LETTING GO

There is an American Resource Center here in Moldova where anyone can go and sign up to check out books and movies that are American.  Meaning the movies are all in English and most of the non-fiction movies are Historically about the US.  There are computers that can be used and you can print out 20 pages a day if they are related to topics concerning the USA.  I for some reason find that funny.

The kids are happy because they have a lot of kids movies and I am happy because they have grown-up movies and TV shows as well.  I checked out House, M.D.: Season Six.   House interests me because he is so anti God and yet he himself has a bit of a God complex.  He is completely irreverent and sometimes I really dislike him.  But mostly I feel sorry for him.  I know he is a character in a show but sometimes I think about the writers.  What are they thinking when they write these shows.  When they portray God and religion in general in such a negative light.  There are so many episodes where a great discussion about God, sin, evil, good and the meaning behind it all is just waiting to be had.

What is and isn't God's "fault" I find it all kind of fascinating really.

One episode was about a Vietnam Vet from Canada - who had his hand cut off while trying to save a boy.  The episode is called "Tyrant" because this Vietnam Vet is very angry and mean.  He makes House back down which is not usual.  During an angry conversation with House he explains that he is still holding that boys hand 35 years later and is in a lot of pain all the time because he can't let go of that boys hand.

House in his usual way goes into the man's house, drugs him and forces him to put his stub into a box, which he has rigged with a mirror, so when he puts in his good hand he can see a mirror image.  Making it look like he has two good arms.  House tells him to squeeze both hands like he is holding on to something really hard and "If you believe in God pray that this works and while your at it you might ask him why he let you loose your hand to begin with."

So he squeezes both hands really hard and then House says, "Now, let go!"  He lets go and starts to cry because for the first time in 35 years he has no pain.

No pain - for 35 years he had pain and now it is gone.  Can you imagine the sweet release of living with something for 35 years and having that pain removed by Letting Go!  Really Letting Go!

In what ways do we not let go?  How do we hold on to pain in our lives and relive them.  We relive our mistakes, we hold on to grudges, we choose to be angry about things we can't control.

House tells him - ..."Ask God why he let you loose your hand." - Sometimes those kind of things are hard - why does God allow these bad things to happen?  Why did one of my team members get leukemia?  Why did just this weekend another team member got married and then the bus that was taking some family members and friends from her village home had an accident and the only fatality was her sister.  ON HER WEDDING DAY!  WHY?

Is God big enough for these questions?  Is God strong enough?  Are we wise enough to know that DEATH,  SICKNESS and PAIN never make sense because it wasn't part of God's plan.  That God did not create a world of pain, sickness and death but that we created that.  That instead of pointing at God and blaming him we have to bow our heads and pray that God gives us the strength to praise him through it.

That Christ's death on the cross - there He took that PAIN, SICKNESS and DEATH and that we don't have to suffer forever anymore.  That this debt is paid and we can choose it freely.   We can LET GO and let God be in control.

When someone dies we hurt and are in pain because this is not the way we were created to be.  We were created to be in fellowship with our God, to walk with Him, to talk with Him and to cling to Him to live with Him praising Him forever.

I had a dream not to long ago and it won't leave.  I've shared it with a few people and I will share it here. I am in a car in Moldova (I think) and the road is very rough.  I am not driving the car - I don't know who is but the car feels somewhat out of control.  We leap off an embankment and fly through the air.  (I know this can't end well.)  But in the midst of it I start praising God.  I am thanking Him for how good He is and that even though I know that I will probably die I want to die praising Him.

Then we seem to skip like a rock skipping on a pond of water hitting the ground and bouncing back up into the air again.  Then we land smack dab in a bunch of mud.  (There is a lot of mud in Moldova.)  I open the car door and suddenly there are people all around me talking in a language I can't understand but I can't contain myself I have to share the gospel so I just start asking.  "Do you know Jesus?"

I've thought about this dream - I wasn't driving because I am not in control of my life, but I am in control of how I respond to the situations that happen around me.  I can choose to praise HIM, or I can choose to blame Him.  Thankfully in my dream I chose rightly.  My aim is to do that when I am awake too.

