upsides-down

Hi friends.

Happy Friday.

I'm pulling one out of the "drafts" this afternoon from the site, quietly waiting to see the light of day.

With the resurrection stretching just outside our reach, it seemed appropriate.

It's Friday but Sunday's coming.

And yes, I went to Bible college and heard way too many arguments surrounding which day Jesus officially died.

Call it Wednesday, Thursday or Friday at 3, I am almost 48 and officially do. not. care.

What I cherish is that he DID die for a worthless sinner such as I and that he DID rise again.

Annnnnnnnnnd that we celebrate it in APRIL.

(cough, cough, birthday month.)

Don't worry, we're half-way through April....

Happy Resurrection Day to you all.

_______________________________

My Dad's favorite birthday cake is pineapple upside-down cake.

It was only served once MAYBE twice a year and so it became a delectable treat for us de Leon kids.

The heaps of butter and brown sugar just melting away in the bottom of a glass 9x13 pan, the pineapple rings perfectly arranged with maraschino cherries hanging-out in their middles makes my mouth water.

This MUST be the ONLY reason for pineapple flavored cake mixes, am I right?

I remember watching it being made, head half-cocked trying to figure out how this is possibly going to turn out right.

I mean, my Mom's a tremendous cook and baker, but this was plain weird.

As the smell wafted from the oven, my Mom would be covering a cookie sheet or other dish with foil to make the presentation and serving easy and celebratory.

Okay it was mainly for the clean-up, but to my grade school self, foil was fancy.

As soon as the bottom browned just so, my Mom did the remarkable flip that makes this cake so different from any other cake.

The pineapples sit there on top with cherries shiny and sweet and syrup gliding down the sides like caramel frosting.

There really is little that matches pineapple upside-down cake to me.

I love how it begins so hidden and unassuming and then turns into a sticky sweet show stopper.

What you see is not what you get.

All that work to decorate really does make a difference when you present it at last, and it has been a special memory to remake here in my home.

I'm learning ever so many new things through my bible reading. Picking out new things and enjoying fresh views of things I thought I knew every inch of.

And one of those things I've viewed in a bit of a humorous way has been the disciples leading up to the cross and then all the way to the upper room.

How often Jesus told them he was going away, preparing them like I do my children for our weekly date night.

"So and so" is taking care of dinner, we are going "here and here" and "possibly here," do not call us unless someone is on fire and don't even think of any kind of fun until rooms are sufficiently cleaned and your jobs are completed.

Add one more warning to the youngest that she is not under any circumstances allowed to hide somewhere and call us without permission, explaining to her again what it means to be "ON FIRE," and that about sums it up.

Jesus takes the time to tell the disciples that he is going and no one wants to hear it.

Kindov like whomever I am instructing in dinner which usually consists of three simple steps.

They still did'nt know where he was going even though he already told them.

Kindov like my fourth who already forgot that he has dishes for the fourth night in a row.

Jesus settles and reminds and then tells them something profound.

"If I stay the comforter cannot come, but if I go, I will send him."

And my mind begins to unravel the fact that when Jesus was WITH them he was WITH them.

There you have it, my smartness in one sentence!

What I mean is that when he was with them, it was physically.

When they were in the ship on the Sea of Galilee he wasn't with them, was he?

His presence wasn't there until he walked on waves and calmed their terrors.

I have a million and one times wished to walk with Jesus when He was on this earth.

To sit on a hillside and listen to his voice, wondering what His eyes looked like, what his hair looked like. I have so often wondered what his hands looked like.

I do think it would be a bit weird to have a bible story mentioning a lady with really wild hair (humidity) who forever clung to Jesus' right ankle.

But then I remember that Jesus was only in one place at one time. If I lived in Jesus' time, I wouldn't always know his presence.

Because the way to His presence was upside-down.

This walk of faith is filled with upsides-down is it not?

To receive we give.

To live we die,

To lead we serve,

To find freedom we willingly enslave ourselves

and so it goes.

For us to know Christ in a greater way, He had to leave. He had to die on a cross to make a way for new life.

Life that meant an indwelling and not just a temporary physical presence.

And the disciples just didn't get Him until they got, well, HIM

In the upper room.

THE HIM who watches me type and brings different passages to my fingertips just now.

Sometimes it can look like a mess.

It can look ALL wrong.

But we are only seeing the baking.

It hasn't been turned right-side up yet and the cherries aren't noticeable

YET.

I am reminded of my own frailty in thinking I would know better than the disciples.

I would be the one cutting off an ear, giving place to the devil in my anger at what seemed to be burning right before my eyes.

I would be the one faithful in my words, but standing by the fire, rejecting out of fear of the unknown.

And I think you would also.

Tangible is always easier for us. Something to grab onto in doubt and faltering faith, but that's where we must remember that what we need is inside.

He just needs to take control.

I'm not sure how many times a day I lean hard on the Holy Spirit to tell me what I need to be doing, but it's a great deal more than I used to.

Sometimes I catch myself with head half-cocked, not comprehending how on earth this life is supposed to look, and He reminds me for the ten-thousandth time that I simply cannot lean to my own understanding.

And I remember the sweetness in His wisdom for the taking and smile.

Faith comes in following the directions to the "T."

Down to the placement of the very last cherry.

God's words have become more precious this year than ever before, and I pray they just keep getting sweeter and sweeter and sweeter as I soak more of them up.

Psalm 119:103- How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

I've lost count at how many days seemed half-baked,

over-baked

or even broken into too many pieces to serve to anyone,

and yet the Spirit has this amazing way of speaking truth that turns everything over into something lovely.