Category Archives: Christianity

The Blessing of His Coming Kingdom

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Abbie Johnson Taylor

and
Lynda Lambert, who shared the idea with me.

Jesus descending in the clouds to earth, surrounded by angels.

This is the 3rd post in my series on the Lord’s prayer. Today I’m discussing the first part of Matthew 9:10 “Thy Kingdom Come”.

Every time I think about it, I think I have more questions than answers, but here’s what I’ve come up w/thus far. Next week it might change.

As far as I can tell, there are 3 ways that God’s kingdom can come:

  1. When He comes back, as depicted in the image above;
  2. When He calls us home individually; and
  3. When others who know God and do His will enter our lives.

I made reference to that last week when I wrote a tribute to Dolly Parton. She was a well-known example, but there are those who exemplify God’s love and care for others every single day.

Sometimes I think perhaps this life is like a proving ground. We’re given things to have dominion over because we’re told, after all, that we will be given things to rule over in Heaven. It’s one thing to be given dominion over a waiting room full of cooperative patients, submissive kids, and loving spouses. Unfortunately, sometimes what we visualize doesn’t exactly come to fruition in our real world.

Kitchen chaos--kids crying, milk all over the floor, toys everywhere, a pot boiling over, and a smoke alarm going off.

And yet, somehow, it’s precisely in the midst of the chaos that reveals what God is making of us. Why God would be testing us for a heavenly reign I don’t really know, since there won’t be any unhappiness or chaos in heaven. Sill, with all dominion comes responsibility, and I think that’s what God’s looking for–how we’ll handle the responsibility of ruling with God.

I think we also need to shift our mindsets from ownership to stewardship. That’s not a word often used these days. It’s common to say our home or my car or my money. The truth is that everything we have–children, parents, spouses, siblings, possessions, pets, is on loan from the Father, and that loan can come due at any time. Our rule is temporary because our earthly lives are temporary. Only in heaven will our rule with the Father be permanent. Even there, however, we’re still stewards, because everything there is, was, or ever will be is our Heavenly Father’s. The key is to realize that and share with others what we have, because in doing so, we bring a bit of His kingdom down to earth.

Leviticus 25:23 says:

‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.

Lord, help us realize that you own all things, and that when we do what You would have us do, we bring some of Your Kingdom to Earth. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Hallowed Be Your Name

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Abbie Johnson Taylor
and
Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me.

A church w/stained glass windows, a large cross, & tall spiral.

Matt 6:9: This, then, is how you should pray: “’Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, (NIV)

Last week I discussed the first part of this verse, and today I’ll be talking about the second part–“Hallowed be your name. The definition of hallowed is holy, sacred, revered, respected, honored. The above-pictured church is humanity’s attempt to honor God’s name, and there are so many magnificent churches throughout the world.

Somehow, though, I have this niggling feeling that wasn’t what Jesus had in mind. I’m not saying He rejects these beautiful churches–far from it–but I don’t believe it was a priority of His.

John 13:34-35 NIV says:

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:19 says:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;”

The point being is each and every person who calls Jesus their Lord and savior is His church because He lives in us. Our daily lives are our feeble attempt to honor Him. I think God feels His name is more honored by those who obey His commandments than by all the statuary and stained glass contained in the world. For my part I feel my life is pretty mundaine. But it’s precisely there where I can hallow His name. I don’t know who to attribute it to, but there’s a saying that each of us might be the only Jesus someone ever sees. I, for my part, try to take that seriously. Do I measure up? Of course not! That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try. I am convinced that there are so many acts performed by people who’ve touched other people’s lives profoundly but who are totally unaware of their impact. I think heaven will have lots of surprises like that for us.

Father, help me honor your name every day this week by how I reflect Your light and love. Amen.

