“Sometimes you ask God to send you some money or maybe a new car and all you hear is silence, followed by the distinctive chirping of that one, lone cricket.  But, ask Him to make you more patient or more loving, or to make you behave more like Jesus, and it seems like there is a stampede out of heaven to answer that prayer!”

That opinion came from one of my friends telling me what she believes happens sometimes when we pray.  Seriously, there are moments when it feels so inconvenient to be in relationship with an absolutely perfect God, …cue my very best whiny voice.  He has His own priorities and values, and insists on doing what He knows is actually the best thing for us;  not what we think is best.  So, let me be the first to confess…

Sometimes…wait… most times when I pray, somewhere, waaaaaaaay in the back of my mind or maybe even on the very tip of my tongue, I already have a few ideas about exactly how God should go about answering my prayers. Subsequently, when it appears He has no intention of listening to my ‘suggestions’, or doing what I ‘suggest’ ought to be done, how it should be done, and when it should be done, I am tempted to get an ‘attitude’ and pout. It is almost as if I forget who is God, and who is NOT God in this relationship. I have decided to go with the ‘temporary insanity’ defense.

Things get even more complicated when He seems to sit back and allow things to get a lot worse.   For example, recently I prayed,

“God, please work a miracle and let my car pass this smog test.”

Well, the car did not pass smog, and I the next day I got a citation for non-registration, when, wouldn’t you know,  I am away from the car and cannot show the officer proof that the registration had been paid, and the car was being repaired.  Not long after the repairs that allowed the car to pass smog, the water pump and timing belt both needed to be replaced at the same time, and the girl at the citation processing center chooses to be particularly rude on a day when I was already finding it hard to behave like Jesus!

“God! Seriously? What are you doing?  I ask you to help me with one thing…”

Then there was the time a friend of mine asked for prayer for her husband who had become a Christian, but seemed not to want to pursue an authentic, growing relationship with the living God. Now doesn’t that sound like a perfectly good prayer request?  So perfectly aligned with the revealed will of God, you should almost hear the stampede out of heaven with the answer.  But, after many sincere and earnest prayers for her husband, he started losing a ton of money from investments, her father ended up in the hospital, they both struggled with serious illness, and on, and on, until I was soooooo embarrassed for God I wanted to avoid my friend, and hide under a rock.

But a funny thing happened on my way to Deeply Disappointed In God Hill, in the town of Sulksville, just north of Pout City.  I realized that I  had unknowingly just driven my car four hours to San Francisco and back with the faulty water pump; which lasted till I was safely home, five minutes from the repair shop. Oh the mercy of God!  And, despite the cost, the repairs on my paid-off car gave me another three to five years without a monthly car payment, to save towards eventually getting a newer car.  Oh the grace of God!  As for my friend, both she and her husband grew closer to God and to each other as they struggled to deal with the troubles and trials. Now I’m embarrassed for me!  Oh the wisdom of God!

Writing to the church in Rome Paul says,

“…He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son… Romans 8:27-29 italics mine

“He makes intercession for the saints…”  It never ceases to amaze me that the Holy Spirit talks to God the Father on our behalf!  As if He doesn’t have enough to do!  But here’s the rub; He only asks for that which is according to, that is, in keeping with, or lines up the will of God.   No matter how hard I try to twist, stretch, or bend the promises in the Bible; no matter how much I “name it and claim it”, or ‘explain’ to God why I must have what I ask for, He knows and understands perfectly that some things He sends  that appear so horrible, will actually help me, heal me, refine me, and some things I pray for which appear perfect to my eyes, could end up destroying me.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.”  Jeremiah 11:29-30

“…and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God…”  Is Paul really saying that in every single circumstance, God is working for our good?   There is absolutely no situation that lies outside the realm of ‘all things’, but I distinctly remember vehemently disagreeing with God about that many years ago, as I was on my way to the hospital to see my son after I had received a devastating call from the county sheriff.

“You cannot fix this!”  I screamed at Him, “How can You fix this?!”  After which God promptly began to work things together for good in supernatural ways, and He is still doing it today, in ways I sometimes see only in hindsight.  This is me, shutting up!

So here’s the thing, who has the character, the power, the absolute control, or the limitless resources, to help you along the path your life will take from beginning to end? OUR GOD DOES!  Believe that when you ask Him for help, the answer He sends is the answer you need, no matter what it looks like.

“He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, will He not give us everything else?”  Romans 8:32

So,  go ahead, ask God for anything you want, and He will answer, guaranteed.  If the answer is not what you expected, it is also guaranteed to be exactly the right one, so have faith in His perfect love, be flexible, adjust your perspective, and keep on… just living the thing.

