Kids and the "S" Word

I think we've done an injustice for our children by being afraid to use Christian language. I find myself guilty of this sometimes. Instead of saying something is a sin I use words like "good" or "bad" because I think they will understand these simple concepts. These words are easily understood by very young children, even before they can articulate words back to us. However, the application of good or bad is not so easy to understand when something is multi-faceted, and sometimes that ends up making things more confusing.

If, for example, an adult tells a child not to eat ice cream because it's bad for them, it would not likely stop a child from wanting to eat it. The ice cream might be a bright color (think bubble gum flavor blue ice cream) and be fun because it comes on a cone. Plus, they like the way it tastes.  If it looks good, causes the child to have a good time, and it tastes good... how could it be bad? As adults we understand that adult probably really meant that the ice cream was unhealthy, not bad.

As children grow and begin to face more difficult challenges than when to eat ice cream, the need for precise language increases all the more. If this does not happen, children will not be able to reconcile why the things they've been told are bad seem so good. However, if they have been taught a certain action is sinful - as opposed to bad - the question of how it feels is secondary to God's command.

It also allows parents to have much more honest conversations with their kids: Yes, sex is enjoyable, but God wants you to reserve that for only your spouse. Yes, you will make a few more dollars working every day of the week, but God wants you to rest your body and spend a day close to Him. Yes, lying is a sin even if it doesn't hurt anyone.

It is our responsibility as adults to make sure our children understand God's law. We were instructed to us do so. In Deuteronomy 11:18-21 we are told to "Remember [God's] words with your whole being. Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign; tie them on your foreheads to remind you. Teach them well to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on your doors and gates so that both you and your children will live a long time in the land the Lord promised your ancestors, as long as the skies are above the earth." (NCV, emphasis added)

What about you: Is it hard for you to talk about sin with your children? Other adults?

Seeking Peach Cobbler

It turns out that there is no sexy way to take a picture of peach cobbler.

I bet those aren't words you expected to read today, but it's the truth, at least for this novice photographer. I love peach cobbler, but I almost never eat it.  The reasons abound, the least of which are the dessert's talents as a model.

My husband doesn't like peaches, and I don't really care for them.  Except in cobbler. It's hard to make a cobbler for one, so I don't make it at home.  I don't know of any restaurants that sell it near my home. Last month a local restaurant put up signs advertising "Peach Season." I thought for sure that this would be it; if only seasonally, I'd be able to get peach cobbler lovingly made by a trained professional.  They only offered peach pie.  How unfortunate.  Cobbler beats pie any day.

About two years ago my friend and I volunteered at an event hosted by a semi-local mega church.  We did some work for them, and they allowed us to attend their conference for free. It was a great trade off.  Since this church was about an hour from our homes, we decided to have dinner together on the last night before we left. We had a fine meal, but the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about two words that I had seen written on their menu: Peach Cobbler.  I decided to buy one to go.  That night, I sent my friend one of the most disappointing texts I have ever sent: This isn't cobbler. It a crisp.

There's nothing wrong with a crisp, or even a crumble, but it wasn't what I was looking for. I was seeking something very specific, and nothing else would satisfy me.  Similarly, the Bible is filled with instruction to seek God, to look for Him with the same passionate effort I seek peach cobbler:

• But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 4:29)
• 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 will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
• Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:12-13)
• But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
• God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. (Acts 17:27)

I have tasted peach cobbler in the past, so I desire it when I am away from it too long.  It is the same with God.  But what about those who have never tasted?  Romans 10:14 asks the same question this way, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" We, who have tasted, are called to share with those who have not. That's what I'm doing here. I hope you find your own way.

*If you, like most, are confused by the difference between a cobbler, a crisp, and a crumble, HERE is a great explanation.

Grain, Oil, and Wine

It's quiet at my house today. My husband is asleep.  My older son is walking the dog on one of the hour long walks to which she has become accustomed. My younger son is doing what can only be described as a prison yard workout in his bedroom for his PE class.

I'm working on laundry. I've already washed a load of delicates, which, upon finishing, I discovered could be hung out to dry because it is such a beautiful day. I have an eastern facing door that is perfect for drying laundry in the early part of the day. I felt the sun and gentle breeze come through that door, and soon all the other doors and windows were opened too. I heard it is supposed to rain later this week, but today is the essence of spring, at least the spring I have in my mind.  In reality, spring is transition from winter to summer and is often filled with rain.  The rain makes what I think of as "spring" possible.

Just after the Israelites received the ten commandments, there is a passage I often miss because it lives in the shadow of the law. The Israelites are told:

"So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today — to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul —  then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil.  I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied" (Deuteronomy 11:13-15, NIV).

In a nutshell: If they obey God, He will send rain. He will take care of them. The command listed here is the essence of the ten commandments, "to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."  This is THE law, and all other law provides guidance for people to fulfill this one. Is it any wonder why Jesus called this the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:34-40?  Love God, and He'll take care of me? That sounds like a great deal. However, things were about to get hard.

