2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 4,900 times in 2010. That’s about 12 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 36 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 90 posts. There were 48 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 30mb. That’s about 4 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 22nd with 64 views. The most popular post that day was New thoughts on holiness.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were search.aol.com, aaronlivesy.wordpress.com, mail.yahoo.com, google.com, and authorsden.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for feed my sheep, 3d cross, lazarus, wooden cross, and seeking holiness.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

New thoughts on holiness October 2009

2

There will always be good and evil–Choose good October 2009

3

Whom the Son sets free is free indeed April 2010
1 comment and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

4

And they were still following the signs… December 2009

5

The Death of Lazarus May 2010

Christmas Time in Arkansas Again – KATV Channel 7 – The Spirit of Arkansas:

Christmas Time in Arkansas Again – KATV Channel 7 – The Spirit of Arkansas:.

May it be to me as you have said

Luke 1:28; 30; 35; 38 …”Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” …But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God…The angel answered,”The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…For nothing is impossible with God.” I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered.  “May it be to me as you have said.”  Then the angel left her.

I have not posted in quite some time, but I could not let the Christmas season pass without spending some time praising our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Have you ever been so afraid you were literally paralyzed?  Imagine for a moment how a young teenage girl would feel when approached by an angel.  If that were not enough to cause such fear, he delivered news that she could scarcely comprehend–she was to be the mother of God.

Look for a moment at some of the key statements in these scriptures, and if you have time look up Luke 1:26-38 in your Bible and read the entire verses to give you a better understanding of the dynamics of this meeting.

1. Mary was highly favored and God was with her
2. Mary responded by saying she was the Lord’s servant
3. Mary further responded by saying, “May it be to me as you have said.”

How does one find favor with God?  We know God’s favor cannot come through works, because Isaiah 64:6 says, “our works are as filthy rags.”  It is only through faith that any of us can receive God’s favor, and by His grace which was prepared for us from the foundation of the world.

Mary lived in a time when a woman found guilty of adultery was subject not only to divorce but possible stoning.  Although Mary was quite young she would have been aware of the implications of pregnancy outside of marriage.  Yet, she responded, “May it be to me as you have said.”

God gave His only Son that we might live; Jesus was born to die upon a cruel cross that we might be reconciled to the Father.  In 1 Sam 15:22 we are told obedience is better than sacrifice.  May we have the courage of our convictions and the power of faith in He whose birth we celebrate each December to respond as Mary, “may it be done to me as you have said.”

I am the way, the truth and the life

John 14

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions;[a] if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14 includes one of the central tenets of our Christian faith–no one comes to the Father except through Me.  We may try to talk our way around it, believing we are somehow being magnanimous by altering the truth to include other methods to be reconciled to God than by Jesus, but the truth does not change, truth cannot be altered.  There is one way to God, and that way is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who became a sacrifice for our sins.

The promises in these verses are so sweet and so life-affirming:

1. Let not your heart be troubled.  In other words, be at peace.
2. Believe in God, believe in me
3. There will be a place in Heaven prepared especially for you
4. If I go, I will come again so that we can be together
5. I am the way

I love it when Jesus uses the terminology “I am,” which is reminiscent of God’s first words to Moses in the midst of that burning bush.  Have you accepted Jesus as your Saviour, as your “I am?”  There is no better time than now to turn to Him.  Let not your heart be troubled–believe.

Peter’s denial

John 13:31-38

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

³¹When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. ³²If God is glorified in him,^[c] God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

³³“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

³⁶Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”

³⁷Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

³⁸Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

Much has been said of Peter’s denial and Jesus’ foreknowledge of this event.  Therefore, I would like to look at another piece of this scripture.  ”As I love you, so you must love one another.  By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  My question is this, have we fulfilled this mission?  Do we Christians truly show our love for each other, that others may know we are His?  I think if we could keep within our consciousness the last part of this commandment, that all men will know we are His if we display this kind of love, then perhaps we would be more successful at loving each other.

Remember as you go through your day that your actions reflect back on your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Seek holiness.

Jesus predicts His betrayal

John 13:18-30

18″I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’[b] 19″I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”  21After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” 22His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”25Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.”What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, 28but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

Seldom do any of us know what is going to happen before it occurs.  We are generally not privileged to have foresight, but instead are burdened with 20/20 hindsight.  Sometimes, because of Jesus’ divinity, we think He was omniscient because He was fully man and fully God.  Besides bringing salvation to fallen man, Jesus came to show us God, to show us God’s heart, and to teach us how to live our lives before God and with man.  Jesus gave us the example of praying always and it was through prayer that Jesus  learned who would betray Him. How terrible it would be to sit at a table with someone who had been your friend, knowing that you would soon be betrayed by that same friend.

What can we learn from the above scriptures?

1. Jesus knew His time was short, and He spent the last night with His disciples, His friends.
2. Jesus tells His disciples of future events so that when His predictions come true His followers would finally realize who He is
3. Believers would accept His disciples because they were sent by Jesus, and they would accept Jesus because He was sent by God.

