What to do when you’re overwhelmed

Is anyone else overwhelmed? The world feels like it’s falling apart. Covid, race riots and unrest, talk of defunding the police, an autonomous zone in Seattle, random, senseless violence all over the place… What’s next?

There’s a whole different feel to life right now than a few short months ago. How do we cope with that? How do we address all the problems, figure out what to do?

I found encouragement recently in the book of Nehemiah. The Jewish people had been conquered by the Babylonians many years prior. They had burned the city of Jerusalem and broken down the walls that surrounded it. Most of the people had been either killed or taken captive to Babylon.

Years later, the Persian empire conquered the Babylonians. Nehemiah was a Jewish man who found himself in Susa, a resort town in Persia, working as cup bearer to the king of Persia. The Persians had allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem, but there weren’t very many of them.

When one of Nehemiah’s brothers came from Jerusalem to Susa to visit, Nehemiah asked him how everything was going. He told him, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.” (Nehemiah 1:3)

It was a mess. The wall around a city was its defense and protection against enemies. It was a really big deal to have the wall broken down.

This shows just a small section of the modern wall around Jerusalem, but as you can see, it’s a BIG WALL! There are different gates on each side of the wall to allow for coming and going.

The Jews were faced with an enormous mess. Sounds kind of like our country right now.

Fast forward in the story: Nehemiah’s heart was broken to hear about his beloved people and city. He prayed to God and asked the King of Persia if he could leave Persia and help rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. The king allowed him go and take some others with him to rebuild the wall.

The thing that struck me as I read how he went about rebuilding the wall and the gates, even in the midst of persecution and trials, was that he didn’t do it all himself. It wasn’t even just him and the friends he brought with him. It was a huge, overwhelming task, so they divided up the labor.

A few priests teamed up and worked on rebuilding one of the gates. (Nehemiah 3:1) Next to that gate, another group from Jericho rebuilt a section of wall. A group of brothers rebuilt a different gate. (Nehemiah 3:3) If you look through chapter 3, there are all different groups of people joining together to rebuild their piece of wall or their gate. Some were groups of priests, some were family members, others were people from a specific city, goldsmiths, perfume makers, rulers - people from all walks of life who each took a section to work on.

When I look at our world and the mess that it’s become, it’s easy to look at the big picture and become completely overwhelmed and hopeless. How in the world can our country ever be united again? How can we heal our cities and find solutions that make sense and bring peace?

First of all, Jesus is the answer to those questions. But how do we bring Jesus to all these messes? One part of the wall at a time. I can’t fix a city hundreds of miles from where I live, but I can share my faith in the one closest to me. I can be part of the solution in whatever way God has gifted me in the vicinity of where He’s put me.

In Nehemiah’s time, God used all of those different people from different vocations and different positions in society. The work wasn’t beneath them - priests and rulers worked as carpenters and stone smiths! They were apparently willing to put aside their preferred occupations and prioritize getting their city taken care of.

Another interesting thing to note: many of them made repairs in the area surrounding their own homes. Makes sense - it’s hard to be effective elsewhere and be a service to anyone else if our own homes are crumbling.

Nehemiah understood that when we’re faced with a huge, overwhelming task, we need to break it down into smaller, manageable chunks that people feel ownership over. Fix this wall in front of your house. Just do that first and don’t get sidetracked with the rest of the wall. God will raise up other people to work on the other sections of the wall.

What is your part of the “wall”? How is your own home? Do you need to spend time with your kids to help them feel safe and understand the country’s situation better? Do you need to study God’s Word with them and remind them of His love and ability to care for them and protect them?

How about your neighbors? Is there a tangible way you can help them or support them? What about your community? You could make goodies for your local police officers and first responders. They have it so hard right now and need our encouragement and prayer. Can you help out in a ministry in a city near you? How can you plug into what your church is doing in reaching out to others?

Ask God to give you a job to help rebuild your part of the wall. I think you’ll find that by doing something, you’ll feel less overwhelmed. You also might inspire someone next to you to get to work, also. Little by little, we can make a big difference.

What do you think your part of “the wall” is today? How will you help become part of the solution of bringing Jesus to others?

