At this time of year, we hear a lot of Scriptures from the Bible about the prophecy of the birth of Christ. One of the most popular is Isaiah 9:6 which says,

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

I bet you’ve heard it before. I bet most of you could maybe have quoted it without looking. And I can almost bet that a few of you sang the tune of the Hallelujah Chorus as you read the words.

It is a very powerful and comforting prophecy for sure. It reminded Israel that the victory-bringing Messiah would be a man. He could have been an angel. Or he could have been God come to earth without any humanity whatsoever. 

But when you really think about it, neither of those things would have qualified him to be the Savior and High Priest that Jesus was and is.

A child had to be born.

There is nothing weaker, more helpless, more utterly dependent than a child. I guess God could have come as a full grown man, just as Adam was created. 

But for Jesus to really and truly “get” us humans, to completely relate to us, and to show us how to live lives with a servant nature, he simply had to make himself of “no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:7)

I could go on and on about just this one verse. But just this morning, in my devotional time, the writer of the devotion added Isaiah 9:4-5 to the mix. Look at what it says:

“Like the time you defeated Midian,
you will take away their heavy load.
You will take away the heavy pole from their backs.
You will take away the rod the enemy uses to punish your people.
Every boot that marched in battle will be destroyed.
Every uniform stained with blood will be destroyed.
They will be thrown into the fire.”

At first, I was like….“Wait, what?” It didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me. Of course, I was trying to think of it with my own human mind. But then I did a quick little personal Bible study of my own.

Do you remember in Judges 7, when Gideon was preparing to fight the Midianites? Remember when the Lord whittled Gideon’s army down from over 30,000 men, to 10,000 men, finally to 300 men? 

These 300 men, through a strategy orchestrated by the Lord Himself, defeated the Midianites and won the battle.

VICTORY!!!

That’s what Isaiah 9:4 is referring to.

Now the best verse to me….Isaiah 9:5.

“Every boot that marched in battle will be destroyed.
Every uniform stained with blood will be destroyed.
They will be thrown into the fire.”

Do you see it? 

In Bible days, when victory was complete, when the battle was over, when the war was finally won, the victors gathered together the weapons of war, the garments red with blood, the heavy boots that make the earth ring with the warrior’s tread. They were thrown into a fire to be consumed. A sign that the battle is over. The victory is decisive. It is won.

It is finished!

And a reign of peace can begin.

Do you see it now? Do I need really to say more?

The final and ultimate reign of peace won’t begin until Jesus comes back to rule forever more. But this….this…gives me such hope. And I hope it brings you hope also!

The battles that you and I fight here on earth. The battles that don’t look like there’s any victory in sight because we have so few men to fight with us (like Gideon’s army of only 300 men). The battles where those against us seem to greatly outnumber those with us.

But God!

The “for unto us a child is born, a son is given” Christ has already given us the victory! And one day, we will be able to gather our weapons of war, our garments stained red with blood and the heavy boots that have made the ground beneath us ring with our tread. And we are going to get to throw them into the fire to be consumed and never, ever worn again. Ever!!

Does that make you want to shout with joy like it makes me want to shout with joy!!!

Oh man!!

May your Christmas of 2021 be happy, healthy, merry and bright. But if it’s not, remember. The final battle isn’t over yet. There is hope not only in the distance, but in the right here and right now.

And one day, there will be no more skirmishes, no more battles, no more wars! Because the Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace will reign…forever and ever!

Praise God!!!

Y’all, I’ve needed to write something for a while, but just haven’t known what.

God hasn’t been giving me anything to write about. But he sure is talking to me a lot. My mom is going through some health issues and this is giving me a great bit of concern…so my quiet life has been focused on how God wants me to handle certain aspects of that situation.

I’ve actually written some things that I wanted to share, but have felt really strongly that God was either saying “no” or “not yet.” So those things will come when God is ready for me to release them into the universe…if he ever does. They may just be for me.

Right now in my everyday daily-ness, I’m finding myself needing some very practical spiritual guidance. I’ve written and talked about worry and fear and uncertainty and storms and faith…but I want to switch it up a bit this time and talk about some other elements of this new, temporary journey I’m facing. Maybe you’re facing them, too.

It stinks being an adult sometimes. We just should know some things, shouldn’t we? But as we grow up, not only in age and physical maturity, but spiritually, things change, too. Our perspectives change, our circumstances change, our needs change. And boy have they! These past few weeks have tossed the chess board right up into the air and the pieces are hard to gather back up. (We can’t reach under the couch like we used to be able to.)