Lets Let Go and Let God!

Devotional: For Easter

He is Risen!

We rotate who does the weekly women’s Bible devotion at work - we have been working through learning from the women of the Bible.  I was given Mary Magdalene.

I had things I thought I knew about her but what I found out proved to show that she is an excellent women to study the week before Easter!  

Who was Mary Madalene?

She was a Christ follower!  (Mark 15:41)

Her name lets us know that she was probably from Magdala in Galilee

She was healed from 7 demons (Luke 8:2)

She was a key witness to Christ’s:

Death:                          (Matt. 27:56)

    Burial:                          (Mark 15:47)

Empty tomb:                      (Luke 24:1-10)

First one to encounter the risen Christ:  (John 20:18)

As a women and a disciple of Christ myself, I always love when I find gems like this in God’s word.  

Here was a women so devoted to Christ that she was there at the cross.  I can only imagine that once Mary Magdalene was healed she recognized who Christ was and that was the only place she wanted to be was near Him.  

Can you imagine suffering with “7 demons”  it may have been a number of physical or mental illnesses, or it could have been actual demons but regardless she was free from her infirmities.  She was healed, she was forgiven and she knew that Jesus was worth her devotion.  

She was a witness at his Death - there at the cross.  Can you imagine the oppression when Jesus took our sin upon himself and died.  The weight of all that sin darkening the sky, the utter darkness.  I can’t really even imagine it.  When all the weight of the world’s sin was paid by the ultimate sacrificial lamb and the curtain in the Holy of Holy’s was rendered from top to bottom.  Only God could have done that!  

When the body was taken away and she saw it laid in the tomb and she knew because of the Sabbath she couldn’t treat Jesus' body the way she would have wanted. So she went home and waited for the Sabbath to be over.  

When she approached the empty tomb, wondering how they could roll away that heavy stone.  Wondering - thinking about all she had learned as she followed Jesus - what did He mean, “In three days I will...?”  What did he mean by that.  Grief stricken and then the stone is already rolled away.  Running inside and - He is gone.  Where is He she asks the gardener.  

“Mary!” (John 20:16)

Not a gardener - but her Lord!  Rabboni!  

Clinging to Him - not wanting to let Him go ever again.  But his quiet voice saying tenderly, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father...” John 20: 17.

What I am struck by here is Mary not recognizing Jesus until He says her name.  Then she knows that this is her beloved.  The lover of her soul.  She knows without a doubt who He is and her immediate reaction is to cling to Him.  

In John 10: 1-3 it says:  “Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.  But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.  To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

He calls his own sheep by name and the sheep hear his voice!

She heard his voice call her name and she knew this was the one to cling to.  Here was truth in the flesh, risen from the dead, worthy of her utter devotion. 

He told her what to do - John 20:17  ...”go to My brethren and say them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” 

And what does she do - she runs to the disciples announcing,  John 20:19 ...

”I have seen the Lord...”

This is what our own response to our own encounter with the risen Christ should be.  We are also witnesses to His work in and through us.  Here was a women utterly devoted to Christ, she followed Him, she learned from Him and she told about Him.  She is a awesome example for me as a disciple of Christ’s to share with others...

“I have seen the Lord.”

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

My Bible Reading Plan

I've used many plans to read my Bible.

The current plan that I am using is  Professor Grant Horners Bible- Reading System.
How is that for a title?




What Professor Grants suggests to do is read 10 chapters a day.  Yes, I said 10.  He says to get one Bible and stick with it.  Read the 10 chapters briskly but with understanding.  Don't get bogged down, don't journal.  Not that your not thinking but your going to be coming back over these books quicker than in any other Bible reading plan you've ever done.  Your going to become so familiar with your Bible as you continue with the plan.

