Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable (Psalm 145:3).
Lots of comfortable, well-worn words here. Sometimes familiarity can hide the truest meaning of the language.
For example, God is “great.”
(God is good, let us thank Him for our…)
Hang on a minute. [click to continue…]
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Morning seems to come more quickly in Bethany. This village, whose name means “House of Affliction,” sits on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. Seems fitting, I suppose. One of three designated healing centers in Israel, Bethany is certainly no place for slumber. Even one of the town’s leaders, Simon, has earned the nickname “the Leper” for obvious reasons.
This place gets up early for healthcare.
In one particular house, the residents have yet to sleep. There a man named Lazarus lies very ill, and nothing seems to help. His sisters Martha and Mary care for him around the clock. Martha has spent the night on her feet; Mary has spent the night on her knees. Nothing has helped.
If only Jesus were here. That’s the conclusion both sisters – usually so different in perspective – agree upon. They know Jesus loves them uniquely; their home has been His refuge. Jesus faithfully and completely heals perfect strangers. Lazarus He loves! This is a no-brainer, if they can just get word to Him in time. [click to continue…]
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(Looking up from below Deer Bluff. The picture doesn’t do it justice.)
Family reunion at the farm, and it was crowd-ed. People were in every nook and cranny, and I don’t even know what a cranny is. I just needed to get away and spend time with the Lord. I so wanted to be refreshed by His presence and hear His voice speak to me in the way only He can.
What better way to do that than to enjoy the Father’s presence in nature? I was about 16 at the time, and for me that could only mean one thing – mount Grandaddy’s old Ford tractor and make the trek to the enchantment of Deer Bluff. [click to continue…]
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I think I’m going to do it again.
I think I’m skipping New Year’s Resolutions for something that for me and many others, has seemed to work much better. I’m referring to building my year around one simple, clear theme that reflects where my spiritual, mental and overall life wheels have been turning.
You can read more about the idea behind the idea here.
What’s interesting is that in establishing that one-word theme, you have no idea at the start where it may take you. My one word for this past year was Lean. You can read more about it here. This year I have learned much about leaning in, leaning on the Lord, and getting lean than I bargained for. Some of that was a case of seeing the light; some was a case of feeling the heat.
To be clear, I didn’t always lean well this year. But I learned more, experienced more, accomplished more, and was challenged more by that level of focus on that one word than if I had made a list of New Year’s resolutions.
So. What about now? What’s this year all about?
To get a clear idea, I knew I’d have to go to the Sanctuary – to that place where I seem to hear the Lord more clearly than anywhere else.
Time to head to the shower.
I happened to be in Athens, Georgia for my nephew’s wedding, and my hotel room just happened to have a shower readily available. So there in the steady spray of life and spirit made possible by the Holiday Inn Express, I began to wait on the Lord and search for my Descants of the Soul. What has been the “back beat” – the song behind the song – of my life over the most recent seasons?
If I had turned it into a dialogue between me and the Lord, it would have gone something like this: [click to continue…]
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There are two kinds of productivity – productivity in the urgent and productivity in the important.
Productivity in the urgent involves deadlines…
checklists…
stress relief…
making a living. [click to continue…]
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In his profile of University of Alabama quarterback A. J. McCarron, John Wertheim describes a scene that took place when the record-setting quarterback first arrived and joined the team as an 18-year-old freshman.
At his first intrasquad scrimmage McCarron was grouped with walk-ons, facing the defensive starters. He was sacked early and often, and wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t even remove his cleats before marching into Coach Nick Saban’s office afterward.
“I need to talk to you,” he snapped.
“O.K.,” said Saban.
“You want me to show you what I can do, how I can play? Well, I can’t do s— when you put me with walk-ons who can’t even block. I don’t understand why you don’t put me with the [starters].”
“Why? Because today we were testing your leadership,” Saban said, barely looking up. “And you failed. Miserably.”
Life is filled with little tests (and big ones), and they aren’t always what they seem. Tests of faith. Tests of skill or knowledge. Tests of character. Tests of performance. And yes, tests of leadership.
Most of these tests reveal themselves in the rearview mirror, not in the windshield. It’s only after the fact that we can truly see them for what they are. What we can do, however, is use hindsight to identify when others faced tests of leadership and learn from their successes or “miserable failures.” Here are five ways to recognize when your leadership was being tested: [click to continue…]
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In the stillness of the night or the glory of the morning that is Christmas, my prayer for you is that beyond the traditions and trappings, through the gifts and the connections, you approach it all with a heart that is fully awake and aware of the Larger Story and the part you still must play.
I pray that you would fall in love again this Christmas with a first-love kind of desire for Jesus, whose birth we celebrate. I pray that your soul would find in Him and in those whose lives you touch the sweetest of love that gives graciously, forgives completely, and waits patiently when you or I fail miserably.
I pray that you have those God-breathed encounters in which your heart is so full you are lost in the moment. I pray that your heart is so captured with the wonder and joy of the presence of God, even in the simplest of experiences, you could stay in that moment and hold Him tightly. [click to continue…]
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It isn’t “Peace on Earth.”
It isn’t “Good will to men.”
It isn’t “Wise men still seek Him” or “Joy to the world,” true and wonderful as all those things are.
Read through the different accounts of the first Christmas, and the most common thing you will find is a variety of ordinary people like you and me coming to grips with their fears. And the message of Christmas again and again is, “You don’t have to be afraid.” [click to continue…]
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Evening falls quickly in Bethany, as the sun seems to drop like a rock on the other side of the mountain, and beyond that, the Holy City of Jerusalem. And in this village – whose very name means “house of affliction,” the mood often seems to do the same.
There always seems to be something else to do in Bethany, this place of never-ending chores. This village, one of three in Israel set aside to treat the sick, is a place of care and service. Duty and devotion. Its residents usually find a sense of satisfaction there.
But not this time.
Not when duty and devotion means saying good-bye to one of its own.
One of Bethany’s most cherished servants, from a deeply respected family, has died giving birth to a beautiful baby girl. And in this House of Affliction, the hits just keep on coming.
The official time of mourning now passed, duty calls, and the people of Bethany, still reeling, must man their stations. And as 12-year-old Martha trudges through her evening chores – something she once relished doing with her Mama – no one feels the unfairness of it all more than she. [click to continue…]
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(The Twelve Names of Christmas, Part 1)
As you may have detected from one of the previous posts, we spent last week in the magical confines of Disney World in Florida. “We” means all 15 of us – kids, spouses, and grandkids from age 5 to age 11 weeks. And, of course, about 12 thousand of our closest friends.
Every once in a while in this sea of strangers, about half of whom weren’t speaking English, I’d see somebody with that familiar cursive “A” on a cap or shirt, and out it would come – that instant bond forged among strangers as the result of two simple words: Roll Tide! And brother, it was instant. Truth be told, I did see a few people wearing blue and orange and was tempted to say “War Eagle!” to them, but just couldn’t get words to form in my mouth.
And if you have no idea what any of that last paragraph means, never mind.
There is another rallying cry, however, I do want to tell you about. In times of trouble in ancient Israel, including times of going into battle, they would summon courage and unity with one simple word:
Immanuel!
Immanuel was their way of expressing confidence that God was present with and fighting for the cause of his people. And it was no accident that when Jesus arrived on the scene in Bethlehem at that first Christmas, one of his biographers made mention of it: [click to continue…]
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