He has pre-prepared

Since 1947 Girl Scouts have had the motto “Be prepared.” I should know. I was a girl scout from Brownie to Cadet. It was drilled into us. We came to meetings with a plan already in motion. We came with all of the essentials we would need for the task at hand.

And that suited my personality quite well. I’m not a winger. I never “wing it.” I'm a planner. I like being prepared.

Later when I worked for a children’s ministry at my church, my children’s minister told us, “When working with children consider all the things that can go wrong and be prepared for these things to happen.” Did he know kids or what?

When I started teaching my principal had a “no surprises” policy. I liked that and found it easy to submit to that kind of leadership.

I like being ready for every situation when it comes to life and/or teaching kids. And I can tell you, there have been some situations! OK, I didn’t always get it right. I've even used advice from Garfield the unflappable cartoon cat, “If you can't convince them, confuse them.” I'm prepared to confuse at a moment’s notice. It’s called, “distract, repair, and regain attention.”

There’s nothing wrong with being prepared. This word even comes with a “pre” in front which means ahead of time. I like to be ready ahead of time. But I have learned that no matter how prepared you think you are something is going to come out of the blue and knock you sideways and shock you into realizing you're not as prepared as you thought you were.

Thankfully during those post-preparation moments when things are falling apart and you're just mopping up mess and trying to survive it God has an answer.  

For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Nothing is a surprise to Him. He has pre-prepared in advance (I know, I've used a little redundancy. But it’s just to get the point across) everything that has happened and is going to happen to us. The creator has and is creating a masterpiece in us. All the things that happen, planned or unplanned, are part of His predetermined plan. It will be for His benefit, His kingdom’s benefit, and our benefit.  He has taken the “Be prepared” motto to a whole new level. He has made everything ready beforehand for His specific purpose. And it will be created into a good work.

This suits my personality immensely. There is a lot of peace of heart and mind in knowing it’s all for a planned purpose and has a reason beyond my understanding and planning. I plan and when and if it falls apart He planned and is working the unfailing plan.

I prepare.

God has pre-prepared.

It will end up as a good work.

As Hannibal says on the A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

One is Not a Lonely Number

I visited Chicago with my sister and two nieces. It was all big buildings and masses of people everywhere. We had fun but I did get an occasional feeling that I was just one of the masses.

I think that feeling alone in a crowd is not uncommon. Sometimes we all feel that we are by ourselves even with people around us especially if we are surrounded by strangers.

One night as we were waiting to get into a restaurant for Chicago pizza (and, no, it’s not anything like we serve in Alabama,) a young woman offered to take our picture. We chatted with her for a bit and found out she is from Alabama and going to Moody Bible Institute. I told her that I was familiar with Moody and she said, “Oh, are you a Christian?” Well, that started a whole new level of friendship. Suddenly we weren't strangers anymore. Suddenly we had a connection and a unity.

She was precious and I told her I would pray for her. She shared the path she felt God wanted for her future. And she was so appreciative for the encouragement of me just saying she would be in my prayers. BTW, Sidney and I are Facebook friends now so we can keep in touch.

After that God-planned meeting, I was reading in Ephesians 4. Look at all the unities surrounded by the “ones.”

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6

Sidney was just back to start a new semester at Moody and I imagine that being far from home can make you feel lonely sometimes. But God put us together to bear one another in love and to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Even though we each are one, we are

1.    In one body of believers

2.    Each possessing the one Spirit that keeps us unified

3.    One in the hope of our calling

4.    Joined by one faith in one Lord

5.    One in our profession of faith and submission to Christ in baptism

6.    Children of one God the Father of all of us

We are never alone no matter where we are in this great big world filled with people. We are unified with other believers around us whether we know of their existence or not

 I love this Christian family

.

 It’s a group in which a woman from Demopolis, Alabama can meet a woman from Montgomery, Alabama in downtown Chicago and feel like we've known each other forever. We can hug and pray for each other and have instant unity that will last throughout eternity.

Look around.

