Life is full of irony and I confess – unless I am looking, the presence and the absurdity of it often escapes my notice.  A recent example is the pre-COVID screen time debate.  Actually, it wasn’t much of a debate but more of a mandate.  Both educators and parents were pretty much in agreement that children needed less screen time not more.  There was endless talk of limiting children’s screen time because too much screen time, whether TV, computer or phone, isn’t good for their development or their overall well being.

It was a constant battle to get kids off their phones or away from the TV or computer so they could engage in some physical activity and in face to face interactions with real people.  Enter COVID-19!  COVID effectively put an end to that debate or endeavor to liberate children from their ever present screens.  Now more screen time is required of them, not less.

This is because closed schools have had to move instruction online in order for their students to continue with classes.  How ironic that parents who once begged their children to get off the computer and go play outside, now need to be sure their children are logged in and in front of the computer screen for several hours each day.  (this in addition to TV and phone time)

So children are getting even more screen time and missing all the personal interactions with classmates and teachers that school normally provided. Children learn better in a hands on, interactive environment.  I’m wondering how classes such as band, orchestra, choir, physical education, theater, ceramics and other art classes plus science labs and speech and debate classes are adapting?  No more putting problems on the board or class discussions.  Online learning lacks certain capabilities simply because it is limited in what it can provide.  Let’s face it.  There is no substitute for the real thing.

And ironically, because children have been isolated at home with no where to go, no summer sports or camps or other activities, they are even more likely to spend their time in front of the TV, on their phone or playing computer games etc.

Students aren’t the only ones subject to increased screen time.  For those able to work from home, time in front of their computer screen is a necessity. Additionally, many activities that used to take place in person, moved online.  Zoom became the new meeting place for me, as it did for many others.  Any meetings I used to attend in person, such as Bible studies, now took place on line, meaning more screen time.

How ironic, that pre-COVID so many of us were bemoaning the fact we spent so much time in front of our various screens (TV, phone, computer) and so many of our New Year’s resolutions were to decrease our screen time and allow time for more in person interactions.  That is a resolution no one could keep this year!  It is as if the whole world just packed up and moved online!

People were complaining of feeling lonely and isolated pre-COVID.  There was talk of how we were more connected than ever before (via cyberspace, Facebook etc.) and yet more isolated than ever before at the same time.  (another irony)  The lockdowns exacerbated these feelings for so many.

When some of my zoom groups started meeting in person again, we all acknowledged how we much preferred in person to zoom.  I was surprised myself to discover the depth of the difference of the experience.  It didn’t become apparent to me until in person meetings resumed after having been on zoom for some months.

Instead of feeling drained after a zoom meeting (complete with technical difficulties often) I felt energized and encouraged after spending personal time with real people face to face.  It is easier to share your thoughts and feelings in person, I think.  And again, it’s true – there is no substitute for the real thing.

I am also finding online church to be lacking in some intangible but important ways.  It is no one’s fault.  Being able to hear a sermon online is certainly a blessing and I am grateful to live in a country where that is still allowed.  Most churches do have an online presence and ministry which is vital to reaching people wherever they are.

Still an online church service cannot come close to replicating the in person worship time shared with other believers, my brothers and sisters in the faith. Once again, there is no substitute for the real thing.  I guess that’s why it says in Hebrews 10:25,

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”   (Hebrews 10:24)

When we meet together we encourage each other, we spur one another on.  I know I need that shared time with others and the encouragement we provide each other.

“For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them.”  (Matthew 18:20)

“Assemble the people – men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns – so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.  Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”  (Deuteronomy 31:12-13)

That’s what I miss.  That’s what we miss when God’s houses are closed to us.  We miss the assembling of ourselves together as God intended for us to do.  King David spoke often about going to God’s house to worship with others.

“But I, by Your great mercy, will come into Your house; in reverence will I bow down toward Your holy temple.”  (Psalm 5:7)

“I will give You thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise You.”  (Psalm 35:18)

“I will declare Your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise You.”  (Psalm 22:22)

“Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of the saints.”  (Psalm 149:1)

the assembly of the saints – that’s saved sinners, that’s me and that’s you – that’s whosoever will – whosoever will accept God’s invitation – whosoever will come – whosoever will show up – whosoever will enter His gates (church) with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; (Psalm 100:4)

That’s what David longed for, that’s what David lived for, that’s what David did – he praised God in the great assembly of people come to worship God and to give God His due –  that’s what worship is – giving God thanksgiving and praise together as His people.

