This is a mad, mad, mad world. With suicide bombers, terrorist attacks, North Korea attempting to lob nuclear bombs at the U.S., rioting, crime, murder and mayhem, it doesn’t feel safe around here anymore. One would almost want to crawl into their underground bunker and call it a day. It’s insane up here in the world. What’s to keep us from doing that besides the fact that most of us don’t own an underground bunker?

For the Christian, we turn to the God and the Bible. What does God say about fear? I looked up some verses to comfort myself in the midst of all this chaos.

1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

Psalms 91 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (1) I will say to the LORD, “my refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” (2) For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence (3). He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark (4). You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; (5) Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. (6) A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. (7) You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. (8) For you have made the LORD, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. (9) No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. (10) For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. (11) They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone. (12) You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down. (13) Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. (14) He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. (15) With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see my salvation.” (16)

Psalms 34:4-8 “I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. (4) They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. (5) This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. (6) The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them. (7) O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (8)

Psalms 34:17-19 “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. (17) The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (18) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. (19)

There you have it. Some good solid verses to dwell on in the midst of our crazy world. If those don’t comfort you, I don’t know what to tell you.

Rahab was a prostitute. Did you know that? She was a prostitute, a prostitute! Yet, she was selected, by God, to be a mother whose genetic line would produce Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus Christ would come from the genetic line of a prostitute!

David, was a murderer and adulterer. Yeah, he was that guy. A guy who lusted after another man’s wife, used his position as King to have her come to him, committed adultery with her, then had the husband killed so he could cover his tracks. Not exactly a morally upstanding guy. God call this murdering, adulterer a man after His own heart. Alrighty-then.

Abraham was a liar, who lied twice to really important men because he was afraid. God used him as the father of a nation of people. God also lists him in the Bible “Hall of Fame” as one of the greats.

Moses had a speech impediment and a really bad temper. God decided this guy, who can’t speak very well publicly, and gets ticked off quickly, will be the guy who will lead God’s people out of Egypt. Oh, and he was a murderer too.

These are all people in the Bible who God chose to use for His purposes. Prostitutes, murderers, adulterers, and liars. Imperfect people, serving a perfect God. In God’s infinite wisdom, He shows us who these people are. They were far from perfect. Some of them could be considered the dregs of society.

You or I have never committed murder. I would gather that most of us have not committed adultery either. As Christians, we try to lie as seldom as possible. And I could probably say with a great deal of confidence, that you or I have never been a prostitute. What gives? Why are THESE people considered to be stars in God’s Hall of Fame? Why did God choose a prostitute of all people to be in the genetic line of Jesus Christ? A prostitute? Really? A woman who was paid to have sex with men? The perfect Son of God had this prostitute to be His great, great, great grandmother (I’m not sure of the number of greats I should put in there).

Why is David called a man after God’s own heart? He committed adultery for crying out loud and he had the husband killed off. In the book of sins, I would say adultery and murder are two of the biggies. Yet this murderer, this adulterer is called a “man after God’s own heart.” Really?

Moses’ temper would get him into trouble on so many occasions, even costing him a view of the promised land. His temper, led him to murder an Egyptian and bury him in the sand. He would break the stone tablets to pieces because his temper got the best of him. And then, his temper would cause him to beat a stone when he was commanded to speak to it, losing him the privilege of seeing the promised land. And this is the guy God talks about about in detail in God’s hall of fame.

None of us are perfect. All of us are in need of a Savior. When I look at these people in the Bible, it makes me breath a sigh of relief. God knows none of us are perfect. Jesus Christ didn’t come to this earth to die for perfect people. He came to die for the sinner, of which all of us are.

Through this hall of fame, God shows us how we are all in the same boat. We are all sinners, in need of a Savior. God uses the imperfect for His plans, to accomplish His will. He uses the dirty, low down, rotten, good for nothing, people to accomplish His will. Why? Because we all are dirty, low down, rotten good for nothing people. All of us. We stand at the foot of the cross, in our filth, looking up at the perfect, sinless Savior, unable to save ourselves, unable to wash ourselves clean. Jesus hung on the cross to pay the price we couldn’t pay. He gave up His life, that we might have life.

Come to God and accept Him as your Savior. This world, with all of its angst and sin will get worse and worse. Come to God. He is the only One that can save you. Come to God, He’s the only sanity in this world. Come to God and believe on Him.

 

 

This past Friday I sat in the same coffee shop I sat in a few months ago when I got starred down by a social justice warrior, sitting with her Muslim friend. However, this time, I watched a cheerful little guy come bopping into the shop with a black t-shirt that read, “Jesus Loves You.” I looked up and smiled at him as he went from table to table, pointing to his shirt and saying out loud, “Jesus Loves You.” He had a wide grin and he seemed genuinely happy.

It probably wasn’t the most effective way to preach the gospel, but at least he was trying. He oozed joy. He had a spring in his step and a smile that wouldn’t quit. I saw people nod at him when he came to them. They weren’t fearful, just amused or sometimes annoyed. He didn’t force himself upon anyone. He just wanted all of us to know that “Jesus loves you.”

