Grandfather's Leaf

Weightless, cradled and rocked by a barely perceptible breeze, the single brittle leaf floated downward onto the eagerly waiting loam below. The poor hapless thing cursed to be consumed and converted to compost.

Over. End of story.

That leaf reminded me of my grandfather's long ago words--

"Life is like a leaf, when it hits the ground it's over, there is nothing more."

Over. End of story.

Haunting words.
Words that wrap around my chest like a too tight sweater and constrict my breath.

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitied."

Each fall, as the trees begin to shed their summer foliage, grandfather's leaf asserts itself in my head as an unwelcome walking companion.
On those evening walks, I pass cozy homes where palpable life pulses from dimly lit family rooms, and soft, amber sprays of light thread the street casting a warm glow across my path.
Seasonal wreathes and colorful door mats whisper welcome!
It's the epitome of home.

Home, where the lights are always on.

But it isn't long before the gentle night gives way to the wayward words of my grandpa-

An autumn wind pushes against my back with rude impatience.
A harvest of dried leaves, caught in the vortex of an Autumn current, frantically scratches the pavement in pursuit of me as if I were the pied piper of lost souls leading them to the afterlife of winter.

The leaves feel animate and their trailing deliberate. Desperate. Eerie.
I pick up my pace and pendulate my course to avoid the withered foliage but it seems they just match my every step.  I find myself praying the dead things relent and retreat.

Leaf words, one mans hopeless, earthly pilgrimage. A journey void of direction and subject to the mercy of a seasonal thermal that has no soul.
The thought of it makes me feel as dry as the leaves that nip at my heels.

I hope his words were just a simple musing and not a solid mindset.

I hope he made it home.

"In my father's house are many mansions...I am going to prepare a place for you. 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take your to be with me 

that you also may be where I am. "

I hope he made it home

Blessed is the man...who delights in the law of the LORD,
He will be like a tree planted by streams of water...
whose leaf never withers.

1 Corinthians 15:19
Psalm 1:1-3
John 14:1-4

Womb of the World

Marcin Sobas photography

 Rasped tremolo-
of cricket knee

 soft lullaby
 wooded melody.
Auroral anima-
womb of the world
silent sacred
night unfurled.

Cover me
oh dawning soul,
your barely blue, and gray
 Delay delay delay-

I bid the day.

Rays slip slow-
horizon creeps
dark contracts
lucent seeps.

cloud canopy-
 illumined mist 

 lighted loam
Oh, holiness!

Cover me
Oh, dawning soul,
your barely blue, and gray-
delay delay delay
I bid the day.

Pavilion pitched
veil drawn
no man prevents
Gods birthing dawn.

And then there was light,
and
It was good.

                          L. Paddock

***

Where morning dawns and evening evening fades
you call forth songs of joy.
Psalm 65:8

He Still Sends Rain

Shrouded by early mornings darkness, I listen to the steady rain.

It sounds like a rushing river on the hillside before me.

 I am at a loss for words.

What do I say to Him on this anniversary day? This Good Friday.This dark Passover. How do I pray?
'Thanks' seems to minimize the sacrifice and praise meager in its offering.

Far be it from me, Oh, LORD, to spit out words of worship and petition.
For even in my most humbled effort I fail to truly comprehend that I am handling holy things with my mouth--syllables and sentences that rise upwards to your sacred sanctuary.

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help.

From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him...

Psalm 18:6

It is inconceivable to realize my voice travels beyond galaxies and constellations and nebula's and black-holes and time itself. 

That my words arrived in a holy place above-- the heavenly tabernacle, the very chamber of God where angels tread and God resides.

Did a heavenly hush fall in those courts? 

Did the holy congregation slowly turn their eyes to the sound of words?

I imagine that awkward moment of charging in tardy to a staff meeting, a wedding, a seminar, or even a church service during the offering of silent, congregational prayer.

Every head looks up. All eyes on you.

