This Good Day

Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!" Matthew 4:19


We have had a couple days away from everything. And it has been much needed.......the best part?
 
No plan........No schedule......No worries
 
Yesterday I walked along the beach and caught the sun coming up over the city of San Diego....what a gift!
 
Elaine left her Mom with Nephew Mark and to his credit there have been no calls or texts. I know that is because he knows how much stress his Aunty is under and wants her around for a long long time.
 
It is amazing what just a few days can do. So far the whole weekend has felt something like this:
 

Morning sun, morning glories

Pouring down the hill

Through my window I can feel the ocean breeze

Noisy sparrows fill the oak trees

Swallows can't stay still

And in the glad commotion, Lord, You speak to me

If rain clouds come

Or the cold winds blow

You're the One Who goes before me

And in my heart I know

That this good day

It is a gift from You

The world is turning in its place

Because You made it to

I lift my voice to sing a song of praise
On this good day

Fernando Ortega, partial lyric This Good Day

San Diego, California is only 6 hours from Phoenix but it feels half a world away........I thank you God for this marvelous gift and all the beauty you created for us to enjoy.....
 
One more day left.....

The Next Room of Prayer

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

Let us firmly resolve not to lost the battle we fight. For if the devil sees that we are willing to lose our life and our peace, and that nothing can entice us back to the first room (first stage of prayer), he will soon cease from troubling us. But we must be resolute, for we fight with devils, and thus, there is no better weapon than the cross. Theresa of Avila

I tend to blame a lot of the way I feel on external things, people, life.......circumstances around me. But at the heart of it all, is my own response to all those things. My own internal struggle, the one that wages on in my soul, that old spiritual battle we have fought since the beginning. That is what keeps me in prayer. If Satan can convince us that the battle is lost, like we are failures at our faith. He has won.

Sometimes it doesn't seem like we are getting any closer to our goal.....but the truth may be that we are closer than we think. It may be that we have moved up a level, into the next room of our prayer life. Lately I have felt much like a hollowed out gourd. Writing about anything has been hard. I have a person living in my home who has exposed me to myself.......made me see the reality of just how weak my faith is. Can it be that is what God has wanted me to see all along?

How can I ever fully understand His strength unless I am met face to face with the stark reality of my weakness? My inability to do anything on my own?

It is no wonder I am exhausted. I have been wielding my own sword and not His.

It is this act of laying down my very ineffective sword again and again.........that is where the real battle comes in. Like Peter, I want to take matters into my own hands and slice off the ear of the guard. I so identify with Peter. He sees chaos coming and wants to defend, to fight, to fix, to right the wrong on his own.

But Jesus says no.

Jesus walks right through the middle of it, knowing that in order to win the war you have to pick your battles.

And for the joy set before Him endured the cross.............."Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close

I don't often recommend movies, but sometimes Hollywood messes up and does something right. I know the critics weren't kind to this movie, but I loved it. I usually go straight to Christianity Today for my movie reviews and most of the time I agree with their reviewer. They aren't biased and even if a film has an R rating they will rate it honestly by the film's  creative merits with a full warning about what you might be offended at.

I sometimes think we have forgotten all about what happened on 9/11, that "Worst Day" as the film's lead character describes it. What I most love about this film is how the story weaves this one boy's struggle to cope with the lost of his father with all the other characters throughout the film. We get lost in his journey to hang onto his Dad by trying to search all over New York for something he felt his Dad wanted him to find.

In his search, we find out that what we all need is a little healing. Everyone he meets along the way, he finds, has lost something, and most of them embrace his search. We see our own healing, our own journey, and we remember the healing that our country went through back then.

This movie made me remember what is most important......we all need each other. We are all on a journey of healing of some kind, and we are rooting for this boy to find his all the way through the movie.

And another thought.....what would it be like if we all stopped to turn and give that healing to one another.

What matters most

Above all powers
Above all kings
Above all nature
And all created things
Above all wisdom
And all the ways of man
You were here
Before the world began......

This was the week Elaine and I were supposed to go on a cruise to Belize. Caretaking took that away as it has taken many things away this past year.....

But somehow, sitting in church yesterday listening to the sermon and, most of all,  having Elaine's Nephew Mark sitting right beside us. The cruise didn't matter as much anymore. Not if it meant having an eternal impact on someone dear. None of our travels matter much in the long run.

