May 16, 2022
#197 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY
Sunday, April 17, 2022 This is the parable of the live oak tree: There was an old man who loved to sit on his porch and pray. An old live oak tree growing right in front of him would declare the glory of God. The old man even had three patches of blue sky that shone through the tree, which he deemed the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In the winter the old man could not sit on the porch, but he knew it was there. One night there was an ice storm, and the weight of the ice on a huge limb caused it to break off and crash to the ground. The old man surveyed the damage. It won’t be the same, he thought. He returned to the porch in the spring, and the tree was different. The three patches were gone. But he soon realized the storm had merely removed a layer of branches between him and the blue sky. And he prayed just as well.
May 17, 2022
This is sort of a golf one…
#198 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY
Thursday, April 21, 2022 Things have been going so well for me lately–with my wife, with other relationships, with my writing project, with church ministries, even with golf (hitting the ball pretty well lately)–that I feel the encroaching danger of becoming puffed up. This I know: every good thing comes from above; He must increase and I must decrease; love does not seek its own; He is the potter and I am the clay. Amen
May 18, 2022
#199 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY
Wednesday, March 30, 2022 Discouragement is part of the journey. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel like I am moving forward at all. “All is vanity and striving after wind…” –especially when I consider my own feeble efforts to grow in the Lord. Still, one Old Testament verse deserves another: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
May 19, 2022
#200 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY
Friday, April 22, 2022 God put me in a situation where I had a choice to make. Side A: perfectly socially acceptable, no moral qualm, what I wanted to do. Side B: what I knew, deep down, God wanted me to do. I chose B, and Robert Frost’s poem came alive for me–“I chose the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
May 20, 2022
#201 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY
Saturday, April 9, 2022 This has been on my mind all day–God is involved in all the details of my life. I can’t just put Him on hold. Everywhere I turn He is there. O Lord, open my eyes.
May 21, 2022
#202 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY
Thursday, April 13, 2022 I cannot live in the here and now (where God lives) without a strong confidence that the future is going to be fine. I mean fine–I don’t mean okay or “I’ll survive.” Jesus’s advice is not middle-of-the-road: “…have no care for the morrow…” — “Let not your heart be troubled…” — “…will not my Father care for you a thousand times more?” That is radical trust. I can still think about the future and be practical; in fact, I am supposed to. But worry is simply a lack of trust. And it prevents me from living out my true purpose: to love God and enjoy Him forever (right now).
May 22, 2022
This from just yesterday…
#203 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY
Saturday, May 20, 2022 It is such a pleasure for me to see how these young men, who played tennis for me for four years in high school, have turned out 12 years later. They have lives full of purpose and character and love. I know full well that the hand of God has been upon them, and they have responded to His touch. It’s nice to think I might have been a brick in their building–that is the sweetest reward of being a teacher/coach.
(photo assist from Harper and Spice)
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