The Good Gate

Posted on by Betsy

I had spotted her at events we both are required to attend, and felt her discomfort. An episode in our past that involved her adult son but did not directly involve either one of us had created an awkward and uneasy divide. I don’t know how she had processed what happened, but I know we both have felt pain and discomfort since.

I spotted her again at a recent event and knew I had to approach her. I suppose I will never know how it felt on her end, but I felt the strong leading of the Holy Spirit to “break the ice” and hopefully make it so that when we encounter each other again, we can nod and say good morning rather than circle the room to avoid each other.

I cannot say it was a break-through moment. I could feel her body stiffen up as I approached her. I said good morning, asked her how she was, and let her know I was praying for her family. Her responses were polite and minimal, making me fear that my “drive-by compassion” had really caught her off guard and did nothing to bridge the awkwardness as I had hoped it would. Worse, I fear I may have caused her pain by speaking to her, something completely opposite of what I was hoping to do.

So then I did what we all do in that moment. I began to question whose leading I was truly following by approaching her….God’s, or mine?

I had a mom in my office last week who expressed the same confusion. Praying for her son for a very specific resolution of an issue had led her to believe that a situation would be resolved in one particular way. When that did not transpire, she naturally began to question whether she was hearing God’s voice or her own as she prayed.

God speaks to us in ways that we do not communicate with others. His Spirit speaks to our spirit and we “hear” what he is saying….but only if we are tuned in with fine precision. This requires spending a lot of time in his presence, so that the voice becomes clearer with each encounter. We tune in every time we pray, serve, worship, meditate, fellowship and sit with his word.

John 10 The Message (MSG)

He Calls His Sheep by Name

10 1-5 “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”

6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

14-18 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd.”

Recognizing God’s voice in the cacophony of all the sounds swirling in our minds and hearts takes practice, discernment and the constant abiding in God’s Word, God’s will and his presence. The good news is that he loves his sheep. All of his sheep. He is constantly calling, cajoling, rebuking, correcting, wooing, comforting, directing, and saying words of caring to us.

Are you trying to hear God today? Tune in, stay tuned, adjust your dial, and wait. The Good Shepherd is calling.

The Gate

And the Sun Stopped

Posted on by Betsy

Ever wish you could stop time? As in, literally snap your fingers or push a button and have time stand still? Watching your baby daughter grow up right before your eyes, attending a family reunion knowing you won’t see each other for another year and wondering who will be gone then, starting your last semester of college, waking up to the first day of vacation…there are a lot of examples of situations when we might wish we could stop time and just linger for awhile.

Our hurried lives often leave us wishing we had such power. If only I could stop time, I just might get all these things on my to-do list accomplished. If only I could just slow down the day, I could cram in all the things that I have over-committed to. If only the sun would stay up a little longer, I could meet everyone’s demands for my time and attention.

Did you know that there was a time in the Old Testament when someone actually asked God to stop time…and he did?

Joshua 10 (The Message)

12-13 The day God gave the Amorites up to Israel, Joshua spoke to God, with all Israel listening:

“Stop, Sun, over Gibeon;
Halt, Moon, over Aijalon Valley.”

And Sun stopped,
Moon stood stock still
Until he defeated his enemies.

13-14 (You can find this written in the Book of Jashar.) The sun stopped in its tracks in mid sky; just sat there all day. There’s never been a day like that before or since—God took orders from a human voice! Truly, God fought for Israel

The battle for Gibeon was set to end at sundown. Joshua’s military forces did not have night vision goggles, high beams, or even flashlights. In order to defeat the five kings of the Amorites, he needed more time, so he prayed that God would give him that. God heard his prayer and prevented the sun from setting until Joshua had finished his battle.

What battle are you in today that is suffering from your hectic, over-rushed life? Where has your hurry turned into debilitating worry, preventing you from relaxing into a moment and being present in the present? Hurry-worry is soul crushing. Are there things in your over-committed life that can be shed so that you can live in real time without so much stress?

