Eye in the Sky

Have you ever thought: “It won’t happen to me; at least not here!?”  There I was, busy out-and-about with my camera.  It was a secluded spot; some brush and some open terrain, and I needed to “go potty,” as they say.  So, I headed for a somewhat sheltered spot and squatted.  To my great horror, the implausible happened.  No, there was no one lurking around and no one strode out of the bush.  No, that would have been understandable.

I heard a faint and ever-growing “thwack-thwack” sound and there it was, directly above me.  A helicopter hove into view, or should I say I was in its path of vision.  As if that was not enough, emblazoned on the side of the chopper were the lovely letters: R.C.M.P.  Oh my; caught in the act!

Well, I certainly could not stop in mid-whiz so I turned every shade of red and watched as the helicopter faded into the eastern sky.  Whew!  That was so unexpected.

As I made my way out of the bush and on to other adventures, it occurred to me that I treat God like that.  I don’t expect Him to do the unexpected and yet He does it every single day.  He brings life out of death, when someone trusts in Jesus, the One who died so we might  have eternal life.  He renews a flagging spirit by someone’s gentle words; He refreshes our souls with a cup of cold water, or an awesome vista. We are shown mercy when none is deserved.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, 

according to the power that works within us, 

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 

to all generations forever and ever.  Amen.”  (Ephesians 3:20,21)

Ah, Lord, help me to expect the unexpected; forgive me for not asking for great things from a great God.  Remind me that You are the real “eye in the sky,” not watching my every move for the sake of judging but watching my every move for the sake of encouraging and teaching.

Oh, and by the way, in case you were wondering; next time, I’ll hit the loo before I head out.

Back-to-back

I can nag.  A lot.  It does not bode well for Mom, (92 years of age), whose persevering spirit borders on pure streaks of stubbornness.  So I’ve been praying.  And I have asked my friend to pray with me: for small steps of obedience in conquering this nagging habit.

Today, as I walked out the door to bring my Mom a snack, I prayed: “Lord, I don’t want to cajole, argue or plead.  Please give me a better way.”  You see, Mom would say that she didn’t need a break; that she would come in when she was ready; that I was far too worried, (or bossy)!

I sat down on the ground with her, back-to-back; legs stretched out.  I could hear the sweet munching on fresh strawberries and the thirst-quenching gurgle of cold water.  I could feel the contented sigh of rest without regret and the joy of a shared moment; and I was grateful for this seemingly small victory.

And it got better.  God, in His providence, has me teaching Junior Church tomorrow, and so I settled in to prepare.  The story of Naaman, (2 Kings 5), sealed it for me.  He had refused to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times; the prophet Elisha’s answer to Naaman’s quest for a cure for his leprosy.  You see, a “little servant girl” whom they had captured from the land of Israel, cared enough about her master that she suggested he go and see the man of God- Elisha.   She was not afraid to be obedient to her Lord, the God of Israel, in speaking of His great powers, and she cared deeply for this man; even though she had been captured.  Such a seemingly little thing she did.

But now, upon hearing Elisha’s instructions, Naaman answers in a rage: “Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper,” (verse11).  Now, we meet more of Naaman’s servants, who reply: “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?”, (v. 13).  How kind his servants were!  How simple their response!  If you read the entire chapter, you will see that Naaman concedes and is healed.  Not only so, he becomes a believer in the one true God. 

There is nothing small in one simple step of obedience.  Indeed, there is glory to God.   As for me, I didn’t just side-step my usual pestering, I knew victory.

Strawberries never tasted sweeter.

Bulrushes

Bulrushes.  Their Fall shades of dull-brown heads and beige stalks belie the Spring shades of green and rich earthen tones.  Before the new growth, the old stems and cattail puffs shrivel up, and yet never seem to quite die. They slowly slough off that old, papery shell, but a remnant hangs on for a good part of the new season.

