Tomorrow is promised but the Location is not

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I have asked the LORD for one thing—this is what I desire! I want to live in the LORD’s house all the days of my life, so I can gaze at the splendor of the LORD and contemplate in his temple. Psalm 27:4 (NET)

There are moments of time that will be forever embedded into my memory. They include hearing Mr. Conover’s voice coming over the loudspeaker at school announcing that Pres Kennedy had been assassinated, being awakened out of deep sleep that our pastor and his family had been killed, sitting in my Nairobi office, hearing a massive explosion, finding out later that it was the United States Embassy bombing and standing in the kitchen of our Johannesburg home getting a call that my grandmother had died.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 12 about the landowner who enjoyed a bumper harvest from his land one year. The yield was so great he couldn’t find enough barns so he set about building larger and more elaborate storage facilities that could easily handle his storage problem. Then he sat back and said to himself, “You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!” He forgot one important step in his plans, he didn’t control his life. “But God said to him, ‘you fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

King Solomon understood a few things about planning yet reminds us in Proverbs, “do not boast about tomorrow; for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” (27:1)

James understood the intoxicating lure of pride and power so he could warn his readers, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. You ought to say instead, “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and o this or that.” (4:13-15)

Paul understood future hope in face of uncertainty, writing “For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:17-18)

Jesus reminded his followers “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:34)

As followers of Jesus, we do have the certainty of tomorrow, what we don’t know is the location. Jesus knew his followers didn’t need to fret over the tomorrows of life because he would be preparing a much better home for them. “There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you.” (Luke 14:2)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer prayed just before he was hanged by the Nazis soldiers, “Oh, God, this is the end; but for me it is just the beginning.” Bonhoeffer’s tomorrow came but he found himself in a different location. “What we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” –T.S. Eliot

Augustine wrote, “We have not lost our dear ones who have departed from this life, but have merely sent them ahead of us, so we also shall depart and shall come to that life where they will be more than ever dear as they will be better known to us, and where we shall love them without fear of parting.”

Realtors understand fully that it is all about “location, location, location” when selling property. A house in the middle of Manhattan will bring a king’s ransom compared to a much larger house in my hometown of Rush Springs, Oklahoma. Location is everything.  Judah Smith writes that “Jesus encourages us to think and live and pray about this earth from the perspective of “as it is in heaven.” Like Jesus, our lives should be dramatically impacted by the reality of eternity and heaven, because that is our ultimate home. This earthly existence is but for a moment. Heaven is eternal. We are to live our lives preoccupied by eternity.”

We have an amazing hope in knowing we always have a tomorrow. Yes, it can be a little disconcerting at times not knowing when we will experience this change of address. It is unbelievably hard on our family and friends when we move to our new location. However, what an overwhelming assurance to know our final destination has been prepared by Jesus himself. David ended the beautiful and comforting Psalm 23 by boldly saying, “I will live in the LORD’s house for the rest of my life.”

In his book, Heaven, Randy Alcorn writes, “We shouldn’t glorify or romanticize death—Jesus didn’t. He wept over it…. Death is painful, and it’s an enemy. But for those who know Jesus, death is the final pain and the last enemy…For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure but a doorway from a world where dreams and adventures shrink, to a world where dreams and adventures forever expand.”

Tomorrow is promised but the location is not. Tomorrow may be “This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps 118:24) Enjoy the day in all its fullness, living and seeking to do God’s will “on earth, as it is in heaven.”

Tomorrow is promised but the location is not. Tomorrow may be “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…. I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End” (Rev 21)

“Can you hear the sighing in the wind? Can you feel the heavy silence in the mountains? Can you sense the restless longing in the sea? Can you see it in the woeful eyes of an animal? Something’s coming…Something better. –Joni Eareckson Tada

Lord, thank you for our tomorrows wherever the location. You are the giver of life, both on earth and in heaven. “Our new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”

God is great!

 

Planting Seeds of Faith

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This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come. —Mark 4:26-29

America’s best-known seed thrower is John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. Traveling through the then-frontier area of the United States in the early 1800s, he planted apple seeds. Folklore pictured him as a wandering nomad tossing seeds here and there, but he planted seeds with intentionality. “Chapman’s preference for seeds over grafting for creating not only varieties like the delicious and golden delicious, but also the “hardy American apple.” Since apples that are grafted are the same as the parent tree, they don’t change. But by forgoing grafting, Jonny created the conditions for apple trees to adapt and thrive in their new world home.” –Michael Pollan

Robert Schuller shared that “Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.”  Learning to live life without the final answer is an incredible adventure. You can count the seeds but you can’t count the apples coming out of the seeds.

Joshua and Wyn Haldeman decided to count apple seeds leaving Canada for South Africa in 1950. Haldeman set up a chiropractor practice in South Africa but Dr. Haldeman’s real passion was to discover the Lost City of the Kalahari Desert. Every year, the Haldemans would pack up supplies and with their family of five children head off into the desert in search of the lost city. Though Joshua and Wyn never found the Lost City of the Kalahari, the apple seeds of adventure were planted in their children and passed on to their grandchildren, including Maye Haldeman Musk’s son, Elon. His name is famously associated with companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter.

