Wasting Time and Energy

   Fret: anxiety, worry or concern, usually in an excessive way.

   Psalm 37 begins with these words and repeats them farther down in the text:

   " Fret not yourself "

   What do they have to do with me? What do I have to worry about?

   How about: Health issues, money issues, golf issues, yada, yada, yada.........

   Then there are other questions:

      Who is in control over all of this? Me?
      Who has shown that He cares for me?
      Is worry a sin?
      Does it show a lack of trust in God?

   There are a lot of things out in the world to worry about. Hunger, Pestilence, Wars, Elections, and they all are important, but most we cannot do anything about anyway, at least not in a meaningful way on a global scale. I can do my part, as God leads, but I have to leave the rest to Him.

   My Bible says that this Psalm was written by David. It seems as if he is reminding himself not to fret, that he might be prone to do it, but that God is in control and all will work out one day. Maybe I want to fret but I need this reminder also.

   " Fret not yourself "

   Don't need to waste a lot of time and energy on this, just do my part and move on.
     

Listening and Responsibility

   There is a three-fold process in listening, in actually making use of what we learn from this exercise:

   1. Wanting to hear what the other person has to say, treating it as important.

   2. Listening, really paying attention to what is being said.

   3. Acting on what you heard, not only hearing what was said, but realizing the importance of the words, and treating them as ones worth heeding.

   A friend was talking to me yesterday about something that I had written in this blog a few days past. My comment to him was that my primary purpose of this whole project was to record what I felt like God was saying to me as I responded to any Scripture for that day. If anyone else read it and it helped them in some way, that was just added gravy on the meat loaf.

   He reminded me that it could be that one of the reasons I was putting all of this down, was that people might read it, and that their lives might be enriched, or challenged, or whatever, by what God was saying. He might be saying those same things to them, only through a different medium.

   Moses repeated the words of God to the Israelites with the preface "Thus saith the Lord", but the false prophets also told some of the kings words that the monarchs wanted to hear, and they used the same preface. There is a very real responsibility to say that these words come from God.

   So, I read this morning, Jesus' words from John 8:

   " Yet I do not seek my own glory;"

   And I do not want to write just so a few people might say that it was good. I want my words to be an accurate rendition of what I heard from God, and, if that is so, then these can speak to them as well.

   So, I hear God giving me some responsibilities along with all of this:

   1. Listen, really listen.

   2. Act on what I hear, in my life, in my attitudes, in my conduct, and even in my writing.

   3. Put the credit for it all in the right place.

   Now the responsibility with what the words say is passed on to others, and they must do the same. They must discern, listen, and then respond appropriately.

   My prayer, as I began this morning, was that I would correctly hear from God, that I would see how all of that applied in my own life, and then that I would be able to communicate those words, without error, to any others that might read. I pray that I did.

 

Moaning or Thanking?

   As I grow older I find that there are a lot of things that I cannot do anymore, or maybe if I can still do these, I am not quite as proficient at them. Golf from yesterday's post is one of them, but I was reminded this morning, as I read in Psalm 26, that there is also a blessing that can offset these physical problems, and it is not just related to age, it is an important attitude of life in general. The verse reads:

   "I wash my hands in innocence
and go around your altar, O Lord, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
and telling all your wondrous deeds."

   That blessing is thanksgiving. If I watch the news on TV or read it on the internet, it is easy to be discouraged with the situation around me. If I focus on my inabilities, it is easy to get lost in the "woe is me" syndrome. But it is in thanksgiving that I find hope.

   As I sat last night, going through some old slides from a few years back, I came across this picture:

 

   This was a family photo, with all 15 of us in the picture, but I could not place where we were. I knew the year it was taken, and knew it must have been summer of that year, but I could not remember the situation. Since we all live in different area codes, I knew it had to be a special event that brought us all together. but what?

.
  So I did the logical thing, I emailed my 3 kids and their spouses and asked what was going on in the shot. And the answer came back, our 50th anniversary at the Great Wolf Lodge in Jamestown, VA.

