Find Joy

This is Easter week! Many call it the Super Bowl of the church. Forty days of Lent conclude with Easter morning. How did you do with your penance this year? Did you give up something or did you do something different like doing something nice once a day for 40 days? How did you do?

Many different emotions go through this week from the celebration on Palm Sunday, to the last supper on Thursday, to Good Friday, and then to the celebration on Easter Sunday! Now I think of how big this week is for our destiny, but it did not always feel that way.

I remember being a kid and all I wanted was an Easter basket! We would go to my grandma's and hunt eggs with my cousins. These were real eggs that were colored, and they were hidden throughout the yard in the tulips, plants, and wherever my aunts would hide them. After finding the eggs, we would eat them!  It’s funny... we would have an Easter basket full of chocolate (we would eat all the chocolate), grape soda and then top it off by eating a bunch of eggs. My gosh, we had to be crawling the walls and driving my parents nuts! When I was a child, those were good times. I did not realize at that time how innocent we were. We were not worried about gas prices, food costs, mortgages, bills, or the headaches that life had thrown our way.

If we could look at the world through the eyes of our children, we could enjoy the time we have more.

If we take all the emotions Jesus went through during this week and be grateful for his sacrifice, then when Easter Sunday morning comes know our destiny has been changed by the stone being rolled away.

Look at the joy on the children’s faces. Start living and seeing a different world around you and appreciate the time we have been given.   

Turn off the noise and Find Joy!

Bible Journaling

The Lord works in many different and amazing ways. He has created and wired his children all a bit different. He puts you through experiences, brings people in and out along your path, and at times you don’t understanding why they are here or have to leave.  Although things sometimes get hard and God puts you through challenging obstacles, He has a plan and at times you have to walk alone with him.  Other times you’re blessed to walk with a group. As I like to say, “Everything happens for a reason and there’s a reason everything happens and at times we may never understand it, but he has a plan”. It’s a quote I use often, especially raising my own kids and supporting them through good days and bad, ups and downs, challenges, and successes. 

One way I connect and walk with God (to try understanding the plan) and build myself to be better is through one thing I truly enjoy, and that is Bible journaling. I can journal whether I’m alone in my living room or with a group of people who become friends. Bible Journaling is, and can be, a form of Bible studying. When many people hear “Bible study” they immediately think it is just a group of people getting together to read a big book about God. When wanting to become more involved with your church or with the Lord, most people look into joining a group. A lot of churches offer many different types of groups to become more involved, not only with God, but with others in your community. In looking for a group you want to find one that you can stay interested in and enjoy your time. Well bible journaling became just that! 

Once I became part of a journaling group (and eventually led a Bible journaling group) not only did it benefit me and help me become closer to God and stay interested in reading through my Bible, but it also gave me the opportunity to introduce this new way of Bible study to others. A group that would read, color, and draw in your Bible… I know sounds crazy, but it wasn’t just normal coloring and drawing. After reading a few pages or a verse that stood out to you, you could design and put something that helps remind you of it, or a reflection of how it made you feel or relate. I am definitely not one who is able to remember verses from the Bible to quote them often, so I use images to put with the verses to help my memory with the way I’m wired. You can go simple on pages with just colors and small drawings or phrases or you can get more detailed with your artwork. 

My favorite is to use Disney and some of my favorite childhood themes. For one example, I read Matthew 7:7 and on that page I kept it simple, I wrote the phrase “Knock and it will be opened to you” and along with it , I drew the Alice in wonderland doorknob. Another favorite is Mark 1:12-13 and with that verse I went more detailed and I drew red riding hood and the wolf in the forest. Now every time I see something that reminds me of wolves or hear the story of red riding hood, I remember that verse and how it makes me feel. Along with that, you are surrounded by others and get to make bonds and memories with people you know or are getting to know. I feel it is a very creative and different way to learn about the bible and be involved with others. It’s a fun, relaxed learning environment, which helps us be more open minded to trying something new. Everyone is wired differently and therefore learns differently. I am very blessed and thankful for the ones who introduced me to be creative with and in the bible to build my understanding of God’s plan. 

Jen Neely is our Preschool Assistant Director. She enjoys cooking, being artsy, and raising her three amazing children.

We Have A Problem

The past few weeks there has been one particular athlete making headlines and filling social media. At the risk of further polarization, we need to admit there is a problem.

Before we get too into that, I want to tell you about one of my college roommates. We’ll call him “Carl”. Carl was a bit of an odd duck. He had hair down to his waist, wore dog collars and JNCO jeans, played the tin whistle, and learned several languages just in case he visited that country in the future. Beyond all of that, he loved God deeply and loved the least of these. He was a Theology and Ministry major who interned at one of the poorest, most mission minded churches in Oklahoma where he would regularly have to deal with drug addicts, homeless, mentally unstable, and even violent people. 

