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Higher Ground

In 2004 a 9.1 magnitude earthquake erupted on the seafloor of the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, which caused catastrophic devastation to the region and a staggering loss of life—over 200,000 lives were lost. Tsunamis occur when undersea earthquakes or volcanic eruptions displace a large amount of water, resulting in waves that are usually around 10 feet high but can reach to more than 100 feet high. The waves of a tsunami are not like the curling waves we see at a beach. They are walls of turbulent water, wave after wave that slam into the coastline, leaving death and destruction behind.

One of the great contributors to the loss of life during the 2004 tsunami was that people had not been educated about the warning signs of an impending tsunami and what to do when one threatens. When people saw the ocean withdraw leaving the seafloor bare, instead of fleeing many went to investigate. So what should you do? Get to higher ground as quickly as you can! One expert even advises that if you are not sure if you are high enough, then just keep moving uphill.

This expert advice should be adhered to not just when we are facing an oceanic tsunami, but also when we are facing a tsunami of adversity in our daily lives. Certainly, that is what we have experienced this past year—wave after wave of heartbreaking adversity that continues to spill over into 2021. Consider the fear and sorrow that COVID-19 has wrought, the restrictions and isolation that ensued, the brutal displays of racial injustice that pierces the very soul of our nation, the economic stress and hardship so many have experienced, and then in addition to all of these “waves,” the volatile “wave” of political dysfunction, turmoil, and division that has pitted one person against another.

No wonder at times we feel this tsunami of adversity will overwhelm us. But instead of succumbing to it, let’s follow the advice of the experts! Let’s get to higher ground. But how do we do that? Hebrews 12:2 provides an answer: “Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we are in. Study how he did it.”

So how did Jesus do it? How did he keep his feet firmly planted on higher ground when his resolve was being shaken by the suffering that he would experience not only from the torture of crucifixion, but also the trauma of becoming our sin?

  1. He kept his focus on the joy of his eternal future. The second half of verse 2 in Hebrews 12 explains, “For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross . . .”

Jesus endured the cross because he knew the joy that his suffering would accomplish—the joy of redeeming mankind, the redeeming of creation back to the Creator. He also knew the joy it would bring His heavenly Father to bestow upon him the honor and glory for this work of redemption.

2. He prayed. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was filled with great sorrow and deep distress, and what he was about to endure began to overwhelm him, he prayed a very honest, fervent, even anguished prayer:

“Father, take this cup from me. But not my will but your will.” (Luke 22:42)

After praying this prayer three times and praying so earnestly that his sweat mixed with blood, Jesus rose from this place of prayer strengthened in his spirit, with a resolve to be victorious in the face of the tsunami of adversity that lay before him. He rose from that place of prayer with his feet firmly planted on “higher ground,” the higher ground of the Father’s will.

And we need to do the same! When the tsunami of the world’s problems collide with the trials of our personal lives, we, too, need to bow our knees in prayer.  As we pray honest and earnest prayers, God will strengthen our faith, encourage our spirits, and fill us with an uncommon peace. He will plant our “feet” on higher ground.

And then like Jesus, we also need to keep our eyes on our eternal future. This world and all of its sorrow is temporary. It may feel permanent, but it is not. We stand on “higher ground” when our eyes stayed focused on our eternity, our eternal joy, instead being bound to the present and all its troubles.

I love the words of an old hymn penned by Johnson Oatman, Jr. in 1898. The lyrics still ring true for today:

Lord, lift me up and let me stand,

By faith on heaven’s table land,

A higher plane than I have found,

Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

 

Aside published on January 15, 2021 | | 6 Responses

Prepare Him Room

My tree is decorated. Presents are wrapped and under the tree.  Christmas music is playing in the background. This much of Christmas has not changed, but certainly a lot has. Joe and I won’t be hosting 30+ relatives for brunch on Christmas morning. Our family visit to Greenfield Village Holiday Nights, canceled. The Life Group Christmas party canceled. My out-of-town family coming home for Christmas, canceled. And as much as I appreciate my church’s online services, I miss the freedom of worshiping with my church family and friends, especially during this special season. It seems that COVID-19 has disrupted our beloved Christmas traditions, but as I sit here writing this blog, cheerful Christmas music is playing in the background. There is just something special about Christmas music that lifts your spirit, especially the Christmas carols.

The contemporary ones like Mary Did You Know, and Lauren Daigle’s Noel, but especially the traditional carols, like Silent Night, O Holy Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing make my heart sing. One of my favorites is Joy To the World. The first line of this 201-year-old carol written by Isaac Watts is,

“Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her king.”

