Chicago...and God's sovereignty

     

        Chicago.  Wow.
        We arrived last night for a moms and daughters trip, and this is our first visit to the Windy City.  And let me just say, based on the drive from the airport and the walk to a late evening dinner, "Wow" about covers it.  Broad boulevards, beautiful buildings, wide glittering river...not to mention priceless daughters and moms with whom to enjoy it all!  All good gifts come from Your hand, so thank You, thank You, Father, for allowing us to be here!

                (A few of the girls...not everyone is here yet...and, boy, dinner was some kind of good!)
         But here's my very short, very limited point for this early morning before exploring the city: praise God that He is here.  He is in Raleigh.  He is in eastern North Carolina where folks struggle to recover from hurricane Matthew.  He is in Aleppo...and Paris...and Dubai...and Detroit..and Addis Ababa.
        Abraham Kuyper says "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!"  Amen!
       Sovereign over elections and politicians.  Sovereign over hurricanes and earthquakes.  Sovereign over every person and every place.  Sovereign over our fondest hopes and our greatest fears.
       And so, as we begin this new day in this new place with new friends, Father, we thank You that You are here, and You are back home with those we love so dearly.  You are with those struggling to recover from pain and loss, and You are with those worried about simply making it through the day.  You are with those in some kind of storm..with those about to enter a storm...and those thankfully exiting the storm.  You are with us in our rejoicing and celebration...and with us, often even more dearly and intimately, in our weeping and sorrows.
          You, our Sovereign King, are with us no matter what.  No matter where.  No matter who.  We praise You and thank You, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Remind us of Your powerful presence, Your unconquerable love, and Your supreme-over-ALL-things sovereignty in the days ahead.  As the world grows darker, preserve us from despair--which is a sin--and discouragement.  You are still--and always and forever will be-on the throne of the universe.  No election, no storm, no sickness, no failure, no nothing, nothing, nothing will ever change that one iota.  You are God and there is none other.
         With You and in You there is always hope, joy, peace, grace, strength, forgiveness, love, and ultimate glory.  In You we have all that now, but even more especially in the glorious future You  have prepared for those who love You.  "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Rom.8:28)  Those aren't just familiar words on a page...they are Your God-breathed out, supernaturally powerful words of eternal and unconquerable Truth.
          Yes, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!"  Amen, Lord, amen.  To You, Almighty God of heaven and earth, be all the glory.
       

Praying

                                        A little food for weekend thought on prayer--
         "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place and there He prayed." (Mark 1:35)
         "And they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." (Rev.5:8)
         John Piper says, "It is as though God has a favorite food.  When we pray, He smells the aroma from the kitchen as you prepare His favorite dish.  When God hungers for some special satisfaction, He seeks out a prayer to answer.  Our prayer is the sweet aroma from the kitchen ascending up into the King's chambers making Him hungry for the meal.  But the actual enjoyment of the meal is His own glorious work in answering our prayer.  The food of God is to answer our prayers.  The most wonderful thing about the Bible is that it reveals a God who satisfies His appetite for joy answering prayers.  He has no deficiency in Himself that He needs to fill up, so He gets His satisfaction by magnifying the glory of His riches by filling up the deficiencies of people who pray."
         After an unimaginably full and busy day that stretched from early morning until deep into the night with Jesus teaching and healing countless individuals, what does our Lord do?  He arises in the predawn darkness to be alone with His Heavenly Father to pray.  To enjoy His Father's presence.  To lay all His needs before His Father.  To simply soak in His Father's love, peace, joy, wisdom, and strength.  If the Sovereign King of Kings, the Creator of heaven and earth needed this time alone with His Father to be empowered and equipped for all He had to do, why on earth would we think we need it any less?  I keep asking my lazy...or rushed...or self-sufficient...or misplaced priorities self that question.  If the Lord Jesus needed and wanted prayer, who do I think I am to skimp on it?  How much am I missing?  Forgive me, Father!  Oh how I want to be a woman of prayer.  A prayer warrior for God's kingdom.  Help me, help us, Father, to be Your prayer warriors.  
         In John Piper's words, we want our prayers to create those sweet aromas that bring You, our Father, satisfaction.  We ask that in Your grace, You would teach us to pray.  In your love, You would enable us to persevere in our prayers.  And in Your power and for Your glory, You would answer our prayers.
       And, Lord, right now we lift up those in dire need because of Hurricane Matthew.   Raise up an army of Your people to help and serve and love those who are struggling...and might You receive all the glory.  Lord, strengthen the weak.  Heal the sick and injured.  Comfort those dealing with terrible loss.  Encourage the downhearted.  Bring the light and love of Christ to bear in every dark and desperate place.  Overwhelm the darkness with Your Light.  Father, we know You are able, so we ask all this in Jesus mighty, good and glorious name.  And to You be all the glory.  Amen.
       

A change of plans...

