Monthly Archives: August 2011

In Case of Emergency

31 Wednesday Aug 2011

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“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” ~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

On almost every form you fill out these days, they ask for an emergency contact.  Doctor forms, insurance forms, school forms, even spa forms.  Everyone wants to know who to contact if something were to happen to you.

But sometimes you need someone to call when it’s not a medical emergency – maybe you’re having an ethical struggle, maybe you’re at your wits end emotionally and you don’t know what to do next.  (Maybe your smoke detectors continue to go off in the night, in spite of changing all the batteries…oh wait, that’s mine.)  Whatever it is, there are often life emergencies that require help.

Who do you call when those kinds of emergencies happen?

Today’s verses from Ecclesiastes teach us that whatever is happening in your life, it’s good to have the kind of friend you can call with a crisis.  Having someone help you with your work means you’ll increase productivity.  But even more so, there’ll be someone there to help you when things go wrong.  Because we all need someone to pick us up every now and then.

I hope and pray that there is at least one person in your life that would be the kind of friend who will help you through a difficult time.  But if there isn’t, look for opportunities to meet the kinds of people who could be – church groups, Bible studies, prayer meetings.  We all need to know that there is someone who will stick by us – no matter what happens.

Alarmed

30 Tuesday Aug 2011

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“For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.” ~ I Thessalonians 5:2

I hope your night last night was more restful than mine.

After finishing the book I was reading, I turned out my light and went to sleep.  Only to be awoken, two short hours later, but the heart-stopping shriek of my smoke detector.  After I landed on my bed, having levitated a few inches in the air, I’m sure, I realized that it was the, “Hey, you need a new battery” screech, not the, “Hey, your house is burning down,” one.  Which was good news, but not good enough.

Foolishly, though, I decided that I had several more hours before it would go off again, so I allowed myself to go back to sleep.  No dice.  At three, the alarm sounded again, this time launching me completely out of bed.  Since I couldn’t quite tell where the sound was coming from (there are three smoke detectors very close together in my house) and since it was so loud, I assumed it was the detector in my room.  So I went tumbling down the stairs (literally – I missed a few near the bottom), walked barefoot into my garage, and hauled the ladder back up the stairs.  While I was climbing up the ladder, I was praying intelligent things like, “If I fall, please help me fall toward the bed.”  You see, my ceiling is vaulted and I’m not very tall.  So here it is, three o’clock in the morning, and I’m trying to balance on the top of a six-foot ladder to reach an eleven-foot ceiling, in order to change the battery in my stupid smoke detector.

Battery successful changed, ladder put in the hallway, back to sleep.  Wrong again.  Twenty minutes later, the shrill sound came again.  I used my last nine-volt battery to change the one in the hallway, and fell back into bed.  I was sure that I had gotten the culprit this time, but, to paraphrase the knight from Indiana Jones, I had chosen poorly.  Fifteen minutes later, I was up to the same awful, inescapable sound again, finally knowing which detector the racket was coming from.

However, I was also out of batteries, so I did the only thing I could: I pulled the entire thing apart, put it outside on my front porch and went back to sleep for the few precious hours I had left.

Now, today I have been to the store and bought eight more nine-volt batteries.  Today I am prepared.  I have replaced all the batteries in every smoke detector in my house, including the one in my basement.  I have also put on my calendar in June 2012 to change all the batteries, so I don’t have a repeat of this scenario next year.

Yesterday, I was not prepared for the middle-of-the-night alarm going off.  Just as some people won’t be prepared for Jesus’ return.  As this verse in Thessalonians tells us, it will be sudden and unexpected – you don’t plan for a thief in the night or to be awoken suddenly by alarms ringing.  But it happens just the same.  The big difference is that upon Christ’s return, there won’t be a second chance to be prepared.  I can buy batteries and mark my calendar, but you can’t run out and tell Jesus to go back and come again, since you weren’t ready.

So rather than put it off, be sure you’re ready to meet Jesus today.  That way you will know you are ready for the unexpected return our Lord has promised us.

Hacked

29 Monday Aug 2011

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“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” ~ I Thessalonians 4:13-14

In this day of non-stop technology, social networking and email eclipsing regular mail, you probably know someone who’s been hacked.  Maybe it was their Facebook page, maybe it was their email, but whatever it was, you knew right away because suddenly they started sending you nonstop junk.

I got one of these emails today, but it was a little more jarring than usual.  My phone dinged its cheerful little chime, telling me that I had a new message; I picked it up and read my husband’s name in the sender line.

For a split second, I thought God had relented on the heaven-to-earth email setup I’ve been bugging Him about, but then I realized that it probably wasn’t the case.

No, as it was, someone in Indonesia had cracked my husband’s password and promptly spammed everyone on his contact list.  I was able to change his password and hopefully fix the situation, but it was still an unsettling moment.

