As I was standing in line at Disneyland , looking around at all the people having fun, the thought struck me, There doesn’t seem to be any room here for Jesus.  He didn’t seem to be anywhere I looked – in the lines, on the rides, in the restaurants. Lots of people and a few nonpeople like Mickey Mouse and Sleeping Beauty, but no Jesus.

In the days before the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary traveled to Jerusalem for the census on hot, dusty roads. Those roads must have been filled with others going in the same direction.

At Disneyland, there’s always a seat for us on the rides, but when Joseph tried to find a place to stay in Nazareth , he was told every space was taken.  There was no room for them (Luke 2:7).

No room – no room for the Savior of the world. No room for the one who was to redeem every human from his or her sins. So he was born in a stable, a place for animals. The one who would be called a king was squeezed in between the donkeys and the sheep.

They squeezed him out of the inn and then they crucified him clear out of this physical world. The whole world has been squeezing him out ever since. He’s been squeezed out of churches, and replaced by ritual and legalism. He’s been pushed out of schools, and replaced by evolution and humanism. He’s been shoved out of Christmas, and replaced by Santa and consumerism.

Sometimes we Christians do that to Jesus. Our lives are full of so much busyness, we squeeze him right out of our lives. Then we try to squeeze him back in – between the shopping and the Internet, or the bills and the dishes. Sometimes there just isn’t any room for him at all.

Is there a way to keep this from happening? There’s no formula. It’s not easy. It won’t happen in one day or just because you pray about it once or twice. Spiritual transformation takes a lifetime, through practicing the disciplines of prayer, study, meditation and fasting. By interacting with God on a daily basis, we can, as Dallas Willard says, “bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order.”

Making room for Jesus in our lives is a matter of our hearts. What is closest to your heart? Or as Matthew says, where is your treasure (6:21)? If Jesus is your treasure, he will have your heart and you won’t have to make room for him. There won’t be room for anything else.

Last month I talked about feeling I had weights on my ankles as I splashed around in the pool of prayer. I’ve thrown off most of them, but some are still there and others merely weigh less. The writer of Hebrews said strip off every weight that slows us down and hinders our progress (Hebrews 12:1, NLT). 

As with so many biblical admonitions, this is more easily said than done. Oh yes, we can “pray about it.” These words easily trip off the tongue. Saying is one thing, doing is another. I’ve noticed no part of spiritual transformation is easy.

Some liken these weights to baggage. If you’ve ever traveled, especially with children, you know what it’s like to drag baggage through an airport. As you’re coping with wheels that won’t stay straight and bags falling off your shoulder, while your kids are wanting bathrooms and food, you say to yourself, I should have packed less.

I don’t remember packing prayer baggage, but somehow I have it. Are you carrying any of these bags? One might contain, “You should pray for a certain amount of time to be effective.” Another holds, “You must pray in the right position;” or, “You should use the right words and ask in the right way.” Yet another bag is filled with, “You have to pray according to God’s will because he does what he wants anyway.” Even though we may feel the load is lighter, a little stubbornly remains at the bottom of each bag.

Does God have a set of rules and regulations for prayer – a list of shoulds? The only real guidelines in Scripture are the Lord’s Prayer and a few verses, such as Philippians 4:6: “Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done” (NLT). Sounds pretty simple. If we are praying about everything, we won’t have time to worry about all the shoulds we’ve added to our bags over the years. 

Have you ever thought, perhaps we‘re missing the point of prayer? Maybe he just wants us to enjoy the pleasure of his company. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says our purpose in life is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”

One of my favorite activities is having tea, especially when I can have it British style, with cucumber sandwiches and those wonderful little cream puffs, profiteroles. I like to imagine myself sitting down to tea with God, talking about life and enjoying his company. When I think of prayer in this way, I can leave the baggage at the door – there’s no room for it at the table anyway – and simply talk to him.

Let’s not make prayer too complicated. It’s a simple choice really, to spend time with the One we love and leave the baggage at the door. Just remember not to pick it back up when you finish.  

I’ve said it many times and you probably have too: I don’t feel like doing (fill in the blank). I don’t feel like cleaning the house. I don’t feel like mowing the lawn. I don’t feel like doing Bible study. I don’t feel like – praying!

