“We
invite you to sit down and play…”
I
had visited quite a few hospitals that had pianos in a great room or in the
lobby. But never had I seen one with a sign inviting people to sit and play.
My
mom, wife, and I were visiting MUSC in Charleston, South Carolina, where my
brother was undergoing surgery to repair a spinal injury from an old wreck. As
the doctors worked on him, we ambled to the first floor to visit the cafeteria
for breakfast. After we finished—and as we walked back to the elevator—I
spotted the piano. Seeing the unusual sign, I read it to Mom.
Mom’s
a sucker for a piano. She’s been playing since she was a small child. She
dreamed of becoming a concert pianist—which she probably could have
accomplished—but she married my dad and became a preacher’s wife instead. But
she never lost her love for tickling the ivories—and showing off a little at
the same time.
“Oh
really,” she said when I read the sign to her. Then she mosied over in her slow
manner and took a seat. Mom can play anything, and without music, but gospel
music is her specialty. She’s played it all her life, beginning when she played
church hymns for the little Methodist congregation where she grew up.
In
our culture, I wondered what kind of crowd she’d draw by playing church hymns.
And MUSC is like taking all the cars in Atlanta, Georgia, turning them into people,
and compressing them into a small area. A lot of folks going in a lot of different
directions, all in a hurry.
As Mom
progressed from one song to another, a few people stopped to enjoy. One young
man took a seat instead of standing. He listened intently as Mom played the old
gospel favorites. When we finally pried Mom away from the piano so we could check
on my brother, the young man thanked her, wiped the tears from his eyes, and
walked away.
I
must admit, I cringed when Mom sat to play. She has a way of embarrassing me
and my brothers sometimes, but I guess she felt a prompting I hadn’t. Someone
needed to hear what she played. I witnessed a God moment.
So
did Philip. Philip enjoyed a great revival in Samaria when God called him to go
to a desert road where he met a single man. He must have wondered why God would
send him to one person when he could have kept preaching to hundreds. He soon
found out. That one man accepted Christ and then returned to his country to
tell others about God’s love.
Catching
the God moments in our lives requires sensitivity to the working of God’s
Spirit in our spirit. Doing so also entails asking God to send them. He wants
to—and is perfectly capable of arranging them—but we must want them and ready
ourselves for them. When we are in close connection with God, which comes from
staying prayed up and Bible read up, we’ll see the opportunities God sends for
us to bless others in His name.
Ask
God to send you some God moments.
Prayer: Father, we thank You for the God moments
You send our way.
Tweetable: Are you paying attention to the God moments?
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It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down. Hebrews 11:30 NLT
Jerry and his
wife Ashton built a wall.
When they
married, Ashton brought to the marriage an unfortunate habit: meth. Jerry had
never delved into the drug world before, but having a wife who used made
it easy. Before long, he was using as heavily as she was. Over the years, two
children were born—both with mild disorders due to their mother’s drug use.
Neither Jerry nor Ashton could hold a job yet always needed money for the next
fix. Local child management authorities were notified, and their children were removed from the home and placed with a grandmother. This seemed to be their wake-up
call. They cleaned up, found steady jobs, and for a while did well. But the old
calling haunted them, and they eventually gave in. Their children were taken
again. Jerry found himself in jail, accused of assault and battery,
kidnapping, and possession of meth. The wall in their life was steep and solid.
Jericho was
the first city the Israelites needed to conquer when they entered the Promised
Land. The city’s walls were high and solid and prevented the Israelites from
experiencing victory. God told them the method they were to use to see them
fall. His technique seemed senseless, but they followed it by faith and enjoyed
a great triumph.
Walls come in
a host of varieties: drugs, fear, worry and anxiety, rebellion, addictions,
unhealthy relationships, procrastination, unbelief, financial bondage, and illegal
activities. Most, if not all, of my walls, have been built by me and not imposed
by someone else. Either way, walls prevent me from moving forward in my
personal life and can also stymie my spiritual walk.
Faith is
required to destroy walls—faith to do what God instructs us to do so we can
experience victory. Others may see the symptoms of our walls, but only we can
accurately diagnose the root cause. Whatever it is, God will help us bring it
down if we only ask and trust.
What walls
need to come down in your life?
Prayer:
Father, give us the power to bring down the walls that prevent us from being
all You desire.
Tweetable: Are you bringing down your walls?
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He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. Hebrews 11:25 NLT
My childhood
was no different than most.
Parents and
grandparents bought me toys for birthdays and Christmas and sometimes for no
special occasion. Most were probably something I had pointed at when I was
small or told them I wanted when I was older. Things I thought would bring me
pleasure . . . perhaps even for a long time. As with most children, the new
wore off quickly. Soon, I tucked my toy away in a closet, stored it in a trunk,
or sold it at a yard sale. I moved on to something else.
Becoming an
adult hasn’t changed the scenario a great deal. I still see things I think will
bring me great enjoyment. As my childhood toys did, they all failed me. The
pleasure is momentary, and soon I’ve discarded them for something else.
