Beyond Measure

Every workday for several years I trudged through the woods of the Pacific Northwest and spent eight hours measuring trees. While each day was different in terms of weather, the terrain to be traversed and the density of the undergrowth I had to clamber through, my duties were always the same. As a forester in the employ of a private paper company, my job was to measure the height and breadth of whatever trees fell within the limits of my circular plots. The numbers I obtained would later be plugged into various computer systems that would calculate the volume of wood on the land and enable my employer to make an estimate on the value of each particular stand of trees.

Now many years later I realize that what I did so regularly in my profession is impossible to do with God. There is simply no way to measure His worth. The love of God is limitless and His benefits incalculable. Advanced as our computer systems are today, there’s not one that can put a value on the peace of mind, physical and spiritual health and prosperity that are found in a relationship with Him. And while we try to express it in various ways, the goodness of God is something we can’t conceive in our minds so much as know in our hearts.

"...And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power...to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love..."
(Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV)

Abounding in Love

Our Wednesday night church service took a somber turn when a middle-age man came to the front of the sanctuary to speak to the pastor. Sobbing, he said that he’d just been told that his son had been killed in a car wreck in a nearby town. He’d been asked to come to the mortuary and identify the body, but he had no gas money to get there. Our minister hugged the man, cried along with him, and then asked if he’d like him to go with him on his gruesome task. Shaking his head no, he wiped his eyes, thanked the congregation for the money that had quickly been gathered and shoved into his pocket while the men of the church gathered around him in prayer, and left the building.

Some days later we found out that the whole situation had been a hoax. Some in the congregation were angry to learn that they’d been taken advantage of by a con man who played on the sympathies of a compassionate crowd to raise a few dollars for himself. But my husband suggested that perhaps the scenario had been a test to see how we would react to someone needing our help. It reminded us of the “secret shoppers” who come to the grocery store in which I work. Their identities a secret, they act like regular customers and then later grade the employees on how well they performed their duties.

It’s better to lose some cash in a con game of some sort than to have God find us lacking in compassion in a true time of need.

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
(Hebrews 13:2 RSV)

Lit from Within

The stained glass windows of the little church attracted my attention. Although I’d driven through the village many times before, I’d never done so at night, and so had never seen the building lit up from within as it was by the church service going on inside. Truly the windows sparkled like jewels on the darkened street and beautified the whole town as a result.

My perspective of stained glass windows has always been from inside a church building. I’ve often marveled at their splendor as sunlight has streamed in through them on a gorgeous day. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen how beautiful they are at night, when lit by the lights inside the building.

We Christians are likewise the stained glass windows of society, beautifying the world around us when we allow the light of God inside of us to light our countenance and enhance our surroundings, everywhere we go.

During the daylight hours, the windows of the little church look like those on any of the other buildings in the town. But in the nighttime hours they glow with a beauty beyond anything the others have to offer. And likewise it is in the dark hours of our troubled times that the light of God within us causes us to stand out, shining forth through us in incomparable beauty to a watching world.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

(Matthew 5:16 KJV)

The Jesus-loves-you lady died a few days ago.

I never knew her real name, nor did any of my fellow grocery store employees except the one bagger who was distantly related to her and through whom we learned of her sudden death. Yet everyone recognized her the minute she came through our lines because she ended every transaction with the same "Jesus loves you" declaration...every time, every shopping trip. She never failed.

Although at first a little awkward, her faithful proclamations soon made her an endearing figure about the place. Sometimes one bagger in particular would see her coming and blurt out her message before she ever got a chance to, almost as a form of greeting. And I realized that eventually she didn't need to say it at all - she was so linked to those three words that the mere sight of her delivered the message without her even having to open her mouth. Clearly she had accomplished her mission on this earth, so the Jesus Who loved her simply gathered her in His arms one day shortly before Christmas and took her on Home, a reminder to those of us she leaves behind that when our to-do list is likewise complete, we can surely expect the same.

"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."
(Acts 20:24 RSV)

I was inspired last night by the flying feet of a four-year-old.

The worship practice and final run through for our upcoming Sunday service had just begun when little Tala came through the door with her mother who runs the sound booth. Her usual playmates absent on this particular night, she was forced to entertain herself. And so she danced... and danced... and danced!!! With every song she started moving the moment the music did, head bobbing, arms in motion and feet fairly flying off the floor as she bounced and twirled, letting the joy in her heart come out through her toes!

Distracting? Delightfully so! I could barely concentrate at all, so fascinated was I by her total freedom in expressing what she was feeling! I longed to put my violin down and join her in that dark expanse of empty floor. I told myself that I didn't want to inhibit her in any way, so totally unaware was she in that moment of anyone else in the room. Yet sadly I realized that I carry a lot of weight she has yet to gain, pounds of peer pressure and fear that keep my feet nailed to the floor instead of flying freely as hers did. So I stayed where I was,but my spirit danced along with her and her joy was contagious, reaching not just into the depths of my heart but all the way into the hallways of Heaven where it surely put a smile on the face of the King.

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."
(John 4:24 NIV)

"Dandy" Don Meredith died Sunday at the age of 82. Many of us became lifelong fans of Monday Night Football in the days when he was a television broadcaster in the booth with Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson or Frank Gifford. We didn't turn our TV sets off on those evenings until his signature rendition of the Willie Nelson tune, The Party's Over, signaled the virtual end of the game. On Sunday the party was over for Don.

But is it really? We are eternal beings, and even as our physical lives on earth end, our spiritual lives continue on in heaven or hell, based on the choices we make while we were here. Frankly, we don't have to wonder where we'll be. Party invitations have already been sent out; God is simply waiting on our RSVP. If we fail to respond, then life hereafter will truly be hell. But for the Christian who is set to leave this world with God in his heart, the real party is only just about to start.

"We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord."
(2 Corinthians 5:8 RSV)

Masks Down

The flustered customer smiled ruefully as she told me that she’d paid for a prescription and then left it behind at the pharmacy. I jokingly asked her if it was a medication for memory loss, and we both laughed. But in the next moment she suddenly dropped her mask and shared the burden behind her plastic smile. Her mother had died two months earlier, and she said she hadn’t had her head on straight since. Her eyes welled with tears, and suddenly mine did the same as we thought of the coming holidays and the difficulty she would face in getting through them with her recent loss weighing down on her so strongly. I touched her shoulder and suddenly she was gone, leaving me feeling that I’d failed to help her in any way. There was no time to pray with her or to tell her about the One who died to mend broken lives. And in retrospect I realized that she wasn’t looking for me to do anything but listen and understand as she shared her pain in a moment of vulnerability.

Sometimes the best way to speak of Jesus’ love is to silently listen with His heart.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted…”

(Psalm 34:18 NIV)