shachah

I have to say that I am doing quite a bit of reading this year. I may not retain all of what I read, but I do remember some of what I read. I am currently reading a book entitled, "Seven Words of Worship". So far it has been an interesting read. I just finished a section that recalled how Abraham chose to worship in what was called, "a crisis of belief". In the Book of Genesis, Abraham is instructed by God to offer up his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Now, as a father, I would have to sit and think about this for a while; even after hours, maybe days of prayer. But, the scripture tells us that the next morning Abraham set out for the top of the mountain with his son.

Did you know that the first time the word "worship" shows up in the Bible is during this crisis in Abraham's life? "The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you" (Gen. 22:5) Abraham is facing an unbelievable crisis, too much for anyone to even try to imagine, and at the same time he is planning to worship with his son. He has faithfully placed his crisis in God's hands and is already assured of the outcome...."we'll come back".

The Hebrew word for worship that is used in this passage, is shachah. This word is used more than 100 times in the Old Testament, and it is a worship that is done by bowing, kneeling, stooping, or lying on the ground before God. It symbolizes that the created is responding to the Creator........."the lesser is responding to the One who is clearly greater". I can't help but think that maybe in our worship today, we have limited ourselves to just the activity of singing songs to God, and have missed shachah; a worship that requires a physical action.....a realization of who God is and what He has done for us. I'm sure that not everyone is comfortable with bowing, kneeling, or even lying facedown on the ground before God; and I'm not saying that you have to. I do feel that the condition of one's heart will direct our worship; and a heart that is filled with the love and mercy of Jesus Christ will cause one to worship beyond the singing of songs....even on bad days ....... even in a crisis.

interrupted

A couple of weeks ago, Karen and I were enjoying one of those days-off that seem to go by so fast. You know the days I'm talking about........you look forward to them and before you know it; its over. On this particular Monday, we had a few errands to run in the morning, and by lunch time; we were done. Everywhere we had to go, and everything we needed to do just fell into order. There were no delays that we had planned for. There was no back-tracking and driving all over town. Everything just clicked right along, and we found ourselves with some "free time". The only thing bad about "free time" is, if you aren't prepared for it.....it's gone.

I don't know why I suggested it. I don't know where the idea came from. But when Karen asked, "What would you like to do?", my response was......."Let's go to the Waterworks Gallery." As long as I have lived in Rowan County, I've never been to the Waterworks Gallery. I was an Art Major in college and I really enjoy art galleries. I can stand in front of a work of art and look at it for the longest time. I'm not so much trying to decide if I like it, or if it makes any kind of sense at all. Art is more than that. When I look at a painting; I not only see the brush strokes.....I feel the energy that the artist put behind each stroke. In a large painting, I can feel the artist using their entire body as they would stretch and move across the canvas.....keeping balance not to lose the flowing motion of the brush soaked with paint. And I see areas in the painting that may seem out of place to some people, but it would tell me that at that moment......the artist's plan was interrupted, and instead of ignoring this change......the artist was drawn to it. And to be honest; anyone who stands and looks at the painting is drawn to it as well.

Worship is art. Worship involves our whole being. Every part of our daily lives is adding to this work of art we call worship. When we are totally surrendered to the art of worshipping our Creator, it inhabits us. We not only sing it......we stretch and reach as far and as high as we can to embrace it......we move through life trying to keep our balance as worship moves in, through, and around us; and then.....

......God interrupts. It's up to you and me to decide now. Do we stop and take notice of the interruption; embrace it and make it a part of our worship? Or, do we just keep going along on our own. To embrace the interruption would be to embrace God; to draw close to Him. Others will see.....and will be drawn to Him......the whole reason for the interruption.

good to be near God

At the start of this year, I received an e-mail from Ray challenging us all to read our Bibles and pray more. So, I challenged myself to read through the Bible this year. It hasn't taken too long to realize that there will be days that this will be more challenging than I first thought. But I have been blessed by the reading that I have done. Today I was reading Psalm 73 and when I reached the 28th verse....my memory cells clicked into gear. I had read this verse before. It holds a special meaning for me.....it's a special verse. "But as for me, it is good to be near God." This verse not only speaks to me, but it screams out to me. It is good to be near God!!!

