Edisto Beach Retreat

This past weekend was our annual women's retreat to Edisto Beach. This is an event that I take great joy and pleasure in planning and preparing for each year. This year was no exception and I anxiously waited to see what God had planned for this group of His daughters that were gathering together this year. There was a total of seven women and one sweet little seven month old baby girl named Piper.

Sweet Piper on the beach

God blessed us abundantly with safe travel and good weather. The beach house met our needs perfectly with a large kitchen and plenty of room to relax, talk and play games. One of our favorite spots was the screened porch on the side of the house where we would often congregate to hang out together. A couple of the high points for me was spending time in worship on Sunday morning. The Lord's presence was sweet as He ministered to our hearts as we worshipped Him and shared in communion together. The second high point was Sunday afternoon playing the game Taboo. I didn't know that it was humanely possible to laugh that much for such an extended period of time, but that is exactly what we did!



Deena enjoying the sand and the sun



Peggy was distracted from her reading

My beautiful daughter Clara



Kathey, my long time friend

Piper with her lovely mom, Sloan

Stephanie & Deena just met this weekend, but a new friendship was formed

I was usually up before dawn to walk along the beach, watch the sunrise and spend time in prayer. For me, there is something so completely magnificent about watching the ocean and reflecting on God's amazing creation. I am often overwhelmed not only by the vastness and power of the ocean itself, but also the knowledge that the water right in front of me is teeming with all sorts of life. The variances and complexities of it all is a beautiful reminder of how great and awesome is the God that I serve.

Early on Saturday morning, as I was walking, I noticed a man with his dog walking along the edge of the water. The man had some sort of red stick that he would throw out into the water and as soon as it left the his hand, the dog went racing out to retrieve it. It did not matter where the stick landed, the dog would swim out to get it and bring it right back to his master's feet, tail wagging and ready to go again. I watched the two as this action was repeated over and over, and the dog and his owner seemed to be enjoying every part of the game. As I was about to continue my walk, I felt there was something more the Lord wanted me to see, so I asked Him what it was that He was showing me. He told me that he wanted me to go after whatever He put in front of me with the same energy and attitude that I saw exhibited in that dog, and whenever I am able to grab hold of whatever He is giving me, there will always be more. I pray that you too will "fetch" whatever God has for you, and move ahead with joy and excitement that not only did He choose you for this task, but He always, always has more!



Treasures found on my early morning walks at the beach



God worked in us and through us to form new friendships, strengthen old ones and bind us more closeley together as sisters. We laughed, we cried, we relaxed and ate way too much food. We soaked in His presence individually and collectively, and our time together is permanently stamped on our hearts. May His name be praised forever for all that He has done and continues to do!

Bondage or Freedom?

Exodus 14:13-14

After the Pharaoh finally conceded to let the Children of Israel go as Moses had asked, he relented and went after them.  The Israelites were terrified when they saw the Egyptians marching towards them.  They turned to Moses in their fear and complained that he should have left them in Egypt.  We read in Exodus 14:13-14, Moses’ reply: Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

God then instructed Moses to stretch his staff out over the sea, and we know the story of the Red Sea parting so that the Israelites could cross on dry land.  Once they were across, the Egyptians who were hot in pursuit were all drowned as the waters of the Red Sea came back together again.  There was nothing the Children of Israel could have done to save themselves.  The Egyptians were after them, there was nowhere for them to run or hide and even the most brilliant minds in the world could not figure a way out of the situation.  And Moses’ only instruction to them as they saw the Egyptians headed straight towards them in all their fury was to be still because the Lord would fight for them.    

I have often wondered what it would have been like to be an Israelite at that time and witness such a miraculous event.  What kinds of thoughts would have run through my head, what kind of emotions would have coursed through my body as I saw first hand God saving me and everyone around me, not only from the bondage of slavery, but also from the angry Egyptians who were ready to take vengeance on a people who had defied them?  Not only had I been set free, but it happened in such a way that there would be no doubt who had been responsible for my release.  I like to think that I would have fallen on my face and committed my life to serving God forever.  After witnessing God’s supernatural power, I would never again doubt or question His immeasurable love for me.  And as I moved forward in my life and faced difficulties or challenges, I would always be able to look back on that moment in time and know that God would take care of me, rescue me in times of peril and provide for my every need.  But that is not what the Israelites did, and quite honestly, it is not what I do either.

