Love and Dominion

   From Psalm 103 this morning:

   "Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion."
   The word that caught my eye was "dominion", and, as I walked, I thought about what all that entailed.

   The dictionary defines that word as "sovereignty or control", and I see it as encompassing the whole universe, not just our planet, but definitely that. There is not a place on earth that God is not in control. It sure may look like it sometimes, take for example Syria today, where violence and bloodshed reign, but if God is not sovereign there, He is not God, with a capital G, at all.

   I think of a friend of ours, a girl in our church, who is traveling today toward a 5 week stay in Africa. She will be working way out in the bush, in a small orphanage, with some kids who have little in the way of material goods, but who are in the process of being saved and ministered to in the name of Jesus. These are kids that had little hope of a life at all, until they were rescued from a situation that was far from their control. Most had either been abandoned to the streets by parents who could not care for them, or left without parents because of the ravages of disease in that part of the world.

   God's dominion stretches to that village in Africa. He is in control of those people who serve there, and those who do not know He even exists. He has plans for each and knows their names. Our friend travels there to show God's love to those who are forgotten by the world, but not by Him. He has put those kids on her heart, and she goes to obey the call.

   When she was asked why she was going so far away, in mileage and in comfort and lifestyle, she answered "I'm just going to love on those kids for a few days". No high-powered agenda, no reward except the faces of those she loves on and the knowledge of her service for a Savior that she loves above all.

   So I pray for Stella today. Praying that God will protect her in her travels, in her stay way out there in the bush, and bless those kids through her. He alone is sovereign, even there.

   May I have that kind of love for all the people that come into my life today.

Morning

   I stayed up too late last night, watching a football game that was effectively over in the first quarter, and not going to bed at a reasonable hour. So I did not wake up early as is my custom.

   Coming into this time of meditation, knowing that I had to go play tennis (had to!) shortly, I resigned myself to just a quick look at the Psalm reading and then getting on with my day.

   But something stopped me, a line from Psalm 110 which stated:

   "from the womb of the morning,"

   That is an interesting turn of a phrase. I know I function best in any day when I rise early and take some time to think about, and try to listen to, what God wants me to hear. The early part of the day, when it is quiet and still, is my favorite, and I miss it when I don't get up.

   When I go to bed at night, one of my last thoughts usually is a quick prayer to God to wake me up if He wants me to listen to Him. Last night I just went to sleep, knowing full well that I did not want to get up.

   Was this verse an admonition of my actions yesterday, or just a reminder of where my strength comes from. Not only strength but wisdom also, and I know I need both....Bad.

   So I utter a quick prayer of confession and another for forgiveness before I head out, knowing that it is not enough, just a start.

Walking and Waiting

   So I walk, and I wait, but what do I wait for?

   As I read the verses in the Psalms and in the Gospel of John this morning, I prayed for a time of knowing God. Really knowing Him, not just in a superficial way, but as friend to friend on an intimate basis. I think I have a relationship with the Creator of the universe, but, if I analyze this, I realize that it is not all that personal. I think I know Him from His Word, but again, I know I have not even scratched the surface of all of that.

   So I walk, and I wait. Do I wait to see a man appear before me on the cart path and give me a word from on high? Do I wait for a lightening bolt to flash forth and knock me to the ground? I wait, but I really do not know what I wait for. A burning bush that is not consumed by the fire would be nice, but that was for Moses, and none that I see have any smoke coming out of them.

   As I come to the end of my walking time, and get ready to go back inside the condo, I make the last eastward turn and look up. The sky is beginning to lighten, the sliver of the moon is still easily seen along with a bright morning star, which I presume is Venus. It is a photographic moment, but with no camera in hand, I realize that God has indeed spoken.

   He reminds me that He is still there and the whole universe is moving along in the way He planned it. Another day is dawning, and He has that all planned out, too. He knows my thoughts and prayers. He knows what I want and what I need, and maybe those facts are all I need to know right now.

   I am grateful that I have the time to enjoy a few moments on the cart path in the early morning, before the sun rises. God reminds me of this blessing as I stand for a minute and look east into the lightening sky.

