I Have Something to Give!

“But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!””  Acts of the Apostles 3:6 NLT

My friend and I were sharing stories over coffee. It had been a little bit since we had gotten together so lots had happened over the few weeks. As we shared, we realized we both had a similar story. Hers happened in California, mine in West Virginia. 

Both of us knew someone who was moving from their home to another place. They could not afford the rent and needed to find something more reasonable. In one case, they were really at the bottom of their resources, so the move was hard. They were both trying to move by themselves. Have you ever tried to move by yourself? What an overwhelming, daunting task. 

In my case, my son told me he was going to help. I offered to go along because six hands are better than four. I also asked my dad to come because eight hands are better than six. After we finished the moving part, we took our friend to lunch and then the grocery store to buy some essentials. 

My friend had a similar experience. In her situation, God changed their travel plans just enough so she landed in CA right when her cousin needed to move. She recruited her husband and her son because eight hands are better than two. She went and helped her cousin move so he was not doing it alone.

As we shared these stories, today’s verse popped into my head. We may not have the money to rent movers or to pay for someone’s rent, but we do have our own form of silver and gold. It’s us. Peter and John offered what they could give (Jesus) and helped a man walk. When we offer what we can give, we also help people get on their feet. We share Jesus by offering ourselves and in that moment miracles happen. Miracles of love shared, and relief given. Miracles of Jesus being in the midst even if you don’t mention his name. 

I love the idea that we can help people “stand” when we are willing to give of what we have, ourselves and Jesus. All it takes is us to show up. How will you help someone stand today?

Who will you be?

Read Luke 10:25-37

In the story of the Good Samaritan, there are a few questions that are asked. Two of them are asked by the lawyer and the other by Jesus. The lawyer asks “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” They have a conversation and the lawyer quotes the law. Then he asks another question “Who is my neighbor?” And Jesus proceeds to tell a story which probably shocked all of them. At the end, Jesus says “Now which one was a neighbor to this man?” The lawyer says “The one who showed him mercy.” 

I find it interesting that the lawyer started the conversation saying “What must I do?” Maybe he wanted a list, or an item, something he could do to check the box and be done. But in the end, his answer was “The one who showed mercy.” In the TPT version it says “The one who demonstrated kindness and mercy.”

Jesus flipped this so it wasn’t a checklist item but instead, it was something to be. You can’t be a neighbor by checking the box. You can’t love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself as a one-time task. It takes investment. It takes sacrifice. Jesus was saying to this man, inheriting eternal life isn’t about how you perform….it is about loving. Better yet, it’s about being love.

The funny thing is, when you love God, you will do the right things. Not because you have a list that you are following but because you are moved with the love of Jesus. I love it that Jesus basically asked the man “Who will you be?” It’s a question we should ask ourselves every day. Who will I be? Will I be a person that puts loving God first? Will I love my fellow humans the way the Jesus loved me? 

If I am truthful, I am more comfortable with a checklist. It’s easier to manage. But I am more fulfilled with being what Jesus wants me to be. “Being” brings me more joy. Even though it’s harder, I think I’d like to focus on being rather than doing. 

Who will you “be” today?

It's A Family Thing

15 years ago I married a Greek. Little did I know how much my life would change. You see, when you marry someone who is Greek, you don’t just marry a  man, you marry into a family and a culture. 

When we first got married, I knew very little about what that meant. I had been exposed to some of it while we were dating but, that was just scratching the surface. Over the years, I’ve learned how to cook Greek food, and I am learning how to read and speak the language (slowly). I’ve learned about the celebrations and because we visit Crete regularly, I know how to find my way around, ask for things (in Greek) and I understand a little about the culture…what’s important to them, what’s not. I’ve learned that while I am there I have to change the way I do things because the way I do things in America, are done differently in Crete. I’ve learned mannerisms and nuances…..like this slight nod people (at least my family) do which means “no.” (Who knew a nod could mean no?) I have stories; some funny, some not so funny, of me learning all this stuff.

Recently, it occurred to me that this transformation of being Greek by marriage is similar to becoming a Christian. When you first get to know Jesus, you start out not knowing anything about being a Christ follower. The things you care about are different. The activities you do don’t seem to be in line with where you are going. Sometimes, it feels like you don’t fit in - like you are an outsider. 

