Invisible Rubble

Daniel 2:35a -- "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on the threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace."

image: iwannabe.com

Zooming over lush green hills and winding black top, a huge smile crossed my face as I clicked the mouse over Cainta Rizal in Taytay, Manila on Google Earth. I couldn't believe I'd found Faith Academy and zoomed in to catch as much detail as I could. There it was. My high school. More than six thousand miles away in the Philippines.

In my head I could see the tall grasses, big trees, and skinny back roads that we'd take when we missed the bus back to the dorm. I followed the trail and found the building that I thought was where my dorm siblings and I spent our nights curled up by the pool, doing homework, or zonked out in our rooms. As the image became fuzzy when I tried to zoom in too far, I doubted my memory of the dorm location and zoomed back out to get my barrings. Wow. Things were soooooo very different from when I lived there back in the 1980's.

For one thing, Faith Academy had grown quite a bit. There was now a pool and what looked like a few new buildings. But in the space where I remembered to stand the dorm next door to ours there was nothing. Not even a rubble pile. Then further on down the roads that I used to run relentlessly to burn off steam - there was a whole new subdivision and a beautifully green golf course.

I sat back in my worn out office chair and sighed deeply.

In the book of Daniel there is a verse that sums up what I was feeling to a T. "The iron, the clay" - the cement, the brick - "the bronze, the silver and the gold," - the trees, the walkway, the pool - "were broken to pieces and became like chaff on the threshing floor." 

We really aren't on this earth for very long, are we? Will there be a pile of invisible rubble left behind when God calls me home? Or will there be growth - new buildings and greenery?

Of course I hope that, like Faith Academy, there will be a lasting legacy when I'm gone...that one can look back at my life and see that there was true, lasting growth. I want the children of my great grandchildren to KNOW Jesus. Have I planted the right seeds? Do the paths forged through out my life time lead them strait to God?

I wind the little Google arrow back around the winding roads to Faith Academy, Manila and I smile big. It is STILL there serving the parents of missionaries through out the Philippines Islands. A place where every Wednesday there is chapel and Bible study is a standard part of the curriculum. It hasn't fallen to pieces and blown away.

THAT is how I want to be. A standing testament to God's amazing strength and undying grace.

Kermit The Frog Frog

Psalm 118:16 -- "The Lord's right hand is lifted high; the Lord's right hand has done mighty things."

image: cramphibian.com

Lush vibrant plant life, heavy air pregnant with moisture, and a muffled cacophony of insects and birds are some pretty typical characteristics of tropical jungles the world over. Climbing through dense undergrowth on the hillsides at the foot of Mt. Apo in Davao, Philippines was an adventure I took for granted growing up. There was no end to the magnificent wild life we witnessed as we hacked and slashed our way through banana branches, giant elephant ear plants, and the ropey roots of banyan trees. At times the air around us was so dense it would drip down the viney base of large trees and we could cup our hands to catch some drinking water when the heat zapped us of energy.

Countless adventures took place under the green canopy of our favorite childhood haunts. We found abandoned mine shafts, WWII amo casings, giant spiders, and an old concrete enclosure the Japanese left behind that we dubbed "the Janapense Swimming Pool". And though the thing would fill up nicely with rain water at times, the locals managed to convert it into a pretty decent basketball court.

I took for granted the beautiful life growing all around me. Not once do I remember looking for new species of animals. It's a pitty - I bet there was a treasure trove of biology under our feet and crawling about the vibrant plant life surrounding us.

Last week in the wilds of the Costa Rican Jungles a new species of glass frog was discovered. Can you believe that?! A new frog! Not since 1973 has a new species of frog been found there. It's amazing! I wonder where it's been hiding all these years?

image: article.wn.com

As I read the article my hubby found regarding the cute little bugger I couldn't help but laugh out loud. They call him the Kermit The Frog frog - because of the uncanny resemblance to our favorite Sesame Street host and On-site Muppet reporter. Cute, right?

