Too Full

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Even Paradise

Can Seem

Too Much!

Psalm 94:19

When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

Luke 22:42-43

Jesus spoke, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’ Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

Too often there are just so many things competing for attention and accomplishment and concern and and and

and

where do we find the energy, time, and heart to

well

anything?

Only then when the Holy Spirit intervenes do we find peace

and

heart

and

energy

to move onward in the day

doing what is necessary and good,

thanking God for everything that keeps us alive

and praying that God will forgive our sins, too many as they always are.

So then

we move into the day

ready to bless all we encounter

with God’s Grace,

God’s costly Grace.

Which sometimes is a cup we would rather not bear, not at all, not at all.

Yet we move into the day trusting that God’s will will be done, and God

will

walk

with

through it all.

The One Determinative Thing

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Can We See What’s Coming

Psalm 51:12

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

1 Timothy 1:5

But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

A personal ran in the newspaper, back when there were such things, that read: Lost, missing for hours or days, it’s hard to tell, last presence evidenced by a note to myself last week. Reward unknown. Oh, lost is my mind. Call me if you find it.

The next ad read: oh, forgot my number, too.

Two days later another personal ran: Found one loose and lost mind, wandering about the back avenues of 3^rd and Park, near the Bowling Alley. Call 412-384-9012 if you know of it’s owner.

Three days after that an article on page three ran a story about the happy ending of an old man in his early 90s reunited with his mind that had wandered off during a boring TV program on shellfish, and the young mother of three who had found it engaging her oldest boy over the fence to the alley behind their house.

…

Sometimes, all too often really, it seems we get separated from the one thing that makes such a determinative difference in our lives, the joy of our salvation, namely being found and saved by Jesus. Our stories make about as much sense as the ads and story in that newspaper that summer in New York when it was hot and smoggy and crime was at its worst.

…

So, even when we are not so lost in a fantasy world of liars posing as politicians and people hoping for the impossible (which will lead to the loss of many things basic to democracy and human rights), we too pray,

restore to us the joy of your salvation Lord. For this is the one thing that does not change or get taken from us.

Help us to love You, our neighbour as ourselves, and even our enemies … and all creation (we have to add, since it’s been on the endangered list now for oh too long.)

Generational Wealth

Or Wealth Eternal?

Friday, August 30, 2024

Ready to Share Even This?

Psalm 33:11

The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Ephesians 1:11

In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

When the ‘wealth for generations’ is denied so many people, while it is assumed as a right by others,

it is not hard to feel left out of life.

Yet the core to living abundantly is not in one’s possesions, but in what one has to give to others: grace, love, and hope

and help.

These God provides to us in our inheritance as God’s own children, adopted through Jesus’ redemption, demonstrated to us in our baptisms.

So how will we live today, concerned for our wealth, or lack of generational wealth?

ready to share the greatest inheritance with others,

grace, love, and hope

and help

not matter what comes our way?

You Know Who

Needs the Light

Monday, August 26, 2024

When the Light Is About To Disappear …

Psalm 56:13

For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Mark 5:41-42

He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

If you are in a foreign country where the government is not at all friendly to your own country, and you are there working with the ‘alternative’ hope for the people, their church … and people go missing all the time … having an arrogant, unpredictable, and violent bully-cop, who has it out for you, point at gun mere inches away at your face is a sure way to convince you your life is likely going to come to an end.

The outcome that shakes one to the core is to have that cop’s partner kill him with an equally violent bullet to the head, and then tell you that you are protected.

Seeing evidence that this protection, though never again seen in person, has continued through one’s life is mind boggling.

Certainly, one gives God thanks with the words of the Psalmist, I will render thank-offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life!

These kind of deliverances are rare. Many people would hope they would be more common, as countless people loss their lives to violent bullies.

The kind that all of us need at one time or another in our lives, and for most of us quite frequently in our lives, is a deliverance from the enemy within our own hearts, minds, and souls. This kind of enemy drags us through the dirt and darkness of life more efficiently than lead poisoning … from a bullet at close range. This enemy of life is self-created. Oh, sure, circumstances contribute to the darkness of life in endless ways. Yet we are not bound to llow the inevitable challenges of life grow out of control until we succumb to the hopeless darknesses of complacency, lethargy, and despair.

From these enemies of life, we all need deliverance all too often.

So Jesus says also to us this day, “Come, Get Up!” Inviting us to walk in the light of life.

See, the light is right there. Just walk into it, and bask in the steadfast love of God …

and then get our butts in gear, to provide that light to all people, especially …

well you know who.

Forever

And Ever??

Sunday, March 24, 2024

it may seem the horizon of life goes on forever

past the moon setting orange and down ….

First Chronicles 17:27

… therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue for ever before you. For you, O Lord, have blessed and are blessed for ever.

