St. Francis, what does that have to do with me?!?

As I have watched the news coverage on the election and installation of the new Pope, I began by thinking, "very interesting, but as a Protestant, not particularly relevant to me."  Then Bergoglio took the name Francis.  Having taught about Francis of Assisi, I was familiar with how significant the choice of that name is.

Saint Francis lived in the 11th century.  He was born to a very affluent family but decided to renounce his wealth and position to take on the cause of Christ for the poor.  He became poor himself and relied exclusively on God to provide for his needs.


More than almost any person in history, Francis took on the ministry of Christ.  He ministered to the poor, he cared for creation (animals, environment), he sought peace with enemies, and he looked to unify and not divide.  What is his legacy? What difference did it make to be like Jesus?   Catholic and non-denominational orders of Francis have ministered to countless people over the centuries.  The church has been reminded to care for creation.  During the Muslim rule of the Holy Lands, the Franciscans were not killed or driven out but given property to maintain their order alongside the Muslims.  Although never ordained nor an official in the Catholic church, he is recognized as one of the most influential parts of the Catholic church.

So what?  What does this mean to me?  St. Francis and Pope Francis realized that Jesus calls us to serve others and in that service the world sees the love of Christ.  Is there something we can do in our lives to be more like Jesus to others?  Is there something I can do to help the poor (Brent Jones can help out with this)?  Can I pay more attention to how I interact with creation (not wasteful, greedy, careless)?  Do I love my enemies (irritating coworkers, atheist neighbors, democrats, republicans, homosexuals)? Do I try to find similarities with other believers or do I look for differences?

Trying to take it on all at once is a daunting task -- and who has the time?  Is there one area that you could focus on?  The poor, creation, loving enemies, being a peace maker.  I have chosen one and will be working on it.  To God be the glory!

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  Amen

Embracing Obscurity

On Monday evenings in April I am going to lead a book club discussion in my home. The book is Embracing Obscurity: Becoming Nothing in Light of God's Everything. It's about pride, and as soon as I saw it in a Lifeway store flyer I thought, "I have to read that book!" Because I totally struggle with pride. Like the author of Embracing Obscurity, I daydream of becoming famous for some accomplishment, including something noble or significant in the Kingdom of God. Why am I pondering my own glory when I could be advancing His?

Here's an excerpt from the book:

"God gave Adam and Eve 'jobs' before they sinned. Something to 'do' was part of God's perfect plan for them and for us. We are designed to find pleasure and purpose in the roles God has given us - relationally, vocationally, and spiritually. In another word, we find significance in playing a part in God's great screenplay of the ages. And when we find our significance in Christ, we can be content to play a supporting role or even to stand in as an 'extra' in the background. The visibility of our part stops being such a big deal, as the reality of being on the cast at all sinks in."

The Lord is using this book and conversations I've had with friends about it to free me from the grip of pride - although I've got a looong way to go! It's wonderful to experience the joy of honoring God alone instead of being wrapped up in my own reputation. I am eager to hear from other women who struggle with pride, too. So read it for the April book club and please come. E-mail me if you want details about when we'll meet and what chapters we will discuss each week.


- Kathryn Truden

Without a Leg to Stand On

When I traveled to California
recently for my aunt's birthday
party, I took a lovely walk on
a long pier that jutted out into
the ocean. I discovered a hearty
bird sitting on the railing. This
immature gull had only one leg.
At first I thought it had simply
tucked one leg under its body,
but no, on further examination,
I realized that it really was
missing a working leg. When
the bird flew away, I saw that
it was quite capable of taking care of itself, regardless of how many legs it had. Its wings worked and it could fly, and soar, and swoop down to grab food in its beak. God had given it great adaptive instincts. Birds are often mean to the weaker among them,
but we can be different.

