Category Archives: God’s plans for us

Is that funny?

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Three StoogesNate had a fabulous laugh. If he thought something was funny and once got going, there was no stopping him till he’d slapped his knee pink and used his hankie to wipe tears away. He had what I used to call a “Three Stooges Sense of Humor,” laughing with gusto at slapstick comedy. Although I don’t find the stooges that funny, watching Nate go all-out laughing at them was hilarious.

Laughter, however, can communicate all sorts of things that aren’t especially funny: sarcasm, mockery, scorn, fear, disrespect. We see all of these laughs mentioned in the pages of Scripture (40-some times) but no one would characterize the Bible as a funny read. The several times God himself laughs, it’s out of derision toward nations that rejected him.

Because God is our heavenly Father, he probably enjoys watching our moments of joyful-laughter much like any parent delights in seeing their children happy. But there are times in the Bible when a laugh is inappropriate, and in that context, he disapproves. One interesting example appears in Mark, and though I’ve read the story multiple times, I didn’t notice the laughing part until a week ago.

Jesus was walking from one town to another, healing people along the way as he often did, when he entered the home of a 12 year old girl who’d recently died. The official mourning period had begun with a crowd of people loudly weeping and wailing, but when Jesus walked in, he stopped them. “What’s all the commotion about?” he said.

His comment made no sense to the mourners, but he was about to perform an incredible miracle and was laying the groundwork for it. Knowing that  Jesus was a worker of wonders, the wailers ought to have stepped back in silence, expecting him to say or do something incredible.

But when he said, “She’s not dead, just asleep,” their response was just the opposite. They laughed. (Mark 5:39-40)

Jesus brings a girl from deathJesus didn’t appreciate their disbelief and immediately insisted everyone leave (except the girl’s parents). Because of the mourners’ mocking laughter, they missed out on what would surely have been the highlight of their lives: witnessing Jesus bring a dead person back to life.

A good question for all of us is, “If I had been there, would I have laughed, too?” Even today, when God tells me something illogical or even preposterous, do I inwardly think, “Like that’s gonna ever happen!”

Or do I drop my jaw in believing expectation and say, “I can’t wait!” God is looking for people who believe in him all the way. No caveats, no partial approval, just full-on acceptance of everything he says.

As for those loud wailers in the little girl’s house, they missed a rare opportunity to have their faith personally strengthened by Christ himself…. all because they laughed.

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

The Real Reason

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My last 24 hours have been spent in the company of 6 women with whom I’ve been friends for more than half my life. Though the 7 of us are quite different (ages, interests, abilities, passions), God brought us together for a multitude of reasons:

  • As a support system through trouble
  • To challenge one another spiritually
  • For good, old-fashioned fun
  • To learn from each others’ wisdom

RadioThis morning in our radio-church time together, the Scripture centered on a verse in 2 Corinthians that speaks to the frustrations of physical decline, something we 60-plus “girls” are well aware of (v. 4:16). But that downward spiral was countered with an uplifting truth: inwardly we can be renewed day-by-day through our relationship with the Lord. In other words, we don’t need external improvement to experience internal enrichment.

Today God gave me a burst of internal enrichment through one of these friends.*  “Beth” and her husband “Ron” are part of a program called Safe Families, giving temporary safe shelter to a child whose family is in crisis. The hope is that with a little short-term help, the parents can become a safe family themselves.

Safe FamiliesBeth and Ron never know when they’ll get a call to pick up a child in need. They don’t know if it’ll be a boy, a girl, a baby, a pre- schooler, or an older child. They can’t predict if he/she will be difficult or compliant, but they aren’t particular about those details. They love them all.

Safe families welcome children for as little as 2 days or as long as a year. As our group listened to Beth’s stories, someone said, “How difficult it must be to be separated from your parents, then separated again from your safe family.”

“I know,” Beth said. “But even if we have a child for just a short time, once we’ve met them, they go on our permanent prayer list.”

Bonk.

Bonk(That’s the sound of God hitting me over the head with something new.)

It’s possible that the steady, scriptural, far-reaching prayer poured into the lives of these particular children is the real reason God moves them in and out of Beth and Ron’s home, more important than the 2 weeks or 2 months of care they give them.

For example, little “Sammy” who’s with them now for just a short time, will be prayed over for 2 decades or more, as long as Beth and Ron live. They fully believe God can do what people cannot, and on that basis, when they say goodbye to their young charges, they have high hopes for their futures.

That exchange — 2 weeks in their home for 20 years of prayer — is one that will benefit the children in astounding ways, through their rest of their lives.

“The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going [for example, in and out of Beth and Ron’s home], both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 121:7-8)

* [This dear friend has asked that I not use her real name.]

Celebrity or Commoner?

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September never fails to include a few lovely summer days, and today was one of them. Rather than have my devotions at home, I grabbed Jack and headed for the beach, our shared favorite place.

Pretty stones.While he romped in the dunes and did happy dances upside- down on the sand, I took a few minutes to walk the wave line looking for pretty stones and the occasional piece of beach glass.

Since the waves were small today, the stones were small, too. “Mini’s” we call them. But they’re every bit as pretty as their larger counterparts. Walking along slowly picking up stones, I spotted a piece of aqua-tinted beach glass. A few feet further there was a brown one, then two frosty-white ones. Step-after-step I found more and more until I had 24 in all, quite an unusual yield for a short strip of beach.

24 pieces.It’s interesting that beach glass is man-made and stones are God-made. Both are frequently taken home as treasures, but they’re very different from one another. The bits of etched glass are glamorous, rare, the “celebrities” of beach finds. Attractive stones are more common, easier to find, and have no special sparkle.

People come in those two varieties, too. Some sparkle with fame and fortune, whether through Hollywood, Washington DC, Wall Street, or even in a pastorate. We can easily become enamored with these superstars, putting them on mental pedestals, since the rest of us are much like commonplace beach stones by comparison. We’re ordinary and have no reason to grace a magazine cover or be interviewed on TV.

Because of the stark difference between celebs and non-celebs, we commoners can sometimes fall into the trap of wondering if we’re accomplishing anything significant in our lives. If we fall prey to this kind of analysis, though, God has some comforting news for us.

Let’s pretend we’re the beach stones, and the “movers and shakers” of this world are the beach glass. God is the one walking along the shore, except that he wouldn’t do what I did this morning, picking up only the choicest finds. He would arrive at the beach with a giant scooper big enough to lift every single piece off the sand, glass and stones alike. They’d mix together indiscriminately, and once he got us home, he wouldn’t separate us into separate piles. Every piece would be equally valuable.

Mixed together.Picturing God on the beach behind the controls of a scooper is silly but expresses the truth that he loves each of us equally and offers eternal salvation to all in the same way. Living an ordinary life without sparkle or flash does nothing to diminish our “chances” with him. He loves us all, and when we say yes to him, he’ll take us home.

“God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of Good News…. that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” (Acts 10:34-36)