Friend Dumped

³⁵ Jesus wept.
John 11:35 (ESV)

Ever had a friend just decide that they don't want to be friends anymore?  They may blow up at you, they may tell you they don't have time for you, or just fade away out of your life and start ignoring you.  I looked for verses in the Bible that dealt with this, and one was the "shortest verse in the Bible".  Jesus wept.

At first I was like, that doesn't apply.  He was crying because Lazarus was dead.  He was grieving over the loss of a friend who had died.  And yet, he knew what he was going to do.  He knew that Lazarus would be alive again.  Yet he still wept.  He still grieved.  And so the lesson to me here was, even when it seems silly - even when it seems like a pointless gesture - sometimes you have to grieve, because that is how you feel.  Jesus wasn't crying because he would never see his friend again.  He was crying because he was sad.  He had suffered a loss.

Sometimes, you just gotta grieve.

Every time someone walks out of my life, it is intensely painful to me.  I do not handle rejection well.  I always internalize it and endlessly examine what I might have done wrong to make someone not want to be my friend anymore.  One of the things I have learned through swing dancing is that rejection is not about you - it's about them.  There can be a lot of reasons for rejection.  Whatever the issue - it's not yours.

If a relationship is worth saving, someone will go through the effort of explaining their issue with you and resolving it.  If they aren't willing to put in the effort, then they're not the friend you thought they were.  That doesn't mean they're not worth the effort though.

Our society puts a lot of emphasis on cutting and running when things get tough.  Movies tell us everything should have a happy ending.  TV shows tell us that if a relationship is bumpy, it's better to break up - if a marriage isn't working, get a divorce.  Any relationship takes two people.  If one is done, there is nothing you can do.

So you must move on.  And weep.


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Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum (INRI)

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews."

Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

John 19:19-22

On Sunday I was looking at the paraments in church. I noticed the one on the altar had letters above it, and I wondered what they stood for. So at the end of the service, I asked VA Moyer, the pastor who had preached that day. He told me it was the Latin letters that had been written on the cross. So I looked it up.



Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum

Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews

So often we see symbols and don't know what they mean. It was interesting to find out why those letters were on the parament. As I was looking up the Bible verse, I read the next few verses as well, which are included above. I find it fascinating that Pilate, who crucified Christ because he was afraid of the people, also feared God. I may be reading a lot into these two verses, but Pilate was willing to admit that Jesus was who he said he was. If a man that was not a Christian can do that, cannot we as well?

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Who am I?

Last September I promised a series that I used for my youth group overnight. I never followed through, and so I decided to start the new year by completing that series. I have left the wording the same in case anyone else wants to use them for a retreat. The one I posted in September is actually the second reflection. This is the first. I will post links to all of them bel

These are interactive. Take the time to pull out a journal, a notebook, a scrap of paper, or pull up your blog, or a Facebook note and spend 20 minutes writing your own thoughts down. You can share them if you want, but this reflection time is for you. If you find you have things you want to discuss, you know where to find me. :)

Throughout this weekend we will be taking time in the Word of God. You will have four opportunities to do so. Find a quiet, comfortable place – outside or inside. Take your journal, a pen and your Bible. Do not come back early. Spend the entire 20 minutes reading and reflecting quietly. We will come get you when the time is up. Please be respectful of others and do not talk during this time. What you write in your journal is personal. We will not read it and will not ask you to share it unless you want to. When the weekend is over, you get to take your journal home with you.

Open your Bible and read Genesis 1:26-27.

The Bible tells that God created us in His image. What does that mean to you?

How do you see God reflected in you?

How do you wish you could be more like God?

Are there ways you wish you could be less like God?

Open your Bible and read John 3:1-21.

Jesus tells us that we must be born again. You’ve probably heard that saying before. What does it mean to you?

Reflect on your baptism and your confirmation process (whether you are finished or working towards confirmation). How has being a baptized child of God affected your life?

Next Reflection: http://kairosverse.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-is-faith.html

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God is in my iPod

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

John 6:68 (NIV)

It's been a bad day for me today. I turned my iPod on shuffle and just the right songs came up to speak to me. It's nice to know God is in my iPod.

