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LAUGHING MATTERS

“Abraham fell facedown; he laughed…”

GENESIS 17:17

 Life is serious.  So many things can weigh us down.  Sometimes we just seem to need a good laugh.  God created us with the capacity to laugh.  And I have a strong suspicion that God sees moments in our own lives that would be cause for Him to laugh…at least chuckle…as well.

Abraham and Sarah both have notes in their stories that include laughter.  God took note, enough to include it in the Story He was writing in their lives.

Childless and beyond the years of childbearing, God made a promise to Abraham. . . the promise of having a son.  Although Abraham and Sarah had devised their own solution to the problem (a son with Sarah’s servant Hagar), God’s Plan still moved forward.  It involved a miracle.  A miracle baby – a son – would be born to this elderly couple.

When Abraham was told of it, by God, he laughed.   Later, when Sarah was also told, by visiting angels, she laughed as well.

But their laughter was more out of disbelief than of joy.  It was a promise that was humanly impossible. Unbelievable.  Laughable.

A year later, their little miracle baby boy was born.  The Promise of God came into their lives…into their arms.  They named him “Laughter” (Isaac.)

Abraham and his family went on to impact the world and all of history.  Was their life easy?  NO! But I have a sneaking suspicion that every time Abraham and Sarah spoke Isaac’s name – Laughter – they remembered their own laughter of unbelief. Isaac’s very presence was a reminder.  They watched their huggable, loving, flesh-and-blood  Evidence that God’s Word is true.  What God says is solid, living, and absolutely worthy of belief.

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HOPE

“May God, the Source of Hope,

fill you with joy and peace through your faith in Him.

Then you will overflow with hope

by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

My world has changed.  Our world has changed.  Seemingly out of nowhere a dangerous virus is spreading.  At first it seemed a far distant danger.  Now it is at our door.  Every door.  Everywhere on this globe.  Nations, cities, and homes throughout the earth are being affected.

We have been taken by surprise.   We cannot fix this.   We must step into the Unknown, and walk a path we have not walked before.

There was a man named Paul, long, long ago who wrote of watching his world turn upside-down.  He was successful, brilliant, respected, and very powerful.  But in one blinding moment, his entire world changed forever.  All of his political power, affluence  and success came crashing down.

He had nowhere to look but Up.   Then,  a life-shattering encounter with God….and he would never be the same.

Paul went on to become a key writer for the Bible’s New Testament.   His prayer (above) has passed through the ages, and is as appropriate for us as it was for those to whom he had written  2000 years ago.  He knew very personally what it was to suffer physically, emotionally and mentally. . . directly because of his faith and faithfulness in following Jesus.

Yet, his new reality  became one of joy….peace….hope.   Only the Spirit of God can do that in a person.   Paul had experienced  The Source of Hope in the midst of becoming hopeless…completely “undone.”   All of his affluence and power faded.  But out of that single encounter with Jesus, Paul experienced HOPE from its very Source…God.

 May we, in our present Moment, blinded and on the ground, LOOK UP.

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Darkness

“As the sun was just about to set,

a deep sleep

-a dreadful, deep darkness-

came over Abram.”

Genesis 15:12

Abram had just experienced an amazing time with God.  He had promised Abram some life-changing events that were in his future….glimpses of what He had planned for him.  God had sealed those promises with a private ceremony….just between Himself and Abram.   Then, midstream, Abram experiences “a dreadful, deep darkness.”

Have you ever had those bright, shining moments….only to be followed by the opposite extreme?   I know that sometimes I’ve felt like a ping-pong ball….being batted back and forth between two opposing circumstances.  The “shining moment” becomes a “dark cloud” that has come out of no-where.

Sometimes, the “LIGHT” of God surrounds us in moments that are almost blinding.  Then the “shadow” hits.  The contrast is so confusing!  Frustrating!

What if . . . God’s Hand is creating the shadow.  What happens in the shadow?  On this earth, when the sun hits us full-force, it becomes too much to bear.  We look for shade.  We head toward a shelter that will give us some relief from the blazing light and heat of the powerful sun.  God describes Himself as Light, and speaks of the “shadow of His Wings.”

When God’s own Hand casts a shadow on our lives, there is always a purpose.  It is not cruelty, or just  playing with our minds and hearts.  That is not Who He is.

