The Thankful Face of Black Friday

At 4:00 a.m., the alarm jangled me out of a sound sleep. I dragged from my warm bed. Why had I let my daughter talk me into joining the hordes of pre-Christmas shoppers at this ungodly hour? I dressed, fixed my hair and makeup. You bet I wore makeup! Sipped a quick cuppa joe and we were off to the fray.

Rush hour traffic at 4:45 a.m. Parking lots crammed--Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, JC Penneys, Old Navy, World Market, Fred Meyers. We found a parking slot and, slipping past television news cameras, joined sock-shoppers at Fred Meyers--then off to toys and videos.

Long lines coiled in front of every cash register. And the shoppers were . . . friendly and patient, co-conspirators against an angry economy. On this day after Thanksgiving, may I continue to be thankful for:

• health that allows me to get up and go!
• my daughter who prompts me to get out of bed and sally forth!
  
• strangers who embrace one another in their attempts to bring joy to their loved ones!
• God who made us, sustains us, and gives us hope for a future centered on the Giver rather than gifts!

May God bless you this Christmas season and cause you to hunger for a future with Him. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Readers,

I'm taking a holiday break today and hope you are, too.

May you rejoice this day as you count your blessings (maybe even discovering ones you hadn't considered). If you are with family, enjoy them. If your family lives far away, pray for them. If you are all alone, know that God loves you and has promised to never leave you or forsake you.

Many years ago, a young speaker named Ann Kiemel used to delight audiences by singing in her childlike voice, "God loves you and I love you and that's the way it should be." May that be our song today!

May God bless you. He loves you and I love you and that's the way it should be . . . .

Julie

A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 88:8-10

Positioned gracefully across the Book of Psalms is a string of seventy-one pearls, lovely beads of wisdom followed by the admonition SELAH which means, “Pause, think on these things, meditate.”   

Psalm 88:8-10 “You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them.  I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief.  I call to you, O LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you.  Do you show your wonders to the dead?  Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?  Selah.”

Meditation

If this isn’t one sad cry for help!  Read the whole psalm if you can.  The psalmist feels abandoned by everyone, from God on down through his friends. He feels he’s been “set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave” (v. 5).   He says, “The darkness is my closest friend” (v. 18).

Still he cries out to God.  Despite everything, he knows enough not to give up on the only one who can help him.

This is a good lesson for me, for everyone, I suspect.  When we’ve been hurt, when we feel betrayed, we want to give up . . . consider ourselves dead to the world . . . have a mega pity party.  Oh the drama!

It’s also a good lesson to look to God when things are darkest in the world.  He is, after all, the one with the well-earned reputation for “being there.” And he is in a position to change what needs changing, whether that be us or our circumstances.

SELAH

Look up: Psalm 13:1-6; 18:1; 20:1-9; 62:5; 73:25; 118:8;

Hebrews 13:5

A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 88:7

Positioned gracefully across the Book of Psalms is a string of seventy-one pearls, lovely beads of wisdom followed by the admonition SELAH which means, “Pause, think on these things, meditate.”   

Psalm 88:7 “Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.  Selah." 

Meditation

Have there been times when you felt overwhelmed, and hopeless? Perhaps a friend or relative has let you down . . . or an enemy has unleashed his wrath upon you. Ouch! It hurts, doesn't it?

Now consider how you'd feel if the God of the universe, Ruler over land and sea, had unleashed his waves of wrath upon you. You might wonder, "Why? What did I do?" Or perhaps you know all too well what you did.

What is the proper response when you are overwhelmed? It is to run to God, not from him. Think of the words of Job who trusted his Creator so completely he said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him."

Call to mind God's faithfulness toward you in the past, as well as his tender mercies that are new every morning. And remember . . . God only chastens those he loves.

SELAH

Look up: Job 13:15; Psalm 13:1-6; 61:1-8; 119: 75; Lamentations 3:22-25; Hebrews 12:6

A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 87:6

Positioned gracefully across the Book of Psalms is a string of seventy-one pearls, lovely beads of wisdom followed by the admonition SELAH which means, “Pause, think on these things, meditate.”   

Psalm 87:6 “The LORD will write in the register of the peoples: ‘This one was born in Zion.’ Selah.”

Meditation

God considers where we were born.  Some in Zion.  Some in.Zurich.  Others in Albania or Angola.

He cares about all people and he understands that we have had many differing opportunities, often depending on where we were born. Many of his children who have been “last” on earth will receive front-row seats in heaven. Those who have been “first” will need to account for how we invested our talents. God knows our names and our birthplaces, and he writes them in his register of the peoples.

There’s another register of people, the Lamb’s Book of Life.  I want my name written there as well.  In that book are the names of those who were born again, this time not in a place—but in the person of Jesus Christ. Those whose names are written in his book will gather from every nation, every tribe throughout the world,
     living together before his face,
     praising together in that heavenly place,
     whooping it up before the throne of grace,
     one body,
     world without end.
     Amen!

    

SELAH

Look up: Matthew 19:30; Isaiah 43:1; Revelation 21:27; Acts 4:12; John 3:16