You are not alone.

One is not a lonely number.

Conjunctions

I’m going to show my age now but I love “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoons. If you were a kid back then, you probably liked them too. If you are an elementary teacher now and are not familiar with these little ditties then you are missing a great tool.  One of my favorite Schoolhouse Rocks is “Conjunction Junction.”

Here’s a little sample:

Music & Lyrics: Bob Dorough,  Sung by: Jack Sheldon, Animation: Phil Kimmelman and Associates (1973)

                                                  

                                                 Conjunction Junction, what's your function?

Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.
Conjunction Junction, how's that function?
I got three favorite cars
That get most of my job done.
 Conjunction Junction, what's their function?
I got "and", "but", and "or",
They'll get you pretty far.

The word "and" puts two phrases of equal weight together. The word "or" gives choices. It’s the conjunction “but” that carries so much weight. It is used to join two contrasting or opposite phrases.  I found this little word in Ephesians 2:4.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…

What comes before this is that we were dead in sin. We were blatantly living contrary to God’s way. We didn't care that we were disobedient. The more sin the better was our mantra.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…

What comes after this is that He made us alive by forgiving our sin through Jesus Christ. He has placed us in honored places we don't deserve because of His grace. We didn't do anything to merit this promotion. God just did it out of love.

My Sunday School Teacher Eddie always says, “Take everything after the “but” and double it.” He is usually talking about us making excuses to God. I think it also can be attributed to God when He forgives us for the excuses we try to make.

Double the “rich in mercy.” Double the “love with which He loved us.” Double the “surpassing riches of His grace and kindness.”  All of this adds up to more than enough to cover our sin.

Here are some conjunctions for us in Ephesians 2:1-10

Death in sin or life in Christ

Children of wrath or His workmanship

His love and grace and mercy

Formerly walking according to our sin nature but now walking according to God’s nature

It’s not anything we can do for ourselves but everything Christ has done for us

These little conjunctions as the tiny cartoon engineer says,

‘I got "and", "but", and "or",
They'll get you pretty far.’

Who’s In Charge Around Here?

One of my favorite lines from a movie when dealing with children is when Goldie Hawn in the movie Deceived says, “Isn't anybody in charge around here?” She was speaking to a daddy who was trying to cajole his child into giving back a very expensive necklace. Well, the child had no concept of worth when it came to the necklace and the dad was trying to get the child to agree to give up the sparkly shiny thing. This is not a winning situation so Goldie just snatches the necklace out of the child’s hand and delivers the line.

Sometimes the one in charge just has to take the responsibility and make it happen.

There are times we look around at what is going on in this world and want to say, “Isn't anybody in charge around here?” The people that are in places of authority seen to be trying to make themselves popular to everyone and seem to be avoiding making the hard decisions. Before I throw rocks, I have to admit as a “people pleaser” I have a hard time in a leadership position. I know leaders can't please everyone, and that everyone wants a leader to please their own interest. The buck has to stop somewhere. Someone has to step up and take responsibility for the situation. But I don't want to make the hard decisions. So I can understand a leader's dilemma.

I'm certainly glad that there is Someone in charge around here. Even if I may not agree with some of His choices for this world and me, I have to admit I like the security in trusting His leadership.

The eyes of your heart are enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

(Talk about a run on sentence – But I understand the Greeks did not have punctuation and really Paul is getting the point across that God is the top of the authority chain. He is absolutely capable and not intimidated by anyone or anything to use this power and make the decisions.)

And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:19-23

If you want to go to the top and talk to the one in charge, you have that privilege. You don't need an appointment. You don't have to be of equal rank. You don't have to go through screening. You don't have to snatch it and try to make it work out of your own strength. You don't have to wait while He is in a meeting. And you are given the knowledge that you are always welcome now and anytime in the future to seek His leadership directive.

God is in charge around here. He was and is and will always be in charge around here. He is above every ruler and authority. He is above every power and dominion. He is above every name that is named.

Isn't anybody in charge around here?

Yes,

God is.