Category / Life With God

by Greg

The Soul Felt Its Worth

O holy night…
the stars are brightly shining.
It is the night
of our dear Savior’s birth.

(With me so far?)

Long lay the world…
in sin and error pining
till he appeared
and the soul felt its worth.

I was listening to a podcast1 recently (titled, Your Sense of Belonging) where the lyric from that familiar Christmas carol became the topic of poignant—and relevant—discussion.

Here’s my attempt at a transcript:

W—“Only when you find that soul finding its worth in who God is then you can belong to him, then, THEN you can experience what community really is. Because it’s not people trying to find their worth in each other, cause that’s—”

B—“Well I don’t need to get it from you.”

W—“Yeah!”

B—“And if I find it from Him, then I find myself free to enjoy relationship, as opposed to NEED relationship.”

Oh that we could understand—and live—this! How freed we would be to enjoy the greatness that God has packaged into every one of us. As it is, when we are so relationally bruised, battered, or afraid of being so, we hide behind our various defenses, and we find we use others for our own relational needs, rather than simply enjoy being together, sharing all this life we have in Jesus, to whom we are all so deeply connected.

The real issue is that our souls have not felt or found worth. At least, not their true worth.

We have an intrinsic value because we are created by the One who is Worthy. And beyond him just giving us breath (as though that statement could be qualified by the word “just”) … he shows again and again in the pages of Scripture as well as through all of history—and in my own life—that he deeply desires a friendship with us, and for us to know him and find our whole life and being in him.

That worth sets us free to live and to love.

We love because he first loved us.
Christ’s love (for us) compels us.
Love as you have been loved.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Treat others as you would want them to treat you.
Take an interest in others.

These actions flow naturally from a heart that no longer needs to seek fulfillment. You might say such a heart has no needs. That is inaccurate, however. True, this heart in Jesus lacks nothing, but the need is still there—it’s just already met.

The soul that has not found its worth will work extra hard to prove its worth.

We are made to relate. It’s what matters most. It’s the thing that we always treasure when faced with losing everything. At our core, in the depths of you and me, we are made to relate.

For some that is so hard because they feel unlovable. For others it’s all too easy because they know how to “fill” their own relational needs by being with other people.

But to be already filled with Living Water means that we can enjoy the fullness of our friendship with God, and share the days he gives us with any others whom he puts in our lives. (And we in theirs.) Some we walk alongside will also be fully connected to the Vine, and so, be a joy to share life with. Others will be struggling, perhaps barely connected to the Vine, straining for a taste of the Life that flows from it, but weak and fragile and even defensive (or aggressive, trying to get from you what they really need from the Vine).

In the end we are all just weak branches who can do nothing on our own.
Apart from him we have no Life.
In him we live and move and have our being.

When our soul knows its worth, then we are free to live.
I pray today that you are fully alive.
He has overcome our brokenness, and he calls you friend.
Even better, he wants you to call him Dad.

1—The podcast is The God Journey with Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings. I’ve mentioned it here before, but as I listened to a few episodes this week I remembered that it really is quite an encouraging 30-40 minutes each week. They just talk about life with God as it relates to the events of normal days, and even current events, etc. I do highly recommend.

by Greg

Children Obey Your Parents

We had an interesting conversation with our teenager the other night.

Ian is thirteen. That means he’s officially a teenager. He’s been there—especially in his own mind—for quite a while now, even before the calendar said he was. That’s how he came into the world, actually. He’s usually ahead of the game.

And that’s his biggest problem. He’s pretty talented in a lot of ways, and he’s quite intelligent. That can very easily add up to a big trap. It can start to seem like you’ve got it all figured out.

I think at some point we all face that. And you might be saying, “Greg, of course he thinks he knows everything … he’s a teenager!” And, you are certainly right that what I’ve said so far could be said of most of us (maybe ALL of us?) in our teen years. It is the time when we are discovering ourselves. When we are invincible. When we are definitely smarter than our Mom & Dad.

But see, the thing is… this has been plaguing Ian since before he could speak.

There’s a war being waged in his spirit. I can’t know that, of course, or see it directly; but I see evidences of it. At once Ian is the most gentle, caring spirit, and also completely unbending and arrogant. He can be both.