As many times as I have sung this song at Christmas time, this year it was this last line that gave me pause. “Let earth receive her king!” It reminds me that Jesus entered humanity to be our King. Yes, He came to be our Savior, our Redeemer, Our Prophet, Our Priest, but we can’t forget that he also came to be our King. I think this is where many of us as Christians tend to struggle. We are eager to accept Him,

as our Savior—to exchange a destiny of damnation for a destiny of eternal life;

as our Redeemer—for it is by His shed blood that our sins are forgiven;

as our High Priest—for He makes intercession to the Father on our behalf;

as our Prophet—for He speak to us, revealing more of himself and His truths, leading and directing our lives.

But accepting Him as our KING? This means we place the government of our life into His hands. It means we submit to His sovereignty over our lives. We embrace the principles of His kingdom over our personal preferences and agendas. We choose His will, not our will to govern our lives. Perhaps this was why Watts was inspired to write the next line of his carol. After the line, “Let earth receive her king,” he wrote, “Let every heart prepare him room.”

This was the problem the 1st Century Jews had with Jesus. They had no room in their hearts to receive Jesus as their king, because he wasn’t the kind of king they wanted. They wanted a king  like King David, a warrior king who would lead a revolt and overthrow their Roman oppressors; a king who would sit on a throne in Jerusalem and return the nation of Israel to its greatness.

They weren’t looking for a king whose mission was conquering man’s true enemy, the enemy of his soul—death, hell, and the devil. They weren’t looking for a king who came to establish a spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom of God here on earth. They weren’t looking for a king who came to demonstrate his power not on a battlefield, but rather by healing the sick, forgiving sin, raising the dead, casting out demons.

And certainly, they were not looking for a king, who would teach that the principles of His Kingdom are: turn the other cheek, love your enemies, bless those that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you. Blessed are the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and those who hunger and thirst not after the riches, power, and fame of this world, but hunger and thirst after righteousness!

They had no room in their hearts to receive Jesus as their king, because their hearts were filled with their own preferences and agendas.

There is a blessing in this pared down Christmas. We have time to quiet ourselves and evaluate the condition of our heart. Ask yourself: Is there room in my heart to receive Him as my King? What preferences and agendas have taken precedence over His sovereignty in my life? What has crowded Him out as the King of my heart?  Yes, He is my Savior, my Redeemer, my Prophet, Priest, but is He king?

During this most unusual Christmas season, with renewed passion let’s embrace the message of this enduring carol:

Joy to the World, the Lord has come,

Let earth receive her king,

Let every heart prepare him room!

Aside published on December 18, 2020 | | 5 Responses

A Test of Character

His brothers betrayed him.

Sold into slavery.

Falsely accused and thrown into prison.

And forgotten.

As a young teenager Joseph had been given divine dreams that promised a future of high honor and position. But at the age of 17 and for the next 13 years, those dreams receded into the realm of impossibility as his life went from bad to worse. Yet through it all, Joseph never lost his faith and hope in God. Even in the darkest and most desperate moments, he remained honorable in all he did. 

Now God didn’t cause Joseph’s brother to hate him. It was his father’s (Jacob’s) blatant favoritism that fueled this hatred.

God didn’t cause Joseph to be thrown into prison. It was the amorous advances and false accusation of Potipher’s wife.

Joseph didn’t deserve to be enslaved or imprisoned. So why did God wait 13 years until He miraculously intervened? The Psalmist provides an answer:

“Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.” (Ps. 105:19)

God used this season of adversity to test Joseph’s character—and Joseph passed the test!

Adversity did not make Joseph adversarial. Adversity had not embittered him. Instead, Joseph showed grace, mercy and forgiveness in the midst of adversity. When Joseph was miraculously elevated from prison to a prince of Egypt, he understood how God had used adversity to form in him a godly character—a character that was that  necessary in order for his life’s purpose to be fulfilled.

And now millennia later, like Joseph we, too, are living in a season of adversity. 

Maybe we aren’t in a physical prison, but certainly with COVID-19 we are living with restrictions our generation has never experienced before. We may not be falsely accused of sexual assault like Joseph, but we certainly have felt the bitter assault of conflicting political opinions. The exposure of racial injustice and the ensuing racial tensions have pierced the soul of this nation. Economic uncertainty looms on every side. 

So how can God work all of this adversity for our good? (Rom. 8:28) He can use this time of adversity to test and perfect our character. It’s a time to evaluate and do a “heart” check. 

