Rolling Stones: conclusion

When I began the study of stones I had hoped to develop a comprehensive and all-inclusive idea of what all God intended with His literal and symbolic use of stones. This was perhaps a little too ambitious for my limited theological abilities. There are rock/stone verses that refer to so many different things.  

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus uses the word “rock” to talk about the church. Disagreement abounds over the meaning of “on this rock I will build my church”. Some think Jesus was referring to Peter. Some think (myself included) He was referring to faith in Christ, specifically in this instance Peter’s faith. Peter had just acknowledged for the first time that Jesus was Messiah, Christ, the son of the living God. Others think that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20, Rev. 21:14).  And some believe the rock refers to Christ’s teachings.

And as discussed in previous posts stones were used in very literal ways. These included stones used as memory markers, for stoning people, to build the temple, as landmarks, to build houses, to write the law upon, to build city walls, for weighing things. And finally tombs were cut out of stones and tombs were closed by them.

After Jesus was crucified Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus body, wrapped it in linen and (verse 6, Matthew 27) “placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.”

And then the moment the stone is rolled away:

 “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said”. (Matthew 28: 2-6)

I do not know why God uses stones (literal and symbolic) in so many varied ways. His ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I do know that for me, the stones make the story real. I can picture the rock lying near Jacob’s head while he dreamed of the great stairway. Otherwise it is just a description of a dream, abstract and unfamiliar. I can picture the rocks stacked up as memory pillars beside the Jordan. I can see and almost touch the Ebenezer stone, the stone of help. If I were a builder I could describe the physics involved in the foundation of the building and perhaps I would have set a cornerstone with my own hands.

Nothing in the description of the empty tomb mirrors anything in my own experience, I have never been in an earthquake, I have never seen an angel. I have seen stones, large and small. I have climbed on stones that were so large and heavy that I could not move them. My mother was an amateur rock collector. She picked up rocks everywhere we went, most were ordinary, some were small, others quite large. She had no knowledge of geology and had no idea what she was picking up but she knew she liked them. I like them too.

Maybe God gives us the stones in His Word to give us something tangible (and understandable) to hold onto in the midst of the miraculous and unimaginable.

Because I am so familiar with rocks and stones, I can picture myself at the tomb of Jesus. I can imagine if the stone was still in front of the tomb that I might walk up and put my hands on the rock and place the side of my face against the cool surface of the stone thinking that inside lay my Savior, the one who died for me.

The good news is that if I could go back to that tomb I would not lay my face against the stone, it was rolled away! My Savior was not and is not inside.  He rose from the grave and He lives. Composer Frances Crosby says it this way:

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! 

Gladness fills the world today;

From the tomb that could not hold Him,

See, the stone is rolled away!

Christ hath risen! Hallelujah!

Friends of Jesus, dry your tears;

Through the veil of gloom and darkness,

Lo, the Son of God appears!

Christ hath risen! Hallelujah!

He hath risen, as he said;

He is now the king of glory,

And our great exalted Head. 

May I go forth and be a Rolling Stone, a stone that is rolled away from my sinful inclinations to reveal the strength and majesty of Jesus Christ!

Let’s Get Stoned: Penultimate Post

 I’m sorry I could not resist the title above. This topical study on stones in the Bible is wrapping up at an appropriate time, the Thursday and Friday before Easter. I have moved from stones as memory markers to stones of help and will finish tomorrow with the stone that was rolled away when Jesus rose from the grave. 

I began with study of literal stones and now am exploring what the NIV Naves’s Topical Bible calls the figurative and symbolic use of stones. In 1 Corinthians 10: 4 Paul says, “they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”

The New Bible Commentary and the notes in my NIV Study Bible explain what Paul is speaking about. The manna given to the Israelites and the water from the rock  were provisions directly from God while they wandered in the wilderness. Moses continually wrestled with the Israelites trying to convince them that God would take care of them. Paul is saying that what they were given was more than food and water, it was spiritual food and drink from the spiritual rock, Jesus Christ, and that He accompanied them on their journey.

The commentary emphasizes that Jesus was there from the beginning (Jn. 1:2-4), He upholds all things (Col 1:17) and He was involved with God’s people in the Old Testament times as he is with God’s people (Christians) today. In Revelation chapter 2 verse 17 it says: “to him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna. I will  also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”

Here are some other wonderful verses about Jesus and stones:

1 Co. 3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 28:16 “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.”