So this is what I feel like God is telling me that I need…that you and many others need, perhaps. Some practical suggestions to help us navigate our way through this. Instead of asking, “Who will I be when all of this over?” ask “Who will I be while I’m going through this?”

“I’M OUT OF CONTROL!”

The first thing I want to talk about is control. We humans have a real issue with being in control. We don’t like for things to happen around us that we have no control over. Even when things are going good, we still want to be in control. It’s a thing!

Right now we feel very, very, very out of control. But we desperately need to be in control of something, don’t we? It’s who we are.

Yesterday morning I was listening to a live leadership broadcast and one of the speakers was Dr. Henry Cloud. I have listened to, read and respected this man for many years. Here is what he suggested when we find ourselves steeped in the need for control.

Get a piece of paper and divide into two columns. In the left hand column, write out everything right now in your life that you can’t control. Things like the virus itself…who gets sick and who doesn’t…how long we will be quarantined in our homes…whether or not you lost your job or took a pay cut…what the news reports.

You get the picture.

Once you’ve completed your list, then you have permission to worry about it. But only for 5 minutes. (I talked about this in my blog post “When It Becomes Too Much”)

Look at that list…all those things out of your control…and worry the heck-fire out of it. Worry hard! Let it take you to the darkest places.

But only for 5 minutes. Then let it go. Mark through every thing in the list with a big fat red Sharpie if you need to. There’s no need to go back through that list!

Then secondly, in the right hand column, write out everything right now in your life that you can control. Your attitude, your schedule, when you go to bed and wake up, when and what you eat, how much news you watch, what books you read, which social media accounts you subscribe to and follow, the words you say…

You get the picture.

Spend the rest of this time of social distancing (and beyond, please) concentrating on the things that you can control. But be careful not to be over-controlling about them. Just know that you have the freedom in your own life to handle these things as you personally see fit. Make wise choices when it comes to this list of things. If you need help with those decisions, be sure to reach out to someone you trust. Let them give you spiritual and practical advice and guidance.

“NO REGERTS” (misspelling intentional)

A couple of days ago, one of our dearest friends asked his wife what was on her mind in recent days. She said “regret.” As you can imagine, he was sure that she was regretting, not only marrying him in the first place, but for sure having to spend 24/7 with him during this quarantine time. But of course that wasn’t it at all. She told him that she didn’t want to get to the end of this (whenever that is and whatever that looks like) and regret the time that’s been given to her.

I’ve seen lots of memes and social media posts saying things like, “Remember that thing you said you’d do when you have the time? Well, you have the time now.”

The negative side of this pandemic and subsequent quarantine and isolation goes without saying. So many bad and sad things happening to individuals and families and establishments, from our own communities to faraway world places. Too many to mention.

There is also a positive side. So many positive stories coming through this tragic time in our world. I could list examples, but that would take all day.

I consider this time a “reset”…time to take inventory of things. And that can be a literal inventory of our stuff, or an inventory of intangibles. As my friend said, this time that’s been thrown upon us is a gift. Slowing waaay down is a gift we rarely give ourselves.

When you get to the end of this, what do you want to have accomplished? Are you accomplishing it? Are you taking steps on the daily to reach those goals?

Or will you come to the end of this season and look back and think, “Oh man…I had all the time to…I had every chance to…I had the opportunity to….and I blew it royally!”

On another piece of paper, make a list of the things that you want to make happen during this gift time. Things that before now, you’ve never had the uninterrupted time to work on and concentrate on and give your attention to! Do it now!Don’t wait. Don’t get back to our “normal” life and look back in regret.

You’ll never get this time back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

When asked near the end of her life how she would live her life differently if she could, humorist Erma Bombeck gave some really good advice:

If I had my life to live over again I would have talked less and listened more.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy and complaining about the shadow over my feet, I’d have cherished every minute of it and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was to be my only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten popcorn in the “good” living room and worried less about the dirt when you lit the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would have burnt the pink candle that was sculptured like a rose before it melted while being stored.

I would have sat cross-legged on the lawn with my children and never worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television … and more while watching real life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband which I took for granted.

I would have eaten less cottage cheese and more ice cream.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick, instead of pretending the Earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for a day.

I would never have bought ANYTHING just because it was practical/wouldn’t show soil/guaranteed to last a lifetime.

When my child kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now, go get washed up for dinner.”

