Titus celebrated his birthday a bit early with his most of his family during his Orlando visit. His daddy is working in Yuma, AZ, but will arrive back in time to have cake on Titus' birthday, August 30th.
Slept in on a sunny August Saturday, and I am ready to hear what God is saying to me. To sum up the past three days, God has told me through His Word that I can be confident that I will see goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and like the apostle Paul that a life lived for God can be like a drink offering poured out.
Makes me think of the expression I say about a teacup. If the teacup is filled to the brim, it needs to be poured out in order to be filled again. I've always visualized myself as a teacup that is full. When you would move me, I would spill then, but now that seems so selfish. I shouldn't wait for myself to be nudged or moved to overflow with the goodness of the Lord. I should pour myself out. That is why the verse in II Timothy refers to how to serve the Lord as a believer. Service is to be extended to others.
One of my favorite signs and wonders moment with God is when I read signs as I drive around town. Whether it is a church marquee or a business sign, I always think those posted messages are God's way of sharing something with me at that moment. Last night after work, I went home by way of shopping, which was really building my hints list for Steve as my birthday approaches. (That's a whole 'nother blog!) After my detour, I headed for home on the backroads past one of my favorite sign establishments, a chiropractor office across the street from the Catholic church on Maitland Avenue.
The sign said: Give more than what others expect and do it with a cheerful attitude. Ouch! Words in due season for me, not only at home, but at work. Isn't that exactly what Paul was saying about his ministry?
But other than the pouring, what are my prerequisites for being a drink offering?
The offering is also thought of as a sacrifice unto the Lord as read in the Exodus verse of yesterday. The sacrifice of the wine represents the sacrifice of Jesus, so that all could be redeemed. Now comes the oil.
Lord, what are you saying about this element?
The Food Network junkie in me thinks when olive oil and wine are mixed together then poured on meat, it's a marinade! Marinades make meats better by adding moisture, increasing tenderness, and adding flavor. Every time I smell someone in the neighborhood cooking on a grill I think how the Old Testament explains that the sacrifices are a sweet smell or a pleasant odor unto the Lord.
If lamb is marinated with the oil and wine and offered by fire, were these sacrifices just big cookouts? Totally social in nature rather than being strictly reverent?
If you read further in the chapter, (Exodus 29:42-46, New Century Version), you will find out why God asked this to be done:
You must burn these things as an offering to the Lord every day, from now on, at the entrance of the Meeting Tent before the Lord. When you make the offering, I, the Lord, will meet you there and speak to you. I will meet with the people of Israel there, and that place will be holy because of my glory.
So I will make the Meeting Tent and the altar holy; I will also make Aaron and his sons holy so they may serve me as priests. I will live with the people of Israel and be their God. And they will know that I am the Lord their God who led them out of Egypt so that I could live with them. I am the Lord their God.
It's becoming clearer, and I'm beginning to see things now. The drink offering was added to the sacrifice to be enhancing to the pleasing aroma, to be infused on a daily basis with the sacrificial lamb, and to serve as a meeting place for the Lord and His people. The set time and set place was for the Lord so that He might speak.
Now back to the original question: What if God wants to say something to you rather than do something for you? I think He answered that question for me. I am challenged with these thoughts.
Have I made myself ready to have that time with Him throughout the day?
Can I sacrifice of my best offerings -- my life, my time and my posessions -- for the Lord today?
Can I be like the apostle Paul, and look back on my time in the land of the living and see it as an offering poured out in service to the Lord?
The words of Andy Stanley last Sunday can now better be answered with a new question, "What if God wants to say something to you about doing something for Him that would bless others would you do it today?" I'll keep you posted on what He asks.
I wanted to fling out of bed and run to my Bible first thing this morning. That was my thought last night. Six hours later, it's a different ballgame. Here I sit at my computer with my Hebrew/Greek study Bible and 20 minutes late for work. Good thing my hours are over this week giving me some wiggle room.
My Bible was still open to II Timothy 4 as I read the already highlighted verse. (v.6) "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure."
My understanding of Old Testament offerings and their significance is lacking, but my appreciation for Old Testament traditions have been peaked because of my current home group study, Feast: Finding Your Place at the Table of Tradition. Each lesson teaches how the Old Testament feasts and traditions are mirrored in the the New Testament. Every Jewish feast matches up to a New Testament counter-part. It's like having the elementary art project, where you fold the construction paper in half to have the tempra paint copy cat what's on the other side.
Exploring the significance of drink offerings is an idea that sounds intriguing. So Lord, what do You want to say to me today?
