Looks Like Somebody Prayed

 When people say, “All we can do is pray” it bothers me. It is the best thing and the first thing we should do, not the last. What if you had a loving powerful confidante who cares for every little thing about your day—someone who would act on your requests in a surprising and efficient manner—someone who never got tired of your requests and stood by you in the most difficult of circumstances? Would you wait until you tried everything else before you ask him for help?

Here is what I have learned so far. You have to make the effort to get to know Him. You have to learn to recognize Him by his actions. You have to constantly seek his companionship because he isn’t pushy. He won’t step in and solve your issue unless you ask and believe that he can. And even when He solves those issues you have to pay attention or you will miss the opportunity to see what he has done. 

He will fix things in your life in his own way, which is not always your way, but is always in the best way. In some situations He carries you through the heartbreak. He is with you and he is developing your strength in this painful earth experience. Just focus on Him and you will realize you have made it through to the other side and are better for it. He is not a genie. He will not grant wishes. He is a BFF. He matures you. He makes you stronger. He always has your best at heart even when you cannot see it that way. 

Is there anything He won’t give you? Well, I think He will give you all you ask in his own time if it is asked in humility and in line with his heart. For example, if you ask for world peace he will surely give it to you but it is in his own time. He tells us in his Word that there will be wars and rumors of wars but he also tells us of a time when the wolf and lamb will graze together. So yes, he will answer that prayer for world peace, just probably not in the timing that we have in mind. To him, millennia are seconds on a clock. We cannot wrap our heads around how big He is. 

How do you get to know him? Pay attention. Yep, just pay attention. The best way to develop this sensitivity to His presence is to be grateful and read the stories written about Him. Realize that He created this universe and that everything amazing, creative and good, from laughter to coffee, comes from his hand. Everyday think of three new blessings for which He is responsible. (Although I thank Him for coffee everyday.) Give credit where credit is due. Develop that habit of gratitude. 

Next, when you ask him for something, watch for the answer. Don’t just set it down and run off and forget it. And don’t try to manipulate the answer. Trust me, I have tried this and it doesn’t work out. Let it go. It helps if you write down the request then go back and record how it was answered. Develop this habit. Again…pay attention to His work. Then praise Him for what he has done. 

Why am I so authoritative on this subject? Because He has answered my big and little prayers over and over again throughout my life! Oh, and sometimes he said no to my solution but he gave a far better one and I am so glad he did. It is only in the last twenty years of my life that I paid attention to what He is doing. I wish I had paid attention sooner. 

Pathway to the Creator

 How do people who can’t read, don’t have a Bible or go to church know God? Do you think God decided to exclude them? As a child I worried about that. Recently I read a story of a man, Brother Lawrence, who found his path to God by observing the beauty of a tree. And I thought, “How is that even possible”?

I accept that God’s ways are a mystery to me. As a small child in Sunbeams, (Sunday school for littles), I learned that God gave us five senses. As an adult I have learned that God asks us to seek him. Putting that together, would God expect us only to seek him with one or two of our senses? So, yes, I believe that finding God in nature is possible. If we seek we will find, even without a concordance, commentary and three versions of the Bible.

Our culture is dependent upon words and videography to tell a story. Sadly, we have never been taught to read nature around us and understand God’s creation story behind something like a tree. It seems like the only time we pay attention to nature is when there is some cataclysmic event. So we become fearful rather than joyful over the natural world. We forget that God is so much bigger than we could possibly imagine.

In a short while the folks around my neck of the woods will experience a total eclipse. Instead of awe and wonder for a Creator that placed the stars and moon in the sky and synchronized their movements, some interpret it as impending doom’s day. Most of us, however, see it as a chance to celebrate. But how many of us see it as a moment to worship our amazing creator? To see it as a chance to observe His star given for our planet’s light and source of energy in a unique manner? To be amazed at this synchronized movement of our solar system?

