Do it Scared

Linda is my hero.

She is a self-confessed 'fraidy cat! She plays the violin but is terrified to play for anyone but her plants. She is one of the funniest people I know, but she's petrified of speaking in front of a crowd. She has visions of saving the world, but she's happiest working in her studio where she paints and does pottery.

Linda is afraid of everything.

But she is not afraid to face down fear. A few years ago, she picked up her violin and determined to use her gifts anyway. She was visibly a nervous wreck the first few times she played. Her remedy? "Play harder!"

She has the audacity to call herself an artist and actually put her work out there for the whole world to see and critique. Though she's an introvert at heart, she went to every charity in town that our church supports to find out what they specifically need so that we can better support them.

How does she do it? Linda has a brilliant motto: DO IT SCARED.

She decided that if fear was always going to be a battle, she would just do it anyway and do it scared--whatever IT is.

I love that.

DO IT SCARED.

Is there something you need to "do scared" today? I have a whole list! Time to get started...


P.S. You can view Linda's beautiful artwork and pottery at www.lindakasun.com.

The Sound of Childhood

My friend Harriett sent me a link to this video this morning. It is brilliant. It's a normal day in the central train station of Antwerp, Belgium. Suddenly, over the station's loudspeakers comes the sweet voice of Julie Andrews singing, "Doe, a deer, a female deer...Ray, a drop of golden sun..."

Watch this and prepare for big smiles. (Actually, I cried a little too!)

THE SOUND OF MUSIC IN CENTRAL STATION, ANTWERP, BELGIUM.

Great News--Your Debts are Cancelled

What are you owed?
It is so hard to forgive when you've been genuinely wronged. Especially if the wrong was personal.

Of course, it would be so much easier to make amends if "so and so" would just admit what a jerk he is! A little groveling at our feet wouldn't hurt either. After all, the offender owes us at least that much, right?

In truth, there are times when offenses against us genuinely merit retribution of some sort. An apology. A financial settlement. A show of proper gratitude.

Last night, as I sat in a Good Friday service at my church, it dawned on me that if anyone deserves to be offended, to demand apologies and payback..then surely it is a pure and loving God. But if God reached beyond his offense and sought us out "while we were yet sinners," to draw us back to himself, can I do less?*

What if God went further? What if he declared to all mankind for all time: "My only Son--my very heart--took your debt on himself, paying it fully with his life. I exchanged your life for His. Your debt is hereby canceled."

"Now, come back to me. Come back to your heavenly Father, and live in eternal friendship with me--and with my Son who took your place."

What if God said that?

How can I...How can we, then, look at what someone "owes" us and say, "It's not enough. I won't be satisfied--I won't budge until this debt is paid." Christ paid our debt--and the debt that others owe to us--in order to reconcile us to himself, to our heavenly Father, and to one another.

I can do no less.

*Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Matthew 18:21-35