Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
These are my musings from the week. I am not a Bible scholar. I hate Bible arguments. I know when we get to heaven Jesus will tell us that we are all wrong about one thing or another. But He knows us and loves us, not because of our Bible knowledge, time on our knees, brilliance or smooth words, but rather, ‘just because’. We’ll all rejoice with one another, laughing at ourselves for our petty arguments and throwing our crowns before the feet of Jesus. Because that’s where everything in this world belongs. Everything, good and bad.
1 Corinthians 15:27 For he “has put everything under his feet
Jesus went joyfully to the cross because He was gazing at us and at His Father. He went through the unimaginable out of love for you and me. His love filled gaze got Him through all of it. If He gazed at Himself, the cross, or at His scoffing enemies, who knows where we would all be now. The power of His loving gaze resurrected Him from the grave.
No one becomes holy by gazing at evil. Christians wearing skulls or crossbones etc. confuse me. I want to be surrounded by the life giving Holiness of Jesus. I want to be enveloped in Jesus. You do that by gazing at Him. If you don’t gaze at Him you are gazing at something else that reflects what you are looking at. People dress according to what they’re looking at. I want to walk like I am gazing at Jesus, look like I’m gazing at Jesus and dress like I am gazing at Jesus. I want everyone to know I’m a Jesus gazer. I gaze at Jesus because He first gazed at me. As long as I am gazing at Jesus I know I won’t do anybody harm.
Since I’ve been in Miami I have met some wonderful people. Although I miss Winnie and Nicaragua, and am financially strapped, I am having a blast. Gazing on Jesus is fun. Gazing on the reason I am in Miami is not so fun. In spite of enjoying myself immensely, I have had 4 bad experiences over the past month. All were resolved because I was gazing at Jesus, or because someone else was for me.
- PSA TEST. I overheard someone talking about a psa test so I asked Winnie’s doctor for one. She laughed at me and said I am fine. The Holy Spirit kept insisting however. (When you are gazing at Jesus the Holy Spirit seems to communicate better, and His opinion is a lot more important than a doctor’s, no matter how good he or she is). The Holy Spirit did not let me rest until I got it done, so the doctor humored me and ordered it. When She read the report, the Dr’s eyes got big and said, ‘Go to a urologist asap!! A few weeks later I’m in Miami. I had no idea what a prostate was, nor a psa test. Still not clear, but gazing at Jesus saved my life,,,, again. Gazing at Jesus is a lot better than gazing at problems, always.
- WALGREENS, a friend gave me 200 bucks to bless the children. I was worried about not coming back with enough gifts for the kids in the dump and AWANA kid’s church. I always try to use money earmarked for something right away to make sure it goes where requested. So the guy handed me the money and there was a Walgreens 100 feet away. The prices were so low they were unbelievable. 2 up to 7 of the same thing for the price of one. I got about 200 worth of stuff. Got through the check out, 700 bucks!!! Turns out it was extremely deceptive pricing. My Christian friends encouraged me to not take it. Gazing at Jesus will not permit you to gaze at ‘too good to be true’ prices. Not gazing at Jesus almost cost me a lot of money needlessly.
- THE VILLAIN. So I am changing the address phone number for my Wells Fargo account, and trying to replace my lost debit card. I went to Wells Fargo and the lines were crazy. So I googled the Wells Fargo official number, and after going through the standard interrogation by a robot lady I finally got through to the best service tech I have ever talked to in my life. Wells Fargo’s techs are the worst, most incompetent I have ever dealt with, so I was delighted for this great guy. Funny, brilliant and quick. He fixed my address in a few minutes. Nailed down my phone number in another few. He was an Asian-Indian guy named Mark. When I asked for a new debit card, he jumped right on it. All of a sudden he sounded scared and said, ‘your debit card is being hacked as I speak’!! I was in what the ambulance chasers call ‘the golden hour’. I was horrified. This is one of my nightmares. For an hour I was useless (ergo golden hour, for ambulance chasers to take advantage of you.) Mark immediately asked for access to my iphone, so like a dummy I gave it to him, I was in a daze , gazing at the wrong thing, the problem, not Jesus. He sent two Zelle’s to ‘dummy accounts’ supposedly, I was like a deer gazing into the headlights. Finally, I regrouped, prayed, and gazed on Jesus. Jesus, through His Holy Ghost, led me to ask a question that infuriated Mark, and I knew it was a scam. Gazing at the wrong thing (fear) will get you robbed of time and money. I have spent the last two days doing damage control. Not gazing at Jesus will cost you.
- HIPSTER. Today this guy slams on his brakes in front of me and gets out of the car. We’re in a traffic jam, all just sitting there. He came charging out of his car at me, like wanting to fight. I could see he didn’t have any experience because where he was standing, I could have easily put him down just opening the door really hard and fast. I think he was having a nervous breakdown or something. He had a girl in the car with him, maybe she made him mad or he was trying to impress her. Anyway, he came up to me, and instead of swinging the door open hard to hurt him, I lowered the window and said ‘forgive me’. He accepted it, turned around, still screaming and swearing, and got in his car and drove off. Fortunately, when all this happened, I was listening to a great sermon and was gazing on Jesus’ face, not at this screaming lunatic, total peace, no violence. Gazing at Jesus protected both of us.” Still haven’t a clue what I did
We at PureHeartChildren’sFund work with troubled children. Their young lives are nightmares. The best thing we can do for them is to teach them to gaze into Jesus’ glorious face
TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conqu’rors we are!
His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
Philippians 4:8, KJV: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Dean and Winnie Peters
Joyfully serving the ‘least of these’
Praise God!