Woe to me! For I am a man of unclean lips...and I am undone!" 

Isaiah 6:5

Who am I, LORD, that you are mindful of me.

Psalm 8:4

Is it possible the whole of heaven grows fearfully silent, turning its full attention to the intrusion of our  prayers?

Such knowledge is too...lofty for me to comprehend.

Psalm 139:6  

But here I am on bended knee, peering into the forested deep of morning and mouthing morsels for your ears, O, LORD, all the while knowing that as soon as I rise, I will fall again.

Martin Luther's cry becomes my bewail: "O my sin ! my sin ! my sin !"

Suddenly the firmament cracks and the thunder of  God's voice is heard.

Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice; to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. 

Job 37:2

And the rain follows then; rivers of life that flow from the Holy Temple.

What wondrous love is this?
Who can comprehend, who can comprehend this grace gift?
This unspeakable, incomprehensible, unfailing, redeeming, raining love?  Who?

Like a devoted parent caring for a helpless child, you carefully minister to your afflicted children.
Changing our clothes, washing our minds, renewing our hope and tending to this broken temple that houses your name.

The rifts and ravines of our life course like errant rivulets seeking direction, thirsting for truth.

Damaged DNA from the garden's trespass are we--
man and beast and bird and dirt and air and tender shoots and flowering bulb and weeping willow.

All of earth has been fractured by the fall of Eden. Infected. Wounded.

Earths soil is stained with the sin of it all.

"For the creation was subject to the frustration" (the err of Eden)... and "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."

Romans 8:19 and 22

We are webs of twisted twigs reaching broken, upwards, for life giving water.
Tiny, fragile buds on life's branches, we desperately push to break through the hardened bark of this ole troubled world.

Wretches of the world but saved by grace for those who know your name.

Still, you tenderly care. You send refreshing.
You ride the skies to rescue us.
You send grace in spite of our guilt.
You send the rain and remind us that we are yours, you have heard our prayer and--
you are making all things new;

Father, let your teaching fall like rain on our hearts and your words descend like dew on our souls, 

like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.

And we will proclaim the name of the LORD.

Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

Deuteronomy 32:2

For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.

Malachi 4:2

*A HUGE thanks to Kent Burgess for permission to use his incredible photo's. *

Song of Stairs

Jerusalem is built like a city

that is closely compacted together.

That is where the tribes go up,

the tribes of the LORD,

to praise the name of the LORD

according to the statute given to Israel.

Psalm 122:3-4

Father,

Watch over our frame,

the temple you dwell

this body our home

this sinew and bone,

lest left to ourselves

to labor in vain

use stubble and hay

chaff in the wind--blown away,

then wake up to wonder

what happened today.

Watch over our cities,

the souls that swell

descendants on loan

the tribes of our own,

lest left to ourselves

to labor in vain

water with worry

dilute the trek--live the flurry,

then wake up to wonder

what was the hurry.

Watch over our walls

our life citadel

our heart enthrone

your peace to own

lest left to ourselves

to labor in vain

with mortar of man

like Babel's tower-reaching sky,

then wake up to wonder

just how did we die?
                  L.Paddock

Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.

May those who love you be secure.

Psalm 122:2

http://frankandcarystock.deviantart.com/art/Stone-stairs-287281686
1. Psalm 119:13
2. 1 Peter 3:18

Grace in the Garden

Saving. It's all God's idea.

Before I was formed in the womb, before I put my foot forward on the pavement this very twinkle in time, before I chose that disobedience or that donkey or dropped that word in the room, even beyond the Garden to the speaking of creation into the void, it was all your idea to save. To give grace.

Today is no surprise to you, it's appointment doesn't change the circumstance of Edens Keening or Gethsemane's wailing or the triumph of Calvary's tree, or my continual need of thee.

For while I was dead in my trespasses, you were designing my bent.
While I was dead in my trespasses, you were in the wilderness fasting, and praying for me.
While I was dead in my trespasses, you were turning water into wine.
While I was dead in my trespasses, before time and eternity, you died for me.

