Blog

Only a glimpse

Moses was born for a task. From his very birth he was set apart for this task. He was protected from the infanticide of the Egyptian Pharaoh. All his life experiences were designed for the unique part he would play in history of the Israelite people. He fulfilled the most extraordinary exodus, with the help of God.

But Moses didn’t cross into the promised land. He did all the work but didn’t get to take part in the reward. I always felt this was rather unfair.

While he didn’t get to enter the promised land, God gave him a view from atop the mountain. But God still has work for him to do, he is to encourage Joshua. His final role is as a mentor. Joshua will take over the final stage and help the people of God enter and inhabit the promised land.

It occurred to me this morning that this is far from unfair or unusual. This is pretty typical of life. We rarely ever get to see a project from start to finish and enjoy the reward. A baker makes the most beautiful cakes, but sells them to others who will get the joy of eating them. A builder builds a house for someone else to live in. And those are rare jobs. Most of us do our little part of a much bigger puzzle. Each important in our own way, but one cog in a big operation.

Moses wanted to go into the promised land. He desired to see the work of God completed. But this task was too much for an old man. A younger man of strength, courage and faith was required. God knew this. Moses had done his part. He had completed his task. God gave him a view of the land from afar.

We don’t always see and enjoy the fruits of our labour. It is enough to know that we are useful to God and that we have done our part, however small.

Deuteronomy 3: 27-28 “Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.”

Take courage in His love

Some days I feel down in the mouth. I feel upset and nothing goes my way. The little problems are mountains. What should I do when I feel this way?

I can replace my own negative and myopic self talk with scriptures. I can fill my head with the glory of God. Doing this doesn’t make me less pathetic or sinful, it just ensures I remember that I am loved.

Sometimes we all need to remember this. The worst of humans have access to God’s grace. Even when we are sure of our failures and certain of our hopelessness God can reach us. Because our place in his kingdom is not a product of our goodness but His holiness. God loves me not because I am lovable but because He is love.

When your inner voice tells you that you are unworthy say back, “Yes, but God is worthy.”

When your inner voice says you are a failure reply, “Yes, but God is not.”

When your inner voice reminds you how unlovable you are answer, “So true, but God IS love.”

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Judging a book by it’s cover

In grade nine my son decided to join the school wrestling team. I was able to attend a couple of the school matches. It was so great to see all these kids mixing it up on the mats.

My son had three matches. When his second match came up, I worked my way closer to where he was wrestling. Standing with him on the mat was a little guy, easily a foot shorter than my boy. I shook my head in confusion. I thought they were matched by weight. There was no way this boy was in the same weight class as my son. I felt sorry for the boy and hoped Gavin would go easy on him.

The match began and after a putting up a few seconds of fight, my son was on the mat. The smaller boy having skillfully taken him down. I was flabbergasted.

My son worked his way towards me smiling. I looked at him in surprise and said, “I thought for sure you’d win that match!”

He laughed and said, “No way! That kid is from my school. They allow him to wrestle above his weight class cause he’s so good. I knew I wouldn’t beat him. I was happy I lasted as long as I did.”

Gavin had information I didn’t have. He knew more about his competitor than I did. I was looking at the surface. Like the Israelite people when they picked Saul as their king, God saw something the people didn’t see. Or Saul’s army when they feared Goliath, David in his sureness of God’s goodness saw something they wouldn’t see.

It is almost impossible to be aware of our own blind spots. That is why it’s important that we continue to humble ourselves before God and allow him to show us where we err. We need to continue to turn to Him for wisdom.

Psalm 25: 4-5 Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Thinking of Easter

For most of my life it has been assumed that Christians are on the back foot.

The messages of my life thus far have been; take your faith and keep it out of the public square. Christian perspectives were relegated to matters of church and family; until that also became a problem. Now even having Christian values within your church or in the walls of your own home is frowned upon.

But if we take the message of Easter seriously, we should take courage. The battle is won! It’s over. I don’t need to apologize for my beliefs because I am on the side of the victor. Does this mean I personally am always right? Of course not. I am human, I need to grow and learn and gain wisdom. But I do not need to feel shame about the God I serve.

That is the primary message of Easter for me.

Be brave!

Be true!

Step up and take on the mantle of Christ!

BE COUNTED!

Romans 8: 37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thinking about Jesus

There are three topics of discussion I have bumped into over the last few weeks.
First, concerns about freedom; what it means, what it looks like. Second, the idea of truth. Is truth just subjective or is it something more? Third, who can we believe, who and what can we trust?

These are all huge discussions encompassing many of the contrasting views rampant in our society. My thoughts led me to develop a little Venn diagram.

The Great King

Jesus rode into Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna. The triumphant return of the King. If this was a story written by human hands this is where the story would end. The return of the king and goodness to the land.

But this is not where the story of Jesus ends. The great king is killed. Taken down by evil and plotting forces. The great hope for humanity is squelched by evil. All hope is lost.

Until… he returns. This time not only conquering evil but death itself.

Only a great and worthy king could do this. No human could. He lives on. His story lives on. It never ends, replaying every day in the lives of all who follow him.

Hosanna – YouTube

Making bread

The water, measured, temperature checked. Just right.

Sugar, brown today, measured, stirred into water. A pool of brown liquid.

Yeast, measured, magic little life beans, added to water and sugar.

Wait. Wait.

The grains, soaked and ready. Add the yeast mixture, puffy and frothy.

Mix.

Add flour.

I’m blessed to have flour in a bag. I don’t have to grind it or work for it.

Add salt.

It makes everything better. Everything!

Kneed. Work. Push. Set aside lump.

Wait. Wait.

Work dough. Set up in loaf pans.

Wait. Wait.

Cook.

These simple ingredients transformed into life giving food.

John 6: 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never go hungry,
and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Power of story

I have been thinking of the “Easter” story and how it has affected my life. I’m not sure I have organized my thoughts yet. I’m not sure it’s possible to organize my thoughts about something so enormous.

This one moment in history changed everything; this moment of Christ on the cross. But not in the way that human events change history! For example a world leader makes this choice and now it sets off a chain reaction and events unfold. These are the world changing events of which history is full.

But… Jesus on the cross is different. It changed the trajectory of the world – yes. It changed how events unfolded and the course of our societies – yes again. But it also changes the direction and course of my life now, of the lives of everyone who interacts with him. His act of sacrifice was not a world changing event, it’s a continuous and on-going world changing event.

God and his work are alive in our world. Seeing his hand and his presence in our own story should be the quest of all who seek him.

I listened to this video this morning and found it incredibly moving.

Andrew Peterson: He Gave Us Stories – YouTube

Seeking a path forward

I’ve had a lot of adjusting to do lately. The night my husband had a stroke everything changed. Our financial situation changed, the dynamic in our family changed, and even my husband’s personality changed.

We joke about it because you may as well laugh when you can. I tell him I feel like I’m living in a bad soap opera and I woke up married to his evil twin. He insists that he’s new and improved! Either way it’s an adjustment.

Every day has been uncertain. A year and a half of putting one foot in front of the other and unable to see where we are going. This has been a struggle. We are doing our best to adapt, but it isn’t easy to say the least.

When I was a child we hiked a lot as a family. There is a particular feeling that comes when you’ve been walking through the bush, only able to see a short way in front and keeping your eye focused on the path and suddenly the trees thin out and you find yourself in an open space. An alpine meadow with vistas that take your breath away. One moment you can only see the tangles of trees and shrubs, the next you are awestruck by the broadness and majesty of the view.

This is where my hope lies. I hope that if I just keep walking at some point the brush will thin out and I’ll have a view that takes my breath away. The reality is this may not come in this life, but whether God reveals his hand to me now or later this is my hope.

The path can be so convoluted and hard to find. Good thing Jesus told us what to do. We don’t need to find the path or our way forward. We need to focus on him. The rest is just noise. I need to keep my eyes fixed on Him and pursue Him.

Matthew 6: 31-33 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The Lord’s Prayer

“The greatest of all prayers was designed with still another purpose in view, quite as important as either of the others. Jesus foresaw that, as centuries went by, his simple, primitive teaching would gradually become overlain by all sorts of external things which really have nothing whatever to do with it. He foresaw that men who had never known him, relying, quite sincerely, no doubt, upon their own limited intellects, would build up theologies and doctrinal systems, obscuring the direct simplicity of the spiritual message, and actually erecting a wall between God and man. He designed his Prayer in such a way that it would pass safely through those ages without being tampered with. He arranged it with consummate skill, so that it could not be twisted or distorted, or adapted to any man-made system; so that, in fact, it would carry the whole Christ Message within him and yet not have anything on the surface to attract the attention of the restless, managing type of person. So it has turned out that, through all the changes and chances of Christian history, this Prayer has come through to us uncorrupted and unspoiled.”

The Sermon on the Mount (The Lord’s Prayer), by Emmet Fox

I spent years of my life working in the Communication industry. My experience ranged from local newspapers, corporate communications companies, to advertising companies. I saw a wide spectrum of types of communication.

Almost by coincidence I fell into understanding how great of a communicator Christ was. There were several young women who used to come to me for advice. Whatever the issue I was often struck by how applicable the teachings of Christ were. I would often recount stories or parables to them as an explanation of how to see and deal with their problems. They of course thought I was brilliant. I was awe struck with Jesus.

These ideas are not new to me, I came to them through a lens of working in this field. Jesus is by far the best communicator the world has ever seen. But this shouldn’t surprise us, as John calls him at the beginning of his Gospel, the ‘Word.’ We think, create and process with language. This use of language and words is a profoundly human experience.

Jesus’ whole time on earth is a living breathing example that we can look to and follow. He in every way communicated God to humanity. Not only his teaching and preaching, but his very being. He didn’t use words, he was the Word.

As Fox suggests, man can muddle and confuse doctrine. Yet the message from Jesus is simple. Further on in his writing Fox explains how this prayer can be used not as a mantra to parrot over and over, but as a way to see one’s life. The prayer offers daily guidance on how we can live for and serve God. A reforming of our souls.

Matthew 6: 9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”