The Whispers

You know the old cartoons with the character who is at the crossroads of a decision who suddenly has an angel appear on one shoulder and a devil appear on the other? Each is whispering in the ear of the poor confused soul as to what they should do. Sometimes the character follows the angel's advice, sometimes the devil, flicking the squealing angel off his shoulder. It's comical. We all laugh.

Recently some friends and I were talking about that "shoulder" advice. The whispers you get in your ears. Oftentimes, it's not about a decision you're about to make, but rather just continuous badgering about our frailties.

Let me give you an example. One friend said she'd sent a message to a relative. The relative didn't respond to several texts and phone calls. So it got her thinking: "I wonder what's wrong? Did I say something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Why wouldn't they accept my calls or respond to texts?" 

As you've probably guessed, the family member's phone had stopped working. They didn't dislike the other person, didn't think they'd done anything wrong at all. They just had a faulty piece of technology.

So where did the thoughts come from that brought my friend to this place of doubt, paranoia, frustration, disappointment, etc?

I'm going to go with the demon on the shoulder. Okay, that may be too cartoonish or comical for you, but is it really beyond possibility? Think about it. What better way to distract someone in a perfectly fine relationship than to whisper all those ridiculous things above.

I'm pretty convinced that is one of Satan and his army of demon's greatest weapons ... whispered deception. Let's face it, Christ himself called Satan the "father of lies" (John 8:44). He prowls around looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). So naturally, the demons are hovering around us all day long looking for kinks in our spiritual armor to whisper to our weaknesses.

"Can you believe that person is behaving like that?" "What did he just say about you?" "You can't trust them." "That is never going to work." "You look terrible." Relentless, continuous. You've heard them, surely.

I told a friend recently we should probably give them names: Fear, Disappointment, Confusion, Doubt, etc. If we would identify those crazy thoughts as they're happening as the enemy whispering, we could do a little rebuking, say the name of Jesus out loud, recite some Scripture (our one spiritual weapon) and start putting these demons in their place.

It takes a little work to get to that place where we recognize those thoughts as the demon badgering they are. And being continuously in the Word helps us identify them. None of us is immune from the whispers. Even Jesus dealt with it after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness prior to starting his ministry. And he rebuked the devil with Scripture every single time. He is our example.

My accountability group is one of the best discerners of those whispers. When we share our challenges and struggles with each other, we can identify the lies Satan is whispering and move forward in strength. I pray you have someone who helps you in those times.

We have an enemy we can't see daily waging war against us. But beautifully, we have a Champion that we can't see either, that has armed us with the most powerful weapon there is. And he already has the victory.

Who are you going to listen to today?

Addicted

I'm addicted. My friend, Danielle warned me of that before I ever began to play. I didn't heed her warning, and here I am three months and 132 levels later, addicted.

I'm talking about the game Candy Crush. I really enjoy playing this game. It's a great way to pass that lull time - you know, like when you're in the waiting room at the doctor's office. Or when you're on a long car trip (and not the one driving). Or dinner's not quite done and you have a few minutes. Or, dare I say, when you're on the toilet. Of course it's fun to play anytime, not just a lull time. And as addicting as it is, it can suck up hours of it. Thankfully, you've only got 5 lives at a time, so when they're gone, you're done for awhile (unless your sweet precious friends have gifted you lives.)

I commented to another friend recently, "I actually feel smarter after I've played it." I think that's because of the challenge to this game. It changes every level. See, I've played this other game called Bejeweled Blitz, where the goal is to match colored gems to achieve a high score. It never changes. Same game every time. But Candy Crush is different. It has the same "match" aspect, but the goal is different each game. For example, one level you might need to reach 100,000 points in 50 moves. The next you need to score so many points in 120 seconds. In another you need clear the board of "jelly." Don't reach the goal and the "You've failed!" pops up.

I thought once I'd gotten to level 100 the game would end, and here I am at level 132. A friend of mine is as level 233 and I learned there are 440 levels created thus far. I have a long way to go, and sometimes wonder if I'll ever get bored of it. But not yet...

Today I realized something as I was playing. Certain things that have value in the game, can be worthless depending on the goal. If the goal is to get so many points in one game, it may be worthless to clear jelly. If the goal is to bring a couple of pieces of fruit to the bottom of the screen from the top right, matches on the left are worthless. If the goal is to match a striped candy with a sprinkle-covered chocolate truffle, a bunch of powerful wrapped candies with explosive power are ignored. Meet the goal of that level is what gets you to the next ... even if sometimes takes days to achieve it.

