What He Gives is Enough

By the time you read
this, we’ll know whether the cancer in Jerry’s prostate has spread.  He’ll
be two days post-surgery. That is, if Windows Live Writer publishes this post
I’m writing on Tuesday, on Friday. New technology to me, in a new computer. Am
I doing it right? We’ll see. Soon I’ll install Windows 7 and maybe everything
will change again.

Will our lives change
if we’ve found the cancer has spread? Yes. We’ll sign up for radiation or
hormone therapy or whatever else the doctors order.

And yet,Forest sunbeams no. We’ll
hold each other morning and night and pray for our day and our sleep. We’ll
enjoy our new Skype account that lets us see an image of our grandboy while we
talk. We’ll take evening walk-and-talks. Somehow, walking together yields more
connection than sitting together.  

We’ll keep trusting
God. We’ll look for Romans 8:28 about God working for good in everything (for
those who love him and are called according to his purpose) to be made manifest
again, right in the middle of our days.

Dozens of people are
praying. Surrounded, we feel peaceful, hopeful, the day before. We hope to keep
that peace whatever happens.

God doesn’t give us
guarantees. He gives us an unchangeable “I am with you always.” He gives the
example of Job: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” He gives us grace
for the day and hope for the future. What he gives is enough.

Thank you,
Papa-God, for being enough for us.

 

Resist Distraction

"My dad always taught me to stay focused," the twenty-something contestant on Fox’s "Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader," said, as she stopped the play. "$25,000 is enough for me."

We’ve driven up Boulder Canyon road into the Colorado mountains and seen mountain climbers hanging from the rock face above us.

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Jesus "set his face like flint" towards Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51) What’s the commonality? Focus. The woman, the mountain climber, and the Son of God understood how to resist distraction. 

The contestant’s father’s words flashed brighter than the glaring game board. The climbers move with careful attention to each toehold, toward the pinnacle. The man of sorrows kept walking toward the place of deepest sorrow–and greatest victory. 

What helps you stay focused? These examples help me.  Money is not the ultimate good, goals are worth striving for, and sometimes we choose to walk into deep pain in order to gain substantial victory.

Father, we need grace today, in the midst of myriad distractions, to stay focused on your path for our life.

A Sucker-Punched God

Forgiveness is the core of love. When we say Jesus loves us, the center of what we mean is he forgives us. Our detachment from him causes pain. Our indifference, our rebellion, our sin, sucker-punches him. 

Though he has every right to slap our face, he straightens up, smiles and extends his arms.

From the beginning, he knew what he would pay and considered us to be worth the price.

We don’t see what God sees. He says that the sight of his heavenly light will compensate for every pain we’ve endured here.  I’m counting on that.

And in the meantime, I’m counting on his promised presence with me through anything. I’m counting on redemption of every pain. I’m counting on deliverance from every earthly evil and being brought into his heavenly kingdom.  (Matt. 28:20, Ro. 8:28, 2 Tim. 4:18)

To say he loves us doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll fulfill all our wishes. Nor will he “come through” for us in every way we want him to. He may not give us the job we want, the spouse we long for, nor the house we are praying for.

It’s deeper, broader, wider than that. His love gives us what we really need. A God who extends his arms in spite of the pain in his gut.

Jesus. You knew from the beginning and yet you began. Worthy.