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History-Making

My pastor in the seventies, Richard Foth, used to say, “That Jesus died is history. That Jesus died for me is history-making.”  History is the narrative of the past. History-making is that which changes the course of life or of a life.

Do a search for “history-making” and you will get references to Nancy Pelosi’s “history-making” position as the first U.S. congress speaker of the house who is a woman. Another link, to the recent 112-57 loss by the basketball team, the Cavaliers, was “history-making” of a different sort. Never in their 41-year existence have they lost so badly.

Barak Obama’s first African-American U.S. presidency is both history in the making and history-making. Hailed two years ago as a near-messiah, his final rating is yet to be ascertained.

And yet, for some, his presidency has defused their internalized racism. Just after his election, echoing the sentiments of many African-Americans, the Liberian present Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said she did not expect to see a black American president in her lifetime. “All Africans now know that if you persevere, all things are possible,” she said. (1)

Mr. Obama has turned out to be less than messiah, though even he has been history-making for some who have found a new belief in their own gifts and talents as they see someone who looks like them ascended to the most powerful position in the world.

Only when history becomes personal does it become history-making. Obama’s victory was personal for many.

Jesus’ victory is personal for all.

Jesus died to join you and me to a good Father-God.

When see that, it’s history-making–for us–individually.

Jesus, show us your face. We want you to make history in our lives, for your glory.

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More Recommended Sites

More recommended sites:

Jerry Jenkin’s Christian Writers Guild. Various levels of classes, apprenticeships, conference:  http://www.christianwritersguild.com/

Ann Tatlock, one of the best fiction writers with Christian-oriented themes: http://www.anntatlock.com/

As far as I know, the largest source of hand-crafted items on the web:  http://www.etsy.com/

Guy Kawasaki’s site that collects top stories in multiple topics:  http://alltop.com/

How’s that for an eclectic group of sites?

And a prayer:  Father, we want to know you. We want to know your touch, your voice, your smile. Show us your face this week, would you? Thank you. Thank you that you love to respond to your children. Glory. Amen.

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The Last Act?

"When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."Luke 21:28

DSCN1465

Lately, this scripture plays in the back of my mind, like a soundtrack. Is it my age or the stage of the world?  At 58, I'm at the beginning of my last act here. So maybe it's just looking forward to the epilogue, which I'm expecting to turn out to be the play itself.

And yet, the world's play begins to feel like it's in its final act, too. America is in deep debt. Many would have us believe there's only this story, so why not eat, drink, and be merry? Maybe I'm reacting to the pace of technological change. I'm getting tired of Twittering and Facebooking and who knows what the next big thing will be.

In Luke 21, Jesus talked about earthquakes, war, and famine. We're all aware of Haiti's grief. America fights two wars. People continue to starve to death. Those signs are already on stage. And yet, Jesus also mentions other signs of the end. "Jerusalem surrounded by armies"–not yet. "Signs in the sun, moon, and stars" –not that I can tell. Is "fainting from terror" like stress-related heart attacks? Is that sign is already in costume, waiting backstage?

Maybe it's just America's strutting on the stage that is coming to an end. Or just mine. Whether regional, global, or personal, there will be an end. What can we do?

We can lift up our heads to look for our redemption. We can be careful, as Jesus warns, so that our hearts are not "weighed down with…the anxieties of life" so we will be ready. He said he'll come unexpectedly, and yet he also gives us some warning signs to listen to. When the curtain comes down, whether on our life or the life of the world, may we have ears to hear his music.

Father, you, alone, know the time of the end. Please prepare our hearts.

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Prayer and Action for Haiti

Father, your heart is breaking with the suffering in Haiti. Holy Spirit, please be manifest among the survivors. Bring your strength, healing, and hope. Jesus, pour out your heart of compassion on the suffering ones. In this tragedy, may your name be glorified above all others. Give your people hearts to weep with the people of Haiti. And convict the IMF and the others to cancel their debts. May your kingdom come. May your will be done here and in our hearts. Amen.

