"...I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)
Yes, Lord we believe.
We believe that our dear friend--our remarkable, joyful, indefatigable, faithful, constantly giving, relentlessly loving, endlessly serving Jo Anna--is more alive this moment than she has ever been before. We still reside here in the shadowlands...but she lives. She laughs. She sees. She loves. She worships. She dances. She rejoices. She shimmers with Your glory. And knowing Jo Anna, she surely also organizes, serves, and celebrates with gusto.
Oh my how hard, how impossible it is to imagine this old earth without her. Such an unimaginably huge hole is left here. Words can't begin to express how desperately we will all miss her, so I'll not even try. But heaven grows even sweeter and dearer knowing that Jo Anna has arrived Home.
Thank You, thank You, thank You, Father, for Jesus. Thank You that because He lives, she lives. Because He came and died and rose again, Jo Anna is vibrantly, joyously, fully alive.
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon went home to heaven in 1892 at the same age as Jo Anna. Both entered heaven at 57. Hard to believe how two people could pack so much good, so much life, so much eternally wonderful work into just 57 years. But they did--they both did.
When I read the words for Spurgeon's service, I couldn't help but immediately think of Jo Anna, for these words apply just as surely to her. Here is some of what Pastor Archibald Brown, one of Spurgeon's close friends, shared that day in 1892--
"Beloved president, faithful pastor, prince of preachers, beloved, dear Spurgeon--we bid thee not 'Farewell' but only for a little while 'Good night.'
Thou shalt rise soon at the first dawn of the resurrection day of the redeemed. Yet is the good night not ours to bid, but thine; it is we who linger in the darkness; thou art in God's holy light. Our night shall soon be passed, and with it all our weeping. Then, with thine, our songs shall greet the morning of a day that knows no cloud nor close; for there is night there.
Hard worker in the field, thy toil is ended. Straight has been the furrow thou hast plowed. No looking back has marred thy course. Harvests have followed thy patient sowing, and Heaven is already rich with thine ingathered sheaves and shall still be enriched through the years yet lying in eternity.
Champion of God, thy battle, long and nobly fought, is over; thy sword, which clave to thy hand, has dropped at last; a palm branch takes it place. No longer does the helmet press thy brow, oft weary with its surging thoughts of battle; a victor's wreath from the great Commander's hand has already proved thy full reward."
Yes, that's Jo Anna. Only heaven knows how many countless folks she loved, encouraged, taught, strengthened, lifted up, served, and impacted for eternity. How she makes me want to be a far better woman, wife, mama, sister, daughter, and friend. Because let me tell you, she was simply the best in every one of those roles.
Thank You, Father, for the priceless gift of this amazing woman. Thank You that we will see her again...and oh mercy, then we'll do us some serious sharing, laughing, and celebrating. And she'll make sure everyone around us feels included, valued, and loved, because that's who she always was and is and will be.
Thank You for Jesus. Thank You for Jo Anna. Thank You for the promise of heaven. And thank You that in the words of John Donne, "No man ever saw God and lived. And yet, I shall not live till I see God; and when I have seen Him, I shall never die."
Thank You that Jo Anna now sees You...and lives.
To God be the glory.
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Soul Bullies...take a hike!
"For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." (Rom.8:6)
A while back, I wrote this verse on a bright orange index card and just found it tucked in my overflowing calendar book (yes, yes, old-timey, non-technology me still uses a big old paper calendar). And it's a mighty good word from God's supernaturally good Word...because it's a reminder that your mind set is key.
It's so easy to default to a negative, destructive mind set. I mean, the world provides plenty of ammunition, doesn't it? Public discourse at an all time low. Terror abroad and at home. Completely dysfunctional politics. Division and rancor abound. Poverty, homelessness, drug epidemics and on and on.
Yet we live in a fallen world, and in reality, while our particular problems may wear slightly different clothing, the problems, the sin, the fallenness, the sorrow, and the challenges have always been there. At least since Adam and Eve ate of the apple.
But here's the thing: it's not just the world around us--it's what is within us.
Oh my stars, I can fall into a pit of discouragement so quickly when I start fixating on all the ways I'm failing. All the ways I'm missing the mark. Writer Leeana Tankersley described it so powerfully in her book, Begin Again. She recounts a story of accidentally running over some canned and jarred goods she'd planned to donate to her children's school food drive. She'd created an enormous mess and began internally berating herself. "There I am, standing in my driveway, getting sucker-punched by Soul Bullies who are giving me more and more ammunition to use against myself, all the while I'm ankle deep in chunky beet juice. Man, life is no joke."
