GROWING SEEDS: Road to Ammeus: Valley of Shadow of Death or Road to Life

 

Road to Ammeus:
Valley of Shadow of Death or Road to Life

Today......marks 5 years since Mom died.   Just hours before she left this earth for good in a quaint simple home in Garland, my entire family held hands while gathered around her bed and prayed the Lords Prayer over this shell-of-a-woman who had shaped and glued her family together while on this earth. 

When people simply let their scars meet - Healing Truth can meet their scars.

We knew our time with her was short....and we knew she was walking at that very moment through the Shadow of Death.  We walked this death trail with her until we came to the split in the road.  We kissed her good-bye, told her we would see her soon and sent her down the path to the Road to Life....all the while blowing her kisses as she never looked back.

Our hearts were broke, cracked, bleeding and scarred.....much like Christ's body.....yet strangely peaceful.

And this day of remembering a Mom so deeply loved, who walked a hilly and dusty path with each of her kids and grand kids, teaching us all what the love of Christ looked like, is the same path Christ walked with His two followers that important day He walked to Ammeus.  A road between the Shadow of Death and the Road to Life.

"...and their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him..."
~ Luke 24:31

GROWING SEEDS: "So, How Are You Spending My Blood?"

 

 Jesus:  "So, How Are You Spending My Blood?"

THIS
          IS
              CHRIST'S
                                 BLOOD
                                               SPILLED
                                                                 FOR
                                                                          YOU.

It's the week after Jesus bled drops of blood with your name on it..a drop for Cindy...a drop for Harry...a drop for Kathy...a drop for you and a drop for me....and then His Father breathed life back into him.  Do we grasp the hugeness of this?  And yes, hugeness is a legitimate word.  I looked it up.

His disciples finally figured it out.  Although scared, fearful of the authorities and baffled over what just happened, they finally understood. They connected the dots of what He had been telling them all along......

And I sometimes worry......that maybe we haven't quite grasped it.

Have we heard this story so many times that we have become callous to it?  Did we spend more time thinking about what we were going to wear or what to eat for lunch on Easter Sunday, that once we walked out the church doors, Easter was over and we went back to life-as-we-know-it?  Did we remember the easter bunny but forget about the blood?

Friends, the story isn't over.....it's just beginning.  Because of that drop of blood with your name on it, the church.....the very church you are sitting in today....was being planned, organized, set up.....and the people weren't thinking about anything except that drop of blood reserved with their name on it and how they were to use it.

I never knew death could be so sweet.

"God allowed the blood of His Son to be shed.
What was His hope as He did that;
What does He expect from you?
These are things that you must
consider carefully."
ManHee Lee

GROWING SEEDS: Easter

 

 

It's Easter Sunday......

This week, I tripped over the cat and busted my face on the hardwood floor, leaving me in a crime-scene-sized pool of blood, requiring a trip to the ER and gorilla glue that now looks like a goatee on my chin.....

This week, I missed an entire night of sleep.....jumping at each thunder crash....closing my eyes at each bolt of lightening...and holding my hands to my ears to avoid hearing the pounding rain on a roof that has seen too much rain....

This week, I put my beloved in our unreliable handicap van and drove him a 100 miles to an orthopedic surgeon to find out why he was in such pain in the one hip that was never broken.....

And this week......I. Have. Felt. Broken.  So badly broken. 

This week 2000 years ago, Jesus finished His walk through the mud of this world and arrived Home......He always knew this world was not His home.  His chin also was bloodied......he spent a long horrific, terrifying night without sleep.....and his hip hurt as he used the muscles from it to support His body on the cross.  He was broken.....oh-so-very-broken. 

He Was Living Life, Friends. 
Much like you and me.

A life that included blood, fear and pain......so we could be part of His family.  So this journey we're stumbling through, wouldn't be a journey in vain.  So that the blood, fear and pain we feel, would be full of hope and promise and love and arms holding us tight in the scary times.

Our Home is at the end of this road because of today.....Easter.....because He not only died for you....but He rose for you. 

