Live Bait

My Pastor was preaching about Jonah being tossed into the sea. An older gentleman in a front pew "whispered" into his wife's ears. "That's what I call live bait."

The gentleman had on a plaid shirt and suspenders, and looked like he knew how to catch a fish. Trying not to chuckle out loud I began to think about Jonah and his refusal to deliver the message to Nineveh. Jonah should have been delighted to tell this enemy of Israel, "You're going to be destroyed in forty days."

Why didn't he want to tell them? My body was sitting in the pew, but my mind was reliving Jonah's story. Jonah knew some thing about God that made him not want to deliver that message. So he fled from the presence of the LORD.

Only after timeout in a whale's belly with sea weed wrapped around his head did delivering that message seem like a good idea. Thrashing around in darkness and in stomach acid he remembered the Lord. He called out for mercy.

The whale burped Jonah up on dry land and he headed for Nineveh and deliver God's message. The people and even the king repented in fasting and ashes with sack cloth and ashes. The king declared that perhaps God will turn and repent of the evil he said he would do unto us. (Jonah 3:9-10).

Jonah goes up on a hill to see Nineveh destroyed. When destruction doesn't happen on day 40 Jonah is irate and pouts. It is then that we find out what Jonah knew about the Lord that caused him to be disobedient to the God. "...I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil." (Jonah 4:2).

Jonah was glad for mercy when he needed it, but he didn't want God to extend mercy to his enemies. That thought began to convict me.

People in my pew began to move, and I realized that my Pastor had finished his sermon, and I had finished mine.

Scripture: "...I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Romans 9:15

Prayer: Father help me to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving to all like you are.

Renew your Youth

He pushed off with one foot and jumped on the back of the grocery cart. As he came zipping through the parking lot he realized I was there and watching. He broke into a slow smile. Then we both began to laugh outloud. His gray hair didn't match his actions, but I understood.

Don't you wish you could take a pill to make you feel young again? Or perhaps go to the library, and renew yourself instead of your book? You can't take a youth pill, but you can be renewed.

God has a wonderful renewal plan. Even though the youth get tired and quit you don't have to do that. You can actually begin to ascend like an eagle, run like an athlete and walk through your everyday commitments, and not collapse under the weight. Isaiah 40:31.

All He asks of you is that you show up for this invigorating infusion. He asks you to wait on him. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” So what does wait mean? Should we sit until he shows up? Or wait on him like a waitress waits on a customer? Perhaps we should rest and let him do it all? What does it mean to “wait on the Lord?”

“Wait” in the original language comes from a root word that means to bind together by twisting. Our English word “wait” suggests we sit still and do nothing. That is not what the Lord is talking about here. We need to interact with him in order to renew our strength. Thus the example of a waitress waiting on a customer is closer to the meaning. A waitress comes to serve you. So we, too, need to ask what the LORD would like and then humbly serve it to him.

Scripture: “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” KJV

Prayer: Lord, I humbly bind myself to you and ask you to renew my strength.

 

Surprise Birth Announcements

Don't you love to get birth announcement? They come in surprising ways today. Facebook. Email. Snailmail. My son grinned as he handed me an envelope with an ultrasound of my grandson inside.

Years ago my first child was introduced with a surprise announcement. I married and moved immediately to another state. My family worried a lot. So when I became pregnant I chose not to mention it by phone or mail. After 11 month I came back home, and put her into their arms by way of announcement. Surprise!

But can you imagine the shock if you were given two announcements at the same time...by none other than an angel named Gabriel. According to Luke this is what happened to Mary. Why was it done this way? Why two announcements?

In the first chapter of Luke, Mary is told,"Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son..." Oh, and by the way "your cousin Elizabeth she hath also conceived a son...and this is the sixth month with her. For with God nothing is impossible."

Mary may have thought, My impossibe situation is that I am a virgin, and I'm going to have a  baby in 9 months. I believe the angel. I do.

But Elizabeth's impossible situation is that she is old and barren. Gabriel just said she is six months along. Hey, she will be showing!

Suddenly Mary decides that she hasn't seen cousin Elizabeth in a long time. Scripture says, "So Mary arose and went...with haste...and entered in the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth."

Elizabeth answers with a loud voice to tell her "the baby leaped in my womb for joy...there shall be a performance of those things which were told from the Lord." Elizabeth was telling Mary. He's been here, too. It's going to happen to you exactly as Gabriel said.

Perhaps Elizabeth even put Mary's hand on her moving belly. We do know Mary stayed three months, and watched Elizabeth's and her own body change.

Nothing is impossible. God is come in the flesh. It's not to late, nor is it too early. If the LORD announces something over your life then you are expecting. You are pregnant with a promise.

Obey before you Play

       His tiny hand had to reach up to touch the door knob. I'd told him that he could play on the front porch after he picked his lincoln logs up off the floor. He stood with his hand on the doorknob glancing up into the kitchen at me. What a strange puzzled look on his three year old face.

      From where I stood doing the dishes I couldn't see that he hadn't obeyed. Finally, I realized his dilemma. He was counting on Mother to tell him, “Obey before you play.” He felt jared and insecure because he couldn't trust me to correct him, and put boundaries around him.

     When I saw the lincoln logs on the floor I told him that he could not go out until he picked them up. His face showed relief and almost joy as he bounced toward them.

     The world tell us there is no right or wrong. There is no standard to live by. No conscience. As I thought about my son I realized that I, too, felt great joy and relief to know that God gave me rules. It was wonderful to know that I could trust God. What he said is what he meant.
     If I lived a certain way I would have the fruits of the spirit...love, joy, peace. I could count on God to protect me and hedge me in by his rules. I could also trust him that he would give me the desires of my heart. He was consistent in all his ways. His word was a true as the law of gravity.
     Oh, how I love a God who means what he says. It made me smile to realize as His child I was also expected to, “Obey before I play.”

French Fry Fraud

          Coney Island hotdogs are my diet of choice. On a long overdue visit back home I was delighted to find my downtown eatery still intact. It was like walking back into a movie set of my childhood. Same stools. Same booths with Formica tops. I patiently stood in line behind a hippytype. He smiled through a missing tooth and tossed his long gray pony tail around proudly.

Customers at the bar stools observed up close all the smells and creations being mass produced.  Extra onions. Ketchup only.  A dozen to go. The pungent greasy odor from the deep fryer combined with the sauce and onions. People from all walks of life were equal here.

A man in a fancy suit left his booth and I grabbed it quickly. It was like finding an opening at a four star restaurant. Pulling napkins out of the holders I wiped the table clean and stacked the dishes. I smiled at the table like an old friend. Memories were flying. Most Saturdays my sister and I rode the trolley downtown to see a movie and eat Coneys and fries. If we had gum in our mouths it usually ended up stuck under the table.

Instinctively I put my hand under the table and immediately pulled it back. Mine might still be there.  I took a hand wipe from my purse and reminded myself I was eating on the top not the bottom of the table

Lost in my childhood visions I ordered a Coney, fries and a coke in a bottle. When the young waitress dropped my food in front of me and scurried away I was jolted out of my fun thoughts and into the now. What was this? What had they done to my perfect reenactment of my past? I had been betrayed.