In the midst of this adversity, have we become adversarial? Do we taste our words before we speak them? Are they laced with invectives and condemnations?Or are they bathed with grace and love?

Do we reread our posts before we share them? Do we consider how they may be written in a way that will wound someone who holds a differing opinion? Or how they may provoke an inflamed reaction?

Perhaps this is a season where God wants all of us to consider how our words and actions reveal our character, especially when we are interacting with those who think or believe differently than we do. 

During this time of adversity, let’s reflect God’s grace and love by what we say, by what we write, by how we act, by how we react. Let’s pass the character test!

 

Aside published on November 24, 2020 |

Catch The Wind

A good friend of mine loves weathervanes. In fact, this photo is one she took that is on top of a barn just a few miles north of where I live. In sharing her fascination with weathervanes, she commented that she had done a bit of research and discovered that their original purpose was more than being a lovely decoration. Their purpose was to catch the purest breezes, the purest wind, and indicate its direction. 

For you see, at ground level the direction of the wind can be deceptive. Buildings and even trees can cause the wind to swirl, interfering with its true direction. So prior to the days of Doppler radar and mobile phone weather apps, farmers mounted weathervanes on the highest structures, typically a barn, to catch the true speed and direction of the wind. Weathervanes were one of the most important tools these farmers had to forecast weather, gaining the information they needed to guide their decisions when to plant seed and when to harvest their crops. 

As she shared this with me, I thought about the wind of God, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to give us direction. The Apostle Paul admonishes us to “let the Holy Spirit guide our lives.” (Gal. 5:16 NLT) But there are a lot of things that can interfere with knowing the true direction of the Holy Spirit. The business and busyness of life, its the worries and cares, as well as the apprehension and even fear we feel due to the discord in our nation, all of these things can obstruct our awareness of His guidance. 

So what is our spiritual weathervane? Where is that “high place” where we can catch the true direction of the wind of the Holy Spirit to guide our decisions and actions, to quell our fears and worries? It’s not on top of a barn or even atop a church. It’s on our knees! Our spiritual weathervane is prayer.

Through prayer, the “wind of God,” the Holy Spirit, can provide us with true direction for our lives so we are not confused or misled by conflicting winds or swirling drafts of opinion. We can receive unobstructed direction and guidance for our lives. Perhaps this is why the Apostle Paul encourages us to “pray about everything.” (Phil.4:6 NLT) So use your weathervane of prayer and catch what the wind of the Holy Spirit desires to reveal to you—guidance for your life, and peace and comfort for your soul. 

Photo Credit: Christine Hardy

Aside published on October 20, 2020 | | 4 Responses

In Awe!

In my late teens, Reverend M. D. Beall became my pastor. Although she was more often addressed as Mom Beall or Sister Beall, they were always spoken with utmost respect, love, and shall I even say, awe! After all, no one I knew had such a gift to hear from God, preach His heart, and be used in such miraculous ways.

Then in 1974 my relationship with Sister Beall changed. I married her grandson, Joe, and so had the added privilege of knowing her as Grandma Beall. Joe had a close relationship with his grandmother and their bond of love spilled over into my life. We enjoyed special times with her when she would  invite us over for dinner, always roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob (no matter the season) prepared by her cook, Mary. After dinner we would go to her den which also served as her prayer room, the place where she received the messages she would preach on Sundays. There we would continue to enjoy each other’s company.

I was blessed to know this personal side of M.D. Beall—to know her as a grandmother—and I never failed to be honored by that privilege. I always remained in awe of this woman of God.

When we look back to the great patriarchs of the Old Testament, they knew God was their Father and that they were His children, but they didn’t address God as “Father.” Abraham addressed God as “God Almighty,” Moses knew Him as the I Am, Jehovah. David knew Him as his Shepherd, the Holy One, his Lord. But when Jesus entered humanity, he made it possible for us to know God in a personal, intimate way that had not been known before, to truly know God as “our Father.”In fact, when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he gave them the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern, and it begins with “Our Father.” Think about how remarkable, how “awe-some” this must have sounded to those twelve Jewish men—to address Almighty God, Yahweh, Jehovah, the Holy One, with such a familial appellation—to address Him as Father! 

And that privilege was not just meant for the Twelve Disciples. We, too, can know God as our Father!  But with this privilege of intimacy we must remember that He is still the Holy One, Almighty God, Sovereign Lord. We must never take for granted this blessing of a personal relationship with God. Paul Tripp (author of New Morning Mercies) reminds us of the importance of remaining in awe of God.

