Joy in the Journey

This message is five years old. I'm reusing it because I believe that it is a very powerful and important lesson. I am so blessed to say that I'm still following Adam's example. He and his family have since moved away. I miss them! Thankfully I still get to see a few pictures and God willing I will see them again in person one day. Now listen you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15 Children are often instructed to watch, listen and learn from those people with more experience. Surely parents are the earliest teachers of any child. Sadly, far too many children learn all the wrong things. The other day I was blessed not only to see the result of ...

  The king said to me, “What is it that you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king,” Nehemiah 2:4-5a The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Psalm 145:18 For many years people have asked me to pray for or with them. This started many years into my walk with Jesus, many years after I made the decision, as an adult to follow the Lord and do His will. That seems like it would make it pretty simple for me to say yes to those requests, right? Truly it has become pretty easy but it didn't start out that way. I had no clue what to say or how to say it. Abba has also given me the great gift of encouragement. He often calls on me to be an encourager, a Barnabas, to someone near to me. These aren't necessarily people I know well or even like. They are people God chooses and puts in my path. Sometimes it is easy and natural to grab the hand of another and pray. God's grace is there before I even ask fo...

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. Matthew 27:50 Last night we went to church for a Good Friday service. The service was amazing. Our music director and pastor worked together perfectly to create the right mood, a very somber, dark mood. In our church that service culminates with a very loud boom which signifies the closing of the tomb. After that all is silent. Silent. People who normally greet each other, plan where to eat brunch or when to get together during the week are walking out in silence. Why? Because our reason for being, our hope is gone. Of course for us, in 2017, that is symbolic and not literal but believe me, in that moment it feels real. Each year something stands out to me in the telling of Christ's final hours on Earth. Often it is the total betrayal from too many near and dear to Him. This year it was the fact that in those moments Jesus was gone. The service ended and our full of life pastor did not say a word. ...

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. John 7:38 Just a few minutes ago I made a lovely pot of tea. This is not unusual. I do it almost every day, often more than once a day. This morning I emptied the water left from yesterday out of the tea kettle. Why? Excellent question. There was nothing wrong with that water. I could have just added to it. While I was waiting for the train whistle sound, indicating the boiling point, I cleaned out a dish and ran my garbage disposal, more running water. Then I filled a large cup with water from my refrigerator. During these processes I also washed my hands and my counter. Water, water everywhere.... I was taken this morning, not for the first time and hopefully not for the last time, by how very grateful I am to have clean, plentiful, hot and cold running water. Today that led me to think of all the other “ordinary” things we take for granted. While making my te...

  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 I had a little mishap this morning. Nothing major, just a time setback and a small moment of panic while I wondered if I had the wherewithal to fix the issue. A quick scan of my cabinets and yes, in that sense all was well. Seems fairly ordinary, right? Well, not for me. The thing is, someone else was depending on me. The problem I encountered wasn't going to impact just my day, but the very important event of someone very dear to me. Normally this would be panic mode melt down time but it wasn't. I looked at the disaster, stopped and simply prayed, “Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.” And He did! Right there, in the moment. Peace flowed in bringing with it the obvious solution to the problem. Later as I was praying and could see Abba's hand all over my morning another larger issue came to mind. I p...