Giving Back

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This blog has always been a therapy for me, a place I eagerly look forward to going every day. It began as a bulletin board for family and friends when Nate was sick, then morphed into a place where I could work through the struggles of new widowhood. Readers were gracious and supportive then, and still are today.

Looking back over recent posts I see how they’ve become less and less about me and more and more about God. He’s become my shining star, a gleaming guide who is front and center in my life and on my blog. Writing about him will always be satisfying, and because of who he is, I’ll never run out of material.

Something impressive through the last couple of years is how extensively he has delivered a wealth of wisdom to me through you, dear reader. You’ve responded to my posts by sharing nuggets of gold, braving the comment boxes and the contact button in a way that has benefited me, and also other readers on this site.

Much of what you’ve written I’ve copied and saved in a cyberfile labeled, “Interesting Stuff,” and I can’t count the times I’ve returned to this compilation to hear you again. The following comment, left by a reader named Tina (10/27/09,“Tired”) seems to apply in a potent way to Easter week:

“I’m writing this with a hotel pen that says, ‘See the world. Stay with us.’ Seems a contradiction, since the world is a large place, and a hotel is not. When Jesus speaks, there’s no contradiction. ‘In my Father’s house there are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.’ What I often forget is that He also stayed to prepare me for that place. Thank God for each morning’s new mercies… a cup of coffee, a warm hug, a baby’s drooling prattle, Scriptures that swell with meaning, then fit snugly into the day’s arsenal of resources. Another day. Another boatload of God’s tender compassions.” 

Easter week is the perfect time to zero in on the long list of resources that are mine (and yours) as a result of Jesus Christ’s willingness to take my sins into himself and suffer his Father’s incalculable wrath. For me.

He died, yet he lives. He departed, yet he stayed. He takes, yet he gives abundantly, an “arsenal of resources” with which to live our lives, every day.

And one of the valuable resources he’s given me, has been you.

“Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)

Difficult Directions

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All of us drive absent-mindedly once in a while, especially if we’re moving along familiar roads. But when we’re in new territory, we have to depend on the signs to be accurate.

This week I was on an unfamiliar 5-lane street during rush hour in heavy traffic when I came upon something strange. At the edge of a strip-mall parking lot, a stop sign seemed out of place and was confusing drivers on the main thoroughfare. Were they supposed to stop? Some were. Others weren’t. And cars leaving the mall parking lot were entering traffic without so much as a pause.

Because of a Starbucks on the corner, I turned into the lot and found a parking spot, then walked back to the stop sign for a better look. It had been tampered with, swiveled 90 degrees, causing drivers to do the opposite of what they were supposed to do.

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Early this morning, while trying to get my heart ready for Palm Sunday, I thought about the traffic flow into Jerusalem that day 2000 years ago. Of course it was mostly foot-traffic then, though there was one very important donkey with the Son of God sitting on it.

When adoring crowds pushed toward Jesus in a type of Jerusalem rush-hour, there was no impatience or road rage, only joy and adoration. His miracles of healing had shown people he could do things no one else could do, and everyone on the Jerusalem road that day was deferring to him as part of a plan to make him their king.

There were no stop signs, and popular enthusiasm was propelling Jesus in a forward direction. A few days later, however, the “directional signs” had been tampered with and spun around. The zeal to make him king had come to a screeching halt, and the mob of well-wishers had turned on him.

Thankfully one person continued in a forward direction anyway, despite discouraging signs all around him. Jesus resolutely drove himself toward the cross and his own excruciating death while his supporters hightailed it in other directions. But instead of being influenced by the reversal of the traffic flow around him, he looked only to his Father for a definitive sign of what to do. He knew God never changed or amended his directives.

Although Jesus had been to Jerusalem many times, he knew this visit would be different than all the others. He dreaded it but continued his forward pace anyway.

As we took communion at church today, reminding ourselves of his shed blood and broken body on our behalf, I was flooded with appreciation that even when he could have made a turn, he resolutely kept walking straight ahead, all the way to Calvary.

“He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)

Telling the Truth

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All seven of our children attended a Christian elementary school, followed by several years in public schools. Although the government-regulated high school taught opinions we didn’t always like, Nate and I thought this was a good chance for our teens to decide what they believed.

One day Louisa came home with quite a story. In her freshman English class, the teacher had sparked a lively political debate by pitting one group of students against another. Then he’d told them to line up from most liberal to most conservative, based on the opinions that had been offered during discussion.

Louisa ended up at the very end of the line, identified as “most conservative.” The teacher quizzed her, as well as the boy deemed “most liberal,” garnering extremely diverse viewpoints on the same political hot topics. After a few minutes he said to Louisa, “I’ll bet you’re a Christian.” When she answered affirmatively, he said, “What brand? I mean, what kind?”

Louisa didn’t even pause. She said, “The born-again kind.”

I had to hand it to her. She came on strong and labeled herself, despite knowing she might be teased for her extreme point of view.

All of us have occasionally been handed a golden opportunity to testify for Christ, then forfeited it by watering down our answers. I’ve done it repeatedly, always regretting it later.

One of the many admirable traits of Jesus was his consistent refusal to back away from telling the truth… the whole truth. He paid no mind to how it would be received. It wasn’t that he relished rejection, and he experienced the ultimate rejection since he was murdered for his beliefs. It was that his relationship with God was #1, and he wouldn’t compromise it in any way.

The question then is, what’s wrong with me? Why am I so worried about how people will respond? Is their approval more important to me than God’s?

Something Jesus said has always bothered me:

“Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (10:33)

I certainly want Jesus to stand up for me when that time comes. The thought of him saying, “Her? No, not her,” is frightening. But which scene scares me more; that one then, or public ridicule now?

It’s good to put ourselves through an occasional behavioral analysis. Jesus tells us that if we label ourselves “Christian” or “born again,” we’re going to be sitting ducks for rejection by those who aren’t. He said we should expect it and should even prepare to be hated. After all, he was.

Louisa acted courageously that day in class, opening herself up to mockery by telling the truth about herself. But by doing so, she won Jesus’ endorsement in front of the heavenly Father and actually brought pleasure to the Godhead.

“Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32)