“I really know some pretty cool people.”

This thought crossed my mind recently when I was at a women’s conference in Indianapolis. (I realize that “cool” isn’t a very “cool” word to use these days, but I am pretty sure nobody is accusing me of being “cool” anyway.)

I was walking through the rather large bookstore set up in the exhibit hall and saw this book and thought, “I know her!”

And, you should too! You can follow Kristen on her blog. She has written a couple of books and has a new small group bible study on Exodus coming out on the 23rd of this month. She is an amazing child of the King who is allowing God to use her for His glory. That is cool!

Another friend of mine recently published an e-book, For Right Now: Jason’s Story About Foster Care. Erin has a degree in Social Work and has a beautiful heart for foster children and families impacted by foster care. I would recommend this book to anyone who is involved with the foster “system” (and even those who aren’t who desire to have a better understanding.) Erin was one of “my” youth in Sunday school who has become a friend. She is being used by God to make a difference for Him in many lives. That is cool!

Thinking of these two friends who are a bit more public in their cool factor, I was reminded of some of my friends who are faithfully and obediently living in the power of the Holy Spirit right where God has placed them.

I have a friend who is finishing her undergraduate degree after years in the work force. God is using her to love and mentor young women who cross her path on the college campus. That is cool!

I have a friend who regularly speaks words of life into my heart and into the friends God has placed in her world. That is cool!

I have a friend who is a cancer survivor, continuing to feel the impact of chemo on her body, who is regularly taking care of others around her in God’s strength. That is cool!

And then there are these friends who are daily walking by faith:

• the exhausted mom of two “littles”
• the woman who would love to be a mom, yet God has said, “no”
• the woman who would love to be a mom, yet God has said, “not yet”
• the single friend who would love to be married
• the young woman who is pouring into the refugee community where she lives
• the teacher who is daily praying for and loving her students

To each of these friends trusting God in their circumstances I can enthusiastically say, “That is cool!”

As I sit here processing how blessed I am to have each of these people in my life, I am reminded that it is really my God who is the cool One, the amazing One, the awesome One. I love how He gifts His children for His work in His world. I love how He reminds me of His character through the lives of each of these women.

I love how His gospel is being proclaimed throughout the world in both big, public ways and simple, daily ways.

THAT IS COOL!

My prayer today for each of  my friends and for you who read this is:

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21)

“It isn’t polite to stare.”

My mom would say that to me when I was a child and found something interesting. Okay, not something, but rather someone. I must have seen many interesting people (interesting to me) as I remember hearing this phrase often.

Recently this phrase came to mind as I was checking out at my neighborhood CVS. Yes, the CVS that was just remodeled and is about 10 yards from the front door of our apartment building. Downtown living is pretty cool!

Anyway – back to my story.

I am waiting in line to check out and find myself staring at one of the cashiers.

don’t stare

He is bald and has tattoos all over his head. All. Over.

don’t stare

He also has gauges in his earlobes

don’t stare

It looks like one tattoo right in the center of his forehead is a cross with a word written above it.

don’t stare

But I think it says “truth”

don’t stare

I end up being helped by the other cashier and don’t get a good look at what the word says.

But, man, I wanted to.

As I left the store I began to think about the art that this one person had on his head.

Isn’t art to be admired?

Isn’t art to be appreciated?

Isn’t art to be acknowledged?

Surely, in this case, staring would not have been rude.

Surely, if this guy has thought through the tapestry inked over his head, he would be happy to share the meanings and stories behind it.

Maybe one day I will have the opportunity to ask him. If I do, I will let you know.

This incident made me think about that lesson my mom wanted to teach me – about staring being rude. I don’t think that is always the case. Often times, staring occurs when we are appreciating  the beauty

Of a person

Of an outfit

Of architecture

Of art

Beauty seems to demand staring. Or maybe the thesaurus can give us less offensive words than “stare.”

focus

gaze

As I was pondering this, I thought of Jesus.

He is beautiful

He is awesome

He is worthy

to be admired

to be appreciated

to be acknowledged

His character demands

my stare

my focus

my gaze

Oh, how I need to be reminded of this.

What a beautiful gift He is.

Today, I am thanking God for the beautiful gift of my Savior, Jesus. I am thanking Him for reminding me of this truth. And, I am asking Him to help me find joy in fixing my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2).

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)

A few years ago, my honey and I were trying to get to our son’s speech tournament to see him in the state semi-finals.

during rush hour

on a Friday

ugh!

