A Big Return on our Investment

It is Sunday morning. After a month-long Tour de Texas, it’s good to be back home again – “home” home, and to my church home. I hear: “You’re back!” “Welcome home, Donna!” “We missed you, Donna!” I love those words: “Welcome home!” Can we even fathom what those words meant to the prodigal son when His dad welcomed him home? I’m in MY pew and MY seat. Well, it’s not really mine, but I get here early enough to claim my territory! Second row, first seat, middle aisle where those of us who are honored and humbled to be communion servers stand. Easy to get to my place from here.

There is no place like home with my “church family”. We are the ones who team up in volunteering, serving, sharing, loving and praying. A common goal – to let our little lights shine here and out there. Wherever I go, God goes -- so, actually, everywhere I go is home sweet home. But, I see Him loud and clear in my church family. We walk hand-in-hand in some tough times and in the over-the-top good times. We are family. We’re a part of the Family of God – we’re brothers and sisters.

As I kneel for a few minutes, I exhale all the busyness of my life and I inhale the One Who got this whole “church” thing started in the first place. He wanted us to come together in one accord. He wanted us to bear one another’s burdens. He wanted us to be Him to our world. I sense my Lord here. In this place and in my heart. I know Him intimately. He knows even more about me – even those annoying fly-away hairs that I have to keep licking my fingers to make them stay down. I express gratitude, with all this journeying I do, for getting me safe and sound back here.

I look around. I see Him in the etched glass reaching His arms out to His disciples. I get chills just thinking He’s holding His arms out to me in the same way. After all – I, too, am one of His disciples. He says: “Follow Me!” And, I follow. I see Him in the stained glass above the altar – the hand of God symbolizing the Father, the Lamb symbolizing the Son, the Dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit. I’m familiar with the Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I know them well – not as casual acquaintances but as MY never-failing, always-present, Holiest of Holy team.

Maybe you don’t have a church family – those who go toe-to-toe with you in good times and tough times; those who see you and come with a hearty hug for you. I have an investment in this place – my time, my talent and my treasure. The return on my investment is peace, joy, comfort, stability, hope, love and long-term (lifelong and beyond-term) pay-offs. Here’s my humble advice: If you want the best return on investment (ROI), there is nothing like investing in the Kingdom of God, investing in people. People will endure through time and eternity.

We don’t have a mission. God has a mission and has invited us to become part of His mission. We are the people to accomplish that mission. Someone said, “Keep the main thing the main thing.” The main thing is the mission of God. If you want real ROI, be a part of a team of people who make you better because their interests are beyond themselves. Their interests are Kingdom-based, people-based. Together we’re strong and stalwart with eyes on the prize. So, onward, Christian soldiers! Marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.

When Forgiveness Seems Too Much to Expect

It was customary for my mom and me, my boyfriend, his sister, and his parents to go out to eat at Kip’s Big Boy every Sunday night after church. It was our date night of the week. We lived many miles apart so it was a big deal for us to have this time together. We sat at a separate booth from the older folks. It was him and I on one side and his little sister sitting across from us – giggling as she spied under the table and saw us holding hands. We had been together since he was 13, me, 12. He had just turned sixteen, got his driver’s license and he was so excited that his dad had consented to let him take me for a ride around the block in his dad’s brand new 1963 Buick Electra. Free at last! Thank God Almighty! We were free at last!

I squeezed in close to him (no console back then) and we were off for our 10-minute excursion. He was so proud as we drove down one block and then on the parallel street to Kips, he did what any 16-year-old might do. He speeded up, hit a big dip in the road that catapulted us to the ceiling of the car (no seat belts back then) and we heard a pretty loud "KER-THUNK". Serious damage was done to the car and I think I remember hearing “the bottom fell out”. I’ll never forget my boyfriend bitterly crying and lying across the front of the car saying in utter regret “Dad, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry!” It was then that I witnessed his loving dad wrap his arms around his boy and say “Son, I forgive you. It’s okay. We’ll take care of it.” It made a lasting impression on me of what true forgiveness looks like. BTW, I married that boy two years later.