From his earliest days, when we were training him the simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’ of what he could, and could not touch, where he could, and could not go, Ian has defied us. He has somehow had deep within his spirit a need for autonomy. More than a need, a conviction. He. Is. Right. It causes him such grief with his Mom, especially, but also with me. We’ve spent so many hours and hours talking about it, praying, learning from Jesus, and hopefully even showing by example.

But he persists in his right-ness.

The other night after a long day of head-butting with Mom, we had an emotional, confrontational “talk”. (It was mostly me doing the talking.) What came of that was a nugget of truth (at least, truth from Ian’s perspective) that helped me see the command from Scripture, “Children, obey/respect your parents…” slightly differently.

What I saw was that those words are not the end, but just the beginning.

God’s blessing comes after our will (as children) can quietly and trustingly submit to our parents. There are two things we learn from that. First, we are learning to submit ourselves to someone we trust whom we know loves us (like our heavenly Father), and second, we are learning the value of obeying Father, even when it doesn’t yet make sense to us—which we will have countless opportunities to practice through the rest of our adult lives.

Ian said, “So then I’m just supposed to lie?” He meant that he doesn’t agree with us, so, if he complies with a respectful-on-the-outside “Yes, Mom” and the subsequent carrying out of his orders, then that equals obeying? That is somehow a good thing?

In reply I said, “No, Ian. You are not supposed to lie. It’s not a lie. It’s a choice. You are saying, ‘God, even though I don’t agree… even though I think I’m right here… I’m going to trust you. I’m going to show my parents respect, and willingly do what they are saying is best, because I trust you, and your love for me.’ We hope that you can trust our love for you, too, and the wisdom we have gained by our quarter-century of additional experience. But the first choice you make, and the one that matters, is to choose to trust God.”

And I realized, that’s so true. I added, “Ian, I think the only thing God asks of you while you are a child, is to respect and obey your parents. As you get older, a LOT more will be expected of you, and you will be responsible for a lot more choices. But right now, it starts with this simple one. If you can choose to do that (respect your Mom and Dad, and do what they say, even when you think you know better) then you will start to see God’s blessing. When we trust him, he begins to unfold more truth in front of us. Not to mention, you’ll have peace—inner peace, peace with your Mom, with me, and your simple choice will begin to grow peace through our whole household.”

This is not “pick on Ian” time. Ian is (as I said earlier) incredibly talented in many things (sports, writing, reading, knowledge, understanding and caring about people, art, humor, and more). I love my son, Ian. He’s also—at times—incredibly hard to be around, because he does not see himself as an equal (or, in the case of his parents, a subordinate). His arrogance, unchecked, will eventually—once he is no longer under the protection of our supervision and guidance—be his ruin.

Pride, the worship of self, is the beast that is in all of us. Somehow, God put something in us that has a great desire to protect us, to defend us and all that represents us. It is the undoing of many. Perhaps it’s stronger in some than others (that’s what we seem to see in our firstborn son) but it is definitely something we all battle.

Ian and I had a subsequent discussion about heroes and villains. He’s writing a book with some seemingly ordinary folk who have super powers, who battle other seemingly ordinary folks who have super powers (or super technology). It’s a classic good versus evil, superhero story. He’s got some fun twists he’s working on, and he’s becoming a pretty good story teller, so it should be an entertaining read!

We thought about the one most common distinction between the “good guys” and the “bad guys” in any story, “super” or not. The answer was surprisingly consistent, and easy: bad guys are always in it for themselves, and good guys are always looking out for other people, even (especially) at their own peril. Those are heroes, the ones of us who sacrifice self for someone else, expecting nothing in return. (If reciprocity is expected, then the “selfless” act was really not selfless at all.)

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

I’ve quoted those few sentences from Philippians 2 here before. A few times, I believe. Don’t forget the sentence that comes next (perhaps the more familiar words):

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

There are so many commands in the Bible. Do this, don’t do this; go here, stay away from there; be this, don’t be this. It trips us up, big time. We get stuck on the “dos” and “don’ts”. The one thing that matters is to love God (and trust him) with all that you are, and equally important, love other people like you’ve been loved. There’s no “me” in that. The me is the “others” part for you. YOU are taken care of by me, and by everyone else who is “taking an interest in others, too”, and by our Father.

What more could you ask for?

