In Praise of George

I’m glad that Living Faith Alliance Church has pastors who listen to God and have made themselves available to him. Take, for example, our executive pastor, George Davis. He is, on the one hand, known for having a “slightly skewed sense of humor,” if I may quote his LFA staff profile (here). On the other hand, he’s quite spiritually insightful.

For example, a week ago, he preached the exact sermon that my new wife, Ellie, and I needed to hear. His message—found here, on YouTube—touched on a few things, including the parable of the virgins, as recorded in Matthew, Chapter 25 (here). The parable discusses those who were found to be wise and others found to be foolish, those prepared for the bridegroom’s arrival and those who were not.

Pastor George asked us to consider which kingdom is the source of our strength and joy. In terms of the parable, the answer is: those who were eagerly anticipating the bridegroom’s arrival; those who had the King, Himself, as the source of their strength and joy—because the bridegroom is the coming King and the church is His bride.

And guess what day it was that our pastor had shared this message? It was on May 17th, which was to be the date that my wife and I had been eagerly anticipating to be married—that is, until a little thing called the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Sunday, the 17th, we had plans for a late-afternoon wedding at LFA; a reception at the Inn at Sugar Hill, in Mays Landing; and a honeymoon in the Poconos. But for the pandemic.

As it turned out, my wife and I were married in another state, back in March, right before the statewide lockdown had begun (I say, “Back in March,” as if that was years ago, because, by now, it seems like we’ve been married for years). There was no fanfare, reception, or announcement, aside from a Facebook post that made me wonder if the governor would be watching and we’d be investigated for unauthorized travel.

So, May 17th was somewhat bittersweet for me and mine. Though, as we were reminded, without any of the above happening for us, George’s message became a chance for us to remember that there’s more to be focused on here than a public wedding and reception. Without the realization of our original plans, we now had the opportunity to focus on another wedding; we had the chance to consider a much greater, more glorious wedding feast.

George asked us to set our eyes on another prize: a bigger, better wedding—the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. He asked us to consider an event where, unlike the foolish virgins of Matthew 25, the bride has “made herself ready, … arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:7-8, NIV, here).

As much as we were looking forward to our wedding day, with all the trimmings, Pastor George helped us adjust our minds. And he helped me to remember that, when I was young in the Lord, a singer/pianist named Keith Green gave me a heart for the great Marriage Feast.

Keith—whom I’ve been missing, ever since his untimely death in a plane crash, at age 28—wrote a song to his parents (found here, on YouTube). He wrote the song hoping to tell them that one day there would be a feast and only those responding to the invitation would be allowed to enter in. He said:

Close the doors, there're just not coming!
We sent the invitations out a long, long, long time ago—
We're still gonna have a wedding feast,
Big enough to beat them all!
The greatest people in the world just wouldn't come
So now we'll just have to invite the small!

Pastor George also looked at the work of the prophet Zechariah (shown below, in Michelangelo’s mind, on the Sistine Chapel). In Chapter Eight of the prophet’s work, we’re told that Jerusalem will be filled with:

Old men and old women [who] will come back to Jerusalem, sit on benches on the streets and spin tales, move around safely with their canes—a good city to grow old in. And boys and girls will fill the public parks, laughing and playing—a good city to grow up in. (v. 4-5, The Message, here)

George encouraged us to consider this passage as something that the Bride of Christ has to look forward to. That is, believers—those who consider themselves the bride, the Lamb’s wife (Revelation 21:9-21, found here)—can look forward to peace and safety within the walls of the New Jerusalem, and actually become Jerusalem, herself. Within this Jerusalem, where everyone is playing their part, will be all that is needed for the young to grow up in safety and the old to be well-taken care of.

Pastor George might have known that I was to be married on the 17th of May, as this may have been shared among the pastors, as a group. But he couldn’t have known about Zechariah, Chapter Eight, and that my wife and I had studied this passage just the day before his message. So, it was fresh in our hearts, from less than a day earlier.

How could his sermon, as a whole, be so in sync with the place that Ellie and I were, that very weekend? He couldn’t have known. He couldn’t have addressed us so specifically, had not the Spirit of God been with him to confirm to us God’s message to our hearts. Yet, he did address us quite specifically, speaking to us just what we needed to hear—by being the vessel we needed to speak to us, that day.

***

We are thankful for Pastor George. We’re grateful that he was available to God on the 17th of May, to share with us a comforting message. We appreciate that he was there for us, to tell us God knows of our disappointment and understands our hearts. We’re blessed to have a pastor who would share a message that would tell us we will always have another wedding date, one that cannot be cancelled.

I’m grateful for a man of God, such as Pastor George Everett Davis, one with a sense of humor at least as skewed as mine. I’m happy that, because of his sense of humor, I can get away with titling this post “In Praise of George,” because he knows that I know better than to actually praise him, where the praise really belongs to God. (Sorry about that; I had to get the reader’s attention! 😉)

I’m grateful for the God of all comfort. I’m thankful for He who would use a humble man like George and reach down to my wife and I, in our disappointment, and encourage us.

I’m blessed to know that God would turn to us and assure us that any wedding plans we might have had in mind—or still have, for that matter—cannot compare to all that God has in mind, when his Son, betrothed to the church, finally invites us all in to celebrate with Him the union of us, his people, with His Son, the Lord our God.

—Kevin Hutchins

Quarantine: Counting Your Losses and Your Gains

In "How do we face the various non-death losses and disappointments caused by the pandemic?” Alasdair Groves, counselor at CCEF, shares good perspective that may be beneficial to all of us. I personally have been encouraged to consider my losses and my gains during this quarantine. In Psalm 90:12, Moses asks God to help him to “number his days so that he may gain a heart of wisdom.” One of the ways we gain a heart of wisdom is by making an inventory of our losses and our gains during quarantine. Alasdair offers a good perspective as we consider our losses. To listen to the video blog click here.

—Diego Cuartas

What's Happening With You?

Hello LFA! 

How is quarantine life going for you this week? We’re on, what? Week Seven? Week Eight? I think almost every week or so, I get completely overwhelmed and have a personal meltdown. (Maybe that’s how I subconsciously keep track of the weeks passing by? Not sure.) But, whatever the reason, my weekly meltdown showed up yesterday, and I realized that, under the surface, I have A LOT of feelings about A LOT of things. However, I don’t acknowledge those feelings to myself or to my family, or to God. I mostly ignore and deny my feelings because…I feel guilty for having them. I feel like I shouldn’t be irritated at the hundredth request to ‘Look at this, Mom,’ and when I call back, ‘Look at what?’ the answer is, ‘Just come! Come look at it!’ <Insert a huge eye roll> I feel like I shouldn’t be irritated at the lack of silence in my home. I shouldn’t be mad at the nuances of an interaction I had; I should probably be able to rise above anything that comes my way and just love. Ugh. So not only am I feeling the complexity of my feelings, but I am also feeling guilt and shame for feeling those feelings. And there you go: that’s a guaranteed meltdown in my world. 

