Building Sandcastles

“No one knows when that day or time will be, not the angels in heaven, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.” Matthew 24:36

As we approach Maundy Thursday, the journey of Jesus is one step closer to the cross. The Final Week of Jesus by Max Lucado invites us to discover what was on the heart of Jesus…the message He had for His followers to hear. His message to them was the same message to us…live our lives in a manner where we are not got off guard when our day of departure comes. Jesus shared three parables urging His listeners to always be ready to exchange our life on earth for heaven.

Max Lucado asks us to visualize a little boy building a sand castle on the beach. I can just see him now…squatting…digging…squinting...perhaps a sunburned back. After packing the little red bucket with wet sand, he flips it over and pounds it with his little chubby fist. After carefully lifting the bucket, a castle is constructed. He meticulously shovels a little mote around the wet structure and collects shells placing them precisely where windows and doors should be. He spends his entire time on the beach building his kingdom. At the end of the day, he bids it farewell as the tide flows into the kingdom and dissolves its structure. The little boy isn’t sad or distressed because of the joy he had in building on the beach. He knew the kingdom would only last as long as the tide was at bay. He even jumps up and down clapping his little hands as he watches the powerful ocean beckon the sand home. What a beautiful image of how to live life on this earth which was the lesson of Jesus the week leading up to His departure.

Just as the sand belongs to the sea, our lives belong to God. He has brought us to this day full of blessings, favor, and success. He desires to see us enjoy the building of our lives on earth but with the backdrop of heaven always in view. We must be like that little boy taking joy in building…collecting… constructing. But we must keep in mind that the sea always reclaims the sand, and the Father always reclaims life with His children.

“And I don’t know much about sandcastles. But children do. Watch them and learn. Go ahead and build, but build with a child’s heart. When the sun sets and the tides take – applaud. Salute the process of life, take your father’s hand, and go home.” P. 75 

And Yet He Walked

 “They will give the Son the Man to the non-Jewish people to laugh at him and beat him with whips and crucify him. But on the third day he will be raised to life again.” Matthew 20:19

One of my best friends lent me this wonderful book to read as I set my heart of the final week of Jesus’ life and journey to the cross. It was written by Max Lucado and entitled, The Final Week of Jesus. I want to be intentional this week and not consumed with a fun Spring Break trip I have with my daughters and grandchildren beginning Saturday. Don’t get me wrong…I look forward to this trip every year. But Jesus took a more valuable trip this time a few thousand years ago as He made His way to an empty cross on a lonely hill between two worthy death-mates. He was well aware of the fate that awaited Him and yet He walked.

This book boasts quite a statement that rings true in my heart and I fully believe… ‘You can tell a lot about a person by the way he dies’ p.16. I can remember my grandmother laying on her little bed in a nursing home her final weeks of life. An aid told me that every time someone would enter her room she would always ask if they knew Jesus. She used whatever remaining breath in her 101-year-old body to both introduce Jesus and invite them to love Him. Grandmother was resolute about facing her end on earth with the urgency of inviting others to join her in Heaven. How does someone like Grandmother face death so resolute with others on her heart? Because she had the perfect Mentor, Christ Jesus.

Jesus was resolute as He kept His face towards the cross. Step by step He approached His death fully aware that His days were limited, and He would suffer unimaginably. And yet…He walked…He taught. He used His final breath to forgive and invite. ‘Father, forgive them…‘Luke 23:34 ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise.’ Luke 23:43. I would say without a doubt that the Teacher taught my grandmother well. She had the resolute of Jesus in her heart until the very end and so did Christ.

Max Lucado wrote a remarkable summation to win over the jury that settles in my heart today.

‘See his passion…the Savior who will not give up on his children until they are found. Hear his promise…the Redeemer who would rather go to hell for you than to heaven without you.’

As I walk out the Tuesday before Easter, that is what I want on my mind…a Savior who had me and you on His mind.

