New life in Christ

Looking back to what’s ahead…..

“Keep your face to the sunshine
and you cannot see the shadow.
It’s what sunflowers do.”
by Helen Keller

Been thinking about………Soft answers. And how the Bible says they turn away wrath. All this time I was thinking it was to turn away the hearer’s wrath, but maybe the whole point is to turn away the wrath of the deliverer as well.

There is always more behind what Jesus says. The Bible is filled with layers. The more I read it the more layers and meanings God reveals.

Life sometimes feels like it’s going frightfully fast. I find myself wanting to stop the stream of it, plug the hole with my finger to keep it from flowing, rushing past……stop it in midstream. And yet I want to move fast forward to retirement. Maybe, I think, life will move more slowly after that. If I can only just get there.

Meanwhile, during the night our minds manufacture dreams through our fears, joys and sorrows. I dreamed one night that I had pulled up to a campsite bulletin board. You know the kind where people put their paperplate message on the board so you will know where to find them? Except I awoke, heart pounding, because I realized they were gone and I could not go where they were.

They went to the place of too much time gone by……Aren’t we all drifting there, even now?

I wonder? Is that part of what drives us to write? To stop time, freeze the moment. Never forget?

These days I find getting older brings a certain comfort. Comfort in knowing the truths I have believed for so long have been verified, proven true. Only years and experience teaches that. Not any school that I know of, except the school that God puts us through.

The more I read the Bible, the more it becomes alive. The more try to live it, the more I know it’s true. And when I clutch it to my chest I can actually feel it saving me. It is a book like no other, it is pulsating with life…..

Redemptive power of both the redeemed and the Redeemer.

And this is one song that has no end.

The song of the redeemed. Let Heaven and nature sing.

When life feels stagnant

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Revelation 21:5,6

I was kind of pouting yesterday…….Well, complaining actually. I was informed I have to train yet another person for my job because the person I just got finished training may go on to another position……may. He is interviewing for other jobs. To be honest, it irritated me. That means I am stuck here once again.

But the Holy Spirit did His convicting work rather quickly. Pulled me up short. He does that to me often. He said, “Being stuck is a luxury you have that many others would give anything for…” Including my own brother. Oh, God forgive me. And if I feel stuck, I have no one to blame but myself.  I have options, I have retirement (as of right now), I have health care, I have time off, paid time off…….I started ticking them off, all the blessings. So many. And I realized again that Gratitude is the key. It is what keeps the fresh water flowing in our lives.

God forgive me.

The truth is, as people of God, we never ever have to feel stagnant or stuck, anywhere. Our God is the God who makes all things new. And when Jesus came up out of that grave, He made all things new forever!

Revelation is speaking of a time to come, when God surely will create a new Heaven and a new Earth, but part of that promise belongs to the here and now. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, it won’t last forever. We may feel stuck, but right in the middle of that stagnant pool, Jesus stirs the waters.

He is our living water, and He always has a fresh supply.

Meanwhile, my brother and so many others are wondering if they will be able to keep their jobs, if they will be able to find a job, wondering whether they will lose their health care.

Meanwhile a little girl is missing here in Arizona, and parents are facing something so terrible I can’t even imagine it. Please pray for the safe return of little 6 year old Isabel.

My heart aches for them today.

Whatever else happens in this life, there is one thing that looms large on a day like today…..

Because of this one event.
Our lives were saved, changed, transformed
forever more.
He is Risen,
So we will rise too!
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22
God took the sting out of death forever, and I think the reason that the earth quaked the day Jesus was crucified was that Satan was having a big fat fit.
He knew the tomb would soon be empty.
He knew he had lost.
Have a Blessed Resurrection day, from Lori’s Prayer Closet.

In our shoes

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it……..

That Word had a name and His name was……is……Jesus. That same eternal Word at one point became flesh and dwelt among us, left His perfect world so He could walk for awhile in our shoes…..On our shores.

There is so much mystery in this that we can scarcely contain it. But we believe it, and somehow it all makes perfect sense. And once again we are walking Jesus last steps on this earth as we remember what He did for us. Once again, we try to grasp  what it must have been like to be there in person. To listen to those words, hear the crowds, feel the same dust between my toes that He did.

I put myself in the disciples place and know within my heart of hearts that I would have scattered too. I would have watched dumbfounded and horror-stricken in the garden as my best friend, one who knew me inside and out, more than anyone ever had was led away like a common criminal. Knowing I did nothing to stop it because I was frozen in place by fear.

With the newfound knowledge still pulsing in my veins, singing through my soul……remembering how He broke the bread, how I felt the burning in my heart, the knowledge that here was God in the same room with me, with us. Still feeling that as the torchlight retreated and the garden was swallowed in darkness.

As night closed around us, we had no idea that Easter was only two days away.

Today and everyday we remember with Gratitude that our Easter did happen. Each and every day, we feel it again as we rise to new life in Him.