As he maneuvered the traffic on construction laden DFW highways, I was navigating with the help of the Google map app. There were times that Google would tell us to take a route that seemed counter intuitive or weird. My honey, who is great at getting around the metroplex, didn’t always want to go the way the app would direct. He was not sure that Google was taking us the quickest route, and I kept saying the same line:

Trust the Google!

Over the years since our first Google map experience I have continued to recite these words to him as we traverse the country.

When the app takes us off a highway and through a neighborhood on our drive from KC to Colorado – trust the Google!

When we need to avoid California traffic – trust the Google!

When we drove through West Virginia and took some odd “detours” – trust the Google!

When we are learning how to get around our new city – trust the Google!

It seems so easy, but recently I failed to take my own advice.

I was running errands in KC and needed to get from a store north of downtown to our dry cleaner on the south side of downtown. I pulled up my Google map to see the suggested route. All was going well until I got close to my destination. I was confused as to why my Google map app was telling me to exit the highway earlier than I expected, so I decided to go my own way. I was sure I knew a better way.

I was wrong.

My Google map knew that there wouldn’t be exits where I was convinced there would be.

My Google map was trying to take me the quickest route, but I failed to

Trust the Google!

As I learned my mistake and laughed at myself, I couldn’t help but think of Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

How many times have the directions of God seemed confusing, so I just chose to go my own way?

How many times have I been convinced I knew what I was doing when I did not?

It is interesting to me how I can confidently tell my honey to “trust the Google” yet found myself second guessing it.

In the same way, it is easy for me to tell my friends to trust the Lord yet turn around and have difficulty taking my own advice.

How silly of me!

Now, if you have used Google maps, you have probably experienced a time when it failed you and you thought – “I knew I couldn’t trust the Google.” Okay, maybe you didn’t say THAT, but you probably realized the fallibility of the app.

At times Google gets things wrong, but my God does not.

The Google map isn’t perfect, but my God IS!

The more I spend time in God’s word, the deeper I know Him and His character. And the more I know His character, the easier it is to trust Him (although not perfectly).

I am thankful that God’s trustworthiness isn’t based on my trusting Him. He is intrinsically trustworthy and doesn’t need my affirmation to be so.

I am thankful that He uses a situation like me taking the “long way” to the cleaners to teach me of my need to trust Him. What a kind Father He is!

How are you trusting in yourself or something other than God? Do you doubt He knows the best path for you?

Let’s ask God to work in our hearts, helping us to trust Him alone.

Let’s ask God to give us friends who speak of God’s trustworthiness to us.

Let’s thank God for His kindness in teaching us about His character.

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. – Psalm 9:10

You (God) keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. – Isaiah 26:3

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to [Jesus].” – Luke 15:1

It was almost a month ago that I wrote about some of my thoughts on this verse here. I still read this verse and pause. There is a conviction that comes to my heart as I read about these tax collectors and sinners drawing near to Jesus, because often I do not.

I know Jesus is my Savior.

I can tell you how amazing He is.

how kind

how good

I can tell you about the times I spend with Him in scripture.

He feeds my soul.

He is the giver of life.

I can tell you specific stories where He has met me in my need

with compassion,

with truth.

But when I read this passage in Luke, I felt my heart sink as I realized that as much as I know all of this, I don’t always choose to draw near to Jesus.

I am easily distracted.

I want to be entertained.

I am thankful that His love for me is not conditioned on my performance. I am thankful that He has perfectly drawn near to the Father on my behalf. And, I am thankful that His Spirit reminds me that I need to draw near to Him

not out of obligation,

but because I NEED Him every minute of the day.

I am also thankful for a friend’s encouragement to read through the New Testament chronologically this year, one chapter a day. five days a week. This journey has pushed me to draw near to Jesus. It is April and we are still in the gospels, the first four books of the New Testament. I am not rushing through but slowing down to see Jesus even more clearly. This is a gift.

I am also thankful that my church is studying the gospel of John this year. Each week, our pastors take us slowly through John’s account, reminding us that the purpose of John is “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31).” Oh, how good it is. You can find most of the messages on the website here or you can watch the Facebook live videos. Each week is a gift.

This past Sunday, we were in John 6:60-71 when many of Jesus disciples chose to leave him. He looks to the 12 and asks if they want to go too. I love Peter’s response:

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (verse 68).”

THIS!

I want this to be my response to Jesus.

My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would work in my heart, conforming my desires to His desires. My prayer is that I would choose to draw near to Jesus rather than other things. My prayer is that I would encourage others to draw near to Him as well.