Selah.

Jeremiah 2:24a Ephesians 2:4

All that is You

Father,

I am in awe that you humble yourself to look upon us!

More than that, you actually walk among us !

 How I long to live in the light and life and hope and holiness and peace and truth and forgiveness and mercy and grace and power and glory and majesty and splendor and all that is you.

I need to touch the hem of your robe now, I need to feel the spark of your spirit ignite me anew.

I long to be garrisoned within your glory and given that eternal perspective of a distant land-- that place of peace, those holy heights of heaven, and be granted strength for the journey as I keep my eyes on the flame that burns on Sinai's soul.

Selah

Psalm 113:6
Revelation 2:1

Winters Worm

In short, winter depresses me.

Period.

I begin to dread it's arrival on July 4th, the date I consider summers mid-way mark- the apex of the all to short season that represents everything green and alive.

Winter is death and dark shadows.
Winter is grey and cold and sinister and claustrophobic.
The days are short and the nights are long.

But this past season, strangely, I didn't want it to leave me.

It seemed winter had found it's worm-it's anima.

I felt it behind me, pulling me inward towards its cold soul and wrapping me with the wings of its frigid cloak much like a behemothic seraph might.

It  became somewhat of a protective guardian isolating me from the world.

I can't explain it. I just felt safe, shrouded.

I didn't want to leave the confines of its cradle.

Maybe I needed a sabbatical from the spinning sphere of humanity, a soul rest.

Maybe I needed my brittle branches snapped, the cold and selfish heart thawed, the dormant faith revived, the obstinate will tamed and the road of righteousness restored.

Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly before your God

Micah 6:8

Maybe Winter needed to have it's way, so that I could heal, and be that gentle spring rain, the new green leaf, that doe of the morning or coo of a dove.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the cooing of doves is heard in our land...
Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Isn't it just like You

I  bend the knee,

position  hands

to worship

but,

it's bare boned and,

half-hearted,

it's skeletal and,

sparse.

My eyes, they bend away-

shifting, turning,

distracted,

divided.

Isn't it just like you,

then,

to turn things upside-down

and,

inside out,

to make it all about,

 me,

instead.

I cough out words-

you return manna.

Praise weakly proffered-

circles back as worth wrapped

and,

I'm found,

bound

by grace.

      

White Stone

I will also give him a white stone with a new name on it.

Revelation 2:17

It occurred to me this morning, as I used some of the many names of God in praise during my quiet time, to consider what name might be imprinted on that white stone of Revelation for me.

What will my white stone say?

Will it tell my story here on earth?

How will I be known for all eternity?

In what way will that 'name' be a reflection of who I am based on Gods design of me?

"Name"; a word or a combination of words by which a person is designated, called, or known.

Names are influenced by many variables; culture, trends, traditions, personality, and even socioeconomic status.

It is interesting to consider just how much a part of a person's identity a name really is.

Consider some of the names for God found in scripture and how they define Him-
Ancient of Days
High king of Heaven
Son of the Living God.
Light of the world
Chosen and precious corner stone
He who searches hearts and minds
The God who See's
Morning star
Ransom for all men
I am who I am
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Using nature and descriptive personality traits and bent, rather than socially influenced trends that result in benign, one or two syllabled monikers that have relatively nothing to do with the person, the Native Americans employed a similar concept in selecting an eponym.

