Super Bowl 2013

By Elaine James –

This is it! Huddle up! The biggest sports event viewed in the year. All the tailgating, home, bars and restaurant parties are in full planning mode. Everyone excited and rooting for their team.

All this hype! It is incredible what time is put into the biggest sporting event of the year.

The New Year is in full swing with each of us making resolutions, goals, dreams, projecting and forecasting for the year.

My mind (emphasis added) shifts to the last days of Jesus life. The disciples were unsure of Jesus’ last play! The Super Bowl can be likened to the Last Supper. Jesus worked hard to get there. With the same passion as a NFL player, Jesus is at the top of His game. How far would a player go to win the game? To win, Jesus went as far as His death on the cross.

In this New Year I look for things that I can tackle so I can be in control. How can I get my head in the game (pun intended) of life for this New Year? Let’s huddle together, call out the play and move out to our positions.

Where is your position? Right here, right now, what is your game plan? Where is your play book (the Bible)? Are you looking at the plays from a distance, saying “Yea, yea, I’ll get to it and read it?” But you never quite find the time.

I liken this New Year to this epic football game. I have to laugh! My friend kiddingly says his motto is “Football, the greatest game ever!”

My own motto for Jesus is this: “The cross, the greatest act of love ever!” It’s true. For God so loved you, He gave His life.

Many give back to the game by going to the games, rooting for their favorite players or buying all the merchandise. The fans have overwhelming passion as they cheer “We have to win.” I’ve even heard many fans yell “I LOVE THIS GAME!”

In the New Year ask yourself “Are you willing to love Jesus back?” Shout for joy “I love you Jesus!” May God bless our stadiums (churches) with a great cheering section for 2013.

“Bravo, GOD, Bravo! Everyone join in the great shout: Encore! In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might” (Psalm 96:7 MSG).

“Once and For All”

By Elaine James –

“-we will find out who rules the land!” shouted out Matthew Perry in his new sitcom called Go On. Matthew Perry’s character Ryan King, a supposedly famous sportscaster, is in a small therapy group where he is trying to deal with the death of his wife. He decides to take over the group, stating, “Be honest when you sit here listening to someone else’s problems, you may smile and nod but a big part of you is thinking ‘My thing is worse than your thing. Am I right?’” They all nod in agreement.

With that reality in mind, Ryan calls their challenge March Sadness and he creates a competition. He blurts out, “We’re all going to go head to head. You have five seconds to tell your sob stories. Winners advance. We go a couple of rounds and we know once and for all who rules the land.”

The New Year was just celebrated and life will go on. But how do we go on? Another year of…(name your complaint.) There are many tragic “sob stories” in the Bible. One caught my eye as an example of how we can learn to “go on.”

King Nebuchadnezzar obtained high status and power as a king. He saw Daniel’s God rescue Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace, but the truth of how great their God is faded and he continued to rule the land.

He commissioned Daniel to interpret a dream. Daniel interpreted it this way: “The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules.” It took Nebuchadnezzar seven years to acknowledge “Heaven Rules.”

In the television series Go On, Ryan tries to make light of life disasters by awarding a person as ruler of the land if they can prove their problems were the worst, but offers no solution on how to actually ‘Go On.’

No one likes pain. To go on, Nebuchadnezzar had to acknowledge that Heaven does indeed rule. The popular sitcom hits on the funny parody of life struggles. This was truly worth the laugh.

But the truth is that ‘Going On’ requires Jesus.

PRAYER: Father I have some sob stories. I want to go on and get past the pain and live as You ask me to live. You ask me to “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” Help me to get back to You and be grateful in all things. In Jesus name I pray.

A New Twist on the List

By Hally Franz –

I made a bold move during the Christmas season of 2012. After years of considering, even threatening this particular change, I made the move. I did not send cards, letters or pictures out for the holiday – no festive stamped correspondence at all. It was a tough thing to give up. I like the tradition and enjoy receiving greetings from friends and family, but this season I felt I could spend my time better in other ways.

So, as we begin 2013, I am going to expand this mindset of reducing. Typically, my resolutions are in the form of tasks I hope to accomplish in the New Year. I resolve to: cook healthier meals for my family, maintain a regular routine of exercise, complete scrapbooks for our family’s last ten years of vacations, read more, write more, clean out my basement and so on. The list is pretty much the same each year, because the same tasks usually remain undone from year to year.

This year, I am staging a revolt against the standard resolution list that I make annually. Perhaps, “revolt” is too strong a word. I am not really a revolt kind of girl. Given the fact that I just used the word “girl” to describe myself, I may be delusional, but revolutionary I am not. Let’s call it a simple rebellion.

My 2013 resolution is to cut back. For many of us, those working both outside and in the home, our lists of obligations and duties tend to accumulate over time. When I left my school counseling position a few years ago I had an open slate for a time. Soon, though, I had taken on a variety of activities connected with school, church, my kids’ extra-curricular activities and more. Now, I often find myself overwhelmed with tasks and no closer to accomplishing those resolution items that linger.

It’s time to eliminate stuff from my life, both literally and figuratively. I think I will start by examining what I do and why I do it, by really asking if this is something in which I need to continue investing my time and talent.

Maybe you’ll want to give it a try. It’s daring to be sure. I’m committed, though, and when asked what my New Year’s Resolution is for 2013, I’ll proudly announce that I am not taking on anything new; I’m just going to do a lot less!

PRAYER: Lord, guide me to make good choices in my life. Give me wisdom to select the activities and goals that You deem worthy and in accordance with Your plan for me.

“‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:41-42 NIV).

Hokey Pokey-Defrosted

By Elaine James –

This week I took a frozen turkey and put it in the refrigerator to defrost. I realized how that was very similar to what had happened to my brain recently. It took three days to defrost both the turkey and my brain.

My frozen lips could only come out with “Help me!” That heart cry started a God-brain-defrost.

God appears to be in the refrigeration business. Relief came slowly, like the defrosting of a turkey. I was becoming aware that my brain had been hardening from my daily devotions. My spiritual intake appears to not have been enough. I was rationalizing and reasoning about how much reading of the Bible I needed, since I can quote New Testament stories in my head.

My brain freeze stated, “I know that story and I don’t need to read it.” My brain being frozen tried a new tactic avowing, “Once you start reading you won’t have enough time for the rest of your schedule.” My hurry up and do something response was winning over spending time reading the word.

But a freezer alert light came on in my brain! God got out His tools and began to help me be aware of how I needed to dismiss all of the arguments. First tool of choice; reading, John 15-17.

I melted! I can’t explain the phenomenon of God’s word. Simply put by God “Don’t question it, it defrosts.” The passion story and last words of Christ gave me strength.

You know when you get a brain freeze and it hurts? After it defrosts, you get hungry again. After this, I had a renewed hunger for God’s word.

Funny! I am hearing in my head the song Hokey Pokey. You put your whole head in, you put your whole head out, you put your whole head in and you shake it all about. You do the Hokey Pokey and turn yourself about. That’s what it’s all about!

“For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me” (John 17:8).

Apparently, God helps defrost our brain so we can dance together!

Getting’ Psyched about Service

By Hally Franz –

Operation Christmas Child is one of my faves. I began doing the boxes twelve years ago when my son was 3, and I was participating in a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. We have continued the tradition every year since, preparing a box for both my son and daughter to send to two other children somewhere around the world. We love it!

There are so many ways to serve during the Christmas season. Please indulge my humble attempt at some holiday verse…
Shovel snow for seniors when the precip piles up, Sing carols in hospitals, voices filling their cups. Ring Salvation Army bells for those needing a hand, There are many ways we can serve in this wonderful land.

Deliver baskets of food to families doing without, Visit brothers and sisters unable to get out. Collect mittens and scarves to protect from the cold, Show kindness to each other, the young and the old.

Share resources we have with families in pain, To give blessings to others is always our gain. Tell folks about Jesus, His birth and His gift, Mend fences, forgive, and seek to heal rifts.

Christmas is time to joyfully give, Show one another how Christ wants us to live. Be merry, be jolly, be full of good cheer, Tell His wondrous birth story to all who will hear.

People get passionate about so many things. In recent months, many have been “fired up” about the election. In my home near St. Louis, Missouri, lots of us were pretty excited about the Cardinals chance at “12 in 12” (the twelfth world series win in 2012), even those of us who really aren’t sports fans. Hobbies, exercise programs, entertainment – we get excited about all manner of things in our culture. Let’s get excited about service during this holiday season!

Chant it, cheer it and share The Good News!

PRAYER: Most Righteous God, help me to have a servant’s heart this Christmas season and beyond, to be energized and enthused by opportunities to show the love of Jesus to others.

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11 KJV).

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