Are We There Yet... pt. 2

So, here we are, we have returned from a long trip, and yet I find myself still exhausted in every area of my life, wanting so desperately to have been refreshed after a week off. But then, as frequently happens, God begins to speak to me. I had just finished reading the Gospel of Luke these past few weeks, and had actually began to read the first couple chapters of Acts, when I was led to get back into my study of the Pentateuch. I had left off in Numbers. In addition, I am reading John Ortberg's, Love Beyond Reason. That is were the Lord's message to me converged.

I think there are times in our lives when we get so wrapped up in our circumstances that we spend time in the Word and it falls on deaf ears what God wants to say. We get impatient with people, with ourselves and we just want to give up. Then, comes the two-by-four... WHACK! I was reminded in a very short period of time of what God does in the lives of His people. God is most interested in our character NOT our activity. When God takes the people out of Egypt, the people were so weary of the slavery, I think they wanted the Promised Land more than they wanted the Promiser of the Land. He had given them some amazing examples of how big He was, plenty enough to trust Him, but they did not believe. They did not trust in Yahweh, the Promise Keeper.

Then come the cries, "Are we there yet!?!?"; "How many more miles?"; "How much longer until we're there?"; "We're hungry,"; "We're tired of eating Manna,"; "We're thirsty,"; "This water's bitter"... Are we there yet? It's an old problem with a simple, but impossible, solution. Impossible apart form the power of God. It is an issue of faith, of trust, of... contentment... contentment not just in the material things that we currently have, but rather at the core of who we are.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 37. Many a day I have poured over this Psalm when I was going through a pity-party. Wanting out, wanting a change, wanting more, asking God, "are we there yet?" Those are the days when our hearts cry out, "Lord I am tired of it all, please come back, take us to heaven, now!" But I have found the answer to this common dilemma is echoed throughout Scripture, Old and New Testaments alike. My favorite in this Psalm is in verse 4. "Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart." In my worship of self, my tendency is to focus on the latter half of that verse, and yet, it is the first half that is so critical. When I delight my self in the Lord, it is not that He will give me whatever I want, but rather, He becomes and manifests that which my heart most longs for... eternal life. Along around this verse the focus is on knowing and trusting God. Check it out for yourself. Jesus described this focus in His prayer in John 17:3, "'This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.'"

God reminded me that it is not about the destination; it is all in the journey and with whom we are traveling. Like my daughters, I have gotten into the mindset, "get me out of this car seat, I want to be there now!" Instead of resting in the the hands of the driver, enjoying the trip, and enjoying being with the family, I just want to be there now. I didn't want to sing another song, play another round of I spy, nothing. I was not content in who I was or more importantly, who He is. You see, God is a God who takes His people to the Promised Land by way of the desert. Ortberg describes it as the "roundabout way." These are the places where God develops us into His likeness. Ortberg quotes Thomas Merton, "The man who does not permit his spirit to be beaten down and upset by dryness and helplessness, but who lets God lead him peacefully through the wilderness, and desires no other support or guidance than that of pure faith and trust in God alone, will be brought to the Promised Land." I had allowed myself to be beaten down by the dryness and helplessness of the desert.

Where are you in your trip? Is your heart crying, "Are we there yet?" Are you chasing the emptiness of the world's treasures, or rather, are you sitting back and enjoying the ride with your Father doing the driving? That is what He desires. The question is will we delight ourselves in the driver and the voyage?

Are We There Yet? part 1

Along with millions of others this past week, I loaded up the car with our family and traversed the countryside for a couple days of the good life with our family. My two girls are now almost 5 and 20 months old. My oldest, Melody, we have traveled with numerous times, and she has always traveled well. The younger on the other hand... well, let's just say we haven't and she doesn't. Melody is now at the age where she has learned the world-famous traveling phrase, "Are we there yet?" She anticipates the undivided time she will glean from the aunts, uncles and cousins present and can't wait to put on her best performances, as the world (a.k.a. my sister's house) is her stage! So, even though she has been told we won't arrive until well after dark, she is on an internal timer set to go off with the above mentioned mantra every 2-3 minutes-- beginning at the time of our departure, 3 PM.

Now this is somewhat manageable, however; the other child, although her verbal skills are not yet fully developed, has no trouble in relaying the fact that she loathes the invention of the car seat and is convinced that it was, by engineering, not intended for occupation beyond 15-20 minutes. We know she is adamant about this fact as she sounds off her opinion in crying, whining and pleads for momma every 15-20 minutes! Understand, this is the norm; however, the intensity of this song on our holiday voyage was raised a few notches as she was sick and running a fever.

Our trip was scheduled to take 7 to 7-1/2 hours in total. After 6 hours, we had just made it half way thanks to heavy Austin traffic and frequent stops to frees the inner ear canal of its new nemesis. We made the executive decision that it would be best for all in our exhaustive state to stop for the night in San Marcos. We woke physically refreshed but asking God why there was not a toddler's version of Dramamine available. The total trip down we squeezed 7 hours into 11 hours-- the trip back was only 10 (yeah!)! You parents reading this are most likely snickering thinking, "Yep, been there; done that!"

In the midst of my exhaustion I was not prepared for the lessons God had for me on this trip. Once again, in perfect and sovereign timing, He coincided, both circumstances, messages from His Word along with conversations and other readings to pull out the proverbial two-by-four to drive home a message I needed to hear desperately. I will expound further on this lesson tomorrow or the next day... to be continued.

