Nebraska Heiress Turns Down $204 Million Jackpot

“The Powerball Jackpot is now $204 Million!” my older neighbor informed me as we chatted in the driveway.  The drawing for the potential winning ticket on Wednesday was newsworthy.  How kind of him to make sure I was not missing out!

“Oh, but you aren’t the gambling type,” he remembered, knowing we have talked together about the lottery and eternity many times.  What good is winning the lottery if you die?

“Oh, but I am rich!” I said, dead serious.  “I have an inheritance; I’m just waiting for that time.”

For a minute, my neighbor leaned in, “Wait, you have an inheritance?  Is that your grandparents? your parents?”  But then he caught truth, what seemed to him nonsense, “Oh-- that religious stuff you mean?”

The conversation launched into discussions of the Bible and faith, and even how men gambled for Christ’s clothing when he was crucified.  Yes, there is gambling even in the Bible. 

I brought up reason as a starting point to show how not believing the Bible is still a gamble.  Philosopher Blaise Pascal used his skepticism and reason to lay out what is known as the “Great Wager”. 

What you stake is finite and what you gain (or lose!) is infinite.

If you don’t believe God, and he doesn’t exist=you lose nothing
If you do believe God, and he doesn’t exist=you lose nothing
If you do believe God, and he does exist=you gain infinitely
If you don’t believe God, and he does exist=you lose infinitely

Reason alone can’t save your soul, but there is strong reason for our faith.  Even with a weak starting point like this, I feel it is worth staking my life and soul and eternity on the Truth of Jesus in the Bible.  If I don’t trust Him, I lose infinitely!

I have been meditating on the riches promised to me in the Bible so much that by faith my inheritance promised is as real to me as if written in my own grandparents’ will.  My response to my neighbor’s news about the Powerball that I am rich was not in jest but very much in earnest. 

The $204 million jackpot is pennies to me compared to the inheritance I am going to receive.  My hope to gain is not wishful but it is certain.

This is absolutely amazing!!  I am awake early with the birds because I could not even sleep thinking about this truth!

Listen to this prayer of Paul:

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”  Ephesians 1.18

Riches!!  I am stunned to think that he has called me to receive an inheritance!  This is just incredible! 

I turn back a few verses and read “In him we were also chosen [NIV]...made heirs [NIV alternative rendering]...we have obtained an inheritance [ESV]...”
CATCH THIS:

“According to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”  Ephesians 1.11

Think “Last will and testament”...think of a will!  This is the plan of the King:  His will is written in ink, in blood, no less!  And it says that we who are in Christ have obtained an inheritance.

We are heirs of the Divine will!!

It’s all written in his will!  Think “New Testament”.

Oh!  I long for you to join me in celebrating these riches and putting your hope in Christ with me.  I cannot begin to detail all we receive, because we would end up quoting verse upon verse of the Bible! 

What I invite you to do is to receive this song I spent hours and days laboring to write, to put into melody and line the truth I have seen in the Word about the riches I am to inherit.  Nearly every single line of the song is a reference from Scripture, so for a delightful treat, look up the verses too!   

This can be your inheritance too if you have been adopted by new birth into the Royal family of the King!

Inheritance
original music and lyric by Jessica Becker
Listen On YouTube to Jessica singing

I’ve been given a glorious inheritance (Eph 1.18)
I’m an heir, according to the promise (Gal 3.29)
I’ve been called, chosen, predestined (Heb. 9.15, Eph. 1.4-5)
to become God’s own son (Gal 4.5-7)
A brother of the Holy One (Heb. 2.11-12 & 3.1; Ro. 8.29)

[Refrain A]
This mystery in Christ is just marvelous! (Eph. 3.6)
Unsearchable!--the riches of Christ (Eph. 3.8)
The truth of it makes me quite delirious (K. Hughes)
That by His blood he secured eternal life! (Heb. 9.12)

1. Long before time began (Eph. 1.4)
God wrote His will and plan (Eph. 1.11)
Eternal Son radiating Glory (Heb. 1.3)
Clothed Himself with humanity (Heb. 2.14 & 17)

2. Through Christ’s blood upon death
The Sovereign will took effect (Heb. 9.16-17)
A ransom slain, mediating for me:
His inheritance I receive (Heb. 9.15)

[Refrain A]

3. The dead alive?!  How can it be?!
Never before in history (Heb. 13.20; J. Piper)
The Executor working His will in me (Heb. 13.20-21)
The Spirit His Guarantee (Eph. 1.13-14; 2 Cor. 5.5)

[Refrain B]
The magnitude of Christ is Superior (Heb. 1.4; 3.3; 7.24-27; 8.6...)
Incredible--the greatness of Christ!
All other gods and men are inferior
I’ll worship Him for the rest of my life!

