Mystery

Mark 6:47-56
It is often only with hindsight that we see how God has acted in our lives. The storm that we seem to be in has no meaning until Christ reveals himself.

Psalm 50

And I don't even know the names of the few birds that I see on my walk by the bayou and definitely cannot identify all the different types of grass and other vegetation. God created it all and more.

Saving face or saving grace?

Galatians 2:11-21
Mark 6:13-29

Peter gets it wrong again. He wanted to blend in with the crowd. He did not want to be thought odd.
John the Baptist was odd and he lost head for it when Herod did not want to be thought odd.
being odd takes courage which at times Peter had. So take courage too.

Catch 22

Mark 6:1-13
No miracles- no evidence to believe.
No faith - no miracles.
Faith - miracles
I think I'll take faith and miracles. Think of the woman who just touched the hem of Jesus' garment and the release which she received and the joy or Jairus and his wife when their daughter woke from her deathly sleep. Lack of faith takes the lustre out of life.

Stop, do it

Isaiah 48:1-11
Psalms 41, 52
Galatians 1:1-17
Mark 5:21-43

Mark 5:21-43

A spectacular healing, a little girl brought back from the dead to her parents. But it is always the healing that takes place on the way to the headliner that gets my attention. Jesus, busy on a mission and a woman who cannot ask him for help because the healing she needs is unspeakable; she plucks up the courage to touch his clothing because she has the faith that the slightest of contacts with Jesus will restore her to health and cleanness.
How often have I wanted to say or do something but not had the courage to speak or step forward, even when I thought it was God's desire. God is always willing to hear, more than that, to intervene in our lives if we have the faith to ask.

Isaih on Recession?

Isaiah 47:1-15

We plan our lives. We save for a house and then pay for our children's education. We save for retirement. We follow the routines that have been laid before. We collect items that we think beautiful, they help us to feel comfortable in our abode. We go out to dinner and enjoy a delicious dinner of exotic fare.
The stock market crashed, within a day 'our wealth' was halved. The stocks and dare I say 'securities' were almost worthless.

The solution?
4Our Redeemer— the LORD Almighty is his name— is the Holy One of Israel.

Good Advice

Ephesians 6:1-9

Children do as you are told and you might get what you want!

Verse 4 is often overlooked. Verses 1-3 are often over stressed. But it is verse 4that as a parent I always try to keep at the forefront of my mind.
"Fathers do not exasperate your children". That goes for mothers too.

The parable of the avocado tree?

Mark 4:21-34

The kingdom of God grows without man tending to it. My avocado tree grew to fifteen feet, All we did was eat an avocado and not discard the seed but recycle it on the compost heap. The tree grew and grew against many odds. The fruit were the best I have ever tasted and that is agreed by all who I shared them with. I have since read how difficult it is to grow avocado trees in Houston.
God's kingdom is like this, it plants itself and flourishes into a fruitful 15 foot tree. To complete the parable as soon as we had harvested all the fruit, in fact whilst we were harvesting the fruit the sickle in the form of hurricane Ike brought the tree to the ground and it is no more.
Today I hope to grow where I am planted and produce fruit in keeping with the gifts that God has given me.

parable?

Isaiah 44:24-45:7
Psalm 38
Ephesians 5:1-14
Mark 4:1-20

Mark 4:1-20

Joshua Bell played a 45 minute concert in a subway station. It was a parable organized by the Washington Post. A fascinating true story.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
Jesus' audiences did not always recognize him for who he really was and they did not always appreciate the eternal truths of his stories, he even said this in today's parable of the sower. It scares me to think what I might have done in the same situation. Would I have recognized Jesus as the Son of God, would I have stopped to listen? How many times in a day do I pass a situation where God wants me to linger but I hurry on propelled by my own agenda (money, see yesterday). All I can do is pray.

Motivation = God

Isaiah 44:9-20
Psalms 26, 28
Ephesians 4:17-32
Mark 3: 19b-35

Isaiah 44:9-20

I like to grow my own tomatoes. I know what went into the ground to feed them. Transport costs are low. The taste is good. They are cheap, the fertilizer I use is the kitchen waste and grass cuttings. But when my own organically grown vegetables are not available what do I buy. Do I buy organic vegetables or local grown or cheapest?

