By Judy Villanueva

John 11:38-44
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Can you see Jesus standing before the tomb that holds His dear friend? It has been four days. Go there with me and, imagine being with Jesus in front of the cave and watch the story unfold! Mary and Martha are there along with others who loved this man and his family. It’s dusty and I can hear the shuffling of feet on the sandy ground. “What did Jesus say? He wants to take the stone away? Why?” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” I hear these words as if they have traveled over 2000 years and found me typing in my little office. God is speaking to me! I want to believe! I want to see the glory of God! I suddenly realize that some of my stuff is in that tomb! Hopes that have died — prayers that have grown tired, dreams that have been dragged there by long years of waiting.

I look at the tomb that holds the dead…and then, I look at Jesus! He knows. There are tears of love in His eyes and in mine as I feel intimately known and loved. Then, He turns and faces the mouth of the cave and shouts, “Lazarus, come forth!”  There is a hush that sweeps across the site and a pressured pause as we all wait with wide-eyed anticipation. Then, we hear it…can it be?  Footsteps!  All eyes are on the mouth of the cave.  Now, watch…don’t miss it!  There!  A shadow!  And now, a dead man raised and walking out of his tomb!  Standing at the cave next to the One for whom nothing is impossible, we witness the beauty and wonder of life called forth from death!  I fall to the ground in sheer awe and utter amazement! The glory of God is spectacular! I want to dance! I want to cry! My God can do anything!

Almost unwittingly, I find myself peeking around Jesus as He hugs His friend to see if I can catch a glimpse of my stuff.  Where is it???  It’s not in the tomb!  How can I go from awe to panic in a mili-second?  Where’s my dead stuff?  Befuddled, I turn scanning for my shattered hopes, my disappointments, fatigued prayers and lifeless dreams. Then Jesus says, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  What on earth? There in front of me is Jesus asking me to believe and inviting me to witness the glory of God! And, to my surprise, held safely in His arms, is all my dead stuff! Jesus holds my pages of prayers, my worries, loved ones, hopes and dreams!  He looks at me and says, “Come forth!” — and I feel a surge of faith, dreams awakening, worries resting, and hopes breathing again.

“Lord God almighty! You are faithful! You are all powerful, all good, all knowing…and You love me! You know me! All the time, in every thing, You know me. Thank you that You care about my hopes and dreams. Call forth the things that have died in me and let the reality that Jesus stands with me help me to believe and watch for Your glory! Amen.”

How about you?

Do you have hopes, dreams, prayers, and weathered faith left for dead in a tomb?

How might you pray if Jesus were standing next to you? How might you ask Him to pray for you?

Do you want to see the glory of God? Do you need help to believe?

Pray. Ask God to call forth life!

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Worship

By Judy Villanueva

God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1John 1:5) 

Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day.             (Psalm 139:12)

Bang!  The sound thundered in the night and woke me from a deep sleep.  I could hear snow pelting against the window and thought I’d imagined flashes of light through the curtains.  The wind seemed to hurl itself against the wall as though determined to break into our bedroom.  It was 4:00 am and shaken awake, I was now curious to see what exactly was going on outside, so I got up! My sense of hearing told me a stormy story but I could see nothing in the darkness outside my window.  Absolutely nothing! In a way, this is how parts of life feel right now.  I can’t see what’s in front of me and much as I press my nose against the window of tomorrow and strain to know the “what”, “where”, and “how” of it, it remains hidden.

My choice is to bang around in the dark and try to see what I cannot or trust that God, who is Light, sees everything, everywhere, all the time.

That God is light is a blessed reality!  NOTHING can hide from Him and NO THING is unknown to Him!  We, being human, experience darkness when the sun goes down, when we don’t understand a thing, or when something is hidden from us.  Most of our fears hide in the dark of unknowing.  What frightens you?  What threatens your peace?  AW Tozer once said that “What we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Knowing that God IS light chases our fears into the middle of a blessed Radiance that shatters the darkness!  

