Love while you still can

My dad passed away some years ago.  To be honest, it has been more years than I even realized.  Over twenty years I believe.  He was a good man; as good as could be for a man.  He was a hard worker, kind and tender hearted, a friend to others and a cheerful giver.  His legacy to us is to be a person that takes care of family.   I can understand why my mom has refused to take off her wedding band and refuses to re-marry despite my many conversations that she should. 

Have you ever heard that hind sight is 20/20?  All those things that I wrote about my Dad I have come to realize after he was no longer with us.  I was able to see him clearly only when I reflected on the yesterdays I had already passed through.  What brought this on?  It was a surgery and many hours in a waiting room.

My sister was having surgery.  Coincidentally, this surgery would mirror one that my dad had so many years ago.  It made me think of him in a new light.  He had to have a bag at his side as his intestines were damaged.  The difference between my sissy and my Dad is this – he went back out to work soon after.  He didn’t have benefits that allowed him to stay home for as long as it took for him to recover.  His return to work was more than likely before he was ready.  His whole way of life had changed and he didn’t have the time to process it.  Why?  He was an independent owner operator of a truck and he had a family that depended on him to support them.  He was the sole provider in the household.  We depended on him to work.  He did not shirk his responsibilities but embraced them and valiantly did what he should as a husband and a Dad.

My regret is this, that I failed to see this when it mattered most.  We missed the remarkable effort it took and didn’t ascribe to him the appreciation and gratitude he deserved.  For me there are no more chances as he is long since gone.  However, the lesson can be applied to today.  Look around you my friends and see what you have denied to others in your life.  Give them the blessings, the roses, the praises and affirmation now – while they are alive and you still have a chance.  Don’t miss it.  So for those of you that are reading now, may I say this – I love you for taking the time.  I appreciate you.  I pray God’s blessing for you.

Romans 12:10

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;

1 John 3:18

Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

Today is the day

Today is my son's birthday. Twenty-two years ago I held him in my arms and thought what a beautiful babe.  I had such dreams for him.  Do you know what I mean?  Can you understand a mothers' dream?  Well that was me and is still me.  He finished an album. The Libra Tape (content is explicit) he calls it and proud of it he is right now.  He said he will be a star.  I smile even now for his enthusiasm. 


I'm proud of the man I know he is on the inside.  You might think this is a strange comment to make and I would agree.  You see, he's made some choices that I don't agree with.  He is living a life style that was not in my plans for him.  Yet, my love for him doesn't waiver.  No, in fact I love him even more. 

I love him in the mess.  I love him while he is still going to and fro. I love him even as he is broken.  I love him even while I cry over his choices.  I love him even when my heart struggles to believe that God will save him.  I love him. I love him because God has given me the grace to do so.  In fact even as I say all of these things I feel that love over me.  I am loved and so are you by a God who is Himself love.  He sets his love upon us even when we go astray.  His love is like no other we will ever experience.  This gives me pause...


So I will celebrate today.  I will sing a song of praise.  I will shout a hallelujah to the Lord above. I will declare that today is a good day.  I will continue to declare that which my eyes don't yet see. God has preserved life when death demanded payment.  So as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Today is the day to be glad.

Let there be light

I go to a nursing home twice a month. We sing songs and speak on the bible for and with the residents. Yesterday was such a service. We walked into the room where the residents were already gathered. Immediately we began singing songs and were well into it when another team member came. She walked over to the switch and instantly light flooded the room.

Why was this worthy of retell?  Glad you asked. We had no idea we were sitting in darkness. We carried on, business as usual accepting the conditions as they were. We all knew where the switch was but none of us thought to do anything about it. We accepted the dimness as light. 

When she did it I thought this is like the world. They walk in darkness and are unaware. For them, this is life. They are ignorant to what they need...the light of the World. Jesus is that light. He pushes back the darkness. He enlightens our eyes to see the hope and the calling we have been given.  

Friends as Paul prayed for the Ephesians I pray likewise for you. May the eyed of your understanding be enlightened. May you increase in the knowledge of Him who has called you by name to be His witness. May you walk in the light of His Word and his unfailing truth. Let there be light loved ones , in you.

