Dance

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My Daddy and I went out to the paddocks where the horses were. I loved watching horses. Even at that young age, I was taken aback by their beauty. I loved to watch them running free. I loved to watch them with a rider with whom they were comfortable.

There were several riders out that day running with their horses. “See over there?” my Daddy said, pointing to a beautiful quarter horse and its rider. “See how the rider needs to pull pretty hard to get the horse to turn?” I nodded.

“Look over there,” he continued, pointing to the most beautiful thoroughbred horse I had ever seen in my life. You could see its strength as it ran, it muscles rippling as he strode. It was so much bigger and stronger than the quarter horse.

“Do you see how the thoroughbred horse turns when the rider lays his reins on the side of his neck?” my Daddy asked. I didn’t answer and watched for a while. It was true. The rider barely laid his rein on the horse’s neck and the horse turned.

“Every day they come out here to practice, and the horse gets better and better at moving with his rider. Even though it’s a stronger horse and could do whatever he wanted to do,” my Daddy said, “it learns to turn when he first feels the direction of his rider. That’s the mark of a great horse, a thoroughbred.”

I continued to watch the beautiful dance between the thoroughbred and its rider for a while longer, and then my Daddy said, “That’s the way we need to respond to our Lord Jesus when He directs us. We should move with Him the first time we feel Him directing us to change our course. That’s the mark of a faithful child of God, a disciple.”

To this day, when I see a thoroughbred and its rider dancing that dance, I am reminded of the dance that we and our Heavenly Father dance every day. Ever so gently, he directs us to move with Him as one. Every day, we have opportunity to learn how to do that better as we dance the dance together with Him.

We are caught up in the wonder of that dance, solely focused upon Him and His loving touch as we move together.

But somewhere, over at the edge of our lives, there is someone standing and watching.

Somewhere, over at the edge of our lives, a little child is gazing as we are learning to dance that dance with our Heavenly Father, as their own Daddy says, “You see over there?”

Dance.



Click on the arrow in the middle of the video screen to watch a wonderful music / video clip about horses and their riders.







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Who Do You Trust?

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“Bill, do you trust me?”

There was no audible voice but I believe I clearly heard Him speaking into my spirit. After recording the message I wrote down my response.

“Yes, Lord,” I answered, excited to be communicating with the Divine yet somewhat apprehensive about what else I might hear. Displaying my own lack of self-confidence I quickly added, “But I do not trust myself.” The Lord’s reply flowed so quickly and effortlessly from my pen I really don’t remember it passing first through my own mind. When I saw what I had written I dropped my pen and stared at the words in disbelief.

“Do you trust me to trust you?”

Read the rest of Nameless, Faceless Love friend Bill's insightful and inspiring post, entitled Who Do You Trust?, over at Living Hope Thoughts.



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No Shortcuts For Butterflies

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Billy and Susie could not wait. They had watched the caterpillar create its cocoon, and now racked with suspense as they beheld it every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge.

Able to wait no longer, Billy had an idea. “Susie,” he said, “We will help the butterfly! Let’s get some scissors and cut the cocoon open for him. Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.”

After much convincing, Susie agreed and they proceeded to get a pair of scissors and oh, so gently cut open the cocoon. Inside lay the butterfly they had so longed to see. Their eyes lit up the moment they could see his wings, and soon the wings began to flutter. It was only a few minutes, however, that they knew something was desperately wrong.

The butterfly wasn’t flying. It was as though he couldn’t. He just laid there flopping around and, soon thereafter, their beloved butterfly died.

What Billy and Susie didn’t yet know, and we as believers sometimes forget, is that butterflies will die if you cut open their cocoon. Why? Because God made it so that it is the struggle of them constantly flexing their wings against the walls of their cocoon that strengthens their wings to the point that they can fly when they emerge. Without that struggle, they are helpless, weak, and will soon die.

Sometimes we ponder why God might allow us to feel trapped within situations and even seasons in our lives. Why is it taking so long for this to end? Why can’t I immediately break free from this as I have from other situations in my life in the past? Why is this struggle so hard?

Perhaps our Heavenly Father has purposed to bring about a great transformation in our hearts and lives, to through it change us to be more like His Son and our Lord Christ Jesus. Perhaps we need to struggle to strengthen our wings for this new season. Perhaps the struggle that what we perceive to be so hard is actually a new life being born.

Jesus entered the cocoon of the grave for us all, and emerged as the Savior and Captain of our souls. He's been through it. He knows what it's like. So don't hesistate to ask him for His help.

Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let's not let it slip through our fingers. We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.
Hebrews 4:14-16

Don’t try short-cuts. Put away the scissors. And keep flexing those wings. In just a little while, you’re going to need them to fly.



Below is a time-lapse video of a Monarch butterfly emerging from its cocoon. Look familiar? View the end result.







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You Formed Me In My Mother's Womb

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Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.
Psalm 139:13-16

Prayer at 10,000 Meters

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Joy, Jocelyn and Jonathan over at Paving the Way have an interesting post about the importance of prayer in our lives. Enjoy.

I sat next to a serious Muslim on the flight to Dubai. Even before take-off, he was reading the Koran. After flying for 4 hours, he anxiously asked me to open the window shield. He needed to find out when the sun set [was]. And that’s time for his prayer.

Read more of Prayer at 10,000 Meters at Paving The Way)

A Faith Forged In The Fire

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Dedicated with overwhelming love to my dear friends K and C, with whom I have seen Jesus walking in the fire.

There once was a man who was ship-wrecked on a desert island. All on board his vessel died but him, and he was all alone on the island.

He set about to build a small house and couple other small structures. He had to fashion tools of his own because he didn’t have any tools. And so he built his camp as best he could. He was not very good at it at first, and it required many lessons and many failed attempts until he was able to fashion structures that would stand up in the elements. When he was done, he realized that it was a good camp. There were a couple of things that he might have changed if he could have built it again, but it was a good camp, and so he settled in to the life that God had given him.

