To Old Age and Gray Hairs

Today is Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Day 21,937.

April 4. The day Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot.

It’s the birthday of the great outfield, Tris Speaker (1888-1958), who said, “The Babe was a great ballplayer, sure, but Cobb was even greater. Babe could knock your brains out, but Cobb would drive you crazy.” (BrainyQuote)

It’s also the birthday of Muddy Waters (1915-1983), who said, “I wanted to definitely be a musician or a good preacher or a heck of a baseball player. I couldn’t play ball too good – I hurt my finger, and I stopped that. I couldn’t preach, and well, all I had left was getting into the music thing.” (BrainyQuote)

Finally, it’s the birthday of Maya Angelou (1928-2014), who said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” (BrainyQuote)

The word for today is mythoclast, a noun which means, “a destroyer or debunker of myths.” Probably not a very popular person.

We made it to the Y, last night, and had a decent bit of exercise. We also signed up for their free “Life Change Challenge” sessions, in which we each get three sessions with a personal trainer, just to help us get on track for our goals. S is really excited about this, and we will consider continuing personal training sessions for her if this works out well.

I got a jury duty summons in the mail, for April 19. My boss is going to love that. That was sarcasm.

It took them thirteen innings, but the Red Sox beat the Marlins 4-2, last night. They are 5-1 on the season, and have set some crazy team records. For example, the starting pitcher has not given up more than one run in all six of their season-opening games. That has never been done in the team’s history. They are off tonight, and their home opener is tomorrow against the Rays.

The Rangers finally won another one, as well, beating the Athletics 4-1 behind a more solid Cole Hamels. They are now 2-4 on the season. They play the A’s again tonight.

There is now only one undefeated team, Pittsburgh, who didn’t play yesterday. The Royals and Padres both won their game yesterday, so there are no more winless teams.

156 left to go.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS
All Scriptures are from the ESV unless otherwise noted

O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 
So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. 
Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? 
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. 
You will increase my greatness and comfort me again. 
I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. 
My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. 
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt. 
Psalm 71:17-24

Some good words for an elderly person in the closing verses of this Psalm. Indeed, the Lord has taught me from my youth, from my childhood. Sadly, I didn’t always listen. But I believe that he will not forsake me into “old age and gray hairs.” I pray for the ability to proclaim his might to “another generation.” And I may not praise him with a harp, but I will praise him with an electronic keyboard and a guitar, as well as with my lips and tongue. Praise be to the Lord for his mighty acts and wonderful gifts!

Father, loosen my lips! Teach me praise! Give me songs of praise to sing loudly to you! Thank you, Lord, for teaching me since I was a youth, and I pray that I never become too proud to keep learning. I am learning things in this period of my life that are astonishing me, and I love that!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you. Psalm 33:22

Grace and peace, friends.

Wreck My Pride

Today is Monday, April 2, 2018. Day 21,935.

It’s the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), who said, “Every man’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s fingers.” (BrainyQuote)

The word for today is inscape, a noun which means, “the unique essence or inner nature of a person, place, thing, or event, especially depicted in poetry or a work of art.” I remember this word, as Eugene Peterson brings it up in his book, Practice Resurrection.

We had a great day, yesterday. Our Easter Breakfast Celebration was pretty awesome. We had a packed room, and there was great fellowship, worship, teaching, and, of course, some pretty good food, as well. The lady who was in charge of the food spread did an amazing job! A few other people brought things in, as well, even though the church was providing all the food.

C and I didn’t do much for the rest of the day. I played some games while she watched TV and napped in the bedroom, then I cooked some baked potatoes and steaks for dinner.

I am remiss in that I forgot to mention one very important thing. On Saturday, S went with us to the event in Granbury. Now, if you have followed my blogs for a while, you will remember that S is high-functioning autistic. Well, she went with us, and sat through the entire day, rehearsals, down time, and actual worship/preaching time, and never once complained about a thing! She was awesome, and I told her that I would brag on her, publicly. So there you go!

I haven’t mentioned baseball stuff yet (I keep running out of time). The season has begun, and teams either have three or four games done. The Red Sox have gotten off to a good start, winning three of their first four games against the Rays. The Rangers, not so much, as they lost three of their first four, two of them by pretty big margins. However, it would do us well to remember that they opened the season against last year’s World Series champions, who have virtually no personnel changes. The Astros will be a force to be reckoned with, this season! Tonight, the Rangers are already on the west coast, playing a four game series against Oakland, then back home to play Toronto and the Angels. The Red Sox stay on the road, playing two games against the Marlins. Their home opener will be Thursday, again playing the Rays.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS
All Scriptures are from the ESV unless otherwise noted

In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! 
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me! 
Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. 
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. 
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
Psalm 71:1-6

This is the kind of psalm that I can easily pray, and often. “Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come!” Yes, Lord! “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth!”

