I feel like I’m looking over the edge at something Big, and I’m not sure if God wants me to simply enjoy the view…or take some kind of crazy leap.

Hola.  Gracias.  Dios.  That’s about the extent of my Spanish abilities.  And yet something is happening between me and those whose who say everything       “en español”.

It happened without me in a way.  A few years after my book “Anticipatience” was published, a Christian publishing group wanted to reprint it in Spanish.  OK.  I don’t speak Spanish.  I took two years of French in High School and that didn’t go so well.  But OK. That’s pretty cool.  God must have a plan.

He did. 

And now I’m looking over the edge at Latin America and beyond. And the Spanish publisher wants to do an e-book and single women are writing to me in Spanish for relationship and faith advice and a group of 14 women in Venezuela just spent the last few months studying the book in a Bible study and and a new friend in Chile is translating this blog into Spanish…I could go on. 

But it’s the edge I’m concerned about.

Sometimes God asks us to do crazy things.  Sometimes He puts us in situations we didn’t ask for and didn’t seek and feel totally unprepared and unqualified to manage.  Sometimes He uses our stories to encourage people we would never have met without His intervention. 

Sometimes He brings us to the edge of our own understanding and abilities and dreams and asks us to jump.  I’m not sure what jumping looks like in this scenario.  It kind of freaks me out.  But God doesn’t ask us to jump alone.  (Makes me think of those first-time skydivers who jump with a professional skydiver strapped to their back.)

OK, Lord.  My feet are inching closer to the edge.  Give me faith for the next step.

Gracias 🙂

 

Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent…I am slow of speech and slow of tongue”.  So the Lord said to Him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind?.  Have not I, the Lord?  Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say”.  (Exodus 4:10-12)

Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth”.  Jeremiah 1:9

For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.  Matthew 10:20

 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Luke 12:12

 

 

 

 

detour (noun):  a roundabout or circuitous way or course, especially one used temporarily when the main route is closed.

I got thinking about detours this morning.  It’s a little funny that I ended up thinking about them, because it was a detour during my devotional time that got me there.

I was flipping through my Bible trying to find something and came upon the story of Joseph and saw that I had all these notes written in the margin by the part where Joseph tells his brothers that all the things that had happened to him (slavery, unjust imprisonment, etc) were meant for something good by God. 

I had the words, “Divine Detours” written there with the date of 9/23/03. 

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that I write a lot of dates in my Bible and often go back to try to find out what was going on in my life during that time.  So, of course, this morning’s detour to Genesis brought me to my quiet time journal from 2003.

Oh yeah.  A detour.  When I studied the concept of Divine Detours that morning, I had no idea I was about to take  one.  I wrote about where I thought my life was going that day. I didn’t know it at the time, but by that evening God had started me on a new path.   So here it is, 8 years later. Not where I thought I would be, and not with the people I thought would be on the journey with me.  My life is completely different than what I thought it was going to be on the morning of  9/23/03.

Because of a detour.  A Divine Detour.

But now I’m looking over my shoulder at the route God took me on instead.  And I get the sense that if I had taken the “other route” – the one that seemed best at the time, a whole lot of experiences and blessings and growth might not have taken place.

I do wonder about the people I thought were going to be on the path with me.  For some of them, I have no idea where they are, or why God allowed us to take different routes.  But I have to trust that He sees them and He cares about them and He knows why it was better for me to go this part of the journey without them.

Sometimes I don’t like the “circuitous routes”.  Sometimes I just want the route to be direct and clear and predictable.  But something tells me that wouldn’t be near as exciting as trusting God with the roundabouts.

I may have taken a detour, but God meant it for good.

So now it was not you who sent me here, but God.  Genesis 45:8

But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.  Genesis 50:19

And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8:2

For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  Philippians 1:19

The weather provides an endless number of real life analogies.

There are the storms of life, the cloudy days, the fog, the raging seas and the tropical depressions.  OK, maybe I’m more prone to the tropical depressions in the high heat and humidity of Florida, but it’s still a weather-related emotion.

So now I have a new one.  The “Cone of Uncertainty”.

Not sure when the weather professionals changed the name of hurricane tracking models from the “cone of probability” to the “cone of uncertainty”, but the minute I heard the name, I thought to myself, “now THAT’S a weather term I can relate to”.

With all of our recent storm activity in the eastern United States, those hurricane tracking models and their “cones” have been a daily fixture on the weather reports.  “We think it might go here, but we’re not certain”.

I think I live in the “cone of uncertainty”.   I think I’m on a certain track, but I really have no idea where I’m going to land and what it will look like when I get there.  Uncertainty can make us anxious and worried and distracted.

