ONCE UPON A TIME A GOOD GIRL LIVED

Jesus loved stories. His parables to the people were told to help them understand the way and ways of God, the way God works, thinks and acts. These things had been hidden from the people; the laws of Judism called them to responsibility without telling the people "why"? Jesus came to change things, and it all started with the parables.

In Matthew 13:34,35, a prophecy is repeated, first appearing in Psalm 78:2. It says, "I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open....things hidden since the world's first day." Asaph wrote the psalm, but the prophet referred to is very possibly Solomon.

What is it about a story? Does it make something easier to remember? This blog is supposed to be about my new life in Christ. Yet for the most part, I seem to share some new revelation God reveals that has made me sit up and notice. So, I end up preaching to the choir!

Let me try to tell a story.

I must have been born angry as I have fought anger all of my life. Something has to happen to stimulate anger, something that doesn't change that causes pain, hardship, or weakness. I was born during the depression in Chicago, IL near where my dad worked as a barber, who didn't own his own shop. Due to circumstances, we moved to a tiny town of about 110 people, called Union Center, WI. where my parents, with the help of my maternal grandfather, opened a small grocery store. My dad rode the train weekly to his job in Chicago and mother ran the store during the week. Maybe I was about a year or a bit more and rode a kiddie car tied with a long clothesline to a pole in the center of the store. You made it move with your feet, but my hands were busy in the various bins of beans, potatoes and such, so they moved all of the bins out of my reach.

It was a long day for a little tyke, especially since all the fun stuff was a no-no. I think my anger may have been lustily expressed often enough to teach me that getting angry gets attention. As I grew, I had a little sister, and she had curly hair like mine. Much too much like mine, I must have figured, so the glue pot on my mother's desk was by then easier to reach than those old bins had been, and Miss Shirley got her curls glued fast to her head. An expression of anger? You bet.

A bit older, I don't know to this day what inspired me to do so, but I did a terrible thing. I bit my brother, Bob, in the back. He was two years older than I, and a good little boy. All they were asking me to do was to say, "I'm sorry!" ........ The words never came and spankings did no good, whatsoever.

So growing up, I fought anger. All I wanted to be was a "good girl." Was it never to be?

When I found Jesus, I realize I had been looking for Him all of my life. Each view I had of Him kept Him farther away from me, because I had never seen myself as "good enough for Jesus love." But Jesus Himself said to a religious leader, according to Luke 18: 19, "Why do you call me good? Only God is truly good." Of course, Jesus is the Saviour of the World, and the true Son of God. And He is Good.

Therefore, now I see....my goodness is God within me, through His Holy Spirit. Only God could have made goodness in me. Thanks be to God!

Thus, a story called Once Upon A Time A Good Girl Lived.

So it is today. Christ within. And I am so very thankful that I can take my sin and selfishness to Jesus and repent. He lives in me and therefore, I Live!!

May my story come to fruition in your life. Most sincerely, Jo

COME....SEE GOD....

As many of you may remember, I journal each day, as my Jerry does, using a method that allows us to read each verse once a year and the New Testament verses twice. After journaling so many years, our bibles are marked up with dates which indicate, "I wrote about this!" It's surprising how many verses still pop out and say, "Write about me, too!" Noisy book, our bibles, aren't they? Your bible, too, is marked up...my guess, or you probably wouldn't be reading about mine.

Any way....I skipped church yesterday as I had fallen and marked up my face quite badly, and it hurt. I hate to miss church as it's so great to see new and old friends, give folks a hug, and sing and pray together, which today brought me right to reading 2 Samuel 6, 1 Chronicals 13, Matthew 17 and Psalm 68. The latter, verse 2 in the Message, sent me to the computer.

"One look at God and the wicked vanish. When the righteous see God in action they'll laugh, they'll sing, they'll laugh and sing for joy." This is a David psalm, perhaps written at the time he brought back the Chest of God to the City of David now called Jerusalem.

After much turmoil, David finally succeeded. The Chest of God was returning. David danced in the street, the people danced with him and everyone was singing and laughing with joy. It was a joyous time.