   Why all the talking about an old photo? Because it made me thankful, yet again, of the blessing of family, and how much my life is enriched by each one in mine, and thankfulness is much better than moaning.

Fun or Winning

   Here is an old saying of mine, probably came from someone else, but I don't know who, "If a game is worth playing, it is worth trying to win." Or I might have put it, "If you are not trying to win, why play"? Or I could have couched it in a more benign way, "Do your best".

   Are all of the above just a form of pride? Are there any other reasons to play besides just to win?

   Then someone says, "the object of any game is just to have fun and bring enjoyment into your life".

   Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying, "Winning isn't everything, it is the only thing".

   So, what brings all of this to my mind this morning? Could it be that I can't cut the mustard any more and have to settle for the fun thing? Can it be fun just to play and not to win? Can my pride stand to just  do my best, when my best is not too good?

   Can it be that there is a lesson in all of this? Is that lesson to cut the pride and just have fun, if that is possible, or is it, tongue in cheek, to choose my competition more wisely?

   One of the verses from the Gospel reading this morning says,

   "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

   I think I already know the truth on the questions above, but can I live it out?
  (Or maybe this stage is only temporary and I can begin to have success again, just trying harder.)

   Oh, that pride thing is hard to put down, for sure.

Early, early

   I can still hear my dad saying something like "if you don't get up early in the morning, you will miss the best part of the day". I confess that these words did not inspire me.

   Now my dad had spent his life in the produce business. He worked for a chain store early in my childhood, where he had to get up and go to the farmer's market early in the morning when the growers came in with their fresh fruits and vegetables. This was back in the 40s and 50s when a lot of these products would be picked one day and brought to market early on the next, and be on the shelves of the grocery when the people came to shop that day. Of course, this only referred to the items grown around the immediate area. There were other things that had to be shipped in, but, especially in the summer, fresh from the farm veggies were really fresh.

   As my dad began his own produce brokerage firm, the day still began early, as produce, brought in by truck and by rail, needed to be unloaded, put on local distributor's trucks and made available for the stores and eateries for that day's customers. As long as I worked in that business, we opened at 5AM each day, except Sunday of course, and I never liked it all that much.

   It could be that the fact that I was a "night person" had something to do with my reluctance to arise before the sun, or the facts of my job or raising a family, but my thoughts were that early was for sleep, and the bed was warm and comfortable.

   I heard folks at church and elsewhere talk about getting up early and having a "quiet time". Filled with Scripture and prayer, this would let me begin my day in the right way. But I was too busy to give it a try. The alarm clock had to jar me awake and get me out of bed and then there were things to do to get the show on the road.

   Now that I have time to sleep in, without any thoughts of having to be somewhere at sometime, it seems that God wakes me up early. I find that I look forward to this time in the quiet, reading, meditating, praying, sometimes walking in the cool air, but trying to focus on Him in it all.

   This morning, as I walked before the sun came up, I noticed the dew on the ground and the tracks of animals where they had walked across the golf course. I heard the hooting of an owl as he (or she) called to another, the chirping of birds and the noise of critters in the bushes. I saw the sky in the east lighten and begin to show color. Even as I came back to the condo, the chimes of a church to the north of us called out the hour in melodic tones.

   It made me think of the Robert Browning poem that goes:

THE year 's at the spring,
And day 's at the morn;
Morning 's at seven;
The hill-side 's dew-pearl'd;
The lark 's on the wing;	5
The snail 's on the thorn;
God 's in His heaven—
All 's right with the world!

   Now that is a good way to start the day.

Focus

   I am sure that someone has done a study on why a person remembers a dream, or a portion of a dream, but it is interesting to me the things that I remember, at least for a little while, after I wake in the morning.

   For instance, what I thought of this early morning was trying to get a camera shot. There was the scene and the situation, there was one person that I recognized, Sawyer, and there was the shot that I wanted to capture on film. Well, not really film, but on the memory card. I can't remember the whys of that brief time in the dream, but just the activity of trying to get it right and not actually pressing the shutter. Either my dream shifted or I woke up, but I did not take the picture.