New Beginnings

I recently found out that I will become a grandmother.  It is hard for me to wrap my brain around this truth. I think to myself, I am way too young to be given such a title.  Yet, I sigh deeply here, I was a young mom myself.  The last thing I wanted was for my son to mimic my behaviour.  I would have hoped and I have prayed that this would not be the fate of yet another child in my family.  A child born to parents that are unmarried. A child living in two homes, split between mom and dad.  Worse yet, a child that was lacking a clear example of doing it God's way.

Yes.  I would have stayed with these recurring thoughts had it not been for my GOD.  "Renew your mind daily" He so wisely tells us in his word.  I really didn't consciously sit down and decide to renew my mind. I didn't do anything other than pray, read and listen. I continued to praise even when my heart wanted to say NO!!!! This is not my plan for my son. Well, it isn't but God certainly doesn't need me to give him any hints or help where RKR is concerned.  He already had a plan that will give him hope and a future.  That plan stands today and will continue to stand until it has been accomplished.

So I raise my hat to new beginnings, new seasons, new hope.  It is God who we must acquiesce to in all things.  God is still the One that gives us beauty for ashes. He is still the One that turns a mess into a message, a test into a testimony and all the other things that we so smartly coin to say each other. :-)  Remember, He is the One that forms  a baby in its mothers womb.  He puts together that baby so perfectly that David marvelled and said of himself, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made".  He is the God that even now stands at the end while we are still at the beginning.  He works all things for the good of those who love Him.  So you see, my mind has been renewed; reworked by promises that are true.  I say yes and AMEN to them all.  Hip Hip Hooray! There is a baby on the way!

The Journey

The journey has a beginning point and a destination point. 
Where did we start. Where are we now.  Where are we going.
A quote was that the journey if a thousand miles begins with one step. Someone else has said the journey us within. And still another has said that it is not so much the outcome but the journey itself.  To be sure you cannot stand still on any journey. To get from start to finish requires movement. For some it may be tiny steps others it may be a Giant leap.  For some the pace may be slow and for others it is like a sprint to the finish.  The journey for some may be like a paved road for others it may be a like a path  not oft trod. In this journey I chose to believe that God is with me. I actually believe that he frames my beginning and my end. He was and is to come. In the middle of Him is me and Him. 
I have to believe that He fore knew the valleys and pits of my journey and I have a predestined end.  That He is walking with me like the footprints poet wrote. That He has not left me to do this alone.
My faith is made whole when I read the bible. God's word says:
 Genesis 1:1-2 GW

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over the water.
Before I was a thought, God existed.  He hovered over the waters of nothingness. He is the creator of all things that I see. He therefore has my journey mapped out. Lest we forget our steps are ordered by Him. He is the beginning of us. He who created us from the dust of the earth certainly can sustain our journey here in this same earth He created. He is the beginning. He is the Alpha. He is the A. He is the God who is everything. He is the I Am.

From the beginning God has a predestined end. To think otherwise is to be unwise.  It is in fact to be in denial of Hid word which we know is all truth.  God says that the end of our journey meets Him face to face. We may become desensitized to this truth thinking in the back of our minds that it has been over 2000 years. Yet here again we see in  God's word:
 Revelation 22:20-21 GW

The one who is testifying to these things says, “Yes, I’m coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The good will  of the Lord Jesus be with all of you. Amen!

At the end we will all face Christ. Whether we believe in Him or not we will meet him at the end of this earthly journey. He will be the judge of us then. 
If our desire is to be where He is then  Our journey is Routed out in Christ. In Him we will arrive at this desired  destination. It means then that our hearts can be at rest.  The bible says thus
 John 14:1-3, 6 GW

“Don’t be troubled. Believe in God, and believe in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not true, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you?  If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. Then I will bring you into my presence so that you will be where I am.  Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me.

To Obey Is Better

On a hiking trip with my family this weekend I learnt something.  The trail that we walked on was beautiful and long.  It went winded itself along a creek that often times was hidden behind enormous trees.  It was a day worth walking and we went ahead with enthusiasm and gusto.  Unbeknown to me and others in the group, the walk had turned into a race to the finish line, where ever that ended as no one had yet completed the trail.

So the leaders of the pack set off and we left behind choked on their dust.  It became obvious that we would never catch them.  Curve after curve showed no signs of my two sprinting aunts.  We came upon a sign that said DO NOT ENTER/TRAIL CLOSED CONSTRUCTION.  We should have met upon them here but they were nowhere to be seen.  We stood pondering if they would have gone ahead despite the signs.  We waited for a bit until I decided to go after them.

