God, You, & Luke 2: Day 8

I have wrestled with fear my whole life.

My earliest memory of the ridiculous grip this has had on me was in the 3rd grade, when a friend invited me to go swimming at a really cool swim park that was an hour away from my home. I jumped at the chance to go, but as I was waiting for them to come pick me up, I began worrying about being in a car wreck. If that happened, I'd never see my parents again. I vividly remember standing at the door watching for them and being terrified of this possibility. And yet, I wanted to go so badly.

I did end up going, and had a great time. But the memory of that fear lingers.

Fear messes with your thoughts and emotions. And your joy. Especially, imagined-hasn't-even-happened-yet fear. It robs you of real life right now. I hate it.

I'm thinking about fear because of Luke 2:9-12


 "And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”


Now the shepherds, at least in this instance, didn't suffer from inappropriate, imagined fear like I have tended to torture myself with. It's completely appropriate to be afraid if an angel of the Lord appears to you in the middle of the night. But what I love about these verses is that we are shown right here - in the announcement of our Savior's birth, how to deal with all fear - real or imagined!

What does the angel do here? He first recognizes that he knows where the shepherds are. By saying "Fear not," he knows they are afraid. Likewise, we are to never hesitate confessing to God exactly where we are, or how we are thinking or feeling. He knows it anyway and loves us anyway. Confessing is good, and I think, necessary. But it doesn't get rid of the fear.

So don't stop there.

The angel didn't stop with the words "Fear not." He then filled the shepherds' minds with truth.  He told them about the good news, great joy, the Savior, the baby and the manger.

That's our pattern for dealing with fear!

Tell God when you are afraid.
Fill your mind with truth. And the best truth out there is God's word. Have some "go to" verses memorized that you can draw on at a moment's notice when fear grips you unexpectedly.

One of my favorites is about as basic as it gets. I'm confessing where I am, and reminding myself of the truth that I can trust God.

Sometimes I have to say this over and over to myself just to get a grip on myself. But God is so faithful. He meets me. He helps me - His word helps me.

And for me, today, that truth is my own little bit of good news of great joy.

God, You, & Luke 2: Day 7

Before I started this Advent series, I had penciled in on a calendar the main ideas that I had made note of when I did this reading exercise a couple of years ago. I wanted to make sure I had something to blog about for 24 days straight! A plan is always good.

I had glanced at my list of these ideas today, and saw what I had down for Day 7. Check. Then I began reading Luke 2. As I was beginning to read, I found I was having a bit of trouble concentrating. So halfway through, I started reading the passage out loud.

Bingo. That helped. I was not only seeing the words with my eyes, I was hearing the words with my ears.

That's when God nudged my soul to change my plan.

I balked at first, because I like my plan. I have my ideas all numbered out and everything! But then God reminded me of one of "my sayings:" You can never be too organized, just too inflexible. And, He reminded me that His ideas are always better than mine.

Today, I do feel like it's His idea to suggest the practice of reading scripture out loud to yourself. You engage another one of your senses, which requires that you s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. And, if you're like me, reading it out loud helps me concentrate!

If you're having "one of those days," and fill especially squeezed for time, there's another option to reading it out loud to yourself. Have your favorite computer read it to you. There is more than one website out there that does this, but the one I typically use is the ESV Bible.  (BibleGateway is another good and popular site). My computer often follows me into the laundry room where I can have scripture read to me while I wash and fold.

I hope these "audio tools" in your Bible study tool kit are as helpful to you as they have been/are to me.   May they increase our faith.

Romans 10:17

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

God, You, & Luke 2: Day 6

Today started out like most all my others in recent years. The alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. That prompted me to roll over and hit the snooze button. After one or two smacks on it, I eventually threw off the covers and set about the tasks I do everyday.

Start a load of laundry.
Coffee and quiet time.
Check fb and twitter.
Check on my mom.
Send Lou off to work.
Breakfast with the girls.
Make lunches.
Take Mary Grace to school.
Back home to send other girls off to BHS.
Twitter/mail/instagram check.
Help mom with her morning tasks.
Back to the laundry room...

The list could go on and on, just like yours could.

Every day, I get up and do my daily work - which is exactly what the shepherds were doing. Verse 8 describes their daily (nightly) work:


 "And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."

They kept watch over their flock. At night.

It's one thing to do your work during the day, when a body is wired to be awake - but to have to do your work at night, when every bone in your body screams to lie down, is a whole different kettle of fish. I always feel for the night shift.

But I digress. The point is, the shepherds were doing what they typically did. I doubt they went into every night thinking something stupendous might happen at any moment.

But something stupendous did happen that night. On a night when they were doing their normal every day stuff.

This thought was a good reminder to me. Going about your everyday stuff is good and right and necessary. Reference that abbreviated list I made earlier. Those things are good and right and necessary. And, that stuff brings me joy (most days;).

But just like Jesus came this first time - on what looked like a normal day, he's gonna come back again - on a day that will probably start out like any other.