When I am in the desert, the sun can be absolutely unbearable.  Finding a shadow is crucial, and remaining in that shadow is the best place to be.  With the blazing heat of the sun so near, I need . . . want to remain in the shadow.  Further physical activity must pause.  Time, slowly ticking moment by moment,  becomes the perfect setting to think….to listen.   

Abram was learning this. He was learning how to listen to God.  God continued to speak to Abram even tho’ he was in a darkness that God had allowed.  His Promises continued.  His plans continued to unfold, but in a way that He had Abram’s full attention.

When the Shadow comes, don’t run… don’t scramble to create your own light.  Be still. Wait.   Listen.   God is in the Shadow with you.                                   [read all of Genesis 15]

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Things That Tick God Off

[The Lord Invites Israel to Turn Away from Sin ]

 “Wash yourselves!

Become clean!

 Get your evil deeds out of My sight.

Stop doing evil.

 Learn to do good.

Seek justice.

Arrest oppressors.

Defend orphans.

 Plead the case of widows.”  

Is 1:16-17

Wow!!  Although the note before these verses calls this an invitation, I read it as a strong challenge!  I think the Writer…the Lord (via Isaiah)…sounds pretty ticked!   There is strong emotion in his words.

He begins with the challenging list that speaks to the reader’s own personal condition…sin!  It’s a short list of heart issues…attitudes….things hidden in our own hearts, but blatently clear to God.  He hates sin.  It ruins us, ruins our relationship with Him, and wreaks havoc on the  people in our lives.

It’s as if God is taking our faces in His Hands….”Look at Me!  Listen!!”  These commands have to do with our own choices. . . things we need to do ourselves.  I hear passion and emotion in His heart towards this pointed list.

Then, there comes a short list of behaviors that should be outcomes of the work we need to do in our own hearts and attitudes.  They have been placed in a catagory that focuses on “others.”

Seek Justice:

  • Arrest oppressors
  • Defend Orphans
  • Plead the case of widows

Justice involves setting the “wrong”….right.   The three examples listed are such a common part of life in our world.  These are not descriptions of people in a certain part of a city, or some other country……they’re often right in our own neighborhoods and circles of relationship.

Arrest oppressors:   Oppression involves using power to push others down.  Vulernable people are easy to see.  And it’s a fair assumption that those in a position of greater strength or power in the life of “the weaker” have used that strength or power to push someone else down….or out.  Whether it’s a matter of oppressing someone’s  life circumstances, or their emotional vulnerability,  their financial poverty, physical or mental limitations, or tough circumstances of life that have put them in a place of weakness, the people who take advantage of that become “oppressors.”  The implication in this verse is that there may have even been illegal actions that have pushed those who are already “down” even further down.  Arresting means putting a stop to what is going on….perhaps even legally.   God’s heart is always soft towards those in vulnerable, weakened, broken conditions.  His Heart is for the humble….humbled.  Shouldn’t ours be as well?

 Defend orphans:  We do not have “orphanages” in our American world, but we still have orphans.  Broken families are everywhere.  Children abandoned by a parent, or parents, are often put into a legal system that allows for moving children from home to home.  Millions of children have lived with no sense of stability, safety, emotional attachment or commitment from either their birth parents nor the temporary care of others who may or may not have a love or commitment to the child in their care.   God’s Word often specifies His Heart for orphans….He

cares for them.  He sees them, and looks to us to get involved in such a way that we add to their sense of being safein this dangerous world.  The Bible often refers to God as “FATHER”

because we ALL need a father.

Plead the case of widows:   Widows in ancient times stood a good chance of losing everything if their husband died.  They became terribly vulnerable.  Having lost a husband, they also lost their sense of safety…protection…having that husband who had stood between them and the things of this world that would hurt them.  They had no voice.  They were “easy targets” for those who would use them for their own benefit.  Without the one who had been their protector, the widow now takes the brunt of what this world throws at women who have lost so much, on so many levels.  No matter how strong the widow, when the “two” becomes “one”, life is forever changed.  It is often still true today.  A wife who loses her husband experiences repercussions that continue for the rest of her life.

For God to name these two specific catagories of human reality through Isaiah, matters.  His Words are strong.  This isn’t a suggestion.  His challenge began with heart issues, but ended with practical action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CHILDLIKE

“Ask and you will receive.

Search and you will find.

Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

Everyone who asks will receive.

The one who searches will find,

And for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Mtt.7:7-8

It helped me to rearrange the order of these six lines a little, connecting the lines that applied to each other….

“Ask and you will receive.

(Everyone who asks will receive.)

Search, and you will find.

