Yesterday when I got to my car after school I looked at the screen on my cell phone and saw that I missed a number of calls. When I checked them I found they were all from the same person - my friend Elizabeth. Then I talked to John and found that she called him, too, and that he talked to her. She was very sad and upset.
She came over last night. She needed hugs and someone to care and listen. Yesterday was the two year anniversary of her mother's death. For 21 years her mother was the only person in her world and now she is gone. A few months before her mother died, Elizabeth's dear Siberian husky Timber also died.
Yesterday AM she got a call from her homeless, addicted, dysfunctional father who called her "selfish" because he was cold and on the street.
She is living with her grandparents who don't want her to see or have any relationship to anyone else. She is 23 and lonely, scared and hurting! In short she is having a huge "heart attack"!
As she sat talking to us last night she finally said, "You know, God seems so far away. So much sad and bad has happened to me. I'm afraid my life is over that I will never have friends or a family - someone to love me. I'm so lonely!"
We told her there is a cure for "heart attacks" like hers - Jesus - and that He is the ONLY One who can make a difference in her very hard, very sad circumstances.
Like so many others who suffer "heart attacks" of the same kind, she needs her heart restored as only Jesus can!
Who do you know having a silent "heart attack" who needs God's and your intensive care?
Friday, February 4, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
State of Mind or State of Heart?
My mother has dementia. She is slipping away from us slowly. Due to circumstances in my life I cannot go for a visit until the first week of March. I pray, wonder and desperately hope that SHE will still be - tho' diminished - there when I go. She slips away more with every passing day.
A dear friend - whose mother died a long slow death with Alzheimer's - emailed me this AM: "We are not our minds - or even the sum total of our minds and bodies. But as Mother became worse and worse, I wondered where 'she' was - her real self. I knew she was not lost to God, and I used to pray that the further she went from us, the closer she'd be to God. But I still wanted to KNOW. Watching her decline seemed like looking through the dirty glass of a door that became more and more cloudy as she moved further and further away. So, it became a factor both of distance and of opacity. And the door I was seeing in my mind was like one of those hospital doors with a window, but beyond which only certain people - like patients - can go or be taken. I would imagine pressing my face to the glass and trying to make out something of her shape. Or her smile. But it was all dissolving into fog without substance. ... Cancer and Alzheimer's seem to me to be as good a parable of what sin has done in this world as anything."
She's right! Sin broke us all. Sin breaks our minds. Sin breaks our hearts. Sin breaks the heart of God as He sees our broken world. That's EXACTLY the reason Jesus promises to eventually renew and restore ALL things! It's not over yet and the inbetween is both real and heart-breaking but there is HOPE in what we cannot see. THAT hope is real and certain when we know Jesus! That hope comes from a state of heart - NOT a state of mind!
A dear friend - whose mother died a long slow death with Alzheimer's - emailed me this AM: "We are not our minds - or even the sum total of our minds and bodies. But as Mother became worse and worse, I wondered where 'she' was - her real self. I knew she was not lost to God, and I used to pray that the further she went from us, the closer she'd be to God. But I still wanted to KNOW. Watching her decline seemed like looking through the dirty glass of a door that became more and more cloudy as she moved further and further away. So, it became a factor both of distance and of opacity. And the door I was seeing in my mind was like one of those hospital doors with a window, but beyond which only certain people - like patients - can go or be taken. I would imagine pressing my face to the glass and trying to make out something of her shape. Or her smile. But it was all dissolving into fog without substance. ... Cancer and Alzheimer's seem to me to be as good a parable of what sin has done in this world as anything."
She's right! Sin broke us all. Sin breaks our minds. Sin breaks our hearts. Sin breaks the heart of God as He sees our broken world. That's EXACTLY the reason Jesus promises to eventually renew and restore ALL things! It's not over yet and the inbetween is both real and heart-breaking but there is HOPE in what we cannot see. THAT hope is real and certain when we know Jesus! That hope comes from a state of heart - NOT a state of mind!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
"Yearning to be Free"
Have you watched the news from Egypt the last few days? It's all pretty scary! This morning I watched thousands - maybe hundreds of thousands of people carry signs, yelling and generally expressing their extreme displeasure with the government of Hosni Mubarak.
These images from Egypt aren't far away and irrelevant to our life here. Have you filled your car with gas recently? Well, the sticker price for gas continues to climb. For that reason alone the stability of Egypt has significance for all of us who put gas in our cars. 2,000,000 barrels of oil travel through the Suez Canal every day. Instability in Egypt just might dramatically impact the price of gas in Pennsylvania or wherever you live.
What's the deal with all these screaming, rioting people in Egypt? Are they just "crazy Arabs"? In her poem - "The New Colossus" - Emma Lazarus talks about the "... masses yearning to be free ..." That's the deal in Egypt. It's the "yearning to be free"!
