Unusual and Unexplainable...

It is easy to reduce God down to someone we can understand. The reason we do this is predictability. We want to have a sense of control of the way God will show up and when. But when we do this it forces God to live in a very small world, one that our 3 lb. brains can keep up with. God actually lives in a very big world and He invites us to go there with Him. But most of us struggle with that invite. Look at this verse…
“Then He fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about,” ~Deut. 8:3
Here Israel got a lesson in the unexplainable. They were travelling through the wilderness toward their promised land and were out of food. They were hungry, hot, and grumpy. Then one morning they woke up to white bread-like flakes all over the ground. It cooked up much like bread. This continued every morning for the entire time they were on their journey. It just fell out of the sky. It was miraculous. It had never happened before in human history. This was something totally new and out-of-the-box. The point is, God has many ways to provide for us that are UNUSUAL AND UNEXPLAINABLE. The question is, can we find rest in that? ~Verlon

Raise His Voice...

Many individuals don’t like the idea that God might get angry with them. But there is a very close association between love and anger. Look at this verse…
“All you saints, sing your hearts out to God! Thank Him to his face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love.” ~Psalms 30:4
Notice the close correlation between anger and love. I am not speaking of violent and demeaning anger; rather the kind of anger that makes one react when their partner or friend is destructing themselves or the relationship. I would say that if there isn’t the potential of anger in a relationship then there is not real love. If one of my children kept walking out in the road where trucks speed by, there would come a time when I would get angry at them for continuing to put themselves in harms way. After-all, I don’t want them to become horribly injured. I want them to be in my life all of our days. If I never got angry with them when they were doing harmful things, it would suggest I didn’t care enough about them to fight for their safety and blessing. God loves us so much that He want us free from destruction. He wants to walk with us and enjoy us as we have a great life together. So what if He does get a bit worked up if we play fast and lose with destructive elements? It means He loves us enough and is pulling for our best enough to RAISE HIS VOICE AT US when we consider harmful paths. ~Verlon

A Lineage of Love...

Many people attribute things to God other than loyal love, even Christians. It is not that they doubt God is love, it is just they expect other things from Him more. However, it is not consistent with His history to be framed any other way…
“…God, on His part will keep the covenant of loyal love He made with your ancestors: He will love you, He will bless you, He will increase you.” ~Deut. 7:12-13
The first covenant has gotten a bad rap. This is occurred because the New Testament covenant is based on grace more than obedience, but the Old Testament covenant was a pretty special and generous thing. The above verse reveals God’s part of the Old Testament covenant, and it was based on His promise to pour loyal love upon us. Maybe we need to take a step back and realize that God has always engaged us with His unfailing love. If this is true even back in the hard-hitting Old Testament days, how much more true in these present days. Our God-family has a long standing heritage of loyal love and blessing and increase. We get this generous love stuff….it’s in our DNA. Ours is A LINEAGE OF LOVE! ~Verlon

With Great Energy...

It is common for people to view God as passive in the way He involves Himself on the earth. When God does show up and do something it is usually considered rare and treated like a miracle. What I actually see in scripture is a God who is very attentive and active on the earth. Here is a new favorite verse of mine…
“He spread apart the heavens and came down with a dark cloud under his feet. ~Psalms 18:9
In some of the earlier versions of the bible this verse is actually says ‘He rent the heavens…”. In other words, God was so motivated to get to earth that He tore down the walls of heaven in His haste to get here. This is an awesome picture of God; one we need to meditate on for a while. Know this, God is not passive in the way He comes to us. He is not passive in the way He shows up for you either. He watches, He protects, He pursues, He loves and He rushes to us when we need Him…WITH GREAT ENERGY. ~Verlon

For Paislee...

Yesterday was our first granddaughter’s first birthday. What a package she is. She is only 20 some lbs., but already she is the center of the universe…at least our universe. There is an interesting emotion coming out of me as a grandfather that is different than anything I have ever experienced. It has to do with breathing favor upon her life and momentum into her days. I think I now understand Rembrandt’s famous painting of the old man Simeon holding up the Christ-child in the temple and speaking a blessing over Him. Simeon had been waiting for that moment for years. And now was his moment to breathe blessing and favor into the life of the infant Savior. While our granddaughter is not called to be the Savior of the world, she is called to something great. And like Simeon, this is my moment, to breathe the winds of God’s blessing and favor into her life, that they will blow constantly at her back, that she will walk the path God has prepared for her with focus and courage. So, here is a blessing for Paislee on her first birthday…
“But even there, if you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find Him if you’re serious, looking for Him with your whole heart and soul”. ~Deuteronomy 4:29
Dearest Paislee, may you never struggle to feel the presence and leadership and unfailing love of our Lord…all of you days…because He is paying attention to your every moment and every need. ~Grandpa V

A Whole Life...

There is a thinking flaw in American culture, that if we pull pieces of our lives from many sources we will have a whole life. So we put together our careers, then our living neighborhoods, then our friends, then our hobbies, then our church, then our favorite restaurants, then our doctors and dentists, then our vacation spots, then sports ideas for our kids, all with the idea that when we get everything ‘pulled together’ we will have a full life. I am afraid what we end up with is a tired life. But what’s the better approach?
“The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.” ~Psalms 19:7
Is it really possible for us to let God to pull our lives together? According to this verse and its many cousin verses, God is funneling enough information toward us to build our lives by His plans and His time-tables. It’s interesting to me that the real path to wholeness isn’t exactly the American way. Truth be told it is not within our skill-set to build a whole life. We just can’t see the whole picture and the cause and effects of eternal issues. Wholeness is a gift from God! He is trying to breathe it into us every day. One of the great side-effects of walking lock-step with Christ is…we end up with A WHOLE LIFE! ~Verlon

Do-Overs...

