forliberty--a brave heart's quest for freedom

Reminiscing Through the Generations and a Mother's Day Letter for You

I virtually met a new cousin last week.  Actually she’s my fourth cousin.  We share common great-great grandparents.  She had been doing some family research and came across my blog when she found we had common ancestors.  It has been fun for me to correspond with her via e-mail.  So far I don’t know her last name or where she lives.  She closed her first letter with, “I am also a born again Christian and enjoy that part of your blog very much.  Again, nice meeting you.”  I felt an immediate connection with her because of our common faith and the fact that we’re biologically related adds to that connection.

 

The first photo she sent me was of my great-grandmother, her second husband, and the kids:  his, hers and theirs.  It was taken in the late 1890s or early 1900s.

That’s my grandpa, Wesley Ira Crow, standing by his mother on the right.  Laura was pregnant with him when her first husband died in a mill accident in 1895.  The two boys and the shorter girl in back are the other children of her first marriage.  The tall girl in the back is Robert Gillespie’s daughter by his first marriage, Maude, through whom my new cousin is descended. 
We wouldn’t be blood relatives if only Maude was her great-grandma, but Maude married Laura’s brother, Ira.  Ira and Laura’s parents, Nancy Wells and John Quincy Bertwell are our common great-great grandparents.  See how fun genealogy can be!  It’s almost like Ira is his own grandpa!!  The youngest children in the photo are Robert and Laura’s sons they had together:  Roy and Fred.  (I’ll list all the names and dates at the end of this post for any family members or others who may be interested.)

 

My new cousin also sent me a photo of our common great-great grandmother, Nancy, seated in the chair, with her daughter, my great grandma Gillespie, standing by her:

 

Thinking of the generations past and Mother’s Day this weekend also led me to think of the generations coming after me.  My parents have three grandchildren.  Their first, my son James, arrived two days before my dad’s 50^th birthday.  Dad was overseas on business the day James was born, but he arrived home on his birthday, the day we brought baby Jamie home from the hospital.  I said, “Happy birthday, Dad,” as I placed Jamie in his arms for the first time.  Dad’s eyes and mine clouded with tears as we realized again the preciousness of life.  Each new addition to the family is seen as a unique gift from God, on loan to us to raise and train in a manner pleasing to Him.

 

Sarah Elizabeth Yancey arrived just under two years later.  From birth she had some of the same striking characteristics her Grandma Carol Crow has:  blue eyes, brown hair, beautiful nose, full lips and long neck.  It’s not her beauty though, that makes her so precious to our family.  She is a bundle of potential which God has designed.  We have watched her grow up to develop and use that design.

 

The third grandchild is an extra blessing because of the circumstances of her arrival.  We were all teary-eyed at the airport that grey February afternoon in 1987.  Ours were tears of joy, though, as the whole family gathered together.

 

I had taken James and Sarah out of school early that day.  We met Mom and Dad for lunch, but had been much too excited to concentrate on eating.  Then we headed for the airport to meet Byron and my brother and his wife, Jerry and Charee Crow.

 

Grandma Pearl Crow had gone home to be with the Lord seven weeks earlier.  Our Lord is so faithful, though.  Even in the midst of death and sorrow, there is always comfort and hope for the future.  At the dinner after Grandma’s funeral, Jerry and Charee had announced they had received a phone call that morning.  After twelve years of marriage and waiting for a child, they had been assigned a baby for adoption.  Their baby girl had been born in Korea in November.

 

We were all at the airport to see her arrive and welcome her into our family.  We were allowed to go right to the gate in those days.  It was so hard to wait until all of the other passengers got off the plane.  Then at last came an escort holding two precious babies.  She placed a little baby girl in Charee’s arms, while Dad recorded the whole event on video.

 

She was so precious!  Her round cheeks and arms indicated she had been well fed.  Her short black hair was standing straight out all over.  She looked tired after her long trip.

 

After we had sufficiently admired her and praised God for her arrival, Jerry and Charee took her home.  They bathed her, dressed her in new clothes and gave her their name:  Hannah Jinee (a combination of her Korean names) Crow.   It would be several months until she was legally adopted, but as far as we were all concerned, she was now a part of our family.  Hannah had taken her place, fully entitled to the family heritage.

 

I wrote Hannah a letter on the occasion of her dedication at church in August of 1987.  It expresses how I feel about each of my ancestors and descendants.  I think it expresses part of God’s heart for each of His children.  I’ll share part of it in hopes that you’ll take it as a personal Mother’s Day letter to you from the heart of your Father, God.

 

Dear Hannah (or insert your name here),

Your family is so proud to come together with your parents and you and your church family and pastor and dedicate you to the Lord today.  Of course, you’ve really been dedicated ever since your mom and dad knew about you, but this day is a day to tell the whole world that Hannah Crow (or insert your name)  will be raised up to know the Lord Jesus and will be dedicated to His service by her family.

You have been the pride and joy of our family ever since you joined us.  You are so precious to us and we love you very much.  You aren’t precious because you’re so cute (though we think you’re a very cute girl).  You aren’t precious because you have such special parents (though your parents are two of the most special people in the world).  You’re not even precious to us because of how smart you are (though we all think you are so smart as you learn so many new things each week).  You’re precious to us, Hannah (or insert your name), because God has made you such a special person.  You’re the only Hannah Crow (or insert your name) there ever will be, and God has a wonderful plan for your life. You’ll never have to worry about being prettier or smarter than anyone else to try to prove you’re special.  You’re already precious enough for God to send His only Son just for you.  If you’ll always look to Him for the plans He has for you, you’ll always be able to be happy about who God has made you.  

I’ll be praying for you and loving you as you grow up.  Remember, you can never do anything which will keep God from loving you and I will always love you, too.  I know you have a great future waiting for you as you grow up to be the girl God has made you to be.

“I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,  and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”  (Ephesians 1:16-19; NIV)

With love, Auntie Beth

 

Key to family photo above:  Laura Bertwell (b. July 1, 1870; d. 1957)  married Charles Wesley Crow (b. Nov. 20, 1865, d. January 23, 1895 in Silver Creek, Neb) on April 5, 1887 in Howard Co. Nebraska.  Their children were:

                (tallest boy in back row): Charles Henry (Hank) Crow (b. May 30, 1888; d.  July 27, 1976) married to Doris Haile July 11, 1925.  Their children were Laura Alice and Charles (Chuck).

                (boy at left in back row):  John Clarence (Clarence) Crow,(b. April 6, 1890; d. December 31, 1977) married to Beatrice (Bea) Williams on October 6, 1915.  Their children were:  Charles W. Fred. R, Cleo, Roy, Grace, Lloyd, Evelin and Cathrine,

                (shortest girl in back row):  Grace Agnes Crow (b. October 6, 1892)  married to Joseph Fry on October 18, 1911.  They had one son, Howard.

