MY BROTHER THE KING

MY BROTHER THE KING

Their time is marked by oppression, their home by conflict. Within a humble Nazareth dwelling, four siblings share a secret. Their people pray for a freedom fighter who will shake off their bondage - the great M'sheekha. But he's already here, and he's not who anyone expected. 

Take a journey into the stories of the brothers and sisters of Jesus. Ponder the experience of growing up in the same house as God. Follow him on the road of ministry. Stand back and see him give his life - a ransom for many. 

Even the ones who didn't believe.


Nearly fifteen years ago, I knew I wanted to tell the story of Jesus through a fresh perspective. I didn't realize the long road ahead, and the many tries and failures over the years to get it right.

What my vague original idea became was the story of four Jewish siblings, Ya'achov, Y'hud, Talia and Hannah, sons and daughters of Joseph and Mary of Nazareth. They are as common and poor as the lowest of their time and place, with one exception. Their brother is the promised king.

What would have Jesus's childhood home looked like? Would it be peaceful because Jesus lived there? Perfect? Idyllic?

The more I thought about it, the more research I did into that society, the more certain I was that it couldn't have been that way. Jesus wasn't there to do what his people expected. Jesus wasn't about following the rules. Jesus was radical. And to a lowly Jewish household and community, he stood out too much. The Bible clearly explains that he had enemies ... even in his own family.

So these many years later, I am ready to share their story. I hope it will inspire you to go back to Scripture with your heart engaged, ready to see Jesus for who he was and is. Not so much the wise, compassionate teacher sitting out on the hill, but the revolutionary, bleeding divine blood up the hill of Calvary to buy the freedom of an entire universe.

Let's not think of him as any less than what he really is, even if it scares us, even if it isn't comfortable. Let's meet him at that hill and see what he is able to do in us as a result.

Let us not live in unbelief any longer.

MY BROTHER THE KING is available in print or electronically for your phone, kindle or computer. Please don't forget to leave your review on Amazon. It doesn't have to be long, but the more reviews there are, the easier it will be for potential readers to find it. Find it HERE.

Good Friday?

On this morning, only a couple thousand of years ago, a man waited below the house of the high priest in Jerusalem.

A prisoner. Surely many prisoners had been housed in that dungeon, dreading the moment they were handed over to Rome for execution. Some may have deserved their fate, some may have been victims of a corrupt system governed more by rule-following and prestige than by their law they claimed to love so dearly.

But this prisoner was different. He was truly innocent, not only in matters of the law, but in all matters. He was the perfect Creator of the universe, captive only to his love for his people and to his promises made from the beginning of time.

But why do we call this day Good Friday? The day our Lord was betrayed by friendship’s kiss cannot be good. The morning after a night of slandering, the morning dawn brought cruelty in the form of beatings, mocking, and a sentence of death can't be good. Those who had followed him and praised his teaching and even watched him raise the dead to life … now scorned him. Disowned him. Left him alone without a single soul willing to stand up for him and risk the same fate. How can it be good that he suffered, and that he suffered alone?

His disciples couldn’t even stay awake to pray with him the night before such an evil, terrible day. 

So why in the world would we call this day “good”? What could be good in such tragedy and betrayal? How could we celebrate a day that found humanity at its worst, violently attacking and killing the very being that gave them the breath of life and formed their bodies within their mothers’ wombs?

We call it good because it is our only hope. We call it good because there is no other way, not by sacrifice or self-discipline or scientific exploration or by the pursuit of world peace … THERE IS NO OTHER WAY we could be saved from our sinful souls.

It is a good Friday when I know that cross, meant for shame and torture and death, is a glorious trophy to exchange one day for a crown I don’t deserve. I can call his suffering and death good because he endured every single moment until it was finished … for me. Because he loved me. In my sin and ugliness and weakness and failure, he loved me.

And we can call it good because it wasn’t just one person he loved, but every one of us. His sacrifice was accomplished ONCE FOR ALL. Anyone who will turn from their sin and look to his cross for forgiveness and new life may come and receive freely the abundant gift of eternal life. No questions asked. No qualifications or conditions. The price has been paid. Cursed humanity has been ransomed.

Only come. Receive. Have faith.

And Friday is good only because of one enduring, eternal truth. Friday is good because Sunday is coming. Death didn’t keep him. The grave was forced to give him up. Friday is good because it was the only way we would know that our Savior is strong enough to take on the enemy we could never, ever conquer on our own.

Jesus is alive.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

I guess this is one of those "open letters." This one goes out to my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. You know who you are.

I'm glad we're in this together. I'm a believer in our Christian community. I see the way we're letting go of things that were holding us back. I hear the way we're talking to one another and having each other's back in hard times. I see how loyalty, courage and worship are becoming more of a way of life for us. We're being honest with one another. We're opening up. We're growing. I just have one caution. Just one word of advice.

We don't have to argue about everything.

I've been watching the body, both in social media and in the press as well as in person. I see a trend that I'd love to speak up and say something about. I want to remind you all who we're trying to be like.

Jesus.

Jesus didn't argue with people. Jesus didn't give the standard, expected response. When his enemies tried to trap him with questions, he didn't respond either way they expected, which meant he always won his arguments.

