“Momma, WE NEEEED YOU!”

 Ephesians 3:16-18

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Dressed in her Sunday best, Esther sits stooped by her 91 years.  With her hands folded upon her lap, eyes closed forever by degenerative darkness, and mouth drawn, she still joyfully sings the words to every hymn. Homesteading the rugged last frontier without running water or electricity she overcame the many challenges that presented themselves in the raising of seven children. Like the far reaching roots of the trees that dot the Haakenson homestead, Esther sought to daily root her children in Christ’s love.  One of Esther’s greatest legacies lovingly sits beside her.  Faithful in service to her mother and even more to her Lord, Mary has taught countless boys and girls about Jesus.  Mary has also reached out to thousands whose lives have been touched by Down syndrome through her book about growing up with her remarkable brother*.  Those children and families have been forever changed by their contact with Mary and like a pebble dropped into a pond, we’ll never know the full effect of her influence until heaven.  

The arrival of spring brings a treasure trove of “presents” from my boys.  Evidence of their love and admiration proudly line my kitchen window sill.  This winter brought a record breaking 16 feet of snow to Anchor Point, and thus our pre-spring season of “Break-up” has been a little slower than normal.  Running out of easily retrieved pine cones, the boys turned to rescuing sticks from their climbing tree.  As I was presented with a bouquet of sticks I noticed they were covered in buds.  I placed them in a jar, put it on the sill and was rewarded with lovely smelling, bright green leaves.  The entire family has enjoyed watching and discussing the sprouting twigs.  After a few days I noticed the sticks were putting out roots.  I have been amazed at how quickly these young sprouts send out hungry shoots looking to root.  

Parenting, like tending a garden, takes time, patience and constant attention.  More importantly, it takes a focus on the end result: the fruit of the harvest.  It is our desire for the fruit of harvest that motivates us to weed, water, tend, prune, and fertilize.  It is a desire for healthy fruit that helps us do the work that is sometimes unpleasant.  There are times when I want a vacation. Instead of finding joy in hearing, “Mommaaaa, we nnneeed you!!!!!”  I can become resentful and tired.  The Deceiver whispers lies of discontentment regarding my most important role, and before long I can get busy and easily frustrated with the needs of my “trees”.  I may even temporarily neglect them, forgetting to water at the right time, or letting them get root bound in their pots…all leading to potential disease and stunted growth.  

Thank goodness, I work for the Master Gardner.  He is always just a prayer away, there to help. He knows our every need and our every weakness.   I go to him when I don’t know what to do or feel I have reached the end of my rope.  He helps me weed out bad behavior, feed good character, and tend to the needs of everyday life. 

It also doesn’t hurt to fertilize often with the nutrients found in his word.

Isaiah 61:11

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

Jeremiah 17:8

They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Prayer:  Dear Lord, help me to root my children in the soil of your love.  May they ever know and live in the width, depth, and the height of your amazing love.  Amen.

Dana Jaworski
Anchor Point, AK

*I highly recommend Mary Haakenson Perry’s book, entitled Onward Crispy Shoulders to anyone that has been touched by Down syndrome.  You may order her book at http://www.fireweedtales.com/

The True Spirit of Valentine's Day

My family experienced some minor medical drama the week between Christmas and New Year's while traveling out of state. On one of my many trips to the drug store, I had to stop dead in my tracks. I was perusing the Christmas decorations and wrapping paper on clearance. I turned around to look for more, and was faced with a shelf full of boxes of Valentine's cards that children will use to declare love for classmates. Before the confetti of the New Year's holiday is swept up, the shelves in stores are fully stocked with hearts, balloons, and all manner of Valentine props and paraphernalia.

 Maybe it's age, maybe it's motherhood, maybe it's global warming, but I don't think of Valentine's Day the same way that I did as a young, single woman or newlywed. Valentine's Day is a fun, light-hearted opportunity to lavish love on those around you, but life has shown me that love rarely looks like the front of a Hallmark card.

Love is not running along a beach hand in hand. Love holds the flashlight in the middle of the night, make-up long gone and tempers flaring, holding your tongue while your sweetie attempts an emergency home repair. Love isn't demonstrated by dewy eyes across a candlelit meal, but rather by one more run to the doctor or pharmacy when you are exhausted beyond reasonable or rational thought.

Valentine's Day lends itself to romance. Romance is wonderful and exciting, but won't take you very far when the stomach bug hits, or your "Love Shack" floods, or one of your parents is critically ill and/or dies. Romance will not be found in any of those situations, but love is there larger than life. Love brings the cool wash cloth again and again for the stomach bug, and mops and covertly repairs damaged keepsakes during the flood, and cries and holds and works and loves with an ill family member.

Love is not rose petals and champagne, but aching backs and work gloves. Love at my house never dances in an evening gown or tuxedo, but love supplies the elbow grease, the patience, the encouragement, and the clean clothes to face each day and, Lord willin' a comforting place to come home to when the day seems to come out on top. Love is holding tight when no words will fix it, and tears the only language uttered.

