Morning Thoughts

Happy Tuesday to you! Last night, I was so very tired that my feelings were on my shoulders and everything I heard or read made me sad. I felt lost and out of sorts. I needed rest—solid, good sleep. I hate feeling like that because there isn’t really anything wrong. It reminds me of when things are really wrong and all those things come on you for real—not just for lack of sleep. It can be all sorts of things from in a job you’re don’t like to having difficulty with someone close to great despair and grief. We get when we are in places where we things are just broken aren’t sure how we got there and certainly have no idea how to fix them. Or where to go next or how to get out of it all together. Have you ever been in one of those places where the world felt like it was crashing all around you and you wanted to say “Just make it all stop”? “The Lord will make a way for you where no feet have been before. That which, like a sea threatens to drown you, shall be a highway for your escape.”

Good Monday to you! Last night forty or so of us got together for information and instructions about our Israel-trip. Naturally, I slept very little and my bed is covered in maps, books and brochures—I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself! I’ve read, watched videos, and paid careful attention to places when I’m in the Scripture, trying to take it all in. We will go to Jordan for two days, see Petra—land of the Moabites (where Ruth was from). To get to the city “half as old as time” and one of the “seven wonders of the world” you must go by horseback (or camel).  Maybe one of the most exciting is the visit to the city of Magdala (home of Mary Magdalene). This city was excavated in 2006 and the synagogue is in really good shape. This is one of the few places where we can be fairly certain Jesus stood and preached. Just to stand where Jesus stood and to walk where Jesus walked. I think it may be a life-changer for me. But as I’m looking and thinking about how great this trip wil

It’s the weekend. Last night I went fishing for a while. Or maybe I should say that I went bobber-watching. I didn’t even get a bite. That only time the red and white floatie-thing moved was when I moved it. I was bored in less than an hour and ready to do something else—I put in a few more lines but time for alternative entertainment.  I don’t know how on earth Peter and the others fished all night long without catching anything. I’m sure I would have been finished way before dawn. And when they fished, it was work. Hard work. They had no fancy rod and reels and cute little tackle boxes full of fancy lures. They had nets and their hands. They flung those heavy nets out (it’s quite a talent) and pulled them in. All. Night. Long.  ““I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus

Happy Friday to you. Has anything ever happened in your family that changed how you do things? Fourteen years ago we had a death in our family that changed us and changed how we approached things. Our Christmas is very different now—there is no formal meal, but a casual, intimate gathering with very little emphasis on gifts.  When the children of Israel were slaves under Pharaoh, times were rough. But Moses pleaded on their behalf and God heard their cries. Finally after many times trying to get through to Pharaoh, God gave careful instructions for the Passover. Find a perfect.lamb. Sacrifice it. Smear the blood over the top and sides of the door. Roast the lamb with bitter herbs. Fix bread with no leaven. Then eat it with your shoes on. Be ready to go at a moment’s notice and the death angel will Passover your house. Those who had not obeyed, lost their firstborn on that night; those who had, the firstborns were spared.  The Jews practiced the Passover in remembrance of that night eve

Happy Wednesday to you. I saw part of a movie yesterday all about a couple trying to figure out why they couldn’t still be “in love” like they had been. They keep holding on to old hurts and mistakes. It seemed to be a silly thing to me so I didn’t watch much of it, but it’s a principle I think many of us have problems dealing with. Intellectually, we understand Jesus died on the cross and the blood that flows from Calvary cleanses us and washes us clean. From that day forward all our sins are washed away—gone.  But...emotionally, do we really ever let go of all that “stuff” that we know is under God’s forgetfulness? How many people do you know that just won’t ever go back to that church because someone hurt their feelings there? Or business people who are afraid to live up to their potential because someone stole from them or cheated them? Or they are holding on so tight to hurts from a divorce they are afraid to ever love again? Or they can’t see their own good qualities because they

Happy Thursday! And how are you doing? I have been thinking since yesterday afternoon about something a young co-worker asked me. She said “Pam, do you have a lot of church girl friends? Because it seems to me that church ladies are mostly up tight and not very fun. They seem to be afraid to let their hair down and relax.” We had been laughing about quite a few thing just before that and then, that came seemingly out of the blue. It took me by surprise at first but then, I began to understand where the confused, 20-something was coming from.  I think it’s exactly what Jesus was telling us when He said:  ““And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray,

