Start looking up!

         One of my favorite Dietrich Bonhoeffer passages shared in a sermon in London on December 3, 1933:

          "You know what a mine disaster is.  In recent weeks we have had to read about one on the newspapers. 
         The moment even the most courageous miner has dreaded his whole life long is here.  It is no use running into the walls; the silence all around him remains...The way out for him is blocked.  He knows the people up there are working feverishly to reach the miners who are buried alive.  Perhaps someone will be rescued, but here in the last shaft?  An agonizing period of waiting and dying is all that remains.
         But suddenly a noise that sounds like tapping and breaking in the rock can be heard.  Unexpectedly, voices cry out, 'Where are you, help is on the way!'  Then the disheartened miner picks himself up, his heart leaps, he shouts, 'Here I am, come on through and help me!  Just come soon!'  A final, desperate hammer blow to his ear, now the rescue is near, just one more step and he is free.
         We have spoken of Advent itself.  That is how it is with the coming of Christ: 'Look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.'" (Luke 21:28)

          That is Christmas--the divine rescue operation is finally, in God's perfect timing, launched.   God invades His creation--now marred by sin and death--and with the first gulp of air filling the infant Messiah's tiny lungs, He begins the glorious process of reclaiming, restoring, redeeming His beloved children. 
         Begun in a lowly animal's feeding trough, that rescue operation would end on a wretched wooden cross on Calvary.  Oh, but the most glorious plan ever to save humanity would not end on that lonely hill.  No, no, "raise your heads" and look up as the resurrected Lord conquers sin and death and secures your redemption!
         We were once all like that utterly hopeless, helpless miner...but now Christ has come!  Christ has conquered.  And Christ--Emmanuel--is here, with you, with me, right this moment and in all of our moments all the way until the end of time and into eternity.  He has already won your freedom, assured your salvation, and opened the way out of the darkness and desperation and into His glorious light. 
         Stop regretting the past.  Stop fretting over the future.   Stop looking down...and start looking up for your redemption is drawing near!
         No matter what's happening in your life today, pause right now to look up, remember, and rejoice in the freedom and redemption Christ has already won for you and in the wondrous future you will have with Him forever. 
         To God be the glory.   
   

At Christmas...remember God saves

        "She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." (Mt.1:22)
         The horrendous news swallowed up by the glorious news:  We are sinners, everyone of us.  We live in a sin-sick, broken world full of fellow sinners...but God has sent us a Savior.  And His name is Jesus, which means "God saves."
         Today, let those words sink in: God saves.  That's not just what He does.  That's who He is.  The always and forever omnipotent, omniscient Almighty Lord, Creator and Sustainer of Heaven and Earth--that awesome God saves and He is salvation.  He came to earth to bring and to be our Salvation.
       Sometimes in the midst of the wrapping and lights and cookies and craziness and shopping and lists...we forget.  But then perhaps sorrow suddenly overcomes us or failure discourages us or waiting weakens us or weariness overwhelms us or simply the cares of this old world remind us once again that we are imperfect, broken people living in an imperfect, broken world...but God saves!  God sent a Savior and His name is Jesus.  Jesus came to forgive, to love, to free, to save, and He is--even now--making all things new.  And He is coming again.
         Often it takes those difficult times in our lives to enable the good news to breaks upon us with all its astounding wonder and glory.  And in that sense the sorrows, disappointments, and failures in our lives are gifts, truly gifts that open our eyes to glimpse who God is and what He has done in sending us Jesus...and it's incredible, awesome (in the true meaning of that word!), and joyous beyond all imagining.
         Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote a song many years ago that was prompted by seeing a prisoner--head bowed in shame, shackled by his hands and feet--shuffle onto his plane.  The sight prompted  Chapman to write a song, "Remember your Chains," and it's always been one of my favorites.          "Remember your chains.  Remember the prison that once held you before the love of God broke through.  Remember the place you were without grace.  When you see where you are now  Remember your chains and remember your chains are gone."
        That's who we were--prisoners of our sin, shame, failure, envy, pride, and selfishness...but then God's love broke through and He sent a Savior at Christmas.  God saves.
        Not just God saved.  God saves.  Here today.  In that deeply held disappointment and sorrow that hides within your heart--God saves.  In that fear of an uncertain future--God saves.  In that painful, broken relationship--God saves.  In that terrible diagnosis, disease or death--God saves.  He is present.  He is powerful.  He is enough.  He is able.  He will one glorious day redeem all those ugly, shattered places in our lives and in our world, and when He comes again, He will make all, all, all things new.
          Today, in the midst of all your happiness or busyness, your waiting or discouragement, your sadness or exhaustion, your fear or anxiety, simply pause and reread the beautiful, wondrous story in His eternal, God-breathed Word.  It's the story of a sovereign Lord who loves you so infinitely much, that He came to you, to me, to this whole world, to save.  He came as a baby.  He lived, died, and rose again to save as a Redeemer.  He will return as a King.  And He is, even now, making all things new.
         Oh please, today, remember your chains...but then remember--praise God--your chains are gone.  Remember God saves. 
        To God--the Savior, the Chain Breaker, the One who makes all things new--be all the glory.