We are deciding whether to move house or not. The greatest factor influencing our decision seems to be how much money we shall lose on the house and its closing costs.
We seem to have taken some bits of green paper and use them as our guide to life.

Ligaments

Isaiah 44:6-8, 21-23
Psalm 25
Ephesians 4:1-16
Mark 3:7-19a

Ephesians 4:1-16

Ligaments hold the limbs together and enable movement. They are slightly flexible. The ligaments which hold the body of Christ together are bonds of love enabling movement and growth.

Food food food

Isaiah 43:14-44:5
Psalms 148, 149, 150
Hebrews 6:17-7:10
John 4:27-42

John 4:27-42

I think the disciples and I have a similar attitude to food. It occupies quite a large amount of our thinking. What shall I eat next and when? Planning food is almost as exciting as eating it. The disciples asked where to prepare the Passover feast, they were anxious that the crowds ate after listening to spending the day listening to Jesus, they had a fish fry on the beach in Galilee - more than once, yes food was uppermost in their minds. Jesus on the other hand was totally absorbed in his work. An 'Einstein quote' which I heard goes "Einstein met a friend in the university quad. At the end of the conversation Einstein asked "Which way was I going when we met? After the answer Einstein replied "Ah, then I must have already eaten lunch"." Einstein was so caught up in his work that food was irrelevant. It was the same though more so with Jesus. Jesus was on a tight schedule. He had work to accomplish.
We are part of his harvest. We have been reaped and now we need to sow with the same sense of urgency that jesus possessed as we are his representatives in the here and now.

Your Mat

Isaiah 41:17-29
Psalm 18:1-20
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 2:1-12

Mark 2:1-12

Jesus told the guy who had been let down through the roof that his sins had been forgiven, then he told him to take up his mat and walk. How did the man know that he could walk?

The story takes place in Capernaum, (Mark 2:1-12), one of the places where Jesus is reputed to have lived (Matt 4:14). The carpenter said “Get up and walk”. Yes, we know that he had healed many people and that he preached a very good sermon. How could this man walk? The evidence was all against it. Presumably he had been lying paralyzed on his mat for years.

What would his life be like if he did get up and walk? What if he fell over after a few steps, or tomorrow, and was back on his mat? What if he could not find a job, he could no longer beg? What would be his wife’s reaction to her husband walking in through the door through which four friends had carried him out? She would be delighted. Her breadwinner was fully operational again. But would she begin to doubt? Perhaps she might think that his sickness had all been in his mind and that he had been malingering all those years. It might just be safer to stay on the mat. The whatifs can be very powerful. Fear of the unknown can be more unpalatable than very unpleasant but familiar circumstances.

How did this particular paralytic have the confidence to know that he could walk? He only had Jesus’ word for it yet he got up, rolled up his mat and he walked home.

Jesus means what he says. If he says ‘walk’ then it is alright to walk. There need be no fear of not being able to do as he says.

Jesus knew that the man would be able to walk. He knew that it might be safer to stay on the mat. Perhaps that was why he said ‘Your sins are forgiven’ before he told the man to get up and walk. He was giving the man confidence to get up and go. Jesus knew how loud the whispering whatifs can shout, their voices like the compelling sirens of the Greek gods. The sin of listening to fear was overcome.

He does not ask us to do anything that we are incapable of doing, given that he is with us and helping us to bear the load (Matt 11:30). Walking had very extreme consequences for the man. Not only would he be capable of getting himself home but tomorrow he would either go to work or look for a job. No more lying around whilst others served him. He could get his own food and take himself to the bathroom. Listening to Jesus and obeying him opened up a whole knew existence for the guy.

What is your mat? What is keeping you from fulfilling the role God has for you? What command are you are pretending not to hear? What is it that you cannot do because you don’t feel equipped, either physically or mentally?

Guide to Prayer

Isaiah 40:25-31
Psalms 5, 6
Ephesians 1:15-23
Mark 1:14-28

Ephesians 1:15-23

Occasionally I give thanks to God for my friends. More often I ask him to heal them, be with them, generally wrap them in a blanket and keep them comfortable. Not so Paul. My friends are often in my thoughts, I suppose that can almost be construed as continually praying for them. I know that often I am thinking about something and then something happens in connection with that which is how I know that God listens to our thoughts. However I seldom ask God to give my friends a Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might know him better.
Paul's prayer for the Ephesians is not whimpish like my prayers. It addresses the fundamentals of life and death. What is good health and happiness in comparison with a close relationship with God?
And know I pray for you.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Isaiah 40:12-23
Psalms 1,2,3
Ephesians 1:1-14
Mark 1:1-13

Isaiah 40:12-23, Mark 1:1-13

My God Is So Big

Words: Ruth Harms Calkin

click on the title link for a unique performance

My God is so big,
So strong and so mighty!
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
(clap, clap)

My God is so big,
So strong and so mighty!
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
(clap, clap)

He made the trees, He made the seas;
He made the elephants, too!

My God is so big,
So strong and so mighty!
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
(clap, clap)

My God is so great,
So strong and so mighty!
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
(clap, clap)

The mountains are His,
The rivers are His,
The stars are His handiwork too.

My God is so great,
So strong and so mighty!
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
(clap, clap)

Creation is awesome. One of my recurring themes is the power of an ocean breaker but mighty mountains and cascading water have a similar effect on me. They dispel any thoughts of doubt and remind me of all the wonders of the world, the mega world which we all share and the tiny little one which I treat as an enormous space, the sphere in which I dwell, my daily life.

Today's readings reminded me of the song which I was introduced to at Wollaston. It was our favourite at Mums and Tots. We sang it almost every week. God is mighty, he is in control. When everything seems to be off schedule and we seems to be helpless pawns it is good to know that God is so mighty. We might be lesser people than John the Baptist who counted himself as unworthy to untie Jesus' sandals but God still has special work for us. In his world the insignificant is important which is one reason why those mighty mountains are so impressive- each blade of vegetation and grain of soil adds up to the whole.

I like to go for a walk each day. Not only is it good for me and my hairy companions, Ernest and Windermere but it gives me an opportunity to revel in the world in which God has placed me. It is an opportunity to take time out of the agenda, time away from those pressing household chores; it is a time to acknowledge God's greatness. Houston bayous may not be the Swiss Alps but they are still (almost literally as in lack of motion!) reminders that God is the Almighty, the one who fortunately for me, holds the balance of my life.

Single Decker Bus, Sardis

Isaiah 65:1-9
Psalms 138, 139
Revelation 3:1-6
John 6:1-14

Revelation 3:1-6

I wonder why anyone would want to call their village Sardis, though I suppose it was more of a hamlet than a village. The streets were not streets but lanes. The turn that the bus had to make was so sharp that the only way the maneuver could be achieved was to reverse into another lane. Sardis, I thought it was an obscure Welsh name like the neighboring village of Llangwm. But no, I discover that it was one of Paul's churches honored by a letter. But what a letter. Why would you want to name a chapel, for the hamlet had taken on the name of the nonconformist chapel built there in the revival of the Wesley's time (I am going to have to check this fact when I get back from work) after a people described as thinking they were alive but were actually spiritually dead?

Words- God's Words and Ricotta Cheese Moussaka

Isaiah 59:15-21
Psalm 117,118
Revelation 2:8-17
John 4:46-54

Isaiah 59:15-21


Words

I beleive that the bible is one of the ways that God 'speaks' to me or directs my thoughts. When a read a verse that seems to jump out of the page at me I mark the and note the date. Today there was such a verse. On 31 October 2003 the verse was
"As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the Lord.
I pray that God's spirit will be with my offspring throughout their lives protecting them and that they will live lives dedicated to God and his ways. My prayer today is the same as it was five years ago.

John 4:46-54

Miracles

I believe in miracles. Big ones and little ones. I believe that God brought my friend Pat back to life after her stroke, her cancer and her heart disease. By the time she died, of a different cancer she died she could walk, talk and write.
I believe that God hears my thoughts and sorts out my scheduling and when absolutely necessary finds me a parking spot - that really did happen to me once. Today I need a miracle because I believe that God wants us in a different place though life will not be easy there and for that to happen he needs to provide a somebody to want our house at a good price and without me getting it to that unlived in state that society dictates is necessary.

