Speaking of Life 3014 | A Dead-End Road
Heber Ticas

Have you ever had the experience of following someone in a car when you didn’t know your way around? Before the days of GPS this would be an exercise of trust. When I’m driving, I like to make the decisions. I feel confident in my sense of direction and how to find my way around. So, when I must follow someone else, it is easy to second guess their choices. Especially when the person turns down a road that I think will lead in the wrong direction. For example, what would you do if the person you were following suddenly turned down a road that was marked “Dead End?” I would probably start honking at them and flashing my lights in protest.

In some ways, this is our experience in following Christ. Being a disciple means we follow him because we trust him. But then he leads us down roads that are clearly marked “Dead End.” Surely Jesus knows better than to go in that direction! So, we start honking our horns and flashing our lights to warn him of his mistake. Have you ever been there?

Jesus’ first disciples reacted in much the same way when he told them he was going to travel down a dead-end road to Jerusalem. The long-awaited Messiah made it clear that he was going to travel the road of suffering, rejection and death. For Peter especially, this was a hard road to follow, yet he did. As we follow Jesus, we too will have to follow him down roads that we would rather avoid.

Listen to Jesus’ description of being his disciple:

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” 
Mark 8:34b-35 (NRSV)

That’s not exactly the road map I would draw up for myself. But as we follow Jesus, we come to trust that he knows the way far better than we do, even if it looks like a dead-end road. In fact, he tells us that he is the way. Because of who he is, we can follow him no matter where he leads. And that is especially true when he travels down a dead-end road.

Mi nombre es Heber Ticas, Hablando de la Vida.

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Speaking of Life 3013 | Rainbow’s Promise
Greg Williams

Do you remember the first time you saw a rainbow?

Rainbows are iconic, universal, showing up in legends and stories throughout history. Despite years of pollution and our increasingly busy lives, rainbows still make us stop…and look up.

The first recorded rainbow appears in Genesis 9, just after the flood recedes. Noah walks out into the steaming earth and hears the voice of God:

I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Genesis 9:13-15 (NRSV)

This is what is called by theologians “The Noahic Covenant”—one of several agreements that God made with Israel—and by proxy all the world.

And here we see this strange imagery of the rainbow. “I have set my bow…” This word “bow” is the same Hebrew word as the bow of battle. To the original readers, the bow would have been a common sight in battle. It meant war and death.

But for God to “set his bow” meant that war was over, that the struggle was over. This is the sign of the rainbow in the clouds, turned away from us, a bow at rest.

That rest is what we remember when we see it. and it reminds us of all of life. As violent as the storm might be, the rainbow will be there—the power of the thunder and rain turns to beauty and color. That’s all that’s left standing.

The covenant reminds us that a devastation like a flood won’t destroy us again. God will not destroy us and start over; he will work with us and through us to accomplish redemption. He works through each storm in our lives to make beauty and light come through.

Instead of ending history, he works within it. And instead of starting over with humanity, he became one.

He set his bow in the sky. He set his covenant that he will always work with us and within us on our relationship with him. Let’s remember this promise when the storm comes.

I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life

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Speaking of Life 3012 | Shining Out of Darkness
Cara Garrity

Were you ever afraid of the dark? Many of us have had this fear at some point. Oftentimes, the darkness congers our nightmares, causing us to see things that are not there. Generally speaking, complete darkness can be disorienting. We feel more vulnerable in the dark because we cannot see the pitfalls, obstacles, and dangers in our path. 

For several summers, I worked at a Christian camp that was based in a beautiful wooded area. My first summer, I made the unfortunate mistake of forgetting my flashlight one night. I had to walk the long path back to my cabin in the dark with the sounds of the woods around me. The path is easy to navigate by day, but at night… Let’s just say I became very acquainted with a large bush on the side of the path!

It is fitting that the Bible uses darkness as a symbol for separation from God. According to scripture, disconnection from Jesus causes us spiritual blindness, and we stumble through our lives like a person trying to navigate a dark, unfamiliar path. Spiritual darkness can cause the same kind of disorientation and vulnerability as we try to figure out the way forward in our lives. When we are in spiritual darkness, we struggle with our identity because we cannot see the One in whose image we were made.

The good news is that Jesus can find us in our darkness. Not only can he find us, but he has the power to chase away the dark because he is light. Notice what Paul said:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6

This week, Christians all over the world will be celebrating the transfiguration—an event where Jesus revealed his divinity by shining brighter than the sun. Jesus not only revealed that he is God, but he showed us the kind of God he is. He is pure light and in him there is no darkness. He is a powerful God, who uses his limitless strength to save, rescue, and redeem.

Jesus lives to chase away our spiritual darkness, and he has the power to make us children of light. And, Jesus will keep working until the entire world is filled with light.

Because Jesus shines, we will never again have to fear the dark.

I am Cara Garrity, Speaking of Life.

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Speaking of Life 3011 | Loving Us Without Walking Away
Greg Williams

This is one of my favorite pictures. It hangs in my office and I see it every day. My son Gatlin was playing college football, and this is a post-game scene.

Gatlin played the position of linebacker and his primary role was to shut down the opponent’s ability to run the ball in the middle of the field. That afternoon the game wasn’t shaping up like we were hoping for. In particular, the other teams running backs were coming through the middle and breaking off long runs. It was as if the other team was reading our playbook. The bad news is that all afternoon they exploited the part of the field Gatlin was defending and our team suffered a decisive loss.

In this moment captured by the picture, my wife Susan walked alongside my boy in silence. She held that moment for him, saying nothing, just loving him without walking away. The picture reminds me of a passage in Isaiah.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31 (ESV)

Perhaps the reason for this verse’s popularity is the weariness we can all identify with. Weariness of lost games and lost relationships, weariness of our own failures and the failures of those we love—fatigue in a fallen world.

That’s why this picture means so much to me. It’s my son having that existential experience of failure and his mother reaching out to stand up with dignity and grace beside him.

The Williams boys have their share of trophies and ribbons and championship rings—we did all that. But this picture is my favorite.
This is the tangible, never-ending love of God we meet in our weariness. Of Jesus—God with us—who not only experienced death but all the frustrations and the “nothing-to-say” disappointments of life as well.

Jesus never sinned, but he knew what it was like to have things go wrong. He had to learn to be a carpenter by way of hammered thumbs and uneven tables. Do we think of him that way? Do we think of him walking off the proverbial field with Mary by his side simply staying close?

He walks beside us. He suffers with us. He gives power to the faint and reminds us that love, joy, and grace—not defeat—will have the final word.

I am Greg Williams, Speaking of Life and reminding you that you never walk alone.  

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Speaking of Life 3010 | Felt Not Seen
Heber Ticas

Work is a central part of our lives. I mean, we have to have an income to support ourselves and our families. We talk about “hard work,” and we’re suspicious of work that seems too easy. As human beings, the idea of work means putting forth effort, either mentally or physically, and having a tangible outcome. Some of the greatest works human beings have ever made are called “wonders of the world,” like the Taj Mahal in India or the pyramids in Egypt.

If we think about natural wonders in the world, those same people might say some of God’s greatest works are the Grand Canyon in the United States or Mount Everest in Nepal. Or perhaps the Great Barrier Reef in Australia or Victoria Falls in Africa. These are breathtaking natural wonders–clearly not made by man.

The manmade wonders I mentioned, like the Taj Mahal or the Egyptian pyramids, certainly are a visible outcome of hard work, but the effort of creating them came at the expense of human beings, usually slaves. God’s wonders and works, however, never exploit human beings and instead, show love and care for all beings. Further, his greatest works are felt in the heart and not seen.

One of the best places in the Bible to hear descriptions of God’s works is the book of Psalms. Let’s look at a few verses from Psalm 111:

Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds; the Lord is gracious and merciful…. The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. Psalms 111: 2-4, 7 (NRSV)

If we look closely at the descriptions the psalmist gives for God’s works, we see qualities of God’s heart: honor, majesty, graciousness, mercy, faithfulness, and justice. Not only are God’s works beautiful and majestic, but they also reflect his goodness and his love. In other words, they reflect who God is by revealing his heart.

When we consider the beauty and majesty of the Grand Canyon or Mount Everest, we know they were created by a loving God who is devoted to showing his great love and compassion for all people, for all creation. The next time you visit or see a picture of one of God’s wonders, allow your heart to dwell on the love, compassion, and faithfulness that brought those wonders into being. This is the same Creator who made you and me, the same Creator who became human to draw us into a loving relationship. The greatest works of God are felt in the heart, not seen.

As you witness beauty in the world God created for us, I hope you experience his love and compassion.

Mi nombre es Heber Ticas, Hablando de Vida.

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Speaking of Life 3009 | Jonah—Prophet or Cautionary Tale
Greg Williams

If you ask anyone about Jonah, what will they say the story is about?

The whale. Every kids’ book and cartoon adaptation of Jonah features some hybrid of Moby Dick and Jaws creeping up out of the seaweed to swallow the hapless prophet.

But the real story is much bigger. Jonah is asked by God to avert the destruction of Israel’s sworn enemy, Nineveh. Jonah, out of an ethnic hatred of these people and anger about God showing them mercy, ran in the other direction as fast and far as he could.

At one point, he even chose to kill himself by jumping into angry seas rather than obeying God’s call. In his own rage and bitterness, he would rather die than soften his will to God’s.