It made me think about our goals as Christians. What exactly are we called to do here? According to Scripture we're to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them about Jesus (Matt. 28:19-20). We're to love each other (1 John 4:11). We're to care for orphans and widows (James 1:27). We're to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger and visit the prisoner (Matt. 25:37-40). We're to obey God's commands (Deut. 13:4). We're to love our enemies (Luke 6:35). We're to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). We're to believe in Jesus' death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43). Those, among others, are the goals of this level here on earth.

The rest of it - money, success, power, fame - is froth. It's not why we're here. It's not the goal of this level. They may be perks. In many instances, may even be hindrances. But our focus needs to be on the goals listed in the paragraph prior, or - like playing Candy Crush - we are truly wasting our time.

I want to be just like Jesus.

It's going to take days - every one He's given me here on earth. Lots of days of "You've failed!" for sure, but I'm going to get there. You will probably not see it while I'm here among you, but Jesus promises to meet me at the gates of Heaven, and it's through Him I will be presented flawless to my Father. Like those sweet friends of mine on Candy Crush - I will be gifted with new life.

That's the goal. And I'm going to keep on trying daily to achieve it. Cause I love Him. I'm ... addicted.

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:14.

Naked we came. Naked we go.

Was reading Ecclesiastes this morning, and came across Chapter 5, verse 15 which says: "Everyone comes naked from their mother's womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart." It echoes Job 1:2: "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart." Interestingly, I read this just after seeing the leaked photo of the corpse of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a 26 year old man police suspect was involved in the bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15.

Tamerlan had gotten into a shootout with police after allegedly assassinating a young police officer Thursday night. After the shootout, his accomplice and brother, Dzhokhar, 19, ran over Tamerlan's body as he drove off to escape. Tamerlan was pronounced dead at the hospital. The photo of this young man showed him from the hips up, completely naked, bloodied and bruised. Some of his wounds were digitally distorted so people wouldn't see them. His eyes were open. I wondered if his parents saw this photo.

I remember the day both of my children entered this world. I held them, kissed them and fell instantly in love, filled with joy. I wondered if Tamerlan's parents felt the same way when he came into their lives. And now, here he was, lifeless, soulless on a gurney, not surrounded by loved ones, a life cut short by violence after perpetrating one of the worst events in our history. And for what? Answers to those questions may come later as his younger brother, now in custody, is interrogated, but any answer seems worthless for the carnage results of their acts. There is no excuse for what they did. None. They killed innocent people, Krystle, Lingze, Martin, Sean. They injured hundreds.

I wondered, as I saw Tamerlan's lying there dead, what he said to his Maker when he met Him face-to-face. I wondered what this man could have accomplished for God's glory had he known the Truth. And when Dzhokhar was arrested, the first thing I prayed was: "God please let someone tell him about Jesus." He's a teenager. I am hoping he will have a chance to have a far different visit with the Creator.

What goes through the mind of a 19-year-old bent on exploding and shooting people? I heard several of his friends who knew him prior to this incident call him "an angel." This is a boy desperately in need of a Savior.

Naked we come into this world and naked we leave. Solomon goes on to say that everything under the sun is meaningless except for one thing. Just one. "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind." Eccl. 12:13.

My husband is working in a prison this weekend, sharing the love and salvation of Jesus Christ with them. These are murderers, rapists, armed robbers and drug dealers, all serving their sentences and paying for their crimes. Many will never see the free world again, and deservedly so. But they all deserve to know freedom in Christ, the love of Christ and experience the salvation of Christ.

While continuing to pray for the victims of this atrocious act, I will be praying for Dzhokhar. The Lord has put eternity on our hearts, Solomon says in Eccl. 3:11. Praying Dzhokhar gets to enjoy it with the Father ... because I'm thinking Tamerlan didn't stand a chance.

Choked Up

Recently a friend of mine was told he might have cancer. He shared with me that when he first got this diagnosis, and subsequently thought about the potential outcome, he said his first thoughts weren't about goals not achieved, not reaching certain successes or becoming wealthy. He said: "I immediately thought about all the people I haven't shared Christ with yet."

I was profoundly moved, and could certainly relate. About a decade ago I had a near-death experience when I was told I might not survive and spent the next 45 minutes in an ambulance making sure everyone riding with me knew of the saving grace of Christ.

When sharing the first story above, a friend listening said, "Yeah, that's the dash. What are you doing with your dash?" He was referring to the poem by Linda Ellis called The Dash, about the dash between the birth and death years on a gravestone (which you can read here). It's a precious convicting poem reminding us what is important in our lives. But I think my friend facing cancer has the true meaning of the dash figured out perfectly. It's not about our wealth, being a success in the workplace, awards and accolades ... it's about furthering the Kingdom, period. That comes about with love in our actions, certainly, as spoken in "The Dash" poem, but also in "telling" of the love of God, sharing our testimonies, speaking of the forgiveness God offers us through His Son. That is our most important job, and Jesus reminded us of that with his last words before leaving Earth "Go therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20)

During my devotion time a day ago, I was reading Mark and rereading the parable of the sower for the upteenth time. Sometimes when I get to these stories, I kinda gloss over them since I've read them so very often. But this day, I read it slowly, absorbing all God wanted me to learn from it. Jesus speaks of a farmer scattering seed, some of which falls on the path, quickly eaten by birds; some on rocky places with little soil, so plants have no root and wither; some on good soil producing a crop multiplied by 30, 60 or even 100. But the seeds that got me, were the ones thrown among the thorns, choked and unable to produce fruit. Jesus says in Mark 4:18-19: "Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful."

I never related to these seeds. I kinda put myself in with the seeds on good soil producing a bountiful crop. But the Lord convicted me that day. I've certainly spent a portion of my time as the seed among the thorns, desiring things of this earth rather than the company of my Father and fulfilling His mission for me. And I thought for a moment about all the time I've wasted. Good heavens, there have been some unfruitful times in my life.

Perhaps as I'm in this "middle age" of life (that is if the Lord has me live into my 90's), I am re-evaluating my time. How have I been fruitful today? Have I told anyone about Christ? Have I encouraged a soul this day? Have I reached out to a friend in need? Have I spent moments in solitude with my Creator God?

When facing the certainty of death ... oh, and it most certainly is there waiting for all of us every moment ... our outlook, our values and goals get a bit tweaked.

So I've learned a couple things: 1) don't gloss over the Word - it's living and God has more to reveal; and 2) don't waste an opportunity to talk about Christ, not one moment, because there are many, many who need Him.

It's time I pull out these thorns.

A New Leash On Life

On my way to praise band practice in the early Sunday morning hours, I see a woman - a friend of mine - who is walking her dog. I see her just about every Sunday. Her dog is huge, bigger than her. I remember the first time I saw her. Rather than her walking the dog, the dog was dragging her. I felt so bad for her. She is a tiny woman and to see this brute of a dog that she obviously had no control over yanking her all over the neighborhood with her struggling to keep up, was just painful to watch.

I'd heard she inherited the dog, that it wasn't hers to begin with, so it wasn't like she had this puppy she didn't train right. It came to her home fully in charge. I used to wonder why she didn't just give up on him and find him another home, especially when she looked so miserable every time she was out with him. I knew at any day I would hear about her having to go to the emergency room to get her arm put back in its socket.

Then this Sunday I noticed something. She was walking the dog again (in her pajamas as she always does) and she had complete control of the canine. Complete control. He wasn't charging full force ahead, but rather walked just a few paces in front of her. She was even carrying a cup of coffee!

Rather than give up on this mighty mutt, she had gotten stronger. She persevered through the tough, overpowering moments and came through victorious to the point of delighting in this animal and the leisurely stroll. She even waved to me while she was walking, something she could have never done previously.

What a wonderful lesson about life. She didn't give up. She didn't take the easy road. She just trudged on through the tough times and ended up stronger, more in control and happy.

Oftentimes, we look for the easy way out when things aren't going so well. My husband likes to tell me I always look for the "escape route" when facing struggles. Rather than deal with the problem, sometimes I want out. While that may be the simpler approach and leave me anxiety free, it also leaves me weaker for it, just as thin-skinned as I was to begin with and pathetically less capable to handle a similar situation in the future.

I am who I am today because of the failures, successes and journeys to and through both. And pray I am stronger, better and happier for it all. While I'm pretty sure my friend didn't enjoy being pulled by a brute dog every morning, she certainly is enjoying the animal's company now. She has peace. I have a long road ahead of me as the Father continues to grow and mold me into the person He wants me to be. And while I do not look forward to the struggles and battles ahead, I pray I can have the perseverance to hold tightly to the leash and enjoy the leisurely stroll on the other side, when all is completed.

A Sure Foundation

My Mom shared a story with me yesterday that I have never heard before. Part of it I knew, like how she and Dad donated money toward a new church building in North Huntingdon, PA, 30 years ago only to see it tied up in scandal. Half the church wanted to use the donated money toward remodeling the historic building while the other half wanted to use the money for what it was intended ... a new building. I knew about the scandal. I knew about the split in the church. It was my confirmation year, and I knew as I was confirmed, my vote on this matter suddenly became very important. And I even knew about the angel that visited my mother on the edge of her bed, asking her to give a message to the pastor as to what needed to be done. The church was to split, and a new church built with only a portion of what had been saved. All that I knew.