There would have been more I love yous … more I’m sorrys … more I’m listenings … but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute of it … look at it and really see it … try it on … live it … exhaust it … and never give that minute back until there was nothing left of it.”

A humorist to the end, when asked what she would write on her tombstone, Bombeck did not hesitate. “I told you I was sick.

Keep this in mind during these days.

“ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE”

Remember the children of Israel in the Old Testament? About a month after they were rescued out of Egypt, they started running out of food. And the knuckleheads started complaining about it to Moses and his brother Aaron…like it was their fault.

As their tummies started growling, they started grumbling. (Ever been there?)

Do you know what they said to Moses and Aaron?

“We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.” (Exodus 16:2-3)

What the what?? They’d rather go back to the horrible conditions of Egyptian slavery, just so they could eat and drink to their heart’s content?

Yes.

But our ever-compassionate (and uber patient) God had compassion…and provided. And his provision was called manna. “Manna” literally means, “What is it?” That has always cracked me up. They had no idea what it was, but they didn’t have to. God had provided it as a way to sustain them.

They could gather this manna for 6 days of the week. For 5 days, each person was allowed to gather just enough manna to provide for their family for one day. On the 6th day, they were allowed to pick up enough for two days. This is because the 7th day was the Sabbath and they were not to work that day. And if they picked up more than God allowed, it would ruin…it would get all nasty and wormie.

God provided in their time of need. Was it prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans and yeast rolls with butter? No. But it was just what they needed to keep from dying. But even during these tough times, they complained about what they didn’t have, rather than being unbelievably grateful for what they did have.

We knuckleheads complain, too. Especially during these days while we are stuck safe in our homes. We’re looking at the same old faces, at the same old walls, the same old furniture, looking out the same old windows, eating the same old food, playing the same old board games, sleeping in our same old beds in our same old rooms. And we get tired of it. And we’re not afraid to let everyone around us know about it.

We complain. Our house is too small. The paint is chipped where the kids run through the hallways. The couch has no cushiness any more. The rocking chair squeaks. The windows are dirty. The food is blah and boring. The kids are getting on your last nerve (and you’re really wishing they’d warned you a couple of nerves ago so you could prepare yourself.) The board games are tired and a couple of pieces are missing. The mattresses need to be replaced. The bedrooms need new curtains.

What if we turned the complaining into thanking…into gratitude.

Our home, no matter how big or small, new or old, fancy or simple, protects us from the outside world for a bit of time. Many don’t have a home.

The faces in your home are your family/friends. Be careful not to take them for granted, but to thank God for them and the part they play in your life (hopefully, they are a blessing to you…)

Every chip in the paint is proof that active, messy life happens in those walls.

The couch has lost its cushiness because lots of bodies and bootys through the years have sat on it, slept on it, jumped on it. It’s where families and friends have scrunched up together and watched movies and cuddled and talked about important things and laughed hysterically.

The rocking chair squeaks and creaks because a mom or a dad or grandparent has sat in it for hours on end, rocking a sleepy child or soothing a hurting one.

The fact that you have windows at all is a blessing. The view may not be the most pristine, but it’s your view. No one on earth has that exact view out of their windows.

You may be running out of ideas when it comes to food choice and preparation (I know I sure am!) but if you have any food at all, you are amongst the most very blessed…even in your own hometown.

The kids getting a bit stir-crazy don’t like this any more than you do…but they’re your kids. The laughter, tears, joy and sadness, silence and screaming are all part of what it means to be a family.

You get where I’m going here. As my father-in-love always said, “Attitude determines your altitude.” And when your attitude is gratitude, you’re gonna fly high.

Take a third piece of paper and make a complete list each day of the things to be thankful for. And don’t forget to be thankful for even the tiniest of things!

My prayer is that you’ll take these ideas and make them a part of your life. Let go of control of the things that are out of your control. Don’t look back on this gift of a slower pace and regret not doing some big important things. And don’t complain about the “manna” that God is providing for you, even in the everyday aspects of our lives.

 

Because of this quarantine/shelter-in-place/isolation/“house arrest” (as one friend calls it lol), we are prone (as we humans are) to get into harmful habits when under pressure and stress and uncertainty.

I’m saying this because of the tendency I personally fall into if I’m not painfully and carefully aware of myself.

