UPDATE:  The girl who was burned is doing much better.  She still has a long way to go and needs prayers and encouragement.  One more round of cards would be a blessing.

 Rosetta Lengacher

9036 W 800 S

South Whitley, IN 46787

USA

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IT IS ONLY APRIL

I am sitting outside and it feels so good.  A light breeze, blue sky, a few puffy clouds, and warm sunshine.  Oh, how good that feels.  The sounds and the view are special.  The birds are chirping.  The grass is green.  Some bushes are flowering.  I hear a lawnmower.  The trees are getting their leaves.  Yes, a treat to be sitting outside!!!

As I sit here, it is hard to remember:  IT IS ONLY APRIL!  Surely the weather is ready to be nice.  Or is it?  Our forecast: Today and tomorrow, we could have a chance for strong thunderstorms and gusty winds.  OH GREAT.  And a stronger system could move in Monday with renewed thunderstorms, with the potential to be strong to severe.  If that is not a big enough change in our weather, after Monday, there could be a large cool down by next weekend.

I have to keep telling myself, “It is only April.”

This weather is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Teasing with some half-truths (or a few days of warm sunshine) and then, when the wolf has us tricked, he takes off the sheep’s clothing and reveals his true self.

“Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

     Matthew 7:15 NIV

Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity.  Chances are they are out to rip you off some way of other.  Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for character.  Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say.  A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook.  These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.

     Matthew 7:15-20 The Message

 I used the Message because it puts these verses in plain language.  BUT, how do we see beyond the outer skin and see the wolf? Examples are in ( ) to help get you thinking.

•  Listen and think.  —- Think before you agree with everything you are told.  (Just because you believe and pray, you still might not get the job, your mortgage will not magically disappear, and all your aches and pains will not go away.)
• Read the Bible and hold your ministers, teachers, and others in leadership roles accountable.  (I teach Sunday School and tell my class to read and study.  They are responsible for making sure I am teaching the truth.)
• Serve God!  (Serving may be helping at the food pantry.  It may be leading the singing.  It may be anything God asks you to do.  Yes, we are to tithe, but if a church only sees you for the money you can give, that is a church in sheep’s clothing.)

Celebrate the true Shepherd, Jesus, but be on guard.  There are a lot of wolves out there doing their best to take you down the wrong path.

 OUR GAME

Bill and I play a game almost every day.  It is called:  What do you want for supper?  This game has no rules.  Strictly question and answer.

Me:  “What do you want for supper?”

Bill:  “I don’t care.”

Me:  “We had that last night.  It was baked.”

Bill:  “What do you want for supper?”

Me:  “I don’t know.”

Bill:  “We had that Wednesday night.”

Me:  “Oh, right.”

You get the idea?  A good friend says they play this game also.  Being the “ladies of the house,” our job has been to plan meals.  And we are tired of our job.  It is not that we mind cooking.  We are just tired of making the decision on food.  Every day!  For our friend, a few years less, but I have been in charge of this for 60+ years.  Now, Bill had been in charge a few times when I have been laid up, but even then he would ask what I wanted to eat.  If I found a magic lamp, I would ask the genie for a personal chef.

Oh what a wonderful idea.  No matter how the day went, the evening meal would be prepared and placed on the table.  We could just sit down and enjoy!   Anyone know where I can find a magic lamp?

BUT … I wonder if it would get old?  Would I miss cooking?  Miss the challenge of making a meat loaf?  Would they make mashed potatoes as good as Bill does?  Would they know how to make cooked carrots with orange marmalade?  Would they cook green beans or serve them only dipped in hot water?  Would I still enjoy the meal if I put no effort into it?

Maybe this is how I treat God.  I want him to give me all the blessings — peace, strength, joy, comfort, healing — without me lifting a finger.  I’ve been a Christian for a whole lot of years.  Do I still have to pray, read the Bible, serve others, walk away from sin, hold family, friends, church family, and even strangers in my heart and prayers, and give thanks?  Do I still have to put in the effort?

I know the answer.  The answer is yes, I do.  I have to put in the effort.  I have responsibilities in my relationship with God.  Those responsibilities are no less now than they were the day I accepted the sacrifice Jesus paid on the Cross.  

BUT, if you do know where there is a magic lamp with a genie, I will allow beauty pageant contestants to wish for world peace.  I will go for a personal chef and sit down and enjoy supper.

A BOY, A HORSE, A DAD

I never know what is going to be said in Sunday School class.  One minute, I am in control.  Next, we are going down a “rabbit” trail.  BUT sometimes, sometimes that trail ends in a totally new lesson.  And I love it when that happens.

Romans 13 has been interesting.  We have talked about how we are to submit to the government.  We talked about how - no matter how much I didn’t like this discussion - the speed limit is the law.  Drat!!!  Here, I always said speed limits were a suggestion.  The class laughed.  They often laugh at me.  That is what makes this class special.