“Every word we speak, every action we take, every decision we make, and every desire we entertain was meant to be colored by awe.”

And here “awe” is not defined as being “afraid of,” but rather a “feeling of reverential respect and wonderment” for our God. So today, take a moment to pray the Lord’s Prayer to your Father and enjoy the wonderment of His presence while being in awe that He has chosen you as His child!  Allow that intimacy to magnify your awe of Him. 

Aside published on September 21, 2020 | | 14 Responses

A Joyful Word Of Thanks!

Their sacred city had been sacked. The fortress walls lay in ruins. The temple of God leveled. A remnant of Jews had been taken into captivity and lived in exile under Babylonian rule. Years passed, but God did not forget His exiled people.

With a change of rulers in Babylon, exiled Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. Although the temple was eventually rebuilt, the walls surrounding the city remained in heaps of rubble. Fortress walls were needed for protection, but also as a sign to the outside world that Jerusalem was once again a great city.

So God raised up a man named Nehemiah who was given permission by King Artaxerxes to return to the land of Judah and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Upon arrival, Nehemiah surveyed the overwhelming task before him. Rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem would not be easy, but he would not tackle this task alone. Volunteers from the tribes of Israel joined in. Chief among them were priests and Levites, (men who from the time of Moses had been chosen to assist the priests in carrying out the duties in the temple).

Together they cleaned up the mounds of rubble and began laying each course of the wall with recovered stone. It was hard, laborious work, requiring long hours. What made things even more difficult was the constant opposition they faced by men who were not pleased that Jerusalem was being rebuilt – men whose abusive words were couched with threats of violence. So the priests and Levites built the wall with a tool in one hand and a ready sword in the other.

After 52 days of intense building, the wall was complete. An amazing feat! To celebrate, Nehemiah organized a dedication celebration, a celebration that is documented in Nehemiah, chapter 12. As I was reading about this celebration, one verse caught my attention.

“The people of Judah took joy in the work of the priests and Levites.” (Neh. 12:44)

The people rejoiced with grateful hearts in the work these leaders had done. These spiritual leaders had led by example. They sweat. They labored. They defended. And the people took joy in the hard work and dedication of their leaders during this difficult time.

As I reflected on this verse, my mind began to rehearse the early days of COVID-19 as we sheltered in. I remembered how the pastors, leaders, and staff of my church stepped up and worked hard to keep our church family connected and spiritually encouraged. In a matter of days, they were ready on that first Sunday to broadcast an online service, something they had never done before. Each week they worked on getting it better and better.

Our youth pastor and children’s director found creative ways to connect with our kids and feed their souls, and encourage their spirits. The church leaders found a safe way to continue to open our food pantry to the community where over 500 families were being supplied with food on a weekly basis. Our pastor even started a blog, using stories from his days as a police officer to share a spiritual truth, words that bring joy and strength to us each week.

And so like the Jerusalem Jews of old, I take joy in the work of our spiritual leaders and their staff. This blogpost is a shout-out of gratefulness for their hard work, their dedication in overcoming the obstacles and constraints they have faced as they navigated through these uncharted waters of COVID 19.

THANK YOU, Pastor Tony, Pastor Chris and the staff at Community Christian Church! 

Perhaps you, too, would like to express your grateful joy to the pastors and leaders of your church. Whether you are tuning in online, attending a drive-in service or safely distancing in person at your church, take a moment to send an email, a text or even a snail mail note, expressing your joy, your gratefulness for the work they have done and are doing to build up the church of Christ in this new normal. (Feel free to share your shout-outs of thankfulness on this post as well!)

Let’s make sure they know how grateful, thankful, and joyful we are of their hard work, their sacrifice, their dedication.

Aside published on August 23, 2020 | | 11 Responses

Tears!

 

 

 

 

We shed tears—

tears of joy,

tears of laughter.

But more often than not, we shed . . .

tears of pain,

tears of grief and sorrow,

tears of remorse and regret,

tears of anger and frustration.

And over the past four months a flood of tears have been shed for our nation:

tears for those whose lives have been devastated by a merciless virus;

tears for those who are pre-judged because of the color of their skin, as the reality of racial injustice has come into sharp focus;

tears as we see the brokenness of our nation, as the hope for unity seems to fade;

tears as we witness a national culture that seeks to distance itself from God.

