March 1 - Draw Near

(submitted by Paul Hohlbein)

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8) I am always amazed how quickly I forget this verse. How quickly I ask the question, “Where are you God?” How hard I look for some sign to serve as a witness to me of God’s presence. The Psalmist in Psalm 139: 7-10, declares that there is on place where we can go to be separated from God…Thank you Jesus! Jesus “drew near” to us by leaving Heaven, being one of us, and them conquering the cross.

I hope you and I this Lenten season can grasp the remarkable access Christ’s death and resurrection gives us to our God. We need not hope God shows up where we are. Rather, we need to seek Him, draw near to Him, wherever we are…and there, HE WILL BE!


Dear God, teach us to constantly draw ourselves into your presence. Help us not to look for You after we “arrive,” but rather, “go with you” in every circumstance. May we learn to make you our constant companion.

Feb. 28 - Snow and God

(submitted by Cheryl Christman)

Matthew 6: 26, 27 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

The sun is shining brightly on 15 inches of snow and three foot drifts. The temperature is in the teens and the wind chill is below zero. But I’m sitting in my cozy sun room watching as dozens of birds visit our triple-cylinder bird feeder.

Yesterday afternoon I watched as they battled 30 MPH winds that made them hover midair like wounded helicopters until they had to retreat to the nearest tree cavity. They were tenacious, though, and returned at the first sign of calmer winds. I worried about them during the evening as the storm progressed into a blizzard.

But this morning the sun came out and so did the birds. I have counted eleven different varieties so far, one I had not seen before. They are covering the feeder, the ground below, and the nearby bushes, waiting their turn to reach food. I am once again filled with amazement as I ponder God’s providence for these little creatures. Each variety is a different size, a different color, has different markings, and a different song. And yet He has predetermined their needs and designed them to be able to weather difficult circumstances and conditions that could destroy larger, stronger creatures. Yesterday, they were battling for their lives. Today they are singing beautiful songs.

Life’s struggles can be overwhelming. We often feel like we, too, are caught up in a powerful blizzard, blinded and unable to see any farther than a few steps in front of us. It’s at these times that we need to stop struggling and fighting against the unseen foe and take refuge in God’s powerful yet comforting arms. He cares for the birds and He will take care of us, too.

Feb. 27 - Walking Through Mud

(submitted by Chris Heckaman)

If you do what the LORD wants, he will make certain each step you take is sure.
The LORD will hold your hand, and if you stumble, you still won't fall.
Psalm 37:23-24, CEV

Well, we're back. From a blizzard to 90 degree heat all within 24
hours, priceless! Haiti still calls me. I see so much of God there.
Our work in partnership with Living Hope Missions continues. The church and community development in the village of Pistere continues to grow stronger. The school we sponsor and feeding program is thriving. All the loans we funded that were paid out to help local businesses were paid back to be lent out again. The journey continues.

We helped build a kitchen for the school this year. Got a good start
one day. Had to come back after a night filled with rain the next.
Couldn't make it back in our vehicles though, too muddy. We had to hoof it on foot. Parking the trucks by the side of the main road, we got out with boots and slickers, to make the muddiest trek of our lives.

Trudging through inches of mud for 1.75 miles is an experience. Can't keep good footing. Your center of gravity is always sliding. You use muscles you never knew you had in ways you never knew you could. We
carried our packs and equipment ourselves. They were heavy burdens.
But upon final arrival, we had our most productive day of ministry and
by no coincidence the most rewarding. Teamwork was running high.
Children's smiles were extra wide.

Getting back to the compound at night, it was interesting. One by one as we shared in our evening devotions, we were asked, "When did you feel closest to God?" Hands down, "When I was walking through the mud," people replied.

Journey on Sidney First...even in the mud. It is worth it! So what if you get a little dirty. We're human. We will. We'll fall down sometimes too. We did. Muddy, sweaty, hard, slippery, it is the journey. And yet, it is where God will meet you the very most.

What is the mud you are having to deal with right now? Will you trust God enough to see Him in it even more? In the mud that you can't wait to get out of and wash off, you'll find more of Him.

Feb. 26 - Journeying on…

(submitted by H and Megan Kearns)

KEY TEXT: 1 Corinthians 13, focus 13:4-7

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is no self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Wow when I first read these words I thought, “How in the world am I going to be able to love like this?” I’m very self-seeking; in fact I am way ok with everything being all about me and H is ok with everything being all about him. God however has challenged us here in a big way over the years.

