I Am Convinced

The ocean is calling my name...

The warm salt water, sugar sand, roaring waves, soaring seabirds, cool breeze and endless rays of warmth and light are the cure to my worn down body, soul, and spirit.

Reminding me once again to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Reminding me to bask in the rays of His light, His glory, His care for all of creation. Yes, even for me.

Reminding me to slow down, rest, trust, and know that He is God.

I drink in the deep, deep love of Jesus.

"Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean..."

And I remember that the ocean is but a metaphor for how He loves you and me. It goes deeper still. And wider. And greater. Can this be? Do I really experience this?

And do I offer even a cup of the ocean of this glorious love to those around me?

And do I hear the Creator of this ocean perfect paradise whispering my name?

Romans 8:38-39 "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Am I convinced?

I am convinced...nothing can separate me from the endless ocean of God's love in Jesus. Nothing.

Victory!

When I started my mini-marathon this week, I was hoping some would run with me and join me in reading the Gospel of John this week leading up to Easter. I didn't expect to run with Mary and the disciples of long ago, though.

As I was nearing the end of my race through John, the words jumped out on the page. After Mary sees the stone of the tomb removed, she runs to Peter. She runs!

Then I read...
"So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in...Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed."

They see the empty tomb. There certainly is some confusion, and they can't explain it all, but later Jesus appears and makes the mystery clear. He reveals himself to them several times, but my favorite is when he reunites with his disciples at the sea for a breakfast of fish and bread. After the sadness of the Last Supper, joy returns in the morning of this First Breakfast.

And I wonder: Do I run to the truth of the resurrection each day, yes, each moment of my life? Do I let the new life of Jesus transform my every action? Do I see and believe? Do I live the new resurrected life? Do I experience the victory of the empty tomb every day?

Thank you, Jesus, for your victory that's mine because of Easter. Make me an Easter person every day. May I always run to you!

Last Days

Nearing the end of our Gospel sprint through John...

What would you do in your last days here on earth? What does Jesus do? He comforts us and prays for us. Amazing love!

John 16:22
"So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you."

John 16:33
"In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

John 17:15
"I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one."

Jesus is betrayed, arrested, accused, mocked, deserted, condemned, flogged, beaten, and crucified. And then he is buried. Thankfully, that is not the end of the story.

Running To The End

In John today...
"Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." To. The. End.

Jesus, the ultimate servant, washes His disciples feet. Yes, even the betrayer's feet. He serves His enemy. And how do we treat those who betray us? We are to serve them, like Jesus. To. The. End.

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
How do we do this? How often do we fail to do this? Lord, help us to love others like you. To. The. End.

"Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full...This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
We abide. We love. We lay down our lives like Jesus. To. The. End.

We cling to the True Branch of Life that was crushed for our death, for our joy, for our life. He did this to His own end--for our new beginning.

Gospel Sprint

Still sprinting through the Gospel of John this Easter week. Are you running with me?

Yesterday...
I saw the Good Shepherd again. "He calls His own sheep by name." Really? Why do I so often forget this? I forget that He really knows my name. So my heart sang, "Savior, Like a Shepherd Led Us," our wedding hymn from nearly 14 years ago. Thou hast bought us, thine we are...

The death of Lazarus was not just a beautiful prelude to Jesus' resurrection, but it made me once again realize that Jesus really does know our emotions. Really. He too was "moved in His spirit and greatly troubled." He cried real tears of pain and sadness.

And then there's Mary and Martha again. Martha is still serving, and Mary has once again chosen what is best. She uses her best perfume to lavish love on Jesus. Oh, how can I be more like Mary than Martha?

Triumphantly, the ancient words of Zephaniah are fulfilled:
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

And I am rejoicing!

Today...
I ask myself the all important questions:

"Which do I love more? The glory that comes from man or the glory that comes from God?"

and

"How can I wash another's feet?"

and

"What does it look like to lay down my life for my friends?"

and

"Do I truly believe that apart from Jesus I can do absolutely nothing?"

and

"Why do I all too easily forget that I have a Helper?"

Running Through the Gospel

I'm running a mini-marathon through the Gospel of John.

Today in John...
"Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone..."
John 8:7

So much confusion over who Jesus was. Jesus caused quite a stir...mostly with the chief priests and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day. How sad as conflicts among followers of God continue to spill over into our lives today.

Jesus, help us see you for who you truly are, and in seeing ourselves as chief among sinners, may we lay down our stones. Forever. For only when those stones disappear will we see new resurrection life in our relationships.

Easter Reading

I intended to read the Bible in a year last year. Didn't happen.

I also planned to read the whole Gospel of John during Lent leading up to Easter. Failed again.

I even hoped to work on some weekly Bible memorization using my nifty Fighter Verse app from Desiring God Ministries. That lasted just a few weeks. I'm behind now and don't know if I can even catch up.

I live in the land of good intentions and well-made plans. I just stink at the follow through.

This Easter week I've decided I need to keep it simple, though. So I'm reading through the book of John all week this week. (Yes, in my mind, this is simple. Short term goals are better for me.) I'm thinking since there are 21 chapters, that's 3 chapters a day for each day of Holy Week to take a sweeping look at the life, ministry, and last days of Jesus. I can't remember the last time I have read the book as a whole, so I'm excited. This is one goal I'm really, really hoping to keep.

Yesterday...
I met the Word Made Flesh. He is LIGHT and LIFE.

I was reminded that from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

John the Baptist announced "Prepare the way of the Lord" and my heart sang a familiar tune from long gone Bible camp days.

