How thirsty are you? (Psalm 42:1-2)

Have you ever been thirsty? I have. I can think of times on hot days where I was working outside, sweat pouring, body aching, and the thirst. The thirst was so bad that I wanted to drop everything and run to get something wet; anything wet would do, but something, even just a drop to dampen the tip of my tongue. Yes I have been thirsty, but have I really been thirsty?

I can think back to movies where they portray a wandering man, dehydrated to the point of death, clawing his way along the desert floor. He is so weak that he can’t even stand. The scene cuts to the blaring hot sun beating down at its strongest in the afternoon. Then we see a long range shot of the man lying on the desert floor, nothing around as far as the eye can see, and the sand is so hot that you can see the heat cascading up from the dunes. He has gone days without water. So desperate that he eventually starts to imagine things, sees mirages. There are stories where it gets to the point that the individual starts drinking sand.

This is real thirst. So thirsty that you would do anything for water, even imagine it is there and drink sand. Thinking of this, I thank the Lord that I have never been really thirsty. Yes, my body has longed for a sip of something to quench a minor inconvenience, but nothing like real thirst. I would venture to guess that most reading this post would have to say the same thing.

The great thing about the concept of thirst is that it is something that everyone can relate to. You see, water is our life source. Most doctors agree that the average person can survive 4 to 6 weeks without food. On the other hand, an average person on an average temperature day can only survive about a week without a source of water.

Symptoms of dehydration range from mild to severe. We have all experienced dry mouth, maybe loss of tear and sweat production, maybe even cramps and nausea due to dehydration. But, as the body becomes even more dehydrated, the heart begins to pump harder in order to keep the level of blood supply up, the veins and capillaries constrict, blood volume begins to diminish. All this leads to confusion and weakness as the brain and muscles begin to receive less oxygen. If left to continue, organ failure, and even death will occur.

I understand that this is all common knowledge, but how many of us have ever thought to stop and think about it? What would happen if? I doubt many of us have. It is not a common problem. If we get thirsty we just go over and grab a cup of water from the sink or and ice cold bottle from the vending machine.

Even though we do not ponder thirst all that much in our daily lives, there is something we should ponder every day. That is our thirst for God, His Word and the Holy Spirit. The Psalmist writes of a deer panting, thirsting for water and compares it to his own souls longing, thirsting, and panting for the Lord.

Do we do this? Can we compare our thirst, even the mildest thirst we have ever experienced, to our thirsting after God? Does your soul feel dry like the tongue of a thirsty man? Do you claw at the ground, seeking out soul quenching wisdom from the Word of Life? Each day, do you start anew with the longing of guidance from the Holy Spirit? Can you say that the quest, the need for the presence of God is so ingrained in your person, that by a pure act of instinct you are walking through the dense forest, hopeful for even a glimpse of the waters edge?

You see, God is our life force. We should seek Him out, daily, hour by hour, minute by minute. We should long after His heart, His word, His Spirit like the deer longs to touch its dry and thirsty tongue to the waters surface. Each day should be filled with the unyielding desire to dwell in the house of the Lord. Each moment we should be wanting, no yearning to feel His presence in our lives, guiding, teaching, protecting, nourishing our very essence. God, like the waters edge, should be our never ending quest.

So, how thirsty are you? If the time was taken to search out your life, your desires, how dehydrated is your soul, your mind, or your heart? Do you truly thirst after God or do you just fill up your glass at the tap or slide the dollar in the vending machine whenever you get the urge to, and forget about it the rest of the time?

Just as I am encouraging myself, I encourage you to make each day new. Start each morning with a promise that today, today you will try to thirst for the soul quenching water of life, the kind that only God can provide. I implore you to long for the waters edge, the presence, purpose, power and provision that can only come from Him.

That wasn't God... was it? (Matthew 14:25)

Life is happening all around you. You are just sitting there, quietly waiting, trusting, obeying and watching. Watching for God to give you a sign, tell you what to do next. It can be frustrating, not knowing. The times of quiet or storm, where we don’t hear or see God, and are struggling to discern His will for our lives.