When it comes to praying, should we wait until we feel like it, or is there merit to just doing it anyway? Ben Patterson, author of Deepening Your Conversation With God says we should pray anyway. "Not to pray is to lose the desire to pray, for prayerlessness is its own punishment. But pray we must. We cannot sit and wait for the desire to pray to suddenly come upon us like the tongues of fire at Pentecost. Just do it. The choices we make when we are not motivated are the most critical of our Christian walk."

What choices do you make when you’re not motivated? I don’t know about you, but this is a struggle for me at times. My first choice may not be to pray. Lack of motivation or discouragement can lead to doing nothing or doing things that may not be productive or helpful. The traps of hyperactivity, apathy and hubris (more fully explained in Patterson’s book) cause us to forget why and to whom we pray. Praying helps us remember.

You’ve probably heard that love is a choice. At first it seems it’s all about feelings, but feelings can change with years and hardships. Prayer can also be a choice. If you’re new at it or you’ve learned wrong ways of thinking about prayer, it must be scheduled, chosen and sometimes forced.

Patterson says, "You learn to pray like you learned to swim – not by talking about it but by getting in the water and splashing around. You relearn prayer the same way. Prayer is a discipline before it is a joy, and remains a discipline even after it becomes a joy."

I’ve had to relearn to pray, if I ever learned at all. Yes, I did get “in the water and splash around," but my focus was on staying afloat by myself rather than on the Lifeguard who could keep me from sinking. We did not form a relationship. I’ve spent the last ten years splashing around and getting to know the Lifeguard, but with the feeling I had weights on my ankles.

I’m learning to relax in prayer. I remind myself that Jesus wants us to come to him and find rest (Matthew 11:28-29). We can let go of our burdens and just enjoy being with him. Something "unique and unparalleled" (Patterson, ibid.) happens to us when we are in the presence of the Lord. He told Mary she chose the best part, sitting at his feet, listening and learning – enjoying being with him.

Prayer is a discipline and a joy, but it can be neither if we don’t do it. Don’t wait until you feel like it, remember who and why and just pray.  

We do a lot of trusting every day. We trust the sun will come up in the morning and will set in the evening. We trust it will stay in its orbit, along with the other planets, including Earth. We trust in the universe, that even though we can’t see what’s out there, we know it’s there and everything is in its proper place and order.

We trust in many things we can’t see. We trust in the properties of water. We don’t even stop to think about how water freezes from the top down, rather than from the bottom up like other liquids. This property allows lakes and oceans to store heat, which helps support life on earth.

We trust air. Air contains all the necessary gases for plant and animal life. Without air, we’d have no clouds, no rain and the temperature of earth would swing from blazing to freezing every day. We also would not be able to breathe.

People who don’t believe in God trust in all these things, and many others as well. So why is it so hard to trust that God exists and is all-powerful and all-knowing? Is it easier to believe everything happened by chance? Did intricate things like the human brain just happen to come together, accidentally forming a more powerful "computer" than a computer? Yeah, right.

Maybe people have trouble trusting in God because he’s invisible. Or maybe because they (we) can’t control him. It would be easier to trust him if he were more predictable. Or even if he acted a little more like us.

God has given us choices concerning him and we all exercise those choices whether or not we believe in him. We can choose not to believe. We can choose to believe but to believe in our own version of him. We can remake him in our own image and then expect him to act accordingly.

We can trust him as long as he does things for us and makes life work out our way.

Or we can trust that he is and that he will be God. We can trust in his love and grace and that he will never change. We can believe he is bigger, smarter, stronger, wiser, kinder and more patient than we can imagine.

We can let God be God. We can stop trying to push him out of the way so we can work things out ourselves. We can trust his sovereignty.

We can quote Job: "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know" (Job 42:3, NIV) and then we can shut our mouths.

Have you bought new clothes lately? If so, you may have noticed you needed a different size than last time – and it was smaller. Guess that diet worked really well – or did it? The last time I bought a skirt it was a size 4. I’ve been exercising regularly, but not that much! I don’t remember wearing a 4 at any time as an adult.

Welcome to vanity sizing, the clothing manufacturers’ new way of making us feel better about the clothes we’re wearing and the bodies we put them on. The reasoning is if we think we wear a smaller size, we’ll buy more. Do they think we won’t catch on?

Or maybe they think we’ll be happy with our bodies and go out to celebrate with a big meal at a nice restaurant and spend even more money. I know – it’s a conspiracy to get us to eat more, buy more and feel good about everything!

How far away can we get from reality and still function? Does anyone live in the real world anymore?