Be very careful not to spend your day scrolling, scrolling, scrolling through your social media feed…whatever it may be. Doesn’t matter if it’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (which one author I heard this morning described it as currently becoming a “dumpster fire”). It is a very easy habit to get into when we’re just unsure what to do with our time. After all, this is uncharted territory for some of us.

I believe that we tend to scroll and scroll and scroll because we’re looking for a connection…any kind of connection that we can grab onto. We’re looking for any kind of good news; we’re looking for hope; we’re looking for something—anything—to take our minds off of our current circumstances.

We look at all the things: all the memes, all the celebrities, all the “lives,” all the articles, all the posts, all the words, all the everythings! Stop it!

That’s so dangerous, my friends. We get sucked into a rabbit hole like Alice…into everyone else’s life…which is honestly no more better nor put together than our own, even though we imagine that it is.

Are there wise people out in the social media world that have words of truth and encouragement and hope for us? Of course there are! But they’re not going to be found by the “wheel of fortune” scrolling that we’re doing. They are specific people and specific accounts that are offering that kind of hope: positive family and friends, your local church and its leaders, authors and teachers of wise words, etc. You know who they are. Find them…and follow them.

Here is my suggestion. And this is something I try to do every 6 months or so. I go through my different social media platforms and I do one of these three things:

UNFRIEND/UNFOLLOW/UNSUBSCRIBE

Nobody is making us be friends with, follow or subscribe to anything or anyone that we’re currently friends with, follow or subscribe to. We get to decide what we read. We get to decide who we listen to. We get to decide who to learn from and who to follow.

Our eyes and ears are the inputs to our hearts and minds…what we see/read and what we listen to greatly determines the health of our spirit. That’s just God’s honest truth, right there. So please be very picky and discerning about the voices that you’re allowing into your life.

This uncertain season we’re in right now is a very loud season—so much input, so many “experts,” so many voices and opinions and warnings and projections and reports and numbers and statistics and graphs and charts…that can all lead to more fear, panic, despair, etc.

Here is a question that will help us decide who to unfriend, who/what to unfollow and what to unsubscribe from.

Are the people you’re friends with and the people/accounts you’re following impacting you in positive ways? Do you feel empowered and encouraged and inspired by the words they write and the way they live/think/interact? Are you able to learn from their beliefs, wisdom and experience?

Be careful to most closely follow people who inspire you toward hope and encouragement, toward kindness, prayer and faithfulness, generosity, creativity and brave actions…and especially good humor. Laughter is so important during these days. And it’s more than okay to laugh!

Don’t follow people (even friends) who stir up your fear, depression, anger, anxiety and panic. Many of our “friends” on social media are only our friends because we met them one time at that one place and they said that one thing we liked. Or we’ve known them and their family a very long time and if we weren’t FaceBook friends, it would hurt somebody’s feelings. 

(And don’t forget that the number of friends you have on FaceBook is no indicator of your worth, your popularity or your happiness. It’s simply a number!)

If that’s the case, it’s perfectly ok to “unfriend” them. Remember, you are looking after your heart and mind; you’re protecting and caring for your spirit. 

If you don’t want to go so far as to unfriend, that’s ok. There is always the option of “unfollow.” They won’t even know that you’re not following them, but you won’t be an unwilling, uninvited party to their negativity and unwise whatevers.

Is it time to create a little more space and silence and sanity in your own corner of the internet? I challenge you to unfriend/unfollow/unsubscribe from anyone or anything that feeds your anxiety, your fear, your panic. And add some people or accounts who are brave and kind, Biblical, true, encouraging, hopeful and outreaching…who make you want to be more courageous, who teach you something you’d never have known otherwise. 

The internet is simply a tool. We get to decide how to use it for good in our lives and in our communities. Let’s choose wisely.

(And if you need to, disconnect completely from your social media accounts for a period of time. That’s the surest way to avoid additional stress and will allow your heart and mind and emotions to withdraw and heal.)