God turns the tables on him by sending, as we all know, a giant fish.
God turns the tables again by hearing the Ninevites repenting and holding back his judgment.

But Jonah remains unmoved. He ends the whole book arguing with God over whether God is allowed to show mercy to these people.

In a sense, Jonah gets his theology right, but he misses who God is. Sure the Israelites are the people of God, sure the Assyrians were bloodthirsty and godless, but in the book of Jonah we read, God is:

 “…a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah 4:2 (ESV)

Isn’t that who we want God to be? Sure! But Jonah was blinded by his own self-preservation and his own thoughts on how God should be acting. Instead of a prophet, his story became a cautionary tale.

Has that ever happened to us? Have we ever so figured out how God should be acting that we miss what he’s doing? Does an obsession with theological details sometimes cause us to lose the big picture—that God loves the world and wants to draw everyone to himself?

Let’s not forget that God’s main business is love—and that love is messy, fuzzy, spontaneous, and generous. He’s not going to follow whatever expectations we have for him, and he’s not consulting us on how far to extend his grace. Halleljujah! Let’s be grateful! Embrace his lavish love for you and for your perceived enemies. That’s how GOOD God is.

I am Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.

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Speaking of Life 3008 | Lukewarm Coffee
Cara Garrity

I have a friend who likes her coffee lukewarm. Her husband on the other hand will only drink it piping hot. Early in their marriage this created a moment of tension. One morning her husband prepared some fresh hot coffee just the way he would like it. Then he surprised her with a cup to enjoy for her morning reading. She seemed touched by the gesture, but he noticed that she didn’t drink it. In fact, she let it sit so long that he knew it would no longer be any good. From his perspective she had wasted his efforts of kindness.

But, instead of showing frustration, he took her coffee and went to heat it up in the microwave. Now it was her turn to be frustrated. From her perspective he was about to undo her patient waiting for the perfect cup of coffee. Thankfully, with some sharing of coffee preferences, marital disaster was averted. The problem wasn’t that her husband didn’t know how to brew coffee. It was that he didn’t know his wife.

I think we could all agree that the best gifts come from those who know us best.

With that in mind, listen to this Psalm that speaks of the Lord’s knowing of us.

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.” Psalm 139:1-4 (NRSV)

We could read more of this passage to discover that the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. As the one who created us, we can know that he is the only one who knows us perfectly. And that means he knows the perfect gift to give us. The Christmas season we just celebrated was all about that perfect gift—Jesus Christ his one and only Son. In this gift, God the Father has given us himself to be known. This is what we were created for, to know the Father like the Son knows the Father.

When we receive the gift of Jesus, we will also have an epiphany about ourselves. As we come to know Jesus, we will come to know ourselves the way our Creator knows us. It’s only after receiving the gift of Jesus that we come to see that knowing the Father and being known by him is the life we are made for.

And since he knows us perfectly, we can trust he knows how to brew the perfect cup of coffee—even if it’s lukewarm coffee.

I’m Cara Garrity, Speaking of Life.

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Speaking of Life 3007 | God’s Graffiti
Greg Williams

During World War II, American soldiers developed a graffiti image that became an emblem of survival. Especially if you are from a military family, you’ve seen the image before: a person with a comically long nose peering over an edge with the phrase, “Kilroy was here.”

This odd image became a rallying cry for American troops to draw wherever they went. Every time they took an enemy stronghold or made it through a battle, Kilroy would show up on the wall. It was an image of hope and determination, as well as some much-needed humor.

There’s an oddly similar practice in the authorship of the gospels. A word will show up in one story and appear in another, tying the two narrative locations together to help us read what’s going on. It’s the Holy Spirit’s equivalent of “Kilroy Was Here” in the pages of scripture.

Let me give you an example of this practice, which the academics call a “verbal thread.” In Mark 1, Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan and comes up out of the water to see the heavens “torn” open. We see Mark use this same word in another poignant place:

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Mark 15:37-38 (ESV)

This verbal thread, this “Kilroy Was Here,” helps us tie together the story of Jesus’ baptism and the tearing of the curtain. Just as God tore the heavens to tell us that he was pleased with Jesus, so he tore open the curtain to tell us he is well-pleased with us.

Another important place is Peter’s denial of Jesus in John. In Chapter 18, Peter is in the temple courtyard and denies he knows Jesus as he warms himself by the “charcoal fire”. When Jesus lovingly restores Peter in Chapter 21, he’s waiting on the beach cooking fish over a “charcoal fire”. These instances are important verbal play that make us pay attention. How do these stories inform each other? We want to ask what do we learn about God when we put these anecdotes side-by-side?

In a sense, God does this in our lives too. Every once in a while, when we look with the right kind of eyes, we can see his graffiti on the wall: “God was here.” God was present, God brought this blessing or this change, seemingly out of nowhere and his fingerprints are all over it. I encourage you to keep a watchful eye for the threads of God’s presence in your life.

