You Are Special

 

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:4-5

Is it not remarkable that when God began to talk to this young man and send him to his ministry, the first thing he did was to sit down and share with him that, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Is not that what he is saying? This is the preparation of God. The remarkable thing is that this preparation began long before Jeremiah was even conceived. In other words, God said, I started getting you ready, and the world ready for you, long before you were born. I worked through your father and your mother, your grandfathers and grandmothers, your great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. For generations back I have been preparing you. What a remarkable revelation to this young man — that through the generations of the past God had begun to work!

When people face a crisis, they always start looking for a program, some method with which to attack the crisis. When God sets out to solve a crisis, he almost always starts with a baby. All the babies God sends into the world, who look so innocent and so helpless — and so useless — at their birth, have enormous potential. There is nothing very impressive in appearance about a baby, but that is God’s way of changing the world. That is what God said to Jeremiah: I’ve been working before you were born to prepare you to be a prophet, working through your father and your mother, and those who were before them.

If you read this account as though this were something extraordinary which applied only to Jeremiah the prophet, you have misread this whole passage. I often hear people say of some noted person, When God made him, he broke the mold. That is true, but what we fail to see is that this is true of each one of us. God never made another one like you, and he never will. God never made anyone else who can fill the place you can fill and do the things you can do. This is the wonder of the way God forms human life — that of the billions upon billions who have been spawned upon this earth there are no duplicates. Each one is unique, prepared of God for the time in which he is to live. That is the word which came to Jeremiah, to strengthen him. Look, God said, I have prepared you for this very hour, as he has prepared you and me for this time, for this world, for this hour of human history.

I heard this week a story concerning the death of a young man, a pastor. When he was dying of cancer, his father and uncle, who are twin brothers, came to see him. After visiting with them both a short while, he asked his uncle, Would you mind if I talk to my Dad alone? His uncle was glad to wait in the hall. When his father came out, he said to his brother, I want to tell you what David did while we were alone. He called me over to his bed and said, Can I put my arms around you? I stooped over as best I could and let him put his arms around me. And now, Dad, would you put your arms around me? I could hardly keep control of my emotions, but I put my arms around him. Then, with his arms around me, he said, Dad, I just want you to know that the greatest gift God ever gave me, outside of salvation itself, was the gift of a father and mother who love God and taught me to love him, too.

That is what God is saying to Jeremiah. What a gift you have! How I have prepared you for this moment, through the generations which lie behind you, that you might live and speak and act in this time in history.

A Christian’s Halloween Story

 

 

Donna Riner Weber, cbn.com

I remember it like it was yesterday. Samuel, my seven-year-old son pranced around ready to put on his Halloween costume.

“Mom, can I put it on now? Please, can I Mom?”

“After dinner.”

Pizza, the fast and easy meal had become the Halloween tradition for my son and me.

As soon as we ate, Samuel raced to his bedroom, put on his scary costume and grabbed his bag.

“Honey, you understand you can only go in our circle of condos where I can see you.”

“I will, Mom. I promise.” And with that, he swooshed out the door.

Samuel stayed within the boundaries. While I wanted to keep an eye on him, I also wanted to give candy to any little treat-seekers who ventured our way.

When Samuel returned, the look on his face clawed into my heart.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

He threw his empty trick-or-treat bag on the sofa.

“Nobody came to the door.”

That was one of those “Mommy Moments” I didn’t know how to handle. My heart cried.

Why didn’t anyone come to the door?



We were new to that city, so I wasn’t comfortable driving him around to strangers’ houses. We did the next best thing I could think of. We hung out together and watched a movie.

Years passed. Times changed. Halloween changed. My son grew up.

There was a lot of emphasis about Halloween beginning as a pagan holiday. Sometimes, Christians were urged not to participate.



I kept asking: So, God, What Should We Do about Halloween?



Brian and I lived in a neighborhood where we expected a lot of little children. What should we do?

We finally figured it out. We turned off the lights and hid out from those little pumpkins.
We could hear the muffled voices of the children and their parents talking and laughing as they traipsed down our street in search of treats.

Brian and I remained silent. Our house remained dark.

Was Hiding in the Dark on Halloween Night the Right Solution?



No! Absolutely not!

It bothered both of us.

I could still feel the disappointment in my son when no one opened the door for him so many years ago. Now, I don’t want to be the one who disappoints other little children.

Besides that, the Bible tells us …

“… You are to influence them, not let them influence you!” Jeremiah 15:19 (TLB)

Clearly, we had not influenced anyone hiding in the dark.

Another year passed. More prayers.

Again, Brian and I prayed about how to handle Halloween.

“God, how do you want us to handle this holiday? I believed Halloween was like a children’s holiday where parents and children in the neighborhood had fun together. But now, is our participation condoning something evil? I don’t think so.  God, please guide us.”

After our prayers…

God Gave Us a Halloween Plan! 



We went to the stores and bought little goodie bags and lots of candy. Then we purchased little Christian brochures to put into the bags. We picked out the best ones we could find for little children.

In advance, Brian and I packed our candy and brochures. We decorated our door with a fall wreath and placed a straw doll and talking pumpkin close to our basket of goodies. We flipped on the lights. We were ready to welcome Halloween!

Since we began our Halloween ministry, we’ve lived in several different states. In the past eight years, we’ve had approximately 750 children come to our door and receive their treat bag. There is no other holiday where Brian and I give out so many tracts about Jesus.

These brochures have the potential to be little seeds for Jesus-maybe hundreds of them as they add up year after year.



”Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow — perhaps it all will.” Ecclesiastes 11:6 (TLB)

Now It’s Your Turn. How Will You Handle Halloween?

Cast Your Bread upon the Waters

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

11 Cast your bread upon the waters,
    for you will find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
    for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain,
    they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
4 He who observes the wind will not sow,
    and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb[a] of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Remember the Good Things

 

 

Sarah Limardo cbn.com

Every Autumn, just as the seasons are changing, I take a moment to bake something wonderful. It’s a special occasion, one that I hold close to my heart, and I mark it each year with a favorite confection, whether it’s cookies or cupcakes or a really big cake. I have some fun, pour my heart into my creation, and share it with my family and friends as a reminder of all that God has done for me and, really, for all of us.

I haven’t decided what I’m baking yet this year, but it’s been on my mind as the days have grown shorter and sweet memories begin to bubble up. A few years ago, I was miraculously delivered from a sin that I couldn’t manage to leave behind no matter what I tried. I prayed for years, I changed my habits, I talked with Christian counselors, but I had come to the point where I thought, “maybe this is just the thorn in my side that I’ll be fighting until I die.”

At the very least, I’d gone from believing my sin was too big for God to handle to realizing that God was willing to work with me. He was willing to transform me, and I was okay with taking time to do that. But then there came a night when I told a friend, “I think God’s gonna do it. He’s going to set me free,” and only a few minutes later, He did.

This was a moment I believed defined my walk with God. It was definitely a turning point, and in the years following, I’ve made a point not to forget it. It’s vital for us to remember that God is merciful to us, and to remember just how merciful he can be. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:15-16:

“This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.” (NLT)

When God set me free, I told him that I would glorify His name. I told Him that if He did the impossible and broke a cycle that I was too weak to overcome, I’d tell other people that He can do that for them too. As it’s said in Isaiah 63:7,

“I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. I will praise the Lord for all he has done …” (NLT)

God tells us to remember the things He’s done. It’s easy to forget, and I’ll admit I have days when I don’t go out of my way to be grateful for how far God has brought me in my life. He’s done such incredible things for me, and if I can manage to mark these events and share them with others, I’ll go out of my way to do them! I hope you have something to celebrate this season, and that God’s goodness will be on your mind.

Father God, thank you for your goodness, grace, and mercy. Thank you for all you do in our lives and for the ways you work with us to make us holy and righteous before you. I lift up whoever is reading this and ask that you remind them of how You have worked in their lives. Give them the same abundant grace and mercy you have given me, and let them experience turning points in their faith that they can share with others to glorify You. Amen. 

(1 Timothy 1:15-16:  “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.” (NLT))

Frost on the Pumpkin, Dust on the Bible

 

Gene Markland, cbn.com

I remember waking up to the radio alarm one day to the refrain, “Hello country bumpkin, how’s the frost out on the pumpkin?” My wife and I laughed and laughed at such words to be awakened with. In this season of the fall harvest when pumpkins seem to spring up everywhere, I think about those days of innocence, those days when our biggest concern was the frost on the pumpkin.

At this time of the year our nation celebrates Halloween’s many activities, which includes carving out pumpkins and sitting them on the front porch steps. It has become a family tradition for millions of people. Yet very few use the bounty of the pumpkin for food.

