Champion

 On Oct 17, 2020 I watched a huge boxing upset. 

Teofimo Lopez Jr. beat Vasiliy Lomachenko to claim undisputed lightweight crown - he won 4 belts. 

“We did something nobody thought we could do,” said Teofimo Lopez Sr., father and manager. “We outboxed him. It was a matter of hitting and not getting hit. We just made the best boxer in the world look like nothing. He (Lomachenko) had 370 amateur fights and we beat him at his own game.” 

Teofimo Lopez Jr. is a champion. 

Teofimo Lopez Jr. (the boxer- less likely to win) did what his dad kept saying he would do- win against a well known amazing boxer named Lomachenko.

 

"I have to thank God. I had to dig deep," Lopez said. "I'm thankful, I'm grateful and each and every day I take that in. I walk by faith for a reason and it feels good."

Dear little Laura! 

You enjoy watch boxing!

Actually I do...

Well-Not usually. 

I’m not a big boxing fan but this fight caught my attention and Chuck and I watched it Saturday evening...

There are so many illustrations in scripture of boxing (1 Cor 9:26), war (Rev 12:7-11) and fighting the good fight (1 Tim 6:12). 

We all love the story of David versus Goliath. (1 Sam 17:1-51)

I think we have to be careful (real careful) to remember this isn’t some kids Bible story or a fairytale - it really happened!  A man named David really did kill a man named Goliath who was a big bully to all of the children of Israel. 

What struck me about the boxing match between Loma and Lopez wasn’t the fight itself ... what caught my attention was the end of the fight...The reaction of the father.

The father -  Teofimo Lopez Sr. pranced around the ring shouting “I TOLD YOU! I told you. I’ve been telling you! I told you!!!” 

The father was the promoter of the boxing son. The father was the promoter -the trainer -the manager - he was everything. 

“I told you!!” 

It hit me!

This is a pictiure of our heavenly Father. 

He is shouting to the world- “Look at my Son! Look at how awesome He is! Trust Me! He is a champion!”

Recall the disciples wanted to see what the Father was like. 

(John 14:9-11) Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves”

Look! Jesus is coming. We tell people and some believe while others think we are nuts.

The bottom line is that Jesus is truly the hero of our story. He is not weak and frail Jesus, or baby Jesus meek and mild like the paintings. No. Jesus is a fighter. He sweat drops of blood. He was whipped, humiliated, killed for you and me. 

He is the undefeated, undisputed champion of the world and Satan wants a re-match. Sorry. There are no “do-overs”  promoted by pay-per-view. It’s over. 

Jesus won the war. 

As the world seems to be unraveling with Covid19, civil unrest, wars/rumors of wars, gender confusion, child/slave/sex trafficking, abortion up to the date of live birth, we might think Satan is winning.

No!

I dare you to close your eyes and imagine the heavenly Father bursting with pride saying: 

 “I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU! This is my Son. Trust Him. He is the undefeated champion of death and shame and sin and the grave. 

He is the resurrection. 

Didn’t I tell you!? 

Didn’t I tell you!?

I told you He would be Immanuel-God with us. He would be Wonderful, He would be stricken and smitten and acquainted with grief! He would come from Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, killed like a common thief but later buried in a rich man’s tomb! I told you- He is the One- He would rise again and reign in Victory! Stop looking to a President to be your Champion. Stop looking to an entertainer or a spouse or a country or government or a pastor or religion or medicine or health or wealth... none of these killed death- only JESUS! He is the One! Trust my Son! He is the Warrior and Hero! He is The Champion of all Champions!” 

There is a song that I love called “Champion” 

by Dante Bowe (and Bethel Music) 

Part of the song says -

“You are my champion

Giants fall when you stand

Undefeated

Every battle -You’ve won

I am who You say I am

You crown me with confidence

I am seated, in the heavenly place

Undefeated, with the

One who has conquered it all

 

Now I can finally see it

You’re teaching me how to receive

So let all the striving cease

This is my victory

 

When I lift my voice and shout

Every wall comes crashing down

I have the authority

Jesus has given me

When I open up my mouth

Miracles start breaking out

I have the authority

Jesus has given me” 

What if we really lived as if we live on this side of victory?

I think so often our emotions the news and the troubles of this world cloud the view of our Champion.

We need new eyes to see.

We need new ears to hear.

We need tp remember who we are !

Sons and daughters of the Champion! 

Clean house Lord!

My mom hates spiders.

Hates. 

Loathes.

She despises and fears them. She does not accommodate spiders at all. 

It’s quite funny. 

If she sees a spider she’ll scream loudly and wake up the entire neighborhood.

Spiders do bite and they have venom and none of us want to ever come even a mile from a brown recluse. 

This month (at the time of this blog post) is October and there are pumpkins, skeletons, ghosts and creepy decorations all over the neighborhood- including yes, spiders and spider webs. 