   I was trying to get everything in focus so that I might have the shot right. So many people in the scene, so many things going on around me and in front of the lens, but if I wanted to freeze a particular moment to remember, I would have to concentrate my whole thought process on what I was trying to accomplish.

   I would need to see the scene and then focus.

   Sometimes the clutter of my life seems to make it difficult to focus on the important things. Even in the quiet of early morning, before the world wakes up and starts to move about, my thoughts seem to run amok. They are drawn to events of the past or projections of the future. Even as I sit and read the Scripture passages, my mind tends to focus on everything but what the words on the page actually mean.

   I need focus, not only in this time, but in life. Not just in what I want to do in this minute, hour, day, year or life, but what The One who gives me this life wants me to do. Just as I want my life to matter, I want these quiet moments to matter, moments that will set the pattern for my day and the days to come. I want to come away from this time with a sense of purpose and an assurance that I am going in the right direction.

   The first thing each morning, I write out a brief prayer of how I feel and what I want from this time. This is what I wrote an hour or so ago:

Not just so I can write, but that I can change, from the inside out.
That the creator of the universe would visit with me, to make me His.

That He would get me out of myself and into Him.
That I would be transformed into a man after His own heart.
That the encounter would give me more than just something to write.
That it would give me an assurance that I was His.
That it would matter over the long haul, not just for the moment.
These are my prayers, Oh, God.

   And, I might add, at the end of this time, That I might have focus.

   Amen and Amen
   

Updates are Available

   As I sit down to write this morning, a message flashes on to my screen, or actually, an application is bouncing in my dock. I then see a message that reads:

   "Software updates are available for your computer. Do you want to install them?"

   Then I get some choices:

   Show details

   Not Now

   Install

   I had just been reading some parts of Psalm 119, where the psalmist writes:

    "Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!"

   and another section reads:

   "With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!"

   With my whole heart. Now there is a phrase that causes me to stop and think. From what I can see of my heart, it is not wholly attuned to God. There is too much other stuff in there that pulls me away from what God would like me to be. While I am not exactly sure what God wants me to look like, I realize that I am not close to being there. I need an update.

   But I am in a hurry, so I do not click on the Show Details button or the Install button, I just hit the Not Now one and move on to other things.

   Software updates are created to upgrade my computer, to make it more efficient and to take advantage of the programs that are loaded into it in a greater way. Or it is to fix a bug or flaw in the application or system. Why would I not want this? Do I just want my computer to run in an inefficient way because I am comfortable with how it operates now?

   Could it be that this is my life also? Am I comfortable, satisfied or even pleased with the way it is now, even though it is not the best? No Way!

   Help me, God, to hit the Install button, to allow You to work and upgrade.

I Want You

   As I woke up this morning, the thought hit me "why are you getting up, anyway?" What is the purpose of what you do? Do you have any real purpose?

   I guess it is easy to feel that way when you are retired. Back in the days of yore, when there were jobs out there that needed to be done, so that a living could be made, so that a family could be taken care of, it was easy to make that the overriding purpose of life. But what about now?

   In the Gospel reading for this morning, I find Jesus responding to his twelve disciples with these words (from John 6):

    “Did I not choose you,"

   Jesus had called them out of what they were engaged in, called them personally, and said "follow me". They may have had some inkling of what He was choosing them for, but surely did not know the full extent of the call. They just followed.

   If I take the Scripture words above as a passage for me, and they sure seem to be this morning, what does that mean? As I sat down to read and write in this time, I did not open my computer to find a to do list in my inbox, sent from above. Sure, there are a couple of items on my schedule for today, and I'm sure they are on there for some purpose, but are there other reasons to be up and about?

   I think of the poster from WWII:

 

   I am alive, living in this place and time, interacting with these people, even having this quiet time. Why?