Love is not a polished, glimmery state. Love is messy, inconvenient, and frustrating. Love is giving up the last ounce of energy, sleep, time, or chocolate for the well-being of another. Love isn't found in romantic restaurants or destinations, but in hospital waiting rooms, the lobby of funeral homes, and kneeling in prayer next to race-car or princess beds in the middle of the night. Love is less about flowers and cartoon hearts, and everything about the value of another soul on this planet. I guess that's a little harder to put on the side of a coffee mug.

I will play along this Valentine's Day, like all the others, and I certainly hope for you to feel cherished on that day. But, later in the year when the toilet overflows while the drama at school comes to a boiling point and work causes too many demands to keep everyone civil, love will be there with a plunger, Kleenex for the tears, and hugs, pats, and kisses for all the things the plunger and Kleenex won't fix. Consider that your own Valentine's Day -- but don't look for Hallmark to make a card for it anytime soon.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Sarah Stirman
McKinney, Texas

Just Four Letters

Four simple letters with incomprehensible depth and complexity.
God provides a glimpse into the wonders and miracle of His love for us throughout His Word.

1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

    Ephesians 3:16-19
    I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His
    Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I    
    pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all
    the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to
    know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the
    Fullness of God.

After receiving this marvelous gift from our Heavenly Father, how should we respond to Him and to those around us?

1 John 4:7, 12, 16

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

John 13:34
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Luke 6:35
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Luke 10:27
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

A favorite Scripture :

Love is patient,

love is kind

It does not envy,

it does not boast,

it is not proud.

It is not rude,

it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil

but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects,

always trusts,

always hopes,

    always perseveres.
     Love never fails.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

What amazing inspiration for our mind and heart to dwell on!  

The Holy Spirit can empower us to love as Jesus commanded and modeled.

A wise teacher once challenged students to replace the word “love” with God, and secondly, to substitute our own name for the word “love” in this Corinthians passage.  Ouch!  My own failings are crystal clear measured by this standard.

Choosing to explore love in a short article may not be wise, but living in this world among false messages about love; it is refreshing to ponder “true love” as described in Scripture.  The immeasurable love God has shown us through His Word and His actions fuels the love He commands we have for our brothers, our neighbors and our enemies.

Merciful Father,
You loved us when we were lost, drowning in our sinfulness.  Your love and sacrifice lifted us up out of an ocean of sin and guilt.  Asking us to walk as a new creation, learning to love in the manner You teach and command.  Father, purify our hearts that Your love may flow through us to our brothers, our neighbors and our enemies.  Thank You, Father, for the hope and healing Your love imparts to us.
In the name of Your Beloved Son-Jesus, amen.

Mischelle Oliver, Stephenville, Texas

Love: Getting the Starting Place Right

Reading biblical texts about love is a lot like going to the doctor.  You know you are in for an “examination!”  1 Peter 1:22-25 doesn’t usually get mentioned in the same breath with some of more well-known love texts.  But, this text provides us with a powerful exhortation about what mature love looks like.  

Peter says:

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,

   “All people are like grass,

   and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

  the grass withers and the flowers fall,

   but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

   And this is the word that was preached to you.

Peter says love doesn’t simply sneak up and grab us.  Mature love takes action on our part.  It is intentional.  How often is our personal comfort zone or selfish habits of thought the starting place for how we love people?  Peter’s starting place for understanding love is the gospel and obedience to the same.  He says we should love like Jesus loved because:

1.  We have been purified by obeying the truth of the gospel.  

2.  We were born again of incorruptible seed, the word of God.  

Point?  Something happened to us when we came to Christ.  We came under the power and influence of the gospel.  As such, being born again marries us to the gospel’s style of love.   

How does Peter describe love?

1.  It is sincere.  The greek word (anupocritos) means “without hypocrisy”.  We should not be phony or disingenuous in how we engage people.  He accents it further by saying that love should be “from the heart.”  

2.  Fraternal affection (philadelphos).  This is the kind of love families share within a family unit.  Christians are brought together in God’s family.  We care for each other like members in a close human family care for one another.  What a beautiful picture!  

3.  Fervently.  The greek word (extenos) means to “stretch out the hand.”  It implies earnestness, going after something purposefully and with intensity.  The Message translation reads, “…love one another as if your lives depended on it.”  

Great text on love…right!  Our natural inclination is to think about love and to give love according to how our subjective filters work.  We’ve all done it.  Do I like them?  Do I think they like me?  Have they been mean to me?  Rude?  Ignored me?  Discriminatory?  Arrogant?  I don’t think I have the gift of love for that person.  The gift of love?  Hmmmm?  Peter says we have the calling to love, but he doesn’t say anything about the gift of love.  In fact he later points out some of the things that congest our ability to love and plainly says….”get rid of them!” (2:1-2).     