3:00 Worker

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.” Matthew 20:1-2

I don’t know about you but if I was aware that I was walking out my final week on earth, I doubt I would be telling stories about people who didn’t exist. Jesus had the cross on His mind, but you and I on His heart. He began telling His disciples the story of a vineyard owner who went into town to hire some workers. He hired a few men first thing in the morning…hired a few more at noon…hired a few more at 3:00 pm…and hired His last group at 5:00. Obviously, the ones hired at 5:00 only worked a fraction of the sweltering day but ended up getting paid the same amount as the ones who worked all day. It is no wonder that the early morning workers got frustrated with the fact they had worked the hardest and the longest for the same pay. The vineyard owner’s response is the same response that Jesus gives us…‘I'm not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?' (v.13) The promise was not that they would earn according to their time spent in the vineyard or their performance…the promise was that they would receive a certain amount of payment regardless of their circumstances.

This fictitious story in print is the reality of what Jesus did for all of us…the preachers…the missionaries …the farmers…the workers…the unemployed…the addicted…the thieves…the murderers…you and I on our worst day walking out our biggest sin. He paid the cost to choose us and to make us a part of His family in spite of our lack of devotion or service for Him. Whether we received God’s love and message as a young child or turned to Him at the end of our lives we get the same reward…complete grace… complete forgiveness…fullness in eternity.

Being that I really didn’t have an intimate relationship with Christ until I was 45 years old, I’m thankful that this parable came straight from the heart of Jesus. It was His story that would come to fruition just 7 days later as He hung on the cross. He paid the same price for us all so we experience the same grace no matter what our position was on earth. This parable says that He chose me at 45 years and I will receive the same grace and final destination as my grandmother who chose Him at 16. I was a ‘3:00 worker’ in His vineyard and should receive so much less than those who are 9:00 and 12:00 workers. But that is grace, and that is Christ. No matter whether you have walked with God since you were a teenager or have recently responded to His call, we will all be caught up with Him in the clouds one day shoulder to shoulder, first in line even if we were previously last. Grace is the ultimate equalizer!

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:16

Crushed in Spirit

“‘Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians…? Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more…Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.’ So they put away the foreign gods and served the LORD. And His soul could no longer endure their misery.” Judges 10:11-14

I do not believe I have ever read this passage before where God was so angry that He told His children they had finally crossed the line. They were on their own no matter what they did or how much they petitioned Him to save them. He had been faithful to bring them out of their suffering and troubles every time before. He had taken them at their word that they would not forsake or reject Him if He would deliver them from their circumstances…and yet, they always did exactly that. They turned to things that continued to harm them which would never lead them out of their situation. But the final sentence is what made my eyes leak this morning and pulled at my heartstrings like never before. ‘And His soul could no longer endure their misery.’

There is a deep place in my heart that houses many circumstances of the 8 years of my daughter’s oppression. I don’t try to reach it because the reminders could open that well-guarded incision from yesteryear. We all have those situations that we are so thankful to be out of but certainly came at a cost. I, too, had reached my limit with my daughter after her many promises to me were broken. The heart can only sustain so much fracture before it shatters. But once she turned away from the darkness and reached out to me her words were different this time. After disbelieving her promise of walking away from that lifestyle, I saw her actions aligning with her promise. I dared to hope in another promise but my ‘soul could no longer endure the misery’ of life apart from her.

The fact that God would suffer alongside us…would actually feel the pain we are experiencing…would take a chance of us again...reminds me that we have a perfect parent in Him. In His anger, He will allow us to walk out fellowship without Him. But in His great love, He can’t help but to receive us again when our hearts turn to Him in remorse and devotion. Whatever god you or I may turn to, it will never heal…it will never restore…it will never deliver. I’m so thankful that we have a Father who has a soul that can never endure our misery when we include Him in our healing.

“The righteous cry, and the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:17-18

Because He Said So

 “She said to Elijah, ‘What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?’ And he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow…?’ And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.’” 1 Kings 17:18-23

As I read this story today, it is fitting that is comes to me on March 16th, my dad’s 11th anniversary of slipping out of this world into God’s arms. Some of God’s revelations are marvelous and others can be painful. I read this double-minded this morning because the story reminds me of both earthly healing and heavenly healing. For 8 years, our daughter was walking in darkness, living on the streets, and living out her substance abuse. There were days I blamed myself thinking her condition was due to sins I had lived out. For 6 years, heaven seemed to be silent until, like the widow, I laid her life at the feet of Jesus. I told Him if she couldn’t be healed on earth to please take her up and heal her life there. It was the hardest prayer but it somehow released my hopelessness, despair, and fear of death. Once I gave Him my daughter through that prayer, it was another two years but He did miraculous things and literally brought her back to life twice. She has lived out her testimony of change and new life for almost 17 years, with just 2 setbacks.