The next thing I put in that suitcase can only weigh 0.2lbs or it is going over the 50lb weight limit for international travel.   I am almost finished packing for a quick trip home to Jamaica, and then to join a friend for the tenth anniversary of the KLOVE Friends and Family cruise.

Mixed in with my excitement is a little anxiety about some challenging situations I am currently facing, but overarching those emotions is a sense of awe and renewed confidence in the faithfulness of God who hears our prayers, always has the right answer, and no matter how long the delay, He never forgets.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb?  Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.  See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.”  Isaiah 49:15-16

As a single mother of three, vacations allowed by our extremely tight budget consisted mainly of visiting with friends in different parts of California.  But all year I would pinch pennies and save for the one vacation where the kids and I would actually stay at a motel; the four-day summer music festival in Monterey, California known as Spirit West Coast.  There I would watch the promos for the KLOVE Friends and Family cruise and resolve that “next year” I was going to be on that cruise.

I prayed and prayed, and saved and saved but each year the kids got older and necessities and unexpected expenses kept eating away at every attempt to save enough money to go, so eventually I stopped praying about it, and without any bitterness at all took it off my ‘bucket list’.

Meanwhile, someone I did not even know during those summers of going to Spirit West Coast began making plans to go on the same cruise and was all set to be on board in 2012.  However, a happy family event conflicted with the date of the cruise so she had to change her booking to the 2013 cruise.  In the interim her youngest daughter met and became best friends with my youngest daughter when they played on the volleyball for their high school team.  Inevitably, their moms became friends too.

One day, ‘out of the blue’, my new friend shared her plans and said she had been praying for over a year about whom she should ask to go on the cruise with her to share the cabin.  Maybe I should have at least stopped to pray when she asked me, but remembering all those years praying for a chance to go, I barely paused before saying a resounding, “Yes!”  And so it is that nine-plus years after I stopped praying because I believed God said “No” to that desire, my bags are packed, and I’m ready to go.

Hearing “No”, when God actually says “Wait”, brings to mind two women who could empathize with me.  The first is one of my favorite women in the Bible, Hannah, who was a dearly loved wife of a godly and affluent man, but in a culture that stigmatized women unable to bear children; she suffered the social disgrace of being childless, and had to endure the mocking of her rival.

“And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb.  So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.”  I Samuel 1:6-7

 Year after year, Hannah continued to pray and grieve until one fateful day in the temple when the priest gave her a promise from God,

“The Eli answered and said, ‘Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.’  And she said, ‘Let you maidservant find favor in your sight.’  So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.”  I Samuel 1:17-18

 God had heard and answered Hannah’s prayers, “Yes, just wait” .  Eventually she became pregnant and gave birth to Samuel and after he was weaned she fulfilled a vow she had made and gave him back to the Lord to serve in the temple.  Samuel grew up to do monumental things as a prophet of the God of Israel, and when all was said and done, his mother Hannah had the last word:

“And Hannah prayed and said: ‘My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord.  I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.  No one is holy like the Lord, for there is no rock like our God.”  I Samuel 2:1-2

 Abraham’s wife Sarah also struggled with being childless and one can only imagine how often they both prayed to God that she would become pregnant.  In fact the issue was on Abraham’s front burner when in one encounter with God:

“…the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, ‘Do not be afraid Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’  But Abram said, ‘Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless…”  Genesis 15:1-2

 The God of the universe promises to be his shield and ‘great reward’, and foremost on Abraham’s mind is the fact that he and Sarah did not have any children!  God led Abraham outside his tent and directed his gaze to the night sky, with this promise,

“…count the stars if you are able to number them…so shall your descendants be.  And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord, and He accounted to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:5-6

We can only imagine Sarah’s relief and joy when Abraham shared the news!  However, fifteen years went by without her getting pregnant and unlike Hannah, Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands and convinced her husband to have a baby with her maid.  Did Sarah think God had forgotten His promise?  Did she think Abraham had misheard or misunderstood?  Did she choose to believe her biological clock instead of God?  Regardless, the Arab-Israeli conflict that still threatens our world today is one frightening consequence of Sarah’s failure to trust that God had not forgotten their prayers or His promise.

“But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”  II Peter 3:8-9

 So, here’s the thing, whatever that thing, or whoever that person is for which you have been praying for years and years with no obvious results, please do not lose heart!  You may be tempted to believe that your prayers have gone no higher than the ceiling, but God has heard every prayer you have prayed and according to His plan and purpose He will come through for you.