So we’ll keep trying. We’ll keep loving. We’ll keep talking, praying, studying, and doing—leading by example. We’re going to fail. We do all the time. But hopefully part of our example is a humble acceptance of our own brokenness, our own quite obvious IMperfection.

Do what’s right… love mercy… walk humbly with [our] God.

And in the end? Well, we don’t get to know the end. We only get to live the now. We hope that as we do what God is asking us, that he’ll bless us by giving us the joy of seeing HIS Life lived brilliantly in and through our son (all our sons, and our daughters). They will each get to choose to trust him along the way. It might be “easier” for some of them than it seems to be for Ian in his short thirteen years so far. But I have a hunch that each of them will face their own obstacles, just as great, just as impassible …

But nothing is impassible with God. (Or, something like that.)

And it is HE whom we trust. From the very first, when we say, “Yes, Mom,” and “Yes, Dad”. And through the rest of life, with the first choice to trust—when much (or all?) seems to say otherwise—we take the first step and choose to trust him.

Then we begin to know the Life he has for us, the Life he is.

It all starts with a simple choice.

by Greg

[From The Archive] Feeling Loved, And Lovable

Highlighting Articles from the GregsHead.net Archives!This week’s trip into the Archive will be much shorter than last week’s (sorry about the link overload with that one!) Maybe because there’s been so much to read here lately that I want to give you a break…

But probably more because the content of this previously-posted article is beautiful in its simplicity.

I’m not talking about my words, or any idea I’ve had. It’s the core of the message Jesus spoke. We are loved.

Better yet, we are love-able. Worth loving.

And he does. With great pleasure.

Enjoy your visit to the Archive. May it encourage you again. And again.

You are worth it.

Feeling Loved, And Lovable
[link]

by Greg

Always Be Thankful

“And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.“

I have recently been reminded of the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I read the first half or so, and then it got buried under many other reads over the past months, nearing a year.

Jen loves her blog, and last year (maybe even more than a year?) purchased Ann’s book and connected deeply with the themes developed within its pages. She quoted much of the book to me in small snippets as she read it. Then she suggested I read it—or, maybe I even just wanted to on my own, both on her somewhat “unspoken” recommendation and because since Jen so identified with it, I knew I’d find some more of my wife’s heart in those pages.

And I did. And the book was saying what we needed to hear—probably what we all always need to hear.

Be thankful. Always.

The scripture quoted above is from Colossians 3:15. Definitely one of the books of the Bible that most resonates with me. I quote often from it. I have several songs that are based on truths Paul shared in his letter to the Colossian Christians. So much great truth found in those few pages.

These couple of verses have been meaningful recently as we have really needed peace. And he has given it. Deep peace. But it’s meaningful beyond the more difficult times of life, even in the ordinary. Especially for a large family with many youngsters like ours. “You are called to live in peace.” Yes, children… you are. And sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t. But the source of peace—inner and outer—is obvious from the first sentence. It’s Jesus. When his peace rules in our hearts, then it overflows to the people in our family—whether by blood or by spiritual family connection.

But one of the shortest sentences from the whole letter might be most meaningful to our lives.

And always be thankful.

Sounds like an afterthought. “Oh yeah… don’t forget…” But it’s somehow the foundation of our joy, our happiness, our Life. So much junk in life: our own, our family members’, junk from other people around us, and just the junk that is beyond anyone’s control. But somehow—when we can transcend the hurt, often by a simple trust in the person most worthy of trust—we can even be grateful for the junk.

Jen read a story for us recently from another book she just finished (The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom) which was also about “always be[ing] thankful”. In summary, while detained by German soldiers in a flea-infested and otherwise nearly uninhabitable room, Corrie’s sister discovered the key to the Life God wanted for them was to be thankful—for everything. That meant even the fleas. Corrie reluctantly agreed to be thankful for all things, even the ones that seemed to have absolutely no value at all.

Much later, looking back on everything, they realized (or learned?) that the guards had left them almost entirely to themselves because of the fleas! They were able to pray, have and read from their Bible, and have many freedoms they might not have otherwise had… because of the fleas. And they lived life a bit more fully because they were thankful for something that seemed only awful, even without knowing how it could be used for good.

Now several days later, at bedtime, after a day with some hard things in it, I decided to ask the girls to share some things they liked about the day, and some things that were hard or sad from the day. They came up with both fairly easily, with only slightly more thought put into choosing the one thing they found most difficult from the day just lived. Once we all had shared our favorite and maybe least favorite moments from the day I said, “OK, now let’s tell God how we are thankful for those things.”