Loving like Peter describes is a challenge for anyone.  But, it comes with the territory of our calling by virtue of our new birth in the gospel.  As we are presented opportunities to love other people let's set our hearts on Peter's "starting place" for love and see where it takes us, i.e., "I'm a person who has been....so in this moment my calling is to love like..."  Maybe that’s what Jesus meant when he said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Father, loving the way you love is hard.  We can’t do it on our own.  Condition our hearts to your kind of love as we come to see ourselves as people of the gospel.  Awaken us each day to the powerful truth of what the gospel means and what it means to live in it as those called through your Son.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Letters of Love

It was a hot July and I was enjoying the air conditioning of a bowling alley in Salamanca, Spain when I first read the letter that would change my life.  Before leaving for a summer abroad in Spain and then Ghana, I had met Jeff at a bible study in late April of 1999.  Our first meeting intrigued me for sure, but it was the letter that sealed the deal.  The letter wasn’t even a mushy-gushy love letter, it was more of a treatise on his life, a purpose statement for the future, and a commendation of me and my walk with the Lord (one I did not deserve).  Twelve years, three kids, and two cross-country moves later, I can read this letter and be reminded of the many reasons I fell in love with my husband.

Letters are a powerful way of communicating ideas, encouraging growth, and conveying feelings.  Most of the New Testament is a collection of letters.  Two of my favorites are Paul’s letters to his “true child in the faith,” Timothy.  Also, the book of Acts is a masterfully written, chronological summary of the early church; all contained in a letter written to Theophilus from the apostle Luke.  

A few years ago a friend and mentor gave us a series of sermons concerning the writing of love letters.  The gentleman that preached the sermons talked of the transformative power the writing of love letters had on his congregation.  The elders, deacons and other men of the church had gathered together a few months before Valentine’s Day and decided to honor their wives with a special dinner and the reading of a love letter.  The preacher described couple after couple that was remarkably changed for the better due to this exercise.  

The letters that the preacher encouraged the men to write were not your typical love letters.  The men used a well-known formula for prayer that uses the acronym ACTS.  The letter began with ADORATION, detailing the reasons why they had married their wives and what they loved about them.  Next, they CONFESSED the areas where they needed to grow and committed to making their relationships better.  Then, the letter went on to list all of the things that they were THANKFUL for in their marriage, and finally ended with SUPPLICATION for help to be the type of men God was calling them to be.  

The experiment grew into an annual ministry leading to marriages being restored and strengthened, souls added to the kingdom and a deeper love for one another.  The preacher went on to charge the congregation with writing letters to not only spouses, but children and even to those that the relationship was strained or broken.  

After listening to these sermons I began writing letters of my own.  The first was to my father, who I had a tense relationship with for many years.  It took me many months to write his letter.  I sent it to him one Christmas.  We never discussed the letter, but through the writing of the letter I was finally able to let go of past hurts and a resentful attitude.  I was able to see my dad in an entirely new light.  The exercise of adoration and thankfulness helped me practice chords of harmony and peace when all I had been playing was off-key “bangings” for years.  The result was a complete metamorphosis of my thoughts and feelings toward my dad, which not only strengthened my relationship with him, but also my marriage.   God used this exercise to show me that letters are not written for the reader only.

Paul reminds us that the influence of a letter is not in the written word, but in the heart of the person that is behind the words.  2 Corinthians 3:3 says, "You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." 

Our lives are living epistles to be read with every breath we take, word we speak and step we walk.  I want us to be encouraged to pick up a pen, grab a keyboard, or text a thoughtful message of love to that person you know may need it.  Yes, it takes time and it may not be easy, but you already know that is the very reason for doing it.  Write someone!

Dana Jaworski
Anchor Point, AK

Living the Gospel in Prayer

I love how Matthew 5 starts.  “Blessed be...” is something I can work with.  I like to be blessed even if it requires a little effort on my part.  Sure, I may not always want to be meek or mourning or peacemaking but if I’m going to be blessed it sure sounds good.  

So Matthew 5 starts out pretty good but as it goes along Jesus seems to build up steam and, if I do say so myself, gets a bit demanding.  He gets away from telling me I’m going to be blessed and says something over the top like pray for those who persecute me.  Excuse me?  Can you repeat that?  Now, I’m great with the concept of prayer while I’m telling God all the people to cure and all the hurts to mend but this praying for those who persecute me business is asking more than I want to give some days.  

I’ve tried it.  I have prayed for someone who is persecuting me and I’m not very good at it.  In fact, I’m still in a season where I kind of throw it back in God’s lap.  My prayer goes something like this, “God, I pray for this person and ask that you touch their heart so you can work in their life.”  Now, that doesn’t sound too bad I suppose but it’s nothing like the prayer for my children when I cry out for God to work, nothing like the prayer for his help in overcoming my sins were I plead and cry tears of pain, nothing like the prayer for the hurting parents who lost a child or a child who lost their parent too soon.  Those prayers have a level of conviction that is palpable but my prayer for the persecutor is simple and not so heartfelt most of the time. Maybe it’s because I really want to ask God to allow me to seek retribution so that I may have the victory more than I want God to make them lovable and more in His image.  My heart isn’t in the prayer for my persecutor like it is for the person who I can love/sympathize/empathize with easily.  Jesus asks a lot from this prideful person when he asks that I pray for my persecutor.  