It was not long after the supernatural escape from the Egyptians that the Israelites were complaining to Moses about not being able to find water, and when they did find water they couldn’t drink it because it was bitter, yet God took care of that problem too and made the water sweet. (Exodus 15:25)  Their next complaint was lack of food.  Their groaning and complaining was such that they were convinced they should have stayed in Egypt, because at least there they had food to eat. (Exodus 16:3)  All the complaining, all the whining, all the mistrusting of God continued on for the next 40 years as they wandered through the desert on their way to the land that God had promised to them.  It didn’t matter how much God provided for them, all the supernatural ways that He took care of them, every time they hit a bump in the road the whining and complaining would start again.  It makes you wonder why God didn’t just leave them in the desert and let them figure it out on their own.  God set them free, yet there were times when they preferred their bondage over trusting in God.

And how often do we do that today?  We hit a hard place in life and say, “Oh, God, why did you let this happen?  Why don’t you fix it?” And then we start looking for solutions ourselves.  We want to find the quick fix to make the pain go away, but the quick fix usually gets us nowhere.  Oh, it might leave us wandering around in the desert or even worse, right back in Egypt into the same old bondage we want so desperately to escape from, but we will never be released from bondage or set free from pain until we learn to sit still and let the Lord fight for us.  Until we fully know and understand that God loves us and we can trust in Him completely can we experience true freedom!

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

This Thing Called Grace

Romans 6

The world is moving at a rapid pace, and if you are like me, there are times when you may feel that things are spinning out of control.  There are so many things coming at us to occupy not only our time but also our minds that it can become challenging at times to discern those things that are good from those things that our not.  Even many our churches seem to be sending out mixed messages about right and wrong and how exactly grace fits into the whole equation.

According to Merriam Webster’s on-line dictionary, grace is defined as unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.  I really like that word regeneration; it suggests that through grace we can be made new again.  And isn’t that exactly what we want to know will happen by grace, that when we sin and repent for our sins, we can be made new again in the eyes of God?  Does God extend us grace so that we can do what ever we want to do knowing that His grace will cover all of our sin?  Paul writes the following in Romans 6:1-2: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? And that is the question, once we know Jesus, how can we go on sinning?

We go on sinning because we are imperfect, flawed humans motivated by our own selfish desires to have our needs met.  Only Jesus Christ lived a life free from sin.  Jesus’ life was sinless for two reasons.  The first reason is that He always chose to do the will of His Father.  Even though Jesus is the Son of God, He still came to earth in the flesh, tempted in all things, yet He never put His will or His desires above those of Father God.  The second reason Jesus was sinless was because He understood what it truly meant to serve others. There was no ego or selfish desires to get in His way of serving others. Not only did He know and understand the concept, it is something that He made a choice to do each day, but this is a topic for another day.

But what does Paul mean when he says that “We are those who have died to sin?”  If we are so flawed and imperfect, how can we die to sin?  The change comes in the heart.  Bill Johnson wrote in his book, Face to Face with God, “And because of who He is, to behold Him and remain unchanged is impossible.”  As we seek God and draw closer to Him, His desires become our desires.  As we allow God’s love to permeate our lives, to infiltrate every fiber of our being, He draws our hearts to Him and the things that used to entice us begin to lose their effect.  Those things become dead to us as we find new life in Christ Jesus.

Will we continue to sin, make mistakes and totally mess things up?  The answer to that is absolutely, but the next question is: Does God’s grace give us permission to sin?  We already know that Paul instructed against it, but we also read in the book of Jude, verse 4 the following:  “For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

Just as it was in those days, the perversion of the grace message continues today.  God has called us to come out of the world and draw close to Him, to choose His way over the ways of the world.  Only when we are seeking Him can we experience true freedom in this world and those times when we do fall, His grace is there to pick us up, clean us off and make us new again!

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11-13

From Lament to Praise

The Book of Psalms

How do you worship?  What does worship look like to you?  In your local church, what does your corporate worship look like?  Is it more somber, singing the hymns of old or is it more upbeat offering the style of the new catchword "contemporary worship" or the even newer phrase, "modern worship?"  Do the lights in the auditorium dim with stage lights focused only on the folks leading worship?  Maybe your worship team has gone even one step further and begun to include secular music to "make a point" that will line up with the topic of the day to drive home the focus of the sermon.  Even more importantly, what is going on in your heart when you enter into worship?  What does scripture say in regards to worship?

