According to the calendar spring has arrived. According the robins spring has arrived. According to the crocus spring has arrived.
According the wind whipping huge flakes of snow around the door and shoving icy cold down our necks, the calendar, robins and croci are all delusional.
Sometimes the faith life feels like this. We see the finger of God poking into our winters with the promise of spring. We see healings and restorations and resurrections of dreams. The truth is evident and we rejoice and sing and invest in the future. We buy cucumber and swiss chard seeds (or squish hard seeds as my granddaughter calls them.) Then we step out into the garden to plant them only to find ourselves shin-deep in snow.
The truth is spring has arrived. The truth is winter is still hanging on -at least in this part of the world. So we buy our seeds and start them inside the house, because even though winter has still not received the message that its days are over, we know that its days are over. Even though the worst blizzards on the prairies seem to strike in the spring, the days will turn warmer, the grass will turn green and the flowers will bloom, eventually. Summer is coming and summer has never failed us yet.
We know that God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven, because even though the enemy of our souls has not accepted his inevitable demise and he roars in like a spring blizzard, his days of stealing, killing and destroying are numbered. We know because God has never failed us yet. His loving kindness is everlasting.
This song kept playing in my head all night and woke me in the morning.
One line stood out in particular: Thy precious blood shall never lose its power, ’til all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.
In contrast to the on-line ugliness seen this past week in attacks directed at a well-known pastor/teacher and author whose son died tragically, I have seen the beauty of thousands of people coming together to pray for a man many of them have never met. I have seen leaders from other fellowships with differing doctrines lay down their right to be right and pray together toward the same purpose. I’ve seen folks from many varieties and styles of prayer and worship of Jesus Christ respond eagerly to prayer bulletins on social media.
I have seen people offer to care for our grandchildren, clean the house, buy groceries, help with paper work and banking, give massages, fix the tires, pick people up from the airport, host out-of-town family in their homes -and more. I have heard from people who have never said more than a one sentence prayer who say they have woken in the night with an urge to pray. I have never experienced such a practical out-pouring of love, but more than that I have never seen so many people moved to overcome differences, reconcile relationships and minister not only to our family, but to each other. It amazes me. I can honestly say, “Look how they love one another!”
I paced and wept and cried out for the life of our son-in-love at that moment when teary-eyed nurses invited immediate family for a brief visit before another surgery on “John.” We knew they did not hold out much hope for him. Strangely as I prayed and walked the halls the phrase that kept popping up, unbidden, in my mind was: “The deeds of the flesh must die.” I didn’t understand it then and I didn’t want to hear it. I realize now this trying time is not about punishment or God being angry with John. The Lord knew he would be okay. This is about a bigger picture.
John has required many blood and platelet transfusions; he has almost needed a fountain of donated blood to keep him going. As I watched another bag dripping life into him today, and with this song still in my head, I was struck by the symbolism.
Finally John is starting to gain consciousness and even make jokes with us, although it is difficult for him to communicate. He is still surrounded by machines and a room full of skilled care-givers who watch the numbers and tend his needs. He can do nothing for himself -not even breathe- but I think the Lord is using him even in his helpless state to teach us.
It is the blood of Christ freely shed for us that gives us life. It is the light of Christ’s love that reveals corruption in the body, the underlying dis-ease of lack of love that spreads like killer bacteria and keeps the church from being what God intended. It is the kind adjudication of God that filters out lies and shows us where we need to change and be renewed. It is the sharp sword of the Word of God that is able to excise and remove necrotic tissue without damaging the healthy tissue and it is Holy Spirit who breathes new life into us.
Christ is returning for a spotless bride. He is revealing and cleansing not because he intends judgmental condemnation, but because he loves us and wants us to be well.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Our son-in-love, who has been unconscious, but for a few moments, for nineteen days woke long enough to communicate with nods, smiles and grimaces for a short time yesterday. Our daughter’s heart was encouraged when he made a kissing gesture toward her.
His faithful friend, on the other side of the bed asked if he could have one too. “John” made a kissy face and rolled his eyes toward him.
We go on. We continue to pray for complete healing after flesh-eating disease and sepsis ravaged his body. Some of the medical staff have encouraged his day-and-night companions to continue to pray as they say it is only by the miracles they have seen so far that he is alive. At least one of them is not an atheist anymore.
We go on praying and trusting. We have a kiss -no, two kisses, to build a dream on.
My little granddaughter said to me today, “Nana, lift me up, cause I need to put my dolly on the high shelf.”
I said I would put dolly up there for her if she wanted.
She said, “No. This is my job cause she’s my dolly and I want to make sure she is safe on the high shelf, so will you be my alligator and lift me up so I can do it myself?”
“Your alligator?” I asked.
“Yeah, like the alligator in the hobsible when you get in and the doors close and up you go.”
I placed my hands under her arms and lifted her up above my head. She set her dolly on the high shelf of honour where she would be raised above the threat of the marauding toddler sibling and his friends.
Sometimes the Lord gives us responsibilities for those he places in our care. We know our assignment is to seek their well-being, to protect them from potential harm and to raise them up to be who they are meant to be. This can be a daunting task, an overwhelmingly difficult task when often we feel so out of control.
I was asking the Lord how I should pray for the people he has placed in my heart when I feel so inadequate, when I am so aware of my own short-comings.
