"...tell us plainly."

The Jews make this statement at a very specific time and at a very specific place: the Feast of Dedication (while celebrating the remembrance of miraculous provision) at Solomon’s Colonnade (where God had traditionally accomplished great things).

Can you identify with "the Jews" in this passage?

Have you ever prayed to the Lord and asked Him to show you, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that He is the Messiah? That you are on the right path, doing what He’s asked you to do?

Photo by C Marine

I have... I still do...

Just like the Jews in this passage.

The question they asked, as some versions literally render it, “how long dost thou take away our soul?”

"Tell us plainly... Have you come to take away our souls?"

My husband and I have often discussed conundrum. He rarely doubts God; he rarely questions if He is true, if He has a plan and we are following it, if Jesus is Who He says He is and really did come and do what He said He would. I, on the other hand, struggle more with doubt… a lot more often than I care to admit. I easily identify with the Jews’ question.

I start thinking about God, trying to figure Him out, trying to make Him and what I think I see Him doing make-sense-according-to-me.

My mind gets overwhelmed...

*********************************************

Please join me at a life overseas: the missions conversation, where I'm posting today - and read the rest. Then, I'd love for you to join the conversation.

"God has given each one of us a little chunk of eternity called time."

I find that quote to be a powerful one - a reminder that life, each moment, is a gift from God. Some are gifted larger chunks of eternity; others aren't so large. But each one is responsible to steward whatever size chunk he or she has been given. To steward well, one must be focused... intentional... and not distracted by things that can easily render useless... things like refusing to forgive and hanging on to bitterness.

Easter break was over and I was driving my oldest to the Detroit airport to catch his flight back to Harrisburg PA and Messiah College, where he had three-ish weeks of school and finals left before coming home (Yes!!! That thought still makes my heart glad even though it is now a done deal!). After leaving him at the airport and starting the drive home, I was looking for any distraction on the radio so that the tears wouldn't start. (I usually manage to hold it together until after he's out of sight and I have to start the leaving to go back to the rest of my Wrightlings.) So I started listening to an interview with a woman named Kathy Sanders... and then when I got home, I ordered her book.

Here story is a compelling one. On April 19th, the Murrah Federal Building was bombed. She was at work about a block away and immediately ran to the scene because her two grandsons were in the daycare facility housed in that building. Joined by her daughter (the boys' mother), they searched for the two toddlers - to eventually discover that both had been killed as a result of the blast.

Now You See Me is Kathy Sanders' story. This event totally and completely devastated her and her family; this book details her journey to a point of healing - acceptance, finally being able to continue on and celebrate her present gift of life as well as the brief moments she had with her grandsons. This book tells how God empowered her, by His grace, to forgive the unforgivable. As she went to great lengths to try and understand why this crime was committed, she chose to rub shoulders with those responsible for this crime - and in doing so, God truly opened her heart to see them as real people with real stories now living horrific consequences. Perhaps most astonishing was how she befriended Terry Nichols' family... and eventually Terry Nichols himself.

She never learned exactly what she wanted to learn - and is convinced that there has been a cover-up by the government; she no longer, however, lives under the shadow of a desperate need for answers, choosing to trust God and to love others, even those most would consider enemies.

While, at times, the tone of the book becomes overbearing and redundant - the powerful grace of God working in and through this woman is continuously present - convicting and challenging, exhorting as well as encouraging readers to thoroughly examine their lives to determine if there are any seeds of anger, bitterness, jealousy... that need to be brought before the throne of God.

And so I do recommend this book.

Leave me a comment - if you are interested in receiving my copy. I'd be delighted to pass it along! 

photo credit: bcfought via photopin cc

following up ~ What to do with super-sized sensitivity?

Oh wow!  I had forgotten what it was like to be in the world of super-size this, that and everything else. 

Bren & one of his classmates at their Grad Banquet

It doesn't take long to remember... or to recall first hand how too much super-sized anything isn't good for the physical... or mental... waistlines.

Not too many weeks back, I climbed on my soapbox and wrote a relatively short rant about a general tendency (that grates on me personally and that also seems to be exacerbated by online life) to be highly sensitive and take personal offense (whether intended or not).