Paul, in Chapter 12 of his letter to the Romans, goes so far as to tell them to bless those who persecute them. Do you think he means bless them by doing something for them?  To reach out to them?  Oh my.

God gives us commands that I don’t believe are so much about doing what He wants us to do as they are a check of where our heart for Him stands.  If I can pray and bless those who persecute me, I am living a Christ-like life but if I can’t do that, it speaks volumes about where I am as a disciple and what is Lord of my life.  I’m secure that God is not condemning me because my prayer is so inadequate right now.  Instead, I believe He is reminding me of how much I can look like Him if I want to, if I’ll just let go of what breaks down and destroys and take hold of what builds up and glorifies.  

There are times I wish following God was easier but love isn’t easy.  It can’t be easy for God to love me at times but He does because God IS love and I know He is watching me and telling me that I can be love too. It’s what He hopes for me and what He wants for me and it’s who I want to be in my walk to reflect Christ in my life.

Jeff Jones

Decatur, Texas

Those Good Ole Days of Summer

Summer blessings come in all shapes, sizes, colors, smells, and tastes.  As I reflect over the past couple of months I see God’s blessings all over my summer.  The relaxed summer schedule has allowed me and my family to glorify God through simple acts of love such as creating memories with family and friends, mission trip, city outreaches, church camp, work projects, and lending a helping hand to those in need.  It’s not the task itself that’s important to mention, but what’s in the heart while doing it and the simple love for the One we serve.

My teenager has a favorite t-shirt that reads Live with Love.  In John 15:12 we are commanded to love each other as Christ has loved us.  There are countless scriptures that reflect on this: John 13: 34-35; Romans 13:8, I Thes. 4:9; Heb. 13:1, I Pet. 1:22, 4:8; I John 3:11, 23, 4:7, 4:11-12: II John 5.  Living with love makes us stretch our love beyond our own family circle so that it becomes a force that shapes the immediate lives around us.

As obstacles of life continue we will always long for “those good ole days of summer,” when life seemed so much simpler.  Sometimes it’s difficult to love others, so we have to go not by our feelings, but by our hearts.  Do you have the love of Jesus Christ in your heart?  Make a decision to open up and live with love.  You will experience genuine and lasting joy --- for God is love. John 15:11.

Father God, give us eyes to see others in need and grant us grace to serve in a way that truly models the humility of Jesus Christ.  Thank you for summertime and the relaxed spirit it brings to our lives.  Let our love be fierce and strong!

Carla Henson

Tuscola, Texas

Love, Simply

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God... (I John 4:1).

I’ve always been painfully aware of my imperfections.  In childhood I often felt not-quite-good-enough, smart enough, or capable enough, and my insecurities are still disabling at times.

But God can do surprising things with our weaknesses if we let him.  He took mine and lovingly burdened me with empathy for those who appear less fortunate than I.  Through my chosen profession -- helping those born with intellectual and developmental disabilities – I learned that the ability to love can’t be measured by an IQ test, and that one’s value as a human being doesn’t depend on intellectual prowess.

Chad’s arms and legs were permanently drawn up in a fetal position.  At 22, he could do nothing for himself.  He would spend some time each day in a beanbag chair, placed there by caregivers.  He couldn’t speak, but would cut his eyes and smile in my direction when he heard my voice.  Gary had severe behavior problems.  He couldn’t read or write, but he loved to sing, and I loved to listen:  God is so good…He loves me so…He’s so good to me.

Chad blessed me with a smile – everything he had to give.  Gary taught me with a song  --  simple, yet profoundly eloquent.

I want you to know Tina.  Developmentally disabled, widowed, mother of three children, and grandmother of one.  My husband and I saw her walking one morning.  It was drizzling rain and she was carrying a small grocery sack.  Having known us for years, she let us drive her home.

She said her daughters were coming to visit and she wanted to make them a special treat.  She walked 2 miles on that chilly, wet morning to buy ice cream.  She was making milkshakes for her girls.

Every now and then – if we have an open heart – we can glimpse eternity in a smile, a song, or in the form of pure, innocent, sacrificial love, like Tina’s.  After she was safely inside, I wept at the beauty of it.

God, you are the essence of pure, innocent, sacrificial love.  Help us love this way.  Through Jesus Christ who showed us how, Amen.

Sandra Milholland

Abilene, Texas

What is Love?

Series: Love

As I was driving home from work one day, I thought about what love was. I began to really think about love and what it meant to me. As I think of my everyday thoughts and use of the term love, am I really giving love the prestige and meaning it should have? For instance, before leaving for work each day, I begin by telling my wife I love her. As I drive down the road, I think, “I would love a great Starbuck’s latte." When I get to work, I tell myself “I love my job." In picking something to eat for lunch, I tell my co-workers, “I would love some great New York Style Pizza.” Lastly at the end of the day, all I would “love” is a great steak!