The "yearning to be free" is built into the heart of every man, woman and child who has lived, who lives and who will live. It's a part of being created in the image of God. God created us to be free. Jesus said, "You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." He said, "I am the Truth ..." Blase Pascal - the French physicist of 2 centuries ago - said that we all have a God shaped vacuum in our hearts. It's that very God shaped vacuum that causes the "yearning to be free" because we only find true freedom in Jesus. He alone satisfies the yearning of the heart to be free!
Tyranny can only clamp the lid on freedom for so long and then the "yearning to be free" bubbles to the surface, sometimes at the boiling point as we see on our TV screens streaming live from Egypt.
This "yearning to be free" is ultimately a heart issue. God put into our very DNA this "yearning to be free" that also paradoxically is only fully fulfilled when Jesus the Truth sets us free to be all that God created us to be. That's the Gospel! That's the Truth! And that's the truth!
These images from Egypt aren't far away and irrelevant to our life here. Have you filled your car with gas recently? Well, the sticker price for gas continues to climb. For that reason alone the stability of Egypt has significance for all of us who put gas in our cars. 2,000,000 barrels of oil travel through the Suez Canal every day. Instability in Egypt just might dramatically impact the price of gas in Pennsylvania or wherever you live.
What's the deal with all these screaming, rioting people in Egypt? Are they just "crazy Arabs"? In her poem - "The New Colossus" - Emma Lazarus talks about the "... masses yearning to be free ..." That's the deal in Egypt. It's the "yearning to be free"!
The "yearning to be free" is built into the heart of every man, woman and child who has lived, who lives and who will live. It's a part of being created in the image of God. God created us to be free. Jesus said, "You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." He said, "I am the Truth ..." Blase Pascal - the French physicist of 2 centuries ago - said that we all have a God shaped vacuum in our hearts. It's that very God shaped vacuum that causes the "yearning to be free" because we only find true freedom in Jesus. He alone satisfies the yearning of the heart to be free!
Tyranny can only clamp the lid on freedom for so long and then the "yearning to be free" bubbles to the surface, sometimes at the boiling point as we see on our TV screens streaming live from Egypt.
This "yearning to be free" is ultimately a heart issue. God put into our very DNA this "yearning to be free" that also paradoxically is only fully fulfilled when Jesus the Truth sets us free to be all that God created us to be. That's the Gospel! That's the Truth! And that's the truth!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Cure for Heart Trouble!
Ever experience disappointment? I'm sure it happens to you. It is happening to me just this week. It hurts my heart!
Dwight L. Moody used to say, "If you want to be distracted, look around; if you want to be disheartened, look within; if you want to be satisfied, look up."
So I'm planning to look up to Jesus for my disappointed heart. He said, "Don't let your heart be troubled!" So I think I can trust that he cares about my troubled heart. That's pretty awesome!
Dwight L. Moody used to say, "If you want to be distracted, look around; if you want to be disheartened, look within; if you want to be satisfied, look up."
So I'm planning to look up to Jesus for my disappointed heart. He said, "Don't let your heart be troubled!" So I think I can trust that he cares about my troubled heart. That's pretty awesome!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Death only seems final!
A message for a sad heart: My husband and I drove to West Virginia today to spend a few minutes at the funeral home of a dear friend who lost her father yesterday. Her dad is no longer in pain. He's kicking up his heels in heaven. The hard part is the here and now for those who are left behind. Death does seem so final, but the good news is that it is only final without Jesus! Jesus makes death only the door to eternal life! And that's the Gospel's truth!
I'm Back
Too much life, too little time = long time no blog!
Think about this today:
Quote from old hymn - "There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God. A place where all is peace and rest near to the heart of God. O Jesus blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God. Hold us who wait before Thee near to the heart of God."
Think about this today:
Quote from old hymn - "There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God. A place where all is peace and rest near to the heart of God. O Jesus blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God. Hold us who wait before Thee near to the heart of God."
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wonder What Jesus Thinks???
I have never read any of her books, but I know she is famous for her vampire stories. She is also famous for her startling turn to Christian faith. In 2005 Anne Rice announced she was returning to the faith of her childhood. After years spent groping in darkness and making a fortune writing about the forces of evil and darkness she turned to Jesus, the Light of the World.
On Wednesday of this week she announced, "I quit being a Christian." She isn't done with Jesus. She's done with Christians. She just doesn't fit the mold. She holds to her pre-Jesus values - many of which turn Christians and traditional faith on its head: pro-gay, pro-feminist, pro-artificial birth control, pro-Democrat, pro-secular humanism, pro-science, etc.
