I digress a bit - but it's fitting

Sometimes we see God at work in our children, especially His grace in and through them to us. None of our children claim to know Jesus personally at this point, but then none of them have as yet rejected Him either. They are not saved, but they are open and thinking and I believe seeking to understand and know Him. That in and of itself is a grace of His towards us. We enjoy interacting with our children about God and all that he has done and their interest is encouraging.

Parenting is difficult work, and we are but novices. I wonder if that will ever change, even with experience! Sometimes, in parenting, you find yourself "stumped" by the questions of your children, but even more so by the questions of others about your children. Today I want to share something my husband wrote in response to our oldest child's math teacher at the beginning of last year, as he (the teacher) sought to better acquaint himself with his new batch of students (all 100+ of them in their grade!). I will gladly confess that I was in deep waters of paperwork and adjusting to new schools for three of the kids, wading through nurse/teacher/diabetes training and so much more, and I punted on this assignment: "Papa Bear, could you PLEASE do this one..." I was in no state of mind to even try. I think it took him two nights to do this (this type of assignment is really hard for both of us). But it was so worth it. I saved these words and go back to them often, for they not only tell volumes about this child and who she is, but also a great deal about my beloved, and they express much about God's grace to us through this journey as parents.

---
Re: Parent/Guardian Homework
6th grade math class
September 6, 2010

Dear Teacher,

Patience is the first born of four children. If you knew what you were asking when you asked me to write a letter about her, you would not state the assignment so glibly. Sure, there may be no guidelines, but to even begin to convey to you the color she brings to our world would require a discipline and a mastery of language that is far beyond the powers of this feeble mind of her father this evening.

To describe her to you this evening, I'm going to start with one word, but the dictionary definition of this word will not suffice. It's a word I use in my own mind and in my own way. To me, my daughter is a "trouper". Webster defines the word as "a person who deals with and persists through difficulty or hardship without complaint". This would imply, however, that the persevering individual is still characterized as being under the difficulty, or subdued by the hardship. The trouper I see in Patience rides above, not below, the challenges that she faces. It's as though, having already been acquainted with the reality that life will contain some bad news, Patience continues to seek, and readily find, a truth in her life that says the good news is just plain bigger than the bad. And what shines forth from her in our home can only be characterized, by those of us privileged to be in contact with her, as delight.

To watch Patience grow is to realize that more is churning inside her than meets the eye. She's a voracious reader with a skilled and logical mind. She has a private side that takes more in than she lets flow out. And yet her interactions with others are open and genuine. She may not be as quick on the uptake when it comes to the latest social and cultural mores of the pre-teen world, but she processes such new ideas and decisions with maturity, evenness, and grace.

If I had more time, skill, and energy I would relate more. But this is a beginning.

Sincerely,

Papa Bear, Patience's dad.

What is needed to be "fit" for God

In church this morning, we sang a hymn whose final verse struck me very strongly. How beautifully is stated what God desires of us.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream.
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.

From the hymn "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy"
The chorus is full of hope too:
I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior, O there are ten thousand charms.

Amazing Grace

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed.

Preaching . . . . in New England

I've been thinking....
Hell or grace....

Which is harder to preach, honestly?
Which will get a good bible-preaching pastor in more trouble, from all sides?
Which one is more likely to be misunderstood, misapplied, and abused?
Which is more offensive to the self-righteous prig?
Which is harder to understand, or to accept?
Which one is more often refused?
Which one offers hope?
Which one sucks the hope right out of you?
Which one cannot exist without the other?

Hell is logical - we deserve it.

You can have hell without grace....
... but you can't have grace without hell.

GRACE is scandalous

I think we need to preach grace to the lost in this God-forsaken place called New England where fewer than 2 or 3 in 100 even know what I'm talking about. These New Englanders may not believe in hell, but they do already know about it - they live it, and they know it well, even if they don't know what it's called.

Grace on the other hand is something they haven't got a clue about. These are the work-hard, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps folk. Traditionally they earn their keep. Sure they help their neighbor. But if their neighbor is a lazy good-for-nothing, well, they don't keep digging him out of the same pit over and over again.

