Snow play

 I just love how my husband loves his boys!  These were taken at Cub Scout Polar Camp.  Snow play is Derek's favorite activity.  Sometimes I catch him outside late at night after the kids are all sleeping creating large snow forts or sledding hill jumps for the kids to discover the next day.  He is so eager for the blizzard they say is on the way.

Faster and slower

Usually I forget about giving something up for Lent until Ash Wednesday has passed and anything I would have given up, I have already done or eaten.  This year someone brought it up before the beginning of Lent and I had time to consider my options.  Should I give up something for Lent this year?  Why would I want to do such a thing? 

               I could give up something for Lent so I could have something to brag about.  I could gather with my friends and we could try to impress one another with our sacrifices.  “I gave up ice cream.”  “Well I gave up chocolate.”  “But I gave up ice cream AND chocolate.”  “I’ll take your ice cream and your chocolate!  I gave up dieting!” 

                I could give up something for Lent as a kind of trial repentance.  We could join each other for coffee and admire our glittering crowns of piety.  If, after Easter, we just could not live without our sin, we could go back to it.  After all, we tried.  “I have given up speeding for Lent.  I will willingly get stuck behind the snowplow so I will not be tempted beyond what I can bear.”  “I’m giving up gossip.  Just so you all are aware I will not be talking about your weight, your marital woes or your horrible parenting.  You are so welcome.”  “I’m giving up porn.”  Yikes. 

I could give up something for Lent so I have something to complain about.  My friends and I could thumb text after text detailing our great misery.  “I don’t know how I will get through the day without the television.  Watching movies on my phone just isn’t the same!”  “I gave up wearing my seat belt and I am consumed by fear every time I leave the house.  If that’s not suffering I don’t know what is!”  “I gave up showers and I am so lonely; no one wants to be near me.”

                I could give up something for Lent and, in a small way, share in the suffering of Jesus Christ.  He gave up everything to come to this earth, suffer and die.  He gave up heaven for homelessness; glory for humility; a perfect body for pain.  He gave up life so I could have life abundantly.  (John 10:10)  Should I choose to fast I will not brag, for Jesus was a humble man.  I will not attempt a trial repentance unless I am looking for trial forgiveness.  I will not complain because Jesus did not complain.  The Bible says Jesus went to the cross, knowing full well what it would cost Him, in anticipation of the JOY set before Him; eternal life with His beloved people and glorification in the Kingdom of God.  (Hebrews 12:2)  

Snatched

Philippians 3:12  Not that I have already obtained all this [to share in Christ's suffering, become like him in death and attain resurrection from the dead], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to TAKE HOLD of that for which Christ Jesus TOOK HOLD of me.

This verse is one of my favorites.  I love the image of Christ Jesus taking hold of me.  I see myself on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the jagged rocks below.  It is dark down there, the roiling waves and shifting shadows are ominous yet grossly alluring.  The urge is to jump, to leap, to stumble and so fall...but then He calls me, calls me by name.  "Cassie, you are mine."  My head turns toward Him and He reaches out and grabs me, not by my hand, where the strength of His grip is dependent upon the strength of mine, but around the waist, protecting me from my own weakness.

He did not reach blindly, on that day, but carefully took aim.  We are called to be fishermen, casting our net out over our neighborhoods or workplaces.  We choose where to cast, but we do not choose who is caught.  Jesus is not a fisherman.  His hook is not baited, his net is not cast for just anyone who may pass by; the target, an accidental convergence of time and place.  No, when He reached out for me, it was me He wanted to take hold of.  Me, as one who He has known from before my birth; me, as one whose future is His to form.  He took careful aim and He did not miss.  As He said to Israel in Isaiah 43:1, He also says to me , "I have called you by name, and you are mine."

The burning, the stirring, the eagerness I feel to take hold of His purpose for me is a response to this image.  I am chosen, I am deeply loved, I am not an accident.  I am far from perfect, but His plan is perfect.  His purpose for my today is unfolding.  I hear the faint thrumming of His purpose for my tomorrow.  Looking beyond, I see nothing but the smoke behind which his purposes are hiding, but I press on, because once upon a time, He TOOK HOLD of me.

Snatched.