HOME: Lenten Devotion Day 37

Lenten Devotion Day 37

HOME

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, 

and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 

Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, 

when you lie down and when you rise. 

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

I look often at this cabinet in my home filled with objects from long ago. My great-grandmother's plate, my grandmother's buttons, my husband's grandfather's watches...and on it goes. Objects taken so that we might remember those special times like when my sister and I would use my grandmother's buttons as money to play a version of Go Fish that we adapted for gambling (I have no idea where we got that idea, lol). Those simple object matter to me a great deal now. They are not worth anything to anyone else but to me they are the greatest treasury of memory and love. They tell my story. They remind me who I am and where I've been. 

Despite the gambling issue (give us a break, we were only in elementary school) we were blessed to have been raised in a godly home full of godly lessons. Our extended family taught us so much about faith, honor, ethics and love.

As I read Deuteronomy today, I am reminded that this is an God-given task issued to families. "When you are at home..." teach your children about the love of God; the kind of love that involves you heart, soul, and might. 

HOME

is where the love of God is taught, lived, and proclaimed

so that it might be passed down

generation to generation

so that we know who we are and more importantly

whose we are.

SURROUND: Lenten Devotion Day 32

Lenten Devotion Day 32

SURROUND

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people,

from this time on and forevermore. 

Psalm 125:2

Nothing makes for a greater day than to snuggle on the sofa with loving arms wrapped around you...watching the ACC tournament :)  Ok, the basketball is irrelevant (to this post at least - although my team is winning at the moment - Go Heels). What matters is the arms wrapped around me. Tomorrow marks 23 years in which those arms have been wrapped around me. I cannot express the feelings of blessing and thanksgiving that accompany that statement. I sometimes feel guilty that some never find intimate love and yet I have had it so abundantly for so long. I hate to be greedy...but I love to be loved.

When I think of the feeling of abundant love that comes from my husband's arms surrounding me, I can't help but feel awe at the thought that God's love also surrounds me. While my husband must occasionally let me go...God never does. The immense love that I feel from my marriage pales in comparison to the love of God that surrounds me every second of every day.

I pray that your Lenten journey has been one in which you find yourself surrounded by God's love. In the midst of your reflection and repentance I hope you have felt the forgiveness of God enfold you. 

May his arms 

SURROUND 

you

and may you feel abundantly loved.

WATER: Lenten Devotion Day 29

Lenten Devotion Day 29

WATER

"I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; 

I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Matthew 3:11

On my morning walk I came across a weeping tree. Ok, not a real weeping tree but I could not help but notice that of all the trees that surround my home there was only one tree that had water dripping off of it. Being the curious sort, I went in for a closer look. (The picture doesn't do justice but that white dot in the middle is a water droplet). After a few puzzling moments of trying to determine why this one tree was weeping it finally hit me. As I looked around I noticed the way the grass and fallen leaves were sparkling in the morning sun - frost. All around me was an icy glaze shimmering in the rising light. The sun was just peaking over the top of the church and hitting the yard...and the weeping tree.

Of course, I realized then that the sun was simply melting the frost that had formed on the tree and now that it was warming up it was beginning to melt. Soon, other trees would be sparkling with water droplets on their branches and all the earth would look bedazzled in silvery splendor. 

There are mornings, like this one, in which it is clear that the entire purpose of the earth is to serve as a witness to the glory of God. As I walked and felt myself warmed by the rising sun I began to think again about that tree. Isn't it just like God to provide such a beautiful and simple reminder of what life in Christ is like. 

That icy tree transformed under the ray of the rising sun...as it warmed, the ice melted, and water formed that now drips down and baptizes the earth, the flowers and the insects below it so that they too understand provision, love, fruitfulness and life. 

Isn't that was Christ has done for each of us? Under the ray of the Risen Son we are transformed so that our cold, hard hearts melt.The icy ways of this world begin to sparkle in the light of Christ and soon the Baptism waters are dripping from our hands, our heads, and our hearts. 

