Lent Day 11

Don't know about you, but I find it alarming how quickly I can be thrown off course by the smallest things .    I woke up this morning in a perfectly good mood.   It's Saturday.   Keith took the boys off to play football without making too much of a din so although I did wake up briefly, I managed to go back to sleep.   He even remembered to let the dog out so I didnt have to drag myself out of bed at 8am.   I was cozy and comfy with nothing to do except enjoy that first cup of coffee in peace.   Perfect.

And then....

And then the phone rings,  or the post arrives, or a text pings.... someone interrupts.  Something happens to disrupt the selfish, cozy comfort of my morning.   It is only a word.  A request.  A reminder.  A complaint.  A demand.  A suggestion.   Whatever it is it doesnt really matter.  What Im getting at is how quickly the sense of peace is replaced by a sense of grumpy outrage /resentment /negativity.  Am I the only person who feels like that?  I'm guessing probably not , but I do sometimes feel like the worst person in the world.

And the trouble is that once my peace has been disrupted I find it really hard to get back to peace again.   It's like dieting.  A week of eating at Christmas and it takes me a year of dieting to get rid of the half stone I put on.   There is something deeply unfair about the universe!!!!   I shall be having a word with God about that when I eventually meet Him face to face.   :-)


Years and years ago when I first became a Christian someone gave me this.

 A dead person doesnt mind what happens to them really.  It's the 'self' in me which responds so negatively to all the annoying irritations of life. My 'self' is live and kicking most of the time and its a daily effort to put it to death and allow the self of Jesus to reign.

Lent is a time to focus on dying to self.   It is why we give up chocolate or coffee or facebook and deny our 'selves' the things they crave in order to put Jesus first.   Giving up sugar in your tea is a matter of willpower.  Giving up selfishness is a matter of surrender.   As I approach Easter and consider again the huge sacrifice Jesus made for me, I once again surrender my stubborn selfish will to Him and open my spirit to be filled by His Spirit of selfless love.

Lent day 10

Acts 14 : 19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. 21 They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

Just before this incident in Acts Paul has been pleading with people not to worship him.  Next thing he is being stoned.  Talk about a life of extremes!  When was the last time your witness for God led to someone wanting to worship you or kill you?

But that is the reaction the Gospel provokes - it should never lead to a reaction of apathy. Indifference.  It is such a radical message that it should stir up deep and passionate feelings.  It should lead to dancing in the streets and shouting from the rooftops.  Sometimes it leads to beheadings in the sand. But if the message is truly getting out then its going to have an impact one way or another.

I look at my life over the past fifteen years and wonder what impact, if any, I have had for the Gospel.  As far as I know I havent incited any riots.  Nobody wants to kill me.  There are no dead people giving testimony to the fact that they have been raised from death through my prayers.  No television news crews camping on my doorstep wanting to know the secret of my extraordinary life.  Anyone looking on from the outside would probably not be able to tell the difference between my life and the life of anyone else in my village.    What's the difference between me and Paul?  Lots of differences I suspect.

Paul knew he had been forgiven much.  He had a deeply personal and miraculous encounter with the person of Jesus and heard the audible voice of God.   He was given a mighty mission to take the gospel to the gentiles.   He was absolutely determined to fulfill that calling regardless of what it might mean for his personal safety.   All of this gave Paul a bit of an advantage over me. 

But thats just excuses isnt it? The bottom line is I just dont make a daily choice to make my life matter for God.  If I did Im sure life would get a lot more interesting and exciting.   Hmmmmm.   Food for thought.

Lent day 9

Matthew 2:13-15New International Version (NIV)

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.“Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

The news is just full of people going to Syria to join Isis, and people fleeing Isis and their brutal regime of terror.  And then there's Boko Haram and their murderous campaign not to mention all the nutters out there with guns causing chaos on the streets of the West.   You cant go a day without hearing about something horrible.  We must surely be heading towards the end times ( Ive never thought we have actually been in them despite what lots of people have said for the past few hundred years)  It is a grim time to be alive.  And a dangerous time to be a Christian,

One of the things I love about Jesus is that He has always been right there in the thick of it with us.  When we get to heaven and we stand before Him with our many questions we will not be able to level the accusation that He cannot possibly understand.  He knows what it is like to be displaced, a refugee, homeless,  He knows what its like to grow up as an immigrant, not fitting in, being different.  He too has been part of an ethnic minority.  He has been poor. Persecuted.  He has lived in a family who have had to flee in the night in terror with only what they could carry.  He knows.   He has been there.