Sun, stand still. Moon, stay put. We call on God to give us the tools that enable us to slow our frantic pace and attend to the meaningful priorities that will bring us closer to him, closer to one another, and closer to peace. This means allowing God to set priorities according to his will, and being willing to let go of anything that doesn’t fall into his prioritizing. Are you ready for that?

What do you need to do today to make that happen? Don’t let the sun go down before you do it.

Stopped Sun

One Thing

Posted on by Betsy

Do you use a to-do list to organize your day’s tasks? I do. Granted, sometimes it turns our to be nothing more than a nagging wish list, but it can help me damper some of my anxiety about having too much to do, it gives me some structure and a plan, and the best part is that at the end of the day I have proof that I did accomplish something. Sometimes I even add something I did just so I can cross it off.

The problem with to-do lists is that they are just that: a list of tasks rather than a focus on just one thing. What would our day look like if we just committed to doing one thing? Could we ever achieve the single-mindedness of a dog looking for her dinner? Now that’s focus!

It would behoove us to think about people, things, and activities around us that derail our energy and dampen our motivation. Think about the things that take you away in a distracting spiral. What would be on your list? Online shopping, checking emails and social media, texting a friend with some juicy gossip, getting lost when you just turn on the news for a moment … all these things are life-draining.

What one thing does God desire of us and for us?

In Luke 18:22, Jesus made it pretty simple: “When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing…come, follow Me.”

Paul reminded us that focusing on one thing meant forgoing the past: “Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3: 13-14).

Surely following Jesus by reaching toward his call on our lives is more important than anything else on our to-do list that distracts us.

Have you written your to-do list for today? Throw it out and replace it with this one thing: Follow Jesus today.

Single-Minded Jellyfish

Do Not Disturb

Posted on by Betsy

Kids really do say the darnedest things.

We took our grandkids to LEGOLAND in Florida while their mother started school a week before they did. This has been our family tradition for four years now. We stay in a large room with a kid side with bunkbeds and an adult side with a big bed. The kid side is near the door.

We showed them how we put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door at night to let housekeeping know in the morning that we are still inside. After the first night, the oldest came to us with a major complaint; nobody had obeyed the sign. At first I thought housekeeping had knocked early in the morning and we didn’t hear it from our side of the room but he want on to explain that all night long he could hear kids running up and down the halls and being noisy. “They did not obey our DO NOT DISTURB sign!!’

Oh, my. If only it was that easy.

Do you ever wish you could hang a big Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob of your life?

I think we’re disturbed all the time. We are disturbed by the cacophony of the upcoming mid-term elections, election tampering, threats to our democracy, mudslinging political ads, and outright bullying, forgetting that God honors truth and fairness among his children.

We are disturbed by the horrific images of mistreatment of vulnerable immigrants, forgetting that we, too, were once slaves in Egypt and that God so loved the entire world that he sent his son to save the entire world, not just a select few.

We are disturbed by the despicable actions of seven entitled frat boys who viciously helped themselves to a young woman’s unconscious body, forgetting that all people are made in the image of God. Even women.

We are disturbed by seeing evidence of pollution and climate change that are destroying our world, forgetting that it was God who created this beautiful earth for the benefit of all humanity, trusting us with its care and stewardship.

We are disturbed by the thoughtless, careless, biting and wounding words slung like fiery arrows on social media, forgetting that Scripture teaches us to tame our tongues.

We are disturbed.

During David’s reign, the Sons of Korah served as a liturgical choir, expressing the distress of being disturbed by their circumstances. They wrote and sang this psalm with the calm reassurance that even in the darkest moments, God is still our saving presence:

Psalm 42 ( Common English Bible)

Just like a deer that craves streams of water,
 my whole being craves you, God.

2 My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see God’s face?
3 My tears have been my food both day and night,
as people constantly questioned me,
Where’s your God now?”

4 But I remember these things as I bare my soul:
how I made my way to the mighty one’s abode,
to God’s own house,
with joyous shouts and thanksgiving songs—
a huge crowd celebrating the festival!

5 Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed?
 Why are you so upset inside?

Hope in God!
Because I will again give him thanks,
my saving presence and my God.

Hope in God. It is all we can do. And God never, ever fails.

