The Dance

I have a friend who is a single mom. She gets very little help from her ex-husband financially or otherwise. In fact, he causes more stress in her life than is necessary. My friend works two jobs, maintains her home and finances. She parents a teenage daughter and an elementary school daughter; a huge task by yourself. She juggles their school activities, their extra-curricular activities, and their personalities. She volunteers at church, leads a small group, heads numerous committees at work, and is completing her masters degree. She does this all with a smile on her face, and while reaching out to others. Honestly, I don’t know how she does it all.

She called me the other day to tell me about a dream she had. She was dancing with a man. They danced for a while; she was enjoying it. Then he said, “Let me lead.” And she let him. A huge burden was lifted from her as she allowed him to take the lead. Relief and relaxation flooded into her being. Surely this was representative of her life. In her waking thoughts, she longed for this release of responsibility. She needs someone to share the responsibility of taking care of her family and home. In God’s economy, a husband is the leader of the family. That is what she is craving – some God-ordained leadership. She knows He will provide in the right time. Meanwhile, she will continue to take care of things.

I was pondering all of this as I prayed for her this morning. I was thinking about Jesus. I was thinking about our God-ordained roles in this dance of life, and how Jesus is the leader and we are to let him lead. We are part of this dance, but each partner has a role. That’s what makes it work. That’s what makes the dance beautiful.

Imagine if the leader didn’t lead in the dance. Then the two would be bumping into one another, not going anywhere, not knowing what comes next. Imagine if both dancers tried to lead. There would be a power struggle with jerky moves that wheeled each partner one way then another. Neither of these scenarios would work. There needs to be a clear leader. In our dance of life, it is Jesus.

Many times we don’t let him lead. We try to be the one calling the moves, not only in our everyday lives, but also when it comes to our redemption, our righteousness. We try to take the lead with our good works, our obedience. We think, “Oh, I”ll do this today and God will surely think I am good.” We think, “If I do this and this and this, surely I will go to Heaven.” Friend, this kind of thinking is futile: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Of course good works are part of what we do, part of the dance, but our leader, Jesus, has already done the thing that makes us right before the LORD: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus satisfied the wrath of God over our sins through his death on the cross because “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). He paid the debt, now offers us redemption.

Listen, there are some dance moves we just can’t do. There are some solo moves that only Jesus can accomplish. On the cross, the Heavenly spotlight was on him as he performed the moves no man can copy. Watch and be amazed, and when he holds out his hand and invites you to the dance, hold on and let him lead. It will be far more beautiful than anything you could do on your own.

Fully Free Films

It finally arrived! The premier of The Atheist Delusion was last night.  I had been waiting for months for this new Living Waters video to arrive.  The premier was live from the Ark Encounter, a theme park in Kentucky that is part of the Creation Museum - a very cool place.  The live premier included back stories, Q and A, and a peek inside the Ark.



If you're not into apologetics (the defense of your faith), or even if you are, the video was great.  It offered real life conversations that Ray Comfort had with professing atheists.  He was able to use the Socratic method of asking questions to help them see the shaking ground on which they place their faith.  The movie could give you some new insight into how to approach and converse with those who don't believe in any god, let alone the God of the universe.



You can check out all of the videos made by the Living Waters ministry at FullyFreeFilms.com.

There is a link below.  Enjoy!



Fully Free Films

Things I Learned from Hurricane Matthew

1. A flood and a storm surge are NOT the same thing. Last year we had what the weather people called “A 1,000 Year Flood.” There had not been a flood like that in a really long time, and it would be a really long time before we saw another such flood. I live on a tidal creek, so we did have a lot of water in our yard during that flood. It was the most my husband had ever seen, and he has lived on our street his entire life. The water almost came into our shed (6 inches to go). It was 20 feet from our back steps. All was well. So, as we prepared for Hurricane Matthew, we got ready for wind damage, trees falling, not water. We have almost 40 large trees in our yard. We claim the two tallest pine trees in our neighborhood, so this was a concern. We piled things in the shed at low levels, in case a tree or big branch fell on the roof: weed eaters, battery chargers, generators, things with motors that shouldn’t get wet. The shed already houses 3 freezers and my husband’s Harley – things that also shouldn’t get wet. We packed it all in, closed the door, and thought we were good. I went to my father’s house about a mile away. My husband went down the road to his sister’s. He wanted to be close in order to keep an eye on things. We had already seen what a 1,000 year flood could do, but as the hurricane force winds pushed the high tide into our yard, we realized a storm surge is NOT a flood. The water kept creeping into our yard, onto the carport, into the shed, up to the back steps. Things floated around in the sea of our yard: fire wood, buckets, dock poles, tires. Salty water seeped into every motor in the shed. My husband called me every few minutes with an update. There wasn’t anything he could do but watch and pray. In a situation like this, that is all you can do, which leads me to the second thing I learned. 2. God answers prayers! This, of course, is not a new thing I learned from Hurricane Matthew, but I was certainly reminded of it time and again as reports from my friends came in, friends I had been praying for. One friend’s house in downtown Charleston was thought to be under water. Praise the LORD, the street was a little flooded, but that was it! Another friend who lives on the beach thought her house would be demolished in the wind and water. It stood strong and she was out collecting conchs on the beach the next day, all her worries gone. Thank You, LORD! The praise reports kept pouring in. My phone kept lighting up with good news. What could have been terrible blew past us. God is good! I keep thinking about how often our LORD protects us from danger. Sometimes it is things we anticipate and are anxious about. Sometimes it is things we don’t even see. These things blow past us at the hand of our LORD. I keep thinking about David’s song to the LORD in Psalm 32 verses 6 and 7:

“Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah!”

The LORD is our hiding place. He protects us from trouble. And we who braved Hurricane Matthew are singing songs of deliverance today. Selah! Praise You, LORD! Thank You for Your great love!

Sharing My Thoughts

So, here I am typing on this blog. It has been many years since I have posted anything. Life is slowing down now and I have some time to think and to write and to share. One of my very best friends is a quilter. Wanda always has a quilt, actually many quilts, in the making. She loves to match the colors of different materials, cut the pieces, sew the squares, and put all the pieces together. She finds ways to share her quilts with others. She gives them to friends and family. She makes them for foster children and homeless moms. She gives them to expecting mothers, and the elderly in nursing homes. A little bit of her love sprinkled all over her sphere of influence. I was thinking about Wanda and her quilts the other day and how she finds a way to share them with others. She doesn't keep them all for herself packed away in boxes in a closet. She shares them. I love this about Wanda. I was also thinking about me and my writing. I don't share it so much. I keep it packed away in little journals on my book shelf. What good is it doing anyone there? Am I saving it for posterity? Will it just be thrown away when I'm gone? I wish I were more like Wanda, always finding a way to share my labors of love. With that in mind, I have decided to start posting again - even if I don't feel like I have time. I wrote this morning. Here is what I have to share today: I was thinking the other day about what God has done for us – the whole “you only need faith because God has done the rest” thing. It is simple, but it is also complex. The complexity, in fact, a-mazes me! In its simplest form, a person realizes they are a sinner, they understand they can’t change that, they know that Jesus took their penalty for sin when he died on the cross, and so they are forgiven and saved through their faith in Jesus. Simple. However, when you begin to dig deeper, it is like picking one snowflake from the simple white snow-covered ground, and examining it under the microscope. The shape and beauty and complexity of that one simple flake make it amazing. Consider some of the details. God wants relationship with us. He wants us to know Him. He designed us so that we could. He has characteristics that we would never experience if life were perfect. Forgiveness, compassion, provision – these would be lost in a perfect world. We would not know God fully without knowing He held these characteristics. God is also truth. He dwells in truth. Would we truly choose Him if given a choice? This truth is, as individuals given a choice, some would choose God and some would not. He wants the truth. He gave us free-will in order to maintain the truth of our relationship with Him. No forcing, no robots, but freely choosing God, that is the truth free-will offers. Free-will leads to a whole bunch of other issues. Sin is one of them. When we are free to choose, we often choose the wrong thing. We choose to please ourselves, do what feels best, turn away from God. He knew this would happen; He is our creator. Therefore, He set in place a way to be forgiven from the sins grown in free-will. After all, is goal is to be our God and for us to be His people. He loves us and wants us with Him. But, He knew that with our free-will, we could never attain sinlessness. It just wouldn’t happen. He also knew that setting up a list of things for us to in order to win our salvation would #1 – fuel our pride and #2 – not allow us to understand His grace. Creating a works-based system would not work. In fact, it would drive us away from Him and toward ourselves. So, in His wisdom, God sent His son. Jesus did what we could not: live a perfect life, be a perfect and unblemished sacrifice, face the wrath of God, take our punishment, and rise again. God sent the Worthy Lamb! This is one of the things that so amazes me: He knew we couldn’t save ourselves, so He id it for us. He wants us. He loves us. He didn’t leave us to do this alone. Jesus came down, Emmanuel- God with us, to walk with us on this sinful earth, to teach us the truth, to be the way for us to reach our Heavenly Father. Amazing! And when Jesus had fulfilled his job and went back to sit at the Father’s right hand until his next return, God did not leave us alone. He sent His Holy Spirit to be with us. And not just to walk beside us, but to be in us, help us, guiding us. We do not have to do this alone. He is always with us. “I will put a new spirit within you . . . I will put My Spirit with you . . .” says the LORD (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Are you listening? Can you grab hold of this? As Christian people of faith, we are not alone! God’s Holy Spirit is in us! This is amazing! You know, I think many people view the God of the Bible as a condemning, over-expecting deity who stands on the shore and points at us flailing in the water and shouts, “Wrong! You sinner! Get away from Me!” This is not a true picture of God. Instead, He wades out into the water with us and says, “Here! Hold on! I can help you.” This is a totally different picture. It is grace given by an all-knowing creator who is our Heavenly Father. All the other religions in the world are works-based. You work to walk the paths to Nirvana, work to please many gods, work to obey all the ordinances, work to uphold all the laws, work to earn your righteousness, work to get to heavenly places. The burden is on you – an imperfect sinner. The outcome is based on your abilities, your obedience, your efforts. “Believe in yourself,” the world chants. “You can do it!” “Try and try again and again and again . . .” “Follow all these laws and you’ll be fine.” “Work and stay on the path.” “Follow. Work. Do. It is all up to you,” is the mantra of the world. But Jesus cries, “Come to me, all your who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus has done the hard work. We can rest from the striving to save our souls. Jesus is gentle and humble, welcoming us with compassion and love and without condemnation. His burden is easy and light because the work that we do is out of gratitude. It is work done as a thank you for his grace and mercy and for our redemption. And work done in gratitude is joyful and rewarding. People claim the God of the Bible is demanding and uncompassionate. I ask you: Who is more demanding? The god that says, “Work hard to get it done yourself,” or the God that says, “Here! I’ve done it for you. Take it”? Who is more compassionate? The god that says, “Try and try again. You might get it eventually,” or the God that says, “Here! Let me help you with that” ? The answers are obvious. The complexity of God’s plan makes it incredibly intelligent and compassionate. And yet, it is so very simple. A-mazing! I hear the strains of a Newsboys song echoing through my thoughts: Amazing love, how can it be? That you, my King, should die for me. Amazing love, and I know it‘s true. It’s my joy to honor You. In all I do, to honor You. Praise You, LORD. Thank You. You are AMAZING!

