Tag Archives: peace

To Hell or Not

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Jesus Christ SavesThere is a veil over this life we live at present. Colors are dimmed, understanding is narrowed, and our experiences carry a certain numbness.

When we die, we leave this world. No longer is anything dimmed, narrowed, or numb.

Rather, we are fully alive like never before.

And into that fully-alive place we experience the fullness of all we invested in during this life.

All that we have envisioned, acted on and participated, we receive back unto ourselves in full measure pressed-down running-over.

And not just about what we have done, but even more so who we have been.

That inner reality that we all carry deep within us.

The afterlife is a land where our hearts exaggerated come to full effect.

And we enter this after-life (which is more alive than anything we have ever known), either with the covering of God or not.

The land where sowing and reaping has its full impact without any covering of God in any measure whatsoever, is called…

…Hell

Imagine, for instance, the words of our mouths – the damning lashes of words that cut like knives, the ones you have thrown over the years – imagine those very same words coming back at you in thousand-fold for all eternity.

Imagine, for instance, the lusts of our minds – the desire for sexual perversions, the imagination of such, the investment into such, the experiences of them – imagine those very same things coming back at you in thousand-fold for all eternity.

Imagine, for instance, the fear we’ve put into others – the manipulative bullying, the condemnations and judgments of worthlessness, the crushing expectations that diminish and keep low – imagine these very same emotional and psychological attacks coming back at you in thousand-fold for all eternity.

Imagine, for instance, the fears we live our lives by – the sorrows and griefs we’ve never fully processed and the resulting control measured out as a response – imagine these very same sorrows and grief and control coming back at you in thousand-fold for all eternity.

Hell – the place where the evil of this life has full permission (invitation even), to give back to us all we have either given out or imagined giving out – for all eternity in thousand-fold.

Where weeping and gnashing of teeth never ends.

Where our hearts are exaggerated and come back at us, and where more alive than ever before we are fully alive to the horrors like never before.

Where that slap we receive back a thousand fold. Where that hatred we receive back a thousand fold. The sexual abuse we meted out, the lust we participated in, where the imagined or real rape is now done to us, again and again and again. Where the murder we committed is played out back at us again and again. The licentiousness given over that won’t ever go away. With no reprieve…

No reprieve…

The only way: to accept the covering of God.

For the way of God has covered over these things. Jesus Christ is the way,

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” John 6:53

Because of the great love of God, Jesus Christ took the full responsibility for everything, “You didn’t do those things, I did” and he paid the price for them, bearing in himself the full consequence of all the horrors we can and have meted out.

We can be covered, we can be exempt from the eternal consequences, if only we will accept this covering and this work done by Jesus Christ.

“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” John 5:24

The law of sowing and reaping is an inviolable law. Therefore because of the great love of God, and because there was only one way around the law, Jesus stood in the gap and declared, “I did these things, I’m taking 100% responsibility.”

And everyone, anyone, who welcomes Christ’s offering is exempt and is covered.

Simple and beautiful as that.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NLT

“Jesus Christ I welcome the exemption you offer me today,

Thank-you.”

Forever more, alongside God, alongside Jesus Christ,

Living unto life and no more death.

Amen and amen,

Thanks Jesus

What Anna Taught Me

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P1080249 compressedIt has been a year. A year since my granddaughter Anna died in her sleep. She was four months old; had been bubbly and so alive, with a generous smile for everyone.

Anna’s baby brother was born just a month ago. She never got to see him, never got to unwrap and ‘inspect’ this new little one as her Mamma did when her younger brother was born.

It is the little things we miss the most.

Yet in it all, there have been big things. So many big things.

Anna’s life taught me so so much. I am a changed person because of her; because of both her life and somehow even more because of her death.

I will never forget one year ago today, waking in the morning, lying in my bed thinking about who was going to post on Facebook that Anna had died.

For those of you not on Facebook this may sound crazy, yet for those of us who fellowship there it will make perfect sense.

Any number of us had been posting and putting pictures and celebrating Anna ever since her birth. There was a joint community of delight around her, and now all of a sudden she was gone.

Who was going to give the news?

In my mind’s eye I went through the list of family. Alexis and Manuel of course, my Mom, Sisters, Brothers, other kids… and in a moment’s stunning clarity I realized that I was the one.

It rested on me to break the news. It was I who was to put a post that would say, ‘Anna has died’.

Now through the years I’ve always shrunk back from leadership.

Challenged years ago by someone in regard to, ‘who is the leader?’; pressing me to admit and to acknowledge that I was the leader; I never did admit it at the time, couldn’t bring myself to it, refused to acknowledge.

Not till later while reading Isaiah 3:6-7 did I see that Leader and Healer is synonymous, that to lead is to heal, and to heal is to lead, and only then did I accept and embrace and become invested in leading. Invested in healing,

And there I was. My four-month old granddaughter had just died. We were all in shock, stunned, grief-stricken, and it was my role to lead the way through the labyrinth of grappling this alongside each other and before God.

It was one of those crystalline moments; where it seems that everything of one’s life has been focused and prepared for this moment, this time.

That moment changed me.

It brought me into my own, into the influence I am to walk in every day.

Rather than an odd here or there moment of influence, I was to heal and lead as a manner of who I am. This had always been there, I just never wanted to admit it.

Until Anna came… and went,

An event so gargantuan in nature that there was nothing left to do but draw from the reserves planted deep within myself.