One year at this time we had so many real pumpkins on our porch, fake pumpkins in the flowerbeds, and even giant blow up plastic pumpkins in the front yard that we earned the title, “The Pumpkin house,” from the neighborhood kids. But we didn’t eat a single one! (Pumpkin, not kids).

Now here we are again in the fall season when these orange spheres show up in front yards like dandelions on a summer day. We surround ourselves with this beautiful bounty as decoration but the food within we discard on newspaper.

The Bible says,

“Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee” (Psalm 116:7 KJV).

Are we enjoying the bounty?

The poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who was born in Massachusetts in 1807, wrote:

“The Pumpkin” (1850)
Oh! Fruit loved of boyhood! The old days recalling.
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!

Back in the olden days, a carved pumpkin was placed on the family hearth to keep evil spirits from coming down the chimney and into the home to do their dastardly deeds.

Today, in homes across America many have replaced this use of the carved pumpkin with the Bible. Now bear with me a moment. We set the Bible out on the coffee table, enjoy its beauty, and yet rarely pick it up. We know that it holds a bounty within, yet we don’t feast on the rich food of the word when it’s sitting right here in front of us. We dust it, and display it with pride when visitors come, yet how many times, like the pumpkin, does it end up just sitting on a newspaper?

The food within the Bible nourishes our spiritual man within, yet we are starving ourselves and allowing the spirits to enter our homes through the modern-day chimney, the television. Now that’s scary. Wouldn’t our fore-bearers be aghast if they could see us today? We might call them superstitious for trying to ward off evil spirits with a carved pumpkin, but what would they say about us for not even trying?

The wonderful bounty of the pumpkin awaits the pies, while the life-giving food in the Bible awaits our eyes. This season, when you see the pumpkin carved so ingeniously and sitting on the porch, remind yourself of the Bible written so divinely and sitting on your table. It has a candle within which will never go out and will keep every evil spirit at bay.

Inside the Bible it says,

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105 KJV).

So hello, County Bumpkin! How’s the frost out on the pumpkin? Hello, modern rival! How’s the dust out on the Bible? Happy Feasting!

 

Our Protective Heavenly Father

 

 

Linda Vulcano, cbn.com

I recently attended a Bible study on Psalm 23. We are all probably familiar with the first verse of that psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” For me, this has always conjured up images of a gentle leader providing perfect guidance. A shepherd certainly does that. But during this study, I learned that the shepherd will lie down at the gate to the field where the sheep are kept to protect them from all harm.

As I listened to the teacher, I was reminded of all the times the Lord has protected me, and I began writing them down. I thought of 10 right away, and the list is still growing. But one example has always stood out to me.

I was preparing to drive a group of teenagers to a church meeting. As I pumped gas into my car a powerful feeling came over me that got my full attention and I heard in my mind the words, “Pray for protection.”

My thoughts turned to the precious cargo I would be transporting that evening as I prayed.

That night, as we were getting close to our destination, I saw traffic cones all along the side of the road. It was pitch black as there were no streetlights on this road. Suddenly, a car came out from between the cones and passed in front of me, and I had no time to even touch my brakes. The car came so close in front of me that it seemed like metal went through metal.

This was in the days before airbags and I can’t imagine what would have happened that day if I had plowed into that car at full speed. To this day, it fills my heart with gratitude to the Lord.

I used to wonder why the Lord didn’t just protect us. Why did He ask me to pray? Now, I realize, had He just protected us, I would have thought, “Oh my gosh, that was close!” and went on my way. But because of the experience while pumping gas, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that this was God at work, watching over His precious children.

I remember my pastor once told a story about the day his daughter was in a car accident. He said at that moment he would have tried to run through a wall if he had to, in order to get to her.

As I heard my pastor say that I thought, “What a picture of our Heavenly Father.”

To be sure my pastor is a loving father, but it’s not possible for anyone to love us more than our Heavenly Father.

Isaiah 58:8 says,

“… the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.“

That means He’s always got my back. He’s always looking out for me and, like my pastor, when one of his kids is in trouble, He will move heaven and earth to get to them.

 

(Isaiah 58?8

… 7 Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Thenyour lightwill break forthlike the dawn,and your healingwill comequickly.Your righteousnesswill gobefore you,and the gloryof the LORDwill be your rear guard.9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,…)

Diana’s Lamp

 

 

Debora M. Coty, cbn.com

“Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7 NIV)

I was six years old and in big trouble. I’d done something horrible.

