He Will Rise And Come Looking For Us

STATION III - Weights and Measures
by Kevin Rolly

So soon…
(It wasn’t to be this soon)

He barely made the first hill
(I thought I could)

Messiah?
Messiah will overthrow the nations
Messiah will put our enemies to the sword
and give us our own kingdom
You cannot even walk

Messiah?
You are a liar…
and make a mockery of our hopes
Your followers will return to fishing
and your name forgotten by winter

Your kingdom will be in the beaks
of those that circle even now
on carrion wings

King, you tremble
(I am afraid)
King, you weep
(I am alone)

Why is this?

Or did God at last
create the rock
he could not lift?

Has God ever seemed to fall short of being the god you needed? The god you were expecting? You are not alone. The Christ of the Cross must have seemed anything but The Anointed, The Messiah, The One who would put Israel back on top and grind Rome to dust. Isaiah says, "We esteemed Him not."

Covered in open wounds it might have been easy to miss the power. Onlookers might be forgiven for thinking the nails were what was holding Him to the Cross. Sometimes I miss the point too. Sometimes I don't see Him for who He really is.

But this Jesus is not a god who stays where you put Him. He doesn't conform to our opinion of Him. This Jesus-God washes feet and feeds strangers. He touches lepers and menstrual women and dead sons and He is OK with them touching Him back.

This Jesus is the water-walker, the storm-silencer, the fish-finder, the wine-whisperer. Soldiers understand Him. Priests plot against Him. His heart belongs to Jerusalem. His lap belongs to children.

If you are confused or full of questions, if you come to Him in secret because, "What will people think?" you will not find a rebuke waiting. He might, rather, tell you a story or share a metaphor.

Sometimes we take His measure all wrong. Sometimes we miss the meaning. Sometimes we are the ones saying,"Well if you had just come sooner my brother wouldn't be dead."

No matter.

This crucified God is still God and on the third day He will rise just as He said. If we have minimized Christ, if we have measured Him all wrong, He will still rise. He will rise and come looking for us. He will deal with our sin and our difficulties in ways that are unexpected.

This is a God who made the enormous trip from unconfined divinity to God-in-the-flesh, human mortality to set thing right again, to show us the Father, to deliver us utterly and openly- so look long. Look closely. See Him for who He is. Ask the Spirit, who is our Teacher, to show you the real Jesus. The Jesus with a love that leashed Hell and opened Heaven. The Jesus that promised to be with us to the end of the age. The Jesus who holds tightly to those given to Him by the Father. To us.

This is the God who is present and accounted for every moment of our lives. The God who delights to be known. The God-mystery who is revealing Himself in the person of Christ whose Resurrection will eclipse our puny god thoughts. He has all the power He needs to keep us. Christ is always more than we think He is.

It is His delight to show us how much more.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:24-25


Purple Berries and Sunflowers, colored pencil on dark paper for Jackie's birthday

Do You Need An Earthquake?

Matthew 27:51-52 - At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. (NIV)

Are you ready for an earthquake in your life? Are you ready to have stubborn things, unmovable circumstances, deeply entrenched sin or disappointment rearranged by a supernatural and uncontrollable love quake? Me too. I had to think before I answered. It is that uncontrollable part.

Remember at supper when He identified Himself as the vine, us as its branches? Well, it is Good Friday and the vine is about to undergo a fierce, cataclysmic change. We are going to change if we remain connected. It can be no other way.


Come closer. Open your eyes and your heart and prepare for the shattering when that quake comes. What needs to be moved? What needs to die in your life? What needs to be finished? Today is the day it gives up the ghost.

Today love whispers and cries out and saves you.

Come to the Cross:

http://iamcallingshotgun.blogspot.com/2010/04/good-friday-remembered.html


Sherry's Berries, Pencil and ink, drawn for my sister's birthday card -Kat

Burden Bearer-Ask The Animals Sundays

Who could confront me and get by with it?
I'm in charge of all this—I run this universe!
-God Speaking to Job, Job 41:11 MSG

Today is Palm Sunday, and also Passion Sunday: today’s little parade is fanfare, prelude, signaling the arrival of the unholy circus we call Holy Week — whose climax is not three rings but three Roman crosses, stabbed in bloody relief against Jerusalem’s skyline, an eclipse of justice so cosmic as to be mirrored in the heavens on a festival Friday afternoon.

