Giving Thanks

God has blessed us this year. I'm so thankful. We are so blessed.

I have a wonderful wife - who laughs at my jokes (every time) and encourages me. She listens to my whining and then tells me to get over it (sometimes in a loving way, sometimes in a tough way, but always in the way I need it).

I am more thankful this year because she is still here. She had a bad car accident in April but has recovered very well. She's back to basically where she was before. I am so thankful to God for that.

I have a dependable truck. It's our only vehicle now. But I am so thankful for it, even when it seems a little cramped with my backpack, Cindy's work, and the two of us. And, since we only have one vehicle, I get to spend lots more time with Cindy as I drive her to the places she needs to go. I am so thankful that I get to spend so much time with her.

We have food on our table. More than we need usually. Because of the accident, I became the designated grocery shopper - and I like it (most weeks). I learned how to cook more things. Now I can help with that task, either doing it myself or helping Cindy as she does it. 

We have a wonderful church family. So many people have given time or gift cards or prayers. So many encouraging words and offers of help. We are so blessed. We are so grateful.

Who knew that so many blessings were hidden in an auto accident?

I do not have a full-time job right now. But, if I did have a job, transportation would be an issue. I would have less time to spend on helping out with errands and other stuff. I would have less time to travel around town with Cindy. I would have less time to spend on my college courses.  I am thankful that I am freelancing at the moment and not working full time. 

Who knew that blessings were hidden in the lack of a job?

Counting blessing is so much better than nursing hurts. Things have been a little unsettled for me lately. The middle of something new can be a little discouraging. 

But when I look back at this year...when I see what God has done...when I see how much I need to do to honor Him in the ways I should...I am so grateful.

Who knew all the blessing we would see this year in so many unexpected ways? God did. 

He is the God who knows. He is the God who leads. He is the God who rules.

We are so blessed. We are so thankful.

Lesson of the Handrail

The other day I was talking to a friend. We were talking about my university classes and my writing assignments, among other things. He asked, "Are you doing all right?"

I nodded quickly. "Oh, yes. We are doing just fine."

Then he said something that I don't think I'll soon forget. "If you need help, just ask us. I know you won't. But we want to help if you need it."

I know you won't.

Four words that so often sum up our approach to asking for help. We don't ask.

If someone came to us and said he needed help, with anything, we would do whatever we could to give the help he needed. Or work to find someone to help him out. We would not hesitate.

But when we are the ones that may need a little help, we hesitate. We think of ways to deal with the situation on our own. We don't ask someone else to give us a hand.

For Cindy and me, the wreck changed that somewhat. We had to have some help. I still hesitated asking when I needed it. But I now have a tangible reminder of the importance of asking for help. Our handrail.

Cindy had to have a handrail on our front steps to get into the house. We didn't have a rail. Cindy (not I) asked for help. Now we have a solid, expert-built handrail that we will continue to use for many years to come.

Cindy asked. People helped. And it's so much better than if I had tried to put something up. (Construction is not my gift.)

We need to ask others when we need help. We need to allow others to have the blessing of giving us, of using what God has given them to minister to us. We need to have the blessing of receiving. A valuable lesson that I'm still learning.

My friend's words about not asking for help also clicked for me on a deeper level. So often I try to face things alone or try to survive alone - without asking God for help. God's strength and power are so much more than ours. He will answer when we call. But often we try to do it alone.

When we take things on ourselves, we fail. Oh, we might scrape by, this time. But we do not live victoriously. And, more often, we fall down hard and miss the blessing that God has for us.

I cannot do everything myself - no matter what competent front I put up. I cannot do everything. God has gifted people in many different ways and some of those are just waiting for someone to need their expert help.

And our God will help, if we stop trying to be self-sufficient. I cannot do it. He can.

Maybe if I use the handrail enough times, I'll remember this lesson.

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Romans 12:4-5

I raise my eyes to toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

I Don’t Want to Be an Israelite

This is Cindy posting on the blog today. I have been thinking about the Israelites a lot lately. The Lord God led the people from slavery out of Egypt. Every day the Israelites saw God’s mighty power. He led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night. He provided manna and quail for the people to eat. He rescued them from the pursuing Egyptians. But every day the people complained. “We’re tired of manna!” “We’re thirsty! Give us water!” “Why did you lead us out in this Wilderness to die? We should have stayed in Egypt!” All I can say is, “Really, people? What is your problem?”

I feel that we are in our own wilderness, now. And like the Israelites, we see God’s mighty power every day. God’s protection and healing was evident after my accident. God’s provision after the accident was evidenced in a generous church family and work friends. God continues to provide work opportunities for us to have the money we need to pay for food and housing. We have everything we need. No need to complain. So far so good. I am not an Israelite.

