An Interview with a Criminal

 Who, living or dead, would you most like to have a conversation with? There are all kinds of brilliant answers that I have heard. And a few silly ones too. Given this choice, many folks choose a family member, and some, Elvis or John Lennon, others, a Bible character. I always have chosen Mary Magdalene when asked this question. But today, while reading Luke 23:39-43, I changed my mind. I decided to request a conversation with the repentant criminal on the cross beside Jesus. I will call him Mr. Criminal 2. Maybe our conversation would go like this. 

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Me: Hi, Mr. Criminal 2. I have many questions about that day on Calvary. Would you be willing to answer a few?

Mr. Criminal 2: Sure, but I really want to get back to play a round of golf with The Big Guy, so make it quick. What do you want to know?

Me: I have read what you said to Criminal 1 on the cross. How did you know Jesus didn’t deserve to die on that cross? 

Mr. Criminal 2: Wow! Getting right to the punch line. I like that. Before that day, I wasn’t really paying much attention to the stories about the miraculous healings and preaching of Jesus, but I did know who he was. Everybody did. I was a thug, you know. And so it took my mind off of my pain to watch him being nailed on the cross beside me.

Me: So you watched him suffering to get your mind off of your own?

Mr. Criminal 2: Yeah. But he was tortured so much more than either of us criminals. In fact, I think they forgot about us at times because the soldiers and crowd were so worked up about Jesus. Here is how crazed they were. Before the crucifixion there was this other heinous criminal named Barabbas, a real piece of work. The powers-that-be asked the crowd to choose to release Barabbas or Jesus thinking they would release the guy who healed people and stuff. But they were so crazed that they chose to crucify Jesus and release that evil dude. Their thirst for Jesus blood was like nothing I ever witnessed before. I couldn’t understand this. So I thought I had better watch him closely to see why they hated him so much.

Me: So you decided to focus on Jesus crucifixion rather than your own?

Mr. Criminal 2: Yes. And this is when I saw his innocence. It was so obvious. It didn’t matter what they did to torture him, from the crown made of thorns to taunting and spitting on him, he kept his cool. He even forgave those damn executioners! He was majestic-like and kind at the same time, even during that shameful degrading torture. He never lost it. He was other-worldly in his words and countenance yet he was enduring the pain of this horrible death with the additional physical and mental tortures beyond that of us two criminals. He clearly was not like us. 

Me: So, if you could see that he had an unknown source of power, why didn’t you ask him to save you like Criminal 1 did? 

Mr. Criminal 2: You know, as I watched him I realized that he was choosing this death for some strange reason. And what is more, he was talking to God like he was his dad.

Me: So why didn’t Criminal 1 see this too?

Mr. Criminal 2: Here is the thing. That guy never really looked at Jesus. He focused on the angry crowd and the soldiers. If he had ever watched Jesus, he would have seen it. 

Me: So then what happened?

Mr. Criminal 2: Here we are slowly dying this painful death and Criminal 1, pipes up with the plan for Jesus to rescue us. But he didn’t think Jesus was able to do it and so he was really mocking Jesus just like the blood-thirsty crowd around us. By then, I had seen enough to know Jesus could save us from this torture and for some reason he chose to endure it. So I told criminal 1 what I thought. I said, “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.”*

Me: So how did you decide to make that request of Jesus that is recorded in the Bible?

Mr. Criminal 2: I don’t know. It just came out of watching him when I said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”* And then Jesus looked at me. Oh the compassion in his pained eyes! Then Jesus said to me, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.”*

Me: How did that make you feel? 

Mr. Criminal 2: You can’t imagine. I was so engulfed by Jesus love that I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. We died after that and just like he said, I joined him here in paradise and have been rejoicing ever since! I am a new man, clean and forgiven. What a gift!

Me: So you are saying that the only difference in you and Mr. Criminal 1 is that you kept focusing on Jesus?

