Recalibrating

My guilty pleasure is watching Survivor. To win that show, everyone must lie. And those being lied to must become lie detectors. Sometimes the lies are so interwoven that I cannot imagine how the contestants sort out the truth. I watch as each person clings to what they believe is truth—only to be blindsided and voted off the island.

Lately, I’ve begun to see Survivor played out in real life. When I get focused on the issues at hand, I can become frustrated, frantic, worried, or even angry. Living in this world is hard. We act atrociously and believe lies. We pick “our truth” out of the pile and cling to it as if we are the only ones wise enough to see it. Then we draw lines in the sand and throw rocks at those who believe differently. So…who gets voted off the island?

While reading Isaiah 40, it occurred to me that redirecting my focus to God gives me a handle on those indiscernible lies—and on my own destructive thoughts. How long has it been since I stopped my negative thought process just to look at God? And what is the point of it?

I know He is unfathomably big, all-powerful, and all-knowing. I understand that. But have I stopped to consider just how big?

How does that benefit me?

Ah…that’s the thing. It wasn’t written merely for my instruction—it was written for my state of mind. It points me in the right direction. It is praise. And praise helps me visualize truth. Praise changes me.

So let’s take a moment in the middle of a busy day to step into the room next to God. Let’s peek around that golden curtain.

In the Bible, many passages try to describe Him. Maybe it’s time to stop and wonder at what they say. And by wonder, I mean imagine. Imagine the sights and sounds of His majesty.

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From Isaiah 40

12-15,17-18,21-26 NIV

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?

Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding? 

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. 

With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 

He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.  

“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

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Now how do you feel?

Do you feel a little less important?

Do those shouting different “truths” still matter as much?

Did some of that multitude of worries melt away?

This resets my hard drive.

My challenge:

Pick a passage that speaks of the greatness of God and place it somewhere you’ll see it throughout your day. Then maybe—just maybe—it will become part of you…a way to settle your mind when you feel lost in this world of lies, fear, anger, or frustration.

The Sanctity of ALL Life

Sympathy for children in the womb is warranted. Unlike all of us who have been born, they have not faced challenges they failed. They are blameless.

They have never had to choose whether to run from those who would hurt them or submit and hope for the lesser of two evils.

They have never had to choose which child gets food today.

They have never been picked on for being different.

They have never had to find a job and a place to live with a felony on their record.

They have never had to get an education in a school that is underfunded. 

They have never had to live in foster care, waiting for someone to step up and love them.

They have never run for their lives from mercenaries in a hostile country.

They have never suffered from a preventable disease.

They have never struggled to walk, talk, or achieve like others their age.

They have never been captured and sold as a slave.

They have never suffered from Alzheimer’s.

Voicing Opinions

Perhaps one of the greatest losses was recorded in just a few sentences in the Bible. Joseph of Arimathea did not agree with the execution of Jesus of Nazareth. He watched the death of one who was blameless, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He was in the minority.

Luke 23:50–51 says this about Joseph after the execution of Jesus:

“Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action.”

We are told in the other Gospels that Joseph was a rich man and a disciple of Jesus. In John, we learn that he followed secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.

What can we learn from Joseph? 

I relate to this man more than I’d like to admit. I am very opinionated and want to be heard. Yet I often hesitate to voice my honest thoughts. I weigh the possible outcomes. At best, I might be dismissed by strangers on social media. At worst, I could hurt those I love. And what good would it do? We live in a free country, yet one that has never been free of prejudice and hate.

Does Jesus still love me even when I don’t voice my opinion?

Time has shown that Joseph of Arimathea was right in his convictions. But what would have happened if he had openly confronted the Jewish leaders? He chose not to speak out  and I trust that he had good reason. He may have lost his life. No one was asking for his opinion. And if he had spoken out, would he have had the tomb to offer Jesus? Would he have been able to take His wounded body and give it a proper burial?

What Joseph did do was act with integrity. And that kind of action was not against the law then or now. 

Luke 23:52-53 

“Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.”

Sometimes, I weigh my options and choose to remain silent, praying for a day when hearts will change. After all, opinions alone can feel small. What can an opinion do?

But action? Action can do so much more.

Act in kindness. Love your neighbor. Bind the wounds of the broken.

Eyes Wide Open

While watching a favorite series, there was a scene where a cowboy in an Alzheimer’s care unit was agitated because he believed his horse had been stolen. Of course, his friend tried to assure him that the horse was still at home on his ranch. He tried everything to convince him. He showed him pictures and even took the horse to the care unit so the owner could look out the window and see him. But the Alzheimer’s patient refused to look out the window.


So in a funny scene the friend decided to take the horse up the elevator to the old man’s room in the nursing home. Since this was a TV show, the patient saw his horse and was full of joy. But we all know that in real life, an Alzheimer’s patient might look at his horse and still say it wasn’t his. How often does truth stare me in the face and, like this Alzheimer’s patient, I refuse to see it?

As a child, I was warned endlessly about guarding what I let my eyes see. It was an important part of growing up to learn to turn my face away from things that could harm me. But what about the flip side?


What if I, like the Alzheimer’s patient, have become so good at not letting anything suspicious in that I close my eyes to truth? What if I have quit seeking truth, thinking that in my mighty wisdom I already know it all? My heart controls what I accept, and when my heart sees harm in all new thoughts, I shut them off.

What if I not only need to guard what I let in, but also learn to open myself to things I shut off long ago? Maybe it is just as dangerous not to seek out points of view that differ from my own. Maybe I need to look with eyes of compassion and openness from a different vantage point; not from my own small, extremely comfortable prison cell.


There is comfort in the things I have always accepted to be true. And sometimes comfort is conceited. It thinks it has the corner on truth. Comfort says, “My way or the highway.” Comfort is small and builds high, impenetrable walls.


Comfort is deceptive in that it thinks it knows everything. Comfort tells you that everyone who doesn’t think like you do is an enemy. Comfort believes no truth but its own version is correct. Comfort tells you that it cares for you and is looking out for you.


But comfort can be a liar.


Much like the man who couldn’t accept that his horse was not stolen, I can block out my own joy by clinging to the comfortable position of thinking I know it all and am in control.


Luke 11:5–13 (NIV)
Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.


“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”


In these verses, Jesus describes a person who has the shameless audacity to ask, seek and knock even when it appears to be inappropriate. They aren’t shy about their quest for truth. It does not describe someone who is content to live in comfortable thinking. It describes a follower who is relentlessly looking for truth. It describes someone who doesn’t think they already know it all. And this person will be rewarded by the Father with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.



Maybe I should ask, seek, and knock everyday of my life. Maybe it is time to keep my eyes wide open. 

Short Blog Update

Well, friends, life has been happening. A month has slipped by since my last “weekly” post.  Between loss of our dog, rebound puppy shopping, and politics unchained it has been hard going. My inspiration for blogging has been crowded out by a million and one concerns of the moment. I feel like George Jetson on the floating treadmill screaming, “Jane, stop this crazy thing!” And yes, that is an old school reference so I will include a video clip.

The saving grace has been my Bible study group. They are mighty prayer warriors and women after God’s own heart. Since every one of them is or has been a teacher, they are not shy about sharing their Spirit-inspired thoughts and it is most obvious to me that God is sitting with us around our table.

I say this to hopefully inspire you to find a group to meet with if you don’t already. Finding a group involves a lot of seeking and a ton of discernment. But it is a lifeline in the storm of life.