Did You Call a Wrong Number?

Posted on June 27, 2012 by jroesler728

I answered my phone and learned the call was from a nurse calling on behalf of my health insurance company. She said she wanted to go over some information for me that would help me with prevention strategies. Her first recommendation was that I not stand up too fast. She said if I did my blood pressure would drop, I would probably faint, and then could break a bone.

Did she call the wrong number or does she think I am at risk for this event?

Then she asked if I could see. She wondered if I had had my eyes tested for glaucoma. If I did that preventatively it could keep me from going blind.

Did she call the wrong number or does she think I am at risk for this?

She concluded by asking if I had had a colonoscopy in the last ten years. I told her that I had a prescription for one but I hadn’t had time to enjoy it. She encouraged me to do it before it is too late.

Did she call the wrong number or does she think???

Oh, No! Do you think the insurance company checked my date of birth???

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They Didn’t Even Smell of Smoke

Posted on June 22, 2012 by jroesler728

This is a phrase borrowed from the New Living Translation describing the condition of Daniels three friends who had been thrown into the firry furnace.

The Bible is careful to make it clear that the furnace was so hot that the heat killed those who threw these three men into the furnace. Then it talks about seeing the three unharmed in the furnace and a fourth man walking. This fourth man has helped many of us recognize that Our Lord Jesus Christ is more powerful than any circumstance in which we find ourselves.

When the king realizes that he is up against God he stops and worships. The men from the fire are then described as being entirely unaffected by it and “they didn’t even smell of smoke.”

I wonder why the Author of scripture added this phrase. It holds a powerful message for me as I am still processing the burning of a house and the tenacious smell of smoke that clings to everything. That which hasn’t burned is smoke damaged.

 

What does smelling like smoke parallel in our spiritual lives? Is it possible that we can experience victory but walk away smelling like smoke?

Are we prone to remember that which we lost and not that which was protected?

Do we talk more about the trial or more about the deliverance?

In order to not smell like smoke do we need to forgive those who are wounding us, trust that God is good when we cannot interpret His actions and rest in the hands of a God we cannot manage?

My prayer is that I can walk away from this fire and not even smell like smoke.What have you learned about being the fragrance of Christ?

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Links that Anchor to Humanity

Posted on June 18, 2012 by jroesler728

I listened with awe as Suu Kyi addressed the dignitaries that awarded her the Nobel Prize for peace. She was chosen for this honor in 1991 but because of house arrest in Myanmar could not personally accept it until this year.

She tried, in her address, to explain how she felt about the prize and what it meant to her. She said she didn’t really feel anything when she initially heard, over the radio, that she had been chosen. She went on to explain that this was because, in her isolation, she was no longer feeling a part of a bigger world.

This Nobel award drew her into the world of other humans and restored a sense of reality for her. She said that during these 20+ years of house arrest she had lost the links that anchor her to humanity. But in reflection, this global recognition opened up a door in her heart.

As I listened to this amazing woman my heart bled for the pain of my best friend who is in a prison of depression.  All of these loses described by Suu are also being experienced by my friend.

I wish there was a way to open the door of my friend’s heart, to tell the world that she is worthy of recognition and respect and thereby restore the links that would anchor her to humanity.

Jesus is the lynch pin for this to happen for all of us but we need to be able to embrace a sense of self in order to experientially benefit from a relationship with Him and with others. Our prison can be a political house arrest or a chemical depression. Both things fracture the links that anchor us to humanity.

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Low Visibility

Posted on June 15, 2012 by jroesler728

We walk by faith and not by sight. Yet, there are times, like now, for me, when I am reminded that I am still looking to see some assurance that God will show us mercy. Is it an oxymoron to say that my faith is experiencing low visibility?

I remember a time in Bolivia many years ago. I was a nurse and had accompanied a physician and a small team to teach some basic health screening skills to the missionaries of some nomadic jungle tribes.

On the morning we were to fly into one of the sites the area was covered with dense fog. We waited to hear from the “air traffic control” that it was safe to fly. I didn’t really get ready because I knew that a pilot couldn’t possibly see and the small plane had no instruments. To my amazement, we were told we could go.

The plane was packed and since I was the smallest person I was placed in the back just sitting on some duffel bags. After a time in the air I heard the pilot say to the doctor, “There are mountains on both sides of us and I can’t see.”

I curled up and cried. I knew we were all going to die.

Then, I heard the pilot say, “It’s OK now, I can see.”

Our plane grazed over the landing strip to clear the cattle. Then we circled back and landed. Our missionary hosts and a gathering of children who were fascinated by my blond hair and wanting to touch it greeted us. I was glad to have them touching me but most fascinated by hearing the missionary say, “We tried to radio to you this morning and tell you not to come because of the fog, but we couldn’t get through. So we prayed. When we heard the sound of your engine coming through the valley between the two mountains, suddenly the fog lifted right at the place where your plane broke through.”

