God's Mercy is NEW Every Morning!

 

I have been neglectful lately in posting to my blog... mostly because I have been way busier than I like and feeling some stress due to that busyness! 

 

This morning as I was driving to the Mall(not to shop - that is long done) to walk for my morning exercize routine, I couldn't help but notice the beautiful sunrise.  I wish I had my real camer and not the iphone camera but I didn't so... I captured it with my iphone.   Isn't it beautful?!   It is a reminder to me that God's mercy is fresh and new every morning!

 

May you live into that freshness!

Hearing the Angels Sing....

Sitting here trying to come to grips with the news of this day... HORRIBLE news! 

Innocent lives taken!  The trajectory of people's lives changed in an instant.   A horrific school shooting...this news is becoming all too frequent in our world.

How desparately our world needs to hear the angels sing again!  Long ago, they proclaimed a message that we need to hear again... "peace on earth, goodwill to all"!

The only way that becomes a reality is when it begins in you and me... and overflows from our lives into the lives of others around us.

Praying for the victims families and the rest of us.... that our ears might be tuned in to hear the angels sing and our hearts might be forever changed by their song so that our lives would honor the life of others!

Walking a Mile in Someone's Shoes...

The old saying is... until you walk a mile in someone's shoes...

Well, today I had a similar experience but not in shoes... today, I got to ride in another person's wheel chair - not a manual one... but a motorized one... and what a scary experience!!!  Especially navigating it out of the tight corners from the bedroom, where it was located, to the van outside.  And the MOST SCARY part of all was riding it out of the van onto the lift and trusting that it would stop when it needed to.   I had it in the lowest gear and barely touched the joystick to inch it forward!

I gained a whole new appreciation for my friend.  She makes it look SO EASY navigating this chair around.   I can't tell you how many times I have seen her move around and thought how easy she does it.  However, when I got into the chair and began to navigate it, I soon realized tht 2 seconds was all I needed to know it is NOT EASY!

You can't really know a person and what their life is like until you ride in there wheel chair for more than 20 feet!

Praying my friend soon is able to use her chair... even better yet, that she will soon have her new chair.  First week behind us of the 4-6 they said until the ordered chair comes in.

Joy

I have been enjoying Adam Hamilton's devotional book "The Journey: A season of Reflections" this advent!   In it he writes the following about Joy and I say a hearty AMEN!

"Joy, unlike happiness, can come to us independant of our circumstances.  It comes not from changing our circumstances but from viewing them through the eyes of faith.... Joy is a choice we make when we look at our present circumstances through eyes of faith, trusting that God is at work and that he will never leave us nor abandon us.  And it is often found with the help of another who reassures us that God is with us."

Touched by Generosity!

It is the season of giving... and lately I have been touched by people's generosity.

I participate in a hunting forum online and one day this week a guy who recently lost his job was selling his hunting equipment so that he could raise $600 to get his children some things for Christmas.  A couple guys asked if he was getting out of hunting or if he was just doing this to provide for his children.  He said he was doing it to provide for his children.  One guy offered to buy his stuff and donate it back.  One guy stepped up to the plate and said that he would receive paypal donations from the members and would make up the difference himself to $500.  Well, that touched off a firestorm of donations.  It was almost no time till he had sent $2,000 and more are still coming.  It also touched off lots of offers for jobs.  And one guy offered to give him a new set of bow strings (this guy makes them) another guy paid his membership in the site.  Another guy offered his family to come to his Christmas Tree lot and get a tree.  My guess is that the donations now total over $2500.  Everytime I read the new posts, I get tears in my eyes seeing the generosity of people.  And all of this allowed the guy to keep his hunting stuff.

Tuesday, I stepped out in faith and made a financial commitment to help a friend.   I was sure that I could find the resources to meet the need between folks in our congregation and the men in my community Bible study group and if not I would kick in the difference.   Was not sweating it at all.  Wednesday, I got a phone call... totally unsolicited saying that someone wanted to step up and help out and it might cover the total amount!   Today, I received a call back saying that if it was needed the ENTIRE amount was covered!  WOW!

What a difference it makes in our lives and in the lives of others when we live generous lives!

Letting Go Is Part of Life...

Yesterday, I  had the Hutchison Fleet of vehicles minus one serviced with oil changes, tire rotations, and alignment checks... and worked at the Ministry Center between jockeying the cars to Expert Tire.   Emma's vehicle was first.

Shortly after dropping her vehicle off, my mom called and we chatted a bit and she asked what I was doing.  So, I told her and she made a comment that I thought about all day...  She told me that I needed to teach my girls how to take care of their own cars, getting them in for service and then let them do it for themselves.  I told her that they both know when it needs to be done and they let me know and I do the rest.  I know it is soon time for me to let them handle making the appointment and so forth.  They are doing that in other areas of their lives now - like dentist, doctors, and glasses.

Mom is right... a necessary part of growing up is teaching our children how to take care of themselves and letting go.

The same is true in our discipling relationships.  We need to teach the people we are discipling what they need to know and then we need to let them go on their own.

The same is true with the church, too!  We need to constantly be raising up new people to take responsibilities and then let go of those things.  

In all aspects of life... training others and letting go is a necessary part of life.  Otherwise we create a co-depenant culture and that is not healthy.   I want my girls to be able to live fully and not be dependant on me.  Not that I mind doing for them, but I want them to know how to do for themselves and to have the confidence to do so!

Evidence of God at Work...

Jesus calls us to love those who persecute us.  He also calls us to love our enemies.  He even calls us to love the unlovable.   That is very hard to do, especially when we get hurt in the mix.

As a Pastor, I love seeing when people in my congregation take this call of Jesus seriously!

In recent weeks, I have seen this evidenced in the lives of two people....

Here is the first account in that person's own words (used with their permission)...

"What a day. My rental house was broken into and so I had more repairs to do than expected. Strangely, I am not angry at the individual(s) that did this. I truly forgive the person(s) that caused the destruction to my house. Why?because no one hurts others unless they are hurting themselves. Hurt, anger, fear, resentment, substance abuse, violence, and apathy do not come from God. They come from be...ing lost in a life of desperation which is far from The Father. I pray for The Holy Spirit to move these unknown offenders to awaken to the love and joy of Jesus Christ. I also find it easy to extend grace, because God extends it to me every day. I will sleep peacefully tonight knowing that the kingdom of heaven is within me. Glory to The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit."

 

And the other one spent significant hours from their day helping someone who has been estranged from them for a while now.   This person went above and beyond to show the love of Christ.  And when I affirmed that, their response was, ... "What good am I to return good for good.  Even the heathen do that."

Responses like these from Christ Followers will change the world!