And let me confess... I can be as guilty as the next person, whether I choose to write about the specifics of it or not. One could argue the fact that I posted that post is proof...

I don't want to share the particular instance that got me started on that other blog entry, back then - because my point is not to point fingers at a particular someone (for pointing a finger at another simply leaves three other digits pointing back at me), but to share some questions I've been asking myself and some meditations that have been mulling around in my heart. 

Why? Because the root of this whole issue, at least as far as I can see, is an over-inflated opinion of self and this egotistical idea that other people's words and actions are targeted for me, or at least me primarily.

Perhaps the post wasn't... but when I react so strongly, could it be that the still small voice of God is using another's words to point something out? To convict me of something that needs some changing?

I think those questions bear some first person-repeating... Seriously!

1. How can I show each other a little more grace and consideration?
2. How can I stop being so sensitive to ourselves and more sensitive to others?

I have my story... others have theirs... and what would happen if I spent more time thinking about others' stories than I spent wallering about in the sad or painful or difficult parts of my own?

1. What if each time I started feeling those emotions and reactions riling up I committed to stop because I knew it was really about me - and not about what the other person wrote or said or did?
2. Or what if when I read something that inflamed .. I paused and prayed and asked God about His plans for those particular words in changing and growing me?
3. What if I was committed to not shooting the messenger, regardless of how eloquently or clumsily the message was actually delivered?

And then, what about those times when I get angry and discover that my anger focuses on the exact same things (in me and about me and outside of me having nothing to do with me) that offend God?

Then is the time to act and by God's grace, effect change - in me and in the world around me.

Do you have any additional thoughts on this topic you'd be willing to share?

Please do, in the comments!

Your contributions to the conversation are invaluable to me.

This whole being sensitive about being sensitive is a bit too much... I mean, really????

I get it.

I really do.

I need to measure my words carefully. I need to avoid saying and doing things that I know will pointlessly wound others. I need to grieve with those who are grieving, weep with those who are weeping...

But what about choosing not to take offense at the things that others do, the things that others say?

...particularly when I understand that the point of those words or actions is not to hurt me, when I know for a matter of fact that the words or actions are not even expressly directed towards me. I can't expect or ask others not to celebrate simply because I'm not or can't. Instead, I'm exhorted to rejoice with those who are rejoicing, to laugh with those who are laughing...

Sometimes I read my fb feed or check out what blogs are trending and it sounds like the adult version of my kids in the back seat of the car after we've been traveling too long without a break:

"He's looking at me! Tell him to stop looking at me!"

************* or *************

"Stop touching me. Just get out of my space! Mama, would you make her stop!"

************* only instead it is *************

"I can't believe the pastor would say that from the pulpit. 

Doesn't he know how that might hurt someone?
Doesn't he know how that hurts me?"

************* or *************

"I really wish they wouldn't call attention to [you fill in the blank]
 because it leaves others feelings so left out or inadequate or a failure or..."

Seriously?

How can we show each other a little more grace and consideration?

How can we stop being so sensitive to ourselves and more sensitive to others?

Encountering Jesus - "Arise..."

The Pool of Bethesda, by William Hogarth, 1736, retrieved from wikipaintings.org. 

After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the waters stepped in was made whole, with whatsoever disease he was holden. 

And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case , he saith unto him, "Wouldest thou be made whole?" 

The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." 

Jesus saith unto him, "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk."

And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. 

Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews said unto him that was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed."

But he answered them, "He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk." 

They asked him, "Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?" 

But he that was healed knew not who it was; for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in the place. 

Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee." 

The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole. (John 5.1-15, ASV)

"Arise, take up thy bed and walk."

