The Hey You Lady

The Christmas Spirit. The Holiday Cheer. Blah-blah-blah-blah. We stress out and do all this work for one day, and poof! It's over until next November when it all starts up again. (wait-didn't I see Christmas ornaments with the back-to-school stuff in August?) Don't get me wrong - Christmas is an important holiday. Well, observation, if you will. But most of the time it doesn't stir my soul the way it "should." However my soul "should" be stirred. Or at least shaken, if not stirred. It's December, and being along the Southern California coast, it's off to the beach I go. I have some time to re-energize before my busy evening tonight. The beach ... that's where I know I can find God's Spirit. "The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Ruach. No wonder the beach calls to me. And there are so many perfect spots to view the ocean. And I know that God will reveal a profound truth to me at the beach today, as He has done se...

In the Bible, Mark 5:25-34 tells the story of a woman who was afflicted with what seems to be an incurable condition for a significant portion of her adult life. Likely, according to the Law, she's considered "unclean" because of the bleeding, and she desperately wants to be healed for many reasons. Not just physically, but emotionally -- she wants to be accepted again. And she wants to be healed spiritually as well. She so longs for this that for her it is enough just to touch the hem of Jesus' robe. She may have thought, "he won't even need to notice me." But Jesus did notice, and in a way that she didn't expect. Yes, her touching the hem healed her. Jesus felt "power had gone out from him" and wanted to acknowledge the one whose life he had just transformed. Imagine this woman who, for the past twelve years, had been outcast, shunned, removed from society, family, and all she loved. Humiliated for over a decade with the label "u...

“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” - Matthew 9:12, NLT Jesus clearly cared about healing people during his ministry on earth. Physical healing was (and still is) an outward sign of God's power through Jesus Christ -- a proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God. But more so than the physical healing, Jesus was more passionate about the healing of the eternal body - our souls. When someone is ill and recognizes a set of symptoms that he cannot control on his own, a physician is consulted for the diagnosis and course of treatment, and (hopefully) ultimately a cure for the disease. In the case of a chronic, long-term affliction, there is more than just the initial consultation. There are follow-up visits where progress is monitored and the course of treatment is adjusted where necessary. Eventually the patient is held accountable for maintenance of his restored health and sees the physician for periodic check-ups. Several years ago, I was living my normal life, unawar...

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-39, NLT Imagine that you love someone so much that you would do anything to be with that person for all eternity. But you watch that person make decision after decision that draws him away from you. What can you do to show how deep your love is? You give things - events - of extraordinary beauty. You show him ways of how life should be - better than the way his life is now. You even give step-by-step, how-to instruction on what it takes to be with you. But he still doesn't see that you love him so greatly. And he is not making any changes in his life to try ...

Every now and then I like to think of what heaven will be like.... Here are some random questions on that topic: Is there an "express lane" for Christians to enter heaven? What will my mansion be like? When we are “clothed in our heavenly dwelling” what will we look like? (Seeds often look nothing like the mature plant ... will our "heavenly dwelling" look anything like our earthly human form?) What will be along the streets of gold? Street vendors? Mansions? Will there be cars? Will the streets have gutters? Will we need the internet in heaven? Will the Book of Life be online, or is it all manually written down? After Jesus, who is the first person I would want to see? Is fishing allowed in the River of Life? What about skinny-dipping? What does an angel really look like? What kind of food will be at the feast? How many people can be seated at the table? Will I have to wait in a line to be with Jesus? Will everyone in heaven always get along? Will there be people ...

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) To many non-believers, that statement makes Christianity smack of exclusivity. "You mean to tell me that I can only get in to Heaven if I believe a certain way, and it has to be your way?" While there is only one way to gain access to God - through Jesus Christ - there are as many ways to Jesus as there are individuals. For example, let's say that I invited you to have coffee with me at my home. There's only one way that I'm going to let you into my home, and that's through my front door. But how do you get to my front door? There's more than one way - it all depends on what your starting point is. The way is different for someone who lives in San Pedro than, say, someone who lives in San Bernardino. But both would still have to go through my front door to gain (welcome) access to my home. God's love for us is so vast that he has provided as ...

I seem to live in a constant power struggle. You see, I have this insatiable need to be right, and to be in control of my circumstances. There are times that the situation at hand is obviously bigger than my abilities. I feel powerless, and the result does not match the picture that I had at first set out to create. It didn't take long for me to realize that by giving up my autonomy - my "Mary-Do" mindset - and sharing the load, then the bigger tasks could still have the end result I originally envisioned, and I could still maintain at least some sense of control. But even in sharing the struggle, I can still put a limit on what God can do to intervene in my life. The struggle becomes one between God and me. If I can handle, delegate or manage every detail, then where is the room for God? I know what I want the outcome to look like. And I won't let anything change that image in my mind. God tells me in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," ...