The difficulty is not in the exposition of the law, which would continue for several chapters of Deuteronomy and include everything from dietary restrictions to debt laws. Nor is the difficult part that these people were living in the desert. In fact, it is just the opposite.  The challenge would be moving back into the city.

In the desert, they had nothing but God to focus on. Yet, when their leader left to receive instruction from God, it took less than forty days to be led astray into worshiping a self-made golden calf (Exodus 32, Deuteronomy 9:7-12). Here in California, it has been 28 days since Governor Newsom issued our Stay At Home order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. There is uncertainty, and every day brings new questions. We are in desert land, and many feel helpless.  Some, I fear, have made themselves golden calves. If we are anything like the Israelites, the hard part is yet to come.

God repeatedly warns these people that they are about to go into a new land. They will move out of the desert, and to the life they dream of, the life they want. It will be even better than their time in Egypt because they will no longer be slaves.  They will be free.  They will be free to determine how their days are spent. They will be free to raise their children how they see fit.  They will be free to structure the details of their lives. When Deuteronomy 11:31-32 says, "You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today" it is both a promise and a warning.

We, too, will eventually leave this desert and return to a place that feels much more familiar. We will be presented with pleasures that feel long forgotten.  We are the ones who saw God's hand at work, and we must decide if we will receive the grain, oil, and wine that God is supplying.

My 100

The number 100 appears frequently in the Bible. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born to him (Genesis 21). The courtyard of the temple was 100 cubits on the north/south side (Exodus 17). The Israelite army would be able to fight 100 men with only five if obedient to God (Leviticus 26). The penalty for slandering a woman after marrying her was 100 shekels and the inability to divorce her... #awkward (Deuteronomy 22). Jacob bought a burial property for 100 shekels, and Joseph was eventually buried there (Joshua 24). Saul requested a dowry of 100 foreskins from David, and was paid two hundred... #superawkward (1 Samuel). Obadiah hid 100 of God's prophets in caves to protect them (1 Kings 18). The unnamed man's offering feeds 100 people (2 Kings 4). There were 100 gold sprinkling bowls in the temple (2 Chronicles 4).

Jesus also used the number in His parables. Jesus says the Word is a like a seed that will produce a crop 100, sixty, or thirty fold (Mark 4). Jesus says that He, like a man who owns 100 sheep, would leave ninety-nine to fine one that is lost (Luke 15). Jesus compares human forgiveness to a servant whose master forgave his debt of ten thousand bags of gold but would not forgive his co-worker who owed him 100 silver coins (Matthew 18).

There's another 100 that doesn't get the same glory some of these other verses get. It's easy for me to read about Abraham receiving his blessing at 100 or even laugh about David's dowry payment, and I love to read Jesus' parables as both spiritual wisdom and well crafted literature. However, I don't often turn to Revelation when I open the Bible.

I took a New Testament class my second semester in college. As we approached Revelation, Professor Bob Smith told us that we would be reading the book in its entirety during class.  Instead of sitting at the desks of our basement level class, we would be lounging in the cafeteria to read it one sitting.  The other lectures all blur together; that one stands out.

In chapter sixteen, the seven bowls of God's wrath are poured out on earth. Terrible things happen, but the people refuse to repent and glorify God. It reminds me of the Egyptian plagues on steroids. If I'm being honest, I really struggle with this passage. I'm pretty stubborn, and I'm not sure that festering sores would make me worship God. I guess that's the problem: I don't allow difficulties to draw me to God the way they should.

The seven bowls are poured out, the kings meet together at Armageddon (after the sixth bowl, to be accurate), and a voice comes from the temple saying "It is done!" Don't get this confused with Christ's proclamation on the cross "It is finished!" This voice in Revelation is more like how we might say "well, that happened." Then come the lightning, thunder, an earthquake, and (are you ready for it?) 100 pound hailstones. Not a 100 pound hailstone - hailstones, plural. Not only did the people refuse to bless God because of these hailstones, they actually caused the people to curse Him.

I don't know if any of the difficult things going on in our lives are mini-bowls of wrath (shot glasses of wrath?). I don't know why things happen or why God operates the way He does. However, I know that every day is an opportunity to repent, to glorify God, and to seek His will in my life.

So on this, my 100th blog post, let me say: Don't wait for 100 pound hailstones.

Alphabet Robot

Today the Alphabet Robot came to our church's Wednesday night children's class. If you are not familiar with him, the Alphabet Robot likes to dance, but he needs to eat letter-batteries to keep up his energy. He starts with an A, dances for a while, then announces he needs the next letter. It's the children's responsibility to tell him the next letter. The two four year olds that were feeding the Alphabet Robot found it easy at first, but somewhere around E or F it became challenging for them to recall the next letter.

That's when one of them began singing the alphabet. I had learned in a language class that kids know the alphabet song long before they know the actual alphabet. It sounds strange, but think about any child you know who is learning the alphabet. Almost all are taught to sing it before they are taught to recite it. Singing worked very well for us tonight except that each time they needed another letter they had to sing the song from the beginning.  However, the Alphabet Robot is patient, so he waited for each next letter. Surprisingly, this impromptu game lasted until the letter "elemenopee." You know, the letter after K.