WATER

Dripping

flowing from the Son's warm light

WATER

COVER: Lenten Devotion Day 13

Lenten Photo Devotion: Day 13

COVER

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. 

Spread your protection over them, so that those who love your name may exult in you.

 For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover them with favor as with a shield.

Psalm 5:11-12

I am so blessed to say that almost every room in my home contains millions of little tokens of love. My Granny Hamlin (Geneva) loved to quilt and the only thing she loved more than quilting was giving her quilts away. The million tokens of love are the tiny little stitches that she hand stitched in each of my quilts. They may not have been perfect but in each stitch I can imagine what she was doing as she made it...sitting on her sofa, thinking of her family, praying for us, worrying over us...and loving us. She may be gone from this earth but every time I cover myself with one of her quilts or place one on my children's beds I know her love still covers us and I am secure in her arms once more.

As I reflect on the love of Christ I see how his love also transcends the separation of heaven and earth. I am surrounded by millions of tokens of his love - big and small - that remind me each day that I am covered in his love and sheltered in his arms. 

What tokens of Christ's love will you recognize today? 

COVER

be wrapped up in Christ's love.

LIVE: Lenten Devotion Day 11

Lenten Photo Devotion: Day 11

LIVE

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus."Teacher," 

he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 

He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" 

He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, 

and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 

And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

Luke 10:25-28

Life is full of questions. Like the lawyer we seek answers from the learned and wise. We look for knowledge and logic and hope that someday we will learn enough to "get it." With enough book smarts and enough information we can know God and know the right way to live a life that is abundant, purposeful and lasting. Isn't this what the lawyer is after?

Jesus' reply is simple, what have you learned in all your books, with all your education?

Easy, the Lawyer thinks - I know this one! I read it in a book - "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 

                                 Jesus' reply is much more complex: "do this, and you will live."

                                        We can learn much, but Jesus call us to live much.

                                            Live what the bible teaches, don't just learn it

                                                                             LIVE

                                                                         Eternally

                                                                        Just do it

LOVE: Lenten Photo Devotion Day 9

Lenten Devotion Day 9

LOVE

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. 

Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

Psalm 33:20-22

As I work on my morning devotion I look down to find my puppy, "Lady," in her usual position - curled up at my feet. She has already had a busy morning following my every move like a shadow, protecting me from the trash can that for some reason she felt was a threat to me, and showing her general love and adoration by flashing those big brown eyes at me. 

My husband insisted we didn't need a dog (he is correct of course) but there is something about having a constant companion who just loves you for no other reason than...well...than they love you.

Today's Lenten word for reflection is LOVE. What greater love is there than to lay down your life...Jesus arms outstretched on the cross - I love you this much...love the Lord and love your neighbor...Jesus loves the little children, of the children of the world.  These are a few of the images and sounds that come to mind as we contemplate love...but also that puppy curled up by my slippers.

Jesus came to love unconditionally. Yes, we have a responsibility to respond to that love but if we don't he doesn't withdraw his love. His love is always there, waiting for us to accept it, respond to it, live into it. Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so...

Yes, Jesus loves me

LOVE

He means it

EVIL: Lenten Photo Devotion Day 8

Lenten Photo Devotion: Day 8

EVIL

You who sit down in the High God’s presence, spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow, 

Say this: “God, you’re my refuge. I trust in you and I’m safe!” 

Yes, because God’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, 

Evil can’t get close to you, harm can’t get through the door. 

He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. 

If you stumble, they’ll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling. 

- Psalm 91:1-2, 9-12 [The Message]

Yes, I find myself amused by the most ordinary of things...like this sign I came across at a local park today - which in my mind implies that Hell has a welcome center (the arrow is pointed down after all - where else could it be directing us?)

Today I have been reflecting on two passages, the one above which was emailed to me early this morning and also the passage I am preaching on this Sunday (Luke 13:31-35). Both passages speak to God being our shelter and a place of protection from evil but in the Luke passage is it more of a lament as Jesus yearns to be that shelter and protection yet the children of God will not respond.

