February 2017
Devotion February 22, 2017
23/02/17 19:40
Greetings!
You know those strange little things that happen to you in your life and they affect how you think of things or how you do things for the rest of your life - even though the situation is completely different from the original thing that happened. I’m not even talking about great traumatic events but just something that happened and you just can’t get past it…..
Case in point:
Many, many years ago when I was an instructor for a college, I did what college instructors did which was carry around my standard professor briefcase that I would bring into class and put on the desk and clip open the clasps and open the brief case, get out the proper text book and some papers and my lecture notes, lay those on the desk, close the brief case by clicking the little clasps, lift the brief case and put it on the floor by the desk.
It was a class by class ritual and pretty standard for college instructors to do…. and I of course wanted to be on the cutting edge of college professor etiquette so I felt this ritual was an imperative part of the classroom experience!
Every day, after my last class I would judicially pack my briefcase to take home. Papers I needed to grade, books for lessons I need to prepare and whatever other supporting materials I may need including the all important grade book - that book that had the list of all my students and all the grades they accumulated over the course of the term. I was a quiz and homework aficionado so every student had lots of grades to average together to get the final grade for the course. My grade book was a very important part of my work!
I like routine and every day I would do the same thing. Pack the briefcase at home with books and papers and whatever I needed, carry it to my classroom, use it to carry my important stuff as I went to different classrooms during he day, pack it up before I left to come home, and carry it home!
I drove a station wagon then and I would open the back gate of the station wagon and there I would stow my brief case as I drove from the school to home. There was a Kroger’s on the way from the school to our home so often my ritual would include stopping at Kroger’s to get groceries. I had three kids then (and a husband and a couple dogs and cats) so there were always groceries we needed! Having the Kroger’s on the way home was a blessing and a curse - it meant that stopping when I really needed something was pretty easy but it also meant that stopping when I really didn’t need something but just wanted it was pretty easy as well…..
On this one day I had stopped at Krogers on the way home and did a good deal of shopping and put all of the bags full of groceries in the back of my station wagon with my briefcase which I had pushed to the back so I could put in all these newly purchased groceries. Off to home I went.
The house we had then did not have a garage so it was all parking on the street. I had parked enough to unload groceries that I knew exactly where to park as to optimize the opening the back of the station wagon, going through the back gate, through our yard and into the back door which opened to the kitchen.
Now we lived in a fairly safe neighborhood and a thousand times I had done the same thing…. opened the back of my station wagon and left the back open as I made my several trips through the back gate and through the back yard and into the back door and into the kitchen. It would have been really difficult to close the back each trip with hands full of groceries….
So on this one day as I was doing what I always did, unloading my groceries with the back of the station wagon open with nary a thought of anything going wrong because I had done this exact thing a thousand times…..
As I came out of the back door of the house on my way back to the open station wagon knowing that all I had left to bring into my house was one more grocery bag and my brief case, I see a car speeding off down the road and as I reached the station wagon I quickly realized that this speeding off car had grabbed the brief case out of back of my station wagon (for some reason they didn’t take the one grocery bag left which to this day I remember had various bathroom items I needed - shampoo, soap and such and which was probably worth more monetarily than the briefcase!).
I was beside myself…..How could anyone be so brazen to just pull up beside a car that was obviously being unloaded not knowing when that unloading person my return and take something like a brief case? What did they think they were going to find? I am sure they were quite disappointed in what they did get unless they really needed a Microbiology book and lesson plans - maybe perhaps they would grade all the papers for me and bring them back?????
In God’s great providence, I had just that morning made copies of the grade book because we were required to turn copies in with our mid term grades…. (My students would be very disappointed thinking all their grades were gone!)
Of course this was not that big of a tragedy, everything in that briefcase and the briefcase itself was easily replaceable, but it was very traumatic in its own way. To this day, I will not leave the back gate open when I am unloading anything. Doesn’t matter where we are - we can be in the most secure location possible - but I still will not leave that gate up…. It has been probably 30+ years since that occurrence…..
So how have the things of God changed your life? How much has God done for you; how many times has God given you what you needed when you needed it - sometimes physical things, but most often love and grace and comfort and peace; feelings we truly need at times in our lives? As a simple stolen briefcase has affected my entire life, what God has provided for you should affect your life just as much!
So take some time and look back over your past years and see where God has been there; see how God has been active in what was going on; see where God has walked along side you;
You will be amazed and your life will be changed as you realize that as God has always been there for you, he will continue to be there…..
And I will still close my back gate each trip when I unload my groceries!
Amen!
You know those strange little things that happen to you in your life and they affect how you think of things or how you do things for the rest of your life - even though the situation is completely different from the original thing that happened. I’m not even talking about great traumatic events but just something that happened and you just can’t get past it…..
Case in point:
Many, many years ago when I was an instructor for a college, I did what college instructors did which was carry around my standard professor briefcase that I would bring into class and put on the desk and clip open the clasps and open the brief case, get out the proper text book and some papers and my lecture notes, lay those on the desk, close the brief case by clicking the little clasps, lift the brief case and put it on the floor by the desk.
It was a class by class ritual and pretty standard for college instructors to do…. and I of course wanted to be on the cutting edge of college professor etiquette so I felt this ritual was an imperative part of the classroom experience!
Every day, after my last class I would judicially pack my briefcase to take home. Papers I needed to grade, books for lessons I need to prepare and whatever other supporting materials I may need including the all important grade book - that book that had the list of all my students and all the grades they accumulated over the course of the term. I was a quiz and homework aficionado so every student had lots of grades to average together to get the final grade for the course. My grade book was a very important part of my work!
I like routine and every day I would do the same thing. Pack the briefcase at home with books and papers and whatever I needed, carry it to my classroom, use it to carry my important stuff as I went to different classrooms during he day, pack it up before I left to come home, and carry it home!
I drove a station wagon then and I would open the back gate of the station wagon and there I would stow my brief case as I drove from the school to home. There was a Kroger’s on the way from the school to our home so often my ritual would include stopping at Kroger’s to get groceries. I had three kids then (and a husband and a couple dogs and cats) so there were always groceries we needed! Having the Kroger’s on the way home was a blessing and a curse - it meant that stopping when I really needed something was pretty easy but it also meant that stopping when I really didn’t need something but just wanted it was pretty easy as well…..
On this one day I had stopped at Krogers on the way home and did a good deal of shopping and put all of the bags full of groceries in the back of my station wagon with my briefcase which I had pushed to the back so I could put in all these newly purchased groceries. Off to home I went.
The house we had then did not have a garage so it was all parking on the street. I had parked enough to unload groceries that I knew exactly where to park as to optimize the opening the back of the station wagon, going through the back gate, through our yard and into the back door which opened to the kitchen.
Now we lived in a fairly safe neighborhood and a thousand times I had done the same thing…. opened the back of my station wagon and left the back open as I made my several trips through the back gate and through the back yard and into the back door and into the kitchen. It would have been really difficult to close the back each trip with hands full of groceries….
So on this one day as I was doing what I always did, unloading my groceries with the back of the station wagon open with nary a thought of anything going wrong because I had done this exact thing a thousand times…..
As I came out of the back door of the house on my way back to the open station wagon knowing that all I had left to bring into my house was one more grocery bag and my brief case, I see a car speeding off down the road and as I reached the station wagon I quickly realized that this speeding off car had grabbed the brief case out of back of my station wagon (for some reason they didn’t take the one grocery bag left which to this day I remember had various bathroom items I needed - shampoo, soap and such and which was probably worth more monetarily than the briefcase!).
I was beside myself…..How could anyone be so brazen to just pull up beside a car that was obviously being unloaded not knowing when that unloading person my return and take something like a brief case? What did they think they were going to find? I am sure they were quite disappointed in what they did get unless they really needed a Microbiology book and lesson plans - maybe perhaps they would grade all the papers for me and bring them back?????
In God’s great providence, I had just that morning made copies of the grade book because we were required to turn copies in with our mid term grades…. (My students would be very disappointed thinking all their grades were gone!)