   Even as I was sitting here, contemplating, I felt a prompting to write an email to a couple in our church to encourage them. Was that part of my purpose of today? Was it "the purpose" or is there more on the horizon, even for these next hours?

   "Did I not choose you?"

   What else is out there, waiting?

I Don't Really Want To Go There....

   Wow, this may be a tough day, or week, or whatever time, when a word from Psalm 2 becomes my focal word for this time. This word is "wrath" and it surely does not denote a happy time or circumstance.

   So why does that term stick out among all the others in that Psalm and the other readings of this morning?

   Wrath is a bad word. In my mind I see it as extreme anger or displeasure, and its consequences are not pleasant to look on. It sounds like a word used by Jonathan Edwards, one that he might use in his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God", and well he might have, I can't remember.

   But I remember it in a phrase used by our pastor in his message yesterday. He used the term "passive wrath of God", a phrase that I had not encountered before. He defined that as God letting us do our own thing and suffering the consequences.

   Thinking about this term leads to a self examination of my life. Is the emphasis on what I have done, or what I plan to do, or any of the other "I" projects that are in my pipeline, or is it on what God wants of me? Do I even know the difference?

   The only way to be right in all of this is to spend some time in God's presence and seeking His will for my life. Not asking Him to bless "my plans", but asking for His guidance in determining His plans for this day, or week, or whatever.

   I don't want Him to just leave me to my own devices and take the consequences. I'd rather skip all of that and get it right the first time.

   Wrath is not a pretty word, either active or passive, and I prefer to not go there.

Surprises, Blessings and Donuts

   It is scary sometimes, how the mind puts things together. Take this example, that actually came to me yesterday, but continues to be on my mind this morning as I read this portion of the Psalm passage for today:

   "Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!" (Psalm 144:15)

   The other day, while Mayre Lou and I were running an errand with Lucy, our second grader, in Blacksburg, we decided to stop in the local donut shop to pick up some treats for breakfast the next morning. It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the shop was almost ready to close for the day. After selecting several different kinds, to please the various tastes of the household, we purchased enough to make a dozen, and the boy behind the counter said "That will be $6". At that point I realized that I only had $2 and wondered out loud what I should do. The boy said "That will be OK, you can have them for $2 and we'll call it even". Surprise and blessing number one.

   We decided, on the way back home, that we should hide the donuts and let Lucy surprise the family with them the next morning, when we would already be on the road back to St. Simons. Of course, it was easy to hide them from the other two kids, but the parents found out, and we told our story of the bargain. The next morning Lucy brought out the treats, surprising Drew and Caroline, making the breakfast special for that whole household. Surprise and blessing number two.

   I can imagine the look on the face of the sales clerk in the donut shop, when, that same day, Doug stopped in and gave him $4 to pay the remaining cost of the sugary treats. Surprise and blessing number three.

   A surprise and blessing for Mayre Lou and I that we got a bargain.

   A surprise and blessing for the family that got to eat that same bargain.

   A surprise and blessing for the sales clerk as he was given money that he was not expecting.

   God surprises me with undeserved things in my life each day. Maybe I should not be surprised, but I know I am blessed.

   Besides, we "borrowed" two donuts from the box and had them in the car on the way home. Not a surprise, but definitely a tasty blessing.

 

 

Help Me to Notice and to Care

   Yesterday we drove home from Virginia after a few days with the family up there. As is our custom on a lot of long trips, we rented a book on tape from Cracker Barrel to make the trip go a little faster. It was a pretty long book, and, in fact, we did not get through it before we got home. This book was a story of justice, and our question, when we had to turn it off, was "would justice be served?"

   Would justice be served or would evil triumph in the end of the story? I'll have to hear the rest of the book to find out the answer to that question, at least in the plot of the author, but I think I know the answer in the real world.

   I am reminded of the certainty of God's justice in the Psalm that was mine to read this morning. From Psalm 140:

   "I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy."

   God is a just God and He will work it all out in the end, even when we do not see it happen in front of our eyes. Ultimate justice is His. Not the author of some book, but His.