   Perhaps, just perhaps, that is what I was waiting for, and now I wait no longer. I may walk and wait again tomorrow, but He has given me His presence, and that is what I need for this day.

   Each day for that one, and one day at a time.

Do This...Why?

   Tomorrow is communion Sunday in our church. The mechanics of the day include a time for those who will serve in each service to meet together before the beginning of each, to take communion themselves. One man is designated the leader, to serve the others the bread and juice. On this day. before the 9AM service, that man will be me.

   I do not want this time to be just a perfunctory one for me or for those others who will be participating in the serving of those holy elements. It is important for all of us to be take seriously the command of Jesus when He says to His disciples:

   " And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying,“This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."

   "Do this in remembrance of Me."

   How often have I heard those words? What does it mean to remember?

   I have served communion many times. In our old church, the deacons served the elements by passing the plate with the wafers, and the cups of juice in their holders, down the row of people sitting in the pews. In the church that we now attend, the communicants come forward to receive the elements directly from hands of the servers, and I confess that I am partial to this second method.

   I have seen many people come forward, and I have tried to look in the eyes of each one in the attempt to make it as personal for them as is possible. First of all to treat all who come as individual persons, and not just as a mass, and then to remind them of the significance of the taking of the bread and juice, that it is for them, that one individual person, that Jesus died.

   I see folks who come with a look of "let's just get this over with, I'm uncomfortable being here and doing this". I see people, especially kids when brought down by their parent, who look at me with the question "why am I doing this?". I see eyes that are filled with tears, for whatever reason, and I am drawn into their emotion as they receive.

   I remember that Christ calls us as individuals, not as a group. It is to each one that the command comes to take into account what we are doing in this act of worship. To each Jesus says "Do this in remembrance of Me".

   So I try to take this time this morning to do just that. To remember the scene at the Last Supper, the scene in the Garden and the Scenes at the Cross and the Tomb. I attempt to put all of that in perspective as it pertains to one person, me. I confess that I do not understand it all, but I accept it as a fact, and am grateful to be included with His disciples, however unworthy I know I am.

   And I will try to lead others in that preparation time tomorrow, to remember also, not only what the scenes are, but what they mean in their lives, so that the congregation gathered in that place in that hour can hear the command also.

   Remember and then Respond

A Three Legged Stool

   There are Opportunities, and there are Responsibilities, but in order to have a stable 3-legged stool, I must have the third leg. For me, at least, the third word that started this year was Relationships. The word came to me on Tuesday, along with the other two, but I had to do some thinking about what that all meant. Relationships involve others, people that come into my life for a brief moment or for a long or intermediate time. People whose lives intersect with mine for different time frames. People that I know well and others that I do not know at all.

   God gives me opportunities in my life, and He gives me the responsibility to make something out of these. He gives me people along with those times, and so the responsibility extends in that direction  also.

   I saw at least four individuals as I walked the cart path this morning. A golf course employee who was cutting the greens, and who I just waved to and walked on. A man that I knew, walking his dog on the side of the course, but too far away to do anything else but wave. A lady, who lived along the path, filling her bird feeder, that I did not know and just waved to as I walked. Finally, a man actually playing golf at that early hour, that I stopped and spoke to as he went to the next green.

   Were there any opportunities there that I needed to take some responsibility toward? Was it just to acknowledge that they were in that place, and that they were actually people, or was there something more? Was it for just that brief moment or maybe leading to a future time? At this point I cannot know, but at least I did not just shut my eyes to their presence. Brief relationships, but possibly more.

   There are a whole continuum of relationships in my life, from God at the one end to the man on the street, and I have a responsibility toward each. Maybe in varying ways, but one nevertheless. Relationships make the life and without these, it would be a sterile vacuum.

   So how do I relate these three words into my life?

   The God-orchestrated circumstances in my life bring opportunities that I have a responsibility toward. These circumstances also involve people that are important in some way, but not just because they are in my life, but because they are God's creation also, and important to Him.

   Too often I see others in the light of what they can do for me, from God on down to the ones that I do not know. I need to see them as God sees them, important human beings, made in His image, and not just a part of a nameless mass. I can, and should, treat them with the dignity that they deserve.