So what do we do with our tears—these tears that rend our hearts, disturb our sleep, rob us of our peace? Well, King David has an answer. He instructs us to “plant” them!

In Psalm 126:5 he wrote: “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.”

Another king. King Hezekiah, applied David’s words when he was critically ill. On his death bed he cried out to God, and God responded: “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.” ((2 Kings 20:5) Hezekiah was healed and lived another 15 years. Without question, Hezekiah’s tear-filled prayer was replaced with shouts of joy.

God does not regard our tears lightly; he values them. In fact, in yet another psalm, Psalm 56:8, David wrote: “You (Lord) keep track of all my sorrow. You have collected my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (NLT)

Be comforted to know that the tears you shed whether for yourself, your family, or our nation are not wasted when they are planted with prayer. God values your tears, just as He valued Hezekiah’s tears. God is attentive to the cry of your heart. So in faith you can trust Him for an answer, an answer for which you will praise Him with shouts of joy.

 

Aside published on July 31, 2020 | | 2 Responses

Really? Be Anxious For Nothing?

 

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.” (Phil 4:5 KJV)

I’m not sure when I was first able to recite this scripture by heart. Perhaps it became embedded in my memory, because I had heard it so often recited and referred to by others throughout my life. It’s those first four words, though, that I was pondering the other day:

Be anxious for nothing!

With everything going on in our world, it is easy to become anxious. From the isolation and apprehension we have experienced during the Corona-19 pandemic to the heart-wrenching realization that the hopes of racial equality that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was to accomplish have been dashed over and over again leaving death, disillusionment, and anger in its wake.

If the sentence had stopped with just those four words, it would be an imperative statement, commanding us to not let anything make us anxious. How impossible that would be! But Paul didn’t stop these words with a period, he continued with a “but” that tells us “how” we are to deal with our anxiousness.

“. . . but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known to God.” (Phil. 4:6)

When the heavy hand of anxiety weighs upon us, Paul instructs us to pray and to make supplication (a humble request) to God with an attitude of thankfulness. This scripture gives us permission, even the directive, that when life is turned upside down, turn to the One who can turn it right-side up.

And that “right-side upping” begins within us—as we pray! Because praying about “everything” is not just about seeking an answer to all our needs. First and foremost it’s about being in the presence of God. Even when I can’t see the “when” or “how” my prayers will be answered, the times of personal prayer place me in God’s presence.

Prayer engages us with the One whose presence gives us peace. In His presence, He turns our emotions “right-side up.” He replaces our panic, our fears, our apprehension with peace, because in His presence I’m reminded that my God is bigger than my problems, even the world’s problems. When I pray, I am reminded that His sovereignty over all can cause beauty to rise from the ashes of our messes and mistakes.

So when you become anxious, pray, not just so your requests, your supplications may be answered. Pray so that your anxious heart can be calmed by His presence of peace.

Aside published on June 15, 2020 | | 6 Responses

A Golden Opportunity!

“God works all things together for good for those love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

This well-known and oft-recited scripture encourages us during difficult times such as those we are experiencing in our world today.  Yet if we are totally honest, there are moments when it is hard to hang on to the promise of this scripture. We question―can God really work good out of what feels so bad? It is so easy to be driven by our feelings instead of by our faith, to view adversity as a totally negative experience. But there is a positive side to adversity we can embrace, in fact, we need to embrace.

Adversity provides an opportunity for God to refine us, so that we can learn to live our faith authentically. And what is authentic faith? Not just to say what we believe, but to live what we believe.

It’s living a life that reflects the character of Christ in good times and especially in difficult times. The awesome qualities that we see in the life of Jesus—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, compassion, faithfulness, selflessness—are to become evident in our lives. But for that to happen, for these qualities to be formed in us, a refining process must take place within us. And that refining process involves adversity! God uses adversity that is part of the human experience (because we live in a broken world), and He uses it for our good.

Let me provide you with an illustration. For just a moment imagine that you have a gold nugget in your possession. Because there is gold in that nugget, it is valuable. But in order for the gold in that nugget to be used for a higher purpose, to become a piece of fine gold jewelry or to be painted on a beautiful piece of porcelain sculpture, that gold nugget has to be refined. There is gold in that nugget, but it isn’t pure gold. It is mixed with impurities.

So a goldsmith of old would place a gold nugget in a crucible―a fire-proof container that could withstand high temperatures. Then he would add the heat of a fire. As the gold nugget melted, its impurities would rise to the surface. The goldsmith would then skim off the impurities. This process would continue as the goldsmith carefully added heat, skimming off the impurities until he knew that what was left was pure gold. And the way he knew when it was pure gold was as he peered into that crucible and saw his reflection―his undistorted reflection.