(The one who searches will find,)

Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

(and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.)”

Mtt.7:7-8

I love the way that each instruction that Jesus gave to us (bold lines above), was followed with the assurance of what God’s response would be.  The statement following each instruction puts more strength behind the words, and more clarity of what God will do in response to our ask…..our search….our knock.

What if I don’t ask?    What if I don’t search?   What if I never knock on that door?   God’s clear responses listed here are firm statements.  There is such reassurance concerning His reaction to our various human movements toward Him.  It’s childlike….simple….human….everyday kind of engagement with God.

I remember when I was about 3 years old, my mom was lying on the couch holding her hand over her ear.  She was in a lot of pain, and I had not seen her like that before.  I went close to her and asked why she was crying.  She said, “Oh!  Mommy’s ear hurts so much! . . . Would you pray for it?”    Without hesitation, I put my little hand on her ear and said, “Jesus, please make Mama’s ear stop hurting.”   I don’t think I even said, “Amen.”   Within a minute, my mom said, with dismay, “Honey!!  The pain is all gone!   It’s gone!”

I think we make our interactions with God far more complicated than necessary.  The Bible talks about childlike faith.  Children interact with Him with such simplicity….a purity of belief.  They have not yet learned to view life with mistrust.

May we learn from them…and give the children in our lives no reason to learn to distrust……

 

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“You are . . .”

 Today is my wedding anniversary….February 27th, 1981….the day I became his wife.  But he is not here…I remember alone.

…and then my Groom came.

Earlier in the day a friend had come to my door, handing me a beautiful bouquet of yellow tulips, and a small note.  She told me of how she had begun her day as usual, in her car driving to her job.  Turning on the radio she had heard the words, “You are….” 

Later that day, she again turned on her car radio, and again the first words were “You are…”  Remembering the morning’s first words, her attention was peaked.   Twice in the same day, the first words out of the radio were exactly the same.  “You are . . .”  Each a different context, but exactly the same two words. She turned off the radio, sensing that God was the one saying those words… she was listening.

As she began her drive back home at the end of her work day, she again turned on the radio.  And  for a third time that day, the first words over the airwaves were, “You are…”   Now, her full attention arrested, she asked God directly….was this something she was being prompted to say to God? Something she needed to consider about His Character, or His Goodness, or…?

Then the sentence that had begun three times that day was completed . . . God finished.    “Tell Janet this message from Me:   

               ‘You are beautiful……You are Loved……You are Mine.’”

She stopped the car, wrote down the words, and bought a sweet bouquet of yellow tulips.  She delivered the flowers….and a simple card with the message.  A warm hug, and she was gone.

I contemplated the message for a while….it was familiar somehow.  I knew I had heard these words before, but…..

Then, it came to me!   Yes!  I had heard these words before….decades earlier.  It was a moment in time when God had shown me a picture of myself as a little girl.  A significant adult in my life  had said words to me that made me feel deeply ashamed for twirling in front of a mirror, delighting in the pretty, flowing dress I had been given.  Then, I’d heard the words, “Tsk, tsk, tsk,….vanity, vanity!”  

God showed me that in that moment, so long ago, it was as if a heavy black curtain had been thrown over me.   I could not see out, and no one could see me through it.  It was a curtain of shame …unjustified shame … that I had unknowingly lived beneath for most of my life.

Then, the “picture” had changed, and I saw Jesus standing at the altar…a wedding altar.  He saw me beneath that thick, black curtain of shame.  Effortlessly, as if it was a piece of tissue, He pulled that heavy black curtain off of me, flinging it over His Shoulder as if it was “nothing”.    Immediately, He held a pure, white veil…a wedding veil….and placed it over me.  It was the most delicate, beautiful, sheer white veil I had ever seen.  I could see through it. . . and He could see me, almost as if it was made of the most transparent crystal fabric.  I felt utterly beautiful beneath it….as a chosen bride. 

As He looked at me, He had said,  “You are beautiful.  

                                                               You are loved.

                                                                       You are mine.”

Today, the day of my 39th wedding anniversary, sitting alone in my living room I read those words again.  Those same words that had been spoken to me years ago by my Heavenly Bridegroom, and were now in writing on a simple notecard. Before me were 3 “timer” candles set around the vase of tulips.  As I repeated the simple words, “You are beautiful….” one of the candles came to light. “You are loved…” the second candle lit.   “You are Mine.” The third candle’s flame sprang to life.

