i am a ... sister!

....I interrupt my previously scheduled “i am …” series to bring you the first of two highlights from our church’s family retreat last weekend.



.....#1:


Today is a video of a comical skit performed by my friends and me. Enjoy! After you watch it, I’ll share the secret of how it all developed.
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In case your email doesn't contain the video, here's the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxFsZDdEWA8

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Now what’s really funny to me is how God can take a complete lack of talent and an abundance of fears and transform them into a joyfilled experience.

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You see, on our annual church retreats, we have “Share Your Gifts” nights, my contribution usually being an appreciative audience member. This year I wondered what, if anything, I could do. Alas, I cannot sing a single note on key. But, secretly I can lip-sync with the best of them. Then again, I’m way too scared to do anything by myself. Yet I was also a little afraid to ask anyone to join me in such a ridiculous endeavor. Would they laugh at me? Or just think I’m bizarre?
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The small group I attend is studying “authentic relationships,” so I bared my soul and popped the question to my posse. A movement was born! Patty dreamed up costumes. Diane suggested my daughter choreograph our moves, which she did (that was my Lauren dancing in the audience after she successfully led us through our routine!) Even funnier than our performance were our practices. If laughing were an Olympic sport, we won 7 gold medals.
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This just shows how God can use us despite our weaknesses, or in this case, because of them.
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I usually focus on what I lack.
I usually succumb to my fears.
This time, I took a chance and ended up with a memory of a lifetime.
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Whoever said that it isn't fun to be a Christian - isn't hanging around with the right Christians!

 

  

i am a Servant

Jimmy is a simple man. In pretty much every way. Occasionally cantankerous, he stands guard over his domain - the church’s kitchen - keeping the younger generation safely outside its borders. He stands at the sanctuary’s entrance, anticipating his opportunity to usher the offering and communion plates. He has few wants and fewer needs. To some, he’s almost invisible, and he prefers it that way.
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On retreat one year, Alice and her senior friends were struggling at the food line. At least, so it seemed to me. Alice’s cane hooked over her arm as she slid the heavy plastic tray along the metal bar. I rushed over to carry their trays.
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Gently, Alice assured me she needed no help from me.
“When we get to the end, Jimmy will be there.”
And sure enough, when the gals got to the end, Jimmy was there ready to carry the trays to their table. He had been doing that for every meal. Where had I been?

The impact of Alice’s statement took me from the dining hall to the pearly gates. When Jimmy gets to the end, he will be there. He is a faithful servant seeking nothing in return, investing his talents in the lives of others. It was to those who had invested their talents that the Master said, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”


“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: … taking the very nature of a servant.” Phil. 2:1-7

Unlike biblical times, we are a servants by choice, not of a harsh master, but of a loving and kind one. In fact, our Master knows what it is to be a servant. He said that He Himself came not to be served, but to serve, and He set an example for us to follow. It is not hard to serve our Lord and Master because of His character.

The great price He paid for us gives us security, freeing us from worry. A servant doesn’t need to worry about where his next house payment is coming from, where his next meal is coming from. The servant knows that the Master has taken care of all that the servant needs, maybe not every desire, but certainly all the needs. A servant is a demanding full-time, life-time job, but with wonderful long-term benefits.

Being a servant means relinquishing control to the Master. In today’s culture where it is almost fashionable to be a “control-freak,” it goes against the very fabric of our society to voluntarily yield to another’s wishes. But 2000 years ago, faced with the daunting charge of birthing and mothering the Son of God, young Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” She surely had other plans - to be married to a godly carpenter, honorably raising a devout Jewish family, respected in her hometown. However, in identifying herself as a servant, she surrendered control and set aside her desires to satisfy those of her Master.

To be a servant, we don’t need to have all the answers or abilities. In fact, we find God’s strength more glorified when we serve Him in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). The old adage goes, “God is not looking for our ability, but our avail-ability.” He wants a willing servant that He can work through.


Check out this list:

the 3 patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; Moses; Joshua; Ruth; Hannah; Samuel; David; Solomon; Elijah; Nehemiah; Job; Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego; Daniel; Mary; Jesus; Paul; Peter; James; Timothy; John...
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This list could be a Who’s Who of important, influential people in the Bible, yet each one was called or called themselves a servant of the Lord. As you embrace the identity of a servant, what might your future hold?