1 Corinthians 13:12 tells me, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; (maybe that’s what all these computer screens are, but a poor reflection) then we shall  see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

just as the difference between zoom and in person is vaster than it would seem to be, just as online school does not come close to replicating in person school, just as the difference between online church and in person church cannot be underestimated nor overstated, nor fully realized –

so too, our limited vision of what awaits us in eternity is most certainly but a poor reflection of the real thing.  The real thing is so far superior that we cannot truly imagine it until we experience it when we behold Him face to face.

that’s why an online experience doesn’t satisfy, it doesn’t fill our God created craving for connection and community – we were made for the face to face, with each other and with our Creator.  There is no substitute for the real thing.

my prayer for you today, dear readers, is this –

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”   (Numbers 6:24-26)

to see His face, to receive His peace – there is no substitute for the real thing!

sincerely,         Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Job asked a question of God.  So did Jeremiah.  Job asked it this way –

“Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?”  (Job 21:7)

Jeremiah asked the same question of God, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?  Why do all the faithless live at ease?”  (Jeremiah 12:1)

King David also asked God, “How long will the wicked, O Lord, how long will the wicked be jubilant?”  (some translations say triumph instead of be jubilant)  (Psalm 94:3)

I confess – I find myself asking these same questions today, as I watch the burning, looting, graffiti, vandalism, violence and killing continue in so many cities across our country.  These acts are against the law, yet it seems the guilty are not only going unpunished, they are being allowed and encouraged to continue in their criminal activities.  Property continues to be destroyed, lives continue to be lost.

But there is no outcry from the people.  Or maybe there is, but it is quickly silenced and so goes unheard.  The few that have been arrested, have been released without charges, rendering any police efforts to protect property and lives meaningless.  If there is no consequence, there is no reason not to do whatever harm one wishes to do to others.

I feel Isaiah’s anguish as he cried out, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.   . . .    who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.”   (Isaiah 5:20-23)

Hard to believe those words were written almost three thousand years ago.  They sound like they are describing current day events.  Isaiah continues in chapter 59:3-8,

“Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things.  No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity.  They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.   . . .   Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.  . . .  they are swift to shed innocent blood.  Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways.  The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths.  They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.”

That’s the picture I see before me of our cities today, they are marred by ruin and destruction and there is no justice for those that have lost their lives or their livelihoods when their businesses were destroyed.  It appears that evil is triumphing right now.  Could it be because evil is masquerading as justice?

Today, I am remembering Breann Leath.  She was a young, beautiful IMPD police officer who died in the line of duty on April 9th, 2020.  She was only twenty-four years old.  She left behind a young son, not to mention all her other grieving family and friends.  Breann is not the first to give her life for those of us whom she served and protected and she won’t be the last.  But I would give to Breann the honor that is her due.

Not many of us have jobs that require us to put our life on the line each day simply by going to work.  But police officers do.  When she went to work that morning, it was a typical day for Breann.  She answered a domestic disturbance call and was shot dead before she ever entered the residence.  Not many of us have jobs that require extraordinary courage just to show up for work.  Breann did.  And Breann showed up.  So do millions of other officers across this country show up day after day and night after night.

Will we realize too late what we had after it is gone?  Oh, and one more thing. Breann was black.  And I think her life mattered.  But then, I think life matters.

I think David Dorn’s life mattered.  I think Bernell Trammell’s life mattered.  (so much for the right to free speech)  I think Lorenzo Anderson’s life mattered.  All these black lives mattered.  But not to BLM and the media apparently.

Law enforcement officers were our heroes.  (remember 9-11?)  They have been our protectors and our peacekeepers.  Without their service and self-sacrifice we will know neither safety nor peace.  We are already experiencing the chaos and confusion that comes with their absence.  A nation without the rule of law will be subject to the rule of tyrants.

A protester in Portland has defiantly declared war on the police.  BLM and COVID rule right now.  They decide which lives matter.  They decide who is essential and who is expendable.  I feel like David when he cried out to God in Psalm 119:136 saying,

“Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for Your law is not obeyed.”

Even though I feel like crying over the suffering and injustice I witness all around me, I find these instructions in Psalm 37:1-9 to guide me.

“Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.   . . .    Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.  Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil.  For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”

God says in Isaiah 61:8,  “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity.”

So I will, “Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.  For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake His faithful ones.”  (Psalm 37:27-28)

“He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  (Micah 6:8)

justice, mercy, humility

sincerely,        Grace Day

 

 

 

I confess – I’m hearing voices again.  Well, actually it’s more like music.  They are musical voices. (commonly called a choir)  They are singing the words to a favorite old song of mine, words which now keep running through my mind.  “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.  Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.”  Probably no coincidence that I would be wistfully wishing for peace now, when there seems to be so little of it in our city streets and across our country.  And across the globe as well.

Conflict is nothing new.  (Solomon always said, there is nothing new under the sun) And he was right apparently.  Conflict was present in the very first family on earth.  Cain killed his own brother, Abel, and we have been at odds with each other ever since, it seems.  Not exactly what God intended for us.  Not even close.

And so here we are today still fighting each other.  Nations fight against other nations.  Within those nations people fight against each other for power and control.  Generation fights against generation, labor fights management, religions oppose each other while simultaneously fighting within themselves – just as Cain and Abel fought within their own family.  There is no peace.

