Lessons Learned ~ An Open Letter to My Dad

Dear Dad,

When I saw you last, you laid in a comfortable room all your own in a beautiful home. The first time I walked through it I knew Jesus had hand-picked that home and that room just for you. 

Dad, you would have loved it.  Your room kept watch over a gorgeous collection of plants and flowers in the big backyard. Oh, how I wanted to be able to walk through the gardens with you, enjoying the sunshine and the beauty of every rose and daisy. 

No doubt our conversation would have meandered with the gardens.  We’d eventually ponder much weightier issues like the world’s problems and how to solve them.  We always had the answers, didn’t we? 

And our conversation would have invariably settled on the mysteries of the universe, and of God.  This conversation would have gone very differently than all the others, though.

For thirteen years I prayed for you.

And when we were finally able to enjoy those weekly gabfests on the phone I did my best to steer as many conversations as possible toward the Lord.  I tried to explain to you historically, intellectually, logically and emotionally why Jesus is the only way to salvation, the only way to heaven.  And you’d always say you were trying. 

The end of every conversation would come, and I’d let my words offering you Christ hang in the air as a gift, desperately hoping you’d take them, but you never did.  I always hung up thinking if only I’d said it differently... 

If I could have I would have forced them on you as a parent forces a child to eat his broccoli and drink his milk. 

Soon after you had gone, I realized the mistake I’d made all those years.  And all I wanted to do was grasp one day to do it over. If I could I would have done it all over.  I’d trade in some of those conversations, some of those awkward attempts at apologetics, and take a meal to you. 

I’d take a jar full of jelly beans to your apartment and set it on the table next to your chair. While I was there I would have cleaned your apartment and done some laundry, if you’d let me.  I’d frame some pictures of your grandsons and hang them on the wall. 

I’d buy you a proper journal so you didn’t have to write your soulful words on the scraps of paper and backs of old envelopes we found scattered around your apartment.  I’d have you over for dinner more often so Eric and Sean could get to know you better.  We still grin and tell each other your favorite joke: So a horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Why the long face?” I can still hear that high-pitched almost giggle you reserved for jokes you thought were especially hilarious.

I would have shown you the love of Jesus I tried so desperately to tell you about.  I thought I’d have enough time, but I didn’t. 

Time is always short.

You might not have let me do those things, but I wish I had tried.  I wish I had used the short time we had together to show you how much I loved you and how much I appreciated you.  I would have shown you that you were worth loving and you were worth dying for.

I loved our conversations, but I wish I had used the time putting feet to my words, enriching both our lives even more.  And maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t have taken until just five days before you went to be with Jesus to give Him your heart.  Maybe those acts of love would have opened your eyes to the truth sooner.  But they were opened, and I am so grateful.

You taught me that lesson, Dad.  I don’t always remember it, but you taught me that life is short, and sometimes it’s over much sooner than we ever thought it would be.  And sometimes our words are just words until we bring them to life. 

 

I can picture you now, tending the garden of your dreams and having long conversations with everyone who stops by to smell the roses. I'll be there soon, and when I am, I’m coming to your house, Dad, the one prepared just for you.  I’ll clean it, top to bottom.  I'll set a crystal vase overflowing with fresh flowers on your table.  I’ll bring you some jelly beans and we’ll talk. 

Your loving daughter,      @

Dorci                               ~\~

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:18

The Way of Love

Tommy’s taken some time out of his successful life as a doctor, spending the day out on the golf course with his buddies when he receives an alarming phone call from another part of the world. 

His son, Daniel, is dead. 

And all at once, a life that seemed to have every duck carefully placed in a row was upside down.

And thus begins a father’s journey in the movie The Way with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez.   It is a poignant look at a man who has been caught up in the world’s version of success and has, ironically, become somewhat cynical and bitter.  And when the unthinkable happens we see the ensuing inner struggles of a man who suddenly realizes he doesn’t have things figured out quite the way he thought.   

FYI - If you haven’t seen the movie yet, this will contain some slight spoilers. 

The last time the two men spoke they were engaged in an awkward conversation as Tommy drove his son, Daniel, to the airport. Daniel tells his dad about the journey he’s going to make and, in an effort to try connecting with his dad, asks him to come along.  Tommy cynically laughs it off, saying that not everyone has the luxury of taking time off from work to do such a thing. 

And now the time was gone. 

