Journey to the Cross - Day 34

LENT DAY 34 - Saturday, March 31
2 Corinthians 4:8-10    Revealing Glory
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in us."  (NIV)
    If life were a smooth highway with no curves, no bumps, no rocky sections, we could drive it all by ourselves!  No help needed.  But because we need God's help to travel the road of life, God's glory can shine through us.  Focus on service to God, focus on service to others, and we will find the silver lining revealed in the midst of the storm clouds!  
     I came across the following poem  in both materials from my father AND on an on-line devotion for this scripture yesterday.  It gives voice well to the promise of God's glory in the trials of life....in God's time.  


HYMN OF PROMISE
Natalie Sleeth 


In the bulb, there is a flower;
In the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise;
butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter
There's a Spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season,
Something God alone can see.


There's a song in ev'ry silence,
Seeking word and melody;
There's a dawn in ev'ry darkness,
Bringing hope to you and me. 
From the past will come the future;
What it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season,
Something God alone can see. 


In our end is our beginning;
In our time, infinity. 
In our doubt there is believing;
In our life, eternity. 
In our death, a resurrection;
At the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season
Something God alone can see.


Unrevealed until its season,
Something yet unknown,
Which God alone can see.     

Journey to the Cross - Day 33

LENT DAY 33 - Friday, March 30
2 Corinthians 4:6-7    Cracked Pots
"God said,'Light up the darkness!' and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful...We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.  That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us." (The Message)

    I don't usually think of my life as a plain unadorned clay pot; nothing special in and of itself.  But God has chosen the very ordinary of our lives to reveal God's power, so that there can be no doubt that when we reveal "the light", it is God himself that shows through.  A fancy pot, festooned with decorations and "extras", can't reveal the light - it becomes hidden in the "extras" and can't penetrate through.  A fancy pot is concerned with its own beauty, not that of God.  But our plain ordinary pots must have endured some hardship, some difficulty, in order to crack enough to let the light of God break forth.  Each time the pot cracks a little under the duress of life, the light of God is better able to shine!  Every curve life throws at us only allows the light of God to shine brighter from our "cracked pot".  
     The message of God's love is light to the world!  Let your light shine!


Today's devotion is NOT from d365.org, but from one of the Lenten lectionary scriptures.  We were on the road today, hence the very late posting!

Journey to the Cross - Day 32

LENT DAY 32 - Thursday, March 29
John 12:27-30     FOR GOD, NOT ME. 
"Right now, I am storm tossed. And what am I going to say? 'Father, get me out of this'? No, this is why I came in the first place. I'll say, 'Father, put your glory on display.' "  (The Message) 
     Jesus knew what was going to happen.  He knew it was going to be painful and he would suffer.  How could he go through with it willingly?  Because he also knew God would be glorified.  He knew people would come to know God through his death.  He knew if he concentrated on the "God focus", he could endure the painful ME part.  
     When life gets tough, taking the focus from Me to God can always help us endure.  Seeing how a painful (be it emotional, social, or physical pain) experience can glorify God can provide just the impetus needed to carry on. It somewhat reminds me of the adage, "When life gets tough, the tough get going."  Be tough in our focus, be tough in pointing the glory to God, and everyone can be a "winner". 
     What difficult or painful experiences are you having right now?  Am I? Could they help others to see God, to see Christ in you and me?  Let us keep our focus on glorifying God and we can endure.   

Journey to the Cross - Day 31

LENT DAY 31: Wednesday, March 28
John 12:25-26   RECKLESS IN LOVE
"Anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life.  But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal.  If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me... The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me." (The Message)

     I love Eugene Peterson's choice of words here in The Message: be "reckless in love".  To follow Jesus, to serve the living God, is to be lavish in loving: to love the marginalized, the poor, the terrorists, those who believe differently from us, those who speak against us, those who have different skin tones from us.  To love ALL, not just in word, but in ACTION!  With this wild abandonment of loving, God will honor our actions.  What high praise to be criticized for or described as being "reckless in love"!  What am I doing to earn this label?  What should I be doing?  What is keeping me from it?  What about you?  What about our churches?  How reckless is our love?  