I looked up a few just for fun--

Dances with wolves
Runs beside horse
Lives in the woods-Cherokee
She always plays
Forest water-Cherokee
Stays at home-Chippewa
He laughs-Algonquin
Restless one-Hopi

Recently, in the midst of an especially difficult time of struggle in my life, The LORD affirmed my worth with a promise from scripture.
I needed the affirmation--

Daughter of Jersusalem, who's punishment as been taken away from you.    Zephaniah 3:14

When my mother, only 66 years old, was dying from Luekemia, The LORD gave me a very specific promise regarding her eternal destiny and ultimate dwelling place--

She who dwells--in the secret place of the Most High.  Psalm 91:1

During a particularly intense season of prayer spent on my knees for my husband, I was given this--

Bring the Boy to Me  Matthew 17:17

While waiting for our Korean born daughter, Abby, God confirmed the fulfillment of His promise to bring my daughter from the ends of the earth...your--

Seed from the East.     Isaiah 43:5-6 kjv

While the above verses in bold are probably not the holy white stone name to be assigned in heaven to that particular individual, it is certainly insightful to ponder ourselves beyond just a title.

There is one thing I am sure about, concerning that white stone name--

It will be a fitting description of who we are in the eyes of the one who made us.

It will be a holy name, known only by me and my maker.

******

And then, there is the Greatest name of all, the name of Jesus.

Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God The Father.

  Phillipians 2:9-11

The Beginning Place

I don't know where that soul seed arrived from.

But the little blue strips tell me it's in there-

The beginning place.

Father, thank you for the promise and presence of this new life, please be present during the shaping, sculpting, evolving and....

Pause.

Isn't asking God to enter the womb and oversee the process a little like inviting an artist to attend his own canvas?

He is already there!

In the secret place- The Beginning Place

Doing what He does...creating;

He who binds the beautiful pleiades and loosed the cords of Orion.
He who cuts a path for the thunder storm and knows the place where lightening is dispersed.
Who made the behemoth and knows the abode of light.
Who knows the currents of the deep and calls each star by name.
He who has walked the recesses of the deep but now sits seated at the high hand of God.

Him.

You, Oh LORD.

At work, deep within in her.

The very finger of god- the very presence of holy.

Dust cleaves...God breathes.

Consecrated crafting.

 Knitting together, perfectly piecing,

Sinew meets soul, bone joins body.

A tiny toe, a lip, an ear. 

Muscle twitches. Heart beats. Lungs draw amniotic air.

Miracle.

Who can comprehend? Who can comprehend?

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully (being) made.

My frame is not hidden from you in this secret place...your eyes see my unformed body.

Psalm 139:13-15

Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are God. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.

You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Nehemiah 9:5b-6

Psalm  8:8  91:1  Job 38   40:15  Jeremiah 32:19

Upside down hands

I grip the slender twin twines attached to the small wooden 2x4 suspended from the garage rafters above and sway my young frame rhythmically until the gentle motion carries me away and into the land of my imagination.

The words come then.

And the songs happen while hands hold fast to the braided anchor that rocks me.

I sing about a high blue sky and birds on electrical wires, dandelions in the grass, ladybugs, and the forbidden kitten hidden in my closet.

I sing with the angst of a 9 yr. old over a report card.

I sing about the aging neighbors next door, the brothers that bully, and the roast for dinner.

My father constructed that course pendulum that lifted me to heights beyond the moment. To him it was just a recreational rig. To me, well, it was my retreat into the clouds.

Dad will be 83 this August. 

Dad has Alzheimer's now, so they say.

And just as my tiny hands held on to the ropes and pulled my body back and forth to the rhythm of youth, so now those same hands, aged themselves, will grip tightly to the mind and body of a man rocked by the rhythm of years.
He holds on for dear life, but the cords are frayed and the mind is leaving and the body is slowing and the spirit is sagging and confusion is stealing and the hurt cuts deep.

My hands and my heart hang all upside down.

Dad has Alzheimer's now.

The flickering light of a gentle soul may soon cast it's shadows through empty eyes where:

"the keepers of the house tremble, and strong men stoop, and those looking through windows grow dim; when the doors to the streets close...and all their songs grow faint; and the grasshopper drags himself along..."  1

But it won't stay that way for long, all upside down, because-

You have come to set the captives free, that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

Isaiah 61:1  John 10:10

I have had a tremor of bliss, a wink of heaven, a whisper, 

and I would no longer be denied; 

all things proceed to a joyful consummation. 2

For I the LORD your God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help you.

