Joseph and Lottie

Joseph surprises me sometimes (he's 7). "Mom, what year is Lottie's birthday?

Me: Uhh, 2017 in August, cause that's when the girls and I went to Texas. Do you mean when she would have been born? Because she was due in March. It's kinda weird, cause her birthday  and death day are the same day- at the end of August. Oh, are you wondering because you wanna know when we're gonna have the cake?

Joseph: Yeah!

(He had asked earlier if we could celebrate Lottie's birthday like we celebrate every one else's - with a special dessert. I had asked him what he thought we should have, and he said yellow cake with brown sugar frosting. And guess what? That's his favorite too!😁)

The Lord Is My Shepherd

I was struck by this as I read it this morning:

15 And he blessed Joseph and said,
“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
    the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,
16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil..."  [Genesis 48:15-16a English Standard Version (ESV)]

Many of us would say that God is our shepherd. But there is something about Israel, formerly Jacob, saying this, the man who worked 7 years taking care of his father-in-law's flocks for each of his wives. He knew what it meant to be a shepherd.

David also knew what it meant to be a shepherd, and he wrote:

Psalm 23 English Standard Version (ESV)
A Psalm of David.
23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Male and Female

Something I've been thinking about lately...

27 So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”   From Genesis 1  ESV

God also made most animals male and female, but he doesn't mention that in the beginning. But He does make a point of stating that man was created male and female, after saying that they were created in God's image.

Shame? or Confidence!

You know, sometimes it's not what the Bible says, but what it does NOT say.

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 1 John 2 ESV

Jesus is coming back again. And how can we have confidence and not shrink back in shame when he comes? I would think the answer might be live perfectly, be sinless, or be holy like God. But that's not what the word says. What does it say? The key to having confidence and not shrinking from him in shame at his coming is abiding in him. That's it! Abide in him!


If you are interested in what it means to abide in him, here are some thoughts in answer to that very question:

But back to abiding in him...I think the picture of the vine and the branches helps us to see what this means. The branch cannot bear fruit without being connected to the vine, it can't even live without that connection. So Jesus is the source of our spiritual life. And this means we need to be nourished by him with his word, but also talk to him, cry out to him, and spend time with his people, to be encouraged in the truth and love one another. Abiding in him speaks much more of relationship than just doing all the right things.

The Cost of Freedom

I was reading The Sign of the Beaver with the kids. As the main character was walking through the forest, he came across a fox gnawing off its leg to escape an iron snare. The author commented:

"He was struck by the bravery that could inflict such pain on itself to gain freedom." p. 65

 At first my thoughts went to the brave people of the American Revolution who were willing to die for their freedom. Later I thought of the Pilgrims and others who left known comforts for religious freedom.

But then my thoughts went in a different direction...

As Christians, how much pain are we willing to inflict on ourselves or allow ourselves to experience to gain freedom from our sin?

God Is Light!

"God is light, and in him is no darkness at all"

I've been reflecting on these words from 1 John 1:5. No darkness AT ALL. I thought about how many times I had good intentions of doing the right thing and yet still failed! In me, there is darkness, but in God there is no darkness at all. I have the choice to do evil or not, but God is not even CAPABLE of doing evil! Just this difference alone could explain why we have so much trouble understanding God or his actions sometimes!

Beloved?

Beloved. This word jumped out at me in Ephesians 1:6:

In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses...

This is the only place in the whole book of Ephesians where Beloved is used to refer to Jesus. And right after this Paul states that "we have redemption through his blood". I found it interesting that right after Paul calls him Beloved, because he is loved by his Father, he refers to his death, his sacrifice, his suffering for us that God, our Father, sent him to accomplish. God loved/loves Jesus perfectly, but he still sent him to die for us! And Jesus willingly laid down his life for us! Wow!!!