White Christmas at the Cruze house!

With 3 feet of snow for most of the week, this will be a week to remember for our family!

We have had to dig out to the road to get to work every day, but the brightness sure does wonders for the darkness of winter. Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas day!

Lies we Believe

I was talking with some friends this weekend about some of the lies about God that we tend to believe. The concensus was that the most pervasive lie in the Christian community is that we must be perfect, or at least really, really good, to be saved. Where to people get an idea like that? Unfortunately, I think it comes from the rest of us Christians!

When someone asks one of us, like the rich young ruler did to Jesus, "What must I do to be saved?" we tend to tell them that they need to give up whatever sin we judge them to have before they can be saved. "If only you would quit drinking, live a moral life, quit watching those movies, listening to that music, looking at those pictures..." We forget that it is the Holy Spirit that makes the changes in our hearts and helps us to grow in Christ. We cannot make any change on our own. That is what the real Christian message is all about. If we could do it on our own, Jesus would not have come and would not have needed to die in our place.

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor theives nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God," I Corinthians 6:9, 10 NIV. This is what we tell people when we try to change them into Christians. You better shape up, or you're not going to make it! But we forget the rest of the verse:

"And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Wow! We were all filthy in our sins, until God got ahold of us and cleaned us all up. It wasn't our "righteous" brothers and sisters setting us straight, it was God.

So, when we are offered an opportunity to help a wayward brother or sister, we need to introduce him or her to a God that loves them more than they can ever know. Help them to know the One that can save them. And let Him do the cleaning!

Full Circle

I haven't written in quite a while, not because I haven't had anything to say, but because I haven't had time to write. Well, this morning I have to make time, because, once again, I am reminded of how amazing our God is!

I am not sure where to begin, so I guess I will start at the beginning. About a month ago, I had a new patient that came to us after suffering a major stroke. His only daughter was quite anxious about all that was happening, and she needed a lot of information and support to help her adjust to all of the change in her father's condition. On top of that, she was about to leave for a trip overseas when her dad had his stroke.

Before she left, my coworker and I took the time to pray with her, though she was not in the habit of praying. I also felt a strong urge (read: from God) to give her a copy of my book to read on her journey.

While she was gone, I worried that she would be offended by my book, which is not at all subtle about God and how He works in our lives. I prayed daily that she would be blessed and not offended. I wondered what in the world possessed me to give it to her in the first place.

Then came the worst part: while she was away, her father suffered another stroke and died suddenly. I had not expected that, and I worried about how she would handle the news. I wished that I could have known ahead of time, that I could have prepared her, that I could have done something, anything, to help.

We were able to contact her and give her the news while she was overseas, and when she got back, she expressed gratitude for the care he received. She also personally thanked me for the book, and stated that it was helpful to her. She even wrote a line in her father's obituary thanking me for the care I helped provide in his last hours. It was heart-warming.

Fast forward to yesterday: My pastor called me at work. He was working on a eulogy for a former church member, and he had come across my name in the man's obituary. This patient had once belonged to my church, but had left the church as a child, almost 80 years ago, and his family had contacted MY PASTOR to do the service! That could only be the working of God, as I have never mentioned what church I go to or even what denomination I belong to.

This gave me a fresh perspective on how God watches over us and brings things together. I know that God was watching out for this gentleman all of his life and is still watching out for his family keeping them close. It gives me hope that when I don't see God's hand working in my life that I can still trust that He is there, working all things together for the good of those that love Him.

The times fulfilled?

I am so glad to see the elections completed. I was appalled at all of the negativity and finger-pointing by so many candidates, in so many races. Of course, the presidential election drew the most attention. I don't recall ever seeing so much controversy.

Now that it is over, we need to be praying for all of our newly elected officials. Like most Christians, I think that a lot of things are declining in our nation, like the economy, morality, freedom, and our national security. I forsee some scary times ahead. But I also know that no matter what lies ahead, God is in charge. He has a plan, the details of which may surprise us all, but He will not be surprised. I see no reason to fear the future, with God in control.

"And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." Ephesians 1:9 - 10, NIV.

