Slow motion

When I am behind a slow-moving car, I assume that the Lord has put an angel in front of me for His own purposes. Perhaps he is helping me avoid a speeding ticket. Perhaps he is keeping me back from a dangerous intersection. I like to think of radical possibilities, because it helps me be more patient. This slow car becomes, in my mind, a pace car--which I will go around if given the opportunity.

In life, does God ever put a pace car in front of you? When my husband doesn't instantly see a decision the way I do, he delays us moving forward--he is my pace car. When my three children are with me and we must stop to deal with their issues, instead of just mine, they are a pace car. Perhaps that annoying person who answers the phone in some office, who cannot seem to understand your question and patch you through quickly to the solution--perhaps she is a pace car. Look for them; they are present all around you. Now the question is, why is God pacing you? Something to think about next time you are stuck on a narrow road, going 18mph...where do you think I came up with this post?

Caught up in judgment

Ezekiel is a scary book. The people of God have aroused his anger to the point that judgment WILL come, and it will not be pretty. In Ezekiel 21, the Lord tells Ezekiel to make a map and trace two routes for the king of Babylon to follow: "Put a signpost on the road that comes out of Babylon where the road forks into two" (verse 19). Do you have a signpost in your life, to direct the enemy? Do you put up anger or bitterness or depression and say, "This way! Come over here!" Lord, show us the signposts we have put up for evil, and help us pull them down. Make new maps for our lives, Father!

The other thing that struck me, with that same weird comfort that I spoke of in the Perhaps post, is that God's wrath fell on "the righteous and wicked alike." He was very clear that he was not going to spare the righteous in his judgment on Israel. Wow, what a heads up. When the church my husband & I had attended all of our married life split, I saw all sorts of damage to righteous people. I felt damaged in my own life & ministry. And here God says plainly: I will not spare you when I bring my judgment.

Knowing something is good, but it is also nice to know what to do next. The end of Ezekiel is full of promise, of God's plan to restore his people. When you are caught up in a judgment, some kind of wrath that seems to fall from God's hand, you might get hurt. But he is the God that restores as well as the God who judges. When you look at the wreckage left over from his sword, begin to seek out his restoration. It is there. He is faithful and good--both to tear down and to build back. Remember that he is holy, and he will triumph. No one said that getting there was a pretty skip through daisies.

Perhaps

In Joshua 14:12, Caleb asks for the land that he was promised forty years before when he and Joshua helped scout out Canaan. From the older generation, only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to enter the Promised Land, as a reward for their faith, and now Caleb wants his piece of the fight. He has been faithful to follow God whole-heartedly, and in his old age, he is willing to pursue God's gift to him.

Notice his language. In the NAS, this verse reads, "perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken." He knows that God has promised to drive the inhabitants from the Promised Land, that the Israelites will take this land as their new home. Yet he uses the word "perhaps."

This passage was drawn to my attention by Richard Dahlstrom, and you can find his excellent blog at http://burnsidewriterscollective.blogspot.com/2009/01/perhaps-embracing-risk-factor.html. Caleb knew that God would accomplish his purposes for Israel. He also knew that things could go wrong. He had seen Israel routed at Ai after the remarkable victory at Jericho. Even though things were set straight, people died in the initial battle. Following God has a large risk component--and still Caleb plunged ahead.

Following God will not allow us to stay in our comfort zones. Ever. Even when you follow him for a bit and find that you like it, and get rather used to the crazy life he gives you...when you reach a comfort plateau, hold on, because following God intentionally will put you at the front line of battle, and things are messy there. Oddly enough, I find Caleb's "perhaps" comforting, just like I find the book of Ecclesiastes comforting. I want to live a life where I see signs, miracles, and wonders from the hand of God, but sometimes life is confusing and overwhelming. Because the bible shows me life as I witness it while still giving me something to reach for, I am both comforted and inspired. Thank you, God, for being real, and yet so very amazing.

Signature

Smile,
Jesus loves you
sang her bumper,
just one small tasteful
sign. Jesus rode
in the backseat,
hunched down
flipping the lid
on the ashtray as
the car left Wal-Mart,
passing the remarkable
young and handsome
homeless man, hastily
lifting his cardboard sign.