Jesus called his first disciples, and I remembered why we named our second born Andrew. We prayed that like this disciple, he would have a special relationship with his brother and with his Savior.

Jesus turned water into wine, and I am thankful that we have a God who celebrates extravagantly.

I was once again reminded that "He must increase but I must decrease."

And today...
I am reminded how much I am like the woman at the well...prostituting my heart out to idols that will never truly satisfy when I am really thirsting for living water. So I say with my sister, "Give me this water, too, Jesus."

I realize that I am also the blind, lame, and paralyzed. Too many days I am blinded by my own sin. I often fail to walk in the fullness of the Gospel. Sadly, some days I am even paralyzed by fear. Thank you, God, for meeting me in my need and bringing healing.

And I can't help but wonder when I read the feeding of the five thousand. How did I forget that when Jesus took the bread and fish from that generous young boy, He first gave thanks? He hadn't even multiplied it yet. It still wasn't enough, but He thanked God for the little, and God made it much. Enough. Ann Voskamp puts it well: "Eucharisteo always precedes the miracle."

Care to join me in reading John this week? You can catch up and we can finish strong by Easter. Kind of like running a little mini Gospel-marathon together. Except instead of 26.2, we only have 21 chapters to cover!

I Love Words...sometimes

I love words. I love the alphabet. I love Bananagrams. And I love books. Lots of books.

I love talking and learning and reading and going to great conferences where I listen and learn and reflect...but I reach a point where it makes me weary.

And I remember this important truth:

"The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh."

Thanks, Solomon.

What's In the Bible?

I've been pretty excited lately about helping my children see how all the stories of the Bible fit together. We try to do that each Christmas with our Jesse Tree, a small Christmas tree with special ornaments representing people in the Bible leading up to the birth of Jesus. It's a kind of family tree for Jesus, if you will. But more about that later...

I was super thrilled when I recently heard about this new project of the makers of Veggie Tales. They have stepped it up a notch and are completing what I think is their most creative and significant project yet--a series of 13 DVDs that walk children through the Bible. Check out What's In the Bible for a preview of what's to come. Or watch this YouTube video and hear Phil Vischer himself.

I'm hoping my kids will not only be entertained, but more importantly start to see how God's plan of creation, fall, redemption and restoration fits together and has been woven through the history and lives of people from the beginning of time. I'm hoping it will make their unabridged Bibles that they have graduated to a little less intimidating to read. Maybe they'll even be motivated to read Leviticus?! Okay, so I'm also hoping to learn a little myself, too. Or at least finally remember what I've learned.

P.S. Did you happen to see this 11 year old boy rattle off his version of how the Bible fits together? Quite impressive.

Warning!

DON'T read a verse in the Bible. Interesting command. Unless you mean, don't read just one verse of the Bible. Read it in context of several verses, several chapters, several books, the whole story of what God has done, is doing, and will do.

Collin Hansen of the Gospel Coalition has some interesting thoughts on that. Check them out here.

And it made me wonder...If I were Tim Tebow, what verse might I write on my eye black? What about you?

Truth

Do you talk to yourself? I do it all the time. Maybe it's the introvert in me. I talk to myself before I talk to others. But lately I've been noticing that I don't always tell myself the truth. I exaggerate. I minimize. I overlook. I pretend. I flat out tell lies. I forget the truth.

This problem is not just mine, but if we are all wired the same way, and I believe we are, we all experience problems with hearing and discerning truth in our lives. Once again, it goes all the way back to Adam & Eve who listened, but never really heard, never really believed, and unfortunately followed another's words, another's promises, another's....lies.

And that's our problem. That's my problem. Like Eve, sometimes I listen to the Father of Lies, who tantalizes me with temporary treasures that spoil and fade, while my true Heavenly Father offers me a taste of something better. Something rich. Something pure. Something satisfying and life-giving. Something that will truly quench my thirst and satisfy the hunger I experience while living in this sometimes disappointing world.

So, am I listening to the life-giving truth of my Heavenly Father, or am I listening to the lies of another father, a father who doesn't really love me and can never really satisfy my soul?

What about you...who are you listening to for truth?

Remembering Truth

Sometimes it takes my kids to remind me of truth. At least this morning I had a good reminder while doing a new Bible study with my boys. We haven't always done well in this subject. I've just kind of randomly started the day with a verse or prayer or short devotion...or more often we've just jumped into math while I've breathed a silent prayer that God would order our day. But lately I've felt convicted that I'd like to spend more time actually opening up the Bible with my kiddos. So this January we have started a new inductive Bible study just for children. It's a study on the book of James, and it's entitled "Boy, Have I Got Problems!" I thought this would be a great first formal study to do with the kids because, well, we've got lots of our own problems--so we can relate. It also has cute cartoons, fun applications, and most importantly life-giving truth from God's word, so I was hoping they would enjoy it. So far, after Day 3, they have.

Today, they learned about cross-referencing. As we read from Isaiah 14:24, I was once again reminded of how God has a meaning for everything in our lives. As someone wise once said, "Nothing is wasted." God takes everything and redeems it for His plans and purposes. NOTHING is wasted.

Isaiah 14: 24 reads, "I have planned so it has happened, and just as I have purposed so it will stand."

How comforting to be reminded once again that God created everything, is in control of everything, and has purpose for EVERYTHING that happens in my life and in your life. How often I forget this and faithlessly wonder what went wrong when I can't imagine that this part of my life could really be God's plan for me. But it's not only a plan, it is also a purpose, which give all of my life experiences meaning and value.

So today, I will "consider it all joy" again as I remember the truth of God's word. Thanks, kids!