Don't Push My Buttons

But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matthew 5:39 NIV

The tension in the room grew deeper as one after another began to feed on each other's anger. Why is it when someone gets angry the rest of us want to follow?

This reminds me of a demonstration a friend of mine used to do to show her kids how easy it is for anger to grow. She'd slap one hand and then the other until soon the hands were fighting, and then she'd show a different way. Again she'd slap her one hand, but instead of the other slapping back it would softly pat the other hand until soon neither hand one be slapping-all would be calm.

At times when trying to discipline the kids in my care, I will have to yell at a child who is doing wrong and of course he/she will deny any wrong doing. Soon I find myself in a debate with this child and my anger is rising. I've fallen into the slapping hands trap. I find it much calmer to say what I need to say and leave it there, if the child continues then a time-out trip is in order.

The other night my husband found himself in this trap. When turning into an intersection, he failed to see a person trying to catch the left turn light. He ended up cutting off this driver. The driver of the other car blared his horn and flashed his lights while we waiting for the next light to turn green. After my husband proceeded to go all was well until 1/2 mile down the road when the driver he had cut off decided to pull in front of us slamming on his brakes. Luckily, he was able to stop in time. Instead of just letting it go though, my husband decided to blast his horn and flash his lights.

Why do we feel the need to retaliate? Why can't we just turn the other cheek? Why can't we softly pat back?

Jesus clearly tells us to resist the evil by not falling into the temptation of retaliation. Still there is something in us that pulls us to be in the right, no matter the circumstance.

As hard as it maybe I am going to continue to try and turn the other cheek, and let God deal with those who push my buttons.

Be Good for Goodness Sakes

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

This morning the news showed a billboard that the American Atheists have displayed. It shows Santa telling people, "Go ahead skip church! Just be good for goodness' sake. Happy Holidays!"

I find this rather funny because to have Santa on the billboard means an acknowledgement of Christmas, because Santa comes on Christmas. To acknowledge Christmas one must admit that God sent a baby as a gift for all of us.

They're website says, "We want people to know that going to church has absolutely nothing with being a good person. The things that are most important during the holiday season--spending time with loved ones, charity, and being merry--having nothing to do with religion."

True enough one doesn't need to go to church to be a good person. There are plenty of people out there. Good people who have never set foot in a church. The point of attending church though is to be with other believers and worship God. To a group who doesn't acknowledge God this would be hard to understand. A belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit just helps us to get through the hard times.

The news also shared about a group of teenagers who were in an accident last night, ironically they were on their way to church. Unfortunately, one of the teenagers lost his life and the two others are clinging to life. The father of the teen who died shared on Facebook about his devastation and how he will cling to his faith that one day they will be together again in the arms of Jesus.

That's what this season is really about faith, hope, and love.  It's not about religion. Jesus wasn't born a Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran or Catholic. Jesus was born a Jew in a stable. He is the promised Messiah the one God told Isaiah, Micah, and Zechariah to tell about. He was born just as God said. He is God's gift of love.

He came to become the sacrificial lamb, so that we could enter heaven when we die. Then we can be in the arms of Jesus and be reunited with those who believed and accepted before us. That's what our hope is.

We celebrate Christmas because we have a faith, a belief in things not seen or have to be proven. So that's why we go to church to worship our God and celebrate all that He has done for us. Because we know we can never be good enough no matter how good we are. We understand there are good people in all walks of life just like there are bad people in all walks of life.

So this Christmas I will be in church not because of religion but because of faith. I will indeed be celebrating with loved ones, giving to charities, and well being Merry not because of an obligation but because I believe!
So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

No Decorations

"While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:6-7 NIV

A barn, a stable, a cave...whatever it was it was a place for animals to be protected. There wasn't a Christmas tree or stockings hung by a chimney with care. There was sheep, most likely a donkey, possibly a cow, and whatever other animals who were someone's property. There were no twinkling lights and no Santa.

Just a husband and his wife giving birth to a baby. Not just any baby, but the promised baby who would one day save the world.

