Through it

Well, it has been a week of highs and lows, or as we call them at Faith works, Highlights and lowlights. I had a really great story that I have been working on that will help a lot of people. Maybe next week. Last night I was walking my spoiled rotten mutt at 3:30 am when I heard form God. Read on to see what he told me.


Through it.


When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Is 43:2


 Well, people's prayers in this part of West Texas have been answered. God sent rain. Then he sent some more, and then more still. When it stopped early this morning, the dog decided it was a great time to go out. I groggily put on my shoes and got the leash. We made it Ok for a few minutes and then began to have trouble picking out a route that did not include puddles. Not able to find a path I gritted my teeth and stepped into the puddle, completely soaking my Ked's. I told Benji, "Well I guess we gotta go through it." Immediately I was reminded of the old children's game, "Goin' on a Bear Hunt." I spent countless hours on my Grandpa's lap playing, with the cave being the fireplace with glass coals lit from below. I spent countless more hours with my children on my lap, playing the same game. After announcing that they are going on a bear hunt, the leader and children proudly announce that they are not afraid. They get to one obstacle after another such as a tree, a big rock or  a river depending on which version you play. They have to get past all the obstacles to get to the cave where the bear is hiding. No matter which version you play, there is at least one obstacle where this is the conclusion. "Can't go over it. Can't go under it. Can't go around it. Gotta go through it.!"


This feels like my life right now. There are several places in my life where I am sure God is working but I am having to wait and walk through it. I confess today that I am not very happy with God. A friend of ours passed away this week. I know all the Sunday school answers and the right things to say. I know she is with Jesus and I know she is not in pain and I know we will see her again, but I am still angry. I think God missed it on this one. Why would he take someone who was totally committed to Him, who was generous and helpful and compassionate and leave some of the turkey's who are actively spreading chaos and destruction? Do you know what I did? I told God that I was upset with him. I did hear the words I heard in church a couple of weeks ago about how "It came to pass, it didn't come to stay." That helped some but what helped more was just a reassuring sense of His presence, and a conviction that He was there with me, even in my anger. No lightning, no condemnation, but just a reminder of his faithful love.


Apparently I am not the only one to struggle with these things. Look at Isaiah 43:2.When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Joshua 1:9 says Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or  be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you may go. God reassured Hagar that he is the God who see (el roi) in Genesis 16:13. So many other verses in the psalms and the gospels in particular tell us that God is with us in our struggles. We have to walk through some things but we do not have to walk through them alone. We have our God and we have each other. Hold on to both.

Light show

Welcome to Unseen today. It was a long week at my house, but God is good. Read on to find the remarkable reminder that I had of that this week.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalms 19:1

                This past weekend we had a balloon festival in Abilene. People packed into the park to see the colorful hot air balloons. There was live music from local bands and shrieks from children on air castles. The air was thick with the smell of all kinds of food that are not good for you. Those who were brave enough (not me) took tethered balloon flights. On Saturday night, they held a Night Flight. After dark, balloons lit up from the fire hovered on tethers. Hundreds of people came and “oohed and aahed”. Then came Sunday, when the balloons and booths were packed up and the trash cleared away. Sunday night was another story altogether. With much less publicity but much more splendor, God produced a light show. The lunar eclipse was fantastic. Not hundreds, but thousands upon thousands of people stood transfixed looking at the sky. The bright full moon was slowly blotted out by a planet crossing into our line of sight. Then the color went from dark to blood red, and slowly came back to normal, revealing the huge full moon again.                

                The science behind both of these events is awesome, especially to science nerds like my family. The ingenuity that it took to manufacture and operate the huge balloons was impressive, but it paled in comparison to the sheer majesty and wonder of the creator. Think again about a God who spoke the earth, the moon and countless galaxies into existence. Monday morning I heard a radio host talking about the eclipse and she was remembering when the Hubble Telescope first sent back images from space. She said she looked at the points of light and thought, "Oh, look at the pretty stars." Then the announcer explained that each point of light was not a star but a galaxy. Taking nothing away from the might and power of God, there is a more important lesson here.
            