   Is there something in the whole justice thing that becomes part of my responsibility also. Not ultimate justice, but a need for me to do something?

   Bill and Gloria Gaither have written a song that contains these words:

   "Where a child is hungry, where men have no homes. 
Where the powerless are yearning to breathe free.

    May we fight for justice, till there's justice for all, 

    and become what God meant us to be."

   If God points out injustice that is possible for me to help right, then it is up to me to act in some way. First of all I have to have eyes to see and ears to hear that injustice crying out. Then, realizing that it is God that is doing the pointing, I look to Him for my part in this story.

   God help me to see, and care.

Presents or Presence?

   As I sit here this morning, after reading the Psalm portion for today, the thought comes to me that there is a correlation between what my 3 grand kids here in VA look to me for, and what God must desire from me in these early morning times.

   The most prevalent questions that I get from these little ones each time we get to be around each other are:

   Papa can we....?

   Papa will you....?

   Then it strikes me. They do not want me to go out and buy them some present at the store, or go out some place where they can experience a new thing. They just want me to give them some attention. They just want me to spend some time with them.

   And, of course, it is not hard for me to oblige them in that. I love them and want to be around them as they share their lives with me.

   Is that not also true with God? If I come to Him in these moments before everyone else gets up, not looking for presents, but just His presence, is that not what He desires as well?

   God has blessed me far and above all that I could ever imagine, but what I look for in these times is just His presence, to know He cares for and loves me. That may be selfish on my part, but I truly believe that it is what God desires also, my acknowledgment of Him and my love.

   So, what will my answers be to the two questions above, when those 3 get up this morning?

  Papa?

   You bet!

   What do you want to do?

How Quick I Forget, Then Proceed on My Own

   In the Psalm reading from Psalm 106 this morning:

   "But they soon forgot his works;
they did not wait for his counsel."

   How fast I am to forget and how fast to rush on to my own decisions. I can sit here all day, reading about the way the Israelites were blessed by God's mighty hand, and how they immediately forgot all of this, complaining and murmuring, and then do the very same thing. Maybe this is why all the Old Testament history is there for me to read.

   I can acknowledge His blessings with real gratitude. I can read what He tells me when He says for me to wait on the Lord, and then go out and do something that seems right to me.

   It is hard to wait sometimes. It is much easier to ask God to bless what I do and then go out and do it, hoping that it is the right thing. The harder thing is to put the request out there for guidance and then listen. The answer might be yes or no or wait, but I need to listen for it.

   Is the reason that I do not wait that I don't trust my heart in listening? Or maybe I don't want to hear the "wrong" answer? Or maybe I don't listen, except for the one answer that seems right to me?

   Regardless of how I catalog my shortcomings in this area, they are there, and the admonition is to remember who it is that cares about me, and be willing to wait, expecting an answer that will be right for me and that will come in God's time frame, whenever that is and however long it may take.

   Wanting to go my way in my time is my strong suit, not all this listening and waiting.

   Help!

Anticipation

   I have often written before about not overlooking the day I am in, instead looking with anticipation to the next days on the calendar. I try not to do that too much, but when I think about going to see any of my grand kids, the days leading up to that appear small indeed.

   We don't get to see any of them enough, and the older we get, the more difficult it is to travel long distances and live out of a suitcase. Seeing our kids, now mothers and fathers and getting middle-aged, is great and we enjoy those times a lot, but the ones growing up so fast without us near, those are the ones that tug on your heart.

   So, tomorrow we go to VA for a couple of days. We had Drew down here for a week or so, back in July, but did not get to see his sisters at all. Summers seem so short and so busy for all of them, that there is just not that much time to squeeze in a week with everyone of them. We just do it as we can, and, before their school begins at the end of next week, we'll get a couple of days to play. Some one-on-one time with each can fill our tanks for another period without pre-teens around.

   With one grand son away at college, a grand daughter a junior in high school, an eleven year old in Arkansas with his sister of seven, and those three in VA, eleven, nine and seven, we'll turn around one day soon, and all will be adults.

