Making a Beautiful Salad - John 4:7-12

Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

John 4:11

I kind of think about a year like a salad – there are good parts and there are slimy parts and there are parts that you just want to throw away.  

As we close the book on 2012 and crack the spine on 2013 – what are the delicious moments you have had over the last twelve months? And what are the slimy ones?

At this time of the year we are often rushing to get to the end of the road so that we can start fresh and clean and new. We want to put the last twelve months behind us – and often because of those slimy pieces of lettuce in our lives we don’t want to look back or reflect we just want to throw the whole salad away and start with a brand new head of lettuce. But the reality is we can’t just wipe out the last twelve months. They happened. The good stuff – the bad stuff – and even the slimy stuff – It all happened.

How will we allow our 2012 salad shape our 2013 salad?

To me the first step is to pick through the salad – and specifically look for the slimy, old, rotten pieces. Maybe you lost someone you love dearly this year and the pain is excruciating. Maybe you lost your job – your house – your spouse – a friend – an election. Maybe your slimy lettuce is simply that your life is the same today on December 30th 2012 as it was on December 30th 2011 – and that makes you sad. Whatever your slimy pieces of lettuce are – pull them out of your salad and take a look at them…

 Our slimy pieces of lettuce don’t have to define us – yes they are a part of our past– they have impacted our lives but they will not nourish us into 2013. 

It is important to look back and remember the bad stuff so we can put it truly in the past – and it is also important to remember the very good parts of that salad of 2012 so that we can carry that through into 2013.

 

Last year you likely enjoyed moments of pure joy and happiness. Times of laughter and love that you wish you could have bottled up and stored forever. These are the ingredients in our salad that we want to focus on; these are the ingredients that will make our salads rich and delicious in the coming year.

And I am guessing that at the core of each of those moments of great delight was one four letter word: LOVE.

 God showed us what love is by sending Jesus to us in this perfect little baby’s birth we celebrated last Tuesday. Love is giving and love is sharing and love is a choice. God chose to love us. He didn’t have to – and we don’t have to love Him – it is our choice.

 As you enter 2013 you have a choice as to how you live your life - you can live it focused on the bad stuff - the gross parts of the salad - or you can live it focused on God's grace and sharing His love. And making the most beautiful salad of your life.

 

Scripture

1 John 4:7-12

 

 Quote

Though our feelings come and go, God's love for us does not.

C.S. Lewis

 

Question

 

How can you commit to loving God and His people better in 2013?

 

Four Little Words - In God We Trust....

 

I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.

Lamentations 3:20-22

 

 

In God We Trust...

 

These four - one syllable - words are printed on every single dollar and coin in the U.S. They combine to make the motto of the United States of America. but somewhere along the way we  have lost sight as to the true meaning of those words.

 

We have put our trust in the currency the words are printed on but not the foundation of faith on which this country was built.

We have put our faith in a system of government run by people but not in the One Who breathed life into the first human.

We have put our belief in self and asked, "what's in it for me?", but not in God and asking, "what can I do for Him?"

 

We are a nation lost.

 

We have faced many trials in the last dozen or so years.

 

We have had our nation attacked and we fought back against terrorists - but we began to crumble under the uncertainty of a guaranteed future.

We have witnessed the near decimation of our economy and realized that our faith wasn't in God Who had given so generously but in the product of that gift: money. And with the economy's weakening our faith weakened simultaneously.

And in the last few days we have seen the horrors of evil played out in the slaughter of innocents - challenging our ability to trust in a just God in a world nearly consumed by hate.

 

But, all hope is not lost.

 

Even though we have neglected and merely given lip service to our national motto - In God We Trust - we have the opportunity to turn into His waiting embrace. He is still reaching out for each of us

 

During the most trying times in our lives - times like these when it would be so easy to fall into despair - we need to fall into to the waiting arms of our Savior.

 

We claim to trust in God....

 

How will we put that trust in action?

Will we allow Him to help heal this nation?

Will we ask Him back into to this country?

Or will we be like the inn-keeper 2,000+ years ago and tell The Lord, that we don't have any room for Him here.

Will we continue to push God away - all the while claiming to trust in Him as we close Him out?

 

We are a smart country - but lately we cannot seem to understand four simple, single-syllable words.

 

In God We Trust...

 

I pray that we begin to trust again.

 

Scripture

Lamentations 3:20-22; Luke 2

 

Quote

 

For every set back the devil has made just remember this though God always has a major comeback.

Adrian Rayshawn

 

Question

 

How can you put your trust in God today?

 

 

 



In Moments Like These...

 

My soul yearns for you in the night;
    in the morning my spirit longs for you.

Isaiah 26:9

 

Not a typical devotion...Just wanted to share.

 

We are ten days from Christmas...and my heart is breaking for this nation.

In Oregon, they are dealing with the fear of one man's pain that came through the front doors of a shopping mall.
And then...yesterday the tragic horror of the unimaginable in Connecticut.

 

Here we are in the middle of what is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year - - a time when we celebrate the coming of The Savior - - and our country's heart is breaking.

 

At moments like these - when tragedies happen from massive storms that create devastation to the massacre of innocents - - we can be hard pressed to see grace or feel love. We struggle to understand how Our God - - Who loves the world so much that He sacrificed His Son for us - - can allow this kind of pain to occur. I don't understand it - - but I do know that Our God is always with us. 

He never forsakes us.

He always perseveres.

 

In moments like these - there are no answers.

This world can be a cruel and often is a place for evil to pervade and that is awful. It is horrible.

But...it is also in moments like these that we realize all we can do is rely on Him.

 

In the famous poem, "Footprints in the Sand", the author writes of her frustration of looking back over her life and seeing that in the hard times of life there was only one set of footprints - but in the good times there were two. She looks at Jesus and asks, "Why did you abandon me when I needed you the most?"

And he replies, "During the hard times there is only one set of footprints, because I was carrying you."

 

Bad stuff happens.

We are a fallen world and evil gets to win too many of the battles.

Sometimes I can convince myself that the bad happens so we can truly see the beauty of God in contrast. But at a moment like this I can't even begin to wrap my head or my heart around the "why".

 

I will never understand - at least while I am here on earth - why God doesn't stop the horrific things that happen nearly every moment of the day.

But, what I do understand is that through it all He is with me.

He is with you.

He is with us all.

Every step of the way.

 

Please join me in praying for the families, the community and this country as we try and reconcile the pain of these moments - the devestation of Sandy, the events at Clackamas Mall in Oregon and the horror of the shootings in Connecticut.

 

In moments like these all we can do is lift up our hands to the Lord and allow Him to pick us up and carry us through.

 

I love you all.

 

Scripture

Isaiah 26:7-21

 

Quote 

 “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

Khalil Gibran

 

Comments

If you feel led - please share your thoughts and prayers below. We all need each other.

 

Life is...A Roller Coaster - Psalm 31:1-5

 

 

 

 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge
Psalm 31:1

 

And I hate roller coasters!

I hate the feelings of anticipation as you ride up - slowly - 'click-click-click' - as your stomach drops like a counter-weight.
I hate the feeling of falling over the first hill at warp speed.
I hate the sensation of being thrust into your seat by centrifugal force.
I hate the little bar that is supposed to be the thing that keeps you from falling hundreds of feet to a splattery death.
And I hate having to trust a few inches of metal and wooden track to keep me on a speeding path and away from that splattery end.

Yep, I hate roller coasters.

But the thing is, life is pretty much one giant roller coaster.

Life is full of moments of anticipation...
Those moments when you want to speed ahead to the "good stuff". Moments when you want to force yourself through to the other side - to the 'peak moment'. And yet, you must endure the 'click-click-click' of anticipation.

And life can often feel like a free-fall after you reach a moment of pure success.
What do I do now? I've reached the mountain top - the good stuff - and it is only a moment before reality begins to invade.
And over the top of the hill you go, speeding toward the next challenge.

Each of our lives have moments of anticipation, great joy, fearful falling and speeding nearly out of control. And if we allow the roller coaster - the ups and the downs - to be the focus we will surely find ourselves nauseous with a bit of a headache from the twists and turns.

So, instead of focusing on the coaster - why not focus on the track?

God can be each of our tracks - if we choose to connect ourselves to Him.

He can be the metal and the wood that we can attach our crazy-life cars to.

He is the One element that will keep us safe, secure and loved in the midst of the twists and turns of the roller coaster of life.

When we "hitch" our cars to God, we can be assured that although there will be moments of shear panic in anticipation of what's to come or of falling into the unknown or of sheer bliss, we have the security of being attached to the One who gives us power and strength. We will be safe in the arms of Our Savior.

Just imagine riding a roller coaster without the security of the track? How dangerous and reckless that would be.

You wouldn't step into a roller coaster car that wasn't safely tethered to a track.

Why would you want to go through life without being securely attached to the life-giving track of God?

Scripture
Psalm 31:1-5

Quote
Trusting God is the greatest benefit we have as believers.
Joyce Meyer

Question
What is the scariest part of the roller coaster for you - and how can you trust God to help you through it?
 

Giving the Ultimate Gift - Ephesians 2:1-10

 

 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

 

Gifts.

We all love them.

Giving them. Getting them.

 

And at this time of year, we can become consumed with what is on our shopping lists or what is on our wish lists.

 

How different would the Christmas season if our focus shifted - even just a little - away from what to buy to what to give?

 

Most of us don't need the latest gadget, do-hinky, or whats-it.

But ALL of us need the ultimate gift:

Jesus.

 

We all need the love and forgiveness Jesus provides.

 

The grace of Jesus is something that cannot be bought.

It cannot be earned.

 

It can only be given or received.

 

Grace is the ultimate gift of an Ultimate God.

 

Over 2000 years ago, God sent Jesus to earth so that we - you and I - would have the tremendous opportunity of receiving His grace in the 21st century. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving!

 

So as you are making out your gift lists, take a moment and ask yourself:

Who needs the greatest gift of hearing about Jesus from me?

and/or

Who can I ask about God's gift of grace for me?

 

The gifts that matter and can change a life generally don't come wrapped in shiny paper with a bow.

 

They are given in love.

 

Won't you give the ultimate gift this Christmas?

 

Through that gift ALL things are possible.

 

Scripture

Ephesians 2:1-10

 

Quote

What is bought is cheaper than a gift. 

~Portuguese Proverb

 

 

 

Same as above, who do you know who needs to learn about Jesus?