THEY LIVED

 One of my favorite highlights to the Super Bowl football game is the commercials.  Their images would last for months after the game, long after our memory of the loss or victory of our favorite team.  This year, I didn’t remember any of the commercials until I saw the one about cologne month later and the other about Subaru vehicles in horrific crashes.  They use the phrase; they lived, throughout the commercial.

 The car commercial rang a note in my soul because my daughter and I were involved in 22 car accidents in a two year span in one car, not a Subaru.  The final accident, we were hit almost head on at 50 mph while I was sitting still, waiting to turn.  As we spun around I asked God not to let my daughter be hurt.  I remember saying to God that I didn’t want to die because I wanted to raise my own daughter.  A quick answer came to my spirit that I would not die. 

As crazy as it sounds, I kind of laid back in the seat at that point. Then I saw the hood detach and begin speeding for the windshield.  The thought of decapitation came to mind.  As a new well taught Christian, I said Jesus quietly.  When it didn’t stop and continued for the windshield, I hollered the name Jesus with such a voice that the hood stopped in its tracks.  It was still in that same position hanging on a thread of metal the next day when I went to where they towed the car.

My former Pastor’s wife, the head deacon of the church rushed to the hospital with my mother and stepfather.  When they saw my condition, my mother wept and my Pastor’s wife asked if she could pray for me.  I wholeheartedly agreed thinking it would just be a verbal prayer.  To my surprise and being new to any kind of open prayer, she laid her hand across my forehead and the rest of the story after that is history.  The power and spirit of God entered that place and moved through my body from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head.  When it was done, I was able to stand and walk, something the doctors were not sure would ever happen when they examined me..  I was no longer paralyzed.

The next day, my insurance company scheduled a rental car for my use and I went to the lot where my car had been towed to remove my belongings from the car.  When my daughter and I went back with the attendant, he looked at the car and said, how is the hood sitting up on that small piece of metal?  He goes on with another question, I wonder if they made it: this is bad.  

I told him, they made it.   Before he could speak, I said it was me and my daughter that were in the car and began to march back and forth saying how I was paralyzed and how the power of prayer changed that.  We all began to weep.  He asked what church I attended.  He said he was going to go to church that next Sunday because truly he was looking at a miracle.  Just then the front end of the car fell to the ground and the hood that was suspended, dropped to the side. We looked at each other, I hugged my daughter, and raised my teary eyes and hand in praise to the God I serve.  I can hear the angels reporting back to God after the smoke cleared, the broken glass swept, and the battery acid removed, and my wheel chair was placed back in the corner; they lived.

SOMEBODY'S WATCHING

A faithful church member had some issues going on in their life and needed help.   The person who they approached for help wasn’t a member of their church family, but a neighbor.  While the neighbor was taking care of their dilemma, they started a conversation and mentioned that they see them go to church all the time, sometimes three times a week.  They shared that they even bought some of the dinners they sold for church functions.  They watched them bring home families less fortunate and feed them or at Christmas give gifts to those in church less fortunate.  They reminded them of past conversations they had about paying tithes.

They asked had they changed churches, especially since a recent disability prohibited them from driving to church as they normally did.   They told them how sorry they were about their misfortunes and loss of loved ones.  They wondered out loud to them, where the church was in their time of need.   Just imagine overhearing a conversation such as this or even being the person confronted with this, how would you react or respond?  If you’ve never been confronted with this by a neighbor or family member, you’re fortunate.  You may have even asked yourself this question during a time of distress.

There are many opinions on this and many circumstances that make it difficult to come to one conclusion on how we should respond to this as a Christian.  We are told by many examples in the bible of how we should live and interact in the world.  One scripture says if you see your brother in need.  Jesus commands the church to take care of the widows and orphans.  Then there is the example of what the Good Samaritan did.  We know that sometimes we have not because we ask not.

