Question 3 What can be done?

With Adam and Eve’s disobedience, the sin nature was passed down to the human race – and man was banned from the presence of a holy God because of it.


In all the centuries since, we have tried to earn our way back into God’s favor, usually by trying to be and do all the good things we can, things like:

o   Keeping the 10 Commandments

o   Doing “religious” things – faithfully attending church, observing the sacraments, practicing the golden rule.

All of those things are good, but if trying to keep them is what you have been counting on to win you favor with God, how successful have you been at keeping ALL God’s commandments, faithfully and consistently?  Did you know that to fail to keep even ONE, you have sinned, and sin breaks fellowship with God?


Would you like to know what God says about us when it comes to all the good things we try to do?  Here it is from Romans, chapter 3, verses 10-12:

There is none righteous, no, not one;

There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God,

They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.

Maybe you’ve never read that, and you’re wondering, “Whoa, is that how God really sees me?  All of us?  How can that be?”.  


Let me ask a question.  When you’re trying to determine whether you’re doing enough to earn God’s favor, with whom do you compare yourself?


The problem is that we tend to compare ourselves with the people around us.  (Admit it, it’s what we do, right?)  We can always find people who, in our estimation, are not as “good” as we are. 



But OTHER PEOPLE are not the standard God uses.  Would you like to guess what standard He uses?   Wait for it ----- Himself!  

(The Bible: Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:7; and I Peter 1:15)

Be holy as I am holy, says the Lord.

I read that and see immediately that I am in serious trouble if I think my own goodness could ever come close to God’s holiness.  I understand then that no matter how hard I try, something – gossip, a little white lie, making judgments of others based on their dress – and a ton of other things – will do me in.  Just one of them is enough to cause me to fall short of God’s perfect holiness. 

Nope, we could never earn God’s favor by trying to be “right and holy”.  Actually, what the Bible says is that what we have actually earned through our sin is DEATH.  (The Bible: Romans 6:23)

So, what happens now?   How can I EVER hope to live a life that pleases God when sin taints everything I think and do?  God is right when He says, “there is NO ONE who does good, not even one”.

Question 3:  What can be done about my sin so that I can be right again with God?

What can be DONE has been done, but it could not have been done by you, or me, or any other sinner, no matter how hard we tried.


God is righteous and holy and just and because of that, He can not, NOT punish sin.  We, sinners all, HAVE to die to pay that penalty.  


The only way we could avoid our deserved death was if a substitute – who was NOT also a sinner – offered to stand in our place – the guiltless for the guilty - to satisfy God's just judgment against sin. That is exactly what GOD had planned.


Out of His great love, mercy and grace, God provided the dearest thing He had, His Son Jesus, to be our substitute – the sinless for the sinful - to stand in our place and endure the death that was meant for us.  


But that’s only half the story.  


On that Good Friday more than 2000 years ago, Jesus satisfied God’s righteous judgment against sin in His own body on the cross and because of it, God forgives your sin and mine, and imputes (transfers to OUR account) the very righteousness of Jesus Himself.  Now, when God looks at me, He sees, not my sin, for that has been paid for by Jesus, but the righteousness of His Son in which I am now clothed.


Finally, by faith, I can be in a fit state to draw near to God, to enjoy the intimacy of relationship with Him for which He made me!


And what’s more, Jesus’ death broke the hold sin had on me.  Whereas, before Jesus, I could not NOT sin, now that my faith is in Jesus, I can say NO to sin!  I can choose NOT to sin by His power.


And what about that last enemy, DEATH?  


Jesus overcame death by rising from the dead three days after His crucifixion.  Because He lives now, I know that I will live also.  Death no longer holds any sway over me.  When I die, I will go immediately into the presence of Jesus.  I will see Him face to face and live with Him for all eternity.


At the cross Jesus also won the war with Satan.  Although skirmishes are still being waged by him against God's purposes, and against those who belong to Jesus, he knows he has LOST, and one day will be destroyed.


If you went into a Walmart tomorrow to exchange a dishtowel and they offered you in exchange something SO much more awesome, valuable and priceless than anything you EVER imagined in your life – wouldn’t you take it?


How then, do we take hold of this gift Jesus has made possible for us?

What CAN we do to about our sin so that we can be right with God?