The book I am following talks about todays readings as a journey of fear.   It must have been I suppose.  Poor Joseph.  He has already had to do the several days journey to Bethlehem with a heavily pregnant wife.  The birth in the cattle trough.  The strange visitors in the night.  Then later the wise men with their odd gifts.  Now he has to up sticks again and take his young family to Egypt - the very place of his ancestor's captivity.  That must have been a tricky journey.  If you have ever been any distance with a toddler in tow you will know just how tricky !  Not every path God leads us on is safe.  Not every path is full of delights.  Some of them are scary and very very tough.  If Jesus had to flee in the night maybe. just maybe, sometimes we might have to do that too. 

But just as the infant Jesus had His father with Him to keep Him safe and look after Him - well, so do we.  If you feel exiled at the moment, that you are not living in the place you are meant to be, if you feel you have been persecuted and forced to retreat, dont despair.  God is with you.  He has a plan.  He will bring you back when the coast is clear.  He is protecting you - even if it might not feel like that.    And of course we are all exiled because our home is heaven and we arent there yet.  Strangers in this world.  Just passing through.  

Lent day 8

Matthew 2:1-12New International Version (NIV)

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod,Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied.......they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

I wonder what it was about the Magi which convinced Herod that they were serious in their quest.   I wonder what it was that actually got them an audience with Herod in the first place.   Had the Magi been foreign kings or dignitaries I suppose they might have been entitled to an audience - and of course our christmas cards always depict them in regal splendour .  We three Kings of Orient are.   But they weren't.  More than likely they were star gazing scientific sorts.  Unlikely to have been wealthy.  Possibly considered to be eccentric and a bit odd?   And we dont know how long they had been travelling by the time they got to Herod .  They might have been well worn round the edges after weeks of hot dusty travelling.  But nevertheless on arrival at his palace they are not only invited in, but are taken terribly seriously, not only by Herod but by ' all Jerusalem'.

It is easy to read and pass over those few words in the passage.  But what does it mean that Herod was ' disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him' ?   In some translations it says he was ' afraid'.   Why?  Why did he believe these three odd star gazers who had turned up out of the blue looking for a new king?   Why did he agree to see them in the first place?  Was it because Herod had seen the star moving inexorably towards his palace and wondered what it signified?  Clearly he was insecure and worried that he was going to be usurped by some new king .  But why was all of Jerusalem fearful of a new king?  And how did all of Jerusalem know anything about it?  How did the word spread out from the palace into the city about these visitors from the east?    I dont have the answers.  Im just interested in why the Bible throws in these comments about what was going on.

Herod missed his chance to worship Jesus because he was afraid.  He didnt want to lose his position of privilege and power.  He did not want to be succeeded by a new generation.  In his attempts to hold on to everything he lost everything.    So many leaders have missed the chance to herald in God's new thing because they have not wanted to relinquish power, lay down position and kneel before God's new thing.  They dont recognise that the small, insignificant, weak, vulnerable thing is in fact God's plan.   Wise men see it.  Wise men seek it and bow down.   Self- serving leaders miss it every time.    We always think it wont be us.  We shall recognise what God is doing and be willing to lay it all down for Him.   But the problem is that position and power and responsibility by its very nature leads to inflexibility and tunnel vision.   May God guard us from being Herod and cause us to be wise men who keep our eyes fixed on the things above and who can read the signs of the times.

Lent day 7

Jonah Flees From the Lord

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)  11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”  12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.  17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Everyone knows the story.  Hard to find something new to say about it.   But today as I read it again I was thinking about another boat.  Another storm.  Another man in a deep sleep whilst those sailing the boat were in a panic and sure they were going to die.     Funny how the Bible has threads running through it and how Jesus ties them all up so that there is one consistent narrative spanning the whole of human history.   The usual comparison between Jonah and Jesus is the three days thing.   Belly of the fish, days in the tomb, brought back to life etc etc.

But that's not what stands out to me today. 

