A piece written in my stages of awakening – so strong that I STILL can hear the pins being struck down….

Strike, 10 Jan 2015

If God were a bowler, he’s rolling a pretty good game right now. Not a perfect 300 score, but I think he might put in some extra frames on me, just because he can, he’s GOD for God’s sake…not a perfect score because I have successfully blocked many a shot, kept a pin or two standing (hot glued them to the lane), and maybe even fudged the score, which I knew He had actually earned….and yes, I took a couple of fallen pins and snuck them back up to standing position.

See the pins are my disbelief system, and lately God’s been rolling quite a few strikes…loud, smashing, pin-splintering strikes. A spare in there on occasion… but that awe-achieving sound of all the pins dispatched… all SMASHING with such force against the lane walls that even the people and pins in the lanes to my right and left are starting to notice.

Some of my pins were not really standing strong…I do have a tremendous belief in the Almighty Power of God… I know He is the maker, the mover and shaker, and he likes to tweak the system in this sandbox experiment He calls Earth….

And God has such a sense of humor… “God never gives you more then you can handle”, the saying goes… “well thanks God, but haven’t I had enough now?” is what many people probably say when they are in the grips of tragedies, uncertainties, and just plain bad luck. Do you believe in fate? Or is life a pop-up round of game show questions? Do we determine our own fate? I think so… God gives us freedom or does God give us just enough rope to…?…… Well, maybe for some people… but if so, then I see him loosening those ropes, cutting them from time to time, throwing an angel in there for corrective action and yes, rolling strikes in our disbelief systems all the time. Strike and collect the pins… bring you back to Godly ways. Maybe it isn’t rope that God has given me… perhaps it is elastic… let’s see how far you can go before I reel you back in… sew you down and correct your belief system….

So why have I kept some disbelief pins up? Why do I re-rack some of them intentionally or innocently? It is not my intention to taunt God. I just like to know things, I want to bring a checklist to heaven and say: “what about that healing? What about that meteor crashing into earth? What about that flood? How’s your angel count? And could you tell me all the rest of your secrets too?” Did you ever wonder what heaven looks like? The thought that it is seven or more layers…and is there a holding pen for babies who didn’t get baptized? Can you refute or prove those things my sixth grade nun teacher told me?… What is the real answer for those times I had to say “that seems like you are making that up”.?. Imperfect man trying to describe a perfect system… Yeah, I don’t buy it all… my shaken belief in man-made religions.

I accidentally, uninformed-ly, mixed up the terms religious and spiritual leader when introducing a now good friend at a women’s retreat… I get it now… and I am more and more a spiritual being too… lifting away from worldly religious trappings, not forgetting my foundations, but building on them, snapping in new spiritual Lego pieces.

Yes, your belief system has to start somewhere, you can’t learn about God in a vacuum. You need religious rigidity at times to click you in, obligate you, to surround yourself with believers and teachers. I am confident that some who disbelieve in religions still believe in God, because of their religious foundations. I felt compassion for one of my grad school advisors who stood strong against the belief in God. I think he might still be at the gates right now saying “oops”. I pray that God let’s him in anyway… a friend once told me that his religious training as a shaman included a belief that when you die, you have to wrap up loose ends and that is why you shouldn’t be cremated…that your soul is tied to your human body for as long as it takes to repent, repair… not exactly like Jacob Marley in Scrooge… but you might have some fixing up to do.  Whether that is true or not, it behooves us to make our peace with people now on earth, not wait to ask for forgiveness, not wait to repair old relationship rifts, etc… Either way I don’t want to be cremated (and I want balloons at my funeral too)… I will try to repair my rifts now. And I will let those people, who are God-sightings in my own life, know how much I appreciate them, right then and not wait. I will try to hug and kiss my parents and my kids physically or mentally each time I say goodbye just in case I or they meet an untimely death. I will try to live and love in the present.

Back to bowling… I don’t know God’s plan but I know it involves me… I don’t know why, when, where he will strike down disbelief or put up new pins for me to follow, to become pillars in my soul… I don’t know how many frames are in this game, how many more strikes I am going to see… either way, I am sure He will keep trying until He and I can faithfully record a perfect score when it’s my time to meet Him.

Note:  This piece is really telling it all…where I was – and OH – HOW I HAVE GROWN!  Wow! 30 essays in one months time after this  had put me right on track and ready to stop being embarrassed about where I was – and I needed to confess this to put it aside and allow God to work on me – and wow has He ever!  Please please please – don’t judge me for where I was – but I hope you can appreciate where I am now and where I am going…  because this has been the most amazing experience for me to know and accept Jesus…  

Lego Christianity, 18Dec2014

I have loaded up my brain and my heart with the tenants of my Christian faith for years and years. I have most if not all of pieces, probably lots of duplicates…see they are like Lego pieces, little snippets of scripture, interpretation and beliefs…also included are fluff pieces, good advice and the trappings of the commercialization of Christmas.

I carry these Lego pieces, but I didn’t snap then in yet. They are there but I didn’t have the instructions or maybe I have been purposely ignoring the instructions of how to put them together in the right order. Or maybe struggling to take them out after placing in them in the wrong order. Do you know how hard it is to undo a Lego piece?

Legos in this day and age are no longer sold as loose blocks, like when I was a kid, but instead they are puzzle kits…combining those plastic model aircraft kits of my youth with easy snap into place segments.

One of my joys of putting together those pieces is when I feel and hear the clink clink clink sound when you root around in this big batch of all the random pieces trying to find that next piece…it’s that activity of finding the right piece…a three dimensional physical “I got it” feeling. Then snap, put it into place.

I have had these Lego pieces of Christianity for awhile; just never felt my brain and my heart were in sync. Been recently pondering Christmas and Christ…I spoke in Sunday school to the kids and mentioned that “Christ is Coming” but really He came two thousand years ago and we celebrate his coming…rather than him physically coming every year. Later I was listening to a CD of an advent service from last year, which included a wonderfully moving and spirit-filled sermon of a friend,  whose spiritual messages I can relate to. In that service I heard another friend, read the interpretation of the first candle of Advent, HOPE. Paraphrasing what she said…”why is Jesus coming every year? He is coming new to so many people each year…” Oh…wish I had said THAT in Sunday school…that does make sense. Lego piece absorbed…add it to the mix.

