Ohana

"Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left alone or forgotten." This is a line from "Lilo and Stitch," and it's a definition of family that I dearly love. My appreciation for this sentiment is exactly why my parents gave me a stuffed animal "Stitch" when I was leaving for Mexico. And to this day, he sits on my bed and goes with me wherever I go, a reminder of my connection to my family. As I read the scripture this morning, I'm challenged to remember my other family- my heavenly Father, my Christian brothers and sisters, in which "no one gets left alone or forgotten."

Family
Psalm 40:6-10

"Then I said, 'Look, I have come. It is written about me in the book. My God, I want to do what you want. Your teachings are in my heart.' I will tell about your goodness in the great meeting of your people. Lord, you know my lips are not silent. I do not hide your goodness in my heart. I speak about your loyalty and salvation. I do not hide your love and truth from the people in the great meeting." (Psalm 40:7-10)

Family to me is a really close bond... different than a lot of present day American families- something which really saddens me. I actually never realized that this was out of the ordinary until I was older. I just took it for granted that you saw most of your cousins every day, played soccer and participated in plays with them, went to Youth Group and Sunday School and sang in the choir with them. I thought everyone's uncle taught studied Bible stories with them for Children's Church and that everyone went to visit their grandparents every other weekend. Not to mention summers with the family and taking trips to wherever Annual Conference would be.

Those close ties help me to know and appreciate my family so much. And talking about each one of my family members gives me such joy. My cousin Lisa who is an amazing cook! My cousin Marisa and Aunt Anita who are amazing teachers! My brother who is working with the church in the DR! My cousin Em who helps brighten people's day every day... as she has always done! So many of my family members who encourage me to laugh and smile when I tend to take myself too seriously- Uncle Rod, Uncle Johnny, Josh, Ben, etc. My lips are not silent, and I cannot keep their goodness in my heart. In the same way, knowing God, having a close relationship to God, my lips cannot be silent, and I cannot keep God's goodness in my heart... when I experience God's love and goodness and grace every day anew, I praise Him out loud... to all day long. I love my heavenly Father, and so I will share His love and truth with everyone!

No One
Luke 7:36-50

"I tell you that her many sins are forgiven, so she showed great love. But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little." (Luke 7:47)

If there is one thing I'll confess to being, it's faithful and loyal. It's something that runs so deep that I can't even imagine leaving a friend's side. I feel the most awful when I have unintentionally done something to harm a friendship. Once I become friends with someone, it's a forever kind of friendship... though we may be far apart, we're always friends. And whatever may happen... if some of my friends get in quarrels, if someone changes their ways, if someone gets into something not so great or starts having some tough times, that agape (friendship) love is still there. They say that "love covers a multitude of sins," and for me it's true.

This beautiful woman who pours her tears, her heart and her perfume out onto Jesus' feet in love. And that 'great love' is a response to the forgiveness. We do not love in order to be forgiven. Rather, our great love for our Father is a response to His forgiveness... His faithfulness to us... though we have sinned and failed much. Teach me Your forgiveness... and may I always express my love for Your amazing grace and love which has covered my multitude of sins.

Left Alone or Forgotten
Deuteronomy 31:1-32:52

"The Lord himself will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forget you." (31:8)

Ah, I love this verse. A very I haven't ever taken much notice of before, but I love it... especially this morning it hit me. And this verse made me think of "Ohana." God is with me no matter what, and He won't leave. I think at the core, we're all a little bit afraid of being left or forgotten. Perhaps that is why this is so comforting.

This morning I'm still thinking about the 5k I ran about an hour ago. Most people when they say they want to run a race with you meet you there on race day and then run their own race. But then there are those special 'running buddies'... like Jared today. He actually ran the race "with" me, alongside me. It's rare. In fact, I can only think of Sarah Bay who ran a race "with" me before, but I like to think of God as my "running buddy" as well- running alongside me... not leaving or forgetting me. Sometimes He encourages me to run a bit faster or sometimes noticing that I'm quite out of breath, He slows down the pace a bit. But to me it's comforting to think of my God as a God who choose to run the race "with" me... even when He could've won it. Oh Lord, thank You for being Emmaneul... God with me.