Every day, he would read his Bible out loud, from the book of Psalms. He did this for 3 reasons; to keep his faith strong, so that he would not forget how to speak, and so he would always remember what it was like to hear a human voice. Day after day, he read and he spoke those Psalms out loud, and he prayed.

The man had a sack in which he placed the few things that he would take with him from the island when and if he was rescued. The sack sat against a tree at the edge of the camp, waiting for that day. And so every day, the man spent his day reading and speaking the psalms of God, praying, hunting for food, and ever watching the water in hope of seeing a passing ship that might rescue him.

Early one morning as the sun was rising, when he was far up on a mountain hunting for food, he saw enormous billows of smoke rising from the direction of his camp on the beach. (Click on the "Read More!" link below)


As quickly as he could, he ran all the way down the mountain and back to the beach, only to find that his entire camp had burned to the ground. His tools were intact and his sack that was leaning against the tree at the edge of the camp, but the buildings had been completely destroyed. Smoke filled the sky, and there was nothing left of what he had worked so hard to build.

I imagine that it would have been easy for most people to become full of despair at that moment, thinking back on having been ship-wrecked, on the loneliness he experienced, on the hardship he had endured, and now the loss of everything he had built.

But this man wasn’t like everyone. He had a faith, and this circumstance had only served to strengthen that faith until it was stronger than ever before. Every day, he had been reading the Psalms and praying. Every day, he had read those Psalms and listened as God’s Word spoke out loud to him of how God will always be with us, how there are angels around us to protect us and keep us, how in good times and in bad, in life and even in death, our God will be with us.

And so he did not look at his circumstance through eyes of despair. Hard as it may have been, the man looked at his circumstance through the eyes of faith. He looked at the camp in ruins and the only things that remained - his bag and his tools - and he saw something amazing.

He saw that he still had the tools that he needed to rebuild a new life. Not only that, he realized that he had already learned most of the hard lessons that he would need to learn about how to build and how not to build. This time, he realized, he could build something that was nearly perfect, a better camp, a smarter camp, one stronger, one more secure, a camp that would never burn down again.

And so, yet early in that morning, he set about to begin his work with great passion and joy, and in no time at all, he had rebuilt the first building of the camp.

The next morning as he was beginning to work on building the next structure, he glanced out to sea, and what he saw took his breath away. At the very edge of the horizon, he saw sails. Heading straight for the island was a ship. Several hours later, that ship, the good ship Hope, anchored off the coast, and sent a landing party to shore.

As the landing boat approached the shore a half mile down the beach from his camp, the man grabbed his bag and ran down to meet them. He met them with joy, and told them of his story. The men on the landing boat were amazed, and they immediately developed immense respect for the man when they heard of his ordeal. He, in turn, had great appreciation for them, for they had come to him in the time of his greatest need.

“There’s just one thing that I don‘t understand, though,” the man asked the men of the crew as they were rowing back to the good ship Hope. “How did you know that I was here? How did you find me?”

“Why, we saw the smoke of your signal fire yesterday, coming up over the horizon,” they said. “It’s a good thing you made your fire that big, too, or we never would have seen it and come to your aid.”

And so the man realized that not only had his experience on the island drawn him closer to God, but that God had used the loss of all that he had built there to bring him together with those with whom he would share a deep friendship for the rest of his life.

This man’s faith had been forged by God in the fire.

Many people have lived stories that are much like that of the man on the island. The faith which they possess today has been forged in the fire, just as his was. In the midst of that fire, they have been reading God’s Word and praying. They have been hearing it in their ear, telling them of God’s earnest desire to be one with them, of His earnest desire for them to be one with one another, of His earnest desire that they might reach out together to help those around them who are yet in the midst of a fire. They have been sensing those words of God and those prayers building up their most holy faith as never before.

These things are gifts that can only come from God. He has given you another gift, as well. If you will pause and consider the circle of friends - I mean true friends - who stand around you, you will realize the precious gift from God that surrounds you.

All around you stand those who saw the smoke of your own fire rising above the horizon. They saw it and they came to you. For you, these people are like the crew of the good ship Hope.

In God’s Word, we read of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego, men whose faith was forged by God in the fire. Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace by an evil king who demanded that they worship him instead of God. But they would not. And so the king had the fiery furnace heated to seven times its intended heat, so hot that the men who threw Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego - bound hand and feet - into the furnace died from the heat.

But when he heard no screams, the king walked to where he could see into the furnace and he looked in to see what was happening. “How many men did we throw bound into the furnace?,” the king asked incredulously. “Three,” the people around him replied. “Well, I see four men walking free inside of the furnace,” the king said with amazement, “and the fourth one looks like the Son of God.”

If we seek a simple and genuine faith, asking God to help us as we sometimes blindly find our way in that faith, He will be with us always. There will still be fiery furnaces in our lives, but if we trust in Him, He will accompany us every step of the way.

I have had the honor of sharing my life with wonderful people. I have seen some of them go through times when it was as if they were being thrown, bound hand and foot, into the fiery furnace. I have seen them set free in the midst of that fire. And I have seen One walking with them. When I have beheld them walking through their fiery furnace, I have seen Jesus.

We must remember this as we walk forward in this life.. We must remember that, as we trust in Him in all things, and we continue to read His Word and pray, as we continue to live the life that He has given us, He will be with us always. And when we seek and possess and live out a simple and genuine faith in God, even if it’s on a desert island or in a fiery furnace, people will see Jesus.

Giving My All For Christ

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When I was a teenager and still some 15 years from becoming a believer, I played competitive junior tennis. I had talent, but I was a frustrated player.

One reason was that I played on the same team as two of the top players in the state. Both of them were less than perfect examples of sportsmanship. In fact, one of them would take his racquet after a loss and depart behind the nearest building, where he would smash the racquet to bits.

The other reason is that I didn't know how to give it my all. I know it sounds trite. We all grow up hearing about "giving it all" or "leaving it all on the field of play," but I just didn't get it. And so I grew to be a frustrated, somewhat talented tennis player with no ideas about how to change.