In my forty-two years of life on this planet, there has been no end to the wonders of God's right hand. From the brilliant comet Shoemaker/Levy 9 breaking up and crashing into Jupiter, to Challenger Deep discoveries, and the Kermit Frog frog - I will never stop finding myself in complete awe at the wonders of my Lord.

God is so very AWESOME!!

Insert Emoticon Here ...

John 12:4-5 -- "But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 'Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?' "

image: [not my foot] flickr.com

The hair in front of my eyes puffed out and away from my face as I blew out a long breath of air in total frustration. Not matter what I tried, the hammered brass ring around my elephant's foot stool would not stay in place - and for the hundredth time, it slipped from the hand stitched cushion on the top all the way down to the polished toes at the bottom. 

A Dalton family member looked over at me and asked "Dude, do you know how much you could get for that thing on E-Bay?" 

What?! How could I possibly let go of this precious gift? In the first place, I'm not even sure I COULD sell it legally as it IS a real elephant's foot and second .... what?! Members of a very dear village in Africa presented this foot [along with another one for my sister] as a thank you gift for our service in their community almost forty years ago. It was a heart-felt and very priceless moment in my memory - when the two feet were given to my parents for my sister and me in order that we might always remember the time we spent in the company of some very precious people.  The pair of feet were given in love and no amount of monetary compensation could compare with THAT. 

Right before Jesus died on the cross, he had dinner at the house of the once dead, Lazarus. As the meal was being served, Lazarus's sister, Mary, approached Jesus and very humbly anointed his feet with a very expensive perfume. For some reason, this action got under Judas's skin. He didn't keep his thoughts to himself, either. He fussed about it and asked why Mary didn't just sell the expensive perfume and give the proceeds over to the poor instead of "wasting" it on the dirty feet of our Lord?

I wish I'd been there to hear the tone in our Savior's voice when he said - let her keep the perfume for my burial - you will always have the poor, you will NOT always have me. 

Jesus was trying to make a point - sometimes our actions - even the ones with good intentions - don't mean much without love behind them. If Mary had sold the perfume and given away her money, she would have been performing an action that didn't mean near as much as the display of her love and affection for Jesus when she anointed his feet. The value of the perfume wasn't the money it might bring at a sale - but in the heart of a woman who deeply loved Jesus as she cleaned the road dust off of his travel-weary feet.

Paul reiterated this point in I Corinthians 13 when he expressed that - even should he give his very life - the act would be meaningless if there wasn't love behind the sacrifice.

WHAT we do might not matter as much as HOW we do it. The things we emote when we do what we do really ARE the heart of the matter. Do we grudgingly give up our tithe in the offering plate as we think of all the bills we have to pay - or do we put the envelope in the plate with a grateful heart? Do we let our minds wonder wile we sing hymns during the church service or does love pour from the words that part from our lips with every breath we take? 

It matters.

As I lovingly wrap the prickly elephant's foot stool in an old sheet and place it back into my closet I think of all the wonderful people by whom I've been so richly blessed in my trots around the globe as the daughter to missionary parents. The bright smiles, warm embraces, and freely given hospitality are not things that E-Bay can bring to me - no matter what I happen to sell there. The value in the foot stool isn't in how rare the object is - but it's every single lovingly hand-stitched leather square on the cushion - and all the hands that were placed on it when it was given to me with hearts full of love. It's in all the effort put into the conservation of African Elephants on the game preserve from whence the foot was legally obtained by our fellow villagers. And it's in the sacrifice that each villager made in order to purchase the feet as gifts to our family.

The heart of the matter IS my heart. Nothing I accomplish is worth a single penny if its not done with a true and honest love for my Savior, Jesus Christ.

You can bank on that. 

Say It With Song [again]

Matthew 28:20b -- "And surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age." 

Silent Strength

Isaiah 30:15 -- "For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, 'In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.' " [NASB]

image: wallpaper-kid.com

The door closed behind us with a quiet click. We made sure all the house lights had been turned off but for the warm glow of the little red truck lamp plugged into the boys' bedroom wall - just in case they woke up while we were sneaking around in the back yard. 

