(Welcome to my sister and guest blogger Gayle Virkler!)

Airline policies have changed a lot over the last few years, and getting a seating assignment seems to be more difficult than it used to be. When I booked my ticket for a trip to see my sister, the airline website said that “complimentary seating” was not available at the time.

Over the two weeks before my flight, I tried to get a seat to no avail. I was, however, more than able to upgrade to an extra legroom seat for the low price of $78 for a window seat. It wasn’t worth the additional cost.

When I fly, I love to look out the window at clouds and the land and roads far below, so my first choice in seating is a always a window. But when I checked in on-line, I was assigned seat 30E – a middle seat I definitely didn’t want. I found that a change could only be made at the gate.

Getting to the airport took much longer than planned, and my hopes for a change in seating assignment faded by the minute. I was in tears thinking that I not only wouldn’t have the chance to change my seat but perhaps I wouldn’t even make the flight at all.

I arrived at the gate in time to walk right onto the plane, settled into my middle seat and resigned myself to a nearly three-hour flight stuck between two strangers.

A few minutes later, a woman with a small child stopped at my row. She had the aisle seat and said that she and her husband had been separated, but it was her child’s first flight, and they’d like to sit together. Would I be willing to switch seats with him? He was up in the front in a window seat.

A window seat? I didn’t have to think twice! I made my way to seat 7A, which was more than just a window seat. It was a bulkhead window seat with more legroom than I knew what to do with — at no extra cost!

My eyes brimmed with tears as I realized that I’d just been taught a profound lesson. If I’d been able to change my seat like I’d planned, I might have gotten the window seat I wanted, but I certainly wouldn’t have gotten one with extra legroom.

In getting a window view, I also got a glimpse of how God is at work in every area of my life. When plans don’t work out the way I’d hoped, it might be because He has something better than I could ever hope for or even imagine!

                                                                                     by Gayle Virkler

For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.   Isaiah 55:9 (The Message)

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.   Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory…   Ephesians 3:20, 21a (NKJV)

 

A few weeks ago I wrote about the blessings of friendship.

But sometimes friendship is hard.  Sometimes friends end up on the other side of the political or moral fence.  Sometimes friends make choices that God didn’t intend for them to make.

The news this week reminds me that being a good friend doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything the other person says or does, or believes. But it also doesn’t mean I look the other way with a shrug of my shoulders and say, “Well I don’t agree personally, but if it makes you happy…”.

A quote attributed to Rick Warren says, “You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate”.

Jesus didn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery.  But He didn’t look the other way, either.  He said, “Go and sin no more”.  (John 8:11)

There are bloggers and commentators and religious people of influence filling the airwaves and internet with laments and dismay and doubts about the moral future of our country.   And I don’t necessarily disagree with them. But it won’t be political discourse that changes hearts.

Maybe it will be friendships.

Maybe it will be friendships that don’t compromise, friendships that stay the course even when the opposing convictions are strong.

There’s a difference between conviction and condemnation.  And while I’ll never condemn my friends, I hope that they’ll see that my convictions are based on my faith in God and my aching desire to see them walk fully in His will.

I can’t be a light in their lives if I’m not in their lives.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity.  2 Corinthians 1:12 (NIV)

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  John 3:17

For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  Colossians 1:9-10

Flat tires are inconvenient.  They happen at inconvenient times and in inconvenient places.

But sometimes that inconvenience has an entirely different story attached to it, a story being orchestrated by God.

My brother was finishing up a business trip in New York City.  Kind of an inconvenient place to come out and find a flat tire.  It was inconvenient to call someone to change the tire, inconvenient to have to drive slowly all the way back to New Jersey because the flat tire had been replaced by one of those silly temporary donut tires.  And it was inconvenient to spend all of Saturday morning at the tire place attempting to get the flat repaired when we were trying to get ready for a family graduation party.

But that inconvenience might have saved lives.

The flat tire couldn’t be repaired because closer inspection revealed it was defective to begin with.  And the other front tire was defective as well.  If it hadn’t gone flat in a parking lot, it might have blown out completely on a major highway…with a toddler and an infant in the back seat.

Sometimes God lets the inconvenient happen to save us from something far worse.

The next time I’m in a situation I didn’t plan and find utterly inopportune, I hope I’ll remember to step back before I jump to all sorts of silly and selfish conclusions, and think about the fact that God might be orchestrating something behind the scenes to protect me, or bless me.

Because inconvenience just might be a blessing in disguise.

For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.  Psalm 91:11

In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.  Proverbs 3:6

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust.  Psalm 91:2

 

 

 

Today I am grateful.  Not sure why this overwhelming sense of gratefulness has hit me right now, at 6:30 in the morning, but sometimes it’s good to just stop and say thank you.

For friends.

I’m thinking back over the past month or so and remembering time spent with some pretty great people.