Dad Asks A Dilly Of A Question
Then my Dad, a strong believer and Bible teacher, got an inspiration.

He sat me down one day and asked me a thought-provoking question about tennis. "Son?," he said. "Do you want to be good?"

I probably had never, to that point in my life, considered a question my father had asked me more than I did that one. Usually, I was quick to speak, but this time I truly pondered what he was saying. It was a long time before I answered.

"I want to be good, Dad," I said quietly.

"OK, then," my Dad said, "Beginning in a few weeks during summer break from school, you'll be going every day to spend the entire day at a tennis center with a tennis coach." I was thrilled. Only in later years would I discover what a financial sacrifice it was for the humble finances of our family for me to attend. But God had placed it upon my Dad's heart, and he had listened and obeyed.

A Rude Awakening
The first day of coaching, I arrived at the tennis center with baited breath. I could hardly wait to show the coach how well I already played and to see what he could show me about my tennis game that would make me even better.

What the tennis coach was going to show me, however, had little to do with tennis and a whole lot to do with me. As we first arrived, we met the coach. He was a serious man, a former serviceman turned tennis pro, and he approached his tennis students just like you might imagine.

"Put down your racquets," he gruffly intoned. "You won't be needing those for a while." Boy, he wasn't kidding. We spent the vast majority of our time for the first several days running drills on the court and conditioning in the desert countryside next to the tennis center.

One day, the coach made us run through the dry river beds of deep sand, up a little mountain (or at least it seemed like one as my life passed before my eyes while running up it), then back through the deep sand of the dry river beds to the starting line.

"Oh, one thing," he said with what might have been interpreted as a smirk, "You'll need to get back here in 2 minutes or you'll have to repeat the course in 1 1/2 minutes after that." Well, there was no human way that anyone could run that course in 1 1/2 minutes so, at his whistle, we set out running with all our might. We barely made it back in time.

I was depleted in the 100 plus degree sun. I had stitches of pain in my lungs from running. My muscles were spent from relentless drills.

And it was at that moment of absolute physical emptiness that I finally got what I thought I wanted. The coach looked around, rested his gaze upon me, and barked, "Hey! Get your racquet and follow me!"

A First Lesson To Last The Ages
As we arrived at the tennis court, my coach ordered me to take my place on the baseline on one side of the court, while he stood at the center of the net on the other side. He was basically reaching over the net onto my side of the court when he said, "I'll hit a ball and you just hit it back."

With that, he hit the ball as hard as he could into the very corner of my side of the court. It was past me before I could even begin to move. My coach was not pleased. "C'mon, go get those balls when they're hit to you!"

I remember thinking to myself, "Man, what kind of a guy has my Dad got caoching me. He's nuts! There's no way that anyone could get those balls. Nobody!"

"C'mon!," he yelled at me, hitting another impossible to hit ball as I began to feebly run toward a ball I had no actual hope of ever reaching.

Day after day, we danced, my coach and I. Him commanding, "C'mon, get it!," and me setting my face, every day more and more as the days progressed, to do it. I still can't really believe what happened as a result, but I ran it, I hit it, and lived it. I can't believe it, but...

By the a third of the way through that summer, I could reach those balls. By the middle of the summer, I was hitting outright winners off of them.

Transformed By Helplessness and Faith
In later years after having become a believer, I was able to ponder the lessons that I learned that summer and why I learned them.

First, you see, I was rendered helpless in that situation. As long as I perceived that I knew it all or was in charge of my situation in any regard, I was unable to change. And so it was only when the coach had rendered me first physically and then emotionally helpless that he was able to get through to me. Only then could he help me to break free of the self-defeating "I can't get to that ball" mentality that was crippling me as a player and, unbeknownst to him, as a person.

Second, I came to realize that there was someone who knew a lot more than me - a lot more - and as he led me through painful and uncharted waters, I came to trust him, even though I didn't fully understand him at first. It came to the point that he would say "you can do this," and - even though my eyes may not have believed it - my mind and body would say "OK, I'm ready. Let's go!"

And finally, when I played in a tournament at the end of the summer, advancing far deeper into the tournament than any other I'd played in before, being knocked out only when I had lost to the 6th ranked player in the state 6-7, 7-6, 6-7 after having lost 7 pounds of fluids in the desert heat, that man who knew so much was standing there waiting for me when I left the court.

As I walked off of the court, knowing in my heart that I had played the best match of my life and knowing even then that it might well be the best I would ever play, he met me just off the edge of the court and said, "That was great, son."

Before I had learned with my body and my mind and my human spirit what it meant to give it all - absolutely everything - I would have welcomed any compliment, enjoyed the flush of pride I felt as a result, and then would have moved right on to disbelieving in myself again.

But having learned what it meant to dearly pay the price to leave every encounter with the absolute knowledge that I could have done no better whatsoever, I relished his compliment. Not because I felt pride, but because I knew that he and I had arrived there together, and that we both knew at that moment that it was truth.

Reaching The Ball In The Spiritual Court
Years later, I would come to Christ and, through lengthy and diligent prayer, have God make me vividly aware of the things I've shared here, and their application to my spiritual life.

Not that I reach every ball on the spiritual tennis court, mind you. I have found that spiritual tennis is a lot harder than physical. But none the less, I have seen that when I seek with all my mind and body and Spirit to reach for what He wants me to reach, I can do it with His help.

Christ has helped me to understand that I am helpless without Him, that He knows everything and I can trust Him in That, and that when I overcome a particularly difficult battle and see the victory, He is there to celebrate that with me - because we got there together.

When I don't understand what He wants me to say or do or be, I have come to trust Him. Because in all the river beds I've run through alone, up all the mountains I've had to climb alone, in all the moments when I was spent and desperately struggling to move past myself and press on alone, I knew that I was not alone at all.

He was there, and I could not do anything without Him. It was that way this morning when I awakened, too. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for showing me that giving it all for you means giving it all with you.