 My Bridegroom had come . . . on this day that was the marker of the earthly bridegroom who had captured my heart for 37 years.  My Heavenly Bridegroom renewed His Promise….His forever Love for me.

 

 

 

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Learning to Initiate

“Ask, and you will receive.

Search, and you will find.

Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

 Everyone who asks will receive.

The one who searches will find,

and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”    

Matt. 7:7-8

I am not an initiator.  Unfortunately, I have lived my life with an underlying sense of not wanting to “be a bother.”   I know I have missed out on a lot of life because of that underlying belief.

But this verse is one that gives me courage.  It challenges any thoughts of “being a bother” to God.  He challenges me….us…..to interact with Him with determination….by choice….by His Invitation.   I hear that Invitation in these Words.  ASK.  SEARCH.  KNOCK.   There’s no shadow of asking us to step into the background from Him.  No sense that He sees us as “a bother.”

I remember as a little girl, seeing things I would have liked, but my own insecurities held me back from asking and receiving.  I missed out on a lot because of that underlying fear of “bothering” anybody.

In the desert (my second family), it is not culturally common for people to “ask”….even tho’ as refugees, they have great needs.  It’s almost like a guessing game to catch the very tiny hints of the needs they keep hidden from guests and friends.  Yet, I think that most friends and guests would be very happy to be asked to step into their need.  So often those needs are hidden, and the opportunity to help is lost.

In this passage, God (Who knows EVERYTHING already) still encourages us to ASK….SEARCH…..KNOCK.  There’s something in our own hearts that causes us to hold back in our approach to the God Who created and loves us.  HE knows exactly what “that” is, and wants us to get past it.  Some wrong perception or belief about God Himself makes us hesitate or refuse to directly approach and interact with Him in honesty and confidence in His Love for us.

What is “that thing” in your heart?

God invites you to step past it, come to Him,

and ask, . . . search . . . and knock.    

He is patiently waiting.

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Watching the Hand

“Behold,

As the eyes of servants look unto

The hand of their masters,

So our eyes wait upon

The Lord our God.”

Ps .123:2

Have you ever been in a room with Royalty?   Or a high-level leader?  A respected person with power?   Familiar imagery  is that of the “Leader” or “Master” surrounded by other people who are there just to provide whatever may be requested by the most important one in the room.

I had never caught this detail before:  “…eyes…look to the hand of their master.”  It may be a slight movement that activates the response of the watching servant.  If the servant is not paying attention to his master’s hand, he loses trust of his master.  He/she is more preoccupied with other things going on in the room, or in his own mind.  The initial message is non-verbal…just a move of the hand.  It is wordless communication which has been learned through experience.

I imagine it requires great focus for a servant to keep his eyes on the hand of his Master.  He needs to be in the room.  He/she needs to block out all the distractions going on around him/her, though significant they may be.  When the hand moves, the response must come.  Focus on that hand could affect trust, necessary actions, relationship and confidence.    It means that everything else going on in the room becomes secondary.  Everything else in the life of that servant takes a step back from the priority of watching that hand and responding appropriately.

Whoever we are, if we have become servants to our Master, “the Lord our God”, we need to follow this example in the Psalms.    Am I available?  Am I paying attention?   Am I willing to respond?  What are my distractions?  What has my higher focus?  Are my eyes on Him to the point that I would even notice that His Hand has moved… signaling something to me without words?

His Hand carries deep scars.   For me.  For you.  Out of Love that is far beyond human capacity. If I focus on His Hand, whatever He does with it, it embodies the Greatest Love, and Highest Calling.

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Things My Mother Taught Me: Through the homes we lived in.

Ethel Gregg, my mom, passed away January 29, 2020. At an beautiful, memorial held on Saturday, February 1st, I shared this memory of the homes she had lived and what mom had taught me…

In the old Chicago 3rd floor walk-up:

  • Strangers were welcome…even the homeless guy from Skid Row who drank my dad’s shaving lotion

In the lower level  of my grandparents’ apartment building:

  • All those feet and legs walking past our windows on the sidewalks outside had bodies attached to them;
  • Stay in our own yard;
  • I had a grandmother, a grandfather, and an aunt with a funny little bird;

In the basement of the old condemned church, where our windows were thick glass blocks:

  • “Home” is where we live together and get a new baby sister;
  • Church is what we live below, where Daddy and Mama work;
  • Missionaries were people who gave the church peoples’ old stuff to peoplefar, far away;

In Appleton, Wisconsin:

