Lights.Camera.Superbowl.Lights Out.

     

     I suppose they tried to teach us a little bit about every sport in grade school P.E. so that when faced with watching or participating in these events we wouldn't be totally clueless. I remember when our P.E. Teacher had us learning about and playing football. I remember fun phrases like "button hook" and "third down." But I have no idea what they mean today. While watching a bunch of burly men playing this game, though, I like to pretend that I know what sort of pass or play they're performing. I mean, it must have something to do with sewing if you ask me...like a button being sewn on by the "hook" motion of the needle and thread? So I try to find situations that look close to that and I think to myself, "Boy, that sure was a nice button hook." (Disclaimer: I am a basketball girl and I DO understand those rules and plays. But everything else in sports...I'd give myself anywhere between a B & an F grade-wise depending on whichathletic event it is.)

     As I watched the Super Bowl this past Sunday night, I got teary eyed during America The Beautiful and The National Anthem. Now, I must say that I usually do get misty during patriotic songs anyway. But throw the Sandy Hook Elementary School Choir in there just months after some of their precious school mates' lives were extinguished and that made for a major sobbing mess for this girl.

     For some reason it struck me this year that this big silly event is something that we take for granted as Americans. Die hard football connoisseurs and novices alike come out to celebrate this tradition, which has been woven into the fabric of our culture. There are people all over the realm of creation who don't get the chance to enjoy the freedom to just sit back and gather together both live and by satellite to enjoy a sporting event like this. Many people around the world would just love to come out of hiding and enjoy a breath of the air of freedom, let alone join in the camaraderie of boisterously cheering for the team of their choice.

     I love the fact that the lights went out mid game this year. It was a beautiful reality check. It was also hilarious. Suddenly, as we saw the players of each team sprawled out stretching all their muscles in whatever unflattering position they wished right there in front of millions of people, it didn't seem so serious. Though what we were all watching prior to these moments was an amazing experience of fun for the fans and giving it your all as a player who strives for victory and accolade, I was reminded that it is just a game. At the end of the day, somebody wins and somebody looses. The lights inevitably go out and everyone heads home for bigger and better things. Things that hold more weight in the scheme of eternity. The every day mundane things that no one may ever cheer for, but make a difference nonetheless.

     What kind of lights out experience have you encountered to bring you back to reality? 

     In the middle of a fight with your spouse, did you feel a check in your spirit that you should shut up and move away from that argument because you realized you've been blessed by this person's lifelong companionship and a love that you both have committed is worthy to fight for, which so many long for?

     In the middle of complaining about your job did you get an email asking for prayer for a friend who just lost their job and has no prospects on the horizon? 

     In the middle of feeling like you're at the end of your wits because your kids are working your nerves, did your heart sink when you heard of a loved one who just lost a baby in a miscarriage?

     In the middle of loosing power temporarily, did you pause before you shouted about it when you remembered your friends in Africa who have no electricity or access to clean water?

     When all you had to eat was PB&J or Ramen Noodles, did a Holy hush come down on you when your mind wandered to the thousands of people who will go t bed hungry tonight?

     These lights out moments are good. They are moments to remind us of how much we have to be grateful for- big and small- and the tasks that are most important for us to advocate for with the bulk of our strength and time. What sort of action do these Holy hush kind of moments spur you on to do?

     Here's a secret. In those lights out moments, find the causes that are most apt to expose The Light of The World to others. Light shines most brightly in the darkness. If you do this, you'll find much more victory than any athlete has ever gained from a title championship. These moments are full of opportunities to shine a candle of truth, grace, mercy, and love during dark times. When the lights of this life are snuffed out and you transition into the city that needs no lamp, you'll see the rewards of the true victory you've come to not only from the salvation you received undeservedly, but also from the fruits that your salvation brought about. As you step into that beautifully illuminated place, you'll see that The Light of The World makes all other flickers unnecessary. And you'll find that as it turns out, the twinkles you've radiated during your days on earth were actually reflections of glory ablaze. 

