"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." – Colossians 3:14
There are blessings that have come out of the mess of 2020. In pandemic life, I’ve had to rearrange and figure out different ways to do things. One thing that changed was small group. My men’s group moved from my house, to online, and to the park. Something special happened for me when we moved to the park.
Continue reading “In His Presence”
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Episode 2 of The Chosen is extremely hard to write about. The episode is a lot of set up for what happens next, and a lot happens. I had a post started, but it was a scatter shot of events. Instead, I am going to focus on two characters in the episode: Mary of Magdala and Nicodemus’ wife. How they relate to God are completely different.
Continue reading “God-In-A-Box”Yesterday, I watched Avengers: Endgame, again. It is eerie how prophetic some of the movie is.
Continue reading “Darkness and Light”
This is a strange time for many of us. While previous generations have lived through times like these before, its new for much of us. It is something that we didn’t plan for. Social distancing does come with some sacrifices. In-person meetings for almost everyone are not possible right now. This can be a struggle, especially for those who have been or are in recovery. As our anxiety and feelings of isolation ramp up so does the temptation to cope in unhealthy ways.
There are a couple of things that help me during this time. The first thing is the realization that sobriety isn’t something that I achieved on my own. Sobriety is a gift from God. When we pursue and take care of our relationship with God, then we can achieve and maintain sobriety. When we accept God’s love and acceptance, that’s when we can achieve and maintain sobriety. You may disagree, but I believe the bulk of the work of recovery is done by God. It is not through our own power that we become free from addictive behaviors and unhealthy coping mechanisms. It is through God.
Second, losing sobriety doesn’t disqualify us from God’s love. Giving into those unhealthy coping mechanisms will bring consequences, but the price has been paid and work has been done. Paul wrote to the Romans:
‘Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ‘
Romans 8:1-4 NASB
If we lose sobriety during this time, we are faced with the same choice we’ve always been faced with. Do we live in shame, or do we turn back to God? Do we try to hide it, or do we pick up the phone to call our sponsors (mentors) and accountability partners? Do we continue trying to seek things through “the flesh” (in our own power), or do we surrender to the Spirit of Jesus who gave Himself up for us? When we hear God coming around the corner, we can hide in the bushes or in humility say, “Here I am!”
This isn’t to minimize the damage that this time can cause. Not only can sobriety be more difficult to maintain, but online meetings present their own challenges. Zoom bombing has been in the news, and church and recovery communities are prime targets. Zoom codes aren’t hard to guess, and it can be triggering to have a stranger interrupt a session with vulgarities and graphic pictures. Thankfully, there are ways to mitigate this through password and meeting room features.
Isn’t that what part of what the work of recovery is? Action plans to have when we are triggered are mitigation strategies to keep us safe. Internalizing Scripture and God’s love for us will help us feel safe to return to Him if we should fall. God’s love and Truth protects us from the condemnation of sin and shame.
If you’ve lost sobriety during this time, you can turn back to God. He is waiting for you. Refuse to let sin and shame have the final word in your life. Cling to the truth that Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection was enough to cover you and turn toward Him. He is the Great Rescuer! Come up with a plan for if you are triggered again. If you find yourself at a loss for ideas, reach out to those around you. Do some research on what others are doing. Use this as a training opportunity. Sometimes, God leads us through times like these to grow our trust and dependence on Him.
If you feel like you’re hanging by a thread, then keep hanging on and moving towards God. If you feel like you’ve made some real strides during this time, that is awesome! Celebrate that, because this is a new and hard time for many of us. Don’t take any victory for granted.
Above all, remember God loves you and wants you. Nothing you can do will ever change that.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is almost as divisive of a Star Wars movie as The Last Jedi was. Where The Last Jedi felt like it was departing from the general feel of Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker was celebrated by some fans as a return to the general theme of hope in the face of overwhelming evil. There are plot holes and issues, but that isn’t what this post is about. The post is about Rey, her path to overcome her past, and how that can relate to us.
