The Little Prince Watches a Flower Blossom

How a flower blossoms...



But the shrub soon stopped growing, and began to get ready to produce a flower.

The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it.

But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber. She chose her colors with the greatest care. She dressed herself slowly. She adjusted  her petals one by one.

She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies. It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear.

Oh, yes! She was a coquettish creature! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.
Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.

And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:

"Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged..."

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:

"Oh! How beautiful you are!"

And the little prince went to look for a sprinkling can of fresh water. So, he tended the flower.

--From The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

And Solomon in all his glory

was not arrayed like one of these....

Luke 12:27

Becoming a Christian - John Stott - #2

(1) I  must acknowledge myself to be in God's sight a helpless sinner. In Romans 3:22,23 this unequivocal statement is made:
"There is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

(2) I must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to be the very Savior I have just admitted I need. 1 Peter 3:18 reminds us that 'in order to bring me back to God, Christ, the innocent One, suffered for the sins which I, the guilty one, had committed.'

(3) I must come to Christ and claim my personal share in what He did for everybody.

He died to be the Savior of the world; I must ask Him to be my Savior. He bore the sins of all men; I must ask Him to take my sins away. He suffered to bring everybody back to God. I must ask Him to bring me.

Exactly what I must do is explained by Christ in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him."

The house is a picture of my life. Christ stands outside the front door. He will not put His shoulder to it. He does not use a battering ram. He waits patiently until I open the door. Then He will come in, and on entering He will have become to me the Savior I have acknowledged I need, and I shall find myself reconciled to God, enjoying that fellowship with Him for which I was created.

    -- From Becoming a Christian by John Stott


And this is how we take the leap of faith - from darkness into God's unapproachable light! We simply answer the door - welcome Him into our life!

Becoming a Christian - John Stott - #1

Let the Bible state it:

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him when we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth (I John 1:5,6). 

It is true that this verse was written by St John in a letter to people who were already Christians; nevertheless, man's fundamental problem is clearly set out here.

It can be summarized in three statements of fact:

First, men "walk in darkness." Or, dropping the metaphor, all men are sinners. Sin is a distasteful subject, but we cannot close our eyes to an obvious fact which the Bible declares and experience confirms.

The darkness of selfishness and sin overshadows our whole life.

Secondly, "God is light." Unlike men, there is no sin in him, "no darkness at all." He is absolutely pure and spotless.

Thirdly, as light and darkness can never live together, neither can God and sin. This is the logical conclusion. He "dwells in unapproachable light" (1Timothy 6:16).

Just as darkness is dispelled by light, so the sinner is inevitably banished from God's holy presence, and he cannot "have fellowship with him" until his sin has been cleansed away.

As the prophet Habakkuk said years before, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity" (Habakkuk 1:13).

The problem is now laid bare before us. How can I, who am a banished sinner, be reconciled to a holy God? How can my sins be forgiven so that I can have fellowship with God?

Once again, let the Bible state the answer in its own words:

       The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Jesus
       Christ came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).

The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to solve man's fundamental problem. He came to be the Savior of men. "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven," and he accomplished this salvation when he died on the cross.

