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No way this person would have EVER expected such a fuss over a backswing and follow through.
I wonder...
What will the unintended consequences be of my actions today?
I can't control how far the consequences go. I can't even control where they end up.
But I CAN play a role in the direction of events.
You DO contribute something, more than you expect.
By saying a word that is encouraging or unkind.
By holding back or generously giving time, talents, and tithe.
By planning for self or thinking of others first.
By being content with the same ol' same ol' or responding to God's call to new things.
"The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of dry bones...He asked me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?'" (Ezekiel 37:1,3 NIV)
The prophet watched as the bone became bodies.
And then the bodies became an army.
God took what seemed useless and made it useful.
What will you give God today?
Be careful.
It could set things on fire.
Grace & peace
]]>I suggested they grab a few. They cam back to the cart with twice as many as I had intended!
Not wanting to dampen their enthusiasm, we put the bunches into the cart and I encouraged this child, "I hope you're ready to eat a bunch...literally!"
Now as I was sitting in the kitchen, a number of days had passed. Most of the bananas had been consumed. But these 3 remained. And as I looked at them, I wondered seriously if they would ever be eaten.
We like bananas yellow and still relatively firm. These bananas were mostly brown, a little bit of black, and a few hints of their former yellow days. They were beyond turning soft. They were starting to turn mushy. (We like to call these "banana muffin" bananas because in our house, they have a better chance of being eaten that way.)
Unattractive. Unlikely to be eaten. More of a bait for fruit flies than people.
On a counter in the other side of the kitchen was 1, single, nice, ripe, yellow, ready-to-eat banana. It had been brought for lunch by 1 of the little girls Tammi baby-sits. Her parents probably had just purchased it yesterday. They may have only purchased 1 or 2 bananas. They certainly didn't have a mountain of bananas in their kitchen due to an overzealous teenager.
I thought of my near-worthless bunch of bananas and her 1 good banana as I read Jeremiah 24 today.
The prophet is having a conversation in God's kitchen, so to speak. And God points out figs , not bananas,to Jeremiah.
The good figs are people God was sending into captivity, away from the Promised Land. The nation had become so rebellious, careless, and forgetful toward God that the best thing God could do for those good figs was protect them in a foreign place. "I will give them a heart to know me" and they will "return to me with all of their heart" God says (24:7 NIV).
Ah, but the rotten, no good, worthless figs...they will become a stench in the nose and disgusting in the eyes of all who see them. Like food that molds and draws maggots and flies. Yuck.
I wonder...
If God were to talk to you about your life today, to which figs would you be compared? Would you be suitable for consumption, able to help feed someone who is hungry and in need?
Or would people turn their nose up at you and run away from you as fast as they could?
I just heard Tammi ask if the little girl would like a banana. No kidding.
Grace & peace
]]>But as you read the book of Job you have forty two chapters of people assuming they know about God and then finding out they really know very little at all about Him.
In the last chapter we read this:
Then there came to him (Job) all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house;they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him... (Job 42:11 NRSV) (italics mine)
I invite you to wrestle with this verse.
God "brought evil" upon Job?!
Is that something God does? Bring evil upon blameless people?
Lay it next to Job 1:8 where God commends Job for being a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.
Job runs from evil. God says that is good.
God brings evil upon Job. That sure seems to be bad.
Does this idea mess with who you see God to be and what you see God doing?
It does with me.
It makes me ask, "How well do I really know God?"
And, "How often have I incorrectly assumed I knew what God would/n't do?"
Finally, it makes me determined to spend more time with God; to learn Who God is, and to approach all of my studies and teachings with humility.
I'm interested to know what your response is to these verses.
If you have some thoughts or questions, e-mail me at jcrwdr@juno.com
Grace & peace
]]>Job is in the midst of a struggle. God has given him over to loss, pain, and disease.
His friends are "miserable comforters". He is now made fun of by people he wouldn't trust to watch his dog.
He is wrestling with an unseen, absent God.
His integrity is being questioned: was he really the man everyone saw him to be? Maybe his duplicitous ways caused his trouble.
"No way!" insists Job.
The Wesley Study Bible talks about integrity:
"Long before the discoveries of modern psychology, Job knew that integrity is holding our lives together, in order to be the same person inside and out. Unless we are together there is no source of power to resist the onslaught of dishonesty and corruption constantly coming our way. Losing integrity is somewhat like losing our lungs - essential for life. If our lungs (integrity) collapse, all of life is threatened."
"A long look at Job teaches us integrity is more than honesty and truth-telling, it is knowing and staying true to who we are no matter the costs."
In the midst of the word integrity is the word "grit". Determination. Job displays this quality, maybe more than any other. He is determined to hold onto what he knows about himself and God, even in the midst of doubts and questions that flood him about what he does not know.
May God help us to hold onto our integrity today, in the midst of questions, doubts, and difficulties. May we live a life that is the same on the inside and out, in a way that is pleasing to God and helpful to others.
Grace & peace
]]>Job confirms it when he says,
Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;he moves on, but I do not perceive him (Job 9:11 NRSV)
It is one of the challenges of the life of faith: to figure out where God is working and cooperate with the Spirit.
"God is mysterious and fleet, not easily seen..." (Wesley Study Bible Notes)
This is one of the reasons the spiritual disciplines (prayer, Bible reading, gathering with other Christians, etc.) are so important. We need to be constantly sharpening our skills and honing in on God's movement.
May you give time and attention to the subtle movements of God in your life and the lives of those around you today.
Grace & Peace
]]>We are familiar with the 10 Commandments, one of which tells us to Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8).
