Merry Christmas

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My grandfather was born in February 1900. They didn’t register him right away and then his parents couldn’t remember the exact day he was born but they knew it was in February. Somehow they picked a date to put on his birth certificate and they celebrated his birth on that day. The actual day he was born wasn’t really important, the fact that he was born was the important thing.  Frankly, he died in 1981 and I don’t remember his birthday at this moment but I think it was like February 13 or maybe it was the 18th. Whatever day it was, we always made a big deal about his birthday. There was cake, presents, singing, laughter, presents, family, ice cream, love, presents, family, singing, did I mention he had 12 kids and a bunch of grandkids? Yes, it was a big party. Maybe we had the date wrong for his 81 years on earth. Maybe not, who cares? We were celebrating his birth and our blessing.

So we can argue all we want to about how Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25th but a whole bunch of  us are getting together and we’re going to celebrate. They’ll be food, love, singing, presents, family, love, presents, family, singing, smiles, love and food!

You can call it a Holiday, you can say it has no significance. You can say it’s all commercial. You can decorate your house with holiday lights and have a holiday tree and exchange holiday presents. For us, we have Christmas lights and a Christmas tree and exchange Christmas presents and we’ll all gather together in houses of worship as we celebrate together a Mass for Christ, a Christmas. It’s a joyful day, a day we’ve chosen corporately to say thanks to the one true living God who came for us, the one who determined life wasn’t worth living apart from us. Today we celebrate Christmas and we say Happy Birthday Jesus. We’re so blessed you came! So sing all you nations. Sing of the wonders of his love and the joy that he brings us! Sing and rejoice because your long awaited King made his way on the scene and he rocked the world, turned it upside down and it’s been a party ever since!

Merry Christmas

The Real Gift

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Helping in the RMA store this week an eldery woman came in. She was grumpy. Have you ever noticed that people either grow old gracefully or grouchy? She talked about how the government was to blame for her financial situation. She complained about how they were trying take her social security and how she lived on so little as it was. She complained about not having gifts to give her grandchildren for Christmas. I stayed quiet for as long as I could.

“You know, I was very close to my grandmother. As a child she was everything to me. She passed away in 1999 and I miss her so terribly much most days. Can I tell you that I don’t remember a single Christmas or birthday gift she gave me? Oh, don’t misunderstand, I was grateful and everything she gave me she gave with love, like you, she had modest means and did the best she could.”

“Can I tell you what I do remember? I remember her stopping her housework to sweep me up in her arms and dance with me in her living room. I remember standing on a chair in her kitchen helping make dinner. I remember baking cookies with her. I remember learning to crochet and sew with her. I remember snuggling up in bed with her when I spent the night and how we would talk and giggle long into the night. I remember running errands with her or advice she gave me. I remember working in the garden with her and learning about herbs and their remedies. I remember sitting at her dining room table playing game after game of Crazy Eights. I remember her massaging my back when I couldn’t sleep. I remember her singing to me and her hugs and her love and the fact that she thought everything I did was special.”

The real meaning of Christmas is relationship with one another. I don’t need a day on the calendar to give a gift or to get one. What I treasure, what stays with me in my heart is the time she spent developing her relationship with me. The memories remain long after any gift did. The gift she gave was more precious than any Christmas memory because it was heartfelt. It was born in love and nurture.

Just as Jesus was born to restore us back to our heavenly Father, no earthly gift is more memorable. What better gift could be given than the gift of our love towards one another? This Christmas I pray you get the real gift of Christmas. The gift of some time with loved ones and the gift of serving one another in love. The same gift the Son of the Most High God came to give us!

Merry Christmas!

Poor In Spirit

whispers for the heart's blog

I read this quote and it deeply impacted me with its truth. As we near the end of another year and get ready to begin a new one, let’s not make it the same as before, rather let’s be radically transformed and resolve to live it out better and better each year as it passes. Most of us go through our day as if we’ll get another, that’s a big presumption that no one has promised!

