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Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, (Jude 1:24)

          Today has been one of those days that happens when you’re making other plans. I like to write these blog posts in the morning, and it’s 4:15 pm. It feels like I’ve gotten nothing done because my to-do list is still long and what I’m doing now should have been done 7 hours ago. The things I did do needed to be done, or I wanted to do them but not today. Today was supposed to be different. But, this morning, one of my prayers was that God would direct me, to accomplish through me what He chose to. And then everything went caterwonky. Not bad, just not what I had expected. It’s hard to believe God choreographed it because it doesn’t have any big God-moments. Just life.
          Today’s passage says that He is able to keep us from stumbling. It says he can make us stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy. What does any of that mean? In the first place, it means that He can do what I cannot. I can’t keep from stumbling. I assume I’ve stumbling even when I can’t think of anything I’ve done wrong. But my heart is crying out, “Please God, if there can be any good that comes out of today, please God.”  And, of course, once that cry goes out, it expands… any good that comes out of this summer… this summer… this life.
          Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was talking about what a good summer it’s been? Was I lying to you? To myself? No. It has been a good summer. But I’m not in control today, and it shows in my deeds and in my attitude. (WDA, WDA.) I asked God to direct, and while part of me wants to say, “And He didn’t!” the truth is that I think He did, but I either don’t understand, or don’t approve, or both.
          A phrase from Dallas Willard comes to mind. He wrote about becoming the kind of person who does the right things, good things. If you are the kind of person who drives a car well, you probably do a lot of things without thinking about it. Gas pedal, brake pedal, steering wheel, blinker light, speedometer, mirror, mirror, mirror, stop signs, etc. A good driver doesn’t think about all of these things. They just drive. So, is it possible that since God is able to keep me from stumbling, that I can go through a day just doing whatever, and not have to conclude that I’ve spent the day failing to dance on marbles? If so, then my hope must be in what He has done, not in any noteworthy effort on my part. But isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?
          Should we not be trusting that He not only can but will?
         



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