                (boy standing next to Laura):  Wesley Ira Crow (b. July 10, 1895; d. December 24, 1970 in Newberg, OR) who married Cuba Pearl (Pearl) Wallace (b. January 2, 1898; d. December 28, 1986 in Dufur OR) on August 30, 1920.  Their children were:  Reva, Dorothy, Kenneth, Richard, Gerald (my dad), Mary, Ethel, Howard, Lily, Freddie, and  David Roy.

(parents in photo): Laura Bertwell Crow married Robert H. Gillespie (b. Dec. 23, 1856; d. Nov. 30, 1928); Robert had a daughter, Maude (tall girl standing behind Robert): (b. 1881; d. 1910) when they married.  Laura and Robert’s children were:

                (boy leaning on his mother’s knee):  Roy (b. Dec. 3, 1899; d. Nov. 19, 1964) who married Alice Dawn on September 6, 1924.

                (baby in dress on Laura’s lap):  Fred (b. April 22, 1903; d. Feb. 2, 1936) married to Margie Leibing in 1927

 

Nancy Wells (b. March 24, 1850 in Saline Co, Crete Neb.; m. Peru, Nebraska; d. May 11, 1931) and John Quincy Adams (b. August 16, 1847, d. Peru Neb) had three children known to me:  Laura, Ira and Andrew.  Maude Gillespie married Ira Bertwell (brother of Laura Bertwell Crow Gillespie) in 1899 in Howard Co. Nebraska, and died while homesteading in 1910 in Logan Co. Colorado from typhoid fever. Maude and Ira had three children:  Lloyd was born in 1901, Agnes in 1903 and Howard in 1909 a few months before Maude died.  Agnes was my cousin’s paternal grandmother.

 

100th Blog Post: 1000 Gifts of God's Grace

When our couple’s Bible study started reading Ann Voskamp’s  One Thousand Gifts:  A Dare to LIVE FULLY Right Where You Are  (Zondervan; 2010)  I didn’t realize it would become a challenge for me to start recording my expressions of thanks to God for the daily graces He shows me.  About three weeks into it, I got it and wrote my 11.11.11 post on Eucharisteo.  Now I’m excited to share 100 highlights from those gifts as my 100^th blog post.  I’ve seen miracles along the way, and I now enjoy the miracle of reminiscing daily with God His grace extended to me.

 

I started the list meditating on Colossians 3:17.  “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”  Following are 100 highlights of those “whatever I do or say” blessings that I give thanks to God for:

 

#1  Five things I’m thankful for:  I belong to the Lord, I have a fulfilling marriage to my wonderful husband, I have four wonderful kids and two delightful granddaughters, I have friends to do life together with and God has given us his living Word, the Bible.

11  A baby’s first smile as he made eye contact with his mom

15  koinonia= fellowship, partnership, sharing and participation with brothers and sisters in Christ

17  pastors who pray with and for me

18  former students all grown up and on fire for the Lord

27  sharing a worship concert with the granddaughters at our church/school

40  a faithful husband who prays with me each day and takes me to church each week

44  church in prison with twenty three free inmates

56  sharing pumpkin donuts with AAA (Amy, Allison and Amanda) and Allison who can now read the words on the bag

95  realizing I had a non-eucharisteo walk and choosing to “see” next time

103  visiting with my parents just because, no drs. appointments or errands to run for them

114  twin spider webs on a sign highlighted by the early dew on my walk

122  the vastness of the ocean with one solid rock standing in it

145  my sweetie girls (A & A) in matching red, white and blue outfits

149  my son who prays, leads his family and blesses them

150  sharing our granddaughters with the godly Paulsens

159  Psalm 149:4a, “For the Lord delights in his people;”

171  Pastor Jeff’s encouragement and prayer for me

172  Young moms who want to be better wives

188  taking cookies and meeting new neighbors

202  sewing with Amanda

203  Allison reading The Magnetic Dog to me

207  making photo books for great-grandparents Christmas presents

217  God’s grace allows suffering to draw us to Him

223  Another year to enjoy Thanksgiving at my parent’s home

231  sleeping in three mornings in a row

248  the training center full of Christmas wreathes—a heavenly smell

257  there’s always something to give thanks for.  God is near and I don’t have to go through anything alone.

282  Jay who superintends schools and reads to first graders

289  setting sun bursting through clouds turning golden trees patina rich

299  the way Byron thinks so differently from me.  I’m enriched.

303  Our son and family who follow the Lord

309  sweet memories putting up Christmas tree ornaments

310  Psalm 119:  Beth; my name stanza is so rich

327  1 Timothy 4:4,5  “For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”

339  making chocolate covered pretzels with Byron

340  frosted wonderland walk

347  A&A saying they enjoy working well together

371  20+ people raised hands for salvation in the 2^nd service today

374  new ergonomic keyboard and mouse

401  Brooklynne’s concert—how she’s grown and matured

407  Victoria’s excitement and the nearness of her mission trip to Remember Nhu

418  the wonderful volunteers at Horizon Community Church

427  2 beautiful loaves of homemade rye bread

433 Christmas tea at the Lavender Tea House with AAA & Sarah

438  watching The Gospel of John with Byron

447  trio playing Christmas carols on our annual visit to the Pittock Mansion with AAA & S and Cecilia

448  remembering that Christmas and Christ are for the nations

452  praying for the starting Hispanic ministry and seeing 300 saved the first weekend

474  from ESV study Bible notes:  Jesus perfect (sinless)  humanity shows that the problem with humanity isn’t that we’re human, but that we’re fallen.  Adam and Eve were perfect before the fall, so there’s precedence for sinless humanity.  Christ was created in that perfection.

477  Mom and Dad were able to enjoy Christmas Eve with the family

488  propitiation=  bears God’s wrath and turns it to favor

489  Mom reading the Bible to Dad at bedtime

501  Christmas night at prison:  testimonies of peace because their families aren’t in chaos this Christmas with them safe in prison

503  T. so full of joy;  “You are what you eat.”  She feasts on the Bread of Life even in prison.  She’d done her homework from last month and found Jesus giving thanks in difficult circumstances when feeding the 5000 and during the Last Supper.

514  holding my husband’s hand as we take a twilight walk together

531  homemade lentil soup with homemade rye bread from home ground flour

536  laying on the floor in the dark with A&A. enjoying the tree lights, Josh Grobin and sucking on candy canes

542  making and enjoying crepes together with A & A

547  Amanda:  “The Drummer Boy”  is part of the fake meaning and the true meaning of Christmas.

550  New Year’s Eve party praying with Eileen for Rick Santorum’s presidential bid. 

555  ESV Study Bible intro to Genesis:  Genesis orients readers to history from God’s point of view.  A God centered world view is the proper foundation for good science.

