I have a daughter, and Easter is the same as when I was little.

Then big changes happened. Grandparents started passing away, and then on July 1982, I lost my father at the age of 59. My dad and I were close and when he passed so did a part of myself. He asked me before he died to take care of my mom; she can’t do it alone. I promised I would. The holidays weren’t the same anymore, but we still had mom and that was great.

On January 1996, tragedy fell again and I lost my mother. As I sat in her empty room that evening, I realized I had no one to turn to anymore. I was the high authority now. Then a voice said to me, “You always had high authority.” Then I understood what that voice meant. It was God all along in my life. My life changed from that day.  I started reading the Bible, studying, listening to prophecy seminars and speakers. I learned so much. I missed so much in my life.

My holidays have changed now. Christmas is all about Jesus, not presents and dinner. Easter has changed also. Bunnies don’t lay eggs. Easter is all about Jesus.

I realized how all these holidays have changed. False pagan traditions are taking over everyone’s homes and Jesus is being pushed out the backdoor. We need to bring him back in our homes through the front door. The backdoor is for Satan to be thrown out of.

Having a little fun at the holidays is okay, but we need to make sure our children know that Jesus is the number one reason for the holidays. As said in Matthew 28:20, and be sure of this, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Prayer: Dear father, please help us to bring you back into this world the way you should be. In our schools, businesses, government offices and in our lives. Help us to keep you and your son strong in our hearts. You are the first and the last. Thank you for filling my heart with your words and your love. In Jesus name. Amen.

Matthew 16:21-28 (NIV)

Jesus Predicts His Death

 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

“It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:20-21

Matt and I recently did a devotional together called “Risk is Right” by John Piper.   The book ends with these words:

“This is the promise that empowers us to take risks for the sake of Christ. It is not the impulse of heroism, or the lust for adventure, or the courage of self-reliance, or the need to earn God’s favor. It is the simple trust in Christ – that in him God will do everything necessary so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. Every good poised to bless us, and every evil arrayed against us, will in the end help us boast only in the cross, magnify Christ, and glorify our Creator. Faith in these promises frees us to risk and to find in our own experience that it is better to lose our life than to waste it.  

“Therefore, it is right to risk for the cause of Christ. It is right to engage the enemy and say, “May the Lord do what seems good to him.” It is right to serve the people of God, and say, “If I perish, I perish!” It is right to stand before the fiery furnace of affliction and refuse to bow down to the gods of this world. At the end of every other road – secure and risk free- we will put or face in our hands and say, “I’ve wasted it!” But at the end of the road of risk, taken in reliance on the blood-bought promises of God, there will be fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore.”

We felt led to share the things we learned with the A2J class so we asked God to show us how to bring this to life for the A2J’ers. The same Sunday we were going to teach the A2J’ers, Jeannette Kessler shared about how God had laid on her heart for her to spend one full day in the home of a family living in a batey in the Dominican Republic. One of the many things I gleamed from her sharing, was that she couldn’t imagine why God had called her to be the first person to do that and how the man of the family she with could not imagine why God had picked his family. It was a perfect example to share with the kids in A2J how God asked both of them to take a risk, and to step out of their comfort zone for His name’s sake.

So in the second service with the A2J’ers, I shared the story of Queen Esther and then Jeanette’s story.   As I was explaining all of this, God showed me why God chose Esther, and why God chose Jeannette and why He chose that particular DR family. It was because they would say, “YES!”.   They were willing to take a risk and not stay in the comforts of their own lives, but step out because God asked them to.

As we reflect during this Season of Lent on all Jesus did for us and continues to do for us, it doesn’t seem right that He would give us a choice, but He does. He does give us a choice on how we respond to His calling. What will you say the next time Jesus asks you to take a risk for His Kingdom?

2 Corinthians 16-17 – Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 

My childhood home was a very small farm that had been built in the mid 1800’s. There were various animal shelters and several outbuildings including a summer kitchen, smokehouse and servant’s quarters. It is still strange to me that we lived on such meager means in a home that previously had servants. When my parents purchased the home, they contracted with the previous owner to allow one of their former employees to live out his remaining years in the servant’s quarters. We had always referred to his home as “the little house”. I now understand that those were odd circumstances, but I remember being confused when my fellow kindergartners insisted that they didn’t have an old man living in their little house. I had wrongly assumed everyone did.

We knew him only as Mr. Sidney, never knowing his first name or much about his life and family. He was an elderly Philippine man, very slim with care-worn features and a stature bent crooked from years of challenging farm labor. He was nearly blind and his hearing was failing. He had great difficulty with walking and moved slow and cautiously, shuffling his feet and planting his wooden cane ahead of each step. His Philippine accent was strong and a gentle kindness saturated every word.

