The Real Scandal

Every day it’s a new scandal, a new divisive issue.

• Race issues.
• Gender issues.
• Abuse issues.
• Political issues.

You know the names. The places. We see and hear them all day, every day. Our newsfeeds overflow with opposing points of view. We share the ones we agree with, furthering the furor. We discount the opinions of others without attempting to understand them.

And I have to ask the question, cliche as it is. What would Jesus do?

Memorial Day - A Day Of Remembrance. And Honor.

Memorial Day isn’t about barbeques or three day weekends. It’s about remembering those who gave their lives in service to our country. It’s about sacrifice and honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Black Friday

We keep hearing the term “Black Friday” screaming from the TV and newspapers.  The day after Thanksgiving begins the unofficial “holiday shopping season,” the time of year when retailers move from operating “in the red” (at a loss) to operating “in the black” (making a profit).  Stores offer crazy low prices to lure customers in, hoping that they will in turn spend a lot of money for gifts. The debt accumulated all year is finally paid.

I can’t help but think of another “Black Friday”, a day when the greatest price was paid for the greatest gift ever given.  2000 years ago, an innocent man gave His life so that others might live.  Jesus, God the Son, left His heavenly home, to be born into an ordinary family and live an ordinary life in an ordinary town, until He began His extra-ordinary ministry on earth.  For 3 years, He healed the hurting, taught those who would listen, and preached the truth to all.  The conclusion of His time on earth was paying the price for the sins of the entire world, past, present and future, and providing the gift of eternal life to any who receive it. In a word, He paid the debt that we owe, a debt we were powerless to pay.  

Now that Thanksgiving Day is over, let’s continue to live with thanksgiving in our hearts. 

Thank You Lord for paying the debt we owe.  Thank You for rising from the dead in victory, giving us the opportunity to live in victory.  May we keep You as our focus in the days and weeks to come, and be ever ready to share the real reason for the season.  

This cannot be the end....

This poem, written by Maude Carolan Pych, a truly gifted poet of the North Jersey Christian Writers Group, is so powerful I couldn't NOT share it with you.
May this minister to you this Good Friday.

THE PIETA

After the earthquake

the peals of thunder

the flashes of lightening across the sky

After the curious crowds dispersed

Mary sat in ominous dimness

upon a mound of earth

at the base of The Cross

holding the body

of her Son

She cradled Him

in the hollow of her lap

close to her bosom

as she had

when he was

her baby boy

Mary removed

thorns of mockery

that encircled His forehead

and tossed it to the side

Straining to see in the shadows

she carefully picked

fragments of thorn needles

still stuck in His lifeless flesh

although they couldn’t hurt Him

any longer

With her fingertips

she tenderly closed the lids

over His dark, vacant eyes

and smoothed

the disheveled, matted hair

…then she kissed Him

O my beautiful Son…

Tears flowed

down her face onto His cheeks

mingling with dried blood

With the edge of her garment

she wiped some blood away

John came

and rested his hand

upon her trembling shoulder

He was now her son

She was now his mother

Mysteries

too deep to comprehend

swirled in her mind

like the flap and flutter

of wings and overshadowing

Son of the Most High

and David’s throne

like pregnant Elizabeth’s joy

when the baby leapt in her womb

and the Baptizer himself, when grown

proclaiming his younger cousin

“The Lamb of God, Who

takes away the sin of the world”

and Simeon’s prophesy

that Jesus would be

a Light of revelation

to the Gentiles and the glory

of the people of Israel

Where is the Light?

Where is the glory?

Where is the throne?

Overwhelmed by sorrow

so intense it stabbed her

deep, deep in her inner parts

Mary cried out in anguish

and rent her robe

Was this what old Simeon meant

long ago in the Temple

when he held Jesus in his arms

and said a sword would pierce

my very soul?

O my Son, my beautiful Son…

I cannot fathom the ways of God, but

I do know this cannot be the end

Maude Carolan Pych

Thank God ~ that was not the end!

Wishing a blessed Resurrection Day to all!

Why Is Red The Color Of Christmas?

I confess - my least favorite color is red. 