As you spend more time with Jesus each day, you begin to learn things. You adopt different habits, talk about different things, what you care about shifts. You begin to identify with Jesus and what he cares about. There are stories, both funny and not so funny, that happen along your journey. 

One of the blessings that I had when I got married was an amazing Greek family  that helped me. They showed me things; taught me to cook (thanks Mom), explained different traditions and nuances, corrected my pronunciations of words and most importantly, loved me. I never felt like an outsider. 

Hopefully, as you walk with Jesus and learn about Him and His “unforced rhythms of grace”, you have a Christian family that will help you do the same. A family that will walk with you on the journey, always include you, share Jesus with you with their love and actions and help you feel included.

If you don’t have this….go find it. It makes the journey so much easier. The journey with Jesus is supposed to be full of ease and grace. (See Matthew 11:20-30 MSG). We aren’t supposed to walk this alone. It’s always about the relationship with Jesus. The relationship with Him and with the people you call “family”. Super important when you are learning to live this new life and even more important after you’ve been on the journey for a while. We all need each other to grow.

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that “the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” Philippians 1:3-6 (MSG) Find someone to walk it with and lean into the grace that helps you keep walking. 

New Wine

“Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.” Luke 8:1-3 NLT

Recently, I came down with some sort of virus. I was sick for a week and a half - draining, coughing, aching, and having no energy. During that time, I was confined to the couch…mostly because I had no energy to do anything else. Normally, if I am sitting on the couch, I watch a lot of TV. It passes the time. This time, I felt really convicted to not watch the junk that I am normally drawn to. So instead, I decided to re-watch The Chosen. If you don’t know what The Chosen is, it’s a series of episodes on the life of Christ. You can download the app and watch it for free. I love it.

As I watched, I noticed how Jesus included the women in his ministry. He took them with him on trips. He included them in teachings and the experiences. They were frequently there, serving and joining in. As I thought about this, two thoughts popped into my mind.

First, Jesus was always surrounded by people. He went to weddings, dinners, crowds followed him everywhere. He was always surrounded by both men and women. During those times, custom would dictate that the women would hang with the women and the men with the men. How ingenious! If the women weren’t part of the group, who would minister to and disciple the other women in these gatherings? Jesus needed the women in his group to continue to share the gospel to places that He or the men in his group couldn’t normally go. And, some of these women had tremendous influence. Not only did they minister during these functions, then they went home and ministered in their homes and communities.

Next, including women in his teaching was complete out of the box thinking. It was unheard of in Jesus’ day for women to be disciples. Women were frequently not educated unless it was in their home. Jesus encouraged them to join in and learn of God. He included them on purpose. He stepped out of the cultural box to bring the change that needed to happen.

Jesus said “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” Mark 2:22 NLT

This was new wine — everyone is a disciple, no matter what their social standing, race, or gender. Trying to fit that into the customs of the day would have definitely caused cracks in the old wineskins. He didn’t try to force this new wine into the current system. He did what He knew needed to be done so that His Father’s Kingdom could flourish. He created new wineskins.

How many times do I look at what I can see with my eyes and make decisions on “what is normal?” How many times do I try to do what Jesus is telling me to do (new wine) by cramming it into the old way of doing it? It’s not going to work. When I try to take the “new” that Jesus is giving me and put it in the “old” that I am comfortable with, I dilute the new and water down the Message. I water down Jesus.

Oh Jesus, I know this is my tendency. My humanness wants to feel safe and not take risks. Please help me to step into the “new” that you call me to, no matter what the outcome. Please help us all. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us so we follow your lead. We love you, Amen

Digging In - Matthew 14:22-33

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.”  Matthew 14:22-33 NLT

 I think often we read this story of Peter walking on water and we think “Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. Why didn’t he trust Jesus?” I used to do that. Now, I realize I act like Peter on a pretty regular basis.

 One day, I’ll be really bold in my prayers. I say prayers like “Father God, I want to live for you! I want to do _________________. No matter what, please make my life what you want it to be.” 

Then things start to shift and change and my prayers become something like “I can’t do this. What are you doing? This is scary.” When I do this, I am Peter. One day I am bold and courageous, standing outside the boat. Next day I am insecure and afraid, jumping back into the boat. 

