Sing God's Praise

A couple of months ago, I read in someone's email: "When it comes to martyrdom, I'm a card carrying member of Cowards Unlimited. I don't relish the idea of physical pain. The dentist is bad enough, but martyrdom is something else. Jesus warned His followers of terrible tribulation in the end times. Many Christians believe that the church will be raptured before it happens.

"Frankly, I don't believe that. I don't think the Scripture teaches it. Of course, I might be wrong. Believe me, I want to be wrong. I don't feel like hanging round and being “tribulated.” However, the fact remains, should Jesus ever require you and me to be crucified, how will we react? My prayer is that He will strengthen me to accept it as from His loving hand. I don't think there is any other way."

At which point, the following poem streamed from my fingertips whole-cloth. It is past time I shared it with my readers.

When times of trouble
Come flowing our way
Many of Faith will look
For Blessed Rapture Day
But what if, at that time
Lord Jesus asks us to stay?

There are two Witnesses
Called to stay behind
And share the Truth that
Others could not find
For many repentant hearts
Is what GOD has in mind

Before that final period
As in the words you give
Comes the time of Martyrs
Brightness shining thru a sieve
But what if during this time
Request is not to die, but live?

There are many in the world
Who suffer acute chronic pain
There is no cure, no correction
No hope being pain-free again
Tho they pray and have Faith
Their agony is still the same

 Yet, these chronic sufferers
Are also bright points of Light
They keep their eyes on GOD
Tho in agony day and night
It is through their example
They bring others some delight

For through their days of pain
Their tears are more than few
They still sing God's praises
For all they are still able to do
Not a minute or movement is
Taken for granted by them too

While some may die Martyrs
In one of many horrible ways
There are also chronic pains
For some all of their days
No matter what our life holds
May we always sing God's praise!!

~ ESA

Bumper Sticker

While I walk to my job, I had to travel into the nearest city recently. On the way in, I encountered rush-hour traffic.

While my old Jeep crawled along, trying to navigate into the adjacent lane before the current lane became a one way trip into the river below, I encountered "I will NOT let you cut in ahead of me" driving. One driver shoved her way around my Jeep's nose, virtually riding the bumper of the car before her.

Fortunately the semi-truck driver behind her honored my change-lane signal. As I waved my thanks to the truck-driver, my eyes fell upon the bumper sticker on that woman's car. It was for the local Christian radio station.

The thought "That's not a very Christian way of acting" immediately jumped to mind. Then, just shy of the Holy Spirit smacking me upside the back my head, that impression was corrected by the reminder that I also have a Christian radio station bumper sticker too.

What kind of example do I make when I am in a hurry, or down, or angry, or judgmental... ?

Two days after Christmas, I will drive my mother into the heart of New York City to park as close as possible to Rockefeller Center so she can see the Christmas tree and attend the Radio City Rockettes show. Will I ride the bumper of the car before me, as my mother shouts directions from beside me?

Or will I let people - likely equally stressed - merge in?

What about other aspects of my life? When do I slow down and let another life merge into mine, helping reduce some of their stress?

The truth is that we represent what we believe in, whether or not we have a bumper sticker on our car or any other symbol we wear on our person. Our actions teach others, far more than our words ever will.

What do you say

Along life's way

Including today

~ ESA

Living Example

This is reported as a true story, but I cannot place its origin. Wherever it is from, it holds a valuable message for us.

~ ESA

________________________________________________________________________

In a country where a non-Christian faith was the dominant religion, there lived a small family of Christians. Despite the harassment from military, government and neighbors, the family never diverged from practicing Christianity. The young woman saw her parents killed, then her brother.

This is her story.

While she didn’t see those who slaughtered her parents, she did look onto the face of her brother’s attacker. She had it burned in her mind. Paralyzed with fear and shock, she could do nothing that night.

Left alone, she continued to work as an aide in the local hospital, so she could earn enough to feed and care for herself.

One day, the man that killed her brother was admitted to the hospital with terrible wounds. She recognized him immediately.

He also recognized her, and realized she knew who he was. Bound in several bandages and lines that helped keep him alive, he had no easy means of escape. He lived in constant dread of this woman, for now he was completely at her mercy.

Day-after-day, he wondered how she would extract her revenge on him. Yet, day-after-day she continued to bathe him, feed him and gently tend to his wounds. He began to recover and grow in strength.

At last, the day before he was released from the hospital, he stopped her ministrations, looked her in the eye and asked, “Why?” He was completely baffled and perplexed by her actions. “Why did you do this? You clearly know who I am and what I did. Why did you help me instead of taking your revenge on me? I was at your complete mercy!”

She smiled and responded. “I do know who you are, and I remember everything. I am a Christian. We are taught to forgive and love our enemies.”

Tears started to trickle down the man’s cheeks. Then he wept openly as he admitted, “I had never known there was such a religion…”

My Sister, the Camel

At times, the hardest people to forgive are those closest to us, such as a family member. We argue that we know them too well and that they will never change. Who are we to say "never?"