That story reminds me of the love of the father of the prodigal son who squandered his inheritance, yet when his father sees him coming down the road to home, he embraces him and kisses his lost son. The father represents God. The truth about forgiveness is that it is not a natural response and it isn’t for the person we’re forgiving. It’s for us. I heard once "Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Unwillingness to forgive eats away at our hearts and souls, while forgiveness frees us.

No greater forgiver was Jesus, Who after the lies, beatings, denials and pain, said: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." In the Bible, “forgive” is on the lips of Jesus 43 times. Forgiveness was a gift Jesus was happy to give. Jesus gave forgiveness as a gift to people who didn’t do anything to earn it and to others who didn’t seem to deserve it. Jesus still does that today. Forgiveness is the trademark of Christians – or at least it should be. I put myself on the line every time I say the Lord’s Prayer: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

There are so many wrongs in this world that are grossly unfair, brutal and reprehensible on what might have been done to us. For me to speak about forgiveness when I don’t know what was done to you seems ludicrous. But, it’s not me speaking. It is our loving Heavenly Father who put His Son front and center on the stage of “This is what forgiveness looks like!”

The Apostle Paul said, "Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ." (Ephesians 4:32) Sure seems like a tall order, but one that comes with sweet rewards. We can move on with our lives, have freedom from the pain of the past and enjoy greater happiness in the present. That kind of love says "You're forgiven!" We may not forget, but we are at least free from the burden of unforgiveness. It’s not that we dismiss the pain but it does mean we recognize that even our greatest wounds and deepest pain will one day be transformed into beauty by our God who wastes nothing.

I Was Fed Up

"Fed Up” = has had enough of a situation; annoyed with a state of affairs that has persisted for a long time.

A year ago this January, a crown was placed on my back fractured tooth. I was hounded for years by my dentists to get that crown. The only problem I was having were those annoying dentists that kept prodding me to get it done. I gave in but as soon as the temporary crown was placed, that tooth started giving me grief that intensified when the permanent crown was on. I had headaches, and the pain increased when food or water was near that tooth. My dentist assured me within six months the pain would be gone. It wasn’t. She sent me to a specialist and he recommended a root canal or remove the tooth. I put up with it another six months. One year later, I was FED UP with the pain. Two weeks ago, hesitantly, because she didn't want to pull a good tooth (it wasn't good to me), she pulled it. There is a space back there but no more tooth pain and no more headaches! Why did I wait so long? One year of misery instead of taking action sooner than later?

Jesus told the story of the prodigal son who left home with his inheritance, squandered it all on a tawdry lifestyle, and ended up eating in the pig pen. Everything he needed was at his father’s home but he settled for the pain and misery until he got FED UP and went home. "My father’s servants have it so much better than this! I’ll go back and ask to be one of his servants!” Check out the love of the father and his response: “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. The father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s feast and celebrate’” (Luke 15:20-23). All the joy of his father’s love awaited him. He needed to get FED UP enough to go home to him.

Maybe you're FED UP with something in your life. Maybe a job where you're mistreated and overlooked You're ready to find a job where you are esteemed and valued. Maybe you're FED UP with the vices that you thought you had to have to make it through another day. You're ready to seek help from a Christian counselor or pastor. Most of all, if you are FED UP with looking in all the wrong places for hope and love and ready to "go back home", like the prodigal son, to His Father. No matter what we’ve done, when we come home to God, He wraps us in His love. He gives us His best and says, “All is forgiven! Let’s have a feast! My child has returned to me.”

Maybe you’re FED UP today. God sees you. He knows and cares about you. What a comfort to hear those words and to know we don’t have to live without hope any longer. Rather than being FED UP, it’s time to be FILLED UP with God's love, faith, hope, joy, peace, and all the full-meal-deal promises of His Word. Getting fed up is good because it means we go home to a celebration. And, like my freedom from constant tooth pain I let go way too long, you will know freedom from the pain of hopelessness, loneliness, sadness, fear, and regret. When you get fed up and make the change, you'll be celebrated and rejoiced over and your mourning will be turned into dancing.

Psalm 34:19: “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.”