The place where I can't touch bottom

Yesterday, I floated in the sea.

That may sound refreshing and relaxing, which it was.  But for me, it was also a song of victory.  I moved past the edge of the water, a little deeper than my knees.  I ventured further into the surf where the small waves pushed their bubbly way onto the beach, reaching and falling back.  I moved deeper into the water than I have gone in a very long time, past the breakers of my childhood anxieties, to where the sea was smooth and calm.

What lay beneath the surface?  Maybe things I did not want to know, a fish or two.  But certainly not the sea monsters of the magnitude that my imagination had crafted, so many years in the making.  These sharks of mine were not man-eating, but joy-destroying, figments of fear from childhood that did not just flare up, but had staked a false claim and taken up permanent residence.

Fear protects us from actual danger.  Fear helps us to make wise decisions.  But illusory fears are what paralyze us.  And those phantoms without substance expand from a single childhood fear into limitations we ridiculously impose on ourselves.  One fear multiplies into a hundred others.

I decided yesterday to step beyond the breakers.

I surprised not only myself ...but everyone around me.

Fear not, for I am with you,
be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you
     with My victorious right hand.

                           Isaiah 41.10

What is your ocean?

Living counter culturally

One of my delights in the Bible is discovering deeper and deeper its encouragement to not go along with the status quo, but to live counter culturally in extraordinary ways. Not in a weird way that says, "look at ME."  But living in a way that very naturally reveals the grace of God in our lives.

And in our throwaway culture that still seeks and demands the elusive "fountain of youth," my favorite women are those who do not fear growing old, but instead they bear the evidence that "the joy of the LORD is my strength."  Not happiness dependent on the prevailing wind, but joy that weathers any storm --  extraordinary joy that has thrived no matter what.  I've seen it before my very eyes, an hilarious strength that runs deep.  It blesses all around them.

And so, I want to send out a tribute this day to those women who have been such an encouragement to me by how they live and what they wear.

Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.

                             Proverbs 31.25

By what we are known

May we be known
by a jubilant competition
       outdoing one another
            in showing honor
         and grace
               and acts of kindness
    even when not deserved,
   especially when not deserved.
May we be known not by performance
but filled with grace
and may that truth bubble out
             overflow
         spilling all over,
     grace evident
      and covering everyone around us.
May we be known by excellence
         in all we do,
       not always being the best,
     maybe even never being the best,
   but seeking fully
                       to do my best.
     That is always what God can use.
And may His people be known
    in all ways and all times
                    by integrity.
      May others say,
         "I can depend on
              those forgiven people
           for treating me fairly
                        and with great grace."
Because if others cannot trust us,
    in our dealings,
    in our doings,
    in our "weights and measures,"   
      they may never know they can trust Him.
Be hilarious today
             with a generous spirit,
always eyes wide open
in opportunities both great and small
for loving God
     by loving others.
May we be known by Him.

   

Dog-eared Pages

Our time is limited on this earth,
and God has created it for us
        to enjoy and glorify Him.
Waste nothing.
Read the Bible
      more than you read Facebook.
Exercise
      more than you watch TV.
Eat good food
      more than you eat bad food.
Wake up early.
Introduce people.
Reach out to the marginalized.

                   --Douglas Williams
                     as quoted in the ECS alumni magazine,
                     summer 2013
                   

Taste and See the LORD is good

My daughter is introducing "real" food to our ravenous five-month-old grandson.  The first week's menu featured pureed carrots.  Whoa, this is incredible, he seemed to say.  Give me more!

Oh, how we LOVE the blessings of the LORD that are so good to us. 

But what about those things that are good for us?  Not so much!  Still a blessing, but we don't quite see it the same way.

For the LORD is good;
His steadfast love endures for ever  (Psalm 100.5)

Even when it's the green beans of life!