This morning I was frantically trying to get everything taken care of in preparation for leaving town later. I was on the phone with the insurance company, my sweet yardman was been here and Tucker is pawing at me to go out. In my distracted state, I assumed that the yard was done and let the dogs out and went back to my phone calls. I’m interrupted by a frantic Paxton asking where the dogs are. As luck would have it, he happened to see them escape out the opened gate. Let me introduce the bandits:

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They are big, obnoxious, annoying, loud, barking, yet loveable mutts. I did not choose them, I didn’t really want them, I’m just the mom who says, “I’d be glad to do whatever I can to help!” The dogs and I have managed to develop a healthy love/hate relationship. But back to Friday, unbeknownst to me, my sweet yardman is cutting two lawns in my neighborhood at once, which is not his normal routine. I thought he was done, but he was across the street and still had to come back and blow the grass off, so when I let the dogs out, they discovered an open gate and ran for it! Strangely, Paxton thought he saw them run by his window and came to look for them. I run, jumped in the car and find them about four houses down peeing on a mailbox, call them, the jump in the car and head back to captivity. Upon my return home, there are several cars in front of my house a few neighbors on foot and one car pulled over yelling at my yard man for leaving the gate open and threatening to call the police. That is after a man walking his dog had already chewed him out. Another proceeds to call me to tell me that I need to instruct my yard man to keep that gate closed so I don’t get sued!

I have to admit, I don’t know my neighbors. Twenty years ago my next door neighbor didn’t like us and every time her kids saw my kids she called them inside because she wanted nothing to do with us. The kids proceeded to sneak behind her back and play through the wooden fence. But I now realize that I’ve been forever damaged by the rejection of that one person and never allowed myself to invest in neighbors, I just want to live here in peace and to do that I’ve decided the less we know about each other the better! Oh they all knew Russell, he worked in the yard and visited with everyone, but alas, he is dead! A lady came to my door some months ago complaining that I had a loose picket and they were afraid the dogs would get out so she offered to have her husband come screw the loose pickets in, that was thrown in my face today as well. I know my neighbors don’t like the dogs. I know they are loud and obnoxious. But they’re dogs! They don’t bark after 9:00 nor before 7:00. They have never attached or bitten anyone besides each other when attention, a treat or food was to be competed for. However, the outpouring of anger, rage, hysteria and downright pure hatefulness over their approximate five minute adventure dumfounds me!

Where do you go from here? I thought about writing an open letter of apology for the existence of the animals they evidently harbor so much resentment toward the beasts behind the fence and posting it in my front yard. I thought of hanging a “Beware of Dogs” sign to protect myself legally. My kids wanted to call the lady back and tell her if she ever called and upset me again, they’d call the police. But at the end of the day I just have to let it go! I understand fear, I understand being protective, I understand those things hide behind anger. I also understand overreaction and letting your anger unleash the demons within you. I don’t understand harsh words to my yard man that is just about the kindest, nicest person I have EVER met.

When I was growing up attending church youth group with a collection of young ne’er-do-wells I remember sitting around the campfire singing, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” I understand that love to be a compassionate walking along side others, both known and unknown. That love cannot include spewing our wrath in the name of being “neighborly” or trying to prevent you “being sued”. So when I’m mad at my neighbor I must stop and think! Was anyone harmed? Do I know why this crazy lady has these obnoxious dogs? Have I ever attempted to speak to her when I wasn’t angry? Do we really need to threaten a worker with calling the police because a gate was left open? I think not.

I think also about my friend who at this very same time is burying her second husband in five years, and she’s only 40! I think about the people in my GriefShare class who have lost grandkids to suicide. I think about Simone Biles who has to deal with the wrath of America because she chose her own peace of mind over a gold medal. I think about how desperately our world needs understanding and compassion – not from ‘those people’ but from me and you, even in our own neighborhood.

