The Contribution

Exodus 35   Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, "This is the thing that the Lord has commanded.  Take from among you contributions to the Lord.  Whoever is of a generous heart, let Him bring the Lord's contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats hair, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breast piece."

In other words bring your best for the Lord and for the supply of His house.

What does it mean to give your best to the Lord?  Maybe it means not keeping the best for myself.

Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord's contribution.

Generosity is still something I struggle with.  Not just giving in general but particularly giving of my best.  It seems that the more I have the harder it is to give.  I dislike this selfish nature.  It is in direct contrast to what is required of a believer.

Matthew 16   Then Jesus told His disciples, "if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever would lose his life for My sake would find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Of what will a man give in return for his soul?"

Good question.

So maybe I struggle with generosity because of a lack of faith.

If I let go of this life and my own plans to attain the next will it be there?  If I give all to follow Christ will He be there for me?  If I lose my life in Him will it be enough?

Shameful.  But true for most of us.

We live our lives, by and large, for ourselves and our own families.  We don't deny ourselves very much.  The idea of bearing our "cross" or calling for Christ is not very appealing and losing our life to find it is risky.

Are you giving your best from a generous heart to see His kingdom come?  His will be done?

Me neither.

For what will a man give in return for his soul?

Father You gave Your very best for us.  How is it that we could be satisfied to give you less?  Forgive us Lord.  Remember that we are flesh and blood and damaged.  Our minds and heart are twisted away from You by misconceptions of who You are and by the ugliness of our thinking.  We are selfish hoarders, obsessed with greed for things that, in the end, have very little value and no eternal meaning.  Help us Lord to see You as You are and to be mindful of our souls.

The Image

Genesis 1   Then God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female, He created them.  And God blessed them.  And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that is on the face of all the earth...And God saw everything that He had made; and behold, it was very good.

Whenever I read the story of creation I fall in love with God all over again.  I imagine Him smiling when the first rays of the sun appeared and warmed everything within it's reach.  I think of the creativity and wisdom involved in developing the tides and seasons or the sense of humor that went into the design of the giraffe or the anteater.  Each flower designed by hand and built to reproduce by a loving craftsman, a master gardener.

There is a truth in this story that brings me to my knees.

It was for us.

On the last day of creation when all else was done, the sun and moon, rivers and seas, mountains and valleys and every creature that draws breath on land, in the sea or sky were in place, God on this last day, creates man and woman.  He blessed them, gave them dominion over everything that He had just made and placed them in a beautiful garden to love and help one another.

I believe that all that was ever made was made for us.

And we were made for Him.

You cannot afford to miss this.

He made us for each other and to care for the earth and to be a people for His own.  You were made for Him.  To follow Him.  To have a real relationship with Him.  To love Him.

If you are in love just imagine for a moment that this man was made for you and that before you fell for him he had a plan to win you.   Imagine he purchased the most beautiful piece of property with a creek and a waterfall, meadows full of wild flowers and a charming cottage that he had made with his own hands.  A pond that he had stocked himself and a meadow with a pony and puppy all in preparation for the life that you two would have together.  To marry and raise a family there.  To grow up and grow old and fall in love there.  Everything that you could ever want is there.  Sure, there will be hard times, fights, sickness or sorrows but such is life, right?  Even a good one.

But she, you, find yourself indifferent to his offering.  You doubt, without reason, his sincerity and despite everything he has done you walk away.

She gives herself to lesser things.

Surely somewhere in the recesses of your mind and heart you hear the call of your Creator?

Come home.  Come back to me.

Song of Solomon   The voice of my beloved!  Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.  My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.  Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice.  My beloved speaks and says to me,
         
                               "Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away".

He has made a dwelling place for you.  He has made a place in His world for you.  He has a place in His heart for you.  He wait and longs for you.

Do you have room in your life for someone who loves you that much or will you be indifferent to his labors and give yourself to lesser things and walk away.

Consider this.....where will you go?

Father, there is nothing greater in this life or the next to surpass knowing You.  Lead us to truth Lord and remove the lies in our hearts about who You are and what You are like.  Reveal Yourself to us.  Goodness, mercy, integrity, patience, loving kindness and unending love.  Forgive us for ever thinking that you are less.

The Creation

Genesis 1   In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.  And God said, "Let there be light, " and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good.  And God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.  And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Do you believe this?

When I was a young child, before I became a believer or came to know God, the story of creation just made sense to me.  I could look at the stars and moon, the wind and weather and watch our food just grow up out of the ground and it was just easy for my mind to transition into the thought that there was someone in the heavens that was bigger than us and that He must keep the whole thing running smoothly.  It was my thought that he was wise and good.  And distant.

Have you ever walked barefoot out to your own garden and picked a tomato that you had planted with your own hands, washed it off with a garden hose that had been lying in the sun so the water was nice and warm and bit into a ripe, juicy tomato?  If you haven't, you should.  My first thought would be, Thank You Lord for sunshine and tomatoes.

Other theories on creation just don't fit for me.  Our world seems to be built with wisdom, creativity, order....intent.

Does it take a leap of faith to believe in creation by God?

