Uncertainty

Life’s been busy lately.  Busy with goodbyes and hellos, weeping and laughing, and all of the other stuff that comes with living in community.  Busy with the kind of stuff that conjures up all sorts of questions inside.  Questions for which I have no answers right now.

There are a lot of unknowns for me in this season, and I have to be okay with that because it’s not going to change anytime soon.  But once again it’s made me aware of how desperate I can be for control, how frustratingly difficult I can find living by faith, and how deep is my vulnerability in an uncertain world.

Uncertainty.  That’s what I dislike so much.  That’s the word that makes me quake inside.

But it’s a reality.  It’s my reality right now.  And someday down the road when I think it’s not, it will still be my reality.

I would sure like to believe that all of my questions will be answered the way I’d like them to be.  And on time too.  But of that I can’t be certain.  I’m not even certain of my own self most days.

So I must return to the Way that seems so counterintuitive to one like me.  Assurance of what I hope for.  Certainty of the unseen.

There is One of whom I can be certain.

When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.  (Psalm 75:3)

 

Near

Emmanuel.

We like to use that particular name of God this time of year.  We sing songs and write Isaiah 7:14 on our Christmas cards.

With us.

I know it in my head, but does my heart really grasp it?

We worship a God who wanted to be with us.

The chasm between us — the one that was our fault, not His — was not acceptable to Him.  He wanted to be with us.  He wanted to be near us.

Christmas.  When God came and dwelt among us.  When God came near.

We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near… (Psalm 75:1)

 

How seminary students respond to the first snow

Frosty hadn’t had his V-8 yet.

This is Wilson’s distant cousin from the north.

 Clearly, someone had a productive study break.

 

Who told you that?

“Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you.  Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.”  ( Jeremiah 29:8 )

The dreams you encourage them to have.

Oh, we do like for others to promise us what we want, don’t we?

They do it for glory.  We do it for control.

But God calls it deception.

He doesn’t always give us what we want.

He doesn’t always tell us what we want to hear.

But He is the Truth.

Will we listen to Him?

 

Happy Thanksgiving

I read this today and felt that it was an appropriate reflection on this day of giving thanks.  May we be grateful for that which could have undone us and for that which didn’t turn out as we planned.  It is these things that forced us to relinquish control and cling to Him.

Thank you, Lord, for the unexpected.

 

What we’re willing to watch

Our society is so fascinated with parading mistakes online, on TV, on the front page.  We watch broken marriages, addictions, relational rifts and all sorts of indignities play out before eyes.  And because we consume it, we’re served up more of it on a platter.  Give the people what they want!

We don’t seem to mind that the brokenness of these lives is displayed for all to see.  But here’s the thing — we seem to grow disinterested when the indignity stretches beyond celebrity status to faces for whom we have no names.  It’s just so depressing, we say.  Give us more about this girl and how she cheated on that guy.  Show us more pictures of this guy making a fool out of himself because he’s high on meth.  Tell us more about this person’s drunk driving conviction.

Injustice.  Modern-day slavery.  Trafficking.  Mass rape.  Hunger.  Abuse.  Poverty.  Neglect.

If we’re going to indulge in watching other people’s sins, then perhaps we shouldn’t limit it to the ones that make us feel better about ourselves.

 

Gone

I love Washington D.C.  It is by far one of my favorite cities to visit, and I’ve loved getting to travel there for work a few times over the past year.

As my plane took off from Reagan Airport a couple of weeks ago, I looked out the window in an attempt to spot as many landmarks as possible.

I saw the Capitol, then the Washington and Jefferson Monuments.

But before I could pick out any others, they were gone.

I literally blinked, and we were completely enveloped in thick rain clouds from that moment until we landed in Boston.

I was a little miffed.  I had wanted to see more of these marvels that have stood so long as reminders of people and events and principles.

But before I knew it, they were gone.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies.  But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.  (Isaiah 51:6)

 

Time, where did you go?

We’re at peak foliage right now.  It’s breathtaking as always.

But the days are getting much shorter.  The temperatures are getting much colder.  And somewhere along the way we jumped to the end of October.

I have no idea how that happened.

These past several months have blown by, and here I sit on the eve of another New England winter.

(Of course, when it snows in mid-October, I wonder whether it has already arrived.)

It seems like that’s usually the case in life.  The days of sunshine seem to race by, and we spend much of our time feeling trapped by circumstances that will take quite awhile to run their course.  We long to stretch our legs and breathe in fresh air, different air.  Winter can be harsh and relentless.  And we end up a little stir-crazy in the confinement of the dark, cold solitude that it can bring.

But what if we embraced, rather than resisted, winter?  What if we welcomed its periodic entry into our lives?

Because there’s really no way around it (Genesis 8:22).  Other seasons we love cannot come unless we endure winter.

That snow that blankets the ground later brings life and growth.

And in due time, it brings forth a harvest.

Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.  (Hebrews 12:10-11)

 

Why we read

I fear many in the world might look at why the Church reads Scripture and be confused.

We read it to gain knowledge and information.

At times, we  read it to change the way we think or act.

And sometimes we read it to justify the way we think or act.

But do we read it to change who we are, that we may be formed in His likeness?

For the word of God is alive and powerful.  It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.  It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.  Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.  (Hebrews 4:12-13, NLT)

 

Discerning Deception

“Christian consciousness begins in the painful realization that what we had assumed was the truth is in fact a lie.”

(Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction)