Welcome Back, Blogger!

Hello, friends! I’m back after a lazy, freewheeling summer hiatus and a purposeful back-to-school transition. Tell the truth, now. You thought I had forgotten you. Yes, you did. You thought that I had gone out and made new friends and forgotten all about Walkin’ and Talkin’. No, no. I would miss our virtual stroll. After a summer of actual sitting by the pool I need the exercise. (Virtual exercise counts, right?)

What I did forget was how to get on the blog. Just momentarily, but still. Forgot the password, forgot the address, forgot everything. After a few minutes of typing in various combinations--wretched use of eternal minutes that I will never get back--it finally let me in. I hate computers. When your Bible study teacher tells you that God will stretch your boundaries for His service, pay attention. I never thought I would be working in such a technical field. I’d really rather write each woman in the church a pencil-and-paper note every week. Sometimes I actually think it would be faster. This week, however, I have some encouragement that can’t wait.

Go look up Psalm 27:13. Go ahead. I’ll wait. It’s a good one. It’s my new theme verse for fall, and it’s funny.

All of Psalm 27 is about trust. In my Bible the subtitle is “A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.” David is having some trouble with the toxic people in his life. He tells us about evil doers who “devour his flesh,” false witnesses who “breathe out violence,” and parents who won’t help him. They’re probably out of town the way my parents always are when I am having a crisis. I love David. He’s so extreme. He, like me, never passes up an opportunity to have a colorfully detailed vent. He vents to the Lord, and I vent to my bathroom mirror, but whatever.

Then in verse 13 he switches gears and says “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Don’t you love his nonchalance? As it to say he hasn’t even started to get upset. “I would have been worried about these violent breathers, but then I remembered the Lord. I would have tried to shake off all these people trying to bite me, but then I thought of my faith. I would have sent my parents a pouty text, but then I remembered Jesus and all.” It makes me chuckle every time I think of it.

I encountered this verse several weeks ago and can assure you that it plugs nicely into almost any situation. When you lose your keys: “I would have despaired, unless I had believed.” When you get home from the grocery store with lots of nice items, except the one thing you went there to get: “I would have despaired unless I had believed.” When your child puts you down, and then slams the door in your face: (Take a deep breath first and with power) “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Okay, that one’s not so funny, but you get the picture. It’s an antidote for that wave of panic or that rising anger in your throat.

Try it and see if it doesn’t restore your inner chuckle. (Yes, even rueful laughter counts.) What’s your favorite verse to fight off despair? Send me a comment. I panic often, and I could use the extra help. I have a couple more notes about the second part of the verse, but I’m out of time right now. I’ll be back. Keep your heart rate up!

Storms

We certainly have had some stormy weather lately! In honor of our April showers join me in contemplating what Pat Evans has to say about "Storms." This is an excerpt from her devotional book Honey for a Woman's Heart, used with her permission. Stay dry and enjoy!

Storms

" . . . The righteous will live by faith." Habakkuk 2:4b

Living here on the Gulf Coast, we are used to storms and even hurricanes. We are used to high winds and lots of rain. Several years ago, my pastor preached from the little book of Habakkuk giving us three simple points that we can apply to our lives today.

Chapter one: "Looking at the storm brings confusion."
My husband and I have sat on our back porch and looked at hurricane force winds and horizontal rain, wondering what was this storm going to do to us, to our property. It always brings confusion.

Chapter two: "Looking through the storm brings confidence."
It's here that the Lord says to Habakkuk, "the righteous will live by faith." When we look through the storm with faith in our Abba Father, we do receive confidence because He is Almighty God, sovereign and in control even of the rain and wind. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Chapter three: "Looking beyond the storm brings comfort."
Habakkuk prays to the Lord, ". . . I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known."

The little book is ended with the magnificent praise: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD. I will be JOYFUL in God my Savior. [Because] The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of the deer, He enables me to go on the heights."

He takes away my confusion in the storm; He brings me confidence through the storm; He brings me comfort as we look beyond the storm and though we may not see it we can know He is our strength and we can be joyful!

Clouds from the Bridge

Genesis 1:6
Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expanse heaven.

Psalm 89:5
The heavens will praise Thy wonders, O Lord; Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord?

Today when I was driving back from the church the clouds hung in a stunning arrangement in the sky above the bridge. There were so many of varied beauty that a question appeared "Would God paint a picture just for me to see?" Yes. I paid attention and looked longer.
Cumulus, stratus, cumulonimbus. The names I learned as a student came easily, but didn’t carry with them any definitions. These were just the kind of clouds you imagine sitting on in heaven but don’t often see. Big, puffy, white cotton-ball clouds, the kind that usually wear gray and carry rain, today came down close to the water. Their visit was not work related. They were on a social call.