The tall oak trees loomed over us in the dark, Spanish moss hanging lifelessly from the lower branches in the stillness. It should be Halloween, I thought. The tiny amounts of silver light from the starlit sky gave the trees and eerie appeal like thinly clad giants waiting to pounce on passers by with boney arms outstretched. The light frost on the grass crunched under our feet - but we were not deterred. In sheer but quiet excitement Steven and I groped around for the old pic-nick table we'd picked up for a penny at a garage sale. Climbing aboard and resting on the cold pitted wood of the weather warn table top - we wrapped ourselves up in the blanket we'd snagged from the couch and in unison, looked up into the night sky.

The world was asleep. The only sound was the gentle smacking of the cows chewing cud close to the neighbor's farmyard fence a few feet away. We didn't say a word to each other but watched the sky come to life with the predicted annual Quadrantids meteor shower.

I was half tempted to wake the boys up so they could witness this splendor but decided to relish the alone time with my husband, instead. Besides, they were so young at the time, they would have probably just fallen back to sleep in our arms and we'd end up having to carry them back inside, anyway.

It's amazing how quiet the world gets at three in the morning. Steven put his arms around me to help ward off the January chill and with my ear against his chest, I could hear his heart beat. Strong and steady - just like him. I gathered strength there in our quiet togetherness. My spirit refreshed for another day of homeschooling small and energetic boys. 

In Isaiah it's explained to us that - in quiet and in trust rests our strength. Our peace and assurance is in the moments we can spend quietly with God. Too often do I argue with Him, plead with Him, or even yammer on AT Him regarding my hopes, desires, or dreams as I pray - but - it's in the simple quiet moments when I am most reminded of the Strength I can find in my Father. Only in the quiet can He tell me His will. Only when I stop talking and start listening am I able to really hear what He has to say. It's in those moments when I can really discover peace and rest.

Where can you go to hide away and spend a few moments in precious quiet? Do you allow for that - for the simple joy of sitting alone with God? I'm learning how very precious it is to do just that.

Abra-ka-pocus!

Daniel 2:28a - "However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries . . . "

 

image: www.juice.beelop.com

Amazingly detailed - poking up through the rock was a strange little creature that had these weird eyes attached to the end of slender stalks. Spidery legs splayed out perfectly on the top of the fossilized stone and ridges that almost shined with polish made up the ribbed exoskeleton of the tiny trilobite.

It simply takes my breath away that in the palm of my hand I could hold a long-dead creature that once roamed the sea floor millions of years in the past. My head can't even wrap itself around that many years! But I can sure see the little monster in clear detail, painstakingly chiseled away from the rock that surrounded its tiny little body.


Right now, at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, there stands towering over each visitor, a beauty named Sue - the largest complete skeleton of a T-Rex ever discovered. Her story didn't end when she perished back in the Cretaceous period. No, believe it or not her story was just beginning then - later sold on E-Bay, she would rock the world with her perfect preservation AND become the only T-Rex skeleton ever to be sold on "America's Largest Garage Sale" [my nickname of E-Bay]. To date, she grossed the most amount of dollars in her sale. But none of that is what fascinates me about her - I just stand gobsmacked at her bone structure, her height, and her amazing age. She is a complete mystery. There are lots of hypotheses about her lifestyle, her parenting skills, and what she ate for dinner - but nobody really knows. They can guess until the cows come home - but without traveling back in time and asking her these questions or observing her behavior - the facts will remain ever elusive.

image: www.flmnh.ufl.edu

She's not mentioned by name even one time in the Bible. There are verses about behemoths and the types of animals God instructed Adam to take charge over - but Sue the T-Rex will never appear in a single verse if you flip through The Word of God. Nor will you find mention of the amazingly detailed trilobite.

But there can be no question of their existence. Sue stands boldly and beautifully lit with warm track lighting -  larger than any land life we know of today. She DID at one time walk the earth.