Indeed he came to earth principally, not to live, but to die.....

~~~~~~

How do we take that leap - from darkness into the light?

Becoming a Christian - John Stott - #2

C S Lewis - 1st Prayer

The prayer preceding all prayers is, 'May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real thou that I speak to.'

Infinitely various are the levels from which we pray.

Emotional intensity is in itself no proof of spiritual depth. If we pray in terror we shall pray earnestly; it only proves that terror is an earnest emotion.

Only God Himself can let the bucket down to the depths in us. And, on the other side, He must constantly work as the iconoclast. Every idea of Him we form, He must in mercy shatter.

The most blessed result of prayer would be to rise thinking, 'But I never knew before...I never dreamed....'

           - From Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

Ordinary People - Part 3

We are still in Romans 16, looking at the list of people Paul is sending greetings to in Rome.

8. Tryphena and Tryphosa. These are two feminine names with the same root word meaning to live delicately or daintily. When Paul says they work hard for the Lord, maybe he was smiling a little and making a clever play on words.

9. Persis. This is another woman, and since Paul seems to be talking about her past service, maybe she is elderly now and unable to work as hard as before.

I think about the many older women we have in our church -- women whose lives are bright with the love of Christ. I heard LeeAnn McGonagle once say that her goal was to be like these women when she reaches their age. And she is right! To be like those women who have followed Christ, remained faithful, and still emit the loving power of the Holy Spirit, glowing with the pleasant aroma of Christ-like living -- what could be a better way to bring honor and glory to Christ?

10. Rufus and his mother. This might be the most fascinating yet.

Who is this Rufus? Very likely it is the same Rufus mentioned in Mark 15. Remember the Cyrenian man who was forced to carry Christ's cross when He was too weak to do it? His name was Simon. Mark tells us that Simon was the father of Rufus and Alexander.

It appears from the way it is written that Rufus and Alexander were well-known in the early church, otherwise Mark would not have mentioned their connection to Simon.

And Mark's main audience for his gospel was the church at Rome.

Simon himself would be an interesting person. To be a Jew, who hated Romans, and to be compelled by Roman soldiers to carry the cross of a condemned criminal would be a hard and bitter task.

But maybe there is more to the story of Simon. Did he stay and watch the crucifixion?
Did he witness something that changed his life forever? Did he return to Cyrene after the Passover and relate to his eager family all the news and details of his trip? Then did he lead his sons and wife to receive the saving message of the gospel?

In Acts 11:20 we read that "men from Cyprus and Cyrene" came to Antioch and first preached the gospel to the gentile world. Was Simon in this group? His sons Rufus and Alexander?

Then remember the story in Acts when angry mobs caused a riot and almost killed Paul?
It was a man named Alexander who faced the crowd and tried to speak in his defense.

We don't know for certain about all this. But we do know the names of Rufus and his mother were well known in the Roman church.

11. Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers with them.


We don't know anything else about these men. Were they businessmen? Were they slaves? The mention of brothers probably refers to their "brothers in Christ."
Maybe they worshiped together in one of the house churches in Rome.

12. Philologus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and all the saints with them.

James Montgomery Boice's book on Romans gives us some interesting information that might refer to Nereus. In 95 AD two of Rome's most distinguished people, a husband and wife, Flavius Clemens and his wife Domatilla, were condemned for being Christians. (Domatilla, who gave her name to the earliest Christian cemetery in Rome -- where Ampliatus, included in Part 1, was buried)was banished to the island of Pontia. Her husband was executed.

Domitilla was not executed,probably because she was of royal blood. She was the granddaughter of Vespasian, a former emperor, and a niece of Domitian, the ruling emperor. Their personal steward, one who would have handled most of their affairs and finances, was named Nereus.

Is it the same Nereus? Maybe. If so, perhaps Flavius and Domatilla first heard the gospel from him. Flavius' execution and Domatilla's exile must have shocked the wealthy and influential Roman social circles.

And so Paul ends his list of friends in Rome to whom he wants to send greetings.

Now that we are through with the list, here's what I want to do. I want to (1)be alert to see people who are serving in our church and all its outreaches, and (2) pray for them and encourage them, send them notes, give them hugs and thank them.

To do that, I need to make a list -- that's the best way to start. Just start observing people when I am at church, reading the newsletter, looking at the directory. Then do something for each one to let them know they are recognized and appreciated -- I started today. It is already getting to be a long list.