H and I have traveled many roads together. There have even been times that our agendas have taken us ‘off road’, and though this looked to be adventurous at the time, it wasn’t what God had for us. Oh, we have some stories to tell and some scars to show. We have tested our love, and often it has failed. But through these experiences we have been brought to an understanding that is only through God that we love. Sounds so ‘Bible,’ doesn’t it? Regardless it is truth.

We have realized life is always in motion, moving from one season to another, always compelling us to ‘journey on.’ This realization has brought this scripture to life. What we experience as we grow becomes part of who we are. All of it lingers in some respect or another. As we learn to accept the words love always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, God reveals and allows more of him in our lives.

Our God just wants to love us. Sit with this scripture, let the words sink in then listen for what God is saying to you.

Feb. 24 - God's Presence

(submitted by Barb Staley)

God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”

The Message Exodus 33:14

Moses has just had a reality check. He had led the people into a desert place. Moses was getting used to the place where they were camped. Moses spent time with God and was making the best of an unsettling situation. Now, God tells Moses to pack up the tent and move again.

Moses says to God “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you do not let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me, ‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans.” The Message Exodus 33:12-13

God certainly is not predictable. God is always changing my plans. It seems that when I get too comfortable, God moves me to a new adventure. Exodus tells us that God talked face to face with Moses. Moses lived in prayer even though he called it conversation with God. In difficulties, Moses had no trouble talking to God. In difficult times, we have no trouble talking to God. Life teaches us to pray.

Our prayers may be spoken or silent. They come from our minds and hearts. We need help and we seek relief. God is open to prayers of desperation, but God wants us to pray in all things. The only way we learn to “pray in all things” is just do it. This calls for a new mindset and opening our senses to God. If we only see God in very limited places such as worship or music, we put ourselves and God in a very comfortable box. If we have our definitions of what is sacred and holy, we miss the sacred and holy in the secular.

This is my Father’s world and all that is in it. God wants us to be conscious of God everywhere. In the workplace, in the sports arena, in the grocery shopping and especially in the mundane. If we transform our thinking to include the secular as holy space, we are in the presence of God at all times.

The presence of God is everywhere but you miss God if you do not take time to be conscious of the sacred in the secular. An awareness of sacred spaces is the beginning of deep prayer and intimacy with God. Prayer is not just given to you; you have to find time for prayer.

God desires to go with us just as God went with Moses. When we are empty there is no sacred in the secular, and life becomes very challenging. But, God wants to fill us to overflowing. Prayer is essential for our bodies, our minds, and our souls. Prayer is essential for relationship with God.

As we journey through Lent, can we make our moments sacred? God makes the living sweeter when God journeys with us. Can we think of ourselves as being a sweet aroma in the nostrils of God? Can we see the world thought the eyes of God? Can we listen to the world as God listens? This is prayer.

Be prepared for God to interact with you in prayer. You will see poverty; hear the cry of hurting people, and struggle with your understanding of the economically depressed and the uneducated. You will be able to feel the helplessness of the powerless, and God will give you the wisdom of the holy

Feb. 23 - Loving Others

(submitted by Chris Mullenhour)

KEY TEXT: Philippians 2:2-4, 4:9

THOUGHTS:
God has been showing me the importance of relationships when it comes to sharing Jesus with others. Have you ever gone up to a stranger and tried to tell them about your faith? If you haven’t, can you imagine what it would be like? I’ve never tried it, and I can’t even imagine how I would go about doing it.

Now imagine that you are that stranger. An unknown believer comes up to you and starts talking to you about Jesus Christ. Would you feel like they are an encyclopedia salesman trying to sell you something you’ll never use? Would you feel like someone was trying to take your money by getting you involved in the latest pyramid scheme?

So how do we go about showing others what we have experienced and the gift we received by accepting Jesus Christ? How do we get someone to see that our heart and intentions are pure?

I believe it’s by building a relationship with that person. Getting to really know that person and letting them get to know you. I’m pretty sure that every one of us already has a good relationship with a non-believer. It may be a family member, a co-worker or a friend. I can think of a couple people in my life that don’t know Jesus Christ. What have I done about it? Nothing. And I feel ashamed for it. What is holding me back? What is my level of care for these people if I don’t share with them. I have the perfect tool to love them to God and I am wasting it…. our friendship. For so long, I’ve been trying to figure out how I can reach non-believers. God told me to just open my eyes, I already love them. Now invite them.

I pray that God will give me the strength and wisdom to do what He made me to do. And I pray the same for you.

Feb. 22 - What's In a Name?

(posted by Steve Abel)

KEY TEXT: Genesis 32:22-32

THOUGHTS:

Here we find Jacob, a man known for stealing his brother’s birthright, marrying two sisters because he didn’t get the one he wanted to begin with, and having a very treacherous relationship with his father-in-law. He finally pays his debt to his father in law and leaves for home in the Promised Land and ultimately a confrontation with his brother, Esau. He sends gifts to his brother to try and smooth things over and make peace, but on the way home he has a strange encounter.

During the night he sends everyone across the river and stays alone on the other side and a man comes and wrestles him until dawn. Jacob wrestles with this man and finally the man strikes Jacobs hip and asks to be let go, and Jacob refuses unless the man blesses him and reveals his name. The man blesses Jacob but never discloses his name. Many people see this “man” as different things, a real man, an angel, or God Himself, but in some way the man represents the presence of God.

This passage is frequently used as a lesson on fervent prayer, wrestling with God through the night with God over some issue until God decides to bless it. I think that we miss the grander picture with that interpretation. What is going on is that Jacob is using the tricks of his normal, old life, as a trickster, a person who did whatever was necessary to get his way. This is the attitude that he carries into the wrestling match with God. He believes he can, by his own strength and power, manipulate God into giving him the blessing, but what happens? God cripples Jacob for life, reversing the very strength that Jacob has come to rely on. He is now completely dependant on God, he cannot do life on his own. God still blesses Jacob but leaves a mark and reminder of what the blessing required.

How many times do we wrestle with God and try to get things done our own way and God has to smack us a good one just so we will listen again and realize that we NEED HIM? At times our very strengths are the things that hold us back from knowing true dependence on God.

Jacob’s name is also changed. Name change signifies something drastic or significant happening in one's life. Abram's name is changed to Abraham for example, to signify the covenant with God. Saul’s name is changed to Paul to signify drastic life change from persecuting Christ to loving Him and calling all people to His Name. Jacob’s name is changed to show a change in his character. All his life he struggled with men, and he struggled with God about what he wanted, the wrestling match symbolizes his entire life. That is why his name is changed, because he is now man relient on God who must trust Him and does.

God wants to use us, just like He wanted to use Jacob, but we have to get to a place of dependence on Christ. We are new creations, the old has gone and the new has come. Allow God to change your name, let Him make you new and full to live into the life you are called to live.

Day One - Waiting for What

(submitted by Dan Gildner)

Key Text: Psalm 27:13-14

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

THOUGHTS

It's the beginning. The first day. The party has begun. The countdown has started...but for what? Whenever I think of Lent, I think of sacrifice (all those years of giving up chocolate which honestly wasn't much of a sacrifice for me, gummy bears on the other hand would have been torture). I think of a journey too. The journey of Christ toward his eventual death.

But I also can't help to look past some of the darkness of lent in order to see the Resurrection which culminates the journey. It is the final party and to me, it is what gives this journey of sacrifice its proper motivation. The disciples were constantly asking, "When Jesus?", wondering when the power of God would trump the power of men, waiting for the day when their faithfulness to Him would prove fruitful. And then He rose.

Could it be that the promise for our journeys (uphill and downhill) is not something but instead someOne?

These verses remind me that when I lay my life down for the sake of God's Kingdom and for the sake of others, that my groaning for something better really needs to lead me to a yearning for my Savior God. A more beautiful, intimate relationship with the Almighty God is on the other side of the journey, past the rolled stone and way worth any sacrifice that I may give.

REFLECTION:

-Can I lay aside the "things" I want from God for the simple pleasure of knowing God better?

-How can I begin this journey toward Jesus in a way that reflects my sincere desire to know more of my Creator? Are there actions I need to take on? Are there thoughts I need to let go of? Are there expectations of God that have blinded me from seeing the true promise?

Welcome

As we cover our hands, feet and ears from the cold wind and snow, may we also open our hearts, ears and minds to the work of God's Word in our lives. Thanks for journeying on with us toward our One Great God. Official posting with begin February 21st.