Being the Church When the World is Falling Apart

The year 2020 keeps throwing us more curve balls, doesn’t it? On top of the COVID pandemic and all the uncertainty, anxiety and division wrapped up in that, now we have the disturbing and horrifying death of George Floyd resulting in major civil unrest, marches, demonstrations and violence in our cities.

It helps me to remember that God has a plan - we’re not drifting aimlessly on the planet, left to the winds of chance. One thing I’ve been finding is that as a Christian, there’s a tension between figuring out how to live in the world in its current state while at the same time seeing the circumstances as an opportunity to be God’s ambassador.

God uses situations like COVID and civil unrest to get people’s attention - both Christian and non Christian. For Christians, it can be a wake up call to take our faith seriously and really start pursuing our relationship with God on a deeper level than before. When the foundations that we find comfort in are shaken, we are forced to reevaluate what those foundations are and how firmly they hold when life gets rocky.

It’s kind of like the story in Matthew 7:24-27. The one who built his house on the rock wasn’t moved when the storm came, but the one who built on sand had everything wiped away. If we find our comfort and security in things that are not of God, then we are devastated when the storm comes. It forces us to rebuild our lives on a more solid foundation.

For the person who does not know Christ, times like this can cause them to look to God, realizing that they don’t have their lives as under control as they thought they did. We can all become very self-reliant until the bottom falls out. Suddenly we find that maybe we don’t have life figured out after all.

As the church universal, the Body of Christ, what is our role in all this?

It can be easy to retreat to our corners and just take care of our own. We can give in to fear, anxiety, and anger, follow the conspiracy theories and search endlessly for answers on who to blame. I believe we’re called to more than that. We know that God has this under control. He loves us and has our best and His glory jointly in mind. Nothing happens to us that is out of His control. We are told over and over not to fear, not to be anxious and in our anger, not to sin. We know where we’re going when we die. There is no worse case scenario for us - to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)

We need to view our current circumstances with that eternal perspective. We should be wise and discerning as we figure out how to navigate living in these times. While being wise, though, we need to live above the fear, anxiety and anger. Don’t give in to those things, but keep an eternal perspective. Continually seek God to see what purpose He has for you during this time. How can we serve our neighbors or reach out to them with the message of hope and peace in Christ?

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

How can we use this very unique situation to be Christ’s ambassadors?

Here are some practical ideas:

1. Check in with your neighbors and acquaintances. Because everything is so wacky, people are more open to being honest about how they’re doing. Many feel very isolated and would welcome a call or text to reconnect. Offer to pray for them if they’re having trouble dealing with things. It’s a non confrontational thing to do and many times people really appreciate it, regardless of their beliefs. It can open up doors for further spiritual discussion.

2. Be willing to help meet physical needs. Some are without jobs, others could use childcare while they try to work from home. A meal, a couple hours of childcare or a grocery gift card can go a long way.

3. If your situation allows, offer to go shopping for someone who is at high risk from the virus and worried about going out in public.

4. Pray for your pastors and those in leadership and find ways to support and encourage them. This is a super challenging time to be in leadership. With any decision leaders make, many are going strongly and loudly disagree with them. Not to mention that the decisions leaders make could directly impact the health and safety of those around them. On top of that, reliable data with which to make those decisions is very difficult to find and discern.

5. Be gentle with your own opinions. To wear a mask, to not wear a mask, to open up stores and churches or not, vaccines, the reasons behind racial violence and the solution to racism… The strong opinions and feelings about these things are endless. It’s fine to have opinions, but don’t let them become divisive. Love others more than your own opinions about things. You may need to keep quiet about what you think or at least turn down the intensity in order to be a person of peace.

My personal opinion is that these are all important conversations to have, but they’re better done in person rather than on social media. Social media is great for many things, but having meaningful dialog about very emotional, sensitive, divisive ideas is not one of them.

Our primary goal as Christians should be to glorify God and win others to Christ. If our social media posts aren’t accomplishing those things, perhaps we should rethink posting them.

