A Personal Look at Romans 8:38-39

I am a conqueror
because of and through
the power of Jesus Christ,
who loves me.
Nothing at all can separate me from his love!

So when I feel attacked
unloved
unappreciated,
I need to rebuke that thought.

Death won’t separate me from his love,
but neither will life
with all its stresses,
its victories, its defeats.
Nothing in life will change God’s love for me.

Angels won’t separate me.
They wouldn’t want to!
They are here to protect me,
to keep me connected
to God.

But demons,
that’s another matter!
They try their best to persuade me
that God doesn’t love me,
that I don’t matter to him.
They use every trick in the book
to make my life look bleak,
to tweak my anger,
to riddle me with guilt,
to make me cry foul and seek revenge,
to harden my heart in unforgiveness,
but
they cannot separate me
from God’s love.

His love,
shown to me by Jesus,
the way he cared for the people around him;
his healing power,
his attention to provision for their needs,
his loving discussions with his followers,
his stilling of their fears,
his confrontations,
his exhortations,
his prayers for those he loved,
his implicit trust in sending them out on their own,
his extension of the Holy Spirit
to us who believe.

This love is
available to me.
Always!

Nothing can separate me from his love.

Negotiating the Dark Path

Sometimes into the darkest hour there comes a beam of light.

Right now our church is reeling from the news that our pastor’s son, just graduated from high school, an athlete and all round great kid, has been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. (A.L.L.) It is a time when one realizes how much the church is a family. When one member is struggling, we all hurt.

Lately some friends and I have been studying God’s promises, focusing on guidance. Today’s verse was Isaiah 42:16.
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will lead them.”

Well, Lord, we sure are in unfamiliar territory here…territory we do not like, with a lot of dark and potentially nasty corners.

The verse goes on:
“I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do. I will not forsake them.”

I think of Gwen at our church whose husband Gerry is blind. Week after week you see her gently leading him, clearing obstacles, guiding him around things that could cause him to stumble. And if she is not right there, Gerry waits. He doesn’t move through the crowd on his own. He recognizes the situations where he needs more loving guidance than his cane affords.

We too can move through life on our own for much of the time, with our knowledge of God’s love and provision. But there are times, like now, when we have to wait, wait for God’s loving arm to guide us, totally trusting in His wisdom and divine plan. We are blind and must learn to realize how much we need to lean on Him as we negotiate this unknown terrain.

God, I pray that you will be with Ben and bring restoration to his body and peace to his soul. Be with his parents and brother and sisters. Help them to be able to place their hands in yours and to let you guide them through this dark path of cancer.

A Challenge from Quebec

After being in Quebec for the past week, I am still trying to put my finger on how this trip has affected me. Although I may not yet be able to express it, there definitely has been an impact.

I was truly challenged by the passion and zeal, which the French Canadian Christians exude concerning their faith. They seem to recognize and cherish the magnitude and wonder of the gift of salvation. As a second, third, fourth, or whatever, generation Christian, I feel I have become rather blasé about the whole thing. I don’t have that sense of excitement nor an urgency to share my faith with others like I did when it was new and fresh to me.

Let me draw a parallel to a familiar summer scene. When my friends come to enjoy a fire in my back yard, we are content to gather around, chatting amongst ourselves, taking pleasure in the ever-changing flicker of the flames. As the blaze dies down, rather than searching out new firewood, we delight in the glowing embers, and draw in closer, roasting marshmallows, drinking in the moment of peace. We enjoy it immensely, in our cozy little group.

As a Christian, I have the light of Jesus; the warmth of knowing God loves me. Do I want to share this with others? I say I do. I think I do. But all too often I am content to pull up close, enjoying the fire with my few friends and not even thinking of those who are beyond the circle of light.

By journeying to a different culture, Jesus has offered me a challenge. How will I live out my faith? Will I be content to continue on my selfish path of enjoying the benefits of being a Christian with those of like mind? Or will I make an effort to figure out how to share the benefits of life with Christ with those outside the inner circle of my comfort zone?