Do I really love all of these things? To be honest, I do not love them all. I do love my wife. Most of you know her, and what is there not to love? What about all the rest of the material things? I certainly do not love them all! These are things that I just want. As I read about love and how the word love is used in the Bible, I can’t help but realize that I might be cheapening the meaning every time I use or think of it. Some thoughts about love stand in my mind as I read some of the postings this week and other stories throughout the Bible. First, you might think about the love that Abraham had for God as Randy pointed out in the week. Amy wrote about the greatest commandments, which are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Then we look at the kind of love we can have for our spouse, through Ashleigh’s love for Arlon. Melanie points out that love is active in John 3:16.

As you can see through scripture, love is many things, but is it loving a steak, a job, a new truck? I think that as you can see, love is far beyond just wanting a material thing. Love is something you do, something that you believe, and something that you are commanded to do everyday. You are commanded to love your God, your wife, your parents and your neighbor. But, do you understand this love that is talked about?

If you think about the way love is described in the Bible, it is most an act of giving something up because you love. For example, this means you are willing to sacrifice something or someone because of this feeling. I know that without hesitation I would give my life, my every possession for my wife. But not for a steak. Not even a prime steak! The Lord God and Jesus Christ showed us their love. Jesus served all his life because of his love for his father, and his undying love for us. Then both God and Jesus sacrificed by allowing Jesus to FREELY give his life for us, through his love, to pay our debt. What are you willing to give up to show your love for God, your wife, your parents, or your neighbor?

I think from now on, “love” in my vocabulary will only be used for a few things. Tell someone today you love them, then show it.

Our gracious Heavenly Father. I am in awe of your love. You have given us the greatest example of love. Your Son freely came to this earth, served, and died for our sins out of the love he had for you and your people. Allow us to freely take this example throughout the world. Please open our hearts to be able to show others that love is about serving you with all our heart, mind and soul. Help us to love you, and others with the same love that Jesus had. Let our love spread like a light in a dark land. In Jesus’s holy name. Amen.

Adam Tittor
Grapevine, Texas

The Senses of Love

Series: Love


LOVE. We can’t see it, hear it, touch it, smell it, or taste it. It is not proved by our five physical senses through which we take in all information. How do we even know it exists? GOD is Love. How do we understand that?

Some say they experience love. How do they prove their “experience?" They may say, “I just know it.” Any descriptions will be filled with “see, hear, touch (feel), smell, taste” types of words--our five senses. These are all physical sensations that we can receive. “I love ice cream!” I.e., I saw it -- in the carton; heard it -- plop into the dish; felt it -- the temperature in my mouth, the texture; smelled it -- the flavoring; tasted it -- the sweetness/flavoring. I enjoy all these sensations from ice cream. Same for pizza, chocolate, and medium-rare steaks. These are all physical sensations that we receive, but they are not love. LOVE is an emotion of affection or attachment demonstrated by behavior; that is, LOVE is the word we accurately use to explain our wanting the best for another person. We can both receive and give love.

We are told, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16, NASB). “Love” and “gave” are active verbs, not sensations; they require action to or from another person to be evident. God’s action (love) is much more than a physical sensation or an emotional response. GOD did not see, hear, touch, smell, or taste us to love us. He loved us because He created us! Because He wanted to create us! Then, “God saw all that He had made [including humans, ms] and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31a, NASB).

He made us perfect. He loves the perfection He made. But He also loves us (i.e., wants the best for us) even with our imperfections (caused by our choice to sin) because He knows what we can be when we are made perfect, like Him, in eternity with Him. So, He gave Perfection (Jesus Christ) to return us to His perfection. Now the question is, how do we live as examples of God’s perfection, His love, while we are still in this world? How do we use our physical bodies with their five senses to learn to demonstrate Christ’s love to the world, to each individual person?

See: What was the last time I saw an opportunity to be Christ to someone? A fellow grocery shopper who has at least 30 items in the 20-item line and can’t find her checkbook? “May I help you put your items on the conveyor belt?” Or the stranger at church? “Hello, I’m .… Welcome to .… We’re glad you’re here. Can I help you?” Show her where she wants to go, go with her, help her find a seat she wants. I must not just cease chatting and walk off to visit others I already know. Make myself available! Do anything I can appropriate to the moment. Let the other person see me acting with love, with help. Mt. 5:16: “ . . . let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven” (NIV).

Hear: It’s a Friday afternoon, last payday of the week and the month. Monday is a holiday. Traffic is hectic. Grocery stores are packed. Clerks are tired, edgy. The din is exhausting. Everyone wants to finish shopping and get home. How can I relieve anyone’s frustration? Say “hello” to the greeter; smile at the checkout clerk, acknowledge her “hard day,” tell her God loves her and let her know from where my peace comes. Smile at the customer behind me, place the “stick” to divide my purchases from her’s, acknowledge the hassle, remind her she’s nearly through shopping. And bless her weekend that God may give her respite from the week. Let her hear God’s peaceful joy in my voice. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Rom. 10:14, NIV).