It's Easter Sunday.......

It's Easter Sunday......

THIS WEEK, I tripped over the cat and busted my face on the hardwood floor, leaving me in a crime-scene-sized pool of blood, requiring a trip to the ER and gorilla glue that now looks like a goatee on my chin.....

THIS WEEK, I missed an entire night of sleep.....jumping at each thunder crash....closing my eyes at each bolt of lightening...and holding my hands to my ears to avoid hearing the pounding rain on a roof that has seen too much rain....

THIS WEEK, I put my beloved in our unreliable handicap van and drove him 100 miles to an orthopedic surgeon to find out why he was in such pain in the one hip that was never broken.....

AND THIS WEEK......I. Have. Felt. Broken. So badly broken.

THIS WEEK 2000 years ago, Jesus finished His walk through the mud of this world and arrived Home......He always knew this world was not His home. His chin also was bloodied......he spent a long horrific, terrifying night without sleep.....and his hip hurt as he used the muscles from it to support His body on the cross. 

He was broken.....oh-so-very-broken.
 
He Was Living Life, Friends.
Much like you and me.

A life that included blood, fear and pain......so we could be part of His family. So this journey we're stumbling through, wouldn't be a journey in vain. So that the blood, fear and pain we feel, would be full of hope and promise and love and arms holding us tight in the scary times.

Our Home is at the end of this road because of today.....Easter.....because He not only died for you....but He rose for you.

GROWING SEEDS: Brokeness of the Crowd

 

"Nothing Can Ever Separate Us From God's Love. 
Not Death

 

Not Life
Not Angels or Demons
Not Our Fears For Today
Or Our Worries About Tomorrow
Not Even the Powers of Hell
Can Separate Us From God's Love."
Romans 8:38

Sometimes we have to be broken to be made whole.  Sometimes we have to "hit bottom" in order to reach the top.....

We come to church.....we sing peaceful hymns on Sundays.  We spend time picking out a favorite outfit to meet Him in the pews of this lovely church each Sunday.  And maybe we even attend the Wednesday morning Bible Study with the Pastor, all the while expecting to find Him there.  But do you look and expect to find him in a pink slip, a dropping stock market, a foreclosure or maybe war? 

So often we fail to see Him in the storms of this life....

It has been my experience that these storms in life are when I hear Him the clearest.  The loss of a beloved parent.....the loss of a job.....the loss of health......the loss of your house. 

Satan works his best to throw arrows at an exhausted Christian.....

Remember the movie "The Wizard of Oz"?  The thing that scared me the most in that movie wasn't the Scarecrow or the Tin Man or even the Lion.  It was those ugly flying evil monkeys sent by the wicked witch.  They always came around when they didn't see Glenda, the good witch, nearby.  They taunted Dorothy when Glenda was out-of-sight.  The second Dorothy called out for Glenda's help, though, the monkeys left.   It's the same with God and Satan and his little flying-evil-monkey-demons.

I've discovered that if I can just recognize these demons before, instead of after, they have attacked me, I stand a better chance of overcoming them.  Like Dorothy, if I can just learn to EXPECT them to show up....to watch for them, then I'm armed and ready for them when they do.  So I started naming those flying-evil-monkeys in my life:  Pride.  Fear.  Anxiety.  Anger.  Impatience.  Well, you get the point.  When Demon-Anxiety shows up....well, I recognize him right off.....instead of two hours later.

We are promised we cannot go where God is not.  So look over your shoulder.....place your go-to scripture on your cell screensaver and call out to God when you hear those flying-evil-monkeys coming at you.  Recognize them before they attack and harm you.  God will leap to your side faster than you can say, "Come Quick, Lord.....they're backkkkkkk."

