Got Gifts?

Gifts.  About 250 BILLION dollars is spent in the United States on advertising with 1.9 billion being exclusively for Christmas gifts.  No wonder we feel the pressure to find the perfect gift to give to the people we love, those we appreciate in service industries, teachers, etc, and for people we just feel obligated to include.  I’ve seen posts reminding us to live in the moment and the true gift is making memories and years later your kids won’t remember the gifts they receive.  I don’t disagree, but at the risk of sending anyone into a panic, I do remember some of the gifts I received as a kid. 

When I was 11, my dad gave me a ladies golf hat with a little puff ball on the top! As if being 11 isn’t hard enough?? Another year, I remember getting scotch tape in my stocking. That felt almost like coal! But the one that sticks with me the most is the Sunshine Family Doll set and house.  Ohhhhh, how I wanted that.  I knew it was way out of Mom’s price range, but I pleaded my case with Santa.  It was the counterculture reaction to Barbie. The mom in her prairie dress, the dad in his corduroys and turtleneck sweater, and the cute little baby all living in their very modest four room house. Very unlike Barbie and her mansion. Racing out of my bedroom that Christmas morning, I stopped in my tracks not believing my eyes - there it was!!!!  As an adult, I’m not sure who helped my mom (grandparents I’m guessing) to get me that remarkable gift that I loved to literal pieces.

I am not telling you these stories to glorify commercialism, but to show it isn’t the quantity of the gifts, but the quality.   The actual quality isn’t tied to the monetary value, but in the love that backs up the gift.  The Wise Men brought three gifts. Just three.  There was no Christmas tree piled high with the latest and greatest things, but three items to worship a King. I’ve seen an internet meme that indicates if it had been wise women they would have brought diapers and formula and things that a new mom would really need. I can actually imagine the look on Joseph and Mary’s faces when the Wise Men showed up with their gifts. “Ohhh, how lovely….burial spices… what every two year old wishes for!” 

Sometimes, we don’t get what we want, but what we need. I didn’t like Dad’s hat, but in his mind, he was protecting me from sunburn. Matthew 2:13 tells us, “When they [the Wise Men] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’”  Suddenly, these impractical royal gifts were vital to protecting the young Jesus.

I may have felt disappointment in receiving scotch tape, it wasn’t what I was expecting. But in reality, I blasted through that stuff while making my kid projects.  That gift provided me a means to create and give of myself far beyond my expectations.  1 Peter 4:10 states, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” At that time, the Hebrew people were expecting a Savior that would protect them from Roman rule, but what they got was a helpless baby.  Their expectations did not match the gift given, but ultimately, Jesus was and is a Savior far beyond a political leader.  His life was a living, breathing, walking example of faith and grace.

The Sunshine Family sticks with me not because it was the most amazing toy, but that it was such a sacrificial gift. A gift I knew my mom couldn’t afford, but she loved me so much she found a way to give it to me. Her income levels could ebb and flow, but her love never waivered. God does not suffer from a limited bank account and His gifts are endless. James 1:17 confirms this by saying, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  

But all He extravagantly gives to us pales next to His son Jesus, the ultimate gift.  Is there any gift more sacrificial than His own perfect Son? John 3:16, reminds us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God didn’t give us a world full of His sons, just One. Quality over quantity.

Oh To Be Christie Just One Christmas!

I have been very blessed to have a friend for my entire life. No, seriously. Christie and I have been friends since before we can even remember!  We went to Sunday School together, started kindergarten together, and graduated high school together.  We have joked that we could hack each other’s accounts because we know all the answers to the security questions!  She is a rare treasure that still manages to keep our high school class together after <hem-hem > many years.

If you know me at all, you know exactly where this is leading, because I have been telling this tale for a long time! One of my earliest memories is watching Christie being dressed in the angel costume.  Oh, how I longed to be the one wearing the shining gold garland halo sporting the long flowing angel robe with the equally impressive flowing sleeves.  But no - my mom was helping me into a blue sheet because after all a girl named Mary should play the role of Mary.  I sat on my chair holding a baby doll all the while coveting the freedom and sparkles of my dancing friend, Christie. 

In reality, I’m not sure how many consecutive years this went on, but it seemed like every Christmas to me.  I have harbored these feelings and told this story to practically everyone I know. Christmas programs, I’m still drawn to the glittering parts. Still, it does occur to me how all the time I’ve spent longing for the sparkle of Christmas, I have totally missed what an incredible honor it was to play the role of <helloooo!!!???> The.mother.of.JESUS!?

Luke 1: 27-29 says, “The angel went to a virgin promised in marriage to a descendant of David named Joseph. The virgin’s name was Mary. When the angel entered her home, he greeted her and said, ‘You are favored by the Lord! The Lord is with you.’ She was startled by what the angel said and tried to figure out what this greeting meant.”  It continues in verse 38 with, “Mary answered, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you’ve said happen to me.’ Then the angel left her.”

The real Mary doesn’t seem as sarcastic as I can be, because I’m pretty sure my response would have been - “WAIT! SAY WHAT??”  Which is also why God didn’t choose me to be the real Mary!  I also wonder if Mary ever questioned being the recipient of this honor.  When she was trying to explain her “condition” to Joseph, when she had to leave for Bethlehem heavy with child, when she had to let her son fulfill God’s will on the cross. Perhaps she did, but if she wavered, her words from Luke 1:29 seem to echo back, “Let everything you’ve said happen to me.”  You see, she humbly and gratefully accepted the role God had for her.  

