“Jesus calls us to recognize that gladness and sadness are never separate, that joy and sorrow really belong together, and that mourning and dancing are part of the same movement. That is why Jesus calls us to be grateful for every moment that we have lived, and to claim our unique journey as God’s way to mold our hearts to greater conformity with God’s own. The cross is the main symbol of our faith, and it invites us to find hope where we see pain, and to reaffirm the resurrection where we see death. The call to be grateful is a call to trust that every moment of our life can be claimed as the way of the cross that leads us to new life” (Henri J. M. Nouwen).

There’s an old Doctor Who episode in which the main villain’s idea of utopia is to force everyone to be happy and to punish those who show any kind of sadness. The Doctor’s response is that you can’t have happiness without some sadness or joy without some sorrow. They’re two sides of the same coin.

Lately, a lot of people are living out these supposedly conflicting emotions. There’s a lot of sadness and a lot of joy intermingled.

The cross is the perfect example of joy and sorrow meeting in one place. Sorrow was God’s own Son being slaughtered. Joy was the veil between us and God finally being torn down.

Sorrow and grieving are a natural part of life, as are joy and laughter. A well balanced life will have both in varying degrees throughout one’s life.

The way to gratitude really is to see that every part of our lives is God working in us and through us toward ultimate joy.

Who do you need to forgive?

As my pastor once said, forgiveness is releasing the other person from the expectation that they can fix what they did.

It doesn’t mean you condone their actions or attitudes. It doesn’t mean you grant them full access into your life again.

Even when the other person isn’t sorry or doesn’t show remorse, forgiveness releases you from carrying the burden of bitterness and anger.

Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die.

Mark Twain said that forgiveness is the scent that the flower gives off underneath the heel that crushes it.

Forgiveness is a beautiful thing.

Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer that God forgives us as we forgive others.

It’s also helpful to remember how very much God has forgiven us for in Jesus.

So again, who do you need to forgive?

Psalm 91 came up in my daily devotional reading plan. Immediately, I was struck by how timely and relevant the Psalmist’s words are. It’s interesting how you can read the Bible all your life and still have passages jump out at you in a new and fresh way. That’s what the writer of Hebrews means when he says that Scripture is “living and active,” and what the Apostle Paul means when he describes the Word of God as “God-breathed.”

Read these words in the context of current events:

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.^[a]
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.'”

I’m a bit late with this one, seeing as it is past Easter, but these are still true words. If Christ is not raised from the dead, then we are truly without hope in the world. But He did and He is.

“WE CAN SAY THAT the story of the Resurrection means simply that the teachings of Jesus are immortal like the plays of Shakespeare or the music of Beethoven and that their wisdom and truth will live on forever. Or we can say that the Resurrection means that the spirit of Jesus is undying, that he himself lives on among us, the way that Socrates does, for instance, in the good that he left behind him, in the lives of all who follow his great example. Or we can say that the language in which the Gospels describe the Resurrection of Jesus is the language of poetry and that, as such, it is not to be taken literally but as pointing to a truth more profound than the literal. Very often, I think, this is the way that the Bible is written, and I would point to some of the stories about the birth of Jesus, for instance, as examples; but in the case of the Resurrection, this simply does not apply because there really is no story about the Resurrection in the New Testament. Except in the most fragmentary way, it is not described at all. There is no poetry about it. Instead, it is simply proclaimed as a fact. Christ is risen! In fact, the very existence of the New Testament itself proclaims it. Unless something very real indeed took place on that strange, confused morning, there would be no New Testament, no Church, no Christianity.

Yet we try to reduce it to poetry anyway: the coming of spring with the return of life to the dead earth, the rebirth of hope in the despairing soul. We try to suggest that these are the miracles that the Resurrection is all about, but they are not. In their way they are all miracles, but they are not this miracle, this central one to which the whole Christian faith points.

Unlike the chief priests and the Pharisees, who tried with soldiers and a great stone to make themselves as secure as they could against the terrible possibility of Christ’s really rising again from the dead, we are considerably more subtle. We tend in our age to say, ‘Of course, it was bound to happen. Nothing could stop it.’ But when we are pressed to say what it was that actually did happen, what we are apt to come out with is something pretty meager: this “miracle” of truth that never dies, the ‘miracle’ of a life so beautiful that two thousand years have left the memory of it undimmed, the “miracle” of doubt turning into faith, fear into hope. If I believed that this or something like this was all that the Resurrection meant, then I would turn in my certificate of ordination and take up some other profession. Or at least I hope that I would have the courage to” (Frederick Buechner, The Alphabet of Grace).

