Why Surrender the Good by Julie Arduini

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I remember driving my car, dog in tow, as part of a caravan leaving Upstate NY for the Ohio/PA border. I was thirty-four and except for college, that area had been my home. It’s all I knew. My reality was a move to Ohio for my husband’s job.

Oh, and everyone I knew lived in Upstate NY too. Including my recently widowed mother and my grieving sister. The loss was so brutal, followed up with my moving that my mother approached my husband and begged him to take a job at McDonald’s just so we could be local. “If you move, it will be like another death to me.”

Yeah.

Driving those 300 miles, I asked why a lot. Why would I leave everyone and everything that was good for a place I knew no one and nothing?

This year will be the twentieth anniversary of that move. It didn’t take long to see why that move needed to happen. Our daughter, a baby at the time, was quite sick. She received amazing care that was close by. Our son made friends because he was in a classroom versus the homeschooling I had done in NY. Had we stayed, even switching to a school would have put him in a rural district with very few kids to play with. My husband found his niche immediately at the church we still call home.

Me? It took a little longer, but I remember years later seeing the visual on Facebook with the little girl and her ragged doll. Jesus was asking her to give HIm the doll. She was reluctant, asking why.

What she couldn’t see was a better doll behind his back.

When I started writing, my tagline became “Surrendering the good, the bad, and—-maybe one day—-the chocolate.”

I’m often asked about the good. Why surrender that?

The bad makes sense. Quitting smoking is a great surrender. But what if you’re minding your own business, doing great, and being kind and something comes along that requires you to let go of something good?

Before I met my husband, I was friends with a guy who others said we’d be a great match. Looking back, being Christians was the only thing we had in common. I was young and took those opinions as gospel. I was certain he had to be the one.

Well, he was not. When I found out, I remember being shocked I didn’t even cry. I was embarrassed and confused, but I wasn’t sad. It was weird but I said a prayer as I drove home. It was something like, “Hey, God, thanks. If this guy wasn’t it for me and he was good, then I know You have something even better.”

Three months later I met my husband.

Surrender is hard, and I wonder if surrendering the good is harder than the bad. It’s a big leap with no guarantees. What if you had a job and you felt that nudge to apply to the one you found out about? I’ve seen that happen. The person surrendered the good and obeyed. Turns out that good job closed down a year later. The person was at the new place, thriving.

I can’t promise you surrendering the good in your life will be easy, or a straight shot to fun and reward. I can tell you there is a purpose in it. God isn’t a cosmic joker ready to point and yell “Gotcha”. That’s not who He is. Ever.

I’ve had to surrender good enough times to know the picture with the doll is accurate. I still struggle and ask why, but I’ve never regretted being obedient.

If you’re called to surrender a good thing, take the leap of faith. God’s holding something better behind His back.

Oh, the tagline about maybe one day the chocolate? Today is not that day.

How about you? What good things has God asked you to surrender?

Welcome to my land . . .

As shared in my fun, helpful memoir/travelogue, A Traveling Grandma’s Guide to Israel: Adventures, Wit, and Wisdom, there’s a wonderful, little-known network of Christian believers in Israel (if you can find them) that helps travelers know where to go, who to meet, etc. I’m still friends with many I met on my first life-changing trip there in 1980 and connect often again in my eight additional trips since.

That first time, a friend and I stayed with Tina, a dynamo Dutch nurse, and her Jewish-Christian husband in a Jerusalem suburb, they gave a great introduction to the country. When it was time to visit Galilee, Tina put us in touch with friends there who offered simple housing and warm fellowship at low cost. As a volunteer North American Bible college teacher, I had a shoestring budget. To economize, our hostess suggested we ride a boat one-way across the Sea of Galilee on that Saturday (Sabbath-Shabbat) morning to explore the other side until sunset when Shabbat ended and the inexpensive Jewish buses began running again.

We found a boat and bought one-way tickets, but the Arab Christian guide wasn’t happy.

“It’s below sea level and hot. If you walk all day, you’ll get sunstroke.”

