Covering

I love how refreshing it is to attend church and have your eyes opened to the mystery of His Word.
I believe the Father has hidden so many lessons in His revealed Word and He is just watching and waiting for us to discover them.  He wants us to know Him in a very real and deep way, so His purposeful phrasing or stories told, reveal His ways.  Only by studying, meditating, and praying can we discover His beautiful mysteries and unravel the tapestry of His story.


                            "Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made
                                     tunics of skin and clothed them."
                                                                         -Genesis 3:21

I have probably read this verse 50 times and thought nothing about it.  If I did ponder the message I may have thought, "How nice, God made them some clothes to wear from some poor animal."  Nothing too deep.  But God is intentional, He has a reason for doing things in His will and in His way. 

First, our God is a God of compassion.  Because of the fall of man into the world of sin and death they knew. . . they knew good and evil. . . and they knew they were naked.  Holy innocence lost, shame and embarrassment enter.  Mercifully, he provides clothing for the hiding, crying humanity.


Then one ponders, that God Himself caused the first deaths on earth.  The man and woman should have been the first to die, after all wasn't the punishment for eating of the tree death.  The price of disobedience was the loss of life.  But God the ever merciful one, chose life before death.  He allowed them to live for the moment, but their eventual death was sure.  Instead He picks one of the creatures to die to cover the sinning ones. 


An animal is chosen.  One of the creatures who gently walked up to Adam in the garden.  He stood there confident and trusting, allowing the man to stroke his hair, to admire the beauty of one creeping on the earth.  Then Adam gives him a name. . . a definition. . . an identity.  And the animal roams the garden still trusting in man's authority and care for the creatures.


Adam remembers the day he named this one.  How he had admired its deep eyes, his powerful muscles, and strong legs.  How he had known he was to care for these animals, to keep them in peace,  but now all had changed.  Now Adam watches as the Lord himself takes his beautiful creation aside and takes its breath from it.  Then God uses the skin meant for protection and warmth and beauty and fashions a garment for the man.  Peace is lost.  Trust is gone.  The sacrifice made for sinning man.


Now Adam bears the skin as an emblem of sacrifice.  Something once loved slaughtered on his behalf.  The blood spilt to cover his shame.


This reminds me of someone.  Someone who sacrificed His very life, gave His very blood, so that I, a sinner would be made clean, covered by grace.  His blood was spilt to cover my shame.  He had to die, so that I could be reconciled to the Father. 


Isn't it amazing how the beginning of the story and the redeeming of the story all began in the mind of God?  He knew the ultimate sacricfice would have to made for man and that the sacrifice would be His beloved Son.  That is why He shows us throughout Scripture in a tangible way, what sacrifice really is.  We see it in the garden, we see it in Isaac, in the Passover Lamb, temple offering. . .life given to cover the sins of man.  All this preparing us for the greatest sacrifice of all time.



I am thankful today for. . .
180.   the covering of His grace
182.   mysteries revealed
183.   smiling, wet, grass covered kids
184.   little arms that wrap around your neck for welcome home hugs
185.   getaways with my sweet husband
186.   dinner by the water
187.   holding hands
188.   sweet grandparents caring for little ones
189.   surprise gifts

Africa

$20.67 for lunch at Pizza Inn today for our family.  My husband wanted to treat us after church and we were happy to oblige.  Filling growling tummies with fresh salad, heaps of pizza, and of course dessert.  We had all gained 3 pounds by the time we headed out the door, back to our comfortable home for a nice Sunday afternoon nap.

Sunday night conviction hits.  Africa pictures and stories of mothers carrying starving babes 60 miles or more for some scrap of food the refugee camp can offer.   A music staff of ribs seen on thousands of children, but the songs played in their lives is that of poverty, drought, neglect.  We see the pictures and hear the stories, but are we moved?  Heart may fill and tears may well, but do feet go, or do hands reach deep into pockets to give?


The money comes so freely when we are seeking ourselves, looking to fill our own stomachs, paying the price they require is easy.  The distant pain pierces a little differently.  Someone else will help, we have this bill coming up, maybe later. . . But what if that were me?  What if I lay there bone thin, lips cracked from dehydration, ribs showing the sorrowful song of starvation?  What if I had given my last bit of rice to my children and the decision came to die in our home or try to walk the hot, dusty miles with no strength in hopes of reaching the camp of hope?  What if I hadn't eaten in 5 days and woke to cockroaches stuck to my mouth seeking moisture?  What if. . .


God has given me much, and much is required.  Today I will give.  In October, my husband goes.  Our sacrifice is nothing.  Men and women die everyday sacrificing their very lives for the sake of the Gospel.  These small steps of obedience, of small sacrifice draw me closer to the One who sacrificed all, who obeyed to the death.  Pray today what you can sacrifice for our Lord - time, money, yourself -  it becomes even more precious when given away.


Africa is hurting - http://www.worldvision.org/news.nsf/news/kenya-hunger-drought-200909-enews 

http://www.unicefusa.org/work/emergencies/horn-of-africa/?utm_campaign=MS%20-%20Horn%20of%20Africa%20Emergency&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=Bing&utm_term=Kenya%20drought



Thankful today for . . .
170.  food - within arms' reach, everyday
171.  air conditioning
172.  medicine
173.  my comfortable country
174.  awareness
175.  money - to give
176.  a computer, to see the world
177.  compassion
178.  workers who feed the hungry everyday
179.  guest preachers who open the eyes

Amazing Love

"Oh how He loves you and me,
He gave His life, what more could He give,
Oh how He loves you, Oh how He loves me,
Oh how He loves you and me!"    
                                                   -traditional


A love so vast He spread it wide on the broken trunk of a tree. 
A love so pure it flowed from pierced hands and feet.
A love so strong the earth shook and the rocks broke in pieces.
A love that put aside heaven to seek the humble humanity of us all.


That is amazing love.  That is a love I cannot begin to understand or comprehend.  That is a love that was given for me and for you.

His love. . . his sacrifice is a gift of eternal significance.

Take the time today to dwell on what it cost, so that we may have salvation.
Be still and remember His amazing love.

Love

Someone once said, "love is not a feeling, it's a choice."

Do I choose to love?
Even when it's hard.

Even when the little one comes crying into the bedroom during dark night hours.
Even when curly headed boys complain ALL DAY long and throws tantrums to get his way.
Even when the baby pulls hair and bites hard. 

Do I choose to love?

Am I "bearing all things" with patience, kindness, and understanding?

We are tested in the heat of the moment.
The fire of life refines or burns. 

Do I look at those blessed gifts and treat them with gentleness or harsh, angry frustration?
Does self-preservation rise or do I nurture their sweet spirits?

Do I choose to love?  The Savoir did.

Even when He looked down from heaven's heights and saw brothers killing brothers.
Even when lying words and slanderous whispers filled the air.
Even when abandoned children and crying widows filled shadowed streets.
Even then. . .He loved. And left. 
To come to us.  And show us His love.

So with outstretched arms, in breathless embrace, He laid down His love, and laid down His life, for us.
For the rebellious, complaining, sin-clothed children.
He loved even then.

So my words are mute.  My cries are silenced by the greatest love of all.

Let me not focus on the wrongs, but on the love.
And may my life be the tiniest reflection of that grace filled, peace robed love.
May I choose to love.