Nothing Besides You

Dear Old Friend,

I read this verse yesterday and I felt its truth resonate all the way to my core: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” Psalm 73:25.  When I was young, that verse would not have spoken to me in the same way.  I would have thought of it as a verse for old people. I can remember, as a child, hearing the older members of our congregation speak with such longing about Jesus’ second coming, when he would return and take us all to heaven; and, I thought, ‘of course you want him to come back soon, because you have already gotten to do everything you wanted to do, like getting married and having children.’ I was in no hurry to go to heaven. There were things I wanted to do first!

I believe every young person has felt that way.  We spend our childhoods wishing we were adults and our adulthoods wishing we were kids again.  Why is that?  As children, we believed that this world had so much to offer.  We thought that finding our true love and having a family would bring us the fulfillment we craved; or, that when the answer to the oft asked question of ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ finally became a reality, we would be content, and have the financial freedom to pursue our dreams. 

However, as adults, we found that love relationships are difficult and the raising of children takes a much greater toll than we ever dreamed possible. And, even those who did manage to find financial freedom in their careers discovered that money did not give them the satisfaction they expected. The rest of us eventually gave up on finding that out for ourselves.

The Protestant Reformers in the sixteenth century referred to the things which people desired more than God, as idols.  One reformer said the human heart is an idol making factory.  It is our nature to look for happiness and fulfillment everywhere but God.  As a matter of fact, it is our nature to suspect that God actually wants to keep us from being happy.  That was what Satan told Eve in the Garden.  She believed him, and the rest of us followed suit.

God isn’t surprised that we are like that.  It was the reason he sent his son to live a life of single devotion to Him, and to apply that devotion to our record; and then to pay the price for our running after everything but God. He did that so he could wait patiently for us, with no condemnation, as life on this earth smashed our idols, one by one.  He waits for us as we are treated unfairly and are misunderstood, and as we do the same to others. He waits as we lose our loved ones, lose our health, lose our beauty, lose our energy, lose our patience and lose our dreams. He waits as even our achievements leave us strangely empty.  

He waits until, by the wooing of his Spirit, we finally see that the promises of earth were merely illusions, and that every truly good thing we’ve had on this planet was not in spite of him, but because of him.  And when that Psalm becomes our own and we realize that earth has nothing we desire besides him, he comforts us in the midst of our loss and disillusionment, assures us of his unfailing love and kindness toward us, and promises to give us hope and an eternal future beyond our wildest dreams.

I needed to be reminded of that this week.  Maybe you did, too.

Love Always,

Bonnie

Who Do You Trust?

 

Dear Old Friend,

Do you remember a game show which was on when we were growing up, called “Who Do You Trust”? It was hosted by Johnny Carson before he became the Tonight Show icon.  I don’t actually remember anything about the game itself, but I do remember there was a grammar controversy regarding the title, since “proper” English would be “Whom Do You Trust”.  What reminded me of that show title this week was the search for a used car.

As you know, from my seemingly endless parade of old cars, my husband and I don’t believe in making car payments, so when one car bites the dust, which mine did prematurely in my recent accident, we look for a replacement car we can purchase with what cash we have on hand.  In this case, the insurance company was providing that cash, or at least most of it.  My husband is always the primary hunter and gatherer of cars.  He stalks his prey online and becomes almost obsessed with the pursuit. 

We both decided that our first choice would be a lower mileage version of the car which had just met an untimely demise.  I won’t get into makes and models in my letter, because that isn’t really the point.  What became the point was trying to figure out who/whom we could trust.  Who would be less likely to deceive us? Was it better to trust a private seller, an auto auction or a dealership?  My husband’s search began with private sellers, strayed into auctions, and finally ended with a dealership.  The worry all along the way, of whether or not we were being duped as we had been a few times in the past, nearly did him in.

Knowing that you were praying for God to lead us to the right car meant a lot to me!  I can happily report to you that I now have a car, which my husband proudly tracked down and procured for me. It has a few flaws on the outside, but the interior looks great and the engine looks pristine.  Its ride is smoother and more quiet than any car I can remember driving.  As of this letter, we feel like it was a good choice!

