Author: admin

We have this cat named Grayce, I may have mentioned her before.  She’s a stray that showed up about a year ago.  We were looking for a barn cat so it turned out to be a good fit.  She’s super sweet and affectionate, which is a little unusual for an outdoor cat, or any cat for that matter – cats are just cats.  She hangs around the house and wants to be where we are.  She walks with the Worst/Best and I each morning often jumping out of the weeds to announce herself.  She rubs on the Worst/Best, she rubs on my legs, she rubs on the leash, a stump, a piece of grass, all with equal affection.  She likes to be carried except when she doesn’t.  Again, she’s a cat.  She’s a beautiful multi-gray colored cat, hence the name.  Her hair is longer and her eyes are green.  She’s wonderful, we really enjoy having her around.  We have recently discovered though that the name doesn’t quite fit.  Oh sure, the color is right, but…She is a he.  Yep.  Who knew?  Anyway, Grayce is now Grayhe.

Grayhe is a little different than any cat we’ve had before.  Barn cats have a job – scare away mice by any means.  Just as a note, I think mice are super cute and I never want to intentionally hurt any animal except maybe snakes.  But, mice are super destructive in a barn or anywhere inside for that matter.  Grayhe actually excels at his job, he’s quite the hunter.  He’s constantly on the prowl and proudly delivers quite an assortment at our feet.  Again, he’s a cat.

One particular day Grayhe bounded out of the tall grass, meowing loudly, running straight at me excitedly.  I turn as he’s running toward me, thinking it was hug time.  Not!  He had his latest acquisition in his mouth.  Ewww, gross.  It’s nature, it’s what he does.  The predator had caught the prey.  As I stood there trying not to completely yuck out, I started thinking, isn’t that so like life.  I mean I don’t run around showing off my conquests or calling attention to them proudly.  Or do I?  Ouch.

Anyway, my thoughts were actually on Satan.  I hate to compare my cat to all that is evil, but the action is so the same.  Satan is a predator and God’s Children are his prey.  When we succumb to his allure, we are just like that poor mouse in Grayhe’s mouth, dangling in the jaws of evil.  Grayhe was super proud of that conquest.  Satan is also super proud when he snatches one of us up – we can almost envision his side-eyed smirk.

Be careful!  Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for victims to devour.  Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith.  Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

1 Peter 5:8-9

How do we avoid being the snatchee?  We have to be on guard at all times.  We have to be prepared.  We have to educate ourselves.  First of all, we need to know the enemy.  We need not sell the enemy short.  He is wily, he is cunning, he is deceptive, he is super powerful (not all powerful mind you), he is evil.  Second of all, we need to be prepared for that enemy.  As children of God, we are Satan’s target.  If we are not Children of God, Satan has no time for us because we are already his.  If we do not feel like we constantly need to check our backs we may need to check our hearts.  He is not going to spend time on securing what he has already secured. 

But, most importantly, we need to know the Lord deeply.   We need to know who He is, His attributes, His characteristics and we can only know these things if we have a relationship with Him through His Word, prayer and His Spirit.  We need to know and understand that the battle belongs to the Lord.  Although we are to be on guard as the Apostle Paul tells us very often, we must know the One that can help us avoid being snatched up into Satan’s jaws.  If we do not have a vibrant, active, close relationship with the One, our daily lives are in peril.  That sounds dramatic, but if anything, it is way understated.  One wrong decision, one miscue, one selfish moment, one little half-truth, one little glance, one little sneak can be catastrophic to us and to those around us.  Peril is being lured away from the Lord because our relationship is not strong enough to withstand the destructive forces of evil.

Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power.

Ephesians 6:10

There is a ton of evil in this world today.  Satan has set traps at every twist and turn.  Satan is hungry for Children of God.  He waits until we are weak, until we are vulnerable, until we let our guard down, until we feel comfortable, until we are complacent, until we take our eyes off Jesus and then he pounces brutally and savagely and parades around with us in his mouth.

So, what do we do? Cling to the Lord.  We need to be so close to Him that if we were any closer we’d be on the other side of Him.  He promises to uphold us with His right hand if we seek Him and He will lift us up, higher and higher, giving us strength to fight in the battle that is His to win.

Am I more determined to navigate my own course than leaving it to Him?