I need to remind myself of that.  Reminding myself of that will help keep what matters most mattering most. He's going to interrupt history again in another stupendous way.

He's. coming. back.

It amazes me that God used Luke 2:8, a verse about shepherds keeping watch over their flock at night, to remind me of something big and amazing coming sometime in the future.

I've found that's how it is a lot of times when you read the Bible. You think you are going one place, and God ends up taking you somewhere else. He knows what your soul needs to hear that day.

He's good like that.

God, You, & Luke 2: Day 5

My dear readers:

What I'm asking you to consider doing today connects the baby in the manger with the Savior on the cross in a vivid, stirring way for me. I'm asking you to consider making another mark in your Bible.  And, like the clock from yesterday's post, this marking comes from Kay Arthur's study method. (These are the only two of that study method I consistently use.)

I'm suggesting a red cross.

Every time you see "Jesus", a pronoun referencing him, or a word referencing him (in this chapter, "child," "baby"), lightly put a red cross directly over and through that word.

That stops me even as I type it.

Every time I see the word "child" or "baby" in this chapter, I'm to draw a cross over it? That doesn't go with our image of a newborn baby. We don't think about death when we are gazing into the chubby face of a newborn. That was certainly the farthest thing from my mind when I held our Luke for the first time.

But the perfect baby we are reading about and whose birth we joyfully celebrate here at Christmas was born to die.

For us, that is good news. That is the gospel. We sinners need a Savior. God became one of us, was the perfect one of us, and was sacrificed for us.

This is the crux of life.

When I open my Bible, and I see red crosses sprinkled across the page, I'm reminded of this truth: Jesus came not to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive.

That took a cross. And the God-man, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

God, You, & Luke 2: Day 4

The first line of every blog of mine that's posted begins the same way.

Time is marked.

Today's started with Tuesday, December 4, 2012.

And during this Advent series, my title ends with words that mark time.

Time is important to all of us, and we all mark it somehow.

I'd like to recommend a marking of time I've started doing when I read the Bible.  I've "stolen" it from Kay Arthur's Inductive Bible study method. One aspect of this study method advocates looking for key words or ideas and marking them with different colors or symbols.

One of those symbols is a clock.

Every time you read something in Scripture that references time, draw a clock in the margin.

When you do that, you are making yourself look for the "when," one of the 5Ws that we all need to ask when we are gathering basic information. (In case you've forgotten, the 5Ws = who, what, when, where, and why).

All the "whens" in the Bible are especially meaningful for me to notice because it reminds me that God has this whole time thing - this whole history and whole future thing - under control.  He does all things well and in good order and in good time. And I can trust him.

So every time you see any reference to time in our Luke 2 passage, slow down, and draw a small clock in the margin. That slowing down will be worth your time.

God, You, & Luke 2: Day 3

Remember those stories that we all heard as children? The ones that begin with the words, "Once upon a time?"

Fairy Tales.

They have to start that way because they are stories about "magical and imaginary beings and lands" that obviously, never really happened. 

In stark contrast, we have Luke 2 and the events described in it.

They really happened. 

And in Luke 2:1-4, God, through Luke, drops a pretty big historical name - Caesar Augustus.

"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  And all went to be registered, each to his own town.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David..."

With that name, we've got a person, time and place in the timeline of history whose existence and power are not disputed. He really lived.

Caesar really ordered a census and Joseph and Mary really went to Bethlehem to register. No "once upon a time" here. These aren't magical and imaginary beings and lands. This was God and Nazareth and Bethlehem and Caesar and Mary and Joseph. 

God showed off in a spectacular way during this real historical time with these real historical people. He caused movement of people and events on a world wide scale!

That is our very big God.

Our very real God moved - and is moving still - in our/your very real world.

God, You, & Luke 2: Day 2

A couple of years ago, my brother, Andy, told me about a new practice he's taken up.

He's writing out scripture.

He told me about Deuteronomy 17:18-20, where the king is told to "write for himself in a book a copy of this law." Not long after that, I was introduced to Journibles, which provides materials that makes copying scripture easy and beautiful. This screenshot gives a tad more information.

This post is not an ad for Journibles, but my commendation of the practice of writing out scripture - and more specifically, my suggestion that we write out Luke 2:1-21 during these days of Advent. You could write it out all at once, or one verse at a time every day between now and Christmas - however it works best for you.

If you decide to do this, maybe God will use this practice of slowing down to carefully transcribe these holy words to help you see something about Him you've never seen before.

Let's pray to that end.

God, You, & Luke 2: Day 1

Welcome to my Advent series God, You, & Luke 2!

You are choosing well - not because you are reading my blog, but because you are choosing to spend time every day reading words that are life giving and life changing. God's words.

Every day, for the next 24 days, read Luke 2:1-21. 

And, if you are squeezed for time, remember: Don't read my words. Read God's.

He has the words of life.