"I love you, too."

        "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By all this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)
         Do you know when Jesus said these words?  Not while happily strolling along the Sea of Galilee on a sun-drenched day.  Not while peacefully sitting on a mountain top, savoring the view with his friends.  Not while laughing with delight over the love and excitement of children clamoring to be near him.  Not while the multitudes were listening to His teaching with rapt attention and rejoicing over His miraculous healing of the sick. 
          Nope. Jesus said these words immediately after Judas--one of the disciples whom Jesus had chosen, had loved, had taught, had poured Himself into--took bread from Jesus' hand at the last supper and then went out into the darkness to betray this One'd loved him and come to save him.  Jesus said these words knowing that in a few hours He would live them out with His suffering, with His blood, with His very life.  He would be betrayed, abandoned, beaten, and nailed to a rough wooden cross for Judas' sin...for their sins...for your sins...for my sins.  All to demonstrate the boundless, beautiful extent of His love.
         Jesus was born in a cradle at Christmas in order to die on a cross at Calvary.  That is how much He loved us.  And He commands us that "just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." 
        Love means loving as Jesus loved--when others are at their best...and at their worst.  When they "deserve" our love...and when they don't.  When we feel like loving...and when we don't.  When our circumstances are all sunshine and flowers...and when they're more like typhoons and muddy muck. 
        I've been thinking about this a lot recently for that's how my sweet sister-in-law, Katherine, loved.  Nothing fancy or earth-shattering.  She simply showed up and loved, day in and day out. 
        Isn't that how love behaves? Yes, love sacrifices.  Love forgives.  Love encourages.  Love appreciates.  Love thanks....
        ...but love also, at it's most basic level, simply shows up...day after day, through thick and thin, in busy and barren seasons, whether it's easy or challenging.  Love keeps showing up.   
         The words of our daughter, Janie, when she spoke at Katherine's Home-going service expressed this so beautifully, so I thought I'd share her comments.  (But an important note first: Janie absolutely, positively was nowhere as difficult as she claims here!  No question she was strong-willed, but God used that herculean will after her accident to enable her to fight back and recover.  So praise God that He uses even our weaknesses for our ultimate good and His glory!) 
        Here are Janie's words:
         "For those of you that knew me as a child, I feel I should apologize for some potentially not so fond memories. If temper tantrums were an art, I was Picasso at age 5. I knew every button and could press them all simultaneously, it was a dark gift. I was not an easy child to be around for longer than 5 min. If you got to 6 min, you had front row seat to the Janie tantrum show. All this to say, at certain points in my childhood, I was understandably intolerable. Aunt Katherine was one of the few, the mighty, that showed up for it all. I was stubborn, but Aunt Katherine was even more stubborn… because she refused to be absent in the midst of all my antics.
         She showed up for the attention seeking stage. I would perform the song Britney Spears song “Oops I did it again,” complete with dance moves and background music, literally hundreds of times for my loyal audience member. Each time she couldn’t hide her laughter I would stomp my foot, turn off the music, and start over because I wanted to be taken seriously. I would scold her for not giving me the deference I was due as a serious aspiring 5 year old performer, and each time she would vehemently agree with me and tell me that I was the greatest singer/dancer she had ever seen. She showed up even when I was being ridiculous because I needed someone to affirm in my dreams, no matter how silly.
         She showed up for the vanity stage. In elementary school, I was convinced that I was at the pinnacle of fashion. This meant that I had to have my hair slicked back on my head like a mobster from the 20s. I would make Katherine perform the role of stylist, which consisted of about an hour of doing and redoing my hair. Each time she put my hair in a ponytail and smoothed down all the sides with water, I would look in the mirror and yell “I see a bump!!” and she’d do it again. And again. And again. I usually started crying at some point during the 25th iteration and Katherine would wipe the tears away and say matter of factly “, don’t worry, I will make it perfect!” She showed up even when I was being exasperating because I needed someone to tell me it was going to be okay.
         She showed up for the jealous stage. I use to count my presents every Christmas and compare what I got with what my siblings got. I was at the age where quantity meant infinitely more than quality. One year, when I thought that Katherine had gotten my siblings more than she had gotten me, I went to DEFCON 1 and threw a fit that to rival all fits. I refused to talk to anyone for a good part of the day. But Katherine came and sat with me, even as I was trying to give her the cold shoulder. She said all the presents in the world wouldn’t be enough to represent how much she loved me. She showed up even when I was being ungrateful because I needed someone who would love me without expecting any thanks.
         And Katherine never stopped showing up. Whatever I went through, whatever I did, she was there for it. She taught me that standing side by side through thick and thin is the best way to love someone. Even if they’re stubborn, even if they’re ridiculous, even if they’re exasperating, even if they’re ungrateful, keep showing up. I am eternally thankful for Katherine because I learned so much from the way she loved me when I was hard to love. I am better for it. I love and miss her dearly, but I will carry the example she set for me until I see her again."
       