"Speak, for your servant is listening." 1 Samuel 3:10



i am an Ambassador

The first day of school brings a cacophony of sounds - humming engines of school buses; children laughing, yelling, crying; moms laughing, yelling, crying; and Donna’s loud cheerful greetings.

Donna is my neighbor, my friend, and part of our neighborhood Bible study. One day, Donna announced that she just got her dream job - the crossing guard at our local elementary school, the school she attended as a child. I just love that of all the jobs in all the word, this was her dream. Through heat waves, cold spells, rain, hail, sleet and snow, and beautiful days too, Donna mans her post with a smile.

But she is more than a crossing guard. She is our neighborhood’s ambassador for Christ. Her focus is not just the physical safety of the children. Week after week, Donna brought prayer requests to our study group. Often she brought a friend, sometimes a parent she met at her post. If a neighbor was sick, she spread the news so that we could provide assistance. She could just focus on the required elements of her job, but instead she sees beyond the physical to the spiritual needs.

What is an ambassador?

"An authorized messenger or representative. Often, a diplomatic official, sent by one sovereign or state to another as its resident representative."

An ambassador is someone who lives in a place other than his or her true home and serves to represent that true home to others. Ambassadors must live in foreign, maybe hostile, environments and convey the virtues of their native land, encouraging others to travel there, to invest/trade there, to move there. As Christians, our home is the kingdom of heaven. We are to encourage others to make the kingdom their home as well. We must represent the kingdom in a way that draws people unto our King.

“We are therefore Christ's ambassadors...” 2 Cor. 5:20

Perhaps we assume that it is someone else’s job to be an ambassador. A minister or a Sunday School teacher or a traveling evangelist. Someone better equipped to handle God’s Word. But in this paragraph, Paul says “if ANYone is in Christ, he is a new creation. … WE are Christ’s ambassadors, God is making his appeal through US.” Through you and me. If God can use a donkey and a crossing guard, I have to believe He can use me, and you too. We don’t need to preach a sermon. We just need to share our experience. “All I know is this - once I was blind, now I see.”

I am a Christian today because someone was His ambassador to me. Is there someone you can bring God’s grace to? 

i am a Shepherd

You might think for a shepherd post, I’d choose to highlight my pastor who is indeed an awesome shepherd of our flock. You might pick your pastor too. Maybe that’s why I didn’t. We often associate the job of the pastor with the identity of a shepherd. In fact, we often confuse our profession with our identity. Randomly ask someone “Who are you?” and the answer might be “I’m an accountant... a teacher... a stay-at-home mom... etc...”

The truth is our identity is not what we do, but who we are. And who we are is what determines what we will do. For example, if we are a shepherd, we will care for our sheep. Not because it is our profession, but because it is how we are made.

In the weeks to come, I will be sharing “people posts,” posts about people who demonstrate a particular biblical identity. And I do believe there will be some surprises, unexpected choices. In fact, every one of the people you will read about was shocked that I asked to write about them. Like Dee Silva. Dee is the front end manager of a local gourmet food store, and my kids’ first boss.

I shop in the Market Basket often. It’s on my way to work, church, and just about everywhere I go. It’s also chock full of excellent produce, meat and specialties. So in high school, when my kids were interested in earning a regular paycheck, it was the first place they applied.

It probably wasn’t the job best suited for my kids. One is a dancer who hated being stationary behind her cash register. The other is superactive and hated being tied to a strict schedule. Yet, from a mom’s point of view, the job was ideal - largely because of their boss.

From Day 1, Dee was and is interested in the youth in her employ. She is compassionate when needed, and she disciplines when appropriate.

My kids haven’t worked there for several years, yet when I ran into Dee a few weeks ago, her first question was, “Today is Lauren’s dance performance, isn’t it?” It was. How did she know??? Facebook. Dee keeps us with her lambs even after they no longer are in her employment. After my son returned from his mission trip this summer, on fire to begin a nonprofit ministry, Dee spent time with him sharing her wisdom about the proper steps he needs to take on his journey.

When my friend asked me if I’d recommend the Market Basket as a suitable place for her daughter’s first job, it was a no-brainer. Dee would be my choice for any first boss.