               As I was looking at that fabulous "blood moon", I remembered the verses in Revelation about the moon being turned to blood. I remembered the beautiful verses in Psalms 19 that tell us "the heavens are telling the glory of God" (v 1-6). The next verse that came to me was Jeremiah , "I have loved you with an everlasting love.". (Jeremiah 31:3) Then came John 10.:29. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from the Father's knowledge." Finally, was one of my life verses. Do not fear for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name and you are mine." Isaiah 43:1. The lesson for me was that not only was God awesome and powerful, but he was also loving and personal. This all powerful God loves not just us, as the human race, but me! He knows my name and he knows the hairs on my head and he has plans for my welfare and not for my calamity to give me a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) Of course the enemy has tried to make me feel inferior and insignificant this week because that is who he is and what he does. This week, though, I have been able to remember that he is a liar. Like no other religion or sect in the world, we serve a God who loves us.

Family

Family

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor."1 Pet 2:17

One summer my husband was working at a sales job where he went into various offices in the area. One day, he made his sales pitch to a woman, and she asked his name. When he told her, she said, "that's my name, too! Who's your dad?" They talked for a while trying to place each other on the correct branch of the family tree. Then she told him that there was a family reunion in New Mexico a couple of weeks out. We were engaged at the time, and we talked it over with family. The two of us, my in-laws, and my brother-in-law drove to New Mexico together. We did  not know what to expect because this was a branch of the family we had never met. We were told, though that only a couple of McCabes had come over from Ireland, so if you were here, you belonged.  We were immediately made welcome, and quickly discovered similarities. There is "the nose", which appeared on most faces. (When I was telling this story to my children, they pointed to their faces and asked, "This one right here?) Most of the men had jobs that fell into one of three categories. The women were all crafty and had organized a craft sale over the weekend. There was also a cut-throat horseshoe tournament, which our family held their own in. Most everyone had sunflower seeds in their pocket, not just our men. The family church service on Sunday morning made it clear that beliefs were similar as well. We all enjoyed finding new family members and promised to keep in touch.

There is a tendency in the church today to be "clannish". It is easy to stick to the Sunday School, the church, or the denomination that we come from and to exclude others. We may do this from convenience and we may do it because of disagreements in doctrine or tradition such as sprinkling vs. immersion, instruments or no instruments, or blue song books vs. overheads. If we do separate ourselves we are depriving both ourselves and our extended Christian family. We truthfully have more similarities than differences. We all come together because of our love for God and our gratitude for what he has done for us. There is something that we can learn from every group of believers and there is something they can learn from us. In our part of the country we are seeing a greater unity in the body. In the past few months there have been gatherings of believers from every denomination, called One Kingdom, coming together to pray for the city and the nation. There have been Racial Unity Summits to help different cultures learn to understand each other and worship together. There was a wonderful rally, called Abilene for Israel, where Jewish and Gentile believers met to pray and worship together.  This really opened my eyes to our extended family in other countries. Aside from the fact that we are commanded to pray for Israel and to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" we can learn so much from their reverence for God and their care for each other. Also, it helps us to understand the roots of our Christian faith.

John Chapter 1 tells us that to everyone who believed in Jesus God gave the right to become children of God.(John 1:12-13) Much of Romans 8 deals with the beautiful picture of God's adoption of us and the way we can call him Abba Father and have become joint heirs with Jesus. In 1 Peter 2:17, we read, "Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor."
and 1 Thessalonians commend the believers there for their love of the family of God everywhere.

God has given us a gift in our human families, our church families and the extended family of believers. Have the courage to accept that gift and receive the blessings it can give us.

Guest spot

Welcome to the guest spot on Unseen. Thanks Darell.

Matt and the Butterflies

By Darell Martin

 

Matt got into our car after Wednesday night Bible class with an excited look on his face.  He explained that his eighth grade Bible class had taken a field trip to a park just outside of town.  He wanted us to go back out there now with him “to see,” he said, “a beautiful sight.”

 

Joanna and Jonathan had just gotten in the car. Mom, always wanting to encourage anything spiritual in her kids, looked at me and said, “Let’s go see what this is all about.”

 

We drove outside of town to the small park, stopped the car and the four of us followed Matt as he walked ahead excitedly, yelling back, “Hurry, before it gets dark.”

