Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 22

Do you?

 

Fridaywe were left with words such as Disappointment, Dismay, and Desolation.  

Butit’s Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene and others go to the tomb of Jesus, filledwith Dread. They believe their Lord and Savior is Dead and His cold body willbe lying there. Instead, the tomb is empty, Jesus’ body is gone. They are Desperateto find it, to find Him.

AndHe finds them and their Despair is quickly turned to Delight. Jesus is their Deliverer.

Aweek later, however, we encounter one last D word. Doubt. You know the story. Thomas,one of the disciples, wasn’t with the others when Jesus appeared to them. Hedoubted what they told him. He wouldn’t believe until he put his fingers wherethe nails had pierced Jesus’ hands.

WhenJesus appeared to him, Thomas did just that – put his fingers in the holes inJesus’ hands and in His side. Then he no longer doubted.

Whatabout you? Without having seen Jesus yourself, do you believe in the resurrection?Do you have faith that Jesus Christ came to save you from your sins?

Ipray you Do. May God bless you, Chris

So Many D's

Thispast Sunday night, Hubby and I were supposed to fly out of Minneapolis, headingto Seattle to visit his nephew for the week. I’d been watching the forecast thewhole previous week, and it kept saying that snow was heading our way. ButMinneapolis, Minnesota? Where a foot of snow is the same as an inch of snowanywhere else? Surely the eight to ten inches that was forecasted wouldn’taffect our flight.

8:30Sunday morning, twelve hours before our scheduled takeoff, I got a text fromthe airline saying our flight was cancelled. What? Twelve hours away! Anythingcould happen. Come on, people, give it a chance.

Hubbyand I reviewed all our options, tried to come up with every possible scenarioto save this trip, but it just didn’t feel like it was going to happen.

Wewere so disappointed. But then my pain jumped up again Monday morning and keptme miserable for three days, so maybe the trip would have been a wash anyway.

Disappointment.But nothing compared to what Jesus’ followers felt on the first Good Friday. Dismay,despair, desolation, dread. So many D’s.

Andwhat about Jesus? Death. An excruciatingly painful death on a cross.

ButSunday is coming.

Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled

 

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I giveto you. I do not give peace to you as the world gives. Do not let your heartsbe troubled or afraid. You heard Me say that I am going away. But I am comingback to you. If you love Me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father.The Father is greater than I. I have told you this before it happens. Then whenit does happen, you will believe.

            “I will not talk much more with you.The leader of this world is coming. He has no power over Me. I am doing whatthe Father told Me to do so the world may know I love the Father. Come, let usbe on our way”. (John 14:27-30, New Life Version)

Thereis nothing I can – or should – add to that. Today is Palm Sunday, the start ofHoly Week. Good Friday is only days away. But remember, Easter Sunday iscoming. God bless you.

I Want to Live

Itwill be a year on the first since I threw out my back, and this horrible cycleof pain began. For the last few weeks, I had been doing pretty good; then, I wasafflicted with vertigo, followed a few days later by a cold. But still, thepain wasn’t bad at all, except for my neck, which I couldn’t turn withoutgetting dizzy.

Then,I woke up Monday morning with another spin of the Wheel of Misfortune. Right pelvic pain to the point where I couldn’t walk. Over the last eleven months,I’ve had this before, and it usually eases up after two days.

SoI woke up yesterday morning, and the right side wasn’t too bad, but the left side was horrible. That has kind of been the trend. Not only is my left pelvis still hurting this morning, but today my left neck is stiff and killing me. 

I’vedealt with all of this as best I can. Some days, like yesterday, I hit the walland wasn’t very nice to my husband or son, as if any of this was their fault.But overall, I’ve accepted that this is life.

Therewas a time, however, last fall when I couldn’t cope anymore. God wasn’tanswering my prayers to take away the pain, and He wasn’t answering my prayerswhen I kept asking why this was happening to me. A depression descended on me,a black cloud. I didn’t care if I got up in the morning; I found nothing tomake me laugh. My prayers become times of begging God to take me home toheaven.

Iscared myself and the friends and family members who I told about my feelings.I started thinking of all the ways I could kill myself, which looked like anaccident.

Then,one afternoon in November, I got crushing chest pain while taking my walk.Instead of going straight to the ER (do not pass go, do not collect $200),since the pain went away by the time I got in the house, I called and made adoctor’s appointment for the following week.

Butin my head, I thought, ah-ha, finally, God has listened to my prayers, and He’sgoing to take me.

Imade it to the appointment and had a bunch of tests that day, which all cameback pretty okay. But the doctor wanted to run one more test, which took amonth to get in for. 

Still,I thought, this is okay. I’ll die from a heart attack before then.

Theday of the appointment came, and I was still alive. I made it through the test,and a few days later, my doctor gave me the results. He tried to cover up hisconcern, but I could tell he didn’t like something about the results. Hescheduled me to see cardiology.

Iwent home and looked up everything I could find online about the number hedidn’t like, that one little blimp on an otherwise normal test. What I sawstopped me in my tracks. The words “increased risk for sudden cardiac death”jumped off my computer screen.

Ilooked out my window and whispered, “But, God, I don’t want to die.” Then Iwanted to shout, “I don’t want to die.”

I was like George Bailey near the end of “It’sa Wonderful Life,” hanging on to the bridge railing, his mouth bleeding,repeating, “I want to live. I want to live again.”

WhenI saw the cardiologist, she said that the one abnormal number on that testusually didn’t mean anything, but she’d schedule one last test just to be sure.That one came back totally normal, and I was cleared; there was nothing wrongwith my heart.

Andmy mind? That is good again, too. Coz I don’t wanna die. No matter how muchpain I’m in or what new ailment assails me, I want to live.

Yes, I am sure that neither death, norlife, nor angels, nor ruling spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, nopowers, nothing above us, nothing below us, nor anything else in the wholeworld will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in ChristJesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39, New Century Version)

 

Everything

Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the otherdisciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to revealyourself only to us and not to the world at large?”

            Jesus replied, “All who love me willdo what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our homewith each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember,my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. Iam telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Fathersends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teachyou everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

Canyou imagine living in that moment? Being one of the chosen twelve disciples? Beingone of the men whom Jesus entrusted with EVERYTHING about His life? And tryingto understand it all.

Wedon’t realize how lucky we are. We have the entire Bible to study and learnfrom. We aren’t living in the moment, two thousand years ago, being told by ourTeacher that bad things were going to happen to Him and then watching this Frienddie on that cross.

Butwe still don't know everything. All we have is the indescribable joy of knowing that He rose from the graveon the third day. 

The Tree of Knowledge

Whenbad things happen, everyone asks – why would God do this? Why would a loving Fatherallow believers to suffer? Why would He let innocent little children die painfuldeaths?

Peoplesearch all over the Bible for answers to those questions, and they sometimesfind good ones. I’ve asked God all those things – and more – as I struggledwith pain and a list of other maladies over the past eleven months. And I’vefound some answers in the Bible, too. But way back in the second chapter of thefirst book of the Bible is the answer which works best for me.

Then the Lord God placed the man in theGarden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. He told him, “You may eat thefruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of whatis good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do,you will die the same day.” (Genesis 2:15-17, Good News Translation)

Maybewe just aren’t supposed to know why things happen. Maybe if we knew the answersto those questions, we wouldn’t be able to handle it. Maybe we just need totrust God that He knows what He’s doing. He has knowledge and that needs to be enoughfor us.  

Who Is the Holy Spirit?

“If you love me, obey me; and I will askthe Father and he will give you another Comforter, and he will never leave you.He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who leads into all truth. The world at largecannot receive him, for it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. Butyou do, for he lives with you now and some day shall be in you. 

"No, I will notabandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you. In just alittle while I will be gone from the world, but I will still be present withyou. For I will live again—and you will too. When I come back to life again,you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. The one whoobeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will lovehim; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him.” (John 14:15-21, LivingBible)

Onceagain, the apostle John packs a lot into just a few verses. So, I’m going tofocus on just one thing here – the Comforter. Other versions of the Bible referto this as the Advocate, Encourager, Helper, or Counselor. But Jesus sets us straight when He says that this is the Holy Spirit.

Whenwe think of God the Father, we can picture a grandfatherly man or anotherolder person with a kind yet strong demeanor. Everyone has pretty much the samepicture in their head when they think of God the Son – you know, that paintingof Jesus with shoulder-length brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard, eyes looking heavenward,wearing a white tunic. (I’d share that picture here, but I want you to see itin your own mind.)

Butwhat comes to mind when we say God the Holy Spirit. He’s a spirit, right? So maybeHe doesn’t have human form and maybe that’s why He’s the hardest element of thetriune God for us to understand.

