Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.john 14:21
I'm in Orlando this morning. I arrived yesterday with my daughter's car, filled to the top with her stuff. (mostly shoes!) We travelled these 1125 miles in a '97 pontiac with just enough room for us to sit because our daughter, Alli, was transferred here for her job and she needed our help. So here we are...staying a few days in her tiny, cramped apartment, seeing where she is going to work, helping her get to know Orlando (and taking a day to visit Disney!). Why would we do this?
It's simple...just because we love her.
Now, we could love her from Indiana, sending her stuff via UPS, selling her car and sending her the proceeds to buy another and simply pray for her well-being and that would be fine and perfectly acceptable. Or we could have just wished her well and sent her with a moving truck all by herself. Or even just telling her "Good luck, we love you and we'll pray for you."
But we came just because of our love for her...and she trusts us...has faith in us...and loves us back!
There's something exciting that happens when love is reciprocated.
You see, it works the same way with God. Faith is the catalyst for our relationship with God not the prerequisite.
When we love God, when we show our faith, lean and trust in God's actions, then something more happens. It's not that God will refuse to do things for us and with us, but when there is a true relationship, then God acts more completely with us.
Faith changes things.
So, here we are in Florida, facing another 80something degree day (while it's in the 60's at home!) just because...
I wonder what God might do for us today...just because?
Peace ><>
pc
Showing posts with label outside. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outside. Show all posts
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Turn Back
Matthew 4:12-17 (23-25)
As Jesus began his ministry, he moved from his hometown to Capernaum, a small fishing village on shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had it's beginning many centuries before when the Isrealite Tribe of Naphtali settled there. But before Jesus arrived there, so had many Gentiles. It was a simple village that you might miss if you blinked even on a camel's back.
Yet Jesus began his ministry here, even centered it here, and started preaching a simple, but profound message that we still need to hear,
"Change your life, God's kingdom is here." (Matthew 4:17, MSG)
The word "change" here is usually translated "repent" and comes from the Greek word, metanoein which is specifically a turning toward God! So when Jesus calls us to change, he is saying literally, change direction and face God!
It's not that God sees our life as so bad or terribly sinful, rather that we are facing the wrong way, focused on the wrong things. It's simply a call to bring us back into relationship with the One who created us.
It doesn't take much to distract us. As I'm writing this morning, I've had to get up from my computer no less than 8 times for something, dogs barking, needing let out, needing let in, needing fed, talking to my kids, my wife, fixing another cup of coffee, etc. We're busy with so many things, even details that seem very important and can include things at church. But paying attention to these "important" things is not paying attention to God.
And God simply wants our attention, but interestingly doesn't demand it from us, just asks us to...
...turn back.
Prayer: God, I lose my focus so easily, I get busy with life's details, and I forget you. Help me to be mindful of you even in the midst of my busy life, to ask you to come along with me and when I stop, even for a moment, to face you and know I am yours.
Amen.
As Jesus began his ministry, he moved from his hometown to Capernaum, a small fishing village on shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had it's beginning many centuries before when the Isrealite Tribe of Naphtali settled there. But before Jesus arrived there, so had many Gentiles. It was a simple village that you might miss if you blinked even on a camel's back.
Yet Jesus began his ministry here, even centered it here, and started preaching a simple, but profound message that we still need to hear,
"Change your life, God's kingdom is here." (Matthew 4:17, MSG)
The word "change" here is usually translated "repent" and comes from the Greek word, metanoein which is specifically a turning toward God! So when Jesus calls us to change, he is saying literally, change direction and face God!
It's not that God sees our life as so bad or terribly sinful, rather that we are facing the wrong way, focused on the wrong things. It's simply a call to bring us back into relationship with the One who created us.
It doesn't take much to distract us. As I'm writing this morning, I've had to get up from my computer no less than 8 times for something, dogs barking, needing let out, needing let in, needing fed, talking to my kids, my wife, fixing another cup of coffee, etc. We're busy with so many things, even details that seem very important and can include things at church. But paying attention to these "important" things is not paying attention to God.
And God simply wants our attention, but interestingly doesn't demand it from us, just asks us to...
...turn back.
Prayer: God, I lose my focus so easily, I get busy with life's details, and I forget you. Help me to be mindful of you even in the midst of my busy life, to ask you to come along with me and when I stop, even for a moment, to face you and know I am yours.
Amen.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
God's Creating Hand
Psalm 104:24-30
Are there things in this world that still surprise you? I saw the latest picture from the refurbished Hubble Telescope the other day. It was an incredible image of 3 Milky Way-type galaxies that looked like they were in a sort of orbit together.
The amazing thing is, these images are not pictures of something that happened long ago, rather they are still images of the creative process in action, galaxies in process! The creation is still being formed, altered, recreated, perfected.
Did you know that this is exactly what God is doing with you?