And then to remember that for 2000 years -- 20 centuries -- 60 generations, the church as we see it today has been blessed with people like these on Paul's list. They have been the ones to lead and sustain the church, to extend God's Kingdom, to do all the small tasks that add up to make our churches function. Millions of names we will never know. But they are the ones who handed down to us this wonderful legacy in the 21st century -- the church where we worship today, where we enjoy the company of God's family.


Just ordinary people -- people like you and me.


No one is insignificant in the plan and purpose of God.

Ordinary People - Part 2

In Romans, chapter 16, we find a list of people who are with Paul in Corinth and a list of people in Rome he is sending greetings to. His list starts with Phoebe, the woman who will be delivering the important letter to the Christians in Rome.

Then in verses 3-16 he mentions people in Rome he knows and says, "Tell them 'hello' for me!"

Priscilla and Aquila head the list. Then Epenetus and Mary.

4. Now we come to Andronicus and Junias. Paul tells us a few things about these people: (1) he calls them his relatives, (2) he says they had been in prison with him, (3) he says they are 'outstanding among the apostles,' and (4) he says they had become Christians before he did.

We don't know if they were his relatives in his extended family, or if he is referring to his relationship with them in the body of Christ. The phrase 'outstanding among the apostles' could be translated 'respected among the apostles.'

It is also interesting that he says they had become Christians before he. So they were likely part of the very early church days in Jerusalem. They might have known James and other early leaders. Maybe they were there at the Pentecost when Peter spoke -- when the crowd all heard the disciples speaking in their own languages!

Junias could actually be Junia, a feminine name, and so this could be a husband and wife. Several early church fathers thought that this was the case.

Among some people Paul has received the unfounded reputation of belittling women. That is hardly the case when we read his comments with the full context in mind. In fact, outside of Jesus Himself, Paul can be credited with promoting women probably more than any other person. Here in chapter 16 he is acknowledging a number of women, and praising them for their work in the church.

(Recent archeological evidence [tomb inscriptions especially] indicate that women held all the church offices in that first century.)

5. Ampliatus. This man is even more intriguing. Ampliatus was a common slave name (free men usually had more than one name). There is an elaborate tomb in one of the early Christian catacombs with the single name Ampliatus written on it. With the one name we would assume it was a slave's tomb. Because it is so sophisticated and elegant it appears also to be the tomb of someone very important in the early church.

There are other verses in the New Testament, too, showing us that being a slave did not restrict a person's position in the early church. Remember the verses in Joel that Peter repeated at Pentecost? And afterward I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

The Holy Spirit is the great equalizer in the church -- men and women, young and old, slave and free -- all serve equally.

6. Urbanus, Stachys, Apelles, and Herodion. We know nothing more about these four men. Urbanus is called a "fellow worker." Stachys is called, like Epenetus, "my dear friend." Apelles is said to be "tested and approved in Christ." And Herodion is called, like Andronicus and Junias, "my relative."

Not much information, but certainly words of high esteem when spoken by the Apostle Paul, and certainly compliments I would treasure.

7. Households of Aristobulus and Narcissus In the Roman world household meant more than one's family--it also meant all servants or slaves as well and any persons living in their home.

Living in Rome at the time Paul was writing this letter was a grandson of Herod the Great, named Aristobulus.

At his death his slaves would have passed on to the emperor and would still be known as the household of Aristobulus. Next Paul refers to Herodion, which is a form of Herod's name, and likely refers to an important slave of Herod's.

Narcissus is the name of a wealthy freedman who had been prominent under Claudius, but was put to death by Nero.

Likely these two households were connected to the emperor's residence in some way.


And Paul is not finished with his list of loved ones he wants to say hello to.
I get the picture that Paul was deeply grateful for his friends and helpers in God's ministry. They were very different from each other -- but they all were in God's family.

This list of people Paul loved and thanked God for encourages me to look around and see how people I come in contact with serve God -- Dan and John and Patrice and Daren in the basketball ministry, Darlyne and Janet and Jerry in the apartment ministry at Bay Breeze, Art Martinez and Roy and Letish Tripp, and Art Hammers at Golden Manor, all the pianists and organists at our church -- Trish, Nina, Virginia, Carolyn, and all the ones who come on Wednesday to help in the Awana program....and the Sunday School teachers, and those who serve as greeters and ushers, and the choir, and the bell ringers, and the office staff, and Cody and Daren and Bro. Mike....and the guys who come to CDC early each morning to help the children, and the teachers and staff there...it just goes on and on.

