Carrying American Idols in Our Bags

Idols don’t have real eyes that actually see.   Thank you, Captain Obvious.    

Idols don’t have real ears that actually hear.   Again with the Captain Obvious.  Maybe I’ll skip her blog this week…

Okay, maybe all those “American Idols” over the years like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have real eyes and real ears, but I’m not talking about them.  I’m referring to those metal or wood statues or shrines, that come in all shapes and forms, often found today in eastern religions.  Idols:  like the ones talked about in that famous second commandment “Do not make for yourself any graven images.”  

It may not surprise you that Egypt was full of “graven images.”  From pictographs chiseled onto temple walls to gargantuan granite statues to smaller fit-on-your-shelf golden idols, graven images and idols were a deeply significant part of ancient Egyptian culture.

And it is out of this Egyptian culture of images and idols that Israel hears this second commandment for the first time.  For some of us who have heard this commandment so many times we could almost recite it by heart, we have to remember Israel is hearing this for the first time after leaving a culture where graven images was part of every day life.  It would be like an American moving to another country and then they are instructed, “By the way, no more baseball and apple pie allowed!”

So you can bet, when the people of Israel left Egypt in a hurry after all those plagues, many of them carried with them statues, idols, graven images among their belongings or in their bags.  They may have been serving God, but for many of them, the culture of Egyptian “gods”  and idols had to have infiltrated their own lives.

But the problem with these gods, these idols?  They don’t see.  They don’t hear.  The God who brought Israel out of Egypt wanted them to know that he hears, he sees, and he wants them to trust him!  A graven image can’t get you out of Egypt; an idol can’t part the Red Sea.  But a living God who sees and hears his people wants his people to put their trust in him.  Not in lifeless statues. 

No problem, right?  That no idols thing is a breeze— unless we come from an eastern religion, I have a feeling not too many of us bow down and worship any kind of statue or shrine...

But what about other things that are deeply rooted in our culture that we have let take over rather than trusting in God.  Like Israel in Egypt, what has infiltrated our lives rather than the living God who we are supposed to trust in?

Money and wealth?

Success or popularity?

Vanity or self-image?

Busyness or work?

Materialism?

Entertainment?

Alcohol or drugs?

So many of these things our culture has encouraged us to “worship,” or at least take along in our bags when we follow God.  But God wants to be first.  Our “jealous” God wants all of us.   

Does alcohol have eyes?  Does money have ears?  Does success see your tears when you’re in pain? Does entertainment hear you when you cry out?

God does.  The Living God sees you and hears you and wants all of you.  The same Living God who came down in human form and saw suffering with human eyes, heard cries with human ears, and felt nails go through his human hands.  This Living God hears and sees us and knows putting our trust in anything but him will lead to an unfulfilled life.   And make us as lifeless as the idols we serve. 

So friends, which idols do you need to throw out?  What in your life are you “worshipping” that can’t see or hear?  

      What part of Egypt are you still carrying in your bag

“Their idols are silver and gold,
    made by human hands.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
    eyes, but cannot see.
⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear,
    noses, but cannot smell.
⁷ They have hands, but cannot feel,
    feet, but cannot walk,
    nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
    and so will all who trust in them.

⁹ All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—
    he is their help and shield.
¹⁰ House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
    he is their help and shield.
¹¹ You who fear him, trust in the Lord—
    he is their help and shield.”

-          Psalm 115:4-11

 

               

                                                                                                                                                                       

"Ruach" in the Desert

Cairo, Egypt. 

400 degrees Fahrenheit.   

 Ok, so maybe not quite that hot, but it sure felt that way.

We were hardly hours into our trip and we embarked on our first hike in the middle of the Egyptian desert that surrounded the ancient pyramids.  While other tourists were taking their pictures and getting back on their air conditioned buses, we were hiking…   in 400 degrees. 

We gathered in a circle a decent length hike away from the pyramids, huffing and puffing and taking a drink of our much-needed water, and a light but soul-refreshing breeze circled around our group.

“Do you feel that ruach?” our leader said. 

Ruach.  Hebrew= breath, wind, spirit…

Did we feel that “ruach”?   That wind that gave us our breath back?  That breeze that gave us a glimmer of comfort?  That light gust bringing welcome relief from the scorching heat?  Did we feel it?

“Do you feel that ruach,

that breath of God in the wilderness?”  the leader continued. 

The breeze circled our group yet again as we all took another sip of water.

And then leader George spoke words that will forever be engraved on my heart: 

               

“God doesn’t take the heat away, but sends his ruach to make it bearable.”

Wow. God may not take suffering away, but he sends his wind, his spirit, his breeze of comfort and peace to make life bearable.

