Traveling in Tents

Day one of our much-anticipated tour of Israel brought us to an area called Shiloh, (pronounced ‘shee-low’ in Hebrew). This was where the children of Israel parked the Tabernacle when they entered the Promised Land, after wondering in the desert for 40 years. THE Tabernacle, that God instructed Moses to build, and said “I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God,” in Exodus 29:45.  It seemed like we were out in the middle of nowhere. We drove off the main highway and onto a small road. There were no buildings, no shops, nothing but an open field on a hill. We walked on a white rock path to a grassy area, scattered with large white rocks and millions of tiny pottery fragments. Our guide said that archeologists had discovered that this was the location where the Tabernacle of God had rested.

I don’t know how to explain it, but as I stood there, looking toward this grassy, rocky field at nothing, I was overwhelmed with emotion. It was weird, because there really was nothing to see, but just knowing that the Tabernacle, with all its spiritual significance, sat there for years, brought chills down my spine. I had studied the Tabernacle. I knew this was where the Israelite’s most holy possession, the Ark of the Covenant, resided. This was where the priests sacrificed animals to pay for the sins of the people. This was where the people worshipped their God. This was where Hannah prayed for a son, after many years of infertility. This was where her young son, Samuel, would be dedicated to the Lord, and serve Him for the rest of his life. Most importantly, this was where the spirit of the one and only, living God of creation lived among His people.

I could almost hear that old song chorus, “you are standing on Holy ground”, chime down from heaven. Should I take off my sandals? Should I kneel and worship? I would have this same feeling later, standing in the tomb where Jesus was laid after His crucifixion. There is even a sign going in to the tomb, as if we needed reminding, that says, “He is not here. His is risen.”  The Tabernacle was not there. It had been replaced by the Temple in Jerusalem, centuries ago.

I guess it just amazed me that our awesome God chose to live in a tent, so that He could be close to His people, who also lived in tents. He wanted to be close to them. He wanted them to know Him. He wanted to have a personal, close relationship with them, so He moved in close to them, and lived in a tent next to theirs.

These were the same people who had worshipped a golden calf, instead of the God who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. These were the same people who whined and complained to Moses for forty years. Several times they even wanted to go back to Egypt, instead of following God to the Promised Land He had prepared for them. Even after all they did, God wanted to be close to them.

It overwhelms me to know that even after all I have done, the God of the universe wants to be close to me too. Instead of the Tabernacle, His spirit lives inside of His people today. He can’t get any closer than that. Jesus said in John 15:4 “Dwell in me, and I will dwell in you.” 

I could have gone home after that. This was our first stop, on our first day, of our first trip to Israel, and after standing and staring at an empty field, I was filled to overflowing, knowing how much God loves His people, and being reminded again, of how much He loves me.

I hope you know how much God loves you today, too. 

Passing on the Passion

In his book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell interviewed a man who grew up in the Midwest. When the man was young, he went door to door asking the neighbors if they wanted the snow shoveled off their driveway and sidewalk. He then hired other kids to do it and paid them, from what he collected. In the fall, he switched to raking leaves. He was 10 years old when he did this. By the time he was 11, he had $600 in the bank, all earned by himself. This was in the 1950’s, and would be equivalent to $5000 today. If he or his brothers left the lights on in their house, his father would shake the electric bill at them, and tell them they were being lazy by not turning off the lights. He said he did not want to pay for lazy. When the man was in college, he ran a pickup and drop off laundry service for the rich students. Over and over he used hustle, drive, ambition and hard work to attain his goals. He grew up to be a very successful businessman and moved to Beverly Hills, where he is a multimillionaire today.

His problem?

He does not know how to be as successful at raising his kids, as his Dad was at raising him. Multimillionaires do not shake the electric bill in front of their kids and tell them they are lazy. His kids do not go door to door and rake leaves for their neighbors in Beverly Hills. It is hard to teach them the value of a dollar and how to be a hard worker when they already have more than they could want or imagine.

I wonder if this is sometimes how it is trying to raise our kids to love God. If we grew up with a void, because of how we were raised, or our own rebellious choices, we are so grateful that our loving God rescued us from our pit. We are forever humbled and thankful to this awesome God who saved us. We love spending time with Him in His Word. We tear up while singing praise songs that tell how much He loves us, because we feel it so deeply. We love sharing Christ with others, so they can have the adventurous life with the God who has a wonderful plan for them. We never want to go back to that pit, and we love God with all our heart. He is the best thing that ever happened to us.

The problem?

Our kids do not have that void. We have taken them to church every Sunday since they were born. They have gone to Christian camps, have Christian friends and they know all the Bible stories. Where is the void? How can they love God deeply and be humbly grateful for all He has done for them, if they think they have always known Him? How can they fight back tears when singing, “Our chains are gone. I’ve been set free,” if they have never been set free from a pit?  How can they love much, if they do not think they have been forgiven for much?

Just asking the question today.

Psalm 23 for Parents

The Lord is my Father and I have all that I need.

He knows parenting is exhausting, so He leads me to times of rest and refreshment.

His Word guides me in how to train up my children and encourage them as they walk through life.

Even though I walk through the terrible two’s and the tumultuous teen years, I will not fear because your Word and your Holy Spirit are with me giving me comfort and strength.

You prepare me to depend on You more and more as my kids grow up.

You anoint my head with Your overflowing love, which makes it easy to show Your love to my kids and lead them in your ways.

Surely You are a good God, because You have blessed me with these children.