Well, I’m not writing to tell you how the meltdown ended or what I’m learning about the beauty of being seen, known and loved just as I am, with all the complexity of my emotions and who I am, although those things are very dear to me. Instead, I’m writing to ask, and wanting to know, what have these seven-eight weeks been like for you? What have you been noticing, pondering, processing, concluding? What themes keep popping up?

Did you happen to tune into our church’s service this past Sunday? Don and Theresa were talking about this exact theme. They shared a video of what they’ve been thinking about in their lockdown lives. And our church is asking all of us to send in our own videos with our own thoughts. I love that idea. You know why? Because it reminds me that we need each other. We don’t just need our own thoughts or our own voices. Together, we’re the Body of Christ. And just like a human body, sometimes life is pretty normal and we get to just function. But other times, we need to check in with the various parts of our body that make up the whole, to be able to see, understand, and assess something more clearly. Our church’s request reminds me that each one of us is significant, a gift, necessary. We need each other’s stories, each other’s voices, each other’s thoughts. 

So, for me, besides this new revelation that I have A LOT of feelings going on under the surface, one thing I‘ve been thinking about a lot is ‘What makes me good? What makes me worthy of taking up space in this world?’ Most of my life I have believed that I am not good enough, that I don’t measure up. I’m not a good enough mom, my house isn’t clean enough or pretty enough (and that means there’s something wrong with me as a woman), I’m not pretty enough, funny enough, special enough for anyone to want to know and enjoy. That has been the belief that has defined me and secretly fed so much of what I do. I’m still right in the middle of recovering from that mindset, but in the middle of the pandemic, I am finding a good place in social media to keep practicing my new mindset of what makes me good: as I post my real family, with my on-purpose not-situated hair, my real house, my real face, me in comfy clothes, my real struggles, I find that I am having so many chances to say to the Lord with my heart and with my actions: ‘This is me. And You made me. And You like me. Just the way I am. Not a better me. Just me. Your real love and Your creating of me makes me good.” 

The second theme I’ve been processing has come up because…ugh…my husband Caleb and I have gotten in what feels like more than our share of conflicts! When I say ‘I had a meltdown,’ I mean it also caused a huge argument. There have been quite a few doozies. But as we’ve fought, we’ve found something we never realized before, (even though it’s sort of like, ‘Duh!’): we are VERY different. It should have been glaringly obvious. I like a slow, unstructured, measured pace, with lots of free time for creativity…and Caleb likes…Structure! Organization! Responsibility! I can’t say that I really like any of those three items very much! So I am finding that we are different…and as I acknowledge that, I am finding that it is good that we are different. I can ‘own’ my own strengths in new ways as I more clearly define who I am, and who Caleb is. I don’t have to get mad at him for not valuing what I value. I can realize that he was…sigh…never really meant to value what I value. I was actually supposed to carry that value to our family. I was supposed to be the one championing it. (Yikes! Scary stuff!) 

Anyways, what about you? What are themes that keep popping up for you as your world has turned upside down? What are things that you’ve been mulling over in your mind throughout these seven-eight weeks?

We need each other. We are a gift to each other. At LFA, we’re part of the local expression of Jesus’ body. When we hear each other’s stories, when we hear what we’ve each been sorting through in our minds and emotions, I think we get a more full-bodied understanding of what Jesus might be saying to us as individuals, as families, and as a group. So your voice matters. Your thoughts matter. 

So, that being said, would you consider jumping on the bandwagon and making a video? Would you consider commenting below? Would you take the brave step of believing that your story and your voice and your thoughts are a gift to all of us, and help us to hear God better together? Whether big or small, still formulating or already articulated, would you share what have been some themes in your mind and emotions and in your family in these weeks? 

Note:

If you feel stuck in starting to figure out what some themes might be or what you’ve been thinking/feeling, here are a few questions you can use. I’d suggest grabbing a journal and starting to write out some answers to a few of these questions: 

What are a few things that stand out to you in this season of Coronavirus? 

What’s been happening in your soul, your emotions, your home? Have you felt mostly peaceful or mostly irritated? What’s irritated you? What’s brought you peace? 

As you’ve been experiencing all the changes COVID-19 has brought to you and your world, what are some conclusions you’re coming to? What are some things you’re realizing? 

Are there things that you weren’t really that aware of about yourself previously that you’re much more aware of nowadays? Do you notice that you are struggling with something that feels exaggerated or exacerbated because of some factor of COVID-19 or lockdown? Are there tensions within you that seemed small in the busyness of regular life that now feel rather large as everything has come to a screeching halt?

Are there changes you are drawn to implementing as a result of something you’re experiencing? 

What are things you’ve enjoyed? Have any of the things that you’ve enjoyed surprised you? 

What are things that have been very difficult? Do you notice what you cling to or turn to when you feel the difficulty?

Share videos on social media with the hashtag #livingfaithlive or #Glasstownchurchlive 

Or you can email them to churchoffice@lfachurch.org

—Sarah Howard



Using Facebook to Follow Jesus

I want to take you on a little journey that I really believe Jesus started me on years ago. I will try to keep this to the Reader’s Digest version, because it’s been going on for 15 years now. And I do not want to dwell on the current events. But…take note: with the health ailing condition of my family and with what’s happening, I have to admit that I have allowed myself to be right at the edge of pure fear.

So here’s where Jesus started working on me in 2005. I told him that I could not continue with this life I’m wrecking and gave it completely to Him. And that is where it starts. Just prior to that is when Facebook started as a company and began a social media campaign to sport their software to bring people together. Hah! How could I include those two polar opposites in the same paragraph? Jesus and Facebook? As time went on, I joined up, added family, friends, co-workers, school friends, people I hadn’t talked to in years, everyone! But then Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and started to show me something. I can have many friends, (that could drive me crazy), but only the friends that I follow, their posts will show on my timeline for me to read. Hmm..? So in other words, stay friends, but unfollow the offensive or negative ones who post. Yeah, this might be a little technical, but some 15 years later what do I have? 

When I open Facebook, I see Scripture (MANY a day), I see posts about great things, creation, God-sightings, encouragement, wisdom. Positivity!! Life! And sometimes some “Ouchies”…Oswald!!

From the churches that I have been to, I have gained friends who post Scripture, Godly sayings and many uplifting things. The people who I thought would do great posts, don’t, and the people who I thought would never post anything, post great things!

I follow musicians who point to God and reveal His glory.
I follow pastors and churches who put great posts up each day.

I follow some popular Authors who post great sayings.

So here’s God at work in something. One night I grabbed my phone. It was on the FB app, and I accidentally and unknowingly added this lady from Turnersville. She accepted the next day and I was thinking this was crazy, but she knew my cousin from their church. She had just been through a brain trauma in December and is praising God for her miraculous recovery. Wow. I shared my story that I posted on LFA God Stories about my intestines, and she was overwhelmed at how God got us to share our stories. She needed to see the work of God in my story, and I really needed to see the exact same in her story. She posts Scripture many times a day! That’s exactly what Jesus wants in front of me.

