Friday, February 3, 2012

Psalm 94:17-19
If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
When I thought, “My foot is slipping,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

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One of the blessings we have is a history with God. It is impossible for me to look back on my life and not see God profoundly involved. But since hind-sight is always 20-20, that is no great statement of faith. The psalmist moves from past to present tense. Real faith is believing that the future is in good hands and that God is involved even when our present is tense.
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Thanks for yesterday, today and tomorrow, Lord. Amen

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Mark 1:35-36
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him.

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Mark’s Gospel is noteworthy for its economy of words, succinct language, emphasis on Christ’s authority and a deep sense of urgency. In these two verses, we get a concentrated message of a Jesus’ devotion and his disciples neediness. In talking with parents of young children, I have often heard stories about wanting some quiet, alone time but never getting it. More than one parent has told me about being in the bathroom doing their business and seeing little fingers appear underneath the door. I can’t imagine what it was like for Jesus to seek out an isolated place to pray and see the fingers of the world reaching beneath the door.
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Speaking as one attached to needy fingers, Lord, thank you. Amen

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

I Corinthians 9:22-23
To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

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“All things to all people” to the Apostle Paul did not mean that he would say anything they wanted to hear. He did mean that different people operate under different codes of what is acceptable. Paul was willing to walk in the shoes of those to whom he was bringing the Good News about Jesus. We walk in one another’s shoes by listen intentionally to one another. Paul was willing to set aside his personal liberty, his own code of behavior for the sake of true understanding. Those who serve must listen, listen well, integrate what they hear, and listen some more. We serve one another best when we are willing to set aside our freedom in order to listen.
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Holy God, may we listen to you as well as you listen to us. Amen

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Psalm 147:3-5
He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.

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What an incredible time in which I have the privilege of witnessing and participating. I have been witness to humanity’s first baby steps into space travel. I have a deep respect for all the great minds, industry and engineering that have made it thinkable. I take delightful that a couple of young people with a weather balloon and a camera can send a Lego Man into space and record the event for all of us to see. An asteroid the size of a bus sped by our planet last week and we knew about it even though it passed hundreds of thousands of miles away. Our scientists continue to discover and learn about the origin and the nature of the universe. I can see the constellation Orion from my patio when I take my dog out before bed. There is a great joy in standing on such an amazing sphere staring at multiple galaxies that may contain a planet with a person walking their dog and calling my galaxy by name. Such is the magnitude and the wonder of the God who tends it all.
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Sometime, Lord, Wow is the best prayer I know. Amen

Monday, January 30, 2012

Isaiah 40:29-31
He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

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I love this verse. It sounds wonderful. I want strength renewed. I want to take off and run without pooping out. It is this waiting-for-the-Lord business that trips me in the starting block. I don’t have a clue what that really looks like. As an idea, a statement of faith, I certainly understand it but I am trying to picture what I should be doing. What does waiting for the Lord look like? Perhaps I am over-thinking(a chronic ailment of mine). Perhaps this verse means, “Take a knee, people. Rest. Help is coming.” Not a bad way to start a Monday.
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I am, Lord, at your service. Give me the strength to do your will. Amen

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Mark 1:27-28
They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

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Today, we would say “….and then the news about Jesus went viral.” Andy Warhol’s quote “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” has become more in the realm of possibility. Fame today is spoken of in terms of a disease, a virus. It lasts for a short period or else it will threaten to kill the host. The shortness of our attention spans serves us as antibiotic against anything that would infect us and subsequently influence us for more than 15 minutes. Long before there were cell phones to capture the moment on video and post to Youtube, Jesus padded around on the dusty roads of Judea teaching a new way to live and sending demons packing. Eons of doubt and distraction has not changed that story or made it fade away from sight. Laura Winter, author of a new book “Still,” said, “Yet in those same moments of strained belief, of not knowing where or if God is, it has also seemed that the Christian story keeps explaining who and where I am, better than any other story I know.” This Jesus didn’t take his 15 minutes of fame and fade away. This Jesus is grace gone viral and it won’t stop.
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You kill me, Lord and I am still alive to talk about it. Amen

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

I Corinthians 8:1-3
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.

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I continue to be thoroughly amazed and thrilled to be a witness and a participant of the Information Age. The encyclopedia(a word that Jiminy Cricket taught me how to spell) was the only hands-on, readily available source of information in my growing-up house with the exception of my father who seemed to be a walking encyclopedia of all manner of knowledge. The Information Age presents new challenges of how to discern the truth from the garbage and how to manage the information responsibly. Knowledge without love becomes a weapon of power and submission. Love with knowledge can change the world.
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Holy God, know me and grant me the grace to share your love with others. Amen

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Psalm 111:10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.

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Wisdom has been on my mind. I have not necessarily in possession of it but I think about the idea of it alot! I have been helping our teenagers to discover the Wisdom literature of the Proverbs and I recently bought a book by Katie Couric called The Best Advice I Ever Got- Lessons from Extraordinary Lives. I continue to find myself guided daily by bits of wisdom that has been passed down to me. Collecting them feels like my childhood marble collection….some small, some large, some complex, some simple, some totally unique and all in a velvet bag. I am that velvet bag full of marbles. Doesn’t sound too profound. No matter the situation in which I find myself, I have learned that facing it humbling in the presence of the Lord is always a good start.
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Holy God, thank you for all the people in my life that have pointed me in your direction. Amen

Monday, January 23, 2012

Deuteronomy 18:19-20
Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.”

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It is all in the right tools. Anyone who has ever built, fixed or crafted anything with their hands will tell you that great truth. Whether it be putting up a curtain rod, carving wood, changing a tire, sewing a quilt or building a patio. Anyone who understands computers will tell you the same thing – the right tools – adequate hardware, good connections, the right software make all the difference. As Christians, we continue to live in a time when we have to discern the voices which claim to speak in God’s name. We have been given an invaluable tool – God’s Spirit in us. It is Job One of the Holy Spirit to help us recognize the truth when we hear it. God will reckon with those who dare to speak their own words and not God’s. God gives us what we need to discern the foolish from the wise.
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Use, O Lord, the words that are mine and thine and forgive the words that are mine alone. Amen

Friday, January 20, 2012

Psalm 101:1-3
I will sing of loyalty and of justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing.
I will study the way that is blameless. When shall I attain it?
I will not set before my eyes anything that is base.

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I had a drama professor who once illustrated to the class the power of imagination and suggestion by saying “I forbid you from picturing a polar bear.” Of course, none of us had the ability to stop a polar bear from rampaging through our thoughts if only for a moment. There is a war happening for our attention and imagination. Visually we are bombarded with images that reek more havoc than good. We have few effective weapons or defenses. Trying to be perfect just invites in the virus we seek to avoid. To consider the character of our God is to invite a champion into our hearts and minds.
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You are, Lord, my best thought by day or by night. Amen