Monday, August 30, 2010
New Life Singers - MOUNTAIN MOVER
I love this song! My son, Richard, is playing the drums. What a good time of worship and fellowship at the Assembly of God church in Lonoke.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Running the Gauntlet
Papaw and I are creatures of habit so our day-to-day lives are fairly predictable. We tend to like things organized, scheduled and planned...well, I do anyway. Some might say our lives are mundane but I say at our age we are at a certain "comfort level."
Needless to say that routine includes places we go... mainly work, church, the grocery store, and sometimes out to eat at one of our usual restaurants. It is easy for me to get lost in thought or prayer when driving as each destination is one I have been to almost a million times.
I love turning the radio up loud and singing off key or praying at the top of my lungs and today was no different. That is until a beat up truck pulled out in front of me towing a ragged, half rotted Pinto. The tires on that car must have been as old as I am! Stuff was flying off that thing like nobody's business. I dodged large and small pieces of rubber, tire wire and wood for ten miles. Each piece just laying there waiting to sink into my tire and ruin my already packed day.
My journey this morning is much like life's journey. The road is scattered with the debris of bad decisions (or good decisions gone awry)temptations, disease, hurt, anger and a myriad of other distractions and dangers. As Christians, we are able to swerve, dodge, and steer clear of the obstacles through our one-on-one relationship with the Lord. We move as the Holy Spirit directs our steps and are able to avoid serious damage.
Though sometimes a little piece of that wire goes unnoticed and we have to pull over and change a tire we are merely experiencing a minor set-back. Again, much the same is life...a disruption, consequences of our own actions, or blind sided by some tragedy... we as Christians can pull to the side for a time and be still and know He is God.
I take comfort in knowing that along my journey I can look back and see the times when the Lord has taken the wheel and delivered me to HIS destination. The thing is... I had to let go. I had to stop. I had to give up on my own plans, desires, and aspirations and let Him steer me in the direction of His work, and many times... most times... it was not on my schedule or in the realm of my routine.
It is, I have to admit,during these side trips in life that I have had the most excitement, been witness to God's wonderful, amazing power and seen the Lord do marvelous things. And while today I was able to successfully guide my car through the obstacle course left in the wake of that Pinto I am personally pulled over and waiting expectantly once again as the Lord navigates me through the trash on the road of life and into His glory.
Needless to say that routine includes places we go... mainly work, church, the grocery store, and sometimes out to eat at one of our usual restaurants. It is easy for me to get lost in thought or prayer when driving as each destination is one I have been to almost a million times.
I love turning the radio up loud and singing off key or praying at the top of my lungs and today was no different. That is until a beat up truck pulled out in front of me towing a ragged, half rotted Pinto. The tires on that car must have been as old as I am! Stuff was flying off that thing like nobody's business. I dodged large and small pieces of rubber, tire wire and wood for ten miles. Each piece just laying there waiting to sink into my tire and ruin my already packed day.
My journey this morning is much like life's journey. The road is scattered with the debris of bad decisions (or good decisions gone awry)temptations, disease, hurt, anger and a myriad of other distractions and dangers. As Christians, we are able to swerve, dodge, and steer clear of the obstacles through our one-on-one relationship with the Lord. We move as the Holy Spirit directs our steps and are able to avoid serious damage.
Though sometimes a little piece of that wire goes unnoticed and we have to pull over and change a tire we are merely experiencing a minor set-back. Again, much the same is life...a disruption, consequences of our own actions, or blind sided by some tragedy... we as Christians can pull to the side for a time and be still and know He is God.
I take comfort in knowing that along my journey I can look back and see the times when the Lord has taken the wheel and delivered me to HIS destination. The thing is... I had to let go. I had to stop. I had to give up on my own plans, desires, and aspirations and let Him steer me in the direction of His work, and many times... most times... it was not on my schedule or in the realm of my routine.
It is, I have to admit,during these side trips in life that I have had the most excitement, been witness to God's wonderful, amazing power and seen the Lord do marvelous things. And while today I was able to successfully guide my car through the obstacle course left in the wake of that Pinto I am personally pulled over and waiting expectantly once again as the Lord navigates me through the trash on the road of life and into His glory.
"May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings (Selah) May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." Psalm 20:1-7~NIV
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Blessed are those who mourn...
Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4
We tend to associate the word mourn/mourning with the loss of a loved one. The very definition is to show grief or express sorrow for a death…to grieve over someone who has died. I ask you, “What if that someone is your own self?” What if the loss is not in death but in reality?
From time to time we all experience disillusionment or melancholy brought on by external factors (usually) beyond our control. But what happens when melancholy turns to despair and like a ball dropped from the top of the Empire State Building that despair gains velocity and smashes into the sidewalk of life… a splatter mark of hopelessness and anguish… splashing friends, co-workers, and loved ones alike with the backlash of depression?
What if the life coming unraveled is your spouse, your child, your parent, your friend?
It is so easy for people who have never experienced depression to sit upon the seat of judgment feigning Christian brotherhood/sisterhood and offer up tidbits of advice such as, “It is an attack of the devil and all you have to do is believe harder, confess whatever sin, and cast him out and you will be fine.” Ha! The advice of Job’s contemporaries runs rampant upon the lips of the saints today.
Maybe the belief is sincere and the advice given with the purest of motivation however would such a saint offer up this same advice to a fellow Christian (or non-Christian for that matter) who was losing a battle with cancer? I think not! If you would not give this advice to a cancer patient why would you offer it up to someone suffering with clinical depression?
Now a true saint, a mature in the Word saint, would drop to their knees in heart-felt prayer for healing, for comfort, for wisdom no matter the illness. They might even rally the saints for an old fashioned, anointing with oil, laying on of hands, casting out the demon, and actually pray down a healing. Then again, a healing might not come and the battle for sanity becomes a life-long endeavor.
After all the Lord himself told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness.” This after Paul had prayed three times for the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh. In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul refers to his thorn as a “measure of Satan to torment me.”
For now, this day, we grasp the hem of His garment and hold fast to the faith that will move mountains, and walk in the assurance that our Redeemer lives and has power over the destroyer. That battle was won on the cross a long time ago! We take comfort that while our family may walk a steep and treacherous path through this thing called depression… whether for a season or a lifetime… He is still in control… He is still on the throne… My God is a MOUNTAIN MOVER!
We tend to associate the word mourn/mourning with the loss of a loved one. The very definition is to show grief or express sorrow for a death…to grieve over someone who has died. I ask you, “What if that someone is your own self?” What if the loss is not in death but in reality?
From time to time we all experience disillusionment or melancholy brought on by external factors (usually) beyond our control. But what happens when melancholy turns to despair and like a ball dropped from the top of the Empire State Building that despair gains velocity and smashes into the sidewalk of life… a splatter mark of hopelessness and anguish… splashing friends, co-workers, and loved ones alike with the backlash of depression?
What if the life coming unraveled is your spouse, your child, your parent, your friend?
It is so easy for people who have never experienced depression to sit upon the seat of judgment feigning Christian brotherhood/sisterhood and offer up tidbits of advice such as, “It is an attack of the devil and all you have to do is believe harder, confess whatever sin, and cast him out and you will be fine.” Ha! The advice of Job’s contemporaries runs rampant upon the lips of the saints today.
Maybe the belief is sincere and the advice given with the purest of motivation however would such a saint offer up this same advice to a fellow Christian (or non-Christian for that matter) who was losing a battle with cancer? I think not! If you would not give this advice to a cancer patient why would you offer it up to someone suffering with clinical depression?
Now a true saint, a mature in the Word saint, would drop to their knees in heart-felt prayer for healing, for comfort, for wisdom no matter the illness. They might even rally the saints for an old fashioned, anointing with oil, laying on of hands, casting out the demon, and actually pray down a healing. Then again, a healing might not come and the battle for sanity becomes a life-long endeavor.
After all the Lord himself told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness.” This after Paul had prayed three times for the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh. In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul refers to his thorn as a “measure of Satan to torment me.”
For now, this day, we grasp the hem of His garment and hold fast to the faith that will move mountains, and walk in the assurance that our Redeemer lives and has power over the destroyer. That battle was won on the cross a long time ago! We take comfort that while our family may walk a steep and treacherous path through this thing called depression… whether for a season or a lifetime… He is still in control… He is still on the throne… My God is a MOUNTAIN MOVER!
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