In all of this, keeping an eternal perspective will help us to both manage our own emotions and reactions, as well as give us a vision for how God can use us to bring others to Him. I believe we’ve all been put here “for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14)

Heavenly Father, there’s so much going on in our world right now. We need to figure out how to live in the midst of it and keep ourselves and our families safe. But we also know that You are in control. You love us and care for us. Show us how to be Your ambassadors and bring Your hope to those You’re preparing. Lead us to those who are ready to hear about You.

A Prayer for our Country

Lord Jesus, we need you to heal our land.

We are so divided, angry, fearful and anxious. We need you. You are the only One who can cleanse us of our sin, both individual and corporate.

We look forward to the day when you return to finally set all things right and rule with true justice and holiness.

As your children, called by your name, give us wisdom in reaching out with your hope to those who are lost and feel hopeless. Your word says that you have placed the treasure of your gospel in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7). We are cracked jars, Lord, yet you choose to use us.

Show us how to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) and to show your love to those around us. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

That’s what we all really need - to be reconciled to God, because in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) That’s the only ultimate solution to racism, injustice, violence and hatred. It’s all sin and Jesus is the only answer to sin.

Heal us, Lord, give us wisdom to navigate these difficult days and show us how to love our neighbors. Give us opportunities to share Jesus with those around us.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

What is church for, anyway?

I’m very much looking forward to getting back to church in person, but the time spent watching church at home online hasn’t been all that bad, either. One of the positive aspects has been our family discussions after the service. Back in the days when we drove to church, we would talk about the sermon a little on the way home, but there was always the gap of hanging out with people and chatting in the lobby before heading home. There would be some loss of momentum by the time we got to talking in the car.

As we were discussing the sermon this past week, I was reminded that we really shouldn’t be expecting to get everything we need spiritually from a Sunday morning church service. Our pastor is great and we’ve learned a lot from him and the other teaching staff at our church, but they can only cover so much in 40 minutes once a week. Many topics, like the one this past week on the End Times, are way bigger and more complicated than one church service can tackle. Even if he did an entire series on the topic, it would still be difficult to handle in a large group setting. It’s really not fair or realistic to expect a church service to fill all our spiritual needs.

What is church for, then? We definitely go to be fed and challenged and taught. It’s a community where we can serve others and encourage each other. Church is a place to invite curious friends to come and hear about Jesus. It’s a place to worship communally and celebrate as a group. Sermons are a great way to grow spiritually, but really, they should just be the starting point. If we never pursue our faith outside of a Sunday morning church service, our growth will be stunted and our faith weak. It would be like marrying someone and then only seeing them once a week to grab ice cream together.

Then how do we continue to grow in our faith? Read and study the Bible on our own and in small group Bible studies. Listen to other preachers on the radio or through podcasts. Read Christian books. Get involved in your church beyond attending Sunday morning services. Volunteer to work with kids, serve in the community or greet newcomers. Step outside your comfort zone. We need input and output in order to be spiritually healthy. We need the input of learning from God’s words both on our own and with others and the output of serving others and sharing what we’ve learned.

That first service back, whatever it actually looks like, will be pretty darn cool! Even when that happens, our family plans to continue our after service times together.

What positives have you taken away from doing church online?

What ways do you engage your faith and grow outside of a weekend church service?

Journaling to Renew Your Mind

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

When I think about being “conformed to the pattern of this world”, it makes me think of cookie cutters. Stars, hearts, gingerbread men, something of that sort. You roll out the dough and then use the cookie cutter to make whole batches of cookies that look identical.

While cookie cutters are wonderful at Christmas time, the concept has little use for us in our spiritual lives. The Romans verse says that the world has a pattern, a cookie cutter, so to speak, that it wants you to fit. God tells us that we are not to allow ourselves to be made from that pattern, but rather be transformed by renewing our minds.

Default modes

I think in many ways that the cookie cutter pattern is our default mode. We live in the world, and depending on our families of origin and our method of education, we may have been raised with the world’s ideas and educated with its morals and philosophies. Our own sinful nature also naturally falls in line with that world pattern.

We have all these things working from the inside and the outside to conform us into the world’s pattern of existing. The way we react to situations and respond to those around us usually comes out of those defaults that we learned growing up.