Christ’s been given a glorious inheritance (Eph. 1.18)
He’s appointed heir of all things (Heb. 1.2)
I’m adopted through Christ Jesus (Eph. 1.5)
And an heir, since a son (Gal. 4.7)
Rich in faith--to inherit the kingdom (James 2.5)


Fatal Lapse of Concentration

"The Moment" by Frank Crymble

What if you made a mistake for just one fraction of a second in your life which was so fatal that a statue was formed to immortalize that moment?

Or what if you had a goal you were trying to reach, and for just one moment you lost focus and compared yourself to another person instead, and that cost you your goal?

I would hate to make such a fatal error! 

Even worse, what if more than 35,000 people watched you live in that one moment, and through media it went viral?  We have seen many such moments!

My imagination was captured today when I learned about “the moment” in a famous race of the century, known as “the Miracle Mile.”

It was August 7, 1954, the historic day at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, B.C., when two men, who had both broken the four minute mile, would meet for the first time in one race.

It was one of the greatest mile-run-match-ups ever! 

I used to run track, and running is my favorite sport, so this story captured my interest for a number of reasons.

Most of us love to see amazing human feats in highlight videos or in dramatic shoulder-to-shoulder photo finishes.  I love an exciting and exhilarating moment in sports, especially in races on the track!

But I also love the metaphors of running and races that we find in the Bible for our faith.

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12.2

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  2 Timothy 4.7

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.”  1 Corinthians 9.24

It was during my study on Hebrews 12 when I learned from commentator Kent Hughes about this famous race, “The Miracle Mile.” 

“Roger Bannister and John Landy were the only two sub-four-minute milers in the world.  Bannister had been the first man ever to run a four-minute mile.  Both runners were in peak condition.
Bannister...strategized that he would relax during the third lap and save everything for his finishing drive.  But as they began the third lap, John Landy poured it on, stretching his already substantial lead.  Immediately Bannister adjusted his strategy, increasing his pace and gaining on Landy.  The lead was cut in half, and at the bell for the final lap they were even.

Landy began running even faster, and Bannister followed suit.  He felt he was going to lose if Landy did not slow down. 

Then came the famous moment (replayed thousands of times in print and celluloid) as at the last stride before the home stretch the crowds roared.

Landy could not hear Bannister’s footfall and thus compulsively looked back--a fatal lapse of concentration.  Bannister launched his attack, and Landy did not see him until he lost the lead.  Bannister won the “miracle mile” that day by five yards.”

Kent goes on to make this connection:

“Landy’s lapse serves as a modern visualization of what the writer of Hebrews implicitly warned against in his earlier charge to ‘run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith’ (Hebrews 12:1,2 NASB). 

Those who look away from Christ--the end goal of our race--will never finish well.  And this was exactly what was happening to some treading the stormy waters mounting around the early church.  They had begun to take their eyes off Christ and to fix them instead on the hardships challenging them.”

As a result of suffering and struggles, “not a few were distracted.  Those increasingly longer looks away from Christ left some off-stride.  Others stumbled here and there, and tragically a few had quit altogether.”

My heart took a holy heed to the warning I saw captured in Landy’s left-shoulder look!

I must keep running!  I must keep my eyes on the goal, which is Christ!  I must not compare myself to others or get distracted or lose my focus!  Or worse than a statue could be made out of me, for more than forever.

Words Jesus once said ring in my spiritual ears:

“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”  Luke 9.62

Who does that remind me of?  I am a visual learner, so when I saw that someone had actually made a statue out of Landy’s lapse, I suddenly remembered another salty statue in Scripture:

“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”  Genesis 19.26

Whereas for Landy, “A moment that took only a fraction of a second was frozen in time forever”, for Lot’s wife her salty slip-up at Sodom was cemented in Scripture forever.

Even Jesus reminded his disciples: “Remember Lot’s Wife!  Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”  Luke 17.32-33

Before fear turns us to fatalism or frantic striving, let us consider carefully two applications for the one metaphor of looking back.

We have two statues, and two spiritual realities.

 Lot’s wife, causes us to ask ourselves, “Am I really saved?”
 Landy causes us to ask ourselves, “Will I finish well?”

Some of my readers may not be saved, so this picture of looking back hopefully prods your soul on to seriously consider whether you love this life and the kingdom of this world or whether you would be willing to live instead for Jesus and his heavenly kingdom. 

Others of my readers have committed to living for Christ, but fear failing in faith.  I tend to see myself this way.  I take seriously the warnings from Hebrews, and I was so stunned to see that photo moment of Landy looking back.  Oh, how I do not want to be like that!