As a child,
Moses was snatched from his childhood tent home and deposited in the grand
palace of a foreign king. The riches of Egypt were at his disposal—riches that
brought with them a sinful lifestyle. When he matured and recognized who he was,
he left the sinful pleasures behind and identified with the oppression his
people experienced as slaves.
God isn’t
against me enjoying the pleasurable things of this world, but he does expect me
to stay away from those that are sinful. Satan has a long history of taking
innocent things and dressing them up in sinful wrappings. The fruit Eve ate in
the Garden of Eden wasn’t sinful; the act of disobeying God’s command to eat it
was.
Things that
are outright and obviously sinful don’t usually concern us. Rather, it’s the
momentary and innocent pleasurable things we struggle with. The newest smartphone. The latest laptop. The most up-to-date iPad or video game. Things that
in the short run provide pleasure but that overall steal our attention
from what God has in mind for us.
Sin promises
a lifetime of pleasure but only delivers short-term benefits. What do you need
to put aside so God can give you something better?
Prayer:
Father, may we use everything we have to glorify and serve You.
Tweetable: Are temporary pleasures failing you?
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“Eat what you can; can what you
can’t.”
I never heard my maternal
grandmother use that saying, but she lived it. Each year, my grandfather plowed
her a spot of ground just to the side of her house near the pecan orchard.
There, she grew beans, corn, tomatoes, and other vegetables. And when the crops
came in, she prepared some for the family and canned the leftovers. She also
spent hours picking up pecans, cracking them, and freezing them. She’d use them
for her infamous pecan pies.
Not only did my grandmother can
and freeze her abundance of vegetables, but she also froze any leftover food
she had. These scraps—I say that because often that’s exactly what they
were—went into the freezer. If she had only a spoonful of corn left over—or two
spoonfuls of beans—she wrapped them in aluminum foil and stuck them in the
freezer.
The trouble was, my grandmother
never labeled what she put in aluminum foil, so she never knew what it was.
Normally, it stayed there until Mom or her sister cleaned out the freezer. As
my grandmother’s dementia, and then Alzheimer’s, worsened, she made more of a
habit of freezing any small amount of food left over from her cooking.
Why my grandmother exercised
such thriftiness, I’m not sure. She grew up in hard times, so perhaps she
wanted to save so she’d never have to go through what she had been through as a
child. Perhaps, she was trying to save money. Nevertheless, one thing I learned
from her was how to be thrifty and how to save a dollar.
The writer of this proverb says
those who spend whatever they get are foolish. We can add they also throw away
whatever they don’t eat instead of saving the leftovers for another meal, which
would save money. I’m often amazed, when eating at restaurants, at how much
food customers waste. I’m also convicted when I see how much my family
sometimes dumps into the trash.
Being thrifty requires effort
and takes planning. I must think about what goes into the recycling bin. It’s
easier to dump everything into the trash can, but that doesn’t help the
environment. And rolling our recycle can to the far end of the subdivision
requires more effort than just placing the trash can across the street.
Being thrifty necessitates
wisdom from God—and requires trusting Him for the less we’ll use. But doing so
also better preserves the earth He’s created and helps our budget. When we live
with less, it will always give us more in the end.
Think of several ways you could
better use and conserve the resources God has given you.
Prayer:
Father, help us to use wisely what You entrust to us.
Tweetable: How thrifty are you?
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Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. Hebrews 11:19 NLT
Sam couldn’t
see beyond the present, and it almost cost him his happiness—and life.
His dad had
left the family for another woman when Sam was a small child. Now, ten years
later, his mom had decided to re-marry. The guy was okay, but Sam couldn’t
focus on anything but his real dad. For years, he had dreamed and imagined that
his mom and dad might get back together. But her present marriage sealed the
coffin. Not only was she marrying, but he and his siblings would also be moving
to another state with a different culture. New school, new church, new friends.
When they got
to their new location, Sam didn’t adjust well. He needed something to help him
get through. When one of his new “so-called” friends offered him a pill to help
him do just that, he took one. And later, another. One day, he took too many
and found himself in the hospital. He just couldn’t see beyond the present—and
the picture was murky.
By faith,
Abraham had the ability to see beyond the present. He and his wife had waited
for years on the promised son God said would arrive. Now Isaac was a young man,
and God was asking Abraham to do the unthinkable: sacrifice his son. Abraham
knew God’s promise, however, and could see beyond the untenable moment.
I’m often more
like Sam than Abraham. Life’s troubles bottle up and cloud my vision: finances,
relationships, employment, kids, friendships. Life requires every bit
of energy I have just to get through the day. I’m consumed with fighting daily
battles and worrying about how it will all pan out tomorrow.
Only by a
confident faith and trust in God’s guidance over our lives in the present and
his concern for our future can we see beyond today. By faith, we can let God
hold our tomorrows—and the next day, and the next day.
Let God help
you see beyond your present struggles.
Prayer:
Father, give us faith to trust You for the future we cannot see.
Tweetable: Can you see beyond the present?
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