needs

There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all cost, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life. (This includes meeting the needs of your heart.) One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and yours may be that life.

Oswald Chambers

This includes meeting the needs of your heart is the phrase that caught my attention because of the way that God did that for me today. Blessings come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the most common things about them is that they rarely, if ever, are what we expect.

This afternoon, I was at work and my cell phone rang. Pulling it from my pocket, I glanced at the display and saw to my surprise and delight that it was my son calling. Now, those of you that know me know that he has been in the Middle East on his second deployment with the U. S. Army; that he was calling me from his cell phone could only mean that he was back in this country! What a rich blessing indeed! We knew that he was due back sometime soon, but we didn't know exactly when.

The endless stream of love and care that God pours out on me, indeed all of His children, is certainly reason enough to take the whole of Chambers' comment to heart. The wonderful thing is, I need not set out to do anything to overtly bless anyone; that will be the natural outcome of living dependently on Jesus Christ, as such a life is always useful in His hands. And that is the greatest blessing of all.

back

Three week ago, I was tremendously excited because of our impending departure for summer vacation: "Only two days until we leave!" And it was a fabulous vacation during which we thoroughly enjoyed a portion of God's creation. Rivers--we canoed on the Snake and North Platte rivers; mountains--my daughter and two friends climbed Mt. Elbert, the tallest peak in Colorado! It was wonderfully cool everywhere we were, and the blessings and refreshment were awesome.

Today, as I write this, I've been back from vacation for two days, and it has reminded me how fleeting the temporal is. However, that brings into sharp focus the superiority of God's way. When one's life is centered on loving God and people, the passage of time nears irrelevance. As Henry van Dyke said,

Time is too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love -- time is eternity.

july fourth quotpourri

I have lived, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

Benjamin Franklin

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.

Thomas Jefferson