Jesse was a six year old foster child who lived with us for a few months while his mother waited for an insurance claim. His brother Jason had died in a car-bicycle accident. His oldest brother, Justin, was placed in another foster home. One night Jesse asked me how it was possible for Jason to be happy in heaven. “After all,” he said, “We’re not there and Mom’s not there. He doesn’t know anyone there. How can he be happy?”

I told him that God lets Mary love on all the boys and girls in heaven. “But he doesn’t know Mary!” He’s never met her!!” he protested. I was silent as I watched his body relax and a smile cross his face. His eyes lit up as he said, “Do you think, do you think that God makes it so that when Jason looks at Mary he sees Mom?” “Yes”, I said, “I’m sure God does that for Jason.”

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.” (I Corinthians 2:9) I had run out of answers, but Someone Else knew what Jesse needed to hear. The message had a healing effect, and Jesse embraced his school work and decided to become a professional swimmer when he grew up.

“Unless I go away the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go I will send Him to you. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” (John 16:5&14)

Jesse didn’t know anything about a Holy Spirit. The thought of Him would have meant nothing to the puzzled and grief-stricken boy; but Jesus’ promise of sending One who would deliver what “no eye had seen, or ear heard or mind conceived what God had prepared.” was fulfilled in the mind of a child.

Jesus’ disciples could not have been more puzzled or grief stricken than young Jesse over their separation from the one who called them “brother”. They had to wait for the resurrection to receive the joy and consolation that answered their need, but God “revealed it to us (and Jesse) by His Spirit.”

Love in Him,

Prue

Praise

Yesterday morning people stopped and stared when they walked past our house, and some wore a big grin. Why? Because the night before a wind took down half of a very large old ornamental pear tree in our front yard, and they recognized the chore that it will mean. It happened within a week of finding that our clothes dryer is irreparably broken and the air conditioner in our car has failed while it is 100+ outside. It was not quite a “perfect storm,” but it felt like one.

“The Lord is my strength and my joy; my heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him.” (Ps.28:7) “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. . . For He spoke , and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. . . The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.” (Ps. 33; 6,9,11)

Praising God in my thoughts at a time of adversity refocuses my spirit from dismay to hope. It grounds me in confidence and a strength that comes not from me, but from the One I’m praising.

Praise at such a time reminds me that underneath the adversity there is another reality that pervades our lives, a reality that promises good and blessing and help. It’s not as if praise is a code that unleashes the power of God to solve my problems, but that it reminds me of this other reality, one not of stress and angst, but of joy and peace: “You who fear the Lord, praise Him! For He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; He has not hidden His face from him, but has listened to his cry for help.”

“Yet you, O Lord, are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.”(Ps. 22:3)

Many of David’s Psalms express undying praise for the God he knew so well. Many of the Psalms concerned times of severe adversity; indeed, life threatening adversity, and some of these have the sweetest message: “Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.”(Ps. 34:3)

Praise brings people together in the presence of the Lord. It is a fellowship to be sought after between a human being and a holy invisible God. Praise provides the strongest footprint as we work our way through car repairs and dryer replacement and missing a tree. When we “ exalt His name together”, we “enthrone” our God.

Love in Him,

Prue

Change

There are two stories in the Bible that are particularly puzzling. The story of Moses in Numbers 20, and the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:4 describe actions that seem insignificant compared to their consequences.

Not long before entering the Promised Land Moses was told by God to carry his staff and to speak to a rock and that God would then send water from the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock with his staff (as he had been instructed in a similar situation almost forty years earlier), and said “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water from the rock?” As a consequence God banned Moses from ever entering the Promised Land, the very object of his life’s work.

Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of land and brought part of the proceeds to Peter for the work of the church. Both came to Peter separately and affirmed that their gift was the whole sum of the sale, and both died at the scene.

The God of the Old Testament had not changed in the New Testament, but something had changed. For the first time ever, Moses took credit for bringing water from the rock, for doing something the he knew to be God’s doing. If Israel was to survive the people had to know their God and His care and response to them. The forty years in the wilderness were threatened by Moses’ action at the moment of finding water for his people. It was time for a new leader, Joshua, to take the people into the Promised Land.