Mr. Criminal 2: That is it. I was as bad as that guy. I knew we both deserved crucifixion. Criminal 1 never admitted that he deserved this punishment and focused on his own pain and bitterness while I watched Jesus until I was in total awe of him. I knew without a doubt that he was the Son of the Most High God. 

*quotes from Luke 23:39-43 The Message translation 

When to Worry

 When friends or family go through loss, illness, difficulties in health, job security, or relationships, I pray for them. And I worry. But I realized the other day that my biggest worries are never for those who I know are strong in their faith. The ones who live their life depending on God for their strength suffer the same as everyone else but there is hope in their hearts that they depend on for strength. I know they will come out on the other side stronger in their faith than they were before. Deep down, this is truth. 

It is those who never speak of their faith, who never spend quality time learning about Christ, who focus on this finite world and never the eternal next, who worry me the most. How will they withstand the storms of this difficult life? What happens when the bootstraps they pull themselves up by, break? I worry because I know how weak I am. I know my own lack of strength. I know that sometimes life gives me more than I can handle. I worry that they will not know how to ask the Savior to rescue them because they have never prepared their hearts for this. I worry because it is so hard to watch loved ones make the wrong choices knowing there is nothing I can do. 

But then I remind myself that the loving God I know, loves them with an intensity that puts mine to shame. And I know He does have the power to do something about their needs. And I know that He knows exactly the perfect next move for them in this complex chess game of life. He plays chess while my mind plays checkers. I know He welcomed the Prodigal son. I know He calmed the sea. I know He healed the lepers. I know He will leave the 99 sheep to look for the lost one. 

So the answer to the question about when to worry is NEVER. God is in control. 

Pathway to the Creator

 How do people who can’t read, don’t have a Bible or go to church know God? Do you think God decided to exclude them? As a child I worried about that. Recently I read a story of a man, Brother Lawrence, who found his path to God by observing the beauty of a tree. And I thought, “How is that even possible”?

I accept that God’s ways are a mystery to me. As a small child in Sunbeams, (Sunday school for littles), I learned that God gave us five senses. As an adult I have learned that God asks us to seek him. Putting that together, would God expect us only to seek him with one or two of our senses? So, yes, I believe that finding God in nature is possible. If we seek we will find, even without a concordance, commentary and three versions of the Bible.

Our culture is dependent upon words and videography to tell a story. Sadly, we have never been taught to read nature around us and understand God’s creation story behind something like a tree. It seems like the only time we pay attention to nature is when there is some cataclysmic event. So we become fearful rather than joyful over the natural world. We forget that God is so much bigger than we could possibly imagine.

In a short while the folks around my neck of the woods will experience a total eclipse. Instead of awe and wonder for a Creator that placed the stars and moon in the sky and synchronized their movements, some interpret it as impending doom’s day. Most of us, however, see it as a chance to celebrate. But how many of us see it as a moment to worship our amazing creator? To see it as a chance to observe His star given for our planet’s light and source of energy in a unique manner? To be amazed at this synchronized movement of our solar system?

Image by Chil Vera from Pixabay

In his Reasons to Believe Creation Model, Astrophysicist Hugh Ross lists 140 features of the cosmos as a whole (including the laws of physics) that must fall within certain narrow ranges to allow for the possibility of physical life’s existence and 402 quantifiable characteristics of a planetary system and its galaxy that must fall within narrow ranges to allow for the possibility of advanced life’s existence. Just those numbers alone are astounding.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities---his eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Taking care not to worship the creation but the Creator, we have microscopes, telescopes and a plethora of scientific devices to observe God’s creations. Yet we often fall victim to worshipping our own “brilliance” rather than that of the one who made it all. In The One Year Salt and Light Devotional by Chris Tiegreen he says, “What should have sent us in search of the Creator—the beauty and design of nature, the stunning miracle of a newborn, the joy of simple pleasures—became instead an idol or even just a happy accident. We have to learn to see the world in a new way.”

