Daily devotionals | At Water’s Edge

Wind Shifts

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Betsy

Last week brought gale-force winds to the Outer Banks, and these winds often bring sound-side flooding. Our schools had to quickly scramble to declare an early dismissal so that the buses could get kids home safely before the roads flooded with salt water and became impassable.

I live on an island off the main drag, and so we have to be particularly aware of the three-mile road that links Big Colington Island to Little Colington Island to Kill Devil Hills. The low road is bordered by water on both sides and connected by two bridges. When the wind shifts, the lowest parts flood pretty quickly, and suddenly you can’t get on or off the island. But locals know to just wait, because the wind always shifts back and takes the water with it.

Island life is a constant reminder of who is in charge of the winds, the tides, the rising sea, and the setting sun. Whenever a change in the weather traps us inside for awhile, it is good to recall the words of hope and promise in Isaiah. And whether your entrapment is weather-related, or life-situation-related, the truth remains the same:

Isaiah 43

But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

²When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.

³For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Whenever you pass through the waters, I will be with you. I have two beloved women in my life who are going through very difficult custody battles. I think of them everyday, and pray this over them. When things like this happen, remember that you are only PASSING THROUGH this time of your life.

When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. Another friend just lost her husband. Waves of grief will now come on a regular basis for a while. I pray this over her. When someone you love dies, remember that you will NOT be swept away by the sorrow forever; it will not always feel this way.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. For all of you undergoing cancer treatments, spending another day of your life in prison, struggling to find work, advocating for your family’s rights, walking in protest, fighting your way out of abuse, overcoming addiction…I pray this for you. Remember that you will NOT be burned by your journey…just keep walking.

Eventually, the winds do shift. The flood water recedes, the dry land re-appears, and travel becomes easier.

Hang on. God had redeemed you. He has summoned you by name. You are HIS.

Flight Delays

Posted on February 10, 2020 by Betsy

FLIGHT DELAYS. Everybody has them. If you fly in or out of Atlanta, you get more than your fair share of them. Mechanical issues, weather issues, personnel issues…it doesn’t take much for your flight to be delayed. But if you think about it, you may want your flight to be delayed. Flying with an engine part that needs to be replaced, or into a tornado-spawning storm, or with one of your pilots missing is never a good thing. Bring on the delay!

Said nobody ever.

Delays are annoying, inconvenient, and sometimes expensive. I heard a story about an extremely irate man whose plane had been delayed for weather. The man was very loud in his displeasure and demanded to see the pilot. (Because, of course, the pilot can fix the weather.) He was yelling about how much the delay was going to cost him, and said that the 2-hour delay caused him to miss a meeting to finalize a multi-million dollar deal. The pilot apologized and explained the situation for the tenth time, but that didn’t appease the man. He went back into rant-mode about the lost millions, the pilot finally responded, “Well sir, next time you have a multi-million dollar deal on the line, perhaps you should fly in the day before to ensure your on-time arrival.”

He’s got a point. That business man was leaving a lot to chance by only allowing two hours to land, make his way out of the large airport, find a taxi, and get to his downtown meeting on time.

Flight delays in life happen every day. A couple tries to conceive a child, and month after month they are disappointed. A college graduate waits endless weeks to hear about grad school. A tired Mom tries to get to bed at a reasonable hour, but the baby keeps waking up. An elderly man waits patiently for his son’s visit, but it seems to keep getting put off every month. A hospice patient takes months rather than days to finish their life’s journey. Flight delays happen.

The only thing you can control when a flight delay happens in your life is your response to it.

Isaiah 30

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion..
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!

God longs to be gracious to us in our delays. God will rise up to show us compassion if we use our waiting time LOOKING for him. Rather than rant and rail, can your response be one of hopeful anticipation? Of increased prayer? Of calm reassurance to your fellow passengers that all is well, because God is in charge?

God is with you in your waiting. God may actually be using the delay to prepare you for what is coming. Where is he active when you feel that your life has stalled? If you look for him, you will find him.

Blessed are all who wait for him.

Binocularvision

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Betsy

Binoculars are fascinating. Heavy and clunky, they contain a series of lenses and prisms that capture light and image, flip them around, and bring them to the eyes with clarity and a close-up view that is impossible to the naked eye.