Isaiah 41:13

1.) Ecclesiastes 12: 3-5
2.) T.S Elliot, Murder in the cathedral  (New York: Harcourt, 1963), 70

Tabernacle

If you know me at all, you know there is no other place I would rather be than deep in a wooded enclave, alone, in prayer. Nothing can settle me more than the life and peace I find in that natural sanctuary.
This is where I rest, heal, renew.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.     
2 Corinthians 12:9

REST  1

The Greek translates 'rest' in this passage as 'Tabernacle'.

Tabernacle;
To spread a tent.
To tabernacle over, to cover.
To superimpose a time, place, order.

To occupy as God did in the old testament tabernacle for the purpose of protection and communion.

I can scarcely wrap my head around this glory- God covering me with the canopy of trees and, more profoundly, himself.
Hiding me in His secret place for the purpose of communing with me, protecting and advising me.
Superimposing his divine and eternal plan, place, time, and order for my current weakness, trial, and trouble.

Such knowledge is too wonderful to me, 

too lofty for me to attain.

Psalm 139:6

1.)  Strong's expanded exhaustive concordance of the bible, Red letter edition. James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001. Number 1981.

2.) Psalm 91:1

Stay here and pray with me.

She annoys me. I can almost clock when the call will come...Friday afternoon, just shy of closing.
It's been an arduous day.  I just want to be finished and go home but, she knows this, and so the timing is deliberate-- call at the 11th hour and it will be easier to sway the narcotic from my hand; the panacea she desperately needs for the emotional pain buried under the guise of physical illness.
But compassion wins out, and I stay, and carry a sister with the comfort and encouragement she secretly seeks.

Don't hang up, but in the spirit;

Stay here and pray with me.

I pass him everyday on my way to work.
I guess his age to be about 16 though it's clear there is an impish innocence within.
Standing on the corner, backpack slung over his shoulder, father protectively near, he waits for the bus that will transport him to a place of cafeteria cliques, hallway hecklers, bathroom bullies, locker room pranksters,  impatient instructors and the ever existent, impenetrable circle of peers.
A place he won't fit in.
Will the academic microcosm be kind to this gentle, special needs boy-man today?
Please God, let someone be brave enough to claim him as friend!

Don't drive away, but in the spirit;

Stay here and pray with me.

My second story window gives me a birds eye view right smack into the family room of our neighbor across the street. Her husband died just recently; she's only 50 something.
I occasionally catch a glimpse of her walking the same linear path through a dimly lit house in the late evening.
Alone.
No one to even bring her a cup of cold water.
I ache for her.

Don't pull the blinds, but in the spirit;

Stay here and pray with me.

How is it I somehow envision God spiritually and tangibly absent until he is summoned?
As if it were me that happened upon the scene first.
As if it were my idea to pray.

Is it really about us petitioning God's presence, or God calling us to enter into His?

******

Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Matthew 18:20

He took care of them on EVERY side.  

2 Chronicles 32:22

Stay here and pray with me. 

Matthew 26:38

Those Eyes

"...One problem we modern readers have with the Bible is that we read it as we did when we were children. Our storybook Bibles split the text into short morality lessons, so we assume that's how we should read the text as adults. But it's actually not meant to be a collection of simple children's stories. It's a sophisticated, epic saga with a complex, interwoven plot". 1

The bible, an epic saga of salvation where we find ourselves woven into the written word and known by name.

I have called you by name, you are mine.

Isaiah 43:1

Those eyes.

They draw me in, I am mesmerized. I sense a peculiar intimacy in the pools of prayer taking place within and wonder, just what has him so intensely contemplative?

While we were yet in our sins, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 

Could it be that 'certain sin' we covet, coddle, pamper, and pet today incited a holy zealousness within Christ that day for an ardent intercessory plea for mercy to The Eternal One on our behalf ?

Is it possible the serpent slithered up close to Jesus' ear, sneered, and hissed--
shes'ssssssss not worth it?

Was my name brought up in that ancient wilderness?

Was he beholding my face as he prayed?

Was he hunched and heavy in prayer for me that long ago moment in time, knowing full well the choices I would make today?

Father, I pray for them. 

Holy father, protect them by the power of your name, 

the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, 

so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them...

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

FOR THEM I SANCTIFY MYSELF, THAT THEY TOO MAY BE TRULY SANCTIFIED.

John 17:911,13,17,19

******

O LORD, forgive! O LORD, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because we are your people and bear your name.

Daniel 9:19

I am convinced  he took each of us with him into the desert those 40 days and prayed for us by name.

And, I imagine, as the hot sands of our sin burned the soles of his feet, the heat of his affection for us seared his soul with a sold out conviction-

You're worth it.

May you read that epic saga again today as it is meant to be read, a personal letter of love to you.

1)WALKING in the DUST of RABBI JESUS, Lois Tverberg, pg 150

The Banks of Babylon

Psalm 137

On the banks of Babylon I knelt,
by the rivers of sin I sat and wept

when I remembered Zion
when I recalled my youth.

Now, on the poplars of confusion
 I hang the harp of my heart, 

the fickle chords of errant inclinations.

My captor, desire,
has asked for songs of obeisance and sacrifice.

My tormentor, delusion,
has demanded songs of joy saying; Sing! 

Sing songs of  'you deserve happiness'
and 'Didn't God say...?'.

But how can I sing songs while in a foreign land,
 this land of carnal captivity?
Where is the happiness
in chasing worldly tributaries?

How can I sing when my first love
has become my last choice?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
If I forget you, O God my saviour-
the lily of my valley, 

the Garden of my God and,
the calling of your holy covenant,

may my right hand forget it's skill,

 may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth

if I do not remember you,

if I do not consider Jerusalem-
The mountain of my God,
My God himself;

my true home

my true heart

my one desire

my highest joy.

SELAH

*****

You shall have no other Gods before me.

Exodus 20:3

You have forsaken your first love.

Revelation 2:4

"Come now,
let us reason together,"
 says the LORD.
"Though your sins be like scarlet
they shall be as white as snow,
though they be red like crimson
they shall be as white as wool.
If you are willing and obedient
you will eat from the good of the land."
Isaiah 1:18-20

She Weeps for Two

Death is not a Diminuendo...It is the Etude of Eternity.

Life has a way....

That's what she said, Life has a way...

What does one do with words like that?

Those words, like a crescendoing elegy, beat with the arrhythmia of life on the keys of my heart and left me murmuring a mournful duet for the two husbands she has lost and weeps for.

We buried him then, right there on that swell of land over looking the lake.

And after the bugle moaned it's dutiful taps, after the flag was folded and placed in her upturned palms, after epitaphs rang and tears wrought warm and memories flowed fluid, we buried him.

I never thought you could love someone again like that, but you can.

That's what she said, I never thought you could love someone again like that, but you can.

What does one do with words like that?

I suppose we learn to live in the Sacredness of The Now;

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life...

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Matthew 6:25,34

Seek first the kingdom of God

and His righteousness

and everything else that you need

will then be given you as well.

Matthew 6:33

And then, we live life.

We "dance it, sing it, cry it, feel it on our skin and in our bones". 1

May we all acquire a passion and pleasure for life as you did, Gene.

May you find comfort in the arms of your savior now and know the true passion of Christ in all His glory.

*****

  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10

 Life has a way....

1.  Sue Monk Kidd,When the Heart Waits (San Francisco:HarperSanFrancisco, 1990) p.22

TAKEN

He established it as a statute for Joseph, when he went out against Egypt, when we heard a language we did not understand.