Tommy makes the pain-staking trip to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to retrieve his son’s body and his belongings.  Daniel had just begun his journey on the road of El camino de Santiago, The Way of St. James, a pilgrimage that millions have traveled over the last thousand years.  The journey can begin on any of a number of paths, but the destination is always Galicia, Spain, where some believe the remains of the apostle James are buried.  Depending on the origin of one’s journey, the pilgrimage can take weeks to months. 

Tommy arrives in France and decides to have his son’s body cremated for the return trip.  He begins looking through his son’s backpack at the things he’d chosen to take with him on his journey of discovery.  It’s perhaps the first time in a long time that Tommy had taken a few moments to really study his son. 

And we can’t help but think about how we’re spending the days of our own short lives. 

Tommy decides to honor his son by taking him on the journey anyway.  He throws the backpack over his shoulders, the box of ashes tucked safely inside, and he sets out to make the 500-mile trek in his son’s stead. 

Tommy reluctantly picks up a few friends along the way, each of whom has their own reasons for traveling The Way.  But their reasons seem rather selfish and superficial compared to the heavy burden that Tommy carries. 

The others approach their goals half-heartedly, but Tommy remains steadfast in his mission to do this last loving act for his son. 

As they all reached their destination together, it occurred to me that the only one who successfully accomplished what he set out to do was the one who, in love, set out to do something for someone else. 

It was too late to reconcile with his son, but through choosing this unselfish and loving act he gains much more—a heart of forgiveness, humility, love, and peace.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."  John 13:34

Jesus made this statement to the apostles the evening He had washed their feet.  He didn’t just say He loved them, He became their servant.  That is what God says love really is and this is the way we’re to live our lives. 

It’s love that gives us the strength to do the hard thing--the ability to lay aside our pride and our own lives in order to finish what God’s called us to do. 

We are all on a journey called life, and loving others is what makes life worth living. The specific ways we’re called to sacrifice throughout our lives may sometimes go against all common sense.  Sometimes we may just not feel like it, just like Tommy didn’t feel like going on the trip with his son.  But God says that by choosing to live a life of sacrifice we’ll gain a lot more that we ever gave up.

As I watched the movie I couldn’t help but also make comparison to Christ and the road He walked in our steads, too.  Like the story, while we were dead in our sins, Christ embarked on a journey for us, a journey we couldn’t take ourselves.  He journeyed to the cross and laid down His life for us to purchase our souls from hell. 

It was His love for His Father and for us that kept Him steadfast on the road to an agonizing death.  But to Him, the reward of giving us eternal life made the journey worth it.

Question4U: What is one thing you can do to live your life more unselfishly?

Blessings and Love,

Dorci

Before It's Too Late!

Seek the LORD while he may be found;
   call on Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
   and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and He will have mercy on them,
   and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

Isaiah 55:6-7

From the time children are toddling around in their parents' shoes, their minds are just like little sponges, soaking up everything they hear, good and bad.  I don’t think we’re any different as adults.  It’s why billions of dollars are spent every year on advertising.  We see the commercials and we believe what they tell us.  We need that thing, so we buy it. 

We believe internet rumors; we believe email scams; we believe what the government tells us.  Well, sometimes.  We watch people sinning on t.v. and in movies and we laugh.  We soak up the world like a sponge and we’re left dripping with its inane gossip, its cynicism, its bitterness, and its greed and selfishness. 

And sometimes we need to sit before the Lord in repentance and let Him wring out of us the ungodliness and then we can soak up the pure holiness of the Holy Spirit. 

Time is short, my friends.  Let’s seek the Lord while we can.  Let’s stop giving ear to the world and listen to the Lord’s heart instead.  He has things for us to do, people to see and places to go.  He has a gospel to spread before it’s too late and He wants to use us to do it. 

The flesh and spirit war with each other and we are the captains of our own war.  We choose which side wins every day.  For the spirit to win we must starve the flesh and put it to death.  We must put aside the insidious sins, the secret sins, the accepted sins.  

God tells us it’s when we die to ourselves that we can really live.  Why?  Because our plans are so selfish, so temporary, so small compared to the great plans God has for us.  If we’re willing to let go of what we think may be good and listen to the Lord, then He can bless us with what is great. 

He can bless us with Himself. 

We have all we need in Christ Jesus to live a victorious life full of His power, wisdom, strength and peace and to be able to look back on a life of spiritual growth and service to the King. 

Will we? 

