Sad to See it Happen

Friday afternoon, I called my mom regarding a simple question. She said, "I guess you've had the TV on, right?" I hadn't. She proceeded to tell me about the school shooting that took place in Newtown, Connecticut. I literally felt sick to my stomach. This is a more recent experience for me. As God breaks my heart for the things that break His, I have come to feel almost nauseous when faced with great evil.

Unfortunately, the nausea continued as I began scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed.

After last Friday's events in Connecticut, social media naturally lit up with comment after comment. Some expressed grief, many expressed thoughts and prayers for the victims and community but too many waded into the fray of comments that just should not have been made. I was at first angered...now, I'm mostly sad.

By Friday evening, I considered complete abstinence from Facebook for a week or so...but I have hesitantly continued to read through posts regarding the shooting deaths. Whether you want guns or want them destroyed...want prayer in schools or think no mention of God should ever cross the threshold of a public education facility...want to blame evil on the violence on TV and video games, lack of appropriate parenting, lack of mental health treatment, lack of support for the parents that have children with mental health issues...etc, etc, etc. Can I just be maybe the one person who says, "This is not what needs to be shared during this time!"?

Can we stop grinding our axes and just remember that "every inclination in the human heart is evil" (Genesis 8:21)? Stop blaming one faction or another. Stop tearing apart the side that doesn't agree with you. Stop walking right into the camp of the enemy and allowing him to build walls that are increasingly higher and higher between those that call themselves Christians and those that don't.

What should we say? What should we share?

Love...pure and simple.

Love will cause you to cry with the victims and grieve for the offender too. Love will make you wish to 'gather them up like a hen with her chicks' under her wings.' (Luke 13:34) Love will help you be quick to listen to those you don't agree with, slow to speak the wrong word and possibly even slower to express anger and things at people you don't understand. (James 1:19). Love will give you a "garment of praise instead of despair." (Isaiah 61:3) And because of your hope-filled Love, you will be asked to "give a reason" (I Peter 3:15) which will bless you with an opportunity to once again...you guessed it...share Love!

There were a whole lot of things I've been wanting to say or reply and I even shared a couple of the more frustrating comments I saw with my husband. But I knew the best thing I could do was to hold off and wait for God's response...not mine! And this morning...I heard it...this song. I've actually heard it in my head a lot this weekend, but was thankful that God's Spirit gave it to me one more time this morning...just to make the point to me again.

What do we (I) need to say when evil seems to prevail and so many are seeking answers? Really the only thing I can say is the one and only thing that will matter in the end. What will be there in the end? Will it be guns or no guns, home school or public education, happy TV shows or violent ones, good or bad or no mental healthcare? No...the only thing that will be there in the end is "Oceans and oceans of Love and Love again."

I've shared this before, but although the video itself is not that great, the songs and words are truth. Listen to it and bask in His Love...that's right where He wants us anyway!

Spiritual Urgencies

Heard a great sermon today about "The End". This much-feared "end" has been in the news a lot lately...actually for the last several months. I've watched my fair share of conspiracy theory videos, a lot of them sounding very similar to doomsday movies like "2012" (cataclysmic earthquakes & weather patterns), "Deep Impact" (asteroid hurtling toward Earth), "Knowing" (solar flares that incinerate Earth) and "Outbreak" (flu virus gone haywire). There is no limit to these types of films and I actually enjoy the disaster film genre...always have.

But here's the thing that happened a few months ago...so many of the conspiracy theories started sounding eerily similar to some of these story lines...and actually even plausible. I did find myself beginning to get concerned. And when thoughts of stocking up on water or food or moving to a farm in the middle of nowhere so we could survive the coming, inevitable apocalypse began to consume my thoughts, my loving, all-knowing (as in He already knows what's going to happen!) merciful Saviour gently reminded me of a few things:

• He hasn't forgotten me, my family or where we live.
• Just exactly in whom or what am I placing my trust?
• There will come a day when to survive and still be around for what's coming won't be the optimal choice.
• And if my heart and thus my focus, is on meeting Him some day and living with Him for all of eternity...then something that speeds up the inevitability of that day can actually be a good thing, right?

I'm not sadistic, and I don't relish the thought of pain, starvation or watching any of my family go through either...but as soon as I was able to let go and say, "You know what God...you're right!" I could quickly add, "No matter what may happen, what I may have to endure...even so come Lord Jesus...come!"

I used to tell people that I wasn't afraid of death, but I was afraid of what I'd have to go through to get there. That's no longer the case. This has been a slow awakening for me that's probably taken about a year to process through and become at peace with...so if you're not there yet and you still fret about death, pain, etc., give yourself some grace, talk to God about it and allow Him to give you His peace.