GROWING SEEDS: The Choice Is Ours

 

"My sheep listen to My voice; I know them and they follow me. 
I give them eternal life and they will never perish. 
No one can snatch them away from me,
for My Father has given them to Me and He is more powerful than anyone else." 
John 10:27-29

Chuck and I have always loved to visit a place called Ouray, Colorado, located in the western-most part of Colorado.  The mountains are taller, the sky is bluer and there is just something amazingly special about this little slice of heaven on earth.  Ouray is on the eastern side of a large mountain from the town of Telluride and one of the most famous (and exciting!) ways to get from Ouray to Telluride is through a muddy dirt path called Black Bear Pass. 

This path is narrow, winding, rocky and quite dangerous.  You need a 4-wheel drive and nerves of steel to take it.  But if you choose to go this route....this difficult, treacherous and often scary trail..... you will see beauty your eyes have never seen before.  You will pass waterfalls and fields of wildflowers and clean, thin mountain air.

You will pass sheepherders with thousands of sheep covering the sides of the mountain.  You will see how a good sheepherder will be ahead of his sheep.....not behind them.....and when he turns right, they turn right; when he stops, they stop.  Most follow him because they trust him.....they know his voice when he calls out to them and they know he will not lead them off the side of a mountain to sure death.

But some.....yes there are some.....who step outside the safety of the sheepherder and find their own path.  They willfully stray from the flock and choose to leave the shepherd and the sheepfold. 

And just know, my fellow sheep, there is a difference between being "snatched away" by the force of another and choosing free will.....choosing to live in the world instead of in God our Shepherd who guides us to water, on safe paths and ultimately, to our Home.  We were given a gift at Easter......wrapped up tight in white linen and layed in a tomb with all our sins attached to it.  We were given a choice of resting eternally from our strenuous journey up the mountain or sure-death by taking our own path.

The choice is ours.

GROWING SEEDS: The Cure

 

 

 "The Cure"

This morning as I was preparing to write this article....visualizing the blind-man-turned-begger-turned-hopeless, sitting on the side of the road and wondering what God needed to say to you and me about this story, I receive a text from my friend Robin who simply said, "Good Morning My Friend....LONG LONG LONG time no hear!!  I am going to send you a book you MUST read.....from the moment I cracked the cover, I thought of you.  It's called, 'The Cure'."

"The Cure:  What If God Isn't Who You Think He Is And Neither Are You"

Robin doesn't know it yet, but God just used her to write this bulletin article.  The title says it all, doesn't it?  The Cure.  The disciples just automatically assumed this man....let's call him Dave.....that Dave had sinned in the womb (??) or else his parents had sinned somewhere along the way that caused his blindness from birth.   He longed for a cure....longed to see what the sky looked like.....longed to live a normal life.

"My Grace is Sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:9

But God had other plans.  He planned on using Dave to teach YOU and ME some 2000 years later that His grace....oh yes, His wonderful Grace.....happens smack-dab in the middle of our massive weakness.  And Dave, who puts his hands in the waters of the Pool of Siloam....brings them up to his empty eyes....and slowly opens his now baptized eyes, and sees the reflection of his face in the water for the first time ever.  He - Was - Cured.

"I entered this world to render judgment -
to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see -
that - they - are - blind." 
John 9:39

BAM!  We are ALL blind....no different from Dave-the-Blind-Beggar.....but are we willing to baptize our eyes (heart) in the Grace of God just as Dave obediently baptized his eyes in the Pool of Siloam so many years ago?  Is your blindness getting in the way of seeing God in your reflection?

GROWING SEEDS: JOURNEY OF GRIEF

 

"The journey of grief has mile markers. 
The first mile marker is:
 Believe - It - Really - Happened." 

My friend, Mike Tucker, wrote those words above.  Mike knows a thing or two about Grief.  He is smack-dab in the middle of his Grief as the days tick by.......bringing him closer and closer to the first anniversary of his deeply loved wife's death.  You never saw Mike when you didn't see Gayle.....you never saw Gayle when she wasn't talking about Mike.  She was given a little less than a month from the time the cancer was revealed to the day he stood at her grave saying goodbye.  That one-year deadline is quickly approaching.

Gayle's death broke Mike in a million pieces that day. 