I love Jesus’ response to Peter. I don’t think he criticized him. He just asked the questions I so often hear in my spirit. “Why don’t you trust me?” I love how the Message puts it. Jesus says to Peter “Faint-heart, what got into you?” That’s me some days. Faint-heart. 

There are a few things that encourage me as I jump in and out of the boat. Jesus knows my inclination to want to feel “safe.” But because He loves me so very much, He’s working with me. Like Peter, he gently encourages me to trust Him. Can you imagine the conversation Peter and Jesus had as they walked back to the boat? 

Another thing that encourages me is Peter’s life. He went on to deny Jesus (guess he was jumping back into the boat at that moment). But, in 2 Peter 1:3-4 he says:

 “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” (NLT)

 Peter figured out how to trust Jesus’ promises. Shortly after he wrote this, he went on to be crucified for his faith. History says that he asked to be crucified upside down. Guess in this moment he was out of the boat and he stayed there. He stayed out in the storm. 

 I am so thankful that Jesus never gives up on us. He keeps working with us…getting us to the place where we trust Him. Like Peter, I want to dig into the promises and know that no matter what, I can stay out of the boat because that is where I am truly safe. How about you?

Digging In - John 8:1-11

As I said in the last post, I am learning to dig deeper into the Bible. Here are a couple of things that I do to help me. There are more but this is a good place to start. 

 First, I pray. Honestly, I am not going to get anything out of this if the Holy Spirit isn’t helping me. 

 Next, I read the verses multiple times in different verses. I try to read it over a couple of days. I get more out of it if I spread it out and don’t try to cram it all in at once. As I’ve said in a previous post, I’m learning that the key to hearing what God is saying is to make time. 

 Then, I ask questions. What questions pop into my mind as I’m reading (I write these down)? What verses stand out? What verses keep drawing me back? What is it in those verses that are making me pause? Is there a detail that seems odd? Why is it there? If I were in the story, who would I be? Who is writing and to whom are they writing?

 Then, I keep coming back. I pray and I listen for what God is trying to tell me. Finally, what is the Holy Spirit saying to me about this text that is important to my life? What am I going to do about it? How am I going to apply this?  There is no point in reading the Bible if I am not going to do something with it. 

 Let’s try it. Read John 8:1-11 in a few different versions. What questions or thoughts did you come up with? What impressions did you get? How should you apply that to your life? Do the exercise and then look below to see what I walked away with. It’s good to share these thoughts with others…that way we can all grow into a deeper walk with Jesus. 

“Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” 

John 8:1-11 NLT

Here are some of the questions/thoughts the Holy Spirit popped into my head.

How exactly did they “catch” her in adultery? Wouldn’t that be behind closed doors? Where was the man? You can’t get caught in adultery by yourself. 

As this woman was standing(?) in front of the crowd, I wonder how she felt. Was she waiting to feel the first pelt of a rock? Was she resigned to the fact that she was going to die? Did she care? How humiliating this must have been for her. Why was she an adulterer? What led her there?

Why did he stoop down to write in the dust? Was he writing a message to the woman? Was he writing to the men demanding an answer? To the crowd? 

When Jesus said “let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone”, why was it the oldest who left first? Were they more aware of their own sins? Did the younger guys just not get it? Did they leave only because they didn’t have the crowd to back them up?

In all of the distractions and chaos, Jesus never lost focus of the most important thing, the woman. If it were me, I would have been looking at the circumstances trying to figure out how to make it stop. Jesus wasn’t worried about himself. His heart was with the woman. 

Notice at the end what he said to her? I am not condemning you but stop doing this thing that is hurting you. I know he says the same thing to me. “I’ve covered you but I love you. Stop doing this thing that is hurting you/stopping you/making you less than.” Am I listening?

Question for myself: Do I ever get so caught up in a cultural norm or in what is happening around me that I forget to see the person God has put in my path? Yes, I do. What am I going to do about it? At this point, I as God for help because I know I cannot do this on my own.

How’d you do? What was your Holy Spirit take-away? 

Praying for your journey Friend! 

Love Letters

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

My whole life I grew up being told “Read your Bible.” I heard it a lot at church. I heard it at school. I heard it from my grandmother. Actually, she lived that example. She always read her Bible. But to me, it was just something people said. It wasn’t something I always witnessed them doing and some of the people who said it didn’t act like they were actually doing it….if you know what I mean. 

