The Wait

I hear that during this week's lunar eclipse that the animals were very still, very silent.  They anticipate something that nature is bringing so they hush.  They sit still. They gather their young and lay securely in their nests or beds, waiting. 

I think that this is what happened on earth the night of the birth of Christ.  I imagine that some people, caught up in their own business and importance, missed the pause. They hustled and bustled through their daily activities. But those in tune with God simply knew.  Their air was heavy with anticipation of something.  The wind ceased.  Animals were quite.  Birds hushed their singing.  No wolves howled or dog barked or horses neighed.   

The earth was silent.  She was waiting. 

Suddenly, after a young girl's cries of labor pains, a baby's cry broke the silence.  Angels appeared on a hill top to shepherds.  I'm guessing that birds began to sing much earlier than normal.  Young kids danced while old goats watched.  Horses neighed and whinnied while roosters crowed in the middle of the night.  Trees danced, even without a breeze, while grass swayed.  Rivers babbled a little more joyfully. 

The wait was over.  The Savior was born.  Redemption and hope lay in a manger in Bethlehem.  Isaiah 9:6 tells us "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

The wait is over.  Jesus has come. 

Let's tell the world. 

Dropping the Mom Ball

I dropped the mom ball recently.  I juggle several balls at once and am fairly successful but I let the mom ball go, hands down.  Kersplat!  I didn't actually just gently release it.  I inadvertently threw it to the ground. 

 I felt like a total bust.  It was so stupid, the releasing of the mom ball.  I was grumpy, the day had been long, and with a wicked and resounding thump, that usually light, airy orb dropped to the ground like a rock.  A boulder even.  One unthinking little (really, I mean, little) act on my behalf and disappointment was instantaneous.  Hurt and confusion were apparent in the eyes of my child.  No amount of explaining could rationalize what I had done in a moment of selfish pettiness. 

Funny how a split second can change everything. 

Thank God for repentance and forgiveness.  After a deep breath I said, "I'm sorry.  I won't do that again."  (Repentance means saying,  "I was wrong and I won't do that again".)  And my baby looked at me and said, "It's okay.  I love you."  We've moved on.  That was moment has become a drop in the bucket of our history, of our story.  That forgiveness liberated me from my selfishness. 

Again, funny how a split second can change everything.  This time for the better.  

All that from a child.  How much more does Jesus forgive us when we turn to Him in true repentance, after repeated acts of selfishness, pettiness, and sheer rebellion and say, "It's okay.  I love you." 

We've all dropped the ball on some front.  Maybe it's not the mom ball for you; maybe it's the spouse, sibling, friend, child, co-worker ball, or complete stranger ball.  Maybe it's the Jesus ball. 

Jesus paid everything for us because He loves us that dearly.  He is waiting anxiously for us to say, "I'm sorry that I haven't lived for You, Jesus." Pass the Jesus ball to someone else today.  Give them the chance to hear the Savior whisper gently to their hurting heart, "It's okay.  I love you." 

What Do you Call Me?

One of the things that Pastor Jeff said during the sermon was that Jesus doesn't call me by my sin, He calls me out of my sin. Man, oh, man!  The world call us by our sins.  "ou're the adulterer, the drunk, the thief, the liar, the (fill in the blank)".  They remember us for what we have done and don't want to know us for who we are now, in Christ.

Now here is the sticky part:  how do we label fellow Christians?  How do you label me?  How do I label you?  If I am stepping on your toes, don't feel bad.  I am dancing the jig on my own as I write this.  Do we, as Christians, remember that fellow Christians are just as forgiven as we are?  Jesus tells us to forgive others (Mark 11:25) but He also tells us that if we don't forgive others that God will not forgive us (Matthew 6:15, John 20:23). 

Let me tie two things together for you, for me.  If I don't "unlabel" my fellow Christians, if I choose to remember their past (sordid or otherwise) while claiming that my own has been forgiven, why would I ever expect that the world would see forgiveness as whole, all encompassing, and total?  Why would I expect that non-Christians would believe that Jesus can forgive when I don't act like I believe it? 

Ouch.  Maybe even double ouch. 