I promised we’d be careful, but he spoke to the pastor guiding the group onboard from a church in California. That man came to me and explained that their bus on the other side would take them around the Sea of Galilee, up to Metula in Israel’s northwestern corner where it joins Lebanon, through the Golan Heights overlooking Syria, and back to Tiberias where they would deliver us to where they were staying.

“Would you like to join us?” he asked.

I had priced tours, $50 each in 1980, out of my range for one day’s outing.

“What would you have to charge?” I asked.

He beamed. “Could you could each give one smile?”

Could we? With bursting hearts, we gave some of the biggest smiles of our lives!

At the Church of the Beatitudes where Jesus taught His Sermon on the Mount, the pastor had reserved tree-shaded benches with a fabulous view. He handed out Bibles and assigned verses to read aloud. Mine was Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled and abundantly satisfied.”

Before I could finish reading mine, I burst into tears. It was as though Jesus Himself had joined us, His arm sweeping over the landscape saying, “This is my land. Welcome to my home. Let me show you around. Relax. Enjoy.”

We did!

I’ll never forget that welcome. I wish no finer gift for anyone visiting Israel than to have the Lord Himself invite you into His home!

I share that and more in A Traveling Grandma’s Guide to Israel: Adventures, Wit, and Wisdom, available on Amazon and other sites in print, Kindle, and audio. May God bless you and make every Bible event and conversation live for you!

The Lines by James R. Coggins

I remember reading Psalm 16 many years ago, probably in the King James Version, and wondering what the phrase meant that “the lines” had fallen to the psalmist “in pleasant places” (Psalm 16:6). What lies behind this phrase is some history dating back several hundred years. When the Israelites had gained control of the Promised Land, the land was divided up among families by lot. That is, a lottery was used to determine which family would get which piece of land. Some land was obviously better than others, and that land would be passed down from one generation to the next; it was to remain with that family permanently. Lots were used at various times in the Old Testament to decide a variety of things. The assumption was that since human beings did not determine the outcome, it was really God making the decision: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (Proverbs 16:33 NIV). We still use lotteries to determine many things in modern life, from the assignment of dorm rooms to who gets to speak first in a debate and who gets control of the football first. We still speak of building lots and even our “lot in life.”

It is this latter idea that is at work in Psalm 16. The first four verses affirm the psalmist’s commitment to God, his solidarity with others who follow God, and his alienation from those who follow false gods and will suffer the consequences. Then, in verses 5-6, he says that he is lucky or blessed with his inheritance: “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” But he is not talking about the piece of land he or his family received. He is talking about his whole life. I have some sense of what the psalmist is feeling. Like many Christians, I look back and say, “God has blessed me with a good life.” There have been struggles and losses, but on the whole things have been good.

But the psalmist goes beyond this to say to God that “You are my portion” (Psalm 16:5). In other words, the “lot” assigned to him is not a piece of land but the presence of God Himself. It is not just that the psalmist’s circumstances are good but that the central aspect of his life is the presence of God. Again, I resonate with this. When I look back, I don’t just look at the good things that have happened to me. I also ponder the fact that I was early on given many opportunities to learn about God and be committed to Him. In a very real sense, I did not choose God, but He chose me. He called me. Why me? Why would God call me to be one of His followers? I feel immensely privileged.

Because of God’s call, I have many blessings. These are outlined by the psalmist in verses 7-11 of Psalm 16: the abiding presence of God, God’s guidance (“The Lord counsels me”), joy (“You will fill me with joy in your presence”), peace (“With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken”), and the assurance that death is not the end and we will be resurrected to have eternal blessings with Him (“You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead”).

A Blessed Day by Tara Randel

Recently I did a Bible study of 1,2,3 John. The study is called Abide, by Jen Wilkin. She is a wonderful teacher and I always gain so much insight when I listen to the videos that are part of the study.

In one of the sessions, she recited this old prayer from the book, Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan devotions and prayers. This prayer is about humility and when I heard it, I had to write it down. Today, I’d like to share it with you.

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold your glory.

Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine; Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace on my sin, thy riches in poverty, thy glory in my valley.

I hope you have a blessed day!