As I grew in my relationship Jesus (that’s a whole other post), I prayed. I read devotionals. I read books, I listened to sermons and radio stations (no podcasts back then). I read my Bible by default because the books and devotionals had Bible verses in them. I didn’t often just read my Bible.

Fast forward a few years and the bottom fell out of my life. I won’t go into all the details here but I was afraid. Really afraid. I was afraid that my entire world was going to come crashing down around me. I could not fix it on my own (and believe me I tried). So I prayed. A lot. 

God first spoke when I woke up in the middle of this with a Bible verse in my head. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 Funny thing is, when it happened I thought “I think that’s a Bible verse.” I got out of bed and went and looked. Sure enough, there it was. I knew this was God talking to me. 

God’s direction during this time was “Wait.” And He let me wait for a long, long time. But during that time, He talked. He talked through friends. He talked through music but mostly, He talked through His Word. He kept bringing promise after promise to me and I wrote them down. I carried them around. Each day, I got up and went to read what He had to say in His Word. It truly became my love letters from God. And for the first time, I understood.

Years have passed and I have been reading my Bible. It’s been really amazing. Last year, in one of my discipleship meetings my friend said she wanted to learn how to study the Bible more. So we bought a book and workbook called “Living by the Book” by William and Howard Hendricks. We went through the book and workbook and learned different techniques. It was very helpful.

Do you know the biggest lesson we learned on that journey? If you want to dig into the Bible more, if you want to get more out of it, it takes …. Time. Like you, I often don’t think I have a lot of extra time. I’m busy….aren’t we all. But, in this journey, I realized I was trying to come to the Bible, get my quick fix and move on. I wasn’t making time to really let the Holy Spirit speak to me through it. I needed to read it, read it again and again and then ask questions. I needed to put myself into the text and figure out what God was trying to say to me. 

The more I did this, the clearer I could hear Him speak. The more I lingered, the deeper my experience. I love hearing Him talk through His Word. It is truly mind blowing.

Why am I sharing this? Because I think there are a lot of us who want to grow deeper in our walk with Jesus. We want to know him more and truly be His disciple. But we are busy. We don’t think we have the time. And we let our business interfere with our Journey. If you want a deeper walk with Jesus, you have to make room for Him. Carve out some time. Linger a little. Make it a priority and watch how Jesus speaks to your heart. It is truly life altering. 

Who's Holding Who?

For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces, My love won’t walk away from you, my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart.” The God who has compassion on you says so.  Isaiah 54:10 MSG

 “Mom, can you watch the kids Thursday night?” My daughter asked. Of course! Spending time with our grandkids is one of our favorite things. As the evening wore down and bedtime approached, I started getting the youngest, who I refer to as “the Little Prince”, adjusted to the fact that play time was ending.

 After a few minutes, we headed for the stairs. He said “Yiayia will you carry me?” Sure. I hoisted him up and with a grunt, headed up the stairs. He’s not as light as he used to be. My husband said “Are you ok?” I said “Yes, I’m fine but thank you.” The Little Prince wrapped his arms around my neck and said “It’s OK Yiayia. I’m holding on to you.”

 And my heart melted.

 Later, as I thought about this it made me think of God. He is always holding us, carrying us, helping us on the journey. It is God who is doing the heavy lifting, not me. Yet sometimes, in my head, I put too much credit on what I am doing and I forget who is really holding me and carrying me. My trust shifts to my abilities and not my Father’s love and willingness to hold me.

 What if, like my grandson, I lean into this journey with God? What if I relax and wrap my arms around him and say “I’m here God, holding on”? What if I trust those arms that carry me and remember that I don’t have to strive so hard but trust that the love that carries me is real. 

 When the Little Prince said it was OK because he was holding on, I giggled and snuggled him and my heart melted. I believe God does the same thing. He sees us where we are, sometimes confused and misdirected, and He loves us. I believe He laughs with us like we do our kids and grandkids. I believe He leans in and showers us with a gentle love that is deeper and more forever than we can comprehend.  

How would it change us to seek that love? The love that is never, ever going to let you down. How would it change your heart to lean in and believe it was meant for you?