It's Raining, It's Pouring, I Think I'll Go Eat Some Worms

     It’s raining today.  The sky is a washed out gray with darker gray clouds whisping along.  It’s a terrible day to be getting a hair cut/style, but I am.  As much as I’ve been looking forward to getting my yearly hair trim, I’d much rather be snuggled up at home hiding from an inevitable bad hair day and the storms that will soon be coming. 

     A few weeks ago it was raining as well. That time, I was snuggled up inside.  On the occasion of looking out the window, I noticed nine or ten robin redbreasts having the time of their lives amongst the puddles that were gathering.  As I observed them, I noticed that they were supping on the earthworms that they excavated from the ground.

     I learned a lesson from those robins that day.  More often than not, when the stormy, less than desirable weather of life hits, all we want to do is hole up and hide from it and the rest of the world. Unlike us, though, the robins and other birds come out in joyous delight for it because that’s where their greatest feasts are.

     I’ve experienced my share of sunshine and storms alike in the 28 years I’ve inhabited this globe.  Often, I’ve missed things that could have been rich lessons during the sunny days of my life. But, oh, the feast I have consumed through the stormy days.  When days are dark, the light is so much brighter.  I can tell you from experience that The Light of the World performs a beautiful sort of blinding when you are surrounded by darkness.  It’s a blinding that tells you to fear not, but to be of great cheer because Hope has come to save the day. But you have to be willing to come out of hiding in the midst of dreariness in order to appreciate the true fullness of this illumination.  

     There are things that the Light of the World has offered do me during cloudy days which I could have never been obliged to much amidst the cloudless days.  Those things that He has shown me have the opportunity of multiplying themselves to bless others who are experiencing similar storms to the ones He has gotten me through.  Those lessons and connections would have never happened had the rains of life not poured down on my soul.

     My heart has always been fond of robins. As a child, I remember one particularly harsh winter in which quite a few pregnant robin redbreasts froze to death in our front yard. When I made the discovery, I burst into tears. Those robins weren’t equipped for that storm.   I don’t know if they just gave up hope or didn’t even try, but they made no effort to take shelter.

     But not these, robins. No, these robins came as harbingers of spring to delight in their protein packed regale in the middle of a rainstorm and then they went to their place of refuge from the storm.  Such a sight gave my weary soul hope that new life is always available just around the corner and is so much more precious once we’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good while feasting in the midst of a storm.  The flavor He leaves in our mouths once we’ve tasted His faithfulness and goodness is the most pleasantly sweet taste you could ever imagine.

     Remember, dear one, it is the rain, after all, which causes things to grow.  But take hope, friend, because the sun is equally important to growth.  Sunshine and rain alike, take heed to excavate the banquet which the Light of the World has sent for you to delightfully partake in…because it is delicious and one that will leave the taste of joy (even after sorrow) all the rest of your days.   And don’t forget the blessing of taking refuge in Him.  He’ll protect you through any storm that you encounter.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; 

blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” Psalm 34:8

Life as a Pioneer Woman

     Have you ever been just sitting there, minding your own business…reading a biography about Daniel Boone let’s say… and then all of the sudden you find yourself living the lifestyle you’ve been reading about?  Well, I have. It happened last Thursday.

     It would have been a perfectly normal Thursday had our boiler not completely broken the night before. It’s January. It’s finally acting like January at that. And it had been raining heavily for about four days. So, there I was cuddled up under many blankets snuggling with my dog, reading the Daniel Boone biography I got for Christmas when I got a phone call from my landlord that he was having a truckload of wood sent over for us to use in our fireplace to get some heat going in our house.  Elated, I went to clear some room for them to dump it in our garage shed.

