Month: September 2010

A needed chore triggered memories. We all keep boxes of mementos in our closets. I opened up doors…

“I never meant to hurt you, I never meant to make you cry, but tonight I’m cleanin’ out my closet” *

* Lyrics by Eminem, Cleaning Out My Closet

Isn’t it interesting that most of the jewels in the world are obscured and hidden in nature? It isn’t until we seek them out and refine them that they really show their finished beauty. We go to all this work for rocks and stones but sometimes we forget to do the same with people. I have to say it’s been fun to become a “rock hound”, but my favorite treasures are the living stones.

1Pe 2:4  Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious

What’s in a name? A friend who is homeless shared something significant recently. When asked if he could do anything at all, what would he want to do? His response was to travel to distant countries in search of his identity; where he came from, his namesake. Our identity matters to us in the depths of how we see ourselves. I can only know who I am as I have come to know Christ. All my identity is in Him.

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2Co 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I smashed into a hard wall of protection this weekend, only this time it wasn’t one of my own. A familiar pain touched me along with a desperation to see freedom come to a stranger’s life. I say stranger, but she doesn’t feel like one to me. I know her in ways I can’t explain, but she has yet to know me or others like me.

Knowing the rejection I was going to face, I was still compelled to approach this wounded woman to ask her name. To my surprise she spoke it to me, but then disappeared quickly. I didn’t chase her. That wasn’t my job, nor is it my job to teach her trust. I know what I am meant to do. She needs someone to fight for her where the fight matters most.

2Co 10:3-4 (Amp)  For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds

Luk 15:7  Count on it–there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

I want to see the “replay” video of the party they had in the heavens when I committed myself to a life rescued! I can remember an odd song done in the German language years ago called “99 Luftballons” which translates to 99 Red Balloons. If we are living only in the shadow of things to come, can you imagine the balloons of heaven? I get this crazy thought about 99 balloons released into the air; each one explodes with joy into the atmosphere, sprinkling something like fairy dust upon those yet to come home.

Fairy dust is from the imagination of men. What comes from the imagination of God?

All around me stood courageous people admitting their feelings of loneliness. To see them suddenly surrounded by love, dispelling the lies isolation brings was almost more than I could take in. I sat quiet, observing the outpouring of real truth, we are never meant to walk alone.

Gen 2:18a And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone;”

Mercy is what I have been given when I didn’t deserve it; when I didn’t ask for it; even when I didn’t want it. I have succumbed to its allure. It has touched the depths of my heart. I live differently towards others because I have been shown love and compassion, but it all started with mercy.

Jas 2:13  There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when He judges you.

Epiphany may seem a strange word but it’s really something we all know. It’s when we suddenly get the essential meaning in a moment. Just think of those cartoons where the light bulb goes off over the character’s head to signify they finally understand clearly.

Scripture tells us to “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding”. Let’s face it though, we are logical creatures raised in a culture where science serves to explain every aspect….almost. When things don’t add up in that scientific culture we are discouraged by society to believe God has any relevance. Battles rage in the world of education for where we should even open the door to God by discussing “intelligent design”. Battles also rage within us to believe in His word to trust, no matter what we see. We have to stop running from these battles.

Walking in that graveyard yesterday stirred up the depths of truth. We confess to love Christ and we confess to want to do His will. I kept thinking, “Did anyone bother to share hope and truth with those souls who lay beneath the stone markers? Am I willing to share my hope?”

My epiphany hit me while I walked among those names. I am in the hour of the harvest, but I must be willing to use the tools I’ve been given to gather. I must go out to labor in those fields. I must love those who have never known love. I must help others learn trust, who have never known trust. I have to be willing to go where I have no understanding in what I see. The harvest is always upon us but we need to set our feet and hands to the task at hand.

Luk 10:2  Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Today I took a walk in the old portion of a cemetery I often pass on my way to church. I had never been to it before, but I wanted to know some history for where I live. The old section dated back to the 1800s with names familiar to me because of local streets and schools. There were so many graves marked with just a stone having a cross on it. No names or dates on these.

My tender heart began breaking and I let go of my tears. I wondered at all these people who had walked before me. How many of them would I meet in eternity? How many of them only had these stone markers which were disintegrating?

The wind buffeted me as I made my way back to my car. An ache undefined filled me and no words would come to make sense of my feelings. Alone, I prayed to the heavens for things unknown.

She was a friend who wandered into my life without fanfare, without notice. I didn’t seek her out nor did I pursue her. We found ourselves just talking now and again. Despite the differences in our age and even our backgrounds we just felt comfortable with one another. Eventually I gave her the keys to our home but more importantly, the keys to my heart.

She wandered out of my life eventually. Without fanfare, without notice; one day she just wasn’t around. Again, I didn’t seek her out or pursue her. She kept the keys though, for both house and heart; I never asked for them back. Years passed.

On a gray Sunday my phone rang unexpectedly. After a long chat I hung up. Friendships are intriguing. The best ones never skip a beat despite the length of time where we come in and out of each other’s lives.