I live in a neighborhood with old-growth trees and vines and I have noticed more spiders lately. 

I have cleaned a few webs in my home because where there is a web, you know a spider lives nearby too. 

I thought spiders make their homes in dark places like attics, barns, garages or around trash cans. This is not the only place spiders congregate. They can get cozy in your home- in plain sight. 

I was pondering this the other day and I thought about the stigma spider webs have “inside” a home. You imagine the homeowner who never dusts, never cleans or doesn’t even move around much in the home.

This is not true at all. I have an entryway that is one of the most frequently used areas of the home and yet high in a corner- there is a spider web. 

The Lord has been teaching me a lot about pruning. In John 15, He reminds us He is the vine and we are the branches. If we stay connected to Jesus and allow Him to care for us, water us, grow us and yes also prune us, then we will bear much fruit.

Back to spider webs...

Spider webs are unsightly and again they make your house look “unkept” or neglected. In this spooky season people think spider webs are even kind of creepy and they are associated with fears and fright. 

Jesus is the vine, but He is also our housekeeper.

"Not so Lord!" You may say

"Please do not come over and clean my house! Oh no Jesus! Don’t look under the bed! Don't Jesus please look in that messy cupboard. Please Jesus don't peek around my porch, under the sink, by the toilet or around the trash cans! It’s yucky there! King Jesus-you are my guest!" 

You see when guests enter my home I want the guests to relax, enjoy food, talk with the family and just be comfortable. 

As you read and study Jesus in the Gospels, you will notice Jesus always always cleans house! 

He corrects you (like the Mary and Martha story)

He sits with you in your home (like Zachaeus) 

He eats with you and spends the early mornings and late nights with you (like with the 3 years with the disciples) 

He’ll turn over the money tables (and check for spiders- just kidding!!) 

He’ll wash feet and then .... He’ll even allow you to wash His feet with your tears.

Home=intimancy.

Jesus is the real deal and He won’t let spider webs interrupt His time with you. Jesus is so holy and pure He won’t ignore the spider webs either. He’ll grab a towel or dust wand and get rid of each and every spider web. 

Why?

Jesus loves us.

Jesus is not content with a partially clean house or a partially clean heart... (Psalm 51)

He wants it all ...Jesus wants you. Jesus wants you to give Him the corners and messy spots of your heart, but He desires you to give Him access to these areas willingly...

Having someone offer to clean your home or offer to tidy an area that you have neglected is a little bit uncomfortable and might be downright embarrassing... 

We need to let Jesus clean.

We need to give God all the keys to the house.

We need to give Jesus all of the passwords to our phone our Internet our computer and any other device we have.

You see, as humans, we can ignore those cobwebs or spiderwebs....

We can say it’s not really a big deal.

Since God is holy, He won't let those sinful areas build up. 

God is pure. 

God is beautiful. 

God is awesome and He is the master gardener and housekeeper and He's the architect and designer of our life. 

I pray when we are in a pruning season, we would allow Him to take the swiffer, grab the vacuum,  take the pledge can and any cleaning tool He desires, and scrub away all of the things in our hearts and in our lives that are not pleasing to Him.

Like the entryway of my house, there might be spiderwebs in plain sight that Jesus wants to get rid of. We need to get over ourselves, yield to Him and let Him do the cleaning.

I pray this encourages you to not be embarrassed by those "dusty" spider web areas of your life or heart but to recognize that Jesus wants these areas too. 

He wants to prune us, clean us, and finally to present us as a spotless bride radiant and prepared for His Father. (Eph 5:27) 

Car Tears

 Car tears 

I want to share something that I rarely share:

I LOVE PEOPLE.

Just kidding- pretty much everyone knows that...

Seriously though, I do wish to share something that I have not talked about publicly...

At our former church there is something that happened after every service we the Gonzalez family endured. 

Actually, I endured it.

Here’s the backstory: 

I do love people!  I love everything about people. I love catching up with you. I love to see your smile I love to complement you on your outfit.

I love to hear how you’re doing I love to encourage you and pray with you.

As Christians we call time together in Jesus “fellowship.” 

Since I am a talker and a “sharer” it is a great highlight for me to dialogue, converse, laugh and share time with believers. In my older years, I even love connecting with those who are hurting. If I see someone across the way who I can tell is hurting... I may feel prompted by the Lord to go over there and pray with you or ask how I can help in anyway....

Isaac has autism and he loves doughnuts. After church we would allow him to have a doughnut. However it became a problem. Isaac would run over to the doughnut table cut the line or even try to touch the doughnuts. 

He became so obsessed with this after church service we had to stop it.

I did not want him touching anyone’s doughnut or touching the tray of doughnut. This is part of autism- it’s hard for him to keep his hands to himself.

Another problem is eloping. 

With autism, kids like run. 

