For Katie

"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory...I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead..." Ephesians 1:14-20 ESV

"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of JAcob is our fortress. "Psalm 46:10,11 ESV

God's Kindness

I got lost in the desert for about 40 years. I went to church; I prayed; sometimes, I read the Word. I rarely thought about sin and I was miserable. I thought I was a Christian. But now I don’t know.

When my life seemed to be the best ever, I was still miserable. I had just graduated from college. I had good, smart kids (and cute, too, as you can see on this site) and a good husband. We were doing well in life. But I was still miserable. In that misery, God reminded me that I had wandered away from him and had let others and things take his place. He taught me to repent and helped me to see the anger towards him, a hatred in my soul towards some in my past, and an idolatrous attachment to people. That was 15 years ago next month.

God is replacing my anger with joy and a passion for him. But along with that he is always leading me back to repentance over and over for the same attitudes, the same ways of looking at the world. I can fake a pretty good Christian. He helps me to repent of that, too. He helps me to confess to my Christian friend the awful sin still in my life: how I put people down and work towards my own gain, especially at work. And my laziness and lack of desire for God.

In his book, “When I Don’t Desire God, How to Fight for Joy,” John Piper says that part of the mystery of joy is that “we are commanded to do what we cannot do. And we must do it or perish. Our inability does not remove our guilt-- it deepens it. We are so bad that we cannot love God. We cannot delight in God above all things. We cannot treasure Christ above money. Our entrenched badness does not make it wrong for God to command us to be good. We ought to delight in God above all things. Therefore it is right for God to command us to delight in God above all things. And if we ever do delight in God, it will be because we have obeyed this command.

That is the mystery: we must obey the command to rejoice in the Lord, and we cannot, because of our willful and culpable corruption. Therefore, obedience, when it happens, is a gift…St Augustine prayed, ‘Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do what you will…O holy God… when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them….We must delight in God. And only God can change our hearts so that we delight in God. We are thrown back on God utterly. The Christian life is all of grace.” copyright 2004 Desiring God Foundation

see Rom 11:36, Ps 51:12, 90:14 and Rom 15:13

If you are not passionate about Christ perhaps you have not repented or are not living a repentant life. Repentance is seeing your sin the way that God sees it for all of it’s ugliness and the reason Christ suffered and died. Repentance is committing to changing your heart and mind and actions. Repentance is remembering the One who took my sin on his back and treasuring him in my heart. Repentance is knowing that I can do nothing of any worth on my own.

As John Piper says above, "life is all of grace." It’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. Pray for his kindness to lead you to repentance.

The Israelites wandered in the wilderness because they did worshipped other things. They did not repent and their hearts became hard. Today we have so many distractions that make us wander around lost: families, work, TV, sports and keeping up with all the new inventions. It doesn’t take long for God’s calling on our life to be drowned out by all of these other interests. Gradually our hearts harden towards God. We barely notice the difference and it's why we don't stand out in the world. We become too comfortable with our lives. God calls us to stop wandering in this useless way. It's robbing us of our delight and passion for God.

“Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.” Hosea 11:3,4 ESV

God, draw us to you and into repentance for every sin that causes us to turn away from you. Keep us from wandering in the desert and lead us to your streams of living water.

Saintly Work

I've been researching some of the topics in the lastest controversy, The Da Vince Code by Dan Brown. I found about this group the Catholics have which is actually a good idea at least how this article describes Opus Dei. While I don't agree with everything in the description, the idea of "be a saint through your work" appeals to me right now, because I'd rather be doing other things ( playing with grandsons or writing. And work is one of the hardest places to be a saint.)

"all Christians are called to a life of holiness consistent with their new nature as children of God. "The majority of Christians," Escrivá writes, "should sanctify themselves in the world, through ordinary work." Thus they follow Jesus who worked as a carpenter and lived as a son in a Jewish family in a small village for 30 years. "

Sanctifying work

Whatever work Christians do is to be done with a spirit of excellence as an effective service for the needs of society, working out of love for God and all men and women. Their work then becomes a fitting offering to God. In his work of service, Jesus Christ "did all things well" (Mk 7:37).

While I'm not sure if we can sanctify ourselves(I'll let that research up to theologians), I like the idea of "ordinary work" having meaning as done out of love for God and others.

