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Stand Firm

~ seeingeternity ~ 1 Comment

20000608 - George Clooney in The Perfect Storm. CLR Press release photo.

by Terry Morris

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” (Hebrews 12:1)

Many years ago, I took a week off my regular job to work on a longline fishing boat. We fished for swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of Florida and each crewmember was paid a share of the catch. If you have seen the movie The Perfect Storm, you have seen a very accurate description of what it is like to work on this sort of vessel.

The name longline comes from the 12-mile spool of line that we set out like a giant trotline. From this line were suspended many smaller lines, each with baited hooks. We would spend the day moving to the spot, baiting hooks, and coiling lines. In the late afternoon we would set the line, the next morning we would reel it in and claim our catch.

There were many dangers associated with this type of fishing, and at the time I went they were losing about one fisherman a month. Some simply slipped off the deck while standing the night watch, pacing to keep awake while their companions slept. Others were killed in accidents. Being dragged underwater by a moving line was a very real possibility.

My friend David, whose father was the captain, warned me: “Don’t move your feet when we set the line. There will be all sorts of lines and loops moving around your feet and legs as we set the line. If you step into a loop, you will be pulled off the boat.”

The danger was real. As the 12-mile line was paid out, there were sets of knots every 100 feet. We clipped baited 20-foot leader lines between these knots, and a float every 10 sets. Everything that was clipped to the line was dragged overboard. The coils of line whipped around my feet as I stood firm for hours.

“When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.” (Proverbs 10:25)

“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” (Psalm 40:2)

 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

 “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” (Ephesians 6:14-15)

© 2015 Terry Morris

Questions or Comments?

Reconciliation

~ seeingeternity

Forgiveness alone can’t bring Reconciliation.

Repentance alone can’t bring Reconciliation.

Forgiveness is a raw and intimate act, a holy act, offered in the power and authority of Jesus. It’s not “letting it go”.

Repentance is also a raw and intimate act, a humbling, a brokenness, a change of heart. It’s not “let’s move on”.

It’s when the kiss of Forgiveness is met with the kiss of Repentance that Reconciliation is joyfully born.

© 2015 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?

Low Aspirations

~ seeingeternity

washing-feet-sculpture

My highest aspiration is to be the lowest person on the planet.

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet: John 13:1-17

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

Questions or Comments?

© 2015 Deborah Morris

Fear

~ seeingeternity

fire

Fear is the furnace that Faith walks through. Trust the One who knows best to do what is right and good, no matter how it looks to us.

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)

© 2015 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?

Church Life: Welcome to the Rock Tumbler!

~ seeingeternity

At home group last week, Terry shared a spiritual insight that really stuck with me.

Our daughter recently borrowed his rock tumbler, and he carefully explained the process required to turn the rough and dusty stones she’d collected into beautiful polished stones. It’s a lengthy, messy process that involves abrasive grit, water, and long periods where the stones bang into each other repeatedly.

rocktumbler2

You start with a very coarse grit to knock off sharp edges and smooth out rough surfaces. The next step is a slightly finer abrasive. More muddy water. More tumbling. More detailed refining.

After 5 or 6 weeks, the stones look startlingly different from the rough, dull rocks that went in. They are now smooth and satiny to the touch. Colors pop. They have become almost jewel-like in their beauty.

rocktumbler

So it is with life in the Church. THAT is why genuinely engaging is so important. Not attending, not supporting, not regularly visiting, but jumping right into the rock tumbler with all your imperfect brothers and sisters. Forgiving. Loving. Confronting. Repenting. Rejoicing. Mourning. Praying. Humbling yourself. Gradually getting refined and polished so you can accurately reflect the beauty of the Father.

Terry calls it the “rock humbler”. There are no important rocks and no insignificant rocks. We each play a crucial role, and if we endure the process with faith, we eventually come out beautiful. One rock alone can’t do it.

So come on, jump in! There’s room for you.

 

“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:5)

 “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:16)

© 2015 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?

Love, Broken Down

~ seeingeternity

Terry had a new insight the other day from 1 Corinthians 13. He suddenly noticed that this oft-quoted chapter calls out 8 positive and 8 negative attributes of love:

What Love IS:

  1.  Patient
  2. Kind
  3. Rejoices with truth
  4. Protective of others
  5. Hopeful
  6. Trusting
  7. Persevering
  8. Unfailing

What Love is NOT: 

  1. Envious
  2. Boastful
  3. Proud
  4. Dishonoring others
  5. Self-seeking
  6. Easily angered
  7. Keeping record of wrongs
  8. Delighting in evil

Thought provoking, at least for me!

© 2015 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?

Forgiveness

~ seeingeternity

Forgiveness is NOT mentally trying to reduce someone’s offense (reframe it, excuse it due to past trauma, etc.) to the point where we can humanly swallow it and “let it go”.

Forgiveness is facing the full awfulness of the offense against us and acknowledging the full punishment deserved for it… then accepting that the punishment has already been carried out in full, leaving no debt still due to us.

The cross leaves us free to forgive the most heinous offenses. How can we not?

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:4-6

© 2015 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?

Respect in Marriage

~ seeingeternity

Most of you know I’m not an avid follower of any high-profile ministries, since all ministries have failings and can’t be swallowed whole. But these snippets from a Joyce Meyer message on “Respect in Marriage” rang true:

“You should honor and respect your husband above all the other people on earth.” More than kings. More than CEOs. More than celebrity preachers. He is to you in marriage as Christ is to the Church. (Eph 5:21-33) (1 Pet 3:1-7)

“You should always speak to your husband like he’s a high-ranking dignitary.” If you wouldn’t say it to (or in front of) someone really important, you shouldn’t say it to him.

When convicted about her casual, often disrespectful manner toward her husband, Joyce said she protested, “But if I can’t be myself [blowing up, speaking my mind in anger or scorn] with my husband, who can I be myself with?”

God’s response by the Spirit was: “That’s the POINT. That IS you.”

What comes out of our mouths to those we can get by with disrespecting reveals what’s actually in our hearts. And this truth goes beyond just husbands.

Selah. (Pause and reflect upon this.)

“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” (Mt 15:18)

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” (James 3:9-10)

© 2015 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?

New Eyes

~ seeingeternity

Each morning on the way to school, I have Ford and Harbor (6 & 7) name at least three things they’re thankful for. It’s our way to start the day with a grateful heart.

This morning they taught me a lesson.

The boys huddled in the back seat with their coat hoods pulled up because my back convertible window had come loose, allowing rain (and sleet) to pour straight down on their heads. They were both white-dusted with sleet and sitting in an icy draft.

Here is a picture of our view on the way to school this morning.

neweyes

Looking out the window, Ford said, “I’m thankful for seasons, and for this beautiful world.”

I was still processing that when Harbor piped up: “I’m thankful for sleet, and that I get to go to school.”

It was one of those humbling moments for me. Where I saw greyness, traffic, and sticky sleet through eyes still watering from a cutting 32-degree wind, they saw beauty. Where I saw a car window that needed repair and children in an uncomfortable position, they saw the wonder of ice raindrops bouncing off the windshield and dancing in the air. And on their heads.

God grant me better vision!

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Mt 6:22-23)

© 2015 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?