How He Leads Us to Him...

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High 

 will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91: 1-2

Isn't it funny how unconventional God can be when it comes to the strategies that He uses to reach us?  For example, think about Bible verses that are foundational in your own faith walk.  Do you remember how they came to be so?  Do you remember how you "found" them?  Do you remember what or who led you to them?

The 1998 movie Saving Private Ryan was a huge box-office success, becoming an instant classic of the War-Epic-Drama film genre.  I have to say, I have a hard time watching it.  This movie will never be one of those that I watch over and over and over again because it brings me comfort, like a try full of warm brownies. But I do appreciate it.  And I credit it with introducing me to Psalm 91...even if by mistake...

There is a character in this movie, Private Daniel Jackson, an American left-handed sniper who rarely missed his mark.  He was incredible and he was one of the men selected to search for Private Ryan.  What made Private Jackson memorable to me was that whenever he was executing one of his high stakes shootings, he would recite Bible verses.  I was not much of a Bible reader back then, so at first, I didn't recognize that the character's words were Scriptures.  After a while, I figured that's what it was...and I became very curious.

There was no Google back then.  There was no Bible app or search engine where all I had to do was type a phrase like:  "Bible verses recited by sniper in movie Saving Private Ryan" or anything like that.  There wasn't any streaming services either where I could watch the movie on demand again and again to get the exact words.  My only recourse was to depend on my vague recollection of the few words I was able to catch while watching the movie through my fingers as I covered my eyes with my hands. I had to take my best guest as to where those words would be found, and actually dig through the pages of my physical Bible.

I knew I heard him saying something about The Lord being "my Fortress"...something else... "my Shield...in Whom I trust..."  For what little I knew about Scripture, the words seemed to me that they belong in the Book of Psalms, so I scanned them for something that sounded like that, and I landed on Psalm 91.  I remember being so struck by verses 1 and 2 I just had to memorize them!  It had to be it.  I loved these verses very much and I was convinced those were the ones recited by our sniper friend.  In reality, however, Private Jackson recited verses from Psalm 144, not 91... or so Google says (I haven't had the strength to watch that movie again to verify)... but it does not matter.  Psalm 91 verses 1 and 2 have become part of my arsenal to fight the enemy, and I'm most grateful the Holy Spirit uses everything and anything to lead us to Him...even through half-closed eyes, partially covered by trembling hands.

 

Wondering

 I often wrestle with a nagging thought: I wonder what life would be like if I had... fill in the blank.

...if I had stayed in Panama.  If I had not married Dan.  If I had not won the scholarship that brought me to Clarion University.  If I had not done well academically in High School.  If I had never married.  If I had never had kids. If I had stayed at any of my many other jobs I had before landing at SRU. If I hadn't said that awful thing.  If I hadn't slept in. If I hadn't eaten that last snack...

The list is endless.  It's torturous.  

I wonder if we'd ever stop wondering? Does the mind ever settle? Does the heart ever stop longing for something else that it can never find? Is contentment possible on this side of life?

Perhaps, I'm afraid, all that is possible on this side of Heaven, is to merely catch just a brief glimpse of the peace of contentment... and only if we are in Christ.

Only the presence of Jesus in us through the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit allows us to achieve a version of what the popular saying, "bloom where you're planted" suggests:  to apply our gifts and talents for the Kingdom of God right where we are, in the circumstances we find ourselves at the moment, without waiting for situations to change, for life to be different, for retirement or whatever.  Only through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit we can fulfill what Paul tells us:

Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. 1 Corinthians 7: 17

Contentment in this life does not have to do with this life, but with eternity, because: to live is Christ and to die is gain! (Philippians 1: 21)  And, for as long as we remain on this earth, we know where the secret of being content is:

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4: 13

Though the wondering and the wandering of our minds and hearts may not completely stop, we know that as the Holy Spirit works in us and through us, He is growing His fruits in our souls, among which is peace, the peace of knowing where we're headed and where we belong. 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5: 22-23

Change

What do you feel in your soul and in your heart when you think of change?  Does your heart beat faster with excitement...or with fear when you see change approaching?