565  Sarah and Nathan over for game night and movie night.  We watched “Sherlock Holmes” with them, then they watched “The Star of Bethlehem” with us.

570  Hearing V’s story from her mom.  A botched abortion led to her birth and cerebral palsy.  Byron’s tears as he commended her mom for loving her so well that now the orphan girl wants to give back and help other orphans.

578  Ephesians 2:10 devotional:  God is the Master Poet.  Our life is a performance to bring Him glory.

602  city-wide (Tualatin, OR) prayer at the beautiful Rolling Hills facility and pastors united

622  poached pears, beef barley soup and kamut bread (We’re into discovering ancient grains.)

627  bright stars on clear winter night (Phil Wickam’s “You’re Beautiful” lyrics:  the planets are in motion and galaxies are bright…you’re beautiful)

634  6 ducks swimming in the unfrozen center of frozen pond

648  meeting a mom of a student I taught when he was a preschooler.  He’s 27 now.

661  enjoying the beauty of a snowy day without the dangers.  Nothing stuck to the road.

679  completing all my errands in the torrential rain

688  from Exodus:  God tabernacles (dwells) among us and we have seen His glory.

698  Happy birthday to me sung by 100 ladies at a ladies’ tea

701  tea with all my girls:  mother, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law’s mother, 2 granddaughters.  Daughter got sick at last moment, so we filled in with my other “daughter” Wendy.

712  ESV Study Bible note on Exodus 3:12:  God with you is His presence and power to carry out the call of God on your life

717  5 of my former preschool/kindergarten students were on the worship team at church today.  From singing “Jesus Loves Me” together when they were 4 & 5 to them leading me in worship now that they’re adults—I love it!!!

755 enjoying my granddaughters playing paper dolls together—a favorite pastime of their mother’s and of mine as girls.

761  Horizon Christian High Schools performance of “Godspell.”  The worship combined with George Fox University’s choral group at the end was over the top.

771  Our church team that went on a mission trip to Cambodia each brought something unique to the group and left their egos at home.

779  A ray of sunshine in my day—driving by her school and seeing Amanda out on the playground and stopping by to say hi.

782  Karen sharing her Cambodia pictures with our small group and what the Lord did for her on the trip

792  Couple’s Bible study group—praising and praying together and carrying one another’s burdens

824  Psalm 19:13,14 (ESV) Keep [me] from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! …Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

826  attending a memorial service for mother-in-law’s friend of over 50 years—his large family that celebrated his life well lived for the Lord

856,7  a new laptop so my parents can enjoy my brother’s teaching of the book of Revelation.  My brother grew up to be a fine man of God.  His wife, Charee, told mom and dad, “Your son is a brilliant Bible teacher.”

864  a box of new books for me to read arriving just when I’d run out of current reads

870  golden orange globe of a moon setting when I got up

872  automatic songs of praise I find myself humming each morning when I get up

873  a husband who is faithful in prayer

888,9  praying for Rick Santorum and knowing it’ll be only by God’s hand if he wins.  I’m ignoring all the press and politics because I believe God raises up and disposes of leaders and the press doesn’t have a clue.

894  Byron’s avenue for his creative inspirations as a result of our Bible study leader’s creativity.  (He’s studying all about the master’s techniques of oil painting so he can paint his “Jesus at Emmaus” picture.)

907  meeting with the creative team that plans our Girlfriends’ Getaways—laughter, ideas, team work

921  making valentine cookies with AAA

923  James chose so well when he added Amy to our family

931  Allison:  “I like how you’re always humming.  It reminds me of Winnie the Pooh,”  and she hums the Winnie the Pooh song!

936  Pastor Stan’s sermon on calming the storm (www.horizonlife.org, message 2.12.12)

958 God loves us with agape love:  not self-seeking, but patient, kind, enduring, believing, hoping, persevering (1 Corinthians 13)

990  developing a heart (passion) for the lost (those without God and living destructive or abusive life-styles) and dropping all the stones

1000 meeting with our “Borneo Buddies”—precious saints who have faithfully served the Lord all their lives and we’ve been privileged to know for 40-50 years.

 

The Scripture reading for the day I recorded my 1000^th praise was Numbers 6:24-26:

 

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

 

The kind of peace God gives is from the Hebrew word shalom or the Greek word eirene.  It means a total well-being or wholeness.   I’ve found the Lord gives me this kind of peace as I center my thoughts on Him and express my gratitude to Him for all that comes my way—the good and what I perceive as bad.  I’ve stopped counting now, but I will never stop thanking Him for the life He’s given me and for the future I have with Him for eternity.  

Free to Love Him

“May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:19; NLT)

 

It’s our joy as followers of Christ o experience what can’t be fully understood—the love of Christ.  There’s a woman in the Bible who had experienced that incomprehensible love of
Christ.  It’s told in Luke 7 starting in verse 36.

 

“One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. ³⁷ When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸ Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.   ³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

 ⁴⁰ Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

   “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

 ⁴¹ Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. ⁴² But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

 ⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

   “That’s right,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴ Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

 ⁴⁷ “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

 ⁴⁹ The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

 ⁵⁰ And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7;NlT)

 

I wonder what a woman would have to do to be considered by everyone in the village an “immoral woman?”  Did she commit sexual sins such as adultery, prostitution,  or sleeping around?  Maybe she played fast an loose with finances.  Or perhaps she had substance abuse or anger issues.  These sins would have been evident to everyone in town.

 

Simon was concerned that she was already branded an “immoral woman” by her behavior, and then she came into his house and cried all over Jesus and kissed His feet.  This would have seemed so scandalous in a culture where women didn’t touch men in public, let alone kiss their feet.  Never mind that Simon had neglected the common courtesy of a host to his guests of offering water to wash off dusty feet before a meal.  Nor did he bother to give Jesus a courteous and customary greeting.  I’m not sure why Simon had Jesus in his home.  He called Him teacher, but he didn’t respect Jesus as a prophet in his heart and thoughts.  Simon must have been satisfied (or proud) that he was a rule follower and wouldn’t stoop to any immoral behavior or ever let an immoral person touch him.

 

To me, a person isn’t just immoral by her actions that are so evident to all in the village and the subject of “news sharing.”  Many an immoral person looks great on the outside, but the inside is ugly and rotten.  What are these inner sins? Galatians 5 lists some of them. ^“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”  I pay careful attention to the less noticeable sins of verse 20 because I can so easily get trapped by them.  Who’s to know but the person herself if she’s jealous, selfish, argumentative, divisive, envious or has impure thoughts?  These sins rank up there with the more obvious ones and anyone practicing them is also an immoral woman.