• ·       Agree with God when He says that I am not, nor can I ever BE, righteous before Him.  No matter how hard I might try, how much good I do that I think outweighs the bad, a sinner who sins is who I am.
• 
  
• ·       Accept that when Jesus died on that cross for sin, He was taking MY place, atoning for MY sin – bearing the death I had earned and rightly deserved.
• 
  
• ·       Believe that Jesus’ death paid completely for my sin and amazing as it seems, His own righteousness can now be credited to MY account and clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, it will be forever the way God sees me from this point on.
• 
  
• ·       Believe that Jesus rose from the dead, as a sign of His Father’s approval and acceptance of His sacrifice on my behalf.  Because He lives forever, I will also live forever with Him.  
  

All of the blessings of what Jesus did for you, God offers to you as a gift of His grace.  All you need DO, is receive it.  

The Bible:  Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

If you think that that’s IT, as awesome as it IS, you would be wrong.  There is so much more – “above all that we can ask or even imagine”.   


Wait for it. . . . . . .

Question 2 What went wrong?

It was beautiful, the garden the Lord God made for Adam and Eve.  The best part of life in the garden was the wonderful, intimate relationship they enjoyed with Him, and with each other, until something went horribly wrong.

Question 2 – What went wrong?

Genesis, chapter 2, verses 16-17:

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’”.

There was a cunning serpent in the garden who had a way with words, and he introduced doubt in the mind of the woman about the truthfulness and faithfulness of God.  (Genesis, chapter 3)


The serpent said to the woman:

Has God REALLY said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’

You will NOT surely die.  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

Suddenly, the fruit of that tree was a MUST have!  But when Adam and Eve had eaten it, everything changed.


They instantly realized they were naked, and in their shame, they covered themselves with fig leaves.  


When they heard the sound of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, instead of running to greet Him, they hid themselves from Him.


When God called out to them, Adam acknowledged his new found fear of God, a fear that caused them both to hide from Him.


When confronted with God’s, “What have you done?”, the blame began – she did it, no the serpent did it!  


The Lord, who had made them in His own image, the One who loved them, and gave them free will to choose relationship with Him or not, pronounced the consequences of their rebellion and disobedience.


First, He addressed the serpent:

You are cursed more than every beast of the field.  On your belly you shall go all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed (descendants) and her Seed (Descendant).  He shall crush your head (a fatal blow), and you shall bruise His heel.

Then to the woman, He said:

I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception.  In pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

Then to Adam, He said:

Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth.  In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for dust you are and to dust you shall return.

The Lord made tunics for them of the skin of animals and then sent them out of the garden, placing angels with flaming swords to guard the way, so that they could not reenter, and eat of the Tree of Life, and live forever in their sinful state.


Paradise lost. . . . .


What Adam and Eve did that day, in exercising their God given free will in an act of disobedience to the One who had created them for Himself, is the cause of everything that is wrong today.  


In what way, you might ask: 


First, they passed down a sin nature to everyone who came after them. 


Sin is not just the things we do that are against God’s commands.  Sin is the source of our rebellion, disobedience and indifference towards God.   Adam and Eve first exhibited that rebellion in the garden, and then passed it down to us – the way we pass down blue eyes, or curly hair, to our descendants.  It’s as if sin is part of our DNA.  Every member of the human race since, has been born with it.


Observe any two year old, and you will see that nature in action.  We cannot NOT sin, it’s against our nature.


That sin nature is evident in broken relationships – not only with God, but with each other.  It’s the underlying cause of selfishness, meanness, murder and all kinds of evil, as well as those things we think of as lesser evils – gossip, anger, immorality and pride. It’s the source of a me first, nobody is going to tell me what to do attitude, that sets me up as the center of all things – and not God.


Sin doesn’t just affect us, it affects all of creation. Coronavirus. droughts, floods, disease, weeds, mold, birth deformities, infertile soil that’s difficult to farm, crop eating locusts – the Bible tells us that all creation is groaning under the curse of mankind’s sin.  


Adam and Eve’s sin initiated a war between the “seed of the serpent” and the “Seed” of the woman that continues on to this very day.  There is a war going on all around us between Satan, the ancient serpent of the garden of Eden, and all those since who want no part of God – and the “Seed” of the woman, those who belong to God by faith in His Son Jesus.  