         The last words our family heard Katherine utter on the night before she went home to heaven were "I love you too."  And isn't it remarkable that on the very same day in Texas those were also the very last words of George H.W. Bush.  "I love you, too."  Oh might those be the words that those we love hear from us over and over again, from first to last.  Don't just think it, say it.  
        Love is why Jesus came at Christmas.  Love is why He died at Calvary.  Love is what He's commanded us to do.  Might others know us not by our accomplishments, our appearance, our accolades, or by anything this world so often applauds, but by the way we love.  Love God and love others.  Think how we could transform this old planet if we would love like Jesus loved. 
       Let's start by simply showing up...today...and then tomorrow...and then the next.  Because aren't you so thankful that Jesus showed up for you over two thousand years ago at Christmas?  Thank You, Lord Jesus, and I love You, too! 
        To God be the glory.

Because of Jesus...more alive than ever

        Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  I Cor.15:51-57
        Praise You Lord that today this is reality for my dear sister-in-law.  Freed from the chains of sickness and cancer, freed from the chains of sin and death, and now truly, fully alive in You.  Alive as never before. Alive in ways we cannot imagine.  She is truly Home for Christmas for the first time this year. 
       How we will miss her...but how, even in deep grieving, we rejoice for her and for all those dearly loved friends and family who have entered Your glorious Kingdom.  Dear Jo Anna--her first Christmas in heaven.  And Ray.  And Lynda.  And Sam.  And so many others. 
       At this time, of all times of the year, how thankful we are for Jesus--for coming to this old earth, for wrapping Himself in our flesh, experiencing all our sorrows and pains and challenges, dying for our sins, conquering sin and death and rising to new life.  And because Jesus lives, Katherine lives...and JoAnna and Ray and Lynda and Sam and so many others live. 
        How I love the words of D.L. Moody written shortly before his own Home-going: "Some day you will read in the papers, 'D. L. Moody of East Northfield is dead.' Don't you believe a word of it!
At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all,
out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal --a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body."
         Katherine--and all your believing loved ones--are not dead.  Because of Jesus and His coming at Christmas, they, too, are more alive than ever before. Because of Jesus and His coming at Christmas, we shall see them again one day.  Because of Jesus and His coming at Christmas, we, too, can rejoice with Paul, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" no matter what chains of sorrow, sickness, or difficulty confront us at the moment. 
          O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. 
          To God--to the Lord Jesus who came at Christmas and conquered at the cross--be all the glory. 
     

Because of Emmanuel, in the midst of lament, we rejoice