In case you are curious about the science of binoculars, read this from https://www.explainthatstuff.com/binoculars.html:

Binoculars are simply two telescopes side by side, one for each eye. But there’s a catch. When light rays from a distant object pass through a convex lens, they cross over. That’s why distant things sometimes look upside down if you look at them through a magnifying glass. The second lens doesn’t sort out that problem. So binoculars have a pair of prisms (large wedges of glass) inside them to rotate the image through 180 degrees. One prism rotates the image through 90 degrees (flips it onto its side), then the next prism rotates it through another 90 degrees (flips it onto its side again), so the two prisms effectively turn it upside down. The prisms can either be arranged in a back-to-back arrangement (known as roof prisms) or at 90 degrees (known as Porro prisms).

Are we clear now?

All I know is that owning a pair of binoculars on the Outer Banks is almost essential. There are many times when I see something in the water, or across the harbor at the club house that needs a closer look, and my handy binoculars do the trick. Our clubhouse parking area is the local heliport for emergencies, and I have observed several take-offs and landings there. It takes a moment to focus the binoculars, but then everything is clear.

Ephesians 1 (The Message)

^15-19That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks.

But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

This prayer that Paul lifted up for his friends in Ephesus is one we should continue today. We should ask God to make us intelligent and discerning. We should ask him to help us know him personally. Especially today, we ask that our eyes are focused and clear enough to see EXACTLY what it is he is calling us to do.

This is my prayer for you. You have a calling. You have a divine appointment! May God grant you binocularvision so that you might see and know your calling in the world. May he grant you clarity of sight so that you know without a doubt what actions you should take, what words you should utter, and what step to take next. Focus in! He will show you the way.

I can’t stop thanking God for you.

Edgar and Ali

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Betsy

Edgar was a very refined Snowy White Egret. He lived all his life on the Reedy Creek Swamp with his family and friends. He was a very special bird, who had been rescued as a young baby from the jaws of an encroaching raccoon at the edge of the water.

This brazen predator had wandered where raccoons usually dare not go, due to the presence of alligators in the swamp. When Edgar attempted his first flight, he fell from the nest and was grabbed by the raccoon, who bit hard on Edgar’s wing. His brave mother rescued him by attacking the nasty thing and forcing it to drop Edgar. Unfortunately his wing was injured in the melee, and he had a wing-wobble for the rest of his life which made flight impossible. But still, his life on the swamp was happy and warm.

You see, when Edgar was recovering from his injuries, he met a lovely young alligator named Ali. She had spotted him by the edge of the water and swam over for a closer look. Seeing his despondent face, she asked, “Oh, dear! What ever is the matter? Your face is as long as a meadow horse!”

Edgar had never seen a meadow horse, but she seemed kind, so he took her word for it. “Well, I fell out of the family nest a few weeks ago and a raccoon bit my wing so hard, Doc Heron said I will never fly again. My family is off right now, flying to the other side of swamp, and I am stuck here.”

“Dear, dear,” said Ali. “That is very sad, indeed.” Ali thought for a moment and suddenly her face brightened. “Well, there is only one thing for it. All aboard the Ali-Boat!”

Edgar blinked. “The whaaaat?”

“The Ali-Boat! Just hop on my back and I will take you over!” Edgar hesitated. His mother had warned him that living in the trees above the gators was for their protection, as the possums and raccoons who eat egrets did not live near the gators. But gators were known to eat the discarded egret eggs that fell from the nests, so you never could be too careful…

Edgar looked at Ali with her big toothy grin, and decided to take a leap of faith. Anything was better than sitting under the same tree, day after day.

And so the friendship of Edgar and Ali began with that first ride, and they have been going around the swamp together ever since. They love to talk, and laugh, and observe swamp-life together. Edgar’s sharp eyes help Ali see things far in the distance, and Ali’s smooth swimming helps Edgar get to places where he could never fly.

Ecclesiastes 4 (The Message)

9 It’s better to have a partner than go it alone.
Share the work, share the wealth.
And if one falls down, the other helps,
But if there’s no one to help, tough!

¹¹Two in a bed warm each other.
Alone, you shiver all night.

¹²By yourself you’re unprotected.
With a friend you can face the worst.

I bet you have an Edgar in your life. Or an Ali. God created friendship to be a symbiotic partnership, so that we might not feel lonely, so that we might protect and be protected, and so that when one of us falls, the other is right there to help us get up. With a friend, you can face the worst.

A wise grandmother once told me, “To have a friend, you have to be a friend.”

Go and be a good friend to someone today.

A Sign from God

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Betsy

We were sitting outside by the hotel pool on an unusually chilly Florida day. I had wrapped myself in a beach towel for warmth and was watching kids running around the pool and going up and down the water slide. Surely these children were from Minnesota. It was way too chilly to actually be WET out here.