Life might sound like a stormy story and we may not be able to see through the night, but we need not fear because even the darkness is not dark to God…it is as bright as day! Rather than trying to see or know what we cannot, we can instead be still and  open our arms to God’s daily light and let each ray shine on our doubts and fears.

On that stormy morning I sat by the glow of a warm fire and watched the sun defeat darkness yet again!  As the sun rose up over the mountain peaks,  it became God’s literal Word of light to me!  Can you hear it?

“HOPE!”

God is Light.  He can see in the dark!  He knows what’s in front of us and will always be faithful to defeat the darkness and be our daily Light!

“Father, I am deeply comforted that You are light. It quiets my fears and gives me strength in the dark places. Thank you that you keep seeing what’s in front of me. It’s all lit up! Help me to notice your gifts of light today. Amen.”

How about you? 

What frightens you? What threatens your peace?

Have you ever noticed that light brings hope?

How does the sun coming up make you feel? What about candlelight, twinkling stars, or moonlight?

How might knowing that God is light be important in your life?

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Worship

By Judy Villanueva

John 8:1-11


At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They 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. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At 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. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”


What is it about human nature that wants to stand over others and cry out for justice? Even children seem to have an internal sense of fairness and tattle loudly when someone breaks the rules.  What is glaring in this story is the complete lack of love with which this woman is thrown down before Jesus.

I wonder what Jesus was thinking as he wrote in the sand?  Did he kneel down and write as a way of helping the crowd slow down and really see the woman?

Did he want it to sink in that they were not so different than she?  I wonder what the woman was thinking. She was caught in the act!  She knows how this works.  I imagine her looking down in shame unable to meet the eyes of her accusers and bracing for the first stone.  Instead, crouched in Jesus’ shadow, she hears him invite the one without sin to throw first but, rather than receiving blows of judgment, she hears rocks fall to the ground and feet shuffle away!

Can you imagine her first taste of grace as she looks up at Jesus and hears him say, “Where are your accusers?  Does no one condemn you?  Neither do I condemn you.”  We are people in need of mercy, and yet, are terribly prone to judge one another with harshness. It’s not that discerning right from wrong is a bad thing.  On the contrary, it is a necessary thing if we are to grow in godliness.

We do harm when we stop seeing people and just see their acts, when we forget that we are not so different from those we condemn, and when we mistakenly believe we are in any position to throw stones.

The only One in that position did not pick up a rock.  Nor did Jesus set the woman free without exhorting her to leave her life of sin.  We tend to do one or the other — we either forgive and condone sin or,  judge and condemn it.  The truth is, we need  mercy AND justice and it is only crouched in the shadow of the cross that — remarkably, undeservedly, and thankfully — we find both!   Amazing and beautiful grace!

“Lord, I confess that I, too, judge others harshly. I ask for grace to fill my heart and your help to love people and forgive acts. Thank you for daily graces and your heart that keeps setting me free. Amen.”

What about you?

Are you a grace giver or a stone thrower?

Do you tend to forgive and condone or, judge and condemn?

Have you had an encounter with amazing grace?

Have you received God’s gift of forgiveness and love?

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Worship

By Judy Villanueva

Luke 15:11-14, 20

And He said, “A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished… 

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Coming up the stairs I could hear the sound of the television and knew exactly where dad would be sitting.  I quietly giggled as I made my silly plan and pictured his smile when, startled, he’d see my head pop up over the railing.  It’s a little game we play every time I come home and almost every time I reach the top of the stairs.  It’s a way to say “I love you” at a time in our relationship when words are hard for my dad to hear.  I think I’d do just about anything to make this man smile and I’m pretty sure the same is true for him.  I cannot begin to imagine his heartbreak if ever I were to look at him and say, “I wish you were dead. I don’t want you, dad, only what you have to give me.”

That is essentially what the younger son said when he asked for his share of his father’s estate, gathered it all up and left for a distant country.  What kind of father listens as a child rejects his presence in favor of his treasure?  And, what kind of dad consents to give his son what he asks for knowing it will shatter his own heart?  As I trouble over why this father doesn’t knock some holy sense into his child, I find myself invited to notice an incredible revelation of God rising up from the story.  Curious, I lean in close and finally see it, a reflection of the Divine heart beating with beautiful love, too big to contain — pure, powerful and free!

