Corona Shut Down, Week Two

Well, hello, reader of this blog post! I don’t typically start a blog post with a “hello,” but all the shifting and re-working because of Coronavirus might as well shift my blog post, as well. So, “Hello!” from our little home, our spot of being holed up here in Millville. This is me, trying to write this blog, at my house, while my girls are loudly FaceTiming their cousin, collaboratively playing Animal Jam together, excitedly exclaiming about the ‘trades’ they’re making:

Anyway, how has this week been for you? How has it been adjusting to social distancing, and new roles and routines at home and work, mentally and emotionally adjusting to the new reality of a global pandemic, navigating financial uncertainty, grappling with health threats? It’s just SO much. How have you felt? In the middle of it all, what has your soul, your inner self, been feeling, been experiencing?

Well, for me, it has sure been a mix. I’ve had moments of alarm, moments of fear, moments of fast-rising irritability, moments that included a lovely (yeah right!) Instagram-worthy (not at all) huge argument with my husband, where I burst into tears and promptly went upstairs and locked myself in our bedroom. Literally locked the door. I should have posted it, right? Just kidding. But right there in the middle of those emotions, I have also had moments of deeply enjoying the slower pace, soaking in the time with my family, enjoying new ways of checking in on people in my life.

One thing that stands out to me, though, as I look back on “Week One,” and as I move further into “Week Two,” is that throughout the adjustment period of Week One, I took in A LOT of data. Data through the news, through social media, through people’s reactions, people’s comments about how and what they were doing. And simultaneously, I implemented a lot of new routines and rhythms for myself and my home. I made a lot of decisions about my day and my emotions, about my use of time and about my actions.

But, to be honest, one thing I didn’t take in a lot of was…God’s Word to me. God’s promises. God’s instruction for how I should think and feel and interpret what’s happening.

As I realize that about myself, do you know what I sense God feels about me? I think He feels tender. And I think He gently invites me into something new as I move into Week Two.

I think He says, tenderly, that He knows me. He knows that my tendency to make conclusions about my safety, and conclusions about how I should feel and about my level of peace, based on what my eyes see and what my ears hear around me. He knows that I can go long stretches doing what seems right to me, moving independently from Him. But He speaks tenderly to me about my tendencies…because He purchased peace between me and Him…with His own blood. With His costly sacrifice. My moving and concluding, in interpreting my world, apart from Him, apart from HIs promises and HIs character, is sin. My basing my ‘read’ on my safety and provision on data and not on His promises is sin. But He is gentle and kind as He does not punish me for my sin, but He invites me to enter the restful place, the better place, the moving-toward-more-peace place of remembering His promises, even as I continue to follow news and be aware of what is going on in these days in our world.

And I hear His invitation, for this week:

“Steady yourself.”

His invitation to me is to root myself in His data. To over and over come to the fountain of His promises, of His Word, of His presence, and to remember who He is and, as a result, who I am.

So. Here goes. I’ll share with you some of the promises I’ll be steadying myself with for Week Two:

• “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.” “He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still and quiet waters. He refreshes and restores my soul (life).” - There is a real place for me to be refreshed. There is a real place for me be exactly who I am, not better than I am, not hiding any of my emotions, or anything I’ve done, but to come just as I am, to this real place, to the real Person, Jesus, and to be refreshed with His presence, His Words, His instructions. I steady myself. (Matthew 11 and Psalm 23)

• “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the day of my life” - Today, I can be sure, completely sure, right in the middle of homeschooling my kids, in the middle of uncertainty about money, a shaky foundation about health, that right there, in the middle of it all, goodness and mercy are following me today. I steady myself. (Psalm 23)

• “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” - These days are not random. I am not living out chaos. When I was two years old, the Lord knew about Coronavirus. When Moses walked the earth, the Lord knew there would be a time when social distancing would stop businesses and threaten livelihoods. Last month, when I was completely unaware of this coming month, He knew this would be my experience. I steady myself. (Psalm 139)