The book of Psalms served as the Hebrew "hymnal" to be used during worship in the temple and local synagogues, and provides the most in depth look at worship.  In examining this collection of hymns, there is a noticeable pattern that is seen.  Individually and collectively, there is a progression of verbiage and attitude that takes the reader from lament to praise.  In the third Psalm, David expresses his dismay at the number of his enemies, yet he turns his dismay into loving trust and praise as he declares to God, "But you are a shield around me O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my heard."  This is just one of many examples of an individual psalm progressing from lament to praise.

The collection of Psalms as a whole follows the same progression.  The last five psalms in the collection are filled with high praise of our God and King.  The first two verses in Psalm 145 bears no hint of lament: "I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever.  Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever."  The collection ends with a beautiful psalm of the highest praise.

Praise the Lord.  Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.  Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.  Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord.  Psalm 150

So what does this mean to us as modern day Christians in our age of technology, streaming video and dazzling lights and sound?  Regardless of what is going on in the corporate worship setting, there is a call to us as His individual children to come before Him and lay everything down at His feet.  Anything that is plaguing our minds and distracting us from entering into communion with our Heavenly Father must be totally given to Him.  By letting go of the cares of this life that the enemy uses so diligently and effectively to keep us separated from our God, we allow God to clear out the "junk" therefore freeing us to enter into sweet fellowship with Him.  This is the fellowship that God longs to have with us as His children, and there is no sweeter existence for us as His people than when we worship in His presence free from the cares of the world. 

So, the next time you enter into personal and/or corporate worship, spend some time in prayer giving to God all your cares, worries, anxieties, and fears.  Prepare your heart and mind to enter into worshiping the Creator of the Universe, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  Your experience with Him will amaze you!

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and burden is light.  Matthew 11:28-30

The Power of the Cross

Genesis 1-3; Matthew 26-28; Mark 14-16; Luke 22-24; John 13-21

The relatively short early ministry of Jesus Christ (three to three and a half years) culminated in the most beautiful act of undeniably selfless love that the world has ever known.  While reading scripture can give us knowledge of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, it is still difficult for our human minds to fully comprehend all that Jesus accomplished during those few days that marked the end of His earthly ministry.

To gain a greater understanding of what Jesus did, we must go back to the Garden of Eden and take a look at what was lost so very long ago.  The very first words that we read in the book of Genesis explain that God created the heavens and the earth.  As we read from there, we see over the next six days that God created every living creature, every living plant and every other thing that exists to make the world complete.  At the end of each day, God looked at all He created and saw that it was good.  On the sixth day, God created man and woman, and His opinion on the sixth day was that it was very good.

Adam and Eve had it all!  The whole of creation was theirs to enjoy, but even more than that, we see in Genesis 3, that Adam and Eve could walk and talk in the Garden with God.  At the point in time when they both chose to mistrust their Creator and believe the lies of the serpent, they separated themselves from the close, intimate contact that had been theirs to enjoy with God.  I am sure if Adam and Eve had realized the full weight of their choice, not just for them, but for those that would come after them; they may have made a very different decision, but then again, maybe not, because just like you and me, they were human.

After the Israelites escaped Egypt, God instructed them to build a tabernacle (sanctuary), as a place for God to dwell.  "Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.  Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you." (Exodus 25:8-9)  Within the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies, the place where God dwelled and the only furnishing was the Ark of the Covenant.  The Holy of Holies was separated by a veil or curtain and once a year the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement to make atonement not only for his own sins, but also the sins of the people.  The Holy of Holies was replicated in the Temple in Jerusalem.

On the day of Jesus' crucifixion, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that at the moment of His death, the veil was torn. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. (Matthew 27:50-51)  Not only did Jesus take our sin from us so that we can appear before God as righteous, He also removed the barrier that separated us from God.  No longer must we rely on a high priest to make atonement for us, Jesus did it once and for all.  From that moment on, we have been enabled to go to God on our own through Jesus ~ there is nothing separating us!  We can live in communion with God our Father.  We can experience His presence daily, see His hand in our lives and listen for His tender voice speaking to our hearts.  As Paul spoke to the Corinthians, he explained it this way: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)  That is very good news for all those who believe on the name of Jesus Christ!