Death entered the picture.  When the Lord told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He warned them what would happen if they did.  They would surely die.   They didn’t die immediately, but die they did, and death has been the ultimate enemy of mankind since.  


You and I are suffering under the curse of Adam and Eve’s fall right up till today – a curse that affects all of creation, our relationship with God Himself, and our relationships with each other.  A curse that resulted in physical death.  A curse that has so tainted us that it is altogether impossible for us to please God in our current state.  A curse that initiated a battle between those who belong to Satan and those who belong to Jesus.  


What a bleak picture!  What a terrible loss.  How can we ever hope to enter back into the relationship of intimacy with God that was lost when Adam and Eve fell?


What can we do??  All seems hopeless. . . . . ah, but IS it?


Watch for question 3 to hear about a hope beyond your wildest imaginings!!  


Question to ponder:


What is your source of hope in our world of pandemics, wars, broken relationships, natural disaster, disease and heartache, and especially DEATH – when God seems so incredibly far away – if you think of Him at all?

Question 1 What is my purpose?

When you get to be my age and realize you have fewer years ahead than behind you to live, you might find yourself asking this question:  

Why am I here and what is my purpose?

While I was thinking about this blog, some slogans from products and bumper stickers were going through my head.  They might just express how some in our society would answer that question.  Like:

• ·       Be all that you can be. . . In other words, maximize your potential, make goals and pursue them!

• ·       Go for the gusto. . . Grab all the good stuff the world offers while you can.

• ·       Have it your way. . .Never mind what everyone else does, or who it might hurt, do things YOUR way

• ·       The one who dies with the most toys wins. . .  So amass stuff – maybe a new car, a boat, a house at the beach, a lucrative financial portfolio, a big bank account, the best clothes, jewelry, whatever. . . . .

• ·       Save money, live better. . .Save money so you can live comfortably when you retire

• ·       Because I’m worth it. . . You are the MOST important person in life, you have all the very best things coming to you!

• ·       The relentless pursuit of perfection. . . Strive to rise to the top in your company, gain the respect of your peers, earn another degree – it’s the only way to feel valuable

Some of those slogans represent worthy goals.  After all, who doesn’t want to maximize their potential, or take good care of their families, or advance their career?  

What if I told you that your whole purpose for living is SO much greater than any of those, even the best of them?  Would you want to hear about it?  Well, here goes:

It all began with the phrase:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  

(Genesis, the Bible, chapters 1 through 3).

The world God began with was formless and empty.  All He did was speak and the power of His word brought all that is into being, out of nothing.

• ·       The heavens and the earth
• ·       The sky and dry land
• ·       Grasses, herbs, fruit trees.
• ·       Sun, moon and stars
• ·       Sea creatures and birds in abundance
• ·       Cattle, creeping things, animals

And then, God made man, the absolute pinnacle of His creative genius.

·       He made man in His image, in His likeness, male and female, and gave them dominion over all the other things He had made.  

·       God formed man out of the dust of the ground and then breathed His own breath into him and gave him life.

Genesis 1, verse 31 tells us that God saw everything that He had made, and declared it, very good.


God planted a garden and put the man in it to tend it. God brought every animal and bird to the man so that he might name them, BUT in all of them there was not a helper comparable to him.


And so, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and from his rib, God made a woman.  When God brought her to the man, to live together as husband and wife, he reacted with the ancient equivalent of, WOW!!.  


Best of all - Adam and Eve, God’s first man and woman, walked and talked with Him in the garden in a wonderful, intimate, face to face relationship. 


They were both naked and were not ashamed.

_________________________________________________________________

So, you might be asking, how does this answer the question:

Why am I here and what is my purpose?

I’m glad you asked.  Let me suggest some things:


You are here by God’s design. 


In other words, you are not here by random chance, and you are NOT a mistake. 

Your life matters to God more than you can imagine.  He loves you more than you can imagine, even if you feel no one else ever has, God has, because He made you and knows you.  And that gives your life, and every life, honor and value and purpose.  Every life is precious to God.


God formed you while you were in your mother’s womb.  He saw you though you were yet unformed.  Even the days of your life here on earth have been written in God’s book, every one is important to Him.  He declares that YOU have been “fearfully and wonderfully” made.  (Psalm 139)


God made you for relationship with Himself.


God made Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden He had made for them, to work it and bring forth fruit, but then He didn’t just leave them to it.  He met them there.  He walked with them and talked with them in a face to face relationship (see Genesis 3, verse 8).


Imagine!  This great God who had brought all things into being with the sound of His voice, actually wanted a relationship with this man and this woman, these creatures He had created, and into which He had breathed His own breath.


You know, that hasn’t changed.  God made you for a relationship with Himself – something nothing else in all His earthly creation is capable of.  He wants a relationship with you, and me.  That is the purpose for which you have been made – to know God – to live in relationship with Him every day, from now throughout eternity. 


If this was God’s purpose, you might ask, then how is it we end up living our lives in pursuit of so many lesser things?   

What went wrong, you ask?  Good question.  


As a matter of fact, it’s a question for another blog.  Watch for it! ________________________________________________________________

In the meantime, think about this:


What is YOUR purpose?  What are YOU living for?  Will what you live for outlast you, or is it just for today?  How’s it working for you? 

JESUS - KINSMAN AND REDEEMER

The small women’s Bible study that weekly meets in my home is studying Nancy Guthrie’s book: The Son of David, Seeing Jesus in the Historical Books.  We began last year with her first Old Testament study in Genesis, followed by one on Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  All three of these studies together have resulted in many WOW moments of amazement at God’s revelation of Himself and His grand plan of redemption! 

I have always been a detail person, so I just love studying the Old Testament for its rich narrative, chock full of the kind of detail that really gets me going.  It’s not uncommon for me to get stuck on a seemingly insignificant thing and then spend lots of thought and study time to understand why God included it. 

Here’s an example for you.  Ehud is one of Israel’s judges written about in the Old Testament book of Judges.  It says this about him in chapter 3, verse 7:

When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man.

When I first read that verse, my mind immediately fixated on the fact that he was a left-handed man.  I initially thought, “And. . . .what difference does THAT make?”   Ah, but it was an important detail!  Read the rest of that story for yourself and you’ll see! 

Though I love all those curiosity piquing details, Nancy Guthrie’s books have been a wonderful stretch!  She is helping me see what I might otherwise miss – the much bigger, cosmic picture of what God was doing in the Old Testament to help us see Jesus – His person and His ministry – so that He would be recognized when He came.

This week we are studying the book of Ruth.  It’s a beautiful story that might, with just a surface reading, seem like a love story, but it is so much more.  First the story itself.

The book of Ruth begins with the story of Naomi, an Israelite woman who, due to a famine in Israel, moved with her husband and family to the Gentile region of Moab.  There her husband died.  Her two sons both married Moabite women, but then they also died. 

Naomi got word that the famine was over in Bethlehem, so she decided to return to the land of her people.  Her two daughters in law made to go with her, but she told them to return to their own people in the hope that they might marry again and bear children.  One of them returned home, but her daughter in law Ruth refused to leave her.  In Ruth’s beautiful response to Naomi’s plea, recorded for us in Ruth, chapter 1, verse 16, Ruth says:

Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

Ruth’s words are fraught with deeper meaning than simply a love for her mother in law and a desire to remain with her.  Ruth’s words are an expression of faith, aligning her with the people of Israel and their God.  Her words indicate a commitment, to leave behind all that had previously defined her as a Moabite, to become a follower of Israel’s God.

Naomi and Ruth arrive back in Israel without fortune or family to give them security and protection.  Through a series of circumstances, they find a close male relative, Boaz, who agrees to serve a unique role in their lives.  According to Israelite law, when a man died without a male heir (as Ruth’s husband did), his brother was to marry his wife.  The first son born to them would be considered the offspring of the dead brother.  This was done to keep land inheritances in the original family.  If there was no son to do so, it was up to the next closest male relative to fill the role.  The role was that of kinsman redeemer. 

Since both of Naomi’s sons had died, Boaz assumed the role of kinsman redeemer.  Since he was closest kin to Naomi, he was able to buy her husband’s land (redeem it for Ruth’s dead husband and his heirs) and marry Ruth. 

