What if Jesus Really Is Among Us?

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The Furman family goes up front to light the Hope candle and Little Bit squirms in her seat beside me.

We read aloud of a baby born, one who had no form or beauty that we should desire Him. One whom men hid their faces from.

He was Despised and Rejected.

“Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?” Isaiah wrote it and I wonder it.

We all stand to sing, us all dressed in our Sunday best, heels and ties and I can almost see it stretched into our faces: We think we would do much better. We would welcome Him and serve Him and celebrate Him. We would honor Him as rightful King.  We would not treat our Precious Savior so.

Yet behind our exteriors, I feel the pain of hidden faces, faces turned from deep pain and need. I feel the rejection of one having no form or beauty. I enter the vulnerability of weakness. And aren’t I acquainted with being passed over, of not making the cut?

I glance at Little Bit. She sits there in her black velvet dress, hair flowing and blending and sticking up just a bit with static.

We are like black sheep, I think.

I think of the cardboard box she was found in, the umbilical cord severed and pulsing fresh. Cut off and Despised. Rejected. Passed over.

And it strikes me…what if Jesus always comes just as this? Weak and without beauty?

And why do I tend to look for Him among the stately?

“By oppression and judgement He was taken away,” we read the words, but I can hardly voice them.

This is how we treat Jesus?

“He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.”

“Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.”

And I think He is right here, sitting beside me.

Jesus amongst us.

Doesn’t His name mean God with us and isn’t He close to the brokenhearted and doesn’t He say that when we do something to the least of these, we’ve done it unto Him?

How have I been treating Jesus?

The vulnerable child…the unlovely teenager…the obnoxious family without form or beauty…those with no fancy presentation, no black velvet dresses.

Have I been seeking Him at the Inn when He’s in the stable?

It’s not going to win me popularity or acceptance or an easy life, this seeking Jesus among the beasts and straw and dung.  Staying at the Comfort Christian Inn with all its safety and amenities would be so much easier.

But He’s not there.

I see Little Bit coloring in her seat. I see all her un-lovelies, the rejection that has scarred and marked and distorted. And I see Jesus.

I’m like Mary, birthing the Divine in the stench and cold of a barn. There are no fancy fixins…but there is Immanuel. And being given the opportunity to nurture and love the least of these, the weak and unlovely? Well it’s the opportunity to love and serve Jesus Himself.

For this is how He comes.

I set my Bible down and pull Little Bit into my lap. I wrap my arms around her tight and whisper into her hair. “I love you.” I say it fierce. “You are a precious girl and I’m so glad to have you.” She makes a loud, obnoxious noise right there in church and I just squeeze tighter.

I am in the stable and Jesus is among us.

Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

~Isaiah 53

 

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December 12, 2011

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Filed Under: Adoption, Beauty, God's Self Disclosure

If Today is a “Quitter” kind of Day

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“Steve’s wife’s run off again.”

I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, its just that the old men were talking so loudly over their McDonald’s breakfast that I couldn’t help but hear.

And I thought of another conversation I overhead a few months back. “Did you hear they are divorced now? No wonder, with her being stuck at home with those five kids and all…”

I think of the array of pressures that makes us feel we’re going to implode if we don’t get. out. now.

So we quit our husbands, we quit our kids, we quit relationships, we quit God. Oh, we don’t have to leave to quit either, do we? We can be right there in the middle of it and still be quitters.

There’s another conversation I’ve been privy to. It has changed everything for me. It’s the conversation between a quitter and God. And this woman really did have it bad.

She was a slave and when her owners decided that she was useful for getting what they wanted the most… a child…they used her to get it. Then, after she got pregnant, there was a lot of jealousy and strife so as low hen in the pecking order she was mistreated and abused.

She felt so helpless and alone that she up and left. Ran off. Like Steve’s wife.

She found herself in the middle of a desert. Destitute and pregnant. But she wasn’t alone and she wasn’t without hope.

God met her at her lowest moment and revealed Himself to her so powerfully….so powerfully…that she returned to the couple who had abused her and submitted herself to them.

That’s some kind of God, is all I’ve gotta say.

As I’ve studied the name of El Roi, I’m convinced that understanding the God who sees gives us the capacity to joyfully and willingly endure the hardships in our lives. You can find the bible study here: El Roi Finaland click here to read this post as originally posted.