Continue reading “Be With Me”
Do you have a favorite song? When things are hard, do you start singing? Or maybe you just play the song in your head. I remember at moments in school a song would pop in my head. It was like I could hear it. I think most of us have probably had that: getting a song “stuck in your head”.
In those moments in school, the song just kind of started playing at random. It didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason. Looking back, it could be that it came up when I was bored or when I was trying to concentrate on something. In a way, it provided a soundtrack for my day. The themes from Rocky and Top Gun were repeat plays.
Continue reading “What's Your Soundtrack?”This past week has been hard for many of us. While other parts of the world have been experiencing life with Covid-19 for awhile, it’s still pretty fresh in the United States. With each passing day things change. To slow the spread and keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, we are being called to socially distance ourselves. The CDC is now recommending gatherings of 50 or more be cancelled or postponed for up to 8 weeks. That means it could be about 2 months before we are able to participate with our spiritual families in corporate worship side by side.
Technology is great when it comes to alleviating the feeling of isolation. Church can still move forward, people can still reach out and communicate with one another, and small groups can still find a way to meet through software. However, it’s still not flesh and blood. Even as an introvert, I feel the absence of flesh and blood interaction.
There are some verses in Scripture that come to mind when dealing with the current situation. First off, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We’ve been told that it will probably get worse before it gets better. That’s not super encouraging news, and it can be scary. Much of the time, I take tomorrow for granted. When life seems to be cruising smoothly, it’s easy to lose track that there are times when it won’t be going smooth anymore. James put it this way:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:13-15 NIV
I don’t think James was promoting paranoid thinking. I think he was encouraging Christ followers to put their trust in God and not in themselves. Its easy to slip back into “self trusting” especially when things are good. Have you seen this play out in your life? Have you taken today for granted assuming that tomorrow will be here? I know I have. We cannot be paranoid, and we can’t do things out of fear. Trusting God is the key. Following Jesus is where we can begin to build up that trust. Jesus said this to His disciples:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NIV
Jesus was talking to His disciples about what was about to happen. He was preparing them for His death and the grief that would accompany it. Not just that, though. He was preparing them for what would come after. Jesus was going to rise from the dead! It’s a shining moment when despair turns to hope. The hard thing is that even after that, the disciples would experience hardship. Many of them were imprisoned and even killed.
Right now in America, we are being asked to stay inside. A good majority of us probably don’t even feel sick. However, there are cases of Covid-19 where no symptoms are shown. Some cases may be mild enough that we may think we just have a cold. That doesn’t make this virus the same as the common cold. Its the same type of virus (a coronavirus), but it is not the same. We have seen that this virus can turn deadly, especially for those who are elderly and have compromised immune systems. Its something we should take seriously. If we are to take Jesus’ commands to love one another (John 13:34) and love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31) to heart, then social distancing is a part of that.
In the book of Acts, Jesus ate with His disciples after His resurrection. Before He was taken up into heaven, He said this:
‘On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ‘
Acts 1:4-5
I think of the disciples waiting to go out, eager to spread the news about Jesus, and maybe even a little anxious about what is going to happen next. When will the Spirit come? What will that even be like? Though its not exactly the same thing, I think there is something we can draw from it. Right now, we are inside. We are waiting. Part of following God is waiting for the renewal of all things. Many of us are living the waiting life more concretely now than we have in a long time, maybe even ever before.
There’s a lot of this waiting throughout the whole biblical story: waiting to be set free from the Egyptians, waiting to enter the promised land, waiting for the Messiah (Anointed One) to come, and, for disciples of Jesus, waiting for the return of who we believe to be that Anointed One. The world is broken and needs to be healed. We are broken and need to be healed. Jesus is the Great Healer, and sometimes what we need to do in order to experience this is to wait. It is hard, but it is also worth it.
That day when we meet together again will be a glorious day! It will be a taste of the Kingdom that is here but not yet. It will be a day of great rejoicing! I look forward to that day and want to do what I can to not waste the waiting.
musingsonlife 