Touch: “People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. . . .” (Lk. 18:15, NIV). “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. . . .” (Mt. 8:3, NIV). “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (Jn. 13:14, NIV). Those people learned of the loving healing powers of touch. Though our touch may not be miraculous, we can help heal others when we touch them. Touch gently, most of the time, anyway (“high-fives” can be okay too). Did I carefully shake the hand or touch the shoulder of my frail acquaintance or the child who is learning to talk with others? Many people hunger for hugs. I must loosen up! Share “my space” with my friends! Shake the hand of the homeless, stroke the head of the child. Acknowledge other people as human. One widow thanked me for hugging her. She said, “You know, when you’re a widow you don’t get many hugs any more. Sometimes you don’t really feel like a person.” And there was the leper who had not been touched by anyone for months since her family last came to visit her. Through an interpreter, we agreed we shall see and hug each other again in heaven. Then we cried together. I think this hug and her blessing to me helped me more than it did her.

Smell: I cringe at the odor of a person who reeks of tobacco inside a small store. I avoid someone stumbling down the street, unable to walk a straight line. I cry for the young child at school whose mother has not washed him or his clothes in the last five weeks. How should I react when a dying friend needs me to help with a bath and clean bedclothes? It’s said that smell is one of the last senses forgotten. It’s amazing how nice “clean” smells. Which person can I help, and how? Be polite to the people who smell bad. If I can, offer help, or offer to find someone who can help. Bathe my friend. Wash the child’s feet. Show compassion in all my behavior. We all need washing, and not just with soap and water. Can I help them want to be washed with Christ’s blood? His blood is spiritually redeeming, but think of the physical smell when He was crucified! The blood, the sweat, the tears, the dirt, the urine and excrement! This was part of His Body, His Love! Joseph of Arimathea showed his love by asking Pilate for Jesus’ body, and by taking and wrapping the body and burying it in his own tomb (Mt. 27:57-60; Mk. 15:43, 46; Lk. 23:50-53; Jn. 19:38-40). With those smells, could I show that love for my Savior? Can I dare turn my back on others who do not yet smell “clean?" “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:15).

Taste: So connected with smell. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth?” (Ps. 119:103, NIV). “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him” (Ps. 34:8, NIV). “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9, NIV). Am I treating everyone I meet, or even some of them, as though I want them to “taste the LORD,” to experience His sweetness, so they do not have to “taste death?" Am I willing to share the tasty feast at the Lord’s Table?

I am incapable of being what Jesus would be, of doing just what He would do when He meets the people I meet. I can only show love to others (i.e., show I want the best for them), by using my body to demonstrate His holy love, being what Jesus wants me to be to all I meet. “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us” (Rom. 12:6a, NIV). My gifts are unique to me, yours to you. How I use them is unique to me. Do I love other people enough to show my love for them? Do I make them “love” what they “sense” about me because of how I treat them? If I show non-Christians the same “love” I show my fellow Christians, is my love convincing? John Denver wrote a song, “Annie’s Song,” in which he said:
You fill up my senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses come fill me again.

I must continually inventory how I use my physical senses to love others. Let’s all consciously fill up each other and the world with the “sensual,” spiritual life with Jesus.

Dear Lord, You who are perfect Love, help me to use all my senses to BE love to others, to show them how to have their senses filled with Your perfect love, now and forever. Through Jesus, Whose perfect love allows us to “sense” you even now, and to live with You forever, Amen.

Marilyn Schulze
Stephenville, TX

The Love Dare

Series: Love


Love is one common emotion that we were all created with. We all have loved someone or something at one time in our life. We have also been on the receiving end as well. God has loved us from the beginning and has blessed us in many ways. Love is the greatest command--it encompasses our life.

We also can all relate to having relationships. We hope for wonderful friendships, great family relationships and loving marriage relationships. I believe we all desire a life filled with genuine relationships. They are validating and healthy.

I once read a story about an elderly couple that had been married for over 60 years. She was in the hospital dying, and he knew it. He stood by her side and talked about their journey from their wedding day to their last. He begged her to whisper his name one more time. He cried because he knew he would leave and go home alone that evening.

This story inspired me to take the emotion that God gave me, love, and to make the most of it. Choose love! It is a decision, not just a feeling. In an effort to focus and think about how I love… I am going to attempt a challenge, or rather a dare! Interested? I am going to take a dare that will lead me to explore and demonstrate genuine love. Learning to truly love is said to be one of the most important things that one could ever do. I plan to start reading the Love Dare, by Steven and Alex Kendrick. I would love for you to join me on this 40 day journey. Email me at ashleighfeuer@embarqmail.com if you are interested.

May 5th, 2001… I married the Love of my life. He is a wonderful Christian father and husband. I want to enhance our journey and make it similar to the couple mentioned earlier. A loving relationship that is genuine and aches for one more whisper.