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Being Cheated On

³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" ⁶They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

¹¹"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

John 8:3-11 (NIV)

Today's passage is third in a three-day series. I have been talking with a number of people about cheating lately, both spouses and boyfriends/girlfriends. Today's verse is for people who have been cheated on.

You may be surprised by the verse I chose. I think it is appropriate when you are hurt by someone else to take a step back before going on the offensive. Jesus did say that if your spouse commits adultery you can divorce them. But is that what we should do? And what about dating? In today's passage, Jesus tells us that we shouldn't be accusing others unless we too are blameless.

As painful as it is, a relationship takes two. It takes two to make work and it takes two to mess up. Having someone cheat on you hurts, and abandoning the relationship seems like the easy thing to do sometimes. If you've been dating for a month when you are cheated on, you probably don't want to be in that relationship. Cheating is a hard thing to recover from and it requires a past history of trust and a lot of unconditional love.

If you have a long relationship and you are cheated on, look at why it happened. Is the relationship recoverable? If so then that is probably the right course of action. Hard times include those that are self-inflicted. Ultimately it may not be an easy decision, and you may not be able to make it work; but your first response should be to try to forgive.

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Love Each Other

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

John 15:12 (NIV)

Today's verse is part of a three-parter for the weekend. The theme is following Jesus' commandment to love one another, and how the Bible tells us to do that. Today we have Jesus telling us to love one another as He loves us. He set an example and He asks us to follow it.

Every time I think what it means to love like Christ, I think about loving those I would first judge. For me, that's people who aren't Christians, and people who have politically different opinions. I find myself often disregarding what they have to say and not wanting to associate with them. So when I think about this, I think about not just tolerating, but trying to understand people who have different points of view. Then when I encounter people who don't think as I do, I have a loving way of relating to them and disagreeing without judging, and without acrimony (being mean).

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Basket of Love and Grace - Free Refills

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

I John 4:9 (NIV)

This verse immediately made me think of our response to it. The Great Commission is Jesus' instructions for us to go out into the world and share the good news. This verse is God showing us what he did for us before he asked us to go out into the world. The Great Commission isn't just orders we follow, but our response to the wonderful gifts of love and grace that God has given us. Even more that, it is God saying, "Hey I have this bottomless basket of fish and bread - go share it." Except it's a bottomless basket of grace and love, and the more we give, the more we receive - both for our own lives and to share with others.

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Take Comfort in God

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come
to you.

John 14:18 (KJV)

Today's verse was inspired by Grace Day, who is dealing with a breakup. As I searched for words of comfort on these Internets, I found the above verse. The verse is about Jesus coming back after His death. It speaks to me of more however. Not just of His second coming, but of the fact that he is always with us. We can turn to Him and He will comfort us.

In those times when you're feeling lonely, rejected, sad, as if no one cared for you - remember that God does care for you. God will not leave you comfortless. He will come to you. These are words of hope when we are down and at our worse. God loves us. He died on the cross for our sins. Nothing and no one is beneath His notice. When you are sad He is there with you. He has nowhere else more important to be.

Today's picture is entitled "Rain on a Rose". I chose it because it depicts to me sadness and hope in the same picture. The rain drops are like tears on the petals. The black and white colors make this a stark and lonely picture. And yet at the same time the rose is white, full of light and hopeful. The rain does not take anything away from the rose. In fact it enhances its beauty. Soon it will dry in the rays of the sun and the rain drops will be but a memory...

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Hidden Miracles

¹⁹When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. ²⁰But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." ²¹Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

John 6:19-21 (NIV)

You may recognize this as our gospel lesson from yesterday morning. As I was listening to it, I noticed the last part of it, where the boat is suddenly at the shore. So I looked it up in my study Bible, and it says that some scholars interpret this as the boat reached the shore as a miracle. After the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water, this miraculous teleportation goes pretty much unnoticed. It's a hidden miracle.

I started thinking about how there are many hidden miracles in our lives, from the creation around us to the little bits of serendipity that make our life better. Jesus' life was full of miracles, and if we take the time to look around, we will often see that ours are too.

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