How often in life have we been found in that desert?   When was the last time you were in a desert of your life – where the heat of life circumstances was almost unbearable?   Maybe even now you find yourself in an exhausting desert of the soul…

And how many of us pray and hope for God to just take that unbearable heat away?   To get us the hell out of that desert – because hell is how awful that desert feels…

And there’s nothing wrong with crying out to God, asking him to take it away; the psalms are full of these prayers.  BUT we can’t always expect life to be free of hard times when we are children of God.  And we can’t expect God to immediately alleviate suffering in our lives.  Being God’s people doesn’t make life easy...

but

but

It does mean we have a God who makes difficult times bearable.  It means we have a God who walks beside us, sending his Spirit, his refreshing wind to rejuvenate us even when there is no relief in sight.  It means we can have a deep sense of peace no matter how isolated, sorrowful, or desert-ed we feel.

Do you remember a time this past summer on one of those intolerably hot days when you said or thought, “If it wasn’t for this breeze, this heat would be unbearable?”  

If it wasn’t for that breeze, that Spirit, that ruach of God, life would be unbearable…

The next time you find yourself in one of life’s deserts, allow the Spirit of the God of the universe to refresh your soul.

“God doesn’t take the heat away, but sends his ruach to make it bearable.” 

“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” Jeremiah 31:25

40 blogs in 40 weeks

Three short months ago I embarked on an unforgettable journey to the Middle East that forever changed the way I see the world, and more importantly, the way I see the God who created this world… and each one of us.  

Since returning from that trip, I’ve been wrestling with how to even begin to share with others and pass along the wonder of all the things I’ve learned and seen.  So often, life’s busyness strangles our time to reflect, and we move on from life’s experiences and continue on with life, trying to find our way back to “normal.” 

But my problem?  I don’t necessarily want “the normal” any more.  After spending time experiencing the Bible and learning about God  in a completely new context, I don’t feel like going back to “normal” is an option anymore.  There’s so much to share; so much to reflect on; and still so much more to learn…

 After months of stewing over how to pass on the blessings of this trip, I’ve decided to start writing again, and am challenging myself to write a weekly blog based on a profound insight or fact that was presented to me on this Middle East trip.  Years ago I would try to write more often, reflecting on who God was and his significance in all our lives, and I have been convicted to take that up again, even though it will be just weekly.  I’m definitely not a “preacher” by any means (unlike half of the study group I travelled with!), but one thing I enjoy doing and a way I can share is through writing.  So, here I am, going to dare to venture and say I will do this for the next -- here goes-- 40 weeks!!  Yikes… 40 blogs in 40 weeks, when most days I hardly have time to shower!!  But let me explain to you why this is so significant:

The number “40” in the Bible has more significance than I ever gave it credit for.  I always had understood as “completeness” but it means so much more than that. The number “40” carries with it overtones of “understanding” and the fullness of understanding.  When God took Israel out of Egypt only to have them wander in the desert wilderness for 40 years, it wasn’t so much punishment for disobedience as much as it was God desiring for his people to gain a more full understanding of him, to give them the opportunity to more fully comprehend and know their God. 

And that’s my hope over the next 40 weeks:  that once a week, I can share with you 40 wonderful insights I was blessed to learn on my trip to the Middle East.  Obviously, even a lifetime is nowhere near enough to truly and fully know and understand our God.  But so often it is so hard to truly stop in our busy lives, and truly reflect on and spend time with the God who so desperately wants us to get to know and us.  So even in my “crazy busy,” “hardly-even-get-a-shower” life, I want to stop, reflect, and spend time understanding this God who wants us to more fully understand and love him.

It is my hope that in the next 40 weeks, you will journey with me, and together we can get a small glimpse of what it means to know God, and come that much closer “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:18)

Come, let’s go… 

Being a Mom = Feeling like a Pastor... a bit...

I’ve had a realization lately – that I have a tiny inkling of what it feels like to be a pastor.

I was talking to a friend about seeing “results” when it comes to raising children. Both my friend and I are result-driven and always like to do well at everything they do. You write a paper in school, you get a grade. Your boss gives you a task, you complete it and can see the work you accomplish. You’re asked to sing or play a song and you practice and give it as close to a 100% performance as you can.

But, as most of you probably already know, it takes a LONG time for us parents to see fruits of our labour. As a first time mom, this feels overwhelmingly true. Is all my work doing such and such paying off, including all my work “worrying” about certain things? Of course, we are reminded all the time about the few benefits and “sin” of worry, but parenting requires a little bit of worrying about at least a little bit of our children’s well-being – otherwise we probably wouldn’t be good parents at all.