While I called out for them by name and silence responded I thought to myself, this is just how we are as believers.  How many times do we see the signs and ignore them?  We have a bible that maps out the danger and still we find ourselves in them.  We close our eyes or we say as my aunt did, “but I saw other people coming from there!”  The road to sin and hell is wide and filled with people.  Or perhaps we reason to ourselves, there really isn’t any danger. My aunts said “oh there was no construction today…it is a Saturday.”  There is a way that seems right unto a man but the end is destruction.

 

While we had a good laugh over my two aunts who high fived each other at the end of the trail and told us they won, there really is no good outcome to the end of sin. The wages of sin is death.  The outcome reaching far into our eternity and too costly for either of us to pay. 

Beloved today we need to take heed to the word of God ad flee from sin and all things that of evil intent.  We cannot be glib (casual) about what we are told to do by God's spirit.  We must obey the signs that God has given us.  It is not there as a suggestion.  To believe we must obey; loved ones it is the better way.

 

I'm me again

I have been on pause. I have stopped exhaling. I have been waiting for better. I have been afraid of moving. That was descriptive of me just a few days ago. I was dying on the inside and prepared for a burial. Yet God had other plans. These dry bones shall live were His words to me. I would live and mot die. I was not to fade away. I was not to stay paused. God has pushed the play button and His forward motion has been in effect. The day I emerged from the self imposed cocoon I will never forget. On a path that I had often seen I walked in silence with God. He seemed to have painted the sky an even prettier blue. The green of the trees were even more intense. The sun shone even brighter. He gave me the gift of the present. I was in the now of the day; of my life. I exhaled. I was alive. I was me again. My friends I encourage you to live in the now. Tomorrow is not ours and not promised to any of us. We are all like fading grass. We are a vapour, here today and gone tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late to start living your life. Take the gift God gives to us...this is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it.

Though it tarries....wait on God's appointed time

As we think on God's timing we can conclude that it is perfect. God is not a God of confusion. No, He is a God of order. Everything He does or did is intentional and at an appointed time. Summer will never preceed spring and the moon will never seek to outshine the sun. Yes. God has an appointed time. Turn if you will to Habakkuk 2, Habakkuk 2:2-3 NKJV Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Some of us have put away the written tablets of our God given vision. Like Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, we prayed in the days of our youth and received no answer. We have quelled our disappointment and logically accepted that the time for giving birth (to the vision) has long since past. We have dried our tear stained eyes and are pressing on in service for God. We are not living in the tomorrow or the yesterday and might have shouted loud hallelujahs to the Now timing of God. Yet , we are not holding on to the vision. Yes - just like good old Zachariah we have buried the vision away. Beloved who told you that God said no? Luke 1 tells us that the angel told Zachariah that God heard his prayer! The fact that Z himself was at a loss upon the angels message tells me the prayer was not recent. He might have asked what prayer? He forgot while God's appointed time was about to speak and not lie. The tarrying was over. Only, Z was not waiting. He didn't even think it was a possibility. Does this sound like a page from your journal? What we miss is that the vision was never ours. Gods plans remains and are in perfect alignment. These people that were well past the age of having children were to be pregnant with the forerunner of Jesus Christ! So we need to wait and trust God to fulfill His vision in our lives at the appointed (set, fixed, pre-destined) time. They that wait upon the Lord shall be renewed in their strength. They shall run and not get weary. They shall walk and not faint. (Isa 40:31). Those who trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him in all their ways are guaranteed their paths will be God directed. (Prov 3:5-6). Wait with good courage my friend, though it tarries....wait on God's appointed time. God bless you all. YER💕

I am tired

I have been caught up in a wind not of my doing. I seem to be moved here there and everywhere and I am exhausted. I am tired of being tired. I am sick of others being sick. I am ready for the exit but there is none...it's just the wind.
If I allow myself these thoughts would consume me. I would sink into despair and depression. If I allow myself these thoughts would become shackles and where I was once free I would be bound.

I understand better than I did before why I need to renew my mind daily and sometimes hourly. I get why I need to think on things that are true and lovely, anything that is excellent and praise worthy. (Phil 4:8). My friend it is easy to collapse under the weight of our sorrows. It is easy to bear the burden forgetting the burden bearer says cast it all on me. It is easy to see only what is before you.  However it is not the life of the free. It is not the life of those called by Christ's name.