Psalm 118:22 "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone."

Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” 

As I read these verses I wonder why the cross is the dominant symbol worn by Christians as jewelry or adornment. Stones were used in the Old Testament as memory pillars and landmarks, the Israelites drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, the one who overcomes will be given a stone with a new name, Jesus is our cornerstone! It seems it would be appropriate to wear a small rock or smooth stone or perhaps keep one in our pocket as a reminder of who Christ is and that He accompanies us everywhere. Jesus is the spiritual rock, the source of our manna and our water, our life and breath, our joy and our salvation!

Look for the conclusion of my thoughts on my topical study of stones tomorrow!

Raising Up My Ebenezer

Scrooge in Scripture?

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As I continue my topical study of stones in the Bible I was delighted to come across a reference I remember from the past: A stone set up by Samuel called "Ebenezer". I have no trouble remembering this reference because I always think of Ebenezer Scrooge but I can never remember what Ebenezer means. What happens in my brain that such an outstanding Dickensian image can be retained as well as the entire plot line for A Christmas Carol, yet no matter home many times I look this up...I cannot remember what Ebenezer means. I can also remember obscure song lyrics but have no idea where I left my glasses. 


Once and for all (I’m being optimistic), here is the explanation. As we have discussed, stones in the Bible can represent Memory Pillars. They can be set up to remember a vow we have made as in the case of Jacob or in the Ebenezer example, set up to commemorate the occasion of God’s provision of victory in battle.

 

Twenty years have passed since the ark of the covenant had been taken to Kiriath-jearim (1 Samuel 7:2). Apparently some of the Israelites had begun to worship other gods.  Samuel told the Israelites to dedicate themselves to the Lord and worship only the Lord. He promised that if they did this then God would rescue the Israelites from the dreaded Philistines. The Israelites removed the Baals and other things and only worhsipped the Lord.

 

While the Israelites were meeting in Mizpah the Philistines marched toward them to overtake them. The Israelites asked Samuel to continue and to not stop crying out to God on their behalf. Samuel offered a burnt offering to the Lord for them.

 

Verse 10 says (and I love this part) “The Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines that day and threw them into such confusion that they fled before Israel.” I have a list of people I would like the Lord to thunder loudly against! I should be careful, I might be on someone’s list as well. The men of Israel pursued the Philistines and struck them down.

“Samuel took a stone and set it upright between Mizpah and Shem. He named it Ebenezer explaining, “The Lord has helped us to this point”. (1 Samuel 7;12).

 

So here is the part where I look up the meaning of Ebenezer once again, (this information was gathered here.

The word "Ebenezer" comes from Hebrew and is actually two words pronounced together: Even Haazer. Written in Hebrew it looks like this:

It is usually transliterated as a proper name by dropping the definite article (Ha) from the Hebrew word for "help" (Ezer) and putting it together with the Hebrew word for "stone" (Even) to create: "Ebenezer." The etymological roots of the word, thus defined, should demonstrate that an "Ebenezer" is, literally, a "Stone of Help."...Literally speaking, an Ebenezer is a "stone of help," or a reminder of God’s Real, Holy Presence and Divine aid.

Hebrew word for “help” is Ezer.  Hebrew word for “stone” is Even. Stone of Help. Unfortunately, Hebrew and Greek are so unfamiliar to me that I cannot form word associations for them. If it were Latin then I might be able to picture the word or relate it to my very limited Spanish vocabulary. ‘Help’ doesn’t look like EZER. ‘Stone’ doesn’t look like EVEN or EBEN. 

 

I am trying those memory tricks (as I type this) where you make up a picture in your mind with all the words you are supposed to remember on a table with objects that remind you of the words. Hmm. Samuel (who is dressed as Scrooge), let’s call him Ebenezer Samuel, is standing behind a table. There are dead Philistines lying on the ground behind him (you can tell they are Philistines because they have the letter “P” on their tunics). Ebenezer Samuel places a big rock on the table, written on the big rock is EVEN (this doesn’t really help because the word is Ebenezer not Evenezer). Next, God thunders (because I like that part of the story)- that can be a lightening bolt in our picture. Across the lightening bolt is written EZER in bright red superman letters. It could be that I’m not very good at this word picture memory thing. 

