Tag: trust

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Some Trust in Chariots

Last night I had probably the most unsettling trip to the airport I have ever had. After dinner, my coworker and I heading back to the hotel to get our bags and then we were off to a hotel closer to the airport to prepare for this morning’s early flight. The hotel staff retrieved our bags and hailed us a limo instead of a taxi. However, this was not your typical black town car; this was a brown suburban that appeared to have a few too many miles on it. My friend even asked” Is it legal?” – as in is it a legal taxi? The front license plate was a Livery plate so we climbed in. Now I must saw that this guy really just looked like a buddy of the two door man, but who could tell and the price was right.
So we buckled in and off we went. Since the driver was African – like Somalian or something like that, and since I read too make spy novels and watch too many shows like that, I was feeling like maybe my destination was not the airport. It appears we were taking a circuitous route to the airport; however, it is Boston – the city where you never go the same way twice.
Then as we sat at a traffic light, the driver turned on the engine and leaned over the steering wheel. Immediately my co worker and I sort of drew up a little – “what in the world?”. We waiting until the light turned and he started the car back up and then did a strange uturn. Now it was getting even odder, but I noticed he was heading through one of Boston’s tunnels out to the airport. As we approached the end of the tunnel, the car started slowing down and lurching. At first I thought maybe we was trying to change lanes and had slowed down to allow the other cars past, but then we both realized, the car was not in ‘good health’! My co worker asked if everything was ok, and the reply from the driver was that he had gotten bad gas, when in fact he had no gas.
For the next few miles we sputtered and spitted and nervously looked for a spot to exit the vehicle and walk to the hotel, but  we finally cruised into the lane in the front of the hotel – safe and sound.  (And I was glad I was really not in one of those TV shows or books I read! – although even when I got out, I was still looking for the man who would put the black hood over my head!)
So with that little story, I am reminded of an old Acappella song. So here is a little Psalm to encourage you. Keep your trust in Him.

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7 (New International Version)

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Midnight Runner

Last night at 10:15 I decided that it was time for me to go on a 3 mile run.  I was not able to ‘get my run in’ earlier in the day and it was still over 80 degrees outside.  So while the eldest was finished up Algebra homework and the other two were reading themselves to sleep in bed off I went into the black night.  (From a training perspective this was a big move for me – having to get the mileage in, as just a month ago I would have just grabbed a bowl of ice cream and plopped in front of the good old tele!”)

So off I went into the night down the street.  It’s been a long time since I had run in the dark and it always seems that the darkness at 11pm is darker then the darkness at 6am.  Not sure why, but it seemed a whole lot darker and more ominous then when I run in the mornings.  Anyway, on with the story and away from boring not needed details like this sentence.  I noticed that I really could not see the road in front of me, outside of the few times I crossed the path of a street light or a porch light.  The rest of the time, I was just running in the general direction of the road towards the lights I could see in the distance.

It struck me how much this is like life.  We spend so many parts of our life not really sure of the road we are on, not able to clearly see what lies right in front of us, but we continue pushing onward, towards the light, towards the hope that lies out there, trusting that the road will be there.

I have recently added a few Fireflight songs to my playlist and this reminds me of the lyrics of their song Unbreakable

Sometimes it’s hard to just keep going
But faith is moving without knowing
Can I trust what I can’t see to reach my destiny?

and later in the song

Forget the fear it’s just a crutch
That tries to hold you back
And turn your dreams to dust
All you need to do is just trust

Even as I approached my house I could see the faint outline of the porch light reflecting off my mailbox, but I could not make out the house, or bushes around it.  I was hoping there was not a huge coyote or man eating night stalking creature in the shadows.

But that’s us.  Pushing forward, trusting, moving with faith, uncertain of  the road, but certain of the destination.

13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (New International Version)

Keep your focus today!  Stay strong, and keep running!

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Best Laid Plans

11 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. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, Jeremiah 29:11-14 (New International Version)

I have been frustrated lately by plans.  The ineffectiveness of my plans, the impact of other people’s plans on me and the seemingly lack of control that I might have in the goings on around me.  The toll of daily life can distract you from the fact that God does have a plan for you and he will use you.

