Be Mine by Marcia Lee Laycock

 

Be Mine by Marcia Lee Laycock

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash

I ripped the cellophane wrapping off the small package with delight. The cards my mother had bought that morning were perfect. They were bright red with hearts all over them and short funny sayings appropriate for Valentine’s Day. I spent all that evening addressing the envelopes and signing my name to all the cards. All, that is, but one.

There was one card in the package that was larger than the rest. It said, “Be Mine,” and the verse inside was not funny. In fact, to me, it was so serious that my heart beat faster. This card was going to someone I thought was deserving of something so special. His name was Darryl. I was ten years old and I was “in love.”

I did not sign my name to the card addressed to Darryl because I was afraid. I did not want to admit my feelings for fear of being rejected. What if he just laughed? What if he threw the card in the trash and someone else saw that it was from me? What if he left it behind on an empty desk for anyone to see? No. I would not put my name on that card, but I would pray that Darryl would know who it was from.

Giving your love and affection to someone is a risk. You become vulnerable to being hurt, to rejection, perhaps even to ridicule. Jesus knew all about that when He agreed to be born as a tiny babe on earth. He knew that many would spurn His love. Many would scorn his affection. Many would just laugh. And then a mob would demand His death. No one would understand. None of it would look like a fairy-tale and the ending was anything but happy. It would look like defeat and it would stink of death.

But it was the greatest act of love this world has ever seen. Christ gave up the glories of heaven, took on the physical limitations of a human body and then allowed that body to be tortured and killed. He did it all so that we would be able to live in the presence of His Father’s love eternally. He did it with an anguished cry of, “Be Mine!”

Jesus was neither afraid nor embarrassed to sign his name on the card that revealed His love for us. His card was a cross erected on a hill outside the city of Jerusalem. He signed it with His own blood and when it was delivered to the world at the moment he died, all the barriers between us and God were torn down. Forgiveness was ours for the asking and hope became a reality.

It was therefore true when the apostle Paul said to the people in Rome – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39, NIV)

That is a Valentine worth cherishing.

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Thank you for taking the time to read. My name is Marcia Lee Laycock and I invite you to follow me if you’d like to read more of my work about finding your way home, into the arms of Jesus. 😊 You can find me on Medium at Pond’rings and Words on the Wing and a few other publications along the way.

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Breaking the Cycle With Prayer By Marcia Lee Laycock

photo by author

I often heard Iya before I saw him. He was usually singing on his way to work in our gardens in Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea. But one morning when he arrived at our door, he was quiet and I could tell there was something wrong. He had come to tell me he couldn’t work that day. He had to go to the hospital, to take food to his wife’s “Papa” (her maternal uncle), who had been attacked. He’d been beaten, slashed with a machete, and left with twenty arrows in his back. Iya looked me in the eye (a rare thing in his culture), and asked me to pray for their village.  

 

I knew what he meant. In P.N.G., there is a system called pay-back. It works well in a positive sense - if someone is in need, he asks for and receives help. When the one who has supplied that need finds himself in a similar situation, he can demand that his needs be met. It’s a system of caring for one another. But in the negative sense, pay-back creates a cycle of violence. Because Mifao’s Papa was attacked, it was expected his family and friends would retaliate by attacking the neighbouring village. Then, of course, that village would strike back. In the best scenario, several men, women and children would die. In the worst, the whole village would be wiped out. 

 

Iya asked me to pray because the men in his village were making arrows. 

   

My first instinct was to try and fix the problem - send in the police to keep them from killing one another, send someone to talk sense into them. But Iya said no. “Just pray.” 

 

The next day, he told me Mifao’s Papa was still alive and he and the other Christian men in the village were having opportunities to talk to the people about loving one another, the way Jesus taught. When they brought Mifao’s uncle home, he was unable to walk, but asked them to put him down on the edge of the village. He crawled his way to the place where the men were making arrows and begged them not to fight.

 

They put their arrows away.

 

Those who had expected to be attacked were so amazed they came to ask why. God was glorified, because a handful of faithful people stood still before Him and asked for His help.  

 

In Exodus 14:10-14, the Israelites had a chance to do the same. Pharaoh had finally let them go. They were camped at the Red Sea, when the Egyptians, suddenly enraged, surrounded them. With their backs to the sea, the Hebrews accused Moses of leading them to their deaths.