I am Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.

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Speaking of Life 3006 | Fitting In and Belonging
Cara Garrity

One of my favorite movies growing up was inspired by Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. The lead character is a high school female soccer player named Viola. When the school cuts the girls’ soccer program, the coach for the boys’ soccer team refuses to let Viola play, saying that girls can’t compete with boys athletically. Viola spends the rest of the movie trying to prove she’s good enough. She goes undercover as her twin brother and plays on a boys’ soccer team for a competing school, hoping to beat the team that refused to let her play as a girl.

Though we likely haven’t gone to the extremes that Viola did in the movie, we’ve all probably experienced something like this—the feeling like we don’t fit in, being excluded based on difference, feeling pressured to change ourselves, or needing to prove ourselves to belong. Maybe we’ve been the reason another person felt like they didn’t fit in. Maybe we’ve excluded others based on difference, pressured them to change, or required them to prove themselves to belong. Wanting to be included is natural – we all want to belong. But sometimes we think that we, or others, can’t fit in and still be ourselves. The Bible has good news for all of us who thought we didn’t fit in.

The book of Ephesians was written to a group of people who were very diverse, and it tells us this diversity was intended by God who determined that being unique was a blessing. Notice what Paul writes:

With all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Ephesians 1:8b-10 (NRSV)

It says that God’s will is for Christ to bring everything together, to unite diverse peoples and things in heaven and earth. This is who he is—the great unifier. After all, he created us differently; he loves our differences, and he wants us to love and appreciate diversity.

On our own, we struggle with diversity. When someone is different from us, we sometimes have a hard time celebrating those differences and embracing them. But that is what Christ in us enables us to do. Regardless of our feelings of being excluded, or our practice of excluding others, we can be confident that God’s perfect plan is for everyone’s complete inclusion. Christ is the way we first accept our own uniqueness and then accept the unique personhood of others.

What does this look like? When we know we’re loved and accepted and valued by God for who we are, that loving acceptance cannot help but overflow to others. How the mystery is carried out might be difficult to explain, but we can witness its effects. Christ in us is at work, “gather[ing] up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

As you move through the world, you might feel pressured to change to belong to a group, like Viola did in my favorite high school movie, or you might feel tempted to exclude someone like the boys’ soccer coach did in the movie, but Christ’s way is to help us lovingly celebrate, appreciate, and embrace the differences we encounter in the world.

A mentor once told me that “because of who God is, we don’t have to ‘fit-in’ to truly belong.” The mystery is this: when we appreciate God’s loving acceptance for ourselves, we can extend it graciously to others.

May you be a gracious participant in Christ’s gathering together of all people.

I’m Cara Garrity, Speaking of Life. 

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Speaking of Life 3005 | The Twist Ending
Greg Williams

There are almost 7000 movies on Netflix. And that’s only one of the dozen or so streaming services available. Right now, we are awash in stories, narratives, and characters. As human beings, we’ve always loved stories, and technology transforms our living rooms into home theaters.  

Personally, I enjoy movies that make me think, and allow me to be the ride along detective. The twist ending is a favorite device these days. That last act/scene where the bad guy turns out to be the good guy or the poor character turns out to be royalty. The move included an avalanche of scenes that gave clues you simply didn’t see.

The whole story, through all it’s twists and turns, comes together in a new light suddenly. You may not have seen it coming, but when the twist comes it makes sense of everything else.

Much of Paul’s writing explains the twist ending of the gospel—which is Jesus. Paul connects the story of Jesus with the story of Israel and the rest of the world, showing how the gospel ties everything else together.

Look at Galatians 4:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.
Galatians 4:4-5 (NRSV)

The fullness of time. The long story of Israel — God setting one nation apart, then one family line, then one family, then one person who represents all of humanity.

Jesus didn’t come because the law failed. He didn’t scrap all that had gone before to start a new story, he completed the story begun in Adam and Eve. In fact, the real beginning isn’t Genesis, it’s John 1, where we see that Jesus, the Father and Spirit have always existed in perfect relationship. John tells us that Jesus became flesh to enter the story at the appointed time. He is the twist ending that makes history—his story—make sense.

Do we recognize Jesus as the twist ending for us? Is that part of the story that was missing in your life and mine that makes everything come together? Think of those places where Jesus is described as the capstone or cornerstone—not the stone that everything stands on, but the piece that makes all the others come together, makes everything neatly fit into place.

He completes not only your story, and mine, but the grand narrative of all of humanity—all the wars and dynasties and joy and pain in all of history. Jesus is not the ghost in the machine who comes from nowhere, but the twist ending the story was building to all along. And it is good news.

I am Greg Williams, Speaking of the good news of Life.

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