Do you know Him?

The Man who chose the way of the Cross

His Father's will over His Own.

A willingness to pay the price for sin

Body bloodied and soul in anguish

I can't even pretend to imagine

Today I read from the gospel according to Matthew

the Crucifixion

The penalty of my sin paid in full

Being washed in the blood of the Lamb

Remember, that not only did Jesus die for our sins, but He lived like no other

Perfectly, He walked with the Father

Fully God and Fully Man he was completely Obedient

The LORD Jesus lived the life that no other man

has ever lived

and died a death that only he could endure

so that we might live

Thank you Jesus that by your mercy you poured out your blood for the forgiveness of sins

Be Ready

Today we will prepare for our oldest daughter, Grace to come home. She is back in the Commonwealth and went straight to helping out dear friends. There are lots of things to prepare for in this life before they come to pass. Be ready. People make incredible and often elaborate plans for a wedding and little preparation for marriage: get ready to have a baby but fail to prepare for parenting; focus on the Babe in the manger and forget that His entrance was made in the shadow of The Cross.

Many Americans go ALL out for Christmas and usually, I am one of them. There is lots of preparations involved. Playing Christmas music and singing along, black Friday, baking, decorating, shopping, making lists, checking them twice, Christmas parties, The Tree, spending lots of money, Holiday concerts, writing Christmas cards and letters, shopping, putting up the Advent Calendar (hey look at that, something I actually did this year), deciding when to get together with the in-laws ( a check mark here as well;-), time to reflect on what we are celebrating.

It Did cross my mind that in the traditional sense, I am not ready and not worried about it either. What a gift from God. I have been poked and questioned about my lack of action but remained unmoved for the most part. This morning I sat down to read my Bible (nothing unusual there) and came to a passage in Isaiah:

"It will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

Isaiah 25;9

Jesus is the One who came. He has given us the gift of salvation. He will come again. Preparation for the remembrance of our God becoming flesh, yes I have done it during this season of Advent but instead of it being a family affair, it has been something, I have been quietly doing myself. (Our family is in one of the great seasons of parenting: some call it "launching arrows, others "sending out the eaglets" or "birthing adults." I freely admit that I am not doing a perfect job and at times find myself treating these adults like children. There is a lot of coming and going happening.)

Some Jews, Simeon and Anna, the Prophetess, Joseph and Mary, Mary's cousin Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, the lowly shepherds and others recognized Jesus as the Christ. All of Israel was waiting for their Messiah and some are still waiting. We, Christians await Jesus Second Coming. He will not come in the same manner as the first coming but as the Warrior Kin in power and might. And we say, Maranatha! (translated means Come Lord Jesus Come!)

Are we prepared for the Return of the Reigning King? Do we care? When Jesus does return will He find faith on the earth? I hope so. I want to be found ready: walking in the Truth with the Truth by the Truth in the stream of His Love empowered by His Spirit, loving God and Loving others, being about the business of building His Kingdom for His glory.

The food will be eaten, the drinks drunk, the songs sung and gifts given. Then we will turn the calendars to January 2011, a new year and hopefully continuing to prepare for the Return of God's One and Only Son.

I say Rejoice, Rejoice Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel.

PotPoG IV
More from Brother Lawrence
"We must behave very simply with God, and speak frankly to Him, asking Him for help in things as they happen. It had often been his experience that God does not fail to give His help."

This in a way describes my prayer life. As things approach and as they are happening, I am praying and asking for God's guidance. I don't tend to be one of those pray'ers who have a big list of things around the world that I am praying about and it is only recently that I have peace about it. Strange the lies we tell ourselves: "because I am not praying for the soldiers in Iraq, and the people of Durfur, I thought I was a second class Christian." Then the TRUTH swept in to dispel the lie. God has all
different kinds of children and therefore, we will pray in different kinds of ways. So, when I do ask for help, I get what I need and that makes all the difference. When I spin my wheels and try to do things in my own strength, I will get things done and even do a good job, but often it is not the best or on occasion not the right job. On this journey called life I continue to learn.

Case in point, this past week I was offered a platform which I took but failed to deliver the message that I believed God wanted me to give. It was at a meeting where I was the speaker, the topic was the 2nd step of Alcoholics Anonymous part 2 "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." I did pray prior to the meeting, prior to speaking but I stumbled. I am still learning and I believe that this failure was for my benefit.

I shared how I no longer ask God to keep me away from a drink and a drug because it is a gift that God has given me and He wants me to simply be grateful every day for the gift. I left it at that and really didn't tie it into the chapter we read or the other comments that I made. In the chapter, it says, "elimination of our drinking is but a beginning" then further it says,"the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind." This is where the restoration of sanity needs to take place in the mind. If my main prayer concern is simply the physical sobriety then I will not get down to causes and conditions which are centered in my mind. I had to go on in my relationship with God and turn my whole will and life over to the care of God (not just physical sobriety: which is included), ask to do His will and not my own. Still isn't this the wrestling match we stay in while living life in the flesh. I believe we have times of rest because we surrender utterly to God and we know His peace but we are a living sacrifice which means we have the ability to crawl off the table and go do our own thing. We must go on and grow spiritually.

The message I believe that I was to give is WHO I came to believe in and that would be Jesus Christ, not the one of the imperfect church but the one of the Bible, the Son of God who came to seek and save those who were lost. I didn't go looking for Him, He came found me and changed the course of my life for all eternity. This is the Carpenter who is in the business of restoring mankind. We are his workmanship and consequently we cannot take any of the credit.

So, these two cross section of my life are interwoven and I was afraid of what other people would think of me or what they might say in response to my sharing and I had to ask God to remove my fear just to share it here with you, my readers. This is real life and at times it seems very complicated. Living is simple if we let go of all the junk, ask God to restore (or renew) our minds, and let Him live through us.

May peace, mercy, joy and a sound mind be multiplied to each of you.