I want to be more aware of those around me whose service is essential to God's Kingdom -- ordinary people used by God with extraordinary results!

(Continued in Part 3)

Ordinary People - Part 1

I'm looking at Romans, chapter 16. Apparently Paul didn't have much trouble remembering names. What a great list of people we might never have known of
--people who assisted Paul and enabled him to become the spiritual father of so many of us.

He starts with Phoebe: I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant in the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me.

Then Paul lists 32 other names. Twenty four of these folks were in Rome and would be reading, or listening to, this letter to the church at Rome (vv. 3-16). Nine, including Phoebe, were with Paul in Corinth (Cenchrea was a port at Corinth)and were joining Paul in sending greetings to their fellow Christians in Rome (vv.21-24). Then there were 2 unnamed women and a number of unnamed men.

You might think a list of names like this would be boring, or uninteresting, at best.

I thought so. But I was wrong. And it is hard not to notice how many of them are women!

Paul was the great theologian and scholar. But he was also deeply interested in people. A rare combination. And we can see it so clearly here in Romans 16. It is a rare look into his personality and probably is one of the secrets of his great appeal to people of all levels of society.

Who was Phoebe? All we know about her is right here in Romans 16. Apparently she was the one who would hand deliver Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome.

So she must have been trustworthy, and probably wealthy, because only wealthy people could travel in those days. And so she would be a prominent, well-respected and well-known woman.

In the Roman empire days most letters were hand delivered. The only "postal" system was used for the military.

Paul tells the Roman Christians to treat Phoebe like they would treat other saints, like himself -- quite an endorsement of her character!

Phoebe is a pagan name, a form of the name given to the god Apollo. But she had become a Christian and served the church there at Corinth.

She was probably single, because Paul did not make any reference to a husband, but likely she had some traveling companions, because a woman probably would not travel alone in those days.

Maybe she was like Lydia of Philippi, whose business involved the buying and selling of purple cloth and who was converted when Paul preached in Philippi. A businesswoman.

Maybe she was a deaconess, because the word for deaconess, an appointed or elected officer of the church, is the same as the word for servant.

But no matter what her exact position (and we know being a servant is the highest position in God's eyes) she carried with her a truly great document. If Paul's letter to the Romans had not arrived, would there ever have been a Reformation? International revivals like the Great Awakening? An American Revolution? Probably not.

But this is all hypothetical, since it was in the eternal plan of God that the letter to the Romans reached Rome, found its way into the canon, and has been read for 20 centuries.

How many people have received Jesus Christ's message of salvation by reading the verses we call The Roman Road?

Phoebe never saw any of this. She was just delivering a letter from her friend to his friends in Rome. But what she carried changed the course of history.

In the next verses (vv.3-16) Paul lists some of those who will be reading his letter in Rome.

1. Priscilla and Aquila They are mentioned six times in scripture so we know a little about them.

Aquila was a Jew from Pontus (an area today in northeastern Turkey), who settled in Rome. He and his wife, Priscilla, had to leave Rome when the Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews. In one reference Aquila is listed first, but in the other five instances Priscilla's name is given first.

Aquila was a tentmaker, as was Paul. In Corinth Paul teamed up with the couple during his ministry there. When he left for Ephesus, they went with him, and then remained in Ephesus to continue teaching the Gospel while Paul continued his missionary journey. One of their outstanding students was Apollos, a famous orator who later became an important Christian worker.

Later the couple returned to Rome, and so Paul sends his special greetings to them.

They were faithful to the Gospel message and courageous, since Paul tells us they risked their lives for him. We don't know when that was -- maybe that time in Ephesus when the mob led by the makers of idols of the goddess Diana were rioting.

Now that they were back in Rome they had a group of Christians meeting in their home.

2. Epenetus. Paul calls him his dear friend. Paul also says that Epenetus was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. Since Paul was the first to evangelize Asia, he himself must have led Epenetus to Christ, and was particularly interested in his growth and maturity as a Christian.

3. Mary. There are many women named Mary in the New Testament, but this woman was not one of the ones mentioned in the Gospels. When Paul says, she worked very hard for you, it likely means she lived in Rome and helped the Christians there in ways that only a native Roman could.