(Updated post from archives)

July 29, 2011

Filed Under: God's Self Disclosure

When you’re running short on time {Why we need each other}

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Update: Rikki, a sister in Christ and reader, sent me her Lies/Truth Chart and is willing to make it available for anyone interested. It is wonderfully helpful!  (And much prettier than mine!~ smile.) Please email me if you’d like me to forward you her chart.

 

They unfolded the Bibleland board game and asked me how to slide over the rainbow.

“Well, if you land on this green square here,” I pointed at the board, “then you can slide over the rainbow to the other side. You save a lot of time because you don’t have to travel all these spaces.” Fingers trace the path of color that meanders around the board.

Sometimes this mommy needs the shortcut.

I’m the last one in the race and I desperately need to hit the green square and slide over the rainbow if I’m going to stay in the game.

That’s when a family member comes along and shares their tip. They know how to land on the green square.

Someone who has taken the time to do the research; a pastor who has put in the hours of study, a mother who has waded through the hard issues and discovered a solution; a sister who has traveled through found the gem.  And they share in a sermon, a study, a book, a blog post.

In my journey to stay in the game, I stumble upon a 200 word book review…a brief summary of a book I will never have the time to read. And the words are apt, like apples of gold in settings of silver. I thank God for this sister in the family who has taken the hours of reading and meditating and has presented the gem of the material in a simple way that aids me in my journey.

Her few words are just what I need, the way over the rainbow. Thank You, Jesus!

And I give thanks to God who allows us to help others. We can take the gems of our journey and offer them as green squares to others, help them over the rainbow, keep them in the race.

We need each other, this family of Christ.

It is my privilege to now take the simple offering of my studies on the name Adonai, boiled down and presented in a little 5 day study for you and your children… Perhaps they will be apt words, like those apples of gold. Perhaps they will somehow serve you as a green square, the way to keep you in the game when you can’t keep up yourself.

Click here for Adonai: Adonai

Click here for past studies on the names of God Elohim and El Elyon

For those of you unable to download the Cheat sheet from this post, here is a pdf file for the Path of Life

May you slide over the rainbow today, dear friend.

June 27, 2011

Filed Under: Beauty, God Provides, God's Self Disclosure

A Little Note…

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…slipped into my inbox this week. A little word of encouragement, rain from heaven.

A smile and a thanks and I wonder who you are on the other side of this screen. I don’t know who all is reading this quiet little place. What a wonder you are! He has astonished me with your presence!

May I direct those of you who are looking for the Summer study on God’s character to these links? We’ve done two weeks so far (more to come). You can find the downloads by clicking below:

Elohim (Sovereign, Creator)

El Elyon (Most High God, Possessor of Heaven and Earth)

 

May I also suggest a website? I came across this in  my study a couple months ago and it has been such a source of blessing in my life! I especially appreciate the musical reflections for each of the characteristics of God. The site also includes a free download of Dr. Bill Bright’s book “God: Discover His Character” for you to read through as you study along.

{Also links to Discover God 4 Kids as well, a great place to browse around.}  This site will be one you return to again and again!

It’s a privilege to walk this journey with you… because knowing God really is the issue.

“Let him who boasts, boast of this: that he knows and understands Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, on earth; for I delight in these things, says the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:24

June 15, 2011

Filed Under: God's Self Disclosure

The Witness in the Sky

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Summer arrives, bringing with it the 5am song of the bird. Busy schedules and bored children and a tired momma means just one thing: I get up with the sun and keep course with it all day long.

I wake with the birds and watch as the sun lays low on the horizon, a big orange ball, full of glory. He’s like the bridegroom throwing off his covers, coming from his chambers.

I begin the day with the sun, the witness in the sky who ever gives witness to the Lord’s faithfulness. I cling to its course. I hope in it’s message.

It’s after the day is done and the kids are in bed that I step outside again. I haul a chair out to the middle of the backyard and just sit. That’s when I see it, the orange ball of flame again, this time lowering himself on the west side, climbing back into bed.

“From the rising to the setting of the sun, the Name of the Lord is to be praised.” His voice is clear, like the stillness around me.

I started the day with the witness rising in the east and I’m ending the day with him settling in the west and I do pretty well at praising at those two bookends…but how about the in between?