Romans 12:17-21 has some very relevant and good advice for me, if I want to pursue peace.  I am told, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is Mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.  On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Wow!  That pretty much says it all.  If it is that simple, why don’t we have peace in our daily lives and in our world?  I guess it is harder to follow this advice than one would think.  I am told as far as it depends on me to live peacefully with others.  So it has to start with me.  I am not responsible for others’ choices, but I will be held accountable for my own.

And then I’m told, do not take revenge.  Why?  Because that’s God’s call.  “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.”  (Nahum 1:3)

Today’s gang culture would be totally revolutionized without the revenge thing going on.  It is precisely revenge which keeps everything in motion for gangs and their agendas.  Actually revenge is a common motive for much of our violence, as people attempt to pay back or to right real or perceived wrongs.

Jesus’s advice to me to show my enemy kindness, to feed him, clothe him etc. is as counter cultural today as it was when He first told His followers more than two thousand years ago to do the same thing.  Not much has changed since then because human nature doesn’t change.

If I really want to be counter cultural, if I really want to be a true revolutionary, I must do that whole turning of the cheek thing.  I must practice what Jesus preached in Luke 6:27-31 when He said,

“But I tell you who hear Me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.  If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.   . . .   Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Responding to other people like that would definitely reverse the revenge cycle. But who is bold enough, strong enough to take that first step?  I thought everyone wants to be a trend setter, but apparently when it comes to peace everyone is a follower, waiting for someone else to make the first move –  the first to offer the other cheek – the first to offer a gesture of kindness or the first apology.

Who will be first in turning the other cheek?  Could it be me?  The song in my head continues on, “With God as our Father, brothers all are we. Let me walk with my brother, in perfect harmony.”  As Gary said to Julius in the movie “Remember the Titans,”  “I know now that I was only hating my brother.”  We must recognize our common humanity.  We must realize there is more that unites us than divides us. Where I choose to focus will determine my perceptions.  My perceptions will determine my actions.  Therefore, I would do well to keep my focus on God and His word.

If peace is to begin with me, I need to focus on my Heavenly Father’s instructions.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.    . . .   ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”   (Romans 13:8-10)

“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”   (Psalm 34:14)

Lord, let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!

love does no harm!  

sincerely,        Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

I confess – I do not recognize America today.  I grew up learning about Pilgrims and Pioneers and Patriots. It was Pilgrims who left everything behind to travel by ship to a new world, in the hope of escaping religious persecution and of building a better life for themselves.  Many didn’t survive the voyage but died before ever reaching America.  They took a risk. They risked everything. (sea travel in the 1600’s was dangerous and uncertain)  They risked everything to pursue their dreams and find freedom.

I learned about Pioneers.  They left the known safety of the settlements and cities they had built to set out in covered wagons into the unknown, unsettled lands to their west.  Many didn’t survive that journey either.  Whether crossing the mighty Mississippi, the plains or the Rockies, sickness and harsh winter weather often took their toll, leaving many dead before they reached their destination.  Still Pioneers continued to venture west, courageously crossing this continent in covered wagons, until they reached the Pacific Ocean. They took a risk.  They risked everything.  They risked everything in pursuit of their dreams.

The Patriots risked everything including their lives to fight the British for their independence.  It would have been much easier and safer to simply remain a colony and comply with whatever Britain required of them.  But they valued something more than their individual lives, and that was liberty.  (Give me liberty or give me death)  And so they took a risk. They risked everything.  They risked their own lives in order to be free.  They risked their own lives to leave us a legacy and a life of freedom.

There were others who also valued freedom more than life.  The Underground Railroad is a testament to that.  Those who risked their lives escaping slavery and those who risked their lives to help those who were escaping, knew at what cost freedom comes.  Harriet Tubman was one such person.  She not only escaped herself, but she helped many others to escape, returning many times, risking her own life every time so that others might find freedom.  She took a risk.  They all took a risk. They risked everything for freedom.

Our nation’s history has not been a history of cowardice but one of courage.  We not only took risks for our own freedoms but we have risked our lives in order to liberate others.  We stormed the beaches of Normandy and liberated those in Germany’s death camps. Heroes such as the Tuskegee Airmen helped others find freedom from Nazi Germany’s invasion and oppression.  They took a risk.  They risked everything. They risked their own lives in order that others might be free.

America’s tradition of courage has continued in her exploration of space. Although we put a man on the moon in 1969, the Apollo 13 flight in April of 1970 proved a test of endurance and courage for everyone involved in bringing those three astronauts safely back to earth after a problem with their spacecraft occurred.