The others listed will be included in Part 2.

What all this says to me is that the church, in every century, has been led, sustained, blessed and enriched largely by unsung heroes -- people like Paul lists here in Romans 16. People like you and me.

No one is insignificant in the purposes of God.


Continued in Part 2.

In Uniform - Thoughts from Oswald Chambers

O Lord, I would crave more and more to put on love like a garment, that in my contact with men that is what they will most lastingly recognize.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head. Mark 14:3

The characteristic of love is that it is spontaneous; it bursts up in extraordinary ways; it is never premeditated. The reason Jesus called Mary's act "a good work" was because it was wrought out of spontaneous love to Himself. It was neither useful nor her duty; it was an extravagant act for which no one else saw any occasion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love is not blind; love sees a great deal more than the actual; it sees the ideal in the actual, consequently the actual is transfigured by the ideal. That is a different thing from "halo-slinging," which means you have your own idea about other people and expect them to live up to it, and then when they don't, you blame them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have to dedicate ourselves to love, which means identifying ourselves with God's interests in other people, and God is interested in some funny people, viz., in you and me!

Practicing the Pause

P R A C T I C E  the  P A U S E

When in doubt.....pause

When angry......pause

When tired.....pause

When stressed.....pause

And when you pause.....

                   P R A Y

Dear Lord I Thank You

Dear Lord,

I thank You that no matter what I may face today,
with Your help, I will be able to endure, overcome and prevail.

I thank You in advance for Your strength and energy
that will sustain me, Your wisdom that will guide me, 
and Your peace that will fill me.

May I honor You today in all I think, say and do.

In Jesus' Name I pray.

Amen.

Message from God

Note  I received from God this morning....


Good morning,

this is God.

I will be handling all of your problems today.

I will not need your help.

So have a miraculous day.



Note I received from God many years ago....

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
   -- 1 Peter 5:7

Maybe I didn't listen carefully to Him before, and so today He made it more specific!


One of the things I love about our God the most!!!!

Real Scientific Logic

An American scientist visited the offices of the great Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen, and was amazed to find a horseshoe nailed to the wall over his desk.
The American said with a nervous laugh, "Surely you don't believe that horseshoe will bring you good luck, do you, Professor Bohr?"

Bohr chuckled. "I believe no such thing, my good friend. Not at all.
I am scarcely likely to believe in such nonsense. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you good luck whether you believe in it or not! So how could anyone argue with such logic?"

                                *************

Forget about "good luck," and "fate," and all that. Let's just concentrate on God's goodness.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork  [masterpiece], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
               -- Ephesians 2:8-10


That's truth that no one can argue with!

How to Make a Good Impression

I happened to run across these verses today and they reminded me of proper priorities -- that our list of what is important should parallel God's list:

This is what the LORD says:
Let not the wise man boast (glory in) his wisdom
or the strong man boast (glory in) his strength
or the rich man boast (glory in) his riches
But let him who boasts (glories in) boast (glory)in this:
that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth,
For in these I delight.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

So we shouldn't try to impress God with wealth, earthly success, friends in high places, friends in low places, our "borrowed" wisdom.....those things, which will impress the world around us, will never impress our God.

So if we really want to please God today, we should seek kindness, justice and righteousness. That's what delights Him. It's true. It says so. And that's what we wants us to understand.And as we get to know Him, we will better understand Him.

Today. Right now.

The idea that we can "please" God is still a mystery to me. I can see how a good God (and He is Goodness itself) could perhaps pity us, even have compassion on His pitiful creatures on this rebellious planet, but that He could find pleasure in us -- now that's way beyond my imagination.

The LORD your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

He will take great delight in us?
He will rejoice over us?

But that's what He says.......what pleases Him is our paying forward (because we can't pay Him back) His kindness, justice and righteousness to everyone around us. That's how we extend His grace. And it starts with kindness.

Today. Right now.

What Charles Spurgeon Said about Angels

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:14



     Angels are the unseen attendants of the children of God; they carry us in their hands and keep us from calamity. Loyalty to  their Lord leads them to take a deep interest in the children of His love; they rejoice over the return of the prodigal to his father's house below, and they welcome the arrival of the believer to the King's palace above.

