Enjoying the small things

I admit I am a bit amazed at the simplicity of child entertainment.  For the past 45 minutes I have been watching three kids, two of which have been entertaining us all with their antics.  The laughter is contagious and they have only had a blanket.

They were standing at the window.  Initially I suggested to work on counting.  This worked for "1 car, 2, car, 3 cars."  They then started jumping up and down screaming 'car, car, car" like it was the greatest thing since sliced cheese they had ever seen.  This went on for 20 minutes.

 I am not sure when in life we decide that those simple things can not bring us pleasure.  But I think there is something to be said about taking pleasure in small things.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)  ^In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Striking

I keep hearing on the news about the Walmart Associates that want to strike this week, on the busiest shopping day of the year.  Today, I hear that it is because of unfair wages.  I won't argue to Walmart's pay policies, what I will say is they need to figure out a better way to advocate for their needs or better yet, grow up.

In the economic environment that we live in, people need their jobs and while Walmart says they will not retaliate, I personally would fire them.  I feel like hitting the bottom line of the company you work for flies in the face of common sense when you are wanting a raise.  How about show them your worth and let them reward you for that.  Negotiating for an increase based on increase in sales, etc.  What if the people that have to fill your position do this because they want the job with the pay because it is better than the unemployment check that is fixing to stop?

And then I get a little bit more angry because many of the front line Walmart Associates still make more than those who are protecting our freedom - the police officers, fire fighters, EMT's and soldiers who get ZERO holidays off to spend with their family.  I know families who would be happy to have til 7 pm with their loved one on Thanksgiving Day.  How about if they strike and let you deal with opening the doors for the out of control customers, in over crowded stores, and treat the injuries that happen that happen in the madhouse of Black Friday.

Benefits, I know many who have served, came back with no benefits for the trauma caused to them on the job.  I think about the police officer in Missouri who share with me that not only is his wage low, he has to pay for most of his needed supplies out of his own pocket.  He doesn't have a sample store or 10% discount.  He signed on for the job, and is willing to do what is necessary because he values his job and role.  You signed on for your position, you accepted the job at the rate of pay you receive, no one forced you to do it.

The fact is, you have a right to stand up for yourself and ask for your needs to be met.  Striking hurts the companies bottom line that pays your paycheck and the customers who count on you for service.  Neither is a good testimony to your skills and abilities.  There are people who would like to have your job.  There are people with much tougher jobs who get less benefits than you, work longer hours, in terrible conditions.  Last but certainly not least, Walmart may be your paycheck, but they are not your provider.  God is your Provider and if you obey His Word you will always be covered.

Col. 3:17, 22-25 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.  But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.

In the Potter's hands

Isaiah 64:8  But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.

I often here this verse in the context of "God's still working on me." We are clay in the Potter's Hand.  He is shaping us and molding us, cleaning up the cracks, making us into what He designed us for.

Lately verb tenses have really caught my eye in reading scripture.  We ARE the clay.  We ARE the work of Your hand.  These are present tense.  Where I am now, cracks and all ARE the work of His Hand.  

Several scriptures quickly came to mind as I really thought about this:

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

II Corinthians 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And as I thought about these scriptures, I thought about how people share their testimony.  I realize that as much as I want to be "the perfect Christian,"  the testimony that draws others to Him, that compels  to grow deeper in  relationship, and that challenges to act is that of the cracked pot.

A perfect pot, even with a light in it, only spreads light in the one direction of its opening.  The cracked pot is the work of the Potter. In the Potter's hand, it spread light in the direction of the main opening, and light escapes in every crack.  

It is in the cracks of life I see the work of God.  It is in the weakness of man, that God's strength is shown.  It is in the hard times, that people are able to overcome that His purpose is made clear and His goodness is made known.  

So many times we are busy asking God to heal our cracks, to mend them and cover them so others do not see our weakness.  I am learning, that my cracks ARE the work of His hands.  I may have fashioned them, through my poor decisions and actions but He has put His touch on them.  He smoothed them over, so I could share light with others through that experience, what I learned, how He helped, how the victory was won.  I realize that the Bible has one perfect Man, and a bunch of cracked pots - they were our example.  God didn't try to cover the faults in the Story, His glory shined through their faults, made them people we could relate to centuries later.  He is writing our story now, will we be someone others can relate to, sharing our cracks, or just try to appear perfect.    

Open the floodgates

As we were in praise and worship tonight singing "Let it Rain, Let it rain, open the floodgates of Heaven" it occurred  to me that typically I personally sing this sing talking about my open life.  Thinking "God pour out your Spirit in my life, open the flood gates of Heaven in my life."  It occurred to me, especially in the context of revival that the "Let it rain" part of the song is for the Church, but when the floodgates of Heaven are opened, our city, region, nation and world will be changed.

In the natural sense,  when the rain waters come down too hard and fast, or slow and over an extended time, floodgates are opened to lower the water level.  When the flood gates are opened, the land down from it is flooded.  Depending on how long and wide the flood gates are opened, makes a difference on the regions that get flooded. It also matters if the towns down river from the flood gates have set up sandbags and levees to deter the water.