Tara Randel is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author. Family values, a bit of mystery and of course, love and romance, are her favorite themes, because she believes love is the greatest gift of all. For more information about her books, visit Tara at www.tararandel.com. Like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TaraRandelBooks. Sign up for Tara’s Newsletter.

The Other John Smyth by James R. Coggins

I grew up a Baptist, and, like most other Baptists, I didn’t know much about Baptist history.

That changed in university when I studied history and wrote a paper on John Smyth, the founder of the first Baptist church (see my previous blog on him here). At the suggestion of another student (also a Baptist), I then chose John Smyth and his congregation as the subject of my doctoral thesis.

Trained as a historian, I naturally became an editor and writer. And then, after a while, I began writing contemporary murder mysteries.

The hero of many of my stories was a short, bald, bearded editor with a denominational Christian magazine based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At the time, I was a short, bald, bearded editor with a denominational Christian magazine based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Writers are told to “write what they know,” but this was a bit of overkill. But I was writing murder mysteries, so overkill fit right in. Or write in.

I was uncertain what to name the hero of my murder mysteries. When I started writing, I temporarily named him John Smyth (the name of the man I had written my thesis about) until I could think of something better. This suggests a definite lack of imagination on my part, which did not bode well for my novel writing career.

Naming my hero John Smyth was a bit of an inside joke. (Like the original John Smyth, I was a Baptist with Mennonite connections.) But the more I worked on that first novel, the better the name seemed.

For one thing, John Smyth is the most generic of names, and yet the unusual spelling (with a Y) made it unique and memorable.

And I started to have some fun with that Y, as John tried to explain the unusual spelling of his last name and ended up blithering, which helped to establish his character as somewhat bumbling. The Why question was a useful counterpoint to the Who (done it) question.

As well, calling himself John Smyth made the police and other people suspicious that he was using an alias or was trying to hide his identity.

Sometimes I wonder what the original John Smyth (the founder of the first Baptist church) would think about how I have made use of his name. But, like him, John Smyth the editor and solver of mysteries, is a Christian. And so am I.

The recently published Too Many Deaths is the fifth and most recent crime book featuring John Smyth and the first since Springtime in Winnipeg (published in 2015). Both are available through bookstores and online retailers such as Amazon.

Fighting for Your Valuables by Julie Arduini

A couple weeks ago I took time off from posting to prayerfully press in on some things. When I felt it was time to put into play what I received, this heaven-sent object lesson still resonates. It is so powerful to me.

Think of three things that are valuable to you. It isn’t a test, so you don’t need to give cliche answers. What is valuable to you?

Now imagine a bratty, disrespectful, loud kid who barely reaches your waist comes at you and snatches your valuable things and runs off.

What would you do?

Not how would you feel, what would you do?

Common sense would say it’s a kid. You’re bigger than the kid and carry more authority. He has YOUR valuables.

You’re going to confront the kid and take back what was stolen from you.

As my own object lesson played out, I had a list of things that had been stolen from my family. This isn’t exactly my list but common things the enemy would steal:

Peace

Joy

Compassion

Rest

Desire to serve

A foundation that is built on Christ

You get the picture.

For many of you reading this, the enemy has been robbing you blind. You feel depleted, worn out, defeated and just done.

Here’s what the enemy of your soul wants you to forget. Jesus is in your past—healing it. He’s in your present, loving you. He’s in your future—two minutes to twenty years from now, equipping you.

He’s in the future, whatever that looks like, packing up everything the enemy has stolen from you. And it’s time to pray it through. Confess any sin and stronghold (something like bitterness that seems like a safe place to land but isn’t) and proclaim those things don’t belong with you. Those stay in the enemy’s camp.

But because of Christ and HIs shed blood for you that you acknowledge and surrender to, you’ve got the authority to take back every single thing that was stolen. Those things are for you, that God gave, for you to use to further His Kingdom.

No more depression. No more anxiety. No more apathy.

It’s time.

You are worth fighting for.

YOU are valuable.

