Hope

Keeping a proper focus

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Matthew 24:6-8

There will be a “Super moon” on March 19th. The moon will be closer to earth than it has been in 18 years. Some say this will cause earthquakes and strange weather. Scientists have disputed this in many reports I have read. And then we have 2012 coming up, according to Nostradamus that is when the world will end…..that is also when the Mayan calendar runs out.

There has always been speculation about when it will all end. Many believe it can’t go on this way forever and they are right. One day it will end. The disciples came to Jesus privately one day and asked Him: “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”  Jesus told them many things, but He stressed these three main points:

Don’t be alarmed
Don’t be deceived
Be ready and watchful

We see so many terrible things happening in our world today, and we wonder…….how long? We turn our eyes heavenward because it seems as if everything is out of control, but those of us raised in church should not be surprised by any of this. I remember hearing sermons about eschatology and the end of the world ever since I was old enough to sit in a pew. I know one thing, we are nearer now than we were before. I like how Paul breaks it down for us in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians: (my paraphrase)

Be prayerful
Be watchful
Be encouraged
Keep loving each other
Get right with God
Live your life


“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.” 1 Thessalonians 3:12,13

Its all about focus, and balance, and keeping our eyes on Christ, who is our living hope.

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25

I pray today for those suffering terrible losses from the devastation in Japan. I can’t imagine how terrible it would be to have everything you have worked for washed out to sea, but even worse, the loss of friends and family members. I pray for recovery, healing, and rescue for those still lost. Amen

Peace Be Still…..

“He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Matthew 8:26,27

The people of Japan are experiencing the horrific effects of a massive earthquake. The footage is heart-breaking. To see homes, buildings, streets washed away is devastating. It was unexpected and there is never any preparation for something like that….It happened around 2 PM right in the middle of a work day. The fear is resulting Tsunamis up and down the coast…..

The truth is, there are all kinds of Tsunamis in life. My best friend feels like she is standing in the midst of one right now. She is under so much stress she actually forgets to breathe. She has the burden of taking care of both elderly parents, neither one of whom can get around, one suffering from Dementia and one from Alzheimer’s. Most of the time, they don’t talk, they bark orders.

She feels like her world has stopped, and it pretty much has. Life is going on normally without a hitch for others, but hers has stalled out. There is no time for herself. And it is affecting her health…..Life can feel very much like you are standing in the middle of an earthquake that is still going on. Nothing feels stable, nothing can be planned, because the job is never over………Whether it is a natural disaster, or a family problem, the symptoms are the same. Stress is stress, and the body doesn’t know the difference. It screams, fight or flight.

She longs to hear the words of Jesus, “Peace Be Still.” Oh, how she wishes she could be still, just for a moment. How she longs to be in that boat with Him.

Hear the wind cease…..feel the torrential wind die down……hear the sound of the waves lapping gently against the boat…..

But she can. As believers we have the assurance that He is keeping us. That He is here with us, this He has promised us. His peace is for us. And we have help…..”But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.” John 14: 26,27

Know right now……..He is keeping you. You may not feel Him there, but you know He is. You have not blown up, hit anyone, exploded, and you are still laughing at times. He is keeping you…..and He will continue to keep you. Sometimes it just boils down to that. And one minute, one hour at a time.

When I was writing this post I remembered this song that was popular back in the seventies….

“Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water
Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea
Take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently
By puttin your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee….”
(As recorded by Ocean) GENE MACLELLAN 1970

I am so glad I know that Man, and so glad my friend does too…….Please pray for those in Japan today and all others affected by stress of all kinds. If you can, help them carry their burden today…..

"Thar’s gold in them thar hills…."

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121

I get to have this view every evening when I come home, the beautiful and mysterious Superstition Mountains. Their presence comforts me somehow, they are so strong, so steadfast, so solid. I always think of this Psalm when I gaze up at its beauty, especially when the last rays of the sun turn it a deep magenta.