Sunset after the Nor’ Easter

Bringing the Best

Posted on by Betsy

Swiss psychologist Carl Jung developed a theory about recurring negative self-talk that he called shadow beliefs. A shadow belief is an unconscious belief that influences our entire lives – telling us what we can and cannot do, and driving all of our behaviors. They are born in our childhood and well fed by our family, friends, and ourselves as we grow up. These are the negative beliefs hidden from our conscious view that rob us from having what Christ wants us to have in our lives: peace, contentment, hope, and life abundant.

Shadow beliefs take the form of an inner voice that responds in every situation with a loud and negative commentary. I saw this first hand once when a woman I observed spilled salad dressing all over herself in a restaurant. The volume of self-abuse that followed for the next 20 minutes was disconcerting. Repeatedly and loudly she ranted about how stupid she is, how clumsy, how she couldn’t believe she had yet again ruined her clothes, and how she didn’t deserve to go out. She paused for a quick breath and then loudly questioned why something bad ALWAYS happens to her, and cycled back to yelling about how stupid she is…and the second verse was the same as the first.

Shadow beliefs are even reinforced in our childhood songs: “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms.”

The only way out of shadow beliefs is to first recognize them, and then address them each time they pop up. That, of course, can take a long time and might require some professional help. But in the shouting back against them, take heart! The God of creation wants so much more for us. The Savior of the world died so that we might have life, and life abundant. And the Holy Spirit is a vibrant and lively presence of truth in our situation. We all just need to tune our ears to God’s voice instead of the inner one that is trying to limit us.

Romans 12 The Message (MSG)

Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Fix your attention on God.

By his power, he will change you from the inside out. External things in our culture and internal things like shadow beliefs conspire to drag you down. Don’t let them. Don’t be so well-adjusted to your shadow beliefs that you fit into them without even thinking.

Embracing what God does for you is the best way to counteract the flow of negative inner dialogue. He believes in you even when you don’t believe in yourself. Remember the cross! Christ’s action there makes us worthy of paradise. Make that your belief, and you will soon realize that nothing else matters.

Door at the Wright Brothers Monument

God-Breathed

Posted on by Betsy

Do you have a favorite pen? Pens can be personal. Some folks like the popular Big Grip Bics, with their rubberized finger grip and convenient pocket clip. Others prefer fountain pens, ball points, gels, rollerballs, marker tips, or even the elusive space pen, which writes upside down. For when, you know, you need to write in space and they turn the module on its head just as you need to jot down a note.

Pens are almost a thing of the past these days. They have been replaced by keyboards, thumbs, styluses, and talk-to-text. Think about it: when is the last time you used one for any length of time? I don’t even write down a grocery list anymore. I text a list to myself so that I can use my phone as I shop. Because of course, I always have my phone with me, unlike my written lists that I usually managed to leave at home or in the car.

Of course this now prevents me from the satisfaction I get from marking things off. There is no better feeling than looking at your “Do Today” list and seeing everything crossed through. Sometimes I even add something that I’ve already done, just to cross it off. That feeling of accomplishment is hard to achieve with a text to yourself!

As pen use falls away, so does good penmanship. I had to actually write something out longhand last week and I was appalled at my own chicken scratch. Writing by hand is something that requires daily practice. When we stop, it shows.

Which brings me to why we need to stay engaged in the scriptures on a daily basis. It really becomes a “use it or lose it” thing. Daily immersion keeps our spirits in tune with God’s spirit, and sets the tone for our daily thinking, responding, acting, and being. When we stop, we begin to disconnect and drift away from God.

Just as we need “daily bread,” we need a daily consumption of God’s word. Listen to how Jesus responds to the Devil’s taunting in the wilderness:

Matthew 4 The Message (MSG)

The Test

4 1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.”

4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”

Did you notice that Jesus answered the devil with Scripture? It is our best weapon against the Evil One. But you have to know it to use it.

It takes a steady stream of God’s words to stay alive. That is why we do this. That is why opening up the Bible every single day is important. Without it, we would starve for wisdom, knowledge, direction, discernment, and purpose. And surely without those things our souls would die. Like manna in the desert, God provides. All we need to do is open ourselves up to consume it.

