Giving Due to the Right Source

I have had my losses, frustrations, fears, and tears in 2020, but I refuse to give a year any power. 2020 isn't the cause of any misery, it's just the year in which it happened. There is one who likes to hid right under the surface and watch gleefully as people continue to attribute his handiwork to anything and anyone else but him. he doesn't seem to mind never getting the credit. he seems to be quite okay with us thinking it's the storm, the disagreement, the accident, the illness, the whatever and not him. 2020 is simply a number. It has no power at all. The memes and jokes may be funny but I wonder sometimes if he laughs hardest because we keep blaming every bad thing on a series of dates on a calendar and not the evil that he is. I refuse to blame anything else on 2020. I put the blame square on the shoulders of satan.

BUT...

there have been weddings, new babies, new friendships and relationships, new jobs, new homes, promotions, new passions, giving, kindness, renewed relationships, gifts, uplifting, seeking Jesus, miracles, laughs, and cherished memories in this year too. Those things and all the good come from the One and He enjoys us talking about Him and to Him. He longs for relationship with us. He wants us to see Him at work in our lives. He doesn't skulk in the shadows, but He does speak quietly to us. He doesn't cause voices to rise in anger yet loves to hear them rise in joyful laughter, encouraging words, deep meaningful relationship building talks, song, exhortation, and praise.

Let's give blame where it is due, on who deserves it, but then stop feeding it. Instead let's turn our ears and eyes, hearts and minds, and attention and acknowledgment on the One who can take any and all plans of the other one and turn them to Good.

Refuse to let 2020 end without seeing the good that took place. And properly mourn what and who was lost in it. As you mourn and as your reflect, look for the Good and remember to breathe a "thank you" that even in mourning He is there and in rejoicing He is there.

Because I am Not a Fan of Jesus

I know that walking with Jesus is not popular. I know it costs me. It has cost me friends. It has cost my things. It has cost me self, so much self. But I will not be a fan. I will not just "like" Jesus on Facebook. I will not follow the crowd, especially not the religious one. I will not just talk the talk and not walk the walk. I will trust His Word even when so many call it out-dated, irrelevant, and narrow minded. I will take the road less traveled by, the narrow way, the way that many will not take. I will sacrifice partying and using things to satisfy me. I will not choose the easy way. I will not give in to my own selfishness or the listen to the advice of others who want nothing to do with God except when it suits them. I know this post will cost me, but it is nothing compared to what I have cost Him.

I am far from perfect. No where near a "saint". I will mess up. I will say things that hurt, sometimes by accident and other times on purpose. I will look at the easy way with some longing. I will be quiet when I should speak. I will be selfish. I will be unkind. But I will know that when I have been, have done, and have wanted what isn't from Him that I go to Him for forgiveness and strength.

His Word is full of promises about what He thinks and says about me. He rejoices over me with singing. I give Him no reason to. He calls me a coheir with His Son. I am unworthy. He loves me, forgives me, leads me, and longs to fellowship with me. I am nothing. He will call me and I will have to choose to listen and obey or look the other way. He will ask me to let go of "just okay" for the what He has planned for me. He will separate me, prepare me, and even use me. How my flesh fights against that but my spirit longs and rejoices in it.

Why? Because He died for me and rose again to redeem my life. Because He called me to follow Him. Because He loves me enough to not let me stay where I am, but to become more like Him. So I follow Jesus!

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus (an oldie but a goody!)
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.

Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
No turning back, no turning back

Forty!!!

This year I turn forty. Yup, forty. Not the nineteen I tell me students that I am. (Some of them still can't figure out how old I am so I'm sticking with nineteen for now.) Forty. And I am looking forward to it.

Yes, you don't need to reread that. I really wrote that I am looking forward to it. Why? Well, let's look at forty. I opened up my Strong's Concordance and "forty" has about a column and a half of scriptural references.

Genesis 7:4 "In just seven days I will dump rain on Earth for forty days and forty nights. I'll make a clean sweep of everything that I've made." That seems bad, right? Forty days of rain and it will wipe out everything. The only ones saved where Noah and his family and the animals God brought to him. Everything else, the evil, the hurt, the grime and dirt of the world were gone.

Forty is one of the numbers Abraham asked God about when he was trying to get Lot saved from destruction. Of course there weren't forty righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah. I think it's interesting that Abraham kept asking God numbers of people, like He didn't know there weren't that many people. God keeps letting us ask and He patiently keeps answering, even when He knows we are hedging around the real question.

Isaac was forty when he married Rebekah. Esau was forty when he married. The Egyptian embalming of Israel even took forty days. And that's just Genesis!

Moses lived in Egypt forty years, lived in exile for forty years, and lead the Israelites around the wilderness for forty years. He spent forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai with God and in the end came down with the tablets containing the Ten Commandments.

The spies Moses sent into the Promised Land were there for forty days before returning with their report. Caleb was forty when Moses sent him into the Promised Land to spy it out. The judge, Othniel, went to war against Aram Naharaim and then the land was quiet for forty years. After Deborah and Jael defeat Canaan the land was quiet for forty years. The land was quiet for forty years after Gideon broke the hold of Midian.

There is more in the Old Testament, but on to the New.

Jesus was fasting in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. After His resurrection He showed Himself for forty days before ascending.

There are forty days, forty days and nights, being forty years-old, and forty years, and these are just some of the forties. Some seem negative, wondering and waiting, but during those times God removes what needs to be removed and He takes care of the needs at the same time. These times, I am sure were hard and challenging, but He takes them through.

There are also forty years of quiet in the land. Those were times when there was no attack from without and the people were following the laws of the Lord. That would be nice, right forty years of quiet in life. That said, those forty years were times of cleansing, of getting rid of the stuff that needs to go. I would rather those years of pruning and becoming more like Christ than forty quiet ones. Also those forty years came after years of being controlled by others and having to fight a war to gain the quiet. I would be okay with that.

Then there are those examples of people being forty when... So I guess that is one reason I am glad to turn forty. I would love for my forty to be one of those examples. I am looking forward to being forty. I can't even believe that I can actually saw that.