Prone to Wander

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“Robert Robinson had been saved out of a tempestuous life of sin through George Whitfield’s ministry in England. Shortly after that, at the age of twenty-three, Robinson wrote the hymn, ‘Come, Thou Fount. Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry blessing, Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise’.

Sadly, Robinson wandered far from those streams and like the Prodigal Son, journeyed into the distant country of carnality. Until one day—he was traveling by stagecoach and sitting beside a young woman engrossed in her book. She ran across a verse she thought was beautiful and asked him what he thought of it. ‘Prone to wander— Lord, I feel it— Prone to leave the God I love’. Bursting into tears Robinson said, ‘Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.’

Although greatly surprised, she reassured him that the ‘streams of mercy’ mentioned in his song still flowed. Mr. Robinson was deeply touched. Turning his ‘wandering heart’ to the Lord, he was restored to full fellowship” (Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories).

I love a good back story, especially when it comes to how hymns were composed. It’s no coincidence that the very words Robert Robinson penned were exactly the words he needed to hear when he had wandered from his faith. God used his own words to speak to him and woo him back.

God still speaks to us in a variety of ways, but primarily through His word. I think so many of us — me included — will go through the day with our Bibles closed and wonder why we haven’t heard from God.

I remember when I got my very first Bible as a first grader, the pastor wrote in the inside of the cover, “This Book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.”

How true that has been. We need God’s word and God’s people around us to help us find the way back when we’ve wandered. We may be prone to wander, but God is always faithful to bring His wayward child back.

Trusting Beyond Knowing

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“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us ‘go.’ The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.

The final stage in the life of faith is attainment of character. There are many passing transfigurations of character; when we pray we feel the blessing of God enwrapping us and for the time being we are changed, then we get back to the ordinary days and ways and the glory vanishes. The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting. It is not a question of sanctification; but of something infinitely further on than sanctification, of faith that has been tried and proved and has stood the test. Abraham is not a type of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith, a tried faith built on a real God. ‘Abraham believed God’ (Oswald Chambers).

I heard a sermon today that talked about trusting beyond knowing. Basically, the idea is that faith goes beyond understanding. If I knew everything and saw the whole picture, I wouldn’t need faith.

But the life of faith is one where you only see the next step in front of you, not the entire path. You have to take that first step in order to see the next one. There is no magic word or secret formula that will allow you to skip the difficult parts or to forego being obedient in the present.

There’s no guarantee that being faithful will always lead to prosperity and blessing. Sometimes, the path of obedience leads through the valley of the shadow of death. But the promise we have is that our Shepherd is with us when we go down that road. His rod and staff will comfort us.

We have no promise of material reward for our obedience. We do know that God is faithful to be with us and to fight for us and to never leave or forsake us. We know that God will provide for every need and He Himself will be our inheritance and our reward.

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer” (Corrie ten Boom).

May we sit still and trust our Engineer, no matter where He leads us.

Why I Should Have Been a Hobbit

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Throw in regular naps, and I’m good. I think all of these sound great to me (as long as the garden belongs to someone else and I get to partake in the produce from time to time).

I see Bag End where Bilbo Baggins — and later Frodo Baggins — lived in a comfortable dwelling in a hole in a hill, and that sounds appealing to me. I could have rooms for food, rooms for clothes (mostly t-shirts and Hawaiian shirts). I could have my favorite daily walks all mapped out.

I think I could have been a very good hobbit. I would have been a freakishly tall hobbit, but otherwise I’d have fit in very nicely. Did I mention I’m a fan of potatoes, especially when they’re fried?

My consolation prize will have to be revisiting the Shire and those Hobbits by re-reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings periodically. And perhaps eating more breakfasts and potatoes.

My 5,000th Blog Post!

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“The more comfortable we are with mystery in our journey, the more rest we will know along the way” (stolen from a friend’s post).

I never thought when I started out on my WordPress journey almost 14 years ago that I would make it this far. Honestly, I had no long term plan when I wrote that first blog post way back in July 2010. I just knew this was a way to get my thoughts out of my head and if not on paper then out into the ether.

I am grateful for every single person who has read my writings over the years. I am blessed to know that people support me in this and in so many other ways. I can say with certainty that my life has not gone the way I expected in these 14 years, and that’s okay.

