A "New Normal"

Book Give Away: Leave a comment and be 
entered to win a copy of A Still and Quiet Soul: Embracing Contentment. Drawing March 31


When Hurricane Ike hit South Texas, many homes were damaged. Our daughter’s home also took a beating, and when the wind and rain ceased, our family took pictures for insurance purposes and cut and lifted out the huge pine tree from the middle of their collapsed roof. Once the blue tarp was in place, our daughter and her husband began to make plans for a New Normal. Over a lifetime, many circumstances will call one into reshaping, remaking, or rebuilding.


“New Normal” was coined by Roger McNamee, a technology investor, in January of 2003, states “Fast Company Magazine.” He shared that tagline to describe how the failing economy called for a new way to conduct the old business of investing. The term has caught on and is now used to describe a number of life-changes and the necessity of doing life in a different way.

For instance, if someone in your immediate family dies that causes a change in your family dynamics. You experience a New Normal. If you lose a high salaried position with a Fortune 500 Company, then the unemployment line may become part of your New Normal. If a devastating illness invades your body, then you will begin to live out a New Normal. This list could go on and on.

Our Index Card Scripture for week twelve comes from the book of Nehemiah, and Both Ezra and Nehemiah give details of the rebuilding of the walls and gates of Jerusalem. Why were they broken? The Israelites had forsaken God and his laws, and he had allowed a foreign king to invade their homeland and carry them away into captivity. The temple in Jerusalem was ravaged, the city gates burned, and the stone walls broken down.

The people moved from their promised land to a land foreign in culture, language, and terrain. They moved from blessed to beat down. Instead of their lives of freedom under God’s tutelage, they became slaves to Babylonian kings. Many of the young men were made eunuchs. Men, women, and children, who survived the initial war and capture, became slaves.

Sometimes a New Normal comes about because of good things. A newly wed couple will naturally have a different life than they lived as a single person. When a phone call arrives letting you know that you landed a better job, that’s when another path opens. If you finally qualify to own a home instead of leasing, your mobile family can expect a more settled life. What about new faith in Christ? What about baptism into him? He promises to make things brand new through his divine gifts – new hearts beating in tune to God’s over-the-top love.

Nehemiah served as cupbearer to foreign King Artaxerxes, and when Nehemiah heard about the broken city of Jerusalem, his sad countenance came to the attention of the king. The king knew that Nehemiah wasn’t ill, and surmised, “This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” God moved the king to magnificent generosity to fund the rebuilding of Jerusalem and to allow his trusted servant to assist in the make-over project.

Nehemiah moved into a New Normal. Think back over your life and those times when you had no choice but to travel a different route. Perhaps you are in the middle of a New Normal. Maybe you are ready for the servant Jesus to create a new heart within you. When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he faced opposition, but let his words encourage and make you victorious.

Index Card Scripture for Week Twelve: “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding” (Nehemiah 2:20).

Contact www.cathymessecar.com

How Big is Your Heart?

Book Give Away

Leave a comment to be entered to win a copy of my new book: A Still and Quiet Soul: Embracing Contentment Drawing on March 31.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Over this last week, the nation of Japan and the plight of its people took up residence in our hearts. Although most of us have never been shaken and flooded to the extent of their damages, we’ve experienced enough hardships to empathize with their plight.

I’m reminded of an earlier time in Japan’s and the United State’s history when even during wartime, truth reigned for a few minutes and highlighted our sameness. During WWII, those of Japanese ancestry, who lived in our country, were perceived as threats to our national security. Some were sent to interment camps around the country while others were sent home.

The same thing happened in Japan. Americans who lived there were shipped back to the states. The Bataan Death March saw 70,000 Filipinos and GIs number dwindle to about a third, due to murder, jungle heat, and lack of food and water. Survivors were forced to Japan to work as slaves in coalmines.

The beauty of bad relationships -- they can always get better. And later, that exact thing happened between our two countries. A glimmer of that future was seen in repatriation during WWII. In a harbor, anchored side by side, a US ship held deported Japanese, and a Japanese ship had Americans on board to send home. For a full day, they floated side by side, and I wonder what ran through the minds of each as they waited?

Passengers on both vessels most likely experienced at least some blame, fear, hatred, or loathing. Kenneth W. Osbeck author of “Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions” reports that for “an entire day they lined the rails, glaring at one another.”

As the day drew to a close, someone began to sing a popular hymn of that time, “In Christ There is No East or West.” Soon someone from the opposite ship joined in, and one by one more from each transport joined the melody. Though ship hulls, water, and a declaration of war separated them, those who had embraced Christ sang of their identity in him.

The words to the old hymn convey these thoughts: God-followers enjoy a great fellowship of love throughout the earth; hearts find communion in Christ; and servants of God Most High are bound together. One of the last lines states, “Join hands then, brothers of the faith, whate’re your race may be; who serves my Father as a son, is surely kin to me.”

In recent days, I’ve heard several news anchors mention that people have many things in common -- love for family, homes, and work. Those things that separate us are most times less important -- country borders, oceans, different cultures, ideas, and customs. When our response to others takes into account our commonalities, we fare better through our differences.

People who join hands to aid others can accomplish much. Our scripture for this week comes from 1 Chronicles, and it’s from the setting when King Solomon collects funds for building the Temple in Jerusalem. His father, the former King David, had collected building materials and given much of his personal fortune to that cause. As a leader he set the precedent for giving. We give in many ways -- service, money, time, prayers, and forgiveness -- are just a few of the categories in which we help others.

As the tragedy in Japan has reminded us, possessions can be stripped from us in a moment. King Solomon challenged those who gave monetary gifts to build the temple to also devote their hearts to God. Marjorie Holmes says, “Hospitality doesn’t depend on size or supply. If the heart is big enough, so is the table and so is the house.”

Index Card Scripture for Week Eleven: “Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD?” (1 Chronicles 29:5).

Hair Shirts--Do you Own One?

BOOK GIVE AWAY

Leave a comment to possibly win a copy of  A STILL AND QUIET SOUL: EMBRACING CONTENTMENT. 

Drawing March 31, 2011

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How do you reach contentment when troubles gimps your day? In the 12 chapters of A Still and Quiet Soul: Embracing Contentment, you'll learn the process for remaining content or re-learning contentment during feast or famine. You'll also read 12 true stories from people who struggled through different hardships and how God led them to a better place of contentment. Eight questions at the end of each chapter makes this a useful tool for an individual, Bible study group, Bible Study Book Club to dig deeper into Word of God. Contact me if you have questions, or read a description and early endorsements at http://www.cathymessecar.com/
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sometimes we wear a hair shirt, but we do not pair it with repentance. What do I mean? In the Bible, repentant people who grieved over their sins turned away from those sins. They renounced their offenses, and in their mournful state they sometimes chose to wear sackcloth and ashes. The outside messiness and discomfort of their bodies reflected the inward sorrow of their souls.

