Sometimes we just can't help but wonder...Who IS in charge?

Many years ago during a summer when my sister and I swapped the babysitting responsibilities of our younger siblings each day, my two year old sister was found on the opposite side of our subdivision. Not only was she completely alone, she was also completely naked. She had wandered from the house and begun her toddler-streaking stroll about the neighborhood unnoticed. Our house though lacking any adult supervision was always brimming with neighborhood kids and our other siblings. We were probably too young for the responsibility—okay, obviously too young. Nonetheless it was one given us because of extreme circumstances and we did our best. But on this day we did not know until we looked up from our playing in the back bedroom to see the crooked frame of Mrs. Sylvester and her white plume of hair. Like a dandelion gone to seed she stood gripping my baby sister’s sticky fingers with a grasp surprisingly strong for someone so overtaken by arthritis. “Who is in charge here?” She demanded. Who is in charge here? A fair question considering she did find a two year old very unattended and very naked wandering the rural streets of northern Georgia. There’s no telling what moonshine drinking, overall wearing, toothless old man might have come along and snagged her for permanent servitude in the corn distilling industry of the hills. But really, who was in charge? Where were our momma and daddy on that day? Where was a responsible babysitter on that day? Those are questions that merit their asking. And I can answer. My mother was working. Hard. And I’ll not criticize the decisions she made for had I been in her shoes I don’t know how I ever would have survived. Life is not always full of white picket fences and fairy tale endings and my mother’s story at that time was not any of those things. She was up long before us and to bed long after us. She worked. She went to school. She cooked. She cleaned. She chauffeured. She washed laundry. She cared for five girls. Like I said, my mom was working. Of course to say my poor sister and I had a wake up call that day would be an obvious understatement. From then on we knew we needed to be more vigilant—especially with our youngest siblings who were still such babies. When I remember that day though, what still strikes me is that very first question—Who’s in charge here? Sometimes when we look at our lives they are disturbingly, shockingly not the way they should be. No little girl should be found roaming the streets because nobody noticed her tiny naked bottom as it shuffled out the door and down the driveway. Should marriages break up because nobody noticed a naked heart roaming out the door from years of neglect? Should bodies bulge because nobody noticed the ridiculous amount of unhealthy food being consumed to comfort emotional distress? Should relationships become strained like tires whose tread has worn to the metal because nobody noticed the feelings that were trampled on carelessly and then left to rot like wet autumn leaves on a mountain trail? When I look across the faces of the people in my world and see hunger, disease, bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce, bitterness, fear, pain, disappointment, loss, death, hurt, confusion, unforgiveness, and baggage, baggage and more baggage I want to scream out to the heavens, “Who is in charge?” These are good people who have tried their best. These are people who have obeyed, have followed God, have surrendered and still their lives are falling apart like dollar store Christmas stockings. There have been moments when I’ve held my arms up to the heavens and called out, “Tell me, God, WHO is in charge? Because from where I’m standing this isn’t right. This is not how it was supposed to be, God.” He always listens and catches my tears before He whispers, “Of course it isn’t.” We all know our world is a far cry from God’s intention when He placed Adam and Eve amidst a garden who’s valleys were covered in blue bonnets not divorce and whose mountains were red with Autumn maples not the bloodshed of unborn babies and war ravaged nations. Do we not realize that were we to count every drop of rain that fell from the heavens we would not yet reach the total of the tears I am sure God has wept on our behalf. We were and still remain His creation—a people made not just in love but in His very image. But we have not been watching. And in the meantime, there is nakedness and shame roaming the streets of our lives. On that day when my sister and I faced the accusing pointing finger of Mrs. Sylvester we knew we had failed. Of that there was no question and we didn’t even offer a defense. I’ll be truthful—it was her day to be in charge and the very first words from my mouth were my sister’s full name. I called out her name and pointed directly at her with bold accusation. No way was I going to take responsibility for this when it wasn’t my day to be in charge! If I could go back I would do it differently. I’d have walked up to my baby sister and grabbed her hand. I’d have thanked Mrs. Sylvester and told her it wouldn’t happen again, and I’d have sat down with a stack of books a mile high and begun to read to that sweet little girl. But I don’t get a do over and the truth is that I pinned the blame on my sister because it was her official day to be in charge. Aren’t we like that? When the walls crumble and the facades are all seen through, when the truth of our lives finally rears it’s ugly face we are so quick to point a finger at someone else. It isn’t my fault this happened. If he or she had done this or that we’d never have been in this situation. It’s never our fault. We always want to shift the blame to someone else. But here’s the thing—it’s not about fault or blame. It’s about who will take responsibility from here on out to see that they conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the image of our Creator. That’s what it’s about. When we ask who failed, we ask the wrong question. What we need to ask is “Who is willing now to stand up and get it right?” When you and I die we will not answer for the person who was supposed to be in charge, we’ll not answer for our