If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Or you can select your feed type by clicking on the "Subscribe" button on the right. Thanks for visiting!
Something happens at the end of the day when the to-do list loses its power, the however-many words we use have escaped us, and the sinks and tubs and TVs have done their duty. Life gets still. Sometimes for a fleeting moment before sleep. Sometimes, like last night for me, for a surprising length of time. Borrowing from ancient practices, I like to call these moments the Watches of the Night. Even though the body is tired, another part of you is still very awake.
It’s there, in the quiet stillness, that you can hear Him if you listen in your spirit.
It’s the same Gentle Whisperer that Elijah heard in the mouth of the cave.
He’s the Mighty to Save, who quiets your soul in the most beautiful of ways… He rejoices over you with singing.
This is no task for angels or even people. This is a visitation in love fitting only for One who can take such personal delight in you, despite your weakness or failure. And in the Watches of the Night, He Himself becomes the descant of your soul.
Listen with your heart, and in the Watches of the Night, you can hear Him lifting your soul, singing to your hope that He will come back to you again. He sings to your regrets with His stubborn love, casting them into the depths of the deepest sea. And in his delight over you, He buoys your heart to face new challenges and new opportunities for patience and endurance. [click to continue…]
Had coffee with a sweet friend last week. She was describing the amazing things the Lord has worked in her life over the summer as she has gone through a wonderfully painful, gloriously gut-wrenching season. Each day the Lord has brought new strength, insights, healing, and refreshing as she prepares for a future that is far less certain… but far more peaceful.
Did you get that?
Far less certain, but far more peaceful.
Like many people, she had defined peace and satisfaction in terms of being able to predict what the future held (among other things). Now as she returns to school, she heads off into an unknown destiny, with lots of uncertainties. But she has a phenomenal peace that she is being held right in the center of God’s heart and hand.
Here’s how she expressed it to me. I was so touched, I wanted to share it with you (my paraphrase): [click to continue…]
If your paychecks came from Ford Motor Company in the 1970s, you lived in an ugly time. Morale was low. Sales were taking a beating. Quality was “job none.” And the company operated from an entrenched system of rules and regulations. Into that demoralized environment, Donald Peterson became Ford’s CEO in 1980.
Peterson showed up tossing words around like “teamwork” and “upward communication.” But words mean nothing to entrenched bureaucracies. So Peterson tried something radical – he left his office. He would walk into the offices of designers and ask simple questions like:
- Do you like these cars?
- Do you feel proud of them?
- Would you park one in your driveway?
I think you can guess the answer he received.
Your job, Peterson said, is to come up with the cars you think will sell – cars you can be proud of. The results were stunning and quick, by auto industry standards. The first significant product was the 1983 Thunderbird, followed quickly by the wildly successful Taurus, which became the best-selling midsized car in America.
That was just for starters. During the 1980s, Ford reversed its dismal previous performance to record then-record-breaking profits. Peterson was chosen by his fellow CEOs as the nation’s most effective leader, surpassing even Lee Iacocca.
What made the difference? Donald Peterson was a Side-by-Side Leader. In the words of Robert Richardson and Katherine Thayer, “Peterson didn’t accomplish all this by sitting behind a desk and telling people what he wanted done. He rolled up his shirt sleeves and jumped in. He provided a direction and goal and then participated in making them reality.”
Your Worst Skydiving Fear
Imagine you are an inexperienced skydiver. You’ve been on a few jumps, but still think of yourself as a rookie. It’s a beautiful day for flying and jumping out of airplanes, so up you go. You reach the point where it’s time to pull the ripcord, and it malfunctions. To your horror, so does the backup chute.
Suddenly it’s not such a good day for jumping out of airplanes. [click to continue…]
When I’ve lost the fire of passion and power and feel reduced to ashes and embers, will You be the Fire that burns in my soul?
When you’ve lost the fire of passion and power and feel reduced to ashes and embers, I’ll be the Fire that burns in your soul. I still love you. And I’m still here.
When I’m standing alone in a crowded room and feel unnoticed… forgotten… alone… will You be the Truth that reminds me I’m not?
When you’re standing alone in a crowded room and feel unnoticed… forgotten… alone… I’ll be the Truth that reminds you you’re not. I still love you. And I’m still here. [click to continue…]
This is raw – straight from my journal and unedited, except for a few explanatory items in brackets. It was written on September 11, 2001. At the time I was traveling with Resource Services, Inc. as a church capital stewardship consultant.
This morning my phone woke me up in the Albany, NY hotel where I was staying. It was Robin, making sure I was all right. She said the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane in an act of terrorism. I turned on the TV and was transfixed by the images of what I saw. Two planes, one hitting each tower. Then the subsequent collapse of both buildings. Then the news that the Pentagon had suffered a similar fate from another airplane.
How do I begin to describe the horror, the fear, the fascination, and the numbness I felt? Then my cell phone began to ring. First, Amy Shillings from RSI. Then Connie Smith. Then Mother and Daddy. Then Robin again. Then Daddy again. All making sure I was OK.
I finally decided at about 11:00 to get out for a while. The beautiful, clear sky of September in upstate New York belied the scene of billowing smoke and debris that was taking place a couple of hours’ drive south of here.
I met a black man, Anthony, on the hotel elevator. He wanted to know if I was going toward the mall. “Come on,” I said. I’ll take you where you need to go.” Anthony was en route from one girlfriend to another. No kidding. Then later would catch the bus for a two-hour ride back home. To his fiance.
I dropped Anthony off at the mall, and, still in the parking lot, decided to check my voice mail. I heard the calls from [RSI CEO] Carl Hefton, [RSI President] Bill Wilson, and others – expressing care and support, encouraging us to do what we felt we needed to do, informing us that the travel office was prepared to assist in any way we needed. I felt loved. Cared for. For once, not alone. And there in the mall parking lot, I just cried like a baby. [click to continue…]
…the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me (Song of Solomon 2:12)
Be like the dove, He said… [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on November 5, 2010
in 100 Words
(You can make it yours, too.)
Because of God’s unsparing love for me,
I am a new creation of infinite worth.
I am chosen to live because He wanted me.
I am destined for a purpose because He called me.
I belong to his family because He connected me.
I am righteous in his sight because He covered me.
I am beautiful to behold because He crafted me.
Whenever my lifestyle, loneliness or looks
Try to condemn or accuse me,
I will raise the banner He purchased in blood,
And find my peace in His victorious love.
I AM my Beloved’s, and He is mine!
“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad”
(Proverbs 12:25, NKJV)
In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame… O Lord my God, I cried out to You, And You have healed me… You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness… I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities, And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy… Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea…
I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
You will show me the path of life…. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me… How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand… Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord - Your salvation according to Your word. So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word… Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life… [click to continue…]
Something happens at the end of the day when the to-do list loses its power, the however-many words we use have escaped us, and the sinks and tubs and TVs have done their duty. Life gets still. Sometimes for a fleeting moment before sleep. Sometimes, like last night for me, for a surprising length of time. Borrowing from ancient practices, I like to call these moments the Watches of the Night. Even though the body is tired, another part of you is still very awake.
