Best of 2012: "Faith in a Hotel Pool"

Over the next few weeks, I hope you take a moment to read the occasional "Best Of" repost, which will be made of installments that generated the most responses.

This "Best Of" was originally published in October. Enjoy!

When my girls were small, they loved going swimming at pools, preferably hotels.

When Grace was 3, she clung to me like Velcro, sometimes choking me with her arms around my neck. Dads, you know the grip kids have; there's no need to hang on to the child because there was no way they would let go.

Part of the fun for Grace was to see how far she could jump, so I'd back up gradually until she yelled to stop. Her point always seemed so close from my view, then she'd jump almost onto my head, I was so close. Each time, I encouraged her to let me stand a little further back. She'd hesitate, then beg me to come closer. Each time, she'd jump right into my outstretched arms, no matter how far out I was.

At times, I'd need to reassure her that I was close enough, despite her disbelief. When her eyes told her I was too far out, she'd hesitate and beg me to come back.

It was only when I backed up just out of her reach that she believed in herself (and her dad!) that she'd be OK. That her legs would be stronger each time she jumped. That her dad wouldn't let anything bad happen.

More than once, she'd end up just short of my arms and plunge into the water, and I'd see her eyeballs w i d e open glaring up at me. Then her hands would meet mine and I'd pull her up, only to have her cling to my neck and back.

Funny thing is, no matter how scared she was after plunging into the water, she wanted to jump again and again and again. It was fun!

Sometimes I think that's how God, our Father, treats us with our faith. As we grow closer to Him, we can trust him, knowing that he's within reach. At the same time, I think he backs up a bit each time our faith is stretched, helping us grow in dependence on him while trusting him with bigger things.

Just as Grace did, we go back for more when our faith-growth is stretched. Sometimes we plunge, reaching for God to grab us only to have him pull us out and reassure us that he's with us.

Then we go back for more.

I find myself plunging in quite a bit. But I'd never give up the growth in Him -- it's fun and I'd miss out on the adventure of "the jump" if I didn't try.

Preparing for Christmas

This week's "Read Your Bible" scripture has been particularly impactful, especially today's. 

 

In short, Jesus is washing the disciple's feet, and when Peter's feet will be washed, he (Peter) says he isn't fit to have his feet washed by Jesus. Jesus tells him that he must wash him, so Peter responds that he want's his head and hands washed too.

 

 How awesome: Peter wants his whole self washed, not just his feet - he wants to be fully part of what Jesus has. We all know that Peter denies even knowing Jesus later, then becomes a great leader in establishing the Church.

How great as we approach Christmas, knowing that Jesus came here, served others, welcomes us all into his family, despite our weaknesses. Then he uses us to build his Church with the gifts he's provided us.

 

Our reason to share our faith is in knowing God's love and wanting that for others.

As the carol states in "Joy To The World," "let every heart prepare him room..," my prayer is that we prepare our hearts to receive him, to ensure there's room in our hearts, to receive and to serve him.

It is truly a joyous time of year to celebrate Emmanuel - God with us.

A quick "thank you"

All,

Many thanks for checking out the blog and especially for your comments!  It's hard to believe we crossed the 1,000-hit mark (only since April 2012) and have readers around the world.

I pray that you have continued blessings and peace.   Don't forget to help someone in need.

Living in the Light

A couple summers ago, we found our favorite campground and campsite in Bear Head Lake State Park near Ely. The sad thing about that trip is that we were tent camping and it rained 6 out of the 9 days and we saw the sun for literally 3 hours, only through broken clouds.  Nonetheless, we loved the remote location at the edge of the Boundary Waters.

One night after supper, the girls took off on their bikes to go take a shower.  I told them to take a flashlight, but they refused to take one, saying they didn't need it - they’d be back well before sunset.

As the sunlight dimmed significantly, I became worried.  The darkness seemed to settle quicker than usual, and soon rain clouds darkened the sky.  As the sun set and shadows in the woods disappeared, it became very dark.  With the darkness, I worried about my girls.  It became so dark that my eyes would not adjust and the only way to see was with a light.

 

The trip to the shower house was long, being on the opposite side of the campground.  I grabbed a flashlight for myself and wondered on the walk if the girls set out on their own only to be lost in the dark; they could have taken the wrong path very easily; would they be lost?  I was relieved to hear their conversation and laughter in the shower building as I got closer.

Once we headed back to our campsite, the girls became frustrated with me for coming to get them.  “We’re fine,” they said.  "Don't you believe in us?" disappointed that their dad had to come find them.

“It’s black out here without a light,” I said, “and it would be very easy for you to get really lost!  This is not the city, girls, and you could easily be headed the wrong way."

“Dad, we’re fine!” they both insisted.  The conversation went on for a few minutes. 

Just to teach them a lesson, I turned off my flashlight. All of our paces slowed as we all tried to get our eyes to adjust.  But it was too dark by then.  The only solution was to turn on the light, but I resisted until they demanded that I turned the light on.

 

All at once we could see where we were going. 

I was reading John 8:12 the other day.  Just to set the stage, Jesus was teaching a group of people when a mob of men were about to stone a woman caught in the act of adultery.  The men brought her to Jesus, saying, "The law of Moses says she must be stoned.  What do you say?" trying to trick him into some unacceptable answer.  Finding Jesus, the woman heard him say, “let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”  When the men dispersed, Jesus said to the woman, “Where are your accusers now? Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.”

John 8:12 says, “When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said, ‘I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

What words can describe LIGHT in a metaphorical way?  I think of guidance, life, right-ness, righteousness, illumination, awareness, power, hope, faith, love.  In the Old Testament, light was used to describe creation, “a lamp,” power, justice, weapon of righteousness, rescue.  In the New Testament, light meant guidance, and in Revelation, lightening is used as a weapon of righteousness to strike down evil.

