In His Hands...
This poem has been on my mind the past few days.  I have a friend who's 18 year old son left home for the first time this week to follow their chosen life path.  Although it's been several years since I first wrote this one, that feeling of watching one of your own move away is still fresh in my heart.  I have gone through it twice now and still have one more to go, and I can tell you that it doesn't get easier...But as Christians, we raise our children to love the Lord and to grow up to have an impact for Christ in the world.  That only happens as we give them the freedom to follow the path that God has called them to.  To be sure, there is a peace in that confidence but it still leaves a void in the heart and in the home.  The key, like so many things that we encounter in life, is that we must learn to simply leave it...

In His Hands

She left for college recently

My first born flown from the nest

And a piece of my heart is gone with her

Like it was pulled right from my chest

I know she is where she’s supposed to be

Of that I have no doubt

But how to deal with this hole inside

I’ll just have to figure out

I miss the hugs and kisses

And our private little talks

But through the wonder of what lies ahead

I feel like something has been lost

You see I loved her before I knew her

From the first heartbeat on the ultrasound

And with every “first” I watched her grow

Knowing that this was where she was bound

So even though life won’t be the same

I know God has a plan

And He loves her more than I ever could

So I’ll just leave it in His hands

And someday many years from now

When her own child moves away

She’ll understand with certainty

The way I feel today

Ps 127:4  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

We raise them to one day leave the nest, but I think sometimes we underestimate just how hard it will be to let them fly.

Desires of The Heart...
It's Missions Emphasis time again at our church.  Once a year we focus on, and think about the missionaries we support and the work that they do.  We remind ourselves that the job of missions (and evangelism) is not just up to those who dedicate their lives on foreign fields, but it is also up to us here at home to remember to pray for them and to give to support them.  I know that sometimes we tend to forget that even in the most remote parts of the world, it still costs money to operate and survive.  But, here's the thing...it's not just missionaries that need our prayers and support.  What about our own home churches?  I heard a question that really stuck with me recently.."if everyone in your church gave just like you do, what kind of church would you have?  Would the staff get paid on time? Would the electric bill and all the other expenses be taken care of?"  You could take that thought beyond just giving to the areas of service and praying for the ministry and its leadership!  There is a basic law of the universe, that God has created, that basically says, "you can not reap before you sow".  I know that some will say..."just like a Baptist, always talking about money".  But the fact of the matter is that it has never really been about money...the real issue for every Christian is.....

Desires of the Heart

What is your heart’s desire

What is it that you crave

Is it a closer walk with Him

Who has the power to save

Is it life that’s more abundant

With blessings multiplied

Or is it temporal things you chase

Like fortune fame and pride

Do you long for things that cannot last

And lose sight of what cannot fail

For whatever your heart desires most

Is surely the most telling tale

Do you hope for joy in sorrow

And a peace you can’t explain

Do you look to Him for answers

To find sunshine through the rain

You see all the glittering treasures here

Are fleeting dreams at best

And only what’s done for the Kingdom

Will pass the eternal test

So it’s left to us to make a choice

What dividends we’ll reap

To keep the things we cannot lose

We must give what we cannot keep

For money time and energy

Invested for the Lord

A hundred million years from now

Will still be yielding great reward

Matt 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Ps 37:4  Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

God has made some wonderful and powerful promises to us in His Word, unfortunately most of us are far too easily distracted from what is truly important by what is so clearly temporary.  If we will only “delight” ourselves in the Lord, then our desires will be right and God delights to give us those desires.

A Vapor...
I don't know about anyone else, but for me it is hard to believe it is 2012 already...I suppose that it is a part of getting older, but with each new year I am more and more aware of how fast the time really flies.  I can look back over my life and see different points in time that seem to flow together.  I can remember moments from my childhood that somehow seamlessly become high school days.  And then in a blink I am married to my best friend and  we are starting a family.  And now almost miraculously my three little ones are all young adults and I wonder where the time went.  So my point is simply this...we are only given one shot at life this side of eternity so we best make the most of it, because life really is just.....

A Vapor

Life is but a vapor

Here but a moment then it's past

Yet we spend so very much of it 

On things that will not last

We spend time on the cars we drive

Or the houses we live in

But have no time at all to spend

On the neighbor we might win

We spend time working on our jobs

Or the hobbies that we have

And of course a little time in church

So our conscience we might salve

We spend time with our families

A very good thing indeed

But alas we have no time we say

For the stranger who is in need

Help me Lord to understand

That life is more than time

For to spend my life on just myself

Would be the highest crime

James 4:14   Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

The brevity of life is a fact we are all very familiar with.  Yet somehow the fact in our heads is disconnected from the desires of our hearts.  How much more fulfilled and joyful our lives would be if we could live each “today” as if tomorrow we would meet our Maker, because we do not know which “today” it will be true.