Mom's Diary

I am not a morbid person. I don't sit around thinking about dying. But it will happen. Someday. After losing my parents in the last couple of years, I have had so many questions that can never be answered, and we talked a lot! So I think about things that my kids and grand kids may wonder about when I am gone. I think my mom knew we would wonder about things so she left several years of diaries for us to read. I pick it up and read some entries once in a while. Today was one of those days, so I can tell you that on this date in 1966 she bought a new dress and only had to spend $2 because the Dallas church ladies had given her $4 as a going away gift.  On this date in 1970 I went to school with swollen tonsils and a fever. I was an over-achiever! I am better at keeping my germs to myself now. In 1976 I chose the florist for my wedding. In 1986 our oldest daughter was interviewed by a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader on a telethon raising money for children's hospitals. And in 1982, mom weighed... well, I'm going to keep that private.

History can be so fun!

Sunday I listened to Andy Stanley share that, what we know as the Old Testament, (The Law and Prophets) was made famous, not by the Jews who used it as their creed to live by, but by the non-Jewish sector digging into Jewish history for the sole purpose of discovering and understanding all there was to know about the resurrected Jesus, the Messiah that most of the Jews didn't even recognize.  Thousands of years of history carefully laid out to prepare the way for the Savior of the world to make the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. All that history paints a picture of a Creator who made us in His image to love and be loved. And how critical it was for His people to live in that love, allowing no distractions, nothing that would pull them away from the One who made them and knew them and designed them for intimacy with Him.

His message caused me to reflect on my history and how it is laying a foundation for the generations that will come after me. I really want all of it to reflect back to my Messiah. When people look at my history and my parent's history and their parents before them, I want it to all boil down to ... "A foundation was laid to help her believe in the resurrected Savior who walked with her and stretched her and grew her and she trusted Him day by day to help her love with His amazing love."

Today you are writing your history and that of your kids and grand kids. How will your diary read to them? This is the perfect time to work on making your history point to a life lived for God. We will face new challenges weekly that will bring us to a new level of trusting our God and leaning into Him. We will be stretched and we will need to exercise patience and self-control. We will need to love and offer grace like never before. This pandemic creates a challenge beyond our typical day to day life and those are the places where the very best stories are written.

Please don't allow these days and weeks to create a history of fear and anger, impatience and frustration. Rather, find the places where God is at work. Where He is sustaining you. Where He is providing for you. Where He is reaching out His hand to you in the middle of a storm. Be a reflection of His goodness and grace as your history is written for the generations to come. Let it all point to a life led and blessed by the Messiah.

May your life be a story of God's amazing grace. Leave a journal or diary behind for the generations to come of how God sustained you in the COVID-19 Pandemic....but, leave out the part where you tell people your weight.

When Clouds Roll In

Have you ever heard, or maybe been involved in, a debate about the creation of the world? That always baffles me since there was no media on the scene to record the events exactly as it occurred (and who would really believe them, anyway?). The Genesis account of the creation was not written for the purpose of memorizing the order in which things were created or start arguments about whether the seven days were 24 hour days. It was simply written to explain to God's people that  they were, in fact, created in the image of the One True God. These people had been living among and enslaved by those who believed in multiple deities with self-seeking agendas. And then they wandered in the desert and discovered even more civilizations that believed in even more gods with all manner of ridiculous demands and they simply did not know the God who had rescued them.

Moses wanted them to know His God. The One whose voice he had heard on the Mountain. The One who made covenants with His people so that they might live and thrive. The One who protected and brought them miraculous victories. The One who cared about their day to day living so much that He gave them careful instructions about how to live. Using Genesis as a weapon to battle the world defeats the entire purpose of pointing others to a good and mighty Creator.

I, like Moses, want you to know my God... the God of Moses; the God of my father, the God who I serve. With the Coronavirus pandemic, we are living in a time when fear is growing daily and the One True God will be challenged and questioned and doubted. We are surrounded by cultures that don't know and believe and serve our God, just as the Israelites in the days of Moses.  We have a great opportunity to lean heavily into the God who created us in His own image so that we can reflect His love and spread His peace and shine His light. I pray that all the unknown surrounding us will draw us closer to Him and increase our desire to know this God who is not at all surprised or threatened by COVID-19.

As we enter the unknown, may I remind you that your children are listening to you and taking cues from you as to whether there is reason for concern. They will sense your unspoken fears. I encourage you to be confident that your life is ultimately in the hands of a God who sees; who knows your fears and is the source of our peace. Allow them to express their fears and don't belittle them. Just listen and explain that we are all in this together and we will be part of the solution. Keep your conversation age appropriate for them and as light as you can as you answer their questions. Add some fun imagination to all the scary imaginings they may be hearing. Assure them that if God determines that your family should all be covered in purple stars and orange glitter, that He will delight in you, as always and be with you as He promised. Nothing is too hard or too big for our God. All power rests in Him to use in the way that is best, from His sovereign perspective. Look to Him through the days ahead and rest assured that His love is unstoppable and His faithfulness is unending.

