Daily devotionals

Panting For God

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever experienced a season that felt spiritually dry? We all experience seasons of dryness, times when we feel abandoned by God and isolated from his blessings. There is no shame in feeling that God isn’t hearing your distress or answering your prayers. Today’s psalm teaches us that everyone feels that way at one point or another. Situations like illness, death of a loved one, betrayal, financial insecurity, divorce, addiction, rebellious children … life is full of times when we look to God for an easy out and are met with silence. The question that our Scripture asks today is how can we get through those periods of dryness when they occur? How can we survive when our extreme thirst for God’s presence is not being satisfied?

Psalm 42 (New International Version)

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

6 My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

8 By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Let’s start by talking about hydration, a necessary part of living, especially in the hot summer months. We know from science that the body is made up of about 60% water. Water is essential for health and is necessary for keeping the body running smoothly. It regulates temperature, assists cellular function, and is the primary source of waste removal. Your brain and your heart are about 73% water, your lungs are 83% water, your skin is about 64% water, and your muscles and kidneys are about 79% water. All parts of the body need water to work properly, and so drinking water is necessary for life.

I am a fan of shows like the History Channel’s Alone, where survivalists are dropped into wilderness areas and have to survive extreme conditions like below zero temperatures, lack of food and shelter, and loneliness. One of the first things they do when they are dropped off is to seek clean, drinkable water. Did you know that the body can survive for one to two months without food (except teenage boys … for them it’s much shorter) but can only survive for 3 days without water? The contestants immediately construct a temporary shelter and then go out to collect and boil water from streams, snow, and rainfall. Water is essential for life.

I think the teaching points from this passage boil down to three important concepts. First, this is a gut-wrenchingly honest lament. The psalmist pulled no punches here in his deep despair over his circumstance. I wrote a devotional about this last month when we read from the Book of Ruth. Naomi found herself without a husband or sons and returned to Bethlehem with a new name. She called herself Mara because of the bitterness of her situation. Both Naomi and the writer of Psalm 42 are great examples of people who handled their tragic situation with raw honesty. You will never get better unless you are honest about your situation.

The second teaching point from this passage is an encouragement to do some self-care by doing some self-talk. “Why are you so downcast?” the psalmist asks himself three times in this passage. Admitting the truth to yourself is essential for moving out of any state of being downcast. We call this “preaching to your own soul” and pretty much every Sunday, you can get an idea of the elements of preaching. A good preacher will ask you questions and then use Scripture to answer those questions. Those Scriptures help you reframe your focus and return to what God is saying to you. Preaching to your soul helps you come back to a ground zero of God’s unconditional love for you and his abiding presence in your situation, even when you can’t feel it. It’s very important to remember who you are, and whose you are.

And finally, the psalmist encourages us to choose hope. 

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Hope is a choice, my brothers and sisters. Hope is when we look up from being downcast and stand solidly on God’s promises. Hope is when we sit in an ash heap and count our blessings. The psalmist gives us permission to say, “This is the worst thing ever! And yet I will praise him!” No matter how hopeless and dark things can seem, there is always an “And yet” choice to make. We can refocus on God’s goodness instead of our despair in any dry season. 

Jesus invites all who thirst to come to him. He is the Living Water flowing freely from the heart of God. Come, and drink.

As the Zebra Pants for Streams of Water

In the Blink of an Eye

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever been in a moment that seemed like it would go on forever?

A first kiss, sitting in the Operating Room waiting area, the month before Christmas, a painful reprimanding by your mom, being in labor with your first child, church administrative meetings … lots of things feel endless.

Of course the end eventually comes and in hindsight, you realize that it wasn’t as bad as you thought in the moment. Well, except for church administrative meetings.

Our sense of time and our perception of its passing are easily skewed by our expectations. If you expected a meeting to be over in half an hour, then by the third hour you are sure you’ve been there for days. The month before Christmas is exactly four weeks, no matter how ready you aren’t or excited you are. A first kiss is probably more fleeting than you realized … but when your Mama is yelling at you, well, that really did go on for an eternity.

