Monthly Archives: July 2012

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 17

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Isenheimer
Isenheimer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Because I am righteous, I will see you.
    When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.
Psalm 17:15 (NLT)

This morning as I read David’s lyric that he would “see [God] face to face” I was struck by the notion. In fact, what seems to be a simple thought seemed to be an audacious statement. In all my journeys through God’s Message, I’ve come to understand that seeing God “face to face” is a momentous deal. Few people in the recorded histories of God’s Message actually saw God face-to-face and those who did reacted to the experience – most commonly falling face down to the ground in awe and righteous fear. In fact, whether they knew it or not, their encounter with seeing God’s face was a life threatening experience from which they were graciously spared. God told Moses directly: “No one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)

If you’re interested in a little extra-credit research, here is a short list of a few who saw God face-to-face and their experiences:

  • Abram (Genesis 17)
  • Jacob (Genesis 32)
  • Moses (Exodus 3)
  • Isaiah (Isaiah 6)
  • Peter, James & John (Luke 9:28ff)
  • Saul (Acts 9)

Today, I’m reminded that I serve Jesus who, God’s Message says, is the risen and glorified Creator of the universe. I trust His promise that I will someday see Him face-to-face and will dwell with Him in His glory. I’m equally reminded that my finite human mind cannot comprehend the enormity of it.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 16

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The land you have given me is a pleasant land.
    What a wonderful inheritance!
Psalm 16:6 (NLT) 

Wendy and I have been thinking a lot about our land in recent weeks. We’ve been dreaming about some things we’d like to do with our house and garage. To that end we’ve been looking at how our lot is laid out. We’ve been talking with our city’s Building Inspector about lot lines and property pins. The abstract to our house and land is sitting right next to the computer here at my desk.

We love Iowa with its beautiful rolling hills and landscape that constantly changes color and texture with the seasons. We love this quirky, quaint little town with all its Dutch heritage and small town silliness. We love this little lot and our little brick tudor house.

When I read the verse above this morning my heart sighed an “Amen!” God has given us an inheritance in a pleasant land. Today, I’m thankful for a pleasant land and a wonderful inheritance.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 15

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from emanuele75 via Flickr

Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?    
     Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,    
     speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
Psalm 115:1-2 (NLT)

In my daily vocation I help assess the quality of customer service being delivered on the phone by the individual sales and service agents of our clients. Our methodology is to drive our clients to be the absolute best that they can be. We don’t want them just to appease the customer, but to provide memorable, positive experiences. Therefore, our assessment scales tend to measure against a high standard. It is hard to get 100% on an assessment because it requires most agents to step out of their comfort zone, go the extra mile, break old habits, and develop new service skills that make them stand out in the customer’s mind.

I’ve been surprised over time how much push back we get, not so much from front-line agents who don’t want to change, but also from supervisors and managers who believe in low standards. Many managers start with the premise that everyone should score 100% on every assessment and build their assessments to make that happen.

As I read today’s chapter it read like a Quality Assessment form for life. Who is going to make it onto God’s Holy Hill and into heaven? At first reading it’s easy to think, “Oh yeah, I do that for the most part.” But, thinking back to my post yesterday I realize that you can find plenty of examples of me blowing it on every piece of criteria outlined on Psalm 15’s assessment form. God sets an impossibly high standard – moral perfection, in fact – for entrance to His Holy Hill.

Our customer service QA forms set a high customer service standard, but even we don’t expect perfection. How can I possibly measure up to God’s standard of perfection?

I can’t, and I never will.

That’s one of the biggest misconceptions about God’s Message. It’s not about what we do. It’s about what God did when He sent Jesus to bear the penalty for our shortcomings, to forgive us, and to pay the way for our entrance to God’s Holy Hill. My daily striving to live up to God’s standard continues, not because I’ve got to earn my entrance to heaven, but because I want to please the One who paid the ultimate price for my entry fee with His own blood.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 14

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by HikingArtist via Flickr

But no, all have turned away;
    all have become corrupt.
No one does good,
    not a single one!
Psalm 14:3 (NLT) 

Life is full of contradictions. Our lives are full of contradictions. Welcome to fallen humanity.

If you take the time to investigate my life, you’ll find plenty of dirt. For all my chapter-a-day goodness you’ll find plenty of sin-a-day skeletons. I can spare you the trouble of the investigation. If you’re interested, just buy me a cup of coffee or a cold pint and I can tell you the whole story and show you the skeletons in my closet.

I mentioned earlier that those who put the Psalms together did so in a very specific way. Psalm 3 through Psalm 14 make up 64 lines in the Hebrew language in which they were written. The 12 Psalms all fit together. Psalm 8 ended the first half of the section talking about how wonderful mankind is, and how wonderfully God made us just a little lower than the angels. Today’s Psalm is the bookend contradiction. Man is a fool and there’s not one on the whole Earth who seeks after God.