Blogging again...for now!

I am posting this to just try it again. I am also posting a picture just to see. It is one that Jeffrey likes.

Been a long time . . .

Wow! Has it really been that long since I've posted anything on this lonely blog?

That just goes to show how utterly busy I have been. But, spring break is on the way - just 9 school days away!

I may have neglected my blog, but I haven't neglected my journal. I just haven't had the time to share some of my thoughts.

But, it is a rainy Sunday afternoon and I've been itching to type. So here goes . . .

My March 1st memory verse was 2 Corinthians 1:20.
"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God."

Choosing a verse to memorize is such a blessing because it gives you time to concentrate on that one thought. I chose this verse because of the idea of promises but the word that ended up catching my attention was the word "Amen".

A common word - one we use often - and one that the LORD and I have had some conversation about over the years. I started thinking about this word. What does it mean? I've always seen it as a closing and a word of agreement. I decided to look it up in my Vines dictionary.

The Vines gave me some other verses where the word "Amen" had been used in the original text but not necessarily translated as "Amen". Here are some things I found:

1."Amen" suggests God's faithfulness.
Deut. 7:9 and Isaiah 49:7 both use the word in this way.

2."Amen" suggests God's truth.
Isaiah 65:16 uses "God of truth" in place of "Amen" and helps us to understand it is a guarantee, a promise.

3. "Amen" is used as a title of Christ in Revelation.
Rev. 3:14 "...These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation."

4. "Amen" is used in the New Testament as a word of agreement, such as in 1 Corinthians 14:16.

5. "Amen" is used by Jesus but it is translated "verily" or "I tell you the truth"; so, again, we see the word suggests truth.

Imagine that . . . "Amen" means so much more than just a closing. It is faithful, true, trustworthy, a promise fulfilled.

I started thinking about Jesus on the cross and his final words. Picture this . . . a lonely hilltop, far away. The son of man, beaten and bloody hanging from the cross, head down, exhausted and in pain. He raises his head and breathes the words, "It is finished."

Jesus' work on the cross is our "Amen". He sealed up God's promises with his sacrificial blood. It is done! Our sins are forgiven. Our freedom is bought.

