Sweet Peas

 

As I write, a bunch of these old fashioned flowers are on the table. Sweet Peas remind me so much of my days here in San Jose growing up. Every fall we would get to plant the seed along  the fence in the back yard. In the spring they would come up and we would use string and thumb tacks to get them to train up on the fence.

Growing sweet peas was one of my first gardening experiences. It was rewarding. And one year my mother told me that I could do them all by myself. She showed me how to soak the very ugly seeds until they got puffed up. Then I had to go out and dig a small trench and put them in the ground. It was a long wait until they came up in the spring. Kind of plant and forget gardening.

The most outstanding thing about the sweet peas, of course, is their fragrance. Just a few will act like perfume in a room.

Well, we all know this but there is something we Christians need to know. According to scripture we are "the fragrance of Christ" to those that are being saved. We are also an odor of death..much like dead flowers to those who are not.

I hadn't really thought of myself as a sweet pea. Some people are going to like my fragrance and some just aren't. Explains a lot. Let us pay attention to those who are being drawn to us. These are the ones we want to give the nod to in our time and energy.

Think of yourself as a very special flower. Because the Lord really is inside you His fragrance reaches out to others.

Rejoicing Power

One reasons Christians need to assemble together in worship is so they can rejoice together by singing out praises to our wonderful Lord and savior. As the true worship starts the worshiper enters into the presence of the Lord. God inhabits the praises of His people.

If you are not yet a believer this last concept will not be understood but trust me there is joy as we worship once we really have let Jesus come into our lives and hearts.

Rejoicing is not as easy by yourself. When Paul and others were thrown into prison the guard found them singing with loud praises to God. This is strange and certainly the only way to understand this is.

THEY WANTED TO EXPERIENCE THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN PRISON.

As they praised God. God started to do the miracle. It is so easy to get into the not rejoicing mode because we can see that the world is in a real mess. But, wait,  prison isn't a happy place and Paul could rejoice.

In fact, he wrote. REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS.  

I like the first part, but the second..always isn't so easy. What about when things aren't going so well? What about an unexpected expense? What about setbacks or "delays" to answer in prayer. Can I rejoice then?

The reason we don't rejoice is that we don't realize that when we are obedient to REJOICE in the bad circumstances, the Lord will change these in some way as He, the Lord, comes into the problem.

When I was a young Christian I read a book called PRISON TO PRAISE. The book was filled with examples of people who praised God in their circumstances and persisted in rejoicing in them until they got changed. And they did.

We are a bit wishy-washy. If we say a little prayer and nothing happens we tend to say. "It didn't work." But, did we get to really rejoicing and really entering into the presence of the Lord? Then we can really find strength and joy and certainty that HE IS WITH US whatever we are going through.

Paul was tough. His life was rough. He had plenty of opposition but he also had joy. He experienced the Lord whatever.

Next time something "adverse" happens to us. Let's try rejoicing. And see God.

God's Timing

God made time but He exists outside time for He always was and always will be. We live in such a small world compared to God's.

God sees everything whereas we are pretty focused on what is about us or what comes into our world by way of information. A case in point is prayer. Why are some prayers answered very promptly while others takes years to answer? This can cause lots of trouble with new believers who want answers now.

We are operating in an "instant" access and "instant" gratification society. God doesn't play that game. He has a perfect plan and perfect timing for everything in our lives but we will have to learn to wait. Wait is not a popular word. WAIT ON THE LORD. We'd rather be doing something. Because prayer is "slow" we may be tempted to put that on our "later" list. We shouldn't but if we are honest...do we really pray to God about every thing that worries us?

A friend has been praying for years and years for her son to get a kidney transplant. Why so long? These delays are hard for us.

