Day Twenty-Six: Beggars in Beautiful Places

Where morning dawns and evening fades,
you call forth Songs of Joy!

    As the sun rose over the lake, I stood with my three preschool children and meditated on its beauty. It was an extremely spiritual moment. We had come to witness the first rays of the summer solstice. As I practiced the rituals of my new age religion, my words thanked Father Sky and Mother Earth for their beauty but my heart felt no reply. The moment was filled with wonder and beauty but no personal connection.
     The day I stepped under a fourth of July tent and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, everything seemed to came together. The beauty of God's creation embraced the beginning of a personal relationship with Christ. I was on top of the world until the bottom dropped out.
     At some point after my husband's death I was tired of grieving. I longed to set down the burden of this sorrow even though it kept rearing its ugly head at every turn. One morning, I was sitting on my father-in-law's deck in sunny California reading my bible as the sun came up over his property. The birds were singing in the background and I opened my bible to Psalm 65:8; "Where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy!" I truly felt a rush of joy in God's sunrise, something I had known before I knew Christ, and the words from this scripture amplified the birds welcoming the new day with their songs of joy. That night as we sat out on the deck and watched the sun go down the crickets were singing their own songs. Their joyful melody reminded me of my morning scripture and it was at the point I realized that no matter what I had to face in the middle of the day there were two anchor points in every day that God promised to bring forth songs of joy. I made decision at that moment not to miss any of them!
     This teaching reminds me of the joy that I had in my old ways searching for a connection with nature. It's God's creation so no wonder our souls are drawn to it. How pleasing to realize that God doesn't expect us to turn away from the joy we found in our places of peace and joy that he gave us when we were lost to him. But how much greater peace and joy those places will bring when we go there with Him. Thank you Jesus!
     This chapter in Beth Moore's study is jam packed with way too much to cover in one blog post. She not only covered the joy of bringing our heritage with us but also understanding the true freedom in religion, giving what we have to others, and how we respond to those in need. You may want to take more than one day to let this chapter soak in.

Day Twenty-Five: Spiritual Connections

Leap of Faith

     My thirteen year old was explaining the art of asking a girl out to me. He said, "It's a leap of faith, mom. They might say, "yes," but there is a chance they will say, "no." But if you don't take that leap of faith you never know the answer." I feel your pain son. Being newly single in my forties was not comfortable. It's just not as simple as it was in my early twenties when most of the men in my peer group were single and still looking. Now the men are older, most are married, and few of those are even intersted in women their own age. I think the leap required is much wider than it used to be and a lot farther to fall.
     There is more evidence and historical records to back up the claims of the bible than there is to tell if someone is interested in you before you take the leap and ask them out. Though God always requires a leap of faith I don't beleive he wants us to jump without evidence. The evidence supports Christ claims of who he is but putting our faith in him requires a leap. You've probably heard the analogy of the wheel barrel across the grand canyon. It's one thing to believe the guy can push it across on the tight rope and another to jump in and ride in the wheel barrel while he does it. No matter how many times you've seen it done; jumping in takes a leap of faith.
     I hope you are following along in Beth Moore's study. This chapter is full of the evidences and a wonderful comparison of the old testament festivals to the life and sacrifice of Christ fulfilled in the new testament. We are are in the midst of God's sovereign will and timing no matter what we beleive.
    Before I was a beleiver, a co-worker was sharing his belief in Christ with me as I smiled and thought "Man, he is really convinced of this stuff." I so wanted a faith I could be sure of like his and for several more years kept searching. I always felt like I was almost there... each new discovery was almost the full truth.
     When I got saved, several years later, I realized what was missing in all my previous searching, "It was a leap of faith in God as my saviour." All I thought I needed was to know more facts and the truth of the world would soon become evident and I believed I could find it all if I kept searching. The day I realized I didn't need to and couldn't possibly know everything, I realized all  I did need was to be rescued from a fallen world. That was the day I found what I was looking for, "a faith with conviction",  like my co-worker I had found "the way, the truth, and the life."

Day Twenty-Four: Coming and Going

Do you see what I see?

    "Do you see what I see?" is a game my son and I often play. Staring into the clouds we name the shapes we see. "Do you see the alligator?" "Do you see the elephant?" "Do you see the sail boat?" The object of the game  is to find what the other person saw before it disappears or changes shape. It's amazing how the clouds form and change their shape and disappear without a trace.

     One day we will look up into the sky and ask, "Do you see Jesus?" "Then "everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory (Mark 13:26)."  Just as he went up, in accordance with Acts 1:11, 'in the same way that they have seen Him going into heaven' he will return. The disciples got the honor of watching his ascension into heaven. They saw him walking and talking after his death. If that wasn't enough, they got to stand with him as he lifted off and floated up into the clouds disappearing into heaven. Christ will return in the same way he left, riding on the clouds.

Why do you stand looking up into heaven?

