When God Split History in Two: Pioneer Files

 

And He was saying to them all, 
“If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, 

take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

- Luke 9:23

Most of us know the story of Easter.

Though its name is derived from a pagan ritual not remotely associated with Christianity, Easter is the yearly celebration of Christ's resurrection, swooping in each spring with a bonanza of chocolate bunnies, daffodils, dyed eggs, and budget-crushing baskets. The week is crowned by the traditional Sunday morning church service and Easter egg hunt. It's generally tinged with guilt over which family group to join for The Big Dinner and follows weeks of cantata practice after work. 

Slathered in the usual rounds of the holiday flu, it's still one big, happy celebration, more or less.

Oh, yes, don't forget the empty tomb. Jesus rose from the dead. Can we eat our chocolate bunnies now?

Have we heard the story too many times?

Though the plot tends to get lost in the hype, I really LOVE Easter.

When winter's cold yields to the call of the light, from the barren soil springs the miracle of new life. Each year the resurrection is shouted in glorious defiance of death's seeming finality:

Spring always comes.

Spring always comes.

Perhaps we've seen the Jesus movies, bathed in Hollywood God rays and special effects, one too many times. Perhaps we've heard the Biblical account in isolation from the rest of God's Word to the point it has become just that... a story. 

The ministry, sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is no fable, though. The bloody and supernatural reality of His first coming sent shockwaves throughout the world and split history itself into Before and After. 

Jesus is a man like no other, because He is one hundred percent human and one hundred percent God. The second person of the Trinity, He is described like this in the book of John: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

- John 1:1-3;14

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.

- Matthew 10:24 KJV

Perfect man. Holy God. Did He really need to die?

He didn't have to come to save fallen humanity. He could have left mankind to its own devices after the fall in Eden. He is, after all, God. Father, Word, and Holy Spirit would have been totally justified to have walked away from this wayward planet and the creation that rejected Him. 

The perfect Creator loved his debased creation too much to abandon it. He knew the only way to destroy the works of the devil and redeem us from an eternity of separation from Him was by taking on the form of a man and offering the sacrifice for our sins.  

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.

- Philippians 2:5-8

He paid a hellish cost, the one we earned, for the redemption He planned from the foundation of the world. 

...knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

- 1 Peter 1:18-20

The empty tomb is our story, too!

The moment Christ rose from the dead, He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Scriptures. All who believe in Him must follow the same path He trod. We are not meant to stand at the foot of the cross and mourn over His sacrifice. We are called to be "crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20). 

We are commanded to die to our own desires and be made new in Him.

Parents, grandparents, caregivers, and other believers in positions of trust especially hold a sacred duty to follow in the Master's footsteps. When the lives of the vulnerable and afflicted depend upon us, the precious and fearful mantle of the Savior falls upon our shoulders to die to self. 

All who desire to serve God must follow this path. The Apostle Paul declared:

...I die daily.

- 1 Corinthians 15:31

It was only his old, soulish man who died, though. The new and regenerate man was already reborn into eternal life. With Paul we, too, dwell in bodies that are decaying.

But that won't last.

One day, Jesus will return for His church, the Bride. The dead in Christ shall arise from their graves. The living believers will be translated to join Christ. Tombs around the world will be empty.

As we await His return, we rejoice in Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day. Every day of the year, though, we can shout the victory as we live out both the cross and the resurrection in our bodies.

Jesus is alive! He lives forever more! He will come back for us very soon.

He is risen. He is risen, indeed.

Can I hear an amen?

Break out the chocolate bunnies.

"Free Range" Living Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be: Pioneer Files

 

Chickens are awesome. 

They're practically the perfect creatures. In exchange for food and water, they produce eggs for breakfast and great fertilizer for the garden. If they're "free range" chickens, they also provide bug control. Though they will peck each other to death, they're generally mild-mannered around humans.

Just don't fence them in. 

Poultry have a big problem accepting boundaries. They were hatched to be free and will exploit every weakness in your defenses for an opportunity to run amok through your flowers. They can dig under and fly over every fence known to man if given half a chance. If allowed to roam, they will ravage the herb garden, uproot up the new mums, rearrange the ground cover, transfer the new mulch from the flower bed to the driveway, and taste just a bit of each tomato on the vine - unless it a ripe one. 

That one they will devour.

They favor freshly-painted decks and door mats upon which to do their business, though they're not above depositing a little surprise in the grass for you to find when you go out at sunset to close them in. 

An enemy is always watching...

Our particular little flock of barred Plymouth rock hens love to dig under the fence separating their pen from the canyon behind us. They have hefty claws that make short work of a piece of property. If they break through, they will spend a lovely day harvesting the bugs and weed seeds in our neighbor's pasture until time to slip back under the fence at twilight. 

One sunny morning I heard a commotion at the hen pen. I ran out in my pajamas and robe to find they had once again escaped into the field. All except one were frantically scooting back under the fence into the pen, squawking in a cacophony of alarm. Another strange, louder shriek overrode their protests.

Then I saw it.