I read something similar to this the other day, and it gave me pause.  After careful consideration, I’d have to say a lot of times…yes, or maybe even most times.  I know, that shouldn’t be the case.  I should be relying on God to steer me through life’s happenings instead of trying to pilot my own course and trying to control the outcomes for myself and others.  When I’m piloting the course and trying to control the outcomes, which by-the-way I can’t do anyhow, that means I have a trust problem.

If I’m navigating my own course, or some might say trying anxiously to control, it means I do not trust Him.  Plain and simple.  Wait! No, I do trust Him, but…  We either trust Him or we don’t.  Granted, there is a disconnect sometimes between our minds and our hearts, sometimes we don’t always line up, remember the hind’s feet?  It is perilous when our back feet (heart and mind) don’t land in the front feet (soul and strength) steps?  We risk falling on the treacherous terrain.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. Luke 10:27

Trust.  Reliance.  Confidence.  Hope.  Faith.  Whatever you want to call it, we cannot stumble through life with half-trust, picking and choosing the situations that God is capable of handling and those that we must handle for Him.  This creates so many bad decisions on our part.

Trust is a tricky thing though.  We may feel it with our minds but don’t know it with our hearts.  Or, we may feel it with our hearts, but don’t know it in our minds.  Trust is getting it all to line up and that’s a process.

If I am more determined to navigate my own course, my life will be a constant battle, kind of like a Pushmi-Pullyu.  My head and my heart are connected to one body but constantly battling for control.  Visualize that.  Only when we give up control are we given freedom from the tug of war.  Freedom to trust.  Freedom to allow Him to navigate our lives.    If we are constantly trying to control the outcomes of life, we will never have freedom.

When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.  Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves; but Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

“You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

Matthew 8:23:27

Do we not think that the One that controls the waters of the earth cannot control the seas of our lives?  We are so like the Disciples charting our own course and then being engulfed by the waves.  Here’s the thing I love about this passage.  He rebuked the winds and the waves, but He did not rebuke the Disciples for their little faith!  I can’t imagine that the Disciples were not trying to control their boat during this storm.  I can’t imagine that they were not trying to navigate the waters, control the sails and bailing the water out of the boat.  I can’t imagine that they didn’t wake Jesus until they had tried everything they knew to do and nothing was working. I can’t imagine that they didn’t wake Him as a last resort. Only when they saw they were not able to manage the crisis did they cry out to Him.  I can relate!

And He answered. 

Freedom comes when we cry out to Him.  Our freedom comes when we trust Him enough to take control.  It is a process.  But just like the Disciples, we can breathe a sigh of relief when we see He is true to His promises and we can trust Him more.

Our eyes are peeled.  It’s that beautiful time of year when new life emerges.  We are so privileged to be able to witness, sometimes on a daily basis, new life.   You see it’s drop time.  That time when the does start dropping their fawns.  We spend time watching the fields to see if the pregnant doe yesterday is nursing a fawn today.  Nature teaches us some amazing things about our God. 

After a doe has delivered, it is her job to protect that baby.  I’m sure mother deer love their babies, but it’s not like we love our babies.  They love their babies out of instinct, out of a need to survive, or maybe it is the same. 

We know that in the animal kingdom it is definitely survival of the fittest, we all remember Marlin Perkins and Mutual of Omaha’s…W-i-l-d K-i-n-g-d-o-m.  Frankly, W-i-l-d K-i-n-g-d-o-m was pretty ferocious and predictable.  We knew the ending every week, beautiful innocent animals just wandering around out for a meal, minding their own business, when suddenly something swoops in and the fittest prevails, yet we watched.  Brutal.  Back to the does.

So after a mother deer delivers, she’s right back to what we usually see her doing, eating.  She must stay strong in order to provide for her baby.  Oft times we don’t immediately see the fawn until it’s a few days old.  So, where is it?  Right where the mother leaves it.  You see a mother deer will bed down her fawn during the day.  She places it in a safe place, tells it to stay there and then heads off for sustenance.  It’s interesting to watch a mother deer bed down her baby.  She finds a protected, safe spot, pushes her baby down, and if it moves before she tells it to, she takes her nose and baps the baby on the head.  It only takes a bap or two for that baby to stay put.  It will stay put until the mother deer comes and retrieves it many hours later.  Some does put their babies down in the morning, head out for a day of foraging returning at the end of the day.  We once watched a retrieval.  It was amazing.  A mother deer returned to her bedded down baby under one of our fences (the one in the pic).  She paced back and forth the opposite fence line to make sure the coast was clear.  She then bleated from about 20 feet out and that baby jumped up and ran to her.  It recognized her voice. But, that baby would not move until called, under no circumstance.