Founder of Going Beyond Ministries Priscilla Shirer says, “Contentment comes from valuing what you’ve been given, not venting over what’s been withheld.”  Can you imagine my outlook all these years, if I had reveled in the privilege of being “The Mary?” Can you ask for a better role model of faith? 

So, this Christmas my challenge to myself, and to you, is to be content.  1 Corinthians 12:17-19 says, “If the whole body were just an eye, how could it hear? And if it were only an ear, how could it smell? As it is, however, God put every different part in the body just as he wanted it to be. There would not be a body if it were all only one part!”  There would not have been a Christmas program nativity if we were all playing the part of the angels!  Each part, each kid actually had an important message to announce.  Even more so the parts played on the night of Jesus’ birth! Sure, the angels were glorious in their light and all those “Harks!” But when it came down to it, God chose the lowly, dirty, sweaty, smelly, hard working, toiling, and often forgotten shepherds to deliver the Good News of our Savior's birth!

Colossians 3:17 confirms that God is asking us to be content with the role He gives us to carry out. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  While I will always be enamored of sparkling parts of Christmas, I vow to rewrite my story and share how I am grateful to have played the role of Mary and my friend, Christie, made a beautiful Angel.

Is There Really a Period?

As I note the one year anniversary of the passing of my father, it’s snowing in much the same way it did on the day of his funeral -a puffy quiet Hallmark movie kind of snow.  It is peaceful and I am reminded of the verse Philippians 4:7, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  I miss my Dad so dearly, but I feel this Biblical peace that helps me super glue the ragged edges of my heart wound.  There is a period at the end of his life or is there?

I’ve spent this week preparing a special family project. In an interview I was asked about my life, but I spent far much more time talking about my family, my dad, my brother, my great uncles, my great great grandfather, my great great great great grandfather. 

In this time of preparation for Christmas, we often bake cookies. The recipe my daughter-in-law makes for her children comes from their great great great grandmother.  If we have and share memories, is there really a period at the end of life?

We know that Jesus promises us eternal life because He is the Son of God and Emmanuel, God is with us. So, why then was it so important for Him to have an earthly family, humans that passed away? Why do we even know about Joseph and Mary? I think God found it very important. The Old Testament is full of genealogies, but in the New Testament Luke and Matthew record the genealogy of Jesus - 14 generations worth! It is important for Jesus in order to realize how much prophecy his birth and life fulfilled.

Depending on how prophecy is counted and who is counting, Jesus fulfilled between 

200 to 400 prophecies in His earthly life, no less than eight of those being fulfilled on the day he was born. 

According to an article from Empower International, “After examining only eight different prophecies, they conservatively estimated that the chance of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies was one in 10^17. To illustrate how large the number 10^17 is (a figure with 17 zeros), the professor gave this illustration: If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 10^17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They’ll cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up the one silver dollar that has the special mark on it. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would’ve had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time.”

And that was just the probabilities for 8 prophecies - Jesus fulfilled hundreds!  But my Dad? As far as I know, there wasn’t a single prophecy about him. So why?  The Wise Men went to the King’s palace to look for Jesus because He was the King of Kings, but instead, He came to us as one of us. There were no experiences on earth that we have that He didn’t experience. Poverty, hunger, exhaustion, pain, joy, love - the most important of these - love.  We share our memories, our heritage, our ancestry to solidify our community and within community we are able to fulfill not a prophecy, but the greatest commandment that Jesus left us. John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you.”  Love - it connects us and it transcends time and space. I don’t love my dad any less than I did a year ago. So with love, no life ends in a period. Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith and the greatest example of love made sure of that and has given us the longest run on sentence for all eternity.

This Is M.E .

As Veterans Day draws closer each year, I start to reminisce about my experiences in the United States Army a little bit more than on average.  Depending on your source for research, the ratio for overcoming a negative interaction is 3:1, 5:1, or even as much as 10:1! Ten positive affirmations to overcome one negative interaction!  

I can’t argue with that research, because do I think of the awards, promotions, the well-dones? No, I think of a time when I was assigned to a work detail in Saudi Arabia and of course it was hurry up and wait.  As I waited, I was talking with “the guys.” I was sharing about my husband also being somewhere unknown in the desert too.  I took the photo of us from my wallet and showed it to them. One man asked, “Who is that with him?” I said, “That’s me!”  He replied skeptically, “What the hell happened to you?”

Well, buddy let me tell ya….

The obvious response would have been, “Listen, Dude, you’ve been deployed to the desert, same as me for months now without a hot shower and trust me you aren’t looking all that hot in your kevlar helmet and flak vest either!” Sure, I told myself I certainly wasn’t sporting photo make-up and let’s not forget to mention the Army issued glasses that were very much like those thick unbreakable glasses my mom got me in the 4th grade!  Still, his words cut deep into a wound that it would seem has been open for most of my life.

Insecure from an early age and prone to compare myself with others, I was very self conscious about the moles on my face.  Beauty marks my mom would say, but I disagreed.  My insecurities were magnified by the divorce of my parents and then middle school years are hard for everyone. I remember having to walk down the hallway past a class full of high school boys that would wait and heckle us as we traversed the “gauntlet” just to get to our lockers.  They had a way of pointing out physical flaws that most of the time I didn’t even know what they meant and was way too embarrassed to ask anyone.  Time has a way of educating us on those topics.

In high school and college, I struggled to find identity in places where it wouldn’t be found. I tried to find it in self deprecating humor, the bottle, and dangerous behaviors.  It's so sad to me that all that time my identity was secure and waiting for me to claim.  Even though I attended church and was confirmed - it was as though the promises the Bible held were for the good people not the ugly sinners like me.  Could God actually love me if I wasn’t beautiful and certainly didn’t have it all together?