When my daughter Kristen was in college, she decided to be a missionary in Mexico for a whole summer. This verse was the one she selected as a "go to" passage. She shared it with me before she left. She not only used this verse to prepare for the journey, but she would revisit it while in Mexico....and I would visit it as well. With Kristen in Mexico, away from her family, I (we) needed to be near God. During this time in our lives as a family, our daughter was being faithful to God's calling and He was growing her into becoming more of who He had created her to be. And, He was growing me. It became very evident that God had a plan for her, and He also was developing a plan for me. What?........I wasn't sure, but it would be His plan; not mine.

As a parent, we sometimes feel that we need to lead our children in a certain direction; give them specific goals for life; and try and make most of their decisions for them because "we have been there". That's our role....right? But God did a role reversal for me. He had decided to use my daughter to teach me. She would be "leading me"; helping me to see that God has a plan and a goal for me, because......He has been there. He used my daughter to show me that when it comes to His plans, if I would just trust Him and let Him lead and decide where He wants me to be, then He will mold me into what He wants me to be. All I have to do is "be near Him".

And I have learned over these past 4 1/2 years at HRCC that "it is good to be near God".

me and Murphy

I'm sure that many of you reading this are familiar with the term, "Murphy's Law". It is a term that I frequently use when I am tackling a do-it-yourself project. No matter how long the instructions tell me this will take; no matter how simple a friend may make the task seem; no matter how few tools I will need......Murphy's Law takes over.

I can read all the directions (twice), and double check that I have all the parts and tools needed. I can think through the process and try and plan out every step in advance (so as not to waste time by getting any step out of order). I can get myself mentally prepared and convinced that I can do this......and then Murphy shows up. I've come to expect him at any time; usually when I think that I am about to finish. Recently, he showed up when I was replacing a motion sensor light for the outside of the house. Not installing a unit, but replacing an existing unit. The plan is to shut off the power, remove the old unit, untie the wire-nuts, grab the new unit, reattach the wires and the wire-nuts, and replace the base. Simple, right?......not with me and Murphy. "Why are there so many wires to try and get up into an electrical box?"; "Why are the screws that come with the new unit not long enough to reach the electrical box?"; "Why does the screw that falls into the grass have to be green?"; "Why do I have to climb back down the ladder to get a flat-head screwdriver that is not mentioned as one of the 'Tools Required'?"; "Why is the cordless drill not charged after sitting on a shelf for two years?"; "Why is it starting to rain while I am on a ladder, connecting electrical wires?". You see, me and Murphy have some interesting conversations.

I used to try and avoid Murphy, but as I have grown...... matured......... alright.... gotten older, I have been taught a great lesson by Murphy; patience. I guess I could have rushed into any project and found myself getting upset with mistakes and failures, but I have learned, through Murphy's help, that there is always a chance for distractions, a detour, or even another way to finish the project and have it still work. When we have patience, these distractions and detours become learning processes.

Oh, by the way, the motion sensor light works just fine.

toy?......toy?

Well, I've waited as long as I could to share this. And a phone call today jogged my memory, so I will stop what I'm doing and post this as best as I can remember. My last blog mentioned the G.R.O.W. event this past Sunday night, and how amazing it was in many ways. I told you about some of the stories that I heard, and the answered prayers. But, I want to share a moment that I witnessed the full effect of "Overflow".

I had just left the worship center, where several of us had been praying for the names that were written on the two boards at the end of each of our services. You remember......the names of people that came to mind during Jon's message that we all felt led to invite to church; invest time with them: and to influence them by the way we live our lives as an example of Christ.... those names. Anyway, I am coming from the worship center and headed to the fellowship area as a group of people are returning from the homeless shelter after delivering coats, and I see my sister-in-law, Sheila. She comes in with this group, but she doesn't have the same expression on her face as the others. I've seen the looks of, "Wow, this was amazing", and "I am so pumped", but she was sad. And when someone would ask her about the time at the shelter, she would be moved to tears. The more that others would try to comfort her, the more her emotions took over. I sat in a chair in the foyer and watched all this "overflow" happening, and I was moved to tears.