sisters, our brothers or our spouses. We’ll not answer for our employers, employees, negligent banks, friends, parents or anyone else. We will answer only for ourselves. But the thing is that when we’re confronted with the sometimes harsh truths of our lives we don’t like accepting responsibility. Maybe that’s because we’re filled with pride and don’t like admitting that we bombed. Just today my boys were outside playing football. They were utterly engrossed in their game and one of them just couldn’t bare the thought of stopping to use the restroom. You know how this tale ends—we had a little accident. And here’s the funny part—that little man immediately blamed it on his other brother. He insisted that had the other brother not been playing football with him he never would have had the accident! I about laughed out loud. We just hate accepting responsibility for our choices and decisions when they go awry. The thing about that kind of pride is that it fails to recognize that apart from God we can do nothing. Of course we bomb when we are not functioning under the umbrella of God’s Word. Of course we experience mayhem when we’re in a marriage where one partner lives outside of God’s will. It’s never fun for the partner who is obeying God, but the reality is that anytime we are in a relationship or situation where one person fails to obey God or operate their life within the framework of God’s standards we will experience fallout whether or not we are the offending party. My little sister at two years of age was in no way responsible for opening that door and walking into harms way. But the two older sisters who were not carrying out our responsibility certainly were on the hook for what happened. The sad reality is that had some predator been in our neighborhood that day our little sister would have experienced a dreadful consequence of our failure to keep our eyes on her at all times. Unfortunately that happens to obedient Christians all the time. And every single time it is tragic. Every single time it happens we want to know again and again who IS in charge? And if Jesus could with nail-scarred hands pry back the sun like paper and peer out from behind that yellow ball I believe He’d say, “Dad’s in charge. And He’s working.” He’s working. Oh how we need to hear that. How we need to believe those two simple words and repeat them over and over every single time we are plagued with questions and doubts. Philippians 1:6 says “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” God began a work in our lives and He will not quit, will not falter, will not slumber, will not retire, will not give up or give in. His promise is that He WILL complete the very work He began in our lives. Psalm 115 says “Not to us, O Lord, not to us! But to your name bring honor, for the sake of your loyal love and faithfulness. Why should the nations say, “Where is their God? Our God is in heaven!” I love the idea that it’s God’s reputation at stake when we face daunting storms in our lives. When we are the little girl being returned to our home completely vulnerable and afraid and someone asks who in the world is responsible for this? Without hesitation or question we can boldly proclaim, “God Almighty is in charge and He is already at work to restore to us those things that were lost.” The only difference between a believer and a non believer in this life is that the believer can say with complete confidence, “My God is in heaven! He lives and He is working in my life all things for my good.” We may not be able to see any good that can come from circumstances in our lives, but if good is promised in God’s word then we WILL experience that goodness. We will. And we must live like we believe our God has eyes to see and ears to hear the situations and circumstances of our lives. Psalm 115 goes on to say, “You loyal followers of the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their deliverer and protector. The Lord takes notice of us, he will bless—he will bless the family of Israel, he will bless the family of Aaron. He will bless his loyal followers, both young and old.” These are words we can stand on, cling to, breath and live by when we want desperately to question whether God is really in control of our lives. He is, a thousand times over, He is. And if God is in control then without question the outcome will be for our eternal good. May we learn that truth in our life is God. So often we get confused and think that the present reality of our lives is the end. If it is reality, then it is truth we assume. But actually the truth is God amidst every single facet of our lives. And that truth is good—all the time. Lord, help us to stand on truth. Help us to stand on you God, knowing that you are good. Knowing that you are faithful. Knowing that your love for us is everlasting. Knowing that in the very center of the greatest trials of our lives, You stand calm and speaking peace into our spirits. Thank you for being an “ever-present help in times of trouble.” Help us to accept responsibility for our actions and trust that You are greater than all of our mistakes and You are even greater still than the mistakes that befall us at the hands of others. Amen. (P.S. I changed Mrs. Sylvester's name)

It's His Honor on the Line

I woke up this morning and read Psalm 145. The fifth verse gave me enough to stand on for quite some time and it is now etched into my heart. "I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor and your amazing deeds!" If ever there were a nugget, a good solid meaty piece of God's Word in simple terms, this is it. This one is like a "to go" kind of a passage that can be taken anywhere and applied to every single situation. Shifting our focus from whatever circumstances we face today onto the majestic splendor of God will literally change everything.Just driving can be overwhelming to me when I stop and consider the mountains that cradle the road on which I travel. God Almighty spoke some thousands of years ago and those mountains came to be. That's majestic splendor. Or nearer to home when I look into the eyes of my little five year old who is having yet another meltdown and I begin to unravel within as a mother, I can