Great (from Lamentations 3)

Lord...

Your Name is great
Your mercy is great
Your love is great
Your wrath is great
Your attention to us
Is great...and a bit
Puzzling.

We aren't powerful like
Angels...or
Demons...
We aren't beautiful like
Some
Of the graceful creatures who
Glide over the land...
Fly above the earth...or
Slip through the seas.

We can be the meanest, least
Desirable of companions
Betraying one another for
Profit...
Abandoning one another for
The latest thing...or even
A younger thing
Spreading our low practice of love
To yet another
Generation.

Copying Jesus

Lord,
The only ting we can copy
Straight from You
Is Your determination
to do only
what Your Father
told You to do...
to say only
what You heard
Your Father saying...

Everything else you did
Was in direct repsonse
Both to
Your Father's words
and what
You saw the needs
Of others to be.

old is okay

Abba...
Lord Jesus...
Sweet Spirit of Holiness...

Age is Your gift
given
to us
out of the bounty of Your heart!

Even
on this dark planet,
to grow older...
is to spend more time
Depending
on You...
Walking
with You...
Listening
to You...
and...
to me...age means
I now have granddaughters
to love...

What an amazing
surprise
from Your hand
it is...
to meet and love
the child
of my child!

You NEVER Change...in the little things...

Lord,
You NEVER change...

From the beginning, You
have noticed us...never
letting us out of
Your thots...or
Your sight.

You notice the little ones...
the small things...and
make them great
significant,
real...and strong.

You noticed Moses...as
a baby, saving him from
genocide
so that he could lead
his people into
freedom...later
You enabled him to bring
Your Law down to earth
so we could read it for
ourselves.
You made Him into
Your friend.

You noticed David...
who was overlooked by his
own family...
You led him
to kill a giant...
to become a king...
to become a prophet of YaHWeH
in songs...that
are still being sung over
two thousand years later.

Lord, in the years
You walked around with us
down here...
You noticed the babies
coming to You
for blessing....
You stopped
everything
to touch & bless them.
You let us know that
You were angry
that we would stop them
from coming to You.

You noticed the
the boy with a small
lunch...that
You made sufficient
for thousands of people.

You took notice of the
girls...the women...who
were overlooked
by everyone else...and
You taught them as if they were
worthy of your undivided
attention and care.

You noticed the touch
of a poor, sick widow
slowly dying of a hemorrhage.
Again,
You stopped EVERYTHING
to speak to her
to heal her body...and
her heart.

You took notice of another
widow...and
her tiny offering
of only two bits of copper...
both together added up to
less than a penny.

You said,

"She has given more than
all the others."

"They gave from their
their extra funds."

"She gave from her need,
her empty purse...
all that she had."

Little people...
Little things...
Little offerings...these
are the things You
take special notice of.

You have ALWAYS been this way!

Why is it, Lord, that we
have such difficulty
being as satisfied
as You are
with the little things?

Why?

two years old

Lord,
seeing our two-year-old
hurricane of a granddaughter
over this past weekend has given me
new respect
for my daughter, Sarah...and
her husband, Chad.

They deal with this little
amazing girl
who needs to have her way
SO desperately
that she gives a
TOTAL COMMITMENT to everything
she does.

She does nothing unless
it's all or nothing!

Yet even as I see her express
EXTREME dissatisfaction, I cannot help
but note that she is only two years old!
She doesn't know any better.
For
this is the stage of life where she has begun
to realize that the universe
does NOT revolve around her.

Naturally, this disturbs her...
but then, she is only two!

Too often,
like a two-year-old,
I
hold my breath
stiffen my body...and
cry loudly
whenever things don't
go my way...

Too often, Lord,
I stick out my lower lip
I want to quit...and
I demand that You fix
things...to be
the way I want them
to be.

My comfort zone seems to be
as small as that of our
grand-girl...
but then, she is only two!

Is it because I want
MY kingdom to come...
MY will to be done...
instead of wanting
the waiting
the looking for
the working for
Your will...and
Your kingdom to come,
Lord?

Am I too much like our little,
beautiful
grand-girl...who
is only two?
She doesn't know any better...while
I do...at least,
I should.

Lord,
You show me so much
grace, mercy...and
a long-suffering heart.
You restrain from judgment...
over & over
giving me the benefit of
the doubt.

Your love floods
me...pouring over my fear...
my doubt...
making them into bad memories...
as long as I look at You!

When I was a child...
I thought
as a child...
I spoke
as a child...but
when I became a man,
I put away childish things.