A week later standing on that stage at her memorial, speaking of Anna, speaking of God’s presence through our week, speaking our declaration of the goodness of God in the midst of death, it all came together.

This is our strength, this is our declaration, God’s finger in the movement of our lives cannot be discounted. Because of God and God alone, the sting is removed from our lives, and declaring this is the strength for which I was born.

Anna’s death was the catalyst that solidified the strengths I am to bring to the world.

I’ve never been the same.

Anna brought out the best in me. Anna brought me to myself.

Sometimes I think she lived to make me strong, and died to make me stronger.

And I know she somehow did the same for others.

Thank-you Anna, thanks Lord.

Great Works

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homeI’m home.

The tasks around the house, the re-settling in, the unpacking, making a cup of tea in my own home, climbing into my own bed, are all small yet unbelievably sweet groundings.

Taking a few days to simply be in my home and with my kids has me tickled-pink.

And in the midst of my comforting familiar, I am struck with stunning clarity that my life will not be the same, and has dramatically and already in fact…

Changed.

While unpacking I think about putting the band-aids that I took in a small zip-lock away…

But why? my mind asks, I’ll just need it again in a few months, just the way it is, all ready for the next trip. And then the next one after that, and the one after that.

And in my gut I am struck by how life will in fact never be the same,

Ever again.

With commitments to Madudu, Uganda in August,

With nine other districts in Uganda fiercely wanting me back,

With others waiting on ‘a trip-in-the-planning to Tanzania ASAP’

With regular emails from Mozambique, “When are you coming?”

With fresh invites and plans-being-made to have me in Rwanda and Burundi,

And with an email upon my arrival home, “Please come to Pakistan”

I grasp that I must fully shift.

Not shift a bit,

Not even some,

Not partway or just enough,

But that all of heart and mind and spirit must fully enter this work, and that to do so,

I must change.

My commitments must be deeper,

My riskings-of-self more profound.

I am a coach after all. Trained to ask questions, trained to help others succeed, today I am most grateful to make good use of my own training.

And as a coach I know full well that ‘who I was yesterday got me to today’ but ‘who I am today will not get me to tomorrow’.

To enter tomorrow’s work, if it is to be dynamic and newly relevant, I must engage and personally invest in a deeper and fuller way than I’ve ever before imagined and have not yet experienced.

So I am coaching myself this morning:

“What change in your daily habits today, might ensure the greatest success tomorrow?”

“If there was one commitment that would dramatically move you toward this new future, what might that be?”

“What needs to happen in our home while I am home, to ensure success for my kids while I am away?”

“How do we take this shift in my work and use it as a catalyst in my kids lives?”

“What is the work that must be done ‘while home’ that sets up the ‘work away’ at best advantage?”

With these only some of what I am asking myself, I am keenly aware that this inquiry place must not be rushed, not skimmed over, not hastened away.

That time taken to ask what we don’t know is time well spent.

For while we build on the groundings of our past success, in order to make the most of our futures, we must be open to completely new ways of thinking and seeing, the blinders must come off of our visions and understandings.

The commitments of yesterday got me to today,

but tomorrow needs new commitments.

I’ve no idea how to live a life of home 2-3 months then gone 1-2 months, little idea of how to pour out to many and how to fully refresh in-between-times…

I’ve certainly got more questions than answers,

And that, is exactly the recipe for success.

Remaining in the inquiry place,

Refusing to have to have the answer today, or even tomorrow,

All the while making radical commitments of self,

Is exactly where the great works are done.

And I am looking to do a great work.

After all, why not?

No Camera

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P1260942 cropped and compressedThe most profound moments of my trip to Uganda in November of 2011, are not caught by camera.

There is no record of taking medicines to the elderly. No snap-shots of squatting alongside the beautiful old folk on their mats, grasping their hands in mine, and often the other way around.

No photo of looking deeply into their eyes, and even though I could not understand their language, understanding the various emotions and beauty and strength that flashed across their faces and through their eyes.

To one elderly lady, wrinkled and yet with this stunning presence I said, “You are beautiful.” To which she replied with deep wisdom, “I know.”

Moments that can never be taken away from me.

I need no pictures to keep these memories.

Dance is stunning in Africa, and was one of the favorite things. One crusade evening, as the music stayed on and on and then some more, I found myself alongside an older lady.

The rhythm of our dance grew in sync and though I could not speak her language and she could not speak mine, our bodies spoke “I am enjoying your presence” as we moved in time to each other and the music. To the youngsters who drew near and moved along with us; all simply magical.

I wouldn’t spoil moments like that with a photo!

Moments that will stay in my heart forever.

To the men who drove me around, by bike and by car, who went to the markets with me, who traveled with me, toured the source of the Nile with me, ate with me and I with them, who prayed with me, I for them and they for me, who preached alongside me, who interpreted my heart and words, who shared their personal stories and spoke of God’s faithfulness, who collaborated towards future things we might accomplish together…

No camera can capture such richness.

The children who dared to love on me, who shyly shook my hand, and delighted me with their smiles and exuberance. My hosts ladies, two beautiful women and their homes, where I was welcomed, embraced, cared for, spoiled, loved on and cried with when I left.

To the women who quickly became friends; hardworking, passionate about health and education, their families and the movements of God.

There is no way to record such strength and beauty, transparency and authenticity.

I simply soaked it in and gave thanks.

It is the magic of Africa