Haiti copy 

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

From ONE, a world-wide organization serving the poor:

Subject: Take action and help the people of Haiti

Like millions of people around the world, I've been shocked by the terrible events in Haiti.

Only now is the true scale of the disaster emerging. Reports now
suggest as many as 75,000 people may have died, with hundreds of
thousands made homeless.

The work ahead to recover from this tragedy is immense. So
here's our goal: $1 billion for Haiti. That's how much Haiti owes to
the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank,
and a handful of others.

Sign the petition below to ask Haiti's creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti's debts:

http://one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/index.html?rc=haitidebtpaste

As Haiti begins to rebuild we can help by lifting this debt.

Together as ONE we can make a difference! 

Thanks! 

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God’s File Cabinet

In November, I wrote that I was "Free to be Wrong," about Jerry's pathology report from prostate cancer. I'd expected clear margins and got reports of two areas of positive margin. I had so hoped for a good report.

And, yet! The first PSA report: "Undetectable." In spite of cancer cells right at the edge of the removed tissue, there are not enough cancer cells remaining to produce any prostate-specific antigen in the first blood test after the surgery. That means no radiation. That meant we were able to go to Colorado to see our little grandson and his parents. It meant Jerry went back to work in a few weeks. It meant we could push "CANCER" to the back of our minds.

There's a large file cabinet there, in the recesses of our hearts, with lots of pieces of our lives: retirement finances, job security, book sales, speaking engagements, all the dangers and uncertainties of the world.  Label: "God's Problems."  

File

The cabinet contains those parts of our lives that we have no or little control over. They have to be God's responsibility. We can save and plan for retirement, but we don't know what health challenges may drain our reserves. We don't know whether the banks might fail. We don't know what disasters may come.  By his grace, we lock up our worries into this cabinet, kept in a dark back room.  What parts of your life need to be locked up in a "God's Problems" cabinet? Ministry future? Company sales? Health worries? May we all have grace to give God what is his responsibility and keep only what he gives us.

Father. In these days of uncertainty, be our rock. In these days of fear, be our comfort. In these long days of waiting, be our hope.

 

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Hold Tight the Kingdom

There are many unseen but real threats, but there are also unseen but real promises, and he who makes them says, “Behold, I am coming soon”
(Revelation 22:12).
Stuart McAllister  August 6, 2009 Slice of Infinity devotional from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

What kinds of threats are unseen? Unseen in the sense that they are insidious, infiltrating our thinking without our conscious awareness? I think about American entitlement–the sense that we deserve the high standard of living we've enjoyed for the past fifty years. In one sense, we do, because we, as a culture, have worked hard and been full of energy and invention and productivity.

In another sense, though, there is the unfairness of hogging the resources of the world. That some of us cook on stoves while others cook on a ground fire is wrong. It is the way the world has been since the Fall, so it seems normal to us. Yes, the issues are enormous and political and complex, but it's still wrong. Entitlement threatens justice.

What real promises are we ignoring as we attempt to hold on to our materialism? I want to hold things lightly. I certainly enjoy cooking on my Kenmore stove rather than a wood fire in my backyard. And yet, why do I have that privilege while so many work much harder to prepare food for their children?

The lighter my grasp on this world's privileges, the tighter my grasp on what's coming. Recently, as Jerry and I admired Lake Michigan waterfront mansions, I said to him,

"If I did not believe in the Kingdom, I'd be jealous. I'd want to work for a cottage by the sea."

It is getting more and more real to me that the Kingdom both has come and is coming to this earth. That what God has in mind, that which is beyond our imagination, is this life, made new. (Isaiah 65:17) This life, where we all live in mansions by the sea. This life, fully submitted to our good and faithful Father. For his glory and our joy.

Maranatha, Jesus. Come. In your time, in your way, in accord with your purposes. Amen.


