Dana's Christian Journey

musings of a thankful cancer survivor

Author: Dana

  • thanksgiving

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    Dana

    This will be the last writing of the month since next week is Thanksgiving. We look forward to gathering with family at my parents’ house in Chattanooga. My mom and dad always help make Thanksgiving my favorite holiday of the year.

    owenWhen Taylor was a little boy, Susan’s mom bought him a Cabbage Patch doll named Owen. Susan dad’s name was Robert Owen Taylor and he was known as Owen growing up in Alabama. Susan found the doll in the attic in time for Kinsey and Jordan to visit this past weekend. Two ‘Baby Owens’ brought a smile to our faces and reminded us of many reasons to be thankful.

    We can be thankful for those who are no longer with us but whose lives still influence ours profoundly. We can be thankful for those who have only recently come into this world, with the hopeful expectation of a wonderful future in God’s plan. And we can be thankful for all those God has placed in our lives to love and encourage.

    karlynAs we give thanks for our precious relationships, we can easily understand why Jesus told such parables as the Prodigal Son to reveal the love of the Father. Such love naturally produces thanksgiving for what is most important. The older brother did not comprehend his father’s emotions or actions. In response to his objections, the father said: “Son, all I have is yours… I love you too! But I have to celebrate the homecoming of your brother! He’s alive and back where he should be!!”

    May we grow to love like the Father. And may we not forget to express such love in real ways.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

  • participate

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    Dana

    IMG_0833Emma sent me this picture with the caption: ‘Anxiously awaiting a fish.’ I replied: ‘Like father, like son.’

    As sons and daughters of God, we are invited to participate in the Father’s great purposes. As friends of Jesus, we have the privilege of adopting His priorities and entering His life and work.

    Sometimes this may mean waiting with our Father… or watching with our Friend. Jesus asked his three closest friends to pray with Him as He entered His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Three times the disciples fell asleep. “Could you not keep watch one hour?” (see Mark 14:37-38)

    Peter, James, and John wanted to be loyal friends, but they could not endure that night. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” Jesus said. Having perhaps set a record for sleeping in church in my younger years, I know their feeling, but what about now?

    The disciples matured to a far stronger place after Jesus ascended and they would agree the Holy Spirit gave them the power. We have been given the Holy Spirit, but do we ask what our Friend is thinking?

    The Holy Spirit wants us to have ‘the mind of Christ.’ Is His top priority a national election? Or a championship baseball game? Or an important financial decision? Perhaps our Father is concentrating on a ‘fish’ who is about to enter His Kingdom. Perhaps our Friend’s pressing concern is a group of believers suffering for His Name. Will not the ‘mind of Christ’ produce a radically different outlook than the thinking of the world?

    Several years ago, an American lady named Kimberly entered an effort to rescue children in South Sudan, the newest nation on earth. This past summer, civil war broke out and thousands of precious children have been in the danger zone.

    Romano is a Sudanese brother who has committed to do all he can to house, feed, and educate 300 orphans in one of the most dangerous locations. A few days ago, an armed segment of one of the warring factions threatened Romano, accusing him of being a spy. Appealing for food the ministry had already purchased, Romano was told: “If you say any more, then we will not be held responsible for any deaths which may occur at an attack upon your place. It will be your fault.”

    Romano sent a message through his American friend Kimberly: “Will you ask all who know about us to pray through the weekend?” Such pleas lead to opportunities for friends of Jesus to participate with our Savior. “Holy Spirit, let us be attuned.”

    “These are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us… The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”
    I Corinthians 2: 10-16

  • friendship

    —

    Dana

    If there is one Person you can count on to be the greatest Friend in the world, it is Jesus the Son of God. This Friend is devoid of selfishness; He is always kind; He is quick to forgive; He never holds a grudge or keeps record of a wrong. If you are ever in a bind, this Friend knows just what to do, and if required, He would give His life to save yours.