I have been there. In fact, looking back over my journey with the Lord, I find myself there many times. I can remember the frustration because I was so longing to move on to the next thing, get going to the next task. I knew I was not at the place where God wanted me, but I had not heard from Him on where I should go next. Yes opportunities came and went, but there I was, waiting. Waiting for the right one, the clear choice, the discernible voice, the one He had chosen for me.

God only knows we don’t want to step out on faith without a clear leading from Him. I have heard it said that a leap of faith off a cliff that God did not place before you just ends in a bloody mess. Who wants to be a tangled mess of a human being lying at the bottom of a cliff? Not I said the fly.

Now we have all heard the story of the guy during the flood that turned away the truck then the boat then the helicopter, saying to them that God would save him. Then when he inevitably gets to heaven he questiones God. Gods reply “did you not see the truck, the boat or the helicopter.”

This story is true enough, and applies in times where we are missing subtle or sometimes blatant opportunities from God. There are other times though. Times where we may miss seeing God, not because it just doesn’t feel like Him or we are just missing a subtle clue or nudge, no there are definitely other times. These are times when God is standing right in front of us, clearly Him, no disguise, no subtlety, just Him in all His glory, standing and waiting for us to understand.

There was a time like this in the Bible. It is a wonderful snippet of a well known and well loved story. Let’s set up the scene, shall we. It is a dark and stormy night, gale force winds blowing from all directions, unrelenting rains pouring from the heavens, waves crashing, first to one side of the boat, then on the other.

The disciples are tired; it has been a long day of ministry. Just when they had thought there would be rest Jesus commands them to get in the boat and go to the other side. I am sure at least one of them thought that Jesus was mad and should let them rest, the other side could wait until morning. But, trusting, they go and they find themselves in this mess.

I can imagine sitting in that boat, wondering what I had gotten myself in to. It might of even crossed their minds that Jesus was really a lunatic. If they had just waited, they would have missed all this storm stuff and been sleeping safe and dry in a nice bed. But no, they had to follow the directions of God’s son and paddle across to the other side. Mad, I am sure they were thinking. What is this accomplishing, they may have asked.

In times like this we tend to become complacent. We are so focused on our situation that we forget to be looking for God. We are so focused on what we think the solution is that we may miss the one staring us in the face. It does not have to be a storm, although many times it is. It could be a nice sunny day, sitting on the porch, enjoying a nice ice cold cup of fresh squeezed lemonade with friends. A day like any other, but God is speaking, and you are not hearing. God is there, but you are not seeing.

Jesus came to the disciples. One would think that they would be leaping for joy, jumping up and down with glee, relieved of their situation. But no, the human condition would never allow for this. So the disciples do the predictable thing, they cry out in fear. In their desperate confusion and lack of attention they mistake Jesus for a ghost.

Why, one may ask. Well, how many people have you ever seen walk on water. But Jesus was not a normal person you may say, and the disciples had seen him do many wonderful miracles. In fact, just that morning He had fed the 5,000. Yes, but hindsight is 20/20. Again I ask, have you ever seen anyone walk on water?

The point is that Jesus came to them in a new way. Now if he had just appeared in the boat, maybe they would have reacted differently. But he didn’t. Jesus walked on the stormy sea, and they freaked out.

The problem is that we get so use to the way we think God works that when he works in a different way, we not only fail to see it but if we do we mistake it for something other than Him. Many times, we even say it is of the Devil or some evil thing at work.

What we fail to understand is that God comes to each person in a way that is completely sensitive. Sensitive to the makeup of the individual, the surrounding situation, the place they are in life, the understandings of the times. Can you think of any major characters in the Bible where God came to them, spoke to them and treated them in the exact same way?

God’s communication to us is like a beautiful snowflake. It is an intricate structure of events, circumstances, opportunities, advice, wisdom and reflection that is as unique to each person and situation as a single snowflake is to the white, wintery world in which it falls.

Let’s say you had never seen a snowflake before, how would you react when you saw it, felt it, tasted it for the first time? What would you call it? Would you understand that the snowflake is really just a drop of water that has frozen in to an intricate patter of crystal structures? I highly doubt it.

Just like me, you would be dumfounded, wondering what it is. You would not realize that it is the same thing you have known and drunk all your life. You would fail to see it as the sustainer of life, quencher of thirst, cleanser of dirty things. You would not guess in a million years that it was something you used every day, just in a different form.

Do you do that with God? Do you fail to see Him staring you in the face, beckoning you to go this way or talk to that person, get involved in a new ministry or give to another organization? Has God been speaking to you while you are looking for Him? Has He been standing right in front of you, beckoning you to the water, while you sit there and ask yourself, that wasn’t God, was it?

The two that are one... (a continuation)

I wanted to address some confusion from my post from yesterday on “The two that are one.” After hearing from some people and re-reading my post I see where there is some confusion as to the emotional part of love. I was in no way intending to downplay the “feeling” of love. The feeling is vitally important, not only to the beginning of a relationship, but is foundational in its continuation as well.

We all remember that feeling. I certainly do. It is that time that you see the person across a room and your stomach gets filled with butterflies. Many people say “it was love at first sight,” and they are right. That feeling we get is love, a true part of love. If we did not have the attraction, the first feeling of love, we would never get together with anyone (biblically that is).

This feeling of love is important throughout the entire relationship. It is that walking home after a long day and seeing your spouse, cooking dinner or playing with the kids and you get that feeling, the feeling you just cannot explain, and you think to yourself “I could not imagine my life without them.” If I had to describe it, I would have to say it is like the rainbow shining with the sun after a rainy day, it is the morning dew rolling across your feet as you walk barefoot through the morning grass, it is the sound of ocean waved crashing on the shore as you sit by a fire on the beach and watch the beautiful colors of a painted sunset with your love wrapped in your arms.

This feeling is important, and will last throughout your entire marriage. It is the fuel that keeps the fire burning. This being said, without the choice of love, the choice of relationship, the choice to work through the times where the feeling may not be as strong as you would like, our marriages would fail. It is the understanding that the feeling is just that, a feeling, and as our human condition dictates, we are faulty when it comes to emotions.

To just rely on our emotions would leave us in a state of anarchy. Our emotions come and go, we feel happy then sad, joy then sorrow, love then anger. This is why the choice of Agape love is so important. It is this agape love that gets us through the times where the fires may not be burning as bright as they once use to. This is the key to a steadfast marriage. The choice to love each other with the all forgiving, never failing, completely submissive love the only comes from choosing to love our spouse with the love that God has given us. When we do this, we will truly have lasting marriages.

I hope this clarifies the thought I was espousing upon yesterday. Love is an intricate and hard thing to truly grasp. With the help of the spirit and the guidance of scripture, we can truly achieve a marriage that glorifies God and testifies to the truth of His word.

The two that are one… (Matthew 19:4-6 NIV)

Today is such a happy day. It is my anniversary. Six years I have been married. Six wonderful years (at least that is what I am supposed to say, right?). Well, I am sitting here today, pondering my marriage and what awesome thing I can do for my wife (that does not cost a lot of money) and in that I am asking myself a simple question. What one thing? What simple truth has kept your marriage together? Why, in this day of six minute marriages, has yours lasted for six years? How have the two of you kept it together?

The answer is simple, the word of God. Now this is not to say that my marriage is perfect, it is not (ask my wife about that one). What is true though is that, just as our walk with Christ on an individual basis is about growing and perfecting our faith, so our marriage is on the same quest. Now, we have our moments of, “adult conversations,” but we have so many more of great times, full of love and family.

I do have to admit that the big “D” word or thought has come up a time or two but we always seem to work it out. I think most of this boils down to an agreement we made before we got married. When we entered in to our covenant with each other and God, we understand that we were choosing to love each other.

Now, that is a huge difference between what society puts out there for all of us to see. When people on the street speak of love they talk of that feeling, you know, that wonderful feeling like you are on a cloud. They speak of how attracted they are to each other and how they hope they never fall out of love. You see, I strongly feel that this simple misunderstanding of love is one of the key reasons our divorce rate is so high. People get a high off the feeling of love and forget about the action of love, the choice of love.

God is the perfect example of this. All through scripture God has chosen to love us. He chooses to forgive, he chooses to bless and he chose to send his only son to die so that we may live. The act of marriage is so sacred that Jesus says “the two will become one flesh.” Think of this amazing fact. And Jesus goes on to say that no one should tear it apart. No one! Not even the two who entered in to it can tear it apart. Why? If we are one flesh, what does that mean?

While pondering this question, I got one of those parable moments. Now, this is not as good as Jesus would have come up with, but it makes a good point. Think of a piece of paper. What is it? Simply put, a piece of paper is a marriage of wood (in this case lets say wood from two trees). Through life processes, time and energy, these two trees are married and become something new. You could say that they have become one flesh in this piece of paper.

Now, I want you to take a piece of paper right now. Look at it. It is one, whole piece of paper made from a marriage of wood. Now, rip it in half. Go ahead, do it. Look at how it tore. Now what do you have? Think about it. You still have one piece of paper, it is just torn apart. Now take another piece of paper and try to attach one of the torn pieces of the first to it. You can use glue or paper.

I guarantee you this. No matter how hard you try, you will never get a perfect fit. Once the paper is torn it is torn. Even if you tear the other piece as carefully as possible and try to join a piece from each, it never fits together perfectly. You still have two torn pieces of paper with jagged edges trying to fit with each other.

Marriage is like this. If we fail to remember that we chose to make the covenant, we chose to love each other, we chose to walk this path and we must choose each and every day to dedicate this walk to God, to place each other first. We must choose to grow with each other and we must choose to continue, even when things get hard. If we remember the choice, the choice to love each other with the Agape love of God, the love that he loves us with. When we make and remember this choice, we will make it through the times when the “feeling” may not be so strong.

When I look over the past six years, I see a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Some not so great times, some terrible times, but many good times and a whole bunch of just living times. I see, and am so proud of the fact that we have chosen to persevere. We have chosen to take the road less traveled in this world. We have chosen to follow the word of God, we have chosen to love.

I love you babe and I look forward to a lifetime of choosing to love you. I thank God for you and thank you for the love that you choose to give me, freely. For if you loved me half as much as I love you, it would be twice as much as I deserve.

Love always and forever,

Your grateful Husband

When I feel far away… (Matthew 27:46 NIV)

Sometimes in my life, when things seem to be at an all time low, when the proverbial quoting of Murphy’s Law does not even seem to convey how I feel, at times like these I feel far away. Do you ever feel far away? Have the feeling that the poet in Footprints conveys when he looks back over his life and, at times, sees the signs of only a single traveler. Maybe feeling the way that Job felt, you know at that small moment in time, just before he questioned the Lord. Maybe right now you feel like a lone traveler, walking a dark and dreary road on a moonless night.

At times like these we often wonder if anyone knows how we feel. Maybe it is that you have lost your job, are on the verge of loosing your home and are at a time where you feel so out of control that you lash out at everyone around you. You may be sitting in your car, returning from another failed interview and just feel like swearing, cursing and yelling at God while you hit the roof and kick your feet in a fit of despair. Maybe you are reading this after lying in your bed, with your head buried in your pillow so no one could hear the screams and cry’s, the pillow wet to the core with the stains of your sorrowful tears.

I know this feeling. I think we have all been there at some time or another, stuck with this feeling of aloneness. There is no worse place to be as a human than to be alone. It is in our nature to seek out relationships and surround ourselves with people. Just look at the extent people go to in order to get others to accept them into their circles. Sometimes though, we can be in a crowded room of our closest friends and still have that dreadful feeling of aloneness.

It is at times like these that I like to remember the story of a man who, in my own humble opinion, must have experienced the most dreadful feeling of abandonment and aloneness in the world. I think of the pain he must have endured, much more than any physical pain suffered by any man, at the moment where he felt so utterly alone and cut off from all that he knew, loved and counted on. A moment that was so powerful, that it has been recorded for all eternity. The cry ,“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” to be echoed through the halls of time. This cry. The cry of our savior at a time where He felt so alone that these words blared out. They blared out from a tortured soul and battered body, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This is the man who walked daily with the Spirit. A man, who by his very conception, was a miracle, a person so in touch with God that he astonished even the most learned of his time as a boy. This man of devotion, prayer and service who willingly walked in to the hands of his persecutors and torturers, and faithfully laid his life down on the cross for those who did not even have the courage to admit to being his followers. The Son of God, at that moment in time, felt so far away that he cried out. Not only did he cry out, but he begged his Father for an answer. An answer as to why he was so alone.

When I think of this I realize that I am not alone. Christ has been here. He has experienced far worse than I could even begin to imagine. He knows my pains. He knows my sorrows. He has promised to be there for me. Yes he has promised to be there even until the end of the age. He will never leave me, nor forsake me. He loves me, knows me, and yes, he knows where I am and how I feel, for he has been there before me.

No, I am not alone and God is not far away. I am reminded that when it is dark and difficult to see around me. When I am in the midst of the chaos and fog of uncertainty, it is times like these where even the things closest to us seem far away. And when in the fog, when I feel most alone, all that is required of me is to raise my voice. For while darkness and fog, storms and rain may blur the vision and trick the eyes, there is nothing it can do to silence the words of my praise, prayer and adoration. The important part is that after the cry for help is spoken. After the praise and adoration are echoed. Sit still... Be silent... Listen intently... For the still small voice that reigns from the Heavens will be there. Train your ears and know. Know that God will answer, He will deliver, and He will overcome. For just as Christ was not truly forsaken, neither are you.

God is here; he has always been here and he will always be here. And just as the poet is told at then end of his poem, when he was so focused on what was happening to himself, when he saw only the single set of footprints in the sand, when he was so self centered that he failed to realize that it was Gods footprints and not his own in the sand. Where he saw one traveler... there were really two. When he saw only hopelessness and darkness there was really hope and light. Where he saw only pain and sorrow, there was truly healing and joy. It was only that the one, himself, was so tired and so weary from his troubled journey that the other, the stronger, carried him.

Daddy... (Matthew 3:9)

“Our Father…” (Matt. 3:9) Since Fathers day is coming up I thought this was appropriate.

How often do we sit and let God be our Father, our Papa, our Daddy, our Abba? God so desires the relationship of a father to His child. By coming to Him with the innocence, devotion, loyalty and love of a child, we learn to see God in such a different light. He is not just our provider, or protector. He is not just someone we come to when we need help. He is someone we look up to, we model our attitude after. The closeness and perspective change that this attitude brings is irreplaceable.

Most children idolize their fathers at some point. When asked what they want to be when they grow up, the response is often associated with how the see their fathers. I know that we all do not have the same feelings for our earthly fathers. Some of us had great fathers, while others had abusive ones. I understand this as I truly did not have the best relationship with my father growing up. For some of us it is difficult to picture our Heavenly Father. For this reason there are two things I like to think about. The first comes from a song I heard the group River sing. It speaks of learning from our fathers example, “of what I would and would not like to be.” The second is this. Picture everything you could think of that you would like in a perfect father. Close your eyes and let the feelings flood you to your core. Now take this and multiply it by infinity. This is what your Heavenly Father is like.

So this Fathers Day, take a moment to remember your Heavenly daddy. Close your eyes, step in to His presence, take a leap of faith and give Him a great big hug. It will not only bring joy to Him, but peace to you as well.