Sixteen years later, Americans were still courageously exploring space.  I remember all too clearly January 28th, 1986.  The space shuttle Challenger launched, carrying seven astronauts into space.  It burst into flames seconds later. There were no survivors.  Seventeen years later, on February 1st, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia would burst into flames as it returned to earth, killing the seven astronauts that it carried on board.  Those astronauts took a risk.  They risked everything.  They risked it all in pursuit of their dreams.

America’s legacy of courage has continued and was never more evident than on September 11th, 2001.  On that day firefighters, police officers and other first responders ran into burning buildings, not away from them.  They took a risk. They risked everything.  They risked their own lives in their valiant effort to save the lives of others.  They risked their own lives in the execution of what they had pledged their lives to – their sacred duty to serve and to protect.  They left no doubt that day of their courage and their character.  How quickly we forget our history.

As we look back, we see that in the past, America has been marked by her courage not her cowardice.  She has needed courage because freedom is not for the faint of heart.  Freedom requires courage – courage to create it and courage to sustain it. With the writing and the ratifying of the Declaration of Independence, the opportunity for equality, justice and freedom was created.

The sacred task then became to make the vision of those that penned those words a reality and to keep it a reality for future generations.  The implementation of those words which guarantee to us all the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, rights which are given to us by God not by any government, has been a constant and often bloody process.

The Civil War attests to that as do the civil rights protests of the 60’s.  The United States has faced many foes in her short two-hundred forty-four year history.  I refuse to believe that COVID-19 will be the foe that brings about her untimely death.  We have fought too hard and come too far to allow her to die now.

These words of Dr. Otto Gritschneder should give us all pause.  “He who falls asleep in a democracy will wake up in a dictatorship.”   If the United States dies, freedom dies with her – our individual freedoms and our freedom as a country. When we become the oppressed, we will no longer be free to supply food and medicine and disaster relief aid to those in need around the globe.

Freedom has always been worth fighting for, worth the cost.  Until now?  The silence is deafening.  Since we were attacked mid-March by COVID-19, we as a people have continued to walk into Walmarts and into Home Depots and into liquor stores and into Planned Parenthood centers and into Costco and we haven’t batted an eye nor missed a step.

And yet we don’t have the courage to walk into a polling place and cast our vote in person on November 3rd?  Or do we believe that a polling place is vastly more dangerous than a Costco or a liquor store?  If all the polling places are open as in years past, crowds will be light and spread out over many locations.  Only by closing some of the polls will crowds and wait times increase.  Voting in person is the hallmark of a democracy.  Without it, democracy dies.

How unbelievable that with the heritage left to us by such people as were the Pilgrims, the Pioneers, the Patriots, the Harriet Tubmans, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Astronauts, the Martin Luther King Jr.s, – a heritage of courage, a heritage of risking it all for the freedoms that will live on long after we are gone – how unbelievable that we would be too afraid to vote in person.  Rather, we would sit silently by, paralyzed by fear in a cancel culture, fear of not being politically correct as rampant as fear of COVID, and let America die on our watch.

Options, freedom of choice, the ability to choose for oneself, is essential in a free society.  We have long had the option to vote by mail (absentee ballot) if we choose to do so, rather than to vote in person.  This choice should never be taken from us. Likewise, the choice to vote in person should not be denied us either.  Closing the polls would deny us that choice.  Having the polls open does not deny anyone their right to vote by mail.  Both choices should always be available in an election.  Will we let fear dictate otherwise?

Shame on us!  Our legacy is courage not cowardice.  With the courage of our convictions let us correct our mistakes and fulfill the promise of our Declaration of Independence.  Let us pray that “government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”   (Gettysburg Address)

“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”   (2 Timothy 1:7)

“Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

sincerely,       Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I confess – I love football.  And because I do, I also love movies about football.  I love movies such as The Blind Side, Remember the Titans, Facing the Giants, Rudy, We Are Marshall, When the Game Stands Tall, Woodlawn, and the football movie I first fell in love with, Brian’s Song.

It doesn’t hurt that most of these movies are true stories about real life people.  I find these movies inspiring, I guess because there are always obstacles to be overcome in every story.  In each movie, there is conflict both on and off the field. Each player must have the commitment, the conviction and the courage to face their challenges (on and off the field) or neither they nor their team will succeed in the end.

In these movies, the players faithfully and fearlessly pursue their passion to the bitter end.  Rudy was one such individual.  Even though he was too small to be seriously considered for college football and he didn’t have the grades to get into Notre Dame, his dream was to play football for this university.  Through hard work academically, he eventually became a student at Notre Dame but then had to make the team as a walk on.  He made the team but was told he would never dress for a game, even though he endured the grueling practices and scrimmages against the starters, the purpose of which was to make them better and prepare them for the next game.

Rudy was never going to be in the limelight or become famous.  But he showed up week after week to practice and gave it his all.  Finally there comes a moment in the movie where Rudy considers quitting.  Fortunately, he gets some good advice and he doesn’t give up.  Toward the end of the movie, he does get to dress for the final game of his senior year.  It is then we see the impact his persistence and dedication to the game and to his teammates has had on other people.

