Glimpses of Power and Glory

What a strange month this has been.

Where is the blazing, sunny, miserable weather we call July in Texas? It seems I’ve spent most of the summer studying radar maps and watching flooding videos. It’s all quite bizarre.

Today, as the deep gray sky covers the sunrise and raindrops fall on my roof, I’m reminded of all the tears shed over massive losses.

Why so much destruction?

I’m amazed at the amount of junk dislodged and driven downstream. Why am I mesmerized by those videos? It’s like staring at a wreck—I can’t seem to look away.

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The Need to Understand

I feel the need to defend my God when I see such overwhelming destruction—destruction He alone could have stopped. I want to explain how He works and why.

But who am I to know the heart of the Creator? Who am I to try to assign simplistic explanations to the mystery of the great I Am?

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A Strange Kind of Comfort

Watching the raw force of water gives me a glimpse of God’s power. This uncontrollable, brown current is enough to bow my prideful knee and stiff-necked head. Awestruck, I realize this is only a fingerprint of His might.

Oddly enough, it comforts me to realize that neither I nor any elected official is in control. My daily worries don’t seem so important in light of that truth. I’m just a blade of grass—here today and gone tomorrow—riding this planet for a limited but unknown number of days.

He designed this planet—its rivers, valleys, and oceans—and then gave us the gift of dominion over it. We were called to care for His creation. How deeply He must love us to entrust such majesty into our hands.

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Look for the Helpers

I was recently reminded of Fred Rogers’ advice: “Look for the helpers.”

When I do, I see God’s compassion at work. Helpers step into chaos, trying to restore normalcy after the floods. It is His Spirit within them that drives them to serve those most devastated by the raging, junk-filled waters.

In moments like these, it’s undeniably clear that God has placed His Spirit in us. We send food, money, and support—often more than the recipients can receive. And somehow, it’s easier to see God in others during these moments.

Maybe it’s because we’ve finally stopped to look.

Maybe it’s because we’re usually too busy to notice.

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A Quiet Challenge

It’s sad that it takes loss and despair to see the Holy Spirit in ourselves and in others. Are we only moved in crisis to be His hands and feet? Or is His Spirit always present—and we just don’t pause to notice?

Must devastation wrench my eyes away from my trivial pursuits? Why don’t I feel this same desire to help the hurting on a sunny day at the beach?

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A Simple Prayer

Lord, help me listen for Your voice when the sun is shining and the flowers are blooming. Give me eyes to see and meet need without the help of 24/7 news of devastation.

I Want Justice!

The Bible is full of themes that tie it together from Genesis to Revelation.  My heart was filled when I discovered, or rather re-discovered, a theme yesterday.  So please give me the pleasure of tracing my steps with you.  

It started with the story in Genesis 27 of Jacob and Esau.  In a nutshell, Esau is Isaac’s first born son and Jacob tricks him out of his birthright with a pot of stew and some well-placed goat hide.  And just like that, Jacob the deceiver, steals the birthright from his brother. I get a little miffed every time I read about the connivance and deceit that goes on behind the scenes in this story.  While thinking about this unfairness another Bible story that seems unfair came to mind.  It was Job, a good guy that loses it all.  Understanding that story is no small undertaking.  And in the New Testament, the Christian-murdering Saul is given a second chance.  What about the parables of Jesus where some people are given more talents (gold) than others and the guy that gets the least buries it and gets scolded? Or the one where workers who were hired in the last hour received the same wages as those who worked all day?  And don’t forget the prodigal son who demands his inheritance, runs away and blows it all then comes crawling back to find a welcome home party fit for a king.  

Each of these stories makes me want to shout, “That is unfair!”  It is a gut reaction.  Isn’t God supposed to set things right?  If he doesn’t care about justice then what is this all about?  Why did God put all these difficult stories in the Bible?  By the way, this is more proof of the Bible's true author because humans would have edited these stories a long time ago. And why did so many of Jesus’ parables address tension over perceived injustices?  We humans care deeply about justice; at least justice on our terms and in our own eyes.  We care about justice from our point of view.  So how do we reconcile the appearance of inconsistency in God’s justice?  

While comparing these stories I saw something that I never noticed before.  In each of the stories above, the point was not the bad or good circumstances but how the main characters reacted to those circumstances.  Take a quick look at the end of each story.  Jacob the deceiver ended up struggling many years with his father-in-law and with God. He learned obedience and became the father of the Israelite nation. Job ended up even closer to God with a new view of God’s justice and blessed beyond measure. Saul the murderer, given a second chance became the Apostle Paul who is still teaching us 2000 years later. The servant who buried his talents remained bitter and fearful. The hired workers who worked all day for their promised wages got what they signed up for and the prodigal son was given a second chance just as God gives us all.  

