Luke 16:1-8 pray-as-you-go.org Nov 6, 2009

Word or Phrase: Eternal Dwellings

Emotion Evoked: Confusion

Invitation Received: “Be careful with your money.”

What in the world is this parable about, anyway?  Does this story lift up dishonesty or cover it up with shrewdness?  Or is another way to be “in the world but not of the world?”  Or is there something else here for me today?

I am not shrewd.  I am an easy touch.  I give away money and energy at the drop of a hat.  It has only been in more recent years that I have learned to say “NO.  I have such and such skills and resources that I am happy to give you or lend you, but what you’re asking of me is something I don’t have.”  I may be able to refer a person to some other person or resource, but not always.

But I am not sure that is what Jesus is saying to me just now.  I have to ask myself what does the way I spend my money have to do with being welcomed into eternal dwellings.  See, the man in the story is not the model Jesus wishes me to follow, but He sure did get my attention.  The guy’s motive was not so good either, but I sure did think over his actions.

Chances are that this ”shrewd” manager was giving his master’s debtors a deserved break.  Chances are that these debtors were poor and had been taken advantage of.  In the story the manager makes friends with them to his likely benefit.  Perhaps these debtors were only temporarily on the outs.  But a good deed was done.  It is clear from say Matthew 25 that good deeds with bad motives don’t count.

So looking beyond the bad motive, shrewdness was applied to the benefit of a needy debtor.  That ‘s what I hear from Jesus today.  Here is an eternal motive for being financially responsible: so that I might be in a position to help the poor and needy.  My pray today is that I become a better financial manager with my money.

Lender Files Chap 11

Hi ~

1. Word or Phrase: Cheek

2. Emotion felt: Hope

3. Invitation heard: “Have life to the full.”  The first news I read this morning was that another major bankruptcy in the US has been filed.  We shudder at the shifting economic sands upon which we all are standing.  Isaiah refers to our human situation as a shroud that covers all peoples.  The sad part is that we are prone to be destitute spiritually as well.  But we don’t have to.

We can do our small part with the collapsing economy, but these verses lift us up to a spiritual reality that exchanges the ashes of economic uncertainty for the beauty of a banquet put on by God.  We recognize the apocalyptic tone and activities that swallow up death and wipe away all tears.  But we also remember that God has broken through to our pitiful state and given us Jesus, heaven on earth.  Everything we do to draw near to Him exchanges the ashes for spiritual beauty.  Our spiritual practices help us to delight in God’s abundance. 

Our prayers help us to transcend the troubles we face; we drink in the morning air, hear the birds, and watch the sunrise; we exult in the love of family and friends; we feel the gentle breeze on our cheeks and own the image of tears wiped from our cheeks for now and not just for later.  Surrounded by pain and loss and disgruntlement, may we offer those cheeks to the God Who cheers us with the knowledge that He has overcome the world.

Happy to see the Angels!

Pray-as-you-go.org Mon Aug 24 Jn 1:45-51

Hi ~

1.  Word or Phrase that caught my eye: “Under the Fig Tree.”

2.  Emotion that grabbed me: remorse

3.  Invitation that followed: “Come see the Angels.”  Lucien and I have b een having a discussion about repentance lately.  We are “under the fig tree,” so to speak.  In a place where Jesus sees us.  When we settle ourselves “under the fig tree,”  we ask Jesus to look at us much like David did in Psalm 139:23-24, when He asked God to search him.  Note that he didn’t do the soul-searching himself, he asked God to do it for him and report back any wickedness.

That’s why we need to be under the fig tree, so God can search our souls.  But that, to me, is only the beginning of the process.  When God reveals to us our shortcomings, it does no good if we don’t also allow the Holy Spirit in to convict us of our sins. 

Then I confess the sin.  But it doesn’t end there, because repentance means a turning around, and so I must change.  That is why John (1 Jn 1:9) says that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  It is a multi-faceted process.

My part is to get myself under the fig tree where God can see my sins and convict me.  Then my personal act of faith is to ask for forgiveness, then God does the rest: giving me the strength to repent and doing the clean-up. 

The ultimate unfolding of God seeing us under the fig tree is the ability, now all cleaned up, to see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of God.  That is my prayer today for you and for me.  That we may clearly see Jesus in the accompanying presence of the glorified angels.  Praise God for this cleansing process.