So back to the “edge of pure fear.” How has this Facebook thing helped me? When I open it in the morning, I see verses, sayings and usually something that pertains to what I’m going through. Yep, that’s all God’s doing there. And as my family is going through this troubling time, I have been able to see the “fear not” that God has emphasized in Scripture. Why? Because God is in control. 

“The only comfort we all have is because God is sovereign and because he transcends everything and in everything, he has his purpose and his purpose is good, good for us and glory for him.” John MacArthur

Psalm 16:1-2.  Preserve me, O God, for in You I take refuge.  I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; my welfare has no existence outside of You.”

Yes God can use this Facebook thing for good. It is all about how one sets things to work. As I look at it what it helps me do is keep my eyes on things above. A renewing in my mind about who is in control. I need that.

—Brian Rainey

Forget the Vest

If God is your Father, the Son is your Savior, and the Spirit is your indwelling Helper, you have hope no matter what you’re facing.

The words bounded off the page and hit me between the eyes, then landed in my heart with an attention-getting and profound thump. Does anybody else beside me need some hope these days? It seemed Paul Tripp knew exactly what I—and maybe you—needed to read today. Has that ever happened to you before? I suspect our dear Father in His grace just might have something to do with that. I read on in New Morning Mercies, my daily devotional by Paul Tripp. I must admit, though, I wasn’t exactly prepared for what I read next. It didn’t start out very hopeful.

“Who in the world do you think you are? I’m serious. Who do you think you are? You and I are always assigning to ourselves some kind of identity. And the things that you and I do are shaped by the identity that we have given ourselves. So it’s important to acknowledge that God has not just forgiven you (and that is a wonderful thing), but he has also given you a brand-new identity. If you’re God’s child, you are now a son or daughter of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You are in the family of the Savior who is our friend and brother. You are the temple where the Spirit of God now lives. Yes, that really is true—you’ve been given a radically new identity.

“The problem, sadly, is that many of us live in a constant, or at least a rather regular state of identity amnesia. We forget who we are, and when we do, we begin to give way to doubt, fear, and timidity. Identity amnesia makes you feel poor when in fact you are rich. It makes you feel foolish when in fact you are in a personal relationship with the One who is wisdom. It makes you feel unable when in fact you have been blessed with strength. It makes you feel alone when in fact, since the Spirit lives inside of you, it’s impossible for you to be alone. You feel unloved when in fact, as a child of the heavenly Father, you have been graced with eternal love. You feel like you don’t measure up when in fact the Savior measured up on your behalf. Identity amnesia sucks the life out of your Christianity in the right here, right now moment in which all of us live.”

This is just what Erik and Greg had been preaching about a couple of Sunday mornings ago. We do too often forget who we are and we write, or worse, let someone else write, some kind of ugly name in glaring four inch letters on the back of the orange vests we wear. We allow those names to define us and dictate how we live. They are names of our shame. They are names that make us forget who we are. We lose hope.

But Jesus wants us to stop hiding in fear and to refuse to be defined by our shame. He asks us to tear off those vests and, in the most unexplainable, undeserved and extravagant exchange ever conceived, allow Him to graciously place on us His own glorious robes of righteousness. Can you just imagine? Jesus takes away all our sin, guilt, shame, and brokenness, things that have held us captive, and He carries it to the cross. He took it on Himself and bore the punishment we deserved—and then offers us His very own righteousness. What a costly transaction for Jesus!  

In my very active imagination, I’d like to think these new robes He clothes us in will also have a name delicately and beautifully hand-stitched in gold script. What will yours say on the back?

Paul Tripp concludes his thoughts for the day.

“If you’ve forgotten who you are in Christ, what are you left with? You’re left with Christless Christianity, which is little more than a system of theology and rules. And you know that if all you needed was theology and rules, Jesus wouldn’t have had to come. All God would have needed to do was drop the Bible down on you and walk away. But he didn’t walk away; he invaded your life as Father, Savior, and Helper. By grace, he made you a part of his family. By grace, he made you the place where he lives. And he did all this so that you not only would receive his forgiveness, but so that you would have everything you need for life and godliness.

“So if you’re his child, ward off the fear that knocks on your door by remembering who God is and who you’ve become as his chosen child. And don’t just celebrate his grace; let it reshape the way you live today and the tomorrows that follow.”

So what does the back of your new robe say? Mine says “Grateful, chosen, cherished child of the King!” I know. That’s a lot of words. It’s my imagination, okay?

And I laugh thinking about what will happen when the bullies of this world or those in my head start to call me names and remind me of my fears, my past, my shame,  and my failures. With great confidence I will cry, “Leave me alone! My Father’s bigger than your father!”

I don’t have to run. I don’t have to hide. I am never alone. I have a true identity given to me by my God.

Now that gives me hope.

In quarantine or not.

—Eileen Hill

Join the Son by the Sea

While this will be published after Easter, I’d still like to share with you an experience that my brand-new wife and I shared during Holy Week. We watched an interesting film: 2018’s Mary Magdalene. The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) says about it: “Twelve men heard and spread the message of Jesus. Only one woman understood it.”

Very little to go by, there, I know. That terse summary is actually true, and it does present Mary as the protagonist—i.e., the central character, who propels the story forward. But it also presents a unique vision of who Jesus is: one not at all seen in classic Hollywood productions.

The film presents Mary’s story, and says very little about the story we already know, that of the Gospel of the risen Jesus. The film assumes we’ve already got His story embedded in our heads and paints a unique picture of Jesus.

Before and after the resurrection, He’s not the classic, well-kept, well-combed Jesus we’ve all come to recognize from films like The Greatest Story Ever Told or Kings of Kings. No, this Jesus has a rather slovenly appearance. Compared to the apostles, and unlike what we’ve seen elsewhere, this depiction of Jesus is one where He is physically indistinguishable from those around him.

The Jesus of the Mary Magdalene film is one of us. He is a man who is approachable. Other than when he is confronting an afront to His father—the turning of the temple from a house of prayer into a den of thieves (Matthew 21:13)—he is soft-spoken. He listens to those who seek him, and he’s not in a rush to get anywhere.

As one of us, Mary Magdalene presents the Lord as the Prophet Isaiah presents him: one who has “no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him (Is 53:2).

As the approachable one, we see Him inviting us to “approach God’s 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). Here, we’re reminded that because we have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus … [we may] draw near to God with a sincere heart” (Hebrews 10:19-22). We’re convinced by this film that we who are weary and burdened can come to Him who can give us rest (Matthew 11:28).

Mary Magdalene presents us with a Jesus that, if you want to hear his voice, you have to listen to Him closely. This presentation reminds us of the God who is soft-spoken, the one who spoke to Elijah not in the wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire, but in the gentle whisper (I Kings 19:11-12).