A New Thought

Here I go thinking again...

I had an experience last week when I was praying for something that had already transpired, though I did not yet know the outcome. I stopped myself, asking, "What is the use? It is already over with. What is the point of praying about it now?"

I have done this many times. For instance, when I was in college, I would pray that I did well on a test after I had taken it. Sometimes it worked. On one particular test, I knew for sure that there were several questions that I hadn't a clue how to answer. On one question, I even made up a word that didn't exist, just so I would have something written down. I prayed about the test all day, and God somehow made the teacher get distracted during the grading or something, because I got an "A". I even got points for the word I made up!

So, back to last week. When I asked myself whether it mattered that I prayed after the event, I had a revelation: God is not constrained by time as we are. He is in the past, the present, and the future all at the same time. So, when I am praying about something that has already happened, God is there. He is also there in the past when the event happened, and he knows that I will pray about it in the "future". He is all-powerful and has the ability to affect change and answer my prayer before I ask it, because to Him, I have already asked it in the future, where is also resides. Pretty deep thought for a blonde, huh?

So, even though I still have many, many unanswered questions about prayer, I know that it doesn't make any difference when I pray, only that I pray. And as to my prayer? It was answered.

Finally back

Well, I have finally made it through the task I was dreading: I gave a presentation in front of live people, all adults mind you, and I lived through it. I don't know how the Holy Spirit made me say "yes" when I was asked to speak, as I am sure my mind told my mouth to say "No." So for the past few weeks I have been writing and practicing and changing my presentation daily, so I would have it just right when the time came.

I practiced it the day before, in front of a live audience consisting of my 2 dogs and my teenage daughter. The dogs ran off after they listened for a few minutes and realized that we were not going for a walk, and my daughter fell asleep within ten minutes (I was to give an hour-long presentation). So much for my self-esteem!

When the night finally came, I prayed like never before: God, this is obviously your presentation, as I would never have agreed to do this on my own, so please do the talking for me! And it worked!

I got through the presentation, even slowing eventually to a normal speaking rate, and I even answered questions at the end. To top it off, several of the attendees bought books from me (more, in fact, than I sold all month last month!)

So, once again, God came through for me, helping me to do the impossible, and blessing others along the way (as it truly was His message that I was delivering). Praise the Lord!

cats and motorcycles

Ever since one of our 13-year-old cats came up missing this spring, we have been debating whether or not to get a new cat, as our one remaining cat has been very lonely since her sister has been gone. Well, last evening we took the plunge.

We were visiting our friends, who had a new kitten. He was beautiful--part Siamese with sparkling, ice-blue eyes. Our friends commented that their neighbor, where they got their new kitten, had several more. We went next door to look at them, and we found two that we just couldn't leave without.

But there was a problem: the kittens were infested with fleas. We didn't want to take them home covered in fleas, as we have never had any fleas on our property or on any of our pets. So, we decided to bathe them before we brought them home. They were not thrilled.

Our friends did not have any flea soap, but we thought that a good soak in a tub of water would still help. We were able to wash off at least a couple dozen fleas, but they were still covered. We decided that we would have to stop on the way home and pick up some flea soap, powder, collars, drops, or something, on the way home.

Then we had another problem: How would we get them home? We had travelled to our friends' home on our motorcycle. Our friends offered us a pillow case that served well as a cat carrier, and we were on our way. Did you know that cats don't like motorcycles? We found that out in a hurry!

When we finally made it home with our new bundle of not-so-joyous furballs, we quickly gave them yet another bath, this time with flea soap. Then we dried them off, and put some drops on their necks to keep the fleas from coming back. So, after two baths and a scary motorcycle ride home, they were ready for a meal and a nap. This morning, they are quite enjoying exploring their new home.

This reminded me of our journey home with Jesus. He finds us, all infested with sin. We need to be washed clean, but not just with water, but with special sin medicine -- his blood. Then, he sometimes keeps us in the dark, like the cats in the pillow case, while we travel down a scary road, like the cats on the motorcycle. But eventually, after the journey and the washing, we will enjoy a great feast and have endless time enjoying our new home with God.