(From The Business of Heaven, C.S. Lewis)
The Chief Cause of Misery

“It is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But Pride always means enmity – it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.”

The truth of this reading is staggering. I’m not going to quote the entire reading, as it is lengthy, but will quote what are, in my opinion, the high points. But I agree with Lewis on this point. In the reading from yesterday, he wrote that Pride is the “essential vice, the utmost evil.” Most of the problems that we find ourselves fighting against, especially those dealing with our relationships, can be boiled down to Pride.

“In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that – and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”

He goes on to say that people who are “eaten up with Pride” are, in truth, “worshipping an imaginary God.” These are people who, on the surface, appear to be saying that they are “nothing in the presence of this phantom God,” but, in actuality are “imagining how He approves of them.”

The true test of how humble we are is how we feel in the presence of God. Do we feel like we are really something? Or do we feel like we are nothing, or at least really small? “It is better to forget about yourself altogether.” (From Mere Christianity)

Father, wreck my pride. It is the root cause of my judgmental nature. It has to be, and I hate it. Because, in my heart, I know the truth that I am nothing in comparison to you, and that I am most certainly no better than anyone else. But the pride creeps in when I least expect it, and causes enmity and judgment. I pray that you make me more aware of it, and when it begins to rise up, give me a Scripture or something to push it down. Humble me, Father. I know that is a very dangerous prayer. But I am praying it anyway.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Grace and peace, friends.

An Accumulation of Praise

“Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” – Satchel Paige
(BrainyQuote)

The word of the day, from the Oxford English Dictionary, is psychrophobia, which means “Fear or hatred of cold, esp. of cold water.”

Today is Hamburger Day. I might just have me one of those today!

I’m a little pressed for time, this morning. We are planning to leave for Scarborough Faire around noon. So I won’t spend a lot of time, here. Both the Red Sox and the Rangers lost, last night, the Sox to the Boo Jays, 7-5, in a back-and-forth contest. The Rangers lost badly to the Pirates, 9-1, in Cole Hamels’s first loss of the season. Both series continue today, with the much anticipated return of Yu Darvish in Arlington.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL

(From Praying With the Psalms)

O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.
I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.
Psalm 71:17-24

“A long life accumulates material for praise.” I like that. And mine certainly has. So, maybe it hasn’t been truly a long life, yet. In fact, it seems to have gone by rather quickly, thus far. And, God willing, there are still a good number of years left. But it has certainly accumulated material for praise! And this accumulation can most certainly “be turned to the composition of convincing songs of praise.”

“As the days and years add up in me, O Lord, help me to grow in gratitude. As I grow older, give me a good memory for your acts of guidance and deliverance and a ready tongue for witness and praise. Amen.”

Father, as my life continues, may the accumulated material for praise continue to grow. I could type for the rest of the day, and not run out of things to praise you for, over the course of my 58 years. May your Spirit continue to remind me of how much I have to praise you for, and may that praise run over into other areas of my life. Help me to be more open to continuing this journey with friends. I don’t need to be so alone all the time. Help me to love people more.

Come, Lord Jesus!

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Grace and peace, friends.

The Power of the Ascended Christ

“Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.” – Garrison Keillor
(BrainyQuote)

The word of the day, from Dictionary.com, is fard. It’s a verb, meaning “to apply cosmetics to (the face).” “Nay, but,” said Macbriar, “ye handle this matter too tenderly; nor will my conscience permit me to fard or daub over the causes of divine wrath.” (Sir Walter Scott, Old Mortality, 1816)

Today is Sun Screen Day. I, for one, know how important sun screen is. I really love the beach, especially the ocean beaches, but must cover myself in sun screen to enjoy them. Today, however, at least in our area, we have thunderstorms, and I won’t be spending much time outside.

Alas, the streak is over. Jackie Bradley, Jr. went 0-4 last night. I blame whoever decided to move him to the leadoff spot in the batting order. Have people not learned? If it ain’t broke, you don’t fix it! Oh, well. The Sox also lost the game to the Rockies, which means they lost the series as well. However, Baltimore also lost, so the Sox remain two games up in first place. And Xander Bogaerts got a hit, so if I’m not mistaken, he sits on a 19 game hitting streak. Tonight, they play the Boo Jays in Toronto. Maybe Dustin Pedroia will punch the Punk. I think that should be a thing, now. Every team has to punch Bautista in the face. New rule. The Rangers had the day off, yesterday, and begin a series with the Pirates tonight.

It’s Friday! I think we are planning to go to Scarborough Faire tomorrow, as we have a wedding to attend on Sunday, and it’s supposed to rain all day on Monday.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL

(From Praying With the Psalms)

In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me!
Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
I have been as a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.
For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together
and say, “God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him.”
O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.
With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
Psalm 71:1-16

As we approach “old age,” there are many unique needs. We fear that, as our strength fails us and our usefulness diminishes, that life will lose meaning. “But God does not love us for what we can do for him, or for our usefulness to society, but for what we are.”

