The Perfect Gift

Looking for the perfect gift? Between the trips to the mall to catch that latest "super sale," online clicks and exhausting marathons of parties, lists, and preparations, one thing always looms: What am I going to get for _____ (you fill in the person's name). You know, just the right thing that will make the happy meter zoom to full stop amidst cries of oohs and aahs and "You shouldn't have (but so glad you did)." 


Then there's songs that shout out, "You'd better not cry or pout or ..." Gifts based on performance.  Well, I think I've found the perfect gift. (Don't worry, I'm not selling anything. There's not a link at the end of this urging you to click onto some junky site.) I'm so glad I don't have to "work" for this gift. In fact, if I had to "be good" or "just right" I'd never have received it. Ever. It is simply this: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17) This gift is obviously Jesus. I think sometimes we've gone through so many Christmases (for those of us who are a smidge older) that the whole season thing gets jaded. Oh, yeah, here we go again. Another year. Little baby Jesus (the one that never grows up until Easter), the manger, cute little children playing angels at school programs, endless Christmas cookies, reindeer and that ever present man with the red suit that really needs to get on an exercise regimen and a diet. Yes, all the lights and music and warmth that Christmas exudes it can be an exciting time. Time well spent with family and friends make it memorable. But the real action comes on the inside where the spirit resides, the place where "Christmas" is every day. Jesus is no longer a baby, He isn't lying in a manger, and most definitely isn't just an icon in a Christian bookstore. He's a King whose passionate desire is to give you the most perfect gift of all .... salvation purchased by none other than Himself. All you have to do is reach out and take it for yourself. And if you already have -- gaze at the wonder afresh this Christmas. Take out that gift and ponder on it, thank God for it, and tell everyone what you got this Christmas. The perfect gift.

You Are ...

YOU ARE ....
     My God.  No else one.  No sick mixture of all roads leading me god knows where.  Only you.  Period.

YOU ARE ...
     My strength.  I cannot muster one iota of self-power. My mealy-mushy strength fails every day, but Yours stands like a rock.

YOU ARE ...
     My joy.  My laughter would ring hollow and feigned otherwise, nor would a smile brighten the days.

YOU ARE ...
     My guide.  Other leaders (self-imposed or otherwise) cannot compare to Your omnipotent wisdom.  I need that.

YOU ARE ...
     My secret keeper and confidant.  In an age where society sports in wholesale slaughter of  maligning another human being to the ground and lifting up of self at all costs, I'm thankful for the respect you give to our communication.  You hold me in the highest regard, no matter what I do.  I don't comprehend it in fullness, but I'm a grateful recipient.

YOU ARE ...
     Love.  With no strings attached.  That's simply beyond my capacity to understand.  Everything here on earth, it seems, comes with a price, but You pursue with unrelenting passionate and zealous love.  You woo me to Yourself and You love me.  Really do love me.  Wow, what can I do but love you more?

YOU ARE ...
     Forgiveness.  When others cannot find Your brand of forgiveness a treasure and choose instead to bury others in a sea of bitterness and death (and when I can't seem to forgive myself), you bathe me in your word.  I find grace and my spiritual sight restored.

YOU ARE ...
     Truth.  When deception claws at our souls to mire us in the outright brutality of lies, you whisper truth showing the way for you are simply that:  You are the truth and the way. 

YOU ARE ...
     Healing.  Nothing I can do in and of myself can bring it about.  If I could, I wouldn't need you.  And Lord, I never want to be without you.  Ever.  You are the One who heals.  No one can raise anyone from the dead, but You are the resurrection and life.  What a God!

YOU ARE ...
      My daily bread.  You feed all my needs with your magnanimous goodness.  They are always met in full without price or strings.  I never need a coupon for Your grace.  It's freely given. Alleluia!

YOU ARE ...
     My friend.  You stick closer than a brother or a sister.  I can always count on you.  Always.  How priceless is that!

YOU ARE ...
     Faithful.  How this is needed.  Everyone needs this without reservation. How hard it is to find true faithfulness and commitment in relationships, but You track true without fault.  May I learn that lesson well from You.

YOU ARE ...
     Merciful.  I don't deserve mercy for sins I've committed in the past, fleshly faults that lash out at Your heart.  I never deliberately wanted to hurt You.  But freshly awash by Your blood of grace and forgiveness I stand clean, whole and pure in righteousness, the righteousness You freely give.  Your very own righteousness.

For that today I stand amazed in who ...
     YOU ARE!
                     
 "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor  things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (Romans 8:38-39)





    

Journey Signs ...

Directions.  Never have been good at them.  They're always upside down.  You probably never ran into that problem before.  My husband laughs when I'm looking at the folded paper with befuddled consternation, takes the map and says, "Oh, yeah, sure.  Look.  It's right there," as he points to the illusive destination on the map.  (It appears to me upside down.)

So the next time the occasion presents itself, I thought I would outsmart the process.  It seemed like a fairly good idea at the time.  Simply turn it upside down before even beginning to start looking for my destination.  Easy peezy.  Now the challenge that loomed large was my deciphering words askew while my brain screams to return the fandangled map in its upright position.  Still outsmarted by a piece of paper, in resignation I drive to the nearest all-knowing information booth .... a gas station ... where a grease-stained attendant I have never met before is entrusted with attempting to untangle my direction ineptitude.


Gaining directions for life can be quite the same way.  Just when you think you have the destination in sight, life is upended and suddenly the way doesn't seem quite as clear, even disorienting.  There will be people along the way, those we have never met in our lives, who we entrust with salient guidance to afford safe arrival at the next destination that life demands, sometimes with disastrous results.  We didn't know the way and were lost without signs that would lead us safely.  Does life always have to be that way?  I say, there has to be a better way in life and there is. 

A religious group surrounded Jesus one day and asked Him if He would show them a sign from heaven so they could know the times in which they were living.  He essentially said, "Come on, you can read the weather report but you don't know how to discern the signs of the times?"  There are many today asking the same thing, "What do you think?  How much time do you think we have left?  What's going on?  There's some awfully weird stuff happening.  I'm not sure where to turn or how to move forward.  Everything seems like it's falling apart."  It doesn't seem to matter one's spiritual journey they have taken.  The same question remains on everyone's lips.  Everyone knows there is something going on and just about to happen, but just what and when?


You know, the disciples of Jesus  asked Him the exact thing when He was here.  They asked him, "Do you know what signs are?  How will we know what's going to happen in the last days and what are we to do?"  He answered with great wisdom.  Most all of what He said then has now come to pass with pinpoint accuracy.   Here's a small current checklist:

1.  Don't let people lead you down a weed-filled path with deceptive trickery.  (Hum, check.  That's a big one.  Lots of stuff out there to choose from and most of it is all smoke and mirrors.  Hint:  don't fall for it, even if it sounds like pie in the sky.  If it sounds too good to be true, believe me, it is and frankly isn't from God.)
2.  Many will come down the pike trying to say, "I'm it.  I'm your messiah, your savior, the one that will save you from the economy, save your taxes, the Government will take care of you, it won't cost you a dime and can even save you from those that don't believe like you, blah, blah.
3.  You'll hear rumors of wars, talk of big nuclear wars, and wars that will actually break out and kill many people.  Don't be troubled about it.  The end is not yet just because of that (well, we're in the midst of that now, I'd say).
4.  Nation will rise against nation and there will be terrible things like famines and earthquakes all over the world (that's happening big time!).
5.  They will hate you and try to kill you (there are martyrs being killed every day worldwide on an unprecedented scale.  The Evin Prison in Iran, the concentration camps in North Korea, the prisons in China, and many more are torturing and killing Christians.  There are many here that would like the country "cleansed" of them here in America.  Does that remind anyone of Nazi Germany?).
6. Lots of people will be offended (already calling the race card on anything that moves, and the "Me" generation is obnoxiously trying to demand their rights whether they work or not -- mostly not).
7.  False prophets will deceive many (false doctrines have infiltrated the church at such an alarming rate it is stunning, but these are precedented days).

Then after all this long litany of upheaval, just like an upside down map, He made this stunning pronouncement that has more hope in it than anything you can read in the New York Times or anywhere, "The one that holds his ground in conflict, bears up against adversity, holds out under stress, stands firm calmly and courageously with energetic resistance to defeat and brave endurance to the very end -- those are the ones that shall be saved.  The gospel will be preached everywhere as a witness to everybody and then the end will come."  People will hear it.  They may not accept it.  They'll even deny it, but that doesn't make it any less true.  It's the sign.  The biggest one ever.   The gospel of the kingdom is being sent to nations and peoples all around the world at breakneck speed.  In places where proclaiming this message is at the risk of being beheaded, Jesus has been appearing in visions and dreams in addition to satellite images streaking across the expansive heavens proclaiming the only way to salvation. 

