Revival Starts with Me

 At every game, every time Dylan gets to play, he looks at Dan and I from the basketball court seeking validation or approval, but mostly guidance.  He knows that Dan will always have some kind of advice for him in the form of a signal (well, sometimes it is a shout...but mostly just a silent gesture) that means something to Dylan...like directions or instructions on what to do next.  Of course Dylan gets these signals from Dan...me, on the other hand...I have very little to offer to him other than my support.  It's funny because like about a month ago, Dan told Dylan that he might have to skip a game that week.  Dylan was like..."what? NO! You have to be there! If not, who's going to tell me what to do? I'd look toward where you sit and it'll be only Mom giving me a thumbs up!" or a grumpy face... LOL...

The same way, as children of God, we look to Our Heavenly Father for guidance, especially when the path is not clear, the choices are confusing, the problems are too big and the light is too dim.  We look at Him for a signal, for advice, for enlightenment, for a clearing of the road.  And He, in turn, gives us that signal in ways that we can understand.  He doesn't shout.  He doesn't yell.  He doesn't even force us to do it.  He doesn't "miss any games" either.  He just lays it all out for us in a variety of ways, mainly through Scripture.  It is just like Psalm 119: 105 says,

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

How many times, however, we don't follow His direction? How many times, however, we miss His instructions because we don't spend time reading and learning His Word? How many times, however, we are looking at the wrong thing (or person) for directives?

After completing the construction of the temple as God had ordained it, King Solomon heard directly from God and His Word spells out a set of perfectly clear instructions recorded on 2 Chronicles 7: 14,

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

These instructions or steps were not just for King Solomon and the people of ancient Israel.  They are for us too, here, today.  But, what are we doing about it? What am I doing about it?

Students at Asbury College in Kentucky had non-stop prayer and worship services from February 8th to February 20th which has been called a revival.  Other colleges in other areas started their own non-stop prayer services too, and I pray with all my might for these events to spread like wild fire as the youth is showing us a great example of what it is like to look at Our Heavenly Father for guidance in humility, praying, seeking His face and repenting from our wicked ways. In a society and at a point in time when we complain about the youth (maybe you don't, but I do every day), it is truly humbling to see how they are the only ones bold enough to bring some semblance of revival to our country.  It is members of the youth the ones taking the initiative to follow God's directives.  

Me, on the other hand...what have I done like that? What revival efforts have I started? What non-stop prayer and worship service have I attended let alone initiated? I haven't done a thing other than complain about the state of depravity of the world. Perhaps, it is time to commit to the words of 2 Chronicles 7: 14 and stop the idle criticizing.  It's time for me to begin to be bold.  Revival starts with me.  May the Holy Spirit empower all of us to follow the steps in front of us so The Lord will hear, forgive and heal our land.  In the Precious Name of Jesus the Christ.  Amen!

Random Thoughts

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 

2 Chronicles 7: 14

As we prepare to wrap up basketball season I look back and see how some of my most treasured memories are those of Dylan looking at us from the court whenever he had an eventful moment.  Whether it was a successful play or a mishap, he'd shoot a glance at us in search of some kind of signal that would indicate something: approval, pride, validation, sympathy, support...anything...anything that would show him we were keeping our eyes on him.

One of the privileges of being a parent is realizing that we are our children's main source of approval and support.  This realization also comes accompanied by the fact that as such, our responsibility is great, indeed.  We are basically, single-handedly responsible for the emotional stability of our kids. We can truly make them or break them, as they say...and that is a very scary thought.

At any rate, all this melancholic reminiscing of a busy basketball season coming to an end is stirring a mix of feelings and thoughts within my heart and mind that I need to unpack.  For example, I've been thinking a lot about the amazing events at some Christian college campuses in a few states where worship and praise have been happening non-stop for the last week or so, while at the same time, pondering the tragic problems plaguing our youth in this country and the world.  I've been thinking about the challenges of taming my tongue.  I've been thinking about a call to being more humble.  I've been thinking about the need to serve more...I've been thinking about the pain and suffering all around me...and about how little I can do to stop it.  

...sigh...