"So no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. So that through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God."

Thank you LORD for revealing yourself to us, for giving us new ideas about old words. Your word truly is alive and active and I am so excited about that.

Thank you, LORD!
AMEN!

The LORD's Army

Here it is – the holiday season and I have been struck with grouchiness! Just about everything has gotten on my nerves lately. I’ve been feeling lonely, taken advantage of, emotionally abused, without companionship . . . My list could go on.

I really want to be in the holiday spirit and be excited but all these other things are getting in my way. I’m sure that is exactly how Satan would want it. The Bible tells us that our battles are not earthly but spiritual and I’m assuming that is especially the case with this kind of thing. It is definitely Satan. He just doesn’t want me to enjoy the holiday season.

Saturday Jeff and I were watching Crocodile Dundee on TV. It’s been a while since I’d seen it. Mick is a pretty slick character. Once he got those bad guys back on his own turf, they were done for. His battle tactic was to create a diversion and while everyone was in a panic, he would carry someone off. He called in some bats one time, fired some shots in a different direction another time and even had a fake crocodile emerge through the murky water to “eat” someone.

Simple and effective. Create a diversion, then, go in for the attack. I’m sure that battle tactic has been used many times throughout history. So, I ask you, why wouldn’t Satan do the same? Create a diversion . . . go in for the attack. Or, create a diversion to keep us off task. Really, he doesn’t even need to attack; he just needs to re-direct our focus and keep us from doing God’s will or enjoying the peace and joy we’ve been given. Just a little diversion and . . . well, he’s successful.

That’s what he’s been doing to me. I’m particularly diverted when my emotions are involved. Satan knows that. He’s used that one in the past and it works. If he can get my emotions flared up, I’m down for the count. Here are some thoughts that always get my attention:

“Woe is me. No one likes me.”
“I’m a loser. I can’t do anything right.”
“I’m all alone.”
“I can’t stand it when he or she does . . . (whatever)”
“I have to do all this work by myself while everyone just watches.”
“No one cares for me.”

My list could go on but those are some typical lures Satan uses to divert my attention. I think I’ve felt all those things and more in the past week.

But, those thoughts aren’t the truth. They are a smoke screen – a lie. If I let them play out in my mind, they will overtake me. Satan won’t have to do a thing. I’ll consume myself with thoughts of myself and how awful my plight in life. That will be the end of me for a while. Isn’t he clever?

David, our youth minister, has a saying that rings in my ears today.
“It’s not about you. Get over yourself.”
He tells the youth this all the time when we’re on a mission trip. He says, “It’s gonna get hot. You’re gonna get tired and frustrated. It’s not gonna be easy. But you are here for the kids. You are here to do God’s work. This isn’t about you.”

What he’s telling them is don’t be diverted by yourself. Don’t lose focus. Keep your eyes on the goal and do not allow little things that don’t matter in the end to keep you from serving God. He’s so right!

I’ve fallen for the diversion yet again!

I’ve been consumed with myself and things that don’t matter because they aren’t the truth. I’ve taken my eyes off serving the LORD. I’ve even allowed my joy to be dragged off during the diversion.

We’ve all got our weaknesses when it comes to diversions. What captures my attention might not even make you blink and vice versa. Be assured, Satan knows what works for each of us. He has studied us closely. Some things really are a battle and they require a spiritual fight – prayer and fasting and wielding our sword constantly. But, some things are just a diversion – a smoke screen, something to keep us occupied and not on target with the LORD. Some diversions just steal our joy.

May we be a people that know the difference between real battle and planned diversions. May we be strong enough to not even flinch at those distractions. May our eyes be so focused on the LORD that we never fall for the lure to be taken off track. Then, we will be able to do more for our LORD and savior.

Can you see us – decked out in our armor? Polished shield of faith. Sparkling breastplate of righteousness. Helmet of salvation fitted tightly. Belt of truth fastened around. Our shoes ready to move. The light of our LORD radiating from our drawn swords. We stand together . . . strong, holy, ready to fight, already victorious. Don’t you know the sight of us makes demons flee because we are His. We are the LORD’s army! Praise You, LORD!

Lord, help me . . . help us to be the soldiers you’ve called us to be - ready and able, equipped with Your word and Your righteousness. Let us stand unflinching before You. Let us not be distracted. Let us keep our eyes on You. Let us forever serve You, going out in the world to do the good works which You’ve prepared for us to do. We want to be strong soldiers in Your army. Help us, LORD! In Jesus’ mighty name . . .