Lessons from a Carpenter

Sure I was disappointed when the picnic table which matched the rustic wooden chairs and love swing started to rot - very badly - enough that the thought of sitting on either bench gave us anxiety. It was time. I saw the two braces for the table and pointed out that they looked like crosses. They were already attached with a spike and so an idea was born. One day we would erect a larger Cross in the pretty little patch in our backyard where we had installed lighting and Birds of Paradise. 

One year went by. Then two.Then three and on and on. This is year 7 and that is a perfect number, so we figured why not stain, seal and install Jesus's Cross on Resurrection Day? 

Please allow me share a short story about this wooden Cross and why we wanted to install it there in our backyard before we even uncovered the two small crosses from the rotting picnic table. Every year for 25 years for our anniversary we vacation in Anna Maria Island, Florida. Our very first year we went we found a motel-type of accommodation on the beach and with a beach-front park and restaurant just out front. It was so special and beautiful though a modest efficiency with a Juliet balcony (love!). It was pet friendly and on the beach and perfect for us. 

However, the best part was just below our Juliet balcony, a dark-stained very large Cross stood with a royal purple fabric drape. It was Easter time and the owners loved the Lord. I can still envision looking down and seeing the dark purple fabric wave in the salty breeze. Overhead Australian pine trees rustled in the wind as I imagined angels flying overhead and making the swirly drafts just to see the pine needles dance (Isaiah 55:12 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2055&version=NIV).  

Fast forward and here we are 25 years later. We gathered all of the parts for our very own large Cross. The smaller 2 - which represent the Thief on the cross and the other who was hung. As I stained the pieces today in the hot midday sun, I was reminded of the sweat and tears Jesus shed on our behalf. I saw my sweat hit the plastic tarp and was convicted not to complain as the pain Jesus endured for me was so much greater. I became thirsty and immediately thought of how Jesus thirsted while on the Cross. They gave Him gall to drink. Which was not kind. It is not water but vinegar and would have increased His thirst. How often do I pass by a stranger thirsty for a smile? Or worse, how often do I offer gall to someone who is thirsting for life-saving advice or just someone to care? 

I stepped aside to drink a cup of water. It was cold and quenched my thirst. Jesus provides all of my needs and water is a need which is spoken about so much in the Bible. A favorite verse is John 7:37-39 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+7%3A37-39&version=NIV. 

I had a moment of doubt that the stain was too dark from what I imagined and God reminded me like Thomas, to not doubt (John 20:24-29 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+20%3A24-29&version=NIV). Much prayer went into this project and my husband's choice of stain allowed me to see the grain as the wood quickly dried in the hot sun. It was not just what I had imagined - it was so much better. We plan, but ultimately it is God who orders our steps. Yes, this was the perfect stain. 

I thought I was done staining all the pieces and then saw the large vertical beam to the side of the tarp. It was too large for the tarp so I had set it aside. I had forgotten the most important part of our project. I had already taken off the rubber gloves and put the stain away.

Unlike our imperfect nature, God never forgets anything. He even is going to present us a white rock with a special name that only He could come up with when we get to Heaven! In the Bible, there is only one reference to God giving us a white stone with a new name: “To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it” (Revelation 2:17).

As I hoisted that long beam up to place it in the shade against the house to stain, I was reminded of Simeon Luke 2:25-35 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+2%3A25-35&version=NIV. What was he thinking when he carried Jesus's Cross? Did he know where he was going or was just following those who sought to kill the King of the Jews? 

I chose a shady spot so I could recover from the sun. I felt refreshed. Jesus spent time with His Father in the Garden the night before His death. He often found rest and relaxation in nature - on a mountain, under a tree - so many places He found to rest in God's creation even though the Bible tells us He had no place to rest His head! Matthew 8:19–20; Luke 9:57–58.

The dark staining resumed. Darn! It splatted onto the white gutter. I wiped it up and resolved to cover it with rags so I would not make a mess again. Before I covered the gutter, I thought of the blood that was shed at Calvary. My stain was not red but it was dark and reminded me of the darkness of our sin. How we make a mess of it all. How our sin leaves stains though we try so hard to hide the residue of
our mess. 