Does it take faith to believe that we evolved from apes or came from the sea or are a product of an explosion in space?

Maybe.

Maybe before I came to know Him.

If you consider the ant, the brain, the conception of a child ask yourself if these things are random accidental events that occur by instinct alone and if so, who created that instinct.

I will not pretend to be wise enough to argue the great minds of science.  I know the outskirts of science.  But I have a working knowledge of its creator.

Trying to explain being filled with God's Holy Spirit is like trying to explain contractions to a man.  But there is, living in the heart of every believer, the likeness and exact replica of that creator and it bears witness to the truth.  He, the Holy Spirit, is our Amen.  He is the One who leads us to truth.

Creation by God made sense to me as a child.  But from the moment I placed my heart in Christ and He placed His Spirit in me it not only makes sense but is also no longer takes a leap of faith to believe it.  Its just the way it is.

I would submit to you truth.  There is a God in heaven who is present at all times.  By His power and through His great love everything that you see was created for Him and by Him.  Man was the crown of that creation, made in His own image and dearly loved.  You were made to have a relationship with Him, not just knowledge of Him.  It is the longing of His heart to redeem You.

If you can accept this as possible and in your heart allow him to reveal truth to you, to reveal Himself to you, you will never to disappointed.

Father reveal Yourself to those who read this.  Make us aware of how much it matters, knowing You.  You are everything.

The Call

Matthew 11   Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Are you struggling under the weight of the load of religion?  You know what I mean.  You can't do this.  You must do this.  You cant touch this, or taste this, or drink that.  You know.....the list. I can't, must, ought, and should list.  The fine print reads that if you keep the list to perfection you might just catch the favor of a God who is only interested in the obedience of His subjects.

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gently and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

One of the purposes of this blog is to be a witness for Christ, a testament to a great love, a healing, love, a restoring love.  I too would with to be a voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Make way for the coming King".

There is a phrase in the New Testament that is used many times by Jesus.  Follow Me.

It speaks of a commitment.  A bonded friendship.  A vested relationship.  Just walk with Me and talk with Me, dwell with Me, laugh and cry with Me.  Pray for Me.  Learn from Me all that is needed for life, for family, for country, for My Fathers kingdom.  He knew that if they followed Him they would come to believe in Him and that would be enough to secure them for all eternity.  And that they would tell others of His great love for them.

I hope that through this blog you come to know Him.  I hope my writings make you curious about Him.  I hope it sparks your interest in Him.  Because if it does and if you seek Him, He will be found.  If you find Him, follow Him.  For knowing Him is the key to it ALL.  The whole shebang.  The whole kit and caboodle.

For what He's done for me....this is why I write.  He loved me.  He restored Me.  He redeemed from from a worthless life, from the very bottom.

He saved me.  Not with a list but by His love for me.  He loved me into a relationship and He has been mending up the broken places ever since.

Does this seem impossible?  I would be for anyone other than the Son of God, the Savior of the world.  And doesn't the world need a Savior?

Matthew 7  Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him.

Father give me the words to write that  bring people to the knowledge of who You are.  Help these words find the hopeless, the lonely, the desperate, the seekers, the misguided and unbelieving.  Let me bear witness to Your honor, Your steadfast love, Your desire to heal our wounds and give meaning to our lives. Make us Yours Lord and may we count for Your kingdom.  It's all for You Lord and YOU really ARE worth it.

The Reunion

Revelation 21   Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them and they will be His people, and God Himselfwill be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Yesterday was an awesome day.  It was the Bowen family reunion at my mom's place.

Ken went with the kids to church while I cooked for the reunion.  Jaimie, Nick, Haley and Will at church together and that is awesome enough.  There is something wonderful in having your children worship together the God who gave all for us, especially when those "children" are grown and married.

After Church we drove to Alabama to my mothers' house which is her parents homeplace which is beside their parents homeplace.  Of course they are all long gone from this earth.  They are at their Fathers' homeplace.

Our family has been meeting here in this place for as long as I can remember. Yesterday one of my cousins brought us a picture of my parents when they were young, taken in this very yard at a reunion long ago.  My sweet, funny Daddy, gone for so many years now.  We had such a great time.  My family knows how to have fun and they love to laugh and joke and tell funny stories of each other through the years.  They also know how to cook.  The food was awesome.

I looked around this group of people, some very young, some great in years, some known and loved for all of my life an some I had not met before and I was filled with such a sweet feeling of contentment, of connection.   By blood we are connected for life.  By the Spirit we are connected for eternity.

Anytime we are together as a family I feel the loss of those who are not here any longer.  Daddy, Casey, Uncle Floyd, Granny & Papaw, Mimmie & Papa and so many more.  I miss them so much.  It is also a bittersweet longing for I know where they are.  I know where I'm going.  And I know that our best years together are still to come.  I will see them again.  No doubt.  We will spend eternity together in our Fathers' house in heaven.

My parents, and their parents and their parents owned this land and year after year they invited all the their family to come to a reunion.  It is tradition.  A way to reconnect to those people who share your heritage.