With populist fanfare Jesus descends from the Mount of Olives into the valley of the shadows of his death. And we too, following, make our own sharp descent into the maelstrom of the week’s intrigue.

It is hard work, the work before us this week. If Jesus’ first followers found themselves wishing to go back to the good days before the unpleasantness began or, like us, jumping ahead to the glory they might have imagined lay ahead, like them we have to remain here for a while. For this hour, to this place, this coming trouble — this is where Jesus journeys, and all his disciples, like it or not, must journey with him.

- Thomas R. Steagald

From pages 122-124 of Shadows, Darkness, and Dawn: A Lenten Journey with Jesus

In about the time it took to create the world Jesus would destroy "this" temple and rebuild it, death would be defeated, Heaven opened and mankind would be reconciled to God. Today begins the last leg of His journey that began with Mary's, "Be it done to me as you have said."

Jesus rides into Jerusalem on an unbroken donkey that has never yielded to the weight of a man. A donkey, who like the man riding it was found at the crossroad of two different ways. Like Jesus, the donkey yields and allows the weight to be laid upon its back. I often wondered if Jesus, the sin-bearer, grew heavier the closer He got to the city.

It was all "Hosanna" today but soon it would be treasonous betrayal, the cursing of a friend, the lash, the thorns and the nails. I think I just answered my own question. Much, much heavier. Didn't He even say as much later when sorrow overwhelmed Him? Still the little donkey keeps faith with Him just as the one did that carried Mary, great and swollen with child, so long ago.

As I was reading the Palm Sunday message in John 12:12-19 and the other gospels, I was struck by the thought that I do not lend such easy obedience to the plan of God. There are moments when that donkey shames my fickle profession. Times when God has needed to confront me with, "I run this universe!"

If I follow Christ to Jerusalem and ultimately to the Cross, if I allow myself to remember that the Creator of the Universe, the in-charge One, humbled Himself for us; if I consider His sacrifice and gift, His perfect obedience, then my shouted, "Save Now" means something. I desperately need it to.


So lead on little friend. Carry my Savior and carry my hopes. Carry us into Holy Week and a place of remembrance. Hosanna in the Highest. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.


-Kat

Ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
let the birds tell you what's going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn't it clear that they all know and agree
that God is sovereign? That He holds all things in His hand—
Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature.
Job 12:7-10

(Special thanks to Christian Jeter, age 7, for using her giftings for God-things. She has join me to produce Ask The Animals Sundays for Lent.)

Yours By Right-Ask The Animals Sundays

Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,
The very splendor I had in your presence
Before there was a world.
I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.
They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I'm not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.
John 17:5-12 (MSG)

I was reading concerning lion behavior for this posting of Ask the Animals and one author said the lion has a grandeur only God could have bestowed upon him. If you have ever had the privilege to see a full grown male up close you would agree. Lions are awe inspiring.


Jesus is known as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and He is every bit deserving of the honor. To be the head of a tribe or a pride is a position only the most worthy could defend.

An interesting lion behavior I discovered was the disconcerting practice demonstrated by a new male ascending to the position of pride leader. A male may be in charge of protecting a territory containing several females. (Those females are not ornamental but fierce in the extreme and supply most of the food for the pride in skillfully coordinated hunts.) What the pride leader is defending them from, is the intrusion of a new male seeking to reproduce. He is interested in only his genes swimming in the pool.

Should a new male succeed in overthrowing an existing leader, the first order of business is for him to eliminate any cubs not his. This causes the females to stop nursing and become available to produce the new leader's offspring. New life born to the pride must be his bloodline. My sympathies if you are horrified by this practice but creation did not come about out of a Disney script, after all.

In John 17, Jesus makes His pedigree evident in a prayer to His Father, "I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me...They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, That everything you gave me is firsthand from you, For the message you gave me, I gave them; And they took it, and were convinced that I came from you."

Jesus overthrew the evil one and laid claim to the regenerated hearts and minds of those who believed on Him. Jesus produced in His followers the character of the Father as He had demonstrated it and a new family came into being that looked and sounded just like the Father. The Father recognized them as His own bloodline. "My life is on display in them."

As we come down to the final weeks of Lent let us take time to do some serious self-examination. Is the life of Christ on display in us? Does He know us as His own? It is not enough that a church family claims us in its membership. If we are not His, He will know it. Time to eliminate all that is from a foreign gene pool and be true sons and daughters. Jesus blazed the trail.

