always had great sense about life, about people, about God.
Joe leaving has left a big hole. There is the hole of the youth pastor that we never filled. Who could replace this man? There is a hole in our office, and more than just an empty room. It seems like the staff has never been the same since. Or maybe it's just me who has never been the same...
What do you say about such things? How do you recover from such a loss? How do you go on?
Tonight Ken and I were in the Fellowship Hall watching the slide show, photos of Joe, alive and happy with all of his friends, I said, "I can't believe he's dead."
And Ken replied, "He's not. He's just not here."
Part of the trouble with trying to get my mind around what has happened is that Joe periodically would go away to the hospital, get better, and then come back to us. It is hard to believe still, that he is not just away and will soon be coming back.
But that is the definitive truth. He'd not dead. He is just not here. He is coming back.
And, as the song says, he has left a hand-print on our hearts. Us who have known Joe will never be the same. We are changed, for good. His love for Christ and his love for us has changed us.
Joe did not have any outstanding gifts, as the world would recognize. He could not play an instrument or sing. He was not an outstanding orator, or doctor or athlete. He was just a man who with all his heart and soul did good. And he cannot be stopped. Death cannot stop Joe, and he knew that. He knew that if he obeyed His Heavenly Father, not only would he live forever with Him, but his legacy would live forever too.
And it will. With us.
1 Peter 3:13-18
If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off.
Don't give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master.
Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath.
It's better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them...
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...
Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good.
(For Good - from the Broadway play Wicked)
Tomorrow night we will spend an evening remembering our dear friend and pastor, Joe Fields.
Joe was so many different things, all wrapped into one quirky package.
He was a mere boy really, and that was the best part of him. He was young enough to be my son, well, if I had him really, really young. He loved jokes and games and legos. He laughed out loud, sang off key in the hallways, left dirty dishes in the sink. He would do whatever you asked him. We would take out the garbage together. We would line up the chairs in the sanctuary together. We would go to Costco and buy tons of food and jam it into my car together. No job was too messy for Joe to enjoy with you. And just being with Joe made any job enjoyable.
I have two daughters and never longed for a son. Until I met Joe and realized what a great thing I had missed out on.
Joe was a wonderful man of God. He had incredible far-reaching wisdom for one so young. For a young man so sick, he was really the most healthy person I knew. He understood how to relate to people and he knew how important that was. He knew his Bible and how to explain it in simple terms. He knew how to talk about God to my teens, and he knew when and how to talk about their life issues too. Joe was great with teens, he was great with old people. He could keep up with Celia and I in discussion, yet do the boy thing with Jim and the youth boys. And he loved playing with his baby Ethan. His range was awesome.
Joe was a man of passion. He was passionate about God, his work, his family, his friends, and he had lots of them. He was not half way about it at all. He may have had a lot of commitments, but he was a man of commitment and integrity. He had the rare gift of knowing what he was about, knowing where he was going and knowing why he was going there. He may have not had a lot of money but he was rich beyond measure in his friendship and his peace.
Joe was a man of wisdom. One of the worst parts about me dealing with Christina being pregnant initially was that I could not tell Joe. He would have known what to tell me and her. He always had great sense about life, about people, about God.
Joe leaving has left a big hole. There is the hole of the youth pastor that we never filled. Who could replace this man? There is a hole in our office, and more than just an empty room. It seems like the staff has never been the same since. Or maybe it's just me who has never been the same...
What do you say about such things? How do you recover from such a loss? How do you go on?
Tonight Ken and I were in the Fellowship Hall watching the slide show, photos of Joe, alive and happy with all of his friends, I said, "I can't believe he's dead."
And Ken replied, "He's not. He's just not here."
Part of the trouble with trying to get my mind around what has happened is that Joe periodically would go away to the hospital, get better, and then come back to us. It is hard to believe still, that he is not just away and will soon be coming back.
But that is the definitive truth. He'd not dead. He is just not here. He is coming back.
And, as the song says, he has left a hand-print on our hearts. Us who have known Joe will never be the same. We are changed, for good. His love for Christ and his love for us has changed us.
Joe did not have any outstanding gifts, as the world would recognize. He could not play an instrument or sing. He was not an outstanding orator, or doctor or athlete. He was just a man who with all his heart and soul did good. And he cannot be stopped. Death cannot stop Joe, and he knew that. He knew that if he obeyed His Heavenly Father, not only would he live forever with Him, but his legacy would live forever too.
And it will. With us.
1 Peter 3:13-18
If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off.
Don't give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master.
Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath.
It's better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Healing the Sick
If someone came to our church and she was bleeding, what would you do? Would you fill her a bag of canned goods and invite her to the next women’s Bible study? Of course not! You would call 911 and hold her hand and pray with her until the paramedics arrived.
You would understand that a health care professional is needed to heal her. It is clear that to deny this and try to take matters into your own hands is to endanger the health of the person you are trying to help.
People who are suffering mental illness or have deep emotional wounds are not bleeding. Sometimes you can tell right away that something is wrong; but other times you cannot. Sometimes they are skilled at hiding their wounds.
These people are not helped by attending a Bible study. They may indeed be seeking sympathy and help and inviting them to study the Word of God may seem initially like a good idea.
But it is not. And it’s not that they are not “well enough” to be able to participate in Bible study.
It’s like inviting the bleeding woman to Bible study. It is not healing. It is not what she needs. She must be directed to a health care professional. To not do this, to take matters into our own hands, is to endanger the person you are trying to help.
You also are endangering others. Because people who are mentally ill, or who have deep emotional wounds may hurt other people. They may hurt the other people we are ministering to. They may erode the effectiveness of our ministry by steering us off the course that Christ has us on.
They may hurt ministry workers, who are sympathetic to their plight and try to help in ways that over-extend or endanger themselves, the church and their families. Rarely, but it happens, that some people are manipulative and hurt those who try to help them.
Please do not misunderstand...we all, at times, experience deep emotional wounds. I certainly have! When we do, we do not want to forsake the fellowship of believers, especially our Bible study group. But sometime the wounds are so deep that individual help is also needed to experience healing and peace. Taking our deep issues to a group of women gives us too much superficial advice, too many voices, which adds to the confusion instead of giving clarity and peace.
And often mentally illness can be treated and while under adequate treatment, they are well able to attend a study. If they lapse in their treatment, however, that is when problems can occur.
People who come to a Bible study must have a desire to study God's word. People who have shown up at a Bible study are there because someone invited them or they discovered it on their own. But people show up because there is something inside them compelling them to try it. There is an interest, curiosity, desire on their part. They are not just dropped into it, or come because of another need that a Bible study cannot fulfill.
As ministry leaders, we must provide a safe place, physically and emotionally, for those who we serve, and those who serve with us.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them... he who leads, with diligence... Romans 12:6,8
You would understand that a health care professional is needed to heal her. It is clear that to deny this and try to take matters into your own hands is to endanger the health of the person you are trying to help.
People who are suffering mental illness or have deep emotional wounds are not bleeding. Sometimes you can tell right away that something is wrong; but other times you cannot. Sometimes they are skilled at hiding their wounds.
