Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son, inherited his father’s arrogance. Perhaps because of that trait, his brothers despicably used him and sold him to Egypt. That action perhaps humbled Joseph, because is favored son status dissipated. Still, despite his righteous nature, Potipher threw him in jail.
Here, he interpreted dreams and the promised release never came. Eventually he became second in command to Pharaoh. Then his brothers, the ones who got him into this awful mess showed up. Trouble visited them.
Joseph was in a perfect place for vengeance. His brothers caused him years of misery. But what did he do? He forgave them all. Because of Joseph’s actions, his family found salvation.
What have people done to most of us? We haven’t been thrown into slavery. We haven’t been falsely accused and jailed because we chose the righteous road. We haven’t been nailed to a cross after being brutally beaten.
So why do we hang on to grievances? Matthew 18: 35 be says, “…forgive your brother from your heart.” We frequently mouth the words with conviction, but God wants us to go beyond that. From the heart.
Heartfelt forgiveness doesn’t condone, doesn’t say, “Gee, no problem.” But it does release us from pain. It does loose forgiveness from heaven. Like Joseph, it can lead our enemies to salvation.
I dream that some day, when the world hears the word Christian it thinks first of forgiveness. If God forgave us all our sins, how can we hold others to theirs?
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Yikes: Your House is Ablaze
It’s 5 A.M., the coldest part of the evening—um, morning. The temperature outside is -20 degrees. You awake, make sure the kids and dogs escape—maybe wake your husband. Knowing everyone else is safe, what would your grab?
Here’re my guarantees:
1. My laptop—of course, safely stowed in its case with all my jump drives.
2. My bassoon—I sold my house to get it, so I’m not leaving it behind.
What? You ask. That’s it. And as I sit pondering my intense philosophical question, yes, I think that’s all. My laptop has everything I use. Most important are my writings. I couldn’t reproduce them. Whether they’re any good or not—and many are awful, they’re the picture of my soul. I can say, in the personna of another, things I lack the courage to say in real life. The themes of my work reflect the ideals of my spirit.
My family photos are here. My Bible and my study notes. My computer contains my emails and my access to Farmville and the record I beat the game Zuma. What more can a woman want?
And my bassoon. Yes, insurance would probably replace it. But the worn wood and the little dent, the tarnished nickel and stunning color of the aged and mellow wood, cannot be bought again. It’s like the cradle my father made for my daughter. I rocked Sarah to sleep in it. Before he died, he had no chance to make another for anyone else in the family, so they all used this one. My grandbabies slept in it. And they are a reminder of the spirit of my father who has passed away. It’s now an heirloom waiting for Caroline and then David to have their own children.
My bassoon is the same. I don’t know if I’d ever be so profligate as to spend so much on an instrument again. It’s a photo album of me—my dreams.
What do you cherish of your physical things? Why? Let me know.
Here’re my guarantees:
1. My laptop—of course, safely stowed in its case with all my jump drives.
2. My bassoon—I sold my house to get it, so I’m not leaving it behind.
What? You ask. That’s it. And as I sit pondering my intense philosophical question, yes, I think that’s all. My laptop has everything I use. Most important are my writings. I couldn’t reproduce them. Whether they’re any good or not—and many are awful, they’re the picture of my soul. I can say, in the personna of another, things I lack the courage to say in real life. The themes of my work reflect the ideals of my spirit.
My family photos are here. My Bible and my study notes. My computer contains my emails and my access to Farmville and the record I beat the game Zuma. What more can a woman want?
And my bassoon. Yes, insurance would probably replace it. But the worn wood and the little dent, the tarnished nickel and stunning color of the aged and mellow wood, cannot be bought again. It’s like the cradle my father made for my daughter. I rocked Sarah to sleep in it. Before he died, he had no chance to make another for anyone else in the family, so they all used this one. My grandbabies slept in it. And they are a reminder of the spirit of my father who has passed away. It’s now an heirloom waiting for Caroline and then David to have their own children.
My bassoon is the same. I don’t know if I’d ever be so profligate as to spend so much on an instrument again. It’s a photo album of me—my dreams.
What do you cherish of your physical things? Why? Let me know.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Number your days
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Ps 90:12
Neil and I fell in love with Spain. To top it off, a friend had a little house we could use for free. However, we needed to fix our house, save our money, work on solar, go to work, blah, blah, blah. Of course we never returned.
About a month ago, Neil took a medical test and the results were scary. Being the pessimist I am, I imagined the worst and remembered our dream of Spain. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing my husband and remembering his dream because, truly, traveling intrigues my husband more than I.
God blessed us. The tests proved to be a false alarm. But as the clichéd wake-up call, we are formulating plans to travel. We’ve both lived long lives—longer than most of humanity ever had in prior generations. By current statistics, we should have close to twenty years more.
However, statistics didn’t save the babies and teens and young mothers who died in Haiti. They didn’t save Sergei Grinkov, a world class figure skater who died at the age of twenty-eight.
Psalm 90: 12 speaks really about living our lives in a Godly manner. However, as I read it today, I thought of the plans of man. We can’t procrastinate because we’re not promised a forever life, only the grace to live the life we have. Live it to the fullest.