Somewhere up there, the legend says, the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine is hidden. It was named after German Immigrant Jacob Waltz, and said to be the most famous lost mine in the U.S. Many have looked for the mine since the late 1800’s and so far it has never been found.
Moses found treasure one day on a mountain. He didn’t find gold, but something much better, he found God. When I look at these mountains I always think of Moses coming down with those tablets, his face glowing like the sun…..

I can always find God on the mountain.

One particular evening when the sun was doing its magenta magic, I was standing in our community clubhouse. I approached the door because from there you get an unblocked view of the mountain range. Standing in the doorway was a sweet elderly lady who is very sick. She was going home early because she didn’t feel well that night. She paused at the door way, looked up and caught her breath at the magnificent view and said in a hushed voice, “I think God lives up there.”

I said, “Yes, I think He does too!”

Spring has sprung……NOT!

See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Song of Solomon 2 11-13
Well, not quite yet. The weather report called for a chance of snow in San Francisco last night! About 50 insomniacs gathered in the Twin Peaks area around midnight, but no snow! However, right now it is only 48 degrees in Mesa, Arizona which is highly unusual! I have had my heater on more than I ever have this year. I confess I have enjoyed it. It has felt a bit more like winter.
I remember growing up in the farmland and orchards of the San Joaquin valley of California; I used to love it when all the cherries and almonds would blossom. After months of fog, rain and dampness, the sun would shine forth in brilliance and infuse people with false hope. Everyone would go out and start working in their yards, looking for rakes and garden tools long buried under Novembers mulchy leaves. We would glory in it, our faces upturned toward the sun……
Mom and I would go downtown to JC Penney and shop for my Easter dress, matching patent leather shoes of course, and the louder the better. Easter Sunday could not come fast enough. We would eagerly watch the weather the week before, hoping and praying for sun. Many times we would wake to ferocious biting winds with enough force to blow a hat clear into the next town, or a cold pelting rain. We would dash from the car to the church, fighting vociferously with inside out umbrellas. All the blossoms would be blown off the fruit trees.
Every now and again it would happen though…..we would get that perfect day.
For now though, I am enjoying the nice change. I am sorry for all of you dealing with more snow and ice and all the problems that brings, but when our summer starts and I walk outside at 5:00 AM and it is already oppressively hot, I will remember this wonderful winter!
I know that Spring will come, and on its heels the beginning of a long hot Summer, but that is as it should be. Even that will bring it’s own rewards. The seasons are God’s way of reassuring us that life does go on. It is reliable, this marking of time, this rhythm.
God’s rhythm. And it is very good.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years……Genesis 1:14
photos taken from publicdomainpictures.net

True Freedom

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23

The latest addition to my video library includes a concert given by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir inside Angola Prison. I knew about the prison but I had no idea what has been going on there for the past 15 or so years that Burl Cain became warden. What an eye opener! Come to find out there are scads of articles all over the net about this and how everyone is amazed at how the whole atmosphere of this prison, at one time one of the bloodiest and most violent prisons in existence. It used to be called “the Hole,” and “The Alcatraz of the South,” but now approximately 1,600 of the 5,000 inmates are born again Christians.

This prison has a very dark past that began before the Civil War. It is a place of no second chances and 85 percent of these prisoners will die within it’s walls. And yet……Everything started to change with the arrival of Burl Cain. He allowed Prison Fellowship to come in, and church groups to hold Bible studies. It now has 3 Chapels and a 200 student Bible college. They intentionally built the church steeples higher than the guard towers. They also have a Christian radio station on site.

Most moving to me were the testimonies of these prisoners, many of them as young as 18 when they entered. They know they may be in for life, but now they have hope for the first time because they have met the only one who can make anyone truly free, Jesus Christ. No longer hopeless, you can now see the light of Christ behind their eyes.

Everything they had was stripped away, including their freedom. It was there that Jesus met them. Really, that is how we all must meet Him isn’t it?

When you get to the point where you realize we can do nothing to save ourselves, and nothing we do on our own is good enough, that is where He comes in. It is there He meets us. The tragedy is, some out here in the land of what we call freedom will never find Him because they are too busy chasing everything this world has to offer……

Because of their new life in Christ, these prisoners can taste true freedom for the first time, and they are sharing it with everyone who will listen! Burl Cain says: “When these guys step into church, they have a small island of freedom, because this is no longer prison, it is church.” That just about says it all.