This is indeed my favorite time of year. I love to go through the boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations we have collected over the years. I enjoy looking at each ornament as I place them on the tree remembering when my children were little. Christmas bears once again fill my living room. The house once again smells of pine.

Decorating can be a lot of fun, maybe that's why some of us like to start before Thanksgiving has even come. We just can't wait to get our house ready. But what are we getting it ready for? The expectation of an elf or Santa? Or are we getting it ready to remember that first Christmas so long ago?

It's great to see people excited for Christmas. It is a special day. It'd be great though if the excitement could last past December 25, because really that is just the beginning of the Christmas season. It really should last until at least Three Kings Day. A day when we remember the wisemen visiting Jesus with gifts.

We shouldn't be ready to pack the decorations away just as soon as December 25th is done. We should allow the excitement to continue through at least the New Year. After all a birth of a baby is worth celebrating a few days at least.

We Must Pray...

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:44 NIV

Pray for Paris

Pray for Beruit

Pray for wherever they may strike next

These senseless attacks and the people who they hurt, families who lost a loved one or their loss of a sense of peace certainly need prayers. I wonder though are we missing something?

Terror begins to fill us when we hear of these attacks and the uncertainty of more. We begin to become uncaring and say we don't want to help out and allow refugees here. We worry about ourselves and stop thinking about others.

Is this how we are called to be? What if they didn't let the great, great, great, great grandma of ours here? Would we be living here now?

The Lord tells, "So do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10 NIV  and in Psalm 23:4b "I will fear no evil for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me."

God wants us to trust in him, and move forward in His strength. We are not to hide away in fear, and we are to love people He after all created each of us. Sure some of those he created have turned away and don't want anything to do with Him. It's those we need to really be praying for.

We need to pray that those who want to strike fear in us.  We need to pray that they would find the true God, that their plans would be stopped, and no one else would have to die. We need to pray also for those who have been displaced and have no where to go and just maybe their new home would be in America.

"With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies." Psalm 108:13 NIV

Not That Different

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV

Walking down the gang plank I expected to see something different. Huge palm trees, a volcano, tropical flowers...what I found instead; a street lined with stores, cars, and the same old hustle and bustle of home. The next country we went to was about the same. The only difference was all their road signs were in Spanish.

One would think "I'm in another country, shouldn't it seem different." Instead, I had to keep reminding myself, "I'm not in America."

The people weren't even that different except they really wanted me to spend my money.

"Need a sombrero"

"Mayan calendar only a dollar, cheaper than Walmart."

Here in America we have a smorgasbord of different people-Hispanic, Oriental, African, Egyptian, Greek, Jew...we may well represent the entire world.

When I think about it, I realize we aren't really all that different. That's why I get so upset when the racism card gets played.

Recently my sister-in-law had the racism card thrown in her face. One afternoon as she was driving students home from school and fight between two girls broke out; resulting in her having to call the police to ensure the safety of her and the other students. The following week when she had to get onto these girls again, they made it clear that she was just picking on them because their skins were a different color than hers.

This began to make her job rather difficult, every time she would have to remind any student the rules on the bus they would play the racism card. What I don't understand is why? Shouldn't students be expected to behave no matter what color their skin is?

I sincerely try to look at a person and not look at the color of their skin, I mean God created them just like He created me. There are times though when I look at someone and I just feel unsafe. It has nothing to do with the color of their skin.

My husband and I were having dinner at a local restaurant when this man walked in with a backpack on his back and a hoody over his head. That wouldn't have bothered me, it was the way he acted that wanted me to get out of there as soon as we could. He supposedly just wanted the restaurant to let him get a drink of water which they did, but then he kept circling in front and at one point ended up walking in from the back entrance. This man frightened me and it had nothing to do with his skin color, it was the way he acted. By the way he was white.

There have been other times when I had a certain feeling about someone and I turned out to be right about the way I felt. Not sure why I felt this way, maybe God was sending me a signal, a sense that I needed to watch out for him.

Try as I may, I try not to judge a person by their outward appearance. God has made each and everyone of us. He loves all that He made, in fact He calls all He made good. So unless I get a strange feeling about someone, I will try my best to show God's unconditional love the way He would.