Today in spite of the challenges God wants us to lift our eyes to Him. HE IS OUR HELP. He is our strength and our peace. Today the invitation has been given...He says come unto me all who are weary and heavy hearted. Peace and joy are in His presence. I'm tired of holding it all together on my own. Today I'm saying yes to the invitation....what about you?

As For Me And My House

Last night I came into my home after an extended work day to misery and tears. The spirit of offense was in full form and emotions were high as weariness wove itself around labored aching bodies and minds. 

My mom has a phone that she struggles to use. Last night she attempted to answer it and missed the call. So I said "You need to get a new phone that you can use". She was offended and what was a simple comment made with no ill intent became blown up and out of proportion.

My younger sister who has been the primary care giver for my older sister has been herself feeling ill. I said to her "there is still shake in the fridge to be used before it goes bad." She responded that she made it for my older sister when her head was pounding and she is doing her best. At which point she burst into tears and sobbed into her hands for the next 5 minutes. 

I honestly felt like I had stepped into an episode of Twilight Zone. What in the world...? was my own thinking.  It continued into this morning, right after a really good devotion on the prayer line.   Another question and another blow up. So much for being an epistle of Christ I thought.  I tell you this much,  I was the constant in the middle of it all.   So, I did what I knew to mend the brokenness. 

Prayed. I asked my prayer partners for help and did a bit of my own. That is when the spirit of God began His ministry in me. I started to meditate on the words of Joshua..."As for me and my house we will serve the Lord". 

Beloved, if you are where I was last night then you want to recognize the enemy behind the discord. The disguise is good but the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see the truth. A war had been waged against my house and it was not taking prisoners alive. I needed a weapon that could destroy the lies and restore peace . Holy Spirit (because I don't think this was me) prompted me to declare the following as I prayed and you can too:

As for me and my house:

We will be in unity

We will exhibit love

We will be in peace

We will help each other

We will be kind

We will walk in oneness

We will serve the Lord

How about it friends? Make the declaration of peace for you and your house. It will destroy the weapons of the enemy to kill, steal and destroy your family! As for me and my house....

I am not a dog

I don't know how I would have handled this situation if it were me.  What would you do if someone called you a dog?  What if they said you are a dog and that is why we have to train you? Would you fight or flee?  Thankfully, I didn't have to decide on this but my son had this experience.  A colleague of his decided to attack him verbally and said those things to him.
 
My son can become enraged - wolf like in his ferocity and scary in his response.  He reminds of the hulk.  Mild mannered until someone gets him really angry and then its hello Green Monster and bye-bye David Banner.  I was told that my son upon being insulted stood up.  I imagine he raised himself up to his almost 6 feet height.  I imagine his voice bellowed  out across the lunch room. I imagine he muscled up his arms and fisted his hands.  I imagine he saw red and breathed heavily.  I was told he didn't throw a punch and for that I am glad.  Two wrongs will never make one right.
 
I applaud him because he held on to the little bit of control he might have had left.  Maybe it wasn't him but God that held him in check.  Who knows?  I certainly don't.  Yet I do know this, it pays to pray over your children.  For some reason, this devil decided to come up against my son but God prevailed.  The prayer of the righteous does avail much and we have been praying.  I heard and I prayed some more, for vengeance belongs to God and He will repay.

Doesn't it make you wonder though?  Just what would do if this were you?  Friends, I pray that we would be able to hold on to Christ in the midst of the name calling.  I pray that we would not lose our heads, cool or control and thereby our testimony for Jesus.  I pray that we would be willing to walk away and give up the right to be right, choosing righteousness instead.  If anything you could say, I am not a dog and walk away.  :-)

My Brother Prayed

Tonight we all gathered at the house for my sister's birthday.  She has been through so much since last year and we felt the extra specialness of this particular day.  It has been a custom for us to do a birthday blessing.  Many, many years ago God impacted me with the traditions of the Israelites and how they blessed their sons before death.  I tweaked it to what is now our customary blessings party.  As my sister says, we give the roses while our loved ones are alive.