It happened at the house of Diana, my nine-year-old neighbor, a tall, gentle girl who was kinder to me than all the other big kids.

A bunch of us were playing in Diana’s room when gravel crunching in the driveway announced the arrival of Diana’s father, a grizzly bear of a man – towering and burly, with a deep military voice. He was very strict and often barked orders to Diana and her little brothers, who knew they had better obey immediately.

We all knew.

When he drove up that day, everyone suddenly remembered a reason to go home.

I saw the sad look on Diana’s face as the other kids fled, so I stayed.

After tiring of board games, Diana picked up her baton and suggested we go outside to twirl; a hard-and-fast rule allowed no batons or balls inside the house. I grabbed my baton and couldn’t resist trying to impress Diana by whirling it around my neck.

The sound of shattering glass froze my heart as Diana’s bedside lamp crashed to the floor. Then the huge shadow of Diana’s father filled the doorway.

Diana intentionally stepped between her father and me as his face turned crimson and a large vein on his forehead began to pulsate. “Who’s responsible for this?” his voice boomed as he eyed the shards of ruined lamp on the floor.

Immobilized by fear, I stared mutely at the mess, unable to breathe.

Diana held up her baton and answered, “It’s my fault, Daddy.” She gently pushed me into the hallway and closed the door behind me.

I listened outside the door, quivering, as Diana’s dad shouted about rules, learning responsibility, and paying for a new lamp with her own money.

When I heard things escalating, I couldn’t take any more. I blindly ran, not stopping until I was in my own room, sobbing on my bed. I knew Diana was at that moment receiving the worst kind of punishment in my place. I deserved that belt, but she willingly took the pain for me.

I had to do something. I shook my piggy bank and gathered the handful of coins that fell out. Still weeping as I ran, I stumbled back to Diana’s front door.

Diana answered my knock with red, puffy eyes. Yet she smiled. I was forgiven. It made my heart hurt.

I held out my pitiful offering, knowing it wouldn’t be nearly enough to pay for the lamp. But Diana shook her head.

“No,” she said softly. “Keep your money. It was an accident. It’s all over now, so let’s not talk about it anymore.”

And we didn’t. Not that day. Not ever.

But I’ve never forgotten. Even now, decades later, a warm tear escapes when I think about Diana’s lamp. My friend willingly sacrificed herself on my behalf through every lash of that belt.

I realize now that in her selfless actions, Diana exemplified what Jesus did for me – and for you. He sacrificed Himself in our place, accepting our rightful punishment and loving us through every lash of the whip and pounding of nails into His flesh.

Even unto death.

How, then, can we not be moved when we consider the Sacrificial Lamb suffering so that we might have life everlasting?

“He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed – and we were healed!” (Isaiah 53:5 TLB)

Seasons of Hope

 

by Sarah Phillips, crosswalk.com

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

It’s the time of year when nature inspires a sense of awe in us. As leaves die, they give forth one final burst of color brighter than the paint on an artist’s palette. The sky takes on an unusually crisp blueness and the sun’s low, golden rays cast whimsical shadows. We feel energized as autumn breezes stir up the color around us and chase away the dense summer air.

For me, autumn has always been a “second spring.” A playful time, promising us that life, although soon to be hidden in the dead of winter, will only be invisible for a short while. When the days are gray, cold, and hard, I remember that only a few short weeks ago, the world was light and lively and in only a few weeks more, color will return.

As the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us, God designed life to run in cycles or seasons. Yet how often do we approach this life with expectations of perpetual summer, only to struggle with anxiety and disappointment when winter inevitably interrupts? I know I am guilty of this.

I spent time with my twin sister over this beautiful Fall weekend, and in the course of conversation, she revealed to me how approaching life as a series of seasons gives her perspective as a young wife and mom. “I’ve seen couples apply much pressure to their family life, expecting every week to live to the standard of the last, just as happy or productive, just as evenly paced. I think it takes a lot of burden off when you accept that this week will not necessarily look like last week, and that some seasons of life will be better than others.”

Knowing there is a natural rhythm, a “time to weep and a time to laugh,” gives us permission to let go of perfectionist expectations of our lives. It lightens our burdens by giving us hope for the future in the midst of trial and prepares us for times of struggle – until the day comes when there will be no more winter and no more tears.