Joy-Math

By Rhonda Rhea –

I read somewhere that the reason shopping malls have benches is so that men can have somewhere to sit while they give up the will to live. I wonder how often guys have said the words, “I will give you five hundred bucks right here on the spot if you’ll just pick a pair of shoes right now. Any pair.”

Of course, any man who says that doesn’t understand that as the words are coming out of his mouth, the savvy woman shopper is already calculating how many more pairs of shoes that will buy. The poor guy doesn’t understand that he’s actually buying himself at least four more shoe-shopping trips. Most guys just don’t get shoe math.

We all have places in life we don’t particularly like to go. There are things that happen we’d simply rather not experience. That comes along with living in a world that groans under the curse of sin. But it makes all the difference in the world when we remember that He will be our joy along the way. No matter where we are in life, no matter what the challenge or heartache, there is always a reason to praise our God. He puts the song of praise right into our mouths. David said in Psalm 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” (NIV)

For the record, “slimy pit” might equal “mall” in guy math. But whatever the pit, David waited patiently. That leads me to ask myself regularly: Am I? Are you? Are we waiting patiently for what the Lord wants to do through our difficulties? Even at the mall? Or more seriously, even in the midst of piercing pain or deep sorrow?

Want a better math formula? Patience equals trust. Trust means we keep right on following, leaning all the more on Him. “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You,” (Psalm 63:8, AMP).

There’s victory in the following. There’s comfort in the leaning. There’s joy in the clinging. Psalm 30:5 reminds us, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning,” (ESV).

Everything He’s doing on the inside of us keeps us joyfully going, praising as we go—never giving up. “Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory,” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17, HCSB).

The joy of the Lord is greater than any trial. Times infinity. Now there’s some good math. We do well when we embrace the truth that we can lean into Him, that He will be our joy and that our glorious future is sure.

Incidentally, I think the guys would do well to just go sit on the bench. And instead of giving up the will to live, maybe form a support group with all the other guys sitting on benches.

Ah, the Sweet Life

By Rhonda Rhea –

I don’t know why we’re always making things a lot more complicated than we need to, but repairs shouldn’t be rocket science. Unless you’re repairing rockets. But for everything else it’s a lot simpler than we tend to make it. According to my grandfather, if it’s mechanical, you fix it with duct tape or WD-40. In extreme cases, both. According to my grandmother, if it’s biological, sometimes you fix it with Vicks. Sometimes Camphophenique. In extreme cases, both. According to me, everything else that doesn’t require rocket science can most likely be fixed with chocolate. Also, for all the categories and for every fix-it need, you should actually always try the chocolate first.

I could be wrong but it seems to me most civil upheaval happens in the countries with the least amount of chocolate. Come on, just stop and think about it. I think I could demonstrate my reasoning with a pie chart. Of course, mine would be a chocolate pie chart. Then I could make my point slice by slice.

Ah, there’s the sweet life. Not to mention, I would be helping protect the civility of our culture one whipped-cream-covered bite at a time.

Where is it that we really find the sweet life? If you’re talking about the taste buds, sure, try the chocolate. But if you’re talking about the heart, that heart is going to have to be filled with something entirely different. Not a something. A SomeOne. Come on, just stop and think about it.

This is not about some sort of make-over of your cardiac muscle. Experiencing the real sweet life means giving Jesus the real heart of you—every single part of you. It’s more than just a little life-fix. It’s a make over, under, around and through as we allow Him to fill our every thought, check our every motive, influence our every move. It’s allowing Him to fill our everything. And to be our everything.

Paul said “For in Him we live and move and exist,” (Acts 17:28, HCSB). We live because of Him and He is the one who sustains this life. Every move is made in Him. There’s not even a remote possibility for the slightest motion without His strength. And we exist in Him. The original language gives us the sweet picture of our continual and complete dependence on Him for every little thing in this moment, and also for our continued existence in the next.

Life is sweeter at that place where we recognize it’s not really ours to fix. It’s not ours at all. It’s sweeter at that place where we recognize it’s all about Him and surrender every part fully to His control. There’s an amazingly sweet fellowship with Him there. Real worship. David said, “As for me, I will continue beholding Your face in righteousness (rightness, justice, and right standing with You); I shall be fully satisfied, when I awake to find myself beholding Your form and having sweet communion with You,” (Psalm 17:15, AMP).

“Sweet communion.” I love it. With or without whipped cream on top.

No Counterfeits

By Rhonda Rhea –

When I was a kid, I always wondered why anyone would ever choose Frankenberry over Count Chocula. Because…chocolate. That was my entire reason. Of course, even though I was only a kid, I still instinctively knew that cereal chocolate didn’t really count as true chocolate. It was actually the first bite of Cocoa Krispies that tipped me off. It was more like: snap, crackle, I don’t think so.
I’m sorry, but I’ve just never been all that cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. I think it might be simulated. Simulated what, I don’t know. It doesn’t even smell right. It’s like a cross between old baby oil and sweetened aluminum. Spoiled, oiled or foiled—I don’t know that either.

Calling cereal chocolate real chocolate would be like calling cereal marshmallows real marshmallows. I know it’s supposed to be to a breakfast cereal’s credit when it stays crunchy even in milk, but I don’t think that’s supposed to go for the mallows. Whenever you bite down on a marshmallow, you shouldn’t be able to hear it. That’s just not right, people. They’re not marshmallows. It’s not chocolate.

Crumble Ho Ho’s in a bowl. Add milk. There’s your chocolate cereal.

