.:. Ken's Live Journal: November 2011

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thanksgiving Gifts

It’s Thanksgiving Day…or at least it was when I commenced writing this. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, home-grown corn, and more awaits us just around the corner. Diana’s sister, our nephew and a recent arrival from San Francisco (talk about culture shock) will put their feet under our table for this feast.

In anticipation I’ve been reading in One Thousand Gifts. And continue to work on my own list. 106. Old towns with character 140. The roar of white water 165. Seeing our children curled up reading a good book 185. Heart to heart talks 202. Pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving Day breakfast.

In the book Ann Voskamp engages us with this quote, “One act of thanksgiving, when things go wrong with us, is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclinations.” In this particular chapter she contemplates her dilemma and our dilemma of seeing gifts in the difficulties.

Yesterday I bumped into a close friend in Walgreens. We hugged. Then we talked. She is dealing with some health issues, so is her husband. Their daughter is overcoming some mighty big obstacles too. As we were saying our goodbyes, she asked if I had heard Laura Story’s song Blessings. I hadn’t. Now I have.

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can't satisfy?

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

I’ll finish up with this perspective from another of my favorite writers, “Honestly I think that I really do not begin to understand suffering, but perhaps seeing it from God’s perspective is the first step. I have learned in past months that He can be trusted. On the other hand it is beginning to dawn on me that the Holy Spirit must make truth alive in my heart. Just studying His Word, discerning where I am wrong, and mentally assenting is not enough. If I am to understand and live the truth, then it must be the Spirit that illumines and changes.”

Listen to "Blessings" by Laura Story

Simple Delights - These are some of the desserts Maria and Christina provided for the tasting on Saturday. Contact them for holiday orders.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Breakfast In Narnia

We started having a Narnian breakfast years ago. Soon after reading of Lucy’s visit with Mr. Tumnus, we began serving soft-boiled eggs, toast and kippered herring to go along with our tea. It’s a tradition that’s hung around in our family for a long time. This last weekend we invited friends over and took the Narnian breakfast to a whole new level.

The table was loaded with all the standard foods along with bacon, tater tots and an English ginger cake with whipped topping. A lamplight served as a signpost for the entrance to our home. Once inside a wardrobe door (creatively painted by Maria and Christina) opened up into a row of garments and led into Mr. Tumnus home. There tables were set in front of the blazing fire, multiple candles lit the room and the mantle was decorated with books, scrolls and a drawing of Mr. Tumnus’ father. Such great fun!

What a great memory maker and a reminder of the kingdom insights C.S. Lewis is able to delicately interweave into his Chronicle of Narnia Series. The most pointed of these of course is Aslan the Lion who is all-powerful, free and good. And who sacrifices His life for Edmund a “son of Adam” in order to rescue Edmund from the claim of the White Witch. Death cannot hold Him and the stone table is broken at Aslan’s resurrection. It’s all a great reminder of Christ’s life and the reality of His deeper work within us.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Worshipful Thoughts

While we were in Mexico, we heard of a church that places a very high emphasis on worship. They have no outreach programs but have grown from 17 to 4000 people. The pastor of the church explains it this way, "If 17 people go into the street and look up, what do those who are around them do?" I know the answer to this one. When our youth group visited New York years ago we would look up and watch with mischievous amusement as passers-by did the same.

I can't help believe that if we let the Spirit examine our lives, worship our Father in holiness and lift Christ up that He will draw others to Himself. Let the worship begin. Not only in a church service but all the time as the Psalmist encourages us.

“It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night…” Psalm 92:1-2

“I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.” Psalm 63:4,6

“They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.” Psalm 89:16

“I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.” Psalm 34:1

“Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.” Psalm 96:2

Speaking of worship, who are the Charles Wesleys, Fanny Crosbys, Isaac Watts and Ira Sankeys that give expression to our worship today? You will find people like Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Darlene Zschech, Robin Mark, and David Crowder writing and leading the way for our generation.

Matt Redman has written a book on worship called Facedown in which he challenges us, "When we face up to the glory of God, we soon find ourselves facedown in worship...When we catch a vision of the whole Christ, it commands a response from the very depths of our being...It is worship with a price, a living sacrifice.”

Cathedral Cafe in Fayetteville

Above Left: Cross inside Gatlinburg UMC
Top: Colorado during our May visit last year

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Why I Pray

I ran across a treasure trove last Friday while looking for a local business. In a manner of “coincidence” I stopped by the library to ask for directions. There on the front porch receiving no one’s attention were six boxes of used books. Not being a person who can pass up a possible “find”, I edged over with hopeful expectation. Picking up the first book I was delighted to discover it was a Christian title, so was the next and the next. I had stumbled onto the castoffs of a church library. “They are free, take a box full” the librarian said. I obliged her. It’s the kind of discovery that makes you wished you had a three day vacation in a quiet little town with a good coffee shop and homemade sandwiches.

Among the “finds” I walked away with was The Normal Christian Life, The Calvary Road, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret and The Revival We Need. Treasures one and all. But the one that won the prize for first read was How I Can Make Prayer More Effective by Herbert Lockyer. He reminds me, “The Church was born in prayer meeting; and living in such an atmosphere, she turned the world upside-down (Acts 1:14). Read the book! Whenever the saints prayed, something happened.” And of praying with others, “It has been said that a man is only half of himself, his friends are the other half of him. How true this is in respect to prayer. There are times when a person can labor on his own; at other times a team is needed.”

I’m not sure I’m all that effective in prayer, but I pray anyway. Here are a few reasons why:

I pray not because God gives me everything I want but everything I need.
I pray because He does it on His timetable not mine.
I pray because I cannot not pray.
I pray because if I didn’t the rocks, trees, stars and whales would cry out.
I pray because I want to be near God.
I pray not because it will change the world but because it will change me.
I pray because I believe.
I pray because somewhere in the corridors of eternity I will understand.
I pray because Jesus prayed.