Be Here Now

"Be here now". Charlie shared this with me years ago, after a men's retreat. It stuck with me. I've often thought those three words (especially when driving my car). I get distracted. Even in writing this, I accidentally deleted what I wrote and now I am trying again. Where are the words? CRAZY! DISTRACTIONS! The task at hand is put aside by thoughts that yell, DO ME! THINK ME! I need to write...I want to write. But the words keep swirling around in my head. "Be here now" I use it as a catalyst to confront my distraction. But it is also a great three word prayer. God doesn't need a catalyst to be here now. But, I need to say the words to remind me of His presence. How can I trust those three little words to God for my here and now needs. HOW? "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10 Stop...pause...ponder...take a deep breath...be still

Jesus, unfiltered

Jesus, unfiltered This is a sermon series title from Pastor Eric Kapur. Here are my thoughts about this. As I consider the act of "unfiltering" Jesus in a personal way, it seems to start with my prayer life. It is interesting that something happened on Saturday in Landon's baseball game. His team has a player who has emotional and mental challenges. Honestly, he looks like he doesn't have a clue about what he is supposed to do when his team is on the field, defensively. The game before yesterday's game he got so visibly upset he started to walk off the field, close to his left field position. Everything happening to him angered me. He was the only one giving him a bad time. Yet, I felt a questioning anger of why his family put him in such a painful place. He is last in the lineup. He is as tall or taller than Landon but about three times as big. He is mammoth! When he comes up to bat he looks like he could hit the ball a mile each time and for the pitchers on the other team who haven't seen him before, he is intimidating. But in our six games he hadn't hit the ball once, always striking out and walking just once. He just didn't seem to fit. Then, yesterday happened. Before the game started I began a conversation with one of our fans. I didn't know him. After chatting a bit I asked him which player he "belonged to". The name of the player was the boy I just described. His dad then shared a bit about him, where he went to school and about some of his struggles and how they were trying to help him. WOW. "Don't judge, Gini" was my chastising thought. Later in the game I was standing from fatigue and I was behind the home plate area. When this player came to bat, I suddenly felt a strong presence of God. "Please Abba, let him hit the ball" I prayed, feeling very heard. He swung the bat at the pitched ball and WHAM...clear out to the area of the field he positions defensively, hitting the fence. The fans and players went crazy with cheering. He didn't score right then, but did come home on a hit ball by another player. Not only did God give him an amazing hit but also an opportunity to cross home plate! This made my day. I found his dad and gave him a hug. At the end of the game his son came smiling with the GAME BALL, his coach gave him after the game. In Pastor Eric's sermon, the scripture lesson was about Jesus feeding the 5,000+ with two fish and 5 little loaves. Our lesson was what Jesus said to the disciples: "bring the lunch to me". Bring our meager possible means to solve hurts and needs to Jesus...and truly, our answers and means to solve needs ARE MEAGER. All I could do for this young player's pain was pray. My awesome, all seeing, all caring God bent down and heard my plea. And I wept. On the scale of world events and pain and suffering all around me, my prayer would be insignificant to an uncaring, unloving god. But to Abba, that moment in time for this young boy was ALL IMPORTANT. Suddenly, for me, the filter of Jesus was removed to show His tender compassion. And as I write this, I weep again. Oh, how He loves us.

Three Most Beautiful Words Ever Spoken

THE THREE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS EVER SPOKEN - Imagine the satisfaction an artist feels when the last brush stroke is placed; satisfaction an architect feels when the last line is drawn on the plans for a structure; satisfaction a seamstress feels when the last stitch has been sewn on a beautiful garment; satisfaction when an author writes the final word; satisfaction for any creative act, including all of creation. Each of these and any other that may come to mind ends with "It Is Finished" But when Jesus drew His last breath on the cross and spoke "IT IS FINISHED" the foundations of Hell shook and Satan and his demons cringed at the reality of those THREE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS EVER SPOKEN. Remember them. ❤