Reflection

Liam- I read this story over Christmas and thought it was so profound.
May this bring perspective and help you to choose joy today.

The Reflection 

There were once two men, both seriously ill, in the same small room of a great hospital. Quite a small room, just large enough for the pair of them - two beds, two bedside lockers, a door opening on the hall, and one window looking out on the world. 

One of the men, as part of his treatment, was allowed to sit up in bed for an hour in the afternoon, (something that had to do with draining the fluid from his lungs) and his bed was next to the window. 

But the other man had to spend all his time flat on his back - and both of them had to be kept quiet and still. Which was the reason they were in the small room by themselves, and they were grateful for peace and privacy - none of the bustle and clatter and prying eyes of the general ward for them. 

Of course, one of the disadvantages of their condition was that they weren't allowed much to do: no reading, no radio, certainly no television - they just had to keep quiet and still, just the two of them. 

They used to talk for hours and hours - about their wives, their children, their homes their former jobs, their hobbies, their childhood, what they did during the war, where they had been on vacations - all that sort of thing. Every afternoon, when the man in the bed next to the window was propped up for his hour, he would pass the time by describing what he could see outside. And the other man began to live for those hours. 

The window apparently overlooked a park with a lake where there were ducks and swans, children throwing them bread and sailing model boats, and young lovers walking hand in hand beneath the trees. And there were flowers and stretches of grass and games of softball, people taking their ease in the sunshine, and right at the back, behind the fringe of the tress, a fine view of the city skyline. 

The man on his back would listen to all of this, enjoying every minute how a child nearly fell into the lake, how beautiful the girls were in their summer dresses, and then an exciting ball game, or a boy playing with his puppy. It got to the place that he could almost see what was happening outside. 

Then one fine afternoon, when there was some sort of parade, the thought struck him: Why should the man next to the window have all the pleasure of seeing what was going on? Why shouldn't he get the chance? 

He felt ashamed and tried not to think like that, but the more he tried, the worse he wanted to change. He'd do anything! 

In a few days he had turned sour. He should be by the window. And he brooded and couldn't sleep, and grew even more seriously ill - which none of the doctors understood. 

One night, as he stared at the ceiling, the other man (the man next to the window) suddenly woke up coughing and choking, the fluid congesting in his lungs, his hands groping for the button that would bring the night nurse running. But the man continued to stare at the ceiling. 

In the morning, the day nurse came in with water for their baths and found the other man dead. They took away his body, quietly, no fuss. 

As soon as it seemed decent, the man asked if he could be moved to the bed next to the window. And they moved him, tucked him in, and made him quite comfortable, and left him alone to be quiet and still. 

The minute they'd gone, he propped himself up on one elbow, painfully and labouriously, and looked out the window. It faced a blank wall. 

"I've known people whose lives have "faced a blank wall" and yet they made it sound beautiful. Their courage was evidenced in little commitments they made every day, little acts of gratitude and wonder- in spite of their circumstances. Like the first man in the story, they made life come alive for those around them.  

The first man deliberately chose to introduce joy into a dismal situation. True joy wants to give itself away, and is magnified by doing so. The second man illustrates the desperate need for circumstances to produce happiness. He was so desperate that he even allowed it to cost him his friend, and only in the end did he realize that the joy he had was independent of circumstances." -Tim Hansel 

come to me

a little encouragement for your Monday, Liam!

By: Lindsey Adamec and Annie Pajcic 

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)

Can you hear the love in Jesus’ voice when He says, “Come to Me?” Say that again, slowly. Come. To. Me. Come is the invitation. To is the bridge. Me is Jesus. He is inviting us to have an intimate relationship with Him.

When do we come? Jesus didn’t just say, “Come to me when you have it all together.” NO! He said, “Come to me at all times—even when it’s falling apart.” Many times we allow ourselves to believe that our lives have to look perfectly stitched together before we can approach God, but this is a big lie.

Why are we being invited? Jesus knows we are weary from the expectations and pressures around us. Trying to be good enough. Making the team. Making the grade. Or just trying to fit in. Jesus wants to help us carry these heavy burdens of life.

How do we come? We come through prayer—asking Him to join us and help us. We come by studying the Bible and reading this app. We come by having friends around us who believe in Jesus, too.

What will He give us when we come? Rest. He knows the plans He has for us. We need to trust in His direction with our lives.

This verse teaches us that Jesus wants us to come to Him, first, and stop trying to carry the burdens ourselves. Jesus cares for us so greatly. He longs for us to lay down our efforts and rest in Him.

Prayer: God, help us come to You, first, with all of our hurt, failure, striving, and allow You to be our resting place. Thank You for loving us so deeply that You give us the freedom to come at all times, especially when we don’t have it all together.