See the thing I keep trying to bring out in so many conversations and even on these blog posts is that this world is not our home. We were never meant to die, be buried and that be the end. We were meant to live forever with the One that loves us most. As authors like Gregory Boyd and Eugene Peterson have reminded me in the last few months, the promise of Heaven is why early Christian martyrs (or even martyrs in this century) could go to their deaths singing, praising and worshipping their risen Lord...because they absolutely knew His resurrected life meant their own lives would endure forever as well. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, right? And Paul reminded the early church time and again that our focus was to be on God, not our circumstances. Peter even wrote that, "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials." (I Peter 1:6)

So today when the pastor began to ask how we feel about the thought of "The End", I wanted to shout "Yes! Come Lord Jesus!" And as he attempted to ease the fears that undoubtedly were present for many of the congregation, I too was challenged by his reminder that the best thing we can do is to be ready.

We remain ready and watchful, yes. But we also remember that no matter whether the date is 12-21-12 or 1-1-3000, every day we are one day closer to the return of Jesus Messiah. When that day comes, everyone will be sorted and will spend eternity in one of two places. And you know what...we were meant to have a happy ending. You know it in your soul, right? Happy endings resonate with us for a reason, don't they?

The "spiritual urgency" is for those of us who know about the happy ending...we are commanded to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19) Whether we want to stare it in the face or not, the clock is ticking. I'm not trying to be an alarmist, just facing the facts.

But many times the road seems long and the struggle to climb the mountain of obstacles seems far too difficult to climb, that's when, as Eugene Peterson writes "We are apt to think (who has time for preaching)--until, in the middle of the battle we find our courage flagging and our commitment wavering, and realize that the world is not primarily a place where information is stored and retrieved, but a moral and spiritual contest in which we are embattled. Then we are grateful for a proclamation from some midheaven pulpit, telling us again what God says about what is happening, turning information into command or promise, translating moral memories into spiritual urgencies (Revelation 14:6-13)." Reversed Thunder

"Spiritual urgencies"...that's what I was reminded of this morning. How easily I am lulled into forgetting this. Today, I am "grateful for a proclamation...telling (me) again what God says about what is happening." And what He says is happening is urgent...spiritually urgent.

Yes! (Amen!)

Royalty

You may have noticed that under my photo to the right the only description I've put to describe myself is "I'm a Daughter of the King!". I used to describe myself with a much longer and witty (or so I thought) paragraph of my interests, background and life-situation. But for some time now, I've been content to merely think of myself with these six simple words.

But are they simple?

If you really think through the implications, the profoundness of these six words, the depth...the breadth...and the power of these words is actually...limitless. One place to start is do I act like I'm a daughter of the King?

Most days...no...I don't. And as I've shared on here recently, I've been struggling a little with my relationship with the King. I don't blame Him. I know I'm not sitting alone with Him as much as I'd like. I know I've let stress, play and schedules get in the way of making Him my priority. When I do concentrate on spending alone and quiet time with Him...His peace prevails, He focuses my heart and I feel confidently empowered to face the day.

So why don't I live focused on being His daughter every day? Hmmm? That's a good question. I think there are too many answers to delve into here. But one of the primary ones is that the King has an Adversary who loves nothing more than to distract me with fear, doubt, worry, stress, daily mundaneness, satisfying my own pleasures, guilt and an overly saturated, steeped-armpit deep culture that provides endless opportunities to ignore the King.

Excuses aside, I'm thankful for the Beth Moore Esther study that a friend encouraged me to do. Esther was a queen and she was presented with a seemingly insurmountable task...save the entire Jewish race. This was no Schindler's List. There was no way to save anyone. They were all going to die. And did I mention that if she went to the king, her husband Xerxes, without first being invited...she could instantly be killed? If you've never read the book of Esther in the Bible, I encourage you to do so. It's brief and reading it is not only encouraging, but sounds like so many love stories or fairy tales that prevail in our culture.

And here's what spoke to my heart last week when I read it in the Bible study: I too am royalty, because I'm a daughter of the King. And I too have a purpose that God specifically has for me to do. The famous verse that includes "for such a time as this" applies to us all. We each have an amazing "for such a time as this" destiny to fulfill. The question is simply, will we obey and act on behalf of the King when He asks?

Truthfully, I might not...unless I remember that I'm a daughter of the King and it isn't I who live but Christ living in me and through me. (Galatians 2:20) But when I stand confidently as a daughter of the King, I can boldly and with the power of the Holy Spirit, accomplish any destiny He has placed before me. Honestly, it helps my attitude toward others as well. The comments, misinterpretations or stinging barbs of others somehow lose their "sting" when I know that I am fulfilling my purpose in God's royal family.

If you'd like to learn more, here are more Scriptures regarding God's kingdom and our place in it. Read them and let them wash over your soul...renewing and refreshing you for the journey ahead.

Matthew 11:11
Matthew 13:11
Luke 20-21
I Corinthians 4:20
I Peter 2:9
Revelation 1:6
Revelation 5:9-10

Come back to these Scriptures often. They'll strengthen you for the journey ahead and remind you that no task is mundane when you're a child of the King. Every act has the possibility of furthering the Kingdom and increasing the territory of the King...the question is will you hear His call and heed His will? That's what a child of the King would do. That's my prayer for myself and for you as well. So let's agree together in prayer to stop behaving like and allowing thoughts to rule us that are contradictory to a child of the King. Just think of the possibilities when we each rise up to fulfill our own destinies "for such a time as this!" Amen!

Mentioned in this post: