When Mountains Don't Move

The most frustrating part of walking with God is that sometimes we arrive at the foot of the mountain of trouble we have been approaching and despite our earnest prayers for a way over, under or through the mountain, it just stands there, like the immovable force we feared it would be.

How we respond in that moment defines the rest of our journey.  Do we give up on God because we think God has given up on us? Because we doubt God really is?  As I have tried to help people find their way through these questions at the foot of their respective mountains I have started using some song lyrics which speak to my heart.  At first I thought that the words seemed trite, like making excuses for God.  But then, as I tried to pray them and live them as a response to the ‘mountains’ I have been praying about, I find them to be like a ‘third’ answer to prayer.  I would of course love it if all of the mountains would move in response to my prayers.  I accept that sometimes the answer which appears as a ‘no’ is really a ‘yes’ that is a better outcome than I could imagine.  But this ‘third answer’ brings comfort to my faith as well.

When the answer is not ‘yes’ or ‘no’; when God says, ‘trust in Me’; I wonder if this is the faith that Jesus told us would move mountains?          

When You don't move the mountains
I'm needing You to move
When You don't part the waters
I wish I could walk through
When You don't give the answers
As I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You
I will trust in You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_aVFVveJNs

Songwriters: Lauren Daigle / Michael Farren / Paul Mabury

Trust In You lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Essential Music Publishing, Capitol Christian Music Group

The Importance of Breathing In Baseball (and other pursuits)

When a rookie baseball player makes his Major League debut it is worth the watch.  Hitters can dazzle with a first-ever swing for a home run.  Fielders can make a highlight reel play.  But the MLB debut of a pitcher is really special.  No opposing hitter has yet seen his ‘stuff’, giving him little extra advantage.  But the nerves can get to the most hardened of players.  Which is why the advice given to Freddy Peralta by his Milwaukee Brewers Pitching Coach is priceless. Freddy describes his coach’s counsel like this:

"The pitching coach just told me to smile, breathe and pitch. So that was what I did." -- Peralta

Freddy Peralta, 21 years young, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning of his 2018 debut and along the way he tallied 13 strikeouts. That is not good. It is great. It is elite-level pitching. Only five pitchers since 1908 (110 years!) have struck out at least 13 batters in a first start. See what happens when you apply the coach’s advice to your God-given talent?

As I listen to people relate the burdens and challenges of their lives I see that this coaching advice applies in most scenarios. The next crisis I confront I am going to try to channel ‘Freddy’ on the mound facing down All-Star hitters. “I can do this. Smile, breath, pitch; repeat.”  Perhaps Jesus was maybe the first to give this wise counsel. As he prepared to leave his friends and ascend to Heaven he told them to wait for the “breath’, the ‘wind’, for the Holy Spirit to appear. “You can be and build the Church I am leaving you to invent, but remember to let the Breath enter you first, and then, just breathe.” This is what Pentecost celebrates.

If you feel like this just cannot apply to you, then recall the promise that God’s Breath will create and renew you. (Ps. 104:30)  Or sing the last lines of this song of hope: “Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again/I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again” (Breath Again Songwriters: Sara Bareilles Breathe Again lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC)

Let the Breath enter you and you will conquer your opponent, you will achieve the victory.  Just smile, breathe, pitch.

Celebrating Birth Days

She is not as old as the calendar says she is.  Her quick wit and infectious smile belie her nearing the century mark (she is ‘really close’, but I am sworn to secrecy on how close!)

I had the opportunity to visit my dear old friend (meaning ‘long-time friend’) on her birthday, May 10, 2018.  I mention the date and year because this date is Ascension Day, the day the Church celebrates the return of Jesus in bodily form to the right hand of the Father, making way for the Spirit’s Pentecost arrival. I shared the text for Sunday’s sermon, where Jesus prays near the end of his earthly journey:  “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.” (John 17:11 NIV)

We smiled at our good fortune in having Pastor Donna’s upside down cake to share for this double celebration. And we talked about how fitting it was that, on this her “___th” birthday, she could have her mind directed to the joy which comes from knowing Jesus ascended from earth to heaven. And why, we discussed, could the departure of someone so loved be a source of joy to his friends? Well, why did Jesus ascend? To go to prepare a place for you, my friend! If it were not so, he wouldn’t have told us, Jesus says.

“Is my birthday always on Ascension Day?”, she wondered. I explained that, no, it was not. In fact, it is pretty rare for May 10 to be the Thursday which is the 40^th day of Easter and 10 days before Pentecost.  “Well,” she said, “ it won’t happen again in my life time.” (pause…smile) “At least it better not!” (I told you she had a quick wit.)

“…I say these things…so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” (v. 13)

And on this day on which we celebrate my friend’s first birth, and anticipate her second birth, we saw in each other’s eyes joy.

O happy day.

Painting Jesus

“Illustrator/painter Gustave Dore, one of the patron saints of the DreamWorks team of Spielberg/Katzenberg/Geffen, was handed a painting of Jesus just finished by one of his students.   Asked for his critique, Dore studied it, his mind searching for the right words. At last he handed it back to the student.

‘If you loved him more,’ he said, ‘you would have painted him better.’”  (From the files of Leadership/Copyright © 2018 by the author or Christianity Today/PreachingToday.com.)

How is your painting of Jesus, the one that is your life, coming along?  Could it show a little more love?

Some days I think I would like to start over, but I know that I don’t get a new canvas. No ‘starting over’ in this class.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t keep on trying to fix up my painting. I have time to put a few more strokes on this canvas:

To soften the hard edges.

To brighten the dark corners.

To show in the corners of the mouth more joy.

To reveal in the crow’s feet of the eyes, more ‘I believe.’