Isn’t that just like us?  Christians put on Christ; old things are passed away…behold, the new has come!  And yet, there remains within us some of those stubborn old habits that never quite seem to die.  Woe to me, if I should say: “Well, it’s just the way I am!”  Such a pitiful excuse; so flimsy.  More flimsy than Adam and Eve’s fig leaves.  Before our Lord, we have no excuse for sin.  And yet, before our Lord, we have a generous grace; enough to deal with the sin, not just paper it over.  A genuine sorrow will lead to true repentance and a turning away from the sin that so easily entangles. 

Peter's introduction in his first letter is saturated with tremendous words of profound encouragement: 

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, (what is now modern-day Turkey), who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”      (1 Peter 1:1,2)

These believers were nowhere near perfect, and yet they lacked nothing in their battle against remaining sin.  Yes, there may well be vestiges of our old way of life but we really do have all that we need to mature in Christ and delight in Him. Be strengthened by the Father's choosing, the Spirit's sanctifying work and the Saviour's sufficient blood, to live in His abundant grace and peace.  The old sheaves of the cattails and the old patterns of our lives will make way for the new.

The Silver Lining

You're at a restaurant, and you go to pay the bill.  "It's already paid-for," says the waitress!  "Oh, how nice," you might reply, "But, I'm going to pay for it as well." 

Utter foolishness, you would say!  Only one person needs to pay, and you would go looking for the one who paid your tab to thank them.

And yet, is it not so, with us and the gospel?  Jesus has paid for our sin; that is why He came, He died and He rose again- “It is finished,” meaning: “It is paid for,” was his cry from the cross.

“When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said: ‘It is finished!’

And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”(John 19: 30)

Some might say that’s not good enough, (you have to work your way to heaven); or it’s too simple, (a straight-forward transaction), or that Jesus was not the God-man spoken of throughout history as the Redeemer to come.

So, some will insist on paying for their own sin, forever; separated from God, rather than accepting His payment.

It sure seems like utter foolishness!  Only one person needs to pay ~ and that’s exactly what Jesus did.  And our response is to say: "Forgive me, Jesus, for my sin.  Thank you for paying!"

The cost of our spiritual freedom was sufficient and is guaranteed forever.  I’ve taken Jesus’ payment for my sin and I know forgiveness, deep joy and, in the not-so-distant future, everlasting life.  Will you accept His “paid-in-full,” blood-written receipt; the one written all over your sin?

Good Friday is the darkest day in human history but in its ominous cloud is the silver lining for those who put their trust in Jesus Christ.

Small Mercies

Perhaps you have said it before: “Thank God for small mercies!” We were adding them up - a new acquaintance and I, and it wasn’t long before we had a virtual mountain of mercies. I was overwhelmed with awe.

Provision had come to my friend when least expected and not even asked-for; a vale of tears was being lovingly replaced with peace and joy - touches of indelible grace from our gracious God. As for myself, I was in desperate need of the timely reminder from Psalm 100, verse 5:

For the LORD is good; his mercy endures for ever; 

and his faithfulness unto all generations.

In the past week, I had lost sight of God’s great love for me; drowning in regret. A health concern for my Mom that should have been addressed a number of years ago was now before me. And I wept over the neglect of it. I came to believe that beating my breast and sighing: “Mea culpa,” were both necessary and appropriate; carrying the blame as a weighty penance. The burden of it all should have driven me to my Saviour, but I believed the lie that deeper guilt and deeper regret must be my constant companions for a long time.

Ah, what quietness has washed over my soul this day; all in the repeating of small mercies and in the study of Psalm 100. So I can now cry out: “Lord, may your tender mercies carry us through, your mercies that are new every morning.”