 

He took us to a bunch of trees and said, “What do you see?”

 

I said, “A whole bunch of trees.”

 

He laughed and said, “Watch this.”  He proceeded to shake the trees and we watched as thousands upon thousands of Monarch butterflies fluttered this way and that.  It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen.  All of us began shaking trees with “Ohs and Ahs” until darkness forced us back to our car.

 

After that, Mom had placed a plant—Greg’s mist flower—in the back yard that attracts Monarchs to its nectar.  She even hung a butterfly house close by for them to rest on.

 

We found out that Monarchs actually migrate down several corridors to a certain spot in central Mexico, and the central part of Texas, where we live, is one of those corridors. They begin as an egg, laid by a female Monarch on the stem of a milkweed plant.  They hatch to become a pretty, multicolored caterpillar that spends its time around milkweed, eating to its heart content.

 

Then a change takes place.  The caterpillar climbs to a spot and attaches itself with a little silk, which it spins.  A shell forms around the caterpillar and soon becomes hard.  Within that transparent chrysalis a metamorphosis is taking place, changing this earth-bound worm into a beautiful butterfly that will journey thousands of miles from its home in the northern United States toward its final resting place on either the Oyamel fir trees of the Transvolcanic range of southern Mexico or the eucalyptus trees of Pacific Grove, California (Rosenblatt, 1998)

 

Now think of the tomb of Jesus.  It was really only a cocoon or chrysalis in which his earthbound body lay.  But that body, which had felt hunger, thirst, pain, tiredness, loneliness and sadness, had gone through its own metamorphosis.  It had transformed into an incorruptible body.  It was no longer earthbound; it was free of, not only Earth’s gravitational pull, but its fallen nature as well.

 

Jesus has been resurrected never to die again.  And one day, he, the pioneer of resurrection, will come back and shake the trees for the rest of us to fly away with him to the home he has prepared. 

 

All Choked Up

Welcome back to unseen. Lots of changes, good and bad over the last 2 or 3 weeks. Thanks to those of you who have prayed for my husband during this time. As usual, God has lessons for us during difficult times. Read on to see what I learned from mine.
All Choked Up

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,and who meditates on his law day and night.³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1:1-3

We went visiting this weekend and in the Panhandle, it is a little cooler than it is here. We sat out on the back patio with the dog for a while and talked. My mother-in-law is having some health problems and I asked if there was anything I could do for her outside while it was cool. After some cleaning chores, she said that she really needed the grass out of the flower beds. With the dog supervising, I got down in the soft grass to work on the flower beds. It felt so good, with the cool, damp dirt on my hands. She showed me what she needed. There were long tendrils of grass filling most of the flower bed. It was using up the nutrients and the space that the flowers needed. In some places it was so thick that the sun couldn’t get to the flowers the way they needed. She reminded me to get the roots and identified which plants were desirable and which were weeds. After a while she asked if I was tired and wanted to stop, but by that time this story was churning in my head so I finished the task. The result was a cleaner, healthier flower bed and a story about what God can teach us through the natural world.

First and most obvious is the fact that just as the weeds were using up the energy and resources needed by the plants, there are things that choke out the word and the spirit in our lives. The ones that bother me most frequently are the evil threesome of resentment, guilt and worry. Like the grass, they are all three intertwined and mixed together, feeding off each other in a destructive cycle. Your weeds may be different, such as addictive behaviors and people, or toxic anger. Whatever they are, like my mother-in-law said, you need to get the roots. Positive thinking, will power and punishment/reward programs won’t work. It is a spiritual issue and one that needs to be dealt with. Finally not all the things that end up choking us are bad things. Guilt can be a motivator for change and anxiety a prompt for better planning. It is good to help other people and righteous anger has its place. The problem comes when things get out of balance and when we are not connected to the source of our life.

Passages about plants and nature are all through the scripture. The challenge this week is to narrow them down. The first that comes to mind is Psalms 1.
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—    whatever they do prospers
.Jesus teaches us about spiritual growth in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, and specifically talks about the idea of things choking out the word.  In John 15:1-9 he encourages us to abide in him, the vine, so we as branches can bear much fruit. This is such a beautiful picture.