If either the rich or poor are not poor in spirit, they become crippled with the spirit of entitlement. The poor feel that the government owes them a life of success without working for it, while the rich believe their wealth entitles them to special treatment by laws, courts, and government officials. When we reject the command to become poor in spirit we actually give place to spiritual poverty. -Bill Johnson

God Of The Probable

The Holy Spirit was ministering in my worship today. As I was praying, I received a word from the Lord. He began to speak to me about how we often profess that nothing is impossible with God but that word spoken by our own lips, never reaches our heart. In our heart we doubt. We think that there are some things in life that are impossible and so we begin to consider our Lord as the God of the probable.

We place him a box, in our mind, of what we as humans deem possible and impossible, just due to our life experiences. We wonder if the things we hear and see are truly miracles or just good luck? In our most spiritual time we see the wonders of God’s creation yet in our daily life we take it all for granted. We vacillate between one opinion and another never knowing what quite to do with our God. Yet, when we take God out of the box, and we let him do his thing, we experience adventure in huge measure. Not comfort necessarily but adventure!

I am seeing intently the 100 years that Abraham walked with the Lord and the things he saw in those 100 years. While he never saw the completed promise on this earth, still he never wavered in his faith of impossibilities being possible.

Hebrews11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age–and Sarah herself was barren–was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

Wow! To walk with the Lord 100 years is a feat in and of itself. The fact that he never turned his back on the Lord, though he wasn’t perfect, he was obedient. To never have said the words that so carelessly have fallen from my lips in my lapses of faith, “Lord where are you and did you really mean this?” To live in tents for the remainder of my days on earth as Abraham did, never knowing if this stop would be my last or one of many seems hard for me. My husband is fond of saying, “The King can do no wrong”. Meaning that whatever God chooses is the right thing whether we like it or not.

Only wait a second, this is the life we lead when led by Christ is it not? Our flesh is a mere tent, lest you think you are really getting a mansion in heaven, another blog for another day. We are aliens and sojourners aren’t we? We don’t really LIVE in our house and our life here on earth.

Oh, if that were true. Most days I do find the life I lead is probably more like Lot, setting my tent near the city, liking a little too much the way luxury feels on my skin. Trying to be righteous and failing miserably and trying again the next day. Maybe it’s not that God can really do all things, maybe it’s that I stand in the way, therefore making things probable. Maybe when I set out to try to fix things in my own power I cancel out the possibilities of God.

This is why being child-like is so important. Jesus said:

Matthew 18:3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

When I was a child, I thought I could fly by merely tying a towel to my back. I wanted so desperately to be Wonder Woman. You can probably see the remnants of that little girl in me today as well. It was that faith in the impossible that made things possible. It’s not that God will probably do it, maybe. It’s that I have to believe that the impossible is possible. I have to know that I can soar. I can’t be worried about what people will say. When I see Noah building an arc when it hadn’t rained I get encouraged. When I see Abraham taking his son to be sacrificed, never having seen a resurrection I get encouraged. I begin to believe that all things are possible. When I see a man at the altar weeping because the doctor has told him that cancer has eaten his body and that he needs to go home and prepare to die, and two months later he has no cancer whatsoever, true story, I get beyond encouraged.

So if you see me with a towel wrapped around my neck, don’t think I’ve gone crazy. Maybe I am just believing that I don’t serve a probable God but I serve a possible God and maybe I’m feeling like Wonder Woman.

The Southern 10 Commandments

For me, the ten commandments are just simple human decency. I had to laugh when I saw this version though! My husband read it out loud to me complete with the drawl that makes me smile.

Ten Commandments

 

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Some people have trouble with all those ‘shall’s’ and ‘shall not’s’ in the Ten Commandments. Folks just aren’t used to talking in those terms. So, in middle Tennessee they translated the ‘King James’ into ‘ Jackson County ‘ language…..no joke (posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro , Tennessee ).  This also goes for the folks from Lee County, Virginia.

 

(1) Just one God

(2) Put nothin’ before God

(3) Watch yer mouth

(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin’

(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa

(6) No killin’

(7) No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal

(8) Don’t take what ain’t yers

(9) No tellin’ tales or gossipin’

(10) Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff

 

Now that’s plain an’ simple.  Y’all have a nice day now!  Ye hear!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I just have a few random thoughts:

I am grateful for the scene I saw yesterday in the store. Loved it actually! I was wheeling my cart out the door after the check-out. It was a madhouse at the store. A little boy about 7ish, was walking with a bag of groceries and his father, who was this boy’s older twin by the way, grabs him by the hood of his coat and says, “Son, wait.” The boy asks why and begins looking at me. The father says, “Men always let women go out ahead of them. If the door isn’t automatic, they open it.” The boy goes, “Why?” I smiled at the dad and said “Thank you”. I am sure the conversation continued. I am grateful that there are still men who are teaching their boys manners. It makes me smile!