Don’t forget the devil, who is very real, has a name he’d rather you never know. Defeated one. His bags of tricks are on a budget, so he’ll use what works. And telling you that you are actually the defeated one is a lie he’s going to throw at you time and time again.

If Christ is your daily life, if you have made Him your priority, if He is your relationship and friend (note I did NOT say religion,) then the defeated one has as much power in your life as that bratty kid.

Walk in victory with your heavenly valuables. It’s time.

This originally appeared March 6, 2024 on my Facebook page. To follow me across social media and book sites, visit Link Tree.

Connected to Nature by James R. Coggins

People in Bible times had a much closer connection to nature than we do. With no electricity or lights, they could see the stars most nights. They traveled mostly on foot—and occasionally on animals—and were not insulated from weather as we are in our cars and trains and airplanes. Working outdoors caring for their fields and animals, they constantly looked at skies, fields, mountains, hills, valleys, springs, streams, rivers, lakes, trees, plants, and animals. Without satellites and modern media, they had little ability to forecast the weather and were at the mercy of heat, cold, storms, lightning, winds, and floods.

Seeing so much of nature, people in Bible times recognized that they were at the mercy of a much greater power. Behind nature, they saw the creativity and power of God: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1 NIV); “He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land—the Lord is his name” (Amos 5:8). Seeing all this often made them humble. Today, sitting in our air-conditioned offices surrounded by our virtual reality and artificial intelligence, we have the delusion that we are the creators and we are in control—until an earthquake, a hurricane, or a terminal disease brings it all crashing down. Just so, the flood that saved Noah overwhelmed the Tower of Babel; plagues of bloody river water, frogs, gnats, flies, animal diseases, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and death broke the power of Egypt’s Pharaoh; and the Israelites entering the land of milk and honey were warned that if they stopped following God, God would punish them with “fearful plagues…harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses…all the diseases of Egypt,” as well as drought, crop-devouring insects, confusion, defeat, failure, invasion, and oppression (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). Revelation warns that human sin brings death through plagues of famine and natural disasters and disease and war. Our sin continues to destroy nature, and God continues to punish sinful humanity with suffering, which is designed to convince us to humble ourselves and commit ourselves to following Him and His ways.

The apostle Paul summarizes: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-20). James advises us, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:7-10).

Who Is John Smyth (and why does it matter)? by James R. Coggins

Most Baptists know very little about history—and care even less.

In particular, most Baptist know very little about their own history. They are part of a significant denomination that has spread through many countries around the world, and they have no idea how the whole thing got started. Some just assume their denomination goes back to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus.

The truth is that Baptists trace their origins back to a different John, John Smyth. Smyth (occasionally spelled “Smith” since he lived in a largely oral culture before the development of dictionaries) was a Cambridge-trained clergyman in the Church of England, serving in Lincolnshire in the early 17th century.

James I became King of England in 1603. (He was also known as King James VI of Scotland because the English and Scots rarely agree on anything.) Even though he has a Bible named after him, James was a crude, immoral, cruel, and arrogant man. Shortly after he became king, James demanded that all clergy in the Church of England subscribe to his particular version of Protestantism (which we might today call High Anglicanism, although that is not completely accurate and was not a term used then). This was in contrast to his predecessor, Elizabeth I, who had allowed a little more diversity in the state Church. A number of clergy (whom we might today call Puritans, although that is not completely accurate and was not a term used then) refused to sign on to James’s prescribed theology and were expelled from the Church. Among them was John Smyth.

These well-trained clergy then gathered congregations of like-minded individuals and continued to worship together. This was not at all what James had had in mind (he wanted to control all religion and all people in his kingdom), and so he began persecuting these congregations. As a result, several of them secretly fled England (which James’s government, like communist governments today, also tried to prevent).

Many of these religious refugees went to the Netherlands, where there was toleration. The Dutch, before anyone else in Europe, had discovered that persecution was bad for business—and became rich as a result.

The refugees reorganized into new congregations in Amsterdam, with John Smyth being one of the leaders in one of them. Being precursors to Baptists, they did not remain united for long. One large group broke away and moved to another Dutch town, Leiden, and later formed the nucleus of the group that journeyed to North America on the Mayflower, but that is another story.