Happy Tuesday! My granddaughter Bailey is graduating from high school this yea and I can’t even believe how time has flown by. I’ve been thinking a lot about what to get her but more than that, I’ve been thinking about my letter to her. I’ve started writing it and a couple of times I’ve written “sometimes when you ——, think of me” because I don’t want her to forget me. I want her to remember her Nina as someone who loved her like crazy and always had open arms for her.  It’s part of who we are as people I think That we want to be remembered by those who come behind us. I put flowers on the graves of people I never met, but I know their stories because they were told to me to me by others who are already gone, so I remember them all. And I tell my kids and grandkids “Because they were, I am and because I am, you are.” When King David began writing Psalm 22, he opens with the lament of “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”—the very same words quoted by our Savior on the cross. But

Happy Monday. I hope you had a great Easter weekend and were able to celebrate the risen Lord. I love this holiday because it always brings us a new perspective and refreshed appreciation for the price paid for our salvation. Each year the words resonate a little deeper in my soul and speak a little more clearly.  My daughter-in-law send me Max Lucado’s Easter devotion and he had entitled it “Surprise Party”. He talked about what a shock it must have been for Mary Magdalene when she went to the tomb that morning. She was expecting her “Lord” to be dead, his lips to be silent, his body needing attention and she was crying when she thought some one had taken what was left of the bruised, battered and broken body of her Master. But isn’t it just like Jesus to show up in the most unexpected places doing the most unexpected things? And what I love the most about this story is the first person He showed up to see was the very one who had listened the most intently, believed what He told her

Tomorrow is Easter, the biggest, most important day of the year a Christian celebrates. This is the day we remember that Jesus Christ himself conquered death and the grave and brought life and immortality to light for all of us. When Jesus cried “It is finished” and He died, the veil of the temple that separated the holy of holies, that kept man from God, was torn from the top to the bottom. Jesus’ death opened the gate for us to directly approach God. We can enter into the presence of God at anytime we want, nothing between our soul and our Savior. We sing Hallelujah to the Lion and the Lamb.  “And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead...And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins...And if our hope in Christ is onl

It is Good Friday. The day our Savior willingly went to the cross to be crucified for you and I. It doesn’t seem like a day which we should call “good” does it? There are several explanations. One is that is was originally “God’s Friday” and yet another, (my favorite) is on this day Christ showed His great love for man and purchased eternal life for him, hence a very good day indeed.  Which ever your take, since the Last Supper with the disciples, Jesus has been betrayed, whipped, unjustly tried in a kangaroo court with lies presented as evidence, mocked and spit upon. A crown of thorns shoved upon his head, beaten and made to carry His own cross up Golgotha’s hill. When His physical body could no longer withstand the punishment, a man from the crowd was made to carry it the rest of the way. No part of this was legal nor deserved yet the Son of God who had commanded all manner of miracles over the last three years (from healing the sick to making dead people live again to a transfigu

Good Holy Wednesday to you! This is the day that we all stand face to face with betrayal. Of course we can be self-righteous and say we would never betray Jesus as Judas did, but let’s be truthful. Haven’t we all at some point in our lives been selfish, hypocrites and not been the stalwart, card-carrying Christian? Of course we have because we are human and we all fail. The important thing is that we recognize when we fall (and some of us fall hard enough to get hurt) but we dust ourselves off and get back up.  On Tuesday, Jesus painfully gave His final lament over the city of Jerusalem. Even before His crucifixion, Jesus’ heart was broken by Israel’s lack of faith. They just failed to recognize He was God in the flesh—they failed very badly. The mourning of the nation of Israel would be great. Soon the Temple would be destroyed and Jerusalem with it.  ““O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children