The good thing about Landy is that he did in fact finish the race, and he did in fact still get honored as an amazing athlete.  That part of the metaphor makes me believe that he is not a complete failure! 

But the challenge to my faith is to consider whether Landy might have won or tied Bannister if he had not broken concentration and looked back. 

In what ways do I get distracted from Christ? 

What in my life causes me to look away from the goal and take my eyes off Jesus?

What circumstances tempt me to stumble, sin or even think of quitting?

And what encouragement can I find to strengthen my faith and free me from fear of failure?

This is one of my favorite verses: “We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure...Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.”  Hebrews 6.18-20 ESV

Oh!  What a balm to my soul!  To think that I don’t need to strive more or to fear more!  Yes, he wants me to take the warnings seriously, but then he assures me that it is not my efforts that will help me succeed, but my hoping in Christ that will hold me. 

“Hold fast!” it says.  “Our hope is an anchor for our soul!”

Jesus is our forerunner!  He went before us, and not only this, a hall of faith in Hebrews 11, a great cloud (crowd!) of witnesses, is now cheering like fanatic fans in the grandstands for us, that we will finish well with perseverance the race set before us! 

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!”

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3.12-14

Watch this 1 minute 43 second video to help you cement this metaphor in your memory.  I know I will not forget it.

Will You Let Me In?

I’ve been really challenged deep down, since my last post.  It is risky putting myself out there, sharing my struggle to find friends for my kids (and for myself).  But this post may be even more risky.

Previously, I wrote wrestling over the grief I have in losing a great community of friends in the Philippines.  I compared and contrasted the cultural differences, yet I think I missed something.

It came to my attention that one reason people seem closed and isolated is because of self-protection and fear.  Fear that other types of kids will “contaminate” their kids, or protection because truly other kids may hurt their kids.  I have guessed that perhaps some people, well-intended and good-hearted, just do not want their kids to be friends with mine.

 I know the same thing happened in the Philippines, people who isolated their kids from mine and people I isolated my kids from. 
As I reflected on this, I was struck with sadness to wonder: “How often did other people in the Philippines feel about me the way I sometimes feel in America?”

Was I just so happy with my own friends and my community, that I did not realize that I was doing the same thing to others unaware? 

Today in church, Pastor Bob preached such a gentle yet piercing message, that awakened my heart to this probing question. 

He narrated the diversity of the people in Acts 16, whom the Gospel reached by grace:
--Lydia, a rich God-fearing business woman
--slave-girl--demon possessed and not seeking God
--middle of the road average working man, the jailer

Pastor Bob summarized their stories: “The Gospel connects and unifies different kinds of people that society keeps apart.”

Do I think: “They’re too rich and snobby...” and judge?
Do I think: “They’re too ungodly and worldly...” and distance myself?
Do I think: “They’re too...” and critique?

Pastor Bob says, “The Gospel’s going to come into my life and up-end things and disrupt things.
For the humble, that is a welcome change.
For the proud...it is a threat.”

I ask myself: Is the Gospel disrupting my safe-haven home?  Am I humble or proud?

“Have I isolated myself in my home as a safe fortress and refuge, shielding myself and kids from the world?” Pastor Bob asks.

I wonder in response, to what extent is this okay for me to do since I have little kids to protect and nurture?  AND in contrast, to what extent should there be a better balance where I instead make excuses for not taking risks for the Gospel?  Am I keeping away from or moving toward people different from me?  Including their kids?

As he preached, I started thinking of the question I asked of other moms in the end of my last post:  “How can I find my way into your life?  Will you let me knock?....Can we be friends?”

Suddenly it was not my voice that I heard in writing--I imagined another woman asking me the same question!

My question turned on me!!  Ah!  Scary!!

Pastor Bob challenged us to reflect:  “Who in our life do we distance ourselves from?  Who is my home closed to?  Am I moving toward people different from me because of the Gospel?”

I see why many American families seem to me to be closed.  Because I am different from them in some way, and my kids are different.  And of course, relationships do take time, and there may be other reasons for distance such as busy schedules, sickness, and minimum capacity or energy during difficult seasons.

But!

There is grace!

Grace in the Gospel can move me toward others in love.

Maybe the people I wish were my friends won’t open their door to me or my kids.  But in the Gospel my kids and I are welcomed into God’s family, and we are accepted and loved because of Jesus.  By God’s grace, maybe He will make me into the kind of person who will open my door to people and kids that are not my choice, but ones Jesus loves and wants to welcome into His family through me.  I know sometimes I don't even have the capacity to love my own kids, so how can I love even more people?  But He is giving me more grace and growing me in His love slowly (hinay-hinay as we used to say).

I know the feeling of wanting someone to open to me, so Lord, give me more grace to be open to others.  I know that God has received me, so Lord, give me more grace to welcome others that are unlike myself.  I know many times I have isolated or distanced myself from others to protect myself or my kids from hurt or out of selfishness, and so if you have done that to me, I forgive you and I understand; please forgive me if I have done that to you.  And to those who have drawn near to us in love and friendship, thank you!  You are the fragrance of Jesus to us!  Jesus, we ask for more grace to connect us and unify us and help us to move toward different kinds of people in need of the Gospel.  And thank you for being the best Friend we could ever imagine!

“But he gives us more grace. 
That is why Scripture says:
‘God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.’”
James 4.6

Chasing Rabbits

Of our 4 kids, Emily loves dogs the most.  Since she sleeps with a stuffed cow, fondly called “dow”, she thinks all dogs are the same as cows.  After all, dogs, like cows, are cute and furry with four legs and a tail!  The other boys like to point out dogs to her, “Emily, oohh--ohh!! Dow!”, and if we see a dog at a park, Emily must meet him!

Today Pastor Bob told about his own dog, and how he trained his dog from the early years to “sit”, “stay” and “heel”.  He pointed out the beauty of a self-controlled dog like his, who can walk obediently beside him through the neighborhood without a leash.  

There is only one problem with his dog’s desire to heel beside Pastor Bob: his love for chasing rabbits!  

What rabbits are you chasing??

If there is even one rabbit, suddenly the lesser desire of obeying his master gets overruled by his greater desire to chase that bunny.

This is a picture of us when it comes to self-control.  

“Self-control is easy when displayed against lesser desires, but hard when tested against greater and stronger desires” (@bobthune).

Proverbs 25.28

“Like a city whose walls are broken down 

is a man who lacks self-control”

The question:

“What’s the rabbit in your life??”

Woah!  This is a hard one, Pastor Bob!  

What am I tempted to chase after?  

What desires do I have that should be secondary to my desire to glorify God?

Is it gluttony? exercise and body image? consumerism and shopping?  work? leisure? entertainment? lust? fame? power? influence? significance and being known? pleasing others? being in control?

As I consider these possibilities, my awareness of my sin gets deeper when Pastor Bob points out:

At the root of all “rabbits” I am tempted to chase after, is one thing:

SELF

Why do I struggle with self-control so much!?  Because the problem is not control....it is self.  

The problem with trying to suffocate my desires by myself is that my power of will alone falls short.  

“We don’t need greater control, but less self” (@bobthune).

Oh no!  How am I going to think of myself less and desire God more?

“All the will-power in the world can’t ‘un-self’ you.  Only Jesus Christ can do that” (@bobthune).

“What a wretched [wo]man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Romans 7.24-25

The good news in the Gospel sets me free from this idol of self, and points me to the source of true life: our Lord Jesus.

How do I disempower self??

Answer:  

“Trust in Jesus!  Jesus came to un-self us...to invite us out of ourselves and INTO HIM!” (@bobthune).

Jesus gives us the power of a greater love, the power of new primary desires.  

Whereas my primary desires are usually self-motivated, Jesus gives me a new desire to love and worship Him that surpasses anything else.

“You have made known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Psalm 16.11

Jesus,

I confess that I have often turned to pleasures other than you, and I have not turned to you to find the path of life.  

I am grieved at my sin of self-focus and self-righteousness, self-interest, and self-will.

I repent that I have too often tried to detour away from You on “bunny trails” rather than in contentedly walking the narrow road beside my Master.  

I admit that I run to false idols in order to find a savior and refuge, and yet I know these do not free me and do not fill me.  They promise me what they can’t deliver.

I declare that there is no other God besides You!

“No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.

All who make idols are nothing,

and the things they treasure are worthless”
Isaiah 44.8-9

I embrace the truth about you, Jesus, that you are a better Savior and you can do what all the other idols fail to do.

Thank you for freeing me to indulge less in myself and more in You, Jesus!  

Oh Lord, help me to delight in obeying you and walking beside you more than any competing desire or distraction!  

Thank you for changing my desires to love You supremely as my Master, and weakening my desire to chase rabbits so that I can "heel" by your side no matter what bunnies of this world try to attract my heart.

I walked down the aisle to receive the bread and wine for communion.  As I dipped the bread, reminding me of the body of Christ broken for me, the brother said these powerful yet simple words:

“Christ’s blood sets us free from idols.”

May this be my life prayer:

“He must become greater; I must become less”

John 3.30

Thune Sermon Reference: The beautiful challenge of self-control

On my reading list: Keller's "The freedom of self-forgetfulness"