His contribution to the team turns out not to be in tackles, in throwing passes or in scoring touchdowns.  It turns out to be in the lives he encouraged and inspired as he continued to show up day after day in pursuit of his dream.  Rudy didn’t realize he was making a difference in so many lives, but he was – just by having the courage not to quit.  Rudy’s impact did not show up on the scoreboard, it showed up in the lives of those he inspired.

In pursuing his own dream wholeheartedly, Rudy encouraged others to do the same.  Maybe that’s why we like football as spectators.  We love the drama, we love the contest, the conflict, the facing of fears, the overcoming of obstacles – the uncertainty of the outcome, the ever present possibility of the last second score as the game clock runs out.

I love football because it is a metaphor for life.  And as it turns out, Vince Lombardi agrees with me.  He said, “Football is like life.  It requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority.”  Lombardi used words like sacrifice and self-denial, which aren’t all that popular today.  Neither is respect for authority, come to think of it.

Reminds me of something Jesus said in Luke 9:23-26.  “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it.  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?  If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

Deny himself?  Daily carry a cross? (bear a burden)  Follow someone in authority over me?  Clearly, a life of faith, like football, is not for the faint of heart.  To walk in faith, day after day, requires commitment, conviction and courage.  (the three “C”s of football and of faith)

And just like football, life is filled with pain and setbacks and failure.  But Jesus (my life coach) knew that would be the case when He warned, “All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”  In other words, in football speak, hold that line.  You may have to endure some hits but stand firm as it says in Matthew 10:22.

Football is about overcoming obstacles, about fighting the enemy  – so is faith.  Both require perseverance.  In Remember the Titans the enemy was racial prejudice. In Brian’s Song the enemy was cancer.  In We are Marshall the enemy was loss, overwhelming loss of life.  Could a new team come to life after such a loss?  Every ounce of courage was needed to answer that question.

Who is the enemy of my faith?  Ephesians 6:12 tells me, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

I am also told in 1 Peter 5:8-9 that, ” . . . Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  What should I do in response? “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”  (there’s that standing firm again)

In football and in faith, perseverance seems to be key.  James 1:2-4 tells me to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

I am called to persevere.  I have plenty of opportunity during these days to practice perseverance.  By God’s grace I will persevere through COVID and conflict, through layoffs and losses, through fear and through failure, through weakness and through weariness – until I come out on the other side with faith mature as James said, not lacking anything, but full of hope and strength, standing firm in the stance of faith.

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men (women) of courage; be strong.”  (1 Corinthians 16:13)

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.”  (James 1:12)

sincerely,       Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I confess – I am sometimes the ultimate power walker.  Blinders on – full speed ahead.  But today was different.  This was different.

We assembled in the quiet stillness of the early morning.  We came in prayer, we came in praise, we came in peace – not in protest – although we came to the same streets that have been home to protesters not all that long ago.  Except for the shirts we wore, with the message of peace written on the cross, no casual observer would have recognized us as members of the same group.

Why?  We defied description.  For those who love to put a label on a person or on a group and thus dismiss them, they would not so summarily be able to declare us described and dismissed, labeled and left for insignificant.  There were both genders present in our group and multiple age groups and multiple skin colors, multiple education levels, multiple church affiliations, multiple political affiliations – we were not a one label fits all kind of a group.

I think we looked a lot like America and I know we looked exactly like Revelation 7:9 as we gathered at the courthouse, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

We came to pray over our city and by extension over all the hurting cities across our country.  We came to pray for the people of our city and for the people of our country.  We came to pray over them, for them, with them – we came in peace, we came in prayer, we came in obedience to the One who calls us to stand in the gap as intercessors in prayer.

“if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Our land desperately needs healing right now.  But our country will not be healed until our hearts are healed.  And our hearts will not be changed nor healed apart from God.  God is the Maker of our hearts.  He is the only one who can fix them. We cannot heal our own hearts.

Our country surely needs a heart transplant right about now if she is to survive. But for her to get that transplant, I first need a heart transplant of my own.  Let it begin with me.  (just like the song, “Let peace begin with me”)  If I am willing, maybe others will be willing as well.  The promise is in Ezekiel 36:25-29, where God says,

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.  You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.  I will save you from all your uncleanness.”

God gives us new hearts and He also gives us something else that the world cannot give us – unity.  The world is all about division.  God is all about reconciliation and unity.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.  And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”  (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

Jesus prayed in John 17:23, ” . . .  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.”

