Good Morning!

As for me --to You, LORD, I shouted,

and in the morn my prayer would greet You.

~ Psalm 88:14 (Alter)

Christmas morning, circa 1998. My children are young, and the level of anticipation is cresting. They are stirring after a restless night of sleep and I am, bleary-eyed, making my way down the stairs. No one moves until I say! I call out. I quickly dial the phone and get my mother moving from her house a short distance away to ours. I start the coffee --a personal necessity --and begin to create an atmosphere, flipping on lights as I go. Tree lights? Check! Lights in the windows? Check! Lights on all of the kitschy decor placed throughout the house? Check! One last check on the gifts and stockings. The back door opens. Nana is here. And Christmas may officially begin!

As I read the above psalm this morning, I thought about the anticipation of speaking with God, of welcoming Him into our messes and sacred spaces. In the morn my prayer would greet You. Imagine God awakening to the sound of your voice. You are so anxious to speak to Him, you awaken early to softly call Him to consciousness with your worship. Or perhaps, you are still going strong in your prayers and songs from the late hours of the previous night; you just can't seem to stop! You long for Him to round the corner or reach the bottom of the stairs. Look what I did for You! You are worth all of this! This is hyperbole, for sure, for the God of Israel never slumbers nor sleeps. But what an amazing challenge to us! Hello, God! It's me. I've been waiting for You. I was so excited, I couldn't sleep! I created an atmosphere to welcome You. 

What sort of atmosphere would we create? An "atmosphere of peace" --softly playing worship music, the cat purring softly beside you, maybe a candle burning? Not necessarily. Those things may help us be present, but not God. God is there amidst the driving rain, the crashing waves, and the howling winds. God is present in the pain and the chaos, the grief and the fear, the tears and the laughter. He is not distracted by the circumstances. He brings the peace. He IS the peace. In our hearts we "set the stage": desperation, longing, worship of God as our only Rock, our only Help, our only Source and Salvation. The atmosphere is a heart laid bare, transparent and honest. The atmosphere of a heart humble and needy. The atmosphere of willingness, openness to what God will do. The atmosphere of thirst, hunger for Him and His Word. We welcome Him because He alone has the words of eternal life! And we anticipate His perfect, wise, and good intervention!  

Midweek: Looking Out for the Good Guys (2021)

Welcome to Hump Day! I'm celebrating a bit because the situation mentioned at the start of today's reprint (from 2021) has long since been rectified --and better than I could have imagined! Please know that God is good no matter what the answer to prayer. And I am still praying for the "good guys." I hope you will too.

Just the other day I was telling someone about a situation that is at the very top of my prayer list. With every ounce of assurance and an almost angelic glow, I boasted, "God is going to do something amazing," Barely had the words left my tongue, when his face crinkled and his lip curled into a sneer. "He's not," he rebuked. "That's just the way it is; that's the way the world is. He's not going to do anything." And he walked off in disgust. His level of disdain came as a shock to me. My faith has been the target of his irreverent stand-up for years. He is "above" belief in an invisible deity of any sort. He believes he is "too intelligent" to submit to any higher power. And he definitely thinks God is a hoax perpetrated by the church to gain control over "little people" who are too weak to survive on their own. But the sort of bitterness and repugnance he exhibited on this occasion was new. 

Despite his derision, the guy is generally likeable. He has compassion for animals. He doesn't steal, or drink and drive. He takes good care of his family. He tries to take good care of his body. Without even realizing, I began to excuse his comments. How was he raised? How had he been hurt, to become so cynical? Surely, he didn't really mean it. The plain truth is, however, this guy is a God-hater; his words are only the evidence of rebellion within his heart. When he stands before God, his upbringing will not be an issue; who or what hurt him will be irrelevant. All his good deeds, his beautiful children, his manicured lawn, his promotions, his sensible behavior -- will count for nothing. His response to the Gospel is the only thing that will result in an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ or condemn him to hell. Right now, his response is pretty clear, and hell is his destination. But it doesn't have to be that way.

