Fear

       My face was pasty white as I sat in my seat on the airplane.  This was my very first flight and though my high school friends were well aware of my trepidation, their presence didn’t assuage my fear at all.  As the plane engine started and we began to taxi, I could only take shallow breaths and it didn’t matter how much I wanted to go on this trip, I was ready to bolt.  Unexpectedly, a hand reached over and pulled a bag out from the seat in front of me to place it in my hands.  I didn’t really understand right away, but then all my friends started handing me their barf bags too- in case I needed a back-up supply.  Apparently I looked pretty bad!



View from Toronto CN Tower



       You see, since I was young I have always had a fear of heights.  After finding that first flight so enjoyable, I realized that my fear was not heights at all, but was actually a fear of falling.  I discovered that as long as I feel safe and secure I love to observe the earth from great heights.  Since my early twenties I considered skydiving to try and face that fear, but for lack of money I have never had the chance.  I imagine myself screaming from the first step off the plane to my touchdown- that is, if I don’t pass out first (hopefully I faint AFTER I open the parachute  J ).

       The funny thing is my fear of falling isn’t only a physical one.  It also relates to the spiritual side of my life.  In the past, 'fear of falling’ back into sin kept me from getting closer to the Lord.  (Why would He want to be with me when I am so reprehensible…)  Sometimes, 'fear of falling' into error has kept me from moving in the Spirit.  (What if it wasn’t God’s voice I heard say “tell him that____”…)  And occasionally, 'fear of falling' on my face, especially in view of others, keeps me from doing work that the Lord wants me to do.  (What will people say, do, think…)



       Kind of like doing this blog.  What will people think if I lay it all out there and write what’s in my mind and my heart?  It was a difficult first step for me to take but I faced that fear.  I’d like to say I’m prepared for the next step He wants me to take but I’m not too sure yet.  My head knows I am safe and secure in Christ’s love, but obviously my heart isn’t perfectly there yet.  So I ask for help as I seek God’s will, I spend time in His presence, 

       and I pray He continues to change me.

A New Church

       For me, it is always enjoyable to watch new buildings go up.  This is a season where the local church that I attend is having a new building constructed; beams, walls, bricks and mortar.  It’s been interesting to watch it go up step by step on a vacant lot as the new building is on our way home from service. 

       The actual building though is not what excites me.  What excites me is the people walking into the ‘old’ building to worship along with me.  It was never intended that the brick and mortar building be the church.  We, the people who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, are the church.  Jesus is the head of the body, and we are His body*.

       There are many beautiful, fascinating people that make up the body:  the pastor, the greeter, the administrator, the toilet scrubber, the librarian, the coffee server, the offering counter, the lighting crew, the deacon, the crying baby comforter, the teacher, the classroom organizer, the worship leader, the gardener, the receptionist, the cook, the prayer warrior et all; many different faces, many different personalities doing many different things in life.  How wonderfully diverse!

       As I enter our building, I see the faces around me and I think- this is my church… this is my body.  That delights me because the people are the ones who will reach the world.  The building is just sitting there, but the people are what God glories in.  The people are where His presence resides.  He used to reside in the tabernacle, then the temple but at Christ’s death He tore the veil so now He can be in us**. 

       When I look at the diversity of people:  young and old, tall and short, blue or brown eyed, timid and bold, serious and funny, laid back and energetic with everything in between, I look at the smiles and even the frowns, I look at the ones I get along with and the ones I simply may never understand, and I think, this is great!  This is exciting; this is my body, a part of me; bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.  Because when they gave their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ, they became part of my body as I became part of theirs.

So on the day our new building is open for service...

                                                  ...it won’t be ‘the church’ until we the body arrive.

*Eph. 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. KJV

Rom. 12:5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. NIV

1 Cor. 12:27 Now here is what I am trying to say: All of you together are the one body of Christ and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. TLB

**Eph. 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;… KJV (Gal. 2:20)

1 Cor. 3:16 …ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? KJV (John 14:17)

The Praise of Swans

       It was cold as Mandie (my friend’s dog) and I walked down the path to the river.  About halfway there I heard a loud, unusual clapping sound; it stopped and started several times.  Now, I’ve been living in this area for several years and never noticed this particular sound before, so as we rounded past the obstacles, I gazed curiously at the length of the river.  There floating in the river were several magnificent white swans hoping to catch some supper.  As one took off in flight I heard the clapping noise I hadn’t recognized.

       Immediately, a scripture came to mind where the stones cry out praise (Luke 19:40) and where it says, “Let everything he has made give praise to him.” Ps. 148:5 TLB  The whole psalm is about nature praising God, and certainly swans are part of that everything … so are we.  To me, it seemed like the swans were clapping praise to God, after all, clapping and shouting are part of acceptable praise to our God. (Ps. 47:1- O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.  KJV)

       We do it in church all the time.  While sometimes it is in appreciation for a person who does a special song, or to welcome someone, when we clap during worship it is in praise to our Lord.  For the swans the ‘clapping’ is an automatic response to their desire to reach a new destination.  For us, clapping can be a response of our desire to worship our King and reach a new level in His presence; and that is worth more than, well, anything.  The clapping ‘praise’ of the swans reminded me that we have something in common with the rest of creation, and the psalmist reminds us all,

Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

                                                                                    Ps. 150:6 KJV