 

I think this story is in the Bible to remind all of us that we are lost without Jesus loving us and forgiving our sins.  This woman showed great love to Jesus, because she knew she had been much loved and forgiven for her many sins.  I think each of us knows our many sins if we examine our hearts, and they’re not all obvious to everyone around us.  We are free to experience much love from Jesus and show Him our great love because we know how much we’ve been forgiven.  If we’re proud like Simon, we won’t realize our need for Jesus and we won’t be able to experience His great love for us.  We don’t think we have much to be forgiven, so we don’t love Him much.

 

After the immoral woman knew that Jesus had forgiven her sins, He told her to go in peace.  The Greek word used is eirene.  It’s comparable to the Hebrew shalom and means wholeness, soundness, well-being.  It’s the present possession of believers and not dependent on circumstances.  It’s the fruit of true salvation.

 

Jesus said in John 14:27  “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

 

Jesus can’t give this kind of peace to those still in sin. Those who hope for it while continuing in sin are deceiving themselves.   Simon may have thought he was good with God, but he was deluding himself.  He was every bit as immoral as the woman, yet she knew it and had her sins forgiven by Jesus.  Then, He was able to give her the peace that comes from being made whole and of sound mind.  Simon didn’t recognize his sin and could not experience the peace only given to those who have had their many sins forgiven.

 

We may not be able to understand this great love of Christ, but we can experience it.  We can each know we are much loved—even her, even me.  We’re his precious treasure. ( Deut. 7:6 “For you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.”) And, we’re free to fully love Him because we know how much He loves each of us to forgive our many sins.

 

“May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:19; NLT)

On Saving Sex for Marriage: "I Could Have Had a Corvette."

Once there was a six year old girl who lost her first tooth.  The next morning when she was asking her dad about spending the money the tooth fairy brought her, he said, “You may choose to spend your money now.  You have about enough to buy a gumball in a gumball machine.  I know you love everything about gumballs.  There’s the thrill of seeing which one will come rolling down the shoot in the dispenser.  There’s the excitement of the burst of flavor when you first bite down on it.  Then, you can’t wait to see how long it takes to chew it up ‘til you can blow your first bubble.  Every time you have some bubble gum, you try and try to blow bigger and better bubbles and see how long they’ll last before bursting.  You try to make the flavor stretch out as long as you can, then you throw it away.  I know this would be very exciting for you, and you may want it really badly, but I have another idea.

“If you’ll save your tooth fairy money and save all the money when all the rest of your teeth fall out, I’ll help you when you get old enough to get a driver’s license.  We’ll study and prepare and get ready for the day you take your test.  Once you’ve passed the test, we’ll go car shopping.  I’ll help you buy your first car, and I’m planning on it being a brand new Corvette convertible.  I think this will be the most fun you’ll ever have when you drive around in your new car.  There’s nothing like the freedom you’ll feel with the top down and the wind blowing in your hair on a sunny day.  You’ll be the only one to own this car and it’ll be totally yours.  The seats will conform to your shape and you’ll soon learn how to handle it for best performance.  You can go fast or slow, in the country or city and you’ll be able to depend on it because it’s new and well built.  The power you’ll feel under your control will blow you away.

“If you choose to spend your money early, I’ll still help you when it comes time to get a car.  We’ll get a used Camaro for you.  It’ll still be a great car and get you where you want to go.  It’ll take a lot of work, though, to get it up to peak performance.  It may even take some costly repairs.  Driving a Camaro can be very satisfying.  When you’ve gotten it repaired and freed from its past,** you’ll wake up one morning and it will have become a Corvette.  I want the very best for you, so I hope you’ll hold out for the new Corvette to begin with.” 

This is just a parable and an incomplete analogy, but it came to mind when I was thinking about a program I’d heard on Focus on the Family.*    I was wondering how to explain to girls (and boys) who live in our culture the benefits of waiting ‘til marriage for sexual intimacy.  I think we so often tell kids what they can’t do, but kids love to challenge rules authorities put in place.  What if instead of telling young people what they can’t do, we try to help them catch the vision of what God has in mind when he designs marriage to be a life-long, monogamous commitment between one man and one woman?  A vision is something worth planning for and waiting for when you know it’s going to be better than any other scheme that may cross your mind when you don’t have a plan.

It’s just like God not just to tell us what we can’t do.  He doesn’t want there to be even a hint of sexual immorality among us.  (Ephesians 5:3, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” NIV)  Did He tell us this because He doesn’t want us to have fun and He doesn’t know how to party?  NO.  He tells us because of the Hebrew word yada (pronounced with a heavy accent on the second syllable, not like yada, yada, yada.)  That word is used 949 times in the Bible.  It’s translated “to have sex with or to lay with” a few times.  But the vast majority of the times yada is used it’s translated as “to know” or the other various forms of know, knows, known, knew, etc.  So, God has so much more in mind than just sex when He designs marriage. Ephesians 5 is not all about what God says we can’t do.  It’s about the pleasure of sex a married couple can experience in the context of yada.

Here are some verses that give us a clue as to what God has in mind with the word yada (words in bold type have been translated from yada):

Exodus 3: ⁷ The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them

2 Chronicles 6: ³⁰ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of men), ³¹ so that they will fear you and walk in your ways all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.  ³² “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, ³³ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

Psalm 9:¹⁰ Those who know your name will trust in you,  for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 16: ¹¹ You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 46: ¹⁰Be still, and know that I am God;

Psalm 98: ² The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

Psalm 139: ¹ O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue  you know it completely, O LORD. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Proverbs 3: ⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart  and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,  and he will make your paths straight.

Jeremiah 16: ²¹ “Therefore I will teach them— this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD.

Amos 3: ² You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth;

Hosea 6:³ Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

So, when Genesis 4:1 says, “Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain,” it means so much more than he had sex with her.  It means he chose her, her knew her, he acknowledged her as his wife, he understood her and he’s concerned about her.  This is the kind of sex that God designed for a man and woman united in marriage.  Other kinds of sex besides one man and one woman in marriage are called immorality in the Bible, and God doesn’t use the word yada or its Greek equivalent for them. 

As the little girl in my story gets older, her Father gives her the choice:  “Have sex whenever it appeals to you and it’ll be a poor substitute for my best I have for you.  I want you to have a vision for what you can have in your marriage.  Hold out for marriage, and you get yada.  I don’t wanta hear you say, ‘I could have had a Corvette!’”

 

*This article was inspired by Focus on the Family broadcasts February 16 & 17, 2012 with author Dannah Gresh.  I’d highly recommend her book, What Are You Waiting For?  The One Thing No One Ever Tells You About Sex for anyone raising daughters or anyone wanting to have Bible based discussions about sex.