     Well, along came a pick up truck filled with wood. Out stepped a good ole boy.  He was very pleasant and friendly.  He spoke in a drawl more backwoods than my Western North Carolina good ole boys as he greeted me and told me that the wood was wet because it had been sitting out in the rain for four days in that pick up truck.  (They do know about tarps, right?)  I responded by telling him the whole reason we needed the wood was because we had zero heat due to our busted boiler. He responded by telling me that there was no way that wood was going to burn and maybe he could convince his boss to let me have a load of dry wood.  I suggested that they dump half of the wet wood and come back with half a load of dry wood to save on cost for them. But he insisted on leaving it because I might want some more fires even after the boiler was fixed. Gratefully, I explained that we were going to put the wood in the garage. He said that sounded like a great place to put it.  I thought we were jiving. They were backed up all the way to the garage…I thought. They lifted the bed of the truck to dump it and boom boom boom… it fell…right…in front of the garage. Not IN the garage as I thought we both understood, but IN FRONT of the garage.  

     I stood there completely stunned.  I could not believe what just happened. It was supposed to start raining again soon and then snow the next day. My husband was at work.   My good ole boy friend said, “Well, you go on ahead and stack all that wood and we’ll be back in a little bit with some dry wood. If you’re not done by then, maybe we’ll help you.” I squeaked out an OK. Before he pulled out, he said, “Hey, Emily, here are some gloves you can use.” They pulled off and I stood there on the verge of tears with a huge task ahead of me that I couldn’t imagine how I was going to get accomplished in such a small amount of time BY MYSELF…after having just recovered from the flu, bronchitis, and not even totally healed from surgery on my arm to remove a pre-melanoma. I felt so weak and totally overwhelmed by the job ahead of me.  But, I started picking up the logs and piling them up.  I was so mad. I mean really mad.  I took out my aggression on those logs as I stacked away.  Then a few minutes into the job, I started laughing out loud. Here I was living the life that Daniel Boone and his family experienced, which I had only read about.  I felt like a cross between his wife, Rebecca Boone, and Laura Ingles Wilder.  The whole situation was suddenly very humorous to me.

    In the mean time, the heating company representative had come and was inside the house checking each radiator box to work up an estimate for our Landlord. Then my good ole boys came back. The guys backed the pickup truck into the driveway again. My pal that gave me the gloves got out with a smile on his face. As tactfully as I could, I asked, “Do you guys think that maybe this time we could try to dump the logs INSIDE of the garage? Would that be possible?”  “Yeah, I don’t see no problem with that,” he responded. (Why did it click this time but not before?)  So, they dumped it right in there and all was well. UNTIL. The guy driving the truck solemnly said to me, “Someone just went in your house.” I had left the main front door open with the glass door shut when I let the heating company guy in. I was horrified. I could hear our dog barking. Remembering that was what the heating guy was wearing, I asked the driver if he had on khaki pants.  With eyes wide, he said, “No, he had on blue pants like me.” I begged them to stay until I got back. I rushed in the house with my heart pounding and the dog still barking. I found the heating man and asked if someone came in. To my relief, he said it was just the postman sticking the mail inside the door.  Whew. What the Boones and the Ingles must have experienced in the way of fear of intruders…I got a glimpse of just then.  I had to protect my homestead while my husband was off “hunting in the woods” if you will. Thankfully, we were alright.

     After they all left, I started grabbing armloads of wood, carrying them inside until I got two nice large stacks on either side of the fireplace and for the first time in my life, I lit an indoor wood burning fire.  I sat down and giggled to myself over what a day I had encountered.  Life in the back mountain woods of North Carolina, on the prairies, and even in the city of Lynchburg, VA can bring some interesting life and survival experiences to say the least.

     You know, sometimes, I’ll be reading passages of scripture, minding my own business, when God spontaneously gives me an opportunity to live those passages out just as impromptu as I had the occasion to live out part of the Boone family’s life of which I was reading. I think that sometimes God, in His sovereignty, lines up what we are learning in Scripture and with moments He presents to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. 

     Even though I think I’ve learned my lesson about putting my faith into action and putting His Word into action this week, He still has me living as a Pioneer Woman.  I lug in loads of wood by myself every day and build fires. I’m considering what vegetables I’m going to plant in my garden this spring. And yesterday, my dog brought me over to a squirrel that had frozen to death in our yard because yes, it is THAT cold outside.  I guess I’m going to have to pick up a few more traits from the Boones if I’m going to figure out how to skin that thing and turn it into a stew. (JUST kidding. Although, my mom did have road kill squirrel that the morning of her wedding that my Great Grandma cooked up for her. Mountain folk. That’s in my blood. Not gonna be in my belly, though.)     