Yes, we learn and change as Katie so aptly wrote about last week. Some of us become more independent, but some - often due to circumstances beyond our control - become more helpless. Sickness, sorrow, loneliness, disabilities, injury, age, betrayal - all cause us to lose a little bit of our independence. So we learn to adapt and to trust and depend on others.

God told Paul that His grace was sufficient. Paul also writes that when he is weak, he is strong - and in another place - that those who are strong ought to support the weak and not just please themselves. We are all helpless before God, even with no missing body parts. But when one person suffers, we all do. With God's grace we can help each other to soar in spite of our limitations.

Barbara Eckroad

growth.

life has become more of a balancing act in the past few months, thanks to our little guy. we're slowly figuring out the new normal of life with a baby.

of course, as soon as we think we've figured something out, it changes.

keane is growing like a weed. i knew it would happen, but it still surprises me. it still surprises me how fast he's changing. the thing is, if he weren't growing it would be a bad thing - it would scare us, and we would think something was wrong. he's supposed to grow and change at a ridiculously fast rate.

his constant growing got me thinking about the rest of us. we're all constantly changing - it's just less obvious once we get older. but the point remains the same. we were not made to be stagnant. and we are not stagnant - we are living, breathing, changing organisms. we are creations of the highest maker.

but it also made me wonder, have i let my relationship with God become stagnant? have i let something that is supposed to be constantly changing, and constantly replenished stagnate and start to stink?


peter and i went to maui on our honeymoon. while we were there we heard about lava tube pools that you could swim in. but one of them had no water source and was completely stagnant. it smelled horrible. it was crusted over with gunk, and no one went near it. it wasn't being replenished. it had just...stopped.

but the other one. the other one had water replenishing it. and that is what everyone wanted to see. it was clear and gorgeous, and one of the coolest places i've ever gone for a swim.

we all have times when we feel stagnant. or at least, i assume we all do - maybe it's just me...

what do you do when you start to feel stagnant? how do you encourage growth in your life when you feel like you're getting gunky and starting to stink?

[and if it is just me who feels that way, maybe just pretend it's not and make something up to help me out, ok? *wink*]

xo,

katie

Entangled!

Hebrews 12:1-2 teaches us to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us... to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."

These last few weeks have been hard, really hard...  The details of the story don't matter, it's what happened as a result of the circumstances that is at the heart of this post...

As the story unfolded, I found myself entangled in anger, bitterness and resentment...  Is anger appropriate sometimes?  Absolutely...  Ephesians 4:6 starts off... "In your anger..."  But anger that is given free run of the heart and mind brings on sin and that's why the rest of the verse reads, "do not sin." 

Ouch...  it didn't matter what the actions of any other person were, I was sinning.  I knew that I was being held captive by the circumstances, but I just didn't know what to do. 

I tried praying...   I was confessing...  I was repentant...  Why couldn't I let go?

The answer came from the most unexpected place...  These photos of our son wrestling the top wrestler in the state, in his weight class... (he gave me permission to use these!)

As I looked at these photos and the others in the series, I was struck by the parallels to my own battle...  His opponent had completely entangled him and Nick worked relentlessly, with total determination, to remove each part that was entangling him.  For him it was arms and legs, for me it was anger and bitterness.

And that's what I knew I had to do with the enemy of anger and bitterness that I was wrestling...  I had to keep fighting!  I had to wrestle it as hard as Nick did, and like Nick, not allow it to pin me helplessly to the mat of life...  I had to relentlessly remove every tendril that had entangled my heart...  But not in my own power...  And that was the other thing about the photo that took my breath away...  Nick was on his knees...

THAT is the only place to fight a battle of spiritual proportions...  On our knees, in total humility, realizing that we can't do it in our own strength.  Zechariah 4:6, says "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.' says the LORD."

I am thankful to say that God, in His mercy, is bringing relief to my heart.  Does it creep back in from time to time?  Yes, most often in the middle of the night...  and sometimes it blindsides me for no apparent reason...  But by the power of the Spirit, through persistence and determination (and the memory of those photos etched into my heart), I am not giving up... 