Sometimes It's Just to Much

Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." Matthew 26:38 NIV

Full time work, activities, illnesses, meetings, being pulled in ten different directions...life has a way of becoming overwhelming. We tend to think people will be disappointed in us if we don't live up to their expectations. We worry what people think when our kids misbehave. We fret over disappointing our parents or spouse.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we over-commit and fill our days to the max? Could it be our fast paced society puts undo pressure on us? Or do we cause this to ourselves?

There are times when my schedule is so full I feel like I don't even have time to breathe let alone take time out of my busy day to spend time with God. I get caught up in the planning or making sure everything is going to work out that I forget God needs to be at the center.

This past weekend we held our annual God's Harvest Festival. This year I felt a bit ill prepared as we were on vacation a couple of weeks before the event. We also planned a 25th anniversary celebration the Saturday before. My time became consumed with a project I had for the anniversary party, I hadn't forgotten about the festival I just became preoccupied.

The week before I became frantic, I began to wonder would everything turn out alright? We had a volunteer sign up sheet with one name on it. I really would have liked it to be full. There was a new game we tried last year and I really wanted to improve it for this year, some how the ideas wouldn't come. My best bet for this night was to leave it in God's hands. That it was I did.

The night turned into one of our better nights. A few of the youth took over setting up the new game and had wonderful ideas. Every game booth had a volunteer, people donated food and candy, and everyone seemed to have a grand time.

Becoming overwhelmed is a part of our lives. Jesus even became overwhelmed. The night he was going to be sent to the cross all he wanted was his friends to stay awake and pray with him. He knew that the anxiousness he was feeling could only be calmed by his heavenly Father. He got his team on board and had them pray for him while he tried to get a grip on what lied ahead.

Maybe when the craziness of life begins to consume us we can get our team of prayer warriors on board and go and meet our heavenly father. Then we can find the peace we need to face the challenges that lie ahead.

Life is Full of Twists and Turns

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die...a time to weep and a time to laugh...a time to mourn and a time to dance...a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing...a time to be silent and a time to speak...Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a, 4, 5b, & 7b NIV

These past months have been a time of remembrance. I searched through old photo albums to find just the right pictures to tell the story of our past 25 years. My husband and I just celebrated 25 years of marriage this past week. Taking the trip back down memory lane was enjoyable. It amazed me how quickly these 25 years have flown by.

In the midst of our celebrating though, some friends of ours are mourning. Mourning the loss of a husband, father, grandfather.

Right before we left we heard the unexpected news of the passing of one man. He attended our church and all summer he spent in the hospital fighting for his life. A few weeks ago he was able to come home and was well on his way to recovery. He was driving on his motorcycle when someone ran a stop sign. We were in shock.

How could this happen? He wasn't much older than us. His wife and him have been together just about as long. We'd only just begun to know him.

We began our cruise with them on our mind. We were able to relax and have a good time. We celebrated as a family our 25 years of marriage. We were disconnected from the world and Facebook. It was nice to talk face to face rather than send a text. Even though when someone was lost on the ship it would have been a lot less steps to send a text asking where they were rather than searching for him/her. The search though let me walk more steps and my Fitbit was proud of me.

The day we arrived home, we were excited to reconnect. We saw how a friend was back in the hospital. We prayed, we'd hoped it would be like his other stays in the hospital. I contacted his wife but she didn't sound very hopeful. Still I prayed for healing, God could work a miracle, right?

We were busy with unpacking and preparing for our anniversary celebration with friends and family. Our friend was never far from my mind. I prayed and still hoped. My husband stopped by and visited, but he wasn't very encouraged. The next morning our friend went home to be with Jesus.

He left behind a wife and two young sons. Our hearts broke once again. This couple would have celebrated 25 years this spring. Instead of looking ahead to the future, both of these woman are dealing with the loss of someone they've loved for a long time.

I know God has good plans for each of them. I know that death is a part of living. It just can be so hard to go through it. Hopefully one day they will feel like dancing again. One day the laughter will return. Life can be tough sometimes, the road you were on takes a new turn and a new journey has begun. Reach out to God, He can see you through.