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Posts Tagged ‘Where did you find God today’

Were You There?

Posted in Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on March 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

When I was growing up there were a series of children’s books called You Are There – years later a few became TV movies. They took kids back to historic events and embedded them in the moment.

The next four days of Holy Week are often overshadowed by the preparations for Easter.  But without them, there would be no reason to celebrate Easter, would there?  There is an old hymn –Were You There? that brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it.

This week – will you go there?

Thursday – Will you sit in the Upper Room and be shocked when Jesus bathes your feet, and then claims the bread and wine are Him? Will you shake your head in disbelief when Judas leaves the table.

Will you stay awake one hour and pray Thursday night into Friday morning as your Lord requested in the Garden?

Friday– will you picture yourself in the crowd as they shout for Barabbas to be spared. Will you weep silent tears when you see the crown of thorns trickle blood down His brow and watch as He skins his knees on the rocks carrying the cross? Will you see His muscles ripple under sting of the Roman whip?

Will you hold Mary as she watches her son die the most excruciating death possible and sink to your knees when Jesus asks God to forgive us all. Will you smell the sweat and blood mingled with the bitter vinegar on the sponge, and then hear the clank of the ivory lots as the soldiers gamble for his robe and sneer at him?

Saturday – as you rush around getting the last ingredients you need for the Easter meal, iron the Easter dress, mow the grass for the Easter Egg Hunt, or clean and decorate the church and plant the flowers…

will you take a moment to remember the disciples as they huddled in sorrow, fear  and disbelief in the Upper Room too bewildered and ashamed to pray, waiting for the soldiers to come, drag them away and crucify them as well?

Then come Easter morning, you may be even more ready to rejoice and proclaim the greatest miracle of all –

HALELLUJAH- THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED!

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In the Middle of a Cross

Posted in Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , on March 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

It stands silently overlooking a city in the Texas Hill Country. A simple symbol of faith for any who want to make the trek up the cedar and mesquite faced mound to pray in the meditative garden at the base. Some come with hope, others with curiosity. Some with faith clasped inside, others seeking it.

kerrville cross

Come, walk or drive up the hill and watch this massive “Empty Cross” grow in dimension. Stand inside of it and realize how big God is and how tiny your worries, doubts and anxieties are once surrounded by His towering, loving presence.

Many have been showered with mysterious sparkling dust, others have received healing here, or have seen and photographed the bizarre lights that seem to bounce in and penetrate the garden.

Located off I10 in Kerrville, this 77 foot sculpture is chilling to witness.

Even if you a cannot pilgrim here, the power of this testimony to Christ can still impact you.Close your eyes and picture yourself in the middle at the base, surrounded by God’s power, love and strength.  Be shletered in the shadow of His mercy. Feel His warmth in the rays that penetrate the steel, sense His Holy Spirit in the breeze that kisses your cheeks, and plant your feet on His sure foundation.

www.thecomingkingfoundation.org .

At His crucifixion,they cried, “Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” (Mark 15:32)

But, instead Jesus conquered the cross on which He hung, then defeated death and rose again. To Thomas and to each of us He says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed .” (John 20:29)

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What Will You Lay at His Feet?

Posted in Christian, tagged , , , , on March 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

palm sundayTomorrow is Palm Sunday, when according to the Gospel of John, people laid palms at the feet of Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. But why?

Have you ever been to a wedding where the flower girl strews pedals before the bride enters? It is an ancient custom to cover the ground for someone important so they will not get dirty. It is to show respect. It was especially done for kings. The Gospels of Mark and Matthew also mentions people laid their clothes down, similar to the act by Sir Walter Raleigh to the queen centuries later when he whisked off his jacket to cover a mud puddle so she wouldn’t dirty her shoes. That is where rolling out the red carpet comes from as well.

If you had been there on that glorious day, what would you have laid down for Jesus as He passed by your way?

We are told we need to lay our burdens at the foot of the cross. But what else will we lay down for Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?  The answer: everything, because it is His. We are just stewards.

Tomorrow after you wave palm branches at church or  wear crosses woven out of them on your lapel, consider what you can lay at his feet.  Lay something new down each day between now and Easter morning. It will make celebrating His resurrection even more spectacular if you do.

 

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Without the G

Posted in Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on March 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

She was driving down the road, saw this sign and could barely hold her cell phone still long enough to take the picture while she roared with laughter. She texted me- “Why would I rent sin? I don’t even want to borrow it!”

sin for rent

My fellow Christian writer from Canada sent this to me and I asked her permission to use it.  Evidently someone didn’t know how to spell. They left out the “g” in  the word sign.

