A young woman stands at the head of a long runway, a wooden baton in her hand. At her side sits an eager German Shepherd, quivering. The woman swings the baton in front of the dog’s nose, then pitches it to the far end of the runway. The dog shoots down the runway, ignoring the bowls of food and snacks laid out along its sides, grabs the baton and races back to his mistress. He drops the baton at her feet and sits down. He looks very pleased with himself. Really. He does.

Another young woman takes her place at the head of the runway. The bowls of food and treats are still in place. A Golden Retriever sits at her side. He looks around and wags his tail. The baton is waved and tossed. The Retriever heads off, but spots a bowl of food and grabs a bite. He gets a bit further but that bowl of treats is just too tempting. A few more steps but oh, there’s another bowl of fragrant food just made for him. At the half way point the dog is so distracted he ends up turned around and heading the wrong way.

I laughed out loud the first time I saw this video. We own two golden retrievers and I know that’s exactly how they would perform if given the chance.

And it’s a lot like how I perform at times. Distractions abound and sometimes I just can’t resist. There’s that internet expert promising a six figure income if I just follow his plan. There’s that renovation show on T.V. that makes me drool – oh if only I could have a kitchen like that! There’s that car I keep seeing in my neighbourhood that makes me imagine driving through the countryside of southern France. And then there’s Facebook and all those games you can play on an ipad. And on and on and on.

The days can fly by with little if anything getting done for the Kingdom of God because I’m chasing after the bowls filled with dreams and promises. And sometimes, like that golden retriever, I end up going the wrong way altogether.

It’s then I have to stop and ask myself, okay, what is the right way? How can I get down that runway to the goal God has assigned me? It’s then I have to remember what my calling is all about – the calling to glorify Him in everything I do – and connect again with the One who designed it for me. I want to be like that German Shepherd, eager to please my Master and running with all I have, to do what He wants me to do. I want to focus on the true prize, not a reward, not a treat that will be devoured in seconds, but a life-giving relationship that is eternal.

So, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

May we all “run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24).

****

The row of tiny ducklings waddles across a busy street, guarded by the flashing lights of a police cruiser. A young boy hangs upside down, his ankles held by a friend as he scoops a kitten out of a dangerous spot. The rescuers hoot with glee as a stranded baby whale swims off to join its pod. We’ve all seen these kinds of videos of animal rescues, and we all cheer. We may even shed a tear or two.

Have you ever wondered why? Why are there scores of these animal rescue videos out there and why do they touch us so deeply? No doubt it’s because the animals are so helpless. We know that without human intervention they would surely die. But I wonder if there isn’t another, deeper reason. Could it be we are gripped by rescue of any kind because we know we are all in need of it? Could it be that at the core of our being we know we are as vulnerable and as helpless at that tiny kitten?

I believe so. I believe that all of us recognize our mortality. We don’t want it to happen. No one wants to die. We all would choose to live for just one more day. But we all know our time on this earth is limited. Perhaps we cheer at those rescue videos because they say, “Not today.”

Fear of death is a common malady. We all own it. No doubt it stems from the fact that death is the only true unknown. We can’t research it. Google “the afterlife” and all you get is speculation. We just don’t know for sure what lies beyond.

But there is good news. And there is a way for us to cheat death, not just for the moment, not just for one day, but for eternity. We can’t do it on our own. We are as helpless in this as that beached whale. But there is One who will rescue us, One who came to this earth for that very purpose. His name is Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that it is possible to live forever in His presence.

The writer of 1 Corinthians said: “The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.” (1Cor.15:56). There is no escaping it by our own devices. Sin is a reality, it is part of us, and it will, some day, result in our death. But that writer also said, “Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting? … thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Cor.15:55,57).

Jesus gives us the victory because He removes the sin, “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). Jesus gives us His righteousness and takes on our sin and our punishment for it, in the moment we say yes to Him; in the moment we agree that sin is in us; in the moment we agree that we need rescue.

With His cloak of righteousness around us there is no need to fear death. We can know what lies beyond – an eternity lived in His presence.

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“You won!” The email from my friend arrived just after they’d made the announcement at the Gala Awards Ceremony in Toronto Canada.

I read the words again, not quite sure I comprehended them. I won? But … I knew my competition and that other writer was good. The excerpt I’d read of her book was very good. But I won? Wow!

I was not able to be at the awards ceremony this year – an annual event held to honour all Canadian writers who have been published in the past year. I look forward to attending the Gala each year, and Write Canada, the conference that coincides with it, eager to connect again with old friends and meet new ones. But circumstances did not allow me to fly to the other side of the country to attend this time so my friend had agreed to accept the award in my stead. Another friend delivered it to me a couple of weeks later – a check along with a crystal plaque engraved with my name, the date and category of the book, and that wonderful word, “Winner!” I admit my smile was wide as I held it in my hands.

We’ve all heard that expression, ‘winning isn’t everything’ but we all love to win, whether it’s an award from your peers as this was, an Olympic event witnessed by the world, or a simple game of cards. Some people just can’t bear to lose. We’ve seen some evidence of that from professional athletes who don’t act very professional when things don’t go their way. To them, winning the game, the prize, the glory, the money – that’s all that matters.