     Are you looking up into heaven with a great expectation of his return as he promised? Are you living as if at any given moment you will look up in the sky and see Jesus returning? No one knows the day or the time a thief will call on your home or your car but more than likely you lock your doors every time you leave them. No one knows the day or time Jesus will return but we know where. Every time you walk out the door, do you look up to the clouds with great expectations? One day "everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory."

     Do you see the alligator? Do you see the sail boat? Do you see the Son of Man?

Day Twenty-Three: Love Goes Around

Love Knows No Bounds

      When my first son was born, I fell madly in love. They put that baby in my arms and my heart felt a love I had never experienced before. Over the next two years my husband and I built a life around this baby and our passion in life was to watch as he experienced every new milestone. From his first giggle to his first step to his first fall in the snow, we were so in tune and in love we followed him everywhere to make sure we didn't miss anything. We were infatuated.
     Before my second child was born I was worried I wouldn't be able to love another baby the way I loved my first born. However, the day they placed her in my arms I realized a thing or two about love. Love expands a heart, it does not divide it. Have you ever noticed a person when they fall in love? Their whole world brightens up and  they seem to fall in love with everyone around them. Love expands.
    When you love someone you do things you would not normally do. I would never have raised my voice to an Air Force Captain, reached across the desk of a government official, or wrote a three page letter to a school principal, if not for the love of a child. I would have never sat in 106 degree heat to watch a ball game, stayed up all night watching the front door, or slept cramped in a chair while eight months pregnant, if not for the love of a child. If not for love, I would have never ran without thinking through a barb-wire fence, delivered a breech puppy, or touched a tick.
    There are many things we would never think of doing that we would do without thinking for the love of a child or a beloved pet. What would you do for the love of Jesus?  Does your love for Christ expand your heart and overflow to others? If you are still compartmentalizing your love, then you may need to reaccess your motivation because action motivated by love is not contained by a box or rationed out in portions. Action motivated by love is unguarded, unrestrained, and unbounded.

Day Twenty-Two: Diving in the Deep End

Fling Wide Those Heavenly Gates

     The excitement of a new believer is probably one of the most misunderstood phenomenons among unbelievers than anything else they witness in born again Christians. To the new believer, the lights just came on and the doors to a new world have been flung open. It is so exciting you can't help but want to share that with everyone you meet. If you saw Jesus waiting at the bottom of a cliff, no doubt you wouldn't hesitate to jump. On lookers may think you've gone off the deep end because they don't see Jesus with open arms waiting to catch you.

     If you have been a Christian for awhile, what do you think when you see a mature Christian with a zealous spirit like Peter had when he saw Jesus and jumped in the lake to get to him. Are you excited for them or do you think they are acting foolish? As you grow closer to Jesus do you tend to jump in more or are you more guarded than a new believer?

    Not all new believers receive Christ with impetuousity, some of us came to Christ with a reserved spirit, letting the spirit gently lure our spirit to Christ. But there is that moment, when you want to shout "YES" and jump in without needing to test the water first. It is always a surprise when you realize you are in the air and there is no turning back! It's a sweet, sweet surprise when you realize you are filled with the Holy Spirit and no one can take that away from you.

Day Twenty-One: Do Bees

Cease Striving and Know God

     On the third day Jesus rose again and walked among them for 40 days. As followers the disciples had pretty much figured out their role at the feet of Jesus, they were students and Jesus was their teacher. A much more comfortable role than at the foot of the cross. When Jesus appeared after the cruxificion he didn't return to the old way of doing things. He appeared among them at his own will and calling. For these forty days and the days following ascension, I imagine the disciples felt lost and unsure of what their new role would be. As Beth Moore writes, "I'm not sure they knew how they fit into Christ's plans from this side of the grave."
     Do you ever wonder how you fit into Christ's plans? I know we often wonder how Christ fits into our plans but do we ever really try to understand how we fit into Christ's plans. Of all the things I am getting out this study of John, this is the big one I want to truly understand. What is my role in Christ's plans now? I need to have an understanding of what Christ's plans are before I can begin to understand my role in them. Many people are searching for God's purpose for them or trying desparately to do God's will in their lives. I think these are noble challenges but truly taking the time to study and understand Christ and his role in God's plans is the key to finding where we fit in corporately and individually.
         "Cease striving and know that I am God," Psalm 46:10, what a relief that verse brings. Stop and rest your body and your mind and just Know God. This reminds me of a story my dad told of a young scout at camp who stopped unexpectedly on the trail and squatted down. My dad just watched him as he stooped over a rock for several minutes. He finally came in closer and stooped down next to him and saw he was staring at a butterfly on the rock.They stared together for quite some time, my dad saying nothing just being there beside this young boy as he watched the butterfly intently. Finally the boy looked up at him and said, "Isn't that cool."
        How often? How well do you just cease and know God? When is the last time you just turned off your own thoughts and let God enter in?