I started out with the good, and then repeated back the things that each of us had highlighted as our difficult or bad thing from the day. When I got to Julia’s she was surprised that I strung together “thank you” and her bad part of the day. I smiled at her and asked if she remembered the flea story that Mom told earlier. A light of recognition flashed in her eyes and she said, “Oh yeah! Like the fleas! They were bad, but then they kept the soldiers away so they could pray!”

Yes! Like the fleas!

And so we continued, thankful even for the harder parts of the day. And sleep came quickly, and peacefully.

They are not magic words, that somehow make us cheery and unnaturally full of joy despite current circumstances. But it is a somewhat magic truth. When we can implement them, like the Ten Booms, we can know peace. And even joy.

And thankfulness.

Ann Voskamp uses the refrain Eucharisteo in her book. The Greek “give thanks”. The words, the idea–but even more, the action—have power. A power to give us life, from the One who is Life.

It comes from our perspective. Thankfulness gets the focus off of us, and onto him. He is the source of our Life, and hope, and every good thing. (Even when we can’t yet see goodness.)

That’s not to say there isn’t still junk. Or that some junk is just plain bad.

But always be thankful. That’s the succinct afterthought from Paul’s email to new believers that can still bring us much more of the life Jesus wants for us to live. One where we see goodness in the craziest places. Even where it doesn’t seem good, or isn’t good. We have hope, and we trust his goodness.

And we can always be thankful.

by Greg

The Illusion of Control

For some reason, though everything tells us otherwise, we all seem to have this illusion that we are in control of our lives and our surroundings.

I may be speaking a good deal from my American perspective, but I do feel like it’s more of a human thing than a cultural thing. (We Americans just have more resources to fool us into the illusion that we have control.)

Think about it. We can basically do anything we want, any time we want. We can eat any food we’d like, no matter what the season. We can wear any clothes we like (for the most part) because we have our climate perfectly controlled. We can operate on any schedule, since we have lights to replace the sun.

Our current technology takes it a step further. We can access practically any information we want from any place at any time. That’s astounding. To those of you too young to remember a time when with “the internets” that might sound less amazing, but it is truly remarkable. Then add all the other ubiquitous means of communication (cell phones, email, you name it) and we can even be somewhat omnipresent: doing our job or living our lives through a virtual presence.

We can get anywhere we need to in a very short amount of time. Medicine can prolong our lives far beyond what was possible in centuries past. We can have as many or as few children as we want for our family to have. (And there is even the potential to change the life growing inside the womb before it is born through our knowledge of genetics, no?)

All of this stuff (and so much more) makes us think that we are in control… until something happens.

It can be minor, like a kink in your schedule for the day. Maybe an accident sidetracks your plans for the day and the immediate future. Maybe an appointment goes long. Maybe illness causes a long-planned event to be rescheduled or missed entirely. Maybe something as simple as the weather changes your plans (or worse).

Or, it can be a much more rude awakening.

Not one of us is immune to death. We are all mortal. That is the one truth that I’d say even trumps “taxes”. We don’t know when it is coming, but we do know it’s coming. For us, and the ones we love. Our parents, our spouse, our kids. Everyone.

But we go through life assuming that we have tomorrow. It’s because we think we have some amount of control over what happens around us. (And I’d say we do have some, but much less than we think.) It’s just an illusion. A mind game that we have played on ourselves, really.

Do not take for granted the time that you have with the people you love. There is nothing more important than them. We have a friend who lost her Dad not too long ago, and I know she wishes she could have more time with him, even the smallest amount. And I think that’s probably a universally true sentiment.

“You don’t know what you have till it’s gone.”

But it’s not just about the ultimate, guaranteed loss that we will all experience. Most of us multiple times over. There are other ways we live the illusion.

We are sometimes fooled into thinking our money guarantees us some amount of control. We have all sorts of (wise) plans to save and invest and manage our money… but the reality is that could all be gone in an instant. Whether a technological catastrophe that could deny us access to whatever funds we have, or a rapid and complete crash of the value of whatever currency you use, or (more likely) something less global, but equally personally devastating. You just never know. Whatever our current amount of wealth, it is definitely not a constant or a given.

