Truth, if you Dare

May7

There’s a saying in journalism circles: If your mother says she loves you, check it out.

Years ago, I was assigned a story about a man who was then very old living in Phoenix. Apparently, he had been a gangster in Chicago way back in the day of Al Capone and his ilk. But God had gotten ahold of his heart and he had experienced a dramatic change in his life.

So I was sent by the magazine to check out his story. What I heard was an amazing tale of organized crime activity and redemption. But, of course, being the good journalist that I was, I had to verify these stories.

This was in the days before the Internet, so a simple Google search for any corroborating newspaper articles or anything was not possible. So I went to the library and did things the old-fashioned way: microfiche.

Boy, was that painstaking–and fruitless. I simply couldn’t find any evidence that what this sweet old man had told me was true. It made me feel a little better that his family wasn’t all that sure it was true either.

Nowadays, with all kinds of information right at our fingertips, we still have to be careful about what we believe. Websites like truthorfiction.com and snopes exist to help dispel erumors, but not even they can catch everything.

And wonderful tool that it can be, Photoshop has made even the statement “pictures don’t lie” untrue. Just take a look at the National Enquirer if you have any doubts about that.

So, when Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” how can we trust that? Check it out. Read the Bible and test and see if anything He’s ever said has not been true. Joyce Meyers says this, “Believing what others say rather than exploring God’s Word for yourself will actually limit you and even keep you from doing what God created you to do. But, if you will contend for the truth, embrace it and build your life upon it, you will succeed in every endeavor.”

“O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Psalm 34:8)

Thankful today for:

255. a fun field trip to Green Meadows petting farm

256. sweet baby goats, ducks and chicks

257. goats that will push each other out of the way just to be petted by you

258. cold water

259. so many teens going on misson trips this summer

260. good mid-term reports for my kids

261. a two-day work week

262. my identity in Christ

263. digital photos

What Do You Know?

May4

Several years ago, when Morgan was only about 4 or 5, her oldest brother went to a birthday party at a park. While they were there, the boys fished in the little lake for minnows. Justin caught one and put it in a little plastic bottle of water to bring home to show us. After showing it to me, he left it on the counter for Dad to see when he got home.

When David arrived, Justin went to get the bottle to show him his prize.

But where was the bottle?

What you need to know now is that young Morgan was in the habit of drinking from whatever cup or bottle she happened to see sitting around.

Morgan!

Sure enough, there in her room was the bottle. Apparently, she had drunk from it. Upon closer inspection, we saw that the fish was dead.

Eww.

Come to find out that the bottle had been full of the clean bottled water, and Justin had put the fish into it. The fish couldn’t survive in that environment, but at least Morgan hadn’t drunk the pond water.

I prayed for God’s mercy on a child’s foolishness, and watched for signs of some dread disease over the next several days. Thankfully, all was well.

My point is this: Sometimes we do things out of ignorance, not knowing that we’re hurting someone else or doing anything wrong. That doesn’t make us innocent, just as Morgan had no less drunk that water, but God’s mercy is great.

When I go clothes shopping or use my iPhone or watch something on TV, I don’t know all that has gone into getting that product into my hands. Has everyone been paid a fair wage for the work they’ve done to make that product? Has the CEO of the company been above board in his tax reporting or hiring practices? Are people anywhere at any time suffering so that I can watch my HDTV?

These are unanswered questions. I can’t follow the manufacturing trail for each and every product I use. Nor can I know the private lives of the executives of the companies from which I buy. I trust that God sees the suffering of the innocent. I don’t purposely buy or use things that have been brought to me by ill-gotten means. But there is evil in the world, and we have dedicated our lives to bringing the gospel into dark places. I just can’t know it all. In order to do that, I’d have to go back to the ways of my ancestors; living off the land I plow and plant, making my own clothes after weaving my own cloth after picking my own cotton. No electricity, no electronics, nothing that did not come by my own hand.

That just isn’t realistic in this day and age.

Pray for the persecuted. Bring the gospel to the lost. Listen to the voice and heart of God.

There is justice in the end. Now there’s something we can know.

Thankful today for:

249. mercy

250. 18 more days of school

251. knowing what’s for dinner

252. a playdate for my girl

253. a surprise in the mail from a friend

254. Facebook posts that make me laugh

500 Hats

May2

Bartholomew Cubbins has nothing on me.

