It's Crunch Time

[Jesus said] "But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out." (Luke 13:27-28)
Hockey fans have great hopes for their favourite teams in the. NHL playoffs. Players are quoted repeating all-too-common cliches and everyone speaks of "crunch time" and "it's do or die". Everyone is filled with excitement and anticipation.
When Jesus died on the cross it was like the playoffs for the salvation of mankind. The difference was that the team which at first glance appeared to lose, actually won! Talk about a reversal of decision after the instant replay! Unfortunately, we have a world of cynics who feel that since they did not actually view the instant replay themselves - it must not have happened! Sounds like a philosophy class doesn't it?
Who among us, knowing that they could take part in a huge win and accept the ultimate prize, wouldn't want to be part of God's team? With that amazing team leader known as Jesus Christ? Wouldn't you want to be part of a world championship team?
Unfortunately, we have people all around the world who don't know that in the spiritual world, it's crunch time. It is time to "do" that decision and accept Christ as their personal saviour and accept eternal life with Christ. . . either that or suffer the consequence of not having this experience. To not be with Christ will cause these people to "weep and gnash their teeth" because they were not on the winning team, . . . as they quote cliches such as "If only," "I would've, could've, should've".
And that, my friends, will be hell.

- rj van rootselaar

The Mosaic That Shows Us the Face of God

A mosaic consists of thousands of little stones. Some are blue, some are green, some are yellow, some are gold. When we bring our faces close to the mosaic, we can admire the beauty of each stone. But as we step back from it, we can see that all these little stones reveal to us a beautiful picture, telling a story none of these stones can tell by itself.
That is what our life in community is about. Each of us is like a little stone, but together we reveal the face of God to the world. Nobody can say: "I make God visible." But others who see us together can say: "They make God visible." Community is where humility and glory touch.

- Henri Nouwen

So That We May Awaken

There is perhaps nothing we modern people need more than to be genuinely shaken up. Where life is firm we need to sense its firmness; and where it is unstable and uncertain and has no basis, no foundation, we need to know this too and endure it. We need to recognize that we have stood on this earth in false pathos, in false security, in spiritual insanity.
For this is the message of Advent: faced with him who is the Last, the world will begin to shake. Only when we do not cling to false securities will our eyes be able to see this Last One and get to the bottom of things. Only then will we be able to guard our life from the frights and terrors into which God the Lord has let the world sink to teach us, so that we may awaken from sleep, as Paul says, and see that it is time to repent, time to change things.

- Alfred Delp "Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas"

On the Journey Towards Accepting my Fears

As a college junior, I am at a critical point in my life. In the next ten years, I will attempt to find a job, enter a marriage, and think about children. The transition from childhood to adulthood at times overwhelms me. Every decision that I make now - who to date, what my major should be, what companies to interview with, how I treat my closest friends and family - seems to have a resounding impact on my future. Although I have always been content with my life, I am terrified of the unknown. I am frightened that I will choose the wrong career path and end up in a dismal job that I hate, that I will not succeed as a mother and wife, and that I will end up not being the person I want to be. At times like this, I find myself needing to take a deep breath and relax.
Despite my fears, somewhere along this journey, I have come to accept being afraid. If I knew where I was going to be in twenty years, where would the challenge and discovery in each day be? The best I can do now is be fully present in each moment. A quotation by Thich Nhat Hanh reads, "Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life." The most I can do is give love to those I care the most about, because in giving something of ourselves, we receive much greater. Although my future still remains unknown, my present life is full of peace, laughter, and happiness. The rest of my life will be full of decisions and tribulations, but it will also be an exhilarating ride and something I can't wait to take one day at a time.

- Brianne Schmidt

Friends and Their Unique Gifts

No two friends are the same. Each has his or her own gift for us. When we expect one friend to have all we need, we will always be hypercritical, never completely happy with what he or she does have.
One friend may offer us affection, another may stimulate our minds, another may strengthen our souls. The more able we are to receive the different gifts our friends have to give us, the more able we will be to offer our own unique but limited gifts. Thus, friendships create a beautiful tapestry of love.