May God bless you as you seek His face!

Dorci

Forgiven For Little or Much?

"Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day which is the day that you came out of Egypt, out of the place you were slaves, because the LORD acted with power to bring you out of there.'" Exodus 13:3

I remember the day the Lord saved me. I remember the joy of being rescued from the world, from the curse of being a slave to sin and the darkness of it all to feeling my heart come alive with the Spirit of God. I was more thankful to the Lord for that than I had ever been for anything in my life. I had gone from utter darkness to pure Light.  It was a radical transformation because I was acutely aware that I had been saved from so much. My heart was on fire.

Jesus said about the woman who kissed His feet, washed them with her tears and anointed them with oil, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Luke 7:42

It is not that this woman was forgiven for more than others were, it is that she recognized how much she was forgiven.  We are all forgiven for sins. Not all transformations may seem as outwardly obvious as mine or the woman's, but we were all saved from the same spiritual blindness, the same emptiness of heart, the same hell. We were all sinful and we all needed a Savior. And for all of us the Lord acted with His power to bring us out of Egypt--out of the world, out of our sins and their eventual consequences of being separated from God for eternity.  

The more we recognize the depths from which we have been saved and the far-reaching love, grace, mercy and power of Jesus Christ that saved us, the more grateful we will be and the more we will love our Savior. And that gratefulness gives us, like the woman, a desire to be a blessing to the Lord, not to repay Him, because that gift can never be repaid, but to honor Him and join with Him in giving ourselves to the building up of the Kingdom of God.

After a while, though, we can forget the life we were rescued from and begin to take this new one for granted. The level of thankfulness we once had can be forgotten. We get caught up in the daily grind of our lives and forget that we were saved for a purpose: to bring glory to the Lord. Our service wanes, we set aside our spiritual gifts and we live lives that look much like they did before that day of salvation.

But if we purpose in our hearts to remember our day of salvation and all that we’ve been saved from we will be filled with love and we will desire a more intimate relationship with Christ.  We will be filled with thanksgiving, and the gratefulness we allow to penetrate our hearts will spur us on to good works.

Remember that we were taken out of the devil’s grasp by the power of God and by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Remember how many sins we were forgiven for and how many we were saved from committing had we lived in our sins another day.

We have only a short time here on this earth.  We can waste it, or we can remember and be thankful, loving the Lord more each day, and allowing Him to do great things through us.

All for Him,
Dorci

Operation Christmas Child

Can you believe it's November already?  Before you know it'll be Thanksgiving and then Christmas is right around the corner.  Maybe you're thinking about how you can help others who are far less fortunate than we are during this season of giving. 

Samaritan's Purse is a 40-plus year old, non-denominational Christian, philanthropical organization whose President and CEO is Franklin Graham, the son of Billy and Ruth Bell Graham.  Samaritan's Purse works tirelessly throughout the year to bring aid to the poor, sick and suffering around the world. 

At Christmastime every year, Samaritan's Purse launches Operation Christmas Child, an outreach where they take in shoe boxes filled with gifts and send them to children in need all over the world. This is where you come in.  It's simple: 

1. Pack a Shoe Box

Just grab a shoe box or a small plastic container, fill it with simple toys, school supplies, hygiene items, certain types of candy and even a personal note, if you wish.  Include a check for $7 to cover the cost of shipping.  Or use the EZGIVE option below. 

2. Download a Label

Download a label that shows whether your box is for a boy or a girl and the age range the gifts are appropriate for. 

3. Drop It Off

Enter your zip code on the website and it'll show you your nearest drop-off location. 

4. Follow Your Box

If you pay for shipping online using EZGIVE, you can follow your box online. 

And that's it!  Last year Operation Christmas Child fulfilled Christmas dreams for 8 million underprivileged children. I don't know of a more worthy organization and better way to bless others as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and all the ways He's blessed us.

Collection week for the shoe boxes is coming up quickly, November 15-22.

Take a look at just how easy it is:

Friday Funnies - A Lego Lesson {Jonah 1:4-17}

{Jonah 1:1-3}


And the saga continues....

Friday Funnies - A Lego Lesson {Jonah 1:1-3}

All credit goes to Lego moviemaker extraordinaire, Riley Taylor.  Way to use your talents for the Lord, Riley!  