But not for everyone. Michal, Saul's daughter and one of David's wives was not joyful at David dancing in the street. (Let the wicked vanish!) She did not dance & sing, or laugh with joy! (Beware, Michal. Where is your love for God?)

Jerry and I attend a Sunday contemporary praise service at Victory Lutheran Church on University Ave. in Mesa AZ. The music at that service is led by a great giant of a Christian man, big in size and even bigger in God's Spirit. It is truly a place where singing and laughing take place as well as the learning of faithfulness. God is everywhere, not only in the music, but in the message and the people. You can see God in each face. He is present. The righteous see Him and carry Him home with them into their daily lives. Yet, we always come back for more, more learning and more yearning to know God better and better, and to see Him more completely.

There are those who scoff at contemporary worship. I suppose they are feeling God deserves a more proper, royal aknowledgment. I am very glad that this church allows God's presence wherever His people congregate. I am not a royal. I am a commoner. And I like to sing in His presence, and clap my hands to the music, because I'm listening. I'm listening, Lord, to your people sing and preach, to your musicians play, and I see the joy on all the faces. I think...yes! I think they're reflecting my own!!

So, let the righteous see God in action.

Come! See God!

Your friend in Christ.....Jo

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

The family and friends have all hit the road North, and Jerry and I are once again by ourselves. It was a lovely month and a half, but, now I want to meet the road here in Leisure World with my shoes meant for walkin' and my heart meant for talkin'.

Today I'm trusting I will know what to say and when to say it...(this coming from a woman often subjected to incredibly wacky notions!) But one place where I am solid...that is knowing my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and His expectations of me. These expectations are not hard fast rules, as some might think, but my gifts to give because of His gifts given.

So, I want to begin by suggesting we read Matthew 10:5 and 6 as it reads in THE MESSAGE. "Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here."

Jesus gave this command to His twelve followers and sent them out into the villages to tenderly care for the people and tell them about the new kingdom. He gave them much advice about what to expect in return for their administrations to the people and warned them to be courteous and accepting even if treated unkindly.

This whole chapter of Matthew is good to read and practice when visiting neighbors today. The Cursillo and Walk to Emmmaus Communities would call this: "Make a friend. Be a friend. Bring that friend to Christ." The groups also maintained the practice of "Bloom where you are planted." Accepting those mottos has not been hard; it's such a natural thing to do.

I'd like to think that my life is beginning to bloom right here in Leisure World. If I can just learn to stay in the steps of the Master, I should walk all right and "bloom" in serving the Lord wherever I get. Making friends and serving them is the easy part, but I must really trust God to do the rest. I wait to see if there is a readiness and a desire in each person to know Him, and to want Him as their own.

I pray Matthew 10:20 for myself--and for you, too--"The right words will be there; The Spirit of your Father will supply the words."

So like Little Red Riding Hood, I'm off to the neighborhood. My grandma isn't waiting, but perhaps sombody's grandma is. This can be a lonely community for those widowed and without family here. God will provide the will and the way.

It's good to be back. May God bless you through your ordeals and joys.

And let us be friends...as I'll see you in Eternity!

Jo

Sign-Off

Dear Friends,

In lieu of the fact that we have only 5 days in March without family visiting and because I want to spend as much time as I can with them, I will not blog again until mid-April. The old girl is also doing a new Beth Moore bible Study on James and it will take all my energy to get through this wonderful, but tough study. Of course, it is also extremely helpful, but with my history on talking too much, listening less than I should, and ANGER, I need all my energy available all the time.

Love to all. See you in the spring. jo

JUST AS JESUS DID

Hello, again. Today I want to tell you--someone-- about a new thought for me. In the past I've always wished our kids could pray in school when they wished and that the Pledge of Allegiance hadn't been changed to omit the words "under God." There is a sadness to it, certainly. But there is more, too, to be looked at.

A story in scripture, verse Luke 18:9, spoke clearly today to me to consider who I think I am. Jesus story about the tax man and the Pharisee clearly says, "Watch it!"
Jesus told his story to some who were "complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people." The Pharisee was haughty and proud of his rightful thinking. The tax man was deeply aware of his sinfulness and repentant. The parable shows us the importance of humility and of being truthful with ourselves.

