July 2011

Deep calls to deep

Overcoming, Relationship with God / By

Earlier in the summer, my wife and I spent a Sunday afternoon at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. The spring and summer rains feeding Minnehaha Creek have made the falls a roaring attraction this year. The sheer force of voluminous amounts of water ceaselessly cascading into such a picturesque grotto-like setting is indeed breathtaking. From there the swollen creek tumbles and rumbles its way through the remaining several furlong run into the mightyMississippi.

Waterfalls have a way of mesmerizing your soul as they beckon you to come closer and closer. They have a unique allure in nature that tantalize all the senses. Not only are they a beautiful to behold with the eyes and stunning in surround sound to the ears, but they also cannot be fully appreciated until one is close enough to feel their spray in your face and lick their moisture from your lips. And while savoring that, the senses are finally satiated as you breath in deep gulps of their freshness through your nose. Ah…h that is how waterfalls are meant to be experienced!

But waterfalls also can be perilous. Sensory delight can turn into sensory overload if a person ventures beyond the posted warning signs or danger areas. Those signs are there for a reason because someone, sometime, somehow got too close and went from being a visitor by the water to a victim in the water.

The verse quoted above is written by someone who got too close to a waterfall. In fact the waterfall of life was coming at him with such ferocity that it literally swept over him and would have swept him away were not for God’s love for him. (42:8) All of us have from time to time been engulfed at the base of a waterfall where we feel like we are drowning in the pressures and trials of life that are endlessly pouring into our lives.

The writer of Psalm 42 and 43, which together form a sixteen verse prayer, opens his heart to God in a most vulnerable, if not disarming way. He literally pours out his soul as he battles with overwhelming discouragement and seeming estrangement from God. For him, the waterfall of life is unrelenting. This is an easy prayer to identify with because all of us feel that way at times. In fact like this man we can find ourselves even wondering “Where is God?” (42:19)

Learning from our mistakes

Growth & Development, Overcoming / By

“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” Proverbs 22:3& 27:12 NIV

It has been said “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” That is good advice. But even better advice is this “Be sure to learn from your own mistakes. Life is too precious to be repeating them.”

Life’s most valuable lessons can come from our mistakes and disappointments. Learning from them positions us for success.

The story is told of the reporter interviewing a very successful bank president. “What is the secret to your success?” he asked. “Two words” replied the president. “And, sir, what are they?” “Right decisions.” “And how do you make right decisions?” “One word.” “And sir, what is that?” “Experience.” “And how do you get experience?” “Two words.” “And sir, what are they?” “Wrong decisions!”

A Midsummer Day’s Dream

Life Balance, News & Reflections / By

Yesterday, July 15, was the official end of the first half of the summer, at least in my way of thinking. It always gives me pause because I realize that summer is flying by. Typically I get the accompanying feeling that it is not going the way I had hoped – the way I dreamed it would be last January when I was standing in the middle of my driveway with snow up to my knees and shovel in hand. It is times like that when we long for the days of summer, when the weather is warm and the grass is green, and when we are free to be out in God’s glorious world drinking in all the beauty and opportunity it has to offer.

Of course we don’t think about mowing, yard upkeep and home projects. And we don’t take into account storms and rain, rain, rain and more rain. But none of that should really deter us from making our winter daydreams become midsummer realities.

My dreams usually include walking, hiking, running and/or biking somewhere in the great outdoors. Or I see myself out on the water in a sailboat, with the waves rushing by as the summer breezes fill the sails. My dreams always include those I love enjoying the glories of nature with me.

3 surprising similarities between men and women in marriage

2 Comments / Marriage, More on that message... / By

Men and women in marriage are not as different as we thought! Last Sunday I did some audience response system polling in connection with my message on the marriage relationship out of1 Peter 3:1-7. While a few of results were somewhat predictable, we had several major men/women stereotypes blown out of the water.

One thing that was not surprising is that this passage of scripture is a very challenging one. Because six of the seven verses deal with women and the “S” word (submission) we were not surprised to find 48% of the women admitting to having “difficulty with this passage of Scripture.” But there were also 39% of the men who agreed with them. You’ll have to listen to the message “Keeping I do from becoming I don’t” online at www.Bridgewoodcc.org and judge for yourself how well I addressed these difficulties.

Here then are the three valuable lessons learned from our polling:

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