I am too busy to attend the church service, I am in the building, mostly with the kids…but when I can, I find the contemporary music and meaning so wonderful. I have been lacking spiritual growth…except for when I prepare UMW, VBS and Sunday school curriculum…

… I had been in that spiritual growth drought for so long that when I realized that God was knocking on my brain to make it catch up with my heart, it caught me by surprise. I was preparing months ago my own Sunday school curriculum for a science-based lesson because I didn’t think there was enough science connection in the lesson about Jesus’ stories…about how his stories were used to encourage non-believers to open their hearts to the existence and good of God.

I incorporated (with a cool messy hands-on experiment) the use of a catalyst… And snap…my deliberate disbelief – questioning Jesus actually being God – maybe he was just another prophet with a good publicist – maybe it’s a great group of stories… well, all that crumbled..  my brain cracked open to the possibility that Jesus was real. It dawned on me that if Jesus was real, maybe God brought him to us to be the catalyst for change. More than just a Lego piece absorbed, more like a Lego piece and one of those green square bases to build things on…

This look for more spiritual growth lately is just like when I took biochemistry in college and had to learn it from the book, self taught, because my professor wasn’t good, I find now that I have to seek out and find my own way spiritually… another friend once said you’ve got a library card now go figure out what book you want to check out…

…I have found help… I have meditated on the scriptures presented within the 4 messages that a new friend, who also is a guest sermonist, delivered. The teachings are not cliff notes for the Bible, they are not like watching a movie to teach the Bible, but the sermons are making the Bible come alive in the context of our lives… in MY life.  One sermon on Joseph, one on the great commission… the holy spirit, one on father’s day about “I am the vine, you are the branches” and how God prunes us to bear more fruit, and one on worship:

“Worship, like salvation, is a personal decision. It is an expression of the individual’s relationship with God and it is the spiritual condition of the worshiper that determines whether God is at work. If your worship experience doesn’t change you, you should consider your approach to it. “

John 4:23-24 ”Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

And song, “Come to the Cradle come and find peace..” – that is a big Lego piece.

Lego piece accepted.

While making copies of the CDs of these sermons and the church Christmas music for a couple of friends who also don’t get to sit in church, I was checking Facebook.  I noticed I was added to a group named “church” from a not so tech savvy friend, who likely confused making a group with a grouped friend lists…oh well…. Anyway, a friends’ son, who is a young new scholar-pastor-dad, posts “what is this???” I jokingly replied that its or mutual friend learning Facebook and playing with the Facebook-time-space continuum. Then I clicked his page to see his posts… I read how he was mourning this Christmas by reading the old prophets telling of the coming of Jesus. I didn’t read the whole post at first (which included so much recent world strife, mass murders close to home) and I messaged him to say “why mourning?”

I give thanks for this little nugget that he gave me to focus my mind on…  “What to mourn is the sin and death and injustice in our world, the very reason the world needs a Savior so badly”. I have has done small and large bursts of spiritual growth over this last year, and it is likely not a coincidence that that statement hits me just right where my thought process is today…big Lego piece accepted.

The previous night I wrote a piece called the Christmas Flood. Speaking to how Christmas is a deluge of rain good rain but too much rain, that could flood us and wash away our carefully planted spiritual seeds in our gardens, unless we prepare for the excess rain and protect ourselves… spiritual uplifting, soaking nutritive rain in the form of His message comes from God but only when we prepare for this rain…then we can let it soak in…

…It was me playing with the Legos of Christianity in my head while writing it… But I was forgetting about Advent being a mini-Lent, a time of repentance and prayer not just for ourselves but for others to give up their bad ways…for us and others to realize that we need Christ to come to save the world… we need His example… we need to absorb and portray His example…. then at Easter, realize He opens our path to heaven…but that can’t happen until He comes to each person first… so yes, Jesus is God and comes each year.

Snap, I put the right Lego piece in, the little ones and the big ones… they fit, they are in the right order now. I need to builds more on them…to wiggle them some to make sure I can fit some other new ones in. You can never be done building…

Amen

Butterfly

Lord, I am Your butterfly.

You grew me from a caterpillar. You fed me on Your gifts to nourish me. Your Word opened my ears. I began to change.  I learned.  I grew.

You allowed me to find a safe sanctuary for not resting but for actively changing thru the most amazing series of modifications, inside and out. Within a protected shell I waited. I knew I was changing, but how could I comprehend how amazing this change would be. You knew.

Then you told me to start entering this world again.  I could not remain hidden under the leaves, I had to peer out from my cocoon and stretch and find how to steady my new legs.  All my mass had been shifted and repurposed into a completely different being, and yet my soul, my heart, my mind are still intact – I knew I changed – I knew I was called to take the next step, even if I didn’t know if I was ready…

You told me to fly.

You told me to stretch my wings and feel for the right moment.  You made me capable of everything that I could never have imagined.  You made then remade me.

You made me beautiful.  You made me intricate, complex, strong thru weakness, and capable.

I now can fly.

I can open the gifts of the earthly phase of my life and fly thru the world on Your Spirit. I will be ever watching for danger as well as refuge. And in those peace-filled times I can catch a warm breeze and fly higher and longer – seemingly forever…

I do know that I cannot fly here forever, but you have a place for me eternal – then I will rest….

For now, I will fly.

I will fly and forever tell of You.

I am Your butterfly…

Butterfly, Fly…

Amen

“There are Peepers, Lord!!!!”, 26APR

[FYI – Peepers are frogs in the spring in the ponds. SO LOUD – but you have to be near the water to hear.]

I am screaming in my head while walking up the EXACT same hill where just months prior I had screamed in my head: “The stars, Lord!” – To whom can I call out? Again with no one to talk to – I can only call out to YOU, Lord! Only and appropriately only have praise for YOU – “to whom all is due”

I can hear those PEEPERS, Lord! WOW!

I can see those stars!

There are people too, Lord! I can feel them calling out Your praises tonight, even if I can’t see them.

I know they are praising – after I leave camp I will not hear them, but You can hear them, and that makes me happy.

There are REALLY LOUD peepers, Lord. I am floored at how blessed I am at this very moment – to relive an awestruck moment – to hear Your creation so loud… but Lord, why are peepers SO LOUD??? Do they need to hear each other? or perhaps do we need to hear them loud and clear so that we know that they are from You? – praising back to You?

Why are the stars SO bright, Lord? Do the stars need to shine to each other? or perhaps do we need to see them so bright so that we know they are a sign from You?

Why is the moon SO mesmerizing, Lord? Does the moon need to startle the world? or perhaps do we need to just say ‘I do not know how God does all these amazing things!’