   So, I break my own rule and anticipate anyway. We all have to have some things to look forward to in our lives, and it is a long time till Christmas.

   Hit the road.

What Am I Hungry For?

   I woke up this morning with a song running through my mind, or at least a part of a song, so I looked it up on the internet and found the lyrics and music. It is here: (Note: Skip the ad on the video, I could not figure out how to get it off)

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1u-U-JIlW4&feature=related

   And the lyrics contain these words in the chorus:

             You are the one that we praise
             You are the one we adore
             You give the healing and grace
             Our hearts always hunger for
             Oh, our hearts always hunger for

   Then I read in Psalms 107:

   "He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.

 And there he lets the hungry dwell,"

   So, the question surfaces in my mind and heart, "What am I hungry for?" What  causes me to wake up in the morning and get going?

   It is true that sometimes my life seems like a desert or a parched land, devoid of much meaning and life, but God reminds me that He can turn that barren landscape into springs of water, water that gives life, His life.

   More words from the song becomes a part of my prayer for this time:

             Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
             Spirit we long to embrace
             You offer hope when our hearts have
             Hopelessly lost the way
             Oh, we hopelessly lost the way

   Only God can satisfy this hunger in my soul, and for this I give Him this morning time. The words that I wrote down as I began this morning, my answers to the hunger question for me were:

   Friendship, fellowship, guidance, purpose and You

   He was here this morning, and for that I am glad.

A Bit Player, Maybe Just a Cameo Appearance...

   Today, as I read the Scriptures for the Psalm reading and the Gospel one, I am struck by two incidents:

   One, in Psalm 105, talks of Joseph, the boy sold into slavery, and taken to Egypt, where he becomes the savior of his family and of a whole people.

   "He had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave."

   The other in John, chapter 4, concerns the woman at the well in Samaria, where Jesus pauses for rest and a drink. This woman is not named, but her story shows her role in the on-going story of God.

   "So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,  “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

   These two individuals both have roles to play. One even has his name in the program, while the other is one of many bit players, just a part of the scene to move the story along, just a person passing along the road of life that God used to impact the people of her town.

    I sense that there is a correlation in these two isolated instances. Both persons are used by God to advance the Kingdom, and there is no difference in the importance of either role. Both have parts to play, and both are put in their respective scenes for His purposes.

   Joseph may have had an inkling when he had those dreams way back in his youth, but I suppose that, on the day that Pharoah made him second in command of the whole kingdom, he got out of his bed without a clue that this was the day. The woman at the well in Samaria did what she always did, she went out in the middle of the day to get water for her house. She had no idea what the day would bring.

   God appeared to Joseph in a dream many years before he used him. God, in flesh, appeared to the woman and used her that very day. Joseph had many years to be faithful to God in his various roles, while the woman's cameo appearance in His Story seemed to come out of the blue.

   My prayer this morning, is that God will make me sensitive to the place he has me in for this day, and if I need to leave my jar at the well and go, that I will do.

There are a lot of "losers" in the Olympic Games

   Since we do not have cable, I have been watching some of the Olympics over the Internet, the broadcast originating with the BBC in London. Their coverage is very good, but, as would be normal for any country, they focus a lot on the athletes of British Commonwealth and, in particular, those of the mother country. Most of these participants are unknown to me, some because their names do not appear in our sports news, but also a lot are in, for me, obscure sports, that I don't know much about.

   Regardless of the sport, for an athlete to get to the Games is an accomplishment. For some it is their life, but, even if it is not a full-time occupation, it takes a tremendous amount of hours, honing a skill that will take you to the top of a sport, or even just an event in that sport. Sometimes those hours take you to the top spot on the winner's platform, but for the majority of those in these Summer Games, there is no medal to take home, only the chance to compete.

   In 1984, our family got to attend some events of the Summer Games in Los Angeles. It was a treat to see the athletes, from so many countries around the world, compete on the world stage, and to read their stories in the local papers.

