It's Memorial Day - a day set aside for us to honor our deceased and current veterans. When I was growing up, it meant marching in the annual parade and grilling out. Those are the things I remember about Memorial Day.
I think it's bigger than that, though. Yesterday, we rededicated a memorial prayer garden at church. It had originally been built in memory of a charter member of the church who died. When the parsonage was moved onto church property, the garden was removed, with intentions for it to be relocated. I didn't know most of the story about it; when I came, I just knew there was a pile of wooden pieces and bricks by pine trees. Eventually, the story unfolded, and our trustees were able to recreate the prayer garden.
It's now a place for people to sit in nature, to reflect, pray, and meditate. It exists because there was a woman who had always been a part of the congregation who gave tirelessly of herself and resources. The same giving of self is what the military does; there are countless others who gave selflessly. And so, to me, we memorialize all who have given selflessly for others. That's what Memorial Day is about to me, and what I'm thinking about today.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
REM
REM has been running through my mind the last couple of days...."It's the end of the world as we know it....and I feel fine!" I LOVED that song when it came out...and once it's in my head, it takes a while before I can move on to something else. But I've been thinking about it especially as we near this anniversary of Noah's ark. Here we are, thousands of years later, and it's predicted that the world will end today. It's 9:55 pm CST, and I'm still here. I'm thinking I'm going to make it through the last two hours and five minutes.
The Mayan calendar runs out in 2012. The world was supposed to end with Y2K. And yet, we're still here. The rapture was supposed to have occurred 11 years ago...and many times prior to that. Did God just miss me....and other Christians....or other believers in God?
Before I get too upset with God, though, I remember the words of Jesus - that no one knows the day or the hour when the Lord will return. Why are we trying to guess. Why put in all this research, only to in fact discover that what Jesus says is true? We can't know the day or the hour - but we should live as though the end is near all the time.
So REM is right. If we live as though today were the end of the world, how would we feel? Would we have been Jesus' hands and feet? Would we have served joyfully? Would we have told others about the amazing love God has for us? If today were the end of the world as I know it, would I feel fine? I sure hope so, since I can't predict the day or the hour; I need to always be ready. And, if I am, then I'll feel fine!
The Mayan calendar runs out in 2012. The world was supposed to end with Y2K. And yet, we're still here. The rapture was supposed to have occurred 11 years ago...and many times prior to that. Did God just miss me....and other Christians....or other believers in God?
Before I get too upset with God, though, I remember the words of Jesus - that no one knows the day or the hour when the Lord will return. Why are we trying to guess. Why put in all this research, only to in fact discover that what Jesus says is true? We can't know the day or the hour - but we should live as though the end is near all the time.
So REM is right. If we live as though today were the end of the world, how would we feel? Would we have been Jesus' hands and feet? Would we have served joyfully? Would we have told others about the amazing love God has for us? If today were the end of the world as I know it, would I feel fine? I sure hope so, since I can't predict the day or the hour; I need to always be ready. And, if I am, then I'll feel fine!
Saturday, May 07, 2011
Who Knew?
My beautiful daughter turned four this past week. She entered this world on May 4, 2007. My beautiful wife and I celebrate our anniversary on May 20. We were, in fact, married on May 20, 2007. My wife and I did not get married two weeks after she gave birth. We did not conceive a child out of wedlock.
Yet, sixteen days before I married my wife, my daughter was born. Who knew it would work out this way? No one could have told me that I would have two sons and a daughter, all born before I got married. It's not the way I would have imagined my life...but God did.
Of course, whenever I try to understand my life, and try to understand God, I'm rarely successful. I don't always understand God's plan for my life. I don't always get God's plan for ministry - but I sit and I wait and I pray and I listen. The prophet Jeremiah reminds us of God's words, "For I know the plans I have for you...." (Jeremiah 29:11). Are my plans the same as God's? If they're not, how can I align or abandon my plans to fall into God's will for my life?
I wouldn't have known four years ago what I know now. I wouldn't have the experiences I have now. God always has something greater in store for us than we could ever ask or imagine. My life is crazy and stressful and wonderful and exhilarating, and it's all because God has a plan for me. Who would have known it would be like this? I didn't, but because God is good, and I'm seeking to follow God's will, I trust that God's plan will become real, and all I experience (even the impossible out-of-order dates) will be what God wants for me.
Who knew? I didn't - but God did!
Yet, sixteen days before I married my wife, my daughter was born. Who knew it would work out this way? No one could have told me that I would have two sons and a daughter, all born before I got married. It's not the way I would have imagined my life...but God did.
Of course, whenever I try to understand my life, and try to understand God, I'm rarely successful. I don't always understand God's plan for my life. I don't always get God's plan for ministry - but I sit and I wait and I pray and I listen. The prophet Jeremiah reminds us of God's words, "For I know the plans I have for you...." (Jeremiah 29:11). Are my plans the same as God's? If they're not, how can I align or abandon my plans to fall into God's will for my life?
I wouldn't have known four years ago what I know now. I wouldn't have the experiences I have now. God always has something greater in store for us than we could ever ask or imagine. My life is crazy and stressful and wonderful and exhilarating, and it's all because God has a plan for me. Who would have known it would be like this? I didn't, but because God is good, and I'm seeking to follow God's will, I trust that God's plan will become real, and all I experience (even the impossible out-of-order dates) will be what God wants for me.
Who knew? I didn't - but God did!
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