Awesome

I was rereading the introduction to one of my favorite devotions books, Ted Loders’s Guerrillas of Grace, this morning.  It tweaked my minds in several ways.  

Of course he wrote about grace and prayer.

He wrote about the liberation of the imagination.  

And he reminded me of a quote by St. Augustine:  

“Without God , we cannot;  without us, God will not,”

He writes about the Mystery of God.

And he asked two questions that have created in me some interesting reflection.

“Could it be that the images of poets and artist (and pray-er) not only precede scientific discovery in some instances, but that they actually help create what the scientist later discovers?”

“Indeed, could prayer be one of the fundamental ways ‘the universe becomes conscious of itself,’ to use that intriguing phrase by which some cosmologists explains not only how the universe seems to be unfolding, but why it is unfolding at all?”

What do these things bring into your thinking?

At this point my mind is too overloaded with thoughts to think.

But I do want to remind all of us that prayer is a most powerful thing that we can do.  

“Prayer works” I learned years ago.

So lets use our imaginations to imagine how God has moved in and out of history thus far creating change, progress and inventions that can only boggle our simple little minds.  

Just for today, pray for a better world to come into being by the grace of God.

The World Is "Standing Still." Really?

The comment was made, during last night’s evening  news, that the world is “standing still.”

And I thought to myself, those who think that way must not live where the trees are blooming, the crocus have poked their little flowers above the still cold soil.  Where daffodils bless the landscape; and the fields are being prepared for the summer crops.

Then this morning I looked out my patio door and saw my Little-Lime Hydrangea tree with healthy green leaves covering it branches.

¹ O Lord, our Sovereign,

   how majestic is your name in all the earth! ...(Ps. 8)

In the mid-west the phrase: Spring has sprung is a true statement. 

Spring has moved the earth — the world — into a bouquet of life; nothing is staying in the winter’s bleakness.

Lawns need weekly mowings.

The air is clean with the Spring rains bring new growth becoming evident every day.

The earth is booming with possibilities.

Windows and door stand open to let the fresh clean air into winter’s closed up homes.

People have put on their shoes walking, or running, outside in the cool air.  

Bikers are seen more frequently on the streets. 

Golfers are on the golf course. 

Tennis player, socially distanced, move around the courts mastering that little yellow ball.

The whole world is alive with new, fresh, life.

My eyes do not witness any evidence of a world that has grown dormant.

The Good Spepherd

This next Sunday, in the Lutheran Church, is Good Shepherd Sunday.  A day when we recognize the total trust we can put in Gods providence — divine superintendence.

In the earliest of times a shepherd was one who took complete care of the flock.  God was called Israel’s shepherd who went before the flock guiding them to water and food, and protecting them, and giving them shelter.

As time went on Jesus became the Good Shepherd (John 10).  He was the “gate,” the “way,” the “bread,” the “living water,”  the "life" — the dwelling place.” 

When we think about all of the things a shepherd did for his sheep; it helps us to understand the reason that Psalm 23 has become the most precious of Bible verse down through time.

It offers is an extremely reliable God.  

A God who attends to both one’s spiritual needs as well as physical needs.

Read the psalm paying close attention to all that God does for us.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

²   He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters; 

³   he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths

   for his name’s sake. 

⁴ Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

   I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

   your rod and your staff—

   they comfort me. 

⁵ You prepare a table before me

   in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

   my cup overflows. 

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

   all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

   my whole life long.(Ps. 23)

A God who:

                shelters,

                   anoints,

                      comforts,

                         restores souls, 

                            gives shelters,

                               leads in right paths, 

                                   gives in abundance.

Now asked yourself: in our world today, as well as in the worlds of ancient history, how possible is it for people to believe in such a God?

How possible is it that a Good Shepherd exists among the poor, homeless and hungry of the today's world?

How is it possible that God is in a world that is experiencing this pandemic — as well as all world pandemics in the past?

I don’t have an answer to those wonders.

However I will tell you truly, I totally believe and trust in this extraordinarily steadfast and faithful God with all my heart and mind.