The last point is that it's too bad that Dan Brown took a good thing and made it evil. He also used an evil thing to make Silas even more grotesque. I've tried reading this book so that I can interact with my work friends about the movie, but I can't get myself to read a book that distorts Christianity and Christ in such an abhorrent way.

This was the first Easter I really celebrated all that Christ accomplished and I'm not ready to come back to this world where truth is giving way to the imagined.

Mark D Roberts on the book, The DaVinci Code

I Come Quietly to Meet You by Amy Carmichael

I'm reading this short little book about Amy Carmichael edited by David Hazard. An excerpt follows:

"The Lord spoke to me, like a firm grasp of the hand." Isaiah 8:11, Rotherham

"Blessed be the Lord our God, who does--if we speak the honest truth-- cause his word to come to us in just this way: like a strong hand reaching out for us to take hold of firmly, and to take hold of us.

Sometimes this firm grasp comes as He opens our understanding to a single word. His hand has grasped me, in recent days, as my understanding opens up to the word trust.

Trust, I have learned, means: to lean on, to place the weight of my confidence upon...And after this discovery, I've found many verses in the Psalms that provide great comfort when translated in this way. For instance, "I've trusted in [leaned on, placed confidence in] your lovingkindness" (Psalm 13:5).

So I may say: That lovingkindness has loved me with an everlasting love, which forgives and cleanses and will never tire of me-that lovingkindness, Lord, I lean on.

We know that this is not objectionable to the Lord, that He in fact welcomes it. As David sang:"The Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who leans on him." (Psalm 32:10)

Doesn't this tell us something about the love of God--and isn't it just like Him to let us know that He wants us to lean on, not only his lovingkindness, but on his very self? Consider these words, which will further open your understanding:

Whoever leans on the Lord, happy is he. Proverbs 16:20

I will lean, and not be afraid. (Isaiah 12:2)

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace...because he leans on thee...Lean on the Lord forever: for the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. (Isaiah 26:3,4 KJV)

It is never anything in us that accounts for the Lord's goodness to us. Everything we are given is all from Him."

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart leans on him and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28:7

copyright 1991,2005 by David Hazard, Bethany House Publishers, p.15-16

Uncle, two

Uncles

In response to this uncle picture, here's my favorite.

Idols

I read this article by Ben Stein this week and he talks about the idols of our culture. Politics aside, what he says about our star worship is true. The people we idolize today are not true heroes. Even as Christians we tend to idolize the people of the world and rarely mention any true heroes or God.

I was talking to a respected me leader in my church and he was telling me that their grandson was going to visit every baseball field in the country before he grew up. Now I'm not against going to baseball games, but I'm a little concerned about setting a goal like this before a child even begins to talk.

I know that when our kids were little things like that were more important than loving God and living out our faith. We made sure that they played little league and got their music lessons and gymnastics. But we rarely prayed together, much less taught them about the heroes of our so-called faith. Not even the basics of the gospel. It's one of my biggest regrets.

The holiness of God and how easy it is to worship other things didn't have an impact on me until the last few years. Now my children are grown up and I can't go back to teach them the great truths that little kids should learn. I wasted so much time.

I was reading in Ezekial 36 where Ezekial makes the point that everything happens so "that they will know that I am the LORD." When He is Lord he promises to "remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." He also says, " And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules...you shall be my people and I shall be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness." ESV

I feel unclean today and in great need of a new spirit. I put so many people and things ahead of God. God says that we are to "loathe this about ourselves." Loathing isn't a word that's used much because it's too hard on our self-esteem. But God says when we see ourselves as worshippers of other things we do well to loathe that inclination. We are to worship and adore and enjoy Him above anyone or anything in our lives. Because whether we recognize Him as God, He will be God in all of our world, over all of our actions and for all of eternity.

I'm grateful for God's pursuing love and steadfastness in my life. I'm thankful that Jesus remembers that we are dust and that he is always praying for me in groanings that words cannot express. I am inexpressably joyful that He died for my sins and uttered the prayer, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34 ESV

"Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." Luke 23:42 ESV

Long Distance Mother

I have never adjusted to the distance of miles between me and my kids. The older I get the more I want to live where my children live. It's just as much fun and there is just as much joy in being a mom to adults as there is to little children. It's almost like being friends. No matter how old your children get there will never be anyone who loves them like mom.

