My photo of the day

God's smile

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, 

or with the breadth of his had marked off the heavens?  

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket 

or weighed the mountains on the scales 

and the hills in a balance?"  -Isaiah 40

We have the great joy of a week in a place I would call a preview to paradise.  It's a glorious escape from the busy lives we live in the city.  Here, for a moment, we get to escape the world and all its pursuits and simply enjoy God's creation.  Around us are beautiful trees, mountains, amazing clouds, birds singing and hidden everywhere are elk, deer and bear.  It's a glorious place.  As I listen and watch and think it makes me more aware of God than I have been in months....he's here!  He's everywhere.  But as we stop our lives for a moment and quiet our souls I am more aware of his presence, his sovereign hand ruling all that goes on around me.  

One of my favorite passages from Psalms is a prayer of David in Psalm 27 where he writes, "My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"  Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger, you have been my helper.  Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior."  As we enjoy this brief oasis from the world I sense I see him smile.

Stillness all around, birds singing, cool breeze through the trees....how is it that this refreshes us? How does nature give us such peace and life?  I think, at least for me, these places are "thin places".....places where the distance between us and God is very small, very thin.  I can almost hear his voice, see his smile, sense his presence....although I know he's always with me....at least here, as I stop for a moment and celebrate him I think I see him smile. 

The glory of God

"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands..."  

-Psalm 19

This morning we rise to a wonderful day in the mountains of Colorado and the gracious kindness of a wonderful lady as she shares her home with us for the week.  There is nothing as restful as nature and an escape from the frenzy of the world.  To stop for a moment and hear nothing but birds singing, the breeze in the trees and the buzz of hummingbirds flying by is the best drug ever prescribed for a weary soul.  This week we are going to do our best to enjoy the glory of God in what he has made.  How wonderful you are, Lord.  How amazing is the world you have made.  Thank you for eyes to see it, ears to hear it and the grace of a friend to share it.  

This morning we are basking in the glory of God.

Father's day

Today, in my country, it's father's day.  A day to celebrate our dads and their impact in our lives.  I was and am blessed with a great dad who took care of us, raised us and taught us how to work.  He's battling health issues now, but I'm so glad he's still here and I'm able to celebrate another year with him.  Thank you, dad, for being such a wonderful example of what a man can be.

Seeing the unseen

I love these amazing photos of a universe unseen to human eye.  We would have no idea these amazing stars and galaxies were out there without the telescopes men have invented to reach beyond anything the eye can ever see on its own.  

Without a telescope we would never see this galaxy.

Without the bible we would never see God. 

The bible reveals the unseen to us so we can see beyond sight, beyond what we could ever see without it.  It's our telescope on God...revealing the unseen God to our feeble vision.

If you were to gaze at the sky at night you would never see this galaxy without help.  

If you were to gaze at the world around you it would be hard to see God without the bible.  It wonderfully magnifies God for us and reveals him to our weak gaze.

Can't see him?  Get into his word and you will see him everywhere in glorious colors!  

The bible will make the unseen visible and pull back the curtain on the God who made everything you see around you.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." -Hebrews 11

A great article...

Here is a great article from another site.  It describes my life well at the moment.  "God rules the Mundane".

What I'm reading now....

I'm in the middle of the story of Nik and his family as they served in Kenya and Somalia.  It's a wonderful story of missionaries living out their faith in God.  I highly recommend it.

Serving others in need

For the last two days we have been loading furniture and the necessities of life in a truck to take them to Oklahoma for those hit by the tornados a few weeks ago.  We found a family who lost everything and helped them get on their feet again.  The whole odyssey was great fun, but I have to tell you completely exhausting!  We had several men who stayed with me the whole way and a few others that helped for some of our time together.  Thank you all for your work, but I want to especially thank Joe and Mike for your tireless work to make this happen.  It was quite humorous to realize three old men were doing all of this, but we got it done.  Thank you Joe and Mike!  Here are a few photos from our day yesterday.

                          ready to unload

                              Joe and Mike

                     Exhausted!

                           We're done!

Building forts or equipping knights?

In the last week I have visited with several couples about their angst and concern for their kids.  The normal response for most Christian parents I have met is to build a fort to keep their kids safe, to protect them from the "world".  The problem with that plan is that one day these kids we raise will leave the walls of the fort you have built and will engage the world...and most likely they will fail, in fact more than 80% of them will leave the Christian faith.

