Waiting Eagerly for His Return

My husband has been traveling for work frequently enough throughout our marriage that the kids and I should be completely accustomed to not having him here, but we have never adapted. Each time he travels, we all wait eagerly in expectation for his return. We miss his presence every hour, every day. The kids are usually on their best behavior, especially when unexpected trials come as they almost always do when he is away. And despite being completely wrung out by the time he returns, I usually have the fridge & pantry stocked with his favorite foods, the house tidy and clean, and all the laundry done, for I want things to be in proper order when he returns. I can only imagine how a military wife must prepare for her husband's return after deployments of 6 months or longer. Those sweet reunions of servicemen with their families like we saw at the 2020 SOTU melt our hearts as all those months of longing and eager expectation are finally realized. So much peace floods a home when the father/husband returns to his family.

How much more, then, should we be fervently preparing and eagerly awaiting the return of Christ our Savior, lover of our souls? How precious will be that reunion when we see him face to face and join him in glory. Are you ready?

For further study, please read Luke 12:35-48 and Matthew 24:42-44.

How my Dog Reminds me of the Incarnation

Just as my kids did as toddlers, my dog almost always follows me to the bathroom If I can't find him or if I can't get him to come to me, all I have to do is go the bathroom, and he is sure to follow. I think little kids and small dogs do this because when we go potty (using a western version with a seat), we lower ourselves to their level. When we're at their level, they think we are there to spend time with them, building our relationship with them.

To all who have joked that I can spiritualize just about anything, I'm about to prove you right. When my dog comes running to me when I go potty, I am reminded of the incarnation. God himself came down to earth as a man to meet as where we are at our level, so that we could know Him and to draw all people to Himself. Because Christ came down and bore our shame, we can have (and grow) a personal relationship with God Almighty. He wants us to run to Him like our little children (or dogs) do to us, especially when we get down on their level. Only our Heavenly Father doesn't simply wait for us to come to Him, He runs to us, just as the prodigal son's father ran to him while his son was still far off. (Luke 15:20)

“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead He emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.” - Phil. 2:5-7

They Call Me Teacher; He Calls Me His Child

I recently came across the journal entry copied below which dates back to the first year I taught STEM classes to 3rd through 6th graders. The entry was a timely reminder, so I thought I would share it here as well should I ever need to be reminded again.

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The theme of my STEM class today centered around air pressure differentials. As we performed various experiments in class to aid student discovery, the students' big takeaway was as follows:

When areas of high pressure meet areas of low pressure, the higher pressure pushes harder causing cool stuff to happen." 

The burning candle uses up air molecules reducing air pressure inside jar.  The air pressure outside of the jar is much greater, so it pushes the water down, forcing it up into the jar.

I shared how we all face seasons of high external pressure, whether it be persecution, loss, sickness, or any array of external stresses. But as believers, we also have a wonderful type of pressure that comes from the heart and was placed there by God. "Christ's love compels us." (2 Corinthians 5:14). 

I've been in a season of high external pressure lately with today being especially difficult, but thankfully, the love He has given me for those students is greater than those external pressures, so I was recharged and ready to go before class began. As I crushed a cup in class to illustrate what happens when the pressure outside is greater than the pressure inside, I thanked God for this truth:

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9)

After completing various activities to demonstrate competing pressures, particularly as it relates to the weather, I took the kids outside to meet their parents where we all discovered a very unexpected snowfall. Low pressure meets high pressure, beautifully illustrating what I had been trying to teach the students and sending a clear message of grace from our merciful Father. "Why are you feeling squeezed my child, when You know I hold all things together in my perfect, loving, all powerful hands? Rest in Me."

When His power meets the pressures of this world, He pushes harder, and cool stuff happens, amen?

"Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:4) 

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:37)