Category: First Steps

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First Steps – May 10, 2021

 

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of officiating my nephew’s wedding. His aunt and I were married when he was 3 years old.  I have had the pleasure of watching him grow into a fine, hardworking man. He married a beautiful young lady and I’m excited to see their life together grow. Nonetheless, the venue for the wedding ceremony was picturesque. Planned as an outdoor wedding in a giant pasture with manicured grass, white seats, and a perfectly decorated arbor. Everything was stunning. However, two minutes before the ceremony was to start, the bottom fell out. Not just a little spring shower but a deluge. Noah would have approved. Then the wind started blowing the rain sideways, and to top it off, hail the size of quarters started to fall.  It would have been comical had it not been the culmination of months of planning and every day before this day was perfection. Eventually, everyone moved to Plan B – a service under a pavilion.  On one level, under the pavilion seemed better because it was a smaller setting which created more intimacy in the service. As you can imagine, thirty minutes after the service the sun broke through the clouds and the reception was an unspoiled celebration of the couple’s love for each other.   

What was interesting to me was as soon as the ceremony was over, the weather wasn’t mentioned again.  No one cared because everyone was there to celebrate the couple. Granted it was tense and anxious before the ceremony, but afterward, it was a passing thought.  The couple was married and people were happy.  

Often, we are enslaved by things we can’t control.  Sure, we plan but life is not controllable. The promise of God is not that life will be controlled but that regardless of what comes, he will guide us through to the other side.  I like how Jesus closed his greatest sermon, The Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise person who built a house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish person who built a house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (Matthew 7:24-29).

Faith is not the ability to control the uncontrollable but the assurance that one will guide through any and all circumstances. You will face storms in life, many will come without warning. The remedy is found in trusting in the one who holds you in the palm of his hands.  

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – James 4
  • Tuesday – James 5
  • Wednesday –  1 Peter 1
  • Thursday – 1 Peter 2
  • Friday – 1 Peter 3
Please Pray for:
  • Our Ministers – Shane, John, and Buddy, our staff, and our members and families.
  • The eradication of Covid – 19.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The United Methodist Church.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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First Steps – May 3, 2021

 

The other day while cleaning out some folders, I found this piece from Living on the Ragged Edge by Chuck Swindoll.

“Are you enjoying life now, or have you put all that on hold? For most people, life has become a grim marathon of misery, an endurance test full of frowns, whines, groans, and sighs. And perhaps that explains why so many who were once close to them have a tendency to drift away. Can you think of anyone who would rather spend a lot of time with those who have stopped enjoying life? They’d probably rather invest their hours in a pet, an animal that can’t even talk, than in someone who resembles a depressing, dark rain cloud.

In his work Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman confessed that was true of him:
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained.
I stand and look at them along and long.
They do not sweat or whine about their condition.
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

Maybe that explains the little bumper sticker, ‘Have you hugged your horse today?’ That used to make me smile; now I understand. Sometimes it’s easier to hug a horse than it is to stay close to another person. When you get next to a horse, it never says, ‘Man, have I had a rotten day!’ or ‘I’m depressed today.’ So, if we don’t want to drive others away with our groans and moans, we need to learn how to enjoy life.”

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – Hebrews 12
  • Tuesday – Hebrews 13
  • Wednesday –  James 1
  • Thursday – James 2
  • Friday – James 3
Please Pray for:
  • Our Ministers – Shane, John, and Buddy, our staff, and our members and families.
  • The eradication of Covid – 19.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The United Methodist Church.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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First Steps – April 26, 2021

 

In my home, there is a silver tray that sits near the kitchen sink.  It is a beautiful serving tray that has the single purpose of being used as the collection place for junk.  On any given day, one could find letters, bills, cards, invitations, pens, paperclips, keys, and anything else that comes to mind.  It is the perfect place for those things no one wants to address.  One would think that when we have friends over for dinner, that it would be the perfect opportunity to clean the clutter off of the silver tray.  As we clean and straighten up the house for guests, it would make sense that the tray would be a part of that process.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  We simply pick the tray up and move it to the laundry room, because that is the perfect hiding place.  When friends leave, we bring it back out to collect more junk.

I wonder how often we give the appearance of our spiritual house being clean.  Instead of doing what needs to be done, we just move it to a place that we think no one will be able to see or discover.  We pose, posture, and hide.  “If I fake it long enough, maybe no one will know,” is our mantra.  Perhaps the Psalmist believed this only to discover there was nowhere he/she could go that God wasn’t (Psalm 139).  If God knows, then what is needed is not hiding or pretending but “a cleansing.”  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  

This week, tackle the silver tray in your life.  God is gracious and merciful.  Allow him to clean from the inside out.  