Love in Action

I loved reading this devotional today after hearing the Atkins' report about Mexico at church this morning. It also reminds me of the ministry of Young Life that your parents have been a part of for many years.  Young Life seeks to embody the life of Christ in reaching out to kids, and some have called this being “Jesus with skin on.”  May be Jesus with skin on today and put some love into action, Liam....  

By: Mycah Hunter

A reading from Matthew 20:20-28, A Mother’s Request

Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:26-28

Being a servant means putting someone else’s needs before your own wants and desires. Simply put, serving others is love in action.

Love is not just a warm fuzzy feeling. Love is a verb. It does stuff. Being an intentional and loving servant means becoming the hands and feet of Jesus here on Earth. It’s seeing a need and doing something about it instead of waiting for someone else to do the job. It’s cheerfully giving our time, talents, and resources in order to bless someone else without expecting anything in return.

In his book, A Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren sheds light on becoming a servant: “We serve God by serving others. In our self-serving culture with its ‘me-first’ mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept. Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not status. . . . God shaped you for service, not for self-centeredness.”

While it may not be easy and might feel completely out of our comfort zone, God calls us to be a friend to the friendless and to love the unlovable. He calls us to love with a great love and to serve Him by serving others. In Christ’s Kingdom, greatness is found in lovingly serving others. Jesus was the greatest example of a servant, humbling himself and dying on the cross so that we could have eternal life.

Prayer: God, thank You for Jesus, who took the nature of a servant, humbled himself, and became obedient to death on the cross. I pray that You would transform my heart to be a servant heart. Please help me to sacrifice my own personal desires so that I can be a blessing to others and point them towards You.

SaveSave

CA Sunrise

pretty awesome to start the day with a sunrise here in California....

May you know that His mercies are new every morning... 

Grounded in gratitude

TGIF!! Happy Friday, Liam! 

I love this devotion below because it's about one of the things I think 

we all need more of in our lives: gratitude. 

May God bless you with a heart that truly is grounded in this gift. 

By: Cecilia Glenn

He took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks He broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. Matthew 15: 37-38 (ESV)

I don’t know about you, but if I were responsible for feeding more than four thousand people and all I had to work with was enough to feed me, I would probably start to panic. I would think, this is impossible. I don’t know if “thank you” would be the first words that came to mind. Maybe Are you kidding? But not thank you.

Jesus demonstrates something so important in His actions. He sees the need. He sees what has been provided. And He gives thanks. He grounds Himself in gratitude. He does not linger at the portions in front of Him, but rather He looks to the Provider. He chooses to give thanks. In doing so, He reveals what He truly believes: that God knows His need and He’s got it.

I wonder how that would change things for us? What if we saw our portions—say, our grades, our skill level in sports, our talents–and no matter what they seem like to us, big or small, we thanked God wholeheartedly for them. What if we gave thanks believing that God knows our need and what we have to offer. And believing still that God. Has. Got. It.

How does the story end in Matthew? “And they all ate and were satisfied…” Friends, let’s be imitators of Jesus and ground ourselves in gratitude, believing that the Provider knows our need and He will provide!

Prayer: Dear Lord, I am so sorry for my ingratitude. Give me the strength to be an imitator of Jesus and give You thanks first, no matter what my circumstances. Help me to believe that You are Provider.

undivided

a little shout out to you from California! (I hate to tell you this, but it's sunny here and 60 degrees....). I'm here visiting a good friend and am sending you a hello from a few states down... Happy Thursday, Liam! 

By: Joani Ross

A reading from Matthew 19:16-30, The Rich Young Man

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.”  The disciples were greatly astonished when they heard this and said, “Then who can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26

80% of the world’s population lives on just $10 a day. Compared to the world at large, we are all rich. So hearing Jesus say that it is easier for a camel to go through the small hole of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God should get our attention.

But is Jesus teaching us about riches or what we treasure over God?

Jesus is responding to a man also called the Rich Young Ruler who claims he has wholeheartedly obeyed all the laws—and because he has done so, he thinks this act of obedience will get him into heaven. When Jesus asks him to sell ALL he has and give to the poor, the rich young ruler isn’t so confident anymore. The young man thought that because he kept all the commands, he could move on, happily waiting for eternal life. But Jesus exposes the real issue—his heart. Jesus knows that this man’s wealth, not obedience, is the one thing he treasures over God.

What might be dividing our loyalty? What keeps us from being ALL IN for God? For this man, it was his money. For us, it may be something different. It may be friends, popularity, how we look, other people’s opinions, having nice things, or being accepted. And it is HARD, but not impossible. Jesus knows what divides our attention and will help us! For God all things are possible. When we acknowledge that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), our hearts are set right and we receive entrance into the Kingdom of God. Jesus alone saves us. He wants us to FOLLOW HIM and to LOVE HIM with undivided loyalty.