What I heard yesterday reminded me. Knowing God matters more. Reaching the halls of Heaven matter. Hearing the gospel and having a chance to respond? That matters more than anything.

When the Pastor took the long black rope representing our whole life plus eternity.....when he held up the piece with the knot about 4 inches away from the end, and how we pour everything we have into that four inches representing our very short time on earth.....

Our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions to make money, have a successful career, a family.....all on that very tiny end with the knot.

And we fail to think, to plan. For the rest of the rope that represents eternity. Stretching on and on.

We fail to count the cost.

Fail to plan for eternity and where we will spend it.

As he said the words, I felt the chill.......Saying "maybe tomorrow" is the same as saying no to God.

Later today is also a refusal.

With all that life hanging in the balance, 

A little cruise didn't matter so much anymore. 

Above all kingdoms
Above all thrones
Above all wonders
The world has ever known
Above all wealth
And treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure
What You're worth

Crucified
Laid behind a stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me

Above all

 Michael W. Smith

the blessings keep coming, as well as the grace.......Awesome church service yesterday, just when it was needed most.....warm beds at night.....money for the new fridge.....and for the new coffeepot when the other gave out......music to soothe rumpled souls.....praise that lifts the tired and poor of spirit......God's Spirit that helps us through it all.....warmed up oatmeal maple scone......walking in the mornings chill.....time off work, even when I am not going anywhere......#802-812

Wishing you a bit of grace

Not much going on around here.....just hanging out waiting to see if there is anything good coming out of the fridge!

Actually, I am at work. Briggs is the one just hanging out. More than likely right now he is dreaming of chasing mice or catnip.....

Until I can get a bit of time to post, I am at my desk.

Hope your Saturday is going wonderfully......

To all in Rome (and the rest of the world) who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:7

The other morning before I left for work I grabbed a Bible CD from my bookshelf. I saw that it was Romans so I put it back, (I thought) since I had just read that. When I got in the car, I heard "Romans Chapter 1"

And I was glad, because you can never read the book of Romans too often.

Happy Saturday fellow bloggers and readers!

We are smart, but God's smarter

We do things in this building, and all others on our campus....fantastical things. Things never thought possible even 60 years ago. We create all sorts of wild imaginings and then put them into form. We think, "what if....." And then we do it. That is, at least the creative brains do that. I am just a small cog in the wheel of technology....but I do my part.

And it all changes and grows so fast, that by the time a new process comes out, it is already outdated....
Considered obsolete.


People are creators because God made us that way....

All of us have that God spark that seeks to create because He put it in us.

But, with all this human achievement and rushing around, what we call progress; we still can't even come close to making a moon or setting the stars in place.

Or calming the sea with a word.

We aren't so smart.......

And as long as we have been alive, there is a danger, a temptation in worshiping that "created thing" instead of the One who put it all in motion to begin with. "And they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen." Romans 1:25

Don't get me wrong, I love technology! It has been my bread and butter for 16 years now and the industry has treated me well. I don't feel as my Mom does, that computers are the Antichrist. But ever since the golden calf and before that, we have been tempted to put things in place of God.

The idols may change over the centuries, but the temptation is the same.

This whole train of thought started with the radio this morning. There was a discussion about our gadgets. The female commentator had left her IPhone home and was feeling a bit lost. I can relate to that. I never felt that way about a phone before I got mine. She further stated a quote attributed to Steve Jobs that said something like:

"When people can put their wedding pictures on their phone, they will be emotionally attached." Or something like that.

She was saying that it troubled her a bit that she felt an emotion, an attachment, like something was missing because she didn't have her phone. I can relate. I am ashamed to say I feel the same way.

She said all her friends were having a great time playing "Words with Friends." She didn't start it. She didn't want to feel like she had to respond every time the phone dinged.

Well, I succumbed.

I started......I am addicted. And now I have to go.

It's my move.

Maybe it's time for a gadget fast.

Just after I play this word.

When in doubt, wait on the Lord

I had a whole post done when I realized I had no idea what I was trying to say....It seemed to be going in two different directions and I couldn't make up my mind which path to go down...kind of like one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost......So in lieu of my own words, here are some of his.
I am waiting on the Lord today, and waiting can be just the right thing sometimes.....

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.