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This is one of the most stirring scenes from a film that you will ever see. Please DO NOT leave this page without viewing it.

You will never forget the lesson of this scene and - now that you know a bit of my story - you'll understand why I never will forget it, either. It will remain with me always, because the lesson from this scene was written by Christ, all those years ago, upon my own heart.

Our Fortress Of Safety, Christ

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I remember that our oldest son was 4 years old on 9/11. We were traveling out of state and were getting ready to depart from our motel room when we saw the planes fly into the towers, live on TV. My spouse and I said nothing, just watching. Then our son spoke almost under his breath, saying, "That's not good." It wasn't the fire that led him to say that, I realized, but it was just something he felt.

Answering the questions that followed was a challenge for my spouse and I. It was a good exercise, though. We knew that we needed to immediately return home but we didn't know that, that evening, our living room would end up being packed with 40-50 adults who had experienced that same unsettled feeling that our son had, and that they would need answers just as he had.

Our son got to watch as every person in that room left with a relationship with Christ. There was no button pushing on anyone's part, no "evangelism" needed. It was a simple understanding that everyone there had. Tomorrow we may die. Are we in Him today?

Our son realized that night that the safe place we inhabit in this life is actually a place beyond this life. He realized that the worst thing that could ever happen to us is the best thing. He realized that when we finally close our eyes for the last time on this earth, the first face we will see will be that of Jesus.

And he realized that, for him, that was the safest place he could be - in a relationship with Jesus.

A couple years later as he had listened to a story about some brethren in the third world that had given their lives for Christ, he shared with us, "You know, when one of us dies, two more of us step forward like never before."

Out of the mouths of babes, we hear of His strength within us.

Keys To Driving On The Road Of Life

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Have you ever noticed that one day the Lord will be speaking to you about being more bold and outspoken, but then the next day He'll be leading you to be silent? Have you ever noticed that one day the Lord will be speaking to you about storming the gates of satan for lost souls, but then the next day He'll be leading you to be patient like a gardener as you minister? Have you ever noticed that one day the Lord will be speaking to you to “get going,” but then the next day He'll be leading you to "be still and know that I am God?"

What's up with God? Why can't He make up His mind? Or is it that we're so flawed in our walks that God needs to constantly correct our course on the Road of Life lest we crash? When I first began regularly experiencing these "course corrections" and pondering these questions in my life, I wondered what was going on. What was God's purpose in all this?

What's Already Accomplished
I thought it was me. I thought that, even though I sensed that I had been on a "spiritual roll" of late, that I actually was in desperate trouble. Had to be, you know? I mean, look how God was having to TALK to me all the time. :-)

I had forgotten what many young Christians do; that God is not obsessed, like I was, with what remains to be accomplished in me. God focuses upon the wonder of what has already been accomplished by Him in us, but then also further urges us to keep growing in Him. And both encouraging us and correcting us are important parts of His plan. It's not a bad thing.

I'm Holding You
God taught me 2 lessons about the "back and forth" of His encouragement and correction. First, He told me as I prayed that "When I'm holding you over My knee and “spanking” you, child, I'm holding you." Wow. I realized that every time He had ever corrected me - and no matter how firmly - I had always felt His love. I came to a realization that has followed me all these years since. God deals with us as gently as possible and as firmly as needed. Our receptiveness to His leading determines His approach. But we will always feel His love as He corrects us.

One day He encourages, the next day He corrects. And He'll do both on the same day, if we're submitted enough to let Him. It's a good thing.

Driving Lessons
The second thing He taught me came to me in a vision. I saw myself driving my vehicle down the road in the town where I then lived. That was it. I just kept seeing myself driving.

Finally, the Lord asked me, "What are you doing with your hands when you drive?" After pondering it for a few moments, I told Him that I was using my hands to move the steering wheel back and forth so that my vehicle would go where I wanted it to go.

"But look at how you're moving the wheel," He said. And I realized that I was repeatedly moving the steering back and forth, left then right, over and over. "Outspoken, then silent." "Storming the gates, then patient." "Going, then being still." Oh.

"Inside your vehicle, you are constantly correcting your course," the Lord said. "But outside your vehicle, it is apparent that you are driving in a straight line. It's the same way with your spiritual life in Me, child. Every day, I offer my encouragement and correction and ask you to make course adjustments in your life. And when you obey me daily, and 'move your steering wheel' as I direct, your life in Me follows the straight path." Wow.

Isn't He Wonderful?
Isn't God wonderful the way He teaches us in a way that we each can understand His Truth? Isn't He gracious and merciful? Isn't He our best friend?

Don't worry if He constantly corrects your course. It's a good thing! He is keeping us on the "straight and narrow" way home to Him. He loves you! Don't forget......

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Proverbs 4:18

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16

Journey Mercies! :-)

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Driving on the Road of Life is a long journey. You'll be inspired by this 4-minute long time-lapse video of a man driving all the way across the United States. This is truly neat.

Living Proof: Painting A Picture Of Jesus

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In the Bible, disciples of Christ are called "witnesses." In other words, the first believers to be called witnesses had personally seen Jesus and could testify to the Truth of His person and ministry to others. These first century believers were the living proof of Christ Jesus in this world.

Believers today are called witnesses, as well, as though through a personal conversion and experience of walking by faith we have come to know Christ and, most importantly, He has come to know us. We are the living proof of Jesus Christ in this world.

When I consider my life and how I am living it, how clearly might people be able to see living proof of Christ in it?

When I consider how I am allowing the gift that God created me to be manifest in my life, how clearly might people be able to see living proof of Christ in it?

When I consider who I am and what I do and how I do it, how clearly might people be able to see living proof of Christ in it?

Each of our lives are meant to be a portrait of Christ and a living witness to the wonder that He is. Each of our lives are meant to be a picture of Who He is that is unique to us alone, and yet one in theme with the portraits written upon the lives of believers all over the world.

We need not have paint and canvas and easel. The tools with which we paint our portrait of Christ are personal humility, quiet confidence in Christ, and a compassionate hope for all those around us.

As you watch this wonderful video, please consider how God may already be or may be desiring to paint such a portrait of Christ as this upon the days on your life.

David's Crummy Army

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After some time serving in Saul's palace as a musician, David's presence began to anger Saul and Saul purposed to kill him. Tipped off to this by his best friend Jonathan (who was also Saul's son), David fled into the desert wilderness.

There, God provided David with the army he would need to accompany him, protect him, and fulfill the ultimate will of God in placing David upon the throne of Israel. You would think that God would send a big army, or at least a smaller group of Israel's very elite soldiers. But God didn't do that. In fact, in 1 Samuel 22:2, we see that God ended up sending David a crummy army.

The Distinct Qualities of a Crummy Army
The men that God sent to David had three distinct qualities:

1. They were all distressed. The original Greek definition of the word "distressed" in this verse speaks of a person who is oppressed or has a disability.

2. They were all in debt. The original Greek definition of the word "in debt" in this verse speaks of a person who is in financial debt, while noting the possibility that the person also may have been led astray, is mentally deluded, or has been morally seduced.

3. They were all discontented. The original Greek definition of the word "discontented" in this verse speaks of a person who has a bitter vitality (in other words, as opposed to a person who is grumpy sometimes, a person whose bitterness has a life of its own).

So this was the army that God caused to gather themselves unto David, the men with whom He surrounded him, the men of whom He would make David captain......

They were oppressed or had a disability, were in financial debt and perhaps led astray or deluded or seduced, and they were men whose bitterness had a life of its own.

What a crummy army.

Trained Up In The Pasture
David was anointed as a child by the prophet Samuel, Samuel initially looked upon the outward appearance of Jesse's sons and was unable to see God's elect. God admonished Samuel that "I do not look upon outward appearance but upon the heart." The moment Samuel began to approach his assignment in the Spirit, he was led to ask if there were any more sons, David was brought to him, and Samuel saw the chosen of Israel and anointed him.

And then David assumed the throne, right? No, he didn't.

David went back to the pasture where the sheep were. There, he had been learning all about caring for and protecting his father's sheep. And in quieter moments, he would simply worship God. Years later, having been trained up in an earthly pasture to care for and protect his earthly father's earthly sheep, David would be called to care for and protect His heavenly Father's sheep (the children of Israel) as king of Israel. And he never forgot the importance of the worship he had learned in that same earthly pasture.

One Man's Desert Is Another Man's Pasture
David may have felt that he would need a proficient army to survive the rigors of the desert wilderness and the pursuits of Saul, but the reason that God sent these specific men to David had nothing to do with David. It had to do with them.

You see, God had purposed that these 400 men would go with David to be trained up in the desert wilderness just as David had been trained up in the pasture.

As they traveled from plain to plain, mountain to mountain, valley to valley, cave to cave, God led and guided and protected David and his army at every turn. There were times when Saul would arrive at David's camp to find it abandoned just before, with the campfires still smoking, no doubt. Through His Holy Spirit, you see, God had warned David and his army of Saul's impending approach. They were learning what it meant to be men of war, men of obedience and men of worshipful adoration of God Almighty.

The desert wilderness through which they were chased was the same to those men as the pasture had been to David in his youth. It was God school, and they learned lessons to last a lifetime. Both the pasture and the desert were far away from their "home", their comfort, and their preferences, and so it is for us.

One man's desert is another man's pasture, and this is born out in the original Hebrew definition of the word "wilderness"; it means either "desert" or "pasture."

A Destiny Forged In The Desert, A Purpose Founded In The Pasture
We know of the Godly purpose, founded in that sheep pasture as a youth, that would eventually be realized in David.

But these 400 men, so marred and troubled when they first came to David, had a Godly destiny of their own. Having been trained up in the desert wilderness, they were later referred to as "the mighty men of valor". Yes, these 400 men in David's crummy army grew up in God to become the generals of Israel.

Going by their outward appearance, by their attitudes, by their actions, by their track records, no one could have predicted that these 401 men would amount to anything at all. But God saw their hearts, and knew their destinies, and had a purpose for each of them. For us, too.

Calling All Crummy Soldiers!
Say, are there more times than you'd like to mention when you feel oppressed? Do you sometimes feel like you have a spiritual disability? Are you financially in over your head, or feel confused or weak at times? Is it possible that you privately harbor bitter resentment that just won't go away, hard as you try?

There's a train pulling up at the railway station of your heart. Look up at the destination on the railside display, my friend. It says either "Desert" or "Pasture." Either way, this gut-wrenching but very necessary trip is in your future, and it leads to blessings unimaginable!

Be encouraged by God's Word that we've considered today, my friends. God knows your heart and He has a very special destiny and purpose for your life. He will never be disappointed in you, He will never leave you, and He will always be there to teach you about His thoughts and ways. He is your biggest fan, and He knows where you're headed. Trust Him, and He will lead you through the desert or pasture to a land of promise.

By the same token, do you have some people in your life that fit the "crummy army" description we've learned today? It is easy to look at others' outward appearance, attitudes, actions, and track record and form what we suppose to be a Godly, Biblical opinion. Maybe, though, we need to heed God's instruction to Samuel. Maybe we need to pause for a moment and ask God to reveal to us the hearts of those who stand at our sides. Maybe that's not really an annoying, obnoxious weirdo beside us at all. Maybe it's a future mighty man of valor.

If We Can Do It......
Whether it is in a pasture that is at times viciously attacked by lions and bears, or a wilderness seemingly devoid of any kindness or sustenance at all, we learn of God's plan for us. But we also learn something greater, a foundational Truth that is the underpinning of all else that we will ever learn from God. Whether it is in the pasture or in the wilderness, we learn one thing.

If we can do it, God's not in it.

Scary as it may be, we must release it all to Him. We must give Him our everything, and trust in Him alone. There will be wounds and failures in the desert and in the pasture but, in the end, God will have created within us something of eternal value...