What happens when we leave out the “g”?  Same thing.  If we do not have God in the cetner of our lives, the “i” takes over and we resort back to our sinful nature. But with the G in the middle, we become a sign for all who are seeking something more.

Oh, and the rent part? Well, are we not really His– as is all creation? We are just the caretakers while on this earth.

Signs are supposed to point to something. When people look at you today as they go about their busi-ness, will they see the “g” in the middle, or not?

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In a Saint

Posted in Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , on March 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

st patBlessed St. Patrick’s Day. The patron saint of Ireland, he is best known as being the pied piper of snakes- driving them all from the Emerald Isles.

But, he was so very much more.  He was first and foremost an amazing missionary born in the late 4th century.

He was born into a Roman high society family who lived in England. His grandfather was a priest and his mother was a relative of another later to be saint, Martin of Tours.  But Patrick, though surrounded by Christianity, was not really taught the Bible, nor did he become educated. 

He was captured by pirates when he was 16 and enslaved for six years in Ireland.  But during that time, God touched his heart and he accepted Christ. He stated that prayer was the only thing that helped him survive. In his prayers he kept having visions of the pagans of Ireland as slaves needing to be freed by the blood of Christ.

But when he was freed, he didn’t rush off to save the Irish. He went to a French monastery and studied and prayed and prepared for his God-given mission before spending the next forty years walking Ireland and telling people about his Savior.

Patrick developed the Celtic cross by taking Irish pagan druid symbols and transforming them into the symbol of faith – a symbol now universally associated with the Irish folk themselves.

Today, millions of children and teens are still enslaved throughout the world. Some are forced to be soldiers, others sex toys.  Many just endure horrible labor conditions with no regard to their well being. But they are loved by the same God who reached out to Patrick.  Pray for them.

Is something enslaving you right now? Let Christ reach in and touch your heart. Then, like the wise Patrick, let Him prepare you in His time with what you need to tell others your story – the story of freedom.  Let His love transform your old ways into the ways of the Cross. That is where you can find God today.

St Patrick’s prayer –

 

I bind unto myself today The strong Name of the Trinity, By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three.

 

I bind this day to me for ever. By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation; His baptism in the Jordan river; His death on Cross for my salvation; His bursting from the spicèd tomb; His riding up the heavenly way; His coming at the day of doom;* I bind unto myself today.

 

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me. Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

 

I bind unto myself the Name, The strong Name of the Trinity; By invocation of the same. The Three in One, and One in Three, Of Whom all nature hath creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word: Praise to the Lord of my salvation, Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

 

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In a Sermon about wallowing with pigs

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , , , on March 11, 2013| 2 Comments »

Have you ever been “wowed” by a sermon? Yesterday in church, I was.

The Scripture for the day was such a familiar one- the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Somewhere in Heaven, volumes must be stored up on this parable. One of my favorite oldie but goldie Contemporary Christian songs is “When God Ran” by Benny Hester and sung by Phillips, Craig & Dean.

 

 

 

But, my priest, Chris Culpepper at Christ the Redeemer Anglican,  decided to concentrate on the least talked about person in the parable. Not the son, not the father, not the elder brother- but the man the prodigal son turned to after he’d squandered all his money.  “After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in the country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country , who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” ( vs. 15-16)

 

That citizen , our wise pastor said, is the father of lies.  The citizen of a country not our own as the children of God, i.e. the world. The world is in famine for love, acceptance and truth, yet it seeks it elsewhere than in its Creator. Instead of humbling ourselves to our Heavenly Father, we think we have done too much to ever return to Him.  So we turn to another- a substitute father.  He gets us to do things we thought we’d never do and convinces us that is the way things are because of what we’ve done.

Pigs were taboo to the Hebrews. This son had sunk as low as he could. And here is the key- no one gave him anything.  Not food, not shelter, and certainly not forgiveness.

My priest challenged us, and I pass it on to you. What is it that you have yet to come to God about? Is the father of lies whispering that you are too sinful? Is your pride keeping you from feasting on God’s mercy? Are you  instead starving for His grace, but afraid to receive it?

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.     (I John 2:1-2)

Stop wallowing in the mud of your past with the pigs. Don’t listen to the whisperings of the father of lies. Listen to Jesus and come home.