**There is hope and help for those who have already chosen poorly and would like to get back on God’s plan for yada.  Focus on the Family is one place to go to find resources.  I went to focusonthfamily.com and found some helpful articles under their Marriage tab, especially the route to “sex and intimacy” and “The Overcoming Marriage” articles.  Biblical Christian counselors are also well equipped to help individuals and couples recover from sexual immorality and repair damaged marriages.  The thing to do is be brave and embrace a new vision for a marriage that is all God has designed it to be, and then take the steps to get there.  God is a God of second chances and the restored and repaired marriage can have much richness only found in such marriages.  Jesus said in Ludke 7:47, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

I'm a Cast Member in the Cosmic Epic

I have a daughter that’s trying to break into screen writing and a friend who’s working to become the actor she believes God is calling her to be.  Another friend is working on her singing/song writing.  Yet another is refining her writing craft to be able to do excellent writing.  They all want to take the talents and desires God has given them to positively impact our culture.  In the 19^th and much of the 20^th centuries these occupations were thought to be best left to “worldly” artists.  It was thought that if Christians took up these artistic callings, they’d best be for the church and not the world.  As a result, many Christian’s  attempts ended up sounding preachy or out of touch with the real world.  Another result was that our culture was left to deteriorate to the lowest forms of “art” that are humanly possible.  I’m proud of these young women who are working hard to take back our culture. 

 

I say take back because God has a lot to say in the Bible about quality artistic work.  There are metaphors for sports enthusiasts, farmers, business managers, politicians, families and even fine and performing artists.  Ephesians 2:10 is a prime example.  “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (NLT)  I want to look into this verse in the Greek in which it was originally written to gain nuances we don’t get by looking only to the English.

 

Webster’s defines “masterpiece” as “a work done with extraordinary skill; especially : a supreme intellectual or artistic achievement.”  When I’ve asked groups what they know about masterpieces, I’ve gotten the following answers: 

            a one of a kind work

            something created by a recognized master

            something of great value

            it keeps its value over time

            people recognize its value when it’s displayed

            takes time and skill to create

These are pretty remarkable characteristics when we consider that God thinks of us as the masterpieces He created.

 

The Greek word that masterpiece is translated from is poiema.  The NIV translation of the Bible uses “workmanship.”  It does indeed mean something that is made or produced.  It is either a completed work or one in progress.  What I thought was interesting is that the one who performs this kind of work is poietes, a performer or poet.  So if God is the Divine Poet, we are the poetry that He has created.  That would make Him a performing artist and all the performing art we try to produce are just our attempts to copy Him.

 

The Greek word translated “created” in Ephesians is kitzo. It means to produce from nothing, regenerate or renew.  It also expresses to make or compose.  I take it to mean that when God regenerates a person who has chosen to follow Christ, He is composing a new life to be part of His composition from the old life that existed without purpose.  Second  Corinthians 5:17 & 18a say, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.” (NLT)  When we belong to Christ, we join in the new composition God is turning into His masterpiece.

 

The “good things” or “good works” as the NIV translates come from the Greek word ergon.  This is a work or performance or even a miracle.  Philippians 1:6 says that this good work that we get to perform, originated with God and He will continue it until it’s complete.  “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (NLT)  What a privilege to be a co-creator with God as we find those good works that He created us anew to perform.   

 

In verses 8 & 9 of Ephesians 2, we see that all the good works we do are only possible because of the grace God gave us when we became His. “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”   Verse 10 completes the thought in our key verse, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”  We get to do the good works, but it’s only by His gift and design in our lives.

 

A final word about these good things God created us to perform is that they are a mark of a true and living faith we have in Christ.  James 2 makes it clear that the works we do are not the means to earn our salvation.  What they are is a sign that we are indeed partnering with our Divine Composer to perform the work He has created for us to do.   “¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions?... So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. ¹⁸ Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” … ²¹ Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete…(W)e are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone…²⁶ Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.”  How gracious of God to allow us an avenue to express the living faith that lives within us.  This faith initiates the good things we perform out of a heart desiring to express our faith.

 

The truly unique thing about partnering with God in the good deeds He has for each of us is that He planned for them long ago.  The Greek word proetoimazo means to make ready beforehand.  It also carries the meaning of things foreordained for good and to bring glory to God.  It is difficult to fathom that there are things God has in mind for me to do that He planned long before I was born.  Psalm 139 tells us:

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
      and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 ¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
      Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
 ¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
      as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
 ¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
      Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
   Every moment was laid out
      before a single day had passed. (NLT)

When this knitting together was going on in our mother’s wombs, God was creating his masterpiece to take the stage and perform the role God Himself was creating for each life. 

 

This is not a role I’m waiting on for someone to discover me. God already created me for it.  I want to discover my part in this poetry He has designed for me.  I’m paraphrasing Ephesians 2:10 as:

            God, the Master Poet, has written His Epic Work.  He designed me as a cast member with a role in His Work that only I could play.  Since He took such great care to so carefully design me, He calls me His masterpiece. He created me anew when I accepted Christ Jesus as my Savior with the desire to express my love for Him in special good works He made ready before I was born that will bring Him glory with my life.

 

(Special thanks to Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D. for the help with Greek from his The Complete Word Study Dictionary; 1992 by AMG International, Inc.  I am not proficient in Greek and can only rely on others to help me understand it.  I hope I’ve given a faithful rendering which helps enrich the meaning of the English translation of Scripture.)

 

Coming of Age, God's Way

During this election cycle we’ve heard and we will hear a lot about freedom.  It’s part of the American dream:  life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Ideas differ on what it means and what it will take for our country to be free.  A more personal aspect of freedom is maturing to the point of independent adulthood.  The “Coming of Age” genre is the vehicle for telling a person’s journey from childlike thinking and behavior to a more adult lifestyle. A significant part of my journey began with a CRUNCH.

Crunch… The sound of smashing car metal made a sickening sound as it filled the car I was driving alone.

It was the summer between my junior and senior years in high school.  Mom and Dad had taken my brother on a vacation to Canada.  I stayed home alone to work on my job as a secretary for our high school math department.

I felt like I was becoming so mature.  My parents trusted me on my own.  They even left me with the use of a car while they were gone.  It was pretty heady stuff, but I was soon to find the reality of all that independence carried with it a heavy dose of responsibility--the hated “r” word.

Dad’s birthday was coming up soon after the vacation.  Since he was out of town, it would be the perfect time for me to go across town to a sporting goods store to buy the gift I had in mind for him.

As I turned left off a busy street to the side road that led to the store, I had my accident.  The car in front of me had the nerve to stop for a pedestrian jay-walking in front of him!  I may have been following too closely, or couldn’t see because of the left turn, but I hit him.

Fortunately, no one was hurt and the other car was only dinged.  I looked at the front of my folk’s blue sedan.  It was badly smashed in.  I shook all over from the awful sound of crunching metal reverberating in my head. 

How was I ever going to tell my folks what I had done?  How would they react?  It was in the days before instant communication, so I wasn’t even sure I could get ahold of them.  It was one of those moments that you never think to prepare for beforehand, you don’t have any experience to draw on and you just have to figure it out as you go.  Kind of like what do you do first when a loved one dies?  You’ve never had this experience before. Your emotions are in turmoil.  There’s not a long time to learn something new, but it has to be dealt with.

