It was Monday a week ago. 4:00 am.
I woke straight out of bed.....fear gripped every fiber of my being just as it has many mornings these past 12 months.....fear of things I have no control over....fear of drowning.....fear of floods....fear of being weak.....fear of everything.
By the time I turned the Keurig on at 4:05 that morning, tears were pouring out of my eyes and....these are hard words for me to admit to you....I felt alone. So very alone. I couldn't hear or feel God anywhere near me. I felt the unanswered "why's" of my life pushing down on my shoulders and, by-the-way, wasn't I suppose to be feeling "Peace On Earth" right now three weeks before Christmas? Was Joy just a sick joke?
I plug into my iTunes......choose my Christmas playlist....when suddenly the song, "Word of God, Speak" starts playing. That's not on my Christmas playlist I remember thinking. And as I listened to the words,
What If?
"I'm finding myself at a loss for words.....
The last thing I need is to be heard.....
But to hear what You would say.....
Word of God SPEAK...
Would You pour down like rain,
Washing my (crying) eyes to see Your majesty....
To be still and know that You are in this place."
The weight of worry began leaving me and I knew He had just spoken to my tears and fears through the words of this song and I knew He was here.....patiently waiting on me to see Him.
We talked....a lot....for over an hour about these fears....this weight of the loneliness through the tough times that I was feeling. And exactly two minutes after I said, "Amen", I received this text from a friend who knew nothing about my struggles:
"Good Morning my dearest friend.
I just wanted to give you a friendly reminder that you are never ever alone.
I was spending time in the Lord's presence this morning and all I could think about was you.
God must have something beautiful for you, and He wants you to stay encouraged.
I love you...
Have a great day!"
K
Jesus whispers there is always hope. It doesn't matter how dark the dark is, a Light can still dawn...and here's the spoiler alert: That gift from God that is wrapped up tight with your name on it.....Joy is inside.
Monday, December 7, 2020
What If?
A few years ago, I took a friend's little kid to the mall about this time of year to see Santa. The line was long, the crying was loud, the frustration was thick in the air as tired children stood in line to sit on Santa's lap and tell him all the things they dreamed of getting for Christmas. You know, those things they tear through on Christmas morning only to toss aside for the next gift.
I had a lot of time to think as we stood in line that day. I watched as each kid was given maybe a total of 2 minutes to collect their thoughts, wipe their tears and whisper to Santa their biggest wishes. Mom just wanted the picture so they could have it for the kid's wedding video 20 years later and Santa just wanted to do "his time" and scoot on over to Starbucks to get a Cinnamon Dolce Latte. It was sad, really.
But I thought; what would this look like if, instead of a tired Santa, we had an exuberant Jesus sitting on that red velvet throne in the mall? I imagined, in this very imaginative brain of mine, it would look a little something like this:
As the bashful child approached Jesus, He would put His hands out welcoming this child in a calming, loving way, calling them by name. The child....a child He made....would slowly and cautiously approach Him. Their eyes would be locked on each other...there would be no crying....no temper-tantrum....just unspoken love between the two of them. As they hopped on Jesus' lap, He would whisper something only that child knew, proving He knew everything about them. He would first ask the child, "What are you thankful for this Christmas, my child?" followed by "If I could give you anything in this world, what would it be?" I don't know if the kid would say an Xbox or Barbie Dream Home as they had planned to say, but I kinda doubt it. This Santa was different.
A wonderful picture in our heads, right? A reality....probably not. At least, not in the mall. But this can be reality at our churches at Christmastime...on the Squares in our little towns....in our homes. What a wonderful way to teach our children and grandchildren that Christmas isn't about the Cinnamon-Dolce-Latte-Santa who just wants Christmas to be over with already....but rather, the Man who is our "reason" for celebrating. Celebrating the One who was born to rescue his tired, frustrated, and yes, worried people.
Give the kids the REAL Santa.....His name is Jesus Christ.
Sunday, November 22, 2020
God's Gracious Grace
About a month ago, I was meeting some friends for
dinner in Sulphur Springs. It was a little over an hour's drive from
where I now live and I was, as usual, running late. I got tangled in
traffic and was frustrated that my friends were waiting on this
habitually late friend named Liz.
As
I reached Sulphur Springs and a few blocks from the restaurant half an
hour late, I look in my rear view mirror and see flashing lights behind
me. "Well dangit" I said...."just what I needed right now!"
The police officer walked up to my window where I had my information
ready and waiting for him so as to hurry the process along, when he
wanted to chit-chat about why I was in such a hurry. I explained I was
late to dinner with friends and apologized profusely for my crime. The
scowl on his face indicated to me that there was no getting out of this
ticket.
