Christianity

What I Know For Certain

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I don’t know a lot. Shocker. There’s so much to learn already and new information pops up everyday. Old information changes and is rendered obsolete and it’s just plain hard to keep track. Which is why I read the comics page and the sports page.

I do know a few things that are going to be true tomorrow and the day after that and for as long as I live.

I’ve never ever seen a night that wasn’t followed by day. No matter how dark it gets, the sun is bound to come out soon enough.

I’ve never seen a storm where the clouds didn’t break and the sun didn’t come breaking through. Storms come, but those storms have an expiration date. Storms aren’t forever.

The best part is this.

God is the same through it all. The God over the night is also the same God over the day. The God who watches over you in the storm watches you in the sunshine.

The God who is with you as you stand by the deathbed of a loved one is the same God who will greet your loved one with open arms the very moment that person leaves this earth.

The God who saw you fall and saw your life break into a million pieces is also the God putting those pieces back together and will be the same God who looks at the finished you, better than new and a shining replica of Jesus.

I know this because I’ve been through a few storms and prayed through some dark nights. I’ve been afraid and ashamed and I’ve failed more times that I’ve gotten it right. I know for certain that God loves me the same as if I had never sinned or failed or let fear rule my heart. He loves me the same in the storm as in the sunshine and in the night as in the brightest part of the day.

That’s what I know for sure and that’s what I hold onto always.

Whose Side Is God On, Really?

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It’s funny how during an election year how people are suddenly all about God. Both Republicans and Democrats are conviced that God is absolutely 100% behind their cause and 100% against the other side.

Anne Lamott once said that you know you’ve created God in your own image when He hates all the same people you do. The same goes for when God only likes people who are like you and think like you.

I try not to get caught up in all that. All I get from trying to figure all that out is a headache. I do know for sure whose side God is on and who God is for. God is for me. God is for you. That’s God’s side.

If God is for you, who can be against you? So the apostle Paul asks. But in order for that to work, it means God is for you. He roots for you. He wants the absolute best for you.

No matter what your life looks like or how far you are from where you and everybody else thinks you should be, God is for you. No matter how many blown second chances and bad choices and broken promises you’ve made, God is for you.

God is 100% absolutely, undeniably, unmistakably, irrevocably for you. He is 100% guaranteed not to give up on you, walk out on you, quit on you, or love you even one iota less than His fullest capacity to love.

I know whose side I want to be on. I want to be on the side of God. I want to be on the side of Jesus. But even on those days when I am so wishy-washy and undependable that God is still on my side. Those are the days where it may look like failure, but God sees it as me becoming a little more like Jesus. I call that success.

God is for you. God is for me. That’s the best news ever.

Another Day, Another Dollar, Another Lesson Learned

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I had a professor once that said, “Of all the classes I’ve seen, this is one of ’em.” That’s how I generally feel about Mondays. Of all the Mondays I’ve lived through and survived, today was one of them. Not great, not bad, just kinda there.

I got reminded that although I continue to fail and sin and fall into the same old temptation traps, grace is as sweet and the mercies of God are as fresh and new as ever. I am eternally held by the loving arms of my God and nothing will ever cause Him to let go. Not the weather, not current events, not famine or feast or flood. Not anyone else or anything else in this whole wide world. And not me.

I also got reminded that all those things I don’t have and all the desires in my heart that are unfulfilled are in Good Hands. I spend way too much time obsessing over how I can ever get married or get a better job or how to help God out instead of just breathing deeply in and out, relaxing, and trusting God to do what only He can do.

I think Monday gets a bad rap. I give Monday a bad rap sometimes. I know you’ve heard that Monday is a terrible way to spend 1/7 of your life. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Monday is the new start and the clean slate of the week. Just as those mercies of God are new every morning, so every week you get a fresh chance to cease striving and worrying and to really trust God and His promises. No matter how badly you failed last week, this week starts with a clean slate.

