Every day they wrest my words

Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book? Psalm 56:8

He knows my wanderings.  My tears.  I am known. 

I skyped with Marco last night and he is hitting a wall smack in the face higher and harder that he has ever tried to climb before.  And God is there with him in Shanghai even in the midst of a job too crazy and too much loneliness and yes, he made Jincheng smile happily with a Chinese greeting.  And his tears are in His bottle. He is known.  

And Cate curled up with me on the couch in front of the fire and swirled a glass of red wine and told me stories.  And she has done some serious wandering since she wandered out of my seventh grade English class and Tom Sawyer and prepositional phrases and winning her public policy debate.  And her tears are in His bottle.  She is known.

And really Alan and I should get serious and sort through some of the books that are covered in very thick dust on our shelves and squished in on top and behind and there is a row of bent spiral notebooks with years and years of prayers marching across the pages, through shopping lists and little girl drawings and dead bug parts.  And my tears are in His bottle.  I am known.  

And I do not understand how the LORD of the universe manages all of His bottles dangling through the millennial, but I also do not understand how He made my hand to curl up and flex and wiggle and I can see it right in front of my face.  

And I know that the Psalmist speaks out our darkest cries, that echo back and forth through the hearts of man and are recorded in His book.    

Mickie and I were commiserating, huddled on the pool deck this morning.  We are old.  We have done this before.  We know what is good.  But every single morning, it is takes all we can muster to drop the fuzzy-lined parkas and jump into the pool.  Every single morning, And every single morning I push out of the pool, heart pounding, full of the joy of life.  

Cate looked me in the eye last night, and said, “I don’t get it.  But I know one thing, obedience equals joy.  Obedience equals joy.”

When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.

In God will I praise His word: in the Lord will I praise His word.

In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto Thee.

This I know; for God is for me.