I remember walking to church on a Sunday morning after a stereotypical college Saturday night, beating myself up and half thinking I would burst into flames upon entering the church doors.  Still, I was drawn to go because my heart knew there was a truth. A truth that all these years later I still fight myself to claim because the evil one knows exactly where that weak spot in my armor is.  With practice and God’s persistence, I am ready to say, “I am beautiful in the eyes of the Lord and that is all that matters!”  My extra pounds aren’t going to magically fall from my body overnight and the wrinkles and gray hair will keep coming, but that's ok, because I truly know that I am the M.E. - the Mary Elizabeth that God loved so much that he created me to be here today right now. 

Psalm 34:5 affirms me by saying, “Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” On my bathroom mirror I wrote, “Be the person GOD sees!!” It appears most clearly with the steam of a shower when I stand figuratively and literally in the vulnerable nakedness of life. It solidifies my life goal of Galatians 1:10, “Does this sound as if I am trying to win human approval? No indeed! What I want is God's approval! Am I trying to be popular with people? If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

My favorite picture of me is the one I refer to as Dandelion Girl.  In my mind's eye, this is me.  In reality, I was happily picking dandelions with no care in the world but to live in the moment with Dad and present him with my gift when he took the photo. Matthew 18:3 says, “I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.” My soul is Dandelion Girl and she dances with abandon in praise and worship before the Lord with no thought other than to be in the moment and please Him!

If you have ever fought a negative assault or negative notions about yourself, I am leaving you with 10 positive Godly affirmations to wipe out the earthly negative.

1) Genesis 1:27  - So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

2) Psalm 139:14 -  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

3) Luke 12:7 -  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

4) Ephesians 2:10 -  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

5) 1 Samuel 16:7  - But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

6) Ecclesiastes 3:11  - He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

7) Proverbs 31:30 -  Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

8) Proverbs 3:15 -  She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

9) Song of Solomon 4:1 - Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful.

and my favorite!

10) Romans 8: 38-39 - For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Why So Stubborn?

Did you know that the public can adopt horses and burros from the Bureau of Land Management?  As a means to create healthy population numbers, there is a round-up and in a random selection some animals are returned to the wild and some are kept for adoption.  I know this because my father and I adopted two burros.  After some patient interaction, they seemed to enjoy life with predictable food and shelter. One of the burros, Chocolate, was going to live at my acreage.  Only one mile away, it seemed like an easy walk, but Chocolate was not having any of this leading business.  Try as I might to pull, coax, persuade, she would lock her knees and dig in her hooves.  I finally found success in walking behind her almost like driving a cart, but there was no cart.  Her stubbornness reminds me of a story in 2 Kings.

Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army suffered from the horrible deadly disease of leprosy. 2 Kings 5: 2-8 tells us his story, 

“In one of their raids against Israel, the Syrians had carried off a little Israelite girl, who became a servant of Naaman's wife. One day she said to her mistress, ‘I wish that my master could go to the prophet who lives in Samaria! He would cure him of his disease.’ When Naaman heard of this, he went to the king and told him what the girl had said. The king said, ‘Go to the king of Israel and take this letter to him.’

So Naaman set out, taking thirty thousand pieces of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of fine clothes. The letter that he took read: ‘This letter will introduce my officer Naaman. I want you to cure him of his disease.’ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and exclaimed, ‘How can the king of Syria expect me to cure this man? Does he think that I am God, with the power of life and death? It's plain that he is trying to start a quarrel with me!’ When the prophet Elisha heard what had happened, he sent word to the king: ‘Why are you so upset? Send the man to me, and I'll show him that there is a prophet in Israel!’”

Naaman does go to Elisha, but Elisha sends a messenger out to tell him to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River and he will be healed.  Naaman is furious, claiming that the rivers in Syria are superior and he rants and raves about the expectations he had for the way this healing should happen. After all, he had brought silver, gold, fine clothes to pay his way! But Naaman wasn’t the commander of this operation - God was. 

2 Kings 5: 13,14 continues with, 

“His servants went up to him and said, ‘Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it. Now why can't you just wash yourself, as he said, and be cured?’ So Naaman went down to the Jordan, dipped himself in it seven times, as Elisha had instructed, and he was completely cured. His flesh became firm and healthy like that of a child.” 

Naaman wants to pay Elisha for the miracle, but  Elisha refuses.  Naaman felt compelled to make things harder than they really were. Just like Chocolate, if she would have simply followed the directions we would have had an easy walk.

So often we are like that with the invitation Jesus gives us for eternal life.  It seems too easy. We think we need to earn it, but we can’t. Ephesians 2:8 reminds us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” We are conditioned as cynical people to think, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is…”  Yet, this invitation is unequivocally the most true offer in all eternity.  

People feel as though they have to wait until they are fixed, or worthy, or until they have “paid their dues.”  That’s just digging in your hooves and being stubborn, because you will never earn salvation, be worthy (as in sin-free) of salvation, and the whole reason to accept Jesus is for the broken parts to be fixed.  If I sliced my arm wide open, I don’t wait for it to heal and then go to the doctor for stitches!  Pastor Levi Lusko illustrates this so well when he said, “Jesus cleans His fish AFTER He catches them!”

Romans 10:9 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That’s it! That’s all there is to it - receive simply receive! So, why are we so stubborn to accept what is so freely and graciously offered?  Accepting Jesus is even easier than washing in a river or unlocking your stubborn knees.  You simply pray this prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.

