Distracted by a Miracle

I had become distracted. Now, normally I'd be writing something against the issue of distraction:    

Distraction can cause us to focus on the things that aren't quite so important rather than the things that are. 

Distraction can cause us to miss our quiet time with the Lord or get lost during prayer, thinking about shopping lists or upcoming events. 

But, as I sat at the traffic light that morning, distraction was a good thing. You see, just after the little voice in my head told me to Snap out of it! Pay attention, I looked up and the light was green. I was first in line so, natural reaction, I took a split second to feel like a blockhead before I took my foot off the break. As all of this was going on, a driver coming from my left was taking the opportunity to run what had to be a solid red. It wasn't a close call by any stretch. My heart didn't skip a beat. I didn't tremble the rest of the way home. But I immediately recognized God at work. I thanked Him for His protection and my distraction. I thanked him for the split second of embarrassment and the perfect timing of every car in motion. I thanked Him for making me first in line, rather than someone who may not have gotten distracted, or someone who --if the runner had made contact-- might have been killed and sent straight to hell. It was a miracle. Without the fanfare, without the heart-stopping drama, without the flagrance of "impossible things" made possible.

I was ruminating on miracles the other day. What did it take for you to be here? Were your parents high school sweethearts, voted "Cutest Couple"? Was their relationship a meant-to-be kind of thing? Your existence is still a miracle. Think of all the factors in life --the lives of your parents and their parents and their parents before them-- that came together to make you you. Not just DNA, but timing, choices, locations, personal goals. Imagine if your great-great grandparents had decided not to emigrate or your father had decided not to take that job. Imagine if your grandmother had been accepted at her first-choice college, rather than the one she attended, the one where she met your grandfather. 

To my parents, I was a Whoops! --a BIG Whoops! I don't hesitate to say it. But God! I no longer feel saddened by it or consider myself unwanted. I am joyful! I am thrilled that God wanted me here! And the fact my parents made that happen --despite what they might have preferred-- makes me even more joyful! And my name. My mother chose my name strictly out of personal preference, but God... Judi means praised or of the Tribe of Judah; Jewish. Which means my mother labelled me as one of God's before I could ever speak His name. Because of my father's religious upbringing, he insisted we attend church. Because of trouble my brother encountered in elementary school, my parents made the decision to send us to a local Christian school. Because of my rebellion, God allowed consequences which drove me to do some crazy, terrible things, things that eventually drove me right into His arms. Because of an opportunity I took simply to escape boredom, I met my husband, and together we formed this fantastic and sometimes bizarre life. On and on and on it goes, Miracle after miracle. Without the fanfare, without the heart-stopping drama, without the flagrance of "impossible things" made possible. Or so it would seem. But I'm sure if we calculated the odds on those things --if those odds were ever able to be measured-- I'm sure we'd concur miracles happen all around us. We've just got to pull our heads up from our distraction and look for them. Sometimes they are the distraction.

Exponential Increase

Years ago, I wrote a post about making myself a prayer closet (Prayer Closet Adventure, August 2018). I cleaned out a portion of my closet and planned to equip the space with plenty of inspirational verses and charts plotting God's progress --not really, but I expected God to move in amazing ways. He did. I hadn't even tried out the new space when two small children moved into our lives; my prayer closet became home to little dresses and fuzzy slippers and adorable Wellies. A resource I'd committed to giving the Lord was multiplied in ways I never anticipated. Of course, that meant my prayers took place just as they had before, in my truck, at the kitchen table, wherever I had opportunity; but now they were also shared with little hearts eager to make their connection with the One who created them. A tiny portion of closet space had been filled to overflowing with the miraculous work of God! Exponential increase!

Being a bit of a math nerd in my younger years, the idea of exponents thrilled me. How far can they go? Look at how concisely we can express radical, abundant increase! Nerdy. I own it. But God is the God of "exceedingly abundantly above all." I really believe He takes joy in blowing the minds of His children. Just look at Ephesians 3:20-21, and the way these verses have been translated:

In the New King James:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In the Complete Jewish Bible:

Now to him who by his power working in us is able to do far beyond anything we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the Messianic Community and in the Messiah Yeshua from generation to generation forever. Amen.

In the New Living Translation:

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. 