- Henri Nouwen

Friends and Their Limitations

We need friends. Friends guide us, care for us, confront us in love, console us in times of pain. Although we speak of "making friends," friends cannot be made. Friends are free gifts from God. But God gives us the friends we need when we need them if we fully trust in God's love.
Friends cannot replace God. They have limitations and weaknesses like we have. Their love is never faultless, never complete. But in their limitations they can be signposts on our journey towards the unlimited and unconditional love of God. Let's enjoy the friends whom God has sent on our way.

- Henri Nouwen

A Childhood Memory

As a child, I could never put the holiday and the purpose of giving thanks together. Aunt Dorie would come drunk and weep at the table. No one ever knew why, and no one asked. Grandpa refused to speak to Grandma. My older brother showed his face only at the meal. Otherwise, he was conspicuously absent. In trying to make everything perfect, Mum would always have a migraine, and Dad would be steaming because Mum didn’t feel well. All the while, the Detroit Lions stormed our living room, making it impossible for anyone to do anything except sneak as many hors d’oeuvres as possible.

- Charles Moore

Losing and Gaining Our Lives

The great paradox of life is that those who lose their lives will gain them. This paradox becomes visible in very ordinary situations. If we cling to our friends, we may lose them, but when we are nonpossessive in our relationships, we will make many friends. When fame is what we seek and desire, it often vanishes as soon as we acquire it, but when we have no need to be known, we might be remembered long after our deaths. When we want to be in the centre, we easily end up on the margins, but when we are free enough to be wherever we must be, we find ourselves often in the centre.
Giving away our lives for others is the greatest of all human arts. This will gain us our lives.

- Henri Nouwen

Leadership and Growth

Studying the Way is like planting a tree -
if you cut it just when it branches out,
it can be used for firewood;
if you cut it when it's about to reach full growth,
it can be used for rafters;
if you cut it when it's somewhat stronger,
it can be used for beams;
and if you cut it when it's old and huge,
it can be used for pillars.
Could it be that when you take the attainment
over the long run the profit is greater?

- Zen Lessons, The Art of Leadership

Real Friend Test

A simple friend, when visiting, acts like a guest.
A real friend opens your refrigerator and helps himself (and doesn't feel even the least bit weird shutting your 'beer drawer' with her foot!)
A simple friend has never seen you cry. A real friend has shoulders soggy from your tears.
A simple friend doesn't know your parents' first names. A real friend has their phone numbers in his address book.
A simple friend brings a bottle of wine to your party. A real friend comes early to help you cook and stays late to help you clean.
A simple friend hates it when you call after they've gone to bed. A real friend asks you why you took so long to call.
A simple friend seeks to talk with you about your problems.
A real friend seeks to help you with your problems.
A simple friend wonders about your romantic history. A real friend could blackmail you with it.
A simple friend thinks the friendship is over when you have an argument. A real friend calls you after you had a fight.
A simple friend expects! you to always be there for them. A real friend expects to always be there for you!

source unknown

Dance and Smell the Flowers Occasionally

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.
I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.
How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you?
How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?
I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch in a half hour?" She would gas up and stammer, "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain." And my personal favourite: "It's Monday." She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.
Because Australians cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches... We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!
We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college
Life has a way of accelerating as we get older The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit."
When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.
My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.
Now... go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to... not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say "Hi"?
When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift... Thrown away... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.
Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!"
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, But by the moments that take our breath away.

source unknown

Understanding the Bible

Alas, so many intelligent people become preoccupied with dates and linguistic problems concerning the Bible that they have not time to seriously consider the Bible's main theme, God's love for us and our loving response to him. They seem so concerned for truth, yet neglect the real purpose of truth, which is to bring us closer to the God of truth.

