Posts Tagged ‘Romans 5’

A guest post by Jonathan Diaso
Jonathan with his papa, Dave

This is a guest post written by my son, Jonathan Diaso. He wrote this in memory of his sister, Hannah Elizabeth Diaso. Last Friday, October 18th was the 3rd year anniversary of when Hannah moved to heaven.

I love how Jonathan shares his journey and how the Lord used his sister in his life. I asked Jonathan if it would be okay to share it with you on my blog, and he agreed!


I used to be a Christian – How I left the Church and Finally Found Jesus
Hannah and Jonathan

I still wonder to this day how I was churched since I was born, but never actually knew Jesus on a personal level. Some of you may have a similar experience and some of you may think the idea of “knowing Jesus” is crazy. You might also be wondering how leaving the church led me to Jesus. God has put this on my heart to share with those who have been to church and never really encountered Jesus, those who have never been to church and also those who have a negative perspective on the word Church or Christianity. While I love Jesus there are concerns I have regarding the word “Christian”. What makes a person a Christian anyhow? 

You may have been told that if you do all the right things then Jesus will love you. Whether this emphasis was intended by the church or not I often felt this way. Jesus opened my eyes by showing me that I am welcome “As is”. I do not have to earn his love as he loved me before I was even born. I do good things, because I am loved by God not so that God will love me back. I believe we have a hard time rationalizing this as how many of your friends would love you back if you did not show them affection? “The Christian does not believe that God will love us because we are good rather that he will make us good because he loves us” (C.S. Lewis). God loves you as you are and not as you should be. 

My Christian friends and I would meet up years ago and discuss which biblical laws we were or were not following, we tried to be good people. C.S. Lewis explains this very well, “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good”. The Bible talks about the law of works or what I call the do good things gospel and this type of Christianity does not work. While this method seeks to fix the side effects of how we should behave, this process forgets the purpose as to why we do these things. I once heard the statement, “Some people have just enough Jesus to be miserable”. 

I am a Christian, I go to church (in-fact I love my church family), but being a Christian far exceeds attending Church. My Church reads this card every service, “If you are a… Saint, Sinner, Loser, Gambler, Lost, Fearful, ADHD, Liar, Hypocrite, Bastard, Lover, Cutter, Tweaker, Alcoholic, Adopted, Abandoned, Leftover, Divorced, LGBT, Alone, Old, Young, Driven, Cheater, Success, Infected, Rejected, Pierced and Tatted or Just a Misfit… YOU ARE WELCOME HERE” (The Sanctuary Church). I believe that all are welcome in God’s house and are loved where they are at. In other words you come in a mess and God says, “I am going to make your mess a message.” 

Why do I bring this all up today? Three years ago my sister Hannah moved to heaven. Hannah accepted everyone and brought the gospel to outcasts. At Hannah’s prayer vigil I heard many stories of how Hannah had impacted those around her. One of them shared by her friend Jake stood out to me, “No one loved those around her more than Hannah, she knew how to love the margins. When we were out doing ministry Hannah felt God speak to her and she knew she needed to go pray for a man sitting nearby. The man that stood out to Hannah was covered in tattoos (even a tear tattoo next to his eye, commonly a prison tattoo). Plainly put, this man was someone that people often try to avoid. Hannah Did not care what he looked like, what his background was, whether he did good things with his life, how he dressed etc. Hannah knew that God’s love transcended social status and she knew how to bring the message of the Gospel to people of all colors, races and social statuses. When Hannah prayed for this stranger he began to cry, he could not understand why my sister cared about him. He likely knew he did not earn or deserve her love that day. Hannah went up to him without fear of how he would react, she knew that Jesus would do the rest.” Jake did share with me that he would not let her go by herself, which was still a smart call. Jake was amazed by the passion and love that this young woman carried. 

Jonathan gave Hannah this Bible, and as you can see in the text she loved it!

