You're bound to get idears if you go thinkin' about stuff

Regocijaos en el Señor siempre. Otra vez lo diré: ¡Regocijaos! Vuestra bondad sea conocida de todos los hombres. El Señor está cerca. Filepenses 4, 4-5

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Philippians 4:4-5

The ache is very real. Steinbeck exactly captures the same questions of gratuitous injustice and inhumanity to man as the headlines in this morning’s newspaper chomped down alongside my bowl of oatmeal.  As declared by the LORD God to His people in Isaiah. And the call is to engage. To loose the bonds. To undo the straps. To break every yoke.

And this ache sort of saps all of the flavor out of that bowl of plain oatmeal and milk. With a banana sliced on top.

And I was talking to a friend last night how to make sure that El Camino didn’t just turn into a mountaintop experience. Or thirty or forty mountaintops, complete with quaint villages and picturesque farmhouses connected by swooping beautiful beaches.

And we are both moving into the last third of our lives. And what should that look like? Can we be intentional? Pause and consider? Pause and listen to that still quiet voice? That sweet Voice that has become more clear each day? And that is my prayer for this year, that His plan would be made clear.

We are not called to go quietly into the night, into the darkness, distracted and complacent. But neither am I called to angry judgmental finger pointing. And I read Ann Voskamp this morning. And her conviction to “keep writing it out here everyday, the words I am seeking to live — about this wondrously messy, everyday-holy life….about finding the beauty and quiet, about slowing to see the sacred in the chaos, Just listening – laundry, liturgy, life, — all of life, holy ground. A holy experience — because God has flaming bushes everywhere.”

And how am I to go about this life? With rejoicing. And reasonableness. Because His goodness is at hand. And thus it is a holy experience.

Sinners, take your shoes off.

I love people so much I'm fit to bust, sometimes

Let them know that this is Your hand, that You, O LORD, have done it. Psalm 109:26

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your Name give glory; because of Your love and because of Your faithfulness. Psalm 115:1

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Philippians 4:1

So I can pretty much relate to ol’ Paul these days. Except he was in prison and I am on summer vacation. Nicole just encouraged me to ride up A Mountain after swimming today, so I am all happy and showered and have a second cup of coffee. Which is not like Paul. But I do have lots of folks on my heart whom I love and long for. And reading Steinbeck very much makes me tenderhearted, as he details the aches of being human, of the hunger of a million souls, reaching, stumbling forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes.

And today as I pray for each one of you, there is this consideration, that through it all you may see His hand. And however He choses to will and to work in your life, that you will perceive it as His love and faithfulness, standing firm.

May His Name be glorified. 

While pushing my cart past the fruits and vegetables

Haced todas las cosas sin murmuraciones ni discusiones, para que seáis irreprensibles y sencillos, hijos de Dios sin tacha en medio de una generación torcida y perversa en medio de la cual resplandecéis como luminares en el mundo. Filipenses 2,14-15

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Philippians 2:14-15

You sweep us away like a dream; we fade away suddenly like the grass. In the morning it is green and flourishes; in the evening it is dried up and withered. Psalm 90:6

Prayer: Grant that I may know and understand what things I ought to do, and that I also may have the grace and power faithfully to accomplish them.

For some unknown reason, as I wandered the Voelkel bookshelves for something to read on my Friday night, I pulled Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. We have lots of copies in pretty good shape, having had so many kids go to Desert, and it’s not the sort of book one takes with one when packing up for Germany.

But he sure does a great job of describing the fading of grass into dried and withered. And I am so thinking that all of us Christ-followers should read at least the first chapter out loud pretty often, to reminds us of what is true and of value, and I forget that a lot and my life starts looking, but mostly sounding, like I am trying to store up treasures here on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy.

Which leads into grumbling and disputing.

And I have been the chiefest of grumblers and disputing these past few weeks. My U of A class was not up to my rather stringent standards of instruction and complex higher order thinking and effective use of class time. So I pretty much let everyone know it all day long.

And boy, did that dim my light in the world.  And what was truly important, re: of eternal value, about this class were the fifty-four other students and teachers in it and the five instructors.

And all I could think of during the time of evaluation and feedback was how could sneak my evaluative sheet out of the yet-to-be-read pile and erase some of my “average” ratings that were actually pretty accurate unless the should have been circled “poor,” but the point is that isn’t what is important in this crooked and twisted world. Because what is crooked and twisted in this world are all of the aching souls. Every single person in that room is a brokenness bearer. And some of the people obviously remembered that when they looked the other in the eye and encouraged with a big smile and thank you. And I am afraid that all they are going to remember of the Desert CHRISTIAN lady is her grumbling and disputing, and not her light.

And as I live this Saturday of driving Jack and Mary Anne to the airport before swim practice and returning the go pro whose screen had leaking black squiggles across it and make a few more phone calls to American Airlines and sort cupboards to take stuff to Goodwill and pop into Fry’s to buy bleach and corn on the cob and more grated cheese, let me remember where my treasure is stored and what blameless and innocent is all about.

Prayer: Lord, please fill me with Your grace and power that my light will shine before men and thus they will glorify You, my Father who is in heaven.