The Blessing of a Heavenly Father

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me
and
Abbie Johnson Taylor

God on His throne Surrounded by Many Children

We say it every Sunday in church. We say it at weddings and funerals. It’s a prayer many have learned from earliest childhood. It spills forth from our lips with almost no thought required. Yet its importance can’t be overstated, for it’s the only time Jesus taught His disciples–which includes us–to pray. It’s what many call “the Lord’s prayer”, though I would say that designation is more suited to the prayer in John 17. But what do I know?

For the next however many Sundays it takes, I’m going to write my thoughts on this prayer. So much has been written regarding it already that I really wonder if I have anything to contribute on the subject that hasn’t been said previously. Then again, sometimes it only takes someone saying something in a different way to catch someone’s attention. So here we go–let’s rock and roll!

Matthew 6 9-13 contains the text.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
11 
Give us today our daily bread.
12 
And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 
And lead us not into temptation,[a]
    but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’

Footnotes
a. Matthew 6:13 The Greek for temptation can also mean testing.
b. Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

I’m going to focus attention today on just four words: “Our father in heaven.”

My first thought when I look at this passage is that this thing called Christianity is supposed to be communal. More than just a community, we’re a family, headed by a heavenly Father who loves each and every one of us so much that He sent His only Son to die on a cross so that we could be forgiven and live with Him eternally. Instead of the 613 commandments of the Torah, Christians are given but one:

John 13:34-35

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if every Christian took that seriously. I think there’d be a lot less misery on this earth–less hunger, less murder, less adultery, less war, and greater love, joy, and peace.

We are members of a great family–our ancestors in the faith who’ve gone before us, our brothers and sisters who share this world with us, and future generations who will walk this earth when we are long since gone. What we have in common is that we’re all loved dearly by our heavenly father.

The word father, as I mentioned in my post on Father’s Day, can be frought. But God our Father is everything a father should be and nothing he should not.

John 1:12 NRSV tells us:

“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,”

Lord please help me to take seriously every day the call you’ve put on my life. Help me to love those you’ve put on my path even half as much as You do, enable me to do your will. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

The Blessing of Being a Princess

Song at Midnight Posted on by 

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are

Abbie Johnson Taylor
and

Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me.

Princess on a throne

This is a hard concept to get my head around. The last description anyone, including myself, would use for me is that of “princess”. And yet, according to Galatians 3:26, that is what I am.

for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. (NRSV)

The Bible says I’m the daughter of a King–and that makes me none other than a princess. The problem is, of course, being a princess often doesn’t look like what we see on TV or in movies. Nonetheless, as children of our Creator, there are things we’re asked to rule over–our children, animals in our possession, our home, our belongings.

Sometimes, instead of the image above, ruling looks more like this:

Catch Me If You Can–Blind Human Tries to Medicate Blind Cat

Blindies, unfortunately, tend to not be all that great with videography, because this episode would likely have netted me a very tidy sum on “America’s Funniest Pet Videos” or similar if I’d been able to record it.

It was Monday night, 11:25 pm. Husband Karl had gone to bed an hour earlier. I turned off “Murder she Wrote” and was going to go to bed when I realized that Sunny Kitty hadn’t gotten any sinus medicine the whole day. “Great!” I thought. “Now I’m gonna have to do it all by myself.” And I really needed to, cuz he was sneezing. I went out into the kitchen, got a half of a pill out of the bottle, wrapped it in bacon flavored pill masker, then did the logical thing, returned to my chair, & called him.

He profoundly ignored me. He’s a cat. What else could I expect? So I got up from my chair and started walking toward him. Blind though he is, he took off like a shot toward the bedroom, with me straggling behind. In the bedroom I got close and reached down to grab him. Fur brushed my hands as he ran straight for a few steps, took a sharp left, and headed back toward the living room. This went on for about 10 minutes until I finally caught him. I sat down in my chair, put him in my lap with his head on my shoulder, and blew in his face to open his mouth so I could insertt the pill. He swallowed hard, I held him till I was sure he’d swallowed it, , then let him go. I got up, turned to go to bed, felt something round under my foot, and realized it could be nothing other than the pill. I swore and again started after Sunny. For 10 minutes we ran–if you can call the slow motion thing we were doing running– from the living room to the bedroom and back again, till once more I finally caught him.

