Just Get Up!

"David got up from the floor, washed his face and combed his hair, put on a fresh change of clothes, then went into the sanctuary and worshiped." II Chronicles 12:20 (Message)

This passage has been extremely important to me lately! I hope you are familiar with it. If not, David had his affair with Bathsheba, had Uriah, her husband, killed, lied to everyone, ignored his spiritual counsel (Nathan), and rebelled against a Holy God. The child that Bathsheba conceived had become ill and died. David had been in great mourning the entire time of the child's illness, he fasted, prayed, and kept himself isolated from the community. At quite possibly the lowest time in his life, when all seemed lost, when hope was no more, HE GOT UP! We have all heard the old adage, "You got back on the horse.", But not if its the wrong horse! Notice though in this passage, David GOT UP and what? Yelled? Shook his fist? Fired everyone employed in the courts? Took his anger out on his subjects? NO! He washed up, got fresh clothes on, and worshiped!
There is no shame in some solitude when times are tough. Often times it is healthy. But the greatest way back after a difficult journey in life is to GET UP, and GO WORSHIP! I don't mean go to a nifty church service. Notice in the passage David went "into the Sanctuary" The place known in his day as the very presence of God, where He dwelt!
No matter if your circumstances are due to your own sin, someone else's sin, or just Gods good ole providential dealings, the way back may include grief, agony, loss, and pain. But at the end of the day, GET UP, GO TO GODS PRESENCE, and WORSHIP my friend!

To Be or Not to Be?--That really isn't the question

I have had my share of ups and downs! The last 8 months of my life has "seemed" like a down, but upon a deeper look, it has and continues to be the most "up" time of my life. After you drag through a desert for a while, a trickle of water can be mighty refreshing.

I have those very "small" (as If a moment with God is ever small) moments with God that seem inconsequential, minuet, and even arbitrary at times. But as I reflected today, God has been pumping new life into my old bones. As I reflected on Jeremiah's prophecy, I realized that even a little bit of breath is better than none at all. God has surrounded with me people lately that have breathed those "small" breaths, He has given me those "small" 'revelations', those "small" victories. As I stand on the other side of the stream from the desert journey I just emerged from, I see SEVERAL sets of footsteps, all leading down to that one stream, all crossing it together, and now as I bend to drink from the deep waters of the spring of life, I am more alive than ever. My old "dry ones" are up and moving, full of life, I am not a "human-doing" anymore, I am once again a Human-Being!

"Praise you Oh Lord for your faithfulness, your mercies are new every morning, as the deer craves for water so too does my soul, Lord Jesus, you have given me water that I may never thirst again, I pray I never drink from another well but yours my savior, friend, and Lord! Finally, I can BE again, I am done 'doing'!! I Love you Oh Lord!--Amen, and Amen"

A voice that thunders is as quiet as a whisper

In my journey of faith I have spent my fair share of time "begging" God for an answer to something. Recently as I have been on a new search for purpose and meaning personally I have on more than one occasion asked "what now God?"
You see a life after "burnout" is certainly full of challenges. Yep, that's right, I'm a statistic too. After 13 years of great ministry and service to teenagers I got comfortable, let me guard down, and put my relationship with God on the proverbial back-burner. It cost me my job, my house, my friends, and almost my family. (Praise the Lord he kept us safe from infidelity) None the less though, it cost us greatly.
So now what? Are you done with me God? Am I a has been? washed up? well, no!

I have been asking "now what?" for a while and God "hasn't answered". Or has he? I still have my wife and kids, he has provided for me to go to school and finish my seminary education, giving me new friends, and most of all I still have him!
I have been asking what now, he has been saying, "I'm here!" what I am realizing, is that God is not really concerned with my future career plans, he is much more concerned with my daily soul plans and when I fully rest in that "small still voice" that thunders "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Then and only then will I truly hear His voice