While in exile, John Smyth pondered how it was that the Church of England was persecuting true believers such as himself. He concluded that the root of the problem was infant baptism, which brought everyone in society into the church and filled the church with unbelievers. Seeing no alternative, he rebaptized himself and his congregation, reinstating believer’s baptism and founding the first Baptist church.

In time, partly because there was not much future for a small, isolated congregation (there being a shortage of eligible spouses for children growing into adulthood, for instance), Smyth and his congregation merged with another believers’ church, a Mennonite group.

Being Baptists, Smyth’s congregation did not remain united. Four families decided that they did not want to give up their English citizenship and be submerged into Dutch culture. About 1615, they returned to England. There, one of the men, Thomas Helwys, wrote a book telling King James that he should stop interfering in religion. This made an impact on King James. He put Helwys in prison. Another man in the small group, John Murton, also wrote some books telling king James pretty much what Helwys had said. There is some evidence that James, predictably, also had him imprisoned.

The small group of four families (with its leader in prison) then disappeared—for ten years anyway. No one knows how, but when the group resurfaced a decade later, it had grown to five congregations. The Baptist Church survived, joined in time by groups with similar beginnings, and spread throughout the world.

John Smyth was an insightful man, who had some helpful things to say on a number of topics. Among them is the principle that we now know as the separation of church and state. He taught an important lesson that is still valid today: When the Christian church tries to gain control of the state, most often unscrupulous men will seize control of the church in order to gain control of both church and state.

More information on John Smyth is contained in my doctoral thesis, published as John Smyth’s Congregation: English Separatism, Mennonite Influence, and the Elect Nation (Herald Press, 1991). It is a well-written, detailed, densely argued, and generally well-received volume, primarily of interest to historians.

Bad Things Happen in Life and In Fiction

Sometimes it feels as if real life imitates fiction. And the other way around.

Since Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden, our world has been on a downward spiral toward darkness.

As a Christian Suspense author, I write about some of the difficult things, we humans face in life, whether it’s something we read about in the news, or perhaps experience personally. Darkness is all around us, but . . .

One of my favorite things about writing Christian Suspense is what I get to add to every story. Hope. No matter how awful the situation is for my characters, God is always there with them guiding them safely through every deadly situation, just like He does for us every day in real life.    

John 1: 5 says, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

No matter how dark the world gets, there’s hope!     

Mary

http://www.maryalford.net

Powerful Keys

I don’t know when or where I learned to value keys or who explained the concept to me (probably one of my grandparents). I was young and whatever they said made me want them. I soon had a collection from sardine tins, coffee cans, mail boxes, keys from old cars and equipment—basically any source.

Bundled on a string I wore them around my waist. My keys gave me a sense of power, of owning and locking and unlocking things, and of making machines go.

With Dad in extended military service, Mom took me to church twice a year at Christmas and Easter. Going so seldom made those times stand out. (To this day, I’m in awe of how much three to four-year-olds retain and understand. Those lessons imprinted my heart and stayed with me.)

Studying keys in any concordance yields treasure. When leaving a grocery store recently, I spotted and scooped up a fallen key from a sardine tin—in one instant the joys and memories flooded back.

Now and forever Jesus is the key. And every promise is true. Many verses are songs to sing. Here are just four of many.

Isaiah 22:22 “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”

Matthew 16:19 “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Revelation 1:18 “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

Revelation 3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;”

Take time to do your own concordance study. Gather powerful keys to lock or unlock riches for this life and through eternity.

Self-Sacrificing Love by James R. Coggins

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus told His close followers that He was going away to somewhere where they could not follow: “I will be with you only a little longer…Where I am going, you cannot come” (John 13:33). Peter protested that he would go with Jesus all the way, even to death: “I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37). I am not sure that Peter meant it literally. He probably meant that he was willing to risk death to help Jesus set up His kingdom. Peter did not realize that Jesus was going to willingly and deliberately lay down His life. Jesus then warned Peter that he would deny Jesus “three times” that same night (John 13:38). Peter proved to be braver than the other followers. He tried to defend Jesus by cutting off the ear of one of the men who arrested Jesus (John 18:10), and he followed Jesus into the high priest’s house to see what would happen and perhaps to help if he could. In trying to remain free to act, Peter did indeed deny Jesus three times. What we often overlook is that Jesus also said that Peter would “follow later” (John 13:36).