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to Him, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass…Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him…”  Psalm 37:4-5, 7

There is something about “delighting in the Lord” that reshapes your desires to conform with His best for you.  Encourage your own heart with the irrefutable evidence of His faithfulness found in the Bible, in the lives of those around you and in your own life in the past.  As for me, I’m going to try to fit a pair of jeans into that suitcase, and then keep on… just living the thing.

I love classic lines from movies, but somehow I did not expect to hear one in the cotton candy of a movie New Years Eve. O me of little faith!

 “What would you do if you were guaranteed not to fail?  Go out and do that!”

Wait, without the guarantee not to fail?  Makes you think, doesn’t it?  And how about the quote attributed to author and former editor of the New York Post, Norman Cousins

“Death is not the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

But who has time to even look to see what is inside of us that could possibly be dying?  Life can be a slave master, mercilessly cracking the whip of bills to pay, mouths to feed, places to go, people to see.  We exhaust ourselves preparing to go on vacation, tire ourselves out with activities while on vacation, wear ourselves out getting back from vacation and go back to our jobs almost as exhausted as we were before we left.  On and on the cycle goes until we have worn out quite a rut to be stuck in, and it keeps getting deeper and deeper.  No wonder The Purpose-filled Life, was such a best seller!

So, what if you were given only x amount of time to spend here on planet earth, (which you have been), and, what if you could choose to invest that time in things that have both present and eternal value (which you can), then how much of that time x, would you choose to spend stuck in a rut, going around and around and deeper and deeper?

You are not in a rut just because you have had the same routine for twenty, thirty years or more.  If you are where God wants you to be, using the gifts He has given to you in your own unique way, and fulfilling His purpose for you, then it doesn’t matter if you do the same things every day till you die; you are not in a rut.  Instead, you are among the blessed and fortunate few, who have found their place in the world, and are making the world a better place, just because you are here, being yourself, and doing what you were meant to do.

If however, you have allowed circumstances that you know in your heart were meant to be temporary, and made them into something permanent, because of fear of the unknown, or pride of accomplishment; if you know deep down in your gut that God has long since told you to move on but you would not, then you, my friend may be in a nasty old rut.  But don’t feel bad.  Ruts are ninja sneaky!  One minute you are just doing everything you believe you have to do just to survive, keeping yourself busy, busy, busy, then the next time you look, you are stuck in a rut so deep and dark, you cannot even see the tunnel, much less a light at the end of it.

With the x amount of time you have left you can choose to stay there, in the rut, or you can choose to call on God to rescue you,

“He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”  Psalm 40:2-3

Then you can be free to invest the rest of your time, doing whatever it is that only you were uniquely purposed to do here on planet earth. The thing you know you are gifted to do; that thing hidden in your heart that your dreams are made of, that you could work hard at for hours till you are exhausted yet exhilarated because it doesn’t feel like work; that productive thing that blesses others, satisfies your own soul like nothing else, and makes you feel God smile.  Yes, that thing.

There are numerous stories in the Old Testament of the Bible about David: the shepherd, turned songwriter, turned bear and lion killer, turned giant-killer, turned warrior, turned king, turned ‘man after God’s own heart’; enough to make some pretty spectacular movies.  But it is in the New Testament, in only a half of a verse, that I believe the most profound statement is made about his entire life,

“For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died…”  Psalm 13:36

 When David’s x amount of time ran out, he died, but the one thing that truly mattered was that he had served the purpose of God in his own generation.

So, here’s the thing, you owe it to yourself to make the time, and have the courage to do an honest ‘rut check’. If you come to the end of an average day, and know that life may be hard, you may not have gotten everything exactly right, and you are not done becoming all you were meant to be, but you know for sure you are on the right road, living and doing what was purposed for you, then that is great news!  ‘Rut check’ passed successfully.

However, if you come to end of an average day, just dreading the next, and most of the days after that, then, my friend, your ‘rut check’ light may be on and you need to pay attention.  Has someone or something challenged the status quo of your life and made you catch a glimpse of a new direction?  Did the possibilities thrill you and scare you at the same time, while deep in your heart, your “knower” is jumping up and down shouting, “That’s your new road, take it, take it!”?

You can ignore that voice, try to drown it out with busyness, or give it a sleeping pill, but like the Schwarzenegger character promises, it will be back.  Instead, have some serious conversations with God about it.  Talk to the people you trust who want only God’s best for you. Make a plan for the new direction, and before your x amount of time runs out, take that leap of faith and… just live the thing.