Jonah and Jesus are both on a mission from God to tell people that they need to repent and turn to Him in order to be saved.  Jonah bottles out and runs, Jesus embraces the task in complete obedience.  They both end up in a storm though.   Jesus's obedience did not guarantee Him a smooth ride.  He faced exactly the same circumstances that Jonahs disobedience caused him.  That hardly seems fair does it?   I mean, you can understand that God is mad at Jonah for running away and not doing what he has been told to do.  A storm seems like a good way of dealing with Jonah - of getting his attention and then getting him back to the place he needed to be, repentant, ready to fulfill the calling.    But Jesus had done nothing wrong.  He wasnt running away.  He was faithfully carrying out God's purposes.  And He still ended up in a storm!

Sometimes we can look at what is going on around us and it just doesnt make sense.   We are sure we are doing what we are supposed to be doing.  We pray and read and fellowship.  We tithe and worship and confess our sins.  We put our trust in God and submit as far as we are able - yet we wake up one day up to our necks in water, about to drown, screeching for help surrounded by darkness......  it's not fair!

Jonah and Jesus react differently to the storms they face.   Jonah is instantly convicted of his sin.   He knows what this storm is all about.  At least he is decent enough to own up and volunteers to lose his life rather than see the ship go down with the loss of many.   That's a very noble response.  I wonder how Jonah is feeling at this point.  Wretched and terrified I would imagine.   Possibly he feels that death is a good way out of this terrible situation he has brought upon himself.   Poor Jonah.  I feel sorry for him.    Jesus, on the other hand, knows what His storm is about too.  Jesus knows that He has authority over the wind and the waves.  He knows He has an enemy who is trying to wipe Him out and that He has been given a task to complete which is not yet finished.  So He has no fear.  He has faith in His mission, in His Father and in His own authority.   He stands up and tells the storm to stop.  And it does. 

If you are in a storm at the moment how are you responding?   Is the storm there to show you that you are running away and that you need to get back on track with God?  Do you need to repent and turn around before you take other people down with you?    Or is your storm an attack of the enemy to try to divert you from the mission God has set before you?   Is it time to remind yourself about Gods promises to you and  His ability to keep those promises?  Is it time to stand in the authority God has given you in Jesus and speak to your storm?

Lent day 6

Exodus 2 :6-8 “I am God. I will bring you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I will rescue you from slavery. I will redeem you, intervening with great acts of judgment. I’ll take you as my own people and I’ll be God to you. You’ll know that I am God, your God who brings you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I’ll bring you into the land that I promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and give it to you as your own country. I AM God.”


More journeys.  This time it is a journey out of captivity and into freedom.  The great Exodus story which points forward through history to a day when God , in Jesus, frees us from the tyranny of sin, and further forward to the day when we shall all be found in heaven.  Free at last.

The Isrealites are free from the moment Pharaoh declares that they can go.  Technically.  They are free, but they need to move and head on out of the place of their captivity - to physically remove themselves from the place where they have been oppressed and enslaved. They need to make a break with the past and set out for a very uncertain future.  It must have been very scary to have to gather up the family in the wake of the terrible plagues and mayhem which had descended on the country of Egypt and to walk out of there under the view of their enraged and grieving captors.  

When we find ourselves in places of torment and captivity we can come to Jesus and hear Him tell us that we are forgiven, we are healed, we are new and restored, we are free.  But actually experiencing that freedom usually means that we have to do something.  We have to move.  Leave.  Set out and head for somewhere new.  We have to establish a new way.

As can be seen in the story of the Exodus, it doesnt take long for the enemy to come charging along behind, intent on recapture.  Hell - bent on not allowing escape.  And the people soon face the horrifying prospect of drowning in the sea or being chased down and dragged back to a life of more horrible slavery than ever before.  Their hopes, which have risen so gloriously at the inspiring words and example of Moses, are now dashed as they realise the Egyptians are on their heels.

How many times have we struggled to get free from our fears, failures, past and sins - and make an initial breakthrough, only to find those very things breathing down our necks once more yanking us backwards into despair?  How often have we set out on a new and inspiring path only to be met with a brick wall of impossibility?    How often have we shouted at God that He cannot care for us if He allows this to happen?  How often have we doubted that we heard Him in the first place - it's too hard all of a sudden.  We are afraid.  We can see no way out.