  

   I guess I am intrigued more by the stories of those who do not win medals than I am by the stars that make the headlines. Those guys that struggle in last in the marathon, or miss the initial pole vault height,  or even suffer some injury and do not get to compete at all. How do they feel about the whole experience? Are they mad, or are they just glad to have been able to come that far? What do they take away from that opportunity, and how does it affect the rest of their lives? There may be as many stories as there are men and women competing, but I think their lives have something to say to the rest of us.

   Am I willing to put in the time to make my life all that God intends? Do I look at disappointments as the end, or just a temporary situation? Do my attitudes and actions reflect  a loss or a gain from the experience?

   We all can't be Olympic winners, but we can show the dedication that they model in their sport, in our lives. They have a purpose and so should I.

  Now someone please point me to stories about  "losers" in the Games and how their lives were impacted by that experience.

Is It All Up To Me?

   Last night I was watching a lecture on the U.S. Constitution, and the speaker quoted a passage from the first Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan. He had been talking about those men and women who were buried in Arlington National Cemetery when he spoke these lines:

 Under one such marker lies a young man—Martin Treptow—who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.

We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, “My Pledge,” he had written these words: “America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”

   I was struck by that last phrase " as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone".

   Here was a boy, in a really insignificant position, in the middle of a great conflict with many men around him, who determined to do his best, regardless of his job, because doing that best could make the difference that won the war. He was killed trying to take a message to another unit. Evidently he failed in his task, as the words say "he was trying". Is it necessary to succeed in order to win, or is it the attitude of how we try, the important thing?

   Are there things out there that I need to step up and do? Sometimes it is easier to let the anonymity of belonging to a group, large or small, mask my individual effort. If the group fails, well, it was the group, not me individually. This group can be as large as a country, or as small as a marriage. It can encompass a church, a ministry, or a family. Whatever I am involved with is a part of my responsibility.

   At the end of Reagan's address were these words:

   "with God’s help, we can "

   Is it all up to me in my own strength? The psalmist says in Psalm 121:

   " I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? 
   No, my strength comes from God, 
      who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

   Let me live it out in that way.

An Old Familiar Passage

   What is undoubtedly the most familiar passage in the New Testament?

  

   This is it in the King James Version, the one I grew up with.

   "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

   Here it is in the Message:

   "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life."

   How about in the New Living Translation?

   "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

   How about the New King James?

   "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

   And I could go on and on with different translations of this one verse, but the question that follows is, "does it make any impact on my life?"

   Is it so familiar that it has lost its power for me? Is it just another set of words that I believe, and I do, but that I don't pause to really try to understand?

   There is a real danger in the familiar.

   John 3:16 is a powerful verse. I try to image how it sounds to a desperate man who hears it for the first time. It is like a raft that floats up to him as the water is about to close over his head, and he reaches out and grabs, knowing it is his only chance for life.

   God loved and God gave, for me.

  I pray that these words will never become just words in a Book, but will always be real in my life, real because He did it for me (and you).

Trouble, Trouble, Toil and Trouble

   Toil and trouble, now that is a pleasant thought to begin the day. Why do those words stand out of the reading for today?

   From Psalm 90, a psalm written by Moses, I read in The Message:

   "We live for seventy years or so 
      (with luck we might make it to eighty), 
   And what do we have to show for it? Trouble. 
      Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard".
   The span of life that is given here hits me right where I live. Seventy or maybe eighty years and then it is over, and I see myself right in the middle of those years, right now.

   So, how do I treat the days that I am living right now? Do I want to look back on my life and see it as trouble and wasted?  No, of course not.

   But I look at the days that I live, take yesterday for an example, and I see a morning filled with some true thoughts about prayer and the consideration of others, and then I see a time on the golf course that was frustrating for me and probably embarrassing to my partners, and then a time of activity with my wife, I and realize the inconsistency of it all. How can I live in the right way and the wrong way in the same day, and why is it so obvious to me when I look back on it? My priorities are askew, for sure.

   So what is to be done? How can I make the days left in my life count for something? Not on my own that is for sure.