So - where does she fit in Creation?

I've heard people debate Creationism - in fact, Bill Nye got into a rather animated debate with Ken Ham over the issue for 165.3 minutes! How do we answer the questions that arise when asked why Sue isn't in the Bible? Whey didn't God tell us about the trilobites, the T-Rexes, or the Terror Birds?

Let me ask you something - does it matter? I mean, really? Does it REALLY matter that we can't pin point exact chapter and verse and hand it over to people like Bill Nye and say "Aha!, I TOLD you so!" Does the lack of naming these amazing animals in God's Word change the fact that He created them?

No. And while there is mystery surrounding the facts about any number of fossils found on earth today - not knowing every single detail about the long-dead animals doesn't rattle or somehow change history.

When Daniel was lead into the presence of King Nebuchadnezzar he was asked to reveal a mystery so troubling to the king that people were actually dying for failure to come up with answers! Yeah - that's right. They were dying! The king was so worked up over his mysterious dreams that when people couldn't interpret them they were imprisoned and sometimes killed! [At least Bill Nye and Ken Ham didn't duke it out to the death!]

Even through all of that chaos, however - Daniel humbly explained to the king that he didn't have all the answers. In fact, Daniel told 'Ole Nebby that NO human had the answers. That was a bold thing to do under the circumstances! Daniel then explained that he knew one that COULD interpret the dreams the king was having and invited God into the equation. Daniel said: "However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries."

image: www.genesispark.com

Ya know what? - Daniel is right, of course. There is a God in heaven Who knows all about Nebby's dreams and Sue and the little evil looking trilobites. In fact, He created all of them.

I don't have to know all the answers right now. People can argue Creationism vs. Evolution until their blue in the face for all I care - I KNOW my Creator! I KNOW beyond any doubt that God created everything! I don't need to know how, really. I may wonder about it from time to time - and then I recognize again that some mysteries will not be revealed to me while I'm on this earth.  .... and I'm totally ok with that. Because I know WHO holds all the answers.

So for now - I'll look up at Sue and my jaw will drop a bit as I stand in perfect wonder at the marvels of God's amazing works.

Narrow Gates

^{Matthew 7:14 -- "}For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

image: Crystal Cave of the Giants in Naica, Mexico [eyeflare.com]

Big beads of sweat collected on every pore as the mine workers hacked away at the limestone walls in search of silver, zinc, and lead. A relatively old mine [the Naica mine has been worked since the early 1900's] the diggers were thrilled when they discovered a new chamber that broke far away from the main excavation. No one could guess that just on the other side of the walls on which they were chipping away at old rock - there lay a beautiful room of giant gypsum crystal.

No living soul had ever seen the likes of the cathedral into which the miners broke. But little could be done in exploration after the initial discovery. The chamber was not only filled with water that had to be drained - but temperatures soared to unbearable degrees. Just a few short miles below the ragged dusty steel toed boots of each diligent digger there bubbled and gurgled a large magma reservoir. One could only withstand the hot and heavy air for a few minutes before lungs would fill with fluid and the heat would drive the body to collapse. After stumbling across this unique but deadly crystal chamber in the year 2000 - precautions were created to provide Geologists a safe way to study the amazing subterranean find. 

It's a place where few dare to tread - even with the ingenious creation of the world's first and only "ice suits". Each suit is lined with a long vest outfitted with square pockets that contain frozen water and dry ice, around which a hermetic suite is shrugged on and zipped up tight. Backpacks that contain air-conditioned breather tanks are strapped on and connected to sealed helmets that provide oxygen for each explorer. Large bladed fans line the "camp" set up just outside the entry way of the Cave of Crystals and there is a decompression type tent set up to deal with the severe dehydration and heat stroke that occur regularly.

It's no wonder that few eyes have personally witnessed the splendor that lays inside the crystal chamber. The way is difficult and perilous. ...But oh the magnificence that meets the eye once inside. Giant gypsum formations gleam with the beam of hand-held torches and glisten with amazing iridescence and sparkle with rainbows of refracted light. It would be easy for one to believe that they were somehow teleported to an alien world. There is no other discovered place on the planet like it.

