RADIANT LOVE

This past Sunday the High Reverend Chris spoke truth into my soul.  He gave an illustration of going to the white sandy beaches in Florida on a sun filled day without your sunglasses.  



You cannot see it is so bright!  Squinting your eyes and only allowing a fraction of the light to enter is the only solution.  Even then you have to completely close your eyes after a brief time-it is so bright--it is blinding, but OH, the beauty of it all!




This reminded me of my recent cataract surgery and the results from the dilation of my eye.  Twenty four eyes later I was still wearing my darkest sunglasses for the brightness was painful.  My eyes had been opened and the sun was overwhelming.

So it is with God's glory--our human eyes cannot bear His radiance.

We are working through the Gospel of Luke and parked in the ninth chapter for the transfiguration of Jesus.  


And as He (Jesus) was praying, the fashion of His countenance was altered,
 and His raiment became white and dazzling.
Luke 9:29

They saw the glory of God while gazing upon Jesus.  We were reminded Jesus is our access to God.  We will see the radiance of God when we encounter Jesus be it through the Scripture, prayer, or our Spiritual Community.  If we see Jesus, we see God.


He (Jesus) is the radiance of the glory of God
and the exact imprint of His nature.
Hebrews 1:3

Chris spoke of the radiance of God which shown upon Moses when he came down from the mountain.  Over time God's radiance faded from the face of Moses, and I began to ponder why?  My explanation--Moses was once again in the world of man and the world came between God's radiance and Moses.  A long shadow is cast between us and God when we turn our eyes away from Him unto the world.

The challenge becomes turning away from the world and spending time enough seeking Jesus that we are soaked in the brilliance of God.  Just as a sun tan only remains if we continue to seek the sun, so it is with God.  We must seek Him to maintain His radiant glory upon our countenance.

May we all soak in the Son daily is my prayer that we might enjoy the radiance and splendor of God's glory.




DRASTIC TIMES

There is an old adage~



I always think of this adage when I recall a great story from a dear friend.

She worked back in the woods for one of our local plants as their accountant.  Her hubby asked to borrow her car one day, which meant she was forced to drive the twenty miles to work in his old truck.  Said truck decided to break down on the way home from work on a hot and steamy Louisiana summer day on the interstate.  Fortunately she was near civilization since the local watering hole was almost directly across the access road from where she stopped.  Before calling for help, since hubby was out of pocket, she climbed the cyclone fence barrier between the access road and the interstate and ordered a frozen daiquiri to cool off--figuratively and emotionally. Side Note--YES, in Louisiana we have drive through daiquiri stores.  It seems as long as the paper is still attached to the top of the straw it is not considered open container--Louisiana logic at its finest!  Drastic times call for drastic measures.




Many of my desperate times have been saved by a roll of duct tape.



A must carry along on any hiking trip, I would venture to say it is a good idea to not only have a roll at home, but to keep one in your automobile also.  I recently viewed the movie "Skyscraper" (which involved being bodily dragged along by a couple of friends--NOT my cup of tea).  The hero should be paid huge royalties by the people that make duct tape, for he proved its worth over and over in a 90 minute butt clinching display of brute strength and brutality.


Note the duct tape on his hands

Each of us--sooner or later--will meet desperate times head on.  The test of who we are is answered in how we react to our desperate times.  Where will we turn, what measures will we use, and who will we call upon for help?  Are we going to run for cover, climb the fence to the oasis, or meet the challenge face on?  Where does your help come from when you are desperate?  Who can you call upon in desperate times?  

Over and over in The Word, David shows us from whence our help comes.  What a comfort to know--He is always by our side!

And call upon me in the day of trouble; 
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Psalms 50:15

ONE DAY

OH, GLORIOUS DAY!




BLESSED SABBATH,

DEAR FRIENDS

NO PAIN NO GAIN---WHATEVER!


I am really quite proud of these two--#1 daughter and my favorite son-in-law.  They have more hardware to hang around the house and the kids drag around with little or no respect for what it took to have that ribbon placed around their neck.  These two are tri-athletes~  it's not enough to have a brood of four ~for dates they go on a run.  WHERE DID I GO WRONG???  I digress----yesterday they competed in the Wacotri ~DEEP IN THE HEART OF HOTTER THAN HELL TEXAS!  They seem to enjoy getting out in 100 degree heat and high humidity and enduring pain, faint, and dehydration to have another piece of metal to get lost in the toy box.  You begin a tri by swimming in the midst of a pod of trashing, kicking, and unaware of your presence swimmers ~IN A RIVER!  Not good enough to swim in a pool--must get into a polluted nasty river and dare death while swimming in the midst of fatal bacteria and other nasties.  THEN you get on a bicycle that has a seat the width of a pencil and is made of the hardest metal known to man.  Add to that you clip yourself into that pedal--so if the bike goes down --you are headed south for a thrilling slide down asphalt hot enough to cook an egg.  Finish all that and you get to run--on that SAME blistering asphalt or worse concrete with your feet directly on the hot plate.  You can't ingest water fast enough to recover what is pouring out of you.  WOW--what a FUN date weekend!  PAIN seems to be there aphrodisiac!

