Category Archives: Faith

Faith, Life

Verses from Psalm 119 that I Pray while Preparing to Read Scripture

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These were discovered while I was working on memorizing Psalm 119. While I never completed the entire psalm to memory, I did memorize most of it; this process gave me a great appreciation for both the hidden gems and the overall story. 119 is a beautiful psalm and I would recommend reading it in its entirety. I got into the habit of praying one or two verses from it before I read my Bible; this post is meant as a starting point for anyone who wants to do something similar.

“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.” (v. 18-9)

“Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.” (27)

“The earth is filled with your love, O LORD; teach me your decrees.” (64)

“You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.” (68)

“To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.” (96)

“I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.” (125)

“Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (129-30)

“Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.” (133)

“Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees.” (135)

“Righteous are you, O LORD, and your laws are right. The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy.” (137-8)

“Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true. Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight. Your statutes are forever right; give me understanding that I may live.” (142-4)

“You are near, O LORD, and all your commands are true. Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.” (151-2)

Faith, Life

The Word Became Flesh. . .

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I want to take a brief moment this Christmas Eve to remind you all of something that I needed to be reminded of this year: Emmanuel. I’ve heard about the incarnation so many times that it’s easy to forget what a miracle it was.

The God who is spirit (John 4:24) became flesh (John 1:14) in order to be accessible to us.

Flesh and blood, capable of dying, and willing to die. (Philippians 2:5-11)

In a year full of tragedy, fear, and isolation, let’s take a moment to reflect on the God who came to be with us. The God who is always with us. The God who left heaven for us and died to get close to us.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:12, 14)

Submit yourselves then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4:7-8)

Faith, Life

Lights in Dark Times (re-sharing some words from my church)

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Hello, friends. Life has been a little wild, hasn’t it? I’ve been pretty quiet, since I don’t think my voice is the one that needs to talk over the chaos. However, I wanted to stop in here to re-share some things from my church. Probably would have done this on Instagram, but I can’t share links on there, so here we are.

This video, A Conversation About Race, is a conversation between two of our pastors about racial tension. I found it very helpful, and it gave me some points to start thinking through.

This second video, Lights in Dark Times, is our sermon from last week (part two of a series on 1 Peter, but fine as a stand-alone 🙂 ). Not necessarily directly related to the first video about race, but I wanted to share this one too, since it was also helpful for me.

Hang in there. With love,

Hanna

Faith

Superheroes, Jesus, and the Resurrection

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If you keep up with the Marvel franchise at all, you probably know that Avengers: Endgame came out today. (And no, I’m not going to see it yet, so no spoilers. 😉 ) The previous Avengers movie, Infinity War (SPOILER ALERT! I guess, but seriously, ya’ll, it’s been a year), ended with the villain turning half of the main cast into dust. Literally.

This was rather shocking, since Marvel usually opts for a more typical “happy ending.” In fact, this happy-ending, good-guy-wins aspect is, I think, what most people like about superhero movies.

Of course, most of the Avengers fans doubt that any of these characters are really gone for good; Marvel characters don’t have the best track record for, well, really being dead.  No sooner had Infinity War come out than a barrage of fan theories followed. One popular one is that in Endgame someone will use the Time Stone to go back in time and save the characters who died in Infinity War.

I’m not really one for time-travel in stories. But while watching the latest trailer (and crying–don’t make fun of me), I realized that a part of me really, really wants Endgame to have such a simple solution. It’s hard to be picky about storytelling devices when I just don’t want to watch the characters suffer anymore.

~*~

In The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones, the chapter about the Resurrection is called “God’s wonderful surprise.” After Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, it describes her running back to the city:

And it seemed to her that morning, as she ran, almost as if the whole world had been made anew, almost as if the whole world was singing for joy — the trees, the tiny sounds in the grass, the birds. . . her heart. Was God really making everything sad come untrue? Was he making even death come untrue? (317)

I realized this was the key to my sudden desire for time travel. I wanted everything sad to come untrue. I watch superhero movies because I love watching a hero save the day; I don’t like it when the hero (or heroes, in the Avengers case) can’t make things right.

Like I said in my post about Richard III, I think this desire for a savior is part of being a human. We were created to want justice. We were created to live in the garden that God called “good.”

In real life, the Hero already saved the day. The Resurrection was the climax of the greatest hero story ever. Jesus was the Hero on Easter, and He’s also the Hero we’re still waiting for.

My life is an awkward place between two victories.

~*~

I attended a concert last summer with my older brother and some friends. After a few original songs, the singer started an old hymn. I didn’t know it very well, but I sang along as best I could. I remember noticing one line that had never stood out to me before:

“Earth has no sorrow that heaven can’t heal.”

It was hard to sing. This concert was right in the wake of my little brother’s diagnosis and the idea of death being smacked hard into my face. Remembering that concert still makes my throat tighten.

Yet I learned something that night. I realized that I believed God would heal my brother, in this life or in the next, but I didn’t believe He could heal my broken heart.

Revelation 21 says that in the new Jerusalem there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. I guess that doesn’t leave room for my heartbreak.

“Tears rolled down Jesus’ face. The face of the One who would wipe away every tear from every eye.” (304)

–The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones

The Hero already let us break His heart, so our pain wouldn’t last forever. And it won’t last forever.

So let’s live in victory, hobbits.

Faith, Life

Spring

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This post is just a reminder. A reminder to stop and pay attention to what’s happening to the world right now.

Spring is coming.

After a cold February in Omaha with record-breaking snow, this week has been warm and sunny.