But there’s something exciting and daring about NOT worrying about it.  There’s something exhilarating about staring it in the face and saying, “I’m not going to let you get to me”.

Go ahead.  Bring on your “cones of uncertainty”.  There’s one thing I am certain about.  My God is in charge of my tomorrow.  And no “cone” is going to change that.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…    Hebrews 6:19

He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved.  Psalm 62:6

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning.  Great is your faithfulness.         Lamentations 3:22-23.

Isaiah 35 (from “the Message”)

Wilderness and desert will sing joyously, the badlands will celebrate and flower—
Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,
   a symphony of song and color.
Mountain glories of Lebanon—a gift.
   Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon—gifts.
God’s resplendent glory, fully on display.
   God awesome, God majestic.

Energize the limp hands,
   strengthen the rubbery knees.
Tell fearful souls,
   “Courage! Take heart!
God is here, right here,
   on his way to put things right
And redress all wrongs.
   He’s on his way! He’ll save you!”

Blind eyes will be opened,
   deaf ears unstopped,
Lame men and women will leap like deer,
   the voiceless break into song.
Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness,
   streams flow in the desert.
Hot sands will become a cool oasis,
   thirsty ground a splashing fountain.
Even lowly jackals will have water to drink,
   and barren grasslands flourish richly.

There will be a highway
   called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious
   is permitted on this road.
It’s for God’s people exclusively—
   impossible to get lost on this road.
   Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road,
   no dangerous wild animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
   Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed
   will come back on this road.
They’ll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
   unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
   as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.

I woke up with a vague sense of anxiety yesterday morning. 

At first I thought it was because  it was 6:15 and I panicked thinking I was late getting up for work.  Then I realized it was Sunday and I had more time.  And then I realized the anxiety wasn’t going away.

Have you ever had one of those mornings where it takes you a few minutes of sleepy consciousness to remember why you’re feeling unsettled?

There’s been a lot going on in my life lately.  New challenges. Things I’m trying to sort out. Things I’m trying to manage on my own.  And they came to the forefront of my first waking moments.

I don’t like waking up that way.

But waking up that way was God’s way of drawing me closer to Himself.  He drew me out to my kitchen table, and then He drew me to Philippians 4:6.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. “

Really?  Try to find something to be thankful for in the midst of my uneasiness? Before I make my requests?  Despite my hesitation, I tried it.  I wrote down everything I could find to be thankful for about my particularly anxiety provoking situations. 

And you know what?  It worked.  It’s hard to be anxious when you’re counting your blessings.

The next verse says, “and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

It did indeed surpass understanding.  My circumstances didn’t change.  But my heart did.

Be anxious….for nothing. 

Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Colossians 3:15

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  Matthew 6:26

Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.  Psalm 55:22

“You know you’re from Montville when…”

There’s a  Facebook trend going on right now.  People create pages titled “You know you’re from (insert hometown name) when…”,  and then others who are from that place start reminiscing about their hometowns.  They remember teachers, hang-out places, events and friends.  I spent way too much time reading the one about my hometown in New Jersey the other day, reliving that chapter of my life.

chapter: a period of time or an episode in a person’s life, a nation’s history, etc.      (Oxford Dictionary)

Our lives really are a book, with periods of time and different episodes.  We can look back at the chapters already written, and wonder about the ones to come.  But I realized that we can’t read the one that’s happening right now.  We’ll have to wait to see its context, to see how it fits in with the rest of our story.

And that’s why it’s important to make it good.

I don’t want to make stupid mistakes or bad choices that set the tone for this chapter. No matter what happens in this one,  I don’t want it to have an underlying theme of faltering faith or complacency.  Even if this episode in my life turns out to be punctuated with disappointments or challenges or struggles, when I look back on it, I want to see steadfast hope and perseverance and joy.

I don’t know how or when this particular chapter will end.   Something might happen today that will suddenly close this chapter and start another one.  I won’t always have control over the events and the circumstances and the other characters in the story.

But I do have control over the main character. 

Her adventures and scenes and dramas may change, but her faith will not.

And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.  Psalm 139:16

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.  Proverbs 3:5-6

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them.  So a book of remembrance was written before Him, for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.  Malachi 3:16

Does He not see my ways and count all my steps?  Job 31:4

Yes, we were laughing at his expense.  But watching a 6 month old eat solid foods for the first time provided endless mealtimes of entertainment.

My nephew Noah is growing up. 

And he’s only beginning his journey.  His parents will keep giving him new things to try.  He’ll develop the skills and the abilities to eat much better things than watered down cereal and apricots out of a jar.  It will be a long process, but there will come a day when he’s ready to tackle real meat. 