That mother’s instinct is to protect her baby.  That mother enforced obedience with a bap on the head because she knew that her baby’s life depended on it.   That baby wandering from a safe place could end up the next episode of  W-i-l-d K-i-n-g-d-o-m. 

I don’t know about you all, but I’ve certainly had my share of baps on the head and there’ve been times when I should have had a bap on the head and the Lord was merciful.  Just like in the animal kingdom, obedience to Him is a matter of survival.  It is a matter of life or death.  And it is the exact same for us. 

At the end of the day, the doe calls to her young, they move off into the evening, the baby nurses and gains strength from the mother’s milk, and they bed down together.  It is absolutely no different for us.  We do not have to live out W-i-l-d K-i-n-g-d-o-m, but if we are not obedient to the Lord, we will.  This world is full of predators just waiting to attack the weak and defenseless.  Predators swoop in and the fittest will prevail.  When we are not obedient to Him we are the weak and defenseless.

The Israelites had traveled in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died. For they had disobeyed the LORD, and the LORD vowed he would not let them enter the land he had sworn to give us—a land flowing with milk and honey.

Joshua 5:6

The Israelites are a great example.  Yet we probably don’t have to look that far.  Obedience to Him, for our own protection, keeps us from being devoured by this world.

The New Testament in Modern English, under the heading “Your knowledge of the truth should be your safeguard” states:

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for re-setting the direction of a man’s life and training him in good living.  The scriptures are the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his work.

2 Timothy 3:16

All we need to know to be obedient is in the Word.  All we need for life everlasting is in the Word of God.  Obedience is a choice. Every choice comes with consequences.  If we are not obedient to God, through His Word, we subject ourselves to the consequences and it won’t be a bap on the head.

Another walking revelation.  I don’t know why God’s promises are such a surprise to us sometimes.  Worst/Best and I were strolling along.  She can’t do much more than that these days and that’s just fine.  If we were out beating the pavement, we may have missed God’s teaching moment.

It was the wildest thing.  Looking at the mountain yesterday morning, I noticed the clouds rolling in north to south.  At first I thought it was smoke because the clouds were billowing,  they were in front of the mountain and not on top, and they were moving at a visible clip.  As I looked, it was as if a cloud machine had exploded.  It was surreal to watch the clouds rolling along in real time.  Within a matter of a minute the visible mountain was invisible.  The clouds had rolled in and completely masked the mountain.  If you didn’t know there was a mountain there, you wouldn’t know there was a mountain there.

But, in another minute, the clouds had moved on, and the mountain was visible again and as I looked north to south I could see that what was once visible and then invisible was now visible again.  For literally 90 seconds I stood and watched the cloud crossing – mountain, no mountain, mountain.  It dawned on me then that this is exactly what life is like, maybe for you too.

One minute we can see the mountain clearly.  The next minute it is completely hidden.  The next the view is open.  Clouds constantly rolling through our lives.   Sometimes we can see clearly, sometimes not so much.  We may lose our focus and it may be a little hard for us to see Jesus.  Not because He has moved, but because we have allowed the clouds of our lives to move in front of Him.   Our focus has shifted.

The LORD is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth.  Psalm 149:18

Even though the clouds roll in, Jesus is always there, ever present.  The answer to call on Him seems too simple to us.  It’s not dramatic enough.  It’s as easy as whispering His name.  Even though we may not see Him working in the cloud moment, He has promised that He will never stop working the miracle of healing, the miracle of salvation, the miracle of life for His children, even when the clouds obstruct our view.

My father never stops working, so why should I?

John 5:16

He’s true to His promises.

Does Kingdom work sometimes seem daunting to you? How to talk to others about Christ, how to tell of His glory to people who don’t want to listen? What do I say? What do I do? How do I do it? Who do I talk to? How do I talk to them? It’s sometimes tough to think that our soul mission on this earth is to reach other people for Christ and just not knowing what to do, how to do it, when to do it.

We all roughly know the story of David and Goliath. David a boy of 16-19 years old, hit a man nine feet tall with a stone and dropped him.  In a nutshell, that’s how the story goes, right?

Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel.  He was a giant of a man, measuring over nine feet tall!  He wore a bronze helmet and a coat of mail that weighed 125 pounds.  He also wore bronze leggings, and he slung a bronze javelin over his back.  The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s bean, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed fifteen pounds.  An armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a huge shield.  1 Samuel 17:4-7

Goliath was one huge dude.  It’s hard to even imagine what he looked like.  He was intimidating.  He was also confident, full of himself.  Twice a day for 40 days (sounds like the wilderness again, doesn’t it?) Goliath would come out and taunt the Israelites.  They were scared to death.   But it took something very small in the hands of someone very faithful to remedy the situation.  One stone.  Not a rock, or a boulder, but a small stone.

The Lord involves ordinary people when he does extraordinary things.  David, powered by God felled Goliath with just one stone.  The stone, without the power of God would never have sufficed.  You see, it wasn’t the stone.  It was the power of God through David.  Just like when Moses led the people to the sea, it wasn’t the staff that parted the waters.  It was the power of God through Moses.  Over and over in the scriptures – I feel like I say that a lot, but it’s true – The Lord gives us examples of His mighty power at work through us.  He worked through David.  He worked through Moses.

One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth.  She was a worshiper of God.  As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying.  Acts 16:14

He worked through Paul.  Paul was the messenger, but the Lord did the work.

“When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true.”  Then he opened their minds to understand these many Scriptures.  “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again for the dead on the third day.  With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem.  There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.”

Luke 24:44-45

It happened again.  The scriptures of old gave the message, but Jesus did the work.  He opened the minds of the disciples to understand the scriptures.  Had he not done so, the scriptures would have just been words on a scroll, nice stories, history. 

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!  Isaiah 52:7

It happened again.  The feet on the mountain brought the news,  but Jesus did the work.  Isaiah foretold of the deliverance to come.  He became sin who was sinless in our place so that we may be saved.  Hallelujah!  That’s good news those feet were taking everywhere.  We are to be tellers of the peace, salvation and deliverance that has come!

The smallest tract may be the stone in David’s sling.

In the hands of Christ, it may bring down a giant soul.

Robert Murray McCheyne

That’s how it will work with us as well.  The smallest word.  The smallest gift.  The smallest gesture.  The smallest act.  All may bring down a giant soul.  Not a comparable sized giant, not an expert sling shot operator, but a faithful shepherd stepping up and allowing Jesus to d the work in and through him.  Not because of what we do, but because of who He is.  We speak only to the ear but God speaks to the heart.

This is our field that was just planted.  Just a week ago the fields were dead, they looked just terrible.  The farmer had come in and sprayed the fields to get rid of all the weeds before planting.  The weeds had taken over the field leaving it brown and scraggly looking.  You would think nothing would be able to grow in them. Then they came in and right on top of that dead looking field they planted soybean seeds.  The amazing thing about it is that the seeds are growing, even with all the dead weeds around them.  The water from the rains and the heat from the sun have caused the seeds in the soil to burst open.  The soybeans are growing among the weeds.  Soon the green, bushy soybean plants will completely choke out the dead weeds.

This reminds me of our walk with Jesus.  With the right amount of water and Son, we can grow where He plants us.  Maybe to the soybean plants that have just popped through it looks a little daunting, all those overpowering weeds around.  But, we’ve felt that way a time or two, haven’t we?

As I walk and look out at that field, so many lessons for me come to mind.  The seeds are planted deep in the soil.  He sends the rains to nourish, refresh and cleanse the soil of impurities, and He sends the Son to draw us upward to Him.  God doesn’t wait until our lives are completely cleaned up to move in.  God’s grace and mercy can grow in our hearts even when we still have weeds that need plucked.  In fact, God will help us with the weeds because the more the freshly planted seed grows, the less weeds there will be in our lives.  Growth is an amazing process.  Just like the soybean seeds, if they are not growing we are dying.  We must consciously absorb the water and reach for the Son so that we’re not choked out by the weeds.

Just like God can change a field that is completely overrun with weeds and scraggly brush, He can change our hearts, one row at a time.

Let all that I am praise the LORD.

O LORD my God, how great you are!

You are robed with honor and majesty.

You are dressed in a robe of light.

You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;

you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.