King Solomon had just finished building the Temple and dedicating it, when The Lord Almighty spoke to him.  As the Great Heavenly Father that He is, God said statements of divine wisdom that are applicable all the way down to us today.  His words are a treasure to a world that is in chaos and to a society that is up-side-down.  2 Chronicles 7: 14 is God's direct address to us through Solomon to remind us that even though the world will go through turmoil, there is always powerful steps we can take to help rectify missteps and recalibrate misdirection.  

The steps are:

1. humble ourselves

2. pray and seek His face

3. turn from our wicked ways.

These actions will activate His responses:

1. hear from Heaven

2. forgive our sins

3. heal our land.

O how wonderful and precious is His Name! How clear are His instructions!  If we would only have the willing heart to follow through...

There is so much circling in my mind right now, that I need a chance to process.  So, I am hoping to blog about these thoughts in the coming weeks.  I hope you'd stick around to help me untangle the convoluted railways of my train of thought.  In the meantime, let's remain humble, pray, seek His face and turn from sin.  In the precious Name of Jesus, Our Lord and Savior.  Amen!

A Dog's Purpose

 My hands covered my face as I sobbed, squatting down in the middle of a dimly lit parking deck at the airport. I felt Dan's hand on my arm, lifting me so we could keep walking and get in the car while my sorrow poured out of my eyes like a flood prompted by a simple question:  "How's Link?"

"We're getting a dog!!!! YESSS!!!" Two, bright-eyed boys who had just been uprooted from everything they knew and transplanted into an environment which by all accounts was completely foreign to them, rejoiced as they savored a moment of rare bliss: we were getting a dog.  After 20 years of marriage and endless requests, I gave in and rubber-stamped the idea of adopting a dog.  "But it has to be small and some mix of poodle because I'm allergic!" "And YOU all are going to take care of it." "And I am NOT going to be cleaning after it." "And YOU are going to have to feed it and bathe it and take it out and tend to its needs...YOU...not me...YOU, OK?" "Am I making myself clear?"

I laugh now remembering the, we're-finally-getting-a-dog-inspired diatribe I went through after we told the kids back almost 9 years ago.  Back when I didn't know anything about having a pet...back when I'd still refer to him as "it"...back when I had no clue what I was in for...back when I didn't know I was about to discover the tangible meaning of being unconditionally loved. 

Needless to say, I was the one who had to take care of him, feed him (although I have to admit, I shared many of these responsibilities with Dan), clean up after him, take him to the vet, give him his meds, tend to his needs, and so on and on and on and on.  With all that, however, I was also the recipient of this little creature's purpose: to spend the rest of his life perfectly loving me.  

He was my faithful friend, always waiting for me at the top of the steps every single time I'd come home and at the bottom of the steps every single time I'd come down from my room.  He was the one who followed my every step around the house and kept me company by my feet every single time I was at my desk working.  He was the one sitting on my lap every single time I sat down to watch TV.  He was the one who was always with me, watching me while I ate...begging for scraps...watching me carefully and loving me perfectly. 

I never thought a dog would pull at my heart-strings...let alone steal it completely...but Link, with his faithful love did just that and so much more.

Many say that being a parent teaches you a lot about God's love.  I'd have to add that having a dog helps too.

I'd been away, out of the country the week leading to his final moments...so I had to say goodbye to his lifeless, little body after his restless and enlarged heart had already stopped beating.  I caressed his still warm fur and couldn't help but thinking he was going to lift up his head to greet me with delight.  I knew he didn't have long to live due to his heart condition, but I never thought it was going to happen when it did.  I like to think his heart was so full of love that it kept growing...because there was nothing but love in our Link...he was the missing Link and we sure miss him now... but we praise God for giving us the gift of Link, the dog who taught us what a life dedicated to loving others looks like. Thank you, Lord for giving us living examples of love.  

RIP our precious Link.

Visiting Home

 Well, the new year is well on its way, and I find myself packing bags because I'm traveling to Panama tomorrow.  It has been a trip intensely prepared since it is mostly a work-related trip.  I'm accompanying a student who is going to spend 2.5 months in my hometown for an immersion experience and I'm traveling with her to get her settled.  The plan is that I will stay in Panama for a week to help her navigate a bit.  Panama is not an easy country to visit on your own.  You have to go with someone who knows how things work there.  That's why I have never really pushed hard to establish any sort of study abroad situation in my country of birth.  But this student is the daughter of our friend and that just makes everything more ... complicated.

