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TerryLema

What were you thinking?

by TerryLema

In 1995 a famous Hollywood actor and a sex worker were arrested for “lewd conduct in a public place.” The actor’s first public appearance following that arrest was on the Jay Leno late-night show. When the actor walked out and sat down, Jay simply looked at him and asked, “What were you thinking?”

I have always admired Jay Leno for that wise question. It broke the tension and there was no accusation nor animosity in it. In fact, we have probably all looked in the mirror and asked ourselves that question at some time in our life. “What were you thinking?” I know I have, multiple times!

I have that question on my mind this morning. A few things have happened recently that brought that question into focus.  However, I am not asking myself “What were you thinking,” I am asking God.

I am in good company asking that question of God … the Psalmists also asked it, although they phrased it a bit differently. They asked, “Why?”  (Psalms 22, 42, 43)

I do not know what kind of a response the Psalmists heard from God. I know God has seldom answered my “Why?” questions. Usually, I just feel His love around me as He softly whispers, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” [Hebrews 13:5]

For much of life, the answers to “why” types of questions are not given immediately. We can look back and see how God moved in difficult times or see how those tribulations and trials caused us to grow spiritually, but as for immediate answers … they are few and far between.

Today I am asking God, “What were you thinking?”  But, I am not expecting an answer, just the assurance of His presence with me.

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One Bright Yellow Mum

by TerryLema

The family in the house across the street was here before we moved in. At the time they had a young daughter and son, they now have two more daughters and one more son. We have been across-the-street acquaintances since 2007.

The eldest daughter and I often wave or call out to each other. She has graduated from high school and gone to work. She bought a shiny red car about a year ago and it is evident she takes great pride in it – it is always shiny!

A few days before we left for California, I saw her standing in the driveway looking at her car. She was in her pajamas and wrapped in a blanket. When I went outside, she called out to me that she had been in an auto accident. As I walked across the street, I saw that the driver’s side of her car was smashed in, her window broken. She told me that she was initially life flighted to a local hospital. She had severe whiplash and a concussion. She was holding her left arm close to her chest and you could tell she was in pain.

I asked her if I could pray with her. She agreed. I asked God to heal her body, comfort her mind, give her peace, and take care of her car. I never asked who was at fault in the accident. I just prayed and hugged her gently.

The evening before we left, she showed up on my doorstep with one bright yellow mum. She thanked me for praying for her and said that she went in the house after our meeting and was crying when she told her mom about our “driveway prayer.”

One of the greatest privileges we have as Christians is to come before the LORD to lift others up in prayer. We never know what others are experiencing, or how deeply a simple prayer might touch their lives. We should never miss an opportunity to not only prayer for, but to pray with someone.

1 John 5:14: Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

 

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Fifty-four Years

by TerryLema

Today Bob and I have been married 54 years. Bob always joked that we picked that day so he would remember when our taxes were due. It has turned out to be the other way around. When the taxes are due, he remembers it is our anniversary!

It has not always been easy. I always joked that while we never talked divorce, we did consider consulting hitmen on occasion.

Some of the years were better and some worse. We have been richer and poorer. We have been healthy and we have seen sickness. Old age is creeping in on us with all its difficulties and now at 81 and 74, we require a lot of patience and love just to get through many days.

We have moved 22 times in those 54 years and made the leap from California to Idaho, to California again for two years, and back to finally settle in Idaho.

We raised three wonderful children. We now adore and enjoy three precious grandsons.

Somewhere in those 54 years we both came to know Christ Jesus as Savior and LORD. I went to Bible College. Bob worked hard in construction to support us, not the easiest nor most comfortable and stable way to earn a living.

We can see the past but have no idea of what the future might hold.

And through it all God has been faithful.

“God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” [1 Corinthians 1:9 HCSB]

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Do you want to be rescued?

by TerryLema

I saw this humorous story in an encouragement email I receive monthly. It made me chuckle – and think!

“A shipwrecked sailor spent several years on a deserted island. One morning he was thrilled to see a ship offshore and a small boat pulling out toward him! When the boat arrived, its occupant handed the marooned sailor a bundle of newspapers and said: ‘With the captain’s compliments. He said to read through these and let us know if you still want to be rescued.’”

Looking at just the headlines this morning, if I were that shipwrecked sailor, I am not sure how I would answer when the captain gave him the option of being rescued or not.

Our Father, through His Son Christ Jesus, made the way for our rescue from death and condemnation. (We celebrated that rescue on Resurrection Sunday.)

Now He invites us to come to Him by faith through the grace He provides. He invites us to be reconciled. Even though we are enemies, He has made a way for us to become His Children.

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” [2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV]

Like that shipwrecked sailor, however, we have the option of accepting that rescue offer (reconciliation!) or spending the rest of our lives (and all eternity) shipwrecked.

The choice is ours. This is one time it is imperative we choose wisely.

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California Here I come!

by TerryLema

We are going to CA tomorrow. I am so excited because I will get to hug my son, daughter-in-love and grandsons for the first time since December 2019! We are going to be able to celebrate our youngest grandson’s 12th birthday and see his older brother play football in his last season before he graduates and goes off to college in Arizona.

I am so excited about being there and everything we will experience with our family.  I am not so excited about driving the 1290-mile round trip. While there are parts of the trip where the driving is easy, even a bit boring, there are also several sections of the route that are nerve-wracking. Bob is 81, I am 74. Even though we have made this same trip many times since moving to Idaho in 1993, it has become harder as we age.

