Anne LeGare

I’ve been supporting Crisis Pregnancy Centers for about 20 years. It took me 15 years to work up the courage to actually volunteer at one. That’s what I’ve heard from fellow volunteers – they were drawn to the work, but it took them a long time to actually do anything about it. And those volunteers were women! If that’s how they feel about the work, can you imagine how much courage it would take for a man to volunteer?

So you can understand my surprise when a gentleman from my church, Carlos Rodriguez, started working at our Crisis Pregnancy Center! I knew him as an usher and deacon, who was forever escorting guests at our church to their various Sunday School classrooms and to the nursery. He and his wife Cathy were also participating in “Experiencing God Together” retreats at churches all over the country. Carlos was also a bereavement specialist at a local funeral home. He really didn’t need any more jewels in his crown, but that wasn’t what Carlos was about. He was about his Father’s work, sharing the gospel in as many venues and with as many people as he could.

He marched to the beat of the drums, and saw God working powerfully at the Crisis Pregnancy Center. Clearly, Carlos wanted to join God where He was at work. He started by teaching our “Dad U” parenting classes at night. Eventually we saw him during the day too, answering phones, and doing any task required. He had a servant’s heart.

Poor Carlos! We used him to do the “honey do” list that most girls hate. For example, he worked up in the attic, tirelessly moving boxes, and sorting donated items. One day, a passerby came in to tell us there was a dead rattle snake on our sidewalk. “CARLOS!”

The really neat thing about working with Carlos at the center was his interaction with the husbands and boyfriends who came in. While I would be counseling with a woman, Carlos would be in the waiting room talking to her boyfriend/husband. “Hello young man!” was the greeting. Then he’d sit down with them and just strike up a conversation. By the end of the meeting, many of the young men had given their lives to Christ even before the woman was done with her session! Amazing. But that’s what Carlos’ life, driven by the Holy Spirit accomplished on a weekly basis.

Did I mention that Carlos had leukemia? He struggled with it for years, but quietly and with dignity. He never complained or felt sorry for himself. He was more concerned with other peoples’ problems. For example, when I had to move my mom to assisted care, he was the one person who always asked me “How’s your mom?” Or when I was sick, Carlos would grab my shoulders and pray for me – without prompting. I started to look at him as my spiritual father at church. I felt I was his special friend. But I found out that many people felt that way. Carlos had a way of making everyone he knew feel like they were the center of his universe.

Carlos was faithful to attend our church’s Wednesday night prayer sessions. When it was time to pray, he was almost always first to pray for everyone. I felt my prayer requests being taken straight to the throne of grace when Carlos prayed.

Last summer I found out that Carlos was struggling with another bout of leukemia, but this time he couldn’t shake it. When I went to visit him in late July, he was already in a coma. When he heard the voices of his loved ones, I could tell he really wanted to come out and talk and pray, but he was too weak. It broke my heart.

A few days later, we drove to Colorado for a family vacation. After visiting Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs, I put in a prayer request there for Carlos. As we walked out of the building, I got the telephone call that Carlos had passed away. I cannot tell you the sense of loss and grief that came with that call. My friend had died and I would not even be at his funeral.

No one can replace Carlos. But I do have the comfort knowing that he’s not riddled with pain anymore, and that we will all meet again on that glorious day. In the meantime, he joins the ranks of the saints who make up the “great cloud of witnesses,” cheering us on to the work God has given us. Until we meet again, sweet Carlos.

John 12:12-13 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.”

On Palm Sunday, our pastor conducted a mini-sermon for the children about this event. He told the children that when people laid out the palm branches for Jesus, it was like rolling out the red carpet to the man they wanted to crown king.

But we know what happened the rest of that week. The people quickly rolled up the red carpet when Jesus didn’t meet their expectations. Toward the end of the week, associating with Jesus was something even his closest friends found difficult.

Jesus knew all this, and still chose the pain, the suffering, and the cross. We were difficult, yet He didn’t forsake us, and will never forsake us. His sacrifice demands our attention and vigilance, however. The book of Hebrews has much to say about our responsibility to grip tightly to our salvation.

Hebrews 4:14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 13:12-16 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Heb 12:2 …fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In case we didn’t get the message, Hebrews reminds us over and over who Jesus is and what He did for us. When He died on the cross, Jesus rolled out the red carpet for us, so that we could be joint heirs with Him. We are now His chosen people, a royal priesthood of believers.

I’m reflecting on His passion for me this week. Let’s celebrate Easter with hearts ready to roll out the red carpet to Him, full of worship for the One who died and rose again so we could live!

My friend, fellow blogger, and walking buddy, Renae Brumbaugh, just published her first book, and it’s available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

It’s a compilation of her devotionals about the book of James, and if it’s anything like her current blog about the life of Jesus, I can’t wait to read it! Click HERE to link to Amazon.

