Wait for iiit...

“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” Isaiah 30: 18

How do we get to the point where “He Leadeth Me” is a reality? This will sound simple enough but I find it personally to be a gargantuan task; running up to the top of Canyonside Road on my old and rickety knees sounds easier and more enjoyable – after all, surrender to another’s will is not a native part of my being. We must though, if we want God leading us, we must pray, listen, wait, and after that follow. It requires that we surrender our comfort; didn’t Jesus tell us that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head and so that if we follow him it will be thus for us.

For this post I reviewed two sources; “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard J. Foster and “The First Principles” by the late John Robert Stevens. These are/where two godly and spiritual men who, typical of me, I have not grasped the complete depth of their teaching nor followed completely the maps that they’ve laid out. My lack of discipline is sometimes appalling to me; then I run with it for a while, make progress, and then let up. Time for me to wind it up and make another run.

In his lesson “Waiting on the Lord”, John Robert Stevens defines this as “active faith which seeks direction and revelation and sustenance from the Lord that His life and will might be manifested in us. It means renouncing of our wills and decisions to wait for the revelation of His will in our lives.”

I recommend reading Isaiah 30: 15-21, for now here is verse 21: “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”

After laying out several biblical examples Richard J. Foster, in his chapter on The Discipline of Meditation, tells us this about meditation: “This, in brief, forms the biblical foundation for meditation, and the wonderful news is that Jesus has not stopped acting and speaking. He is resurrected and at work in our world. He is not idle, nor has he developed laryngitis. His alive and among us as our Priest to forgive us, our Prophet to teach us, our King to rule us, our Shepherd to guide us.” Also in the chapter Foster cites Dietrich Bonheoffer when asked why he meditated, Bonheoffer replied “Because I am a Christian.”

The prayer for us as seekers, and we all should be whether we are firmly ensconced in a worshiping church or on the road to one, is this: We surrender all. We wait for your word as the watchman waits for the dawn. We know from where our help comes from, it comes from the Lord. Wherever you lead, we will follow, first and always to the foot of the cross, and then? Wherever, whenever… We know you are speaking to us, let us hear your word. We know you are leading us, let us see the path. In all things, let us see your hand.

In His grip, jerry

He Leadeth Me

He Leadeth Me

“But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose.” 1 Corinthians 12: 18

With some sadness and brokenness, a note to my friends in transition: I see that there are too many friends who now find themselves looking for a new home church. None of them that I know of would proclaim “God is leading me to my next scene, a new chapter in my walk with Him. I’m so excited!” Most are leaving with some disillusionment over the policies and politics, or personal hurt in what they now see as their former church. They are wounded travelers along an unmarked pathway, searchers for a house of worship, not unlike the men on the road to Emmaus, talking about all the things that had gone on, disillusioned, empty, and so hurt they did not recognize Jesus walking with them.

For you who find yourselves as such travelers I pray that you find Jesus walking by your side, that you see him and recognize him for who He is. I pray that the Holy Spirit will make clear to you where you are to go, how you are to worship, and how you will serve, and to make it clear to you how loved you are by God and your friends.

I woke up this morning with the great hymn “He Leadeth Me” on my heart and pray that you will be able to sing and pray this for yourselves:

He leadeth me, O blessed thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Refrain:
He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful foll’wer I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, o’er troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

In His grip, jerry

VBS 2014 - Day 5

Friday – Wrap it Up

“Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:7-8

It has been a long time between posts, especially considering that I put up the first four VBS posts the each evening of the day covered. I struggled to find a way wrap up a jam packed week of activity, blessings, and insights. It still amazes me that so much happened over a relatively small amount of time – three hours a day for five days sandwiched between some set up and clean up, spiced up with some daily preparation along with our double helping of fun at the Thursday evening Luau. And life has a way of invading the best of intensions, busy with daily activities, household projects, visits, another trip with family… And I struggled with telling more of the story without embarrassing great people with accolades they would just as soon not have broadcast for serving faithfully a God that rewards in many wonderful ways.

I’ll try to put a bow on the week just the same:

During our first session in the sanctuary our intrepid director, Ashley Pollock, shared one of the mission objectives for the week which was to collect donations to be used to buy water filters for families in the poorest parts of the world so that they could have clean water for drinking and cooking. I may be off on the numbers but I’ll be pretty close with this; we wanted to raise enough for 15 filters at $80 each so we needed $1200 for the week. Ashley laid out the challenge and promised to dye her hair blue and eat algae if we made it. She also demonstrated the efficiency of the filters that first day by pouring in some disgusting looking liquid and drinking it after passing through the system. It’s a very simple device; pour dirty water into the 5 gallon (approximately) bucket and steady drip out clean drinking water. One device will provide many years of good water.

Ashley's Algae Snack

All week we had been having great fun learning about Jesus’ incredible love for us and what love really is. Each day we were also updated on the fundraising and on this last day during our last corporate time in the sanctuary Ashley gave out the results and punctuated them by shaking out her blue locks of hair and eating algae to the great cheers, with a more than a few groans, of the crowd. We beat the goal by several hundred dollars which meant several more families will drink clean water. Love is generous and never fails.

VBS was an experience well worth the time and effort for reasons I’ve covered and some that I haven’t. Each of us walked away with something very personal, something individual, and when added together gives life to the assemblage. I imagine that, like my service to Mission Arizona, I’ll be on a year-to-year contract as the Spirit leads. I recommend that if you are even somewhat interested that you set aside the time and dive right in. There’s a place for you on Son Treasure Island.

Short video of one of our songs on the last VBS day together:

In His grip, jerry