God bless the dirty roads…

Jesus was about to stoop low… and become a servant to His disciples… and was their feet.

Until I did missions in Guatemala, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia and Tanzania Africa-this verse didn’t fully make sense to me.

“When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!””

John 13:6-9 NLT

The majority of all roads (other than the one main road) are not paved like we have in USA. They are deeply rutted, dirt roads… often muddy in rainy season; or very dusty and sandy in the other seasons…

Animals roam freely, no fences keeping them separated from traffic.

Children are among those who walk everywhere, often bare footed, or wearing sandals.

The roads are long, bumpy, dusty, dirty… and feet very quickly get dirty too. It’s the way of life for most cultures.

Most don’t possess shoes for their feet- and for those who have shoes, often they are open shoes, like sandals.

The primary mode of transportation was foot- walking. People of all ages walking everywhere.

There’s a variety of animal dung everywhere- sheep, goats, cows, chickens and more roam free- and many steps that occur during foot travel incur stepping in yucky stuff… at times, it’s unavoidable…so you can see now how filthy the feet easily became.

It was customary to have the lowest of servants stoop low, with a basin of warm water, and wash the feet of guests, and more so people in a higher stature.

I’ll never forget how incredibly humbling and moving it was the first time that my feet and hands were washed when a guest in a home on missions… I WENT TO SERVE THEM… and yet, through this simply, profoundly moving act, they served me.

It was life changing.

Now read this passage again.



Once Peter heard Jesus say ‘unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me’, Peters answer changed from ‘No! You will never ever wash my feet!’ to ‘then wash my hands, and my head as well, Lord, not just my feet!’

God bless the dirty roads that leads us straight to You.

Peter didn’t want Jesus on Sunday mornings only, Peter wanted Jesus on every day, and every moment of every day!

May our prayers be like Peters… in all the filth of our sins… let us cry out:

‘Wash ALL of me, Jesus!!! I want to belong to You FULLY Lord!!!’

“And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”

John 13:14-15 NLT

Jesus gave us an example to follow, and told us to do likewise.

We must become servants. Church, let’s get busy!!!

Humanitarian Godly Hands…

A Word from God.

“I haven’t dropped you. Don’t panic.

I’m here with you.

There’s no need to fear for I’m your God.

I’ll give you strength.

I’ll help you.

I’ll hold you steady., keep a firm grip on you…

Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.

I’ve called your name. You’re mine.

When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.

When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end- because I am God, your personal God, the Holy of Israel, your Savior.

I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!

THATS how much you mean to me!

THATS how much I love you!

I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.” (Isaiah 41:9-10; 43:2-4 MSG).

Gods Spirit keeps stirring within me on this subject…

Hands.

God took His hands and placed them into the dirt and formed man with His hand..

Jesus’s nail scarred hands hammered to the cross…

I carry that image in my mind daily…

He still feels the nails, every time I fail.

And every time I fall, those same hands pick me back up.

When I need comforting, His Hands pat me on my shoulder, embrace me in warm hugs.

When I’m sad and my eyes leak the emotions in my heart, His hands wipes every year, and collects them into heavenly bottles for Heavens purpose- never is a tear wasted.

When I’m in need of companionship, He places His hand in mine.

When I achieve a goal or reach a milestone, Gods hands applaud me, cheers me on.

When I’m sick, His hands are laid on me to heal me.

God said ‘See? I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. I have written your name on the palms of My hands… I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands….” (Isaiah 49:16 NIV, NLT, ESV, NAS, MSG)

God loves me.

So much that He permanently inscribed my name on His Hand as a remembrance.

He says “Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I’ll never forget you— NEVER.” (Vs 15-18)

(And for the record- THIS momma can NEVER forget or walk away from her children she bore!)

God can never forget those He has engraved on the palms of His hands.

Every time He sees His own scarred hands, He sees you.

I’ll always remember the feel of my babies hands holding onto mine, and patting me with their hands.

That precious innocent complete act of trust…each one special to me- My mind replays thousands upon thousands of scenes in my memory bank of them… as infants, as toddlers, as preschoolers, as school aged children, as preteens, as teens, and as adults… That reassuring feel of comforting touch that hands bring-so special!

I wrote this three years ago as two different posts- on two different dates-yet today they have deeper meaning, more profound meaning for us today.

Today, we said ‘see you later’ to our daughter and son-in-law, who are missionaries heading to Africa for 2 years., serving in the Peace Corp. Watching MY baby, put her hands in her husband’s… Knowing their hands are firmly planted in God’s hands regardless of where, brings me comfort and peace.

This past weekend, watching all the gathered immediate family and extended family hold hands, shake hands, embrace in tight hugs with hands, patting love taps on backs with hands, reinforced to me how amazing and perfectly formed are our hands.

Seeing our sons shake hands with tears overflowing in church… seeing our daughters hold each other tightly in the tightest embrace while trying to be brave fighting off tears, losing because of a sibling love so strong LOVE wins…

Seeing grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins hands interact with loving touches-

It is its own love language-

The language of Hands.

Today, these hands waved a proverbial farewell… but never a goodbye. Only see ya later.

As we trust in our God, who formed us with His guiding Hand, and protects us with His Hand- we know we send them off AS the hands of Christ.

In the months to come, their hands will become calloused from fielding the bush for food, carrying water buckets to and from the well for mile’s each day, forming a daily fire to cook and boil water, scrubbing their laundry, doing the work they were created and called to do.

These hands will encourage one another., and will work together.

These hands are anointed.

They will be used to praise and worship God high and lifted up. These hands will be used to clap as they sing with the locals. These believers hands will be used to lay on the sick, and the sick shall recover.

