The Sound of Silence

You probably need to listen to The Sound of Silence by Disturbed. It's a remake of Simon and Garfunkel's 1964 Sounds of Silence. It has quickly become one of my favorite songs and is stuck in my head all day every day. Please. Go to the link and have a listen. You will love... or hate me for it.

This song stirs up a lot of emotion in me. It is a very well-sang song which is sung with passion.

I wish I had a spiritual spin to add to this post, but I've tried two, and given up on both. You will have to draw your own spiritual conclusions about this song and do the research on this band/singer to find out what you chose to believe about it.

Was this song/video inspired by God? If so, why was it? Was this song/video inspired by Satan? If so, why was it? I haven't made up my mind yet, but the history of how this song was created is interesting.

God uses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. (1 Corinthians 1:27) Does he also use the loud, sinful, unholy things of the world to teach those who diligently seek him? You decide. But just remember, you are sinful. You are unholy. We all are, and just because this singer I have referenced does not claim to be a Christian, I do not think we should automatically assume that God wouldn't/shouldn't use him.

The Spanish Bible

A couple years ago Josh and I loaded our car to the brim, dropped off our children with my mother and headed toward Moore, OK to help with tornado relief there. We were there the day or so after it happened and stayed for several days sifting through people's ravaged belongings trying to salvage what we could find for them.

On the way there, Josh and I went into a gas station. As I was perusing, I noticed a Spanish Bible sitting beside 15 other books or so. It was $5 and I felt very compelled to buy it. I did not. I talked myself out of this purchase by convincing myself I didn't need it, I couldn't even read Spanish well, and just because I had a Bible collection at home didn't mean I needed to impulse buy this Spanish copy. But I really did think I should buy it... and regretted not getting it immediately after we left, but who turns around for a $5 purchase?

Fast forward to one of the last days we were out serving Moore families. I was four months along expecting Jonah, so I did not operate chain saws or do heavy lifting. One particular day the men (including Josh) were all demolishing through the remains of a house, and it left me temporarily idle. I started speaking (very poor) Spanish with a man from South America who was single. He was a humanitarian who randomly flew around the world after natural disasters to help however he could. I spoke a little Spanish and he spoke a little English, and between the two of us we laughed and gestured our way through a great conversation. We had lunch together.

He was very interested in this God of mine which I attempted to tell him about after inquiring about his own faith. He did not know about God where he had come from, and he wanted to know more. He was leaving the following morning to return back home.

I did not have that Spanish Bible to send him home with.

Two and a half years later, my heart is still grieved by this loss of opportunity.

The Lord often speaks in a still, small voice. Today I challenge you to obey that voice. If you are prompted to do or buy something that you don't understand, obey.

The man I met in the path of a tornado's destruction was a seeker. He was a good man and he had done many good works, but he was lost. I do pray God sends another obedient servant to that man, and if he doesn't, I do hope God forgives me.

Damage From the May 2013 Moore, OK Tornado

Who's on Your Throne?

I had people serve me these past two weeks.

For the followers of Christ who might be reading this post, it should be our highest goal to become more Christ-like every day. Referring to Jesus, John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."

I don't believe we are all supposed to look at each other and then kill ourselves so that we can get to Heaven and tell Jesus that we imitated him. I don't think he'd reward us for that.

But there is a much more difficult way to lay our lives down for each other that doesn't involve simply stepping into our next phase of life, that is, death.

I heard a message by Adrian Rodgers yesterday. I love something he said: "We will either place ourselves on the throne while Jesus dies on the cross, or we will place Jesus on the throne while we die to ourselves."

Serving other people is a sacrifice. It often involves our time and our money. And if I'm watching someone else's kids, it often requires my patience too!

Two times this month I made people cry. Here I was just going about my little life, deciding how I was going to intrude into someone else's life, and I ended up making them cry.

It probably took one lady a full minute on the phone of crying after I answered before she could get out the two words, "Thank you."

And then the favor was INCREDIBLY UNEXPECTEDLY returned to me!!... By two different people than the two mentioned above. Two people intruded into my life and decided they were going to help me when I hadn't asked for it, didn't expect it, and certainly didn't deserve it.

And now I have no words to say. I don't even know how to express my gratitude to them.