Exodus 29:40 records the measurement and specifics of a drink offering. This liguid was poured out at the base of the altar both morning and night as a lamb was sacrificed at these different times. The drink offering would measure out to a quarter of a hin of wine and a quarter of a hin of oil. The oil was from pressed olives. Although the measurement of a hin is uncertain, it is guessed to be between 15 to 31 cups. A quarter of that could range from 3.5 to 7.5 cups. Adding both elements together, the drink offering could be as much as a gallon or as little as a half gallon.
Thanks to my book, Feast, when I think of wine now, I think of the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. To remind you of what He said, it is repeated every time Christians take communion. When they had finished eating, Jesus took the cup and said, this is my blood shed for you for the remission of sins. In a Jewish Seder, which was the Passover meal celebrated by Jesus and his disciples before His arrest, four cups of wine were served. Each cup had a meaning. The third cup was after everyone had finished eating and represented the cup of redemption in the Jewish meal. So what Jesus was saying is that cup represents his blood which was shed for us. That He is our redemption.
If wine stands for the blood of Jesus, then how does the oil of the drink offering represent? Tomorrow is another day to listen for what God is saying to me.
What if God wants to say something to you rather than do something for you?
That was the question I heard today from an Andy Stanley podcast. I admit I prattle off a list of wants, needs, and complaints to God when I pray. What if I was missing what He wanted for me?
Psalm 27:13 (New International Version) - "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." This was the verse printed on a floral arrangement card at my mother's funeral almost 8 years ago. Interesting that I stumbled upon it tonight as I find this year bit of a struggle with accepting the losses of my life.
Are they indeed losses? God's goodness may never mirror what I think they should be. That doesn't mean they are necessarily losses, just an opening for a new outcome.
But what is goodness then? Webster defines oit as used either interjectionally or in phrases to express mild surprise or shock. Or it can be something known as nutritious, flavorful, or beneficial part of something. Well, that seems so tame when you put it like that. Is that what goodness really is?
That word, goodness, used in this Scripture means something totally different in Hebrew and Greek. In the Hebrew, goodness means the best or prosperity. While in the Greek, it is derived from the word, kreskes, meaning growing or to increase. Beginning to see a bit more like growth and prosperity in the land of the living.
What will that look like? Psalm 31:18 (New Living Translation) - "How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world."
Hardly sounds tame now, does it? Lavish growth and prosperity for the watching world to see? Now that not just the goodness arriving as an end reward of a new heaven and a new earth. But the word says in the land of the living. Could this be what God wants to say to me, or is this something He can do for me? Prosperity and the best in the land of the living. Ah, more questions than answers...can't wait to see what He might say tomorrow.
One of my favorite scenes in the movie, The Lion King, starts with an exchange between Simba and Rafiki. After running from his father's death, Simba befriends two adorable and fun-loving underachievers who enable Simba to live a life that is not the one he is meant to live.
When you are created to be a lion but settle to live like a warthog, there is going to be problem. Comfort zones will become a prison especially if you are flesh-eating lion fighting your God-given instincts and becoming anything less than being on the top of the food chain.
Simba’s inner dialogue is a battle of character and fear. When fear is given the larger voice, blame circles him and his constant companion. Enters Rafiki, the crazy primate, who served as a spiritual advisor. Just like Jesus told His disciples in John 15:26-27 (NIV), Rafiki becomes the voice of truth for Simba. "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”
Simba’s counselor comes to jar Simba into walking right out of the comfort zone and into the role he was born to be, the Lion King. I love Rafiki's wisdom as he begins to talk in Simba's new vernacular. The "life with no worries" compared to a compass of truth begins to frustrate Simba. By singing his own silly song, Rafiki has Simba's attention then gets to Simba's heart. Rafiki knows where Simba's father is.
Simba’s guilt of causing his father’s death is a perception, but wasn't the truth. The deceiver wanted Simba out of the picture, because he knew that Simba would be a powerful threat to the deceivers way of life. Simba didn't know that perceptions are far from the truth. But perceptions spawn fear-based reactions and excuses. Fortunately, Rafiki doesn’t permit Simba to use his tired excuses and before the lion can utter one, the challenge was in play. A desperate Simba will fight his way through the vines and brambles to try to see his father again.
Rafiki finally brings Simba to his father, but all Simba sees a reflection of himself. Down deep, he doesn’t like what he sees, but the heir of the King Mufasa has not realized that time has helped him grow into the image of his father.
When Rafiki asks Simba to look harder, Simba experiences a correction from his "heavenly" father. Mufasa's words to his only son, "you are more than you have become," are haunting, but define how places of comfort become inhabited by a life without risk. When my Heavenly Father showed me how fear kept me from being what He wanted, it was hard to hear. In fact, I was very Simba-like by justifying my reactions. My trigger is having anyone think that I am incompetent. Perfection is my one of my self-made comfort zones, which walls me up and separates me from living life. Life is made to be lived, and living has mistakes that make us the person we are meant to be.