Beyond these things, we even have this notion that we are in control of other people.

Perhaps we parents exhibit this the most. We tell our kids what to do, give them specific instructions, and witness the power of our words and influence in their obedient actions much of the time. Our kids are, for the most part, the compliant sort. We know we can trust them. But they’re normal kids. They’re people. All of us have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.

Indeed.

We can’t even control ourselves.

We—you and me—are not in control. Bad things will happen. Accidents will happen. Mistakes will happen. Evil and malice will happen.

The other constant—the other thing we can be sure of—is that God is good. He is love. And he loves us. That is so foundational to a life fully lived. If we know that he is good, and we live knowing that despite all of our flaws, quirks, idiosyncrasies, he is fully committed to us—loves us, is for us—then as the verse says, “nothing can be against us”.

That’s how we are able to break free from the illusion.

When we can admit that we do not have control—that all this stuff we think we can count on (including fellow Image Bearers) is at some point guaranteed to fail us—then we are free to really live. Our freedom comes from the trust we have in the One who is in control. Because we know he’s on our side, he’s for us.

It still hurts. Life can really beat you up sometimes. Often, even. But we know that we’ll make it to the other side. (Eventually to the other side, if not before.) And we know that God’s not just waiting for us on the other side, we know that he’s with us every painful, broken, seemingly-chaotic step of the way.

While everything else may be an illusion, our Father is most certainly not.

by Greg

[From The Archive] Peace

Highlighting Articles from the GregsHead.net Archives!This week’s From The Archive was chosen from one of several posts I found that had elements of this theme of “the illusion of control” that has been swimming around my thoughts for some time now. Each of the articles previously published had at least some small perspective on the idea that we are not in control (or that life is better when we realize and live that).

Is peace something that I can achieve? Or is it a natural by-product of trust? Perhaps once my focus is off of my needs and my life and my problems, then I can know the peace. Peace might be at the end of my resigning control to the One who is actually able to control life. And who loves me more than I probably love myself. He loves me, and he loves my family, and he knows what we need, and for all the years I have known him, he has never—not once—left us in need. Never.

I chose one titled Peace, though, that seemed to encapsulate most of the recent threads of thought weaving through Greg’s Head.

The above quote stood out to me from that post. Again this idea that the less we are focused on ourselves and our needs and wants, the more possible it is for us to be free. But the best (the only?) way to rid ourselves of this self-focus, self-centered view of our world is to allow our trust in Father to grow. (And that only comes from knowing him better, and more… which comes from living life with him.)

I wonder what level of this I understand right now. It seems to make a ton of sense to me in concept, and even at times in practice. However, as I’ve said before, when God seemingly keeps a certain thought or theme in front of me for long periods of time or repeatedly over time, my natural conclusion is that I haven’t yet understood, at least in practice (if not also in theory).

I hope that you have the peace that I write about here. That your heart trusts him so that you are able to let go of your need to be master of your own dominion, your own life… and let him lead you in the full life he wants for you; for us all.

Peace to you today, reader. Enjoy this piece From The Archive: Peace.

Since I referenced a whole slew of articles on this theme, why not link to them here? If you have the time—and/or desire?—click below!

by Greg

Completely Plagiarized (With References)

Tonight I need to let some other words speak for me. If you’ll permit me, the rest of this post is entirely copied selections from the Bible. (New Living Translation if not otherwise noted.) They are words we are feeling strengthened by today. Perhaps they’ll do so for you, too.

(And, does it really count as plagiarism if I am referencing the sources?) 🙂

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

John 16:33
…Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

Romans 15:13
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 4:6-9
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Romans 8:18-29
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Revelation 21:3-7
I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

There are so many more, but I’ll finish with this one, mentioned yesterday. It’s pretty much the foundation of the Good News:

Ephesians 1:3-11
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Amen.

by Greg

basicmm radio :: [Faith To Be My Eyes]

I mentioned here earlier that we re-discovered our “basicmm radio” podcast from 2005. One show in particular that I thought might be encouraging to “re-broadcast” featured the song Faith To Be My Eyes.

Have you ever noticed that there are often patterns to life? There appear to be threads of thoughts, themes that weave consistently (if not obviously) through the fabric that is formed by our days.

One of mine is the illusion of control.

I’ve written several times about it here on this website. (This coming Saturday’s From The Archive post will be one selection from that significant number of published articles.)

It’s something I’ve thought about often, talked about with others, written songs about, and as I said, seems to be a consistent theme of revelation that God either has shown, or maybe wants to show me. (Sometimes it feels like if a specific idea or truth is recurrent past a certain understandable number of times that maybe the repetition is a result of one’s own thick skull, no?)

The more life throws at me as I quickly approach my fourth completed decade of life on this planet, the more it is so painfully (literally) obvious to me that we… are… not… in… control.

We’re just not.

We’ve seen it in our own life this past year or more. I’ve seen it. Jen has seen it. Our kids even know it. Certainly our friends know; so many tragic stories around us in the past year and more.

We are not in control.

And so, not knowing what is ahead, we rely on one who has been there, and will be there, and will go through whatever may come with us, beside us, and supporting us. He is for us, so what can be against us? We know these truths. And they make a difference.

But too often we get clouded. By “reality”, or what we perceive as reality. We are tricked by the illusion that our life is meant to be free of pain; free of the bad stuff that happens to other people. We are sometimes even fooled (in my opinion) into thinking that when things start “going against us” that there must be some reason—in particular, something that we have done wrong, or some good thing we did not do—and so, God (or the natural consequences he set in place) is enacting his just punishment (we call it “chastisement” or “discipline”) on us.

Long, perhaps run-on sentence aside, that is how it often goes. We use any other eye but our “eyes of faith” to interpret the world around us. What we really need to do is stand firm on the foundation of God’s clear, undeniable acceptance and deep love for us. His willingness to literally do whatever it took to restore our friendship with him. Even better, to adopt us as his sons and daughters. This gave him great pleasure.

With that as our focus, our lives look (and feel) very different. (And differently, if we’re going for proper grammar regarding the parenthetical addition—I think.)

The point of this post is the song (and even the whole episode of the basicmm radio podcast). I hope that it’s an encouragement to you today. There is more to life. Or if you need it to be less, it can be less. The hope that we have is the foundation of his truth, his love.

May you know that today, no matter how hard your day has been—or will be. We will never be without pain, until we are with him in paradise. Things will go wrong. People will betray us. Life will punch us in the gut.

But he is with us. He is for us.

I need Faith To Be My Eyes.

Faith To Be My Eyes (2003)

Why is it that I can trust you
When I’ve got my ducks in a row?
But when anything goes against me
I wonder why you never showed

What is this right to perfection
That I feel my life must deserve?
When my life gets a little harder
I wonder where I made the wrong turn

chorus
I need to keep my eyes wide open
And know that you never change
Don’t let my worrying heart take over
I need my faith to be my eyes

We have this misconception
That bad things mean something’s wrong
But I have learned from example
That you can turn bad into good
This pain is just temporary
Though right now it overwhelms me
Please train my eyes to focus
On your faithfulness to me

bridge
Walk by faith, and not by sight
We’ve heard those words before tonight’
But when our world is fallin in on us
That’s when they really can take flight’

Keep my eyes off circumstances
And let me focus in on you
My worryin heart is prone to dancin
With every new point of view
But every new day is full of chances
To rip off the blinders and gaze into
The world of faith that can be before me
Knowing that you always come through

Keep my eyes on you – – – I need my faith to be my eyes

Words & Music by: Greg Campbell
Copyright © 2003 basic music ministries.

For further reading, please read Ephesians (especially chapter one), as well as Romans (especially chapters five and eight), and even second Corinthians five, and Hebrews (particularly chapters eleven and twelve). Those are referenced above, and the original is always better!

by Greg

[From The Archive] I Want To Be God

Highlighting Articles from the GregsHead.net Archives!Posting an often lengthy entry per day here at GregsHead.net has been an enjoyable task, but also in ways a daunting one. I really have enjoyed it and the exercise has been good for my mental as well as emotional/spiritual health. I have enjoyed reconnecting with you, the reader. (But I’m sure my extra twenty-five thousand words per month are a good chunk for you to add to your reading list, too.)

As I’ve been tidying up my blog—adding features, rearranging things—I have also come across some things written a year or two—or seven—ago that have been a joy to rediscover. Whether inspired afresh by a poignant thought, or had a heart made light by a big laugh, reliving the memories and emotions that were present at the time I wrote those words down has been very enjoyable.

