Monday, December 11, 2017

But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You the potter; we are all the work of Your hand Isaiah. 64:8

Through many turns of events, the descendants of Abraham came to be residents of Egypt and then slaves. God’s covenant people were in bondage so they cried out! God heard their prayer and sent Moses to lead this people, who knew nothing of governing themselves or following anything but the absolute power of a pharaoh, out of their misery and into a life of complete peace and prosperity……Except, discontent and disobedience. kept getting in the way.

Israel went from becoming the most powerful and influential nation on earth to scattered bands of refugees and immigrants. God sent prophets to remind these hard headed people of who they are and who He is, but years and years go by and it seems all hope is gone for this nation to come together again and bless all of mankind.

Isaiah prays a prayer of praise and petition. He praises God for who He is, and the nation He created, but expresses His desire that Heaven tear open and end all of the suffering. In reality, Isaiah knows this will not be the case. There will come a savior, a Prince of Peace, but He will come in God’s time. Until then, Isaiah leads a humble remembrance that we are made by God’s will. All we are and all we have is the work go His hand. He will not destroy what He poured the very best of all creation into.

When you feel there is no hope, focus on the warm, tender hands that formed every miraculous molecule of your being. You are fearfully and wonderfully made to be vessel that can both receive and disperse the fulness of God’s love and power.

Have a Great Day,

Gretchen

Sunday Stories, December 10, 2017

Becoming Family

As a career educator I have a front row seat to the scenes and seasons of child development and the groups they grow into. Each child is miraculously unique but every group or class also develops distinct characteristics. When classrooms open and weeks turn into months a phenomenon occurs. A little family emerges.

Summer days grow short and little children become aware something wondrous is about to happen. School is starting! Our little ones get outfitted, everyone inquires as to their excitement while regaling their own academic adventures and in thought, school sounds like the greatest adventure ever! Still, there is a quiet caution and anxiousness lingering over the great unknown. The constancy of familiar sights, smells and sounds of the past conflict with the instinct to move forward.

The first days of school are filled with rules and endless procedures. The early days of directing everyone toward life long learning is comparable to herding cats on the best day, and supervising butterflies on the worst. Trust in authority is vital to the process of many parts working in tandem for the greater good. Insistence on rigid adherence to rules seems like selfish and narrow minded tyranny when in reality it is love working in the knowledge that everyone will learn, grow and eventually attain all that life has to offer that drives a good leader’s behavior.

Class is a collective noun and as the days of the school year go by, a most beautiful thing happens. The rules begin to make logical sense, work is being accomplished, needs are being met, leaders and defender have emerged and suddenly, a nation/family has formed.

The Hebrew slaves were very much like the little folks that arrive in classrooms each fall. They too had great expectation that something epic was happening, but fear and rebellion wreaked havoc in their progress toward freedom. So this covenant people could come into all God had promised, and in turn, bless all nations, rules and procedures had to be established, trust in authority had to grow, and total dependance on the provision of the One that loves the most had to develop.

Community/family is a wonderful gift from God, but it doesn’t come naturally and isn’t exclusively a consequence of birth. It is God’s perfect design for the security and prosperity of mankind. Love, obedience and trust in God’s loving kindness is the force that holds families and nations together and in turn, the world reaps great blessings.

Peace and Goodwill to each of you.

Love,

Gretchen

Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Luke 18:16

The event of Jesus setting the disciples straight on the value of children is in all three Gospels. Woven into sloppy grins, sticky fingers and dirty little toes is the heart of a child. A heart that trusts with reckless abandon, loves with no reservation, and has a malleable attitude of giving and gratitude gains God’s glory.

Pomposity, a behavior motivated by the impression that God is honored by our notice, has no place in the presence of the One who gave His life for ours.

Never out grow your inner child.

Happy December Weekend,

Gretchen

Friday, December 8, 2017

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

We are all sons and daughters of Adam. We woke up in this world one day by no choice of our own with a sinful nature. The human race is all very much the same in this manner. Adam did not arrive as we did. He arrived in the perfect likeness of God and chose to sin. Adam sinned, contaminated mankind and destined us to die. Jesus, the Son of God, died to eradicate death and return the human race to the image of God.