"For they are yours by right."

May it be said of us and known for the truth.

-Kat

Link to Lion of the Tribe of Judah by Misty Edwards in live worship

Ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
let the birds tell you what's going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn't it clear that they all know and agree
that God is sovereign? That He holds all things in His hand—
Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature.
Job 12:7-10

(Special thanks to Christian Jeter, age 7, for using her giftings for God-things. She will join me to produce Ask The Animals Sundays, 2/19/12 through Palm Sunday.)

An Invitation

"LENT IS A SPIRITUAL “spring cleaning”: we enter the inner places where we are stuck or muddled, and we clear away the clutter so that God moves a little more freely through us. …

When we look at ourselves deeply and honestly, we all meet our own demons. In this work, we first find ourselves alone and exposed to the inner elements: our vices, our confusion, feelings we’d prefer to mute. And this is the way it must be; to explore and heal ourselves, we must meet ourselves head on, alone, in what may feel like a very wild place.

Open your heart and mind to your entire self — both good and bad — and quietly name what you find there. And remember that you are not alone in this work. God goes with you, moving gently and compassionately through your inner world, guiding and nurturing your Lenten journey."

- Alive Now, March/April 2012

How slowly I move toward cleaning anything unless I am really angry about something. When I am disturbed I disturb all the dust bunnies and piles of books (I am a compulsive book stacker) and homogenized kitchen drawers. The problem is that the older I get the less frequently anything really truly deeply upsets me. (No teenagers) So, the house stays untidy until guests come then it is a frantic ordeal.  (Except for John's areas. He is a compulsive neat-nick) Motivation is a lot of the problem. Motivation and time.

Motivation is also a problem in our spiritual life. We look at the sometimes gargantuan task of house cleaning and demur. We forget God has a plan and resources. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19:10. That means all the lostness in our lives.

How about the musty old corners of our lives? What about the clutter built up around our gifts? How about the surface of our dining room table? What about all the lost opportunities because gack is in the way spiritually and practically? Does that qualify for saving under God's plan? You bet your dust bunnies!

The scripture tells us that God is bringing everything that concerns us to perfection. Everything is, well, everything. Spiritual clutter, physical clutter, He is not put off by it but He is looking forward to the day we throw a party because we swept the house clean and found lost treasure.

I don't know what personal inventory you need to make. I can only answer for myself. I don't know what self-help books you would find helpful. I tend to read half, starting at the end, then use them to press flowers and prop open windows. I do know we can feed shame about our procrastination to the dust bunnies and simply ask Jesus to step into the areas in need of attention. He has been seeking the victory in those areas on your behalf all along. He will bless even small steps in the right direction.

While I was sitting for my grandson, who is almost four, I asked God to show me how to explain Him to John Sebastian. We ended up digging for treasure on the beach and finding lost change and a matchbox car. He was beside himself with excitement. He couldn't wait to show his folks and to return for a second round of digging. We cleaned off the sand and mud and put his loot in a special treasure box. I found myself telling Him how Jesus came to look for us because we were His treasure and that He had joy at finding us and dusting us off and making us fixed. He is only a child but I saw the light go on.


Whatever needs a clean up in our lives we may find a book written about overcoming it (I am not disparaging that) or we may sit in the quiet with our Treasure-Hunter-God and hand Him a broom and mean it. He was made for the wild places. You can't scare Him. It might not feel like a day at the beach but the end result will be treasure.

Lent is the perfect place to begin...or begin again.

-Kat

Championed By Grace

"My life is a witness to vulgar grace -- a grace that amazes as it offends. A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wage as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five. A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party, no ifs, ands, or buts. A grace that raises bloodshot eyes to a dying thief's request -- "Please, remember me" -- and assures him, "You bet!"

...This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It's not cheap. It's free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try and find something or someone that it cannot cover. Grace is enough..." Brennan Manning, All Is Grace

All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. Romans 5:20:21
MSG

Vulgar, aggressive? Not the kind of words our sense of propriety would link with Grace. God was not so particular. A song lyric says "Grace makes beauty out of ugly things." Does it ever. Did it ever. Grace in the extreme, hanging naked and dead on a Roman cross. Grace exsanguinated, heart and lungs collapsed, pierced. Grace, face caked in a mask of blood. Grace nailed tight to our sins. Grace closing the deal.

