God’s Wonders

Stop and consider God’s wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge? You who swelter in your clothes when the land lies hushed under the south wind, can you join him in spreading out the skies….? Job 37:14-18

Man has traveled to the moon, moves the soil to make dams and lakes, makes roads across nations and travels hundreds of miles per hour in airplanes in the skies. But can man control the clouds? Can man make rain or spread out the skies? He has tried. There are limits to man’s control.

We made a trip out to see our farmland this week. We learned alfalfa roots can reach down to the aquifer during their 10-year productive life. Man wondered if our Ogallala aquifer in Nebraska or our Lake McConaughey would ever replenish after our drought? Some men said they never would. Within a few years the lake was filled. The rains came. God’s powers are not limited. This seemed like a miracle of Bible times to me.

Have you noticed the devotion you read often meets the need you are concerned about at the time you read it? How can God do that for all the people in the world at the same time? Yet, we find his faithfulness that exact when we pay attention. He says our prayers will be answered. It may be yes, or no, or wait, but he answers.

See how the kernels on the corn form and the moisture from the rain or the pivots in the field travels through the soil to give moisture to the kernels. God has no limits.

Prayer: Dear Father in Heaven, help us stop and consider your wonders. Thank you for your consistent controls of growing plants for the farmers. You control the sky, the seasons and the years. Your creation is awesome. Even during a pandemic the crops grow. Amen.

Sandra Hilsabeck

The Beauty Around Us

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. Genesis 1:11-13 

This hymn is one of my favorites: For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth over and around us lies, Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.

These hardy hibiscus have been with me for 27 years. I moved them from my South Street home. Each year I get to enjoy them. These last two years they have been fantastic.

Prayer: Oh Lord, we thank you for the beauty you created. Amen

Sandy Hilsabeck (photo shared by Sandy)

Trust

This past Sunday, after we worshipped with the Eastridge Church online, we saw an interview with Oprah Winfrey on her program, “Super Soul Sunday” of William P. Young, author of The Shack.  The book sold millions of copies and was made into a popular film of faith by the same title.  Mr. Young has written other books including a recent book, Lies We Believe About God. What was interesting about this interview was the life of Mr. Young and the transformation that has happened in him and his faith. He is very passionate about his faith and clear about who Jesus Christ is for him and humankind.  That transformation has taken years.

Essentially, Young had been fairly successful, but in his marriage, he slipped into an affair of which his wife discovered and confronted him.  It took years of total openness and honesty to clear the suspicion and mistrust that understandably took place.  To add more complication, Young experienced a major financial failure and had to sell his home and other possessions – essentially becoming bankrupt.  He and his family stuck it through. They ended up taking some small rental property on land that grew Christmas trees.  

One telling thing at this time was that Young had friends who could have written one check and cleared all debts! The opposite happened.  He went to his friends and asked them to not do a thing for him – that he would need them in more friendlier support of prayer and encouragement. But, Young’s wife said for her husband to write a poem or a story that would express his feelings and attitude for his children – it was all they could afford. In less than two hours, Young wrote what would become The Shack.   What a Christmas gift!

The interview asked a lot of questions of Young’s life, but more how he experienced his transformation and grew in his faith. That is quite complicated, but one take-a-way that I heard was this: to give up control and trust God. Easier said than done! I heard that Young took major risk every day to trust the grace of God to be with him – enough grace for one day.  Prayerfully, he continues to ask for that one day’s allotment of grace which he knows will go with him.  It helps to take the risks of trust; of letting go of control; and daring to risk investment in relationship with people. It is a daily risk accompanied by the power of that daily allotment of grace.

Young tells of a time when people had come to his home to demonstrate against him for what he had written in The Shack.  He went outside and asked them what they were concerned about and if any one of them had read the book.  No one had read it!  Then, he surprised them by acknowledging that he was the author.  I am not sure what the conversation was afterwards, but one thing stuck with me.  Young had brought many bottles of cold water to the crowd to drink since it was such a hot day.  It was a risk to show such grace and trust when needed.

Our take-a-way is to pray that we let go of our desire for security and control. We ask to be given a daily amount of grace to get us through each day. Then, we dare that God’s grace will fortify us through His Holy Spirit to show the love of Jesus Christ through the relationships we encounter each day. We will find it hard at times and a blessing at times, but God is with us every time.  

I share the verse my wife, Cathy has treasured in her life from Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Prayer: O God, take away my need to control. Grant me the bountiful gift of your grace this day and every day. Fortify me with Your Spirit in the risk to trust Your grace to be sufficient for every need and relationship I have. May You always guide and uphold me in Your Love through Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Rev. Dr. John J. Duling

 

God's in Control

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.  You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, beyond, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. Psalm 139: 1-6 

During these pandemic times, there are people who have too much time on their hands, and there are people who need to remind themselves to breathe.  I find myself in this second group.  In these moment when I breathe and notice the things around me, I am finding great comfort in seeing the ways that he God of the universe 1) knows what I need, and 2) is making Himself known to me through His Word, and through His world, through His beauty, and through His people. 