“…yeah, for right now, just right where you are?
It’s going to be okay — promise. 
Nothing is a surprise To God.
Nothing is a problem For God.
Nothing is a mistake By God.
*Anything is possible With God.* 

#PreachingGospeltoMyself (Ann Voskamp).

I just happened to be scrolling through my Facebook memories when this popped up, seeming more relevant than ever.

While the last month and a half has taken me off guard, it did not catch God by surprise.

In fact, nothing you and I have ever said or done or thought in secret will take God by surprise.

I’m repeating the mantra of “Anything is possible with God” tonight. I know that nothing can separate me from the love of God or thwart His plans for me, not rain, not tornados, not pandemics, not plagues, not anything in all of creation. Not even me.

This one’s for me to remind myself of what I already knew but needed to have it told to me one more time.

Everything will be fine in the end. If it’s not fine, it’s not the end.

I’m ready for this whole stay-at-home thing to be over. I want to go places. I want to be able to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic in the past tense.

I don’t want to rush back into normal and have this virus flare up again and cause more deaths. At the same time, I don’t want small businesses to have to close their doors because of the shelter-in-place.

If you let it, thinking about all the ramifications of coronavirus can be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. It can consume all your waking thoughts if you let it.

But I choose daily to trust in God and not in what I comprehend or feel. I cling to His promises that are eternal in the face of temporary hardships.

I cling to the words of the Psalmist when he said:

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:1-2, NIV).

This says it all.

I’m hearing and reading stories about how one positive that has come from the pandemic is that shelters are being emptied out by people adopting pets.

I love that.

I personally believe that no home is complete without a dog or cat. Or hampster, gerbil, rabbit, hedgehog, goldfish . . . whatever makes your weird little heart happy.

I have a little tortie feline that keeps me company on the days when I’m working from home. She never judges (except maybe when her food bowl gets dangerously low), she never pries, and she never burdens me down with loads of expectations.

What she does do is practice her own version of self-quarantining. By that, I mean she takes naps. Lots of naps.

She occasionally speaks to me with her little chirps and grunts. She sometimes curls up in my lap and falls asleep. Sometimes she is a quiet presence nearby.

People who have pets know how comforting they can be. They know how calming and soothing it can be to see your pet at the door when you get home from work (or when you work from home and step out of the bathroom).

I may be a bit biased but I still think the best pets are rescues. It makes my heart supremely happy that people are adopting from shelters, particularly those high-kill shelters, so that they can have companionship during these times of social distancing.

My perfect world is where every shelter is empty and no animal goes unloved or unwanted but all of them find their furrever homes.

Immediately after I submitted the last blog post on my bucket list, I thought of some items that needed to be added. I could have cheated and added them in after the fact, but I thought it might be just as fun to do a sequel.

1. I want to drink that strong church coffee that needs lots of creamer and sugar just to be edible at The Church at Avenue South. Plus, I want to greet people again on Sunday mornings.
2. I want my long-delayed birthday dinner at Taqueria Del Sol on 12th Ave S.
3. I also want that table-made guacamole from Uncle Julio’s.
4. I have been missing my Downtown Franklin Friday nights, so I really need to get back to that.
5. I want to check out the free stuff section at the library, i.e. the castoffs.
6. I need my Goodwill fix.
7. I want to sit at an actual table in Chick-fil-A with that glorious Jesus chicken and some tasty waffle fries.
8. I need to get back to McKay’s to do some more wheelin’ and dealin’.

I think that covers it. Anything not on the list at this point will just have to remain left off.

These words seem more applicable today than ever. So much is unknown about the future, including how long everything will be shut down and all of us continue to stay at home.

The reason so many of us fear the dark is because it’s unknown. Most of us fear the unknown. I know I’d much prefer to return to my normal routines. The questions I ask late at night when fear creeps in are, “How much of a normal will I return to? Will there even be a normal to return to or will I have to adjust to a new normal?”

When you face an unknown future, i.e. now, you trust a known God who has time and time again shown nothing but faithfulness and loyal love. His track record is impeccable. You can always trust in the known God who has made Himself known to us in Jesus.

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.