I tell you this because, I think, far too often Christians fall into the trap of believing -- at least on some level -- Satan's big lie: you just have to be a good person. We may not believe it for ourselves, but when it comes to preaching the Gospel to everyone we meet, do we skip over "the good guys," the ones that seem to have it all together, the ones who lead pretty respectable lives? As I've said, this guy has ridiculed me for my beliefs, but I guess it was just a little easier to hear him poke fun at me than say something so hateful about a good, good God. This guy has always been honest with me; I've always known where he stood. But his latest response has brought an awareness of his poverty I never had before. His latest response has shown me just how urgent his need is. His latest response means I can no longer see him as anything but lost, I can no longer see my role as anything but a watchman, and I can no longer speak only of what I believe, but I must speak of what he needs to believe. His latest response has caused me to be just a bit more mindful of, prayerful for, and truthful toward "the good guys."

Do You Care About Fair?

Cars in the drive-thru sat three abreast. I pulled behind the car in the outside lane, leaving myself the opportunity to rethink the decision to not go inside. Now, let me preface the rest of this scene by saying, this bank is notoriously understaffed and seems to have an incredibly high turnover rate. This, of course, means long lines and long waits.  

Maybe it won't be so bad, I thought. After all, I'm really only fourth in line.

Another row of cars began to fill in beside me. All three lanes were now two-deep with customers waiting to do their banking. 

The car ahead of me pulled off.

Terrific! Once the first cars in the other two lanes are helped, I should be next.

The car in the middle lane pulled away. The car in the inside lane pulled away. I awaited the friendly voice of a teller. 

And there it was! But it was coming through the speaker in the middle lane. Huh? 

Good morning! What are we doing today? This time, the voice emanated from the speaker in the inside lane! Oh, come on now, I thought. 

I watched as canisters shot through the tube and into the cradle outside each open car window. It seemed like minutes ticked away before the speaker at my window crackled and a cheery voice, clearly oblivious to my despair greeted me. Fair is important to us.

But is fair really what we long for? I mean, if you were to head downtown, do the man-on-the-street sort of thing, and begin interviewing random folks --What do you want most out of life? or What do you want most in this world? --would "fair" even be in the top ten of answers? Things in this world can be pretty unfair, that's for sure, but why does no one demand fairness above all of those other things? Joy, family, winning the lottery, healing, world peace. Fairness usually comes to mind when we are being treated unfairly.

America is a country where most of us --I think --believe "fair" is something to which we are entitled. All men are created equal, etc., etc. When we don't receive fair treatment, we raise our voices, we demand it of others. And, if you're sitting in the drive-thru at the bank, chances are a voice comes back at you through the speaker apologizing profusely for neglecting your rights, you continue with your transaction, and you go about your day, maybe relating your story to a person or two, but generally, forgetting the incident. For a country that alludes to fairness in its founding principles, we have certainly learned to deal with the unfairness that comes with existing in this world. When we don't experience fairness, we are --whether on social media or behind our backs --met with callous judgment. Life's tough, get a helmet. Life isn't fair, get over it. No one goes through life thinking everything is in actuality, fair. In fact, right now, I'm being met with someone (I know you're out there) saying, What's your point?

That is my point. God is fair. Totally, completely, perfectly fair. And yet, it is on Him we lay the most judgment, the most responsibility for the unfairness we experience. How many times have you heard of people who turned their back on God because He didn't handle things as they imagined? Reality fell short of their expectations, and it was God who was deemed unfair, unjust. All of our comparisons --MaryBeth got the promotion and I have worked for it for years, and The Davises have a perfect lawn and they don't even aerate --are fallacies, meant to distract us from who God is and what He is doing. Instead of praying for others or rejoicing with them, instead of gratitude for things God so graciously gives us --things He, in His wisdom and lovingkindness has determined are best for us --we are like petulant and spoiled children, complaining and looking over the fence to things that aren't meant for us nor good for us. Fair is ridiculously important to us when we believe we are being treated unfairly; when we don't get, things must be unfair. We suddenly become gods with full knowledge of what is best for us, what we should have, what we are owed, and how quickly it is to be delivered. But if fairness is going to be important to us, we should completely and with the utmost clarity understand what we are due and what we have been given. Only God is truly fair. And only God, through Jesus Christ, has created a way by which His fairness is satisfied and our lives are spared. We are, without Christ, deserving of death. Whatever blessing we receive in this life is not only fair but undeserved, bestowed on us by our Father who knows us better than we know ourselves and loves us as much as the dear Son He sent for our redemption. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!