Image by Chil Vera from Pixabay

In his Reasons to Believe Creation Model, Astrophysicist Hugh Ross lists 140 features of the cosmos as a whole (including the laws of physics) that must fall within certain narrow ranges to allow for the possibility of physical life’s existence and 402 quantifiable characteristics of a planetary system and its galaxy that must fall within narrow ranges to allow for the possibility of advanced life’s existence. Just those numbers alone are astounding.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities---his eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Taking care not to worship the creation but the Creator, we have microscopes, telescopes and a plethora of scientific devices to observe God’s creations. Yet we often fall victim to worshipping our own “brilliance” rather than that of the one who made it all. In The One Year Salt and Light Devotional by Chris Tiegreen he says, “What should have sent us in search of the Creator—the beauty and design of nature, the stunning miracle of a newborn, the joy of simple pleasures—became instead an idol or even just a happy accident. We have to learn to see the world in a new way.”

So if we are in a place where nature shows us something new, we should stop and learn about the One who created it. What kind of love and attention to detail did it take to create beautiful fields of wildflowers and what amazing creativity came up with a howler monkey and a firefly? And what about the cute fuzz on a bee or the amazing power in a storm? We should pause and take time to listen to God’s creation around us and learn how to catch glimpses of His amazing glory.

Gratudis: A Pill for Health and Happiness

 Here is a quote from the Mayo Clinic on gratitude: Expressing gratitude is associated with a host of mental and physical benefits. Studies have shown that feeling thankful can improve sleep, mood and immunity. Gratitude can decrease depression, anxiety, difficulties with chronic pain and risk of disease. If a pill could do this, everyone would be taking it. Dec 6, 2022

Side effects of daily doses of “Gratudis” are peace, patience, kindness, and contentment. For best results take it with your coffee every morning, with your lunch, dinner and before you go to bed. If you skip a dose, double it the next day.

As I grow older, I am convinced that the practice of gratitude is lacking in our everyday lives and the implications are far-reaching beyond anything we can imagine. I believe that gratitude leads to peace as well as many other life-changing benefits. I am not talking about a Pollyanna approach to life nor am I talking about a fake-it-till-you-make-it practice. I am talking about a deep-seated attitude change rooted in gratitude to God. It is developing a relationship with God starting with gratitude.

I wish developing gratitude was as easy as taking a pill. There are some people who were raised to be grateful. Their parents constantly pointed to the blessings, small and large, in their day. Consequently, they grow up to be joyful adults. I have a feeling though, that most of us were not taught gratitude while young and impressionable. Like me, most of us only hear about it in November every year near the Thanksgiving holiday and it seems warm and fuzzy but we forget it while vying for a parking spot on Black Friday.

So how do we begin to learn a lifestyle that wasn’t modeled for us as children? I am convinced that the first step is to develop a thirst for gratitude. Seek it. Convince yourself that you need gratitude like oxygen. For starters, try Googling “benefits of a grateful heart”. Study how gratitude is a practice that will answer the deepest longing of your soul. Then tell God of this desire. Ask God for it like you are asking for water at the end of a marathon. He is the source of all good things. He will give us whatever we ask in his will. Asking for gratitude is most certainly asking for something that God wants to give us.

And how many times should we ask Him? As many as it takes. It should be asked in sincerity of heart and not forgotten. If you are like me, you will need to take measures to remember that you asked God for this. In my experience, God usually has tipped his hand and given as he sees fit for the day. And when I am ready for more, he gives more. Although I have no doubt that he can, he does not usually zap me to fix me. He teaches me in small increments. He is a patient teacher at heart.

Learning something new is not easy for an adult. Just ask anyone over 70 how they feel about technology. And change won’t happen if we don’t cooperate in the process. We have to be willing to change habits. After developing a desire for gratitude and asking God for this gift, we must be willing to put away old practices that God shows us are detrimental to gratitude and begin new gratitude-nurturing practices. He will show us what these are but we must pay attention. He might lead us to sit with Him at an appointed time daily and list points of gratitude. He might ask us to limit time with those who constantly complain and spend more time with people who have a joyful attitude. He might prompt us to fill our minds with stories of those who lived a life of gratitude like the Apostle Paul or Corrie ten Boom.

How do we recognize it when God has answered our prayer? Because change is slow, most often I see God’s work in my life when I look back over several years time. Give Him your cooperation and patience and he will change your heart.

