Navigating the Waters

We sang one of my favorite hymns in Church today. What a great reminder of His greatness and holiness:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.

All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.

A rainy day in Cary today, but an excellent day in the house of the Lord.

Pastor Erwin Lutzer was visiting today. He is the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago and I have often listened to his messages on the radio. He is a wonderful speaker who gives great insight with tremendous clarity. He spoke on "The Faithfulness of God", as part of our Church's summer series on the Attributes of God. He wanted to provide a message to those who may be going through storms and difficulties in their lives. When you appear to be in a disastrous or hopeless situation, how does the Lord help us? What should our focus be in times of trouble?

He spoke on the passage in Matthew 14:22-33, where immediately after the feeding of the 4,000, Jesus tells the disciples to get into a boat while He goes to pray. The boat encounters a terrible storm and the disciples fear for their lives; they see Jesus walking towards them on the water. Simon Peter walks out on the water too, but he falters once he sees the wind and the waves.

Pastor Lutzer makes 7 observations:

1. Storms are often encountered in obedience to Jesus.
2. Storms should remind us of God's promises.
3. When you can't see Jesus in the storm, remember Jesus can see you.
4. Jesus comes to us a the right time.
5. Our fears might be Jesus in disguise.
6. The water that threatens to be over your head is already under His feet.
7. Our ability to work depends on the focus of our eyes.

Everyone of us has faced great difficulties in our lives; or if we haven't, we soon will. Whether it is a problem with work, family, friends or finances, it is inevitable that we will face trouble -- it is a part of life. How we deal with adversity is the difference between Christians and non-believers.

Pastor Lutzer's message was very encouraging and timely in my life. He spoke of how Jesus many times seems to show up just when things are most desperate and hopeless, or just when the storm is at its worst. He spoke of his friend who is dying of cancer, and how he constantly goes back to the Word to remind himself of God's promises. He spoke of a friend of his who is a former prostitute, who finally had to fall on her knees to cry out to God to rescue her.

Things have been very hectic and discouraging at work lately. His message to focus on the Savior was certainly a powerful reminder of how to survive. I am trusting in the One who controls all things, even when there are times when it is difficult to see Him.

I haven't posted in a while; too many things going on in life, as usual.

The Pastor spoke on a very powerful topic this morning; I found the message very poignant and applicable in my life.

He went over the passage in Romans 15:20-26, where Paul speaks of his passion for spreading the Gospel and for his plans to visit Jerusalem in the short term, Rome in the near future and then eventually to Spain. He speaks of being continually thwarted in his plan to visit the Christians in Rome. The apostle Paul speaks longingly of his desire to see his fellow Christians and to minister in these areas for the cause of Christ.

As it turns out, we find in Acts 21 that after much adventure, including shipwreck, Paul does eventually get to Jerusalem, but is thrown in jail almost immediately. He does get to Rome, but is kept under house arrest and he never does get to Spain. Paul is martyred in Rome under the emperor Nero. Paul's grand plans for spreading the Word is never completely realized.

The Pastor's message is that so often in life, things don't turn out the way we think they will. Even when we are doing God's will in our lives (like Paul was), His plans may be so much different than ours, and so much wiser.

Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

When things don't quite work out in our lives, maybe God is trying to tell us to not trust in our Great Expectations, but to trust in and rely on His wisdom.

How many people can truly say that who and what they are right now are exactly what they expected or planned?

Is our career path going the way we had planned?
Is our family life what we had expected?
Are our children what we had expected?

Life ends up being a long and winding road for everyone. We all live out God's plan for our lives and we must have the courage to accept that ultimately His path is best for us.

My 10-year old son and I are avid hockey fans and we have been following the disappointing fortunes of both the Canadian and U.S. hockey teams. Each team barely made it through the preliminary round (each helped out by some very weak teams in each division). The Canadians were thoroughly trounced by a formidable Russian team, while the U.S. lost to a surging team from Finland. Neither North American team played well enoughes to deserve to win.

The semi-final game yesterday between the Czechs and the Russians was outstanding, with the Czechs stifling the powerful Russian offense and prevailing in a 3-0 shutout. As a result, the Czechs took the bronze medal.

The Finland-Sweden game today was less exciting, but the Swedes did enough to win 3-2 and capture the gold medal, while the Finns were awarded the silver.

All in all, the Olympic hockey tournament was fun to watch. I was amazed that even marginal NHL players like Aki Berg of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who played for Finland, and Tomas Vokoun, who played for the Czechs, ended up playing like champions in the Olympics. There must be something about playing for one's country that brings out the best in some players.

I have been "tagged" by Julana at Life in the Slow Lane to participate in this meme. (I am a relatively new to the blogosphere so you'll have to forgive me if I violate any known conventions for this sort of thing.....)

4 jobs I have had

1. As a college student, I worked one summer in Toronto as a telephone interviewer for a radio ratings survey company (equivalent of the Nielsen's ratings for television) in Canada. It was an interesting job; I met lots of interesting people and I sure gained a lot of polish on my telephone conversation skills (some of which I use to this day!).

2. I worked for a couple of summers as a kitchen porter in a nursing home. I washed pots and pans, swept and mopped floors, and took in deliveries of food/produce.

3. I worked for one summer in the kitchen of the Toronto airport, where they prepared the on-flight meals. This was back in the days when the airlines actually served decent hot meals.

4. One summer I worked as a surveyor of people's parking needs at a downtown shopping mall for the city of Toronto. Neither glamorous nor exciting, but they paid us reasonably well.

4 places I have lived

1. Toronto, Ontario, Canada (I grew up here; still one of my favorite places in the entire world)
2. Gurnee, Illinois (northern suburb of Chicago, near the Wisconsin border)
3. Woodstock, Georgia (northwestern suburb of Atlanta)
4. Columbia, South Carolina (an interesting city filled with terrific churches, a highly regarded seminary and a great university)

4 vacations I have taken

1. London and Paris (wonderful historic sites)
2. Cruise in the Caribbean (total sensory deprivation from the real world; best way to be pampered)
3. Coastal North and South Carolina (great times on the beach with my family)
4. Washington, DC (I love the history of the mall area, especially the Air and Space museum; we are planning to take our kids on their first visit soon)

4 vehicles I have owned
1. Buick Skylark (my first car)
2. 1995 Volvo 850 sedan (More than 150K miles on this car and still going strong)
3. 1998 Toyota Sienna van (extremely reliable for long trips and for transporting all the kids' sports gear)
4. Hyundai Excel (they don't make these anymore, thank goodness, but this was a cute car, even though the metal exterior had the thickness of a sardine can)

Well, the New Year has gotten off to a roaring start! It is hard to believe that we are already about 3 weeks into 2006. Our days truly are limited and we are wisely instructed to "redeeming the time".

One of my favorite Bible passages (and the basis of the name of my blog):

Isaiah 43:1-2 (NASB)

But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.

For I am the Lord, your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

God is indeed our divine Navigator, and it is a precious promise that neither flood nor fire, nor any other calamity, will harm us because we are ultimately led by His Presence.

It's been a while since I've blogged. It's been a busy Christmas time, both with family events and end-of-year responsibilities at work. It is only now that I have had a chance to catch my breath and relax while getting ready for 2006.

I have been personally encouraged by reading other people's blogs -- there are so many good writers out there.

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a blessed and challenging 2006 in which we each experience God's grace in our lives in a new and fulfilling way. I have learned over the years that it is only through struggle and difficulty that I have grown the most -- may we each be challenged to grow in 2006!

Thanks be to God for his unspeakable Gift and for his unending love and grace in leading us! What a grand privilege to live as His children.