See? Wasn’t that easy?  If you prayed that prayer for the first time, I’m so excited for all the possibilities you have just unlocked in your life. Please let me know, I’d love to come alongside you and celebrate your adoption into the family of God!

Who Are You?

 

On a crisp fall day in 1905, a young cowboy walked into the Sisters Saloon and asked if any ranches were looking for help to wean their fall calves. He was given a few names and brief directions of where to go.  No one asked his name, no one saw which direction on the Santiam wagon road he had come.

They did however watch him leave.  Perhaps he paused to check his horse’s hoof because of the nasty lava rock along the trail.  Maybe he dropped something and bent to pick it up, we will never know because all that was seen was a swift and fatal kick from his horse straight in the man’s face leaving him unrecognizable in his death.

The townspeople rallied around the stranger and gave him a proper burial and to this day friendly folk still make sure there are flowers on his grave (plastic or not.) But he didn’t have a stitch of anything on him that would let them know who he was. No letter, no name engraved on a Barlow knife - nothing.

The keeper at the saloon wished he had taken the time to at least ask for the fella’s name before hurrying on to paying customers. There was no next of kin he could notify, no sad letter he could write to Mother.  On the reverse, was there a mother anxiously waiting for a letter she would never receive? Were the last words they exchanged harsh? Was she regretting the way they had parted? Was the cowboy on the run from the law? Did he regret decisions that lead him to be far from home in an unknown land? Was he… there are infinite questions, infinite possibilities for regret that remain unanswered here on earth.

This story could seem hopeless, but Jesus knew who Cowboy was and welcomed him by name into heaven! Jesus offers all of us an eternal community where everyone knows your name without introduction! Ephesians 1:5 tells us, “God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.” Psalm 100:5 says, “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Jesus tells us that we never have to live in a world of regret, but one filled with grace and mercy. Isaiah 43:25 confirms this by saying, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

He also wants to protect us from the biggest regret we could possibly make and that is not accepting Him as Lord. Romans 6:23 warns, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And salvation is the greatest gift you could receive! It is the culmination of the ultimate example of love, combined with grace, forgiveness, and mercy that you simply receive and can’t possibly earn! Ephesians 2:8-9 confirms, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

The great evangelist Billy Graham said, “I have never known anyone to accept Christ’s redemption and later regret it.”  So if you are ready to leave a world of regrets behind, simply pray this prayer.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed that prayer today Ephesians 2:19 tells you, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household." So my friend - Welcome to the family!

One

For a small three letter word - ONE is a very significant word.

You can’t start anything without it.

First one.

You can’t finish anything without it.

Last one.

It can be romantic.

The right one.

It can feel exclusive.

The chosen one.

It can feel disappointing.

The wrong one.

Sometimes people pine away (especially fisherman) for the one that got away.

Sometimes it can be frustrating as in the one that broke the camel’s back.

It is a beginning.

Genesis ONE:ONE “In the beginning….”

And it can be an ending.

One more for the road.

One last slice.

One last bite…….

Even the Encyclopedia Britannica says one is important, “The number 1 symbolizes unity and the origin of all things, since all other numbers can be created from 1 by adding enough copies of it. For example, 7 = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1.” I really could go on, but I think you get the idea!

Because really, I want to point you in the direction of the most significant One of all -  Jesus Christ the Only One. He is the only one that can keep His promise to you of eternal life. John 3:16 confirms, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

One and done.  He died and rose again to take away the sins of one world. Please don’t miss that one - He died for the sins of everyone - not just Christians - everyone. Believer and non-believer alike - one for all. It is up to you to receive that gift because Jesus also told us in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

But also don’t miss the part where Jesus rose again! Jesus is the one and only “religious” leader that rose from the dead! Muhammed died and he is still dead as is Buddha, Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, and Confusius.

Hebrews 4:12 begins with, “For the word of God is alive and active.” John ONE:ONE says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This confirms that we serve a living Lord.  Willing and able to keep His promises! He told us in John 14:1-4, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Luke reminds us of that way in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” If you want to receive the gift waiting for you from the One and Only Jesus Christ simply pray this prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.

Every journey begins with one step and I am so glad you took it!  Jesus has been waiting for you!  Neil Armstrong said it best even if he was talking about stepping on to the moon, “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

 

Get Out!

 

My poor husband was ripped from his sleep last night by his wife screaming, “Get out! GET OUT NOW!”

I was dreaming that I was going to open a little shop and two of my nieces were helping me get ready to open. I, being unaccustomed to wearing heels (in reality due to an injury and a fused foot can’t actually wear heels) slipped and landed harshly on my back side.  I said to my one niece, “Well, that’s embarrassing!” She replied as she turned to show me a mark on her own back side, “It happens!”  I told the pair that I was going to pop out of the store and go buy some flowers to brighten our day.

As I entered with a beautiful bouquet, I stopped to write on the cute little chalkboard, “Flowers are a lovely gift no matter who buys them.”  As I set the flowers on the counter, we heard a supernatural scratching on the board and it read, “even from me?”

I looked at the two girls and heard a supernatural voice speak the words and immediately the walls went dark and began to press in on us.  I defensively had the two girls stand behind me and it was then I began to shout. The command in the dream manifested in my husband’s reality and I was brought out of the dream by his strong arms protectively around me. I told him, “the devil was trying to get me.”  He responded, “well, he’s not getting in here!”  And I know my husband was right.