So if we are in a place where nature shows us something new, we should stop and learn about the One who created it. What kind of love and attention to detail did it take to create beautiful fields of wildflowers and what amazing creativity came up with a howler monkey and a firefly? And what about the cute fuzz on a bee or the amazing power in a storm? We should pause and take time to listen to God’s creation around us and learn how to catch glimpses of His amazing glory.

Moving Furniture in the Rain

 On this week of Valentine’s Day it is appropriate that I introduce you to some beautiful people that have blessed my life. I have been privileged to know many amazing, kind and loving people. As we all know, there are many people who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. And for me, the ability to discern the authentic people from fake rule-followers came at a steep price.

It was a period of life many years ago, in which I felt shunned by my Christian family and friends that I met these special people. My isolation came from my guilt and gave me eyes to see the truth I never would have known without going through that. I learned that sadly, many folks including myself, were only rule-following Christians and had no use for folks who strayed from that path. I took the road through heartbreak and poverty and while I was sorry for my mistakes, I wouldn’t trade it for the insight I gained from it. I learned to see the world in a way that I never would have if I hadn’t veered off the path that was laid out for me. It made me change the channel. It made me look for and listen to other points of view other than the one I was born into and I am so thankful for this.

It was authentic Christ followers who stepped up and helped me when I was alone. Meet Pat and Bob Bicknell. Bob was the head of the music department for Wayland Baptist University and he and Pat had two lovely children, Sharon and David. Pat saw my loneliness and was a friend to me. She saw my lack of income and came up with a way for me to earn money while staying home with my baby. What a blessing! She employed me to sew smocks for her daycare workers and she also employed me to pick up her kids from school and keep them until she came home from work. I spent many hours caring for Sharon and David while thoroughly enjoying the companionship and added income.

After I graduated I needed help moving to a nearby town to live and work in my first teaching position. I felt like I knew the Bicknells well enough to ask them for help to move. I will never forget Dr. Bicknell struggling to move my washer and dryer through a small door on that rainy that day. I still feel bad about that and I know now that it is only the most beautiful people who will help you move your furniture in the rain.

In the following years I remarried and the Bicknells moved away from that college town. Forty years later, I have tried to find them to thank them but can only find a tiny digital footprint leading to a general area of Texas. I will see them again someday though. And when I do, I will run up and hug their necks. What beautiful people!

Learning from History

 In history, when have waves of people invaded the land and changed the ways of the people that were there? Give up? Recently I read a novel that was written from the point of view of the Native Americans when waves of emigrants were traveling west through their land. While reading it, I had an ah-ha moment. I saw a parallel to our present day issues.

In the novel there were two points of view represented. One was the chief who fought with all his might to keep the emigrants out or deter their progress through violence, mistrust and anger. He villainized them to his people and they responded with violence. The other point of view was a chief who saw the big picture. He saw that if one emigrant was killed, ten more would come and take their place. So his choice was to work with the emigrants and get the best deal to preserve his people and their way of life. Consequently, his tribe still has valuable land rights and his ancestors live on while the former tribe was exterminated.

So the parallel is to the pending changes that I see in the US today. We can choose to villainize the immigrants on our Southern border, use our tax dollars to put up razor wire, build walls and inspire further hostility or we can think outside of the box. We can try to understand their needs and push to create an expedited protocol for them to assimilate and help us with our needs. We can remember that we are a nation of immigrants who came here for the freedom of worshipping God. We can remember that we are all foreigners in this land. We can take a path of love and its inspiration of creative problem solving or we can villainize and turn to hate and exclusion.

I realize that this is an oversimplification of all the issues. I realize that the obstacles are complex, numerous and scary. However, I believe that if our over-arching attitude will change to offense rather than defense, we can use our American ingenuity to create innovative solutions. Innovation doesn’t happen in an atmosphere of fear, hatred and resistance.

We, as Americans, have a choice to act on the love of Christ, think of ways to make this inevitable future work for our children and grand children or go the path of hatred and resistance and its destruction. We need to get off of that bandwagon of fear and support those who propose changes for the better. We are better than this.