Years ago, a friend gave me a gift - maroon/reddish sweater. I finally wore it to be nice. That day, everyone asked me if I was sick. "You're a little flushed today, are you ok?" "You look pale today. How are you feeling?" Flushed? Pale? In the same day? Nope, I feel fine - it's just the sweater. 

My husband and I were shopping for cars a few years after that. The only car left in the model we wanted was maroon/red. It had all the features. The price was right. But I just couldn't be surrounded by that color, looking sick everywhere I drove. We didn't buy the car. 

At Christmas, I tend to decorate in shades of gold, white, and silver adding sprinkles of colors here and there. At Christmas, I tolerate red. Barely. 

But today, I embrace RED. I'm grateful for its presence throughout the history of humanity. Watch this video and I think you'll agree. Red is THE color of Christmas, the color of salvation, the color of life! 

http://blog.greglaurie.com/?p=5390

http://youtu.be/toE3Vo6BBwk

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What is RELIGION anyway?

When my son was little, he found a crayfish in the nearby Glen. He and my husband set up a fish tank abode, and Sebastian lived with us for many years. Not exactly the most cuddly pet, but the very low maintenance was a plus!!

One day, I looked in the tank and darn near fainted. There were two Sebastians! Exactly the same 4 inch size! How on earth????

A closer look revealed that one was merely the shell of the other. It seems Sebastian molted – he shed one complete perfectly shaped “skin.” What looked like two identical living crayfish was in reality one living crayfish and one imposter, a mere specter of the real thing.

Today, my friend Marja’s blogpost, reminded me of this episode of our family history. She wrote about religion, and her aversion to using the word “religious.” That is until she looked up the word in her Penguin English dictionary.

• [Rilijon] n. belief in and worship of God or gods; specified system of theology ritual and morality based on this; outlook and way of life based on this…

Way of life → It’s not the system or the theory or the rituals that the key. It’s the way of life. Marja said, religion “is not a bad word if we allow it to jump off the page and become alive, if we choose it as a way of life.”  

James says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (Jms 1:27)

Marja noted the two principles here:

- benevolent love for people in need

- a holy life

How often do we mis-use that word religion? People who consider themselves religious often miss its true meaning if their ways of life are just ritual and no relationship with the One they purport to worship. They go through the motions and, like the empty shed Sebastian, they look like the real thing but are missing the life inside. Similar to the Pharisees whom Jesus called “white washed tombs” who look righteous and pure on the outside, but inside are filled with dead men’s bones.

As a reaction, you, like me, may be quick to say “It’s not about religion. It’s about relationship.” The truth is – if it’s about relationship, we will demonstrate our relationship with our pure religion. James talks about worthless religion (1:26) and faith without works being dead (2:14-26).

Paul tells us that we were made as His masterpiece and are saved by faith alone, but that we were made to do good works that he prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:8-10).

The conclusion – it’s not what we do that saves us. But it’s what we do and how we do it that demonstrates to others the love of the One who saved us. Our religion a byproduct of our “way of life.” An empty shell of a religion cannot impart life into another. Only the one who has received the Lifegiver can.

Marja wonders “how difficult we have made ‘our’ religion sometimes…”

Me too.  

How about you? 

Finishing Well

Many thanks to all for your prayers and good wishes for AJ. He finished well!  He experienced some knee and hamstring issues about 3/4 through, but pressed on. 


He finished in 3:22:19.62 (8 minutes ahead of his goal time) qualifying him for the Boston Marathon. He placed #114 out of 1856 runners and in the top ten of runners age 20 -24 (he's 20). 


Here's some pics (thanks to Lauren, Anita, and Phi Sigma Kappa):

bright and early - start of a great day

before the race - mental prep

crossing the mile 4 & 8 bridge

"AJ's running a marathon, yet still takes great pictures" Dave M.

"gonna fly now" (Eye of the Tiger - Rocky theme)

greeting his Phi Sig brothers at mile 11

approaching mile 23 hydration station (leading the 2nd pack)

mile 23 - recharged!! 

heading home!

"cue Chariots of Fire music here" Lauren

roommate James running the last mile with him

FINISH LINE!!! 

"Run in such a way as to get the prize

...to get a crown that will last forever."