But here we see someone struggling with the application of that law. Nehemiah, a civil leader, is attempting to repopulate the city of Jerusalem, and at the same time, develop a culture that honors God and God's law. And the people aren't obeying. Nehemiah seeks to help them do so.
We may wonder if "laying hands on" people is the right way to carry this out. It probably would not be how we would apply this standard in our day and time.
BUT, there is no doubt Nehemiah takes God's command seriously. 1 day out of 7, set apart for God, in a way that is unique to the other days.
I wonder...
How seriously do you and I take this commandment?
What does Sabbath look like in our lives?
May God help us to be as serious as Nehemiah in our attempts to please Him.
(See Wesley study bible notes)
Grace & peace
]]>The Sunday service was over.
Most of the congregation had left.
Some were getting into their cars.
The last remnant was talking in the narthex (lobby) or outside of the church on the sidewalk by the benches.
Just then a father and young son walked in. They had never been here before. They were dressed in summer garb: t-shirt, sandals, and shorts. They didn't appear to be there for worship.
But they did have a need they asked us to meet.
"Do you have a restroom my son can use?" the father asked.
He was directed to where he could "go".
In a few minutes, they were gone.
And I wondered...
Had they been stuck in traffic on I-94, with the little boy asking "When can I go?!" and the father wondering "How long will it be till we get some place clean and safe?"
Was there a possibility that God might use our open door and welcoming people to reshape the way these people see the Church? "They didn't even know us but they were happy for us to stop in."
Were we able to be used by God simply by "being there" and being hospitable?
I don't know the answer to any of these questions. But I'm convinced that simply "going" to the house of the LORD brings blessings to us and those around us, even when we can't quantify how much blessing will result or the exact way those blessings play out.
If you weren't with us yesterday, I hope you will be next Sunday. God was present in many other unique ways.
And I trust that God will use all of you this week to bring the Spirit into the lives of other people, even in seemingly tiny, insignificant ways.
Grace & peace
]]>They were captives in a foreign land. They longed to go back to the home of their ancestors. They wanted to rebuild the house of worship.
The God who had allowed their people to go into captivity, was the same God who also gave them the longing to go home and the longing to worship him in that Temple.
He was the God who made their captor favorably disposed to them; granting them their release, ordering they not be taxed, and underwriting what they needed for their project.
Amazing movements by an amazing God.
Fast forward to 1 Corinthians 3. Verses 16-17 read:
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's templeand God's Spirit lives in you?If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy them;for God's temple is sacred,and you are that temple.
I imagine you and I as modern-day Ezras. We are called to help rebuild the temple of God.
But the temple we are called to build is not made of brick, glass, wood and carpet.
We are called to build the temple of flesh, made up of human beings who are called to worship Almighty God. We are called to encourage, reclaim, and welcome people to house the Spirit of the Great I AM.
We find pieces of the temple wherever we find people who are willing to be used by God.
Who are you talking to today? They are, potentially, pieces of the temple.
Who are you thinking about today? They are, potentially, part of God's temple-in-the-making.
Who frustrates or angers you? Resources God can use for His temple.
God's temple is sacred and you are that temple. (And they might be too!)
Grace & peace
]]>Wineskin - a bag for holding and dispensing wine, made from the skin of a goat or another animal. (Nelson's Bible Dictionary)
I imagine this bag or container for wine hanging in a row with other wineskins, much like tobacco leaves on a farm being dried out. Or like meat being cured and smoked to make jerky.
Smoked meat can be delicious.
Smoked wineskins are useless.
They can't carry anything. They are cracked and falling apart, like a garbage bag that's been punctured; stuff starts falling out.
The Psalmist says that's what he is like: a smoked (or ashy) wineskin...good for nothin'.
Does that ever describe your life?
Maybe it describes it right now. You're worn down by circumstances and worn out by life. You think you're of no use to anybody right now.
Take a cue from the Psalmist.
...yet I have not forgotten your statutes. A few verses later he utters a simple prayer:
...help me! (v86)
If this is where you're living today, dried up, worn out, trampled down, would you do something for me?
Ask God, right now, where you're at, to give you time a little later today, when you can spend it alone with Him.
Maybe it will be with the Bible open on your lap in your favorite chair.
Maybe it will be taking a walk in the woods with no sound but waiting for His voice.
Maybe it will be with your i-pod and some music to draw you close to Him.
Maybe it will be a time when you simply sit still and wait till He speaks.
Maybe it will be as you get back to church this Sunday after having been away for awhile.
We all go through periods of life when we feel like a wet rag...or a smoked wineskin.
But it is in that very place and at that very time that God wants to meet us, refresh us, revive us, bring us back to life again, give us purpose and passion again.
I believe he is ready to do it...even for some of us dried up wineskins and punctured garbage bags.
Grace & peace
]]>It was a slogan some time ago on a commercial. (I can't remember the product, do you? I want to say it was for a camera, but I don't remember.)
Our culture has a myriad of ways people express themselves:
- The way we dress
- The music we listen to
- The car we drive
- The stickers we put on the cars we drive
Scripture is full of ways people expressed themselves to God.
The Psalms alone include
- Outpouring of gratitude and thanksgiving
- Cries for help
- Anger and rage
- Sorrow and penitence
The Gospels show other forms of expression:
- Pouring expensive perfume on Jesus
- Kissing him as an act of betrayal
- Leaving family and business to follow him
- Offering an unused grave for his burial
This Sunday as we come together we will look at the "Down to Earth Mystery of Our Expressions to God".
What will you bring to God as we gather for worship?
Grace & Peace
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