This southern girl was married in the heat of the summer, during a thunderstorm….outside! I would not change one thing about our journey thus far, but I do want to make sure that I do my part to make the next 10 years even better!! Thanks to my husband for loving me!

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for allowing us to experience love. It is such a powerful emotion that brings so much joy. Thank you for loving us and sending your son. Allow each of us to think about how we love on a daily basis. Help us to focus on our love for our spouse, our children, our families and our friends. Thank you for first loving us!
In Your Son’s Name I pray.


Ashleigh Feuerbacher
Stephenville, Texas

Paper Doll Christian

Series: Love


Matt. 22: 37-40 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

This story below happened not long ago to a friend of mine. In her words:

"Something happened in church yesterday that really shook my world. I'm reasonably certain it was meant just for me, but now it has me wondering what to do next.

Here's what happened: Our "regular" pew was full, so we circled around and sat on the far right half way back which is the first "God thing" that happened. After the first couple of songs, a young pregnant girl with 2 little babies, one holding her hand and the other on her hip came in looking for a seat. She went to the empty pew in front of us and tapped the lady on the shoulder so that she and her babies could slip into that spot. The lady shook her head "no" and indicated that she was saving that spot for someone else. The girl smiled, turned around and walked out of the auditorium with her babies in tow. I looked over at Dusty and whispered "I'm giving her our seat, get up!" I ran out into the foyer and told her to come back and take our pew, PLEASE! The look in her eyes said everything I knew she was feeling because I have been that girl. My efforts were too little, too late. She said "No, thank you. I'll find somewhere else...maybe the balcony." I saw the tears in her eyes. I went and sat down and could think of nothing else during the rest of the service.

This morning, I'm thinking about other things that have transpired in my life this week, which of course are not accidental or coincidental, and I'm wondering, "Why do we PLAY church?" I don't want to be a paper-doll Christian and I'm looking for some answers. I cannot believe I sat there and let that happen right in front of me. God is shaking me by the shoulders and telling me I'm too comfortable."

Please pray for me as I listen and change.I don't think that the lady was being mean or unfeeling on purpose. I am sure she just was not thinking about anything but who she was saving the seat for. As my friend said above we are just too comfortable. God asks us to love Him above all else with our hearts and souls and minds. He then says we are to love other people just as much as we love ourselves. The problem is, we think about ourselves all of the time instead of thinking of other people. Everything we do is for our own comfort. Loving is hard and can be messy and time consuming. We can't be paper doll Christians. We are called to actually get into peoples lives and out of our comfort zones.

I ask myself, "How can I have the mind of Christ and the eyes of God so that I will not miss opportunities to love other people that He is putting right under my nose?" The first thing that comes to mind if I am trying to have the mind of Christ is that I have to stay in His Word. I must lay it on my heart so that my first reaction is not a selfish one but a prompting from God. I don't want to pass on to my children how to live a comfortable, self seeking life but how to live a life expecting and being excited about who God is going to let us touch for Him everyday. I want to wake up thinking with a spiritual mind and seeing with God's eyes and having the mindset of Christ.

Father God, please help us to love other people MORE than we love ourselves. Help us to see with Your eyes and to lay Your Word on our hearts so that we can respond in everyday happenings with Your heart in our actions and words. Help us not to save seats to the hurt of other people and help us not to be paper doll Christians but to be alive and loving and seeking to serve those that need Your love. Help us to be so full of Your word and love that we cannot keep it from flowing out of our mouths and our actions and please keep WAKING us up to ways we can love better for You. In Jesus name, amen.

Amy Walker
Nacodoches, Texas

Loving Like Abraham

Series: Love


Heard any great love songs lately?

I drive a 1970 ford pickup with no radio. I was headed to a lunch meeting the other day and stopped at a light alongside a more modern ride (but not as stylish as mine!) that had really good speakers. Know what I mean? He was kind enough to play his music for the entire county. I couldn’t tell who was singing, but it went something like: “O baby, I love you, baby, baby, baby, you and me, yea, O baby; I would give it all up for you, because I love you…” You get the idea. I pulled into the restaurant thinking about how lyrics and melody join forces to drive home a point – to shape perspective.

One of the most popular words in musical lyrics of virtually every kind is the word love. Most of the time love is set in an emotional or romantic context. Literally thousands of songs set to all kinds of melodies celebrate, lament, and ponder the emotional aspect of love. Whether it’s a country or a pop rock song, the lyrics reach into our hearts and appeal to our feelings. Feelings are good in and of themselves. But, many of the song lyrics about love push emotion past principle. What we feel about someone or a situation is prioritized above what a principled perspective of the situation calls for. Who can forget the old country song lyric “If lov’n you is wrong, I don’t want to be right?” Pleasure is preferred over principle.