These hands will be used in acts of service- consecrated and dedicated to each other and to God.

Someday, these hands will hold our grandchildren, but for now, they hold all of our hope, love, and prayers.

But no fears, and no cares- Those were all cast to the Father God.

What is the Purpose of Wheels?

Remember the children’s song 🎶 “The wheels on the bus goes round and round, round and round, round and round…?”🎶

Lately, I’ve been drawn to wheels… a mode of transportation.  
I began to wonder how long ago wheels were invented… I remember big wheels on stage coaches from studying history, but behind that?  

Hmmmmm.  

Go I googled it.  

According to Wikipedia,  the earliest wheels were made out of a solid piece of wood.

So this really got me thinking.

What is the purpose of the wheel?

I suggest its purpose is to assist us in getting from one place to another place where we are inclined to go- a means of transportation.

Smithsonian Magazine (June 17, 2009) suggests the original purpose of the wheel was not for transportation purposes, but rather was used as a tool for the potter. 

Fascinated, my mind goes to the scriptures.
God says He is the potter, we are the clay.  (Isaiah 64:6-12; Jeremiah 18). He used the ‘wheel’ to help get us to where we need to go.
God grew the tree that was used at Calvary.   (Genesis 2:9) 

This is where Jesus Christ died willingly for you and for me.  
Jesus carried the old wooden cross, heavy with the weight of all our sins.  (1 Corinthians 1:18; Philippians 2:8; 1 Peter 2:24-25)

Jesus is The Way… the ‘wooden wheel’ the cross, that carries us into Heaven- the ONLY way.

Still in thought, my mind meditating on various methods of transportation… the wheel, and it’s purpose. 
As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we become ‘wheels’ to carry the gospel.
Once we are Holy Spirit filled, we are equiped with wheels … and commissioned to go.  
Whether we use our two feet, a bicycle, a motorcycle, a boat, a train, a horse, a plane or a car … we are called to go (not just near, but also far!)
The fire that ignites us IS the holy power of the Spirit… to carry the gospel INTO and across the world … 

What is the purpose of wheels and feet BUT to go? 

We aren’t called to be a parking lot or a garage type of church, where we go once a week and park.
Rather, the church is more about being a gas station where we go to fill up, so that we can go- we have an assignment!
The Holy Spirit highway in God’s church is connecting people of every nation and tongue to THE WAY.
Jesus the ONLY way, truth and life!
How can we sit still and pamper ourselves, stuffing our faces in a spiritual feast week after week in our fancy clothes, sitting parked in our fancy church buildings-when there are literally millions unreached people groups?  
People who are dying and slipping into an eternal hell, forever lost are in need of the gospel.

Reinhard Bonnke said it like this in his book Evangelism by Fire:  “The purpose of Pentecost is to get the wheels rolling for God in every church, thereby transporting the gospel across the face of the whole earth.”

Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel at all costs… 1 Corinthians 9:16 

Faith…we all have it. Don’t we?

Make up your mind!

We ALL have faith in something.

And, there’s two types of faith:

“Natural Faith”, and “God-kind of Faith.”

Truth is, we CHOOSE what we have faith in by what we put our attention to, and the more attention we give to something, the more faith comes…

“Natural Faith” comes by our 5 senses, what we see, feel, touch, hear and smell.

“God-kind of Faith” comes by the Word of God, by hearing and hearing and hearing, and by meditating on the Word. (Romans 10:17, Joshua 1:8).

When problems come, (and they will. The Word of God tells us they will) the devil uses them to distract us, to trap us, and to lure our minds into worry, anxiety, panic, fear. IF WE LET HIM. IT IS OUR CHOICE WHERE WE PUT OUR ATTENTION TO.

God tells us to ‘hold every thought captive and bring the into the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5). BUT HE WON’T DO IT FOR US.

But do we?

God also tells us ‘NOT to worry, NOT to fret, NOT to have anxiety over anything’ (Philippians 4:6-7) but to ‘cast ALL our cares to Him, for He cares for you effectually’ (1 Peter 5:7)…

But do we?

God also tells us WHAT to think upon “whatever us TRUE, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK ON and weigh and take account of these things (FIX YOUR MINDS ON THEM)” (Philippians 4:8 AMP)… BUT HE WON’T DO IT FOR US.

But do we?

And, what is “US?” What is “WE?” The REAL us? What is REAL?

We are a 3 part being, made in the image of God. We ARE a Spirit, we live in a temporary, physical body, and we possess a soul (our mind, reasoning, emotions, intellect, memory.)

We can never meditate on this truth long enough-

When we are born again, we become a new creation, with a BRAND NEW SPIRIT. “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old things are passed away; behold, the new have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

Our SPIRIT is made new, but our flesh is the same, and our mind is the same-they weren’t born again-and they are where we get entangled in the web of lies and sin with the devil…

God tells US that WE have to guard our heart (Proverbs 4:23), to avoid ‘ungodliness and worldly, sinful lusts of the flesh’ (Titus 2:11-13) and to ‘not conform to the pattern of the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds’ (Romans 12:2).

I have to remind myself often that when I got born-again, I lost my mind! (And gained the Mind of Christ!)

And, we are told to do this DAILY.

Because, you see…we ALL have faith in something…
And, there’s two types of faith:

“Natural Faith”, and “God-kind of Faith.”

Truth is, we CHOOSE what we have faith in by what we put our attention to, and the more attention we give to something, the more faith comes…

So, what ARE you thinking on? Where has your mind wandered to? What are you ALLOWING your thoughts to linger on, to dwell on? Are they bringing you peace, or are they bringing you havoc? (this is a good self-check to see which faith you are in-and we ALL waver between the two…)

Faith ACTS!