There’s our world, Lord! Why is our world so diverse, Lord? Is the earth for us or is it for You, Lord? – dust to dust with YOU… Can we remember to look for You in our mesmerization?

Do we need to understand the world to love it? or perhaps do we just need to know that You love it? Can we take care of Your beautiful Earth, Lord? Can you help us? Can we take a moment to care? to stare? to see? to listen? Will Your future children ever get to hear praises out of the voices of peepers? I don’t know – but I pray that they will…

Do we need to understand the people in the world to love them? Or perhaps do we just need to know that You love them and we should too? Will Your future children ever get to hear praises out of the voices of people?  Will Your future children get to feel Your love? I know that answer – they WILL feel your LOVE – but of course I pray that they will know it is from You…

Can we truly ever know how much You love us?

Can I simply walk up this hill and know You are with me always? To the ends of the earth? I can Lord – I can!

Can we keep walking with you Lord? We can Lord – we can!

Can we understand that You most simply and most intricately want to show us that You love us! We can Lord – we can!

Can I hear praising peepers again?

Actually I still DO hear those PRAISING PEEPERS, Lord…. Your Spirit placed them in my head – and LORD, THEY ARE LOUD!

 Retreat writing that had to wait until I had the peace-filled time to write… Blessed…

THE STARS!!! 27OCT

Off the grid, out of the way of intrusive light pollution, “Oh, the Stars” – I screamed thru my eyes… I screamed in my head… I screamed up… I reached down and grabbed for my phone… GONE… Nope… Facebook, texts and even faith writings had to wait…

No phone, no Subaru, no glue gun…

This camping retreat was seriously roughing it for me. No collection of stuff, no props… And at that moment not even people to whom I could speak to… at that exact star-gazing moment there was nothing…. but there was EVERYTHING… because I had time to pause and I had time of prayer and I had time for praise… I had only LOVE that I could share – and it was pulled straight UP! Thru the stars shined the LIGHT and the LOVE. Thru me the LOVE went right back out.

Oh, those stars!!!… Oh the praise!!!.. To Whom did I call out?

First I instantly and naturally wanted to send my praise to my friends, I just wanted to share this marvelous observation of brilliant stars, but I had no phone to text, hmmm…. So, to Whom could I really call out – in the very moment?

There was ONE and ONLY ONE to whom I should have called praise – so I did –  I had to call out to our Lord…

Praise worthy for only ONE – God who made those very stars – God who immersed me in those stars – God who immersed me in His LOVE.

The Lord loves us in the moment, and we LOVE the moment because of Him.

“All praise and honor are Yours”

Lord, You are so precious, and You make me want to scream Your praise. You are the ONLY ONE I should and could praise. No one else makes it clearer than You Yourself that it is You who holds us in Your hands. You hold us and keep us inside Your time plan.  I know it’s just all from You opening my eyes to see You Lord renewed in my sight. Your stars, Lord, they fill the sky shinier than diamonds. Your colors, Lord, shine on earth so brightly to call out Your splendor. Your people, Lord, Your people shine Your LOVE… Thank You Lord for all these.

Thank You, Lord, for waking me to see…

To see You in all these things….

Thank You for making me sing out Your praise back to YOU.

Lord, help me to also live Your LOVE thru me and back to YOU.

YOU are THE STARS that fills my eyes, YOU are THE SPIRIT that fills my soul.

YOU Lord are LOVE.

Isaiah 42:5-10

This is what God the Lord says – the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:  “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”

Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth…

I love watching “Survivor” on TV – it’s my “rest my brain” time of sort of nonsense TV but good stuff – and couch sitting usually but not always – so it is actually my “just use a whole other sector of my brain” moment for TV watching but especially in strategizing…

Honestly, I don’t have to strategize much in life – I do at work – sort of – well – sometimes yes – and sometimes no – but actually we are strategizing all the time in life… I think leaving it to tv shows which are edited anyway for content, is NOT better and it is really best to just piece life out in life but without fear of getting voted out. Work hard and work the work. It is not like scrambling in Survivor – it is not “running the numbers” of how many votes I have, I just live life to live and go to work and work – work with the people, and see where the work works out… and yes there is lots of God’s work at work too,  just as in the rest of life… Listen to serve and listen to know. God really does help out everywhere in life. If he created the planet the stars the animals and the plants and us – then surely He knows the right next step – surely making many steps is OK, because He is in charge.

There is one other really blessed advice I can give myself- I SURVIVED – SAVED – I didn’t survive a game or a work scenario – I didn’t survive a merger or a mayhem – I didn’t survive a storm or a situation – I SURVIVED LIFE. I didn’t survive due to my actions other than believing – I survived because Jesus rescued. With man it is impossible, with God, EVERYTHING is possible. 

We will have SURVIVED LIFE because Jesus got us and took us and NEVER NEVER will we be snatched out of His Hand… Never means Never – Saved means Saved – Hope means Hope – and Home means Home.

None of this is deserved or achieved – this is GRACE applied and Jesus applying – this is Love.

This is LOVE.

Love is allowing us to be putting the THRIVE into survive: more of Him, less of me, and devotion to God in three. Lord lead me to Thee.

Amen

Jesus said: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. John 10:27-30

The Living Stone and a Chosen People -As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1Peter 2:4-10

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirming One’s Calling and Election – His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Prophecy of Scripture – So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2nd Peter 1

I remember how faithful God is – I have WOWs of witness – I have hope – I have experienced the little and the big monumental steps of watching my children GROW!!!!!!!!!!  I passed by a yellow sign in a neighborhood and took a photo- Watch Children – well – God has watched over my children and watched over me and I am THANKFUL!!!

Monday night, my son picked up his new car – WOW – an Intense blue one – WOW. And yesterday my daughter told me that she was signing her paperwork for a job offered to her – at the firm where she did a winter internship – and where she has been working each Friday during the semester when she had no classes – working remotely on her laptop doing the click click click of architect programs for a symphony hall restoration project for their water damage. The firm even delivered the laptop TO her – yeah – crazy WOW… Now, one month before she graduates she has her first “real” job.  GOD IS GOOD – HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD.

My son has been working too – over a year now – full time and dedicated and dependable and on time each day…  He will take on the car payments – and his part of the insurance…  I only co-signed to give my credit score dependability to help lower the interest rate (which is outrageous these days but we may refinance later)…  The salesman could not have been more excellent and real and focused on him as a grownup rather than a kid. The salesman and the  finance guy stayed late that evening to help finish the sale of 3 cars – they both covered someone else’s shifts because those people had called out sick.- they showed dependability – we walked out of the place (drove out) at 930 pm, from a 7pm appointment, not bad for a car pickup.