Transformed

Instead, God calls us to counter those defaults and live differently. He says we need to be transformed - changed into something completely different. We’re not just talking a different cookie cutter, but an entirely different type of cookie altogether! Maybe even not a cookie any more! How does that transformation happen? By renewing our mind.

What needs renewing?

In order to renew our mind, I think we first need to know what’s in it. We need to identify the thoughts, ideas, beliefs, default reactions, and story lines that play in our minds so that we can then replace them with what is in line with God’s Word.

That’s where journaling can come into play.

Many times we don’t even understand why we respond a certain way or why something makes us uneasy or uncomfortable, or why we fear something. We have to dig deeper into what informs those thoughts and feelings in order to pull them out by the roots.

If you’re weeding the garden and you simply cut the tops off the weeds, they will grow back. You have to dig out the roots and pull the entire plant out in order for it to not return.

Many times our emotions, reactions and the story lines in our minds are simply the leaves of a deeper plant. Journaling can help us find the roots and take care of the whole thing. In a way, it’s free counseling! Not to downplay going to a professional Christian counselor - that can be extremely beneficial, but not everyone is in a position to invest the money required for that. Also, journaling could be a way to do some homework ahead of time before seeing a counselor. How much more effective could your time be if you’ve already done some of the work of figuring out where you have issues? And we all have issues…

What does this look like?

God is our perfect counselor.

He knows our hearts and all the screwed up stuff inside us. He’s also got just the right plan of how and when to address each of our different “things”. Ask Him to reveal to you what He wants to work on next. I know, it’s a bit of a scary prayer. We don’t like the process of dealing with our junk, but we’re so much the better for it afterward! Besides, sometimes He causes us to confront our junk even if we don’t ask Him, so we might as well cooperate!

Personally, I find it so frustrating when I keep responding to certain situations in a way that isn’t right or healthy. It’s quite freeing to finally figure out WHY I’m doing that and then move toward “reprogramming” myself to react differently by changing the inner dialog or the core belief or lie and replacing it with truth.

When you find yourself responding to something in a way you know isn’t godly or healthy, take a step back and journal about it. Ask yourself questions. Why did I respond that way? What was I feeling? What did the other person (if there was another person involved) do or say that seemed to trigger that reaction? What underlying lie am I believing about myself, God or others that might make me respond that way? Where did I learn to respond that way?

Once you have some ideas as to why you respond the way you do, then you can take the lies that those reactions are based and replace them with the truth in God’s Word. Many times just realizing where certain reactions come from is enough to alter our reaction in the future.

Do you journal? How have you seen it to be a helpful tool in understanding yourself?

We all need a LOT of grace…

This COVID pandemic has brought out all different emotions and reactions in everyone. Some are fearful of the health implications for themselves or their loved ones. Some are anxious about lost wages from their businesses being closed down. Some are scrambling to adapt to very different ways of doing business in an effort to stay afloat and serve the public. Others feel angry over the restrictions placed upon them by governing officials. Others worry about their children’s education with the schools closed.

With all these different emotions and reactions, we all have different ways of dealing with it. Some retreat into anxiety and depression. Others speak out and protest. Others try to find the deeper story and investigate whether there’s some bigger, scarier motive behind all this.

The lines that have typically been drawn - political, religious, familial, etc - seem to be overtaken by different lines. People who once agreed with each other on most important things now find themselves on different sides of the pandemic debates.

Good friends and family members differ on their beliefs on the cause of the virus and our appropriate response to it. The result is schisms that shouldn’t be there. Divides that don’t need to divide us. These aren’t just minor issues, either. They’re things we all feel very strongly about. When we feel strongly about things, we tend to respond strongly and attack those who we once were close to.

Let’s not go there, friends. Can we agree that we all need some grace? Actually, a LOT of grace?

According to my Greek study Bible, grace means

“joy, favor, acceptance, kindness”.

Yes, that’s what we all need for ourselves and for others.

We are all coping with this differently, for different reasons. It’s a wacky, multifaceted, complicated situation affecting everyone uniquely. So…

When your friends post facebook rants about how tyrannical the government has becomes - give them grace.

When others lash out at you for wanting to reopen businesses - give them grace.

