Without Good Friday...

To most of this world, this day will pass like any other without any recognition at all, and yet, this day commemorates why Jesus came.

Why is this day largely ignored?  Because of what Christ has done for us.  And acknowledging that requires a realization of our own sinfulness, the selfishness that messes up our lives and takes God's rightful place in our hearts.

Jesus did not die because I am a good person.  "But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5.8  He came to earth and died because we cannot save ourselves.  He paid the price.  "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins."  Hebrews 9.22

Christ's followers thought this was the end.  They expected a great political overthrow.  And now, here He was, dying on a humiliating cross.

They forgot the ancient prophecies about the coming Messiah that revealed how they would recognize Him. The prophet Isaiah wrote 800 years before Christ:

For He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on Him
          the iniquity of us all.

                             Isaiah 53. 5-6

Christ did not call for political revolution, but a call for personal repentance.  Little did they realize, that is where the revolution of hearts begins.

So also the chief priests,
with the scribes and elders,
mocked Him, saying,
"He saved others;
He cannot save Himself.
He is the king of Israel;
let Him come down now
        from the cross,
and we will believe in Him.

                  Matthew 27. 41-42

But if Jesus had come down
             from the cross,
if He had not died for our sins,
        He would not be our Savior.
That is why He came,
because He loves us that much.

Without Good Friday,
   there would not be Easter.

Four little words that reminded me this morning

Last evening, a sweet friend who God has recently put into my life shared an experience she had at work yesterday.  After giving the details about the situation, she smiled.

"God is at work," she reminded me.

I woke way too early this morning, a little bit overwhelmed by... well, everything, including headlines in the news, people I have only heard about, and situations where I am right in the line of fire.  And I began to drag each of these heavy boxes to the altar.  Show me Your way in this, O LORD.

But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God.

                         Psalm 73. 17

And I felt the words of my friend engraved in my heart:
             "God is at work."

That is the reality.

Reality is what actually exists.  As my father's 1931 dictionary defines it, "Reality is what is, despite appearances.  It is opposed to the imaginary, the make-believe, the fictitious, the merely apparent, the artificial, the ostensible, the world of make-believe."

And as God says, "I AM."

This is not a different perspective on things,
a positive outlook,
a coping mechanism,
             but the reality of who God is.

God is at work,
    far more,
    far deeper,
    far abundantly
         than I could ever imagine.

Sometimes we get a glimpse
              despite appearances,
the deeper work of God.
Circumstances are not the end,
but they are just what He uses
                 and what He redeems.

"God is at work"
are the four little words that reminded me this morning
               of God's faithfulness.

O LORD God,
You have only begun
to show Your servant
Your greatness
     and Your mighty hand...

                 Deuteronomy 3. 24

...that which only God can do.

If you see something, say something

Even as I am writing this, I looked up for just a fraction of a second.  There, running across the road and up the shaggy un-mown hill, was a red fox.  I have never seen one in this area.  And I would have missed it if I had not been looking.  The creature moved so fast that I was unable to snap a picture with my phone. It scurried through the tall weeds on its tiny foxy feet, here for just a moment and gone the next, like so many opportunities to share Jesus in one way or another.  Open my eyes, O LORD, to what is around me, to those who are right in front of my eyes.

I have found when I share the gospel with someone, there is inevitably a grandfather, a parent, an aunt, a sibling or a good friend, who is a believer and who has been praying, sometimes for years, not just for them, but for a believer to come into their lives.  God works through relationships more powerfully than anything else. 

In the New York subway system, there are reminders in unexpected places to be on the alert.

I would change that sign to read, "If you see someone, say something."

"Bring the name of Jesus there," said the late Henri Nouwen in his book In The Name of Jesus.  Into that conversation.  Into that relationship.  Into all that you do.  Find a place in your day, find a place at your table.  In word and deed.  Someone is praying for that person.  Someone may be praying for YOU.  "Bring a believer into his life."  "Please, O LORD, bring someone to tell her about Jesus."

You may be that "someone,"
you may be the answer to their prayers.

...that God may open to us
a door for the Word,
to declare the mystery of Christ
...that I may make it clear,
as I ought to speak.

                       Colossians 4. 3-4

Surprise endings

Bill devoured a novel this week, reading as he does at the speed of light.  But as the plot unfolded into a good story but a fairly predictable one, suddenly at the conclusion, the narrative took a sharp turn, and all the elements converged into a surprise ending. "I didn't see that coming," he said.

I came to my own surprise ending this week. I have been training now for a marathon for about four months, steadily building up my mileage, going a little farther each week, inching toward the event with long runs, hill workouts, and pounding it out on the treadmill. The marathon is tomorrow.  I arranged and rearranged my schedule to accommodate it, but God had something different in mind.