Neil and I fell in love with Spain. To top it off, a friend had a little house we could use for free. However, we needed to fix our house, save our money, work on solar, go to work, blah, blah, blah. Of course we never returned.
About a month ago, Neil took a medical test and the results were scary. Being the pessimist I am, I imagined the worst and remembered our dream of Spain. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing my husband and remembering his dream because, truly, traveling intrigues my husband more than I.
God blessed us. The tests proved to be a false alarm. But as the clichéd wake-up call, we are formulating plans to travel. We’ve both lived long lives—longer than most of humanity ever had in prior generations. By current statistics, we should have close to twenty years more.
However, statistics didn’t save the babies and teens and young mothers who died in Haiti. They didn’t save Sergei Grinkov, a world class figure skater who died at the age of twenty-eight.
Psalm 90: 12 speaks really about living our lives in a Godly manner. However, as I read it today, I thought of the plans of man. We can’t procrastinate because we’re not promised a forever life, only the grace to live the life we have. Live it to the fullest.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Hated? Be Happy!
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Mt 5:11-12 NIV
I’ve long believed liberals are just as narrow minded as conservatives. They, too, care only about people who think as they do. To a liberal, all is good—except Christianity.
Christians do lack perfection. Because their righteousness cannot possibly exceed the Pharisees, how can they equal God’s? Some commit egregious acts: homosexual affairs, deception, consorting with prostitutes. We’ve heard them all and cringed. Fortunately, we are saved by grace and when we come before our Lord in true repentence, we are forgiven.
Ironically, the most virulent criticisms often target our righteousness the idea that a “fetus” is really a human being; the concept that our leaders should embody the best of human nature; the weird idea that what one does in private really matters in public; homosexuality is sinful; many of our sitcoms are pornographic, Each of us can add to this list.
These areas of righteousness are frequent targets of liberals who view us a narrow-minded. We’re castigated and ridiculed. We’re condemned as nitwits, our characters assassinated.
All of this is good news. Great is our reward in heaven. We cannot fear standing up for the truth in love. We must live our values and not waver.
Rejoice. I just wish I could live my life like the prophets before me.
I’ve long believed liberals are just as narrow minded as conservatives. They, too, care only about people who think as they do. To a liberal, all is good—except Christianity.
Christians do lack perfection. Because their righteousness cannot possibly exceed the Pharisees, how can they equal God’s? Some commit egregious acts: homosexual affairs, deception, consorting with prostitutes. We’ve heard them all and cringed. Fortunately, we are saved by grace and when we come before our Lord in true repentence, we are forgiven.
Ironically, the most virulent criticisms often target our righteousness the idea that a “fetus” is really a human being; the concept that our leaders should embody the best of human nature; the weird idea that what one does in private really matters in public; homosexuality is sinful; many of our sitcoms are pornographic, Each of us can add to this list.
These areas of righteousness are frequent targets of liberals who view us a narrow-minded. We’re castigated and ridiculed. We’re condemned as nitwits, our characters assassinated.
All of this is good news. Great is our reward in heaven. We cannot fear standing up for the truth in love. We must live our values and not waver.
Rejoice. I just wish I could live my life like the prophets before me.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Eroding our Fourth Amendment
Because the government didn’t do its job and allowed a terrorist on a plane, it wants to erode our Fourth Amendment rights protecting us against unreasonable searches. Essentially it wishes to strip search us in the name of our own protection.
I do apologize for the images that appear here. This, without sugar coating, is what you can look like. More than likely, your child will not be allowed in the tube with you. He or she will be left with the six dollar an hour attendant who escorted you into the machine.
If you do not wish to be scanned, you can have a full body pat down. Considering where Abdulmuttalab hid the explosives, you can imagine what a full body pat down would be like.
"A choice between being groped and being stripped, I don't think we should pretend those are the only choices,” said Chris Calabrese, a lawyer with the civil liberties union. "People shouldn't be humiliated by their government" in the name of security, nor should they trust that the images will always be kept private.”
Yes, airplanes are currently the choice of terrorists. However, they’ve discharged sarin gas in a Tokyo subway, anthrax through the mail, car bombs outside of government buildings and explosions on the British tube. There is nothing to stop them from targeting malls, Times Square, buses or schools.
The government is eroding all our liberties. We’ve seen it in matters of faith, in firearms, in travel. It’s time to say enough.
I do apologize for the images that appear here. This, without sugar coating, is what you can look like. More than likely, your child will not be allowed in the tube with you. He or she will be left with the six dollar an hour attendant who escorted you into the machine.
If you do not wish to be scanned, you can have a full body pat down. Considering where Abdulmuttalab hid the explosives, you can imagine what a full body pat down would be like.
"A choice between being groped and being stripped, I don't think we should pretend those are the only choices,” said Chris Calabrese, a lawyer with the civil liberties union. "People shouldn't be humiliated by their government" in the name of security, nor should they trust that the images will always be kept private.”
Yes, airplanes are currently the choice of terrorists. However, they’ve discharged sarin gas in a Tokyo subway, anthrax through the mail, car bombs outside of government buildings and explosions on the British tube. There is nothing to stop them from targeting malls, Times Square, buses or schools.
The government is eroding all our liberties. We’ve seen it in matters of faith, in firearms, in travel. It’s time to say enough.
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