As my husband and I chatted (my teeth were slightly chattering,) a plane flew overhead and began to write something in the sky. Our hotel was located between Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, so I figured the message would be something akin to “Surrender, Dorothy.” Imagine my surprise when the words “TRUST JESUS” appeared. Why yes, don’t mind if I do!

I had been worrying over a retreat that I am leading in a few days. We couldn’t find a curriculum we liked, so the organizer asked me if I could write something. Let me pause here and say if any of you are aware that I have been asked to do such a thing in the future, please slap me upside the head until I say no.

But since none of you were there to slap me, I said yes, and have been diligently writing, planning, and dreaming away ever since. This job is so much bigger than I am. How should the timing of each session go? Do I have enough interaction planned? How much music? Is there a good balance of quiet reflection and table-talking? Should we do a craft? What craft?

It will probably amuse you to know that the subject they wanted me to focus on is WORRY. At least my firsthand knowledge of the subject will give me that authentic voice we all long to hear when we go to a retreat. I have worried, fretted, lost sleep, changed direction, talked incessantly to my running partners about it….oy vey.

This morning I discovered that my sermon for the final worship session (which I finished on the plane on the way to Florida) has somehow managed to go missing in cyber space, and the last two-thirds did not get saved.

Trust Jesus, indeed.

Proverbs 3 (New International Version)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

So what do you have going on right now? Where is God calling you to stop leaning on YOUR understanding, and submit to him? What are you holding back because you don’t actually trust him?

This scripture is calling you to trust in the Lord with ALL your heart. Not just for the little things, parsing out simple tasks to him, but with EVERYTHING. Your home, your life, your marriage, your health, your kids…your unfinished retreat sermon.

When I need reminded of this the most is when I think I am in control, or that I can solve my own problems. I hurry ahead, plow through, push on, and forget that God, in HIS understanding, has already worked it out without me.

And so the lost sermon was re-written. I don’t know if I wrote the same thing, or took it in a totally new direction, but I do know this: it was God’s work all along.

So too will he come into your situation and work it out for your good. Just trust, and obey.

Surf Fishing

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Betsy

Surf fishing is a very popular sport on the Outer Banks. Our entire coastline provides numerous spots that are perfect for this. Wherever you go on the beach, you are likely to run into a surf fisherman. I am a beach walker, so I know to carefully look for the sun’s reflection on their lines and walk under or behind them. It would be counterproductive to decapitate myself whilst trying to get in shape.

The beauty of surf fishing is that you can simply walk to your fishing spot. No boats, nets, piers, or docks required. Take off your shoes and cast your line! Of course the challenge is the surf itself. Negotiating the waves and the unknown depths of the water just beyond the break are part of the fun. More than once I have watched someone excitedly reeling in a fish while walking into the waves, only to hit the underwater drop-off and submerge up to their chest. By the way, the fish love it when that happens.

Surf fishing also requires a fair amount of “situational awareness,” especially as you cast. Always look around you, and especially behind you! Nobody wants to hook a sunbather in the eye. Or the bikini top.

Jesus knew a lot about fishing.

Mark 1 (The Message)

^16-18Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.

^19-20A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee’s sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.

So, had you realized that surf fishing is in the Bible?? Simon and Andrew were net-fishing from the beach. James and John were in a boat. All were given the instruction to leave their work and follow Jesus. The new job would be to fish for people.

Fishing for people also requires a kind of “situational awareness.” How ready is this person to hear the Gospel? What is the best approach? What do they need…a testimony, or a sandwich? What would communicate God’s love best?

You are also called to people-fish. Dropping the net you are currently holding is the best way to approach this new task. How can God use your abilities, resources, and personality to spread a word of hope, acceptance, and love?

Jesus calls us to follow him. May we be like the disciples and drop what we’re doing, leave everything behind, and immediately respond. You never know what you’ll catch.

Sunrise Surf Fishermen by Michelle Robertson

Something from Nothing

Posted on January 21, 2020 by Betsy

Two of my favorite shows are Project Runway and Top Chef. Everyone who knows me is probably surprised by this, as I can’t sew, I can’t cook, and I am certainly no fashion maven. My style sense runs to “does this solid look OK with this solid?” I am pretty much a jeans-and-top girl except on Sunday, when I show up in the same old thing every week. Thank God for clergy robes.

But my fascination with these shows is that fact that every week, they all make something from nothing. On Top Chef, they are given a challenge and a pantry of ingredients and VOILA, gourmet food is produced. “Here is a can of SPAM and a bunch of fresh fennel. Your challenge is to create an amuse bouche for a team of Alaskan dog sledders. Don’t forget to make it packable, and GO!” Project Runway is even more amazing. “Create a red carpet look with unconventional materials found in a candy store. You have one day for this challenge.”