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy……1 Peter 1:8

Knowing that my one little life is of immense importance to Him……..He cared so much about you and I that He would die the worst of deaths and suffer separation from His own Father…….Knowing that no matter what, I never have to be alone again…….He prays for me even now before our Father in Heaven……I have been pardoned and am free from condemnation……..Knowing that everything I do interests Him…….I have the freedom to read my Bible and attend church without fear……When we talk about the word, Heaven is opened He writes it down…….He is preparing a place even now…….and though so many things we see and experience may not be fair, one the day He shows up, all will be made right in an instant. #856-866

What can it possibly mean?

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,  “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:13,14

What is it about Christmas that tears our hearts asunder? What is it about this birth that is like no other? So important that it split history….and time in two? Somehow it makes us regret what we don’t have and grateful for what we do have. Something in us always hopes for that perfect Christmas, and each of us has a vision in our own minds what that would look like.

The regret of knowing that this will never come to pass is what sends many people off to the Bahamas until it’s over. For a hilarious vision of what this might look like see the movie, Christmas with the Kranks.
Every year there is one Christmas album that brings me to tears. It was done by the Methodist church my Aunt used to attend when she was alive and it is called Sing with the Angels. In one of the songs is the probing question:

What could it possibly mean, what could it possibly mean? That God would be here with you and me, what could it possibly mean?
It is such a wonderful preposterous plan, it grabs at our hearts. The thought that God would come down to meet us……

Every year we hear stories about secret Santa’s and good Samaritans. People everywhere seem to know that this is the season to display extra kindness. I think there is even something behind the driving forces that keep people year after year flocking to the malls and shopping centers for that perfect gift.

This event was important enough to pull back the ceiling of Heaven and announce this baby’s birth.
Angels announced it, and Miracles surrounded it….

However your Christmas turns out this year, know that if you have the Savior, you’ve already received the perfect gift. There is no one thing more important to celebrate than this alone…..

And if you have it, get down on your knees today and thank Him.

If you don’t, then seek Him and know the most perfect Christmas you will ever have. Cause when you have Him, you have it all.

“……..and <sup class="xref" value="(BB)”>He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having <sup class="xref" value="(BC)”>determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,  that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, <sup class="xref" value="(BD)”>though He is not far from each one of us;” Acts 17:26,27

Multitudes on Monday

“It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.”   
 
“The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister.”   
 
 
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. 
 

 

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink. 

Giving thanks today for these wonderful quotes by G.H. Chesterton, and people like Ann Voskamp who got me started with all these thankful Mondays, Tuesdays and every other day of the week…..Gratitude as a way of life, a way of living each day as if it might very well be the last……And taking that further, we give the Ultimate Gratitude to our Father, who says it doesn’t have to end only begin with Him……It means that when we take our last breath here, we take our first real breath the way we were truly meant to live all along…….I am grateful for all the people this past Sunday who came up out of the waters of Baptism to new life, and a way beginning again…….Blessings #736-746

Grace and peace to you today, in Jesus wonderful name………. Lori

Till we meet again

Since I am at work on a computer all day Saturday, I manage to get some free time to go visiting. In Blogland that is. Don’t worry, I am not doing anything unethical…….In our 12 hour shift, we get two free hours to spend however we want. It is one benefit to working when much of the world is off doing fun things like going to Costco and yard sales and picnics in the park.

Growing up, Saturday was a day for visiting. That’s what my Mom and I did together. Oftentimes we would visit Mom’s friend Rosie. Rosie was a tiny spark of a woman, from a big Sicilian family. Rosie liked flowers and decorating, refinishing her own furniture, and all things feminine. It wasn’t easy in a house with a husband and four boys.

Going there was like visiting little Italy in a war zone. I never knew anyone who could be all sweetness and soft voice one minute, and screaming at the top of her lungs at one of her four boys the next. She turned on a dime. She had to with all those boys in the house. They were always doing something to get on her last nerve. But she loved them with all her heart, and they all loved her.

One morning when we stopped by she was making Bisquick pancakes. She had to send Steven to the store twice. Once for milk and once for something else. She made the first one and promptly threw it in the trash.When my Mom asked her why, she said, “Oh, none of them will eat the first one because of the oil.” When she had run out of syrup, another son straggled in, miffed that he had missed breakfast. She proceeded to make him waffles, telling my Mom that they didn’t use syrup with waffles.

She loved working with figures and hated paying taxes. She did our taxes for years, as well as her brothers and sisters and all their families. She knew the state of California’s tax laws backwards and forwards. She would sit at her kitchen table and throw down Italian curses on the Government.

It got really interesting when her brothers and sisters were visiting. None of them agreed on politics and they regularly got into screaming matches over it. Then they would hug and kiss when they got ready to leave like nothing happened. Visiting Rosie’s house was better than a movie for me, being raised in a quiet family. My Dad was raised in angry shouts, so we simply didn’t shout.

Rosie was the queen of improvisation. They had a family dog who I think was equal parts German shepard and coyote. One day we were there when she had run out of dog food and hadn’t been to the store yet. We watched incredulously as she poured ketchup over a bowl filled with chicken bones and leftover stew. Snoopy lapped it up like it was high quality pate. Anyone else would have worried about the bones, not Rosie.