2 Timothy 3 (NIV)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So thank for your daily faithfulness in reading At Water’s Edge. Thank you for sharing it! We have reached almost 140,000 views since this began, and have been read in 127 countries and locations including China, the Czech Republic, federal prisons in Georgia, Hong Kong, Palestine, Ukraine, and South Korea. That has only happened because of your faithfulness in sharing it.

As we continue to read, pray, and equip ourselves and others every day, may the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word.

This is the word of God for the people of God! Thanks be to God.

Readership by Country

Two Left Feet

Posted on by Betsy

I took a trip recently and was dismayed to realize that I had packed two left walking shoes. I like to buy the same running shoes when the old ones wear down so I have a selection of sneakers that all look the same in my closet. In my haste to get ready, I just grabbed two shoes and threw them in the suitcase. I wore sandals on the plane, so this meant that I would be in sandals for the trip.

The notion of having two left feet was suddenly my reality for a week, and I thought about how that usually indicates an inability to dance. I’m not a great dancer, so that fits. But I was truly hampered by my packing faux pas and ended up having to spend money on a pair of sneakers that included a right shoe, as our planned sight-seeing would not accommodate sandals.

Truly the only good reason for two left feet is if you also have two right feet and you’re a dog.

Any endeavor worth pursuing requires a certain amount of thoughtful pre-planning.Travel, work, family, sports, music, etc. all depend on your ability to think things out ahead of time and then execute those plans. I am reminded of a short parable Jesus told potential disciples about the need to consider the cost of doing things the right way.

Luke 14 (Common English Bible)

28 “If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when you have laid the foundation but couldn’t finish the tower, all who see it will begin to belittle you. 30 They will say, ‘Here’s the person who began construction and couldn’t complete it!’ 31 Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand soldiers could go up against the twenty thousand coming against him? 32 And if he didn’t think he could win, he would send a representative to discuss terms of peace while his enemy was still a long way off. 33 In the same way, none of you who are unwilling to give up all of your possessions can be my disciple.

Jesus’ call to give up all their possessions was harsh, wasn’t it? And yet following Jesus means that we deliberately walk away from our former lives in order to have a new life in him. Relationships, material possessions, habits, plans, and even how we present ourselves to the world all have to change when we take on the life of a disciple. Even family dynamics can be affected, as many of you have experienced. The cost is high but the reward is higher.

Are you still trying to hold on to things from your pre-disciple life? Are there ways or habits that need to go in order for you to build a God-honoring, cross-centered life? Is a relationship holding you down and pulling you away from Jesus?

Trying to hold on to the former things is like trying to walk in two left shoes. You are sure to stumble and fall. Instead, give it up to God and he will surely make your path smooth.

Nope

Watchfulness

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever heard of the spiritual practice of watchfulness? This discipline is a call to active attentiveness to God’s activity and presence in our lives and in our world. By staying alert and awake, we are able to focus on what God is saying to us today and not fall into anxious speculation about an unknown tomorrow. Who seriously doesn’t need that right now?

A lot of Christians focus their attention on the promise and anticipation of Jesus’ Second Coming. People can get very overwhelmed with needing to know what the signs will be. They ask what the timing of it will be? How will we know it’s about to happen? Are we indeed living in the End Times right now? How do we know?

But what we really should be asking is how can we be ready? Our time and attention is better served by observing where is God acting in the “here and now” as we wait for the “there and then”.

And so we are invited to faithfully wait and watch. These beautiful words from Jeremiah explain our duty as watchmen:

Jeremiah 6:16-18 (Common English Bible)

The Lord proclaims: Stop at the crossroads and look around; ask for the ancient paths. Where is the good way? Then walk in it and find a resting place for yourselves. But you said, “We won’t go!” Still, I have appointed watchmen to warn you. But you said, “We won’t listen!” Therefore, pay attention, nations; take notice, assembly, what is ahead of them.

Watchfulness causes us to stop.

It calls us to look around and ask questions.

It invites us to rest in the good way.