These programs are an homage to the creative spirit in all of us. Well, at least in all of them. I would have just sent the can of SPAM with a can opener to the dog sledders and called it a day. And eaten the candy. But I am FASCINATED by people who can make something from nothing. This ability is a true reflection of God’s creative power.

Genesis 1 (The Message)

^1-2First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

^3-5God spoke: “Light!”
        And light appeared.
    God saw that light was good
        and separated light from dark.
    God named the light Day,
        he named the dark Night.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day One.

From nothingness, God brought forth the universe. From the bottomless emptiness, light was born. In the inky blackness, animals and humans were created. It was a labor of love.

The reformer Martin Luther, once said, “God made the world out of nothing. It is only when we become nothing that God can make something out of us.” Something to ponder as we bask in the glory of God’s creation today.

What would God make of you, if you emptied yourself of ego, need, agendas, preoccupations, doubt….? How can you become nothing, so that you can become his everything? What do you need to lose so that you can be made into something useful for the Kingdom?

You are also a labor of his love. Let him make something from your nothingness.

Beauty from Nothingness by Wende Pritchard

A Pig’s Tale

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Betsy

A pastor’s job is never done. All day long we are about our Father’s work, laboring with him to save souls. Then we get in our cars to take our weary bodies home, still thinking about saving souls.

Then there was that one day when I got in my car and had the chance to save something else. A 300-pound pig.

I was driving home from my office on Kitty Hawk Road when the little lass in the picture darted across somebody’s front lawn and ran in the road directly in front of me. I made a U-turn, parked in someone’s driveway, and set about chasing her. She had a good head start, but I am a less-than-300-pound runner, so I caught up. She turned to look at me as though to assess what kind of game we were playing, and suddenly I realized that I had absolutely no idea what I would do if I actually caught her. All I wanted was to keep her from getting hit on our busy road.

At that point I was only a block away from the Kitty Hawk Police Department. Having been raised to trust and respect the men and women in blue, I immediately set out to get my new friend over to the police station. Listen, it was a good plan…even their cars say they “protect and serve.” I was sure that in Kitty Hawk, that is not limited to people.

So I began to walk toward the station, calling, “Here, Piggy Piggy!” For those of you laughing, what exactly would YOU have said?? After all, Piggy and I had not been formally introduced.

At first she just stared at me. I think she liked the chase better. But after rooting around a little more in somebody’s yard, she began walking my way. (Do you think she maybe recognized the call of a savior?) I had to stop traffic when I needed to get her to cross the road (next morning‘s Sentinel headline: Why Did Piggy Cross the Road? To Get to the Police Station) and she trotted right over to my side.

I piggy-piggied her right up to the front door of the station, and walked in the front lobby and told the very startled receptionist, “I’m here to report a rogue pig.”

“Excuse me, M’am, a rogue WHAT? Oh….well, that’s just Caroline. She gets out all the time.”

She called an officer up from the back and he took one look at the pig and said, “Caroline, did you take yourself out for a walk again? Come on, let’s get you home.” And the Caroline and the officer trotted off to a property behind the police station where Caroline was safely delivered back home. Thus ends my pig tale.

Caroline is apparently a notorious Kitty Hawk wanderer, and I was not the first to save her. In fact, it was obvious to me that Caroline wanted to be saved.

How about you?

2 Peter 2 (The Message)

^21-25This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.

He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.

They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right.

He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

Jesus used his servant body to carry our sins to the cross so that we might be saved. His actions enabled us to be free to live the right way. By his wounds we are healed! No longer lost sheep, (or pigs) we know the way home. Jesus did that for you.

Are you longing to be saved? Today is the day. Kneel down and confess your sins. Ask Jesus to cleanse you and make you whole. Ask him to live in you from now until he calls you home. Dedicate yourself to a life of following him, serving him, learning about him, and never straying from his path again.

Jesus saves. Is he calling you? Get yourself home.

Turning the Corner

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Betsy

I live on an island off an island off an island. My commute to work requires me to travel over two bridges and drive on an incredibly curvy road for three miles. At one point the road curved around a small Methodist church that was large enough to block your view as you drove around it, causing several accidents. The DOT finally came along and straightened out the road after centuries of curviness. As we traverse Colington Road, we all have to be alert to what is just around the corner. It might be a political sign, a muddy rut, or even a chicken. Turning each corner is a challenge of staying alert.