When working with people who have lost a loved one, the subject of time and our perception of its passing are often a part of the discussion. In the grand scope of things, this earthly existence is but a blink of an eye. One blink, and there is your 89.5 average years of earthly existence. By contrast, the scope of eternity is, well, endless:

Revelation 21 New International Version (NIV)

A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Can you even imagine? All the pettiness, grief, hardship, heartache, and even all the pleasures of earthly life will pass in the blink of an eye, and we will dwell with God forever. And in our new Jerusalem, there will be no more pain, no more crying, and even no more death.

This is the perspective of time which we would do well to remember. So often we focus on the seeming endlessness of everyday life, when actually every day is minuscule compared to what is to come. So the aggravations of this world end up not amounting to much in the end. Yet in the moment, they certainly can overwhelm everything.

So next time you are stuck in a place or situation that you long to flee, remember the new Jerusalem. This moment, this thing, this burden will quickly pass, but God’s eternity is endless. His love endures forever, world without end. Amen.

Gone in the Blink of an Eye by Michelle Robertson

Jesus in Time-Out

Posted on by Betsy

Parents of twins know that the two-for-one special you brought home from the hospital is very special indeed. Twins can develop their own language, often communicating non-verbally and verbally in ways nobody else can understand. There is an inextricable link between them, formed in the womb, that can’t be broken.

Several years ago we observed this in action when ours were about two years old. One of our sets of twin grandchildren (yes, we have two sets of twins. It gets weirder than that. Each of our daughters had a boy first and then two years later had boy/girl twins. Exact duplicate families. It must be some kind of record!) could have been modeled after Winnie the Pooh characters. Nora Jean is a Tigger: bouncy, laughing, always in motion, and happy-happy. Ryan is an Eeyore. He is thoughtful, contemplative, loves to sit with a book, and very observant of everything around him.

So Eeyore was playing with a light switch on his Gigi’s small, glass-fronted refrigerator, probably figuring out the engineering of the entire system and contemplating how electricity works. Tigger was bouncing around the room, saw her brother deep in thought and WHACK, popped him on the head. Mom disciplined her and told her to back away. So she immediately WHACKED her brother on the head a second time. Like I said, twin language.

A call to time-out ensued, accompanied by much weeping and wailing, as Nora Jean sat dutifully and contrite in her corner. Then along came Ryan.

First he tried to cheer her up with a silly little dance, but that didn’t work. So he did the brotherly thing and sat down next to her, scooting along the floor until their legs touched and her crying subsided.

This, my friends, is a perfect picture of the incarnation.

When God became the man called Jesus, he placed himself in time-out with us. We were hopeless and condemned by our own sin, with nothing to save us. Except love. God so loved the world, he sent his only son into time-out, so that whoever believes in him would be offered a get-out-of-jail free card. And eternal life.

Philippians 2 New International Version (NIV)

Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6  Who, being in very nature God,

    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

    by taking the very nature of a servant,

    being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

    he humbled himself

    by becoming obedient to death—

        even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

God put on flesh and dwelt among us. In so doing, he experienced what we experience: pain, anger, frustration, joy, temptation, sorrow….everything but sin. This is how we can trust him to deliver us! He KNOWS US. He was us. He is always with us.

The “humbling Jesus” that is mentioned in this passage is a reminder of what God calls us to do. We are to humble ourselves in like manner, getting down on the floor and scooting over to someone in need. We are invited to offer sharing, tenderness, and compassion, being of one mind with the spirit. We don’t need to have all the answers, or even any, but God call us to sit with the hurting and offer the comfort of ‘presence.’

Where is God calling you today to simply sit with someone? To offer hope, healing, encouragement, a silly dance, or a silent witness to the incarnation? Some will do this in the hospital, some in the pew, some in the prison, some at the office, others in the High School.

Wherever that place is, go and sit. And may you receive the blessing of Eeyore, who was always happy to have someone to sit with and replied, “Thanks for noticing me.”

Go, and notice someone.

Twinlove

Heat Advisory

Posted on by Betsy

Over the last week my phone has pinged several times with a heat advisory alert. Is it hot where you live? It functions like a pavlovian trigger for me. As soon as I read “heat advisory” I get an instant sensation of thirst. Thirst is an issue in these dog days of summer. Being outside for even a nano-second (with mascara melting and sunglasses fogging) is an instant dehydrator. Here on the Outer Banks the relentless heat index has made us feel as though we are living on the surface of the sun. Just getting to the car to go grocery shopping is thirsty work.