Planting seeds, whether for growing crops, starting new business ventures, or seeking to discover lost cities requires faith. You do everything you can as you prepare to plant the seeds; dig the hole, fertilize the soil, and pull weeds. Yet it is not until the day you see a sprout break into daylight that you know you were successful.

Jesus understood the importance of seed-planting faith. In the book of Mark, He shares how seeds of faith planted in different ways have different outcomes. Some of the seeds thrown will be robbed by Satan before they even take root. Others grow well at first but the heat of persecution and trouble destroys the new growth. Some of the seeds grow well but the weeds and thorns of everyday life leave the fruit worthless. The seed that is sown “on good soil, hear the word, accept it and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” (Mark 4:13-20)

We enjoy the fruit of apple trees because of the effort it took to plant the seed, nurture the plant, and finally pick the crop.  Just as apple seeds grow into fruit-bearing trees through tender care, Jesus assures us that our faith seeds will grow into fruit-bearing lives as we let him shape and prune our lives. In Hebrews we are told, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (11:1)

Planting seeds of faith will never be easy or certain. Oswald Chambers said, “Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”  “For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7)

Abraham planted seeds of faith by leaving his home for an unknown land. Those seeds would grow into him being “the father of many nations.” (Gen 17:4)

Joshua planted seeds of faith by declaring “as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

David planted seeds of faith early in life when facing his giant by declaring, “I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (I Sam 17:45)

What seeds of faith do you need to plant? Jesus said of the kingdom of God that “it is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” –Mark 4:31 “I think faith is the small mustard seed of opportunities every day. For example, ‘Am I going to love this person? Am I going to share my faith with this person? Am I going to pray that little prayer?’ It really is a daily thing where you seize those little mustard seed opportunities and then see what God does.”—Mark Batterson

We will experience the joy and hope that only Jesus can bring through planting seeds of faith. “He calls us then to make an act of faith every time we would naturally be pulled down into the pit of joylessness, for there is an end set to the sin and sorrow and confusion of the world as well as to our own private trials. We only see today. He whom we worship sees tomorrow.” –Amy Carmichael

Lord, I choose to plant seeds of faith this day. I may be able to count seeds but I know only you can count the fruit from those seeds. Find me faithful now and forever.

God is great!

 

 

Jesus Amazed

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When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him”: Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed… When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. Luke 7:1-10

Mourners stood in line for more than 24 hours stretching up to 10 miles to pay their respects as Queen Elizabeth II lay in state in Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster. Commoners and aristocrats all stood together in a line. Manchester United F.C. legend David Beckham was no exception. He could have played his “fame card” but he chose to walk with everyone else. “We all want to be here together, we all want to experience something where we celebrate the amazing life of our Queen. We all go through this pain to be here today.”

The closest I have come standing for hours waiting on “royalty” was when we lived in Johannesburg and our family drove out to Alberton with literally thousands of others to wait. Yet, the time was worth it for Matthew and Katelyn as their excitement became ecstatic when they heard the sound of the helicopter and upon landing, outstepped the world-famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. True royalty to a mob of children!

Luke captures a fantastic story of a Roman Centurion who could have met Jesus yet refused because he was not worthy to have Jesus in his home.  He was a man of power, prestige, and influence simply because of his rank and position. Since he had a top-notch intelligence service at his command, he knew what was taking place in his region and one of the major developments was a man named Jesus. Out of curiosity and political security, Jesus was on his radar of interest but more importantly, he had a major crisis in his household.  A beloved servant he valued highly was sick, maybe dying.  Maybe this Jesus could help.

The centurion decided Jesus was the only solution and sent a group of Jewish leaders to ask him to come. The religious leaders, who were sent to ask Jesus for help, focused on the influence of the sender, not the servant’s need.  Instead of mercy for the sick servant, they pleaded for Jesus to come because this man was a major donor to their synagogue and therefore in their eyes, deserved special attention.

I can’t help but wonder if Jesus used these Jewish leaders as an example later on when He was a guest in a prominent religious leader’s house. Jesus observed how the “guests picked the places of honor at the table” so they could be seen by the crowd. These leaders knew how important it was, politically and socially to be seen with those who have real power. Jesus looked and said, no you are doing it wrong.  “When you are invited, take the lowest place” because someone more important might show up and you get relegated to the back row. “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7-14)

Unlike the religious leaders, this seasoned army officer understood what true authority and humility looked like. Rethinking his original request, he sent a second message but this time he entrusted it to friends who would better confer the message. These friends understood his heart for his servant’s well-being. The other group wanted Jesus to come because of what they could get. This group brought a message of the heart.