And I think what was most unsettling was the heart-lurching moment of hope that preceded the crash of reality.  Wouldn’t it have been amazing if the email really had been from my husband?  What a moment that would have been.  He was always a person who took the time to find the right words to say precisely what he wanted to, so an email from heaven would have been a descriptive missive to behold, I’m sure.

But after reality hit, I was left thankful that, even though it probably won’t be today, I will see him again.  And get to talk him, too.  I have that hope in Christ.  It makes my heart hurt for all the people who lose someone and they don’t have that hope.  Because for the unbelieving, earthly separation is truly the end.  There won’t be a joyful reunion in eternity.

If you are a believer in Christ, thank God today that you don’t have to grieve as the world grieves.  And while you’re at it, pray for those who don’t believe, that they might find Christ and the amazing hope that comes from Him.

Simplicity is All You Need

28 Sunday Aug 2011

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“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” ~ I Corinthians 13:13

Faith, hope, and love.

There is nothing in life that you can’t accomplish with these three things.
If you have faith in Christ, you can move mountains.
If your hope is in Him, you will never be disappointed.
Since He IS love, and loves you, you will always have love.

And Love never fails.

Worth Its Weight

27 Saturday Aug 2011

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“It cannot be bought with the finest gold, 
   
nor can its price be weighed out in silver. 

It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir, 
   
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli. 

Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it, 
   
nor can it be had for jewels of gold. 

Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; 
   
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.”
~ Job 28:15-18

Over the last five years, I have (surprisingly enough) become somewhat techy.  Although I never would have imagined that I would end up with a job that involves maintaining a website, I have certainly surpassed the point where I only use Word on my computer.  A lot of the credit is due to my late husband, who was something of a technology wizard.  He could learn code for programming a website by flipping through a book at Barnes & Noble.  Anything that involved technology, he could figure out.  It was also part of his job, as a mechanical design engineer, to do really amazing stuff with technology.

As a result, not only did I have to learn a lot to keep up with him and understand what he was doing at work, I also learned some interesting tidbits along the way.  One of them, which stuck in my brain, is the fact that many companies add weight to their products.  Have an iPod or an iPad?  It’s very likely that Apple added weight to it, beyond its necessary components.  That’s because they know that the consumer believes something is more valuable if it weighs slightly more.  Interesting.  In a world where people are always wanting to make things better, faster and cheaper, companies are now having to add things back into their products so people won’t feel like the product is light and, therefore, cheap.

The idea of equating weight to value is hardly new.  I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “worth its weight in gold,” which came about because gold is the most precious of metal, thus something that was worth the weight in gold would be very valuable indeed.  There are many references in the Bible to something being worth its weight in gold or silver, but I particularly like this passage from Job.  Wisdom is worth far more than its weight in silver, in fact, wisdom cannot be bought at any price.

But do we truly put the value of wisdom at this great height in our society today?  We prize our technology, making it central to our lives and often become very dependent on it.  Do we do the same with godly wisdom?  It is an interesting thing, to put the two side-by-side.  Which do you give more weight to and, by doing so, more value?

Declined

26 Friday Aug 2011

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“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” ~ Revelation 20:12, 15

Today I had something happen that shocked me: I went into a store to make a purchase, the cashier rang me up, swiped my credit card, and the word, “DECLINED” was printed across my receipt when normally I would sign it.  I was surprised, confused and more than a little embarrassed.

I felt all of these emotions because I am a very diligent credit card user.  For starters, I only have one and I pay it off at the end of each month.  And while I do use it a lot, I use it for things I would normally buy, because I get points at one of my favorite stores for using it.  So why pay good money for something, when you can pay good money for something and get to spend “free” money at a cool store?  It’s a win-win, in my opinion.

So I stood at the counter, holding my little boy and experiencing all of these horrified feelings, knowing that the second I walked in the door to my house, I would be on the phone with customer service, clearing up the matter.  In the end, it took no time at all to resolve, because the company simply didn’t recognize the charge and were trying to protect me in case my card had been stolen.

But after I got off the phone, I thought about how awful seeing the word, “Declined,” had felt.  It was terrible.  Such a little thing, really – a single word.  And for something that I really didn’t need (I wasn’t buying water, food or shelter) – I could have left the store and been just fine.  But I hated thinking that I was a responsible person and still being declined.

And then I read today’s two verses from Revelation.  We will be judged based on whether or not our names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Verse twelve is very specific to show that no one is exempt from judgment – John says he saw the dead, “small and great.”  No matter how much of a big deal you are here on earth, there is no escaping standing before God.  And people will stand before the throne, thinking that they have been responsible people here on earth, only to be met with the ultimate version of being declined, because they have not accepted Christ and their names cannot be found in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

My hope and prayer for you today is that you have accepted what Christ did for you on the cross; that He has forgiven your sins.  And that through this, your name has been written down for all eternity in His book, so that you will never have to stand before Him and hear the word, “Declined.”