Shortly before His death, the Gospel of John records Jesus praying, not only for His disciples but for all the people that would come after them and believe on Him.  In other words, right before His death, YOU were on His mind.  "My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity.  Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:20-23)

Over the next few days the world will celebrate Easter.  Retail stores will sell mountains of candy and plastic eggs.  Children will hunt eggs and there will be appearances of the Easter Bunny.  All across America, churches will be filled to overflowing as folks make their way to visit one of the two most highly attended services of the year, Easter and Christmas.  But the real truth is this: Bunnies, eggs and candy have nothing at all to do with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Setting aside one day a year to celebrate seems cheap compared to His sacrifice.  As Christ followers, we have the joy and privilege to celebrate all He has done and continues to do each and every day until that glorious day when we shall see Him face to face!

May the Lord bless you as you seek Him!

I'm on My Knees Begging You to Notice Me . . .

There is a popular song currently playing on Christian radio called "Hold My Heart," by Tenth Avenue North, and these are the lyrics to the first verse:


How long must I pray, must I pray to You?
How long must I wait, must I wait for You?
How long 'til I see Your face, see You shining through?
I'm on my knees, begging You to notice me.
I'm on my knees, Father will You turn to me?


Do we really need to beg God to notice us or to hear us when we pray? Will begging God somehow make our prayer more effective? I am sure that most of us at some time or the other have found ourselves in a desperate situation which led us to beg God to answer our prayer. Quite often, when we are doing our begging, the only answer we are seeking is the one we desire. We are not begging Him for His answer, but our answer. But in those times when you have found yourself begging, have you received the answer you were seeking? Maybe, but maybe not, and that kind of posture befoe God will often lead us to feelings of emptiness and mistrust of the very One who created us!


What did Jesus say about such things? When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gave them what we commonly refer to as "The Lord's Prayer," but He did not stop there. He went on to explain how we should approach God: "So I say to you; Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Luke 11:9-10) Prayer is not a complicated process; it is simply conversing with the Father. While He knows what is on our hearts, He wants us to bring it to Him and say it with words out of our own mouth.


Are there other things to consider when we pray? Prior to Jesus' teaching on prayer, Matthew records His teaching on worrying. Jesus teaches His followers not to worry, because our Heavenly Father knows what we need and He will meet all of our needs. One of Jesus' final statements in this teaching is this: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33) So there's the catch, seek God, His righteousness and those things that you need will be provided, not just some of the things, but Jesus said ALL things. Here are some questions to consider when you feel like your prayers are in vain: Are you seeking God's Kingdom and His righteousness? Are you seeking His will for your life or are you asking Him to bless your plans and your agenda? Who do you think has the best answers for your life, you or God?


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." Jeremiah 29:11-12

Who is Making Your Plans?

John 6:14-15

After Jesus fed the multitude of 5000 plus people, the crowd was amazed at the miracle. They were so amazed that they thought Jesus must be the prophet they had been awaiting. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”  Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (John 6:14-15)

The people were not looking at Jesus for who He was, but rather they saw what He was capable of and wanted Him to fulfill their own expectations. They wanted to force Him to be king. He already was King, but because He didn’t fit their idea of a king they could not see it. Jesus didn’t hang around and try to argue with them or convince them of His ideas; scripture simply says that He withdrew from them. Jesus would not allow them to deter Him from God’s plan for His life. No matter what the crowd thought or wanted, Jesus was not willing to conform to their desires, so much so, that He felt the need to withdraw from them so that He could continue down the path that God intended for Him rather than meet the unrealistic expectations of a people who truly did not understand His purpose.

Even today, Jesus does not force His will on us, nor does He allow us to force our will on Him. He has a plan and a purpose for our lives and His desire is for us to join with Him and follow after Him rather than expecting Him to meet and bless our plans. Consider the words of the Lord in the book of Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

The prophet Isaiah spoke not only of God’s greatness, but also asked the question, “Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor?” (Isaiah 40:13) Surely, no human being living, dead or yet to be born can instruct the Lord!  He is the Creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega, and we belong to Him, not the other way around.