We are all being rehabilitated really aren’t we? They are being rehabilitated for the outside world, and we are all being rehabilitated to live in Heaven someday. That is what this life is all about, getting us ready for the next!

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.” Philippians 1:3-7

Church at Angola Prison

Photos from Google

Our first love…….

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” Revelation 2:4
I pray for America today……because I believe she, like the Church in Ephesus has forsaken her first love. This is my country, and I love it, but I fear for it. I think of her birth and how she started out, as a light to other nations, as a gateway to hopes and dreams, but most of all a place that honors God as our Creator and Sustainer. Our forefathers knew where our blessings came from, and it seems we have forgotten.
How could we have fallen this far? How have we become a nation that refuses to shelter and protect the most vulnerable of its citizens, our unborn? We simply do not have that right, no matter how many laws we put on the books…..
How could we even presume to think we can without conscience and consequence take God’s creation, soul already completely formed, and remove it from it’s safest place?
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13
This is not a condemnation of any mother’s desperate act, but a nation that has turned away from the value of life, all life. I understand it happens, and I understand the circumstances it takes to get there.
I pray for all who are in that hopeless place today, and I pray that if the decision is made to give life instead of take it, that there will be those waiting on the other side, with open arms of love……
Yet there is hope for our nation, I pray. On January 23rd, 40,000 peaceful pro-lifters from all across the United States marched in the downtown San Francisco Walk for Life…….It barely got a mention in the paper, and they didn’t quote how many were there, 10,000 more than last year. Yes, there is always hope!
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
For a first-hand look at the Walk for Life march go to You Tube and type in Walk for Life 2011 San Francisco, as I watched it, my spirit was uplifted as I saw all those towns represented that I know so well, Modesto, (where I will be headed tomorrow) Sacramento……all whose streets I have walked, including San Francisco where my brother and sister in law lived for years…….My prayers go out to all the people there, who don’t know God yet and also the ones who do. I pray this march will have a positive impact and lives will be changed.

Faith takes over…….

Sometimes the words aren’t there, but the gratefulness still is.
Sometimes faith has to take over when you have momentarily misplaced hope.
Sometimes you have to be reminded that God is still God, and that
everything is going to be okay.

And things are still very good indeed, it is your mind that is
temporarily looking at things askew. Temporarily is the key.
Because things always turn around, I know that for a fact.

I am so thankful for those in my life that have surrounded me over the years,
when I have felt like this, come alongside and believed with me…..

Yes, it will be okay.

There are many more reasons for praise than for despair.
You start counting, and before you know it,
you are restored, I am restored.

Thank you to all of you……….you know who you are.
This post is dedicated to you today.

sun through clouds, voices of hope, hands grabbing mine, prayers sent with my name on them, smiling eyes over lunch, beautiful songs that leave you breathless, God in the silence listening always, listening, dawn breaking inside and knowing where it is coming from, blogger friends, friends old and new, memories that bring smiles, laughter in the midst of tears…….#609-621

The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
The LORD protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me. Psalm 116:4,5

holy experience

photos: google images

Something Worth Singing About

The best way to honor someone’s legacy is to pass it on……. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 15:12

One of the most valuable things I learned, and am still learning from my parents is that no matter what life throws at you, you just keep going, press on, never sink into defeat. You tighten the straps of your backpack and hit the trail again.You can despair for a time, but ultimately you get up and start doing what has to be done, keep the rhythm of life going. For as long as I can remember, my Mom has started the day singing. She does it a bit less now…..her days are long and she has many aches and pains, but she still gets up before everyone else. She presses on. She has always found something worth singing about. She knows the song of redemption.

Love is showing through demonstration that there is always a reason to sing because life is a gift. 

I was raised with music, singing. I was raised with people who believed that there was always something worth singing about. My Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, all of us gathered around while somebody played the piano or organ…..I can still hear their voices even now all these years later, my Grandmother’s warbly soprano, my Aunt’s alto harmonies, the plink-plink of my Uncle Bill’s banjo. What wonderful memories those are, they weaved themselves into the fabric of my very being, they are part of who I am today.

