“Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases him” (Ps. 115:3).
And what pleases you, Lord, is always what is “lovely, true, noble, right, pure, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy” (Phil 4:8).

What you want, Lord Jesus, is always according to
your character,
your name,
your being,
your essence,

for You are Love itself,
you are Life itself,
you are Light itself—
You are literally lovely in every aspect of your being.

The fact is, what pleases you will certainly please us, too–in the long run.

Conclusion: Your will, Lord, is what we would want if we had all the facts, which we never do,
but we can trust you to have them and act accordingly.

Picture: Our God of Goodness

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Col. 3:2,3

Forty years ago God brought me to face my fears of my family’s possible deaths. My wife was off on retreat and my  boys on a trip with their school; at the time the accident rate of our resident country was very high, making accidents highly probable.

As I lay alone in bed, a powerful fear gripped me: “What if they have an accident and die?!!!” After struggling with this is prayer, I surrendered my fear with this insight, “Lord you have loaned me Barbara, Josh and Nat to care for and love, to enjoy and work with. If you choose to take them now or at any point, I release them to you. I will praise you for the time you have given us together, and will praise you for knowing the right time to take them.”

In doing this, the Spirit  prepared me for their potential deaths (we are all going to die sometime) by opening my hand and having me hold them in an open palm, releasing them for God to take them or leave them as He knows best. As a result,  I have  already passed through an essential part of the grieving cycle (letting go, dealing with anger and shock, adjusting to the thought of loss). In trusting God to do what is best, fear is defeated and I can live in peace and confidence in God’s goodness and wisdom.

However, I had not done this with my dog; it hadn’t entered my mind to do so—although it should have! I had been holding her with a closed hand, expecting to have her in our family for years to come and when she went, I was not prepared. Therefore, I had to work through the whole grieving process from the beginning.

So acting on this insight,  I went on to surrender all the other people in my life to God in the same way. A good number of them have died since then, and in each case I grieved, but it was brief and not debilitating, for I was able to start three quarters of the way through the grief cycle. This is part of Jesus’ statement, “…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32.  Let’s avail our selves of this freedom.

Picture holding what is precious with an open hand:

“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5

We can plan things as much as we want, but if you want God’s direction he’s going to give it to us and it may be very different from what we expected or wanted. And that is a God’s sighting.

Today we had a doctor’s appointment for Barbara. I wasn’t sure if we should go because I was just getting over COVID. But, in the end, we decided to go, so we got in the old van and took off. But after about a mile on the Turnpike there was a warning signal; I looked down and the heat gauge was right to the top!

So, I pulled over and thought maybe I could wait till it cools off. But it didn’t. I pulled a little further up the road and off on the shoulder and called the doctor’s office to tell him he wouldn’t make it. Then got out and looked under the hood. The overflow tank was full, so that was OK. Then I squeezed the hose going from the radiator to the thermostat and it was empty! Something was definitely wrong. I looked up on my phone how to find and change the thermostat, then I got off my hammer and tapped on it. No change

Then an idea came, I should check the radiator itself: it was totally empty! What am I going to do? I looked in the back of the van and found there were about 20 small water bottles I had gotten them for a meeting we were going to have and had forgotten they were there (God sighting). I emptied them one at the time into the radiator ann filled it right to the top!(God sighting) I started the van and the needle on the heat gauge went right where it was supposed to be, so I was able to drive home with no problem.(God sighting)

Then I called the doctor’s office again and they gave us an appointment from Monday both for Barbara’s salt levels and for me to have my finger checked.(God sighting) I believe that Lord prevented us from going today both possibly to get me in to see the doctor quickly.

God works in mysterious ways, guiding us in His wisdom while also providing marvelously as He leads and protects us. Knowing this helps us off praise before we see the outcome.

“Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.” Col.3:21

I am struck more and more with the power of a father to influence his children for good or evil. It is my personal observation that a father is to provide a sense of significance for his children. He does this by paying attention and listening to them, teaching them things, praising them, and giving them healthy physical affection.

Mothers, of course, have a very important role too, as they are to provide a sense of security to the children, nurturing and caring for them.

Just this week two sad events brought this home to me again. A young man whose father abandoned him as a small child has committed suicide. He often said, “I’m useless, I’m nothing.” This was the emotional legacy his father left him which led him to discouragement and despair. The second was a conversation with a person who was sexually abused by his father as a child and is constantly tormented by feelings of worthlessness and self-hatred.

These two fathers utterly ruined the lives of their children–a strong warning to us as parents to love our children unconditionally, to spend time with them, affirming their worth and treating them with wisdom and purity—to encourage, not discourage them. Just like our heavenly Father does with us!

Well here it is Sunday evening. I have missed some days of posting because I came down with COVID. Pretty much wiped me out, didn’t have the energy to do much. Today I’m somewhat better thank God

. This was of course an opportunity to offer the sacrifice of Thanksgiving, although I certainly didn’t feel like it! But God allows such things for our good in some way I don’t know what the good is in this right now but it will come clear in the future.

I was scheduled to speak in another church this morning but couldn’t go so arranged for me to give the sermon over the Internet. Much easier than driving 45 minutes COVID and potentially exposing people to COVID.

This experience is of course hardly more than an inconvenience, especially when compared to things that other Christians are suffering: arrests, beatings Cuba losing all their possessions, losing loved ones and being imprisoned. Those are the ones we should consistently be praying for!

As they walk through the valley of the shadow of death, may they fear no evil for you are with them, and you will bring them through! Praise you for your faithfulness Lord Jesus.