Joy in the Journey

So many times I’ve lost my step, but never lost my way. How Do You Know? Third Day I may falter in my steps, but never beyond your reach. Sometimes by Step Rich Mullins For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38-39 There’s nothing in life that offers me as much hope as the knowledge that nothing can take Jesus away from me. It is especially comforting to know that even my own failures and bumbles won’t do it. It isn’t as if I’m going to go through life without sin. I may choose it. I may fall into it or I may get pushed but one thing I know for sure, there has been and will be sin in my life. I know this because I am not Jesus. I dearly love him but unfortunately I am not yet like him. The song I quoted from Third Day talks about finger pointing. The singer asks, “how do you know what ...

For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” Acts 17:28 Every morning when I wake up I have a choice. I can choose to live in Christ, to walk through my day with the knowledge of who I am and whose I am or I can choose to give into the pressures of the world. For months now I’ve gone back to a practice I started as ha new believer. It’s one I’ve revisited several times over the years. My only question is why I ever stop doing it. It’s a simple thing. When I wake up, before any thought, good or bad, can really register in my mind I say, “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) Regardless of what the day holds, its very existence is ordained by God. Of course there are days when things don’t go my way. There are days that involve tragedy and suffering, or even just a mild illness, that don’t seem joyous and yet, if I believe what I say I believe I have to know that the...

Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown is a prophet without honor. He could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few people and heal them. Mark 6:4-5 (emphasis mine) That line always gets me. “He could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few people and heal them.” I don’t know about you but I count it a decent day when I do no harm and perhaps bring a smile to a face or two. I call it a good day when I’m able to give something or bless someone. I call it a great day if I can bless more than one life, give something and bring a smile to a face or two. If I could heal one person, just one, I would call that a monumentally stupendous day! If I could heal a few people…. Hmm, most likely someone would then have to revive me. But here we are in Jesus’ “hometown” and the poor guy just can’t do much of anything, oh yeah, except heal a few people. There are myriad stories of Jesus miraculous powers. They’re in the Bible of course, but we also hear from people...

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1 For several weeks the first half of this verse has been in my head. To be called the daughter of God is a ridiculously huge privilege. Beyond that I love the wording. “The love the Father has lavished on us.” I’m a word girl. I love words, especially when the way they sound indicates their meaning, like conquer or conquerors. Say that a few times. It sounds strong doesn’t it? Conqueror. Now try lavished. It sounds like something that would flow over you, cover you, make you feel warm and secure. Then consider that the love being lavished is from God. Amazing right? For the last several weeks I have been praying for my friend Charlene a lot. Due to a major change in her life we have also been in pretty constant contact. At some point in all of our conversations, be they live, on th...

“They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, Peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; They do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen, they will be brought down when they are punished,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 8:11-12 When I first read the words, “they dress the wounds of my people as though it were not serious” I felt a bit convicted. I’m a fixer. That’s nice and can be helpful, if the situation requires an easy fix, a few “there there’s” or a nice snack. I can offer a listening ear and even, on occasion a bit of decent advice but sometimes I’m tempted to put a Band-Aid on a patient needing open heart surgery simply because I can’t stand to see him or her hurting. The quick fix can often be more harmful than no help at all as it gives a false sense of healing or acceptance. On further reflection I saw the words as a bit more severe. This is the ...

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139: 7-10 Have you ever tried to hide from God? Did you think you were successful? I’ve tried it and I fear I may try it again, although I hope not. It doesn’t work. God doesn’t look the other way. There is no place he won’t go or can’t see. I have a friend who does not believe this, or so he says. I’ll call him Billy. Billy is a great guy. His major flaw is that he is his own authority and therefore his own worst enemy. Without a guiding force in his life, Billy relies on his own limited view of the world, his own narrow experiences and scariest of all, the things of the world. His gospel, if you will is not the Gospel, but whatever popular opinion is sweeping our...

Return O Israel to the Lord your God, Your sins have been your downfall. I will heal their waywardness and love them freely. Hosea 14:1, 4a There is a song by Third Day that is pretty much a summary of the book of Hosea. The lines that speak to the most say, “She’s forgotten her first love. He’s forgotten that she ever went away and broke his heart.” Wow! That says it all to me. I can’t recall, nor do I care to, the number of times I’ve walked away from God, forgotten my first love. I know I have repeatedly broken his heart and yet, he has forgotten. How is that possible? I have four children, all of whom I dearly love. Through the years there have been offenses, of course. Some I remember too clearly, others are vague and still others may have happened but they are gone from my mind. Some are gone, not all. Whenever a new incident occurs I try very hard not to see it in light of things that came before. I cling to, “love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5) an...