Then I learned something new. Just recently my mom went back to visit the church. In true Moses fashion, after my Mom and Dad had saved and given so much to see this new church built, the Lord carried them away to Chicago. My parents never got a chance to worship in the new building as members. When my mom went to the church for a visit recently, she took her camera and snapped away taking pictures of the beautiful building and the stained glass window that almost wasn't until she made a few phone calls and overnight raised enough money to pay for it. At this recent visit, she saw all the many people worshiping in it and got teary realizing this was God's building and God's plan all along.

Here's the part I didn't know. Mom had said when the money raised was cut back severely after the church split, there were many alternations they needed to make in the design. The original design called for a sloped floor. This design element was put in place because they wanted everyone in the church to be able to see over the heads of those in front of them in worship. Alas, this was too pricey with the new budget and was cut. However, when the contractors went to dig for the foundation on the new property, they hit solid rock ... a solid sloped rock. When putting in the church floor, it had to be sloped, perfectly slanted to the front of the building. The Father had provided for even this in the midst of such a sad and often times ugly scandal.

We so often forget that our Lord is in the details. He loves us to very much. He provides our needs and then to our surprise, often provides our wants in beautiful, miraculous, God-only ways. It's then we can sit back in awe, yet again, of our amazing, loving Father.

I have often said my faith, my taught faith, came from the two greatest people I know: my Father, with his head knowledge of the Word and generous spirit, and my mother, who has a child-like faith completely relying on Jehovah Jireh - God our Provider - and her unconditional love for everyone around her. I have been blessed indeed by both of these spiritual mentors in my life.

And to hear how our Father provided for this, and my mother's complete joy in telling the story, forced me to my knees in worship of this Awesome God. Not just cause He provided a sloped floor, sent an angel, or inspired hearts to give abundantly for a stained glass window, but that He provided me with such powerful witnesses of the Almighty in the sweetness and faith of my parents. Thank you, Father God. All glory to you.

Bad Call

I am going to do something I thought I'd never do in this blog. Write about sports. See, I'm married to a sports editor, so it's really his responsibility to write about stats, coaches, players, games and bad calls. But today, I'm writing about a bad call. And interestingly, it's not about the bad call that is on the mind of every Packer fan and many NFL fans this morning.

Last night, the replacement referees in the Packers/Seahawks game made a bad call. They actually made two. They missed an offensive pass interference first. Then they missed the last call, the deciding call of the game. A call that on review showed an interception for Green Bay, not a touchdown for Seattle. We all saw it. Everyone knows it was a bad call. One commentator this morning said if the regular NFL refs were in there, 10 out of 10 times they'd have called that an interception. It was a bad call.

I asked my husband how the Seahawks could celebrate when they won on something so blatantly incorrect. "It's a win. They got the win. That's all they care about."

While angry with the game conclusion, here's where I got even more frustrated. Immediately after the game, they interviewed Pete Carroll, coach of the Seahawks. His comment about the call ... the referees called it a simultaneous catch which goes to the offense. "Good call."

I beg your pardon. Good call? Did you see the same play we did. It was most definitely not a good call. I said to my husband, "That man has no integrity."

How much more respect would I have had for him if he'd have said, "You know what, it was a bad call, no doubt. But this game is 60 minutes long. The game was decided on the last play. We got the win." Instead, he took the low road.

Scripture says in Prov. 10:9 "Whoever walks with integrity, walks securely." And Phil. 4:8 tells us what that integrity looks like "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, whatever is excellent, whatever is worthy of praise, think on these things."

But the bad call by the Seattle coach wasn't the last of it. Immediately after the game, I went on Facebook to express my frustration with the call, and was taken aback by what I saw. Many statuses on the social network posted by my friends were filled with profanity. Nice people, good people, people, I thought, of integrity, using truly profane speech to express their anger. It was repulsive. And I lost some respect for them, as I did for Carroll.

We are called to be honest. We are called to be righteous. And a few folks forgot that last night.

That battle for maintaining integrity is a tough one, especially when one is angry. And it's a battle I pray for help from the Holy Spirit for every day. It's something Satan wants us to fail at because when non-Christian's see us lacking that, we do not look like our Christ.

Yes, the referees, God bless them, made a bad call last night. And I think it may even been the tipping point in negotiations between the power/money-hungry owners and the refs who've certainly proved their value in the game. It's just a shame that this bad call spurred so many others to make bad calls themselves.