    Anyone who really knows this Friend agrees there is no greater. In fact, all who know Him understand what a great privilege it is to be called His friend. The problem is that those of us who do know Him often fall short on our side of the friendship. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him and though Peter surely remembered he had denied Jesus a few days earlier, he was hurt by the question. (see John 21) ‘Do you love Me?’ is a question Jesus continues to ask His disciples.

    We sing “What a Friend we have in Jesus…”, but do we reflect on what kind of friend we are to Him? There have been occasions when I failed to speak up for a friend when I had the chance. I felt terrible after the fact, knowing the opportunity could not be regained. The hesitancy usually revolved around the knowledge that if I supported a friend someone else disregarded, I might be disregarded too.

    Jesus does not need me to come to His rescue; He is perfectly able to take care of Himself. He is ‘King of kings and Lord of lords,’ but this King has called ‘insignificant me’ His friend. So shouldn’t I be willing to stand with Him no matter what? If the whole world disregards me because I love Him, should it matter? A good friend thinks: “I don’t care what anyone else says, thinks, or does… this friendship means the world to me.”

    Granted, our human friends can disappoint us, make terrible errors, and possess alarming flaws. (This is what Jesus can say about me.) But the Friend who has chosen us possesses no weaknesses, always tells the truth, and never fails. He has endured uncountable insults, false accusations, and betrayals… yet He does not strike back or take revenge. Jesus desires we be His friends forever.

    “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father, I have made known to you.”
    John 15:12-15

  • known

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    Dana

    When we first become Christians we feel that we have finally come to ‘know’ God, and so we have. But as we progress in faith we go through times when we are less and less certain that we really know Him at all, and yet more certain than ever that He knows us.

    It is not our opinion that makes the difference; rather it is the judgment of the King. “Depart from me; I never knew you,” is the horrifying message Jesus predicts He will say to many who thought they were in good standing. “But Lord, we did this and this and this…,” but these attempts at justification fall short of what is needed. (see Matthew 7:21-23)

    The Holy Spirit brings the reality of sonship into our lives. When Susan and I first entered our Jewish friends’ home in Israel, we only heard one word from two small children, a boy and a girl. Their father, Steve, led us into his house and was immediately swarmed by the little ones shouting, “Abba, Abba… Abba, Abba!” ‘Daddy’ was home and he scooped up his children with hugs and kisses.

    “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:15-16)

    The good father knows his children. The perfect Father knows us. We know this by faith… the Holy Spirit impresses the truth in our hearts and we long to hear our Father’s words: “I love you with an unfailing love.” “I have chosen you.” “Do not be afraid, My child.” “I will complete what I have started in you.” “Accept My discipline… a sign of love for those I love.” “With Me, all things are possible.” “Do not worry.” “Heaven is beyond anything you can imagine.” “Ask and you shall receive.” “Be ready; Jesus is coming soon.”

    “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead. Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:11-13

    “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” I John 3:1

    Quote from ‘The Gospel According to Job’ by Mark Mason; ©1994 Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL; p 48

  • help

    —

    Dana

    I imagine we would have asked the same questions and made the same errors the disciples did in their pursuit of knowing God. “’Show us the Father and that will be enough for us,’ Philip said. ‘Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me?’” (John 14:8-10) Even in His presence, the apostles fell short of really knowing the Lord.

    Peter might have called himself a failure in trust, love, and obedience. He sank after a few steps on the Sea of Galilee; he denied he even knew Jesus on the night of His arrest; and he disobeyed his Master three times by falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane. With our lack of understanding and human weakness, how can any of us succeed?

    God knew we could not save ourselves and He knows we cannot follow Jesus without divine help. Though they did not comprehend, the disciples were told that a Helper would come. “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” (John 16:7)

    I need help! I need help to trust; I need help to love; and I need help to obey. God answers: “You are right… so I give you My Spirit. Do not even try to live through your own efforts… depend on Me. Accept My help and learn to live in Me and you will experience the abundant life I have promised.”

    “If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him.” John 14:15-21

    “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:25-27

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