And so we prayed where protesters had once prevailed.  We prayed for God’s presence and protection and most of all His peace to come upon our battle weary city and nation, ushering in His healing touch upon our land.  We prayed John 14:27, where Jesus said,

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

We walked in our city with a much needed message of hope and of peace.  And with every step my feet took I thought of these words from Isaiah 52:7,

“How beautiful on the mountains (in the cities and urban streets) are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ ”

Oh Lord, continue to direct my footsteps, our footsteps, as we step out in prayer, standing in the gap for those we love and for those we don’t even know, but You know them, Lord – and You love them.  Make us faithful to pray for our country, for our community, for our children – that we might remain free to worship You and to proclaim Your name, for

” . . . where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”   (2 Corinthians 3:17)

sincerely,      Grace Day

 

 

I confess – I am still undecided.  If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?  What say you?  If I speak but no one is there to hear my voice, have I said anything?  (my cat doesn’t count, she never listens to me)  If I write but no one reads my words, have I written anything?  (again my cat doesn’t count, she can’t read)

If my identity is my job, when my job is gone, who am I?  If my identity is in my relationships, when my relationships change or end, who am I then?  If my identity is in my possessions or achievements, when they change, does my identity change as well?  If I exist only as I see myself reflected in another’s eyes, when they are gone, do I cease to exist?

I may feel like the lone tree in the forest but I know that there is One who does hear me when I fall, my Heavenly Father.  Psalm 116:1-2 says,

“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.”

“In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God.  From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came to His ears.”   (2 Samuel 22:7)

“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”  (Isaiah 65:24)

I like knowing that not only am I heard, but I am answered!  And I like knowing that I have value in my Heavenly Father’s eyes.  We all do.  I am not just an unknown, unseen, anonymous tree in the forest.  My Heavenly Father created the forest and He knows every tree in it.  If I fall, He will know, because He knows every tree by name.  He knows me by name.

“Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?  He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.  Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”  (Isaiah 40:26)

It is estimated that there are one hundred thousand million stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way.  And there are an estimated one hundred billion galaxies in the universe, which will increase as telescope technology in space improves.  So you do the math, dear readers, it is too much for me to comprehend.  And yet we are told God knows every star by name.  (after all, He created each star, He sustains each star, why wouldn’t He call each one by name?)

So it’s not much of a stretch for God to know every tree in every forest.  In fact, in Matthew 10:29-31 we are told, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will (notice) of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

I am not only heard, I am seen.  (as Hagar was in the desert, as Job was)  “But He knows the way that I take;”  (Job 23:10)  Job couldn’t find God, but Job knew God could find him, because God saw Job and heard him and knew exactly the way that Job took.  

God knows the way that I take today and everyday.  I am not only heard, I am not only seen, I am known, I am named.  And so are you, dear readers.  You are heard, you are seen, you are known and you are named by your Creator, God.

“My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.   . . .   Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Lord.”  (Psalm 139:15-16, 4)

Job said of God, “Does He not see my ways and count my every step?”

Job knew that he was not overlooked nor abandoned by God despite his dire, current circumstances.  Still Job had to ask, “why?”

“What is man that You make so much of him, that You give him so much attention, that You examine him every morning and test him every moment?”  (Job 7:17-18)

In Psalm 8:4-5, David asks God the same question, “what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?  You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

Then Psalm 100:3 tells us why.  “Know that the Lord is God.  It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.”

“The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.”  (Psalm 145:9)

God made us and because we are His creation, the work of His hands, He has compassion on us and He cares for us.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  (Ephesians 2:10)

I have identity in being God’s workmanship (some translations say masterpiece) and you do too.  Continuously changing circumstances will not change my identity in Christ.  Dangerous days need not cause me to walk in fear.

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life; You stretch out Your hand against the anger of my foes, with Your right hand You save me.  The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your love, O Lord, endures forever – do not abandon the works of Your hands.”    (Psalm 138:7-8)

We are heard, we are seen, we are known, we are named – we are loved.  God has promised He will fulfill His purpose for me and He has promised to fulfill His purpose for you, too, dear readers.  God will not abandon the works of His hands. (that’s you and I)  So I will cast all my cares on Him, knowing when I fall, He sees me, hears my cry, catches me, comforts me, confirms in me the purpose that He put there and enables me to continue as more than a conqueror. 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”    (Romans 8:37-39)

sincerely,       Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I confess – I thought I would have written my last Corona Chronicle by now and would be back to writing about those everyday miracles amid the mundane.  I miss the mundane, those days when every moment wasn’t a national crisis.  Those days when my focus was on family and friends and faith and creating and building up and missions and making the world a better place – well that’s where my focus remains but it seems more difficult to stay focused on those things when the environment in which we currently live is now filled with fear, requiring a survival mode mentality, if I allow current events to dictate my perspective.

And let’s face it, we can’t escape what has been going on around us, COVID-19 and the riots both impact our daily lives in ways we may not even be aware of right now, but from the perspective of hindsight, we may eventually come to understand.  I think we are all going to have PTSD when this is over.  We have grown used to living in crisis mode with disaster looming around every corner.

