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Fragrance Makers   Palm Sunday… the Triumphal Entry… waving branches… yet here we are stuck at home. But is that such a bad thing? I know there is shouting on your phone screen, complaining all around, fear, dread, angst, and a disruption of most things normal. But then there is this; there are folks who have been trapped at home… injuries, sickness, even encroaching death… they have been living in this condition and will remain there even when this virus passes by. The great thing about this season is that many of us are getting to stop and reflect on what we have taken so for granted. The simple things, like going out for dinner… taking in a movie… going for a drive… even our general good health… things all threatened now. Thursday’s Life Journal passage wound its way through 2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” The word fragrance stuck with me… in this time of trial… what is my life emitting by way of smell? No, we are not talking about physical cologne or perfume here; we are talking about the fragrance of the energy flowing from our lives. They tell us dogs can sense or smell our fear… have you been charged by a big dog, or even a little dog for that matter? The goose pimples rise on your skin… a shudder runs down your spine… been there, done that. The dog looks at you like, “yep, I just did itagain!” Well, people can sense our fear, our negativity, our faithlessness as well. Often the world charges our Christian faith in an attempt to sideline our focus. These days it’s a virus. Many are huddled up and gripped by anxiety, the media, like a big dog, bark and growl its angry threats to our existence. But I ask myself, who is in charge, the virus… or God? For the Christian, we need to check our faith in these times. There are many looming threats today, economical threats, health threats, even threats against our freedoms. But in actuality they are always there, prevalent, just beneath the surface of the clanging of our everyday lives. What do we believe in, who do we believe in, and how are we exercising our faith? Verse 15 of our passage calls us the “aroma of Christ to God.” I love coming home to the aromas of a freshly baked dinner or loaf of bread. That is what I conjure up when I think of the results of this passage. Are our lives drawing people into the fresh aroma of delightful faith, or are we pungent with bitterness, indifference, and fear. Do we radiate confidence in God, or does our anxiety take over and hijack our lives?  On our own, we cannot succeed in mastering hope against the darkness; I’m not purporting that in the least. But Paul says here, “Christ always leads us in triumphal procession,” like all those years ago in Jerusalem, Christ’s presence brings joy, and calm, and hope, and ultimately, deliverance. Verse 16 drops an uncanny question, “Who is sufficient for these things?” I suggest today it’s you and I, the folks of faith, the believers who hold the keys to calm, to joy, to steadiness in these days of uncertainty. So, on this day in history, we know the outcome the folks who danced with palm branches before Christ did not. He would die, but He would not stay dead… He arose, and in Him we have life, full life, fragrant life, life that blooms and grows no matter the circumstances that encroach around us. We need not fear, for God is in charge; He has the world literally in the palm of His hand, and he can see us even in the midst of any darkness! Get out the palm branches, let us rejoice in that today, let us make fragrance that becomes the saints of God, let us breathe in the sweet aroma of the healing Christ brings and share that with the world around us!   Blessings all!

Intention 1 Corinthians 9:26 So, I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. How many times do we get caught doing the unintentional? The slip of the tongue, a careless deed, a caustic thought. Frustration festers, fear gathers, worthless feelings seize and contract our hearts. Anxiety knives through our being as an unsettledness takes hold. Spiritual discipline though not easy, plays a key role in shoring up the deeper foundations of our lives, anchoring us, and filling us with intention. Intention fixes our gaze and gives us direction even when the world starts to spin around us. We must gather our minds and focus our hearts; we must adjust and gain a God rhythm and cadence to all we do. Today I want to live with a clear God focus. I want to see where I am going and choose why. I choose to live this day with God intention, not blind and unintentional. Father, grant me eyes to see, the ability to focus, and clarity to understanding what is most important in my life today. Let me live in accordance with your will, let me not aimlessly beat the air today! This was my daily writing on the 24th of this past week. Boredom chimes like a grandfather clock, a nuisance and an annoying reminder throughout the day of something most are really trying to forget: a virus. We are caged, our independence assaulted by a tiny army of fear-mongers. Dashing across the globe, pulling off military style strikes against a helpless and unprepared population. There are no guns to raise, no bombs to drop to fight this tiny army that swarms within. Uncertainty grips every news cast, and minds, devoid of our normal activity, probe the sanity of our beings. We are chased about by shadows, held at tiny gunpoint… we flick through our channels, our home libraries, our game consoles, anything that can distract us from this tiny militia and its death grip on the living. We seek to blame, but there is nothing and no one in charge of nature… only God. The curse of the ground rises up, and mankind is reminded of the fragility of life, that we are all on borrowed time. We seem to pass by scriptures like Psalm 39:4 “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days” …death becomes us all, yet when confronted with it, it leaves us clamoring and disenfranchised. Why? This scripture reminds us that even in the midst of captivity (Paul had seen a lot of it) we need not succumb to the vacuum of nothingness. We need to be capitalizing on these moments. Seek for the clarity they afford, practice and exercise ourselves in godliness, the things that our daily business and busyness has not afforded us opportunity to do. It’s time to buckle down, to work out our spiritual discipline, to reset our lives while we have these moments. We are in a race, a race with time. We need to run with winning as our mindset. Don’t give in and surrender to current distractions, don’t box as one beating the air. God has this whole circumstance in the palm of His hand; when it is time for it to be over, it will be… it won’t be because the governments of the world did it, or medical teams did it, or immunizations did it; it will be what God does by way of however He does it. I continue to pray against this virus, but I am grateful for the protection God is currently affording to a huge populace that is not contracting this disease. I don’t know where this all goes from here, but this one thing I know and trust… God is in control. My life is in his hands and I am safe… no matter what happens here, I’m safe. So I exercise, I practice, I prepare… I’m ready! Each moment of every day, I capitalize on my time. whatever I do, I do for His glory. May we all do this together. So be intentional, kind and patient, remain steady in the storm. Let go of frustration, anger, and discontent. Get busy living, let us not be the walking dead, but let us flourish in the light of Christ that is everywhere. Much hope and many blessings today!