Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Rules and Regs

Our ConnectGroup from church completed Ravi Zacharias's book, The Grand Weaver, a couple of weeks ago.  The group enjoyed it, and I would recommend it for other groups or for you individually.  We are wrapping up our Winter/Spring season and have spent the last couple of weeks sharing from our personal bible study.  I wanted to pick a book that others might not pick, so I chose Leviticus.  The only thing I really knew about Leviticus was that there were a lot of rules about what to do and not to do, especially as it applies to food preparation and who you choose to sleep with.   But then I stumbled upon this in chapter 26:11-12.  "I will live among you in my sacred Tent, and I will never turn away from you. 12 I will be with you; I will be your God, and you will be my people."  This is the promise God made to us, if we will try our best to walk with him.  I want to do that more.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Determined Devotion

There has been a lot of disruption to our lives over the last month.  Many have faced serious health crises and some even death.  Health workers have put their own well being at risk.  Many have lost their jobs and are facing severe financial hardships.   I have to say for me, for now, that it has been a series of inconveniences: a different work schedule, more cooking at home, no haircut, etc.  My biggest hurt has been not being able to see my kids and grandkids except over FaceTime. There have been some minor revelations.  We have spent more time outside walking and sitting on the porch.  This has allowed us to see more of our neighbors in the last month than we have seen them in the last year.   While sitting on the porch, we noticed a bird's nest on top of one of the posts.  In the past, I might have viewed this as a nuisance, a mess to be cleaned up later. But this year, we have just been watching.   Watching the momma bird sit on the eggs and then watching as the momma and daddy bird brought worms to the four hatchlings.   It is an amazing thing to witness their complete devotion to their babies.  It certainly mirrors God's determined devotion to each of us.  I hope we can hang onto something good that came to us during the pandemic.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Going Home

Have you ever been away from your family or loved ones for an extended period of time?  Do you remember the longing for getting back home?  Do you remember the joy of seeing, hearing and hugging your loved ones upon your return?   I think that yearning for home is similar to the yearning that believers should have when they think of heaven.  God gives us glimpses of what heaven will be like in this world.  There have been a lot of those glimpses recently as we take the focus off of ourselves and our schedules and think about others and God.  In CS Lewis's essay, The Weight of Glory, Lewis describes our longing for our eternal home.  He writes, "..(it's like) the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience.  We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it."  I hope you get a glimpse of heaven this week.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Breakthrough

Caroline and I keep thinking about the movie Groundhog Day.  That's the one where Bill Murray's character keeps living the same day over and over again.  That's how the sheltered-in requirements make us feel.  It's like we are living the same day over and over again.  When I really think about what is different from the way it was before, I keep landing on Sundays.  Sundays were the day we got to go to church, see friends, serve and worship.  I keep thinking about how sweet it is going to be the first Sunday back after the pandemic.  I also wonder how many weeks, months, years that I will be able to hold on to that sweet feeling.  I hope forever.  Until then, we have groups like this getting creative to find ways to worship that has never been done before.  Maybe now is the Breakthrough.


Thursday, April 2, 2020

It is well


The governor of Georgia just announced that schools are closed for the rest of the school year.  There are a lot of sad people out there including my kids and grandkids.  I love that my grandkids love school and the people there, and I hate that they won't get to go back until fall.  I have to try to find other things to focus on.  My pastor reminded me of these comforting words today in a facebook post.

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.  

And of course that reminded me of one of my favorite worship moments of all time.  Take a few moments and focus on Him.