To Tell the Truth

Sometimes I go searching the blogosphere for good, Christian blogs, blogs that will uplift me and encourage me and give me hope, the kind that can only come from the truth that's in God's Word and is played out in the relationship between a believer in Christ and the Holy Spirit that indwells him or her.  But I often find something else.  I find people who seem to be compromising their faith in favor of being popular. I find blogs that claim to be Christian but will mock the purity that God has and desires us to have.  I find blogs with points of view that don't include the full counsel of God, but will take a point out of context and in the process they do the truth a great disservice. 

There are many very good blogs out there, but I also find blogs that seem to be trying to conform to the world rather than conforming to the heart of God.  I'm actually quite shocked and often saddened to read the things that are floating around out there in the name of Christianity and I believe that's a direct correlation to what's going on in much of the church today.. I'm sure there are many reasons why that happens, desire to gain readers, not spending enough time in prayer in order to hear from God, and probably a lot of other reasons I can't even think of right now. It boils down to the fact that what we believe, or don't, for whatever reasons, comes out in what we write.

And I can understand how that could happen.  I can understand how a person can start out with the best of intentions, godly intentions, and begin to look around at other blogs, Christian and otherwise, who have 100's and even 1,000's of readers and desire to be as successful as they are with something they love to do. 

I've been at this blogging business myself for over 2 years now and I will often get discouraged at the low numbers of readers I'm still getting.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate each and every one of you!  But the temptation to write like this or that successful blogger, to try to follow some formula or to quit blogging all together out of the feeling that I'm not having much of an impact, can be very great. 

But I can't quit, not yet at least.  I love to write and I love my God and my desire is to make Him known in all unadulterated, uncompromised truth.  By the grace of God this blog will never take a stance based on political correctness or popularity with the masses.  And if I never grow in readership, then so be it.  I will leave that to God.  My business is to be about God's business and to give testimony about Him in the purest light possible. 

When I stand before God I won't care one iota whether or not I was popular, or had thousands of readers or no readers at all.  What I will care about is whether or not I was true to my faith in Jesus Christ and whether or not I magnified His Name above all.  And that is what I aim to do.  All glory be to God. 

In Service to the King,
Dorci

Being Different to Conform

All my life I’ve tried to fit in. The more I felt like I was different, the more I tried to fit in to the people immediately around me at any given time, to the world I live in, to the customs I’m surrounded by. Wanting to be accepted by one’s peers and one’s society is, I suppose, something that almost everyone goes through at least one time or another.  In fact, I believe that God gave us the desire to conform, but His desire is that we conform to Him, not the world. 

We can focus on being accepted by people, or we can focus on being accepted by God. Don’t get me wrong, God loves His children at all times. But we can choose behaviors and attitudes that are not godly and not acceptable by a Holy God. We can even choose actions that are not inherently bad in and of themselves, but if they’re not within the parameters of God’s perfect will for our own life, it doesn’t matter if someone else is doing it, or if a lot of people are doing it, it may not be God’s will for us personally, and so not acceptable for us to conform in that particular way.

I realize as I look back on the circumstances of my life that they’ve been so perfectly designed as to take me constantly out of my comfort zone and further away from feeling like I fit in more than I ever would have liked. And I believe that’s been the whole point. God doesn’t want me to fit in and be like “everyone else.” He wants me to be comfortable with being uncomfortable because making a difference in the kingdom of God doesn’t always mean comfort (rarely, in fact). Instead of looking to other people for acceptance, I have a much greater, wiser Master to look to for acceptance, for confidence, for purpose, for passion, for my life.

God uses people who are willing to be different.

I think of the people in God’s Word that He chose to be witnesses of His love and will and they were almost always different than the flow of society. They didn’t conform to the world around them, but they conformed to God’s will for them, even when it was extremely difficult. They weren’t exactly your people-pleaser-go-along-with-the-crowd types.

I think of John the Baptist - the one who paved the way for the coming Messiah - who set up shop out in the middle of the desert, eating locust and wild honey and wearing animal skins, shouting that people needed to repent. I think of the apostle, Paul, who spoke so boldly for Christ, even if that meant going against authorities’ direct instructions, that he spent multiple times in prison simply for obeying his God. I think of Jesus Christ Himself, who said and did only what His Father instructed Him to, and that ultimately sent Him to the cross. He didn’t want to go there, but He submitted to the will of His Father because He knew that His Father could see the bigger picture.

And our Father sees the bigger picture in our lives, too. It’s not about conforming to the world; it’s about conforming to the image of our Father and fulfilling a much grander purpose than any this temporary life could hold. It’s about the grand scheme of this love story that we are in as we walk with the Savior Who has called us by name to walk with Him.

“Think of us as servants of Christ who have been given the work of explaining God's mysterious ways. And since our first duty is to be faithful to the one we work for, it doesn't matter to me if I am judged by you or even by a court of law. In fact, I don't judge myself. I don't know of anything against me, but that doesn't prove that I am right. The Lord is my judge.” (1 Cor. 4:1-4)

No Greater Love

Today is Memorial Day when we recognize and honor those men and women who have bravely given of themselves physically, mentally and emotionally to make our country and our world a better and safer place to live.

There was a time, though, when our men and women were returning from Vietnam, that the sentiment toward them was not so favorable. And because of that many of them felt the need to hide who they were, so they donned their civilian clothes before leaving the plane that carried them home. They walked through the airport with no fan fare, no congratulatory handshake, no respect given for the great sacrifice they had offered while doing the job they were called to do. It was a sad and shameful way to treat our countrymen and women.

I hope that we learn a lesson from that time in our not-so-distant past, and that we soberly remember with a sense of awe and gratitude what our men and women in uniform have done for us, though we are a stranger to them. I pray that we, as a country, never walk that road of ingratitude again, but that we give our servicemen and women the highest respect that is due of one who gives of themselves under the banner of our own Stars and Stripes.


And I pray that those of us who consider ourselves as soldiers in another kind of service - service to the Lord of lords - will also remember one another as we serve on the front lines of this battle of another kind, a battle of unseen, dark forces, a battle waged in the Spirit. The world will not support us, but we must support one another.

We must love one another, pray for one another and when one of us is down we must come quickly to the aid of that person and help them in whatever way we can. If they need prayer, pray with them. If they need a hand to hold or arms to embrace, offer yours. If they need words of encouragement, pray for wisdom and then offer what the Lord has given you.

I pray that each of us is part of providing an atmosphere of support for one another so that no one needs to feel ashamed in reaching out for help. None of us knows what a day will bring and whether or not we will be the one in need of a helping hand.

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18)

The Blessing of Uselessness

I subscribe to The Voice of the Martyrs' Facebook page.  As I was scrolling down tonight I saw they had posted some news that Glenn Penner, who had formerly been CEO of The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, went home to be with the Lord yesterday.  I didn't follow his journey with cancer, but I clicked over to his blog which was linked to in the Facebook note. 

I saw the last post written by his wife, and then read backwards over the last days and weeks of his life, which seemed to have been spent in much pain.  One particular post made me stop in my tracks.  He posted it back in November, and it talked of his struggle with feeling useless as his life had changed so much with the cancer. 

As I read it, I smiled a knowing smile, having just prayed today that God would help me to get back to being as useful and productive for Him as I can be.  I'd like to get back to "being myself" thank you very much.  This last six years of being in His waiting room has been quite long enough. 

God's funny that way.  I'm forever praying something (the He undoubtedly has put on my heart because He knows my deepest longings) and then He answers that very prayer in the most unexpected ways. 

Maybe you feel your life is on hold in some way.  You want to move forward in some aspect of your life, but God has you standing still.  Sometimes, standing still in the presence of God is the most productive thing we can do. 

The following is Glen Penner's blog from November 11, 2009.  Thank you Mr. Penner, for your encouragement, even as you stand in glory with our Lord, Jesus. 

And if you think about it, pray for his wife, Denita, and their children, as their lives must undoubtely feel as though they're standing still right now. 


The blessing of uselessness

With the decline of my health over the past year, one of the issues that I struggle with is a sense of uselessness since I can no longer do many of the things that I used to be able to do in my service for the persecuted around the world. Watching my colleagues do things that I once did and found so much pleasure in is hard. It is easy to feel…useless and unneeded. I don’t say that to sound whiney. I think many who go through suffering often feel this way, especially if they have lived active lives.

This morning, however, I read the following during my devotion time from Mike Mason’s The Gospel According to Job. I hope you are as blessed and challenged by this as I was.