This Gentile, part of the hated Roman government, despised by the religious elite had the opportunity to meet Jesus yet in humility said, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.”  A Roman Centurion was never in a position of begging for help. What would others think of him? That he was weak? He should have commanded Jesus to be brought to him. “The only way to care for the disadvantaged is to disadvantage yourself, which is guaranteed to turn out to your advantage.”—Ann Voskamp

This centurion understood he was not worthy to have the only one who could heal his servant come into his house.  “Hearts are broken in ten thousand ways, for this is a heart-breaking world; and Christ is good at healing all manner of heart-breaks.” –Charles Spurgeon

Yet this unworthy centurion knew the chain of authority and the One coming to his house had the authority and power to answer his “prayer.” Though I am unworthy, I need your help, “say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Jesus probably wanted to shout: Yes, someone finally gets it! It is not about influence, position, or power. It is not about how much wealth a person may have at his disposal. It is not about where you are from or what you can do.  It is about who you turn to!

“I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”

This centurion may not have fully understood who Jesus was at the time but he knew enough. He joined an elite group of folks who didn’t fully understand, but they knew enough. A destitute widow grieving the death of her son heard the words, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” (Luke 7:14) A broken and rejected woman heard the words, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:48) A beaten down and physically worn-out woman heard the words,” Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:48) A condemned man with no hope heard the words, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

LORD, though I was unworthy to have you in my house, you made me worthy because of your love for me on the cross. No longer unworthy but now a joint heir with you. No longer living in the past tense but the present tense of forgiven with the future tense of eternity. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

God is great!

Would America be better off without the church?

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But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Micah 7:7

Hurricane Ian has rightly dominated the news the last several days. My heart goes out to the people in the path of this destructive and chaotic event. It will not be easy for those who lost family members and for the challenges of rebuilding a life. In this tragic event, as well as the countless others that have occurred in the last year, we often voice our prayer support as well as our financial and physical support. Many will help out of civic duty, but for Christians, it is or should be, out of a Christ-centered heart and obedience to help the poor, the widows, the orphans, the hurting, and the lost. As Jesus simply said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:39)

It is never easy answering an unbelieving world’s question about why bad things happen. We may give the right theological answer but few are looking for such an answer when their world has fallen apart. What they are looking for will be the warm blanket given on a cold night without electricity, a hot meal to satisfy their hunger pains, and a word of encouragement that it will be ok. So, does a Christian have the inside track on helping? Not really when either skeptics or saints can provide the material things.

This brings me to my question for you. Would America or any nation be better off without the church? Voices such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and A. C. Grayling would say the world would be better off without religion. Emory University’s Frans de Waal said, “I’m struggling with whether we need religion…Personally I think we can be moral without religion because we probably had morality long before the current religions came along…so I am optimistic that religion is not strictly needed. But I cannot be a hundred percent sure because we’ve never really tried—there is no human society where religion is totally absent so we really have never tried this experiment.”

We need to be able to tell the world that no, it will not be better off. “Faithful Christ followers must work with urgency for moral and spiritual awakening not only for the sake of unrepentant sinners facing judgment but for our sake as well.” –Jim Denison

Part of the answer will be in the economic impact. In a study conducted by The Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, religion contributes about $1.2 trillion of socioeconomic value annually to the U.S. economy. This would be equivalent to being the world’s 15th-largest national economy. Brian Grim in response to the study said, “Do we need to know (religion’s socio-economic value) in order to appreciate the value of faith? Of course not, but in an age where fewer people are raised in religious congregations, we need to show a more balanced perspective on faith than might come through in daily headlines.”

Part of the answer will be in the moral impact. Micah gives a vivid description of a nation that rejects God. Though written generations ago, it is not a pretty picture. The moral vacuum would be chaotic without the strong foundation of God’s church. “What misery is mine! The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net. Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire—they all conspire together. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you. Now is the time of their confusion. Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words. For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.” (Micah 7:1-6) These verses out of Micah sound familiar in our modern age. Just think how many laws and regulations in the United States it already takes to replace the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.

Part of the answer will be in the prayer impact. After any natural or man-made disaster, the first words offered are to pray for those impacted. So, who will pray? 1 Peter 3:12 says, “For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.” Followers of Jesus offer the needed prayers “because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” (Eph 3:12). John captures a powerful and beautiful picture when he writes in Revelation, “the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” (Rev 5:8)

The most important part of the answer will be found in our message about Jesus. Numerous studies show that the Millennials and Gen Z generations have the highest level of loneliness and isolation. Other studies reflect that these same generations have the most significant percentage of moving away from the church. Coincidence? I don’t think so. “But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it?” (Romans 10:14-15 The Message) Our singular message of hope in Jesus becomes the fragrance of life for those who receive it.

The church has had its fair share of jerks, malcontents, and false teachers and unfortunately will have until the end. However, it has had a greater choir of those like Mother Teresa serving in the slums of the world, Billy Graham articulating the simple invitation to follow Jesus, William Wilberforce fighting the surge of slavery, Martin Luther pushing back against false church doctrine, Martin Luther King, Jr. protesting the injustice of racism, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer standing against the complacency of the church.  Joining this great army through the ages are the unnamed, out of the spotlight, overlooked saints who taught mischievous little boys and girls in VBS, went to the mission field, served in small churches, fed the hungry, ministered to the sick, interceded on behalf of the lost and simply lived a Christ-centered life.