The apostle Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 9:24 when he says – “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” Paul goes on to warn us that we must be careful to focus on the real prize – the one that will give us everything we could ever want and more. Unlike the prize awarded for winning a game or a race or a literary competition, this prize is beyond price.

The good news is that the prize of which Paul speaks is available to all of us. That prize is a gift from the hand of God, a gift, indeed, a prize, like no other. It is a prize that cleanses us from all unrighteousness and leads us to a life lived with Jesus, as his sibling, enjoying the inheritance of eternal life. The prize is called forgiveness.

So Paul says – “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13)

Yes, we all love to win. But do we have our eyes on the real prize?

I love the Old Testament. The history of the Hebrew people is fascinating. The history of how God provided for them, sustained them and brought them to the place where He wanted them, is awe inspiring. The book of 2 Samuel, verses 17-20 is a perfect example. David has just taken the city of Jerusalem. The Philistines are massing for attack. Picture them as a formidable wall of enemies spread out across the valley. In the face of this, I would have been tempted to just attack. The enemy was obvious, David knew He was the anointed King and had God’s blessing. But he did not rush off to the attack. First, he prayed and asked God what he should do.

God answered and the enemy was defeated.

David said, “as waters break out, the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me.” (2Sam.5:20).

The word used for break out means to breach like water in flood. If you have ever experienced a flood you will know the power that David witnessed. I remember clearly the day I witnessed that force of nature.

To read more click HERE

Northern Lights

My friend Dennis let out a loud “yahoo!” and we all stared at the sky. We were on our way to our vehicles after a festive gathering on a frosty October night in the Yukon, when the sky began to light up. Earlier our conversation had centred on the fact that winter was coming quickly and there was still a lot to be done to prepare for it – a house to finish, wood to be cut and stacked, food to be gathered. But in that moment all our concerns faded away as we stood beneath the northern lights with our heads lifted, our mouths open and our spirits in awe of what we were seeing.

Huge swaths of coloured light shot across the sky. When Dennis hooted the light seemed to dart toward us. Then it swooped sideways in a shower of vibrant greens and blues. As we stood in silence the aurora dipped so low we could hear its electric crackle.

Every time I have seen the aurora borealis I feel as though I have stepped back in time, to the earth’s beginnings. Every time I have seen them I am aware that what I know about this planet, this solar system, this universe, can be contained in a thimble.

Scientists are still discovering new things about the planets, stars, asteroids and other things out there. Bigger and better telescopes have helped them see that the solar system is far more extensive than was once thought. The extent of it staggers the mind. Just the extent of our own galaxy is almost beyond what we can imagine. Scientists now say it is impossible to even design a scale model of it that would fit inside a massive building. And think of this – if the sun were a bowling ball with a diameter of 8 inches, Jupiter would be a chestnut, Neptune a coffee bean; the earth would be a peppercorn with a diameter of .08 of an inch.

Are you feeling small yet?

That’s how those northern lights make me feel – small and rather vulnerable. They also make me realize that what I know about the creator of this universe would likely fit in an even smaller thimble.

I am in sync with the Psalmist who wrote – “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3,4).

Yet He does care, He is mindful of us.

Psalm 8 continues – “You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet; all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:6-9).

****

To book Marcia for a speaking/teaching event Click Here

We’re back in the “real” world after a few days at Rosebud Alberta participating in The Budding Playwrights’ Festival, which was amazing. I will treasure the memories for a long long time.

When I googled some of the other writers/actors/directors I was totally intimidated – I was definitley the “newbie” in the crowd! I was so nervous to think my play, A Pattern in Blue would be read alongside those of such talented people. But they were all so affirming and kind.

Seeing my play rehearsed by professional actors under the direction of an amazing director (it just happened to be Adam Furfaro, the exec. director of Rosebud!) and then hearing the dramatic reading of it on stage – what a gift!

There were so many wonderful “coincidences.” I, of course, had no control over who was chosen to do play the parts (my dad, the nurse and the Rabbi) but I was blown away by the ‘fit.’ There is a part in the play where a Rabbi recites the kaddish and I suggested it would be great if that could be done in Hebrew, but wrote out the English translation because I thought that would be highly unlikely.

But when we got to that point the man reading the part of the Rabbi told us his family were in fact German Jews – and oh by the way, he was a Hebrew scholar and he had taken the time to write out the Kaddish in Hebrew and even chanted it during the performance!

Adam (the director) had taken the time to do a lot of research on Bergen-Belsen, which he asked the actors to look at before they began the rehearsal. Then he asked where my dad had lived when he was a boy and I said, oh just a small town near Ottawa. The young man playing my dad asked what town. When I said, Perth he shook his head and said, “Wow. That’s where I was raised. All my family still lives there!”

The girl who played the part of the nurse was quite young and not as experienced as the others, but under Adam’s direction she rose to the challenge beautifully.

Right from the start the actors seemed to “get it.” They asked insightful questions as the afternoon went on and then Adam started to give them some direction – just small things, the inflection in the voice, the pacing etc. that made all the difference. I was so very impressed with it all and totally blessed to have been there to be part of it.

