Promise Yourself

A friend of mine shared this with me. I found it to be a moving reflection worth sharing.
T.O.M.

Promise Yourself by Christian D. Larson

Promise yourself to be strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

A Prayer from Haiti

“There is a big devil named ‘discouragement’ out there. He is bothering us. Make it go away! In Jesus’ name. Amen”

The Land In-Between

Here are the study guides for the three sermons: "The Land In-Between".

“THE LAND IN-BETWEEN: FERTILE GROUND!!”
Read: Numbers 11: 4 – 35; Philippians 4: 4 – 7

The land in-between is any time we are in the middle of a journey, a race, a project or a life challenge. It is that time when are far enough away from the beginning that we’ve lost our drive, our energy and our vision has blurred, but we aren’t close enough to the finish/end to see the completion or gain energy from the fact we “are almost there.”
Can you identify one or two times when you’ve been in, or are in, a land in-between?

The Land In-Between is fertile ground for complaint.
How/why do you remember the “good old days” when they may not have been that good?
Do you ever find yourself looking back and longing for what was? What is the result?

The Land In-Between is fertile ground for emotional meltdown.
What/where is the focus when we ask “Why?” or “Why me?”
In your land in-between what has caused you emotional meltdown?
What events cause you to move to ‘why me?’ thinking and how do you respond?

The Land In-Between is fertile ground for God’s provision AND God’s discipline.
Is there an area in your life where you doubt God’s willingness or ability to provide?
Has God ever offered a “discipline” for your sinful complaint about God (different that your complaint TO God)?
What happened?

The Land In-Between is fertile ground for faith to grow.
How do you begin to thank God in your trials while rejoicing and offering prayers for God to supply your needs (supplication)?
Where do you see God at work and how do you trust God at work in the monotony of day-to-day life?


“THE LAND IN-BETWEEN: SNAKE ON A POLE!!”
Read: Numbers 21: 4 – 9; John 3: 1 - 21

In the land in-between the Israelites are getting more and more impatient. When their impatience gets the best of them, God becomes angry.
Think of a time when you have doubted that God is good and active in your life.

The impatience of Israel caused the people to speak out against God and against Moses.
What is the difference between complaining about something and complaining against someone? How does that fit here?
Is there a time in your life when a discouragement turned into a complaint against God? What happened?

Sometimes in the land in-between we erroneously conclude that God is evil, incompetent, apathetic or distracted. .
What do you think the Israelites were thinking?
What erroneous conclusions have you made about God because of life circumstances?

God becomes angry. God also gives a measure of grace.
Are you troubled by God’s response? Why? Why not?
What meaning do you find in God’s deliverance?
Do you see a connection between acknowledgement of sin and the action of “looking upon the pole”?

Jesus is lifted up on the “pole” of the cross as part of God’s redemptive plan for all people.
Who/what are the “snakes” in the Jesus story of salvation?
How is the Exodus story of a “snake on a pole” a fitting illustration of Jesus’ redemptive actions?
When was the first time you heard the words of John 3: 16?
What do these words stand for in your life?

“THE LAND IN-BETWEEN: WATER!!”
Read: Numbers 20: 2 – 13; Exodus 6: 1 - 8;
Luke 15: 1 – 7

God is a rescuer!! He loves to see people who are dying come to life. The problem is we tend to give up on people, and ourselves, before God does. Here we see Moses, fed up with the complaining, ready to leave the Israelites dead in the wilderness. God also wants to still their complaining, but also wants to rescue his people.

There is a problem of thirst in the desert. The People have given up. Moses is ready to give up too.
What gives the impression Moses has given up?
What does Moses do to “change” God’s plan? How does God react? Does Moses hold back his blessing of water?
Have you ever given up on somebody? Does God give up on them? How can you trust God with this person?
Where can you identify God’s persistence and grace in your life?

God’s covenant is rooted in Exodus 6: 1 – 8; and before that in Genesis 12: 1 – 4.
What is the promise? To whom is it made?
Make a full list of God’s promises. What do God’s promises suggest about the character of God?
What is it about humans that we have trouble believing and trusting God’s promises?

Luke records three stories of God’s faithfulness. In the parables of “the lost” we get a picture of God’s promise in Jesus.
Look at the setting of Jesus’ teaching. How/why is the setting important to the meaning of these stories?
What is the character of Jesus, the “shepherd”?
When are you like a “lost sheep”? Where do you go? How does it feel to know God is searching for you?
How can you encourage other “lost sheep” for whom God is also searching and willing to “carry” them home?

You might be interested in exploring this theme more fully in the book: "The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions" by Jeff Manion

Power Strip Faith

Those who know me best know that I've done some pretty silly things in my life. But none has been more silly than the time I accidentally plugged the power strip into itself.

I don't quite know how it happened, but amid the number of cords I was trying to plug in, I somehow got the power strip plug into my hand and plugged the power strip into itself. Then, of course, I couldn't figure out how come none of the things I'd plugged into the power strip would work. It simply didn't make sense for the longest time. Not until I noticed that I'd plugged the power strip into itself. Silly me!!

It's "silly me" as well when I try to plug into my own power and resources instead of plugging into the real source of Power, the Holy Spirit. It's "silly me" all over again when I plug into my own wisdom and goals, rather than plugging into the real Widsom and the guidance of the One who knows the future.

You see, our basic human tendency is to try to rely on ourselves to supply our power. Our human tendency is to "do it myself." with the attitude of a two year old. Our basic human tendency is to get confused about how we access the Power of God.

Now, when I'm faced with a difficult situation, now when I want to think that God has lost control or that God is incompetent, I stop to make sure that I'm "plugged in" properly--plugged in through the Spirit of God to the one eternal and sustainable power source, my Creator and Eternal provider and protector.

Actually by doing so, I avoid quite a number of "silly me" situations.

November, 2010 Sketchings

“A RESURRECTION STORY!!”

Perhaps you, as did I, followed the rescue story of the thirty-three Chilean miners with rapt attention. It was tear jerking to see that first miner rescued. After 69 days, over half – a - mile underground, he was brought to the surface in a capsule so small that I couldn’t have fit into it. The capsule was aptly named “Phoenix.”

The part that is even more interesting is how they spent the first 17 days in darkness, knowing nothing about the efforts above ground to rescue them. They lived in an area no larger than 165 square feet. The shared meager rations under a strict system so that what little food and water available would last as long as possible.

During the 52 days in-between, well this is also a story. They were given supplies through a tube that was first used to see if they had survived. The tube was barely 5 inches in diameter. Inside a “carrier” of PVC pipe about 9 feet long, was used to shuttle food, drinks, messages and medicine. After some improvement even camp beds, communication equipment and clothing supplies to be sent to make the men's lives more comfortable. The name of this shuttle was “The Dove”.

Reports say that during that time the men organized themselves to live during their waiting. No one was allowed to isolate himself with his fears. Everyone exercised, did work for the good of all, and kept engaged in living so that they could be as healthy as possible when the time came for rescue. One report contained this sentence: "They functioned like a family - a mix of love, dependence, frustration. But there were never thoughts of turning on each other."

Do you hear the spiritual applications here? Do you hear a vision of what heaven, earth and church could look like? Do you see what we can learn?

In many ways, our life is life in this small space in the universe called “earth.” The “rescue work” we call salvation is going on above. We cannot know all that God is doing for us during our times of weakness, failure, and discouragement. But we know the power of the cross and that God won’t ever forget or give up on us.

During our “holding on” time, we’re connected to God through the Holy Spirit (its symbol is “the dove”). Through the power of the cross and the connections of the Dove/Spirit we re supplied with all the resources we need to live in faith and faithfulness. We do so in order to be spiritually ready and healthy for our days on earth, before we are ushered into heaven.

As for the rest of what we do, it is done in a different kind of dark threatening environment where sin has done its best to trap and destroy us. We can’t get out of here with our own strength. We wait instead with all the patience we can muster, keep hope alive, and trust the promise. Refusing to turn on each other, we encourage one another daily to keep the faith.

I praise God for the safety of the Chilean miners. I praise God even more deeply for God’s attentiveness to my life and the spiritual supplies brought from heaven by his Holy Dove to bless me, to sustain our faith community and to shine light into the dark corners where we live.

Dancing Squirrels

These warm early fall days have really brought out the squirrels in our neighborhood. They seem to be quite busy getting ready for winter. Eating berries from our thorn-bush, digging up nuts stored in the yard, reinforcing their tree top nests.

As the go about their business they dart and dash throughout the neighborhood. They run carelessly amid what most would consider extreme danger – dancing across the narrow slats of our wooden fence, scampering through the treetops on thin branches that sag with their weight, even dashing along a high wire running through a neighboring yard.

All this they do without concern, or at least visible concern, when a single slip could mean death or injury. I would be paralyzed with fright. I get sweaty palms just thinking about it.

But the squirrels – they dance!

Even when the going is tough ...
Even when it seems the only line of support is thin and tenuous ...
Even when bad things could happen when one fails ...
Even when the wind is blowing ...
Even when things don’t go smoothly ...
Even when the work is hard ...
Even when things are slippery ...
Squirrels dance.
They dance!

Do you see what I see?

There are a lot more opportunities to dance!

”We Don’t Have Cell Phone Service”

During some of our recent time away we had the wonderful opportunity and enjoyment of spending some extended family time near Trukee, CA and nearer to Donner Lake. Yes, this is the lake near the site of the place where the Donner Party (or Donner—Reed Party) was stranded during the winter of 1846-1847, snowbound on the east side of the rugged passes over the Sierra Nevada Range and just 100 or so miles from the Pacific Ocean. A monument at the site says that when the party arrived on October 29, 1846 there was 22 feet of snow on the ground – only the tree tops would have been visible. You probably know that tsotry that only 48 of the original 87 members of the party survived and the survivors resorted to cannibalism in order to live until a relief party arrived in the middle of February, 1847, almost four months after the wagon train became trapped.

During our evening meal, around great food with wonderful fellowship, we found ourselves “complaining’ that we didn’t have very good cell phone service. Some of us couldn’t send messages, others couldn’t receive messages and our data links were less than spotty.

Then a comment was made about the Donner party and the story of almost 160 years ago. Our eyes grew big and one of us noted, “So why are we complaining about not having cell phone service?”

It was a good question, a dose of reality and an opportunity for thanks – for all the blessings of God and for the sacrifice of those immigrant pioneers who carved out the beginnings of civilization in these beautiful parts of the United States.

I’m trying to be sure that I don’t take for granted the wonderful blessings of God’s grace that allow me to live a blessed and secure life.