 It could be that when I next sing, “Come thou fount of every blessing” and come to the second verse, "Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’m come..." that I will continue to have no idea what I’m singing and will yet again have to look it up. The author of the helpful information quoted previously, Dr. Gregory S. Neal, commented in his article that every time he sings that hymn he “cannot shake the mental image of someone holding up Ebenezer Scrooge.” 
 

Regardless of the unintended whimsy of this reference, it brings up a good point. An Ebenezer stone was the stone set up by Samuel to remember and honor the help God had given the Israelites. The Word of God is my Ebenezer. I am so fortunate to have God’s word, written in so many easily understood translations to remind me that God has helped me in the best way possible. He has provided eternal salvation for me through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. Dr. Neal said in his article:

“ an Ebenezer can be nearly anything that reminds us of God’s presence and help: the Bible, the Sacramental Elements, a cross, a picture, a fellow believer, a hymn – those things which serve as reminders of God’s love, God’s Real Presence, and God’s assistance are "Ebenezers."

In a general sense that may be true but it seems that God deliberately gave us The Word, His Son, The Cornerstone to be our everlasting Ebenezer, the rock who helps. I am probably getting ahead of myself by including the cornerstone before actually reading all the verses on stones. However, these are the verses I was thinking of, verses about Jesus as the Word and a precious cornerstone:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with god in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1: 1-5

Therefore the Lord said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable. Isaiah 28:16

 

Sometimes in our rush to application I think we can get too general, maybe sometimes God is more specific than we think. Maybe anything CAN be an Ebenezer, maybe not. Either way it is safe to say that Jesus is our rock, our salvation, a tested cornerstone and He is our Ebenezer, our stone of help.

No Stone Unturned (almost)

Picture taken in Carmel, CA July 2011, these are not stones I would want to touch much less turn over! Birds are fascinating, bird poop, not so much.

In the first installment of my topical study of stones in the Bible I optimistically and perhaps in a cavalier manner stated that I would leave "no stone unturned" implying that I would look up every reference to stones in the Bible. Well...I may actually leave at least a few categories of stones unturned.

In Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods, Twelve Ways You Can Unlock God's Word, Warren says, "Be thorough. As far as possible, find and study every verse that relates to the topic. The only way to know everything God has said on a topic is to go through the entire Bible and find all the passages on that topic." Hmm. According to Zondervan NIV, Nave's Topical Bible there are about 58 separate references (more verses) on the literal use of stones. There are about 21 verses on the figurative and symbolic use of stones.

There are additional references for precious stones and also many, many references for stones used for stoning people. For this reason, and I hope Rick Warren won't mind, I will limit my study to the literal, figurative and symbolic stones and will omit the precious stones and stones used for stoning people. My study will include stones used for building, stones used for remembering events, stones that can cause someone to stumble and stones that in some way describe Christ or the Spirit.

This week I was particularly "struck" (no pun intended) by the stones that are used to mark occasions that are to be remembered, the topical Bible calls them Memory Pillars. In Genesis 28:18-22 Jacob took the stone that had been near his head while he slept and dreamed and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it and named the place Bethel. Jacob then made a vow that if God would protect him on this journey and would bring him back safely then the Lord would be Jacob's God. God has just given Jacob a dream of the stairway with angels walking up and down from earth to heaven. God has  promised in the dream to give Jacob the land he has been sleeping on. Initially the vow sounded to me like second guessing God and also, are we allowed to make these kinds of deals with God? The New Bible Commentary* says that "as long as the votary
 performs his vow, the Old Testament does not discourage them...Vows are not necessarily bargaining with God, rather they can express our dependence on him. Nor was Jacob's vow here an expression of unbelief in the promises just made to him, for all petitionary prayer is based on God's promises to provide for our needs (Mt. 6:11 with 6:25-34)".  I really like it when the commentary actually answers the questions that I have!!

Many of my prayers lately have been based on God's promises to provide. Jesus told us to pray: "Give us this day our daily bread..." I am so tempted to pray for tomorrow's bread and next month's bread. And I want to see tangible results. Jacob wanted more than just his extraordinary dream. He wanted something in the waking world to signify God's promise and provision. He took the rock that had been beside his head during that remarkable dream and he poured oil over it. I tried to think of how I could pour oil over my requests before God. I've been in a church service where we wrote our prayer requests on a piece of paper and then walked up to the altar and put them up on a wall. I've heard of people writing sins on a piece of paper and then burning the paper to symbolize the confession and turning from the sin. We as people seem to need something we can touch, see, read or hold, something tangible. My desire is that God's Word, His promises would become as real to me as the stone by Jacob's head was to him, that Jesus and His saving grace would be such a big stone of faith that nothing could move it. I hope that by meditating on God's Word and His promises it will be as if I were pouring oil over my little stone of faith. May my stone of faith grow larger every day and be so real that I can reach out and touch it.