On the other hand, I prayed and prayed that my dad wouldn’t lose his life on earth to cancer. On his last day, March 16th, 2010 I felt his spirit slip out of body as my hand rested on his arm. I knew that through all my petitions and pleas that the Lord had chosen to take him to the Upper Room of Heaven and raise him up to his eternal life.

As I sit here this morning thinking about this passage, I am reminded of a few beautiful things. Just like Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times, Christ stretched Himself out on the cross and was entombed for 3 days for you and me. Through this exchange our loved ones get the remarkable privilege of His resurrection by being resurrected either on earth or in Heaven. Both of my loved ones were revived into health, life, and fellowship with God. God blessed me on earth as well as in Heaven because of nothing I did but everything Christ did for me…for them…for you.

I picture Daddy playing the piano with an audience of the Trinity, his parents, his daughter, and so many more who have been taken to the Upper Room. I carry this image in my heart today as a reality, not some daughter’s imagination. Why? Because Jesus said so!

My Barefoot Angel

“Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 1 Kings 17:9b

As we continue studying Elijah as he lived his life in his ‘anywhere but here’ land, he must have felt some encouragement as God unfolded the manner for which Elijah would gain nourishment. But his encouragement could have possibly been met with irritation and awkwardness when he discovered how the plan would unfold. God was going to keep His promise of provision but it was through a poor and starving widow. In his day, ‘a widow had no identity, sense of belonging, or security. A widow truly existed on the fringes of society…and God had called Elijah to make a connection with a person who was thought to be nothing. Insignificant. Of little to no value.’ Elijah – Faith and Fire, Priscilla Shirer, p. 94. Being human, I’ll just bet there was a part of him that secretly felt uncomfortable and a little irritated to discover from whom he would receive his provision. He was existing in an ‘anywhere but here’ life and now he was to ask for food from an ‘anybody but her’ widow.

How do I know he may have felt uncomfortable, frustrated, and a little put out? Because I had one of these moments back in 2017. It had been a rough month, one that I pray will never be repeated. I was worn out emotionally, spiritually and physically. I was at the coast taking my morning walk and ended up where I normally sit and pray. It was a bench on the second level at the end of the pier overlooking the ocean. This day in particular, I was on the bench, singing my worship music and opened my eyes to find a homeless man sitting on the ground a little to my right. He began talking to me and eventually asked if he could pray for me. I’m embarrassed to admit that I felt uncomfortable…untrusting…undone. I quickly asked the Lord to give me grace and peace and stood up to accept his offer. As if that wasn’t enough awkwardness he asked if he could hold my hand during the prayer, but quickly gave me an out if I didn’t feel comfortable. I also accepted his gesture and he began to pray. The prayer that he lifted had such detail that perfectly applied to my circumstances. I knew that what he was giving me was directly from God. He continued in this prayer with one of the most beautiful prayers I had ever heard. The peace that fell over me and stayed with me that day was God’s gift through this homeless man. He had nothing to give yet he gave me everything that day. I read a while back that ‘A little gift in the hands of a big God can impact the world’ (Lysa TerKeurst). On that day, he gave what he probably thought was just a little gift…a prayer. But when he chose to bring God into the equation my entire world was impacted…I was lifted higher than my circumstances…it was a day that was enveloped in peace…it’s a day that I still experience awe and astonishment when I think upon it.

I began praying for that man over the course of weeks that followed. When God connects us with others to fulfill one of our needs, they also become a recipient of a blessing through the interaction. He didn’t ask for my prayers and had nothing to gain from his prayer for me. But at that moment where my station in life intersected his, we stood as equals in the eyes of God. I’ll never forget the provision God gave me that day and every time I think of that prayer, I pray for him. I walked away with a humbled and grateful heart with revelations I can never forget.

