No worries, mate!

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" -- Matthew 6:25-27

No question. Hurricanes are serious business. They threaten lives, they threaten property-- and they threaten dreams. In a matter of hours, life courses are changed forever. 

We sat this past week and watched as Hurricane Irene, whose name comes from the Greek word for peace, bore down on the most heavily-populated regions of our American eastern seaboard. 

Those in Irene's path prepared as best they could, storing water and batteries or moving to higher ground. And that made sense. But the responses from the rest of us?

Our eyes grew bigger as the waves crashed along the shore, shook our heads in disbelief as daring young men grabbed their boogie boards and jumped in. I wondered if they had ancestors who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel-- just to prove they could. (Many of them were wrong; they could not. And this week, at least one person also discovered his own mortality.) 

Headlines on CNN grew bigger and bolder with each passing hour. Adjectives became increasingly grim.

One politician dared to suggest this was a "warning from God" against the government of the US. (Hmm-- not the God I serve, thank you very much.)


And still we watched, unable to tear our eyes away. The approaching hurricane, it seemed, served to remind us that there is much to fear, much to worry about in this world.

As Jesus taught from the mount, in the same lesson when he taught his disciples how to pray and reminded each of us of our many blessings, he also reminded us that the future belongs to God.

Worry does no good. Playing the "What if?" game, unless it is with the intention of dispelling fear, is futile at best.


God has charted our course, from end to beginning. God has stationed himself along our paths, every step of the way, if we but have eyes to see and ears to hear. When we get to tomorrow, we will discover that God was already there ahead of us, and whether tomorrow holds challenge or charm, God is there, ready to carry us through the storms and celebrate with us as they clear, help us clean up and start afresh. 

Matthew 6 goes on to say, "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for each day brings worries enough of its own" (Mt 6:34). 


Perhaps today's worries include caring for a sick friend who cannot get to the market. 

Maybe an elderly neighbour needs a smile that only you can give.
 
There may be a shelter nearby where hungry stomachs are filled. Perhaps, as you ladle soup, you can offer Bread of Life to go with that, a refreshing taste of Living Water or a Living Word.

Seems to me, the more we work to solve today's worries, the fewer worries tomorrow might actually bring. 

Promises, Promises

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. (Matthew 14:25-29)

The disciples had had a big, day. Over 5000 hungry followers of Jesus had been fed-- from five loaves and a couple of fishes. Jesus had left the disciples, had gone off to pray, and had sent them off in a boat to regroup. 

And now-- a storm. Not just a storm, but a STORM. It was dark, the sea was whipping and pitching, and now-- there's someone-- something coming towards them, walking on the water.

Walking on the water? A ghost, maybe? No-- the figure has identified itself. It is the Lord!

Good old Peter has to be sure. 

Good old Peter says what everyone else was thinking: Prove it.

(Anyone else ever need "proof"? Proof that God is at work? Or is this just me??)

And Jesus answers with a single word. Come! 

Jesus doesn't chide Peter for his questioning; he simply invites him to walk where he walks. 

Come.

Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

           

Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

           

Come, see the empty tomb. See the holes in my hands, put your hand right here, touch the place where the sword pierced my side.

             

Come, and believe, and be with me this day in paradise. 

So many promises of God, wrapped up in a single word. Come.

Just as Jesus extended a hand to Peter during life's strong storms, so, too, does he reach out to each one of us and invite us closer: closer to his walk, closer to his heart-- and not just on sunny, pain-free days.

No, the promises of Christ, given for each one of us, never falter, never fade.  Even when the night is so dark and life is so challenging,. Look for that hand, scarred from the nails of hate, healed by the touch of love. 

Look for it, trust whose it is-- and hang on for dear life. This promise never fails.

Popeye theology

But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:13-14a)


Imagine. 

Try, for a minute, to forget you ever saw Charlton Heston play Moses in a movie, and imagine yourself standing on holy ground. Slip off those flip flops and pay attention. God himself has appeared within a bush that burns but is not consumed and is speaking-- to you.

What the heck-- and God wants me to tell the Israelites his name is I AM WHO I AM? Or, as some translate it, I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE?

What is that supposed to mean, anyway?

Well, my Old Testament classes taught me that in the Hebrew world, repetition in a name intensifies its meaning. This is not "just" God talking, this is GOD.

There were many gods in the ancient world, and I AM wanted Moses to understand: he was not just one of them.


This month, many Hindus will be celebrating the birthday of one of their gods, Krishna.

I AM has no birthday. I AM was here before there was time, before there was anything at all. I WILL BE will be here long after time has ceased to be. This is GOD.

My mind cannot grasp it.

But somewhere deep in my being, where God's Spirit lurks, I understand. (Barely. Sorta kinda. If I don't try too hard.)

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27)

God created us-- each of us-- in God's own image. Breathed into us the breath of life, formed us and molded us each in God's likeness. No, we are not God (even when we act like it). But within each of us is a kernel of God, a reflection, a recollection. And like God-- I am who I am. Only without the intensifiers.

I am a mother and a grandmother.

I am a widow.

Cut me and I bleed. Hurt me and I will weep.

I am broken. Yes. I am deeply wounded and seriously messed up in spots.

But-- I am God's beloved heidi.  I am a Child of the Almighty God, formed in the image of the great I AM.

I was worth dying for and so are you.

I AM has chosen you. And you, and you-- and yes, even me.

This elephant thing

Some may already know this story. Read it again-- or skip over this post.

In some parts of the world, I am told, elephants can be used and trained to assist unwary travellers who wind up unintentionally "ditched." For me, spiritually, this is kind of like that.

In a certain class, a certain professor offered this beautiful image of how prayer "works":

The answers to our prayers, said this professor, are like elephants. And God, being the very funny God that he is, keeps the elephants in the attic. (Silly, silly God.)

When we pray, we are sitting in the living room, and our prayers are toothpicks. Each prayer we lift is a poke at the ceiling, poking into the attic. Poke, poke, poke as we persist in prayer. And with each poke, the ceiling that separates us from the elephants becomes thinner . . . and thinner . . . until plop! A beautiful, perfect elephant lands right in our laps!

Sometimes it is exactly the elephant we imagined and prayed for. But sometimes-- it's a beautiful, unexpectedly colorful elephant, like Elmer.

Sometimes, it just seems we can hardly poke another poke. The box of toothpicks feels nearly empty. That is when we come together as Family and persist.

And then, as we pray and poke together with friends, a second elephant sometimes breaks free at the same time!

Many toothpicks, many prayers-- many elephants.

So the next time you get a big sandwich at the deli, held together by a fancy, frilly toothpick-- stop and think. That toothpick could be the prayer that someone has been waiting for. Go ahead-- poke.

It may begin with a single elephant. But I understand they travel in herds.

Nervous. . . .

People have told me I should start a blog. I have run out of excuses not to.

But I have never done this before, so be nice to me. 

My plan, such as it is, is simply to offer spiritual nuggets on a highly irregular basis, links to stuff I deem worthwhile, reflections on life and on my walk with Jesus the Christ, which may or may not look anything like yours.

And I invite you to stroll with me, comment on what works (or does not work) in this space. We are, after all, in this together, for better or for worse, so we might as well journey together and enjoy the ride.

Elephants can be a somewhat challenging ride, but dependable. They carry your burdens, offer respite from the dry, dusty path you have been wandering. And they come in many sizes, shapes and colors-- if we allow, and if we truly believe.