Sheila had seen the response of the people at the shelter when they received their coats, and she helped carry in some of the extra coats to place in the clothes closet. That's where she heard "toy?" This came from a small boy standing by his daddy. As more and more coats were being carried in, he would continue to ask for a toy. Sheila could not stop thinking about this little boy and his family there at the shelter. She wanted to do something right then. She felt the need to show this little boy, and the rest of his siblings, the love of Jesus through a toy; a small gift; "overflow". And after she returned to the church, her and Barry made a bee-line to Walmart to pick up dolls and Hot Wheel cars for these children.......and went back to the shelter to deliver the gifts to the family.

I talked with Sheila today. It still brings tears to her eyes,,,,,,,,,and mine. I hope we all can hear what that little boy was saying. I pray that we all can respond in love to people we meet for the first time. I pray that we all can grasp the opportunity to share Jesus. And, if we would just listen closely.......we would hear what is really being said.

toy?........toy?

love?.......love?

Jesus........Jesus

overflow

I heard a very good analogy last night about how God's love and His Spirit should overflow in our lives. Kay M. was leading a devotional before our G.R.O.W. event began, and she was using the illustration of a water fountain to explain the idea of overflow. The water that flows out of the top of the fountain is God's love and Spirit, and as it pours out on us (the first tier) it begins to fill us to overflowing. Then that flows out from us to our family, the church (second tier); then out to the community (third tier); then out to the world (fourth tier). She did a good job of explaining this, and it was encouraging to hear how we need to allow this overflow to take place in our lives so that people will see our good works, and glorify our Father in heaven.

Yes, it was an encouraging devotional........and it soon became an amazing reality. If you were at G.R.O.W. last night, you know what I mean. What we had just heard about.....we saw before our very eyes as the people of HRCC went to deliver 150 coats to Rowan Helping Ministries, and personally handed each person a coat, a Bible, and prayed with them as they were waiting in line for a meal. We saw the expressions of the nurses at RRMC that were recipients of "overflowing" baskets of "Thank you for all you do". We listened as the prayers we had offered earlier in the evening became answers that were being shared by individuals that had experienced, first hand, "overflow". 135 letters were hand written to people we have yet to meet because what we are experiencing at HRCC needs be to shared with everyone. We can not keep this to ourselves; we must overflow.

Last night we heard about "overflow", we saw "overflow", and we witnessed what God can do in the lives of His people. And hidden in the chorus of a song not yet released...

help me overflow, overflow
make my life a living worship
send me to the world
unashamed of You

deafening silence

Snow has a way of causing us to just stop. It doesn't have to be a blizzard that covers everything in sight with a thick blanket of clean, white powder. It can be just a dusting that covers part of the driveway and the yard; but the blades of grass still show, and some of the gravel is still visible. No matter which snowfall you receive.....people just seem to stop what they are doing and watch it snow. I know I do. My favorite part of snow is the silence. It's like God uses the snow to insulate the world around us. I enjoy standing outside in the snow as it falls and listening to the deafening silence. There is no distracting sound. I don't even hear the birds, but I see them in the trees. All I can hear is myself breathing. Its a cold air that enters with each breath, and it seems to waken the memory banks. The memories of all the snowfalls that I experienced growing up...... no school for days at a time........ sledding for hours........ bowls and bowls of snow cream....... snowball fights....... trying to ride a bike down a snow covered hill (do not try). And, with each memory of all the playing I did in the snow.....I remember just stopping long enough to listen to the silence. No matter what I was doing, the silence would always get my attention.

I know that the "winter storm" that passed through the other day wasn't a major snowfall for the record books, but as I walked outside........there was the silence. Not much snow, but a lot of silence. And in the silence ........I listen. God had used this snowfall, like all the ones before, to make me stop.......and listen. I didn't need to rush anywhere, or see to this or that, or answer any questions, or even ask any questions. I just needed to stop and listen. With all the busyness that can take over our lives and cause us to rush here and there, isn't it amazing that God can use a little dusting of snow to remind us that He is in control. A snowfall is His way of getting our attention at just the right time so we will stop what we are doing..... take a deep breath of clean, cold air..... and listen for the silence so that He can speak to us. All the distracting sounds are gone. Its just you and God.

Listen.....