The Reason for Joy

This little critter cheers my soul. She has capture my heart and I may not ever return to normal.

Is it even a question that she is a member of my family? I think the outfit gives it away (half naked with a funny hat and something stuck in the mouth).

Parenting

I have been watching my grand-daughter for the last several weeks while my daughter goes to a summer class in the evenings. I have forgotten how intense it is to care for a little critter who is unable to do for herself. She is just now on the verge of crawling, then the world will change.

My wife and I were talking about the need to child-proof the house, or at least part of the house. This accommodation will keep the newly mobile from any real trouble (still allowing for any trouble that is common to kids anyway). I am not sure if any house could become child-proof in the sense of absolute protection. What I am sure about is that the rugrat will find somewhere, sometime, a something to mess up.

I can't seem to recall being too uptight about this whole process when I was in the primary parenting mode. I seem to remember that we parents got to a place of, "no biggie, it's just a rug, a lamp, a plate, whatever." We had fallen into a malaise of parenthood where the things that held importance before took a place farther down the line of worth. It just didn't hold the same power over us in comparison with the life giggling on the carpet playing with the plastic toy keys.

One thing is sure, I have fallen in love again with a little curly-headed, big-eyed, smiling baby girl.

Summer Morning

There is something idyllic about summer mornings. The heat of the mid-day and late afternoon are only a hint at 8 am. Their omnipresent sun are not even felt at that hour. The trees in my yard block its rising so that our back porch is protected from the specter of the rays to come.

The birds are a collection of work projects at that hour. On my back porch their rushing here to there is apprehended through their chirping and constant flight from tree to ground to tree. Quail, jays, robins, and woodpeckers form the congregation of my backyard. They are a choir of singers expertly led by the director of the universe.

Sipping my coffee and speaking to God make this summer morning a project of my own. To know the Creator through His creation, to sense His power and His masterwork, to give way to His awesome continuing action on the earth is the foundation for ultimate pleasure.

This summer morning, in the hand of God, I praise Him for His grace and the excellence of His artistry.

Independence

I was born in the USA and I am thankful for the blessing that has been to me personally. Those of us who have this privilege should know what we really have. We have been given, by God's grace, a land that is fruitful, resource full, culturally rich, historically impressive and blessed in a multitude of ways. We are, however, an arrogant people.

The nation of Israel, preparing to enter the Biblical promised land, were admonished by God to be careful in the land were they were going. They were challenged to remember from whom the land was given, to remember through whom the fruit of that land was given and to remember their God. They were reproved by God that in that day that they transformed into an arrogant people that they would know their real estate without God. They would be ravished by the lands around them, the powers that surrounded them, and lose all that they had acquired.

It is my prayer today for my country that we hear again the voice of God and turn from our arrogant ways. That as a people, we might in honest humility present ourselves before the Lord and seek His will in all that we do. That we might act in righteousness in all we do both locally and globally. And that as we hasten to a new administration, that our leaders might truly seek God's face and wisdom so as to know God's favor.

Happy Independence Day!

Anniversary

Today I celebrate ten years of service as one of the pastors in my church. In the last ten years many things have happened, not happened and sort of happened. I know that sounds like a very ambiguous statement, but I believe life is kind of like that. I thought I would reprise my sermon from last Sunday as a reminder of those ten years.

Here is my "Top Ten" for the last ten years. 10. It's ok to cry in church (i.e., It's ok to be real in church). 9. People are the object of God's love and purpose on the earth. 8. Some people will love you for who you are; some despite who you are; some will never love (the capacity to love flows out of our relationship to God directly). 7. God can save anyone (we all need to be saved from our sin and God is able). 6. The gospel bothers people (Christians need to get over the fact that the rest of the world does not necessarily appreciate the good news). 5. Honest teamwork overcomes all obstacles. 4. Without Jesus, I am nothing (and so is everyone else). 3. Music soothes, but only Jesus saves (we in the church need to get over our arrogance that there is only one kind of "God music" and remember it is all about Jesus and not the songs!). 2. Some things are worth sacrifice. 1. God rules, cares, loves, heals and continues to act on the earth.

There they are. I know there is much more than that, but these seemed appropriate to me for this time.