When they got back from vacation, they made sure I was alright.  Then they helped me deal with the insurance claims and having the car fixed.  They had given me freedom in leaving me home alone with the car.  Now I had the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of my accident.  They continued to love me and even allowed me to continue to drive while helping me walk through the various steps. 

I learned a valuable lesson about the realities of living independently.  The freedom is great, but the responsibility is not always so fun.  I also learned to be much more careful while making left turns.

I think God teaches us spiritual lessons the same way.  He wants us to be strong and decisive while serving Him.  Just like a child, we don’t start out very well equipped on our own.  God allows us to make mistakes, even have what we might consider failures, so we can learn and grow.  He’s there loving and guiding us, yet He doesn’t shield us from consequences that will help us grow to more spiritual maturity. 

I like how The Message paraphrases James 1:2-4.  “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

Pressure from all sides can be a gift.  Just like my coming of age started with a “crunch,” my spiritual coming of age may be helped along with an unexpected challenge as well.  If I let the pressure change me to be more like Christ, it’s a gift.  If I let it paralyze me and withdraw from what the Lord is teaching me, the pressure is a burden. 

Freedom and maturity go hand in hand.  As mature adults or mature Christians we are never free to do whatever we want.  We’re free to do what’s right.  The crunches and pressures along the way teach us to rise to the challenge.  God loves us too much to let us stay in our self-centered infancy.  He wants us to grow to maturity and not be deficient in any way.  Then we can enjoy personal freedom with a Loving Father who walks us through all our challenges and has great plans for us as we partner with Him in the life He has for us.

Am I Ever Going to Be Good Enough?

Insecurity is a big issue for women in Jesus’ Church and I suspect for men, too.  We’ve heard so much teaching against being proud that we may have swung to what we feel is the opposite extreme.  Humility is the opposite of pride, but we may well confuse insecurity with humility.  Then there’s all the stuff we’ve done to know that we really aren’t worthy to be very important in The Church.  We know we’re saved by faith in Christ alone and we know He forgives our sins.  We’re just not sure we can forgive ourselves. We may feel if others in the church really knew what we’re like or where we’ve been, they wouldn’t forgive us either.

Our inadequacies show up when we compare ourselves with someone else.  This may have started in childhood when we felt pressure from our family to excel in grades or sports or music to win their approval.  We may have felt we need to be beautiful by the world’s standards or cool in order to feel liked by others.  Maybe it wasn’t just on a personal level that we didn’t feel we measured up.  Our family may not have had the money or lived in the “right” neighborhood to compete with others.  There may even have been a “family secret” that brought shame to the family and would have been devastating if it got out. 

I think all this comparison is a lie of the enemy to keep God’s kids from believing they’re of value to each other.  1 Corinthians 12:24-27 says, “So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.  This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other.  If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.  All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.” (NLT)  We can’t try to be like someone else, or we will ruin the way the body is to function.  The very things from my past that I feel insecure about have shaped me into who I am now. 

I’m so grateful to God for telling us what we need to know in the Bible.  He doesn’t just leave us a bunch of rules to follow.  He shows us the heroes of our faith as they really are:  imperfect, deeply flawed in some cases, and totally in the right place to be used by God for His purposes. 

Moses was an old man, a murderer and not much of a speaker.  He thought his brother would be a better choice for God’s purposes.  Yet God used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt.  He spoke for God, spoke with God as no one else had, and received the Ten Commandments.

David became a lazy soldier, an adulterer and a murderer.  Surely God could have found someone better qualified to become the second king of Israel.  Yet, God called David a “man after God’s heart.”  He certainly had his troubles in life, yet his family line was the line through which God chose to bring His Son, Jesus, into the world.  His heartfelt Psalms have brought comfort and encouragement to sinful, discouraged souls just like him for millennia.

Rahab was a woman of ill repute and a non-Jew.  She made a deal to save some Israelites in exchange for the safety of her family because she feared the Hebrew God.  She was counted worthy to be mentioned in the lineage of Jesus as well.

Peter was a hot-tempered, foul-mouthed fisherman who denied His Lord three times.  Yet after he was reinstated and filled with the Holy Spirit, he preached and thousands of people came to the Lord.  He is called the rock on which Christ’s church is built and he left us some important books of the Bible.

The list goes on and on.  I doubt if you or I have done anything worse than many of the characters in the Bible.  If God was in the business of comparing people and using only those who seemed to be most perfect, He surely wouldn’t have chosen any of those characters would He?  Yet God has chosen to relate to humans in all of their imperfections.  He forgives those who honestly turn from sin.  He works through those who are willing to be used of Him—no excuses, no shame.  I think this is because it is and always has been all about God and not about the human instrument He uses.

God often has to let a person come to the end of himself/herself and realize they are totally dependent on God for anything good in their life.  Then God can enter into a personal relationship with that person, change their heart to love God back and allow them to cooperate with Him to take their part in the body of Christ.  The willingness of a changed heart is what allows a person to leave the ugliness of the past behind, know they’re loved by God and become useful to Him.

We can look at the lost son in Luke 15:1-32 or at Peter or David.  God welcomed them all back.  No one has to “clean up their act” before the Loving Father runs to embrace His lost child.  As with the lost son, we just need to come to our senses and tell God we’re tired of trying to make it on our own.  We may even have done this before and then slipped back again.  When we turn back to God, He’ll show us how much He has missed us and welcome us home again.

So, it is good to compare ourselves with others in some ways.  Not to see where we fail to measure up.  But look to see the faithfulness of God in other’s lives.  Then, we can each take joy in our new creation in Christ.  We can have confidence that He will use us in His body in the way He has planned.  We don’t need to hide behind insecurities or a less than perfect past.  I am good enough to take my part in God’s plans for me because I am His and His plans are always perfect.

Eucharisteo: God's Miracles in Thanks Giving

Eucharisteo is the Greek word meaning:  to give thanks.  It’s a verb, so an act of our will is involved.  We can choose to give thanks or to withhold it.  I’m learning to live thanks moment by moment by reading Ann Voskamp’s  One Thousand Gifts:  A Dare to LIVE FULLY Right Where You Are.  (Zondervan; 2010)  I’ve taken her dare and am on my way to recording my one thousand gifts from God.  She’s helping me change my perspective and open my eyes to see God’s miracles in my everyday life.  The page numbers and quotes from Ann in this post are from this book.

Ann says, “Eucharisteo always, always precedes the miracle.  Thanksgiving creates abundance; and the miracle of multiplying happens when I give thanks –take the just one loaf, say it is enough, and give thanks—and He miraculously makes it more than enough.”  (pg 72)  She’s referring to the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 men along with their women and children as told in John 6.  “Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” (verses 10-13; NIV)  Just the few loaves and fish were miraculously transformed to abundance when Jesus gave thanks for them.