Grace is completely illogical! The good don’t sacrifice their lives for the bad. But because Jesus, loving and good, did so, anyone, the bad and sinful, who believes can have all the glory of Heaven. Grace truly is amazing if you consider all it encapsulates: hope, family identity, inheritance, peace, freedom, justice, an advocate, a provider, AND eternal life.

The crucifixion was not just for one person, or one race, it was for everyone and anyone who believes.

Grace, the gift that keeps on giving.

Love,

Gretchen

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be shaken. Psalm 55:22

Absalom was David’s third son but became first in line of succession. He waged an overthrow attempt against his father. David felt betrayed and overwhelmed at the inevitable fate of his son as a result of his evil. He just wanted to opt out of real life for a while.

This Psalm speaks the gut wrenching truths of the soul. It begins with a confession of anxiety and continues into a plea for God to disrupt the wicked, then concludes with an acknowledgement of faith and resolve.

The weight of the world was on David’s shoulders. If managing a kingdom weren’t enough, his family was a mess and he had couldn’t to fix it. BUT he remembers who hung the stars in the Heavens and gave the sun a song and so he does the only thing he can do. He throws his mental weight and stress onto the LORD because He alone shall, (not can, but shall) maintain all that David needs to fulfill his life’s responsibilities.

God is ready to be God. Let Him.

Have a Wonderful Day,

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

The Heavens are Yours, and yours also, the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it. Psalm 89:11

Ethan the Ezrahite, this Psalm’s composer, was one of David’s song leaders. Imagine King David, and all of Jerusalem having amazing worship led by appointed leaders like Ethan. I hope Heaven has a highlight reel when I get there. I’m sure this Psalm will be on the playlist.

God as creator of everything is the rightful owner. He is all and has all, yet He gave all for you and I. These lyrics are a lengthy story of God, our faithful covenant keeper, powerful protector and all seeing, all knowing, perfect judge.

In times of great need, whether it is perseverance, faith, protection, comfort…….there is absolute assurance in knowing who God is and who isn’t god. He is the ONLY One, True, Good, Good Father.

Happy Wednesday,

Gretchen

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” John 3:9

Jesus had just made the Pharisees very angry by speaking of eternal life and being in the presence of Abraham in Heaven, thus discrediting their arguments that Jesus cannot be the Son of God. They picked up stones to kill Him but it was not yet time. As He was leaving He healed a man blind since birth. Wow, Jesus is fleeing death threats and stops to help the helpless!

It was traditional thought that bad things happened to bad people, so if you were suffering you obviously had a secret sin that needed to be confessed and atoned. Jesus put this assumption to rest. Suffering is a result of the downfall of the human race, but particular people are not targeted. God is NOT petty or vengeful.

God seeks to bring good from bad. This man’s blindness led to a face to face encounter with Jesus. Not only were his eyes were open but his heart was too, and he believed.

To believe through despair that God is Good is an act of great faith. Seek the face of Jesus. All you need is found there.

Love,

Gretchen

Monday, December 4, 2017

Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God. I Peter 1:21

At the time Peter wrote this letter the church is 35 years old and Paul has just been martyred. Nero has declared war on Christianity and by his example the torture and persecution of Christians reached across the entire Roman Empire. It was brutal. Silas was tasked to carry this letter to the many churches Paul established with Peter’s love and encouragement to remember the hope you find only in the Resurrection of Jesus. Peter felt with great certainty that he and his wife would soon be martyred for their commitment to the perpetuation of the Gospel but their salvation was sealed by Christ’s ultimate sacrifice so they had comfort rather than terror.

Peter was a front row witness to Jesus’ miracles, the crucifixion, the empty tomb, Christ’s fellowship before the ascension, the ascension AND Pentecost. Of course his hope was in the Savior he knew personally, but this letter is a testimony to those who had not seen and heard as Peter had.

It was not silver and gold, man’s most precious commodity, that secured eternal life, but the very thing that flows through a body and sustains life, that was the most wonderful gift. Jesus’ blood was given to ransom and redeem our souls. Peter saw it in living color and wants us to know with total assurance that it is true.