 

 

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Grungy Dime

Posted in Biblical, Christian, tagged , , , , , on March 8, 2013| 1 Comment »

During a meeting,  I detected a coin on the floor. At first I thought it might be a penny. Someone probably dropped it then decided it wasn’t worth the effort to retrieve it. The coin was so grungy and dark, even when I held it up to the light, I couldn’t discern its denomination.

800px-One_dime_1976_revisedCuriosity, or latent OCD, got the better of me. I shoved it in my pocket. After I got home, I rubbed the coin with a squeeze of toothpaste. I saw bits of Eisenhower’s face. I rubbed some more. I saw the year it was minted and the inscribed words “Liberty”. I flipped it over and rubbed the other side until the images of the torch, olive branch and oak branch surfaced. No more mystery. I held a shiny dime from 1976, minted in Denver. Not a penny.

It reminded me of the woman who searched for her lost coin in Luke’s Gospel. While nine remained on the table, she hunted and hunted for the tenth one.

[Jesus said] “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10

 

What does the lost coin symbolize?  A lost soul in need of a Savior? Most definitely.

But I can see where it can also be that deep hidden sin lurking out of sight. The grungy one we’d prefer not to deal with yet. We say, “Lord, let’s tackle the easy ones first. The nine  lying open on the table. This one’s being swept under the rug for now, okay? Don’t search for it.”

Human wisdom tell us to let sleeping dogs lie. There are some issues better left alone. But godly wisdom disagrees with that philosophy. Sin begins to cling to us like dirt. We become camouflaged in the ways of the world. It’s hard to determine our purpose or worth.

I have learned I can’t hide things from God for very long. Like the tenacious woman searching for the lost coin, God will search out the sin in our lives. He will exhaust every means to bring into the open what we’ve been trying to hide from Him, and perhaps from ourselves. Knowing all, He encourages us to confess the sin, wipe it clean and then shine forth His glory in our lives.

 

 

 

taken from What Can She Tell Us– a Bible study of the unnamed women in the New Testament.

 

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The Sun on The Cross

Posted in Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , on March 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This is an amazing sunset captured by a legally blind photographer in England named Steve Rebus. It is where he found God that day- and often- at the end of his camera lens. To God be the glory.

 

see more fabulous photos and prayers on his blog: iChristian 

 

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven. Matthew 5:16

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Tale of Two Kitties

Posted in Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , , on February 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I have two cats, as different as night and day.

The black cat is fairly independent. The vet believes he was on his own for almost a year before we took him in, fed him regularly and gave him his toy mice and favorite blanket. He still has a tendency to fend for himself. He is a loner, who only meows when it is more than a half hour after his mealtime, and even then it is a simple syllable mew.  Only occasionally does he hop up and feel the need to snuggle and be close. Most of the time he is content to just be in the same vicinity and purrs happily if you happen to come by and pat his head.

The striped gray one – he is the eldest and the most needy. For all twelve years of this kitty’s life so far, as my son claims, we have had to “re-adopt him” every morning, and then at least six more times during the day. He has to be within an arms reach of me when I am home. He is always in my face demanding that he be my only attention. Yet, he is also snuggly and sweet.

Which of these cats describes you when it comes to your relationship with God? Do you treat Him as a distant provider and only occasionally go to Him 0r are you always tugging on His robe like an incessant toddler, whining for His attention?

Most of us are somewhere in between the two extremes.  Just as most of us are a bit like Martha and a bit like Mary.  In our walk on this earth, may we all come to be balanced in our trust that He will meet our needs and yet willing to rush into His arms and lean on His strength and wisdom.

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In the shadows

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , on February 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Our church uses a power point display on the walls. We also have a processional, which means we sing as the ministers and helpers in the service come up the aisle. Kids from the congregation carry a wooden cross and liquid wax torches, symbolizing Jesus as the Light of the World.

When the torch bearers pass by the projectors, the light-beam catches the torches. They cast a shadow across the lower corner of the illuminated screen on the wall. But, what is so cool is that the warmth emitting from the torches can suddenly be seen as wispy shadows, almost translucent,  billowing up over the words to the hymn.

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptizer, told his infant boy this:

 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
  for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
  in the forgiveness of their sins,
 because of the tender mercy of our God,
  whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
  to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
(Luke 1:76-79 ESV)

dreamstimefree_91584We are supposed to reflect Jesus as we walk this earth. We carry His torch. If Christ shines His light in our path, will other people, who sit in darkness, see the wispy shadow of the Holy Spirit emitting from our souls like a Godly warmth? Or will they only see the shadow of death because of  our unconfessed sins and worldly week-day ways?

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