school

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Dana

School’s out this week, so you probably won’t hear from me until August. Please pray Taylor’s heart procedure goes well on June 18. In July, I’ll have a ‘one-year analysis’ of last summer’s CAR-T cell therapy. Susan and I have a busy summer planned… we always cherish your prayers.

Kinsey, Jordan, Owen, and Keightly flew in to Georgia from Denver last week for a wonderful event. Brian Lee grew up in our neighborhood; he was a 6’5” 280 pound tackle for the Parkview Panthers and about the nicest kid you could ever meet. The Lees are a devout Catholic family and Brian, one of six children, considered becoming a priest as he completed his education.

img_1033Kristen, one of Jordan’s fellow residents in Birmingham, is also a strong Catholic. Kinsey suggested to Jordan one day a couple of years ago: “Don’t you think Brian and Kristen would make a fine match?” The wedding took place at St. John Neumann Church this past Saturday morning. Taylor was a groomsman.

img_1024Because Kinsey and Jordan played such a role in their story, the couple asked them to walk the Bread and the Wine down the aisle when it was time for Communion. I offered to hold the baby, but Kinsey replied that Brian and Kristen wanted Owen and Keightley to be a part of the ceremony as well.

img_1029The priest used an interesting phrase in his message. I’ll paraphrase: ”Kristen and Brian, don’t buy into society’s philosophy of ‘instant perfection.’ Many couples seem shocked and disappointed when the first year of marriage presents challenges and difficulties. You love each other now, but your relationship is just beginning. God has welcomed you to His ‘School of Love.’ Brian, from this day forward, you will be learning to love Kristen as Christ loves the Church. Kristen, from this day forward, you will be learning to love Brian as his wife. Marriage is a calling and a vocation. Listen well to your Teacher in God’s ‘School of Love.’”

School is not a place of perfection… it is a place of growth and learning and understanding. Mistakes are made daily in school, but good teachers let stumbles become stepping stones of progress. The best schools are full of grace and truth and excellent teaching. I think we are all in ‘God’s School of Faith, Hope, and Love.’ May we listen to Christ our Teacher as we follow our Lord.

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things.” Mark 6:34

“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” II John 1:9

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birthdays

Posted on May 16, 2019 by Dana

img_8470Macy turned two May 10! On May 8, my mom turned eighty-five. A few days earlier, I sat on the front porch with Meemaw around 5:00 am and watched the world wake up. This is her habit every morning as she and my dad drink a cup of coffee together.

img_1019Our Heavenly Father takes great joy in both these birthday girls. He knows Macy and He knew Barbara when she was two… being raised by a single mom, my Nannie. While a young girl, a kind family took my mom to church where she learned about Jesus. God has given her a loving husband, four children, ten grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren.

As we sat in the cool of the morning, talking, laughing, and counting our blessings, Meemaw shared that her only birthday request was to have a celebration meal at her house with a widow who had a birthday the same week. This friend is seven years younger than my mom and has endured many difficulties in life. She has recently been diagnosed with cancer and has a poor prognosis. Of course my dad was in full agreement to make the birthday wish happen.

God’s desire is for older men and women to be examples to the younger. My mom has lived this way all her life. I pray that all the girls in our family will walk in her steps. Perhaps in eighty-three years Macy will sit on a front porch with one of her children and welcome the morning.

“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing in value… She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy… She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue… Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:10, 11, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30

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difference

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Dana

Scripture tells us James the brother of John was put to death by the sword on the orders of King Herod. (Acts 12:1-2) Of the ten other apostles who were alive when Jesus rose from the dead, it is believed that all but one met violent deaths. John was exiled on the Island of Patmos where he received the Revelation.

Of the three confused disciples mentioned last week, tradition says Philip was crucified; Peter was crucified upside down; and Thomas was killed with a spear in what is now India. All eleven were committed to carrying out Jesus’ instructions to take His Good News to all the world.

What transformed faithless, fearful friends of Jesus into bold, confident witnesses? The resurrection solidified their faith… but there is more…

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5)

John the Baptist had predicted what Jesus promised: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after Me will come One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

The Holy Spirit makes the difference! He is the Helper who not only comforts… but empowers. After receiving this promise of Jesus on the day of Pentecost, Peter, who earlier had denied his Lord, clearly proclaimed the fulfillment of God’s Word to thousands. The Messiah had come. He had performed signs and wonders witnessed by many. He had been nailed to a cross which was lifted up by wicked men. He had been buried in a borrowed tomb… but God raised Him to life and exalted Him to His own right hand.

The prophet Joel’s words were being fulfilled: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2:17-21)

The Holy Spirit transformed weak disciples into powerful ambassadors willing to give their lives for the Lord… and He does the same today. “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:39)

“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 11:13

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confused

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Dana

Reading the end of John 13 and the beginning of John 14 without the chapter break helps us gain insight as Jesus approached the fulfillment of His purpose on earth. The disciples struggled to understand. Peter was confused about himself. Thomas was confused about his destiny. And Phillip was confused about his Lord.

Jesus tells Peter he is not as strong and loyal as he thinks he is… but he still should not let his heart be troubled. Jesus tells Thomas that the destiny of the believer is God… through Christ. Jesus tells Phillip that His own life is lived fully in His Father. From these words, we can learn about ourselves, our destiny, and our Savior. Praise God that Jesus accomplished what no one else could… He prepared the way to the Father. He is the way.

“Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times. Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.”

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

Phillip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Phillip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 13:33 – John 14:11… New American Standard Version)

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present

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Dana

By faith we know that Jesus died, was buried, and was resurrected. “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:9-11) This is in the past.

By faith we believe that in the last day we will be changed into the likeness of Jesus with resurrected bodies. “We will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (I Corinthians 15:51-52) This is in the future.

But what about the present?

The Holy Spirit tells us over and over through the words of Jesus and the teachings of the apostles that the resurrection of Jesus impacts our daily living. Because He lives, we live. We were dead in our sins, but God has made us alive in Christ. The power to live comes, not from our determination to follow the perfect laws of God, but through the Spirit of life. “By dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (Rom 7:6)

Because our old selves died when Jesus died, we are now raised to walk in newness of life. “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” (Romans 6:6-7) “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4) It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. The lives we live in our bodies, we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. (see Gal 2:20)

When Jesus said to Martha, “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” He was not just forecasting the great miracle of bringing Lazarus back to life four days after he died… He was saying: God is presently in your midst and He holds the power of life. Jesus was and is God in the present.

Not everyone believes Jesus rose from the dead, despite the evidence and believers’ efforts to convince. But if people could see the changed lives of those who used to be captive to sin and empty living, what a witness that would be. “By My Spirit… and with one another… live the resurrected life my Son gives and the world will see Me. Pray His prayers, do His works, love others the way He loves you… and My will shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence… Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” Ephesians 3:10-12, 20-21

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