You make the clouds your chariot;

you ride upon the wings of the wind.

The winds are your messengers;

flames of fire are your servants.

You placed the world on its foundation

so it would never be moved.

You clothed the earth with floods of water,

water that covered even the mountains.

At your command, the water fled;

at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.

Mountains rose and valleys sank

to the levels you decreed.

Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,

so they would never again cover the earth.

You make springs pour water into the ravines,

so streams gush down from the mountains.

They provide water for all the animals,

and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

The birds nest beside the streams

and sing among the branches of the trees.

You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,

and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.

You cause grass to grow for the livestock

and plants for people to use.

You allow them to produce food from the earth—

wine to make them glad,

olive oil to soothe their skin,

and bread to give them strength.

The trees of the LORD are well cared for—

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

There the birds make their nests,

and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.

High in the mountains live the wild goats,

and the rocks form a refuge for the hyraxes.

You made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun knows when to set.

You send the darkness, and it becomes night,

when all the forest animals prowl about.

Then the young lions roar for their prey,

stalking the food provided by God.

At dawn they slink back

into their dens to rest.

Then people go off to their work,

where they labor until evening.

O LORD, what a variety of things you have made!

In wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of your creatures.

Here is the ocean, vast and wide,

teeming with life of every kind,

both large and small.

See the ships sailing along,

and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.

They all depend on you

to give them food as they need it.

When you supply it, they gather it.

You open your hand to feed them,

and they are richly satisfied.

But if you turn away from them, they panic.

When you take away their breath,

they die and turn again to dust.

When you give them your breath, life is created,

and you renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the LORD continue forever!

The LORD takes pleasure in all he has made!

The earth trembles at his glance;

the mountains smoke at his touch.

I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.

I will praise my God to my last breath!

May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the LORD.

Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth;

let the wicked disappear forever.

Let all that I am praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD!

Psalm 104

“Your own wickedness will punish you.  You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to forsake the Lord your God, having no fear of him.  I, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, have spoken!”  Jeremiah 2:19

Aaaaahhhhh!!  Shriek!!!!!!!  Wow!  Them’s some powerful words.  I don’t know about you guys, but that just scared the begeezies out of me.   You’re probably thinking holy mackerel, I can’t believe she just blurted out that scary verse.  That can’t be in the Bible, you say?  That’s not the God I know, you say?

I didn’t put it there to scare you or TO shock you.  I put it there for the Flag Factor.  What’s the Flag Factor?  Glad you asked.  It’s actually a rabbit hole moment.  I’ve been reading in Genesis, I love, love, love Genesis.  It is riveting, no kidding!  When I start in Genesis I just can’t put it down.  It’s like a good book?!?  Anyway, where was I?  Ok, right – the Flag Factor.  There was a verse in Genesis that had a cross reference in Jeremiah.  This is where the trail began.

I found that the prevailing theme of the Book of Jeremiah is that of national sinfulness and imminent judgment.  It’s a book of warnings.  The messages of Jeremiah was to convince God’s people to turn from their sin back to Him.   Know anyone else with that same message?  Jeremiah was written to Israel, specifically, the southern kingdom of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem.  Ah, he’s talking to the folks of The Holy City.  The same Holy City that Jesus rode through on a colt on Palm Sunday while the crowds sang Hosanna!  Hosanna!  We’re a little bit like Israel too, aren’t we?  Disobedient to God one minute, singing His praises the next.

Anyway, Jerusalem was destroyed, the Temple was destroyed, and the Israelites were captured and taken off to Babylon.  All because of sin.  Sin has serious consequences.  We don’t like to think about that too much.  Jeremiah is a book of messages from the Lord.  Jeremiah the Prophet gives the messages from the Lord, issues warnings, and then weeps in anguish for their disobedience because he knows they are working out their own destruction.  As I was reading, I came across this verse and couldn’t stop thinking about it:

Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.  Cry out loudly…Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.  Run for cover!  Don’t stand still!  Jeremiah 4:5-6

Lift up a signal flag.  It’s the Flag-Factor.  Why would you wave a flag?  To signal.  To advise.  To warn.  To alert.  Jeremiah was one flag waving dude.  Change your ways, be obedient to God, because there are consequences.  The alarm was sounded because the message was alarming.