My first post has everything to do with this Luke 2 passage without talking about any part of it. I'd like to suggest something that I learned to do whenever I'm about to read the Bible. I'm suggesting a prayer. A prayer I learned to pray the first year I moved to Bolivar, Missouri in 1988. It was then I met Pat Baker, a Godly woman who I attend church with. She wrote the book When a Woman Takes God at His Word.

It is a workbook of sorts, with chapters to read and then questions to answer. And in this book, Pat suggests praying a prayer before you read the Bible.

Open my eyes, that I may behold

        wondrous things out of your law.

(Psalm 119:18 ESV)

When you open the Bible, you aren't just opening any book. It is the inspired word from the creator of the universe who has chosen to reveal Himself to us in its words.

Hebrews 4:12 reminds us: "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

The words you are going to spend time reading in the next 24 days are special words, and we need special help understanding them. As you begin your 24 days in Luke, may I suggest praying this verse every day before you begin to read? We need God, the author of all life and our faith, to open our eyes if we are really going to see and understand the truths embedded in Luke 2. We need Him to reveal Himself to us. 

Yes, Lord. Open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of your law.

InstaFriday - End of November

Here we are...at the end of the month before the last month of the year! Every time I reach the end of November, I start hearing the lyrics from the chorus of "September Song."

For the days dwindle down

To a precious few...

September...November...

2012 is dwindling down, but the activity level in the Harris household isn't!

Saturday after Thanksgiving we meandered out to The Hangar Cafe at the Bolivar Airport for a little breakfast. Not only is the food great, the help out there is exceptional!

Our Faith will greet you with a smile

Speaking of help, that's what David needed after he came down wrong on his ankle playing a little basketball on Saturday. Ouch.

And our Oklahoma State Cowboys didn't need any help keeping the Sooners at bay until the very end of the game... when they let them tie it up, send it in to overtime and eventually win. Uggh!!

We always have friends over for the Bedlam game. Everybody who's anybody wears orange, and everybody else wears red.

Wes, Lou, and Tom

I'm not exactly sure what's going on with David here, but I'm including this picture to document for all time and eternity that, for once, my center kitchen counter was clean!

I always need help doing my hair, and this time I recruited Faith to work a little ponytail magic.

I really like the way she made the sides fold in and under

I don't know of anyone who loves Christmas more than Mary Grace. And, out of all the decorations in our house, she loves the garland on our stairs the most. I found her here, studying for a test.

We found Elizabeth in the newspaper this week. It's always fun to see what expression the camera captures in the heat of the battle.

I think I'm the only one on the planet who still calls her Elizabeth

On the way to the above mentioned tourney, I enjoyed yet another of God's incredible sunsets. I cannot not take pictures of them.

Whenever anybody mentions Aurora, MO, where Elizabeth's basketball tourney was played, they typically say something about a really good BBQ place in town. We hit Hawgwild after the Lady Liberators won the consolation side of the bracket. Yummy.

You get cute little pig placemats to color on also

I've been working on a little Pinterest project this week...blog post will come at some point about it. But here's an exciting picture I snapped mid project...

Ok, it's not an exciting picture, but I'm excited about what happened before this.

This is the very first frame I've built. I bought some trim, mitered those corners (with a little help from my Lou), glued it, and put some finishing nails in it. Now I know you are excited!

I was also excited to hit Bill Roberts Chevrolet remodeling celebration today. It's a great business run by great people.

 My sweet friend, Marcey Daniel, enjoyed the festivities with me!

Mary Grace and I also took advantage of the banner weather by putting up our wreaths. I don't do heights, but thankfully, Mary Grace does.

The next three Fridays, I'll be taking a break from my InstaFridays.

During the month of December, I'm  doing an Advent series called God, You, & Luke 2. I'm super pumped about this and invite any and all of you to join me! It starts tomorrow, December 1.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Blessings!

A Christmas Tradition

We have six children.

Six.

That's not many by Duggar standards, but it keeps us busy. And happy (most days;).

When we started having this crew and Christmas rolled around, we began talking about the traditions we wanted to establish with them.

I had read somewhere about giving each child an ornament every year - one that represents in some way something significant in their life that year.

We liked that idea.

So, since our Luke joined our tribe in 1989, we've been buying ornaments. In the past, when the kids were all home, we had their new ornament wrapped, ready for them to open and put on the tree the day we decorated the tree. We've had to adapt a bit since the college years, but it's still good and very much anticipated.

I found a picture that's a couple of years old where everybody is showing theirs off. It's one of my favorites!

David was big into golf that year.
Faith got her driver's license.
Hannah had moved into her first apartment.
Luke had received a bike for his birthday and was riding all over Fayetteville.
Elizabeth took art and wowed us with her talent.
Mary Grace loved swimming with the Bolivar Swim team.

I'm smiling just remembering all that.

So, if you are looking for a tradition to start with your crew, I can heartily recommend this one!

And, if you are looking for something to read during Advent, join me this December for God, You, & Luke 2. It starts this Saturday, December 1!

Blessings!