Righteous Anger

Here is a photo of my son Daniel (left) and Peggy and Larry's son Josh (right) enjoying life on the Wolf trampoline!

Now let's read John 2: 13-17 and focus on verse 16...."....take these away! Do not make My Father's House a house of merchandise!"

Here we see a differing dimension of Jesus. To say it bluntly, He was "ticked-off ". He went to the temple to celebrate Passover, and found merchants ripping people off. Folks came a long way to worship at the temple during this Passover celebration. If you look into their tradition, they would sacrifice some of the best animals of their flock to recognize their sins before God. Since people were traveling long distances, it was more convenient to buy a lamb, goat, or dove as a sacrifice at the temple, than travel with one. Demand probably out-stripped supply at the temple and the prices for these animals were outrageous. Plus people would come from lands of differing currencies. So of course there were currency exchange people called "money changers" charging unfair exchange rates. So what did Jesus see. He saw a place set up in front of His Father's House, The Temple, for the sole purpose of taking advantage of His followers. It was like a tourist trap. We have all seen them. It's like getting off a plane at an airport, you have a splitting headache and no aspirin. You go into one of those convenient stores at the airport terminal and you get a small packet of Tylenol for $4.00. Rip off! But they have you, your pounding head, knowing that the closest reasonably priced Tylenol is 4 miles away! This example pales in comparison to the frustration that Jesus saw out front of His Temple, but it gives you a flavor.

Now thinking about the Temple and it's purpose, to me, it is a place for worshippers of God to focus on Him and have a place to get relief from their sins. Often times you look at a temple or church as a place to serve God. This is true. But really it is a place for God to reach us and help us! It is God's house, a place we can come to in order to get right with Him. To see a place like this misused was appalling to Jesus! In applying this to our lives, I think of the Temple of today. The temple was a physical place. As we move into the New Testament of the Bible, the temple is our bodies, soul and spirit. It begs the question on how we are allowing our Temple of God to be used? Is it a place of refuge and renewal with the Lord or is it a place where people go to get ripped-off. Does Jesus need to enter our life (our temple) and turn over some tables? What are some of the tables in our lives needing over-turning by Christ...The table of Cheating on our Taxes....The table of Lust.....The table of Jealousy....The table of Hanging around the wrong people....The table of Acting like someone you are not....The table of Denying Christ. We need not only to invite Jesus into our temple, but to work with Him to dismantle the things not of Him in an aggressive way!

"Dear Lord, From these verses we can see your righteous anger to those things that are of you, but also things that are being misused. Cleanse me Oh Lord, search me for the things not of You and drive them out! Amen."

Fine Wine

Moving forward in our study of John we are now in Chapter 2!! Our focus this time is John 2:1-11 and I focused in on verse 4...""Dear woman, why do you involve me?", Jesus replied "My time has not yet come.""

This is a well-known miracle Jesus did at a wedding. He turned water into wine. It was not just table wine or the "house" wine, but it was FINE wine! ...... Break out the Bible and read the text. Usually, at that time, the fine wine was served first and then the lower grade wine was served later in the wedding celebration. But when Jesus did His miracle, the stuarts of the wine were wondering why they were serving this good stuff last...contrary to tradition. .....Anyway, OK a well known miracle....so let's move on....not so fast! Verse 4 popped out at me! Why did Jesus say that to His mother? Read verse 4 again.... He is laying down signs to those following Him as to what is to come. Ok, well what is the sign here????

I am no theologian but what did Jesus say about wine in the "upper room" the night before he was arrested? (This is a few years out from where we are now but it is a well known story too. Look at Matthew 26:17 to 30 or more specifically v. 27 to 29) He said "This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." This is His blood shed for OUR sins. There is a connection between wine as a symbol for us to remember the blood Jesus shed for our sins.

Now let's go back to the wedding. Jesus provided them barrels of fine wine. His mother was likely not going to forget His statement about the future of her Son and the miracle He did.

Now this is conjecture, but she must have been so proud of Him. Think about it, He is pulling what I'll call "mild" miracles to get the buzz going. He also is showing people that He knows exactly where He is headed, to the Cross to experience a brutal physical death. At this wedding, He know where He was headed, but His time had not yet come.

In looking at this passage, I see how brave our Lord is. He knows where He is going. I see also how strategic He is on..... when.... and where He does His miracles. This plan was all rolled out for you and me. What a Gift!

"Dear Lord, your earthly ministry through Jesus was so short, yet so powerful. I praise you for your brave trek to the Cross on my behalf. All glory to You, Amen!"

Spiritual Bread Crumbs

Attached is a photo of me and my sister Peggy at her 45th birthday party this past September. It was a good time seeing everyone and to celebrate Peggy!

In the study of John I honed in on John 1: 43 to 50 but more specifically v49".....Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are King of Israel..."