Psalm 81:5

I had to stop and re-read that passage several times, mentally review the chronology and genealogy of the Old Testament story.  

When did Joseph ever go out against Egypt?
He went in, (more appropriately he was TAKEN in) but when did he go out against Egypt?1

The question then becomes;  Why would God take Joseph into Egypt, via the vehicle of famine, for the purpose of rescue, only to have it become a 40 year call to bondage? 2

And what does that have to do with us today?

As one reads the Exodus events, it is clear that the divine plan of God was in play;

You intended to harm me, 

but God intended it for good to accomplish what now is being done, 

the saving of many lives.

Gen 50:20

We have all been taken down to Egypt. And if you haven't yet visited Egypt, I guarantee you will at some point in your life.

There will be a pit you are buried in. One that in your own strength you won't be able to crawl out of.

In this world you will have trouble. 3 

Parent will fail you-
Brother will betray you-
Friend will disappoint you.
God will seem silent.

The enemy will accuse you--
and jail your heart if you let him.

Dreams will die and hope will fade.

The multi-colored robe of your reality will be bloodied with the muck of this world.

But take care!  I have overcome the world. 3

Wherever you are in life, God has brought you in.

Wherever you are in life, God will take you out.

The next time you're tempted to question your circumstances or the seeming unfairness of life or lot, consider the truth that nothing in God's design is accidental or random.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

1.  Exodus 6:6, Psalm 77:15, Deuteronomy 9:29. The united kingdom of Israel experienced a division of tribes in roughly 975-586 B.C.
The Northern Kingdom, Israel, was also referred to as "Joseph" or "Ephraim.  Most likely, then, going out against Egypt was a reference to the whole of Israel and the Exodus, not a personal insurgence of Joseph against Egypt.

2.  Genesis 15:13

3 John 16:33

The Unwrapping

There are no happy children's voices under the tree this morning.

No heralds of "Santa Came."

Giggling 'good mornings' and 'Merry Christmas' are yesterday for me.

Only this:

Empty chairs and, untrod stairs- 

Silent night and, muted morn- 

Presents stacked, but   

not tattered or torn.

I suspect it may be a little like this for God in His celestial chambers right now--

All heaven waiting with baited breath for the children of God to wake in wild eyed wonder and race to
to the tree for the festive unwrapping of regeneration.

From cradle to Calvary, creche' to cross, there is grace and peace, healing and redemption, mercy and belonging, under the tree. All wrapped in the holy linens of labor's love.

I wonder, what does God see when he looks down from above--

An  unwrapping of the grace-gift that never occurs?
The miracle of Christmas jilted and shunned by blasé interest?

Oh what celestial sighs of sadness must accompany the rejection.

Day's drag on, years go by and The Grace-Gift waits. 

Heaven's breath hitches.

Time aches and eternity longs. 

Eternity isn't too long to wait for a child.  

Open your gift!

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--
and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God...
Ephesians 2:8

Sing!

I struggled to join the symphony of voices, the choir of Christmas carolers in the sanctuary, but singing words of worship felt a little like pressing hard against the wind.

"Hypocrite! How can you even move your lips, let alone mouth lyrics of praise when you are steeped in sin as you are?"

Justly charged! The accusation successfully stifled me.

Oh, a punctuated strain escaped here and there but mostly it was a forced effort, a weak and guilty lilt of pseudo-sacrifice that left my tongue slumped in sorrow for the sin-bullied joy that ached for freedom.

Still I sang on, my will to worship weak, but prevailing.

And then it happened.

Praise offered to Him becomes the promise returned--
The Covenant of Christmas;

To us a child is born, and by His mercy we are saved, 

not by things which we have done, 

but by the renewing of the holy spirit.

Luke 2:11*Titus 3-5

To sing, worship, pray, and proclaim the Good News isn't dependent on how well we perform in 'doing life'.

