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"

"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"

 

 

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.

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.

 

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.

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

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

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

 

 

Dust To Dust

 

https://youtu.be/1XzSDSyFpfs

 

Death. 

 

It's been a week of goodbyes. We said our final goodbyes to my dear friend Terri Ruyle this past weekend.  A beautiful young soul who I loved deeply and dearly. She ministered to me....she placed her Wonder Woman bracelet from her wrist to mine at my lowest point several years ago to remind me to be Strong and Courageous through the struggles. That I was stronger than I thought I was.....and I returned it back to her wrist a year later during her own struggles. I will miss her every day till I see her again.

And today, I leave for Colorado...a road trip with two girlfriends, to take Chuck's ashes to be spread by the winds of Pikes Peak.

"All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust, all return." 

Ecclesiastes 3:20.

I fully believe that Chuck's soul is celebrating with God right now, but that broken down body of his that provided his means of transportation through this life on earth, I will return it to the earth it came from that maybe, in some small way, will help the earth by its return to it. It feels right to be doing this....as it never belonged to us. It always belonged to God. He formed man from the dirt of this earth and breathed life into it...He created Chuck. So its only fitting that once He removed breath from Chuck, that we would return his ashes back to the earth in which it came.

I am grateful that God entrusted ME with managing this return. So I will call this road trip, "The Return".

I am blessed to have had the gift of Terri and Chuck on my journey through this life....and have the assurance I will one day see them again.

Without Thorns, There Would Be No Roses

"The enemy would have us be so blind by the pain of the thorn that we can't see the beauty of the rose garden.  Look past the thorn - His grace is enough for the thorn He chooses not to remove."

 

 

Every Wednesday evening, several neighbor women grab their lawn chairs and sit out in the cul-de-sac, 6 feet apart of course, and chat about what's happening on the block.  Usually, we're trying to figure out how to lower the population of rabbits in our neighborhood or the cost of artificial grass, but this past Wednesday, I happened to glance to my left and saw this crazy amazing sunset happening right next to us.  Living in the city now, it's not always easy to see sunrises and sunsets and boy do I miss that part of living at the lake!  But that day, it was like God handed me a beautifully wrapped gift straight-up from Him!

I jumped up, ran to the center of the cul-de-sac to see it better (barefooted) and immediately felt my big toe bend backwards as I stumped it on the concrete.  Goodness.  As bad as it hurt, I limped my way to the house to grab my cell phone and not miss capturing this quickly dissolving sunset.....in a great deal of pain I might add. 

I tell you my stumped-toe-story because sometimes pain is required to see the beauty in this journey we all are on.  And much like the thorn on a rose bush, without it, there would be no roses.  

Truth is, none of us know what the words on the next page of our life story is yet.....we have no idea what stands just ahead of us....around that corner we can't see around....but we always know that God does.  He may not reroute us around the mess ahead, but He will definitely walk through it with us.  That's a promise. And where there's God, there's always beauty...and yes, some painful stumped toes as well.

It's scary...I won't lie.  Life is so very real.....real in a way its never been real before, and although I don't fear the future, I want to slow down and approach it cautiously.  I want to be sure I've stuck my hand out for Him to grab and walk this journey with me.  He's the only One who knows the danger around the next corner.

You'll never see the roses and only feel the thorns if you walk your road without Him.  Put your hand in His and travel it together.  And check out those amazing sunsets as He places a band-aid on your stumped toe.