 

Moses replies – “So not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today… The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”  (Exodus 14;13,14, NKJV).

 

Stand still?! I don’t know about you, but that’s a hard thing for me to do - I want to do something! When I see injustice, I want to fix it. When I see someone in pain, I want to fix them and their lives.

But we must learn to let God be God. Let Him fight the battle, let Him work the miracle, let Him display His awesome love.

 

Only then will our cycles of pain and violence be broken. 

 

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The End of a Pilgrimage by Marcia Lee Laycock

“As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.” Luke 23: 26

If I had taken a different way, how different my life would have been. If I had turned aside when I heard the crowd, perhaps I would never have known about this man, let alone have been tethered to him in such an irrevocable way.

I tried to resist, tried to tell the Roman guards that I was on pilgrimage, here to celebrate the Passover in a place I had dreamed about since I was a child. My dreams sometimes were disturbing, but all my life I had felt drawn to this place, this time, this destiny.

They were not concerned about my reasons for being there. They had reasons of their own.

The cross beam was heavy, perhaps all the more because I knew what it was for. I’d seen the uprights on my way into the city, knew this man staggering in front of me would soon be pinioned on the two beams nailed together. Crucifixion, the cruelest of Rome’s devices.

But it wasn’t the weight of that wood that made me groan.

It was the look he gave me when he raised his head and looked at me, as they forced me to carry it. A look that seemed to say, this will be hard, but come, my son, do this for me and you will never be the same. I tell you truly, even if those Romans had not forced the beam onto my shoulders, I would have carried it for him. After just that one look that felt more like a longed-for embrace, I would have carried it and let them nail me to it. I would have died in his place.

And I didn’t even know his name.

It wasn’t until we reached the place and they shoved me back into the crowd that I began to ask the questions that burned in my mind and heart. Who is this man? What has he done? Why do the crowds scream for his death?

The answers were spat from snarling lips. A rabble-rouser, a zealot, one who incited the people against Rome and caused all manner of harm to come to those who live in Palestine. The answer from the Jews was the one that tore at my heart: blasphemer. One who dared called himself God not only in the streets and on the mountain sides but in the very synagogues where true faith is taught.

But as he hung there, he looked at me again and I knew none of it was accurate. This man was no zealot, no rabble rouser. And if he called himself the son of God there could be only one reason – because it was true. I stared at him and could not comprehend how I knew these things. My pilgrimage had come to an end at the feet of a bloodied human being, a mere man, he seemed, who saw into my very soul and gave me everything I’d ever searched for, longed for from the depths of my being.

I watched him die and knew in those torturous hours he was giving me life.

Yes, if I had taken a different way, how different my life would have been.

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Visit Marcia's website to learn more about her writing/speaking ministry.

The Alchemist - Susan Barclay

Almost two years ago I established a book club with a couple of neighbours. Since that time, the group has grown to include four of us on our street plus three friends of mine. We read both fiction and non-fiction and rotate the selection among the seven of us. If you choose the book, you host the meeting that month.

We've certainly all read books we'd never have picked up otherwise. Sometimes we've enjoyed them, sometimes not. Some titles have provoked more discussion than others, and we haven't always agreed on whether or not we liked a particular book.

This month's novel is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. According to Good Reads, I'm 62% of the way through it as I write this post. Two of the book club members are also Good Reads members who have completed the book and given it a 5-star rating. A former co-worker on Good Reads couldn't finish it and accorded it one star. 

What does this have to do with faith? Well, for starters, the title of the book indicates that its content has something to do with alchemy. Dictionary.com defines alchemy as 

1. a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.
2. any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value. 

Wikipedia explains  

Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose practitioners have, from antiquity, claimed it to be the precursor to profound powers. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied, but historically have typically included one or more of the following goals: the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone; the ability to transform base metals into the noble metals (gold or silver); and development of an elixir of life, which would confer youth and longevity. Alchemy is recognized as a protoscience that contributed to the development of modern chemistry and medicine. Alchemists developed a framework of theory, terminology, experimental process and basic laboratory techniques that are still recognizable today. But alchemy differs significantly from modern science in its inclusion of Hermetic principles and practices related to mythology, magic, religion, and spirituality.

