Therapy Through Poetry: A Journey to Hope

"Dreaming"

Journey to Hope

Dare to hope
of what could be
of what could last.

Dare to dream
of things not seen.

Imagining a life
beyond these days.
Not allowing strife to seize
a moment's joy
from these present days.

A hope.  A dream.

A promise I'm not for sure.
But hoping maybe we could be
a family soon someday.

By Ruth Robbins

What Art is Teaching Me

"Wash Over Me"

Though my writing has taken a backseat to our hectic lives of raising 6 boys; my creative side has found an additional avenue in which to express myself.  Creativity comes in many forms.  We can express ourselves through cooking, writing, teaching, design, lego building, VBS decorating, music and that is not even thinking outside the box.  It comes out in many forms because we were created by a creative God.  His attributes come through in His creation albeit a distorted and imperfect version, but nonetheless His.  You and I have this built in desire to create something in the unique fashion of how we ourselves were designed.  Just take a look around you.  Notice your neighbors flower garden, the bridge you cross over to go to work, even the way your kids play or dress.  We all express our creativity in unique and interesting ways that speak to who we are.

And not only that, but art and the practice of making art is teaching me so much!

1.  I am braver than I realized
2.  Pushing through a rough patch is worth the result at the other end
3.  It's ok if I am the only one who likes it or appreciates it

2 Corinthians 4:6

4.  My creativity can only get better from here
5.  Beautiful things take time
6.  There are many many layers to a work and a life that is rich
7.  We can cover our less desirable parts while highlighting our most attractive
8.   It takes courage to create something new
9.  I can express my faith in what I do with color
10.  Art like words tells a story, my story

"Elijah's Mountain" 1Kings 19

"Summer"

I plan to share more of my art after I get a watermark.  Thanks for taking time to stop by today.  While your at, make something, take time to create and see what you learn.  I would love to hear your thoughts.

With love,

  

My Real Family: Being a Part of God's Forever Family

"Blended Family" by Ruth Robbins

"He replied to them, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"  
And looking about at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, 
He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!
  Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother." 
 Mark 3:33-35 (HCSB)

It has been heard around our house, especially in the early days, weeks and even months of a foster placement the term REAL used to clarify who is actually family.  For all intense and purposes foster parents and their kids are strangers.  Yes, we have trained and prepared.  Yes, we have waited.  Yes, we have prayed, but all of that is transparent to a child.  The idea of real to a child can also mean lasting.  A foster home is temporary.  Real also carries with it the weight of being blood related.  To both children and adults alike these definitions of real family run very deep in the conscience of how we think, act and relate to others.

Jesus takes this notion of real family and blows it up in Mark 3!  How stunned the crowd must have been in a society where your name and family were everything.  Think of his mother!  She had to have been crushed.  Some of his brothers may have been relieved to have Jesus, this quickly becoming black sheep of the family writing them off.  Stop here though.  Was he really writing them off, rejecting them as family or was he simply expanding the parameters?  He takes lots of our ideas and notions of how the world and life should work and turns them on their ears.
  

"Look at how great a love the Father has given us

 that we should be called God's children.  And we are!"  

1John 3:1a

It didn't take a court ruling or a marriage certificate to make us His, it was blood, His blood that made that bond.  It is a rich and REAL bond that all believers share.  We too live in an IF World and just as my foster sons struggle with the unknown and you and I wrestle with what is yet to be or could have been, we press forward with our feet firmly planted in a family that cannot be torn apart.  Rest in that peace today dear friend!

With love,

 

 

Jesus The Rejected King

We are reading The Chronicles of Narnia as part of our school lessons.  I love all the rich meaning that C.S. Lewis has both hidden and highlighted in the pages of his adventure in this great series.  Most striking is the character of Aslan who like no other character I have ever read about, shines a light on the humanity and deity of Christ Jesus himself.  Imagining Jesus as the great lion Aslan helps the reader connect with both the beauty and majesty of our Savior.

Below are portions taken from my Pastor's sermon this last Palm Sunday

I love the scene when some of the children first meet the lion Aslan and they ask, "is he safe?"  And the answer is "no, he is not safe, but he is good."  We see Jesus gentle and humble riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and we are tempted to miss the fact that he is a king. (Matt 21:4-5)  Jesus is the gentle king promised in Zechariah 9:10 which says "Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!  Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."  But like Aslan reminds us, don't forget his power.  He is righteous and victorious according to Zechariah.  Jesus is gentle because he is the victor.  He comes in peace because he has all authority.  Nothing can be taken from him.  Nothing can threaten him.  While the people that day did not fully understand,  they did see something of his glory.  Psalm 118:25-26 says, "Lord, save us!  Lord, grany us success!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  From the house of the Lord we bless you."  They didn't get it all, but they did get it right.  Jesus is the King.  He is not safe because he comes to rule and he will change the lives of everyone who receives him.  He is not safe,but he is good.

When the disciples borrowed the donkey--whose donkey was it?  It belonged to the King, not the King of a region or country, but the King of heaven and earth.  He owns it all.  It's His!

Whose is the path on which he rode into the city?  HIS
The palms people waved as they shouted Hosanna?  HIS
The arms that waved the palm branches?  HIS
The city into which he rode that day?  HIS
The temple he cleared to preserve a house of prayer?
It's His, He is the true King.  It's all from Him, its all for Him, nothing can be taken from Him.

The tongues that sang his praise?  HIS
The tongues that shouted against him and condemned him?  HIS
The thorns that pressed on and punctured his sacred head?  HIS
The whips that lashed and tore his royal skin?
The wood that shaped the cross on which he died?
It's all His.  It's all from Him.  It's all for Him.

This King Jesus on the day that seems like his coronation as he enters his city with shouts of praise and palm branches waving does not process to a throne but to a cross.  He comes in peace and he will bring peace.  But the cost of peace will be great.  He will give his life to rescue his people.  He will purchase us with his blood and with his tears.

1Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."  Behold your King.  See him as he is and consider the kingdom he brings. He has a plan and purpose for all things for all things belong to him.

The voices we use today to sing his praise.....HIS
The voices we use tomorrow to speak with friends.....HIS
The hands we use today to wave palm branches......HIS
The hands we use tomorrow to work......HIS
The joys and pleasures of life.....HIS
The pains and sorrows of life.....HIS
The people who help us......HIS
The people who hurt us....HIS
The people who bless us....HIS
The people who persecute us.....HIS
Our finances.....HIS
Our career.....HIS
Our free time.....HIS
Our relationships....HIS
Our future.....HIS
Our bodies.....HIS
Our plans.....HIS
Our destiny......HIS

Do you see it?
 It's all HIS.  It's all from him and it's all for him.

He is not safe.  He's a different kind of King with a different kind of kingdom.  He didn't come to make all things better!  He came to make all things new!  He didn't come to help your life.  He came to claim your life.  He is not safe, but He is good!

To hear this sermon in it's entirety please follow the link to our church website.  The sermon is titled The King Nobody Wanted on March 20, 2016. 

Pastor Alan Hagar

I wanted to take this moment to thank my church and our staff who have been such a very great blessing to me and to my family.  They encourage and challenge me to live a life worthy of the calling Jesus has set before me.  I would challenge you that if you are not firmly committed to a church, find one close to you.  Get plugged in.  Get connected.  Be real.  Be discipled.  Be a part of God's family and the work of the church which is the sharing of the Gospel.