Church Sign

Hey, Y'all,

Today's RST comes to us courtesy of Becki:

"Today as I was driving to work, thinking of the 100 million things that need to be done, I passed by a church, and the sign out front read as follows:

"'The task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind us.'

"How cool is that?"

Pretty cool--thanks, Becki.

You've been prayed for today.

(Originally posted July 1, 2004)

Good Shepherd and Comforter (from "Messiah")

Today's RST is taken from Jerry Thomas' "The Messiah"--a modern adaptation/retelling of Ellen White's "The Desire Of Ages," a moving book on the life of Christ (thanks Papia for sending this my way).


Jesus--the Divine Shepherd--knows His flock even though they're scattered throughout the world. Jesus knows us each as individuals: "I have called you by name, you are mine." He knows where we live and the things we face each day...Jesus knows each of us as well as He would if we were the only ones for whom He came to die. He knows our needs and our pain. He cares for each of us as if there were not another person on the planet.

Our untiring Good Shepherd has not left us alone to struggle...Though we cannot see Him, by faith we can hear Him saying, "Don't be afraid, I am with you. I have shared your sorrow, your struggles, your temptations. I have cried tears like yours -- I know the pain that is too deep to share with anyone else. You are not alone."

Reminds me of the passage that says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3,4. Kind of cool to think that--as is also implied in The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:7-15)--just as we've been comforted, so we're to share comfort and acceptance with others.


You've been prayed for today...

God's Protection

Hey, Y'all,

Here're some more good thoughts on God's protection...which BTW doesn't mean we will always skate through difficulties unscathed, but we do get through them without being crushed or destroyed (see 2 Corinthians 4:8,9):


Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills--
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip--
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you-
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm-
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

_______________________________________________________


The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:7,8


You've been prayed for today...


(Originally posted June 13, 2004)

The Piano

Hey, Y'all,
This one starts a little cheesy but winds up strong.
Happy Sabbath...

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"The Piano"

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE."

When the houselights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing. Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, awkwardly picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Then leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed an potentially humiliating situation into a wonderful experience. And the audience was mesmerized.

Whatever our situation in life and our history--however outrageous, however desperate, whatever dry spell of the spirit, whatever dark night of the soul--God is whispering deep within our beings, "Don't quit. Keep playing. You are not alone. Together we can transform the broken patterns into a masterwork of my creative art. Together, we will change the world with our song of peace."

Don't quit...Keep playing...You are not alone...Together we can change those halting, broken notes into glorious music, to move us and those around us with the peace that comes from knowing the Master Musician.

(You've been prayed for today).

(Originally posted June 11, 2004)

Sacred Ordinary Things

Cool thought today from PurposeDrivenLife.com's John Fischer which is reminiscent of thoughts we've discussed previously (especially in the Men's Group study of the book "The Pursuit Of Holiness")...


Jean-Pierre Caussade, an 18th century writer, once said, "What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the holiest thing that could happen to us."

Nothing stunts our spiritual growth more than the imaginary line by which we separate holy things from secular things. Christ lived a human life on a strictly human level, and yet all of it was holy--why? Can you imagine Jesus ever having a purely “secular” moment? Neither can I, and He is the example we are striving to emulate. Now, does that mean He walked around with His hands in a praying position all the time, spoke in a low voice, never laughed, and whenever He opened His mouth, scripture came forth? I don't think that's what he came to show us either.



It's time to welcome Christ into your world. All of it. Welcome Him to your coffee, to your cell phone conversations, to your chores around the house, to your commute, to the board meeting and the shopping mall and your home--to the kitchen, the family room, and the bedroom. All of it.


We exhaust ourselves trying to get into His world with no success, which is pretty silly when He already came to our world, lived in flesh like ours and intends to continue living in us daily. The Word became flesh, and it still is flesh--it's just that the flesh is now yours and mine. Until we believe this we will never understand what it truly means to be holy.


So let’s set aside all those flipped-out ideas about holiness and welcome Christ to our seemingly insignificant and frequently dysfunctional lives--it's where He wants to be anyway. And that's precisely where the enemy doesn't want Him to be, because once He is there, we discover that, in fact, all of life is sacred, and we can finally say along with Jean-Pierre Caussade, indeed, "What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the holiest thing that could happen to us."

Or as an unknown writer has said: "May I bring God pleasure as much by simply walking through my day today as I would by going to church or reading my bible or praying." There are in fact no spiritually insignificant moments in life.


You've been prayed for today...

Spiritual Schizophrenia

Hey, Y'all,

Here's some cool stuff that reminds me why I have to follow God and not my own defective thinking (which may have gotten me into trouble in the past...yeah, I know it's just me, right?!?).

First, to set the stage, Romans 7:14-25 which captures the human condition beautifully--"why did I just do that? that's not what I wanted!" (kind of interesting how little some things change over a couple of millenia, huh?)(and yes, I'd suggest you read the whole passage in a couple of different versions if you have them as it fleshes out the excerpt)(and yes again--I can already hear some of you getting ready to fire off an e-mail--you should definitely read the whole of chapter 7, and then chapter 8 as it resolves the issue--but in the interest of space, that's for you big boys and girls to do on your own). Alright, here goes:

"The law is good, then. The trouble is not with the law but with me, because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master. I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things.

"I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't. When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it.

"It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin."

"For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are."

Hebrews 4:12

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 'I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind.'"

Jeremiah 17:9,10

"Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path."

Psalm 119:105

Cool, huh?

You've been prayed for today.

(originally posted October 27, 2005)

Simple (and yet somewhat complicated)

Hey, Y'all,

Today's thought is simple yet profoundly complex, straightforward yet astoundingly deep...tell me this isn't cool--and challenging. Read it slowly, let it roll around in your mind, let it wash across your heart, and hear it like it's the first time (and thanks Art for the idea)...


"Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on that which is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live...
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:1-9

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

Do justly...hmmm...and love mercy...not always easy...and walk humbly with your God...wow. That's what is good; not some esoteric list of "dos" and "don'ts"--just simple instructions: do the just thing, the right thing, every time, without exception...love mercy--which almost by definition is extended to those who don't deserve it...and walk humbly with your God: dethrone the tyrant Self and yield to the gracious and legitimate Lord of my life...

Yeah: I'd say Isaiah quoted the Lord accurately--though He might have understated it a bit--when He said

"My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."

And yet, this, this is what He yearns for me to aspire to, and for you as well...this is part of "the most excellent way"...

He has shown you, O man, what is good...

Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live...

You've been prayed for today.