Clay in the Hands

Here it is Monday and I am reflecting on my journey last week and looking forward to where the path will lead this week.  Yesterday, we had a great morning in worship.  We celebrated with the graduating seniors in our church, we heard the story of one of our senior adults and we praised our ascended savior.

We talked about the fact that Jesus died, but was not held in the grave.  He spent forty days with his disciples, giving them last minute instructions before breaking all bounds with this natural world and physically ascending into the clouds and out of sight.

For us today, we don’t understand how this was possible.  But really, neither did the disciples on that day.  Acts 1 tells us that they just stood there in amazement – I am guessing with their mouths open.  Two angels finally had to show up and tell them to move it along.

There are elements of our theology that may not make sense in this world but it does not make them any less true or real.

The point I take from this story in Acts is that Jesus proves, yet one more time, that he is not bound by this world.  He can come and go as he chooses.  That is the God we serve.  We simply must have faith and believe.

I ran across a poem by Alexander Pope entitled, An Essay On Man, in my reading this morning that may help us in this area.  Here is an excerpt:

To him no high, no low, no great, no small—
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all….
All nature is but art, unknown to thee: 
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see:
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.

We have to remember that we rarely see the whole picture.  What we are living is but a flash of the greater picture – a thread in a magnificent tapestry.

Trust and believe today and live into the life God has for you!

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Part of my reading today was in the classic, My Utmost For His Highest, by Oswald Chambers.  Today’s reading deals with the idea of having our focus on God as opposed to the world or ourselves.  Where we put that focus affects everything.

Chambers says that once we lose sight of God, we begin to do things in our own power and by our own initiative.  For me this is a constant battle.  I believe that God has gifted me with certain strengths and passions and expects me to get off my laurels and use those things for the growth of the kingdom.  But if I am not careful, it becomes about achievement – about me.  Chambers reminds us that the danger becomes reaching the point of not expecting God to show up at all.

He asks two questions that will stay with me through this day and hopefully throughout each day, and I pray with you as well.  He asks, “Is our attitude today an attitude that flows from our vision of God?  Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done before?”

Is that your expectation for this day?

I pray it is so!

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Some things are just obsolete these days.  I still have some vinyl albums but no way to play them.  They sit on a shelf next to some old 8 track tapes.

When is the last time you had an encyclopedia salesperson ring your doorbell?  Some of you may not even realize that families used to make huge investments by purchasing their very own set of encyclopedias and it was usually due to a slick salesperson who called on them at home.  But in March of this year, the Encyclopedia Britannica announced that they would no longer be offering their product in printed form – bringing to an end a history of 15 editions of their volumes of information.

So now, if you own a set of encyclopedias, you may be wondering what to do with them – other than dust them occasionally.  I really don’t have an answer for you.  Anything you need to know is accessible through the internet and will be much more current than a book that was printed five years ago.

So yes, somethings do become obsolete.  But I am thankful that one thing still remains just as relevant and fresh as the day it was penned.  Yes, the Bible has undergone translations and those translations have had revisions, but the story and truth within has remained the same.

In a world where little is guaranteed, thank you God that your truth never changes!

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