As we say goodbye to an old year and welcome a new one, we have an opportunity to “turn the corner,” offering us a time to reflect on the trajectory we’ve been on and possibly change direction. It is not uncommon to see people back in the gym, (regular gym-goers hate January with its crowded classes and busy weight rooms!) starting new diets, pledging to be more thoughtful and intentional, and otherwise making changes that promise to turn the corner on some aspect of their lives that needs fixing.

You know, Jesus was all about the turning-the-corner-life. God sent him to get us out of the muddy rut humanity was in, and offers us a way out through belief in him:

Acts 3 (The Message)

^19-23“Now it’s time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus.

For the time being he must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again just the way God, through the preaching of his holy prophets of old, said it would be. Moses, for instance, said, ‘Your God will raise up for you a prophet just like me from your family. Listen to every word he speaks to you. Every last living soul who refuses to listen to that prophet will be wiped out from the people.’

The act of turning toward God and having him wipe away your sins results in God pouring out showers of blessing to REFRESH you. In all the ways we will seek a refreshing this new year, this soul-refreshing is the most significant. And we need to be alert to what is just around the corner. If we meet heartache, illness, betrayal, despair, or even death there, we had better be prepared with God at our side.

Want to lose weight? Take off the heavy burden of sin. Want to get fit? Exercise your belief. Want to be more intentional and thoughtful? Immerse yourself in scripture. Ready to turn the corner? Give your new year over to God and see what HE will do with it.

The showers of blessing that come from turning toward God are peace, hope, joy, and contentment. Wouldn’t that make for a wonderful 2020?

Speechless

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Betsy

This obviously is a topic I know nothing about.

Have you ever had something happen that was so profound that it rendered you speechless? Like, literally not able to make words or even syllables come out of your mouth? Yeah, me neither. But we do know that it can happen to some people when a unexpected surprise comes along suddenly and without warning.

Zachariah experienced speechlessness. Not just for a moment, but for many, many months. He received the unexpected news from an angel that he and his wife (both “long in tooth and older than the hills”) were expecting a baby. Elizabeth had waited all of her life for a child, but was barren through her child-bearing years. Now, in her geriatric phase, she was suddenly pregnant. What the heck? The news was so startling, it took her breath, and Zachariah’s voice, away:

Luke 1 (The Message)

¹⁸Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

^19-20But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.”

AHA! So it was the angel who took Zachariah’s voice away! Seems a little harsh, no? In the presence of an angel, in the moment of an unbelievable proclamation, the aged priest expressed his incredulity. That seems fair and reasonable, doesn’t it?

In Matthew Henry’s commentary, he explains it simply: “His unbelief was silenced.” That simple statement helps us to see it a different way. Zachariah was a man of influence, a temple priest. Were he to use his pulpit to brag, embellish, or publicly express doubt about the whole thing, the truth of Elizabeth’s pregnancy would always remain in question. As we know, pulpit-holders are held to a higher accountability:

Titus 1 (The Message)

^5-9Appoint leaders in every town according to my instructions. As you select them, ask, “Is this man well-thought-of? Is he committed to his wife? Are his children believers? Do they respect him and stay out of trouble?” It’s important that a church leader, responsible for the affairs in God’s house, be looked up to—not pushy, not short-tempered, not a drunk, not a bully, not money-hungry.

He must welcome people, be helpful, wise, fair, reverent, have a good grip on himself, and have a good grip on the Message, knowing how to use the truth to either spur people on in knowledge or stop them in their tracks if they oppose it.

And in fact, Zachariah’s speech was not returned to him until he wrote on a tablet, “His name is John,” as the angel had instructed him to do. With this sentence he confirmed the truth of John’s miraculous conception and affirmed John’s place in the story as the one who came to prepare the way for the Messiah, who was also miraculously conceived.

Maybe you woke up this morning and had second thoughts about something. Perhaps a moment of unbelief has come upon you in a difficult situation. You may be having doubts about God’s presence in your mess. God won’t render you speechless, but he most certainly will come to you in the quietness of your contemplation in a “Be still, and know that I am God” moment.

Know today that you are in good company. All of us, at one time or another, question God’s activity and wonder what the heck is going on. We retreat into the silence of our own thoughts, seeking out the spirit and finding him there.

In times like these, it is good to remember the miracles of Christmas. Each one had to be waited for, and each came in their own time…God’s time. So in your doubt, remember to look up, look out, and look for a sign. God is here, Emmanuel, and he came to save. You can count on it.