We can compare the biblical sackcloth to what we know as burlap bags. If you’ve ever toted a burlap bag filled with raw peanuts on your bare sweaty shoulder then you know the conflict between rough fibers and tender skin. They can rub raw spots on the point of contact in 10 minutes. You know it’s true. A single scratchy tag at the back of your shirt causes irritation within seconds. Imagine the depths of sorrow over a sin that would cause someone to put on a whole outfit of sackcloth.

Quite a few references in the rest of the Old Testament refer to repentance and the wearing of sackcloth. But as I referred to in the beginning of this column, sometimes we wear a hair shirt, but it’s not connected to repentance. When we whine about annoyances, that’s when we pull our hair shirts over our heads and let them stir us up to complaint rather than repentance.

Really? Do we need to tell others about what annoys us? Whatever happened to the idea of blessing someone’s day instead of adding to their burdens? Constant complainers soon find themselves alone at the coffee shop because most folks have their own list of stresses. I don’t know who first said this, but I suspect there’s a bit of truth to it: “Don't tell your troubles to other people—95% don't care and the other 5% are glad you have them.”

I watched a video clip from the Texas Reporter television show about a blind quilter in Waco, Texas. Middle aged Diane Rose lost her sight to glaucoma, so naturally she lost her abilities to do many previous things. One day she questioned God about what her new talents would be? She lifted her arms in sincere prayer and asked what she could do now that she was sightless. She said warmth filled her upraised arms, and she felt God leading her to know that her talent lay in her hands.

The next day, a woman asked if she knew how to quilt? She replied no and the woman offered to teach her. She’s now made over 500 quilts. A friend helps her with color selections, but she does all the work from start to finish through her hands and sense of feel.

Diane Rose does not own a hair shirt. She quotes Ronnie Millsap and says that her blindness is just an “inconvenience.” Her attitude is stellar. She refuses to accept her liability as disability. Need a good dose of encouragement? You may Google her name and watch her interview on YouTube.

When King Solomon completed building the temple in Jerusalem, he dedicated it in a passionate prayer. During which, he knelt and stretched his hands toward heaven. And in that prayer he mentions repentance many times and asked God to forgive the Israelites in the future when they did wrong, confessed, and turned back to God (Solomon’s prayer:1 Kings 8:22-66).

Our bodies are often referred to in the Bible as a tabernacle (tent) or temple in which God dwells. Most of us know which temptations we give in to the most. Think about repentance today, and ask for God’s will power, to withstand temptation, whether it’s whining, coveting, or hurting someone. In Solomon’s prayer he asked God to remember all his requests at all times. I like that. God hasn’t forgotten the prayers of our youth, or any prayer asking forgiveness, or any praises offered. This week, take off your hair shirt and replace it with a spring garment of praising God.

Index Card Scripture for Week Ten: “[M]ay these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night” (1 Kings 8:59).

To Not Decide . . . Is To Decide: LeadHer...what?

To Not Decide . . . Is To Decide: LeadHer...what?

Two Hannahs Set the Bar for Sacrificial-Love

One mother in the Bible and one mother in modern times gave birth to her first child, weaned him, and then gave him over to another to rear. Today, we’ll consider both.

The story of Hannah’s sacrificial love and her firstborn son unfolds in the book of 1 and 2 Samuel. Hannah is introduced in another one of those Old Testament stories where a man has two wives. It may have been the norm in that culture, but from a woman’s perspective I can’t think of anything more devastating to a wife’s heart.

I don’t know if Hannah was wife number one or wife number two. In that culture, the first wife often held the most clout. Sometimes, spouses received the “wife” title, and sometimes they received the title of “concubine,” which can mean “second wife.” If this proverb, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” holds any merit, can you imagine the competition-cooking in that marriage? Elkanah was probably one weighty dude.

Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, had children by him, but Hannah remained barren. A woman’s infertility was sometimes judged by a community as a punishment sent from God. Hannah ached to have a child. Besides the emptiness of her arms, the other wife, Peninnah, irritated Hannah on purpose so we’re told. Peninnah “provoked [Hannah] till she wept and would not eat” (1 Samuel 1:5-8).

On an annual trek to worship God at Shiloh, Hannah’s grief had multiplied and she poured out her heart to God in silent prayer and vows. She told God that if he would give her a son, she would consecrate him to the Lord’s service. She eventually had a son and named him Samuel “because I asked the Lord for him” (2:20).

When he was weaned and still very young, Hannah made good on her vow, and her little boy began living in Shiloh and helped the priest Eli. Each year, Hannah made a new coat and took it to her son, and since Elkanah and Hannah lived a short distance away, it’s possible they visited Samuel more than once a year.

Hannah’s story takes place during the time of the Judges of Israel, and when Samuel became an adult, he was the last judge before the Israelites clamored to have a king like the nations around them. Hannah’s faithful prayers, sacrificial love, and keeping of her vows brought a large group of people their last godly judge.

In more recent times Rees Howells (1879-1950) and his wife, Hannah, gave up their son. Back in the days before modern medicine, missionary couples knew that they risked their children’s health and lives by living in malaria ridden lands. The Howells had vowed to serve in Africa before they had children. When Hannah became pregnant, they felt God leading them to also name their unborn child, Samuel. They both had premonitions, knowing that they might have to give him up to fulfill their vows as missionaries. An aunt and uncle with the last name of Rees met the child and adored him, offering to rear him as their own. Howells’ sister came into that family as a nursemaid, and all the pieces fell into place, similar to Miriam’s and Moses’ story.

Even though this modern Hannah’s heart shattered into tiny fragments at giving up her child, she didn’t want to break her vow to God to serve as a missionary. Howells recalls the morning his sister came to fetch their son: “I think in eternity, we shall look back on what we went through then, giving our best back to the Lord.” Howells continues, “We knew what it was to give money, health, and many other things, but this was the hardest test.”

If you think either of these women named Hannah hardhearted, then please read chapter 22 in “Rees Howells Intercessor: The Story of A Life Lived for God,” by Norman Grubb. Hannah Howells remembrance of that day, her lived-out-faith gives me courage to keep my lesser vows to God. Years later after their son’s formal education, he went to work alongside his birth father in the mission field. The son returned -- a gift from God’s own hand.

God notices when we sacrifice. He notices the causes for which we sacrifice. The biblical boy Samuel once heard God calling to him in the night. He finally figured out with the help and guidance of the priest, that God was calling him by name. May we each learn the value of awaking and greeting our days with little boy Samuel’s reply on our lips.

Index Card Scripture for Week Nine: “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10).