I hope that helps. Tonight I will go to bed, looking back at that one sin trap I not only didn’t avoid but rushed headlong into. I will see sour-graps attitudes, grumbling, opportunities not taken to share and be Jesus to somebody. I will see pettiness and bitterness instead of gratitude.

But tomorrow I will wake up and the score will be 0-0. The slate will be clean and all those past sins forgiven, forgotten and forever behind me.

So if I just wrote this blog for me only, it was totally worth it. I needed to remind myself of just how good the grace of God is and how He’s not even close to quitting on me. I will still hear that sweet voice singing over me in the night and that voice will still call me BELOVED.

The same goes for you, too. Happy Monday!

Another Unoriginal Blog

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“But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

That’s the good news. That’s the story you and I have to tell to the world. That’s not original to me, but I guess you knew that.

What is original is your own story. No one in history has ever or will ever live your life. The good, the bad, the goofy, the ugly, no matter what it looks like, it is all yours and only yours.

God has given you your story to tell. God has given me my own story to tell. I heard today that someone who will never step foot inside a church building or spend a red cent on buying a Bible is watching your life. You are their Bible, their Jesus, and what they see will inform what they think about God.

That’s what the word Christian means, after all. Little Christ. Not that we’re divine or anything close to that. But if we have surrendered to Jesus and invited Him to take over our lives, then His Holy Spirit is inside us, making us more like Jesus each day.

The beautiful part is that transformation looks different for each person. We each display a different facet of Christ’s character and when we come together in unity, love and fellowship, Jesus is magnified. That’s worship. Whether together or individually, everything we do can show the great worth of God’s glory.

We’re not always the best witnesses. I know for sure that I’m not. Thankfully, as I heard a pastor say, Jesus isn’t quick to judge, but He is quick to be patient and merciful and, best of all, to unconditionally love. He treats us so much better than we deserve and He invites us to treat others that way.

Remember that. You were a nobody and a reject, but now you’re somebody and you’re accepted. You were lost but now you’re found. You are a child and heir of the King of Kings have a new name– BELOVED. That itself changes everything.

Tell your story. Someone will hear it and find that this Jesus is as good or better than you say He is. It’s worth it for just that one person. I should know, because that person was me once.

Excerpts from Sarah’s Journal

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(This is what I imagine Sarah would have written in her journal while she waited on the fulfillment God’s promise. This may not be 100% dead-on accurate as far as ages and times, but I think it’s somewhat close)

Age 20– Married to a wonderful man. Abraham is as kind and gentle a husband as a wife could want, but my heart aches for a child. Lord, please send me a son.

Age 30– More and more I see other wives who have been abundantly blessed with so many children and still I have none. I am ashamed that I still haven’t given Abraham a son.

Age 40– I pretend that Abraham and I are happy and that we are content with being childless. Even Abraham doesn’t know that I cry myself to sleep some nights. I still dream about the son that might have been.

Age 50– It’s hard to celebrate the birth of grandchildren for others when I have given up hope for any children for us. Life goes on and I take it one day at a time. Getting through the day is all I can do these days.

Age 60– There is no more hurt or pain. I don’t feel anything anymore. Just a dull ache and an empty void. Yes, God is enough. He will always be enough. It’s just so hard to have  your dreams crushed.

Age 70– Could it really be that God promised Abraham a nation through us? Did he really say we would have a son? The tiniest spark of hope rises out of the ashes of former dreams.

Age 80– Maybe we heard wrong. I tried to help God out with Hagar, but that turned out disastrously. God, if this is to happen, it has to be you. I can’t be disappointed again. I just can’t. I don’t think I would survive it this time.

Age 90– I am holding 8 pounds of impossible in my arms. Beyond my last hopes and from this dead body, God brought life. My God is a God for whom the impossible is not even remotely difficult. No one is ever too far gone or too past hope for God to see and reach. At the last possible moment in the darkest hour, God did what He does best. He comes through.

