Come And Thirst No More

As it poured down rain last night, I glimpsed out the dark window to the front porch. There in the glow from the lights I could see "my poor petunias". "My poor petunias" hang under the eaves, and have only managed to continue living this long due to the generosity of others. Since the "others" were away all day, I can only assume that "my poor petunias" were dry as a bone. Inches from the water cascading off the roof yet they remained dry. It was time for me to go outside, lift the plant off of the hook, and set it out in the rain. I was reminded, once again, that there are people all around me just as thirsty. Thirsting for Living Water. They can see it around them. They can feel the fine mist from a distance, but something holds them fast. Maybe it is sin, or loss, or suffering. They are waiting for someone to lift them up and carry them to the Living Water. They're so thirsty. They're so parched and wilted, and their beautiful blooms are falling to the ground around them. Who will you carry to the water today? They're waiting.

Revelation 7:17 "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Under A Bushel Basket

I am a watcher, and I see what sparks the fire in your eyes and causes your feet to move forward.  I see your passion.  You're the one with the heart for prison ministry, spending your day off with an ex-con and helping him find work.  You are the missionary pointing to that place on the map that I have never seen. You, over there, it's the children, right? The hurting ones who don't know love at home. You put that bag of toys and new clothes on their porch last night.  I saw you, because I am a watcher.  Did you know that this is your gift? Your unique purpose?  Did you know that every time you feel that pull in your heart toward another human being, that you are being obedient?  I wonder, because I see your eyes. I see them look longingly toward the missionary, wondering why you don't have the discipline to save your money to go, too. I've seen your gaze follow the one with the heart for prison ministry, and you wince, and wonder why you don't feel the same?

I have been you.  Looking at the one with the heart for something else, and feeling inadequate because I could only be me, and I have a word for you.......STOP....... stop now.  God has designed you for a purpose.  He has called you to a vocation.  No, not necessarily your job.   It is what you have been summoned to do on this earth, and it is not over there, it is in here.  In your heart.  And while you are watching and waiting for the ability to do something else, your passion is sitting under an over-turned bowl. It is hidden under a bushel basket.  God gave you that gift and it glows with fire. I can see the light seeping out from underneath. I can feel the faint warmth.  When will you release it from it's prison? When will you take that brick of envy off the top and set it free? Because somewhere out there, while you are watching the others, there is someone watching you.  They see your passion. They need your gift.  And they wonder what is taking you so long?

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 

Little Lesson: One Sock, Two Socks...

It's going to be a good day. I found my other wool sock, and the chocolate chip pancakes didn't burn!.....
We humans are a funny bunch, aren't we? Measuring our days based on the weight of good and bad. Seeing only the temporary. Judging life by our knee-jerk reactions to the events of the day. Would it have been a bad day if I had to wear mismatched socks? Would another baked good scraped into the trash amount to proclaiming the day a catastrophic event? I know life is hard. I know we have loss in so many ways. Death. Disease. Disappointments too big to bear. But, God is so much bigger than all of that. He's so much bigger than our circumstances, our trials, our fears, our losses. As much as we like to think life is all about us, it isn't. We are here to do whatever God has set our feet on this earth to do for Him. And we should do it, even if our socks don't match.
I'm not much of a Gaither fan, but this oldie is stuck in my head this morning: "God is bigger than all my problems, bigger than all my fears, God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see. God is bigger than all my questions, bigger than anything. God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see."

"So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20

Little Lesson: Reflections (REPRINT 2003)

I was driving past the lake, admiring the reflection of the trees against the water and the sparkle of the sun on the snow.  It looked so beautiful, but at times I had to turn my head away because the sun bouncing off of the scenery blinded me.  The light was so bright that it actually hurt, and it took my focus off of the road ahead.  Fearing that I'd end up in the ditch, I was forced to search for that yellow line in front of me.

Reflections in life can put us in a ditch, too.  Not in the same way that the sun bounces off of the water droplets and blinds our eyes,  but by looking back and contemplating the images of the past.   Looking back once in a while to enjoy a pleasant memory, or maybe to draw on past experiences to prevent future mistakes, is a good thing.  Other times,  it becomes dangerous and even painful.   We're designed for forward motion.   Moving forward, whether walking, running or driving,  becomes very complicated, even injurious,  if your eyes are focused behind you.   God intends for us to keep moving ahead, with our eyes trained on that path that He has for our lives.  We are not to dwell on what's behind us, on those "reflections" of years past.  They tend to mire us in self-pity, bogged down by a lot of "what if's" and "if only's".  They hold our feet fast, and prevent us from doing what God has called us to do for fear of adding to our list of failures.  It's time to turn around.  The past is the past, and today is a new day.  