I was not scared anymore during that entire trip.

I am scared tonight. I cannot see. I am going to pray. I am going to expect the fog to lift right at the place and time that is needed.

I am grateful for this memory.

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No Fear of Bad News…

Posted on June 13, 2012 by jroesler728

This verse from Psalm 112 verse 7, “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” is one more reminder to me that God’s grace reaches far to embrace me. This is especially relevant today because I have lived it in dread of bad news.

Yes, of course, I have reminded myself that what concerns me is in God’s hands. All He does or doesn’t do is driven by love. I even leaned into the old hymn that insists on the Holiness of God even though the eye of sinful man His Glory may not see.

As I prepare to sleep tonight, I am going to wrestle with this verse by reading the phrases in reverse order.

I am trusting in the Lord; therefore,

My heart is steadfast,

And I have no fear of bad news.

 

How do you cope with the fear of bad news?

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Tracking Adventures

Posted on June 11, 2012 by jroesler728

It’s fun to go to a nature center and learn how to recognize footprints and from them learn behavior patterns of various creatures. Some tracks are deep and clear. The number of toes, the strength of the impression and the pattern of movement make identification easy. Other prints are faint. You really have to know the animal to trust that you are identifying correctly. Sometimes you lose the trail completely.

As I consider my own faith through aging eyes I remember the times when God’s footprints were unmistakable in my life. I am glad for these times and for the ability I have to reason from them when my spirit doubts.

I also remember the times when I borrowed the words of William Cowper and said, “He plants his footprints in the sea and rides upon the storm.”

It is when His footprints are in the sea that knowing His nature sustains faith. Faith is being certain of what you cannot see.

Are you in a season of not being able to track the footprints of God?

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God Speaks Into Our Personal Story

Posted on June 8, 2012 by jroesler728

I have been blessed with remarkable physical health. I am aware of this when I am asked to fill out a health history and am able to answer “no” to all of the categories. Now for the first time in my life, I have developed something that may be chronic. It is a weak, painful and sometimes tingling right arm. This is caused, I am told, by a herniated disk in my neck. I have tried an array of treatments but I can’t really say that I am sure my arm is on the mend.

Growing up on a farm without brothers has given me the impression that I am strong. I have never needed to ask for help to open a jar or pound a nail. But, now I am daily aware that my right arm is weak.

This is why Psalm 138:7  (Amp) is speaking so personally to me. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me.”

Today I am depending on God’s right arm and not my own.

Maybe this means I am in better health. What are your thoughts?

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Could It Be Possible?

Posted on June 6, 2012 by jroesler728

How many times have I longed to be able to touch the hem of His garment and to know that healing power is penetrating my brokenness?

Today, in reading Isaiah 6, I noticed that in a vision Isaiah saw the Lord and the skirts of His train filling the most holy part of the temple.

Today we recognize that we are a temple and the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

Would it be too much of a stretch to declare that the hem of His garment is not only within reach but within?

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It’s True But Don’t Say It Now!!!

Posted on June 4, 2012 by jroesler728

As Kingdom people there are many wonderful truths that are foundations for hope. These truths allow us to hold our worldly possessions loosely. These truths open an access to a bigger picture than we can now see. We can and we do believe that God is somehow at work and working things out for the greater good.

BUT, when a person is in a stunned state having lost everything in a fire and is choking sobs as she stirs in the charred ruins for some recognition of her story, the verbalization of these truths sound cruel.

Job’s friends got one thing right. They were quiet for seven days.

I wonder if our rallying cry that “we grieve but not as those who have not hope” is sometimes applied as “we hope and therefore we don’t need to grieve.”

I somehow don’t think we are marginalizing God if we simply weep with the one who has lost the tangible evidences of her story and validate the tragedy.

I welcome your thoughts.

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Gazing at Flames

Posted on June 1, 2012 by jroesler728

I have been reminded this week of the words of a song by Rita Springer, “If you call me to the fire, You will not withdraw your hand, I’ll gaze into the flames and look for You.”

When Daniel’s three friends were bound and thrown into the fiery furnace, the King was stunned to see four men walking, loosed and unhurt. The picture was so compelling that the King declared that the God these men trusted is the God that must be worshipped.

I have a recent memory of a real blaze that I can use as a tool to search for Jesus.  The King looked into the fire.

I, too, want to look into the fire. I know that God is able to reveal Himself to me through this story. But, if He does not, I, like Daniel’s friends, will serve no other God.

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