Mission Faithwalk

                 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130)                 Once upon a time, if someone decided to go somewhere, they pulled out a map. Generally, they were folded in 12” by 3-4” rectangles, and you would have to unfold it, locate where you are, then where you want to go, and figure out how to get from one to the other. It wasn’t really practical to have the whole map unfolded for the whole trip, so you refolded the map so you could see the part of the trip you were map open. There would be times when you might have to unfold it and refold it a different way, to make another part of your journey visible. If you were alone in the car, that could make life difficult. And no, you never seemed to get the map folded back the way it was when you bought it. Now, of course, we have...

                 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. (Isaiah 91:4) Near San Bernardino, CA, there are cameras trained on an eagle’s nest, and the feed has proven to be quite popular. This year, Jackie and Shadow lost a pair of eggs, and laid a second pair. Jackie spent a lot of time brooding the eggs. Even after the eaglets hatched, she stayed with them, keeping them warmly tucked against her downy breast during snowstorms, dry during rainstorms, nearly getting blown off the next in a windstorm, but always covering the eaglets. Even once they were big enough to not need quite so much protection, Jackie stayed nearby. Sometimes, a squirrel would come up to the nest, and Jackie would spread her wings and slap down, covering the eaglets and frightening the squirrel away.  When crows, owls, or other flying predators came along, Jackie or Sha...

                 This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. ” (Jeremiah 33:2-3)                 Do you call to God? I think I call to Him, but there may be a difference between whimpering and whining and calling. It’s not unusual for me to get out of bed in the morning saying, “Help, God. I need help.” Before I reach the hall, I’m already failing. I know this is a habit of mine, so I try to ignore it, but the point is that there’s a difference between that and “Good morning, God. What do you want me to do with today?” And that is different from “Good morning, God. You promised to tell me great and unsearchable things I don’t know. I’m listening.” And then actually listen.      ...

                  But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7)                 Maybe it was because Saul was tall. When Samuel went to anoint the new king of Israel, his first inclination was toward a tall, good-looking member of the family. God chose the youngest member, the “runt” of the litter, who probably didn’t have anything against him (to the external eye) except that he was the little brother, and everyone picked on the youngest as the “nobody, nothing” of the family.                 We all do it. Put aside the rabid accusations of the various -isms. Yo...

                     Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1:22)                 While this verse wasn’t specifically on my mind this morning as I walked, it could have been. I interrupted my routine of prayer with a heartfelt need for God to help me in every area of my life. I was hit with the general (and often reached) conclusion that I am a complete failure in every area of my life. Of course, that tends to be because I’m not doing everything completely right (to my specifications). This verse would have fit right in, because I am not being the Christian I think I should be. I’m not doing everything Scripture says. Like everyone else, I’m deceiving myself. And I do so far too often.                 As I whined at God about wh...

                 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. (Psalm 119:114)                 “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”   C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe                 For a time, we heard a lot about the idea of being a safe person or place. In fact, there was a time when people put safety pins on their clothes to make sure others could identify them as a safe person. A safe person is generally identified as someone who will validate the opinions of the other person as true, unless, of course, the opinions of the other person don’t happen to include the idea that the opinions of all other people are true....