Fear can be a tyrant, a dictator, a slave driver; a poisonous snake full of deadly, paralyzing venom.  Not the healthy fear that triggers the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism in your brain to keep you safe from harm, or causes you to have a sense of awe and healthy respect for God, and others in positions of authority.  No, I’m talking about the evil kind; the kind of fear that poisons your relationships, kills your dreams, and paralyzes your potential.

Fear sets no boundaries for itself, considers nothing sacred, is no respecter of person or status, and makes a mockery of all who try to ignore or deny its existence and influence in our lives.  It breeds insecurities, spawns narcissism, and pits us against each other giving rise to feuds, wars, and weapons capable of destroying all life on planet earth.   Fear wears many disguises and can make us talk louder or softer; square our shoulders to strut in arrogant defiance or favor the fetal position, and laughs in our face when we try to stare it down with nothing or no one more intimidating and powerful to back us up.

The only antidote for fear is courage.  Courage is not necessarily the absence of fear, but having the resolve and the ability to do what is right and ought to be done, even if you feel afraid.  Courage is a life-giving and life-sustaining elixir blended from a root called truth, and a spirit called ‘backative’.  Let me explain.

I was about seven or eight years old growing up in Kingston, Jamaica, and spending some of my summer holidays at my aunt’s house when a scandal erupted in our extended family over a distant cousin who had become pregnant at sixteen.  The adults tried to avoid discussing the situation in front of my young cousins and I, but we knew something was up; that being pregnant so young was a scandalous thing, and that everybody was in a tizzy!  Not knowing anything about the ‘birds and the bees’, I pestered and pestered my older cousin to find out how a girl could get pregnant, and when she couldn’t stand the annoyance anymore, she told me that if you swallowed a watermelon seed and then sat next to a boy, you would get pregnant.

Wouldn’t you know it?  Not many days later all the cousins were sitting on the wall that surrounded the yard, swinging our bare feet, and contentedly eating slices of watermelon.  I had swallowed several seeds without a care in the world until, one of the young boys from the house next door decided to jump up on to the wall too and plopped himself down right next to me!  Dear Lord Jesus!  I was torn between giving the kid an almighty shove off the wall, or taking a flying leap off the wall myself, but I was having trouble doing either as fear bordering on terror wrapped around my heart because I knew it was too late!  I was pregnant!

My cousin got in soooooooo much trouble for the torture and torment I went through before I was forced to tell the adults what was wrong with me; how I had gotten pregnant through absolutely no fault of my own.  I don’t even remember who it is that finally told me the truth about how you actually become pregnant, but I do remember the flood of relief as fear fled as quickly as it had come because of my knowledge of the truth.

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  John 8:31-32

Lies open the door of your life and invite fear in to take up residence, but knowledge and acceptance of truth will evict fear and slam the door shut in its face.

I was also a mouthy, skinny, stick of a kid with no chance of winning a fight unless my opponent was a lot smaller than I was, so I learned quickly when to keep my mouth shut, no matter what the provocation.  That is, unless I was with my slightly older, built-like-a-tank cousin, who because he had a really bad stutter since early childhood preferred to fight rather than argue.  I was ‘the mouth’ and he was ‘the fist’.  In Jamaica we call it having ‘backative’!  I would back him up in a verbal battle with my loud mouth, extensive vocabulary, and loads of head-shaking, finger-snapping, arms-akimbo attitude, but if things got ugly and fisticuffs were required, he would have my back.

If you have someone on your side who sees all, and knows all, who has absolute power over everyone and everything that could conceivably cause you to fear, then it is possible to begin to believe that you can be courageous; you can do what is right, what ought to be done, even if you feel afraid.  David knew this well as he writes:

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust…  His truth shall be your shield and buckler (a small round shield)…  For He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. …”  Psalm 91:1-2, 4b, 11.

But even better is God’s reaction to David’s confidence in Him:

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has knownMy name.  He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.”  Psalm 91:14-15

 That, my friend is ‘backative’!

 So here’s the thing, giving in the fear will only lead to disappointment, sorrow and regret.  You do not have to let your fears have dominion over you, cripple you, or imprison you.  Set yourself to know God’s truth about every fear that would torment you, confident that His love and power will always back you up, so you can keep on…just living the thing.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Once upon a time, the story goes, there was a town covered entirely in a thick layer of dense fog for so long that none of the townspeople could remember the last time they saw the sun shine, or felt its warm rays.  It was a strange kind of fog too, one that seemed to come alive in the daytime as they went about their business; it twisted and swirled, curling and rising like an angry snake about to strike.