So how do you approach God? Do you make your plans and ask Him to bless them? Do you get frustrated or maybe even angry when things don’t work out the way you think they should? Do you feel like God has abandoned you? Have you tried seeking Him for His will for your life? Do you think it would make difference if you were following after Him rather than expecting Him to follow after you? May we all seek God and His ways just as King David who put his hope and trust in God.

Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5

Love & Provision of the Father

Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15

The story is familiar to those of us who spent time in Sunday school growing up; Jesus takes 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and feeds five thousand people. Of course that head count only included the men that were there that day, and if you added the women and children who were also in attendance the count would have most likely soared to over ten thousand people! It is a miracle of epic proportions recorded in the Gospels. In fact it is the only miracle recorded in all four of the Gospels. When we see something repeated in scripture then it is a clear signal to pay attention. There is something important that God wants us to see, know and understand.

So what is it that God is speaking to us through this miracle? What was He speaking to the people of that day that were there to witness it? The message today is much the same as it was then: God’s ability to provide for our every need is beyond anything that we can imagine. The Gospel of John records a question that Jesus asked of Peter, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

Jesus did not ask this question because He was looking for an answer that was unknown to Him. Scripture records that He already had in His mind what He intended to do. He asked Peter this question because He wanted Peter and the other disciples to fully understand who He actually was and what He had come to do. Peter’s response to Jesus only confirms that in spite of the time he had spent with Jesus he was still pretty clueless in his understanding.

Jesus had no intention of letting these people leave His presence hungry. He knew that they could not receive the spiritual food He longed to give them if their physical needs were not met. Not only did His plan include feeding the multitude, but His plan also included doing it in such a way that demonstrated not only who He was, but how much He loved and cared for everyone around Him.

After everyone ate, scripture states that Jesus told His disciples to gather up any leftovers. It is hard for us to imagine that 5 loaves and 2 fish could stretch to feed some ten thousand people and pretty much beyond our comprehension that there could be leftovers! The leftovers were not gathered until everyone had their fill. In other words, no one left that day hungry and scripture says that the disciples gathered twelve baskets full of pieces left over from the original meal of 5 loaves and 2 fish. This is not just love and provision, but this is extravagant love. Jesus showed the people that were there that day a love that is more than enough to meet their daily physical, spiritual and emotional needs. And throughout history, He has continued to show us over and over that He is more than enough, and He is all we need!

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Matthew 6:25-26

How Well Do You Know the Father?

John 5:19-30, John 14:6-11

When we look back over the Old Testament the picture we tend to develop of God is one who is angry and ready to strike a person down the first time they make a mistake. Even the Children of Israel pleaded with Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” (Exodus 20:19) When Jesus arrives on the scene, we breathe a sigh of relief in hopes that this kind and gentle Son will somehow protect us from the wrath of an angry God.

If we listen to the words of Jesus we quickly realize that we do not need protection, but in truth, God Himself is our protection and He provides that protection through His Son Jesus. Jesus says of Himself in John 5:19, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Jesus is not just a representative or a reflection of the Father, but He says He only does what He sees His Father doing. Jesus acts on the Father’s behalf only doing what He has been shown to do. When Jesus heals the sick, then we can assume that is exactly what God desires to happen. When Jesus shows compassion to people, we know by His own self description that is also what His Father would do.

On the other hand, when we see Jesus clearing out the money changers in the temple, He was not in there politely asking them to leave. Scripture says that he made a whip, overthrew tables, scattered their coins and drove them out. (John 2:15) We also see Him as he dealt with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They used the law to abuse people, yet valued themselves above others and Jesus did not hesitate to speak plainly to them. Over and over again, He called them hypocrites and even referred to them as white washed tombs ~ beautiful on the outside but full of dead man’s bones and everything unclean on the inside. (Matthew 23:27) We can also assume that these words and actions are exactly what God has instructed Jesus to do.

If we want to know the Father, we must know Jesus! By examining the Gospels and the life of Jesus, we not only learn about Jesus, but we also get a clearer picture of our Father. God’s desire is for us to come closer to Him, to know Him, to spend time with Him, and to trust Him with our lives. God’s very own words to Moses while on Mt. Sinai are a beautiful description of who He is and how He loves us as His children. Now, doesn’t that make you want to know Him better?

