Praise in the Storm

The events this week in Haiti have caused me to reflect on several things. As we see the images pouring in through the internet and televisions we are confronted with a multitude of emotions. It is a catastrophic event that has caught our attention and jolted us out of our everyday routines. It has made us see how little of our lives we actually have any control over.

This event hit close to home for my family, and many that live in my area, as we awaited word on the well being of missionary that grew up here. Three days went by before finally hearing that she was safe. I cannot even imagine the rollercoaster of emotions that her family went through as they eagerly awaited word from her. God delivered this young lady from her situation and we give Him all the Praise and Glory for that.

I have not been to Haiti yet, but my faith has been strengthened as I have seen the reports of how some of the people in Haiti are singing songs of praise to God in the evenings. That has really convicted me. In their pain and suffering they are choosing to praise God! How often in our own lives, when we go through trial, do we find ourselves complaining to God about our situation instead of praising Him in all situations? It reminded me of a song by Casting Crowns called “Praise you in this Storm”.

I'll praise You in this storm

And I will lift my hands

For You are who You are

No matter where I am

Every tear I've cried

You hold in Your hand

You never left my side

And though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm

The Haitian people are torn because of their situation. You and I are torn because we feel helpless and overwhelmed with the enormity of what they face. But we serve a God who bigger than all of this and He will draw His people together through this. It is in Him that we will find our comfort. It is in Him that we will find our rest. That doesn’t make it any easier to work through all that we face, but it does give us hope.

Another thing I thought about was what Jesus said in Matthew 25:34-36 (NIV)

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

There has been an outpouring of compassion from around the world for the Haitian people, but it can’t and shouldn’t stop here. There will be needs in Haiti for years to come and we will need to help. There will be opportunities in the months to come to help, so pray that God will reveal to you the ways that you can help if that is His plans for you. Be sure to check out any organizations that you choose to financially support. Unfortunately, in times like these, there are people who will take advantage of every situation.

My hope and prayer is that this situation will also help us to focus and be aware of the needs we have around us everyday. It shouldn’t take a crisis event like this to cause us to reach out and lend a helping hand to those in need. We have people around us everyday that need us to model what Jesus said in Matthew 25:35-36.

There will be some good that will come out of something like this if it causes us to change the way we live our lives and how we see the people around us. We need to put God first and be the hands and feet of Jesus every single day, not just when there is a major event.

Continue to pray for the Haitian people and all the orphans that are in Haiti. Pray that through this, the government of Haiti will truly begin to work to help the people of Haiti. Pray for the people that are there serving our Lord and Savior and remember to praise our God who is our hope in this storm.

Greg
John 16:33

Change

I have to apologize for not keeping up with my weekly post, but the last several weeks have been a bundle of frustration, anticipation, joy and excitement. These last few weeks could best be described with one word….Change. We live in an ever-changing world and we go through this life trying to avoid change as much as we can. We like our lives planned out so we know exactly what we are doing and when. We have our daily routines, we travel the same routes, we do the same things with the same people, and we punch in and punch out at work. When something happens to mess up our routines though…look out!

Change starts the moment we are born, and our lives and bodies continue changing until we die. Change is a part of every life. Resisting it is as futile as it is frustrating. John Foreman once said, “Today is all that we will ever have in this life. If we spend our time obsessing about the future or regretting the past then we will never live. Tomorrow will always be tomorrow and yesterday cannot be changed. The wise man seeks God in the now and brings both his regrets and fears before Him. The freedom that we are offered is truly amazing: to live, today, free from even our own fallen desires. This is where I want to be.”

James 1:17 says “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” The one thing that doesn’t change in life is God and His love for us. His word doesn’t change, nor does His promise to us, even though many people try to change His word to justify their own bad choices. Whatever God is, He always is. There are no “sometimes” attributes of God. All of his attributes are “always” attributes. He always is what He is. Malachi 3:6 reads “I the Lord do not change”.

When we get to the point in our life where we begin to understand that God is in control of everything, then we begin to accept the fact that change is a part of life. If we believe that He is the Creator and the sovereign God, then we have to believe that we are going through a season of change for a reason, and that ultimately He will reveal that to us. Trusting and putting our faith in an all powerful and all knowing God is a difficult thing to do sometimes, but when we do it then the changes that life brings can be seen in a different light.

The last few weeks have been a time of growth for me. I am thankful every day for the blessing’s I have been given and for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”. Isn’t it great to know that in a world that constantly changes we can find rest in the one that remains the same?

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

In Christ,

Greg

Psalm 102:25-27

Where are the Directions??

John 14:6, Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Have you ever tried to put something together without the directions? Perhaps you’ve tried to put a puzzle together without a picture on the box top? When I have ignored the directions and tried to complete a task my way, I can not think of one single time where things turned out well. When our pride gets the best of us and we fail to follow the directions or the model in front of us, we are usually left with a pile full of important parts and a large amount of frustration.

I believe that the root cause of the issues we see in society can be found in the fact that we don’t like to follow directions. It makes me wonder what it would be like if we just followed the directions that God has given us. The Bible provides the instructions for our life. It gives us the model that we can emulate. In it we find our origin, and our destination, and when we know those two things, we can find the route between the two. We can look at the picture that Jesus left us through His Word and know how we are to live and how we are to treat people. If we study the Bible, we see God’s design for our marriages and how we are to be as parents. The answers to the questions that we struggle with everyday are in the Bible, but we have to read the instructions. Psalm 25:8-9, reads “Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”

The problems for you and I occur when we don’t like the directions in God's Word and we think we have a better way. Take a look at the world around us. Is our way really better? Proverbs 14:12 reads, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." God’s directions are pretty clear for us, but we have to read them and then follow them. This week I challenge you to take a hard look at your life. Are you following the directions that God has left for you in His Word, or are you staring at the unfinished puzzle of your life with no idea where the pieces belong? Pick up God’s Bible and study His ultimate direction manual, and it comes in over 400 languages too!


In Christ,

Greg

James 3:13