Educators: The Eyes of Little Texans are Upon You

 

National Holocaust Museum

While going through the museum, questions kept creeping into my brain. What led someone to think this genocide was ok or that it didn’t happen? So many drank the Hitler Kool-aid and they were who kept him in a power position. Why didn’t they realize that their unquestioning devotion was what placed him in that position? What were the precursors to this genocide? What led those who stood up against this carnage to do what they did? What, pray tell, made folks do nothing? And where would I have fallen in this scenario? I’ll let you research for yourself the answer to these questions. My questions were answered and it was eye opening.

What I want to share with you is that those who took a stand against this genocide were labeled “up-standers”. So I noted what the careers of the up-standers were and I was pleasantly surprised that the majority of the female up-standers were educators. But to keep a level-headed perspective on the situation also I note this quote from my favorite educational psychologist, Israeli, Haim Ginott.

I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness: gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot by high school and college graduates. So, I am suspicious of education. My request is this: Help your children become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths or educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.

So according to Haim Ginott, an education does not immunize you against becoming an agent of hate. However, educating children on ethics and making children more human is critical.

Clearly, this puts educators in a pivotal position. Maybe the most important thing teachers teach each day is empathy, understanding, patience and kindness. Teach what you were hired to teach, but remember what is truly crucial is how you teach. It is how you handle yourself and others that speaks louder than any words that are preached from an old-school Baptist pulpit. Remember, as an educator, you are in a powerful position of influence.

As a young public school teacher who felt that teaching God’s love was so much more important than teaching science, I came to the following conclusion after a great deal of soul searching. There is no call to cease teaching reading, writing, science, history, athletics, ag, music and math to begin preaching because actions speak so loudly to students. A Christian education is taught when I do my job to the best of my ability, with integrity, showing children love and kindness regardless of whether I teach in a public or private Christian school. Children watch how their teachers interact and this is where ethics are taught. This is not taught from a textbook. Those eyes are on you, educators.

Choose Hope

 I’m a mess. There, I said it. I struggle with issues like anger and fear. To top it off, I am a control freak. It is so hard for me just to stand down. And I find myself in a world that has lost love, kindness, sanity and is full of greed and depravity.

But…

I have hope and hope makes all the difference! My hope is in Christ. God wants to save us from our own destruction because He created us and loves us. He created us with the freedom to choose. All we have to do is believe and trust what He said. He said that God created everything and then sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to live in the flesh among us. And that Jesus was crucified over 2000 years ago on a real Roman cross to his death and that His body was buried in a real tomb and three days later He rose to life in the flesh. He returned to heaven after leaving behind the Spirit form of God to help us grow as believers. And He said that on a day that we have no idea about, Jesus will come again and gather up all of the dead believers and those believers left on earth and take us to live in an unimaginably beautiful place with Him to live a totally fulfilling existence without pain and death. And in this lies all my hope.

Here are the words of Jesus explaining to a guy named Nicodemus, who wanted to know why the Son of God came to earth to live as a human among us.

John 3:16-17 AMP
"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world, that He even gave His One and only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him as Savior shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world, but that the world might be saved through Him”.

So He clearly lobbed the ball into our court. We each must choose to participate by belief and trust. We must choose to volley our thoughts and beliefs daily with Him or to walk off and leave Him. But if we participate, we become the recipients of grace for all the messing up that we have done, are doing, and will do.

It is this hope that keeps me looking to God. My hope keeps me talking to him. My hope holds me up when the world knocks me down and consequently, love and compassion grow where there was none before. Everyday my hope is in Christ. Everyday I talk to Him about letting go of my anger, fear and control issues and I see that He is making improvement in spite of me. So I have hope for a bright future knowing someday, all these issues will be a thing of the past.

If you haven’t made this choice and want to, simply tell God in a humble prayer that you choose this hope and believe in your heart that He will do what He says He will do. If you have this relationship with God, may you find a way to share it with those who want it.

Photo by Laurissa Noack

When I Can't Feel a Thing

 I listened to You Say by Lauren Daigle today and I relate to the line that says “You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing.” Repeatedly in the Bible, God tells me he loves me. Repeatedly, He shows me he loves me daily by showering me with protection, bounty and beauty. Repeatedly, I remind myself of this fact.