Many times she invited all the pop warner parents and kids out to her house when they lived in the country and she never had all the ingredients for anything. One time she had a huge salad and nothing to put on it but an industrial size can of olive oil.

She was one of the most unique individuals with one of the best hearts, and I miss her.

Rosie never gave much thought to religion or God. She believed in the goodness of humanity. Her youngest son Steven became a born-again Christian. He and His Mom had many talks after that, and he never stopped praying for her. When he got married, his wife prayed too. At one point between all those conversations and the time she died of cancer, Rosie met the Lord.
 
She has been gone for years now and sometimes I still can’t believe it. It’s funny…..I didn’t set out to do a post about Rosie, but I am glad it turned out that way. Our words and stories about people is what keep them alive in our hearts. Many times I have said a prayer of thanks to God that I will see her again.
 
I called my Mom this morning to see if she remembered about the pancakes, and she couldn’t believe it. On the way home just about two hours ago she had passed some kids in football uniforms and thought about all those dinners at Rosie’s house. She said she hadn’t thought about her in some time.
 
One life, twice remembered in one day.

Till we meet again Rosie!

Sometimes we need a reminder

“Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long as you have?” 1 Corinthians 15:34 The Message
You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.
You Are More, Tenth Avenue North
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God……1 Corinthians 6:11
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

 
“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!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 Amplified Bible
 
Sometimes it’s good to be reminded……..I heard the lyrics to the Tenth Avenue North song on the way to work and they really affected me. All too often I dwell on all my past mistakes and failures and begin to see myself that way. We really are so much more than that to God.
 
But God doesn’t……..”as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12
 
photo credit: from Nat Geo, and public domain pictures.org

Fig Leaves and "Jersey Shore"

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24

I kept seeing snatches of things on the internet yesterday and I didn’t know what it was all about. Then the Christian radio station was talking about it as I was heading in to work this morning. From what I gathered, Ambercrombie and Fitch is a bit nervous because they feel that a certain star might taint their image, and they want to pay him off to stop wearing their clothes.

“Abercrombie & Fitch, the clothing company, is offering “substantial payment” to Mike (The Situation) Sorrentino, of the show Jersey Shore, if he will stop wearing A&F attire on the air. “We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino’s association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image.” Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Now, I have been in Ambercrombie and Fitch before and I have seen the ads. They do have a really great fragrance there that I have bought several times. But they don’t exactly send forth what I would call a “wholesome” image on their billboards and commercials, so my question then is this: “Just how raunchy do you have to be to have Ambercrombie and Fitch reject you for fear of sullying their image?” I have never seen “Jersey Shore”, but in light of what I have seen on TV lately, nothing would surprise me.
The radio commentator had a good point and that is my whole reason for bringing this up, because I loved what she said. The gist of it was this, “Aren’t you glad that God didn’t say to us what Ambercrombie is saying to this actor?” In effect:
“You are just too rauchy for us! Go somewhere and disappear, in fact, we will pay you to do just that!”
Instead, He sent His Son so that we could attain righteousness through Him. Christ has become our righteousness! We don’t have to bother holding up our fig leaves to God, no matter how beautiful or elegant or creatively we make them look. He always sees right through them.
I still try to trot them out once in a while, wave them in front of His face…… But no matter how much I try to fool Him, I realize again that He sees my filthy rags for what they are, an effort to save myself…..a poor substitute for Jesus, my bread of life. What beauty is in this plan……Only God could initiate such terrible beauty.
Over and over again, He brings it home, and home is always Jesus.
Over and over again, I celebrate the joy of this Communion here where I sit, where I walk, where I drive.  I don’t need the elements to be thankful, feel the magnitude of what He’s done.

Like a gift that we lift out each day, still shiny, still new.
 
Like stepping back into Eden all over again.

Image of fig leaf from google images

Eden Restored

“Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it finds it’s rest in Thee.” St. Augustine
Everything the world is seeking so desperately can be found in the person of Jesus. Finding Him is like finding our forever home……
Drinking from the river of life is possible right here and now. I can stand on it’s shore, cup my hand under the crystalline waters and drink deep. Because of Him and what He made possible.
He is my quiet country lane I seek when I want peace…..my cool breeze in the sweltering heat of a desert summer. My bridge to Eden……My everything I have ever longed for, every desire of my deepest longing, even the ones I don’t know about, is satisfied in Him and through Him.
But without Him I am never satisfied.
I could ache like I do, for the pines or for the ocean swells and go to that quiet place, a closet even, and find that I have come out just as refreshed as if I had just spent time watching the waves upon the shore or hearing the wind making the pines sigh.
It is part of my oldest memory, this earth. Part of me and I cannot ever separate myself from it, nor do I want to, for He grew me out of it, this soil, this earth, and to it I will return one day.
Until such time as I reach that Eternal shore where will meet me……Restored.
 He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.

 In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
Isaiah 25:8,9