Surprise

“What is so surprising about this?”  

This was Peter’s question to the astonished crowd who witnessed the healing of the lame beggar.  This favorite Sunday school story is found in Acts, chapter 3. Peter and John are going to the temple to pray when a lame man who begged at the temple gate everyday asked them for money. Peter and John look at him and then Peter says, we have no money, but we have Jesus and in his name you can walk.  Then, they help him to his feet and he begins walking and leaping and praising God. (I loved that line in the Sunday school song.) He then goes into the temple with them.  The congregation gathered there is “absolutely astounded” when they realize this is the beggar whom they’ve passed everyday on their way into the temple.  Seizing the opportunity, Peter says why are you so surprised and why are you staring at us as if we did this on our own?  Don’t you know, Peter wanted to say, what’s wrong with you people, didn’t you pay any attention to events of the last several months, and don’t you have a clue whose followers we are? In a way, he did. But he also told them, “Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed.”  He told them this same Jesus came to be their Savior.

Peter might have been surprised himself that his sermon resulted in his arrest and that thousands of peopole became believers that day.  But then again, maybe not, Jesus had been surprising Peter from the time they met on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus had borrowed his boat, filled it with fish and them called him to follow him. (Another favorite Sunday school story found in Luke, chapter 5)

Sometimes I find myself responding like this astonished crowd, surprised by the power and goodness of God, surprised by his concern for the broken and the broke.  He answers a pray and a friend is healed, a relative is employed, a wayward child turns for home, or a difficult situation lightens up. And I asked myself, what is so surprising about this? Have you not paid attention?  I am reminded as Peter told the crowd and the Psalms so eloquently says, it is the name of the Lord that we find help, hope, direction and all that is needed for life.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
      but to your name goes all the glory
      for your unfailing love and faithfulness.  (Psalm 115:1)

The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
      I will protect those who trust in my name.
When they call on me, I will answer;
      I will be with them in trouble.
      I will rescue and honor them. (Psalm 91:14-15)

The Lord will work out his plans for my life—
      for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. (Psalm 138:8)

Thanks be to God!

Thanks for listening

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

Twenty-four years ago this week I had the best surprise of my life; one of God’s “goodest” gifts to me. After nine months of anticipating giving birth to a baby boy, my almost 10 pound baby girl arrived. The first words her daddy said were, “a girl ?!” Less than an hour before she was born, the doctor was still saying, gotta be a boy. The “pencil test” had been saying boy consistently for months and the doctor was 95% sure I was carrying a boy.  Nevertheless, on May 21, 1987, we took our baby girl home to her blue nursery and little Dallas cowboy outfits. Luckily, my mother had a cut out a pink dress the week before “just in case” and Stephen’s grandmother finished it so Virginia Grace could come home in pretty pink, instead of Dallas Cowboy blue!  

She is evidence that God does indeed know what is best for me!

Virginia Grace,
Ready to go home in her pink dress
May 21, 1987

What time I am afraid

Recently my mom and I were remembering an eventful trip she, my brothers and I made to my Granny’s house. Somewhere between Fort Worth and Granbury, Texas we found ourselves on a dead end road that literally ended in a field.  Being the oldest child I tried to remain calm but I was scared to death! My mother recalls me saying several times, if only Daddy were here. If we had had a cell phone, you better believe I would have been on the phone with him certain he could have guided us back to our road. My mother, however, did what she knew to do. She prayed and then she thought about where we had come from and where we must be in relation to places that were familiar to her. Then she began to make our way back in the direction that seemed logical to her. And then she stopped at the only place she could find and asked directions, a bar in the middle of nowhere!  To say the least, I was now petrified. My brother, Michael, who was 8 or 9 at the time, went in with her. (Well, someone had to stay in the car with the two younger boys!)  We eventually made it back to the right road and arrived safe and sound at my Granny’s house.

My mother taught me a valuable lesson that night about dealing with fear and anxiety.  I remember thinking how can she not be scared! Now I know she was, but despite her fear, she did not panic.  Instead before she reacted, she prayed and she thought about what she knew and then and only then did she act.  And when an opportunity presented itself, she asked for help.  Over my lifetime, she has had to teach me this lesson again and again.

 In Philippians, we are told; “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (4:6-8) My mother certainly knows how to pray. But here’s the real secret I think she knows, just before these verses Paul reminds us that “The Lord is near”.  That scary night in Texas I was certain, if my Daddy had been near I would not have been afraid. I had complete trust in my Daddy’s ability to protect and direct us in any situation.   I’m convinced that the simple knowledge that my heavenly Father is near is the only antidote for the fears and anxieties life presents. Where ever we find ourselves, He is there!

I want to live with no fear, like I did as a child when my Daddy was near. But in the mean time I want to follow the verse my mother-in-law often quotes. “What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” Psalm 56:3.

Thanks for listening,

See you next Sunday

Ronda

My mother and my mother-in-law are completely different personalities, but both have taught me much about trusting in the Lord. I am blessed with two wonderful mothers whom I love dearly! Happy Mother’s Day!

My mother-inlaw, Grace Darlene
My Mother, Virginia and
their grandaughter, Virginia Grace
Graduation 2005.