I have never claimed to be perfect. Like everyone else, my life has contradictions. I’m simply a wayfaring stranger making my way on the journey home. The thing about skeletons is that they are just that: the left over remnant of something that died and decomposed over time a while ago. I’ve got plenty of them. Yet, with each step in this journey I’m striving to leave behind what is dead and embrace Life.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 13

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English: Right knee.
English: Right knee. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
    How long will you look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
    with sorrow in my heart every day?
    How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
Psalm 13:1-2 (NLT) 

I reached a significant waypoint in the journey last week while vacationing at the lake. On Thursday morning my friends Justin and Chad joined me for an early morning water skiing adventure. It was a gorgeous morning and the lake was nearly like glass. It was the morning after July 4th so virtually no one was out on the water after the previous night’s festivities. I have been water skiing since I was a kid. While I have only been on water skis once in the past several years, it’s a lot like riding a bike so I figured it would be no problem. I did ski and everything was wonderful, right up to the point that I wiped out. Apparently, my body can’t handle wiping out the way I remembered it doing as a teenager and in my twenties. If I’m going to wipeout, I guess it is no longer advisable to water ski.
Waypoint reached.

According to my doctor, my skiing adventure did a number on the medial collateral ligament of my right knee along with some accompanying damage to the meniscus. It also caused separation of the 7th rib on my right rib cage. At best I can look forward to six weeks of moderate pain and discomfort in both places as my body heals. Knee brace, ice, anti-inflammatories, and take it easy.

David, who was the King of Israel about 1000 B.C., wrote the lyrics of Psalm 13 when he was struggling with an on-going illness. I think almost every human being has, at one time or another, struggled with what feels like an endless ailment of some kind. Some of us know the life-and-death struggle of on-going disease. Others of us are annoyed constantly by a disability or medical issue. Even a relatively minor and microscopic tropical parasite can do an acute number on our insides and leave us wondering if death itself might be a welcome relief.

Times of pain and discomfort are all part of the journey. Crying out in anguish is part of the human experience. And from the depths, if we choose, we mine all sorts of wisdom that will benefit us the rest of the way. It is what it is.

Honey, can you hand me that ice pack?
Six weeks?
Really?

[sigh]

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 12

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source: sebflyte via Flickr

Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!
    The faithful have vanished from the earth!
Psalm 12:1 (NLT) 

Everyone of us feel things extremely from time to time. Stretches of life’s journey which are particularly stressful or anxious tend to feed our innate ability to feel that all of life is completely out of whack. Out of our intense emotion we then tend to speak in hyperbole.

I am often struck by news commentators, politicians, public speakers and preachers who feed on the public’s penchant for being emotionally whipped up by sensationalist and extreme statements. In an era of instant news from around the globe on a 24/7/365 basis we are constantly bombarded with stories and visions of tragedy, injustice, violence, and upheaval. It’s easy for our hearts to cry out with David: “The godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!”

The truth is that there is an equally amazing amount of generosity and good being done by countless godly people around the globe. Those stories, sadly, do not drive high ratings, web hits, converts or financial contributions.

Today, I’m putting on my filters as I hear the news coming at me from a myriad of sources. I want to be realistic about what is happening but I’m refusing to give into fear and anxiety. I’m choosing to balance all the doom and gloom with the many good things I know God and His people are doing throughout the world today.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 11

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But the Lord is in his holy Temple;
    the Lord still rules from heaven.
He watches everyone closely,
    examining every person on earth.
Psalm 11:4 (NLT) 

It is early. I’d planned on taking this week off of my chapter-a-day posts, but this morning I woke before dawn and, after laying awake for a while, felt called to the quiet. Rarely these days am I around so much noise and activity. The Playhouse has been full of life and kinetic energy this week with five very busy young people and six weary adults trying desperately to keep up. So much fun. So much noise. So much laughter and screaming. So many tears. The surround sound of life abundant.

I’ve always found quiet in the mornings, even at home in our empty nest where things are pretty much quiet all day. “The Lord is in His holy Temple” today’s chapter tells us, and how interesting to have God’s Message remind those who follow Jesus that we ourselves are temples of God’s Spirit, who dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16). And so, as light slowly rises in the east I come to the quiet to center in, to seek the Lord in His holy Temple where He can be found, and to find peace at the start of my day. I come to the quiet even on days that will be filled with relative quiet, but I find this time with God especially rich on days that I know will be brimming over with life’s joyful noises.

I thought I would take the week off from my chapter-a-day posts, and yet here I am once again. I come back to the quiet. I rest on the page.

Wayfarer's Journal

What I Did On Summer Vacation

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It’s July and Wendy and I are spending a little 4th of July vacation at the lake. We arrived late last Thursday night. The Mathias’ had spent their honeymoon here at the Playhouse, and then the Hops came in for a little family vacation. Thanks to both of them for taking such good care of the place. Wendy and I were so pleased to arrive and find everything so spic n’ span!

Wendy and I spent early Friday getting a little work done and preparing for an onslaught of fun. The JPs arrived late in the afternoon on Friday. We had a lot of fun in the sun with excursions to Bear Bottom and Bulldog’s. The Pella VLs arrived late on Monday night and we’ve had two days with the Playhouse rockin’ from the combined kinetic childhood energy. There’s been a lot of fun in the water from swimming, splashing, jumping, tubing, skiing, boating, and wave running. There’s been lots and lots and lots of intense sun with hot temperatures which has necessitated keeping cool drinks handy (I think we should just plant a lime tree).

It wouldn’t be the 4th of July without thinking of our personal firecracker, Taylor, who celebrates her birthday in Uganda today. She called early and we were able to Skype and catch up on all the festivities she and Clayton have planned for her big day of celebration in Africa.

Captain Ron’s will be shooting off fireworks tonight and we’ll anchor the boats in the cove off the dock to get a front row view. The JPs will head home tomorrow while the VLs will stick around for another day or two. It’s always fun when you get our three families together!