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Death and DisneylandMonday, March 3, 2008
Isaiah 65:17-25 When the kids got hurt growing up, we used the emergency room no more than a handful of times. My fear of feeling out of control kept us out sometimes, maybe when we should have been there. "It's not so bad. It'll be OK. Let me hold you." My favorite thing was to cover their pain with my magic handkerchief. I thought it was magic, anyway. Seemed to work most of the time. And we always prayed for them. But I see more clearly now that I prayed with half my head buried in the sand. There are two realities that exist simultaneously - 1) the culture of life and death, which will grind me up like it has everyone since Adam and Eve and 2) God's promised land of peace and plenty, with no more weeping or gnashing of teeth. Jesus brings us the kingdom of heaven. It did not fade away when he left us, and yet we still weep. And gnash our teeth. Can I as Jesus' brother embrace the joyous vision of God's new world and give my whole self to rescuing the perishing? My eyes need to be open to both, to the darkness and the light. I hope I'm always able to be a glass-half-full-guy. I always want to expect God to answer before I call, hear before I say a word. Why not? But the half-empty-glass sits there on the counter too. It's just as real. Death will come. Injustice will strike many lives. Horrible sickness and senseless accidents will claim many lives. God's love transcends my feelings, my philosophical biases, and the twin halves of life on earth. I might be hopeful or melancholy, but God holds me up. Wonderful joy abounds over the earth. Even as babies are killed still by bullets. And all the while God grants sleep to those he loves. Let me respond with your love, Lord, to the hot and cold, the joy and sorrow, the life and death of every day. |