The center seemed a large mass of hundreds of clouds some stripy, some fat, some lacy, some fully formed. Then I realized that it wasn’t one large mass, but layers and layers with holes here and there, through which I could see the ones behind and the sky higher up.

The sky was a blue just right for clouds like these, and though I can’t locate the sun’s position in my memory I know light shone down in wide, round channels. Where a cloud sat, blocking, light traced the edges. Below the water flashed and twinkled. Tiny mirrors of light, winking and popping up in circles, played like a school of fish who know the pelicans are not diving now.
Did God create these clouds for me? He created clouds in Genesis, and they must have been important because it was only the second day. Human form was not needed until the sixth, after the fish and the pelicans. Still, God is as much about set design as he is about the plot. So what purpose do these clouds perform this day? At that moment, and in that moment, there was no quick answer the that and other questions beginning to form. All I could do is stare at the picture splashed across the sky.

After a while, though, it dawned on me that, if light is glory in a created form, these clouds both exposed and withheld God’s glory. A cloud suspended in the midst of the light seemed formed by it. And in the center where the light couldn’t penetrate the cloud was darker, heavier. Similarly, I am darker in the places where I refuse entrance to His light and become heavy with holding it in. When it penetrates my shape is changed, and beauty results despite my tendency to bring rain. But that's the Sunday school answer--the one that appears after time to process.

The truth is the heavens praise His wonders. They don’t explain them. They don’t make practicable applications. They praise. They don’t praise how easy God is to read. They praise how hard it is to ever comprehend Him. They sing for joy that we don’t know what He means. No one bound to the earth can do what He does, or even always say for sure that what they see is really Him. We stare at the heavens and we wonder. And it is a beautiful sight.

Coffee Thoughts

A few years ago some FBCP women did a summer Bible study together. The major theme was moving toward God through positive attitudes. It seemed simple enough. However, we would start out talking about having a positive focus and pretty soon we’d be locked in an intense discussion about where God’s will stops and our sin begins. It amazed me then and continues to now how we try to study one aspect of the Christian walk and we keep bumping into all the same old stuff: God's will, His infinite mercy, His love vs. His sovereign law.

I was mulling this over when I pulled up to the Starbucks window around that same time, and I bought a cup of coffee, which isn't notable, except that they had just started printing quotes on their to-go cups. The one I found on my cup was from fashion designer Todd Oldham who among other things said: "An open, non-judgmental mind is the best tool for brewing creativity." I drove along sipping my coffee and thinking about Todd. His most recent creative contribution, besides apparently a book also mentioned on the cup, was a collection of sixties mod furniture for, of all places, La-Z-boy. I started feeling a little guilty because here Todd had said I wasn't supposed to judge and, not a minute later, I was thinking how tacky his furniture was and how his agent must have had a hard time getting him the coffee-cup gig.

That's when a thought hit me so hard that I almost stopped the car. I disagree! I disagree with Todd and the whole Hollywood line that suggests that a complete lack of boundaries fosters creativity. I think creativity grows best from within limits. Why do you need to be creative if you can just do whatever you want? And furthermore it seems to me that being creative is one of the best ways in which we reflect God's image. He's the Creator, and so we create. Consequently, it stands to reason that we would be most creative when harnessing ourselves within the bounds of God's law. And there it was. God’s law. I bumped into it again.

It’s an exciting time to be a woman at FBCP because your Women’s Ministries leaders are exploring their powers of creativity on your behalf. It’s easy sometimes as women to get trapped in thinking only of our limits: Too little time, too little money, too busy with work, too burdened by family, too little family, or what have you. The stage-of-life divisions of modern churches serve many fine purposes, but they also highlight our differences rather than our commonalities. Into this gap jumps your fearless Women’s Ministries team bringing you, among other options, the Women’s Retreat, Let’s Do Lunch, and The Walk, our revamped newsletter. They know that whatever divergent paths God has put us on individually, we all still need a to take a regular break, to eat lunch, and to know what’s going on.

This blog is another idea. It’s a monthly email in your inbox: an attempt to find God in and through all of our divergent paths. We offer it as an experience we can all share that won’t tax the already overstuffed calendar or the under-stuffed billfold. Hopefully it will be an encouragement that doesn’t add to your to-do list. Contributors will include Chaun McGuire, our newsletter editor, and me, Ginger Myers. Pat Evans has graciously allowed us to dip occasionally into her Honey for a Woman’s Heart. Hannah Evans continues the graphic design. We love feedback, so send us your own creative, caffeine-induced ideas.

If your coffee cup can add meaning to your life, won’t God mercifully do the same and for greater impact? Whatever teeny moments we give Him he will multiply long after the caffeine buzz has worn off. So grab yourself a cup of coffee or whatever else you prefer and enjoy the perks of being an FBCP woman.

And watch out for that to-go-cup theology. It’ll burn ya–no pun intended.