ChristAmazing

Today I went to visitation for a friend of mine.  As I sat there observing all the interactions among the family and other visitors, I realized there are two distinct types of funerals — those with joy and those without.

True, there is sadness and heartbreak at every funeral.  Sometimes the grief is so overwhelming, you can’t tell the type of funeral you’re attending.  But, time provides clairity and once the craziness of the moment passes, you can tell if God was allowed to provide joy to those who have to continue on.

Joy and happiness, though they sound very similar, are very different.  Happiness is usually caused by a thing or experience.  Perhaps a motorcycle makes you happy, but a motorcycle can be stolen, damaged, or lost.  I usually think of “fragil” when I think of happiness.  What makes you happy today may be gone tomorrow.

Joy, however, is a feeling from within.  It can never be stolen, damaged, or lost.  There are several beautiful stories of prisoners of war who even while being mistreated and abused still had a joy that could not be taken away.  Joy comes from God, from having a relationship with God.

Back to funerals — a funeral for a ‘Christ-centered’ person, even though sad, still has an element of joy.  The joy can be felt, and sometimes seen, in the attitude of the mourners.  The joy comes from knowing that death is only a step into the next life of paradise.  Christ provides the joy in sad situations.  Christ alone gives hope in a hopeless situation.

Jesus said, “Oh death where is your sting?”  He was able to ask this rhetorical question because His life was sufficient to make death powerless.   Death can now be a celebration for those of us who have experienced God’s Son!  I find a lot of joy in knowing that death has no power over me!

Will there be joy at your funeral?

Perhaps you’ve noticed under the Basic Beliefs tab, as many others have, that one of our foundational beliefs is found in John 11:35.  Many readers of this blog have asked why we would consider this two-word verse to be foundational.

The verse is John 11:35 — Jesus wept.

Wow! That verse excites me!  To know that our God, in human form, had the capacity and caring to weep tells us so much about the God of the Universe!  That Jesus loved His friend, Lazarus, with such depth that He wept over him tells us about His caring for our world and each of us.

I have often pondered this — How much love did it take for Jesus to not intervene in saving the life of His earthly father Joseph?  The facts are this: Joseph was alive when Jesus was twelve years old teaching in the temple.  When Jesus began his ministry at age thirty, Joseph was no longer in the picture.  Whatever happened to Joseph, either disease or accident or whatever, Jesus had to stand by and let that happen according to God’s plan.  No doubt Jesus loved His earthly father Joseph just as he loves each of us, without limit.  What a heavy burden to carry, knowing you are God and having to watch somebody you love die.

The very fact that Jesus wept should excite you.  Our God is not a distant and uncaring God who rules without compassion, but rather a God that is so connected to and with us that when something happens in our lives, He weeps.

Wow! That is ChristAmazing!

Today I had somebody say something very mean about another individual I know.  Even though I would never repeat what was said, I will always remember the person who said it.  Sadly, my view of this person has been significantly changed…

The tongue is mentioned eighteen times in proverbs.  One verse that makes a lot of sense is Proverbs 21:23 — Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles (KJV).  Trouble follows a sharp tongue!

Most of us have said things in anger or in a moment of haste that displayed our out-of-control tongue.  Once said, these hurtful things can never be unspoken.  We can ask for forgiveness but they still linger in the memory of those hurt.  Some relationships never recover from an attack by a sharp tongue.

This will probably be the case of the comments I heard today.  Our relationship has fundamentally changed, probably for the worse. 

This give me reason to pause and think of hurtful things I’ve said in the past.  The damage has been done.  The verbal scars last forever.  I should have been wiser in my choice of words and tone of voice.  I hope I can find the wisdom to show restraint before letting my tongue move faster than my brain.

Have you ever felt harsh words and said, ‘Man, that thing was sharp!’?

Isn’t it surprising that some people seem to find trouble at every corner?  We all know friends and neighbors who take a wrong step at every opportunity and then are surprised when the consequences cause them pain.  Most of these poor souls say, “I didn’t see that coming….”

Choices surround us.  Choices determine what path we take and what path our lives take.  Some of these choices are easy but some require more maturity and wisdom.  The Bible says — A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it (Proverbs 22:3).

What is a prudent man?  To me, it is the person who sees what is real, evaluates the situation with clairity of mind, and determines the best path to take.  Sadly, most people take the ‘simple man’s’ path and refuse to see the consequences of the danger.

Each of us will have missteps.  Sometimes we can’t see the danger in a particular choice and get ensnared in a poor choice.  Often, though, we see the danger and fail to turn away from it.

Don’t say you didn’t see that coming just because you didn’t want to see or acknowledge the danger.  Be the prudent man.

Shine on!

