Lent - Let’s Be Quiet

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

John 10:27

Before the automation of refrigeration, families kept food cold in icehouses. These structures had no windows, often partially underground, with tight-fitting doors, where ice could be stored for months. As such, big blocks of ice were collected in the winter months and covered in sawdust so the ice would last through the summer.

There’s an old story of a father working in his family’s icehouse to prepare it for summer. After bringing in blocks of ice and distributing sawdust, he realized his prized watch had fallen off somewhere in the icehouse. He searched and searched but ultimately gave up looking. Knowing how much this watch meant to her father, his young daughter decided to sneak into the icehouse to look for the watch herself. After just a short time, she emerged from the icehouse with the watch and presented it to her grateful and astonished father. Of course, he wanted to know where it had been found and how she had managed to find it. She said, “I went into the icehouse, closed the door, lay down in the sawdust, and was very still - and I listened. Very quickly, I could hear the watch ticking.”

Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday. Christians acknowledge and celebrate forty days of reflection, prayer, fasting, and serving others. We do this in preparation for the beautiful season of Easter. An integral part of Lent is a call for quiet, stillness, and reflective time with the Lord. Calling ourselves to be still and quiet in this noisy world is a challenge. Lent is a time to cease searching for the external gratifications this world offers, like material success and fulfillment. May we be able to settle in to be quiet and listen for God’s voice, even in a whisper, to direct our lives and hearts.

The noise of our lives comes at us from every direction. We have noisy television, radios, social media, email…all the media sources. But the noise also comes from all the “things” that require attention from us each day - family, friends, co-workers. We know our God is in all these things, but Lent is a time to take a step back and re-order.

Lent calls us to a quiet place to order the priorities in our lives. Perhaps it’s an extra minute or two of prayer before going in to work. Maybe you find time to experience the natural sounds of a quiet walk in the woods. You see, we need to close the door, lay it all down, and be quiet to hear the soft voice of God, ticking…waiting for us to find Him. He’s calling us to return, calling us to faithfulness, calling us back home to Him. There is no greater treasure.

I hope to embrace this Lenten season as a time to seek God’s voice in my life and turn off worldly noise that makes no eternal difference in my life.

Tammy

TAKE THE HIGH ROAD

During a crisis, any type you care to define, leadership is key to successful resolution. The resolution could be similar to the three answers to prayer – “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” We are currently in the wait mode, which implies we must be patient and carry on as best we can.

Leaders are the focal point for information to make decisions on the path to resolution. While waiting for answers;  “like flattening the curve,” a positive, realistic outlook is required. This is called “taking the High Road.”

The High Road is paved with characteristics like courage, commitment, and integrity - which is my favorite. In defining the word integrity to youngsters, a good response is “doing the right thing when nobody’s around.” By extension, “doing the right thing when everybody’s around” is a trait of leaders with integrity. 

We can debate any leader’s decision; but a good leader makes the best decision with the given information at that time.  Do you want the 80% solution now OR the 100% solution whenever?

HOPE for the future is what keeps people pressing on. The Lord did not suggest, imply, or even hint at His plan for us; He DECLARED it!

Read again the words from Jeremiah. Now let us - call on Him and come and pray to Him and wait. Take the High Road in all that we do and say. Be a leader and a beacon of HOPE!

For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’”  Jeremiah 29: 11-13

Anonymous Contributor seeking to keep God First.

A Follower's Thoughts

I woke up this past Sunday, thinking about all the changes our country and the world are going through due to the Corona Virus outbreak. It has definitely changed the way we think about ourselves, the way we conduct ourselves, and the way we have had to adjust our routines in life.

Then I got to thinking, you know maybe, just maybe, God is trying to get our attention. God said to me, “Hey instead of looking at the bad side of this situation, why don’t you look at the good side. I’m slowing you down. You were living too much of a fast-paced life. Your to-do lists were getting too long, taking up too much of your time. You need to spend more time with me. Build a better relationship with my son, Jesus. Spend more time with your wife and children. Build a healthier relationship with them. I’m giving you the time now to do that.”

Then God told me. “I understand what you are going through. I understand what your country and the world is going through. I made my children to be social people. I know you want to get out and interact with others…to go and see and talk to family, and friends, to worship with your church family, spread the Gospel and show the love of my son to all who will hear. But, right now, I’m not allowing it. Why? Because you need to be still and know that I am your God and I am with you. Trust me, I’ve got this. You need to bond with me, read my words, and yes once again, build a relationship with my son. You see, there were times in my son’s life, that I had to pull him away from the crowds. He had to come to me for strength and renewal of his mind, body, and soul. Now my child, I am giving you this opportunity to do that very same thing that I gave my son. Time with me. I have a purpose for everything. Even though you may not see it now, you will someday. Out of the ashes, good will rise, just as I rose my son up to conquer death.”

So, I wrote these words down from God, to give us all encouragement in times of uncertainty. I searched scripture in Mathew 14:22-23. This was right after Jesus had fed the five thousand. It says, “Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was alone.”

Everyone. Find your mountain, in these troubled times, to be alone with God. Hey, if Jesus did it, it must be good stuff! We will all get through this pandemic. Look at it this way, we may not be there with our family, friends, loved ones, or church family, but rest assured, God is with them and God is with us.

Besides, God has given us the technology through our smart phones and computers to communicate with family and friends, and most of all, to spread the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others. Let us all be thankful of that! Let us all build a relationship with Christ Jesus in this time we have been given, so that when this pandemic is over, we can rise up and come down the mountain, renewed in body, mind, and soul, to go among the crowds again to bring the Gospel of Jesus to those who most desperately need it. God Bless!

Correll Pritchard

"The Easter Bunny Came but the Ice Cream Truck Didn't"

To say, “Things have been different around our house, this week” is an understatement. The storms that rolled through our area on Sunday morning devastated our neighborhood and surrounding community. Our home suffered minor damage as compared to many others in our neighborhood, and over the last few days, the definition of community, “Come Unite” has been evident all over. People have come together to help each other remove trees from homes, start repairs, cover damaged roofs, and just clear and clean up debris.

We have been without power since Sunday morning. Cold showers are refreshing in the early morning, but it is not my favorite way to start each day. The humming of generators, the sounds of revving chain saw motors, leaf blowers, and other gas-powered equipment has become the usual sounds of the day and evenings. The nights seem darker almost completely black without the streetlights filtering through the blinds as usual. The occasional swath of light from headlights on utility trucks and other vehicles patrolling the neighborhood was hardly noticed just a few days ago, but now when we see a little light, we are caught peering out of the windows like baby birds looking through the opening on a birdhouse, just the see the darkness fade away, if only for a brief second.

Just last evening, my wife and I were sitting together, talking about anything and everything, staring into the light of a table lamp I had plugged into an extension cord from the generator. She said, “You know, the light from the lamp, after experiencing so much darkness, makes things feel a little more normal and gives me hope.” I was quiet and thoughtful for a moment after she made this statement, listening to the humming sound from the generator supplying the power for the “Light,” and pondering seeing how the community had come together as one when I recalled something I had read, “We need to be ready in and out of season to do His will.” 

As leaders, in our homes, communities, and organizations, we must understand we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others. It is a good thing to see all the people come together for the good of others, but it shouldn’t take a storm or disaster or a pandemic to make us move in the direction of making a difference and adding value to others. This is something we should always be doing. I am very guilty of inaction, at times. I fall prey to shutting out the world by living in a bubble. I am guilty of falling into the routine of my daily life that serves only my needs and wants, failing to be of service to the needs and wants of others. I think we all do this on occasion.

I do not like to acknowledge that sometimes, just maybe, it takes a storm, disaster, or pandemic to jolt us back to reality to make us realize we are not living alone on an island. We are a community, a team of people, living together, depending on each other, disciples serving one another, serving Him. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season.” We should always “be ready,” whether we like it or not. Because, if we do what only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would never do anything. I am saddened to admit that, on occasions, I have resembled the last statement.

On a lighter note, my wife gave our grandchildren some money in an Easter card to purchase a popsicle from the ice cream truck that frequents their neighborhood in the afternoons. The Monday after Easter their mother was standing with them awaiting the arrival of the truck to their neighborhood, which on that day was a no show. Disappointed, they started back to the house when one of the grands sighed, “Well, the Easter bunny came, but the ice cream truck didn’t.” And a child shall lead them… This simple statement helps me to understand that if we seek and follow the things of this world we are bound to experience some temporary disappointments in our lives, but if we seek and follow Him, His gift of grace will provide us with salvation, faith, hope, joy and unconditional love, forever. 

I encourage each of us to “Come Unite” in community, putting our focus on Him. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God…” He was telling us is that the greatest concern of life is to place our relationship with God first and everything else second. It will make a difference and add value to all of us. 2 Timothy 4:2

Have a wonderful day,

James Dodwell