Many escape reality through TV, movies and video games. Alcohol and drugs work for some. And the media does its best to cover up reality by making everything politically correct. Sin is almost always disguised as an alternative or called by a nicer sounding name.

But is it healthy to live in electronic-, substance- or media-induced fantasies? Many would answer, why not? It’s better than living in the real world, where we experience pain, loneliness and heartache.

We may try to keep it away, but reality rears its ugly head and when it does, we must take off our dark glasses and face it. Bills, sickness, lay-offs, rising prices, disasters, divorce, accidents, death – these are the face of reality. It gazes at us with eyes full of pain. No wonder we seek escape.

Some think religion is also an escape, and it can be. It’s possible to hide from reality in rituals, ceremonies and out-dated, traditional ways of thinking. But just as Jesus the man lived in the real world, so must we. God hasn’t called us to live in a dream world, but awake and with eyes wide open. He’s called us to accept the trials and pain, and learn to depend on him in faith. We can then help others, both physically and by showing them how to find a drink of living water for their thirsty souls.

This is reality – God’s reality, where success isn’t measured in dollar signs and the size of your heart matters more than the size of your clothes. God’s reality names things for what they are – sin isn’t sugarcoated or renamed. It’s where forgiveness and healing happen. It’s where the pain and ugliness of this world give way to hope and redemption.

So go ahead and enjoy wearing a smaller size than you did in your 20’s, even though you may weigh a bit more. Just remember it’s called vanity sizing. Then get back to your workout. The real world is waiting.

July - Spiritual Gifts Redux

I know what you’re thinking – not another article about spiritual gifts. You took the gift tests and decided some time ago they were helpful, but not definitive. So you’ve gone your merry way, serving in various capacities, sometimes well, sometimes only adequately. Maybe you’re still experimenting, waiting to get that rush of passion for a cause, or positive feedback from friends and family. Or maybe a bolt of lightning will strike.

There’s another possibility. Maybe your ministry is one of availability. Of just being ready to go, no matter the job. This is a great ministry for those who don’t know what they want to be when they grow up.

Several people from the Bible did great things because they were available. One was Joseph, who was available because of what his brothers did to him. By selling him to some Ishmaelites, he was in the right place to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and, eventually, to save his family from famine.

Then you have Saul, who only became available to God when he was struck down and blinded. He thought he was serving God by persecuting Christians, but God had something else in mind. God wanted him to be a Christian. As Paul, he became available to preach the gospel.

If you’re still not sure about your gifts, take heart! Perhaps you fall into that large group of people who can do a lot of things fairly well and are willing to work if the opportunity presents itself.

So which are you: available because of circumstances, eagerness or taken by force? It doesn’t really matter, as long as you’re ready, willing and able. And as they say in those gift questionnaires, by trying different things, you might find something you love.

I thought my gift was speaking, and although I can do it well enough, I don’t have a big speaking ministry. I can write, but don’t feel any desire to write a book, and no one has syndicated my articles. I can sing, but haven’t made any recordings! I seem to be one of those people who can do many things well, but no one thing outstandingly.

I often find myself available to do whatever is necessary. I’ve set up tables, vacuumed floors and made sandwiches. I’ve sung on praise teams, spoken at retreats and answered questions on a radio program. I’ve been on TV, put together door prizes and mailed out flyers.

It’s fun to be available for whatever comes along – you never know what you’ll be called on to do next! It’s also scary – you never know what you’ll be called on to do next!

Will you answer yes the next time a job needs to be done? Will you be available? When the Lord asked: "Whom shall I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?" Isaiah answered: "Lord, I’ll go! Send me" (Isaiah 6:8, NLT).

May we all be as eager and available as Isaiah.

June - Legalaholics Anonymous

"Hi, my name is Tammy and I’m a legalist. It’s been ten minutes since I had my last judgmental thought." This is how I imagine I would introduce myself at a meeting of Legalaholics Anonymous. I’d go on to describe how it started with little things, like thinking I was special because I kept the law. Then how I began looking down at people who didn’t believe the same things as me.

It got worse: I started believing there were no other Christians except those in the same church. My legalism grew to include thinking I knew the true version of the history of the church and the rest of the world had been deceived.

My addiction became so bad I wouldn’t even fellowship with people in the world. I taught my children to be just as intolerant as me.

Like the roots of a weed, legalism grows deep in the minds of Christians. Sometimes the tips break off, staying long after the main roots have been pulled out. I know it’s possible to come out of it, but legalism is probably similar to alcoholism in that we can never say we’ve completely recovered.