• “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” - Paths of righteousness. He leads me in them. Why? For His name’s sake. Today, this month, with all that is going on with Coronavirus, in the middle of all that is happening in my heart, in the anxiety, the irritability, the uncertainty, the arguments with my husband, the unsteadiness and inability I feel in parenting, I can be certain that God is doing deep soul work within me. In all that I feel at being home and stuck in this house, He is doing a redemptive, sanctifying, soul-rescuing, freeing, increasing-in-righteouness, for-His-name’s-sake work WITHIN me! That is amazing, and mysterious, and beyond what I could ever imagine. I steady myself. (Psalm 23)

• “And whoever gives to one of these little ones [these who are humble in rank or influence] even a cup of cold water to drink because he is my disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.” - Today, and in this week, there will be plenty of moments to ‘give a cup of cold water’ to the ‘little ones’ in my home. Most significantly, my children, who are energetically present 24-7, of course. My husband. People who are not in my home but who I am still in contact with over the phone or Facetime or whatever in these days. There will be a million moments where I can take a deep breath, turn my eyes away from a screen, turn my attention away from what is distracting, look a little bit longer with a few moments of deeper attention to the beautiful God-design on their life. I can choose to be present, to look in their eyes, and to show up with that ‘cup.’ A cup of cold water can look many different ways in these weeks, but the Lord says that when I offer it, I surely won’t lose my reward. I steady myself. (Matthew‬ ‭10)

• “And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” - I take heart that Jesus was hungry. Jesus had needs. Jesus was tempted to trust in Him own powers to provide for Himself- to not wait for the narrative of God’s provision. And I take heart that, at the same time, Jesus did live off of bread: He said man doesn’t live by bread alone. There is a beautiful place for me today to live right in the middle: to be a human, a human who does not live on ‘bread alone.’ To be a human, I feel the emotions that come up in my soul through this experience. I grapple through them. I make decisions. I follow the government. I do human things. And at the same time, I also steady myself with God’s promises, His Word that settles and sustains me. I steady myself. (Matthew 4)

• “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - For me, the fear that really gets to me, that wakes me up in the night and causes me to panic, seems like it falls in the same basic category, and it’s strategic. I’ve realized that under most of my scariest fears, I hear the same thread: that what I’m fearing will happen to me will be random, that it will be bad, evil, and I’ll be alone. I’ll also lack provision, and the only provision that I could have will come to me based on my ‘goodness’- my ability to perform, to be mature, or to be successful. YUCK! I hate the strategy and category of those fears! But thanks be to God, who tells me over and over and over, “I am your Shepherd. These days are ordained for you. Nothing can separate you from my love. I provide for the sparrows and that is unfathomable that I do that- of course I will provide for you. And your ‘world’ (the people you love and your self) isn’t safe and provided for based on your goodness. Oh, no. You can’t rely on yourself. You are not the Savior. I am. I am the One whose goodness makes you safe, makes you provided for, makes you cared for. Rest in Me. Remind yourself of Me.” I steady myself. (Romans 8)

• “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you].” - In the middle of the night, when I wake up with thoughts of panic, with thoughts of “Will I be able to secure my life and my loved ones? Will my ability and my goodness be enough or will chaos and evil reign,” I can realize that the voice that is whispering to me is fear. It’s an enemy voice. That’s NOT the voice of Jesus. And Jesus promised that when He left the earth, He’d send another Voice to live inside me: to help me, to comfort me, to advocate for me, to counsel me, to strengthen me. That Voice comes to be in close fellowship with me. So when I hear the enemy voice, the voice of fear, I can remember that Jesus has sent Another Voice, and I can ask that Other Voice, the Holy Spirit, if He would come and speak to me, to counsel me, advocate for me, comfort me, instead. I steady myself. (John 16)

So those are the promises that, this week, Week Two, I will be steadying myself with. How are you steadying yourself? What are ways you are slowing down from your ‘already-slowed-down quarantine’ to get to the Real Place of being with the Real Person of Jesus?