1 Cor. 9:24-25

I'm so proud of this boy. He sure isn't perfect that I know. I don't want to be  one of those blind "can you top this" moms. But he accomplished what few do. 

And it wasn't just completing the marathon. 

He had over 30 supporters there - family, school friends, church friends. These wonderful people to whom I am most grateful sacrificed time and money to be there at the crack of dawn and lend their support to this zany kid ("he's the happiest runner" Dave M). I know others wanted to be there, but supported him in other ways. Why? One of his fraternity brothers summed it up in a text "AJ's always there for us. Let's be there for him."  

We reap what we sow (Gal. 6:8). Sunday's victory was not gained on that day. It was the months of preparation that allowed him to go the distance. And the support that he received was because of his daily investment in the lives of others, over months and years of relationship.

"whoever sows generously will also reap generously." 2 Cor. 9:6

http://www.razoo.com/story/Ajpanzica

The Unthinkable

The unthinkable happened this week.
A multi-generational tragedy so great there are no words.

We hugged. She wept, “I didn’t sign up for this.”
Pain unimaginable.
Walking wounded.

It can’t be real. These things happen on Law and Order. They happen to other people, not to me, not to us. But on tv, they are resolved in 60 minutes. This will take a lifetime, if it ever is resolved.

The why’s are not for us to know…. Yet.

But He knows what it is to lose a loved One in a violent tragic seeming mistake.

And because He knows - we can trust.

We can have peace that is beyond understanding.
Not peace of the “worry-free” variety.
But peace that comes from a deep assurance that belies common sense. It is uncommon sense.

How do we cope?
Another friend lost her firefighter husband on 9/11. After being bombarded with literature on how to cope, she searched the Scriptures to see what God said about coping. And found that the word “cope” is not in the Bible.
But the word “hope” is.
Nearly two-hundred times.

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him,

on those whose hope is in His unfailing love…

We wait in hope for the LORD;

He is our help and our shield.

In Him our hearts rejoice,

for we trust in His holy name.

May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,

even as we put our hope in You.

Psalm 33: 18-22

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23

 

Clogged ?

Last month, I had unintentionally withdrawn from writing and serving, sensing overcommittment and burnout. While in my self-imposed exile, I read about the Dead Sea, specifically that it is "dead" because the water doesn't flow out.

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.God calls us to be rivers, not lakes; conduits of the blessings He has showered on us, not reservoirs. This winter, the drainpipe at our home was stopped up, frozen and immovable with the water that was made to flow freely through it. It wasn’t serving its purpose to receive from above and channel the water to the soil below.

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And neither are we if we receive the gifts that God has given us and keep them to ourselves. The Bible says that the gifts we are given are for the “common good1,” that is - they are given to us to share with others. If I am given a gift for teaching, what good is it if I keep it to myself? What about gifts of hospitality, mercy, leadership, giving, wisdom, faith, healing? We are told to “eagerly desire the gifts2” but what is the benefit of hoarding such gifts?
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There is no doubt that in this fast-paced, hyperactive society we live in that there is real danger of overcommittment. But the answer is not to withdraw completely. It is to achieve balance. If we’re stopped up, we can become stagnant, like the Dead Sea. Better to allow the Living Water from above flow freely to us and through us.
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A well-known phrase in chiropractic circles is ADIO - meaning that healing comes from “Above Down Inside Out.” It’s a perfect metaphor for how we should live our lives. We can’t be truly successful on the outside unless we are filled and flowing on the inside having received from above.
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Throughout Scripture, drink offerings were “poured out” to the Lord, and it is well-known that in his final letter, Paul referred to himself as being “poured out like a drink offering.3” But before that, in his letter to the Philippians, he made the same reference “even if I am being poured out like a drink offering …, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.4” This time, it was part of his message that God is at work in us5, and we ought to do everything without grumbling and complaining that we might be blameless and pure, shining like stars in the sky6. Wow, I wanna shine like the stars. How about you?
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Right now, I’m feeling a bit like the “little teapot” of song; Lord - tip me over and pour me out - that I might be filled again and again, and poured out again and again.

1- 1 Cor. 12:7
2- 1 Cor. 12:31
3-  2 Tim. 4:6
4- Phil. 2:17
5- Phil 2:13
6- Phil 2:14-15

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