May 29, 2012

I've been set free...

Today and yesterday have me thinking about freedom. Yesterday being Memorial Day, a day whose very purpose is to honor, to recognize, and to pay tribute to all those who have given their life for our freedom. And then today, I had the right to exercise my freedom by voting.

Freedom. I can conjure up many other images when I think of that word.  Freedom as the last day of school rolls around and the arrival of summer becomes official.  Freedom when the final car payment check has been put in the mail.  Freedom when the to do list has no more “to dos” (still waiting for that one!). And on and on….

I take freedom that comes at a much greater price for granted so often.  Today’s freedom to vote is one example.  Commemorating the men and women who have sacrificed for my life here in America once a year on Memorial Day is not nearly enough.  

But there’s one freedom even more dear to me…my freedom in Christ.

Am I thankful for it? Absolutely.  

More than words can express. 

Do I honestly sit and weigh the cost of my freedom?
Not nearly often enough.

So this evening, I’m stopping to pause and reflect on my freedom in Christ.

My identity that I’m no longer enslaved to sin. I’ve been set free.

I’ve been set free.

To think that across the world still today there are men and women dying because they, just like me, are followers of Jesus.   

They just don’t have the freedom to say so.

The cost for following Jesus = their lives.

But they’ve been set free.

And I’ve been set free.

It really is Amazing Grace.

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free..." Galatians 5:1

May 20, 2012

Hope in the wait (a.k.a. Carpe Diem)

So why all these posts on waiting? Honestly, I don’t know.  It’s just what is coming out when I sit down to type. I could say there is something monumental that I’m waiting for, but isn’t there always something? Always something I’m just hoping is around the corner? It’s a never-ending cycle. Once I have what today’s waiting game is all about, I’ll feel in the blank, “I’m waiting for _______,” with something else.

Since the WHAT is ever changing, but ever present, the other thing to consider is HOW I’m waiting. I love these words of Henri Nouwen:

“A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.”

What is hidden in the waiting?  I don’t know. But I wait in hope, in anticipation, in belief, and in faith.  And I LIVE.  Live out today.  Not lose whatever blessing, whatever task, whatever lesson the Lord has for me because I'm too focused on what tomorrow may or may not bring that I'm not embracing all of today.

In other words, CARPE DIEM.

I found a song recently. For obvious reasons the title, “Wait,” jumped out at me. I’ve had the opportunity in the past to hear this guy lead worship a few times in a local church.  He’s the type of worship leader that ushers you right to the throne as you worship. The lyrics of his song align perfectly with my ramblings today:

“I wait for you

O Lord, My God

My soul

It waits

For you…

All my hope

All my joy….

Is in you, Lord

I wait for you

O Lord, My God

My soul

It waits

For you”

(The song can be found on ITunes if you search “McCasland Wait.” )

Ultimately all the waiting is about one singular focus.

Waiting upon the Lord.

I embrace today and all that is has to offer as my soul waits in hope for whatever tomorrow may bring.

May 14, 2012

Wrestling in the Waiting

“I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  Genesis 32:26

I like Jacob’s tenacity.  Actually, I LOVE Jacob’s tenacity.

He’s in a wrestling match and demands a blessing before he’ll give up.

²⁴ Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “ I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” ³¹ Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. ³² Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.                                                                                                                                                    Genesis 32:24-32

Sometimes the wait is just that…a wait.  Sitting, twiddling the thumbs, slowly watching the minutes tick by. You know the old saying, "A watched pot never boils."

But at other points in the waiting…it’s a wrestling match. Wrestling to be patient. Wrestling not to cry. Wrestling to make sense in the midst of chaos. Wrestling to grieve though loss. Wrestling to simply hold on. Wrestling to prevent oneself from taking control. Wrestling to understand. Wrestling, wrestling, wrestling.

It may seem like a wrestling match in the waiting more often than not.

And most likely I won’t walk away unscathed.

But I’m going to hold out for the blessing.

May 7, 2012

Whatifs

What if I don't wait for marshmallow #2?

What if I do wait for marshmallow #2?

What if I only sneak a little bite from #1?

What if no one sees me?

Those whatifs.

The lady who does my hair works magic. I’m incognito when I leave each time since she has the knack to make my hair do things I’ll never be able to repeat.  But I love her talent at giving me just the right cut even if I can’t do the same style.  But I love my visits with her for more reasons than just the hair thing.  It’s the great conversations every three months.

Last week we ended up talking about “what ifs”.  You know those haunting thoughts that create doubt about past decisions and actions. The ones that scream, WHAT IF!!!!! The ones that deceive us into believing that had we taken a different road then maybe what was around the corner would have been more what we expected or wanted.

In the midst of our conversation, she commented, “You know we will always have ‘what ifs’ in life.” 

And that's the bottom line. It’s true. They aren’t going to go away. They seem to have permanent residency in life.

Shel Silverstein captured the ongoing battle with whatifs in his poem appropriately titled WHATIF:

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
And pranced and partied all night long
And sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow tall?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems swell, and then
The nighttime Whatifs strike again!

Whatifs can be our own worst enemy.  And yet aren’t we giving ourselves way more credit than we should?  Just by entertaining the whatif thoughts we are concluding that we truly an upper hand on God. 

As if we have control over our outcomes.    

At the heart of battling the whatifs lies going back to the truth (After all...we should remember “And the truth shall set you free” John 8:32)

 “I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me.
¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning,
    from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
    and I will do all that I please.’
¹¹ From the east I summon a bird of prey;
    from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.

                                           Isaiah 46:9-11

May 3, 2012

Waiting for marshallow #2: Anna

I don’t know if I even want to write this one.  Seriously.  Writing about it makes me acknowledge the truth of it.  It’s the story of Anna in Luke 2.

Waiting a couple minutes = somewhat expected but not wanted.  Waiting half an hour through automated 1-800 numbers to get a live person on the phone to answer a question = annoying. Waiting a day for the plumber to come for a leaky faucet = frustrating.  Then there are the bigger ticket items: job, spouse, children.  We aren’t usually talking days here for that type of waiting. Months. Sometimes years.

Waiting for Anna meant waiting a lifetime.  She was 84 years old when she finally got to experience what she was waiting for. 

And what was she waiting for?  A Savior.  That’s the other thing that is staring me in the face.  A little conviction about my own list of things I’m waiting for…and getting frustrated over.

What’s my list when I think about what I am waiting for in great anticipation? Can I really say eagerly, every day, waiting, fasting, praying for the Lord’s return???  Anna was waiting steadfastly for Him.

And how she was waiting…

“serving day and night with fasting and prayers”

I’d love to say I’m serving day and night as I wait for whatever it is I’m waiting for.  But reality is more energy is put into trying to escape from having to wait.

I’ve got a lot to learn from Anna.

Three short verses. 

But three short verses in Luke that speak volumes about waiting.

Anna understood what it meant to wait for marshmallow #2.  She turned a lot of corners with expectation, not knowing what was on the other side.  But the wait was completely worth it in the end.