As
he returned a few minutes later with his ticket-pad in hand, he
paused...looked at his pad...looked at me....and started scribbling
something on the ticket. He then shockingly said, "I made a mistake on your speed. Slow down and have a nice evening" and started walking away. What? As he walked back to his squad car, I hung out the window and said, "What does this mean?" He once again said, "I made a mistake. Slow down. Have a nice evening."
As I pulled away, I remember I was still flinging these 60-year old
arms out the window thanking him profusely for his forgiveness.
It reminded me a bit of Colossians 2:14: "He canceled the record of the charges against us (you and me) and took it away by nailing it to the cross."
Much like this police officer, God found a way to deal with my daily,
often-times hourly, mistakes. He couldn't overlook them; to do so would
be unjust. He can't pretend I didn't commit them; to do so would be a
lie. But here is what He did do: God found a person with a spotless
past. He had never broken a law. Not one violation, not one trespass,
not even a speeding ticket. He volunteered
to trade records with me....to put His own name on my record. Even
though I did wrong, He put my crime on Himself and gave me His spotless
record.
The perfect record of God's Son, Jesus, was given to me, Liz Etheridge....and
to YOU (place your name here). And our imperfect record was given to
Him. And what did He do with my poor driving record? He canceled my
debt, which listed all the rules I failed to follow, just like Mr.
Police Officer took the blame for my speeding crime.
But God NAILED IT TO THE CROSS...and gave you His perfect record.
*Excerpt from Max Lucado book, "Grip of Grace"
Sunday, November 15, 2020
"In everything God works for the good of those who love Him"
Four years ago, after the election of Donald Trump, I wrote this in my journal:
"I have a prediction. I know exactly what tomorrow will bring. Another day of God’s perfect authority. He will still be in charge. His throne will still be occupied. He will still manage the affairs of the world. Never before has His providence depended on a king, president, or ruler. And it won’t start tomorrow."
"The LORD can control a king’s mind as He controls a river; He can direct it as He pleases."
— Proverbs 21:1 NCV"
Fast forward 4 years to 2020...the most bizarre year most of us have ever lived through. And the year isn't over yet. We still have 46 days to go before we can turn the page from this crazy-mixed-up-off-the-wall year. And we are being told Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will most likely be our next presidents.
Although its no secret I didn't cast my vote for Joe Biden, I will support this man if indeed he is deemed my next president. I will treat his supporters with the respect I would of a good friend. I will not call them names. I will not curse at them. I will not think ill of them because they see things differently than me. Because I am told if I love God, I can't help but love my neighbor.....even when we disagree.
As thousands marched through the streets of downtown Dallas with me yesterday with our flags held high simply there to ask for fair voting, I saw people standing on the sidelines cursing at us, flipping us off, making rude gestures with their bodies and FULL OF HATE. And I heard many marchers saying back to these very same people, "God loves you".
“By this all will know that you are My people, if you have love for one another.”
~ John 13:35
We are a divided nation....always have been, just not as obvious as it is today...and most likely, it's only going to get worse. But don't forget; God's still in charge of how this plays out and the true test of a Christ-follower is how we respond to those we disagree with....whether you voted right or you voted left.
"I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your TRUE selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty."
~ Matthew 5:43 MSG
And one last thing, let's imitate Jeremiah. Lift up your eyes. Dare to believe that good things will happen. Dare to believe that God was speaking to us when He said:
"In everything God works for the good of those who love Him".
— Romans 8:28"
Sunday, November 8, 2020
We Hear Him In His Whisper
NOTE: I wrote this article below about three years ago for our church bulletin. It's been a noisy week in our country and I thought we all could use a little less screaming and a whole lot more listening. Enjoy.
WE FIND HIM IN THE WHISPER
When I was in my mid-20's, I taught a Sunday School class full of 5-year-olds. It was the Kindergarten class at our church and I felt with my limited knowledge of Bible stories, it was the perfect place for me to be.
However, I found out that 5-year-olds don't sit still...and they aren't quiet....and they have an attention span of about 3 seconds. Having never had children and being the youngest in my family, this was shocking news to me. I found myself each week frustrated and wondering how to either talk fast enough to get my point in the 3 seconds before their attention moved elsewhere, or increase the volume of my voice to where they could hear nothing but me. Unfortunately, this dog-and-pony show went on for better than a year and didn't work.
So I decided to have a special guest speaker come in and tell the kids a story. I needed the break, but so did the Kindergartners. As the kids were busy taking their shoes and socks off, messing up the kids' hair next to them, thumping their foreheads repeatedly, the storyteller, a petite woman named Sammie, started telling her story. Actually, she whispered her story. I found myself in the back of the room leaning in....desperate to hear what she was saying...and so did the kids. The room, for the first time ever, was quiet. They were still. They were leaning in to hear what Sammie had to say. She had taught us all the SECRET to listening.