Things once taken for granted, like sports, are no longer available to us as a diversion, a temporary escape and brief respite from reality when we most need them.  Other diversions such as plays, concerts, movies, fairs, theme parks, zoos, museums etc have also been closed to us during this time or are limited in their availability as they attempt to reopen.

Maybe we will all have more empathy for and understanding of our veterans and what they experience when they return home from wherever they have been serving our country.  We may not realize the constant stress we are under until it is removed.  Right now the threat of COVID-19 dictates every decision, permeates every personal experience (or lack thereof, as in person experience has been replaced by online experience) and hovers continuously over our heads as we go about our days.

There is no escape from COVID.  We are constantly reminded of this ever present danger by news updating new cases, events continuing to be cancelled, restrictions ramped up, and masks everywhere we look, making it impossible to forget that we are at risk every time we leave home and even at home because we bring things from the outside (such as food) into our home.

This is a war, as has been said before by many fighting this virus on the front lines. I am definitely experiencing combat fatigue.  These words from 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, even though written two thousand years ago, describe my feelings today.

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”

That says it all, doesn’t it?  The life and death struggle that plays out before us every day and also plays out within us, within our very bodies.  It is good for me to remember again today that I am not crushed, I am not despairing, I am not abandoned, I am not destroyed (even when I am down).

For me, I take particular consolation in the truth that I am not abandoned, I am not alone.  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”  (Psalm 23:4-5)

This truth is too wonderful for words.  I don’t have to be afraid, I will fear no evil, that “no evil” includes riots and COVID and anything else this world will come up with.  My Heavenly Father is with me, His presence comforts me, provides for me (He prepares a table for me) and protects me from my enemies.  Even in this time when I am hard pressed on every side, my cup overflows.

so again today, I will say,  “This is the day the Lord has made; let us (me) rejoice and be glad in it.”    (Psalm 118:24)

sincerely,       Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

I confess – my eyesight isn’t what it used to be.  I guess that would explain why I wear glasses.  My glasses enable me to read the small print I wouldn’t be able to read otherwise but still I feel my sight isn’t perfect.  I often don’t see people or events clearly, or as clearly as I wish I could see them.  Although, like everyone else, my hindsight is always perfect.

I want to see other people as God sees them, but how do I do that?  God’s vision is so superior to mine.  1 Samuel 16:7 provides this explanation,

“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

If only I had God’s x-ray vision!  “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”  (Hebrews 4:13)

God sees it all.  No one escapes His notice, no one is invisible to Him.  In Matthew 10 we are told not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from His notice.  In Genesis 16:7 we read, “The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert;”.  This prompted Hagar to say of God, ” ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’ ”    (Genesis 16:13)

Not only did God see Hagar, there would come a time when He would help her to see Him and to see her surroundings.  She was again in the desert with her son, Ishmael.  “Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.  So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.”  (Genesis 21:19)  God opened her eyes and saved her life.

God helped Elisha’s servant to see when he was afraid of what he saw, which was horses and chariots surrounding the city where they were.  But Elisha told him, “‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’  Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”   (2 Kings 6:16-17)

God can help me to see what I don’t see on my own but need to see nonetheless.  It is a matter of where I fix my gaze.  “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  (2 Corinthians 4:18)

That’s what God sees when He looks at me, the eternal part of me, not the temporal.  When I look at others with my human eyes, I see the temporal, not the eternal.  But God can help me to see the eternal in others, to see as He sees.

God opened Hagar’s eyes, He opened Elisha’s servant’s eyes, He opened Paul’s eyes by first making him blind.  God can open my eyes and my heart if I allow Him to guide my gaze from the temporal to the eternal.

This certainly is a time when we all need to view each other through a clearer, kinder, more grace filled lens.  We need to see ourselves and each other as God sees us – as His image bearers, as His dearly loved children.  We need to see beyond the outward appearance of a person into their heart.  Too bad there aren’t glasses that could help me with that kind of vision.

My prayer is that of the psalmist in Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law.”

Ultimately, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”  (Antoine de Saint Exupery)

so maybe it’s my heart that needs glasses more than my eyes do?

sincerely,      Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

There are certain things we carry with us for life – memories, words, tunes, images that stay long past their time, lingering somewhere in the hidden parts of the heart, living buried beneath the current cares of the day.  Sometimes however, they surface unbidden, these forgotten treasures time has left for lost.  Such are the words that come so clearly to my mind, words that walk with me through these days now filled with COVID and chaos.

“Oh, beautiful for patriot dream, That sees beyond the years.  Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears!  America!  America!  God shed His grace on thee  . . .”   I remember singing these words in elementary school choir.  I remember wondering what “alabaster” was.  But even then, I knew what a patriot was.  We had studied Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death” and Nathan Hale, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

I had learned about Crispus Attucks, a sailor and rope maker, who became the first martyr for the American cause when he was killed March 5th, 1770, the first to die in the Boston Massacre.  He was a former slave, one of what is estimated to be between five and eight thousand Black Americans who fought on the Patriot side against the British crown during the years of the Revolutionary War.

Perhaps I feel a particular connection to this proud patriot because I work at a high school that bears his name and has a legacy of achievement and success. Salem Poor is another American patriot, most remembered for his heroism at the Battle of Bunker Hill.  Poor, who had been born a slave, eventually purchased his freedom for twenty-seven pounds and later joined the fight for American independence from Britain.

Perhaps the patriot, the person, I most identify with though, is Phillis Wheatley. She published a book of poetry in 1773, becoming the third woman and the first Black American to do so in our nation.  Her writing “carried strong messages against slavery and became a rallying cry for Abolitionists:  . . .   She also advocated for independence, artfully expressing support for George Washington’s Revolutionary War in her poem  . . . ”   It was said of Phillis Wheatley that she “was a revolutionary intellectual who waged a war for freedom with her words.” That’s my kind of woman!  I want to follow in her footsteps!

Yes, I understood patriotism and sacrifice even then.  My grandfather had served in the South Pacific during World War 2.  John F. Kennedy’s words “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”, inspired a new generation of patriots while Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech” spurred us all to press on until the words of the Declaration of Independence should become a reality for every single American.

I am wondering where they are now, the patriots, for such a time as this?  Now that we are so close, so much closer than we were, why are they so silent?  The words to the song continue in my mind.  “Oh beautiful for heroes proved, In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life!”  There’s that self sacrifice again, by sacrificing for something greater than themselves, patriots past have left us their legacy.

What are we doing to honor their memory?  Is the dream Martin Luther King spoke so eloquently about now dead?  Never to be realized as we abandon all that is good and descent in favor of tyranny and rule by terror.  Are people now too afraid to stand up and speak out for what is right?

“America the Beautiful” was written by Katharine Lee Bates in 1893 and first published in 1895.  While hiking in the mountains of Colorado, she saw first hand the beauty of the landscape.  “Inspired by that, and by her desire for equality, she wrote the poem, ‘America the Beautiful.’  In it, she showcased her love and hopes for her country.”

Even in 1895, the author was talking about “liberating strife.”  She knew there were those still striving for their freedom, even after the Emancipation Proclamation had become a reality years earlier.  (1863)  These words from the song are particularly telling.  “Oh, beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress, a thoroughfare of freedom beat across the wilderness! America!  America!  God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.”

Those words from 1893 are meaningful still.  Today, the truth that our laws, as written into our constitution and our Bill of Rights, provide us our liberties, our protections, our freedoms – is under attack.  The author of this song loved this country while at the same time recognizing that there were things wrong that needed to be righted.  Hence the line, “God mend thine every flaw.”

Katharine Bates shows us that we can see what is wrong within our country and love her at the same time.  We can do both.  We don’t have to be blind to her faults to love her and to stand up for her.  (We continue to love our children when they do wrong, but we endeavor to help them to change and to do better.  We don’t give up on them)   It is precisely because we love our country that we fight for her and we fight to make her a better place for everyone who lives within her borders.

Our past has proven that we can do this, especially if we fight together instead of fighting each other.  We want the same things – peace, prosperity, the freedom to work and to worship as we choose without government interference.  Where are those “alabaster cities gleaming, undimmed by human tears” that Bates wrote about?  What did the author see as she wrote those words in 1893?  Did she see what was or what could be?  Was her gaze on the present?  Or was she looking into the future seeing what America could become?

There have been plenty of human tears over the years since Bates penned those words.  And there are more than enough tears being shed on a daily basis currently as our cities burn down before our eyes (Portland -61 days of violence continuing right now) and people continuing to die day after day from gun violence in our city streets.  Bates knew the alabaster cities of her song held human tears, but she acknowledged they also held forth the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – a promise so powerful as to be still gleaming, undimmed by human tears.  

There is no liberty without law.  Right now people are not free to walk the streets of their own cities without fear.  It is incomprehensible that we are witnessing protesters and politicians attack and tear down the very country that protects them as they do so, the very country that provides them the education and the opportunity to pursue their own path and to succeed.

If freedom falls here, to where will we flee?  Our country was “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”  Today we find ourselves again “engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”   (Gettysburg Address)

This battle is for the hearts and the minds of every American.  Deception is the weapon of choice and truth is the only antidote to the deadly poison of lies and deceit that is being poured out continuously over our nation.

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  (John 8:32)  Interesting how truth is a prerequisite for freedom, isn’t it?  without truth freedom cannot flourish –

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”  (2 Corinthians 3:17)

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,”  (Psalm 33:12)

“And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”   (Micah 6:8)

justice, mercy and humility – Lord, help me practice these today and everyday –

sincerely,       Grace Day