If we all take just a little time to do for each other, God will show up and show up big. He doesn't need us to enhance His power, but He does choose to involve us to be a part of His glory. And when we partner with Him everyone wins! We may never know the impact our little gift will have on others but God sees every act of kindness on our part. That man will never know how I emotionally lived on the fringe of society in 2017, but incredible and remarkable comfort was given to me by his presence. He was my barefoot ‘nobody but him’ angel in the most unlikely of circumstances.

ELM - Anywhere But Here

“Arise, go to Zarephath…and stay there.” 1 Kings 17:9a

When my daughter was entrenched in her lifestyle of drugs, my goal for each day was to operate within my life incognito, anonymous, and isolated. Her life was a very public journey in a small community which triggered every insecurity I had ever thought about having in my life. I would not only choose certain times to go in public, but I would drive outside of the community to accomplish most simple errands. My heart was shot and so was my confidence as a young mother. I wanted to be anywhere but here.

I hear of another woman who went out of her way and community to meet her daily needs. She ran her errands where she knew she would not be met with rejection, judgment, and the condescending eyes of her peers. She was the Samaritan woman at the well who ‘bumped into Jesus.’ ‘Two facts were unusual about the woman’s actions: (1) she could have gone to a closer well (scholars have identified wells that were closer to Sychar); (2) women generally drew water later in the day, when the temperature was cooler. This woman, whose reputation seems to have been well known in the small town, probably chose the well farther away from home and went at an unusual time.’ Life Application Study Bible, p. 388.

Now I’m confused…is he talking about me or the woman at the well…or maybe he is talking about you. We all carry empty jars within our hearts that we constantly seek refilling. When our circumstances deplete us, we place our jars on the shoulders of others expecting them to fill us up. We go out of our way to find unsustaining water from so many different sources. While it might temporarily quench our thirst, our parched hearts will return to dehydration.

I'm not sure where your 'anywhere but here' is, but I am sure that the only way to move through it is to allow God to work in it. Every emotion matters...every prayer to God matters...every day in your trial matters. ‘When you find yourself in a season of trial, in a station or stage of life where you’re constantly praying those ‘anywhere but here prayers – when you’re about to make one of those ‘anywhere but here’ statements – when you can’t seem to help yourself from thinking another ‘anywhere but here’ thought – allow them to simmer in faith instead.’ Elijah – Faith and Fire, Priscilla Shirer, p. 92.

Where you are matters and how you respond is crucial in finding life on the other side. I still live in the same community that previously was my ‘anywhere but here’ location. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else and I’m so thankful God kept me here. In hindsight, I would give the same encouragement that Priscilla gives in her study. ‘Stay where you are, lean in, and directly engage this place where God has taken you, despite the discomfort, submitting to the fire in which you will be refined’ P. 91.

ELM - From Vessel to Vessel

 “Moab has been left quite since his youth, settled like wine on its dregs.  He hasn’t been poured from one container to another…So his taste has remained the same, and his aroma hasn’t changed.” Jeremiah 49:11, CSB

I learned this morning in my Bible study that part of making wine is that the liquid pressed from the grapes go through a refining process.  It is not a one-time activity, rather pouring the liquid from one vessel to another as many times as it takes to be free of the dregs.  Dregs are the sour-smelling sediment of things that must be discarded.  ‘Because if not for this intentional, consistent unsettling from one vessel to the next, the juice can never rid of those impurities that would keep it from maturing…Being continually relocated is what refines and prepares it for its intended purpose.’ Elijah – Faith and Fire, Priscilla Shirer, p. 80.  

What a powerful picture of my life prior to 2006 when God moved me from one place in my faith to another.  I didn’t even know that I was being poured into another location in my faith until the unsettling came.  Over the next 15 years, my faith has been an instrument God has continuously poured back and forth to rid me of my dregs.  For years I had settled for the dregs instead of the spiritual wine that God has for me.  I look back and all the years that led up to that unsettling lacked taste and aroma.   It wasn’t until God began moving me from flesh to spirit that He developed both taste and aroma for Him.  I have never tasted anything as satisfying as His Word, ingesting and digesting every truth it holds.  The beautiful aroma of Christ is mine to grasp and it is ever increasing the more I hide in Him.  

