I like to defend God. I think He gets a lot of bad press, from people taking His name in vain to evolutionists denying His creation. God is good to all of His children. I want to spend time on this blog telling you about how God has been good to my family. Because God IS good – all the time.

I’m from a little town in Alaska. I grew up there. My dad had a tire shop there. He did pretty well for himself. Think dirt roads with lot’s of pot holes and you get the picture. Dad has since retired. My parents live in Anchorage now. But Dad’s shop is still there. He goes back occasionally to check on things. This summer dad went back to our small town to do some maintenance on the garage. Like all car garages, dad had dug a deep whole in the floor, so he could look up at the vehicles he was fixing. The floor of the garage was starting to collapse because of the hole in the floor and dad realized he needed to fill the hole to support the floor and keep it from collapsing in. Dad is no spring chicken, but he was determined to get that hole filled in. He had some gravel delivered to his garage. They delivered the gravel, a big mound right in front of his garage. Near the hole, but not in the hole.

So there dad stood, in front of the garage, shovel in hand. In his mind, he pictured it taking weeks to fill that hole with the gravel. His hips ached just thinking about it. He took a deep breath. How in the world was he going to get this done? As he stood there, a couple walking by, stopped and asked my dad a question. Did he know of anyone that needed help with anything? They were looking to get paid to do practically anything. Dad looked at them. He asked them how much they were looking to get paid. Twenty bucks they said. Dad smiled and handed them the shovel. I need help he told them. He told them he needed them to shovel the big mound of gravel into that hole in the garage. They went right to work shoveling. They finished in an hour and a half. Dad paid them $100 and thanked them. They thanked Dad. And Dad thanked God for supplying the labor he desperately needed to fill that hole with gravel.

My mom doesn’t drive anymore. Her eyes got bad awhile back so she had to turn in her driver’s license. Right around that time, they moved to Anchorage, so Mom could take buses around town. Mom had a doctor’s appointment one day and as she came out of the hospital to head for the bus stop she could see this young guy either drunk or high yelling at a lady. The lady was yelling back at him. They were getting very heated and very loud. It scared my mom. As my mom warily watched them another lady appeared out of nowhere. Mom didn’t see where she came from, but she sat right next to Mom and told her, “You are going to be okay. I’m going to sit right here with you until the bus comes.” Mom felt comforted. And the lady sat there until the bus came. It was like the lady read my mom’s mind. But it wasn’t the lady who read mom’s mind, it was God who read her mind.

For those of us who are God’s children, He watches out for us. He loves us. He protects us. He knows the numbers of hairs on our head.

Psalms 34:8 reads, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”

I love that verse. I just gave you a little taste of God in my parents’ lives. God is so good. He sent two people to Dad to help him fill a hole. He sent a lady to keep my mom company while she waited for the bus. God does these things all the time for His children. He loves His children.

God is good all the time. I’ve said this before. Not some of the time. Not occasionally. He is good all the time. He hears our thoughts. He knows our name. He gave us Psalms 34:8 so we would know how good He is. Come and taste Him and see that He is good. He will never disappoint.

My kids aren’t perfect. I know, I know, you may have thought otherwise, but it’s true. They can bicker and fight like the best of them. So we are walking into church today. My daughter is complaining to my son how he picks on her. He’s telling her she annoys him all the time. She shoots back to him that she doesn’t annoy him all the time. He shoots back that she does. And on and on it goes. And we’re walking into church at this time. We sit down, the three of us, with me in the middle. They are still going at it.

I turn to my son, “Back off and leave your sister alone!”

I turn to my daughter, “Back off and quit poking the bear!”

Both start, “But…!”

“No! I say. I repeat myself.

To my son, “Back off and leave your sister alone!”

To my daughter, “Quit poking the bear!”

A truce is called. I know they aren’t done, but they know I AM! They know if they push any farther, ipods will be confiscated. I have leverage and I’m not afraid to use it. So there is a temporary quiet, a temporary still in the storm. Just to insure the peace treaty, I give them both the look. They know what that means: no one better say anything, Mom has had enough!