My attention is drawn toward a few things in these verses. I will call them "Spiritual Bread Crumbs". It's a trail of evidence that there is something ahead, in this case it is a great feast of spiritual blessings with the Lord. What do I mean? Well, let's take a look.

Phillip and Nathanael are both getting their own indications that Jesus is the One Moses referred to as the "Prophet" in Deut. 18:15-19. From reading this text, I didn't sense there were huge earth-shattering indications that God spoke to them, but they were convinced it was God. Nathan was sure that Jesus was someone special. It became apparent when Jesus knew where Nathaneal was before they met.

The stories told by Phillip and Nathanael are not all that sensational. I'm not sure of the circumstance, but eventhough it was not that sensational, it was enough to convince Nathanael that he was interfacing with Almighty God! From my vantage point, it seems like I need to interview Phillip and Nathanael, to verify their story. But think again. Do I really need to verify their story? To me they are like bread crumbs. They are small bits of nourishment...spiritual nourishment. Even these slight indications provide powerful food for our soul and will empower us beyond expectation. Nathanael was clearly empowered. Look at the verse 49!

I have to say, I have been there too. I've found some spiritual bread crumbs and have known in my heart of hearts that it is supernatural and directed from God! These small spiritual morsels can provide sustainance to a hungry soul. The week before Peggy's death, God provided me with spiritual nourishment. Some things were not very sensational, but were amazing to me that God was providing for me! There were several things, but the one that comes to mind is:

After Peggy died, I drove away from Ventura alone. I turned the CD player on in the car. In queue ready to go was Third Day's song "Call my name". God confirmed to me without a shadow of a doubt that Peggy is alive and well and doing just fine in His presence. This was one of the songs played at Peggy's memorial service. The song said to me, to her family, to her freinds that her love for us is still alive! It was such a sad moment driving away, and my saddness was so-very turned around by a pad on the shoulder by God through this song. Now the song clearly impacted me, but funny thing is I had heard this song numerous times before and it never struck me until Peggy had passed away.

God gave me this song, not a real sensational story, but one that is very real to me and one that gives me confirmation to my spirit that God is working around me and He cares for me.

Phillip and Nathanael are seeing small signs of incredibly powerful things go come. When God reveals Himself to us in a small way, we need to realize it is a precurser to an incredible experience ahead.

"Dear Jesus, let us embrace these moments you have revealed Yourself to us. Let us not discount them as conincidences. Have us see them as an intro into amazing things to come. Amen!"

Behold the Lamb of God!

It's been over a week since my last post. Life has been pretty busy in the Haeussler House. Work, school, sports with the kids and searching for a new church. Our oldest Aimee, at 14 years, is very busy with school, volleyball and her FCA group at school. Denae, our 10 year old daughter is just wrapping up soccer season and her and I are preparing for a ride across California on our bicycles over spring break with several other 5 graders. My 7 year old son, Daniel, is mid-way through his youth wrestling season. Meanwhile Lori and I at times seem like "ships passing in the night". I think we need a date night! It sometimes seems like life is going like a freight train and is difficult to put on the breaks. But such is life with three kids. It's a blast, but very busy. Above is a photo of Peggy's nephew Daniel on the left, her neice Denae in the middle and her neice Aimee on the right.... and our dog Nala.

Enough of that, let's get on with our study in John. I focused on John 1:32-42 this time. "Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples, And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God".

I found it interest that John had folks following him. I always thought of him as a follower of Jesus, only... not that he had his own following. As you look at the verse, God entrusted John to lead these people and point them in the right direction. He wasn't an arrogant, control freak leader that wanted to be the center of attention. John was a humble servant of God and when called to point his followers to the Messiah, he did it. He repeatedly told the people I am not the One. When Jesus arrived he pointed their focus on this miraculous person, God in human form, Jesus! He was more than willing to release his followers to Jesus.

We can look at John's actions and see his humility. His actions were in submission to the Lords way, he pointed to Jesus, not himself. I see this in many deeply devoted Christians. They have so much energy flowing out of their lives, that you think it is them. But really it is the God they serve, using them. Look at my sister Peggy. She has an incredible story of being so very focused on the Lord, drawing closer and closer to him...even as she approched the point of her passing. She told me, "this is not about me". What she meant was the story of Peggy is really the story of Jesus using Peggy to glorify Himself. She was always willing to point to the Lord of her life, not get the glory, but to encourage others to takehold of a bond she had with the Creator of the Universe. Peggy was far from perfect, as all of us are, but she was a exceptional ambassador for the Lord. John was great ambassador as well. Are we? ....We should be! ....Point to Jesus when people ask you why you are different or why do you go to church, or how were you able to handle that so calmly. Tell them Jesus! What about the times God is prodding you..."tell them about my Son". You say under your breath, "not right now Lord". God keeps prodding. Just do it, takes some risks. Tell them about Jesus, tell them your story!

"Lord Jesus, thank you for being so steadfast and strong that we may point to you as the one who has given us hope. You need no defense, you are able to help all of us. Amen"