A Female Version of Job

When a famine ironically caused a food crisis in Bethlehem (a house of bread), Elimelech packed up belongings and family and sought a better place to live. He and his wife, Naomi, and his two sons Mahlon and Kilion settled in the country of Moab, about 50 miles from Bethlehem. Tragedy struck the family when Elimelech died leaving Naomi a widow with little to no social standing or earning power. The task of finding wives for her sons also fell upon her, since her husband could no longer fulfill this traditional role.

Her sons married Orpah and Ruth. After ten years this family unit experienced even more sadness when both sons died, leaving no heirs. That’s when Naomi chose to return to Bethlehem, a city which had stores of food again because “the LORD had come to the aid of his people” (1:6). At first, her daughters-in-law planned to also go to Bethlehem, Judah. Obviously from the text, these women respected and loved each other. Barely out of town, Naomi stopped and urged these women to return and “find rest in the home of another husband” (vs. 9). Naomi kissed them, and the younger women wept. After more urging, Orpah returned to her family.

However, Ruth adamantly refused to go back to her childhood home, and instead stated her decision with passion. Her lyrical speech has become a celebrated pledge repeated by many: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Ruth even made a forever-statement to enforce her promise: “Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me” (vv 16-18).

Upon their return, word spread quickly the kindness this foreign daughter-in-law showed in caring for Naomi. Their bond of love caused Naomi to refer to Ruth as “my daughter” (2:2). Under the law, if a man died leaving a widow, then a brother or the nearest kinsman (called a redeemer-kinsman) purchased their land and brought the widow into his household and the firstborn son carried the deceased husband’s name.

Enter Boaz. There was one redeemer-kinsman nearer than he, but after negotiations with that man and the city elders, Boaz accepted the responsibility of taking care of Naomi and Ruth. Boaz told Ruth that he’d heard about her kindness of leaving her birth family, of traveling with Naomi, and he saw her gleaning the fields day after day to find food. (The Lord had commanded farmers to leave the corners of the fields for the poor to glean. They only gathered other crops once, not a second time. Leftover were for the poor.)

Ruth didn’t seem to mind the stigma of being poor, of working hard. She did what she could to provide for Naomi and her needs. Today, we recognize her as marginalized because she was a woman, foreign, widowed, and poor. But God chose the industrious and kind Ruth to become the wife of Boaz, a prosperous farmer from the tribe of Judah. The Lord “enabled her to conceive” and she later presented Naomi with her first grandchild. Only grandparents know the incredible love that deluges their souls when those tiny babes are first placed in their arms.

In four short chapters the life stories of these two women unfolds – their stories a blip on the timeline of the greatest story ever told. They lived during the period in history when judges ruled the Israelites and when “everyone did as he saw fit” (Judges 21:25). But isn’t there always the exception to the rule. In the book of Ruth, we meet those exceptions as one after another, we learn more about Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. Naomi had fortunes and family restored, this female version of Job. At a time when women had practically no standing in society, God elevated to a place of honor, the obedient Ruth, her name forever linked in the lineage of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).

Her story impacts us and will influence the world until the last day. When little Obed arrived, the women of Bethlehem showered Naomi with blessings, and they foretold how her little grandson Obed would sustain her in her old age. Their words mention the kinsman-redeemer. We also rely daily upon one born in Bethlehem, Jesus the Christ. Come, Bread of Life, allow us to place our feet beneath your table.

Index Card Scripture for Week Eight: Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer” (Ruth 4:14).

Contact: www.cathymessecar.com

One Word

A few of my friends and I centered our New Year’s resolutions on single words. We each looked at our goals, current circumstances, and needs and then chose individual words to express our desires for 2011.


Terra Hangen, from California, wants to “shine” for the Lord this year. Leslie Wilson, from northeast Texas, wants to “abide” in the Lord. Trish Berg, from Ohio, wants to remember that all of life is “worship.” I coined a word, “minute-grace,” as I try to live in the current moment each day, reflecting God’s care. Brenda Nixon, from Ohio, wants to be “salt,” backing up her choice with Jesus’ words, "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth." (Matthew 5:13, The Message).

This week, as I studied the Bible book of Judges, I was reminded about the word “obey.” If only the Israelites had chosen to focus their lives on the word “obey,” life could have been easier. Did you ever tell any children, “Just do whatever is right in your own sight. No rules. No boundaries.” God knew best when he gave the Israelites good commands, commands that would guard their souls.

If I’d been told, do whatever pleases you when I was in junior high, I’d not have done homework. I would have eaten Sugar Babies, Junior Mints, and drank Coca Cola until my heart raced from glucose gluttony. And I definitely wouldn’t have cleaned my room.

What would happen in our communities if each person did just as they pleased? What if your family members took care of only their needs and didn’t consider any others in your home? Chaos would reign. And your household would steadily slide into a murky world of selfishness.

That’s the gist of what happened to the people of Israel after the godly leaders Moses and Joshua were gathered to their fathers. Moses had set up a system of judges for the Israelites. So that rule was in place, and during the 300 hundred years when judges ruled, God also appointed specific judges to direct the Israelites.

When each of those appointed judges died, the people “returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them.” And, “they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways” (Judges 2:19). A summation of those recurrences is seen in these words: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (Judges 21:25).

Joshua had led a generation to follow the Lord, and he challenged them to “fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness.” He further charged them, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” gods of stone and wood or the living God. Then Joshua declared allegiance to God, “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:14-15).

When I read the book of Judges, I read with deeper understanding now that I’m an adult. As a child, I heard the stories of Israel’s judges: Samson, Deborah, Gideon, Ehud, and others. Full of meaning, their stories were too complex for full understanding when I first heard them in Sunday school.

Such as when the tribe of Judah captured the enemy king Adoni-Bezek and Judah’s soldiers cut off his thumbs and big toes. As a child, I only considered the horror of that dismemberment. But, there’s more to the story than that. Even the wicked king who now lacked toes and thumbs saw the justice in what has happened to him, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them” (Judges 1:7).

The book of Judges records a song of Deborah after her win over an enemy. In that song she gives a formula for victorious living: godly leaders doing their job, and people willing to follow. Leaders, shoemakers, bakers, business owners, and parents – all adopting one word “obey.”

That’s when songs abound. Will you sing along with the ancient and godly Judge Deborah? Will you join Brenda Nixon in her quest to bring out the “God-flavors” of the earth as she lives as “salt”? If so, your days will be filled with potency and power like never before.

Index Scripture for Week Seven: “May they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength” (Judges 5:31).

Did God become a Christian?

When I was five, my grandmother, Margaret Turner, kept my sister and me for a week. She and my grandpa lived in a rambling old farmhouse, where many childhood memories originate.


For breakfast, she usually served us oatmeal with farm fresh cream and butter. We also had home processed bacon, homemade biscuits, and milk gravy. And in the middle of the table set a bowl of stewed prunes. They weren’t the pitted kind found on grocery shelves today. They weren’t wrapped individually in cellophane, nor did they have the essence of orange squeezed into their wrinkly bodies. These were plain prunes with pits.