The problem I see is the belief that building forts is the right strategy.  Might I counter that with another approach, another way of raising kids?  Rather than building forts I would encourage parents to equip knights.  Give your kids the tools and weapons they will need when they go into the world and leave your home because one day they will face the world....ready or not.  If you don't arm them intellectually, biblically, morally, and spiritually for the battles ahead they will find themselves speechless and "naked" before a world that has been battling the issues you have protected you child from for most of their lives.

Sending a child into this world unarmed is the cruelest of all parenting decisions.  Let me suggest that, rather than protecting them from the world you help them engage the world, deal with the hard issues of sex, homosexuality, morality, atheism....ETC....and do it with them while still in your home.  The difference in the outcome couldn't be more clear. A child raised in a fort will face the world and fail not far from the castle gates, but a child prepared for the world around them will know the issues, know how to think and be ready with a living faith to face a cynical world.

These ideas are just seeds sown at the moment. I would love to hear your thoughts on these ideas as we raise children in a post-Christian world. How much better to send them out into the world dressed and ready for the battle, able to deal with the issues they will face when they leave home.

Here is an article on this topic I encourage you to read- "Listening to Young Atheists"

Rest in the Lord

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. 

-Psalm 37

Finding a quiet place

I've needed to do this for a while.  

I have no excuses.  

I could tell you that life is busy, there is much to do, I don't have time, but none of that matters when it comes to spending time with God.  

This morning I found a park bench a pastor friend shared with me years ago and I spent an hour praying, worshiping, listening...it was a beginning.  I need that more than I can tell you here.  I need time with my Father. I need silence. I need time to worship him without the noise and distractions of a world that screams for my attention.

This morning I spent time with God as best I could.  As I left that bench I longed for a couple more hours to simply be in God's presence.  I need it.  

I'm not sure what God is doing in my life, but he's working on something....he hasn't told me yet what it is, but there is a discontent, a hunger, an uneasiness.  

One thing I know is that I need to spend more time with him.  I need quiet places where the world can't reach me, but God can.

I hunger for those moments and this morning was just the first in a new quest to engage my Father in some "face time".  I cannot live without him.  He is my life, my breath, my all.  Time alone with him is vital for my walk with him.  I have to admit that I have let these moments slip away from me because there is much to do "for God", but what sense does that make?  How can I serve someone well when I spend little time with him?  And so I am connecting once more with Father...time I have let get away from me to my great loss.

I know God is in this.  I know this hunger, this discontent is from him.  I know he woos me, draws me to time with him because without that nothing else really matters.  It is, once more, a wonderful part of my days.  I hope I don't let it slip away again.....

Promise of the day

"The Lord will accomplish what concerns me."  Psalm 138:8

Quote of the day

"It is very sweet, as life passes by, to be able to look back on dark and mysterious events, and to trace the hand of God where we once saw only the malice and cruelty of man." F. B. Meyer

Stepping away from the crowds

Matthew 14:13-  Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; 

I think I've read the gospel of Matthew a hundred times, but this verse stopped me as I read it this morning.  It is the verse immediately after the story of John's beheading.  Jesus received the news about John and the next thing he did was step away...or rather sail away by himself to be alone with God.  

What I had never seen before is Jesus hopping in a boat by himself and sailing across the lake.  Honestly, there is no better place to be alone than the middle of a lake in a boat.  It just never caught my attention that he went alone.  I'm sure he told the 12, "I've got to spend some time with the Father, I'll see you on the other side of the lake..." as he pushes the boat away from shore.

It's important we step away from the chaos of our lives to be alone, to hear silence, to talk to God.  In the middle of the most intense three years in human history, the ministry of Jesus, he hopped in a boat and casually (I assume) sailed to the other side.  He stepped away from the crowds, away from the chaos to be alone. That picture of him sailing alone captivates my imagination....and I wonder how often, in the craziness of all that swirls around me, I simply need to step away to be with God, be be quiet.

When have you last stepped away from the crowds, the craziness to be alone with God? When was the last time when you spent an hour in complete silence just listening to God, talking to him, being still?  Honestly, this short passage forces me to deal with how important time with God is....how important it is to simply walk away and be with the Father.

Saturday's cartoon