Would America or any nation be better off without the church? The answer will always be no when we “Put away… all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” –Ephesians 4:31-5:2

Lord, let us be the fragrant of Christ that attracts a hurting, frustrated, messed up world to offer the hope we have found in Christ.

God is great!

Gloom or Glee – Christianity in Decline

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I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15-16

Christianity quickly diminishing in US, on pace to become minority religion in decades— (Fox News)

America’s Christian majority is on track to end— (NPR headline)

One after another major publications and news stories picked up the gloomy predictions based on the release of a recent Pew Research Center study. The report reflects the downward trend of people identifying as Christians. 50 years ago, 90% of the population considered themselves Christians, compared to 64% in 2020.

“If recent trends in switching (changing one’s religious affiliation) hold, we projected that Christians could make up between 35% and 46% of the U.S. population in 2070.”  The study continued by saying “of course, it is possible that events outside the study’s model-such as war, economic depression, climate crisis, changing immigration patterns or religious innovations- could reverse current religious switching trends, leading to a revival of Christianity in the United States. But there are no current switching patterns in the U.S. that can be factored into the mathematical models to project such a result.”  –Stephanie Kramer, a senior researcher who led the study.

Mark Twain in response to a newspaper report about his death, responded, “the report of my death was an exaggeration.” The same could be said of the end of Christianity. Throughout history, religious leaders beat and imprisoned those who spoke the name of Jesus, the mob threw stones, the emperor released the lions, the elite of society scoffed and the intellectuals scorned, but Jesus said “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

G.K. Chesterton’s reflections decades ago can help keep this report in perspective:

Chesterton wrote, “at least five times…the Faith has to all appearance gone to the dogs. In each of these five cases it was the dog that died…. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave. But the first extraordinary fact which marks this history is this: that Europe has been turned upside down over and over again; and that at the end of each of these revolutions the same religion has again been found on top. The Faith is always converting the age, not as an old religion but as a new religion”. (Chesterton, The Everlasting Man)

God’s response to Elijah can help keep this report in perspective:

When Elijah thought he was “the only prophet of the LORD who is left” to fight, God reminded him after several mind-blowing natural events that “I still have left in Israel 7,000 followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him.” (I Kings 19:18)

History can help keep this report in perspective:

If Christians in America find themselves as a minority in a few decades, it will not be the first time.  America may have had its roots in Christian principles but in 1776 only 17% of this new nation were church members. As one writer said you would find more Americans in a tavern on Saturday night than in church on Sunday morning. From this minority position, God used a couple of major spiritual awakenings and countless local revivals to awaken American Christians. In this growing awakening, God used the church as the catalyst for cultural and societal reforms. Philip Yancey writes in Vanishing Grace that “Christians present an attractive counterculture until they become the dominant culture. Then they divert from their mission, join the power structure, and in the process turn society against them. Rejected, they retreat into a minority subculture, only to start the cycle all over again.”

Our response can help keep this report in perspective:

Maybe the Christianity of the last few decades has become more like a warm fuzzy blanket instead of the fire that swept through the frontier towns and villages of yesteryears. It was a fire that changed society, sent out missionaries to the nations, healed broken families, redeemed desperate people, and shook the world.  “With no social advantage to belief, churches attract people who are serious about their faith—which plants the seed for future growth.” (Yancey) If in the last 100 years Christianity grew from 600 million to over 2 billion worldwide, imagine what could be if the church rekindled their first love?

Jesus’ response on the mountain can help keep this report in perspective:

Jesus was leaving his mission in the hands of a few faithful disciples and He knew the road ahead would be difficult for them. He knew it would be difficult for those who followed through the generations. Jesus knew that governments would change, cultural norms would continue to shift and people would waiver in their faith. Yet Jesus left us this final word, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” –Matthew 28:18-20

Daniel Silliman writing for Christianity Today observed, “Revival could happen, there’s just nothing in the current data that indicates it will.” That statement is probably true except God has never been big on statistics or data. When data had Noah drowning, God closed the door on the ark. When data had Moses trapped by an enemy army, God parted the river. When data had Jesus dead, God moved the stone.  When data had the church in decline, God created a thirst for Him alone.  It will be in that thirst that God will use to revive His church.

“As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?” Psalm 42:1-2

Lord, create in us a thirst that only you can quench. Let us boldly live our lives for you even when the world laughs at us.  Fall fresh on us again that we may be the generation of the next Great Awakening.

God is great!

Following the Right Directions

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It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. Hebrews 11:8 NLT

Traffic jams and big cities just go together! Living in Atlanta I have learned never to leave home without plotting my course with the GPS. I may know how to get where I am going but Google gets me around the inevitable traffic deadlock and gives me the occasional shortcut. If you drive in any big city you come to depend upon a GPS – until you don’t! Drivers in Denver might be a little hesitant after Google Maps left 100 or so stuck in the mud in 2019. When Google Maps gave drivers a shorter way to the Denver International Airport to avoid a major accident, drivers took the route. However, Google identified a road that wasn’t a road and left drivers hopelessly stuck in the mud for several hours. One lady interviewed said, “My thought was, ‘Well there are all these cars in front of me so it must be OK. So, I just continued.” As the road quickly turned into a slick, muddy mess she further said, “That’s when I thought, ‘Oh this was a bad decision.” There was no turning back once they were in the mud.