Yes, I got to the gutter too late and it had dried stains which I could not clean up. The gutter is white. God sees us as pure as white snow when we repent and come to Jesus with a pure heart. Romans 8:9-11:

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^[a]

We will one day wear robes of white. The dark stains of sin do not show - not even a residue of the sins of our past. This is only possible because Jesus is standing in front of us and God only sees His perfect son who is blameless. This is what Jesus did on the Cross. He removed our sin. I like the vision of rose-colored glasses. Ever wear a pair? The whole world looks pretty. Pretty in Pink. We are Pure in White when we are humble and come to Jesus.

I placed all the rags (which were also white) onto the white gutter to protect it. I finally finished staining. I looked down at the gutter and saw big blobs of stain on the white rags. When I removed the rags, the gutter was white with no marks where the fresh blobs had hit. I thought I had used all the rags and so I smiled when I saw that one was still folded from where I grabbed it from the garage. I could not help but be reminded of the grave clothes which had been folded in the cave where Jesus was carefully laid after His death on the Cross. If His grave clothes were not folded one may have assumed Jesus was not conscious. There was no one with him in the sealed cave who could have folded those clothes so neatly. The folded grave clothes are just another example of love God gave us that day. God wants us to "get" it. 

I was not prepared for the surprise I got when I moved the small crosses and horizontal beam off of the blue plastic tarp. I was aghast and then sat down and cried. I was so humbled to see the outline in stain on the tarp. At first I thought of when there is a crime scene and the bodies are outlined in chalk on the ground. Do you know what I am talking about? Anyways, Golgotha was a crime scene so I should not have been surprised by this. A crime was committed by all of us. No one is deemed innocent as we put Jesus on the Cross. But God planned this before the foundation of the world before any of us took our first breath or were even conceived. Some people struggle with this. They feel it is cruel and unthinkable for a Father to allow his son to suffer and die and especially in the way Jesus did. Jesus had not done anything wrong. And then to let the thief Barnabas go! A lot to unpack when we think on that Resurrection Day...

And I have heard others say, "I will not trust a God who does that to his own son." 

I get it. But because God allowed Jesus to suffer and die for our sins, this is the greatest Love Story of all time. Adam and Eve ushered in sin for all generations. That outline at a crime scene would be our fate if not for Jesus. The story would have ended there. In the morgue. But it didn't.

And so, I did a little cartwheel in my mind and turned that blue plastic tarp over. I laid on it and did a snow angel right there in the hot FL sun. And yes, it remained blue without a hint of a crime scene. Our sin was paid. Our crime paid. All residue of sin and stain gone forever.....

The second to last step before digging holes and filling with cement was sealing. Of course we used outdoor polyurethane. However, God seals each person who comes to Him in repentance and belief (Romans 10:9-11 again) with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity and leads, guides, and directs and convicts the child of God. The Holy Spirit is our Counselor. Jesus left the Holy Spirit when we ascended to Heaven. 

For our project today, I know the sealer will preserve these special Crosses. Also it will help repel insects, rain and stop the stain from fading. When I think on my Christian walk, I think of Bible study, worship, and serving God as protective and necessary elements in my daily and weekly existence. I do not do any of these things because I have to but because I want to. I am sealed with the Holy Spirit. I am forever in the family of God! 

The last step was digging the holes. I was not prepared for the challenge of digging the holes. First, we had to make best choices after choosing our first spots because there were water pipes and electric lines. When we realized the second best spots for each, we also realized digging would take much longer and not be as easy as we had anticipated due to the rocky, sandy ground. We got through it after several dips in the pool and icy drinks. And the verse that came to mind is a powerful one!  Psalm 40:2 https://biblehub.com/psalms/40-2.htm. The rocks were dug out and scattered around the finished projects as a reminder of the firm foundation we have in Christ.

