FMF: City

“Also tell this to the people of Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: I will let you choose to live or die. Anyone who stays in Jerusalem will die in war or from hunger or from a terrible disease. But anyone who goes out of Jerusalem and surrenders to the Babylonians who are attacking you will live. Anyone who leaves the city will save his life as if it were a prize won in war."

(Jeremiah 21:8-9, NCV)

Surrender!  This was essentially the message given to the believers in Jerusalem from God.  I'm sure it must have made little sense to them.  Why would God want them to leave their city?  This was the land that God had given to them.  It was where they had raised their families, and where generations before them had also raised their families.  It was where the temple was, and so it was where God was.

But God told them to choose: stay and die or go and live.

God sometimes presents us with options we don't like.  They don't make sense and, sometimes, seem totally counterintuitive.

Like those early believers, God is destroying old ways for new ways.  The coming exile would help the believers refocus their beliefs.  If you read the other prophetic writing from this time, you will learn that the believers weren't behaving the way they were supposed to.  In fact, at one point, God tells them they are worse than their non-believing neighbors.  Ouch!

So what are the cities that God is asking me to abandon in my life?  What things I have always done that somewhere along the line warped into something ungodly?  I'm sure I can't fully investigate that in the five minutes I am spending here today, but I pray God always give me enough wisdome and faith to choose life.

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This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday

and was written in approximately five minutes.

For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.

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FMF: Ahead

"After hearing the king, they went on their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on AHEAD of them until it came to a stop over the place where the Child was to be found. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy."
(Matthew 2:9-10, NASB)

"And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will let Myself be found by you... "

(Jeremiah 29:13-14a, NASB).

It might feel a little early to be reading a part of the Christmas story, but that's what makes this passage so wonderful. Most of the wise men's time following the Christ-star was not Christmas.  (I hate to totally destroy your ideas about the nativity scene, but, if you were not already aware, it was likely long after Christ's birth that the wise men reached Him.)

The wise men knew the star would take them to "the King of the Jews" (2:2), but I don't think that meant they understood the journey's end. When we read Matthew 2 carefully, we see that the wise men did not go to Herod's palace to find their King; they only went to Jerusalem. However, the town was so stirred by their arrival that the news made it to Herod, and Herod called them to him secretly (2:7). But the wise men were not seeking Herod, and, eventually, the Christ-star led them to the King.

When we follow the Christ-stars in our life, we don't see the whole picture.  We might only see one bright idea that we hold onto for a long time.  If we continue to follow what God has placed ahead of us, we will find something better than we imagined: Sometimes great adventures. Sometimes foreign countries. Sometimes royal palaces. But we always find Him.



This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday and was written in approximately five minutes. For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.

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.

Bailout

With the American economy in the toilet (and, honestly, a good portion of the global economy), I reached into my file of "Random Things That I Probably Should Have Thrown Away A Long Time Ago" to share with you some thoughts I had last time we had a government bailout. There are lots of strong opinions floating around on the CARES Act, and there are also lot of strong opinions on whether there will (or should) be a second round of stimulus checks. This post is indifferent to the political nature of any bailout. Just have some fun with my theology. What else do we have to do these days?

Reason Why Jesus is Better than Any Bailout

• The bailout is meant, largely, to preserve personal wealth and our global economy. But God gives us "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4).
• Some say that the bailouts represent a fundamental shift in the way the U.S. economy works. Fortunately, we're taught, that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
• The "Bush Bailout" was supposed to fix our problems, and didn't. The "Obama Bailout" was supposed to fix our problems. The first bailout under Trump didn't either.  It leaves Average Joe asking how many bailouts will it take? But Scripture tells us Jesus saved us the first time: "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18).
• Everything our government is discussing is only conjecture because we have never before had an economy like we are experiencing now, but our Savior is the same One who created the universe. He has told us: " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future' " (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).

And there you have it.

My goodness, I need to get out of my house for a while.  And soon...

FMF: Tomorrow

In these days, more than our current generation can recall, we recognize the uncertainty of tomorrow. There has never been a guarantee that things will happen a certain (excepting if God so desires), and man's will has never been able to deliver an outcome. But that's ok. That's how it is. We have known this for a long time, even if it has never seemed so. The Bible says:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” (James 4:13-15, NASB)

Prosperity and comfort give the illusion of certainty. When we are well invested, our finances feel certain. When we are well employed, our provision seems certain. When we own a home, our shelter seems certain. These are just molecules in the vapor of our lives. They freeze in the cold and evaporate in the heat. Eventually they are nothing.

We ought to, instead, put our faith in the God who was, is, and always will be (Revelation 1:8). He does not change (James 1:17). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He has plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), and so let us trust Him for them and take part in them.



This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday and was written in approximately five minutes. For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.

St Patrick's Day 2020: God is ____-er than me...

It started as one of those simple brotherly games. Josiah (5) was stating random facts to Jacob (10).  Jacob would respond with a DING if he was correct or an AAAA! if he was incorrect. Josiah would say things like "a bunny is bigger than a giraffe" and then receive an AAAA! from his brother.

They had been playing for a few minutes when I heard Josiah say, "God is bigger than me."

AAAA!

So he tried again, "God is smaller than me."

AAAA!

Even at five, he had a basic concept of size. He knew what bigger than and smaller than meant.  Frustrated, Josiah asked his brother, "What then?"

That's when Jacob said "God is the same size as me."

I wanted to yell DING because he had just spoken some deep theological truth. Yes, God is bigger than me. He created the universe and "the train of his robe fills the temple" (Isaiah 6:1). He is small enough to know us before we are formed in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5). Don't think that's small? The human ovum is less than 4/1000 of an inch.

Yet, the real miracle of God is that He is also our same size: "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you— unless indeed you fail the test?" (2 Corinthians 13:5, NASB, emphasis mine).

It reminds me of a portion of the Prayer of Saint Patrick:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

May it be so.

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.