But God also gave Jeremiah a message of hope for the captives:

“The truth is that you will be in Babylon for seventy years.  But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.  For I know the plans I have for you,”  says the Lord.  “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  In those days when you pray, I will listen.  If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.  I will be found by you”, says the Lord.  “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes.  I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your land.”  Jeremiah 29:10

Here’s the beauty of the message – God rescues his people – to give them a future and a hope.

So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.  For if you keep following it, you will perish.  But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.  Romans 8:12-13

Same message.  It sounds much more palatable from Brother Paul though, doesn’t it?  More gentile, more lovey, less harsh.  Nevertheless, the message is the same.  Sin has consequences.  Here’s the beauty in the message, God gave us a way out, the only way out.  God sent His Son, they call Him Jesus.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23

Don’t you just love the buts…the free gift of God is eternal life, a future and a hope, through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here’s the question I asked myself – if we as Christians are to build each other up, we are to encourage each other in the faith, we are to help each other stay on the path to the narrow gate, shouldn’t we also be flag wavers?  Shouldn’t we be sounding the alarm?  Would we let our children walk into the street if we saw a car coming?  No, we would tell them to stop, look both ways, decide whether you have time to cross before the oncoming danger.  Stop.  Look.  Listen.  Why would we do that?  Because we love them and they could die.  Jeremiah loved his people enough to wave the flag.  Paul loved his people enough to wave the flag.  John loved his people enough to wave the flag.  Peter loved his people enough to wave the flag.  Jesus loved his people enough to wave the flag, in the form of the cross.  Shouldn’t we too love our people enough to wave the flag?  To alert.  To warn.  To signal.  To advise. To sound the alarm.  Isn’t that what we’re called to do?

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.”  Jeremiah 1:5

Look what the Lord said to Jeremiah.  There are so many messages packed into that one verse.  We’ll leave all that unpacking for another time.  It says what it say.  Look at Jeremiah’s response to the Lord:

“O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you!  I’m too young!”  Jeremiah 1:6

Jeremiah’s saying “Send Aaron!”  We too have many excuses, don’t we?  But look what the Lord says to Jeremiah:

“Don’t say that, for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.  And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you.  I, the Lord, have spoken!”  Jeremiah 1:7-8

So, are you willing to wave the flag?  To warn?  To alert?  To advise?  Do you love someone enough to do that for them?  To save them from the consequences?  Are we afraid to do that?  Sure we are.  But didn’t He say He would be with us?  Didn’t He say He’d take care of us?  He, the Lord, has spoken.

It is our job to take care of each other.  After all, wouldn’t you want someone to signal the flag for you if you were headed in the wrong direction?   Me too.  If we truly love each other we will signal the flag and we will appreciate it when the flag has been waved our way.  That’s what true love is.

Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Psalm 34:38

Literally. 

I’d left a Bible sitting on the couch and we came home to this.  You’d think the Worst/Best at 10 years old would be over eating the stuff she shouldn’t.  For years you could leave things laying around, except for socks, and she wouldn’t mess with them.  Now, all of the sudden, she’s decided to eat it if it’s laying there.  The other thing the Worst/Best has taken to chewing on is an old magazine we roll up to encourage her not to jump through the window when a car goes by with a whack on the bottom (don’t go all PETA on me a whack with a magazine doesn’t hurt a 90 pound, fully unglued, dog).  It just seems a little ironic to me that the two things meant for good in life (hers and ours) don’t really work unless applied.    

When I saw this chewed on Bible, so many thoughts came to my mind – I’m sure they did to yours as well. Initially I was annoyed, but then I thought she did something I (we) should all be doing.  But the one thought that gave me pause was that I want to be that hungry for the Word of God.  So hungry that I want to completely devour like Jeremiah.

When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.

Jeremiah 15:16

What food for thought.  I won’t belabor the many metaphors and puns that immediately come to my mind about this incident. I’m sure your wheels are turning too.  But, it does remind that the Word of the Lord is to be consumed, not by dog, but by man.  (It does not good just sitting on the couch.) In fact, many versions call it feasting — feast on the Word of the Lord.  If we are followers of Christ, why would we not want to take it in?  It is our provision, our sustenance, our life.  It is meant to be read, absorbed and applied to our lives.