Sometimes life gets all messed up and the pressure mounts and we react to things all wrong. Often we get mad and frustrated and say things that hurt people, and then we feel bad and so wish we could turn back the clock. Does this sound familiar? This is a great time to remember that God gives chapter breaks…
“Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be, you get a fresh start, your slate’s wiped clean”. ~Psalm 32:1
I am so thankful that I can have fresh starts and all that I did wrong can get wiped clean. I have noticed however, that for some this is only a theory and they struggle to actually receive the fresh starts that are inherent in their salvation. Some are perfectionists and because their behaviors were less then perfect they just can’t let themselves off of the hook and step into a new chapter. Others have such a low view of themselves they can’t believe they deserve a clean slate and won’t engage in a new day. Still others are so proud that they can’t bring themselves to admit that they’ve made a mess of things and so they arrogantly stay in their situation no matter how smelly it might be. Then there are those who have come to the conclusion that real life only serves up mangled chapters and they don’t expect anything different. Do any of these sound familiar? Is there honestly any good reason for not stepping into a new chapter that our salvation provides for? For those who walk with Christ, we can have as many fresh starts and DO-OVERS as we need! ~Verlon

Ready To Listen...

One of the great delusions the enemy of our soul promotes upon the earth is that God is so busy running the big universe that He doesn’t meddle in the little details of our lives. Nothing could be further from the truth…
“What other great nation has gods that is intimate with them the way God is with us, always ready to listen to us?” ~Deut. 4:7
Even in the Old Testament, with it’s rules and regulations based covenant, God was perceived by all as being very attentive. How much more in this day, in the day of the covenant of grace, will we witness our God being attentive? And yet when the chips are down and the bills are larger than the balance in our checking account, many people feel very alone in their plight. Truth is God is watching us very closely and in those challenging times He already has ten ways to fix it and already is pushing one of them into place, even before we ask. There is no God like our God. There is no path as wonderful as the Christ-path. Many on this earth are quick to take their problems to professional people, to savings accounts, to alcohol, to taro cards, to their wit and skill and winsome personalities. But there is no place to run that is as presence filled as to Christ Himself. Christ’s people enjoy divine presence like no other people on the earth. It has been true through the ages that no one is as READY TO LISTEN as our God! ~Verlon

What Do You Expect?...

I have a funny memory of sitting across the table at a restaurant from Melodee some years ago. She had ordered a coke to drink and I had ordered a milk. When the drinks came I was watching her glass of coke as I took a drink of my milk. As soon as the milk got into my mouth I immediately spit it out, because for some reason I was expecting to taste coke too. The milk was perfectly good, but my expectation made it wrong, so I spit it out. The point? Our expectations are powerful things and have a strong impact on how we feel about what’s happening.
“Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up. Expect God to get here soon” ~ Psalms 31:24
This is a wonderful little Psalm that shows us how to set our expectations of God correctly. What do you expect from God? If you are expecting Him to be too busy running the universe than to show up and help you with your problems then when He, being true to Himself, does show up you’ll spit out His help. Or if you are expecting Him to be angry with you for every misdeed then when He, being true to Himself, shows up with unconditional love you’ll spit it out as underserved. But…if you expect God to pay attention to you and show up when you need Him, then when He does you’ll welcome His presence and His rescue plans. It’s a wonderful thing when someone learns to set their expectations of God correctly. So, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? ~Verlon

He's Doing Something...

We tend to be very self-centric. I’m not talking about being selfish, though selfishness can be one of it’s symptoms. Rather I’m thinking about the pressure that the self-centric approach to life puts on us to make our life happen. Where is there room for God to initiate things???
“Then God said to me, ‘Look, I’ve got the ball rolling…Sihon and his land are soon yours. Go ahead, take it’.” ~Deut. 2:31 [MSG]
Here God was speaking to Moses about what He was setting up for Israel. It’s clear that Moses had absolutely nothing to do with this plan, except to enter into it once God pointed it out. It was God and God alone that ‘got the ball rolling’ for them. God has always been at work in the earth. Our faith tells us that He is always at work in our lives too. It makes me wonder what balls God is rolling into place for you and me? Interesting question isn’t it. We tend to ask for God’s leadership, then pretty much solve things on our own. That’s the American way. While there is value to being a resourceful people, it’s possible that we never develop an eye for what God might be setting up for us. Somewhere in this self-centric approach there is a flaw in our faith. Let’s take a moment to look deeper than our resources and plans; I wonder what God might be rolling into place for you right now? What is He setting up? I assure you HE’S DOING SOMETHING! ~Verlon

Our Daily Trust...

There is such a thing as ‘memories of faith’. These are times when God showed up and fixed things in our past. These memories are the seedbed of our present trust in Him and His love for us. But sometimes when we face these a difficult challenge, we forget to summons those memories…
“You saw with your own eyes what He did for you in Egypt; you saw what He did in the wilderness, how God your God carried you as a father carries His child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. But now that you’re here you won’t trust God your God” ~Deut. 1:30-32
God had done so much for Israel that it’s simply incalculable. His presence was constant and His miracles were astounding. Yet when the 12 spies came back discouragement in their tone the people simply fell apart. They went to their tents absolutely convinced that they were tricked by God and were there to be buried in the hot sand. It’s hard to fathom after God proved His love for them that they’d forget it in this moment. But they did! We can do the same thing too. All our fears and worries flow from the same faulty notion that this time we are alone to face this problem. To believe that we have to set aside our history with God’s love, but we do. And our trust waivers. Let me challenge you: Summons your memories of faith, recall that He didn’t drop you before and declare that He’s not going to drop you this time! God has earned OUR DAILY TRUST! ~Verlon