On the Other Side

It's a cool overcast morning at the Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura, Ca.. We are up in the area for a week of camping at Leo Carillo State Beach near Malibu. But this morning I thought I would take a solo trip to Peggy's grave and write a blog entry here. It's a nice setting here with the mature trees, neatly groomed grass and a view of the mountains at a distance. You can hear the cars from the 101 Freeway at a distance and hear a train on a nearby rail corridor.

The train caused me to think of the three weeks in the summer Jeff, Peggy and I use to spend at my Grandparents farm outside of Modesto, CA when we were young. It was a kid haven. We'd follow Grandpa everywhere, while he did his chores. We get fresh eggs from the hens for Grandma; we'd rake up hay in the barn; we go up in the feed loft to make sure there are no jams in the feed system for the thousands of chickens he raised for Foster Farms. I would remember being tucked in bed by Grandma and you could hear a train going by at a distance. Those are great memories for Jeff, Peggy and I.

Peggy's headstone has Philippians 1:21 on it. "If I live, it will be for Christ, and if I die, I will gain even more." It's a great verse to put on a headstone, even more on Peggy's! She lived for Christ since she privately accepted the Lord as her personal savior when she was 16 years old. She had peaks and valleys during her 29 year walk with the Lord here on Earth. She was heavily involved in Campus Life ministries in Ventura County not too far from here. She had a passion for reaching teens for Christ in the Colonia area of Oxnard. She left for London, England for over a year to grow as an individual and as a Christian. When she came back, she continued to serve in Campus Life. Then she stared a job at Gospel Light Publications. This is where she met her husband to be, Larry Wolf. She went on to be a devoted wife and mother of three great kids. She followed the Lord with diligent daily devotions. Larry and Peggy helped found New Life Community Church in Oxnard, while continuing to minister to the people of Oxnard. She worked with the Lord to "seed" His ways into the hearts of her three kids, Lexie, Trinity and Josh. A gift she gave to her kids that will last the rest of their lives.

All the way to the point of her passing, she "Lived for Christ" as the verse says. Hours before her death she conversed with God out loud. The medication available was to comfort her physically. But she sought much of her physical and spiritual comfort elsewhere. She wanted just scripture read aloud in the room. It really soothed her. She wanted to be coherent, not sedated at the end. She wanted it this way so there could be one more person who could see Christ through her life.

But now I sit here at her grave side. She's gone. But as I told my wife, Lori, this morning, "It feels like Peggy is still here with us. It feels like I just cannot get a hold of her. We keep missing each others calls." But............... I know she is gone. The next time I will see her.... the next time I will talk to her.....it will be "on the other side". The second part of this verse can give us so much comfort, so much excitement to what to look for. "If I die, I will gain even more."!!! Peggy has gained even more. Peggy isn't here, she is with the Lord. It says there are no tears in heaven. I think how can that be....Peggy is away from her family and kid????. But the only thing I can think of, is what I heard Peggy say to Larry in the ER the Monday before she passed away, "I know it will be a blink of an eye before I see you and the kids again." Peggy has gained by her passing and we should be encouraged by that. This place here at the memorial park is a nice place to reflect and memorialize her life. It is a place for us left behind. But Peggy is not here, she is amongst blessing beyond imagination! This is all because she placed her life in the capable hands of Jesus 29 years ago.

"Dear Lord, It's an encouragement to me to press on and live for Christ. Let the Holy Spirit cleanse me daily, while I walk in this fallen world. Let the abounding blessings of living for Christ be overflowing to those around me. Amen."

Freedom and the individual

July is the month we celebrate our Nation's independence. I thought about why we celebrate this. It is because a great nation was formed from the decision to separate from the oppressive rule of Great Britain. Some very brave and focused leaders of our nation choose to form their own government and fight to defend a themselves. The heavy hand of England weighed in on the population of this new province with taxes and regulations that limited people's ability to do a lot of things, like: provide for their families; obtain a job; worship and to build a united society the way they saw fit. If you study the early colonies and the early leaders of our country, they were God-fearing people with faith in Jesus. The freedom we have today was brought on by these very brave and valiant people who saw a vision of freedom and liberty. The freedom and liberty we enjoy today. The unfortuante thing about our liberty is that we need to separate ourselves from those who would limit that freedom and liberty with borders. We then enforce and defend those borders with our governmental systems.