Hebrews 9:12, 26

So by saying “it is finished” Jesus was signaling to the Jewish world that there was no more need for sacrifices or temples because that his work brought ultimate fulfillment to what their sacrificial system foreshadowed.

And it is finished. And so is our beautiful and special Easter project which was born 25 years ago in our hearts and our minds but the time was not right until now. God's timing is perfect..

Thank You Lord. What a special time of worship. And my hope for whoever reads this blog today is that you will pause and take time to look up. Count how many planes or birds go by. Look for clouds that look like animal crackers. Take a deep breath. Inhale the Goodness of the Lord. Smell the roses (or the polyurethane). Make a snow angel in the grass even if it is 85 degrees and a paint tarp is your pretend snow. Just do something that makes you smile and feel alive. Someone else today is Alive. He is Risen! He is Alive! He is no longer there . And this in that cave. 

This why we celebrate. I hope you enjoyed this blog entry today. Please reach out to me if you would like to know more about Jesus. I would love to study His Word with you and answer any questions you may have. You can also find me at https://www.bluewaterbro.com. Blessings! xoxo Christina

We Can't All Be Monarchs!

Oh I am blessed! I have available to me two hours every other week in which I volunteer at Sugar Sand Park in Boca Raton, FL. I am a Butterfly Garden Guardian! Who would have ever thought this Jersey girl turned Floridian would dig and plant, re-plant and chat away with flowery faces in a garden all year round?

Growing up, I had a dream one day of becoming a Horticulturist. But that did not happen. I became a Culinary Arts/Hospitality major instead.

I remember the white metal plant card my Grampop gave me one year for Christmas. My dad assembled it mumbling that it was a waste of time because he assumed I would soon tire of this gift like I did with all the other childhood toys I had acquired in my young life. When most 7-year-olds were listing Barbies and plastic mini kitchenettes on their "I've been good" list for Santa, I was begging for a watering can and plant cart.

The plant cart was set up. I did not receive potting soil for Christmas, though. I remember going out into our backyard, with  my winter coat and mittens in search of some dirt I could dig up from the frozen ground. I stabbed at that lifeless Terra-firma until a few caked pieces of dry dirt encased in ice were placed into my black plastic pot. I placed a saucer underneath, plunked the pot down on the cart and went back out in search of another pot, saucer and spot of land in which to repeat the arduous task.

I did not have seeds, plants or anything to place in these pots, which now sadly sat (sans plant life) on the white metal cart in my bedroom. And so, I cut a piece from the hanging Wandering Jew plant (which my Grampop mostly likely bought me!) that hung over the doorway to my alcove on the way to the attic. I snuck a glass from the kitchen (later got caught and had to replace that glass with a pickle jar) and patiently waited for that Wandering Jew to root. And it did! I propagated many plants from that one sickly Wandering Jew hanging basket. My white metal plant cart soon held many black plastic pots with dusty hard caked mud with Wandering Jews. As I sit here now and think back about those days of carefully tending my "garden", I am slightly regretful. I had done everything alone. I could have learned so much about the plant which held a name which I now know had Biblical significance. Alas, fast forward to today.....

I am standing in the middle of Sugar Sand Park being given a beautiful gift and card signed by staff members of the park. These three special people made up an international holiday which they called "International Butterfly Garden Volunteers Week" (or something like that) in order to bless me and show appreciation for my time in the garden volunteering. They gave me a purple shirt (my fav color) which listed "Advice from a Monarch" on the front along with a picture of a Monarch. The advice was so good but my favorite was the very last line, "We can't all be Monarchs!".

And so, I was convicted. God, I was never created to be a Monarch. I was instead made to be a White Peacock Butterfly or Yellow Sulphur! I was set apart for Your purposes to do Your work. Whether I am alone or with wonderful people like those as Sugar Sand - You see me. You give me JOY. You put a song in my heart and a smile on my lips and the voice I hear in stillness is Yours. As I weed and water and wonder - - as I sit and look up into the Slash Pine hammock overheard, you send Zebra Longwings and even Banana Spiders to intrigue me. I do not see the possibility of a sting when I see the deadly creepy crawly creatures (or bees pollinating two inches from where I prune), but instead I observe an intricately woven crystal dew drop design - a glimpse of the beauty of my Creator - - who wants me to see the magnificence of His design no matter where I am.