Can you see yourself there? Tracing gloved fingers along the smooth gypsum surface and feasting on the embarrassment of riches created by heat, water, and minerals? Just imagine it!

Only a handful of determined human beings have ever laid eyes on the brilliance of the Cave of Crystals. It isn't likely that many more will be afforded a precious glimpse of these wonders in person. The rest of us will have to settle for photographs and stories.

In Matthew Jesus explains to us that the way is narrow to the gateway of life. Not many will find it because the ways is so difficult. He didn't mean that it was difficult to accept the Grace of God and accept the forgiveness that comes with the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He meant that - for so many, the shimmer and glitz of a worldly life is just too much to give up. Jesus was talking about giving up ALL of oneself to the will of God. 

I can see where that might present a problem for some. Just like those that hope to reach the depths of the Naica mines - there are things that need to be done in order for you and I to enter the narrow pathway into the presence of God our Father. And - even for those who have managed to don the gear required for crystal exploration - the whole of the rigorous preparation is sometimes needed more than once. At least - it is if the explorer wants to get back into the cave. Putting on the ice suite once and then leaving the chamber won't provide protection should a person want to go back inside. No, they will need to go through all the steps that offer them protection - just as they did the first time. 

When we make a choice to follow Jesus - there ARE a few things we need to do. We need to be obedient, to we need to have faith that God's plan is so much better than our own. And we need to make the conscious decision to live for Jesus every single day. And if the going gets tough - sometimes we need to hand our will over to the Lord moment by moment.

No, the way is not easy. But oh the wonderful riches that lay just on the other side. I wouldn't miss it for anything of this world.

But Daaad!!

^{Matthew 26: 40-42 -- "}And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, 'So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'  He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.' ^"

image: datinggod.org

Looking over at my husband my heart ached in a manner so deep, that I felt as if it might just burst with the weight of it all. His head was cocked in an awkward position so it could rest on the back of Baptist Hospital's vinyl attempt at a sofa. I knew his neck would be sore when he opened his eyes again, but I didn't have the heart to wake him back into the reality of the waiting room. 

Across the room his Aunt and his Mother were also attempting a nap in the cramped space.  I took the moment to walk around a bit - in search of an alcove in which I could hide away and pray aloud.   

Dad Dalton had been admitted through the ER because of a massive stroke. Deep inside I think we all knew that Dad wouldn't be coming home again - but it didn't stop the prayers for a miracle. In fact, I don't think anything on this earth should ever stop prayers for a miracle - no matter what the circumstance. So stepping into a brightly lit corner next to a huge glass window, I continued to beg God to bring Dad back from the coma into which he had suddenly drifted. 

The warm light through the glass messaged my face with gentle, brightly lit fingers and made me think of another hospital and another family member in the grips of a coma due to a massive brain bleed. My Grandfather, Claude Saunders, had gone through all of this years ago. The similarities between the two situations were uncanny, and back then in the small hallways of Orange Park Hospital, I'd also pleaded for a medical miracle. In both cases, however - the Lord decided to call our precious loved ones home. 

I opened my eyes against the brilliant sunshine in time to see a pigeon landing on the concrete windowsill outside. Beyond the bird was a gorgeous sky free of clouds. I felt that it should have been raining. Why didn't the earth stop? It really should have. Didn't it know we were physically strained and emotionally in pain? How could the world keep on spinning around when we were huddled together in the belly of an ICU, watching a machine breath for our family patriarch? 

I wanted to call out through the glass .... "But, God!!! You CAN fix this! I know You can! I don't wanna go through this pain and loss. I don't WANT Dad Dalton to go home, yet. I don't want to bare witness to the huge tears lining my husband's red-rimmed eyes. I don't want to see Mom Dalton and the rest of her family have to trudge through heart break!" 

