I reached up and opened a card. It looked promising. I read the inscription which dashed all my sentimental hopes. My only hope these days for meaningful inscriptions is a blank note and my own pen.
Valentine’s Day gets a lot wrong. Romance for romance sake. Elaborate, one-time displays of affection honored more than the constancy of daily warmth in the grind of life. Crude and scoffing cards meant to illicit laughter at the expense of respect.
But, it gets one thing right. The color of love is red.
Red is the color of blood, the color of oxygen infusing a liquid that brings life to the body. Red is the color of the dirt from which God created man in His image. God delighted in man. God loves humans. God loves you. God loves me.
Then, God loved enough to take on a body that pumped blood. After that, He loved enough to be tempted in every single temptation. He knows our pain, our sorrow, our sin. He took on all the hurt, pain, wrong, and disgusting perversion of every person on the planet and bled for it.
The color of love seeped through the pores of His skin and offered us release from death. We, the living dead, can be born from above.
Last year and again this year, I read the uproar about movies and porn and abuse, my heart aches and it was and is appropriate to grieve. Grey is what we get when we forget that love requires the unselfish giving of ourselves to another.
Grey is the color of death and death brings mourning…or it should.
We opened the door on Sunday morning, Palm Sunday morning, and brought in our newspaper. I noticed a toy store ad that is usually not included. As toy sales, spring dresses, and candy ads spread out in a pile on my floor, I realized Easter is a big deal in America.
I absorbed the message. Kids receive toys, new clothes, and fun on Easter. I didn’t know. My husband replied, wisely, that is what stores want me to think about Easter.
In the shadow of my father’s death, this treatment of Easter feels especially offensive. We are all placing more of our hope than ever before in what happened that weekend so long ago. If Christ was not raised, we are still in our sins. My dad is still in his sins. My dad is forever separated from God if Jesus was not raised. My dad is on his way to hell if Jesus was not raised.
But Jesus was raised. 37 years ago, my dad responded to the news and changed the course of his life and our family for eternity. One of the most influential books he read at the time was Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict.
The cross at Kole Kole pass was removed in the 90’s. It stood on Schofield Barracks Army Base for decades after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Credit for this picture is: 1SG Gary Haynes at togetherweserved.comIt all happened in Hawaii. After my brother sustained a broken bone in a freak accident, my mother pushed a return to church. My dad complied. Then, he sought out the truth for himself.
One day, he came literally to the foot of the cross. A huge white cross used to stand in the valley where the Japanese planes flew to bomb Pearl Harbor. He ran to it and his soul cried out for more. It wasn’t long after that his soul was satisfied.
The Lord loves it when we come looking for Him.
Jesus is like my kids when they were young and we played hide-and-seek.. The goal of hide-and-seek was always for us to find them. Success was in the finding. Coughs, squeals, chirps erupted from their lips as we crept around “finding” them. We always knew where they were, but we played along.
Jesus’ wants us to find Him. He chirps through nature. He squeals through the Bible. He coughs through suffering meant to lead us to Himself. He longs to reveal Himself and there is great joy in the finding. Eternal joy in the finding.
As my dad suffers the effects of a growing cancer in his brain, he still rejoices in the moment of finding and being found.
When he told his story again a few weeks ago, we marveled at how little he really knew at the time. As one who has taught many the nuts and bolts of how to communicate what it means to trust Christ, it’s ironic how little he knew. He seemed only to know he needed to make a decision about following Jesus.
He decided. He found and He was found. The joy of Easter is that the finding lasts forever. The joy comes with being freer and freer and, then, finally, free.
There is some anger that is worth feeling about the Easter holiday these days. It’s worth letting sink in and disturb. Easter is more than amusement.
The ads get one part right, though. Easter is about new. It is about finding. It’s just that it’s about new life that lasts far longer and satisfies far more than a toy. And, it’s about a hunt that leads to more than a colorful, hard-boiled egg.
In the midst of the Christmas season, I find it hard to rest and engage with the Story of Christmas. Maybe it’s all the presents to buy and send, the goodies to bake, the events to attend. Last year I encountered the same problem! Today I want to take the time to look at another person in the story.
When I found some time last week to take a longer look, I noticed Joseph, a man caught up in an event that centered around others. Mary, the unwed mother who needed protection. Jesus, the baby who needed protection. The Roman government that offered no protection and Herod, the ruler, who pursued Joseph’s charge in order to murder him.
In all of this Joseph thought of himself only once according to the account in Matthew. Before being let in on what was going on, he thought about his honor in marrying a woman pregnant by who knows who. But even in that, he meant to keep it quiet and protect Mary from the society they lived in that stoned women in situations such as hers. He still protected even in that moment…even in that moment when all appearances said he was the wronged one.