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*I will take a moment to express my thoughts on commentaries. I like them! For those of us without formal theological training and with limited time they can be a great tool. I do not think commentaries can be substituted for scripture, nor do they carry the weight of scripture, nor are they definitive. They are a tool. Sometimes when I read scriptures that confuse me I will ask God to help me understand the difficult passage in the way He intended it. I will ask for wisdom. Sometimes I will get a new insight or suddenly see the passage in a new way but sometimes I simply do not have the knowledge (culture of the time, Greek language, Hebrew language) to get the true picture. At those times I benefit from the writings and knowledge of others; always remembering that the words of others (even brilliant scholars) are not scripture. One of the questions I always ask when reading what someone else has written about the Bible is: "Does this make sense with regard to other things that the Bible says?, Is it consistent with what I already know about God and His character from the Bible?".

Walking on Water

I recently finished reading Madeleine L’Engle’s “Walking on Water,Reflections on Faith and Art”. It took me a long time to read it, not because the book failed to engage but because there were so many things in it that I wanted to think about. 

One of my favorite quotes from L'Engle's book: "A sad fact which nevertheless needs to be faced is that a deeply committed Christian who wants to write stories or paint pictures or compose music to the glory of God simply may not have been given the talent, the gift, which a non-Christian, or even an atheist, may have in abundance. God is no respecter of persons, and this is something we are reluctant to face…It is hard for us to understand that he lavishly gives enormous talents to people we would consider unworthy, that he chooses his artists with as calm a disregard of surface moral qualifications as he chooses his saints.".

This courageous insight lends great credibility to every other observation in Walking on Water. I am someone who would like to have been given a great creative talent of some kind. It is tempting to ask God, why we aren't given that talent when we are positive that we would, to the best of our ability use it for His glory. Perhaps the thing we are so positive about is a thing known to God to be quite different. Or perhaps it is just one of several mysteries for which we await an answer.

When I read the endless banter about whether or not Christians should read Harry Potter I always think the better questions are: "Where are the talented Christian writers" and "Why is there very little Christian fiction that is as fascinating or engaging as Harry Potter?".

L’Engle is a deep thinker but she is also wonderfully funny:  “What I remember from Ruskin is the phrase: ‘the cursed animosity of inanimate objects’, which I mutter under my breath when I get in a tangle of wire coat hangers. I also wonder if there is any such thing as an inanimate object.”  This may not be as funny to someone who has not had an out and out knock down, drag out fight with the wire coat hangers in her laundry room (sometimes resulting in tears), victory always belongs to the wire coat hangers!

Looks innocent doesn't it?? Don't be fooled!

She also has, what I think, is an amusing quote about atheism: “Atheism is a peculiar state of mind; you cannot deny the existence of that which does not exist. I cannot say, ‘That chair is not there,’ if there is no chair there to say it about.”

I find L’Engle comforting when she quotes the Spanish writer/philosopher Unamuno:

“Unamuno might be describing the artist as well as the Christian as he writes, ‘Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself”.

This comforts me because when horrific things happen to children or when a tragic illness befalls a child of God I grasp for understanding. When I look in the mirror knowing that I have failed God AGAIN, I feel despair. Often, when I watch the news and am bombarded with man’s inhumanity to man, I definitely feel anguish of mind. Unamuno and L’Engle are saying this is part of the process, part of the journey with the living God. If we put God in a box and don’t think about Him too much then we need not feel anguish, or passion, or despair.

There are other treasures L’Engle has collected from other sources:

John of the Cross: “One act of thanksgiving made when things go wrong is worth a thousand when things go well”.

Lady Julian of Norwich: “But all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well’.

That last one says it all from the moment you hold your crying child and tell them “It will be ok, everything will be all right" to the ubiquitous but essential Romans 8:28:  "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

And here is another quote she included from Emmanuel, Cardinal Suhard:

“To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people  up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.”

