Oxygen mask

If you've ever taken an airplane flight you know that one of the safety announcements is that if you are traveling with a small child and the plane loses pressure, put your own oxygen mask on before helping a child. A few weeks ago one of my older, wiser women friends reminded me to make sure I put my spiritual "oxygen mask" on in the midst of the rest of life. It has been a good reminder.

Maybe you are busy caring for or helping lots of other people. Sometimes it feels like you are low on your own spiritual oxygen - low on God's strength to carry you, God's Spirit to encourage you, God's love and grace to enfold you. Maybe right now is a good moment to just stop, breathe, and listen for God's Spirit.

"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10 NIV)

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. (1 Kings 19 NIV)

Today, God, we stop.

We breathe.

We wait in stillness, in silence.

By your Spirit, replace our exhaustion, our emptiness, our spent-ness with a renewed energy for your Kingdom. Amen.

Engulfed

¹ If the LORD had not been on our side—
let Israel say-

² if the LORD had not been on our side
when men attacked us,

³ when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;

⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,

⁵ the raging waters
would have swept us away.

⁶ Praise be to the LORD,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

⁷ We have escaped like a bird
out of the fowler's snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Engulfed.

For our family right now, the preparation of the new house, packing, and subsequent moves are engulfing.

For Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the reality of what he was facing must have been engulfing.

For my sister-in-law on the USNS Comfort engulfed in seeing so many Haitian children who are amputees with so little hope.

For new parents facing the engulfing possibility of an ill newborn in the hospital for another month.

For a husband engulfed in the reality of raising his preschool children with his mentally ill, soon-to-be ex-wife.

For two families engulfed in the news of kidney cancer and its implications.

For Moses seeing the burning bush engulfed in flames - and the armies of Pharaoh engulfed in the reemerging waters of the Red Sea.

It is easy to be engulfed by the world, but the Psalmist reminds us that God is on our side. In fact, the Psalmist reminds us that IF the LORD had not been on our side we would have been swallowed up by our circumstances. BUT, God is the one who has not let us be captives, who has been and continues to be our help. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Surely, that kind of power and love can - and will - help us when we are engulfed by life.

It is easy in the midst of engulfing life circumstances to lose focus on our peace, our anchor, our rock. Sometimes our anchor is our spouse, holding on to us, encouraging us. Sometimes our rock is a friend or relative who says or does the right thing at the right time, acting as a great blessing. But always our Rock and our Redeemer invites us to come into his arms of love and to rest in the shadow of his wings. This invitation is to Peace that passes all understanding, to gaze only on His Face and to let the rest of the world fade away.

O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer, the Maker of heaven and earth, the giver of all good things, the Lamb of Salvation, the Spirit of Peace; thank you for being our help. Thank you for your faithfulness and love, your encouragement, and your power poured into our lives. When we are engulfed in the cares, the trials, the struggles, the chaos of this life, help us to release it to you and to focus on your peace and goodness. Jesus, calm the storms in our lives, and help us to cast all our cares upon you. Praise be to the God who is on our side! Amen.

Free life

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you....It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life...Use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows...Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. (from Gal. 5 MSG)


I continue to wrestle with the concepts of liberty and freedom in a civil/national context and the concept of freedom through the grace of Christ in a spiritual context. I do not claim to understand it all, but I will say that I want the freedom that comes through living out Christ's grace. I don't know how to do it fully and completely, but I seek after it anyway. Will you join me?

God who came to proclaim release to the captives, help us to embrace the fullness of your abundant life lived through faith in Christ's grace. Help us to live that out as we serve one another in love. Spirit, animate and motivate us to the furtherance of your Kingdom. Amen.

Comfort

^1-2 "Comfort, oh comfort my people,"
says your God. (Isa. 40 MSG)

"May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls." (Ruth 2 NIV)

⁴ Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me. (Ps. 23 NIV)

⁵⁰ My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life. (Ps. 119 NIV)

³"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
⁵Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.

My sister in law is a psychologist on the US Navy ship the COMFORT which is helping the people of Haiti right now. While I haven't watched all the reports about the situation in Haiti, I did watch when she was quoted on the NBC Nightly News broadcast Monday night. And I have read her Facebook posts and her emails - mostly telling how much great work they are doing, how proud she is of the Navy and the people there, and how utterly exhausted she is.

I read a report about the many people of Haiti who are now multiple amputees. With very little support for prosthesis, handicap accessibility, and medical follow-up care, I wonder if or how they will survive long term.

I hear about the 300,000 children who are now orphans there - up from 100,000 before the earthquake.

I hear of a government so corrupt for so long that this nation has had the poorest "standard of living of any country in the Western Hemisphere."

Jesus calls us to care for the widow, the orphan, the downtrodden... and I see the people of Christ's Church doing just that work through groups like International Aid and Compassion International.

My prayer is that God's people would step up and care for their brothers and sisters in Haiti. My prayer is that voodoo and other non-Christian religions would be wiped out in the Light of God. My prayer is that the widows, the broken, the orphans, the lost, the homeless....all of God's created peoples would be comforted by the Comforter Spirit and the work of Christ through his Church.