Here is a final comment from the Apostle Paul:

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Trivial Little Prayers

 Because I am a cynic, I have made fun of people(occasionally out loud) who pray about every little thing. Lord, what should I wear? Should I go to the store? Should I make my bed? Should I call or text? I think, “they are so needy; so co-dependent.” But isn’t becoming dependent on God the goal of any Christ follower? Faith and belief are indeed close cousins to dependence. Could this practice be a big step toward God?

So I am giving it a whirl. It is my new experiment in the pursuit of Christ-likeness. I am trying to make my prayers less about curing cancer and more about the daily trivia that so often holds my mind at ransom, remembering that faith is the goal. Hoping that by coming to Him with all things, I will create a habit of dependence. And because the fears of yesterday are forgotten by new anxiety of today, I thought I would record my trivial requests. That way I can go back the next day and see how God has answered and thank Him for how he provided. Because I know God is good, I know this will be a win-win by creating both faith and gratitude.

I love trying experiments. Who says a there can’t be a scientific approach to following Christ?

Philippians 4:6-7 Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Photo by Richard Jaimes

There, But for the Grace of God

 Have you ever had a moment of clarity where you see what your life might have been like had you not found a relationship with Christ and for a split second you realized that you owe it all to the grace of God? I had this experience last week and it was frightening and eye opening. It is an experience much like that tour of Bob Cratchit’s future, past and present with the ghosts of Christmas. It filled me with gratitude for how God has held me. It was an incredible gift.

I found a trusting relationship with God at the extremely young age of seven and I have followed him closely as a child, then loosely as a teen and young adult, then closely again as a “seasoned” adult. And although my path has been anything but ideal or even boring, I have clearly been held. Held in my decisions, thoughts and actions by a Father that loves me dearly.

It is hard for those of us who have followed Jesus our whole life to imagine our lives without him. And unlike those who came to Christ after hitting rock bottom, we don’t realize the depths from which we have been delivered. But last week in the glimpse of my life without God’s love, it was quite terrifying. I saw, in another person, my own weaknesses magnified to become my demise. I saw how things might have turned out for me and my family if I had to depend on my own easily fatigued struggling to make it through the tough times. And I saw how it would have been for me in the times where I felt unlovable. It would have destroyed me without that over-riding love from my Father.

Lauren Daigle’s song, Thank God I Do, expresses this perfectly.

You're my safe place
My hideaway
You're my anchor
My saving grace
You're my constant
My steadiness
You're my shelter
My oxygen
I don't know who I'd be if I didn't know You
Thank God, I do

I cannot imagine how anyone can live a life without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Life is a roller coaster and He has carried me though so many crazy twists and turns. My hope is to someday have the faith to let go of the bar and fling my hands in the air knowing He holds me.

If you are reading this and you are tired of a life of striving on your own power; know that God hears your humble prayer and will fill you with a new life of placing your eyes on him. You don’t have to earn this. It is free for all who ask. Then you can place your eyes on Him and let go of that load. This song expresses it beautifully.

This is the Great Adventure

 I never got poetry. Lord knows my English teachers tried. But when you throw in a melody, some harmony, and maybe even an orchestra, I am hooked. Music is the greatest gift! Music soothes and it heals. It changes a dull day to something joyful. And you don’t have to be talented to enjoy it. In my case, it is a tool God has used to comfort and inspire me time and time again.

One of the all time great songs in my life is Stephen Curtis Chapman’s Great Adventure with the Prologue on the album. Step back into 1992 and read a portion of what this song has to say.

We'll travel long, over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys so low
Still through it all we'll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams

Saddle up your horses, we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other, whoa whoa this is the great adventure

And here is a link to the song. Enjoy!

I love a good adventure story: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, that sort of story. The elements of an adventure are the following: they have a hero, a quest, a villain, an unknown dangerous environment, a big risk and a transformation. This also perfectly describes a well-lived life of a Christian. Christ-following is not a boring life. It is a life lived to the fullest.