I will not be at the starting line in the morning.  All the elements converged into a completely different story that I didn't see coming.

And if my tweaked hip muscle was not enough, God affirmed my decision with the weather.  Earlier in the week, there was a possibility of rain. No big deal.  A couple of days later, the forecast was mid-30s with an accumulation of snow.  Well, I've run in worse conditions.  And then, to close the door completely, it is now predicted to be a bone-chilling 29 degrees at the start of the race, high of 41, and 80 percent chance of snow and rain.  How bad did God have to make the weather before I would click "cancel?"

Even early this morning as I arose, I contemplated the 12 hour round trip of driving for a four and a half hour run in the cold rain.  And then, I hobbled a little bit across the bedroom floor.  Case dismissed.

I thought that God was leading one way, but here at the end of the training, I find myself in a different place.  And it might not have anything to do with running at all.

And strangely, I do not feel defeated by this sudden change of plans, but feel released, moving freely within this alteration, another time, a different season, other purposes in it yet to come.  My upbringing has taught me to stubbornly stay the course, dig in your heels, and never quit.  But my faith has taught me to follow God into the very details, be faithful on the long paths in the wilderness, and always be ready to turn on a dime for that which God has prepared -- even that which takes us unexpected and unaware.

I am not giving up anything at all.

It may be a surprise ending to me,
                            but not to God.
The richest part of this story
         was not at the finish line
but in the adventure itself
                 in the getting there.

We focus too dearly,
cling too tightly to a prescribed course of action
               a logical outcome,
 an obvious path,
even a vision of God waiting at the finish line
                             when all is said and done,
          but instead I find that He walks me through.
God is faithful.
Beyond what I can ask or fear,
                     He is there,
beyond all things,
                          He is.

"Do you trust Me in this?"
Absolutely.

When we are open to His leading
      and heeding His voice,
even when we can't see where we are going,
          we are on the way. 

It's not the end at all,
     but just ready for so much more ahead.

Surely the LORD is in this place,
and I did not know it.

                         Genesis 28. 16

Leprechauns, Easter eggs, and one generation away

I took our three year old grandson and 18 month old granddaughter to the public library story hour last week for a half hour of stories and songs.

Of course, being March, there was a song about St. Patrick's Day with lucky leprechauns, pots of gold and the wearing of the green -- none of which have anything to do with St. Patrick who wasn't even Irish.  

We are just one generation from the truth getting buried altogether.  I refer to my posting last year on March 16, 2015 St. Patrick and the Superheroes.  Let your children know who he really was.

Twenty five years ago, just a week or two before Easter, I was reading to one of our daughters and her friends.  Somehow, we ended up reading the story about Easter out of The Beginner's Bible.  Her little friend Grant listened with eyes wide open.  At the end, he exclaimed, "I had no idea Jesus had anything to do with Easter!"

I thought about that as I passed the other day a sign at a church announcing an Easter egg hunt between services on Easter morning.

One generation away, I reminded myself.

Over and over, Scripture repeats the urgency of teaching the next generation about  God.  "And when in time to come your son asks you, "What does this mean?" you shall say to him... (Exodus 13. 14)

What happens when truth is not intentionally taught to the next generation?  The next generation just doesn't know.

On December 26, 2004, a tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused destruction in eleven countries and the loss of a quarter of a million lives.  Tsunami waves are not unknown in that part of the world, but the last major tsunami in that region occurred on June 26, 1941.

In the past when the ground shook, children had been taught to run up into the hills -- up until this generation.  But this time, when the water pulled back, people ran to the beach instead of away from it.  There was a mere hour of time before the wave hit, destroying all buildings one-half mile from the shore.  Destruction reached one mile inland.  Walking briskly, even children can cover a mile in about twenty minutes. But no one had told them to run away.

Strangely enough, on the island of Simeulue which was amazingly close to the earthquake epicenter and one of the first to be hit by the tsunami, not one of the 70,000 people on the island was killed by the waves even though 90 percent of the buildings along the coast were destroyed.  One report pointed out that these islanders had passed on traditions that stemmed from a tsunami that had hit their island in 1907 -- when the ground shakes, run into the hills.  The secret of their survival had been passed on from one generation to another.

Leprechauns and Easter eggs?   What happens when truth is not intentionally taught to the next generation?  The next generation just doesn't know.

And that teaching is up to you.

We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD,
                and His might,
and the wonders which He has wrought...
That the next generation might know them,
         the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
but keep His commandments.

                       Psalm 78. 4-7