The thing about it is ... Life is hard, but God is good! Every, single encounter we have with others matters! Every word we utter will either build up or tear down and no matter the words that have been uttered to us, we still have a choice to choose our words. I choose kindness, I hope you will too! I’m going away for the weekend after all to hear Jackie Hill Perry and spend some much needed time with friends. I hope my neighbors don’t riot, kill the dogs, the kids, nor feel compelled to waste some poor policeman’s time because a gate was left open!

Peace does not come from the absence of struggle and conflict.
It is the presence of God creating a stillness within you 
that is greater than what's going on around you.
Steven Furtick

I seemed to have lost last week. I got the second COVID vaccine on Sunday, felt like I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome on Monday, ran a fever Monday night so I had to miss school on Tuesday. Spent Wednesday and Thursday trying to put my kids back together that fell apart on Tuesday. Friday my kids had a zillion and two tests and I woke up with a raging UTI. I made an emergency stop at Walgreens for Cranberry juice and AZO and pushed through. After the last test, I bugged out and crashed. I thought I felt better Saturday until Paxton said, “Have you taken your temperature today, you don’t look good?” So I took my temperature, which was normal, and just went back to bed. Sunday I finally start to feel human.

My mom reminded me Saturday that my grandmother used to say, “I didn’t know I was sick, I just thought I was lazy.” But then you finally fell better and realize, you might not be a lazy bum after all. Sunday I finally began to feel like I might survive and began to dig myself out. This was the verse for Saturday…

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward . You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Colossians 3:23-25

yea, yea, yea, I get that, but it’s hard and burdensome and overwhelming and becoming drudgery and leaving me feeling very depleted! But I push on and this is Sunday’s verse…

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (Emphasis added)

and suddenly realize again that the work we are to do heartily, is not our own doing. And that depletion comes from worrying about what I can do to try and fix the problems I face rather than acknowledging, living aware of the fact that this work given to us to do will not be a result of my work, it won’t be a result of my own doing. I should feel overwhelmed, I should feel depleted, it’s too much for my own strength. If I can’t boast then I also can not be blamed, I can’t shoulder the blame for that which I am not responsible. I can only allow God to use me in the situation as he pleases. It may work out well, and I can’t boast about that, and it may not and I can’t shoulder the blame for that. I just have to play my part, fulfill my role, walk in obedience and leave the rest to him.

I can then reflect that chances are good a vaccine sapped my energy and strengthen, while taking on the problems of those around me as if they were my issues to resolve and result in boasting or blame–leaves me depleted as well.

So today, living post-resurrection, I tap in afresh to the grace that has saved me by faith. It will be bad, it will be good, it will not be up to me. I can then chose to walk the path laid before me trusting that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and desiring for others to see his light shine through me!

Thirty-three days left in the 2020-21 school year. We have triumphs and tragedies yet to face for which we can neither boast nor be blamed, if we are walking in the grace of God. Chose your steps wisely!

Our hope is found in the fact that Jesus came to be the final Passover Lamb, not just a great teacher and a miracle healer.

Paul David Tripp Journey to the Cross Day 38

A common struggle we face is enough. I don’t have enough time. I don’t have enough money. When I have time I don’t have money and when I have money I don’t have time. I didn’t do enough. I didn’t say enough. I’m not enough. The sentiment is torturous to us as we equate it with failure, inadequacy. But Dr. Tripp takes that concept and points out ways our perception of Jesus may not be enough and that’s a good thing! It’s not enough that Jesus was a great teacher. It’s not enough that he healed the sick. It’s not enough that he confronted false religion. It’s not enough that he sent the disciples out with a theological message. We needed more, but the good news is he is more. He is the Passover Lamb. He is the fulfillment of the covenant promises of old. His blood covers and cleanses us and that is enough. Because that is enough we are enough! We can rest in the knowledge that we don’t have to be enough, because he is!

The next few days of the Christian calendar are somber. They are filled with betrayal, beatings, and brutality. But take heart, Sunday is coming! The darkness of the days ahead will not last and neither will the dark days you face.

