Live Life . . .

“Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters . . . Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile . . . “ (Jeremiah 5-7).

Here’s the deal about being in exile. God wants you to get on with your life and really live!  Build houses, plant gardens, and start families.  Your life has not ended just because your plans may have come crashing down around you.  There is much to enjoy, even in the midst of great pain.

Richard Niebuhr’s famous “Prayer for Serenity” provides a helpful path towards life in the midst of loss.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.”

The challenge for today is to find a way to enjoy one moment at a time—to maybe enjoy just one moment—one small moment. In the middle of the hurricane, find a breeze of hope—find a small whiff of peace. And hang on to it with everything you’ve got!

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.” –Robert Frost      

The God of Exile...

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles who I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon . . . " (Jeremiah 29:4).

Here is a tough question: Is it possible that you are in the tough spot that you are in (what I'm calling exile), because God wants you there? I don't know if you want to hear this or not--but the answer is  YES! God sometimes sends us into exile. The verse above clearly says that God sent the Israelites into exile.  

Why does God send us into exile? Because it's in the pain that we gain! "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors" (James 1:2-3, The Message). I've heard it said this way, "What comes out when you are squeezed is who you really are". Yikes!

In our journey through exile and ultimately back home, we have the opportunity to come to know God in a fresh way--as the God of Exile. It is challenging, to say the least, to set aside our notions about what God must be like, and to instead experience Him personally, as so many have throughout the pages of Scripture.  

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Let me invite you today to experience the God of Exile. Your great discomfort may just be an indication of the size of the project that God is undertaking through you.

"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?" (Isaiah 43:19, NLT).

Message to the Exiles...

Are you familiar with Jeremiah 29:11? "'For I know the plans that I have for you', declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'"

This is a hopeful verse of promise that many of us have held onto at some point in our lives. What you may not be familiar with is the fact that the context of this great promise is an extended time of exile--a time of great loss for God's chosen people. For a period of about twenty years, the Jewish people were successively exiled into Babylon. This captivity ultimately lasted for seventy long years. Jeremiah's promise occurs in the early days of this Babylonian exile.

Have you ever been exiled? I don't mean that you've been sent off packing to Babylon. I do mean that all of us, at different points in our lives, have experienced times of great loss--exile. We've lost our place, our power, our privilege, our purpose, and likely our peace. We've lost relationships, jobs, homes, and maybe even the will to live. With that in mind, Jeremiah 29:11 takes on new and essential meaning. In the midst of loss, God still has a plan--a plan for blessing!

In the verses surrounding Jeremiah 29:11, I've discovered seven strategic steps intended to lead us back from exile.

#1--Know the Lord - Jeremiah 29:4

#2--Live your Life - Jeremiah 29:5-7

#3--Listen Carefully - Jeremiah 29:8-9

#4--Limited and Purposeful Suffering - Jeremiah 29:10

#5--Follow God's Leadership - Jeremiah 29:11

#6--Locate God - Jeremiah 29:12-14

#7--Liberation - Jeremiah 29:14

Over the next several days, I will work through these seven steps, putting a little more meat on the bone. If you are like me--a returning exile (or maybe you are just starting a new journey into exile), God has something life-changing to say to us.

I'm Still Growing . . .

It's been quite a while since I've taken the time and effort to write a blog post. I've been reading some of my old posts this morning going all the way back to 2006 and I realize how very important it is to write. #1--It's a record of my life's experiences. #2--It's a storehouse of the insights that I've gleaned from the Word of God.

It's startling how much I've changed over the years. In 2006, I mentioned in a blog post that I don't cry much. In 2017, I cry all of the time! In 2006, I hadn't yet come to the realization that I was a chronic people-pleaser. In 2017, I have a group of leaders in my church that likely doubt that I was ever a people-pleaser. I'm laughing as I consider this, since we have just come through a very difficult time for all of us when I resisted not one but two committees in order to stand on a biblical conviction. God has healed me of a great many issues--mostly through the creative use of loss and suffering. That said--I'm still growing!