One day a strange old man walked into the town, who was able to diagnose the problem, as well as offer a sure-fire solution.  As it turned out the thick, dense fog was caused by the townspeople themselves; their constant grumbling and complaining about their problems, their resentment of their neighbors whose problems appeared so small and insignificant when compared to their own, and just their general discontent and constant bellyaching, had polluted the air and blocked the light and warmth of the sun.

The solution was simple….well, as simple as simple can be in storybooks and fairy tales  A clothesline was strung up across the town square, and everyone was to pack up all their troubles and trials in a sack and secure it to the line.  Next, all the townspeople would line up for a race some distance from the line and when the old man gave the signal they were to run as fast as they could and grab any sack of trouble they wanted to have.

They could hardly believe their luck!  In no time flat the sacks were hung, and the townspeople were lined up on the other side of the square, eager to finally trade in their own troubles for their neighbors’.   Each pair of eyes moved rapidly from the old man to the sack they had their eye on as they waited for the signal to go, but as time went on, and the old man seemed in no hurry to start, their eyes lingered longer and longer on their neighbors’ sack of troubles and trials and something strange began to happen.

As each person looked more intently at his neighbor’s troubles, they began to feel sympathy and genuine concern for their neighbor, and to be grateful that they did not have to deal with those particular problems.  There was still no signal to start the race and everyone was beginning to regret their grumbling and complaining, as their own sack became more and more appealing, when seen in the light of the sun!

They were hardly aware that as their new sentiments grew the fog was dissipating, so by the time the old man finally gave the signal to go, everyone was running as fast as they could to recover their own sack to troubles and trials in the warmth and light of blue skies and bright sunshine.

I was a little girl living in the Bob Marley version of a tenement yard in a poor neighborhood in Kingston, Jamaica when I first read that story in a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica Bookshelf for Boys and Girls.  My mom had literally pinched pennies to make the monthly payments for the thirty books that made up the encyclopedia, because she knew that I would never be a reggae singer or track sprinter, so the only way out of poverty she saw for me would be to get a good education.

Back then I found it hard to buy into the plausibility of that story because at seven years-old it seemed to me that the lack of money was the source of most, if not all problems, so given the choice I believed I would have run as fast as I could to grab a sack that had no money problems!  Age, wisdom, maturity, and maybe a little too much exposure to reality TV has drastically changed that belief.

Every person on this planet earth has their own personal sack of troubles and trials.  Everyone!  So much of how well we are doing in life is about how we perceive and manage our own sack of troubles, as well as how we regard and respond to the contents of the sacks other people have to carry.

Winifred Woe-is-me has the victim/martyr mentality of those who continually grumble and complain, oblivious to the plight of those whose problems they deem to be less serious than their own.  On the other extreme, Larry Look-at-me is full of the prideful arrogance of the self-righteous who trumpet their ability to carry their burdens and have only disdain for the struggles others have trying to do the same.

To be honest, when I first came to believe in Jesus Christ I was kind of hoping that protection from trouble, some kind of ‘immunity bubble’, would be part of the redemption/salvation package.  But why should there be?   Believe me, there would be a whole lot more hypocrites and phonies in the church, if you could make your troubles disappear just by saying, “I believe in Jesus!”  Instead, Jesus warned His disciples,

“…In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Paul knew that troubles could be put to good use in our lives by the sheer power of God to help us overcome them, and to make it all work for our good.

“…we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character hope.”  Romans 5:3-4

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” I Corinthians 10:13

“…and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  Romans 8:28

But the best news about our sack of troubles is shared by David, who knew troubles both as a shepherd boy and as a king, and Job, whose very name is synonymous with troubles and trials.  They both affirmed God’s absolute control over what troubles are allowed to come to each of us who believe in Him, and He guarantees our victory over them in time and/or eternity.

“For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.  You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.  You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.” Psalm 66:10-12

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers Him out of them all.” Psalm 34:19

“But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10

Personally, I would rather not have any trouble at all; I wish my character could be refined and my compassion for others increased with a little blue pill, taken with a glass of good port wine.  However, since that cannot be, the absolute next best thing is to know beyond a shadow of doubt that every trouble that comes to my life first had to be approved by God, who loves me perfectly, and already has a plan in place to turn my test into my testimony.

So this is me, hope in my heart, eyes fixed on Jesus, bravely shouldering my sack of tailor-made troubles, and still  just living the thing. 

In the past month my television viewing has run the gamut from Little Einsteins and Octonauts, with the six and five year-old brother and sister I babysat for a few days, to  The Lord of the Rings trilogy and two seasons of Downton Abbey with my girls. But it was during one of those year-in-review news programs that it finally dawned on me just how much of our history, science, culture, and even entertainment continually celebrate the resilience of the human spirit.

