Thursday, February 28, 2008
Boating Life magazine articles
My recent article about Chattanooga's waterfront in Boating Life magazine included several sidebar stories that are available on the web, here and here. Enjoy!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Be Filled
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)
“Give us day by day our daily bread.” (Luke 11:3)
“And I ask that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19b, The Message)
“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (Psalm 126:3)
Why do the Scriptures remind us numerous times to “fill up” daily on the love, grace, strength and guidance that come from God alone? It’s simple: we’re all holey. That is, we all leak. To slake our spiritual thirst requires much more than just an infrequent sip. To satisfy our divine hunger means more than just eating an occasional meal at the Lord’s table and then letting our stomachs growl for days or weeks on end. The strength we need for life—for love and friendship and work and play and rest—is a heavenly gift to which we have full access every moment of every day. Our great source for the nourishment that results in fullness is not some mysterious, universal vibe conjured by trances, poses and breathing techniques; it is a river of holy energy flowing freely from a divine Creator, the loving God, the just, yet merciful Savior, through the living Word of God and through the Holy Spirit who is alive, at work, and ready to quench the deepest longings of all who seek God. So let us seek Him afresh today.
Heavenly Father and gracious Lord, you know that we leak; fill us anew today with all of the strength we need for life, for godliness, for living in fullness and joy. Amen.
“Give us day by day our daily bread.” (Luke 11:3)
“And I ask that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19b, The Message)
“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (Psalm 126:3)
Why do the Scriptures remind us numerous times to “fill up” daily on the love, grace, strength and guidance that come from God alone? It’s simple: we’re all holey. That is, we all leak. To slake our spiritual thirst requires much more than just an infrequent sip. To satisfy our divine hunger means more than just eating an occasional meal at the Lord’s table and then letting our stomachs growl for days or weeks on end. The strength we need for life—for love and friendship and work and play and rest—is a heavenly gift to which we have full access every moment of every day. Our great source for the nourishment that results in fullness is not some mysterious, universal vibe conjured by trances, poses and breathing techniques; it is a river of holy energy flowing freely from a divine Creator, the loving God, the just, yet merciful Savior, through the living Word of God and through the Holy Spirit who is alive, at work, and ready to quench the deepest longings of all who seek God. So let us seek Him afresh today.
Heavenly Father and gracious Lord, you know that we leak; fill us anew today with all of the strength we need for life, for godliness, for living in fullness and joy. Amen.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Love for the Wanderer (from Feb. 4)
“So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” (Romans 2:3-4)
“O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love; Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!”** (Samuel Trevor Francis, 1875)
To the wanderer, to the lost and confused, to the stained and ashamed, to the reckless and fearful, to the bitter and broken-hearted, to the once-hopeful saint who feels despondent and disqualified, to the prodigal who realizes how lonely the path away from God has become, this message is for you: All is not lost. Your life isn’t over yet. Stop. Stop right where you are, look up, and let this truth wash over you: “I love you,” says the Lord, with tender compassion in His eyes. “I love you with an everlasting love. Return to me. Melt into my embrace. I will cleanse your wounds, heal your heart, renew your mind, and restore your hope. I will replace your shame with joy. Simply return.” O the deep, deep love of Jesus!—let’s bask in it today, and receive the kindness offered to us as we return.
Thank you, God, for your deep, deep love, and for your kindness that leads us to repentance. Thank you for calling wanderers back home, away from destructive ways, into your loving embrace. Amen.
**The complete hymn is available here.
His Plans
“Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” (Psalm 33:8-11, emphasis added)
“This is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’ ” (Jeremiah 29:10-13)
We often hear Jeremiah 29:11 quoted as a word of encouragement, and it’s a good one. But verse 11 tells only part of the story; verses 12-13 continue the thought with a promise and a condition. The promise is that God will listen to his people and hear them when they pray. The condition is that his people will find him when they “seek him with all your heart.” Last week, several colleagues and I were working on a challenging project. At one point in a meeting someone said, “We sure need to be praying about this.” It was suggested that we pray right then, so we stopped, and I led us in prayer. Our prayer focused on plans: that God, whose plans founded our organization, whose plans have sustained it, and whose plans for it will continue, would meet us with wisdom, guidance and peace. I can’t speak for the others in the room, but I can tell you that a weight lifted from me as we prayed. It was a simple reminder: HE is in control; we don’t have to be. As Psalm 33 proclaims, “The plans of the Lord stand forever.” So, how do we apply this truth? We begin by seeking Him with all our hearts in every endeavor. If we make our own plans and they succeed, we can say, “Look what I did. Look at the career I’ve built. Look at my house. Look at what these hands have accomplished.” What’s wrong with that approach? Only this: Self-made people will only go so far. But if we start by seeking God’s plans and following Him, the potential for what He can do through us is so much greater than what we could accomplish on our own. Does the Lord have good plans for us? Absolutely! So let’s seek after the purposes of His heart that will endure through all generations. Let’s pray, trusting that He will listen. And let’s believe and know that when we pursue Him with all our hearts, we will truly find him.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the reminder that your plans for us are good. No matter who we are, where we come from, how checkered our past might be, our future in You is a bright one. As we seek after You afresh today and this week, we trust that You will prove yourself faithful once again to listen, to hear, to guide and to sustain us. Through Jesus we pray, with gratitude for Your grace, Amen.
“This is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’ ” (Jeremiah 29:10-13)
We often hear Jeremiah 29:11 quoted as a word of encouragement, and it’s a good one. But verse 11 tells only part of the story; verses 12-13 continue the thought with a promise and a condition. The promise is that God will listen to his people and hear them when they pray. The condition is that his people will find him when they “seek him with all your heart.” Last week, several colleagues and I were working on a challenging project. At one point in a meeting someone said, “We sure need to be praying about this.” It was suggested that we pray right then, so we stopped, and I led us in prayer. Our prayer focused on plans: that God, whose plans founded our organization, whose plans have sustained it, and whose plans for it will continue, would meet us with wisdom, guidance and peace. I can’t speak for the others in the room, but I can tell you that a weight lifted from me as we prayed. It was a simple reminder: HE is in control; we don’t have to be. As Psalm 33 proclaims, “The plans of the Lord stand forever.” So, how do we apply this truth? We begin by seeking Him with all our hearts in every endeavor. If we make our own plans and they succeed, we can say, “Look what I did. Look at the career I’ve built. Look at my house. Look at what these hands have accomplished.” What’s wrong with that approach? Only this: Self-made people will only go so far. But if we start by seeking God’s plans and following Him, the potential for what He can do through us is so much greater than what we could accomplish on our own. Does the Lord have good plans for us? Absolutely! So let’s seek after the purposes of His heart that will endure through all generations. Let’s pray, trusting that He will listen. And let’s believe and know that when we pursue Him with all our hearts, we will truly find him.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the reminder that your plans for us are good. No matter who we are, where we come from, how checkered our past might be, our future in You is a bright one. As we seek after You afresh today and this week, we trust that You will prove yourself faithful once again to listen, to hear, to guide and to sustain us. Through Jesus we pray, with gratitude for Your grace, Amen.
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