Here’s part of our family in January having dinner at Waikiki. We rushed through traffic to get to the resturant by sunset.

Scripture

Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” John 2:3

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. John 2:7

“…You have saved the best till now.” John 2:10

Observation

Today I’m staying in the home of friends, Phil and Betty Lou Harris. I met them 25 years ago when he was a zesty church planter in Kansas City . Phil has an infectious grin and Betty Lou sprinkles cheer where she goes. But Phil was more than just an entrepreneurial leader; he also took time for young pastors like me. Now, twenty-five years on friendships are renewed. They graciously opened their home for me to stay…even though they are away. The house is empty and still, but something remains here. It’s more than the showcase decorating and the scent of candles. Cheer is in this home even when the owners are not at home.

I found the secret in a kitchen cupboard. On the back of a wooden door are neatly taped small clippings. There are jokes, cartoons, and comics. Then tossed around the walls are little wooden stars with single word commands like “believe” and “rejoice”. After 40 years of marriage the bubbles are still in the Coke bottle. Joy is a choice, for there have been disappointing seasons for Phil and Betty Lou. But I’ve spent leisurely hours with them and those barely get a mention. Instead there is thankfulness for the present and hope for the future.

Jesus wants the bubbles to stay in the bottle that’s why he launched his ministry with the frivolous miracle of turning water into joy-giving wine. There were beggars in the streets, cripples behind closed doors, there were lepers outside of town and mourners at the cemetery. But Jesus visited none of these for his first miracle. Instead he chose a wedding where the fizz had gone flat. There were people, music, smiles, dancing but the power outlet of all that merriment was down to the last drop. The wine had run out and soon the party would be over.

Eventually the sparkle flattens in any marriage. For this couple it was on their third day. It can happen at year one, ten or twenty. As an elderly couple standing before the judge seeking a divorce explained, “We wanted to wait until the children were dead.”

Marriage is the center of all of God’s working. History started with the wedding of Adam and Eve and will end with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It was appropriate that Jesus started his ministry at a wedding feast. The hope of society is the joy of the home and family. He performed a miracle not just to save a party but to make a point. Every home needs a source of joy and Jesus stands ready to rejuvenate relationships so that laughing bubbles cheer all who walk in the home.

Jesus wants to bring joy into our homes. The jars were filled to the brim which indicates just how much joy he wants to bring. The wine was the best vintage which gives us a clue of the richness of the cheer he wants to release in every room of the house.

Application

Cheer is a choice. On the one hand we must scrub out sarcasm, put downs, and hopeless thinking. On the other hand we must be grateful, encouraging and full of faith in God’s good purposes. I remember looking through the picture album of one couple in ministry. The pictures showed a house full of laughter and joy, but I knew that had been a time when their church was passing through a split and they were in splinters over it all. The lady of the house explained to me, “We made a choice to not let that take our joy from us.”

Jesus wants to visit every marriage with new wine. We just have to invite him to the feast and let him in on our problems and let him touch them.

Prayer

Father, I want to thank you for the great wife and wonderful children you have given to me. Remind me constantly how to increase the joy level of our family. Most of all Jesus just as you were at our wedding continue to live in our marriage keeping the sparkle until the last tear of death that parts us. Amen.

We drove 3,000 miles in 10 days to see family…and they call it “vacation”!

Scripture

What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. James 4:14-16

Observation

How do you paddle a cloud?

The answer is obvious. Just as there is no rudder on a hot air balloon so there is no way to navigate a cumulus across the sky. Our life is a fog that melts away as it tries to hold onto the earth.. Any notion we may have of being able to direct the course of our lives is an illusion. Our life is marshaled by the Lord even when we think we are taking our own way. We are caught in the jet stream of God’s will.

But even so, it seems that we still have a part to play in finding God’s direction in our lives. There are two parts of the phrase. The first says, “If it is the Lord’s will.” But it does not stop there. The phrase continues to read, “We will live to do this or that.” God makes room for our planning in the midst of his purposes.