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Exodus 34:6-7

Do You Want to Get Well?

John 5:1-14

Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem and while on His way He stopped at the Pool of Bethesda. Surrounding the pool was a group of disabled people who believed they could receive healing if they were able to be the first in the water when it was stirred.

There was a man lying by the pool who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

Why would Jesus ask such a question? Wasn’t the fact that this man was lying by the pool proof enough that he wanted to get well? After all, he had been that way for 38 years; would he not want to be healed? Would he not want the change in his life that a physical healing would bring?

Not necessarily, and that is why Jesus asked the question. If, as scriptures say, this man had been an invalid for 38 years, then this was a life to which he had become accustomed. The man had learned to adapt to his circumstances and his life was familiar to him, after all it was his life. Healing would bring about dramatic change in his life. Was he ready for that?

The man does not answer Jesus with a simple “yes” or “no.” He explains to Jesus that he has no one to help him get in the pool when the water is stirred.  Jesus takes that as a “yes,” and tells the man to “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Scripture says that at once the man was cured. In an instant, this man’s life was forever changed!

And that is what it is like to come face to face with Jesus! Our lives can be a mess. We can be so familiar with our own mess that it becomes a place of comfort to us. We can complain about it, say we don’t like it, but still do nothing to change it or make it better.  Change means stepping out of our comfort zone, letting go of all that is familiar and allowing Jesus to heal our broken and wounded hearts. There is so much that He wants to do for us if we just let Him. He still stands at the door of your heart and asks, “Do you want to get well?”

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  Matthew 7:7-8

Will You Give Me a Drink?

John 4:1-26

The Gospel of John relates an encounter that Jesus had with a Samaritan woman.  Jesus and His disciples were traveling through Samaria and they stopped in the town of Sychar to rest and eat.  While the disciples went into town to buy food, weary and worn from His travels Jesus sat down by a well known as Jacob’s well.

A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water.  Jews hated Samaritans!  They considered them half-breeds and the Samaritans knew it.  It was unusual for Jews to even travel through Samaria, as they would often cross over the Jordan River to avoid Samaria altogether and therefore avoid any contact with the despised peoples.  Yet, here was Jesus sitting at the well right in the middle of a race of people His race was supposed to hate, and He turns to ask the woman a question.  

 “Will you give me a drink?”

Jesus has actually spoken to this woman which in His culture was wrong on so many levels.  First of all, she was a Samaritan.  Second of all, she was a woman and Jewish religious teachers did not have conversations with women, especially in public.  And now He has asked her for something to drink.  For Jesus to take water and drink from any vessel that she would have offered Him would have made Him ceremonially unclean.

Regardless of the prejudices and at the risk of becoming “unclean,” Jesus asks her for a drink.  Was He really so thirsty that He was willing to push aside all societal propriety just to have His own thirst quenched?  I do not doubt His physical thirst, but I believe there was so much more in the question He asked than just a request for a drink of water.  Wrapped in that simple question was Jesus’ immeasurable love and total acceptance.

While scripture does not give us the circumstances, it does reveal to us that this woman has had 5 husbands.  I suspect that she had experienced great rejection and abandonment in her life.  She may have even felt that she was exactly what the Jews said of her: a dirty, half-breed.  With His actions and His words Jesus proclaims that she is none of that.  He asks to receive a drink of water from someone who is considered completely unworthy and unclean and thereby extends His love and acceptance of her regardless of who she is and what she has done. 

Jesus was not constrained by the social norms of His day.  He did not allow society to dictate to Him who He engaged in conversation with or how He should behave.  Later on in John’s Gospel Jesus explains that He can only do what He sees His Father doing.  Jesus came to give us a clearer picture of the Father.  He came to break down the barriers that man had created that served to separate people according to class, race, sex, social standing, financial success, etc.  Jesus did not come for some, but He came for ALL!

Jesus is not concerned with our “packaging,” nor is He concerned with our past.  Jesus is concerned with our hearts and if our hearts are a broken mess, He wants to make them new again.  Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink, but what He really wanted was to GIVE her Living Water.  And that is His offer to us today ~ to take our brokenness, our pain, our anger, our disappointments, our failures and fill up all the emptiness with His Living Water.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8