There’s been a lot of news reports about kids and bullying. People talk about how to fix the problem or what laws to pass. And those poor kids who have committed suicide.  I can only imagine how alone they must have felt – to think that there was no other way to stop it.

When I was growing up my brother had to deal with bullies. One day they would act like his friends and the next day they’d beat him up. But it was localized. It didn’t go out to all the world and color impressions of him everywhere.

Now someone dearer to me has dealt with it. For two years he has had to stand up for what’s right in the midst of threatening emails, insults, slander, and charges of heresy. And things have changed with the internet – the lies spread all over the world and there is no one to call them what they are and shut them down.

My natural instinct is to yell and scream and throw things. To start a website to answer all the ugliness – to spread the truth as far as the lies have gone.

But what would Jesus do?  How did He react to slander and lies?

He said fear not…  But how?

I think I have to choose to believe. Not a one-time thing. Every day – many times a day – choose to believe that …

God is good

He loves us

He will not leave us alone

He will give us strength or He will give us way out

He will use this to bring us closer to Him and make us more like Jesus (Rom. 8:28)

It may take time. And trust. And lots of prayer. But, while we wait for His last child to come to Him, He has promised that no hurt is ever wasted.

We went to a park the other day. It was a beautiful day, but really windy.

As we were sitting in the car, a truck pulled up next to us. We started watching as the man pulled out piece after piece of something. Then he started putting the pieces together. It took a lot of time and energy just to get the pieces assembled.

Then came the wet suit and some kind of harness. As he put the final pieces together we figured out that he was going wind surfing.

He picked up the whole – managing to balance the board and sail in all that wind – and got it to the water. The balancing and getting on weren’t the most graceful, but he managed it.

Then it was beautiful.

I know it took a lot of energy and strength, but he made it look effortless. He went with the wind. Then he came back against it. And then he went across the wind and back. He was able to use the wind to travel all around the river.

It made me think of what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit:

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
(John 3:8)

What if we learned to work with the Holy Spirit the way the wind surfer worked with his wind. Looking effortless doesn’t mean it is. Among other things, it took constant effort and awareness. It took learning how to work with it – not against it. And it took respect for the power.

I wonder … what could that life be like?

I’m almost always in the mood for a western. Not the new icky Lonesome Dove kind. I like the old white hat/John Wayne kind. Where good guys stand up for right and win. Where there is a right. Where there’s a satisfying ending. The Silverado-Open Range-Gunsmoke kind of westerns. Someone once called them America’s knights-in-shining-armor stories.

I read recently that Wyoming’s governor has now made 10 principles derived from “”the Code of the West”  a symbolic part of state law.*

Folks in Wyoming are officially urged to:

… live courageously, take pride in their work, finish what they start, do what’s necessary, be tough but fair, keep promises, ride for the brand, talk less and say more, remember that some things aren’t for sale, and know where to draw the line.

Sounds like good ethics for Christians to follow too. How ’bout it – wanna join me ‘n ride for our brand?

*reported by Associated Press

… asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Col. 1:9-10)

Paul’s prayer for the Colossians gives us another glimpse of a life that pleases God.

That word filled literally means to cram full. Adds something to the picture doesn’t it! He’s not looking for a nice polite kind of full. Paul wants them so full that it’s been squished down and packed to the brim. Imagine knowing and understanding God’s will that well.

And there is a reason for it. It’s not just to say “got that” and check it off a list.

We’re supposed to walk, that is live. That knowledge means we’ll know how to live in a manner worthy of him. To live in a way that adds to his reputation and makes him proud.

Fully (that is all and every way) pleasing him.

And bearing fruit. Only a living plant bears fruit. First, we show we’re alive by the things we do. And second, by increasing (growing) in the knowledge of God.

This time, in verse 10, Paul uses a different word for knowledge. This one carries the idea of recognition or discernment.

I wonder if it is like exercise. The more you use the knowledge you have, the more you walk worthy, and the more you are able to recognize what will please him. And walk worthier.

What a prayer! And, of course, you realize that prayer is for us, too. We can pray it – and we can live it!

Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
(Psalms 37:3–6 ESV)

Here’s one description of a life that pleases God. The word trust carries the idea of being confident, bold. We are to be confident in the Lord – bold in him – and do good. It’s not just generic boldness. It’s the boldness to do good. To do what Jesus would do.

But then he goes on to say dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Dwell has the idea of permanency to it. It’s not a hotel for a night. It’s living there.

The word that surprised me was befriend. Befriend faithfulness. When I looked it up, I found that the Hebrew can also be translated as pasture it, tend a flock, or pastor.  What a picture! Faithfulness doesn’t just happen. We have to nurture it.  Feed it. Give it what it needs to be healthy. Faithfulness is active.

And if we do those things – trust – do good – dwell – befriend faithfulness – delight in the Lord then he will give us the desires of our heart.

But what are they?

The first things that might come to mind are things like healthy children or a nice house. But look deeper. Verse 6 tells us what those desires really are. Righteousness.

Imagine it!

Revelation says “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” But this goes even further.

If we live this way. God will act.