Just this past weekend, Mike Pence spoke at the Notre Dame commencement. Some graduates staged a protest and walked out when Mike reached the podium. For what? What were they protesting? Mike Pence is a believer in Jesus Christ. He’s talked about how he doesn’t go to dinner or any such thing unless his wife is present with him. He says it’s out of respect for his wife and his marriage. What’s wrong with that? Most Christian men that I know, have that policy. What has Mike Pence done that deserved a protest?

Christians are lumped in with radical Muslims, but that can’t be farther from the truth. Like the little black shirted “Jesus Loves You” fellow at the coffee shop, the worst we can act might be annoying. Our whole objective in life is to convert you. We want you to find salvation for your very souls. Our philosophy is, “No harm, no foul.” Causing harm to anyone, is completely against what the Bible commands us to do. We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are commanded to go out into the entire world and preach the gospel. We are commanded to live at peace with everyone.

It was weird to see this very calm man, Mike Pence, walk up to the podium, and watch students get up and leave, like he was wearing some kind of Nazi uniform and yelling, “Heil, Hitler!” He did no such thing. He never would.

My son and I are reading, “Bonhoeffer,” by Eric Metaxas. It’s an excellent read. It’s also very appropriate for this age and time in which we live. Hitler and his Nazis were opposed to Christians. In the book, “Bonhoeffer,” we see Hitler as he really was through the eyes of a Christian, Bonhoeffer. Those of us on the right of politics, conservatives, are called “Nazis.” What could be farther from the truth?  Conservatives are not rioting in the streets, breaking windows, burning cars, or spraying pepper spray in people’s eyes. All this is being done by the left and progressives, yet we are called the “Nazis.”

We live in strange times. Yet this has been predicted in the Bible. In the last days, people will call good, evil and evil, good. And that’s just what has been happening. We don’t execute homosexuals. There is a religion that does, but it’s not us. Yet we are called Nazis. We cause no harm to our fellow man, but there is a religion that does, and we are called Nazis. Mike Pence, a Christian, is viewed as a hate mongering, bigoted, Nazi. And it’s just not true. The truth is, Mike Pence is a Christian, who adheres to the Bible.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20

Christians are peace loving. The fruit in our lives are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. The paraphrased version of that would be, cause no harm, no foul.

The truth is, the world needs us. We live in a lost and dying world in serious need of redemption. Jesus Christ is our redemption. As my black t-shirted friend said, “Jesus Loves You.” Christians are not Nazis, we are light in the world.

I saw an article the other day about a young mom who crawls into the crib of her baby to take a nap with it. Apparently, the husband took the picture and the question with the picture was something to the effect of why this guy’s wife is sleeping in the crib with the baby. I had to read it, it interested me.

I know you are asking the same question, so why was this lady in the crib with her baby? Well, I tell you why. This mother had heard a story about an orphanage in Uganda, in which none of the babies cried. You could walk into the room, with 40-50 babies and not a peep was made. The reason for this, was, that there were so many babies, there weren’t enough staff members to go to every baby when they cried. So the babies learned to stop crying. No one came if they did. Now this new mom, decided she would go to her child every time the baby cried. She would never let her baby’s cries go unanswered.

It doesn’t quite explain the crawling into the crib part. You can go to your baby without crawling into the crib with them. I know this for a fact. I’ve had two babies myself. The question I want to ask this new mom is: “Are you planning on having more than one child?”

You see, I got some great advice when I had my first. This other mom, who I think had five children told me not to do things for my first child, that I won’t be able to do with the second or third. She said to pretend you have other children, then you won’t develop habits that the first child will need to break.

Call me an old jaded crab, but I think crawling into a baby’s crib is ridiculous. Your baby will cry. And then they will cry again, and again, and again. They will cry because their diaper is wet. They will cry because they are hungry. They may cry because they’re coming down with something. Babies cry. And get this, you won’t be able to answer every cry right away. Especially if you have more than one child.

Picture this. You are standing in your kitchen, stirring a pot. Your youngest is taking a nap and your toddler is in the living room, or so you think. As you stir your pot, you realize, the toddler has become extremely quiet. That is not a good sign. Not ever. As you mull this thought in your head, the youngest has awoken from their nap and is now crying to let you know they are done sleeping and would like to get up now. You look up at the ceiling in which you can hear the baby crying for you. You are still stirring the contents of your pot. And that nagging feeling that the toddler is up to no good, is twisting your guts. Your baby is still hollering to let you know, he would really like to get up from his nap now. His diaper his full, and he is quite done with the nap. Sheer panic strikes at your gut and you turn off the pot and realize there are more important things to tend to. You must find the quiet toddler, “something wicked this way comes.” The baby has turned up the volume, very upset you haven’t come yet. But you have to go find the toddler. Quiet toddlers are never good. Where is the toddler? You make a half hearted attempt to call to the baby that you will be there in a minute, “I’ve got to find your brother!” you say, as if the toddler is going to say, “Oh, okay, didn’t know.”

