Lord of the Ringless

Daily Close to His Heels Together

I'm trying to remember to pray for humility every day. Why? Because it doesn't come naturally. I don't know how to live in it. I remember asking God after reading Micah 6:8 What does the Lord require of us? "To do justly , to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

" "What does humbly with our God', mean God? "

I know God is hugely humble and gentle. He made the flowers and spindly legged spiders and soft billowy clouds. He whispers. When Jesus walked here, he stopped often to smell the roses and give them away to those around Him, by listening, helping, healing emotionally and physically by touching hearts and hands.

Translated for me it is Gentleness. Love in action. Consideration for others and meeting needs as God directs. Allowing time for the other person to talk and being willing to listen and learn. Humility is demonstrated daily on the field of life. God calls us to maintain a gentle attitude in our relationship with others, while we are listening to Him--the one who is gentle and humble of heart.

We just finished a series at our church where we talked about Divine Interruption- recognizing when God is allowing our daily path to take a detour or a pause for an interaction with someone we hadn’t planned on.

Jesus did that all the time. But since we are not Jesus, and tuned in to God the Father as he was, we need to stay mindful what is happening in our moments—rather than rush on by and miss opportunities God is placing before us to give, to bless, to entertain angels unawares.

 I heard John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian church, refer to Christian leaders as "Guardians of the Soul."

 It touched that scripture I love in 1 Peter 3:1 that says we are now called to live in righteousness for “we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls." One thing leads to another.  So we are in this world to tend others as he tends us; to comfort with the comfort he gives us.

 It’s really hard for me, selfish as I am, to tune in to others when I am feeling the heat myself. It’s basic human nature to take more interest in mwa.

Maybe that’s why it took Moses forty years tending sheep in the desert and learning God’s ways. He learned to listen on a long time out from the pleasures of living as a prince in a palace and being served. He learned to listen to and share the burdens of everyday living and provision through his wife’s family. To let them sharpen him as a person. No doubt he learned humility letting humble folk, practical people around him speak into his life—before he was ready to lead, help and live with a million of his clan  as they journeyed around a desert.

 I once listened to Dr. Dan Allender as he discussed a crossroads in his life: the decision to work at a seminary or start a graduate school. The list of advantages, disadvantages, was a quickie. The pro-con list stacked up for the seminary position with benefits—and ease. But then his wife looked at him and said, "You've never been able to do anything normal. Why start now?"

 "My wife was reading my story," he said.

She knew the direction it went. She knew him and understood the Author's heart for her husband. It is amazing how people who know and understand us can see better than we sometimes, many times...what we need; the direction we should go.

Today maybe I, maybe you, can be more open to listen to those on our path. It takes humility. They may know something we don't. They may have something to offer us, a novel thought. It doesn't happen for me unless I make a mental note and pray for God to help me. Not only to pause in pursuit of the next direction marker listening to others observations, but also aware God may be using them to meet a need I don't even know I have.  

And as we pray for those God puts on our mind, in our heart, we know they are on His heart. He most surely is putting our needs before them too. We are a great blended family down here. Together we are helping eachother to daily learn His ways, and hear his footsteps as we walk close to the heels of our Humble Good Shepherd.

 

OLYMPICS AND LIFE

This week I’ve been watching the Olympics. Inspiring, especially Aksel Svendal, the Norwegian skier who trained back from a broken neck and facial fractures in a 2007 wipeout. Now he’s won 3 gold medals including the giant slalom and conquered the jump that took him out. He is always filmed racing in conjunction with his dad in the stands watching. His dad is jumping, cheering, clapping --feeling every bump in the course Aksel takes. His dad taught him to ski and introduced him to the mountains.

 

Television footage of those mountains reminded me of Norway when I visited at the age of many of these Olympic atheletes. I remember the chilly ferry ride, gazing amazed at the beauty of the fiords winding a path to the small fishing village—the little town of Bergen.

At 24 years old my quiet exterior didn’t convey the inner excitement I felt wth other young hostellers, watching puffs of cold air form with each breath in the land of the Vikings.

 

One evening, even the smell of coffee rising from the warm mug I cradled in my hand mesmerized me. The hot liquid calmed my insides as much as the turtleneck wool sweater and goose down jacket sealed off  the chill around our table. The “closed” sign hung on the door as the manager swept around us. The table where we sat in the small café in Norway.