Ananias and Sapphira entirely missed the meaning of the Christian message. They failed to understand that there was no rule at all compelling them to give the price of their land to the church; instead a Spirit invited them to be a part of the body of Christ It was the Holy Spirit Himself. Peter said, “You have not lied just to human beings, but to God.” (Acts 5:4) Ananias and Sapphira did not recognize the Holy Spirit at work in “ordinary” people like Peter and the other believers. Since the Holy Spirit had been given following Jesus’ resurrection, only a relative few perceived that what Jesus had shared with God was now available to all believers. This knowledge was priceless and a came changer for life on earth. In the fact that the Holy Spirit of God cannot be fooled lies much of the hope of all humanity.

Love in Him,

Prue

In the story of the Vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16 the workers who labor the shortest time receive the same pay as the workers who worked all day. The latter protest to the owner of the vineyard, who answers “Are you envious because I am generous?” Jesus compares the vineyard to the Kingdom of God, and owner to our Father God.

In some ways this parable echoes the story of the Prodigal Son, and the voice of the older brother: “Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you. . . yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.” (Luke 15:29)

At some time or other we Christians almost always misunderstand our work in the vineyard or in our Father’s house. We misunderstand God’s motive in calling us to serve, and forget that He knows that the closer we are to Him, the happier we are, and that work in His fields is a gift of love to us.

Who would be most grateful to the owner of the vineyard? Who would appreciate the work the most? Surely it would be those who worked the shortest shift, for they knew that they hardly deserved their sweet reward.

God knows that He is our happiness. The father of the prodigal says to his oldest son,”My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” (Luke 15:31)

When we begin to think that we have some qualities that merit God’s favor we lose sight of the love that is the very heart of God and that supplies all the merit we can possibly have. Just as a good parent doesn’t judge one of his or her own children according to the services the child renders, so God loves unconditionally His children.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 1914) It’s hard for us adults to see in these words a path for our own spirits, but they are some of the strongest words of Jesus ministry. How hard it is to be child-like toward our God. Almost everything in the world conspires against a child-like spirit. We struggle to be competitive, mature, intelligent, gifted, but seldom childlike in prayer and in relationships. Jesus describes the Kingdom of God. Can we find it in our own vineyards?

Love in Him,

Prue

Why is love so important? It is the birthplace of faith and hope. “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). When my grand nephew Will was only a few weeks old his mother placed him in my arms and sat down across from me. The baby’s eyes never left his mother’s face, as if to say, “Have you abandoned me?” Though he didn’t cry, his little body couldn’t relax until I handed him back, feeling sorry for being the occasion of so much anxiety for him.

I was impressed again by the bond between mother and child, even from a very early time. I believe that little Will’s capacity for loving and bonding when he grows up was being formed even at this early day by parents who loved him. That love will be a reservoir for him, just as God’s love is a reservoir for us from which we draw faith and hope: “see what great love the Father has for us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are! (1John 3:1)

It would not have mattered to Will if I were rich or beautiful or sweet smelling, he knew only one face that he trusted completely. When God sought to draw a people to Himself in an unbelieving world, He sought out Abraham and Sarah who hungered for a child. God propelled the journey to salvation with a bond that would carry on weaker and stronger for generations until His own son would appear and his mother be declared “blessed”. (Luke 1:47) One infant after another grew up and responded to the love of God and led His people for a season.

The transition from human love to love for a holy God is different for everyone. The seventeenth century scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote of his discourse with Jesus, “Take comfort; you would not be looking for me if you had not already found me” Jesus himself said, “Let any who is thirsty come to me and drink . Whoever believes in me, . . . rivers of living water will flow from within them. (John 7:38) In believing we trust and in trust we receive, for “we love because He First loved us.”

Love in Him,

Prue

Hunger

“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they (the disciples) did not even have a chance to eat, Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’” (Mark 6:31)

Jesus and his disciples attempted to do just that. They entered a boat and went to a solitary place, only to discover that the crowd of at least five thousand had arrived ahead of them.