“Almighty God, help me to find the meaning of my life, not in the size of my paycheck nor in the list of things that I can accomplish, but in the eternal purposes you have set for me in Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.”

I believe a lot of us could stand to pray that prayer!

(From My Utmost For His Highest)

The Life That Lives

But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
Luke 24:49

The disciples had to wait until Pentecost because Jesus had yet to be glorified. As soon as he was glorified, he sent the Holy Spirit. There is a parenthetical statement in John 7:39; Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. This is not true for us, because the Holy Spirit has been sent.

The Holy Spirit was definitely at work before Pentecost, but he, himself, was not dwelling with us, yet. “Immediately Our Lord was glorified in Ascension, the Holy Spirit came into this world, and He has been here ever since.” The receiving of the Holy Spirit should be the constant mindset of the believer. From this, we receive “quickening life from the ascended Lord.”

At this point, Chambers makes a great statement, that I believe is commonly overlooked in our age. “It is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost which changes men, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into men’s lives by the Holy Ghost that changes them.” It is not an experience apart from that of Jesus Christ, “it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.” You see, the Holy Spirit never tries to bring attention to himself. He always points toward Jesus Christ. He is also here, now! The kingdom of God is not something that we dream about in eternity. It is here, now, available for us to walk in today!

Father, make me constantly aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life, especially as he points me toward Jesus Christ and the power that this brings to my life. Help me to walk in your kingdom today, not dream about living in it after this life.

Come, Lord Jesus!

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Grace and peace, friends.

Should We Choose Suffering?

Good morning. We have finally arrived at Friday. August 10, 2012. Alright!! Today is “National Lazy Day.” I can most certainly get into that. I think it should have been combined with “Book Lover’s Day,” which was yesterday. That way, I could be lazy and read a book.

On this date in 1846, the Smithsonian Institute was created. On this date in 1776, London learned that the Americans had written a “declaration of independence.” News didn’t travel quite as fast back then, huh? On this date in 1937, the first electric guitar patent was awarded to the “Electro String Corporation.” It was for an instrument known as the “Rickenbacker Frying Pan.”

And on this date in 1981, Pete Rose set the National League hit record with his 3631st hit. Oddly enough, the man whose record he broke, Stan Musial, got his last two hits in 1963, against the Cincinnati Reds and their rookie second baseman, Pete Rose.

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Father, I’m running behind, this morning, so I pray that you would show me something in the brief time I have left. I pray for focus later, as I get my prayers in.

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Today, I’m reading Psalm 71. No composer is listed for this one.

In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. (1-3)

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you. (5-6)

The psalm continues along that same line, being a wonderful psalm of hope and praise to God. This is a composer who understands that God has been with him since before his life began.

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My Utmost For His Highest

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. 1 Peter 4:19

“To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing.” I agree with that statement 100%. I have known people in my life who would choose one option over another because it would make them suffer; because they liked it less than the other option, thinking that, surely, God would not want them to be that happy. I cannot understand that mindset. As Chambers says, “No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God’s will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.” We also had better not interfere with the suffering of another saint.

“The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God.” It is not the ones who sympathize with us who strengthen us. If we accept sympathy, it makes us think that God is dealing unfairly with us. Remember Jesus’s response to Peter in Matthew 16:23? “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Jesus did not need Peter’s sympathy.

If we listen to the world, we will think that God wastes his saints by placing them in totally useless places. Don’t be guilty of saying that God will place you in such and such a place because you are so useful. “God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is.”

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Father, I hope I am learning to submit to your will and accept where you place me. I have gone long enough thinking that you will surely do a certain thing with me because of the talent that you have given me. If you do that thing, very well. If you don’t do that thing, very well. It is up to you. I belong to you, I do not belong to myself. I am yours to do with as you see fit. Place me wherever you will be glorified the most. I will gladly submit.

I pray for strength and wisdom in this prayer ministry. As I go forward, I ask you to teach me more about how to pray for other people. Empower me by your Spirit to follow your direction, even when it comes in the most unusual places. Make me more aware of my surroundings and how they might relate to the ministry of prayer.

I pray for this day, Lord. Give me a smooth day at work, and I pray that Christi will have a good day as she works from home. I also pray that, as she visits the podiatrist again today, that some kind of hope might be received. I continue to pray that you heal her foot pain, whatever the cause may be.

I pray for some rest this weekend, even though it looks busy.

Give me clarity and focus as I pray on my drive to work today.

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May we all have a healthy, God-driven attitude toward his will for our lives, regardless of the suffering involved.

Grace and peace, friends.