Throughout the process some verses, which had absolutely astonished me the first time I read them, kept coming back to me.  I couldn’t quite remember where they were and had to search, but I found them tonight in John 2:24-25.  The prelude to these two verses tells us that while Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast, people started to take notice of him because of his miracles.  Here are the verses which struck me: “But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”

Jesus knew better than to put his confidence in people, because he knew what we were like inside.  No one needed to tell him that people couldn’t be trusted; because that was the very reason he had to come to earth.  Paul’s compilation of Old Testament scriptures detailing God’s own thoughts on what was "in man", found in Romans chapter 3, verses 10-18, is painful and humiliating to read:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Jesus knew who we were; there wasn’t one truly trustworthy bone in any of our bodies; no, not one; and we were powerless to do a thing about it.  So, he came, as the only totally trustworthy human who ever walked on this planet; and, while we still can’t safely trust each other, to those who believed in him, he gave his perfect record; and assured us that we can absolutely trust him with any and everything in our lives.

Even cars!

Love Always,

Bonnie

You'll Be All Right

Dear Old Friend,

As anyone who has been involved in a vehicle accident will tell you, you’re skittish when you first start driving or even riding in a vehicle after the accident.  I experienced that this week and it reminded me of a funny story from my past.  

Many years ago, I had been broadsided when an elderly gentleman pulled out from a stop sign just as I passed by. While riding in the car with my husband for the first time since the accident, I found that I flinched every time we went past a side street where a vehicle was waiting to pull out, and then my accident would replay in my head.  I turned to my husband and said, “When I’m in a car now, I can’t stop thinking about wrecks.”  He turned to me with a confused expression and said, “Rex who?”  True story.

Anyway, in addition to being a bit jumpy in the car this week, I started to feel overwhelmed with the realization (again) of our inability to completely protect ourselves from harm.  Whenever my coworkers leave for home, there is always a chorus of “Be safe” and “Drive carefully”, as we all communicate our desire for the well-being of our friends.  I found myself thinking that it doesn’t matter how careful we are, bad things still happen.  

I was simply sitting at a stop light, with no time to get out of harm’s way.  People who eat right have still been known to get cancer or some other life threatening  or disabling disease.  People who exercise regularly have still been known to have heart attacks or strokes.  People who have been faithful employees for years are still let go.  Brilliant people whose insights have brought light to millions have gotten Alzheimer’s disease.  The illusion of having control over my life disappeared, and I began to feel fear and despair.

Of course, I was reminded immediately that, while it is completely true that my own efforts to protect myself are minimally effective at best, there is a God who is sovereign and has supreme authority and power over my life.  While there are some who think God is too busy and important to concern himself with the day to day events of our lives, Jesus said in Matthew 10:29 that not even one sparrow falls to the ground “apart from” God, and he assures us that we are worth more to God than a sparrow.  Jesus then says in verse 30 that God is so aware of and involved with us that he even knows how many hairs we have on our heads. 

I found great comfort in those words this week.  To me those verses say, God knows even more about me than I could ever know about myself; and, if he bothers to know and care about the number of my hairs, he surely knows and cares about the events of my day to day life.  Obviously, bad things will still happen to me in this world, because this world isn’t heaven; but, because God is in control, I’ll be all right.  As I heard Chuck Swindoll say last night, “Even if you die, you’ll be all right.” 

True story.

I’m praying for you and what’s going on in your life as well.  I thought you might need to have this reassurance, too.

Love always,

Bonnie

He Knows

Dear Old Friend,

The past couple of weeks have been crazy! Last time, I wrote you that we had to put our precious dog, Quiz, to sleep.  Then, my poor husband got a bad stomach virus on New Year’s Eve, so on New Year’s Day I went to the store to get him some Gatorade to replenish his electrolytes and while I was in the store, for under ten minutes, someone hit my car and left!  I didn’t report it to my insurance immediately; I was in a hurry to get to work, and then I procrastinated.

As it turned out, it was a moot point, because yesterday, on my way to work, while I was stopped at a light, a lady, who was doing who knows what, slammed into the back of my car without ever putting on her brakes! She was going pretty fast and the impact was strong enough to push my car into the car in front of me and then push his car into the one in front of him! My engine caught fire and the lady’s car was basically imbedded in my trunk all the way to the back seat!

My ribs hurt, and my right thumb is bruised, both of those due to the seatbelt and airbag, but it could have been so much worse!