While I don't agree with her positions on these issues and others, it saddens me that she hasn't found acceptance for where she is on her faith journey by other believers.
She also says, "I remain commited to Christ as always."
Is she confused and conflicted? Probably, but that's no excuse for the Christians who haven't reached out to be real in their faith toward her. Is her "being done with Christianity" so hard to understand? Not for me, because - even with my own traditional Christian world-and-life views I have experienced a lot of painful rejection from so-called Christians.
Anne Rice and I probably don't know any of the same people who claim to carry the name of Christ and the brand Christian. BUT we've both felt pain and rejection from those who should have been companions on the journey.
I wonder what Jesus thinks about all this. I have an idea that he is very sad. What Anne Rice is looking for is REAL! She wants Christians to accept her where she is not where she may get to be as she gets further along in her faith journey. I'm sure there's a lot about faith and being real she has to learn. So do I!
Jesus came, lived, died and lives forever for people like Anne Rice and me. He always took people just where they were. He loved and accepted them even if they didn't have a set of "acceptable" values. He even defended a woman caught in the ultimate departure from "traditional" values (John 8:1-11) - the adultress who was thrown at his feet by the church leaders of His day. He said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin!" Jesus didn't give the woman a theological or moral exam. He looked into her heart and saw her pain.
Shame on those Christians who have rejected Anne Rice! In their legalism they have dealt potentially mortal heart-hurts to Anne. They just might get the shock of their next life in eternity when they encounter a gay person or Democrat or feminist or secular humanist walking the streets of gold.
Jesus is perfectly capable of taking care of patterns of thought and lifestyle! He deals with hearts - even when that heart belongs to a head not quite "straight" even by Biblical standards! Who are we to say and do otherwise?
Where is our heart when we "cause one of these 'little ones' (aka new believer in Jesus)to stumble" (Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2)? Jesus doesn't stutter when He says we would be better off with concrete shoes at the bottom of the ocean!
Concrete hearts don't get us very far on our own journey with Jesus! What WOULD Jesus think? What DOES He think about Anne Rice and her rejection of Christianity but not Jesus? I think He's probably willing to work with her right where she is in her head. Jesus does His work in the heart. The head stuff comes along as He changes our hearts! That goes for me too!
On Wednesday of this week she announced, "I quit being a Christian." She isn't done with Jesus. She's done with Christians. She just doesn't fit the mold. She holds to her pre-Jesus values - many of which turn Christians and traditional faith on its head: pro-gay, pro-feminist, pro-artificial birth control, pro-Democrat, pro-secular humanism, pro-science, etc.
While I don't agree with her positions on these issues and others, it saddens me that she hasn't found acceptance for where she is on her faith journey by other believers.
She also says, "I remain commited to Christ as always."
Is she confused and conflicted? Probably, but that's no excuse for the Christians who haven't reached out to be real in their faith toward her. Is her "being done with Christianity" so hard to understand? Not for me, because - even with my own traditional Christian world-and-life views I have experienced a lot of painful rejection from so-called Christians.
Anne Rice and I probably don't know any of the same people who claim to carry the name of Christ and the brand Christian. BUT we've both felt pain and rejection from those who should have been companions on the journey.
I wonder what Jesus thinks about all this. I have an idea that he is very sad. What Anne Rice is looking for is REAL! She wants Christians to accept her where she is not where she may get to be as she gets further along in her faith journey. I'm sure there's a lot about faith and being real she has to learn. So do I!
Jesus came, lived, died and lives forever for people like Anne Rice and me. He always took people just where they were. He loved and accepted them even if they didn't have a set of "acceptable" values. He even defended a woman caught in the ultimate departure from "traditional" values (John 8:1-11) - the adultress who was thrown at his feet by the church leaders of His day. He said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin!" Jesus didn't give the woman a theological or moral exam. He looked into her heart and saw her pain.
Shame on those Christians who have rejected Anne Rice! In their legalism they have dealt potentially mortal heart-hurts to Anne. They just might get the shock of their next life in eternity when they encounter a gay person or Democrat or feminist or secular humanist walking the streets of gold.
Jesus is perfectly capable of taking care of patterns of thought and lifestyle! He deals with hearts - even when that heart belongs to a head not quite "straight" even by Biblical standards! Who are we to say and do otherwise?
Where is our heart when we "cause one of these 'little ones' (aka new believer in Jesus)to stumble" (Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2)? Jesus doesn't stutter when He says we would be better off with concrete shoes at the bottom of the ocean!
Concrete hearts don't get us very far on our own journey with Jesus! What WOULD Jesus think? What DOES He think about Anne Rice and her rejection of Christianity but not Jesus? I think He's probably willing to work with her right where she is in her head. Jesus does His work in the heart. The head stuff comes along as He changes our hearts! That goes for me too!
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