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iTV Will Change our Lives

"When we install fiber-optic, it wipes out the cable companies." A phone company worker was speaking to my husband last week, as the workers were installing new lines in our area. Fiber-optic so enriches the transmission through DSL lines that internet TV is decimating traditional TV.

The future of TV is on the internet because it can be so niched. For the last fifty years, TV has been a mass market medium. It's been programming produced by a few, for the many.  We've been expected to enjoy what everyone else likes.

Internet TV, on the other hand, can be TV produced by the many for the few. But the few are not such a small group. The niche of those who've been raised by abusive fathers, for example, is large. iTV can target the needs of that group. Whether with stories, teaching, or interviewing programs like Oprah, iTV can be more responsive to the interests of specific niche groups, in a way that traditional TV cannot.

Earlier this week, I spent some time at the studios of Hopes, Goals and Dreams iTV network.  See the video trailer I made for Trading Fathers: Forgiving Dad, Embracing God.  The technology is now so advanced that the quality is excellent.

Blogs and Twitter and the other social media are changing how people connect with others. How will internet TV change the world? I don't know. How will it change your life? My life? Who can say? We are in a time of immense change in the world, comparable to the industrial revolution. Sociologists talk about the unexpected consequences of massive social changes. We live in unpredictable times.

I am grateful to walk with a stable, reliable, good Papa-God. We can rely on him to carry us through, to bring his good from these days, and to accomplish his purposes in our lives and in history. Glory.

Father, May we rest in your arms during these unpredictable days.

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One of Satan’s Finest

"Passout," "Blackout," "Space
Monkey," "Space Cowboy," "Knockout," "Gasp,"
"Rising Sun." These are all alternative names for the choking game,
which is no game. Kevin Tork, a 15 year student from a loving, intact family,
died a month ago from self-strangulation. Not a suicide, it was an attempt to
feel good that went fatally bad. Dr. Thomas Andrew, New
Hampshire’s chief medical examiner explains: 

“There are two parts to the
experience. The first is a light-headedness (a perceived "high") due
to reduced blood flow, and therefore reduced delivery of oxygen, to the brain.
The second part comes with the removal of pressure on the chest or neck
releasing a powerful surge of dammed up blood up through the carotid arteries
into the brain (a perceived "rush").”

And Kevin is not the only one. After seeing his father,
mother, and sister on NBC’s Today show this morning, I found reports of dozens of victims.

Though the game is not new, what’s new is children are
learning how to do it on youtube, they’re playing it alone, and they live in a
culture that glorifies feeling. Kevin’s dad, Ken, pleaded with parents this
morning to restrict access to youtube. Warnings were given of signs to look for
in your children because healthy, happy young people are playing the “game,” by themselves, in their rooms, with no one to rescue when the "rush" turns deadly.

Are our children taking to heart a dominant message of western
culture:  “If it feels good, do it”? That’s
an old phrase and the sentiment used to be balanced by other cultural values,
such as delayed gratification. Work first, play second. Get good grades now, expect
rewards later. Eat dessert last, if at all.

Emotional and spiritual health includes large measures
of pleasure, fun, and laughter, balanced with a long-term perspective, a
willingness to suffer for what’s right, and an understanding that feeling is
not the only motivation for behavior.

Satan has so saturated western culture
that our children are in danger of growing up believing emotion is the
final arbiter of action. The choking game looks like one of Satan’s finest
lies.

Sweet Jesus, expose the lies. Illuminate your truth. We need you.

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Learning From CBE Mistakes

"There's no perfection in this life, there's just
learning from our mistakes." When I worked with perfectionists, I tried to
teach them this jewel. I'd learned it myself, as a recovering perfectionist.
After attending the Christian Book Expo in Dallas this past weekend, as an
exhibiting author, I'm glad to report that we are learning from our mistakes.

Basically, nobody came. Expecting 15,000, we got 1500. In a huge hall like the
"F" area of the Dallas Convention Center, that felt like nobody. Feedback is flowing to the inboxes of the organizers, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Online writer discussion boards are considering what authors can/could do to help with the next time. How should it be organized? A different venue? A different format? A different pricing structure? How should the publicity be handled? What went wrong?

Mistakes create the best learning. I still remember the right answer to a question I answered wrong in high school biology: "What's the largest organ in the body?" I don't recall my answer at the time. I remember the right answer. The skin. I remember it because it cost me something to learn it. I was used to getting almost all questions right on a test. That failure was a blow to my self-image. I'm guessing this failure, at CBE, is a challenge to some of the organizers' self-images.

Humility, of course, is a Christian virtue. Humility means facing mistakes honestly, seeing oneself clearly, and learning from the errors. I learned, in high school, that I wasn't as good a student as I thought. Mike Hyatt, the chairman of the Executive Committee for ECPA, is a particularly humble man. Not that I know him, but his blog demonstrates his character. What we will learn from CBE remains to be unveiled. But we will learn. The next event won't be perfect, either. But it will be better. 

Father, where do we need to learn from our mistakes today? Show us your way, your process of growth toward holiness, wholeness, and the image of your Son.

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How the Mighty Have Fallen

Yahoo News reports on Bernie Madoff's court appearance:  "In court Thursday, Madoff — a dapper figure, dressed in a charcoal-gray
suit, with swept-back, wavy gray hair — said he began the scheme during
the last recession, when 'I felt compelled to satisfy my clients'
expectations, at any cost.' He did not put his investors' money into
the market, as he claimed. Instead, it was a Ponzi scheme, or a pyramid, in which early investors are paid off with money taken in from later ones.

'When I began the Ponzi scheme I believed it would end shortly and I
would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme,' he
said. 'However, this proved difficult, and ultimately impossible, and
as the years went by I realized that my arrest and this day would
inevitably come.'"

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," soon-to-be-king David proclaims three times in the first chapter of 2 Samuel, referring to King Saul's death. Mr. Madoff and Saul had some characteristics in common. Fear of people, most notably. Madoff "felt compelled" to give his clients what they demanded. Saul was "afraid of the people" (1Samual 15:24) and thereby disobeyed God's clear command to utterly destroy an enemy, including all their livestock.

Saul compounded his disobedience by insisting to the priest, Samuel, that the sheep Saul had spared were to be sacrificed to Yahweh. But Saul replied, "To obey is better than sacrifice." (1Samuel 15:22)

How often our disobedience is inspired by our fear of people. We want to please others rather than God. We step just a bit out of bounds and think we can pull ourselves back when we need to. We'll ask for forgiveness afterwards.

We may not be the "mighty," but we, too, can fall. Unlike Mr. Madoff, we may not take so many down with us. We may not impact a nation, like Saul's disobedience. But people are watching us. Our children, our church friends, our neighbors, even random people in the world. And in this age of social networking, our impact can extend farther than we might imagine.

Obedience matters. It matters that we stay inside the boundaries God has drawn. We choose to believe honesty wins over deception. We choose to believe obedience is better than asking forgiveness. We work towards faithfulness in every area. Disobedience is shaky ground. Just look at Saul or ask Mr. Madoff.

Father, we need your enabling to obey. May we see that obedience to your commands leads to a stable life.

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By the Throat?

What do you do when you get in those places where life has you by the throat? I've been in a few of those places and I've learned three important strategies:

1.  Rest. Eat Well. Take care of our bodies. Our bodies come first. Without them, we are nothing. Well, you know what I mean. We're not present in the world. If you're walking with Jesus, you would be present with him, as Paul says. "absent from the body, present with the Lord."

Unless the Lord gives us specific instructions otherwise and we are sure it's God's guidance and not crazy thinking, our first priority is safeguarding health.