“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” (NIV) 1 Kings 19:11-12
In the words of the great writer Mark Batterson, "When someone speaks in a whisper, you have to get very close to hear. We lean toward a whisper, and that’s what God wants. The goal of hearing the Heavenly Father’s voice isn’t just hearing His voice; it’s intimacy with Him.
That’s why He speaks in a whisper."
Awwww...there it is! God could intimidate us with His outside voice, but He woos us with a whisper. And His whisper is the very breath of life.
Sunday, November 1, 2020
My Friend Dub
This is my friend Dub.
Dub was the son of one of my Meals on Wheels clients back when I lived at the lake. He was one of three siblings who adjusted their lives to stay with their mom Jewel so she could remain in the comfort of her home instead of going to a nursing home. Each month, he and his two sisters and their cousin Sandy would pull the family calendar out and decide who stayed with mom which week that month. In the 12 years I knew Jewel, this happened each month.
I instantly fell in love with this entire family......and they loved me back.
When Jewel passed away in late 2016; two weeks prior to arriving at her 110th birthday, (yep, you heard me right....she lived to be almost 110!!), these same siblings, cousin and I decided we needed to keep our friendship alive and going by meeting for lunches every 6 weeks or so, and our love for each other became even stronger. So much so, they called me their sister and they were now considered my siblings. Jewel would have been over-the-moon happy we all stayed together.
Dub was the only male....surrounded by 4 laughing and crazy females.....and if you were to ask him, he would tell you he wouldn't have it any other way. He loved being the only guy.....
In the past four years of our "Family Lunch Dates", three out of the five of us lost our spouses; Dub included. And it was this Clay family who wrapped their arms around each other, and me, during those hard times as if by doing so, made us one strong unit together. I can't imagine my life without this family. Truly, a hand-wrapped gift from God straight to me.
Last week, we met for our usual beans and cornbread lunch at one of the sister's houses. Now that I live in the Dallas area and so does Dub, we rode to East Texas together. Their was no empty air space in the Jeep on that 4-hour ride as we both were talking at the same time about everything. He held my hand most of the way home as I drove us back to Dallas late Saturday.
But Tuesday night, I got a call. A call that Dub had died suddenly and unexpectedly a few minutes earlier. An aneurysm. He had been the picture of health....even though he was in his early 80's, he had the health of a much younger man. My mind, and heart, still can't process our friend and brother is gone. He was suppose to live to be 110.
And I'm reminded by this sudden and unexpected exit from this world of ours that we never know when that last grain of sand called our-life-on-this-earth will fall from the hourglass of time. We were never promised tomorrow....just this moment we're standing in right now.....and what we do with this moment is all that matters. How we live our lives.....what we do with the time we are given...and most importantly, Who we put our trust in.
Live life fully....Love deeply and make sure, friends, that your last day on this earth becomes your first day in Heaven. It's the only thing that matters.
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Just Believe....
Just Believe
liz etheridge
Right out of college, I went to live with my sister and her husband while I looked for a job. It was winter and we had decided to head to Oklahoma for a day of shopping. I know...that part of the story doesn't even make sense....shopping = Oklahoma??...I know. As we were heading home that night, it started to snow....like blizzard snow and you could barely see the unfamiliar country roads ahead of us. I was scared to death....and not being a particularly active prayer warrior at that time in my life, I started negotiating with God in the backseat of that AMC Spirit my brother-in-law was driving. I promised Him I would pay tithe for the rest of my life....without fail.....if He would rescue us from this scary mess we were in.
He did...I didn't.
Have you ever found yourself negotiating with God....bartering with Him when you get in a pickle....."Lord, if You get me out of this mess I'm in, I promise to go to church every-single-Sunday-without-fail-and-sometimes-on-Wednesday-too"?
When I read the story of the dude named Jairus in Mark 5, I couldn't help wondering if I would have started the negotiation process had I been in his shoes. Jairus was a very important man, the head-honcho of his church at the time.....which is like the mayor, principal and pope all rolled into one.....and he was desperate. Desperate enough he could have offered the temple key to Jesus in return for healing his daughter.....
But he came to Jesus, much like a poor, blind man standing on the corner begging for a gift:
“My little daughter is at the point of death.
Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” (Mark 5:23)
He doesn't barter or try to negotiate with Jesus. He doesn't haggle and remind Jesus how important a man he is. He just pleads. A scared, desperate father pleading for the life of his daughter just as you or I would do. And Jesus says to him, "Don't be afraid, Just Believe."
JUST-BELIEVE.
Two simple words that brought life to a 12-year old girl.....
and brings life to you and I when we JUST BELIEVE.
Maybe....just maybe....Jesus' reason for raising this sweet little girl from the dead wasn't for her sake - but for our sake now - to teach us that heaven sees when we Trust and Believe.