Have you ever considered the things people thirst after that aren’t hydration? Some people thirst after fame. Some thirst after power. Some thirst for wealth. Others for equality and inclusion. Some things are worthy of our thirst and others are frivolous. We can either drink the clear and healthy water that sustains us and helps us thrive, or we can try to satisfy ourselves with sugary soda pop. God has created us to know a good thirst from a bad one and to seek to satisfy that thirst with healthy things rather than waste our resources on things that will never satiate us.

But we still keep reaching for the soda pop.

God has a better offer.

Isaiah 55 (Contemporary English Version)

If you are thirsty,
    come and drink water!
If you don’t have any money,
    come, eat what you want!
Drink wine and milk
    without paying a cent.
2 Why waste your money
    on what really isn’t food?
Why work hard for something
    that doesn’t satisfy?
Listen carefully to me,
and you will enjoy
    the very best foods.

I think the conflict we face is between taking a quick and easy fix for our problems or accepting the free grace and mercy that the Lord offers.

I know a woman who is struggling in her marriage. Her alcohol consumption exacerbates the situation. She knows that. Night after night she chooses to drink, which causes her to say critical and harsh things to her spouse. She recognizes that she is invited to drink from the Living Water that is Christ, who offers patience, perseverance, and forgiveness, but that would require sobriety. Christ alone is able to quench her thirst, but instead she drinks from the wasteful bottle of avoidance and anger, which will never, ever satisfy.

3 Pay close attention!
    Come to me and live.
I will promise you
the eternal love and loyalty
    that I promised David.
4 I made him the leader and ruler
of the nations;
    he was my witness to them.

No matter what you are thirsting after today, God has an unlimited well of goodness that is offered without price. His healing mercies flow from the font of the Resurrection. When you drink freely of the water he has to offer, you will be blessed with a life that provides the very best foods of peace, wholeness, and contentment.

Thirsty? Try Jesus. Come to him and live and you will receive the eternal love and loyalty he offers to all. When you drink the Living Water you will never be thirsty again.

Heat Rising by Kathy Schumacher (buttons on a quilt)

The Way In

Posted on by Betsy

A few years ago my daughter and son-in-law took us to a secret speak-easy in Orlando called Roka Hulu. It was located inside a restaurant with no discernible doorway. We stumbled around the large lobby for several minutes trying to find the door. Then someone came up to us and explained that you had to sit in chairs that were located next to a tall leopard statue and wait for someone to notice you and “buzz” you in. The platform you were sitting on suddenly began to move and you were rotated around, finding yourself inside a hidden restaurant filled with color, people, and mouth-watering Asian cuisine. It was fun, as long as you knew the way in!

I thought of that today when I read Paul’s letter to the Hebrews where he described Jesus as a “new and living way” into the Father. We remember that at Jesus’ death, the curtain to the Holy of Holies in the Temple was torn, signifying that the barrier to God was broken. The forgiveness of sins offered there makes us clean and enables us to draw close to the Lord with genuine hearts. And we know the way in; Jesus is the way.

Hebrews 10 (Common English Bible)

19 Brothers and sisters, we have confidence that we can enter the holy of holies by means of Jesus’ blood, 20 through a new and living way that he opened up for us through the curtain, which is his body, 21 and we have a great high priest over God’s house.

22 Therefore, let’s draw near with a genuine heart with the certainty that our faith gives us, since our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies are washed with pure water.

23 Let’s hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, because the one who made the promises is reliable.

Jesus is the way to the Father. It is only in Jesus that we see who the Father is and what the Father is like. And only Jesus can lead us to the Father, having paid the price of admission with his crucifixion on a cross. Other faith systems will lead to other gods, but only the God-incarnate, Emmanuel, Word-made-flesh Jesus can take us to the one true God. This radical statement undoes centuries of reliance on the Temple, Festivals, rituals, and altar sacrifices. The Father is no longer in the Holy of Holies; this Father and Son reunion, surrounded by the Holy Spirit, is the new heaven. 

Think about it this way. You have lost your on a country road heading toward a vacation cabin. You can’t get a signal for your GPS so you stop to ask directions. A friendly store owner gives you a fourteen-point series of directions that includes things like “turn south at Henry’s pig farm” and “go right at the corner where the old school house used to be.” There is no way you’d ever get there! But what if it turns out that the store keeper is the son of the cabin owner and gets in the car and drives you there, turn by turn, until you arrive safely at your destination? That would be the only way. The only way to the Father is through the Son.