I would like that, I would like to live in such a way that my life would not make sense if God did not exist and if I tell you my story then that is true. But you have to hear the whole story to see it. I think it means a more obvious correlation. L’Engle talks about the widow’s mite and how “it was worth more than all the rich men’s gold because it represented the focus of her life”. The widow and her offering only makes sense if God exists. L’Engle uses the chosen quotes and examples to make the point that “Some unheard-of Elizabethan woman who led a life of selfless love may well be brought before the throne of God ahead of Shakespeare, for such a person may be a greater force for good than someone on whom God’s blessing seem to have been dropped more generously”.

We do what we can do with what God has given us. My talents and gifts pale in comparison to the gifts and talents of others; that is not the point. The point is, “Will I do something with what I have been given?”

L’Engle’s book is filled with many insights to ponder with regard to faith, particularly the nature of faith and art. Though her focus is on the Christian as an artist everything in the book applied to ME as an ordinary person and I think could apply to all!

Walking on Water is a wonderful look at the mind of a talented writer who also has a deep faith in God.

Traveling Mercies

There were four things that stood out for me this weekend while traveling and making crosses. First, it's hard to be creative and crafty while traveling, especially in a truck at a gas station. Second, knowing that I needed to find time to make a cross on each of the days we were away concentrated my attention on God much more than is usual on a weekend driving trip like this one. I was on the look out for something that might present itself as the perfect medium for cross making and I was listening; listening to hear what God might say to me in my search.


When we were eating at Freebird's we noticed that previous diners had taken their foil wrappers and made them into figures they then displayed on the bricks on the wall of the restaurant. I tried and failed to make a cross (out of Parker's foil) that would hold together! I pictured my little cross sitting beside the little foil cowboy on his little foil horse, or next to the sword and shield (turning it into an armor of God message) or as a counter point to the witch someone had left behind. These were delusions of Freebird grandeur! It is sad when your artistic abilities do not meet your artistic aspirations in a fast food establishment!

This is the cross I made in the hotel room after the competitions on Friday and after the failure to make a foil cross at Freebird's. The cross is made from pieces of paper from Sweet and Low packets. I enhanced the picture using Instagram, an app for Iphone.

Third, I was reminded of the complicated issue of God and sports. This brings up so many topics from how to acknowledge God in your sport (Tebowing?), how to win and lose graciously, and the one I often struggle with: how to pray for your children when they are competing.

As I sat in the stands Friday I was tempted to pray that Bailey would  make the finals (similar to praying for a win). I then thought of all the other girls and all their moms and I thought about how God knows what each person needs to do that day, everyone can't win, everyone can't qualify.  So what I prayed for was that I would be AWARE that however Bailey placed in the race I needed to align myself with God's will. I needed to come to the place where I could accept graciously His will for her running and her life whether we were disappointed with the outcome or not. Bailey did qualify, just barely and went on to place 7th in the final earning All-Big 12 honors and a medal. I then found myself in a different circumstance. I was not having to align myself to an unwanted outcome...now we were happy, we were celebrating!

Bailey is in black and gold with the #1 on her shoulder.

This brings me to the fourth and final thought. Why do we feel guilty when we are happy and why are we sometimes less engaged with God when things go well? When Bailey or Parker have lost races or performed less than hoped for I feel completely engaged with God. I am struggling and asking Him, "why when they have worked so hard have they come up short? Why have You (God) brought them this far for them to be disappointed? What is the purpose in this? Please help me accept the bad as well as the good! Please help me keep things in perspective...people are suffering while I lament over a sports event! Please help Bailey/Parker not be discouraged. Please comfort them. Please help them get through the disappointment without doubting You or themselves." These may not be the "right" prayers but I am completely engaged with God, nonetheless.

Contrast that with the quick "Thank you" I send up to heaven when the outcome is good. I might manage another quick "thank you" as we rush out to eat and relive the race over quesadillas and chips and salsa. Only later do I return to God and really thank Him for His many blessings and think through what His plans and purposes might be. This time, and I think it was primarily due to making crosses every day, I was more engaged with God during and after the happy moments.

In Bible study we are studying the book of James. The lesson I did today talked about the verse, James 5:13 "Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise". Beth Moore, the author of the study, wrote: "We will run our race on one leg if we can only engage with God in our suffering and sickness. He is the author of life. 'From Him and through Him and to Him are all things' (Romans 11:36)". We can talk about coincidence or God's timing another time but I did notice that I happened to read this lesson on happiness at just this time and that the verse talked about running. Deliberate or happy accident these coincidences (or accidents by design) make me happy!