Romans 8:11 says, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” Since the gift of the Holy Spirit resides within me, I know I can rely on Him and immediately prayed, “God! You are welcome here and if you’re not from God you MUST go out the door NOW!”  Then I prayed for the two nieces that were in my dream, turned on worship music, and fell back asleep to dream about the surprising news that Mrs. Walton was going to have another baby (as if I was watching tv.)

But how was that seed planted in my subconscious? In the book that was Yesterday, A History of Sisters by Tillie Wilson and Alice Scott, they chronicle that Central Oregon was covered with bunchgrass that was good for grazing cattle, but that around 1910, homesteaders wanting to plant wheat brought in seed that contained cheatgrass. By 1916, the wheat failed, but it is estimated that 9 million acres of Central Oregon are now covered with the noxious cheatgrass. One stalk can have up to 5,000 seeds and it burns like tissue paper, not an especially good attribute in wildfire country. It didn’t take much for it to get a stronghold and take over.

Similar to the cheatgrass, in Matthew 13: 24-30  Jesus warns us that we will be existing alongside weeds and sometimes they will be hard to recognize.

“24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

There is an advertisement for a movie that the second I see it,  I shut off the tv.  I don’t need to be assaulted by an easily recognized weed, because the world is full of hard to see cheatgrass.  Since the world is also full of God’s glory and creation, I’m not saying walk through your days frightened and paranoid because Deuteronomy 31:6 assures us, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”  

Still, I am saying, be aware and guard your ears and eyes. Even though Jesus would leave the 99 sheep to find you if you were lost, why put yourself at that risk?  Our human nature isn’t all that trustworthy and suffers intensely from more-ism. Ecclesiastes 1:8 warns, “Everything leads to weariness—a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough.”  

When in doubt, open your Bible.  1 John 4:1 says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  Just like you give milk in your fridge the sniff test, give thoughts, ideas, and really everything, the Jesus litmus test.  As a wise man once said in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

The Predestined Dairy Queen

My brother, his wife, my sister, and I took our Dad on a genealogy road trip.  Traveling with your adult siblings might not be on everyone’s bucket list, but we had a great and memorable time. Four months later, our Dad was gone.

While roaming the roads of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Dad announced he wanted Dairy Queen for lunch and as the patriarch of the family - you get what you want.  No sooner than he announced this, my brother turned the corner and there was Dairy Queen!  Without thinking, I blurted out, “THANKS GOD!” To which my brother responded, “Oh yeah, like God just magically moved a Dairy Queen for us.”  “No,” I responded, “but He knew we were going to want one today!”

This led to further conversation around the campfire later.  My brother believes in God, but he also believes that God created us and then lets us roam the earth on our own accord without intervening.  In my mind's eye, I see God winding us up like those hopping mechanical toys, then setting us on the earth to hop around until the wind runs down.  I respect my brother greatly, but I don’t buy this line of thought for one second!

When Jesus was sending His disciples out to spread His teaching, He told them in Matthew 10: 29-30, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” 

Now to me, my brother’s viewpoint makes God very little and humans very big and I frankly don’t want that kind of responsibility! Now I know as the years pass, my brother doesn’t have as much hair as he used to, but I fully believe that he has not counted each hair on his head - but God has!  He and his wife enjoy feeding the birds on their back deck, but they don’t know each bird by name and they have no idea where they go or when they pass from the earth - but God does!

So, how could we even remotely try to shrink God into some careless puppet master? Because we want free will.  It is almost impossible to wrap our brains around the fact that God works so far up stream in our lives.  In fact, before we were even born, God designed His plan for each of us. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”

I hear you thinking, “Oh great, that must mean we are all predestined to live or suffer on this earth and there’s nothing we can do!” No, we aren’t stuck in our rut like a Hot Wheels race car, but what is predestined is that God wants us all to be in the Kingdom of Heaven with Him. Romans 8:29 says, “Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.” He wants you to fulfill that predestination so much that  John 3:16 tells us, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” So, use your free will to accept that loving gift and ask Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior. 

But honestly, I am less interested in arguing the point of predestination vs free will as I am in arguing the point that Jesus spoke in Luke 22:42, “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus uttered those words when he knew that shortly He was going to be handed over to soldiers to be beaten and killed.  So, why should I find it so difficult to turn my daily life over to Him? If he cares about sparrows and the hairs on my head then He does actually care about my plans for each day! Do we hesitate because we want to choose to live in our desires that are a bit less than Godly? Paul the Apostle sure understood this when he said in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” 

Perhaps we should look at the Bible as a road map or an infallible GPS.  If the map says the Dairy Queen is to the left are you going to willfully go right? Paul said mostly like and I know I do, but even more likely is I didnt even consult the map at all and I find myself very lost, but that’s ok, because God is always with us if we ask! Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

That verse in Proverbs doesn’t say you have one shot to commit so if I get lost, I recommit again and again! Colossians 3:17 advises, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” So yes, imperfect as I am, I thank you God for John Fremont McCullough for founding Dairy Queen and for the folks that opened franchise #16159 so that on a hot day in July my dad could have his Dairy Queen lunch.

