The Company I Keep

We know that our life is a journey and that Jesus promised to show us the way to go.  It occurs to me, though, that there are different ways to travel.

Christ wants to be my companion.  He does not want to find me lingering on the path so that He has to walk ahead and urge me to get moving.  He does not want me to be preoccupied with my other companions so that I lose focus.  He wants me to stay close so that I can hear Him.

I need to pay attention.
God will tell me where to go, but the voice I hear should come from behind me.
Whether you turn to the right or left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way.  Walk in it."--Isaiah 30:21

Every day, I choose where to go and with whom.  I look down the various paths to see on which one Christ waits for me, but I err in this.  My Jesus should be constantly near so that He gives only a gentle nudge from beside or behind, not down some far off road calling, hoping I have ears to hear.

The journey we take with our God is not supposed to involve slowing down or catching up or pulling at a lead or lingering behind.  He wants us close enough so that we can know His arm around our shoulder and expect a  sweet whisper in our ear. 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.  I will counsel you and watch over you.  Do not be like the horse or mule which has no understanding but must be controlled by a bridle or they will not come to you.--Psalm 32: 8-9

We make this journey not as master and servant, but with Father, Brother, Friend.  We make it with the sweetest of companions.

Going Out to Fish

Like you probably do, I start each day with a fair idea of what I am going to do in it.  Even when I don't make a list, I usually know whether I will go to work or the grocery store or to lunch with a friend.

But God switches life up sometimes. 

Like a couple of weeks ago, when I started the afternoon visiting with a young mom and finished it in the emergency room.  Once the dust settles, you just kind of look around, shake your head a little, and wonder, "Now what?"

I think that Jesus' disciples  felt the same way during the weeks following the resurrection.  They'd been traveling with Jesus for years.  They knew what He wanted them to do every day.  "Follow me," He told them and they did.

But now they couldn't. Overnight, their life and mission evaporated.  They couldn't follow Jesus where He was going.  Most of the time, they didn't even know where He had gone.  The heck with it, they thought.

"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you."  So they went our and got into the boat...--John 21:3

Why not?  They didn't have anything else constructive to do.  Jesus hadn't given them any other direction.  Might as well go back to the one thing they knew they were good at.

Jesus had told them once that He would make them fishers of men, but without Him, they didn't know how to begin.   Jesus had already accomplished salvation.  His work was done.  Was theirs done, too?

Then, just as suddenly as their work looked over, Jesus again lit their way.  Before the night was out, they had a boat full of fish and they were having breakfast with Christ again.  Even better, by the time they were done eating, He had begun to explain what they were to do.

Feed my sheep.--John 21:17

Peter and the gang were off and running again.  And it works the same way for us.

Sometimes, God shifts our gears and in the pause between, we feel at bit at a loss, somewhat out of focus.  But it won't last.  Just wait a bit.  At some point, He'll tell you what to do. 

And, in the meantime, you might as well go fishing.

Walk This Way

Jesus told us to follow Him, but it occurs to me that we rarely consider the length or duration of the trip.

When we think to follow, we think to embark on missions or in good works.  Sometimes, we might remember that Christ expects us to follow Him in sacrifice and death.  In other situations, we know that we must follow Him in obedience and love and compassion.  But Jesus' footsteps went much farther.

Jesus began His walk before the creation of the world and it took Him through cool Eden, across desert and drained riverbed, into a cleansing Jordan, up Calvary, through hell's smouldering cinders, and back into His Father's throne room.

From before His declaration that all was good, He already knew the plan, the cross, and the victory.  He calls us to meet Him in all these places.

Our own trip must go as far as His. We, by the grace of creation in God's image, began in promise. Then, by general fall and by personal failure, sank into sin.  The trip is not over, however, until we triumph in reflected righteousness.

We must meet Christ at every point, sacrificed for one another because He went first, then glorified together, walking away hand in hand from the folded grave clothes.

Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept.  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.--1Corinthians 6:20-22
Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ.--Romans 6:11

Already Begun, Part 5

The faith we embraced first buoyed us up (Part 1), then tore us down (Part 2) and (Part 3) , then, ragged and bleeding, brought us to the feet of Christ, the place He always intended us to come (Part 4).  Grace has seen us through.  All we need now is a good nap while we wait for heaven.