The sermon at church last Sunday was about change...and I've been thinking about it for a while now...wondering how exactly does the idea of change impact my life...my feelings...my mental health...

Sigh...

I believe, if I know anything about myself, that I crave change in many aspects of my life...but...only when I can control it.  Change is exciting and fun to me only when on my own terms.  "Let's sell our house!"  "Let's move to another part of the country!" "Let's move to another country!" "Let's buy a house by the lake!" "Let's try this new restaurant!" "Let's redecorate the Livingroom!" "Let's remodel the bathroom!" "Let's quit our jobs and become freelancers!" "Let's sell everything and live in an RV!"  "Let's become nomads!" "Let's travel abroad in the middle of a Pandemic!"

Yep...that's me, alright. I don't want my life to be stale so I think of ways to make it interesting by moving things around.  I invite change.  The problem arrives when change shows up uninvited.  Then, instead of fun...change brings up gloom and despair...anxiety and fear...and the deep disappointment of crushed hope. 

It all comes down to a control issue.  I like to manipulate.  I don't like to be manipulated.

I've been planning a trip to Panama for a long time.  It's been 3 years since the last time I was there.  I have to go.  I have to see my loved ones.  I have to feel the tropical sun burning my skin.  I have to hear the noises and smell the aromas of my home country.  So, as soon as vaccines became available, I made sure we all got them.  We coordinated our schedules. We bought tickets and presents to bring.  We made reservations and plans where on their way.  Then, I get a message from my sister explaining how things have turned for the worse with the pandemic in Panama, especially in our hometown.  Reading my sister's words brought tears to my eyes because I knew: it is just not the right time to bring my family there.  The trip had to be cancelled.  

After months of anticipation and planning, we decided that it is best not to go to Panama this summer.

I felt the blow of disappointment deeply in my heart. I felt the stab of fear in my soul: fear that if I skip another year I might not see some of my loved ones.  I've already lost a few in since I last visited.  I felt the gloom and doom of my crushed hopes and dreams.  I felt the sadness of distance.

I felt everything but fun and excitement.

And usually, that's what unexpected change does to me: it devastates me.  And the reason it does is because I have a hard time looking at things and situations from a different perspective.  I'm so rigid when it comes to the way I like things, that when they change, I become frustrated.  Instead, that energy I spend in being frustrated, I should invest it on attacking change with change:  by changing my perspective.

Out of the broken trip plans emerge the possibility to spend vacation days that have already been set aside, enjoying a quiet, family getaway that does not involve airport security, flying, customs or strict pandemic limitations.  

I know this illustration is very mild and not life-altering.  Many changes we face in life have the capacity to inflict profound wounds and cause complete reversals of intentions.  But, in the end, an attitude of trust in the One Who Is in Control...on the One Who Makes The Plans is the perspective that we need to adopt every time we face the inevitability of modifications.  After all, there's much we do not know or understand, but we do know He is Faithful and Worthy of Our Trust!

 1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hebrews 10:23  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Find Your Bling

 

Recently, we spent a wonderful week at the lake.  We had Lake Erie as our backyard and its stone-filled shores as our playground.  It was a delightful week, one that I will never forget.  In the mornings, I would make the 80+ step trek down this very scary stairway to the beach to just contemplate the beauty that surrounded us.  I would also walk a bit, looking for beach glass and pretty stones.  This place was rich on both.  It was full of bling!

I could not stop marveling. I was in awe, so drawn to them.  It was like treasures at my feet! The stones in the water shimmered like jewels.  There were ambers, jade, onyx, sapphires even diamonds!  When kissed by the water they did shine like precious stones.  I’d pick up a handful of the prettiest ones, and set them on the retaining wall to dry…but once out of their element and dried, something strange would happen: they lost their luster…  they stopped shining and looked like nothing but dull rocks… nothing special… it was weird…

This made me think of humanity: without Jesus we are just dull stones…nothing special.  The only thing that makes us shine with utmost brilliancy is water, the Living Water: Jesus!

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4: 14

Without the Living Water of Christ, we would never find our spark…no bling…just gray dullness, no life.  

