Pointing Fingers

By Cheri Cowell

Have you ever spent time with someone who finds fault with everything and everyone? These people drain us. It’s easy if we just chime in, but tiring if we’re working hard not to join them. While walking by someone dressed inappropriately a negative comment slips, then the conversation quickly turns to the loose morals of society and how our mother never would have let us out of the house dressed that way. How easily we use our superior yardstick to judge others.

In Jesus’ day, the religious leaders were the keepers of the moral codes, and thus arbiters of who was acceptable to God. If anyone had studied the codes they would have discovered no one followed them and thus no one deserved acceptance. In order to cover this weakness, the elite created more difficult-to-track rules. Following rules—and pointing fingers when they were broken—consumed them.

Jesus came along and said, “I am setting up a new kingdom with a new way.” He knew we couldn’t keep all the rules, and that keeping rules was not the point. He wanted us to simply love others as we have been loved, and to give grace as we’ve been given grace. That doesn’t leave us much room for pointing fingers, does it?

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New Creatures

By Cheri Cowell

We are fascinated by the movie concept of humans remade into bigger and better beings. From Clark Kent to Superman, from David Banner to the Incredible Hulk, we have been frightened and at the same time drawn to the concept of transformation. In Hollywood, at least for now, transformations from good to evil have proven disastrous, but those from ordinary to extraordinary have saved the day.

Might it be that we are so drawn to these transformations because deep in our hearts God has planted a seed of transformation? Might it be that we know we are destined for a re-make?

Without God we can only imagine a transformation like those of Hollywood. Yet, God is better than any movie producer ever was. His “movie” stars a man from Galilee who dies a horrible death in order to defeat death itself. As the victor of that battle, He has won the right to transform His followers into His own image, and He sets about this task one heart at a time until the entire world has been offered the opportunity to accept this transformation. The transformed then become part of His Army of Believers, doing battle every day with an unseen enemy, but with an outcome that is already guaranteed. Isn’t this the best movie ever written?

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The Destination

By Cheri Cowell

You know the stereotypes about men and women and how they travel. Men just want to get there and women want to enjoy the journey.

My husband and I are just the opposite. Randy wants to stop at every rest area, historical marker, and little town store. When we first met, I enjoyed the belief that the goal was to get there and THEN sightsee. I am happy to report that I have been trained. It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually, I learned it is more fun to enjoy the journey. You’ve probably heard the quote, “Success is not a destination, it’s a journey.” I propose that Christmas is not the destination; it is the journey. Take time to enjoy every aspect of preparation. Take time to make room in your already crowded life for a miracle to happen. God spent many hundreds of years preparing His people for this miracle. He wanted them to be ready with their lives and ready in their hearts.

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Wait Not Want

By Cheri Cowell

I’m terrible at waiting. Some people seem to possess a wonderful abundance of patience, but I’m not one of those people. Others who know me say I have a lot of patience and I’m good at waiting, but they don’t know what is going on inside. Inside I’m pacing, I’m making to-do lists, I’m thinking through all the possibilities, and I’m agitated. I’m not patient. I’m not waiting, I’m wanting. I’m wanting for the event to start, the situation to improve, or the circumstance to change. What is the difference, you ask? When I am truly waiting I have a peace about me that says I know the event, situation, or circumstance is a done deal. It is going to happen and I don’t need to fret or worry. There isn’t anything I can or need to do but wait. It says that I am not in control, but have submitted that authority to Someone bigger and better able to handle it than me. When I want, I feel I have control, and therefore, all the responsibility. Advent is a time to wait.

John says it so clearly: When Christ was born; True Light came into the world. That scene has been completed and is completed in us again every Christmas. Advent is our time to wait on the Lord, knowing full well that the gift will arrive on time. 

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Dreaming

By Cheri Cowell

Every mother and father looks on his or her infant child and wonders what magnificent things he or she will do. Will they become President of the United States or solve some incurable disease? Will they lead a revolution like Martin Luther King, Jr. or serve multitudes in selfless love like Mother Teresa? A new baby comes with new dreams not only for that child but also for the parents who will touch thousands more than they ever could with just their own lives. God had big dreams for the people of this world. He knew that in order to truly fulfill the dreams He has for each of us, He needed to send His Son to fulfill another dream—a dream that goes beyond what we sometimes think of when we remember the life of Christ.

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet speaks the very dreams from the heart of God. These are the dreams of a parent—a parent who is not only dreaming for His Son, but for you and me. Isaiah wrote these words 700 years before Christ was born. For 700 years God waited expectantly for just the right time. He carried these dreams in His heart and waited. Sometimes, when we think our waiting will never end, we need to remember God always waits for perfect timing.

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