Holiday Irony

It occurred to me yesterday, isn't it interesting that in a couple days we will celebrate a day set aside to recognize that God is the source of all things and that we are to live in an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving. This holiday precedes by a mere few weeks another holiday which in origin was set aside to commemorate the coming of the greatest gift of all. Perhaps if we stuck to the original design for these days the first would help prepare us for the second.

But our culture like many other things has perverted, the first is now about a meal and some football. Christmas has turned in to a free for all gimme gimme gimme.

Hmmm. How ironic. Psalm 103:1-2 states: "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;"

Perhaps we have...

Kickin' Back...

Today, I begin the first week long vacation I have had in years. All vacation time I have experienced in recent years has been a day here two days there. That is okay, but I have to admit I found myself coveting that time that friends of mine that have taken one and two week vacations. Reading their blogs of fly-fishing in the Gotacatchabigun River or sailing across the glassy Lake Lazyday have only served to heighten my awareness of a desperate need to rest and recuperate physically, emotionally and spiritually.

This morning, I began my vacation time with a fine dining experience at Cafe Antoine. It was a hearty breakfast prepared by Chef Antoine himself! I had to wake the girls up in time for this breakfast catering because they were all sleeping later than normal. I then enjoyed a spa-like shower sensation, and am now settling in for some creative expression.

Okay, so, I am feeling a little delusional. In short, I made breakfast for my oversleeping girls, stood in my own shower for an extra five minutes, and now sit at a cluttered desk blogging. But I have savored every bit of it. I thoroughly enjoy cooking-- especially for others, lingering in the shower and not having to rush out the door away from my girls, and finally getting to be still long enough to record some of my thoughts on my blog. I imagine there will be much gibberish on here the next day or so as there is much pent up inside me that needs to come out. I will however try not to make you feel like you have experienced literary vomit.

In the next couple of days, we will be traveling to spend a couple days with my oldest sister in South Texas, where we will enjoy a long time family tradition of playing board or card games trying to make her wet herself from laughing so hard! I pray that you will enjoy some time away from the unimportant rush to nowhere that you too will drink deeply the life God has blessed you with. In the midst of the gluttony of food, sporting events, and bargain hunting, may you be able to be still and know that God is God.

Psalm 46:10a records this familiar verse. The NIV states it like this, "Be still, and know that I am God;" and that is powerful. But sometimes, I need to hear it like the NASB translates it, which as I understand is a more accurate rendering, "Cease striving and know that I am God." Ceasing striving means to not fighting against me. The Psalms are so therapeutic and refreshing. Listen to how Eugene Petersen describes this verse in the message, "Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything." That is what I am going to attempt to do this week. Take a step out of my high traffic life and know that God is God.

I hope to blog much in the next few days, perhaps multiple postings in a day. Or maybe not. There are few things I must do, and I will take my time in doing those. The rest I will take a wait and see attitude.

The First Insurance Agent

Like a good neighbor... State Farm is there. When the thought for this blog came to me this morning, of course so did the old jingle, so since I am being tortured with it, I thought I would share the blessing! I was reading this morning, when I noticed something that I hadn't seen before. I always figured that insurance was a relatively new concept. Nowadays, insurance companies are synonymous with greed and lobby groups. Yet, as I did a little research, I was reminded that God actually came up with the whole concept of insurance. Don't believe me? Do a word search on the word "neighbor" and read some of the passages associated with it. We get some of our principles of modern insurance from what we see in the Word. I believe however, that we are a long way off of what was intended... but anyway, I don't want to get off on too much of a rabbit trail.

This morning I found a record of what I believe may be the first insurance agent. I found it in what is probably one of the most well-known parables that Jesus taught. Have you guessed it... the good Samaritan! This exchange between a lawyer and the Master was centered around self-righteousness. We know this by a little phrase hidden in the discussion in verse 29, "But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'" This man was trying to impress the Master with his own good works of the Law and Christ hits him right between the eyes with the truth. He explains what the good neighbor was in the parable and that this man, considered to be pond scum to the average Jew, was far more righteous than this religious expert. The expert in the law got the point, but do we?

The image of Christians, especially in America ain't too great if you haven't noticed, and I think much of this perception is well-founded. We isolate ourselves from "the world" mostly citing passages like James 4:4 as the justification for it. However, we oft forget passages like John 17 where Christ prays that we not be removed from the world, but rather that we are protected from the Evil One. However, too often, once people become Christians, they begin the process of slowly removing themselves from the world we were called to influence and season as Salt and Light. I cannot tell you how many people I have heard ask that God remove them from their pagan jobs so they can work at a "Christian" company. And yet if God answered their prayers He would be removing some of the only light in that company!

We must engage our culture, not run from it. We can no longer walk on the other side of the road just because these folks don't share the same political or social views as we. God places in our paths people that need us to bind their wounds and care for them, but instead, we oft shirk off our role to professional organizations because we are too busy with our schedules to do anything. Jesus told the disciples on the mountainside faced with a crowd of hungry people... the same thing I think He is telling us, "YOU feed them!" One of the main reasons non-believers have the perceptions of Christian that they do is that they do not know any.

This must change brother and sisters! If we are too busy to know our neighbors let alone love them, then we are too busy! If we continue to huddle around our Christian talk shows and just stew in our indignation we will continue to walk farther and father on the other side of the road from those we are meant to love. I am not suggesting that we abandon the pursuit of personal holiness, that is absurd. But can no longer continue to elevate ourselves above thsoe we are called to love. We must adopt the new motto, "Like a good neighbor, Christians are there!" I know it's corny, but it's true. Are you a good neighbor?

Dangerous Love

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of perturbations of love is Hell"

- C.S. Lewis