These people are not helped by attending a Bible study. They may indeed be seeking sympathy and help and inviting them to study the Word of God may seem initially like a good idea.
But it is not. And it’s not that they are not “well enough” to be able to participate in Bible study.
It’s like inviting the bleeding woman to Bible study. It is not healing. It is not what she needs. She must be directed to a health care professional. To not do this, to take matters into our own hands, is to endanger the person you are trying to help.
You also are endangering others. Because people who are mentally ill, or who have deep emotional wounds may hurt other people. They may hurt the other people we are ministering to. They may erode the effectiveness of our ministry by steering us off the course that Christ has us on.
They may hurt ministry workers, who are sympathetic to their plight and try to help in ways that over-extend or endanger themselves, the church and their families. Rarely, but it happens, that some people are manipulative and hurt those who try to help them.
Please do not misunderstand...we all, at times, experience deep emotional wounds. I certainly have! When we do, we do not want to forsake the fellowship of believers, especially our Bible study group. But sometime the wounds are so deep that individual help is also needed to experience healing and peace. Taking our deep issues to a group of women gives us too much superficial advice, too many voices, which adds to the confusion instead of giving clarity and peace.
And often mentally illness can be treated and while under adequate treatment, they are well able to attend a study. If they lapse in their treatment, however, that is when problems can occur.
People who come to a Bible study must have a desire to study God's word. People who have shown up at a Bible study are there because someone invited them or they discovered it on their own. But people show up because there is something inside them compelling them to try it. There is an interest, curiosity, desire on their part. They are not just dropped into it, or come because of another need that a Bible study cannot fulfill.
As ministry leaders, we must provide a safe place, physically and emotionally, for those who we serve, and those who serve with us.
- We must set up boundaries that make our church a safe place.
- We must be able to determine, not only who is bleeding physically, but also who is bleeding mentally or emotionally.
- We must know the right health care professionals to contact.
- We must train those who serve under us.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them... he who leads, with diligence... Romans 12:6,8
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The Parting
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
Father
|
Son?
|
Son
|
Yes, Dad.
|
Father
|
It’s time, Son.
|
Son
|
I’m ready. I’m willing. I’ve always been willing.
|
Father
|
Yes, I know. It was your idea from the first.
|
Son
|
We all agreed it was the only way. I want it this
way. From the beginning we knew that if we gave them the choice, they would go their own way.
But we wanted them to choose us freely.
|
Father
|
You are right. It is not love if they do not
choose us. |
Son
|
Yes, and we want them to experience the joy
of true love. And since all of them have chosen to go their own way, the only way to save them once and for all is for me to go to them. I love them too much to lose them forever. |
Father
|
Me too. But even after your work is done,
some of them, indeed most of them, still will not choose you. |
Son
|
Even still for those few who come to me, Dad,
I am willing. Just for them, I do this. It is difficult for me to leave you and all this. |
Father
|
Son, we will talk. Whenever you want,
I’m here for you. We won’t really be apart until the end. |
Son
|
That will be the hardest part.
But it will be worth it. I love them so much, Dad. We can’t not do this. |
Father
|
Even you are free to choose, Son.
You can choose to not do this. |
Son
|
Yes, I know. I will do this. I’m ready to go now.
Just one last thing, Dad -- Hold me. |
Father
|
Don’t worry, Son, I will not let you go.
|
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
Saturday, November 25, 2006
What I learned at the retreat
What I learned at the retreat did not come from any of the teaching sessions, or the worship, or the conversations this year, although they were all good.
What I learned came through the process of planning the retreat. It reminded me of a retreat the disciples went on with Jesus. They too, were at a remote place. But there were 5,000 men there, plus their women and children. Jesus was teaching them, but then that annoying detail arose…it was dinner time and they were far far away from any fast food places. The disciples came to Jesus with the issue. His answer was amazing.
Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." Matthew 14:16
Can’t you just see the disciples standing there with their mouths open? Yeah, right. We can’t do that.
That was how I felt at the retreat. There would be at least 100 people there, of all ages. They needed worship and teaching and child care and youth activities and social opportunities and recreational activities. And the people committed to the team? Well, there was me. And only me.
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. Matthew 14:17
And so that was my dilemma. I did not have enough. No nursery leader, no youth leader, no pastor even on Sunday. I only had my gifts and a the list of people who were paying to attend. Would they come through for the church, for the Body? I didn’t know, but I knew what I had to do.
“Bring them here to me," He said. Matthew 14:18
So I kept bringing it back to Jesus. My five loaves and two fish. And I’d put them at His feet and told Him, “This was not my idea. This is all about You. You have to come through for me or it will not happen. You are my only hope.”
They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. Matthew 14:20
And He did. The people all helped. It was a wonderful retreat, some said the best ever.
And so I learned it doesn’t matter what you have to start with. As long as you bring all that you have to Jesus, He can still feed the multitude.
What I learned came through the process of planning the retreat. It reminded me of a retreat the disciples went on with Jesus. They too, were at a remote place. But there were 5,000 men there, plus their women and children. Jesus was teaching them, but then that annoying detail arose…it was dinner time and they were far far away from any fast food places. The disciples came to Jesus with the issue. His answer was amazing.
Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." Matthew 14:16
Can’t you just see the disciples standing there with their mouths open? Yeah, right. We can’t do that.
That was how I felt at the retreat. There would be at least 100 people there, of all ages. They needed worship and teaching and child care and youth activities and social opportunities and recreational activities. And the people committed to the team? Well, there was me. And only me.
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. Matthew 14:17
And so that was my dilemma. I did not have enough. No nursery leader, no youth leader, no pastor even on Sunday. I only had my gifts and a the list of people who were paying to attend. Would they come through for the church, for the Body? I didn’t know, but I knew what I had to do.
“Bring them here to me," He said. Matthew 14:18
So I kept bringing it back to Jesus. My five loaves and two fish. And I’d put them at His feet and told Him, “This was not my idea. This is all about You. You have to come through for me or it will not happen. You are my only hope.”
They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. Matthew 14:20
And He did. The people all helped. It was a wonderful retreat, some said the best ever.
And so I learned it doesn’t matter what you have to start with. As long as you bring all that you have to Jesus, He can still feed the multitude.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Retreat to the New Life
Living the New Life (Colossians 3:1-3)
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.Why are we going on retreat? It's a lot of money. It's a lot of work. It is a lot of time. After all, we just did it last year.
Well, the head count is down. So a lot of us are saying no, I can't fit it in. I don't have the money.
But for me and my house, we are all going, and one more of us. A little one, but he will be there, Gio Moreau. It will be his first retreat.
We are going because we have been raised to new life in Christ and we need to be reminded of the realities of heaven. Because we died, and our real life is hidden in Christ. Because we need to, annually, spend a whole weekend away just to let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill our lives. We need to teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. We want to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. (Colossians 3:16)
That's why we are going. And that's why it is worth every second, every penny.