One of the most pervasive root tips is that of object mentality: when we treat people like objects, valuing them only for their performance. This is the way of the world. If you don’t look good or perform well, you may be considered not only worthless but also expendable.

Placing too much value on performance is a habit of thinking that takes a long time to break. If husbands and wives don’t do what each expects, they may be disappointed or over time, become bitter. Many parents put unnecessary pressure on their children to perform, which can cause feelings of inferiority or other emotional problems.

In churches, obedience and contributions (monetary or otherwise) are the yardsticks of value. Is there any other group of people who judge each other with so much energy and enthusiasm?

This all too human tendency was not a problem for Jesus. He looked past the performance to the person. When the Pharisees brought the woman they had caught in the very act of adultery to him, all they could see was what she had been doing (where was her partner?). Jesus however, saw her for the lonely, mixed-up sinner she was and saved her from their self-righteous object mentality.

So back to my LA meeting. If I were to come up with twelve steps they would have to include an exercise in learning to treat people as persons and not objects. We could start by visualizing someone we tend to judge regularly as the one caught in adultery and Jesus standing in front of him or her wondering if we would cast the first stone.

Maybe one day I’ll work on the other eleven steps, but in the meantime, I think I’ll start carrying my "first stone" around to remind me that Jesus cares more about who we are than what we do.

A child wants a cookie, but turns away from the cookie jar because he remembers what happened the last time he took one without asking. A teenager comes home five minutes before curfew because she doesn’t want to be grounded for coming home late. Taxpayers make sure they declare all their income because they don’t want to pay any penalties if they are audited. The fear of consequences keeps many from wrongdoing.

Some don’t care, however, believing what they do doesn’t matter or they won’t get caught. We’ve all heard people say what they are doing doesn’t hurt anyone, so what’s the big deal?

Still others do the right thing just because it is the right thing. What causes some to have a well-developed conscience while others seem not to care about the consequences of anything they do or don’t do? Where does integrity come from?

In Romans 2, Paul talks about Jews and gentiles and their respective relationship to the law. The Jews had the law of Moses to guide them, but Paul says some gentiles, who didn’t have the law, did by nature what the law required. When they did, they were a law for themselves (verses 14-17). They acted according to their conscience. Frank E. Gaebelein in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary calls the conscience a "God-given monitor." This makes sense, as without a conscience or monitor, we would act as animals, according to instinct (which is also from God, but supplies no knowledge of right or wrong).

As a child, when I misbehaved, my parents made sure I understood what I did, and that I also experienced the appropriate feelings of guilt. Guilt helped hone my conscience. To this day, when I do something wrong or even contemplate a wrong act or thought, I experience pangs of conscience and try to listen and then correct the problem.

It seems some parents don’t use guilt as a teacher these days. It’s not pc. Guilt isn’t healthy. It harms a child’s self-esteem. Granted, the wrong kind of guilt can be harmful. But proper correction, teaching in right and wrong and healthy pangs of conscience are what children need to become adults of integrity.

Every culture in the world recognizes some kind of right and wrong and administers punishment for breaking the laws of the land. It’s sad, even heartbreaking, to see the breakdown of integrity and the atrophy of the consciences of many.

The only remedy is the Holy Spirit. Integrity comes from God. A guiding, heightened sense of conscience comes from listening to the Holy Spirit and being led by him. Our children need to be taught right from wrong and how to listen to their God-given consciences. We must all learn to listen, not to the proverbial devil on one shoulder, but to the angel on the other. God has given us this built-in monitor to help us live lives of integrity and to get along with each other.

How’s your conscience – honed to a fine point or dull from lack of use? Let’s pray the Holy Spirit will sharpen our sense of right and wrong so we may live lives of integrity.

Don’t cheat," the instructor on my exercise video tells me, as I work on my second set of pushups. But who’s to know? She won’t. No one is watching. I won’t get the full benefit if I skip one or two, but does it matter? I wouldn’t cheat though, because I’m a Christian and we don’t cheat, even when we exercise. Or do we?

Do Christians live what they preach? Do our beliefs affect our behavior? Are we lights to the world or are our lamps as dark as those around us?

