Imagine being the captain of a historic sailing ship – a master of commerce and an expert in trade throughout the Mediterranean. You live to taste the salt in the air, to roam from port to port, from culture to culture, bringing value, goods, and trade to each. You perform a greatly-needed service, and your work is honorable.
And, let’s just assume that you’re greatly blessed and good at what you do. Your business has prospered as you have prospered others.
And, while we’re assuming, let’s just assume that you recognize the source of all your blessings, and seek to live gratefully and humbly before your Creator.
Too bad.
Storm’s coming anyway.
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“The winter is over. The rain and snow have gone. Come away with me, my love, come away.
“I miss our time together. How long has it been since I heard the sound of your voice in the morning? Come away with me, my love, come away.
“I have seen you struggling, and I’ve heard your cries in the night. I have been with you, even when you felt alone. I have been faithful, even when you were losing faith in Me. I have been patient, even when you were impatient with Me. Now the flowers are budding, and the time of singing has come. Come away with me, my love, come away!
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It’s a story I heard a long time ago, but I can’t verify that it actually happened. But a preacher told it, so it must be true. The Smithsonian Institute conducted an experiment to see if a cork, suspended by fishing wire, could move a steel beam, suspended by a giant cable. The small cork was rigged to something that made it hit the steel beam over and over again. Time after time the cork hit the beam, and nothing happened. After many hours, however, the beam began to move. First, ever-so-slightly. Then more and more, until the beam was swinging wildly. The lesson? The persistence – the consistency – of the cork moved a seemingly immovable object.
This is about my New Year’s resolution. Singular. More on that in a minute. But first, a few other things to weave together.
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(Cool things I’ve heard somebody pray, #1…)
Joyce is an editor for New Hope publishing. I’m working with her on a book project, and last week we got together by phone to talk about it.
Joyce is also a prayer warrior. And before we did anything of a business nature, she wanted to pray. “You go first,” she said. So I committed our time and the project to the Lord, asked for His direction on our conversation, etc. – the kinds of predictable things anyone would ask the Lord’s blessing on.
Then Joyce prayed.
And I went back to school. [click to continue…]
Covenant Lakeside Hospital is under construction. Hey, it’s a hospital – nothing unusual about that. But down the hall and around the corner from what is normally the main entrance, there is an interesting sign. In big, bold, red letters on a yellow background, the Pastoral Care office trumpets, “TEMPORARY PRAYER ROOM.”
People pass this on stripped-down concrete floors, and the word “temporary” is routinely used with “under construction.” So nobody questions what the sign means. This is the place to go until the normal prayer room is available again.
But my twisted brain being what it is, when I saw it last week, it stuck me as kind of funny. [click to continue…]
