love... [II of III]

I'm sure at one point in our life we've heard the following portion of the Declaration of Independence: ...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

But what does unalienable mean? Unalienable simply means that something is incapable of being transferred, surrendered, or alienated. 

We know the same to be true of the love of God. No matter what your station in life is, it is reassuring that nothing can separate from the love of our father, friend, and savior. Paul is writing to the Romans and breaks out in a 'flow' if you will. There is a sing-song quality about the portion of text that I can hear in my head. If I was a rapper, I'd come up with a sick beat and bust it out like it was 1996 again... ficky, ficky, ficky, yeeeeaaahh! Somebody stop me.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,

or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we are killed

all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yes in all these things we are 

more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death

nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the 

LOVE of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

No matter what we are going through, God is on our side. Whatever trial we are traversing, God is on our side. Though the fire be hot and the waters deep, God is on our side. Why? Because God's love is unalienable.

love... [I of III]

For the last 55 years, there has been one genre of literature that outsells all historical fiction, crime dramas, and mysteries to win the title of best-selling novels. Know what it is? Romance novels. Yes, the paperback books with wind blown hair of a half naked buxom blond languidly laying helplessly in the arms of a buff Fabioesque male in the grocery market checkout lines. What about highest ranked movies for female moviegoers? Yup, chick flicks. Why do women want to see these films? Simple, we want to get lost in the love affair of the characters! We want to feel that love! We love love! In an email from a friend in New York, he reminded me of how passionately I feel about love:

    I feel that there's a small club of us who love love the way we do, and you, Bianca, are the PRESIDENT of the club. I want to see you succeed like I want Obama to succeed. This sounds ridiculous but it's true. I feel like you need to succeed so that hope that was promised to us by individuals we believe in comes to pass... so that I know everything is the way it's supposed to be. 

But people, we've been duped! Contemporary media, medieval literature, and archaic Platonic philosophy has created an idealized version of love. We wait for someone from Seattle to meet us at the top of the Empire State Building, a maverick who snuck onto a doomed ship dodging icebergs confessing our undying love to someone they've just met, or having a man by the name of Jerry say, You complete me. But this is not real. So what's a real love story? The whole bible is a love letter from God to His people. Not only does God long for us, but longs to be loved by us (Deut. 6:5, Matt. 22:37-38). Though there are many examples of God's love in the bible, I've isolated three to touch on lightly.

God's love is EVERLASTING. In Jeremiah 31:3 we are told that God loves us with an everlasting love. The ironic part about this is that it was written for the children of Israel who were spoken about through verbal imagery as virgins (v. 4), but we know from previous scriptures that they had been whoring about with other nations, giving themselves to other gods. But His love is eternal and everlasting and incapable of forgetting. 

He hasn't forgotten about us. He knows our names. He knows our every thought. He sees each tear that falls. He hears us when we call. Isaiah 49:16 tells us that He has inscribed us in the palm of His hand. This is the best visual for me because at one time I had two cell phones, a PDA, a laptop, a calendar, a zillion post-it notes, and a notepad on my desk. But even now, the most important things I need to remember are written in the palm of my hand. To know He has me etched in the palm of his hand moves me to my core... to know that my name is near His nail pierced hands means more to me than words could describe. 

Live  today in LOVE. Live in God's everlasting LOVE. 

details...

I LOVE for details. Rhinestones in floral bouquets, hints of rosemary in lemonade, the moments right before kiss. Sparkles, scents, and seconds proceeding are almost as important the thing they are highlighting. Yes, I believe minutia is as important as main events! 

Before you stop reading and disregard me as neurotic, let me inform you that I stand in good company. God cares about details too! He's involved with the minutia of our day and He cares?! As creator of beings, He has sovereignly worked out every detail of life, liberty and the pursuit of love. Ravi Zacharias says in The Grand Weaver, "Your DNA matters because the essence of who you are matters... He [God] created every feature and personality quirk. Consider it God's sovereign imprint on you." 

Zacharias retells a story of a US Navy officer following the Second World War who was in the USS Astoria that was badly hit by a Japanese vessel and sank the next day:

       About 0200 hours a young 3rd Class officer, Elgin Staples, was swept overboard by the blast when the Astoria's number one eight-inch gun turret exploded. Wounded in both legs by shrapnel and semi-shock he was kept afloat by a narrow lifebelt that he managed to activate with a simple trigger mechanism. 