As we were together we took turns to speak and then it was my brothers opportunity.  We expected a speech, reflective of the past and a well wish for the future.  He didn't do that.  My brother prayed.  As I listened I felt like this was so right.  I heard in my mind, the word Priest; the Priest of our clan had taken his position.  The upside down of our world had finally been righted.  I listened with a grateful heart to my Father.  My sister has said it best, "For years I have prayed for him, but tonight he has prayed for me."  She said it was the best moment of her birthday celebration and I believe it will always be remembered as the night my brother prayed. 

I don't want to say that he doesn't pray on his own.  I am sure he does, but the significance of this moment is more than I can put into words.  For us, it was a mark in our family history that we hope to be repeated often.  We hope that from this, our sons will see what it looks like to be a man of God.  From this, we pray that other men in our family will be empowered to follow Christ.  We hope that our daughters will be able to wait for a man with a heart for God as he displayed tonight. 

Friends, no matter how far we have strayed from the truth, it doesn't make it void.  Families are right when they operate as God intended.  When the man in the home rises up to be the Priest and love his wife as Christ loved the church it is right. When wives submit to their husbands it is right.  When children honour their parents it is right.  This is God's truth and it is right.

So, let us continue to pray, me for you and you for me.  Let us pray that our men will rise up in Christ, that women will be as God created, submissive and a help mate to their husbands and that children will come back to the days of honour. 

Let us make it like the day my brother prayed.

We Won't Go Back

Healed.  Saved. Loved.  I write those words even as I am listening to James McDonald's telling the church, Christ died for our sins.  He was scourged (beaten) to within an inch of death for me.  He took upon Himself my sins and paid the penalty.  His beaten body allows me to say I am healed.   His death upon the cross has causes me the freedom to say I am saved.  His submission to the plans of the Father allows me to know I am loved.

All of this resonates with me even more so now.  There she was, sobbing at the dinner table.  Her body was again placing limits upon her mobility and quality of life.  We had been here before I thought.  We won't go back.  We waited for years for bulging discs to be re-aligned.  We waited patiently for her to be able to drive in a low car.  We waited through her longsuffering and years of infirmity.  We waited for her to be independent again.  We waited, and now that we have it, we won't go back to the days of pain and restrictions, darkness and despair.  NO!

The Lord Jesus has suffered for this very moment.  His back was ripped open and blood poured out so that today healing is our bread.  We won't go back. Loved ones, I don't know what is happening in your life.  I don't know what old chain wants to reattach itself to your new found liberty in Christ. Whatever it may be, resist it.  Shout it out loud "I won't go back!"

Jesus has said that you are free, therefore stand in His liberty and be not entangled, AGAIN with the yoke of bondage.  So that bed of infirmity that wants to keep you in it, say NO.  That old boyfriend or girlfriend that calls out of nowhere, say No.  That old habit or old life that is looking not so bad now, say NO.  Declare to yourself and anyone else with ears to hear "I WONT GO BACK!"

Help is here - take it

Have you heard the story about the guy who prayed to God for help but didn't take what was offered and died as a result? Well, while I might have butchered that story, but I wanted to focus on my own house hold.  My sister has gone through a very rough week.  Starting last week Wednesday, we had all packed up to go to chemo-therapy with her.  My brother joked about the "famine food"  we were hauling with us to the all day hospital visit. My youngest sibling declared that this could be a perfect siblings night outing as we were all together for this trip.  After a surprisingly "quick" treatment session, we headed home with light hearts and joyous spirits. 

Why is it that bad things seem to wait for the cover of darkness to occur?  Have you ever noticed that?  As it happened, that same night my sister had to be taken to emergency in chronic pain.  She groaned all night into the morning.  After coming home, we thought it was over only to be wide awake all through the following night.  Her agony was real and painful for me to watch.  I sought Google for every remedy I could, find but to no avail. As a final resort, I offered her some pain meds.  She was almost delirious with the level of pain she was feeling and I wanted to take the edge off for her; offer some relief.  She looked at the pills and declined the offer!   

So there we were again at the hospital, where she screamed and cried out.   It was intense and now I was helpless - the Tylenol 3 was at home. The help she had rejected was now unavailable and she suffered greatly.  This story has a happier ending than the man who died in my re-tell above.  She was able to get some relief from the nurse who gave her what I had offered before - Tylenol 3.  Oh the irony of it all.  She slept for a while, having now some relief if only for a little while.

