Celebrating Easter Different This Year

                

          The news hit the air waves about a week ago.  The annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn has been canceled.  This tradition dates back to 1878.  The event has grown to accommodate tens of thousands of children and adults!   But we are faced with a National Emergency.  Children will be forced to stay off the lawn and find another way to celebrate the holiday.   

The pandemic that has our world turned upside down, has riddled our lives with isolation, social distancing and fear.  Numbers continue to climb as death claims the lives of people across the globe, our country, states, communities and families.  We are overwhelmed with finding new ways to educate our children, shop for necessities and even worship! 

It’s almost Easter; a time of celebration and joy.  It may be the one day out of the year our sanctuary’s across the country are truly full.  People of many faiths, take the time to remember that a child was born, grew into a man, and died on the cross for us.  This man wasn’t an ordinary man, he was God’s Son.  

What are we to do if we can’t join in worshipful harmony this year?  It’ll be strange indeed!  For now, we have live streaming via the internet for our worship services.  Is that going to be enough for us?  I hate that the answer might have to be yes!  I loathe the idea that standing beside my brothers and sisters in Christ to celebrate the resurrection will not be possible.

Children across our world delight in Easter Egg hunts and celebrations. While many attended the White House Celebration, many joined with other children in their churches, or in their communities or at least in families. Will that tradition continue this year?   I’d be afraid to guess.  So much has changed and so many people in different areas are told to just stay home.  

Will we feel the same joy as in years past?  As Believers, we commemorate the Risen Lord, the Messiah, Christ Jesus.  We remember what our Risen Savior did for us.  Even if we can’t celebrate in our traditional settings, we still will need to celebrate.  

I suggest cranking up the praise music, and even if you’re all alone, sing with all the gusto you can muster to the radio, TV or whatever other source you may have and WORSHIP!  Worship because we have a God who is still in control.  Worship because he’s coming back soon!  Worship because we have a God who loves us and loved us enough to send his Son as a sacrifice for our salvation!  Worship because God is good.  

Lift your voice and sing with gusto as you ask “Death where is your sting!?  The grave is empty!  Christ has Risen!”  Sing because even though we can’t meet in our traditional meeting houses we have a LIVING Savior who lives within our hearts!

Happy Easter everyone!

Life Has No Pause Button

          The news reports keep changing.  Groups larger than 250 were not allowed to meet.  Then that number was reduced to 50 and in some areas, it’s down to 10.  Stores are out of groceries, and medicines may become in short supply. Where does it stop?  We’ve become a nation filled with fear.

Fear by itself is not always a bad thing.  It’s an innate feeling that cautions us against unexpected danger.  It has the power to fill us with adrenaline to lift an object well past our own weight, or run into a burning building to rescue the child we knew was still in there.  It’s a basic survival instinct; until it’s not.  

For some, however, the normal ration of fear turns into an obsession, that becomes a slavery of paralyzing panic and dread.  A person can be so consumed by their fear, their rational thinking is skewed and all senses are driven by their distress.  When this happens, it’s often called a phobia.  

                                      

I was reading this week and came across the story about a woman who became afraid of large spaces.  Her fear drove her to close the door to her home without ever wanting to go outside, even for a walk.  She only emerged three times during thirty years.  I can’t even imagine such a life.

Others who have shared their stories of times in their lives when fear was threatening to suffocate them, said they wished life had a pause button.  A button that would stop the insanity and allow them to think clearly so they could respond adequately and with right motives.  But life isn’t like that.  Regardless of what we are facing, moments continue to pass.  Minutes turn into hours; hours into days, then into weeks, months and years.  Life does not stop because our minds and heart –and heartbreaks—are fragile and hurting.

Where does this leave us? It leaves us crying out to the God in the heavens.  My husband tells the story of soldiers he fought with in Viet Nam who said they were atheists.  Yet, when the shells came rolling in, blowing everything up in its path, that same soldier was saying, “Oh my God!  Please help me!”  

Now that said, many people use the expression “Oh, my God,” in a profane way.  That’s so sad.  They don’t realize they are calling on the one true God in the universe with one breath and then ignoring Him in the next.  It is irreverent and uses his name in vain.  It’s a habit many people have and don’t give it a thought!

