Mission Faithwalk

  I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. That is where the tribes go up—the tribes of the Lord— to praise the name of the Lord     according to the statute given to Israel. There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity. (Psalm 122)             Watching flocks of White Pelicans is entrancing. They swim in the same direction. Suddenly (but gracefully), some of them turn toward the others. They duck their he...

                 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 like to look at mountains, but I’m not so sure I’d like them as well if I had to climb up through them on foot or even in a wagon. But while we may love the look of the mountains, when this psalm was written, they were not seen in the same light. F...

  I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me. Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue? He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush. Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war. (Psalm 120)             Before we start up the path, some explanation might help. Meshek was a descendant of Japheth (Noah’s son) and is generally associated with an area north of the Black Sea. Kedar was a son of Ishmael (Abraham’s son) who is associated with Northern Arabs in general, and sometimes with the Bedouins. So in this song, one might interpret that part as meaning that the singer sees himself as living far away from Jerusalem, in a cold and inhospita...

                 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5) Ready? Set! Um – wait. There’s another idea in the first chapter that you may not need to hear, but I do. One of the temptations of the world is a passion for what Gore Vidal called the immediate and the casual. Nothing but immediate satisfaction (results) and stimulation matter. But that’s not the way to a fulfilling life. That’s product, not process. Process is the “between.” Between Israel’s slavery in Egypt and the promised land, there was the wilderness, where they were to learn how to be a nation and to trust God. Three times a year, the Israelites were commanded to go up to here the Tabernacle or the Temple, re-enacting the journey from Egypt to Israel. Even those who lived in Jerusalem weren’t exempt. ...

                 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5)           I haven’t touched on all the topics mentioned as Satan’s attacks from the book FerVent . I need to go back through the book and do the exercises in addition to reading it, but I feel led to return to a book I’ve read at least twice. The title is A Long Obedience In The Same Direction  by Eugene Peterson.           To give you a broad idea, Peterson looks at the Songs of Ascent from Psalm 120-134. They were songs sung as people walked up the path to Jerusalem. You may never have climbed a mountain in a vehicle or on foot. Vehicles tend to snake back and forth to give the car an incline that isn’t too steep. ...

                 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future . (Jeremiah 29:11) I’m still reading the book about spiritual warfare and prayer, but yesterday either shifted my direction or confirmed a direction I’d been – sort of, kind of – contemplating. I went out to work on the garden and found myself irritated. There were so many weeds to pull! Then there are so many seeds to plant, pieces to root, and seedlings to buy, and none of them can be planted yet (it was 29 this morning.) I’m so far from my goal of a beautiful garden! Do you hear the complaint in my words? You should because it was there. I tend to be reluctant to say, “Then God,” but, then God suggested that seeing things as negative just because they aren’t the desired finished product means that I’m missing out on the joy of the creative process, of the time spent...

                 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God . (II Corinthians 5:21)   “I do, Papa!” We hear this from a young child and smile as we watch her struggle to do something she simply can’t do. We celebrate when “I do, Papa!” involves her doing things she has learned to do, but it takes time for her to learn that she can’t do everything and to learn the humility of allowing others to do what she cannot. That’s what today’s passage is about. That’s all good if we can do what’s needed. The problem is that there are things we can’t do for ourselves or by ourselves. We can’t make money by ourselves. The only way we get legal currency is if were trade some good or service for it or it is given to us. Both those things involve other people. We can’t generally perform major surgery on ourselves. Even if we have the knowledge, it’s generally not wise. Most of us ar...