It has been over a year since i posted on this blog. A lot has changed during these months, but that's not exactly why i've been silent. Honestly, i have been having a running internal dialog about the plethora of words that are crowding up the universe. Sometimes i ask myself "why do these people think anyone cares about what they have to say"? A question followed by the intriguing reality that people do care, which then begs the question: "why??" Just how many opinions, ideas, thoughts, reflections, and stories can one human brain filter in a lifetime?
i have a friend who is a journalist.
She writes important stuff.
Her writing informs my mind.
And my prayer life. As i contemplate what's happening in the world.
But i think she's unique.
What, then, do i have to offer? Why am i back?
i'm back mostly for myself. This writing is good discipline and the submission of it to review by (potentially) virtual strangers forces me to more carefully construct sentences and paragraphs so that i can be reasonably certain that i am not misunderstood. It also gives me the opportunity to work out my own thinking and reasoning as i read, and study, and walk with God...proclaiming His might to another generation.*
So here's to jumbling up the virtual sky with one more thought.
i'm clear this is in the "for what it's worth" category :-)
This morning, in the quiet of my car in the parking lot of Starbucks, i read Luke 8:22-24. i'm reading through the Bible (theoretically) --- NT in the morning & OT in the evening. i had a plan to get through in a year, but by the second week of January i was already behind. So i'm just plodding through at my own very slow pace.
So Luke 8:22-24. One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
Having read those verses hundreds of times, i was tempted to keep going. But the Holy Spirit prompted me to stop. Read again. Which i did.
i was in a pretty difficult spot this morning. Without going into the details, suffice it to say that i was (am) discouraged. And more than a little weary. But here's what the Spirit inscribed on my soul this morning:
Jesus put His friends into a boat that He knew was headed for danger.
Then He got in with them.
Stew on that for just a few minutes. Or for the whole day.
Jesus knew there was going to be a storm. He could have protected His friends, kept them safely distant from the threatening wind and waves. Instead, He put them in the boat.
Truth: Danger...hardship...disappointment...pain...wind & raging waves ARE PART OF GOD'S SOVEREIGN PLAN for my life. He is not only not surprised, He orchestrates these circumstances for my good because He loves me. Selah. (That's a psalm word that means: stop & think)
Jesus could have put those faithless friends into the doomed dingy and left them to fend for themselves, to discover their faith-deficit on their own. Instead, He got into the boat.
Truth: In the midst of those terrifying, heartbreaking, tear-stained hours (and days and weeks and months) HE IS WITH ME. This is an Immanuel moment: God with us. When my boat is filling with water, He is right there with me. Selah.
The end of the story is pretty powerful, as Jesus demonstrates His absolute authority over all of nature. And i needed that part too. The reminder that every single aspect of all of human nature and creation is at His command. It is this truth that undergirds all of the others: the wind, the sea, the ship, the disciples, these all belong to Him. Ultimately, He can (and will) do what He chooses.
Nothing has changed...i am aware that my ship might still sink. But there is a quiet sense of calm in my soul that God has ordained even this, and that i am not alone. He's my shipmate.
What's a few hundred words taking up space to say THAT?
*Psalm 71:18