Love,

Gretchen

Sunday Stories, December 3, 2017

There is no authority like success.  My parents have stayed married for 57 years, raised four children who all graduated college, two with graduate degrees, and all productive citizens.  They still strive daily to bring peace and comfort to those they meet and Glory to God’s Kingdom.  Dad wrote an essay and an absolute delightful poem on observations and thoughts about things that happen behind the front door.  He is allowing me to share it today.
FAMILY DYNAMICS
 
  I think I should begin with a disclaimer.  I have no academic qualification or professional certification to authoritatively address this subject.  As the late newscaster Paul Harvey would say preceding a news-note that might not be fully confirmed, “I can soon tell you more about this than I know.”  Well….that’s where I am.  You might want to stop reading now lest you become angry or contemptuous at my ignorance.  Or worse yet, you might (heaven help us) take me too serious and be misled to either your temporary or permanent harm.  I claim only one qualification. Yogi Berra, the legendary baseball player,  master philosopher and twister of the Queen’s English, expressed it best.   His astute key to learning was in the simple phrase, “You can observe a lot by watching.”   I claim that as my only qualifying leg to stand on so if you kick my thoughts, you are safe because I won’t (can’t) kick back.
 
  I have had a good ring-side seat to watching dads, moms, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, in-laws, out-laws, and cousins…. once, twice and three times removed (whatever that means).  My place in the gallery has been from a “third child-second son” position in a traditional family of modest financial resources.   Our home was Christian, evangelical if you will, and of a conservative slant that followed generations of tradition and mind-set.  There were lots of kin and friends who were like family and shared similar life-styles and values. Honesty compels me, however,  to admit that we have had our moments. Discretion (and fear) prevents me from specifics lest I incriminate myself or have some family members put knots on my head faster than I can rub them.
 
 Added to my family experience, I have spent over 50 years in pastoral ministry watching a parade of the best and worst in familial relationships.  Some families with little quantifiable resources and qualifications work smoothly and are a credit to the family tree.  Others  not so much.  It has been sadly frustrating to see the disarray and dysfunction that is the lot in so many homes.  The pain, the disappointment, the tears that some experience in the place where their greatest joy should arise is more than heart-breaking. 
 
When I ponder all this (and I have many times) I have some observations that raise as many questions as provide answers.  I am going to share them anyway.
 
 OBSERVATION #1. The most inexperienced people imaginable come together to be the heads of families.* Guy meets girl, they “fall in love” (I think that is an apt description) and get married.  With blindness that comes with infatuation, they bring two lives together that are as immature as they are unique.   While finding commonality that suggests a good match, some things are over-looked that will sooner or/than later be exposed.  Ecstasy morphs into reality and it becomes evident that everything we are as a person….physically…. mentally… emotionally, is brought  into a marriage.  The mundane of life has a way of exposing ones true self.  Rare is the individual who is so charming but little nuances of speech, habit and preference do not seep through and become an irritant in the most comfortable of relationships.  There should be a required primer for every prospective bride and groom to assimilate. And don’t get me started on the potential for disaster when families are formed without the foundation of genuine love,   deep and documented commitment.  Anything that can go wrong probably will…..and does.  Add to these the fact that people do “fall out” of whatever, break-ups ensue and the potential for disastrous family dynamics is multiplied exponentially.
 
*God must believe the energy and enthusiasm of youth is more important in raising children  than the stagnant experience of us ole folks.  We have grandchildren……
 
 OBSERVATION #2.  Many (if not most) lasting impressions dictating relationships within families occur at a very early age just outside the perimeter of the cradle when mature responses are impossible. Little disputes and disagreements of the most trivial sort can easily become a pattern that is followed, and if not recognized and altered, carried into adult years.  The result is what we call “sibling rivalry.”   It does not have to be hostile to be unpleasant.  The degree of communication and affection in future years may be determined by insignificant childish clashes and immature responses.  On the other hand, seemingly insignificant gestures of love expressed in childhood can nurture unbreakable bonds of affection.  Let me speak personally.  I am a little brother, 4 ½ the younger.  As boys, we played in the creeks, woods and fields surrounding our rural home.  I know that I was too small to keep up and no doubt it was an irritation to my older brother.  But being the big brother he was, he would pack me on his back more times than I can count.   Guess what!  As adults, I think he has still been carrying me on his back through example, prayer and support.   That’s great family dynamics.  Thanks Wendell.
 
