Meeting a need

I wonder what some people are thinking! They use the strangest things to meet their needs. We use other people to fix loneliness, alcohol to forget our problems, illegal drugs to deal with depression, and a hundred other misused tools to fix the problems of our lives. I think many of our solutions to the problems we face look like this to God. He has to be saying, just like you are right now, "Huh? What are they thinking? That won't work!" But we try it anyway...and discover the hard way that our solutions don't work. It's only when we do things God's way that we get the right tools for the right problems.

Accidental truth

Sometimes we stumble upon truth without meaning to. This t-shirt, badly translated, actually has a great message- "Time goes. That's it!" And then at the bottom this fascinating statement- "Marriage is for when life is not so good."

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I don't know what the intended message was, but this one works for me. Two true statements that, although not connected, actually seems well thought out. Time goes. That's it!....You only go through life once, so don't whine about it...time goes for all of us, but the second part caught my eye- "Marriage is for when life is not so good." I do wish I knew what they meant to say, but this badly worded statement works well- marriage is the best place to be when life is not so good. During tough days, difficult times, it's great to have someone go with you through those times. Now, I don't mean to suggest that if you are going through a tough time that marriage will make it better. You may actually make things worse, but to have a partner to walk with you through the difficult days is wonderful. When one stumbles the other can hold them up. When two walk together even dark days seem bearable. Accidental truth, isn't it great?

Caged

It's interesting to me to see what keeps so many captive when freedom is all around. Often what we think is freedom is simply a new kind of cage that keeps us from enjoying what God calls true freedom.

Unforgiveness of another is an obvious cage to most of us, but from the one holding the grudge you would hear, "I have every right to hold a grudge. Look what they did to me and they haven't asked forgiveness!" This person believes their freedom gives them the right to hold someone else in bondage to their unforgiveness, but they are the one who is caged with a full view of freedom all around.

For another it sounds like this, "I just want to be happy." This is a most deceptive cage. The cage is the illusion that happiness is "out there", with someone else, or doing what "I want". But the cage called "I just want to be happy" makes them choose bondage. It's a most cruel kind of cage because the very thing they most want eludes them and teases them still with the promise just out of reach of their bondage.

What's tragic, as I watch the lives of those who come to talk to me, is that they hold the keys to their own cages, but simply don't want to open the door. It's sad to watch someone, who is caged in full view of open skies, refuse to open the door. What a tragedy. But, sadly, there are cages hanging from every tree with people we know claiming their right to do as they choose. What most miss is that freedom comes only when we pursue what God wants in our lives. When we obey him true freedom forces open the door of the cage and we are free for the first time. It's strange, but true freedom comes when we obey God. When we insist on our own way we lived caged lives with freedom all around.

Monday's cartoon

Coming soon...

I'm working on a new post I hope to have up soon. I would love your feedback on the title alone. Let me know what the title provokes in your thoughts and ideas it brings to mind.

Ok, ready...here's the title- "Band-aids and bullet holes."

Coming soon....

Saturday's cartoon

Talking to God

Prayer is an amazing thing. In a moment of time, with a whisper, a word, a plea...I can come into the presence of the creator of the universe and appeal for help, unload my heart, ask for provision, or simply sit in his presence. What an amazing thing...talking to the creator of the universe. But beyond that...even more amazing....he listens when I call. In a moment, with no one else aware of my heart, I can pray, "Oh Lord, help! Please...." And in that moment he listens to my request. He's there! He hears! He cares about me!
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I love the prayers of David. He's a man who knew how to pray. David is a "dump the truck" man of prayer. When he prays he puts it all out there. Over the centuries David has been mankind's best teacher on the topic of prayer. No one ever came to God so openly, boldly, or so passionately as David did. Here is part of one of the prayers of David and a few thoughts about talking to God...
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Psalm 86
A prayer of David.

1 Hear, O LORD, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.

You are my God; save your servant

who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,

for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant,

for to you, O Lord,

I lift up my soul.
5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord,

abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, O LORD;

listen to my cry for mercy.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you,

for you will answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord;

no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made

will come and worship before you, O Lord;

they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;

you alone are God.

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What an amazing prayer. You can feel David's anguish as he prays. You can almost see his pain, but at the same time there is a confidence, an assurance that he's not just talking to the wind. He's talking to God and he knows God will answer.

