Grains of Sand

Pixabay Many cats are not "cuddlers." Of all the feline friends I've had, the current one, Lou Lou, is the cuddler.  She loves to be held. Don't we all. Yesterday afternoon I watched the movie, RISEN . I don't know whether it was the story line, or the fine acting, or that I was being particularly sensitive, but there were scenes where the actor playing the part of Jesus touched or embraced other characters. Those scenes moved me to tears and I wished for that kind of embrace. I thought again how blessed the real people in the real story had been to have felt that loving arm of Jesus holding them close. As the character portraying Jesus disappeared into heaven he reminded his followers that he would be with them always. Even though not physically present to give them "cuddles" he would be there by his Spirit to meet every need (Matthew 28:18-20) as they went about the mission he had sent them to do. In Psalm 139 we are reminded again of that ...

One of my many blessings—the view from my balcony

“ The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him ” (Genesis 40:23, NIV). That must have been a cruel disappointment. Joseph does the cupbearer a huge favour in prison and all he asks is that Pharaoh’s servant put in a good word for him when he gets released. After all, the man has the king’s ear. It’s easy to point a finger until I remember all the people I forget. That phone call to ask how someone is who has been sick or who is going through a difficult time. That email to pass along an invitation, or to connect with someone far away. That person I should have spoken to on Sunday at church. That letter or card I should have sent to remember a special day. That person who needed a visit but didn’t get one from me. That time with the Lord when He was waiting—and I didn’t wait. The passage doesn’t say that Joseph was disappointed, discouraged, hurt, by the cupbearer’s forgetfulness. Perhaps as a man of faith it didn’t bother him—much. But whether or not the...

Photo: stock.xchng My mother made the best pie crust in the world. She gave all the credit to Tenderflake and often told me about her struggles in the early days on the farm when her parents rendered their own lard. The consistency varied from year to year which made pie making a bit of a challenge—you could never be sure how the crust was going to turn out. Making good pies was a matter of reputation since the threshing crews that came through to help with the harvest were experts in pie crust and if a certain farmer’s wife presented them with tough, inedible crust, the whole neighbourhood would soon know about it. When it come to pie crust, we want tender, flaky and melt-in-your-mouth. Someone once said that promises are like pie crusts—lightly treated and easily broken. Unfortunately, that is often true. Promises are easily made and just as easily forgotten. “Tender” is good in pie crusts, but bad in promises. We often make better promise breakers than we do promise keepe...

Right on the heels of yesterday's post on Zedekiah's efforts to manipulate God comes another lesson on prayer. I won't tell you the whole story, but encourage you to read Jeremiah 40-42 so that you have the background. To summarize, a bunch of army officers asked Jeremiah to: " Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do...May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. Whether it be favorable or unfavourable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God " –Jeremiah 42:3, 5, 6, NIV. Can't you just hear the "amens" rolling off your tongue? What a great prayer! Except that when, ten days later, Jeremiah delivered God's answer, the officers refused to obey God's instructions. When it came down to it they were afraid to trust God w...

Psalms 4-6 Someone once said that silence is golden. If you believe that you are probably blessing my name these days because I haven't posted anything for several days. Well, consider the silence broken. Truth is, last week was the big move. I am now in my own apartment once again—sort of. Beginning basically from scratch is a huge task. There are so many details to look after—right down to borrowing a screwdriver so that I could assemble the cabinet that holds the television. I'm quite proud of myself. I don't assemble things. I have trouble following written instructions. Show me what needs to happen and I'll do it, but read a manual…? Happily the instructions for the cabinet came with pictures which certainly helped to get all the pieces in order with all the required screws, nails and fixtures attached. Following instructions can be a challenge for many of us. Before God sent his written word, he spoke much more visually than he does now that we have the ...

Transitions are always hard. I seem to need constant assurance from God that everything is going to be fine. I'm not sure that indicates a lack of faith. It's possible, but I prefer to liken it to the relationship of a young child to his parent. A child trusts implicitly that his parent will look after him, but still needs to be regularly hugged and reassured. It's a little like justification and sanctification: an already declared and certain state of being but one that is proved and lived out in the crucible of daily life. So in the midst of the insecurities of transition, I appreciated these words from Moses's charge to Israel and to Joshua at God's instruction: " Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, (transitions and the insecurities they bring can be enemies) for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you…Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has ...

"I'm back to square one." "Do not pass go, do not collect $200." In life, most of us don't want to go back to the beginning. In Monopoly we want to go back to "Go," where we started, because it does have certain advantages. I read an interesting story this morning in my devotions that reminded me of the value of going back to the beginning of our spiritual journey. Jacob was called by God to return to the land from which he had fled after deceiving his father and cheating his brother. He'd learned a lot of lessons along the way and there were some he still had to learn. On the eve of his entrance into that familiar, but painful, territory, Jacob had an encounter with God, one that changed his perspective again. When Jacob entered the land he met with his estranged brother—an awkward but moving event. Jacob kept his distance from Esau by settling in the city of Shechem. Eventually the actions of his sons created some serious problems with the ne...

Years ago, we had a summer student in my home church who always finished off his services with this wonderful blessing from Jude 24, 25. " To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault, and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen ." God's word can be intimidating. We are instructed to do, and be, what seems impossible. Who hasn't struggled with verses like " Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect " —Matthew 5:48. Faced with such seemingly impossible challenges, we rationalize. "That isn't really what he meant to say," we reason. Then we walk away from the Word somewhat relieved from responsibility, at least in our own minds. Living the Christian life is not easy and we do people a disservice to suggest otherwise or to withhold information about the cost...

Christmas Memories 3 It's hard to get off the Merry-Go-Round once you're on it. Somehow Christmas got to be giving gifts to each other. And somehow the One with the birthday doesn't get much out of the deal at all. We run around madly looking for the right gift for everyone on our list seldom giving much thought, if any, to what we should be giving the Lord. It IS his birthday we are celebrating after all. One Christmas Eve in my home church someone came up with a really good idea. As we entered the sanctuary for the Christmas Eve candlelight service we were handed a piece of coloured paper cut into the shape of a Christmas tree ornament. The tree at the front of the room was bright with lights but devoid of any other decoration. We were instructed to think about what we wanted to give to Jesus as His birthday present and then write our answer on the back of the piece of paper. Later on in the service, in the dark of the room, with only the light of the candles and the lig...