It’s the in between where I can get lost. The voices, the pressures, the distractions, they steer hard. A weak woman can lose course.

But that sun never does. It’s set by God to stay it’s course and keep it’s boundary, day after day after day.

It strikes me: Can the great witness in the sky be a guide? For me?

Each time I see it’s rays, each time I feel it’s heat, each time I’m aware of it’s presence, I can praise the Name of the Lord. And praise is the gateway to His courts.

I pick up the devotional and read:

“Thankfulness opens the door to My presence. Though I am always with you, I have gone to great measures to preserve your freedom of choice. I have placed a door between you and Me, and I have empowered you to open or close that door. There are many ways to open it, but a grateful attitude is one of the most effective.”

“I want you to learn the art of giving thanks in all circumstances. See how many times you can thank Me daily; this will awaken your awareness to a multitude of blessings. Practice My Presence by practicing the discipline of thankfulness.” (40 Days With Jesus: Celebrating His Presence by Sarah Young )

Studying the names of God with the children is giving me loads of fuel for praise. It is stoking fires and igniting new flames. It’s allowing me a fighting chance to keep up with the ball of fire overhead, both of us with a course to run.

Praise is the fuel for life, and this busy momma needs fuel.

By studying His names and pondering His nature, I’m gassing up. I’m reminding myself of What ~Who~ is right in this world.

Together, we are learning how to practice the discipline of praise. We are learning how to fuel a life. We are keeping course with the sun.

{Want some help gassing up? This week’s study on the name El Elyon can be downloaded here:El Elyon

To view last week’s, click here: Elohim }

 

June 13, 2011

Filed Under: God's Self Disclosure, Spiritual Disciplines

Hearing the Unspoken

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It’s on day 4 of week one when the kids go outside for their activity related to Elohim…catch a bug…that things fall apart.

Instead of catching a bug to analyze, they come back with the bug jar filled with crab apples and water. “Look at these, mom,” oldest says. “They are pretty.”

I scramble to relate crab apples in water to our lesson on Elohim and the way He creates even the tiniest of critters with profound detail, imagination, and perfection.

Yet the point of doing this is not to impart book smarts about God, but to discover God’s nature naturally, “these words…shall be on your heart.”

We are so good about teaching to the head…but to the heart? How does one write the truth about God’s good character upon the heart?

“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when your sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Deut. 6:6-7

Doesn’t God provide us with everyday life, natural ebbs and flows, each one of them a chance to imprint hearts with His grace?

Perhaps it isn’t so much in telling but in SEEING. It isn’t so much about head knowing as it is about heart HEARING.

With our lives, we teach our children how to see and hear the heart of God.

So when children bring in a jar of crab apples in water, we change plans.

“Why do you think God made these?” I ask them. “We don’t use them and they just go to a waste growing on that bush and then falling off and rotting.”

The children don’t know. Why would God make something we can’t use, something we don’t eat?

I lean in close to them, know the attention span for words is growing short. “Maybe God made that tree grow in our backyard so that one day, today, you could go out there and pick crab apples and put them in a jar with water and spin them around and have fun doing it.”

Maybe Elohim created lavishly and loves lavishly and wastes no expense, withholds no good, because that’s just the kind of Creator He is.

Maybe He made a trillion stars no human eye will ever see…sea creatures in ocean depths no one has discovered…wildflowers on hills only He knows about… simply because He is lavish and beauty combined and He just spills out and over and if we’ll but open our eyes we’ll discover the lavish nature of the One who planned us special.

Maybe in the midst of dirty dishes and broken hearts and cramped spaces, He wants us to remember there’s a crab apple tree in the backyard.

And maybe if we tune in to the song of the bird and the flight of the butterfly and the way the duck cools itself in the pond, flapping and dousing, we’ll discover the unspoken. We’ll find the language of the stars that declare the glory of God. We’ll hear with the heart.

So instead of talk about the second main verb associated with Elohim in Genesis 1 (the first is “create” and the second is “bless”), I pick up the jar with the crab apples.

I spin. And I smile.

We are learning with our hearts.

Week 1 lessons and activities {very simple, don’t expect awesomeness~ smile ) on Elohim (Just click Elohim again on the next page and it will open) Grace and peace…

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June 7, 2011

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Filed Under: God's Self Disclosure, Seeing God, Shepherding