It is a good thing when we, who have become so jaded, so easily bored, still experience awe and wonder at the capability of human beings to survive and eventually even thrive after overwhelming natural disasters, like hurricane Sandy; in the face unspeakable horror, like the mass shooting and murder of twenty innocent kindergartners in Newton; and against all odds, like the many stories of  those who should have died, yet lived, of loved ones thought lost forever who were found and returned to families who never stopped believing, and innocent people who would have died in prison, but were set free by the truth and choose forgiveness and healing, over anger or bitterness.

This resilience, this fortitude, this endurance of humankind may be summed up and explained in a single word, hope.  Every day, in ourselves and all around us, we see irrefutable evidence that “hope springs eternal in the human breast”.  It is why we enter yet another PCH sweepstake, or resolve once again to lose weight; why tens of thousands flock to Times Square on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the possibility of a better year and why those exhausted parents still pray at the bedside of their cancer-stricken child lying in St. Jude’s Research Hospital even after the doctors have done all they can do.

Hope rises in our hearts like a determined plant pushing, forcing, its way through that single crack in the concrete sidewalk, against all reason and rationale, to produce a single bloom; a flower blossoming where no flower should be. So we say, ‘while there is life, there is hope’, but the converse is also true, because while there is hope, life remains.  If all hope is gone we die, even while we live, but where there is even the smallest flicker of hope, there is life, even if we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death itself, that great equalizer of men and extinguisher of life and hope.

Life and hope are inextricably linked, but hope does not exist in a vacuum.  In his poem Work Without Hope, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote,

“Hope without an object cannot live.”

Thus, even more significant than the mere presence of hope, is the overwhelming importance of the object of our hope.  The only kind of hope worth having must have a solid foundation it is built on; a source, some constant fuel that keeps it alive and burning in the brightest daylight or the darkest night, with enough power to bring to pass and make real the very things we hope for.

In fact, the object of our hope is the very essence of religion, even for those who claim to follow no religion at all.  Where we choose to place our hope reveals who or what we truly worship (give the highest value to), exposes our motives, charts the course of our desires and determines where we invest our resources.

Some choose to put their hope in nature; in the natural order of things, building their lives and belief systems on the unsure and constantly shifting foundation of scientific research and discovery.  Others choose to place their hope in humanity; believing that when all is said and done the good that exists in the human heart will eventually overcome all that is flawed, self-centered and evil in each of us; that wars will end, gun control or something else we come up with will stop mass shootings, and the United States Congress will pay off this country’s debt and balance the budget.

As for me, while I respect the immense faith of those who put their hope in nature, or in mankind, I choose to put my hope in God; in His power, plan, and purpose as revealed in the sixty-six books of the Bible, written by at least forty different authors, on three continents, in three languages over a period of 1600 years, yet never changing or contradicting each other and all agreeing that the very essence of His being is perfect love for every last one of us. Yes, I choose to put all my hope in that, right there!

In his letter to the church in Rome the apostle Paul wrote,

“For whatever things were written before, were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope…  Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:4,13

The Psalmist David wrote,

“You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word…Uphold me according to Your word that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.” Psalm 119:114, 116.

Hundreds of years later Corrie ten Boom found sustaining hope in those very words, amidst the horror of life in a German concentration camp, as told in her autobiography, The Hiding Place.

“Nothing will change you more deeply or sustain you with more hope than hearing God speak to you in the Bible.” (Dr. Larry Crabb in 66 Love Letters)

Life is always uncertain, and none of us knows what the future holds,

“…But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never  ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore, I… will… hope… in… Him.’” Lamentations 3:21-24

Just living the thing.

Perfect love… that is what Christmas means to me; no more the ‘accidental’ offspring; the result of a ‘mistake’; the best made of a bad situation.

None of those realities matter at all anymore because perfect, pursuing, unconditional, unending, and unfailing love, came at Christmas.  Mary held Him in her arms and kissed his face.  God became man because He would not…could not…stop loving us.

Therefore, in the best of times; and in the worst of times, no matter how, or when or where, I will celebrate the Christ of Christmas …because He came.

