Hands Off!

Don’t touch me there!

Hands off!

I got that scar 5, 10, 15 years ago

And it reminds me everyday

To keep you and everyone else

Out of my life.

But Jesus came

Bearing scars of his own,

And an invitation:

“Touch the nail prints,

Put your hand where the blood flowed from my side.

Let my wounds give you freedom

To let yours go.”

“You can trust me with your scars.

I can’t promise it won’t hurt.

But I can promise you freedom

From the prison you have locked yourself in.

You thought it would keep you safe,

But it just kept you wounded,

Alone in your painful memories.”

“May I? Yes?

I am peeling back the layers,

Uncovering disguised feelings,

Reactive behaviors,

Exposing the roots.

Scraping, cleaning,

Replenishing the soil,

Pouring in the oil,

The water of the Word,

The light of my presence.”

“No longer are you defined by your scars!

You are safe in my arms,

Healed by my wounds.

And one day, like me,

You will offer your scars

As a testimony of hope

For others’ healing.”

All About a Wedding

I just returned this month from a 14 day prayer journey in Italy.  It was amazing!

Our prayer journey to Israel four years ago was all about birthing, and especially birthing twins.  Our prayer journey to Italy developed a wedding theme early on.  As we drove around the first Italian cities we visited, Milan and Florence, we began to see brides and grooms and wedding parties on the sidewalks on their way to or from a wedding.

We visited two churches, the Basicalla of St. Nicholas, and the Santuario di Santa Rosalia on Monte Pellegrino in Palermo, where we had to hurry with our prayer time because a wedding was about to take place.  As we prayed we watched people bring in white flowers, ribbons, candles and roll out red carpets for the brides to walk upon on their way to the alter.  And God spoke to us about preparing Italy, and ourselves, for the Wedding his heart is longing for.  So we prayed and prepared the churches for the weddings about to take place, the immediate ones in those places, and the readiness of the Bride, God’s Church for her wedding to the Lamb of God.

In Venice we sat on some shaded benches overlooking the water and along came a stunning bride and groom with a troop of professional photographers who posed them and took photos.  We watched as tourists followed the troop and captured their own photos of a bride and groom they would never know.  

There’s something about a wedding, fresh hope for a new life filled with love, alongside someone who will know you and be known by you.  Even with the disastrous global divorce rate, and the high rate of infidelity in Italy and around the world, the wedding is an in your face declaration that this union will be different.  This time the vows mean something.  This time the two will become one for always and will make an impact on the world as a couple that neither could have made as individuals.  This time the man and woman will not cave in to their conflicts, but will work through them and become stronger and more glorious in spite and because of their wounds along the way.

Because it’s all about a wedding.  Jesus coming to this world and loving to the point of ultimate sacrifice, to redeem the very ones who called for his death, who heaped upon him the sins he carried – none his own.  But it’s bigger than that.  It’s not only the individual lives that come into the Kingdom.  Jesus longs to sew together the churches, to form his Bride, to adorn her in robes of righteousness, jewels of service to God and one another, to present to himself a Bride without spot or wrinkle.

So the day will come when the Spirit and the Bride say “Come”. 

Come Lord Jesus.

Just How Good our God Really Is!

When the grandchildren come over to play with me, one game we always play is "guess which hand". They sit on the bottom step of my 13 step staircase and I offer them two closed hands, one of which holds a tiny ladybug magnet.  If they guess the right hand and find the ladybug, they get to go up one step.  If they guess the wrong hand, they stay where they are.  The one who gets to the top step first is the winner, and he gets to be the one with the ladybug, while I join the others back on the bottom step.

Sometimes when the kids are over, even when we're not playing the game, I go to them with my hands clenched and say, "guess which hand".  No matter which hand they pick, there is a treat for them, a candy kiss or a tiny toy, for no other reason than I delight to give them a gift and watch them smile.

Father God plays that game, "guess which hand", too.  Not with stuff we need.  Like he doesn't hold our rent money in one hand and give us the chance to guess it, or lose it.  No he freely meets our needs, but more than that, he plays "guess which hand", and both hands are loaded with things we want, not just things we need.  "He opens his hand, and satisfies the desires of every living thing." Ps. 145:16.  Our desires, think of it, those things we long for in our hearts, spoken or unspoken, held out to us in his open hand, just for the delight of seeing our smile.

God is soooo good.