You can see how cultures and governments form to create boundaries in Biblical times as well. These barriers are necessary to allow people to live the way they want. Some have stronger government systems, like Judea did and others have less restrictive laws, like Samaria. But what becomes very clear is that Jesus has genuine concern and love for Israel AND the Samaritans. He has these same feelings toward England and United States. He might have strong opposition about how the countries are run, but there is no disputing His love that has no borders.

So looking further into Chapter 4, Jesus continues his journey toward Galilee through Samaria. Look at John Chpt. 4 v. 5 to 9. Jesus asked the woman at the well, "Give me a drink". Now we know Jesus was a Jew and He was in Samaria. The cultural ways of a Jew precluded them from talking alone in public with a woman, let -alone a Samaritan woman. Here again Jesus shows he is less concerned about cultural regulations and more concerned about individuals. Even though He is hot, "wearied" and needs water He will transition the conversation at the well from culture and His dehydration to the woman's spiritual health.

As we can see Jesus is clearly more concerned about the individual. He is far less concerned about rules, traditions and image. We can be confident that no matter what country we are from, what traditional background we have, He loves us and has genuine concern for us.

Dear Lord God, Let us not take for granted the freedoms we have. Help us in our freedom to help others who are less fortunate. Amen.

No Boundaries

The summer months turns the Haeussler house into the busy months. The kids are out of school and running to all kinds of fun stuff like: vacation Bible school; swim parties; Padre games and camps. Fun but busy! We are going to see Peggy's family in a few weeks. We are going camping near Malibu, Ca.. The kids will stay with us for the week camping. It will be a great time.


In our review of the Book of John and Jesus' life, we now will look at the first four verses of Chapter 4 and focus in on v.4..."But He needed to go through Samaria."


As Jesus continue to expand His ministry, His popularity and movement is growing. People are seeing transformation in their lives by following Jesus. People were getting baptised. The amount of people following Jesus and John were many and the social elite were getting concerned . The Pharisees had been in control of the masses for years and years. The traditions and routines of the time worked to support their status. They did not want anything to shake things up. But Jesus was doing just that, shaking things up. Their status was in clear jeopardy, due to the shift of a portion of society's interest in Jesus and His teachings.


Jesus knew hostility was growing. So he set out to go to Galilee. He choose to travel through Samaria. A Jew traveling through Samaria was not acceptable. In the eyes of a Jew, Samaritans were "impure" people. Samaritans did not worship "Yahweh" (or God) the way the Jews did. It was common practice for Jews to travel long distances to avoid the Samaritan areas.


But from Jesus' vantage point there was corruption in BOTH cultures. So, I am sure He saw no point in traveling a long distance around Samaria to go to Galilee. He choose to go straight through Samaria.


What comes to mind is that if Jesus walked the earth today, He would interact with people of all walks of life. He might show up one Sunday at my church. We would think, "we must be doing it right if Jesus showed up here!." But then the next week He might be over at a Roman Catholic Church or a Methodist Church or some other Christian Church. Then we'd think..."hey what's He doing over there?" Then while we all are bickering about all our theological and traditional differences, He walks into a Bar. He'd then try to reach the poor and the rich. Then to prisons to meet with the criminals. The point is, Jesus sees no boundaries. He has deep concern for all of us. This is a characteristic portrayed in the fictional movie "Joshua". While fictional, it exposes the thought of "What if Jesus walked the streets today?" I'd encourage you to rent the movie "Joshua", it really makes you think.


When Jesus crossed the border between Samaria and Judea, He crossed all cultures figuratively and He reaches out to all of us. We know from these verses that Jesus loves us all and will enter our lives if we let Him in.


Jesus, Thank you for having love and concern for all cultures. Your blessing sees no boundaries. Amen