My WOW – “what’s our witness” – is God’s Dependability – God’s blessing to show me that He is in control – God’s blessing to take care of me and my children when I hit some bumps in the road, He had the traction to keep me sane. Now of course it is interesting to say that both my kids are on my medical insurance until age 26 – because we are the insurance that they get into the world OK – we ARE the insurance that God trusted His children to us – we as parents are blessed to see these milestones – and even though sometimes we get the brush-off (I certainly do) – we also get the witness of them growing and maturing…  I called to my son as he jumped in his new car: “I love you” = and instead of the grunt, I heard “I love you” back – first time in a couple years. It is not that I doubted the love and I don’t do things for my kids so that they love me or say it flippantly – it is that I do things for my kids because I know that Love exists deeply and God has blessed me to work hard to work for them – and all….  hearing the love in my ears was good but SEEING the joy in him was really the joy in my heart….

God has blessed me to know that He loves me too…  as His child…  I remember – I remember is a great song to belt out in the car – which I did just after that yellow “watch children” sign. It and “How Great is Our God” were the next songs on my youtube auto-play….  Yeah – True – how GREAT is our God!!!!

Here are the songs – and here as some of the photos…

I Remember – How Great is Our God 

Amen Amen Amen

I Remember by Lauren Daigle https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GLkcuRs6neE&si=TO11uAJ28YA2Uvji

How Great is Our God! by Chris Tomlin
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oIXa7FzmXFE&si=vWS3btzuSRRQtCff

I was sad this morning when I realized Christmas the crab had passed away. And it’s hard to process this, but I know the Lord gave me both the idea and the means to process this too, by writing. He surely gave me the crab to take care of – lost in the woods in October in an area far away from native. This was 7 years ago.

The clear idea for a devotion given to me by the Holy Spirit is probably the most important devotion I could write about Christmas the crab… See, Christmas the crab died without his shell, the shell was nowhere near him even if he had plenty of shells to choose from. He made his way to his water dish vulnerable. I don’t know what he could think, IF he could think, but there was never a time he was without his shell, never. It was as if (if he thought) that he laid it all bare, exposed, open, forthcoming, free, and went to the water… and that’s how WE should be with the Lord, reaching to His water.  OPEN, FORTHCOMING, FREE.

Yes, not only does the Lord already know all, He wants us to lay it all down, leaving it all exposed, and let Him see us hungering for Him, seeking cover in Him only, seeking hope in Him only, and accepting our finality at the end of our days, hitting the finishing line with nothing left in us… We are blessed to set aside our hidden mess.

Another thing I noticed about Christmas the crab was that he was much bigger out of his shell than he was in it. He was agile in the shell and protected, just like we are in the Lord. The beauty of life is that God is watching us inside and out. The beauty of coming to Him unencumbered is that WE lose our baggage. 

Perhaps also we can work on peace with the Lord by being willing to show our pieces into His puzzle, and let us be clicked in.

Goodbye, little Christmas the crab. I will plan to bury you in the same stretch of forest where I found you at camp. 7 years… endless joy from knowing God sent me his way on His Way…

Peace

(As for details, he did not seem well at all after his last moulting to a much smaller creature, darker in color, lethargic. And I have always known Christmas to be so very active…  I thought this morning that I haven’t heard him in a little bit and checked on him. And I always was very neglectful but did change the water once a week. So I thank you so very much for over 7 years of sharing with me of interest and support and love and curiosity and marvel at the works of the Lord. )

Keep walking as if today is a new adventure, and then make it so.

Amen

I purposefully do not read through the bible quickly. It’s so much to absorb as well as savor. I AM excited that I am only down to a slice of pages – in Ezekiel now – hoping it is EZ Ezekiel. I am grateful to be reading and embedded inside knowledge that has seeped into the library of my brain – but really just grateful finding the joy already indexed in my soul. I jokingly said to a friend that God’s waiting for me to finish my scripture readings so He can start the rapture, LOL…

Now there’s debates and theories about the rapture and tribulation and how “it all goes down” (or up. LOL), and I do plan to read into more theories AFTER I read the rest of this Bible, because I know upcoming chapters in Daniel has discussions, in addition to what I already have read in the gospels from Jesus Himself. It’s like we should learn about theories, but as my friend said to me: as long as we believe in Jesus, and keep holding onto hope, let us cling to Him as Lord and Savior, then Jesus will get us through those times. Just be His. 

Ezekiel would probably shake his head at our discussions and debates about heaven because he SAW it – in part – especially the best part of the Lord and the Glory. And then He was DISTRESSED – because he had to then go tell and try to convince all the people that were not listening to the Lord, to LISTEN and OBEY. A hard sell but a have to sell…  Nothing was EZ for Ezekiel…  Nothing.

God did strengthen Ezekiel, and chapter 3 tells of the hardest part – having to endure the roughness of life and the direction of work – the Strong Hand of the Lord was on Ezekiel – but this was a tough sell – and no one was buying… But God said: stand out there as a watchman and keep trying to sell it: “But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”

I want to bring this back to our times of pre-rapture – no matter where you stand in the debates and theories – I want us to realize that we must be out there speaking and witnessing and educating. Reading and realizing and retelling. And we should not shy away from saying that the Lord’s Hand is on us now – and woe to those who run away – woe to those who turn away – woe to those who never want to know.

I don’t know about an EZ life – now or in the future – but I DO know that I want to know – I do know that I want to hear what the Lord is saying to me and all. And I do want to stick with God…

Keep reading my friends!

Amen

Ezekiel 3:9-27

The Lord said: I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.” And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.” Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing. It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound. The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me. I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—deeply distressed.

Ezekiel’s Task as Watchman
At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.

“Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”

The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.” So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people. But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.

“Meet the new boss – same as the old boss…” That is such a catchy lyric from the band the Who.

Do you ever have your head spin from too many things and people drawing your attention? Thus last week for me was such a week of processing and yet keeping going, because God didn’t give me much any time to process it! He tweaked the system because He MADE the system and He puts us on track to keep rolling…  and rolling right along I did…  WHEW!

One of the thoughts I had – in the sea of processing that I could only wade into – was that no matter who is your boss on earth, God IS our Boss – whether we accept that or not.  Meet the new boss – same as the old boss! – YES – because God never changes…  FOREVER BOSS

So keep walking and dreaming. Keep rolling down the road as He tips it less inclined to roughness but inclined to looking at Him… Keep your eyes on things above!

