Today begins the first installment of this segment that is called “Perspectives“. I have asked numerous writers, pastors and bloggers to contribute to http://www.pastorsponderings.org. The last week of each month will be devoted to the perspectives of other writers in the hopes that we might all expand our horizons. I am very exited to begin, so without further adieu, welcome to “Perspectives” week!
I am a child of the King
Nothing more important
nothing more refined
His song within me sings
The redemptive sonnet
Sight restored to the blind.
I am made for His kingdom
Where the living water flows
And His light will ever shine
From here eternal freedom
will ever be mine bestowed
He will ever be mine.
I am a son of the Creator
His praise be on my lips
His song of the redeemed
will forever within me stored
His love encompass and eclipsed
Earth’s all surpassing dreams!
It’s 5 degrees outside today, I’m just glad there’s an indoor waterpark in the area that one can sit in 80 degree temps and pretend it’s Summer again.
I admit I’ve been addicted to the show “Deadliest Catch” for a few years now.
It’s crazy, wild and it truly is a rugged dangerous living.
I was watching one episode where one of the skippers had to bring their fishing vessel into port because of a mechanical issue. The seas were raging and the weather was not desirable, but they had to get to harbor for safety and repairs. Of course the tv show paints it with great drama and suspense, but in this instance they were extremely worried about getting to the docks and getting out of the storm.
Are you in need of getting out of the storm in your life today?
Has the storm been brewing around you for a while now, swirling and ebbing, crashing against your vessel and threatening to capsize you? Do you feel threatened and exposed, fearful of being washed away?
we all need safe harbor! I think the Apostle Paul felt this way many times in the midst of his persecution and imprisonment. He even knew a little bit about being literally shipwrecked (this happened to him not one or two times, but THREE times!). He even wrote about it; “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Safe harbor is vital for all of us to have. Do you have a safe harbor? Safe harbor needs to be a place where you can go and find rest. A place that will shelter you from the storms. A place where you know the storms of life can’t harm you. Jesus said;
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Safe Harbor is available –
But we have got to be willing to act on it…to actually go to the safe harbor. We have to be willing to admit that these storms are more than we can handle. Admit that we need help and our strength just isn’t enough to get us through what we’re going through.
He waits for us to come to Him. He doesn’t just want us to come to Him when we’re in danger…but that’s a start. Sometimes we come to Him only after we’ve hit rock bottom. Sometimes we come to Him only after all of our other resources dry up. Yet He is always faithful! He is always available.
May I offer you a little ticket to the safe harbor? 
It’s just a gentle word of advice and help. It’s a small thing that I’ve learned I’m still learning…
Solitude with God:
It might sound kind of funny, but being silent before the Creator of the Universe really and truly helps! There is no better place to go than to God for guidance and for a re-connection with Him.
We live in a world where we are surrounded by sounds and noise every day. There are distractions in our homes and in our workplaces…so how do we find these moments of solitude with God? Is it even possible?
Yes it is! But the real question then becomes are we truly willing to seek out these moments with God? Are we prepared to sit in silence before Him? Truly finding solitude in God’s safe harbor requires us to devote or set aside purposeful time with Him. Without our dedication to the practice of solitude we will find ourselves hopelessly bored and defeated by it. You have to prepare your mind and your life so that you can actually sit in silence before Him.
Anything worth doing takes work. An Olympian can’t simply show up to an Olympic event without first having spent countless months, days even years practicing and training. So it is with the spiritual discipline of solitude. It’s called a discipline for a reason.
I started with hope –
because I think hope begins things
makes us sing…
but faith and love…they have to be included too.
they just kind of go together don’t they?
You really can’t have one
without
the
Every one needs,
craves, desires,
hopes, wishes,
dreams, aspires
yearns, waits
for 
Songs are written about it
poems are rhythmically charged with it
countless books bleed from the heart of love.
How do we 
?
How do we
|
hug, take/hold in one’s arms, hold, cuddle, clasp to one’s bosom,clasp, squeeze, clutch;….
How do we flourish and thrive in it Love makes the world go around…not money, not fortune and fame…but
It shines in the darkness, paints over our mess helps us confess blesses us…love…
captivates, motivates, escalates, elevates…us.
Love always perseveres! Always, always, always, always…always.
Is it worth finding at all?
True love, God’s love…
It begins here…ends here… If we find it here, and cherish it here depend on it here
Then from here to —————————————–> There
Love will be. Real authentic, no hidden agendas  No… From the source of Love, God. Almighty
We will
to the only real source of love.
Find love today. He is waiting.
With arms wide 
Open.
This. Is. Love. |
Begin with this one simple truth:
You are loved! You matter to God! You are important to Him! He loves you so very much! From this point of reference, may you find Him, and find love!
(These thoughts were written specifically for “Pastorsponderings.org” but they are free so that others might find love and hope through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen and to God be there glory!)
It is at wits-end that God is there
but He is also there when tears fall
before you call, He has heard your heart
from the start, you’re never alone.
Sometimes like Elijah depressed and dejected
emotionally high yet fear has boldly infected
the soul with a broken heart inside
waiting for God to show up as you hide…
no, not fire, or earthquake He’s in
but His still small voice, He knows where you’ve been
you might feel weak and powerlessly alone
but find strength, He will come
He won’t leave you alone,
Hold on, don’t you quit, or lose sight
See, here He comes with power and might
don’t lose fight, don’t believe the lie
the strength you now have, comes from on high.
You don’t need to call down fire from above
you don’t need to have visions to receive His love
but faithfulness in spite of the place
His rescue comes in full as does His grace.
Sometimes this means of grace
is a long drawn-out humble confession
other times our cynicism needs to be
brutally murdered, quartered and beheaded.
Our human eyes are so frail and poor
blocking the wonders, the majesty – His love.
Sometimes this means of grace
falls into our laps, haphazardly
and quite by surprise.
We realize how quickly life can change
we attempt to rearrange on our own
but fall so terribly flat on our faces
we can’t win these spiritual races
in their places we need His grace.
Sometimes this means of grace,
blanket heavy, warms us from the cold
boldly plucking our guilt from frozen
finger tips
while we utter from our lips
the prayers we’ve been taught
yet only when His soothing hands
touch our skin do we ever let
it reach our hearts…
How damned we are without it.
how utterly wasted away
frail worn and dirtied from the fray…
how damned we are without it.
Did you know it was lost?
There are times when faith is misplaced or spent on the wrong kinds of things.
It can consume us…
We place too much faith in…
this: 
thinking if we just had a little more of it we’ll be happier and better off
but it doesn’t ever seem to satisfy our longing for more.
Sure it staves off the hunger for a while, but soon…
we hunger for more, and so our faith
in money is just never satisfied.
Other times we place our faith in
friendship.
Sure we need friendships, and relationships.
We need to laugh and to cry and to have people in whom we
can confide…
but…
when our friends become our faith
when we would do anything for their attention
when faith turns into an unhealthy obsession
at some point
These friends are NOT going to always be there for you…
and so…
your faith in friends gets…shattered.
Finding faith in government or power is also equally devastating.
We can pour our souls into following a political candidate
or campaigning for a specific cause
and these are can be good things…
but it these faiths in government
and
power
and
causes
consume us
then we are no better than when we began to place our faith here.
Real faith.
Real devotion
Real relationships
begin and end with the
God wants so desperately for us
find our faith in Him.
Faith isn’t some
wish list
or dream
Faith can be found.
The question is
are you prepared to look?
(These thoughts are ideas were created specifically for “Pastorsponderings.org” for the expressed desire to intrigue, motivate and compel us to search for our own relationship with Christ. This is free to share and use so that God’s message may be spread and heard. May the Lord have all the glory and honor!)
I was sitting at breakfast,
my head full,
cotton and long forgotten dreams,
stuffed to the seams… only showing in the dulling
sunlit morning.
I pulled blankets of coffee
down my throat,
like snow has become
winter’s frozen alabaster coat…
Squeezing five more minutes
out of repine and of rest…
I think I like my evenings the best.
I burned my mouth a time or two
stewing over teeming cups, my coffee black
my words catching in my teeth…
it’s hard to find our way back (sometimes)
from the time we wished we’d cherished more.
I always seem to find closed doors
dragging my feet on this dirty floor
i’m helplessly cold in fact.
But with the sunlight, my composure
and my fight
breaks a resolution in my stubborn roots
scuffing my boots, I pull on the day
and pray the evening
she takes me back
again.
Sometimes it’s a hopeless world around us and all anyone can seem to do is just survive.
I don’t want to merely survive,
I want to bloom and grow and thrive in the place(s) that God has placed me.
Sometimes though I think that we all can just sort of settle for the “just good enoughs”.
I’m not talking about materialism or stuff but about our life circumstances and our hopes and dreams….
you see
when we were just kids
We dreamed. We welcomed imagination. We hoped to become, and in that becoming the sky was the limit.
We weren’t weighed down by endless doubts, or the “not good enoughs” or the “I can’ts”…
we just imagined and dreamed big dreams…
but…
over time…
we started to believe what others thought about us.
over time…
we bought into the lies that this world told us.
over time…
we accepting the truths of the fallen, instead of the truths of the risen.
So, for just a second, will you accepted this breath?
Will you accept this gift of hope again?
Will you take these written words to heart…
and believe again?
Here is the hope that I have for you for me, for us
today…
This is what I know HOPE to be:
H.elping us
O.pen our eyes to the
P.ower of
E.ternity
This isn’t something readily accepted. This isn’t something generally practiced…even though flowery speeches and whole sections of bookstores are devoted to “self-help”…they can fall short.
Hope lifts our eyes.
Helps us see beyond what this earth
has taught us to know.
When we can begin to look up, accept divine help…
our eyes can become truly open to the possibilities again.
The power
God’s power, brings us closer,
so much closer
to the way things were created to be
in the first place.
Don’t be limited by your hopes and dreams…find hope…
and….
let it….
set…
you…
Pastor's Ponderings 