Father, it is with that worthy intent, that I have been planning this retreat. Show up there, Beloved and fill us. And I won't care who else comes.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Mommy, my hands are sticky!
As I approached the dance studio, I saw the mothers standing at the window, peeking in intently through the blinds. I looked in too and saw the little girls in their dance clothes and tap shoes, holding hands.
“They are too cute,” I said and one of the mothers turned to me briefly and sighed, “Oh! Yes!”
And I thought, that is how God watches us! He looks on as we go about our day, and He thinks about how lovely we are to Him. As for these the little girls, there was nothing particular in them, it was just that they were loved by their mothers. They were their little girls.
We are God’s children, His handiwork, and He has gone to great lengths to woo us, win us, and call us His own. He adores us and looks at us as we do our own children.
After class was over, I went inside and watched as the dance teacher gave out lollipops to the girls. One little brother, not more than 3 years old, approached her, but she looked over his head first to get his mother’s approval before she gave him the pop.
Can’t you picture how the story went later on? The little boy would finish the pop and give the bitten up stick to his mom, who would then place it in her bag. Then he would notice his hands.
“Mommy, my hands are sticky!”
Then mom would reach in her bag and pull out a wet wipe and clean up not only his hands but his face as well. Then I can see her kissing his sweet clean face.
And this too reminded me on how God handles the sin in our lives. Like the mom, He knows we are going to get dirty from sin. He has already prepared for that, in the same way the mom has packed up wet wipes and stored them in her bag. Like mom, He waits for us to be done with our sin, and know that we are indeed “sticky.” And then He cleanses us.
Not that we are going to stay clean. He knows that. Like mom, He has packed up a good amount of wipes.
Like the mom knew when she agreed to allow her son to have the lollipop that he would be sticky when he was done, God already knows all about our sin and only desires for us to be clean again. He watches and waits for us to be ready. He does not watch and wait to punish us, but only to cleanse and restore us.
And then come His kiss.
I don’t think we can ever out grow or out sin God’s loving desire for us. We are always His own. Because as I had looked through the dance studio window that day, it was my own 17 year-old daughter I saw, old enough to be the student teacher now, in her high heeled tap shoes, holding a little one’s hand. It was her who I thought was “too cute.”
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin. …
5 For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,
teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. …
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject
“They are too cute,” I said and one of the mothers turned to me briefly and sighed, “Oh! Yes!”
And I thought, that is how God watches us! He looks on as we go about our day, and He thinks about how lovely we are to Him. As for these the little girls, there was nothing particular in them, it was just that they were loved by their mothers. They were their little girls.
We are God’s children, His handiwork, and He has gone to great lengths to woo us, win us, and call us His own. He adores us and looks at us as we do our own children.
After class was over, I went inside and watched as the dance teacher gave out lollipops to the girls. One little brother, not more than 3 years old, approached her, but she looked over his head first to get his mother’s approval before she gave him the pop.
Can’t you picture how the story went later on? The little boy would finish the pop and give the bitten up stick to his mom, who would then place it in her bag. Then he would notice his hands.
“Mommy, my hands are sticky!”
Then mom would reach in her bag and pull out a wet wipe and clean up not only his hands but his face as well. Then I can see her kissing his sweet clean face.
And this too reminded me on how God handles the sin in our lives. Like the mom, He knows we are going to get dirty from sin. He has already prepared for that, in the same way the mom has packed up wet wipes and stored them in her bag. Like mom, He waits for us to be done with our sin, and know that we are indeed “sticky.” And then He cleanses us.
Not that we are going to stay clean. He knows that. Like mom, He has packed up a good amount of wipes.
Like the mom knew when she agreed to allow her son to have the lollipop that he would be sticky when he was done, God already knows all about our sin and only desires for us to be clean again. He watches and waits for us to be ready. He does not watch and wait to punish us, but only to cleanse and restore us.
And then come His kiss.
I don’t think we can ever out grow or out sin God’s loving desire for us. We are always His own. Because as I had looked through the dance studio window that day, it was my own 17 year-old daughter I saw, old enough to be the student teacher now, in her high heeled tap shoes, holding a little one’s hand. It was her who I thought was “too cute.”
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin. …
5 For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,
teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. …
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Same Sex Marriage in NJ
Our dear sister Amy started this discussion on our Called Aside Yahoo email loop and I want to record my response here. Her concern was the ruling of the NJ Supreme Court on Same Sex Marriage. Hers was a " call to arms" to contact our candidates on this issue. Below was my reply.
Just the other day the issue came up that we, as a church, choose not to promote any political party.
Actually, I confess to you all, that it was only during the last presidental election, that God revealed to me that He is not definitively Republican. When I realized that Sandy, and several other friends who I love, admire and respect as believers, were not voting for the Republican candidate, I was forced to reconsider my thoughts on the matter.
Pastor Ed says it best when he says, "God did not come to take sides, He came to take over."
As for the matter at hand, Al showed me the article in the Star Ledger. I looked at the list of issues that the people in gay relationships had. I looked at the photo of the two women, holding each other. I sat there and considered in a different way, what my Beloved Jesus would say about such things.
I am sure that Jesus does not desire these people in be the bondage of this sin. He desires to set the captives free, and this is one of the stronger bondages that people find themselves in.
But we cannot break their bondage by enacting laws. God tried that already. It did not work. The Jews were the only one surprised by that, He knew it was not going to work all along and had made other plans from the beginning.
When Jesus came, He had other plans for releasing people from sin. He loved them. He served them. He befriended them. Even the sinful, diseased ones that the religious people of the day would not even go near. One by one by one at a time.
Re-read for yourself the account in John 8 (see below), the woman caught in adultrey. These are the questions to consider:
Ok, so how do we apply this to our lives and this issue? My take is this:
Jesus loves these people caught in this sin of homosexuality. He died for them and desired to be reconciled to them. He wants to free them from this.
We can only be an active part in releasing them from this sin by our love and the Spirit within us by serving them. Showing them the love of Christ and praying that His Spirit would annoint them and free them. One by one by one. There is no short cut. I really don't think enacting laws will do it.
I strongly agree the cultural climate of our country is changed by the laws we enact and by the media. I do think NJ enacting this law is a bad thing because it shows and contributes to the slide of our culture into the absyss of sin.
But if we are going to expend energy to solve the problem as Jesus would, we have to go to the hurting people, and love them. We can get on our knees for them. Not to the law makers.
John 8
Just the other day the issue came up that we, as a church, choose not to promote any political party.
Actually, I confess to you all, that it was only during the last presidental election, that God revealed to me that He is not definitively Republican. When I realized that Sandy, and several other friends who I love, admire and respect as believers, were not voting for the Republican candidate, I was forced to reconsider my thoughts on the matter.
Pastor Ed says it best when he says, "God did not come to take sides, He came to take over."
As for the matter at hand, Al showed me the article in the Star Ledger. I looked at the list of issues that the people in gay relationships had. I looked at the photo of the two women, holding each other. I sat there and considered in a different way, what my Beloved Jesus would say about such things.
I am sure that Jesus does not desire these people in be the bondage of this sin. He desires to set the captives free, and this is one of the stronger bondages that people find themselves in.
But we cannot break their bondage by enacting laws. God tried that already. It did not work. The Jews were the only one surprised by that, He knew it was not going to work all along and had made other plans from the beginning.
When Jesus came, He had other plans for releasing people from sin. He loved them. He served them. He befriended them. Even the sinful, diseased ones that the religious people of the day would not even go near. One by one by one at a time.
Re-read for yourself the account in John 8 (see below), the woman caught in adultrey. These are the questions to consider:
- How does Jesus treat this woman caught in this sin?
- Is there any doubt that He thinks, and in the end she knows, that this is sin?
- Who else does Jesus correct in this story? Is it only the woman? Does He not also correct those who wished to condemn her? Note how gentle He is in that too!!
Ok, so how do we apply this to our lives and this issue? My take is this:
Jesus loves these people caught in this sin of homosexuality. He died for them and desired to be reconciled to them. He wants to free them from this.
We can only be an active part in releasing them from this sin by our love and the Spirit within us by serving them. Showing them the love of Christ and praying that His Spirit would annoint them and free them. One by one by one. There is no short cut. I really don't think enacting laws will do it.
I strongly agree the cultural climate of our country is changed by the laws we enact and by the media. I do think NJ enacting this law is a bad thing because it shows and contributes to the slide of our culture into the absyss of sin.
But if we are going to expend energy to solve the problem as Jesus would, we have to go to the hurting people, and love them. We can get on our knees for them. Not to the law makers.
John 8
1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
an audience of One
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:5-6
Let me confess ... I have been trying to find friends to blog with.
I have been sending my friends blog-entries. I have put my URL on all my emails. I have been blog-surfing, I guess you would call it, looking for people to connect with. I tried looking for like-minded people. I tried looking for lost people to communicate the love of Christ to.
I confess to you I have been looking for an audience. Like the hypocrites Jesus talks about in Matthew 6, I have been trying to find a cyper-street corner on which to pray out loud. And You, my Father in Heaven, in Your infinite mercy and wisdom, has thwarted my efforts on all sides.
I need to give this up and understand that this blog is a prayer. I need to remind myself that I have an audience of One.
And really, who else is my audience? One time I showed an entry to a friend. I had wrote it specifically to process an on-going conflict we had. He did not get it. He said the writing was good but he did not get the part at the end. That was because it was not written to him!! God got it. He got the whole thing. He didn't need me to explain it to Him.
Jesus, Beloved, You alone give me words, thoughts, the heart and spirit to desire to communicate with you. Sometimes I read what I wrote and am comforted. Maybe someday You may indeed enlarge my boundaries and give me a wider audience. I do not think it would be bad to pray for this. But in Your time and in Your way, not mine.
Maybe I will never have a wider audience.
It doesn't matter. Because the God and creator of the Universe, He hears my every word, sees my every tear, even the unspoken whispers of my heart. He loves me. He reads every word. He always had.
What more can I ask for?
Let me confess ... I have been trying to find friends to blog with.
I have been sending my friends blog-entries. I have put my URL on all my emails. I have been blog-surfing, I guess you would call it, looking for people to connect with. I tried looking for like-minded people. I tried looking for lost people to communicate the love of Christ to.
I confess to you I have been looking for an audience. Like the hypocrites Jesus talks about in Matthew 6, I have been trying to find a cyper-street corner on which to pray out loud. And You, my Father in Heaven, in Your infinite mercy and wisdom, has thwarted my efforts on all sides.
I need to give this up and understand that this blog is a prayer. I need to remind myself that I have an audience of One.
And really, who else is my audience? One time I showed an entry to a friend. I had wrote it specifically to process an on-going conflict we had. He did not get it. He said the writing was good but he did not get the part at the end. That was because it was not written to him!! God got it. He got the whole thing. He didn't need me to explain it to Him.
Jesus, Beloved, You alone give me words, thoughts, the heart and spirit to desire to communicate with you. Sometimes I read what I wrote and am comforted. Maybe someday You may indeed enlarge my boundaries and give me a wider audience. I do not think it would be bad to pray for this. But in Your time and in Your way, not mine.
Maybe I will never have a wider audience.
It doesn't matter. Because the God and creator of the Universe, He hears my every word, sees my every tear, even the unspoken whispers of my heart. He loves me. He reads every word. He always had.
What more can I ask for?
Saturday, October 21, 2006
From Prayer to Peace
"When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.” Jonah from inside the big fish, 2:7
The email said “prayer request” and when I opened and read it, the contents took my breath away.
I confess to you, I have seen the ones titled “prayer request” and have not opened them, just because my day could not take another piece of bad news. But this one took me by surprise. It was too big for me.
Yes! And that is how it is supposed to be. Prayer requests are too big for us. When my daughters are hungry, I can make breakfast. When they forget to bring a water bottle to dance class, I can buy them one as I take my walk. I can give them the extra ten dollars they need to buy lunch with their friends.
But the cancer, the accident, the lost job, the broken relationship, the wayward daughter--these things I cannot fix. And that is exactly the point. These things we take to each other only to have them taken to our Father in heaven. Only He can fix these things.
The last name of the woman who sends us these prayer requests is named “Temple.” That is so interesting. From her hands through cyperspace, we get these requests. And then back to Christ’s temple they go, as we place them at His feet in prayer. Too big for us, but nothing is impossible to Him.
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7)
And there they go, off our hearts, onto Him. Ah! Peace!
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.” Jonah from inside the big fish, 2:7
The email said “prayer request” and when I opened and read it, the contents took my breath away.
I confess to you, I have seen the ones titled “prayer request” and have not opened them, just because my day could not take another piece of bad news. But this one took me by surprise. It was too big for me.
Yes! And that is how it is supposed to be. Prayer requests are too big for us. When my daughters are hungry, I can make breakfast. When they forget to bring a water bottle to dance class, I can buy them one as I take my walk. I can give them the extra ten dollars they need to buy lunch with their friends.
But the cancer, the accident, the lost job, the broken relationship, the wayward daughter--these things I cannot fix. And that is exactly the point. These things we take to each other only to have them taken to our Father in heaven. Only He can fix these things.
The last name of the woman who sends us these prayer requests is named “Temple.” That is so interesting. From her hands through cyperspace, we get these requests. And then back to Christ’s temple they go, as we place them at His feet in prayer. Too big for us, but nothing is impossible to Him.
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7)
And there they go, off our hearts, onto Him. Ah! Peace!
Go into the party
“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” Luke 15:31
There was a saying we had in corporate. After a project was over, then came the persecution of the innocent and the promotion of the non-participants.
Isn’t that how the older son felt in this parable? I can relate to him. I have been the faithful one. I have been here serving you all these years. I was the one out in the fields today with the sheep and the dung and the dirt. Now he comes back, and he gets the robe and the ring and the big party. He did not do anything to deserve your kindness. He did no work. He even hurt you by leaving and taking half your money!
