Clay in the Hands

I am packing up this morning to head back home.  I took three days of vacation to escort my wife to Houston for a conference.  It has given us time to be together – just the two of us and I thought it would give me some down time to catch up on some reading and to spend some time in prayer.

Unfortunately, one afternoon of “downtime” hardly seems enough.  But it was good to be able to unplug even for an afternoon.

Now I start the 11 hour drive home – alone.  Yeah!

At any rate, I wanted to share with you an experience I had yesterday in my reading and prayer time.  As I sat and prayed and read, I was hoping for a revelation from God – an answer to my prayer.

Have you ever had the experience of feeling like your prayers go unheard?  That maybe your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling?

I read this quote and it reminded me of something.  I am reading through Ben Johnson’s book, Time Away, and in the book he quotes John of the Cross.  The quote is this, “Silence is God’s first language.”  Ben goes on to elaborate on this quote by saying that if we are going to hear God, we first “must learn to turn down the noise in our lives.”

In other words, we must learn to become comfortable sitting in silence before God.  It is in resting in God that we experience peace – and that just might be the answer we are looking for.

Be blessed today!

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During my prayer and reading time this morning I was drawn back to a verse I read last week and never fully internalized.  Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

There is a lot to think about in this one verse.  We could focus on the importance of all those who have gone before us and the wisdom they left behind and how that can help us.  We could also think about the teaching aspect of scripture.

But my focus today is on our part in the process of having hope.  The apostle Paul (author of Romans) tells us that scripture has been written to instruct us on how we should live.  It is also filled with insight into the nature and character of God.  But also in this verse, we see Paul telling us that we must have endurance.

What I take from this verse is that life is not always going to be easy.  Things aren’t always going to happen on my time schedule.  But I must endure – I must carry on and never give up!

Instead, in the process of enduring we are to look to scripture for guidance and encouragement for there in we will find hope.  Jeremiah 29:11 always gives me encouragement – especially during times I am having to “endure.”

No matter what you may be going through today, hang on – endure – and look to scripture for your hope.

What scriptures do you turn to?

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Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God:

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries

(Elizabeth Barrett Browning – from Aurora Leigh – 1857)

I had read this before, but ran across it yesterday and had to stop and pray.  The reference is to Moses and his experience of meeting God in a burning bush that was not consumed.

Browning has the uncanny ability to get right to the heart of the matter with eloquence and simplicity.  Her point – God is all around us, in everything we see.  Our problem is that we are too pre-occupied with our lives and our schedules to realize it.

Those who stop and notice God at work in little things like the bloom of a flower or the laughter of children will experience a little glimpse of God – of heaven.

The rest of us go about our busy lives oblivious to God’s movement.

So here is my question for you today:  Will you go about your day intentionally looking for God, or will you simply go pick blackberries?

I would love to hear how you see God today – leave me a comment or send me an email.

Have a blessed day today!

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My youngest runs cross country and on Fridays he has to be at practice at 5:45 am.  This particular practice is typically only 20 minutes or so.  So today, I decided to sit in the car and wait rather than drive home and start the coffee and then turn around and drive right back to pick him up.

As I sat there in the car, I listened to the Pray-As-You-Go prayer and reading for today.  The text came from Luke 5.  Jesus was being questioned by the Pharisees as to why John’s disciples fasted and prayed and his disciples didn’t.  Take a look at Jesus’ response:

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?  ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

I have read this many times before but before today – before the question was asked by the speaker in the guided prayer portion of the podcast – I have never thought about these verses in this way.  The speaker pointed out that in our lives there are times for prayer and fasting and there are times for celebration.  Then he asked, “What time is it for you?”

Jesus’ point was that there would be a time for his disciples to fast and pray, but while he was with them, it would be a time of celebration.

Do we celebrate times when we feel God’s presence in a fresh way?  Do we seek out time alone with Jesus and then celebrate that time?

What do you have to celebrate today?

I encourage you to take some time to celebrate this weekend.

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Have you ever found yourself in limbo.  Maybe it was between jobs or between relationships.  Or maybe you have found yourself in difficult times financially.

Maybe you are in the middle of something right now.

Last week I finished a book by Jeff Manion entitled, The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions.  It has kept me thinking for quite some time now.

In the book, Manion illustrates his points by pointing to the people of Israel and their journey through the wilderness.  They had been enslaved in Egypt for years and had been crying out to God to set them free.  So God used Moses to lead them out of that captivity and across the desert to the land of Canaan.  Unfortunately, because of the people’s lack of trust, this journey took 40 years.  That is a long time to spend in the land between!

Manion uses their story to point out that all of us experience periods of being in the land between.  But it is in this land between that God can use the experience to grow our faith.  Unfortunately, this same land between can drive us away from God as well.  God’s design is to allow us to choose how we will come out on the other side of this land between.

We can choose to trust God and believe that God will walk with us every step of the way or we can become bitter that we are having to go through trials.  The choice is up to us.  Coming from someone who has been in the land between before and in even as I write this am there again, it is not an easy choice to make.  There are days when we don’t want to be here.  There are days that it would be easy to complain and become angry with God.  But the answer is to trust.

As long as we know that God is walking with us and that there is a plan for us, then choosing to trust God comes easier.

If today, you find yourself in that land between, remember, this time can make you stronger in your faith or it can drive you away from God – it is your choice.

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I drive a 2001 Suburban and this week it will hit 178,000 miles.  It still runs great which is a good thing because with one child driving, one more to hit the road in a little over a month and then one more coming two years from now, I need my car to keep running for as long as possible.

The one problem I have been having is that it takes three or four attempts to actually start.  I asked a mechanic friend of mine what the issue might be.  He asked if when I get into the car and turn on the ignition if I wait between the time I turn the key to the time that I actually turn the ignition to start the vehicle.  He explained that the fuel pump needs time to pump gas to the injectors in order for there to be fuel at the proper place to start the engine.  What I just explained may have been Greek to you and quite honestly, I tried to explain something that is above my pay grade so I am not sure I understand it either.

At any rate, for the last couple of weeks I have been trying to remember to turn the key on and then wait before trying to start the vehicle.  It has been one of the most difficult things I have tried in some time.  I gave up Diet Coke for Lent and I think that was easier than waiting to start my car.

Sound crazy?  I guess it is, but I am the type of person that is always in a hurry – I always have a plan and part of the plan is completing the plan as quickly as possible to get on to the next plan.  I have to consciously strive to slow down.

Slowing down is so important in our spiritual journey.  If we fail to slow down, often we miss what God is doing all around us.  It is also important slow down and not jump into things without taking the time to pray and lay the plan before God.  So maybe, we should wait before we start on many levels.  Just a thought.

Take time today to slow down and look for God.  I assure you that God is at work – you just need to look.

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