Month: May 2018

Chance of Thunderstorms

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Our local National Day of Prayer event was moved at the last minute by thunderstorms being predicted for exactly the time of the meeting. Because not everyone gets their updates via Facebook a lot less people than hoped for showed up at the alternate venue. We started late. One of the pastors got lost and things seemed a bit shakey. But when we get disorganized and off of our perfectly planned program God delights in surprises.

The Latino worship group from the church where we did meet was great and deftly moved us between Spanish and English during “How great is our God” one lay pastor who does prison ministry filled in for the missing pastor and passionately prayed for the police and first responders. While we lacked in attendance there was no lack of sincerity in our cry to God for our community our nation and our churches. Holding hands in worship and prayers at the end put an exclamation point on God’s presence and made me hungry for more!

Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
Isaiah 35:6 ESV

 

 

Singing Time

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This April in Pennsylvania was the coldest in my memory. A few days the temperatures warmed only to be followed by snow and another cycle of gray skies and frigid nights.

That experience sadly also sometimes resembles my relationship with the Lord. While my heart longs for singing the reality is more often colorless and cold. But if you are experiencing the whiplash of hot and cold spiritually remember that no one longs for Spring more than Jesus. In the Song of Songs the invitation to come into Springtime comes not from the bride but from the bridegroom representing Christ. He is calling for us to wake up. Though sometimes we struggle just to break out of Winter’s grip, His invitation stands. His blood has power over the frost of sin. Our color starved eyes need only to be opened to take in the riot of flowers blooming. No matter the circumstances it can be singing time in our hearts today!

The days of Noah

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Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. Luke 17:26

Last week we traveled down to Williamstown Kentucky to celebrate our 45th anniversary and to see the Ark Encounter. It was a pretty amazing experience and I wish we had planned an extra day because there was so much to see.

Thinking back O think I came away with a new a greater sense pf the starkness of Noah’s faith. He believed and as a result persisted in building the ark. To put the enormity of the task in perspective consider that this replica built by Answers in Genesis ministries is the largest wood framed structure in the world. Noah built this without power equipment, without modern engineering or any outside support. He simply moved by faith in the face of rejection and with his sons became the pioneers of a new world!
Just as in Noah’s day the hard part is not just believing God’s message but in the demand for radical change that faith requires.