"Soul bullies." Haven't we all been there? We go from being so busy that we forget a child's doctor's appointment...to complaining about our chronic over-commitment...to beating ourselves up for our total lack of organization skills...to wondering why on earth God entrusted us with children since we're so incompetent...and on and on it goes. Twisting and turning down that dark, ugly trail of shame and guilt and defeat.
But you know what? That's just plain wrong... in fact, worse than wrong--that's just flat out lies from the enemy. Because after all, the enemy "comes only to steal and kill and destroy"--and he uses lies, distortions, division, deceit, and those ugly little soul bullies! But Jesus "came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) Jesus came to give us life--real, abundant, eternal Life.
Yes, God loved you so much that He sent His only beloved Son to die for you, for me. (John 3:16) He doesn't look at you and me and sigh with distress and despair. No, He chuckles with love and understanding. You can almost hear Him say, "That's my girl! That's my boy! Aren't they something?"
Don't take my word for it...take His. "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (I John 4:10) Or "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love." (John 15:9) Now that's some serious love: as the perfect, eternal, holy Father has loved the beautiful, powerful, glorious Son, in the very same way Jesus loves us! Jesus loves us like the Father loves Him. That's crazy! That's unimaginable! But that's our Heavenly Father and our wonderful Redeemer. We can't even begin to grasp that kind of love, but our job is simply to "abide" in that love. To rest in it. To enjoy it. To savor it. To share it. To live in it day in and day out.
And in case you're wondering if your latest terrible, very bad, awful mess-up might've finally been the last straw, God immediately sets you straight through the apostle Paul in Romans 8:35-39. Paraphrase? Nothing, nothing, nothing...no how..no way...not ever...NOTHING can ever separate us from God's love. If you are His, YOU ARE HIS. Forever. I think that calls for a Hallelujah!
So instead of looking around and finding excuses for anger and fear or looking within and repeating ad nauseum all the reasons for discouragement and despair, how about looking to the Lord and His Word where you'll discover endless ammunition for peace, love, joy, and hope. Tell those "soul bullies" to take a hike. Go to God's Word and rehearse His promises. Remember His past provision. Repeat His Truth rather than rehash the enemy's same old lies.
Corrie ten Boom once put it this way: "If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God, you'll be at rest."
Soul bullies don't stand a chance against the Savior and His supernatural Word.
To God be the glory.
A while back, I wrote this verse on a bright orange index card and just found it tucked in my overflowing calendar book (yes, yes, old-timey, non-technology me still uses a big old paper calendar). And it's a mighty good word from God's supernaturally good Word...because it's a reminder that your mind set is key.
It's so easy to default to a negative, destructive mind set. I mean, the world provides plenty of ammunition, doesn't it? Public discourse at an all time low. Terror abroad and at home. Completely dysfunctional politics. Division and rancor abound. Poverty, homelessness, drug epidemics and on and on.
Yet we live in a fallen world, and in reality, while our particular problems may wear slightly different clothing, the problems, the sin, the fallenness, the sorrow, and the challenges have always been there. At least since Adam and Eve ate of the apple.
But here's the thing: it's not just the world around us--it's what is within us.
Oh my stars, I can fall into a pit of discouragement so quickly when I start fixating on all the ways I'm failing. All the ways I'm missing the mark. Writer Leeana Tankersley described it so powerfully in her book, Begin Again. She recounts a story of accidentally running over some canned and jarred goods she'd planned to donate to her children's school food drive. She'd created an enormous mess and began internally berating herself. "There I am, standing in my driveway, getting sucker-punched by Soul Bullies who are giving me more and more ammunition to use against myself, all the while I'm ankle deep in chunky beet juice. Man, life is no joke."
"Soul bullies." Haven't we all been there? We go from being so busy that we forget a child's doctor's appointment...to complaining about our chronic over-commitment...to beating ourselves up for our total lack of organization skills...to wondering why on earth God entrusted us with children since we're so incompetent...and on and on it goes. Twisting and turning down that dark, ugly trail of shame and guilt and defeat.
But you know what? That's just plain wrong... in fact, worse than wrong--that's just flat out lies from the enemy. Because after all, the enemy "comes only to steal and kill and destroy"--and he uses lies, distortions, division, deceit, and those ugly little soul bullies! But Jesus "came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) Jesus came to give us life--real, abundant, eternal Life.