May we follow Jesus’ example always by keeping our friends close and by learning God’s heart through prayer.

God chooses Moses

God Chooses Moses

Exodus 3:1-12 (New American Standard Bible)

Exodus 3

The Burning Bush

1Now Moses was pasturing the flock of (A)Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to (B)Horeb, the (C)mountain of God.

2(D)The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a (E)bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

3So Moses said, “(F)I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”

4When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, (G)God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Deuteronomy 7:7-9

7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

Have you ever been going along, minding your own business, and suddenly a life-changing moment occurred?  This is what happened with Moses.  You will remember he had fled Egypt twenty years earlier after killing an Egyptian for cruelty he witnessed toward a slave.  Now he was shepherding his father-in-law’s flock and he witnesses something quite miraculous–a bush that is on fire, yet is not consumed by that fire.  Even more startling was the voice coming from the bush that called Moses by name.

I love that when God called Moses He called him by name.  It was a personal call, and God had a specific plan for his life and for his mission.  And Moses, though not completely convinced he was the man for the plan, answered “Here am I.”

God did not call Israel because they were special, He called them to be special.  The plan to deliver Israel was a microcosm of the larger plan to redeem the world through a chosen people.  God desired to use Israel as a beacon of light to the world, to show that there is one God and His name is Yahweh, and to share His salvation with the rest of the world.  It was the nation through whom our Savior would come, it was to be a nation of priests, and of missionaries to the rest of the world.  He began by calling Abraham and waited until he and his wife Sarah were far beyond the age of child bearing to begin to fulfill His plan.  The plan continued through Isaac and now God was calling Moses.

May you listen to God’s call upon your life, and may you choose to say “Here am I, send me.”

Jesus washes the disciples’ feet

John 13

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.[a]

2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

8″No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

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

10Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

12When 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. 13″You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

There are few things in this life that are such great equalizers as the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The great and small, the rich and poor, the educated and the unschooled all find the same thing at the foot of the cross–forgiveness.

Jesus’ disciples had been with Him for three years, yet there was still so much they did not understand.  Foot washing was a normal practice in Jesus’ time, for the roads were dusty and the majority of travel was accomplished on foot.  However, the person washing the guests’ feet was usually a servant.  By Jesus performing this simple act He was trying to convey the servanthood part of Christianity.

Are you willing to perform the menial duties of servanthood?  And the greater question is, are you willing to allow yourself to be the object of service?  May God provide you with the desire to serve, and the ability to step back and let others serve you.

Jesus came to save the world

The Jews Continue in Their Unbelief

John 12: 37Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: ”Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed “ 39For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40″He has blinded their eyes
and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,

nor turn—and I would heal them.”[h] 41Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. 42Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47″As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

As a poet, I learned years ago that the poem must be true, but it does not have to be factual.   The poem must be true to itself, but the facts of the poem are somewhat irrelevant.  If I write about my grandmother’s house, which was white frame, but the poem dictates it be red brick, then it is red brick.

Similarly, I wonder if when Isaiah said “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts”  that was a true statement as far as Isaiah understood, but perhaps it was not factual.  It is difficult for me to accept that Jesus would blind any man’s heart to His glory and His Sonship, and therefore His saving grace, but possibly that is as far as Isaiah understood, and therefore to him it was true.

Jesus speaks as plainly in these Scriptures about His reason for coming to earth as in any other Scripture:  “For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”  Praise God that Jesus came to save the world.  May we step aside and allow Him to do His work.

All men are drawn to Christ

Jesus Predicts His Death
John 12:20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27″Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
34The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ[f] will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
35Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Have you noticed there are some people who seem to know the reason they were born from the time they were small children? Then, there are those who more or less fall into the path they take on this earth. Jesus is one of those who knew His destiny early on. I often wonder just when Jesus became aware of who is was and what he would have to do. I imagine by the time he was twelve and teaching in the temple God’s plan had been revealed to him.

Jesus knew the reason he left his throne in heaven–he knew the life he would live, the friends he would make, the disciples who would follow, and those who would not. And now, as he neared his death, he knew the agony that would soon be his, but the glory that would be his Father’s. May we continue to glorify the Father and the Son by seeking holiness and turning away from the darkness, and into the glorious light.

Two hundred feet ahead

Ribbon of road stretches
toward tomorrow, night
looms larger, vision
impaired, but car
lights illumine
the path
before me, and
I can see clearly
two hundred feet ahead.

Ribbon of life stretches
toward the unknown,
precarious, ever
changing, vision
impaired, but
God delivers
me through
the dark shadows,
for He can see clearly
the pitfalls ahead.

If I can depend on car
lights to transport me
over potholes and around
the next bend, how much more
can I depend on my Savior,
whose vision is limitless
whose love never ends.

God is always with me
of that I am sure,
the need to know
unimportant,
the need to see,
petty somehow, faith’s
headlights shine the way
before me, and I am
two hundred feet closer now.

(c) 2009 Carol J. Grace