Downright Daring Life

A White Christmas

Before going to Seattle to visit my son and daughter and their families, I requested snow.  Kelly assured me that she'd get right on that.  She did a great job because Christmas day it snowed big, thick flakes.  Being an Arizona resident I was more thrilled than she and forced her out to play in the cold and wet white stuff. 

It was soooo good to be with my kids and grandkids.  I have missed them a lot but really didn't realize how much until we were together.  Giggling and hugging, laughing and talking, eating and eating we reconnected in ways that you can not do over the phone.  I long to live near them so that the times in between visits is greatly lessened. 

I long to be with my Father as well.  We talk through prayer and His word but I want to see Him and touch Him too.  Walking in the snow, He touched me.  I thought about how God will bless us with the smallest of things.  I smiled to myself and walked with my Lord. He had heard my request for snow and gave me this gift to remind me of His constant presence and concern for my life.  He is here.  He sends me snow that I can catch on my tongue; He gives me family to love and that love me; He gives me extended family in those that love Him as I do. 

Coming back to Arizona, I feel blessed on so many levels, but the most prevalent, the most real is that God is with us.  We celebrate this on Christmas day, but He shows Himself in the details of our lives everyday.  Watch for Him in yours.

Sad at Christmas

I went to buy Christmas cards today, you know the boxed kind, and out of all the cards I found, there was only one that had the theme of Christ coming.  I have to say that I was shocked.  We have moved so far from the original meaning of Christmas that the birth of our Savior is no longer the main reason for the season.  Even Santa is irrelevant to so many this year.  What is relevant , what is the main reason? - stuff, and lots of it.

Are you as saddened as I?  I can't wait for the season to be over.  It seems so blasphemous and embarassing to me.  But then, I realize that it is causing me to my knees.  I come to Christ and all I can say is that I am so sorry.  "Please, Lord, save us.  Come.  Come to your people and bring us again to the quiet awe of God breaking into time.  Let us be humbled at the thought that we are totally lost without your intervention.  Cause us to be astonished at the God who would humble Himself to be born in the lowest of circumstances."

He walked among us, like us.  He knows the heart break of seeing us crave what will not last when He is in our midst.   Unlike us, He always sought His Father and His will and was not inticed by the stuff of the world.  He understands that we are human, frail, easily distracted from Him.  He knows us and that is why He came.  Saddened by our lostness, He came that morn to show us the way home.

Christmas opened a door home.  It opened a path to the heart of God.  It was meant to make the things of this world less enticing for He is the ultimate treasure, the reason for every season. 

I feel better now.  I think I'll tell everyone I know, even a few I don't about the awesome gift of Christmas.

 

Those that go before us

“The life of man is a continual death, unless it be that Christ lives in him.”—Ignatius

    Ignatius was a disciple of the apostle John and had publicly reproved Emperor Trajan Antioch for worshiping idols. However, Trajan swore to take public revenge on Ignatius in return for his embarrassing rebuke.
    Ignatius was arrested and brought to Rome. As he was led away to the pit of lions, he told another believer, “My dear Jesus, my Savior, is so deeply written in my heart, that I feel confident, that if my heart were to be cut open and chopped into pieces, the name Jesus would be found on every piece.”
    When the multitude of people was assembled to witness his death, Ignatius boldly addressed the cheering crowd. “I am the grain of God. I am ground by the teeth of the beast, that I may be found a pure bread of Christ, who is to me the Bread of Life.”
    As soon as he had spoken these words, two hungry lions devoured him. He lived up to his surname, Theophorus, “the bearer of God.” To the very end, he bore the name of God and his Savior on his lips. He had often said, “The crucified Christ is my only and entire love.” And to the end he found solace in this simple truth: “As the world hates the Christians, so God loves them.”

This is a copy of the daily devotional I receive from Voice of the Martyrs.  I am submitting it here for the Lord to do with it what He will.

An intersection

I've been around a group of young people lately that seem totally lost.  They don't know they are lost and they don't seem to care.  Their lives are filled with drama and crisis, arguments and fake friendships, drinking, drugs and sex.  To reach these kids would mean that I would have to be in their world continually, looking for ways to show them God's love, listening without judgment, and willing to invest my life in them but they will not allow me to get that close.

One of these young people lost his job.  He is a hard worker, has his own apartment, supports his younger brother, and still parties with the best of them.  He is not evil, just misguided and trying to survive his past.  He told me, in an unprotected moment, that he is jealous of his sister because she seems to have her life together with God and he would like that.  And the moment was gone.

I knew he had a new job but wasn't going to make his rent.  He worried about taking care of his brother.  He pawned his guitar to buy food but just told me that one does what one has to.   He  seems different than the others.  He remains optimistic that he can work hard and that things will turn out okay even as he is days away from not paying rent.

My husband and I set aside money to help wherever God may lead.  It seemed that this was the place.  We asked him if we could pay his rent this month and he cried.  We told him that the money was set aside for God to use and, so, God must care for him, want a relationship with him and has a plan for his life.   

Will this bring him to the Lord?  We don't know but I do know that we had the opportunity to show God's love and these kids desperately need to know they are loved.  They need hope and light and a vision of how life could be different.  They need Jesus.

When I am near them, my heart hurts, my spirit is saddened.  But God finds ways to reach into their world to touch their lives and was able to use us this time.  We pray that what He allowed us to do with this young man will move him closer to being able to find his true life in Christ.