So what are the 10 chapters
1.  The Gospels you read through them over and over.
2.  Genesis - Deuteronomy
3.  Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
     Philipians, Colossians and Hebrews
4. 1 & 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon,
     James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude and Revelations
5. Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon
6. Psalms
7. Proverbs
8. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings,
    1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
9. The Prophets
10. Acts

What I like about it - I like that there are no dates on this plan.  I don't ever have to feel behind.  I pick up where I left off and read as much as I can.  Some days I don't read all 10 in one day.  I might read 5 one day and 15 the next or I might end up reading 3 chapters in one book because I just love it so much and in the end I end up reading 9 chapters total but not of the whole 10 list.  This is a flexible plan you could read 5 in the morning or 5 at night.  I do jot notes down - right in my Bible though I know some people would be aghast to do that.  I have nice wide margins and my Bible was made as a study bible to be written in and highlighted with symbols and colored pencils.   I've been using this plan since January and I plan to stick with it for a long time.

Other "systems" I have used in the past are:

The One Year Chronological Bible NIV (One Year Bible: Niv) is one that I used for many years.  This was my devotional Bible not the Bible I brought to church with me.  Since it was in Chronological order I found it really helped me focus on the Bible as one whole historical account not just random books.  There is a logical sequence of events.
  

The One Year Bible NLT (One Year Bible: New Living Translation-2)  I would do this one when I got tired of doing the Chronological Bible this is not my favorite format but it is good to get you in the habit of reading the whole Bible in a year.

I once did something similar to Horner's system which was to read:
1. The Books of the Law
2. Everything between the Law and Psalms
3. Psalms
4. Proverbs
5. Everything after Proverbs up to the Prophets
6. The Prophets
7. The Gospels
8. The rest of the New Testament

I did this for a period of about 3 months then my life changed and I dropped it and went back to the Chronological Bible.  I think that Horner's suggesting of reading Acts each month is a good one since it is such a missional book.  He says if you don't know why you should read through Acts each month - that just shows why you should read it every month.

Developing the habit of reading through the Bible in a year was one thing that really grew me as a Christian and my walk with the Lord.  I can't say I have less questions but I do have a richer understanding of God and my relationship with Him did deepen.  

Surprised by Grace

The Big Fish - Phillip Ratner

I'm almost finished with this book Surprised by Grace - about the account of Jonah - You know the one about the prophet that doesn't want to go, the boat, the storm, the big fish, three days in the belly of the beast and then spit out on the shore.

Most of us have heard about Jonah or seen the Veggie Tales movie but have you ever really thought about it?

Well Tullian Tchividjian has.  As he walks us step by step through the account weaving into his retelling historical artists paintings, sculptures and from Herman Melvill's Moby Dick  he extrapolates on Mapple's sermon he helps us to see what God is telling us through Jonah's life - his human life, someone who loved God yet ran from him, a sinner, a prophet, and ultimately shares something about God and ourselves.



A quote from the book:

"God owes no explanation to Jonah (or to us) for what he has done with the Ninevites.  But in his overflowing grace, he works to help Jonah (and us!) to understand it all better.  God is still coming after Jonah (and us!) to teach us more about his grace.

"God never gives up on you.  There's no one whose patience and forbearance toward you will ever be greater or longer lasting than God's.  Your wife or husband won't be this patient with you - your kids won't, your friends won't, your coworkers won't, your pastor won't.  They'll all fail you at some point.  You'll feel dehumanized, cheapened, discouraged, depressed, or radically disappointed by everyone and everything in this world.

"But not by God. Nothing and no one will ever be as patient and forgiving toward you as God is.  In all of existence, God is the only reality who refuses to give up on those he knows.

"In unforgettable events and imagery, the story of Jonah reveals how this perfectly patient God pursues fugitives - a God who has every right to give up on rebels like us and to move on, but doesn't.  It's a story that reveals forever the heart of God for sinners from every race, every age, and every social class."
- Tullian Tchividjian in his book Surprised by Grace -  (pages 138-139)



Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels

Video from Author

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

I just finished reading this devotional - you can download it free from here:
Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

I really liked this walk through of who Christ is.

He isn't a hippy Jesus that we can contain in our pocket bringing Him out to comb His flowing hair like some kind of Ken doll. He is the Savior, He is Mighty, in Power and He is worth knowing. Not inventing our own version of who He is but loving Who He really is. This is a very Biblical look at Jesus. Come See and Savor Him.