Coffee Filters, Glasses and Mercy

Last Saturday morning I stumbled into the kitchen to make coffee.  I fumbled with the filter thingy
and it fell apart in may hands.  I struggled to put it back together looking very much like a chimpanzee fixing an airplane.  I could not see what I was doing - no glasses.  Then I wondered "why do we loose our eye sight?  and then thought "Glasses are really cool." Then I thought about mercy.

God hates what happened to us as a result of our rebellion. Think about it... as he watches our fall he watches our bodies start to fall apart as we age, he watches us struggle in our work and our appetite for contentment. Not that I know the mind of God but there must be some element of "..if only you had listened, all of this could have been avoided." He made us to be free, to walk in friendship with him instead we broke faith, we rebelled.

So many stories and mental pictures out there depicting God hurling us from Eden.  He did not want that - we chose it.  And then his mercy started chasing us.  I have proof that he is merciful:

• We loose our sight, he gave us the ability to develop optics to help us see
• We get sick, he gifts some with the talents to heal (research, treatments you name it)
• We work sometimes it satisfies...most times it does not.

We're not content. It's as if we have what was meant to be hard wired in our souls. - We do.  That in itself is a mercy - His mercy.

We have the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.  Namely that its not going to last these lives we lead here, we will live, love, suffer, live some, love more then we will pass like smoke. That elephant in the room is proof of his mercy.  He gave us Jesus as if to say "yep there's an elephant in here all right."  He gave us Jesus to recognize that and turn to him and be healed. Mercy.

For those of us who know Him and will allow Him to know us...He will restore:

• One day, my eyes that are seeing less and less detail now...will be able to see every detail, every thread of his intricately woven robe
• One day, I will all of the sudden notice - that have no ache, no pain, no stuffy sinuses and will marvel how far short of reality is for what I used think "feeling good" was -and then realize the gravity of what he rescued me from.
• One day, I will forget what "being sick" or "having cancer" or "stubbing my toe" is. 

One day I will be who I was meant to be, a new creature, with a new body, living life - real life to the glory of my High King. There will be no more young men laying in a hospital room with ulcers in their throat caused by chemo therapy.  No more.    I love that fact.  I love the fact that I can rest on his promises - that YOU can rest on his promises if you choose to.  Why would you not?

As I write this, Jacob is experiencing the full brunt of chemo side effects.  Painful ulcers in his throat - probably for 5 more days the docs say.  This will go on until the gift our 20 something gave him grows and replaces the cells that would be taking care of this issue now but are gone due to the chemo.  Despite this, Jacob is still expectant, he is still strong and he is very much in the fight.  I think he's going to win.

The road is not complete.  There are still twists and turns that we'll experience.  But knowing - really knowing how merciful God is... knowing how he is carrying our burden...makes it bearable.

We love you all.