That’s why it says in the Proverb, “A man makes his plan but the Lord orders his steps.” Or again when Jesus told us to, “Ask, seek, knock.” Prayer is not a passive thing of waiting for God to do everything. There is a place for planning and action, but always with an awareness that in the end we can no more move ourselves around the planet than a cloud can scoot itself across the sky.

Application

We can plan only because the Lord has put desires into our hearts. If I am to find God’s will and direction I must live with the adaptable life of a cloud. I cannot cling to my will anymore than a cloud can moor to a flagpole. When I am direct-able new doors open.

Prayer

Father, on one hand you don’t need my permission to direct my life, yet because you want relationship with me that’s what you wait for. You lead me as you will into what you want for my life.

Here’s Laurel and me driving through Kansas to my folks

Scripture

…They were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:16

Observation

What is it that opens the door of opportunity in life? What is it that keeps us moving forward into new discoveries of God’s hidden plans for the next step of our life?

The answer is found in the magnetism of heaven. If I am prepared to see all of life as transition and my only permanence in being with the Lord forever in heaven, then step by step my longing for that city will keep me moving from responsibility to responsibility until I get home.

It’s just like any human journey. Tomorrow I’m driving to my parents’ house in central Kansas. It will be a seven hour journey from Denver to their brick house under the oak trees of a wide street of a Midwestern town. I’m 45 years old.I left home 24 years ago. Why do I go such long distances to see the folks again? Because within me is the desire for home.

If I can take that little human experience of the homestretch and apply it to all of life I can understand. I’m on the way to Father’s house.Supper is waiting. The family is gathering.I’m on my way home.

That desire for home with the Lord is what makes him ever so proud of us. The Lord is like any parent. He loves it when the kids remember to call and when they come back to visit. Parents know their grown children live busy lives, so when there is time for homecoming that is a special gift. Like a parent sending gas money or cashing in frequent flyer miles, so the Lord gives us whatever we need to get home.

Application

Instead of seeing life as disjointed experiences we should see it as links of a chain being tugged homeward. Today’s opportunity and decision leads to tomorrow’s habitation.

Along my journey to my parents’ home tomorrow I’ll drive through some lonely stretches of wheat stubble. I’ll pass the time by counting mile markers and grain silos. All of those things will seem like ordinary things that I will wish away to get where I’m going.“ Are we there yet?”

But remove any segment of the road and I fall short of home. So every life event is part of the journey. The road makes me who I am and makes home just that much more special.

Prayer

Father, show me the next step, but keep that in perspective so that I may find my way home to you.

I found Levi in the Baggage Claim at Denver International Airport.

Scripture
“…on his shoulders….” Isaiah 9:6

Observation
There are some wonderful Christmas promises in this verse. Jesus will be God who is strong enough to handle our problems, our forever Father who will never leave us alone and the Prince who brings peace. But none of this will happen unless the government is “on his shoulders.” It is only as Jesus is in total control that there is anything that God can do. If I am determined to stagger on with the load on my back I will feel weak, alone and fearful. But when the government is on the shoulders of Christ then Jesus truly is Lord and can carry what I cannot.

Application
I just took an online personal stress test. It’s the kind that measures different life experiences and puts a numerical score against them. Those with 300 points or more have “high susceptibility to stress related illness” which could be “mild-frequent tension headaches, acid indigestion, loss of sleep to more serious problems like ulcers, migraines lower back pain, etc.”. I scored 357 points. Well at least I aced one test of late!

Obviously I need the Prince of Peace to take the government of my life on his shoulders. My prayers don’t have enough elastic today to ask for peace in Iraq but enough to say, “Jesus be the one who bears responsibility for my life.” Of course with that I must also accept that he calls the shots.

Prayer
Okay Jesus, my life is yours. I’ve prayed that when I was young and idealistic. I ask it now with a few more miles on the clock. Be Lord of my life for I need a Lord today. You can run my life and take over my life. Jesus you are my Lord, let me ride on your shoulders today. Amen.