It's a difficult time to be a Christian. I get that as much as anyone. The Bible is growing in unpopularity with societies and nominal Christians who care more about tolerance and political agendas than the Word of God. The darkness is strong. Sometimes it's hard to reflect the light. Sometimes we get put on the spot and we panic. But I'd love for us all to have a plan for when this happens.

These thoughts occurred to me today when I saw in my Facebook feed that everyone was talking about the Gaines. Chip and Joanna, who love fixing up houses and showing families how to see the gems in the most questionable places, who have never made it a secret that they are devoted followers of Christ, have come under fire simply for the teachings of their preacher, which happen to be the very teachings of our Creator and the author of our existence. Without saying a word, without veering for a moment from their quiet, simple testimony of faith, Satan is trying his best to upend their example in our culture.

It's a trend. Whenever believers are put on a pedestal and become a hot topic, Satan will inevitably send someone in to discredit them, and if there is nothing to discredit, he will put them on the spot and make them choose between the accepted ways of our society or the truths of God's Word. This isn't a new strategy for the king of this world. In the Roman Empire, Christians could be put on the spot to worship the Roman gods and deny Christ or lose their lives. It's really no different, except that believers haven't had to choose between their lives and their faith in this country.

I don't know how or if the Gaines will respond. But my hope is that they won't choose the expected. I hope they don't panic and go back on their faith as some have, and have weakened the illumination their spotlight could have accomplished in a dark world. I hope they won't become argumentative and divisive, standing up for their rights and calling all Christians to be militant in the face of persecution. I hope they'll follow fast after Christ and love.

Love fellow sinners. Meet them where they are in the saddest, hardest, loneliest places and be the friend that doesn't quit just because everyone's watching or society disapproves or the church turns up their nose.

In fact, I pray we'll all learn to love like Jesus. I pray we'll take to heart the warnings about not letting sinful attitudes, philosophies and actions invade our thinking and cause us to turn away from the truth, but I pray just as hard that we'll stay out of arguments that don't accomplish anything except to make us look just like everyone else who wants their own way. Let's be the lovers Christ was. Let's be the kind of Christians that walk to the cross in humility just because it's best for that soul who doesn't even know he or she is lost. Let's give a cup of cold water to an enemy who has fallen and doesn't have the strength to get back up. Let's be the friend to the one who is trying so hard to have it all together and make their beliefs work, and let's not trample on those who are already so lost.

We can believe what God said about sin. We can believe it with all our heart and still go out into this crazy world and find sinners to love into eternity. We don't have to show up on their doorstep, present a spiel and go on our way as the doors slam in our face. It doesn't have to be that way.

Does your neighbor know you are safe? Does your friend at work know they can trust you? Do your family members believe they can count on you when they are in need, even if their own decisions cause their heartaches? Can you sit by the bedside of a dying friend and hold their hand and give them grace even if they have sinned in ways that make you uncomfortable? Will you be willing to go out into the streets and give food and water to people who have lost their homes and who have no idea where to turn for the most basic needs of life?

Jesus did it for you. Jesus met you where you were. Jesus came to every one of us laying in our own filth and pulled us out at his own painful, terrible expense. It's our job to love like that. It's not our job to be indignant because unbelievers sin. We did the same things as unbelievers. SUCH WERE SOME OF US, as Paul reminded us in 1 Corinthians 6:11. None of us have any ability to resist what God has called sin without his intervention in our lives. Jesus is the answer. And we're the ones that know it. We're the ones who have experienced the tidal wave of his love and have been changed completely from the people we used to be.

I recently heard a quote that went something like this: Don't judge people for the point you jump into their story. Believe the best. Hope for their future. Show them by your example and the love of Christ working through you that there is a light at the end of their tunnel.

Spread peace. Be a refuge. Do the unexpected, and watch God use it for his kingdom. After all, isn't that why we're here?

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

James 3

At the Father's Table (Available Sept. 19)

Does the world really need another Bible study book?

When my fellow leaders of the women's Bible study ministry of our church asked the question, we found the amount of information staggering. But we also found that today's offerings for teaching us how to study the Bible are often heavy, technical and just plain hard to read. We longed for something that was more nourishing. Profound, yet simple. Informative, yet enjoyable.

This is a back-to-the-basics course on developing habits that will help you know your Savior better after your time in his word. We have attempted to condense all the best suggestions currently available, including new trends in journaling and incorporating art into Bible study, all with the mindset of sitting at our Father's table. We want to learn how to enjoy the rich, nutritious, delicious food he is serving to those with willing, searching hearts.

It has been nearly a year since we first had the idea to create our own study guide instead of trying to find exactly what we were looking for. If we had known the amount of work that goes into a Bible study, we may have balked at the start. But we were fortunately ignorant, and took it one step at a time on a journey of learning how to communicate better, how to research, how to apply without losing the connection with God we longed to be the theme.

Our own women in our church study helped us immensely in getting this study from a rough, choppy attempt to the final version which will be available on Amazon September 19, 2016. We hope you will benefit from our adventure and take part in the feast God has provided for us. For truly, if we take the heart out of our Bible study time, we find only monotonous routine. But if we view God's word as a table full of good things to find and eat, we will not only find life, we will find everything our hearts desire.

More info coming soon.