Grace (by Judy)

I know that Carolyn only recently posted an entry, and I don't want to be a Blog Hog, but tonight my fingers are itching to talk about the word "grace." Of course it is a beautiful name, the middle of my little granddaughter's identity. It is also a description attached to a ballerina, or a swan. It is that small, quick prayer that we all sped through as children before a delicious dinner. And it is, as Wikipedia says, "... the love and mercy given to us by God because God wants us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved."

That is the grace that consumes my mind as we look out to tomorrow's election. This definition speaks about God's offer of grace to us, but since we aspire to be godly people, we Christians are called, in the name of God, to offer it to others. But do we, can we, should we? We must! If not, than what difference is there between us and the world we hope to sway for Jesus. Today I read of a Christian leader who challenges us to vote biblically. What does that mean exactly - besides agreeing with the agenda of those offering the challenge?

I am not going to spell out what the Bible says on a diversity of issues. That is up to those who aspire to indeed vote biblically. As our pastor says, "You are sensible people. Do your homework." Don't accept what others say about certain passages in the Bible. read it for yourself. All of it. How many of you have heard (and read) of the prophet Micah? That man from the misty recesses of time said, "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Good counsel this chilly November pre-Election Day evening.

In the New Testament, there is this dialogue between Jesus and a Pharisee,  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself." As we all vote tomorrow, it will be wise to consider these words - in which positions do we see justice, mercy, humility, loving our neighbor? Of course half the electorate will probably see it one way, and half another. Still, at the heart of everything decided tomorrow lies that word "grace." A gift from all of us to each other - love - generous, free, unexpected, undeserved!

Help for the Helpless by Carolyn

I have a very old hymnal.  When I visit my ladies in the nursing homes, especially those with conditions that do no permit them to speak, or understand speech, I often rely on God's Word expressed in the hymns, new, old or somewhere in between.  In light of Hurricane Sandy when I came across this one, it made me think how important, how critical it is to offer a personal, helping hand in addition to all that government is doing.  Here it is.  I hope it moves you to whatever action you've thought about taking, or reinforces a decision you've already made to help the victims of the storm and the cold weather to come.  It has no title and was written by the Reverend Robert Davis in 1908.

"I thank Thee, Lord,
for strength of arm
To win my bread,
And that, beyond my need,
is meat for friend unfed:
I thank Thee much
for bread to live:
I thank Thee more
for bread to give.

I thank Thee much
for snug thatched roof
In cold and storm,
And that, beyond my need,
is room for friend forlorn:
I thank Thee much
 for place to rest,
But more for shelter
for my guest.

I thank Thee, Lord,
for lavish love
On me bestowed,
Enough to share with
loveless folk
To ease their load:
Thy love to me
I ill could spare,
Yet dearer is Thy love I share.

Amen

Amazing Grace by Carolyn

This week our family had to digest some really bad news.  It can happen to anyone, but this news truly is 1 in a million.  Our nephew and his wife discovered their two year old son has a disease known as plasminogin deficiency.  He developed what appeared to be conjunctivitis on July 4th while we were all  vacationing in Michigan.  But it would not yield to the usual treatments.  Surgery was recommended to ease the condition.  Two surgeries later his eye was worse than ever.  Last Friday doctors finally recognized this genetic illness which affects approximately one child in a million.  It can be life threatening as it can affect any of the mucous membranes in the body.

His older sister is 3.  She is already facing surgery next month to repair a hole in her heart.  This is very serious, but not complicated.  She would be in surgery for six hours, then three days in the hospital, two weeks at home quietly recovering and then...back to normal.  But, she has a one in four chance of having the same genetic deficiency.  If she has it, the surgery will be postponed.  They will know next week.  Their world has suddenly been turned upside down. 

I bring all this up because the Lord provided just the right message for us today in church.  We opened our Bibles to Psalm 22.  I was unfamiliar with it, but I had written many notes on it in my old Bible. 

"Where are you?"  David asks God.  "Why are you so far away?  Why are you silent?"  David feels alone.  He feels deserted and abandoned by the One he loves so much, by the One he knows loves him.  He is wasting away.  He says in verse 15, "You have laid me in the dust of death."  He is alone, discouraged, desperate.  One author says he is "throbbingly alienated."  He is separated from God.

What do we do when God is silent?  Where do we turn for help?  David shows us quickly in verse 4.  He says, "In You our fathers put their trust.  They trusted and You delivered them.  They cried to you and were saved, in You they trusted and were not disappointed."  God asks us often to remember how He has helped us in the past.  When we look back and see what He has done, it helps us cope with the current challenges.

There are several verses that follow where David cries out to God.  He describes his thoughts and his situation.  He appeals to the God he knows for help.  He is perplexed.  He doesn't understand.  He is confused, isolated and tormented by his enemies.  He continues to appeal and begs God for immediate intervention.

Then, in verse 19 there is a change in David's tone.  He grows stronger and stronger as he recites who his God is and what He can do.  "But You, oh Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.  Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life for the power of the dogs.  Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen."

Immediately following that he tells the Lord in verse 22, "I will declare Your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise You....revere Him, all you descendants of Israel!"  His spirit is lifted higher and higher as he is picked up out of the pit of despair by the God who loves him.  He concludes by saying in verse 30, "Posterity will serve Him; future generations will be told about the Lord.  They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn-for He has done it."

What a difference from verse 1!  How did this happen?  What changed?  David changed.  God changed David. 

My family is still where David was.  We are crying out to God to help and to heal these dear, precious children.   At any moment He could intervene and show us His way.  At any moment He could intervene and turn that upside down world right side up!  At any moment He could change us.  We will wait upon the Lord and trust Him... for His amazing grace.

Marmion to Moses (by Judy)

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”  Most of us know that quote, right? And we assert forcefully that it is Shakespeare – but we are wrong. It is written by Sir Walter Scott, in his epic poem called “Marmion.” Regardless of the author, we get the meaning, don’t we? Lies beget lies. The further lies we tell to try and cover up the previous ones cause us to entangle ourselves in deception.

What an analogy – the spider’s web, and telling lies. And by extension, the poor, maligned spider. There is truth of course, and lessons learned. I struggle with the temptation to tell a little white lie, because it protects someone. Then I remember Frank Sinatra’s line in “Little White Lies,” “The devil was in your heart, while heaven was in your eyes, the night you told me those little white lies.” The best motivations do not negate the fact that lies are lies, a tangled web of deceit.

Recently I heard another story about a spider web though – one that turns my thoughts to God, and His five word promise repeated throughout the Bible: “I will be with you.” There are many ways that God says the same thing: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” from Hebrews; earlier in Deuteronomy, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Perhaps the most familiar words in the Bible from Psalm 23, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”

So what does this have to do with a spider’s web, you may ask.  Here is the story. A soldier was being chased by the enemy, until finally, exhausted, he took refuge in a cave. He prayed to God to deliver him, but he saw was a small spider, beginning to weave a web across the entrance to the cave. The soldier scoffed at a God who would offer the protection of a flimsy web – until he heard the voice of his enemy passing by, speaking to a comrade – “No need to examine this cave. No one has entered, for look, here is a spider’s web completely across the entrance.” And they went on.

I began to think about spiders and their webs because I passed one, decked out in early morning dew. I then began to consider godly applications, for we find God everywhere. My mulling took me to sin, and lack of trust, and the end of where every mulling takes me, given enough time – to God’s faithfulness. And his promise, the one he first made to Moses, and to each of us – “I will be with you.”

Trust Me by Carolyn

"Trust Me."  How many times have we heard these two simple words throughout our lifetimes?  Can you think of times when someone has said this to you?  Did you trust them?  How far did you trust them?  All the way?  What was the outcome?  What about those times when you said them to someone?  How did that work out?  Most of us are very careful about both sides of this issue.