   A little farther down in that same psalm, Moses pens these words:

   "Oh! Teach us to live well! 
      Teach us to live wisely and well!"
   It may be bad to have to ask for this at this late stage, but it is better late than never.

   Help

In The Morning...

   What is it about the early morning when the world is still asleep?

   The following scenario has happened to me quite a few times over the past couple of years:

   I know that I have a schedule to meet the next day, and I set my alarm to a time that I know I can be ready to move out when I need to. Then the last thing I think before sleep comes, is to say to God, that "You know my schedule for the next day's activities, and if You want me to wake up and spend some time with You, You will need to wake me before the alarm". I know this sounds mighty presumptuous, that God would even care, and sometimes I even feel that way myself, but with regularity, it happens.

   This morning, the alarm is set at 6:30, and when I wake and look, the time is 5:30, and I know I have a whole hour to listen for God to speak, usually through the readings of Scripture that are put in front of me through the program that I use. When I realize how all this unstructured time has come about, when my natural self would rather still be in the bed, I actually anticipate what God might have in store for me.

   So, today the portion, indeed it is only a phrase, of the Scripture reading in Psalm 88, is brought to the forefront of my thinking, and it is this:

   "in the morning my prayer comes before you."

   My praying is not always good, and a lot of the time, I do not even think it is that important, but God says that the morning is the best time for it. So what do I pray for?

   Some months back, I began a small list of people that I needed to think about and present before God. Not that He did not already know about each situation, but I wanted to care about them in a specific way also. So I took that out this morning and read the names, bringing the specifics of each back into my memory. There are names of my kids, their spouses and their kids. There are friends from different places and time periods of my life. There are folks that appear on the prayer notices that come on email from our church. Each of these needs seems to bring to mind other people in those circumstances that I have not written down.

   God seems to say: "use this time to pray for others this morning and get your mind off yourself and your day ahead. These people are important to Me and should be to you. Morning is not just a time to read and write some words down on your blog, although this may be important on some days, but it is also about the lives and concerns of people you know and love. Pay attention to that urging, too."

   So I do on this morning, and it is good.

Walk The Path, With Me..

   With Me?

   Three things seem to be my focus this morning. One from the Psalm reading, one from the Gospel reading and one from a song that comes to my mind. Let's see if I can weave them together to make some sense.

   First the verse from Psalm 119:

   "105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
   Then some verses from John 1:

   "Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.”

   Then some words from a verse of the Servant Song that seem to apply to all of this:

   "I will hold the Christ light for you
In the night time of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the the peace you long to hear."
   A light on a path, one that I can use, and one that I can share. An invitation from Jesus to follow along with Him and see what He is about.

   How does all of that apply to my life today? I may not know, even when the day is over, but I can see some possibilities.

   Mayre and I are meeting with a couple this evening that are looking for some direction in their marriage and lives. We were asked to be a guide in this process, and wonder if we are the right people to do this.

   First of all, in these types of situations, we have to be willing to share our lives and struggles with them, the good with the bad. In a sense, we have to invite them to come along with us as we live, to see us as we really are and, to not only pass along timely wisdom, but be real people in our relationship with them. To do this we have to question whether or not our lives, separately and together, are a good example for them to look at. Who are we to do this, anyway? Do we dare say "come and see"?

   Secondly, we need to know where the wisdom comes from, this wisdom that will allow them to tap into the real source of happiness for them. The psalmist says, "Your word". The words that God speaks into our lives, from The Bible, from what He shows us in our circumstances, and what He indicates to us from what other believers say. It is not our wisdom, but His, that will make the difference.

   Thirdly, we must be willing to be used in this way. We will hold that "Christ light" for them and be the guide on that path, and as the song says, "I will...".

   So, all of this can apply to our assignment, and now we just need to pray that God will strengthen us for the task, guide us in the words and actions that we present, and keep us honest and real. We pray also that the other couple will want to hear, and want to take it to heart.

   "I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the the peace you long to hear."