A Sojourner’s Thoughts

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A Granddaughter’s Blessing

On Saturday Aug 6 2011, my granddaughter will be dedicated. Below is the blessing my wife and I have written to celebrate the occasion.

Topanga Noel
Joy |  Transition | Unique

Three words that describe the blessings that you have brought to us and that we in turn can give back to you.

Joy – God has gifted you with the ability to wash away the harshness of the day with a simple smile or smirk from your beautiful face. You are so joyful in turn you  bring joy to those around you. May God continue to use you to brighten the hearts of those who come across your path. May you continue to find joy in your life as you grow and become the person God has created you to be, with the giftedness of an encourager and the joyfulness of a joy giver.

Transition – God is using you to shape and transform a lot of people. You mom and dad have been transformed into caring, loving parents doing the best they can with this wonderful gift they have been given. You have transformed your grandma and grandpa into a new role in life, watching their daughter grow into a wonderful mom and taking on the responsibility of proud grand parenting. We in turn will walk along side you as you are transformed into a child of God.

Unique – Though you do not know it yet, God has created you to do things that you may not believe you can do. Things that on your own you can’t, but by leaning on God you can. As you grow we pray that God will open your eyes to the things you see around you, your heart to His gentle nudging and your ears to His still small voice so that you may know the unique role you might play in being His hands and His feet as you sojourn through life.

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Anyway

I was sitting in church yesterday when I heard the song Anyway by Martina McBride sung by the worship team and for some reason it really struck me. In a nut shell the song is about persevering despite not always knowing the results or the results not being what you expected. The chorus sums up how we as Christ-follower should face our daily struggles:

God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good
When I pray it doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

Sometimes in life we face situations that in short suck. The thing that we need to remember is that God is Great and with His wisdom and guidance we can persevere.  It is the same thing when we pray. God doesn’t always answer like we think He should, but that isn’t the point. God wants us to pray not with a with lists, but with a desire to build and strengthen our relationship with Him.

The song encourages us to build, dream, love and sing – anyway. We need to put ourselves out there – win, loose or draw. We also need to keep in mind no matter the results – God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good – just do it anyways. Go ahead and dream, build, love and sing – anyway!

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God Is With Us

Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” (Haggai 1:13 ESV)

In a couple of weeks I will be preaching in Becker and the text for my sermon is Haggai, talking about the remnant’s lost focus. This morning as I was reading the verse above jumped out at me. The promise that is contained in this verse is so wonderful – “I am with you, declares the Lord.” With this final word of encouragement from God the people said we are all in, we will complete the task we were called to do.

These people gave up on the initial task because they lost their focus on God and started to focus on the dangers that were around them. I don’t fault them we do the same thing today. We are affraid to stand up for what we believe as Christ-followers. We give in to the persecution we might face if we declare our commitment to Christ. We fail to follow through on the things God has called us to do. What we need to do is lean into our fears knowing that God is with us. Erwin McManus defines courage, not as the absences of fear but as the absence of self. This is what the remnant did, they let go of their own fears and turned to the promise that God gave them. Notice that He didn’t say things would be easy, He simply said that He would be with them in any struggles or trials that may come along.

Do you have a God given task that you are struggling with because of outside pressures? As we take the focus off of us and put the focus back on God, knowing that he is with us, we can continue to allow God’s purpose for our life to unfold before us.