     In ancient times the children of God were able to actually see angels.

      Today, although we do not see them, heaven is still open, and the angels of God ascend and descend, so they may visit the heirs of salvation.  Seraphim still fly with live coals from the altar to touch the lips of men greatly loved.

     If our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire surrounding the servants of the Lord; for we have come to an innumerable company of angels, who are watchers and protectors of the King's family.

     To what dignity are the chosen elevated when the brilliant couriers become their willing servants! How well are we defended since all the twenty thousand chariots of God are armed for our deliverance!

     To whom do we owe all this? The Lord Jesus who must be forever dear to us, for through Him we are made to sit in heavenly places, far above principalities and powers. It is He who camps round them that fear Him. He is the true Michael whose foot is on the dragon.

     All hail, Jesus! To You this family offers its morning vows!


  -- From Morning and Evening, by Charles Spurgeon

True Spirituality - Brennan Manning

When Jesus asked Peter on the Tiberian seashore, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" (John 21)
He added nothing else; what He said was enough.

Do you love Me? Can you allow My love to touch you in your weakness, set you free and empower you there?

Thereafter, the only power Peter had was Jesus' love for him.

He told and re-told the story of his own unfaithfulness and how Jesus touched him.

When he proclaimed the gospel of grace, he preached from his weakness the power of God.

That is what converted the Roman world and what will convert us, and the people around us, if they see that the love of Christ has touched us.

The confessing church of American ragamuffins needs to join Magdalene and Peter in witnessing that Christianity is not primarily a moral code, but a grace-laden mystery; it is not essentially a philosophy of love, but a love affair; it is not keeping rules with clenched fists, but receiving a gift with open hands.

Several years ago, the renowned evangelical theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote, "True spirituality consists in living moment to moment by the grace of Jesus Christ."

This book lays no claim to originality; it is simply a commentary on Schaeffer's statement.

As C. S. Lewis was fond of saying, people need more to be reminded than to be instructed.

     -- From The Ragamuffin Gospel,
              by Brennan Manning, Chapter 11.

John 4 - He always comes to us

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."   (John 4:7-10)


The previous verses tell us that Jesus came to Sychar, in Samaria, and stopped at Jacob's well.
"Tired as he was from the journey, he sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour" (John 4:6).

Jesus, in this picture of his life, is tired. It has been a long, hot trip. He could have stayed in the cooler area of the Jordan.

But he chose to take the weary trip into Sychar.

He knew a woman would be there -- someone who desperately needed the water of life.

It was not a chance encounter. Not a coincidence.
It never is.

He started a conversation with her.

She would not have started the conversation. She would have silently drawn the water into her bucket and made her way back toward the village.

It was noon: no one would be at the well, she reasoned. Other women came early, before the heat of the day, to draw the water necessary to sustain their family for the day.

That's why, of course, she waited until noon, so no one would be there to perhaps point their fingers at her, to roll their eyes, scowl at her with pious
gestures of disapproval.  Or, at best, to ignore her completely!

Because she was a sinful woman. In later centuries the townspeople might have branded a large scarlet "A" on her forehead.

It must have been a shock to see Jesus there, to realize he was, by his dress, a Jew, and then to hear him talk to her!

He broke into her silent, sinful world.

It's always this way in life.

Jesus came to her first. He knew she would be there.
She didn't come seeking an encounter with the Messiah. He came to her, seeking an encounter with her.

He does not leave us to ourselves. Instead, he comes to us.

He asks the first question. He initiates the conversation. He uses all devices to break into our bolted, frozen and resistant hearts.

It might be with a question, a command, a chance remark made by someone else, or a reminder, like an echo,  of a truth once heard and then ignored.

Anyway it comes, it comes from Him, calling us to seek Him for that "living water" only He can supply.

Sometimes we are that "anyway it comes." Perhaps it is our words of encouragement, our chance remarks, or our intentional pursuit of challenging a friend's dark silence.

"Anyway it comes" - today that likely means we are the anyway it comes!

We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Jairus' Wait Paid Off - Big Time!

       While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the
       house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler.

       "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher
       any more?"

       Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't
       be afraid; just believe."

       .....When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus
       saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.

       He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and
       wailing? The child is not dead, but asleep."

       But they laughed at him.

       After he put them all out, he took the child's father and
       mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in
       where the child was.

       He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!"
       (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!")

       Immediately the girl stood up and walked around... At
       this they were completely astonished.   (Mark 5:35-42)


It seemed to Jairus and the disciples that Jesus had
delayed His arrival at Jairus' house for no really good reason.

After all, the woman who had taken His attention could have waited.

Apparently, then, as now, Jesus' time schedule is not like ours. He cannot be hurried. He had a bigger plan in mind. And, then, as now, He wants to give us MORE....

Here are some notes from Timothy Keller's King's
Cross, Chapter 6.


Do you think it is odd that when Jesus arrives at Jairus' house he says that the girl is just sleeping?

The answer is in what Jesus does next. Remember, Jesus sits down beside the girl, takes her by the hand and says two things to her.

The first is talitha. Literally, it means, "little girl." But that does not get across the sense of what he is saying. This is a pet name, a term of endearment. Since this is a diminutive that a mother would use with a little girl, probably the best translation is "honey."

The second thing Jesus says to her is kuom, which means "arise." Not "be resurrected"; it just means "get up."

Jesus is doing just what this child's parents might do on a sunny morning. He sits down, takes her hand, and says, "Honey, it's time to get up."

And she does.

Jesus is facing death, the most implacable, inexorable enemy of the human race, and such is his power that he holds this child by the hand and gently lifts her right up through it.

"Honey, get up," Jesus says.

Jesus is saying, by his actions, "If I have you by the hand, death itself is nothing but sleep."





Jairus rushed to the Teacher hoping He could come and perhaps heal his daughter.

He received a much bigger miracle: Jesus is not just a healer of physical illness. He is the Lord God of the Universe, who has power over the biggest enemy of all - not illness, but death itself.

And Jairus and his wife and friends were able to witness this first hand. 

They had to wait awhile.

Jesus could not be rushed.



Timothy Keller concludes:

Are you trying to hurry Jesus? Are you impatient with the waiting? Let him take you by the hand, let him do what he wants to do.

He loves you completely.

He knows what he is doing.

Soon it will be time to wake up!


                  
       .

Joy

And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy.The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

 ---Nehemiah 12:43

They rejoiced.....because God had given them great joy.


Why do we forget? How could we? Duh....?

 -- HE is the source of our joy!

Too Good to Come

In Luke 18 we read about the 'rich young ruler' who approaches Jesus and asks how he might inherit eternal life.

Jesus tells him, "You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" 

"All these things I have kept since I was a boy," he answers Jesus. 

When Jesus heard this, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me."

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.

Image this meeting: a "rich young ruler" comes to Jesus. That is how the crowd would have described the man. But he is approaching Jesus, who is richer than any words could describe,
and He is 'young' - He never ages, and He is the real Ruler - of everything!


(In this picture who is really the 'Rich Young Ruler'?)

So in the gospels we have poor people coming to Jesus - powerless, meek, lowly people, and also rich and powerful, self-satisfied people.

Certainly the man had not kept all the commandments all his life. That was obviously an exaggeration. But he was probably a basically good, not evil, man.

Some people I know say they cannot come to Jesus until they 'clean up their act,' polish up some of their blemishes. And that is foolish.

 But this man walks away sadly, not because he was not good enough, but because he was, as he considered himself, very good.  

So his very goodness kept him away from Jesus.

And now that I think about it, I know people like that, too...what a truly tragic story.

Remember this old gospel song? Goes back to pioneer days, and greatly loved by those hearty frontiersmen and women.  Daniel Boone's followers sang it often and gratefully.

Come, ye sinners poor and needy, 

weak and wounded,  sick and sore;

Jesus ready stands to save you, 

full of pity, love and power.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,

God's free bounty glorify;

true belief and true repentance,

every grace that brings you nigh.

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden, 

lost and ruined by the fall;

If you tarry till you're better

you will never come at all.

Let not conscience make you linger, 

of fitness fondly dream.

All the fitness He requireth 

is to feel your need Him.

