Struggling Well With Life

I was sitting out on my patio early this morning with Paisley, our half breed, and enjoying an amazing cup of coffee, just listening to the sounds of morning. My backyard has been a work in progress. We moved in ten years ago, and just last year I turned my efforts to this mass of space and shade. I spent a ton last year on shrubs and perennials, not knowing we were heading for a drought. I was convinced I had lost pert near most of what I planted, but this morning I sat there sipping away with surprise as the hosta and ferns made their way out of that hard dry soil to the light of day. Not only did they emerge, but with new growth, they seem fuller and healthier. I wondered how much new growth has taken place in my life this past year, I wondered if God were sitting there enjoying the morning and watching me rise for another day, if He sees any resemblance in me, to what I saw this morning. I sure hope so.

Reading and praying this morning, worried about some areas of life that I sure wish were different, and concerned about some folks in my life too, and then read in 2 Corinthians - “We were under great pressure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death, but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” O God, may I learn the lesson again today, to not rely on myself, but on you. Only on you.

Rainy days and Mondays, are not so bad.  Lord knows we need the rain, and Mondays are what they are.  This Monday is actually pretty good.  Thanks to the Spirit’s prompting and your response the church has received $19,000 for the hungry in Haiti and Liberia.  Wow!!!  May our gracious God not only fill their bellies, but their hearts with His love and presence.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for your compassion.

I serve in a unique position and am privy to some difficult issues in the lives of many in our church familiy, and I am also aware of God’s divine intervention that is often equally confidential.  So, let me tell you this in generalities.  For those of you who have been around for a while, you will remember that for years we took up a love offering on communion Sundays to help those in our community who found themselves on hard times.  You have probably also noticed that we no longer do that every communion Sunday.  It’s not that there are not needs in our church, for there are always needs, and with the numbers growing, so are the needs.  Here is the really cool part - the folks who have been helped out in the past have been giving back, and have become the very lifesource to others that they had experienced.  God is rescuing His people, and using His people to rescue His people.

So, when the Spirit prompts, as He did last week, we had the freedom to respond without question. 

I spent this week in Texas at a management conference, the days were filled with a myriad of options from IRS regulations and tax laws, to HR, and IT classes and my back end is sore from moving from seat to seat. The nights however were worship centered, and on the itinerary for the week were a front line list of well known speakers. Lord forgive me, but I had a subversive prejudice about the celebrities that were on the docket. Being an attender of conferences for decades and hearing from the most famous teachers/preachers over the years, I expected more hype, and less authenticity, more self promotion and less good old fashioned down to earth preaching on Jesus. “Lord, forgive me”, for his servants one by one stepped up to he podium and allowed the Lord to speak truth. I heard no book promotions, no upcoming seminars, but the Word preached, Jesus preached, from hearts and lives surrendered to Him. It never ceases to surprise me - where and who God uses to get to this heart of mine, in spite of my short sightedness and prejudices. Lord, forgive me, and give me ears to hear - where and whoever you choose to speak.