 

That night I heard the melody again. A hauntingly beautiful piano piece that seemed to float around me wherever I roamed in Europe. The ballad of pour Adeline, by touring popular pianist Richard Clayderman, was the rave of the mainland. Try as I might, it was never my destiny to see him on tour. I planned then that this lovely song would be in my wedding. Wedding?.

 

Fast forward. Three years ago, after a time of worship at my church, moved with a mix of wonder and disappointment, memories and musings. The café in Norway. The tranquility then and there, amidst recent challenges here and now. I spoke to God, my Father.

 

Long  Ago and Far Away

 

Sitting at that Café

Young and In Norway

My hopes were

So alive, so strong.

You never told me

It would be

So long.

But looking back now

I would have

Asked, “How?”

And you already knew

I would have asked you “Why?”

And then,

I would have tried

To live without your grace

For today.

I had to live and learn

That You are.

That grace is…

The Way.

That life flows

Like Grandma’s prose

“One day at a time, sweet Jesus,

One day at a time.”

 

From seasoned mountain trekkers of life, like me, to young ski racers like Aksel, strength and victory in life come by taking the next step on the next day. Setbacks start young as Aksel's injury relays. All of us face adversity on our journey. No matter if our trial is new or one we are familiar with, we are always in the process of moving forward in small steps or large.

 

 Svendal, did the best he could with what he had in spite of what he lost from his injury. So must we. He came back and won the gold. He hoped and pressed on, as we do in our daily lives, with resolve and resiliency from the tragedies to the triumphs.

 

We trust God each today well lived produces a life of purpose and character because of the trials. He is our coach and He is our Father, just like Aksel's dad. Our Fathers eyes never leave us as we negotiate the dangerous turns and ruts on our course of life heading toward the finish line. The disappointments and injuries. He is always with us, just as Aksel's father so visibly supports him.

 

We know that if we follow the course laid out for us, heeding His instructions, applying what we've been taught, we will complete our race. He will cheer us on; He has a stake in our lives. We belong to him. He is with us in Spirit all the way through to the finish line. And we will each have a reward for crossing. For finishing our course. A gold medal we can carry into eternity. That no man can take away.

 

 Let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us.

“An athelete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that will never disappear.” I Corinth 9:25

 

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Does the King of Hearts Make a Difference?

God is love. He is the King of Hearts. His heart is so Big, if we receive His love it overflows—we shed it abroad all around us to all we come in contact with.

If we receive Him.

If we rejoice in Him.

So Paul wrote in Romans 5:3-5

We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient.  And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. Then when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that we feel this warm love everywhere within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Which reminds me once again of a favorite Valentine story.

 There was once a peculiar little boy; something about him was different—I can’t remember what. His mother worried Valentine’s day morning as she sent him off to school with his bag of little cards folded in half, one for each member of his public elementary class. She remembered how few cards he had received in the little crayon-embossed bag with his name the previous year.

She dreaded his return again today. So she baked a batch of soft warm chocolate chip cookies and poured a glass of milk. And waited. Finally he came into view walking down the sidewalk. His head was shaking back and forth and he was talking to himself, as usual. Within earshot, he now looked up and grinned from ear-to-ear. “Not a one,” he stated proudly.” I didn’t miss anyone—everyone in my class got my Valentine!”

The saying by a doctor of science (I once read) pertains so perfectly to this little child with the God-sized heart.  “If we live to get love we will get sick. But if we live to give love we will find health.”

Lastly our Prince, “Love one another as I have loved you” John 13:34

So we spot-check our own hearts a heavenly stethoscope. WE listen for signs of a healthy heartbeat.

Are we asking God daily [for those we are entrusted to love in our little corner of the world]

Have I loved today with as much love as He has given me?”

What a difference we could make if we let Him shed His love abroad in our hearts.

What a great time to start.

Courage

New Year's Eve morn God impressed upon me, "Practice courage." We do not need courage if all around us is "as usual." Corrie ten Boom wrote just as she would take her father's hand when she left the safety of their home as a small child, so as believers we are to take our Heavenly Father's hand and trust Him as we venture into the unknown. God does not want us to be anxious.

So, I prayed the Serenity prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Have you prayed this ageless prayer lately? 