When I call my mom she says hi, sweetie, and I used to think it was corny. But now I'm starting to understand that to a mom, a child will always be like the little kid she comforted. The desire to take away the hurts never goes away. And it doesn't get any easier because older hurts are usually more serious. But there's always this tug of war on knowing how much to be involved in an adult child's life.

When my grandson was tested for a blood disease I wanted to be right there with them so I had to talk myself out of butting into the situation. After all it was only a test and it probably would be negative. It was hard to go to work and wonder all day long what was going on.

When my daughter gets sick and has two little ones I want to drop everything and help her out. But I have a job and responsibilities here. My heart will always be drawn to taking care of her. I don't always know what to do.

When my son talks about his neighborhood and his dreams for it I want to be there in person to cheer him on and to invest in it myself. It's just not the same over the phone.

And then when they come home to visit you have to cook and get reaquainted and it seems when you just settle down to talk it's time for them to leave.

I know that you are supposed to let go of your children and give them the distance to grown up. Although in the Old Testament grandmas and grandpas and moms and dads and children all lived together. Imagine the lack of separateness when you're living in tents. I suppose you could put some distance between the tents.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, has always been my favorite mother. After the angel of the Lord explained how she would give birth to the Son of God, she said, "Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." Luke 1:38 ESV. The Magnifat is a beautiful hymn praising God: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant."

Mary knew what it was like to let go of her Son and the frustration of seeing him go on to other things that didn't include her. When he wandered off and came back she said, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." But she struggled with it and learned to treasure what he was doing in her heart according to Luke 2:51, "And Mary treasured up all these things in her heart." Surely, she realized that some day she would have to let go of her son.

The movie, "The Passion of the Christ," showed Mary's suffering and how she followed her son every step of the way to the cross. In Luke 2:35, Simeon describes this day for Mary: "a sword will pierce through your own soul, also." I can't imagine what that kind of suffering would be like. I am blessed to have two children passionate on serving Christ where they are, but for the most part they live in relative safety and will never have to die for their faith.

Nevertheless, it is challenging to have your children in ministry and not knowing where they might go next or how far away they might live. Before they were born I gave them to God becasue Hannah is my other favorite mother who said "For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord." 1 Samuel 1:27 ESV.

That is my comfort, that my children, wherever they go, whatever they do, they will always be in the Lord's care. He is more than enough for them.

You would think that when the Son of God was dying on the cross for the sins of the world that He would be thinking of big things, but Jesus shows how fully he entered into our world when he recognized his mother on the cross. When God turned his back on Jesus, when he was dying for me, he remembered his mother and made sure that someone took care of her.

In John 19:25-27 ESV, Jesus says, "Woman, behold your son." Then, he said to John, "Behold, your mother." He was entrusting his mother to his dearest friend so that she would have someone to take care of her for the rest of her life.

Mary also shows courage and stamina in this story as she "stands by the cross." Matthew Henry says, "We may justly admire the power of divine grace in supporting these women. See here the tender affection of these pious women. When all his disciples, except John, had forsaken him, they continued their attendance on him. They were not deterred by the fury of the enemy nor the horror of the sight; they could not rescue him nor relieve him, yet they attend him. We may easily suppose what an affliction it was to these poor women to see him thus abused, especially to the blessed mother...his torments were her tortures, and her heart bled with his wounds. We may justly admire the power of divine grace in supporting these women. We do not find his mother wringing her hands or making an outcry, but standing near the cross, her friends with her. "

With Mary and Hannah as godly examples, I know that whatever distance God puts between me and my children, "his grace is sufficient" and his plan is sovereign and good. Not only that, he knows that it is not easy for mothers to be away from their children. In today's criticism of Christ and the false doctrines rising up to challenge his perfect life, these stories help me to love him and admire him as fully human and fully divine, One who enters into our lives in understanding and compassion.

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our trangressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53 ESV

Surely, this prophecy was one of the treasures in Mary's heart that comforted her while she stood by the cross. As our children bear their crosses, as insignificant as they may be, may God's grace give us as mothers the wisdom and strength we need to stand by as Mary did.