We all can identify with following directions over unfamiliar territory. I had a similar situation when we lived in Kenya, but with a different outcome. Our family was going to attend a worship service in one of the Maasai villages outside of Nairobi. I did know the road out to the church would be difficult, if not dangerous. However, unlike the GPS miscalculation, I was following a person who had made the trip to the church hundreds of times. He knew every turn, pothole, and ditch going out to the village. The difference is amazing when you are following someone who knows the way and you can trust him to get you to your destination.

The same scenario could be said of a lot of people spiritually. It is often a struggle to decide the right way to go, when in fact, if you keep your eyes on Jesus, the way forward is less important than the destination. Proverbs 20:24 wisely tells you that “The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?”  I don’t know about you but I realize that if I take my eyes off Jesus, what looks like the smoothest, most direct path of life ends up being a treacherous road.

Staying focused on Jesus allows you to weather the storms of life. You may think the best way forward looks great but you quickly realize it is the most dangerous way when you are following in the wrong direction. The Denver drivers faithfully followed the voice on the GPS only to find themselves stuck in the mud. Listening to the right voice is essential.

“Who is the third who walks always beside you?

When I count, there are only you and I together

But when I look ahead up the white road

There is always another one walking beside you.” –T. S. Eliot

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.” Galatians 5:16-17 NLT

George Washington Carver understood the necessity of listening to the right voices. Had he listened to the voices within his cultural context he would not have heard that he could make an impact on the world as a scientist, advocate for justice, and a voice for the poor. He quit listening to the voices that would label him as “the orphaned child of a despised race” but would come to know the Creator whose voice He would follow throughout his life.

“All my life, I have risen regularly at four in the morning to go into the woods and talk with God. That’s where He reveals His secrets to me. When everybody else is asleep, I hear God best and learn my plan.” It was his faith in Jesus that Carver viewed “as the key to defeating racism and improving the plight of the poor.”

Oswald Chambers wrote “A river is victoriously persistent, it overcomes all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, then it comes to an obstacle and for a while it is balked, but it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, and presently emerge again broader and grander than ever. You can see God using some lives, but into your life an obstacle has come and you do not seem to be of any use. Keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never get your eyes on the obstacle or on the difficult. The obstacle is a matter of indifference to the river which will flow steadily through you if you remember to keep right at the Source. Never allow anything to come between yourself and Jesus Christ, no emotion, or experience; nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.”

The traffic anchor for KMGH Denver said of the GPS wrong turn, “You are driving. Google Maps is not driving. Google Maps is not perfect. You need to know where you are going and, if it does not look like that’s where you should be going, turn around and try again.”

Good advice for drivers, but also a great spiritual analogy. The world has much to say about which road to take but turn around because it will take you where you don’t want to go. The way Jesus leads will bring you home safely.

Your hope is not in the cultural context of the day but Jesus. Your road may be filled with obstacles but in Jesus, you have a Shepherd who guards his flock, a Friend who understands your needs, and a Savior who gives life.

Lord, we trust you to guide us through this week knowing your ways are right. Since You know what is ahead, let us listen with attentiveness and responsiveness. Amen

God is great!

 

Solemn Remembrance

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Why do the nations rebel? Why are the countries devising plots that will fail? The kings of the earth form a united front; the rulers collaborate against the LORD and his anointed king. They say, “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us. Let’s free ourselves from their ropes.” The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust…Psalm 2:1-4a

“It started like any other day,” Lightsey recalled. “I handled a couple of EMS runs and some other pretty minor stuff.”

At 8:47 a.m., a call crackled over the radio:

Battalion 1 to Manhattan. We just had a …a plane crashed into an upper floor of the World Trade Center. Transmit a second alarm and start relocating companies into the area.” –Daily News article

September 11, 2001, is now 21 years removed. On that fateful day, almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks at the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and aboard United Airlines Flight 93. 9/11 was a day that the United States found itself under attack. “Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.’ –President George W. Bush

It was a day that would unite a nation, open the hearts of people and drive us to prayer. Author David Levithan writes, “what separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met.”

Genelle Guzman-McMillan, a 9/11 Survivor writes that “On September 11, I always take the day off. I want to be in a peaceful quiet place praying. It is a day I both mourn and celebrate.” Senator Lamar Alexander said “September 11 is one of our worst days but it brought out the best in us. It unified us as a country and showed our charitable instincts and reminded us of what we stood for and stand for.”

Fast forward 21 years and according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, “Americans 67- 29 percent think the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapse.”  Tim Malloy, Quinnipiac polling analyst added that “In a rare moment of agreement, Americans coalesce around an ominous concern. Democracy, the bedrock of the nation, is in peril.”