Back in my rocking chair, I made him assume the pill posture. Once again I blew in his face. I put the pill in his mouth. It ended up inside my shirt, stuck to the fibers. Now I really had a problem. It’s not easy holding a cat who wants to escape while extricating a slimy sticky pill from inside a shirt. I held onto his collar, and he promptly jerked his head, freeing himself using the breakaway. Round and round and round we went for 10 more minutes.

I shoved the pill into his mouth. Out it came between the arm and seat of the chair. Away he streaked. Ten more minutes of blindy hide-and-seek. Finally I caught him again. This time I got it down. It was well after midnight by time I finally got to bed. Husband Karl had an early doctor’s appointment, so sleeping in wasn’t an option, at least not for me. Sunny on the other hand, was doing quite well at it. Go figure!

Ruling, reigning, or dominion is not tyranny, though I suspect Sunny Kitty may have had a different idea. It is doing the best we know how to do for the people, animals, and things God has given us to care for. For most of us, our throne looks more like the trenches we occupy daily. Often, it looks pretty humiliating.

But the Bible in 2 Timothy 2:12 says:

“If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.”

There will come a day when we will reign with Jesus, if we but endure the present trenches–not because of anything we’ve done but because this is the way He wants it.

Lord, thank you for those things you’ve given me to take care of on this earth. Help me to do that every day to the very best of my ability. & when my time here has ended, may I reign with you in your heavenly place. In Jesus’s name, amen.

The Blessing of Desert Rain

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me.
and
Abbie Johnson Taylor.

Rain Falling on the Desert

I realize that even now the last thing some folks wanna see is rain. TX is reeling from flooding in the hill country. My sister was here from Chicago and said they had a glut of it. But when you live in the desert like me, where a quarter of an inch was the most rain we’d experienced this year, it’s like treasure from heaven.

It’s amazing the transformation that takes place. Brown parched vegetation turns a deep shade of green. Flowers literally raise their heads. Bird songs fill the air. It reminds me of Isaiah 35.

5  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6  Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
7  The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8  And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.
9  No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,
10  and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
New International Version (NIV)

I wrote a song back in 2001–and sang it at church just 2 days before Sept. 11. Here are the lyrics.

Streams in the Desert

When the night is unrelenting and the silence gives way to fear,

When the darkness feels unending, and the road ahead’s unclear,

Then grant to me your vision

Of my life through your loving eyes,

And give me ears to hear your voice

Until the day arives–

Chorus: When the eyes of the blind are opened

And the ears of the deaf shall hear.

When the tongue of the mute will sing for joy,

And the lame will leap like a deer–

When streams will flow through the desert

To quench a thirsty land,

And every tear will be wiped from our eyes

By the touch of the Savior’s hand.

If you go before me,

I won’t be afraid

Keep my feet from stumbling,

And guide me in Your ways

And grant my greatest longing,

To hear you say “Well done!”

When at last my journey’s through,

And the day has finally come–

Chorus:

There will come a time when creation is whole again, when all things are made new. Sometimes it feels like a far distant promise, but through faith we know it’ll come to pass. Meanwhile, we can hope in that bright shining future when everything will be put right.

Lord, give those of us who are called by Your name a vision of the wonders that await, and help us stay the course until we receive what you have promised to us. Amen.

The Blessing of Doing Your Best

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Abbie Johnson Taylor
and
Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me.

Jesus in white robe, ascending into Heaven

This past week, on May 14, in fact, Christians celebrated the ascension of Jesus into heaven. I been thinking a lot lately about what that meant. He was leaving a very fragile seed, His church, to blossom and grow in hostile soil. He knew–he had to know–we’d screw it up. He knew we’d disappoint him, likely on a daily basis, assuredly many times a day. And yet, he let go, asking us to co-create with Him down here while He did whatever He needed to do from on high.