- William Law in Christian Perfection

Making Our Lives Available to Others

One of the arguments we often use for not writing is this: "I have nothing original to say. Whatever I might say, someone else has already said it, and better than I will ever be able to." This, however, is not a good argument for not writing. Each human person is unique and original, and nobody has lived what we have lived. Furthermore, what we have lived, we have lived not just for ourselves but for others as well. Writing can be a very creative and invigorating way to make our lives available to ourselves and to others.
We have to trust that our stories deserve to be told. We may discover that the better we tell our stories the better we will want to live them.

- Henri Nouwen

Confronting The Issues

As disciples following Christ, there is an imperative need for us to neither ignore nor condemn, but rather to confront responsibly the moral and social issues of our times.

- John Stott in "Decisive Issues Facing Christians Today"

Writing, Opening a Deep Well

Writing is not just jotting down ideas. Often we say: "I don't know what to write. I have no thoughts worth writing down." But much good writing emerges from the process of writing itself. As we simply sit down in front of a sheet of paper and start to express in words what is on our minds or in our hearts, new ideas emerge, ideas that can surprise us and lead us to inner places we hardly knew were there.
One of the most satisfying aspects of writing is that it can open in us deep wells of hidden treasures that are beautiful for us as well as for others to see.

- Henri Nouwen

The Mystery Of Life And Death

Oh Dear God,
We come to You because we do not know where else to go.
We come to You with more questions than affirmations. We want to ask, "Why?", "Why now?" "Why them?"
We can not accept the glib answer that You need them for some angelic choir more than we need them here. It is not so.
We can not - we will not believe that it is some direct act of will on Your part that these young persons should die so soon. You would not tease us with promising futures, only to snuff out these lives before any fulfillment of their dreams.
We want to quarrel, but must confess that the mystery of life and death is beyond our mortal minds.
But we still come, in spite of questions, in spite of anger, because our pain is such that we need Your love and need Your comfort and need to feel Your presence more than we need answers that will not satisfy. Hold us close to You, close to each other and close to those we have lost.
Even as our own grief seems too much to bear, we remember those for whom these deaths are far more personal. We pray for their families, for those for whom life will be forever changed, where empty chairs and empty rooms and silent instruments will be constant reminders of their loss.
But, we also come to be reminded that we live in the afterglow of Easter. We have proclaimed that Christ is risen, that death has been conquered, that life continues beyond the event we call death and we claim the promises made that in life and in death we belong to You, brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore Your children always. Amen

- Joe G. Emerson, First United Methodist Church, Bloomington, Indiana

Writing to Save the Day

Writing can be a true spiritual discipline. Writing can help us to concentrate, to get in touch with the deeper stirrings of our hearts, to clarify our minds, to process confusing emotions, to reflect on our experiences, to give artistic expression to what we are living, and to store significant events in our memories. Writing can also be good for others who might read what we write.
Quite often a difficult, painful, or frustrating day can be "redeemed" by writing about it. By writing we can claim what we have lived and thus integrate it more fully into our journeys. Then writing can become lifesaving for us and sometimes for others too.

- Henri Nouwen

Question from Above

What are spiritual questions? They are questions from above. Most questions people ask of Jesus are questions from below, such as the question about which of a woman's seven husbands she will be married to in the resurrection. Jesus does not answer this question because it comes from a legalistic mind-set. It is a question from below.
Often Jesus responds by changing this question. In the case of the woman with seven husbands he says, "At the resurrection men and women do not marry - have you never read what God himself said to you: 'I am God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?' He is God not of the dead but of the living" (Matthew 22:23-30).
We have to keep looking for the spiritual question if we want spiritual answers.