Mary, the mother of our Lord, had to make the journey to Bethlehem when she was in the last stages of pregnancy. She got pregnant when she was a teenager and before she was married. But, she had a cousin, Elizabeth, who had a miraculous baby before her. The miracle was that she was too old. But, God changed the timing for her. God made these two women at the opposite ends of life connect with their pregnancies BECAUSE IT WAS IMPORTANT THAT JOHN THE BAPTIST announce JESUS.

Now Elizabeth and John, her husband had prayed for years for a child and when it was too late (by all normal standards) for this to happen God answered the prayer and Elizabeth had a baby in her old age.

Who could figure out this divine plan. God's timing was perfect. It was just not man's timing. People have to wait for God's answer because HIS TIMING IS RIGHT and a delay to an answer to prayer may mean God is up to something MAGNIFICENT.

Think about it and keep praying.

Being A Mother

I don't think there is anything more challenging or rewarding than being a mother.

Who can forget the first glimpse of that baby cleaned up and wrapped up and carried to the mother in the hospital. Of course it is love. The relationship started months ago with that first little movement. Now the real child comes.

And with the baby comes mother nerves. Is the baby okay. Check fingers and toes. Can I nurse this baby? How can I manage this awesome responsibility. When I go home can I take all these nurses and helpers with me?

I think the sight of the baby causes most of us mothers to realize we are way beyond our depth. Who forgets the first visit to the pediatrician. Is the baby gaining enough weight? How can I possibly cut his toenails? When will I ever sleep again through the night? And then, in doesn't seem long, the first partings. Dropping off the little one to nursery school and rushing back a few hours later to make sure that the kid is okay.

As I said a few blogs back I can't imagine how hard it would be to go through all the challenges without a husband. Most of the children accepted into Touchdown Camp are from single mom families. Most of them are carrying an impossible load of work, children and responsibility.

Some of them have not had good parenting experiences themselves. One mom recently came to Patty Cardona with an unusual question. How do I learn to hug? Her children had been receiving hugs at Verbo church but she herself did not know how to do this for her own children.

Count yourself blessed if you had a mother who could hug you. Count yourself blessed if you had both a mother and a father who listened to you, helped you with homework, took you for ice cream and watched you grow up..

When we look at the needs around us, we know, that all the love we have received can be used if we just step out and reach out to others to help them.

Left Overs

We don't think much of leftovers in middle America. They are just something you take home from a restaurant or put in the refrigerator for another time.

One day Jesus was teaching the multitudes speaking of the kingdom of God and healing but there was a problem at the end of the day. No food. (see Luke 8) The disciples wanted the crowds to go away to some of the towns. Where they were ministering was in an isolated place. Jesus had another idea: "You give them to eat." As usual the disciples looked at their resources. Here it was: five loaves and two fish.  The crowd was around five thousand. Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit in groups of fifty. Then he blessed the small resource given and gave the crowds to eat.  AND THERE WERE LEFT OVERS 12 baskets full of fragments.

In another account there is the admonition about the leftovers "let nothing be wasted." 

Every summer at camp we see very hungry children. Lunchtime is very hungry time with children having been out playing sports. We teach children to bless the food and we always have enough.

Children who are poor are used to not having enough to eat. Some of them even try to stuff their food down their shirts to take home. A left over  that consists of their lunch.

We serve a God who feeds people with the Word of God but he also sees human need. Our Lord knew what it was to be hungry. He had gone without food for 40 days in the wilderness. Jesus came from a poor family. The poor and their needs were no surprise to him.

Recently Patty Cardona mentioned that the cancelling of summer school was a real hardship BECAUSE THE CHILDREN WERE FED lunch.  It is hard for us to imagine being so close to the edge that a few lunches per week make a difference.

They do.  Left overs count. Think about it.

The Royal Wedding

Well, having seen what I think of as the wedding of the century with all the eyes of the world on the couple. Heard the vows. Seen the tradition. What do we make of all of this?

I am a sucker for a real love story and it looks like this is one. Not that marriage is ever easy but it is a HOLY estate "not to be entered into lightly". Everyone is aware that marriage, at best, can be painful, wonderful, amazing and challenging all at the same time. And, to top it off if the couple is in the public eye it must be much more difficult.