As I scooch off to think of something my kids can do besides hour two…or hour one billion (that’s what it feels like)…of Animal Jam, I’ll leave you with the playlist I made for this Coronabreak to remind me of the Lord, that He is with me, He is good, and He is strong. I steady myself. Enjoy.

—Sarah Howard

Because Of Who You Are

Years ago, and I’m not kidding…as I think back, it was around 1982 when Sandi Patty (then) sang a song called “Because of who you are.” I’ll never forget that song, and sometimes I catch myself humming it as I go through my day. The bridge into the chorus goes like this: “Oh Lord I stand amazed at the wonders of your deeds, but yet a greater wonder brings me to my knees. Lord I praise you for who you are, not just for all the mighty things that you have done. Lord I worship you because of who you are. You’re all the reason that I need to voice my praise, because of who you are.”

During the New Year’s Eve Service at LFA, Brian Simione gave his testimony and shared with us about his cashing in on what Christ does in our lives, and as he grew closer to Christ, he gave that up. Instead of following Christ for the better life, he’s following Christ because that’s what God calls him to do in life: become more like Christ in everything.

A few weeks ago, I read a devotional from America’s Keswick. The devotional brings out this reality in the writer. I encourage you to go to the site and read it. (It’s short and to the point) https://americaskeswick.org/blog/victory-call/the-trap-of-using-christ/

As we go thru life, the enemy would do anything possible to get us to forget about who Jesus is and just have us stick to making requests that make it easier for us to live out today. If Jesus is our “go to” when things get tough, then really think about what that means. Maybe we are cashing in on Jesus. We should already be with Him in the good and the bad, living in Him because of who He is.

Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Revelation 4:11 You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will, they exist and were created.

Revelation 5:12-13 Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength, and honor and glory and blessing! 13 Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and the Lamb, forever and ever!

Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

I encourage you to post other verses about Jesus in the comments section.

—Brian Rainey 

Habakkuk Was Onto Something

I think Habakkuk was onto something—a man ahead of his time.

As I am writing, it’s the National Day of Unplugging (March 6). Did you even know about it? I bet many of you didn’t make it 15 minutes…let alone the 24 hour global respite from technology that was suggested. I confess I didn’t. The goal of the promoters was to “highlight the value of disconnecting from digital devices to connect with ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities in real time.” You could even request tool kits with conversation starters and activity guides to help you learn how to survive the trauma and separation anxiety. The idea would be laughable if it weren’t so sadly true of many folks in our culture today. We are addicted to a steady stream of noise, information, entertainment, and distraction. We just don’t value quietness and all the benefits that come with it.

Hundreds of years earlier, Habakkuk suggested something to his people, the nation of Judah, that may have been as radical for that day as this unplugging event is for this day.

Reeling from God’s pronouncement of impending judgment because of their sin and rebellion against Him, Habakkuk cried out to the people, “But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” What kind of message was this? Shouldn’t he have been urging the people to repent yet again? Shouldn’t he suggest they recruit an army of allies or at least sign a petition against God’s verdict, compiling a list of excuses and meaningless promises? He didn’t even advise them to close the borders or head to the hills. He simply commanded them to be silent...before the Lord.

And it was not prompted because his fellow countrymen needed to reconnect and rebuild relationships or to get their own heads on straight.  No, this was a very serious call to be still in the middle of a very serious, credible threat. Habakkuk’s hope was that, away from noise and distraction, the people would then be able to consider God’s awesome nature, who He is and what He does. He wanted them to connect with their true King and realize His sovereignty over all creation, including them. He hoped they would finally align their hearts with God’s—just as he had done. It was bottom line stuff. Significant stuff. The stuff of real life.

Isn’t that also a good idea for us today? Do you think we can keep quiet before Him—for more than 15 minutes—to remember and consider His awesome nature and realize His sovereignty over all creation, including us? To align our hearts with His? That’s pretty significant stuff for us too.