 

Laundry Day

It’s Monday and I’m doing laundry.  Why? Because I was taught that Monday was laundry day.  “Why Grandma? Why is Monday laundry day?”  “Because it’s the way we do it.”  When I got older Ma Ingalls helped me to understand why: 

“Each day had its own proper work.  Ma would say:  ’Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday, Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday, Rest on Sunday.’ ”

~ Little House in the Big Woods

So, I try. Life gets in the way and I can’t always get the laundry done on Monday and when I don’t  - I feel as though I am turning my back on a time honored tradition.  In Laura Ingalls and my grandma’s day, laundry wasn’t hit the start button, but an all (well three) day affair. Yet, it is also is a non-stop process because laundry is dirty before you even are finished with the current load! As you sit there reading this, those clothes you have on will be hitting the laundry eventually!  Some laundry is absolutely filthy (think construction, garden, cow yard, wet dog) and some is a little lighter, but in the end - laundry is laundry. And the fact is, you can add all the soap and fabric softener you want, but without water nothing happens…nothing is washed away.

Sin can be a bit like laundry.  Some sin is staining and deeply embedded and some is unintentional but ultimately like the laundry sin is sin and without the water it remains with us.  Wellhouse, a local church, gives people being baptized a shirt that reads, “Left it in the water.”  I love that imagery.  Just like the dirtiest of laundry, we too leave it behind in the water and not just on the day of our baptism, because sin is going to keep coming back at us like chocolate stains on the shirt you borrowed from your sister.

I didn't make the choice to get baptized until I was in my 50s! My parents had baptized aka christened me and I didn’t want to somehow belittle what they had done for me.  Then I came to understand that being baptized after the age of accountability is a public profession of faith and I am all for that! Jesus wasn’t sprinkled by Mary and Joseph, He got down in the Jordan River and got wet!  Jesus, He who was without sin, got baptized! Mark 1:9-11 paints the picture for us, “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”

Even as life changing as being baptized can be, it can’t keep us from sinning, because we will and we do. It is the grace of Jesus that erases those sins time and time again better than the best laundry stain remover.  And it’s ok! Just like we don’t wash our favorite t-shirt once and expect it to stay clean forever, we put it back in the wash water.  1 Peter 3:21 assures us, “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Still, baptism doesn’t save anymore than not being baptized will prevent you from being in Heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly tell us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Yes, baptism is an important expression of your faith, a pledge-like vow similar to a wedding vow, but the first step to life everlasting is professing your belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and asking him in your heart.  You can do that! RIght here and now! Say:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed that prayer for the first time, please let me know so I can celebrate with you and come alongside you for the journey.  And if you renewed your faith with that prayer and are ready to get wet, reach out to me-  I know people!

Best Year Ever!

 

Someone recently asked me, “What was your best year?” So what makes a best year? The year I was born? The year my children were born? The year I landed my dream job?

Naturally, I reviewed my life like a notable highlight reel. I thought of my days as a young girl spent blissfully on the back of my horse roaming and rambling the dense oak woods of our family farm. With arms spread wide, with a smile to match, face to sky in utter bliss, she could have never imagined what was still to come.

I pondered the flutter in my soul when meeting – the one. The explosion of love that erupted from my heart the moment I held my newborn son. That young mother could never have imagined there would be enough room to love even more when my daughter was born.  And when a mother turned to grandmother, there was yet another trajectory adventure!

They say when the date of your birthday matches the age you are turning – it’s your golden birthday and the year that follows is supposed to be your best year.  Given that logic, no one past the age of 31 would have a best year! So, is it possible that every year can be your best year to date?

My golden birthday was when I turned 23. I was in the middle of a Saudi Arabian desert serving in the United States Army. We were caught in a once-a-century flashflood and I spent the day digging trenches to drain the desert. Perhaps not the most fun birthday – definitely not like the year I turned 6 and my parents threw me a surprise birthday party - but certainly a very memorable birthday.

That year went on with highs and lows. A most notable high was returning stateside to be reunited with my husband on our 1^st anniversary! A notable low was returning with lung damage that ended my military career. Each dawn ushers in an accumulation of days that quietly multiply into a year -each one dripping with unknown promise and yes, each year, the low tides have come with their loss and heartache.

Historian and 20^th Century writer, Alice Morse Earle wrote, “Every day may not be good... but there's something good in every day.”  I challenge us to see our years in this way too. Like ocean waves, there will be best moments at the high tide and the harder, worst, least, lean times at low tide. Still, each depends on the other as the waves never return to the shore in exactly the same way.  We too never end the day in the same way as we started. Therefore, the person you are today is distinctly different than who you were on January 1^st and not who you will be on December 31^st.

Although we are constantly changing, Hebrews 13:8 tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  Jesus is our rock that cannot erode. He is our lighthouse that cannot be lost. We don’t have to be stuck in the low tides of life because Jesus already washed us clean. His renewal simply waits for you to ask! The love He felt for you on the day He died on the cross is the same love He felt walking out of the grave and is the same incredible love He feels for you when you come to Him broken from being rolled in the waves or giddy from playing all day in sonshine.

So, I believe I would have to say, most certainly, that my best year to date ….is the one that is still to come…and the one after that….and after that… until Jesus returns to take me home!

Hey Jelly Roll?

 

Hey Jelly Roll, FFDP?

 

Ok let’s be clear right up front, I am not randomly picking on Jelly Roll or Five Finger Death Punch. They are just the two I have experience with and yes, I do listen to them.  I’ve been listening to FFDP since they first were on MySpace. Yup, I said it My. Space.  I’ve seen them in concert and I was due to see Jelly Roll, but can’t (story for another day.)  Yep, it’s true, I don’t always listen to Christian music although it is so easy to because of the wide spread scope of music genres these days. There is no longer a one size fits all Christian music scene. With groups like Richlin, Demon Hunter, and Rivers & Robots, you can go from coffee house to bringing down the house in a click!  Still, I step out of that zone because frankly I enjoy Jelly Roll’s sound and the heavy music of FFDP, sometimes, until I don’t.  