The little house wasn’t equipped with plumbing or electric heat. Mr. Sidney used a chamber pot and a wood stove. My elder brothers would assist in maintaining the fire in the stove in the colder months, but Mr. Sidney did all he could to retain his independence. My parents were not nurturing toward him, doing only what was necessary to honor the contract. Mr. Sidney didn’t join us for meals and wasn’t offered the convenience of an indoor bath. He ate plain bread and raw vegetables from the garden. Any family and friends had passed or moved on. When offered something he was humble and gracious. He had no income, only change that he’d harbored from past wages. He would give me nickels for retrieving something from the garden or making a successful tricycle ride across the front porch. He called me Miracle or his Precious Angel. I clung to those words of endearment, never hearing them elsewhere. There was little affection in our home and even less extended to Mr. Sidney.

Today, it is hard for me to imagine anyone living in such conditions, especially for more than 20 years as he unexpectedly lived into his 100’s. Still, Mr. Sidney never complained nor asked for better. Instead he had a warmth and genuine love that were beyond explanation. Clearly there was something in Mr. Sidney that defied his natural surroundings and filled him with hope and contentment. In the years that we were honored to know him, his benevolence toward us only grew stronger while his physical being became increasingly frail. At 5 years old I couldn’t know how Mr. Sidney knew God, but I could sense Christ in him. The Bible kept under his bed tells me the story now.

Mr. Sidney has come to mind many times recently. I catch myself complaining about pain, limitations, and the material things I don’t possess. I crave Mr. Sidney’s heart. I have so much more, yet I’m still prone to discouragement. I’m gratefully amazed at how God can use odd circumstances from so long ago to speak to me vividly in my walk today. I see how contentment comes from daily renewal. I also carry the hope of seeing Mr. Sidney again in his heavenly mansion instead of a cold little house.

I recently went through an experience at work that required me to practice patience. And we’re not talking about waiting 2 days for Amazon Prime. This was weeks which turned into months, and some periods toward the end that created some deep concern and worry.

The head of another department in my company sought me out for a new position, one for which I was uniquely qualified. I excitedly went through a process to interview for and learn more about the job and was ready for an offer to come my way at any moment. Only, that’s not the way the process unfolded. Little did I know the company was about to make some significant structural changes and had other plans for me. It seemed that I would likely have a choice to make between the two jobs, but would have to wait a while for the opportunity.

Confused and frustrated I leaned on family and friends to help me process the situation. I had been looking forward to this new position and now had to wait an unknown length of time and was receiving little to no communication from those in charge. But I just wanted to know the outcome. After all, we live in a time where it is the norm to expect immediate results – high download speeds, on-demand entertainment, and the like. In the words of a 3-year-old (or in my case, a 37-year-old): “I want it, and I want it NOW”

I had been coming to the Lord with my concern throughout the process, but it was time to get serious. This is not my plan, it’s His. This is not on my timeline, it’s on His. He is in control and we need to remember that in the moments where impatience gets the best of us. Romans 12:12 tells us “Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times.” Amen! I decided to leave it in His hands and have joy in what I had hoped for the outcome.

After the long wait, I had that opportunity to choose my next path. The choice was an easy one as I knew where God wanted me – but here is where contentment comes in. Some of the details of the new job were not what I had expected, and I was disappointed at first. Yet just two days after I accepted the position, I sat in Sunday service where Pastor Bob told us that we should be counting our blessings instead of airing our complaints. Wow – talk about telling me what I need to hear at exactly the right time!

In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing – Phillippians 2:14

If we trust in the Lord and let him carry our worries, we can be patient and content in our circumstances.

James 1:2 – “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” The last several months have allowed me to work (more than I have in some time) on that command. I guess that may be the case for most of us. It is not one of my top 3 skills that I want to practice. While I have become accustomed to change – at work, in our family and even in our country – a situation that takes over a major portion of my thinking activity outside of work is rare for me. And right now that situation involves my aging parents and the need to decide on the best living arrangement for them. It is here that the perspectives of my parents and me are vastly different.

My prayers have led to surprises…not necessarily happy ones. Instead, I have been faced with confrontation, with feeling unappreciated, and have even been seen as the enemy. So, my patience and trust in God has been tested when my prayers haven’t been answered, or, haven’t been answered in a way that I thought would be best. Have I had some frustrating words with God? Absolutely! Am I learning joy in trials? Not quite yet! Is patience being produced through the testing of my faith? Well, there are some small buds. Can I trust God in all this? Because of my history of life under His wing – yes, I can.

I know God loves my parents as much as I do….and so much more. It has been said that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. We are all on our own journey of learning to trust God with our difficult circumstances and truly understanding that He knows best.

I look to this season, before we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, and am reminded of His willingness to suffer, taking on my sins and shortcomings onto Himself on the cross. I can live as Paul shares in Roman 8:18 “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” And Jesus said in John 8 “I am the Light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of Life.” It is He who lights our path, in His time, not ours. I am praying that I will remember that as I trust, wait and walk through each day in His light, love and presence.