What about DARKNESS?  Despair, uncertainty, cold, hopeless, depression, sickness.  LOST is one word I think of.  FEAR may be a close second!

In this verse, Jesus was talking about understanding.  When Jesus spoke these words, he is saying “I am the understanding of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in confusion, but will have the understanding of life.”

Living in Christ is living a life that CONTRASTS our world. (DARK).  Our lives are very different from how we used to live, when we walked in the dark path in the campground.

The men in the verses from John were operating in the law.

 

Jesus was operating with grace. 

See, Christ is the only one who can bring us back home.  He is the only way to have light.

When we believe, we come out of the dark into the light of understanding.  We see things differently:  TV becomes a distraction; the news becomes a distraction from the real message and truth; we gain a different perspective as if we’re on the outside looking in, saying or thinking, “What in the world is going on?” and knowing it’s the darkness. 

We have a better way, don’t we? 
Being in the Word daily brings light. 
Prayer brings light. 
Serving others brings light. 
Supporting others brings light. 
Spending time with our brothers and sisters in Christ brings light. 
Knowing Jesus brings light.

Who do you know that's in the dark?

What can yo udo this week to bring some light to them and bring them closer to Jesus?

Christmas is our celebration - God came to us as his light in the form of a baby, who would become our only salvation, giving his very life for us, so that we would be forgiven of our unpardonable sins and live with him - in light - forever.

"Father God, right now we pray for those we know who are in the dark.  PIERCE their darkness, Father.  PIERCE it with your eternal, great, everlasting love.  We open our hearts to your plan in whatever part we can play in your grand plan.  We thank you!  We glorify you!  We praise you!  And we love you!  In Jesus name we pray, AMEN!"

God of the Universe

A call to action is in order.

We all know people who are living in darkness; are far from God; and are maybe even "sitting the fence" on their relationship with Him.

I'd like to encourage you this Christmas season to pray for one person you know and take a step in inviting them to your small group as well as a Christmas service.

Check this out (I stumbled across this yesterday in the book Finish The Mission and it blew my mind!):

I don't know if any of you are astronomy hobbiests (I'm not), but you MUST check out these pictures taken by the Hubble Telescope, as well as some audio from distant pulsars.

Like I said, I'm not really "in" to this, so I don't really understand it all, but what an amazing God we have! For instance, this galaxy http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/galaxy/pr2003028a/ called the "Sombrero Galaxy" is over 29 million light years from here! That's traveling at the speed of light (184,000 miles per second) for 29 million years! And that's not even close to the "edge" of the universe.

The sounds of the pulsars are actually radio waves that radiotelescopes pick up. If you scroll down to where it says 47 Tucanae http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~pulsar/Education/Sounds/ in this cluster, it sounds like something out of a sci fi movie and actually makes a musical chord!

ALL OF IT is evidence of how glorious God is and it is ALL for Him. When we sing, pray, worship, hum a tune, laugh, we're part of that glory. Our beating hearts, the flap of a bird's wing, the waves on the ocean, and on and on, point to the glory of God! How amazing!

 

God of the universe, Creator, loves us deeply.  Why wouldn't we want to share this fact with everyone we know?  Let that sink in a minute.

During this Christmas, we recognize that God came to us - right here on Earth - to show us how much he loves us. That we have everlasting life into the everlasting and everlasting. How vast His love is for us. It is without end! God, who created all this, sent us one way to get back home, and his name is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who can bring darkness back to light. There's only one option and we can't keep it to ourselves.

Lord, the universe declares your majesty. You are Holy. Holy. Holy! 

Clown Food and Lattes

sac·ri·fice

/ˈsæk rəˌfaɪs/ Show Spelled [sak-ruh-fahys]
Giving up of something valued: a giving up of something valuable or important for somebody or something else considered to be of more value or importance.

"Sacrifice" seems like a dirty word lately, especially with all the consumerism that goes along with "The Holidays" and the growth of the mentality of those that believe they're entitled to certain things.

As I've matured and had a recent birthday (again), I've realized that I have so much more than I could ever use or deserve, fortifying the belief that I'm here to serve and provide for others with the gifts I've been blessed with.  Now, instead of looking for stuff to acquire, much of my time is devoted to finding needs and causes to support with time, prayer, and finances.

There's a guy I know that always seems to have a bag of clown food for breakfast, plus a reindeer latte.  Came to find out that he also tends to get fast food during the remainder of the day as well.  We had a conversation about my recent Nicaragua trip and the subject turned toward giving, and he said he couldn't find room to donate money to a cause. 

Just for fun, I thought about what this would cost a person each day.

Breakfast:  1 clown food breakfast sandwich + 1 reindeer-brand latte = $7.87/day x 20 days = nearly $180/month.

Lunch:  Sub sandwich, chips, drink = $8/day x 20 days = $160/month.

Dinner:  burrito (contents containing naturally-raised/grown ingredients) = $8.

Millions of people live on less than $2/day.  One coffee costs twice that, without getting very fancy.  That $340 above could feed and support many!

Reputable charities are able to make a dollar go a long way.  For instance, FMSC's Manna Pack provides 6 1-Cup servings of food for just 22 cents.  Sponsoring a child through World Vision for $35 a month is a minimal sacrifice (if you can call it that) that can help a child and his/her community worth at least three times that.  And through efforts of local charities right here in the U.S., a $100 donation can feed nearly 50 people.

Would you prayerfully consider supporting a charity of your choice this Christmas instead of acquiring more stuff?