I am grateful for Pastor Juan Hernandez’ family because his grandchildren are singing praises to their God and a legacy continues.

I am grateful for this scripture because I can make myself at home in His presence and that is the greatest gift I’ve been given and the thing that blesses me so!

Psalm 100:1 On your feet now – applaud God! 2 Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence. 3 Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn’t make him. We’re his people, his well-tended sheep. 4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him. 5 For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good and Great

thefuntimesguide.com

I was reminded of a time several years back. Casey, my daughter was in youth group and the leader was talking to them about their parents. Casey said, enthusiastically, it was told to me, “I don’t just have a good mom, I have a great mom.” She was 16, at the time and I had worked hard with my kids to have a good relationship with them. I was never Casey’s or Ant’s friend but I was a parent who worked really hard at establishing a good communication with them. When the leader told me what she had said, I was thrilled that she thought so.

What had elevated me from good to great in those days? I think it was just that I loved her and we had a close relationship. She was my partner to shop and to go to plays with. I held her to a standard and she respected me for it and I respected her for trying her best. I miss her desperately some days, because she’s all grown up and off on her own. She doesn’t need her mom anymore as she once did. Now, I get calls about how to make certain food or what do I think about something. Now when we are together, it’s all I can do when I am with her not to just squeeze her and love her up. I know better than to do that because I’d embarrass her more than I already do.

So it is with our Lord. When we first learn about him and begin our relationship with him, he’s so good. Jesus even gives us the criteria for being the good shepherd:

John 10:11. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

When we first discover that Jesus loves so completely, it makes something stir in us. It makes us feel whole again. It makes us feel understood and a part of something so much bigger than ourselves.

As we progress along with our relationship with him and we discover all that He is in our life he is so much more than good. He overwhelms us with his love. We can’t quite comprehend how he is able to see our flaws and our hang-ups and yet still love us so deeply. When we find that he never ceases to teach us and guide us, we discover that he is great!

Hebrews 13:20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

TLC’s Conference

We were honored to have such powerful conference this weekend. Almost 150 women gathered to discuss why God asks us not to arouse or awaken love before it so desires. Women from the ages of 10-100 came and learned what God’s plan was and why he said wait. I was so impressed by our teens who were honestly saying that they had never really considered why God said wait.

Some of the comments that touched my heart were:

“Now I understand why my dad acts like he hates boys to talk to me you know? He is trying to protect me. I mean, he’s still not doing it right but I see his heart now you know?”

“I would never do the things I do in front of my dad but I had never considered that my father in heaven is always watching. It makes you think.”


“I can’t talk to my mom because she always runs and tells her sisters and her friends.”

“I can’t talk to my mom because she always starts yelling and judging.”

“I feel helpless when my daughter comes to me because I see my baby asking 13 year-old questions and it scares me.”

“I sometimes don’t know what to say to my daughter so I revert to rules.”

“I still wear scars by the things boys said to me in high school”

“I didn’t live what I am teaching and I want more for my daughter but I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m scared of what I see happening to the young girls today.”

“My mom just lectures and I have no one to talk to but my friends.”

Thank you Jesus for a ministry that allows us to come forth with the questions of our heart. Thank you that you see every question and that it is meaningful to you!

How Much Do We Love The Church

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In his book, Forgotten God, Francis Chan asks the question, how much do you love the church?

I read this with interest and thought about some things that are really disturbing to me. Recently, my son was called a bible thumper in youth group. It made me laugh, although my son was angry about it, but it was a funny statement coming from within the church. I laughed because it’s true! He is a bible thumper and his questions and study make me smile.

