“² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.””

–John 8:2-11

I know it has been a while since I have posted but something has been weighing on my mind recently that I have to get out. If you are a sports fan, specifically a football fan, then I am sure by now you have heard the story about what happened with Ray and Janay Rice. It has been all over the sports news because of the video that just came out on Monday. If not let me give you a very brief rundown of what happened. In February Ray Rice, a running back in the NFL, and his then Fiancé Janay were involved in an altercation that left Janay unconscious and having to be dragged out of an elevator. Charges were then brought against Ray for aggravated assault, he pleaded guilty and was accepted into a diversionary program for first time offenders. The people in charge of disciplinary actions in the NFL met and decide to suspend Rice for 2 games. Then on Monday (Sept. 8) a video comes out and everyone in the world saw what happened inside the elevator. Rice is let go by his organization, suspended indefinitely by the NFL, and there is an uproar about people not being honest about information that has been seen, as well as people calling for others to be fired. That is the situation at hand in a nutshell. There is way more to it that I know nothing about nor claim to know nothing about.

            I don’t know Ray or Janay Rice, but I believe that there is something that we are all forgetting when it comes to this situation: They are humans. They are now married and have a child. Their lives are no different than yours or mine except for the fact that theirs is so much more public because he is a professional athlete. Therefore every action and reaction that he or they make is worthy of being a story for everyone to hear. Now let me take a second and flip the deck. Pretend that you were a public figure, which many of us aspired to be at some point in our lives. What things in your life would come to the surface? Would it be a party that got busted while you were in high school? A ticket you got while driving? Some “scandal” that you were involved in? When I think about my life and its potential of being open to view for the public, I can only imagine how stressful that would be.

Now, what if I told you that your life is up for review? That your mistakes and shortcomings, whatever they may be, were going to be the deciding factor of your eternal salvation. It’s true, before Christ came into the world that was the reality that people had to live with. Everything that they did appeared to affect how they were going to spend their eternity. And if it weren’t for Jesus that is the reality that we would be living with today as well. When it came to judgment day our good would be weighed against our bad and that bad would win out. BUT (and this is a very important but) God loves us and created us to be in relationship with Him. And because He loves us that much He sent Christ into the world to do what no one else could do. To live a perfect life and to pay for all of eternity’s “bad” so that we could live with Him forever.

In chapter 8 of John we have another perfect example of love. The Pharisees came to Jesus and were telling Him that they had caught a woman in the act of adultery and that the law says she should be stoned to death. Jesus acknowledges them and says “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” No body throws a stone, and then Jesus turns to the woman and says “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?… Then neither do I condemn you…Go now and leave your life of sin.” That folks is forgiveness. Forgiveness that comes from God in the midst of our mess and something that we forget to extend to others. I think it is something that Ray Rice and everyone involved in this situation needs to hear. Now let me be clear:

 I DO NOT think what he did is acceptable, but I do think that it is forgivable.

God uses our disappointments, our hurts, and our mistakes to show us what true love and forgiveness are and I hope that the Rice family can see that amidst the mess.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, there are so many terrible things that happen in our society today that are bad. So many things that leave us scarred and hurt. Today especially we remember all of those victims and perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks so many years ago, and we also remember the Rice family and everyone else involved in the situation. Please remind them that You are love and that Your forgiveness is ultimately what matters. You are the only one who can make beauty from this pain and we ask that you give your hand of comfort to any and all who need it today and every day. Amen.

Question for Reflection:

            Does God’s forgiveness change how we look at mistakes or shortcomings people make?

“Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.” ― Paulo Coelho

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer, and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 4:6

May Day May Day!! You might think I am on a ship that is in trouble but that is not the case. Today is May first! So happy May to everyone. Have you ever wondered how many doorbells get rung and baskets left all across the nation, and maybe even the world today? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Maybe even Millions? I also wonder how many people are aware that today is also National Day of Prayer. I didn't know until high school that there was even such a day. We would meet at the flag pole and say a couple of prayers for our school, and our nation. It was a really neat experience but how much thought do people give to prayers? How intentional are people about taking time in their lives to sit down and pray, not only when things are hard but at all points of their lives? Is prayer even important?

            When we look into scripture we see that prayer was all over. In the Old Testament there were all sorts of prayers. Moses, Abraham, King David, and the prophets were in relationship with God and prayed on a regular basis. Even the people of the Old Testament would bring sacrifices in prayer to God. In the New Testament we see Jesus teach His disciples how to pray, and we see He Himself take time away from everything that is going on to pray. How about you? How much time do you spend praying? How much thought do you put into your prayers or are they just recitations of things you have been saying for a long time? A lot of times we fall into the trap of wanting my will to be done. We end up praying for things to work out the way we want them to happen and forget that we really need to remember that it Thy or His will that will be done. He knows our needs and our wants, our joys and our pains, and our strengths and weaknesses. So in our prayers, let’s take some time to think about what we are saying, mean what we are saying, and remember that it’s Thy will not my will.

“Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.” –Mahatma Gandhi

“Never forget the three powerful resources you have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.” –H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“”I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.” –Matthew 26:75

Let’s take a journey today. Let’s go back and put ourselves in Peter’s shoes and walk through his life just a little bit. It all started for him as a little boy. In that culture the school system was much different. There was really just one school. Rabbi school. When boys were young they would all go there to start their path to becoming a Rabbi or teacher. It started by them having to memorize parts of the Torah or books of Moses. When test time came around, only the best of the best were allowed to move on. The rest were to go back to their homes and learn the family trade. This is where we find Peter, out in a fishing boat with his brother Andrew. Not having been good enough to make the cut he learned to be a fisherman.

            Then one day while they were fishing a man named Jesus comes and directs him to put down everything, leave everything, and come follow Him. That means leaving your wife, your job, and everything you know to go and follow this Jesus. Following Jesus takes him on a 3 year whirlwind. Peter witnesses and participates in the healing of the sick, the healing of the paralyzed and disabled, the casting out of demons, feeding thousands of people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, he gets to see Moses and Elijah in person, and hear the preaching of a kingdom that is to come. What an adventure that had to have been. But it all seems to culminate one night in a place called Gethsemane.

This Jesus who he has been following and trusting for 3 years is betrayed by a friend, and taken into custody for something that He didn’t do. So he follows Jesus’ arresting party to watch the trial and gets noticed. People recognize that he has been one of Jesus’ followers and even though you told Jesus you would never leave Him, you do just as He has told you. You deny knowing Jesus three times. Now this denial isn’t a subconscious denial. It is an active conscious denial that is meant to protect yourself from the very thing that swore you would do, die with Jesus.

Peter goes through this incredible 3 year journey with Jesus and having seen all that he has seen, been a part of it all, still actively denies Jesus. His journey to the cross is like a never ending roller coaster. He had highs that were incredible and lows that caused him to doubt that Jesus really was the Savior of the world. But is that any different than our journey to the cross? What does your journey look like? I am sure that some of you have seen people recover from a near death illness or injury. Maybe you have seen children graduate, go to college, and get married. Maybe you have gotten the privilege to see babies, grand babies, or maybe even great grand babies be born. You may have even gotten to celebrate some great accomplishments in your career or personal goals that you have set for yourselves. How have those things shaped your faith life?

On the other hand all of those good times come with the tough times as well, the lows of our journey. Maybe you have experienced losing a loved one, losing a job, a debilitating addiction, or even a car accident that takes away the joys of life. If you haven’t experienced those things, then I promise you this. You have actively denied Jesus. Just like Peter that night, we have all done something to say “Uh, Jesus who?” Those “Jesus who?” moments blot and stain our lives like red wine or coffee stains a nice white shirt.

Those “Jesus who?” moments are the exact reason that Christ called us on this journey. Walked with us on this journey. Taught us on this journey. And ultimately died for us on this journey. He knew the cost of this journey for us was death, and made it known that we can’t do it on our own. He showed us that nothing in this life can stain us so deeply that He can’t get rid of it. On the cross he turned those stained and beaten down people that we were and changed them to blameless, forgiven, and stainless people. So as Holy week gears up let’s take time to reflect on our journeys to the cross, and remember the great sacrifice that He paid on the cross to turn our “Jesus who?” moments into “Jesus, Thank you!”

“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.'” -Billy Graham

“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” –Isaiah 46:3-4

Think back to your earliest memories. How old were you? What were you doing? It so amazing that our brains and memory can go back to when we were just a couple of years old and recall things that were happening. My earliest memory is of my house in Alaska. If you asked me right now to draw a picture of the layout I could, and I have many other memories that go along with that place from when I was 3 but I can’t remember anything earlier than that. According to neuroscientists we can’t remember things from when we were a baby because our brains were underdeveloped, we had no language to connect things with, and we had no retrieval cues. Without those and some other more scientific things it is impossible to have created memories from our infancy. But wouldn’t have been nice to remember what being held or protected 24/7 was like?

            Knowing those things about our memory and development give us just a glimpse into the memories that our parents have of us, and more specifically the memories that our Heavenly Father has of us. He remembers the day you were born, your parents holding you for the first time, your first smile, your first steps, and every other minute of your life. Isaiah reminds us of that when he writes: “I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” God has been around and knows every intricate detail of your life. He has been their sustaining you through all of the good times and the tough times and He has made and kept the promise to you that He will rescue you. He sent His Son, to take our place and all of our sins for eternity, rescuing us from a life of hopelessness and eternal separation from Him. His ransom for our rescue!