Uselessness

“Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house.” (29:4)

Suffering, like the enemy who causes it, is a many-headed beast, and one of the heads is called Uselessness. A sufferer’s existence can seem so pointless, so stagnant and unworthy. Little wonder that Job’s mood in this chapter is one of intense nostalgia as he longs for “the good old days” when not only was he blessed by God, but when God’s blessing enabled him to bless others. Such feelings are perfectly human and understandable. We all want to be useful and productive. But one of the things we learn from the many set-backs of life is that God, in His wisdom, has a use for uselessness. The Lord Himself seems to be fond of standing around and doing nothing. When we imitate Him in this, the Bible calls it “waiting on the Lord.” But just think of how God waits on us! For thousands of years He has waited for mankind to turn to Him. Right now it is just as though He were standing on a street corner outside our home, hands in His pockets, whistling a gospel tune, waiting for us to keep our appointment with Him. Are we too busy with more pressing matters? Being useless, it seems, is not an important enough activity for us, and so we leave it to God.

Of course it is true that, as Jesus taught, “My Father is always working” (John 5:17). But to our human eyes God’s work often looks like idleness. His methods can appear so lackadaisical, so they involve pain on our part. Suffering puts us out of commission (at least from our perspective), so that we can no longer work, no longer contribute, no longer do much of value. Without this intense feeling of uselessness, suffering and even dying might not seem half so bad. Perhaps it is even true that the very soul of suffering is not so much pain itself, in all its forms, as it is the simple humiliation of having all our plans brought to a standstill, the indignity of being made to stop and wait.

How interesting it is that when the Lord appeared to Moses, and later to Joshua, to each of them He said the same thing: “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5; Josh. 5:15). Why should you take off your shoes in the Lord’s presence? Because without shoes you are not going anywhere. You might try to walk, but you will not get very far, especially in the hot sand and sharp rocks of the wilderness. Taking off one’s shoes may not be quite as drastic as cutting off one’s feet, but it amounts to the same thing. Barefootedness means immobilization, and so it is a symbol of submission. Being immobile (in other words, having nothing better to do) is a prerequisite for worship, and worship is the prerequisite for all activity, all service.

Many churches today are eager to mobilize for the Lord, but without paying much attention to the prior and greater work of immobilization. We need to learn how to kick off our shoes and discover that the place where we are standing is holy. When Daniel saw a vision of the Ancient of Days on His throne, “ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.” And what was this multitude doing? Not much. All we are told is that “the court was seated, and the books were opened.” And without anyone moving an inch four powerful empires were destroyed (Dan. 7:10-12). In Heaven, apparently, they know the meaning of the saying, “Don’t just do something—stand there!”

The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and the soles of their shoes never wore out. Why not? Because they only moved at the Lord’s command. In many ways they were disobedient, but in this one point they were constrained to obey because pillars of cloud and of fire were hanging over them. If today we find our souls (pun intended) wearing out, it may be because we are running around doing a lot of things that the Lord has not told us to do. We want to be fruitful. We want to work for our church and contribute to our society. We want to do something, not simply believe. When circumstances are such that we cannot do anything, we get restless and squirm, and just like Job we think back on our full and productive days and we long to see them return. We long to go back, not just so we can feel good again, but so we can get on with our “real work,” get on with making our contribution.

But listen to the words of Catherine Doherty: “If you want to see what a ‘contribution’ really is, look at the Man on the cross. That’s a contribution. When you are hanging on a cross you cannot do anything because you are crucified.”

Quote of the Day - Fresh Fruit

Don't be afraid to go out on a limb - that's where the fruit is.

-Unknown

Is There Still Passion?

I had a post all set to go for today. In fact, I still have it minimized on my computer.

But I woke up this morning thinking about Mel Gibson. No, not like that. I was thinking of a recent interview I saw him do on The Tonight Show. Mel talked about his impending divorce from his wife of 20-something years and the fact that they've been separated for the last 3. He admitted that he'd done a "hatchet-job" on his marriage and he was willing to take the blame for its failure.

Then he confirmed the rumors not only that yes, he is dating that beautiful woman people have seen him with, but yes, she is pregnant with their baby.

I thought of all that and then tried to reconcile it all with the man who wrote, produced and directed the movie, The Passion of the Christ. It is without a doubt the most heart-wrenching, powerful, emotionally raw and most realistic movie -even using the Latin and Aramaic languages- ever made about Jesus Christ. I've only been able to watch it again one more time since we saw it in the movie theatre and my eyes were closed for much of the scouraging scenes and my stomach was sick for most of the movie.

That was my Lord suffering and dying for my sins.