It got me thinking about how we all are at times.  I throw no stones because I am sure I have done something similar.  Why do we reject help?  God Himself is our very present help in times of trouble but we opt to ignore, don't ask or simply decide on our own course of relief.  We are foolish when we delay his best for our "good".  I held out those same pills hours before and she said no - God holds out His perfect solution to us and we say no.  The proverb says that what we feel is right in our own eyes often leads to destruction.  Can I get an AMEN?

Friends, Help is here and we ought to just take it.  Lets not be unwise or unwilling but instead lets be pliable and surrender to His plans.  He is the best resource.  He is our help. He is our strength.  He is the great I AM that fulfills and supplies every need.  Don't tell Him no, just say yes.

God is Still God

One day, my nieces were in the car with my sister.  Two of them were so excited about their upcoming trip to Jamaica. It sparked a discussion about swimming with the dolphins and all the other things they anticipated doing.  Not to be left out, three year old KK decided she would add her piece to this merriment and contribute as best she could. So she began to tell them about how she remembers visiting this place that boasts of a very large turtle.  Apparently this turtle was just about to eat her but didn't. (pause) She then ended with this, "God is still God."

I get excited all over again. Yes. God is still is still God.  In my house, we are on repeat with these words that have so encouraged. Friends, it doesn't matter what I see or even what I feel - God is still God.

I know. You have challenges. You may even wonder why are these things happening to you?  Why did so and so become ill? Why did you lose your job?  How will you survive?  Why was this accident not prevented?  God is still God. In the midst of these things good or bad, He did not lose His deity, might or love for you.  He is still the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  He remains the unchangeable God.

I hope and pray that these words from the mouth of babes have encouraged you.  I hope they will cause you to muster up that courage to continue this walk with Christ and weather through the storm.  Beloved, God is still God.

Malachi 3:6-7The Message (MSG)

^6-7 “I am God—yes, I Am. I haven’t changed. And because I haven’t changed, you, the descendants of Jacob, haven’t been destroyed....

The Engagement

There once was a man who lived as some would say a prodigal life.  He was far away from God, living to please himself, by his own rules and by what he deemed right in his own eyes.  The end for him was guaranteed destruction. He didn't know it, but he was relentlessly pursued by two entities.  One was far greater than the other. One deceived and there was no truth in him.  One was truth that offered a liberty he had never known.  One hated his soul and the very image of him.  One loved him and gave his son's life for him.

There once was a woman who was always searching.  All her life she knew there was more.  She felt a void that nothing could fill - not husband, sons, job or cash.  She was empty and in darkness.  She had heard that there was light, but she stubbornly refused the Way.  She saw evidence of the truth but logics and reasons kept her away. 

Then one day, what they knew and what the felt came head to head. A conflict. A struggle.  A surrender.  Both had something happen, not at the same time, but still they would journey together.  Their eyes were open, and now they  were brand new.  They had been pursued relentlessly by the Father Himself, and through His son they were both now reconciled. He wooed them with a love that was beyond their understanding.  He lifted the veil from their eyes, he brought them into light, he rescued them from an enemy that sought only to kill.

And so it is that today that we all celebrate the engagement party of this couple, not to each other, but to Jesus the son.  He is the bride groom and they are now the bride.  In anticipation of the wedding, they have shed themselves of the old and are reborn.  Their baptism I imagine brought the Father great joy.  If only we could see the clouds rolled back and the Heavens revealed.  I imagine the joy of Heaven which I cannot with great justice describe, try as I might.  Surely the angels sang louder; surely there was joyous applause as these two finally surrendered to discover that they win. 

If you find that I am more dramatic than usual, it is only this, this couple are my brother and his wife (my sister).  They are the miracle we have been praying for, and it is only the beginning.  Beloved, do not despair, God is at work behind the scenes of your loved ones.  One day too, you will be at the engagement party.  Wait on the Lord and again I say wait.

Because I Love You

My sister, who is going through chemo therapy had started loosing her hair.  She didn't have flowing hair down into her back but loosing what she did have was still emotional. It was another sign of the chemo's effects on the body and the mind if you let it.  I was sweeping up falling hair that needed no pull to just fall freely from her scalp to the floor.  It was like watching a tree go through the "fall" process leaf by leaf until all was gone.  I eventually shaved her head.  Cleaned the scalp and rid it of the remaining strands that bravely stayed in place for the moment.  My younger sister and I had decided independently of each other that we would not allow her to do this alone.  So it is that on that night we both cut off the hair we had to the scalp.  My older sister who saw us later cried out "Why did you guys do this!"  The answer was simple, "Because I love you."