My instructor (Lucia Frangione) and Adam both have encouraged me to expand the one act into a full two act play and Lucia has offered to direct me to a couple of companies in Calgary that she thinks might be interested in producing it!! WOW!

The icing on the cake was that two of my daughters and my husband were there to see/hear it too, and on my birthday!!

Can you tell I am over the moon? 😉

The only down side – I did have to come back to the “real” world! 🙂

The Persian poet Rumi is quoted as saying, “The world is the place where the light enters you.”

I like that perspective. I like thinking about it. Of course I can think of many times when it did not seem to be true, times when the world seemed all wrong, times of discouragement and sometimes anger, times when my self-centredness got in the way. But then there have been many more times when I have felt the Light, the Light of Christ, flowing all around me, entering into me and pouring out again.

It happened just yesterday. A friend is watching her husband die a slow and very painful death. She lives over a thousand kilometres away, so it wasn’t possible to be with her in person but yesterday I picked up the phone and talked with her. And Jesus was there, flowing back and forth through that invisible phone line as we chatted and wept and prayed. His light lifted us both up, took us out of this world of sickness and pain and showed us there is more than what we see with our eyes.

I felt it on another occasion, at a funeral, when a young widow went up on her tiptoes as she described how God was helping her stand, helping her keep her head up and reach for Him in the midst of her pain and sorrow. I saw the Light around her and in her, in us all at that moment.

I’ve heard it in a strain of music that seems to come from the core of heaven itself, watching an Alzheimer’s patient raise her head at the familiar chords of an old hymn. I’ve heard it in the unconscious laughter of a child and the comforting purr of a cat that curls in my lap.

I’ve seen it pour out of a canvass painted six hundred years ago and in the eyes of a marble sculpture that took my breath away. I’ve seen it in the eyes in a portrait sketched in love and now so real it looks like the man is about to talk.

I’ve felt it too as I’ve tapped away on my keyboard, watching the black and white words advance across the monitor, knowing He was choosing the words, He was speaking to me and would speak through me to those who would read them.

“The world is the place where the Light enters you.” Yes, this world, with all its pain and suffering and chaos, with all its muddied waters and infuriating politics. This world, this place where we live, is the place where God has chosen to work, to reveal Himself in all His glory, through all that is created.

And He has chosen to do it through you and me. What a gift! What Mercy! What Grace!

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord” (Psalm 89:15).

“Come … let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5).

The New Year is upon us. Are you looking back, resolving to do better this year? Most of us take some time to ponder the past year and look ahead as January launches us into a new frame of reference. Perhaps we think we need to readjust our goals, setting the standard higher or lower. Perhaps we want to shift our priorities and focus more on family and friends rather than our jobs or businesses.

Often looking back can be a bit disconcerting. Perhaps we didn’t do what we had intended last year. Perhaps we failed in our own eyes and/or the eyes of others. Perhaps there are just too many regrets to even think about.

Whatever the circumstances, we can be assured of one thing: when God is part of the equation we know our future is secure and we have nothing to fear. Even if we don’t accomplish all that we set out to do, we know He will still love us. Even if we fail Him and those around us, we know He will never desert us.

How can we know these things? The Bible tells us so. Look at these promises:

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6:19)

“Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his …” (2 Timothy2:19)

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” (John 15:9)

“… God has said: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid…” (Hebrews 5,6).

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jermiah 29:11)

With promises like those, and there are many more of them in the Bible, the one who puts his trust in Jesus has no need to fret or regret. The past is past, the future promising.

So let’s look ahead with a renewed sense of God’s presence, a renewed focus on His promises, and a renewed understanding of His deep love for us.

****

SPURTS: A few bits of news about me –

*I recently collaborated with 5 other Canadian writers (Murray Pura, Jan Dick, Tony Hilling, Tracy Krauss and Ruth Snyder, to put together a collection of devotionals for Helping Hands Press. Uplifting Devotionals (http://amzn.to/1B1U7GY) just released in Paperback and is available on Amazon etc.

*The second book of my fantasy series, The Ambassadors will begin releasing in volumes this Thursday (15th) during the Helping Hands Press Thirsty Thursday party, 8:00 EST. There will be four volumes. Book One is now available in paperback (http://amzn.to/1wem2xF)

*I’m encouraged by my progress with my play, A Pattern in Blue, which will be part of the Budding Playwrights Festival in Rosebud Alberta on May 3-5. Lucia Frangione has been an excellent instructor and has helped to push my writing to a new level through the play-writing course.

*My speaking ministry continues to bring joy to my heart – I’ll be speaking to two Stonecroft groups in February – Drumheller AB on the evening of Feb.9th and Didsbury AB on the morning of the 10th. April will find me in Macgregor Manitoba speaking at a women’s Spring Rally, and September in Edson AB at a women’s retreat.

*I also have some teaching opportunities taking shape and some school visits in the future.

If anyone is interested in receiving my emailed devotional column, The Spur just click on the link to subscribe. It is sent via MailChimp, allowing you to unsubscribe at any time. I post news along with it now and then.