Jesus is Mocked

"And they clothed him in a purple cloak and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him...And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him." Mark 15:17-20

I've been listening to a simple song this week called the Gospel Song from Drew Jones and Bob Kauflin/ Sovereign Grace. Scroll down to the bottom and listen to the reprise(it's longer). The song talks about our holy God who died so that we could live.

Indiana Sunrise

Change

I like what this post says about how long it takes to change. He also says, "For Paul, one's conversion is like an engagement – we are promised to Christ, and the wedding comes at the end of time when he returns. And his desire for us is that we live our present lives with this final destiny in view – that we live in such a way now so as to be pure and holy then."

If only it were as easy as putting words on paper.

Holy Week

"Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' and struck him with their hands." John 19:1-3, ESV

The notes in the Reformation Study Bible states, "the roman scourge was cruel and sometimes fatal. The whip had metal or bone fragments in it to tear the flesh."

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible says that "Christ's wounds take the sting out of ours" and also "see here the wickedness and injustice of the soldiers. Thus Christ's holy religion had been wickedly represented , dressed up by bad men at their pleasure and so exposed to contempt and ridicule...but see here and admire the invincible patience of a sufferer, the invincible love and kindness of a saviour."

Last night men attempted to ridicule Christ again with the program on the "Gospel of Judas." Don't be fooled. The real Jesus is not found there, but in Matthew, MArk, Luke and John. Worship him.

More on the Gospel of Judas by MArk Roberts and Al Mohler

Truth for Life

Listen to Alistair Begg’s daily broadcasts. His opening prayers alone are worth your time.

Please Stay Awhile

In Luke 24:13-49, Luke tells the story about the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. After they had talked about the prophecies fulfilled by his death, "they urged him strongly, saying, 'Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.' So he went in to stay with them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight."

For all my family and friends today I pray that our first and strongest desire would be to urge Jesus to stay with us for awhile, to sit down and talk to us, to open our eyes and help us to recognize the treasure we have in him. We have to desire his presence more than mother, father, spouse, child, grandchild or friend.

Stay with us awhile, today, Lord and open our eyes.

What kind of Christian are You

This post asks the question, “What kind of a Christian are you?” It’s a very broad question, but the context is political. I’d consider it a privilege if someone called me bible-thumping in any sense, but very few people in my life know how often I read the Bible because I’m usually alone when I read it. However, bible-thumping has a negative connotation. I want any confrontation I have to be marked by love and kindness. I want to be the kind of Christian who according to John Newton, “believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him an habitual tenderness and gentleness of spirit.”

In his book entitled “The Roots of Endurance,” John Piper states that Christians should be “strong and durable as redwood trees, and tender and fragrant as a field of clover- unshakably rugged in the ‘defense and confirmation’ of the truth (Philippians 1:7) and relentlessly humble and patient and merciful in dealing with people.”

I want to be the kind of Christian who brings honest dialogue into my public life about the political issues in our world. I try to listen to those who disagree with me to see if there is any common ground from which we can attempt to make a consensus. I like to ask questions so that I can understand their point of view. I don’t intend to browbeat someone with the truth, but rather point them to the way of learning it for themselves so that it becomes a part of their thinking and habits.

My nonreligious friends have some idea that I’m a Christian although I rarely talk about it. They ask me to pray for them and they seek me out for advice. When I give my word to be confidential they trust me in that. I’m not very bold about coming out and talking about God, but I think I should be more free to talk about the most important relationship. It is easier to talk about politics and leave God ought of the conversation, but that’s not how I want it to be.

With my Christian friends I easily talk about my sins and faith. In fact, I choose friends who are serious about God and want to know Him. We don’t talk about the latest fashions or TV or movies. Rarely do we talk about politics.

I feel strongly about education, welfare, abortion, marriage and the role of government in my life. I am a Republican, but I don’t agree with all that they do. I pray more than I talk about these things. But I want to speak up more than I do. My concerns for our country are that we have actually taken diversity away by making our speech sanitized and inoffensive to all. Inclusive language has dulled our writing and made it awkward. It was so much easier to consider us all men.