1 John 4:9-10 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Image by Sarah Richter from Pixabay

Today I can’t feel a thing. Today I struggle. Yet the beautiful thing is that the fact remains, and I believe that God still loves me. That is what keeps me going through the days when I feel nothing. Being a bit of an up and down kind of personality, my belief is so important. Mindfully cultivating that belief is vital. Consistency in the face of emotional fluctuations is purely His Spirit in me. In 1 John 5:13-15 of The Message translation of the Bible, I am reminded of what my faith entails.

My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.

It is possible to be confident when I can’t feel a thing because my faith is in God and not my own roller coaster emotions.

Funerals and True Love

 

Everyone hates funerals. 

Except me. 

I have been to funerals for presidents, preachers, janitors and bus drivers. And also to funerals for those who were great church leaders and those who never once stepped foot in the church. I have been to funerals of those whose lives were well lived and those whose lives were wasted; for the proud and for the humble. I have been to funerals where there was standing room only and for those who had mostly empty pews. I have been to funerals for the very young and for those who took their own lives. Most of the funerals I have been to have been for the elderly. Even then, they are sad because goodbyes are so hard. And I shed tears at most of them. But in those tears are truth.

In those pews are people who are hurting and dealing with truth. And in truth I find comfort. For a moment in time, honesty and consolation is found in a world that has forgotten that this life is not all there is. For a moment in time, division and barriers are left behind and we are all mourning in unity. 

In a quote from Paul David Tripp in New Morning Mercies, he says, “Truth isn’t mean and love isn’t dishonest. They are two sides of the same righteous agenda that longs for spiritual welfare of another.” 

So I find in these moments of truth an opportunity for our spiritual welfare and for true love to shine through for each of us gathered together. This is what matters and what lasts. 

It is in those moments when we all assess what is really important in this life. It is in funerals that our priorities are questioned and sometimes turned upside down. It is in these moments that we finally stop our mad lives and are given the opportunity to find true love. 

Guns and Roses

 

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“Once you become a Christian you will always be kind and no longer be selfish and petty”.

what we thought…

Like this statement, so often the Christian life is portrayed as all butterflies and rainbows. While life with Christ is sweet, it is not easy. Non-Christians hold Christians to a higher standard and Christians themselves often believe they should no longer be tempted by desires that are unhealthy. So often we feel defeated by the temptation to make that nasty post even if we don’t do it. You may be surprised to know that even the Apostle Paul struggled with sin. To me, one of the most comforting passages of scripture is Paul’s letter to the Romans expressing his frustration with sin even after his conversion. 

Romans 7:15-25 NIV  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do---this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law;  but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

And this was written by a guy that sacrificed his life to spread the truth of Christ! I have found my Christian walk to be more like guns and roses rather than butterflies and rainbows. All weapons and beauty with thorns. It seems like the closer I walk with God, the more I see my penchant for selfishness and pride. So what are these weapons? Is there no relief from my broken, rebellious nature? Where are those roses when all I see are the thorns? Well, the Apostle Paul not only sinned but he seems to be an expert in thorns too.

The truth that we must remember is that Jesus loves us while we are broken. He gave his life for us while we were in this condition. What makes me think that he no longer expects me to sin now that I am a follower? This is not said as an excuse, but as a difficult struggle. The difference belief makes is that the desire of my heart has changed. This is what creates the tension I feel. And if I did not have this tension, I would have to question my faith. I believe God knows my heart and knows my struggle. While He does not remove the thorns, he considers me His own child and loves and forgives me.

Do I have any help living to this higher standard while struggling in this twisted world? Did God give me any weapons against my sinful nature, or am I left to fend for myself? Paul included this answer in his writings. 

Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

And so it goes to reason that God wouldn’t give us these weapons from the Spirit if the Christian life was supposed to be easy. We are still haunted by our sinful nature but what we have been given from God is desire and weapons. Yes, weapons! And with the gifts of the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit we are more than conquerers through Him who loves us. Bring on the guns and roses!