I believe that my heavenly Father has done and is doing the same.  He has prepared a place for His people, a city, where He will live with them there.  This life will be no more, all things will be made new.  Even us.  No more sickness, no more death and maybe the best of all....no more separation from your family.

Down through the generations of my family has been passed a love for God and for the Scriptures and a belief that not only does He exist but that He has a longing, deep and constant for His family, for His children, for us.  And that when this life is over we will pass seamlessly into the next.  We will go home to a huge family reunion.  The bread, the wine, the celebration, the laughter and the knowing that we have been loved and sought after and watched over and cared for from before the foundations of the world were laid.  Forever.

Father, thank You so much for my family.  For my heritage and their legacy.  The You for revealing Yourself in our lives and in our day to day search to find our way home to You.  Bless them Lord with happiness and health, make the prosper in all that they do.  I pray that their hearts, every one, are steadfastly search for and finding the depth of Your awesome love for them and that their hearts are completely and forever Yours.  Father I pray that we will not come to you empty handed but that our house will be full of the others who have heard from us of Your awesome love for them, Your kindness toward them, Your goodness and everlasting mercy.

The Work

Exodus 31 The Lord said to Moses, See I have called by name Bezales the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stone for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft....And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you.

Words given to Moses regarding the building of the Tabernacle. A meeting place for God and His people. Still relevant after all these years.

John 9 We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming.

For the last few months we have been renovating our home after storm damage in April. It is September. It has been one of the most stressful times in my life.

It reminds me of a dance or an orchestra. Imagine the frustration of a conductor or choreographer with fifty instrumentalists learning to play to perfection a new and very difficult piece of music.

I have learned that one trade is dependent on another. First came finding the right contractor, dealing with the insurance company and the mortgage lender, the trusses, framing, roofing, plumbing, sheetrock, insulators, electricians, masons, painters, and on and on. We are at their mercy.

If it rains the project falls behind and if one person fails to show up for work everyone following them is delayed.

One thing that I have really enjoyed about this projects is watching people work who are gifted at their trade and who will be there when they tell you they will. I love to pull into the driveway and see the tradespeople hard and work and progress being made.

Sometimes in the daily grind of life I forget that God has called me to specific place in His kingdom work.

You and I have been equipped by God to serve in some capacity in His service. There is work that only we can do. And if we fail to do it, what then?

In our remodel when people do not fulfill their roles we fall behind and eventually someone else must be found to complete that task. It's frustrating. We are building a home that we really want to live in. It's expensive. It's hard work. There is a lot depending on it. I want to have my friends and family over for dinner. I want to see a dog playing in the back yard. I want my grandchildren to play there.

God has prepared a place in heaven for all His children to dwell. Whether the world or you or I believe that it does not change the fact that it is true. There will come a day when those who have believed in Him and placed their faith in the Son, in Jesus Christ, will live together as a family. Forever.

There is work to be done to prepare for that day. People need to be invited to come. A family needs to live there. Children need to play there. And workers needs to show up and work to make sure that we do our part and seeing His work come to completion.

I want you to be there.

John 9 We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day.....night is coming.

Father it is so easy to live life, to raise children, to remodel or garden or play and to let the days slip away and never give thought to our purpose for Your kingdom. I want to be a good mom, I want to be a good Nannie and wife and gardener and designer and nurse, all of these things are good but what I really want at the end of the day is to spend eternity with them, with You and with as many as we can persuade to come. Place eternity in my heart, in my thoughts every day. Give the power of Your Holy Spirit to these words and let them have an impact for Your glory.

The Shadow

John 12 Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? "Father, save Me from the hour?" But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify Your Name.

Sometimes knowing the end of a story causes the beginning to lack impact. May it never be that we would consider the cross and not be impacted by the sheer horror of it.

One thing that amazes me about the life and ministry of Jesus is the fact that He could enjoy life and fulfill His purpose with the cross looming in His future. How could He function will clarity, form friendships, laugh, weep at the pain of others, teach, heal and love without measure when He knew what was coming?

And this is the point in which our minds might say, Well, He was God. And the thought is that it was easier for Him than it would have been for us. Right?

Now is My should troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour?

He was a man. Flesh and blood. The Scripture says He became weary, sleepy, hungry and angry. He cried real tears and felt real human emotions. Like fear. Or dread. The Scriptures say He was tested in EVERY way like a man. Yet without sin.

But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify Your Name.

He chose the cross. He set His eyes toward Calvary and endured not just for us. For the great Name and glory of His Father and in accordance with His will.

All things were accomplished through the life, ministry and death of Jesus Christ. Our debt was settled; an atonement was made for our sin. Jesus completed His ministry through obedience to the His Fathers' plan and for His Fathers' glory.

Be magnified, O Lord!!

Hopefully, when we consider the cross we will be impacted by the act of His will and His love and His sacrifice.

When I survey the wondrous cross....

Lord Jesus may we never forget Your anguish, Your suffering and Your commitment. Remind us of the agony and sacrifice that was made for our souls. For Your devotion to our Father and for the price that You pain we are grateful. May our gratitude be reflected in the way we live.