Dig into God's New World. It is a fantastic point of view!

"A whole new world, a fantastic point of view..."  In my mind I can still hear my young nieces' sing the theme song from the 1992 animated movie Aladdin.  They sang it in the family talent show, in the car, on the street and at MaMa's house.

I'm adopting this song as the theme song for my study of the book of Philemon.  A few weeks ago this tiny book was mentioned during the sermon  as having a message that would change the world.  The thought has since intrigued me.  Hence I begin my exploration of a whole new world.

Paul writes to his friends, Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, and their church.  He asks God to give them grace and peace.(Philemon 1-3.  Yes the book is so small there are no chapter numbers, just verse numbers.  Wonder how many blogs I can get out of 25 verses!)

These friends of Paul have faith in Jesus as their common denominator.  Following God and spreading His Good News is their whole world.  It's new to the earthly world.  It's a whole new world unlike what they have experienced, " fantastic point of view".

In this new world, where faith in Jesus is the driving force in life, we have a new set of relationships which might parallel earthly relationships or may be a newer, better experience.

Philemon was Paul's friend and fellow worker.  I reflected on my thirty plus years as an adult Sunday School class teacher.  I realized my effectiveness was due to my partner teachers.   God called Rodney, Lynn, Bruce and Mark to be my fellow workers and friends.  They were regular attenders, inviters, hosts and substitute teachers.  I loved my ministry so much more because they were with me in all aspects of our mission.  Grace and Peace to them for being faithful to God's call to encourage and support me and so many others.   In God's new world I have friends and companion workers wherever I am.

Apphia was Paul's sister.  Maybe she was his biological sister.  Just today I learned he had one.  Acts 23:16 tells it was Paul's sister's son who alerted Paul to a plot to kill him. I don't have a biological sister but have three dear sisters-in-law. Maybe Apphia was Paul's spiritual sister.  I have several spiritual sisters God brought into  my life.  Jeanne could read me like a book.  After being apart for years she knows when I need a phone call.  Chris and Susan taught me about commitment.  We celebrated each and every birthday together  in big ways.  Mary, Terry, Roxane and Beth have carried me through many adventures in life, all of which have a common theme: "How hard can this be?"  Grace and Peace to my sisters. In God's new world I have family wherever I am.

Archippus was Paul's fellow fighter.  Several times in my life I have been called to be one of the "change agents."  It's not a popularity winning ministry because most people do not like to change.  Yet to see God at work and to focus on God, not our comfortable ways and structures, change must happen.  Donna, Gloria, Eleanor, Maggie, Mae, Carol,   Virginia, Charlotte, Evon, Ruth and so many others labored with me in our work for God.  Grace and Peace to my co-laborers.  In God's new world I have colleagues in God's work wherever I am.

Finally, Paul greets the church.  We have lived and served in several churches across the country.  Countless people have prayed for us, given to us and been with us through thick and thin.  Grace and Peace to those in the churches of Coalinga, El Dorado, Marshalltown, Blackfoot, Jefferson, and Clearfield.  In God's new world I am never alone. 

In Christ, I have a whole new world of friends, family, partners and community.  I am never alone.  I belong. I will succeed.  The common denominator is God.  It's a whole new world in God's world.

Today take time to thank God for your friends, family, partners and community.  They are the proof that you are never alone, you belong and you will succeed.  Send them His Grace and Peace.

The Empty Manger & The Empty Tomb

“You’ll need to take that down.”  My husband responded when I shared a minor Christmas disaster.  I had unpacked the Nativity set his mother had built for us over several years.  Each year at Christmas she gave us another set of characters from Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus to the three camels.  We loved it.  It was displayed in a place of honor every year.  This year, however, its appearance was doomed.  All the characters were in the box except one—Baby Jesus.  The manger was there but it was empty.

I searched the box and packing material.  I went back to the shelf where it had been stored for the past ten months.  No Baby Jesus.  Dread loomed.  Three dogs may have been guilty.  It would have been an inviting theft and destruction mission for Mickey, Molly or Makena.  My first inclination would be Molly, she gets what she wants, always!  Yet I don’t recall any evidence of bits of Baby Jesus and the manger escaped intact.  Perhaps some visiting child needed the assurance of Baby Jesus in their pocket. 

Regardless, Baby Jesus was missing.  We can’t display a Nativity without Baby Jesus at Christmas.

Quickly I went to Amazon to rescue our Christmas tradition.  I found a replacement Baby Jesus.                 I would have it in a few days, free shipping, in time for the first party of our season.  Dutifully I checked the reviews.  I was stunned by the comments:

·         Several were appalled that Baby Jesus was plastic.  The whole Nativity set is a plastic resin material.  So what did they expect? 

·         Others felt the Baby Jesus was too small.  As the original set was made, Baby Jesus was about the size of a 25 pound newborn and Mary looked to be 100 pounds soaking wet.  So what did they expect?

I was reminded that when the real Baby Jesus appeared on Earth, most people were appalled by His mission and ministry.  Too many expected a victorious conqueror, an authoritative judge or a powerful king.  Instead, He came as a vulnerable baby human. 

The “Amazon delivered” Baby Jesus is perfect.  It is the same material and size of the rest of the set.  It completed the set and saved our Christmas tradition.

I’m keeping that old empty manger (because Amazon delivered a new Baby Jesus and a new manger)  as a reminder that regardless of my expectation of Jesus, God sent the Jesus I need.  Jesus completes my life and saves me.

And now the rest of the story:

We were preparing for a group of guests.  Dick looked on the couch and there was the original Baby Jesus.  It had blended into the design on the fabric.

Baby Jesus was there all the time I thought He was missing.

How often in life do we forget that Jesus is with us all the time?  We may not pay close enough attention.  Yet Jesus is always there!