When we are too busy, when our ears are tuned to the static and noise and interferences of this pagan culture we live in, our minds are directed to anything BUT God. So, as a defense, we need to saturate our brains with the truths we know about our King, who He is and what He does. We need to rehearse these over and over, to preach His character and His mighty acts to our hearts until we know Him intimately and are consistently paying attention to His works around us as well as being reminded of all He has done in the past. We also do this by reading His word, by listening to messages, by attending classes, by surrounding ourselves with godly friends. But sometimes we need to sit quietly before Him.

We need the quiet to contemplate and commune and listen. I love to do that, to recount who He is, to focus on my Father with a heart filled with praise. But I have to work to make space for it in the craziness of life. Don’t you?

Sometimes I need a little help in getting or staying quiet and tuned in. I am so very thankful for both the old hymns and today’s worship music, profound words set to delightful melodies that capture my heart and carry me to quiet, reflective places where I can rest and focus on my God. So the song I find myself humming and singing over and over lately is Way Maker. What a reminder of God’s beautiful character! And I do remember as I sit still.

Several years ago, Kenny and I were trapped in a flaming inferno trying to escape the raging forest fire that wreaked havoc in Smoky Mountain National Park. Huddled in our car, locked in by other vehicles, downed wires, and fallen trees, barely able to see because of the billowing smoke, flames moving ever closer—when suddenly, the wind altered direction. The fire almost imperceptibly changed course, as did the smoke. Right next to us was a rutted pull-out along the parkway we hadn’t seen before. Kenny jerked the car into gear and quickly moved us away from the encroaching blaze behind and beside us. Our children, hundreds of miles away, were praying for that exact thing to happen. Way Maker…

Our newspaper and magazine business, once-profitable and demanding, had become an outdated and unnecessary dinosaur. Without boring you with the messy and hurtful details, we were in trouble, financially and emotionally. And we needed a car. We had turned in a leased company vehicle and we had hoped to share our older pick-up. But my mom, who I was caring for, had trouble getting in and out of the truck. We decided we needed to ask God for a vehicle. We called our three children, told them what we needed, and asked them to pray with us. Our oldest son asked, “How much can you spend?” Kenny never hesitated. He replied rather boldly, I thought, “We don’t plan on spending anything.” Really?

The very next day, that same son called to say he had a car for us. He had gone into church (he’s a pastor) and his elderly secretary asked if he knew anyone who needed a vehicle. Her son, a used car dealer, routinely switched her cars, making sure she always had a nice, dependable ride. He told her to donate the one she had. Really! And guess what it was? A pink Cadillac with heated front seats for my arthritic Mama! She rode around like a queen in a gently used limo. How gracious of our Father to take such good care of ALL of us. Miracle Worker…

Peace. That’s the very best word I can come up with. Peace on the worst day imaginable. Peace that passes all understanding, to be more specific. Peace that our dear Father promises to His children.

We had been waiting for and dreading this day for months. We were greeting a new grandchild. But this time it was going to be very different. Our beautiful Julian was arriving in a little body that was unable to sustain his precious life here on earth. He was simply passing through our broken world on his way to a glorious one where he would be forever with Jesus. We were going to have to celebrate and grieve, greet and say goodbye, pour out our love as we poured out our sorrow…all in a brief moment in time. Eighty-seven minutes to be exact. What was that like? In a word? Peace. All-encompassing peace. Unbelievable. Promise Keeper…

I am afraid of the dark; I don’t want to be there, stay there. But I have been in dark places in my life. The sudden death of my dad when I was a teenager. My mother's Alzheimer’s journey. Untreated hypothyroid induced depression. Cranial nerve palsy disabling my eye for months. Tick-born diseases that still affect my body in strange ways. Biopsies and medical scares. Church hurt. Betrayal. Business failure. Losing dear siblings. You know about these dark places too, don’t you? But I was never alone and neither were you. There was always hope, a way out. Why? He’s Light in the darkness…

As I sit in silence, I am humbled and grateful as I remember His mighty acts to me, His child, acts that flow from the very essence of who He is. In the daily circus, I rarely remember these things. But in the stillness, when I fix my mind on things above and block out other things, I readily recall His power, His love, His majesty and His mercy as He showed up time after time in my difficult life situations. I remember my God. I remember He is relentlessly pursuing me, desiring to awaken in me the truth of who He is and what He does. That is the very essence of my faith that He is growing and maturing.