This film reminds us that God is a listening father. It echoes the Psalmist who says, “The Lord hears when I call to him” (Psalm 4:3), who also says those who call out to God in their distress are heard by Him (Psalm 55:17), and that the needy are heard by one who does not despise his captive people (Psalm 69:33).

As one in no rush to get anywhere, this film’s Jesus reminds me of the nature of God. This depiction helps me to remember that “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” and that “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11), that our times are in His hands, not our own (Psalm 31:15).

Indeed, we are living in some crazy, uncertain times, right now. We’re in a time of captivity, when we must remember some key things that will help us to survive:

·    We must keep our focus steady upon He who died and rose again, on our behalf

·    We must remember that we have a heavenly Father who loves us, who, exemplified in His son, is approachable, in our times of need, and must be closely listened to

·    We need to recall that God is in no rush to get anywhere and is in no rush to get us anywhere, either

The final scene of Mary Magdalene was the most touching, for me. It shows Jesus risen and—again, in no rush—just sitting on a rock overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Mary approaches and she also rests with Him there, overlooking the sea, and they talk about the Kingdom.

If we can imagine Mary representing the church, we can also consider ourselves, as part of the Kingdom. We can imagine ourselves sitting and resting alongside the sea of our lives, with He who became one of us; we can recall the approachable one with the listening ear, He who is in no rush to get us anywhere, yet ready to fill us with more of Himself and take us from place to place—in His time.

Maybe, in this time of imposed pause, we can recall that God has a place beside the sea prepared for us to commune with Him. He was here with us and is here, again, sitting and waiting for us to join Him.

—Kevin Hutchins

Fragrance and Spoken Words, A New Pandemic

What do fragrance and spoken words have in common? And why do we urgently need them during this time of pandemic crisis?

Fragrance and spoken words share one thing in common--they influence. The other day I walked into a public restroom, and I was met with a very strong and pleasant fragrance. I could tell it was a fragrance a male would use. As my senses encountered the pleasant smell, my experience in that bathroom changed. I went from that strange feeling sometimes I get when using a facility that is not what I am used to at home to hey, I feel welcomed and comfortable here! Weird as it may sound, the fragrance I encountered that day influenced my experience. 

Spoken words have no less influence. We all know that, right? Did you notice where your thoughts went when I posed the question this way? Spoken words can encourage or discourage someone. They can confront or affirm our thoughts. Some words can build or destroy aspirations, hopes and even dreams. There are words that welcome us, and there are words that make us feel as alienated as if we were actually geographically distant from the person uttering those words.

Influence. Fragrance and spoken words exercise inescapable influence!

The apostle Paul speaks about both of these realities in 2 Corinthians 2:14 and Ephesians 6:19 (I encourage you to read these!).

In the former passage, Paul affirms that God always leads His children in "triumphant procession" in Christ, and that God also makes the "fragrance of His knowledge" known everywhere His children go.

In the latter passage, Paul asks other believers in his time to pray so that he will be given "divine words" when he boldly speaks to reveal the mystery of the Gospel.

These two passages clearly demonstrate that as the children of God we bear the "fragrance of His knowledge" and we can potentially speak "divine words" that reveal the mystery of the Gospel of Jesus.

One application I see is that whatever fills us these days will translate into the fragrance we carry wherever we go, or wherever we are staying. If fear fills you…the fragrance you carry will most likely be fear. If hope informed by who God is and what He says fills you..then the fragrance you spread around will have a different influence. The good news is that God does offer to fill His children, with all of Christ’s resources and life,  through His Holy Spirit.

Here is another application that is accessible to all disciples of Jesus. We can pray! We can, like the Ephesian believers, ask that God will give His children around the world "divine words" to reveal the mystery of the Gospel to a land that is in need of knowing and accessing our marvelous God! We can also keep it personal and ask God to give each one of us opportunities to do so. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is constantly looking for disciples willing to partner with Him in what He is doing in this world. Even better, He promises to empower you so as to bring glory to Jesus!

What are you filling yourself with in these days?

What do most of your prayers sound like?

How is the Holy Spirit inviting you to partner with Him?

We can wear the best fragrance and lead the world around us with words of life given to us.

—Diego Cuartas

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

The Eyes or The Heart?

It’s been said that the eyes are a window into our soul. These windows connect the material world around us with our hearts and what our hearts desire. Lust, greed and pride in our hearts find their way into the world via our eyes. So where should we start in an effort to address the problem with lust, greed and pride? Is it an eye problem or a heart problem? Do we start with our eyes or do we follow a deeper and complex path into our hearts?

At times we need to say “no” to what our eyes want to look at—beauty I want to have, fame that props my perceived identity up, things I must have to give me a sense of being alive, or that social media feed or wall that any of us could become addicted to—in order to clear the path into our heart.

At times we need to say “no” to what our eyes want to look at while examining the motives that drive our hearts in that moment—and hopefully shift the objects we treasure to the life-giving Christ who promises abundant life here in the now and through eternity.

And then there are times when our windows—eyes—are clear and we see the world around us through godly filters, like the ones the Apostle mentions in Philippians 4:8-9:

whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

So, whether or not your eyes are seeing the material world through godly filters, here is where we need to start or land on:

“My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.”

This is the verse God used a couple of weeks ago to speak to me. It was so encouraging! What God ultimately desires is not an external behavior by which I manage the restrain of my eyes to prevent my heart from lusting, being greedy or leaning on pride. God wants my heart, and so He tenderly says to me, says to you: “give me your heart” first, then your eyes will follow “my ways”.

What are you looking at? Are your filters godly? Does Jesus have your heart?

—Diego Cuartas

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

A short time ago, a well- respected church leader wrote an article about worship and how it is handled in many of today’s churches. And he mainly doesn’t very much like it. These are some of the things he didn’t like, and how he would fix everything were he given the opportunity, and other practices he misses that we rarely do any more. Several of us then commented on this, and I intend here to look a bit into my 88 years, and reflect on this subject.

He doesn’t approve of large screens in churches. He doesn’t like the words of the worship songs portrayed on the screens; he longs for the old hymns, and for hymnals held in our hands, where we can read the music. He remembers fondly how people dressed respectfully in their “Sunday best” to come to church. This was not just an expression of what he preferred; he felt strongly that in times past we focused more strongly on God than we do now. I disagree, but I think I now understand a little better. So this was my experience over the years.

My earliest church was in Vincentown, where the name of my great-great-grandfather, William Branin, is part of the stained glass window in the little Baptist church. I suppose he paid for it. There were hymnals and an organ and a choir. I was sometimes embarrassed by my dearly loved grandmother, because she often shed tears when she sang those old hymns. I was young and clueless. Our church at home in Philadelphia was larger, but much the same. It was that time, the 30’s and early 40’s.