Hannah was highly influential in my life as I attribute much of who I am today to her example over the years. Hannah reminded me later in life that it is not enough to be a Christian and to try to be good people so that we can make it to heaven. We were put on this earth for a reason and God wants to use you and me to love those around us and yes this means loving people before they earn it. I spent many years of my life trying to be a good Christian, hiding my issues in attempt to be accepted and loved by other Christians. I now know that, God does not need to use guilt and shame, because love and grace do a damn good job. There is a famous song that goes, “I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross”. While this is a powerful line used to thank Jesus for what he did, we actually have a need to know how much it cost for him to die on that cross. When you and I realize how much it cost we also realize our value. Before you and I did anything to earn his love, God sent his son to die for you and me. “Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!” (Romans 5:8, TPT). While I left the church years ago, I encountered Jesus in various ways since. While I am still in process and in pursuit of a deeper relationship with our Heavenly Father, God is still molding me daily to be more like Christ. Christianity is no longer a religion for me. This is the story of how one woman in her short life impacted her older brother and many others around her in an incredible way. If you want to know Jesus on a more personal level send me a message. This could change your life.

Hannah, I love you!

Hope Lost

Father & Daughter, Hannah & Dave

Father & Daughter – Hannah & Dave

When Paul and his companions lost all hope of being saved, then there was nowhere to turn but to God. That’s probably a good place to be when we are forced to depend on God.

Acts 27 describes Paul’s voyage to Rome. It was an adventure. Maybe not quite to the degree of Ernest Shackleton’s voyage and survival on Antarctica, but it was fraught with danger nonetheless.

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. —Acts 27:20, ESV

When a trial drags on I’m sure it’s common to lose hope. All hope of being saved was abandoned while Paul was on his journey. No sun or stars. There was no light at the end of the tunnel and they were in the midst of a huge storm. It’s disheartening when we don’t know when or where the storm will end!

Feeling Weighed Down

A dove nesting on the ledge of the entrance to our house

A dove nesting on the ledge of the entrance to our house. A reminder of God’s peace.

The length of this trial the Lord has us on is weighing on me. Today was not a very good day. I may not be to the point of feeling like all hope is abandoned, but I’m tired.

Yet I must do the simple things – look to Jesus. Remember that when I am weak, he is strong. Thank him for the army of friends that surround us and love us.

Paul in Romans 5:3-4 says that “…suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character…”. This gives us hope in suffering, but it’s not easy to endure.

If you want to endure you have to stay in the suffering. Not a fun place to be!

The Lord does sustain us. He does gives us the strength in our suffering.

Our Rock & Refuge

The Sunset on the Pacific - near Cabo San Lucas

Sunset on the Pacific

I wrote this last night and today is a new day, and his mercies are new every morning. So even though I was a little down yesterday, and a little worn out I choose to believe. I choose to look to Christ. He is my rock and my refuge.

Thanks so much for holding up our weak hands through this trials. Thanks for your enduring prayers for Hannah and our family. Things are improving, even if the pace is slower than we’d like.

Keep praying, Keep believing – Don’t Give up!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Where Will This End?

Hannah with her Grandpa

Hannah with her Grandpa

We feel like we’ve been in a marathon without knowing where the finish line will be. It’s exhausting at times, but the Lord sustains us! He gives us hope.

Many have asked about Hannah, others are wondering what is going on. Dawn and I have sought to be discreet in what we share. We believe it’s important to maintain Hannah’s privacy, and even that of our family.

Now I realize that we’ve published this out on a number of public forums.  We’ve done that, because we believe that prayer is so important. We are trying to walk a line between getting the word out, while not sharing too much.

I hope that makes some sense.

An Outpouring of Prayer & Love

Our family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and prayer. I believe that is one of the things the Lord has used to keep us strong and to keep us going.

Thank you! We need continued and ongoing prayer and support as we walk on this journey. We are praying that Hannah will be healed soon, even today. Join with us in believing God for his healing touch.

As I prayed this morning the Lord reminded me of the good he was doing through this trial. Paul encourages us to rejoice, because of the fruit that is produced through the difficulties of life.

… but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5, ESV)

Endurance – Ernest Shackleton’s Adventure

Hannah, Dawn and Dave

Hannah, Dawn and Dave

I finished my book on Ernest Shackleton and his crew, who were shipwrecked on Antarctica in 1915. They survived for more than a year in freezing temperatures in a very hostile environment.