A real love story can reenergize a family. A reall love story can get a nation, even one restrained to the point of shouting and cheering. The announcer said he had never seen anything like this.

Who will forget the pictures of the thousands and thousands waving the British flag as various of the roylaty including the dear Queen Mother in yellow dress and hat passed by. There is something about a wedding that is royal because marriage is ordained of God.

There can be a miracle in a wedding. Love makes those who have grown a bit cynical take another look. A couple really in love (even if the kiss was rehearsed) is still a couple in love from the most humble to the most royal.

God made male and female and he put them together to create other human beings raised inside that love between the man and the woman. We need not on this royal wedding throw any cold water. I am sure we are all praying that this will be the one with the "happily ever after" ending.

So hard to believe there can be wholeness in this very dark, fractured world. But, wait. We have just celebrated the ressurection of Jesus from the dead. He is alive and all love comes from God.

Hang on. Hold hands. Forgive and trust that ONE much stronger than yourself will see you through the years.

More Than A Sunday Church

This week I had a chance to visit the after school program at Verbo Church. The tutoring program started in October and goes until June. This program was generously given by a large church to jump start a vision that Pastor Orlando Cardona had to use the church MORE THAN ON SUNDAYS.

The Sunday school rooms were in place. Twenty-four children were selected from the Touchdown Camp to participate. When I visited on Tuesday, Sandra and the two tutors were very busy helping the children with math problems. There are good reports of improved grades but there Is a bonus to the program in that parents are required to attend a parenting class taught by Pastor Orlando and Patty!

Good parents don't just spring up. They need to be taught. Being a parent isn't a picnic even with the kids who are easy. We need to have reserves of wisdom and of love and of patience that are far beyond our own. I can't imagine how tough it would be to be a single mom working several jobs to just barely make enough to pay the rent. We are trusting God for another miracle that this little school. A Bridge of Hope to the neediest in Redwood City can continue and even be expanded.

People can live without a lot of things but they need these non-tangibles to go on. They need hope, and so do the children. And they need love, and so do the children.

Holy Week

There is a minor character in the drama of Holy Week by the name of Simon, a man of Cyrene. He was just passing by as Jesus came out of a night of torture and bruality. Jesus was weak. He could not carry the cross up the hill where he would be crucified on Good Friday. Instead, a stranger was "compelled to bear his cross."

It is likely that the man of Cyrene had no idea who Jesus was. He was a criminal on his way to be crucified. The soldiers made sure that Simon would carry that cross right up to the hill.

Jesus perhaps staggered and fell on the way. The soldiers would have continued to abuse him. Simon could only slow down with the heavy cross on his shoulders and watch this abuse. Jesus had been beaten up. He had lashes across his back and shoulders so he could not have carried the cross without falling and fainting from the pain. The soldiers had no sympathy. They just did what they had to do to get the prisoner up the hill to the torture chamber of the cross.

The cross so heavy was carried not by a disciple as they had all run away but by a stranger. So what does this carrying of a cross say to us? Does it perhaps mean that when we see someone suffering from dire poverty that we should reach out a hand and carry that poverty by extending food or clothes?

Does it mean, perhaps, that if we see children locked in apartments with no summer school that we do something for Jesus by carrying these kids out of those places and put them in camp?

Does it mean that if we see someone beaten and abused by others that we do what we can do IN JESUS' NAME? It is interesting that in the trek up the hill we see Jesus, as we would be: weak, bleeding, beaten and not able to carry his own cross.

The man of Cyrene, comes and bears the cross and then disappears from the story. Perhaps he heard later who Jesus was. Perhaps he fell to his knees and believed for the cross that he had had the honor to bear.

Bearing a cross is not about a hardship that we are carrying but it is about carrying something for another in Jesus's name.