I don't know about you, but I think we're there.  There are signs everywhere.  There's distress and stress on every side screaming for our defeat, yelling out fear and doom, blazing out discouragement while evil forces are singing nightly lullabies of depression and suicide. 

Yet, in the midst hope burns with mega grace.  You can see the light if you look for the signs.  The best sign of all is Jesus.  He is the way.  He is the truth.  He is the light.  And he is the sign of all signs.  Look at His map:  the Bible.  It will turn your life upside down and you will see things as they are meant to be:  in truth, in righteousness, in joy.  You will find the way to the heavenly destination. 

Ernie Haas sings it best.  Be enriched and blessed as you listen to the strains of hope.  May this day bring you direction from the map of the Holy Spirit bringing you safely to the Way, the Truth, and the Life ... Jesus Christ.

Put it in "T" for Trust

Couldn't believe it.  All ready to enjoy an evening and here it is.  Pretty plain to see I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.  Staring at a dashboard that wouldn't respond gave me a sinking feeling of unredemptive tickets and lost free time that doesn't come around all that often. Why do things have to happen at the last minute? 

Turning the key again and hearing only the clicking of keys together with no sound gave way to racing thoughts seeking to eliminate the gremlin that had seemingly hijacked my truck.  Thoughts swirled through a small rundown in my mind:  gas, check; ignition switch faulty, no way; carburetion, nope.  Just had the carburetor rebuilt last week.

Lifting the hood in a huff to scan the lifeless beast, the embarassing realization rushed to my brain:  much to my chagrin, the battery cables were not attached!  The battery was "free floating" in its holder without any connection.  Disgusted at myself for not having connected it when I switched out batteries the morning before after having been distracted, I quickly attached the cables, hopped in my truck, cranked the keys in the ignition and ... bingo.  The truck hummed her energetic response, I took it out of "park" and into "drive" and proceeded out the driveway to an evening of enjoyment.

Ruminating upon my experience later I realized sometimes my walk with God is a lot like that.  I have the vehicle of faith to get to my divine destination in life only to find out that somehow or another the power and the spark has once again not guaranteed what I thought was a timely arrival.  It surely wasn't God.  He gave the goods.  It was me once again forgetting to check my connection, my  connection with God who is the giver, the soother, the counselor, the wisdom -- in short, every single thing I need in every day of my life.   Morning interactions with him are crucial, and  the instantaneous momentary whispered prayers in interaction throughout the day with Him fuel the spark that ensure trust and faith are still connected.   Without it my trust quickly drains from my soul, my connection wanes, and I could end up with a dead battery of soul with empty efforts full of exhaustion trying to do everything on my own, even to the point of getting out and trying to make it happen regardless.  Truth is, it never ever works, though good intentions would try to convince otherwise. 

The value and activation of true trust is a life-long process of learning.  Taking our hands off of the stick shift and letting Him take control is the kicker.  Human nature has a strong pull to want to control everything in its own way.  But letting Jesus guide your vehicle of faith will cause you the ride of your life.  In the end, that is always the best way.  Boy, what we learn along the way is amazing and invaluable!  When one trusts in the God that is more powerful than anything or anyone and believes Him unreservedly for everything ... well, frankly, nothing is impossible.


Keep your connection with the one true living God.  The One that can save your soul.    Don't leave yourself in park until the weeds of life entrap you into a silence of defeat.  There's unrequited love of God out there that compels you to come meet him and enjoy life with Him.  There is no one that loves you as much as He does.  That's a proven and undeniable fact.  You know what?  He will help you with anything you need.  But He's not pushy.  He will never knock you down to be the driver of your life.  Your choice to respond is yours and yours alone. Put your full faith and truth in Him and Him alone.  The engine is faith, trust is the gas, the pedal is belief in Jesus, the only Son of God.   I'd encourage you today:  Please don't put your trust in park.  Engage and drive to a place called peace.

"Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass. And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday. Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him."  (Psalm 37:3-7, Amplified.)