That was what was happening to Habakkuk too. He went from confusion and complaint to humility and reverence. He was being transformed by realizing just who God is.

It happens in the quiet. “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

Give it a try!

—Eileen Hill

I Can't Get Through to You

I can’t seem to reach my son. He lives a couple of states away, in Maryland, so I can’t just drop by and say Hello, like I used to. He says that there’s an issue with his phone. I call and I call; he doesn’t call me, and I can’t get through to him.

The only way I’ve been able to have a conversation with him is if I call him while he’s at work. Once I can finally speak with him, the conversation usually starts off like this:

“Hey! I’ve been trying to reach you. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” my son will say. “No one’s been able to reach me; I think I need to get a new phone. It’s been fritzing out on me.”

“Oh, good. I was beginning to wonder if you were avoiding me, or something like that.”

“No. I’ve been meaning to get something done about the phone. I’ve probably just been lazy about it.”

“Ahh. That’s okay,” I’ll say. “I hope you don’t mind me calling you at work. I just didn’t know what else to do.”

“No. You’re fine,” he says.

“So, there’s been something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

… and then I can chat with him for a few minutes. Just a few minutes, since he’s obviously, justifiably preoccupied.

This has been our pattern for the last few years.

Please don’t think that I haven’t complained to God about this scenario, because I have. When I did, He answered to the effect, “I’m so glad that I’ve gotten your attention!”

That is, two things are at work here.

First, there is the longing in my heart—which I regularly experience, nowadays—to reach my son. Not necessarily to impart to him some golden nugget of wisdom, but just to reach him, so that we can spend a few minutes in each other’s presence.

As I’ve mentioned, those moments are far and few between. For my part, the more that I’m without him, the more that I long to share a moment with him. I actually become anxious, after some time, wondering if he has some grievance against me.

Then, when we do talk and he says that it’s him and not me, I’m relieved. I had been feeling a little starved, hungry for his presence; then I feel relieved, then satisfied, then hopeful that we can talk again, soon.

Secondly, for his part, he comes clean, and apologizes (in effect), though I wonder how truthful he really is about his phone—which I’m happy to be wrong about. We then pick up the conversation as if we had been speaking every day. There’s no friction, no memory of any issue, and he’s happy to chat.

~~~

The group The Second Chapter of Acts has a song (here) that speaks of the frustration I sometimes experience, in relation to my son. It places that same frustration squarely within the heart of God. The song tells me that He who created heaven and earth, He who can still move heaven and earth, is unable to get close to the heart of those who don’t have time for Him.

Yes, there are some things that God cannot do. Reaching those who don’t want to be reached is too often beyond the purview of God. The unlimited God indeed has limits, when it comes to our hearts.

The writer of the song, Annie Herring, invites the listener into God’s presence, saying, “Open your heart; here’s a new start.”

This lyric seems to speak of the sinner who never met the Lord. But it may also apply to us, who know Him and know that He wants us living lives in His presence—while we walk around preoccupied with life, with work, with good works, or even act spiritually lazy or lie to ourselves, saying We’ve got enough God in our lives.

I know that I’ve done and said all of those things, at various times, in various ways. And yet, whenever I reach out to my God and Savior, the response from His heart to mine is as my own heart to my son: Let’s pick up where we left off; let’s enjoy the moment and look forward to the next time.

So, can we not ask ourselves: Is my phone ringing? Is it turned on? Are we calling our Father back?

~~~

I can’t get near you,
Even though I died for you.
I can’t get through to you,
Even when those nails went through,
In pain.
All I tried to explain
Is my love, all of my love,
That I long to give you—
A love you can live through,
A love that is free, perfectly free,
To heal all your sorrows,
For all your tomorrows.
So open your heart,
here’s a new start.
I love you, but I can’t get near you.
All I tried to explain is my love.

Annie Herring

—Kevin Hutchins