No Video

When I was young, my mother's sister and her family lived overseas for several years. From time to time, we'd send them videotapes of ourselves--a letter is nice, but you can see and hear a person on a video.

One morning, my mother spotted a series of hot air balloons floating above our house. She got out the videocamera and began recording the balloon race. I watched the race too, and my mother and I commented about the different colors and designs of the various balloons, the tape all the while recording our comments. But only our comments. The tape was just video of the balloons and audio of our voices.

I'm not sure why, but my mom sent this videotape to her sister and her family. Later, they joked about how frustrating it was to hear our voices but not see us. They knew we were there because they could hear our voices. But they longed to see our faces.

For some reason, I thought about this the other day, this memory from my childhood. And it made me think about how frustrating it can be when God seems so far away. He seems a world away. We can see His creations, and sometimes we can even hear His voice. We know He's there. But we can't see Him. But someday we will. And it is also a comfort to remember Matthew 28:20: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Jesus is with us. Always. And He always will be. Remember this. Remind yourself constantly. We've got a big brother who is always there to guide us, cheer us, protect us, and love us.

The Good Times and the Bad Times

This morning I read the first half or so of Mark 1. When I read the account of Jesus' baptism and then what followed, I stopped and pondered. After Jesus was baptized (an act of submission to God the Father), He was tempted by Satan for 40 days. In the desert. Alone. Well, alone until the angels came and cared for Him.

So I got to thinking....

Have you ever gone through a period of good times, only to go through a really bad time? You keep thinking things just can't get any worse, but they do. Unfortunately, during the good times, we often forget about God. We don't pray regularly, we don't read our instruction manual (i.e., the Bible), we let our church attendance slide or at least don't really put our all into it when we're there. So then when the bad times come (which they do because we live in a fallen world), we're not prepared for them.

Jesus experienced a good time (His baptism) and then immediately a bad time (the temptation by Satan). I'm sure He was pretty hacked off about it at times. Good grief, stupid Satan! Just leave me alone! But He was prepared. How was He prepared? He was prepared with Scripture. Also, He was attended by angels. When we are combatting evil, we need God's people attending us. That will probably mean that you need to reach out and ask for help. We can't all read each other's minds. So we have to reach out.

I pray that you are daily preparing yourself for whatever you may face and are developing relationships with people who are doing the same.

When I Get to Heaven....

This post is short and very unlike most of my posts here. Too bad. It's my blog, so I can do what I want. ;)

So, when I get to heaven, I'm going to be a mermaid part of the time. I love the ocean, and I want to swim with the dolphins and sea turtles. I'm not too sure about the sharks, but if the lion and lamb can lie together, then I figure I can be friends with a shark.

A Fresh Coat

Jesus taught using parables. He used everyday things to help make sense of things that were hard to understand. I just thought of an analogy for a biblical concept....

In today's DIY world of home improvement, many decorators advise turning an old piece of furniture into something new with a fresh coat of paint. For some reason, I thought of the idea of being dressed in Christ's righteousness. I understand the meaning. I am inexpressibly grateful for this gift. But I never really...connected with the "dressed" part. Now, I get it. God takes our beat-up, chipped exterior and strips our old paint and varnish. We're totally bare and exposed. It's the most extreme feeling of vulnerability. But He loves us like this. He loves us because He knows we're trusting Him.

And then...

...He gives us a fresh, cheery, shining coat of paint. The color? Christ's Righteousness, of course!

Loving the Unlovable

One of the things my mother told me often as I was growing up was that people are the most unlovable when they need the most love. It makes sense. When we are miserable, we give very little thought to any one else but ourselves. But isn't it hard to love someone when they're at their worst? It's much easier to avoid the person. But -- and here is the question you should constantly ask yourself -- would Jesus have chosen the easy way? Nope. He wouldn't. And He didn't. And He still doesn't.

He loves you and me, doesn't He? Are we always easy to love? Nope.

But He loves each and every one of us more than we can imagine. And He loves us when we're at our worst.

But, as Max Lucado often says, He loves us too much to leave us there. He wants us to live abundantly.

When you are feeling at your worst, remember how much your Father and His Son love you. And when someone is at their worst, remind yourself that God and Jesus feel the same way about that person.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4, emphasis added).

Getting a Lift

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (I Peter 5:6-7).

What's this about "in due time"? I read a devotional last night that said that "[t]he thorn and the thistle - the difficulties and trials that make (man's) life one of toil and care - were appointed for (man's) good as a part of the training needful in God's plan for his uplifting from the ruin and degradation that sin has wrought (The Path to Peace: Finding Hope in a Troubled World, Steps to Christ).

We are so impatient, aren't we? We're even impatient about God's speed in helping us. We wonder how long we'll have to suffer whatever it is we are going through. But do we do what it takes to let Him help us? The key is in the humility. Are we not being arrogant when we think we can handle all of life's difficulties on our own? God knows us -- we're His creations. And He knows that we need to understand that -- that He made us, so He can take care of our problems better than we can. This is not to say that we don't have a part in the solutions to our problems. But we must remember to constantly ask for His guidance, strength, wisdom, and peace. Then maybe we'll get a lift.