Good Holy Tuesday to you. the Tuesday of Holy (Passion) week. This was a very busy day for Jesus and one that must have left Him disheartened. When we read through the events of this day, it leaves us saddened on His behalf. This is the day just after He’d cleansed the temple, and told them they had been over charging the people to the point of stealing from them. The very ones who should have been helping to get people to God were keeping people away from worship because they didn’t have enough money. He’d just had enough of their hypocrisy.  On this day, Jesus would condemn the religious authorities and at the same time let them know that He was indeed God. The cleansing of the Temple on Holy Monday caused the Pharisees to question Jesus’ right to do “these things” since He had not received His authority from the religious leaders . . .they wanted answers to which they believe they were entitled.  They wanted to force Jesus to say that He had divine power from God then He could be ch

It’s the weekend! And we are only a couple of weeks away from Easter, the greatest holiday on the Christian’s calendar—the day we celebrate the resurrection, without which we have no hope. The day that Jesus became the perfecter of our faith. The writer of Hebrews tells us that He endured the cross and shame for the joy set before Him.  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-3‬ ‭NIV‬‬ When we read about Jesus’ ministry, it’s pretty obvious that He just loved people. He loved His disciples, He loved His friends, He lov

Happy Tuesday to you! Yesterday, I saw the cutest little girl waddling around everywhere. She kept taking off from her dad and laughing about until she got a little too far to see him when she looked back. Then, she was a little worried. But before she could really cry, her daddy was there to pick her up and reassure her. I’m sure it didn’t take long for the game to begin again. She had trust in her dad and knew he was always going to be there for her.  That’s the way Jesus said we need to be with our Heavenly Father. Trusting and not worried, in the position of a child.   “And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” ‭‭Matthew 18:3-5 The idea of starting over is a frustrating one. We think we are smart and have it together and to start over as a

Happy Thursday! Did you ever tell someone a story and later realize you’d forgotten one of the most important details? So while to you it was an amazing story, to your listener it was simply a story. That’s what I did yesterday! My loss for words while I was praying, happened just as I received that verse I shared from a friend.  It’s amazing isn’t it? The way that God puts everything together for us right in our simple, ordinary lives? I think more often than not God has constructed our lives to be amazing and we just miss the details that make it so—we either just forget the details or never see them in the first place.  “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your atte

Happy Wednesday to you. How’s your week going? Every so often I get caught up and I just do t know what to pray. I know there is something pulling at my soul but I’m at a loss for words. Does that ever happen to you? (I know, crazy, right? Who would ever guess that I’d be at a loss for words?) Well, yesterday was such a day. It caused me to remember a chorus to a song that Charles Billingsley wrote.  I am empty You are holy Come and fill my soul with who you are In my silence  You still hear me In the quiet of this moment I am heard I'm overwhelmed And at a loss for words And I thought I’m not alone! That’s exactly how I feel! An he is so very correct because in our silence, we are told He does still hear us because the Spirit, who knows us better than we know ourselves, still speaks for us. “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us,

Good Tuesday to you and we have a new NCAA Basketball Champions. I know watched the game last night and the overtime. Several times the game was tied and I think it is safe to say that the teams gave it everything they had. A call or two here or there, a missed shot, or a stop and it would have been a different outcome. But when it was all over, they shook hands.  In the book of Matthew we see that Jesus brought together two men who, under other circumstances, would have been not just rivals but bitter adversaries: Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector. Zealots were revolutionaries who took up arms against the Romans and they were willing to kill or be killed. Tax collectors, on the other hand, were viewed as traitors, collecting money for the Romans and they were notorious for getting rich in the process. We can only imagine the odd scene when Simon and Matthew first met and both now following Jesus. Over the next three years of Jesus’ ministry, and then to their own death, t

Happy Monday. I hope your weekend was good and that you are looking forward to warmer weather and spring flowers. The trees that have begun to bud where I live have brought on my spring allergies. I’ve snorted and dripped and my eyes have itched for the last couple of weeks. I am certainly not a fan of cold weather, but when it starts to warm, I pay a price.  Lots of things that we enjoy come with a price, don’t they? Cars, houses, clothes, shoes...they all cost us. If we want nice things, we have to pay for them and that means we don’t get something else. Most things come with a price.  Even children. When babies come, young couples find their lives are vastly different than they were before. The price. I remember once my oldest at about age 14 was upset with me and said “You just want to make me miserable!” To which I replied “Why yes! Yes I do. That’s why I carried you, cared for you, got up with you, lost about 2 years’ sleep, fed you, spent 1/2 our income on diapers, gadgets, clot