And what do I get? More dirty work. And no thanks.
Makes you want to do just what the older son here did, stand outside of the big party and sulk.
But the fathers plea to him says it all. You have always been with me. Everything I had has always been yours.
And I hear Jesus saying to me,
“It is not a mistake that you have stayed behind as your brother left. I needed you here to serve. I knew you would be willing and up to it. It is a great honor to have been chosen for the field. They are My sheep you have loved and loved well. The gift for you, dearest daughter, is that you have had been chosen to be in My house all this time.
And do you really want to trade 5 minutes of fame on the platform for the years you have been in My house serving Me?”
No, dear Jesus, I do not. The gift You have given me truly is greater than I deserve. Hold my hand, sweet Jesus, and let’s go into the party together.
There was a saying we had in corporate. After a project was over, then came the persecution of the innocent and the promotion of the non-participants.
Isn’t that how the older son felt in this parable? I can relate to him. I have been the faithful one. I have been here serving you all these years. I was the one out in the fields today with the sheep and the dung and the dirt. Now he comes back, and he gets the robe and the ring and the big party. He did not do anything to deserve your kindness. He did no work. He even hurt you by leaving and taking half your money!
And what do I get? More dirty work. And no thanks.
Makes you want to do just what the older son here did, stand outside of the big party and sulk.
But the fathers plea to him says it all. You have always been with me. Everything I had has always been yours.
And I hear Jesus saying to me,
“It is not a mistake that you have stayed behind as your brother left. I needed you here to serve. I knew you would be willing and up to it. It is a great honor to have been chosen for the field. They are My sheep you have loved and loved well. The gift for you, dearest daughter, is that you have had been chosen to be in My house all this time.
And do you really want to trade 5 minutes of fame on the platform for the years you have been in My house serving Me?”
No, dear Jesus, I do not. The gift You have given me truly is greater than I deserve. Hold my hand, sweet Jesus, and let’s go into the party together.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Say Yes
Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, left heaven to show us His love. He laid His glory down and became one of us, even a babe born to a poor unmarried Jewish girl, named Mary. In order to reconcile us to His Father, He Himself took on all the sins of the world, and paid the penalty for them all. The cost? His life.
Not only did He die to pay this price, but He died a painful, lengthy, humiliating death. He did this by His own choice, no one made Him, not even God the Father. He did it because He loves us that much.
Afterwards He displayed His power over death, by rising back to life. By doing this, He shows us that He can give us new life. Spiritual life. Eternal life.
Jesus loves us and want all of us to have eternal life. Our Father in heaven wants to be reconciled to us all, to have a sweet and loving relationship with us all. But He will not force us. We have to choose Him. We have to say yes to His invitation to relationship. To His love.
How do we say yes to God?
God is always listening. When we talk to Him in our heart, in our mind, it is prayer. If you do not know what to pray, that is ok. The Holy Spirit translates even our confused words to Him, and He always understands us, as a mother understands the babblings of her babies.
But for those of you who want to read the words, here is a sample prayer, to say Yes to God.
Dear Jesus,
I know now that I am not good enough to enter heaven and God's presence on my own. I would have to be perfect, and I admit I am not. I thank You that You always knew that and made a way for me to get to heaven, even as I am.
Yes, I accept Your free gift with thanks.
I ask that You come into my heart and that You be my God and my Lord.
Jesus, I am not sure that will happen after this. But I choose to trust You with my life.
Amen.
If you prayed this prayer, or still have questions, please comment me.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.
(Revelation 3:20)
Not only did He die to pay this price, but He died a painful, lengthy, humiliating death. He did this by His own choice, no one made Him, not even God the Father. He did it because He loves us that much.
Afterwards He displayed His power over death, by rising back to life. By doing this, He shows us that He can give us new life. Spiritual life. Eternal life.
Jesus loves us and want all of us to have eternal life. Our Father in heaven wants to be reconciled to us all, to have a sweet and loving relationship with us all. But He will not force us. We have to choose Him. We have to say yes to His invitation to relationship. To His love.
How do we say yes to God?
God is always listening. When we talk to Him in our heart, in our mind, it is prayer. If you do not know what to pray, that is ok. The Holy Spirit translates even our confused words to Him, and He always understands us, as a mother understands the babblings of her babies.
But for those of you who want to read the words, here is a sample prayer, to say Yes to God.
Dear Jesus,
I know now that I am not good enough to enter heaven and God's presence on my own. I would have to be perfect, and I admit I am not. I thank You that You always knew that and made a way for me to get to heaven, even as I am.
Yes, I accept Your free gift with thanks.
I ask that You come into my heart and that You be my God and my Lord.
Jesus, I am not sure that will happen after this. But I choose to trust You with my life.
Amen.
If you prayed this prayer, or still have questions, please comment me.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.
(Revelation 3:20)
I'm desperate for You
It was a few days before my 25th wedding anniversary and I was looking for the perfect card. I picked up card after card that were made for a wife to buy her husband on their anniversary. Since this was a special one, a funny card didn’t seem right. But the sentimental ones did not ring true for us either.
"I’m made for you"
“You are perfect for me"
“You complete me”
No, that was not it. As much as I love him and he loves me, as good for each other as we are, it did not ring true.
But, my sisters, don’t you find that true for you as well? No matter how much we love our husbands, how much they love us, as good as they can be, there is that empty place that they cannot fill. It is true for them too, we can never be enough to fill all the empty places for them either.
Only Jesus can do that.
One of the sad things of this world is watching people try, always unsuccessfully, to fill that place with other things. It can be good things, like work, or children, or a fruitful hobby (or shopping!!). It can be evil or draining things like drugs, alcohol, gambling, illicit sex (or shopping!). But in the end, the result is the same.
Nothing can fill that hole but Jesus.
Thanks be to God, Jesus is willing and able to fill us, every day, with His holy presence, living with us, sharing His wisdom and His love.
I did find a card for my husband, and when we shared time together, we spent time with Jesus too. As we invited Christ to the table with us, He not only filled us up with His presence, but He drew us closer together in a true love, with a true intimacy that only He can bring.
Because it is a love centered in Him.
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me…
I‘m desperate for You
I'm lost without You
"I’m made for you"
“You are perfect for me"
“You complete me”
No, that was not it. As much as I love him and he loves me, as good for each other as we are, it did not ring true.
But, my sisters, don’t you find that true for you as well? No matter how much we love our husbands, how much they love us, as good as they can be, there is that empty place that they cannot fill. It is true for them too, we can never be enough to fill all the empty places for them either.
Only Jesus can do that.
One of the sad things of this world is watching people try, always unsuccessfully, to fill that place with other things. It can be good things, like work, or children, or a fruitful hobby (or shopping!!). It can be evil or draining things like drugs, alcohol, gambling, illicit sex (or shopping!). But in the end, the result is the same.
Nothing can fill that hole but Jesus.
Thanks be to God, Jesus is willing and able to fill us, every day, with His holy presence, living with us, sharing His wisdom and His love.