Hebrews 12:1-7 (NIV) – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
As Mufasa slips away from his sight, Simba doesn’t want the moment to end. Finally alone with his fear (the hurt from the past), Simba confronts his questions: What if something terrible happens again that is out of my control? What if it hurts worse the next time? Then enters the quirky comfort of Rafiki who swings his walking stick and swats Simba’s head. When asked why, Rafiki tells Simba that the past can hurt, but you can either run from it or learn from it.
Abandoning fear that is controlling your life is the only way to move forward. The deceiver wants us to be paralyzed in fear and left holding broken dreams, so that we stop living. If we stop, we fall short of what we were meant to be. Living in fear is second only into living in regret.
Learn from the hurt, and "run with perseverance the race marked out" for you today.
As a teenager, I became captivated by British monarchy. It was the fairytale come to life and my book reports revolved around the scandals that changed the course of history. Now almost thirty years later, I revisit my interest through the story of Anne Boleyn.
My house has been watching the Showtime episodic drama, The Tudors, which paints a stylized and shrewd picture of life in the English court. Lady Anne Boleyn typifies the expression that sin always takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs more than you are willing to pay. King Henry VIII's first wife and Anne's court rival was Katharine of Aragon. Katharine described Anne as the woman who was the scandal of Christendom. Lady Boleyn used everything in her arsenal from seduction and power positioning to work her way into the throne room of King Henry VIII, by way of the bedroom. When the Pope denied Henry his divorce, Anne resorted to adopting a new way of thinking, the theology of Martin Luther. Luther was a German monk, who challenged papal authority and proclaimed the Bible as the only infallible source of authority. Luther preached that salvation is a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as Savior. Anne needed Henry to renounce the Pope as ultimate authority in order to marry her. This one act changed not just a country forever, but left a lasting impression. Sin-soaked scandals often do. Yet, God takes the lives of those affected and does something new. Once touted as a fashionable innovator, who had the heart and ear of a king, Anne found that things can change. Fourteen years of disappointment and eventually boredom, Henry turned from Anne. The separation from Henry proved the point that if you have to manipulate to get, you have to manipulate to keep. Truth eventually reveals itself and this time it cost Anne everything - her marriage, reputation, and way of life. According to the book, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, the author describes Anne’s last moments as Queen. Being so taken with Anne, her executioner found it difficult to proceed. Instead he distracted her by asking, Where is my sword?" Anne was caught off guard, and her execution took just a single stroke. The sad tale of the Tudors did leave a legacy of hope. Anne’s only surviving child, Elizabeth I, was the last of Henry’s children to take the throne. At the end of the virgin queen's reign, Parliament drafted an act for a new version of the Bible, which would put an end to the varied versions used throughout England for various means. It was Elizabeth’s successor, James I (son of Mary, Queen of Scots), who commissioned the strictest of translations from the original Hebrew and Greek text. This new version translated by 47 men became known as the King James Version and is still widely used today. Proving again, God uses everything, and turns it for His Purpose and our good.
Recently I read, The Shack, by William P. Young. It is number one on The New York Times Best Sellers List for paperback fiction and has become a favorite read amongst my co-workers. In fact, it was the talk in the hallways that inspired me to pick it up in the first place. With each chapter I read, my orange highlighter marked certain words that jumped off the page for me. My hope is that this book spurs thought and discussion for you. Here are my markings (and some visual additions from my camera): From Chapter 6 "I often find that getting head issues out of the way first makes the heart stuff easier to work on later...when you're ready." "...to help you keep from falling so easily back into your religious conditioning." "Let me say for now that we knew once the Creation was broken, true fathering would be much more lacking than mothering." "Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around." "Living unloved is like clipping a bird's wings and removing its ability to fly. Not something I want for you." "...pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly." "And if left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place." From Chapter 8 "Dreams are sometimes important, you know. They can be a way of openin' up the window and lettin' the bad air out." "We are in a circle of relationship, not a chain of command or 'great chain of being' as your ancestors termed it. What you're seeing here is a relationship without any overlay of power. We don't need power over the other because we are always looking out for the best. Hierarchy would make no sense among us...Humans are so lost and damaged that to you it almost incomprehensible that people could work or live together without someone being in charge." "Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved." From Chapter 9 "Light seemed to radiate through her and then reflect her presence in multiple places at once." "It's not the work, but the purpose that makes it special." "Ask any person who has a passion to explore and discover and create, The choice to hide so many wonders from you is an act of love that is a gift inside the process of life." "Freedom involves trust and obedience inside a relationship of love." From Chapter 10 "It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn't even real, nor will it ever be real. You try and play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear?" "The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love."
From Chapter 11 "...judgment is not about destruction, but about setting things right." From Chapter 12
"The darkness hides the true size of fears and lies and regrets...The truth is they are more shadow than reality, so they seem bigger in the dark. When the light shines into the places they live inside you, you start to see them for what they are."