The biblical instructions and promises regarding thanksgiving are numerous.  Ephesians 5:20 says, “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  1 Thessalonians 5:18 instructs us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  Though our circumstances may not seem good to us, we need to trust that nothing comes to us but that God has filtered it through His grace.  There are greater things in store than our comfort or pleasure.  Someone else may need to see God in our circumstance now or in the future.  Circumstances may be lining up for a great miracle of God.  If we can just look beyond our interpretation of feelings or events and give God thanks in the midst of it, we are in God’s will for us.

Even the very way we enter God’s presence is to be prepared with thanksgiving. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving  and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100:4,5; NIV)  Remembering God’s character and thanking Him for His goodness, love and faithfulness  is the way to enter into His presence.

What are some of the miracles God may miraculously transform in our lives when we willfully give thanks in all circumstances?  At the heart of the word eucharisteo is another Greek word:  charis.  Strong’s dictionary says charis is: (a) grace, as a gift or blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ, (b) favor, (c) gratitude, thanks, (d) a favor, kindness.  Only in Jesus Christ can we know the kindness and favor and yes the blessing of God that is His grace.  Ann says, “We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks…Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever He gives.  Thanksgiving is the manifestation of our Yes! to His grace.”  (pg. 39)

John 1 tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (verses 14 & 16; ESV)  Giving thanks for every gift God gives me multiplies His grace upon grace in my life. When I choose to see and accept what He gives me, I can’t help but be thankful.   I can’t imagine how it would be to try to live without His blessing.  Even if I don’t understand some of His gifts or wouldn’t call them good, the Bible tells me to give thanks because I trust Him to be full of grace and truth. 

Another miracle multiplied by eucharisteo is joy.  There are of course many references to joy in the Bible. (The NIV translates 242.)   Ann says, “Thanks is what multiplies the joy and makes any life large, and I hunger for it.”  (pg 48)  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.” (ESV)  We’ve already seen that the way to enter His presence is with thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4).  His presence is where the fullness of joy rests.  I hunger for that, too.  Joy isn’t just for the happy times when everything seems to be going well.   Psalm 94:19 tells us, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.”  Even when circumstances fill us with anxiety, the comfort of God brings the miracle of joy in the midst of those circumstances.

Romans 15:13 transitions to the next miracle.  “ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV)  Peace is not easily found in our world—either inner peace or peace with our neighbor.  Trusting to do things God’s way is how the God of hope will fill us with His peace.  He instructs is in Philippians 4: 6,7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Again, I have the choice in my circumstances.  I can be anxious, or I can choose eucharisteo.  I can look for God’s gift, His grace, in my circumstance, and I give Him thanks along with my request.  Then His peace will guard my heart and mind.  Like the bumper sticker says, “No God:  No Peace.  Know God:  Know Peace.”  It seems to me that if we want peace, we have to come to eucharisteo.  I’ve practiced this in my prayers for years, and I can say it works for me.  There’s always something to give thanks about.  As Ann says, “Don’t I always have the choice to be fully attentive?   ‘Where you are, be all there’ is only possible in the posture of eucharisteo.  I want to slow down and taste life, give thanks, and see God.” (pg 77)

To see God as He really is, is to experience the fourth miracle.  Ann says, “there is no real reality, no full life, outside of the relationship with Love, because God Himself wraps Himself eternally in relationship:  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit existing in relationship, an encircling dance of communion sweetest.  God is love—everywhere! everything!” (pg 212)  This is what makes being a follower of Jesus different than any other religion in the world.  We followers are not religious.  That is we don’t follow a set of rules and behaviors in hopes of finding God’s favor.  He tells His people in Isaiah 43:4 that “ you are precious and honored in my sight, and … I love you.” (NIV)  Instead of rule following, we have an intimate relationship with Him who defines Himself as Love. (1 John 4:8)  Love is the One who tells us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)  That’s a miracle of abundance:  everlasting love.  To know I am loved by God causes me to trust Him and follow Him with my life.  And, it causes me to respond with eucharisteo.

“God is always good and I am always loved.  Everything is eucharisteo. Because eucharisteo is how Jesus, at the Last Supper, showed us to transfigure all things—take the pain that is given, give thanks for it, and transform it into a joy that fulfills all emptiness…The hard discipline to give thanks for all things at all times because His is all good.” (pg. 100)  Whether my gift is painful, beautiful, scarce, abundant, practical or to enjoy, when I thank God for His grace, I see His miracles and He receives the glory.

You can read Ann Voskamp’s blog on her website:  http//:www.aholyexperience.com.

What I'm Wearing for Halloween

On October 31 a lot of people will put on costumes.  Some will be adorable like the lady bug Heather’s little girl will become or our pumpkin Amanda.

Others will indicate what kids want to be when they grow up like a doctor or astronaut.  Some will be historical or fictional characters like Disney princesses or our Native American Allison. 

All these be-costumed kids at heart will go trick-or-treating or to parties.  Our church is having a “Trunk or Treat” event to bless the children in our church and community. We think it's so much better than leaving the night to those who would glorify the darkness of the world we live in. The night can be celebrated in innocence, and just to enjoy a night for the kids to dress up and get special treats from friends and neighbors.

 

The costumes I won’t like will be scary and/or evil.  Some people wear them and go out to cause mischief and mayhem.  I don’t really go in for this kind of celebration as a night that gives evil permission to come out and frolic with ordinary folks.   What I object to is calling evil good and making light of dark spiritual forces.  So, you won’t see me donning a costume and celebrating.  But I will need to put on some unusual sounding duds for the evening.

 

In Romans 13:14 we’re told to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.  I was wondering this week what it would feel like to have Jesus cover my body like a garment, so I started to search the Scriptures to see if I could get a more concrete idea. 

 

Isaiah 61:10 says, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”(NIV)  I can picture what a bridegroom or bride looks like adorned in their wedding finery.  They would have on their most special clothes.  They’d be clean and well pressed.  The most priceless jewels would come out to be worn on their big day.  Even the garments would be ornamented with jewels or lace.  These wedding clothes are put on in love and respect for their beloved.  They’re worn with great anticipation as family and friends gather together to celebrate the couple’s union and the joy they all feel.  Is this how I “wear” my salvation? 

 

I delight greatly in the Lord as I realize how priceless my salvation is to me and to Him.  I do hold the fact that I now have right standing with God through the forgiveness of my sins that Jesus bought for me as the most precious thing in my life.  This right standing with God is called a robe of righteousness.  In myself, there’s no way I can be good enough to earn my salvation.  But, when I accept what Jesus has done for me and receive His salvation, He puts righteousness on me like a robe.  I wear it in deepest respect and love for Him and I am filled with joy.  I eagerly anticipate what my life here on earth will be like with Him and then I get to live with Him forever in heaven.  My soul rejoices in MY God.