Big change came in the 70’s, with the Jesus movement, which was when I was really saved, and I loved it! All my teen-aged children were saved then too, and I loved the songs and the guitars and the Bible and everything that was different from the stiff way things had been. Of course I now realize that my attitude was really fed by my new relationship with Jesus. Nevertheless, I loved the new music and took loads of children to the first Creation festival and even slept in a tent for the first time (and the last!).

By then we had built a house on LBI; my husband was then a ‘head-hunter’;  I had loved the island all my life, and he could work anywhere, so we picked Ship Bottom, where my parents had our summer home. Heaven on earth. When I was young, we had to search for our shoes in September to go back to school. And I never again could really feel at home in a strictly traditional church.

When I read the aforementioned article, my first reaction was that it was just an example of legalism. The idea of dressing up for church; the need to go back to what someone sees as the old tried and true ways of worship: with hymnals and no large screens.  

Even though I was in my 50’s, my Christianity was truly born in a Bible study I was invited to attend on LBI in the early Jesus movement of the 60’s. I flourished in this new life; I loved the whole atmosphere. But now I wonder if some of what I see as legalism might not have simply originated in what was common in the time of THEIR life when THEY first met Jesus, when life was more structured, and when their Christian honeymoon period was very different from mine. Who can blame them for thinking that we might be doing it all wrong?

When God opens my mind to a new idea, there’s ALWAYS a lesson! In this case, does God want me to remember that He dearly loves ALL of us? Does He want me to be slower to judge?

I suspect that He does.

—Norma Stockton

What Did You Think Of The Halftime Show?

Here in February of 2020 there have been quite a few noteworthy news stories to follow: the impeachment trial and acquittal of President Trump, the alarmingly rapid spread of corona virus, Iowa’s democratic caucuses, the State of the Union address that happened last week, Nancy Pelosi’s non-verbal statement of ripping that speech in two…and…right there, smack in the middle of it all, a large online debate about the appropriateness or not-appropriateness of the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

Have you read some of the things written on either side of this particular controversy? Have you seen some of the polarized articles and social media posts from both or either side about J. Lo and Shakira’s highly debated performance?? There are arguments all over the place for every way of interpreting what happened on that stage. There are people saying that ‘nothing about that debacle was family-friendly,’ that it was ‘pornographic,’ ‘indecent,’ and ‘offensive to little eyes watching the football game.’ There are arguments for the ‘beauty and inclusivity’ of the performance: that these two Latin women did something powerful in providing a powerful voice for a people group that has been systematically oppressed and overlooked. There are arguments for the ‘athleticism,’ ‘creativity' and ‘confidence’ of a 40- and 50-something year old woman who haven’t succumbed to cultural norms for health and beauty. And guess what? That’s just the beginning. You might know this. You might’ve read it. The arguments go on and on. The potential for debate is as far as the internet is wide.

In such a plethora of opinions, such a widespread dichotomy of options for how to think, I would like to clearly state that I wrote this blog with ‘the people of the church,’ Christians, people adopted into the family of Christ, in mind. That is my target audience. How should a Christian, one who has been chosen to belong to the family of Christ, choose to think? Which path should one choose?

Well, I would of course assume that even within the Church, there continues to be various ways to think- the Bible says that we are all parts of one body, that we are all different, all gifted, and all needed. No one is excluded, and no one is the best and the standard for perfection. (1 Corinthians 12)

However. I would like to submit to you, again making the assumption that I am speaking to ‘people of the church,’ that there is, in fact, a light for our path for how to think. We are called to steady ourselves in our thinking, in how we interpret our world, through what God has already said, in the Bible. We are not called to chose what seems right to us, based on our own minds, based on what our eyes see, or based on any article or social media post we’ve read that seems compelling or logical. We’re called to be steady people of the Word of God.

So. What does the Word of God say about a performance like the NFL Halftime Show?

Does it say to get online and condemn J. Lo and Shakira for shamefully doing such a sexually charged dance in front of millions?

Does it say that we should loudly complain about how not family-friendly the halftime show was while watching every second with ‘little eyes’ present?

Does it say we should champion and approve of J. Lo and Shakira for their athleticism and cultural inclusion?

Does it say we should get ourselves to the gym because if they can be 40-something and 50-something and the world around is saying that’s simply athletic and the human body is amazing, then we better join that spinning class…or better yet pole dancing?

I’m not saying that I have all the answers for you: as I mentioned earlier, I deeply believe God has gifted us each uniquely and we need each other and our different ways of interacting with the world and God’s Word. BUT I will share my personal answer to each of those questions with you: NO!

My answer for each question is NO.

And here is how I counsel myself to think, based on steadying myself on what God has already said in His Word. When I come across something like this year’s NFL Halftime Show, and I follow the aftermath of commentating sprees, I ask myself what has God’s Word said? Here’s what I came up with this time. See what you think:

1. I can expect a lost world to act lost. In Ephesians 2, Paul describes that before God makes someone alive to Him, we are dead in our sins. Unable to choose God’s way of living. So I would say, why are we as Christians getting online and insisting that the world live by the standard of God’s way? Why are we expecting unbelievers to live like members of God’s family? They’re lost. I can expect them to live like that.

2. Yes, it’s sad! Yes, when I see corporate large-scale lostness, it affects me in my soul. I don’t just see the lost-ness and shrug it off, saying, “Well, they’re lost. That’s normal.” Romans 1 describes what I can expect to see when I look at the world, and even how and why. So when I happen to see what the Bible describes as a ‘depraved mind ,‘ and the actions that flow out of a depraved mind, I don’t really need to be surprised. I don’t turn my emotions off or grow numb to it, but I don’t allow surprised rage at expressed lostness to be the emotion I grab ahold of.

3. What should be the emotion I embrace, then, according to the Bible? In Luke 19:41-44, Jesus WEEPS over Jerusalem, saying, ‘Oh that you would have known the things that made for peace.’ Again when he sees the crowds, Matthew 9:36 says, “When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion and pity for them, because they were dispirited and distressed, like sheep without a shepherd.” ‭‭Hence, when I see depravity in the world, my call isn’t to lash out, expecting the world to be different, but to join with Jesus in mourning for the lost. There are things that ‘make for peace’ clearly lacking at the NFL Halftime show. When I look together with Jesus, I see that this crowd, too, including the performers, are dispirited and distressed underneath all the hype, and compassion arises. They’re real people, needing a real Savior, trying to make life work, and guess what? No matter how ‘successful’ it looks, it’s not working out for them. I need to engage more than my physical eyes and look with my spiritual eyes.