When I think about the biblical perspective of love, I am confronted with how different it is from how it is portrayed in the music industry and our culture in general. Mature love isn’t based on feelings. It is based on the gospel story and on the principles that grow out of it. I am humbled and awed every time I hear the story of Abraham and Isaac. In Genesis 22:2 God said to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will show you.” I stagger before the magnitude of that request. I respected Abraham before I had children. Four children later, my respect is exponentially greater! I can’t begin to imagine what he “felt” at that moment. He had to prepare a travel party and journey for three days. He had to travel and think about what he was about to do. As the story climaxes, God intervenes and stays Abraham’s hand. Soon afterward, God says, “…for now I know that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.” Abraham loved God more than anything. More than the questions that raced through his mind about the absurdity of God’s request. More than the tender moments he had shared with Isaac. More than the feelings that were beating down the door of his mind and pressuring him to question the sanity of such a request. He loved God with all of his heart, soul, strength and mind.

That kind of love is a long way from the radios and ipods of our day. As I write this I can’t help but think about some people I know who faced mature love moments in 2010 and how they exemplified principled love over the emotional unprincipled version we see in our culture. They chose the right words. They turned the other cheek. They said “no” in moments of temptation. They stood their ground in loneliness. They gave more than the hecklers around them and got overlooked when “atta boys” got passed out. They walked roads that others didn’t want to travel. John, Mary, Elizabeth, Lorrie, Colt, Payden, Carla, James, …and…well…you get the idea. I could list a hundred. They plodded on embracing what was right in moments that didn’t feel too good. They loved God and respected his calling of them more than abandoning their principles for a moment of fleshly gratification. And, God was watching. He has always noticed His people doing the extraordinary in the corners of everyday life. Peter reminded suffering people who were struggling to love the Lord in trying times: “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” A lot more is going on in moments of trial than meets the eye!

Loving like that is hard. It’s always been hard. But, the upside is beyond fantastic. It’s the stuff of the cross and resurrection. It’s what participating in the “fellowship of His sufferings” is all about. And, it is remarkably bright when it begins to take form in a world that sees so much of the other kind of love. I thank God for Abraham’s story. And, I thank God for other stories that happen around us everyday in the lives of people near and dear to us. People who show us how to live a love that is anchored in the majesty, grace and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ.

O Father, everyday we can feel the pull of cultural messages and influences toward a version of love that is so contrary to who you are. Fortify our hearts with your kind of love and teach us through your word and through the examples we see in other believers how to give ourselves over to a love that honors you in all that we do. Assure our hearts of the blessing that is found in this kind of love. It is through the One who loved us all the way we give you our thanks....Amen.

Randy Daugherty
Stephenville, Texas

Love: Let's Get Real

Series: Love

If someone asked you to name just one thing that sets you apart because you are a Christian, what would it be? Is it because we always wear the appropriate thing to church on Sunday? Or make sure we are at the building every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night? Or what about our casseroles, a good Christian can make a great Chicken Spaghetti, right? No tattoos? No piercings (except on the ears ladies, we all know that’s OK!)? Did you read the latest Christian fiction? These are all the things that make us stand out as Christians… Right?? And if these aren’t the things that make us Christians, why do we spend so much time on them?


We are not Christians because we follow all the right rules, we are Christians because we love… unreasonably and without judgment. Matthew 22:37-40 says:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”


We have been named hypocrites, and for good reason. We preach a New Testament religion, with love at its center, and yet we constantly set ourselves above those we should be serving. We sing about having a servant’s heart, but we don’t mean it. We want to serve those we deem worthy, or those who give us the proper amount of gratitude. We justify our selfishness by saying things like “I don’t feel safe. They’re probably going to use my money to buy alcohol. They just ask for handouts because they are lazy.” Is this how we show God’s love? Mother Teresa has said “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” In the Old Testament, God knew that this was an issue and would continue to be one, and so He left us with this command:

7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart… 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. (Deuteronomy 15:7-15)


What are the wicked thoughts God would ask us to refrain from? What does He feel when we turn our backs on the poor? (Or the teens with the foul language? Or the parents with children that are filthy and misbehaved? Or the elderly? The imprisoned? The depressed? ) What does he think of us when we love them?

The greatest of the commandments is Love… How have we managed to forget this simple four letter word? How have we managed to replace LOVE with DUTY? God does not call us to be safe with our rules in our churches, but to go out and love the people in the world. Just as they are. God does not ask us to change people so that they can follow our rules, He tells us to love them. The change that must occur in someone’s heart in order to follow God is not our responsibility… ours is to love. Do we think so little of God that we believe He cannot work on someone’s heart without our interference?

But Love is difficult; it requires us to put aside prejudice, step into uncomfortable situations, and let go of our need to separate ourselves from those who are different or who we don’t understand. And we have shown that we are incapable of doing this alone.

Dear God, I want you to be proud of me. I want to show your love to everyone around me. Please work on my heart, make me see others as You see them; Your children that I am ALWAYS called to love. Help me to stop judging people. I do not know their life, I do not know their struggles, only You do Lord. Change me to be the person You want me to be. Put me in situations that will challenge me, do not let me become complacent or blind to those who need your love the most. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Corey Rose
Santa Clara, California