Over this past weekend, while I continued to be in a stupor about my plans,  I received an email from a good friend from work.  I had been wondering why he was not on line Friday, as we had some items were where debating and I was searching for him via instant message.  Well, turns out he had had a heart attack on Thursday afternoon, and subsequently underwent major heart surgery on Monday. And then there’s Monday.  On Monday morning, I awoke to the news about a teenager who had a diving accident over the weekend and was potentially paralyzed.  A few hours later I would discover that I knew this family.

WOW, so as this week has continued, I thought about how immediately and urgently their plans had been changed.  Then there’s a third friend in her thirties who had a heart attack last month.  (Ok, it does seem that I am getting old – so and so is sick, so and so broke a hip, etc., I promise this blog will not turn into the gore report)

But seriously, these events were not in their plans – BELIEVE ME!  So how do we rationalize the verse in Jeremiah in fewer than 400 words?  Well, this week I have been trying to realize that God’s plan for us may not be as clear as “Go here and to this for 2 days and then go here and do that for 2 weeks, and then spend a year in this city”.  I think God’s plan for us is worked out in the mundane, normal, drama filled life.  God’s plan for the dude I mentioned yesterday is not nearly what he thought it might be.  God’s plan for the three individual’s above may be a little cloudy at the moment.  The same may go for you and me.  But the cool thing is there is a promise,  if you seek me, I will be found.

Today, let God work in your life, instead of working God into your life.  Give him your heart.

(That’s just less than 500 words, what do you think?)

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Friday the 13th

Oh yes, with a name like Jason, you know I have to like Friday the 13th.  In the past when I was helping with the Inner City children, they would all invariably pull back and yell every time I would tell them my name was Jason.  And these were small children – 6, 7 8 year olds.

So Friday the 13th seems like a perfect day for a person with my name to get out and have some fun. But actually, I am not superstitious at all.  The fact is, to me Friday the 13th really has no special value.  Its another great day that we have been blessed with to serve and to love.  I walk under ladders, I used to own a black cat, I never knock on wood, nor toss salt over my shoulder.

You may be asking “How can you survive?”  Its all because of  trust.

6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand.

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

8 They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm. Psalm 20:6-8 (New International Version)

So even if today the mirror breaks while a black cat screeches in front of me and I see a dude in a hockey mask with a chain saw, I’ll still not fear. When your trust is in the Lord and Savior these other things – plus the normal “stresses” of life – tend to fade into the back ground and not be as big of fears as maybe they once where.

So get out there and enjoy Friday the 13th.  I may even open my umbrella inside!

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Almost Perfect

As you know last week I was blessed to be able to spend a week on the Gulf coast at one of my most favorite places – the beach.  Oh the sun, the warm sand, the soft waves.  No. not at all.  Because of the recent Hurricane Alex, we spent most of the week being drenched by the feeder bands and then the remaining parts of the hurricane after it come upon shore.  It was really disappointed, and quite thought provoking.

One day after spending a little too much time at the house ( even though I really can’t complain, the porches and the porch furniture at this house provided a very relaxing setting for a rainy day) I decided to take a rainy walk on the beach.   As I walked on this lonely rainy beach, and I listened to the roar of the waves and watched the dance between the sand and the water, the beauty of this tainted day become very apparent.  Also, during the trip I found two shells.  Two shells that were almost perfect.  One a Nautilus and the other a nice conch-type shell.  Both just a little bit broken or covered with ‘junk from the sea”, however both are still very beautiful.  It was in these shells that I finally realized something I have always thought – that the beach is so much like our lives.  Everyday its different, and even what seems to be the most disappointing of times there is beauty.

Today, you may be dealing with disappointment in your life or in your work, or in your relationships, or maybe even in the mirror. Look past the imperfections and look for the beauty.  These two shells are the only two I brought back this year and I hope that each time I glance over at them, I will remember that even when life is full of apparent disappointments that many blessing still exist.

24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 (New International Version)

Be Salty!