Prayer: God, without Your power, we often let things in our life get in the way of our relationship with You. We acknowledge that we get distracted by the things of this world and we need your help. Please teach us choose You over anything else.

what goes in comes out

Anna and I took a devotional together to Kenya with us, and the same authors just started to put out a daily devotional online. For the next few days, I am going to pick a few good ones to share for food for thought and for a hook to hang my prayers on for you for the day.... 

By: Robbie Jackson

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in him. Matthew 12:34-35 (NIV)

When you go to a vending machine and push the button that says Coke, what happens? Coke comes out, right? Why does Coke come out of the machine? You are probably thinking, “That’s a silly question!” Coke comes out because the machine is full of Cokes. Exactly. Coke comes out because someone filled the machine with Cokes.

In just the same way, God tells us that what comes out of our mouths is exactly what we put into our hearts. When we fill our heart with God’s Word, His thoughts and His ways, then God’s goodness will naturally spill out of our mouths. What goes in will come out. There are many ways that we can fill our heart with God’s goodness like reading His Word, spending time with Him in prayer, gathering with Godly friends, enjoying the beauty and blessings of His creation, reading good books, and learning from adults, teachers, and family members.

In this passage, God reminds us to store up good things in our hearts. We can do this just like the animals store up food for the winter. They search for good food to store for a time when they will need it. Just like animals are ready when the cold winds of winter come, we want our hearts to be full of God’s goodness so we are ready for it to spill out of our mouths every day. God also tells us to “Guard our hearts for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23). God knows that what goes in will come out. What we put into our minds and hearts matters to God.

Prayer: Dear God, help me to fill my heart with Your goodness so that Your love will pour out of my mouth and bless everyone I see today.

church bells

Last night at small group, I read this story from our friends who lived in Scotland for a number of years: 

Upon moving to Methlick (a small town in Scotland), one thing we had to accustom ourselves to was the church bell keeping the hours through the day and night. It took weeks to achieve unbroken sleep, as our ‘manse’ was nearly across from the church.

Slowly though, we began to see these bells not as intrusions into our life and sleep, but as ways of staying awake. As a church, we began to grasp that the hardest spiritual thing is to be present – present to where we are and who we are with. We could live sacrificially, we could read our Bibles, we could hold village fairs to raise money for lands far away. But the hardest thing of all was being present to God, others, and the holy ground beneath our feet.

We wanted to be more present to the miracle of everyday and everyone. We tried to remember God. We wanted to be attentive and prayerful. And we continually failed. Then someone had the idea to use the bell. Whenever the bell tolled, we would stop whatever we were doing – peeling potatoes, hanging the washing, ploughing the fields, walking to school – and shout, whisper or groan, “here I am!”

Fast forward to Wenatchee, our small American town, where there are no such bells. But we discovered one thing that we did have: cell phones! One Lent, our church set our phone alarms to various times throughout the day so we could pause and say, “here I am.” Mothers set their phone alarms and when the alarm sounded, their children would shout, “it’s time to say ‘here I am’!” and would rush about to grab a candle – helping to hallow the moment. Best of all was noon, when the whole church stopped wherever we were, to say, “here we are.”

This week, some of us in small group have set an alarm as a reminder of this and as an effort to be "more present to God, others and the holy ground beneath our feet" as my friend stated above. 

Last night, when the alarm went off, I was downstairs fixing dinner and my phone was upstairs so I missed it. My alarm is supposed to go off again tonight. Who knows if I will even know where the phone is. :)  Oh well- here I am! 

May this email be a simple reminder to you to stop what you are doing and be present to the moment right before you giving thanks to God for the gifts you can see right here and now.  

A Parent's (or Godparent's) Wish

A Parent’s (or Godparent's 😀) Wish

For My Children I ask:

That they seek their happiness not so much at the finish line, as in the running;

That they have the strength not to lift tremendous weights, but one fallen friend;

That they learn to fight their own battles with a never-ending string of temporary cease fires;

Not that the occasion make them smile, but that their smile make the occasion;

That their bridges be built not over rivers, but over misunderstanding;

That their wealth be not in their banks but in their hearts;

That they gain power not over others, but over themselves;

That they never fail to leave the stage before their applause is done;

That they bow not to little people with big titles, but to big people with little titles;

That they keep strict account not of favors owed to them, but to others;

Not that they never know grief; but that they never know joy the moment after

That their names be household words not throughout the land, but in their own households;

That their monuments be found not in public parks, but in the lives of those they have touched.

- Jerry Spinelli