Praying that today you will see the beauty of your life as it reflects the light of Christ, and that you can find peace in the releasing of those painful reflections.  That you will be able to forget what is behind, and strain toward what is ahead, as you press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14 (paraphrased)  

Little Lesson: On Angel's Wings

There's something about the death of someone young that causes us all to stop and ponder our humanity.  As much as we realize that we have a beginning and an end, we feel certain that we won't meet that end. At least, not for a long while.  Then, the years creep by, and we feel proud to have cheated death for so long.  We become overly confident, immortal.  We focus ahead, afraid to turn to either side for fear of what we might see.    At times, we are successful, but that success is quickly replaced by mourning when we catch a glimpse of the end.  Who allowed this turning to the last chapter of the book? Who gave permission for the last Act?

To the mourning family and friends, there are no words of comfort big enough to fill the empty space.  There aren't any pearls of wisdom that will take away the pain.  It is as if they have become trapped in a soap bubble, fragile and floating along with the breeze.  From high above, they see others going on with life, when at any moment they feel they will burst and fly away on the wind.

It is at times like these, that I am reminded about the compassion of our God.  I see, in my mind's eye, Him reaching down and scooping up the hurting, drawing them close, ever so gently.  He is so cautious with how He carries them, that they hardly know He's there. While they cry, their tears pool in His hands.  While they grieve, He folds His hands closed and shelters them, and when they howl from the very depths of their being, He carries them and speaks quiet words of encouragement that only their hearts can hear.

"...those who mourn are lifted to safety"  Job 5:11

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."  Matthew 5:4

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-4:  " There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."

Little Lesson: Living in the Dead Zone

You know that big 4G Cell Network they are always bragging about on TV? We don't belong to that. We live in what's known as the "patchy network" where we get maybe 1/4 of the 4Gs.  We cope, and then we pray that the car won't break down in any of the dead zones.  I remember when we didn't have to worry about any zones at all. We weren't allowed to leave the house without a quarter for the pay phone, "just in case". Or if there was no pay phone, the second option was to knock on the closest door. BUT, for safety's sake you never went inside in case psychokillers lived there. Then, cell phones came along, and phone booths went away, and the dead zone was born.

Since the "era of the teen with a phone" has begun, daughter has informed me that at school there are only two places where you can find a signal. One is on top of the teacher's desk (and I wonder who figured that one out), and the other is at the base of the cross in the chapel.  So, if your battery is getting weak searching for a signal, you go to the cross.

Isn't that the truth in life, too? There are so many times we walk through that are dark and silent, when our battery gets drained trying to find that connection that seems to have disappeared.  We know what we need is out there somewhere, but we can't seem to locate it.  It's not until we reach the foot of the cross that we realize that that is where we will find a steady, unfailing connection.

 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.


"I Go To the Rock" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB6-BMuxy0w

Little Lesson: Book Covers

I like to look at old architecture. I especially like the brick work of some of the buildings from the late 1800s/early 1900s.  I happened to be gazing at the front of a big downtown structure, happily admiring brick patterns, when I glanced up at the roof. There, proudly growing from the top of the three-story building, stood a little tree. Not like a potted plant, a real tree. Since there aren't many of those downtown, I imagine that seed traveled a distance before it found itself deposited in years of dust and debris on the rooftop.  There, high above the sidewalks, it got lots of sun and rain with very little worry. Nobody was up there to trample on it except the pigeons.

Now, if I was planting seeds, I don't think "plant it on the roof" would even be on my list of things to do.  A 100 year old roof doesn't look like much.  One hundred years of pigeon poop on top of decaying shingles? No thanks.

Well, what's to learn from a little tree way up high?  One little seed landed in a place that none of us would have thought of planting.  A place out of the reach of most, covered with many years worth of debris. A place most of us would consider highly undesirable for planting, and out of that place came forth new life.

We have been sent out to plant seeds, and it's so easy to overlook some people, the ones who are about as desirable as that dropping-covered rooftop.  They've got long histories filled with messes and heaps of broken shingles, and they seem to be rotting out from underneath.  Nothing is going to grow there. Let's move on. We forget that " The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."  1 Samuel 16   


Mark 4:3 "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." 9 Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, " 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!' " 13 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."


Jesus doesn't ask us to decide the soil type before we plant the seeds. He only asks us to plant them.