My Ramblings

This weekend we have a wedding at our church. As it is a large wedding, we are bringing many extra chairs into the sanctuary and overflow space. The groom, a couple of the men in his family, and the groomsmen helped to carry the chairs from the storage building yesterday before rehearsal. After the wedding rehearsal was over, I spent some time with God reflecting back on the day. I was thinking about moving the chairs and our need to move them back after Sunday. I am not sure how this will sound, but I will try to relate the lesson I learned. During our time together, the Lord began to speak to me about my purpose at the church. More than that, he began to show me how he wanted me to change from my idea of my purpose to His true purpose. He used the chairs as a parable to help me see what He wanted.     Let's suppose your duty for the day was to move all these chairs from the sanctuary back to the storage building. Oddly, all the church members are there to help. As this ...

For the last couple of days I have been down. There are some circumstances in my life that currently have my attention. I have begun to worry over them and they are starting to weigh on me. This morning I was praying/complaining to the Lord over them. I let him know that I couldn't fix this and I need his help. Of course, my words were more numerous and a little less refined. Later in the day, a friend of mine called to check in with me. When he asked me how things were going I decided to be real with him. I let him know how I was feeling. As my friend prayed for me he used a verse of scripture from the Holy Bible in his prayer. The Scripture he quoted was from Philippians chapter 4, verse 6. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." God used that prayer to let me know that he was there, that he knew what was going on and that he already had an answer for me. I just needed to go ahead an...

I am not a Jew, but I am fascinated with Jewish historical tradition, especially the parts recorded in the Torah and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to those texts, the Children of Israel were in slavery in Egypt for four hundred years. At one point, Israel's God sent a messenger (Moses) to let them know that he had other plans for them. He promised them a place of safety, freedom from slavery, and much blessing. This land was called Canaan or "the promised land." In my inmost being, I know that there is more to this life. My life is good and my life is full, but I am not satisfied. There is still something more. I am looking for "the promised land." I am searching for Canaan.

A couple of months ago, I attended a motivational meeting where the speaker used the story of David and Goliath to inspire his audience. He provided several golfball-sized river rocks for each attendee. We were supposed to take one rock for each of the giants we were facing. I took seven of the rocks although I couldn't pinpoint more than a couple of giants that were impeding my progress. I figured I would take some time to really think about it and I should have enough rocks to cover it. As I spent that time thinking about what giants there might be in my life, I came to a great realization. I was focusing on external giants. What I came to realize is the greatest giants I need to overcome are internal ones. I can keep looking at and blaming outside forces, but it will do no good. I thought I had gotten over my fear of failure and my need to please people, but those old habits and thought patterns die hard. They are still the things that get in the way of my "success...