Thursday, October 27, 2011

WHERE IS YOUR PAD?



        Ok, so you’re not a Writer.   Do you have any senior moments?  Have you ever forgotten something important you wanted to accomplish?   I have, yet, these days, not so much.  I’ve learned to keep a notebook, legal, pad or even a blank envelope with me throughout my day.   Yesterday, I even wrote a note to myself reminding me to make a laminated sign for a customer’s gate that prompts everyone to keep it closed, so her dog won’t get out.  

        Writing things down can be invaluable.   Most people report that with the simple act of writing something down, they remember it without the note.  That’s because the idea becomes cemented in our brains by using our visional and kinetic movements.   These days, with life assaulting our senses on every front, a pad can be a powerful weapon against absentmindedness.  

        Even the prophet Habakkuk used a pad (well maybe a scroll) in his communication with God.  In Habakkuk 2:1,2 (NLT) he states: “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post.  There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.  Then the Lord said to me, ‘Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.’” 

        When Habakkuk came before God he wasn’t in a hurry.   He planned ahead of time and brought his writing materials, expecting to get an answer or insight.   Why do we need to be in a hurry when we come before omniscience?  Would we forget to bring pen and paper to class?  When we encounter the Lord God Almighty, are we prepared for revelatory knowledge?   Keep your pad close.  Don’t leave home without one.   Have a blessed day.  

  

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Blowing Lizards

     As a Landscaper, one of the most fun things I get to do is blow lizards around with my back-pack blower.  (My now adult son loves this even more than me!)  The thrill of seeing those poor defenseless creatures trying to cling on to anything for dear life is the bomb!

     Shouldn’t that be our posture as Christians?  Standing with arms outstretched waiting for the wind of The Holy Spirit to blow on us.  That wind is always refreshing, life-giving, and progressive. 

     I’m reminded of the story found in Ezekiel 37, where the prophet was led to a bunch of dry bones scattered across a broad valley.  The Lord asked Ezekiel if he believed that the old bones could come to life.  God told him to prophesy to the bones and he watched as the Lord assembled full skeletons of people and adding flesh, muscles and skin.  

     Although this miracle happened right before Ezekiel’s eyes, the bodies still had not come to life.  The Lord told Ezekiel again to prophesy to the dead bodies so that they would breath again.  Ezekiel did and the scripture said the bodies stood upright as a mighty army!

     So many times I trudge through life feeling like a set up those old dried up bones.  Why not let THE wind of the Holy Spirit blow upon us and give life.  Like those Lizards, why not throw your hands into the air and acquiesce to His life giving power?


Blowing Lizards

     As a Landscaper, one of the most fun things I get to do is blow lizards around with my back-pack blower.  (My now adult son loves this even more than me!)  The thrill of seeing those poor defenseless creatures trying to cling on to anything for dear life is the bomb!

     Shouldn’t that be our posture as Christians?  Standing with arms outstretched waiting for the wind of The Holy Spirit to blow on us.  That wind is always refreshing, life-giving, and progressive. 

     I’m reminded of the story found in Ezekiel 37, where the prophet was led to a bunch of dry bones scattered across a broad valley.  The Lord asked Ezekiel if he believed that the old bones could come to life.  God told him to prophesy to the bones and he watched as the Lord assembled full skeletons of people and adding flesh, muscles and skin.  

     Although this miracle happened right before Ezekiel’s eyes, the bodies still had not come to life.  The Lord told Ezekiel again to prophesy to the dead bodies so that they would breath again.  Ezekiel did and the scripture said the bodies stood upright as a mighty army!

     So many times I trudge through life feeling like a set up those old dried up bones.  Why not let THE wind of the Holy Spirit blow upon us and give life.  Like those Lizards, why not throw your hands into the air and acquiesce to His life giving power?


Sunday, October 2, 2011

“LITTLE TO WORK WITH?”

I love the story of Elisha helping the Poor Widow in chapter 4 of Second Kings (NLT).  The woman came to the Prophet announcing that her husband had died and a creditor was going to take her two sons as slaves to pay the debt.  

Without becoming caught up in her emotions, Elisha asked, “What do you have?”

She replied, “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil.”

His instructions were simple.   Begin borrowing as many empty jars as she could find.  Next, after the three of them were in privacy, begin filling the jars with oil.  By the time, she and her sons ran out of empty jars the oil stopped flowing.  The widow had enough oil to sell pay the creditor and live on the profits left over. 

In the Bible, God often used oil as a symbol for the Holy Spirit.  How many times do we as men walk around full of ourselves refusing to come to God to ask for help.  His all powerful enabling Holy Spirit waits eager help us if we’ll simply come to Him like one of those empty jars.  

Instead, we too often, run others for help or try to buy tools that won’t solve our problem.  All the while, His still small voice is calling us to empty ourselves.  Then He asks, “What we have to work with?”   Holy Spirit can then take these ordinary accouterments of this life and empower them to become EXTRA-ordinary tools in our hands.   “EMPTY?  What do you have to work with?”