We can come up with all kinds of reasons excuses for not feasting on the Word of the Lord, but James laid it out too perfectly for us, didn’t he – to know what we’re supposed to do and not do it is a big problem.  Here’s the thing, the Word can change our lives but not if we don’t read it.  The Word is filled with such love, hope, encouragement, promise, comfort, peace, mercy and grace.  Don’t we all need just a little bit of that in our lives?  The Word is also filled with protection, instruction, teaching, boundaries, and guidance.  Don’t we all need just a little bit of that in our lives as well?

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 8:3

Think on it.

You keep track of all my sorrows.

You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

You have recorded each one in your book.

Psalm 56:8 (NLT)

Thou tellest my wanderings;

put thou my tears into thy bottle;

are they not in thy book?

Psalm 56:8 (KJV)

You’ve kept track of every toss and turn through the sleepless nights,

Each tear entered in your ledger,

each ache written in your book.

Psalm 56:8 (MSG)

What beautiful words.  Words of comfort.  Words of reassurance.  Words of life.  Words of love. These words have hugs built right into them.  Arms wrapped.  Holding.

Our tears flow freely over life, trying to wash away all that would cause us pain.  They are full of hurt, fear, loss, longing, disappointment, brokenness, separation, pain, illness, and even death.  I don’t have to tell you that life is hard.  You’re living it.

Whether our tears fall in big round drops or in salty streams, every bit of moisture is collected.  The mother’s tears for a son are collected.  The wife’s tears for a husband are collected.  A child’s tears for a parent are collected.  A friend’s tears for a friend are collected.  Think about the number of tears shed in a single day on this earth.  God surely has a huge reservoir in Heaven – an ocean of tears.

“Where have you laid him?” he asked.  “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.  Jesus wept.

John 11:34-35

What a comfort to know that He who collects my tears also shed tears.  That’s right.  Jesus wept.  Jesus was sad, broken, grieved by the loss of his friend.  I marvel at that.  Jesus, the One.  Jesus, the Healer.  Jesus, God of the Universe.  The One who could dry every tear experienced pain, loss, grief.  His tears fell too.  What does that say to me?  Jesus knows exactly how I feel.  How you feel.  Exactly.

“Why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”  She glanced over her should and saw someone standing behind her.  It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him.  “Why are you crying?” Jesus asked her.  “Who are you looking for?”

“Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!”  Jesus said.  She turned to him and exclaimed, “Teacher!”

Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!”

John 20:11-18

Mary’s tears were collected too.  But guess what?  In the midst of her tears, she saw Jesus.  She was looking for Him and, He called her name.  He appeared to her.  I don’t know if He will visibly appear to us – He has the power to do that, you know.  But I do know this, that in our tears, through our tears, while they are being collected, He calls our name.

So what do we do about this thing called life that causes so much pain for so many?  We look to the One who chose to experience what we experience.  We look to the One who knows what we’re going through.  We look to the One who will guide us through the pain.  We look to the One who calls our name.

We are told there are only two things we can be sure of in life – death and taxes.  That’s not true, at all. We can only be sure of Jesus.  He has promised us his unfailing love, forever.  I can’t promise you that life will be easy, but I can promise you – He promises you – that whatever causes your tears to fall, whatever course your life is on, He knows what you’re going through.  He is collecting every tear that slides.  He’s calling out – Mary.  He’s calling out — your name, My child,  it’s Me!

There will be a day when no more tears will fall for those who know Him…

I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Look, the home of God is now among his people!  He will live with them, and they will be his people.  God himself will be with them.  He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  For the old world and its evils are gone forever.”  Revelations 21:3-4

Until then…Through our tears do we turn to Him?  Do we look to Him for the answers?  Do we look to Him for the comfort?  Do we look to Him for the healing?  Do we look to Him, the only One we can be sure of?  Can we say we have seen the Lord?

I was sure by now

God you would have reached down

And wiped our tears away

Stepped in and saved the day

But once again, I say “Amen,” and it’s still raining.

As the thunder rolls

I barely hear Your whisper through the rain

“I’m with you”

And as Your mercy falls

I raise my hands and praise the God who gives

And takes away

And I’ll praise You in this storm

And I will lift my hands

For You are who You are

No matter where I am

And every tear I’ve cried

You hold In Your hand

You never left my side

And though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm

I remember when

I stumbled in the wind

You heard my cry to you

And you raised me up again

My strength is almost gone

How can I carry on

If I can’t find You

-Casting Crowns