Let’s live this verse out, friends… 

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.

 Do what it says.”

James 1:22

Off to see what pioneer adventures I’m in for today…

There's Enough Bacon

     

     As I was cooking some bacon recently, trying to figure out how many pieces everybody would be able to have, a very simple sentence came to the front of my memory. It was my Mama saying, “There’s enough for everyone to have two pieces of bacon.”  Our family had breakfast food most Saturdays for brunch growing up, so this is a sentence I heard quite often.  It’s such a simple statement. But it shows a lot of great care and concern on her part to be sure that everyone had enough.  Enough. That’s beginning to become one of the most meaningful words in the English language to me.  Words like: finished, sufficient, and supply come to my mind when I think of the word, “enough.”

     As I was cooking my bacon, the words of 2 Corinthians 12:9 echoed in the corridors of my mind, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  There’s no telling how many scores of times I have dashed to that familiar passage to help pick my weak self up off the ground.  Each time, though, I am reminded that His grace is sufficient…or in personal language…it is enough. 

     His grace is enough for whatever circumstances I am facing. Marvelously, like my mother, God looked at humanity with care and concern to be sure that EVERYONE had enough.  Like the plate of scrumptious bacon, though, you have to reach out and grab it to have enough of it. But, there’s enough. It’s available.  It’s right in front of you with its delectable aroma.

     God’s “enough” is much better than ours.  Our “enough” limits us to two pieces of bacon at the breakfast table.  His "enough" prepares a banquet where there is an abundance to feast upon all day every day.   It’s not one of those $8.99 all you can eat buffets at the beach either.  This is luxurious stuff we are talking about here. Stuff that normally, we’d never be able to afford on our own. 

     God’s “enough” offers this beautiful thing called grace to those who have little to no life remaining in them.  I’ll admit, when I’m feeling especially weak, I pray for an extra measure of His grace.  And every time, He gives it to me and shows His power through my weakness.  

     God’s “enough” came about when the bridegroom travelled to fetch His beloved bride and poured out all of His love, forgiveness, power, and life when He purchased everlasting, abundant grace telling death, “Enough’s enough. It is finished.”   That’s far too expensive a price for us to pay and live to tell about it.  If we were to attempt to pay for that, all we’d get in return would be a bunch of nasty encounters with a slimy, slithering loan shark coming to collect for the debt we owe.  But since the Bridegroom and His Father own the cattle on a thousand hills, He picked up the tab. His resources and sacrifice paid MORE than enough for us to have our name on a place card at the glorious banquet table at the marriage supper of The Lamb.

      God’s “enough” shows up every day through His presence in our lives. Whatever a day may bring, if God is in it, there’s enough grace to handle it. And there’s plenty of the Bread of Life and Wine to feast upon when you are in communion with Him.   Living in such communion leads to abundance. The more you swallow of Jesus’ grace, the more amazing it becomes…the more full you become.  One just can’t help but overflow that grace which is consumed and re-birthed over and over again into the world around, causing those who haven’t reached for their plate at the feast of Christ yet to finally see with de-scaled eyes that there really is more than enough to go around. 

Calling 2012 to Baggage Claim

     2013 is here and our Christmas tree (a live one, mind you, that we chopped down the Saturday after Thanksgiving) is still up, lit, and decorated. The stockings are still hung by the fireplace. The table is still decorated for Christmas brunch. Our suitcases are not unpacked. Stuff is strewn about our house. My cough from the flu is still lingering. It looks like we dragged in some baggage from 2012, huh?

     I bet you have some things that carried over from last year too. It's difficult to wrap up everything you hoped to accomplish in 365 days. Definitely not impossible, but difficult for sure. That's O.K.