The toddler is no where to be seen. This isn’t good. Where is that child? This is when you wish you had a slick camera system throughout the whole house, in which you can spy on these little heathens. Is he behind the couch? Nope. You look to the front door, is it open? No. You pause a minute to see if you can hear anything. Yeah, the baby is still crying. Where is the toddler? You turn to look towards the bathroom door. It is closed. Dun, dun, dun! You walk quickly to the door, you fling it open. There he is! He’s discovered your tube of mascara and has been painting with it for the past twenty minutes. He has black streaks up and down his legs, on the floor, and mascara graffiti on the walls. He looks at you stunned, that you found him so easily. You let out a big sigh and take away the offending tube. The baby has really not understood all the efforts you are making being a mother and is really yelling loud now. You tell the toddler to stay right there while you get the baby.

Well, you get the idea. And yes, the mascara incident really did happen in my house. But it was my daughter rather than a son.

I heard a really great point in church today. Don’t make your child/children idols. Make God first in your life and everything will work out. And if God is first in our lives, I don’t think we’ll be crawling into our baby’s cribs.

My son had to take a test this Saturday. It was a SAT subject test which requires you to bring the admission ticket with you. If you do not have the admission ticket you CANNOT take the test. You must have a valid ID with you. If you do not have a valid ID with you, you CANNOT take the test. The valid ID must match the picture on your admission ticket! If the pictures do not match, you CANNOT take the test. You must be there by 8:00am. If you show up later than 8:00am you CANNOT take the test. There are no refunds for the cost of the test NO MATTER WHAT! If you fail in any of these rules, YOU CANNOT TAKE THE TEST!

I was on it. I tend to be a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal, but all these rules for the test had me a little shaken. I put the admission ticket in a safe spot. Friday night, I took the admission ticket out of its safe spot and put it in my purse, along with my son’s ID and two sharpened #2 pencils. I was ready. I printed out directions for the school and told my son we were leaving at 7:10am, even though it would only take 20 minutes to get there. He needed to take this test, so I gave myself time.

All was good. I managed to get the boy up, make him some breakfast, and head out the door by my 7:10am goal. Good. It was all good. My husband decided to join us, so he drove, and then we would sneak off for an early morning date, while the boy sweated it out testing. We made it there by 7:30am, on the dot. We had time to spare. My son asked where he was supposed to go. I asked him for his admission ticket. I looked at it and saw the name of another school on it. I quickly looked at the date. This was the wrong admission ticket! He was taking more tests in June, and this was the admission ticket for the June tests! I looked at my watch! It was 7:31am. I yelled at my husband in complete panic! We need to go home now! This is the wrong ticket! My husband tore out of the parking lot and headed home. I was kicking myself! How could I have let this happen? I was being so careful! How could I do this? On the way back home, we hit EVERY SINGLE red light. I am not exaggerating-EVERY RED LIGHT! My husband said we weren’t going to make it back by 8:00am. I said we had to. I told him I would pray. Instead of praying in my head, I simply bowed my head right there and begged God that my son could take this test this morning.

We made it home in 15 minutes. I sprinted into the house, up the steps, grabbed the other admission ticket and sprinted back out the door again. I hollered at my husband to go, go, go! He said again we weren’t going to make it. Secretly, in my head, I thought he was right. Again, we hit EVERY STINKIN RED light. I mean seriously, not one light was green. I looked down at my watch. The minutes were clicking by quickly approaching 8:00am. The bold capitalized sentence on the admission ticket flashed through my mind. “YOU WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER 8:00AM.” Time was flying by. I prayed urgently, “Lord, please let him take this test.” I asked my husband, “Why are we hitting every red light? It’s almost like he isn’t meant to take this test.”

Three minutes away from the school my son yells out that it is 8:00am. “YOU WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER 8:00 AM.” Crud. We pulled into the school parking lot. I look down at my watch. It is 8:03am. We ran through the gates. A woman who seemed to be directing people said, “You are late!” She called a boy over and told the boy to help my son find the number of the room. He tells my son Room #114. I turn to my son and yell run! He does. I go to the car and look at my husband in utter amazement. I think he gets to take the test. We need to wait a few minutes just to see if he comes back out. He doesn’t. We wait about 10 minutes, but the boy never comes out. I look at my husband in utter disbelief. I shrug my shoulders. I think he’s taking the test. We go to breakfast.

On the way to breakfast I replay the events that just happened in my mind. Why was it so difficult to get the boy to the test? Why did we hit every red light? Why did I have the wrong admission ticket, when I thought I was being so careful? Then, I was reminded of a prayer I’ve been praying for my son before college. I want him to lean on God and have a solid relationship with God before he leaves to college. I smiled and almost cried. All the red lights. The wrong admission ticket, being late, God wants us to rely on Him and Him alone. This was a lesson for my son, a lesson of probably many, that God is in charge and just trust in Him.