 OBSERVATION #3.   There is no “one size fits all” formula creating and maintaining the ideal in family dynamics.  The human experience is just too complex for simplistic solutions.  When I review Biblical families, I am blown away with some of the stories.  Consider Cain and Abel in the first family, the offspring of Jacob,  David, son of Jesse and King of Israel.  I am especially fascinated with John’s gospel story of  Mary, Martha and Lazarus who were close friends of Jesus.   While we don’t know much about St. Paul’s family, he at least left us with some profound and succinct directives.  (See Ephesians 5 & 6 and Colossians 3:18-4:1)
 
 OBSERVATION #4  We tend to see the good, bad and ugly in those closest to us.  Too often we are more inclined to respond negatively and speak unkindly to those in our close circle that we would be to a stranger.  Simple kindness, patience and respect should begin at home.  Guess what?!?  It might become a habit that extends to all of life.
 
I can’t restrain myself from giving some advice (it’s a “preacher thing”) so here goes…
 
            1.  Dad, love the lady who shares your intimate self and the mother of your children as Christ loves you.  One of the best things you can do for your kiddos is love and respect their mom.
 
            2.   Mom, your role by its very nature is sacrificial from conception, through birth to being the pivotal factor in a stable home environment.  I know that isn’t very PC in today’s social climate.  However, it is just one of those things I have “observed a lot by watching.”
 
            3.   Parents, teach your children honor and respect by honoring God and making Christ Jesus the center of your home.  Respect, discipline and obedience are learned at home.  If not there, then probably it will be an arbitrary and unpleasant lesson forced by society later in life.
 
            4.   Give!  Give!  Give!  That’s what God does.  Do it too!  And be nice!  Jesus was.
 
A few years ago, the surviving children of the late Reverend and Mrs. Harold Lake, of Mountain Home, AR, gathered to witness the presentation of The Distinguished Service Award to “baby sister” Janice.  What a fun family.  It was my honor on behalf of the Church of the Nazarene and the local congregation to present the award.  For the occasion, I wrote the following piece of doggerel.  Hopefully it will lighten any heaviness from the above litany.
 
                                                           THREE PRAYERS
(In honor of every family’s dynamics)
(Apologies to St. John the Beloved Apostle)
 
  MARTHA-
 Lord of all pots and pans and dishes.
 Please briefly listen to my wishes.
 Don’t you care that I do all the work,
 And Mary has learned her chores to shirk?
 I’d love to be a saint, you know,
 But it seems I’m always on the go.
 If I could get some help ’round here,            
 To your feet, I’d soon draw near.
MARY –
Lord of love and tenderness,
Help me not to worry ’bout this mess.
May the moments I spend with you
Mold my heart and make me true.
And when the evening sun goes down,
When you and yours depart this town,
May Sis and I forgive each other
And turn some work over to our brother.
LAZARUS –
Lord of brothers and sisters….families all
I have a request that’s not too tall.
You who calmed the storm at sea,
Turn some of the storm into Mary’s energy.
And You, who turned the water into wine,
Pay no attention to Martha’s whine,
And since neither of them has a spouse
I need to sit….relax….eat….nap
And be the man of the house.            
Sincerely…..sorta,
Bryan Jones

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

The Christian converts of Jerusalem felt their city would soon be capital of the entire world, for Jesus was to return, establish His Kingdom and rule with justice and peace.  The reality was, their city would soon be obliterated from the face of the earth for the rest of their lifetime. The faith of the early church was going to be tested and stretched as Rome did its worst.

Hebrews is the last epistle written. Paul writes, only a few years before the destruction of David’s City, not knowing the future, but knowing His LORD.

Aside from John’s account of the empty tomb, there are no words in scripture that give me more hope than these.  Before the world was created Jesus was there and as man fell short of the perfect image of God there was a plan of redemption and restoration. Today, I am a sinner saved by grace because everything He’s ever done for anyone else (as scripture tells),  He will do for me and you, all because our Eternal Savior loves.

You are loved,

Gretchen