  • There were bedroom windows that we could actually see through to the outside;
  • Sometimes basement walls of houses cave in, and we have to move;
  • Sometimes, to save money for the church, we have to move to kind of yucky places, where our mom did not like to have to shovel cat poop out of the closets first. But she could make it nice anyway.
  • Whatever house we lived in, it was our family that made it home.
  • She taught me that I could ask Jesus to come into my own heart, and that He would…forever.
  • Music was a very important part of who my mother was, and she always brought it to whatever church we were in, always at the piano or organ or leading choirs;

In Manitowoc, Wisconsin:

  • It was very special to believe in Jesus, and that being baptized in a tank of water in the church showed that I believed;and that it shouldn’t matter that my sister 2 years younger than me could do it at the same time even though I’d had to wait until I was 10.
  • Not much else….just lots of snow and Lake Michigan went on forever;

In Oregon, Illinois:

  • Sometimes a pastor could work for other places besides in a church, like building a youth camp out in the woods;
  • Whether it’s a crummy old house with blue ‘SHUDDERS’ in a small town, or a simple A-frame house in the woods, it can be “home” for our family;
  • Singing with my sister, with Mom at the piano, was something that churches liked, and that we should do that for Jesus, because He gave us our voices for singing to Him;
  • She taught me that I should try not to throw up in church even though I was very very nervous to sing in front of people;

In Menasha, Wisconsin:  (she taught me that)

  • Even when it is just an old church building with no people there at all, we could still have music and preaching, and people would come;
  • We could take care of children for working mothers, and that could pay for the church and our family;
  • She taught me that she could work hard to grow a Day Care that could provide for our family, and help lots of children and mothers to learn more about Jesus;
  • She loved books, and with her daddy’s help, started a Christian Book Store so that other people could find books to help them in faith and life;
  • She helped our dad establish the first Christian Radio station, because the Good News of Jesus needed to go beyond the walls of church buildings;She did whatever she could, using her bookkeeping and secretarial skills to support all of these endeavors;
  • She taught by example that salaries and pay were not any motivation to use whatever skills she had to serve God;
  • Our home was always open to others…to visit or to stay.A widow with three little boys, missionaries and guest speakers passing through, troubled young people, friends and strangers….Mom never complained or made anyone feel unwelcome.
  • She taught by example that marriage is forever.
  • The stranger is welcome;
  • Every person matters;
  • God is always always always PRESENT.

 In her final years, near two daughters, Mom lived in a Senior Community Center (ARC).  Surrounded by her favorite things, whittled down to a comfortable living suite, she showed us what thriving looked like.  She quietly went through her days demonstrating and teaching us all so much:

  • How to “welcome the stranger”….women coming to live in the ARC alone,many widows.  She took them under-wing, incuded them in meal times, and many activities planned for the people living there.
  • Mom became very social…..interacting with anyone she met, nurses, housekeepers, and her ARC neighborhood.She demonstrated caring for her neighbors…and making them feel like family.
  • She filled her days with puzzling, reading with a book club, making funny hats and decorations to celebrate holidays and the Kentucky Derby …complete with big floppy hats decorated to the hilt.Mom taught us that it’s never too late to become “the life of the party.”
  • She played Penny BIngo….and always returned to her room with a little coin purse stuffed to the hilt with pennies. Quietly, hesitantly, she would whisper “Bingo” consistently, filling her little coin purse with her winnings…partly embarassed for “gambling”, but mostly her eyes said, “Party on!”
  • She played her piano for sing-alongs which filled the space…whether holiday songs or the old favorite hymns.She no longer read the music….it all came from her heart.
  • She taught all of us, especially in her ARC home, that everyone had value, was worthy of friendship and love.She rarely ever complained, and frugally moved through her days with grace, kindness, and generosity of loving care.
  • Mom slipped into the Arms of Jesus as gently and quietly as she had followed and lived for Him her whole life.Almost a century.  With a silent, simple breath she went into His Arms.  No struggle.  NO fear.  Perfect Peace.
  • News of Mom’s transfer to Heaven brought many, many tears.Spontaneously, a sweet memorial grew outside her door…notes of love, silk flowers, and paper flowers from the Kentucky Derby hats…from residents and staff alike.

Her death brought to a close her years of teaching by her life example.  But the lessons she wordlessly taught have found places in countless hearts, minds and lives.  As she celebrates now in the Home she lived for on this earth, we know that we will see her again.

She taught us that with absolute certainty.