The Daily D

“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside restful waters; he restores my soul”. Psalm 23:1-3

Some years ago, I went to the mountains of Colorado on retreat. I saw a deer long before he saw me. He was nestled on a soft patch of grass, enjoying the peace of the quiet forest. I did not want to disturb him. Moreover, he seemed more content where he was. I felt the peace I saw in that scene, a sense of contentment.

The retreat was a time for rest, prayer, and meditation; a time to get away from the stress of everyday life. I remember being very stressed out when I arrived. The company I worked for was in danger of going out of business, and I faced the prospect of losing my job.

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“Turn your ear to me, Lord, and hear me.” Psalm 85 (86)

My almost three year old niece, Lola, takes my head into her little hands when she wants to speak to me while I hold her resting on my hip. Those little hands come up and press into my cheeks and she positions my face so that our eyes meet and she is certain that I can hear her.

When she does that, I am reminded of the scripture that God so loves and if He “does” for and takes care of the birds of the air (Matthew 6:26), how much more will He do for His children who love Him. I truly don’t think there is anything I would deny Lola if she asked me–so precious, so earnest, so attentive to what she is trying to convey and wanting to make sure I understand just what she is asking.

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“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” James 1: 17

I am sometimes in awe of the great gifts which God gives us. My wife’s uncle – my mother-in-law’s brother – passed away peacefully late last night with most of his six siblings (one is out of the country at the moment) as well as all of his children and many of his nieces and nephews all present.

And upon hearing the story of how everyone was together with him as he took his final breath – I could only marvel at God’s great gifts to us all – family, friends, love and most importantly life itself.

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“My Sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.” John 10:27

I grew up on a farm around many different animals. By far the most labor-intensive of these were the sheep which required much work and patience. The sheep had to be checked every day; the individual sheep would wander away from the flock and get lost. One of us had to go the field and bring the wandering sheep back to the flock.

Throughout my weekend travels as Bishop of my denomination, I am considered as a shepherd to our Churches. For many years, I have done confirmations, baptisms, first communions, ordinations, weddings and funerals. I am working constantly to bring the lost and forsaken to God. I have learned over the years that being a good shepherd requires patients and kindness.

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“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that God’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

Our daughter was in the emergency room, bleeding and dying. They advised us to say our goodbyes and they moved her to another room for us to do so.

I felt so helpless, this couldn’t be happening . . . my baby was only sixteen! What could I do? I found a room and then fell face down and cried out to God.

I asked God why he would give her to me, only to have her die? I was her dad, but I could not fix this. I could not answer her cry for help. Why? God please don’t take my baby, I cried. Where was my faith? Like Peter, I was sinking in the storm and I cried out . . . and it was then that I suddenly felt God’s peace. His hand touched me and told me it would be all right.

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“The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.” Deuteronomy 28:12

The power of the hand. It moves in every minute, even fidgets in a restless sleep. It occupies the air and space around us. Its fingers direct or count. Those fingers are the spokes of its core, sculpting, reaching for Kleenex, opening a carton of milk, dressing a wound.

Hands toil and wipe tears. They mine the soil and scrub the clothes. They do hard work and they do soft work. They get dry and cracked and burned from the sun. Over time they age and spot. They hold arthritis, and don’t function as freely as before. So one looks at the hand to direct or coax it in one way or another, but it doesn’t go the way it once did.

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“I can do all things through He which strengthened me.” Philippians 4:13

The key to success is to learn how to do what you have been taught and then to believe you can do it. We are never too old to learn new things we just have to have faith in ourselves that we will do what is right. The Bible says He will not put more on us than we can stand so just believe in yourself, trust in God and just see what God has in store for you.

“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.” – Norman Vincent Peale

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“The Maker of the heavens and earth— the Lord is his name— says this: Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable secrets about what is going to happen” Jeremiah 33: 2-3.

What is your definition of prayer? The most common response to that question is “talking to God.” However, the correct answer really should be more like “talking with God.”

Maybe you think I’m being to nitpicky, but there is a huge difference between talking to God and talking with God. Think about it. Conversation, by its definition, requires two-way communication. Otherwise, it’s just one person giving a speech rather than two people conversing.

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“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes.” Psalms 96:11-12

There was a line from one of my favorite movies, Becket from 1964, where Richard Burton’s character Thomas Becket says, after a moment of particular divine revelation, “I don’t think that he’s such a sad God after all.” It is a line that resonated with me, revealing part of God’s nature we should always remember.

God’s love can fill us with joy. We remember the times where he is with us, in both the happy and the empty places we might walk, and the power of knowing that He loves us particularly, intensely and unreservedly, is a sublime generator of the feeling of joy within us whenever we recall it.

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“You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

My wife and I live in Crystal Beach Florida. Every evening people line the shore to see some of the most fantastic sunset one could ever see. The sky reflects the glory of the sun each night in new and glorious way. People stand there in silence and aw staring at this event of nature. In fifteen years I have never seen two sunsets alike and each seems to say look at me if you think this is something wait till tomorrow.

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