At any rate, I have been stressing out about this trip since August.  I think I have all the details I could anticipate, taken care of.  Until they canceled my Airbnb reservation and I was left without a place to stay...

The thing is, the area where my hometown is located is having a huge festival happening around the days I will be there.  It is the first year they have been able to do this festival since Covid, so people are really excited and since it is "summer" over there, half the country is traveling to my hometown and surrounding areas for the entire week! Therefore, there is no room at any inn...Hotels were booked since October so I had to resort to alternative sites like VRBO and Airbnb...I found one house...but, in Panama...things are never smooth, so the owner decided he had to cancel my reservation days before my trip.  Needless to say, it was panic time.  But I'm happy to announce that after playing a bit with the dates, I was able to get a place for my sister and I to stay.

The worst part of this last-minute-agitation, however, has been the reminder that I don't have a place of my own in the town I've always considered ... home ...

I'm just a visitor who needs to book a hotel every time I go.  So, I'm not "coming home."  I'm just "visiting" the place that once was home...and that is a very hard and sad realization to accept...

Sigh...

I think of my sons, growing up in this house, having their own bedrooms.  I think of Grant who even though he leaves in the dorms for the semester, he knows he can always come "home" and his room will be waiting for him right the same way it was when he left it, regardless of when that was.  I think of Dylan and his huge mess, and how he decided that what he wanted for Christmas was a "room-make-over" because he wants to give it his personal touch rather than keeping the stuff we had put in there for him.  I know that it hasn't occurred to them that one day they might not be able to "come home" because "home" is no more.  I know that, because that's how I felt up until about 12 years ago...but things do change.  Parents pass away.  Siblings' disagreements turn ugly. People get hurt. Sisters are locked out...only able to drive by the house they grew up in and look at it from the other side of the fence...memories fade.

The good news is, home is not a house.  Home is where the people we love are, even if it is a cardboard box.  And the best news of all is, we have a mansion waiting for us in Heaven. (John 14: 2)  We have a place specially prepared for us at our permanent residence which nobody could ever take away from us. We would never have to wonder if it has been converted into someone's studio.  We would never have to stare at it from afar.  We've never be locked out. We have been told by Jesus Himself that He, Himself is preparing it for us...and that's all we need to know.  No worries or stress or anxiety...just infinite gratitude and peace.

So, as I entrust this trip to His Hands, I pray that the thought of us having an eternal home prepared for us by the One Whose Spirit resides in us, will fill us up with hope, peace and love in this new year.  Blessed be the Precious Name of Jesus.  Amen!

Loving Genuinly

 I cannot believe this is the last day of 2022...I don't know about you, but the year just disappeared in front of my eyes.  If it weren't for the photos in my phone, I would not be able to recall all the memories of this year's experiences.  Scary... 

But anyway, today, I do remember the word I chose a year ago to be my focus for 2022: Help.  This word came to me as a two-fold action: to help and to ask for help.  Looking back, I can see the few instances on which I might have succeeded, all by the grace of God...and the many times I failed, all by my own negligence and corrupted will.  

But enough of regrets.  God is Good and Faithful regardless of how unworthy we are.  Everything good in us is from Him, and for that I am genuinely grateful. (James 1: 17) It's time to close the 2022 chapter and see what 2023 brings.  As I think of the idea on which I would like to focus on this new year, the word "genuine" keeps ringing in my ears and mind.  

Genuine is an adjective that expresses how something is truly what is said to be. Some similar words are authentic, real, true...it's a pretty good word, isn't it? But, then...why do I find it so challenging?  Why is it so hard to be genuine?

I don't know.  Maybe it is because when we are genuine, we put ourselves out there, nakedly.  And when we do that, we become very vulnerable.  People can really hurt us.  It's best not to show our true selves.  It's best to keep people guessing.  There's so much evil running loose in our society, that we often prefer to keep ourselves inside our shells purely to survive.  There is one antidote to our fear of being "real."  The antidote is love.  

When we act empowered by Love, we can conquer all.  And Love is God, because God is the only true, real, "genuine" Love.  