Ricotta Cheese Moussaka

1 eggplant for 4 people, for 2 a chinese eggplant
onion 1 or 1/2 chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
15 ozs can of tomatoes for each 2 persons
italian seasoning,
nutmeg
ricotta cheese about 2 0zs/person
egg (1 for every 2 people)
1-2 cups sour cream

Slice the eggplant and if you have time sprinkle it with salt and leave to drain for an hour then rinse off the salt, then fry it until golden. Also fry the onion and garlic until golden. If I short on preparation time I miss out these steps altogether and just put the onion and galic in a saucepan with the chopped tomatoes and italian seasonings and stew it for a while, sometimes frying the eggplant whilst the stewing is happening.
Grease and ovenproof dish.
Put a layer of half the eggplant then half the tomato mixture then spoonfuls of ricotta cheese then the rest of the tomato and finish with the remainder of the eggplant.
Now make the custard by whisking the sour cream and eggs together. Add some nutmeg and pour on top of the dish. You could sprinkle some grated cheese on top of this.
Bake about half an hour at 375 deg F - watch for the top burning

Feet

Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalms 46, 97
Revelation 21:22-27
Matthew 12:14-21

Isaiah 52:7-10

How often do we describe somebody as having beautiful feet? In fact how often do we actually look at feet unless we are avoiding eye contact?
The world is a turbulent place. Arguments abound whether between neighbors over the style and payment of the fence between the lots - we've just had one of those in the aftermath of Ike or between nations as is raging in the Middle East. It was with great relief that we sorted out the fencing issue and I know that I will be very relieved when peace is announced in Gaza. Yes peace is always welcome news and a joy to receive.
What good news can my nobbley feet bring and to whom?

Good happens to Good People!

Joshua 1:1-9
Psalms 2, 110:1-5
Hebrews 11:32-12:2
John 15:1-16

Joshua 1:1-9

We live in the 'Bible Belt' or it may otherwise be known as the 'prosperity gospel belt'. "Be nice, be good in front of people, be friendly" is the message purported given by many of the Houston mega churches. To be fair some of them also have a healthy dose of hell and damnation accompanied by intolerance of other forms of worship. You will need more than the fingers on your hands and the toes on your feet to count the Mercs and Beemers with the Lexuses (or is it Lexi) in the parking lot on a Sunday Morning or a Wednesday evening.

Hebrews 11:32-12:2

All these guys are in the old testament. They followed what they thought was their God-given message yet Bad Things happened to them. Well maybe. Perhaps it depends on your definition of bad. Maybe following God is the only true good in life.

Getting it Wrong

Genesis 28:10-22
Psalm 68
Hebrews 11:13-22
John 10:7-17

Hebrews 11:13-22

When Matthew was in ICU on a life support machine we prayed. Our friends across the country prayed and they asked their friends to pray. We prayed that Matthew would come back from the dead. One special friend reminded me of Abraham walking up the mountain with Isaac ready to give him to God on a pyre. Abraham had faith that God would make things right in the end. I wonder what Abraham really thought God would do. Was he expecting a ram to be caught in the bushes? I had Abraham's example. I knew the end of the story, that Isaac was given back to Abraham. I was walking up the hill carrying the burden of death and was prepared to come dancing down with a healthy child. Abraham did. I did not.
This of course is not the end of the story. We have two daughters we would not otherwise have had and they are special people. Matthew was special; too he died to give them life. Putting it politely 'painful things' happen but God is acting in the comfortable and the uncomfortable.
Hebrews 11, especially these verses are thus very special for me. Today they are the readings for the daily office and the Closer to God book. Hmm, I wonder why God is bringing these memories which I try to keep in the recesses of my heart to the uppermost parts of my mind today.

Rooted and built up

Colossians 2:6-12

To me a yard is for growing plants that shade or bloom, that do not need continual watering or mowing. I like to keep all the plants that the Lord chooses to grew in my yard, as well as the ones that I plant myself but some of the free gifts from nature just have to come out. The only real way to eradicate a particular botanical vermin is to take out its roots.
A cottonwood tree grew too near to our house. It got the chop but the roots were left now each root is sprouting multitudinous baby cottonwoods each one supported and nourished by the roots of the original parent.
I am glad God is my root.