One of the questions in the study this week was to compare the parallels between Boaz and Jesus.  Boaz was incredibly kind to Ruth, even though she was a foreigner to Israel.  He was beyond generous.  Jesus demonstrated these same characteristics of kindness and generosity in New Testament accounts: by showing kindness in the hope of leading us to repentance, by healing the servant of the Gentile Roman centurion.  

Most importantly however, it is in his role of kinsman redeemer that Boaz points us to Jesus, our ultimate Kinsman Redeemer.

All believers in Jesus today recognize Him as our Redeemer.  When we were dead in our sin and unable to rescue ourselves, He stepped in to take the penalty for sin for us.  He redeemed us from death and the sinful, empty way of life we lived before we knew Him.  His gift of salvation is open to all who would receive it, Jew and Gentile.  I know Jesus as Redeemer.

However, it was the word kinsman that kept my detail loving mind awake this week.  How was Jesus our kinsman?  The New Testament tells us how, beginning in Philippians 2:5:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus is our kinsman because though He was God, He came from heaven in human form, “in the likeness of men”.  Here He lived the life we could NOT live, a  perfect life, without sin, fulfilling all of God’s law.  He was the only man who could stand in for us, take the penalty that was ours at the cross, and so become our Redeemer.  We needed Him to be our Kinsman as well as our Redeemer.

In the Old Testament book of Ruth God has revealed so much more than just a story of human kindness and redemption.  He has pointed us toward the One who would fulfill in every way the role of OUR Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus.

I will never get over my love for detail.  But it’s in the BIG PICTURE view of what God has been, and is now doing, that I find myself so in love with Jesus.

And Ruth – the foreigner who aligned herself by faith to Israel’s God?  She became the mother of Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David – from whose royal line would come Jesus, the Messiah.

WHO IS THE STAR OF YOUR LIFE'S STORY?

Do you enjoy going to the movies?  Jim and I enjoy a good movie, but we went more often when we were younger and could find what we’d call a “good” family type movie. 

Occasionally though, we’ll find one that appeals.  We’re not ones to stick around after the lights go out to watch the credits, but lately I’ve been noticing that some people do.  They stay in their seats until all the credits have rolled and the lights go up completely.  I wonder why.  Are they looking for the name of someone they know?  Are they checking to see if that guy in the yellow hat was the same guy who played the cop in last week’s episode of their favorite TV show?  Maybe some day I’ll ask someone. 

While on my way to Walmart today I heard a radio pastor give an intriguing movie illustration, followed by this question:  If your life was a movie, would you be the star, or would you find yourself with just a bit part, your name not even in the credits?  Most people, I think, would be inclined to answer, well, if it’s the movie of MY life, of course I’d be the star!  I’d be the most important person in it!  Everything would revolve around my milestones, my decisions, my relationships, my actions and how they all affect ME!  His question started me thinking:

Is that what my life looks like?  Is that how I want to live it, with me at the center? Is that consistent with my Christian faith?

A small group of women has been meeting at my home this fall to study Nancy Guthrie’s book, The Lamb of God:  Seeing Jesus in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  It has been a wonderful study, giving us a much expanded view of what the Lord had been doing in that day to make Himself known, how it all points to Jesus, and how it impacts our lives as Christians today. 

This week, in reference to Deuteronomy 6, verse 5:

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

we were asked the question:

What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength?  In other words, what does it mean to make GOD and not ME the star of my life’s story?

I had to think about that long and hard.  The author helped get me started.  She said:

·       “(Loving) the Lord with all our heart” – means that nothing, and no one else, competes with our affections.

I have so many things that compete with God for my affections – my children, my husband, my desire to do things MY way even if it contradicts His, my love for establishing my own priorities for my time, money, the use of my gifts.  My affections hold such sway over me, their pull so strong – and immediate – and sometimes urgent – that I can drift far from fixing my affections on God.

Because the things that hold our affections are right HERE, in our face, as it were, putting God before them requires intentionality, a reordering of priorities over other affections, time, money, gifts, in order to give Him first place in our lives.

·       “(Loving) the Lord with all our mind” – means facing up to my stubborn blind spots and willful ignorance.  

Got any stubborn blind spots?  What are they?  In this last year alone, the Lord has brought me face to face with the pride that causes me to think I know the BEST way to do things, over someone else’s not wrong, but different, way.  It leads to a bossiness and arrogance that isn’t pretty. 

He’s opened my eyes to all the ways in which I sin with my mind – in judgment over someone else who is just different in personality.  He’s convicted me of the ways in which I use the intelligence He’s given me to pursue things (books, TV programs, conversations) that tear me and others down.  Walking in stubbornness and willfulness, using my mind in ways that don’t draw me closer to the Lord – all these things force God into a lesser place in my life’s story.

·       “(Loving) the Lord with all our soul” – means that God’s glory radiates into and out of my being.

When I am consistently studying the Bible and talking about it with friends, God’s glory radiates into my being – fanning the flames of love for Him, and hope, joy and praise.  His glory within can't help but radiate out from me as well – in joy spilling over, in words of praise, in a heart full of expectation of all He has for me in the life to come, as well as in this one, shared with others as we study.  When I neglect God’s word, I slowly but surely forget the joy of knowing Him, and just as slowly but surely, I begin to take center stage in my story again.  The result:  God’s glory radiating into me is hampered, and His glory radiating out from me is as well.

·       “(Loving) the Lord will all our strength” – means not allowing anything trivial or temporal to sap me of strength or focus on loving and trusting Him.

Does worry sap you of strength the way it saps me?  Does fear?  Every time I give in to fear or worry, focusing my mind on my current difficult or fearful circumstances, I stop focusing on the sovereignty of my God, who is in control of ALL things – and those circumstances, with their accompanying fear and worry, become the star of my story.  Loving the Lord with ALL my strength requires a change of focus – from the circumstances to the God who is above them all – and has it all in hand.

People have speculated that one day when we stand before God at the judgment, He will roll the film of the story of our lives for all to see.  The Bible doesn’t say exactly that, but it does say that one day when we stand before God, we will give an account of ourselves to Him.  When the "film" of your life story is rolled, who will be the star?

On that day, I venture that there will be a very few who will be able to stand before the Lord and say they kept Him always at the center of their life’s story.  I KNOW I don't!  But I can’t think of a more worthy goal for living our lives in the here and now than the one the Lord Himself gave us:  

Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, ALL your mind, ALL your soul, and ALL your strength.  

In other words God says, make ME the star of your life's story.  If we want to pursue the goal of knowing and loving God with all that is in us, it might require some changes - in our affections, in the way we use our minds, in the way we enrich and feed our souls, in where we look for strength.  It will require intentionality and some life changes. 

I initially wrote this blog when we were on the verge of a new year. The challenge of making God the center of our life's story is one to engage in no matter what time of the year it is. What a worthy life goal - because God Himself is worthy!

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be glory, because of Your great love and faithfulness.”  Psalm 115, verse 1

MY MOM THE STORYTELLER

It came across my Facebook page, a family photo taken fifteen years ago now, at our daughter Becky’s wedding. 

The setting was the dining room of the lovely Mountaintop Inn in Vermont where Becky was married.  The photo is lit perfectly by the deer antler chandelier positioned over a dinner table.  A dozen or so family and friends, including the bride, are sitting at, or standing behind, the round table laden with the remnants of coffee and wedding cake.  Everyone is smiling, some are on the verge of laughter – all eyes are on one person – my mom.

Mom, seated at the far left of the table, is dressed in a beige pants suit with a satin collar, her gray blond hair cut in a style that perfectly captures her natural waves.  Her face radiates enthusiasm, her hands out in front of her, gesturing madly.  This is one of the ways I will always remember my mom - when she slipped into her role as family storyteller. 

Practically everyone around the table had already heard this particular story.  We all knew what was coming, yet every face is lit with expectation for it!  For once, not a single person said, “Oh Gram, not that one again!”.   No, this time around, we all just let her tell it, and we listened, smiled and just enjoyed it, as if it were the first time she’d told it.  

Her story began on a cruise.  Dinner was over, and Mom was on her way to the next activity when she felt it – the rumblings of what we all affectionally call, “Kaden stomach”.  Mom was not originally a Kaden, but apparently this particular disorder can be passed to non-blood relatives – ask any of us.  Immediately, Mom thought, “I knew I shouldn’t have had that last cup of coffee.” 