 

Another passage that tells me how to wear the Lord Jesus is found in Colossians 3:12-15.  “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” (NLT)  I have to work to clothe myself with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  None of these come natural to me.  As I pray and ask the Lord to help me grow in these areas, it’s like putting on new clothes.  The old, automatic, selfish reactions to people and circumstances are slowly being replaced with my new self.  I find it challenging that it says, “above all, clothe yourselves with love.”  Our love garment to wear above all is the agape kind of love spoken of in the Bible.  It’s an act of the will, a choice that takes great joy in looking out for the best good of another.  Agape is about as far from my natural, self-centered nature as possible.  It’s a new outfit that I certainly need to put on to cover my old rags.

 

Romans 13:11-14  tells about getting rid of my old rags. “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.” (NLT)  This passage gives me a little more insight into what it is like to clothe myself with the Lord Jesus Christ.  I do it by being constantly aware of His presence in my life.  There’s never a time He leaves me, but there could be times I’m not aware of His presence.  As I constantly put away my own evil desires and deeds, I’m ridding myself of my old dirty clothes.  As I ask the Holy Spirit to constantly fill me with a sense of His presence, I’m putting on my new clothes.  It’s interesting that peace and thankfulness follow when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Over all these clothes, I need to put on the shining armor of right living.  Ephesians 6:10-18 tells me how to put on this spiritual armor. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (NIV)

 

I’m going to have the right costume for Halloween and every day as I get rid of all my old, selfish thoughts and plans and put on the clothes God has for me to live a joyous, satisfying and protected life.  Salvation, righteousness, tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and especially love topped off with the spiritual armor are more than a costume.  They’re how I dwell in the presence of the Lord Jesus and “wear” Him like a garment.

What's Written on Your Heart?

It’s one thing to be trained to do what’s right.  It’s another thing entirely to want to do right and to do so even when no one else will find out.   This statement, of course, presupposes that there is a right and wrong, and that we can know which is which.  I’m going to make the assumption that what the Bible teaches as right and true is actually right and true.  How I go from knowing right to choosing to want to do right is a matter of developing and paying attention to a godly conscience.

One important incident in the development of my conscience happened the Christmas I was eight.  My friend Carol and I had asked for matching antebellum dolls for Christmas.  We spent hours fantasizing on how we would play together with those dolls.

I couldn’t wait for Christmas to see if I’d actually get what I wished for.  One day when my mom was busy doing laundry in the basement, my curiosity couldn’t stand any more waiting.  I snuck into her room.  I knew she always hid gifts in her closet.  I searched the closet, but found nothing that looked like it could be my doll.  “The bed.  Maybe she hid it under the bed.”  Sure enough.  In an unwrapped box lay the doll of my dreams.  It was true.  Carol and I really were going to have those matching dolls!

My mom is an expert detective.  She always knows if someone has been in a room in her house.  The slightest item out of place always gives the intruder away.  I think she must have known I was scrounging around in her room.  However, neither she nor Dad ever said anything about it.

“Oh, she’s so beautiful!”  I tried to sound surprised and excited on Christmas Eve as I opened my new doll.  The truth was, I had a terrible feeling in my stomach.  I discovered that it’s no fun to find out what your gifts are ahead of time.  I didn’t like the fact that I’d been a sneak, and now had to lie to cover it up.  I made up my mind never to sneak into my parent’s room again.  I never did.

No amount of punishment inflicted by my parents would have been nearly as effective in changing my behavior as was the development of my own conscience.  I knew I had done wrong, and I didn’t like the guilt I felt.  It kept me from even considering doing the same thing again.

Of course there are larger adult sins that rightfully leave us feeling guilty.  The solution isn’t just to ignore the guilt and purpose never to do the deed again.  When we confess to God, and any humans we’ve wronged if necessary, He gives forgiveness.  Jeremiah 31:33 and 34 says, “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”  We live in that new covenant age because Jesus paid for all our sins.  When they are confessed, God remembers our sins no more.

God even goes one better.  He puts His instructions deep within us and writes them on our hearts.  We’re not left to guess what pleases God in any circumstance.  His Bible tells us all we need to know, and the Holy Spirit is what speaks to our hearts to remind us what is true.  Some may have never read the Bible, but they were created by God to KNOW what is right. “Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.”(Romans 2:14 & 15; NLT)

The question is, what do we as individuals do when our own consciences start accusing us?  If we respond to our guilt by rationalizing, “everybody does it,” or “it’s no big deal,” we stuff our guilty feelings inside and ignore them.  It will take more and more serious offenses against God’s standards to produce feelings of guilt in the future.  If the guilt keeps being stuffed, we end up with a seared conscience that does not serve us well.  Titus 1:15 and 16 is pretty blunt.  “Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.  Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.”

Such people may enjoy their way of life and not desire to seek to change.  Others go spiraling down a destructive path one small step at a time.  Others, may not know that they can seek and experience forgiveness and have the opportunity to start over clean.  The rationale goes something like:  “I’ve already lost my virginity (for example).  There’s nothing I can do about it so I might as well keep ignoring my conscience and take my actions to the next level.”  These people feel they are bad because they behave badly.  They’ve lost hope that they can experience God’s forgiveness. They illustrate 1 Timothy 1:19a, “For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.”

How do you recover when you feel your faith has been shipwrecked?  The only way to start is found in Hebrews 10:22: “let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”  “Coming clean’” in God’s presence, asking Jesus to cover our sins with His blood (That means that Jesus’ shed blood on the cross is the only sacrifice acceptable to God for our sins.  When we admit this, His blood “covers” our sins.) and then trusting that He really has made us clean gives us the privilege of starting over with our faith intact. 

We don’t need to live feeling condemned. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 8:1,2; NLT)  If you’re having trouble feeling forgiven, even when you know it’s true, I’d encourage you to memorize these verses and tell them to yourself over and over whenever you’re feeling condemned.  Eventually the truth from your head will sink into your heart, and you can be grateful for your “start over.”

The next step after forgiveness in the start over process is to re-train the conscience.  Proverbs 3 is a wonderful poem of instructions to us.  Verses 1-4 say:

¹ My son, do not forget my teaching,
   but keep my commands in your heart,
² for they will prolong your life many years
   and bring you peace and prosperity.

³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
   bind them around your neck,
   write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name
   in the sight of God and man.

Peace of mind is possible if we write God’s teachings on our heart and respond when our consciences give us a warning.  The more we are able to respond correctly to our consciences by choosing what’s right even when no one is looking, the more we will be able to enjoy our good name in the sight of God and man.  I had the following verse as my vision statement all the years I was teaching.  I intend to see that it’s written permanently on my heart as well.

 

“The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.”  (1 Timothy 1:5)