Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. – Proverbs 3:5,6 (NRSV)
What does it mean to trust in the Lord? Do you? How have you tried to rely on your own insight? What happens? How will you acknowledge God in all ways?
The following was e-mailed to me and is called “GOD'S Rosebud”
A new minister was walking with an older, more seasoned minister in the garden one day. Feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was asking the older preacher for some advice.
The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals. The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the will of God for his life and ministry. But because of his great respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact.
It wasn't long before he realized how impossible this was to do. Noticing the younger preacher's inability to unfold the rosebud without tearing it, the older preacher began to recite the following poem...
"It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine."
"The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
GOD opens this flower so easily,
But in my hands they die."
"If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I have the wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?"
"So I'll trust in God for leading
Each moment of my day.
I will look to God for guidance
In each step of the way."
"The path that lies before me,
Only my Lord knows.
I'll trust God to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose."
Mother Teresa said, “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.” Oswald Chambers said, “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it knows and loves the one who is leading.” We are God’s beauties, and God will make us bloom when the time is right, if we are still following. So let us follow with faith!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Doing Good and Doing Love Anyway
“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” – Luke 6:27-28 (NRSV)
What is the whole point of this verse? As we go about our Missions Week how can this verse guide our future? Do you pray for those who abuse you? How do you think Jesus expects us to act toward our enemies?
This is from "The Paradoxical Commandments" by Dr. Kent M. Keith that Mother Teresa had on the wall of her children's home in Calcutta.
Anyway
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, It is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Our lives are meant to glorify God! So when Jesus talks about doing good to those who hate us it isn’t about them, it’s about God, it’s about us! I have probably used this “Anyway” illustration in a different weekly devotional, but sometimes it is good to hear again. Love and will change the world, but it begins with us. Today choose to love no matter what and then we will become people who glorify God no matter what.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
What is the whole point of this verse? As we go about our Missions Week how can this verse guide our future? Do you pray for those who abuse you? How do you think Jesus expects us to act toward our enemies?
This is from "The Paradoxical Commandments" by Dr. Kent M. Keith that Mother Teresa had on the wall of her children's home in Calcutta.
Anyway
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, It is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Our lives are meant to glorify God! So when Jesus talks about doing good to those who hate us it isn’t about them, it’s about God, it’s about us! I have probably used this “Anyway” illustration in a different weekly devotional, but sometimes it is good to hear again. Love and will change the world, but it begins with us. Today choose to love no matter what and then we will become people who glorify God no matter what.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Monday, September 27, 2010
Minister's Minute from October Issue of the Journal of Hope and Joy
Today I went to see a brand new baby, not even a full day old yet. Everyone knows there is something great about going to see a healthy baby. Mom looks exhausted (and rightly so), but bathing her little one with love. Mom and dad both look proud, which may be why one Southernism I have heard is, “I’m so proud for you!” Perhaps people who once experienced the pride of becoming a parent can see it in another person and say, “I’m proud for you.”
I remember hearing people say that when Langston was born. In would walk someone, and he or she would take one look at the scene and say, “I’m just so proud for you guys.” And I think each person who said it meant it, they were proud for us.
I had never heard that before that moment, or if I had heard it I had not noticed. That happens with life sometimes. We only notice things after they have affected us. I remember when I bought a 2004 Honda Civic. I thought it was a relatively new car style. At least in my own driving I hadn’t noticed many of them. Then as soon as I drove off the lot it seemed every other car on the road was a Honda Civic. How had I not noticed that before?
I had never noticed anyone saying to someone else, “I am so proud for you,” but I had probably heard it. Maybe it didn’t register because no one had been proud for me. Sure people had been proud of me, but never proud for me. Then as I held Langston, or Melinda held him, or whoever else, and in came so-and-so saying, “I’m proud for you,” I thought to myself, “Why yes, I am overwhelmed with pride, I suppose I am proud for myself!”
I wonder how many times God looks at the whole human scene, this whole mess of which we are all a part, and sometimes sees something that makes God just say aloud, or within, or however God would say it, “I’m just so proud for you!” I’d like to think God can do that sometimes. See something miraculous and smile. Maybe it is a smile that comes from a place of joy that we who are made in that divine image finally figured out what we could do because of it.
If God is able to do anything like this, perhaps God is doing it right now as God looks over our little church. Here we were a couple of years ago barely breathing as it were, and now we are raising money to help others who may actually be barely breathing in every literal and metaphorical way we can think of during this Missions Week. God was there rebirthing this church, and now God is just so proud for us as grace allows us to birth something in return. Our own little hope, our own little bundle joy. And as we hold onto this Missions Week, I hope we can sense God walk into our worship celebrations, smiling at the whole scene, maybe even saying, “I’m so proud for you.”
That’s a reason to celebrate! That’s a reason to raise money! That’s a reason to build bridges in our community! That’s a reason to try to be foolish enough to change the world! What we are proud for, God might just be proud for as well.
Riding this wave we know is the Holy Spirit,
Garrett
I remember hearing people say that when Langston was born. In would walk someone, and he or she would take one look at the scene and say, “I’m just so proud for you guys.” And I think each person who said it meant it, they were proud for us.
I had never heard that before that moment, or if I had heard it I had not noticed. That happens with life sometimes. We only notice things after they have affected us. I remember when I bought a 2004 Honda Civic. I thought it was a relatively new car style. At least in my own driving I hadn’t noticed many of them. Then as soon as I drove off the lot it seemed every other car on the road was a Honda Civic. How had I not noticed that before?
I had never noticed anyone saying to someone else, “I am so proud for you,” but I had probably heard it. Maybe it didn’t register because no one had been proud for me. Sure people had been proud of me, but never proud for me. Then as I held Langston, or Melinda held him, or whoever else, and in came so-and-so saying, “I’m proud for you,” I thought to myself, “Why yes, I am overwhelmed with pride, I suppose I am proud for myself!”
I wonder how many times God looks at the whole human scene, this whole mess of which we are all a part, and sometimes sees something that makes God just say aloud, or within, or however God would say it, “I’m just so proud for you!” I’d like to think God can do that sometimes. See something miraculous and smile. Maybe it is a smile that comes from a place of joy that we who are made in that divine image finally figured out what we could do because of it.
If God is able to do anything like this, perhaps God is doing it right now as God looks over our little church. Here we were a couple of years ago barely breathing as it were, and now we are raising money to help others who may actually be barely breathing in every literal and metaphorical way we can think of during this Missions Week. God was there rebirthing this church, and now God is just so proud for us as grace allows us to birth something in return. Our own little hope, our own little bundle joy. And as we hold onto this Missions Week, I hope we can sense God walk into our worship celebrations, smiling at the whole scene, maybe even saying, “I’m so proud for you.”
That’s a reason to celebrate! That’s a reason to raise money! That’s a reason to build bridges in our community! That’s a reason to try to be foolish enough to change the world! What we are proud for, God might just be proud for as well.
Riding this wave we know is the Holy Spirit,
Garrett
Friday, September 17, 2010
Ministers of Reconciliation
But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation. – 2 Corinthians 5:18 (ASV)
What does it mean to you that you are reconciled to God? Do you remember this when God feels distant? Does it make you feel more whole? What is your role in the ministry of reconciliation? What needs reconciling right now?
The following story was e-mailed to me:
There was a man who had a little boy that he loved very much. Everyday after work the man would come home and play with the little boy. He would always spend all of his extra time playing with the little boy.
One night, while the man was at work, he realized that he had extra work to do for the evening, and that he wouldn't be able to play with his little boy. But, he wanted to be able to give the boy something to keep him busy. So, looking around his office, he saw a magazine with a large map of the world on the cover. He got an idea. He removed the map, and then patiently tore it up into small pieces. Then he put all the pieces in his coat pocket.
When he got home, the little boy came running to him and was ready to play. The man explained that he had extra work to do and couldn't play just now, but he led the little boy into the dining room, and taking out all the pieces of the map, he spread them on the table. He explained that it was a map of the world, and that by the time he could put it back together, his extra work would be finished, and they could both play. Surely this would keep the child busy for hours, he thought.
About half an hour later the boy came to the man and said, "Okay, it's finished. Can we play now?"
The man was surprised, saying, "That's impossible. Let's go see." And sure enough, there was the picture of the world, all put together, every piece in it's place.
The man said, "That's amazing! How did you do that?" The boy said, "It was simple. On the back of the page was a picture of a man. When I put the man together the whole world fell into place."
In Christ, God put us back together. And wouldn’t you know it, when we are put back together we indeed can begin to put the world back together too. You who are reading this, yes you, have a part in God’s great ministry of reconciliation. We each have a part! Those of us who have been reconciled to God in Christ Jesus are now to bring people together. Look out at this divided world, where can your ministry help bring it back together? Go out and minister and do not wait anymore, for you are needed more than you know!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
What does it mean to you that you are reconciled to God? Do you remember this when God feels distant? Does it make you feel more whole? What is your role in the ministry of reconciliation? What needs reconciling right now?
The following story was e-mailed to me:
There was a man who had a little boy that he loved very much. Everyday after work the man would come home and play with the little boy. He would always spend all of his extra time playing with the little boy.
One night, while the man was at work, he realized that he had extra work to do for the evening, and that he wouldn't be able to play with his little boy. But, he wanted to be able to give the boy something to keep him busy. So, looking around his office, he saw a magazine with a large map of the world on the cover. He got an idea. He removed the map, and then patiently tore it up into small pieces. Then he put all the pieces in his coat pocket.
When he got home, the little boy came running to him and was ready to play. The man explained that he had extra work to do and couldn't play just now, but he led the little boy into the dining room, and taking out all the pieces of the map, he spread them on the table. He explained that it was a map of the world, and that by the time he could put it back together, his extra work would be finished, and they could both play. Surely this would keep the child busy for hours, he thought.
About half an hour later the boy came to the man and said, "Okay, it's finished. Can we play now?"
The man was surprised, saying, "That's impossible. Let's go see." And sure enough, there was the picture of the world, all put together, every piece in it's place.
The man said, "That's amazing! How did you do that?" The boy said, "It was simple. On the back of the page was a picture of a man. When I put the man together the whole world fell into place."
In Christ, God put us back together. And wouldn’t you know it, when we are put back together we indeed can begin to put the world back together too. You who are reading this, yes you, have a part in God’s great ministry of reconciliation. We each have a part! Those of us who have been reconciled to God in Christ Jesus are now to bring people together. Look out at this divided world, where can your ministry help bring it back together? Go out and minister and do not wait anymore, for you are needed more than you know!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
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