Then, as he often does, He sent a child to show me the way.
Abba, will you be my alligator and lift me up so I can do my part and bring my loved ones into your presence where they will be visible to the ones who would threaten them, but still be out harm’s reach? I recognize that you are the one who has made everything possible, yet you give me the privilege of working with you with my little bit of mustard seed-sized faith clutched in my pudgy hand. Thank you.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.Colossians 3:1
For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5)
Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
My favourite episode of Star Trek the Next Generation is one in which the crew makes contact with beings who speak entirely in metaphor and allegory. Instead of saying romance they would say “Romeo and Juliet on the balcony,” for example. The “translator” program doesn’t work, so the captain of the aliens meets the captain of the Enterprise on a planet where they will face great adversity together against an invisible monster enemy. This is all in an attempt to communicate.
I am beginning to understand that God goes through times of adversity with us not only to teach us about his character of love, holiness and faithfulness, but to attempt to teach us His language. He says, “hard-hearted at Meribah” meaning complaining in unbelief and taking things into our own hands. He says, “crossing the Jordan” meaning belief and trusting him by moving on into something new. He says, “Joseph in jail,” meaning waiting on the Him to exalt you at the right time.
Sometimes when he brings up memories of personal traumas we have been through, he is saying, “Remember. Was I not sufficient for you?”
God is so good at using what the enemy of our souls intended for harm, like the invisible monster in the Star Trek episode, that we think He was the one who hit us with it. Obviously we live in a place where everything is not yet in line with what is happening in heaven (I have more prayer requests in my inbox today that are a reminder of that) but he is teaching us to battle, and to persevere and to trust His character.
Today I am seeing the goodness of God and his provision in the midst of difficult circumstances. Already I know that God wants us to know Him better, so He is meeting us in here in this place to go through the circumstances with us. He is beside us and someday He will say, “Do you remember the time….?” and I will smile and say, “Thank you, Lord for walking through that with us. You were indeed sufficient. And look at the fruit that came out of it!”
and re-established us in the kingdom of his beloved Son,
that is, in the kingdom of light.
For it is by his Son alone
that we have been redeemed
and have had our sins forgiven.
(Colossians 1: 11-14)
My daughter wrote this note today about her husband, who has been in critical condition in ICU for the past nine days.
“He opened his eyes. He even nodded for me and could hear everything I said. So I sat by his bed for 3 hours talking and listening to music with him and he would move his face around a bit and just show me he was there. It was medicine to my heart!
His improvements are small but bring me joy none the less.”
This morning, on Resurrection Sunday, our son-in-love, who has been unconscious and in critical condition for over a week, opened his eyes.
He went back to sleep again and there is still much to pray for towards his recovery, but we thank you, Heavenly Father that you have overcome death by death and you have already won the victory.
Long ago and far away I worked in a really crazy office. The two women who ran the department were nuts -and I say that in the nicest possible way. They actually threw books at each other. Since my desk was between theirs I learned to duck when “Olga” began her wind-up. She had a good arm but her pitches were often low. Olga qualified as a United Nations translator, but when people she didn’t like required her services, she suddenly developed a thick accent and twenty word English vocabulary. She would hand me the phone and I got to pass the messages on. Yet Olga had power. She had been there forever, knew the dirt on everyone and wasn’t afraid to drag it up. She even made the company president cower.
“Lulu” was Olga’s assistant. She had the worst bouts of PMS I have ever witnessed. Most of the time she was sweet as the dickens because she was trying to get me on her side, but on those days she would barrel into the office like a category three, tossing books and papers in the air, crying and ranting about how she couldn’t possibly deal with the demands put on her, then storm out, leaving me to re-organize the disaster before Olga saw it.
I was their office clerk. This was one of my first jobs, and I needed it. I didn’t want to be a complainer. I wanted a good recommendation when I moved on — hopefully sooner than later. Finally someone who worked upstairs walked in during a screaming match between my two supervisors, felt compassion for me, and arranged for me to be “loaned” to another office.
Shortly after I moved to another department, Olga showed up in front of my desk, dropped a pile of work on it, glowered at me and said in her usual abrupt manner, “You do this today,” then stomped out.
What can I say? Olga scared me. I still wasn’t clear on who I worked for, so I stayed late to do it on top of my other work -with tears in my eyes.
The next day my new boss said, “Don’t listen to her. You have been officially transferred. She is not your boss –in fact, you no longer have clearance to do that work. You are not qualified to listen to her. You don’t work there anymore -and I will deal with Olga myself.” She grabbed the pile of work and took it out of the room. That was the last I saw of it.
Often when I am stressed and over-tired, I forget that I have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Sometimes I forget that I don’t need to listen to the old boss. I don’t need to do their work for them by being negative or critical. In fact, the Bible says I am not qualified to listen to that old voice.
I thought of Olga and Lulu today when I read this passage.
“I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?
He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. (Isaiah 51:12-14)
I needed the Lord to remind me today that when the voices of doom and gloom and dismal forebodings plunk their pile of time-sucking requirements in front of me, I don’t have to listen to them. In fact, God says, “Who are you that you are afraid? You’re not qualified to be afraid.”
I am not qualified to listen to those voices. I don’t work there anymore.
Charis: Subject to Change 