Life is so busy.  Everyday runs into the next and the next.  Soon a week, then a month, and a year has passed by.  The routines in our lives make the time pass even quicker.  Our fast paced lives enable us to forget to be thankful for the little things we enjoy.

Grace woke me up this morning.  For that, I’m thankful.  I ate the breakfast of my chosing.  For that, also, I’m thankful.  I drove to work in a car I own.  I am thankful for that.  I could go on and on…..

Jesus gave a beautiful example of being thankful in the the story of the ten lepers.  You might remember He instructed them to go to the temple and present themselves to the priest.  On the way, they were miraclously cured of their leprcy.  One of the ten came back to tell Jesus ‘Thank You.’

Jesus asked the one of came back, “Were there not ten who were healed?”

Today would be a great day to start thinking of the many things you have to be thankful for.  Try finding a person that you need to show graditude to and tell them thank you.  I have started a list of twenty people I want to thank for all they do for me.  It probably should fifty…..

Faith is a mystery. Simply defined as the belief in the unseen, unheard, and unwitnessed. Some people have faith and most of us don’t. I don’t have great faith. Something as big as faith is hard to get my intellectual mind around. Faith is better understood and grasped by children.

But there is hope for those of us who are weak in faith — “If you don’t have great faith, have faith in a great God!” So that’s what I claim. Little faith on my own but faith in a great God.

I like it this way. It keeps my humble and more focused on who God is and less concerned about what I might be able to do on my own. If I had more faith, I might be running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to be busy just to be busy.

Just a little faith leads to a great God and a great God leads to everything!

How big is a mustard seed?????

As a young teenage girl, I admire the loyalty and faith of Ruth. She is such a great example of a Godly woman! To me, she seems to be the most amazing woman in the Bible. In fact, if you don’t know, an entire book in the Old Testament is named after her and tells her story. Check it out!

What amazes me about Ruth is that she was a Moabite woman who marries a Hebrew man. However, when he dies and no one is left to take care of her mother-in-law, she decides to leave the land of her birth and go to Israel with Naomi. She could have easily found a new husband in Moab and let Naomi travel back to Israel by herself; instead, she declares to her mother-in-law that “Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God”. Can you imagine leaving your home and everything you have ever known for someone not even related to you by blood?

Now, here Ruth’s story definately parellels Abraham’s own sojourn out of his land. She had no idea what would be in her future; she could only have faith and place her cares in the hands of her new God like Abraham did so many years before her. Once in Israel, Ruth works hard to support Naomi and herself, which was quite unusual for one to help a person not in their immediate family. 

Ruth, a widow eventually redeemed into society by her new husband Boaz, foreshadows Jesus’ redemption of believers into God’s family. Think about it: Paul calls us the bride of Christ! In fact, Ruth is an ancestor of David who is an ancestor of Jesus Himself! God used Ruth to start the lineage of David the same way He used Abraham to start the Hebrew lineage. So don’t you think Ruth truly is an amazing woman? Read her full story in the book of Ruth in the Old Testament to find out!

My first thoughts about being a daily poster on the ChristAmazing blog was ‘I’m too busy to write a daily blog!’ Don’t we always throw that excuse at God?

Laying in bed, God revealed His desire for me to be part of this blog. I had a choice of being too busy or responding as the Prophet Isaiah did when he said, “Here I am, send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

So I say Yes! to sharing some of my ideas and thoughts on this blog. As Sky posted earlier, we are called to be seed sowers and not seed growers. Perhaps a small seed will be sown by this humble work. God has blessed me with the gift of conversational writing and now He wants me to use it.

Thank you, God, for making me so busy that I need to stop each day and trust you to bless me!

Sin did not start with Adam. It started with heaven’s angels and their pride. The Bible says one-third of heaven’s angels turned against God.

The biggest difference between Man and the angels — Man has a path of redemption through Christ; angels are eternally condemed.

Now you understand why angels rejoice when a sinner repents.

Pride and sin both have ‘i’ in the middle!

Step back…. I might hurt somebody’s feelings.  Heresy, you say!

The most amazing woman in the Bible was…..Peter’s wife!  Many years ago I wrote in my Bible, What kind of woman was Peter’s wife?  I’ve pondered this for a long time.

Here’s what happened —- Peter’s comes home from meeting Jesus, following an introduction from his brother, Andrew, and tells his wife that he has met the Messiah.  He tells her that he must follow the Messiah in his travels and tells her good luck with the household, the children, the animals, and the neighbors…..

And she says, “Go! Everything will be fine here!”

What kind of woman was Peter’s wife to show that kind of support?  In today’s society, can we even imagine that level of courage and understanding?  She was truly the woman behind the man! 

But then again there was Rahab…..