But for a results-driven person like me, it is difficult sometimes when your “accomplishment” or result for today was that your daughter slept for 45 minutes instead of her usual half hour, or your son only wore one outfit today instead of three, and other such seemingly menial “achievements”. And it may take months, years, or NEVER to see if any hard work parenting was worth the effort, worth the worry…

My husband is a pastor, and funny that the last couple of weeks it’s come up a few different times discussing how he wants to get out and DO something where he sees immediate results. Wash the van. Mow the lawn. Fish (although, that may be a poor example if you are like me and have absolutely no patience for a sport like that). And now I’m starting to understand the why of that desire. Ministry, like parenting, requires a whole lot of work with seeing little results, or if you’re so blessed, some delayed results. No matter what kind of ministry you’re in, this is usually the case – if you teach Sunday School or Youth Group or lead the Praise Team or are on the church’s council.

But imagine if it’s your full-time JOB. If you get paid to work long hours and see very little results, and in some cases (because the devil works this way sometimes) see ADVERSE results and face difficulties. It takes a whole lot of confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit and trusting in God’s hand at work…

So I guess that’s also the answer to my feelings of parenting at the moment (which will probably continue until I’m 104). Like a minister or anyone working in ministry has to have patience and trust God’s working hand, so I have to trust that the work I put in every day as a mom, no matter how menial I think it is, is truly for a greater, God-given purpose, and that I can rest and trust in that.

I am not a pastor (and there are a lot of reasons for that!), but today I have gained a little bit more respect for those that are... as well as for anyone who's ever been a parent! :o)

Finally My Second Blog: Murphy's Laws about Motherhood (which most of you mothers already figured out a LONG time ago)

Okay, okay, I know, I know... So it’s been absolutely ridiculously long since I last blogged – in fact, it’s been about a year, and sadly, this is only my second blog, second only to my initial one. (It's been so long, that I actually didn't remember my password or setup information or ANYTHING -- oops!!). A crazy lot has happened in this last year, which isn’t much of an excuse, but it might at least explain my “absence” from this blog…

What happened? I had a baby!! (my first one, which probably makes a difference). My little girl was born in September and she is now almost six months old! Hard to believe how time flies.

So, to initiate myself back into the blog-o-sphere, I’ve decided to write a little bit about what I’ve learned about being a mom (things that moms who have come before me I'm sure have learned LONG ago…)

So here is my very own version of…

Murphy’s Laws about Babies and Being a New Mom:

1) When traveling anywhere with baby you can try to leave enough time to be early by 5 minutes or 30 minutes, and you will still be LATE.

2) Babies will only spit up after you put on a perfectly clean, new outfit – doesn’t matter if you or she is wearing the clean outfit.

3) Babies will be the most fussy when there’s something you absolutely MUST get done.

4) After waking up in the middle of the night, babies will finally fall asleep when you are just awake enough to not be able to fall back asleep… and the baby will wake up again the moment you finally do.

5) If desired, babies can be woken up effortlessly; ways to wake up your baby without even trying:

o Pour yourself a nice, hot cup of coffee or tea; prepare to your liking and baby will awake instantly
o Sit down with your favourite book you’ve been waiting all day to read
o Have your dog bark for absolutely, positively no apparent reason
o Pull out the entire vacuum out to prepare for vacuuming; similar results with preparing cleaning supplies

6) The length of naps of babies is directly inversely proportionate to the amount of things needed to be done: the more to do, the shorter the nap.

7) Never say: “Isn’t it great that my baby is (fill in the blank i.e. sleeping through the night, rolling over, sitting long in his exersauser, taking a good nap, laughing)?!” The baby will instantaneously stop whatever you are enjoying him doing.

8) Doesn’t matter what your baby does or how he or she does it, it is absolutely positively IMPOSSIBLE NOT to love them with everything you have. And there are NEVER exceptions to this law!

I can’t emphasize enough that last one. Despite all the negativity that you might sense from these “laws”, they really are all lighthearted, and, even when things are tough, I still can’t believe how much I love my daughter.

And that’s what I’ve noticed most about parenting. When I’m feeling overwhelmed or not sure what in the world to do, my prayers are answered by God putting the same phrase in my head – “JUST LOVE HER.”

It seems too simple, but it’s the truth -- truth that brings me such peace (ironically, the meaning of my daughter's name…). When I’m not sure what she needs or why she’s crying or what she’s feeling or what to do next or how to make sure she “turns out okay”, all that really matters is that I love her, which is impossible not to do anyway.

And I’m sure that phrase, “Just love her” will be one that echoes throughout my entire life of motherhood, which, we all know, will be the rest of my life.