simplelife

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,     which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem,     so the Lord surrounds his people     both now and forevermore. Psalm 125: 1-2   NIV I live in the hills. If you live in the flatland, you'd think they're mountains. They are strong. Stable. Tall. Unmoveable. There have been times when I felt unsubstantial like the wind, or in transition like water flowing in a bumpy stream. But  I aspire to be a mountain for others and myself.   If God is the source of our strength and truth, his eternal unchanging goodness shines through us to others. How does God's unchanging beauty and kindness impact your life or give you treasure to pass to others? Praise be to you, Lord;     teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount     all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes...

[Jesus says,] Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends  if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:13-15 When you meet friends, what do you talk about? Do you share your life? Your trust in God? Your questions? Your hopes? Good friends tell each other the truth:  "God is good. He is faithful. And we are his beloved." Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Acts 13:38-39

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews13:8 Life is full of movement. Full of changes and transitions. We say hello. We say farewell.  And between, life ebbs and flows with joys, stresses, challenges, and opportunities. A few months ago, the maple tree looked silent and bleak. A s soon as leaves unfurled in the spring, flowers began to generate seeds. Today the tree looks like  it's almost ready to launch its seed "helicopters" into the soil below. What dead places in your soul have begun to blossom?  Do you trust the unchanging love of God to bring about new things? To bring you into flower and produce good seeds to scatter? There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath  are the  everlasting   arms . Deuteronomy 33:26-27

We all agreed to choose some men  and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives   for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 15:25-26 RDK 2012 "Madam, that is incredibly dangerous," says the young man raking gravel smooth in preparation for a new concrete sidewalk.  Is he crazy?  I walk past him on the pebbles: the busy road has no shoulder on the other side. "I live in Indonesia. This would be considered amazing paving." I take three more steps and am back on cement. Behind me, he talks to a coworker in the maintenance truck. "She says she lives in Indonesia. Whatever." What is wrong with us, that an adult has to be warned against stepping down four inches from a sidewalk onto a level gravel walk? Our fear of hurting ourselves and each other ("lawsuit, lawsuit!") is making us silly about avoiding danger of every kind. So, what are you afraid of? Are you willing to take risk...

... bearing with one another and  if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other;  as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Colossians 3:13 What would be different in our relationships if we forgave as we have been forgiven? And in what ways would our behavior change if we believed God forgave us only as much as we forgave others? (Jesus says:) For if you forgive other people when they sin a gainst you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15 Be merciful,  just as your Father  is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Luke 6:36-37

 ... a great crowd of people followed him  because they saw the signs  he had performed  by healing the sick. John 6:2 Why do you follow Jesus?  Are you hoping for wealth? benefits? miracles? If they never come,  would you be content with the Presence, thanks to Christ's life, death, and resurrection?

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14   ESV My grandma hung a compelling picture on her wall. It contrasted two roads, the wide and narrow ways. The "wide way" depicted sinful pleasures, easy living, and undisciplined characters. The "narrow way" of obstacles was steep and filled with perils like lions at the roadside and traps for unwary travelers. At the end of each path lay heaven or hell. I closely examined the painting on many childhood visits. We sometimes forget the basics, that God promised to reward right living, while evil-doers will be punished. What defining images remind you that the pursuit of God's righteousness matters? That spiritual disciplines form character? That our choices in life here are a foretaste of li...

For from  his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. John 1:16 ESV We say we want fullness and abundance. But it feels easier to expect God's anger rather than his love to focus on the negative rather than the positive to look at what others have and we lack to remember times we felt abandoned rather than embraced to pretend we are poor when we are rich Jesus heaps blessings on those who follow him. When we open our hands and hearts, we are flooded with grace upon grace. Abundance for the obedient. Are you open to such lavish treatment? Or does it scare you to death?

What an ugly part of the Story.  Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe,  they sent him back to Pilate.  Luke 23:11 [Pilate]  had Jesus flogged,  and handed him over to be crucified.  The n the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium  and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.  They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,  and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.   They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. Matthew 27: 27-31 --- Most of us are reluctant to suffer. Few of us want to endure discomfort, even for a good cause. Even pastors and those in min...