They care and the discussion can change from laughter to compassion in an instant.  Or it can change to a rabbit trail that teaches a lesson.  I love those moments the most.  When a person tells a story and an idea pops into my head.  Just like the time …….

Claud had been to a horse sale.  The horse, being sold, was a workhorse.  A big workhorse.  This horse was being led by a small boy.  A boy who was much too small to be leading this horse around a sale ring.  The auctioneer was calling for bids.  It was a noise the horse was not used to.  People were talking loudly about the bid, about the horse.  Again, it was a noise the horse was not used to.  There were strange lights and people moving around.  The horse was getting nervous.  The boy was too small to control the horse.  The rope came out of the boy’s hand.  The dad was there.  The dad grabbed the rope, and the horse settled down.

Claud ended his story with the comment, “That boy was too small and was not strong enough to hold the rope.”  It was then that I saw another picture.

“Do you see it?  WE are the little boy.  The HORSE is life.  The FATHER is Jesus.  We are holding onto our lives.  There is noise pulling life in one direction.  There are bright lights that make sin look inviting.  It is hard to hold the rope.  It is hard to hold on.  No matter how hard we try, trials make us loosen our grip.  Voices in our head tell us we are wrong ….  worthless.  Our grip loosens more.  It will only take one more thing and we will no longer be able to hold on.  The rope is slipping.  Life … Life is winning.  And at that moment, when we can no longer hang on, a hand reaches around and takes the rope.”

Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.  When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.  When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

     Psalms 94:17-19

A strong hand takes our rope.  Life is tamed.  There is a way to live … live without fear … live knowing we are never alone.  Live knowing the hand holding the rope is strong.  Strong! Stronger than our fears.  Stronger than the noise of life.  Stronger than the pull of sin.  Stronger than the voices in our head.  And all we have to do is let Jesus take the rope.

PARTS OF PSALMS 116

I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;  he heard my cry for mercy.

Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

I was overcome by distress and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the LORD:  “LORD, save me!”

The LORD protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.

Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

For you, LORD, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

Praise the LORD.

HOW DO I KNOW?

I looked into the empty tomb.  We were walking the Stations of the Cross and I was the last to look into the tomb.  Yes, the burial cloths were there.  Yes, I knew this was not the real tomb.  BUT, at that moment, I had something the women and disciples did not have.  I had the whole story.  I knew why he allowed himself to be placed on the Cross.  I knew why he suffered.  I knew why he cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).  And I knew why Jesus was taken from that tomb and why, shortly after that, he went to be with his Father.

BUT how did I become so sure?  It started when I was young.  Although my parents did not go to church with us, my brother, two sisters, and I went to Sunday School and Worship.  Later, we went to the youth group.  I heard the basics, the normal children’s stories, and painted a cross, but did these make me so sure?  No.

If I didn’t become sure by attending church, what happened?  My grandmother happened.  She could not stay by herself in the winter, so she came to live with us.  She shared a bedroom with my older sister and me.  We absolutely loved her.  And she read her Bible every day.  Not occasionally and not quickly.  She read slowly.  Reading a verse over if she did not understand.  Her Bible was never far.  It was close enough that she could reach it when her hands were tired from crocheting.  It was close enough to read before going to bed and when she woke up.  When she could no longer read, she recruited us kids.  We read verses after verses.  Sometimes it was a chore.  We had to read those books with all the names.  We had to read all 176 verses of Psalm 119.  She knew if we tried to skip even one verse.  As I watched my grandma, I saw faith.  A faith stronger than I ever saw at church.  An absolute faith!  But did that make me 100% sure?  No.  As much as I wanted to believe without question, I still had doubts.  It seemed like Jesus was for adults and children were to settle for Bible stories.

Until one Sunday.  I do not remember how old I was, but I know it was around 8.  I was sitting in church, by myself.  I don’t know where my sisters and brother were sitting.  We rarely sat together.  Hey, we were normal kids.  What kid wants to sit with their siblings?  Anyway, that is not important.  Maybe the part about sitting by myself is important.  If I had been sitting with someone, I might not have been focused on the message.  I might not have realized …..  But I was focused on the message.  I was focused when they asked if anyone wanted to come forward.  In that moment, I became the only person in that church.  In that moment, I realized it was all true.  I realized faith was for my grandma.  I realized faith was for me too.  In that moment, my very soul shouted AMEN and I stood up.  I walked forward and knelt at the altar.  I bowed my head and accepted Jesus as MY SAVIOR.  Yes, He is the Savior of every person in that church, but I finally realized for me, too.  For ME.

Do I still wonder why Jesus had to die on the Cross?  No.  He had to die for my very tiniest sin.  Even if every other person in the world were perfect, Jesus would have died to save my soul.  Jesus had to die to save the souls of Mary Magdalene, his mother, Mary, the other women, Peter, Matthew, John, Saul/Paul, and you.

When you look at the Cross, do not only see a suffering Jesus.  See a love so bright it will shine from the soul of every believer?

HAPPY EASTER