Yes, God loved you so much that He sent His only beloved Son to die for you, for me. (John 3:16) He doesn't look at you and me and sigh with distress and despair. No, He chuckles with love and understanding. You can almost hear Him say, "That's my girl! That's my boy! Aren't they something?"
Don't take my word for it...take His. "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (I John 4:10) Or "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love." (John 15:9) Now that's some serious love: as the perfect, eternal, holy Father has loved the beautiful, powerful, glorious Son, in the very same way Jesus loves us! Jesus loves us like the Father loves Him. That's crazy! That's unimaginable! But that's our Heavenly Father and our wonderful Redeemer. We can't even begin to grasp that kind of love, but our job is simply to "abide" in that love. To rest in it. To enjoy it. To savor it. To share it. To live in it day in and day out.
And in case you're wondering if your latest terrible, very bad, awful mess-up might've finally been the last straw, God immediately sets you straight through the apostle Paul in Romans 8:35-39. Paraphrase? Nothing, nothing, nothing...no how..no way...not ever...NOTHING can ever separate us from God's love. If you are His, YOU ARE HIS. Forever. I think that calls for a Hallelujah!
So instead of looking around and finding excuses for anger and fear or looking within and repeating ad nauseum all the reasons for discouragement and despair, how about looking to the Lord and His Word where you'll discover endless ammunition for peace, love, joy, and hope. Tell those "soul bullies" to take a hike. Go to God's Word and rehearse His promises. Remember His past provision. Repeat His Truth rather than rehash the enemy's same old lies.
Corrie ten Boom once put it this way: "If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God, you'll be at rest."
Soul bullies don't stand a chance against the Savior and His supernatural Word.
To God be the glory.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Just keep trying and trusting
Yesterday was one of those golden days that will live long and happy in my memory. Why? Because God reminded us afresh that He is a God of second chances and that much of life is simply a matter of showing up, refusing to quit, and trusting Him even when times are tough or discouraging or overwhelming. Just keep showing up. Just keep on keeping on. Just keep refusing to give up. Just keep trying to give it your best effort even when the results don't seem to come and discouragement hovers heavy and hard on your heart.
Because we serve and love a Lord who loves to lift up the broken-hearted. Who loves to empower and magnificently use the weak, the worn, the lowly. Who loves to revive and redeem the deceivers like Jacob, the doubters like Thomas, the deniers like Peter, and the down-and-outers like, well, like about every one of us!
He gives us fresh new seasons to remind us that we can begin again. After the unrelenting cold and gray of winter, spring arrives with new possibilities and beauty. Then the warmth and joy of summer. When we can't stand the heat one more moment, fall ushers in cool breezes and brilliant foliage. And then the winter comes with it's cozy fires, hot cocoa, and bracing serene beauty. New seasons, new opportunities to start afresh and try again.
"Always we begin again."
Always we put the past failures and short-comings behind us and start each day anew. Always we keep showing up. Keep trying. Keep trusting.
Paul put it so perfectly: "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil.3:13-14)
And that's what we saw illustrated live and in living color yesterday in, of all things, a golf tournament. The States. Our high school team--the Broughton Caps--played in the State Championships.
Now before we get to yesterday, let me tell you about last year. Oh mercy, last year was one of those "forgetting what lies behind" kind of times. Same State Championships. Same course in Pinehurst. Pretty close to the same team. But last year our guys struggled, and by the end of the first day, they were totally out of the running. It was a tough, discouraging couple of days for the whole team.
One of our players--a really great player--had an especially difficult time. Golf is such a strange sport--you can be playing really well and then suddenly lose your confidence and can't hit the broad side of a barn. Well that happened to one of our guys. It was surely a terribly discouraging time for him. But frankly, they all struggled last year. I guess golf is a microcosm of life--some days the sun is shining and all's right with the world. And then other days, the rain pours down and you feel alone, exhausted, defeated.
But here's the thing: they could've quit. They could've given in to apathy and indifference. They could've stopped working at it--surely it's easier to just stop trying or even to quit than to keep on working and trying but risk disappointment and defeat again, right?
Wrong. Because men and women of character keep showing up. Keep trying. Keep trusting that God's at work even when they can't see it or feel it.
Keep forgetting yesterday's failures and beginning again today.
And in our case, keep forgetting last year's disappointments and beginning again this year. Working and pressing ahead, eyes focused ahead and not behind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
Like I said, we saw it yesterday. And it was beautiful to see such refusal to give up or give in. Such fight--trying hard to the very last shot. Such focus--forgetting the past, eyes looking forward. And beginning again--each day, each hole, each shot.