God is our refuge in times of trouble. This doesn't mean we are insulated from bad things but that we are given the sheltering arms of Christ to weather the bad things. I guess it is much like when my children were sick or hurt - I could not take the sick or hurt away but I could hold them, encourage them, love them and assure them that I was there for them no matter what. Jesus, even as a man with no children understood this - because he was also a man with a mother who no doubt had done those things for him. So in Luke's gospel Jesus speaks of his love for the world as a mother hen yearning to protect her chicks.

As you continue on your Lenten journey remember that while there is much evil in the world that threatens us (even throws up a welcome center in Hell to lure us in) we do have a shelter above...a Christ who yearns to cover us in his arms and keep us from falling.

EVIL

there is a shelter of protection

whose name is

Jesus

A Snuggle with Jesus

Madonna and Child by

Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato

Advent is over and we sit solidly in the midst of Christmas. The above painting by Sassoferrato seems to sum it all up doesn't it? The peace on the faces of mother and child...the joy of this moment snuggled together...the hope of what will be...the love between mother and son. It is one of my favorite images of Mary and her precious son.

As all new mothers know, those serene mother-child images last about as long as it take to capture it in a photograph. All too soon it will be diaper changing, feeding time, unexplained crying fits and more. Peace is shattered by necessity...but it doesn't diminish the love, the joy and the hope between mother and child.

Yesterday, during our Children's Sermon, the gentleman teaching the kids said, "What holiday did we just celebrate?" The kids responded, "Christmas." Then he asked the next question that made me almost swoon with anxiety...."So what is the next holiday we will celebrate?"  What?? Seriously?? I haven't recovered from Christmas yet and already you want to talk about what is next? What happened to Christmas peace? 

Shattered by necessity I suppose....the necessity to move along with the calendar. As I calmed my weary body, I was reminded of the image of Madonna and Child - the call of necessity doesn't diminish the love, joy, hope...and yes, even the peace of life. 

2013 is knocking at our door. Lent is fast approaching, Easter is on the way, bible studies must be started, leadership development is vital to new committees and leaders; the 'to-do" list is endless. Your list may be different but it is no less demanding. So today, I take time to sit - as Madonna with child - and just settle in with Jesus for a moment of comfortable snuggling. Necessity is all around me but for this moment - I choose peace and that settles my anxiousness for the obligations that are coming as quickly as this new year. 

In those moments where I feel overwhelmed with necessity, I must remind myself that necessity doesn't diminish the peace, hope, love and joy of my life in Christ. Rather, as a servant to Christ, it is within the necessity that I find peace, hope, love and joy - for it is in the "doing" of my faith that I experience the peace, hope, love and joy of my faith. 

As we journey into a new year with new obligations and new expectations, let us remember to carry our peace, hope, love and joy of Christmas with us. Don't pack them away with the Christmas decorations but carry them with you into the work of 2013. Embrace the new year in such a way that the "necessities" are not burdens but instead are expressions of a iife lived peacefully, lovingly, joyfully and hopefully in Christ Jesus.

...And don't forget to take time each day for a comforting snuggle with Jesus! Take a moment from the call of necessity and sit with him, converse with him, be at peace with him...it just might make that "to-do" list a lot more appealing. 

So long 2012 and Hello 2013....may you blossom forth in God's blessing upon all the world.

Expecting Something?

 After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, 

and for five months she remained in seclusion. 

She said, "This is what the Lord has done for me 

when he looked favorably on me and took away

 the disgrace I have endured among my people." 

Luke 1:24-25

My husband always says, "Beware of angels appearing and proclaiming 'Do not be afraid,' because when that happens someone ends up pregnant." While he certainly exaggerates, he does have a point when it comes to the birth narratives. Mary, Joseph, Zechariah all received that angelic "Do not be afraid" message to prepare them for the births of their sons but I can't help but notice someone is missing from that list...where was Elizabeth's angel?

Elizabeth and Zechariah were "getting on in years" according to the text. She had no doubt prayed and waited for the arrival of a child of her own and year after year was met with bitter disappointment. I have no doubt that Zechariah felt the same, it was a bitter reality in that day to be without an heir. They had anticipated a baby so long and yet none had come and years had trickled by. 

Mary and Joseph had no such expectation for a child, not yet anyway. So an angel visits each to break the news - a baby is on the way! Not just any baby, mind you, but God's son and they have been chosen to become his parents...no pressure there right? Without the angel's visit Mary would have been in grave danger. There would have been no doubt in anyone's mind that she had been unfaithful to Joseph and the penalty could have been death. However, the angel prepares Mary to understand what is happening to her body and it prepares Joseph to understand what is happening to his future wife. They are chosen - they are blessed. This is the message the angel must bring so that they would understand God breaking into their lives in such an incredible, and unexpected, way.

Zechariah receives his angel visit while alone in the temple, serving his priestly duties. He is then rendered mute so he cannot tell anyone what he heard or witnessed - not even his beloved Elizabeth. Where is her angel visit? Why is it that Mary, Joseph and Zechariah all get a warning, all get a preview of the exciting news while Elizabeth is left in the dark?

I smile every time I read her response, "This is what the Lord has done for me..." I hear it as a statement full of years of expectation. Mary and Joseph had no expectation of a baby to come so soon, they needed to be told so they could understand and manage the situation. Zechariah? I can't help but wonder if Zechariah had lost hope over the years. Perhaps he had stopped expecting joyful news as each month passed and Elizabeth's body reveled the disappointing truth - no baby - not yet. When the angel declares the coming birth Zechariah responds - how can this be? we are old. Yes, I think he had given up the expectation of a child and so the angel had to come and prepare him for the acceptance of the unexpected.

Elizabeth, however, gets no such heads up - no angelic warning - no preparation for such an incredible event. Why? "This is what the Lord has done for me..." she says. In that statement I hear her smile - you know the smile - the kind that comes only when what you knew would happen finally happens and you get to say, "I told you so." I can't help but wonder if the reason Elizabeth is the only one that doesn't get an angelic visit is because Elizabeth is the only one that was expecting God to do this very kind of thing. I don't think Elizabeth had ever stopped believing that God would give her a child...I think she expected it...she anticipated it. She didn't need an angel to say, "Surprise! You are with child" because every single month she watched her body for the signs of what she trusted would some day be...a baby. Patiently, expectantly, faithfully...Elizabeth watched and waiting for what she knew God would some day bring her.

In this season of Advent we are encouraged to watch and wait expectantly for what God is about to do. We re-live and remember the birth stories and how God broke into this world in such an amazing fashion and yet at the same time we are called to watch and wait for re-entry...the day when Jesus returns and God's Kingdom is fulfilled. Everyone wants to look for signs of this next big event - just the other day a woman stopped me to ask me if I had noticed the sun was burning more intensely than every before. No, I replied I had not noticed and so she warned me it was a sign of the Lord's returning. People are looking for signs - 12/12/12  or 12/21/12 or national conflicts or river's running red or you name it - folks are surveying the world around them and wondering - when will it come and what will be the sign that warns us so we will know to prepare?

I picture Elizabeth, standing in her doorway, holding her swollen belly with that knowing smile on her face...she didn't need a sign. She didn't need a warning. She didn't need a messenger. She had expected all along for God to show up - she had never once stopped expecting it she just stood ready to receive it.

Stand ready to receive the gift that was promised: Hope, Joy, Peace and Love. Live each moment as if you expect these gifts to already be within you and around you. Then you won't need to worry about the coming of Jesus - for he will already be present.

Becoming a "Home Depot" Church

Words...phrases...campaigns...mission statements...they look great on paper don't they? Words meant to inspire us with a common goal. Phrases and campaigns to rally us around a unifying theme. Mission statements to make clear the belief we have in our purpose. Words are important, but what good are they if they stay words on a page?

I have been preaching a sermon series from the book of James in which he implores his readers to be more than hearers of the word but instead to be doers of the word. When it comes to Scripture, those words are mean to come alive into activity. This past Sunday, Bishop Larry Goodpaster delivered a sermon to the newly formed Yadkin Valley District of the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. He used words from Luke - who used words from Jesus - who used words from Isaiah...

Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 

Bishop G went on to explain that Jesus took apart this old scripture and put it back together again in a new way - creating a new kind of mission and mandate for those that would become His followers. Our mandate is to Follow Jesus - Love God - and Love our neighbors in the way that Isaiah describes. Do we see who those neighbors are? The Poor - The Captives - The Blind - The Oppressed. We could spend all day unpacking who those folks are in our neighborhoods: the working, single parent that cannot earn a decent wage that will put enough food on the table for the family; the young adult captivated by a world of addiction; the person who cannot yet see that their actions are creating terrible consequences and hurting themselves and others; the one who is not allowed a chance to become more and earn more because they live in a society that says they are not worth our effort.

Words matter - Jesus' words matter - Isaiah's words matter - so do those of us who hear those words and those for which those words were meant to inspire love and assistance. We must notice, however, that Isaiah's words were action words - bring...proclaim...release...recover...go. Isaiah's plea is not an idealogical one - it is mean to be lived out, not simply thought out.

Bishop G compelled us to remember the words of scripture are meant to be lived out in action but they are also meant to be proclaimed. As we do the good in the world we are called to do, we must SPEAK the good news of Jesus Christ to those we encounter. Our help of the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed is material and temporary if we do not take the step to introduce them to our Jesus who is the only lasting solution to their real need: salvation. With that, he invited us all to become "Home Depot" churches.

At first I thought he meant offering a wide variety of tools to fix a wide variety of problems - but then he pointed us toward Home Depot's advertising catch phrase, "More Saving - More Doing." (I wonder if James is in heaven saying, "Why didn't I think of that?"). Bishop G went on to say the church doesn't have a mission, it IS a mission. Our mission lies in DOING the words of our faith - and in SAVING the souls of the lost by inviting them to hear about Jesus.

Words matter...not just speaking them but doing them. In Luke's Gospel Jesus tells the story of The Good Samaritan - a story inspired by the question "Who is my neighbor?" In the story an injured man is passed by two people who most would expect to offer aid, but they had not. Instead, it was someone from outside the social barriers of the day - a Samaritan. It was the Samaritan that acted in mercy and treated a complete stranger, and potential enemy, as a neighbor. "Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." 

Go and do....More Saving - More Doing. Let's get started shall we?

All You Need Is Love

In my reading last night I came across a memorable quote by General Eric Shinseki. The quote was, "If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more." This was a fitting quote considering a conversation I had earlier in the evening with someone frustrated over the Church's failure to be relevant for today's generation.

Thanks to a 2:30 am phone call (a hang up, grrr) I have been wide awake and trying to find ways to amuse myself...namely surfing the web. My random queries soon focused in on General Eric Shinseki as I wondered who he was and what the story was behind that great quote. I learned that General Shinseki is from Hawaii, his family immigrating there from Hiroshima in 1901. He serves in the Army, was wounded in combat in Vietnam and he is the highest ranking Asian American in the history of the United States. He currently is serving as the US Secretary of Veteran Affairs.

My query did not, however, lead me to the circumstances behind the quote that had caught my attention earlier. Instead, I found myself captivated by another of his quotes.

"You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader. 

You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, 

but you cannot lead without it."

I have no idea if General Shinseki is a man of faith but it would appear from this quote that he knows something about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Is this not the way of Christ? Was his ministry not based upon building relationships born out of and nurtured in love? My mind is flooded by images: Jesus calling Matthew from his tax collector's booth - Jesus allowing a sinful woman to wash his feet - Jesus at the well offering new life to a woman who had ruined her own - Jesus with the Centurion - Jesus writing in the sand to save a condemned woman - Jesus with the poor - Jesus with the mentally ill - Jesus with the sick - Jesus touching the "untouchables" - Jesus in love...with everyone.