Americans live in a do-it-yourself kind of world. And yet, as Christians, I believe we are supposed to live life together. If one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers (1 Corinthians 12:26). If we all give the extra time, energy, wisdom, encouragement, and dare I say money to those who are lacking in the church, the whole body would have enough. And yet, we all live in our American homes while many members suffer. This shouldn't be.

What have you done lately to help bring up another part of the body of Christ? Was it a sacrifice for you? If we desire to be like Christ we should not only die to our sinful nature, but we should also practice laying our lives down for our friends. This will look different for everybody, and it will look different for every friend.

The American church is in great need because the majority of members do not serve one another.

Galatians 6:10 says, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." (NIV emphasis added).

Uh oh.

Food banks are great and so are all the humanitarian projects most churches are involved in. But we should not take care of the poor before we take care of one another. Who is to be the hands and feet of Christ within our churches if our main focus is solely the care and convert of the unbelievers?

Who have you served this year? Your self? Your family? The unbelieving masses? I encourage you to find a person within your church. Get to know them and learn what some of their needs are, and if you're able, let God use you (your money, your stuff, or your time) to fulfill that need in that believer's life. You could be their answer to prayer while all your doing is taking care of your body.

Same Old Lang Syne

An old friend contacted me last week. I hadn't talked to him in a couple of years and a goofy smile lit my face for two days after hearing from him. It's nice to be remembered. It's nice to be worth somebody's time to contact after years of silence.

Because of him I contacted my best friend from junior high. Yes, nearly 15 years after the awkward start of our friendship, she and I always pick up right where we leave off.

We got to talking about another high school friend of mine who isn't doing as well as I had hoped.

My heart is grieved. For years we drudge through this life meeting people, loving them, and hoping for the best for them.... and yet, the Bible says that the road to destruction is wide while the path to life is narrow.

How many of my friends over the years will I not see some day in Heaven? How many of the ones I loved did I neglect to help get there? How many did I, in fact, hinder from getting there?

Old lange syne will be a curse when we look back on the impact we could have had or should have had, when our time was wasted. Our dear friends left forever out of God's company. Forever in a state of torture, forever in a state of despair separated from everything that is good and lasting.

And what could we have done?

What should we have done?

The Image of Grace

I can't take credit for any of the ideas in this post. This clarification of the Word came to me through Chuck Missler's teachings; these teachings that maybe I'd like to forget, but can't. And that's a good thing.

Why is it that nobody recognized Jesus after he rose from the dead? (John 20:11-16, Luke 24:13-35)

There is a beautiful, terrible verse in the Bible that really helps answer this question. Isaiah 50:6 says, "I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting."

Another verse in Isaiah 52:14 reads, "Just as there were many who were appalled at him - his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness-"

So, our Lord Jesus was beaten so badly that his body did not even appear human. Let's take a minute to draw that picture in our minds.

Crowds surrounded and mocked him. He was silent. He allowed it. And while they mocked him they ripped out his beard. They didn't pluck it out one hair at a time. No. Imagine them grabbing his beard and ripping it off into their hands, his flesh ripping off in chunks along with it. Imagine his bloody, bare muscle showing through and the pain of them spitting into those wounds and the continued beatings he suffered on top of those wounds until that thin layer of muscle just under his beard began to show hints of bone.

He was their king, and imagine how he looked. It’s no wonder they mocked him.

Do we mock him today?

Every single one of us deserves the treatment, pain, and humiliation Jesus suffered on our behalf. WE deserve to die. Because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). And so when we live in sin either flamboyantly or in secret, we mock what Jesus has done for us. Every sin is another blow, and they belong to us.

Hebrews 10:26 reads, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

What do we need to confess?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

This image of Christ that I have tried to create for you is much different than the one I used to envision. The many beautiful paintings of Christ hanging on a cross are not realistic. He was “marred beyond human likeness-” for YOU.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

The Inconvenience of Family

It starts the day they are born. You've been up all night and that new little one already demands to be fed. You didn't even get a solid hour's sleep in first. But you get up. And you do it. Because you love that little girl. She is part of your family.

It continues on through their entire lives, that inconvenience: Getting up way earlier than you'd prefer so that they can make it to their school on time. Sitting in pickup lines in an old, hot car that doesn't have a/c, stopping for the third time to go to the bathroom on a, generally, one-hour drive home. Children are inconvenient.