The faith of teenagers

God surprises me sometimes. I tend to be more surprised when he says "yes" to a prayer than when he says "no"--that's rather funny for a person of faith, but it's true.

My daughter invited a friend to a discipleship weekend at our church that began this last Friday. For a week, we had high drama, with new stories every day (or two hours) about why she couldn't go. It was like holding on to a shape shifter (if you have handy sci-fi images in your databank to draw on...). Just the uncertainty of it drove me crazy, but my daughter persisted. I would have given up so many times, but in the end, her friend went. Furthermore, she made friends at our church, had a blast, and now wants to attend every time the doors are open.

We told stories about this weekend in our community group that had the chorus of "but the adults said." Always, these kids were out-faithing us. They thought they could make an effort, and God would respond by working in the lives of people around them. We adults thought they should seek their own comfort, stay within boundaries, put God on the spot a little less often. We were safe. They had the faith of...children.

Don't tell my teenagers I used that word!

Rambling about books

I just finished reading the second book in Anne Rice's trilogy, Christ the Lord. The first book is Out of Egypt; the one I finished is The Road to Cana. Anne Rice is the vampire-guru from pre-Twilight days, best known perhaps for Interview with a Vampire, which was made into a movie with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Her vampire tales never appealed to me--too creepy. But one afternoon I did catch 20 minutes of the movie, and was even more convinced I should stay away. The movie screamed "Danger!" to me--not because it was occultish, but because it was too seductively attractive to me.

A few years ago a Mormon friend was late dropping her daughter off for my daughter's birthday party, and she was gushing to explain why. She & her daughter were reading this GREAT book by a Mormon woman about vampires. Don't get freaked out! she said, It's not weird! It was a love story without any sex, blah blah blah. From my first introduction, Twilight was clearly a book I wasn't interested in.

Then one day I chanced on Out of Egypt--Anne Rice, writing about Jesus? And she was not only writing about Jesus. She was writing Jesus in the first-person. Wow, that's bold, I thought. I researched her on the internet before reading, and who knew. She was raised Catholic, married an atheist, and after decades with a man she loved, she lost him to a brain tumor. Somewhere in her grief, she came back to the church...and to Christ the Lord.

It was a bit freaky to me to read a fictional book about Christ in first-person. However, I love Rice's portrayal of Jesus. He is human; he is divine; he is the Almighty in flesh, and her depiction does not conflict with the Jesus I am in love with. She is using the writing skills honed all of those years on vampires in order to write about Christ.

I wish I had some kind of conclusion or observation, but really, I simply enjoyed this book that I read. So I blogged. Thanks for reading. :)

What we hold

Pharaoh finally told the Israelites that they could leave their place of slavery to go worship their God. As they were leaving, God told them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for jewelry and clothing and things made of silver and gold. In essence, they plundered their captors as they left the country. This must have felt sweet to the Israelites. They were kicking butt!

Some of them probably ate every day from their new silver plates, or toasted their neighbor with the fancy gold goblet that their overlord used to drink from. Some of them probably donned their new beautiful clothing for special occasions. Some might have kept their new treasures tucked away, a bit overwhelmed by all the splendor but quietly very happy.

After a few months, the Israelites watched Moses ascend Mt. Sinai. We know he came back with the Ten Commandments, but it was really more than that. Moses returned from meeting God with a whole new culture, a way for the Israelites to live that included a system of justice and a way to worship Yahweh, the God to whom they had been formally introduced during this Exodus experience. One of the components of the new religion was a Tabernacle, a tent where God's presence would live.

And guess what? Anyone who was willing could donate articles of silver and gold and fine fabrics of all kinds! The Tabernacle would need jewels, too. Can you see Ben looking down at his tunic, Ruth thinking of her bracelet tucked in her bedroll, and Levi considering the fifteen gold plates on which he's been serving manna? God does not require them to give their plunder over. He asks anyone who has a willing heart to give.

When they enter the Promised Land, forty years later, they are forbidden to take any plunder from Jericho, the first city. Subsequent plunder will be theirs to have, and they will settle in a land of wealth. But now, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, with their new goodies in hand, God says, "Do you want to give those things to me?" God is always more concerned with what we hold in our hearts, than what we hold in our hands--but what I'm holding onto physically might actually represent what is holding my heart.