Matthew 25:34

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…”

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

Ahh, the hubris that would make a human think their kingdom could continue without end!

If ever there were a true saying about everything in life it is simply, “this too shall pass.”

Only God continues without end.

So we know, our sufferings

and our joys

shall pass.

Until one day God gathers us into the home created for us.

Meanwhile there’s much to be done to surrender our wills to God’s

and work to give the essentials

of life to the millions

starving, who face

sure death

today.

The Whole Shooting Kaboodle-dom!

Not for us! But for Christ!

Friday, March 22, 2024

Just When We Thought

It Was All Ours!

We Pass Away Into Oblivion.

Psalm 102:26

They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away;

Colossians 1:16

… for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

We’ve taken dominion over the earth

and darn near ruined it into being an inhospitable wasteland, wherein we cannot survive much longer, or maybe we’ve crossed over the point of no return and it’s a done deal.

Our error, made new each day, is to assume God made it all for us.

But

God created it all for Christ!

Even us.

So that’s our place, not rulers but servants.

And once we surrender to that truth,

then Christ shares the blessings of life with us,

first and foremost the blessing of being blessings for others.

Being Children

Again

Friday, March 15, 2024

Clouds Everywhere Float Through the Sky,

As God’s Children Inhabit the Earth

Everywhere.

Deuteronomy 14:1

You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.

Galatians 3:26

… for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

To be children again, wow!

Or is it Woe to those who wish to be children!

Or is it Whoa Betsy, hold on now. No way do we want to be children again!

Not that it really matters, we are born children, every one of us, and we remain children to our parents our whole lives. No way out of that.

Being good children is something that may not be on everyone’s agenda or priority list, but it’s one of those things the Ten Commandments highlights as being important to good living.

So we ought to work at it. Sometimes there are benefits to being someone’s child like a great inheritance, and then sometimes it’s just a pain.

Whether we are God’s children or not is, like being children to our parents, is not up to us. Not that our parents had much choice in the matter about having particularly us as their children. … Unless, of course, we were adopted. Then our parents chose us, specifically us.

That’s what God does: chooses us, adopts us, gives us all the benefits of being heirs.

That’s a load of life abundant dumped in our laps.

Are we up to living it?

Today?

Speak Forgiveness

Preach It From the Rooftops

Friday 9 February 2024

Out There,

Beyond the Trees so Strong

(like our sins),

Is The Light of Christ,

Rising Majestically,

Beautifully.

Isaiah 40:2

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Luke 24:47

… that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

The uses we put religion to ought to turn God in his grave, if he ever were in one! (Well Jesus was, but is no more.) But how is it that we put religion’s face on such horrendous schemes and deceptions.

What would the world look like if …?

What would we all look like if …?

If we used religion only proclaimed the Grace of God, that sins were already paid and God has restored us all more than two-fold for all we have lost to our sins?

Remarkably different, peaceful, gracious, generous, and blessed.

So let’s start today …

except

even though we are fully forgiven

we cannot let go of sin

for sin still has it’s ugly-strong grip on us

in us

must

wait

we persevere running the good race put before us

also this day

of beauty

marred

by our sins.

Confess

Our Proud Sins?

Tuesday 23 January 2024

Old Photo, Old Problem:

Confessing Sins.

Psalm 25:11

For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Mark 2:5

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

There is nothing more difficult for proud, rich humans to do than to admit their guilt.

There is nothing more difficult for proud, poor humans to do than to admit their guilt.

We spend so much time trying to make it look like we are good enough.

Only when we are assured that God will forgive us are we capable of being so bold as to confess our sins.

And then, as promised God forgives us.

So what are we to do with that forgiveness?

Live lives blessed by forgiving others, maybe?

Whaddayathink today is for?

Things

For Life

Friday 19 January 2024

No Matter How Many Planes We Have ….

Proverbs 30:8

Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need,

1 Timothy 6:7-8

… for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

The things of life are many,

but the things necessary for life are far fewer:

clean air, clean water, nourishing food, adequate clothing, sufficient shelter, meaningful labour, and love (the ability to love others and that others love us.)

All these are things that we receive as gifts from God, added to the gifts of life (given to us at birth) and the Holy Spirit (given to us at baptism), forgiveness and renewal (given to us each day as God promised us and made clear in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection).

We have since the beginning of time fooled ourselves into thinking that we possess many things in our lifetimes, and that these things make a great difference in our lives, for ourselves and among other people.

But

all that we think we possess are really only things entrusted to us by their owner, God. So many things God entrusts to us, that we will be good stewards of them, giving life to as many people as possible, with our voices, hands, and feet, working, working, working

working out God’s love and mercy, grace and generosity, forgiveness and renewal for all people.

What works against life for all people are lying and falsehoods.

If only we could leave them out of life!

Like all people, what we really need is

everything God gives us

to share.