When others are infuriated that they have to wear masks in certain stores - give them grace.

When your friends seem to have become conspiracy theorists - give them grace.

When you’re an emotional mess one day and can hardly get out of bed - give yourself grace.

When you’re so furious because you’re not sure if your vacation will be canceled but then you feel guilty for worrying about that when people are dying - give yourself grace.

When you’re just so tired of all the conflicting media reports and ideas out there - give yourself grace.

When you become fearful that maybe there really is a giant, malevolent force behind all this orchestrating the whole thing - give yourself grace.

This is all hard enough as it is. Let’s not make it worse by dividing households, friends, family members, coworkers and neighbors. Because honestly, it’s messy and complicated. The truth is hard to find and hard to recognize. Do masks help? Is the government overreaching? Is there an evil conspiracy? Should we reopen businesses and when and how? I don’t know. I’m torn on most of those issues myself.

But one thing I do know: God. Is. In. Control. He hasn’t left His throne. Worst case: some evil entity has planned the whole thing and our planet is destined for destruction and/or to plummet into third world world status because of the virus, economic collapse and giant killer hornets. (Sorry - couldn’t leave out the hornets.)

Even if all that is true… GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL He has a plan and is following it. He’s not surprised or caught off guard or nervous. He loves us and is using this for our good and His glory. Not our comfort, necessarily, but our good. We have to trust Him and do what we are called to do - walk with Him moment by moment and become more like Jesus.

“He has shown you, oh man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

Which definitely includes giving ourselves and others lots of grace.

Sharing Christ During the Pandemic

God is real. He loves humanity - this broken, messed up humanity. We’ve botched this creation of His almost beyond recognition, yet He loves us so much that He made a way for redemption and reconciliation.

Those of us who have accepted His offer of forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus now have the opportunity and privilege to extend His offer to others as His ambassadors. What does that look like? It looks like relationships infused with God’s Word. We need to represent Jesus to others through our actions and also extend Jesus’ offer to them through our words.

It’s not coercing anyone, arguing with them or tricking them. It’s extending His offer to them and holding the door open for them. It’s being prepared to share the reason for the hope we have. During these days of the pandemic, much like the time after 9/11, many people are fearful and unsure. Things like this have a way of rattling us out of our complacency. It reminds us that we’re really not in control of our lives and can cause us to look to the One who is in control. In other words, it’s a great time to share the hope we have in Christ because people are more likely to be open to Him.

If we break it down, there’s two different aspects to sharing our faith.

The first is how to get to the point of having a conversation with someone about their faith.

In our American culture, one’s religious beliefs can be fiercely personal. Many people feel that it’s an unwelcome invasion of their privacy to ask what they believe about God or for us to tell them what we believe. Others tend to stay away from any topic that’s too deep or introspective. It can be hard to even get to the topic of what someone believes.

The other aspect to it is what do we say when we get there?

How do you explain how to have a personal relationship with God through Christ? How do we not get side tracked on the millions of secondary issues? The second question is the easier to answer, so let’s start there.

What is the gospel? What does someone need to understand in order to accept Jesus?

We have all sinned and that sin separates us from a holy God.

Draw a straight, horizontal line on a piece of paper and put a stick figure on it. That’s us. Now draw a parallel line a few inches above it. That’s God. God is perfect and we are not. Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Some may say that they haven’t killed anyone or stolen anything and they’re not really that bad of a person. In that case, you can take them to Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus makes it very clear that it’s not enough to be “clean” on the outside, but God wants us to be holy on the inside. The Pharisees (religious leaders of Jesus’ day) were pros at following all the religious rules and doing the outward things right, but Jesus denounced them over and over for missing the point and being wicked on the inside. Sin is sin, whether it shows up on the outside or it’s largely on the inside in the form of thoughts, attitudes, motives, etc. If the person you’re sharing with can’t admit that they’re sinful, then God needs to work on them more before they can accept Christ. Jesus said that He came for the sick, not the healthy. (Mark 5:31)

Doing good works or being a good person doesn’t fix the problem.

