Time Moves

At seemingly differing speeds, all at the same instant.

Here it is, the 1st of October, the year 2010 is rapidly winding down, the Christmas season will be upon us before we realize it (Is someone keeping track of how many shopping days are left? It would not do to lose track of the true reason for the season after all). We will celebrate the birth of our Lord (the real season reason in case you missed the sarcasm), and move into a new year. Time moving at what seems to be ever increasing pace as I get older.

Here it is, the end of another work week. There has been vacation time, and travel and return to house, hearth and cubicle. A good week, but one that has seemed to go on longer than the 4+ days that have transpired.

Time at differing speeds at the same instant. As I ponder this, I think it is my faith walk that allows me to cope with the changing speeds of my life. It is walking with Christ that allows me to know that whatever pace life takes, I am moving at the right speed, for He is with me and I feel Him by my side. My faithfulness in Him doesn't change His attitude to me, He loves me, no matter what. But it allows me to be calm in Him but of that faithfulness.

Time moves as He wills it, and I hope to keep up the pace He wants me to.

A Daunting Thought

We are living in our lives in the place (physically, spiritually and mentally) where God permits us to be. Make no mistake about the sovereignty of God, about His ability to move us into new situations, a new place, to permit our lives to go into new directions as He so purposes for us. God can do this with an ease we cannot really understand for He is divine and in complete control over our lives.

If you are not at that place where you want to be in your life, ask yourself these questions:

• Are you seeking Him out, seeking His will?
• Are you actively resisting the will of God?
• Have you done things in the past that you know were in rebellion to God, so now He has permitted you to be in a place that is not where you would have wanted?
• Are you learning anything about yourself from where you are in your life?
• Are you growing closer to Him?
• Are you still in rebellion?

I think God so loves us that He permits us to be in rebellion to Him because that is the choice we make. He allows us in situations that can harm us because it is where we have chosen to go in our lives. It doesn't mean He loves us any less; it means He loves us enough to give us the choice to come to Him or not.

If you are in a situation in which you would rather not be, it may mean God has something for you to learn, it may mean you are facing the consequences of your decisions; it may mean God is planning to use you in ways you cannot imagine, to His greater glory. And for the growth of your character and love for Him.

I am not saying life is always easy or fair. It is a fallen world inhabited by sinful beings, and not always pleasant to deal with. But He has a place for us in His mansion, a life to come so joyful we cannot truly comprehend it. And all He asks is that we turn to His Son for our salvation, that we trust in Him alone and no one else.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Romans 8:18 (New American Standard Bible)

It might not make your world any different now, but it should make it a bit more bearable. Where you are is where He has permitted you to be, based on the purposes of His will and the choices of your life. A daunting thought.

Continue your walk. I do, as I seek out my path on The Narrow Road.

Technorati Tags: Jesus, God, sovereignty, joy, life, rebellion

Equal Time

Stopped into my local Starbucks yesterday morning and saw something I never say before and which I do not understand. There was a gentleman there, in front of me on line and when he got his coffee he went over to the area where the cream and sugar is to put his stuff into it. I came over with my coffee and he was still doing his thing. I looked and he had three groups of Equal packets in front of him.

Each group had 2 or 3 packets, not really sure, but somewhere between 6 to 9 packets (my best guess is 8) in front of him. He begin tearing them open and pouring them in, 2 or 3 at a time. All of them, into that same cup of coffee. I cannot imagine what it tasted like. Some sort of chemico-caffeine soup I should think. I have nothing against Equal, have never used it, do not know what it even tastes like.

He left, I didn't have the energy or heart to ask him what is going on. I guess we all make choices, all have our tastes in life.

Mine is a cup of coffee with a splash of half and half. His is clearly something else. But to me, that was some sort of record for sweetener, in the artificial or natural sugar categories. If I was going to use that much, I guess I would use the real deal.

Whatever gets you through the day.

Technorati Tags: Starbucks, Equal, coffee, sweetener, sugar

The Close of Another Chapter

As I watch the last few hours of 2009 drift by, as I look back on the year closing out, 2009 has proven to be a year full.

Effective tomorrow, I start full time in ministry with a position at EvanTell as Chief Operating Officer. A journey that started two years ago with my retirement now moves off in a new direction. Ministry, not business, but a position that allows me to use 30 years of business skills to come alongside a ministry team and try to help them be better at what they already do quite well.

I have come to terms with the struggle I have had at seminary since I started in 2008. I am not a good student, at least I do not have good, student-like habits. I have been getting decent grades, but have not enjoyed the student-ness (I know that isn't a word but so what?) of being a student. I didn't in the 70's when I got my undergraduate degree; I certainly do not think a 30 year business career helped me hone my student skills. But I can accept that now and face my education with a better frame of mind.