In the Amplified Version:

Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

How ever you phrase it, this is abundance beyond abundance, the infinitely unimaginable! And it is all according to the power of Christ working in those who belong to Him! The same power that raised Jesus from the grave works in us! Imagine what kind of strength, breath, intervention, authority, knowledge, and skill it would take to restore breath to a corpse, to cause a heart of stone to begin beating! That is the power that works in us by the Holy Spirit of God! Exponential increase!

And I have to be honest with you, it is that promise of exponential increase that cheers me and keeps me going in those moments I'm threatened with the thought that all is lost. It is that evidence of God's abundance, beginning with a tiny portion of a closet, that is the assurance I cling to when I am threatened by dark days and hopelessness. I saw God do His thing! And it was marvelous to watch! 

What can you give Him today that He will superabundantly increase? Where in your life has He already lavished on you His infinite growth? What are your wildest dreams and how do you anticipate God outdistancing them? Are you fully confident in His promise of exponential increase? Prepare to be amazed!

Photo courtesy LuAnn Martin

Permanent Vacation!

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. ~ Luke 5:27, 28

It's vacation season, so what does it take for you to pack up and go? My mother was meticulous about her packing. She had lists for each person: how many pairs of pants, what type of shoes, right on down to toothbrush and comb. The list sat with each person's designated pile of items in her room until the night before we were to leave. Once every pile consisted of the items listed, it was double-checked and loaded into a suitcase --with the list. The list would be referenced when it was time to pack again for our return home. And we were returning. 

The passage above makes it pretty clear: Matthew had no intention of returning to the place from which Jesus called him. Imagine, you're sitting at your desk one morning, or eating lunch in your cab, maybe you just got the last little tyke down for her nap. Jesus shows up. Follow Me. Okay, you're not gonna leave the children behind, but standing up from your desk, opening the door of your cab, and just walking off? Away from your livelihood? Away from the business you built up from the ground or the vocation that was your father's and his father's before him? Away from your coworkers who have been like family to you? Away from a guard shack you've passed through every day for the past sixteen years? No send off, no exit interview or letter of resignation. Where's Kevin? I think he took something over to Radiology. Away, and to what? Imagine explaining that to your spouse. Well, no, Jesus didn't say anything about personal days or a 401K. Bi-weekly? No, I don't think I get paid at all. It sounds like there's going to be a lot of travel involved, though. Maybe I can rack up those airline miles and we can go see your sister like we planned.

But if you have no intention of coming back, does any of that matter? There'd be no need for a list: what you've got in your hands and on your back is the whole of it. And when those things become unnecessary or too heavy, you put them down and keep it moving. When Jesus calls, He is faithful. Whatever we can need, whatever we will need along the way, He provides. 

In verse 29, Luke tells us Levi then took Jesus back to his house and threw a huge party. He'd just walked away from a cushy job fleecing the sheep of Israel to an unpaid position at Jesus' non-profit, and he celebrated? He didn't sit down at the kitchen table crunching numbers, telling the family how they were all going to have to cut back --take shorter showers and eat at home more often. He brought out the fatted calf, invited his --now, former-- coworkers. I mean, there can only be one explanation, right? No, he hadn't lost his mind. He was free!! I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that, maybe, for the first time in Levi's life, he was free --he felt free! So free he was willing to empty out all the cupboards in celebration despite having just walked off the job. So free he ignored the seating chart and sat the tax collectors next to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law next to the disciples. Okay, so I don't necessarily know that, but it seems they were all there. Matthew was free, and it appears he wanted everyone else to be free as well. Come and meet the One worth leaving everything for! Come and see the One who has freed me from stuff and societal norms. Come and listen to the words of One to whom I have turned. Come and never go back. Oh, and by the way, if I have anything to do with it, my children are coming with me.

Watson on Wednesday

A friend just posted this on Instagram. I'd never read it before, but WOW! is it a powerful reminder of who we are in Christ. I say who we are, because the Christian life is --if you can imagine this --like Jesus holding above our heads a crown. It is ours. It is guaranteed by His Holy Spirit. But we are learning how to properly accept it; we are training and "doing the work," much as an earthly heir to the throne would, each and every day. We are still discovering who we are, but Christ has called us that since before the foundation of the world. 

So, enough of me, here is Others May, You Cannot, by G.D. Watson:

"If God has called you to be really like Jesus, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.

"Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

"Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their success, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

"Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

"The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants you to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He may let others get the credit for the work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater then Jesus comes.

"The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.

"Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with the loving God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven."