Cindy Gaskins

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17

Our Hawaiian island life means the chances of sand appearing somewhere other than the beach are good. Recently I discovered some interesting things about sand. Be a sand nerd with me and let’s go to the beach so we can check out the sand. We might discover

• grains of sand have different properties, like size, shape, and roughness. And how all those properties are organized is equally important.
• loosely packed gains might feel soft because they have room to flow around in your hand.
• when the same grains are packed together tightly, they don’t have room to rearrange themselves in your hand so that makes them feel firm. 
• sand with rounder grains usually feels softer because the grains slide past each other more easily.
• smaller grains also don’t produce the pinprick feeling of individual grains pressing into your skin.

I discovered in my sand exploration reading that one of the great unsolved mysteries of physics is what makes sand soft?  Who knew?

In the perfect world God made, sand was perfect.

But then when sin came into the world all that perfect sand began to lose perfect qualities. Maybe that’s when sand, like people, began to have rough edges that poked. The first sandpaper. Because of sin, people developed rough edges, rough words, rough actions. Instead of walking together, we became bumpy, sticky, we bruised and hurt each other and certainly hurt God.

But God always had a rescue plan for His broken world and it started with Abraham. He promised Abraham a family that would number more than the sands on the seashore. And in that family would come the Great Rescuer, Jesus.

Like his Father, Jesus demonstrated His love for every single one us. No matter our shape, size, or where we are in the world. Jesus sees the people who stick together and make things hard and He sees the people who stick together but have a flow and ease that makes them soft, kind, helpful, and sweet.

The World is full of people – like the sands of the seashore. Our great God counts every one of us as precious as He holds us in His hands.

Whatever your Thanksgiving looks like in this curious 2020 year, remember

• everyone at your table bumps up against you in love or irritation at some point
• everyone not at your table this year is precious and held in the Father’s care
• everyone who has a difference of opinion, words, perspective can be used to make you smoother, softer, sweeter

Thanks be to our God who holds all things together. May His Kingdom come and His will be done on the earth – in the sand – as it is in heaven.

I’m no artist.  When I discovered adult coloring books there was a beginning curiosity that I might could do ok with this project. Pictures were waiting for my color palette choice. There are times when I feel completely satisfied with the finished design. Other times that awkward unsettled tilt of my head says ‘nope, that didn’t work!’

How much of our world looks at the picture of the day and wonders who will bring color to it? Who will create a design that makes sense or gives satisfaction? Who will breathe hope into the page of life we are holding our breath in?

The fires, virus news fatigue,
hurricanes, heatwaves,
masks, mothers losing sons and daughters
five year old students as well as freshman sit in online classes,
the furloughs and fitful nights of anxious sleep,
stay at home orders and six feet spacing,
watching church on a screen and the calendar claim weeks of new normal,
the picture from any angle isn’t what we understand or can predict.

The truth of this curious season of life can find some comfort from the writer of Psalm 119.

V 81           I am worn out waiting for your rescue…
V 123         My eyes strain to see your rescue…
V 143         As pressure and stress bear down on me…

But just like focusing on one part of the coloring page, we can miss the greater design. God’s words are wonderful and often mysterious.  They have more definition and detail than we first see. Read the verses again:

V 81           I am worn out waiting for your rescue, but I have put my hope in your word.
V 123         My eyes strain to see your rescue, to see the truth of your promise fulfilled.
V 143         As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.

Sweet Friend, the reality of our days can feel stained with awkward colors or clean with fresh lines. When uncertainty is real or pain relentless, when doubt stands on our shoulder or hope swells in anticipation, the Word of the Lord is certain and ready with every color needed for the scene.

No matter the design of the day, the minute, the season, we can trust that God’s Word is unchangeable. His promises sure.  And His commands eternal.

The design – every page in our life – is in his plan.  Let’s remember and today help dab, splash or full on paint some of His colors of love and sweetness into someone else’s picture.

Everybody’s got a story. Some of us have longer calendars with more stories.

Where were you when JFK was shot?  Where were you when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon?

Where did you watch Princess Diana get married?  Where did you get word of 9/11?

What hurricane or tornado or snowstorm did you experience?  What was your first phone?

Even if you aren’t old enough to have memories of some of these things, we are all still in the story of “the summer of 2020!”

Here’s one truth about 2020: while everything felt like jello being nailed to the wall, God did not, has not changed. His Story is eternal, powerful, and personal.

Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us there is a season for everything. Covid 19 is in there – a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing! There’s a time to grieve over attitudes and actions that cause injustice, heartache, and loss. There is a time to plant and harvest. There is a time to keep and a time to throw away. Right in the middle of chapter 3 is v 11 where we are reminded that God has made everything beautiful for its own time but even so people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work. (NLT)

Over and over God tells His people to remember the seasons.

Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 32 puts words to the wilderness season of God’s chosen people.

David in I Chronicles 16: 11-12 said Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given. (NLT)

Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1 proclaims joy and gratitude for God’s faithfulness in Israel’s journey and to a humble servant girl.

Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:3 says God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort other.

Seasons. Are you good paying attention to the season you are in?  Do you recognize the season your family, friends, church, nation might be in?

What will we tell in our story of this unfinished corporate and personal season? Who or what will my words most represent? Will I be honest with the sadness, loss, grief of this season? Will certain unexplained peace and hope weave throughout? Will it be a story of becoming healthy or unhealthy in more ways than just physical? Will my story have a lot of personal pronouns or is God’s nearness, strength, faithfulness the main point?

When you look back, when this season is over, what will your story be to “where were you in the summer of 2020?”

The Story isn’t over.

May we live in the truth that the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us so we could know The Story.

“Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Twenty-two videos and counting! No, that’s not how many I’ve watched today. That’s how many I’ve made of Bible moments for our K-6 online school in the last six weeks. I’m so not techy. And trying to learn things remotely or on the screen has taxed my brain. There’s a new kind of exhaustion.

How about you? What have you been doing? What new thing have you learned? What has surprised you? What has exhausted you while you’ve been sheltering in place?

• You’ve been cleaning out closets you haven’t dared open.
• You’ve had time to make picture albums or at least the pictures are organized by years!
• You’ve tried a dozen new cookie recipes and haven’t had anyone to share them with.
• You’ve been teaching school even as your own children have needed you to help them with school. You are first responders and essential workers.
• All of you with children in school have certainly earned management degrees in this SIP season.
• Some of you grandparents have also been the teacher or cafeteria worker or screen audience for reading!
• Some of you have set up your office space while managing all the ‘office’ spaces in your home as well as the internet usage!
• Some of you – like me – don’t have children at home. That can either make us feel guilty because we don’t have to manage the crew or sad that we don’t have activity around us and leave us frustrated that we can’t help out that single mom or stressed parents we know.

If our walls could talk! What repeated words would they echo? What laughter would spill from them? What prayers have seeped in? Think of all the times God’s people were sheltered in place

• When all manner of critters, creeping things and people lived on a boat together.
• When freed slaves learned how to walk between Red Sea walls of water.
• When God’s Presence in the cloud or pillar of fire told them when to stay put and when to move out.
• When a scarlet ribbon sheltered a Gentile woman during the collapse of Jericho’s wall.
• When a trusting young widow was sheltered by a kind Kinsman Redeemer.
• A rebellious prophet was quite a catch in the belly of a large fish!
• When a praying prophet was sheltered in a lions’ den.
• When God was sheltered in a young woman’s womb.

Can you imagine the conversations that came from those – and many more -scenes? And so the Story goes. What story will you have to tell? What video can you record? What picture can you paint? What letter can you write. What will you tell about our Way Making God because of these days?

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5:13-16

While our neighborhoods have moved into unfamiliar territory and vocabulary, I have been in another bubble.

Since March 9, I’ve been with a tour group in Israel. Travel restrictions were just starting after we arrived. And they have rearranged our schedule, but we are still moving. Throngs of people at the Western Wall and in the streets of old Jerusalem have been non-existent. Even though they want our tourism, we are beginning to feel the hesitation from some locals.

As I write for this Sweet Monday, I’m sitting on a hotel balcony at the Dead Sea. Mountains surround this body of strangely beautiful water.  Are you remembering this is the lowest place in all the earth? A little while ago, we walked the beach and stepped into salty sea and for 20 seconds did that famous float. Then security came and told us we had to get out of the water. Now there is a quiet here that is mysterious.  No one is on the beach or floating in the water. The hotel pool, beach chairs, outdoor spa is empty.

With all the world is experiencing and the multitude of feelings, I am conscious that at this moment where I am, I can only be still. Strange. I’m miles from home, my husband, my adult children who are worried about me, my aging mother, my school where preparations for possible closure and on-line classes are in high gear. Here there is no house project, no one needing attention, no deadlines, no computer, nothing but stillness. Strange. But checking myself in the reality, I find sweet comfort from our Father in this moment.