This is the heart that listens to us when we ask for what we should not or  when we leave home to seek fullness in a foreign land. This is the Father who waits for our return and runs with abandon to kiss and embrace us!

There are lots of ways to leave home lest, like me, you have trouble identifying with the younger son.  When I am willful, fearful, or fretful I can tell I’m on my own somewhere far from the Father.  Sometimes I hide and other times I leave in search of life a part from God whether in front of a tv show, a balance sheet or a banana split.

To be honest, if I pay close attention to my prayers I realize with tremendous sorrow, that like the younger son, I often want what God can give me more than I want God.

That’s hard to write and hurts to know. Yet, this is where the Father finds me.  This is where I feel His heart beat with beautiful love.  This is where I am gathered up and forgiven by the One who watches for my return and runs to welcome me home!

“Father, I want to want You most! Thank you for your faithful heart and compassion for your children.  Help me find my way home whenever and however I wander from your heart.  Amen.”

What about you?

Are you learning to want God?  Most?

What kinds of things draw you away from “home”?    Away from the Father’s heart?

Have you experienced the Father’s love for you?

Do you know that God watches and waits for you?

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Worship

Judy Villanueva

“Kindness is a habit that softens the atmosphere. It is an outgoing of neighbor-love that becomes instinctive, and is often unnoticed even by the person who practices it; yet voices and actions and even thoughts surrounding acts of kindness impart this softening toward others as if it were a benevolent virus, a happy infection that eases everything for everyone…Kindness is a selfless form of thinking that sees a need and meets it, almost by reflex, with no thought of reward. (*J.I. Packard)

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32)

I felt the cold wind touch my cheek as I emptied the contents of my trunk onto the pavement. Spring had one more snow shower to deliver and I had one large box to fit into my car before she did! The package looked a lot smaller in the store and was definitely not cooperating with my plan to override the laws of physics. Pushing and turning I pleaded with my new box and just when I’d about given up, a voice lifted up over the parking lot, “Do you need some help there?” It was definitely a rhetorical question asked by a fellow shopper who noticed my predicament. He stopped and with a smile and few calculated shoves loaded my box and closed the trunk! I shook his hand and thanked him, aware that this simple kindness deposited a “soulish” blessing — one that felt like a sweet touch from God.

Kindness is both gentle and powerful! It smells good, feels good and leaves love in its wake.  It notices another and offers care.

It springs up from kind deposits that have left their blessings and created love.

Kindness moves outward with intent to bless.  It is healing and makes us kinder people.  Its touch is disarming and its voice speaks with reminders of things we most need to remember.

“You matter. I see you. I love you. I am here.”

God is kind and when kindness touches us, it helps us touch God.  That is why in the wake of kindness we feel lighter even if our burdens have not yet been lifted, and hopeful even in the midst of a storm.  Is it any wonder God asks us to be kind and tenderhearted to one another because when we are, we usher people into an experience of His presence.

As I drove away with my new box safely tucked away, I became aware of a blessing that lingered over me. “Is that You, God?” I queried, remembering my morning prayer where I’d asked God to help me feel His presence in my real life.  He did … through the kindness of a stranger in the middle of a parking lot!  What may seem like a small gesture was a gift that encouraged my heart and helped me feel God touch my real life.  It also awakened me to the potential that each day holds to be kind and bless others, to participate in God’s kingdom coming to earth in ways that “soften the atmosphere” and usher fellow shoppers into His presence.

“Thank you, Father, for your many kindnesses and for helping me feel your presence today. Create love in me and use me to bring your kindness to others. Amen.”

How about you?

Where did you last experience kindness?

How did it make you feel?

Who in your life offers you kindness?

Are you kind?

Can you feel God in and through acts of kindness?

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 *J. I. Packer with Carolyn Nystrom, Guard Us: Divine Leading in Life’s Decisions, )Grand Rapids, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2008), 70)

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