Grace is getting what you don't deserve, and we New Englanders don't like that. We like to keep our accounts even. You know, tit for tat. I might help my neighbor, and I know someone (not necessarily my neighbor) will help me too. What goes around comes around - a complicated tit for tat if you follow my meaning.

Grace isn't like that. It's truly free. And we don't deserve it.

And we New Englanders think, usually rightly so, that if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. Better work harder. Try harder. Preach "better". Live "righter" Don't take chances. You know, reduce, reuse, recycle, be idealistic, change the world, strive, work, do more....

But grace isn't like that. It's really free.

Romans 6:1-2a What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!

If our grace-abounding lives and our grace-filled preaching don't lead us to ask that question, then we probably haven't done a good job living or sharing grace. Of course the answer is "no" - grace is not license to sin.

But it is really that free - that it makes us ask that question. And it should.

Hell's obvious.
Grace is mind-boggling.
And it's just as real.
And it's free.
And it changes everything.
It gives hope.
It gives life.
It restores broken relationships, starting with the most important one - our relationship with God.
It explains everything.
It underestimates nothing - not even the reality of hell.
And it is worth everything.
And it costs nothing.

Because God gives it. 100%. Gratis.

Try preaching that in New England.

Grace in the belly of the whale

Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit
the grace
that could be theirs.

I just discovered that verse in Jonah, chapter 2 (verse 8). Great chapter, great context. Find it below in full, but do meditate for a while on this verse. Pretty cool! It's seems to be saying that taking our eyes off of Christ can lead to disaster. We have all we need in him, and when we look away... Bamm! We hit the siderails.

BUT when we set aside our idols, his grace is ours!

See verse 9:

Salvation comes from the Lord!

Jonah Chapter Two (NIV) 1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. 7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD." 10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Love is Patient

I have read a certain blog a few times hosted by Marcia Somerville entitled Tapestry of Grace. Everything I've read that she has written has blessed and encouraged me so far. (Disclaimer however - I haven't read THAT much of what she's written. I say that "just in case"....)

Somehow I ended up over there this morning and read a good part of her latest entry, Love Is Patient. It was particularly striking in light of what I posted yesterday and I think simply sharing the link here and recommending it highly is the best thing I could possibly post today!

Let me whet your appetite with this small excerpt copied below, and then off you go. Happy reading!

We all know people whose patience is on full display. We marvel at them, but inwardly, we can think: wow, I am just not that kind of person. I could never be patient like s/he is! But, here’s a piece of good (and convicting) news: if we have the Spirit of God within us, we can become patient. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). There are really no naturally patient people. When you see God-honoring patience in people, they weren’t born that way. God has worked this fruit in their lives, whether or not they are aware of it. And the same Spirit is at work in you, and will prevail in the end (Philippians 1:6).

Guilt and Grace

Grace is a tough concept for me. I think knowing I'm a sinner - painfully so - occasionally has me wallowing in guilt (my husband would say 'fairly often' is more accurate) . . . . thing is, it's self-induced guilt and not always godly repentance. That's a whole 'nother story and blog entry, but it's a pattern I'm increasingly aware of and working to address. It's kind of like I try to use the 'guilt' of knowing I've 'failed' to motivate me. It doesn't work, and I end up very discouraged. In light of this, I really liked what I read a few weeks ago.

This experience--from guilt to gratitude--has been teaching me something about God. I used to think that guilt prompted us to repent and turn towards God. This may be true at times, but I don't think guilt can sustain a relationship with God, and I don't think it is meant to. Guilt implies that I could have done things differently, that the offense is entirely my fault and I could have controlled the situation in such a way to produce a more effective result. But gratitude... gratitude recognizes my limitations. Recognizes my lack of control. Recognizes that, whether or not I deserve it, I have been given something good.

I don't mean to say that I'm not responsible for the bad choices I've made or the sins I've committed. All I'm trying to say is that if guilt brings me to God, it's gratitude that keeps me there. Gratitude is a response that takes the attention off of me and puts it onto the giver. Guilt reflects the depth of my own depravity, but gratitude reflects the goodness of God. (To read the entire entry, click here.)

Gratitude to put it simply flows from knowing and experiencing God's grace.