Jesus commanded a lame man to do what was humanly impossible. The guy had.not.walked.in.THIRTY-EIGHT.years! I have so many questions:

• Did he know who Jesus was?
• Was his "lameness" painful?
• How withered and twisted were his legs after 38 years of no use?
• How did he get around? Was he forced to pull himself along using his arms, dragging and scraping his legs along behind him?
• Did he call attention to himself in the hope of help, or did he shrink back, hoping people would forget he was there?
• Was he still in his right mind, or had years of lameness messed with his mind?
• Did he really want to be healed or had he grown so comfortable with the status-quo that he now feared the unknown possibilities of a dreamed-of-future more? Did his current situation suddenly appear more palatable than the what had long been hoped for, but in reality was never considered more than an impossibility?
• Did he even think about the fact that all of this was happening on the Sabbath?
• What was it like to be physically in the presence of Jesus? Did the man have to look up at Jesus, or did Jesus kneel down to speak to him, man to man?

I'm a teacher and my teaching degree is in the area of special education. I work with students - many of whom are younger and smaller than I am... and at times, students who would never be able to look me level in the eye did I not come down to their level.

So, as I try and visualize this scene, I easily imagine the God-man, Who had already lowered Himself so far as to become a man, who had already shown honor in His manner of speech to this man when He asked him if he wanted to be made whole, kneeling down to speaks with him face to face, eye to eye. 

The man responds, giving all the key reasons why his healing could never happen. I see his despair and hopelessness, but that isn't my focus this time through the story.

I find it hard to take my eyes off the Son of Almighty God squatted down, gently speaking to an old, lame guy, and saying to the man, "Arise..." It doesn't take much imagination to picture the look of surprise on the man's face at that first word and so I did some research. According to Strong's (both Greek and Hebrew), arise is found 235 times in the Biblical text. In the New Testament, there are ten different words used. The specific Greek word used in John 5.8 is ἐγείρω, (eg-i'-ro)... There are some places where this word translated "arise" means someone else is doing the lifting up. I actually hoped that would be the clear situation. Jesus not only said "Arise...;" He also placed an arm around this man's back and another one under his elbow to help lift and steady him as he bore weight on legs weak from 4 decades of no use. Yet I cannot claim that that is clearly the situation in this case. I'm no Greek scholar, but the fact that several translations of this passage use other words, an imperative verb where Jesus commands the man to "Get up!" or "Stand up!" makes me think that Jesus possibly never touched that man. Instead, I'm picturing him watching from His hunkered down position as the man stood tall on his feet, actually higher than Jesus for just a moment until Jesus joined him, once again eye to eye, face to face. The more I think upon it, the more this second scenario speaks to my heart, today, as one seeking to serve God in full-time ministry. Jesus has completed His work; the work of the man was to listen, hear, trust and obey. My job is exactly the same.

So yes, it really seems like Jesus might have been asking this sad, hopeless man to, of his own strength and ability, stand up. It goes against most principles I know of "good" teaching, motivating or leading. The man already knew he couldn't. Did he even have a reason to try? Anyone watching would have known Jesus had asked the man to do the impossible. Jesus required this man to become a living definition of miracle, "an event not ascribable to human power or the laws of nature and consequently attributed to a supernatural, especially divine, agency." 

I know how badly I feel when I'm simply asked to do something I know I have no capacity or hope of actually succeeding at doing, so the fact that the man doesn't begin to argue or give additional excuses still amazes me. 

I also tend to believe miracles ever and only things considered wonderful at all times and from all perspectives. After all, how could they ever be considered anything else? I've never considered that it might be only slightly less than petrifying to allow Jesus to work this sort of miracle... any sort of miracle... in me... Considered how this man might have felt, what he might have thought in those brief, terror-inducing moments before he began to understand that his legs would indeed hold him as he stood. I keep thinking of the first time I went rappelling - that horrible, terrifying, almost paralysis inducing moment as you slowly back over the edge of a cliff, praying those ropes really are secure.

Once you know that the ropes are holding, however, the thrill really is amazing! 

The man had no way of knowing, until he first agreed in his heart, to trust and obey, that Jesus had already given him everything he needed. He may have had no way of knowing even as he gingerly pushed himself off the ground and onto feeble, unworthy legs... until those legs actually stood, stable... firm...

... and then? The amazement! The thrill!

**********************************************

What miracle has Jesus performed in you recently... 

and now He's asking you to obey and to arise.... 

Will you?

I'm asking myself that very same question.