Each time it happens, I find myself back before the throne where I fight to peel away the entanglements, forgive again and fix my eyes back on Jesus who is far bigger than it all!!

Another sister in the good fight,
Sharla

The Truth Will Set You FREE...maybe...hopefully...

Jesus tells us He is the way, the truth and the life.  Paul tells us the truth shall set you free.  But do we believe it?  Do we know Jesus as the truth in our life?  Do we listen to His voice or the messages of lesser 'gods' - the 'gods' of expectation, guilt, shame, comparison, judgement?  God frees us, period, end of story.

In his lifetime, Jesus healed a lot of people.  One thing they all had in common was that they were healed and then they lived the new life they had been given.  I really don't believe that having been healed of disabilities and diseases any of the individuals asked questions like:
-what if I don't measure up?
-how can I deserve healing after the things I've done?
-will people think I'm as good as them now?
-should I associate with those who are still unhealed?

Yet that is exactly what we do when we dwell on ourselves and not the love and grace God gave us when he saved us.  Rather than go out and show the world we are changed, we question every aspect of our lives.  If we look at a majority of best selling Christian books, what do we see?  Titles like: praying circles around our biggest dreams and greatest fears, enjoying peace in His presence, defeating idols that battle for your heart.  A majority of books aimed at the Christian market revolve around making ourselves better -- or figuring out how to allow God to make us better -- or letting other people tell us how to find God.  The funny thing is, when you are saved by grace, God is in your heart and you are what God wants you to be.

Rather than trying to figure out how to be a better person, why don't we live our lives as a person in which God lives and works?  Rather than taking time to read a book about how to find peace or joy or contentment with God, why don't we take that time and sit quietly in a beautiful place and experience the peace, joy and contentment that is God's to give when we are with Him?

The lies of the world (whether internal or external) keep us busy trying to be better, trying to know God, trying to find peace.  The Holy Spirit, God himself, lives inside us -- that is what make us whole, that is how we know God and that is how we gain peace.  Don't waste you time questioning.  Don't waste your time reading.  The answer is within us.  Jesus is the truth.  The truth will set you free.

Blessings, your sister (the freedom fighter) -- Cynthia Mitchell

Boundary Lines

"Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."                    - Jim Elliot


What do you believe to be the will of God for your life these days? Is it rocking your baby and reading stories to your little ones? Is it helping your teenager develop a Biblical worldview? Is it working faithfully at your job or serving in a homeless shelter?

No matter where God has you, let me encourage you to BE ALL THERE - instead of striving toward something God does not have for you.

My life verse is Psalm 16:5-6: "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

These words say to me: Kathryn, God has assigned you to a place, a position, a time. Accept that all these are good, for He keeps you safe and stable. His boundaries for you are for your good and the good of others, not to frustrate you or hold you back. You have a delightful inheritance.

But how often my soul wars against those boundary lines! I want to be over there where that lady is writing a book. Or in the next season of life where my friends' lives seem calmer. Or even next door where the kids are neater and the husband and wife like the same kind of movies. Then that still, small Voice says, "Are these where the boundary lines have fallen?... Do you trust me?"

We worship a good, kind, all-powerful Shepherd. He knows us best. He cares for us tenderly. He is aware of the dangers we cannot see. We have every reason in the world to trust God. So why don't we? Why don't I? Because I take my eyes off of Jesus, peek over the fence (the boundary line) and covet what is not good for me or what would not move the Kingdom forward. I demand my delightful inheritance now instead of remembering that God is my very great reward (Genesis 15:1). 

The key to remembering that the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places must be to recall the first part of the verse: Lord, you have assigned me. Because God will not assign us where we cannot serve in the Kingdom. He will not assign us a place of insignificance, even if it feels so. The Lord has assigned us to the best possible place to honor Him. No place could be better.  

- Kathryn Truden