Double Delight

pray-as-you-go.org Aug 14 Fri , Josh 24:1-13

1.  Word or phrase: “He blessed you again and again.”

2.  Emotion evoked: joy

3.  Invitation I heard: “Count your blessings.”  Erin and Kendall joined me in a trip to Florida last week.  We stayed 6 days, just 3 weeks after my last surgery.  I was a little sore still, but managed the luggage, AND the baby.  Erin and Kendall joined me to visit with Loryn, Jason, and Melanie in Orlando!

I feel so blessed.  I told the girls that I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.  Seeing the two babies, Kendall, 7 mo and Melanie, 10 mo, together, was such a joy.  And of course, we had no other obligations accept to hang around with each other. 

When we first sat the two girls down on the floor together, Kendall reached out her arms, opened her mouth for a kiss, and nestled her face in Melanie’s neck.  It’s like they knew who the other one was.  They traded binkies, grabbed each others’ clothes, chewed on each others’ fingers (ouch!), and kissed each others’ feet.  One of them actually tried to use the other one as a stepping stone to try to get out of the play pen.

We took them to Forest Lake church service and went to Sabbath School there.  Melanie got her first “children’s story,” at church there, and they both seemed to be interested in the SS presentation.

On Monday, we went to Leu Gardens and had a baby dedication for both girls.  Jason’s family came and we just pronouced the others we wished were there as “there in spirit.”  The Gardens are lush with every kind of tropical tree and plant you could imagine.  Where Jason and Loryn got married.  A beautiful spot for meeting with God.

This morning I read verses 1-13 of Joshua 24 where Joshua recounts all that the Lord had done for the Isrealites.  He does so  much for us as well.  Our healing, our families, our safety, and these grandchildren.  We are rolled over with waves of awe continually.  Enjoy the photo of Melanie (on the left) and Kendall (on the right).  It was great fun watching them as they were being taken!

Thank You, Lord, for these unearned delights!

weeds

Tues Jul 28 Mt 13:31-35 pray-as-you.go.org

Hi ~

1.  Word(s) that caught me: judgment

2.  Emotion that overcame me: fear

3.  Invitation that freed me:  “Don’t judge.”    I spent some time considering why it is that we need to let the weeds grow with the grain.  Maybe they’ll be transformed before the judgment.  Maybe they have a work to do.  Or maybe, just maybe, the basis upon which we decide what is a weed and what is grain, is subject to error.

I don’t ever remember anyone teaching me what was a weed in the yard and what was not.  But I have spent some time with with my daughter pointing out to her the difference between weeds and plants.  It’s not easy.

Back then, the basis for judging others’ fitness for the Kingdom had to do with bloodline and culture and gender.  Today, if we were to look around us and make a judgment call about each others’ rightness for the Kingdom, I wonder what we would use to discern who is right and who is wrong.  Education?  What people I know believe?  The books I read?

I think the point is that whatever method we may use to decide whether someone is right or not, it is flawed.  My background, my preconceived ideas, my particular mindset.  I cannot judge someone else’s fitness for the Kingdom because these things block my vision.  So the answer is not to judge.  Judging is left for God to do at the time of the harvest.  Lord, help me to remember that my particular set of discernment tools are flawed.  I cannot pick out the weeds among people; in their thinking; nor in their behavior.  Keep me from judging.  Amen.

Family Growth

July 27 Mon Mt 13:31-35 Pray-as-you-go.org

Hi ~

1.  Word or phrase: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like. . .”

2.  Emotion evoked: restlessness

3. Invitation I heard:  “Keep on keepin’ on.”  I’m at that time in life when I feel restless about doing something great.  My husband has teased me for some time, actually, joking that I want to save the world.

After I read this passage and listened to the website comments, I made a list of significant events in my life since the year 2000.  I traced my career path and our involvement in our daughters’ lives.  More detail surfaced in the recall of our interactions with our children and grandchildren.  Interesting, and I’ve always thought of myself as a “career girl.”

A question popped up during the reading of this passage.  It was, “What aspects of Jesus’ ministry seem small?”  Certainly not the feeding of the 5,000 or the Sermon on the Mount.  Not Cana, not Gethsemane, and not Golgotha.  Maybe the calling of twelve ordinary working men.  Maybe the trips to Bethany.  Maybe the visit with Nicodemus at  night.  The accounts of  great miracles and sermons have served to help our understanding of Jesus’ ways and to increase our faith.  But the one on one contacts are the ones that most helped to spread the Gospel. 