Wrong. God has more in store. 

Arise, shine, for your light has come.
and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.
For behold, darkness covers the land,
deep gloom enshrouds the people,
but over you the Lord will rise,
and His glory will appear on you.--Isaiah 60:1-2


God disciplines, but He then restores.

God will restore what he has taken a hundredfold.  He did it for Abraham.  He did it for Moses.  He did it for Job.  He did it for Joseph.  He can do it for us.

And with restoration, the cycle completes. 


The first and last instruction Christ gave to Peter was, "Follow Me."  He says the same to us.

"Take heart," God says, "I have overcome the world."  It is time for us to learn that, as we follow Him, we will overcome the world in His Name.  And we have to do it the same way He did, by walking in obedience into the place of terror and, through grace alone, walking out again, hand in hand with His Father.

We cannot access glory from ease, but whatever challenge God deems appropriate, He brings to refine the gold He deposited in us way back at the beginning, when we first put on our faith.  Now, after all the repenting and testing, He tells us to arise and shine.

Our story does not end until He accomplishes His resurrection in us.

Sweet Christ, let whatever glow emanates from our poor souls originate not from gold as I know it,  but as You do, from the radiance of Your glory.

Already Begun, Part 1

We forget sometimes that the story has already started and we have come into the middle of it.  The Bible, in presenting its genealogies, reminds us that we are works in progress, both as individuals and as parts of God's overall plan.

The story of our lives, my friends, has already begun.

Beginnings lack perspective.  By nature one-dimensional, beginnings carry no weight of history or experience behind them.  A baby, for instance, never having known any challenge or discomfort in its snug pre-born home, thinks he has plenty of reasons to cry.  He is only starting to learn pleasure from pain.  Give him time.  What produces a wail today won't even register on his radar in twenty years.

Our faith lives are the same.
No wonder we call our first look into the face of Christ being born again.

We need to spend time with Christ, too--time to learn, to experience, to trip and fall, to rise and overcome.  And time to know the difference.

We are already on the way.  2012 may be just beginning, but it does so in the middle of our journey, a journey of both years and faith. A new year may present an opportunity to stop an look around for a moment, to get our bearings, but as we do, to notice that the road already stretches behind and beyond.

The real beginning occurred long ago, in the mind of God during His first breath of conception.  Every life stretches forth from that one clear point.  Before we every looked on this world, we took our place in it by virtue of God's sovereign intent.

Only one thing remains--to reach out and grab what God has already conceived.

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me—Philippians 3:12b

On this day at the beginning of a new year, our ongoing life story does not begin, or even begin again.  It continues with resolute steps toward Christ.

And now that we have found our first place, He has more.
See Part 2

Still in Eden...

Stop. Right where you are, and look around. Don't say a word; just look. Now close your eyes. and stay there for a while. What do you hear? What sensation activates your skin? Listen for your heartbeat. Can you hear it?...soft thumps that leap unbidden somewhere within. You can slow them if you want. Concentrate.

Now take this new place and populate it. Let it fill with Eden--not with more distraction from gardens or new animals, but with God who walks with you in the cool of the day. Fill up every clear place with His presence and let Him have you. Remember His first desire for you:

You shall have no other Gods before me.--Exodus 20:3
Worship the Lord and serve Him only--Matthew 4:10

God put men first in a garden next to the Tree of Life. Only two humans lived there and God was every day with them. They knew Him in every motion and He filled every aware moment.

He still waits for us there, but He will not clear your mind and motion to make room for Himself. You and I have crowded Him out. Only we can sweep away with broad strokes what impedes His path to our hearts and minds. Shreds of Eden remain and our God still walks there in footsteps that beckon, "Follow Me."

Door Number One

In our small town of five thousand people, we have thirty churches. Not surprisingly, some of them do not agree regarding what constitutes the truth about God. For the most part, we tend to get along fine, but everyone who attends church here has, to some degree, made a decision regarding what is true and migrated to worship at a place amenable to it. At least, I hope that is what they have done.