I spent some time outside today, and it reminded me what spring feels like. There are still dead leaves piled around our yard; the grass is brown, and there are rotting acorns squished into the mud; there are twigs and stumps of dry bushes everywhere, and all the trees are bare: there are dead things all over.

But everywhere, everywhere there are subtle whispers of life.

Cliche though it may be, spring reminds me of what Salvation means. Waking up. Coming to life.

Stop and listen!

Don’t you feel it?

Adoption, Faith

“Abba, Father.”

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I’ve been reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

In this book, Lewis explains how Christ is the Son of God and also is God; and how man was created by God, but is not God. Being a Christian means that a human is becoming a son of God; slowly becoming more and more like Jesus.

For the last year I have been writing God letters in a special journal. I usually begin them “Father, . . .” Today, I wondered if this was appropriate. I’m so, so far from truly being God’s child–from being a “little Christ” as C.S. Lewis put it.

But the Holy Spirit is inside me, and by Him I cry “Abba, Father.” (See Romans 8:15, 16.)

I fall utterly short of Jesus’ perfection, but God, somehow, made a way for me to become perfect. Someday, I believe I will be.

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
-1 John 3:2

In the mean time, I call God “Father” anyway.

~*~

I met my little sister Lucy for the first time four years ago, in a civil affairs building in China. She shook my hand and greeted me as jie jie, the Mandarin word for “big sister.”

The two of us had never before been in the same room. We were strangers calling ourselves sisters, but it wasn’t a charade. It was a declaration. We called each other family as we, miraculously, became more and more like sisters.

And I call God “Father” while I slowly learn to truly be His daughter.

“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.'”
-Matthew 6:9, 10

Faith, Literature

At Last, The King

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I started rereading The Fellowship of the Ring for the umpteenth time this week. It’s just as good as I remembered, but nine chapters still sounds like an awfully long time to wait for Aragorn.

While I was spending my Christmas Eve curled up on the couch reading about hobbits, I realized how perfect a book it is for me to read during advent! I’m waiting for my king.

Christmas is the climax. The hero is coming tonight.

Are you paying attention?

He’s sitting in the corner, in muddy boots, with his hood low over his eyes.

Are you watching?

He’s far away from the glamour; a tiny baby, sleeping in a manger.

Are you ready?

“In the dark, in the shadows
“Light has come
“In the quiet, in the dead of night
“Glory, glory sang the angels in the highest
“At last, the king has arrived”

-“At Last, the King” by the Gray Havens

Faith, Family, Literature

Heroes and Leadership

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~written winter of 2017~

Aragorn.

Where can I start?  I know I could write forever about my favorite fictional character; Aragorn has been a role model for me for a long time.  While he has been a favorite of mine since I found him in The Fellowship of the Ring, some of my fondest memories with him have come from the second book, The Two Towers; maybe the most poignant of them being his first sight of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings–and his decision to turn away from it to help rescue two little hobbits, simply out of love and loyalty.  But one memory from The Two Towers is a little less pleasant:

“At last Aragorn stood above the great gates, heedless of the darts of the enemy.  As he looked forth he saw the eastern sky grow pale. Then he raised his empty hand, palm outward in token of parley.

“The Orcs yelled and jeered.  ‘Come down! Come down!’ they cried.  ‘If you wish to speak with us, come down!  Bring out your king! We are the fighting Uruk-hai.  We will fetch him from his hole, if he does not come.  Bring out your skulking king!’

“‘The king stays or comes at his own will,’ said Aragorn.

“‘Then what are you doing here?’ they answered.  ‘Why do you look out? Do you wish to see the greatness of our army?  We are the fighting Uruk-hai.’

“‘I looked out to see the dawn,’ said Aragorn.

“‘What of the dawn?’ they jeered.  ‘We are the Uruk-hai: we do not stop the fight for night or day, for fair weather or for storm.  We come to kill, by sun or moon. What of the dawn?’

“‘None knows what the new day shall bring him,’ said Aragorn.  ‘Get you gone, ere it turn to your evil.’

“‘Get down or we will shoot you from the wall,’ they cried.  ‘This is no parley. You have nothing to say.’

“‘I have still this to say,’ answered Aragorn.  ‘No enemy has yet taken the Hornburg. Depart, or not one of you will be spared.  Not one will be left alive to take tidings back to the North. You do not know your peril.’

“So great a power and royalty was revealed in Aragorn, as he stood there alone above the ruined gates before the host of his enemies, that many of the wild men paused, and looked back over their shoulders to the valley, and some looked up doubtfully at the sky.  But the Orcs laughed with loud voices; and a hail of darts and arrows whistled over the wall, as Aragorn leaped down.” (528)

Continue reading Heroes and Leadership →

Faith, Life

“Good Friday”

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“This is my blood.  Drink it in remembrance of me.”

Good Friday.  It’s the day we celebrate someone being tortured to death.  It’s an odd holiday, and it’s unfortunately over-looked.

In the Old Testament, God told the Israelites not to eat blood, not to touch death, that anyone hung on a tree was cursed.  That everything the cross was, was ugly–but that’s where God found redemption, in the ugliness.  Our redemption–and that’s why we celebrate.

I’ve always tried to find beauty in everything; from illness and thunder storms, to traffic noise and trash.  I’ve tried to find redemption everywhere.  I never quite understood why I did it, until I really thought about where Jesus found my redemption.

The cross was ugly, but it had to be, because human beings are ugly too.  God redeemed them both.  And that’s why we celebrate a night of blood and sweat, and pain and tears, and death.  We celebrate God’s redemption, that is there through nights like that.