But we don't know we're inconvenient when we are children. We are happy. We live our lives, and we're excited to be doing the fun things during our days that our family members consider inconvenient.

And then we grow up, and we begin to be inconvenienced by our other adult family members ourselves. How many newlyweds have driven hours and hours on their precious time off work to make those obligatory visits to family at the holidays? How many couples have dreaded the drive, but did it anyway because despite the hassle, they love their family and genuinely want to see them even if it means going out of their ways and sacrificing their time off work to do it?

I am so glad that I was raised by parents who did not view their children as inconveniences. My mom and dad went out of their way to spend time with us. I cannot count the hundreds of hours my dad spent with me coaching me in basketball, power-lifting, and discus. And still today, I can't count the hours of drive-time my mother has made back and forth between her house and mine. Sometimes she comes because I want to redecorate my house, and it's just more fun with your mother. Sometimes she comes so that we can go snoop around pretty churches in the area. And sometimes she comes because I'm making fajitas, and, apparently, my fajitas are worth that 2 1/2 hour round-trip drive.

And I am grateful that with my four little ones ages four and under, that that fine woman is still not inconvenienced by a one of them. Thank you, Mommy, for teaching my children some of the things that I would rather not be "inconvenienced by" doing myself. Like letting them paint rocks (what a useless thing... but it brings them SO much joy... and so it's really not useless at all.) And for teaching them to mop, and taking them to bounces houses and allowing them to hold terrible, nasty, horrible snakes. (None of them would have been allowed to do that without YOU!) Thank you for the picnics, and the creek, millions of stories, and trips to the zoo, magic house, cave, and chickens. The sacrifice of your time does not go unnoticed by me or my children.

How sad we have become when the only people worth being inconvenienced for become the people we work for who are giving us a paycheck. People who would replace us tomorrow if we were in a car crash and couldn't return. In my opinion, family are the only people worth being routinely inconvenienced for. Because they are the only family we will ever have. They are not replaceable.
And they do matter. They matter when they are hours old, and they matter when they are struggling to breathe their last breaths on this earth.

And now, I must go... and be inconvenienced by that one-hour round trip to pick up my son from school.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

With every new little baby that comes along in our family it seems like someone in our family makes that final journey of their lives and passes on to make room for the newest coming life. This newest one of ours was made space in this world by two loved ones: Grandpa Ed and Little Lucy.

Lucy was a loyal little dog to one person, and one person only... and even then, her loyalty could be questioned during key times of the year, like when there was a turkey baking in the oven. But even though she preferred only one, she was loved by all.

I remember her when she was a little puppy, dragging around a pink and white rope as long as her or a stuffed animal that was nearly as big as her own little body. She was a happy dog, a spoiled dog. And she certainly was a fat little dog.

One of her favorite games for quite a while was squeezing her little body lickity-split under this pale green footstool we had in my parents' home for a while. Like a cat, you never knew when Lucy would ferociously pop out to get you, and then high-tail it back under that footstool. She was still bald on her chest more than a decade after she had stopped playing that game from all the hair she yanked off her chest during her fun.

But Little Lucy got old and decrepit like so many of the good men, women, and animals in our world. It was and is inevitable. Why, when God cursed man, did the animals have to endure the curse as well? What did the animals do to deserve the aging, pain, and ultimate death that belonged to man?

Matthew 10:29-31 says,

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." 

Lucy did not fall to the ground outside our Father's care. When she was seizing for hours and did not even know that her mom was there with her crying, mourning for the little creature whom she could not help, our God was there keeping her comfort. She was not alone. And how much more comfort can the great Comforter himself offer than we can?

And when God looked down and saw her little body so frail and unable to see or hear or even walk, he had mercy and said, "Let's go home." And she left the pain and death and decay of this world and was reunited with her old, loved friends who had passed long before her. She is not in pain anymore. She awaits a reuniting with all the ones she loved who are still left on this earth, but she is happy, and she is finally able to rest.

Romans 8:18-21

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."

And so I say farewell to our Little Lucy. Perhaps her diamond collar has turned into her diamond crown: her reward for all the nights she stood guard and kept my mother company. How many diamonds must she have earned for that? Loyal, Little Lucy in the sky with diamonds.