Journey to the Cross - Lent Day 30

LENT DAY 30 - Tuesday, March 27
John 12:23-24    Planting Wheat.  Planting Life. 
"Listen carefully.  Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat.  But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over."  (The Message)
     Planting seeds!  It's spring!  This reminds me of all the catalogs I've received in the past months and the on-line reminders from Gurneys and Michigan Bulb to "Order Now!"  It makes me recall all the unplanted packets of seeds I found when cleaning off my desk.  Envelopes of unrealized potential.  Little kernels of hope, new life, and promise still waiting to be buried in the soil and brought to life.  
     Your can't help but look around at the our natural world and realize that God created it as a cycle of life, death, and new life.  Without the death of the old, we can't bring out the new. Without autumn, we can't have spring.  If we don't plant the seed, we can't realize the blossom.  What glory and promise can one single death bring?  One seed can bring the harvest of much fruit!  
     What are the wheat kernels in our lives that we need to bury?  Resentment?  Conflict?  Choices?  What new opportunities and hopes might result? 

Bandon Spring 2012 Part A

     Ah!  It is late Sunday night in Bandon and time to head for bed.  But first a quick posting of our trip to date so far.  
     We arrived Friday night right around 5:30 pm following a relatively uneventful drive over from Baker City.  Considerable snow in places, but the roads were clear for the most part.  We left with a light sleety snow falling in Baker City, and arrived with a hint of misty rain on the coast.  We went through clouds and sunshine on the drive.  Highlight view for me was the snow crusted crags of Three Fingered Jack sparkling in the snow with a deep blue sky in the background.  We caught just a glimpse in one curve of the highway just past Santiam Pass.  The drive over Santiam is stark this time of year as the "remains" of a years past forest fire still mark the route with black sticks in a snowy ground.   Rick drove most of the way (I was nodding...) as we listened to a Clive Cussler Book on Tape and I finished two shepherds for the needlepoint nativities.  
     Right to "work" after dinner as Mom and I got started with some games and I scanned the first few of the 4 boxes of slides I brought over to process.  (Each box has about 400 slides, but I won't be scanning all of them!)  More likely - I'll end up doing about 40% of the pictures.  
     Saturday was pretty lazy!!  Scanned slides, played games, and worked on Mom's taxes!  Ate leftovers for dinner.  More games, more slides.  Mom and I went to see the Bandon Playhouse production of "Barefoot in the Park" with Cathy Combe.  Not bad, but probably not the best one I've seen in Bandon.  
     Sunday dawned wet and rainy.  I got my scribble drawn before leaving with Mom for church at 8:30.  I went with her to Sunday School class (another round of John 3:16!!) then church.  Then to the store to pick up veggies for tonight's stir fry.
       Afternoon spent working on slides, taxes, cleaning out files, and updating tyhe pictures on dfisplay in Mom's room. (I went on Facebook and got new pictures of the grandkids for her!) Shrimp stirfry dinner, good visit with Mac on the phone, and a walk on the beach for some awesome sunset pictures with Rick.  Our barefeet were freezing, but the sky was worth it! 


Monday, March 26:
     I was thinking I would get up and head down to the beach this morning as the tide was low (well, lower, but not great) AND....believe it or not....the sun was temporarily shining!  The forecast for later today is 90% rain!  However.....I did not get up as early, then I got distracted with books Mom kept showing to me, so I didn't get my scribble finished and the blog posted until 10am!!   At that point it was apparent the sun wasn't going to last much longer, so Rick and I headed out for a walk to Coquille Point and the National Wildlife Refuge that has been in construction out on the point.  (Rick has walked down here often, but I had not been out to the point in years.)  I wanted to walk on the road today as the cold sand was really hard on my feet last night!  
     Nice walking north!  A little bit of sunshine still warming things up and since the wind was at our back we didn't notice it!  Walked down to the point where Beach Loop Road takes its bend to the east and the path cuts down the hillside to the jetty area on beach level.  Then back along the new path around Coquille Point, Table Rock, and Elephant Rock.  At the 11th St. Junction we rejoined the Beach Loop to head back to Mom's.  The wind was picking up steam out on the point!  I was glad we were walking back along the road with its sheltered spots here and there.  It was nice getting some new views of the rocks, etc.  
     After a lazy lunch, a few more slides scanned and games lost to Mom in S&M, Mom and I headed down to the church to work on laying out a quilt.  It proved to be a futile venture:  the quilt back was not as big as required.  We were going to have to come back another time after adding some strips to the backing, material which Mom had at home.  So .... down to the fish market for some salmon for tonight and a little clam chowder to boot.  Back to the house to see Rick's accomplishments on fixing the front door so it doesn't stick anymore, and the lock in the kitchen door is loosened up  and working!  He is crossing off his list much faster than I!!!  (Although we mailed Mom's taxes today!)
     After dinner Mom and I perused washing machines on the Sears web site. Rick thinks it is time - Mom's machine is making horrible noises.  We shall venture up to Coos Bay tomorrow!  Quiddler and S&M follow, which give me time to FINISH scanning the slides I brought!  