stop and focus. Just focus. Within that small frame of a boy God's majestic splendor is housed in the flesh. God willed this beautiful boy into being. And in that focus, I can proceed to exact some form of discipline for a little boy who needs to learn these same life lessons. Then there are the surrendered hands of my grandmother--who's life has been given to the slow motion death of Alzheimer's--I can still see the splendor of a God who allowed her life and has given three more generations since hers the chance to follow Him. And what about His amazing deeds? Sometimes the tiniest of deeds are the ones worth stopping over. My boys are at their auntie's house. My niece is here with me. She sleeps in. My boys don't. God, in His faithfulness gave me an extra half hour of time this morning to meditate on His Amazing deeds while my niece is quiet and my boys are waking their auntie instead of me. Even the opportunity to have a little bit of extra quiet time is an amazing deed accomplished by the hands of a loving God. Of course there are the greater ones too--the time God healed me after I almost died a few years ago from a surgery hemorrhage and infection. There was the time God sold our house in Ontario before we ever even put it on the market for the full asking price. There was the time God gently guided our car back from the mountain's edge when two friend's and I faced certain death heading over the mountain. You have them too--probably more dramatic than my simple list of amazing deeds. Yesterday at a mommy's group a dear woman of God mentioned that when David talks about God's rod and staff being a comfort to him, he is literally referring to something the Israelites did. They would record their family history and God's faithfulness on their staff. Then they would read it. Imagine a staff with a list of God's amazing deeds. I love the thought. Every single step they took, they gripped within their hands a list of the faithfulness of God in the history of their lives. Our lives are filled with the amazing deeds of God, but so often we fail not only to record them for our memory's sake, but tragically, we fail to notice them in the first place. And our staff's remain empty of the etchings of a faithful God. From this passage though, the part that has given me greatest pause is the phrase "I will focus on your honor..." Focus here can be translated as ponder or meditate, but I am rather fond of the simplicity of the word focus. That's one that I can relate to. Looking through the lens of my camera, I love the moment my camera zooms in and focuses on the object I'm photographing. For a few seconds everything is blurry--no one could make sense of the picture--but then with a simple zoom, everything is clear. It all comes into focus. When we take time to focus on God's honor, much becomes clear. Ephesians 2:10 says we are God's "workmanship created in Christ Jesus..." and that means that we are a direct reflection on the skills and abilities of our Creator. When I make a wedding cake people examine the details of the icing, the flowers, and then they taste it to decide whether or not they think I've done a good job. Looking at the finished product, they make conclusions about whether or not they could trust me with a special cake of their own. It's the same with God, when people look at our lives, they draw a conclusion about Him. And guess what? He knows that! When it comes to our lives, it is his reputation and honor on the line. We get wrapped up into thinking that somehow our lives are simply a reflection of our choices, but when we are a follower of God, they reflect far more than that. Like a billboard on the interstate they call out to people. What they say matters significantly to God. Not coincidentally, after I read this passage my pastor spoke about God's honor in church. After sixty-something years of exile, Daniel cried out to God on behalf of himself and his fellow Israelites. "So now, our God, accept the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to your devastated sanctuary for your own sake...O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don't delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name." (Daniel 9:17b, 19) Daniel got it. When we cry out to God we need to do it from a focused vantage point. From the platform of God's honor we can stand before God and plead our case. When it is His integrity, His power, His ability, His reputation in question, the stakes are high. God Himself said "For you must not worship any other god, for the Lord whose name is Jealous , is a jealous God." (Ex. 34:14) He's not a God looking to share his glory and honor with some other. Look how Satan has chosen to attack God in our current culture. We live in a society that insists on tolerance of the idea that there are many ways and many gods...that God is perhaps not even a deity so much as simply the notion that there is good within all of us. Imagine how that grieves the heart of our God whose desire is that the world would know He loves them. Solomon too knew this well when he prayed, "May the Lord our God be constantly aware of these requests of mine I have presented to him, so that he might vindicate his servant and his people Israel as the need arises. Then all the nations of the earth will recognize that the Lord is the only genuine God." (I Kings 8:59, 60) The contents of our lives though trivial in light of eternity, matter. They matter more than we know. They matter to a God who's honor is at stake. They matter and He will act. So, stop. Focus. Zoom in on the honor of God and rest. Because in the shelter of your honorable heavenly Father is fullness of joy. He's aware of the situations we face and He's more than willing to work amidst them. The victory is ours when the battle is the Lord's. Remember, it's his honor on the line, not ours, and so he is guaranteed to act. He'll not let His name be put to shame, and we are the recipients of the protection that fact offers. Lord, teach us to trust you. Teach us to open up our hands and our hearts and release the things that cause us greatest concern. Teach us to quiet our souls before you. Teach us to focus on your honor. Amen. Read With Me: Isaiah 26: 8