The new co-worker who has now become essential

The little piece of knowledge that makes all the difference

The unanticipated game-changing solution just as I am about to burst into tears

The daffodils that are coming up in my yard

The social distancing birthday party Jon threw for me and two friends on our driveway

The good night’s sleep without dreams about COVID-19

The blessing that virtual technology has been to everyone

The text from a friend at just the right time

The knowledge that my dad is living safely in a facility

The message from Melanie asking if we’d like to video chat and drink wine

The sidewalk chalked message

The photo of blooming flowers and blossoming trees Mitchell sent

The vendor who says, “yes, we have supplies”

The audio devotion that helps me to sleep at night

The 70 degree day and the walk in the sunshine

And the list goes on

I know that neither my need nor the surprise comes as any surprise to God.   And I find hope in the promise that God knows me, and He knows the world, and He has lost not lost control.

This song by JJ Heller made me smile last weekend.  It’s called You Already Know.

Everything around me seems uncertain

My weary heart can’t take much more surprise
I wish there was a point on the horizon
Something I could see with my own eyes

I need tell you that I’m scared
I feel completely unprepared
And nothing’s what it was two weeks ago

You already know
You already know
Everything I’m scared of
Everything I hope
You hold my tomorrow
And all tomorrow holds
You already know

I can’t seem to find the easy answers
Someday I hope the suffering makes sense
I just need to know that you are with me
Even if you keep me in suspense

And we talk so much these days
Because I have so much to say
You stay and listen to me closely even though
You already know

Chorus: 
Whatever I’m feeling
Whatever is coming
Whenever the ending
You’re already there
You go before me
You go behind me
Wherever I’m going
You’re already there.

Prayer: Dear Lord of all the universe, I know that neither my need nor the surprise comes as any surprise to you.   And I find great hope in the promise that you know me, and you know the world, and although I am realizing just how little control I have, You never lose control. 

Lori Snyder-Sloan

Seasons

 

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

“For there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a man’s trouble is heavy upon him.  If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?” Ecclesiastes 8:6-7

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

While reading Firstlight, a collection of essays from Sue Monk Kidd, I was moved by a particular passage in her essay titled: The Sacred Ordinary. In it, Sue details her struggles with finding the holy within the everyday. She had just returned from a retreat to a monastery, and was bogged down by the mundane tasks of motherhood. She shares a moment when her son, then three, asked her about the day of his birth (or, as he asked it, “the day I was borned”). A phrase that Sue shared will bring nostalgia familiar to all, not only mothers: Make the most of every day. Time does not stand still.

Thinking of the way it is referred to in the essay, the passage of time and how our children grow up, always brings a lump to my throat. Sometimes I try to “think” it away, reminding myself that everyone changes, that there are great moments ahead (as grandparents? Hopefully!). But I think maybe God wants me to live in that moment of vulnerability, that moment of sadness and grief for what has passed. And, perhaps, thankfulness that we experienced those moments at all! These moments are not just reserved for parents…many of us can recall moments from our past that we remember fondly. Maybe even more fondly as time passes. The phrase “rose-colored glasses” comes to mind, implying that we tend to remember an event as more fun/exciting/satisfying than it actually was as we were experiencing it. Nostalgia is powerful!

I also find that each season, the scent in the air and the feel of the sun and its position in the sky take me back to previous years (during that same time). Additionally, as I’ve taken many nature photos this spring and summer, I’ve noticed the migratory pattern of our Nebraska birds, not to mention those birds making their way through Nebraska from northern locales. It might make me sad to think my photo sessions with the dickcissels and blackbirds of the prairie are finished for another year, but I must remember that “to everything there is a season”.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to be thankful for the seasons in my life. Help me to be aware, each day, each moment, that you have been generous to me. Show me how to be "in the moment", to appreciate my life as it is unfolding. Let gratitude continue to be a part of my life. Amen.

Donna Gustafson (photo by Donna of a wren in the fading summer light)

Psalm 99

The Lord reigns,
    let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
    let the earth shake.
 Great is the Lord in Zion;
    he is exalted over all the nations.

Let them praise your great and awesome name—
    he is holy.

 The King is mighty, he loves justice—
    you have established equity;
in Jacob you have done
    what is just and right.
 Exalt the Lord our God
    and worship at his footstool;
    he is holy.

  Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
    Samuel was among those who called on his name;
they called on the Lord
    and he answered them.
 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
    they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

  Lord our God,
    you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,
    though you punished their misdeeds.

Exalt the Lord our God
    and worship at his holy mountain,
    for the Lord our God is holy. Psalm 99

Charge and Benediction from Aug 16: Jonah - the Angry Prophet (Rev. Thomas Dummermuth)

  

From God we cannot hide.

And that is a fact.

Jonah tried,

Jonah failed.

 

Learning his lesson

may we go from here

relishing God’s presence in our lives,

noticing both:

what is going on in us and around us

letting God be our guide and a blessing.

May this be a week when you are fully aware

of God with you each step of the way.

 

 

May the One

who created you in God’s image

give you the grace to

turn your anger and outrage

to justice and compassion;

transform your pain

so that you may transmit love;

strengthen your bodies

and your minds and your hearts

for the long, hard, holy work

of reconciliation and justice.

May God use your whole being,

through the power of the Holy Spirit,

to bring about the Reign of God

In the name of Jesus Christ!