“Americans may not think of themselves as an “empire,” but much of the world does. The average age of empires, according to a specialist on the subject, the late Sir John Bagot Glubb, is 250 years. After that, empires always die, often slowly but overwhelmingly from overreaching in the search for power. The America of 1776 will reach its 250th year in 2026.” –Georgie Anne Geyer

John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States offered a timeless perspective on a nation’s lifespan. Writing to the Massachusetts Militia on October 11, 1798, “We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition and Revenge or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Philip Yancy writes, “According to a Gallup poll, 73 percent of Americans say moral values are worsening while only 14 percent judge them improving…My secular friends look at these facts and conclude we must work harder to educate children and put new social systems in place. I look at the same facts and doubt politicians’ ability to solve our problems. We need more than new systems; we need a transformation, the kind of personal and societal renewal in which the church could play a crucial role.”

This past week the world lost a remarkable leader who demonstrated a life of integrity and faithful service. Queen Elizabeth served her country and her God with hopefulness, determination, and consistency. In 2000 during her annual Christmas broadcast, she said, “For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. “

British Pastor Pete Greig shared in a message following her death, “Almost twenty-two years after that speech, more than seventy since Elizabeth became Queen, we witness contemporary leaders failing and falling all around us at an unprecedented rate. Notions of duty, of promise-keeping, and of accountability to God can seem antiquated and even naive. But at such a time, Queen Elizabeth’s lifelong example of consistency in private faith and integrity in public service is both startling and inspiring.”

Scripture gives insight into a nation and its people that turn from God. We read in Psalm 9 “The nations fell into the pit they had made; their feet were caught in the net they had hidden. The Lord revealed himself; he accomplished justice. The wicked were ensnared by their own actions. The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; this is the destiny of all the nations that ignore God, for the needy are not permanently ignored, the hopes of the oppressed are not forever dashed.  Rise up, LORD! Don’t let men be defiant. May the nations be judged in your presence. Terrify them, LORD. Let the nations know they are mere mortals” (9:15-20 NET)

As the news media runs reports and commentaries about 9/11 and the life of Queen Elizabeth, use it as a solemn time to reflect and pray. There is no question that we have witnessed monumental changes over the last couple of decades. Values have changed, political divisiveness has increased, churches are more empty and Christianity has been devalued. Yet should we be hopeless? Never! For God has never relinquished His role, changed His course, or failed to keep His promises.

Is there hope for our nation? Since Scripture gives us insight into what happens to a country that turns from God, you can be confident that God has given us countermeasures to restore a nation. God is not big on formula approaches to life or problems, but He comes close in 2 Chronicles 7:14 in His guidance to Solomon. This is a “formula” that I think could be applicable to us today. “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Followers of Jesus, God’s formula will not be easy, especially the humble part. However, as we humble ourselves, pray, seek God above all else and turn from our evil ways, it will be so worth it for the next generations who make America their home.

LORD, we remember that dreadful day of September 11 and the ensuing tragedy. Yet instead of turning to you over these years, many have walked away from you. Today we ask that you would create desperation in us for healing until we finally cry out for forgiveness and seek only You.  Amen

God is great!

 

Dignity of Work – Celebrating Labor Day

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You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Psalm 128:2 ESV

Happy Labor Day! This great three-day holiday is often known as the end-of-summer or the best deals on furniture and mattress sales events. Cookouts, parades, and parties mark Labor Day throughout the United States. However, over the last couple of decades, Labor Day has also become the time when the world turns into a pumpkin. If you can eat it, drink it or smell it, there is probably a pumpkin version. Starbucks announced that the Pumpkin Spice Latte is out. “What can be said about the Pumpkin Spice Latte that hasn’t already been written before? The segment-creating drink that not only launched an army of imitators and allowed pumpkin spice to infiltrate every facet of our lives, but also turned August into a seasonal product battleground, is returning for its 19th year in 2022.”  (1440 Daily Digest) Since I’m not a great fan of the PSL, I will take my calories in a Dunkin’ pumpkin donut!

Officially, Labor Day is a national holiday signed into law by President Grover Cleveland on June 28, 1894. According to History.com, “Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers and is traditionally observed on the first Monday in September. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century…In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories, and mines across the country.”

We have undoubtedly seen considerable shifts in the workplace since the first Labor Day celebration. These include tremendous changes in the laws, attitudes, types of work, and even the workforce. However, there is one pivotal component that has not changed and that is the value and dignity of labor. Martin Luther King, Jr said that “all labor that uplifts humanity has dignity.”  Generations before Dr. King wrote his words, the writer of Proverbs said, “You have seen a person skilled in his work—he will take his position before kings; he will not take his position before obscure people. “(22:29)

“What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.”—Martin Luther

God valued the dignity and honor of work. His assignment to us from the beginning was to partner with Him in caring for His creation. “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.  They will be yours for food.” (Gen 1:28-29 NET). Tim Keller writes that “The material creation was made by God to be developed, cultivated, and cared for in an endless number of ways through human labor. But even the simplest of these ways is important. Without them all, human life cannot flourish.”