Of course this was not that big of a tragedy, everything in that briefcase and the briefcase itself was easily replaceable, but it was very traumatic in its own way. To this day, I will not leave the back gate open when I am unloading anything. Doesn’t matter where we are - we can be in the most secure location possible - but I still will not leave that gate up…. It has been probably 30+ years since that occurrence…..
So how have the things of God changed your life? How much has God done for you; how many times has God given you what you needed when you needed it - sometimes physical things, but most often love and grace and comfort and peace; feelings we truly need at times in our lives? As a simple stolen briefcase has affected my entire life, what God has provided for you should affect your life just as much!
So take some time and look back over your past years and see where God has been there; see how God has been active in what was going on; see where God has walked along side you;
You will be amazed and your life will be changed as you realize that as God has always been there for you, he will continue to be there…..
And I will still close my back gate each trip when I unload my groceries!
Amen!
Devotion February 15, 2017
15/02/17 22:26
Greetings!
It was about two weeks ago. I had Wednesday night Bible Study just as I always do. It had been a pretty productive day and I had even been able to work ahead a little bit - always a plus since in this pastoring business you truly never know what might happen next. A phone call can rush you out the door at a moments notice and while you are glad to be available there is always that little voice in the back of your head going, “Did I get (fill in the blank) done?” So anytime you can work a head a little bit it is a good thing!
So Bible Study went well - my two Bible Studies are pretty much my favorite times during the week! I go home after Bible Study was over, do the Wednesday night chores I always do and after the news (it is imperative one keeps up with the crime in Charlotte……) I went to bed. All was well it seemed - just as normal as it always is which is the way I like it!
The next morning I wake up, felt a little tireder than usual but I’m getting old and it is not that unusual to feel tired in the morning - this getting old thing is not for the sissy…..
Anyway, it was Thursday so the routine is to go over to the church and get the bulletins copied and inserts made so that my faithful bulletin folder/stuffers can come by and fold and stuff the bulletins in preparation for Sunday morning - what a great help this people are!
So the bulletins are copied and the inserts are copied and chopped in half and everything is laid out and I kind of notice as I’m doing this that there is a little headache creeping up from the back of my head and my chest is a little tight but again I’m thinking it is just the old thing and didn’t pay much attention as my nose begins to fill up and my back starts to get a little achy and well it is about lunch time so I figure it is a good time to go home and eat some lunch and I can finish the odds and ends I need go do before I go off on my normal Thursday afternoon visiting…..
I had my normal peanut butter sandwich but it seemed like it took me forever to eat it and I didn’t even want any potato chips to go with it (a true sign of Armageddon) and then I said to my husband, “You know, I don’t do this very often but I think I’ll take a short nap after lunch…” He looked at my like I was from Mars but he chimed in “You do look a little pale….” Thanks......
So to my recliner I go and about 3 o’clock he gently nudges me and inquired if I was still alive and it was apparent at that point as I groaned loudly that the dreaded flu was upon me…..
For the next 4 days (I think it was 4 days - it is still all a little bit fuzzy) the flu completely took over my life. Every pore in my skin hurt; every bone in my body hurt; coughing; sneezing; - well at some point you have had the flu and you know what I am talking about.
The doctor says, “Don’t come into the office” which was smart on her part since there are sick people there…. and pretty much she said (I like my Dr she is very practical!) “You can take some meds and it will last 7 - 10 days or you can not take meds and rest and drink fluids and it will last for 7 - 10 days”. Any kind of flu/cold medicine makes me feel worse than the above mentioned flu so I opted for the sleep and fluids.
It is just amazing how the flu takes over your life. There is nothing you do that is not flu related; the food you are able to tolerate; the drink you constantly crave; the comfortable place you find to lay; the lack of communication with the world around you or with other people; even the bed clothes you wear since everything that touches your skin hurts… for 7 - 10 days all of your thoughts and actions (or more likely lack of action) are centered in flu. I realized that I decided I was actually beginning to get better when I began to be able to think about things other than this flu that had wracked by body….
Bet you never thought of God as the flu…But think about it. What God wants is to so take over our lives that we think of nothing else.
Maybe we can think of God as the flip side of the flu - as bad as the flu makes you feel, God makes you feel equally good!
So just like your life with the flu where you think of nothing else but how ucky you feel, life with God is where you think of nothing else but how wonderful your life is in God. Just like with the flu you think of nothing else but the flu, life with God should be such so that we think of nothing else but God as the focus of your life.
And even though at some point this flu will eventually be gone, I am thankful that my life with God never will!
Amen!
It was about two weeks ago. I had Wednesday night Bible Study just as I always do. It had been a pretty productive day and I had even been able to work ahead a little bit - always a plus since in this pastoring business you truly never know what might happen next. A phone call can rush you out the door at a moments notice and while you are glad to be available there is always that little voice in the back of your head going, “Did I get (fill in the blank) done?” So anytime you can work a head a little bit it is a good thing!
So Bible Study went well - my two Bible Studies are pretty much my favorite times during the week! I go home after Bible Study was over, do the Wednesday night chores I always do and after the news (it is imperative one keeps up with the crime in Charlotte……) I went to bed. All was well it seemed - just as normal as it always is which is the way I like it!
The next morning I wake up, felt a little tireder than usual but I’m getting old and it is not that unusual to feel tired in the morning - this getting old thing is not for the sissy…..
Anyway, it was Thursday so the routine is to go over to the church and get the bulletins copied and inserts made so that my faithful bulletin folder/stuffers can come by and fold and stuff the bulletins in preparation for Sunday morning - what a great help this people are!
So the bulletins are copied and the inserts are copied and chopped in half and everything is laid out and I kind of notice as I’m doing this that there is a little headache creeping up from the back of my head and my chest is a little tight but again I’m thinking it is just the old thing and didn’t pay much attention as my nose begins to fill up and my back starts to get a little achy and well it is about lunch time so I figure it is a good time to go home and eat some lunch and I can finish the odds and ends I need go do before I go off on my normal Thursday afternoon visiting…..
I had my normal peanut butter sandwich but it seemed like it took me forever to eat it and I didn’t even want any potato chips to go with it (a true sign of Armageddon) and then I said to my husband, “You know, I don’t do this very often but I think I’ll take a short nap after lunch…” He looked at my like I was from Mars but he chimed in “You do look a little pale….” Thanks......
So to my recliner I go and about 3 o’clock he gently nudges me and inquired if I was still alive and it was apparent at that point as I groaned loudly that the dreaded flu was upon me…..
For the next 4 days (I think it was 4 days - it is still all a little bit fuzzy) the flu completely took over my life. Every pore in my skin hurt; every bone in my body hurt; coughing; sneezing; - well at some point you have had the flu and you know what I am talking about.
The doctor says, “Don’t come into the office” which was smart on her part since there are sick people there…. and pretty much she said (I like my Dr she is very practical!) “You can take some meds and it will last 7 - 10 days or you can not take meds and rest and drink fluids and it will last for 7 - 10 days”. Any kind of flu/cold medicine makes me feel worse than the above mentioned flu so I opted for the sleep and fluids.
It is just amazing how the flu takes over your life. There is nothing you do that is not flu related; the food you are able to tolerate; the drink you constantly crave; the comfortable place you find to lay; the lack of communication with the world around you or with other people; even the bed clothes you wear since everything that touches your skin hurts… for 7 - 10 days all of your thoughts and actions (or more likely lack of action) are centered in flu. I realized that I decided I was actually beginning to get better when I began to be able to think about things other than this flu that had wracked by body….
Bet you never thought of God as the flu…But think about it. What God wants is to so take over our lives that we think of nothing else.
Maybe we can think of God as the flip side of the flu - as bad as the flu makes you feel, God makes you feel equally good!
So just like your life with the flu where you think of nothing else but how ucky you feel, life with God is where you think of nothing else but how wonderful your life is in God. Just like with the flu you think of nothing else but the flu, life with God should be such so that we think of nothing else but God as the focus of your life.
And even though at some point this flu will eventually be gone, I am thankful that my life with God never will!
Amen!