I Hab a Code

By Jodi Whisenhunt –

Achoo! Bless me. I mean, excuse me. I hab a code, er, I have a cold. It’s a good thing I don’t use voice recognition software right now, because I hardly have a voice, and what does squeak out is a bit jumbled. The computer would likely transcribe it in Jabberwocky. You know, “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; / All mimsy were the borogoves, / And the mome raths outgrabe.”

When I was in high school, I wrote a research paper on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass, focusing on the books’ oddities and their real life parallels. Back in those days, word processors were brand new and very expensive. We lived on my mom’s single-parent income, so I had to rely on my trusty typewriter to prepare assignments.

As I typed my first draft, I chose not to hit “backspace.” I just kept on going even when I knew I’d made an error. That drove my internal editor crazy, but I persevered until I finished the task. Then, I sat back and read it aloud and laughed until I cried. The whole thing was Jabberwocky!

I considered turning the paper in as it was. I thought surely the teacher would appreciate my efforts to authenticate the theme by speaking Carroll’s own language, but in the end, I chickened out and handed in a clean, error-free version. I guess I made the right decision, because that one scored an A+.

I’m just so glad the Lord understands me no matter how I sound. I may hab a code, I may type without backspacing, I may mumble, stammer or “uh,” but my heavenly Father knows what I mean. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:26-27 NIV). Look, “…the Spirit himself…groans,” and the Lord gets it.

Of the Jabberwocky poem, Alice replied, “Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don’t know exactly what they are!” But you know what? Whether I speak English, Spanish, French or Jabberwocky, I can rest in confidence my Lord knows exactly what I am saying and that my prayers are heard.

Priceless Treasures?

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Truck rented. Check. Everything that fits, and a few things that clearly do not, crammed into boxes. Check. Boxes labeled. Check. Utilities disconnected. Check. Cable box returned. Check. Mail forwarded. Check. Final walk through scheduled. Check. Keys turned in. Check. Papers signed. Check.

And, 350 miles down I75, we repeat the same process, in reverse. Papers signed. Keys accepted. Walk through completed. Mailbox key tested. Cable box picked up. Utilities turned on. Truck unloaded. Truck returned. Check.

And we are left with what seems like a million boxes, stacked against every available wall, with‘too much stuff’ waiting to see if it finds a new home, or gets sacrificed to the eternal dumpster.

As Ty Pennington would say, “Welcome home, Grimes Family. Welcome home.” But instead of running to see what treasures lie in wait in our perfect home, we are exhausted, with countless hours of work ahead of us.

This is the second time we’ve done this during the past 3 years, and last time, downsizing from a 3000 square foot home to a tiny apartment was quite humbling. It brought us face to face with the fact that our stuff owned us, instead of it being the other way around. As with our previous move, we found ourselves doing everything our ‘stuff’ told us to do.

Life, mixed with a tumbling economy, has changed our perspective on the meaning of the word ‘home,’ and all that can be found inside it. Just a few short years ago, I treasured our house, especially during holidays when it was decorated, and filled with family and friends.

However, ‘home’ is now wherever our family can gather to create memories. For the moment, it may be a tiny apartment. As I survey the boxes, I can say that only a few of them held what I would refer to as “treasures;” mostly family photos and hand-written letters from the kids when they were younger.

Perhaps God knew that a family that moves together creates some fun and crazy memories together. 2012 begins with us sitting on the floor, eating pizza out of the box, and entertaining one another because of the lack of internet access, and wondering if the dumpster might hold virtually all of our boxed up ‘treasures.’ Wouldn’t it be easier to simply start over?

Thankfully, this world is not our home.

And with each move, we prove that more and more.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for creating a place for us. Please guide us as we find a place to worship, friends that draw us closer to You. We trust You with our future, no matter how unsettled we feel at this moment.

“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves to not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20 NIV).

Holiness: A Determined Heart

By Carin LeRoy –

As a piano teacher, I see many types of students. But the child who excels at piano is the one who has the desire and determination to learn. They become disciplined in their practice and focus on improving their skills. That student comes excited and ready to study each week. They take my instruction to heart and make musical adjustments at my suggestion.

Living a holy life is much the same. As believers, we should become a student of God’s word and desire to live a life that is holy. It takes discipline and determination to say no to sin. The Psalmist tells how he kept his heart determined on obeying God’s words. “I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of Your commands for You have set my heart free” (Psalm 119: 30, 31 NIV).

He chose. He held fast. He ran.

He set his heart to follow God’s laws, no matter what. The choices he made were calculated. He determined that his heart would follow God, and he protected himself from the trappings of the world. I feel sure he asked himself, “Is this a good choice? Would God be pleased with this? Will this become a trap for me? Just because everyone else does this, is it right for me?”

Holiness is not a word we talk about these days because it seems rather archaic. Nevertheless, God still requires it of His children. In a culture that goes soft on sin, be the one who has a determined heart that follows hard after God.