It would be a blessing to Renae if you pre-ordered her book!  She’s a fellow Copperas Cov-ite, and a pastor’s wife.  See her blog in my blogroll to the right.

Luke 23:26-31: When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ “Then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, ‘FALL ON US,’ AND TO THE HILLS, ‘COVER US.’ “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

I was pretty familiar with the story about Simon, the Cyrene, who helped Jesus carry His cross. But what about the daughters of Jerusalem, and what was Jesus saying to them?

These “daughters,” were women of Jerusalem who may have been spectators, mixed in with former disciples, who followed Him on His journey to Golgotha. They were weeping to see Jesus suffer so severely. They might have been filled with fear, guilt for their nation, and a sense of dread concerning what they were witnessing. I never realized they were the recipients of Jesus’ last public teaching, and it was both a warning and a prophecy.

His admonishment was dire. Their people and the Romans had just sentenced the Messiah, the sinless lamb, to death. If such a thing was possible, how could they and their children escape the trials to come for Jerusalem, and the ultimate wrath of God for what had happened to the Holy One of Israel? If these evil people could destroy a live, green tree, imagine what God would do to their dry, dead wood? Who would want to have children and raise them among such evil people and in a place destined for such horror?

Jesus’ strong words are tinged with the same pain we hear in Isaiah’s proclamations about the iniquities of Israel: “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.” (Isaiah 1:4)

How is this scripture relevant to us today, as we sit in our comfortable homes two millennia later? As a mother, I have to admit, Jesus’ utterance to the women of Jerusalem resonates with me. I am raising children in a society that is just as sinful and has rejected Him.

I read about it almost daily – here’s one frightening example from a recent Fox News report: President Barack Obama topped a new Harris poll that asked 2,634 Americans who they admire enough to call a hero. Jesus came in second.

I’m living among people who have rejected Jesus. Are we weeping for Him? How long until the dead wood is set on fire?

Daughters of the King, pray the words of the prophet Joel with me for our country: Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. (Joel 2:13)

This is one of the most disturbing stories in the Bible. Every time I read it, I want to stand between Jesus and his betrayer. Then I feel somewhat satisfied that Judas got his comeuppance. His name has been equated with traitors ever since. What’s scary is I’ve been just like him.

In the first couple of years after I became a Christian, I was uncomfortable when my new friends would say “Praise God!” or “Praise the Lord!” They made me a bit squeamish; as I equated those phrases with people who were a little too zealous for Jesus. I observed the Jesus movement of the 1970s when I was in high school, and I certainly wasn’t going to be a “Jesus Freak!”

But in reality, I was a sellout. Outside of church services, I wasn’t willing to stand with my brothers and sisters and openly praise my King. I was content to be saved and leave it at that. The boldest thing I did in public was pray before a meal. Like Judas, I wanted it both ways: I enjoyed a relationship with Jesus when things were going well; but I sold out when things got rough.

Also like Judas, I was counted among the saved, and shared in ministry. If I had remained a lukewarm Christian, I might have continued along Judas’ path, as a guide on the broad way that leads to destruction. As I studied the scriptures, however, and started to grow in faith, I realized how praiseworthy my salvation was. When I really understood the holiness of God, I cried out with Isaiah: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a woman of unclean lips!” I asked God for forgiveness, and I vowed that I would never be ashamed to praise Him again. I would never betray Him again with a refusal to associate with Him in public.

Because of God’s great mercy, I received another chance to live a full, eyes-wide-open, and adventure-filled life with my savior, JESUS CHRIST! Now I’ve been accused of being too zealous when talking about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Praise the Lord!

Dear God, thank you for second chances. Thank you for hearing my cry and for always leading me in triumphal processions in Christ. I love you and right now, I lift my praise as an offering to you. I give you all the glory and thank you in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

Take a look at this Video

After reading Voddie T. Baucham’s book, Family Driven Faith, and Stephen Covey’s book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, Marc and I decided to come up with a family mission statement for 2009. We took a little “dad and mom” retreat to Austin, and came up with our plan.

I saw a good review for Baucham’s book at fellow blogger Deb Burton’s site. Her passion is to help families realize that their children are their biggest mission field.  I shared my family mission statement with her, and she was gracious enough to post it to her blog (for all the world to see)! Yikes — that accountability thing!  Since she posted it, and advertised it the day before, I’ll let you see the article and our statement at her website:  Here’s the preview article:  The Greatest Mission Trip You’ll Ever Take.

Here’s the link to our  2009 Mission Statement.  How strange to link to someone else’s blog for our family stuff!  But I do want you to see her wonderful blog and all the resources she provides.  Isn’t it wonderful to belong to the family of believers?  Have you considered a coming up with a family mission statement?

So far we’re doing really well — except for the getting kids to eat fruit daily thing!