2. Partialize. Break the problem that has you in its hold into small pieces. What's doable right now? If you are worried about losing your house, what can you do today that might help? Ask for wisdom in working through a step-by-step process. We want instantaneous deliverance from our problems. In thirty-five years of walking with him, God has most often walked with me through a process of problem-solving. 

3. Work on relaxing and trusting God. God is more involved in our lives that we have any idea of. "If he's so involved, then why doesn't he rescue me?" I don't know. What I know is that he is suffering with you, to accomplish his purposes, which are worth what they cost. Whatever is coming on the whole world as we endure this economic crisis, he is in it with us, by his Holy Spirit.

Papa-God, please hold us in the palm of your hand. We need wisdom, guidance, and trust. You are a good God, or we wouldn't trust you with ourselves.

Posted early this week. I'll be away from a computer as I speak at Ordinary Women, Extraordinary God, a Vineyard Women's Conference in Columbus, Ohio. As always, thanks for reading. Comments are welcome.

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A Quilting Lesson

On Tuesday, my daughter Jenn and I spent the morning sewing.
She had fabric left over from a previous quilt that I pulled out while she cut
strips for her next one. She has a sharp eye for color, so her leftovers went together
easily. I sketched a simple box on box pattern. After choosing a background
piece, I randomly started cutting squares—two inch, one and a half inch, one
inch, and half an inch. I eyeballed them into a symmetrical pattern. When Jenn
looked at my design, she shifted a few pieces here and there into a less
predictable style that I liked better.

 

At the sewing machine, I stitched the stacks of fabric
squares. Again, I just estimated the line placement. By the time I finished them,
two out of the nine crossings on top of the half inch squares crossed closely.
The other seven caught the little square in the middle, but imprecisely.

 

Precision, in quilting, is not essential. Yes, the best quilters
are precise. But no quilt is perfect. That’s what the people in Paducah, Kentucky told us once when we visited the Museum of the American Quilter's Society. Quilts are celebrations of color and shape. The colors of my little nine by nine and a quarter piece please me. (I planned a
nine by nine, but miscalculated when I pieced the back.) The shapes draw my eye
in a pleasant arc. I don’t notice the irregular stitching. Quilting is a
forgiving art. I will enjoy this little colorful refreshment hanging on the
wall next to my computer.

 

God quilts together the pieces of our lives. He arranges the
colors and shapes into a pattern than pleases him. He rejoices in the process,
forgiving our imprecision and imperfection. When we’re done, he will gather us
all into his great museum of glory. What a refreshment of joy that will be!

 

Father, help us forgive ourselves our own imperfections and
imprecision. At this beginning of another earth cycle around the sun, let us
know your forgiveness in a fresh way.  

 

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Make it a Good Day

“Make it a good day.” For a while, an NPR reporter signed
off the daily business report with those words. They don’t say that now. And yet,
in spite of reports of job loss, foreclosure, and retirees going back to work,
we can make it a good day. Because God is good. Because of God’s goodness,
making a day good may be difficult, but it’s not impossible.

 

 I’ve never lost a job, though I have been very
poor, to the extent of a few months on welfare. God provided. During a drought
in Israel, the ravens fed Elijah. The good God provided. Jesus says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33, KJV) If we seek him, he has taken on this responsibility—to provide “all these things”—food and
clothing. We can expect him to fulfill his good promise. We fulfill our responsibility
by putting him and his kingdom first.

 

What
does that mean? It means letting God shape all our attitudes. In this economic
climate, it means fighting fear and cultivating faith. It means reading the Bible.
Reading other stories of faith. For some of us, it means giving him the first
half-hour of our day. Maybe it means practicing the presence of God, like
Brother Lawrence, minute by minute, as we wash dishes, wipe baby’s bottom, and
do the laundry. It means saying, “Jesus, you know my heart and you know my
needs. You are the source of my life and strength. Thank you.”

 

It means
asking God what it means for us, so that he himself will teach us and give us the
power to make today a good day.

 

Father,
we need your perspective. Today, may we see your goodness.

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