An afternoon in the park with my former college roommate, a surprise invitation on Mother’s Day to have lunch with a wonderful couple from church, sampling restaurant fare one night at an event downtown with two great guys who have been in my life for a really long time, dinner with a former student who is finishing her first year of teaching, lunch with a friend I haven’t seen in several years but who still holds a cherished place in my heart, a phone call from an amazing young woman I used to mentor who is now in seminary, a meal with a close friend and confidante where I got to share how her specific prayer for me was answered, a long catch-up email from a friend in Santiago, Chile I’ve never met in person but who has become a very special person to me.

I am blessed.  And this morning I am grateful for the people God has placed into my life.

On the days when I start to put a toe into the sea of discouragement or self-pity, I need to remember how God has taken care of me through the blessings of friendship.  And I need to remember that it’s not all about me.  It’s not all about who invites me to a meal, or who calls me, or who writes to me.

I need to be a good friend as well.  I need to look for the opportunities to reach out to someone, to include someone, to encourage someone, to look for ways to bless another person’s life.

Lord, thank you for my friends.  Help me to be a good one. Help me to point my friends to You, to remind them that You are the best friend of all.

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

A man who has friends must himself be friendly. Proverbs 18:24

Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel. Proverbs 27:9

 

Funny how sometimes you can’t stop them.  Sometimes no matter how much you think you’re in control, tears just well up and spill over and run down your cheeks.

Sometimes there’s not even time to grab a tissue or get your hand up in time to wipe them away.  It’s futile.  They’re going to come – when they need to come.

I just had a moment like that.  Today would have been my Dad’s 79^th birthday here on earth if God hadn’t called him to his Heavenly home early last year.  And I was doing OK with it.  Or so I thought.  But then I read an email from my aunt, and a Facebook post by my cousin and that was the end of my being in control.

And it was just what I needed.

There are times to be the “strong one”.  But there are times to let the guard down, let the tears flow, and let God be the God of All Comfort.  There are times to be reminded that one day the tears will be all wiped away and we’ll all stand together before Him, whole, healed, restored.

I know where Dad is today.  And I know Dad used his 77 years here on earth for God’s glory.  So today is a celebration of a life well lived, and rejoicing in knowing that he’s more alive today than ever before.

My makeup is a little smeared and my eyes are a little red.   But the sad tears just got turned into happy ones.  Our family, and many, many others are blessed to have had Dad around for so many years.  And we are blessed  that God continues to comfort and sustain us with great memories and a spiritual legacy that is rivaled by few.

Happy Birthday, Dad.  These tears are for you.

But in a good way…

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4

He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces;  Isaiah 25:8

For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:17

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psalm 126:5

I went wandering around a cemetery on my lunch hour the other day.

The beautiful university campus where I work has a funeral home right in the middle of it, and a cemetery across the street.  Strange as it seems, cemeteries are quite peaceful places to find a respite in the middle of a busy day.

This is the same cemetery where I found a headstone that says, “So now you come to visit me!”.  I’m not kidding.  I’ve always wondered what this man’s story was.

Aside from that one and a few others, the majority of the headstones are simply names and dates.  And that’s when you realize that life is remarkably short.  There is a section of the cemetery for children, and the little lambs and baby angels on the top of the stones make me sad, even though some of them have been there for almost a century.  And then there are markers for people who lived much longer than that and died after a full life.

Life is still short, no matter how long you’re here.  The world has been around for thousands of years, and our lives are quite momentary in comparison.   Watching the news this week and seeing lives shattered by a raging tornado in Oklahoma brings the brevity of life to the forefront.

They didn’t know they’d be ushered into eternity that day.  And I bet most of the people represented by the headstones in the cemetery didn’t know the date that would end up on their marker, either.   I have brief “I wonder….” moments when I get on an airplane sometimes, but other than that, I don’t think about it much.

But maybe I should.

If I thought about how short life is more often, would it change how I lived it?  Would I conquer more fears, share Christ more readily, say the things I need to say to people?  It’s not being morose.  It’s being realistic.  We’re put here by God for a defined period of time known only to Him.  And I believe He puts us all here for a specific, defined purpose.  A life mission.

Maybe I need to wander around cemeteries more often.  Because there’s nothing like a cemetery to make you think about life.

LORD, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.  Psalm 39:4

So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.           Psalm 90:12

I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  John 9:4

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.                  Ecclesiastes 9:10 

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.  Galatians 6:10

I’m headed off to a reunion of my graduating class from nursing school.  I’ve done a pretty good job of avoiding making public just exactly how long it has been it is since we graduated, so I won’t be publishing it here either.  A girl has to keep her secrets sometimes!

Let’s just say it was more than a decade ago.  Maybe more than that.

Class reunions are likely to make one do some soul searching.  We look at the old yearbooks and pictures and somehow can’t believe we were that young once and we wonder how time could go by so quickly.  When those smiling graduation pictures were taken, we had big dreams for the things we’d do and the places we’d go and the people we’d become.