Silly Things

Should we thank God for luxuries? It seems so silly since luxuries are things we really don’t need. Luxuries are silly things. Shouldn’t we sell them and give that money to the poor? Well, I thank God everyday for my swimming pool. Yep. That is silly. But to me, getting that pool was God putting the whipped cream on top of the chocolate milkshake.

As a small child from a poor family living in Kansas, I was introduced to a backyard swimming pool when we visited my wealthy aunt and uncle in Dallas. In the 1960’s only the very wealthy had in-ground pools. My uncle was an electrical engineer and part owner in a company that did the electricity for many big Dallas venues including Six Flags. Their pool made such an impression on me that I spent too much of my time trying to find a way to visit my aunt. That pool was the ultimate luxury in my book!

2009 is a date that is engraved in my memory much like 2020 will go down in world history. In January of 2009, Kevin and I began our journey through what is sometimes called a sifting. Suffice it to say, it was a ‘grab your torch and pitchfork’ type of situation and we were at the pointy end. Since then, I realized that this type of experience is inherent to those with a public job and sadly, many school superintendents and pastors go through this. However, when we were going through this dreadful experience it seemed very personal. Yet somehow, in all the chaos, Kevin and I grew closer to God and closer to each other.

It wasn’t long until an opportunity in a new place opened and in June of 2009 we moved to a new town and began our new jobs, closing the door on that difficult season of life. In our new town, we found that as soon as one blessing arrived, another would follow until there was no denying that God’s deliverance was behind it all. The house we really wanted was a bargain and one of only a handful of suitable homes available in our school district. And it came with a beautiful big pool in the backyard. Be still my heart! As we were moving into that home, I realized it was God tapping me on the shoulder saying, “Look how much I love you.”

So now I thank God for that silly thing, that luxury, because I remember how He delivered us through a storm.

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The Hater and the Hated

 It is easy to point my finger at the hate-filled white cop who killed an innocent black man. What is not easy, is to look within myself for hatred. Hatred is like that. Everyone can see your hatred but you.

Do not take revenge my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” says the Lord. Romans 12:19

There is an old story about a hater named Jonah. For whatever reason, he hated people from Nineveh. We are not told why, but we are told they were evil. I’m sure they must have wronged Jonah or his family or his village. Jonah was told by God to go preach to them so they would turn to God. Jonah refused on the basis that they didn’t deserve the forgiveness and second chance that a loving God would offer them. We are all very familiar with what happens next. Jonah ends up inside a big fish then barfed up on a beach.

I find it interesting that the Lord gives both the people of Nineveh and Jonah a second chance. This is a story of forgiveness for both the hater and the hated. He is the God of second chances. If only we, as Christians, can learn to give second chances to those we have learned to hate.

Jonah went to the city of Nineveh and preached to them to turn to God and they did, saving them from certain destruction. However, Jonah was not happy with this conversion of his enemies. He became angry and complained to the Lord that he knew that this would happen because God is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding with love. He asked the Lord to take his life rather than to accept this redemption of the people of Nineveh. This is where we can plainly see the problem was more with Jonah than with the evil Ninevites. This prophet that God used to bring the city of Nineveh back to him was eaten up with hate and anger.

His source of hatred was unforgiveness. Hatred can be passed down from generation to generation. Hatred will always find a target. And most often that target is the innocent.  And for Jonah, it was the people of Nineveh. For people in our world today, it may be conservative Republicans, liberal Democrats, Pelosi, Trump, bosses, employees, men, women, blacks, whites or hispanics.  Hate is ugly. I know someone who suffered at the hands of several men throughout her life. Now, deep in her heart, she carries the stench of hatred for all men. She tries to cover it up. But it often lets loose on an innocent male target.  Sadly, it has changed her and made her bitter. Hatred can’t be controlled.  It controls you.  Like cancer, it eats you from the inside out. And like cancer, it is a slow, suffering death. 