   My responsibility may be greater for God, family and friends, but it also reaches to those whose circumstances have intersected with mine, in any way.

   Let me remember that when I get up from this time, and live it out with everyone.

 

 

Take Two...and a Cry for Help

   Who can know the mind of God?

   That seems to be my question this morning as I think about the second word in my post from yesterday. I wrote about Opportunity on that last foggy morning, and today I want to focus on Responsibility. But it is not enough just to zoom in on that one word, my thoughts go back to how it might relate to yesterday's post.

   If I say that God does indeed bring opportunities into my life, for me to grasp and live out, and sometimes to pass by and not even notice, there could be another way that I can treat these occasions. What if I see an opportunity right in front of me and deliberately fail to respond? What if I realize that there is something out there, but put on blinders and don't acknowledge that it exists?

   But, of course, there are at least two kinds of opportunities, ones that God brings to bless us in obedience to His desires and ones that are bad and sinful in nature.

   What of the second word in this trio from yesterday, Responsibility, in relation to these opportunities?

   I know I have the duty to, first of all, ask God to let me see opportunities for what they are and their ability to either be a blessing or a curse. Then I need to act in accordance to what He shows me about each one, shunning the bad but embracing the good.

   But doing the culling and accepting does not seem to be the end of the process. Once He has pointed out to me the ways that are in my power to bless, or serve, then the Responsibility deepens. First comes the opportunity, it is recognized and accepted as mine, but I also have the ability to decide how much effort to put into the implementation of it.

   How many times have I heard "If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right"? Performance to anything less than my best is a disservice, both to God and to me.

   So I have the Responsibility to be aware of the way God is leading, to see what He puts in my path, to act in accordance with what He shows, and to do it the best I can, with His help.

   Fortunately there is this verse from Psalm 34, as written in The Message:

   "Is anyone crying for help? God is listening,
ready to rescue you."

   Help!

Three Words for 2013..Take One

      Waking, Reading, Praying and Walking. Those activities bring three words to my mind this morning. As I think about 2013, a new year on the calendar, these words seem to be in the forefront of my thoughts. They are big words, at least in terms of importance in my life right now.

   Opportunity, Responsibility and Relationships.

   For me, as I sit here in the beginning hours of a new year, the words are real, but the implications are a little like my early morning walk, foggy. I could look in any direction, see the path immediately in front of me, see some houses a few hundred feet off in all directions, but the area past that was obscured. From past experience, I knew there was something out there, but could not see any details.

   I also know there is something about those three words that I need to focus on, but there is just too much unknown beyond the foggy fringes of my world. If I try to dissect them all at one time, I will be swamped, so I will try to look at just one right now and listen for words of wisdom from Above.

   Opportunity: How does that relate to the beginning of this new year? Opportunity exists in all three of the realms of my life. There have been opportunities in the past, some have been seized and others missed. Both joys and regrets have been present in these, but I can't dwell there.

   There will be chances out there in the future, and that future consists of the next minute, the next day, or year. There are things that I can do to try and prepare to grab them, but the grabbing hold is not yet. They are important, but the call for me in this is not to be so short-sided that I am not ready

   The only opportunities that I can take hold of are those right now. Just like in the foggy morning, walking alone down the path, my world encapsulated in just that little spot that I can see, the only things that I can affect are right there, right then.

   So, what does all of that mean? God has placed me in places where I have opportunity to be His man in His world. In short, I have the chance to serve. As I recognize that fact, another question appears. How?

   Even the opportunities that I can see in my life right now are daunting. I see them, but I know I cannot take care of them in any correct way, without help. So part of the plan is to admit that I cannot do it on my own and ask for His help. If the things that come my way are part of His plan for me right now, then He will help me take care of them. I know I need this, really bad.

   So, on the first day of this year 2013, I take the opportunity to ask God for His help. I confess that I cannot do anything worthwhile without Him. I ask for this at the beginning of this day. I ask for this help for the day in front of me. I ask for this help in preparation for each of the days ahead in the fog.

   Help me to serve, and help me to be ready to serve.

   Give me this day, my daily bread, I pray......