Monthly Archives: September 2008

I Can Hear

God will certainly hear me…Micah 7:7 NLT

Last night I took my Grandma to watch her oldest great-grandchild, my daughter Meghan, sing at her high school’s choir performance. Meg was up on stage with over a hundred other young men and women. Thankfully, Grandma’s poor hearing didn’t stop her from going to Meghan’s special event. At eighty-six years old, Grandma is extremely hard of hearing. She worked in a factory on an assembly line when she was young, long before there were rules about wearing earplugs around loud machinery. Her hearing has suffered greatly because of those working years.

We sat in the audience facing the stage that was filled with a bevy of distinct sounds, these young adults joyfully singing for us.

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I’m Not Strong Enough

Have you ever faced a struggle or crisis in your life when you cried out to God? “I’m not strong enough. I don’t want to do this. Can you take this burden away from me?” Many of us have. Our circumstances may not be the same, but the cry of our heart is. We wonder if we have the strength to make it through.

We recently have experienced an increase in seizures for my son who has epilepsy. There have been many sleepless nights, many calls to EMS, and many trips to the hospital. I’m tired. I know my son is tired too.

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Listening to Warnings

Not long ago, I was out running errands with my kids. As I drove along, they rough-housed in the back seat of the car, tickling each other and wrestling. Even though they were both cracking up, I knew from previous experience that if they got too rowdy, someone would end up hurt.

“You guys need to settle down back there,†I warned them, “Or someone’s going to get hurt.â€

And sure enough, within the next minute, my son was crying.

He’d gotten poked in the eye by accident.

If only they’d listened to my warning, I thought.

Even though to them, it might’ve sounded like I just wanted to stop the fun, really, I warned them for their own good.

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Hearts of Stone

“For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12 NKJ

I don’t really see my heart as hardened, not anymore. Through the years God has plowed and cultivated out most of the rocks and mire, the hurts and unmet expectations. The things that used to cause deep pain, don’t much anymore.

But sometimes everything that I thought was tilled away, stirs and rises to the surface, and I come face to face with the monster from the deep. Anger, criticism, insensitivity, call it what you will. But it’s there, lying dormant, waiting for someone to agitate the soil of my heart.

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Getting Ready For The Wedding

Yesterday I set off for a 6 hour drive south with a friend to my old home town. I was going back for an engagement party and then flying home today. I got to catch up with a lot of friends at the party and many of them asked me “So, what are you down for?”. “THIS!” I replied, “And I’ll see you again at the wedding.” They thought I must have had something more important on my agenda than to come all that way just for an engagement.

Jesus was misunderstood in his reason for coming down to earth. The Jews thought God must be planning something very spectacular like overtaking the Romans and that Jesus would become king by force.

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Need Some Joy?

Are you bursting with thanks and praise right now? Are you running around filled with joy, telling everyone about all the good things God has done for you?

Or does that sound pretty far-fetched because right now you’re struggling?

Things are tough for many people these days…financially, with the recent hurricanes, and with all the other things going on in our world. When times get difficult, it can be easy to feel down.

And it’s during those times we need God the most. Because He can provide just the encouragement we need.

In the book of Psalms, David frequently cries out to God– sometimes with frustration, sometimes with anger, but always with honesty.

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Sweet Tooth

I have a sweet tooth. That’s an understatement. All 10,000 taste buds on my tongue along with the 32 teeth in my mouth hanker for chocolate confections. Thankfully, my self-control is in top form at the grocery store.

I can walk down the cookie aisle cucumber cool and give the bakery and frozen delight sections only a wistful glance and perhaps a moment of yearning without adding a single cupcake to my cart. Sure, I’ve bought a few pints, eh hem, gallons of ice cream in my life time and I do like to bake, but in general my “all in moderation†mantra keeps me balanced and on the low-sugar track at the grocery store.

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RIP Home Freezer and Pretty Red Laptop.

Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone. Zechariah 10:1

“Sometimes God calms the storm, sometimes He calms the sailor.” Anon

Living in California, we don’t get hurricane warnings, mainly because we don’t get hurricanes. If we did, I would have had a doozy of a storm warning come in last week. My life is just like the fast and furious winds of a quick moving storm lately. Not to mention that trials were pelting me like a torrential downpour.

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