The night before Jesus died on the cross, he gathered with his disciples and told them he was leaving. Thomas was frightened and replied that they didn’t know the way to where Jesus was going. Jesus’ answer to Thomas was an invitation to recognize him as the Way. He didn’t just give him advice and directions. He held out his hand and said, “Come. I’ll take you.”

As we make our way through the rest of our days to the one who is the Way to eternal life, let us listen to what Paul says about how to spend this remaining time:

24 And let us consider each other carefully for the purpose of sparking love and good deeds. 25 Don’t stop meeting together with other believers, which some people have gotten into the habit of doing. Instead, encourage each other, especially as you see the day drawing near.

Let us spark love by doing good deeds, and keep up our worship attendance, encouraging everyone along the way about the Way.

Do you know the Way?

The Way to the Father by Kathy Schumacher

Follow the Way

Posted on by Betsy

Today we are going to look at the John 14 passage again and focus our attention on Thomas’ question and Jesus’ answer. I love that Thomas was bold enough to ask what everyone else in the Upper Room that night was probably thinking! My teacher friends tell me that they always appreciate that kid with all the questions. They’re the ones that get all the answers.

John 14 (Common English Bible)

 “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. 2 My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? 3 When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. 4 You know the way to the place I’m going.”

     5 Thomas asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

     6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Thomas the Questioner was someone who probably never let a question go unspoken. He was not a doubter in my mind, but just the one who was bold enough to state his confusion. Every small group needs a Thomas! We’ve all known Thomases in our time; that child who barrages you with questions at every meal, the coworker who engages in a debate at every chance, and even the secret places in our own hearts where wondering turns into endless querying, especially in times of trouble. But we have to give Thomas his due here, because his unabashed questioning gave us one of Jesus’ best and most definitive statements of his life. To answer Thomas’ nervous claim that they didn’t know where Jesus was going or how to get there, Jesus gave this calm response “I am the way, the truth and the life” (verse 14:6a). 

Connecting these three things would have meant a great deal to the Jewish men sitting around that table. The Jews have talked about the way for centuries, connecting it to the way people must walk by understanding the ways of God. God told Moses not to walk to the right hand or the left hand, but to walk “in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you” (Deuteronomy 5:33). The Law and all of the rabbinical teachings centered around the way of God and the way people must walk. 

One of the ways that people must walk is by seeking the truth in all things; a truth that would hold up to their teachings. The Torah and the Midrash (rabbinic interpretation) must be studied in order for people of God to learn the truth. Moral truth was the goal and study was the way.

And all good Jews sought a path that led to a good life. Many of the Psalms and Proverbs expressed this desire: “He who heeds instructions is on the path to life” (Proverbs 6:23). A worthy life that was worth living was the proof of obedience.

Jesus clarified that he was the culmination of Jewish expectation, wrapped up in these three pillars of thought and offered to everyone. Jesus provides the way that gives direction to all who wander in confusion and affliction. Jesus is the truth that answers all of life’s mysteries. Jesus is the life that brings hope to those who are dead inside and don’t know how to go on.

The way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the three-in-one answer to all of life’s questions. Looking for eternal life? Follow Jesus.

The Way of Light by Michelle Robertson

Unrecognizable

Posted on by Betsy

My high school reunion is approaching, and a large Face Book group has been formed to organize it. As the invitations to join have been accepted, I have been surprised to see faces I have not laid eyes on for years. Some I remember right away but others have changed so much that  even though we were once close, I don’t recognize them. Decades of living will do that to you. Whether you experienced great hardship or great plastic surgery during that time, none of us will arrive at the party looking the same as we did long ago.

The subject of recognizing people for who they are plays a big part in today’s lesson. The irony is that just one verse before today’s reading, the disciples yet again question Jesus’ identity. “Who can this be?” they say (Matthew 8:27). This was their response to Jesus’ stilling the storm from their boat! Two verses later, the demons instantly recognize Jesus, calling him “Son of God” (Matthew 8:29). How is it that agents of the devil know what Jesus’ closest companions did not?