Grandma Turner didn’t pamper us by removing the large seeds. After all, we’d seen adults eat prunes and spit out a seed into their spoon or napkin, and then place it on their plate rim. Grandma must have assumed we had watched and assimilated the information and knew how to eat prunes.

One morning, my little sis, Sherry, and I sat at the kitchen table on the bench seat. Grandma laid out breakfast for us, serving four prunes each. After blessing the food and God who supplied it, she left the room for a few minutes. Maybe she went to make beds. Maybe she just needed a few minutes to herself to nurse her cup of coffee, away from the early bird chatterboxes.

There we sat with our special plates in front of us, Sherry had a ruby red one, and I ate off the blue willow pattern. I still remember the particular day. When my grandmother walked back in the room, she heard me say to my younger sister, “Sherry, you’re too little to swallow the seeds. You got to spit them out.”

In horror, Grandma looked around my plate – all four of my prunes were absent. No pits in sight. I can hear my grandmother’s voice today, edged with concern, “Oh, honey, you don’t swallow those big old seeds, either.” I don’t know how my tiny throat managed to get those rough pits down when I now sometimes struggle to swallow a calcium supplement.

This week’s scripture verse comes from the book of Joshua, which tells the history of him leading the Israelites to conquer lands God commanded for them to possess. Long before Joshua, God promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit certain mountains, streams, and deserts. Joshua’s advance fighting men accepted the courage God willingly gave them to accomplish the conquering of these lands. Hand-to-hand combat required understanding, strong minds, and bodies.

Stories from the Old Testament confirm that when both the chosen Israelites and foreign nations descended into self will and ignored God, God often used invading enemies as a measure to bring about justice and allegiance to God’s will.

Today, one of the reasons some say that they don’t believe in God are those long ago battles against indigenous peoples. A third grade boy in a Tyler, Texas Sunday school, sat in on a similar discussion about the perceived harshness of punishing those who forsook God. After much thought, the lad came up with his own satisfactory explanation, “I think in Old Testament times God wasn’t a Christian, yet.”

Both the Israelites and pagan nations knew of the miracles God performed in Egypt. But people in both camps dismissed the miracles. Many Israelites gradually grew to trust God. And even some of the pagans came to belief and repented, such as Rahab of Jericho, and much later, the Assyrians, who lived in the capitol of Nineveh, heeded Jonah’s preaching and repented.

If we continue to learn about God, he reveals his nature and myths are dispelled. The swallowing of the prune seeds actually put my mind to rest about watermelon seeds. When I was a child, an adult had teasingly told me that vines would sprout from my tummy if I swallowed melon seeds. Low on knowledge, I had taken the gardening myth as gospel. Grandma Turner assumed I knew how to eat prunes, but granddaughter and grandmother both had some learning to do.

As I reread Joshua this week, it was difficult to read about the battles. But I have faith that infinite God remains wiser than my human ways and thoughts. His plans are perfect, he teaches us what to swallow about him and what to discard as myths. All our lives, we do best when we put aside assumptions and remain teachable and open to learning.

Index Card Scripture for Week Six: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Moving Right Along

How many times have you moved to a different home? When I was a child, we often moved. My dad, a metal lather, had to find work in larger cities than Prescott, Arkansas. If a job was scheduled to last a long time, Dad moved his family. A short term job such as the Galveston stint had him working through the week, but home on the weekends.

Later, my husband, Dave, would mention a Texas city -- Longview, Beaumont, College Station, Bay City, and Houston – and I’d reply, “Oh, I lived there.” The list of physical addresses of my youth is long if all the Arkansas and Louisiana towns we lived in are mentioned.

By my fourth year in school, we settled permanently in Houston. Today’s parents worry about the effect multiple moves have on school aged kids. But my siblings and I turned out okay. I scream when I hear the rattle of a roadmap, but otherwise I’m pretty sane.

The Houston move enabled Dad and Mom to purchase our first home. The house wasn’t new, but it felt palatial compared to previous rentals. Dad came home to family every night. Mom painted her new kitchen a fashionable chartreuse green to match her new Fiesta dinnerware. We had our first pets and made longtime friends – friends with whom we still stay in touch.

No matter where we moved, one constant traveled with us -- God. Dad and Mom found time to share Bible stories with us, and find a church home where we could worship on Sundays and midweek. The unshakable God, Alpha and Omega (beginning and end), remained the cornerstone upon which my dad and mom built their mobile family. No permanent address required. Their main need was a constant God.

I believe that’s the overall message of Deuteronomy, the last of the five books of Old Testament law. From a Hebrew word, it means “second law.” Jewish sages refer to Deuteronomy as “Mishneh Torah,” The Repetition of the Torah.

Over a forty year span the Israelites were a mobile clan, wandering in deserts and around mountains, a purposeful journey which led them away from idolatry to the worship of one God. It was a time consuming process, and generation consuming. The mamas and papas died off during that period. That generation of grumblers and whiners did not inherit the promised homeland. Who did -- a younger generation, who found faith through God’s unrelenting love and provision.

The book of Deuteronomy contains three major addresses by Moses. He reminisces and recaps their history of travels. Moses warns against idolatry, and he repeats the “Thou shalt not” and the “Thou shalt” commands. In one address, because God allowed Moses to know his departure from this earth was at hand, Moses commissioned Joshua as the next leader (31:7-8).

Young Christian families consider many things before making physical moves: what schools will our children attend? Will our new salaries meet family needs? Will the new house be adequate? Is the area prone to harsh weather? How far will we be from extended family? The best information is that God’s residence is where they will move. He will be present as they pack and travel. God remains mobile.

In Deuteronomy, Moses emphasized the priority of the “Shema,” a declaration of belief in one God: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (6:4). One ministry leader (A Pocketful of Change) runs all her decisions through the merits of the Shema. Will her decision/s further her love for God, with all her heart, soul, and strength?

This week, test your decisions by the Shema. In the fifth book of law written so long ago, Moses reminded parents to teach their children about God’s love and care, about his laws, about the joy of obeying. Remember, God is on the move as you are on the move.

Index Card Scripture for week five: Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

The Outcomes of Our Futures

In my teens during a summer break, my friend Shirley L. and I took a bus trip from Houston, Texas to Arkansas to visit my grandmother for a week. My Cousin Dorothy and her bevy of teen friends said we could also hang out with them.


The year in mention was long before television remote controls were in use. My grandmother had a large ramshackle home with huge rooms, the heightened ceilings right beneath the sky. Her spacious bedroom contained two full size beds, a sofa, several chairs, and her television. The week of our visit, we “girls” all slept in her bedroom -- Shirley and I in one bed, and Grandma Dora in the other.