Instead of scroll/scroll/scrolling, here’s a long list of other ways to spend your time. Put your phone/pad/computer away (like in a locked box, if you must) and:

Listen to Rapunzel’s song about isolation in a castle
Rest
Make a gratitude list
Go for a walk
Read
Sit outside
Bake
Reach out to someone living alone
Write in a journal
Write a poem
Play games with your kids
Assemble a puzzle
Organize the pantry
Learn (or relearn) to play an instrument
Watch your favorite movie
Color in a coloring book
Write actual hand-written letters to family and friends.
Write thank-you notes to service people
Organize your food storage containers
Learn to knit or crochet
Listen to the happiest, danciest songs you can think of
Women, go through and get rid of all of your old/unused beauty products
Men, go through all of your tools and gadgets (organize them or give away multiples)
Call your grandparents (you’re blessed if you still can)
Go through your camera/computer pictures and delete unneeded/repeat photos
Go ahead and finish your taxes now
Learn a new dance
Grow a killer beard…moisturize it, comb it, groom it, love it
Practice writing with your non-dominant hand
Do stretches to release the tension in your neck and shoulders (YouTube)
Plan and/or plant (if it’s time) your flower garden
Try moving in   s l o w   m o t i o n   for a while…and laugh about it
Practice using Old English words…grab a Jane Austen book and get after it
Do deep-breathing exercises

But above all, discover new Scriptures…and pray. Keep building into your relationship with God. Don’t waste this extra time that’s been granted to us to grow and learn and thrive.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Here’s a PS,  my friends: Sweet, loving, well-meaning family and friends will send/forward you texts, emails, private messages, videos, articles, etc. that, if we’re not careful, can cause us to be yanked back down into sadness, fear and depression…and a rise in our cortisol. If you are able, politely ask them to refrain from sending you anything, especially if you are bent toward negative thoughts. If you aren’t able to ask them, then glance at the attachment and move right on along if it looks like something that will do more harm than good. Shalom!

Had a whole other door I was going to walk through with you today…and it was good. But I just thought I better let y’all in on some personal struggles I’m having during this time. Just being real.

Last night, I had an emotional breakdown. Suddenly, everything seemed to just come together as a “perfect storm”: the whole state of Colorado going on lock-down for 17 days, not even being able to go to the store because of my compromised immune system, searching for my new rhythm while staying at home constantly, needing to encourage and uplift others (yet not being able to find the words myself), missing my son and daughter-in-love, missing my parents and my sister and her family so much I ache, on the verge of tears most all the time. (I’m even crying when I hear the good things happening all around the world.) All of a sudden, everything became “too much with me” and for a while, I just couldn’t handle it.

So I let myself feel it…in all its not-glory!

David sent me an article this morning that really helped me see my emotions with new eyes. If you’ll allow me, I’ll hit the high points that spoke directly to me.

As I’ve said before, God gave us all the emotions that we have. Yes, all of them. Even the ones that aren’t so pretty. Even the ones that we’re ashamed that we’re feeling. Even the ones that don’t have names yet.

The writer of the article gave my emotion a name. And that name is grief. That underlying, discontent that I just haven’t been able to put my finger on. Maybe that’s what you’re feeling, too. And according to him, we’re actually feeling a variety of griefs during this time.

We grieve that the world will never be the same again. And it won’t. Just like after 9/11, going on a trip by air has been forever changed. This is a new “9/11” for us; a point of change.

There’s the grief of normalcy.
The grief of an unsure economic situation.
The grief of a loss of connection.
The grief of uncertainty of the future.

We’re grieving. And it’s ok.

Most of us know that there are stages of grief:

Denial (The virus won’t affect us.)
Anger (You’re making me stay at home and miss out on my life.)
Bargaining (I’ll stay home for two weeks…then everything will be alright, right?)
Sadness (I’m thinking this might never end.)
Acceptance (This is happening. So I just need to figure it out.)

Acceptance is good. Acceptance is where we find our power. “I can wash my hands. I can socially distance. I can work at home. Hold my sweet iced tea…I can do this.”

I’m at the tail end of sadness, and inching into acceptance. It’s hard for me. I’m not a huge worrier, but my creative and active imagination pulls images of the “worst case scenario” into the forefront and I can sure as heck get distracted and sidetracked and “frozen in place” when that happens.

Which stage do you find yourself in? Whatever stage, whatever emotions you’re experiencing, it’s very, very important that you don’t hold them inside. You need to let them out.

If you’re having a tough time, tell others about it. Tell trusted family members and friends about the struggle.

Cry out loud, for crying out loud! Ugly cry if you have to. It’s ok. Admit that you’re feeling these feelings deeply and let them out.

The writer of the article said, “When you name it, you feel it and it moves through you. Emotions need motion.”

One interesting point he brought up is that, as a generation that embraces “self-help,” we’re the first one to have feelings about our feelings. Isn’t that ridiculous, but so true!?

“I feel sad, but I shouldn’t feel that; other people have it worse.”

Instead of saying that, say, “I feel sad. I’m going to give myself five minutes to feel sad.”