I read a fascinating excerpt from a book on the Internet asking these questions and answering them with statistics that show we Christians aren’t doing a very good job of shining our lights to others. It’s titled The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience -- Why Don’t Christians Live What They Preach? by Ronald J. Sider. You can read it at: http://www.christianity.ca/frame.html?http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2005/001/3.8.html.

Sider says: "Scandalous behavior is rapidly destroying American Christianity. By their daily activity, most ‘Christians’ regularly commit treason. With their mouths they claim that Jesus is Lord, but with their actions they demonstrate allegiance to money, sex, and self-fulfillment."

I was disheartened to read the results of the polls he cited. Polls from George Barna, the Pew Center and others on divorce, materialism and the poor, sexual disobedience and racism, show we’re keeping up with the Jones’s when it comes to problems. It seems very few Christians live differently from everyone else.

Sider says: "Our first concern, of course, must be internal integrity, not external danger. What a tragedy for evangelicals to declare proudly that personal conversion and new birth in Christ are at the center of their faith and then to defy biblical moral standards by living almost as sinfully as their pagan neighbors."

Jesus fulfilled the law, but he didn’t declare an anything-goes free-for-all because sin is covered by grace. We are still accountable to God and he still hates sin. Paul tells us we should stop living in sin: "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2, NIV).

We are called to be holy, which means our obedience to God and his holy law of love comes from the heart. "Nothing about the essence of the law has changed, only our relationship to it" (John Fischer, The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional, 3/8/05). Gratitude for our Savior’s shed blood for our salvation coupled with the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit lead us to a greater degree of uprightness. Did you get that? We still give obedience to God.

Our belief in the grace of the cross should affect the way we live. It should change the way we think, act, conduct business, do our taxes, treat our families, friends and neighbors, vote, drink alcohol, drive, exercise, eat, work and play.

The most disconcerting story from the above article is that of a young man who couldn’t find true Christianity in action and decided it wasn’t for him. If it didn’t make any difference in anyone’s life, why bother?

Does it make a difference in your life, or is your lamp a bit dim?

Have you ever worn a crown? I came close once, when I was in the running to be the "Honored Queen" in Job’s Daughters (a service organization for young women with ties to the Masons). I declined the nomination and gave up my chance to wear the crown.

A crown doesn’t have to be a literal one – it can be a promotion, an accolade, an accomplishment or even a feeling of pride. Many of us wear figurative crowns, and maybe secretly wish they were literal so people could see them. Do you wear your crown or keep it locked in a safe and bring it out when you need to bolster your ego?

Olympic athletes compete for medals, but in homage to the ancient games, last year in Greece they also wore crowns made of olive branches. Paul said athletes train and practice self-discipline for prizes that will fade away, but we as Christians do it to obtain imperishable crowns (1 Corinthians 9:25, KJV; newer translations use the word prize). The crowns we collect in this life, while sparkling and beautiful, are temporary and will be burned up.

We do earn other types of crowns – gray hair is a crown of glory (Proverbs 16:31), so wear it proudly! Grandchildren are the crowning glory of grandparents (Proverbs 17:6). Paul called the church his joy and crown (Philippians 4:1 and 1 Thessalonians 2:19). He told Timothy he would wear a crown of righteousness when Christ returns (2 Timothy 4:8). James tells us those who love God will receive a crown of life (James 1:12). And Peter talks about a reward or crown of glory that won’t fade away (1 Peter 5:4).

These surely must be the treasures we are told to lay up in heaven, where they won’t be stolen or corroded by time and the elements (Matthew 6:19-21).

So what are the crowns the 24 elders lay before the throne of God in Revelation 4, verse 10? The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says, "When the living creatures confess the truth of God’s holy deeds, the response of the highest order of heavenly creatures is to relinquish their crowns of honor before the feet of him who alone is ’worthy’ of ‘glory and honor and power’ because he alone (no man, not even the emperor) is the source and stay of every created thing."

The Liberty Bible Commentary says it is an act of worship, "the highest function of any creature of God. In this exercise, the rewards (crowns) will find their greatest use."

Can we lay our crowns, physical or spiritual, at the feet of the only one who is worthy of worship and adoration, just as the 24 elders do in heaven? Jesus wore a crown of thorns to the cross, and now wears a crown of gold. Any crowns we may have in this life or the next can only be considered as offerings to be laid at the feet of our Redeemer, who sits on the throne at the right hand of the Father.

As we contemplate the death and resurrection of Jesus this month, let’s also prepare to lay our crowns at his feet. Let’s join the 24 elders as they say, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being" (Revelation 4:11, NIV).