       At around 0600 hours, Staples was rescued by a passing destroyer and returned to the Astoria, whose captain was attempting to save the cruiser by beaching her. The effort failed, and Staples, still wearing the same lifebelt, found himself back in the water. It was lunchtime. Picked up again, this time by the USS President Jackson, he was one of 500 survivors of the battle who were evacuated to Noumea. On board the transport, Staples hugging that lifebelt with gratitude, looked at that small piece of equipment for the first time. He scrutinized every stitch of the lifebelt that had served him so well. It had been manufactured by Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, and bore a registration number.

       Given home leave, Staples told his story and asked his mother, who worked for Firestone, about the purpose of the number on the belt. She replied that the company insisted on personal responsibility for the war effort, and that the number was unique and assigned to only one inspector. Staples remembered everything about the lifebelt, and quoted the number. There was a moment of stunned silence in the room and then his mother spoke, "That was my personal code that I affixed to every item I was responsible for approving."

I would've given anything to have seen the exchange Elgin Staples and his mother! In the theater of my mind I can see the emotion that she must have felt knowing that she played a role in the saving of her son. The woman who gave him life, saved his life. If an earthly parent playing the role of procreation can provide a means of rescue without knowing when and for whom that belt would come into play, how much more can the God of all creation accomplish? By His sovereign will, we have come into being with an expressed and designed and DETAILED purpose. Jeremiah 29:11, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go kiss my mother who STILL to this day places emergency water in my room, an earthquake preparation kit in my car, and insists that I lock my car doors. She, like GOD, cares about the minutia of my day...

impossible...

An elderly man once asked me, Why do you try to do great things for God? I was taken back by the question and immediately wanted to give a superficial, uber-spiritual response. Before I could respond, a huge smile came across his face as he put his hand on my shoulder and said, Why do great things for God when we are called to do IMPOSSIBLE things through God? I was silenced by his words and dumb-founded by the simplicity of the statement.

Oprah does great things. Bill Gates does great things. Brangelina does great things. But as children of God we are called to do IMPOSSIBLE things.

I was reading my bible this morning and systematically came to the battle between David and Goliath (I love this Rocky-esque battle and feel motivated everytime I read it!). There was a note in the margin in small, pink writing with the year 2008 as the header. It read: Bri's surgery today. Brianna is one of my closest friends and I've known her longer than I haven't known her. She is an amazing athlete who, like Paul the Apostle urges, runs the race in such a way to obtain the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). That was until she stumbled over a few bumps.

While at her father Courtney's funeral our senior year of college, I metaphysically took a vow to be her father by proxy. Everywhere I go a piece of Courtney will be with me as I have and will continue to support her. From Freshman year at LMHS when she shattered the school record... at try-outs... muscles cold and unstreched... in old spikes; to CIF finals senior year of high school; to watching her set a new NCAA collegiate record; to at Mt. Sac relays running against Marion Jones; to in Eugene, Oregon screaming for her at National Trials. I've been there through the sprained ankles, pulled hamstrings, dislocated shoulders, and the occasional nasty breakup with undeserving boys.

But then Knee happened. Knee decided for all of us what dreams were going to be put on hold, if not taken away completely. Knee decided what we could cheer for or cry about. Knee decided what she could do and what she hoped to do. A year ago this week I was on a plane to Tucson, Arizona to tend to her and the surgery which would determine her fate. We sat for hours and watched two seasons of Prison Break (and Wentworth Miller), ate enchiladas (made from scratch, thankyouverymuch!), and laughed that we hadn't see the light of day (or showered) in 48 hours (TMI, I know!). At that time we didn't know if Knee would ever allow her to compete again, run again, jump again.

But my God is a good God, my God is a great God, my God is the God of the IMPOSSIBLE. He has caused blind to see, lame to walk, dead to live, and Brianna to run once again. One year ago to the week, Brianna is doing to IMPOSSIBLE. On the anniversary of her surgery she competed in Osaka, Japan and took first place in long jump. Why? Because we serve a God who is still in the business of doing the impossible. Today she is in Brazil competing in the 100 and long jump and my God will have His will done. Win or lose.

No matter what we are facing, there is a God who handles business. He is our advocate, our redeemer, and our salvation. Through Him and by Him we can stand before our Goliaths and claim, You come at me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty... (1 Samuel 17:45a)

May we walk with these words on our lips, Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). Do we believe this? Then let's start acting like it!