God knows. I can be comfortable with the mystery in my journey because I know not a bit of it is a mystery to God. He sees the end just as clearly as He sees the beginning. And He sees every little detail in between. I can rest in God’s control over my life.

Does this mean the writing journey is at an end? Hardly. I hope, God willing, to get to 10,000 posts and beyond. I hope that I will keep getting better and better at this and my words will keep blessing as many people as those who have blessed me.

Stay tuned. There will be another post tomorrow.

That New Car Smell

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I don’t have a new car. It’s new to me, but it’s a 2018, so technically it’s used or pre-owned or whatever you want to call it. But it does have that new car smell. So at the risk of sounding completely nerdy, I confess that when I get in my car, I take a big whiff. Every. Single. Time.

For those I haven’t completely grossed out or weirded out, I’m also still extremely grateful. This 2018 Jeep is a tangible reminder of God’s faithfulness. Whenever I get discouraged about finding that next job or have a hard time holding on to God’s promises for me, I look at that little red car and remember how God has provided for me multiple times in the past.

The Bible says that all God’s promises are YES and AMEN in Christ Jesus. I still don’t think that means that I’m winning the lottery tomorrow or that a sleek new Ferrari will show up in my driveway on Monday. It does mean that I will never be forsaken or left alone. All that I needed His hand has provided, as the old hymn says.

My issue is that my timing and God’s timing aren’t always in sync. I’m a lot like King Saul in the Old Testament who tried to help God out a few times instead of waiting on God’s answer. For those who have read 1 Samuel, you know that it didn’t work out so well for our boy Saul. In fact, it (plus a few other unwise decisions) cost him his life.

My Jeep is almost a kind of memorial to God’s faithfulness as much as those stones the people of God raised up to commemorate a scene of deliverance or to remember when God miraculously showed up. So I will pray to be more like King David in waiting on God’s timing and trusting in God’s provision for me.

A Rare Random Post

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I used to do these random posts where I would go a bit stream of consciousness and write whatever immediately came to mind without any thought out plan or overall theme. It may be time to revisit that because I honestly have no ideas of what to write about.

I’m still loving my new (to me) Jeep. It’s still a bit weird having a car where all the buttons work and with no check engine light glaring at me from the dashboard. I do miss having a CD player, but I’m adjusting, believe it or not. It turns out old dogs and old Jeep drivers can learn new tricks.

I got to see my niece in a church production where she did a turn as Shirley Temple. I was astounded at how amazing she was. She didn’t just say lines and pretend to be Shirley Temple. It was like I forgot I was watching her and felt like I was really watching Shirley Temple. She has the same charismatic stage presence that my sister had at that age (and then some). One day, I will be able to say I knew her when.

I watched a video where they were discussing people in the Christian music industry who had walked away from their faith. I know it happens. I know that I can’t possibly know all that was going through their minds or in their lives when they decided not to believe any more. I can’t imagine me wanting to leave Jesus. I mean where else could I go? Who else has the words of eternal life that give everlasting hope? I know the Bible says that those who fell away went out from us because they were never truly among us, so I have to think that those who can stop being saved were never truly saved to begin with.

I’m grateful that God is faithful when I’m not. I’m glad that my eternal security doesn’t rest with me because I’d have already lost it by now. I’m thankful that good works didn’t save me and good works don’t keep me saved, but it is all Jesus from start to finish. I know that the proof of true faith is obedience, so my life should look different and there should be spiritual fruit, but I also know that if Jesus started this good work in me (and I know He did), then He will indeed finish it one day.

Happy National Pet Day to Peanut!

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Today is National Pet Day. At least it is for the next 61 minutes. By the time most of you read these words, it will have been yesterday. But still for those of us fortunate to have fur babies, every day is national pet day. At least our pets think so.

My cat Peanut (although I might as well call myself her human) is all about national pet day. She is also all about comfort. My joke is that she is 1/3 monkey, 1/3 tiny panther, and 1/3 sloth. She is that lazy.

But she is very proactive in her laziness. She will let nothing stand in the way of a prime comfy spot. Pillows? Knock ’em over. Knick knacks? Push ’em aside. Do whatever it takes to create the best napping spot possible because sleeping is priority one. That is Peanut’s life motto, I think.

You can get away with all sorts of stuff when you’re extra small and fluffy. I’m sure dog owners can attest that those puppy eyes can cover over a multitude of sins. The same goes for felines as well (though they tend to care a bit less about their transgressions than dogs).