        So it wasn't quite the weekend any of us had planned.
        Our plans included all kinds of events for our daughter's senior year parent's weekend--from brunches to tailgates to fun football games. There was our youngest son's first dance on Saturday night...complete with tux.  There was another son's golf team tournament which we all planned to attend in between all the other events. There were children coming from out of town for a good, long, happy visit to enjoy all the festivities together.
         Those were just our family's plans...think of how many others had all sorts of plans.
         Then there was Hurricane Matthew.
         And old Matthew, he had mighty different ideas.  The tailgate got moved indoors.  The golf tournament played in the rain and then the last round cancelled.  Lots of dashing to and fro to various events in the pouring rain and gusty winds.  And the football game...well, let's just call it "character building."  The tux--

        It never even got taken out of the bag--dance cancelled.
        Brunch for our boys--with no electricity, we toasted bagels on the gas stove--

 (which, for the record, they said was delicious.  Hunger is a wonderful flavor enhancer!)
         The water rose high, almost to the road--

And trees were down, blocking the roads--

 But when the rain finally stopped, the sun rose glorious and bright with a clear blue sky on an achingly gorgeous October Sunday morning.  And the sticks, oh, the sticks...it was Bingley paradise--

        When our power came back on a day or so later, my, it was wonderful.  We drove up and saw the lights shining outside, and our little banner said it all--

      Isn't it something how much we take for granted?  How terribly prone we are to ignore or assume the joys of hot water, clean laundry, reading lights at night, and warm food?  Or the blessings of people to love and chores to do for them, eyes to see October's beauty, hands to hold, mouths and noses and ears to speak and smell and hear.
      God daily showers gift upon gift upon gift, yet how often we ignore His relentless generosity.  How frequently I fail to simply acknowledge His goodness and say "Thank You, Father."
       He is so good, so faithful even when we are faithless and fickle.  I read these words the other day from Tim Keller: "Our unfaithfulness in light of His faithfulness makes ours more heinous. But His faithfulness in light of our unfaithfulness makes His more wonderful.”  No wonder they call it "amazing grace."
        Thank You, Abba, thank You.  You know if we could only say two prayers, maybe a good place to start would be "Forgive me" and "Thank You."  Forgive us for our faithlessness.  Forgive us for forgetting Your goodness.  Forgive us for failing to see You as the Creator and Giver of every single good gift in our lives.
        And thank You for it all.  Thank You for the commonest graces of food, water, clothing.  Thank You for extraordinary gifts of love, forgiveness, joy, hope, fellowship, peace, grace.  Thank You for plans made...and interrupted.  Thank You for the gifts we want...and for those we don't.  For we know and trust You will use it all for our ultimate good and Your greater glory.
         “Give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).
          Thank You, Father for everything. Thank You.  To God be the glory.
 

October!

                                A little food for weekend thought on the first day of a new month--
        First, did you know that October is National Pasta Month?  Yes sir, that should put a spring in your step.  Not only is it October, surely one of the loveliest months of the year...not only is it time for pumpkin cakes, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pasta, pumpkin anything and everything (yum!)...not only is it the start of the Thanksgiving season (I believe in kicking off Thanksgiving on October 1) which is surely one of the most wonderful seasons in the whole year...not only is it the time to bring out your pilgrims and be reminded of all we have to be thankful for...but now we learn that it's National Pasta Month!  What's not to love?  If you're prone to complaining, just contemplate the month of October, and you'll surely find ample grounds for gratitude!
         Thank You, Lord, for October...and pumpkins...and pilgrims...and football...and the state fair...and fall skies...and crunchy apples...and sweater weather (but not yet coat weather, thank goodness).  
         And here's another totally unrelated thing I'm thankful for--the gift of insight and wisdom from God's Word and from great books.  I guess a perfect fall moment might be eating pumpkin pasta, followed by pumpkin cake, all while sitting in front of a blazing fire with your family and reading a great book together.  Throw in some chocolate and a few pilgrims and you've got autumnal paradise.           And speaking of good books,  I read these words the other day from one of my favorite authors, Paul David Tripp.  Some mighty good stuff, so here's a little food for weekend thought--
         "It is not biblical faith to try to convince yourself that things are better than they actually are.  It is not biblical faith to work to make yourself feel good about what is not good.  Biblical faith looks reality in the face and does not flinch.  On the other hand, there is a crucial difference between facing hard realities and allowing those realities to dominate the meditation of your heart.
           Here’s what biblical faith does: it examines reality, but it makes the Lord its meditation.  It is only when you look at life thru the window of the glory of the One who has been the source of your meditation that you see reality accurately.  The more you meditate on your problems, the bigger and more insurmountable they seem to be. Meditating on God in the midst of your trouble reminds you once again that the God to whom grace has connected you is magnificent in His grandeur and glory.  He is infinitely greater than any problem you could ever experience.  Then your responses are shaped by HIs glory and not by the seeming size of your problems."
           Thank You, Father, that as we meditate on You and Your Word--and thereby on Your goodness, greatness, and grace--we not only see Your infinite glory and grandeur, but we also see our problems in relation to who You are and what You've done.  And suddenly the astounding beauty of our Savior far, far, far outstrips any and all of our paltry problems.
         Thank You for the treasure of Jesus, for the joy of our salvation, and for all the other daily gifts You sprinkle along our paths...and today that means starting with October's blessings. To God be the glory.