Then, an angel came to him and spoke to his heart. I love this. The angel first spoke to his fear. Do not be afraid. The angel went on and gave Joseph his role in this monumental event. Take Mary as your wife because she is carrying the One who will take away the sin of the world. And…he did it at great personal cost to his reputation. A cost that stayed with the family all their days.
The story takes some wild turns too. Learned astrologers and scientists come from distant lands with loads of gifts far greater than what a carpenter ever saw in his life, I assume. Then, another visit from an angel to the one, Joseph, charged with the protection of the One destined to save the world. This time, marching orders. Flee and flee now and then wait.
Joseph’s life again centered around protecting this Child and His mother and this time the cost was leaving their homeland under the dark of night without any explanation to loved ones. They became sojourners in a distant land. Jesus became a Third Culture Kid spending the young years of his life in Egypt. Joseph made a way for them as a refugee. His profession as a carpenter served them all well.
I wonder if they heard reports of the massacre that took place after they left? How did they feel when they returned and all those other families saw their son, Jesus, and remembered their own sons murdered? I imagine the benefits of their departure caused friction in relationships. How could others restrain their feelings of jealousy in the grief of a lost son? I bet Joseph endured a lot.
Joseph disappears from the story by Jesus’ adulthood and most suggest he passed away. I don’t like that the story goes this way…that Joseph misses the chance to see the fulfillment of the promise the angel told him. But the legacy this man leaves is truly tremendous. He protected the Savior of the world at great personal cost but he also raised James and Jude, Jesus’ brothers who became pillars of the early church.
Whatever feuding existed during Jesus’ ministry gave way to broken hearts in His younger brothers’ chests. I imagine that is Joseph’s legacy as well. Raising humble men willing to sacrifice their lives for others because of the One who takes away the sin of the world.
That’s the mark of a man, humility. Mary gets plenty of press, but I still think Joseph deserves more than he usually receives .
I slacked off my writing last week. My parents dodged snow storms and smog storms to arrive for a Christmas visit a week and a half ago. Snow storms delayed their departure and smog here changed our travel plans. When freeways close because of smog I give thanks for trains! In the midst of the Christmas season, I find it hard to rest and engage with the Story of Christmas.
When I found some time last week to take a longer look, I noticed Joseph, a man caught up in an event that centered around others. Mary, the unwed mother who needed protection. Jesus, the baby who needed protection. The Roman government that offered no protection and Herod, the ruler, who pursued Joseph’s charge in order to murder him.
In all of this Joseph thought of himself only once according to the account in Matthew. Before being let in on what was going on, he thought about his honor in marrying a woman pregnant by who knows who. But even in that, he meant to keep it quiet and protect Mary from the society they lived in that stoned women in situations such as hers. He still protected even in that moment…even in that moment when all appearances said he was the wronged one.
Then, an angel came to him and spoke to his heart. I love this. The angel first spoke to his fear. Do not be afraid. The angel went on and gave Joseph his role in this monumental event. Take Mary as your wife because she is carrying the One who will take away the sin of the world. And…he did it at great personal cost to his reputation. A cost that stayed with the family all their days.
The story takes some wild turns too. Learned astrologers and scientists come from distant lands with loads of gifts far greater than what a carpenter ever saw in his life, I assume. Then, another visit from an angel to the one, Joseph, charged with the protection of the One destined to save the world. This time, marching orders. Flee and flee now and then wait.
Joseph’s life again centered around protecting this Child and His mother and this time the cost was leaving their homeland under the dark of night without any explanation to loved ones. They became sojourners in a distant land. Jesus became a Third Culture Kid spending the young years of his life in Egypt. Joseph made a way for them as a refugee.
I wonder if they heard reports of the massacre that took place after they left? How did they feel when they returned and all those other families saw their son, Jesus, and remembered their own sons murdered? I imagine the benefits of their departure caused friction in relationships. How could others restrain their feelings of jealousy in the grief of a lost son? I bet Joseph endured a lot.
Joseph disappears from the story by Jesus’ adulthood and most suggest he passed away. I don’t like that the story goes this way…that Joseph misses the chance to see the fulfillment of the promise the angel told him. But the legacy this man leaves is truly tremendous. He protected the Savior of the world at great personal cost but he also raised James and Jude, Jesus’ brothers who became pillars of the early church.
Whatever feuding existed during Jesus’ ministry gave way to broken hearts in His younger brothers’ chests. I imagine that is Joseph’s legacy as well. Raising humble men willing to sacrifice their lives others because of the One who takes away the sin of the world.
That’s the mark of a man. Mary gets plenty of press…and Joseph does too…but I still think he deserves more.
eternalwaitofglory 