As the year draws to an end, I am facing the fact that my Dad is dying and it is only a short period of time before he is gone. Given his alzheimers, in many ways I lost him some months ago. That is what is the most painful, watching what he has become while waiting until he is no more. A generation comes, a generation goes. All this as my niece is pregnant with the first child of the next generation on my side of the family, although my Dad will not get to be a great-grandfather as we may have hoped. All this as my Mom struggles with a situation in which she is soon to lose the man she has been married to for 61 years. I know I am blessed to have had both my parents for this long, yet the pain is there now. It will not be a good New Year's Eve for me. I will shed some tears tonight that I know.

Yet, 2010 is full of such promise and excitement. The Lord is sovereign, and I seek and struggle to walk alongside Him each day. There is pain in this life; I face it now, I have in the past, and know I will in the future. But I walk towards a future that will be joyous beyond the belief of the present world.

May you all have a blessed 2010.

Before Time

Before time I was. No, I am not claiming to be divine; I was before time because God made it so:

¹⁶Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Psalm 139:16 (NASB)

Before He created time, God ordained the days of my life. Not just me alone, He did this for all of us. Psalm 139 is a wonderful Psalm when think of the preciousness, the sanctity of life. If God would ordain each and every life to the fullness of the days we are to live on this earth even before He created time, how can we not treat it with the utmost value, respect and love?

Some may say that since the fullness of days is ordained, there is nothing we can do to change things, but I find that a fatalistic and somewhat arrogant stance. Who are we to know what the fullness of days is? Are we not to live each day as it is our last, for only God knows which one truly is our last?

It is not for us to end life, that is for God to ordain. It is not for us to determine life, God took the time to do that before He created time. It is for us to live it to His glory each day to the fullest of our ability, and let the fullness of our lives be in His hands.

Simpler Is Better, Well It Is At Least Easier

I spent a good part of the day setting up my new blog, A Trinity of 3 for a class assignment. I hope you all head over there and help me out by commenting on the questions that will come up from time to time.

I am exhausted, must be the high expenditure of mental energy in a sustained period of time. Boy, am I out of shape, physically and mentally. Have to work on both, but another story for another blog post.

A Trinity of 3 will be a simpler blog. I am resisting the temptation of hanging all sorts of stuff on it, like the Christmas tree this one is. Who knows, it may make me cut out a lot of this stuff on this blog as well.

Simpler was easier to set up, but I need to do a little more work over there over the next few days. I'll have to find the time.

Life lesson: it is so easy to add clutter and accumulation to one's life. Things get messy in a hurry. Every once in a while you need to open all the windows and sweep furiously.

But not today, I am resting from here until tomorrow.

What Is Your Focus?

A lesson from earlier in the term keeps popping into my mind. I guess if this class had a test instead of just papers, this is one question I might get right.

Jesus' purpose was to focus attention on His Father, not to focus attention on Himself:

• We will never know more of the Father than we know of the Son
• We will never know more of the Son than we know of the Word
• Study the Word to know the Son to know the Father

So what is your focus. If Jesus did not focus on Himself, how can you make yourself the center of your life? We cannot be perfect as He was, but can we model this behavior on a daily basis?

Imagine how much better off the world would be if we could, all of us, even if just for one instance every day.

Keep Moving Forward

Life can be a hard place to live, what is required is a desire to keep moving forward, of living for the Lord and fighting the battle daily in His name:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NASB)

Running the race with endurance is what we are called to do. So that when we are done in this world we can say:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. 2Timothy 4:7 (NASB)

And He is quick to equip us for the battle, for the fight:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
^{Ephesians 6:10-20 (NASB)}

<sup>It is not an easy battle, which I find out daily, with deeper understanding and a testing of my resolve. But it is a battle, a fight, a race I look to be in for the long run. Some days I make more progress than others, but as my pastor said yesterday, you can either gripe or fight.

I choose battle.</sup>

Oh, Happy Day

I love the Lord. He gives purpose and meaning to my life.

I love my wife. Through the Lord she brings much love and happiness to my life.

I love my life. Through the first two, I get to enjoy all the rest of it.

I am blessed, so blessed.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Advice for Seminary (and for Life)

I read this the other morning and have been reflecting on it since:

"It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College-its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at homer or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God's redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens."
Oswald Chambers-My Utmost For His Highest

We do not know how we are going to be used, but just that we are going to be used. With that very basic fact, why would you not want to have Jesus as your Lord and Savior, knowing that one day your knee will bow to Him; trust in Him and let it be your kneeling in love and reverence, not abject terror.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
Romans 8:28 (NASB)

Be called to His purpose, not to His judgment.