Stephen Curtis Chapman, who wrote the aforementioned song suffered an incredible tragedy years after writing it. The highs come with lows. Many of my friends are blessed with amazing marriages that some people look for their entire life and never find. Some of those same people are now living in the reality of widowhood, struggling everyday to try to pick up one foot and put it in front of the other. And I have seen those who have been given the strongest bodies struggling to survive another day of cancer. It seems the higher our highs or the bigger the blessings, the more pronounced the lows. I cannot explain it. I can’t understand it.

Life IS a great adventure full of majestic peaks and low dark valleys, boring endless deserts and beautiful boundless springs of joy. So what can we do about it? Hang on for the ride of your life and follow your Leader into the great unknown. Celebrate the highs, mourn the lows and realize that you are not in control. Adopt an attitude of joy in the big adventure because we know how the story ends.

These Are the Good Old Days

 Social media constantly bombards Boomers and Gen X’ers with reminders of the good old days like playing outside until the street lights came on. And yes, it was a truly magical time to be a kid. Yet somehow these endless reminiscing posts begin to sound like criticism and we move closer to becoming those old grouches that used to yell, “Get off my lawn!” Remember them? They were the ones who refused to get an air conditioner, covered all the furniture in plastic and their house smelled like moth balls. Those folks clung to their old ways even to the point of misery and they seemed to take great pride in it.

So instead of living in the past, how about we remind ourselves of the ways things are better now than they were then? Then maybe we won’t become that old curmudgeon that smells funny. The next time we feel the urge to tell a story of riding our bikes with no helmet in the snow, up a hill, we will remember that 2023 is the good old days for the younger Generation Y, Z and Alphas. (I googled it. Gen Alpha are today’s new babies.)

Following are a few ways things, in my opinion, are better now than then. Maybe it will help plant a seed of gratitude for our present conditions.

• So many more cancers are treatable or curable.

• Men have figured out that they can cook.

• Talking for hours to loved ones who live far away costs absolutely nothing.

• Pictures don’t require film.

• Writing and publishing doesn’t require paper or publishers.

• You can do automatic draft to pay the bills.

• You don’t have to call in to the DJ to hear your favorite song.

• Board games are still popular.

• We don’t have to run all over the house to reset clocks for daylight savings time.

• You can watch your favorite show when you want to and no one has to get up to change the channel.

• Swimming pools are not just for the YMCA and hotels.

• LED lighting allows everyone to economically decorate their house at Christmas.

• You no longer have to struggle folding that map.

• You can fix stuff yourself with the help of a YouTube video.

• You no longer have to drive from store to store, and sometimes town to town, looking for a replacement part.

• You don’t have to purchase a new set of encyclopedias or drive to the library and look through a jam packed card catalog to learn about a topic of interest.

Ok, your list is probably different from mine so please feel free to add a comment for your favorite thing about the days we live in now and maybe we will all become known as the grateful generation.

Choosing Joy: #Asburyrevival

 He prayed then preached a normal sermon in a college chapel service on a Wednesday. It was given in a quiet humble spirit. It wasn’t what you would think of as deserving of an amazing response but it was from the heart. He spoke of love. He spoke of all the kinds of love. He spoke of horrendous acts of evil that masquerade as love. Then he spoke about agape love. He explained that agape love was perfect sacrificial forgiving love for friends and enemies. He spoke of his own works-based futile struggle to love like this. In conclusion, he stated that all agape love has One Source and we can only receive it by truly believing that we are loved by God. The agape love of Christ will naturally overflow from us to the world. He prayed again and the camera shut off.

What happened next has been told by many sources. I picture it like dominoes falling. Students began quietly, humbly pouring their hearts out to God. And it continued until at present count, ten days later, people are still lined around the building waiting to come in and experience this amazing outpouring of grace. Stories of acts happening in the event sound like those that the apostle Paul spoke of in the book of Acts.

A friend posted this verse in response to this outpouring of the Spirit.

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

My gut response over this news is two-fold. I am naturally a jaded fearful human who knows how the evil one and his army can spin things. And I have no doubt that he will do so. But I am also a child of God. And I know His power over evil. So this response is joy.