As we deal with all the dark news of our times, at this moment, it’s hard to stay positive.  Regardless, God is in control.  He knows the beginning from the end; is not surprised by this at all; and will in some way, use all this ‘bad’ for his good purpose.  That doesn’t “help” us necessarily to get through it.  It’s tough when people are dying across the world, near you or even in your family.  It’s hard and many are suffering because of it.

But life goes on.  There is no stopping it.  There is no pause button.  The sun will still shine, the grass (since Spring is here) will turn green, flowers will bloom in full color and crops will grow as new babies are born and we all age one day at a time.

So I encourage you to live in hope, instead of desperation.  We are traveling rough roads, albeit with lots of rocks to climb over.  But we will get there.  It will get better and the more we believe that, and have faith that it’s true, the happier our hearts will be.

Picture credit:  https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/coronavirus?mediatype=photography&phrase=coronavirus&sort=mostpopular

Self-Care In A Crisis

            

         It’s been a tough week.  Panic has spread throughout our country and our lives are riddled with fear, dread and horror of a tiny germ that has upended our lives on so many levels!  It’s become a huge monster that has crippled us into such alarm, people are fighting for products where we shop, schools close, and hospitals fill.

            We are kept up night wondering who will be next hit, or will the next round affect us and when will it be over?  News reports keep shifting, making the quarantine time longer and longer as the cases and death tolls rise across the nation.  It’s robbing us of rest, quiet and peace as we try to process.

            Taking better care of ourselves, with a better sense of hygiene has been encouraged, yet we are left with wringing our hands.  As Believers, what can we do?  I don’t nearly have the answers, but raising our hands in defeat or trying to run from it just won’t work.  

            We have to be willing, like young David, to stand up against this giant, even if all we have are a few small stones.  We have to believe our God is Mighty and we will get through this.  That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.  Some giants dig their heels in, and keep twisting and turning, refusing to fall!  We then, must be prepared spiritually to face the demon!

            One way for fighting this battle is all about rest and that sounds a mite silly given the fierceness of this fiend, but burn out and exhaustion will weaken the best of us, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and finally even physically.  There seems no margin left to rest, even though that’s just what we need.  It’s difficult to balance, yet we need to come to the battle with God’s provision, and that includes readiness with rest!

            With all the goings on about this virus, and closings of different kinds, we are left with little to do.  It’s a great time to pull up a chair, or sit on a comfy sofa and just rest, yet the idea of a ‘forced rest’ makes us antsy and desiring the freedom of doing all that we were!

            When God created, he worked for six days and took one for rest.  Now when you think of God, does it even seem logical that he would need rest?  For me, since he is God, why would he?  I repeat, He’s God!  He can do anything, anywhere, anytime!  Why would he need rest?  Yet he did and he tells us to follow suit!  

            We are told to use this amazing gift of rest to rebalance, nourish and nurture our spirit.  It’s in this mindset we can recalibrate our thoughts, our hearts and our bodies.  It’s the whole idea of self-care!  As confusing as that sounds, the better our mind and spirit, the better our overall health!

            I encourage you to keep believing that in some way, God will have the victory.  I have no idea what that might entail since He’s so much more creative than I!  He did after all create the universe and the humans with which he wants a relationship.  It’s a great time to nurture that as well.  God is good---all the time!  Draw close, pull from His strength and know that ultimately, He is still in control.

Is It Faith Or A Feeling?

           I have only a vague memory of when I accepted Christ as Savior.  I have a clearer memory of being at the river and getting baptized!  I was around twelve years old.  (And that was after making a decision back when I was nine or ten.)  

            More than not remembering a specific date, I don’t remember a specific “feeling.”  I knew I’d accepted Jesus, but it wasn’t one of those explosive, fireworks kind of deal.  And I was a child, so needing to give up huge sin in my life wasn’t a cloud on my day either.  I did understand however, that sin does not enter the gates of heaven.  

            Of course, kids are kids and we do “stuff!”  But I can tell you, as a young person, I took care about that ‘sin matter!’ As I reached my mid-teens and even later teen years, I admit to ‘straying.’  But God took care of me and protected me from disasters that could have been.  I lived in a drug use world, yet wouldn’t have known it if it had hit me in the face.  Alcohol was another vice I never had use for.  