Why do I follow Jesus? Why do I profess faith in a man who, 2000 years ago, proclaimed himself Messiah, savior of the world? I guess we could say, in part, due to his leadership. I am not drawn to Christ by commandments and laws - I am drawn to Christ out of love...a love only realized by understanding that first he loved me. he loved me before I deserved it - he loved me before I loved him back - he loved me when I rebelled - he loved me when I came home - he loved me when I celebrated and he loved me when I wept. It is due to his love that I want to follow where he leads. It is due to his love for me that I now find the desire for his commands and laws. Were it not for love, I would not have followed.

Through my calling to lead a local congregation, as well as my volunteering to mentor local pastor's and serve on Church Transition teams - I find the word "leadership" comes up a lot. We seem to talk endlessly about what leadership looks like in the church. Phrases like "cast a vision" - "create a team" - "establish a mission statement" - "set measurable goals"come up often. I've attended seminar after seminar in how to be a better leader, and don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the training - I've learned so much. However, none of those things have made me a better follower of Christ.

I went to a conference once on preaching. Our goal was to learn how to be inspiring and relevant in the spoken word. I sat through terrific sermons and lectures on how to do so but I found myself captivated most by one speaker with a simple message...the only inspiration you need is found in loving your God and loving God's people. His premise being modeled after Christ who ate with folks, walked with folks, cried with folks, lived with folks...and listened to folks. This lecturer proclaimed that in hearing the stories of the people, we learn to love them and in loving them as Christ loved - we learn to lead them.

I believe this message translates to all of us as Christians - not just to ministers. General Shinseki's quote seems to be the proof. No matter whether our leadership role is as head of the family or head of a department or head of a corporation or head of a government agency - we can do none of it well without first loving.

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

For the Love of Christ...

The ritual of going through the leftovers of someone's life is a mixed bag of emotion. There is the sadness of realizing traditions will end and new memories will not be made. There is also, however, some laughter and joy when a treasure is uncovered that you never knew about, or had perhaps forgotten existed.

Last night while visiting my sister-in-law she was showing us a book she had come across belonging to my father-in-law, Jim. It was a book one of the grandchildren had given him in which he could journal about his life and then someday return the book to them as a gift of treasured memories.  (Fantastic idea!)  She was reading random passages to us when she came across a great story - on how he and Peggy fell in love.

Thursday would have been their 60th wedding anniversary, had they not passed away within seven weeks of one another earlier this year.  So it seemed fitting on the day after their anniversary to read a part of their story. Jim wrote that he fell in love with Peggy on their third date, and so on that date, while driving down the road he said to her, "Peggy, I love you." To which she replied, "Yea, I've heard that before." - which sent us all into fits of giggles. How so perfectly Jim and Peggy - he the brazen romantic and she the cautious pragmatic.  He said he never asked when she had heard it before or from whom she had heard it, but I think it is obvious to all who knew them that he spent the next 60 years proving that he, above anyone else, meant it.

This life, this world, can burn us and leave us cynical to the point that when we hear of the joyous good news of Christ's love for us, all we can muster is a mild enjoyment while thinking, "Yea, I've heard that before." And yet, if we will remain cognizant to God's presence in our lives, we will no doubt learn that this time it is the real deal.  Christ does love us, he never tells us that flippantly or casually - for Christ, love is a matter of life and death.

Scripture refers to the church as the bride of Christ - which means we have moved beyond the "Yea, I've heard that before" and have accepted the true and precious love which He has offered. It is a promise not only for the corporate church but for all her individual members.  Jesus loves you! This you can know, this you can stake your life on.

Song Birds and Lessons in Love

In the piedmont of North Carolina we had the pleasure of enjoying an actual spring this year. In the past few years it seems we went straight from winter to summer, 32 degrees one day and 98 degrees the next! But this year we enjoyed lazy afternoons in the backyard watching the many song birds dance the "twitterpated" dance of love we learned about in Bambi.  My favorite couple was a cardinal pair whose presence I enjoyed, for they sang to me as they courted one another...seemingly to include me as a  witness their love and attraction to one another.

We are now in to the heat of summer and I spend less time in the yard but I have noticed that only the male cardinal now keeps me company, his lover seems to have moved on, but Gabriel remains. I have named him this because I imagine that if I could speak the language of "Cardinal" I would understand he is bringing me tidings of great joy - proclamations of good news. And that reminds me of the angel Gabriel, who also came to bring good news and yet the news always started with "Do not be afraid."  Why would we ever be afraid of good news?  My husband says because every time Gabriel says this someone ends up pregnant, lol - true.  But perhaps there is a deeper truth too.

Gabriel's pronouncements are also about love, or more specifically, about the risky business of love.  When Gabriel calls us to sit and listen he is about to speak to the promise of God's love for us and the struggle for us to love God and one another unconditionally.

 "For God so loved the world that he send his Son..."  God certainly knew the risk involved in what he was about to do. There is always risk in giving our love away to another...will they return it? Will they cherish it? Will they abuse it? Will they deny it? Will they accept it unconditionally? Will they put stipulations on it? Will they misuse it? Mistreat it? Let it grow stale and unappealing?

In ministry I deal almost daily in the problems of love, or rather, the problems that occur when love is not realized as the wonderful gift it really is. I hear of parents who can't love unconditionally, of lovers who can't love faithfully, of children who can't love generously, of neighbors who can't love across the barriers of diversity. Why? Because they are afraid - what if I am disappointed? What if I am hurt? What if I am taken advantage of? What if I miss out on something better? What if...it all boils down to the fact that we no longer want to risk love...What if we would rather not love and keep our hearts "safe" by throwing up walls of protection and defense?

What if God had done the same?

Yes, love is risky - we may be hurt by someone else's brokenness and failure, we may have to open our minds to another way of thinking - but God calls us to do it anyway...because he did the same for us. We have no doubt failed him, cheated on him, misunderstood and mistreated him in many ways and yet he keeps reaching out, he keeps calling us back.

My lovely cardinal, Gabriel, is without his previous companion, yet there he sits right now, singing to me his song of invitation, "Do not be afraid, I bring you great news...of love."  God's love...perfect and never ending.

Thanks be to God.

Puppy Love

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.         John 15:12-13

That is me and my pal - Asbury. It is hard to find a greater love on this earth than the love a dog gives its owner. My dog is never in a bad mood, never snaps at me needlessly, never talks back, and never fails to run around in excited circles and leaps when I come home. He is my first welcome after a long hard day.


Today my daughter and I decided to walk around the neighborhood and because she had already taken Asbury on a walk, we left him behind - he is 14 after all.  He soon made it apparent that this was not an appropriate arrangement as he ran back and forth yelping and barking and begging to join us. I should add that he has a wireless fence system which will deliver a mild shock if he ventures too far from our home. (Two good reasons for this: 1 - he eats cats and all our neighbors have cats! 2- he's kind of dumb and tends to run into traffic)


As we came down the road on our second lap around I noticed that he was quiet but he was still running wildly back and forth - only something was different. I watched in amazement as he prepared to run through the wireless fence - he knew he was going to get shocked but you could see it in his face - he had decided it was worth it. And sure enough - it seemed as if he counted to three and just ran!! Right through the invisible line he came, joyfully bounding down the road to greet us. He was one happy puppy.  Needless to say, we let him walk with us the rest of the journey.


Jesus spoke about the kind of love we are to have for one another. A love in which we are willing to lay down our own life for another - or run through an electrically charged fence at least!  A love that says I will go through hurt and risk and danger just to be close to you, just to love you, just to be in relationship with you.  My dog gets it...why is it so hard for the rest of us?  Why is it that those of us who proclaim to follow Christ and his ways have so much trouble with this loving our neighbor section?  


Why would we rather focus on our differences and use them as battering rams to beat one another over the head? Why do we prefer to judge and condemn a book, a church, or a denomination without ever even reading it, going to it, studying it? Why are we constantly seeking to tear down rather than built up? Why do we think we can bully and berate someone into repenting their sin rather than taking the time to love them as Christ does and let God do the work of redeeming and transforming them as He sees fit?


