May 30th - August 13th - Reflection

Video Link
http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=b254c26af82a010ddfd2

Readings
2 Samuel 15:23-Nehemiah 7:73a
I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. (2 Kings 20:5b)

John 18:25-1 Corinthians 8:13
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35)

Psalm 119:113-(all the way around and back again)33:11
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Psalms 30:5b)

Proverbs 16:10-21:10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe. (Proverbs 18:10)

Reflection
It's been a while. It's been a while since I have written. Sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes illness, sometimes vacation, sometimes family, sometimes just the business of life gets in the way. So it's been a while. In that brief period of time I have cried, I have laughed, I have been loved and loved. In that time so much seems to happen, yet in another respect, really nothing new has happened under the sun.

As the video demonstrates, life sometimes can take one down the slippery slope. I have had times in the recent past when I have felt as if I had no control of the slide I was taking. That slide down that hill can be quick and surprising and completely out of my control. Even when I think that I have some control, maybe I am just deceiving myself. Some things we control and some things seem to control us. This is how the past few months have been for me. Possibly as I slide down that slope I could steer my direction. But in this case the attempt to steer would result in a direction off the path that would have an undesirable result. So you let it go. You let it go and give the control over to a
God you have come to trust and believe in. You let go of your selfish control of life and give it to God. Attempts to control have resulted in my own sinful nature of taking my life into my own hands. But my life is not my life. My life is God's life. God is the gift of life and my life is God's life. I finally begin to understand that nothing can separate me from God. Not even illness, or pain or tears. My prayer rises to God in a childlike plea. And then it happens...

The flight through the air. Absolutely no control. God is in control. I have given all control. My wife asked me at one point if I was afraid. No, I wasn't afraid. There was no need for fear. The One in control will always care for His child. No matter the outcome, He loves me and I love Him and all will be well...whatever the outcome appears to any of us. So I fly through the air. A time that seems to be beyond time. A place that is surely the arms of God.

It seems like God always has a calling. God always has a plan. God always has a purpose for life. SPLASH!! Into those baptismal waters of God's loving grace. Does a baby or a newly saved Christian feel this same splash? After a time of nothingness and no control...SPLASH! Here I am in that pool of life giving water. Any slight deviation in that trip through the air or even the trip down the slide would have led to death. But instead, with God in control, SPLASH! What a celebration. What a time for new life. God heals in so many ways. God continues to clean me up and prepare me for the work He has planned. What a life and what a gift, that baptismal SPLASH! Time to celebrate new life. Time to live and love. Time to let God control. Time to live.

SPLASH! Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, I give You thanks for Your love and care. I give You thanks for Your gracious SPLASH of new life, today, tomorrow and forever. ---Amen