Butmaybe He should be the easiest. Read what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit – Heis with you forever and will never leave you, He lives with you now and laterwill be in you. And remember, He is also your Comforter, Advocate,Encourager, Helper, and Counselor.

Andalso, usually portrayed as a dove, and not the goofy bird above.  

Another spin of the wheel, or of the merry-go-round

The only amusement ride I've ever liked. 

I’msorry that I didn’t write a blog on Wednesday, but the Wheel of Misfortune spuna new one on me. This time it wasn’t pain, it was vertigo. Room-spinning,floor-tilting, nauseating vertigo.

I had one ER trip, one doctor’s office visit, and one therapy appointment, inthree days. If any of you have ever had this – medical term usually being BenignPositional Vertigo, or BPV – you know it can be debilitating. We’ve all been dizzyor off-balance, but this is like having had too much to drink and then steppingon an amusement park ride, but there’s nothing amusing about it.

Thecure is simple – something called the Epley Maneuver. (I know BPV alreadysounds a little sketchy and then you do some kind of maneuver? Creepy.) (Justkidding.) 

Workingin health care, I’ve heard of this before, but silly me, I was under the assumptionthat this little maneuver would cure the vertigo after one hit. Nothing is everthat easy, right? And certainly not that easy in my life.

So,I do this thing – turn my head and lay down and let the dizziness pass – twice aday and it should get better in a few weeks. It’s all from crystals in our earsgetting into the wrong canal and this move makes them shift back to where theybelong. I still find it hard to believe that this is actual traditional Westernmedicine.

Anyway,wish me luck, once again.

Will Jesus Answer our Prayer?

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believesin me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I amgoing to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will doit, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything inmy name, and I will do it! ( John 14:12-14)

Whata great thought! Believe, do as Jesus has done, and then ask for anything; itis as good as done!

So,then, how come all our prayers don’t get answered? How come we can pray nightafter night for a relative to be cured of cancer? Or for a loved one to come toknow the Lord? Or for safety during a tornado or other disastrous event? Andthose prayers don’t seem to be answered?

Acouple of things are happening in the short final sentence in the above Bibleverse.  First, “Ask for anything in myname.” Did you ask in Jesus’ name? Sure, you said Christ’s name in yourprayer, but did you mean it? Did you feel it?

Anddo you know what it really means to pray that way? It means you have turnedyour request over to Jesus, and it’s now his decision how he “will do it.”Godisn’t a puppet on a string to do our every bidding. We must trust that both Godthe Father and God the Son have our best interests and will take care of us andour prayers.

Going over the Falls

I shared this story before, and I’m not sure why I felt compelled to share it now. Perhaps I just needed to recall a time when I was young and daring and able to climb around and do crazy stuff. 

In March of 1993, just thirty-one years ago, my sister Pat and I decided to start photographing all the waterfalls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I don’t remember how many we got, but I know we didn’t come close. 

Our first one was O Kun De Kun Falls. This was the first time we had been there, but it quickly became one of my all-time favorite waterfalls. 

Even though the sign at the start of the trail read 1.3 miles, we didn’t think that was very far. 

As we tramped through the woods, the cool July morning turned into a warm early afternoon, and before long, we were sweating in our jeans. 

Finally, we burst out of the pine trees at the river’s edge, just at the top of the waterfall. A series of several short falls ended in a plummet to the Baltimore River, some 20 feet below.

“Hey, there’s nobody around,” I told Pat as I stripped off my pants.

“Look,” Pat pointed, after she had laid down her freshly-shed jeans. “A ledge goes all the way behind the falls.”

“That would make such a cool picture,” I replied. 

“I’ll hand you your camera after you crawl back there.” I had a flashback to a similar conversation many years before. Dad had brought home this huge safe, and Pat bet I could fit in it. Why did I always do the dumb stuff she suggested?

So, of course, I crawled behind the waterfall on a slimy eight-inch sheet of rock. Just as I was in position and about to reach for my camera, my foot slipped. I have no idea how I hung on, but somehow, I kept myself from going over the falls. The picture I snapped from behind the falls wasn’t really worth it. And the shot Pat took of me? This is the first time it has seen the light of day. 

Maybe that’s why I decided to share this story again, along with the picture. I’m getting too old and have been through so much over the last year. There’s nothing left to embarrass me.