Throughout Scripture, we learn about worship, prayer, obedience, being a good neighbor, sharing the Good News, and lots of other important things for life, but there is also a major focus on work. There is a sense of pride, dignity, and accomplishment that comes from doing a job well. As one Proverb tells us “One who is slack in work is close kin to a vandal.” (18:9)

Work can and does bring inner joy as well as provide for the needs of our families. We are told in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (2:24-25)

Genesis gives us a beautiful insight into God’s work of creation.  God spoke the sun, moon, and earth into creation with a word. God divided the sea and land with a word. God set in motion the delicate balance of life with a word.  “And God said” and with His word set creation into motion. However, when He came to mankind instead of a word, he said, “let us make humankind in our image.” Make, it was as if God reached down into the earth, got his hands dirty as he picked up the dirt, and shaped his beloved children to give them life. Similar to a potter who painstakingly works over the spinning wheel shaping and reshaping his art, so it was with God. Could it be at the end of the day when “God saw everything that he had made,” he looked at the dirt under his fingernails and then lovingly said, “indeed, it was very good”?

As you enjoy the Labor Day activities with family and friends, also take some time to reflect upon the gift of work. Whatever you do daily, thank God for the opportunities you find to bless others, provide for your family, and to make a difference in this world.

Adam tended the garden with his hands and yet with the same hands, mourned his disobedience.

Noah got splinters in his hands as he built an ark to save his family but then used his hands to build an altar to worship God.

David used his hands to fight Goliath in battle yet used the same hands to lovingly compose the Psalms.

Paul used his hands to carefully stitch the tent material as he shared the hope of Christ with the lost and with the same hands passionately wrote letters on how to live life for Jesus.

Jesus the carpenter used his hands to build doors until the time came for him to open the doors of salvation as nails were driven into his hands.

Labor Day is not considered a religious holiday but maybe it should be.  Remember that Jesus got his hands dirty for you and me! “Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people.” Colossians 3:23.

Thank you for sharing the Love of Christ through the labor of your hands to make our world a better place.

God is great!

 

Living in a Toxic World

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Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. I John 4:20

Would you pay 2,664 Australian dollars (USD 1,874) for two McDonald’s egg and beef sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant? You would if you forgot to declare them in Australia. According to a USA Today report, an unnamed person traveling from Indonesia to Australia failed to disclose them upon entering Darwin Airport and was fined for “failing to declare potential high biosecurity risk items.”

Toxic is defined as “containing or being poisonous material especially when capable of causing death or serious debilitation, extremely harsh, malicious” according to Merriam-Webster. Toxic foods or waste products are bad enough, but it is even worse when it refers to people. Living in a toxic world creates stress, fear, anxiety, and hopelessness.

A 19-year-old walked into a Frisco, Texas Wendy’s restaurant and fired off several shots after receiving the wrong order in the drive-thru line. FBI ranks restaurants as the 8th most common setting for violent crime. Far worse than a toxic McMuffin is the toxic environment created by people. So how do we live in a world where even egg McMuffins can be considered toxic?

Theologian Teilhard de Chardin writes that “the future belongs to those who give the next generation reason to hope.” Regardless of age or generational group that we belong to, we have a responsibility to “give the next generation reason to hope.”

Learning to live in a toxic world is not a new phenomenon, it is as old as time. A toxic environment began when Adam and Eve decided to live life on their terms. Their children found out quickly that life is not easy in a toxic world when Cain murdered Abel. Each generation since has struggled to find hope because of the sinful nature of society. In the last couple of decades, with the increasing use of social media, it seems as if toxic is now on steroids.

You find the anonymous comments on social media apps that seek to disparage instead of encouraging. You listen to news programs that belittle the other side instead of generating conversation that leads to solutions. During election cycles, all you see and hear are polarizing political ads that seek to destroy the other person.

I wish I could say that those of us who call ourselves Christians set a high bar for creating loving, caring communities. Thankfully, there have been some great examples of how to live life together, yet too often we reflect the values and toxicity of the world, not Jesus. We were never called to share the same viewpoints, only to live a life where “all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”—John13:35 Communities should be refuge and grace where salvation and hope are found.

Henri Nouwen said of community “Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrow, ups and downs—but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care.”

Touches of grace are often little acts of kindness and respect that encourage others in their life. Tricia Rhynold is a mom that knows about toxic comments. Mother to Timothy, a 7-year-old little boy who loves life but has severe autism spectrum disorder. Learning to help her son navigate life in a world that is not always gracious is difficult. Yet, a note from the mom of one of the boys in her son’s class inviting him to a birthday party made a difference.

“Carter sat beside Timothy at school, and he always talks about him. I really hope he can come. We are renting a bounce castle that we can attach a small bounce slide at the bottom. We will also have water balloons and water guns. Maybe Timothy can come earlier in the day if it would be too much with the whole class. Let me know how we can make it work.”