These guys have been through some tough, discouraging battles--but they kept showing up, kept working hard, kept simply refusing to give up. And the result was a victory. A hard fought, well-deserved, incredibly appreciated, and wonderfully sweet victory.
By the way, that player that had a particularly hard time last year? He was one of the big reasons the Caps won yesterday. Played solid as a rock...even when he had a really tough break on the next to last hole. He could've looked back to last year and gotten tight and discouraged. But instead, he took a deep breath, eyes focused ahead and nailed a long putt on the 18th hole. We all whooped and hollered. He's a senior, and boy, we're going to miss him next year. Because, yeah, he showed us what character does--digs deep and keeps trying and trusting to the very end.
So in case you're in the midst of one of those long, hard, dark seasons of life (and we all go through them, every single one of us), just remember that nothing beats plain old trying and trusting. Just keep showing up. Keep beginning again...who knows what surprises God may have for you just around the bend? And believe me, it will be all the sweeter and greater because of the struggle.
Just ask the Caps.
To God be the glory.
Because we serve and love a Lord who loves to lift up the broken-hearted. Who loves to empower and magnificently use the weak, the worn, the lowly. Who loves to revive and redeem the deceivers like Jacob, the doubters like Thomas, the deniers like Peter, and the down-and-outers like, well, like about every one of us!
He gives us fresh new seasons to remind us that we can begin again. After the unrelenting cold and gray of winter, spring arrives with new possibilities and beauty. Then the warmth and joy of summer. When we can't stand the heat one more moment, fall ushers in cool breezes and brilliant foliage. And then the winter comes with it's cozy fires, hot cocoa, and bracing serene beauty. New seasons, new opportunities to start afresh and try again.
"Always we begin again."
Always we put the past failures and short-comings behind us and start each day anew. Always we keep showing up. Keep trying. Keep trusting.
Paul put it so perfectly: "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil.3:13-14)
And that's what we saw illustrated live and in living color yesterday in, of all things, a golf tournament. The States. Our high school team--the Broughton Caps--played in the State Championships.
Now before we get to yesterday, let me tell you about last year. Oh mercy, last year was one of those "forgetting what lies behind" kind of times. Same State Championships. Same course in Pinehurst. Pretty close to the same team. But last year our guys struggled, and by the end of the first day, they were totally out of the running. It was a tough, discouraging couple of days for the whole team.
One of our players--a really great player--had an especially difficult time. Golf is such a strange sport--you can be playing really well and then suddenly lose your confidence and can't hit the broad side of a barn. Well that happened to one of our guys. It was surely a terribly discouraging time for him. But frankly, they all struggled last year. I guess golf is a microcosm of life--some days the sun is shining and all's right with the world. And then other days, the rain pours down and you feel alone, exhausted, defeated.
But here's the thing: they could've quit. They could've given in to apathy and indifference. They could've stopped working at it--surely it's easier to just stop trying or even to quit than to keep on working and trying but risk disappointment and defeat again, right?
Wrong. Because men and women of character keep showing up. Keep trying. Keep trusting that God's at work even when they can't see it or feel it.
Keep forgetting yesterday's failures and beginning again today.
And in our case, keep forgetting last year's disappointments and beginning again this year. Working and pressing ahead, eyes focused ahead and not behind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
Like I said, we saw it yesterday. And it was beautiful to see such refusal to give up or give in. Such fight--trying hard to the very last shot. Such focus--forgetting the past, eyes looking forward. And beginning again--each day, each hole, each shot.
These guys have been through some tough, discouraging battles--but they kept showing up, kept working hard, kept simply refusing to give up. And the result was a victory. A hard fought, well-deserved, incredibly appreciated, and wonderfully sweet victory.
By the way, that player that had a particularly hard time last year? He was one of the big reasons the Caps won yesterday. Played solid as a rock...even when he had a really tough break on the next to last hole. He could've looked back to last year and gotten tight and discouraged. But instead, he took a deep breath, eyes focused ahead and nailed a long putt on the 18th hole. We all whooped and hollered. He's a senior, and boy, we're going to miss him next year. Because, yeah, he showed us what character does--digs deep and keeps trying and trusting to the very end.
So in case you're in the midst of one of those long, hard, dark seasons of life (and we all go through them, every single one of us), just remember that nothing beats plain old trying and trusting. Just keep showing up. Keep beginning again...who knows what surprises God may have for you just around the bend? And believe me, it will be all the sweeter and greater because of the struggle.
Just ask the Caps.
To God be the glory.
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