-further thoughts inspired by a post from the archives:

original post

this week's gratitude list

(#'s 3803 - 3827)

a week of testing behind us

day off in the middle of the week!

more reports finished

more sorting done

working ahead

great fun with visitors for the weekend

finally finding something we'd been looking for locally for months

watching favorite shows with my Wrightling cohorts

Anna's continued great progress in her math work

enjoying our kitties - and being amused by their unique personalities

pixie haircuts that fit

a day off in the middle of the week... oops! Already said that, but it bears mentioning again 'cause I'm more than doubly thankful!

leftovers amalgamation resulting in chicken pot pie

Charlotte's Web

kiddo fascinated reading The Arabs in the Golden Age

another practicum test done and gone and this one went so much better than the first

Calculus study sessions

the season finale... been waiting for a long time for this one

sleepy giggles from a dark corner of the bedroom as she listens to big bros and sisters yatter about in the morning while they get ready for school

reading late by the light of the closet with soft kid snores from sleeping sound and deep in air conditioned coolness gently reverberating all around me 

harem pants - so comfy

dinner menu planned for another week

a friend from afar, helping to quickly provide helpful information and good advice as far as the next step to take

a really yummy, mouthwatering-looking recipe to try on a day off

making our own root beer... (not like the stuff from sassafras, but using root beer flavoring)... like for real. It tasted like the real thing, too!

Ten most recent posts in this series: 

• When I just can't figure it out?
• Time to tarry
• "But, but... THAT MAN?"
• Heading direct instead of heading out of the way... and what that led to!
• When He asks for a drink...
• Jesus encounters just do that!
• The Capernaum Nobleman (I)
• Meeting Jesus Changes Parenting Priorities - The Capernaum Nobleman (II)
• An Amazing Afternoon Hanging out at the Pool
• When Jesus asks me, what is my response?

Click here for all of the titles and their corresponding links in the Encountering Jesus series.

The Foolishness of Faith ~ Thoughts prompted by a debate ~

Tim often accuses me of liking to debate... Actually, he usually calls it arguing, but that's beside the point. 

Look at that face... This is one who clearly and truly LIKES to debate.
She'd argue with a fence post. Of course, my mom always said the exact same thing about me...

I never "did" debate in high school (He did). In fact, I avoided speech class unless absolutely necessary, and always opted for options that did not require me to stand and speak in front of others. While studying at Penn State, I took the required speech class that only necessitated one longer, more intensively researched presentation instead of choosing one requiring several smaller, easier-to-prepare speeches. It wasn't the preparation that I found difficult... 

In fact, I never even saw a debate until I was big and grown up and thought that I should actually watch a presidential debate to be more informed as a voter - at least at that time, the debate was a bit of a joke and more theatrical than informationally substantial.

This debate, however, intrigued me...

...because this is a question that comes up from time to time in my life.

Is it awful for a "missionary" to admit that?

What does it mean if I confess that I walk through seasons where I want to believe, I choose to believe, and I do believe that the grace to believe can only come from God. But I still have moments, days, seasons where I wonder if... I wonder if this life is all there is.

It's actually pretty scary, sometimes.

And a very uncomfortable place to be.

Watching a debate like this one can be downright terrifying. After all, what if the wrong side ends up being more convincing... more plausible... more whatever?

I finally have come to the point where I don't mind the wrestling. I know I've said it before - Jacob left limping, but blessed. I keep coming back to him because, for some reason, that story in the Bible speaks to my heart. I do identify with that particular biblical character... and he was, wasn't he? A character. In almost every sense of the word.

Really.

So I regularly examine this faith I've claimed as mine, making sure I still know and believe all those things I'm so willing to profess, verbally as well as in written formats.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31, ESV)

*******************************

How about you? 

Do you ever have doubts? 

Do you ever wonder if this life is all there is ...

or if there really is something more - an eternity to anticipate?

If you do struggle with these sorts of thoughts, 

how do you address them when they come?

Do you believe it is sinful to doubt and to wrestle with the reality of faith?

Why or why not?

PS~ I've not yet finished watching the debate linked to in this post; 

it takes awhile with our internet here. 