As I let this sink down in my soul, I couldn't help but pray and sing a little louder that God would send the rain.  That the church would be so saturated that as the doors of the Church opened as people left, the floodgates of Heaven would be opened over this region and that lives would be changed.

Lives will be changed, not because someone was invited to church or to a powerful service, but because the Christian's leaving the building would be so full of God, that Heaven would be flowing in and through them to the lives of all they come in contact.  that the Spirit would overtake those, so that they would also be filled and overflowing with the Spirit of God, and so forth until this region is saturated, completely consumed with the flood of the flow of the Holy Spirit in and through us.  As the region is filled, the flood would continue on until the Spirit is free, flow in in every region under the sun. 

The Journey of Grace

There is a song by Big Daddy Weave called "I am Redeemed".  It is a powerful song that has ministered to me every time I heard it over the past few months.  Wednesday, driving in my car, I had a revelation that I really am redeemed, it was if Christ was sitting in the car with me saying "Child, life up your head" and "stop fighting a fight that's already been won."  The song says:

 All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, "Child lift up your head"
I remember, oh God, You're not done with me yet

Over the past year, I have shared bits and pieces of my testimony as I share about my job and the road that lead me there, and brought me to where I am now.  I know, that as moving as it can be for others, I barely scratch the surface of what God has done in my life.  I also know deep inside, that part of me doesn't share it all because, as this song says:

Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son
Stop fighting a fight it's already been won"

I realized, listening to this song today that I have been trying to fight a battle that was already won.  I am not the person that I used to be.  And there is no battle I have to fight to overcome it, because the day I accepted Christ into my life, the battle was one.  I became a new creature.  The old things passed away. 

There are times (when I have no time) that I feel led to write all that God has done in my life.   "The Path of Grace", as I know that it is only by God's grace I am even alive.  Then I reason with myself that it is not all my story to tell and that I am certainly not where I need to be.  I have no "right to share" because I have not arrived.

I continue to share as I feel led, with individuals and groups that can benefit from the reminder that regardless of where you have been, what you have done, or what others think and say about you, if you have accepted Christ, you are a new creation.I share to remind people that, people can change if given the encouragement and direction.

 I don't have to be the old man inside of me
'Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I've got a new name, a new life, I'm not the same
And a hope that will carry me home

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, 'cause I'm not who I used to be

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe every stain, yeah, I'm not who I used to be
Oh, God, I'm not who I used to be
Jesus, I'm not who I used to be
'Cause I am redeemed
Thank God, redeemed

Listening to the words of this song, maybe it is really the Journey to Grace.  It is the lessons that I am really learning along the way that help others along in their journey.   The path before me is God's Grace, the path behind me has been the Journey to stay on it.am not who I used to be, I am redeemed.

Walking on the promises of God

^{Genesis9:13-16} I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.  It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;  and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

Friday as I was driving home from Cassville I encountered a really awesome sight.  Then as quickly as it was there, it was gone.  As I topped at hill coming down Hwy W out of Wheaton, MO I saw the biggest, fattest rainbow I have ever seen.  I reached for my phone to take a picture, drove down in the valley, and then it was gone and the rain was pouring down.

I quickly thought, it is in faith that we stand on the promises that God has spelled out for us in His Word.  I have heard believers and nonbelievers alike stand on God's promise to not destroy the world through flood.  They have faith as they see the rainbow of this covenant, even though they may not be followers of Christ.  

Yet, just as I moved towards that promise, and then was quickly overtaken by the storm as the sign of that promise faded.  How many times do we see the promise in sight, but get so caught up in the storm that we let go of the promise.  We know the promises of God, memorized them as children, but we fail to walk in them because of the storm surrounding us.   We must come to the point, that regardless of what we see, we stand on the promises of God.

I am reminded of the words of an old hymn by R. Kelso Carter 

 Standing on the promises I cannot fall, 
 listening every moment to the Spirit's call, 
 resting in my Savior as my all in all, 
 standing on the promises of God.

It is time that as Christians that we stop being pushed around by the storms of this world and stand on the promises of God.  That we not only stand on the promises, with a head knowledge of what the word says, but that we walk them out knowing that what God has promised is ours to have, it was given to us completely at the resurrection of Christ.  We can rest in that promise.

Wait on the Lord

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!
Psalms 27:14 (NKJV)

 Our society has taught us that we should expect things immediately.  Three minutes for a meal for the family through a drive through is the goal for most chains.  Thirty minutes to have a pizza prepared, cooked and delivered.  Accelerated degrees to obtain your masters and bachelors at the same time or getting your bachelors in a shorter period, quick communication with texts, face time, instant messaging and quicker Christianity. 

However, that is not the way of God.  The word wait is mentioned 144 times in the Bible.  People waited on the same promises of God for seventy years.  We give up if it is not immediate.  Jacob wrestled with the Angel of God for an answer through the night.  We grow weary of after five minutes of prayer.

Preachers apologize if the service goes past an hour and a half.  People walked for days to catch a glimpse of Jesus, waiting without food to hear him speak.  I can remember being in services where God moved, and the four hours we were there seemed like five minutes.

When you are seeking God, it can not be rushed.  We must wait on Him.