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:10

Amen

One of the sad things that I feel people experience is that they are exiled from their knowledge of a loving God. They know a painful rejection and they know a cold distance because something or some evil blockage prevents them from remembering that God DOES love them beyond a measure. GOD IS LOVE. Punishment for a prescribed 70 years, yet preservation forever, by God’s hands, may come for exiled Babylon-residing Israelites for a couple generations, as a poem in lamentations reveals sadness yet reaching out, BUT EMOTIONAL DISTANCE comes now way too often for way too many people in our day and age who should experience and KNOW the LOVE of GOD – but either reject or revel in their distance. (We should not revel in distance, He is here.) Or they simply don’t know how to find God in the confusion of the world-cluttered views. We pray an opening of hearts, repentance, and acknowledgement – then praise – receiving recognition that we can see Him Holding us close.

If we tear up to know the Lamentations of loss, may we weep in JOY as we remember this RESCUE from the Rejection. May we measure the Love of our Lord immensely immeasurably. You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

Well, He DOES love us beyond measure and He’s not angry with us beyond measure, because He Rose a Forgiveness branch of Mercy, a Vine Divine in JESUS. His anger only a moment and mercy forever…

Psalm 30 sings it out – by David years before this time – “Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning”

So may we always remember this loving and merciful.God and get through the things we’ve got to get through but don’t turn away and don’t let people or circumstances prevent us from seeing the mercy after the mud, the rainbow after the storm, the homecoming after exile. 

May we tell others too that God is love.

We are reminded by these poems of lamentations that people longed for the Lord, and we finally got to see Him come. JESUS LOVE – vine the divine…

Amen 

—

1 John 4:1-19

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

God’s Love and Ours

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us.

—

Lamentations 5 NIV

Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows. We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment. Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands. We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert. Our skin is hot as an oven feverish from hunger. Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah. Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.

Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.

You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

One of the memories I have from middle school, 9th grade, was a friendly competition and serious spar between Mrs. S. in science and Mrs. H. in math. They talked about each other being tough – or warned us about each other – and surely were friends but never hesitated to make use of a good rivalry.  

In classic stories in scripture – we saw Jacob and Esau sparing with each other – a rivalry since before birth – a real legacy to hold onto with property rights and family heritage. These were life-determining struggles, not just fighting for fun like many of our known friendly sparring partners like Mrs. S. and Mrs. H. These were rivalries set up for life – with a good reconciliation in the middle mediated by God when they met many years later…  The switcheroo of family lines and fates had already been put into place however with a trickery by Jacob, and a scheming by mother Rachael too, deceiving father Isaac (remember he was the one son that Abraham was tested to potentially sacrifice, and saved by God)…  it made a difference immediately with an inheritance for Jacob over Esau – but forever God was planning to split two whole nations by their brotherly strife anyway. One quote from a genealogy of Abraham’s states “Esau took wives from neighboring nations who followed idolatry and pagan gods and was the father of the Edomites, a neighboring nation of Israel.” – Aha – that is a term I heard before – as Esau gave lineage to the Edomites. Neighboring to Israel, there were wars to be had years down the road.

Wikipedia states it this way for Abraham – that he was blessed so that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen 26:4). God would make of Ishmael a great nation because he was of the seed of Abraham. However, God told Hagar that her son would be living in conflict with his relatives” Ishmael was half brother to Issac and whereas conflicting nations would come from Issac, a whole nation of Islam would spring from the descendants of Ishmael. Wikipedia again states: “According to the Genesis account, he died at the age of 137 (Genesis 25:17). According to biblical tradition, he is the ancestor of the Arabs.Within Islam, Ishmael is regarded as a prophet and the ancestor of the Ishmaelites (Hagarenes or Adnanites) and patriarch of Qaydār (of northern Arabian lands).

My point for this devotion is that sparring tribes and peoples of today were already set in place – already sparing or living in static strife. These bubbled over then like today into wars.  The Edomites (from Esau) are mentioned in the 4th poem of Lamentations – the Israelites were bucketted with warring tribes forever – even now…  Israelites then were being carried to Babylon for some time – pre-described by God to Jeremiah – and the people had to mourn their fate but were told to praise their future – for their future generations…  Us too – we must stay strong for us and for our children and for our hope. They were to TRUST… Sparing rivalries will be here for our earthly time – no getting around it – set up in pre-prescribed ways. We best in all of this not lose our trust in God. Keep knowing (like those exiled to Babylon) that we will get out of this mess of today’s wars, someday…

Here is Lamentations 4 – much strife – but much HOPE. Edomites are mentioned at the end – for their strife with Israel (descendants of Jacob).

How the gold has lost its luster,
    the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
    at every street corner.

How the precious children of Zion,
    once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
    the work of a potter’s hands!

Even jackals offer their breasts
    to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
    like ostriches in the desert.

Because of thirst the infant’s tongue
    sticks to the roof of its mouth;
the children beg for bread,
    but no one gives it to them.

Those who once ate delicacies
    are destitute in the streets.
Those brought up in royal purple
    now lie on ash heaps.

The punishment of my people
    is greater than that of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment
    without a hand turned to help her.

Their princes were brighter than snow
    and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
    their appearance like lapis lazuli.

But now they are blacker than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
    it has become as dry as a stick.

Those killed by the sword are better off
    than those who die of famine;
racked with hunger, they waste away
    for lack of food from the field.

With their own hands compassionate women
    have cooked their own children,
who became their food
    when my people were destroyed.

The Lord has given full vent to his wrath;
    he has poured out his fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion
    that consumed her foundations.

The kings of the earth did not believe,
    nor did any of the peoples of the world,
that enemies and foes could enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.

But it happened because of the sins of her prophets
    and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed within her
    the blood of the righteous.

Now they grope through the streets
    as if they were blind.
They are so defiled with blood
    that no one dares to touch their garments.

“Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them.
    “Away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
When they flee and wander about,
    people among the nations say,
    “They can stay here no longer.”

The Lord himself has scattered them;
    he no longer watches over them.
The priests are shown no honor,
    the elders no favor.

Moreover, our eyes failed,
    looking in vain for help;
from our towers we watched
    for a nation that could not save us.

People stalked us at every step,
    so we could not walk in our streets.
Our end was near, our days were numbered,
    for our end had come.

Our pursuers were swifter
    than eagles in the sky;
they chased us over the mountains
    and lay in wait for us in the desert.