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The author of Hebrews invites us to prayer with these words from his book, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." As I've read that verse over the years I imagine this picture in my mind....in that quiet moment when I come into God's presence to ask for his help I'm surrounded by millions of others who have come at God's invitation as well to ask for help in their own lives. As I begin to pray, with that first word, "Father..." I'm keenly aware that the ear of the Lord is fully attentive to MY request. He is listening to ME! He hears my prayer and knows my need intimately. He cares about ME. And, in that moment of vivid awareness that I'm his sole focus, I am also aware that he is listening in the same way to each one who has come to ask for his help. It's wonderful and amazing that the God of the universe listens when I pray! With just one word, "Lord...." I am suddenly in his presence, before his throne, and his ear is open to my prayer, my need, my request. He cares about me. In that short verse in Hebrews the author makes it clear that I can come with confidence because he cares about me. His grace has made the way for me. In that time of prayer I find two things I most need...mercy and grace to help. So, in these wee hours of the morning, as I talk about this amazing God and the opportunity we have to talk to him, I'm going to leave you now and spend some time in his presence. We have some things to talk about.....I hope to see you there, in front of his throne, talking to the one who hears when we call....

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Quote of the day

Some quotes, although political in nature, are just too good not to share. This quote is from a Jerusalem Post article about President Obama's speech at the United Nations. It's part of an article by MICHAEL FREUND, here are a few of his words from the article,

"...sounding like a scorned substitute teacher being ignored by his pupils,"

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It's amazing how well some writers can paint pictures with words. Michael is one of those authors. I just loved the imagery of these few words and wanted to share them with you.

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(Disclaimer- this is NOT a political comment on my part, simply a fascination with words.)

Perceptions

Australia is going through an amazing storm right now. Not rain, but dust. The skies over Sydney are orange with the dust from the outback in the air. Apparently winds from the central part of the country have blown eastward and the dust from the outback has colored the sky over most of the eastern coast.

Now, if you have read my blog long enough you know I'm going to try to make something spiritual out of this....and I am. I'm sorry, I can't help it. A normally blue sky is now a dusty orange in Sydney because of something that has happened to them. It wasn't their fault, but it's affected them anyway. Now, all they see are orange skies. It's reality in nature, but it happens to us in different ways. It is literally true that what others around us do impacts us. Our perceptions and how we see things are changed by the lives of others. An alcoholic father changes the colors of life for a child. An abusive mother distorts reality for her children. A cruel or unloving mate changes how we view ourselves. Our peers at school can turn against us and make us feel fat, unloved, or outcast. Our perceptions of our world are changed by what others do. Our skies go from blue to orange and we lose sight of how the skies of our lives should really look.

What we see because of these influences is real to us, but it's not the way it should be. We see orange skies, but they are supposed to be blue. How can these changes in our reality be put right? How can we get our vision of things set back to a correct view of life? As I talk to people and help many with their life issues it's clear to me that the influence of others affects the perception of all of us. We see things differently than we should because of abuse, anger, loss of love, perception of what things should be like. Our vision of reality is messed up and now we see orange when we should see blue.

How can we correct our perceptions? How can we get a "blue sky view" again? It comes from time in God's word. My question to people who are seeing orange is first to ask them, "Are you reading God's word?" I know their answer, it's always the same, "No, but I know I need to be...." And their voice fades off to a whisper. Let me share with you the way to correct your wrong perceptions on reality. The way to change your orange skies to blue again- Read God's word! Get in it daily, absorb yourself in it. Memorize scriptures, make it part of your life. It will clear the dust from your eyes, it will correct your wrong perspectives, it will make your skies blue again. Perceptions can become reality unless we have a way to see clearly. God's word is the corrective lens for a world gone orange.

Monday's cartoon

(click on image to enlarge)

Life and weather

As you can tell from my recent weeks of posting I have been very short on devotional thoughts, spiritual insights and inspiration. Truthfully, it comes as rain often does...it may be a very dry time in a life, but a cloud will pass over and unload its bounty on the dry ground reviving life and inspiring hope. Life is often like the weather (not at all like a box of chocolates.) There are times of storm, wonderful times of calm healing rains, dry difficult times and there are days when it appears that everyone around you is blessed with a cloud full of rain, but your sky is hauntingly empty and your draught continues. As the ground cracks under your feet it makes you more keenly aware of the bounty being harvested in the life next door. The challenge for us is to keep our eyes on the Lord and trust him whether we are in a flood or a draught. Inspiration, for me, doesn't always come from the blessings of rain alone. Often inspiration comes from the empty sky above when it appears God is not only silent, but seems to be absent as well. And yet, I know he's there. I know he loves me. I know that he is working in my life. I know because I know him. He has cared for me my entire life and proven himself over and over again. Like the weather, the circumstances of our lives changes. We will all have difficult days to deal with. Most of us will also have days of bounty. We get in trouble when we think the days of bounty should be our norm. Normal for a Christian is an intimate relationship with God regardless of the weather. When the relationship is missing then our circumstances become our focus. If you ever begin to depend on circumstances for your joy and happiness you are in for a difficult life. It's my relationship with God that will carry me through every weather condition. It's my walk with him that will bring joy and peace even when the ground cracks under my feet, even if I'm up to my knees in the flood. I've tried to describe this in a hundred different ways as I've written about the Christian life. The focus of it all is a relationship with God. The goal of it all is a relationship with God. The desire of God's heart is a relationship with him, and yet we so easily focus on the weather...the circumstances around us. Here's a wonderful example of this in the life of another man...

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Mat. 14:25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
28 "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29 "Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
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Like all of us Peter got his eyes on the weather, his circumstances, and took his eyes off of the Lord. Notice verse 30, "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"" Now really, can anyone see the wind? Didn't he already know that what he was doing was impossible? Why was he worried about the wind? But it was just enough to take his eyes off of the Lord and then his circumstances got the best of him. And they do the same for us. When you begin to focus on your circumstances you will begin to sink, and hopefully, you will cry out, "Lord, help me!" as Peter did. What fascinated me in this passage is that Jesus was not far away, he didn't have to run to Peter to catch him. Before Peter even got wet it says, "Jesus reached out his hand and caught him." He was that close and yet Peter lost his focus. We do the same thing, but when the weather of your life catches your attention remember that God is right there with you to help you through your difficult days. The appeal is simple, "Lord, help me!" and he will reach out and catch you.

Lucy is 9!

We have 5 awesome grandchildren, but the oldest, Lucy, is 9 years old today! Joye and Lucy just got back from shopping and Lucy said she was rich for a day. She unpacked all her loot and showed all she had purchased for her birthday. We are blessed! Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Warnings

I wish all the warnings of life were this clear. I wish this sign had been posted for me a year and a half ago. Signs like this are funny to us because you can't warn people not to have an accident, they just happen. But scripture does give us warnings we can heed, things we can avoid. The book of Proverbs is full of these kind of warnings and wisdom. It is a book that a grandfather might write to his grandchildren to tell them about the things he has learned in a lifetime, things to watch for, things to avoid. But most ignore the signs anyway because "it won't happen to us"....but when it does our first response is, "I wish I had seen that sign." The signs are everywhere and easy to read. Let me invite you on an odyssey I have been on for quite a while. Each day, first thing, I look at the calendar to see the date and then read that chapter in Proverbs. That way I literally read through the book of Proverbs once a month. It's a great way to become familiar with all the wisdom signs I will need as I go through my days. When you see the signs others have posted you can avoid the falls.

Quote of the day

I read this line in an article about the largest churches in America today. This one line popped out of the text and caught my attention. If you want to read the whole article you can find it here, but this is the quote I wanted to share with you-

"The best churches have very intentional systems to move people from sitting in rows to sitting in circles (in small groups) to going out and making a difference in the world."

Awestruck

I'm preparing to dig into our study in Hebrews tonight. I'm starting in chapter one (makes sense, doesn't it?), but I'm only working through the first three verses! As I looked at the outline I wondered....how can I fill an hour and a half with only three verses? As I have begun to prepare, these verses begin to unpack themselves and suddenly I am in awe of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he has done, more than I have ever been. And now I'm wondering...how can I get through these three verses in only an hour and a half? I think that's truly the way it is with God. As we begin to look at him more closely our eyes are opened, our ears hear and our minds are overwhelmed with this amazing God we worship. He begins to open our eyes to who he is and the depth of it takes our breath away. We cannot comprehend this amazing one who loves us so wonderfully. I really think I might need another class session for these three verses....