WELL NOW--for your information--they cannot hold a candle to this mama's  ability to endure pain.  Having birthed a 9 pound 6 ounce baby with a head the size of a volleyball---N A T U R A L L Y~~~I WIN!!!  No trophy--no medal--just a lovely big strapping boy who stayed on my hip until he was two.  Though he was a grand prize--I DID LEARN MY LESSON--I do NOT pursue pain anymore.  I never push myself into pain territory when working out.  I am always whining, moaning and groaning at the least discomfort and headed OUT THE DOOR when it does not let up.  My poor sports massage therapist, Jeff, has to chase me all over that table and I have threatened him bodily harm on more than one occasion.  I am interested in being in the best shape possible with NO PAIN!  That old saying about no pain no gain is for the masochist--not for this sissy.  I avoid pain WHENEVER POSSIBLE!

Laugh if you will, but pain is NO laughing game.  BUT we will have pain in life--I do not know how you can avoid it.  NONE of us like pain, but hopefully something is gained from our pain.  For athletes, it is stronger bodies.  For many though, the pain seems to have no benefit--no possible good reason~unless you believe what our Sovereign God promises us-

ALL things work together for good for those that love God,
 and are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28

CLING to this promise when life is more painful than you think you can bear, when the world has turned upside down, when nothing makes sense.  HOLD FAST to ALL THINGS.  KNOW that we have a God who loves us---KNOW His ways are not our ways---KNOW he holds your tears in His hand---KNOW GOD and KNOW PEACE~ even in the worst of times--in the most extreme pain--HE is GOD and ALL THINGS work for our good if we only Love Him.

YOU SAY

Taking all I have

I am laying it at your feet

You say

I am loved

I Believe

What You Say of Me




BLESSED SABBATH

DEAR FRIENDS

GOD'S WILL

In Small Group, we are talking about the Will of God this week.  Specifically we are speaking of our childish perception of the Will of God.  How many of us have had someone tell us some tragedy in our life is the Will of God?  How God must cringe when we mistakenly give Him all the credit for every bad thing that ever happens to us.  

Our book


devotes a chapter to "How does God work to achieve His will in this world?"
The author categorizes God's will into three groups-

The intentional-perfect will of God
The circumstantial, permissive will of God
The ultimate will and purpose of God

As I read through the chapter, it occurred to me I had experienced all three.  When my marriage ended, divorce was certainly not the will of God as clearly explained in The Word.  At the end of the day, due to "Circumstances", divorce was the only answer.  God permitted the end of my marriage, though it was not His perfect will.  Divorced or not--God will accomplish His ultimate will and purpose in my life.  He is an omnipotent God who will not be thwarted by man's roadblocks.   



When bad things happen, and if they have not happened to you yet--hold on--they will, God does not expect us to bow our heads and accept what happened as His Will.  Reciting the platitude "It's God Will," does nothing to take away the unbearable pain.  He does expect us to turn to Him and He WILL comfort us.  God has been the nearest when I have been the most defeated and in the worst pain.  God does not cause tragedy, illness, or bad things to happen--He ALLOWS it.  There is a HUGE difference.  If we expect to be allowed to exercise free will, free will can also bring tragic consequences.  I love the quote above, when bad things happen the important question is how will we respond.  Will we blame God or turn to God? 

I cling to the hope and firm belief that God can use all things for His glory and our growth.  The expected growth as explained in the scriptures which leads us nearer to the sanctification through the work of the Spirit.  We are set aside for His purpose and God's ultimate will and purpose for us will be achieved.  My daily prayer is for God's perfect will for me to be revealed and to walk the path He has set out for me.  

May God's will be accomplished in each and every one of us, and when we are affected by circumstances of the world, may we recognize it for what it is--God's permissive will.  God wants us to live according to His promise~

And we know that for those who love God,
all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28

GIVE IT UP--LET IT GO!

