The Last Page

Ever read such an engaging book that you hated to read that last page?  Or viewed a movie so captivating that you didn't want it to end, and KNEW that you would purchase it for your home?

Today is that last page, that final scene, for 2012.  Traditionally this is a time when, in every culture, people reflect on the past. The world will be full of people who vow to make changes after midnight. They will eat less, walk more, stop eating sweets, run, sleep, join a gym, view less TV, and the list is as long as our virtues and vices!

I am no different as I sit with my coffee and reflect this year. I thought of the message yesterday in
Church. Then I opened the book I read each morning, along with my Bible, and began to put this together in my mind.

God gives us these times, and pauses in the book of our lives. And this closing of 2012 is not the final pages of our stories, but a chapter. And our book is not only about us, like we so frequently consider in this independent minded world.  We are a part of a much larger story. We are IN God's story for His world. He tells us that He set in place each of our days, and has them numbered. The Bible is the book of His story, but we are all characters inside this Book. Somewhere between Jude and Revelation is the chapter God is still writing, and it includes us.

So when I think of this, it changes how I am reviewing the book of my life  and the Bible (the message shared yesterday in church by Bill Stukenberg.)  When I read the final chapters of the Bible, I know  how God is going to bring to close the final pages of this grand Book, and  it gives me a different perspective to 2012-2013.  This chapter of my life, and maybe yours, may have been filled with mixed blessings or challenges. I know that I have faced some very difficult situations- it is not
easy to leave a community and nation that has become your home!  I miss everyone. I have faced other situations that were hard. I have had some unexpected blessings.  What makes me HOPEFUL
and expectant is that my chapter IS inside God's Book; and because I am in a relationship with God, (which He provided for me), I know that He is using each difficult page of this chapter, and that He is taking those paragraphs of pain, and using them to write my next chapter.  They were not experiences that were randomly thrown into my life chapter making it so much gibberish. God is using each mark, each letter, every word and all the pauses and paragraphs of my life to continue the next chapters for me.

I cannot close these thoughts any better than sharing from the book- "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswsld Chambers.....I will paraphrase the thoughts for December 31.  Chambers says that God allows the memories of this year to turn our past into a spiritual culture for the future. He wants to transform the things in our past- since we cannot go back to change anything- but God delights in changing everything into constructive thoughtfulness for our future. Chambers closes with the idea that we intentionally leave our past, leave the chapter of 2012, resting in the hands of a capable and relational God and that we step out into the irrestible future- chapter 2013- with Him.


My prayer for you today:)

Every.....

Tolerance is frequently redefined in our culture, and used to cast Christianity in a disparaging light. Christians are intolerant.  Maybe so, if tolerance means that there is an absence of moral absolutes. But this morning I was reading through Revelations 5.

And here we find that God has included a way for people from EVERY tribe and tongue and people and nation to be with Him in Heaven forever. I don't know how much more tolerant the Creator and Owner of this universe could be!  Equal opportunity is given to everyone. Equal opportunity to be a kingdom and reign on this earth.

God----the Founder of equal opportunity and inclusion, if we but do things His Way!  Great thoughts for the closing of another year.

What can you say?

I have had children this age, and they attended school.  I have grandchildren this age. I have stood at a school intercom and given announcements as the principal. I have worked with teachers and staff that love their students. And I have also grieved a tragic and violent loss of a student.

This was not my school or my community. Nevertheless, my heart is heavy. Tears easily flood my eyes as I think and pray for the people of Newtown. Those dedicated adults. The innocent children, and all those affected all over the world, connected not only by "6 degrees" but by the love of God, by hearts of compassion and a love for what is fit and good and pure. And like all of you, I too shake my head. The grief and loss is incomprehensible. There is no way to make sense of this. They cando all the research, and gather evidence, and still the questions will remain....."Why!"  

So I go to the Word, and to the Creator. And the Truth is that God's heart was grieved. He also weeps for the pain and loss and hurt and senseless waste of the most precious gift- life. This one thing I know. He will work through this. He loved these people more than we. And He loves those in pain and agony, loss and grief. And so I also come to Him and say, "Father, change our world. Change the hearts of those who are so lost that they would harm others in their pain and sinfulness. Comfort, love, and bring what only You know is needed."
 This link shares excellent thoughts about this tragedy.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/how-does-jesus-come-to-newtown

What color are your shades?

Hm.  Have you ever thought about the way you look at life? How about the way you look at Christmas?  It has been said that the way we look at life and the way we make sense out of things is like the way we look through sun glasses.  Whatever color lens we choose, it shades everything we see.  (And pink is oh, so, awesome!)
So, let's think a bit about how we might see Christmas. Maybe the lens you look from is that this is a cultural event. It is all about Santa Claus, traditions, and getting that one awesome gift from a special someone. Maybe it is only about the music and a tree. Maybe Christmas, from your color of glasses, is only an American tradition and you really don't get it!
But we need to look at it from God's color of lenses. Christmas is only the event we have chosen to celebrate one of the most pivotal events in history. It is really a large birthday party. And why do we celebrate this birthday? Because it was the time when God proved to us how much He cared, and that He really DID have things in control.
So maybe, just maybe, we need to think about changing our lens so that they come closer to the color that God sees through. Maybe this Christmas, I'm going to make sure I'm looking at the birthday celebration, and the wonder and mystery and revelation and love is about Jesus- the very Son of God- being born so that I can have a relationship with the Creator God, and the Father of the baby in that manger!
What color do you look through?

Preparing for Christmas

What we think of God affects how we prepare for Christmas.  We celebrate...why?  Stockings, stuff, and Santa.....and what do they have to do with Christmas?  And even greater is how we view God- is it affected by the way we think of Santa?  This was a great little video... Watch and contemplate.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Dpu3v5uxZTY&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DDpu3v5uxZTY