Yes, God has created, but is still working. While the scriptures say that God rested on the seventh day, that doesn't mean God is still resting! There is an active role God is playing in all of Creation still today. Listen again to the Psalmist's words,
"All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they'd die in a minute - take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; Send out your Spirit and they spring to life - the whole countryside in bloom and blossom." (Psalm 104:27-30, MSG)
No, God is not finished with us. We have been made by God's hand, but we are also still being molded, perfected...
...by God's creating hand.
Prayer: My life is not exactly as I have made it or wanted it. There have been many things happen to make it what it is. Mold me, God into the image you have for me. Don't take your Spirit from me, but send your Spirit and give me new life. Amen.
Are there things in this world that still surprise you? I saw the latest picture from the refurbished Hubble Telescope the other day. It was an incredible image of 3 Milky Way-type galaxies that looked like they were in a sort of orbit together.
The amazing thing is, these images are not pictures of something that happened long ago, rather they are still images of the creative process in action, galaxies in process! The creation is still being formed, altered, recreated, perfected.
Did you know that this is exactly what God is doing with you?
Yes, God has created, but is still working. While the scriptures say that God rested on the seventh day, that doesn't mean God is still resting! There is an active role God is playing in all of Creation still today. Listen again to the Psalmist's words,
"All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they'd die in a minute - take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; Send out your Spirit and they spring to life - the whole countryside in bloom and blossom." (Psalm 104:27-30, MSG)
No, God is not finished with us. We have been made by God's hand, but we are also still being molded, perfected...
...by God's creating hand.
Prayer: My life is not exactly as I have made it or wanted it. There have been many things happen to make it what it is. Mold me, God into the image you have for me. Don't take your Spirit from me, but send your Spirit and give me new life. Amen.
Monday, September 14, 2009
God Made You for a Purpose
Genesis 2:4-25
I've always been a hard worker. My parents taught me well and always gave me responsibilities at home, some might call them chores: keeping my room clean, dusting the house, mowing the yard, taking out the trash, washing the dishes and many other things as my Mom would direct. I'm sure that I complained some, but it was life as I knew it and I learned some good habits.
During the summer school breaks I also began finding work. At 12 I started working for George who owned a small grocery in town and opened a concession stand at the town pool selling fountain pop, popcorn and candy bars. The very next summer I started to work as a life guard, and no less than a certified Red Cross Junior Lifeguard!
From those early days until now, I've worked, never unemployed for more than a couple of weeks at a time, even in college. From lifeguarding to McDonald's grill cook, to dining hall dish washer, to diamond salesman, industrial tool sales, insurance sales, financial planning finally to pastor one of the things I've always known is that I'm created to work.
So are all of us.
"At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground - God hadn't yet sent rain on Earth nor was there anyone around to work the ground." (Genesis 2:5-6a, MSG)
It may not sound like much fun, but there's something important in this statement and in God's creative purpose. We were created intentionally for more than one purpose. One of them is to work!
As communities were built, jobs were divided up among the members so that all would survive, even thrive. Everybody had a task and everyone had different skills to put to work. It's part of God's ultimate design. My skills help you, your's help me and so on. Each of us fit into a grand plan of a relational community, by God's hand.
Yes, God made you intentionally, for a purpose...
...to Work!
Prayer: God, there are times that I don't think I have much to offer. I don't seem to be great at much or confident in my abilities. Yet I see that you have given skills to so many others. Please help me discover the skills you have given me so that I can use them for the good of all humankind and for you. Amen.
I've always been a hard worker. My parents taught me well and always gave me responsibilities at home, some might call them chores: keeping my room clean, dusting the house, mowing the yard, taking out the trash, washing the dishes and many other things as my Mom would direct. I'm sure that I complained some, but it was life as I knew it and I learned some good habits.
During the summer school breaks I also began finding work. At 12 I started working for George who owned a small grocery in town and opened a concession stand at the town pool selling fountain pop, popcorn and candy bars. The very next summer I started to work as a life guard, and no less than a certified Red Cross Junior Lifeguard!
From those early days until now, I've worked, never unemployed for more than a couple of weeks at a time, even in college. From lifeguarding to McDonald's grill cook, to dining hall dish washer, to diamond salesman, industrial tool sales, insurance sales, financial planning finally to pastor one of the things I've always known is that I'm created to work.
So are all of us.
"At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground - God hadn't yet sent rain on Earth nor was there anyone around to work the ground." (Genesis 2:5-6a, MSG)
It may not sound like much fun, but there's something important in this statement and in God's creative purpose. We were created intentionally for more than one purpose. One of them is to work!
As communities were built, jobs were divided up among the members so that all would survive, even thrive. Everybody had a task and everyone had different skills to put to work. It's part of God's ultimate design. My skills help you, your's help me and so on. Each of us fit into a grand plan of a relational community, by God's hand.
Yes, God made you intentionally, for a purpose...
...to Work!
Prayer: God, there are times that I don't think I have much to offer. I don't seem to be great at much or confident in my abilities. Yet I see that you have given skills to so many others. Please help me discover the skills you have given me so that I can use them for the good of all humankind and for you. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)