4. Why should I mourn what was displayed prominently on the world stage last weekend? What’s actually grief-producing about it? Well, the question produces another question: what is beauty for? Is the glorious beauty of a woman meant to be on display for anyone and everyone? Is beauty meant to be used to get something? I can’t answer those questions fully in a paragraph, but here is what I can quickly steady myself with what I know from God’s Word: women were created to carry the image of God, personally and corporately (Genesis 1:27). A huge, powerful aspect of the image of God that we carry in who we are, and in our physical bodies, each one of us is beauty. We are called to carry that glorious gift in a restful, God-glorifying and honoring way, imaging our Creator (1 Peter 3:5-6, Isaiah 43:7), but sadly, we humans take many, many things that are good gifts, and we use them as our own personal savior, a false savior, a savior that isn’t the real Savior, Jesus, as a way to get. We have needs that we need to be met. We need to be told we are significant. We need to be deeply and profoundly accepted. We need to be loved. We need to be validated. We need to be told we are worthwhile and valuable and lovable. What happens in a narrative like this is that instead of getting all of those needs met in the great narrative of the Creator God, God’s redemptive story of humanity, in Jesus Christ, we as humans are really good at trying to get our needs met in something else. So there are women all over the place, prominent on the stage women, and every day all around us women, myself many times included, trying to say without words, “I’ll find my loveliness, I’ll find my security, I’ll find my significance, I’ll find my value, not in settledness, in rest and trust (Isaiah 30:15) but in giving away something precious of myself in order to get (actually to get what I already have but I don’t understand that I have it).” Is beauty meant to get something? To prove something? I would say no. We already have significance, love, value, acceptance, and beauty, physical and in the essence of who we are, in our created selves and in the great narrative of God’s story. We can’t find what we need in the small story of our own glory and greatness, or in this case, in celebrity. We can only find what we need in God (1 Cor 10:31, Matthew 5:16).

5. There is a call, from the world, for me and many others to join with them in declaring something not right as right. The world would say, “You’re ridiculous if you can’t see a performance, if you have to complain about it.” Well, the end of Romans 1 talks about not only participating in evil, but approving and calling what is evil as good. That’s what the argument of athleticism is all about. Sure, that performance was athletic! Yes! There is no denying it. But there is something deeper than athleticism at play. And I have the right, and the call, to use my spiritual eyes to call what is not right as ‘not right’. I (and you, Christian reader) have a call on my life for purity and wholeness, to walk in the ways of honor and dignity (and fun and full of life) that the Lord designed for me, sexual and otherwise. There is nothing wrong with seeing past the argument of athleticism and cultural inclusivity to see the death being broadcast and passed to the next generation.

6. Death is being broadcast all the time, all over our culture, not solely in that performance. I am a mom, and it’s my job to learn to notice it more and more, for my own soul, to call it out, and within my own family, to shepherd my family through my increasing awareness of it. I was surprised at articles and social media posts I saw where people were complaining about how these ladies were not providing a family-friendly experience. Um…people? Hello? Again, why would we expect it to be? WHY would we expect the NFL to shepherd our families, for crying out loud??? That’s not their job! So I remind myself that I have a call (Eph. 6:4, Prov. 22:6) to myself shepherd my children. It’s me who has that call. I’m the gatekeeper. Not the TV. Not the NFL. Not J. Lo or Shakira. And within that call, I have so many options. The first step, probably, is to doing something. Maybe it’s to talk to my family about performances beforehand, before the game is on the TV, to talk through that performances almost always loudly declare so many messages that aren’t true. Maybe it’s time to start looking together for what messages the media is trying to promote. Based on how I’ve handled or not handled things in the past, I can talk about my past silence or my lack of not doing anything previously. I can talk to my kids about the way I myself was raised and the things I was allowed to see and who did or did not talk me through them. I can (my current choice because of my kids’ ages) choose to not even make the halftime show a thing and simply turn it off. I can talk my children through how there will always be choices for what to watch and what not to watch, and Mommy and Daddy make those choices all the time, and here’s how we make those choices. The NFL won’t shepherd my kids. They never have, and they never do. Every game already sends messages about the misguided use of sexuality and beauty. The proclamation and celebration of a false savior to a watching and vulnerable world is already a part of that culture. It’s a part of our modern cultural all over the place. It’s my job to see what’s right and not right and to filter it through God’s Word (as much as I’m able at this stage of my development), and to try to learn to talk to the precious ones that I’ve been given to shepherd about it.

7. And lastly, I remember how I was lost. There are still many parts of me that are desperately confused. I have followed countless false saviors. I have passed death on. I have broadcast death in my own circles of influence to women, to men, to the next generation. I have said with my actions, “This false savior is a compelling way to get life, follow this!” And I have forsaken my Creator and I have tried many other ways to get life. Jesus took the punishment for my sin, and He has welcomed me with delight into His family, regardless. He hasn’t rejected me. He hasn’t asked me to be different or better while staying far away from Him. He hasn’t turned a blind eye to my sin and lostness and called it good. He welcomed me and washed me, took on Himself the punishment, and put His Spirit in me to, bit by bit, make me like Him. That’s the narrative I should remember when I look out and see the lostness of the world.

So how about you? How well would you say you do at steadying yourself in the Word of God, in what He has already said, whatever your situation is that you are interpreting? I feel like I am just a little baby on the journey of agreeing with Him and aligning myself with His Words, but I feel that this is a very significant work to which I am called. So, if you sense the call too, I invite you, steady yourself. His Word is true. He is true. Steady yourself.

—Sarah Howard

Faith in the 11th Hour

This past Sunday Pastor Greg talked about Faith. Powerful message. So as my schedule goes on, I get to see first hand where my faith starts to crumble.

It’s early Tuesday morning. I am committed to submit this blog entry today. I have already written most of a note that could work, but I have been praying and there’s this unsettling feeling about it. So I ask the Lord again, “Please guide me to what you want me to write.” Listening for His answer…crickets.

I get to work before I have to start, expecting that’s when I should write. But the network is down. There’s no way to get to my last written document. There was an accident last night up the street, and the power crews are working on it. We have power, but something is still not working correctly. I have a dentist appointment first thing, and I have to get some work done. “Lord, what do I do? I know you have this in some way, just like you did last month…you provided.” Very very quietly I hear, “Write what’s happening.” You said ‘Fear not’ so many times in the Bible. So why am I getting anxious? The tension is building within me. I only have a few short hours.

I’m a do it ahead of time, scheduler type of person. I’m intentionally early for everything. When something cracks that mold, yes, I get uneasy and admit that I don’t understand why things don’t always work out so smoothly. But I just try to move on. But why am I that way? Because deep down, If I mess up in just a little way, I assume I will be labeled as a fake. What I fear is how I will come out of this. Not about what God will do.

BIG RECORD SKREEETCH TO A GRINDING HALT!!

“Fear is expecting the devil to move, Faith is expecting God to move.” Jimmy Evans 

Psalm 91:1-2, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'” 

So I’m back from the dentist, and it’s the 11th hour. So what has happened in the previous few hours? No Novocain at the dentist!! He had to grind a little, but the fix is good. The network is back up, so I can work. I have access now to the note I wrote, but it’s not necessary. What I’m sharing with you is a very real picture of life, how we can step right out of the dwelling place of the Most High. Even when we are doing something good.

Fear will drag me right to ‘ME’; Faith will, as in Ephesians 6:16, “above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” 

God had this.

Submitted with minutes to spare.

Have a great day!

