Who are you?

  

 I'm told in the scriptures that we will know you by the works of your hand - by creation.  So as I look around I ask -

Are you like the mountains 

beguiling my eye? 

With silver-clad peaks piercing the sky? 

Are you like those mountains - untouchably high?

 

Are you like the valleys 

catching the snow

            the keepers of water for life down below?

 

Are you like the valleys - with life giving flow?

 

Are you like the river which grows in its quest 

seaward and downward 

from east and from west?

Are you like the river - never at rest?

 

Are you like the flower, the grass and the tree,

green growing home for the bird and the bee?

Are you like them all - a haven for me?

 

Oh God of the mountain, the river and glade

Oh God of the raindrops, the sunshine and shade

Oh God of the flowers, the springtime and fall

Oh God of creation - are you like them all?

 

Too high to reach

Too deep to feel

Too grand to know if you are real.

 

But the scripture says,
Romans 1:20 (NIV) “ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
 
So I know and I believe.

 
 

Catch me

Picture an old fashioned carousel.   See the horses spinning in a circle - endlessly.

Hear the music galloping along with a vengeance.  See the mirror in the middle of the carousel reflecting back the chaos of the ride.  A carousel isn't always fun, and this cry came from my heart.

"Catch me God,” I cry.

"Stop this carousel I’m on." 

The days and the seasons, stampeding, go by.

Dark pains and dark pleasures around me, they fly,

 

and I cry,

“Catch me please God – before I die.”

 

“Catch me God,” I cry,

as the black in my heart edges in.

My life and my actions increasingly gray -

the good and the perfect are further away,

 

and I cry

“Catch me please God – before I die.”

 

“Catch me God,” I cry.

The carousel mirror shows truth to me.

It shows me a life full of sin beyond measure -

a self-centered life hurting those I should treasure

 

Oh how I cry,

“Catch me please God – before I die.”

 

And then, the carousel is still.

My world has crashed.

I’ve lost the will

to run,

and running, then to hide,

since the mirror has shown me what’s inside.

When I saw and confessed the guilt 

to my Lord, 

He softened the pain, 

and I heard Him explain

that 

playing the game of catch-if-you-can

is something that He would not do.

I had to stop playing,

reach out,  

take God’s hand.

and follow His heart - then I knew.

 

He was there all the time seeing my plight. 

He answered each time I prayed in the night.

He hurt when I hurt and He said when I cried,

 

“I caught you my child, --

on the day my Son died.”

Dear friend, if you are playing that game - please know that life can get better.  It did for me, many years ago when I surrendered my heart to my Father, the God of the universe.

God smiled at me today

When you reached out and touched me today God touched me, with the touch of your hand.

In this Covid/Post-Covid/Distanced World, there are so few actual physical touches.  And we miss them, don't we? 

Hugs, pats on the back, hand shakes, all of the friendly, non threatening human touches that are part of family and community.  They are necessary, and I feel deprived when I'm denied them.

But there is another beautiful way that God reaches out to us.  I believe that He smiles when His children offer smiles to His other kids.

We were traveling this week and within only a short time I stopped to record the following smiles from my Father.

• The airport shuttle driver showed extra concern for me as I stepped into the van.  I was a bit unsteady on my feet but God was smiling at me.
  
  
• A TSA agent took extra care to make sure Ron's belongings were safe - bringing them to me, and suggesting a place to sit.
  
  
• A server in an airport restaurant joked with a couple of old people who were not even dining there.  Her smile put a bit of spark in my tired soul - a smile from my Father.
  
  
• The Starbucks barista brewed fresh hot coffee when she could have just emptied the old pot for our drinks.  She even came out from behind the counter to put them in our hands with a smile.
  
  
• God smiled when he gave us an open airy place to wait for our plane.
  
  
• When He brought to our eyes a book written by Eugene Peterson and the discussion we had about covenants was so specisl.
  .
• When our special friends welcomed us with faces of love.
  
  
• When the telephone receptionist at the Doctor's office gave me the information I needed to find help with a medical issue  The kindness in her voice for someone she didn't know, shown loud and clear as a smile from God.
  
  
• When the PA at UC Urgent care came out of the office and caught me in the waiting room when we were leaving,  She came to remind me to follow up on the Blood Pressure issue with my home Doctor - just to make sure I didn't forget and her smile came from her heart used by the heart of God.

Many of these smiles could be written off and forgotten.  I don't want to ever forget kindness. 

And when you smile, God's face I see.  

His light awakens joy in me.  

God created us to love each other,

to interact, to be together.  

He created us - community.

He is Risen!

       Resurrection 

           Sunday

                                       

Gentle footsteps, slowly walking, stopping not upon the way

 

Ere the dawning of the sun

gentle footsteps softly come

to the place where Jesus lay.

 

Gentle footsteps, walking onward, gentle faces sad and gray

toward their master laying dead

wrapped in cloths now stained blood red

in the place where Jesus lay.

 

Gentle footsteps, gentle ladies, hasten to their master's side

with the task that lay before them

perfumed spices to embalm Him

on they walked and sadly cried.

They walked along and wondered who would roll away the stone.

With the dawning of the sun

gentle footsteps softly come

to the Christ of flesh and bone.

 

Coming closer, footsteps halted - what is it our eyes betray?

Is the scene that has arisen

just a shadow or a vision?

Has the stone been rolled away?

 

Gentle footsteps running onward to the tomb that Joseph gave.

As they stopped and looked within

sitting where the Christ had been

was an angel in the cave.

 

His appearance was like lightening and his clothes a snowy hue.

Then he told them have no fear

He is risen,   He's not here.

Before too long you'll know it's true

 

Gentle footsteps, still and quiet, listen to the angel's plea.