        Right now I'm listening to the haunting, yet stunningly beautiful strains of a single piano playing "O Come O Come Emmanuel."  It surely is one of the most powerful of all the Advent/Christmas carols, and it nearly always moves me to tears.  The minor key, the lament, the longing for Emmanuel to come...and to come in the midst of this world's sorrow and brokenness.  O come, please come, dearest Lord Jesus, and "free Thine own from satan's tyranny.  From depths of hell Thy people save.   And give them victory o'er the grave." 
         Yes, "Thou Day-Spring come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows put to flight.  Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel." 
         Isn't that the kind of Advent and Christmas so many of us are celebrating/mourning/rejoicing/lamenting?  Yes, it feels like Narnia--where it's "winter but never Christmas"--but we know, we call to mind, we remember and then we choose to rejoice that You came and broke into this sin-sick, broken world to redeem us and, as the carol says, to save us from the depths of hell and gave us victory over the grave. 
       Thank You, Thank You, thank You, Lord Jesus!  Help us to remember in the midst of our struggles and sorrows that You came, You are here, You are with us and in  us, You will never ever leave us, and You are coming again to make all, all, all things new. 
      You will defeat and destroy forever the sin that hurts us...and the cancer that robs those we love of health and life...and the brokenness that haunts our world and harms Your children that You love and for whom You died and rose again. 
      Our family is enduring one of those hard, dark, winter times right now with my dear sister-in-law very sick.  But as  heartbreaking as it is at the moment, her future is utterly, wonderfully secure.  One day, she will step into heaven and experience unimaginable glories, love, peace, joy and wonder.  Praise You, Lord, for the hope and promise of heaven!  She and all who love the Lord have infinitely more ahead of them than what is behind them.  Life on this planet is but a speck, a dot in the limitless ocean of God's glorious forever.
      How I love these words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written to his fiance while he was imprisoned in a Nazi prison cell.  He would be executed months after writing these words...but oh how they speak to all of us who might be going through our own winter suffering right now:
        "We shall both experience a few dark hours--why should we disguise that from each other?  We shall ponder the incomprehensibility of our lot and be assailed by the question of why, over and above the darkness already enshrouding humanity, we should be subjected to the bitter anguish of a separation whose purpose we fail to understand...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God.  Our eyes are at fault, that is all.  God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment.  No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives."
        Whatever winter you might be enduring right now, please remember that "God is in the manger" but He's also on the throne of heaven and earth and He is with us.  And He is bringing unconquerable wealthy in your poverty, light in your darkness, and succor in your abandonment. 
       Emmanuel--"God with us"--is with you, in you for you, behind you, beside you and before you.  He will put "death's dark shadows to flight" forever and ever when you wake up in the eternal wonders and glories of heaven. 
         And so, in the midst of lament, we rejoice.  O come, O come Emmanuel. 
        To God be all the glory.   

Choosing thankfulness...on Thanksgiving and everyday!