My grandmother’s TV sat nearest the wall at the foot of the beds, but electricity powered it through a long extension cord plugged in near her wrought iron headboard. If she fell asleep while watching television and she often did, she could reach down without getting out of bed and unplug the TV.

One night during our visit, all tucked in, we began to watch a late movie. Soon after, we heard my grandmother’s soft snores. An hour of so later, just as the plot of the movie came to what we hoped would be a happy ending, my grandmother roused, thought we were asleep, and pulled the plug on the TV. We never found out how the movie ended.

As I read and meditated on the book of Numbers this week, it caused me to consider the outcomes of individual lives. When God freed the transitioning Israelites from Egyptian slavery, they had choices to make. Because of individual choices most became wanderers and grumblers. But some came to fully trust God and became obedient believers. Even though the book is called “Numbers” (two censuses recorded), it contains a wealth of other information and good news. In Numbers, readers encounter a mention of the promised Messiah when Balaam said, “A star shall come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” (24:17).

The account of Balaam riding his donkey is a favorite story included in Old Testament Sunday school curriculum (chapters 22-24). Balaam, armed with curses, rode toward the Israelites. While traversing a narrow path, God placed a sword-drawn angel in the donkey’s path, but only the animal saw the angel. Balaam beat his donkey to get her to move on, but the donkey stubbornly refused. Finally, the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth and she spoke to Balaam, questioning his severe treatment. The Lord also opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel. He recognized that the stubborn female pack-ride had spared his life, through God’s plan.

One of the children in our family was born with a very shy nature. One Sunday, the child’s teacher prepared to tell about God, Balaam, the angel, and the donkey by letting the children act out the scenes. Before the children heard the story, she asked who wanted to play the different parts. Our shy grandchild chose the part of the donkey, never realizing the donkey had a speaking part!

When we are young, because of our inherent nature and the circumstances into which we are born, we may think we are destined to manual labor or a profession, to shyness or boldness, to poverty or riches. But God remains the master of our outcomes. He knows the best path to set our feet upon so we can achieve the most for him. Like the Israelites, the outcomes of our lives may differ significantly from our early plans and dreams. Like Israel, we may be the family through whom a significant humble servant arises to help the stubborn human race.

Keep in mind that God still writes the scripts of our circumstances and numbers our days. Compare your life to a movie format? Where are you? Just getting started, or in the middle, or near the conclusion? Wherever you find yourself, look for blessings and hope through the same words God gave the Levite priests to bless the people of Israel.

Index Card Scripture for week four: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).

The Call to Holiness

Early this year, my home church was called to participate in a Bible reading program called E100. We’ll read an “Essential 100” Bible passages -- Genesis to Revelation -- from January until Easter Sunday. Anyone reading through the Bible may bog down when they reach Leviticus (listed laws). Steve Yates, pulpit minister, where I worship, calls that stall the “Leviticus logjam.”

I’m hearing from many of you who have accepted this column’s challenge to record the Index Card Scriptures and meditate, memorize, and allow God to etch his words into your hearts. Some of you chose electronic methods to keep track by programming them into your iphones and other devices.

Others are using scraps of paper. Yes. I’ve heard from you, too. Actually, the method matters not. By participating in this weekly progress through the Bible, one verse at a time, you allow God to chisel his words into your hearts. This third week in our series, we’ll “tackle” the book of Leviticus.

The Hebrew word “Leviticus” means “and he called.” The Greek word “Leviticus” means “relating to the Levites.” The tribe of Levi, called to be priests for the Israelites, had specific job descriptions: a chorus which sang praises morning and evening, overseeing sacrifices, teaching the laws of God, and administering justice.

The last verse in Leviticus sums up the book: “These are the commands the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites” (27:34). The New Testament sheds light on the purpose of the law: “So the law was put in charge [schoolmaster, KJV] to lead us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). The supervision of that old law would eventually stop, when the Messiah came, offering his holiness in place of our sinfulness. He would become the new rule in faithful people’s hearts.

Basically, Leviticus contains five law sections: the first gives details about the commanded sacrifices. The second part describes the inherited priesthood, that only men from the Levite clan performed priestly duties, serving at the Tabernacle and eventually at the Jerusalem Temple. The third section gives laws of cleanliness, some of which were essentially orders to help their community be healthier, others were ones that taught about the sin debris in hearts. Fourth, God ordained holy days and seasons, and in the fifth part, the Israelites were charged to obey God and keep vows to him.

In the cleanliness section, two types of offenses are detailed: ceremonial uncleanliness and moral transgressions. Legal uncleanliness included such things as touching a leprous person, dead animals, or human bodies. Light offenses could be purged by washing with water, serious offenses by sacrifice. Moral offenses were crimes which injured persons or properties. These deserved punishment. Those laws could be stated laws or written in human hearts. Even without law degrees, moral people still know when crimes deserve punishment.

The Law tutored this nomadic community to know God as the one true God, to realize that holiness belonged to God alone, to show them that sin offends God and has consequences, and it taught them to respect and take care of one another. Our scripture this week reminds us that mean-spirited teasing of the less fortunate remains offensive to God.

One prominent sin in our time is bullying, both in person and in cyberspace by adults and youth. Just this week, two teen girls were arrested because they set up a false Facebook page for a female classmate. Their public nastiness, coarse language, and inferences were done because they thought it would be “a funny joke,” and “nobody liked her.”

Help the children in your family learn to honor God by watching you respect family members, neighbors, even troubling people with whom you disagree. Adults, curb faultfinding and replace it with common courtesy. No name calling. No minor bullying. No major bullying. Those sins still offend God Most High. This week as you walk about your life, remember the people you encounter were created in the image of God. You were too. Live up to his holy name.

Index Card Scripture for Week Three: “Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:14).

GPS--God Positioning Salvation

Global Positioning Systems, known as a GPS, became all the rage in the past decade. I used one recently to locate an address in Houston. Guided through a maze of toll roads, freeways, and near-back-alleys, my GPS took me the most direct route to my destination -- a narrow backstreet housing a tarpaulin company.

Have you ever wondered why you are positioned where you are on earth? Why you were born to your parents? Have you speculated why you live where you do? Why some of us are at the right place at the right time and others at the right place at seemingly the wrong time?

I’ve had those thoughts this week as we witnessed via newscast from Tucson, Arizona, the chaos that evil can foist upon innocent bystanders. At times like these, we need great doses of hope. A couple of things came to mind this week, springing from the Bible’s first two books, Genesis and Exodus.

Moses, inspired by God, wrote the accounts of the beginning of the earth and the laws given from God. He recorded what God inspired him to know about the period before the flood. God said that the earth was filled with violence, and that’s one reason the earth and its inhabitants were destroyed and the family of Noah chosen to further inhabit and create the new generations.