More than a momentary passion, more than a spasm, it is Grace completing the will of God and reclaiming our place at the table by paying an unimaginable price. A bare-knuckle-grace in a winner take all fight to the death by our Champion.

So that is how our release based on His obedience was secured. What then is our part? To believe on the One who was sent and to cease from sinning. To live free, with thanksgiving, in the land His love and sacrifice purchased.

So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! Romans 6:1-3
My Father-God,

I renounce my sin.

I renounce all my own efforts to gain your favor.

I choose to accept Christ as my Champion.

I choose to live in a Grace-Sovereign country.

May Christ remember me as He did the thief.

I embrace an open Paradise.

Amen.


Practicing contrition and gratitude in this season of Lent, -Kat


Painting by Stephen Sawyer @ Art for God

Facing The Dogs-Ask The Animals Sundays

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. John 13:1

There is never a shortage of ducks and geese in Anchorage in the summertime. Midtown traffic stops while Mama goose and a trail of goslings crosses at a busy intersection. They are everywhere.


There is a park near where I work that has three small lakes. The surrounding wooded areas serve as honeymoon suites and nurseries. The more hidden of the bodies of water make good first Water Babies classes. The geese and several different kinds of ducks build nests, lay eggs, incubate them and launch hundreds of babies every year. It is interesting to watch them. In the fall they head south just prior to the return of the ravens.

The animals are sometimes forced to share the park with any number of stupid and inconsiderate humans lacking the common sense God gave ticks. Bad little boys with bows and arrows make living targets of the wildlife. People who think the posted leash law means other people with dogs- not them, have pets that chase and sometimes injure their feathered neighbors. (I have very strong opinions about such behavior and all I will say is that God knew what He was doing when He did not give me superpowers.)

On more than one occasion I have seen Mother ducks shoo the babies to safety (Did I mention we also have eagles?) while Daddy fakes a limp in order to draw a predator to himself. I have seen adult geese form a posse, stand tiptoe with wings spread full and chase vagrant canines while making the most awful racket. Where their offspring are concerned they will not go gentle.

Among my thoughts of turning some people into park benches or worse, I am also struck by the similarities between animals who nurture and defend their young and God's great care for me. I know the Creation reflects parts of His character and as I watch the ducks gently rounding up their broods, showing them where to search for food, covering them with their wings, warming them with their own bodies and defending them valiantly, even under threat of injury, I see the One who gave it all to deliver me from this body of death.

All He has made echoes His heart. When the ducklings tire I see them climb on Mama's back. They are safe and dry as she glides through the water. How often He has carried me. Weighted down with some difficulty, He lifts me up, holds me tucked in close enough for my weary soul to almost smell the warm cinnamon and cassia coming from His garments. To hear His heart, to read His thoughts. The number of times my days have been strewn with tiny miracles that cause me to stop and consider His deliberate affection, I cannot say.

Christ's last evening had come. Hell was counting down the minutes. The pieces were falling into place. The betrayer would betray. The lash would fly true to its target. The crowd that had eaten the bread and fish of His generosity would prefer a convict to Him. The Cross would be laid upon His bleeding shoulders and He would carry our sins to His death. But not before He would demonstrate His love and friendship one last time to those the Father had given to Him.

Bread, wine, a lamb, a new Covenant, lots of encouragement and talk of vines and relationship, then beloved feet in holy hands. A demonstration of love prior to the incontrovertible proof of it.

The talk of love in our opening scriptures is agape love. HELPS Word Studies defines agapáō as to prefer, to love; a "discriminating affection which involves choice and selection." Christ chose them. It was no accident and His choice of us was equally discriminating. A different translation says, "He loved them to the end (His death)."

Our dirty feet were under that Passover table. His hands passed the bread and the cup to us. He pulled us in close, reassured us, gave us last minute encouragements and went out to face down the dogs.

He is still saving me, saving us.

Today as we move closer to our Easter celebration, let us remember Christ with a love that chooses, selects and honors Him, this Savior who put us on His back and carried us across the river separating us from God.

Let us remember He loved us to the end.

-Kat




Ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
let the birds tell you what's going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn't it clear that they all know and agree
that God is sovereign? That He holds all things in His hand—
Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature.
Job 12:7-10

(Special thanks to Christian Jeter, age 7, for using her giftings for God-things. She will join me to produce Ask The Animals Sundays, 2/19/12 through Palm Sunday.)

Mama mallard link