Recognizing Jesus’ authority, the demons begged to be cast into a herd of unclean pigs. They hated to be idle and hoped to continue their destruction in a different form. This request would free the poor men who had been possessed by them. Their lives in the tomb must have been horrific years of torture, and finally they were restored and made whole by the Son of God. You would think that people would have cheered this, but alas, they did not.

Matthew 8 (Common English Bible)

28 When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake in the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed came from among the tombs to meet him. They were so violent that nobody could travel on that road. 29 They cried out, “What are you going to do with us, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the time of judgment?” 30 Far off in the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons pleaded with him, “If you throw us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

When the swine herders went to tell the townspeople what had happened, they told about the miracle of the two men’s deliverance. But the town reacted by coming out to see Jesus and asking him to leave. Their ingratitude for the removal of demons in their community is stunning. Granted, the men lived in the unclean tombs and perhaps they didn’t have much interaction, but to respond with rejection is unconscionable. Or is it?

32 Then he said to the demons, “Go away,” and they came out and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned. 33 Those who tended the pigs ran into the city and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole city came out and met Jesus. When they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

The great liberator had come, and they told him to get out. Do we ever do that? Do we ever tell Jesus to get out of our business when he calls us to change? Do we reject his ministrations when he tries to liberate us from our addictions, pre-conceived prejudices, bad habits, and laziness? Are we like the townspeople?

Jesus came to free us from our bondage and break the chains that prevent us from living whole, clean lives. May we recognize our deliverer when he comes.

Pig! by Becca Ziegler

One Thing

Posted on by Betsy

If you had one thing you could ask of God, what would it be? Now mind you, this question comes with the same constraints as the genie in the bottle, so you can’t ask for more wishes to be granted. Some of us would ask for financial relief and wealth, so that money would no longer be an issue. Some of us would ask for a miracle cure for ourselves or a loved one who was dealing with a terminal illness. Some of us might ask for an impossible reconciliation to be granted with an estranged loved one. Some might ask for material things.

David asked to be allowed to enter God’s home.

In our psalm today, David made it clear that the only thing he wants, needs, and seeks is to live with God for the rest of his life. It is a good ask, when you think about it. In God’s house, all riches are ours and economic insecurity does not exist. All illnesses vanish and we are made whole. Every relationship is restored in heaven, so there is no estrangement. And all material needs are met daily, so we never go without. It is a good ask!

Psalm 27 (Common English Bible)

    I have asked one thing from the Lord—
    it’s all I seek:
        to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life,
        seeing the Lord’s beauty
        and constantly adoring his temple.
5 Because he will shelter me in his own dwelling
    during troubling times;
    he will hide me in a secret place in his own tent;
        he will set me up high, safe on a rock.

David was always in some kind of trouble, and while we don’t know the exact dating of this psalm, we can intuit that he was under siege once again from an enemy and longed for the protection of God’s shelter. Do you ever feel that way in troubled times? I feel that way every day when I wake up and read the news. Our present generation has never lived in such troubled times and I, for one, long for the shelter of God’s secret place. Deliver us, Lord!

6 Now my head is higher than the enemies surrounding me,
    and I will offer sacrifices in God’s tent—
        sacrifices with shouts of joy!
    I will sing and praise the Lord.

7 Lord, listen to my voice when I cry out—
    have mercy on me and answer me!
8 Come, my heart says, seek God’s face.
    Lord, I do seek your face!
9 Please don’t hide it from me!
    Don’t push your servant aside angrily—
        you have been my help!
    God who saves me,
        don’t neglect me!
        Don’t leave me all alone!

Here is the good news. There is never a situation or circumstance that would cause God to not hear you when you cry out. There is never a time or reason why God would hide God’s face from you. There is nothing you can possibly do that would cause God to neglect you or leave you alone. Remember what Paul wrote in Romans 8:

Romans 8 (Common English Bible)

31 So what are we going to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He didn’t spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. Won’t he also freely give us all things with him?

33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect people? It is God who acquits them. 34 Who is going to convict them? It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was raised, and who also is at God’s right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads our case for us.

35 Who will separate us from Christ’s love? Will we be separated by trouble, or distress, or harassment, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

We are being put to death all day long for your sake.
    We are treated like sheep for slaughter.

37 But in all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one who loved us. 38 I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers 39 or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Amen.