A simple birthday invitation gave Timothy’s mom hope. In her reply, she wrote, “You wrote exactly what I needed to see that day and didn’t even know it. Because of your son he is included. Because of your son he feels wanted. Because of your son he has a voice. And I want you to know that because of you I can get through another day. Because of you I can get through another appointment. Because of you I can take more stares and more questions. Because of you I have hope for Timothy’s future.”

Followers of Jesus can and do change a toxic world. We can be a beautiful testimony of life to a dying world. Change can happen that is seldom big and flashy. It could be simply one note at a time, one visit to a neighbor at a time, one prayer for a friend at a time, or one word of encouragement to a stranger at a time.

Scripture is rich in wisdom on how to live in this world.  Paul said it better than I could ever say it with some great advice in Romans:

“Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.” –12:9-21 The Message

We may live in a toxic world but we have an amazing God that changes everything! We can pass on to the next generation a reason to hope.

God is love!

Exceptional Sleepers

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Many say, “Who can show us anything good?” Smile upon us, LORD! You make me happier than those who have abundant grain and wine. I will lie down and sleep peacefully, for you, LORD, make me safe and secure. –Psalm 4: 6-8

Ever fall asleep in class, on a plane, in church, or standing in line at Kroger waiting to check out? Then you may be a candidate for a job with Casper Mattress Company. They are looking to hire some expert sleepers and posted this on their website, “Do you love to sleep? Then we have a job that will pay you to do just that. Join the Casper Sleepers and show off your sleeping skills in public, on social and anywhere else people are looking. So join us to literally sleep on the job because we believe a good sleep changes everything.” (Casper.com website)

Casper’s dream candidate has:

Exceptional sleeping ability

A desire to sleep as much as possible

Willingness to be in front of or behind the camera capturing content

Ability to sleep through anything

A passion for sharing and talking about all things sleep through our social channels

I don’t know if this would be my dream job but I can sleep anywhere. Sleep is a blessing when it is estimated that 10 to 30 percent of adults struggle with chronic insomnia. In one of their reports, the Sleep Foundation said, “Insufficient sleep has an estimated economic impact of over $411 Billion each year in the United States alone.” In addition, “Drowsy driving is responsible for more than 6,000 fatal car crashes every year in the United States.”

Some of the major causes of sleep deprivation include stress, anxiety, work-related pressures, bedroom too hot or cold, uncomfortable beds, alcohol, caffeine, jet lag, using electronic devices close to bedtime, or watching TV in bed before going to sleep. The list could go on and on. Outside of health-related sleeping issues, many of the hot button causes of sleep deprivation come from us. Going to bed too late, looking at our Smartphones before bed, drinking that second cup of Starbucks coffee an hour before bedtime, or watching the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series before falling asleep!

Jesus taught us calmness through sleep. During a major storm when his disciples were in a state of panic as “the waves began to swamp the boat.” Instead of finding Jesus anxious and worried about the storm, they found him sleeping. So they came and woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are about to die!” There is nothing worse than being awakened from a deep sleep and Jesus was no exception. A little rebuke to the disciples before He took care of the situation.  “Why are you afraid, you of little faith? Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was dead calm.” Matthew 8:25-26

Peter taught us trust through the gift of sleep. His friend and co-laborer, James had been executed by King Herod and now Peter finds himself between two burly soldiers waiting his fate. What do we find Peter doing? Sleeping. “Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison.” Acts 12: 6 He could have stayed awake worrying about the situation and his pending execution but his hope was in the Giver of Life, so he slept.

Elijah taught us spiritual and physical renewal through the gift of sleep. He had been on the mountaintop of success, literally raining fire down on the false prophets but now he was running into the wilderness out of fear for his life. “Elijah stretched out and fell asleep under the shrub. Suddenly an angelic messenger touched him and said, “Get up and eat…he ate and drank and then slept some more.” I Kings 19:4-6 Through God’s gift of rest and sleep, Elijah was renewed and sent back to work.

God taught us reliance upon Him through the gift of sleep. Research consistently confirms the human body needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night, so roughly a third of our lives is spent sleeping. Sleep and rest were part of God’s creative plan. Whether sleeping on a Casper Mattress or between two soldiers on a cold floor, it is our statement of trust that God has everything under control. “When you lie down you will not be filled with fear; when you lie down your sleep will be pleasant. Do not be afraid of sudden disaster or when destruction overtakes the wicked; for the LORD will be the source of your confidence.” Proverbs 3:24-26

When we fall asleep we being to turn off our conscious mind and thoughts and begin to let go of our usual daytime defenses.  Living in the fullness of God’s love allows us to sleep during the vulnerability of night. Tonight, as you lay down, remember that sleep is among the many gifts that God gave us to live life. “It is vain for you to rise early morning, come home late, and work so hard for your food. Yes, he provides for those whom he loves even when they sleep.” —Psalm 127:2 NET

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go.”—Psalm 143:8 (NIV UK) “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things are passing away; God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”—Teresa of Avila

Now guide me waking, O Lord,

and guard me sleeping;

that awake I may watch with Christ,

and asleep I may rest in peace.   (Night Prayer from the ancient Night Offices of the Church)

God is great!