“The yoke you wear determines the burden you bear.” -Edwin Louis Cole

“…not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” -1 Corinthians 1:26-30

Someone once said “As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.” That same person also said “Great liars are also great magicians.” Do you have any idea who these quotes belong to? I’ll give you a few hints. It was a man who was well known. Some viewed him as a philosopher, and some viewed him as a leader. He lived from the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century (1800’s-1900’s) and he lived in Europe. Know who it is? If you guessed C.S. Lewis… you’d be wrong. If you guessed Winston Churchill… you’d be wrong as well. If you guessed Adolf Hitler you would be correct. Hitler, although we don’t want to admit, had great persuasion skills and was a very powerful leader for a time. He was smart enough to work the system, and was a very strong willed man. Along with those things he also had many flaws. He was immersed in worldly power, knowledge, wisdom, and made a religion of beliefs that he liked best. He let himself fall into his own great lies and started fighting for his personal ideas of what truth and justice were. So how do we match up?

Now, please don’t think that I am saying that we are all like Hitler. I do however want to point out that we have some similar tendencies because we are sinful people. We get caught up in the temporary things in life like power, knowledge, wisdom, and fighting for what we believe in. Paul recognizes this fact and has a long and confusing speech where he says that he does what he doesn’t want to do and he doesn’t do what he wants to do. John Newton puts it in a different and more understandable way: “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be. I am not even what I hope to be.” Newton has it right. We are not what we ought, wish, or hope to be. We were made to be in perfect likeness of Christ and we fail miserably every day at being that way because we are sinners. However, Newton finishes by saying “But by the cross of Christ, I am not what I was.” By the cross of Christ we have been forgiven for our sinfulness, our selfishness, and all of the times that we get sucked into the things of this world. He took all of those things on the cross and got rid of them for eternity making perfect in His sight!

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be. I am not even what I hope to be. But by the cross of Christ, I am not what I was.” –John Newton

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” -1 Peter 2:11-12

It’s opening day for baseball season and my Facebook and Twitter feed are all a buzz with people cheering on their perspective teams. The season only finished 5 months ago yet a lot of people were ready and anxious for it to start again. I think about these players that have committed their lives to the game of baseball and wonder how many hours they have put in over the course of their career. If you totaled it all up I’m sure that you would find out that they have spent years playing this game they love, or at least are good at. You also think about all of the injuries and, while more prevalent in football, someone’s season or career can be over in an instant. Even if they make it an entire career, what happens when they are too old to play at a competitive level? A lot of players don’t know what to do because they get caught in this idea of baseball or other sports. They forget that these are just temporary things. There comes a time when they either won’t matter anymore or we won’t care about them anymore. Unfortunately we can say the same about a lot of other things in our lives.

We seem to get caught up in the temporary things really easily. Our favorite sports team, the new “in” fashion, the latest video games, and the list goes on. We all have our own temporary pitfalls if you will. What makes them so attractive? How important are those things in the long run? Thankfully scripture reminds us of something more permanent. We are reminded in 1 Peter that we are to act as strangers or aliens on this planet we call earth because it is not our permanent home. It is only a temporary place for us to be until Christ comes to take us home eternally with Him. The other thing scripture reminds us of is that we have been forgiven for our “temporary” lapses in judgment called sins. Christ has permanently erased them from the record book so that we can have that home with Him forever. Our names have been added to the book of life with the most permanent ink we could ever think of. Christ’s blood. Our temporary covered by His permanent.  

“Don’t make a permanent decision for a temporary emotion.” -Unknown

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

–Revelations 3:15-16

This is the first winter that I have spent outside of Minnesota or Nebraska in the last 15 years and it has proven itself to be an interesting endeavor. I have never seen weather jump around in temperature so much so frequently. We will go from having a week where we hardly get above freezing and then we will have a span of three days where it will hover right around 70 degrees. It then will drop back to the thirties for a few days and then head back to the fifties. Even some of the people who have lived here in Missouri have said that this is the most inconsistent winter that they have had in many years. I am so used to it being warm until winter, and then cold until it is supposed to warm up for spring and summer that my body doesn’t know what to do with all of this change in temperature. I sure wish it would just pick so I my body could stay adjusted.

In the passage for today it talks about being hot, cold, and lukewarm. Some take that literally and say John was talking about the “hot” baths and medicinal cleanings you would get that were healing and the “cold” as the refreshing drinks of water travelers would get when they rested. This makes sense because who wants to take baths in or drink semi-warm water. I can’t say I do. Instead add our faith to the conversation and what that faith produces. If we change the water analogy to faith, we get “hot” faith that is healing and encouraging when we need it. When times are down we can remember the grace and forgiveness that God has given to us freely, which builds us up to continue to do His works. If we have “cold” faith we get a refreshing reminder that we can’t do anything good without the work of the Holy Spirit encouraging us to do so. But if we have lukewarm faith it may come across as stagnant or unappealing, not showing people the true nature of our Heavenly Father. Thankfully our Heavenly Father is a forgiving God who has already taken our lukewarm times into account. He noticed that all people would fall into the trap of being lukewarm at some point or another and sent Christ to take care of that on the Cross. Christ has paid for our lukewarmness making us “hot and cold” people once again! I love being hot and cold!

Question for Reflection: Are you in a lukewarm slump? What has God already done for that?

“To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no lukewarm endeavor.” -Ezra Taft Benson