 Indeed, The Alchemist carries huge spiritual overtones and strikes me as very New Age, as the author brings in references to Christianity, Islam, and eastern mysticism. In a 2008 article in The Telegraph, we learn that while Coelho's mother was a devout Catholic, and he himself has 'returned to the fold', he has been inducted into a secretive group known as the 'Order of the Ram', and in the 1960s devoured the works of well-known occultist, Aleister Crowley, even presiding over some black masses.

As a committed Christian, I find this book difficult to read because of its false teachings, and I'm sure it will be challenging to discuss in a group where not everyone shares my beliefs and values. If you think of it in advance of November 15th (the date of our next meeting), will you pray that our conversation would be edifying, that the Holy Spirit would even now be preparing hearts, and that the Truth would prevail? I'd appreciate it very much.

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For more of Susan Barclay's writing, please visit her website at www.susan-barclay.ca
 

What is God's Desire for Canada? - Ramona Heikel

I believe that God’s desire for Canada is the same desire he has for all nations: to bless them and to draw them to himself. One way he does that is through believers going outside their homeland to tell others about their faith.

I can see how God blessed the nation of Israel and used it to spread the word about the one true God by drawing Abraham and his family out of their home to a foreign land. There, over time, Abraham’s faith influenced his neighbors. God used Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph, who was sold as a slave to the nation of Egypt, to make himself known to that nation that still worshiped idols made by the hands of men. Joseph demonstrated God’s sovereignty and omniscience by interpreting dreams and correctly warning the Egyptian leaders of an imminent famine, proving the truth and power of Israel’s God.

Before Europeans arrived in our country, the religious beliefs of the land were those of the Aboriginal people, believed to have originally come from Asia. These were largely animistic, and included an intense reverence for spirits and the Creator of nature. French believers settling in the new land beginning in the 17th century brought their Christian faith with them, and established a Roman Catholic population in what are now Nova Scotia and Quebec. This was followed by the English who brought believers of the Anglican and Protestant faiths across the ocean to what eventually became the province of Ontario.

I found it humorous to see how a religious competition accomplished a major change in a region’s faith, and brought blessing to the nation. Around 1700, the first large Protestant communities were formed in the Maritimes after they were conquered by the British. Unable to convince enough British immigrants to go to the region, the government decided to import continental Protestants from Germany and Switzerland to populate the region and counterbalance the Roman Catholic Acadians. This effort proved successful and today that region is still largely Lutheran.

Look how God used the great explorer and mapmaker, David Thompson. Thompson, growing up in England in a poverty-stricken family, found work overseas with the Hudson Bay Company of Canada. He suffered great hardships and setbacks, but wanted to share his faith with natives, so he carried his Bible with him into the bush and held services. When asked why he endured the difficulties of such a life, he said, “…so that these physically impenetrable barriers may be traversed and the Gospel be spread.”

It is fascinating to see how a sovereign Lord used various strategies to populate and influence this new, sparsely populated land, and I am grateful for the spiritual light that came to Canada and has stayed for all these hundreds of years. That is not to say that every person in Canada puts their faith in Christ, but that our nation’s policies and cultures do welcome and embrace the Christian faith.

It has been recently suggested that although once central and integral to Canadian culture and daily life, Christianity is on the decline. Canada is said to be in a post-Christian period, with irreligion on the rise, and the practice of religion is now generally considered a private matter. Apparently the majority of Canadians consider religion to be unimportant, but still believe in a God.

I wouldn’t exactly say that we have come full-circle, because I don’t believe that most people in our country worship man-made idols or elements of nature. But I do believe that God has the same plan He has always had for our nation, and that he has strategies in mind and in place to continue to use believers to draw all people to Him. His will shall be done, and those of us who embrace his will shall be used to accomplish it. He may move us around to places that need his light, like he did with Joseph and David Thompson, or bring others to us. So we best be prepared, however we can, as we wait for him.

Ruler Supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our Dominion in Thy loving care,
Help us to find, O God, in Thee,
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the better day
We ever stand on guard.