Yesterday in our writer's group a woman spoke of Joshua and the Israelites. God was going to extend their territory and he would be with them...but they had to cross the Jordan River. They were stepping out into the unfamiliar--leaving their world behind them and moving forward. And they needed courage. Just like us...God's people today.

This new decade, for many of us feels like a new world. We have been hearing things will never be the same. True to a point. Then, really, when is life ever the same for many of us? A few brief years at the most cruise along. Close relationships, careers, moves, health- any of these gained or lost at any time- change our life.

But God never changes. And He still holds our future here and into forever. He is already with us on the journey. He stands with us at the water's edge.We can trust He is making a way to something new.

Tomorrow means we will have new possibilities we didn't have yesterday. We can feel just as timid as Joshua and the people who stepped up to the river's edge by faith preparing to leave behind their past.

But, as long as we honor God by trusting and obeying Him today, the same words that propelled the Israelites into the unknown victories that would await them can encourage us:  "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:10

Monday through Saturday- Those who Feel Stuck

Charles Reynold Brown wrote in the early 1900's that believers leave "warm theories of the pulpit on Sunday and then on Monday morning go out into the world,the cold facts which face them. They rub against the unplaned side and are torn by the splinters. They are torn and bruised by the contact or, if happily they themselves escape for a time they painfully witness the discomfiture of their less fortunate fellows." 

Lately I have been a painful witness for my friends in difficult jobs, difficult assignments with more than difficult people or managers. I have been there. My heart goes out to you.

It will not last forever. Hang in there, the months and years and seasons will and do turn. One day you will be turned loose again, like a pocket pulled inside out for change. You will exit, wrung out. The transition will be alarming because you will remember, like I do now...those of whom the author spoke. It is real what you are experiencing. And it will end. 

There is a reason for this appointment. You will know it...later. Make a difference now while you can.
YOu do. Your presence helps another. Look around and see who is looking to you for God's strength in you.

"The Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will bless His people with peace." Psam 29:11

"Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set the limits he cannot exceed"  Job 14:5

180 Degrees- How to Turn Around and Head the Right Direction

I read an analogy in Bill Bright's little book "First Love." I admire the late Mr. Bright because he wrote The Four Spiritual Laws. His ministry through CAmpus Crusade helped keep me on the straight and narrow in college and through his simple presentation of the gospel I accepted Christ as LOrd. Furthermore the series of Crusade booklet studies, "How to Walk as a Christian" taught me the basics as a new believer.

A young man hailed an older man for directions enroute to a convention center.

"Excuse me sir. Can you tell me how much farther to the convention center?"

The old man smiled. "I certainly can. It depends on which route you want to take. In the direction you're heading, it's many thousands of miles. If you turn your car in the opposite direction, however, it's a block and a half."

Although we can feel far from God, He is as close as a prayer. He never slumbers or sleeps. If we can no longer see Him, it may be "we're simply facing the wrong way." His eyes are always on us as any parent who cares for their child. Turning toward God again is called repentance. Although it takes alot of resolve to turn around if we like the way we're going.

Bill shares we can become comfortable in our sin like lungs which are accustomed to bad air. But pollution is deadly. It is poisonous. If we like the heavenly atmosphere and the sweet breath of God, we will turn around, retrace our steps and run back to God.

Mr Bright's Simple Exercise for Repentance-minded people:

Make a simple chart of your life now and compare it with your life when you were closer to God.

Pray over the list. Ask God if there are any more items to add.

Take a red pen and underline the ones that are definitely sin "missing the mark" in your life. Think of the red ink as the blood of Christ which has already conquered each item. They no longer hold any power to conquer you if you surrender each one to Christ.

Identify the issues that call for repentance and offer them to God praying Psalm 32 and 51.

If the Holy Spirit reveals sins that are obstructions in your life and you lack motivation to change, seek the transforming presence of God through fasting.

excerpted from First Love, by Bill Bright (pp.66-68)

 

Read the Manual

Yesterday I rolled out of bed and started down the freeway for our Sunday morning services. For some reason my car felt resistance in the motor. I checked out the dashboard with a funny lighted area- Overdrive Off.

I began pushing buttons on my panel and looking around for anything that might be the overdrive. Where is the overdrive? I thought puzzled.

I picked up the phone and dialed my nephew and then dialed again. No one was home. Toyota was closed. I'll just drive slow on the freeway I thought, staying on the right lane as I entered. I didn't want to push my car when the engine sounded so strained.