We all have unsettling seasons when God is doing the next work in our lives. ‘Comfort and steadiness are what we crave, but overstaying our welcome in one place can rob us of the work God intends to do in us at the next one…He often includes seasons of unsettledness where He transfers us out of the comfort and complacency of familiarity and moves us into a new place and position’ P. 81. 

Escaping the Shadows

“When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, ‘Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?’ As she was going to get it, he called, ‘And bring me, please, a piece of bread.’ ‘As surely as the Lord your God lives,’ she replied, ‘I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.’” 1 Kings 17:11-12

Only some of us can relate to losing a spouse like this precious widow had experienced but all of us can relate to feeling hopeless, empty, fearful, and exhausted at some point in our lives. There were times in my life when a heartbreaking season prompted emotions that zapped my emotional and spiritual health. Like the widow, I was barely hanging on and each day I was faced with paralyzing grief and fear. Walking in circles I was gathering sticks of discouragement…’I will never survive this…I just know death is around the corner…Why me and why her?’ I barely had the energy and desire to do the basic things much less anything extra. I can only imagine the frustration that this widow felt when a stranger was asking something of her that she felt completely deficient of providing. The audacity this person had to require anything of her at the point of her lowest time in life. I love that she was completely honest informing him that she didn’t have what he was asking for, but she would attempt to accommodate the lesser request. She was gathering sticks as a reflection of her heart…the belief that her life was over and she was going to die.

Pain and despair can easily paint a picture of life being over. It lures us into the darkness and all we see are its shadows…'I will never be happy again…I will always live in this state of loneliness…I will never heal from this…' The tunes of the shadows are fragmented at best and hypnotic at worst. I love that Elijah pointed out to the widow that what little she did have was sufficient for what she needed. Not only did she have enough for her son and herself, but she had enough to feed others.

Sometimes we encounter a messenger from God who points out our provision in our paralysis. God desires our authenticity instead of our surface prayers. He understands the heartbreak we are experiencing and the fear that guides us. When we go to Him in prayer, we open up the communication to see life from His abilities…not from our own. While we are trying to just put one foot in front of the other, God has been gathering our sticks for us. Sticks that light fires! Sticks that build lasting flame! Sticks that provide the warmth, safety, and healing required in those horrific seasons. We already have everything we need to escape the shadows, but we must take that first step into His healing Light.

The God of Oceans and Brooks

“You will drink of the brook…” 1 Kings 17:4

As we continue to peek between the bushes and lean into the conversation between Elijah and God, we can fully understand the confusion God’s instructions must have generated. God had commanded Elijah to proclaim a 3-year drought upon the region. Following the prophesy God instructed Elijah to leave and to go and camp beside Cherith, a brook on the outskirts of the area. He could have asked Elijah to go to a much larger body of water whose source was abundant and dependable. But instead, he led him to a brook, which by nature was unpredictable and dependent upon rain for its source of water. Elijah must have wondered how he was supposed to survive a long drought by sitting next to and depending upon a dried-up brook with a season that was rainless. But God is the rainmaker and saw Elijah’s future rolled out before him. God spoke that beautiful promise that He still speaks to us all these years later. “The God of oceans made him a promise: ‘You will drink of the brook.’” Elijah – Faith and Fire, Priscilla Shirer, p. 57.

Do you find yourself this morning in a season sitting beside a dry brook? Are you thirsty…lonely…scared…broken…grieving for someone or something that no longer is a part of your life? Are you wondering what or who will sustain you through this drought? Life is made up of a string of seasons and through it all God is faithful to sustain us and navigate us through the different circumstances of our lives. When the bills are coming in faster than the funds…God will provide. When the tears are about to drown you…God will comfort. When your heart has been broken from a loss…God will sustain you through the pain.

“When you’re going through times of separation from your usual surroundings, remember you are not separated from the One who’s promised to sustain you where He’s placed you…if He sent you there, then He will sustain you there.” p. 58. You will never experience one day apart from God and the abundance that He brings with Him. You will never experience one emotion that will make Him leave you. You will never express one doubt that will forfeit your faith and your future. No matter what dried up brook and closed up sky your present situation appears to be… ‘you will drink of the brook.’