All the days of my life I will thank You for them.

Even though they will not always dwell in my house, I know they will always live in the home of my heart and You will be with them wherever they go.

Splash Blessings

One of my boys got in trouble and the punishment was no electronics for a week. This affected his twin brother as well. The electronics had to be turned off for both, so that the guilty one could not watch whatever his brother was doing. This caused great frustration for the innocent brother.

“Why do I have to suffer, when he is the one who got in trouble?” he asked indignantly.

“Sometimes people’s sin and the consequences splashes over onto us,” I answered.

“Well, I wish he would quit splashing his sin on me!” he retorted.

This is so true. Many times when someone sins, we feel the consequences. Or when we sin, other people are affected. A person speeding or texting while they are driving can run into an innocent person. That person’s sin has splashed on the innocent person.  Someone can cheat or steal something at their workplace, and all of a sudden management tightens up on everybody’s freedom. Their sin splashed on the whole company.

It is the same way with blessings. Remember the movie Pay it Forward? It is about a boy who starts a movement to do three people a favor. The favor cannot be a repayment, but something unexpected and helpful to the recipient. Isn’t that like splashing blessings on them? It is so easy to do. Maybe not the huge blessings, like buying someone a car. But splashing small blessings is easy. Have you ever let someone go in front of you at a check out line and seen how appreciative they are? How about letting someone in when you are driving and their lane ends? How about buying someone lunch or coffee?

One morning a woman in a big SUV was talking on her cell phone and cut me off getting in to the drive through at Starbucks. I didn’t think it would do any good to honk or outwardly express my irritation, because I didn’t think she even saw me or noticed what she did.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled up to order and the barista said through the intercom that the woman in front of me would like to pay for my order. Splash! Blessed! Just for fun, I decided to pay for the person behind me and splash a blessing on them as well.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Lord, help me to remember that my sin affects other people. Help me to splash blessings on the people I come in contact with today.

How about you? Have you ever paid it forward? Or have you had someone splash a blessing on you lately?

A New Beginning

I didn’t know anything about her, except that this was her second time to church and she wanted to be baptized. Vince introduced her and said, “She wants to be a Jesus follower. Will you tell her how?”

Her name was Cathy and she looked about 25 years old. She was short with blonde hair and a pleasant face. Her round blue eyes looked eagerly at me as I started to talk. I asked if she had grown up going to church. She said no, that her parents never went to church.  A friend had invited her last week and she brought her three-year-old daughter by herself today.

Not wanting to repeat what she already knew, I asked her if she understood the message from the sermon. She said she did. I asked if she understood the prayer at the end, where the Pastor explained how to follow Jesus. She said yes, she did.

Then, I began to explain, “Jesus was born in a manger and lived a perfect life and died on a cross, to forgive us for all of our sins, past, present and future. It’s like our slate, our life, gets washed clean and we get to start over. Would you like that?” I asked. A smile spread across her face, “Yes, I would. I need that.”

I went on, “Ok, first we pray and ask God to forgive us for our sins. Then, we thank Him for sending His son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Then, we commit our lives to follow Him, the best way we know how. When we do that, God sends His Holy Spirit to live inside us. He will guide you in how to live your new life as a Jesus follower. He will never leave you and will be with you where ever you are. Do you understand?

“Yes, that would be great,” she eagerly replied.

“Even though this prayer of committing your life is a one time thing, our new life of following Jesus is a journey. We all learn as we grow. We learn through coming to church. We learn through reading God’s Word, the Bible, every day. The Holy Spirit will help you."

I prayed out loud and she repeated what I said. I feared I had left out so much. Did she know what sin was? Or heaven or hell? I forgot to tell her how great God is and how much He loved her. I forgot to say that this would not make her life perfect, and that there would still be difficulties, but now she would have Jesus with her.

I held back saying, “ Do you know what a huge miracle this is, that the God of the universe picked you, out of all the people in our city, to come to church today? It is God who put the desire in your heart to want to have a relationship with Him. Your life will be blessed beyond measure from this day on.”

I had only just met her, so I didn’t want to smother her with Jesus. But I wanted to hug her and say, “Welcome to the family! I can’t wait for you to get to know this wonderful God, who has an incredible life planned for you!”

People do not wake up and out of the blue decide to come to church. God calls them because He loves them so much.

I left to get a New Believers Bible for her, while she went to pick up her daughter from the kid’s area.

“My daughter loves coming here,” she beamed excitedly. “All week she has asked when do we get to come back to church? She asked me everyday.”

She turned to me with new excitement in her eyes, and a huge smile. “I feel different already,” she told me. "Thank you for telling me about Jesus and praying with me. I had never heard that before. I can’t wait to come back next Sunday.”

I can’t wait either.

She held her daughter’s hand and they walked out, both smiling with joy.

Amazing!

I never stop being in awe at how God calls people to Himself, forgives them with His amazing grace and changes their life forever.

It was all God. He did everything. I forgot to say so much. Where was my pen and paper to draw out the ‘The Bridge’ illustration, showing how we pass from death to life? I didn’t quote any Bible verses, not even John 3:16. And really, how is she going to believe the Bible if I didn’t tell her about Genesis 1:1 ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth  . . .’?

It did not matter. Today was her day. God called her, prompted her to come to church, prepared her heart and mind to eagerly ask about God. He gave her understanding and the desire to follow Him.

Amazing!

Amazing grace that saved another wretch like me.

She came in lost and now was found.

She had been spiritually blind, He opened her eyes, and now she could see.