The service continues, my kids can’t argue because WE ARE IN CHURCH. While singing praise songs I think about my kids. I am frustrated, a little angry at both of them. I have given up so much for them and I don’t have perfect children. What gives? I have sacrificed my time, money, my education, and I have two bickering teenagers. The time passes and the anger ebbs. Some frustration is still there. It will rise up again, when my children fight, again. But for now, the frustration and anger have ebbed.

We do communion at the end of the service. Our pastor has talked about why Jesus Christ had to die on the cross. He tells us the details of the horrific death Jesus Christ suffered. They pass out the communion bread. I hold it in my hand. It’s a sharp holey piece of cracker.

“This is Christ’s body which was broken for our sin. The holes represent the holes in Jesus’ hands and feet.” We take the cracker as a symbol of Christ’s body crucified for our sins.

They pass out the grape juice in the little cups. My focus on my unruly children has completely shifted. I’m thinking about Jesus Christ now. I’m thinking about His blood that was shed for my sins. The singer leads us in singing, “Amazing Grace.” We all sing the first stanza. The women sing the second stanza. All the men are to sing the third stanza. I am holding the little cup of juice. Both of my kids are holding their own cup of juice. No one is talking, we are singing, “Amazing Grace.”

On the third stanza when all the men are supposed to sing I hear a baritone voice next to me, “Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come.” My heart skips a beat. The baritone voice continues, “Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.” I feel a dampness on my cheeks. I can’t look at my son right now who is the baritone singing. I can’t look at this 15 year old man/child. He might stop singing. He might get embarrassed. I look forward, holding my little juice cup, letting the dampness on my cheeks swell to a steady flow.

Both of my kids are holding their cups of juice. Both of them hear that the juice symbolizes Jesus Christ’s blood shed on the cross for their sins. Both of them participate in this practice because they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. We all drink the juice. I’m holding my empty communion cup in front of me when my daughter slips her cup into mine. My son does the same. We have remembered the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ together, as a family. We have been reminded that Jesus Christ died for the sins of all people. I still hold the empty cups in front of me. I am reminded of the fact that both my children have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Isn’t that the goal? I can’t take anything with me to Heaven, but I definitely want to see my children there. They aren’t perfect. None of us are. But they know the truth. They know who Jesus Christ is.

The communion reminds me of our imperfection. Jesus Christ shed His blood for all people. The goal of parenting isn’t perfection. The goal of parenting is to lead them to Jesus Christ. They need to accept Jesus Christ as their own Savior. They need to be reminded of this. Communion reminds us of this. I’m here, sitting between my two kids, holding empty juice cups because we remember what Jesus Christ did for us. My husband and I drove the kids to the church. I sat between them. We brought them to the Living Water. And that should always be the goal. I remember Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and I remember what my goal is as a parent. The goal of parenting isn’t perfect kids. The goal of parenting is to bring them to the Living Water.

Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

When I was little, about six years old, I had a babysitter after school. The babysitter I had, ALWAYS took the Lord’s name in vain. I heard her it say it over and over again, so monkey see, monkey do. I started taking the Lord’s name in vain. I did it over and over again. Well my mom heard me say it and told me to stop saying it. She said she didn’t want me to say it ever again. She told me she was going to wash my mouth out with soap, if she caught me taking the Lord’s name in vain.

I was a little heathen back then. I wasn’t saved yet. So you know what’s going to happen next. I said it again. I was sitting in the bathtub talking to my sister. I used the Lord’s name in vain. I don’t know if my mom was just coming into the bathroom or passing by, but she caught me saying it. She came flying in the bathroom. She whisked me out of the tub. She yelled at me and told me she had warned me about that. I tried to justify myself by saying, “I was just talking about God.” My mom wasn’t having it. She stuck a bar of soap into my mouth. I can taste that soap right now as I’m writing this. It has been over forty years ago, and I can still taste the soap. But I have never taken the Lord’s name in vain ever since. Not one time. Not ever. I can’t even read it, if I’m reading a novel. I really learned my lesson.