The Lord’s anointed, our very life breath,
    was caught in their traps.
We thought that under his shadow
    we would live among the nations.

Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom,
    you who live in the land of Uz.
But to you also the cup will be passed;
    you will be drunk and stripped naked.

Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion;
    he will not prolong your exile.
But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom,
    and expose your wickedness.

For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. Lamentations 3:31-33

Oh yes, I love this passage, I am to live for hope rather than say “I told you so” to wayward folks. or maybe I am to find hope in the loss that I have by my sin and distance from God. Yes, I would rather God be a God of compassion, not a draconian dark mean convicting God. And in my recommitment to reading, the Lamentations poem in chapter 3 is a glimmer and glimpse of compassion, of mercy, of justice by jurisdiction because God ultimately God floods darkness with light. God breaks down a broken system to rebuild it and restore hope.

Lamentations also find me wondering if Jesus, the acceptor of our sins and maker of our salvation, writes what He experiences for us – the gaul and bitterness – the distance…  I know that these Lamentation poems refer to life in captivity in the exile to Babylon – but they speak of hope of the exile our sins cause us from God – and that God does not want us to linger in exile. God gives us the hope to remove our sadness and fill it with gladness: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

When we look at this poem of the destruction and then the rebuilding – we are reminded of hope – we are reminded to keep seeking His Face  – know His Love – and Accept His forgiveness thru Jesus. “You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.’ “ – and the Way to not fear is to accept His Hope over our failings. We must praise MORE than our laments were sorrowful, because we DO know this forgiveness in Jesus.

Amen

—

Lamentations 3:1-58

I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
.
He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
.
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
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Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
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He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.
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He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
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I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
.
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
.
Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
.
For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny people their rights before the Most High, to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?
.
Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? 

.

Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: “We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
.
“You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
.
“All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.” Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
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My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.
.
Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.
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I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”  You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”
.
You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life….

When life lays it on THICK,

There is no trick,

With GOD we STICK!

With God we STICK!

.

When life makes a rumble,

and life makes us bumble,

just get in our God’s huddle.

With God we STICK!

.

Can you hear the noise?

Can we struggle with choice?

Let’s be prayerful and poised!

With God we STICK!

.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rapid eclipse darkness was cool (yes it was rainy then overcast in my eclipse viewing site, oh well) but the company was even COOLER! Wow! With nearly 200 people at an event at the golf course country club bar and grill it was going to be fun in all ways…. and yummy food…

Totality zone. Totality in Treasured Time.

BEST EVER was for getting to spend an hour with an emeritus professor and his wife, awesome! Dr. P. taught me how to keep a real science notebook in chemistry class over 30 yrs ago, wow!!! I spent much time at his house revisiting over the years too. He came to my wedding… always gave me great advice… I’m SO thankful for my college days and especially for the wonderful mentors that the Lord has put in my life. And yeah awesome that my frosh roommate and friends were there to witness the eclipse too, and so cool to hear an astronomy professor’s lecture too!!! And, yeah, oh the moon sun eclipse cookies were tasty! Yum with the Sun!

(Of course it was later sunny, LOL, for a nice sunset, oh well…)

My spiritual science geek experience with the actual eclipse was that the darkness grew strangely fast, then as darkness held for a minute moment, it showed the sky to have a glow around the edges, then we saw the darkness flee, the LIGHT GREW EVEN FASTER than the dark had gotten dark… The LIGHT overcomes the dark always!

My question to the astronomy professor was about light from the earth bouncing to the moon, and he said that’s called EARTHSHINE ! THAT’S SO COOL to observe and to know this term! We all reflect this phenomena and we should be shedding light on the world here as an EARTHSHINE for God’s Love beaming through us!

As a day FILLED with things going on, a day full of activity, not just FILLED with clouds, the darkness was interesting but the LIGHT WAS more awesome.  So, my observation and faith is that darkness will creep away from our lives. Let us look to God to shine in the darkness – and then let us be His EARTHSHINE LIGHT of Love to others every day!

BLESSED in Knowing: The LIGHT SHINES in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

AMEN

Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed. By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. Proverbs 3:13-20

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1:1-5

To be honest, just the thought of vacation is a treasure… but taking even one day off (I’m taking two) in my college town area is AWESOME, like I’m putting myself into “parade rest” from my normal routine. Yesterday,  after my many hour, very enjoyable, drive in brilliant sunshine 60 degrees (hey it’s not snowing), I sat on the porch of my friend’s family farmhouse and got covered in dog hair and cat hair… ah… rest… blessed rest…

The rest is stillness but not, it’s like watching the world turn but the things in it turn at a different pace. They move and so do you, but you can actually watch them instead of being full force doing your own thing with blinders on.

Arriving up to my friend’s farmhouse, in the backwoods of the hilltop, the dirt roads, the cows and barns were welcome sights. I’ve been here maybe 5 years ago (?). The maple syrup-ing sap lines were really cool. But the windmills were a SURPRISE – good thing this is desolate driving areas, they startled me! I stopped many times for pictures.  Cool… but it does change the horizon image and nothing you can do about it, you don’t ‘own your view’…

Still, not still, windmills are novelty cool in my opinion, (a difficult future waste problem, but I digress), the obvious view I had was that they must have motors keeping them running at a certain speed, ready to move more when the wind ramps up. They don’t seem efficient effective power generators, but I’m uninformed for sure. They sure do keep moving! 

That’s us too, we keep moving even at ‘parade rest’. We watch the world, we think, we dream, we appreciate everything or nothing, but it still moves. We don’t own our view but we do own our viewpoints. There is a fly just now buzzy in the sunrise window, doesn’t bother me, because there IS a sunrise. There IS a sun. There IS a me alive (and on vacation!). And there IS a God keeping all in motion. His Power Self-generated for sure, to hold us all and all in all, in His Love. That’s my view today. 

So pause and pray sunny skies, praise moving life, spring springing, and dog hair too. Praise God for the understanding that what we see is beautiful, temporary compared to forever, but beautiful in the pause to praise. Treasure today, no matter what…

Keep moving, but REST (and reset) in the Lord! Then move again. Forever He blesses us. Keep Moving into His Rest.

Amen 

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Do NOT be stressed – remember you are BLESSED.

Don’t pace the floor – kneel to pray some more.

.

Don’t be fake or be coy – just live your life in open JOY.

Don’t fear a sneer – embrace a brave face.

.

Do envision success – Do remember you are blessed!

Do keep pace – Do accept grace!