There is something about singing that lifts the spirit when nothing else can. There is power in song. This is part of our very DNA set there by our Creator. He first put the song in our hearts and He sang the stars into existence! Ever notice that kids find it very easy to sing? It just comes naturally. But life can really stifle that song right out of you at times…..you don’t have to let it. Heaven is filled with music we can scarely imagine, and when we sing in spite of how bad things may get down here, we bring part of Heaven down on earth. Turn that old music master Satan’s instrument against him!

I think of the Slaves, singing out through the depths and horrors of bondage, of death all around them. I think of soldiers singing as they march into battle……I think of Paul and Silas’ song in prison and Jesus and His disciples singing a hymn before they went out into the black night of sorrow. They were all thinking of the joy set before them as Jesus was……Freedom, peace, deliverance, Heaven…….

This morning I remembered all those songs. They made me sad for times past, but also encouraged me to pick up the song and sing with them. As I was pouring my coffee, The Holy Spirit breathed a little song into my heart that I had completely forgotten about and I found myself singing it on the way to work, though I had a hard time remembering the melody for the first few bars…….The lyrics say……”You are the reason I sing, You who taught all bells of Heaven to ring, I had no song just drifted along, but now You’re the reason I sing……”

Yes, that redemption song. That’s the best way to honor all who have gone before, and those still with me, I choose to keep singing the song of hope and never stop.

A Year filled with Promise


So far this New Year feels much like the old one for me, since I am working. As I stared out through the windshield on my morning commute, grateful that there was almost nobody on the road (hey there’s a blessing!) I thought about the New Year and what it means. I wonder how the year went so fast…..In my honest reflection, I had to admit that there are some circumstances that I do not feel positive about going into the New Year. But then I thought about the Big Picture. All the good surrounding me. Good friends, good family, and surrounding on every side are God’s promises. When I think of everything He has brought me through how can I be anything but eternally grateful and also hopeful for what’s ahead?
While we all wish each other a New Year full of  prosperity and blessings, we know that there will be things that happen that will stop us in our tracks, take the wind out of our sails, make us want to crawl through the wardrobe and find a secret world like the Narnia kids. Just today I heard of a dear blogger who lost her husband on Christmas Eve, and another who lost her home and everything in it and yet…..and yet…. she is grateful that they all escaped unharmed.

Sometimes you have to stare really hard through the fog of our circumstances to see the good that surrounds us. But it is getting easier for me to do this, I am happy to say. It is nothing that I have done, it’s everything He’s done and continues to do. This is not just looking on the bright side. What it is, is knowing, remembering, all those times before when I thought I couldn’t…… and He said….Yes you can, I will help you. I have promised to never leave you and I never will….It is knowing who He is.

As I was thinking these things, He gave me one of those confirmations. As I was praying the song I needed to hear, Mighty to Save came on the radio, and right after that, Jesus Saves. He was telling me twice, not to worry.

God is in the outfield, and you are the fly ball, He says, “I got it!”
He is also across the chasm with His hands outstretched, saying “Jump, I’ve got you!”

Just like He grabbed Peter when he started to sink……..Why did I ever doubt?

Isaiah 40:31 – but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Psalm 71:5 – For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.
Romans 5:2 – through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Psalms 27:5 – For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.
Ephesians 3:20 – Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…..

Yesterday……


Can’t think of a better way to start the New Year than with Oswald Chambers:

“The God of Israel will be your reward.” Isaiah 52:12

Security from Yesterday. “God requireth that which is past.” At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Security for To-morrow. “For the Lord will go before you.” This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to. He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our rereward. God’s hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience.

Security for To-day. “For ye shall not go out with haste.” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.

Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him. Oswald Chambers

We can look to our future with hope no matter what lies ahead when we are looking to the God of Hope! I wish you a very Happy New Year filled with hope in Him who set all the planets in motion and keeps it all going, who knows and cares about our every thought, who gives us life and breath…..

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
Photo credit:  Mike Robinson taken near Anchorage, Alaska