Peter was greatly discouraged by his failure. After a rooster crowed to remind him of his betrayal, “he went outside and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75). When Jesus’ followers returned to Galilee, Peter decided to go fishing. Did he think that his failure disqualified him from further ministry and he should go back to his previous occupation? John 21 describes what is often called Peter’s “restoration.” This took place on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus had originally called to Peter, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people” (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17). This time, Jesus took Peter aside and asked, “Do you love me more than these?” It is not clear what is meant by “these.” Was Jesus asking if Peter loved Jesus more than the trappings of his old fishing way of life? Was He asking if Peter loved Jesus more than the other followers of Jesus, as Peter had once claimed (Matthew 26:33: “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”)? The Greek word for love here is agape, which means self-sacrificing love, the highest form of love. (If Jesus was speaking Aramaic, the language of Palestine, it is not clear what word He was using, but it is also true that many Jews would understand some Greek.) Peter responded that yes, he loved Jesus, but hedged his affirmation by saying that Jesus knew this. He was saying that Jesus knew better than Peter did himself what was in his heart—as Jesus had demonstrated the night before Jesus’ arrest when Peter was sure he would remain faithful and Jesus knew he would not. Peter had learned some humility and was hesitant to claim too much. In response, Jesus did not ask Peter to sacrifice himself but to do something much easier—to “feed my lambs” (John 21:15), that is, to teach and serve other followers of Jesus. Jesus asked the same thing a second time and got the same answer. Then Jesus asked a third time, three questions corresponding to the three times that Peter had denied Jesus. But this time the word Jesus used for love was phileo, brotherly affection, a much lower standard. This grieved Peter, who was unsure whether he could even claim to reach this lower standard. He felt he was again failing Jesus. But then Jesus declared that Peter would indeed remain faithful to Jesus, that he would demonstrate self-sacrificing love for Jesus, by stretching out his hands and being crucified (John 21:18). Jesus then told Peter again to “follow me.” Peter would do this, both in preaching the good news and healing (feeding and taking care of the sheep) as Jesus had done and in dying on a cross. This must have been very reassuring to Peter but sobering and terrifying at the same time. From then on, Peter would know that he would be crucified, just as Jesus had known that He would be crucified.

The Heart of a Parent by Nancy J. Farrier

“Then [King David} was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!” 2 Samuel 18:33

What did David’s son, Absalom, do that caused David such great distress? If you recall, there were several events that led to this scene. Absalom killed his brother Amnon. He then committed treason against the King and tried to wrest the kingdom from him. He tried to kill King David, his father, and he slept with his father’s concubines in full view of the people. 

Yet, David mourned his son and wished he’d died in his place.

As a parent, when I read this lament of David’s for his son, Absalom, I can relate to that grief. I think most parents can. From the time our children are toddlers, they tend to have a streak of defiance, some more than others. Any parent who has faced a toddler stomping their foot or a teenager out past curfew understands the need to enact punishment while still loving that child.

We also know that David wasn’t showing favoritism to Absalom. In 2 Samuel 12:15-22, we can read the story of David’s first son by Bathsheba. Through the prophet, Nathan, God let David know his son would die. For days, David lay on the floor, fasting and pleading with God for his son’s life to no avail. David had a compassionate heart for his children.

As I read this story of Absalom, I was reminded of the story in Genesis chapter 7 when God shut Noah and his family in the ark and released the flood waters on the earth. I’ve often thought of Noah losing almost all his family, friends, and neighbors, and how hard that would be. But this time, I considered it from God’s point of view.

God lost almost all His creation. The people, the animals, all that He made was destroyed in the flood, except for those on the ark. Everything gone.

I picture God mourning like David did, weeping over the loss of those souls, even as He knew this was something that had to be done.