Several of my friends are in difficult positions at the moment.  God appears to have told them to take a path which has now come to a dead end.  What they thought He was blessing has suddenly fallen apart.  The way they thought it was all going to pan out just hasn't happened.   It has become uncomfortable,  for some almost unbearable.  And God has gone quiet.   Why does He always do that when things get sticky?

The Isrealites were faced with a choice at the edge of the sea.  Would they turn around, back the way they had come and face their enemy safe in the knowledge that they would be slaughtered or recaptured?  Or would they trust God in the face of the utterly impossible?  Would they trust their leader - the one who had faced down the enemy and won their freedom through acts of obedience and power?    With the benefit of hindsight it doesn't seem like much of a contest, but I'm sure at the time, faced with the choice between the sword or drowning it was a very real dilemma.

We shall never be free, in this life, of the pursuit of the enemy.  He is a liar and a thief and is always looking for any opportunity to drag us back and tie us up again.  But Jesus has defeated him.  Jesus has placed His feet on the serpent's neck and has declared his rule to be over.   Jesus walks on water.  He calms storms.  He is the Way.  As long as He goes before us, regardless of the obstacles and the dangers we may encounter He will lead us through.  Because He is taking us home.  To our promised land.  Eternal rest.

Lent Day 5

12 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
        and bless you.
    I’ll make you famous;
        you’ll be a blessing.
    I’ll bless those who bless you;
        those who curse you I’ll curse.
    All the families of the Earth
        will be blessed through you.”

4-6 So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.

My Mum is 75.  She's a bit creaky nowadays.  Her knee has packed up and she has osteoarthritis.  She spends as much time as possible sitting down.  My Mother-in-law is a similar age.  She is in blooming good health but she is tentative about driving far these days and prefers to stay close to home with her dog.   The thought that either of them might up sticks one day and set off to who knows where with all their possessions in tow is frankly, laughable.  I wonder what Lot and his family thought when Abram turned up at his door and told him the plan.   Did he wonder if the old man was suffering from dementia ?  Did they smile and humour him then laugh when they shut the door and think it would never happen?   Its a totally outrageous thought isnt it?  God turns up and says ' Pack your bags and follow me.'   Or perhaps He says ' leave your nets and follow me'.  or ' Take up your cross and follow me'.     Oh.    Hang on a sec!   

God has always been on the move.  He is not interested in letting us sit still for long.  Because He knows what happens when we make camp - we start building palaces and towers for ourselves.  We demand Kings and start fighting over who has the best plot.   We focus on having arrived somewhere when we haven't arrived at all. And of course the further we go the further we take His presence with us.  So He keeps us moving.  

God never asks us to do things for no reason.  He always has a reason and the reason is usually for OUR good.  So the instruction to get up and go comes with a promise.   Blessing.  Lots and lots of blessing.

I’ll make you a great nation
        and bless you.
    I’ll make you famous;
        you’ll be a blessing.
    I’ll bless those who bless you;
        those who curse you I’ll curse.
    All the families of the Earth
        will be blessed through you.”

God promises Abram greatness and fame.  He promises that Abram will not only be blessed himself but will be a blessing to others.   God promises protection and, incredibly , that the lives of everyone in the whole world will be affected because of his obedience and faith.   And guess what?  God kept His promise!   Because apart from anything else we can ascribe to the children of Abram, the greatest blessing of all came from them - Jesus.  Saviour of the world.   

It takes a huge amount of trust to embark on a journey when you don't know where you are going.  In this day and age we plug in our Sat Navs and check Google maps and the weather forecast before we set out on the simplest journey.   We don't like uncertainty at the best of times.   We have become dependent on technology to make us feel that we are in control of our travels - but in actual fact we have no idea what is going to happen to us tomorrow, or where we might be this time next year, or who might enter or leave our lives in the next ten years.  Life is unpredictable and inexorable.  Whether we like it or not ( and we often don't) we are travelling forwards day by day and we don't know exactly whats round the next corner. 

So many people in the world are walking blind.  They do not know that there is an eternal destiny - an end to the journey.  They do not know that there is Someone who promises to walk alongside us, directing our steps, whispering in our ear ' this is the way, I am the Way' , picking us up when we stumble, offering us His yoke.   They do not know.  So they wander , and many wander off into danger and darkness.   This Lent let's see if we can get alongside people who are weak and weary in the journey or who are stumbling in the dark and offer to walk beside them a while - shining the light God has put in us to help them find the way.  And let us trust God for our own journey - that He has always led His people - yes, sometimes through some very sticky difficult times - so He will lead us too and will not let us fall. 