I was recently reading an article about Jelly Roll acknowledging a veteran in the audience of a concert. Not only did he recognize him, but gave a lifetime pass for any future Jelly Roll concerts! Super cool, despite me wondering how many other veterans in the crowd were thinking, “Well <expletive> Shoulda worn my hat tonight!”  Still, super cool!

FFDP makes entire videos highlighting serious causes like veteran homelessness, mental health needs, and suicide. This shows me a real and deep level of respect for other people.  I think, “Wow, what a power houses these guys could be for Jesus!”  I’m not saying ditch the label and go full on Christian music, but is it possible you are doing more harm than good, because in both cases they misuse the name of God.  I don’t mean in a 3^rd commandment sort of way. I mean speaking for God in a way God would never speak.   Get your facts straight guys, because people are listening!  You could be hurting the very people you want to be helping.

This stuff matters, it really does. Like I said, people are listening and they need hope not hopelessness!  Music touches people deeply and I find it irresponsible to propagate misinformation which creates hopelessness. Hopelessness is a killer.  Think I’m making this up? Have you heard the term deaths of despair? Not depths but deaths! A National Library of Medicine article states,

The term deaths of despair comes from Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who set out to understand what accounted for falling U.S. life expectancies. They learned that the fastest rising death rates among Americans were from drug overdoses, suicide, and alcoholic liver disease. Deaths from these causes have increased between 56% and 387%, depending on the age cohort, over the past two decades, averaging 70,000 per year.

 

You could argue that music is just a form of entertainment and not a message, but music affects our limbic system. It literally makes that part of our brain’s network react! That’s why music can amp you up or calm you down or put you to sleep or make you cry. Music is a message! Here’s an example:  Third Day wrote a song called I Need a Miracle.  They wrote it because they met a family after a concert whose son intended on committing suicide and went to the woods, but his radio was stuck on a Third Day song called Cry Out to Jesus. The man couldn’t go through with his plans and went home to live! Cry Out to Jesus was written about a family that lost a son. Tragedy happens, but Third Day saved a son by writing hope into a tragedy of a lost son.

I want to love FFDP’s song Wrong Side of Heaven, but I can’t it because of a huge error! I’m not addressing the whole female role of God, but the falsehood is that God is ashamed of us. The notion that God would ever be ashamed of us for doing what is right is the most hopeless message you could deliver in a song dedicated to veterans that desperately need hope!! You can’t just roll the organizations willing to help in the end credits of your video! They need to hear hope from you! Your words need to speak life! The radio doesn’t scroll silent credits!

Ask Mission 22 to fact check about the 22 veterans that commit suicide every day. I’m a Desert Storm Army veteran.  That part of the song cuts me every time I hear it and I can’t unhear it. Fellow soldiers, we were put in some unthinkably ugly places by a devil that prowls the earth but we did it. Don’t be ashamed of that and don’t let anyone project their shame of not answering the call on us! 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  Think of how we said, “Stay alert, stay alive!” and we stood up for right against that roaring killer. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Again, never forget that we answered that call.  We may have done things we didn’t want to, didn’t mean to, and can’t forget, but that could never EVER make God ashamed!

FFDP my brothers in arms need light and hope not a lie saying the Almighty Creator of their very being is ashamed of them! Mark 8:38 says, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” That means in this broken world if your sole aka 1 purpose is to deny God’s soul purpose on your life and live in the most debauched way possible then you have turned your back to Jesus and His gift of eternal life. People that willingly gave up security, comfort, freedom, family, and home to fight for others – flat out NO WAY – no shame there. Note the incredible amount of warriors that are in the Old Testament!

FFDP rocks the world with a suicide prevention song, Coming Down and the video is chilling, but when the lyrics cry, “Does anyone hear my final prayers?” the question goes unanswered. YES! Jesus heard every prayer. 1 John 5:14 answers this question! “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Does a lack of an answer to the question leave people believing the answer was no! My heart breaks that people are gravitating to this song in crisis, but not given the only real and true solution. JESUS! He actually answered this question himself in John 14:6, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’”

FFDP’s song Wash It All Away asks:

I'm wasting here

Can anyone

Wash it all away?

I'm waiting here

For anyone

To wash it all away

Wash it all away!

Well, duh! Yeah, Jesus!  Acts 22:16 gives my favorite answer to this, “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” If I am riding with my husband, we never make it through this song, because I can’t stop answering, “Yes, Jesus! You need Jesus!” and he hits skip. Sorry not sorry, babe.

I could go on, but I don’t want Jelly Roll to feel neglected in my unsolicited advice. Jelly Roll has Son of a Sinner. He says,

Might pop a pill and smoke and maybe drink

Talk to God and tell Him what I think

At first He's gonna hate me

But eventually He'll save me

So let’s break this down. God isn’t your first choice to fix things. You’ll turn to him after pills and smokes and drinks don’t work. Well, at least he admits none of that crap is useful, but the part that makes my head explode is that Jelly Roll says God will hate me but eventually save me! Pass me my John 3:16 sign, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Don’t get me wrong, God hates sin! It keeps you from living your best life, and He hates it because the best life is what He wants for you because He loves you so incomprehensibly much! Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, then Jelly Roll you go on to break my heart again with Save Me!  Dude, the pills, the drinking, the smoking, didn’t work before why keep returning?  You know the quote by Werner Erhard, “'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Side note: Albert Einstein is wrongly tagged for saying this. See what a little fact checking can do?? I’m also here to tell you no one is damaged beyond repair. Seriously, a thief was hanging on the cross right next to Jesus they were dying together and Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” in Luke 23:43. Let’s sit down sometime and talk about the artist formally known as Saul, but we know him as Paul today. (If you’re curious about this transformation check out Acts 9!)  Lastly, the title alone says it all – Save Me – ok Jesus will! Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” You don’t have to come to Him in perfect working order to be saved! Just ask!! Pray this!