Have you seen the TV series Lost…from ahundred years ago? The story about a plane crash on a deserted island that has a lot of secrets and supernatural happenings. (Watch it if you can…excellent show! Except my Daddy hated the final episode lol)

One of the main characters, Jack, is a surgeon. Another main character, Kate, is a scrappy criminal. During the first episode, Kate has to sew up a large gash in Jack’s back. They talk.

Kate: I might throw up on you.
Jack: You’re doing fine.
Kate: You don’t seem afraid at all. I don’t understand that.
Jack: Well fear is sort of an odd thing. When I was in residency, my first solo procedure was a spinal cord surgery on a 16-year-old kid. A girl. And at the end, after 13 hours, I was closing her up and I accidentally ripped her dural sac; shredded the base of the spine where all the nerves came together. The membrane was a thin as tissue. So…it ripped open.
…And the terror was just so…crazy. So real. And I knew I had to deal with it. So I just made a choice. I’d let the fear in. Let it take over. Let it do its thing. But only for 5 seconds. That’s all I was gonna give it. So I started to count. 1….2….3….4….5…. And it was gone. I went back to work, sewed her up and she was fine.
Kate: If that had been me, I think I would have run for the door.
Jack: No, I don’t think that’s true. You’re not running now.

Later in the show, Jack and Kate are running away from an enemy…a “monster” that they can’t see, but they hear it and “feel” it moving closer to them. Kate gets separated from Jack and is paralyzed with fear. She hides in a tight grove of island trees, panting, sweating, literally afraid for her life.

Remembering her conversation with Jack, she takes a few deep breaths, tries to steady herself, and in a panicky, shaky, breathless voice she begins counting.

1…2…3…4…5…

And then she runs like her tail’s on fire!

That’s what we need to do. When an overwhelming emotion comes to us, we need to feel it; we need to let it take over. But only for a certain amount of time: to the count of 5, to the count of 100, for one hour or one day. Then we need to let it go and run toward what we know is right and true.

In the Bible, King David went through some rough messes, too. Many of the psalms that he wrote are cries that came out of times of big trouble. They’re unashamed cries for help. They’re not pretty. They’re during times when all seemed lost except for God’s intervention.

Psalm 69:1-3 (TPT)

God, my God, come and save me!
These floods of trouble have risen higher and higher.
The water is up to my neck!
I’m sinking into the mud with no place to stand,
and I’m about to drown in this storm.
I’m weary, exhausted with weeping.
My throat is dry, my voice is gone, my eyes are swollen with sorrow,
and I’m waiting for you, God, to come through for me.

David’s not hiding anything here. He’s literally pouring out all of his ugly, heartfelt emotions to God. He didn’t compose himself before coming to God. He didn’t go to the mirror and make sure his hair was combed and there was no spinach in his teeth and that his nose was powdered: he came to God exactly as the mess he was.

Remember what the last stage of grief is? Acceptance. That’s a good stage to get to. But an even better stage to get to is one step after acceptance: Praise!

After David had poured out all of his messy emotions, then guess what? He turned his woe and his worry into worship.

Psalm 69:30-32 (TPT)

…my song will be a burst of praise to you.
My glory-shouts will make your fame even more glorious
to all who hear my praises!
For I know, Yahweh, that my praises mean more to you
than all my gifts and sacrifices.
All who seek you will see God do this for them,
and they’ll overflow with gladness.
Let this revive your hearts, all you lovers of God!

Feel your feelings. Feel your grief, your sadness, your fear, your uncertainty, your anger, your frustration…for a time. Then stand tall and praise God! Sing! Dance, if you want to! Remember all of the good, good things that our Father has done for us already. Thank him for all the good things in your life that He has given you. Because He is a good, good Father. Yes He is.

Source: Scott Berinato

Mark 6:45-52 (NLT)

“Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

“Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. They were all terrified when they saw him.

“But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!” Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed, for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.”

Same disciples.
Same Sea of Galilee.
Same boat.
Another direction from a tired Jesus.
Another storm.

What are the chances??

Can you believe it, though? Just 2 chapters before today’s story, the disciples had learned a big lesson about trusting Jesus in the midst of scary, big-fear circumstances.

Guess what? They hadn’t learned it well enough, so Jesus decides to do another flannel-graph lesson to prove the point.

As we said yesterday, Jesus had been talking his lungs off, teaching the people that just kept following him around. Granted, he was the wisest, most loving voice around at the time. But it wore Jesus out.