Let our story of the lost and found Baby Jesus remind you to pay attention, He’s there all the time!

And now my confession.  

This story is actually our Christmas letter I never got around to sending.  I thought I should post it today, on Easter.

The empty manger sits in my kitchen window next to the seeds I hope will germinate into tomato plants.  The empty manger and the empty tomb mean Jesus is with me, all the time.

HE IS RISEN!  CELEBRATE!

Hold On!

"Hold on!  Hold on!"  The field supervisor kept yelling.  I held onto the doorframe while he held onto his bouncing desk.  For 28 seconds we held on.  28 seconds which taught me to hold on spiritually too.

It was the Big One.  We'd lived in California for nearly three years and hadn't felt a real earthquake.  There were reports of minor quakes but we never noticed.  On May 2, 1983, at 4:42 pm, there was no doubt we felt this quake.  Eventually they labeled it as a 6.8 on the Richter scale.  The whole downtown collapsed into a pile of rubble.  Home shifted from their foundations.  Cupboards opened and the contents flew out to become rubble.  We lived in an official disaster zone.

As I read the final verses in Micah I noticed he encouraged the Israelites to put their hope in The Lord "as in days long ago." (NIV Micah : 14, 15 and 20).  Micah had told them disaster was coming.  He reminded them of God's deliverance when He led their ancestors out of bondage.  The final words of the book of Micah points to the fulfilled past promises of God to be the foundation of their hope for the coming days.

Hope starts in my past experience with God.  The memory fuels my present experience and propels me into the unknown future.

My memory of life in the disaster zone is one miracle from God after another.  It was a rare occasion for the field supervisor to be in the office at 4:42 pm.  Yet he was there and knew exactly what to do during and after a major earthquake.  Stand in the doorway. (Which I just happened to be when the earth began to shake.)  When the shaking stops, get out of the building and away from potentially falling power lines and buildings. He got us settled standing in the middle of the street.  Then he took off with a big wrench and drove up alleys to turn off gas lines to prevent explosions.  He had been a plumber and served as our mayor.

Was it a coincidence that I was in the safest place when the quake started?  In the doorway with someone who knew exactly what to do?  I think not.  God was in control and keeping watch over me, and many others.

I have  many stories from my time living in the disaster zone.  Memories that have shaped my faith and relationship with God.  Experiences to equip me to face tomorrow and the uncertainty of life.

·         I learned to put my trust in the eternal God, not the shake-able earth and my breakable treasure.

·         I learned that the fervent prayers of many people really would help me cope with the daily challenges.

·         I learned what the family of God looks like.  People from all other the world came to assist or contributed to our physical recovery.

The foundation of my hope in God begins in my past experiences when He has cared for me.

As I finish my reflection on the Book of Micah I am reminded to "Hold on".

·         Hold on to the proof of God's care for me in the past.

·         Hold on to His control in my daily life.

·         Hold on to His plan for my future.

In Spite of Me

"I smell smoke!"  Immediately I pulled to the shoulder of the road.  A dozen women scrambled over luggage and exited the church van while smoke poured from under the engine hood.   We were on our way to the mountains for a ladies conference.  Now we were in the middle of agricultural land ten miles from town in a time before cell phones were invented!  We listened to the engine sputter and hiss.

Twenty minutes out of town I saw the engine warning light glow red but quickly go off.  I thought "the next town I'd better have that checked."  The engine gave up ten miles short of my planned stop.

That's when they showed up.  Just as the last woman made it safely out of the van and onto the gravel, two farmers walked up.  I remember them wearing matching overalls.  One was tall and young with dark hair peaking from under a faded ball cap.  His partner was a short older man, a bit weathered.  "Can we help you ladies?"  They appeared so suddenly we hadn't even formulated a plan to handle our situation.  We were still shaken from the whole smoke and  potential flaming van thing

.

It was my fault we were in this situation.  I thought I could 'will' the engine to make it to the next town to serve my purpose, to fit my timeline, to accommodate my mission.  Little did I know that my ignorance and stubbornness would deliver us stranded in a grape field ten miles short of civilization.

 "I'm down but I'm not out. I'm sitting in the dark right now but God is my light... I deserve it--I sinned.  But it' not forever.  He's on my side and is going to get me out of this..." (Micah 7:8b-9 in The Message)  As Micah continues to admonish the Israelites for their sin of unfaithfulness, he also delivers these encouraging words of hope and grace. 

Even though the Israelites had forgotten how much they were loved by God to pursue other false gods; 

Even after their unfaithfulness had besmirched God's reputation before  other nations; 

Even when their enemies could see that the Israelite disobedience caused their problems, 

God was ready to take control, plead their case, conquer their enemies and set the world right.

I reflected on God's deliverance of those ladies in the midst of my ignorance and stubbornness.   Those two farmers appeared miraculously even before we had time to ask ourselves or God how to handle the predicament.   They graciously drove me to town to phone home and have my husband send a fleet of cars and a tow truck.  They suggested I purchase $20 worth of small parts with the intent to fix the smoking engine.  (No such luck, the engine melted into worthless lump!)  They stayed with  us  until our husbands drove up and then disappeared.  I never got their names nor properly thanked them. 

God took care of us in the midst of my poor judgment.  How many other times has God been "with me" in my stubborn disobedience when I choose to follow my own thoughts and get myself in a tangle?  He's ready and waiting to help me, sometimes even before I think to ask for His help.

What a great God! 

He loves me

            in spite of my stubbornness,

            in spite of my self-proclaimed wisdom,

            in spite of my poor representation of His character and

            in spite of my blatant disobedience. 

God has a greater  plan.  I'm part of His  plan, not He's part of my plan.

These verses in Micah remind me that God is with me even in the consequences of my poor choices.

 

What a great God!