In 1940, Winston Churchill addressed the British House of Commons with the story of the defense of Dunkirk and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force. Toward the end of this dramatic speech, he stated that England would defend itself no matter the cost, fighting on the beaches, on landing grounds, in fields, streets and on the hills. "We shall never surrender," he promised.

Surrender is usually the last thing on the mind of any commander. Rather, he tells the troops to keep fighting, no matter what. Even if captured, a soldier maintains his loyalty and determination not to give up to the enemy.

Most of us are the same. We’re taught from an early age that giving up is not a desirable trait. We should keep going, no matter what the odds, no matter what difficulties come our way. Tenacity and stick-to-itiveness are admirable qualities. But giving up is usually seen as weakness.

When Jesus walked the earth, he did and said many things that seemed opposed to the traditional ways of doing and thinking. Some have even said he turned the world upside down. Consider these sayings of Jesus: To be great, one must first become a servant; the first shall be last and the last shall be first; in order to live, we must first die. He suggested outrageous things such as turning the other cheek, walking an extra mile with someone, giving someone an extra coat and helping a neighbor, even if we think he or she doesn’t deserve it.

If Jesus turned all of these things upside down, why not surrender? As Christians, we would do well to consider giving up, not as a last resort, but as a beginning strategy.

Surrendering ourselves – all of ourselves – is the first and best step toward living in the will of God every day. But if you’re like me, you’ve discovered this is absolutely impossible. I can’t ever seem to completely surrender because a part of me always wants to believe I can do good things on my own, with my own power.

Andrew Murray in his book Absolute Surrender says the first step to surrender is realizing this truth. Surrender is humanly impossible. It is possible with God, but only after we admit our weakness and truly believe we can do nothing without him. God is the one who first wills us to surrender, then gives us the strength through the Holy Spirit to do it (Phil. 2:13).

When we surrender to God, we’re giving up everything that makes up the self – self-will, self-determination, vanity, pride and arrogance. God desires our acknowledgement of his superiority and the lordship of Jesus in our lives. And he’s more than willing to give us whatever it takes to make total surrender to him possible.

Instead of fighting to the bitter end, like soldiers who only consider surrender when they’re outnumbered, surrounded or out of ammunition, let’s employ the strategy of Jesus. His battle plan for Christian soldiers calls for absolute surrender to the will of the father before the fighting even begins.

A common unspoken (or sometimes spoken) attitude is, I don’t have to do (fill in the blank) because someone else will. Someone else will come along and clean the table in the fast-food restaurant. Someone else will write that letter to the editor about a current issue. Someone else will clean the trash off the street so I can feel free to throw my Starbucks cup out the window.

Yes, I know, I do it too (well, I don’t throw my trash out the car window!). But I’ve noticed I’m also often the "someone else." As my husband travels a lot and I opted to stay home while my kids are teenagers, things I might put on the honey-do list often can’t wait for him to come home.

Many times in the past 10 years I’ve been the someone else. When an opportunity arose, such as speaking or working with women’s ministry, I would look over my shoulder to see who else might be available and realize I was the only one standing there. So I jumped in, sometimes not knowing what I was getting myself into. A lot of you have had the same experiences.

Several biblical characters tried to hand off their calling to someone else, but it didn’t work. Moses came up with some good excuses for not going back to Egypt. Gideon wondered if God was really talking to him. Mighty warrior? Not me! Jonah tried to run away, but the fish was faster. Each of them became the someone else he hoped would do the job.

When Jesus came to earth as a baby he wasn’t just someone else; he was the only one who could do what needed to be done. This sinful world needed "God with us."

No one else could heal the sick and calm the storms. No one else could move the crowds with his words and feed them with a basket of fish. No one else could fulfill each and every one of the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Jesus knew why he came to earth, but he prayed in the garden for his Father to take the cup from him. He did add, "if you are willing" and prayed not his will but his Father’s will be done. Jesus knew no one else could take his place on the cross. There was no someone else whose blood could cleanse the sins of humanity.

Being a Christian, just as being an adult, often requires us to be the responsible one. To be the one who stands up and says, "I’ll do it!" Jesus, our Only One, calls on us to be someone who will answer his call and fulfill our duty of love to him and our brothers and sisters.

Let’s stop looking around for someone else and do what needs to be done. May we all be like Isaiah, who answered God’s call with these words: "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8, NIV).