And as I've watched this man grieve over the course of this past year through the words of his journal......felt the moisture of his tears as they fell on words he bravely wrote on his journey to healing....I've discovered that Grief is as necessary in this life as Happiness.  Reread that, friends.  Whether this grief that breaks our hearts wide open comes from the death of a loved one, or maybe we find ourselves broken from the sheer brokenness of this evil world we live in.......It - Is - Necessary.....for a time. 

The woman at the well the day Jesus showed up in Samaria....she knew about Grief.....and she knew the pain of Brokenness.   Married multiple times, living with a man not her husband, the women in town gossiping behind her back.....the constant wondering, "Why can't I find the right person to share my life with".  It was in her brokenness that she met Jesus. 

But here's the deal:  God LOVES the broken.  Christ CAME for the broken.  It's the broken and breathless who long for the Spirit to blow life across their wounded hearts.

“In Gethsemane, the holiest of all petitioners prayed three times that a certain cup might pass from Him.
It did not.”
― C.S. Lewis

GROWING SEEDS: The Hands and Feet.....OF THE CHURCH

 

The Hands and Feet......OF THE CHURCH
Part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote in this white space on the back of the bulletin about a retired couple who had come through The Flood of two Christmas' ago.  You may recall, my friend Cheryl and I had met them at the local laundromat while they washed the lake out of every item of clothing they owned and LIFE felt as though it had slapped them in the face and left them, ALONE in the mud.  They were living without an oven or dishwasher; had no carpet on their stairs and the one thing that brought them joy and communication....their computer....had been destroyed.

Because this community we live in know the meaning of being "the hands and feet of Christ", they now have carpet on their stairs that, just two weeks ago, was simple rough plywood thanks to a couple who sit in the same pews of this church as you. 

Today, they will once again listen to classical music through the new computer, fully loaded with their favorite composers....that once brought them so much JOY and REST before it drowned in the flood waters of Lake Cypress Springs, thanks to someone quietly sitting across the aisle from you who knows the importance of JOY and REST in a mud-filled world. 

And today......today they are fixing breakfast in their brand new oven instead of the crockpot sitting on their yellow laminate countertop that they have prepared every meal for the past 16 months in......and are washing those breakfast dishes in their brand new dishwasher, because there is a company in our town who cares.....who gives a flip.....because they know the importance of giving back the blessings they themselves have received.

These are the QUIET hands and feet of Christ from members of this church and community.....who met this couple in the mud.  Met them right where they were....and discipled them by loving them....throwing them a lifeline.....and giving them HOPE.  Who practiced what Jesus had TOLD.....not asked.....us ALL to do in John 15:12:

"This is My commandment; that you love one another as I have loved you."
John 15:12

GROWING SEEDS: Brokeness & Backpacks

 

I once had a dear friend who always sat on the front row, right-side-aisle most every Sunday at our church.  She always sat alone and, its pure speculation on my part, but I think she sat on that front row to avoid the distractions that come from sitting anywhere else (plus, it put her close to the side door where she could make a quick exit when church was over). 

It's been a few years now since Di Ann gave me this cross made out of rusty metal.....old nails really.....that has hung on the side of my hutch in the dining room.  The day she handed it to me, she was smiling big.  She was so proud to give it to me....thought I needed it.....and rushed it over to my house, complete with pretty paper in a bag and ribbon surrounding it.  We had just finished a home study on Eucharisteo.....the act of giving Thanks.....thanks for everything.....even the massively broken things in our lives.....and Di Ann had a lot of broken things in her life.

She passed away last summer....unexpectedly.....and silently.  I pray she knew Jesus was climbing that broken mountain with her and that He carried a backpack with her name on it to put all the broken pieces from her life into. 

I wish I had been a better friend and helped her transfer those broken pieces from Her back to His.

I wish......

But my wish for you, my friend, is to know the whole purpose of the empty cross is so you no longer have to carry the sharp, cutting broken pieces of your life anymore.  If you just call out to Him...."Come quick, Lord, I need You"....He'll carry the burden & weight of your broken pieces in that specially made & personalized backpack with your name on it.

Because He loves you.