Six Promises of Heaven

SIX PROMISES OF HEAVEN

Healing:  "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the HEALING of the nations." --Revelation 22:1-2

Eternity:  "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." --John 17:3

Adoration:  " . . . and day and night they do not cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.'" --Revelation 4:8b

Victory:  "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." --1 Corinthians 15:57

Exuberant Existance:  "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly." --John 10:10

kNowing:  "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." --1 Corinthians 13:12

Growling the Word

"But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do." --Psalm 1:2-3 (NLT)

This is an amazing promise for those who will act on it. Delight in the law of the Lord, meditate on it day and night, and you will prosper in all that you do. Who wants to prosper in 2017? Who wants to be like a tree on a riverbank, always green and always bearing fruit? Well, count me in!

Let's focus on the two conditional elements in these verses: #1 delight on the law, and #2 meditate on the law. The law of the Lord, of course, is the entire Word of God. What does it mean to delight in it and to meditate on it?

#1 Delight: We either delight or we don't. For me, coming to the Word of God each day is like a treasure hunt. When God's Spirit reveals a truth to me, I get excited--not unlike finding hidden treasure. If I'm needing to make a decision, and I find the answer in my daily reading, I delight in it! I approach the Word that way every day. I'm looking for guidance, for wisdom, for encouragement, and for changes I need to make. As God reveals, I delight in His words of life.

#2 Meditate: This is an interesting Hebrew word--"hagah". In addition to meaning meditation or consideration, it can also mean to speak, to moan, or to growl. So to begin with, I would suggest that our time in the Word should be spent vocalizing it. You may pop into the church office one afternoon and catch me pacing the hallway, reading my scriptures out loud--even shouting on occasion. The Bible is meant to be spoken and I can tell you from experience that I get a lot more out of it when I speak it. The moaning has to do with expressions of pleasure. What I really find interesting is the idea of "growling" the Word. What is that all about? I have a dog named Gavin who can make this idea perfectly clear. When Gavin is enjoying a bone, he doesn't wish to be disturbed. He will growl if you make a move towards him because he doesn't want to lose his bone. We should take the attitude of Gavin when we are in the Word. Enjoy it and don't let anyone or anything take it away from you.

So today and throughout all of 2017, Delight in the Word, Meditate on it, and get ready to prosper.

Observations from the Storm

"The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger" (Luke 8:23b).  

My boat has been filling up with water for several months--seven to be exact. 

We were just about ready to leave for church on a  typical Sunday morning last August. Tina was finishing up in the bathroom, brushing hair one last time and considering which ear rings looked the best. She had already complained about not feeling well and I was doing my best to encourage her out the door, believing that she would feel better as the morning progressed.  As the story would develop, she didn't start feeling better, and we didn't make it to church. Instead, Tina spent the next ten days in excruciating pain, suffering a massive heart attack, that went misdiagnosed for a week and a half.

More than half a year later, having suffered devastating damage to her heart, Tina is on the verge of a heart transplant. We are hopeful--yet terrified. Our boat is full of water!

My One Year Bible reading today includes the portion of Luke 8 where Jesus calms the storm. Allow me to share a few observations.

#1--"The disciples went and woke Him up, shouting, 'Master, Master, we're going to drown!'" (v24a)  Their fear was real. They believed death was almost certain. Notice they address Jesus as "Master". He is the boss, the leader, the one in charge, and the one with all of the answers. He is responsible! Like the disciples, my boat is full of water and there is nothing that I can do about it. Bailing water won't help! Swimming lessons won't help! Shouting at the wind won't help! However, shouting "Master, Master!" will always help! "Master" implies that I know who is in control. "Master" says that I know who is making the decisions.

#2--"When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves." (v24b)  I imagine that the disciples woke Jesus up with urgency. I doubt they whispered. They were shouting! Yelling! Screaming! That's how I need to learn to pray--loud and impolitely! Wake up! Help! Master!

#3--"Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm." (v24c)  I like this part. Their cry brought His calm. Their shout brought His stillness. As the song says, sometimes He calms the storm and sometimes He calms me.  

#4--"Then He asked them, 'Where is your faith?'" (v25a)  This is the million-dollar question of the day. Where is my faith? What am I trusting?  There are those wonderful, if not brief, moments when I trust God in between my doubt and despair.  May those moments become minutes, and the minutes become mountain-moving measures of extraordinary faith!

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm."

 --Charles Kettering