I did find a card for my husband, and when we shared time together, we spent time with Jesus too. As we invited Christ to the table with us, He not only filled us up with His presence, but He drew us closer together in a true love, with a true intimacy that only He can bring.
Because it is a love centered in Him.
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me…
I‘m desperate for You
I'm lost without You
Monday, October 02, 2006
Not your color
"I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Matthew 13:13
My sixteen-year-old, Debbie, and I are driving to church and she looks at me and says, "Mom, that lipstick is not a good color for you. You really need to take it off and put on something else."
So I fished around and found a napkin and wiped it off. She found something else in my purse that I then applied it, as women often do, at the next red light.
I grew up a "tom-boy." You’d be much more likely to find me riding my bike, up a tree, or wading in a brook, than to find me playing with my mom’s make-up. My mom, however, was a "girly" girl. She would never leave the house without lipstick on.
I find that God has such a sense of humor giving me daughters who are much more like my mother than myself. It’s almost like He is giving me another chance with these kind of women. Because I love Debbie so much that it is hard to hate her guts just because she is so beautiful and has such fashion sense.
My mom tried to give me fashion sense advice but I often rebuffed her. I remember clearly one night when I was a teen, I came downstairs, dressed for a date and she said to me, "Did you comb your hair?" Even today, if we are going out together she will instruct me to put on lipstick before we go.
I did not want to hear my mother. Maybe it was her way of telling me. Maybe it was the foolishness of my youth. I wanted to be the woman I was and not who she wanted me to be. I wanted to know I was not wrong in my opinions and my choices.
While there was some merit to that, often we do to see ourselves as others see us. Don’t we all need someone to ride beside us and be frank with us when we have the wrong color lipstick on? Should we not embrace those who love us enough to tell us that?
Now, maybe because I am older, I welcome the information. Some times the comment is not valid or right for me, but I want to know.
How often have I heard people speak but have hardened my heart? Is God not still using the situations and people in my life as parables, instructing me to make my life more like His?
Let us all pray that we have a ears that hear and hearts that desire to know God’s best color for our lives.
And when we speak truth to others, may we do it with the love and gentleness, like Debbie.
"For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them." Matthew 13:15
My sixteen-year-old, Debbie, and I are driving to church and she looks at me and says, "Mom, that lipstick is not a good color for you. You really need to take it off and put on something else."
So I fished around and found a napkin and wiped it off. She found something else in my purse that I then applied it, as women often do, at the next red light.
I grew up a "tom-boy." You’d be much more likely to find me riding my bike, up a tree, or wading in a brook, than to find me playing with my mom’s make-up. My mom, however, was a "girly" girl. She would never leave the house without lipstick on.
I find that God has such a sense of humor giving me daughters who are much more like my mother than myself. It’s almost like He is giving me another chance with these kind of women. Because I love Debbie so much that it is hard to hate her guts just because she is so beautiful and has such fashion sense.
My mom tried to give me fashion sense advice but I often rebuffed her. I remember clearly one night when I was a teen, I came downstairs, dressed for a date and she said to me, "Did you comb your hair?" Even today, if we are going out together she will instruct me to put on lipstick before we go.
I did not want to hear my mother. Maybe it was her way of telling me. Maybe it was the foolishness of my youth. I wanted to be the woman I was and not who she wanted me to be. I wanted to know I was not wrong in my opinions and my choices.
While there was some merit to that, often we do to see ourselves as others see us. Don’t we all need someone to ride beside us and be frank with us when we have the wrong color lipstick on? Should we not embrace those who love us enough to tell us that?
Now, maybe because I am older, I welcome the information. Some times the comment is not valid or right for me, but I want to know.
How often have I heard people speak but have hardened my heart? Is God not still using the situations and people in my life as parables, instructing me to make my life more like His?
Let us all pray that we have a ears that hear and hearts that desire to know God’s best color for our lives.
And when we speak truth to others, may we do it with the love and gentleness, like Debbie.
"For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them." Matthew 13:15
Thursday, August 17, 2006
What pleases the Lord
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
--Ephesians 5:24
I find that many women see this instruction as limiting, constraining, not freeing. But that depends on how you look at it.
Of course, this verse is much more comforting if your husband follows the instructions in the following verse: "Husbands love your wives just as Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her..." But I believed that even if your husband is not committed to Christ, or is not committed to His leadings, this commandment to submit to our husbands is truth and life for us.
Again, we need to follow the Leader, not keeping our eyes on these others.
The freedom in the verse comes from what it is NOT telling us to do. Often women get caught up in pleasing too many people. I know, I do! But this instruction tells us to submit to our husbands. Not our children, or our bosses, or our mothers, or our girlfriends. But submit to our husbands IN EVERYTHING. That means that he is our primary leader, as Christ is our head as believers.
I hear too many voices and am confused. I see many faces and I want them all to be happy, to be pleased with me. But I find I cannot please them all. Often their desires are contridictory or overly straining on me. It is like I need permission to say NO.
But my husband, he cares for me above all those others. When I am constrained by him, often I can find rest, because he does not desire me to be harried. He does not want me to work too hard. He does not want me to be driven by the demands of my job, or my social life or even the needs of our children.
He wants me to be able to rest with him. As Christ does.
He also sees where my blind spots are and can direct me around the potholes of life, if I will only hear him.
And what of those of us who have no husband today? Take joy in this truth...
For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is His name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.
--Isaiah 54:5
--Ephesians 5:24
I find that many women see this instruction as limiting, constraining, not freeing. But that depends on how you look at it.
Of course, this verse is much more comforting if your husband follows the instructions in the following verse: "Husbands love your wives just as Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her..." But I believed that even if your husband is not committed to Christ, or is not committed to His leadings, this commandment to submit to our husbands is truth and life for us.
Again, we need to follow the Leader, not keeping our eyes on these others.
The freedom in the verse comes from what it is NOT telling us to do. Often women get caught up in pleasing too many people. I know, I do! But this instruction tells us to submit to our husbands. Not our children, or our bosses, or our mothers, or our girlfriends. But submit to our husbands IN EVERYTHING. That means that he is our primary leader, as Christ is our head as believers.
I hear too many voices and am confused. I see many faces and I want them all to be happy, to be pleased with me. But I find I cannot please them all. Often their desires are contridictory or overly straining on me. It is like I need permission to say NO.
But my husband, he cares for me above all those others. When I am constrained by him, often I can find rest, because he does not desire me to be harried. He does not want me to work too hard. He does not want me to be driven by the demands of my job, or my social life or even the needs of our children.
He wants me to be able to rest with him. As Christ does.
He also sees where my blind spots are and can direct me around the potholes of life, if I will only hear him.
And what of those of us who have no husband today? Take joy in this truth...
For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is His name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.
--Isaiah 54:5
Follow the Leader
"My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me."