Peanut has a good life. She gets daily belly and back massages and has her own personal servant who will maintain her food and water bowl and even scoop her poop. In return, she allows me to give her those belly rubs. She even graces me with her divine presence.

Actually, she is a very loving cat. To most people, she is shy and hides, but to a select few, she is very friendly and affectionate. She’s even quite chatty when the mood strikes.

So Happy National Pet Day to Peanut and to all those pets for whom we work all day to be able to maintain their comfortable lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.

God’s Delays

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I saw an Instagram post that basically said that sometimes delays are as much of God’s will as those things He allows and those He denies. He declared that when God makes you wait for something, either you are not ready for it or the situation is not ready for you to enter into it. The worst thing God could do is to give you what you want and the exact moment you want it the way you want it.

I’m so there. Being out of work for two months has felt like a delay. Trusting God in the middle of anxiety is difficult, but I’m learning more and more that God is faithful. Instead of pleading with God for a job, I’m thanking God in advance for the job He will provide in His own perfect timing. I’m grateful for the lessons that I can only learn in this season.

As much as I should know this by now, I need to be reminded that my identity isn’t in what I do for a living. My purpose isn’t bound up in going to a work environment for 8 hours a day. Being employed will not complete me any more than finding a spouse or anything else. I am already complete in Christ because of what He’s done for me on the cross. God still looks at me and says, “It is very good.”

God’s delays may feel like denials, but they only come because you’re not ready to receive what God is preparing for you. I don’t mean that a Maserati or a yacht or a super mansion is ready for you if you have the right amount of faith. I mean a future where you step into God’s bigger purposes for you and the world.

May we all learn to wait well and expectantly.

Hope in the Dark

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“There are times when everything looks very dark to me——-so dark that I have to wait before I have hope.Waiting with hope is very difficult,but true patience is expressed when we must even wait for hope. When we see no hint of success but refuse to despair, when we see nothing but the darkness of night through our window yet keep the shutters open because stars may appear in the sky, and when we hav an empty place in our heart yet will not allow it to be filled with anything less then God’s best—- that is the greatest kind of patience in the universe. It is the story of Job in the midst of the storm,Abraham on the road to Moriah, Moses in the desert of Midian, and the Son of Man in the garden of Gethsemane. There is no patience as strong as that which endures because we see ‘him who is invisible'(Hebrews 11:27) It is the kind of patience that waits for hope.

Dear Lord, You have made waiting beautiful and patience divine.You have taught us that Your will should be accepted, simply because it is Your will. You have revealed to us that a person may see nothing but sorrow in his cup yet still be willing to drink it because of a conviction that Your eyes see further then his own.

Father, give me Your divine power—- the power of Gethsemane. Give me the strength to wait for hope—to look through the window when there are no stars. Even when my joy is gone, give me strength to stand victoriously in the darkest night and say, ‘To my Heavenly Father, the sun still shines’. I will have reached the point of greatest strength once I have learned to wait for hope. Strive to be one of the few who walk this earth with the ever present realization– every morning ,noon, an night that the unknown that people call heaven is directly behind those things that are visible. (Galatians 5:5 ) By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope” (George Matheson).

Squinting in a Fog

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Today will go down in history as the Day of the Eclipse. Supposedly, today’s eclipse will be the last one I’ll be able to witness until roughly around 2044. So I definitely wanted to take advantage of this one.

There I was in a prime viewing spot with proper eclipse glasses in hand — later on face when the actual event took place. The only issue was the continual cloudy sky that prevented me from getting a really good glimpse of this solar event.

For a moment, I didn’t think I’d be able to see anything. But as the cloud covering moved across the sky, the eclipse peeked briefly though those clouds from time to time. I was able to see, but not very clearly, so the whole experience was not as good as 2017 when I experienced the whole thing from start to finish.

Life is like that. The Bible speaks about how we now see through a mirror dimly. We experience God through the haze of our own sin and the limitations of our own finite frailty. We are disconnected from the big picture, only able to catch brief glimpses that are sometimes obscured as if by fog or clouds.

But one day, the Bible says, we will see face to face and will know fully as we are fully known by God instead of only knowing in part. We will see our story as God sees it now. Then we will understand. Then we will worship.

“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!” (1 Corinthians 13:12, The Message).