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – Hebrews 7
  • Tuesday – Hebrews 8
  • Wednesday –  Hebrews 9
  • Thursday – Hebrews 10
  • Friday – Hebrews 11
Please Pray for:
  • Our Ministers – Shane, John, and Buddy, our staff, and our members and families.
  • The eradication of Covid – 19.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The United Methodist Church.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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First Steps – April 19, 2021

 
In my house, there are three dogs:  Scout, Chloe, and Cooper.  Scout is the oldest and has reached the age where his body is starting to deteriorate.  His vision and hearing are not what they used to be.  He is constantly anxious, and I’ve often wondered if he has the beginning of dementia.  It is difficult to watch because he has been my sofa-buddy for a long time.  Yet, I’ve also noticed that most of his anxiety is relieved if he can just be beside me or on my lap.  

When I think about Scout’s condition, I think about the power of presence.  Whenever there is a situation that is fueled by anxiety, many people don’t know what to do.  We want to be helpful but think we are unqualified and don’t know what to say.  Truthfully, words aren’t needed.  The ministry of presence is enough.  If words must be spoken, “I love you,” “I’m praying for you,” “I’m here,” are sufficient.  Most people won’t remember the words spoken, but they will remember your presence.

If you have a friend or loved one who is in the middle of a difficult situation and you want to be helpful, just be present.  Resist the temptation to try to explain it away.  Just show up with loving arms and allow your presence to minister.  It is more powerful than people think.  

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – Hebrews 2
  • Tuesday – Hebrews 3
  • Wednesday –  Hebrews 4
  • Thursday – Hebrews 5
  • Friday – Hebrews 6
Please Pray for:
  • Our Ministers – Shane, John, and Buddy, our staff, and our members and families.
  • The eradication of Covid – 19.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The United Methodist Church.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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First Steps – April 12, 2021

 
Lately, I’ve welcomed the rain.  Actually, something amazing happened when it rained, my “pollen colored” car was transformed back into its original navy blue.  At the same time, after the midday shower, I went outside to feel the cooler temperature.  The air was different.  I could actually take a deep breath without the worry of congestion.  Everything looked clean and fresh; however, about an hour later, my wife pulled out of our driveway and there was this greenish-yellow stained box in our driveway where her car had been parked.  It was like the pollen residue resisted the rain.  The flowers and shrubs looked alive and new. Everything looked new but that ugly residue.

 

As I’ve thought of this scene, I can’t help but draw some theological similarities.  Similar to pollen, sin has the potential to cover everything.  I once heard a definition for sin as something that has a good origin but becomes perverted or taken to the extreme so that it produces destruction.  For instance, pride is rooted in self-love, a good thing, but when taken to the extreme, one overinflates at the expense of others.  It then becomes unhealthy self-love. 

Pollen, which is helpful to the plant kingdom, can cause havoc with people; however, when cleansed by the rain, can be restorative.  One of the symbols for the Holy Spirit is water and often the image of rain is used to describe God’s forgiveness of sin. But just as there can be a pollen residue, there is often a sin residue left in a person’s life. The good news is that God’s forgiveness and the Holy Spirit continually work to bring about purity.  

This week remember the work of God in your life.  Trust in the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit and the promise that it is a continual work.

 

 
 
This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – Titus 2
  • Tuesday – Titus 3
  • Wednesday –  Jude 1 – 25
  • Thursday – Philemon 1 – 25
  • Friday – Hebrews 1
Please Pray for:
  • Our minister – Shane, John, and Buddy; our staff, our members, and their families.
  • The eradication of Covid-19.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The United Methodist Church.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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First Steps – April 5, 2021

 

(Ruth 1:20-21)
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

(Ruth 4:13-17).
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!
15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.
17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Naomi’s life is a picture of hardship, death, tragedy, redemption, restoration, and resurrection. A little bit of everything rolled up into one. She and her family moved to Moab in search of a job. Her hometown experienced a famine which led to an economic depression. Not long in this new city, her husband died. A decade later, her sons died. She was the epitome of destitution.

Ruth, her daughter-in-law, stuck by her side through thick and thin. Eventually, they moved back to Naomi’s hometown as beggars. Long story short, Ruth met Boaz, they became married and had a family. In those days, the offspring of Ruth and Boaz was Naomi’s guardian-redeemer, an influential relative who provided and protected a family line. Normally they would redeem land that was sold in a crisis or would provide an heir so that a family line could continue. Eventually, her guardian-redeemer became the grandfather of King David.

Though your life probably doesn’t look exactly like Naomi’s, I’m sure it has some common elements. There will be hardships, tragedies, death, but there can also be redemption, restoration, and even resurrection. God’s plan for everyone is that none would be lost and that all would experience the power of the resurrection. This week may your thoughts be drawn to the hope and power of the resurrection.

 
This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – 2 Timothy 1
  • Tuesday – 2 Timothy 2
  • Wednesday –  2 Timothy 3
  • Thursday – 2 Timothy 4
  • Friday – Titus 1
Please Pray for:
  • Our ministers – Shane, John, and Buddy, our staff, and our members and their families.
  • The eradication of Covid-19.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The United Methodist Church.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

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