The thing is, I actually hesitated to mention these things, because, for some reason, everyone I know has so many terrible things going on in their lives that mine pale in comparison! A friend’s child may have cancer, and she is awaiting the results. Another friend has been having seizures and every attempt to control them has failed. Another friend just lost his job because it involved driving and he got a speeding ticket.  Then, right after he was fired, his wife, who was on his insurance, had a heart attack.  I am also friends with his boss, whom I called, with the intent of making him feel guilty, and found out that he and his wife had just taken custody of their daughter’s 18 month old child, because of their daughter’s drug problems.  Another friend just checked into rehab for a drinking problem.  Another just lost his father.  I could go on and on.

I can’t remember a time when I was aware of so many people with so many serious issues! And then, of course, there is the state of our world in general!  There’s not much good news out there.  All of this has made me stop and ponder how, or even if, the Good News of the Gospel has anything relevant to say to all of this suffering.

Immediately, the first words of Isaiah 53:4 came to my mind: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”  I find so much comfort in the knowledge that, when Jesus was on the cross, he wasn’t just bearing my sins, he was also bearing all of the results of sin on his shoulders.  

He took every grief that every human has ever experienced and every sorrow over which anyone has ever wept and carried it to the cross.  This obviously does not mean that we will not suffer, but it does mean that he is with us in and through it all, in a way we can’t even begin to fathom. He knows each of our sorrows personally, because he already bore each one.  

We have a savior who understands, from the inside out, each trial that we face, no matter how big or small; and, he understands far better than even our dearest friends or family ever could, because he experienced each one himself. No one else can say that!

I am so thankful that I have been blessed to know this Good News, which touches every corner of my life! I wish from the bottom of my heart that every suffering human could have this same assurance to hold onto!

Love Always,

Bonnie

I Love How You Love Me

Dear Old Friend,

We began this New Year with a gaping hole in our hearts.  Our beloved dog, Quiz, developed serious health issues and, despite our best efforts, he declined to the point that we felt it was cruel to allow him to suffer any further.  As you know, I’ve lost many loved ones over the years, so I know grief, and I can tell you, death is death and grief is grief.  If you genuinely loved a pet, the grief you feel is real and deep.

We knew from the moment we found him that Quiz was God’s gift to us.  We initially believed that we rescued him, but we soon came to see it was the other way around.  Our mutual quirks and eccentricities fit together like a hand and glove.  We were made for each other.

When you and I were growing up, there was a song called I Love How You Love Me.  I’ve concluded that song title is spot on.  What we all long for is to find a love where those words are true.

In an earlier letter I wrote to you about meeting Quiz for the first time.  He had been abandoned as a puppy and wandered the streets, trying to survive.  All he wanted was to be loved; but, he didn’t think it would ever happen.  For awhile after he came to live with us he still wasn’t too sure; but once he finally believed we loved him, he melted.  The difference was dramatic!

He wanted nothing more than to be with us.  When we had been out and returned home, he wagged his entire body in greeting.  He was a snuggler, and loved to nuzzle his head into us.  When we were together in the living room he liked to sleep with part of his body touching one of us, preferably lying on our feet.  If either my husband or I were upset, he always sensed it and came to bring us comfort.  Our love for Quiz transformed him, and his love for us did the same.

Knowing that you are truly loved changes you!  Of course that makes me think about God.  He knows that we creatures are like that, because he created us to be that way.  The original idea was that humans would always feel God’s love and we would respond in kind.  The cycle of reciprocated love was intended to be lavish and uninterrupted.

But sin messed everything up until we came to the point where we believed God could not possibly love us.  We thought that he saw us as unworthy and unlovable; but the fact is that his love for us had never changed.  He loved us so much that he sent Jesus to show us that love, and then he sent the Holy Spirit to continually remind us of that love until we truly believe it. 

Fully and finally allowing ourselves to believe and accept God’s deep, unconditional love for us—to love how he loves us—transforms us in the same way Quiz's acceptance of our love transformed him.  As Romans 8:38-39 says, not even death can separate us from that love.

I find comfort in that.

Love Always,

Bonnie

Grace-Filled Resolutions

 

 

Dear Old Friend,

I hope your Christmas was filled with family, love and laughter!  My husband and I celebrated on Christmas Eve, since he had to work Christmas Day.  We had a good dinner and then watched Christmas movies together. 

I got up before dawn Christmas Day, loaded my car with presents and headed to my son’s house so that I would arrive before the kids woke up and started the gift opening frenzy.  As it turned out, it was an hour and a half after I got there before they woke up!  The first one up was Granddad, then Nana dragged herself out of bed, after staying up until 3:00 a.m. wrapping presents; so, it was the grandparents who sat around chatting and drinking coffee waiting for the children and parents! Who would have thought?

