Wanderings...

This doesn't happen often, but every once in a while I re-read a blog I don't even remember writing. Oh, who am I kidding? It happens more often than I'd like. Seems I rarely remember what I've done longer than 5 minutes. Anyway, this one encouraged me so I thought I'd share it once more. I might even go for a hike if the weather warms up! For now, I think I'll just re-read the book!

I just finished reading, The Surrender of Ethan Moses, by Terry Goetz, and I am recommending this book to almost everyone I see! It is about the life of a man who works daily to find God's will and surrender to that will. (I really don't do justice to the story...I'm sure you can read a tagline about it on Amazon.com or this link will take you to a review of the book by a friend of the author: (Review)

After reading this book, (which I finished in only two sittings - I didn't want to put it down), I look at my "wanderings" in a new way. Things that happen now don't seem so happenstance; they are another step on this wonderful journey our Father has prepared for us.

This morning as I thought about the story, it brought to mind being on a wonderful hike with God. This is a path in which our Father has already traveled and He delights in watching us discover what He has already known since the beginning of time. The thought of this truly is stirring inside me and I wish I could communicate it more clearly.

I know I've taken hikes with my children along familiar paths and it is such a joy to watch them discover rocks and plants and the sunset (we rarely make it out for sunrise) or just all that surrounds them. It may be a path I've traveled many times before, but when I take them with me it is filled with a new joy at watching them see what lies before them. Once I "hid" treasures for them to find and I still laugh at their surprise as they discovered what was prepared for them!

I have traveled these paths many times before...they are like second nature to me. I know the places that are easy, and I also know the places along the path that can be more difficult - rocks that slip underneath your feet or places you just have to watch your step. I doubt my children noticed that along those places I had my hand right behind their back, ready to catch them if they fell.

If I, being human and filled with flaws, can take my children along a familiar path safely...how much more can our Heavenly Father lead us along the path He has CREATED for us?

Wow...what an amazing thought, and all before I've had my second cup of coffee!

May your journey today be filled with wonder - and as soon as you can, I definitely recommend reading, The Surrender of Ethan Moses....it's one of those books you'll find yourself thinking about a LOT as you travel along. 

Matthew 7:11 New International Version (NIV)

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Ephesians 2:10

The Message (MSG)

 7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

The day after Christmas...

Yesterday was Christmas...so of course, that makes today the day AFTER Christmas. I know, I'm amazed at how quickly I catch on to things like this. (Repost from 2009, but the message still holds true.)

On Christmas Day, my son came into our room at 6:03 to let us know it was morning. Of course, I found that statement debatable, so my husband and I told him to go back to bed...it was too early. Fifteen minutes later, he was back again; we told him to go to back to bed until 6:45. With that, we got up and started a pot of coffee and proceeded to "hide" the last two gifts underneath the covers of our bed. We then got our coffee, sent Levi in to wake his sister and waited for the festivities to begin. 

Now that the kids are older, it's definitely more difficult to buy for them. Samantha was happy with the bag her gift came in on her first Christmas; Levi was only a month old at his first Christmas so he was happy with a warm bottle and dry diaper. Trust me, they are far more difficult to please now.

As the children opened each present, I watched their faces. They were happy with their gifts, but I could tell they were hoping for more. When everything under the tree had been opened, we asked if they were happy with their Christmas. Samantha, who has learned to be polite even to us, said yes. Levi said yes, but you could tell his heart wasn't in it. It was then that I asked Levi to go and get my glasses from my room.

As he left the living room, I whispered for Sam and my husband to follow so we could see if he discovered his "gift". I caught him with his hand on the covers - he had found his sister's gift...so his face now had an expression of guilt mixed with disappointment. I asked if he had found his present as well. What followed was one of those times when you WISH you'd had the camera ready. He hurried over to the bed, flung off the covers and his face went from forlorn to ecstatic in less than a second. Finally, he'd gotten what he wanted! The gift we had somehow managed to make him think he'd never get.

All day long he played with his gift and then would come to us to tell us about it. At times, it wouldn't do what he'd hoped until he'd worked to learn more about it. It was a day filled with excitement. 

Today, he's sleeping late. I'm sure he can't wait to play with his gift again, but even that won't rouse this sleepy head from bed on a cold, cold day. That's what got me to thinking those Random Thoughts.

We all know that Christmas is the time when Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. It is the time when we reflect on the greatest gift of all - Jesus. But what about the day AFTER Christmas? What then?

Do we lose some of our excitement? Do we forget what a gift we have received, the one we thought we'd never get? For some, it stays exciting for a while, but even that will fade in the day to day. For some, if it's not what we'd expected it to be, we get downright angry in our disappointment. What then?

The only gift I've ever received that hasn't broken, gone out of style, gotten old, or let me down is the gift of Jesus. I started to say it had never disappointed me, but to be honest, there have been times I have been disappointed because I thought it was going to "do" something that it didn't. Still, even in that, I have learned to realize that it wasn't really disappointment so much as forgetting what the gift truly means.

I have to ask myself this question on the day AFTER Christmas...will I remain in this state of joyful surprise at receiving the gift I truly wanted, or will I allow the newness to wear off and become routine? Will I wake up each day excited about the discovery of this gift, or will I soon begin to "sleep late" because it is no longer new? Can I find a way to make it "Christmas" every day in a new way, or will it simply become the day AFTER Christmas? What about you? What will you do?

John 3:16: " For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Lamentations 3:22-24, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him’.”

Imagine...

Today's random thought became a part of my lesson for children's church so I decided to share it with others. 

Imagine you could choose any gift you wanted - money is no object. What would you choose? This is the question I asked my students today. The answers varied from a trip to Disney to unlimited money. Then I added a caveat - you can have it, but you have to spend every night in prison for the rest of your life. You can have fun during the day, but each night you must lay your head down inside a prison cell. You would do this to the day you died.

The kids, of course, said things like they'd bail themselves out (those who had wished for unlimited funds) but they were quickly told that there was no bail. Others said they'd get their parents to get them out, only to hear that parents would not be able to do that. The only way for them to get out of this endless cycle of prison was if someone would come and take their place...but who would do that? 

Of course, that's exactly what Jesus did. He came to earth to free us from the prison the enemy had designed for us. The distractions of gifts and fun might make us forget for a while, but the truth was that we were still nothing but prisoners.

The enemy would love to distract us with the shiny, glittery things of the world, but eventually, we have to realize we are still held captive and the only way to find release is for someone to take our place. Our parents can't do it for us, neither can our friends. Only one who knew no sin could take our place and still survive. Jesus.

Jesus knew exactly what lay in store for Him when He came to earth. 

The greatest gift of all, born as a sacrifice in a stable, has come to set us free.
THAT is what Christmas is all about.

Photo by Gareth Harper on Unsplash

2 Corinthians 5:19-21 (MSG)

God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

  Photo by Donald Teel on Unsplash,