After 40 years, God’s people finally were able to enter the land He had promised them. God led them into the land and conquered for them. (Read about Jericho in Joshua 6.) They had everything they needed. What did God ask of them? He asked for their obedience and worship. But the Israelites forgot everything God had done for them. They began to worship idols. They had it too good. They left God behind.

This is where I do not want to land. When we are through this wilderness time, I don’t want to be an Israelite and forget all that God has done for us. I want to still feel the wonder that the God who created the Universe chose me. I want to be in awe that God sent His only Son to die for my sin. I want to feel the thankfulness for the grace of God I don’t deserve. I don’t want to be an Israelite.

Living in the Middle

Starting on a new adventure is exciting and a little scary. The rush of adrenaline and the anticipation fuel your start. Ending the adventure or seeing things come together is exciting and scary. The maturing of hopes and dreams makes all the journey seem worthwhile. 

But the middle...well, the middle is not so exciting and maybe not very scary. Lots of other emotions and feelings, ups and downs. Lots of questions and wondering if, somehow, a turn was missed or a call ignored.

Right now, that's where I feel we are. Trudging through the middle. Following possibilities that lead nowhere. Watching for signposts that are really dead ends.

But through all that, we know that God is faithful. God is always faithful. Recently I read this verse:

Praise the Lord, all nations! Glorify Him, all peoples! For His faithful love to us is great; the Lord ’s faithfulness endures forever. Hallelujah! (Psalms 117:1-2)

The unexpected email from someone who thought I may be interested in writing for an education Web site. More writing assignments that I could ever expect to get. A message for a interim teaching position. These have all been signposts that God is still working, messages of His continued faithfulness. 

Even if most of these don't bear out exactly as I hope. It's hard not to get excited or to see possibilities when talking about new ventures with someone. And then when nothing seems to happen because of it, it's easy to feel rejected and dejected. Especially when you spend most days alone at home, typing on a computer. 

The thoughts can swirl in your head, thoughts that tell you of dead ends and missed calls. 

But God is faithful. Trusting and praising that faithfulness gets us through the middle. 

We're learning more about God and our relationships to Him. That's the truth of the middle. It's a time of learning and growing. Praising and trusting. The excitement of the beginning and the joy of the end are sweetened by the long middle. That's where we see the faithfulness of God and learn how to live in that faithfulness.

His faithfulness endures forever! Hallelujah!

Backup Plan

Driving alone is a great time for me to think. I set off yesterday to drive to my class at Belmont University. As I started out, my thoughts turned to the fact that we haven't purchased a replacement car yet. I began to wonder what we would do if something happened to the truck. What was our backup plan? My mind spun into a lot of different mini-worries, just like always happens. And then I put the thought away.

Not a full minute later, it happened. I was sitting at an intersection, waiting to turn right. BAM! The woman behind me hit me. I got out of the truck and walked to the back, really irritated but trying not to look too menacing to an older woman. I looked at the back of the truck, looked at the bumper, and saw what had happened. She had knocked some dirt off of the chrome. Not much else. (Later I did see that it looks a little wonky but not much.)

We both got back in our vehicles and I went on my way. As I drove on to class, I stewed a little about the woman’s inattention and how thankful I was that it was only a low-speed bump. My “backup plan” thoughts drifted back into my head. Wow, something could have really happened and what would we have done? But my thoughts were different than before. God has the backup plan. If something had happened to the truck, we would have dealt with it and moved on. A peaceful feeling and a convicting feeling both came over me. Do I trust Him to handle whatever comes?

I thought about Jesus’ parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21. The man had a very productive farming season and thought: “I’ll build bigger barns to store all this abundance. Then I will be set for many years. I can rely on this to enjoy myself for years to come.” But God told the man that he would die that very night. The wealth he had accumulated would benefit someone else.

Jesus’ parable warns of storing up earthly treasures and ignoring the spiritual treasures that God provides. How does that relate to my own thoughts? I was thinking of how I could secure my own future rather than thinking about what God wants me to do. And trusting Him for that future.

This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want us to have a savings account or plan for emergencies. We do need to care for ourselves and our families. But I should not get so caught up in preparing backup plans for every contingency that I forget God. I must be reckless in my obedience and trust and faith in Him.

I find it interesting that the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12 is followed by Jesus’ teaching on anxiety.

Don’t keep striving for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don’t be anxious. For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. (Luke 12:29-31)

Will we get a replacement car? Of course. But it will be when our lives change so that it is needed. And not because I need to orchestrate backup plans to deal with the future. God has all that in His hands; I just need to rest in Him.