- Henri Nouwen

On the Journey Towards Accepting my Fears

My fears are woven into the very fabric of my being. I am only willing to articulate them in the presence of a few close people. I fear of my own anger and the loss of control. I fear running out of money and losing my good health. I fear the death of my wife and children and selfishly, the death of my father, because then I will become the elder of the family. Almost every morning I ask God to help me recognize my fears and live beyond them and in spite of them.
When I confront some of these fears, I do feel empowered. I feel that the heavily vaulted door to my heart has been replaced by a simple permeable membrane. And while I feel vulnerable, I know vulnerability is the human condition we wish to achieve without seeing ourselves as fragile.
Recently I have been able to tell my wife about my fears. To be 63 and still afraid of much of life is both a curse and a blessing. The curse is knowing how much growth must still take place before I am content with "me." The blessing is in knowing that I am alive and just like other people.
Sometimes, in my fear of becoming incapacitated or reduced to less than the self I want to be, I find myself acting out of my fears. At these times I choose not to take chances that would enhance my life. At other times, when fear is at bay, I willingly step out of my proscribed self and speak out for myself as well as for others.
I am wrestling with these issues daily and making progress. On the outside I am the fearless warrior for the "other," while at the same time I am hoping that someone will do battle for me! I am coming to know that finally, I am the one who must slay my own fears. At the end of the day, I thank God for standing with me throughout my daily journey.

- Albert Lewis

For Remembrance/Veterans Day

One day, a new ideal will arise, and there will be and end to all wars. I die convinced of this. It will need much hard work, but it will be achieved… The important thing, until that happens, is to hold one’s banner high and to struggle… Without struggle there is no life.

- Kaethe Kollwitz

Remembrance/Veteran's Day Thoughts...

• As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
• Valour is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul - Michel de Montaigne
• Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die - G. K. Chesterton
• How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! - Maya Angelou
• Freedom is never free - Author Unknown
• When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them - Chinese Proverb
• I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, 'Mother, what was war?' - Eve Merriam

Be Pre-Prayered

One Sunday morning, a simple saying came into my mind. I don't recall ever hearing it before. I was thinking of the word prepared, and the word preprayered came out. So here's the saying: "Be pre-prayered for the day."
Then I was reading the devotional "Streams in the Desert" by L.B. Cowman and the March 2 devotional confirmed my saying.
"Be ready in the morning, and then come up... Present yourself to Me there on top of the mountain. No one is to come with you." (Exodus 34:2-3)
"The morning is a critically important time of day. You must never face the day until you have faced God, not look into the face of others until you have looked into His. You cannot expect to be victorious, if you begin your day in your own strength alone. Begin the work of every day after having been influenced by a few reflective, quiet moments between your heart and God. Do not meet with others, even the members of your own family, until you have first met with the great Guest and honoured Companion of you life - Jesus Christ. Meet with Him alone and regularly, having His Book of counsel open before you. Then face the ordinary, and the unique, responsibilities of each day with the renewed influence and control of His character over all your actions."
I hope this encourages your day and your walk with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

- Karen Gonidakis

A Light In The Darkness

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., is a sombre and gripping place. Each of its four levels details a portion of the horror that left more than six million Jews dead between 1933 and 1945. It is a dark tour through history that you will never forget. Walking through the graphic and heart-wrenching exhibits, you can't help but feel overwhelmed by the sense of hopelessness and loss these people faced daily.
Yet in the midst of bleak tragedy there stands a bright light. On one floor is a large wall, listing the thousands of names of those who assisted the Jews during the Holocaust. These weren't necessarily strong or powerful people (although some of them were in prominent positions). They were shopkeepers, teachers, lawyers, and business professionals. They were old and young, men and women, from numerous countries and backgrounds. Whether these individuals provided food, shelter, money, letters of transport or a new home, they all provided hope. Through their selfless efforts these people quietly restored hope to millions. Their bravery and commitment to humanity was a light in the darkness. They brought purpose when life seemed filled with despair....
The wall stands out because it's a beacon of hope in a place where tragedy abounds. The lives represented there symbolize determination and selflessness in the midst of despair and fear.