Quickly go and tell the others.

He has risen, tell his brothers.

He's gone ahead to Galilee.

 

Gentle footsteps of the women walk away as in a dream.

 

Is it true -- what the angel's say, or have they taken him away.

And who will believe what we have seen

 

But they told.

We thank God for those words.

He is Risen!

 

Diane Gruchow rev 2022

He could have called ten-thousand angels

"The night that Satan thought he had me,

the night he planned his victory,

as his servant Judas kissed me

I walked the road to Calvary."

"The rough arms came,

reached out, and seized me.

My dear friend drew his sword to fight.

Put back your sword, I had to tell him.

It has to be this way tonight."

"Oh don't you think I could withstand them

without your help if I did try.

Oh don't you know ten thousand angels

would be at hand with just a cry."

"But lead me on that way to Calvary.

It's time.  

It's God's appointed hour.

I'll walk along, no need to drag me

for I won't use my heavenly power."

"Oh I could call ten thousand angels

if I wanted to be free.

Oh I could call upon my Father,

but my love won't let that be."

"Oh I could call ten thousand angels, 
but I will not, don't you see?    
 I have come to die in your place. 
 I have come to set you free."

For love of us, He died on that Good Friday.

Separation

 

You may have been separated from someone you love deeply, or the people who love you, at some time in your life.  It may have been restful – for a short time, maybe a time to get your bearings and to think about important or unimportant things – or just a time not to think, or do, or be.  But more than likely, if the separation was unplanned, or permanent, or unwanted - you felt as if it was almost impossible to bear. 

That's one of the things I’ve been thinking about during this time as we remember our Savior's crucifixion.   I've been thinking of the words of His cry on the cross. 

In Matthew 27:46 we read. “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,

 “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (ESV)

The terms used in other translations, such as “why have you abandoned me,” “left me,” “deserted me,” may tell of your own personal separation.  But they truly describe to us the pain of THAT cruel separation – Jesus was alone on that cross.  Not only was He alone, but He was carrying a burden that was not meant for Him, it was ours.  He didn’t deserve to be there – we did.

“My God, My God,
why hast thou forsaken me?”
He cried aloud from that cursed tree.
 
“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”
words of despair men heard Him cry.
 
The cry rang out!  Feel the pain - the cost
to the Father who’d given His Son on that cross.
 
He could have stopped it.
 
He could have held that soul in His arms protecting Him from this terrible harm.
 
It could have been that Christ felt Him there
easing the burden of the sins He would bear.

No! That wouldn't pay the price that was due -
the price for salvation for me and for you.
 
For the only price
that could save the lost was the separation
of God on the cross
from God in his heaven - the Father and Son
to be torn from each other - a tearing of one.
 

That day on the earth,
the darkness that reigned,
came not from the soldiers,
came not from the pain.
 
It came from God's heart tearing in two
hurting much more than any could do.
 
Loving so much, that it broke his own heart,
The Son on the cross, and the Father, apart.
 
Separation!

The price that was due 
as He died on the cross
alone, just for you.

 

Diane Gruchow rev 2022

Thoughts today about a lion

I love reading, especially fiction, some of which seems meant to bring me truth.  Much of the time the writer portrays in a new way, something very familiar.  In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, we read the following quote.

Many of us have enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis.  And many of us have pictured Lewis’ description of Aslan, as a representation or a picture of our Savior, Jesus.

 Those are interesting thought pictures.  Were they correct?  Is Lewis’ Aslan really representative of Jesus?  Is Jesus safe (tame); is Jesus good?  Of course, there is no question in my own mind that Jesus is God and God is good and God is King!

 Since the question of a “good” God keeps coming up in discussions of tragedy and pain, I decided to consider the idea of trusting God in His “goodness.”  Must whatever we believe comes from God,  match our own limited view of “goodness”? 

Do we think that “Good” means being good for me at this present time – good, as in pleasant, or harmless, or painless? 

We cannot understand the mind of Christ. We are not God. The key is found in scripture.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  Isaiah 55:8 (KJV)

But, if we ask whether God is safe, as Susan asked, referring to the lion in the quote above, the answer is definitely yes. God is safe.  Safety is found nowhere else.  We can appeal to Him.  We can ask for His help.  We can ask, and He will grant those things that He knows are “meant for His good.”  

But God is not tame – He cannot be led around, manipulated, or trained.  He is definitely not tame.  He is God – The King. 

Lewis’ writings are not scripture, but as with other writings by excellent authors, we may be able to learn something, or possibly picture something that wasn’t clear to us before reading them.  In addition, the questions asked in a particular story are questions that people ask in many different ways, questions to which we sometimes erroneously believe the easy answers. 

Is God good, can we trust Him?  Yes, the scriptures tell us that God is good!  He is kind.  He is upright.  He is our place of refuge, and He blesses us.  We read in the scriptures: 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
Psalm 118:29 (NASB) 

“Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore, He instructs sinners in the way.”
  Psalm 25:8 (ESV) 

“O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”  Psalm 34:8 (ESV) 

This scripture decries the notion that God can be tamed.  He cannot be controlled.  He is beyond our human understanding. 

“By His breath the heavens are cleared; 
His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.
Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; 
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”  
Deuteronomy 32:4  (NASB) 

“Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”  
Isaiah 40:28  (ESV) 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9  (NIV) 

Whether C.S. Lewis endeavored to describe our God in his writings, 

I don’t know.  I do know that God shows His works and His worth in many ways.   But without a doubt, God is not a lion, a fictional character, or any man or woman’s idea.
 
He is
 the almighty, eternal,
invisible, creator,
the one who loves each one of us - His children.
And He is Good.