She mentioned another verse, "The Lord be exalted. He takes pleasure in His servants well-being.".

I think one of my problems is that I feel badly for the other competitors because while we know what it is like to win we also know very well what it feels like to lose. Also, I don't want to appear obnoxiously happy nor do I want to say something that would push someone away from God. If you say, "We are so blessed by God" do we imply that we think God did not bless the runners who didn't medal, that somehow God chose some over others?" I do not believe that is the case. In the end, I focused on the blessings that I knew were legitimately mine to claim. I was blessed by God and thankful to Him that Dean, Bailey, Parker and I were all together, that we are healthy, that we love each other and enjoy being together and that we had something fun to celebrate together! . Our ultimate blessing and the one we don't focus on often enough is our salvation through Jesus Christ! Isn't it always appropriate to celebrate that most amazing gift?
   
We were also blessed to share our happiness with friends:  Bailey's friends and teammates who stand by her through good and bad, friends who came to the meet to see Bailey compete, Mizzou friends who joined us for dinner to celebrate after the meet, friends at home who are always encouraging and share in our celebration as I excitedly post updates on Facebook and in text messages. God is good, that does not change with our circumstances.  I cannot let my inability, during bad times, to comprehend that truth keep me from fully embracing the same truth during the good times!

One friend said this reminded her of a magnet she has that says something like "God loves Aggies too". Another friend said it reminded her of "Tebowing". I made this cross from the map to the Texas A&M facilities that was given to Bailey so they would know where to warm up and where the athletes entrance was. This is the cross I made sitting in the truck at the gas station!

I'm not sure this even qualified as cross making! I used the etch-a-sketch app for Iphone to make this cross.

 With both this challenge to make a cross every day leading up to Easter and my previous challenge to run every day for 30 days the biggest difficulty comes when traveling. I never did a quality run while traveling and I do not think these will be my best efforts in cross making either!  Too many times I refuse to try new things or accept new challenges because I fear I will not follow through. Allowing myself to give less time and attention on the days when it is very difficult to persevere has given me the freedom to accomplish my goals! I have mentioned real world crafting and time limitations before, we cannot allow these constraints to keep us from living the life we were designed to live: active, thoughtful, creative!

Running Over the Serpent

Every run is an adventure.  You never know what you will see or hear. I had barely made it out the door when a semi-truck driver honked at me and I was barked at by a dog who fortunately was behind a fence.

I see lots of interesting things when I run. Today I saw cows, horses, robins, meadow larks, and mockingbirds: and a yellow snake. I see the plastic yellow snake pictured above every day that I run near my home. He has been there for months. The first time I saw him I jumped even though I know that we have no bright yellow poisonous snakes in Texas. This plastic predator is not an accident, he usually waits for unsuspecting runners on the shoulder but occasionally he sits in the middle of the black-top lane to frighten a group of friendly cyclists that regularly pedal down our way. This particular stretch of road is near a pasture but I suspect he belongs to children in one of the nearby houses. People are funny and that is what I love about running near my house. Some people are friendly, some people are oblivious (on cell phones), some seem deliberately rude and enjoy seeing me leap off the road into the ditch because they would not move over or slow down, and some people put out plastic snakes to "scare" the gullible! The people who smile and wave, the friendly cyclists and the plastic snake people make me want to keep going.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.

Genesis 3:1

The snake is not the first plastic animal to deceive me. Years ago I was running in a suburb when I spotted a very large owl on top of a huge ham radio antenna. I wound my way around various streets trying to get to the right house to see the owl, I was so excited. When I finally got there, I was devastated,  he revealed himself as a plastic decoy set up by the home-owner to keep birds away from his enormous antenna (and to keep the resulting bird poop off his roof). It's possible that running is more fun because I am gullible.

Philosophically the bright yellow plastic snake could be a metaphor for life. Many things that are initially scary, turn out to be nothing and sometimes they turn out to be fun or funny. And on the darker side, it's important not to be deceived by snakes, plastic or otherwise. Jesus told His followers, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves".  And this is why the plastic snake continues to entertain me every day when I run; because he gives me so much to think about, particularly the delicate balance between being shrewd and being innocent (or in my case - gullible)! 

Today was my 21st day of consecutive running. I ran 5.73 miles, a weird distance because I ran an out-and-back from my house, up and down several country and county roads, turning around where one road dead ends into a heavy traffic road. In training I typically follow the third-week rule which is that every third week you reduce your mileage and/or your long run. It is probably more important to do that when running every day. So I took it easy at the beginning of this week and will not do a long run. For the most part running every day has been great. This week I encountered some challenges and some days when I really didn't want to run. We traveled over the weekend and so I had to fit in running around our travel time. I ran one day on the treadmill in our hotel. I had much to do this week, had terrible allergies, and despised the wicked North wind but I made it out the door anyway and was glad I did! Be Strong, Be Brave! Happy Running!

Humility: If I Ignore It, Maybe It Will Go Away

"Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." - Mark 10:43-45

I was reading about the discipline of humility and how this discipline helps us to be humble by dwelling on what Christ was willing to do for us. I cannot imagine leaving behind glorious heaven to come to earth for 30 plus years, becoming a servant, a sacrifice, a stand-in for sin. I become unhappy if I have to wait in line at Michael's or Walmart. I am put out if I have to make an extra trip out to pick up something forgotten. While I may enjoy sending a card to a friend or making bread for someone who has been sick, I balk at any real notion of service. Something that would require a significant sacrifice of time or effort terrifies me. And even on occasion when I muster the will to volunteer for something outside myself, though it seems to be a huge task for me it is really nothing compared to the self-less life and sacrificial death of Jesus.

The gap between Jesus and me is so large that it prohibits almost entirely any ability on my part to truly grasp what He did for me and what it may have meant for Him in terms of sacrifice. We had a dog named Zoe who when confronted with something she knew we did not want her to have, to eat, or to attack (like the cat, our dinner, or one of the hamsters), would turn her head and refuse to look at the forbidden fruit. You could hold the disgruntled kitty right up to her nose and she would forcefully turn her head as far away as she could and refuse to see the cat. It simply did not exist to her as long as we were watching. Who knows what or who she would have eaten if we were not present. I am like Zoe, I pretend things do not exist, not things that I'm not supposed to have but things that I financially cannot have or intellectually cannot grasp. I was able to "do" math up to the level of pre-calculus. I needed much help and encouragement from my husband Dean to get that far but I made it through. However, toward the end of my class in pre-calculus I caught a glimpse of what lay ahead. I can tell you that math beyond pre-calculus exceeds my intellectual ability and for the most part I pretend it doesn't exist. I don't like to think there is anything out there that I can't understand given enough time and a patient tutor but the fact is there are many things out there that are beyond me. For the most part I refuse to acknowledge them!

(pictures of one of the hamsters Zoe was not permitted to eat!)

I take the same approach to many things including extreme wealth. I am not likely to ever be extremely wealthy and so I don't spend time thinking about what it would be like to live that lifestyle. Why dwell on what I cannot have or do? In this case it would do me well to remember that compared to most people in the world I am rich beyond measure and even here where I live, in Lexus-Land I am rich in blessings and provision. The point is that I approach overcoming the extreme discrepancy between Christ and myself as something so impossible, so much like learning calculus or astrophysics or as improbable as living the lifestyle of the rich and famous that I do not dwell on it, I ignore it and miss the opportunity for change.

When I am forced during sermons or study to see the great sacrifice and fully realize the weight of all that Christ has done for me I do experience humility. But it doesn't last long. I return to my world with my false sense of control and my own importance. How then, to remember, how to fully realize, how to carry the knowledge of the humility of Christ on my behalf into my everyday life; that is my dilemma.

I think the key may be to incrementally meditate on those scriptures pertaining to the life of Christ, taking in small pieces of His life and letting them sink in little by little. I will never be like Christ on this earth but I am called to follow His example, not turn away from it because it is so far beyond what I can imagine in myself. By meditation on scripture, through the power of the Holy Spirit, with faith in Christ, giving thanks to God, I can "renew my mind" and move toward becoming the "new creature" I want to be. Perhaps like Zoe, I may still turn my head but instead of not looking at all, I can "see" with my peripheral vision the great love that Jesus has for me and then slowly "see" more and more in the safety of that love.

With regard to material excess or theoretical physics it's probably OK, perhaps beneficial to my self-esteem, to pretend they don't exist, but to ignore the overwhelming sacrifice of Christ is to deny what He has done for me. Grabbing hold of my running motto I must "Be strong, Be brave" and journey on to the point where I can look full on at the Cross.