It has been almost two weeks since I returned from a fantastic spring break adventure with my number one girl. We cruised out of Long Beach to Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas and had a most excellent time. She is a pretty cool travel buddy! If you haven’t met her – you are missing out.

Before our trip, I expected to have a lot of fun with my girl.

I did.

I expected to see beautiful parts of God’s world.

I did.

I expected to enjoy relaxing with a good book on the deck of the boat.

I did.

What I did not expect was to find an amazing group of diverse people who would feel like family by the end of the week.

I did not expect “table 432.”

You might be wondering. “what in the world is table 432?”

I will try to explain, knowing that my words and descriptions will probably fall short.

Table 432 was the table Kenzie and I were assigned to for dinner each night in the dining room. On the first night, there was just one other couple at our table that had chairs for ten. So, we had fun getting to know Jeanette and Adam from Vancouver that night. And we all wondered where the rest of our table mates were. We had no idea what we were in for.

The next night our group of four was joined by Heather and Teresa – friends from Iowa; Sherry, Barbara, and Maya – three generations from Los Angeles; and Karla and Desi – friends from San Diego. We went from four to eleven and never looked back.

It was truly amazing how quickly we all seemed to feel comfortable with each other. We met for breakfast many mornings, went on adventures in Puerto Vallarta together, enjoyed afternoon tea, and spent time getting to know each other. One night a few of us sat on the deck until almost 2am just sharing a little bit about our lives and learning what we had in common.  Each personality was unique. Each personality had something to offer.

I could write a paragraph about each of these people God brought into my life but I am going to go with the first word that comes to mind.

Jeanette – kind

Adam – welcoming

Desi – generous

Karla – adventurous

Barbara – wise

Sherry (Barbara’s daughter) – joyful

Maya (Sherry’s daughter) – energetic

Heather – witty

Teresa – friendly

There are some other fun things about these people – like Karla owns a SLOTH!!! Sherry and Heather have both worked with juveniles that are in the “system.” Maya and Teresa love to dance. Adam loves to organize (he was our personal cruise director), and Jeanette teaches primary school. Sherry has an infectious giggle; Barbara goes by Nonna (NOT Nana) to her many grands and great grands (might even be some great great grandchildren); and Desi is very hospitable. I mean we played 2 truths and a lie with these people.

After just 5-6 days with these people, this is what I know about them. I am sure if I had Kenzie on the phone right now she would have fun things to add. This random group of strangers thrown together by Amith, the maitre’d of the Gold Pearl Dining Room, ended up being our little cruise family for the week. (Okay, I believe we were thrown together by the providence of God who used Amith in this way).

Would we have been friends if we had met in different circumstances? Maybe. If we would have filled out questionnaires (like colleges have for roommate assignments), I don’t know if we would have been matched with this group. I am not sure if we see eye to eye on politics, and I know we have some varying religious views. But, I also know that this was the very table at which we were meant to be. These were the people we were supposed to meet. Our experience was richer because of each of them. And, I have new friends I look forward to seeing again because of table 432.

This experience reminded me of the importance to always look at the people God brings across my path with His eyes – as people created in His image.

It reminded me of the joy in experiencing life WITH others rather than in isolation.

It reminded me of how it is worth it to be vulnerable with others and open up our lives and hearts to them.

So, look around your world. Is there a “table 432” where God has placed you? If so, I would love to hear about it.

I have been doing a little bit of “missing” this week. It is interesting that I am coming upon the end of three months in my new city, and this week, I feel the missing a bit more deeply. You see, this is the week of the longest lasting tradition in my life – celebrating Passover on Good Friday. I know – Passover doesn’t always (not even really often) actually start on Good Friday. But this is how we did it. It all started the first year of  our marriage. We enjoyed a Passover Seder at a messianic congregation in Dallas with dear friends. Because we enjoyed it so much, we decided to have our own Passover Seder the next year. Through the years we added friends (and lots of children) to our table, but the original two couples stayed the same. Tonight would have been our 25th Passover Seder with them.

Twenty-five years of being reminded that Jesus is our Passover lamb (1 Cor. 5:7)

Twenty-five  years of being reminded that just as God delivered His people out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm (Dt. 26:8)”, He delivers His children out of the bondage of slavery to sin through faith in Jesus.

Twenty-five years of remembering and speaking to one another that the Lord’s love endures forever (Ps. 136).

And, of course, twenty-five years of some amazing food and fellowship late into the night (or early morning).

Twenty-five years.

As I have been pondering the Passover Seder, my mind turned to other fun memories of the season: Easter dinner with family and friends, the fun fest at our church, the neighborhood egg hung my dad organized when I was a kid.