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.

I hope you prayed that prayer if you haven’t before especially you Jelly Roll! Is it in the name of a record label and the belief you need to keep people miserable to sell? Like the news, if it bleeds if it leads? I don’t know, but it makes my heart hurt for people spiraling into hopelessness. These are just two big names, big labels that I know from personal experience that are perpetuating using the name of God in a way that belittles our Creator and inaccurately portrays His Mighty Power. In a world where people are obsessing over clean living, what goes into your mind is as important as what is fed through the mouth! I’m guilty, I’ve supported their music.  If I boycotted them, zero people would notice. Correction, my husband would notice. I honestly don’t have a good solution other than to say, “Hey Jelly Roll, FFDP! Fact check your lyrics! PLEASE! I’ll help you!” I’ll continue to be praying on this for sure! God can move mountains, one day if I pray hard enough Jelly Roll and FFDP just might be winning Dove awards!

Holey Rocks or Holy Rock?

On a recent visit to the ocean, I found a rock with a perfect hole through it.  As I picked it up, I thought this wasn’t the first time finding one.  Sure enough, when I got home, I found it hanging forgotten by the window.  I had put it on a string, hung it, and promptly forgot about it. There is a Celtic Legend about holey stones, these stones with a perfect hole worn all the way through it.  Legend says that only good luck can pass through the hole because it was created by moving water and moving water is impervious to magic or spells. So, I had hung it by the window like a farmer hanging a horseshoe over a barn door. Legend goes on to say that you don’t find a holey stone, they find you and if one is broken, then it saved a life.  

I admit I enjoy the heritage of my Celtic ancestors. The fanciful side of me creates fairy houses, makes wishes on dandelions, and searches for four leaf clovers. Yet in reality, I am less inclined to place my life in the hands of a stone, even if it “found me” because I know that Jesus is my true rock and foundation. 1 Samuel 2:2 says, “There is no Rock like our God.” Breaking down the legend and comparing it to Jesus is easy! Jesus the living water is truly impervious to evil. John 7:38 tells us, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” When Jesus saved my life by dying on the cross, stones were broken. Matthew 27:51 says, "The earth shook, the rocks split .”  Then, three days later a stone was rolled away announcing His glorious resurrection!! Luke 24:2 tells us, “They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.” 

Honestly, I could go on and on with the comparisons! So, consider this if you will. Some of the holey stone legends pre-date Jesus’ birth.  There are different names for the stones on practically every continent yet the alleged powers are all very similar. Is it possible our ancient ancestors were searching to explain the unknown? Something they knew they were missing, but hadn’t heard about yet? Deep inside every human heart is an innate desire to be one with Jesus. Whether you are willing to admit that or not, it's true.  He just waits for you.   Revelation 3:20 says, “Look! I have been standing at the door, and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me.” 

We have a luxury that some of those ancient ancestors didn’t have and even some people of today don’t have. Jesus asked his followers (including me) in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” So, if you are reading this, then you have heard His word and all that searching to fill your empty space can end right now! Simply pray: 

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. 

If you prayed that for the first time, please let me know so we can rejoice together.  I may have two holey rocks hanging by my window, but I don’t believe in their power.  They do however remind me that my world is waiting to hear about my Holy Rock.

The Purposeful House

My sister is full of good ideas and great advice. Recently she shared that she was no longer keeping special "things" for special occasions. She said, “Why hide them away? Use them!”  Of course our initial reaction is to hide Grandma’s tea pot or Mom’s cookie jar away from danger for fear of breaking it. The joy I get from seeing those things aren’t for the item, but for the precious memories each piece stirs in me.  Still, if they stay hidden my children or my grandchildren won’t have a single memory attached to those items and when I am gone they will just be things.

So, I have given them a new purpose.  I don’t drink tea, but I can use the pot to hold knives. When I see Grandma’s tea pot, I see her in her kitchen and I smile.  I don’t often make cookies, but when I do they sure don’t stick around long enough to make it into a cookie jar! Again, I can use it for kitchen utensils and when I smile at it, Mom is smiling back at me.

I once thought I was doing the barn cats a big favor by giving them a bath. Every cat on the farm was miserable. After hearing the exasperated, “Mary Elizabeth!” from my grandma, she gave me a washboard and put me to work washing something that needed washing!  The washboard now sits where we use it for reminders and messages.

All of these things started out with one purpose and if I had kept them hidden away, that would have been the end of their story.  God designs us for a purpose long before we are ever born. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Wait! Did He say plans? Yes, plans! Plural.  Just like a tea pot with a cracked spout, we too have more than one purpose over our life time and sometimes it doesn’t look like the plan we thought it would!  Sometimes when things seem especially trying, we turn to the first part of Romans 8:28, “God causes all things to ‘work together’ for the good of those who love Him.” But we forget to finish the verse, “AND are called according to His purpose.”

Don’t hide yourself away in a dusty cupboard holding on to what you thought was your only purpose. Boldly sit out on the cupboard and take on a new challenge.  Be open to new ideas, new ways to Glorify God, new ways show love, a changing purpose in a changing season.