It warns us to pay attention and take notice of what is ahead of us.

Where did you see God today? Take notice, and then go share what you see with others.

Tiny Gator on a Tiny Island

Internal Checkup

Posted on by Betsy

This morning I am fasting for some routine blood work and I am marveling at what medical science can tell us about ourselves with an inside look at our blood. I am also missing my usual coffee-with-cream, but I’m grateful that somebody figured out that black coffee won’t alter your results like they used to think in the old days. No lab technician with a needle wants to encounter me on a morning without my usual dose of caffeine!

This got me to thinking about ways we can do a checkup on our internal spiritual health without a lab or (Thank God) a jab. It is a spiritual discipline known as the Examen.

The Examen is an ancient Christian practice of daily self-examination designed to bring us closer to God. John Wesley developed questions for his Holy Club at Oxford to use every day. Here is a sample of his Examen questions that can help you to honestly assess your soul’s daily health and growth. 

  • Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? 
  • Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
  • Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
  • Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
  • Did the Bible live in me today?
  • Am I enjoying prayer?
  • When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
  • Do I pray about the money I spend?
  • Do I disobey God in anything?
  • Do I insist upon doing something about which I am uneasy?
  • Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
  • Do I grumble or complain constantly?
  • Is Christ real to me?

This is one of those practices that we should print out and tape on our mirror, checking it first thing in the morning for guidance and last thing at night for evaluation. Does that list encourage you or intimidate you?

Paul encouraged his church in Corinth to do regular checkups on their faith. He knew it would help them in their effort to be stronger disciples and better as a Body of Christ:

2 Corinthians 13 (The Message)

5Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.

Is it time for your checkup? Don’t delay! Any change that the list requires is doable. You can turn things around right now, with God’s help.

Jacob Wrestles With an Angel (Akureyri, Iceland)

Tripping

Posted on by Betsy

Today’s lesson will focus on tripping. And more importantly, how not to trip. I am an expert at both tripping and falling, so read this carefully.

Hebrews 12 (Common English Bible)

12 So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, 2 and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. 

I don’t even know how many times I have fallen while running and it all has to do with what I where I was looking. The first time happened when Kenn and I were running and a lady with an adorable little Corgi dog came toward us. I slipped behind Kenn so they could pass us, but of course instead of looking where I was going, I was looking at the dog and BAM, my toe caught on a piece of the concrete that was raised up just one inch and I fell and broke my arm. Just recently I did the same thing looking for an alligator in a pond I was passing on a run in Florida. My toe caught a raised up edge of the concrete slab and I took a header. But there may be a case made for looking at the alligator in this instance, however.

Have you ever gotten tripped up because you were looking the wrong way? We can all relate to this hard lesson learned on keeping your eyes forward and on the path God has set before you! 

Getting tripped up by sin often starts subtly. A mild flirtation becomes a destructive relationship and a marriage ends. An envious spirit becomes slanderous gossip and reputations are damaged. A few missed Sundays turn into months and years away from a community of faith. We look up and suddenly realize we are so far from God’s path we can’t even see it anymore. How can we prevent that from happening?

The obvious question is, where are you looking right now? What are you looking at right now? Let us not forget that Genesis 1 tells us that Eve SAW the forbidden fruit and then ate.

Genesis 3:6 (Common English Bible)

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food & pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some & ate it.

It all begins with a look.

Are you focused on the course of faith that has been laid out before you or have your eyes strayed away to other distractions? Lord knows we live in a world of distraction. Social media, thousands of streaming channels that offer escape from the real world, political news that is endless in our 24-hour news cycle, attention diverted by wealth and greed and trying to get ahead of your neighbors, obsessing over the success of our children and having to post every minute of their lives … the list goes on and on. Many of us truthfully spend a good portion of each day looking at our phones.

But where should you be looking? Scripture instructs us to just keep looking at Jesus.

When we look at Jesus, we see the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

When we look at Jesus, we see a race completed with determination, endurance, and grace.

When we look at Jesus, we see his power to continue moving forward and away from old habits and baggage.

When we look at Jesus, we see our future.

Keep moving forward! Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Not Today, Satan!