.

Behave no more like you are you made from dirt on the floor.

Remember you are God’s dust and clay and embrace how HE makes your day!

.

And for that stressing?

Don’t let the world’s impressing affect you more than God’s almighty blessings.

.

Amen

Amen

SO many times I am reminded of my life as Jairus’s Daughter – called back to life from my sleeping faith. I am really so awe-struck that Jesus came to me. This is not a boast but a nudge to say that Jesus comes to us all – we must simply open our eyes and reach for His Hand outstretched to ours.

I was 45 when Jesus finally was clear in my sight – and wow – the Lord has blessed me with awaken-ness that I pray never ceases. I pray to listen for Jesus’s voice as Shephard – may we all yearn to hear!

Awaken, Hear, Yearn, Know

Amen

John 10:1-18 The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Mark 5: 38-43

They arrived at Jairus’ house, where Jesus saw the confusion and heard all the loud crying and wailing. He went in and said to them, “Why all this confusion? Why are you crying? The child is not dead—she is only sleeping!” They started making fun of him, so he put them all out, took the child’s father and mother and his three disciples, and went into the room where the child was lying. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha, koum,” which means, “Little girl, I tell you to get up!” She got up at once and started walking around. (She was twelve years old.) When this happened, they were completely amazed. But Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone, and he said, “Give her something to eat.”

Here is a blurb from a play that I portrayed Jairus’s daughter at an Easter Sunrise service the year I awakened:

Rocking it !!! ‘My Feet are on the ROCK!!!’ – It is not just a peppy praise song – it is the truth!

We have to remember to stand on solid ground – we have to remember if we stand in His Love – we will be OK. We will still have to remember to not be shaken – and keep our eyes above the waves – and let our feet move where He needs us – and the most important is that we keep looking at HIM – TRUST!!!

Amen

My Feet are on the Rock – lyrics – by I Am They

I can see the clouds roll in
I can feel the winds, they try to shake me
I will not be moved
My feet are on the Rock

I can feel the waters rise
I can hear the howling lies that haunt me
Fear won’t hold me now
My feet are on the Rock

When I feel my hope about to break
I will cling to Your unchanging grace
Let the waters come and the Earth give way
I’ll be dancing in the rain
My feet are on the Rock

I can see the morning light
I can feel the joy on the horizon
Here my faith is found
I stand on solid ground

When I feel my hope about to break
I will cling to Your unchanging grace
Let the waters come and the Earth give way
I’ll be dancing in the rain
My feet are on the Rock

On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
So stomp your feet and clap your hands
Our feet are on the Rock
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
So stomp your feet and clap your hands
Our feet are on the Rock
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
So stomp your feet and clap your hands
Our feet are on the Rock

When I feel my hope about to break
I will cling to Your unchanging grace
Let the waters come and the Earth give way
I’ll be dancing in the rain
When I feel my hope about to break
I will cling to Your unchanging grace
Let the waters come and the Earth give way
I’ll be dancing in the rain
My feet are on the Rock

My feet are on the Rock
My feet are on the Rock

Here is the YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uYiHiJTN6Y

This tune is new to me but classic beautiful in it’s lyrics and music – the colors to explain the love of God in His Easter gift and in awakening our cold hearts…

What I do know – is that there is “just one God and just one Man – That can give us life, that can make us grow, That can make our sins as white as snow”… Yes, Jesus!

Amen Amen – and give a listen!

…

The Coloring Song 1992 – Petra – Lyrics:

Red is the color of the blood that flowed

Down the face of Someone who loved us so

He’s the Perfect Man, He’s the Lord’s own Son

He’s the Lamb of God, He’s the only One,

That can give us life, that can make us grow,

That can make the love between us flow

Blue is the color of a heart so cold

That will not bend when the story’s told

Of the Love of God for a sinful race

Of the Blood that flowed down Jesus face

That can give us life, that can make us grow,

That can keep our hearts from growing cold

Gold is the color of the morning sun

That shines so freely on everyone

It’s the sun above that keeps us warm

It’s the Son of Love that calms the storm

That can give us life, that can make us grow,

That can turn our mornings into gold

Brown is the color of the autumn leaves

When the winter comes to the barren trees

There is birth there is death there is a plan

And there’s just one God and there’s just one Man

That can give us life, that can make us grow,

That can make our sins as white as snow

That can give us life, that can make us grow,

That can turn our mornings into gold

That can give us life, that can make us grow,

That can keep our hearts from growing cold

That can give us life, that can make us grow,

That can make the love between us flow

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=D2mAHMH-2oA&si=ysyzVDxCnbuNqd-J

 I waited until God answered.

But I didn’t wait and wallow, instead I worked while I waited… Sure I wondered. Sure I wished. But I found it best that I walked because I knew: Love has no evil in mind.

It was then I knew, I noticed. I nodded that God had me waiting on purpose. I acknowledged and I knocked on doors. I never lost hope – not that I should have, this notion was not novel or nutty. And I knew: Love has no evil in mind.

Now, I didn’t assume my expectation would be answered positively. So nice that it was. 

No, I didn’t always understand why I couldn’t dial up an instant answer. So nice it did finally come.

And I didn’t anticipate – well at least I tried not to. So nice that God delivered – I knew He would – because Love has no evil in mind.

I didn’t knock God – especially since He has never knocked me.

I waited. I worked. I wondered.

I wished. I walked. I witnessed.

Love has no evil in mind.

I finally went “Whew!” when my prayer got answered: “YES!” Great!!! and on top of all that, I felt God was answering in LOVE.

God is LOVE – that is why Love has no evil in mind.

Amen

—-

1 Corinthians 13:4-7  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

(PS  – these last few days I had been waiting and waiting for clearing all the hoops that I was jumping to have cleared = and they did = and I am BLESSED as it was no slam dunk – it was no done deal – it wasn’t hard to apply but the waiting was needed and noticed…  I had to wait upon people and people’s acceptance but I was not idle in waiting on God because God always keeps us looking to the moment at hand – what am I supposed to do while waiting? work, wonder, witness, and praise…  I am SO glad that I waited without the wallow…  thanks God – thanks!)

