Clay in the Hands

There is a place in every person where the true self resides.  A place where all masks are hung on a tarnished hook by the door.   A place no one knows except that person that resides there – that person and the Other.

We can’t explain the reality of this inner most place but from our core we know it is true – we know it exists – we know we exist.

That is why Psalm 42 resonates with us.  The psalmist says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you O God.”  And later in that same psalm we read, “deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.”

There is a part of us that longs for something more.  We may put up a front or put on a mask and pretend we have it all together – that nothing can touch us.  But the reality is that in our deepest self, we long for God.  Deep calls to deep.

Today, call out to God.

No other can bring fulfillment.  No other can satisfy.

Be blessed!

Last week I was headed to the hospital for a visit.  As usual, I was in a hurry.  As I approached my turn, I needed to change lanes but there was an elderly gentlemen creeping along beside me.  I had to slow down to a crawl to allow him to get far enough ahead of me to allow me to change lanes.

As I changed lanes and moved over behind him, a bumper sticker on the back of his car caught my eye.  It read, “Body Piercing Saved My Life.”  All kinds of comical thoughts ran through my mind – some of which I will keep to myself.  The first, and most logical was “I really don’t want to think about that!  That is one mental picture I would rather not have.”

But then I began to wonder about the sticker itself.  What state would a life have to be in that poking holes in one’s flesh would bring salvation?

At the risk of taking a pretty funny life experience and over-spiritualizing it I would like to make one observation.

It is true that in each and every life, salvation is needed.  But there is no amount of money, fame, power or body piercing that will bring it about.  Salvation can only come through belief in Jesus Christ as the son of God and the savior of the world.

But I have to admit, thinking about that picture of seeing an elderly gentlemen in a car with a bumper sticker like that still brings a smile to my face!

Be blessed!

Here we stand at the beginning of a new year.  I always find this experience refreshing and at the same time intimidating.  As I look back on 2012, I see many, many things that went well – areas in my life and ministry where I can see God truly blessed.  I can also see things that didn’t turn out the way I planned.  But nonetheless, here we are at the beginning of a new year – a fresh start.

We are standing at the trailhead of a journey marked by a calendar – experiences that will come in measurements of days and weeks and months.

I find it a bit intimidating.  But this morning in my prayer and reading time, I focused on one verse found in 1 Peter 1.  Verse 13 says this:

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

The author tells us, his readers, that we should prepare our minds for action.  This isn’t a time to sit back and let things “just happen.”  We have to be intentional – we must have a plan.  Otherwise, we will get to the end of this year and realize we accomplished nothing.

But before we allow ourselves to become too high and mighty, we must also remember what the verse says next, be self controlled – putting all our hope in Jesus and the grace we will receive when we make him known.

While we are to be actively and intentionally working to grow and move and succeed, we must also never forget that our hope of success rests not in our abilities but in Jesus.  Our focus should be on following him and making him known.

If we do that, it is going to be a great year!

Be a blessing today!

This could be it.  This could be the last post I make to Clay In The Hands.  Weird isn’t it?  I have been sharing my journey here for over 3 years and this could be the last time.

According to the Mayan’s, the calendar ends tomorrow.  I don’t know a single person who still follows that calendar but for some reason, the fact that the Mayan culture – which by the way has been virtually extinct for hundreds of years – failed to continue their calendar past tomorrow.  The assumption by those who worry about these things is that the world will end when the Mayan calendar ends – as if that extinct culture had some crystal ball that told them the exact day of the world’s end.

I really appreciate what Dr. Jim Dennison said this morning in his blog, Denison Forum On Truth and Culture.  You can read what he said in full here.  HIs point was that while we can’t say the world will end tomorrow, we also cannot say that it won’t.  But that has nothing to do with the Mayan calendar.

Jesus, the very son of God whose coming to earth we celebrate this next week, will return.  Scripture is clear that he will come again.  But scripture is also clear that we have no idea when that day will occur.

But all of this hoopla about the end of the world happening tomorrow raises an interesting thought:

If you knew for sure that the world would end tomorrow, how would you live today?

The sobering truth is that the world could end tomorrow.

None of us are guaranteed tomorrow so we need to make the most of today.

How will make today count?

This morning during my prayer and reading time I was reminded of something very simple but profound.  I was reading in Psalm 37.  The verse that I focused on was verse 4.  In this passage, the writer tells us that we should “delight” ourselves in the Lord and when we do we will receive the desires of our hearts.

On a cursory reading, we get the idea that if we follow God, God will make sure we get what we want.  But when you look closer at the passage, that is not what the writer is saying at all.  When he says “delight” he means more than give a cordial tip of the hat or an occasional prayer of thanks for what God does for us.  The word delight carries the idea of complete enchantment – an all-consuming desire to please.

When  we look at the context – the other verses around this one – we see that the writer is reminding us that when we make God the focus of all we do, when our lives revolve around pleasing God and doing what is good and right, then God will give us the desires of our hearts.

But here is the very simple yet profound idea the writer is communicating.  When we live our lives with the one focus of pleasing God – really delighting in the Lord of all creation – then the desires of our hearts will line up with the plans God has for us.

When we live in God’s perfect will (as Paul would call it in Romans 12) then our lives will be full and our hearts content; because when we seek to please God with all we are – that is the reward we will receive.

Live delighted today!

Has Christmas lost it’s wonder for you?  When you look at the eyes of a child as they gaze upon a brightly decorated tree or the presents under that tree – do you see the amazement?  Do you still feel that same awe?

Yesterday, we talked about the wonder of Christmas.  I pray that, as adults, we don’t lose that same amazement we see in the eyes of children as we approach this most holy day.  We know the story – many of us have heard it all our lives.  If we aren’t careful and attentive, this season will pass us by and we will not have paused to truly consider why it still holds wonder and amazement for us today.

The God of the universe decided to break into human existence – divinity and humanity merging – in order to save us from our mistakes, poor choices and sin.

A woman was chosen to give birth to God.  Even though she had never been with a man, she gave birth to a baby boy – God’s very son.  Not only did God choose to come to earth under these scandalous circumstances, Jesus was born into poverty – a common man.  And now, 2000 plus years later, we celebrate that birth.

All of that should cause us to pause – it should cause us to feel amazement.  It should remind us that there is so much more going on in this life than we can explain or even see.

Don’t let the wonder and amazement of this season slip by you this year!

Be blessed today!