"It's all part of the timing of grace...if the universe contained only one human being, timing would be rather simple. But add just one more, and, well, you know the story. Each story ripples out through time and relationships, bouncing off of other choices. And out of what seems to be a huge mess...a magnificent tapestry."
"Pearls...The only precious stone made by pain, suffering and - finally - death."
"An awful lot of what is done in my name has nothing to do with me and is often, even if unintentional, very contrary to my purposes."
From Chapter 13
"Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors."
"Through your little fortress of lies you try to run your life and manipulate others But the fortress needs wall, so you build some."
From Chapter 14
"Emotions are the colors of the soul; they are spectacular and incredible. When you don't feel, the world becomes dull and colorless. Just think how The Great Sadness reduced the range of color in your life down to monotones and flat grays and blacks."
"Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, that is dead. Unless 'I am,' there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive."
From Chapter 17
"...if anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again."
The last Saturday of June, in a park somewhere in America, you could find a family with 1 mother and her 7 children, who added 5 more to her family by marriage. They brought to the park her 16 of the 19 grandchildren, and added 4 more by marriage plus another coming next April. The grandchildren brought 9 of 13 of their children, but they are great to the mother. Throw in a sister, a neighbor, a girlfriend, and a boyfriend, then you have four generations having fun in the warm summer sun.
Here's What I Saw at This Year's Reunion.
& What Others Saw That Day
They say change is inevitable, unless you are a vending machine. Doesn't soften the feeling when it happens to you. Three weeks ago, my office underwent a financial restructure, losing 15 staff members.
The evening before the lay offs happened; the church where I worked called one of their annual church business meetings so the finance council could give their recommendations. The word was they planned on cutting personnel. Many of my co-workers wanted to stay for the meeting. At first, I wanted to stay behind, believing that my presence could give me some sort of control to the next day's outcome. But my wise husband told me to come home, so we could move forward with our next week's vacation plans. It’s like that verse in Daniel 4:17, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. I couldn't change the outcome. God was sovereign.
During my entire professional career and ministry life, I’ve endured reorganizations after reorganizations, earning me the title of queen of restructuring. When I arrived at my current job, I just went through the exact same thing at my previous position with a worldwide ministry of over 25,000 staff members. That experience pushed me into a new career roles and life lessons. Since it was decided not to rehire my immediate supervisor's position after her departure, I was given the lead responsibilities for the entire Events and Conference Services department for 7 months. Being goal-oriented, that was a real boost for me as I did this new job well. In fact, my first year, I increased my job’s productivity over 275% from my predecessor. I thought my productivity would save me.
When the Board of Directors asked for cut backs, my role was to be absorbed by the many departmental ministry assistants, and then the larger events I managed were assigned to the President Office Traveling Event Team. This change caused major backlash with the assistants and coordinators that I worked with on a daily basis. The cry from others, I thought, would have saved me too.
During the transition, we were required to go to a seminar on Handling Change. Imagine my attitude about that! But, something spoke to me when the speaker asked this room full of employees to come up with names of those in Scripture who experienced change. Obviously, the more names we came up with, the more we could see that everyone has change in their lives. It is just how we handle it that makes the difference. Would I be someone who fought it every step, prolonging the blessings and purposes of God? Or would we have the attitude of Mary, the mother of Jesus?
To accept God’s sovereignty and KNOW He has my best in mind is hard to understand when you are going through change. The seminar also taught me something that I will never forget, “change doesn’t mean I’m not doing a good job.” From that one sentence, a peace came over me. If I was to lose my job, it doesn't mean it was my fault. I couldn't have change it with if onlys. Instead I would go forward with the spirit of Mary as recorded in Luke 1, “I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me as you have said.”
So with this life lesson learned, I began preaching it to anyone who would listen. During the calls made to the desks sprinkled through out the office, on what we call "Black Thursday," I noticed how those laid off stopped by my office that day. Some I am rather friendly with and others I hardly knew. God placed me right here for this time to help others.
God prunes what is dead and what is alive, all for the same reason, to bear more fruit. This time the hurt was real because the pruning was done to something living -- my friends and co-workers, who gave of themselves every day. Some cuts still don’t make sense, but God hasn’t left His throne. He gives us change, hoping it will us closer to Him and each other.
I love an encouraging word. Anything motivating, whether it is a story or a thoughtful e-mail, I save it, share it, and make it part of my Outlook Task Reminder List. Although I can be extreme in sharing these thoughts, I try not to abuse my good cheer by spreading all staff e-mails, unless I think is very poignant. About six months ago, I forwarded something I found to have a co-worker reply with this:
I was introduced to one of my new favorite websites, www.despair.com. These are my picks as the best ones (in no particular order).