12.       Because He came…perfect love has come

“…Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

11.       Because He came…our deepest needs are fully supplied

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…to comfort all who mourn…to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…”  Isaiah 61:1-3

10.       Because He came…there is light in the darkest times

“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light; and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.”  Matthew 4:16

“He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”John 1:2-5

9.         Because He came…we are saved to abundant life

“I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:9-10

8.         Because He came…reconciliation with God is possible

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight…”  Colossians 1:21-22

7.         Because He came…we have the right to become children of God

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13

6.         Because He came…there is correction but never condemnation

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”  Romans 8:1

5.         Because He came…we are saved to purpose

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship (masterpiece) created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10

4.         Because He came…there is equality for all in the presence of God

“For you are all sons of God of God through faith in Christ Jesus…there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26,28

“But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation…” Ephesians 2:13-14

3.         Because He came…one day there will be no more war

“He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4

2.         Because He came…we have hope

“…Eye has not see, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9

1.         Because He came…He will come again!

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.  God Himself will be with them, and be their God.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.  There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’  Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’  And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.’” Revelation 21:3-5 

“Now may the God of peace Himself, sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.”  I Thessolonians 5:23-24

 Have a blessed Christmas, and purpose-filled New Year!

“Official reports now confirm, Christ-mas has indeed been hijacked!  The surprising suspects include the beloved Santa Claus and his band of merry elves, the notorious Disney crew, and the Peanuts gang.  And in other news, after attempts by several members of the retail mob family to kidnap Thanksgiving, it has been taken into protective custody at a secure location, until the suspects can be apprehended and returned to Greed Penitentiary.”

I had to earn my United States citizenship, and studying American history was still part of the naturalization process; so as a result, I fell in love with Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiving Day, and American football…which technically was not in the history book, but was one tradition I readily embraced, along with pumpkin pie and marshmallows, …which I cannot explain.

It seemed to me that Thanksgiving was one of the few things the British refugees and American Indians got absolutely right, whatever happened down the road.  And if  they went around the table saying what they were thankful for, it probably would be some of the same things we hear around our tables; family, friends, provision, and so on.  Then, as now, the true significance is in the choice to put everyday life on pause; to have an attitude of gratitude, despite the struggles and strife of the past, the perils of the present, or concerns about the future.

So, seriously?!  Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving Thursday?  There are already at least three hundred and sixty-four other days in the year to shop!  It is time for the proverbial frog to jump out of the boiling water; to draw a line in the sand; to take a stand for truth, justice and the tattered shreds of the fabric that remains of the American family way, before we are destroyed by our insatiable appetites for more of…anything and everything.

And even with all those shopping days, I have searched three Christmases now for a lighted Nativity scene display for my front yard, among the plethora of Santas, Mickey Mouses,…or Mice, Charlie Browns and Snoopys, all to no avail. Yes, I may have scared the salesperson at the large department store just a little when my frustration erupted into:

“Whose freakin’ birthday is it supposed to be?!”

I know …I must behave better; exercise more self-control.

Thanksgiving is my yearly opportunity to appreciate the people, and experiences that are part life on planet earth, with all its joy and sorrow, and to turn to God with a heart full of thanks that He keeps on giving. It is the perfect set-up for my most favorite holiday of all, Christmas.

Every year as Christmas approaches, I am overwhelmed by God’s greatest gift of all; packed up in Jesus’ human body, wrapped in strips of cloth for a bow, and laid in an animal trough instead of under a gorgeously decorated and lit Christmas tree. Over and over I play Handel’s entire ‘Messiah’, while I decorate, wrap presents and bake traditional Jamaican Christmas cake, made with fruit soaked for months in so much rum and port wine, the house smells like a bar.

It was Johnson Oatman Jr. who wrote the words of one my favorite hymns describing something that will forever be a mystery, even to angels, and I hope will explain why Thanks-Christmas means so much to me.

There is singing up in Heaven such as we have never known,
Where the angels sing the praises of the Lamb upon the throne,
Their sweet harps are ever tuneful, and their voices always clear,
O that we might be more like them while we serve the Master here!

Holy, holy, is what the angels sing,
And I expect to help them make the courts of Heaven ring;
But when I sing redemption’s story, they will fold their wings,
For angels never felt the joys that our salvation brings.

But I hear another anthem, blending voices clear and strong,
Unto Him who hath redeemed us and hath bought us, is the song;
We have come through tribulation to this land so fair and bright,
In the fountain freely flowing He hath made our garments white.

Then the angels stand and listen, for they cannot join the song,
Like the sound of many waters, by that happy, blood washed throng,
For they sing about great trials, battles fought and vict’ries won,
And they praise their great Redeemer, who hath said to them, Well done.

So, although I’m not an angel, yet I know that over there
I will join a blessèd chorus that the angels cannot share;
I will sing about my Savior, who upon dark Calvary
Freely pardoned my transgressions, died to set a sinner free.