--John 10:27
This Sunday I was up in the control room, coaching two of our new volunteers in the art of running a PowerPoint slideshow during the Sunday service. The music is not scripted, but very much "flows with the moving of the Spirit." Therefore, as the worship song is sung, the PowerPoint operator has to pay close attention to the worship leader. Sometimes he cues us by saying the first few words he will sing next. Sometimes the cue is how the song is rising or falling in tempo. The cues are always there, but some times they are harder to read than others.
The most important rule to follow is: pay close attention to the worship leader. You must take care not to not get distracted by the others talking and working next to you in the balcony, or even not get too caught up in singing the song that you miss your cue from the worship leader.
So this Sunday, I stood in the balcony, pointing out to the new volunteers the the more subtle cues. One of the hardest to get right is to not move ahead to the next slide too fast. Often we will sing a chorus over and over again. We don't want the slideshow to rush ahead of the worship leader.
Recently, I had discovered that the worship leader not only giving clues for the PowerPoint operator. The musicians and the vocalists also need to pay attention to the cues of the worship leader. Sunday I watched as Larry, a new addition to our vocalist group, paid close attention to Mark as he led the worship. As long as Larry knew where Mark was going with the song, Larry then felt free to improvise his vocal parts, singing so eloquently in the background. But again, in order to do that, he had to pay close attention to the leader.
As I watched this play out from my spot in the balcony, I considered how this mirrors how we are to follow Christ. I know I would like my life to be more scripted, to know the timing and the order of things to happen in my life. It is distressing when my life get out of order. Of worse, when I get stuck in one place too long for me, and I long to move ahead.
But my life is not my own. It is hidden in Christ. Only He knows the best ebb and flow, the right rhythm, the right order. Instead of getting caught up in what is happening in the world, or even in my own life too much, I need to play close attention to my Leader and listen carefully for His cues. Sometimes they are subtle and I can easily miss them.
When I listen closely and know where my Leader is going, I can be free to be creative and use the gifts He has given me in freedom, knowing it will fit in with the other things He is doing, like how Larry did on Sunday.
Another interesting component to this on Sunday was watching Pastor Jeff. Usually he leads worship himself, but today, he was being led in worship by Mark. He spent some time in the balcony with us, but then got a microphone and I thought he was going to join the singers on the stage, but instead, he joined the audience. My guess is, he did not think they were involved enough. So, again, paying close attention to the leader, Pastor Jeff began to sing from the audience and clap in response, getting those in the audience to join him.
I realized that even the audience has an important part in worship.
As believers in Christ, we all have a vital role to play. As we follow the Leader, others watch us. As we joyfully sing in the song of redemptive life, as we clap in response and follow Christ, others see us and are encouraged to follow along too. Maybe not all, but that is not the point.
Often I have been tempted to lead others to response to Christ by my words, by my instructions. But this no longer seems productive to me. I need to lead others towards Christ with my life, by following the Leader myself, by acting in response to His cues to me. In the past I have only gotten distracted from following the Leader myself when I spend too much energy trying to instruct others.
So I am going to follow the Leader, listening closely to His Word, listening to His voice speaking to my heart, knowing that hidden in there, there is a cue for me today.
--John 10:27
This Sunday I was up in the control room, coaching two of our new volunteers in the art of running a PowerPoint slideshow during the Sunday service. The music is not scripted, but very much "flows with the moving of the Spirit." Therefore, as the worship song is sung, the PowerPoint operator has to pay close attention to the worship leader. Sometimes he cues us by saying the first few words he will sing next. Sometimes the cue is how the song is rising or falling in tempo. The cues are always there, but some times they are harder to read than others.
The most important rule to follow is: pay close attention to the worship leader. You must take care not to not get distracted by the others talking and working next to you in the balcony, or even not get too caught up in singing the song that you miss your cue from the worship leader.
So this Sunday, I stood in the balcony, pointing out to the new volunteers the the more subtle cues. One of the hardest to get right is to not move ahead to the next slide too fast. Often we will sing a chorus over and over again. We don't want the slideshow to rush ahead of the worship leader.
Recently, I had discovered that the worship leader not only giving clues for the PowerPoint operator. The musicians and the vocalists also need to pay attention to the cues of the worship leader. Sunday I watched as Larry, a new addition to our vocalist group, paid close attention to Mark as he led the worship. As long as Larry knew where Mark was going with the song, Larry then felt free to improvise his vocal parts, singing so eloquently in the background. But again, in order to do that, he had to pay close attention to the leader.
As I watched this play out from my spot in the balcony, I considered how this mirrors how we are to follow Christ. I know I would like my life to be more scripted, to know the timing and the order of things to happen in my life. It is distressing when my life get out of order. Of worse, when I get stuck in one place too long for me, and I long to move ahead.
But my life is not my own. It is hidden in Christ. Only He knows the best ebb and flow, the right rhythm, the right order. Instead of getting caught up in what is happening in the world, or even in my own life too much, I need to play close attention to my Leader and listen carefully for His cues. Sometimes they are subtle and I can easily miss them.
When I listen closely and know where my Leader is going, I can be free to be creative and use the gifts He has given me in freedom, knowing it will fit in with the other things He is doing, like how Larry did on Sunday.
Another interesting component to this on Sunday was watching Pastor Jeff. Usually he leads worship himself, but today, he was being led in worship by Mark. He spent some time in the balcony with us, but then got a microphone and I thought he was going to join the singers on the stage, but instead, he joined the audience. My guess is, he did not think they were involved enough. So, again, paying close attention to the leader, Pastor Jeff began to sing from the audience and clap in response, getting those in the audience to join him.
I realized that even the audience has an important part in worship.
As believers in Christ, we all have a vital role to play. As we follow the Leader, others watch us. As we joyfully sing in the song of redemptive life, as we clap in response and follow Christ, others see us and are encouraged to follow along too. Maybe not all, but that is not the point.
Often I have been tempted to lead others to response to Christ by my words, by my instructions. But this no longer seems productive to me. I need to lead others towards Christ with my life, by following the Leader myself, by acting in response to His cues to me. In the past I have only gotten distracted from following the Leader myself when I spend too much energy trying to instruct others.
So I am going to follow the Leader, listening closely to His Word, listening to His voice speaking to my heart, knowing that hidden in there, there is a cue for me today.
Monday, August 14, 2006
I will build My church
Matthew 16
15 He [Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."
For those in church ministry, what a wonderfully freeing word, “I will build My church.” It is so sweet, let’s savor it and take it apart word by word.
“I will build My church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
I: Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, it is He who will build the church. Not me, not the pastor or the worship leader or the Leadership Team, but our beloved Jesus, our Savior, and Creator of the universe.
will: Not possibly, or maybe, or He is planning to, but He will. It is sure as the dawn.
build: It will grow, take shape, get larger, be constructed according to plan. It will not stay stagnant, it will not be downsized, it will not die. It is living and it will continue to develop, and be built up.
My: Not your church, or their church. Jesus is only interested in building His own church. If we want to get in on what He is doing, He is already building it. He gives no promises on building what is not His.
church: This was no building that He was talking about. This is the first time the word Church is used in the NIV. He was talking about the Body of believers.
and: Plus, in addition to, please note this extra part of the promise…
the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it: Absolutely no power, on earth or in the underworld, no person, no matter how powerful in a worldly way, not matter how evil or slick or stupid, will win in the battle to destroy Christ’s church. No power, no where.
This is so sweet because I cannot mess it up, because it is not me who is building the church. It is Jesus. Neither can anyone else, who I am afraid is doing it wrong, they cannot cause the church to fail. No matter what, Jesus will prevail!
So I can just go on vacation now, right. Right.
But see how Jesus starts this by pointing out how Peter is different from other people who have heard His message. To Peter it has been revealed, from His Father in heaven, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. It is on this Rock of faith that Jesus builds His church. Using us, who know Him, love Him and are devoted to Him, as the foundation to continue His building of the church. He is the cornerstone (Esphesians 2:20), but He builds His church on us.
15 He [Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."
For those in church ministry, what a wonderfully freeing word, “I will build My church.” It is so sweet, let’s savor it and take it apart word by word.
“I will build My church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
I: Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, it is He who will build the church. Not me, not the pastor or the worship leader or the Leadership Team, but our beloved Jesus, our Savior, and Creator of the universe.
will: Not possibly, or maybe, or He is planning to, but He will. It is sure as the dawn.
build: It will grow, take shape, get larger, be constructed according to plan. It will not stay stagnant, it will not be downsized, it will not die. It is living and it will continue to develop, and be built up.
My: Not your church, or their church. Jesus is only interested in building His own church. If we want to get in on what He is doing, He is already building it. He gives no promises on building what is not His.
church: This was no building that He was talking about. This is the first time the word Church is used in the NIV. He was talking about the Body of believers.
and: Plus, in addition to, please note this extra part of the promise…
the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it: Absolutely no power, on earth or in the underworld, no person, no matter how powerful in a worldly way, not matter how evil or slick or stupid, will win in the battle to destroy Christ’s church. No power, no where.
This is so sweet because I cannot mess it up, because it is not me who is building the church. It is Jesus. Neither can anyone else, who I am afraid is doing it wrong, they cannot cause the church to fail. No matter what, Jesus will prevail!
So I can just go on vacation now, right. Right.
But see how Jesus starts this by pointing out how Peter is different from other people who have heard His message. To Peter it has been revealed, from His Father in heaven, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. It is on this Rock of faith that Jesus builds His church. Using us, who know Him, love Him and are devoted to Him, as the foundation to continue His building of the church. He is the cornerstone (Esphesians 2:20), but He builds His church on us.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Ok, so I'm 13 again
Ok, this is goofy and SOooooOOoooo 13 but I got it from a 50 year old friend of mine so maybe it is ok for such as me!!
Not to waste it, I'm adding it to my blog! Here you go!
1. FIRST Name - Barbara
2. Middle NAME? - Ann, my grandmothers name and it was mandatory for everyone to have a middle name of Ann in my family!
3. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No, mom made sure that if my middle name was Ann, my first name was not the same as anyone else in my family. The catch was, in grammer school, there were always at least two other Barbaras in my classes.
4. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? This morning (of course!)
5. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? – No
6. WHAT IS YOU FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? ham
7. KIDS? – 2 and 1 grandkid
8. WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? most days, yes. Some days I wish I could leave the state and leave me home.
9. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? yes and a blog!
10. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? A bad habit I am trying to kick. Not doing too well at kicking it, I must add.
11. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
12. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Never
13. FAVORITE CEREAL? Granola with dates (at least 1 million calories :)
14. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? not if I can help it.
15. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes, too strong for my own good.
16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Chocolate!
17. SHOE SIZE? 8 W I D E
18. RED OR PINK? - RED!!
19. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? the gray hairs in my eyebrows
20. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? dad and Aunt Tillie
21. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Yes, please!
22. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? blank pant, white shoes
23. LAST THING YOU ATE? - PB&J
24. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The humm of my PC and the cars whizing by Watchung Avenue...almost as relaxing as the ocean!
25. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Orange
26. FAVORITE SMELL? Ocean.
?27. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Julia
28. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? How they stand
29. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I love her
30. FAVORITE DRINK? hmm, a hard one! coffee!! Coke! Red wine!!
31. FAVORITE SPORT? swimming
32. HAIR COLOR? - brown
33. EYE COLOR? - brown
34. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? no-
35. FAVORITE FOOD? really hard question...I love food! chinese
36. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? – Happy Endings
37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? white with Red stripes
38. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate ice cream
40. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I have no idea
41. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I have no idea
42. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Mermaid Chair
43. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? – I just tossed it last week
43. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? – I gave it up for Lent last year and have been very happy since
44. FAVORITE SOUNDS? My grandson's coo
45. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? - Beatles
46. THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME? Hawaii
49. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT ? Being very mediocre at many things
50. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? On a very Hot July day, the very last day in July 1955 in Newark New Jersey.
Not to waste it, I'm adding it to my blog! Here you go!
1. FIRST Name - Barbara
2. Middle NAME? - Ann, my grandmothers name and it was mandatory for everyone to have a middle name of Ann in my family!
3. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No, mom made sure that if my middle name was Ann, my first name was not the same as anyone else in my family. The catch was, in grammer school, there were always at least two other Barbaras in my classes.
4. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? This morning (of course!)
5. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? – No
6. WHAT IS YOU FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? ham
7. KIDS? – 2 and 1 grandkid
8. WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? most days, yes. Some days I wish I could leave the state and leave me home.
9. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? yes and a blog!
10. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? A bad habit I am trying to kick. Not doing too well at kicking it, I must add.
11. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
12. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Never
13. FAVORITE CEREAL? Granola with dates (at least 1 million calories :)
14. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? not if I can help it.
15. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes, too strong for my own good.
16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Chocolate!
17. SHOE SIZE? 8 W I D E
18. RED OR PINK? - RED!!
19. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? the gray hairs in my eyebrows
20. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? dad and Aunt Tillie
21. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Yes, please!
22. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? blank pant, white shoes
23. LAST THING YOU ATE? - PB&J
24. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The humm of my PC and the cars whizing by Watchung Avenue...almost as relaxing as the ocean!
25. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Orange
26. FAVORITE SMELL? Ocean.
?27. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Julia
28. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? How they stand
29. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I love her
30. FAVORITE DRINK? hmm, a hard one! coffee!! Coke! Red wine!!
31. FAVORITE SPORT? swimming
32. HAIR COLOR? - brown
33. EYE COLOR? - brown
34. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? no-
35. FAVORITE FOOD? really hard question...I love food! chinese
36. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? – Happy Endings
37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? white with Red stripes
38. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate ice cream
40. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I have no idea
41. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I have no idea
42. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Mermaid Chair
43. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? – I just tossed it last week
43. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? – I gave it up for Lent last year and have been very happy since
44. FAVORITE SOUNDS? My grandson's coo
45. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? - Beatles
46. THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME? Hawaii
49. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT ? Being very mediocre at many things
50. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? On a very Hot July day, the very last day in July 1955 in Newark New Jersey.
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