I was reading about Mother Teresa, who from a little girl knew that her life belonged to God.  She gave him her heart and committed herself to him as a nun.  She wanted to be his hands and feet beyond the walls of the building she taught in Calcutta.  After some years she was given the go ahead from her order to begin a ministry that helped the people on the street.  She was called she says to help the diseased, the leprous outcasts, the lonely, the dying.  On one such outing, she saw a man lying on the street, whose body was being eaten by worms.  The stench from his wounds was strong and yet she went to him and extended her help.  He asked with incredulity, "why are you doing this?" and she said "because I love you."


When I read those words I immediately felt God's presence.  It was like his very breath was upon my neck as He whispered the same to me, "Because I love you."  Everything that He has done has been to this end...He loves me.  He loves you.  I tear up even now as I write this again. Somehow these four words fill me up and satisfy that longing inside of me to be loved.  God loves me - satisfyingly, completely, and unconditionally. He is the initiator of love, in fact God is LOVE.  It was not Valentine or any other, but God Himself who is the definition and fulfillment of love.
Yes.  No doubt these acts of human compassion are great, and yet I tell you that greater has been done for us. 

John 3:16New International Version (NIV)
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Here is the heart of all of these words I have written, God loves you.  I pray that you will hear His voice in your ear, as He whispers these words to you, "Because I love you...".  No matter what you may be facing don't ever forget that in the midst of it all is a God whose love for you remains always strong and persistent.  Beloved, allow yourself to be embraced today because he loves you.

Can Beauty Come From the Ashes?

Cancer.  Did anything good ever come from someone going through the process of cancer?  Is it possible that God can use this awful disease to bring about His good?  Can this be the beauty from the ashes the bible speaks about?  Can God's glory be seen in the midst of this pain?  Yes. Yes! Resounding YES!

My words are inadequate to describe what I am feeling.  I am so certain of God's providence and His ability to bring out the best in all things.  I think I understand why Paul wrote that he would boast ever the more in his weaknesses.  In it, Gods strength is perfected.

"…8Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:8-10)

My sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  Praise be to God, they were able to get the mass out.  We spent Christmas with an awareness of how blessed we were.  The end of her story could have been otherwise but God.... Amen.  As she walks through post surgery healing and chemo therapy I see God. 

I see His hands of mercy.  I see His grace that is sufficient.  I see how He has raised up others to be help and comfort and strength for our household. I see how this experience have opened up our eyes to His truth.  I feel the liberty.  I am strengthened by His joy.  I a witness to the beauty that has come from the ashes of our lives. Therefore I boast in my God yet again, when I am weak He is strong!

Hot Wheels and Kinder Surprize

I was at the store the other day and saw what I had not seen in years.  In truth, it was my niece who brought it to my attention.  She wanted me to buy her one; a Kinder Surprise.  That chocolate egg with the "surprise" toy in the middle.  Kids love it.  It's funny how our minds store away memories until just that moment.  Immediately, I was transported to my past.  Without reserve or delay I allowed the scenes to roll through the video of my mind. 

At that time I remembered the days of old when my son was just a boy.  He loved Kinder Surprises and Hot Wheels.  I laugh now because we used to spend so much time selecting just the right hot wheel and then assembling the surprise found in the chocolate egg.  It was a much simpler time.  I smile at the memories of my yesterday.  I texted my son, who is far older than he was back then, and reminded him of those days that are apart of his childhood.  I hope it made him smile.

I would love to go back to the time that these things represent and yet, I wouldn't trade these days I am living today.  You see, our past is our past for a reason.  It helps to frame who we are but for sure we can't stay in it.  I have heard it said our past is simply for reference and not residence.  That is sage advise.  Indeed, we should not hold on to it so tightly we miss the lessons from today. 

Friends, hot wheels and kinder surprises will always make me smile, but alas, no-one stays a child forever.  Henceforth, let us try our best to live in the here and now.  Let us endeavor to make memories afresh and be active participants in our present. I have a co-worker who always reminds me of this beautiful verse, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24