I continue to struggle with my feelings about my sister. (Yes, that picture is actually us, six years apart in age.)

For two nights in a row, I've had dreams that involved the grudge I have against my little sister. Given that my Twitter account lists me as "His (Jesus') Little Sister," who certainly needs His forgiveness, why is it so hard to forgive my own little sister and look past some of the things she says and does? 

I will admit, there is a lot of jealousies, almost all on my side. I was the oldest child in the family, the one who had to help my parents and was responsible for my three younger siblings. She was the youngest and got away with everything.

My parents had very little income as I grew up; I've shoveled snow, babysat, and delivered papers since I was 10 to pay for each treat. When I was in high-school, my father landed a lucrative means of income, and my sister got everything for which she asked without having to work for it.

I worked 20-70 hours per week since I was 16. While fortunate enough to have some of my college expenses paid (I know many who never had that chance), I worked in the college cafeteria 35-hours per week to help cover the rest of my bills, and up to 70 hours over the summer with all the work I could find. In college, my sister rode on coat-tails of luxury and had an off-campus apartment paid for by my parents. She would take summers off because she "worked" so hard in school, including three years at law school, which was also covered in full.

As young adults, the divide only grew. I've struggled to pay bills in lower-income brackets where "vacation" was a 3-day weekend at a friend's house. My sister landed high-income jobs from the start and has gone on at least one (up to three) cruise(s) per year.

Having little means myself, I grew up to have a heart for others who have little and give as often as I could, in time, money or from my own closet. My sister on the other hand, will frequently gripe about the "hand outs" and "free ride" those that are on social support receive.

She bitched about the "free cell phones" where recycled old phones were reprogrammed so homeless and poor could dial "911" in an emergency. Yet, in her mind, they were calling long distance to yak for hours on end with their relatives.

She derides people on food stamps, believing "they should just go out and work for a living like I do." My sister has never been hungry in her life; I've had several weeks with only generic cereal (dry) and cheap generic spaghetti. Once, I even had a stretch where I had to rely on the kindness of strangers to supply one good meal a day; I worked three part-time jobs at the time. I've even been homeless once, and was blessed as a friend took me in for a few months until I could get another place.

Her most recent rant involves the FHA loan (where government helps low-income households purchase a home). Last year she sold her 3-bedroom house with a finished basement to upgrade to one of those McMansions that bloomed everywhere in the market boom. The family that purchased her old home financed through FHA, and she recently heard from a former neighbor that they were painting the home. Not any major remodeling, mind you, just a fresh coat of paint. She went on a lengthy tirade how the government shouldn't be supplementing mortgages for people who could afford to do that! In fact, they shouldn't support people at all. Let them work for a living, like she does. She didn't even realize that her rants were presented to two people who have yet to afford their first home - even with FHA financing...
My sister had one of the first of my nieces and nephews; I've never been blessed with kids of my own but so desperately wanted one.

Having low income, I hand-crafted teddy bears, hidden-pocket pillows and other unique gifts for the kids, but those gifts were often left behind compared to the X-box games and other high-end gifts that I could never give anyone, including myself.

Matters only became more estranged when my parents announced that the grandchildren would inherit everything after they were gone. To this day my sister strives to have even more kids after the first two; part of me wonders if this is to get a larger portion of the estate once my mother is gone... She even had the audacity to ask my husband and I - the childless couple with little income - to donate money into a fund to help her adopt kids from overseas! Then she requested that we ask our friends for money too.

While we are sisters, we are completely different people. She sees others as  people she could use to help better either her status (networking) or her life (by them serving her). I see people as my brothers and sisters whom I am called to help.

Though, I do find it harder to relate to people who have so little kindness for the least of us; and the more wealth they seem to have, the less they seem to care about others. I don't hate them, I don't think I truly could hate anyone. But I do become angry, and afterwards I feel sad for them; they just don't "get it."

Perhaps that's why Yeshua/Jesus taught that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle, than for the rich to enter the Kingdom. This is true, and it is those for whom we should pray. They are blind and they need His healing to help them see...

This past Christmas, we exchanged the typical "wish lists" among the family. Instead of what I would like under the tree, I created a list of charities, such as food banks, Samaritan's Purse and similar humanitarian aid organizations to which my husband and I would like to contribute more, if we had the means.

The rest of my family got me gift certificates to restaurants and things not on that list. My sister was the only one who made a donation in my name to one of the agencies. There is hope.

Recently, my sister took her family on a cruise. On Easter morning, she was out on a land excursion in San Juan and heading out to breakfast with her family. She spied a hungry homeless person on the street near the restaurant and purchased a hot meal and coffee for him. There is hope...

I strive to be the best example for her in this life; I am her big sister after all. That, and I need to forgive her. She's said and done some rotten things about others in her past. She likely will do so in the future; it takes time for some to change. But if I continue to forgive her, to pray for her, to shine a good example for her, hopefully she will begin to hear the Spirit within her as well. And change...

There is hope
Always
:*)

~ESA