After we graduated, he went on to seminary to get his Masters of Divinity. Halfway through his masters, he sent an email to several of his friends to tell them about a big change in his life. Carl was a hermaphrodite (and while this is a potentially offense term, it also refers to Carl’s real medical condition of being born with both male and female genitalia). Only two people knew outside his family, and after consulting with his therapist and several other medical professionals, he was going to stop taking the testosterone supplements that he had been forced to take his whole life and transition to living life as “female”. “Carl” became “Carla”. She had already talked to his seminary professors, and they were supportive. Carla finished her masters and graduated near the top of her class. However, during the ordination process, not only did the church prevent her from becoming an ordained pastor, but they also essentially excommunicated her because she was trans. 

Like I said we have a problem. However, the problem I’m referring to has nothing to do with NCAA rules and regulations or defining genders. The problem that is persistently in everyone’s face is the church’s failure to love. The past few weeks has given the world thousands of glimpses of Christians judging, name calling, condemning, and ostracizing, not only an individual, but a population group. How many people or instances can you point to where someone tried to build an agape (an unconditional love) relationship with a trans person? 

That’s the part that we keep missing. Yes, Jesus would call out sin, but he always did it after he treated them with love. In his encounter with the woman at the well, he broke cultural barriers just to talk to her and treated her better than anyone in society would have accepted. With Zaccheus, he embraced him gladly and went to his house (and out of that love Zaccheus decided on his own to repay what he had cheated). Jesus was known for eating with sinners, which for most people back then was just as controversial as it would be for us to do it today. 

We are not called to save people from their sins, or even really to point out all their sins. We are called to love people as Jesus would love them. Even if the world doesn’t know all the ins and outs of the Bible or theology, they know that love is one of the most defining attributes of a Christ follower. But until we do better, thousands of people will have the same opinion as Gandi who said “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” 

Pray for Ukraine

Every time you turn on the news, we are inundated with such horrible news it is so hard to watch in the morning and then try to be positive the rest of the day.   My morning devotional said, “34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)

It is difficult to do.  Years ago, when Walter Cronkite would give the news on CBS about the war in Vietnam, there would be video aired of the fighting.  This was really the first time Americans would see actual combat and loss of life in actual time.  It was horrible to see, and he would always give a death count at the end of the story.

I remember my mother watching this in horror because her brother, and two of her brothers-in-law were in Vietnam fighting.  All three came back from the war, however, her brother never was the same. 

Fast forward a few years and video gaming began to be popular and everyone was playing war games on the computer.  It seemed like the horror of war was a memory.  Because if you lost the war in your game, you just hit the start over button or new game button.

We went many years with this mentality.  There were many conflicts since the Vietnam war where brave men and women were in the dessert fighting and losing their lives to protect the freedom of this country.  This is not a game.  I have the utmost respect for any man or woman in the military and the sacrifice they put on the line to protect our freedom.

Ronald Reagan had one of the best quotes which rings true today where he said.

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

We live in very uncertain time right now.  And the war in Ukraine is horrible and we need to pray for the people trying to survive the bombing and fight for their country.  We have a friend of ours in Orlando and her son married a young woman, “Lili”, from Ukraine.  Lili’s mother reached out and sent a message days ago which reads:

“Thank you for praying for us and worrying. We live like on a volcano.... We try not to leave the house, only if we buy bread and water. Explosions and shooting are heard almost all the time. The siren, an air raid warning, is often activated. We immediately hide in the basement and sit until the cancellation is announced. It went on all night yesterday, it's terrible! They want to intimidate us and break our psyche! We are very scared. They have the worst weapons, but we're holding on for now. This is in the 21st century, this is happening, and no one can stop the killing of people!!! There are a lot of acquaintances who have gone missing with their whole families, they cannot be found .... Maybe they are no longer alive (((( take care of the peace in your country, this is important!

Join me and continue to pray for all those in Ukraine holding on to their lives with everything they have. 

Deuteronomy 20:4. 4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

God Bless

Mike

Be The Change

"Be the change you wish to see in the World". Gandi

I am looking at this quote, and wondering what were the circumstances Gandhi was experiencing at the time he said these words. And what was the change that he wished to see?

And now I am looking at the circumstances that are in our news today, and applying this quote today seems so daunting to me. And yet, maybe this is not so hard to do.

What is the change that I would like to see in my world? And how about the world that I share with others? My family? My workplace?

To start, I would like the world to be kinder. And I would like the world to have more laughter.

I will be the kindness that I wish to see in this world. To do this, I will be the first to smile at someone. I will let someone in front of me on hwy 98. I will let the person in a hurry go first in the checkout lane at Walmart.

I will be the laughter I wish to see in this world. For this, I will pay a compliment to someone I don't know. I will find joy and humor throughout my day. And I will share this joy and humor with those around me.

I will be the change I wish to see in this World. And I will be that change in whatever circumstances I am experiencing.

Laura Beth Snow is the manager at our Good Neighbor Thrift Store and We Care. Her laugh and smile are contagious and she continues to break store records on a regular basis.