The Secret Place by Kathy Schumacher

The Gentle Whisper

Posted on by Betsy

The Outer Banks has been battered by winds and storms in the last few months. You may have seen news reports that fifteen houses (as of this writing) have fallen into the sea in Buxton and Rodanthe. Here in Colington, we were battered and blown about by strong gale force winds. I was certain that the house was going to blow down. Winds that were the force of hurricane gusts brought an impressive cold front to the Outer Banks, and the windows rattled, the screens tore, and my house swayed. This three-story house was swaying in the wind so hard that it woke me up from a dead sleep. Winds are not uncommon on our little island on the edge of the continent, but this was a doozy. There is something both unsettling and reassuring when we are confronted with the power and force of a true “act of God” of Old Testament proportions. We can do nothing but listen to its howl and wait for it to subside on its own accord.

In the book of 1 Kings, Elijah fled for his life with Jezebel on his heels. He ran to the safety of a cave and had a one-on-one with God, complaining that he is the only righteous man left in Israel, and now they were about to kill him. He was instructed by an angel of the Lord to climb the same mountain where Moses received the commandments and wait.

God sent a great and strong wind to assault the mountain, but he himself was not in the wind. Then an earthquake followed, but he was not in the earthquake. Finally, a fire raged through, but still no God. When the ruckus was over, God chose then to speak to Elijah in a still, small, thin, and quiet voice:

1 Kings 19 (NIV)

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

After the power display, God told Elijah that it was time to get back to work. Elijah received his marching orders, was given a helper, and sent back into the trenches. His mission was to bring Israel back to the Lord.

I often wonder if I am missing God in the loudness that surrounds me.

I wonder if we miss our own marching orders because we are so focused on the wind, the earthquake, and the fire that we don’t stand still long enough to tune our ear to the whisper. So much to do! We are so overwhelmed with busyness! I’m WAAY too busy to sit quietly and listen! The winds of our jobs, the earthquakes of family responsibilities, and the fire of maintaining our day-to-day lives keep us from hearing the still, small voice that offers the solution.

Woe unto us if we continue living in the cacophony. God is patiently waiting us out. He will not shout over the noise we have surrounded ourselves with, but rather will wait until we are ready to tune our busy noise out so we can tune his quiet love in.

Take heed. As Thanksgiving and Advent approach, it is going to get louder. Busy upon busy, we will frantically run around preparing to celebrate the … what? Oh, yes, the birth of the Savior, who was quietly laid in a humble manger with only the sounds of the soft-spoken cow and the peacefully snoring donkey providing background noise. Christ is the focus, so don’t get caught up in lights and tinsel and all the rest of the noise so much that you miss the moment.

God with us, Emmanuel. Be quiet! And listen.

Just Listen

Stuff Happens

Posted on by Betsy

Stuff happens. Then more stuff happens. And before you know it, stuff has taken over, and you find yourself spending much more time than is reasonable just managing your stuff.

Our family has just enjoyed a week camping together. We started with two of us, added three more, then added two, then added five more. By the time the last ones had arrived, it became a challenge to find places to put everyone’s stuff. We managed it well, but it was tight at times!

Stuff is the biggest challenge for folks who make the crazy decision to move into a tiny house. Made popular by HGTV, tiny houses are a fascinating (if wholly unrealistic!) trend for folks desiring a more simple and uncomplicated life.

Tiny houses range from 300-500 square feet. Think of that: you need to cram a kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, living room, storage space, and an eating table in less than 500 square feet. And then….where do you put your STUFF?

What do you really need? If you could pare your life down to the essentials, what would remain? Imagine you had to move into a 300 square foot tiny house: what would you keep, and what would you throw away?

The early church found out. They actually sold all their things so that they could support one another and live together in community, where everyone had what they needed and nobody had too much:

Acts 2:45-47 Common English Bible (CEB)

45 They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. 46 Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity.

47 They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved.

They shared, with gladness and SIMPLICITY.

Do you ever wish for a more simple life? Is life too complicated? Have you lost sight of the simple delights God has provided? What does the Lord desire for you…more stuff, or more simplicity?

I believe we are all called to simplicity. Removing anything that distracts us from our calling as disciples enables us to experience a certain level of godliness that comes with simple contentment. Paring down to the essentials of what is necessary is a pathway to holiness.

And you might even fit it all in a tiny house, with room left over.

1 Timothy 6 (NIV)

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Tiny on!