After moving to Florida, I remember walking one day through my neighborhood. I was quite shocked to see an entire lawn of Wandering Jews! There were even variegated varieties!!! I took a picture. I could not even believe my eyes and I did say aloud, "You are too funny, God. I spent how many arduous days and nites trying to keep one tendril of a Wandering Jew alive in a pot filled with caked lifeless dirt - - and here these grow as weeds. Ha ha ha God!"

If I were a Monarch, I may have missed God's humor. I may have just blindly followed the leader all my life and just migrated through every season without being rebellious and then not being the prodigal and missing out on so many miracles because I left and then came home. I would no doubt have become boring. My nickname would not be "Flower Child" and my favorite color would possibly be black! But it's not. I bucked the system. I flew above flowers I could have easily landed on. I took a different flight....

Yes, though I volunteer at a butterfly garden, I have also expanded my personal "white plant cart" a bit. My garden has grown.  The soil is no longer depleted or chemical laden. I actually have delved into Vermiculture and have worm friends that rely on me for food. We have Gulf Fritallaries, Yellow Sulphur, Giant Swallowtail, White Peacocks - - and of course we always have Monarchs. My neighbor came over recently and as she held the baby Milkweed sproutlings and baby Monarch catepillar I was sending her home with- she looked at me and exclaimed, "You are like a Buddhist!"

I looked at her and said, "I was not a Monarch in a former life and certainly have not and will not come back as a Monarch in my next life. This is my one and only life this side of Heaven. Not a Buddhist. I am a born again Christian. I realized my need for a Savior when Eve in the Garden made a very bad choice. It all started in the garden. Sin. And now I realize just because sin entered man in the garden, the garden does not have to be a place of death. Instead, we bring life to the garden. The Master Gardener is God."

She had questions. We sat in the shade. I continued the conversation by asking her if she would like to hear about my white metal plant cart. She did. She also listened as I shared my Wandering Jew crusade. I didn't have any Wandering Jew to send her home with, though. Those plants are everywhere by the roadside here in South Florida.Some consider those plants weeds. I like to think of them as humble beginnings for greater growth.

There is relationship in the garden. God knew what He was doing when He created the very first garden. He also knew what He was doing when He made my Grampop buy me that white metal plant cart. I am grateful - - even though I will never be a Monarch!

Isaiah 58 (NLT)

1“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.

Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.

Tell my people Israel^a of their sins!

2Yet they act so pious!

They come to the Temple every day

and seem delighted to learn all about me.

They act like a righteous nation

that would never abandon the laws of its God.

They ask me to take action on their behalf,

pretending they want to be near me.

3‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.

‘Why aren’t you impressed?

We have been very hard on ourselves,

and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.

“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.

Even while you fast,

you keep oppressing your workers.

4What good is fasting

when you keep on fighting and quarreling?

This kind of fasting

will never get you anywhere with me.

5You humble yourselves

by going through the motions of penance,

bowing your heads

like reeds bending in the wind.

You dress in burlap

and cover yourselves with ashes.

Is this what you call fasting?

Do you really think this will please the Lord?

6“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:

Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;

lighten the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free,

and remove the chains that bind people.

7Share your food with the hungry,

and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them,

and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

8“Then your salvation will come like the dawn,

and your wounds will quickly heal.

Your godliness will lead you forward,

and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

9Then when you call, the Lord will answer.

‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.

Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

10Feed the hungry,

and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness,

and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

11The Lord will guide you continually,

giving you water when you are dry

and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like an ever-flowing spring.

12Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls

and a restorer of homes.

13“Keep the Sabbath day holy.

Don’t pursue your own interests on that day,

but enjoy the Sabbath

and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day.

Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,

and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.

14Then the Lord will be your delight.

I will give you great honor

and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.

I, the Lord, have spoken!”