I feel like I’ve been hanging out in the meat department lately.  Not literally (although give me a nice, rare steak and I’m happy), but in life’s meat department.  God has definitely moved me beyond the spiritual milk.  He’s giving me things I really need to chew on. 

And I realized that’s the way it’s supposed to be.  If I am a growing Christian, then I’m supposed to be tackling the meaty things, the things that aren’t spoon fed to me, the things that don’t always go down easily. 

I look at baby Noah and think about how simple his life is right now.  But I know I wouldn’t really want to go back to that kind of simple. 

Meat is more work than milk.  But it’s evidence of maturity and growth and progress. 

So, Lord, while it’s not always easy, keep bringing me the meat.  After the meat comes the dessert.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.  But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.   Hebrews 5:13-14

Whom will he teach knowledge?  And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk?   Isaiah 28:9

That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ.  Ephesians 4:14-15

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11

The intersection of Military Trail and Northlake Boulevard is a rather manic one. 

For each of the north, south, east and west directions, there are three lanes going straight, two left turn lanes and one right turn lane.  There are gas stations and banks and grocery stores and strip malls and lots and lots of just plain craziness.

And some grass growing in the middle of it. And I’m not talking about a median.

I was sitting there in my car yesterday morning waiting for my turn light, and saw grass  in the middle of the road.  At first I thought maybe something had dropped off a landscaping truck.  But no.  It was a tuft of grass about 5” tall growing right through the hot pavement in the exact center of the intersection.  Cars were whizzing by it, tires missing it by inches.

But it stood straight and calm as if it was completely normal to be growing there. The crazy speeding cars didn’t bother it.  The heat didn’t bother it.  The fumes and the dust and the dirt didn’t bother it.  It was just doing what God created it to do.  Grow where it was.

I wouldn’t have chosen to grow there.  I’d prefer being in a nice quiet pasture.  Or a well manicured lawn.  But sometimes we don’t have a choice about where we’re placed to grow.  Sometimes God puts us in manic situations where things are whizzing by us, where it seems that people don’t even know we’re there, where there is the dust and dirt and heat that comes with life.

And in the middle of it, calm.  Or at least there can be. 

The next time I’m in the middle of the craziness of life, I’m going to think about that grass.  I’m going to just breathe, relax, and grow where I am.

 

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:6-7

Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain you.  He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.  Psalm 55:22

Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink; not about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?…Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin…”  (Matthew 6:25,28b)

 

 

 

 

Well, today’s the day.

Sort of like New Year’s, but a lot more personal.  And there’s usually a cake and people sing you a song.

It’s the day when I look back and look forward and do a whole lot of thinking about where I am right now.  I’ll have two more days after this to do even more thinking as I drive the 1250 miles back to my home in Florida after spending a few weeks with family in New Jersey.

I’m sure there will be long talks with God in the car.  Talks about the past year and all the years that have led up to this particular one.  And I think God and I will talk about what happens next.

Psalm 139 is a good birthday Psalm, I think.  It seems like David was in a reflective mood when he wrote it.  He talks about how God has known him since before he was born and about how God knows everything that’s happened to him.  He talks about the fact that he can’t go anywhere in this world without God being right there beside him.

And he talks about how his days were all fashioned for him by God and written down in a book before any of them came to be. 

That goes for me, too.

Every one of my days – all the birthdays and all the days in between – have been fashioned by my God. 

I don’t know what will happen this year.  I don’t know where I’ll be or what I will have experienced when next year’s birthday rolls around.  But there is something I do know.

I can confidently say with David, “Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” (Psalm 139:14)

 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know my sitting down and my rising up.  You understand my thought afar off.  You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it all together.  You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.  It is high, but I cannot attain it.  (Psalm 139: 1-6)

 

 

“Blessed is he who does not freak out over the way I do things.”                 Matthew 11:6

OK, so I paraphrased. 

Sometime back in 1992, I wrote that next to Matthew 11:6  in the margins of my Bible.  The real verse contains the words of Christ.  “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me”.

We don’t usually think in terms of God “offending” us.  But one Bible dictionary defines the Greek word for offending as, “to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey”.

If you’re honest, have you ever been offended at the way God is handling things?  Has something He has done – or not done – caused you to distrust Him?

The choice is ours.  Promised blessings based on unwavering, tenacious trust in spite of how things look to us, or offense based on  absent or faltering faith.

I think I’ll take the blessings.

 

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.     1 Peter 1:6-7

But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”     Luke 11:28

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.    1 Peter 4:12