There is SO much hope
for our grand-girl...because
she turns three in awhile...and
she
has wonderful a mom & dad who
model Jesus to her
each day.

My hope, Lord,
is in YOU...
Your Love...
Your growing Presence...in me.

Like our grand-girl, I
want You to grow me up
so that I might more & more
reflect Your face.

FIRE!

Isaiah 6 (paraphrase)
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of polluted lips, and I live among a people of polluted speech…my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Lord,
FIRE-angels flew
As close
As they could come
To You…while
Shouting the only thoughts
They could think…

“Holy! Holy! HOLY!
Commander-of-all-the-Angel-Armies!
The whole Earth
Is filled past filling
With the weight of His worth!”

FIRE
Was what one of the
FIRE-angels used
To burn away
My shame
My guilt…so
I could hear You…so
I could talk to You!

FIRE
Was what entered
My heart
As
I realized that You
The AMAZING
The CREATOR
The KING-OF-ALL-KINGS
Could hear me…
Was interested in hearing
Me…and even more.
You were intent on
Using FIRE to heal
My brothers and sisters…who
Were broken just like me…

Yes, Lord, it is true
What they say about LOVE…

“You are a FIRE!”

Us..and me…

meditations from Isaiah 6:1-8

Lord,
All I could think
Of…was
Me.

“Woe!” I said.
I pronounced my own
Doom.
I damned myself for
What I had said…for
Even in speaking
At Your request,
I knew
I had mis-spoken…for
NOW…I could see
Your glory in its brightness…
Your majesty on display.
I could see
How, without even trying,
Your majesty overwhelmed
Even the mightiest of
Created beings…who
Seemed to be made of FIRE…
Yet all they could
Think
To do or say…
Was to protect themselves
From your shining majesty
Even as they shouted
Praise…
“Holy!
Holy!
Holy!”
The God-Who-Commands-All-Power…
Commander-in Chief-of-Angel-Armies…
His awesome majesty
FILLS
All creation to
Overflowing!”

They were
Balls of streaking FIRE
Shouting un-ending PRAISE
As if their own power was…
Nothing!

All I could think
Of…was
Me.

You…on the other hand
Never
Seem to think of
Yourself…first.

From the beginning,
You have bowed
Yourself
To make the cosmos…
To people Earth
With us…
To become grieved over
Our sin…
To send messenger
After messenger…to
Help us return to
Our senses…
To you!

You never gave up
Your attempt
To re-deem us…
To re-life us…
To re-create us…for
In Your Deepest-Deep,
You loved us.

So…
While the Fire-Angels
Praised You…and even
As I shrank away
From You…
You
Were deep in a conversation
That You wanted
Me
To partner in...
A conversation focused on
Finding one more messenger
To carry word of
Your True-WORD
To us lost ones.

I had no idea!

One Fire-Angel flew
Down
To me with FIRE
To burn me clean…
So
I could hear You…and
Lose my speechlessness.

Lord,
Your great heart…
Your Deepest-Deep
Is always turned outward
In Love…for
It seems that LOVE
Is what You are.

THE MAKER (in us all)

Lord…
There she sits…little girl
Working intently
Looking at nothing else
But
The work
Her hands are doing…
The work
Her hands want
NEXT…to do.

All her effort
Goes
Into the stamp pad…
The scissors…
The colored paper…and
Paste…
Looking for a particular
Color
Every so often…and
Everything stops until
She finds it.

She makes a lake
Of rainbow-colored
Water
With unicorns,
Horses…and
A Pegasus drinking
Their fill.
Working each element together
On she goes…
Until at last,
“I’m finished.”
“It’s done!”
As she appreciates
Her handiwork…she
Waits for my encouragement.

I give it.
For I have never seen
Rainbow-colored water…nor
Have I seen horses quite
So beautiful.

What a clear picture
She gives us
Of Your heart, Lord…and
Of Your hands at work
Making
Us…and
All that is…
Until you could say,
“it is good”

Galaxies sang!
Angel armies chanted,
“JOY!”

All this
Is squeezed into
The making of each
Of us…
So that in our making
Of things
You
Might shine through.



God:

Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

Job 38:4-7 (NIV)

too smart?!?

We
Post-ENLIGHTENMENT
Christians
almost always look
for principles...
for theory...
for labels...thinking
WE gain control of
things by
labeling them...
explaining them...
sounding as if we understand them...

You, Lord,
Move Your kingdom
By a wisdom
Past
All our principles...and
All our thinking...and
All our labels...

SO...maybe
Our part SHOULD be
To look for,
To listen to,
To walk toward
Your Voice...which
Is NOT
A very enlightened
Way of seeing things at all.

Or is it?

grace or fixing things

2 Corinthians 12 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul on grace...
8
Three times I pleaded with the Lord
to take it away from me.

9
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ's power may rest on me.

10
That is why, for Christ's sake,
I delight in weaknesses, in insults,
in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Me & Jesus talking about
His plans for me...

Lord,
What is it that we REALLY want?

Do we want
Your grace?
or
Getting things fixed?

We say we want to
Keep holding onto You, Jesus...

But we want this closeness
without real cost...though
we give lip service to
"no pain, no gain"
we LIVE as if it just isn't true...
we FEEL that it should not be true.

looking at my life
I realize that grief, loss, sorrow...
all
are powerful
if painful instruments of Your grace...

my heart, all of our hearts...we want solutions...
I want to fix all my broken things...

Lord,
You seem to be less about
fixing things than You are
about drawing me closer to Yourself.
You seem to think that closeness
is preferable to lack of problems
or conflicts...hmmm...

This should be a paradigm for
ALL
our human relationships...after all,
Jesus...You know us best...
better than we do ourselves.

I think You're telling me
that closeness is better than
knowing stuff...
fixing stuff...
controlling stuff...even
ALL the stuff in my life...

kinda different
from how I was brought up, eh?

to a friend...on fear, grief & grace...

To my friend:
One thing I've learned from the San Diego week is that when grief & fear are at their highest pitch...there is far more grace than we can imagine...it's kinda like a dam ready to burst...just a nudge and God breaks out...

And while this does NOT make things easy NOR does it solve things...Jesus' Presence is sweeter the MORE we KNOW just how desperately we need Him!

So I am praying for you to be able to let the FLOOD of Jesus' grace sweep over your soul!

More to my friend:

God’s grace is NOT meant
to make things easy…
Grace is meant as God’s provision
to bring our lives toward
the good,
the holy,
the truly beautiful…
toward Jesus Himself…
so…
it necessarily means
pain, grief, suffering…and
at times protracted periods
of not knowing what will happen next…or
of not seeing the good we have attempted
take root…much less
bear fruit.

It is times like these
Where God’s words to Paul have
Their intended meaning…
“My grace is sufficient…”
“My strength is completed
in your weakness.”

To Jesus:

Lord, for me, this has meant resting
In a place of deepest discomfort…
Of tasting grief carefully
Like a fine wine…
Of peering deeply into things lost to me
With no resolution…
Of facing fear…seeing it
For what it is…then
Looking for You, Lord…in it!

Our weakness
Wedded to Your grace
Brings the ALL-mighty into the cosmos
Acting to make all things
New.
Eventually.
In the meantime…Your grace
Requires our trusting, daily obedience
To have its intended effect
In the here and now.

Lord, You are okay
With that…
How amazing is that?

Consider Jesus

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:3 NIV)

Lord,
Hateful, angry men
Conspired to murder
You…
The truth…and
Anyone…or
Anything that got in
Their way.

Even though
YOU were YaHWeH’s Good-News-in-the-flesh,
They lied about You…
They gossiped about You…
They maligned you.

You are LIFE!
You are TRUTH!
YOU are THE ONE WAY
To YaHWeH!

Yet, while You
Spoke the truth to them,
Giving out YaHWeH’s Good News…
Whenever and wherever You could,
You did not roast them
On the spot…
Instead
You worked…and
Prayed
For their repentance,
NEVER
Did You damn them…
Instead
You warned them
Of Gehenna…
Of YaHWeH’s wrath…
Of the certainty of
The YaHWeH-truth
Winning out…in
The End.

Your mission among us
Was to
Point out our dilemma
And
To offer Good News…
To pray…
To work…for our
Repentance.

In this You were
Tireless…until
At last
The Good News bled
Into earth’s dirt…as
The one thing
That could redeem
The human race.

You endured
The cross…
Us sin-driven people…
The Father’s discipline…
The Father’s final wrath…
For us.

This makes
Vivid
What You prayed:
“For their sakes
I sanctify Myself.”

What the Father
Did
To You
Was small
Compared to what
You
Did to Yourself…
For our sakes.
The Father’s discipline
Could have no fruit
Without
Your whole-hearted
Cooperation…and it
Is the same with us…
Unless
We bend ourselves
Under
The mighty hand of God,
All
Of His efforts…
Of Your efforts…
Of the Spirit’s efforts…
Will not take
Root in our hearts
Where
They are meant to grow.

Not
my will
but Yours
be done.