Commit you way to the Lord. Trust in him. And God will act. Not only will we not have to mourn our sins anymore – we’ll be spotless. Wholly righteous. Shining like the sun.

There’s far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting.  (Phil. 1:29 MSG)

The Message usually makes me think. This sure is something to think about …

Over Christmas I finally joined the Richard III Society – a group dedicated to correcting his reputation.

Maybe it’s because my own husband’s reputation is being attacked. But it was something I cared about for a long time. Over the years I’ve read a number of books about Richard III – Josephine Tey’s Daughter of Time among them (if you like mystery novels, it’s a great one). He appears to have been a good man. Nothing like Shakespeare portrayed him.

History is written by the winners and the Tudors were notoriously twisted (just think of Henry VIII and Bloody Mary). Their history blames some amazing things on Richard. It seems to me that you can tell more about the man he was by looking at the actions we know were really his – he passed the most enlightened laws on record for the Fifteenth Century:

Laws in English: so the common people could understand their own laws (they had been written in Latin)
Blind Justice: On the first day of his reign, Richard instructed judges and lawyers to dispense justice without regard to a person’s rank, wealth or power.
Presumption of Innocence: He made it illegal to seize a man’s property before he was convicted of the crime. And he instituted bail so that those accused of a crime  would be free until trial. “The law shall cease to be an instrument of oppression and extortion.”
Jury System: He reformed the jury system with protections against bribery and tainted verdicts, and declared that anyone who serves on a jury should be of good repute and must own property in the shire.
Clear Title: He instituted Clear Title so sellers couldn’t sell the same property multiple times.

I don’t really think that my joining the Society will correct history. But it’s important to do – not just believe.

It’s the same with faith in Christ. We say we believe, but if we don’t actually step out and stand on that belief, is it real? If our choices and actions don’t come from that belief, is it real? It’s when we believe and do that we  grow. That we become more like Jesus.

If someone were to look back to judge our reputation, what would they see? What kind of person would they judge us to be? It’s something to think about …

You hear stories of cats waking up their people when there’s a fire and other things like that. But I never gave it much thought until yesterday. We have a courageous cat.

Muff was afraid of the vacuum monster. As soon as I got out the cleaning supplies she would run and hide as far away as she could get. In fact all I had to do was start picking up her toys and she would run.

Lilly is afraid, too. But she deals with it very differently.

She’s obviously afraid. She crouches in a corner – preferably a high corner – and doesn’t take her eyes off it. But, yesterday, I noticed that she doesn’t leave. In fact she follows me from room to room.

I was trying to figure out why she would do that. If she’s afraid, why not go somewhere else? Discretion is the better part of valor after all!

Then it occurred to me that she must be protecting me. She follows me from room to room – she doesn’t leave and hide in rooms I go to – she’s not there when I get there. She comes in after me and the monster.

Could she really be keeping watch? Making sure I’m alright? The way cats think is always surprising, but I’m amazed that she would think it through that way.

She’s a gem!

PS: on the petting front – she has decided that she likes it! In fact when we come home she’ll go up on her hind legs (like a meerkat) to reach our hands! Makes you feel like something special!

I keep hearing about “conservatives” hating Avatar. I don’t know if that’s politically correct for “christian” or not. But I wonder at the anger of these people. I don’t really understand it.

There is a native population in tune with nature (reminiscent of the Indians). There are mercenaries willing to destroy a planet’s eco-system to provide what their dying planet needs (reminiscent of our global warming debates and colonialism). The powerful throughout history really don’t have a great track record – is some kind of guilt coming out as anger? What would make these writers/commentators take it so personally – as if it were a personal attack on them?

Anyway – all the things they focus on are peripheral – none of the angry remarks touch on what the movie is about. Makes me wonder if they’re uncomfortable with it.

They ignore the beautiful story of a broken, empty person finding himself and becoming whole.  It was wonderful. It was inspiring. It was encouraging. What more can you ask from a movie?

In England during World War II, enemy planes roared overhead seeking easy prey. Light coming through windows was, literally, a dead giveaway … The Enemy looks for light, wanting to attack that light with darkness. As people living in the light, we are targets of darkness.    (Come Closer, Jane Rubietta, p. 153)

A lot of people are told that if they accept Christ their life will be great. Prosperous. Problems solved. I’ve found that it’s not so.

For me it’s been much more complicated. Before, life was simpler. I did what I wanted to and didn’t have to answer to anyone. Didn’t have to deal with my sin. Didn’t have to make things right. In fact right was whatever I wanted it to be.

And not only that, but now I have an Enemy. Someone who wants me to fail. Wants me to give up and think Jesus isn’t enough.

And I’ve watched as my pastors have been attacked. Attacked for trying to show the love of Christ. For trying to do right and shine His light in a dark place.

I need to keep reminding myself – what do I expect?  A light shining can’t be ignored. A light shining is hated by the Enemy  – and it’s a target. It always has been.

That doesn’t mean that the light should stop. In fact the light needs to shine all the more.  It’s truth against lies. It’s hope against despair. It’s life against death. And it will show the way out for some.

A holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns. They only shine.  (D.L. Moody)