I’ve mentioned a time or two that a nifty tool for drilling down through previously published content on this website is the Related Posts section right at the end of every post. What is extra useful about this tool is that the content is similar to what you’ve just finished reading.

And, I’ve also mentioned that one of my intentions for the Facebook page for this blog (facebook.com/gregsheaddotnet) is to publish links to things previously published here: a journey through the archives. I will most likely continue to do that.

But a thought occurred to me today. What if I would have at least one “break” day per week where I post a link to a previously written article or entry that I think might still have some relevance, some value? Might that be a good way for me to have one day of rest from writing, but still have a “fresh” post here to read, not to mention that it’s a great way to dig through things already said that might be worth hearing again?

I think it just might be!

And thus is born a new series. Your first “From The Archive” post comes from August 25th, 2005. The title is I Want To Be God. By far the best part is, I really did find this quite “randomly” (just a few clicks, when I wasn’t even looking for a piece to repost) but it’s something I’ve been thinking about again, from several different angles.

Maybe God is trying to gently remind me of something? Probably. He’s so good at gentle. And reminding.

Maybe thinking to do this (reposting from the archives) is just the right gentle reminder he has in mind for you, too.

Enjoy. And relax.

You’re not God, either.       <-------click the link there to read the article From The Archive!

by Greg

First And Second Birthdays

Yesterday was my Mom’s birthday. January 26th is a circled day on the calendar that our family celebrates. Has been for as long as I have memories. All day long, we think of my Mom. We call, we video chat, we send cards… we celebrate the life she began on January 26th, 19xx. 🙂

(I don’t know that my Mom has any real problem with me sharing her age, but… just in case… since she reads this blog … Suffice it to say that this year her two-digit age ends with a zero! So in some ways it was an even more memorable/special year.)

I love my Mom and love celebrating her birthday! (Even if we’re not in the same location on the birthday day.)

At some point during that day I was reminded that the 26th of January is also the birth day of our good friend’s Mom. She, too was born on the twenty-sixth day of the first month of the year. If I recollect correctly, she was even born in the same state, not far from where my Mom was born. She too has children who love her, and many grandkids.

But she has another birthday.

A little over a decade ago, she was born into her eternal life. She is now with Jesus. So her birthday is celebrated at least a little differently than the way we celebrate January 26th here, where we can still show our love and see it received, and given back.

It’s better to be with the Lord. The Bible tells us so. But I’d imagine first birthdays are at least a little harder when the one birthed has had their second birthday already, and you’re left celebrating without them.

This week I’ve also been thinking of our friends who are coming up on the one-year anniversary of a second birthday. Tomorrow will be one year since our friends lost a Dad and a Husband and a Grandpa; and since we lost someone who was becoming a good friend.

Death leaves such an absence. It’s hard to celebrate the second birthdays. Again, it’s better to be with the Lord, but that truth seems distant when the life so suddenly changes, and the void is so clearly known and seen and felt.

I know it’s been rough again lately for our friend who lost her Dad. (And I know for many years our friend who lost her Mom has missed her so dearly on many occasions, more than just first and second birthdays.)

It definitely makes me value the days that I have now with my Mom, who’s still only had her first birthday.

The hope that we have runs deep. I know and trust that once we have both passed the threshold into our eternal life, I won’t have to live or think about living life without my Mom in my life. That is a great hope.

But I’ll say it again: for now, on at least some levels, I’m very glad my Mom is still only one.

I rejoice for the lives of the two parents I know, mentioned above, who are missed yesterday and tomorrow. They loved well and are still well loved. I am praying peace now for the kids who miss their beloved parents on their first and second birthdays respectively. But I already know they have hope. And in that I also rejoice.

This talk of “second birthdays” has a bit of a morbid undertone, but if you know our Jesus, it’s a wonderful thing when you turn two.

It’s just harder for all the one-year-olds who are still waiting for their own second birthday.

It will come. And then others will both mourn and rejoice on our two birthdays. And we will celebrate with all of the ones we loved who went before us.

What a birthday party that will be.

Note: This photo of my Mom is slightly dated, but it’s a good one, with several of our kids loving their Grammy. There are not many photos of my Mom in existence, and I’m nearly certain this is the only one published online! So, I might get in a tiny bit of trouble, but… I know she still loves me. Right, Mom? 🙂