Recently in God's Love Category

Do you ever find yourself staring at a to-do list on a Monday morning and wondering where to start? Yesterday morning I was like a deer staring into the headlights of a Mac truck. I had two books to edit, a house that needed cleaning, a pile of laundry that looked like a bed for a horse and a son, still on vacation who wanted to go swimming. If I'm not careful, I can get so overwhelmed that it sends me into a semi-comatose state where I think to myself, "I know what to do, I'll take a nap." Now, I have nothing against naps, I am a big fan of naps, but I only got up two hours earlier. So, I took a deep breath, a cup of coffee and I slipped out of the house onto the back patio and sat in my Father's presence. Psalm 46:10 reads, "Be still and know that I am God." The Hebrew root of, 'Be still' means-Let go! I used to think that verse was encouraging me be still in perfect silence until I attained some mystical knowledge of God. I found that very hard. Now I consciously bring everything I have to do and everyone I love to God and I let go. I let go of the stress of getting it all right or even done on time. I let go of my desire to be perfect and I stay there in the love of God until that joy is greater than anything that needs to get done. I pray that for you today. I don't know what your to-do list looks like but I pray that it pails in comparison to the awareness of how much you are loved by your heavenly Father.

It was early on a Sunday morning when I boarded my flight home to Dallas. I smiled at the woman who was already seated in my row but she didn't return the smile. She was a very striking woman that I imagined to be in her sixties. I thought, "She either just wants to be left alone or she is afraid to fly." As I watched her clutch the armrest for dear life I decided it was the latter. "Are you doing okay?" I asked. "I hate to fly," she said. "We'll be fine," I tried to assure her, "God will not take his eyes off us for one moment." She turned to look me full in the face. "Do you believe that?" she asked. "With every fiber of my being," I said. "Now I don't mean that bad things don't ever happen to those who love him, but I will not go one moment before my time. I have a race to run."

Tears began to form in her beautiful brown eyes and spill down her cheeks. "I've never thought of that before," she said. "I struggle with suffering. I don't understand why children die or plane crashes happen." "I don't either," I admitted, "some people finish their race in eighty years, others in eighty days, only God knows why."

We talked some more and as our flight was about to land I asked her what the purpose of her trip to California had been? "To meet you," she said. "I have no doubt now, it was to meet you."

What I saw again that day is how hungry people are to know that God loves them and is watching over them. If you know this outrageous love, don't miss a moment to shine. Perhaps you are one of the hungry ones. May I just say this; God loves you, as you are right now-don't waste another moment questioning that!

I have always been a stargazer. One of my favorite things to do as a child was to lie on a blanket on the grass and wait for the stars and the moon to appear. From a child-like perspective the sun seemed to beat down on me but the moon smiled on me and so I smiled back. Some nights the moon seemed so very close even though I knew from science class that it was a quarter of a million miles away. I was fascinated by the lives of astronauts and had determined that if school children were ever to be included in space travel I would be the first on board. I never imagined for a moment that not only would we be able to circle the moon but that I would get to watch as a U.S. astronaut stepped out of the lunar module and put his foot on the surface of the moon.

On the morning of July 1969, forty years ago today astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins took their places aboard Apollo 11 at the Kennedy Space Center and at 9:32AM they had lift off. My sister Frances and I watched it on our television in Ayr Scotland. Fascinated as I was by the launch, it was the landing and subsequent walk on the moon I wanted to see. The trouble was that the moonwalk was to take place at almost 11PM Eastern U.S. time, which was 4AM Scottish time. My mom said that as we had school the next day we couldn't possibly watch it, but it would be re-aired on television many times over. I was a very compliant child who didn't give my mom much trouble at all, but this was simply unacceptable to me. "Mom, this moment will never come again in all human history and you want me to sleep through it!!!" So we made a deal. If I would go to bed very early that night she would wake me up for a 'walking-on-the-moon' picnic. I will never forget the wonder and exhilaration I felt as I listened to those now infamous words, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

When I went back to bed that night I left my bedroom curtain open and stared at the moon out of my window. I prayed for the men, that God would keep them safe, and return them to their families. "They are so far away Father. That's how you seem sometimes, too - so far away." As I closed my eyes that night I know that God was watching them as he was watching me as he was watching you. That is the great mystery of God; though at times he seems so far away he is as close as your next breath, only a prayer away.

Today I received the news that a very brave, eight year old boy, Connor Cruse, lost his battle with cancer. As I read the message I wept. Although the family lives in our neighborhood, I have never met Connor, but I have seen his photographs and the wonderful things that his mother and father have written about him. His favorite color was green and he loved pizza and s'mores! As the mother of a boy I cannot imagine the pain of letting your child go and feeling so helpless to be able to make everything alright. His family describe him as a superhero not only because he loved watching those larger than life characters, but in truth he was one. The family did everything they could for Connor. They pursued every avenue of treatment that is currently available, but in the end, they had to say goodbye. 

Therein lies the greatest mystery of faith, the gap between here and there. As Connor closed his eyes for the last time on this earth he opened them in the glorious presence of Jesus, but only his eyes saw that, not his parents or his brothers and sister. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight, but how we long for sight. So today, I ask you to pray for this family and as they walk out the next few days and weeks and months, and let's look into the eyes of our children every single day and tell them that they are loved. Remember, too, that Jesus walks with us whether we are on this side of the river, and when we have found that it has taken us all the way home.

"I'm absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." Romans 8:38-39 (The Message)

Our son, Christian and two of his friends decided that it would be fun to go to camp together this summer. It's about a two-hour drive from our home but Barry likes to leave so early that we could almost catch the last day of the previous camp. We stopped for lunch and we were still two hours early. Finally the gates opened and we drove in between all the hooting and hollering of the camp councilors welcoming the kids. We found Christian's cabin and in just a few moments both his friends joined us. I handed in his care packages and his allergy meds and after big hugs Barry and I set off home.

"Just think," Barry said, "we could see a different movie every night."

"I know, and we can go out for dinner to all the places we like," I added.

"And sleep late!" he said.

We looked at each other and unleashed at the same moment, "We just left our son in the middle of the woods with a bunch of strangers who say they are Christians but how do we know that!!!"

I am coming to realize that this whole being a parent thing will always tear at my heart. Christian is growing into a wonderful young man but we live in a crazy world and we don't know from one moment until the next what is going to happen to us or to those we love. When that reality hits me hard that's when I pull my heart back under the shelter of God's wings because he does know. He knows what will happen today and tomorrow and he has promised that he will be there. He has not promised that we will be spared from pain but that he will be present in the pain. One of my favorite words is, refuge. I love it because when applied to our lives, Christ is our refuge in any storm large or small. He is our safe haven, our sanctuary. I have six more days of Christian's camp to get through but you may have eighteen months of a son or husbands tour of duty to get through. If you are like me some days the load feels pretty light and you have a firm conviction that God is in control and watching out for those we love. But there are those other days, days when you are tired or discouraged and all the old fears come flooding back. What do you do on those days? This is what I do. I find a quiet place and in my mind I take Christian and I imagine that I am placing him right under the shelter of God's wings. It's hard to grasp on this side of heaven how held we are by the love of God if only we would lean back and find his wings are strong. I may have to imagine placing Christian there but the truth is that he is always there, I just have to remember. I pray today that you will know the peace of God, which passes our human grasp, and the love of Christ our Savior that would fill every space of doubt and fear.