Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.
Hebrews 12:12
It was Pompeii, AD 79.
As the story goes, the Roman sentry heard, saw, and smelled all of life crumbling around him. Vesuvius had erupted.
Yet he hadn’t been dismissed from his post.
So he stood.
Still stood.
Should we do any less?
* * *
I’m never quite sure what to say.
I don’t know what to say this Saturday morning either when I walk up to their makeshift table shaded under the overpass where they are eating biscuits and white gravy and ham brought to them by another group of Christ-followers and eating hot Krispy Kreme donuts brought to them by the group in our van.
I ask a question or two to get us going, nothing important, just chit-chat stuff, like conversations I would have every day with people who live under bridges and sleep in tents every night.
Except that I don’t have those conversations every day because until a year ago I couldn’t have even called one person by name who lived without a working refrigerator and who did all their cooking unplugged and who didn’t use a real toilet one more time before turning out the lights at night.
So when I don’t know what to say, I don’t say much and I just listen more to what somebody else has to say.
Today the Lord was giving me ears for Kristi’s voice.
* * *
And now these three remain:
correct interpretations, biblical worship, and church hierarchy.
But the greatest of these is . . . wait a minute!
I often heard this phrase growing up: the one true church.
I thought I knew who it was: my church.
Now I know differently.
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If you pray to God regularly, irregular things will happen on a regular basis.
– MARK BATTERSON
Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge
Don’t be fooled into thinking this “40 Day Prayer Challenge” is a lite version of Mark Batterson’s original book, The Circle Maker.
This is much more than a little devotional; it’s a a full book unto itself.
A book about praying.
Fervent praying. Confident praying. Persistent praying.
Bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers.
So why is the book entitled Draw the Circle?
Not because there’s something mystical about circles. It’s just an image to remind us to pray without ceasing. To march around our Jericho’s over and over until God brings the walls down.
* * *
I’m a rule-follower from way back. I like to do things right, in order, as they should be.
So when the rules at Manna House are one toothbrush, one shampoo, one deodorant per family representative, that’s what I *try* to give out on the Wednesdays I volunteer.
But sometimes I just can’t.
A few Wednesdays ago two people side by side asked for a roll of toilet paper each.
* * *
Related:
What do you not have time for? (If you have 42 seconds, watch Sweet Brown tell it. And if you have 1:57 minutes, also watch the Autotune remix, but I’m warning you: the song may get stuck in your head for much longer.)
For me, I didn’t think I had time for a spiritual discipline asking for an extra 20 minutes, twice a day. Especially when I couldn’t foresee tangible benefits from it. Who’s got time for that?
But for Lent, I’d try. So off I went to a group meeting to learn and do Centering Prayer.
Oh my.
* * *