Trust me.  What does that mean?  It has been said that our faith is only as good as the object of our faith.  Isn't trust the same?  If we put our trust in something that isn't trustworthy our trust is quickly destroyed.  "Once burned, twice shy."  If this happens too many times, soon we learn we not to trust.

I have been thinking about this since a silly, simple little incident occured in my home.  But it was a big insight into what it means to trust our God, and the difference between instinct and choice.
We have a Persian Cat.  Her name is Nestle.  She is the gentlest cat I have ever owned.  She is completely comfortable in our care.  She lies down and flops over on her back, pulls her front feet entirely straight up and over her head, stretches out her back feet as far as they will go exposing her tummy to all sorts of pampering knowing that's exactly what we are going to do.  She knows she is going to get brushed and she loves it!  She trusts us implicitly.  Suddenly, unexpectedly scrape the bottom of your chair across the hard tile floor making a loud, disturbing noise however, and watch her take a sudden flying leap straight up in the air, up the stairs, and under the bed!

But a scare like that will send any of us into outter space!  Now let's take a controlled situation.

When I pick her up she trusts me to love her, pet her and not drop her.  She is also curious and since she's an indoor cat, I am always looking for ways to stimulate her and satisfy her curiousity.
 Our toilet was running and I needed to put the chain straight so the stopper would drop.  Since I already had her in my arms, I thought she might like to watch me do that.  I held her in one arm and with my opposite hand I untangled the chain.  At first, she was curious, but after a couple of seconds, she became completely insane and catapulted herself out of my arms, up the stairs, back under the bed.  She didn't trust me.  Her instinct took over and suddenly it was all about self-preservation.  No choice for her, not really. 

As long as we are breathing there are lessons to learn and choices to make.  I thought about the lesson contained in this little experience.  When God puts us in a trial, or asks us to undertake a project we are totally unsure about, He's asking us to trust Him.  When He's calling us to step out of the boat, or into an uncertain and scary situation and He's asking us to trust Him.  He gives us a choice. Who is our role model in this?  There are many people in the Bible who had to step out of the boat.  Think of all those in the Old Testament who were called upon to do incredibly dangerous, and courageous things with little or no reason to be assured of the outcome, or all the disciples who followed Jesus before and after His ascension in spite of the danger.  But the most outstanding role model of all is Jesus Himself.  Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane sweating blood and saying, "Not My will, but Yours be done."

If your Bible has a concordance, look up the word trust and you will find dozens of references throughout the Bible.  It's a big word.  It's a big deal.  The dictionary makes a distinction between trust and faith.  Trust implies depth and assurance of such feeling which may not always be supported by proof.  When acceptance of someone or something is fairly solid and emotionally charged, faith is the more appropriate term.

Due to our human nature it is almost impossible to say how we will react in a challenging situation. But due to our supernatural God, for Whom all things are possible, (Matthew 19:26) it is possible to make the choice and say, "Not my will, but Yours be done."

"...the angel Gabriel was sent from God..." (Judy)

I may have mentioned my son and his family, who have lived in China for the last 10 years. Josh and his wife Cleo have 3 birth children, ages 10, 7 and 5. Over the years, they became very interested and involved in an organization called Baobei. The name means “a precious or priceless treasure,” and it is apt. They identify Chinese orphans who require lifesaving surgery, and then work to bring them to Shanghai, provide them with the surgeries, and arrange for their care in local homes as they recover. Often, with the life-threatening condition ameliorated, the sweet babies are adopted. Baobei is a true partnership among doctors, orphanages, businesses who help to fund this process and many families in the expatriate community.