The Christian has to be careful to not show respect of persons and treat each church member the same, not just those in our circle of friends.  We have to be sensitive to our fellow church members and respond according to how we would want to be treated in that same situation.  When helping people in general, we must have the right motivation, not rooted in selfish intentions.  Love should have been the motivation; the love of God, even if not for the recipient of your act.

 When we reflect over the thing we did for others, it should be noted that we weren’t looking for anything in return.  Most important, we should be striving to be pleasing to God, who promised to be the one to repay us.  I’m confident and it’s been proven in my life that He’ll send the help we need.

One thing we can be sure of, like it or not, the world is watching how we the Christians treat not only our families but how we treat our fellow church members.  We should also remember God himself is watching how we treat one another and bringing reward or reproach to us for our deeds.  Jesus knew that the world will take care of its own, (John 15:19) so, one of His last commandments to the church was for the church to show love one to another.  He says this is how the world will know we are one of His disciples.  Remember, somebody is watching how we treat our fellow church members.

A RUG IN DARKNESS

In case some of my other pieces didn’t convince you that God is concerned about every aspect of our lives, this one might do the trick. 

Most who know me know the situation with my pup and his challenges with vision. Recently, we’ve had to concede with some of his issues and try to make the best of a bad situation.  He would come in from the sun outside and walk into the doors, walls, and chairs in his path, rarely letting out a yelp.  I was concerned this would turn into a painful and costly problem in the future for us both.  It seemed that most of his challenges came from trying to navigate thru the kitchen, past the island and fridge.  It is a wide space, but too far to the right or left could lead to a bump to the eyes from the edge of the cabinets or the cabinet doors.

 I remember as clear as day God speaking to me, after painfully watching him struggle to get through the kitchen.  He bumped into cabinet after cabinet, finally reaching the runner in the dining room.  After giving a desperation prayer, the thought came to me to move one of my runners from the hall into the length of my kitchen, making a path from his food dish to the dining room rug.  Immediately I got up and moved it.  For the next several days when I took the dog outside and brought him in, I walked him down the runner from his food dish until he reached his familiar spot on the dining room rug.  To my surprise and because of the independence and adaptability of my pup, on that 2^nd week, once we entered the house, the dog would make it to the runner in the kitchen on his own.  His tail would go up in glee and he would walk with such confidence to the dining room, sometimes running.  Every time I see him make it through that challenging area with confidence, my eyes fill with tears and I raise my hand to thank God for the simple solution to a big problem.  Just to know that the God who created the heavens and earth is concerned about me to that level is unbelievable.

While sitting in that same chair, marveling at the rug, my mind went to some of my own challenges.  I starting thinking about the things that had stumped me of hindered me recently.  Many things I face, I don’t have a solution for or know what my next move should be and I heard God say, just like He had a rug for my dogs problem, He’s got a rug to walk me through my dark areas; will I just trust Him.  In the weeks of our annual church fast, I begin to take those things to God in my prayer and mediation time and to no surprise, He gave me a rug or a solution for them.  These were things that were not magical, no burning bushes or smote rocks with water coming out, but things that I hadn’t thought of or places to look that He showed me.  Who wouldn’t love and serve a God like that.

Do you have any dark areas in your life? Are you struggling trying to find your way through? Go to God and ask for your rug in your darkness, I’m confident that He’ll provide it and lead you through.  Tell Him I sent you.

LOSE MY MIND

Today’s news is filled with incidents where individuals are committing horrendous acts against one another and themselves.  Often the plea to the court is by reason of insanity.  They often say that they heard voices or lost their mind.

I too have been at the breaking point thinking I would lose my mind.  There are situations where I tried to figure out a solution to my huge problems, again thinking I’d lose my mind when nothing would come.  On many occasions when I would actually come up with a strategy that I thought would work, the bottom fell out and the problem became worse.  Before I knew Christ and this happened, I’d lose my temper and control of myself then the situation.  That way of life got expensive and resolved nothing.