I choose joy.

#Asburyrevival

Velvet Jesus

 

Gift giving season is upon us and everyone approaches it a little differently. In our primarily German immigrant family, most of us are very pragmatic and want a list to check off. However, my brother who was nine years my senior, was very different in his approach to gift giving. With my brother, it was all about the joy he received by giving and the sky was the limit when it came to spending. He could deal with the bills in January(or not). 

He delighted so much in selecting just the right gift that we were all drawn in by curiosity as to what he got us. Sometimes he got creative with the wrapping too. When I was very young,(and we are talking 1960’s), he secretly used his paper route money to buy our family an electric toothbrush set for Christmas. He wrapped the main body in a large package with all our names on it. Then he labeled separately wrapped gifts with our name containing each colored toothbrush head. He kept bragging about his secret present so I snuck a peak before Christmas to find half a toothbrush. Confused sigh. 

Another Christmas when he was older, he came home with a huge present for my mom. He stowed it away and carried on about how surprised she would be. Later, he showed it to me and my dad under a shroud of secrecy. It was a gigantic painting of Jesus done on black velvet. We appropriately carried on about how much she was going to love it, so much so that mom dreamed about that present on Christmas Eve. She claimed that she dreamed he got her a hideous painting of Jesus. Much to her delight and surprise on Christmas morning she found this one to be beautiful and told us about her dream.

I don’t remember what happened to Velvet Jesus but we had him hanging in our living room for quite a few years. My brother was not worried about the eventual disappearance of Jesus because he was excited about the next gift he was going to give. He was such a great gift giver! His excitement made me anticipate opening his gift more than the others every single Christmas. So thinking back, I see that his gifts were not all that great but his delivery was stellar. Maybe it isn’t about the perfect gift but the perfect effort and attitude.

'Tis the Season--No, Not THAT One!

 Christmas? No. Halloween? No. Elections? No way! Remember that in November it will be Thanksgiving and it is all about that attitude of gratitude. I find it ironic that this season of gratitude falls right before the season of making lists of stuff we want.

In the past year I have been given a heightened awareness of prayer and many answered prayers have resulted in a renewed vision for prayer. This is not to say that I have successfully manipulated God to give me stuff. It is to say that I have been learning a few things from experience, participating in a study of the Lord’s Prayer and am currently reading a book about prayer called Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller. So I thought I would share some of the things I have learned about prayer.

Since Jesus gave an example of how we should pray, this will start with what he said. There are entire sermons written about just one of the lines of this prayer, however, it is the overall attitude that I see in the Lord’s Prayer that speaks to me the most. So each line will be followed by my own summarizing note about each phrase, emphasizing the attitude and focus.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. The focus of this prayer is God. Shift my focus to him.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Prayer should be about listening to God’s agenda, not the reverse.

Give us this day our daily bread. We should recognize our dependence on God for our physical existence.

And forgive us our trespasses… We should recognize our reliance on God for our spiritual existence because we are sinful and dependent on his grace.

…as we forgive those who trespass against us. We are expected to follow his example in our life.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. We have no control and depend on God for our protection for the very real forces of evil around us.

This is how Jesus said to pray. It is a humble prayer. I see the overall attitude of this prayer as reverence for the majesty of our creator and admission of our total dependence on him. This leads me to believe that the wrong way to pray is the opposite…with pride. So I must check my attitude before I jump in with a wish list for The Giver of All Life. And if I do this correctly, my wish list will vanish along with my pretense.

From the aforementioned book by Timothy Keller about prayer, I have discovered these important points about prayer. They resonated with me so I will share them here. They originated from John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion but they are my paraphrase of his points. He refers to them as prayer rules but I think of them as prayer attitudes.

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His first point is to approach God with joyful fear. It is my biggest challenge to retain my awe of God in a lifetime of familiarity. I like to think of this description: tremble with the privilege of speaking to the Creator of the Universe. This makes me think of a song by Lauren Daigle called Tremble. I will place the link here so you can go listen to it. This song expresses this point of view excellently.

 

Calvin’s second point is an attitude of spiritual insufficiency. This is described as being ruthlessly honest about my flaws and weaknesses. No grandiose facades. God knows.

In restful trust, let go and let God handle our issues. In Keller’s book it is suggested that we could say, “Here’s what I need–but You know best.”

The fourth attitude is to pray with confidence and hope, knowing that God will give us the best answer in his own time and it will be so much better than our ideas.

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So may we all remember in this season, that prayer is about a frame of mind of joyful reverence, honesty, trust and confident hope. ‘Tis the Season!

Reliance is the Key

 

Let me introduce you to my new favorite show, Alone. The contestants are experts in wilderness survival who are left alone in their own area of Northern Canada with ten items of their choice and high-dollar camera equipment to film their day-to-day trials. If they survive for 100 days without quitting, they win a million dollars. Each contestant goes in with abundant confidence in his or her own abilities, bragging to their camera about their preparation and grit. But what I have noticed is that no matter their abilities(and they are great), it only takes one accident or mistake to bring them to their knees, in tears, calling it quits. They do not have the control that they think they have. These highly trained survivalists succumb to things as simple as an injury or loss of a one of their ten items. 

I saw this same concept at my class reunion. Classmates with so much ability and promise were stopped in their tracks by disease, accident or even death. A classmate who was an amazing athlete spent his entire adult life in a wheel chair. A top notch heart doctor suddenly died of unexpected heart issues. The bottom line is we don’t have as much control as we think we have. No matter our abilities, we are all vulnerable in a moment’s notice and often we never see it coming. 

But I don’t say this believing we should live in fear. Quite the opposite. I believe we should be wise and learn to live in confidence in God; living reliantly on God yet doing everything in our power to be prepared. I guess my advice to those contestants on that survival show would be to go in prepared to do everything they can to survive yet admit to themselves, God, and their camera that they could be vulnerable in a moment. They should know deep within themselves that it is God who controls their outcome. Then maybe they would not leave broken and in tears when they must admit they cannot succeed. 

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So how would I apply this to my life of comfort? Well, I should continue to do everything I can do to be successful in my life, however, I should daily realize that it only takes one tiny circumstance that could take my life in a different direction in a moment. This is called humility. I should live in the habit of thanking God for what he does to sustain me and those I love. I should continually keep this attitude of humility in my own abilities and preparation. And if the unexpected turn happens, I will already be in the habit of relying on God for the next step. Then my spirit will not be broken by circumstance because I have given each day to God in total trust and reliance knowing He is in control and not me. 

Psalm 73:23-26 NIV [23] Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Do Your Ears Hang Low?

 

geralt / 22899 images

When you read that title, I'll bet you were singing the song in your head. 

It is not the sagging skin, growing earlobes or arthritic joints; it is the slowing of my mind that worries me about aging. It seems that a job that should take one hour, takes two. Not because my body is slow but because it takes one hour to do the job and one to correct my mistakes. And what I learned yesterday, I have forgotten today. It is so distressing for me to plainly see the progressive demise of my faculties. No, I don’t have Alzheimers(at least not yet). It is just that my highest value was always in how my mind worked so that is what takes my attention. But I guess we all have one thing that worries us about aging. And I must remember, aging is a privilege granted to survivors.

Here is a scripture that comforted me today about this time of life.

Psalm 103: 1-5 NIV

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
 Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

God does forgive my sins every single day. He has healed my diseases. He did redeem my life from the pit. He does crown me with love and compassion. He does satisfy my desires with so many good things. So it follows that I should rejoice and enjoy these good things and let them renew my youth. Yes, just as the scripture says, it is through a grateful and thankful heart over God’s goodness that He will renew my youth like the eagle’s.

Are You Experiencing the Human Condition?

 

When those we love are torn from us. When we suffer without relief in sight. When we are attacked from every side. When we are unfairly accused. When you doubt if God cares or exists. When God seems only to be a lofty thought or an uncaring provider. This. This is the human condition. And at some point we all experience this.

Even Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me”? And these very words were written by King David, known as a man after God’s own heart. The commonality of pain is living in a human body. Our birth on this earth brought us the skin and bones that makes this condition inevitable. No one goes through life without dealing with the feeling of being forgotten by our own Creator. But the key to surviving all this angst is the word temporary. It is not here to stay. All this pain, all this doubt and all this suffering is a momentary condition compared to what is ahead. 

But how do we survive these feelings of neglect? God has given us two gifts that help pull us through the dark: remembrance and hope. First, we must dig deep and force ourselves to remember the moments that we felt God’s presence, protection and guidance; those times in our life where we felt his love and Divine direction. So we must shake off that spiritual amnesia and make a practice of remembering everyday.

The second gift is hope. It is ranked with love and faith yet we don’t address it often enough. Without hope we can’t go on.

Romans 8:24-25 NIV For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Yep, it said wait PATIENTLY. Oh my, patiently! Now that is one tough word. It requires time when we want instant relief. It reminds me of the word ‘grit’ or ‘persevere’ which also require time.

So how do we spark hope when we feel hopeless? It may help to visualize what it means to have hope and persevere with grit and determination. For me it helps to read books or watch movies with the theme of perseverance. Whether they are labeled “Christian” or not, we can find hope in surprising places. There are so many movies with a theme of hope and perseverance out there. I googled it. I found everything from Rocky to Lord of the Rings. Fill your empty heart with some stories of hope while you are waiting.

Slowly but surely you will hear God’s voice again. From David, the one who penned, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish”? He also wrote these words:

Psalm 30:5-12 NIV  … weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” Lord, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help. ” You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever.

How COVID Could Make You Better

 Since we have the time, let’s take a break from worrying to imagine something better together. Out of this weird COVID time, there will come some benefits. Think of the creativity that has been given time to grow and mature. Maybe busy writers will at last have time to write that book series that will leave J.K. Rowling in the dust! What about the beautiful songs that are being written? Maybe some song writer is writing the most beautiful tune ever hummed. What works of art are being designed? Move over Picasso! What movie score is being written that will rise to your top ten list?

Think of the intimate social interactions forged by this slower pace. What family ties are being reinforced? What things outside of our comfort zones have been tried? What important conversations happened that never would have at the normal hectic pace of life? What words are being understood that were never given the time to sink in before? What stories will you have to tell the next generation?

Think of the quiet that is required to hear the voice of God. It is that hush-and-be-still time that feeds our soul.  What about the time that is being spent talking to God that was rushed and forced before? What wonders of God have been revealed to children who, out of boredom, were forced to seek recreation outside?

Think of the gratitude we now have for the privileges we once took for granted. An attitude of gratitude that some happy people possess is growing in all of us. Think about the appreciation that has grown for the privilege of time with friends. I don’t know about you but I now understand what a privilege it was to sing with a large group in praise. And of course, even for those of us who are not huggers, we are beginning to appreciate the human touch.  When you think about it, waiting for this time to be over is like waiting for Christmas. What wonderful presents will we find and appreciate like never before?

Last Sunday(online of course), my pastor said something that resonated with me. He said, “It is time to roll up our sleeves instead of taking a wake-me-up-when-it-is-over attitude.” This will end. But until then, don’t dwell on the negative and the doubt, but slap on a face mask and get about your business. And if your business is gone, spend your time thinking of ways to help someone else, and do it.

The Thief

Once upon a time there was a joyful man named Rupert, who lived in the deep forest with his family in a quaint cottage he made with his own hands. Each day he would walk to the nearby village where he made the best shoes in the land.  People from around the entire Provence, ruled by the Great Lion King, came to buy a pair of shoes from Rupert the Cobbler for there was none that fit so well and lasted so long as the shoes he made. Rupert was not rich but he had a beautiful, loving wife and three children that never went without a meal. Rupert was a hard worker, loved his life and was seldom seen without a twinkle in his eye.  

One day on the way to work, whistling a happy tune, he was approached by a tiny little man with his head bent to the ground.  Rupert’s heart went out to this man in his crooked condition so he walked with him all the way to his shop in the village.  Along the way he discovered that this little man, Yaroslav, knew quite a bit about making shoes and Rupert began questioning him about it.  Yaroslav shared many details with Rupert about the art of shoemaking.  He pointed out that the leather that Rupert used for the sole, from the hide of a Chichi dragon, was soon to become impossible to obtain.  Yaroslav heard that the Chichi dragons were steadily moving further away into the mountains where someday, no one could find them again.  

Rupert couldn’t believe his luck to find such a clever man as Yaroslav!  He bid him farewell and as soon as he got to the shop he began making his shoes from the belly of the common warthog.  Rupert knew he would never run out of warthog belly and he was safe from the impending dragon hide shortage. 

The next day on the way to work Rupert watched for the crooked little man.  Sure enough, there he was around the next bend.  Today Yaroslav revealed that he also once lived in the woods with his family just eighteen hectares North of here, until his wife was attacked by a rogue pack of Wolverineans while she was hanging the laundry on the line. Until now, Rupert thought the Wolverineans were an ancient savage species that only lived in legends. In the stories, they only attacked what they could see. He was so shocked by this news that he built a fence around his property tall enough that the Wolverineans could not see his cottage and consequently, Rupert and his family could no longer see the trees.  He was sure that now his family would be safe, for a while...

He never ran into the old man again but often thought about all the dangers surrounding him everyday. He felt his best defense was to think of them before they happened then he would be prepared to fend them off.  He regretted his old haphazard life and spent all his time thinking of problems that might steal his home, family or business away.  Yaroslav had taught him how to be smart and stay one step ahead of potential problems.  Rupert felt smarter than others for staying ahead of heartache and loss by predicting ways that he might be vulnerable. But gradually Rupert began to stoop a little due to the load of thoughts swirling in his head. His steps were slower and more cautious. Gone was his happy whistle and jolly step.  Gone was his lovely unprotected forest home and the summer evenings watching his children swinging from the trees. Gone was his high quality shoes and most of his customers!

In keeping with his cautious lifestyle, Rupert made a regular swing by the post office to check out the pictures of the most wanted criminals.  One day, the 13th of May, I believe, Rupert spotted a familiar face at the top of he most wanted list.  It was Yaroslav!  Under his picture it said “Joy Thief”.  Reading the fine print, it said Yaroslav’s modus operandi was to instill fear in the heart of unsuspecting souls, submitting them to a life of haunting worry.  Rupert knew immediately he had been under Yaroslav’s curse.  Regret filled his heart and he wept over all that had been stolen from him.  

Rupert tried the best he could to rid his mind of the thoughts of impending doom.  But try as he might, he only seemed to obsess even more. When Rupert was at his wit’s end he decided to go see the Great Lion King, known for his wisdom, to see if he could remove the spell and restore his joy. 

Upon arrival, Rupert bowed low before the Mighty Lion King’s thrown asking the kind compassionate King for relief from this curse.  The King quickly asked Rupert if he wanted to be free of this curse.  This seemed like a silly question but Rupert answered saying that more than anything, he wanted it gone. Then the King told Rupert the pathway to freedom.  He said, “It will not be easy. You will need to take the time daily on your way to work to stop by and tell me one new and beautiful thing about your life”.  Rupert was desperate and agreed to this practice. Early the next morning he dutifully got up and started thinking about the previous day to find one small piece of beauty in his miserable cursed existence. He finally thought of one thing to tell the Great Lion King: He now had hope. Each day he had to come up with a new point of gratitude and remember the ones from the previous days. He diligently reported to the Lion King every morning and each morning it became easier to think of a new beautiful thing in his life in which he was grateful. 

Gradually, as winter turned to spring, Rupert’s family noticed the softness returning to his eyes, the skip was restored to Rupert’s step and his back straightened out.  He no longer had difficulty thinking of something to tell the Lion King and looked forward to his visits.  He often sat for an hour just telling of all the beauty in his life.  Rupert, now recognizing the fears and lies of Yaroslav, removed the fences around his forest home and once again began making shoes from the quality Chichi dragon hide. In the summer evenings he could again watch his children playing in the forest, swinging feely from the tree branches. Rupert was blessed in everything he did and he never stopped reporting to the Lion King, living most happily ever after!