But I'm planning to finish it this weekend!

If you take the time to watch, be sure to comment with your impressions!

Five Minute Friday ~ Opportunity

 

It's back!

Joining up with Lisa Jo today for the first FMF of 2013! 

Yay!

Opportunity

"A cockroach 

has been turned into a fuel cell 

by tapping into its own body chemistry for electricity."

You know how sometimes you read or hear a news headline... and it sticks with you?

This was one of those headlines.

In fact, thinking back over 2012, it was one of those most memorable ones - for me.

Crazy, eh? I'm not sure why. I detest cockroaches... they're big, they make this horrible crunching noise when you kill them, they crawl up from the septic and sewage no matter how clean your house and some nights rampage through the kitchen leaving droppings, my oldest boy knows that certain tone of my voice that says I'm asking him to come and remove yet another dead one from somewhere in our house, the really big ones have really long antennas that wave around and hint of their presence long before you actually see the bug, they are gross and... they're just plain ugly. Some bugs and insects - the preying mantis, for example - I can find something cute, or at least something less than repulsively unattractive, about them. 

Not so with a cockroach. 

And then I read articles like this...

I remember my fascination with the potential and the possibilities of the Bionic Man - that old tv series I remember watching, and loving, as a little girl with my parents (though personally, I liked the Bionic Woman better)...

And I think of one of my most favorite ever quotes, composed by Ranier Maria Rilke in a letter he sent to a younger writer he was mentoring ~

 "How shall we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples,

myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses?

Perhaps all the dragons of lives are princesses

only waiting to see us,

once, beautiful and brave..."

And I remember how only God takes and turns ugly-terrible-scary-painful-incomprehensible-unjust... even though I may not ever see it with my own temporal eyes... into so much more, so much better

When I lean gently back into His hands, His arms everything - ALL, NO. MATTER. WHAT. - is opportunity.

That's what I want to remember as I think back on 2012 and step forward into 2013.

Thankfully, I found this one OUTSIDE the house after the cats had been playing with it.
It would have easily taken up the palm of my hand. 

STOP!

Wanna give it a try? Here are the rules ~ 

"Set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.2. Link back here and invite others to join in.3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

Oh and Ahem, if you would take pity and turn off comment verification, it would make leaving some love on your post that much easier for folks!"

Hope you jump in and join us today!

Five Minute Friday ~ Star

Gypsy Mama is taking a break from Five Minute Friday for the month of December; since I'll be taking my break from school in a few days, however, I've got more time to enjoy Five Minute Friday this month than many others...

So, I came up with a list of words that might be heard around Christmastime - and am randomly selecting one for each Friday in December.

This Friday's word is...

Star...

The Heaven's declare the glory of God

And the sky above proclaims His handiwork

Day after day pours out speech

And night after night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the end of the world...

Psalm 19:1-4

I'd never really considered those verses as "Christmas" verses. But the Heavens is a key player in the Christmas story. The angels announced the Savior's birth to shepherds from a celestial choir loft located in a dark, night sky - and they sang "Glory to God in the highest..."

Wise men persistently tracked an unfamiliar star for many, many days in search of its significance while convinced that it was, carrying gifts for whomever they'd find at the end of their quest. The found Jesus.

Why night time? Why angels heralding? 

Why a star?

Sometimes we'll sneak out of the city, head to the dunes or the plateau, maybe build a campfire, lay back and gaze up at the sky. I never knew there were so many stars. When the night is truly dark - any pinpoint of light is obvious. Jesus is the glorious Light in darkness.

Stars twinkle and wink and laugh with hope. Even when I can't see them, I know they still shine and the rays they emit travel infinitely farther than my mind can begin to measure. God promises His people a hope, a future and an expected end. Jesus is my hope, my future and my expected end.

Each time I see a star... be it be the real thing, far away in the night sky or a symbolic one high upon a Christmas tree, I want to bask in the light of that truth.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: 

Who created all these? 

He who brings out the starry host one by one, 

and calls them each by name. 