After I became a Christian, I discovered what keeps me on this side of normal is Christ.  My love for Him constrains me.  His power keeps me.  By learning of Him and understanding His mind, I’ve actually lost my own mind to give over the how He thinks.

 I took on the mind of Christ through transformation.  It’s a learning process for sure, because His ways of resolving things are like the scripture says as different from how I’d handle things as the heavens is from the earth.  By losing my mind to Christ, I’ve gained a mental peace I’ve never experienced.  When I listen, He gives me directions.  When I obey His instructions, my problems are few and those that arise I can be confident He’ll make a way.  If I find myself at the edge, I remember He said He’d keep me in perfect peace if I keep my mind stayed on Him.

So if you find yourself on the edge of losing your mind more often than you like, take my advice, try Christ.  He’s better than Dr. Phil and cheaper than the going cost of psychotherapy.  There are no 12 steps in His program, there’s just one.  Take a step toward Him and He’ll make two towards you.  If you lose your mind, make the choice to lose it to Christ.

NEW YEAR'S PRESS

As I look back, I realize the weight of facing some of the worst hardships and life altering challenges during the past two years.  I survived emotionally numbing blows in 2012, required to face them on with all nerves alive in 2013, only to relive some incidents afresh.  I lost loved ones and friends dear to my heart.  I saw the true colors of many, left abandoned and like my grandma use to say, up the creek without a paddle, on several occasions. 

It seemed that at every turn, another door was either closed in my face or at my back.  I felt boxed in and forced in a state of bondage.  There were times I called out asking God if He saw me.  I felt as if He was watching me suffer these things as He watched the guards beat Jesus beyond recognition.  I felt my old nature rise and a bit of old Chris resurfaced; the one that jumps into action to take care of Chris and handle people and situations.  I want to keep that old girl under control because she’s dangerous.  The last time I let her have free reign for just 1 hour, it took years and several attorneys to get things resolved.  The reborn Chris just kept saying be still, do nothing, God is not blind nor has He turned His back on you.  It’s God that has brought you to this place and time in life.  Wait on God, my spirit would say.

I started to imagine my situation.  My spirit was feeling as if I’m standing in a paneled room boxed in with no visible way of escape.  Each wall of this room is touching me on the front, the back, and the sides.   I wait with my hands folded behind my back.  I kept hearing a familiar clicking sound.  Familiar in that I know I’ve heard is somewhere before, long ago.  Then I remembered our old camper.  The cabinets and closets in it didn’t have handles and the surface look streamlined and you had to know where to press them to get them to open.  I had trouble with a few of them, just couldn’t seem to get the press right to make it open until several tries. 

Then I heard God say to press with my hands behind me, and a door opened.  I stepped back and God began to give me insight into why things happened this year.  No great mystery, it was His will and it was what was best for all involved.  He showed me how the past two years were a proving year for me.  He showed me how much He loved me and had invested in me.  It was a year during which I was being branded for His purpose for my life, to write of His glory, as John was banished to the Isle of Patmos to write the book of Revelations.    One mistake was to believe in the word of people and depend on them for help and not look to God first then He would send the help I needed.    

 I found myself back in that paneled room and I was instructed to press again on a place in front of me.  As I did, a door opened.  As I stepped out the way wasn’t clearly marked and a bit foggy and unstable in places.  God whispered, if I trust Him, He’ll lead me and show me the way.  To be successful, I’d have to get rid of the useless baggage from the past year that would hold me down or cause me to fall.

Beyond the love and investment God has placed in me, I take away from this image that even when people and situations seem to have us boxed in, all we have to do is look and wait on Jesus; then press, and He’ll open a way of escape.  If we trust Him, He will lead and guide us through our day to day life.  To be successful, I must press the door closed on the past and focus on today with Christ. 

For 2014 join with me in my resolve, like that of the Apostle Paul described in Philippians 3:1-15, to forget those things which are behind, and reaching for those things ahead, then press the mark, for the prize, which is the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus.  Let’s do a New Year Press.