When you’re dreams seem past salvaging and your hopes seem like a joke, remember that God is the God of the 90-year old with the newborn child. Nothing is impossible for this God. Nothing.

Grace Moments

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Today, I took my lunch at 11:30. I almost always take my lunch at noon, but for whatever reason, I took my lunch today at 11:30. I got a call from a friend of mine who had free tickets to see Casting Crowns at the Bridgestone Arena and wanted to know if I wanted to go. I was thinking in my head “Is Bill Gates rich? Does the Pope wear funny hats? Heck yeah!”

So I ended up at Bridgestone Arena in the club seat section, witnessing one of the best Christian concerts I have ever been to. It was a very good night. I may feel like a zombie, but I am one content and satisfied zombie.

Mark Hall, the lead singer for Casting Crowns, said something that grabbed my attention. He said that God sees your future as a memory. He’s already in it. He’s on the other side of it.

He talked about life as a kind of parade that we’re stuck in, watching the floats go by and waiting for the candy at the end. Some of the floats make no sense to us and we sometimes wonder if the parade will ever end. God sits above the parade and sees the whole thing from beginning to end.

Some parts of our lives make no sense to us. The pain seems senseless, the tragedy seems pointless, and nothing ever seems to get better. The good news of the gospel is that we have a God who is on the other side of the pain. Not only that, He’s with you in the midst of pain. He was there when you received the wound.

The beautiful part about Jesus being outside of time, as one pastor said, is that He can go back to the point in time where that person wounded you and heal you so that you’re no longer bleeding into the present.

And yes, if you look, you can find moments of unexpected grace even in the pain. Moments where you catch a glimpse of the glory that’s on the other side waiting for you. Moments that give you hope to get through.

Jesus has got a strong-arm grip on you and He’s not about to let you go. Nothing, not the pain, not the storm, not even you, can separate you from God’s love. That’s worth celebrating. That’s grace.

Life and How to Live It (No Relation to the R.E.M. Song)

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This past Wednesday, I went to Williamson Medical Center to see my newborn niece for the first time. Displaying my usual directional prowess, I barged into the wrong entrance, meandered aimlessly around for a bit, came back out, puttered around the building, and finally found the right entrance.

As I left the elevator, I almost ran into a lady who was obviously upset and weeping. As she entered the elevator, I heard sobs beginning. I’m sure she had just enough strength to get to her car before she completely fell apart.

I can only imagine the loss of a loved one could bring out such grief. To think I passed someone who had just said their final goodbyes when I was on my way to say my first hello to the newest member of the family.

Life is like that. So much joy and sorrow, laugher and mourning, sunshine and rain (I bet those of you who grew up in the 90’s immediately thought of the same song I’m thinking of now. Good luck getting that out of your head!) Very rarely is life as good as it could be or as bad. It’s usually somewhere in the middle.

I was reminded tonight that the story I’m in isn’t a “me-story,” but a “God-story.” I love the way someone put it tonight: I didn’t invite Jesus to be in my story, but Jesus did invite me to be a part of God’s story of redemption and restoration for the world.

God’s plan is still the best plan because He sees what we oftentimes can’t. He can get you through anything, no matter how dark or hopeless it seems. He is always, always for you. His love is still the most powerful element in the universe, more than any weapon or group or force that ever has been or ever will be.

My advice to you (but mostly to myself) is to live in the wonder of God’s story and never cease to be amazed at what He is doing in you, through you, and around you. Always keep your eyes open with the expectations of seeing God do amazing things.

I love this passage. I think it says what I’m trying to say a thousand times better:

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!” (Romans 8:15-17)

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl

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Welcome to the world, little Catherine Elizabeth Qualls. We’ve been waiting for your arrival and you showed up. In fact, you were so eager to make an appearance, you showed up early. That’s okay. We don’t mind in the least. We’re very glad to see you.

I remember holding you and thinking how small you were. How fragile and helpless, but strong and resiliant at the same time. You had my heart the first time I saw you. I’m so proud to be your uncle.