- Dr. Norm Wakefield & Jody Brolsma in "Men Are from Israel, Women Are from Moab"

The Answer to Our Questions

We spend a lot of time and energy raising questions. Is it worth it? It is always good to ask ourselves why we raise a question. Do we want to get useful information? Do we want to show that someone else is wrong? Do we want to conquer knowledge? Do we want to grow in wisdom? Do we want to find a way to sanctity?
When we ponder these questions before asking our questions, we may discover that we need less time and energy for our questions. Perhaps we already have the information. Perhaps we don't need to show that someone is wrong. For many questions we may learn that we already have the answers, at least if we listen carefully to our own hearts.

- Henri Nouwen

Christ's Unique Claims

Some of the most obvious considerations, when thinking about the supremacy of Christ, are the claims He made about Himself. Other teachers said they were telling the truth. Christ said, "I ... am the truth" (John 14:6). Other teachers asked people to follow their teachings. Christ asked people to follow Him. More than twenty times in the Gospels Jesus spoke about the need to follow Him. The other great leaders taught people to worship God. Jesus accepted the worship of Thomas (John 20:28). Jesus made statements that clearly implied that He was God, and some of His hearers were so scandalised by these remarks that twice they wanted to stone Him for blasphemy (John 8:54-59; 10:30, 31).
Seven "I am" statements appear in John's Gospel, showing that Christ claimed to be the source of eternal life. He said, "I am the bread of life" (6:35); "I am the light of the world" (8:12); "I am the gate" (10:7, 9); "I am the good shepherd" (10:11); "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25); "I am the way and the truth and the life" (14:6); "I am the true vine" (15:1). Leon Morris reminds us that "in each case the Greek form of 'I am' is emphatic." Each saying includes the personal pronoun "I." "There is no need to include the personal pronoun unless emphasis is required." Morris concludes that to Jewish ears, the words I am "aroused associations of the divine." These and other statements of Christ make us agree with J. T. Seamands' statement that the uniqueness of Christ "is not something we concede to Christ, but something he confronts us with."

- Ajith Fernando in "The Christian's Attitude Toward World Religions"

Fulfilling a Mission

When we live our lives as missions, we become aware that there is a home from where we are sent and to where we have to return. We start thinking about ourselves as people who are in a faraway country to bring a message or work on a project, but only for a certain amount of time. When the message has been delivered and the project is finished, we want to return home to give an account of our mission and to rest from our labours.
One of the most important spiritual disciplines is to develop the knowledge that the years of our lives are years "on a mission."

- Henri Nouwen

Being Sent Into the World

Each of us has a mission in life. Jesus prays to his Father for his followers, saying: "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (John 17:18)

We seldom realise fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we have to choose how, where, and with whom to live. We act as if we were simply plopped down in creation and have to decide how to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.

- Henri Nouwen

Going Beyond Our Wants

Sometimes we behave like children in a toy shop. We want this, and that, and then something else. The many options confuse us and create an enormous restlessness in us. When someone says, "Well, what do you want? You can have one thing. Make up your mind," we do not know what to choose.
As long as our hearts keep vacillating among these many wants, we cannot move forward in life with inner peace and joy. That is why we need inner and outer disciplines, to go beyond these wants and discover our mission in life.

- Henri Nouwen

Ordering Our Desires

Desire is often talked about as something we ought to overcome. Still, being is desiring: our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our souls are full of desires. Some are unruly, turbulent, and very distracting; some make us think deep thoughts and see great visions; some teach us how to love; and some keep us searching for God. Our desire for God is the desire that should guide all other desires. Otherwise our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls become one another's enemies and our inner lives become chaotic, leading us to despair and self-destruction.
Spiritual disciplines are not ways to eradicate all our desires but ways to order them so that they can serve one another and together serve God.

- Henri Nouwen

Walking Advertisements

We ought to be Christians in large type, so that it would not be necessary (for others) to be long in our society, or to regard us through spectacles, in order to detect our true discipleship. The message of our lives should resemble the big advertisements which can be read on the street-boardings by all who pass by.

- F. B. Meyer