PRAYER: Lord, give me a determined heart that will obey Your Word. Help me to avoid sin that may become a trap for me. Give me a heart that follows hard after You.

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1: 13-15 NIV).

Tongue, Be Thou Loosed

By Carol Barnier –

Welcome, friends, to Church Speak Recovery Class. My name is Carol. [Hi, Carol.] And I’m a recovering addict of church speak. Yes, friends, for years I suffered from an acute addiction to the compelling lure of church language. Its grip on me and my tongue was so tenacious that it could emerge at any time.

“Why, Laura, come in and have a muffin. Would you like a proper exegesis with that?”

While trying to live for the Lord, my uncontrolled use of the best practiced and most historically accurate of church terminology often puzzled people, in some cases, moving them further from the very God I wished them to know. I often saw the confusion spreading across their faces as I shared my thoughts of grace, mercy and ecclesiastical catechesis — and, yet, I was clueless as to what I had done to produce the wrinkled brow and baffled expression that regularly met my eager gaze.

Luckily, a mentor emerged to show me the error of my ways. “Carol,” he kindly said, “You do understand that the person you were speaking to believes Total Depravity is a headbanger group from the 90s?”

It was then that I realized the need for change. Yes, friends, it took years to jettison my vocabulary of words unknown to many and, thus, basically worthless in attempts at actual communication. But, with Yahweh’s divine intervention, … I mean, with God’s help, I began.

I started small, and, by that, I mean Big. Big words were the easiest to locate and remove. Propitiation. Apostate. Dispensationalism. In fact, if the word ever appeared in any one of the Confessions, or was listed in a seminary dictionary, or possessed more syllables than the gears of my car, it was now set aside.

The harder task was to remove the little words, words that while easy and simple to utter, were still unknown in concept to many people.

For example, I might say something seemingly plain, such as …
“Sin entered world, which caused the fall of creation. So, God sent a sacrifice to take on our sin, and that’s the plan of salvation” (hear the lyric beauty of the rhyme).

Seemed clear to me. But what people actually heard was …

Glorp entered the world, which caused the floogery of nim-cloppidge. So, God sent a ramdoozle to take on our Glorp. And that’s the drission of interpillionism.”

Big sigh.

I’m reminded of a song of the Shakers — ‘Tis the gift to be Simple, ‘Tis the gift to be free. I couldn’t agree more. It would indeed be a gift if I were able to speak simply, clearly, with no loss of meaning. And it certainly would be freeing, most especially for anyone listening to me. C.S. Lewis felt the pull of this simplicity goal, as well. His BBC radio lectures (yes, the same BBC that eventually brought you Monty Python) on the basics of the Christian faith were an attempt at simple, clear understanding of some rather weighty concepts. So successful was his work that many came to faith as a result, and the subsequent book, Mere Christianity continues to be standard reading, even 50 years later. It is to such simplicity and clarity that I aspire…as well as to a best seller that sells well for half a century.

Of course, if you ever miss the good ole’ days when you could speak your mind without a single edit and produce that puzzled look on the face of your listener, you can always briefly drop back to your old ways. Start chatting up someone in the grocery line and tell ‘em it’s all under the blood, or don’t cast your pearls before swine, or that they should perhaps put out a fleece. Gets ‘em every time.

Connecting With God

By Art Fulks –

Recently, I watched a video on the internet about connecting with God. I was simply searching for an illustration for some teaching that I was doing in my church on worship. What came from the process was a fresh perspective for my own life.

The message of the video was not spoken, but rather a series of phrases attached to a visible thread. It framed a cohesive thought reminding me that connecting with God in worship is not simply about an attitude of recognizing His worthiness. Nor is it a practice or behavior supported by a conducive set of worship songs or the right litergy.

Instead, true worship is the natural response of a person who is in a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe that is uninhibitted by sin. There is only one problem: There is no person on earth who’s relationship with God is not impacted by sin. That is why there is no way to connect with God in worship apart from the Gospel.

Simply put, the Gospel message is that Jesus Christ came to earth, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross to pay for our sin, was buried, and rose again from the dead three days later to secure our victory over death. He has ascended back to Heaven and will return again for His followers (God’s children) to live with Him for eternity. This salvation is a free gift that is received by grace through faith and repentance.

In John chapter 4 we read a story about Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well. Their conversation begins on the topic of a human’s essential need for water, but quickly turns to a universal heart issue about people connecting with God in worship. It reminds us that people all around the world striving to somehow connect with God.

As I continued to search for videos, the diversity of approaches illustrated online demonstrated that people across the street and on the other side of the planet are searching for spiritual peace and life in many ways. But God’s Word tells us where the connecting point truly is. It is found in Jesus Christ. In every aspect of our faith journey, there is a connection with the Gospel. Connect with Jesus and you connect with God.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’” (John 4:26 NASB)

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