People tend to take lightly, the commandments God has given us. It drives me absolutely crazy when I hear friends and relatives take the Lord’s name in vain. I don’t think people even know they are doing it. But I hear them doing it and when they do, it sends a chill up my spine. I had to endure soap in my mouth for saying it. But what does God say about taking His Name in vain?

Reading the verse, Exodus 20:7, there is a warning along with the commandment. A warning! “…for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” Yikes. This commandment is part of the ten commandments. There are only ten commandments and most of them are fairly straight forward: “thou shall not kill, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness…” The first three verses are about our treatment of God. Not taking the Lord’s name in vain is the third of those verses, right after “having no other god’s,” and “not making idols for ourselves.” God’s not going to “leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” God attaches a consequence for taking His name in vain. He takes the abuse of His name fairly seriously.

God’s a big God. He’s the Master of the Universe. He is all knowing, all seeing, all powerful. So why is taking His name in vain such a big deal? I believe it’s respect. A few years back my kids and I were reading a novel about prairie times. One of the characters in the book was a young girl. She kept calling her mom, “ma.” Her mother didn’t like it and viewed it as a way of disrespecting her mother. The mother disciplined her daughter for this infraction. After we read that part of the book, my daughter started using “ma,” instead of calling me “mommy.” I didn’t like that at all. Right after we read this part of the book, she starts calling me “ma?” It felt disrespectful. I corrected her. It took a few times of her calling me ma and then me taking something away from her, that she finally got the picture. (No, I didn’t wash her mouth out with soap!)

For me to be so upset when my child calls me ma, imagine what it does to God when we take His name in vain? He loves us. He sent His Son to the Earth to die for our sins. He rose from the dead. He calls all people to Himself to be saved. He cares for us. He knows the number of hairs on our head. He wants us to spend eternity with Him when we die. He is good all the time. He is good to us. He deserves our respect. He deserves at least that much. Don’t take His name in vain. And if that’s not enough for you, He says you will not be left unpunished if you take His name in vain. It’s easy for me not to take His name in vain. I got my mouth washed out with soap. As one who suffered for that sin, I am warning you, my mom administered the punishment, what will the punishment be if God administers it?

This past week a gunman went to a community college in Oregon and killed 10 people and wounded 20. These numbers may have changed or will change. I told my teenage kids about the shooting. I gave them that significant detail that the gunman asked people if they were Christian to stand up. Then he shot them. My daughter, being the sensitive one in the family, said she was now afraid to go to college next year.

It doesn’t surprise me that we had another shooting. It doesn’t surprise me that the shooter was calling out Christians. It doesn’t even surprise me that the main stream media wouldn’t cover the detail about the gunman calling out Christians. I turned inward after I heard about the shooting. I didn’t think about gun control, or our amendment rights to own guns. I wondered if I could stand up and say I’m a Christian in the face of a gun pointed to my head. Right now I write this with tears in my eyes. I really don’t know if I could. My first thought was a rationalization. The gunman is obviously crazy. Therefore, am I really making a stand for Jesus Christ in the face of a crazy gunman. Why am I accountable to a gunman?  Why do I have to answer to him? My first thought, is that it’s really not a situation of making a stand for Jesus Christ. I just don’t know.

I cringe when I think of the apostles who were persecuted and died horrible deaths. Stephen was stoned to death. Peter died upside down on a cross. Paul was beheaded. These men loved the Lord and served Him and then died horribly. Will the Lord ask the same of me?

My Sunday School Teacher often has told our class that he is a coward. He tells us that he reminds God that he is. And if there ever comes a time for him to make a stand, that God will help him through it. I admire his courage to admit that.