One dictionary definition of shepherd is: a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people. I could have picked a mom who nurtures her cubs or a coach who encourages his team, a babysitter or a CEO, a writer or a salesclerk. Perhaps I could have picked you.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples. While sharing breakfast on the shore, He issued a commission to Peter. After Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” and Peter responded, “You know I do”, Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”  Peter was given his mission. Later, the apostle Paul stated that he acted as both a caring mother and an encouraging father to the Thessalonian church. Likewise, you and I are exhorted to care for those Jesus loves, the weak, the unfortunate, the new believers.  It is not just the pastor who is the shepherd.  All of us are called upon to shepherd the lambs of Jesus, leading them to safety, protecting them from their enemy, helping them to grow, knowing them by name.

He is the Good Shepherd …

The Shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3

I am the Good Shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me. John 10:14

Who even shepherds the stars!

He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Is 40:26

We are the little shepherds called to care for His people...

Feed My lambs. John 21:15

who am i ???

As some of you know, the subject of my book (still a work-in-progress) is who we are in Christ. There are many books on the names and titles of God, but precious few on who He says we are. Each chapter of my book looks at a different identity that He calls us - an ambassador, the bride, a part of the body, a child, clay, salt, light, a servant, sheep, a shepherd, etc. Since God is called the Great I AM, I call these identities "little i am's." 

You know, it's hard to type a little "i" since Word automatically changes my little "i" to a capital "I." It takes constant effort to repeatedly undo that "I" and insert the lower case "i." To me, this illustrates the constant struggle to keep God (capital I AM) on the throne and not me (little i am).

But the Great I AM made us "little i am's" in His image and for His purpose. By maintaining a sense of who He made us to be, we are encouraged and become more confident to do what He wants us to do.
- When I feel alone and cut off, it helps me to remember that I am a branch of the Vine.
- If I'm under attack, I recall the weapons at my disposal as a soldier of the most high Commander-in-Chief.
- Should I feel crushed under my circumstances, I'll remember the refining process used by the Potter.
- When I feel unloved, I'm comforted to know that I am loved unconditionally by my Bridegroom.
- If I feel I cannot go on, I learn to press on like an athlete running a marathon.


Over the next few weeks, I'm excited to share what I'm calling "People Posts" based on random people in my life who through their character or circumstances exemplify a particular God-given identity.  Stay tuned. You never know, you could be next :)

Lazy or Crazy?

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 One of our most enjoyable family experiences has to be riding a Lazy River water ride - floating peacefully in a giant tube, aimlessly drifting yet gently propelled around a vast loop. The slides at the parks are great fun, but the Lazy River is pure bliss. 

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A few years back, we visited the local water park on Long Beach Island, NJ. They had a Lazy River! Oh JOY! My sister-in-law Cathy, daughter Lauren, and I grabbed our tubes and set out for a serene float. Around the park we went, gliding in paradise.

On our second loop, we abruptly found ourselves overturned, terrified, nearly drowned, totally immersed in water, not knowing which way was up. 

What we didn't know was that this park had a Lazy Crazy River, lazy serenity alternating with crazy confusion. We were dunked by a ginormous bucket that, once filled, tipped over spilling tons of water on unsuspecting floaters. A few minutes later, we were under attack by watershooters above us who found it entertaining to be gunning down perfectly innocent strangers. Around a bend, relative safety was lost completely by exploding underwater mines followed by powerful streams of water spurting out from above, below, left and right.
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Once we recovered, Lauren and I ventured back into the River, this time sharply aware of the potential pitfalls. Cathy though, spent her time safely ashore not interested in risking the turmoil the River.  

Hmmm.... Kinda sounds like life.

I long to float through life peacefully unhindered, don’t you? Then one day, it happens - a diagnosis, a phone call, a pink slip, [insert your tribulation] and our serenity is shattered. We may feel like we’re drowning or under attack. Dangers lurk everywhere, no end in sight, no place to turn.



But we have a choice. We can retreat to the sidelines of life, watching others in the race.


Or we can stay in the fray, hopefully a little wiser, a bit better prepared. And know that with the struggle will come a strength and a joy that we would not have were it not for that very struggle.


Consider it pure joy, my brothers (and sisters!), whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Jms. 1:2-4


In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Are you in a crazy river right now? How can I pray for you, my friend?