How Long?

How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.  Habakkuk 1:2-4 (NIV)

My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:10 (NIV) 

Do you take God (and yourself) seriously enough to get pissed off at God? I mean, really let God have it? No eloquent prose or poetry, just “tell it like it is?”

Prayer is so much more than politely telling God what you have in the way of a “to do” list for him for the day. Prayer is honest speech and honest listening. Prayer is the crock pot of relationships. People who invest in one another can tell it like it is. The investment in one another is “no matter what.” Casual acquaintances employ a clipped politeness or flowery inflated speech (if they wish to impress.)

Not so with God. Only when we will honestly speak and honestly listen with the transforming reality of God and God’s power take hold of us and our situation. The world, our world is full of pain and grief and, I believe, God is addressing that through us, the followers of Jesus.

Go ahead; engage in a real conversation with your Maker.

610

For those of you in Houston, no, not the 610 Loop. 610 Ash Avenue, Rifle, Colorado. Christine and I designed and built this house. We moved into a boom town. The only housing was that which was built. Beautiful stained wood exterior (needed to be redone every 3 years due to the sunshine.) I spent a summer hand digging post holes to fence in the ¼ acre. Planted a huge 500 sq. ft. garden.  Planted fruit trees as well. Even got peaches and apples off of them before the oil "bust" came and we had to move.

This past week, we returned to Rifle and western Colorado to visit friends and the sun without humidity. We checked on the house. Well, it was just plan ugly. Yellow vinyl siding (do they allow that in Colorado?) Cedar fence gone. Fruit trees gone. Two huge cottonwoods (junk) tree instead. No garden. We were crushed. In fact, the entire street (we oil field trash build most of it) was a mess.

God reminds us that we cannot go back and, in fact, trying to go back will only serve to lessen our lives. There was no past Golden Era. Memory is selective. Time cannot be frozen, only savored.

What will you do to savor today, as ordinary as it may seem?

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

Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62 (NIV)

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34 (NIV)

Easy

I noticed these on the pharmacy counter while on vacation. Every puzzle was made "easy." I wondered who would spend good money on puzzles anyone could solve and solve quickly. While there are a myriad of tastes, I suspect we want to feel good about ourselves by "conquering" puzzles. Why not make it total? Quite honestly, I prefer the Sunday New York Times Puzzle, which I NEVER finish. I like the mental exercise, the battle. And I learn.

Jesus said that we were not going to wring out much life from taking the easy route. Do you believe him? Enough to seek challenges and risks?

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)