How can we be so sure God’s heart was broken? This is fairly easy to answer. The Bible has some clues. 

Psalm 86:15 says, “But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.” He is a God of compassion. He doesn’t make rash judgements, but gives time for people to come to him.

1 John 4:8, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” God is a God of extraordinary love. He loves us beyond what we can comprehend.

We can continue to look at the attributes of God: His grace, His mercy, His steadfastness… But, we can also see in Genesis how God felt after the flood. We see His broken heart even though mankind would always have wickedness in their heart—until that heart was replaced with a new one through Jesus.

After Noah left the ark, he built an altar and offered a sacrifice. The sweet smell of that sacrifice touched God’s heart.

“Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.” Genesis 8:21

Though our children may do things that hurt us, we must remember the great hurt God endured. Only through God’s love can any of us change and receive that new heart that makes us more like Him. We can take a lesson from God and from King David and become a parent who shows compassion. One who loves even when it’s hard.

Too Many Deaths, Too Few Books by James R. Coggins

It’s another case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot. Over the last few years, through my Mill Lake Books imprint, I have published over 30 books. But rarely any of my own. I have continued to write, of course. Writers write because they can’t not write. If they don’t write, they will explode. Which would be messy. But publishing is something else entirely. That is why, when one of my own books finally makes it into print, it is a noteworthy event. A rare gem. A long-anticipated achievement. A cause for celebration. A pleasant surprise. To me as well as others.

Therefore, I am more than pleased to announce the publication of Too Many Deaths.

I have long been an advocate of the idea that when you write something—whether it is a poem, an editorial, or a story—you should start at the beginning, and, when you get to the end, you should stop. That is, every piece of writing has its own integral coherence. The content should determine the length, not the other way around. The story itself should determine if it is 50 words, 500 words, 5,000 words, 50,000 words, or 500,000 words.

When I started writing “Too Many Deaths,” I had a pretty clear idea of where the story was going. Just not how long it would take to get there. When I was finished, I discovered it was about 100 pages—too long for a short story but too short for a novel. So, I put with it two other stories I had written which were too long to be short stories and too short to be novels: “The Honeymoon” and “Anniversary Cruise.” And together they made a book.

Here is a brief synopsis:

Looking over the scene of the grisly vehicle accident, Sergeant Troy Weston was certain of one thing—there had been too many deaths…

Walter and Miranda were enjoying their honeymoon—until circumstances forced them to undertake a perilous journey through the mountains on horseback…

John and Ruby Smyth were enjoying a cruise to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary—until some of their fellow passengers began to go missing…

This book offers three separate but loosely connected stories. It reunites diminutive Christian magazine editor John Smyth (the under-sung hero of four previous mystery novels) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Troy Wesson. The two (Smyth and Wesson) had collaborated to solve murders in an earlier Coggins novel, Desolation Highway. This is scarcely surprising since their namesake, Smith and Wesson, has been involved in many murders over the years.

Too Many Deaths is distributed through Ingram and is available in bookstores and through online retailers such as Books A Million, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Amazon Canada.

The Tomb is Still Empty!

The Tomb is still empty!

It’s Tuesday. The Easter celebrations are over. Another work week has begun.

The tomb is still empty.

Soon, another week, another month, another year will pass.

But the tomb is still empty.

In this upcoming year you may face trials in many forms, from sickness to family issues. The loss of a job. Perhaps even the death of someone close.

Yet no matter what trials you face this year and the ones to come, the tomb is still empty.

And because it’s empty, we know that Jesus defeated death and sin. He and the Father prepared the perfect plan of salvation because He knew what would happen in the Garden of Eden before it did, and He knew we could never follow the laws given to Moses.

We could never produce the perfect sacrifice to save ourselves.

But He could. And He did.

Because of Jesus—His death, burial, and the empty tomb—salvation has come to us all, and we can shout “hosanna” like the crowds upon Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem.

Matthew 21:9

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Until next time, dear friends, the tomb is still empty, and He is still risen! He is risen indeed! Hosanna!