I wonder how many times our Christian world determined we were better than others. We are not; we are all sinners, the same as those of the world. But we are saved and not by our own grace but by the grace of Christ who atoned in our place and for our sins. We know this.

This era in which we live now is not a time to be proud. We seem to have set ourselves up into a higher place, being Christian, demanding more rights from our country than our country ever designated, giving freedom of religion for all and not just for Christians. (One of my favorite cousins, a lawyer, pointed this out to me; and I believe he is right!)

We are also in an era where we must become aware that suffering (for Jesus) is upon us. Jesus took His horrendous suffering with the help of the Father. We may not encounter crucifixion as He did, but certainly we will encounter the wrath of those in this country and other countries who do not believe and seriously differ with us, perhaps to the point of hate because of what they see as self-righteousness. And as we have been making demands, perhaps there is no other word for it.

I for one want no more to make demands on those who disagree with my beliefs. Jesus loved and accepted all those who hated him. How can I do otherwise? We are in an era, perhaps, of suffering, doing without certain privileges. If we are full of grace and forgiveness we will act, somewhat, like Jesus did when He was suffering.

I must--I simply must!-- do kindness and forgiveness in under any kind of suffering, with the help of the Father--just as Jesus did! How about you?

Hopefully, Jo

IN SPITE OF... LOVE

Well, I don't know what I did or didn't do yesterday, but it looks like yesterday's blog is missing! I can just imagine it floating through the blog-waves of the web tring to get back home. I usually don't like to re-do something once it's done, but maybe it didn't think it was done? Do you think?

Anyway, the gist of In Spite Of...Love is this: Luke 10:37 reads: "Jesus said, "Go and do the same." (The Message)This is the ending of the story of the Good Samaritan.

Remember the religious scholar who asked Jesus how he could get eternal life? Jesus reminded him, if you recall, that God's Law is "Love the Lord your God with all your passion, prayer, muscle and intelligence...and love your neighbor as yourself." Of course, the scholar, trying to find a loophole, asked Jesus how he defined "neighbor." And the story of the Good Samaritan was born. Afterward, Jesus asked, "Which man was the neighbor?" The scholar answered,"The man who treated the Samaritan kindly." Then, Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

This is what Jesus asks of His people today. Wow! The world is full of hate.... especially of those who are different than we are. For example: Republicans hate Democrats. At least it would appear so. And the Dems seem to hate the Reps. Hate maybe is too strong a word, but it's mystifying what word fits. The situation is bad.

Then you have other horrible problems of opposites. Enter the Muslim and Christian, the Roman Catholic and the Protestant, the rich and the poor; even women and men. The list could go on and on.

I admit that I have entered into debate a few times on these opposites, and have listened as well as argued, to no avail of being right or of growing more understanding. It has not always ended well and sometimes I've thought it better to keep my distance of this kind of trouble without harboring hate.

But, distance doesn't do it as far as Jesus is concerned. He says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Now, that could be really hard, especially if I see someone of opposite view as my neighbor! Love my neighbor...in spite of all that exists between us. Yep, that's a difficult task.

Can't I just start by just going across the street and saying "Howdy" to my new neighbor? Her name is Mary.

Neighbor means more than that. The Samaritan stopped for a Jew. Now they were real opposites. I guess it means smiling at the Muslim woman I see at the dry-goods store. Maybe she's a knitter or a quilter. Maybe it means going with my Roman Catholic friend to her church for a festival they are having, and also commiserating with another opposite-thinking friend about the state of our government which has been so devisive lately.

I need to answer Jesus call, "Go and do the same." In spite of all our differences I can learn to be kind and treat the different with love. And I resolve to do that. And as you read this, I sincerely hope you will do the same, and maybe tell your friends about your new conviction. I'm going to.

But right now, I think I'll go across the street and say hello to Mary. Maybe she's an opposite!

Willing to obey, Jo

IN SPITE OF......GO, AND DO THE SAME