Division in the church is a great tactical weapon of Satan and labels fuel discord among believers.  My prayer for us all that we will not only present but truly live in such a way that we show a united and forgiven front to the world.  I pray that we will allow the light of our God to shine brightly through us and pierce the dim, hopeless darkness that covers this world. 

The Scars of My Past

If you know me or have met me you have probably noticed that I have a tattoo on my chest.  Actually, I have a rather large tattoo bat emblazoned across my chest.  The "battoo" (as I am fond of calling it) comes from another lifetime, a part of my life that is so distant that I seem to recall reading about it in a book and that the life belonged to someone else, not me. 

Me & My Silly Husband & the Bat

Alas, when I look in the mirror in the mornings, the bat looks back.  He has not moved over the last 11 years.  His eye is still fixed unseeing on the same object that he has been looking at for quite some time.  And there are days when I see him and I hate him.  I resent the time that brought such a scar to my life.  I loathe the reminder of who I was.

On these days, Satan is whispering fiercely and steadily into my ear, "Look who you are, Michelle.  Look at your life.  No one can change who you are.  Did you think you could really change?"

If I'm not careful, I'll buy these lies of the enemy, these subtle words so carefully crafted and made personal for me.  If left to stand on my own I will fall prey to these horrible things that Satan says. 

Thank God, though, that He sent the cavalry in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ.  I am not left to my own.  And God loves me enough to have written His truths down for me so that I can combat the enemies lies.  The scripture below is one that I cling to regularly: 

2 Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified Bible) Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

God has transformed me into a new creature and He calls me His daughter.  I am His own.  I am different than that girl that sat in a tattoo chair a long time ago. And God, in all of His goodness and wisdom, has taken the battoo and made it something beautiful.  Romans 8:28 (NLT) tells us, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

The battoo has made me easy to relate to for teenagers.  It has made other adults feel at ease because they see it and see that no one around me judges me because of it; they are possibly more comfortable with the scars of their own past.  Little children are curious and want to ask questions.  My bat opens conversations with strangers when they comment on it. 

I'll take the scars of my past and offer them up to Jesus every day.  He can use them to do great things! 

Lead A Worthy Life

I was reading Ephesians and I was reminded by Paul of how I am to live each day.  In Ephesians 4:1 Paul writes, "I  . . . beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God." (NLT)

A number of words and phrases have lately encouraged me that I am to be different from the world, that people are to see something in me that they want in their own life, something that reflects God and not me.  We're begin a new series Wednesday night called The Sacred Echo and the premise of this study is that God repeats Himself because He loves us, He wants a relationship with us, and He wants us to hear what He has to say.  Based on this I can say that God is gently reminding me that  I am to live a life worthy of my calling in Him.  

Christianity is free to us.  Jesus died on the cross and by God's grace we are saved.  However, Christianity is not cheap.  It is not a calling that I am to take lightly or treat with the same regard that I treat my digital discount-key card to the local retail store. 

This week my prayer and my plan is to take a good look at my daily activities to make sure that I am living a life that is worthy of the calling.  I'm praying that God will help me to hear His voice so that I take the extra minute and think before I speak and pray before  I act.  

I encourage you to make this your prayer and your plan this week also.  Let's live a life worthy of the calling of Christ.  When we do this we  will no longer be immature like children . . . instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and  more like Christ (Ephesians 4:14a, 15)

Hallelujah!  

Everything has changed

I was listening to Remedy by the David Crowder Band today and "Glory of it All" was playing. I was singing along with DCB and loving life because Remedy is a great album! As I sang, I really heard the lyrics, possibly for the first time in my life.

Oh, He is here
With redemption from the fall
That we may live
For the glory of it all
Oh, the glory of it all

After night
Comes a light
Dawn is here
Dawn is here
It’s a new day, a new day
Oh, everything will change
Things will never be the same
We will never be the same
Oh, everything will change
Things will never be the same
We will never be the same

This song was so appropriately timed because when I heard the lyrics parts of my past had flitted into my mind and were attempting to wreak havoc with their taunting questions, “Can you believe who you were? Did you really do that?” and I was buying into their junk by even entertaining those thoughts.

WE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. YOU will never be the same. I will never be the same.

Praise God!