I’ve heard it said that people don’t have children because they don’t want to bring them into this cold, hard, cruel world. But who’s to say that those very children aren’t the ones who God will use to radically turn the world upside down? Who’s to say that they won’t be the ones to accept the world as it is, but try to bring a little of the Kingdom of Heaven to earth?

I don’t know what plans God has for you. I do know they are good. I know He loves you much more than your parents or relatives or any other human being possibly could. He already has your name, Catherine Elizabeth, tattoed on His heart and on His hands.

As you grow up, you will find life is full of the good, the bad, and the ugly. You will find sometimes you don’t always get what you want, but you get what you need. You will find you can’t be whatever you want to be, but you can be exactly who God made you to be. That’s my dream for you.

My dream is to see you become the fully alive woman of God who isn’t afraid to take her faith into the lions’ dens of the world and who is convinced of her beliefs, yet compassionate and tenderhearted toward the down and out.

I can’t wait to see you grown up and find the beauty God has for you. I know it will be so much more than worth the wait.

The Valley of Achor

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Just for the record, this entire blog was “borrowed” from Mike Glenn’s sermon tonight at Kairos. It was amazing, or as a friend of mine would put it, “stupid good.”

There’s a verse in Hosea that I’ve overlooked until now. It talks about God turning the Valley of Achor into a door of hope. I guess I never really thought much about it and never took the time to dig into the deeper meaning. Until tonight.

The Valley of Achor was after the battle of Jericho when Aikan and a couple of others took spoils from the battle in direct violation of God’s command to take nothing but destroy everything. Not Israel’s finest moment. The result was the earth opening up and swallowing them whole (I’ve wished for that to happen to me after a couple of embarrasing and awkward moments, but it never has).

The Valley of Achor can be your moment of shame. It’s that moment when you were like Esau and sold your birthright for a moment of pleasure. It’s that moment you’ve played in your head a million times, each time wishing you could take it back or choose a different path. It’s the worst moment of your life, the one that haunts you.

God’s promise is that He can take even that moment and bring hope out of it. As Mike Glenn said tonight, “God is so good He can take the worst moment of your life and make it the first sentence of your testimony.”

The Valley of Achor is where you stand up before the world and say (in the tradition of AA), “Hi, my name is _______ and I was a ____________. That was before Jesus found me. Now I am royalty, a son (or daughter) of the King. I am the Beloved with the signature of God imprinted on me.”

There’s no one too far gone for God to save. There’s nothing too bad that God can’t bring good out of and use for His glory. There’s no night too dark, no shame too deep, no hope too lost that the love of Jesus can’t transform into something beautiful and glorious. Even you. Even me.

Thank you, God, that your business is loving the unloveable until they are lovely again.

A Blessing Blog

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This is my blessing to you (although I’m not Irish, so this may not be as good):

May you awaken every morning with renewed hope and mercies that never run out.

May you feel the embrace of your Abba as He hold you in His everlasting arms.

May you hear His voice whispering to you throughout the day, calling you beloved.

May you remember the price Jesus died for you to take away your sin and be filled with gratitude.

May you also remember the joy you knew when you found your true First Love in Christ for the first time.

May Christ dwell in you richly and may He shine through you so that people want this Jesus that you have.

May you see the hurting around you with God’s eyes and feel their pain with His heart.

May you always be willing to love those Jesus loved, especially the broken and the outcast.

May you know that you yourself are loved more deeply and more perfectly than you could possibly imagine (and then some!)

May you rest in the arms of your Father God at the end of the day.

May you hear Him dancing and singing over you in the night and may your dreams be filled with His glory.

May you take hold of the fact that at no point will this Love ever let you go or desert you or in any way diminish. May you find that as you grow older you see more and more of your weaknesses and find that God’s strength works best in those weaknesses.

That’s all. Thank you again for reading my blog. Each of you are a blessing to me and I thank God for you all the time.