First, we have to see the hatred in ourselves. That is the hardest part! Everyone around us can see it but us. Ask God to shine a light on it. He will reveal it to you. How do we get rid of it? Forgiveness. Forgiveness is a choice. Forgiveness doesn’t excuse the wrong that was committed against us. Forgiveness frees us from the chain on our own hearts. The good news is that there is a cure for unforgiveness. I have found that it takes time. The book I have turned to to help me deal with unforgiveness is Forgiveness…the Ultimate Miracle by Paul J. Meyer.  He does a wonderful job of shining a light on how to get out of the grip of hatred. 

Lord, we need your forgiveness. Please lead us to find the unforgiveness in ourselves and turn it over to you.

Striving for More

I don’t know about you, but every new year I become even more introspective, thinking of all God wants me to be.  This, in turn, makes me see how far I am from where I desire to be.  And unfortunately, this can morph into guilt over those marks I missed last year rather than a new start. That is the enemy in my head. He will use anything to get a foothold in my thoughts.  So, no matter how badly I missed the mark last year, I must remember this one thing. God loves me exactly as I am, not how I want to be. Yes, He wants me to desire more, to strive for the best. He placed that desire in my heart. But he will never love me more if I attain it and he will never love me less if I fail.  So I will continue to strive from a standpoint of a cherished child who can never disappoint, who can never suffer rejection due to failure. 

Truth

Cells of a common water plant under a microscope

My absolute favorite part of teaching science was teaching 6th grade students to use a microscope. Soon after this they could discover for themselves the microscopic functioning parts of a living plant cell and the microscopic zoo in a drop of pond water. Experiencing their excitement over these eye opening discoveries was beautiful. In case you didn't get to experience this, here is a video of pond water through a microscope.

As a science teacher, I have had the privilege of learning some of the astonishing details of the makeup of living things and Earth’s precise ‘Goldilocks’ location in this vast universe. It takes a much bigger stretch of the imagination to think that this amazing detail was made possible by some cosmic accident than to accept the fact that there is a Divine Designer. The truth is that there is a God who created this universe, solar system, earth, and every living thing in it. 

It is also a fact that God, in an act of love, sent his Son in the form of a human to this Earth over two thousand years ago. There is irrefutable evidence that Jesus walked on this earth, lived among humans, taught, and performed miracles while here.  There is irrefutable evidence that He was killed by being crucified in an agonizing and humiliating death on a cross.  His body was buried and after three days, he was seen alive, walking, talking and eating. And over a course of forty days after his death, it is documented that he was seen by well over 500 eye witnesses.  This is a feat that only God himself could engineer. To this day, as hard as they try, no one can disprove this fact. 

The purpose of God sending his son here was a mercy mission to give us a way out of our certain failure and destruction. 

John 3:16-18 ESV 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 

He gave us the choice to accept or reject this grace. I have chosen to accept his mercy and now there is evidence in my daily life of his presence in me through the Holy Spirit. Without him, I am misguided, timid, incredibly selfish and self-centered, suffering from every malady inherent to a selfish lifestyle. Now, when I choose to listen to Him, he gives me divine power over this selfishness, as well as love for others and self-discipline to boldly pursue him in my life. So my daily walk before and after following him is evidence to me that the Holy Spirit is in my life now.  

This is the evidence and the truth. But don’t just take my word for it. You can search it for yourself. Please test God, the Bible and Jesus. Then you can chose to accept it or deny it based on fact, not hearsay.

Love and Laws

When I was growing up, we had an active youth group in our church led by a dynamic youth director. He opened our eyes to the scripture, one of which was 1 Corinthians 13. 45 years later, you will find that the kids in that youth group are still actively following Christ. I lost track of this youth director for 40 years, until I stumbled on an article about his son. Apparently, his son grew up to be a powerful legislator in Missouri. However, the power went to his head and he was caught in an embarrassing escapade and lost everything; his job and his family. The story goes on to talk about how his father, my old youth director, instead of hiding in embarrassment, reached out to his son and led him back to his Christianity. This fallen representative now professes publicly his love for his Father God. It was the act of love and forgiveness of an earthly father that led him back to his Heavenly Father.

