31 July 2011
Loss Means Less
Aug/05/11
Loss wraps its fingers around our budget, stomach, our heart, and the warmth of our bodies in winter, and coolness in summer. We’re different. We whine and complain about our loss of income, financial equity, and the comforts we had when we had more.
Yes, loss means less, but that’s not always a bad thing. Less ‘stuff’ means less to worry about, keep up, protect and manage. It means time to do something else that’s not ‘stuff’ focused.
Look around more closely at the people around you. You’ll see others that were invisible to you before. Others shopping in the resale shop, others at the food pantry. We have a new appreciation of Jesus’ prayer he taught us. “Give us this day our daily bread.” That’s the only thing he told us to ask for.
Podcast
Yes, loss means less, but that’s not always a bad thing. Less ‘stuff’ means less to worry about, keep up, protect and manage. It means time to do something else that’s not ‘stuff’ focused.
Look around more closely at the people around you. You’ll see others that were invisible to you before. Others shopping in the resale shop, others at the food pantry. We have a new appreciation of Jesus’ prayer he taught us. “Give us this day our daily bread.” That’s the only thing he told us to ask for.
Podcast
Wild Storm
Aug/04/11
A wild storm has changed my plans. Power out, darkness in, no internet means no speed writing, no email, no research. God sees these slices of life in our life’s journey and they don’t surprise Him. He creates a new way around temptation, through that trial that we could not see in those first moments of darkness.
What can we learn from these storms that take our our power--what we depend on?
Pause in the darkness and let our senses adjust. When storms hit, we can’t pretend that life is the same as before. Adjusting to the new reality is a beginning.
Remember that God’s adequacy is not limited by the past or even our perception of the moment. He’s ready to equip us for this slice of life.
Podcast
What can we learn from these storms that take our our power--what we depend on?
Pause in the darkness and let our senses adjust. When storms hit, we can’t pretend that life is the same as before. Adjusting to the new reality is a beginning.
Remember that God’s adequacy is not limited by the past or even our perception of the moment. He’s ready to equip us for this slice of life.
Podcast
Using It All
Aug/03/11
In the Maasai village in Kenya, my grandson was conscripted into the tribe of warriors. Wrapped in their traditional fabric and ladened down with beaded belts, leg and arm bracelets, and necklaces, he looked combat ready. One part of the ‘gear’ seemed a bit out of place. He was wearing sandals made of strips of old rubber tires. The tribe had abandoned bare feet for this recycled phenomenon. They were quite comfortable and certainly road worthy.
I doubt the tribe was recycling tires to preserve the planet. They’d simply found a practical and affordable solution to bare feet.
God has a solution for every need we humans have on this planet. And I think he’s smiling at sandals made of old rubber tires.
Podcast
I doubt the tribe was recycling tires to preserve the planet. They’d simply found a practical and affordable solution to bare feet.
God has a solution for every need we humans have on this planet. And I think he’s smiling at sandals made of old rubber tires.
Podcast
Real Wealth
Aug/02/11
Our family trudged through the Mathare Valley, the large slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Home to a half million people, each 6 X 8 foot shanty typically houses 5 people. Most heads of households are women, often widows supporting children and grandchildren. If you had walked behind me--we could only walk single file due to the narrow paths--you would have been appalled at the poverty. Two pans and a dent in the floor for a fire are the kitchen. A table, a sagging couch, and a mat for sleeping are the assets.
Yet, I was welcomed in each home, greeted with a genuine smile. Each woman possessed a strength and determination to spend her life for the benefit of her children. Her purpose was clear. If measured by courage, these women are wealthy.
Podcast
Yet, I was welcomed in each home, greeted with a genuine smile. Each woman possessed a strength and determination to spend her life for the benefit of her children. Her purpose was clear. If measured by courage, these women are wealthy.
Podcast
Washington News
Aug/01/11
News from Washington has not changed. After three weeks unplugged from the news, with the debt ceiling crisis upon us, I returned to find that the new plan of the moment is to postpone hard decisions and major decisions (i.e. decisions some will not like because they are not in their personal best interest) until after the 2012 elections! We ordinary folks don’t have that option. We can’t postpone that budget surgery. The lights will get turned off, our car repossessed, and our home on the foreclosure auction block.
This confussion makes me yearn for heaven. The government will be on His shoulders. The strong, just, righteous, loving shoulders of Jesus.
Would that Washington looked to Him for direction. That’s our prayer.
Podcast
This confussion makes me yearn for heaven. The government will be on His shoulders. The strong, just, righteous, loving shoulders of Jesus.
Would that Washington looked to Him for direction. That’s our prayer.
Podcast