So Brief

It was poignant; watching my 103-year-old friend looking out the window at the driving rain and rushing waves on the Bay.  And next to her was Bobbi, our in-house feline companion.  She is charcoal-grey and ever so soft to touch.  There they were, watching; together.  Neither one of them was in a hurry to turn their eyes away from the shifting scene of turbulence.  They were so comfortable in their silence.  Such a beautiful scene, and yet it ached of solitude.  It brought tears to my eyes.  “None of us will be here for very long,” I said to myself.  

I needed that glimpse of a quickly-passing scene.  It was not lost on me- this contrast of storm outside and quiet inside.  This pause in my day was much-needed.   The things most important to me will get my greatest attention; would that I not waste these precious fleeting years.

Oh, to love others well!  To lift the burden for those who carry great weights of sorrow!  To walk as a child of light, (Ephesians 5:8), in a world of pain and suffering!  What a privilege to sing songs of comfort to my elderly friends; to pray with them; to rejoice with them and to delight in them; to weep with them and to laugh with them.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for today’s snapshot.  

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. 

You are just a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

(James 4:14)

Unpacking my suitcase

Unpacking my suitcase is a step in the right direction.  Or I should say:  it’s humbling, soul-refreshing and burden-releasing.  Have you ever had to ‘live out of your suitcase?’  There’s not too much room for extras and I’ve wanted to do it for oh, so long!

The encouragement to fast from an activity that wastes my time has been difficult.  It has not been all that hard to step away from so much facebook time; the challenge has been to spend that time in prayer.  That’s where living out of my suitcase, living out of a life of prayer, is a much better option than leaving it neat and tidy and only to be opened on certain occasions, and at that, only using certain phrases or tones or patterns of speech.

For quite some time I have known that praying has escaped me.  Not all the time; not every week; not every day.  But its essence has become so ephemeral, like wasted words that carry my soul further from Jesus rather than towards Him.  Why?  Because I am all too ready to rely on me.  It’s pretty basic, and there is nothing like a real-life situation to tease this out.

Living with my Mom has been such a blessing, but as time goes on, there are painful decisions to be made and I didn’t want to bring them to the Lord, because I have been afraid of… what will people think?  Afraid of…how would it look if she should need to move into long-term care? Afraid of… my heart breaking over the losses in her life and this would be one more.  While many things point to a need for a different level of care for her, I have not been ready or willing to bring it to the Lord.  I’ve just continued to rely on me.

Pastor Pernell’s recent message about humility and grace has dovetailed with a book I am reading by Paul E. Miller: “A Praying Life,” and where they meet is the touchstone of my life as a Christian- the need for a heart of humility. The apostle Paul needed humbling; needed to be told that “…my(God’s) power is made perfect in weakness.”( 2 Corinthians 12:9).  It’s soul-piercing, because it means I am way too self-sufficient.  Miller writes: “Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer.”(p.24).

I’m glad, actually, for these timely reminders-my heart needed wounding; strange as that may sound.  It is just far too easy to deceive myself into thinking that I can go to work, go to church, go hiking, go visiting, go on vacation, take care of Mom, and do it all well; but leave prayer in my proverbial suitcase- only to be taken out when things get rough.   

I have lost an element of the childlike simplicity that it takes to rely on someone else. Oh, to think of it; that “someone else” is my heavenly Father!  What a relief.  I had forgotten how rich is the grace of my God, and if I could just remember that I need to live out of my suitcase, there would be a lot less clutter in my mind, a lot more room for seeking the welfare of others and so much less to carry around in my over-burdened heart.  And, wonder of wonders, I can never exhaust the contents of this suitcase, since prayer is a gift from my God, whose supply is never diminished.  Actually, the more my heart is caught up in prayer, the greater the supply.  So I am asking the Lord to make the way plain before me, in regards to the care of my Mom.  And I am waiting with expectant confidence that He will show me. 

I am glad that the disciples asked Jesus: “Teach us to pray,” (Luke 11:3). Today, I am bringing the same request to Him.  Funny thing is, my very request is, in itself, a prayer.  And so my suitcase will remain unpacked and open.