In Focus

Today I am asking myself where my focus is, and consiquiently where it should be. In praying through it I feel as if God is telling me that I may be missing what is right in front of me. I am so busy trying to see what is off in the distance that I am missing opportunities that are clearly in sight. I am reminded today to slow down, look right, left, up, and down and let God work through me.

Mark 8:22-26
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.  He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
  He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
  Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

Walking in the Spirit

Yesterday on a flight I met a very interesting man named Darrel. I had been reading my bible and then picked up my sketch book and began to draw.  It is tight quarters on an airplane, so I often find that I have an audience when sketching.  Darrel asked me what the drawing meant.  I explained to him that many times my sketches sort of just evolve and I really don't know what they will become until I finish.  They tend to revolve around my bible study, and the sketching allows me to turn my thoughts into visual images.  The lines interconnect and form pictures and the pictures express the way my brain is processing the scripture I have been reading.. 

I had been reading Romans 11:17-18 "

 "If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,  do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you"

I explained to Darrel that I had been considering what it was like to truly trust God and  walk in his power..  Darrel and I chatted for quite a while and during this time I learned that he was raised in a good home with good morals.  He felt strong convictions for doing the right thing and at the end of the day feels like he has a responsibility to please his parents.
During our conversation Darrel asked me a-lot of questions about my faith, and I had the opportunity to share what God is doing in my life.  I firmly believe that God is looking to graft Darrel into his life giving root.  I pray this evening that Darrel would consider the gift that only God can give and that he would be granted the faith to take that first step.

Psalm 94:18-19

¹⁸ When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
   your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.
¹⁹ When anxiety was great within me,
   your consolation brought me joy.

Impossible things are possible

I have been thinking a-lot about impossible things.   Things that I can't wrap my brain around logically.  Take leading a camel through the eye of a needle (Mark 10:25).  If you consider that in the physical sense it is impossible.  How about a miracle.  By definition  a miracle is: A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is considered to be divine.  When I really stop and think about it impossible things by definition should never happen.  That said we experience things in our lives that can not be explained by logic, science, or mere accident.  Miracles make impossible things possible, and God is the only one who can accomplish a miracle.  Today I am thankful for the small miracles that happen each day.  The fact that my heart continues to beat, that I breath without thinking, that I can give and receive love, and that God has given me the faith to believe that through him the impossible is possible. 

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Guardian Angel

Praying for a very sick child today.  A friend of mine just had to air lift his daughter to children’s hospital.  She is having complications with pneumonia and needs some specialized care.  I invite you to join in and pray for this very sick little girl.  I pray that God would have his hand on this child and her family.  I pray for wisdom for the doctors and nurses who will visit her, and I pray that God would grant her strength, joy, and peace.

Psalm 91:9-13

If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
   and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
   no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
   you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Arise Shine

Fall light in the Pacific Northwest is amazing.  A special time each year when the colors begin to shift  to a rainbow of rust brought on by the cool kiss of October.   There is anticipation, with a sense of beginning and completion.

Isaiah 60
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.  See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.  Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Revelation

 

Revelation:  something revealed or disclosed, especially a striking disclosure, as of something not before realized.

Last week during my travels for work I sat on 7 airplanes and visited 5 cities.  God was very creative in placing specific people in my path.  He used me to minister, and also allowed other to minister to me.  I walked away from the week with one thing ringing in my ears.  God has given all of us unique gifts yet for some reason we do not value our gifts as highly as we value the gifts that we see in others.  In fact at times we try to operate in another persons gifting.  This is the equivalent of David putting on King Saul's armor.  It did not fit and David could not confidently go into battle wearing it.  He had to trust in the tools that God had given him in order to defeat Goliath.(1 Samuel 17:39)  In the same way we will be most effective when we operate in the gift that God has given us.  My prayer today is that I would take comfort in what God has given me to work with and that I would celebrate, not envy the gifts of others.

Revelation 22:12-20
¹² “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.    ¹⁴ “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
   ¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
 ¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
 ¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. ¹⁹ And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
 ²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
   Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Jumping in with both feet

Do you ever have  those moments when you are being called to jump in with both feet?  At times there is just no easing into the water.  There is no way to test the temperature, you just have to leap.  Sometimes you feel God prompting you and there is risk associated with the action.  Risk of rejection, isolation, unpopularity, suffering,  etc...    I say jump, you have everything to gain.  My prayers today go out to the young man in Salt Lake with chest pains, The woman in the middle seat from Portland Maine who had a swollen ankle, and the grandfather who dearly loves his family and took the time to share his story of just how creative God can be.

Harvest

Early October is grape harvest in Pennsylvania.  I found myself jogging down a rural road just outside  the small town of North East Pennsylvania.  The air was cool, and literally saturated with the smell of concord grapes.  Tractors, harvesters, and semi trucks run around the clock in order to get the grapes to Welch's for immediate processing.  During a visit to the plant earlier in the day I learned that the first place the grapes go when they enter the gate is the inspection station.  They are checked for rot, disease, quality, and impurities.  If they do not make the grade, they are turned away.  The vineyard owner must be diligent during the entire growing process to insure they produce a quality product for the harvest. 

My prayer today is that when presented with opportunity, I would be diligent and purposeful in what I sow, for whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Galatians:6:7-10

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.  Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.