What am I supposed to hear in this silence?

I wonder what I will be like at the end of this unordinary time. What will we be like?

I wonder if God is making a way for us to stop in this lowest place and time in our cities, the nations.

I wonder if we will be still and listen. To Him. To each other.

I wonder if we might see our calendars as possible captors now that we are having to stop.

I wonder if we will learn to Sabbath because of this forced stopping.

I wonder if we recognize inconvenience for most of us is not suffering.

I wonder if we will feel deeply for those who are suffering.

I wonder if we will find ways to care for someone less comfort able, note able, pay able.

This is a time to stay in. This is a time to be careful and care full.

Let’s not be like the Dead Sea that offers no life beyond our own personal boundaries.

But do let this be a salty season. Give goodness to what feels heavy, lonely, crazy!

Let this be a season of sweet-making-history moments for our family, friends, strangers.

Let’s write letters and not just texts.

Let’s pray for those who work to make us safe and doing so in places that aren’t safe.

Let’s draw a hopscotch on sidewalks or your street that has messages of fun.

Let’s put a sign on your front door or window that makes others smile and feel welcomed in a day of social distancing.

Let’s believe our God is our refuge and strength. That we can pour out our hearts to him. Let’s let His love and sweetness flow out of us.

I’m guessing you are already ahead of me in finding ways to bless others, to encourage, support, creatively contact, and be with and for others. May your saltshaker keep pouring out so others can taste and see the sweetness of our God.

P.S. I returned safely home Friday and now I’m in my shelter in place for the next 14 days. I think my saltshaker is full.

“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15b

With all the celebrations heading our way, there are plenty of anticipated and unexpected emotions.

The joy of family moments together. And the dread of that gathering or those not present.

The peaceful quiet of just the Christmas lights on in the house. And the reality of the bathroom or closet in the dark down the hallway.

The wonder and delight of surprises and wishes come true. And the ache of disappointment and doubt…again.

Look at the Israelite’s entry into the Promised Land

• The flooding Jordan River stops upstream and dry ground appears for the crossing into Canaan.  Everyone walks together into a new place.
• Twelve stones are gathered and like a Thanksgiving table set or a nativity put in place, the people of God mark the moment with remembering together the greatness of Yahweh.
• Then comes the command of the Lord to circumcise all the men! What a party! And instead of the anticipating of Jericho’s surrender, God commands the men – the warriors, leaders, tribal heads – to put themselves in a vulnerable, painful, need-to catch-their-breath few days. This was a time for Israel’s surrender to the Most High God. Preparation and obedience.
• Then Joshua commands the feast of the Passover be celebrated. Likely very few have ever experienced this meal of remembrance because it hasn’t been celebrated since the first one in Egypt.
• Then the command to walk around Jericho for six days.
• Then the command to walk on the seventh day, with priests blowing trumpets, and a signaled blast for the whole army to give a loud shout.
• Then victory. God’s victory. No one could claim it except by God’s command and power.

Read these Joshua 3-6 chapters and put yourself in the sandals (that hadn’t worn out in 40 years). How would you have prepared for this occasion? Warriors along with every adult male would have wondered at the strategy of physical wounding before a strategic deployment. Women were more than likely quiet and respectful of the pain in the camp. Children were still talking about where all the water went in the river and perhaps shuffling the little rocks they had picked up along the way. Preparation for God’s victory was more than a little unusual. But obedience was uppermost in this season.

Is there a word for us as we approach the ‘land’ of November, December and January 1^st? What surrender is needed for us to know God’s gift of His purpose and pleasure? For the victory He has for us.

• Is there a tender pain that is taking our attention or attached to this season? Offer it in surrender.
• Is there a feast – a tea party, cookie exchange, sit and sip – remembrance you can offer that intentionally helps others experience the Sweetness of Jesus?
• Is there a walk – through your house before you decorate, through your neighborhood, around your church facility, in the mall, through your gift list and calendar, that you need to make before the rush begins?
• What is the Jericho that you see before and wonder how God will make the walls fall?

Surrender is the place to start. Kneel down right now and give thanks for His unending love and grace. He knows the way to, around, and through Jericho.

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the promise of Your presence in every season. We bow humbly before You.  We do not want other idols to get in the way of our faith journey. We surrender our plans, our lists, our worries, our hurries, ourselves.  May others who are watching us hear what You have done and call on Your Name, Emmanuel!