Later that night - in the wee and dark hours of the next morning, My husband watched a single tear slip from under Dad's eyelids and trickle down his cheek just before he exhaled his very last breath. "We'll all see you later, Dad", Steven would whisper in his Dad's ear. "But I'll miss you terribly until then."

When you and I are faced with an answer to prayer that isn't the answer we want, it's easy for us to want to ask why. There are parts of us that want to get angry as we suffer through the disappointment and hurt.  It can be so very tough. We want to stomp our feet and say "But, God! You COULD have let this cup pass from me!"

We can choose to be obedient to the will of God and continue to serve Him, praise Him, and worship Him - or we can allow the temptation of holding on to our pain defeat us and grow bitter and angry. 

Jesus didn't WANT to go through the pain and agony of dying on the cross. Even deeper than knowing he was about to face a terrible physical pain was the agony that he knew he would experience as he was completely and totally separated from his own Father - just when he would need God the most. But God cannot look upon our sin. He had to allow Jesus to take on all that separates you and me from God so that in the end, ALL of us could join Him in a blessed reunion.

Jesus also had a choice. He didn't have to accept God's will. He was the Son of The Creator of Everything! Jesus could have - at any given moment - called down angels from Heaven to annihilate those who tortured and killed him! Jesus could have avoided being separate from God. 

In fact, if we really read through Matthew chapter 26 - we see that Jesus may have been tempted to do just that. Maybe he wasn't telling his disciples to pray only against their own temptation - maybe he was begging them to pray for his. He kept waking them up and asking them to pray - perhaps - because he needed the reinforcement. Or maybe - he just wanted the comfort of moral and spiritual support. I know I would.

The whole of the matter, however, is; Jesus obeyed. He knew it was going to be difficult in a manner completely unprecedented - but he obeyed. Yes, he asked God to take the task from him - but when God's answer to his prayer was "No." - he was obedient to a fault. 

The "no" answers that we face aren't anything to the magnitude of the "no" that Jesus faced. I very truly have no right to complain and beg and stomp my foot at my Father and ask Him why. 

Instead - I thank you Lord for all the blessings you've granted. I thank you for taking on all of my sin. I am amazed by your strength. I accept ALL of your answers to my prayers - and I give my will over to yours.

A More Perfect Union

Matthew 27: 50-51 -- "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split."

image: pouredoutofferings.com

Just before logging onto to Facebook my eyes happen to catch the ticker at the bottom of my internet home page - where I noticed that yet another Hollywood couple has joined the ranks of U.S. divorce rate statistics.  Obviously I don't know the couple personally, but it still made me sad to see that the two once-happy people were going their separate ways. No matter how amicable the break-up, splitting apart from another person is always sad. I've heard tell that there are people who part legally and yet remain the best of friends - but I still can't help feel a sadness for the end of a union that was suppose to stand the test of time.

In the end, the separation of souls means that dreams died, hopes drifted off into a far off place that leave one a little empty, and the future that was once planned holding hands and giggling over silly things is suddenly left behind in the dust. No matter how "friendly" the split looks on paper or in the news - to me the death of a union is sad.

On Merriam-Webster.com the second line of the definition of divorce says that it's: a complete separation between two things. Again .... how sad. Could there be any two words more devastating to a human spirit when put side by side than complete and separation? I can't think of any....

Before our Savior died on the cross that's exactly what WE WERE. Completely separated from God. Without the cleansing blood of sacrifice we could not commune with our Maker.  No - we had to have a go-between. We couldn't directly speak to our Lord and Father. Talk about devastating!

When Jesus took all our sins with him as he breathed in his very last human breath on the cross - he paved the way for us to reconcile with God. HE is our go-between. Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than the temple veil.

Hebrews 9:1-9 explains that the temple veil separated us from the Holy of Holies. THE Holiest place in the temple - the physical place of God's presence.  The actual separation between you and I - and our Father was manifested in that ornate veil in the temple. But that very physical separation ended when Jesus gave his spirit up to God and the veil was torn in two. AND - it was done in such a way as to be clear that God had EVERYTHING to do with it. It wasn't human power that broke the barrier - it was God. It was God's only Son. Our Savior gave up his blood to cleanse the rest of us from everything we are - everything in us that keeps us completely separate from God.