Like the beach glass and stones, we are meant to be by the water…the Living Water.  The Living Water is what brings up the brilliancy and worth from within us.  That's where we find our bling!  Without the Living Water, we are nothing.  We are to be in Him, drink from Him and eventually become His fountains from which His Living Water flows so others can also drink!  And we can’t do any of that apart from Him.  

May the Holy Spirit speak to us and draw us to the Living Water so we may thirst no more.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1: 3

His Joy Completes Us

 

The joy of the Lord is my strength… Nehemiah 8: 10

This is one of those intriguing verses that both, confuse me and delight me.  I’ve never been completely sure what it truly means.  But, the words have always had an impact…even when I don’t fully grasp it…the words grab my soul. 

We spent a glorious week at Lake Erie recently, and one morning, I decided to go down to the beach by myself to enjoy the quiet serenity of the waters.  After I walked a bit and looked for some beach glass, I sat down on a rock to just be…to admire the splendor of my surroundings…and the majesty of Lake Erie in all its glory melted my heart.  Scripture thoughts came to mind at that moment. Thoughts of how creation reflects God’s nature and who He is, like Romans 1: 20, floated in my mind as I contemplated the beauty of the place: 

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1: 20

Then, this realization came to me: everything I love about the great lake speaks to me about God and who He is:  immense, powerful, overwhelming, owe-inspiring, and absolutely, indescribably, stunningly gorgeous.  Contemplating the emotions that the lake evokes in my heart leave me breathless and speechless.  And above all…it fills me with joy.

In that solitude, I closed my eyes for it was almost too much…and something I had just read a few minutes before I made the trek down the 80+ steps to the beach came to my mind…it was just a few words:  “it is not our joy…it is His joy…” that’s when it clicked:  the joy this place fills me with is not mine, it is His joy.  And, in turn, in His joy, my heart fills up with His joy, and in that joy, I am renewed and strengthened.  The sensations I experience when the Joy of the Lord fills my soul are a manifestation of power and strength that allow me to face life and whatever comes with it…therefore, the joy of the Lord is, indeed, my strength!

Oh, how marvelous!

I breathed in the clean, morning air, deeply grateful for these moments.  And to think that the way the immensity and the beauty of Lake Erie blows me away is a pale comparison to the way Our Lord’s Majestic Presence will one day make me feel…praises flow out of my soul.  Worthy is the Lamb.  May His Joy strengthen us each and every day, as creation reminds us of who He is.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 

John 15: 11

On Wings like Eagles

 “They will soar on wings like eagles…” Isaiah 40: 31b

This portion of verse 31 in Isaiah chapter 40 has never come to live in a more vivid way that this summer when we spent a week at a waterfront property on the shores of Lake Erie.  Staying at that place was a gift from the Almighty to help us relax and unwind after an incredibly trying year.  Many blessings were discovered during that week.  But one that would be most enduring and endearing, I believe, is the eagles. 

Little did we know, when we first arrived, that the house we were staying at was in the flight path of a couple of eagles that lived in the wild, calling a tree 500 feet away from us, home.  I spotted it first.  It was our first morning waking up in the house.  As it became my morning routine, I went to my favorite spot, the area I nick-named “the sunset room” to stare at the lake.  At that moment, I saw a big bird flying back to shore from way deep in the horizon.  I followed the bird with my eyes until it disappeared among the trees nearby.  I mentioned it to Dan saying something like, “it was a huge bird…do you think it might have been an eagle?”

I’ve never seen an eagle in the wild, let alone a bald eagle.  Dan dismissed me and the day got away from us, setting the thought of the big bird aside in my brain.  The next day came, and in the early afternoon, we planted a couple of chairs under the shadow of a big tree on the little private beach that was part of the property we were staying at.  Dylan was trying to brave the cold, lake Earie waters by splashing around, when, all of a sudden…this magnificent bird just flew by, low, parallel to the lake, quietly gliding…turning his head toward us as if to make sure we recognized it.  We were speechless.  It was a bald eagle in all its splendor. 

The next day, the waters were fiercely choppy.  There was a warning not to get in the lake under danger of being smashed against the rocks.  The winds were howling.  Nobody was around…as usual, I was in the sunset room, just staring at the immensity of the sea, marveling at its raw power…and yep, you guessed it: the eagle flew by back and forth.  I called Dan and Dylan as if I had found gold.  We went outside and there he came by again.  This time, we follow him until he found what we realized was his perching branch, then, the most amazing thing, we spotted another bald eagle in the distance.  There were two!!  They performed a magnificent eagle show, flying by, back and forth…at one time we saw them both perching on the same branch.  We walked there, we saw the one up close…and watched their flying in amazement.  That day, we finally witnessed what it means to soar.

These majestic birds didn't just fly, they soared…the intensity of the winds and the roughness of the sea rather than slow them down or intimidate them, seemed to energize them.  They soared above it all powered by the strength of their wings…on wings like eagles…

The ability to soar above it all was given to eagles by God.  And He promised that we will be able to do that as well.  The same power that makes eagles soar in the high winds and above the disturbing waves…the same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives in us and gives life to our mortal beings.  (Romans 8: 11)

but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40: 31

 

We continued to see the bald eagles circumventing the lake in their majestic soaring during most of the week.  The waters and the winds eventually calmed down, but my soul was forever touched…

Salt and Light

 You are the salt of the earth... (Matthew 5: 13a)

You are the light of the world... (Matthew 5: 14a)

I heard a meditation on these two core principles of Christianity which filled me with hope, so I wanted to share my own reflections based on what I heard, hoping they will be a blessing to you as well.

The meditation reminded us that in this passages, which are part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not saying anything like, 'you will be the salt of the earth and the light of the world' or 'you could be...' or 'you might be...'  He is not saying, 'put your mind to it and you may be...'  He is saying:  "you ARE..." For those of us who are like me and do not have much faith in one's own abilities or adequacy, it is hard to believe that we "ARE" the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  People like me tend to believe the only thing we "are" is failure, disappointment, sinner, loser, lost, inadequate and overall, just profoundly flawed and incapable of "being" anything more than a mere worthless, wretched waste of good space.  It's harsh, I know...but...I can't deny I often think of myself just as described. The reflection I heard today, however, reminded me that I have actually very little to do with being the salt and the light.

The thing is...the ultimate truth is... it is not about me.  Boy, have any other set of 5 words been such a deep revelation to me, Praise the Lord that the Holy Spirit inspired Pastor Rick Warren to utter them so clearly all those many years ago in his book The Purpose Driven Life. 

It's not about me...it is not about my good deeds or my lack of thereof.  It is not about my lack of will-power or my inabilities, failures or inadequacies. It is all about the power of the Holy Spirit living in me.  It is all about that blessed Third Person of the Holy Trinity who chose to reside in me and act through me, that I can possibly be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  It is the Holy Spirit the One who is the Salt and the Light...and since He lives in my heart, in my soul...then, I'm able to be Salt and Light as well.  It is the deeds of the Holy Spirit enacted through Christians that are the Salt and the Light; therefore, we are.  

That is why Jesus says "You ARE..." because you HAVE the Holy Spirit and He is the Salt and the Light; therefore, you ARE!

That's why we are called to be like Jesus...we are to be "imitators of Christ" like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11: 1.  We are conformed to the image of the Son; (Romans 8: 29) therefore, Christ presence must show through us.  It's inevitable.  We can't help it.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined...(Romans 8: 29a) and, even in our sin and in our deeply flawed day-to-day existence, the miracle, the greatest gift is that Christ lives in us...and nothing can change that...not even us.

We strive to be like Jesus.  We seek Him first.  We try to walk with Him.  But, even as we fail ... He is there, shaping us, finding us, picking us up, never letting go.  He died, to save us!  Why would He abandon us now?  He won't.

He is the saltiness in the salt and the flame in the light.  Regardless of how perfect we might think our deeds are and how magnificently we belief we are doing our job...without Christ...it all amounts to nothing.  That is the real failure: forgetting that it is all about Him.