Jesus knew that he and his disciples were hungry and tired, but when he saw the crowd, he was touched by his Father’s character of compassion and willingly turned away from his needs and those of his disciples to minister to the crowd. Only he knew that his plan to give respite to his own was God’s plan to extend respite to thousands. It’s as if Jesus had one “ear to the ground” in knowing his disciples’ needs, and “one ear to the sky” in knowing God’s plan for his respite. The miracle of feeding the five thousand follows this incident, followed in turn by Jesus’ miracle of walking on water.

Postponing his and his disciples’ dinner in favor of the crowd seems to have been a greater renewal for Jesus than if the time apart had never been interrupted. As a result they shared a meal with at least five thousand people, the culmination of Jesus pouring out a spiritual meal that was more fulfilling than the bread and fish. His “eye to the sky” produced an immortal miracle that led to a second immortal miracle on the lake afterward.

As a Christian, how often my “ear to the ground” in focusing on my own needs and the needs of family obscures my “ear to the sky!” Yet, the fruits of the latter are clearly larger and more lasting than the fruits of the former.

Jesus desired to bring relief to himself and his disciples but saw an even larger need in the crowd. I can’t help feeling grateful, as through Scripture I feel part of the crowd who was fed both on the ground and in their spirits by Jesus on that day.

After they had all eaten their fill, there was time alone for Jesus and his disciples in another boat. That day and night they surely never forgot, and it still feeds hungry followers today.

Love in Him,

Prue

Mary’s Voice

A friend once said to me that since the Bible didn’t address the subject of abortion, women are left on their own to know what course to take. I agreed that the word “abortion” doesn’t occur in the Bible, but it seemed to me out of character for God not to have an opinion on the subject. A long time later, after years of Bible reading, I thought I knew His opinion.

When Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill boy babies during birth, but not after birth, he indicated that a pre-birth killing was not a crime in his religion, but that after birth might be a crime. The midwives lied to Pharaoh that the Hebrew women gave birth successfully before the midwives even arrived, and so they didn’t kill the babies: “And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.” (Exodus 1:21)

At this early time the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” from the ten commandments had not yet been given. The midwives intuited the character of God from their own history and their experience of the joy of life in delivering healthy babies.

Of all the reasons to have an abortion, the Bible addresses most of them. Mary was arguably too young in addition to being unmarried. Sarah and Elizabeth were both too old. Neither was promised that she would survive childbirth, but all of these rejoiced to be pregnant. Elizabeth experienced the joy of her unborn baby when she heard Mary’s voice: “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” (Luke 1:44)

In a later generation Susannah Wesley bore nineteen children, of whom only ten survived to adulthood. Her sons John and Charles shaped the beginning of the Methodist Church in England and the United States. We have Charles to thank for “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, which is sung in almost every Christian church today.

Unmarried, too young, too old, too many, too poor( The Wesley’s were desperately poor.), are all reasons we think of abortion. They are all reasons God thinks of blessing.

“Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb He has spoken my name” (Isaiah 49:1) The question isn’t really, “Does the Bible have an opinion?”, but rather, will we, like the unborn John the Baptist, rejoice to hear Mary’s voice?

Love in Him,

Prue

One of the most charming stories in the Chronicles of Narnia stories by C.S. Lewis is The Horse And His Boy. In spite of the horse getting top billing in the title, the story centers around the boy Shasta, a prince who is one of a pair of identical twins separated at birth, kidnapped, rescued by a knight, and raised by a poor fisherman in a far country, who had no idea of Shasta’s real identity and who treated him as a servant as he grew older.

In the story the the boy managed to escape from the fisherman on a Narnian talking horse when he learned that he was about to be sold to a military officer. The horse had also been kidnapped. Together they make up the rest of the story a they travel through hostile territory to reach first Archenland, and eventually Narnia.

Shasta had many close calls on the journey, as he had to learn to ride a horse, find food, avoid detection, and persevere in traveling with others trying to escape, as well.

As Shasta reached Archenland he met Aslan, the Savior figure in all of the Narnia stories. In the encounter Shasta is introduced to the Great Lion who reveals Himself as One who has helped Shasta throughout his life.

To his great surprise Shasta, while standing next to his twin, Colin, is recognized by King Lune, their actual father: “What came next surprised Shasta as much as anything that had ever happened to him in his life. He found himself suddenly embraced in a bear-like hug by King Lune and kissed on both of his cheeks.”(The Horse and His Boy, chapter 13) As it turns out Shasta, whose real name is Cor, is the older twin, and will become King of Archenland after his father. Shasta (Cor) never chose to leave his father and mother, but he was raised without a faith.