Lent day 4

John 15:12-17The Message (MSG)

11-15 “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.

16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

17 “But remember the root command: Love one another

So, as a result of the astonishing sacrifice which Jesus made for us ( see yesterday's blog)   what should be our response ?   What do we owe Jesus for His great gift to us?  For the forgiveness of our sins, the freedom from the sentence of death, the promise of righteousness and a place in heaven.  What is it that we need to be or do now that we have come to the realisation that we have been purchased by the blood of the spotless lamb of God?

Well, according to Jesus we just need to love each other the same way that He has loved us.

Simples.

My first reaction on reading the above scripture is ' Well that's me stuffed.  It's impossible'.   And that was my second and third reaction too.   I mean how can it be possible to even begin to love like Jesus has loved me?    And then I read again, and again.  And I thought about the fact that God never asks of us anything that we aren't actually capable of.  And I looked in various translations of the text to see if any more light could be shed.   I like the Message because it makes it even slightly more accessible - lay your life on the line for your friends.   I suppose at a push I might be able to do that.  For a few of my friends.   In theory .

I remember saying to one of my very best buddies a few years ago that if they ever needed a kidney they could have one of mine.  And I absolutely meant it.  In fact I'd happily give a kidney to anyone I knew who needed one .   Any parent would most likely be prepared to throw themselves in front of a car or a train if they thought they could save their child from dying under the wheels.  There is definitely a love which will go above and beyond.... and maybe even to death.  But to love everyone like that???   Tall order.

And then I look again.  Is Jesus asking me to love everyone?  He is speaking to His disciples.  His closest friends.  These guys and girls who have been with Him and with each other for the past three years through all sorts of experiences.  In the storms, at weddings, at funerals and in the synagogue.  

They have camped together on hillsides and been entertained in the homes of the rich and wealthy.  They are a real community - a brotherhood - a family.   It's to these people that Jesus directs His commandment to love each other.  He is going to leave them and they are going to need to stick together and look out for each other.  They are going to need to be prepared to give sacrificially and even die for each other.   I dont think He is asking them to love the whole world..... just to be totally committed to each other.  To their special friendship group.  To those with whom they worship.   In effect, to their housegroup and to their church.

 He is yet to lay down His life for these precious ones and they must surely have recalled these words after His death and made the link between His statement here and the special relationship God had with Abraham - who was called ' the friend' of God.   Under the new covenant of His blood Jesus is telling them that they can now all have that same level of relationship with God that the patriarch had.  This must have been mind blowing for the disciples.

And of course as it turns out most of them ended up laying down their lives for Jesus.  Because they knew no greater love.

In a week where we have witnessed 21 Christians being beheaded by Isis, the idea of martyrdom for ones faith suddenly becomes that little bit more real.  It's still a long way off and a passing thought for most of us in the ' peaceful and civilised ' West.   But nevertheless there can't be a Christian who has heard the story who has not asked themselves what they would do if challenged to convert or die.   What would I do?   I actually think I might just be able to be executed for my faith.  But Im pretty sure I would not be able to be tortured for it.  Or watch my children be tortured for it.   But all around the world right now Christians are demonstrating that awesome love Jesus displayed by laying down their lives for Him and for others.  We dont know the half of it.  There are terrible things happening.

16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

But it is not all doom and gloom.  God doesnt ask the barely possible of us and leave us floundering. He follows up the huge love statement with something equally amazing - the fact that we have been chosen and that we are finally going to complete that purpose he gave to Adam in the garden.  WE are going to be the ones who will bear fruit ( remember that we were originally supposed to be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth and rule over it?)   Whatever we need in order to plant and grow that fruit He will give us.  

So the challenge for this day of Lent is to ask ourselves what is the fruit we are growing?  You and I are different plants in the garden of God.  Your fruit will be different from mine.  But that doesnt matter as long as we are both growing some.  The fruits of the spirit yes, but also, I think, the fruits of our personalities and gifts and talents.   Am I the very best me I can be at this time in my life?  And am I loving my fellow disciples in a self sacrificial way - putting my own needs down the page in order that their needs be met more fully?