We’re here at the Sea of Galilee again, and Jesus tells the disciples to make a crossing to the other side (to Bethsaida) again. After having just fed this huge crowd (around 5,000 people) using five fish and two loaves of bread from a little boy’s lunchbox (which had been a huge, miraculous miracle), Jesus needed a little break.

Jesus loved the multitude, but the crowds were starting to wear on his nerves. He kindly told them to go home, and he set out to nearby hills where he could spend some time in prayer.

When you’ve had a tough day, remember it
drove Jesus TO prayer, not FROM prayer.

In the middle of the night—the fourth watch (between 3am-6am)—Jesus sees that the disciples are having a rough time rowing their boat, because they were heading into a strong wind. The wind and the waves were messing with their progress.

(Side note: things are always worse at night, aren’t they?)

Jesus decides to walk toward them on the water…and the silly disciples thought he was a ghost. They’d been walking with Jesus for a while now, but suddenly he is unrecognizable to them. Granted they weren’t expecting him to be walking on the water. But that happens to us, doesn’t it? We don’t recognize Jesus when he does something miraculous for us. Even if He’s done miraculous things for us in the past, our perspective changes and…suddenly, he is unrecognizable to us.

Jesus comes to us in the thing we fear.

The disciples had watched Jesus perform miracles…and then they forgot. 

They’d watched him change water into wine…and then they forgot.

They’d watched him heal a little boy…cast out demons…feed 5,000 people…heal a leper, a paralytic, a blind man and restored a withered hand…and then they forgot.

They’d witnessed first hand about 20 miracles that Jesus had done up to this point…and yet, as Jesus walked to them on the water…they had forgotten.

They saw this “ghost” and they were afraid.

There’s that word again: fear.

And just like Jesus, after they finally figure out that it’s him walking on the water, he tells them “Guys! It’s just me, Jesus. Don’t be scared!”

Jesus then climbed into the boat with them…and the turmoil ceased.

There are a few big ideas I want to look at today.

First of all, be confident that Jesus sees you.

He may seem far off on a mountain, minding his own beeswax. But he’s not. He is omnipresent—everywhere at all times—and He is not ignoring what we’re going through.

The disciples couldn’t see Jesus, but he could see them.

Secondly, remember that Jesus is praying for you.

He does! Even now!! Jesus has already prayed you through what you’re going through right now (and anything you’ll go through in the future) and he continues to pray for you.

Romans 8:34 says, “The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us.” (The Message Paraphrase)

That’s what Jesus is doing right now: praying for you and for me to make it through this storm.

Thirdly, Jesus doesn’t always rescue us immediately.

This doesn’t make him cold-hearted. He’s God. His timing is different than ours. Plus, he sees our situation from a totally different angle than we do. He sees the end of the story…he sees what he wants us to become at the end of all of this.

Finally, Jesus will eventually calm our storm.

The disciples hollered for help! This storm was scaring them to death (again!) But don’t miss this important truth:

The very thing they feared the most was under the feet of Jesus.

Any problem over my head is already under his feet! This virus and quarantine probably seems completely overwhelming; you may feel like your boat is going under and you are in danger of drowning. 

God has placed everything under Jesus’ feet. Ephesians 1:21-22 says, “God made Christ more important than all rulers, authorities, powers and kings. Christ is more important than anything in this world or in the next world. God put everything under his power…” (The Message)

And you know what else? “[God]…picked us up and set us down in the highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” (Ephesians 2:6)

Where are you right now? Wherever your physical body is right now, spiritually you have been picked up and set down with Jesus.. Your physical body is in the middle of this mess, but as a believer, your spiritual body is with Jesus. And, through Jesus, we can claim victory over the things that are over our head.

This is a scary time right now. But our Abba-Daddy never sleeps. He never turns his face away. He is eternally awake and alert. In the fourth watch of your night, he doesn’t drift off on the couch. He is wide awake and completely aware of you. He loves you and doesn’t want you to be afraid. Like the Perfect Father, he wants to hold us close to him and be at peace!

“In this world you will have trouble. But be brave! I have defeated the world!” (John 16:33, ICB)

AMEN!!

Today we’re going to talk about another crossing. It’s found in the book of Mark, chapter 4.

Here’s the story: “Late that day he said to them, ‘Let’s go across to the other side.’ They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, ‘Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?’

“Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, ‘Quiet! Settle down!’ The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: ‘Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?’