        

Journey to the Cross - Lent Day 29

LENT DAY 29 - Monday, March 26
John 12:20-21    Who do you see?

"There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the Feast.  They approached Philip:...."Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help me?" (The Message)
     Wouldn't we all like to SEE Jesus today?!  Images abound on the Internet - usually with flowing brown hair, fair skin, blue or brown eyes, a warm understanding smile, gentle hands.  In searching for Jesus (on-line!), I did find a few multi-racial Christs, one with a Superman Logo half hidden under his robe.  I rather liked that image - isn't Jesus one of the most SUPER MEN we have ever known?  I also found the lion from Narnia and multiple symbols - the cross, a fish, a butterfly, a star or a heart.  
     In my Scribbles, I have tried to portray in my image of Jesus both the diety and the humanity of our Lord.  The colors are the same as the image of God (as if I knew what God looks like!) and the wings are our pop cultural attempt to show a heavenly, or "beyond this world" being.  But my Scribble is also human - the same tuft of hair as all human figures, the same shape figure.  Jesus is God.  Jesus was man. 
     But the question really is, "What does Jesus look like today to you?"  So many say they can't wait to see Christ when he returns.  I ask, can we not see Christ today in the faces of those we see now?  A child?  The beggar?  A gift?  A word?  Open your eyes and heart to see Jesus on your journey of life.  Look!  He's come back already!  He's here!  Now!  

Fifth Sunday in Lent

FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT: March 25
Jeremiah 31:31-34   A CLEAN SLATE
"I will put my law within them - write it on their hearts! -and be their God... They'll know me first-hand...I'll wipe the slate clean for each of them.  I'll forget they ever sinned." (The Message, 33-34)

     God is omnipotent.  God can do all, see all.  God knows all.  And most importantly, God can forget all.  How many times did he forgive and forget the sins of the Israelites?  Over and over.  And he does it still today.  
     God loves.  God forgives sin.  God forgets sin.  In Christ, it's written on our hearts.  We don't have read about it.  This good news is IN us.  Read your heart.  Forgive and forget the sins within yourself, as well as the sins of others.  God already has.  


On d365.org this week the theme is TO SEE JESUS, written by Atlanta Baptist Bo Prosser.  His benediction for the week:
Look there at Jesus.  
Who do you see?
Messiah.  
Friend.
Leader.
Life-Changer.
Champion. 
God-Revealer.


Follow him.  

Journey to the Cross - Day 28

Lent Day 28 - Saturday, March 24
Ephesians 2:8-10     Good Works!
"Saving is all God's idea, all his work....It's God's gift from start to finish!  We don't play the major role....God does both the making and the saving.  He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."  (The Message)

     Like a good tool is designed for a particular job, God created us to be "tools of good works" - to perform acts of kindness, justice, to care for one another.  We may not all be made for the SAME good works or jobs as we all have different gifts.  We need to develop those gifts and use them.   But the overall task or job is the same - do good for others!
     Why?  Because of Christ.  Because we are saved.  Not to gain salvation.  We already have that through God's grace.  But BECAUSE of salvation.      
      

Journey to the Cross - Day 27

Lent Day 27 - Friday, March 23

Ephesians 2:1-7    Made Alive!

"Immense in mercy and with an incredible love, God embraced us.  He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ."  (The Message, v. 4)

     Alive in Christ!  Truly alive!  How often do we sometimes feel like we are "going through the motions" of life, but not REALLY living?  As we get older, we start to think that "life has passed us by".  Zombies are the rage in pop culture.  Maybe they do represent our "pre-christ" lives, stumbling around in a haze, not fully dead, but surely not living the life God intends.  Let God put his love into us and bring us to true life and living in all its fullest measure!  Let us enter God's "Re-Creation Factory" and be made new!  What a glorious concept! 

(Posts may be irregular over the next week as I am on vacation and don't have regular computer access!)