     It's awesome to set goals for yourself and try really hard to reach them. But it's not awesome to beat yourself up if important things in life come up that prevent you from accomplishing all that you had hoped.

     Stop it right here. I have something to encourage you: 

"Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." 

(Psalm 139:16)

     No matter what you have on your to-do list, God's plan for your life will determine what gets done on your list and what He has in mind for your list. Rather than be upset about what you didn't finish in 2012 or anxious about what you'd like to accomplish in 2013, sit down and consider the words of Psalm 90:12, "Teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom."

     As we look back on what we did, did not, and hope to accomplish, with the perspective of numbering our days, God will give our hearts wisdom to sort out what is most important through His agenda in our lives. God already knew what you would get done and what you would not during 2012. He knew it before you were even born. Maybe you didn't lose all the weight you had hoped. Maybe you didn't get to check off as many things on the ole bucket list that you had hoped. Maybe you didn't get to give as much as you hoped because you didn't make as much as you had hoped. Maybe you didn't get to go on the trip you had hoped. Maybe you didn't read as much as you hoped. Maybe you haven't found a mate like you had hoped for yet. Maybe you haven't had the family life you had hoped for. But the thing is, if you did nothing else, you hoped. And you probably gave it your best go at a lot of those things. 

     What or who are you putting your hope in? If your hope is in Christ, it will not disappoint. If it's in yourself or other people, you'll be disappointed every time. That's because we humans are limited. We're hopeless on our own. But if our hope is in Christ, when we reach the end of our days, we'll look back and see that we have accomplished all that He wrote for the story of our lives before we ever even made our debut in this world.

     Why are you hoping for what you're hoping for? Is it for your personal ambitions or to impress the world around you? Or is it for the hope of glory? If we're hoping for the glory of God to shine through each day of our calendar, there will be no disappointment. God always shows up when He wants His glory to be seen. Be prepared to experience that this year through whatever it is you're hoping for...no matter how it turns out. 

     So, to 2013 I say, I'm going to make every effort to rejoice in the hope of His glory showing up in whatever He has planned for my to-do list. Good days and bad days alike, let's claim the good news that...

"Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who He has given us." 

(Romans 5:5)

     We got this y'all, because God has it for us. 2013, be advised, the Holy Spirit has been given to those of us who have received Him, so we won't be disappointed, because He IS our hope.  

     May all that we bring over from 2013 to 2014 be laced with the hope of Jesus Christ. 

To The Miserables: It's a Wonderful Life

     

     Christmas has come and gone and we hardly noticed it… because most of us were knocked out with the flu, just trying to survive. Our plan had been to go see Les Miserables on its opening night of Christmas. Instead, we were The Miserables ourselves. What with all the hacking of lungs, headaches, roller coaster fevers, chills, body aches, sore throats, sleepless nights…yep, I’d say we were definitely The Miserables.  We had a small get together on Christmas day with some neighbor friends before our symptoms came to a head. Yet, we were unable to get together with our family. In fact, my sister spent Christmas night in the ER with my two nieces, who had dangerously high fevers. Nothing went as planned or hoped for. The most wonderful time of the year was now curdled into the most miserable time of year: flu season.

     Every year, before we head off to our family Christmas destination, my husband and I make it a point to watch, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  As we watched it two Fridays ago, George Bailey spoke to my soul.  The man had so many amazing ambitions, like travelling the world and going to college. But, due to many circumstances he wasn’t expecting, his life turned out a little differently. God must have been preparing me for what was to come this week.

     I grew retrospective of Holidays past when I watched the movie this year. While thinking of George Bailey’s failed attempt to pen his own life, I thought of Thanksgivings, Christmases, and New Years that did not go as planned or hoped for. Like the first Thanksgiving and Christmas we celebrated without my Dad. Those were really challenging and just didn’t feel right. Or the New Years Eve I was very ill with a respiratory infection that I had contracted on the move down to Nashville just the day before. Or even the New Year’s Eve that we spent with David in the ER for a serious lymph node infection just two days before we were to leave for Kenya. I remember being sick myself or having a sick family member on several Christmases in my childhood as well. Nope. Things did not go as planned or hoped for on those holidays. As the Narnians experienced, on those mishap holidays, it felt as if it would always be winter and never Christmas.