“They were in absolute awe, staggered. ‘Who is this, anyway?’ they asked. ‘Wind and sea at his beck and call!’”

(verses 35-14, the message paraphrase)

Fear vs. faith

It’s the ongoing battle that we all fight.

In this story, Jesus and his disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee. At the beginning of Mark 4, we read about Jesus standing in a boat-pulpit in the edge of the water, teaching the people on the shore. I don’t blame him for standing in a boat…these people, whom He loved with all His heart, had been following Him everywhere and, quite honestly, suffocating Him. Plus there were probably good acoustics and a heavenly backdrop!

After a long while of teaching, Jesus told the disciples that He wanted to cross over to the other side. The Sea of Galilee (more like a lake) is 13 miles long and 8 miles wide (at the longest and widest points.) At this particular point it was probably about 5 miles across to the other side.

Jesus stayed in the boat he was standing in. He’d been teaching all day. He was tuckered, probably hungry, and He wanted to rest.

The Sea of Galilee is well known for sudden, violent storms with no warning whatsoever. The disciples were no strangers to this body of water. They made their living fishing on this lake; these were no amateurs. No doubt they had seen plenty of storms out here. So when these experienced fishermen reacted with “What will we do?? We’re all gonna die!” (said like a southern grandma) when this storm acts up, we know that it must be one booger of a storm. They “feared a big fear”!

You know who didn’t “fear a big fear”? Jesus. Once again we see him as the insouciant Son of God. His human side fell fast asleep because he was dog-tired, but his God side kept Him asleep.

Ok, you know that you and I would have done the same thing. “Asleep!? Jesus, how can you be asleep??” They just assume He doesn’t even care that they’re all gonna die. I can see Jesus, waking up, rubbing His eyes, calmly and confidently standing and looking out at the storm. And I love how the Message Paraphrase says it: “The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass.”

And that’s that.

Jesus doesn’t have to worry because He knows they’re not going to die; He knows this isn’t the end of the story. It also doesn’t hurt that He can command the wind and waves…and they obey.

He’s not concerned.

So why were the disciples? And why are we?

Well, the disciples were very new to their faith. They’d been following Jesus, but they hadn’t quite begun the path of belief yet. They were still learning to believe.

Some of us are the same way, especially when storms crash into our lives. We love Jesus, we follow Him, but have we actually reached the point where we believe in who He is and believe in what He is capable of?

We tend to fall back on our fear instead of grabbing hold of our faith. We have centuries of proof that Jesus can be trusted…even stories in our own lives where Jesus calmed our storms…yet we revert back to how we acted before we believed.

Here are some things about fear:

Fear isn’t a sin. It’s unwise, but it’s not a sin. Fear is an emotion…and God gave us our emotions. It is our choice to be fearful, just like it’s our choice to choose faith…just like it’s our choice to choose love, kindness, selflessness, self-control, etc.

On a good note, fear can drive us to make certain decisions that are very wise. For instance, if you’re walking in the woods and there’s a rattle snake on the path in front of you, be very afraid. But let that fear move you to move!

However, fear can’t be a motivation for every move we make. In fact, when facing future decisions, we need to determine the next steps on our path based on our faith, not our fear.

Fear can cause us to make a lot of stupid decisions. In our current situation, fear has caused people to do dumb things:

• hoard toilet paper and hand sanitizer and chicken and eggs and bread and…
• watch every minute of news and read every article that they can find, all. day. long.
• assuming every tickle in our throat (or your sneeze) is COVID-19
• sitting frozen in place for hours
• getting depressed & self-focused

Sometimes I wonder if Jesus wants to grab us by the ear and ask us, “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?” He’s told us to have faith, yet our fear shows through way more often than it should.

Faith isn’t some mystical word or idea; it’s very practical! If we are motivated by faith, our next steps include:

• obeying mandated isolation
• praying
• reaching out
• loving
• encouraging others
• trusting God

We’re in the middle of a very stormy sea right now, just like the disciples were. “We’re all gonna die!” is probably something that has crossed your mind more than once. Just like the disciples, we’ve never experienced a storm like this. But if we are believers, if we trust our Leader, then we can have no doubt that Jesus is in the boat with us. We can rest beside Him. We can be calm, because He is calm. We don’t need to panic, because He’s not panicking. And He will calm this storm in His time.

And when He does, we’re gonna ask what the disciples asked: “Who is this? Even coronavirus obeys Him!” 

 

(Original 3/22/2020)