Day Twenty: Improving Ground

And because we know that what we sow
 does not come to life unless it dies -1 Cor 15:37

        I managed to ignore the stick in the ground all winter. In the spring, even when the other trees all around it were budding and growing thick shawls of green the stick that stuck in the ground without a bud on it never bothered me. Even though this was the tree my late husband's family planted in his memory three years ago,  I had convinced myself , "It was just a tree." Even though we had dug it up when we sold the house we bought together and replanted it at our new home last spring, I had convinced myself, "It was just a tree." I knew it had little chance of surviving such a difficult move. "It was just a tree" until the day I noticed something on it's branch, what was that I wondered, "A bud?" It was a bud. The tree was budding, it survived. Within a few weeks it was more than a stick, it was a tree with green leaves on it. Within a few weeks it was more than a tree, it was the center of a wonderful memorial garden for my husband.
   For three years, the tree bloomed with a larger and larger bouquet of green leaves. Although always the last tree to bud in the spring, sort of like my husband, always late. The tree become the center of celebrating how much his life meant to us. Last Christmas the kids decorated the tree with special ornaments they bought for him, each with its special significance to one of his children. It has been filled with chimes they have collected in his memory. As special as the tree has become, when I heard the news that the storm had taken out the tree, I told myself, "It's just a tree." It is not like my husband was taken out by the storm, "It's just a tree."

     The kids and I tried to detach our emotions for our beloved husband and father, from this tree. Although we were sad when we saw the tree snapped in half about a foot off the ground, we knew in our hearts it wasn't another loss of a person but just a tree. With or without the tree, we still miss him. I think even my father-in-law was sad to hear about the tree. I think he was happy when he learned that the tree got moved to the new property and survived. There was something about that tree that touched everyones' hearts. He said we should check the tree and see if had grown any saplings around it.

     So I quickly ran out to check, and there around the base of the tree was abundant new life. Within hours of finding the saplings, a new garden began to appear around the fallen tree. The kids brought decorated stones and we put up a new border and planted new flowers. Where there was once sadness and yes a sense of loss, there was new hope and encouragement that someone was looking out for even our precious memories.

    "There was a garden in the place where He was crucified," John 19:41. In the same place where their was death, there was life. In the same place where there were feelings of hopelessness, there was the Hope of the World. Where there is death, there is life.
     What kind of tender shoots have you seen growing up from dead wood?

Day Nineteen: I've Been There

Stop the world, let me off

     John remained close to Jesus even when it looked like the mission he was on failed. He watched his King suffer at the hands of others, he watched what he may have felt was defeat as Jesus hung on the cross. Though in those dark moments he remained near to him, I am sure he was feeling very defeated and unsure of the future, unsure of the victory.

     I feel that way today. My horse seemed to survive all the obstacles and was still walking two weeks ago. She has had good days and bad days, victories and set backs since she got a serious hoof injury in the spring. Not more than three days ago the vet gave me a wonderful report, one that sparked so much hope in my heart that I even day dreamed of riding her again next spring. As I watched her hobble up to get her hay tonight, I felt defeated by this major set back. Her leg is swollen the size of a cantaloupe. After five months, this setback has made me feel defeated. “Lord, I don’t think I can take anymore.”

     I am sure John felt defeated at the foot of the cross long before Jesus took his last breath but John remained faithful. Some situations make you feel like you're hanging onto the world by a thread but that thread of faith is the hope of things unseen. That thread of faith keeps you hanging on, remaining near the one who sent you hoping he'll pull you in with a rope.

Day Eighteen: Mother and Son

      The night I dropped my twelve year old off at his first campout, I offered to give the scoutmaster my cell phone number. “Just call me if he has any problems and I can come and get him.” The scoutmaster put his arm around me and walked me toward my car, “I have never called a parent to pick up a boy from camp. He’ll figure it out.” My little boy, who had never slept a night without a nightlight and certainly never outside in a tent in the woods without his mom, made it through his first night in the woods. He said it was rough the first night, he could hardly sleep and had wanted to come home. “The next morning was worth it,” he said. They cooked their own breakfast over an open fire and learned to use a bear

knife.

     “The second night,” he said, “was a snap.” Maybe because he was armed with the knowledge of how to use a bear knife, maybe because his mom let him alone long enough to stand up to the challenge and grow up. When my son hopped in the car after the campout he said, “You dropped off a boy but you picked up a scout.”

     When Jesus looked down from the cross and told Mary, “This is your son,” I am sure John perked up and was flooded with questions about what that meant. The responsibilities of a son to take care of his mother, especially his Lord’s mother, must have seemed enormous. What a challenge he’d been given and yet, what an honor. I imagine that John, the little brother, grew up a lot that day. Now he had the responsibility to care for Jesus’ mother and I am sure he rose up to the occasion and surprised a lot of people, especially the older disciples.

     God calls us to stand up and take on the challenges of growing up in our faith. What experiences have you been through that made you perk up and realize it was time to grow up and be a faithful leader in a situation or role that you play in Christ?STUDY GUIDE: