Why?

                          

A difficult life lived well

Most of us have rather easy lives.  Yes, we all complain about this or that, but honestly...if we were really honest...we would have to admit we have had very easy lives.

Today is Joni Eareckson Tada's birthday. Because of an accident at a young age she has lived a handicapped life and lived it well....a difficult life lived well.

As I thought about her I remember my brother, Marty, as well.  He had a rare form of MD and lived with physical handicaps, pain and constant surgeries his entire life.  And yet he never verbalized the pain.  He loved life and lived as well as he was able.  But at 49 he left us and leaves behind a legacy of a difficult life lived well.

How many choose to live well, leaning into God even in the midst of trials, pain, handicap?  How many trust God when it appears he's nowhere to be seen?  How many around us live out a difficult life and do it for the glory of God?

The brother of Jesus wrote, "Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials..."  Honestly, I don't do that well.  For me (totally honest here) I whine, complain and argue with God when trials come.  "WHY ME?" I ask.  "But God, I thought you loved me...." 

And then I think of those, like Joni...like my brother Marty who trusted God with no hope of relief, no sign God even noticed them...rejoicing in the love of a good God.

Lord, as I encounter the trials you have for me, as I face the difficult day may I do it with joy trusting in your kind and wonderful hand to walk with me through the dark places.  When I encounter the difficult days may I live them well for your glory trusting your wonderful loving care for each moment.  And thank you for Joni, for Marty and for so many more who have lived difficult lives well.

One man

One man or woman can change everything!

The impact of one life, for good or bad, is profound.  

One life can act out of good intentions and kindness or out of anger and fear.  No matter what the reason one person can change everything....

....for a church, a community or a nation.

If you are like me you don't think your life makes much difference, but I'm always surprised to discover what one simple life can do in the world.

One man in the Bible did make a profound impact on his culture. His name was mentioned dozens of times in the bible and not once for any good he did, but always for the one thing he did out of fear that caused every generation after him to follow his bad choices.

His name was Jeroboam, son of Nebat.  

I won't go into his story here, but I encourage you to read it in 1 Kings 12:25 and following.  It's a sad story of a man who acted out of fear and caused generations after him to sin.

I wonder, as I watch the lives of those around me, do they realize they impact others with their choices?  

Do we know that others are watching, and modeling their lives after ours?

One man makes a big difference. One woman can change everything.

One life can impact an entire country.  

How will our lives impact those around us?  How will they live out what they see in us?

What story will be told because of the choices we made?

If you only pray....

Where are you?

This morning, as usual for a Saturday morning with a house full of grandkids on the weekend, I'm at Starbucks for some time to read, pray and be alone.  

I've been thinking this morning about where I am in my walk with God.  The question is something like this,  where are you?  (I'm not speaking to God when I ask this, this question is for me.)

I know what I want.  I want and desire a close and personal relationship with God, with Jesus, but I struggle to know what that looks like, what that feels like.  What does a personal relationship with God look like? What happens when I have it?  I think this is where the mystic will jump in and tell me, but I don't find scripture making it that simple.

I can't make anything happen.  It seems all I can do is make myself available for God to speak, to do, to be with me.  For me that means some time alone, time in the word, some quiet where I can just be still.  I can't tell you I've heard any word from God because I really haven't.  I'm quite content to find his words to me in scripture (as I should).  But that sense of nearness still somehow eludes me.

I don't write this asking for you to help me, to give me answers.  That's not how all of this works.  It's very much like any relationship...it just takes time and fellowship together and soon we begin to be comfortable with each other, close in a way we don't realize is happening.

My sweet wife and I are coming up on our 42nd anniversary.  It's hard to believe we have been married that long.  She's still so young, but in these years there have been times when we are in the same room together with no words being exchanged and one or both of us have said, "it's so nice being with you."  

I think that is a bit like a relationship with God.  It's that presence that is so life giving....even if no words are exchanged.  I'm available for him to speak, but even if he doesn't....it's so nice being with him.

The end

The news is rich with prophecies of the last days.  In the last month we have passed two dates set by different groups. They said "THE END OF THE WORLD" would happen on the date they set.  One of those dates was this week, October 7th. 

Did you miss it?  Did you know that was the end of the world?  

Oh, wait, we are still here and it's the 9th.  

What happened?  

Why are so many predicting the end?  

Is anyone even listening anymore to the doom merchants?

It seems to me that we have become immune to the chicken littles of the world, the cries that all is ending on a certain date.  Now we simply yawn, smile and go about our day.  

But Jesus told us to be ready, to be dressed, to look up with anticipation, not with dread and gloom, but with excitement.  Yes, the day of the Lord will be a dreadful day, but God's kids don't live in fear of that day.  We live with excitement, waiting for another day, the day when the groom comes for his bride.  The day when we meet the one we love and worship for the first time.  

"Perhaps today" we say to one another with a hope for the days ahead.  For us the end is not a dreaded day of doom, but simply a new beginning...the beginning of eternity.  

Look up with excitement, with anticipation.  Perhaps today he will come for his bride.

The end?  Not really, it's actually just the beginning.  How exciting!

What do they see?

What's on the menu today?

What will we do?

Panic.

You've felt it, haven't you?

That sudden sense that everything is out of control...

...that the world and the problems you face are overwhelming, too big, too much!

You may have actually said it at one time, "What will I do?!"

It was a question one man asked one morning when he realized what had happened in the night.  Here is the short story from 2 Kings 6,

15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.

16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

When all we see is what we know we miss what God is doing around us.  

This servant was in a complete panic because of what he saw, but 

Elisha was sipping his coffee quite calmly.  

He saw something completely different.  

He saw what God was doing.

When panic comes, when fears rise, when the situations you see are overwhelming don't forget that what you see is not all there is.

Unseen is a sovereign God guiding, protecting, watching.

And around us are heavens armies watching over his people.

As God said to the prophet Isaiah he says to us,

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you."

Make room...

  I just finished skimming a new book I wanted to read.  

There wasn't much in it.  One of those books you quickly realize has little to offer, but I did get one sentence out of it....and for that I consider it a success.

Here it is,  "Make some room for God."  

That's it.  But what a sentence!  I stopped and reread it a couple times and began to think about what that looks like in my life. 

I was quickly convicted that I don't do that as much as I should.  I don't make room for God in situations where he is most needed.  

The pressures of the moment make me respond alone, deal with it alone instead of making room for God to be part of the moment, part of the discussion, or part of the solution.

I fear I do this too often without realizing it.  The Jews did it and here was Jesus' reply, "And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message."  (John 8:37)  

It concerns me that my responses will not be healthy or honoring to God when I make no room for him to be part of the discussion or even part of my life.  

So here are a few questions I’m going to work on,

How do I make room for God?

What would that look like?

What can I do to give him a “place at the table” in my life and decisions?

I’m not offering answers for all of this, just sharing my new quest….finding ways, in every aspect of my life, to make room for God.

Choosing joy

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” 
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

The depth of joy

“And yet all loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies, and itchings that (Hell) contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all. Bad cannot succeed even in being bad as truly as good is good.” 


― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Quote of the day

“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” 

― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin