Sojourners…

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to seek him in his temple.  Psalm 27:4 

Are we living in God’s world, or this world?  Are we more in tune with what is happening with the New England Patriots, or with God’s presence in this world?  Frankly, the phrase, what the hell are we doing, begs an answer of truth.  It demands an answer far from the “churchy-usual”: I’m living for God… 

BULL!!  I’m a minister and I’m not even doing that.  Seriously, can we honestly look someone in the eye and say we are living for God when we’re more concerned about the late paycheck, the “empty” pantry, the fuzzy TV picture on a cloudy day…you fill in the blank. 

I’m not sure how long it is going to take me to get it through my thick skull that the world is not my home.  What I can see and touch and taste, right here, right now, is not it!  I am on a journey.  I don’t belong here.  God has called us home, to his side.  I wonder, what would our lives look like if our only desire was to dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon his beauty?… 

The Struggles of life…

Sometimes, in life, when you’re expecting a fast-ball, a knuckle ball glides past as you swing madly and make solid contact with air… 

I can only imagine what Nick Stevens is feeling.  He and his sister were climbing one of Colorado’s 14er’s when they were caught in an avalanche.  Nick was able to stay above the flow, but his sister, Lygon, was not as fortunate.  After an afternoon of desperately searching and another night spent in a blizzard, Nick made his way down the mountain to call for help.  A week has gone by and I think it is safe to say that God has taken one of his children to be with him… 

Growing up in Colorado, I heard many stories about climbers being caught in avalanches.  This story has a different ring because I knew Lygon.  I would not call her a friend, but we backpacked together on a couple trips many summers ago. 

But, what muddies the water even more is wondering how Nick must feel.  A brother losing his sister… not being able to find her… surviving the very avalanche that took her life… and most of all, how does a Christian grieve?  I am very fortunate to never have lost anyone who is really close to me, so I can’t say how I’d react.  How do you respond to something so tragic, something that happens without warning? 

All that comes to my mind, on behalf of this family is to lift them before our Heavenly Father.  I would hope that if I was ever found in this situation, I would respond with an assurance to know that my loved one is with God, but I’m not sure I’m that strong… I hope someone would lift me before the Almighty in prayer… Please join me in prayer for them.

Why slow down?

My wife and I are in the midst of working out a practical application of Sabbath, and what it looks like specifically for our family.

I’m sure that when I, like most of you,  hear the word vacation, the first thing that comes to mind is Rest and Relaxation.  Finally, a bit of time away from every day life.  I can actually slow down.  I would then venture to say that when on vacation, I, like most of you, never slow down.  As I’ve stated in previous posts, even our days off aren’t really days off; it’s that day that we go double-time just to finish what we couldn’t finish the rest of the week.

Here’s why I bring that up.  Why slow down?  Why Sabbath?  First, deep in my heart, I long, as David, for one thing:  One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord…  Elsewhere in scripture we see (paraphrase) that God is not found in the busy, loud, reckless, destructive pieces of life.  He comes with a whisper, riding on a gentle breeze.  How in the world do I expect to feel the breeze or hear the whisper if I don’t stop?

We don’t just happen upon the house of the Lord as we speed through life.  Hence Sabbath.  An intentional portion of our lives that we stop and just be with God.  So as of right now, my wife and I are simply working on slowing our pace down, trimming time to get rid of waste and simply closing our eyes and waiting for that cool, soft breeze to caress our thirsty souls…