You might not know why they do this. Isaac‘s brain does not work like our brains do. He elopes because he has that fight or flight feeling that he must get that thing that he really wants. He doesn’t understand danger or impulse control so if he wants something he will run until he gets it.

Isaac would often run to the bookstore to go look at the VeggieTales DVDs. It would be so hard to get him back into the car to go home. It would be so difficult to help him understand that even though he already owned each and everyone of those VeggieTales DVDs the items at the store do not belong to him and he cannot have them. 

It became yet another problem.

So here comes the piece that I have not shared with many people ever...

After church after the service was over during the fellowship time I would walk to the car and sit in the car with Isaac. 

Chuck often had a ministry related commitment and Olivia would enjoy a doughnut and sit and talk with friends or wait for daddy. 

I would sit in the car with Isaac and wait. 

I would try my best not to turn around and look at all my friends with their normal kids catching up, laughing fellowshiping. 

We did this routine many times many Sundays for many years.

No one knew that I was in the car with Isaac just sitting there... longing to fellowship but knowing that I could not. 

The only people who knew were Olivia and Chuck. They would try their best to hurry to the car so we could all go home and eat breakfast together as a family.

Just this morning at 5 AM the Lord reminded me of these after church lonely moments in the car with Isaac and myself.

Sometimes I would cry but mostly I would just look at my Bible study notes or look at my phone or listen to the radio.

It just became the routine for us- for our family. 

Even now, when I do have time to fellowship it’s very hard to stay engaged because I always have to worry about Isaac. Is he OK? Is he harming the caregiver? What if he has a seizure?

I’m not a “what if” kind of gal ... but ever since Isaac started having seizures the enemy will use these thoughts to try to drown out the joy of fellowship.

I cannot tell you the thrill I get when my husband says “don’t worry about Isaac I got him take as long as you want.”

I was able to get my hair done by a sister in Christ who I love dearly. We prayed talked, listened to worship, cried and I was able to have her anoint me with oil. 

With the new revelation that Isaac has a cyst on his brain I have been crying a lot. And it’s often in my car. 

I have cried in my car after dropping him off at school I have cried in my car driving home. I have cried in my car after hearing a voicemail from the nurse at his school. I have cried in my car after hearing a voice message that I need to pick him up from school for some other circumstance related to autism. I have cried in my car when it’s just Isaac and I (all alone) and I’m listening to worship trying to forget about Autism for a moment. I have cried in my car many, many, many times. 

Car tears.... 

The autism mom life is super lonely. It is a very distracted life and is not a life I planned for and it is not the life that I am “owning” as my main identity.

I have been crucified with Christ and it’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. (Gal 2:20) 

I pray out loud often “Jesus take the wheel.”

When I’m crying in my car Jesus is taking the wheel. I give him my tears I give him my pain, I give him my hopes and my dreams. The last few years the last few months especially it has been very painful excruciating -agony.

I don’t want my son to have autism. 

I don’t want my son to have seizures. 

I don’t want my son to have a cyst on his brain. 

I don’t want my son to bite or pull the hair of my family or caregivers. 

I do want to stay after church and fellowship and laugh and pray with people. 

God is giving me this unique opportunity to be a mom and caregiver to Isaac. I am a wife to Chuck a mom to Olivia. 

We often say that our family is the first ministry. 

I hope that this part of my testimony will encourage you that YES our family is our first ministry. I’ve had to say NO to many many birthday parties and celebrations knowing that Isaac can’t attend. 

I’ve had to say no to many breakfast events,  lunches, brunches, overnight events, women’s events, mom’s night out, fun times, Beach trips, prayer meetings. I’ve had to say no to a lot of things but I will never say no to Jesus. 

If Jesus gave me this assignment of raising Isaac then I know that my saying no to some fun fellowship events is a choice. I’m not trying to get pity or anything like that I’m just sharing my heart that when God gives you an assignment we must count the cost and trust God with every part of that assignment even the hard parts. 

Once again, no one knew about my car times after church....Sitting alone with Isaac. 

I didn’t complain about it and I’m not complaining about it now. 

I’m just sharing that it was something I had to do that I didn’t want to do. 

I wanted to be out of my car sitting next to my son and daughter talking with friends enjoying fellowship under the sun while holding a Bible and meditating on the things of God. 

Autism makes even sitting with a doughnut and a cup of coffee hard. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get close to Jesus. 

I have chosen to be creative with fellowship. 

I’ve had prayer times with people over the phone. I’ve had people come over and pray with me while my eyes are open as I’m looking at Isaac swim. ....while I am crying worshiping and enjoying the prayer time. 

Life can be messy and the autistic life is especially messy and chaotic but I will continue to cry in my car and say Jesus take the wheel and let him drive me all the way to heaven.... I know there will be a marriage supper with Jesus in heaven and Isaac will be there too and he won’t be running away he will be sitting and enjoying the meal and I can’t wait for that day  ! 

(See also Eph 3:13-20 )