In the field, a red-tailed "chicken" hawk had one hen trapped against the fence separating our properties. 

I grabbed a nearby shovel we use for such emergencies and confronted him, yelling as I approached. 

He held his ground, wings outstretched to their limit as he met my challenge.

For a moment, I wavered. What if he turned on me?

It seemed there was no other way to save her. I advanced toward him, waving the shovel like a sword and shouting like a wild woman in my robe and slippers. As I got closer, I realized he didn't actually have the hen in his claws. He had her trapped between his legs as he gripped the wire on either side of her. 

Thankfully, he didn't call my bluff, finally relenting in a stir of wings as he flew off.

The hen lost no time finding her way back under the fence to safety.

Later, I examined her and found no sign of injury. 

 

 Boundaries protect us.

It's simply not safe for the chickens out of their pen in our neck of the woods. We've lost chickens to owls, hawks, and coyotes over the years. One year I discovered a coyote dashing across our deck with a hen in its mouth.  Chickens might not like being penned in, but we can't explain to them that we're keeping them safe. They don't understand our language.

Thankfully, we know the language of God.

One of the most sorrowful verses in the Bible is found in Jesus' moving words to the people in Matthew 23:27: 

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

How God longs to care for His people! He is neither harsh taskmaster nor uncaring judge. 

Chicks are fragile. They need just the right amount of warmth and nurturing to survive. If you've ever seen how a mother hen hovers over her chicks, you can understand the self-sacrifice and constant care it takes. 

God yearns to care for us in this same way. This care includes boundaries to keep us out of danger. Oh, how we chafe at the cage separating us from unbridled freedom! How we pull at the leash on our lives.

Is God unkind? Oblivious to our needs? A cruel slave master? 

If you've spent many decades in the yoke, thank heaven for that. If you never had the chance to sow your wild oats or run free, praise your Father in heaven. He has saved you many times over from your Self, and Self is the worst master of all. Self gratification is never satisfied and will keep you chained forever to the carrot dangling just out of your reach.  

 

Thank the Lord that He never abandoned you to the free range, where the landscape is filled with vipers and vultures. 

You are just where you belong. Learn to love and appreciate the wires barring you from destruction. Let God lavish His dreams and hope for you upon your tired heart. Rest under His wings. Find the rest in real freedom.

Pioneer Files: Tell Yourself This on the Hard Days - A Homeschooling Veteran Speaks

 

Mayflower vans and vague memories

Some girls dream of being the first woman president or an astronaut. My young childhood memories consisted of random mental snapshots of places we lived as my father chased a career in broadcasting. Even as a child, I dreamed of a life without a Mayflower van packed with everything we owned sitting in the driveway. 

I wanted a real home, to be a wife and mom. I dreamed of roots, planted deep into something solid and real and secure. When I found my prince, married at eighteen, and began our family, my life felt complete.

A people-watcher and student of human nature from a young age, I figured my stints at babysitting and the trials of having a younger brother had sufficiently prepared me for parenthood. Also, I read Dr. Spock's book Baby and Child Care. That sealed the deal.

I was set.

A better word would be "deluded."

Little brothers are challenging, for sure. And babysitting had taught me to change a diaper. Nothing I'd experienced in my short life, though, had truly prepared me for motherhood. 

Growing a new life into adulthood is the most beautiful experience in the world. The surprise is learning that parenting doesn't have an expiration date. As I had four more children and continued to grow up into my role as a wife and mom, I often found myself watching my parents wade through the seasons of loss and rebirth in their family.

I began to rethink this whole parenting thing. Not in the way of wanting to quit. 

Realizing that parenting is never over.

As much as it hurt to see my folks' struggles and pain, I realized they were blazing the path ahead for me, as they had always done. The next generation learns how to live - and die - by watching the generation before them.

Learning from their mistakes.

Making new ones of our own.

Finding Jesus, the Father's heart, and the way home through it all.

Just for you today

Some things about parenting get easier over the years. Some things get harder. For sure, new challenges arise just as we conquer the old ones. 

If life's been especially hard lately, it's time for a little break. Stop beating yourself up for your real or perceived failures. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, go to a quiet place (if that's possible), and soak in these ten Scriptures from the Father's heart for you. Remember He loves you, He's fighting for you, and it's going to be okay.

Ten Things to Tell Yourself on the Hard Days

And looking at them, Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God.

- Romans 8:18-19

He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For the sake of His name.

- Psalm 23:3 

 

She has done what she could.... 

- Mark 14:8 

 

And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

- Esther 4:14 KJV

 

How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand.

- Psalm 139:17-18 

 

For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, by having served and by still serving the saints.

- Hebrews 6:10 

 

For His anger is but for a moment,

His favor is for a lifetime;

Weeping may last for the night,

But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

 - Psalm 30:5

 

Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs  And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

- Isaiah 40:11 

I will raise my eyes to the mountains;

From where will my help come?

2 

My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 

He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who watches over you will not slumber.

4 

Behold, He who watches over Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep. 

 Psalm 121:1-4