The man who made that movie had to have poured out his heart and soul into it. He reportedly spent millions of dollars out of his own pocket to make the movie because no movie studio would take a chance on it. He endured criticism for everything from holding private screenings for certain individuals, to the opinions held by many that the movie was too violent, to the controversy surrounding his original desire to have no subtitles, to the attacks of others who claimed that the movie was anti-semitic.

But he made the movie anyway. It seemed there was a passion that moved Mr. Gibson to make that movie. He even thoughtfully chose to be the hand who hammered the nail into Christ's hand because, he explained, it was his guilt that nailed Him to the cross.

Indeed. And it was mine.

So what has happened? How has he gone from a man who so desperately wanted to tell the story of Christ's crucifixion, giving us all a glimpse into what it could have looked like for an innocent Man to be nailed to a cross for our own sins, to a man who admittedly ran his marriage into the ground, and now, before he is divorced, is openly dating another woman, and has gotten her pregnant. And he's on a talk show talking about it.

Of course everything I just wrote I thought about this morning in a matter of seconds. And the thought that lingered, that led me to the computer to write something different to you today was, what has happened to our love for God? What happened to the love that Mel Gibson seemed to have? What is happening to the love of self-proclaimed believers in Jesus Christ in this world?

How can we say we love Christ and hate our brother?

How can we say we love Christ and get divorced - something that God says He hates!

How can we say we love Christ and harbor unforgiveness?

How can we say we love Christ and go about our merry way, doing our thang, never even considering if that thing is God's will, never even going to Him and asking the Lord what His thing for us is?

Are there people left out there who still love Jesus Christ with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their strength and with all their mind? We don't even seem to respect God anymore. I hear Christians use God's name in vain; I hear Christians whine about having to go to church (which is anywhere believers in Jesus Christ gather), I hear Christians complain about helping a brother in the Lord.

Where is our love for the God Who sent His Son to die for our sins?

Has our love grown cold? Have we tip-toed into the world just a little bit too much? Have we been affected by the world rather than us affecting the world? Are we just afraid to look different? Are we afraid to have some of the types of attacks that were aimed toward Mel Gibson directed at us?

The Lord has increasingly put on my heart that times for all of us are going to get more and more difficult. The world is going to turn against the Christian faith more than it ever has. There is going to be a shaking of our faith, and if we're sitting on the fence when it happens, we may not know on which side we'll end up.

Please, I implore you, if you have been on the fence with your faith, one foot in the world and one foot trying to live a Christian life and yet not doing very well at either, get off the fence and get back to your first love - loving your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's ask to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we are overflowing with His love so that it spills out all over everyone around us. Let's love God enough to desire to do His will, to be Jesus' eyes and ears and arms and feet on this earth. Let's have the mind of Christ.

Ask God for forgiveness for the sins you've been committing and for going your own way.

Love your brother.

Work on your marriage.

Forgive those whom you need to forgive.

And then lets get back to regular prayer and ask God what He wants you to do today, and then do it! How does He want you to spend your...His...money? Does He want you to take the time to tell someone, maybe a co-worker, maybe a neighbor, maybe a relative, that God loves them and sent His Son to die for them, too?

If you find that your love for God has waned, ask Him for it back.

Let us be the salt and light in this dark and lonely world. Let us be the example of loving unconditionally, not just when everything is going our way or when others are loving us.

I pray we seek to be Spirit-filled and love as Christ loved - passionately, joyfully, wholeheartedly, unabashedly, sacrificially, without thought for ourselves, but thoughts only of others and for their good.

And if you're hearing for the first time that God loves you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sins and you want this relationship with Him, click on the How to Know God tab at very top.


"Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be weary and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." (Hebrews 12:1-4)

Friday Funnies - She Walked the Walk - Chonda Pierce

Okay, so everybody who's had a fried bologna sandwich signify by saying, "aye."

"Aye!" (My Kentucky roots are showing.)

They're great, aren't they? If you haven't tried one, just throw a slice or two of bologna in the frying pan, (don't forget to make a slice from the center of the bologna all the way to the edge so you don't get that big bubble in the middle), cook it, flip it and cook it some more, and put it on your favorite bread with your choice of condiments. Me? I can't let any sort of condiment get between my and my bologna.

I think only in the south, though, is bologna considered a cut of meat. Maybe the rest of the country will soon catch on to this delicious and inexpensive delicacy.

I hope along with that we'll all open our eyes to the needs around us and catch on to the delicious and very rewarding gift of sharing. If we ever needed to step out and show the love of Jesus, it's now.