        Happy Thanksgiving!  What a wonderful holiday—lots of delicious food eaten with people you love, celebrating the amazing story of the pilgrims and indians and the gift of our great nation, and doing it all with a deliberate and intentional focus on thankfulness.  Not to mention, none of the pressure and craziness of shopping for gifts and desperately trying to create the perfect Pinterest Christmas!  What’s not to love! 

        But seriously, gratitude should not, must not be just a once a year holiday we celebrate or a short-lived activity we engage in for a few weeks every November.  As Cicero said many centuries ago, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”  And I really think nothing has a more transformative impact on our attitude, our witness, our contentment, and indeed our lives, than being thankful people.  And as believers, that means first and foremost thankfulness to Almighty God both for who He is and what He’s done, as well as thankfulness to Him for His many blessings in our lives.  And also consistently expressing thankfulness to the people He has so graciously put in our lives. 

        As believers we have the joyful, amazing privilege of daily going to the throne of the Lord of the universe and giving Him thanks and praise.  G.K.Chesterton once wrote that “The worst moment for any atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.”  And that’s the point behind singer Andrew Peterson’s wonderful song called, “Don’t you want to thank someone?”  He sings about dark, long nights…and then the beauty of the morning sun burns thru the mist or when, after a hard, bleak winter, “spring arrives and warms you like a mother’s kiss”—“Don’t you want to thank someone?  Don’t you want thank someone for this?”

        I couldn’t help but think of Coach Jim Valvano after NC State won the national championship in basketball years ago.  Immediately after the winning shot, Valvano starts running around with his arms outstretched.  He’s overcome with joy and wonder and excitedly, almost desperately looking for someone to hug.  Yes!  That’s what overwhelming thankfulness will do for you—you want, you must find someone to thank and with whom to share it!

        Try being grumpy and irritable when you’re thankful—you can’t do it!  Gratitude displaces fretting and complaining like nothing else!  One more G.K. Chesterton quote that’s always been one of my favorites.  He declared, “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled with wonder.”  Read that again—“gratitude is happiness doubled with wonder.”  (That’s Valvano!) Don’t you love that!

        Over and over again, God’s Word commands us to be thankful!  Read thru the Psalms—you’ll see it time and again, “Give thanks to the Lord,” “Enter His gates with thanksgiving,” “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name.”  And Paul’s epistles, oh my, constant, overflowing thanksgiving!  “I give thanks to my God for you,” “I do not cease to give thanks for you,” “We ought always to give thanks to God,” and on and on! 

        Here’s the thing—have you ever wondered what God’s will is for you in your life?  Well, I can tell you what God’s Word makes crystal clear on that subject, and it’s in I Thess.5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  God’s will for you is to give thanks in all circumstances.  How well are we doing that?   

         Jon Bloom writes that  the repeated commands in Scripture to give thanks “are not the exhortations of a vain deity. They are the loving prescription of the Great Physician; they are the loving reminders of our caring Father. Just like a parent helps a child to cultivate thankfulness through frequent reminders, God intends his frequent reminders for us to give thanks to him to help us experience the profoundly healthy and deep joy of seeing grace and feeling grateful.  And like all of God’s greatest blessings, He has made our thankfulness something that gives Him glory and gives us joy! He gets the glory of being the grace-Giver, and we get the joy of being grace-receivers and the gratitude-feelers.”  That’s a win-win!

        Giving thanks is a habit that must be cultivated like any other—the more you do it, the more habitual and second nature it becomes.  And the more habitual, the more you will find your mindset and attitude being joyously transformed.   Mary Mohler, in her wonderful book, Growing in Gratitude, reminds us when we make thankfulness an intentional mindset, it becomes like an overflowing fountain that continuously spills over and splashes joy and thankfulness to all around us. “If others happen jostle us,” she writes, “we spill gratitude.”