—Brian Rainey

Better Than Mr. Rogers

A verse in 1 Corinthians says, “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (10:24 ESV).

Can you imagine what that would look like played out in your neighborhood?  

We didn’t have to imagine.

We had Doug.

Doug was better than Mr. Rogers. He wasn’t a faraway TV star. He was our star. He always was looking out for the good of his neighbors…and that included us.

Then, on January 12th, just two sad weeks ago, Jesus called Doug home quite unexpectedly. He was only 67. Today, he has a new address, new neighbors…and a new, healthy heart (if he even needs that in Heaven).

So I’d like to share part of a tribute I wrote for his shocked and grieving family, our dear friends. I hope it gives you a glimpse into the life of a good neighbor.

We’ve a Neighbor Through the Woods

Sometimes a heartless winter gale spews ice across our woods, wreaking havoc with our graceful trees, snapping brittle power lines along our road. We shiver in the dark—no phone, no water—buried in ten quilts piled up to our eyelids. We wonder if the utility company is even aware of our plight.

But we’ve a neighbor through the woods.

It’s late at night and I’m alone, yawning. I keep the lights on as I struggle to fall asleep. Even the shows on TV are tired. Kenny’s driving, gone for days. Once again, the ghosts and goblins are dancing on my roof. I shudder and my heart pounds as I clutch the phone beneath my pillow.

Thankfully, we’ve a neighbor through the woods.

We’re rudely awakened by its unnerving and shrill screaming in the dead of night, a warning cry which disrupts the peaceful night. Our burglar alarm is blaring. Is someone breaking in? Is there a fire? Kenny grabs his trusty baseball bat. Whether we are home or whether we’re not…

We’ve a neighbor through the woods.

I rush into the kitchen, nearly late for a dentist appointment. The car is still running, ready to speed off to Bridgeton, and I need the check book. But something—a noise?—stops me in my hasty tracks. A sudden and frightening chill races down my spine. Why are the drawers and cupboards half-open? I peek into the living room and see jagged pieces of my French door frame scattered across the hardwood floor. Someone has broken into our safe and cozy home! And are they still here? Panicking, hardly able to breathe, I run.

We’ve a neighbor through the woods.

When the springtime sun is smiling, basking lazily in a sea of brilliant blue, the robins and chickadees call me outside to play. I smile too. On my back step, there’s a flat or two of lovely flowers just waiting to be planted along my sidewalk.

We’ve a neighbor through the woods.

Humming to myself, fancying myself a gourmet chef, I am concocting a new recipe for dinner. Company is on its way and I need to get this dish in the oven right now…and clumsily drop the last egg I need to finish it all up. Do I run to Anderson’s or Ternay’s and pay $5 for a dozen? Do I forget the last egg and hope for the best?

We’ve a neighbor through the woods.

I see Kenny backing his truck up the driveway, home from a tiresome day of deliveries. A half hour goes by before I hear him wiping his feet and sliding off his work books as he pushes through the back door.

We’ve a neighbor through the woods.

I don’t worry about my house when we go away for vacation.

I don’t have an operation, a serious illness, or a terrible loss without a card, a visit and a meal.

I don’t have disgusting trash cluttering the road in front of my house after the days the dump is open.

I don’t have to wonder who will send me the first Christmas card of the season. 

I don’t suffer death and bereavement alone.

I don’t celebrate joy and happy events alone.

I don’t have a birthday that I don’t have a sweet, unstamped card in my mailbox.

I don’t chase burglars by myself.

I don’t have to wonder what’s going on with an old classmate or what’s happening in our little community.

I don’t wonder who I can ask for a ride or a favor.

I don’t wrestle with who we can share our troubles with, who we can ask to pray for us.

I don’t feel afraid or isolated or forgotten.

We’ve a neighbor through the woods.

And he is a gentle, thoughtful, funny, friendly and sweet giant of a man who doesn’t know a stranger and would give anyone whatever he had.

It was always a beautiful day in OUR neighborhood, not because of Fred Rogers, but because Doug Paten lived through the woods.

So thankful we still have Alice.

We still have a selfless neighbor through the woods.

And now it’s our turn to intentionally be the same. We’ve some big shoes to fill…

But throughout the Bible, God commands us to love our neighbors, to deal honestly and uprightly with them, and to consider their needs above our own. If we’re truthful with ourselves, our hearts and heads know it’s right to be a good neighbor; we just need to do it. It is a decision we must make. We choose to invest ourselves in those God has placed around us. It can be difficult, messy, costly, exhausting—and very rewarding—to put others first. It takes being present in their lives and being willing to listen, love, encourage, and help. It’s the way Jesus lived here on earth, surrounded by people of all kinds, loving them, meeting their felt needs, offering them an eternal relationship with the Father. It’s the way He wants us to live now.

That kind of neighborly love and kindness is contagious and transforming. It could even change the world.

It changed our neighborhood.

Wouldn’t you like it to change yours?

You can be that selfless neighbor through the woods—even in the city!

—Eileen Hill

The Super Bowl and Paul

The 2020 Super Bowl opponents are now set. The first-seeded San Francisco 49ers have beaten the second-seeded Green Bay Packers for the NFC Championship, while the second-seeded Kansas City Chiefs beat the sixth-seeded Tennessee Titans for the AFC Championship.

These teams will meet in two weeks, at Rock Hard Stadium, in Miami Gardens, Florida, at Super Bowl 54, on February the 2nd.

With the NFL playoffs essentially over, but for one final game, it’s a good time to harken back to another playoff game—this one ten years ago, during the 2010 NFC Wild Card game, between the Seattle Seahawks and the Super Bowl-defending New Orleans Saints.

One play that occurred on this day forever marries one player, Marshawn Lynch, with his nickname: Beast Mode. That play is monumental for a number of reasons:

·    It has a nickname of its own (the Beast Quake).

·    It has its own Wikipedia page.

·    The resulting celebration at Qwest Field (now Century Link Field)—in Seattle, Washington—actually registered on a nearby seismograph.

·    Lynch broke nine tackles to get into the end zone.

·    The win that resulted from the play enabled the Seahawks to become the first team in NFL history with a losing record to win a playoff game and to dethrone a defending Super Bowl champion.

Wait! you say. What does this have to do with me? I’m struggling to walk this Christian walk. I don’t need to know about some NFL running back!

Watch the play, here, and I’ll get back with you. Have you seen it? Did you see what I saw?

I saw utter, absolute relentlessness. I saw a man who would let no one, no thing, get in his way as he struggled toward his goal—that of simply carrying an inflated one-pound leather ball 68 yards, over a wide white line drawn on a green field.

In that run, I saw an example of what our Christian walk ought to look like: one full of determination; one that would let no opponent get in the way; one that would throw off an opponent, if necessary, in order to accomplish that which he had set out to do.

As Christians, what have we set out to do? Oh, quite a few things. For example:

·    Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.

·    Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

·    Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God:

·     Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but

·     Emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

These are just a few goals that we have as Christians, according to Philippians, Chapter 2. In the following chapter, Paul talks about pressing on, as the running back had pressed on. He says:

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul, like Lynch, had a goal. In his case, it was the prize of the upward call of God.

Paul’s prize ought to be our prize, as well. We ought to be heading toward the upward call.

Our goal needs to be one that empties us of our selfish conceits and enables us to press on toward holiness. Our call enables us to fulfill the great commission and evangelize the lost.

It is the call of winning the prize of ultimately being with our Lord and Savior when once our goal is ultimately met in Him, when we shed every earthly encumbrance that might try and hold us back, even as we see Marshawn Lynch shedding would-be tacklers.

When Lynch completed his run, what did we see? We saw him surrounded by a cloud of witnesses—those who ran with him and those who had cheered him on. The writer of Hebrews says:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

When you watch the Super Bowl, recall Lynch, recall his Beast Mode performance. With every run you watch, recall that with all the determination you may see in the runner, it’s only an example—a microcosm—of our walk with Jesus.

Our goal is to create a seismic shift in the world around us, as Lynch had done, and influence the world around us for the Gospel, for the team around us, and ultimately for our Mighty Team Captain who died for us to make this race, this personal Super Bowl run of ours, possible.

Run in such a way that lets no opponent get in the way. Fun full of determination, throwing off every opponent, pleasing your team captain at every turn.

—Kevin Hutchins

Psalm 46, Evil Is Present: Where is God?

I am so glad God led me recently to this precious gem found in the book of Psalms. During these days as our senior pastor Greg leads us through a study on the presence of evil and God, my thoughts are attentive to this theme.

Psalm 46 has a way of intercepting our location and God’s in real time while we face injustice or any form of evil. It also makes clear the invitation God has for His creation in the midst of such realities.

Where is God and, foremost, what is He up to?

God is present, and He promises to be our refuge and strength. Nothing can offer us protection and strength as God can. He is all-powerful and makes Himself available to us. And so even in the presence of evil, He will ultimately preserve us for His will.

We are given the river of His presence. The author of this chapter wants us to know that God’s presence is active, it is not stale. His presence has a movement, it can take us from point A to point B. And furthermore, it brings life in the midst of desert-like conditions. So evil can’t stop the movement of God. Never!

God is in our midst. And this is also emphasized with the phrase: “The Lord of Hosts is with us.” That means God is working in the midst of evil. Evil is real, but it does not have the last word.

The God of Jacob is our fortress. That means God has at least a witness—Jacob and his people. He has been personal in the past, and He will be personal to you today! 

So while God is present and active, He invites us to be still and to know Him. He wants to be known in a way that exalts Him above all else. This is good truth for me as my tendency is to want things now. I want to fix things quickly; I want answers on my time....but God invites me to wait and know Him in the waiting. Being still and knowing God exalted in each situation are deeply linked realities. Surely in the waiting He will reveal His presence and help.

It does not surprise me that Martin Luther, the reformer, composed in 1529 a powerful hymn based on this particular Psalm—and its message has reminded many generations that “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

—Diego Cuartas

Created to Draw Near

More than a blog, I want to present to you this week a resource that will refresh you concerning the way you relate to people and relate to God. Ed Welch, from the Christian Counseling Education Foundation (CCEF) has authored a book that can help us regain relational perspective. The book is also designed to be a parallel resource to the National Conference this year which will take place closer to our backyard—Hershey, PA! The conference sponsored by CCEF is a must attend, at least once in a lifetime, kind of event.  Click here to watch the book intro and to find out more about the National Conference.

—Diego Cuartas

The Second Chance

I flipped the calendar page over.

December 1st.

I smiled smugly. “I’ve got this,” I bragged to myself. “This year December is going to be different. I am ready.”

Tired of warp-speeding through the days leading up to Christmas every year and only occasionally giving Jesus an obligatory nod, I was determined that my dear Savior would finally have center stage. What a novel thought! Jesus coming first on His birthday!

I was resolute. I was unwavering. I was adamant. This was the year.

My “spot,” my cozy living room chair where I love to meet with my Father, was all nicely prepared. My Bible, four or five devotionals I love, my prayer journal, and the new LFA advent calendar were all piled neatly beside me on the floor. It was happening.  And I was pretty proud of myself.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. My spot was deserted; my books and the calendar barely touched.

But as December 18th dawned, I opened a devotional we keep in the bathroom.  Max Lucado confronted me with a title, Room for God?  

He wrote,

“Some of the saddest words on earth are: ‘We don’t have room for you.’

“Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, ‘We don’t have room for you.’

“And when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? ‘We don’t have room for you in this world.’

“Even today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart asking if he might enter.

“Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: ‘There are many rooms in my Father’s house’ (John 14:2).

“What a delightful promise he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts and he makes room for us in his house.”

Room for Jesus. That was what I had determined to have….in November.

I heard that little annoying Dr. Phil I sometimes have in my head say, “So how’s that working for you?”

Why, this is one of my favorite Christmas themes—room for Jesus. I’ve written about it, sung about it, read about it, and agonized about it for too many decades to count. And this year, once again, I was nearly three weeks into the month and I had literally made room for just about everything and everybody else but my Sweet Jesus.  And this after all my big plans and good intentions! Tears slipped down my burning cheeks.   

If I were to place my hopes and expectations and desires of December 1st up against my December 18 reality, I would discover that I was, again, a dismal failure. Where had December gone? What had happened to my resolution to keep Him first, to throw open the door and welcome Him?

Jesus didn’t go anywhere. He was near, knocking. And I was too busy to notice. 

No wonder there was so little peace and joy….

Well, that was then and this is now. Here we go again.

I’m about to flip the calendar page to January 1st and I want a second chance. How thankful I am for God’s grace!

I look ahead—not to a mere 25 days of keeping Jesus in His proper place—but to 365 uncharted, unexplored, not-yet-filled days of grand possibilities and adventures, each one a gift from the Father. Will I make grandiose, pious, and meaningless promises to make room for Jesus every day only to quickly forget in my busyness once again? Or will I really keep the door open for Jesus in my 2020?

I want to.  I hope you do too.

Our caring pastors have been reminding us this Advent Season that Jesus came to earth to bring us faith, hope, joy, and peace. Isn’t that what you and I are so very busy scrambling and scratching to find? And we are so preoccupied with that exhausting quest that we simply make no time for Jesus. Do you see the irony in that? How very foolish we are to persistently pursue everything, everyone and looking everywhere to find the very things Jesus alone can give us! And He wants to. He is patiently knocking. Do you understand what happens when you open the door to your heart and give Him room?

Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

When I obediently and humbly make room for Jesus, when I passionately seek His presence, I have everything—and more—of all I have been frantically searching to find. What an amazing God!

Slow down. Give Him room. Open the door. Pay attention.

Not just at Christmas either. 

There’s a whole new year He wants to spend with you.

—Eileen Hill