Hoping (against hope) that those vague cramps would not amount to anything, she continued on her way.  But, nothing can stop “Kaden stomach”, there IS no cure.  The next time the cramps made themselves known, Mom knew she needed to find a bathroom – preferably an empty one - STAT! 

Rushing into the nearest bathroom, happily noting its emptiness, Mom pushes into the stall, undoes the button of her pants, sits down, and breathes a sigh of relief. 

Less than a minute passes when Mom hears someone enter the room.  The only sound she hears after is a pounding on the counter.  She’s puzzled, but busy, and ignores it.  The pounding begins again.  Now Mom, curious, speaks, “Are you okay?”, she asks.   No speaking, just more pounding.

“Do you need help?”, Mom says.  More pounding.  Well, there’s only one thing to do.  

With the speed of Superman changing out of his Clark Kent suit, Mom stands up, pants still around her ankles, and unlocks the stall door.  Peeking outside, she sees the woman, face turning blue, holding her neck and pounding on the counter.  Instantly coming to the right conclusion, that the woman is choking, Mom waddles out, gives her the Heimlich maneuver, waits till she expels what was choking her and waddles back into the bathroom.  The woman whispers an embarrassed thank you and disappears as fast as she can.

By now, everyone at the table is reeling with laughter, tears flowing, but Mom hasn’t finished.  As she gets to the end of her story, Mom's last line, which sets everyone off again, is the classic, “Imagine what people would have thought was happening if they had walked in on me at the moment I was helping that lady!”.  Imagine. . . .

We lost Mom just a few short years later, but not a one of us has forgotten her stories, or the way she made us all laugh when she told them.  We truly miss her.

ALASKA - THE MAJESTY OF GOD

Jim and I just returned from a trip to Alaska.  I’m still processing the beauty of that wonderful place.  Words like huge, splendid, majestic, serene, quiet and lonely, don’t begin to describe its vast landscape of snow-capped mountains, covered by Sitka spruce trees standing straight and tall, packed close, from the shoreline all the way up the mountainsides.  Nor could they describe Denali National Park – surrounded by mountain ranges, all covered in snow – with low valleys of willow and sparse, skinny black spruce – landscapes that bear, and caribou, moose, and ptarmigan – call home.  It was breathtaking, making us feel so small in comparison.

Then there were the whales – a pod of orcas gliding in and out of the water across the front of our tour boat.  And a humpback soaring as it breached the water, leaving a huge splash in its wake, and harbor seals resting on the shores of a fjord.

And the glaciers!  You know they’re coming when the water alongside your ship begins to dot with ice floes.  Jim and I had been watching them float by our side of the ship, unaware of what was just on the other side.  We decided to go upstairs to grab some lunch when there we saw it - Hubbard Glacier – right there, looming ahead of us, taking us totally by surprise!  We had no idea that it would be so BIG, stretch so far, or be so awe inspiring!  A towering ice floe, more than a mile thick, the height of a twenty five story building.  The only sound that could be heard (apart from the oohs and ahhs of passengers) was loud, booming, cracking noises caused by shifting ice.  Some, who happened to be there at the right time, were treated to what is called “calving”, when a piece of the glacier breaks off and falls into the water.  We were in awe.

Always I’m reminded, in the presence of such majesty, of the One who is the Author of ALL creation. 

Israel’s King David wrote in the Old Testament Psalm 19:

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork.  Day unto day, (they) utter speech, and night unto night reveal knowledge.  There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

If we have ears to listen, we can hear God speak through what He has made, to reveal Himself - His power, His love for creativity and uniqueness, His desire that we might know HIM.  Even the silence of a spruce forest, the serenity of a fjord untouched by humans, miles and miles of quiet waterways – are designed by Him to draw us closer and cause us to question, “Why am I here?”.

Then the Apostle Paul, speaking of Jesus, in his New Testament letter of Colossians, chapter 1, verses 15, 16a, 17:

He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth. . . All things were created through Him and for Him.

Paul says that Jesus, who is the eternal God the Son, was the agent of all that has been made.

The majesty of what we saw in Alaska is God’s own majesty, revealed in the splendor and glory of all He has made.  

We didn’t get to church to worship with our church family the whole two weeks we were gone – but recognizing God in all He has made – we surely worshipped Him.