It is the commitment to believe and persevere in spite of the fact the only thing we have to offer is a broken and contrite heart and sin-diseased bent.

Amazing love, how can it be,
that thou my God
would die for me!

Surely He surrounds us with songs of deliverance.1

For song is the love language our soul knows best.

In the end, it's always God that does the giving. That does the singing. That does the bringing and the beckoning and the blessing. 

Oh pious and pitiful people that we are;
If your sins are many, what does that do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? 2

We offer up refrains by rote, void of true vision and He returns it as the canticle of Christmas--Advents love story reaching down for us!

A spiritual tug of was was taking place in the pew that night.

God, impelling my sin-bullied spirit to sing, and the enemy trying to silence me with a false focus on self and sin instead of where it aptly belonged--on the grace of God.

It is for freedom you have been set free!  

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened

again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

SING!

Did you know that Noel is a french term that can mean Carole, or song? 3

Did you know praise silences the enemy? 4

Selah

1. Psalm 32:7
2.  Job 35:6-7
3. Noel-Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Wikipedia
4. Psalm 8:2

Dining with Diety

With The Early American Tradition of a Thanksgiving meal upon us, I thought taking a look at Eastern Customs might be a beautiful and thoughtful reminder of why we gather at table to give thanks. 

The following, unless otherwise noted, was taken from the book, Sitting at the feet of Rabbi Jesus. 1

Nowadays we tend to think of meals merely as times for refueling our bodies.  Breakfast is an Egg McMuffin behind the steering wheel...lunch a vending machine candy bar...dinner a lean cuisine. In our rush-rush world, many of us dine alone or while doing something else. 

However, in ancient eastern tradition this isn't so. The dinner table was considered the family altar.

The home itself is considered a little sanctuary where God can dwell.
Within the home, the mother and father function as priests, bearing witness of God's presence to their children.

Every Jewish meal is supposed to be a time for discussing the scriptures.
When three eat at one table and bring up words of [scripture], it is as if they ate from the table of God, blessed be He!

Perhaps that was why Jesus was invited to dinner so often--he could always be counted on for a fascinating discussion.

At one point in the evening, the father reads proverbs 31 to his wife, to extol her virtues and then prays for her and blesses her.

Joachim Jeremias notes an additional observation to the significance of the Shabat meal.
"In the east, even today, to invite someone to a meal was to extend an honor, an offering of peace, trust, and forgiveness. Jesus' meals with sinners weren't merely social events or just signs of his empathy for the lowly, though he was compassionate. 'The inclusion of sinners in the community of salvation, achieved in table-fellowship, is the most meaningful expression of the message of the redeeming love of God".  2

Each time Jesus ate with sinners, he was revealing the kingdom of God.

You prepare a table before me...

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup over flows.

Psalm 23:

Baruhk atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha-olam,

ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz.

Blessed are you, LORD, our God

King of the universe,

who brings forth bread from the earth.

 Jewish Shabat prayer.

3

Food for thought:

* Jesus said, I was a stranger and you invited me in. 4

It isn't too late, ask God to show you who he might have placed before you, even at this very hour, that could be blessed by the sharing of your holiday gathering.

* During the meal, go around the table and take turns having everyone affirm each individual with an attribute they admire.

* Consider adding a Sulha 5 component to the meal.
* Read some of your favorite bible stories or verses.

1. SITTING AT THE FEET OF RABBI JESUS, How the Jewishness of Jesus can transform your faith,

Ann spangler, Lois Tverberg,  Chapter 10, At table with the Rabbi

2.  Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology (London:SCM, 1971), 115-16

3.  Shabat;  Hebrew for Sabbath, meaning to 'cease'. A time of ceasing from labor, according to the Bible. Jews observe Shabbat from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset.

4.  Matthew 25:35

5. Sulha, a meal of reconciliation. Take time to offer a long overdue apology before the meal. According to the tradition of a Sulha meal, once the first bite is taken, the offense can never be brought up again.