Violence breeds in evil hearts and can also cause the mentally unstable to commit deadly harm. From experience, we know that the majority of people cherish life. God-believers sanctify life because of our knowledge and belief that God created the man with a soul, in his own image. It’s what we teach our children because we long for a world without sin and evil. We want wickedness subdued as seen in Tucson last week. We want life spared, as seen last week, when many came to rescue the destruction caused by one.

The apostle Paul spoke with the Athenian philosophers, who had built altars to many gods, even one addressed to “THE UNKNOWN GOD.” He took the opportunity to explain to them that God “who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth.” That God does not dwell in temples built by human hands. He is not served by human hands. Our catering and pampering don’t keep him alive. He is the source and beginning for mankind, “life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25).

Paul further explained that we “live and move and have our being” only through God (17: 28). I’m comforted by the fact that God put me on this earth in the years, and locations, and with the specific people where he wanted interaction. Paul gave information about God’s positioning of the people he creates, that God determines “the times set for them and the exact places they should live” (v. 26).

The book of Exodus tells us how God globally positioned Israel’s (Jacob) family to Egypt where they grew to several million over 400 years. When the time was right, God rescued them from this temporary homeland where they became slaves and were exposed to many gods. He moved them out into a desert place through his servant-leaders Moses, Aaron, and Miriam (Micah 8:4). God re-positioned them and provided a desert training ground and sustenance, so their faith and trust could grow for the one true God. One of the first commandments he gave them was to “have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).

Exodus remains a superb book, but two verses especially speak to me at this juncture in life. Moses asked a favor from God, and it became my theme scripture for 2011. “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you” (Exodus 33:13).

In the Pulpit commentary God’s pursuit of each of us is described as the “courtship of the soul.” Those words also portray the index-card-words for this week (below), what God said in a gorgeous metaphor when he brought the children of Israel away from Egypt. GPS may be a new invention of mankind, but God’s desired placement of us has always been to move us near his heart – God Positioning Salvation.

God seeks our companionship for our own good. Dedicate this week to allowing God to crowd out all the nonessentials and fill your heart with him as you remember his words to the rescued Hebrew slaves.

Index card words for week two: “I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4).

Favor and Blessing

Column reader Gary Doggett told me how this scripture blesses his life: “The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (Psalm 126:3). He said, “I have this one taped inside my briefcase so I can be constantly reminded to count my blessings.” Gary further said, “For so many folks, the briefcase is the epicenter of countless references each day.” His comment fit this week’s Genesis scripture – about the words “bless” and “blessing.”


Whenever anyone asks me, “How are you?” I typically reply “I’m fine.” And I am because I have clothes on my back and pantry shelves of food. The apostle Paul said, “But if we have food and clothing, we are content with that” (1 Timothy 6:8). Statistics prove that when we can stave off hunger and we’re robed that we’re among the most blessed of the earth. So, I think “fine” describes my life, even if some ornery circumstances scuff the edges.

I longed for my answers to the common greeting “How are you?” to better reflect the generosity of God. Soon after those thoughts, an office worker, at the nursing facility where my mother resides, asked:

“How are you?”

“Blessed,” I replied.

“And highly favored,” she said.

I see this woman once a week, and she turned my thoughts toward God with her answer “and highly favored.” Those three words continue to lift up my spirit and cause reflection. The angel Gabriel spoke those exact words to Mary when he told her that she would bear and mother the Christ child.

God chose a role for Mary, and God chose a role for you and me. Our scripture this week comes from Genesis, the first book in the Bible. That book gives details about the beginning of our earth and God favoring people to continue blessing others in his name. The word “favor” means “grace in person.” God favored chosen people with his presence, and they in turn blessed others.

Even in the beginning, perfect people were not chosen. God chose pliable people, who when exposed to his grace (favor), could bless others. Abraham gave into fear and trickery and caused two different leaders to take his very beautiful wife into their harems, but God protected her from molestation. Much later, God tested Abraham’s devotion to him, and Abraham proved that he esteemed God even more than he loved his son Isaac.

Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, whose early life also illustrated deceit, was chosen to be the father of the nation of Israel. Twelve male heirs would become twelve tribal leaders of Israel. God changed Jacob’s name (figuratively meaning deceiver) to Israel (meaning struggles with God). When God rubs shoulders with man, his holy character rubs off on us, if we will allow it.

Genesis reveals that the chosen people had a charter to “bless” those with whom they came in contact. The Hebrew word “bless” come from a root word meaning “to kneel.” As in man blessing God by kneeling in adoration, or vise-versa, God kneeling to bless man, to serve mankind. It only takes a minute to connect the thread through the Old Testament to the psalmist David who wrote that God in blessing “reached down from on high and took hold of me” (18:16), on a successful rescue mission.

This image of God stooping down, kneeling down to help us threads to the New Testament when Jesus took up a towel and washed his disciples’ feet. John, who was present and had his feet washed, wrote that Jesus showed “the full extent of his love” (John 13:1). God kneeling to bless us – it’s an accurate picture, and it takes my breath away.

God blessed Abraham. Abraham, in turn, blessed others. God chose the role of servant for all his children, and he patterned our role after himself, God Most High. Bask in God’s choosing, you who are “highly favored.” Allow God to mold you into his servant as you focus on God’s commission to Abraham this week:

“[Y]ou will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2, write on your index card).

During 2011, Inspire Me, Lord

Walk into my office and you would see lime green walls. Sherwin-Williams’ specific name for that shade of paint is “Gleeful.” A cheery room, the color was chosen to inspire a bright and sunny outlook where I write.

My computer desk sits in front of a double window that faces a large mounded pasture, surrounded by a fringe of tall pines and oaks, often reminding me of the dome of a bald head framed by hair. You would not see curtains above my double window, nor see a cornice board or shelving. You’d see borrowed words above it–longtime favorite words on loan from God via a psalmist. They will be our first get-in-the habit index card words for the coming year, written at the end of this column.

Last week I asked you to tune in this week and find out how we will embark on “The Year of the Index Card.” In 2011, at the end of each column, I’ll include a scripture to be written on an index card because our days become more wholesome when we have daily hope presented through God’s inspired Bible. Our over-consumption of newscasts containing dire news or our personal problems of bad health or family stresses sometimes color our worlds one shade darker than black. And what we long for at those times is good news that circumstances can get better.

With God’s anointing, the authors of the Bible write from their stories of affliction, despair, delivery, and victories. And their words tell us that God gives both new birth and healing. He breathes new light into our dark days. The Bible stories reveal again and again that God will always do what’s best for us, whether it’s changing the outward parameters of lives or changing our hearts to accept our paths.

I’ve heard from readers who tell me that a column, phrase, or word borrowed from the Lord helped them during a particularly difficult time. Or maybe a scripture simply realigned their notions about God, or brought to remembrance a truth about God that they had known for years. They just needed a memory-jog, a resurrection of a truth about our Father.

Christians mature at different rates, but all of us need repeated lessons as life crowds us. We need daily reminders of God’s intended goodness. My bed ridden mother has communicated less and less to her family over the past decade because of dementia. Even though she’s not with us mentally most of the time, I still love to sit on the side of her bed, and get eyelevel with her, hoping that my touch and eyes convey my love.

One day about three years ago, as I leaned close, she came out of her dementia long enough to tap me with her finger over my heart and say, “He promised to do us good all our days and not evil.” That one affirmation of God’s goodness has strengthened me again and again even though her suffering continues.

We’ll journey through the Bible one week at a time in 2011, so, plan to buy a packet of index cards (about a dollar for 100), or use a stenographer-tablet or cut 53 scraps of paper (53 because at the end of this column, I share a scripture). I personally like index cards because the paper is thicker, uniform, and can be grabbed up, taken with along, and seen through your day. But if you don’t have index cards, just jot them on anything. The palm of your hand. The dashboard of your car. A restaurant napkin. A small child.

In 2011, at the end of the column each week, I’ll include the index card scripture. I’ll choose my favorites that inspire, instruct, or correct. Next week, we’ll begin in Genesis and work our way through Revelation by next December. By combining some of the Old Testament Minor Prophets and any book in the Bible that has a first and second before its title, we can journey through the 66 books in 52 weeks.

I’ll include my E-mail address at the end each column; you may want to share how a particular scripture influenced you. We’re going to jumpstart our “Year of the Index Card” with this extra scripture, the one that decorates the space painted on the “Gleeful” wall above my office window. Because I suspect that all our lives -- at sometime through 2011 – will need a large helping of God-inspired courage.

Index Card: “When I called you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted” (Psalm 138:3).

Grace in a Person, the Favor of Jesus

An Ohio man asked his aunt about a painting she had in her house. She responded, “Oh, that old thing. No one wants it.” Since none of her family wanted the art work for their homes, she had already commissioned the art to a local gallery, but hadn’t delivered it to them, yet. Her nephew said he would love to have it, so she gave it to him.


Nephew Bill took the painting to an Antique Roadshow for appraisal and was quite shocked to hear that in a New York gallery, the art could fetch $250,000. A painting deemed of little value to the aunt was re-discovered by the nephew. I once was lost but now I’m found.

The painting of Jesus in the temple at the age of twelve is by N. C. Wyeth. The appraiser at Antique Roadshow noted, “Wyeth first gained fame by illustrating some of Scribner’s Classics, including Robinson Crusoe, The Last of the Mohicans and Treasure Island.” The painting, believed to be titled “When He Comes He Shall Rule the World,” was done to illustrate a story in Harper’s Monthly magazine called “The Lost Boy,” by Henry van Dyke. Wyeth’s painting was on a list of missing artwork.

For many in the world the Messiah remains undiscovered. Over 2000 years ago, the treasure of heaven arrived boxed in a manger. If I had been in charge of God arriving on earth, there would at least have been a feast in Bethlehem and a town crier announcing the birth. However, God in his wisdom chose to send splendor to the earth without a great deal of fanfare or spectators.

God revealed facts about the Anointed One through Isaiah:

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (42:1-2)

When Jesus began his public work, he didn’t twist arms. He didn’t coerce or force his rule upon his audiences’ hearts. His delivered no brash messages to the masses. The weakest sinner coming to him was lifted up not quashed. His core group of friends was commoners and his ministry non-pompous. When God sent Jesus he sent first-class character to renovate man’s family tree.

Melito of Sardis wrote about his personal discovery of the Messiah: He is all things: when he judges, he is Law; when he teaches, Word; when he saves, grace; when he begets, father; when he is begotten, son; when he suffers, lamb; when he is buried, man; when he rises, God.

Rediscover Jesus, Messiah, Redeemer and Friend this last week of December through re-reading Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. From the manger, to the boy rabbi, to resurrected God, he alone remains full of favor, meaning “grace in a person.”

Jesus -- worth discovery -- a treasure in plain view, the one who ably bestows “peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

(Tune in next Friday and start the “Year of the Index Card” with me. Buy a packet of 100 index cards for about a dollar and see how those simple pieces of paper, 52 Bible verses, and meditation on them can broaden your faith throughout 2011.)

Contact Cathy at writecat@consolidated.net

                                                                                                                                                                                                

See image above at:

www.visitingdc.com/

city

graceland-address.asp

I rarely have the luxury of traveling alone. You may not deem it a luxury to be alone in a car doing all the driving into five different states in a four day trip, but that’s how I viewed last December’s road trip. It was a rare time when I stepped away from everyday duties, traveled new territory, and listened to my favorite music. If you want to know how Elvis, Christmas, and Graceland, added together to bring to mind a revival scripture then keep reading.


I left a day before my husband and son to visit my aunt in Arkansas, and then later the second day I was to meet Dave and Russell in Mississippi. I reached my aunt’s home on my first day of travel, and after visiting for awhile I drove more miles and spent the night at a Comfort Inn. The next morning, I started driving toward Mississippi on I-40.

About mid-day, I learned that hubby and son were at least six hours behind me. They were in a semi, pulling a load of antique tractors to the National Antique Tractor Pull. On a whim I took a side trip into Tennessee.

I can’t ever recall doing that before. All by myself. Without directions. Head into a busy metropolis and expect to find a whim-destination. Not many opportunities to explore on my own these days. I’m not a big Elvis fan, but once Graceland got on my mind. It just wouldn’t leave. I didn’t have a map of Memphis or GPS, so I called “information” from my cell phone. The operator connected me to Graceland Insurance Company. The receptionists said, “Oh this happens all the time. What do you need to know? I give out their information a lot.”

“I’m arriving into Memphis on Interstate 40. And I need good verbal directions to get to Graceland. I’m driving . . . can’t write anything down.” She told me five simple turns and merges, and I repeated them back to her. That Tennessean was better than Map Quest. An hour later, I drove directly to Elvis Presley’s home Graceland.

But when I was just entering Memphis, my phone rang and our son Russell said, “Mom, Dad and I wanted to check on you. Where are you?”

“I’m in Tennessee….Memphis….. I decided to take a little side trip and see Graceland.”

Laughing with abandon, I heard Russell tell his Dad, “Mom’s on her way to Elvis Presley’s Graceland.” Dave groaned loud enough that I could hear him through Russell’s phone. I knew he wasn’t aggravated with me. It was one of those glad-you’re-going and happy-I’m-not-along audible grunts. Who knows, Graceland might close to the public one day, and I’d live with regrets. After all, only a year ago on December 12, 2009, the Roy Roger’s museum closed its doors.