It’s the weekend and it should be nice weather where I am. I hope you are going to be treated to some nice spring days this Saturday and Sunday.  Yesterday, I had a man and wife from Saudi Arabia come into the store to look at jewelry. I was a bit surprised at some of the questions they were asking such as “How can we know for certain this is gold?” “Do you have a scale where we can take out the diamonds and weigh them so we can know they are what you say?” I had to stop and think exactly how to answer for a few minutes. I wanted to just say “Because that’s how we do things here!” I tried to gently explain that if we tag it and sell it with incorrect information, there are ramifications and if there was a patter. Of unethical behavior, that would put us out of business. He said “In the Middle East, things are different. You have to check everything.”   Such a different culture and such a different way to approach life—continually thinking someone is always trying to cheat you. Aren’t w

Happy Friday to you. I was talking yesterday to someone who has several guns and they were thinking of getting another one or ten. “When times get tough, it will be important to have them!” I suppose. I guess I better hope I’m with someone with a gun when bad times come since I don’t have one! But when will the bad times come?  In Mark 14 the disciples asked Jesus the same question after He told them the temple was going to be destroyed. The temple—the center of existence for a Jew, both spiritually and emotionally. As far as they were concerned, it was the end of the world as they knew it.  “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come...You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them...Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just s

Happy Thursday. Yesterday I was trying to finish up my taxes when I got a call that I needed to find the title for my Toyota. Try as I might, I couldn’t put put my hands in it. Don’t you hate to lose something? I looked through all my files, though the boxes that I had stored with the “I’m not sure what to do with stuff” and still...no title. I found copies of old vehicles, receipt for the registration for title, but not the title itself.  It drives us crazy to lose things, doesn’t it? I watch that show hoarders and those people are super afraid of losing anything that they keep everything and more. But most of us do hate losing our things, but even more so, we hate to lose in a “discussion” or when we are fighting for our own way or our opinion. We want to win.  “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life fo

Happy Wednesday! I kept my grandson this week for a couple of hours. He has just learned to jump and the boy loves his new skill. He may stop after 15 or 20 for a second or two and then he goes again. Even when he’s rubbing his eyes and whining and it seems like he’s saying “I’m so tired but I can’t stop!” he’s still jumping. I’ve thought about how excited he was bouncing in that seat up and down and up and down over and over and I think of King David dancing...and the song “Dance for Jesús” and all the times we are told to be joyous before the Lord. Do I ever just with free abandon jump with excitement for Jesus? Do I ever get so wrapped up in praise that even though I’m tired, I just can’t stop?  “And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.” 2 Samuel‬ ‭6:14-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬ “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! L

Happy Tuesday to you. Yesterday was Casey’s birthday. As she likes to say she was 29 (again) and a great looking 29 I might add. Casey has some gifts that I consider amazing. She has spacial awareness like no one I’ve ever known—she can look at something and tell you almost exactly the size hole or shelf or cabinet you need for it (she rocks Tetris). She has a great eye for what works and she has an amazing sense of style for putting pieces together and she can find her way to just about anywhere. But no mater how smart or gifted she may be, Casey cannot save herself or find her own way to heaven. No matter how gifted she is, without her Savior, she is lost.  “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brillian

Good Monday to you. I hope you had a great weekend and found time to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth. Georgia and i were talking yesterday how odd Sundays seem since we are doing our corporate worship on Thursday evenings now. When your whole life you have gone to church on Sunday morning, staying home makes it feel like you are almost doing something wrong. I still spend extra time Sunday morning to worship and to just commune with the Lord, but rituals and rules are often difficult to separate from what our relationship with God demands.  I thought of all the changes I’ve seen in the church in my lifetime. Music, bands, service times, dress, revivals, even Bible Schools and Camps are so very different. Buildings are much more functional, multiple service times rather than bigger buildings, and it goes on and on. Yet, the style of worship doesn’t change the fact that God’s people still gather together to worship Him like they have done since the days of the Exodus. God’s peop