A faithful child.


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Below is a skit version of the Max Lucado book entitled You Are Special. It is performed by young believers as someone narrates the story by reading Max Lucado's book. Please check it out; it ties in nicely with what is written above.

The Winepress of His Love

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God allows things - trials and tribulations - to come into our lives to help along the process of our transformation. As we walk through these testings with Christ, our ways of the independent flesh are replaced with God's ways as we become dependent upon Him through the Spirit.
 
God wants to get down to the real us - the "Spirit" us. And so he allows us, like grapes, to be squeezed until all that is left is the juice, the wine, the Spirit.
 
It's not fun being in the winepress of His love, not in the flesh, anyway. It discomforts....our flesh. It hurts.....our flesh. It destroys....our flesh. It is a place of learning, of chastening, of correction, of spiritual transformation.
 
And, as the winepress of God's love tightens around our fleshly perception of ourselves and our fleshly opinions and our fleshly priorities and our fleshly goals, then - one by one - they are broken and then crushed amidst His love for us.
 
It is a disconcerting, disappointing and humbling experience to watch the skin, and the stem, and the pulp and the seeds of our own personalities spew forth as we are transformed to have the personality of Christ.
 
But, in the end, all that is left......is Wine.
Spirit.
Truth.
And Peace.
 
And this is a precious vision of our Father's love, that when we do not choose the right way, He will choose to bring us back to it.
 
Gently as possible.
Firmly as needed.
This is the Love of our Father.
 
Now no chastening for the present seemeth joyous, but grievious: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Hebrews 12:11

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In her song Less Like Scars, Sara Groves sings so eloquently of this process of change and growth and transformation in Christ. Please read the lyrics, watch the video, and be blessed as you reflect upon this aspect of the Journey that we are all sharing.





Less Like Scars

It's been a hard year
But I'm climbing out of the rubble
These lessons are hard
Healing changes are subtle
But every day it's

Less like tearing, more like building
Less like captive, more like willing
Less like breakdown, more like surrender
Less like haunting, more like remember

And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars and more like
Character

Less like a prison, more like my room
It's less like a casket, more like a womb
Less like dying, more like transcending
Less like fear, less like an ending

And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars

Just a little while ago
I couldn't feel the power or the hope
I couldn't cope, I couldn't feel a thing
Just a little while back
I was desperate, broken, laid out, hoping
You would come

And I need you
And I want you here
And I feel you

And I know you're here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad, bad situation
But you are able

And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars (x3)

And more like
Character

Paul Potts: Hidden Treasures

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paul Potts, the now winner of the Britain's Got Talent competition, had a moving first performance before the competition's judges, which included American Idol star Simon Cowell.

Before his performance, Paul - a simple, down-to-earth cell phone salesman - spoke of how it was difficult for him to have confidence. Even as he spoke with the judges before he performed, one could sense his hesitation to believe in his gift.

But when this man opened his mouth and began to share the vocal gift that he has within him, the audience, judges and viewers alike were left stunned by the astounding beauty of his voice.

I, like may others, wept as I listened to this man sing out the treasure that was hidden within him.

People of faith can be much like Paul. We know that we are just "regular people," though we hear and would probably like to believe that each of us has been made to be a special gift to others. We'd like to believe that there is a spiritual treasure within us, hidden away, that might touch or bless or perhaps even inspire others around us. Yet too often, we are afraid to allow that spiritual treasure within to see the light of day for lack of confidence.

As you listen to Paul speak of his battles with confidence, and then hear him bravely share his wondrous gift, please consider that spiritual gift that lies within you and ponder how letting it see the light of day might profoundly affect others for Christ.

Get the tissue box, and enjoy.

[A quiet smile and an appreciative nod to Kent at Faithfully Dangerous for his original post about this video. Thanks, Kent]

It's All About The One

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I organized a team of 15 traveling to Sandy Lake, Ontario, Canada to do a Vacation Bible School, outreach and special services at the Native Reserve there. The drive is 1425 miles to Red Lake, Ontario, Canada and 300 miles by plane from there.

Arriving in Red Lake in time for our flight, I was informed that our plane had gone "mechanical,” meaning "IT BROKE!” A smaller plane was available, but it could manage only about 7 of the team. It seemed as though the decision had been made for us.

After prayer, I sent half the team on to Sandy Lake on the smaller plane and got a hotel for the rest of us. That afternoon we drove over to the lake for a picnic and some swimming. The water is very cold and not too many went in, but everyone was having fun.

I watched as an Indian walked around the lake towards our bus. Once within earshot he called out, "Pastor?" Puzzled I swung around answering, "Yes, may I help you?" "You don't remember me do you,” he asked quizzically. Still perplexed I answered, "No, I don't!" "It was 3 years ago you lead my wife and I to the Lord at a tent meeting on the reserve,“ he explained. He went on to tell the story of their conversion, their move to Winnipeg, Manitoba, how they had walked away from God, and their subsequent return to this area.

He continued, "Last week my wife and I decided that we needed help! We knelt down in the kitchen and prayed for God to send you back into our lives and here you are!" I was dumbfounded, I could say nothing but wonder at the hand of God working in our lives. Later that evening I dropped off the team at the hotel, taking a young brother with me to visit the couple and, there in their kitchen, they renewed their commitment to Jesus.

One week later my wife, daughter and I flew out of the reserve early to prepare the bus for the home trip. While in a diner a young man entered, walked to my table and greeted us. It was a former pastor, who had fallen into sin. I greeted him and asked what he was doing here, I thought that he was in Manitoba. His answer shocked me. "I was, but I felt as though I had to fly to Red Lake this morning, I don't know why. Then as I walked down the street I saw the Ohio plates on the bus and knew that you were here."

I queried, "What can I do for you?" His answer brought tears to my eyes, "I need to talk to you about my soul!"

1425 miles, a broken plane, delays in my schedule all for the ONE person that God would have me touch. One at the lake, one in the diner.

It is all about the one.

When Christ hung on the cross it was about one.

Lord, give me the willingness to go to the one!

Example Speaks For Itself

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A couple years ago I wrote about my friends. They were the perfect couple. The husband and I roomed together in college nearly 40 years ago. While I struggled to make C's, he breezed through with all A's. After graduation while I was going through my hippie phase and hitchhiking across the country, he was going to medical school. And later when I was trying to get my construction business off the ground and I could barely afford to put food on the table, he and his wife were building a house that I could only dream of one day owning. And finally, when it seemed that all we did was referee our kids who were constantly fighting with one another, they raised four daughters whose worst sin was calling someone dumb in a fit of anger one day at school.

But his wife, the mother of the most perfect family I know, wrote us last year to say that her marriage was in serious trouble. Her husband, my friend for the past 40 years, was having an affair. At that time she said they were getting counseling and hoped to heal the rift in their marriage, but apparently it didn't help them. Last week she called to say they had separated and it looked like their 30-year-old marriage won't survive.

Yes, I know that a lot of marriages end up in divorce, but not this couple. They had everything going for them. They both came from good families who really cared for one another. They are deeply committed in their faith. They have no financial worries that can destroy even the strongest marriages. And when I say their kids were the ones that everyone would compare to their own children and ask, "Why can't you be like their girls?" that is no exaggeration.

So what went wrong? The obvious answer was the husband's affair, but like all marriage problems, the root causes are often far more complex than that. So, my wife and I did what we all do when our friends are hurting - we drove 200 miles to see them, to talk with them, to try to help them through their crisis.

What we learned was that their marriage was not nearly as perfect as we thought, even from the beginning. The husband said when they were first married and he was struggling in medical school, he thought about dropping out and going into real estate, but his wife made it clear that she had married a doctor, not a salesman. "I can't tell you how bad that made me feel, like she didn't even care about me," he said.

And she said that he spent more time with his patients than he did with his family, and that made her feel like he didn't care about her.

Both said they have felt all alone, married but living separate lives all these years.

I wanted desperately to have some insight into their problems, to be able to offer them some amazing bit of advice, to be able to help them somehow magically break through 30 years of hidden hurts and loneliness, but there was nothing I could say. I just listened.

Later that day when we were all driving back to what was now just the wife's house, on the busiest road in town, my car just stopped running, backing up traffic behind us for blocks. So I put on the emergency blinkers and called 911, and for the next hour all four of us stood there, stuck in traffic 200 miles from home and waited for the tow truck to arrive.

My and I didn't think we said anything special, but when we left our two friends that night they both thanked us for what we said to them on the side of the road about their marriage.

"But we didn't say anything about marriage there," I said. "We mostly talked about where to get the car fixed."

"That's what we mean," they said. "You didn't get angry or blame each other. You just talked about how to work out the car problem together. We've never done that, but maybe we can try that now."

Tony Hall, who spent 24 years in Congress and is now the chief United States spokesman in the world fight against hunger, once said that he would rather see a sermon than hear one. I think that's what our two friends were saying. For most of the day my wife and I talked and talked and talked with them about how to treat one another, but it wasn't until they actually saw it lived out in my wife and I waiting for a tow truck in the middle of a busy intersection that they actually heard us.

Like the commercial says: "Tow truck - $100. Car rental - $150. Transmission repairs - $300. Helping two friends get back on the right track - priceless."

Where The Streets Have No Name

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One of our nameless, faceless friends recently made us aware of this video of the U2 song Where The Streets Have No Name. In doing so, they share:

"This is by far my favorite video of all time. If you are not familiar with this, it is a portion of the half time show at the 2002 Super Bowl four months after 911. Five years later it still brings a shiver up my spine and a lump to my throat."

We concur, and believe that you will, too.

How precious a gift now and at the time it was first shared, when believers and unbelievers alike were searching their hearts as to how to respond to such unspeakable horror as that which took place on September 11, 2001.

In the midst of loss, God has a wondrous way of manifesting Himself more than ever before. "When one of us dies," my young son once told me, "two more of us will step forward as never before."

How precious a gift this song is, then, when so many more than one of us had died.

How precious a gift from God that through it He would lovingly draw our eyes away from the sometimes disturbing episodes in our Journey and point us back to the superceding wonder of our Destination.

Oh, what a joy it will be to see the streets of New Jerusalem, glorious and pure. The Streets With No Name.

Thank You, Father, for replacing unspeakable horror with Your unspeakable gift.

Click on the arrow in the middle of the screen below to play the video of U2's Where The Streets Have No Name.

Hope and The Church

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As we seek to become that which God intended His Church to be, we must have hope born of Him, and retain that hope with an utmost confidence in His ability to transform us into the image of His Son.




If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.
Thomas Merton

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.
Reinhold Niebuhr

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
Arundhati Roy

Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing.
When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"
Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up.
He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what He had said.
That's why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right."
But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.
Romans 4:17-25

The Journey to Fleshleshness and Seamlessness

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.
We are hedged in (pressed) on every side [troubled and oppressed in every way], but not cramped or crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair;
We are pursued (persecuted and hard driven), but not deserted [to stand alone]; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed;
Always carrying about in the body the liability and exposure to the same putting to death that the Lord Jesus suffered, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown forth by and in our bodies.
For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death.
2 Corinthians 4:6-11

So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged (flogged, whipped) Him.
John 19:1

For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.
For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness--in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].
Hebrews 12:6,11


When our flesh has been whipped away like our Lord’s was, we will look more like Him than we do now.


When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
John 19:23


God, from top to bottom, is seeking to weave us seamlessly into one. We are on a journey to seamlessness. If we continue to hold firmly and faithfully onto His hand with one of ours, and with the other hold firmly and faithfully onto each other, we will arrive there together.

None right. None left.

One.

To Our Dear Friend

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, my dear friend,

I just wanted you to know how special you are in God's sight and how special you are to our family.