Kind of like life ain’t it! 

We look forward to our final destination.  (2 Corinthians 5:8: We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.)

We have many miles to travel. (Philippians 3:14: One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.)

Some of those miles are difficult and nerve wracking before we arrive. (2 Corinthians 4:16-17: Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.  For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.)

Still, no matter the miles, no matter whether the journey is easy or difficult, we do not quit – we keep our eyes on what lies at the end of that journey. (2 Corinthians 4:18:  So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.)

Glory!

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Fifty-Yard Line

by TerryLema

It is Easter Sunday morning as I write this, and my thoughts and emotions are all over the place. I spent Good Friday and Silent Saturday watching a replay of Christian movies, “Fireproof,” “Heaven is For Real,” “Courageous,” “Facing the Giants,” to name a few.

Bob was fishing with a friend all day Friday from early in the morning until dinner time and was in and out Saturday busy with errands. I sat in the big lounge chair in the living room enjoying the sunshine coming through the window as I watched, prayed, meditated, and listened.

I started crying sometime around mid-day Friday. It was not really tied to anything I was watching; it was just a sorrow that began to fill my soul. Saturday, around mid-day, I as I watched “Facing the Giants” and that great “death crawl scene,” I started to weep (loudly).

I think I would have cried most of the afternoon, but my son came to pick up some things and I had to get my emotions under control. I did, however, discover the source of my tears.

If you have never seen the “death crawl scene” in “Facing the Giants,” there is a link to the video below. As I watched that scene, I was overwhelmed … I have prayed and prayed and fought for many years to see revival in our church, our city, our state, our nation. I was stunned by thoughts that retiring at the end of the year seems like I am quitting on the 50-yard line – without reaching the end zone.

I have many reasons to retire, age, health, energy … the main reason is that I am sure I heard God’s direction correctly that the Middleton church needs a younger person to take over, my work there is done. I was also aware that somewhere along the way I would have second thoughts. What I never expected was the intensity of those second thoughts and the shocking truth that I have only reached the 50-yard line ….

I am not writing this because I plan on changing my mind or want others to encourage me to change my mind. I am not seeking sympathy. I guess I put these thoughts into words as a reminder that life can be difficult even when we are directly within the will of God.

 Matthew 6:10: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

 The Death Crawl scene from Facing the Giants – Bing video

 

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Still Risen!

by TerryLema

“On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.” [John 20:1 HCSB]

“In the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because of their fear of the Jews. Then Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you!’” [John 20:19 HCSB]

Yesterday we celebrated Resurrection Sunday, remembering our LORD Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I have heard it said that the stone could not keep Him in, and the locked door could not keep Him out.

Today, one day after Easter 2021, we celebrate the fact that nothing has changed. Jesus is (still) Risen, He is Risen Indeed(!) and His resurrection life has marvelous ramifications for those of us who have placed our faith in Him.

“…because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.  Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”  [Hebrews 7:24-25 NIV]

That wonderful word that describes our salvation as “completely” is translated in the NKJV as “to the uttermost.”

It is “panteles” and means completely, entirely, perfectly, through all time.

Just as there was nothing on earth, in heaven or hell strong enough to hold Jesus that first Resurrection Sunday, there is nothing on earth, in heaven or hell strong enough to keep Him from saving His own!  We live forevermore in “Jesus is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!”  Hallelujah!

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Resurrection!

by TerryLema

Job asked a question for which everyone seeks an answer. “If a man dies, shall he live again?”   [Job 14:14 NIV]

John gave us the answer when he reported the events of Sunday following the crucifixion.

“In the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because of their fear of the Jews. Then Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you!’ Having said this, He showed them His hands and His side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” [John 20:19-20 HCSB]

“So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”

The One who was dead and buried, now was alive in their midst, still bearing the evidence of His crucifixion on His hands and side.

Later, Paul would tell the church at Corinth just what seeing the LORD Jesus that first Resurrection Sunday means for all of us.

“Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” [1 Cor 15:20-22 HCSB]

“So in Christ, all will be made alive.”

Because He lives, I live. Because He lives, you live. Jesus our Christ took back the keys of death and the grave and set free all those who place their faith in Him.

It matters not how many times I have read or said or written … there are seven words that still thrill my soul!

 Jesus is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

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A Common Grief

by TerryLema

I always think of the Saturday of Holy Week as a day of mourning. The followers of Jesus saw Him die on a Roman cross. They knew he was buried in a tomb, a great stone was rolled across the entrance, and a guard stationed to make sure Jesus stayed buried. Now they were hiding behind locked doors. They were fearful that the same ones who took their Master would now come for them.

There was more than just fear as they sat behind those locked doors. They shared a common guilt … most had deserted Him in his final hours.  How could they go on after what they had done.

On this day they also shared a common grief. Not only with each other but also with God.

Long ago, in the days of Noah, God expressed His grief in mankind’s rebellion and wickedness.

“When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” [Genesis 6:5-6 HCSB]

It was that rebellion and wickedness which brought God’s Son to earth to fulfill the Father’s plan to bring His children back to Him.  God’s Son, “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.” [Isaiah 53:3-4 NKJV]

Now as Jesus’ body was in the tomb, the followers of Christ got a small glimpse of the result of man’s wickedness and evil. Their friend, their leader was dead, and, on this day, their hope is crushed.

But as it has been said many times before … Sunday is Coming!

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