In Tennessee, worldwide visitors spent hefty parking fees and sums to tour everything. I opted to tour “the Mansion.” The mid-sized house shimmered with holiday decorations from the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, including an aluminum Christmas tree. Remember those? Christmas carols played, sung in Elvis’ own velvety voice.

At the front entrance, a paved apron allowed visitors to get a panoramic shot with cameras after the tour. A man in his early twenties by me tried to take pictures but discovered his batteries were dead. I asked what size batteries his camera used. When he checked, they were the same size as mine. So, I loaned him my batteries, and he clicked his shutter and images of the Mansion went into his memory card.

This time of year may not offer much time for solitude, but watch for everyday things which have God’s gift tags on them -- from him to you: A flock of geese flying south in V-formation, a child in a Christmas pageant, or reminders of Jesus in yards, on T-shirts and in every “Merry Christmas” greeting. Or maybe, you just get a mini day-cation all by yourself.

Jesus joined us for a time on earth, and God reminds us, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isaiah 57:15). During this busy season a revival can be yours, just watch for those times God tags a gift with your name.

Becky Kelley - Where's the Line to See Jesus - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

God's Timing

The subject of when-God-acts has been on my mind for a couple of years. But this week, I looked out my house window and saw something that reminded me of God’s timing. And once that baby-step of understanding settled, I said to God, “There’re so many things where I trust your timing. Let me trust your timing more.” Let me tell you what led up to that prayer.


We celebrated a 90th birthday party for my father-in-law in our home mid-November. Prior to the party, my husband, David, and I groomed the yard. I weeded around sidewalks and the foundation of the house and Dave mowed. When I got to the front gate of our home, I noticed that the paperwhite narcissus bulbs had sprouted bordering the sidewalk. Small green leaves had pushed through the soil, and I thought, “Those are coming up way too early; they’ll bloom in December instead of January like they’re supposed to.”

We don’t often use our front gate and sidewalk, we’re back door people. But this week when I looked out my window toward that sidewalk, I saw taller narcissus plants. When I went outdoors and on closer inspection, I found the paperwhites biding their time, awaiting the right internal and eternal signals to start creating the buds that will eventually pop open and display delicate beauty.

Through God’s genius those plants know it is still 2010 and that 2011 hasn’t arrived. Embedded within them is God’s green-thumb-clock. They knew when it was time to push up through the ground, and they will know when it is time to bloom

The Apostle Paul wrote about God’s perfect timing of sending his Son: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, . . . that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4). Several deep truths exist in chapter four’s message other than the timing phrase.

But basically Paul tells his readers that only through Jesus we’re reborn into a new relationship with God. We become adopted sons. We have the privilege of calling our creator Father. We become heirs of his loving kindness, his forgiveness. We inherit blessings as his dear children and receive unfathomable help to cope with life on earth, even when personal timings unsettle us.

During this season, like no other throughout the year, the world’s eyes are drawn to the Christ. Most are acquainted with Christmas, but not as many are acquainted with the Christ of Christmas. I’d love to have been a sheep or a shepherd or a blade of grass on the night the timely angelic message arrived near Bethlehem.

When the host of angels appeared in the night sky, they brought both an immediate and a timeless message: Present tense for the people living at that time. The angel with a speaking part said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be [future tense] for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). At the perfect time, to the right set of shepherds, near Bethlehem, the city of bread, Jesus arrived.

The narcissus plants reminded me that I’ve trusted God’s growing and production season for a long time, why not trust his timing in my personal life. In the plant world, I’ve seen his faithfulness. His replenishing. His produce. His timing. And it’s perfect. The promised seasons have never failed to live out their purpose.

For now, doubts about his timing in my life have fled. I’ve reread the old, old story and peace has replaced uncertainty. This celebratory season cues us to remember God’s perfection and God’s timetable.

With gracious planning and purpose for all on earth, the eternal clock continues to tick, and because of Jesus, it ticks to our advantage and support. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (v. 14).

Win a Copy of Christmas Book

Visit friend Elizabeth Ludwig's Borrowed Book Blog and leave a comment to possibly win a copy of A Scrabook of Christmas Firsts ~ Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday Drawing this Friday. Merry Christmas.

Pies and Table Time

If you’re like most families you had a pie for dessert sometime last week. I don’t know why I like writing about pies so much, maybe because I like to bake them and eat them. We had pumpkin, pecan, and lemon meringue pies at our Thanksgiving feast. I know that I’ve told you this story before but it’s worth sharing again. It’s about our family rolling pin. Now if you aren’t familiar with kitchen gadgetry, I’ll explain. It’s a cylindrical object used to flatten out pie dough.


In the early 1900s, Beulah Harris Messecar (my husband’s grandmother) and her fiancé traveled by wagon from Almeda to Houston to buy their household furniture. When they returned home, Beulah’s mother, Ann, looked at their selections: chairs, bedstead, pots and pans and asked, “Did you buy a rolling pin?” They hadn’t bought one.

Great-Grandma Harris said, “Never mind. I’ll get one for you.” The next time Beulah saw her mother, she handed her a crude shaped rolling pin, wooden and all one piece, obviously whittled into that shape.

All I know is that when her much younger brother Jean next wanted to play baseball, he was missing a wooden bat. The homemade rolling pin leans in my kitchen window and is still used to make pies for the family. Genuine hospitality never requires a pie, but it does require a good host to welcome the guests.

When Jesus was guest in the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, I suspect he was greeted with both good food and good company. Jesus visited in other homes too, but he also hosted meals. How did the resurrected Jesus treat his guests when hosting breakfast?

Throughout a night fishing trip, Jesus’ disciples had cast their net numerous times, and again and again they hauled up empty nets and their disappointment must have mounted. Near dawn with nothing to show for their efforts, they decided to call off the fishing. Not knowing it was Jesus on shore, they heard him advise them to throw the net out one more time. They did. On the last cast, their net teemed with 153 large fish!

When the disciples stepped onto the sandy beach, they recognized their fishing guide -- Jesus. On a bed of warm coals, he had fish and bread awaiting the weary night shift. Jesus welcomed them, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12). He then served the fatigued men, first the bread and then the fish.

All the ingredients for a meaningful gathering were in place. The fishermen needed rest from the night’s grueling work and they were very happy with the last catch at dawn. Besides that, their best friend had a fire going, and a satisfactory aroma of bread and fish must have made their mouths water. Good friends were together, and Jesus was present as servant and host.

Just like Grandma Harris changed a baseball bat into a rolling pin, God is in the remaking business too. He longs to reshape us into the same hospitable likeness of his Son. During the regular days of December and the feast times ahead, whether you are furnishing the pie or the appetite, cherish the time with family and friends.

Some of our most memorable gatherings are around tables. And this December we recognize again our impoverished state and that the Lord as gracious host still “prepares a table before us.”