In John 1:11-12, it says that all who believe in Jesus and receive him as their savior, they become a child of God. That’s a covenant promise that means when you believe in Jesus and accept him as your Savior, an awesome miracle takes place―your identity is changed. You are embraced by God as His child.

Like that gold nugget, because you are a child of God, you have great value. But with the privilege of being His valued child comes an expectation—an expectation that we who have been adopted into the family of God, we who are His adopted ones, are to become like His only begotten Son. We are to fulfill God’s purpose, His divine destiny for our lives, just like Jesus did. And to be used by God and fulfill His great plan and purpose for each of our lives, like the gold nugget, we need to be refined. So God uses the fire of adversity to be the heat that causes our impurities to rise to the surface.

It’s when life gets difficult, when the people we live with and work with become challenging, when we are filled with fear, apprehension and uncertainty, that our impurities rise up. Think about it for a moment!

When the heat of adversity hits us, what are the words that come out of our mouths? What are our actions and reactions? Are they loving, kind, forgiving, compassionate? Are they golden? Or are they impure?

Instead of railing against this time of adversity, instead bemoaning the fact that we are in this pandemic and not sure what the future holds, we can choose to embrace this time and allow God to use it for our good―allowing Him to reveal to us what needs to be perfected in our lives. And because God is loving and compassionate, He doesn’t expect us to be refined or perfected by our own strength. Jesus went to the Cross to save us, but he also went to the Cross so he could send us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised would be our Helper.

In this time of adversity, the Holy Spirit can help us by revealing what needs to be changed in our lives, He can create in us the desire to change, and empower us to make the choice to change. But because we are to work in partnership with the Holy Spirit, we are the ones who ultimately make the choice to change. We pull the trigger to change. To replace impatience with patience, the desire for revenge with choice to forgive, harshness with kindness, disloyalty with faithfulness, callousness with compassion, dishonesty with truth.

As these days of sheltering-in turn into weeks and months, I know that our instinct is to say: “I just want things to get back to normal.” But what if we embrace this present adversity by allowing God to do some perfecting of our attitudes, actions, and reactions? If we do, I believe we can come out of this time embracing a “new normal”, a better normal, a normal where we reflect the image of Christ in our lives better than we did back in February!

This present adversity provides us with the opportunity to learn how to live our faith more authentically. It’s an opportunity to be refined as pure gold! Yes, it’s a golden opportunity!

Aside published on May 12, 2020 | | 8 Responses

A Sermon I Have Never Forgotten

I have heard thousands of sermons over the course of my lifetime. (Yes, literally thousands. I used my calculator!) Certainly, many were faith-strengthening, life-changing in the moment they were given, but there are only a handful from the past that continue to resonate with me in the present. One of those occurred over 25 years ago.

My mother-in-law, Rev. Patricia Beall Gruits  (a.k.a. Sis. Pat), preached what would be one of her last sermons at her home church. I remember the core truth of that message not just because it would mark a pivotal change in the direction God was taking her ministry, but because it remains a powerful, present truth in my life.

Her text focused on the fierce storm Jesus and his disciples encountered while crossing a great lake. Once they had pushed off from shore, Jesus had settled in comfortably on the boat and fell asleep, apparently exhausted from ministering to the multitudes that followed him wherever he went. But when a storm threatened to capsize the boat, the disciples, full of fear, woke up Jesus and cried, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”(Matt. 8:25 NIV)

Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and the waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.  The storm ceased. Then Jesus turned to his disciples and asked, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40 NIV) In other words, Jesus was saying: Why be afraid? Don’t you realize I am with you! I am in the boat! 

After relating the lesson of this story, with absolute conviction Sis. Pat declared “Jesus is in your boat!” And the truth of that statement has never left me!

No matter how difficult the storms of life may be, and surely COVID-19 is a storm like no other we have ever experienced―a storm that threatens to sink our boat―but we need only to remember this: no matter how fierce the storm, Jesus is in our boat! He is with us. We are not alone in this storm. Therefore, we need not fear. Just trust! Trust the One who calmed that storm in the 1st Century believing that He can still calm the storms of our 21st Century. Have faith! He is with you! He’s in your boat!

P.S. Is there a sermon message you have never forgotten? If so, would love it if you would share!

Aside published on April 13, 2020 | | 8 Responses