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Do Not Worry About Your Life
"One morning, Death was walking into a city when a man stopped him and asked what he was doing. Death answered, “I’m going into the city to kill 10,000 people.” The man replied, “That’s terrible that you would kill 10,000 people.” Death responded, “Taking people when their time has come is my job. Today I have to get my 10,000.” Later, as Death was coming out of the city, the man met him. Again, he was furious. He said, “You told me this morning that you were going to take 10,000 people, but 70,000 died today.” Death answered, “Don’t get mad at me. I only took 10,000. Worry killed all the rest.” (1)
W-O-R-R-Y.
My friend, Beatrice was a 92 year old worry-all-the-time lady on my Meals on Wheels route. She worried she was going to have a stroke one day....she worried about who called on her phone and hung up.....she worried about when the trash truck was going to show up, and she worried about her doctor firing her. Beatrice was the most worrisome person I'd ever met.
And yet, she had a great and deep love for the Lord. This - I - know.
She just has a problem with trusting Him.
And don't we all! We worry we'll catch the Coronavirus. We worry who will be our next President. We worry it won't be the one we voted for. We worry whether we'll have a job next month and we worry we'll forever have to wear a mask. Being a recovering worrier myself, I'm learning how to replace that space within me that's been reserved for Worry....with Trust. It's like when my granddaughter Brie was little. She would stand on her bed, arms stretched out wide, and say, "Lele, I'm going to jump into your arms and you're going to catch me, right, Lele?" She showed her trust in me by taking that leap off the bed and into my arms. And I never dropped her.....not once.
It's the same with God. He simply asks us to trust Him.....to catch us when we jump off the cliff of sorrow, anxiety, and worry. And when we do....He catches us. Those great big strong nail-scarred arms are outstretched as if to say, "I love you THISSSSS much" and He catches us as we trustingly fly through the air to His waiting arms. And He never drops us....no, not once.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matthew 6:25
1 Haddon W. Robinson
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Kill Them With Kindness In This Covid World
It finally happened this week.
After 2-1/2 months of living in the city, I heard someone say to me, "WOULD YOU MIND?? (Insert irritated-snarly-voice-with-attitude-in-an-ugly-gym-outfit). YOU'RE TOO CLOSE TO ME!".
I may, or may not, have rolled my eyes and then gave her a great big
ol' East Texas smile under that paper mask of mine as I snapped a
picture of her.
Yep, I was anxiously standing in line at Trader
Joe's for my very first inaugural visit when this skinny
chick-who-looked-like-a-man turned and barked these words at me.
Startled, I stepped back a foot. Truth be told, I couldn't have been
any closer than 5'11" from her skinny rear-end. I have mastered an
impeccable way of visually measuring the 6' between me and the person in
front of me these past few Covid months. I simply visualize a 6' man
laying on the ground between us.
I'm pretty sure it works most every time.
But in all
honesty, most people in my short time of returning to the city have been
nice....polite....and respectful. Most everyone in East Texas told me
the city people would eat me alive. That hasn't been the case, but there
is a big part of Liz that is missing the human-ess (not a word....don't
bother to look it up) of living in the country. The Grace that comes
as easy as breathing or acknowledging or even...(gasp)...speaking kindly
to strangers in the grocery store aisle or, heaven forbid, hugging
during a pandemic, is missing here. Strangers generally don't speak to
you here in the city unless they're telling you to BACK AWAY. And that
is why I am making it my mission to look them straight-in-the-eye and startle them with conversation and a smile...and to see the person who is inside their skin.
“Here
is a simple rule of thumb for behavior:
Ask yourself what you want
people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!
Luke 6:31
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Ashes To Ashes....Dust To Dust
“All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return”
Ecclesiastes 3:20
This week, I loaded up the Jeep; threw in two
wonderful girlfriends, and headed west to Pikes Peak. It was something
I've put off doing for almost two years....and for some reason, NOW was
the right time. I wanted; no..no....needed....for
Chuck's earthly body to be set free. We climbed 14,000 feet into the
sky....14,000 feet closer to Heaven....and released Chuck Etheridge's
body back to the earth.
Before we headed west, I placed his ashes into three
small toolboxes he had used for as long as I knew him. I know it
sounds crazy, but if you knew Chuck, this would make sense. As each of
us opened up our tool boxes on Pikes Peak, we watched as the winds
returned him back to where he came. I find it interesting that his
favorite things while on this earth came from his tools...tools that
repaired and restored broken things, and God...well, He also is in the
business of repair and restoration of broken things. He wants to repair
us and our pasts by giving us a future.
We said goodbye to his body this week, but not his soul...and
our hearts are happy to not hang onto the memory of Chuck as people who
have no hope, but rather, as people who know and trust in a future
healthy body for Chuck someday.
"But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who have
died,
so that you may not grieve like other people who have no hope."
1 Thessalonians 4:13
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