I wanted you to know how blessed my wife and I feel to have had our Lord bring someone like you into the lives of our children; someone whom they can and should look to as a genuine, realistic example of the Christian faith.

I wanted you to know how much I appreciate someone like you who says that they care about me and my family, and then lives out the truth of that claim in ways that touch us deeply.

I wanted you to know that you are so special in God's sight that those who can see that in you will go farther to be around you; being around you is a blessing from God, my friend.

I wanted you to know that it's not a sin to be hurt. I didn't always know that. People that have hearts that God has made especially compassionate toward others get hurt very easily. But that's not a sin.

I wanted you to know that I've learned that the sin happens when I don't go to Jesus when I've been hurt, and ask to Him heal my heart from that pain and restore my heart to the compassion that He birthed in it.

I've learned that I can tell Him anything, and He understands.

I've learned that He's gone before us and has experienced every single thing that we ever will, and yet He did so without sin.

And because of this understanding, I've learned that there is a better prayer for me to pray than "Jesus, what should I do?"

I've learned to pray, "Jesus, what did you do?"

I've learned that if I do what He did, I will get the same results.

I've learned that when I have prayed that prayer, I don't always want to do what He tells me that He did. Sometimes, I have thought the price to be too high, and sought to do it another way. It's never worked, though, and I find myself back at His feet, asking for forgiveness and another chance to do it the way He did.

I've learned that He desperately wants to give that second - and third, and fourth..... - chance.

I have learned to admire people who experience a great hurt, pause to prayerfully contemplate that experience and allow God’s Spirit to put it in its proper place, and then move on in their journey with Christ.

I have learned that people like that are like precious jewels, sparkling because they have allowed themselves to be cut by the faithful, trustworthy hand of the Master Jeweler.

I have learned that it should be my utmost priority to have a pure heart, and I have learned that I cannot accomplish this without His constant, merciful, gracious help.

I have learned that spiritual maturity does not mean achieving spiritual perfection. It means submitting to God and seeking to obey Him even when the price seems very high to do so. It means humbly acknowledging all that remains for Christ to change in my heart and life, while rejoicing in what He has already accomplished within me.

I have learned that we should want to be like weaned children toward our Heavenly Father; still completely dependent, but no longer demanding.

I wanted you to know that I have seen a glimmer of all these things in your heart and life, my friend. You inspire me and my family. We stand proudly shoulder to shoulder with you in the faith, and that will never change.

I wanted you to know that God has placed each of us specifically where we are for a specific purpose. There are needs around us that we were born to meet.

I wanted you to know that there is a hole, a lack, a need - in your family, your school, your job and in the Church - that you have been born to fulfill, my friend. It will be painful to do so at times, but with Him, you can do anything.

On the days when you feel that the price is too high, remember that you have desired in your heart to be used by Him in a mighty way. Remember that His maturity calls us to love in ways so sacrificial and inconvenient and painful that we never imagined them. Remember that Jesus told Peter, When you were young you dressed yourself and you went where you wanted to go. But when you become mature, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and lead you places that you don’t want to go.
John 21:18

Jesus told His disciples, “Get in the boat. We’re going to the other side.”

Then there came a storm so big that all of the disciples thought they were going to die. They forgot that Jesus said, “We’re going to the other side.” They didn’t notice that, because He had heard this from God, He was at peace. They didn’t notice that His peace was so great that He was asleep in the back of the boat while they were desperately trying to save their own lives.

But when they went to Him and awoke Him and asked Him for help, they realized it all. When they purposed to stretch out their hands toward Jesus, to let Him dress them with the storm in which they found themselves, to follow Him to a place where they did not want to go, they finally beheld the magnitude of the peace that He had.

It was a peace from God that could still a storm.

I wanted to remind you on this day, this hour, this season, and at the moment of this hurt that you‘ve experienced, that we have that peace available to us right now.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27

I am thankful for you this day, my friend. My family may not have known it, but there was a hole, a lack, a need in our lives. It was a hole, a lack, a need that was shaped just like you.

We are thankful for you. You are an answer to prayer. You are a gift to us from God.

There You Are, Peter

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In the 1991 movie Hook, the story of Peter Pan, there is a scene that has always stuck with me because of a spiritual symbolism that I see in it.

Peter (portrayed in this film version of the tale by Robin Williams), who originally lived in Never Never Land, has grown up in the world and now forgotten both his roots and experiences in Never Never Land. He returns to Never Never Land with Tinkerbell to find his son, who has been kidnapped by an evil pirate from his youth.

When he arrives, he finds a group of boys called the Lost Boys. When Peter lived in Never Never Land as a boy, he was their leader. But now, after spending so much time in the world that it has robbed him of his memories and his birthright, they do not recognize him, nor he them.

But then one of the little Lost Boys, Pockets, approaches Peter and asks him to kneel down. When Peter does, Pockets places his hands on the sides of Peter’s face and gently stretches his face into a grin.

When he does so, all the Lost Boys gasp in recognition, and Pockets says, “There you are, Peter.”

I was praying recently with an old friend of mine, a Brother in Christ. He'd been out in the world for a while now. I’d see him every once in a while, and I came to notice over time that he had forgotten who he was. He had forgotten his birthright. Living in the world as part of the world will do that to you.

Gets to the point that, though you can love someone who is living as part of the world with all your heart, you don’t recognize them like you used to, either. You remember that there was a person by that name and with that appearance, but it’s been so long since you’ve seen them as they were that you wonder if you’d recognize them if they suddenly reappeared.

It was kind of that way for my friend and I. But then we got together to pray recently. I asked him to pray. Just felt I ought to. And he didn’t start praying right away. He waited. And then he began to pray.

The way he prayed was different, yet familiar. The way he prayed was like he used to pray when he and Jesus were close.

And, just as though my friend’s words of prayer were a revelation of him kneeling before Jesus while He placed His hands lovingly upon his cheeks and stretched them into a smile, I heard my heart gasp in recognition. “There you are, Peter.”

Peter has returned to the land of his youth.