Ghosts and Goblins

When I was a little girl, we lived way out in the country. My mom ran a restaurant, so we inevitably were driving home in the evenings. Country roads are dark at night, folks! And to make matters worse, we had to drive past an old, old cemetery.  That sucker was so old, it was grown up with weeds, the headstones were tilted, and there were trees with moss draping down over the headstones to add to the effect.  As we rode by each night, I would squeeze my eyes shut as tight as I could, slump down in my seat, and try to think of anything I could to keep my mind off of that spooky old cemetery and the ghosts and goblins that must have inherited it.

As I repeated the ritual night after night, I must have exasperated my dad, because he finally asked me what I was doing. When I shamefully explained my actions, my dad said something that has always stuck with me. He said, “It’s not the people in the cemeteries you have to worry about; it’s the ones who are living.”  He was clearly talking about the state of the world we live in. Our fallen nature has made this place something much less than the garden God intended.  But I see those wise words much differently now.

We should be living each day with a sense of urgency.  We are too late to help those who have gone on before us. We need to spend each day “worrying” about those who are walking among us who don’t know Christ.  My friend Beth reminded me today that we need to live each day as if it is our last with regard to telling people about Jesus.  

Romans 10:14 says: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

We have an amazing story to share! There are opportunities all around us to tell people about what a wonderful Savior we serve. Don’t miss them because your head is covered up and you are slumped down in the seat in fear!  

Tungurahua

Tungurahua

I was privileged to serve on mission in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my entire life, Ecuador as I attended M-Fuge International with a small group of youth from my church as a chaperone along with our youth pastor.  That mission trip was life-changing for many reasons. We stayed at Campamento Bautista, high in the Andes mountains. The camp is literally located on top of a mountain, and the mountain right next to it is an active volcano named Tungurahua. That volcano rumbled and belched smoke and fire from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. It was magnificent!  At night you could see the ring of fire as lava bubbled up around the tip of its cone. By day you could see the smoke it emitted as a permanent cloud around the top.  Just when you got used to it, it would rumble and bellow and you would be in awe of it yet again.  The evidence of its activity was all around us. Roads that had been completely enveloped in lava and ash had been rerouted and you could see where the lava flow had poured down the mountain during the last big eruption.  Yet I was never scared of Tungurahua. I respected it, I admired it, I was in awe of it, but I wasn’t scared of it.  That beautiful volcano was burning with fire day and night. It never ceased to remind us that it was there. Tungurahua taught me to stay on fire for the Lord.

During the day, we were the hands and feet of Jesus to villagers in La Paz at the local school.  We shared Jesus during Bible School and then cleaned and painted the school for the kids and teachers.  We showed love the best way we could.  At night, we worshiped together on top of that mountain. It was the first place I ever heard Revelation Song and I will forever think of that mountaintop and those holy hands lifted high as that song echoed off of the mountainside.  It taught me to never take my worship experience for granted.

This was also the trip that I was privileged to see young men and women totally and radically commit their lives to Christ.  These young people began to live for Jesus in ways they couldn’t even have imagined before. Some were called to the ministry full time, and some were called to love God more fully.  It taught me to look at young people with fresh eyes.

It was as if the fire inside of Tungurahua mimicked the fire that was being stoked inside all of us. God did something awesome inside each of us on that trip. I never hear Revelation Song that I don’t think of that mountaintop experience and holy hands lifted high. And I pray for the young people of our nation that they too might experience something magnificent in their lives that turns them completely upside down for Christ.  I will never be the same, and that’s a good thing. Jeremiah 24:7 says, “'I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.”  This is what happened for us in Ecuador. God drew us close to Him as only He could, and radically changed the way we thought about Him. He can do that for each of us when we open ourselves up to possibilities. I pray that you will allow Him to do the same for you.

Perfect Timing

Perfect Timing

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. He climbed up in the Sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And as the Savior passed that way, He looked up in the tree. And he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down! For I’m going to your house today!”

I remember teaching this song to my sons when they were very young. I loved singing songs with them. Songs are opportunities to teach, and this song has many important lessons hidden within it.

I don’t know if you know the story of Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector, one of the most despised men of all Israel because they cheated the people of their hard earned money. One day, Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming. I don’t know if it was curiosity or excitement at seeing this man who had performed miracles, but Zacchaeus made his way to where the crowds were gathered that day. The only problem was that he was too short to see Jesus!  Nearby, however, was a Sycamore tree, and Zacchaeus used that tree to meet his destiny!

Jesus saw him immediately--of course he did, he was the Son of God! He knew just where Zacchaeus would be on that day!  You see, there are no coincidences in God’s kingdom.  Years before Zacchaeus was even born, God put that Sycamore tree in that exact spot because Zacchaeus would need it to meet Jesus on that day.  Long before Zacchaeus climbed the tree, the tree was already planted to meet Zacchaeus’ needs!

Zacchaeus had a divine appointment with Jesus, as we all do.  Luke 19  tells us that after seeing Jesus,  Zacchaeus was so convicted of his sin that he vowed to give back more than he had wrongly taken. Jesus responded to his pure heart by saying, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

And so he does with all of us! God has a divine moment for each of us.  At some point in our lives, he knocks at the door of our hearts and offers to be our friend, our father, our provider, our comforter, our peacemaker, our King, our Savior.  What a pity it would be to miss out on such an opportunity! Zacchaeus realized it; do you?

A Father's Love

A Father’s Love

My dad and I have had a tumultuous relationship, but when I was a little girl I thought he hung the moon!  He was my very favorite person to hang out with. I can remember sitting in the bathroom while he shaved in the morning amazed as he lathered his face with an old timey brush and mug and then carefully scraped the hair from his face. He would then shake a dollop of old spice in his hands to smooth over his clean shaven face. He always finished with a quick brush on my cheeks of his left over after shave! I loved that smell. To this day when I catch a whiff of it, it brings back such happy memories!

Another of my favorite activities was riding in the car with daddy. He would let me jump in beside him—way before the days of child safety seats and seat belts—and he would carefully hold me with his arm as we drove around the countryside.  We always ended up at my uncle’s store for a chocolate soldier drink for me!  There was nothing better than being held by daddy’s arms. It was the safest place in the world.

That’s the same way I feel when I’m being held by Jesus.  When I’m reading my Bible, having a talk with Him, or just being still in His presence, I have such a sense of safety and love and utter peace about me. There is NO love like the love of the Father.

1 John says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (1 John 3:1 NIV)  There is no greater love. We can think that we understand it, but there is no possible way to understand the height, depth, or breadth or God’s love for us. Some of my favorite times are the times I spend at His feet in awe of His presence.  Do you allow yourself time for that? I promise you if you are feeling distant from God it’s because you moved, not Him.  Move closer to God today. Spend time talking to Him like the friend He is. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Sunflowers

Sunflowers

    “Take me to America with you,” she said as tears filled her eyes and we hugged each other tightly. 

If only I could, I thought. This beautiful, widow woman from a tiny village in Romania had touched my heart in so many ways in the short time we were there on a mission trip. Even though she had very little to call her own, she gave to us out of an abundance of her love for Christ.  We had spent ten days in Traian Vuia, Romania visiting families, praying with the sick and old, and hosting backyard Bible clubs for the village children and their parents.  Sweet Maria was there every time the church doors were open. She always had a wide smile and ready laugh as she spoke to me through the interpreter. As we visited her home one day, we found her in her courtyard harvesting sunflower seeds with a long wooden dowel. She used the dowel to beat the back of the sunflower heads in order to shake loose the seeds onto a large blue tarp.  She eagerly showed me how to harvest the seeds and laughed with me as I successfully shook loose the first of the flower’s bounty. 

On our final day in the village, she asked the question. I pondered for a moment how to answer this question because the answer was important. I gently explained that I couldn’t take her with me, but that I would always carry her in my heart. Then she asked me when she would see me again. That answer came easily to me, but wasn’t an easy answer to give. I pointed upward and replied, “maybe not until Heaven, but we would have eternity to spend together then!” 

This beautiful little old lady taught me much about life.  She taught me how to work hard and find joy in the work.  She taught me how to feel rich when you have little. She taught me that you don’t have to speak the same language to communicate.  She taught me that saying goodbye isn’t forever when we belong to the family of God.  

I often wonder what happened to my friend, Maria.  I wonder if she thinks of the American lady as much as I think of the Romanian one. Her photo holds a place of honor in my office, and I enjoy telling others about wise Maria  who I will see again one day in Heaven.

Romans 10:14-15 says:

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Goodbye doesn’t mean forever when we share faith in Christ. We can’t tarry in telling others who don’t believe.  Maria knew that while she toiled and suffered on this earth one day she would be in the presence of Jesus for eternity. Do you have that same assurance? Does your family? Your friends? We cannot wait to share the gospel in the hopes that someone else will share the good news. Eternity could begin tomorrow.