(O Canada, last verse)

Posted by Ramona
www.happilywriting.com


Some references:

Aboriginal religion - Native North American Religious Traditions: Dancing for Life - Page 5, Jordan D. Paper – 2007

Religious competition - Beverley, James and Barry Moody, Editors. The Journal of Henry Alline. Lancelot Press for the Acadia Divinity School and the Baptist Historical Committee. 1982.

Christianity in decline - "Canada". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries/canada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Canada

David Thompson, quoted in Canada: Portraits of the Faith website, http://ca.geocities.com, retrieved February, 2004.

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thompson_david_1770_1857_8E.html

Down with Religion! - Susan Barclay

I recently posted the following on my Facebook page because I think it's so cool how science is catching up with what the Bible has said from "the beginning", even going so far as to acknowledge "intelligent design":

An atheist acquaintance, who describes herself as a "freethinker", replied to my post. "Good to see science is progressing - too bad the same can't be said for religion!"

I always try to be careful what I say to her "religious" comments, since I don't want to fuel her fire, but do want to keep the conversation open. Finally I posted this: "Jesus was against religion, too! Down with religion! Up with Love and relationship!" To which she could only "*facepalm*". I like to think she *facepalmed* because I succeeded in stumping her, but I suspect it was more "I can't believe you actually believe this stuff."

But the truth is Jesus hates religion, or at least religious people. In Matthew 23 he calls the religious leaders hypocrites numerous times. In verse 33 he even calls them snakes and sons of vipers! Ouch!

Religion is typically about following a set of rules, but Jesus is about love. It is love that sent him to the cross to make a bridge between mankind (who was separated from God by sin), and a just but kind God. Christ-followers are to share Jesus' love with others so that they too might know him and enter into relationship with him. Unfortunately, there are a lot of religious people in the church, people who are more concerned with regulations than they are with the heart. They forget how much they have been forgiven, how much grace they've been shown, and fail to welcome others with compassion.

Christians should represent Christ and represent him well. We are the only Jesus some people will ever see. I don't know about you, but when I get to heaven and have to account for my deeds on earth, I don't want to be ashamed of how my actions turned others off of Christ instead of on to him. I want to hear "well done, good and faithful servant."

This Easter, let's give thanks for what Christ has done for us, and let's begin anew to live in a way that pleases him. Let's set religion aside, and with repentance seek to extend to others the grace and mercy that we have been shown. The kingdom will be better for it.

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For more of my writing, please visit www.susan-barclay.ca 

CANADA STRONG AND FREE by Bryan Norford

It has been the mantra of civilised conversation that we should never discuss religion or politics. Strange! When these two subjects have the greatest influences on our lives. And religion and politics have been intertwined since history began, and contrary to common wisdom, is true in Canada today.

Like Glynis Belec’s blog, we left England for Canada in 1965, and forty seven years later, this is definitely our home. When we left England, we left a Christian culture. Of course, not everyone was a Christian, but Christian values were generally accepted. It was true of Canada when we arrived here.

How things have changed! The western world is now largely pagan, with Christianity a poorly tolerated sideshow on the fringes of an ever wilder circus. This is true of Canada, which has been a leader in this transformation; particularly on abortion and gay marriage.

The retreat from Christianity has been accompanied by the loss of the sanctity of life. Abortion is accepted and legal up to birth, and assisted suicide and euthanasia are front and centre in the courts. Sex is now a recreational pastime, while marriage has lost its meaning and has been abandoned by a growing segment of society.

This decline can also be measured by ballooning debt, increasing violence and an increasing self-serving population, yet is labelled “progressive” by its proponents who consider these changes freedom from the oppression of religious restrictions.

Even the Christian population is frequently flaccid and seduced by secular rhetoric. While a surprising number of Members of Parliament in all parties are Christians, they are hamstrung by weak support from Christians, who are frequently ignorant of the changes in our country’s culture.

It is the writers of history who have had the greatest influence for good or evil. Where are the Christian writers in Canada who can intelligently explain the dangers of our race to godless paganism? Christianity has gained prominence in the past because of the eventual bondage of today’s ungodly pursuits and the real freedom to be found in Christ.

 “God, keep our land, glorious and free,” should be the prayer of every Canadian Christian. But it should also be the intent of every Christian writer. Someone, somewhere, will one day catch the popular imagination, revealing the madness of secular western attitudes. That could be one of us!