I gave one of the graduation speeches that night many years ago as we donned our white uniforms for the first time to replace the blue uniforms designating us as students.  I found a copy of that speech a few days back.  I talked about how much we had been through and how much we had to look forward to in nursing.  And in life.

I even read a poem.  Because that’s what you do when you give a graduation speech, right?

Time does go by quickly.  People always say that, but it’s true.  One minute you’re standing on a graduation stage with a diploma in hand, and the next minute you’re headed off to see people you haven’t seen in decades.  It’s going to be interesting to hear what has happened in their lives, where they’ve been, where they are now.  And I wonder how many of us are anxious, wondering if our lives will sound as exciting and fulfilled as others.

But you know what?  This has been my life, and it really doesn’t matter how I think it compares to others. God and I have walked through it together, and I’ve always understood that whatever happened, those were His plans for me. Some of His plans exceeded anything I could have imagined.  Others weren’t the plans I would have chosen for me, but His plans always work together for good.  And I can rest in that.

What a blessing to look back over the last 30 years (oops) and see how God has been ever-present and gracious and faithful to me.  In the good times, and the not-so-good times and everything in between.

No matter how much time has gone by, it’s good to stop and reflect every once in awhile.  And see that those days and months and years…and decades…were all part of God’s incredible plan.

For me.

 

A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.  Proverbs 16:9

There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the LORD’s counsel–that will stand. Proverbs 19:1

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Psalm 37:23

O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.  Jeremiah 10:23

 

 

 

Our Lord in His teaching never once referred to unanswered prayer.  He said God always answers prayer.  If our prayers are in the name of Jesus, in accordance with His nature, the answers will not be in accordance with our nature, but with His.  We are apt to forget this, and to say without thinking that God does not always answer prayer.  He does, every time, and when we are in close communion with Him, we realize that we have not been misled.

Oswald Chambers

And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  John 14:13

If you abide with Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  John 15:7

And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.  Matthew 21:22

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us… Ephesians 3:20

It was hard to get out of bed this morning.  It’s Friday.  It’s been a long week, and I’m tired and very much looking forward to a day that does not begin at 5:15am and does not involve waking up unnaturally to the jarring sound of an alarm clock.

And as I began my morning routine, a verse about weariness came to mind.

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.  Galations 6:9 (NKJV)

I love the Amplified version: “And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint”.

Of course that verse isn’t talking about Friday mornings, and I’m pretty sure that it’s not equating spiritual reaping with being able to sleep in on a Saturday.  But being weary on a Friday morning can sure have the same feeling as being weary in life.  Instead of being just a long week for us, we think about the fact that it’s been a long stretch of hanging on, a long stretch of unanswered prayer, a long stretch of waiting and hoping and believing.  We want so much to sink into our “due season” – the time when all things are made right, when answers come, when faith is rewarded.

But we don’t have to wonder if that day is coming.  It is.  God has promised that to us.  Read the verse again.  We shall reap – if we don’t lose heart.  It doesn’t say, “we might reap”.  It doesn’t say “most people reap”.  It says we will reap.

We need to shake off the “Friday-morning-like” weariness and continue to do the things God has called us to do.  Don’t lose heart.  Don’t let the weariness of life overwhelm you.

And like a Saturday morning after a long and difficult week, your due season may be just around the corner.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.               1 Corinthians 15:8

But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.                              2 Thessalonians 3:13

Then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Leviticus 26:4

The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. Psalm 145:15

(adapted from a post originally published in 2010 – I guess Fridays never change!)

Like so many others, I found myself sitting in front of my television on Monday night, watching the news organizations play the scenes of the Boston marathon bombing over and over and over again.

Senseless. Startling. Horrific.

And it’s hard to get those images out of our heads. The people running and the rescuers trying to do their best to help and the smoke and the chaos. It’s hard to grasp the damage to people and families and communities. And hard to grasp how God could work in the middle of this unimaginable suffering.

Like God so often does, He had perfect timing with something I’ve been reading. Here is what author Debra Reinstra had to say in her book, “So Much More”, regarding suffering:

“Faced with such terrible sorrows, how do we find a way to go on? Out of the depths of the agonized cries of “Why?” Christian faith again invites us to choose against the futility either of retaliation or self-destruction and to lay our pain instead at the foot of the cross. We are invited to shout or whisper or weep out our cries of pain to God because we know that God, having suffered in the person of Jesus, most especially on the cross, cares and understands. Bringing our suffering to God may not relieve the hurt completely, and it may not take the cause of suffering away. But the promise of the cross for the present is that the quality of our suffering will change because we will find the companionship of Jesus in it. That companionship allows our suffering to take on new shape; the downward slope of death turns to the rising hope of new life. Because Jesus suffered death on the cross, then conquered death through resurrection, our suffering too becomes pliable hope. Our dark caves can begin to crack open and let in that resurrection light”.

Praying that the victims, the people of Boston, and really, all of us, find the promise of the cross and the companionship of Jesus in this dark cave.

Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. Psalm 126:5

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 1 John 4:9