When Life Is Rough - Part 2
Chula Vista lemons.
What do you do when life is rough? If you’re a follower of Christ, what do you do when your pursuit of Christian maturity keeps calling you onward and upward, to terrain that is steeper and more challenging?
I don’t know about you, but I find myself turning to cliches, pithy sayings, idioms, axioms, prayer, and lots and lots of Scripture when life is rough.
Here’s another cliche that I keep in mind when life is rough. (Part 1 can be found here.)
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Something rough happened, or something we thought would go one way ended up going the other direction.
Ever been in a meeting that went sideways?
Ever been betrayed?
Ever consider someone a close friend only for him/her to shut you out without ever telling you why?
Ever been let go from a job despite working your hardest?
Ever grieved the loss of a loved one?
We don’t always have the ability to change the rough circumstance (God does though!) but we can change our attitude about it. Have the attitude of Christ. He was forsaken. He was betrayed. And He sacrificially laid down His life for us.
We have to be honest that life is rough, but we need to resist grumbling (Philippians 2:14). Easier said than done.
Jeff preached on Acts 6 yesterday, where Stephen (the first martyr for the Christian faith) was falsely accused. Have you ever been falsely accused of something, or had your words twisted and used against you? It’s the definition of not fun.
Stephen had some opponents who could not counter the wisdom he had been given by the Holy Spirit. Unable to lose the argument, they resorted to deceit and slander. His opponents set up false witnesses to add fuel to the fire (Acts 6:14).
Stephen’s response? He kept proclaiming the glory of God. He started preaching to his hostile crowd. When he was finished, he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56). That’s pretty awesome!
Alas, the people did not think so. The people picked up stones to stone him to death. Stephen’s final words? “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts 7:60b).
I’m grateful that when Stephen saw the teeth-gnashing crowd, he took the opportunity to preach a sermon rather than run away. I’m grateful for his final words, and that they’ve been recorded to edify my faith in the Lord Jesus over 2,000 years later. And I’m grateful that he laid down his life for the cause of Christ. The church grows (and has grown) by the blood of the martyrs.
Stephen was given a lemon of a slanderous, violent crowd. But, we remember his unwavering faith, not the tart taste of lemon.
Lemons are a part of life. We grieve the circumstance, but then we ask the Lord for opportunity to be used by Him.
When life gives you lemons, make some lemonade. Better yet, follow Trader Joe’s advice, and make some ice cream.
We sat on cold metal chairs in a white room, leaning against a cold metal examining table...waiting. Our beautiful dog Sabrina had been hurried to the back of the emergency clinic without us. She was in danger and distress.
It’s been a minute.
I love that phrase. I probably overuse it. And my repetitious use of it probably annoys those in my listening (or instant messaging) range.
Why did the tomato blush? He saw the salad dressing! Thank you for laughing. I appreciate it.
When you gotta go, you gotta go.
Our friends returned to the mission field last week. They had to go.
Lakes are pretty cool places. One might say that they're refreshing.
Months ago, we taught Silas how to count to twenty. Recently, he has been skipping six. Poor six.
I’m a huge fan of Os Guinness (and his ministry The Trinity Forum.) If you haven’t heard of him, go look him up on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube because he is a gazillion times more articulate than I am.
In the past ten months, I have had to hold fast to Hebrews 13:1-2a, “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.”
Hospitality to strangers is easy to neglect.
What do you think of when you hear, “when strivings cease?”
“When the burden is too much for you to bear, you do not need stronger shoulders, you need weaker knees.”
Dr. Mitch Kim
What do you do when life is rough? If you’re a follower of Christ, what do you do when your pursuit of Christian maturity keeps calling you onward and upward, to terrain that is steeper and more challenging?
What do you do when life is rough? If you’re a follower of Christ, what do you do when your pursuit of Christian maturity keeps calling you onward and upward, to terrain that is steeper and more challenging?
Our cool-factor here at SBCA has been notched up tenfold the past month. Why you may ask? Great question!
Yesterday was Palm Sunday. We had a lovely time at church.
And while no Dickensian Ghost-of-Palm-Sunday-Past visited me, I found myself reminiscing. Holidays and rituals are meant for such a thing, I suppose.
We attended a Christmas party last December and within two minutes of our arrival, Silas (age 2) showed me a toy he had just found. We were outside, in the dark, and on time (meaning not many people were there yet.) Looking around, I asked him, “where did you find this tractor?”
I nerded out this weekend at a ‘Faith and Science’ conference held here in San Diego. Praise the Lord for paid time off and for a grandma who is willing to watch the kid.
In the summer of 2007, in the sticks of San Diego county, Jeff and I met at Indian Hills Camp.
Oh Indian Hills Camp. So dusty. So Wild West-y. So can’t-ever-forget-that-camp-song-y.
No, this isn’t about Eutychus (Acts 20:9.) This is about the first Sunday of March in 2019 when someone suddenly died at the church we were serving at.
It’s early March and the evenings are still too chilly for me, even in San Diego. Since I’ve committed to staying inside in the evening until the weather warms up, it seems like a good time to start spring cleaning.
I am a terrible movie watcher. I don’t cope well with plot holes. Everyone else will talk about the scenes they loved, the parts that captured their imaginations. I, however, will talk about plot holes and major oversights.
During a short vacation to the mountains last summer, I had the time to read a few books
A few Sundays ago, we were singing ‘Be Still My Soul’ at church and my not-so-still two-year-old ran up on stage. Uggh.
Which of the four did I pay attention to (or do I plan to pay attention to) this weekend: the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, my mom’s birthday, or an anniversary?
This Wednesday is the first anniversary of Cat Lawyer! I love Cat Lawyer so much that I felt it appropriate to give him an homage via blog.
I’m an institutionalist. I believe we’re stronger as a team - that’s dedicated to the mission - than we are siloed off.
Two years ago while preparing material for our homegroup leaders, I came across a word study that shifted my thinking, or at least readjusted my focus: “Created for good works…so that we would walk in them”, (Eph.2:10). The word “walk” in the Greek does not imply the simple straight line from point A to point B, but has a more spherical quality.
I live in suburban America. Here in suburbia, we have companies that come to our houses on a weekly basis and take our trash away. It’s wonderful. Until the week before Christmas, when the magic stopped. The garbage workers went on strike. Womp womp.
Last night, we ditched our Sunday night prayer meeting, packed up Silas, and drove 98 miles to see a commissioning service at Celebration Church. One of their pastors and his wife will be returning to Cambodia to share the good news of Jesus with the people of Cambodia who have not yet heard His name.
Why start a blog? Here is a list of questions that I asked myself before starting this.
Kylene Lopo
Kylene Lopo is a pastor’s wife, a BI Reports Developer, and is the mother of Silas (age 4) and Hosanna (age 0.) She has a masters in Biblical Literature from Alliance Theological Seminary and is an official worker with the C&MA in the South Pacific District.