Isaiah 40:10 continues “He tends his flock like a shepherd:” You are the Faithful One who protects your sheep at all costs. You watch over us with care, with compassion, with competence, with completeness. In your sight we are `not just possessions but your beloved children.

“He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;” You are tender with us when we are weak. You love us graciously, kindly, gently. You think of each of us continually, aware of our needs, protecting and guiding us through the difficulties and joys of life.

“…he gently leads those that have young.” You know our condition, you adjust your leadership according to what we are able to do and take. You are gracious and good, providing and protecting, caring and compassionate.

You, Lord Jesus, are the ever-present Shepherd, the powerful King, the perfect Savior and our pleasant Lord. Youare gentle when needed and firm when it’s called for.

You are trustable at every moment, always worthy of obedience, of love, of honor, glory and praise. We bow before your majesty, we rise up in awe of your magnificence, we choose to obey you in the light of your might.

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.” Hebrews 13:15

Once upon a time there were two people living in a foreign land who got a package from Germany.

When they went to the post office to pick it up, the customs official opened it and took out two packages of tea, the kind of tea that they really liked but wasn’t available locally. Smiling, he said, “You can’t have these; customs regulations!” And with that he put the tea into his desk drawer.

Now, how should these two people react to such random injustice? There are only two basic possibilities: to complain or to praise, and we all know which is correct. These two people took a moment to pray, “Lord, thank you for all the times tea did come to us and customs let it through. Thank you that this time you chose to have it otherwise.” Then those two left the post office with light hearts and good thoughts and had a really good day

Praise is a wonderful responsibility that God has given us. It keeps us dwelling in the Truth, and, as you know, Jesus said in John 8:32, “…the truth will set you free.” Praise sets us free from the nasty so we can dwell on the nice, as Paul pointed out in Philippians 4:8 (think on whatever is true, noble and right, whatever is pure, lovely and admirable).

He has given us the power through  praise to honor Him and open the way for Him to show us the salvation of the Lord (Psalm 50:23). Let’s choose to do that!

Picture about 2020

January 26

“The Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—the LORD, who remains faithful forever.” Psalm 146:6

Praise be to you, O triune Elohim, that when I am not faithful, not open to you, not obedient, you remain faithful, you remain wise and good, patient and forgiving. You work powerfully and persistently to bring me back to surrender. Praise you for your strong, rock-like character, never changing, never shifting, never moving from perfection.

Thank you, Lord, for a new fresh today to live for you. I praise you

–for your watching over me all night,

–for arranging things for this new day,

— preparing grace for the challenges to come,

— providing enough wisdom for me (and do I need it!),

— and for sending your angels before to protect me. Praise be to you, O Lord God for your goodness and grace.

“…the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked” (Ps. 129:4).

When I look back and compare my life today with what it was like at age 18, or 26, or 33, or 46, what a difference I see! There is so much more light, so much more freedom, so much more joy because you, Lord Jesus, are ever cutting me free from my own wickedness, from the work of Satan and from the warped thinking of the world. Thank you for revealing these cords one at a time and leading me in repentance so you can cut those cords and I can withdraw any ground I’d given the enemy.

Help me to walk in the light of these truths, enjoying your protection and provision while honoring you in all I do. I saw your faithfulness in the sky recently, shown in this picture of a double rainbow.

My loving God will go before me….” Psalm 59:10

To get the missing parts from the old transmission, that evening I got on another night bus and headed back to the capital, 12 hours away. I arrived on Sunday morning and while taking a taxi home, I saw my local mechanic drive by–I had never before seen him anywhere but in his shop! An amazing God sighting! I had the taxi driver follow and stop him. The mechanic graciously came to my house, took the necessary parts from the old transmission and put them on the new one for me.

So, that night I again got on a bus and for the third night in a row spent an uncomfortable, mostly sleepless 12 hours traveling. I noticed that the bus driver was the same one I’d had the previous night. He also recognized me (not too many foreigners ride buses in that direction) and greeted me warmly. At 3 am when the bus stopped for a break, the driver invited me to have “breakfast” with him and we had a good time chatting.

When I got to the mechanic’s the next morning, I was relieved and thankful that everything needed for the transmission was there, and he set to work putting it in the car. During the days we had to wait for the repairs to be done there were many opportunities to practice language, share spiritual truth and experience the local culture as never before. We were also able to be of help to the widow we stayed with, getting her refrigerator home from the repair shop.f

The weather was really hot and for most of the time there was no running water. Our major preoccupation was sweating! Finally I was able to get a tea cup full of water (literally a tea cup full!) and took a shower with that small amount! It was wonderful. But we were ready to be done and get home, but the Lord had other plans for us. Tomorrow will show you some of them.

Picture of  the city we stayed in, 1972

“But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble’.
Psalm 59:16

As we waited beside our broken-down car, Charles, the local with us, was able to hitchhike to the next village. He returned with a mechanic who patched the hole in the transmission, pumped new oil in and got it going. We were then able to limp some 100 kilometers to the nearest city, creeping over several mountain passes.

There we found a mechanic who took the transmission apart and pronounced it “terminally wounded.” We would have to order a new one from Germany. So, Charles took the three “orphans” along with his daughter and continued his journey to the East by bus. We got on another night bus and rode in the opposite direction, 12 hours back to the capital city, where I called Germany and ordered a rebuilt transmission.

When it came a week later, I had to go to the airport customs hall with the old transmission to get it. Since our car was an imported foreign one, in order to get any new parts shipped in, I had to surrender the old parts to customs.

Well, the customs man didn’t want to take the old transmission and instead wrote it into my passport, telling me that the next time we left the country by car I should take it with me. I wasn’t very happy with having to drag two transmissions with me to the bus stop and then home. But I wasn’t yet aware of what the Lord was doing with this. And you will find out his wonderful works in subsequent posts!