I remember when I first understood 1Corinthians 13, the love chapter in the Bible. It was life changing. It was the first time I realized that God the Father, Christ Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit had an attribute more important than any other. It was the most powerful characteristic that ruled all the others. It simplified things for the simple-minded yet it was as complex and far reaching as the universe. This was THE ONE THING.

Unfortunately, since then, familiarity has stolen the beauty of the love chapter. It has made it trite and something to be read only at weddings. The enemy seems to have done his best on this beautiful chapter in the Bible. If you have not read it in a while, read it as if it was the first time you have ever heard it. Think of all the times you have seen this hold true. Think of the loving father in the prodigal son parable that demonstrates this power of love so clearly.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8,13 NIV
[1] If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. [3] If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. [4] Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. [8] Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. [13] And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

One thing I know about the life of Jesus was that he accomplished what he intended to do. I don’t believe he looked back and said “Oh, I wish I had done such and so." I believe his life was lived to make the biggest impact for all generations. And you don’t have to study the Gospels very long to know that Jesus battled against the Pharisees and Sadducees frequently. I also believe this was no accident, but a well planned move by the all-knowing Son of God. Why did he spend so much time pointing out the error of being a rule follower? Maybe it was because he knew something about sin and the pitfalls of humanity. Maybe because rule-following often serves as an antithesis for love. I believe he spent so much time addressing this sin because he knew the unparalleled power rule-following has to overtake our lives and turn our eyes away from God while looking to ourselves for our own salvation.

Jesus statement about the Law is this.

Matthew 5:17 NIV
[17] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

The definition of 'fulfilled' is 'satisfied or brought to completion'. The laws were fulfilled, satisfied, brought to completion, in Him.

Here is Paul’s take on life in Christ.

Galatians 2:19-20 NIV
[19] “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. [20] I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

It is no surprise that in the early church, rule-following was one of the first issues to rear its head in church debates. Originally, before Christ, one of the rules for being a faithful male Jew was to become circumcised. It was an act based on the law from Abraham and his sons. It continued on in the Hebrew nation from there. In New Testament times, Jewish Christians, who knew the scriptures well, believed that Gentiles must be circumcised to be a Christian. This was based on Jewish society norms and the laws in the Old Testament scriptures. Yet, as Paul pointed out, to do this as a requirement to be a Christian was wrong. He argued that God’s loving act of grace through the shedding of Jesus’ blood had replaced the rule-following pathway to God. The old way of following laws was gone and the new way was through belief in Christ.

Galatians 5:6 ESV[6] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

This makes me wonder what church debates are still raging today due to applying biblical laws and society norms that no longer should govern us. You could take two sides of any church issue that is based on the law and cultural expectations and fill it into Galatians 5:6. For in Christ Jesus neither ______________ nor _____________ counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Forgive the silliness of this, but let’s try it out. For in Christ Jesus neither ‘singing from the hymnal with a pipe organ’ nor ‘singing from a monitor with a rock band’ counts for anything, but only faith working through love. See? Now it’s your turn. You try it. Pick two sides of any debated church issue. Faith working through love trumps it all!

The Bible has so many things to say about how we should act. Should we take them all at a simplistic face value or should love of God and fellow man be a governing hierarchy over it all? Following are the words of Jesus.

Matthew 22:34-40 ESV[34] But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. [35] And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. [36] "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" [37] And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [38] This is the great and first commandment. [39] And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [40] On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

So the Law and the Prophets depend on loving God with all of your heart. That is the way my Bible reads. Living a life of love fulfills the law. I don’t believe this way of thinking is too complicated for us to practice because I have noticed that the people who practice this best are little children and those with special needs. They accept everyone as they are, no questions asked, no unfulfilled expectations, just loving acceptance.

Lord help me see the ways I miss this and help me to make choices that express my life through your love.