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My oldest, Ryan says it’s kind of cruel how parents make such a big deal out of kid’s birthday’s for them to only grow and realize, really, no one cares that it’s your birthday. Imagine that, I raised a cynic! I can’t image where he gets that from! As a result it really struck a chord with me when Dr. Tripp talked about how we become complacent with the familiar. He points out that when we become familiar with something, we think we know more than we actually do and since we know it all why continue to study. I think that is why Lent and Advent are so important. Without these seasons of preparation and focus we go the through the motions of Christmas and Easter without taking a break to examine the gravity of these celebrations. Without them a baby is born in December, a man dies in the spring and we go on about our lives unscathed. But if like children we just show up to the party to be honored, it becomes shallow, meaningless and even drudgery.

I hope that you will take this Holy Week to visit afresh the last days of Christ, the gravity of those events and yourself emerge a new creation because of the sacrifice he has made so that we can look forward with hope to eternity. “May we remember and hold fast to the resurrection in a way that rules our hearts and shapes our lives” Paul David Tripp, Wednesday Word.

 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

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One of the many things that frustrates me about our culture is that we tend to either glamourize or villainize. Circumstances and people are rarely all good or all bad. We tend to only see the good in the dead, which is not a terrible thing, what really is accomplished in focusing on the negative of that which can no longer be changed. We tend to only see the good in our side. If you identify as Republican your candidate can do no wrong, if you consider yourself a Democrat your side is perfect. It’s not different in church when we believe you have to be baptised, or it’s not really that important, you have to be dunked or you can just be sprinkled. It’s my way or the highway!

When we went to Washington DC one of the monuments we visited was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s. It was one of my favorites, I loved how he loomed large and was surrounded by quotes that inspire us still today. Yet I knew very little about Malcolm X who was also an influential civil rights leader, except he has been villainized by history.

I started by reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X which I will admit I had a tough time getting into it until Laurence Fishburne read it on audible.com and I felt like Malcolm X himself was telling me his story and I could not get enough of it. After reading his autobiography, I realized that in addition to my lack of knowledge of Malcolm X, I really don’t know that much about Martin Luther King, Jr aside for the quotes that have become so famous and easy to access on the internet. So my current book is Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare by James H. Cone. Cone parallels the making of these two men and how they came to such different conclusions.

I hope that this will whet your appetite to read Cone’s book!

Both men were deeply impacted by their faith. Martin focused on how we were created by the same God as equal while Malcolm held that the white man was breed to do evil and the only way for the black man to be equal was to reestablish a pure African nation. Both men wanted blacks to better themselves and devotion to their respective faiths was how to do that. History may just show that Malcolm was more devote in his faith and moral living than Martin. It was however, “Malcolm’s fanatic commitment to the liberation of the black poor [that] alienated him not only from most whites and many black middle class, but also, as it turned out, from his own religious community…” (Cone 183). In 1964 Malcolm X denounced Elijah Muhammad and his Nation of Islam and was killed a year later. Cone speculates that this break with the Nation of Islam pulled Malcolm X into the political mainstream of the Civil Rights movement and that he and Martin may very well have ended up as powerful collaborators had their lives not been cut short.

While I don’t agree with Malcolm X’s religion, it made him want to better himself and he wanted better for his fellow black citizens. It was his faith that delivered him from drunkenness, drug addiction and crime that he claimed was destroying ‘Negro Christians’. It was his faith that lead him to be a husband and father to his children. It was his faith that lead him to speak out against the oppression of Black Americans. I admire that he spent his time in prison educating himself and reading to expand his world. He tells in his autobiography how we copied the entire dictionary to improve his penmanship and expand his vocabulary! Now that’s impressive!

So what does this all mean for you and me today? I think it’s this: How is your faith motivating you to better the planet? Why aren’t we more vocal about how our faith has changed us and speaking up for those who are still oppressed? Why are we still allowing the media to be the most powerful entity on earth? Why are we contributing to it’s power by our own hatefulness and condemnation on social media?

At the end both Martin and Malcolm had the courage to stand up and speak for equality and justice. Our voices are still needed today. How will your story end?