My soul clings to you

I love verse 8….I really do.  Especially today…

Psalm 63 

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

 ¹ O God, you are my God,
       earnestly I seek you;
       my soul thirsts for you,
       my body longs for you,
       in a dry and weary land
       where there is no water.

 ² I have seen you in the sanctuary
       and beheld your power and your glory.

 ³ Because your love is better than life,
       my lips will glorify you.

 ⁴ I will praise you as long as I live,
       and in your name I will lift up my hands.

 ⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
       with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

 ⁶ On my bed I remember you;
       I think of you through the watches of the night.

 ⁷ Because you are my help,
       I sing in the shadow of your wings.

 ⁸ My soul clings to you;
       your right hand upholds me.

 ⁹ They who seek my life will be destroyed;
       they will go down to the depths of the earth.

 ¹⁰ They will be given over to the sword
       and become food for jackals.

 ¹¹ But the king will rejoice in God;
       all who swear by God’s name will praise him,
       while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Looking bad vs. being bad

I heard on the way into the office today that “man is more concerned with LOOKING bad, than actually BEING bad.”

As I look over my life, I know there are times that I live out this sentence.  I am more worried about what people will think of me for doing something bad or wrong, than I am for actually doing that bad or wrong thing (i.e., speeding)

A simple example: I knew a lady who would take office supplies from her office from time to time and bring them home.  Why – well she needed a pen, or a pad of paper, or some plastic spoons, or…or… or.  I always found this interesting.  I mean isn’t that stealing?  When I look back over that situation, while she was doing it, I could see that it was no big deal to her.  She could rationalize why she was doing.  That is until she got caught.  Then everyone knew.  Then she had to explain, not only to those at work, but to her family why she stole.

When she was concerned was that moment where she looked bad – not because it was wrong to begin with, but because she looked bad after everyone found out and she was let go.

Hmmm… it does give a person pause.  Whether it is a little thing or a big thing, the situation is still the same – so many would rather do something bad and have no one find out, than to not do something bad to begin with.

I can’t

Heard something interesting on the way into the office today… “If the enemy cannot make you evil, then he will make you busy… “

Rather powerful if you think about it.   As I think about the excuses I give for why I cannot do something – it generally stems from the fact that I am to busy.   It is not always as obvious me until I hear something like this and say, yip… that is me. 

Excuses may include:

I can’t I have to get so and so to soccer practice

I can’t my favorite show is on

I can’t I am working late

I can’t I have a mortgage to pay and two girls off to school soon

I can’t I need a new car

I can’t I need to look this up on the internet

I can’t I need to check my email

I can’t I don’t have enough time

I can’t I don’t have enough money

I can’t I don’t have enough energy

The list can go on and on.  I don’t need to beat myself up over this, I just need to be more aware.  I just need to make some tweaks to the daily life.  Easy?  No.  Interesting? Yes.

Trust – the issue at hand

Trust is the issue.  Trust is the conversation for the day. 

The conversation today applies to trusting God to move a loved one along in his/her faith with or without my help, and for me not to “worry” about their progress (or lack there of). My timeline as not as important as God’s timeline is. 

With regard to that point, I truly do struggle.  My heart aches for a particular loved one to “get it”… to understand what I get.  I want them to be a Christ follower, but that is not my decision – that is their decision right now.  I am placed in their life for a reason, but I cannot force a decision for them.  I can help, but not decide.

To this very point, I reread a message I sent a friend who is thinking about God and turning his life over to Him.  He has lived a hard life, yet he sent me a message saying that he is going to take baptism classes…A part of me worries he is doing this for someone else rather than himself – thereby missing the whole point – so I sent the following message:

“Mr. JH… Wow… thanks for telling me.  You are going to learn a ton… Taking this class brings you one step closer to baptism.  In addition, I want you to know that this is also about journey as well as the destination.  The one thing I will encourage you to think about is that Baptism is something you do with YOUR heart and mind … this is something you CANNOT do just because someone merely suggested it, or someone else WANTED you to do it.  You cannot do it because you THINK it is the right thing to do.  Rather it is something that you do because YOU what to know more, to learn more, to grow closer to God.  You want God in your heart and to shine out of you.  You want Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.  You want to turn your life over unconditionally. If you are doing it for the right reasons this will truly be an amazing time.  If you are doing this for the wrong reasons, you will never truly turn yourself over to God and will miss out on SO much.  The good thing is the class will help you understand that more thoroughly.”

His answer – “I did this on my own and felt it was the right time for both my heart and mind.”

In other words, and to follow my own advice, no matter how much I want a loved one to move closer to God, I cannot force the issue.  I cannot make that person live the life “I” want them to live.  Rather THEY must decide.  I need to TRUST that God will nudge them and move them along at His pace.  I cannot set the pace. 

And out of this thought process I find the hardest word to get past – Trust.

Completely trusting God is hard for me at times.  There are times where I find it hard to trust Him to move my loved one along… possible on a slightly different path than I would have chosen.  But I have learned that trust is about letting go of the keys, handing them over to God, sitting in the back seat, and saying “You drive.”  For me, that is one of the hardest things to do.  I may give up the keys.  I may give up the steering wheel.  I may give up the control, but there are times when I inch up and want to say something.  I want to be a back seat driver.  I inch up because I want to head down a different path.  But that isn’t trust.  That is more about limiting God than totally trusting God.  That is more about handing over temporary control rather than full control.

So in conclusion I will say this prayer that I said during my dad’s cancer battle – that point where I finally stopped and said, “Here you go Lord.  You know my problems.  You know my pain.  You know my needs.  I cannot do this alone any more.  I am putting 100% of my trust in You.  I cannot begin to understand why all of this is happening, but I can put my trust in You.  So, Lord, here ya go.  Help me.  Please…. ”

If I do that.  If I really do trust Him.  If I really do hand off the keys, amazing things will start to happen – not just for me, but those around me.

You decide

Some will come along and say that

It is easier to conform

Than it is to be transformed

It is easier to settle for an old way

Than it is to following a new path

It is easier to say I am fine

Than it is to say I need Your help.

It is easier to rely on me

Than it is to fully trust in Him

Others will come along and say

 Life is full of chaos

Yet it is full of wonder

Life is full of challenges.

Yet it is full of opportunities

Life is full of black and white

Yet He is full of vibrant color

Ultimately, you will need to decide

Whether you will want the world to see

A bright light shining right on you

Or whether you will want the world to see

God’s spot light beaming from within

When it is all said and done,

You will need to decide.

A child’s gift to God

You know with the start of a new year, I was just taking a moment to think through life and some of the things I did while growing up.  This morning the first thing that came to mind was my little gift to God.  So, with that I thought that I would pass along a quick little story. 

I remember one day a long time ago in Sunday School feeling an overpowering desire to put together a box of toys and various special “things” for Jesus.  I am sure it had to do with the lesson we had that morning, but I wanted to have something “in my hands” when I met Him. 

I was just a little kid – 7 or 8 years old.  But my mind was in Jesus mode, so I ran home and found a wooden box my grandfather had given me that held all of my crayons.  Crayons were my life back then, but I dumped them on the floor and started to put together my pile.  

My pile consisted of things that I cherished back then.  Things that I wanted to give to Jesus when I meet him.  A small pocket bible, a pot holder I had made, a matchbox fire engine (well worn to the point of falling apart), a rock I got in Colorado, an arrowhead, a piece of gold, a ribbon for winning a race in school. 

As I look back, I can see they were not my “perfect things,” but each of the items I placed in my newly claimed box were related to fond memories connected to various points in my life.  All of them were things that I wanted to share with Jesus.  A gift just for Him.

 And you know what.  I still have this box.  I open it from time to time and look at those childhood treasures.  I have never taken anything out of it.  It is still fully intact sitting on a shelf in my garage.  Sitting and waiting for that moment when I met Jesus.