But I am not defined by a political party and I do not want to be remembered as a good republican. I want to be known as someone who loves people no matter what they think or believe. I want to be able to speak the truth to those I meet and have them know at the same time the love I have for them in my heart. Because I know that the son of God died on the cross for me as well as them. I’m one sinner helping another sinner find the way home.

“A nominal Christian is content with proving the way of salvation by a crucified Redeemer. But the true Christian loves it, delights in it, glories in it and shudders at the very thought of glorying in anything else…Let all your joys flow from the contemplation of his cross. “ Charles Simeon

In John 17, Jesus' last time with the disciples he talked about love. I want to be known for the way I love so that his name is known:

"I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Think about it: this love caused a sinless Jesus to go to the cross for sinless me and you. We have easy lives with very little sacrifice. The least we can do in Jesus name is love our political opposites.

Simeon, Newton and John Piper quotes from John Piper's The Roots of Endurance @ 2002 by Desiring God Foundation.

Embrace the Mystery

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord,
Or who has been his counselor?"

Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid.

For from him and through him and to him are all things,
To him be the glory forever. Amen. " ESV Romans 11:33-36

It's not about why God is doing something, but what he is teaching us through the circumstances of our lives. "We will never understand God's ways... We can wander and wonder or we can worship...Embrace the mystery of who God is" James MacDonald

"Be still and know that I am God." Ps 46:10

Listen to James MacDonald on God's mysterious ways.

My Dad

I remember the first time we met: you were painting the house we rented from your dad. At lunch time you sat down beside me on the porch and started telling me stories. You were tall and strong with those muscles that looked like baseballs in your arms, a bachelor looking for trouble. You were the one who brought songs to my life with your Harlem Goat and the silly way that you would drawl the words out at the end. But I didn’t like it when you dated my mom: I still prayed for my “real” dad to be with us.

I had lots of fun when you came over as long as you didn’t marry my mother. But I guess you proposed and I started to hate you because you wanted to take the place of my “real” father. The five kids you chose to love were undisciplined and used to being independent, but you took us on the tractor and to feed the cows. You were a good babysitter, but not our dad. You took us to your mom’s for candy and Superman on the TV, because we didn’t have one.

I yelled at you a lot and told you I hated you. I couldn’t let go of the prayers for my dad to come back. But you taught me how to drive your truck with patience and laughter. You let me drive your brand new John Deere tractor on the highway and to the elevator. You taught me how to plow the old-fashioned way on a tractor without a cab. You planted the flowers and trees and taught me to love the farm and open air. You gave us a pony, rabbits and dogs. You took us to Florida for a family honeymoon. We fought about politics: you liked Carter; I liked Reagan. We both loved Kennedy (but maybe not now).

We burned down your shed and then your barn and lived to tell about it. The drought came and you sent us to college. Four out of five of us graduated. Your pockets emptied out. You walked me down the aisle in my fifty dollar dress, but you looked handsome and happy in the ruffled shirt (no complaints).

Mom wanted dad back, too and you waited for her. You said, “She’s really a good woman.” And you loved her when she wandered. I moved away and had kids and didn’t come home much. It was too painful to see the distance between you and my mom. I wrote dear dad in the fathers day cards I started sending to you. I’m glad I apologized for my childish hate, but you acted like you didn’t know what I was talking about.

You withered away and lost your ability to see or walk. Your baseball muscles were gone. But you sent me hand-made cards and a penny every birthday. You and Mom made up and got along the last year of 37. I wanted to take care of you, the dad of my heart, but you wanted to stay in your home where you were born 94 years before. I tried to get you the biggest bouquet to put on your casket. The ribbon on the flowers said “DAD.”

I got a lot of interests from you: love for flowers, writing, politics and rural living. But most of all you taught me to be faithful. I miss you, dad. Thanks for loving me.


The Harlem Goat
Oh there was an old man And he lived in a shack
And he had an old goat Tied in the back
One day that goat Wasn’t feeling fine
Ate three red shirts Right off the line
Old Dick got mad Gave him a whack
And he tied him to The railroad track
The whistle blew The train grew nigh
And that old Harlem Goat Was due to die
He gave three groans Three groans of pain
Coughed up those shirts And flagged the train
But a button got stuck In the middle of his throat
And that was the end Of the Harlem Goat!