Mary

http://www.maryalford.net

Good Friday Reflections by Julie Arduini

It only makes sense if P.T. Bradley so beautifully wrote about Maundy Thursday, I should share my thoughts on Good Friday.

I have a few thoughts, and one starts right from my birth. I was born on Good Friday, with tornado warnings no less. This is one of those facts I throw out when people want to know something that most wouldn’t know.

As a child, I didn’t understand Good Friday. I didn’t understand a lot about Christ’s crucifixion, but I knew He was nailed to the cross. What’s so good about that? That question followed me for years.

Fast forward and I was a fairly new believer in Christ, married, and a mom. Passion of the Christ was THE movie everyone talked about. There were so many warnings about the violence that I was scared to watch. I did watch once, and it was brutal. It wasn’t a movie you’d binge over and over. The sacrifice Jesus made was clearly on screen for all to see and hopefully believe.

A few years after that, we moved to Ohio with our family that now included our daughter. We found a church home that is not only still the same, but it is our church family. We’ve been through a lot together. One of those things was an annual performance of The Passion Play. It looked like a professional show right down to the Last Supper scene, built to replicate the famous painting as the actors held still to capture the moment.

The tradition went on long enough for my husband to play John the Baptist, ensemble soloist, and ensemble director. My son was a young boy servant when he first started, and ended up as a disciple. Our daughter was a background actor with a dream to be one of the dancers. That came true.

One year my elderly aunt attended and chose an aisle seat. The play is called The Passion Play for a reason. It was as realistic as you could get. Jesus carried the cross, and it was an agonizing journey. Several times the actor would stop, drop the cross, and it would be right near people watching the play. My aunt was right where Jesus stopped, and the drop of the cross echoed through our section. She jumped.

The lashings appeared real, and the Roman guard would stop half way through them to break the fourth wall and share facts with the audience about the brutality. It’s easy to gloss over what Jesus endured. Before He was nailed to the cross He was beaten. Spat on. Mocked. The lashes were intended to bring Him as close to death as possible. The whip was embedded with shards of bone and lead.

When the play resumed, two thieves, real actors, hung on crosses. The hammer sounds for Jesus were real. The actor playing Jesus screamed with each blow. When the cross was erected with Jesus on it, you could hear crying, every performance.

In actual crucifixions the soldiers would often break legs to speed up the death. Not in Christ’s case. He had exposed bone from whippings and beatings, and extra pain and torture from His crown of thorns. He hung for hours.

The play of course ends with the Biblical re-telling of His resurrection, ascenion, and promise of return. When the lights came on my aunt looked at me and announced she didn’t really care for it. It was too intense.

That response takes me back to my childhood question, what’s so good about Good Friday? Passion Play lets you know if you have any religious background it’s known the play will be about the last week, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Of course it’s intense. Jesus lived without sin, literally perfect, on Earth and had every reason to reject what happened.

It was His Father’s love for us that brought Jesus to Golgatha.

It’s the empty tomb three days later that proved He was no ordiary man. He was Savior. Messiah. God with Us.

He took that love and sacrifice and made a way to heaven, to eternal life with Him. There is no other way but accepting that Jesus is all those things, did all those things, and we are sinners who have no hope without Him.

There it is. The Good. Was that day good for Jesus? You know the answer.

It was good for us. For you, me, and everyone we love—and those we do not.

His passion IS intense. He went to the Cross to make a way, a way we should have faced, not Him. But He did.

I don’t know about you, but being thankful seems so lame. Spending every day as long as I breathe being grateful will never cover what He’s done.

But my passion is to help advance God’s Kingdom.

Is it yours?

Have you ever considered what Jesus has done for you? Are you ready to acknowledge Him and enter into a relationship where He is part of your every day?

If so, repeat this prayer or something similar:

Jesus, thank You for everything You have done. I believe You came to Earth and lived in perfection. You were crucified without cause, and took the punishment, my punishment, to make a way for my eternity to be spent with You. You never sinned, but I have. Forgive me for my sins. (Feel free to name them). I want to spend the rest of my days on earth living for You. You are my Savior and rescuer, and You deserve all the honor, praise and glory. Amen and Amen.