The Kingdom of Heaven grows from the small, the simple, and the ordinary.  That’s what I read here.  It’s kinda’ like family growth.  Over the years, we grow closer, we develop strong ties and more trust.  We appreciate each others’ strengths more and more.  We cherish our moments together with increasing fondness.  The growth of the Kingdom is through our one-on-one contacts, through the quality of our relationships with one another.  I pray that this understanding will help me through this restlessness.

Hi ~

1.  phrase I got: “Do not be afraid.”

2.  emotion evoked: peace

3.  invitation I heard: “With Me there is no PTS.”  The coastline of Santa Barbara runs east and west.  It sits north of the Santa Barbara channel and is sheltered by the Santa Barbara Islands.  As odd as it may seem, this west coast city has a West Beach and an East Beach.  East Beach is where there’s an aquaruim, a pier, and sidewalk art sales.  There’s a generous patch of beach property and a calm, harbored ocean perfect for teaching little kids to swim and ski in the ocean.  Once there was a city plunge and a kiddie wading pool.  The pool was safe enough with life guards and families all around, that when we were young, we were left alone from time to time.  Once when I was about 3-4, an older child forced me under the water there and held me until someone intervened.  It was an extremely frightening experience. 

I grew up learning to swim and ski and scuba, so somehow the experience didn’t haunt me.  But I cannot imagine being the first one to step into the Red Sea not knowing what was ahead.  I’m sure the scene was formidable.  The swooshing sound of the masses of water piling up on either side of the sea bed would have been awesome.  And the towering wall of water that held up with no visible means of restraint had to have been pretty scary.  But Moses had said, “Do not be afraid.  Watch God deliver you!”

When they got to the other side there was a lot of singing and dancing.  No shivering by the bonfire vowing never to swim again.  With God there are no PTS (post-traumatic stress) disorders.  So what other fears in my life do I need to turn over to God?  What specific promises do I need to trust in, so that He becomes my unchanging refuge?  What will it take for me to feel no lack with Him in my heart?  Interesting I should be hearing this from God today, since I’m headed for surgery this morning.  Just a little outpatient thing, fine-tuning the reconstruction I had in March.  But these words bring great comfort.  While I’m under the knife, God will be fighting for me.  Thank You, Lord, for watching over me today.  Amen.

Frightened

Mon July 13 Exodus 1:8-22           pray-as-you-go.org

Hi ~

1.  phrase I fixed on: “feared God”

2.  emotion evoked: fear

3.  Invitation heard: “Fear God.”  What are you afraid of?  Losing your job?  Getting sick with a painful disabling disease?  Government control?  When I was a child, I believed that if you ate off someone else’s fork, you would die.  I was afraid of eating with a dirty fork.  Thought I might die.  Sometimes fears are just that; fear.  We are told the only thing we need fear is fear, itself; that fear of the unknown is common and yet foolish.

I can’t imagine going before a king in a foreign land and having to answer to him explaining why I didn’t murder the baby boys born under my watch.  Anyone who would murder a newborn baby, would easily pin me to the wall with a sword in a moment of anger and disbelief.  Very scary.  Very, very scary.  And yet herein we find the answer to our fears.  Fear God more.

I know we try to explain away the word fear as it applies to God in the Bible.   Strong’s puts both the word “dread” and “revere” in the entry for the word “feared” used in this passage.  We like to make a point of separating the two meanings.  And yet our God of love is also a mighty God of power and mystery.  He is both awesome and fearsome.  I think these midwives had kept a close enough connection to God in their captivity that they had this figured this out.  New Testament writers used the same word to mean fear and to revere.  And the midwives had foreknown it:  Don’t be afraid of someone who might kill your body; be afraid of someone who might destroy your soul.  They understood:   We ought to obey God rather than man.

What a humble example for us.  When we fear God with respect and honor and reverence; with sweat and trembling and dread, we don’t need to be afraid of anything else.  He is sovereign, all-wise, and all-powerful.  Paul said it most beautifully in the 8th chapter of Romans.   There is nothing, not demons, not death, not anything else in all creation, that can separate us from God’s love through Christ