There’s always disappointment in encountering the fake. So much more so when you’re talking about what is meant to distinguish us as Christ-followers. Jesus said in 1 John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (ESV).

We’re called to love each other without anything counterfeit or artificial. Without hypocrisy. Without self-centeredness, secret agendas or ulterior motives. Self-seeking fake-love? It’s just not right, people. Because we’ve received the forgiveness of Christ, our love is to be sincere, deep, heart-felt—just as His is. “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22, NIV).

There’s no place for counterfeit love among those who know Christ. Only the genuine article will do. Paul said in Romans 12:9, “Let love be genuine” (ESV).

So how do we do that? We love the Lord first and foremost. We obey His commands and allow His Spirit to work out His love through us. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself” (HCSB). And He will never command us to do something He won’t enable us to do.

Love is more than just an emotion. It’s the ability to sacrifice for another. Jesus lived and died showing us how to walk it out. “And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God” (Ephesians 5:2, HCSB).

No weird aluminum smell. A fragrant offering. When we’re walking in His love, there’s simply nothing artificial about it.

Because…Jesus. That’s my entire reason.

Sneeze-quake

By Rhonda Rhea –

I was born in Texas. We’re mostly big sneezers there. It’s widely accepted that Texans do everything bigger. No wimpy little “achoo.” No, that’s simply not “Texas” enough. My sneeze, for instance, comes out in sort of a “Yah-hoo!” Heavy on the “yah” and extra, extra heavy on the “hoo.” It could hardly get more Texan than that—unless maybe I roped and branded something in the middle of the sneezing.

My Texas sneeze has a heaping helping of reverberation in it too. It can give ringing ears to everyone within an eighth of a mile radius for a good ten minutes. My husband says my sneeze registers 8.7 on the Richter scale. He’s exaggerating, of course. It’s probably barely a 4.

But to top it all off, my husband also tells me I always sneeze in nines. I think it’s interesting that he accounts for all of them. But then maybe it’s a little like counting down a missile launch. Except that it’s more like a missile launch…times nine. He’s asked that I start yelling “Incoming!” before the first sneeze launches. I hate to say it, but reverberation is not always a good thing.

It is a good thing, though, when we’re launching the grandest of all proclamations. Here’s hoping we can add even more decibels in proclaiming the message of Christ to a hopeless world. We have the message they need. That’s hope that’s worth yahooing about. Hope not just times nine. Hope times infinity.

Hold back my sneeze? I’m pretty sure I’d explode. We can’t hold back the message either. Peter and John got that. “For we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard,” (Acts 4:20, HCSB).

How can we not share it? Jesus Christ went to the cross and suffered that cruel, humiliating death on the cross to make it possible for us to have a right, tight relationship with our holy Heavenly Father. Astounding. The sinless Christ on a cross, hated and shamed, bearing our sin. All for our redemption.

God didn’t keep secret His plan for getting the word out about that redemption. He chose us for the job. First Peter 2:9 says, “You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” (NCV). The Father could’ve blasted the Good News over the most reverberating heavenly tweeters and woofers. He could’ve put it on YouTube. He could’ve beamed it over every satellite—or written in the stars, for that matter. He could’ve had the rocks cry out or used some sort of earthquake-attention-grabber. And He does so often use innovative ways to get His word out to those who need it. But the bottom line in His plan is for us to tell. What an honor it is to be included in that plan! That’s nothing to sneeze at, for sure.

And speaking of sneezes, you’re going to think I’m making this part up, but I started sneezing while I was writing this. Totally true. Mid first paragraph even. I haven’t seen the cat for over an hour.

Circle the Wagons

By Rhonda Rhea –

Coffee and donuts. They go together like love and marriage. Someday I’d like to write a poem and I’d like to start it with the line, “Coffee and donuts, sittin’ in a tree.” I’m not sure where to go from there. I get that far and all I know is that I want to be in that tree.

I confess I’ve had a few too many donuts. Sad to say, the bough on that tree would be bending pretty low about now. That’s why I decided to go on yet another diet recently. Also sad to say, I’ve already fallen off the wagon.

I’m thinking of putting up a sign that says, “Please keep body inside the wagon at all times and please stay seated until the wagon comes to a complete and final stop.”

You know, if someone would think of bringing fudge along on the wagon ride I would be a lot more motivated to stay on it. Okay, I suppose a really good friend would probably give me a nudge to stay on the wagon. Nudge or fudge. Tough call on which is best, friendship-wise.

In our spiritual lives, we all need a little nudge now and then too. It’s good to have people in our lives we can count on to nudge us in the right direction, wherever the wagons are heading.

As pioneers were settling the west, when they were threatened by an enemy, circling the wagons was part of their defense strategy. The circle provided a protected cover they could get behind to fire at their attackers.

We need to rally with those on this life’s journey in the same way. We have a common enemy. Peter reminds us to “be alert” because our “enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Circle the wagons! Our church family is part of our defensive plan against our enemy. The next verse in 1 Peter says, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (vs. 9).

We’re in this together. Let’s not neglect circling the wagons. “Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together as believers, as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25, AMP).

I’m so thankful the Lord has placed godly church buds and godly leaders in my path all through my life via the church. People with just the right nudge at the ready. There are pastors, teachers and leaders who stay alert to our spiritual supervision, keeping watch the scripture says. And Hebrews 13:17 instructs us to be responsive to them. “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.”

Less burden. More joy. It’s a good choice.

And in other choices, I’m considering choosing to keep the extra 20 pounds and just get myself a bigger wagon. One with really good shocks.

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