This moment in time was so very powerful that the earth shook beneath our feet and the very rocks of the earth were split! In those precious minutes - the veil was torn and we were granted commune with our Maker and Father.

I can't think of a more joyous thing on this planet! The veil is down. We can walk right in to very presence of God! We are no long divorced from our Father!

Praise God from Whom ALL blessing flow!! We celebrate Easter because we have been given a torn veil. We celebrate because we are no longer on the other side of a barrier that keeps from communion with our Father.

Happy Easter.

When Free Really Means Free

Isaiah 55:1 -- "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost."

Beads of sweat trickled down my back as I slipped my sunglasses back onto my face.  It often seems that there are no in-between seasons here in Florida. It's either hot and wet or cold and wet. While other states are decked out in beautiful spring blooms and mild, carefree temperatures that allow residents to brace for the summer heat, we've already had temps reach in the upper 80's with a humidity so dense, the windows fog up and drip condensation onto my flower beds. 

I'm not complaining. I enjoy a brisk walk in the thick air that carries on it the smells of the beach and wide open ocean from both the East and the West. Put me in a land-locked state and I'm likely to feel a bit claustrophobic. But looking over at the grassy knoll just beyond the air conditioned haven of T.J.Max I began to fret about the heat. I spotted a young woman with her rather hefty dog, attempting to find some shade under a thin Crepe Myrtle tree. No question about it - the dog was hot. Using the cool green of the Saint Augustine grass to alleviate the cooked tender pads of his feet, the dog further cooled himself by panting heavily. Large slobbery globs of spit connected his cute little doggie jowls to the grass as if several large spiders had jumped ship from his tongue to the ground. I felt bad for him and for the red faced young woman. My skin was turning pink and I hadn't been out all that long - I wondered how she must feel having been outside under the bright sun for what must have been hours.

I know,  and yes, there was a tiny little voice in my head that kept telling me that I should have kept on toward the car where my hubby and boys had already let themselves in and buckled up. But I couldn't help myself, I really felt that I was being drawn to her. So I ventured over to the girl and her best bud.

Can I get you some water? I asked. The gas station was but a few feet away.

"Nope. It's alright. I can't pay for it. In a bit we might make our way down to the settling pond and I'll let him get some water there." She replied as a nervous lilt in her voice gave away her anxiety.

"Ya know what, it's alright. I'll just pop over to the gas station and get you guys both a large bottle of water." I turned around and headed for the little convenience shop before she could protest and quickly returned with three bottles of water and a couple of quick-stop sandwiches. 

She looked up at me with an odd expression. "I really can't take these. I have no way to pay you back. I'm living out of my car right now and was in this area looking for a job. I'm just taking a break to check on my dog."

I smiled at her and placed the small hap-hazard pic-nick at her feet. "It's really alright," I said. "I don't mind giving them to you. You don't owe me anything." 

"Thank you." She stammered. Her growling stomach and bright red cheeks weren't about to allow her to pass up food and nice cool water so she quickly unwrapped the sandwiches and split them between her and the cute but scruffy mutt.

As my family pulled up behind me in our car I heard her say something about nothing ever being really free. But the thing is - there IS ONE thing that's always free.  God so very freely loves us through the blood of Jesus Christ. It's impossible for me to earn His love. I'll never, ever measure up. That's what makes it a gift. His mercy IS REALLY FREE. I have but to accept it.

I can dine with my Savior at His table because He's already purchased my ticket. I have no thing valuable enough to buy my way to the table - but I am welcome - because Jesus took my sins with him to the grave and bought me a place setting at the banquet.

We have a place in Heaven with Jesus. The Bible reminds us of this in Isaiah.

What a beautiful, beautiful thing!!