I often wonder why in the world He’d do that. And the only thing I can come up with is that if we are going to reign with Him in Heaven, we need to learn how to do that on Earth. Now, me, I think he could just have a heavenly school where we could bypass all the stuff that happens down here. But it seems He disagrees, and He definitively wins!

I’ve been battling a problem with our bank for a couple weeks. This week I was finally able to move things forward, and I decided to simply let events happen. There really isn’t much I can do. It’s a mixed bag. It feels good to finally quit hassling with it on the day-to-day, but not very good knowing I’m not in control. I didn’t give up control particularly willingly. The bank did that for me. Jesus, on the other hand, did surrender control to us. Does He intervene on our behalf? Assuredly. But He also gave us free will, and in large part, allows us to exercise it, whether or not our choices are those He would want us to make.

Often times I hear Christians complain–and I’ve done it a number of times myself–why doesn’t God just tell us what He wants from us? All I can do is answer that He already tried that w/the Israelites in the Old Testament. We all know how well that turned out. He appeared to them in a cloud by day, in fire by night. They knew what He wanted from them. They worshipped a golden calf instead, and He at last established a new covenant with humankind by means of His death on the cross.

Most people who walk this earth won’t be remembered long. All we can hope for is that some small action of ours, something we said or did, will turn someone toward God, and that they in turn did likewise. Often we don’t even know when we’ve done that because the action to us seemed so insignificant. And maybe that’s why we have to learn here on earth that the one who is faithful in very small things is also faithful in much, because sometimes that small thing can turn into something very big, while we’re none the wiser.

Luke 16:10 puts it thus: “Suppose you can be trusted with something very little. Then you can also be trusted with something very large. But suppose you are not honest with something very little. Then you will also not be honest with something very large.”
NIV

I pray that I can be more like Jesus, doing the best I can and then be content to put it in God’s hands, because that is, after all, where all my hopes and dreams will ultimately come to fruition.

The blessing of Connection

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are

Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me,
and Abbie Johnson Taylor

Cell phone charging

You know what happens when you forget to charge your cell phone. You can’t call anyone, you can’t text anyone, you can’t play your music while you’re on the go. It’s not nearly as earth-shattering as some would have you believe, (there are those who don’t even have a cell phone, after all), but it can be disconcerting at best, and life-threatening at worst.

Just like a cell phone needs a connection to power in order to recharge, people need connection as well. Monday is the first meeting w/my Word Weavers’ Writer’s group, called Page 53, where I’ll actually be fully participating. Last month I kind of just sat back and observed, obeying what my spiritual dad Rev. Lloyd Mattson used to say frequently, “Never miss an opportunity to shut up.”

I also joined a Facebook group this week called Biblical Fiction Aficionados, and I posted to them today about my audio book offering group members a free copy via a private link.

I am a dyed-in-the-wool, 100% confirmed, introvert. This sort of thing is very hard for me. But I know that connection and community is the key to growth.

Gen 2:18 says: “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
NIV

Though the context indicates God said this about men, it’s equally applicable to women as well. The church, indeed, is described as Christ’s body. Those of us who call ourselves Christians acknowledge that we are part of His body, and therefore connected to every other Christian. So, hard or not, it’s necessary, and I’m sure my life will be blessed by these new connections. I hope I can in some small way enrich their lives as well.

Lord, help me hear your voice through the new friends I’m making, and help me speak your truth to them as well. Thank you. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Christ Is Risen!

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Abbie Johnson Taylor and

Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me,

An empty burial cave. The shroud and linen wrappings are folded, 2 men in white stand just outside.

That first day of the week, a few women walked the streets of Jerusalem. There was a hint of gray in the sky. A rooster crowed. A dove cooed. A dog barked. The women bore a heavy burden. The spices and ointment they carried, although weighty, seemed light compared to the spiritual burden. The man they loved, the one whom they believed was the Messiah, the foretold one of the Torah who would liberate their kingdom from the Romans, had instead died on a criminal’s cross. Their job now was to perform one last service they couldn’t finish before the arrival of the Sabbath–the anointing of His body.