Growing up in a Godless town in Alaska, my sister and I suffered a tiny bit of persecution. My sister got whacked on the back with a book one time. When my sister turned around, the girl who did it said, “I just wanted to see if you would swear.” I remember saying “shoot” on the basketball court and another player accusing me of saying the other “sh” word. Another girl on my basketball team accused me of being a lesbian, because I didn’t have boyfriends and I didn’t talk about boys all the time, like she did. I remember that one hurt a bit, because it was the complete opposite of who I was. I really liked boys, but I knew I was saving myself for marriage and couldn’t date non Christians. Those things are minor, though, compared to having a gun pointed at one’s head and being asked if you are a Christian.

Last week I talked about Corrie Ten Boom and her inability to shake the hand of her former guard from the concentration camp she suffered at. She said when God asks us to love people, He also supplies the love. I have to trust in that. I don’t want to face a gun in my face and a gunman asking me if I’m a Christian. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am a Christian. I know because when I accepted the Lord as my Savior, I KNEW the Holy Spirit moved in. I have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit countless times. I also know that God knows my fears and weaknesses. He knows everything about me.

Matthew 10:28-31 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

I’m just going to have to trust in God. I have to trust in His love for me, His goodness, His faithfulness. He reminds us that not one bird falls, that He doesn’t know about it. God is good all the time. If it ever comes to that, I need to just trust God. I have no other choice.

Have you ever read the story, “The Hiding Place,” by Corrie Ten Boom. For those of you who haven’t I’ll give you a quick synopsis. Corrie Ten Boom lived in Holland during World War 2. She was a Christian who lived with her father and sister. They started hiding Jews in their home during the Nazi’s reign. Well Corrie and her family got caught and were sentenced to a concentration camp themselves. During this time, Corrie lost her sister and father.

In our Christian life we’re asked to do hard things. We’re asked to love people who are unlovable. We’re asked to resist sin, while our flesh desires it. We’re asked to forgive people, though they have wronged us. I have heard people say, for those reasons, they don’t want to submit to God-it’s just too hard. And it does seem hard. In our own flesh, how do we do these hard things? How do we love the unlovable? How do we resist sin that so entices us? How do we forgive people, when they done really bad things to us. I discovered the answer while reading, “The Hiding Place.”

I’m sure you have heard or read plenty of stories about the concentration camps during World War 2. They were brutal places to live. Many didn’t live. Many of you may have seen, “Schindler’s List,” with it’s graphic display of those places. Many of the guards were insanely brutal to the people. They were often, utterly inhuman in their treatment of the prisoners. They would beat and humiliate the prisoners at every opportunity. Corrie Ten Boon suffered through a concentration camp, with one particular guard that was especially brutal. Corrie hated that guard.

After the war, Corrie was free and spent her time making speeches and telling her story. At one of her speeches, the guard she hated greeted her:

“He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.’ he said. ‘To think that , as you say, He has washed my sins away!’

His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile. I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” The Hiding Place 35th Edition, pp. 247-248

As I read the passage, I realized how true Corrie’s statement was. When God commands us to love our enemies, love the unlovable, resist that sin, forgive those who have wronged us, God does it through us. Like Corrie says, “When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”

I have seen Christians try and do things in their own power and might. Some seem to have more power and might than others. But they eventually run out of steam. They burn out. God’s power and might never burns out. He asks us to rely on Him.

One of my favorite verses is Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

That verse basically sums up what Corrie Ten Boom learned-we don’t do it ourselves. God does it through us. When He asks us to take His yoke upon us, He is essentially saying, hook up to me. That is what a yoke is. Farmers used to yoke oxen together. They would take older and stronger oxen and yoke them to a younger oxen, so the older one could teach the younger one. When you are yoked to the God of the universe what could go wrong? He will do the forgiving through you-He provides the forgiveness. He will do the loving through you-He provides the love. And when you allow God to work through you-you find rest for your soul. Let Him who is capable work through you. Corrie was not able to forgive and love the guard, but God did it through her and gave the love she needed through her. We would do well to follow her example.