Mondays with Jesus

Through the lens of jewish John, I’m on a great adventure with my Lord Jesus. Messiah captured me long ago and now again, in the first verse: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 

Imagine young John, eyewitness to the encounters, the miracles, the festivals, and most importantly, the illumination of who Jesus really is. I didn’t plan to spend the last two months in John’s Gospel, but God often leads us down a road to reveal Himself in a fresh and profound way. 

The timing coincides with my two hardest months of the year; memories of saying my goodbyes to Rob still revisit me during this season. It is a path I never expected to travel, but honestly, I think I would have never found Jesus with such intimacy without a sudden thrust into this uncharted wilderness. 

So, Jesus and John are taking me along for what I anticipate to be a powerful ride of renewal.  

Where have you been planted for the remainder of the year?

Mondays with Jesus

Oh the voices…so many trying to drown out the Truth. Shutter my ears, Jesus, to the rambling, the opining, the gaslighting…to the celebrities and political pundits competing for air space.  For that’s exactly what it is: AIR!  And fleeting. 

Jesus, help me to listen to the one in the wilderness: turn, prepare, swim against the others. Incline my ear and my whole heart to you, Jesus, for you are the Word, truly there in the beginning and most victoriously appearing in the end. 

Maranatha.

Mondays with Jesus

  I bumped into a couple of statements this weekend. 

“The truth is most often quiet; lies are loud.”  Source unknown. 

It does seem like lies shout the loudest; half-truths, misrepresentations, and outright lies, meant to create doubt within us,  do overshadow truth. I’m not good enough, I need _____ to be complete, and most dangerously, it’s really about me. How many more could we add to this list of deception? 

Truth, often whispering, waits for us to find it; it doesn’t rely on exaggeration or manipulation.  I’ve also found truth speaks a lot louder when we quiet our souls and plug into a reliable source.  A lot of my “Mondays with Jesus” posts morph into letters I’m leaving my grandchildren. I’ll emphasize this one and the need to always plug into the only reliable source for all life’s decisions: the Triune God.  Acts 17:11 comes to mind: Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. And of course the words in Jeremiah:  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you…Jer.29.

And the other thought comes from Father David Guffey: Jesus can look into somebody’s heart and see what they need most. He was referencing the healing of the paralytic when Jesus says, after acknowledging his friends’ faith,  “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”  He knew what the man really needed: redemption; the ability to walk was but an extra dose of compassion. 

So on this Monday, I can’t take my eyes off of my Savior who sees my inmost need. The volume’s turned up, drowning out the lies. 

Mondays with Jesus-making space

 Yesterday, I stopped for a few minutes to watch my pastor engage with his people. He had traveled much of the week to the island to preach revival services. The drive through afternoon traffic after a busy day can be exhausting; I make it often. No one would have judged him for slipping out after services, but there he was, making space for those he loved and others he would grow to better know. 

Making space…it’s a rarity these days. Sure, we each have so many demands on our day that we’ve simply run out of room for anything else.  Lately, I’ve been taking inventory of my 24 hours, discovering a lot of what fills them is desire-led and ego-driven. Like when I pour extra time into a project just to make me look better or chase a new want or temptation, each eating away at the limited day and adding not one precious thing to eternity. Ouch! So what’s my point? Some things are of course, non-negotiable, but that includes making room for God to use us for his purposes. When I examine the Gospels, I find Jesus living a rhythm that welcomed interruption and spontaneity and was relationship-led. 

Take the time Jesus was on his way to heal a synagogue leader’s daughter when a woman with a 12 year bleeding problem touched his garment and she was instantly healed. Now, that’s an interrupted schedule. I suppose I would have kept pushing on to my “important” meeting, but not Jesus. He made space for a soul changing conversation, taking time to commend her for her faith, clear up any misconceptions about her healing and offer this woman a blessing of peace. 

And then, there’s the Gentile woman who begs Jesus to heal her daughter. (By the way, Jesus was not calling her a dog, but simply clarifying his mission. Oh those pesky Greek words!)  Again, He stretched time to explore her intentions and observe her faith. Her soul was forever changed as well.  

What if I intentionally freed even 10 minutes in between each obligation and let God run with it. Ask Him to own that space. Whose soul would be touched? This I do know, others would be seen! Just like yesterday in the church’s coffee spot…a shepherd with his flock.

Mondays with Jesus- Waiting in the Pit

 How long O LORD? How long must I have sorrow in my heart all the day?  How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? (Ps. 13) I imagine many in Israel join the psalmist David in asking these questions on this somber anniversary. Though the whole earth groans, today my thoughts settle on Israel and I prayerfully wait for the peace of Jerusalem. Waiting for the LORD to lift those remaining hostages out of their pits of despair, for reservists to return to their families and jobs, for the night sky to light up with heavenly stars, not man-made missiles. 

I pray each misplaced mama, papa and child in this shattered region knows that God dwells with them in their wait. Even to the depths, He is there! (Ps. 139). As if He climbs in the pit to be near each before He reaches in to rescue. Only our omnipresent God can give such comfort. 

Mondays with Jesus-wave watching

 This past week, I took my eyes off Jesus more times than I wish to admit; I shifted my focus to the waves of our tumultuous world. I left my position at the feet of Jesus, trading wonder and peace for angst. I didn’t deliberately decide to go wave-watching; I simply caught a glimpse of the chaos and chose to linger awhile.  Forgetting to run back, I lost my view of the King of the Universe who holds all things together. Wave-watching is mesmerizing, addictive, captivating; before I knew it, my posture was completely off kilter. Silly things were irritating me and important matters loomed large; my flesh was winning the battle. I had left my joy at the feet of sovereign, compassionate, patient Jesus to watch waves I could not control. I did not drown, but I was waterlogged with sarcasm, judgement, fear. This morning, this  imperfect vessel is again planted right back in front of the only One who pours life into her. It’s a lovely gaze!

Mondays with Jesus-Plans

 “I had my life planned out,” she shared; I don’t think I heard another word after that. So did I!

 I never planned to divide life by b.c. and a.c; before cancer/after cancer. We had cared for parents and grandparents with the dreaded diagnosis, but our family regrouped and returned to our life as we had known it. 

Cancer was a season, not a lifetime companion. Gene mutations lived in a remote lab, not in my closest people. Scans were annual annoyances, not riddled with anxiety and IV’s were for blood donations, not life-sucking chemo infusions. A June 2013 diagnosis of pancreatic cancer changed everything and then, came breast cancer. 

What is your before and after? Divorce, miscarriage, addiction, a career loss?   How do you make a meaningful life amidst broken plans? I’ve been sitting with Jeremiah and the exiles in chapter 29 this week; every time I read it something new jumps off the page. For example, the Message translation includes a clause in verse 11: God promises, “I know what I’m doing.  I have it all planned out.”  His after holds great promise; it’s your starting point, your foundation!

And this grabbed me: plant something new. Stop trying to make the shards of a past life sprout and start growing something new and beautiful. Plant a new relationship, a talent, something! Nourish it with love and hope and watch what God does. Read it for yourself; you’ll find inspiration. 

This past weekend I met Doris, a brain cancer warrior, in Lynn Eib’s book, When God & Cancer Meet. This is how she loved her a.c. 

life:  Are you convinced that neither chemo nor radiation, neither scans nor surgery, neither good news, nor bad news, neither predictions nor unanswered prayers, nor anything else in all the world of cancer, will be able to separate you from the love of God that is yours in Christ Jesus? 

Now, you fill in your own after and let’s both rest in His love and better plan.