I was impressed by how they endured. They chose not to give up, even though they were extremely tired and cold. When they finally made it to the Island where there were other people that could help them. They were on the wrong side of the Island, so three of them had to hike across the Island. No one hand ever done that before. This was after already surviving for a year in the icy climate.

As they hiked across the Island, they came to glaciers, cliffs where they couldn’t cross. They had to turn around and backtrack. I just can’t imagine all the pain and suffering, but they kept going. They finally made it, and they were able to rescue the whole crew. No one was lost.

Keeping Our Eyes on Jesus

The Sunset at Imperial Beach

The Sunset at Imperial Beach

The Lord has been reminding me to keep my eyes on Jesus. My family and I need to keep trusting, and to keep believing. God will hold us up. He will get us through this, even though we don’t know where the end is, he does! God knows and he goes before us!

He promises that he will not forget us and that we are tattooed to the Psalm of his hand in Isaiah 49. That encourages me. It gives me hope. I hope that it might be a blessing to you as well.

In His Loving Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

The Battle Rages On

Sunset on the Pacific

Sunset on the Pacific

Over the last couple weeks I’ve met with some of the pastors that I’m coaching and encouraging, and they are going through some difficult times. That’s why the question of, who will win comes to mind.

I take comfort that despite the fact that the battle rages, and at times it’s hard to see the light we know that God is on the throne. We know that God uses our pain. He uses our hardships to build into our lives. The Lord doesn’t waste the troubles we encounter.

I just finished reading through the book of Job this morning, who is the patron saint of suffering. God never really answered Job as to why he suffered so much. His answer seems to be, if I told you why, you wouldn’t understand. Job was humbled before the Lord. He recognize how small he was compared to God. He repented of his foolish plea.

Look to Jesus

Of course, our Lord Jesus Christ who is perfect and holy endured the cross for our sin. Jesus is the ultimate example.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1, 2 ESV

Look to Jesus.

That’s an amazing statement, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Jesus is our hope. His resurrection means there is victory over sin, death and Satan. We are to live in that victory as more than conquerors!

If we want to be like our savior, should we expect not to suffer?

The answer isn’t to seek suffering. It helps tremendously to know that a loving Father is orchestrating all things.

Our Suffering is Not Wasted

The apostle Paul encourages us to rejoice in our suffering, which seems like crazy talk. Yet, he does this, because of what the difficulties of life are building into us.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 ESV

All the hardships we endure in this life are producing good things in us: endurance, character, hope. So don’t give up dear friend, there is much hope.

Pray for us and those pastors and ministers we serve with who are going through some trying times! Pray that we will all keep our eyes on Jesus!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

 

 

Is the Question Why or Who?

David Jr., Hannah and Jon,  bring us a lot of joy

David Jr., Hannah and Jon, bring us a lot of joy

My heart is heavy as we traverse through this trial. As far as I’m concerned it’s already gone on too long, but my Dad above has a different plan. His timing doesn’t always concur with what I would like.

It’s hard and all kinds of questions come to mind. Most of the questions begin with why? Yet I think there is a sense in which if I focus too much on the circumstances that It’s easy to get down.

The Psalmist’s Heavy Heart

I can identify with the Psalmist when he pens Psalm 42:1-5

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation” ESV

I have to remind myself again and again to hope in God.

Through friends, family and the Word of God I’m reminded to focus on the who. It gives me comfort to know the who that is somehow using even the worst of circumstances in my life. I’m grateful that the who is my ‘abba’ Father, my daddy. He is working to build patience, character and hope in me and my family.

The Value of Suffering – Rejoice

Romans 5:1-5 reminds me of God’s commitment to us.

Billy, Hillary, Hannah & Dawn. We were blessed by Billy and Hillary coming over to encourage us yesterday!

Billy, Hillary, Hannah & Dawn. We are blessed by good friends who encourage us!

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” ESV

Hannah with Daisy

Hannah with Daisy

Paul exhorts us to rejoice in our sufferings, which seems absurd at first glance. Yet he isn’t encouraging us to rejoice, because we enjoy suffering, or that we are masochist. It’s what the trials produce in us that Paul wants us to see joy in. Our Lord is very committed to his good work in us. He digs deep, in order to build a strong foundation.

Now that is a reason to rejoice. Lord, keep my eyes on Jesus. Keep me focused on your good work!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org