This world, after all, is full of choices. Understanding God is the most important of them and like the other choices, I can make it the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is to look around for godly-seeming people first to see what they've chosen. What does their life look like, are their marriages healthy, or did their children seem to turn out all right?--the Bible word for this is 'fruit'--then hop on their bandwagon with confidence that I'm on the right track. That can work for awhile, but at some point I will go off course because I have chosen to follow a fellow man who I may love, but who is only a man.

God has another way:
No one has ever seen God, but God, the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known.--John 1:18
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God so that we may understand what God has freely given us.--1Corinthians 2:13

God doesn't say "Follow him," He says "Follow Me." Through His Spirit and Word, He makes Himself known and through His Spirit and Word, we can find Him. This takes work, of course, a lot more work than examining and comparing ourselves to one another. God is the measure. He is the guide. He made the world and the rules, then gave us a way to discover them.

This is what we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.--1Corinthinans 2:14

God gave us Truth and wants us to know the glory of discovering it so that we are not looking around, but looking always at Him. His Truth calls to us from behind only one of life's many doors. We cannot successfully follow any other person through the right door for any length of time. God extends His mighty hand to each one individually and He always waits behind Door #1.

Thought for today: How do you choose?

The Only Dance There Is

I have an old book titled "The Only Dance There Is" by a eastern mystic called Ram Dass. I don't like the book much anymore, but keep it because I still like the title a lot. It reminds me of You.

Lots of folks talk about how the Christian life is a walk and in many ways it is, but that walk can sometimes feel like a plod or a trudge. I don't think You mean it that way. In fact, I am sure You have more. You want us not only to travel together, but to dance.

When my dad first taught me to dance, I stood on his feet, and while he moved, I automatically followed him. Later, I stood my own ground, but had to learn to follow him or our feet would become hopelessly tangled. He always seemed to know the way and when I got it right, our movements flowed like smooth water. Gentle pressure guided me in the right direction so that we made something beautiful. Moving through the steps did not feel like work. With practice, they came effortlessly and felt like flight, light and full of clear air.

In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be confirmed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.--Roman 8:28-29

The Greek word for "good" here is agathos, which means moral goodness, eternal goodness, Your goodness. It does not mean a new car, the job I want, or even good health. And, in context, You tell me that You have the plan. You have had it from the beginning, conceived it before I was born, for the sole purpose of making me look like You.

In the same way as I practice dances according to a fixed plan drawn beforehand, I need to rise up everyday with clear understanding that I have a purpose to fulfill before You. I need to step onto the tops of your feet and learn to follow until I can do it effortlessly, without thinking. You have the dance, and it is beautiful.

Becoming the Hammer

Last week, my husband taught three six and seven-year-old boys how to use a maul for chopping wood. The tool they attempted to lift weighed around twelve pounds and they weighed only forty or fifty, so they struggled through their task, but they also gloried in the result--a satisfying crack, then the clatter as the wood parted, and they stood tall in its aftermath. They had mastered a powerful tool and done something worthwhile with it. Had my husband given them a small axe, they would have eventually achieved the same practical result, but not the same satisfaction and accomplishment.

Tools figure large in most of our lives. Almost anything I put in my hand to accomplish a task is a tool--a pen, a can opener, a paintbrush, a broom, a hammer. Almost everyone uses a succession of them every day. They make our lives if not easier, then more efficient and, the more well designed and manufactured the tool, the better it can accomplish the task. As I use a tool, it becomes an extension of my own hands, acting at my will as a means to an end I have chosen.

God wants to use me as His tool:

Commit your way to the Lord. Trust Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.--Psalm 37:5-6

God wants me to give my ways to Him, to trust Him to use me for His own purposes. The Bible bursts with examples of how God did that with other men, from Moses and Abraham and David to the apostles and Paul. They placed themselves in God's hand and let Him wield them. Sometimes God wielded gently, administering succor and gentle healing. Sometimes, God wielded boldly, cutting down and weeding out, but both accomplished His purpose.