“How will we roll the stone away?” they asked each other as they trudged along. “It’ll be far too heavy for us to do it ourselves.”

Like so many of our worst fears, they found it had been taken care of. When they arrived, the tomb was empty. The burial clothes were folded neatly. Two men stood outside, dressed in dazzling white.

Matt 28:

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

The news still echos down the centuries. “Christ has risen! He has risen indeed!” And many gave their lives, sometimes in horrifying ways, because they would not deny the truth of that seemingly improbable sentence.

The resurrection is the central pillar of our Christian faith. Without it, Paul tells us exactly where we stand.

1 Cor 15:

14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

If there was no resurrection, we have believed a lie, we have told a lie, we are still in our sins, and death has the final word. May as well eat and drink for tomorrow we die. There is no hope.

If, however, the story is true, then every year we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, we rejoice in the living hope we have in Him. May you be blessed with the unspeakable joy His resurrection brings to the heart and soul of every believer, and may we tell it to others w/love and rejoicing. Christ has risen! He has risen indeed! Praise be to God!

When Hope Dies

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Heart on cross surrounded by darkness

It was 4 in the afternoon. It looked more like midnight, not just because of the physical darkness, which was so thick it felt like you could touch and taste it, but because of the spiritual darkness, the hopelessness, that engulfed many of the onlookers still standing near the cross. The man they had hoped would wrest the kingdom of Israel from the Romans and restore it to its rightful owners, now hung limp and bloody, nails fastening His hands and feet to the rough hewn wood. Their hopes were forever shattered. The next day would be darker still, for those nearby would wake up to realize that the rest of their lives would be exactly like this.

For them, there was no concept of a resurrection. There was just the shattered pieces of their hopes and dreams. Evil had triumphed.

2 devils talking to each other near a nail-pierced, empty cross. 1 says: "That was easy." The other says, "Then why do I feel like we've just been had?

Those who’d hoped in Jesus that day witnessed the two darkest days in history. But death didn’t triumph. The stone rolled away. The tomb opened. Jesus rose.

Meanwhile, the world held its collective breath. Would God the Father find His Son’s sacrifice acceptable, raise Him from death, and call the debt of sin paid?

On that good Friday, Sunday seemed an eternity away.

But on Sunday morning, the women returned from the tomb breathlessly. The stone had been rolled back. The tomb was desserted. All that remained were the burial wrappings. And while Jesus’s followers still didn’t understand fully what had taken place, something minuscule stirred in each of their spirits, the hope that somehow, against all odds, He was alive!

It’s hard living in the constant in-between of a world where, although evil has been defeated, it has not yet been entirely subdued. We wrestle daily w/the evil all around us, from minor annoyances to shattered hopes and dreams and lives. But we know there will come a shining day when all things will be brought under God’s authority, and all evil will be banished. Till then, we cling to the hope of the resurrection. And we agree w/those 2 devils. They had indeed been had.

The Blessing of Finishing My Audiobook

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are

Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me,
and
Abbie Johnson Taylor

I’m going to keep this very short. I have a cold that’s causing just about every opening in my face, save my ears, to ooze. Both my mouth and head hurt. How that happened when the temperature outside is a scorching 105dg F is totally beyond me, but it did. Despite that, I was able to finish my audiobook this week w/help from Eleven Labs AI, and it is now available on this website (on a post stuck to the front page), as well as pending review on Spotify and Google Play. Hopefully the bureaucratic red tape won’t entangle me too much longer. There is also a sample available on this site for your listening pleasure. You can purchase it now or wait till Apr 1-5, at which time I’ll be offering it for free, both on this site (and, if the Lord and powers that be prove willing, the other platforms mentioned above as well.

Here’s the book cover I uploaded to Spotify.

Heart-shaped thorns on a cross surrounded by desert. Blood drops are visible on the ground, and a vulture is circling the cross.