Month: June 2017

June 30, 2017

Why Wait?

The year – 1974.  Youth camp is history and I want to see the pictures captured on film; to hold the memories in my hands.  I put the film in a mailer and send it to a developer in Atlanta.  A couple of weeks later the snapshots arrive in the mail…

The year – 1981.  I am expecting my first child.  I have no idea whether I will hold a son or daughter…

The year – 1999.  My favorite musical group has just released a new CD.  I have heard a couple of songs on the radio but have no idea how the rest of the project sounds.  I will have to wait until I get home to find out if I paid $15.00 for only one or two good tunes.

My how things have changed!

We see pictures instantly as our cameras take them; if we even have them developed, we can do it on line and pick them up in less than an hour…

Ultrasounds allow us to paint the nursery blue or pink months before the wee one arrives…

Thanks to iTunes and Google Play, we can pick and choose which songs we want to purchase and can listen to them anywhere (as long as our phone or tablet is charged!)

No wonder we want God to do it NOW!  Why should we wait upon the LORD?  Doesn’t He know that we are living in the 21st Century?

It makes me wonder – have we lost the wonder of the wait?  In our quest for the instant have we lost the joy of anticipation? Would we rather walk by sight than by faith?

I don’t know.  But I do know that waiting is part of the process God uses to mold us into the people He wants us to be.  And one day “through faith and patience [we will] inherit what has been promised.” (Hebrews 6:12)

Hang in there… it will be worth the wait.

 

 

 

 

June 10, 2017

Camping Out

My idea of “camping out” is staying in a hotel with a window that gives me a view of trees.  But I realize that many families actually go into a forest with a tent and camp out.  Maybe you and your family are some of the brave souls who have experienced a week without electricity and hot showers.  If so, I am sure you have made some memories that will not soon be forgotten.

There were some things God didn’t want his people to forget either – like where He had brought them from.  So every year they were supposed to reenact the early years by camping out in shelters made from tree branches…

   “For seven days you must live outside in little shelters… This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” ~ Leviticus 23:42-43 NLT

These shelters were meant to be visible reminders of how simply, and dependently, their ancestors lived during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  I don’t know if the kids understood the symbolism, but I am sure they enjoyed these Holydays of camping out like our kids enjoy the vacations we take today.  God not only wanted families to make memories together but to remember all He had done for them and where He had brought them from.

On days when we feel despondent and burdened down with care; when our songs tend to the minor instead of the major; when the glass merely has a few drops in it – never mind being “half-empty”; on days such as this we must “dwell in the shelter of the Most High” (Ps. 91:1 NIV) and remember all that our God has done for us.

When we are tempted to complain about what we have or don’t have, then it’s time to remember where God has brought us from… to think back on the early days of our marriage when we didn’t have two dollars to rub together but we had each other and the dream of making a difference in the world side by side.

With the remembering comes the reminder that the same Lord God who was faithful to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, (meeting every need along the way,) is the One leading us today.

“Camp out” on that idea for a while!

Blessings and peace,

Sonja