Blessing or Burden?

Do you grumble? I think of myself as a person who can roll with the punches, who takes things as they come and works to deal with them.

But I'm not. At least not always.

Recently we've had a few large "walls" loom up. One in particular has been weighing on my mind. (No regular job, no health insurance.)

We've been dealing with things and praying about things. Last week, a solution appeared. A solution that is fairly seamless with our past insurance. One that is probably the best solution I could ask for. But it cost more than I really was planning on spending. Now, the cost wasn't out of line with other options that I've looked at - those were more than I really wanted, too.

So I began to grumble - at least to myself. And then I woke up to what I was doing. Here was an answer to my prayer; here was a great solution that means we don't start over at 0 this late in the year. And the part I was complaining about? God has already shown to us His ability to provide what we need.

A Christian song from a few years ago includes the line "bearing gifts as if they're burdens." So many times I'm guilty of this. God gives me a wonderful gift or blessing - and I look at it as something to bear, as a punishment or a liability.

When I think about grumbling, and seeing blessings as burdens, I think about the Israelites journeying through the wilderness. They had not been out of Egypt and across the Red Sea for long before they began to complain. "We should have died in Egypt, where we sat beside pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Now we'll die here of hunger!" So God sent manna, bread from heaven that appeared each morning. (See Exodus 16.)

Later they complained about this food. "We ate fish and cucumbers, melons, leeks, and onions when we were in Egypt. Now all we have is this manna! Give us meat." Moses even began to complain about the people to God. God sent quail for the people to eat. (See Numbers 11.)

They complained about what God sent them to sustain them. They grumbled and wanted something different. They even longed to go back to where they had it so good - Egypt. (But...it really wasn't so good; they were slaves who were being systematically killed.)

That's what I was doing, too. Looking at the answer God provided - that would be covered by the resources He provided - and grumbled that I had to use those resources for that answer. Hmm. Not really a burden, huh? More like seeing God's hand continuing to work - giving resources and answering prayers in ways only He can. Sustaining us through a time that could be very trying and yet isn't. Being the God who leads, the God who provides, the God who sustains.

I'm thankful for a God who hears whatever grumbles (or "concerns") we have and provides a way for us. I am thankful for the answer - the blessing - He has sent to us. And we will lean on Him to continue to provide for our needs.

I pray that I see each blessing that God gives with a truly thankful heart.

Roundabout

Sometimes I wonder why things take time. Why sometimes we need to wait. God is sovereign and powerful. God is able to accomplish it all. Why do we need to wait for an answer or for something to happen?

This makes me think about the Israelites and Jericho (Joshua 6). Jericho was a heavily fortified city, with high walls and soldiers. Since the Israelites had moved into the land, the city was closed up, no one entering or leaving.

Joshua and the Israelites knew that God had promised the land to them. God had already been leading them into the land and giving them victories. Now here was Jericho. The people were probably ready to defeat it and move on.

What did God say to do? He told Joshua to march around the city once. And do this each day for six days. Joshua told the people to walk around the city without speaking. (See Joshua 6:10.) So the people marched around the city, silently. They walked around those tall and thick walls, saying and doing nothing.

On the seventh day, they marched around seven times. After the seventh time, the trumpets were blown and Joshua told the people to shout. They shouted and the walls collapsed. The people moved into the city and conquered it.

As I think about this story, I wonder about the people. I wonder what they were thinking as they marched around each day. Why did God tell them to do it this way? Why didn't God collapse the walls when they first arrived?

I think maybe the people looked at those walls, seeing the formidable city for what it was. They could see how difficult conquering this city would be. By walking around silently, they could think...think about how little they could do to defeat Jericho. They could also focus on God, who He is and what He does.

When they shouted, they saw God at work. They knew that they could do nothing to take down the walls. They realized that only God could fight for them. When the walls fell, they knew that, as Joshua said, God had given them the city.

Now maybe I'm reading a lot into this story. That's a risk when you start thinking about biblical stories beyond what's written on the pages. But this makes me think about us, too.

Our faith and trust needs to be completely on God. When I see formidable tasks (and we've run into a few lately), we must not rely on our own way and our own strength. God will accomplish His will in ways He sees fit, in His time. Also, this "marching around" time helps us defeat our pride and self-reliance. It helps us to remember to whom the glory belongs (and it's not us).

Are you walking around some formidable walls? Focus on God's strength and His leadership. The walls may fall down. They may not. But God's will must be our focus.

This past week, one of my favorite verses keeps coming to mind:

I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me? (Jeremiah 32:27)