And then I realized that in my “missing,” I am missing the point of it all.

In missing events and people, I am missing the reason for these events.

I am missing the grace of God in the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son.

I am missing the goodness of God in saving me from the penalty of my sin.

I am missing JESUS!

So, I sit here on Good Friday, humbled and grateful.

Humbled that I am so easily distracted from looking to my Savior.

Grateful that my Savior is kind to remind me of what I am really missing.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:5

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to [Jesus].” – Luke 15:1

Did you read that?

The tax collectors – considered traitors, dishonest, greedy, workers for  the enemy

Sinners – one devoted to sin

These were the people who were drawing near to Jesus.

When I read this chapter this week, this is the verse that jumped out to me. And, as usual, my mind ran in a few directions.

I wondered why these people would be drawing near to Jesus? He was God the son in flesh, perfection, sinless. Those character qualities seem intimidating. It seems they would want to hide their failings from someone like Him.

But Jesus saw them. He didn’t ignore them like some would. He also didn’t criticize them, telling them  how horrible they were. He didn’t avoid them like the religious of the day would have. He took the time to engage them, have dinner with them, heal them, feed them. He didn’t do these things because they were worthy. It wasn’t about them at all. It was about Jesus bringing glory to God by accomplishing exactly what He came to accomplish (John 6:38-40).

I could see how these people were drawn to Jesus by looking at other places in the gospels and seeing his interaction and heart for the people. And that got me to pondering something else.

Why do the “tax collectors and sinners” of today seem to avoid drawing near to the people of Jesus? What is different?

We could spout verses about darkness hating the light – truth from John 3:20. Yet, Jesus is the light of the world and sinners were still drawn to him.

We could mention spiritual battle, the enemy at work, hard hearts – all things that are true today and would have been true while Jesus walked this earth.

I believe a huge difference is in the way Jesus treated these “undesirables” and how the church today tends to treat them.

While many in the church tend to judge, criticize, and blame sinners, Jesus had compassion for them – Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32.

While we might feel the need to avoid such company, Jesus spent time with them, having dinner in their homes and inviting himself to their homes (Love the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19).

While we might worry what people would think if they saw us with such people, Jesus did not worry about his reputation.

I think too often we (Christians) view these “sinners” as the enemy. They aren’t the enemy, but the real enemy would like us to think so. We forget that we are sinners (like them) who have been saved by grace. We forget that after Jesus looked on the crowds with compassion in Matthew 9:36, he then says to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

It is hard to be a laborer in the harvest if we avoid the fields.

“No meat today.”

A recent early morning adventure had me sitting in a neat little bakery (not paleo or whole 30 approved other than the coffee) after meeting with a friend. I was writing some thoughts in my journal when I heard an older gentleman say this to the young woman who worked there.

It was a seemingly out of the blue statement.

Direct. Instructing. Firm.

It distracted me enough that I observed the interaction that followed.

She didn’t seem to respond well. Walls went up.

It was a Friday during the season of Lent. From the context clues, I gathered this man practices the Catholic act of fasting from meat on Fridays during Lent. Watching their exchange brought so much to mind, especially as I had just been reading in John 8 where Jesus says to his followers, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (verse 32).

The way this man was expressing himself demonstrated nothing of freedom that is to be found in Christ.

Freedom from the penalty of sin.

Freedom from striving to earn God’s favor (which is an impossible feat).

Freedom to rest in Him.

The man stated that we should sacrifice because of what Christ did on the cross.

Immediately my mind jumped to the following verses:

And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.” – 1 Samuel 15:2

Then he said: “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.” – Luke 11:46

And [Jesus] said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” – Mark 7:6-8

These truths pricked my heart. The Lord was nudging me to ask myself:

In what ways am I “sacrificing” FOR God but not obeying Him?

Are there areas where I hold to traditions of men rather than clinging to God’s truth and commandments?

Am I experiencing the freedom that Jesus mentioned in the gospels?

Do I attempt to earn God’s favor?

Do I make it hard for others to follow God by loading them with burdens?

Ouch!

Please hear me. My focus in sharing this gentleman’s comment is not to make him the bad guy. It is not to criticize people who choose to participate in Lent (in whatever way you choose).

It is to share how God used this moment in a little bakery to speak to my heart.

It  is to encourage you to check your heart as I am checking mine.

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook the following:

There is nothing that you can do to earn God’s favor. There is nothing you need to do to earn God’s favor. This is why the Gospel is Good News – Pastor Jamie

Reading his post made me think:

this is freedom!