Suddenly I had an idea. I reached over to my glove compartment and yes, there was a manual. And yes, in the table of contents it said, "Overdrive." The page had a picture of the button down low on my gear shift. As soon as I pushed it, whoosh, the engine let up and I was cruising like a speed bike coasting out of gear.

It was such a symptom of the way I live my life. I tend to pick up the phone and try to call people when things are going wrong instead of searching for the Manual of Life, my Bible first and looking up, "Anxious" in the back of the Book or "confused". Yes, the Bible has a table of contents too. Here are some Psalms from a list on my refrigerator.

When you need new resolve   -  Read Psalm 15

When guilt hangs on    -  Read Psalm 32, Psalm 103

Wnen doubting God's care  -  Read Psalm 139,

When you have to wait and wait and wait -  Read Psalm 40

When you're feeling alone  -  Read Psalm 23 

When you cannot restrain your praise  -  Read Psalm 150

Dark or Dry... God is Nigh

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

             

“I have had times when I felt a panicked because I couldn’t sense God.” Tonite a friend explained just hearing about other people’s experiences in dry seasons or desert times spiritually—helped her at our singles retreat this weekend.

“Yes, we all have times when we just can’t feel God. It doesn’t mean He is not there,” another sister in Christ stated, continuing: “For me it happened twice in my life…one time lasted a year.”

I loved the example Pastor Phil Escamilla gave simply by switching off the lights, the first night of our weekend series on Hope for a Season. Since I don’t like the dark, I got the point.

“God is here,” he emphasized “whether the light’s on or off. “  It was just like the person sitting next to me was there even though I couldn’t see her with the lights out.

Later, a Scripture leapt from the pages of the Book:

“Let him who walks in the dark and has no light

Trust in the name of the Lord and rely on His God”   Isaiah 50:10

TGIF Today God is First

I just heard the biggest blogsite now is that of a woman in her 70's who writes about cooking in the depression.  In addition, thrift store sales are reportedly thriving! We had 180 people in job transition at our Bayside career coaching these past few weeks. 

So much is happening so quickly it is easy to be distracted from the most important thing, the best Thing Jesus spoke of –Time to sit at His feet and learn. He spoke to task-oriented  Martha, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42

 Only God can make a mountain and only God can move a mountain. A mountain can be the external things of housing, careers, health, etc.  or the internal things in a person’s mind or heart. It could be moving mountains of worry,  fatigue , bitterness or doubt.  The Wonderful Counselor  is at work because God is always working. He will complete the work He has begun in all of our lives. May He continue to help us to pray for others and keep our quiet times

Un-Not-ting the Fear

Last week my coach said to me as I sat in class mentally blocked with a client, “You’re working too hard. Do you feel what that feels like?” I nodded my head. Lately it seemed to feel like that every day of my life. It was like air backing up behind a knotted straw!

 

My fear was not finishing…everything on my list for a week in one day! I have not been allowing God to order my days. If I can only do one thing on my list I feel like I’ve fallen behind and ….and ….what?

 

Fear hinders us from breathing easily and flowing with, going with the Spirit and inhaling life around us. God wants us to rejoice in each day, not regret the undone tasks each day and dread the list... instead of rejoice in the day.

 

Scripture says, “Perfect love casts out fear,” 1 John 4:18

God will not leave or forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

God will not allow the righteous to lack any good thing. Psalm 34:10

God will not hold your sin against you. Love keeps no record of wrongs. (I Corinthians 13:5

 

  What is knotting your stomach this week? What challenge feels like the impossible dream and what opportunity feels like a blocked road to failure?

 

Take a mighty minute to unknot yourself. He is able to guide our days much easier than we could if we only ask for wisdom and allow His power to carry us through.

 

Last week I threw out the lists I couldn’t complete. The fear of finishing the list vanished as soon as I threw out the list. I am now living each day asking Him to speak to me and remind me what needs to be done. I believe He has untied the knots or nots that blocked wise thinking and choices-- causing me to push myself past the point of exertion to extinction. He knows life is cut short living like that!

 

 As far as the east is from the west He will remove the guilt of missing the mark and any fear that would threaten to separate us from His love.

 

Psalm 103:12  As far as the east is from the west , so far does he remove our sins from us.