I know I will most likely fail more than I succeed in 2023 while trying to be genuine in my actions of love towards others, but I'm encouraged by the Hope that abounds in me by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me (Romans 15: 13)...the Emmanuel, God with us. So, I'm going with "genuine" as my concept to focus on 2023.  I want to "be" genuine in all I do.  Most of all, I want to be genuine in the way I love others.  I want to love genuinely as I'm perfectly and genuinely loved by My Lord.

May Our Almighty Lord, the God of All Love, and of all Hope strengthen us this new year and always, so we can walk by the hand of Jesus, in genuine communion with Him and His beloved.  In Christ's precious name.  Amen!

Happy New Years!

The Hope Of His Presence

As we come to the end of another year and stand on the eve of a new one, it’s hard to avoid feeling a bit melancholic. Even for those caught in the rush of the season, rare moments of quietness, bring contemplation of the past year and how it met, exceeded, or fell short of our dreams. The regrets, pain, hurt, sorrow, and stress of the year mix with the joy and the blessings are the ingredients for the all-too-common, holiday blues. This is then an excellent time to intentionally infuse ourselves with the perfect aroma of hope. As life unfolds in expected and unexpected ways, hope is what keeps us from completely losing it. As Dylan’s surprisingly mature expression of the day goes: “without hope, we might as well be dead already.”

We would like to share with you, in the midst of whatever circumstances you find yourself, the hope of the season. Our Hope, the hope we hang on to, is the promise of God’s presence among us…the promise of the Emmanuel, God with Us, whose power, and glory are made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12: 9).

May love, joy, and the spirit of Christmas fill your heart and your home with true Hope today and always.

A Moment to Rest

 It is certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  One has only to walk around Walmart to see the Christmas-stress stamped all over the faces of the not-so-jolly shoppers.  Mothers of young children run around exhausted, thinking there's no way they can accomplish all that is expected of them in this season.  Working fellows resign to the assumption of disappointed hopes since they can't figure out the time or find the money to meet the heavy expectations that are placed on their shoulders. Sad thoughts about loneliness and emptiness plague the minds of older folks. The grieving walk around numb...not knowing what to make of the overwhelming emotional flow they are experiencing. Worries about the future make us all tremble in fear...how is it ever possible to call this "the most wonderful time of the year?"

..."the kids jingle belling" is fun and endearing, but also could be heartbreaking because it might remind us of what we once had and don't have anymore or of what we longed for and never got to enjoyed...making it impossible to "be of good cheer."

For those who don't have any "holiday meetings and greetings or friends calling" this is certainly not the "hap-happiest season of all..."

Hosting jolly parties, the caroling and the sharing of stories of long, long ago...the mistletoeing and preparing for all the loved ones to be near not only takes a huge amount of work, but it might be futile since no-one might be gathering and rather than glowing, the hearts end up broken...

I am not Scrooge or the Grinch...I LOVE Christmas and the whole season...it's just that with every string of tinsel my thoughts go out to those for whom this time of the year is not so wonderful and I'd like to bring the hope that can light everyone's candle regardless of the circumstances: Jesus...the reason for the season...

The antidote to the gloom of the Holidays is to rest in His Presence.  My devotional reading today really moved me, so praying that it does the same for you, I'd like to copy it here:

"Rest in Me, My child, forgetting about the worries of the world.  Focus on Me - Immanuel - and let My living Presence envelop you in Peace.  Tune in to My eternal security, for I am the same yesterday, today and forever. If you live on the surface of life by focusing on every-changing phenomena, you will find yourself echoing the words of Solomon:  "Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!"

Living in collaboration with Me is the way to instill meaning into your days.  Begin each day alone with Me so that you can experience the reality of My Presence.  As you spend time with Me, the way before you opens up step by step.  Arise from the stillness of our communion, and gradually begin your journey through the day.  Hold My hand in deliberate dependence on Me, and I will smooth out the path before you." (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young)

The remedy is always Jesus...

He is the Only one who can truly make this the hap-happiest season especially as we spend time alone with Him and meditate on the mysteries surrounding His first coming and the promises of His second advent...when every tear will be wiped away by His loving hand and all will be made new by His Might.

May this be, indeed, the most wonderful time of the year because of our renewed awareness of His Presence and our resolve to intentionally focusing on His Face.  In the Precious Name of Jesus, the Glory of Today! Amen!