The day was delightful; lots of games to enjoy with my precious grandchildren, many toys to assemble and video games to be played; and the festivities ended with a scrumptious Christmas dinner. A blessed family time!

Now, with Christmas behind me, I am looking ahead to the New Year.  I don’t know how you feel about New Year’s Resolutions, but I have decided to put an end to the annual cycle of determination and failure.  Last year I came up with a once-and-for-all list that I think of as my “Grace-filled Resolutions”.  I wanted to share them with you:

1.        Fearlessly cultivate an awareness of your daily sinfulness.  Be brutally honest about your pride, judgment of others, unkind thoughts and words, short-temperedness, impatience, selfishness, self-righteousness, greed, self-pity, lack of faith, lack of trust, irreverence, etc.

2.       Boldly go to God with that painful awareness, with no excuses or false promises to change, and humbly thank him for loving and forgiving you unconditionally every single day because of Jesus’ sacrifice which covers it all, even though you deserve nothing but his condemnation and wrath.  Then gratefully bask in his love.

3.       When you find yourself wanting to treat others the way “they deserve”, remember what you deserve and how God loves and forgives you over and over again, and respond accordingly.

4.       When you fail at #3, and you will, repeat #2; for the rest of your life.

No matter what the New Year holds, I can face it with the peace that comes only from knowing and accepting God’s matchless gift of grace.

My prayer, dear friend, is that you, too, will know that peace!

Love Always,

Bonnie

Let it Go?

Dear Old Friend,

My daughter sent me a quote which her pastor posted this week: “The type of Christian you are depends on the Christ you believe in.” She loved it and so do I; but, due to the time of year, I have given it a holiday twist: “The type of Christmas you have depends on the Christ you believe in.”

I’m starting to wonder if it’s time to hand Christmas back to the pagans from whence it came.  Apparently the Pope changed the festival of Saturnalia, which was held between December 17 and 23 and incorporated the winter solstice, to Christ Mass, because he thought it was preferable to replace the popular celebration with something Christian rather than attempt to do away with it altogether. 

I’m not one of those people who object to Christmas on the basis of its pagan roots; but, I’m fast becoming one of those people who object to Christmas because, on the whole, it has nothing to do with the Christ I believe in.

Practically everyone I know has, by now, overextended themselves financially, physically and emotionally.  The exhaustion and stress have taken their toll.  The goal seems to be trying to prove our love, goodness and worthiness by what we do during this one season and  what we give on this one day of the year.  

Expectations are being worn on sleeves everywhere. Hearts are waiting to be crushed; hopes dashed; relationships ruined.  Will we feel loved or unloved when we see what we have been given?  Will what we give to others be enough? Will our offerings be accepted or deemed contemptible?  The pressure not to fail is intense.

Many people believe in a Christ who is waiting to see what they have to offer him. He is a lot like Santa in the song Santa Claus is Coming to Town. They think he is watching them when they are sleeping and when they are awake to see whether or not they are measuring up, and they know they had better watch out!  The type of Christmas I described above accurately reflects the Christ they believe in.

 

The Christ I believe in was sent to this earth specifically so that we would never have to worry about measuring up again.  God saw our desperate need to be loved and accepted and he understood our deep sense of unworthiness.  In his mercy, he sent his son to our world to be for us what we could not be; to give what we could not give; and to love us with a love which can never be taken away.  Christ met every expectation on our behalf.  We have nothing left to prove. I want a Christmas like that!

But Christmas seems to have become the antithesis of that and I wonder if there’s any way to turn things around?  I’m afraid it’s too far gone.  Should we just agree to call it Winter Festival, and let it go?  

Many biblical scholars believe Christ was actually born around the Feast of Tabernacles in autumn; some say it was in the spring. Maybe we could choose a new date and just start over, making the celebration of the birth of our Savior one which has nothing to do with trying to prove anything to anyone.  Maybe its hallmark could be forgiveness and reconciliation instead.

But, because we are human and so badly in need of a Savior,  we would most likely distort that day, too, wouldn't we? I guess I'll just pray for grace to make this Christmas reflect the Christ I believe in.

Blessed Christmas, my friend!

Love Always,

Bonnie