Happy friday!

Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

A truth God recently poured into my guarded heart:


God's light shines brighter through a transparent soul.


Hmmmm........

Friday Funnies - The Mom Song

Moms should come equipped with a cape.

And try to ignore the floating lyrics near the end. Not sure what that's all about.

Enjoy.

Sleeping or Standing?

“Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.” Galatians 6:12 niv

The Judaizers were trying to appear spiritual by becoming circumcised so as to avoid persecution from zealous Jews. And were demanding that followers of Jesus Christ be circumcised, as well.

Takes me back to the night that Jesus had been arrested and was standing before the high priest. (You can read the account in Matthew 26.) Peter had been following Jesus from a distance, the scripture says.

Just the night before Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times and Peter vehemently disagreed, and said that he was willing to die for Him.

But now, as Peter walked along, following Jesus, but not too closely so as to be identified with Him, people were recognizing him as being one who had been with Jesus.

He denied his Friend once.

He denied him again, promising that he did not know Him.

He denied him a third time, cursing and swearing to boot, to avoid detection.

How far Peter had come in less than 24 hours. Where had he gone wrong?

First, Jesus had given Peter, James and John the opportunity to stand watch with Him in the garden and pray.

Instead, they chose to sleep.

They took the opportunity given to them to gain strength and wisdom from the Father and to pray for their friend and they let the time slip through their fingers as they fell asleep. Not once, not twice, but three times.

Are you slumbering spiritually? Do you miss opportunities that are given to you to pray, seeking the Lord's wisdom and strength, and for others who are struggling?

That lack of strength that Peter could have gained through prayer now caused him to be spiritually weak as he made his next crucial mistake.

He watched Jesus from afar.

His fear caused him to distance Himself from Jesus, and he sought to blend in with the crowd to avoid persecution.

What do we do to blend in with the world to avoid persecution? What worldly attitudes or ways have we adopted? How do we compromise our faith at home, at our jobs, out in public, to avoid “persecution?” And I put persecution in quotes because as of yet, here in the United States, most of us don’t know much of what real persecution is. (Stay tuned - I'll soon be beginning a new segment on the worldwide persecuted church.)

Ultimately, what are we risking? Being made fun of by a co-worker? Being fired? Having a family member distance themselves from us? Isn't God, well, God? Will He not take care of us, and even moreso those sons and daughters who are obedient to Him?

What about the risks we take when we are disobedient to the Lord? What blessings are we missing because we aren’t willing to take a step of faith? What miracles could God do through a life who is wholly, uncompromisingly devoted to Him? To what lengths will we go to stand with Jesus, who gave His life to purchase ours, and follow closely at his side?

Or are we content to follow Him at a distance?

When the proverbial rooster crows, and Jesus returns for you, will He find you acting like the world, or maybe following Him, but not too closely, so as to avoid detection and be ridiculed?

Or will He find you walking right with Him, uncompromising in your faith, standing for Him with passion, willing to go with Him wherever He calls you to go, giving any fear over to Him, and in the process being used by God in awesome and miraculous ways?

God loves you so much and He desires to use you in mighty ways!

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness? And what partnership does light have with darkness? And what agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does a temple of God have with idols?

For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' Therefore, 'Come out from among them and be separated,' says the Lord, 'and do not touch the unclean thing. And I will receive you and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

My Utmost For His Highest - February 21

This one hit me hard.

Do You Really Love Him?

She has done a good work for me.

Mark 14:6

If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love. If we have the idea that love is characterized as cautious, wise, sensible, shrewd, and never taken to extremes, we have missed the true meaning. This may describe affection and it may bring us a warm feeling, but it is not a true and accurate description of love.

Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or that there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him?

Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him?

I’m not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things— things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him. Have you ever created what Mary of Bethany created in the heart of the Lord Jesus? "She has done a good work for Me."

There are times when it seems as if God watches to see if we will give Him even small gifts of surrender, just to show how genuine our love is for Him. To be surrendered to God is of more value than our personal holiness. Concern over our personal holiness causes us to focus our eyes on ourselves, and we become overly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, out of fear of offending God. ". . . but perfect love casts out fear . . ." once we are surrendered to God ( 1 John 4:18 ).

We should quit asking ourselves, "Am I of any use?" and accept the truth that we really are not of much use to Him. The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time.

-Oswald Chambers