Dear John

We have a really important thank you letter to write. But the recipient has an undeliverable address at present. Perhaps one day we will see him and be able to thank him in person. His name is John. John is a good name. It was my grandfather's name... eventually. His parents named him Wally Grover Franklin. Unfortunate. Soon after he came to know Jesus, WW1 erupted and he went to the leaders of the church he attended and asked if it was wrong to go to war, knowing that he may be required to take the life of another. He was told to serve his country as a cook in the Army (apparently leaving necessary dirty work to the heathens???) so he went to enlist. When asked for his name, he told them John Franklin and Wally Grover disappeared forever. That will create issues for future descendants working through their genealogy!

John Franklin had many wonderful attributes and with them shaped my father, to a large degree and Dad, in turn, shaped me...therefore, if you are reading this and you know me and I have had any positive influence on your life, when you get to heaven, find my Grandpa John and thank him! 

He isn't really the John I was referring to, however. I just like that story about determining to change your identity and going for it! Too good not to share so that part is just extra.... at no charge! The John I am referring to shaped the lives of so many people for so many centuries, including Grandpa John, Dad and Me. The man I speak of loved Jesus and spent three years traveling with Him, learning from Him, watching Him, being transformed by Him. And then he wrote down what he knew to be true of Jesus and His Father, God. 

John spoke of Jesus as light in the darkness, truth among deception. He spoke of His friendship and His desire for us to abide in Him. John taught us how Jesus wants us to love and the way He actually demonstrated that love for us. It is in the writing of John that we discover that the opposite of love is not hate, as we may think. The opposite of love is selfishness. You can find that truth in the ever popular verse, John 3:16.

For God loved the world so much that He gave...

If love is giving and selfless and generous, how would you score yourself today? Examine the time that you give, the resources that you share and give yourself a grade. If we grade on the curve, we get an A+ compared to Ebeneezer Scrooge, but then Mother Theresa blows that curve! More important is our generosity with forgiveness and love for others. We can all use some extra time to study before that test is given. Right?

I had the blessing of growing up with the example of love that my dad learned from John Franklin who learned from the Gospel of John. I have seen love personified my entire life. Maybe you were not so blessed. Even so, the One who taught John to love is still teaching us today and when He is living within our hearts, He is shaping us and showing us and directing us down the path of love. Within you is the same power that brought Jesus out of the grave. It's not too late to learn to love well. You can and will make a profound impact on the world, like John, if you will let go of all you are hoarding for your own protection and generously love with the reckless hope of being a life-changing agent to those who live right under your roof. 

Who's In Charge Here?

It seems that today there is a marketing plan for everything. The goal is to convince you that you need whatever they are selling. I think one could put the fuzzy green substance just discovered lurking, forgotten in the back of the fridge and find a buyer for it if it was put in the right container with the proper claim of its tremendous benefits! But, news would travel fast that what is on the inside doesn't match what is on the outside and sales would quickly plummet because it what really matters is what is inside.

We all know that, so it's not exactly an epiphany that what is in our hearts is what really matters. And guess who sees what is in our hearts more than anyone else. If you said the people under your own roof, you are absolutely correct. Your spouse, parents, children, grandchildren... they are the ones that witness who you are when stress comes to visit. They see your reaction to fear or to annoying people. They see how you respond to them and others when you are tired or distracted or not feeling well.

As followers of Jesus, we can make a lot of claims.  We can have high standards. We can follow a creed or a list of self-imposed disciplines. We can try to convince others that our God is good and they should follow Him. We can read books and blogs, listen to sermons and podcasts, but, if we can't convince our family that the Spirit of God is in control of our thoughts and actions, out attitudes and words, then there doesn't seem to be much purpose or point to how we "market" ourselves to the world.

Our acceptance of Jesus as our Savior gives us an all access pass to the Holy Spirit... the Comforter and Counselor that Jesus told His followers would be with them in His absence. It is the Spirit of God within us that has the power to take the reins, lasso our thoughts, determine if they should stay or go and move us in the right direction. When we learn to let go of our control we will begin to see the results of a life of surrender to the Spirit of God. Here is how Eugene Peterson describes it...

"What happens when we live God's way?

He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - 

things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.

 we develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, 

and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. 

We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, 

able to marshal and direct our energies wisely."

Galatians 5:22-23 -The Message Bible