As sons and daughters of the New Testament, we tend to see our purpose most readily as mild tools, feeding and washing and administering sweet help to sad souls, and indeed, that is part of what we are called to do. However, there are times when God requires that we be used for harder work. He gave us armor for that, both offensive and defensive weapons, so that we are not ourselves destroyed in the process because these occasions tax us more heavily, but we cannot shrink from these uses, either.

As I step out, I need to know that God will use me today. I must feel the hand of the Master at my controls, and subordinate my power to His. I settle my will and it begins. He holds me in His hand and raises it. Only He knows whether it will soothe or correct. I can feel the backswing. I am ready.

Finding My Way

A constant battle wages in my life. Its front line stretches across the corner of my desk where my calendar and my reminders usually rest. Its combatants are those written urgings on one side and Your whispered confidence on the other: "Trust me."

How much to plan and how much to trust? On one hand, I can't sashay through life without any goals in mind, can I? Yet, I know that my future is already written in the palm of your hand. This goes way beyond theoretical doctrinal issues about free will. This has to do with whether I should do the laundry and go to the grocery store today or just sit and pray for direction.

God went ahead of you in your journey, in fire by night and in cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.--Deuteronomy 1:33

Hmmm. Fire by night and cloud by day. Pretty easy to see, wasn't it? And big. Very big. So what does that have to say to me? First, that You already know where I am supposed to go. You have already planned my proper, safe, and holy course. Second, You have given me clear signals regarding how to get there.

Now, I know that the days of cloud and fire have passed, so what are my signposts today? I think that, for me, You have again provided two: Your Word, and my circumstance. Your Word points and my circumstances dictate. Sure, there are choices, but only one way shows Your clear marks. In this, You do not come behind or beside, but lead. Christ said simply, "Follow Me."

I have to look where you might be found, then go there. That is my job, my to-do list, this day and every day. So where does that leave the dirty laundry and the sink full of dishes? They call for attention, but do not really matter. These tasks need doing, but You mark the way to a higher road.

This is why my plans diminish in Your sight--they lack eternal imagination. With Your knowledge of the end from the beginning, with Your vision for the highest and the best, You can lead me to I place I can't even imagine. Your way may take me through some plain tasks like dishes or groceries, but it always goes far beyond. Your way may ignore those things, too, and only You know when it must.

So, I can fill up my calendar and my to-do list as long as I remember that they take a back seat to yours. In the end, all I have to do every day is wake up and look for You.

I have placed before you an open door no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.--Revelation 3:8

Love in Midsummer

Today began perfectly--the longest day of the year stretching out like a gift. Huge hours of light that didn't press with activity. I wanted to savor this day, to celebrate summer's respite from winter's razor sharp cold and long gray. In keeping with my mood, God met me this morning with sweet serenades about His unending love and I was ready to hear it.

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.--Jeremiah 31:3

And He has. He sang to my soul and the music became a duet. I languished in His arms. The day promised to unfold in gentle sweetness. Then I went to make a phone call. In one quick moment, He reminded me that His love is not designed to be one-sided. He expects the same out of me. That's where the day began to break down.

One short conversation reminded me I couldn't do it. I wanted to, I really did, but I don't know how to love like God. Faced with what sounded to me like selfish tears, I could only think that a person distraught enough to cry does not necessarily have good reason. Crying does not make one right. In fact, in this case, she seemed almost certainly wrong. I cared about her, but not enough to soothe her. The decisions she was making promised only a train wreck.

That, in fact, was the rub. My sad friend was crying, and I kept thinking that I have to please God. Unlike my friend, He makes the way to please Him fairly straightforward. He wants me to love. "Love me, love my people", He says. But how can I do both? How can I tell my friend that she is self-destructing and still love her? God is true to Himself and still loves all His creation. Why can't I?

The only thing I know how to do is to follow His instructions in the order He gave them. Love Him first, then be as gentle with my friend as I know how. I don't think I did very well, but the love God showed me in a long day lush with promise He also shows my friend. If I behaved harshly toward her, He does not. If I can rest in His love for me, I can also rest in His love for her.

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor future nor any powers, neither height nor depth or anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.--Romans 8:38-39