Last Sunday was Communion Sunday at my church. And something struck me as odd. At Communion time -- from the singing of the communion hymn to the prayer after communion -- it seemed as though nearly everyone participating, from the servers to the congregation, had this look about them as though they were about to be led to a slaughterhouse. Don't get me wrong ... I'm not saying that Communion is not a time of contemplation or reflection of what Jesus did for us ... but let's take a look at the bigger picture here. Worship is a celebration. Communion is a part of that celebration. It's truly an amazing thing what Jesus did for us in his death and resurrection. The Lamb of God (Jesus) was sacrificed (freely given) as an atonement (payment) for our sins. We all have sinned and fallen short of the perfection that God had in mind for us when Adam was first created. The penalty for our sins is death ... being cut-off from spiritual life (community) with God. Can you imagine h...

Undivided devotion (1Corinthians 7:35) Sincere and pure devotion (2Corinthians 11:3) Wholehearted devotion (2Kings 20:3) Devotion. Undivided, sincere, pure, wholehearted devotion. A devotion that comes from an unbreakable bond. 100% loyalty and faithfulness. Bringing a work-in-progress to completion. Looking at those standards, I fall way short. I wonder if I have shown that kind of devotion - ever - in my life. And I wonder if I ever will. Devotion. The emotional determination to forsake all distractions and stay focused on what drives you. Undivided, sincere, pure, wholehearted devotion. An unbreakable bond. The 100% loyalty and faithfulness it takes to bring a work of completion. The emotion that drives a man to give everything he has to be with his loved ones forever. Undivided. Singleness of purpose. Sincere. Beyond any shadow of doubt. Pure.Without any hidden agenda. Wholeheartened. Worth giving your all for. The kind of devotion that would trade places with you. The kind of devo...

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. - Genesis 2:1-3 God rested. I read this passage, and wondered, How does God rest? I asked a Really Good Friend this question. They told me, "He sits in his La-Z-Boy recliner with the remote control, and surfs through 1,000 channels and still can't find anything good to watch!" hmm.... Man is created in the image and likeness of God ... but I was looking for an answer from the deeper end of the Think Tank... Our lives can be hectic at times. On my job, whenever I finish a task, I take a moment to reflect upon what I did. These fleeting moments of rest are sometimes mini-celebrations. Usually, it's a very brief "Yet, that report is finished!" or "Woo-h...

There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 In reading these verses, I am reminded times that I've gotten into a jam in my life because of choices that I made and the consequences of those choices. Whether the problem was with finances, relationships, taking care of my body, or anything else, I was convinced that since I, in effect, set the chain of events into motion that got me to that point, it would be up to me to act upon more decisions to get myself out. But guess what? In the area of life where I made the bad decisions, I was weak. If I weren't weak, I would have used better judgement and not be in such a mess. I was told by someone years ago, '...

A week or so ago, my Saturday study group's topic was on Praise for the Spirit - the discipline of Silence. The study guide said that "For many of us the disciplines of silence and meditation are difficult for us to pursue. We want to complete a task - read through a book of the Bible, or pray through a l ist of needs. Sometimes, however, God wants us to simply come before him and hear his voice." It had never occurred to me that silent prayer isn't simply praying without sound, like most people think it is. Rather, silent prayer is when we are silent and still before God. It's when we have poured ourselves out, come to Him as empty vessels, and have surrendered to His will. We come to our Abba like a child nestled in daddy's lap, and receive rest in His loving arms. We come to the Living God silent, as a patron of the arts, attending a symphony of grandeur, and leave His presence in awe of the sounds and textures blended to reveal the perfect creation of the...

The Christian celebration of Epiphany is celebrated on or about January 6 every year. It commemorates the event of Jesus being acknowledged as the Messiah by the shepherds and the three Magi, when he was still an infant. At my church, the kids have a tradition of making Epiphany stars out of metallic-colored cardboard, painting a different word on each star, and tying a ribbon through it to wear around your neck or hang on a wall. I decided that this year I would make an effort to live out whatever the word is on my star. On Epiphany Sunday, 9-year-old Tyler proudly hands me a star that he had made himself. The word on it was "peace." Right away I thought, ok, how do I "do" peace? Fast-forward to May. It seems as though for the past couple of weeks, God has put the word "surrender" on my mind and heart more than any other. It seems as though I've had an "a-ha!" moment, an epiphany, about surrender and peace. When two sides are in conflict, pe...