Definitely Human

25 Thursday Aug 2011

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“Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear.” ~ John 18:10

“Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, ‘You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?’
He denied it, saying, ‘I am not.’”~ John 10:25

Oh, Peter.

I am so thankful that he was included as one of Jesus’ disciples.  And even more thankful that the Scriptures are God-breathed, otherwise I doubt we would ever ready about Peter’s more spectacular shortcomings.  I know if I were Peter, I would have been looking over John’s shoulder, repeatedly saying something along the lines of, “Does that really need to be in there?  Wouldn’t it be better just to leave these verses out?”

But no, God orchestrated the contents of the Bible, so here we have forever preserved Peter’s sword-wielding, denial-filled evening.  What I appreciate about Peter is how closely I can relate to his act-first-think-later approach to life.  There are so many moments when I have done exactly that, and then had plenty of time to think about – and usually regret – my actions later.

Yet Peter’s story is so much more than just the humanizing of the disciples.  He isn’t just a hotheaded fellow that walked with Christ.  He is a hotheaded fellow who was redeemed by Christ, and what a difference that makes!  Peter’s story should be such an inspiration to all of us, because while God included his flaws in the Gospel, He also included something pretty amazing.  He included Peter’s redemption and growth, so that we could all know that God can use us, human failings and all.

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” ~ Matthew 16:18

Stranger

24 Wednesday Aug 2011

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“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” ~ Romans 12:2

As I was getting my little boy ready for bed tonight, I had an odd thought.  I wondered what my husband would think if he could walk in the front door right now.  What would he think about all the changes I’ve made around the house?  The painting, the rearranging?  What would he think about our son?

Even more so, what would he think about me?  Would he be surprised that I’m working from home, even though that wasn’t the plan?  Somehow I doubt it – he knew me too well.  And what would he think about how much the past fourteen months have done to change me?

I think he’d be proud of me – proud of us – and how we’ve handled things.  I really do.  But I also know that it would take some reacquainting, because I am not the same person I used to be in many, many ways.  And that’s okay.  In fact, it’s better than okay, because I think God has done a lot with the raw canvas I ended up after my husband’s death.

I love that this verse implies that the renewing of your mind is ongoing – it tells me that God will be working on me for the rest of my life.  To me, today, it’s nice to know that I will always be a work in progress, because there’s always room for improvement.

You Will Choose

23 Tuesday Aug 2011

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“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” ~ Joshua 24:15

Every day, we make dozens, if not hundreds of choices.  To get up.  To sleep in.  What to eat for breakfast.  To exercise.  What to wear.  To work hard.  To slack off.  To talk to a friend.  To have lunch with a coworker.  To be respectful.  To be kind.  To be impatient.  To do what’s right.  To gossip.  To do what’s important.  To help someone.  To be selfish.

The choices we make are endless.  If I choose not to go somewhere, but to stay home and work instead, I am not helpless in that decision.  My work does not hold me hostage.  I am making the choice to work hard for the job I am being paid to do.  Tonight, I chose to put the laundry and the dishes away right after my son went to bed, instead of sitting down to relax first, because I knew I would enjoy my time more if all the chores were done.  It was a choice.

Occasionally, we forget that we have choices in almost every aspect of our lives.  A friend was recently sharing her frustration in having to attend so many functions without her husband (something I understand, since I have to attend everything alone since my husband’s death).  But it is still a choice.  Yes, it is important for him to work hard to care for his family, and in that, he is making the right decision.  Still, a choice.

I love this verse from Joshua, because to me it is one of the ultimate truths from the Bible: you WILL choose each day whom you will serve.  Even if you aren’t thinking about it in those terms, every decision you make and action you take will reflect just exactly whom you are serving.

Who does your life say you are serving today?

First Day

22 Monday Aug 2011

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“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” ~ Isaiah 43:19

Today is the first day of school in my community.  As I went for my run this morning, there were lots of families getting ready to go, kids walking to school in sneakers so new they were stiff, backpacks the size of small cars and lots of nervous excitement.  Some kids are off to new schools, hoping to meet new friends and fit in.

My little one and I are having a normal day at home.  Today has been, more than any other day, a really weird day for me to be a work-at-home parent.  I taught for six years and was a full-time student for pretty much my whole life before that, so the first day of school has been a big deal for as long as I can remember.

But in a lot of ways, it’s kind of nice.  While there is always a thrill that goes along with the first day of school, as a teacher there is a lot of work that goes into it as well.  I’m thankful that my new job is a little more even keel than teaching, in that I have ongoing projects that I’m working on, but they aren’t subjected to the pace of anyone other than myself.  In teaching, you can plan every minute of every day, but those plans might go right out the window, depending on the class you have.

And it’s fun to know that in a few short years, I will be helping my little boy to get ready for his first day of school.  It’s a great reminder for me that even though things in my life have been altered from the course I thought I was on, that life keeps moving ahead and we learn and grow every day.  God is always doing something new around us – we just need to be aware enough to look for it!

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