                                          --Joseph Hart, 1750

So all He requires is that we need Him?

Letting God write His story story in my life

May you grow to love and accept the YOU God is making you to be....

May you walk in a new level of grace and gratitude that  
gives you peace and leaves others encouraged.


 May you be more apt to look forward with hope than you are
 to look back with regret, remembering that the only reason to
 ever look back is to see how far God has brought you.


 May your heart spill over with joy at the very thought of the story   God is writing in and with  your life,                               remembering "We are His workmanship." 
                (Ephesians  2:10)

House Cleaning

I finished taking down the rest of our Christmas decorations today. It seemed good to get the house back to normal. (I do have a Christmas room, though, where I keep two tall corner trees up all year, fully decorated, and a large window seat with pine garland and lights, so that I can have 'Christmas in July,' or any time I want.
It's a great room; it's really a sanctuary, where I can find peaceful refuge.)

Rounding up all the soft Santas, the bright and glittering balls, the candles --it all takes time and effort. Then I gazed around to make certain that I had removed everything that spoke "Christmas" -- peering closely at the shelf that had held the Nativity to be certain I didn't leave a lamb, or an angel, in sight. There was one beautifully iridescent, transparent ruby globe lying on the carpet. So I quickly reclaimed it and placed it in the final box.

Christmas seemed like a dream. A truly beautiful dream. But when you awake it vanishes and nothing is left to mark its existence, except the memory of its loveliness. And that will be gone soon.

So I had removed Christmas from our home. Art would carry the boxes that I had carefully repacked up the stairs to a storage place over our garage.

But what about my heart? Will I allow the miracle of the Incarnation to remain inside me? Or will I purge it away -- remove all evidence from my life?

It seems everybody loves a baby.

I remember reading about the assassination of President James Garfield (1881). When his elderly mother, Eliza, was informed of his death, she asked, "Who would want to shoot my baby?" Which, I realize does not pertain to this subject -- I just think it is a poignant reflection of mother love.

But, yes, most people do love babies. Even animal babies. We had three baby armadillos in our garden. Though not totally blind, they are very poor-sighted. They walked over our feet, stumbled around us, not old enough to know we were dangerous. And they were so cute! So mesmerizing!

Even baby hippos are beautiful!

Yes, everybody loves a baby. But the presence of a baby, even God's Son, is not the real point of Christmas.

The miracle is so much bigger! God Himself, the sovereign Creator of all that is, invaded our world and took up residence, becoming flesh and dwelling right among us, leaving witness of His life and activities for later generations, just as He had previewed it all in advance, and gave us that record, too.

It was a rescue mission planned way in advance, before time or anything else existed.
This is still so astonishing! He was going to mend this broken world in a way no one expected -- even though He told us what to look for -- by being born in a "one horse" village in Nazareth -- in a cattle stall, of all places!

And through His invasion, God works His grand plan. He established His reign on earth and then left His army as an occupying force, His Church, to work His plan until He returns and declares His final victory!

While on earth He announced His agenda: To preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,and to free the downtrodden from their oppressors --and to tell us that the day of the Lord's grace had come! Now His agenda becomes our agenda.

And this is why we call it the "Good News!"

And that's what takes all our attention now. Not the manger, but the cross. Not His birth, but our rebirth. Not the appearance of the shepherds and wise men to pay Him homage,but the expectation of the entire world recognizing Him and bowing in worship in that day yet to come. "So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:10-11).

It is all, literally, breath-taking. And that joy will live within my heart every day of the year.

A Prayer for Everyday

LORD,


Enlighten what's dark in me...

   Strengthen what's weak in me...

      Mend what's broken in me...

         Bind what's bruised in me...

           Heal what's sick in me..

And, finally,

                Revive whatever peace and love has died in me.

                                                    Amen, and Thank You, Father

Who's Fighting for You?

    My Prayer for you today....

Whatever you're facing today, big or small, 

I pray that you would feel confident and courageous,

 knowing that your God is fighting for you 

and working everything out for your good. 

There is NOTHING too big or too difficult for Him! 

Have an amazing day!

^^^^^^^^

    Why do we know this for sure? Because He has shown us His character and He is faithful and true ....

"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today...The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."  Exodus 14:13-14

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him." Romans 8:28