Hope

Shaken

Since I’ve spent the majority of my life living in California, I’m pretty used to earthquakes. I know what it is like for the pictures to begin shaking, the earth to begin rolling, and the momentary calculation of wondering how long it’s going to last. I can quickly figure out where the nearest door jam is, and have perfected the maneuver to protect my neck should things start falling. Because of all this, an earthquake very rarely rattles my nerves. In fact, I’ve been known to sleep through many of them, much to the chagrin of my sister who would succeed in waking me up right as they ended.

However, despite my relative calm, earthquakes are not something to be taken lightly. Due to the recent earthquake in Japan, we are all well too familiar with the damage and destruction that they can cause. Not only do buildings and roadways cease to hold their form, but even the land itself reportedly moved as a result of the recent quake. It takes a very strong force to literally adjust the landscape of our globe and yet an earthquake can do that.

Unlike the layout of the Earth, however, our God has promised that His kingdom is unshakable. There is no force that can cause Him to move or that will alter His plans. The world around us may crumble, yet He is a strong tower that the righteous may run into and be safe.  He will not buckle under force, nor does He sway with the currents or tremble at evil; He remains.

And because of this, regardless of the rattle and rolling that our lives may be experiencing, we need too, need not be shaken.

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Growth

No Laughing Matter

When I was in elementary school, one evening I told my sister that we were all going to get ice cream.

The only problem with this statement was that my parents had no intention of serving us ice cream on that night.

When the truth was discovered, and I quickly explaining that I was only joking, my dad marched me into my parents’ room, placed me on the bed, and told me not to come out until I had memorized Proverbs 26:18-19 which states:

Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says “I was only joking.” (NKJ)

Now at that age, I didn’t know what firebrands were, and to be honest, I’m not sure I still do, but the list sounded bad.  I hadn’t equated my deception with death and destruction, but Scripture did. And although my father could have punished me in a variety of ways, this way proved the most effective because years later I still remember those verses when I am tempted to deceive someone and then pass it off as a joke.

The interesting part of all this, is that it wasn’t like my dad was a serious stick in the mud. After all, this was the man who kept a realistic-looking rubber egg in the refrigerator and then, as an initiation to our home, would throw it at guests with a shout of “Catch!” As the unsuspecting visitor would quickly scurry to save what they thought was an egg, my dad would smile and then laugh. My dad loved and appreciated humor.

However, what my dad knew was that beside the momentary panic, there was no lasting effects of the rubber egg prank. After all, the worse thing that could happen is that, had it been a real egg, it would have been splattered in his own home. But so many times, we purposefully cause lasting harm to people with our words or actions, and then indifferently pass it off as a joke. We ridicule with sarcasm and then expect the other person to laugh. We marginalize people who take things too seriously, and neglect to realize that if we taking nothing seriously, then nothing is sacred. And if we act as if nothing is sacred, then what as Christians, do we truly believe?

After all, when a little girl thinks she’s getting ice cream, and then finds out it was nothing but a misguided joke, that’s no laughing matter.

Neither is it when we compromise our representation of Christ for the sake of a few laughs.

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