Back to our artwork. We typically try to do good things to reach God - go to church, be a good person, etc. You can draw arrows from the bottom line toward the top line that don’t reach the top to represent this. Some get farther up than others but none make it. No amount of good works can take away our sin. Because of our sin, we are separated from God both now and after we die. Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Because God loves us so much, He came to earth as Jesus Christ, died on the cross and rose again. His death paid the punishment for our sin.

We can’t do anything to earn our way to being reconciled with God, but because He loves us so much, He came down to earth for us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life.” John 3:16 God put on a body and came to earth as Jesus. You can draw a cross connecting the two lines. Jesus lived a perfect life and then died on the cross in our place. He took the punishment that we deserved for our sin. We deserved death, but Jesus took that death in our place. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith - this is not of yourselves but is a gift from God. Not as a result of works so that no one can boast.” Jesus’ offer to us is that we accept His death on the cross as payment for our sin.

We have a choice.

God respects our free will. We have a choice to either try to work our way to heaven and do life our own way, or we can accept Jesus’ offer to “settle out of court” and accept His death as our payment for sin. When we accept Jesus and ask Him to be our Savior, we’re entering into a covenant relationship with Him, similar to marriage. God uses marriage as a metaphor for our relationship with Him all throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament. When we accept His offer we are forgiven for our sin - past, present and future - and free to live the way God intended us to live - in union with Him.

Use your own story.

Another suggestion is to share that message in the context of your own personal story. What has God done in your life? How did you come to know Him? Many times, that tends to be much less confrontational because you’re just sharing your own story. This is a great resource for how to put together your story to use in sharing with others.

Next week I’ll talk about how to get to that conversation to begin with.

Feel free to post questions in the comments! What is the biggest barrier to you sharing your faith?

A Planner’s Guide to the Pandemic

I love to plan ahead. I’m sure my fellow homeschoolers laugh at me when I’m deciding on the next year’s curriculum choices in February. I get all jazzed when it’s finally time to plan our classes for our homeschool co op. I love planning family trips, household projects, meals, grocery lists, all of it. I have my own planner that I make (a bullet journal, in case you’re curious - traveler’s notebook style) that helps me plan more effectively. Especially in the early spring when the weather in the Midwest still isn’t great, it energizes me to plan for the future.

Enter global pandemic.

This spring, all my plans are like pieces of paper thrown willy nilly into the air and blown hither by the ceiling fan. Gone. Canceled or otherwise completely up in the air as to when and if they will happen. And if they do happen, they will likely look quite different to what I had thought.

Soccer practice? Family vacation? Co op planning meeting? Fun summer events? I CAN’T PLAN ANYTHING!! I know it’s just a minor inconvenience compared to what some are going through, but it’s still hard!

I believe that God is still very much in control and that He has things that He would like me to learn during this bizarre time. I have been reminding myself (and my loves-to-plan teenage daughter) that this is an excellent time to practice living in the moment.

I would personally much more enjoy living in the future. You don’t like how this school year is going? Just plan next year! Your life feels boring right now? Plan a summer vacation! Plans are really much easier and more fun than living in the moment. Especially this moment of being stuck at home!

But the now is where God wants us to live.

It’s not wrong to plan. We need planner-people. BUT, we planners need to avoid retreating into the future as an escape from the now that may not be as exciting or as pleasant. I am TOTALLY guilty of this!

I recently heard Jeremy Camp’s new song, “Keep Me in the Moment” and it definitely speaks to this.

Singing oh Lord, keep me in the moment

Help me live with my eyes wide open

'Cause I don't wanna miss what you have for me

I need to be here in this moment. 

Stuck at home. Unsure of when normal life will resume. Desperately hoping that it will return to normal, but not quite trusting that it will. Grieving the loss of fun activities, simply going out to dinner, running to the hobby store or the book store, or going to a baseball game. Wondering when the politicians will stop fighting and decide to work together in a way that’s reasonable and helpful. 

Yeah, this moment. This messy, sometimes scary moment.

God wants me to give Him this moment and trust Him with it. Walk with Him in it. And the next moment and the moment after that. 

His Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105) He doesn’t give me a searchlight to illuminate the next 10 years. Just the next steps on the path. 

So as much as I would love to plan ahead right now, I just can’t. Instead, I’ll try to be in the here and now, messy as it is. I will try to give my full attention and presence to walking with Jesus in this moment.

When Life Takes a Turn

I’ve always had a fascination with Route 66. It starts in Chicago and goes all the way to California. The fun thing about it is that it was built before the highway system, when Americans enjoyed the journey aspect of a family road trip as much as the destination. The roads are slower and there are quirky road stops all along the way, from teepee shaped hotels to a ranch of Cadillacs half buried in the ground.

In life, we tend to look for our destinations. What will I be when I grow up? What’s God’s calling for my life? What is my perfect job?

But what if the destination isn’t the important thing?

In high school, I thought I wanted to be a professional clarinet player. I excelled at it and spent hours and hours practicing, going to orchestra rehearsals and my senior year, going in to New York City every Saturday to attend a special pre-college program at the Juilliard School.

I went to college and majored in clarinet performance. But during my time there, my priorities shifted and my dream to be a professional musician shifted. I still loved playing, but I wasn’t sure being a professional musician was the lifestyle I wanted.

During college, I spent a summer in the Middle East, sharing my faith with college students there. I loved it! I thought for sure THAT was my destination for the future - an overseas missionary.

I went back to that country for a year after college. I enjoyed it, but felt very drained by the end. It just wasn’t a good long term fit for my personality. So I came home and joined the missions organization that I had been overseas with. They created a new position where I could be part of their music ministry, performing concerts and telling others about Jesus, while also having a ministry reaching out to music majors at a nearby college. It seemed perfect.

I worked on raising financial support for almost a year and then hit a dead end. In the process, I met my husband. He and I got married and I left full time staff, but ended up volunteering with the same organization in the city we moved to.

Now I homeschool our kids, teach private music lessons and write. I serve at my church, help lead our homeschool co op and still volunteer with that college ministry. Did God waste all of those things that I did before? No! I learned so much and grew in my relationship with God. He’s still using those experiences and I trust He will continue to do so. Why? Because the journey is about becoming more like Jesus.

What does that look like, becoming more like Jesus? What’s the road map to get there?

We tend to like GPS coordinates and phone apps that plot the most direct route, avoid traffic and road construction, and feature rest stops with Starbucks. Yet the journey to becoming more like Jesus is seldom a direct, straight path.

God uses the circumstances in our life to make us more like Him. At least, that’s the plan. It’s up to us to cooperate.

Sometimes the unexpected twists and turns are just stops on the way to give us the experiences we need for some future venture He has planned for us. I see that a lot in my convoluted journey to where my life is today.

Other times, our life circumstances are meant to get our attention and help us to grow in our faith.

Whether you’re a veteran homeschooler by choice or have been suddenly thrust into teaching your kids at home because of COVID-19, you know that you can present your student with the most well thought through lesson, but it’s their choice to receive it. If they don’t cooperate, there’s no learning that takes place. That’s not your fault - it’s their’s.

Our spiritual lives are the same way. God will put us in situations to teach us more about Him and to help us become more like Him, but it’s up to us to cooperate.

Has life taken a wacky turn as of late? Illness, job loss, relational stress, an unexpected move?

Or a global pandemic where we all have to stay home for a month (hopefully just a month?). Yeah, there’s that.

It’s easy to get frustrated and confused, but what if God is trying to get our attention? What if it’s an opportunity for us to become more like Jesus and get to know Him better?

One of the amazing things about God is that He is the perfect guide on our journey. What may look like chaos in our lives is actually a perfectly planned trail for our becoming more like Jesus. He is the perfect orchestra conductor, the perfect curriculum creator, the ultimate back woods guide to get us where we need to be. It may look crazy and nonsensical, but it is actually perfectly planned by our Heavenly Father who loves us passionately and knows that what is best for us is our becoming more like Him.

So if you’re struggling today with what your path looks like, take a deep breath and ask God to show you what your next step is on the journey to becoming more like Jesus.

Why Did a Good Man Have to Die?

We love Easter with its message of hope and new life. It’s one of my favorite holidays! But before we get to the empty tomb, we have to go through the cross.