You remember the story:  a poor boy was accused of not taking off his hat as the king went by. Highly offended, the king demanded that Bartholomew remove his hat. Thing was, Bartholomew thought he had. He reached up to his head, and lo and behold, there was a hat there. Bemused, he took the hat off again, and bowed to the king. What’s this? His hat was still on his head! Taken away to the castle to be disciplined for his insolence, Bartholomew kept taking off hats only to find more hats appearing each one the same as the next.

Nobody could figure out what was going on, least of all Bartholomew. But those hats saved him from having his head chopped off, because the executioner could not, by rule, cut off any head with a hat still atop.  Finally it was decided that he would be taken to the highest tower, and pushed to his death by the spoiled Grand Duke, son of the king. But when he stepped through the stairwell onto the roof, this is what happened:

“But when Bartholomew stepped up on the wall, they gasped in amazement. He was wearing the most beautiful hat that had ever been seen in the Kingdom of Didd. It had a ruby larger than any the King himself had ever owned. It had ostrich plumes, and cockatoo plumes, and mockingbird plumes, and paradise plumes. Beside such a hat even the King’s Crown seemed like nothing.” (The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, by Dr. Seuss.)

Sometimes I feel like young Barty. I’m ready to take off the hat I’m wearing–mom, wife, teacher, copy editor–only to find that I’ve got another one waiting underneath it: friend, sister, daughter-in-law, employee. The list is endless, just like Barty’s hats.

Those hats often leave me exhausted, feeling like I’m facing the executioner, not meaning to be trying to do things on my own, but somehow ending up that way.

But on my way to being pushed off the parapet by life itself, I reach back for one more hat; the most glorious one, the one that will save my life: Daughter of the King. Ah. Rest for my soul.

Isn’t it a beautiful thing?

Thankful today for:

243. my position in Christ

244. convenient grocery stores

245. the Starbucks gift cards I still have left from my birthday

246. sunshine

247. my husband being home

248. haircut day

New Shoes

Apr30

I love buying shoes. But I’m also frugal, so I don’t buy shoes that cost a lot of money. And, compared to many, I don’t actually own very many pairs. But I love to buy them. I have something in mind  now that I’d like to go hunt for, and I do have some money saved up in my little allowance budget, so I think I might hit a couple of the nicer department stores this weekend and see if I can find what I’m looking for. My husband doesn’t understand this. He doesn’t need to understand it; he just needs to live with it. I’ll stay on my side of the closet.

Did you know that the Bible has several things to say about feet and shoes?

The first one that comes to mind is Isaiah 52:7: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'”

Then there’s  Ephesians 6:15 and the armor of God: “With your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

There are quite a few others verses mentioning shoes (or sandals, really, as that was the common footwear in Old and New Testament times). I guess the point I want to make is that what we wear on our feet is important.

Not our physical feet, our metaphorical feet.

“Your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

Are we ready to go at a moment’s notice? If God calls us, will we talk to our neighbor? Our co-worker? Our friend? Are our feet ready to move?

Jimmy Choo makes some beautiful shoes (and for a mere $600, a pair can be yours).

But I like what Jesus is asking for better: proclaim peace, bring good tidings, proclaim salvation, say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Put on your shoes. Let’s go!

Thankful today for:

237. choices

238. digital photos

239. miraculous healings

240. birthday celebrations

241. that my husband is back in Florida

242. math answer books

The Truth is in the Fiction

Apr28

I just finished reading Jan Karon’s Home to Holly Springs, the first in the Father Tim series of novels. My husband first got me interested in these special books, of which this is a kind of “prequel,” which take place in a Blowing Rock-esque town in western North Carolina. He grew up around there, and I can hear his kin in the language of the people Karon paints.

I had a friend on Goodreads call the books “comfortable.” I agree. They are a place of calm in a busy world.

Anyway, this conversation between Father Tim and his new friend, T, at Tim’s childhood home in Mississippi struck me.  I don’t want to give anything away in case anyone wants to read the book, so I’ll just say that Tim is facing something very difficult, and T questions him about it.

“How does knowin’ God help you out in a case like this?”

“I believe He has a purpose for everything. I believe He’ll bring good out of this, maybe even a way I won’t like very much. It’s His call, not mine.”

“Seems like any God a’tall would want you down here bustin a gut, not leavin’ it all up to Him.”

“Seems like. But it doesn’t work that way. We’ve got to let Him do the heavy lifting. We’ve got to grunt, that’s for sure, but we’ve got to let Him lift. The challenge is to trust Him. Right now, I’m trusting Him. Running a little scared, but trusting Him.”

Amen.

Thankful today for:

234. air conditioning

235. Sunday morning

236. only two more nights alone