Why would destruction seem so needed and so orderly, like taking this time to describe a spectator situation of destruction to come placed in this Lamentations poem as an acrostic poem, with verses beginning with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I mean did this harsh scene need a pick-me-up of order? Or is it a warning of the order of God in clear fashion. Or is the poem simply using the alphabet so that it’s remembered step by step and letter by letter of witness, that what God builds lasts but what God scorns He dismantles (???)… I understand God’s fury here of the people because I read the reasons for it, chapter after chapter of general disobedience and lack of discipline, of ignorance and greed, of fear and futility. How God decides to act is beyond my comprehension. There is no way for me to know in whole as I only know in part. What I do know/glean from this info and these chapters is that these people are messed up – as a society and lack praise and following. Well, that is us too and we are always looking for correction – at least we should be – to the Holy Spirit correction – conviction but not condemnation. Oh yes, of course, we are to look for Jesus and His Spirit to be our salvation – and reorder the order. YES!

We await fates individually now if we don’t repent. Same but different than those times. God justified and we just wish others knew of the forgiveness given in Jesus, that’s the pillar of faith to cling to. We wish those to put their feet on the Rock, to have repentance wanted, and Jesus applied.

“The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago.” – this is a warning for our time too – we need to be aware and awake for His second coming – and cling to what is good – Jesus is good and just and our Savior – our hope.

Oh what a friend we have in Jesus is not just a song but a truth.  Let us not Lament our lives in Him but lament the situations of the peoples we are still lost… Let us keep calling out for them to be found.

Amen and Lord, please find them for their – and Your sake. The Save and Sake of Forever is what we savor in our Savior.

Amen

Lamentations 2

How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor. In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.

Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion. The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah. He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting.

The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest. The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hands of the enemy; they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord     as on the day of an appointed festival.

The Lord determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away. Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord. The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth.

The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers’ arms.

What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you,     that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity.

The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading. All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?” All your enemies open their mouths wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth and say, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it.”

The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes. The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.

You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest. Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner. “Look, Lord, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

“Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women  have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity. “As you summon to a feast day,  so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.”

Faith and Hope and Love – Love is the greatest… Love…

I love these Joni Mitchell lyrics based on scripture – about Love being the greatest.

“Love suffers long – Love is kind – Love has no evil in mind… “

Yes – and as I listen to the songs (links below) – I am reminded how in part we are – we are seeing only in part and must trust the rest…

Love sees as a whole – we see as a part – this is so true in my life and in our lives – we only see in part and if we could see love as a whole then we would not experience the brokenness that we do – we sort of have to look around the corner to when we will know love fully as God loves – and trust until we get there. This trust in God gives us the opportunity to forgive – to move forward. This trust in God gives us the time to ponder the patience we lack. I do trust God – and of enduring hoping trusting faith – AND LOVE – Love must be the strongest and greatest and what we seek out to know even if we will never understand in whole until we know God in whole – of which we will always be journeying. 

But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

My friend told me that I was not confident enough in myself for something I was waiting approval for – and I thought about that – it is not just that I am not confident that I will get what I need – I thought yeah, it is that I am not confident enough in God to give me what HE thinks I need…  and right now He must be thinking I need to learn patience.  And He must be finding the trust in me to keep working while I am waiting… Keep doing my part and let Him take care of the Whole. Yes Lord – I will see your greatness in this – I will see that Love has no evil in mind and therefore I should also trust and not let my mind run rampant into the bad thoughts…  I will keep trusting and know that only one day is revealed to me – trust is that I will wake up and start again – but actually trust is that I will wait upon the Lord and see His Love come to fruition in ways that I would never see. I only see in part but must love in whole.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Amen – and please do listen to the songs, and read the scripture below.

original Joni Mitchell 1982 in Wild Things albumhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faaJqFVP__Q

recreated slower version 2017 in Travelogue album

Lyrics https://jonimitchell.com/music/lyricsprint.cfm?id=252  

Love
by Joni Mitchell

Although I speak in tongues
Of men and angels
I’m just sounding brass
And tinkling cymbals without love

Love suffers long
Love is kind!
Enduring all things
Love has no evil in mind

If I had the gift of prophecy
And all the knowledge
And the faith to move the mountains
Even if I understood all of the mysteries
If I didn’t have love
I’d be nothing

Love never looks for love
Love’s not puffed up
Or envious
Or touchy
Because it rejoices in the truth
Not in iniquity
Love sees like a child sees

As a child I spoke as a child
I thought and I understood as a child
But when I became a woman
I put away childish things
And began to see through a glass darkly

Where as a child I saw it face to face
Now I only know it in part
Fractions in me
Of faith and hope and love
And of these great three
Love’s the greatest beauty
Love
Love
Love

————-

Scripture: Paul in the Letter 1 Corinthians 13 NKJV 

The Greatest Gift
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part.  But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

NO FOOLIN – Sometimes we see the light but we’re still sitting in the dark. Sometimes life goes on with us questioning. Sometimes we will never know what we won’t know.

And No Foolin – there are confusing parts of scripture too – and we are left to ponder but as long as we just believe – we will understand in whole LATER – even if only in PART now. 

On Sunday, Easter Sunday, I heard a seasoned preacher scholar say that we DON’T know why Matthew records that many people were raised but we have NO OTHER INFO…  Hmmm… That scripture freaks people out…  and we don’t know anything more after – like ‘did they go back in?’????

I know that for Jesus’s Rising, the tomb was not empty having been robbed by others, but was the result of Jesus robbing His grave – robbing sin and death of its victory. And I know scripture helps us in understanding the ‘gravity’ of the grave with the real death of Him – the real separation from God to take those sins way far away – and to re-bring us back to God – to tear that curtain and no longer have us experience separation from God.  

But when I read about the people also raised from the dead, a startling piece confuses – it says they were raised when Jesus died but that they left the tombs when Jesus did…  In other words, I think that this is saying that they were still still saturday…  and then on the move sunday…  us too… the ‘moving’ required the Spirit of the Lord to move them – the life returned but the living was Jesus-driven…  (or at least the angels kept those tomb stones from rolling too early…)

I don’t know – but I do know that if I was alive in the grave, then I would probably be needing Jesus too – to tell me what to do and when to go…  I wonder if we could do that in the grave then can we do that now – not in the grave – could we await Jesus’s instructions now?!!!

I STILL HAVE A LOT TO LEARN ABOUT BEING STILL! I bet those angels would hold me back too – like a horse lined up in the starting gate – just waiting for the bell, the doors to open, and the clear path ahead. But when it is time to move – Lord please move me. If you brought me back to life for forever – I can wait just one more day for this days’s moves…  Awaiting the resurrection rising – always… 

Amen

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs AFTER Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Matthew 27:50-53

…

Jesus Has Risen
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Matthew 28:1-10