For me, Thanksgiving is short-sighted, Christmas pointless, and the entire human experience without meaning or purpose if Jesus is removed from any or all of it.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in Him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.  For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.”  Colossians 1:125-20

So here’s the thing, I absolutely refuse, on principle, to go shopping on Thanksgiving Day; and for Christmas I adamantly refuse to decorate my yard with Santa, Disney, or Peanuts characters in place of Jesus Christ!  On these issues I conscientiously choose to be intolerant and narrow-minded and humbly beg forgiveness if I cause offense. But this is the point at which I feel compelled to say, “Enough!”, if I am to keep on…just living the thing.

I want to believe that in heaven there will be Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, which taste exactly the same but are miraculously loaded with vitamins, minerals, and everything good for you, while brussel sprouts will not even make it to heaven because they will be full of trans-fats, carcinogens, and ‘evilness’.  Blame it on the episode of Undercover Boss I watched the other day which featured Kat Cole, the young CEO of Cinnabon who has a fascinating story of success that is worth a foray into Google just to check it out.

Throughout the episode she did something I seldom see heads of corporations do; repeatedly expressing her gratitude to the people who recognized and acknowledged her potential, took a chance on her, and did all they could to open up opportunities for her to move up the corporate ladder.  Success did not make her forget the people who throughout her career did not see her as a threat, but were secure enough in themselves to give her a hand up.

So today I woke up thinking about heaven and cinnamon rolls, but most importantly feeling the need, once again, to celebrate and emulate people who look back down whatever ladder they have climbed, or are climbing, and give a hand up to those below them. The people who do whatever they can to stop dreams from turning to dust; who are instrumental in moving us from our, “Aha!” moments to the, “I did it!” shout of victory.

In a culture preoccupied with the myth of being entirely self-made, too many stories of success omit or gloss over the credit due to the person or persons who steered us in a direction, made a phone call, wrote a check, or in some other way made the next step toward a personal or professional goal possible.  And the highest commendation should go to those who give a hand up with grace and humility, not seeking recognition or glory for themselves, but who find their greatest reward in the act of helping, not in the accolades or benefits they may gain from their actions, immediately or in the future.

Which brings me to a reality TV show at the other end of the spectrum, which I could stand to watch only once, Shark Tank; the most accurate portrayal I have seen to date of corporate abuse and greed, attempting to pass itself off as giving a hand up to struggling entrepreneurs.  These multi-millionaires and billionaires offer to risk money they would barely miss, or may write off on their tax return, demand majority share in the fledgling business or outrageous rates of return on their investment, and are rude and insulting in the process.  It was heartbreaking to watch that spectacle.

I will be eternally grateful…literally, that God was willing to offer a hand up to the entire human race solely because of His inexplicable, yet unwavering love for us.

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.  But God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8

I know you might have been expecting me to quote John 3:16 for a minute there,

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

But Paul’s declaration to the church in Rome is a much more powerful reminder that God had everything to lose, and so little to gain, yet His perpetual, pursuing, perfect love, compelled Him to make the greatest sacrifice, to give us a hand up; to change our eternal destiny, and He did it while we were still a hot mess!

There is a scene that comes to my mind, more frequently around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, of a somber meeting between God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Humanity, the crown of Their creation, is in a hopeless situation, destined for eternal destruction, most unaware of their fate, and with no way to save themselves.

Love drives the decision of the Godhead to rescue mankind; to give “whosoever will believe” a hand up out of the quicksand of eternal death. The Son would take on human form and be given the name Jesus, (Hebrew for Savior),

“…for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

He would live a perfect life and then die a horrible death in full payment of the penalty for every sin.  Standing there, on the edge of eternity and time, clothed in the fullness of His divinity, omnipotent and omniscient, Jesus knew.  He knew that in our quest to be gods ourselves, most would reject His sacrifice, use His name as a curse word, and even deny His existence…and… still… He… came; He stepped over the border from eternity into time, arms outstretched, to bring hope to the hopeless.

So here’s the thing,… if life has you barely holding on to hope by your fingernails, have courage and hang in there. Keep your eyes and heart open because help is coming; God always has someone out there willing to be His hands, and able to give you a hand up.  And while you are waiting, do not even entertain the temptation to take a hand up from the person holding handcuffs in their other hand; God did not send them, and it will not end well.

Also, regardless of where you are on the climb of life, don’t be so preoccupied with your own journey that you forget the plight of those who are stuck in places where you have already been.  Look back once in awhile, and be ready and willing to give a hand up, not for reward or glory, but to celebrate and emulate all the people in your past who have given you hand up, and God Himself will be pleased with you for…just living the thing.