         So how do we do it?  We simply start choosing to obey God’s simple, health-giving command to “give thanks in all circumstances.”  Maybe you all already keep a gratitude journal, but if not, (or of like yours truly, you’ve let that habit slip away!) how about if we commit (or recommit) to doing that starting today?  Here’s one suggestion: get a notebook and every evening before going to bed, write down 3 things for which you’re thankful.  Make the first item on your list everyday something about Almighty God, His character, or His works for which you’re particularly thankful.  And then write at least 2 things for which you’re grateful that day—whether it’s a lovely sunrise or your child coming home from college or the hug of a friend.  And then here’s the kicker—let’s try to keep this up past Thanksgiving and all the way into the new year and beyond! 

        God has been so extravagantly good to us—even in the hardest, darkest times of our lives—for He is always with us, behind us, before us, beside us, in us, and for us.  Let’s start counting His blessings, His gifts—big and small—and in the process, not only will He be glorified, but we’ll be strengthened and encouraged as we remember and recite His relentless goodness.  

          To God be the glory.  

Open your eyes...and then thank Him!

        Good night!--its been almost a month (and quite the busy one), but I'm thankful to be back. The last time I was here, Halloween was still a few weeks away...now we're staring Thanksgiving in the face.  It sounds so terribly trite, but oh my how time flies! 
        And whew, thank goodness for Thanksgiving, surely the best time of the year, and how badly we need it right now.  There's our horribly polarized and divided culture, the relentless mud-slinging political ads (providing another good reason not to watch too much TV), and the general negativity and incivility in public discourse...I could go on, but why?  Do we really need reminding of mankind's all too evident sinful, selfish nature?  And that includes me...and you. I always think of G.K.Chesterton's famously response to a newspaper's request to write an answer to the question "What is wrong with the world."  He simply wrote back, "Dear Sirs, I am. Sincerely yours, G.K. Chesterton."  Yep, that pretty much sums it up.   
        But all the more reason that we all need to hit the pause button, take a step back, look around with new eyes to see how much good God has showered upon us (in spite of ourselves), and then look up with gratitude. 
         It's all grace. All, all, all, God's amazing grace. 
         Just this morning--walking Bingley on the quiet greenway in the early morning stillness...the cold, bracing air...the sun beginning to filter through the changing, brightly colored leaves...the scattering of fallen leaves making a gentle carpet beneath our feet...the sweet face of our happy dog as we walked...the deer sauntering up ahead across our path. 
         What did I do to create any of that?  What did I do to earn it?  Nothing. Nada. All grace.  All by the gracious Creator.
        How about lunch the other day with two dear friends...or dinner last night with folks we love...or text messages from priceless buddies on a trip in Israel...or Bible study with amazing women...or planning Christmas with my wonderful sisters and family...or having any of our children home (JOY!)...all the wondrous gift of the people we love--all grace, grace, grace. 
         Watching our beloved Tar Heels lose again in football...but on a spectacular fall day...cheering our hearts out while those boys--bless them!--played just as hard as they could...seeing that lovely campus bathed in autumn colors...hugging our son who gets to go to school there...simply being alive and breathing and seeing and laughing and eating.  So many simple but oh so wonderful joys, gifts of grace and more grace.
           None of it earned or deserved, but all grace.  All gifts from our gracious, glorious God. 
           So a very simple message that I'll be coming back to again and again over the coming weeks: have we thanked Him?  Have we thanked the Author and Finisher--not just of our faith but also of all the stuff of our daily existence?   Surely fall is an a time when His handiwork explodes all around us in riotous color, smells, gifts and more gifts. 
          Today, take time to pause and open your eyes to see--really see all that's around you.  There's so much, but we allow the familiar to blind us to the extraordinary.  Look around at His extraordinary work, and then look up and thank Him for His gifts and for His amazing grace. 
         “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” Ps.107:1
         Aren't you thankful you have Someone to thank?!  Yes, He is the One! He is the Giver!  He is the God of all grace!  Open your eyes, look around, and then thank Him! 
         To God--the relentlessly good and gracious Giver--be all the glory.