     Yet, oddly enough, with those dark, wintry memories, I have memories of things that simultaneously went right.  That first Thanksgiving without my Dad, the same month that he died, family members travelled up from way down south just to sit at the table with us and bring extra chairs to the table, so as to try to alleviate the pain from the empty chair that was present just a little. That Christmas, we did something totally different and went way down to the Sunshine State to surround ourselves with extended family. My Mimi even jumped at the chance to go eat at The Hard Rock Café with all of us in celebration of my sister’s 18^th birthday. That first New Year’s Eve in Nashville, we got to laugh with my in-laws and to kiss at 11PM rather than 12PM because the ball had already dropped in Eastern Time.  That New Year’s Eve spent in the ER, we had the most fun we have ever had on the holiday after being released at 11:30PM with our ravenous stomachs to go dine at an Italian restaurant, the only one open, where they passed out hats and kazoos to welcome in the next 365 days. And this Christmas day, though we weren’t able to be with our blood family, we were able to be with friends who share the same Heavenly Father as us and to rest for days. Rest is something we all take for granted. But, it is a gift indeed. The Lord gives sleep to those He loves (Psalm 127:2). He must have loved us a lot this week.

     Most of all, this Christmas, the busyness and exhaustion from making sure it was a perfect day were stripped away and replaced with the true meaning of Christmas: God with us. Through sleepless nights into restful days, God has whispered to us with His peaceful voice that we need not be afraid, because He is with us and that He has a good plan for our lives even through all of this.

    There’s a little George Bailey in all of us. Life is never how we plan it to be exactly. Along the way as some of our hopes and dreams are dashed, somehow, those things are made into something new, better, and more wonderful. I always dreamed of a tall, dark, and handsome husband. But, I only got one out of the three of those wishes: handsome. He’s not my dream come true, he’s better. Because He’s God’s dream come true for me.

    God has plans for us to make a difference. Like George Bailey, if we were given the chance to watch the reels of life without the presence of ourselves, we would realize that yes, the world would still keep spinning, but it wouldn’t be the same. While we wallow in the misery of our failed plans, sometimes, we fail to realize the profound impact that is occurring through us by simply being just where God intended for us to be all along.

     Are you the commander in chief of our nation? Probably not. Are you the heir or heiress to a crown in a regal land? Probably not. Are you the discoverer of the cure for diseases? Probably not. But I’ll bet you’re doing something every day like showing up to your cubicle or to mop floors or to the bedside of a sick patient or to help your child in some way or to teach a classroom full of students. And each day, if you have Immanuel with you, you’re somehow melting the ice out of someone’s heart and bringing the presence of Christ to a place where it was always winter and never Christmas. The drudgery of your mundane, monotonous life isn’t drudgery at all…instead, steadily, It’s a Wonderful Life. Make it count. Don’t overlook the wonder in the ever day tasks you face. Don’t overlook the beauty that is beaming from what you feel is your miserable lot in life.

     May all the days of your 2013 and every day after be…A Wonderful Life.

I Heard the Bells

     As the year 2012 is coming to a close, I can’t help but think back over the 365 days it has held. Life appeared to be in a rhythm for us the first six months. The very first day of the next six months, drums were beating all over the place and it seemed that no rhythm was to be found. Christmas has had me thinking of several folks in the Bible who had to move in a rush as we did, yet under much different circumstances.

     God brought us deliverance this year from unsteady employment. That is why we moved. He brought us to a great full time job with benefits for my husband.  Our prayers from the past two and a half years were answered by a call out of the blue offering him the position that moved us here. God provided every need for us during those long years and he also comforted us by letting us know that the season we were in would not last forever.   Two and a half years of feeling oppressed by the uncertainties of paychecks, God sent deliverance. I must say, though, that despite the wonderful circumstances we were moving to, I grumbled quite a bit along the way.