            During my early twenties, I realized I’d strayed.  I wanted back into the arms of an unfailing God, doing things his way, not my own.  I rededicated my life to Him and haven’t looked back.  There still were no fireworks, or explosions.  Still I knew that I knew, I had a clean slate.  God had forgiven me, and I was on the right track again.  It was about the way I felt, but I had renewed faith.  

            Faith empowers.   Faith produces obedience.  My life was again changed and I knew if I listened to his voice, his direction, his commands and still small voice, I’d hear it.  And I did.  There have been times when during prayers I get “Holy Ghost goosebumps!”  And it’s thrilling to know that God’s Spirit is being poured down on me!

            It’s exhilarating to know that I can do things in my life, that have nothing to do with me.  It’s about him!  Just like Abraham trusting in faith that God asked him to leave his country and “GO,”  or that Noah trusted in faith that God told him to build an ark, I know that I can trust what he tells me.

            It’s necessary to reach for His Word and prayerfully request assurance that what I’m hearing isn’t ‘me’ but Him.  But with real faith, He makes the way clear.  This is especially apparent when there doesn’t seem to be a way; when doors are closed and no windows open, God has the ability to make a way.  It’s humbling when you can look back and see God’s handprint all over where you’ve just been.  

           Over this next week I encourage you to meditate on His Word daily.  Spend time praying, but also allow time for listening.  Discover His voice.  If you're not sure it's The Lord, you may need to reach for His Word again, and even wait and pray again.  But it isn't uncommon for God to speak through your thoughts.  It does, however, require that what ever you 'hear' lines up with His Word.  He is a God of relationships.  What does his relationship with you look like?

New And Improved

I recall my very first computer!  It was huge.  It had a large tower, a separate key pad and a massive monitor.  Just getting the boxes in the house was a challenge!  As time passed, each was replaced by a system that was consistently smaller.  I am now down to a small laptop that is more capable than my original computer that was much, much larger.  This one is amazing and so much improved!

Internet originally needed to be connected right to the computer and a telephone to enable transmission.  Now our Wi-Fi enabled computers allow for no wires to the telephone, nor to the printer associated with the device and can even be shared between devices! Further, Wi-Fi enables us to chat via face-time from computers to iPhones, another technical device that has morphed into something amazing.  

My first contact with a telephone in a car totally astounded me.  It was a large handheld device, which a friend had in their vehicle.  They encouraged me to make a call, and I did, but my mind couldn’t wrap around the idea that I was in a moving vehicle making a telephone call.  That device, the telephone, is now in almost everyone’s—from a very young person to the elderly-- possession at all times and small enough to fit in my back pocket. 

It seems every day there is a product I use regularly, which has a new and improved version!  As noted, certainly in the technology field; but it’s in the kitchen appliances, make up, automobile capabilities in general, drinks and food, and in almost every conceivable area in our lives.

With all that said, how does, ‘new and improved’ affect God’s Word?  There are those who will ask if God gave us the Old Testament, why’d he see the need for the New Testament?  Does the New nullify the Old?  In a word, no!  God’s Word is consistent throughout both the Old and New Testaments. 

The Old Testament consists of history, examples of who God is, laws and principles, rules and rituals, all which still has profound meaning.  There is nothing bad about the Old Testament, but the in the New Testament, it got better!  The New Testament gives us Jesus!  It provides the means of salvation.  Jesus even references the Old Testament countless times in the New!  He validates it, over and over again!

We are a fallen people.  Since Adam and Eve, we’ve sinned.  For hundreds of years, animals would be sacrificed to cleanse the people of their wrongdoing.  No one was, or is, exempt of a need to be cleansed.  But Jesus takes away our sin, once and for all when we accept him as Lord and Savior.  The animals had to be sacrificed over and over again, because they were incapable of complete forgiveness and righteousness.  They were animals.  Jesus is God!

The impact Jesus' blood on the cross made in our lives, as the one, true and perfect sacrifice is beyond understanding.  The sacrifice God made of asking his Son to take the sins of the world on his shoulders, because he loved us, even as we were sinners, is beyond comprehension.  God wanted reconciliation with the very people he created!

I’m grateful for a God who loved me this much.  He is the BEST!  There is no one, or no thing that can compare to our God!  Rejoice with me over this thought!