Songs play a special role in God's story.

• After making it through the sea on dry land, the Israelites praised God by singing “The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him" (Exodus 15:2, NIV).
• In Deuteronomy the Israelites were instructed to sing this song as a witness: "I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he" (32:3-4, NIV).
• The book of Psalms is filled with songs; this one was recorded in 2001 by the band Third Day almost verbatim: "Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise" (Psalm 47:6, NIV).
• In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were praying and singing to God when an earthquake strong enough to break the prison hit them, eventually leading to a midnight baptism.

I've felt some powerful things while worshiping, but never a physical earthquake. (I've also never attended an impromptu midnight baptism. I have seen an impromptu baptism, but it wasn't at midnight. Can you image if that were our tradition?) I have felt and seen earthquakes of the heart, when an impossible chain is broken and the doors of freedom are opened. Maybe that's the power of singing, it aligns us with God in a way nothing else can.

Oil Can

About six years ago I found myself sitting on my bed with a spiral notebook on my lap, determined, yet again, to write something.  As I stared at the blank page, I scribbled the inspiration I had recently read: Write what should not be forgotten.

That was better.  Now I stared at a page that was only mostly blank. What should not be forgotten, my mind wondered? Certainly I have a lot to say on a broad range of topics - on faith, on finances, on family - but none seemed worthy of approaching that particular night. So I continued staring at the page. Blank. Painfully blank.

Slowly a doodle came out: the Tin Man, rusted to the side of the Yellow Brick Road, calling out for his oil can. For him, what should not be forgotten was definitely an oil can.

I recently read a short devotion by Mendell Taylor in his book Every Day with the Psalms. He likens oil for mechanics to joy for our souls. Keep that in mind when you're feeling like the Tin Man (you know, stuck where you are).

When I think about what God wants me to remember, my thoughts go to the Old Testament:

"Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them" (Deuteronomy 4:9, NIV).

The people of God were about to hear the ten commandments. For us, that may not seem that impressive. I've heard them many times. I'd guess that even non-believers could recite a few of them. However, for these people, they were about to hear God's law for the first time. As they waited to hear this new word from God, they were instructed to follow the law as a witness to neighboring nations, and they were instructed to never forget the things God had done to deliver them.

We sometimes forget that God is not a spiritual policeman, waiting for you to roll through a stop sign so He can give you a ticket. He is a God of great love who has made a way to save us. The wonder of that love should be taught to our children and grandchildren, ensuring that all generations to come will know.

I am not always good at telling my children the things I've seen God do.  He has protected me and made a way for me more times than I could say.  More than I know.  Let this pattern of silence be broken today.

2%

Sometimes it's not about what you learn, but rather when you learn it. Tonight while wandering around cyberspace I saw two posts that, in context of each other, really caught my eye:

There are about 7.7 billion people in the world.
There are about 153 million orphans in the world.

I readily admit that I'm a math nerd. Numbers dance in my head and sometimes I solve math problems just for fun, but what stood out from the above two facts was not a math thing. It was a God thing.

I have read similar statistics before, about the millions, nay hundred millions, of orphans in the world. It seems like such a large number, an undefeatable foe. With 153 million orphans in the world, what difference could I make? If I helped an orphan than there would be just 152,999,999 orphans in the world. Big deal.

But in light of the other figure, you know, the 7.7 billion people in the world, the measly 153 million orphans all of a sudden didn't seem so large. It's only 2% of the population. You read that right... 2%. So I began thinking about 2%.

What if we committed 2% of our time toward the cause of helping orphans?
What if 2% of our giving went toward orphan care?
What if 2% of our social media posts raised awareness?
What if 2% of our Sunday sermons were focused on orphan care?
What if 2% of our friends adopted/fostered an orphan?
What if I am the 2%?

Scripture makes it clear that God cares about orphans, and we must too. As my husband says, this isn't a "you should;” it's a "you shall". We are reminded of it over and over:

• Deuteronomy 10:17-18 - The Lord your God is God of all gods and Lord of all lords. He is the great God, who is strong and wonderful. He does not take sides, and he will not be talked into doing evil. He helps orphans and widows, and he loves foreigners and gives them food and clothes. 
• Jeremiah 7:5-6 - You must change your lives and do what is right. Be fair to each other. You must not be hard on strangers, orphans, and widows. Don’t kill innocent people in this place! Don’t follow other gods, or they will ruin your lives. 
• Zechariah 7:9-10 - This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: ‘Do what is right and true. Be kind and merciful to each other. Don’t hurt widows and orphans, foreigners or the poor; don’t even think of doing evil to somebody else.’ 
• James 1:27 - Religion that God accepts as pure and without fault is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help, and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence. 

So, where do we go from here? To be honest, I don’t know. This issue, like so many others, should be taken to God who can grant the wisdom needed.