I'm so happy that my dog loves me enough to put his neck on the line to be with me...I'm so awed that my Jesus loves me enough to lay his life down for me...I'm so humbled that I deserve neither of those wonderful things - but I receive them anyway.  It seems wrong to me to take that amazing grace and the sweetest form of love and twist it into something hateful and bitter.  As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure Jesus warned against it.


We worship a powerful and mighty God who has consistently used saint and sinner alike to achieve his work.  We worship an amazing and miraculous God who had taken the most hardened of sinners and transformed them into the greatest of God's warriors.  We don't want to interfere with that powerful, mighty, amazing and miraculous God. So, why don't we love God, love our neighbor as ourself (even the ones that sin and the ones we don't agree with) - and let God do what God does best - redeem us all.

Go War Eagles! (A Tribute to your Coach)

Yesterday was an incredibly hard day for the Davie High School community and the family and friends of Coach Daric Beiter, because yesterday we had to say goodbye.  It was heart wrenching to see and speak with his wife and his family. It was difficult, to put it mildly, to watch his Cross Country team come in together, holding one another up - weeping.  It struck me, watching my own daughter's heartbreak, how many lives Daric had affected in just a few years. The Principal spoke about how students had told him stories of how Daric had talked them out of suicide, how he had convinced them life was worth living. Others spoke of how he had helped them through hard times. He was like a second father to my oldest daughter and even my youngest was telling me stories of how, even though she never had him for a teacher or a coach, he still would come talk to her and give her advice - everything from what teachers she should have to dating tips.

I never had the chance to turn and see the entire crowd gathered but I know the crowd that came to say farewell to this wonderful man was huge, and all had a story about how he directly or indirectly had touched their life.  Today, I marvel at this thought.  He was only 37...he had only taught at Davie High for 12 years...he had only been married for 9...he had only been my child's mentor for 3.  So little time, and yet, look at what he had done! I've officiated at a lot of funerals in my ministry - most of them were adults much older, who had lived and died in this same small county - and yet so few had the impact in 60 - 70 - 80 years, that Daric Beiter had in 3, 9, 12, or 37.

Psalm 139 was laid before me this morning - The Psalm of the Inescapable God. The Psalmist says that God knows us intimately - every part of who we are, how we are formed, and I guess even how we might be malformed. "In your book are written all the days that were formed for me...", the Psalmist writes.  I immediately think of what I witnessed yesterday at Daric's funeral, how I had marveled at the love and care and nurture that Daric a had poured out to everyone he met....a lifetime of love, care, and nurture crammed into a few very short years.  It is as if God knew all too well the limited time we would have to experience all the gifts, talents and beauty that Daric offered...so God helped him cram it in to the little time he had. 

It makes me think of one of my favorite quotes from the movie Steel Magnolia. In the scene, Shelby is announcing to her mother that she is pregnant. Her mother is devastated by this news because Shelby has a kidney disease and doctors have told her that her body cannot take the strain of pregnancy and childbirth, it is too risky. So Shelby's mother angrily chastises her daughter for taking such a risk. But Shelby just wants to be a mother, despite the risk. So she tells her mother that she knows all too well that she might die younger for having done this, but adds "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special. 

Today our hearts are still broken and our mourning will go on for a while, but there is one thing I know we can all agree on to say...Thank you, God for the few years of wonderful we had with Daric - because, even in the pain, we will gladly take that over a lifetime of never having known him.

I truly believe that each of those weeping faces I saw yesterday will now go on to be better people for what they have endured this long and tragic weekend. It is so easy for us to get busy and take for granted the goodness and light that is around us, but Daric's death has stopped everyone in their tracks and made us all look and take notice. It is now up to us to create our own 30 minutes of wonderful rather than a lifetime of nothing special.  So you go, War Eagle community - and show the world a little bit of the spark of God's goodness and love that Daric modeled for you! You go, make the world a more wonderful place - even if for only 3, 9, 12, or 37 years.