We read the bible at our house and we discuss it and we teach it and we try very hard to live it. Although, yeah, with teenagers we sometimes find ourselves defending and explaining ideals that they often find old-fashioned to our culture today. What was meant as a put-down wasn’t in my eyes because it’s our job to teach the bible to our kids. We love the church that much! Not even because we are pastors either. We loved the church before we were in ministry. We are friends of the groom, called to serve his bride and prepare her for a wedding. This is why I love the picture above so much. The people in the picture are caring for every detail of the bride in preparation!

What happens though when the church doesn’t know she’s getting married? I have a friend who is faithful to her church attendance. Her children are in Sunday School each Sunday. Get beyond the basics of Sunday School and her kids know nothing really about the word of God. They can’t pray cognitively for a meal or for themselves or others. Should not love for the church begin at home? I spoke to this issue with her. What I realized was to raise a bible thumper you really have to believe the bible. You have to know it, you have to read it. A thousand sermons at your left hand and ten thousand at your right, makes you no more an effective witness if you don’t know your word. How can your family stand against the trials of the world if they do not know the word or who the bride is beyond a mere acquaintance? So what is the fruit of our testimony? Is it not in part our children and our life? Does it matter that the people who I call friends and co-workers come to ask me to pray for them but my kids live like hell? How much do I love the church? It shows first in my life. No not one of us is perfect nor do any of us have the perfect family, I certainly don’t. I want to try to do better. I want to love the church so much that television or tiredness or overwork doesn’t cause me to forsake my family. I don’t want to depend on the little songs from childhood Sunday School to get my kids through. I want to be active and engaged in their education. I want them to know that I love God not just with my lips but with my action and my advancement of the kingdom in their lives. I ask what my kids are reading in their bibles, and no it’s not the only thing they read. We discuss viewpoints and my bible thumper has some deep thoughts that you’d never know about unless you ask. Bible study is not just for the pastor’s kids, it’s for everyone who loves the church.

For His Pleasure

cadillac nav system

Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

We were created for God’s pleasure. The word pleasure in the Greek is Thelema and its definition is:
what one wishes or has determined shall be done
of the purpose of God to bless mankind through Christ
of what God wishes to be done by us
commands, precepts will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure

It was God’s choice to create us and His desire. In these days of tough economic times and with all the things going on in the world, it’s sometimes hard for someone to understand what God really had in mind. It would seem as if we were created for his pleasure that he would take no pleasure in our suffering. He doesn’t take any pleasure in it at all.

When I was growing up, I thought God was just sitting on a throne of judgment with a scowl on his face ready to render judgment and cast my soul to hell. This is why I have such a problem with parents who tell their kids that, “God’s gonna get you”! Not that my parents did that, but my religion did. They meant well, it kept us on a specific track but it wasn’t biblical. 

So while we find ourselves in uncertain times and we look to heaven and wonder why God allowed this, the answer is He didn’t. There is a little thing called Free Will that gives us the ability to change the track of where we are supposed to go. When God is in control of our lives, he directs where we are going. Often we ignore his direction.

My husband has a love/hate relationship with Navigation System in our car. He takes the time to punch in the address and then argues with directions. Halfway through the trip he is changing course and direction and is in a battle with the Navigation System as to the best way to get there.

We were created for his pleasure. He takes delight in our well doing but just as any parent, he isn’t so pleased with our errors. I have two adult children and I want everything to be perfect for them but sometimes they make decisions without wise counsel and that sends them on a path that I would have never chosen for them. Yet, they are adults who live in their own homes and I must abide by their decisions whether I agree with them or not.

It is the same with God. In order to establish a kingdom on earth. He then put a king on earth, Adam, and eventually you and I. He had to then allow us to make decisions that shaped and influenced our kingdom. God’s hope and his pleasure was that we’d counsel up. Imagine the feeling that God must have when our prayers come up not for the messes we find ourselves in but for counsel for the things we are thinking about doing?

Just like the Navigation System where we punch in the address, then we change course and question routes, we find ourselves driving in wrong directions or taking a long scenic tour instead of the course originally set. When people say things like, “If God is so good why are there people suffering on the planet?” We need only to point the finger at the masters of that planet, you and I. If we could learn to live for His pleasure we’d find a lot of answers to the world’s problems and eradicate much of the suffering. Maybe this year, we’ll get a little closer to what’s important.