     Grumbling. That rings a bell. Remember the Israelites? After much oppression from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, God suddenly delivered them. He did it quickly and it was through a change of location. Just shortly after Pharaoh and his people begged the Hebrews to get out of town so their own people stop dying and having so many issues, God shuffled the feet of an entire nation of people across the dry ground He miraculously created in the middle of the Red Sea. The oppressors that chased them were engulfed by the waters He had held back and they were on the nation of Israel was on their way to deliverance. Just shortly after their moving process began, the Egyptians grumbled as they questioned Moses’ leadership and what God was trying to do for them. They even thought about going back to the land where they had experienced so much oppression. After they left the walls of water they had just tread through, the people began to whine about being thirsty and hungry. Of course they were hungry and thirsty. But God already knew that. There was no need for them to have a spirit of complaining-especially against the One who had delivered them.  Nevertheless God provided them with water and He also provided Manna and Quail every day.  I’m confident that there must have still been complaining after that because they ate the same thing every day for forty years. But eventually, God got them to their promised land.

     Well, Noah and his family, Abraham and Sarah, and many others moved quickly as well to experience deliverance from the Lord. But there’s one move in particular that ushered in deliverance for us all…the move of Mary and Joseph to a little town called Bethlehem. Life must have been in rhythm for Mary and Joseph earlier that year. Things were going so wonderfully. They were going to be married and start a family of their own. But one day, their plans were altered. Mary was pregnant with someone else’s child and they were not married. Talk your life being thrown out of every day rhythm. On top of it all, they had to pick up and move to Bethlehem at the whim of King Herod’s orders.  Yet, the Angel of the Lord told them both not to be afraid because God had it all under control. The rest of their days were filled with a new rhythm…the kind that comes from the drum of someone ushering in a king. Though sudden and treacherous, their move welcomed the exodus for all of mankind…the emancipation from sin and death.  Jesus was born. Deliverance was born.

     You would think after all that that Mary and Joseph could just stay put and let Jesus do His thing. But no, they moved suddenly again. Once again it was because of something to do with Herod- only this time it was because he was ordering that all boys under the age of two be killed. This time, they were fleeing back to the land that the Israelites had fled from: Egypt.  Just like the Hebrew Nation, though, Deliverance was with them all along. Eventually they did move again- to Nazareth. All sorts of prophecies were fulfilled along each move. And eventually, they got to their promised land where God the Father’s vow of salvation to all mankind, including the one who carried His Son in her womb was fulfilled. The Angels proclaimed that Deliverance had finally arrived, “ Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

     Isn’t it ironic that He saved His entire people once by leading them out of Egypt and then went back to Egypt when He came in the flesh? Perhaps it was to point us to the purpose that He entered our world in the first place: to deliver us.  What a brilliant and magnificent author The Word who became flesh is. “Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.” (Exodus 14:13)  Hundreds of years later, another message of deliverance was proclaimed to Joseph, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).

     Do not be afraid. I tried to force myself to be reminded of this when I wore a bracelet the whole month of July this year that some dear friends had given me as a graduation present years ago. It has the words of Hebrews 13:5 inscribed upon it, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”  Deliverance lives in my heart but sometimes I blank out about that.  That’s probably why even though He has given me my own form of manna every day to remind me of His provision for all of my needs that I had such a difficult time leaving the location where we experienced the oppression of lack of employment for two and a half years.  He offers such grace when I am forgetful, though, and reminds me again that I needn’t be afraid. Throughout my entire journey, each time my heart has been troubled, He has reminded me of His presence. Sometimes He has to do it more frequently than others, just as He did for the Israelites and then at each move for Mary and Joseph, but He has promised each of us that He will be with us and whatever move we make at His leadership is for His glory and over all plan, which is good. All that manna we’ve been given that seems so bland and mundane leaves a taste of something delicious once we pick up and move to our own exoduses through His deliverance.

     As we eagerly await next Tuesday, let us not forget that the bells which rang the very first Christmas day were the sound of Deliverance Himself crying out to a world full of oppression that freedom had come to save the day.