Over the years, Josh and Cleo – and their children - have supported Baobei financially, and even more, by offering a loving, caring home as the babies recover. Each orphan took away a small part of their hearts, until finally one took their hearts completely, and they began the tortuous path toward adoption. The little boy, originally called David by Baobei, but named Gabriel by Josh and his family, is now around 21 months old, is only a month or two from the completion of the formal adoption process, and is about to undergo a very serious, but potentially life-changing surgery at Children’s Hospital in Boston the day after tomorrow.

This past week little Gabriel had to endure the indignity and discomfort that is associated with pre-op testing – a series of MRIs, x-rays, injections, proddings and pokings – all positive and essential, but impossible for a frightened little boy to understand. The only solution much of the time was for Josh to hold him tight, and allow the doctors to proceed, while Gabriel wailed. One evening, Josh told us by phone that it was a terribly hard thing, to hold his little son down while pain was inflicted.

I was so moved that I could hardly continue the conversation. Here is a young man with 3 children of his own, a loving wife, a business across the world, an overwhelming number of events swirling around in his life – but completely focused on the pain of a child, not yet completely adopted, whom he called “his son.” The parallels with the story of God and his children made me want to weep myself. When we believe, we become a part of God’s family, with all the privileges and responsibilities. God wraps his arms around us, and tells us of his love for us. Like little Gabriel, we do nothing to earn such a gracious gift. It is freely bestowed, but at a great cost, and with beautiful, amazing, love-filled blessings.

Today I hold Gabriel, his family, and the doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital to the Light. And I offer thanksgiving for the process of adoption!

Roses Are Red by Carolyn

"Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Color is God's gift,
and looks so good on you!"

Most of you have seen the Wizard of Oz.  I'm sure you remember that it begins in black and white.  It is a most wonderful beginning, filled with the optimism of the great relationships Dorothy has with her family and friends on the farm.  Then there's the scary lady down the street who looks like a witch, acts like a witch and hates Dorothy's beloved, precious, little dog Toto.  At the start, the film is filled with good cheer and hope for a future, but it's also fraught with fear and concern for the future.

We see the snake oil salesman, good-natured and friendly, yet providing people with something that did them absolutely no good.  They jumped at it anyway.  People are easily deceived and persuaded to spend money chasing after cures that don't exist, particularly if it doesn't cost them much. 

Then the storm clouds gather quickly, the wind kicks up and suddenly Dorothy is swept away and lands in a new world filled with color!  At the time the movie was made audiences were just beginning to see films in color, so for them it must have been an amazing experience.  It is still amazing to us because of the stark contrast between black and white and color.

Color is a most amazing gift from God.  Most amazing!  Imagine if the world were only and exclusively black and white.  What if there were no vibrant colors?  No red, or blue, yellow, green, or orange, or none of the amazing hues in between the primary colors.  Nothing.  Just black and white.  Sometimes in the winter, looking out at the landscape there is only the white covered ground and the black, gray, brown trees and branches, but little else.  Color evokes emotional response too. Red indicates passion and blue sadness or melancholy.  Purple leaves us somewhere in between.

Life is a lot like color.  There are days when we are filled with the happy colors of good cheer and fun.  We are alive with hope, following the yellow brick road to success, love and joy.  There are days when our hopes are dashed and the world suddenly looks bleak, colorless and gray. 

Yet, isn't that the pallette of life?  Take the colors, all of them, including black and white, and separate them out, enjoy each for what it is itself; run them together, one with the other, a little of this and a little of that, the pastels contrasting with the primaries, while maintaining the integrity and beauty of basics and the beauty of black and white.

"Roses are red,
Pastures are green
Is it really the green
That makes the pasture serene?"

Fanny Crosby was blind.  Yet her spiritual insight was amazingly keen.  Color is a God-given gift, emotions are too, but the most important gift God give us is Himself.  He is free. We don't have to pay a dime, or do a thing.  Jesus paid for us.  He paid in full for all the sin and injustices in the world, ours and others.  He paid it all.  Our God paid the wages for our sin.  Salvation and eternity with our loving God and Father is 100% free and I'm guessing....very, very colorful!