In each of these instances God’s justice was in the changed life, or lack of, rather than on the unfair event.  It seems that God’s justice does not always happen by changing our fortune but by changing our hearts.  His currency is not ours.  That is why it is so hard to understand some of those Bible stories and why we struggle to understand God's justice.  God is a just God. There are many scriptures that tell us this in both Old and New Testament.  Here are a few of them.

Psalm 50:6 NIV

[6] And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice.

Isaiah 5:16 NIV

[16] But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.

Matthew 12:18 NIV

[18] “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

Revelation 19:11 NIV

[11] I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war.

We expect him to heal our body but he chooses to heal our hearts.  We expect him to reward our good behavior, but he sends rain that helps us grow.  We expect him to punish people who do us wrong but he chooses to give them (and us) a second chance.  We expect him to make things easier on us because we are good God-fearing folks, but he allows the tragedies of this world to prune us and force new growth in other parts of our life giving the opportunity to draw even closer to him.  We expect God to change our situation but God chooses to change our perspective in life.  Just because we lack the ability to predict God's justice doesn't make him unfair. We must start dealing in God’s currency to begin to understand his justice.

Isaiah 30:18 NIV

[18] Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Zechariah 7:9 NIV

[9] “This is what the Lord Almighty said: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.

Lord, help us to exhibit your true justice, full of mercy and compassion, and accept your justice even when we don’t understand. 

Higher Ground

It was early Saturday morning and the streets were dark and deserted, lined with trash from Friday night partying.  We emerged from our hotel in downtown Austin.  While waiting for the sleepy valet to bring our vehicle, I looked around.  There was a guy on a bench in front of my hotel, sleeping.  He was wearing dingy clothing, had kicked off one ill-fitting shoe and was hunched over.  As I looked at him it hit me that he was someone's son.  He could have been my son. That is when I felt it.  Tears welled up in my eyes.  This was someone who was alone, who felt unloved and unworthy and in reality could have been chemically dependent.

I have seen homeless people before and have been with my church when we were hosting a meal for them. I have no personal experience in their shoes.  I have no idea of their life.  But this one touched my heart.  I said a prayer for him as I got in the pickup.  Tears were still falling and I didn't know why.  You see, I am not usually a bleeding heart. On a scale of 'bleeding heart to cold heart', cold heart would come closer to describing me.  I believe in the saying, "Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish, he will eat for a lifetime".  I believe giving people money only makes them dependent when the goal is to make them independent.  So how do we fix this huge problem of homelessness?

When a problem is massive and shows no sign of slowing, it takes large groups of people to fix it.  Not one-on-one, but groups of people to pull up one person.  I can remember in Hurricane Harvey how people across our state and the entire United States came to help those who were flooded out.  The effort was massive.  It brought people together across the U.S.A. to solve this problem.  It even cut into political network news time!  But homelessness is so much more complex.  It is not as simple as putting people on higher ground.

So if we were to get groups of people together to overcome homelessness, how do we get them to higher ground?  Their higher ground would be a place out of the chains of dependence.  And when it comes to breaking chains, I know of no other way but through Jesus Christ.  Only the power of God can break chains.  So when homelessness is exponentially rising, how do we address it?  Do we ignore it?  Do we continue to give clothing, food and money to them to soothe our conscience?  Do we preach at them?  How do we even begin to make a dent in this issue?

Here are a few ideas that I have.

1. When organizations like World Vision and Compassion International address poverty in foreign countries, they address individuals.  We adopt them.  One. At. A. Time.  Maybe we need to address homelessness not in mass but one individual at a time.  

2. It takes a large organized group to pull just one person out of poverty.  I think it will take large efficient organizations to do this for our homeless.  These organizations will need prayer teams, money donations, professionals to teach them survival skills to climb to higher ground and field workers to bring them in.  It will take people to follow up and make sure the formerly homeless are maintaining a home independently.  They will need office personal to organize and overseers to keep it non-profit.  One amazing organization I know is Zoe Ministry.  They empower children in areas with abject poverty to move beyond charity by teaching them survival skills. Then they use those children to teach survival skills to others to perpetuate this ministry.  It is kind of an exponential chain reaction.  This same management plan could be applied to our homeless.

3.  Whenever I feel called to address an issue, it is best not to invent the wheel but to join someone who is already doing this and needs my help.

4. It will need to be faith based.  The only power to break the chains of homelessness is through the power of Christ.

This to me sounds like the work of a church, a large church, a mega-church, a bunch of mega-churches.  If only...