His arrival at King Lune’s palace was greeted as joyfully as that of the Prodigal in Jesus’ story: “While he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”(Luke 15:26) Jesus also said, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:7)

Aslan showed Shasta that his “sufferings “ were really self pity, and Shasta was changed. The Prodigal was changed when he “came to himself” and recognized his own poverty. Everyone needs to repent some times. It makes it easier to know how truly happpy it makes our Father to hear it, and to see the change.

Love in Him,

Prue

On Wednesday Jack and I had breakfast at a grocery store, sitting by a wall of windows in the eating area. Just outside the window were two young women also having breakfast, and the one facing me held in her arms a very young infant while she fed him with a bottle. The tenderness and sweetness on her face as she held him and virtually forgot her own food, caught my attention. The baby was hungry and finished the bottle before he fell asleep in her arms. I thought I was witnessing one of he greatest engines in the survival of humanity on planet Earth.

When God Himself wished to express the depth of His love for His people in the Old Testament He found no more potent comparison than the love of a mother for her baby: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though even she may forget, I will not forget you!” (Isaiah 49:15) Even earlier God in Moses expresses His love: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27)

From the earliest times God has repeated the connection between His love and eternal life. When He established His covenant with Abraham, He said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if indeed you can count them.. . . so shall your offspring be.” (Genesis15:5) Later the prophet Jeremiah reports from God, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

The love I saw on the young mother’s face at breakfast was a reflection of the ancient and eternal love of God for all His children. Some times that love is almost captured in paintings of Mary holding her infant Jesus; and it’s no accident that this love is the love that God taps to help us understand His Character and even His motives in relating to us.

Mary’s love for her infant coincided with her love for God, as Mark Lowry’s lyrics attest: “Mary did you know that when you kissed your little baby, you kissed the face of God?”

We can’t measure the love of God, as we can’t measure God Himself, but He is generous in displaying for us images of His love and of His Person in the very world we inhabit, the world that hardly acknowledges Him, but cannot help but display His creation in every setting. Most of all ,God gives us His Book to read all the many manifestations of His Spirit on earth, and to find Him in its pages.

Love in Him,

Prue

Born Again

In the C.S. Lewis story Voyage of the Dawn Treader a young boy experiences the conversion of his character from a disagreeable self absorbed child to a caring and even courageous child, Eustace was unwillingly swept into Narnia, Lewis’ imaginary world that parallels the Christian world of England. Eustace was accompanied by his cousins, Edmond and Lucy.

In an effort to separate himself and avoid the other two children Eustace took a walk into a valley where he witnessed the death of an old dragon, and himself turned into a dragon after taking some of the treasure from the old ones’ lair. After several adventures as a dragon, Eustace encountered Aslan, a mystical lion, who is the savior figure in all the Narnia books:

“Then the lion said ‘You will have to let me undress you’ (from the dragon’s skin). “ I was afraid of his claws, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I lay flat down on my back and let him do it. The very first tare he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. . . Then he caught hold of me. . . and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing all the pain had gone.” (Dawn Treader, chapter7)

Lewis’ description of Eustace’s experience makes delightful reading because of the underlying truth in his fantasy: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”(John 3:3) Jesus’ words are as strange to Nicodemus, the man he’s addressing, as the encounter that Eustace had in the novel. Nicodemus said, “How can someone be born when they are old?” (John 3:4)

Lewis captures all the surprise and wonder and change that comes to a human soul at first recognizing the presence and saving power of God in his or her life. He includes the healing of pain, the joy of finding ones’ “true” self, the pleasure of feeling “clean”, the recognition of Someone Else to whom we matter beyond describing, the loving One who saves us.

In the end, Eustace thinks that he may have had a dream until his cousin Edmond tells him that everything that happened to him was entirely real. Eustace can’t help but believe, as he finds himself to be literally “born again” from his encounter with Aslan.

When we allow Christ to take away the crud in our lives we receive yet again “new birth”, sometimes a pain, always a joy.

Love in Him,

Prue