All Covered in White

Today I was surprised to see the snow fall on the ground. The first thing Samantha said to me this morning was, “Finally, winter is here!” In looking out the window early this morning, I was struck by the silence and calm that the snow brings to the landscape. We took full advantage of the morning by getting the kids up and ready to go outside to experience play in the snow. After several unsuccessful attempts to get Lydia’s winter gear on (esp. her boots), we walked out onto our back porch to experience the snow.

I don’t know if you are like me, but there is something about the snow that draws me outside into it. Maybe its because I grew up in the north, and I have a ton of memories about playing in the snow. Maybe its because snow is so rare these days in our part of NC. Either way, I have to go out in it. I love to feel its coolness to the touch of my skin. To reach down in the snow and create a snowball (which Samantha is an expert at I might add), is so natural. Our backyard just seemed to invite us to come and play as we were the first to make any footprints in the pristine snow.

In reflecting on this sight of new fallen snow in our backyard, I am reminded of a similar invitation in Isaiah:

“Come now, let us reason together,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
(Is. 1:18, NIV)

To me, God’s grace is like my backyard – inviting me to come and play. Just as the fresh snow allows me to make new footprints, so does God’s grace allow me to begin again after wandering away from him. This morning’s scene of fresh snow covering my yard was again a reminder of the power of God’s work in transforming our lives. It is a reminder that confessing my sin to the Lord drastically changes the landscape of my soul. This change leads me to say,”Finally, grace is here!”

Pray with me that we would let God’s reason win out so that our sins might be transformed from the color scarlet to that of white – white as snow.

A Thorough Conversion

Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if your car was towed from a restaurant on Franklin street to which you were a patron? Before you answer, what if you were in said restaurant trying to encourage people to follow the Lord, and in general be God’s witness in the world while people were scheming to take your wheels and hold them hostage for $150 cash? Let’s say you spoke with the manager of this restaurant, yet the manager was not willing to consider that you are a regular? Every week you bring one or two people with you to his establishment to have breakfast or lunch, but still you were told to deal with it by calling the towing company. How would you feel? What would you do? (Remember this is all hypothetical of course.)

Let’s just say I experienced a “similar” wrong-doing as I described above earlier this week. I hate to say it, but I wished for a special dispensation to not be a Christian at that moment. There were words I wanted to utter that do not lead to Paul’s encouragement in Eph. 5:19, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord…” Needless to say, there was no music making in my heart that moment…only revenge for the violation.

Yet, the question remains, “What would you do?” Would you boycott the establishment? Would you call to tow the manager’s car? Would you go back, buy some coffee and then proceed to “spill” it on the manager? I am sure that none of you would do such vile things.

However, after much reflection, and cooling off I might add, these words came rolling into my mind (I will highlight them in red because they come straight from Jesus himself):

Luke 6:27 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your truck, do not stop him from taking your money. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Now, let’s be honest, my little made up example is not something to be compared with what Jesus has in mind here. I would not say that there are “enemies” at that restaurant, but an example like this could have the effect of a hot iron being pressed upon one’s soul testing to see just how far one’s heart has been converted to Christ’s lordship.

Pray with me that our hearts would be thoroughly converted to love those who might mistreat us this week.

The Holy Dance

I know Christmas is over, but I can’t stop thinking about it. What I love most of all about Christmas is the anticipation of celebration, rest, good food, and generosity (to friends, family and even strangers, esp. in lines at the mall). Yet for me this year, Christmas was a return to something I think I had forgotten (or at the very least, something I have ignored for a while).

This Christmas was a big Christmas because it was the first time our two year old daughter, Lydia would be cognizant of all the spectacle that is Christmas for kids. I must say, that I was anxious about how Lydia would react to all of the gifts Santa, and her extended family, would give her this year. Would she be demanding? Would she be overwhelmed? In the end, I was surprised about how the gifts really weren’t the main thing that caught her attention. It was her cousins that she most delighted in, and it was her cousins that most delighted in her!

My brother has 4 kids (believe me I am going somewhere with this) ages 12, 10, 8, and 6. -- three girls and one boy. For some strange reason, they have decided to love her with all their kid might. Each one of them vying with each other to play with her and her toys on Christmas day, not their own. They all wanted to get in on the action of playing with my daughter. I don’t really know why exactly. They just did, and they were giddy about it.

When they turned on the music and began to dance around together, I saw a glimpse of joy in my daughter’s face that I have never seen before. As they danced in a circle holding hands, my daughter’s face came into view. It was full, a smile from ear to ear leaving no tooth hidden, and her throat projected her childlike giggles across the room. As she looked up at the other kids’ faces all delighting in her, it hit me. This is Christmas joy! God coming to earth to dance and delight with his creation!

The shear joy and delight of Christ’s eyes meeting my own has been something hidden from my view of late. I guess I have been too preoccupied and worried about other things that seemed important at the time. However, this new year, I find myself praying to have the courage to join hands with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – to join their dance - so that the core of my relationship with God is not book knowledge, but one of mutual delight and joy.

My mind’s eye imagines that it was with this kind of joy that Zechariah sung his song after John was born. He sang:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David

(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

(Luke 1:68-75, NIV)

Pray with me that we as a young adult community will join this holy dance in ’07.