Foundation

Foundation.

It started as a crack in the linoleum about an inch long. Mother put a rug over it so it would show. That was fine for a while, but before long the crack had spread past the borders of the rug on either side. It was wider, too. Rather than looking like a razor blade slit, it was a jagged crack about a half inch wide and a couple of feet long.  Mom got some linoleum and patched it. It looked fine for a while, but after a few weeks the crack reappeared and quickly grew until it was more than 5 feet long and more than two inches wide.  Deciding it was time to call in the big dogs, she called her cousin who owned a flooring and carpet company. She asked him about pouring concrete in the crack to level it up. He explained that the problem was in the foundation and pouring concrete wouldn’t correct the real problem. The foundation would continue to shift and could easily damage the plumbing and electrical conduits for the house. I am not sure what the house levelers that he brought in did, but the problem was corrected before any safety issues could develop.

In our lives we have things that are out of balance. Maybe we have come to Jesus later in life and have beliefs and ideas that are deeply ingrained. Even those of us who were in church the second Sunday of our lives can have gaps in our knowledge and understanding that keep us out of balance such as putting too much dependence on works and not enough on grace. We try to cover up the problem, maybe with our “happy church face”. (“I’m just fine, today, sister! Praise the Lord!” If we don’t address the real issue it will get worse. Then we may try to patch it up, maybe with addictive behaviors or, my personal favorite, Avoidance. Again, with our treatment at the foundation, it will reappear and get worse causing damage to our jobs, or families and our spirits. The good news is that we have a secure foundation and help in Jesus.


Isaiah 33:6 says, "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.In First Peter 2 we read about being built into a spiritual house as living stones, and Jesus is the chief cornerstone.  Paul describes this in Ephesians 2:19-22.

 ¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Jesus explained more fully in Matthew 7:24-27 in the parables of the wise and foolish builders. He said that the man who hears his words and puts them into practice will be like a house that is built on a rock, not shifting sand.
Let's be diligent to make Jesus the foundation for our families and our lives. Feed on the word to build your relationship with him and trust in him for your security.

Valuable

Valuable


1 Peter 1:18
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors

At our house we watch a lot of “Pawn Stars”. If you are not familiar with the show, it is a reality show where people bring things into a pawn shop in Las Vegas, trying to make a deal. The things that I have seen brought in range from dinosaur doodoo to expensive cars and boats, with prices ranging from $5 to several thousand dollars. According to what we have gleaned, there are several factors that affect the value of an object. Things that are rare are more valuable. If on item is made from valuable materials or has fine craftsmanship, its value increases. The value is greatly increased if it can be proven that the piece has been owned or used by someone famous or important. In the end, however, the value is what a buyer is willing to pay.

One of the enemy’s favorite weapons to use on me is to undermine my sense of value. I have discovered that I have a lot of pride in what I do, but feel doubtful about my innate worth as a person. I had a really powerful experience with God Sunday where I was absolutely convinced that my value is based on who I am to God, not what I do. I didn’t do too well today. I lost my temper before I had been out of bed for an hour. Since I am skillful with words, I was able to craft some excellent verbal barbs and passive aggressive taunts.  I was fearful and anxious all morning and didn’t pull it together until after lunch.

If someone had brought me into the pawn shop of life today, based on my actions, I probably would have fetched about as much as dinosaur doodoo. Thankfully that is not what my valuation is based on. I am not just rare. I am one of a kind. I am a miracle of craftsmanship, being "knit together in my mother's womb" by Almighty God (Psalms 139). I have been bought by the blood of the son of God, which means I belong to the most important person in the universe and he was wiling to pay the ultimate price for me.


We are uniquely made and planned by God. He told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:9, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I set you apart." In Jeremiah 29:11 he says he knows the plans he has for us, plans for welfare and not for calamity. In 1 Corinthians 6:20, He reminds of why we should honor him. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."


On a final note, when a person pawns something and wants to get it back, he pays the value plus interest. This is known as redeeming the item. One of the names for Jesus is the Redeemer. Please stand with me in walking in redemption and understanding the value that God puts on us as his sones and daughters.