Why did Jesus die? Why was He brutally beaten and whipped and then cruelly nailed to a cross to die?

Because He was our substitute. He died in our place.

Why would I need a substitute?

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23

But I’m a good person. I go to church, I’ve never killed anyone, I don’t hurt people.

Our society has a standard for what a good person is, but God’s standard is different. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were the religious elite. They followed all the rules plus added more rules just in case the initial rules weren’t enough. They followed all of them.

Yet over and over, Jesus told them they had missed the point.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” Matthew 23:25

The Pharisees, like us, were experts at looking good on the outside but being far from God on in the inside. God is very clear that all of us have sinned and fallen short of His standard. I have, you have, even the best person you can think of has sinned.

That’s why we need Jesus - why we need a substitute. We deserve to be separated from God here in this life and forever after death. No amount of trying to fix that can make any difference.

But God…

That’s one of the best phrases in the Bible! We are in a terrible mess, but God… We have messed up our lives by trying to figure it out on our own, but God…

Because of God’s love for us, He created a solution to the problem. He came to earth as Jesus, lived a perfect life and died on the cross in our place.

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

He was our substitute. We deserved death, but Jesus died in our place.

We have a choice. Will we agree with God that we aren’t good enough to earn our way to heaven? Will we accept that Jesus’ death on the cross counts as payment in full for our sin? Will we accept that gift and ask Him to be our Savior? When we do that, He comes to live within us and shows us how to live the way He created us to live.

“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not as a result of works so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

What do you fear?

Every other week, we host a Bible study for teens that my husband Joe teaches. We tried it last week via video for the first time. It was interesting and will take some getting used to, but it worked. He talked about the virus and how we can respond to it. One of the girls asked a great question: Is it wrong to be afraid?

In one sense, fear is a very normal and necessary part of life. Would you walk in front of a train or bus? No! Why? Because you’re afraid it would kill you. If you say that you trust God and don’t fear anything, so you’re going to step in front of the train, you’re not some amazing saint. You’re, um, unwise, to put it nicely. That type of fear is hard-wired into us by God in order to keep us alive. We drive on the correct side of the road, we turn off the stove burner before we leave the house, and we teach our kids to look both ways when they cross the street - in a sense, out of fear in order to protect ourselves. That type of fear isn’t wrong- it’s wise.

So yes, wash your hands, stay 6 feet away from people, do all those things that we’re being told to do to protect ourselves from the virus. That’s just being wise.

On the other hand, God told the Israelites over and over NOT to fear because He was with them. When fear and anxiety go beyond the basics of self-preservation is when it’s not healthy. Especially when it’s with things that are out of our control. We need to do what we can to keep ourselves safe, but then leave the rest in God’s hands.

One of my favorite verses is in Isaiah 8:12-14a.

“Do not call conspiracy
    everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
    and do not dread it.
 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
    he is the one you are to fear,
    he is the one you are to dread.
 He will be a holy place;”

God is the only one we are to truly fear – not a virus, not a recession or crashing stock market, none of that. Fear God.

The idea of fearing God rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Aren’t we suppose to see God as our friend, our companion who loves us and cares for us? Yes, but He’s also the Holy God, Creator if the Universe. He IS our perfect Heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us.

But He’s not safe.

And yet He’s good.

The Bible says that we can boldly approach Him because of Jesus’ death on the cross. We don’t need to be scared of Him, but we should fear Him.

I always think about it in terms of my kids and husband. I ask my kids, “Are you scared of your father?” No! He’s fun, and loves them and he’s great. They know they can talk to him about anything. “But would you disrespect him or disobey him?” No way! There’s some healthy fear of doing wrong. That should be our relationship with God. We’re not scared of Him, but we have a healthy fear of doing wrong because He is holy and perfect and just.

So what about our current situation? Do what you can in wisdom to protect yourself. But after that, don’t be anxious and fearful. If you know Jesus as your Savior, your life is in His hands. Even when you die, now or later, you can be confident that you’ll be with Him. He loves you and He holds your present and your future.

Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So let’s keep the big picture in mind. And if you don’t know Him or if you’re not sure, talk to me!!! You can also check out Religion or Relationship to find out more.