Surprise and shock, I am reading a new book-



Anger, greed, jealousy, and guilt are negative emotions than can bind our hearts tighter than a wet rope.  If we are bound by ropes, we are unable to move, frozen with no ability to move in any direction.  So it is when the tentacles of these negative emotions grab a toehold and begin to strangle the very lifeblood of hope from us that the good is locked out.  When we are so choked off with the strangle hold of the negative, the hope of the good coming to light becomes diminished.  As sure as a garden will not grow when the sunlight is blocked from it, our hearts will also be kept from growing if the negative emotions have formed a barrier choking off our growth.

The last chapter I read dealt with the need for confession.  Andy points out our need to confess by reminding us of how we would feel if we were given a confession and apology long needed but never expected.  How would it impact our lives if one who had wronged us freely came forward to admit what they had done and ask for forgiveness.  Thinking this over, I knew it would have a huge impact on my heart and my trust of my fellow man.  More than likely it is entirely possible it would forever change me for the better.



As I pondered this, I realized I had unresolved guilt over an incident decades in the past.  Sadly, I cannot remember the person's name who was involved in my deception for they were only in my life for a brief time.  I do remember the incident and have felt guilty over it for all these years.  The same day I read this chapter a couple of friends came over who also have read this book.  I told them the story and my willingness to confess, but my inability to remember the name of the one who needed my apology (LONG GONE from this neck of the woods).  Wisely, one of the two looked at me and said, "You just confessed--you told us."  So the power of the secret was expelled by my verbal confession and the stronghold of the negative emotion of guilt was crushed when I admitted what I had done.  

My secret was exposed and my guilt was absolved when I admitted my wrong.  The tentacle of guilt was cut the day I told the long hidden secret of what I had done.  This tentacle had been strangling the life blood flowing to my heart and my growth had been stymied by the poison of unconfessed sin.

SO--you are not going to like this, but it all needs to come out--to grow--to flourish--you have to pull the strangling weeds of the negative emotions which are blocking the Son.  Simple as that---give it up--let it go---and grow!


Therefore confess your sins to each other
 and pray for each other so that you may be healed. 
James 5:16

LESSONS FROM THE THREE AMIGOS

The Three Amigos or Three Stooges, depending upon the moment, were loads of fun and exhausting at the same time.  They also are wise beyond their years and ask deep questions while giving interesting insight into the world.


One thing amazing about automobile trips is the conversations.  Some of my best talks--especially with the opposite sex -have been during long car trips. When  trapped the male of the species will finally enter into a conversation, which usually proves to be very productive and quite enjoyable. While traveling, one of the boys announced Lulu should get married again.  As I tried to explain to him why that would probably not happen, another of the grands chimed in and told me it is against God's Law for divorced people to marry.  I then tried to explain there were times God did not frown on you marrying following divorce. Trying to explain that without giving the reasons behind Biblical divorce was not easy.  This also lead to a conversation about grace and exactly what grace looks like.  The third grand sat back there and just listened without making a single comment.


WHAT a conversation!  They are 9, 7, and 5--I knew this subject would come up one day, but really thought it would be much later.  I have been alone since the second one was a small baby, so they have no memory of me ever being married.  And yet--they are asking the questions because their other grandparents have always been together.  They have figured out that is what it is supposed to look like and are wondering why I am alone.

As I thought over the conversation, it occurred to me how much this looks like the world.  Part of the world thinks just move on with your life and live and let live; another part has strong opinions based upon firm opinions based upon legalistic thinking; and the other part--well they may be taking it all in, but don't care or don't have an opinion they are ready to express.  Most of the time, most of us fall into the third group--unless we have a dog in the fight or cannot stand to not share our opinions.  What we often leave out of the equation is grace.  We all want to  be judged based upon grace, but are not always so free with dispensing grace to others.


It really delights me that they feel free to tell me what they are thinking and ask questions.  My little legalistic grand will be fine, I talked with him several times about grace, and his mom will do the same.  The one who wants me to marry I suspect thinks that is the way to be happy--since the marriages around him are great examples of good marriages--he wants Lulu to be happy.  The other one, I suspect is taking it all in and we will have a talk someday about it.  He may be a great deal like his Lulu--and need to process before discussing.


One important thing is I affirmed each of them in what they were thinking and did not automatically say, "You are wrong!"  I opened the door for another opinion without totally shooting them out of the water for their opinions.  How much better would the world be if we acknowledged the validity of different points of view?  Our perceptions are always skewed by the eyes we are looking through.  We can all look at the same scene and each of us have a different version of what we saw.

SO in a round about way, I am reminding myself to always listen to what others have to say, give credit to their right to have a different opinion with no fear of my opinion being diminished.  What a peaceful world this would be if we could only be kind to each other.

To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, 
and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
Titus 3:2