Because of his great power and mighty strength, 

not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 40:26

Just amazing when something like THIS happens ~

...when the very ideas and thoughts I'm mulling over, meditating on  and praying through as I sit reluctantly awake one long night with sick little one...

And the very next day, there they are, just like my thoughts!

More eloquently written, probably longer prayerfully pondered, but...

...my mostly-exactly-the-same-sort-of-soul-searching-ramblings were also thought by someone else, someone else whose love and understanding of Scripture, perspective and point of view I respect enormously and almost always find challenging!

Did the Holy Spirit just whisper soft in my ear: "Yep, You heard Me right... Now that you know, I expect you'll put it into practice."?

I'm not really one of those touchy-feely-all-blown-by-emotional-winds-types (well, at least not on most days - though on some days I wish I was), but truthfully, I got goosebumps this time, because that was what it felt like.

Frankly, my faith is driven by the truth and practicality I find as I study God's Word - I'm a words-sorta-gal, after all. I love that love letter to me from my Heavenly Daddy. I turn to the Scripture first and foremost; it is my primary guide and I believe that is the way God wants it to be. So I'm not so much into mystical faith experiences. Those numinous incidents of which I hear others speak make me nervous, because when it comes to God, I much prefer things I can pin down, at least a little bit (yes, I know, pinning God down is a bit of an oxymoron - but He is unchangeable and He does always keep His promises, so...). I also know the Almighty, All-Powerful Alpha and Omega is not, under any stretch of my imagination, a domesticated deity - and so I refuse to accept the more comfortable-to-me premise that He never works in those more mystical ways.

You know that cliché?

It's the one about the glass being either half empty or half full. If you tend to see it full,  you are the classic optimist. If not, you are, as one of my friends likes to say, an Eeyore.


from everystockphoto.com

I started thinking about it because M&M had asked for some water, so I got her some. She took a few sips and sat it on the floor beside us on the couch. Then I promptly knocked it over... as I was standing to get a towel, seriously wishing I'd only filled the glass halfway...

when the following sequence of thoughts flitted through my mind - and I shared them with little tike as they did:

• "Don't bother - we live in the desert and have a tile floor - the floor will dry...
•  "...and maybe the evaporation will cool things off a tiny bit."

That surprisingly happy sort of thought coming from me caught me off guard ~

• "That was a surprisingly glass half full thought from one who, late at night and in a sleep deprived state, ALWAYS considers the glass half empty." (If you have any doubt about that reality, ask my husband.)
• "I wonder why I tend to see half full glasses in the daylight and kick over my half empty glasses in the dark?"
• "Can a glass really be half empty?"
• "Scientifically? Only in a vacuum because the part that doesn't contain water (or some other liquidish type thing) is full of air."
• "Air is even more urgent for life than water... both are necessary, but the absence of air? That is certain death in a very short time."
• "When God only provides a half glass of water, He's also gifting a glass half full of air."

And that thought, in the wee hours of the morning, was, well, almost revolutionary... if by God's grace I choose to keep seeing that perspective, even when I can't see it...

Reading her blog post today reminded me of all that... I'm glad... and I wanted to share...  

So many needs... trusting such a great God

Sahel Academy is an important part of our ministry here.

I spend several hours a week at the school, teaching 7th grade math and working in the school's Center for Academic Progress.

Our kids go to school at Sahel - all of them, now. After the dissolution of our former organization, it made more sense and, simply, was easier to have everyone in one place... one place to pay all of the bills... until the dust settled some (we are still waiting for that!)... and God had given us a clearer picture of what our future here might look like.

The "face" of Sahel is changing because mission demographics worldwide are changing - students just don't come from western expat missionary families. So the student body includes mks from several African countries, from South America and from Asia as well as Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand.  Several students come from homes that do not follow Jesus - but their parents are here, working with humanitarian organizations - and Sahel is their schooling option of choice. Sahel has given our family an avenue of ministry of which we neither expected nor dreamed. And while we do not believe that ministry at Sahel is the primary reason why God has brought our family to Niger, we do recognize that it has been the Lord Who has opened those doors and we are thankful for the opportunities to serve and to glorify His name that He has given us through the school.

Don't just take my word for it, though... check out what our friend Jessica has to say about this amazing little school... and then see how many of our crew you can spot in the following photo (she has this same photo accompanying her blog post). 

Every year, we wonder who and when... how is God going to provide staffing for the school the next year. Positions are not salaried - they are mostly filled by short term missionaries who raise support and sacrifice time from their lives, their jobs, their schooling to come and share a bit of their lives with a bunch of kids growing up on the backside of the desert.

This year, our list of needs seems bigger than normal - and so I'd like to share it with you:

Admin and support staffAssistant Principal
Business Manager
Youth Pastor
Administrative Assistant
Receptionist (English and French preferred, but at least English)
Recruitment Coordinator
Curriculum Manager
Guidance Counselor
Food Services Manager
Nurse
Maintenance
Building/Construction Supervisor

TeachersSpecial Education Teacher
Art (K-12)
Physical Education (K-12)
Music (K-12)
Bible (K-6)
French (K-12)
Spanish (grades 9-12)
Kindergarten
Grade 2
Grade 5
Grade 6
Middle Grades English (grades 7-8)
High School English (grades 9-12)
Earth Science (grade 8)
Physical Science (grade 9)
Upper level Chemistry (grades 11-12)
Bible (grades 7-12)
History and Geography (grades 7-8)
Sociology (grades 9-10)
World History, US History (grades 11-12)

Please join with us in confidently praying and then watching as God provides for the school this coming year.

And if God is nudging you that you might be or become a part of His provision, meeting the needs of an amazing group (that's an unprejudiced opinion, folks) of kids, contact me right away!

Five Minute Friday ~ Grit

I grew up in Oklahoma... not during dustbowl years, but I still remember grit.

Now, I live on the backside of the desert...

and we're intimately acquainted. Just keeping the desert from moving in and taking over the house can become, in some seasons... like now... a full-time occupation or preoccupation.

Freshly swept floors immediately recovered with fine particles of sand as soon as the windows are re-opened and the fans circling again overhead. Grains swept off furniture several times daily, piles of orange sand in the sink where grimy kids have washed hands before dinner, and there is no escaping grit shed from pockets, shoes, bare feet, blonde hair and sweaty skin - when your entire yard is a playland sandbox. My kids believe it next best to heaven; after sweeping the floor and dragging rugs outside to beat for the 4th time, sometimes I'm more inclined to wonder if I'm trapped in an infernal nightmare.

Grit... yuck!

And yet?

After more than a decade at this, I'm discovering that it takes a special God-given grace-filled grit to deal with all the grit of this placethis life.

It takes grit:

determination,

eye-blinking courage,

a setting-of-the-jaw-never-give-up type of attitude

- regardless of circumstances.

Moses exhorted Joshua, "Show some true grit, boy, because God ain't gonna take off on ya!" (i.e. "be strong and courageous...") in Joshua 1. That oft repeated advice is remains radical marching orders.

Some days ~

...at the blessed end of one of those days,

when tiny specks of grit are all that remain after crushing grindstones of sinful self, of sinful people, of this as yet redeemed yet unrestored world, of spiritual battlefields, of dark principalities and demonic powers, of human frailty and fatigue, of discouragement, of God's growing me... God-given, grace-filled true grit is all that remains. It is what helps me pray (and most days, mean it), "Father, help me to remember that hard is not bad, that suffering I have the privilege of sharing with You. Help me to gently trust and then ferociousl grab and fiercely cling to hope that You are growing a gem, polishing a pearl, from this moment... or this season... of hard.

Give me Your true grit to brush and beat and sweep away once again the grit that distracts me from the joy of Your abiding Presence in all things." 

"We cannot now expect miracles, yet we may expect mercies, if we wait on God, and seek to Him."

Matthew Henry wrote those words in his commentary on the first part of 2 Kings 4. I've been studying my way through 1 and 2 Kings the past few months. Interesting - some stories well known and familiar, the stuff of children's Sunday School songs I've taught my kids to sing. Others? I've wondered how I managed to miss them as I've read through my Bible in the past because they are wild stories, yet I have no recollection of them.

Earlier this week, I was meditating on the miracle of the widow, her two boys, a merciless creditor, God working through a prophet... and almost endless jars and jars of oil. It is a well-known-to-me-from-my-childhood, well-loved, Bible story - maybe because I remember seeing it acted out once in such melodramatic fashion!

A young (I’m assuming, because the Sunday School pictures of her sons always indicate a young family) widow of one of the prophets comes to Elisha in a desperate situation. Her husband died, owing money. She is now being hounded by an unforgiving creditor who, in laying claim to what was owed, planned to take the woman’s two sons & sell them as slaves. She is fraught and distressed for good reason when she seeks out Elisha.

I loved musing through Elisha's response. He asks two questions and then gives her very specific, detailed instructions.  

1. First, he asks, "What shall I do for you?" I love this clear reminder to the widow, who is probably looking at a great man as her salvation, that the man Elisha can do nothing… Elisha, the servant of the Most High, the conduit of His Word and His Plan, however would do something. She could have hope because with God, no situation, nothing, is impossible. 
2. His next query: "What do you have?" In this statement, I hear him asking "How has God already provided? Tell me where you already see the evidence of His great grace and unbounded mercy."
3. Then he instructs her: "Borrow empty vessels from your neighbors..."  What an excellent reminder to this woman that she lives in community. She clearly was surrounded by people who'd not only been commanded to care for widows, but who, (I gather from their response) were very willing to help and encourage if she would but ask. God works mightily through the generosity of His people. The miracle God is about to do will  happen through their tangible love... their charity.
4. The second part of this first instruction,"[borrow] – a lot of them..." pushes her to get as many jars as people are willing to share. That understood imperative emphasizes an important point: the measure of the miracle will be measured by her hopeful faith.  I think this is where Matthew Henry's quote (that I used to title this post) is so relevant. Sometimes we ask in great faith, expecting a miracle... demanding that God do for us like a magical genie in a bottle. Why do we forget that God's unfathomable mercy and boundless grace are already mighty miracles, and we have unlimited access to them? We simply need to take advantage of that truth.
5. Fifthly, he tells her: "Take [the jars and her boys] into the house and shut the door." Often, the greatest miracles God performs are the ones no one sees immediately, the amazing works He accomplishes behind the closed doors of a human heart. We long to see visible amazing... and we must frustrate God with our lack of patience as He covertly works His will in willing hearts. I wonder if the woman or her boys were tempted to run out and open the door, calling community to come and see as soon as they realized what was happening? I wonder if the neighbors even dared to imagine the miracle occurring just on the other side of that door... or did they instead gossip and criticize?
6. "Pour out the oil into the vessels." When Elisha told her to begin pouring, the woman had to realize that what she knew she had could never be enough. Her everything was insufficient. But she had to initiate, to act in faith, stewarding what God has already provided and then trusting Him to continue provision according to His perfect measure.
7. Next, Elisha directs her to "Set aside that which is full." Elisha tells her to keep track of the way God keeps filling her vessels with His oil, His provision, His power… all to meet her very real need.  
8. Now, the exciting command: "Sell the oil!" When God provides, don’t just sit and hoard it – use it to meet real needs, fulfill obligations, etc! He gives solutions so problems are solved and so that there is no doubt Who provided and Who receives the glory for the answer.  
9. Finally, Elisha concludes with the reminder: "Pay your debt." This must have been a clear instruction to the widow to owe no man anything… but to never forget that she owes God everything, especially the privilege to continue parenting her two boys.

This story could have taken such a different turn if, when Elisha asked the widow what she had, she'd chosen grasping tightly to her sob story... blaming her husband, complaining about unfairness, etc., and closing the eyes of her heart to what might... what could, possibly... be.

She didn't.

I want to be like that woman, who even in the midst of tiresome trial... cold-hearted challenge... difficult distress... in bold brokeness she chose to see and then trust God's provision beginning with a scant bit of oil...

Is there a morsel of supply in your today story

where God is asking you to do the same as He asked the widow in this account?

What steps can you begin taking, as you follow her beautiful example?