Scripture
Paul answered: “I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!” After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!” Acts 28:10-12

Observation
Paul’s life was uneven. There were hurried times of planting churches; there were slowdown seasons when nothing much seemed to happen at all. The years of prison and prison ship seemed to be the most wasteful of his life. No churches were started. Instead the starter of churches, writer of the Bible and mentor of great leaders was locked up in a dripping prison cell for months on end while his case bounced through the court system.

But instead of prison time we can view Paul’s saga as a palace tour. In those tedious years Paul would personally meet the High Priest, Felix, Festus, King Agrippa, Publius and eventually Nero himself. Within a lifetime of the crucifixion, world leaders would have a personal audience with a representative of Christ. Paul took an all-expenses-paid palace crawl. Only God could arrange something like that.

Application
If we are faithfully following Christ, there are no off-seasons. God tours through detours. While Paul was in prison, in the brig, floating on shipwrecked timbers and coughing up seaweed, his life may not have felt to him divinely led. But Christ was leading him. Paul was an envoy to royal courts. That perspective kept him from self pity. He spoke with eloquence and confidence for he did not see himself as a prisoner but as an ambassador.

Prayer
Father, help me to not judge life seasons by the accommodation but by the purpose you have designed for me. Help me to live up to all the responsibilities each life detour entails and to make the most of them. Amen.

Getting ready for a drive with my Dad. He’s drawing diagrams (as normal!)

Scripture
He controls my destiny. Job 23:14

Observation
It’s Thanksgiving day, or perhaps Christmas eve. On one end of the map is your toasty home with a strong roof and a thick comforter on your bed. On the other end of the road is your parents’ house with frosted windows, golden light pouring through the panes welcoming you into aromas, meals and love.

But between your house and your parent’s home stretches a windswept interstate with chilling winds, snow drifts and gas stations with dirty bathrooms. The road is not homey. Changing a flat tire in the blustering winds you might begin to wonder if there is any love in the world. On the windswept road the memories of home are snow blasted from your mind. The realities of the highway surround you: hitchhikers alone, roadkill ignored, billboards faded and headwinds.

Kids can’t handle this. “Are we there yet?” is the first full sentence any child first learns to speak in any language. But adults can handle the lonely motorway because they know that there is a home on either end of the lonely road. Love awaits them any direction they move, so they bundle up and move ahead.

There are windswept moments of life where we are left alone with a sovereign God. Job felt God’s presence and zipped up his jacket to shield himself from the cold wind. In chapter 1 of Job’s life were warm memories of family dinners. In chapter 42 of his life there would again be new families pictures. In between was a windswept road that only Job could travel. His friends leave the service road. HIs wife wouldn’t budge, so Job walked alone.

How was it that Job made it? Was it his great faith? Probably not, because more than faith is needed to counteract the fear of being alone with the will of God. What helps us on the lonely road is love. It is not our love for God but his love for us that casts out all fear.

Job put it this way,

But he knows where I am going.
And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. Job 23:10

Application
What keeps me driving long distances on black asphalt, under gray skies, through driving rain is the knowledge that there is love on the end of the highway. We need to reinterpret the sovereignty of God in these windswept moments. His will is not something uttered from an ice palace of a frozen heart of indifference. God’s will pours through his love. He is leading us home and the inclement roadway is his only way. Yes God is sovereign and because he is love sovereignty is a comforting thought.

Prayer
Father, keep me driving home. Amen.

Scripture

“Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2

Observation

It was not enough that two pastors walk out on a new adventure. They needed to wear the hand prints prayer left on them from their home church.The request for the prayers of the church do not come from two trembling missionaries. It is God who asks the church leaders to pray for them. The prayers of the church were significant to the Lord because somehow it gave him elbow room to bless these two new traveling pastors.

To many a missionary is just a faded fridge magnet. For about six weeks sent ones are remembered but within six months the memory of their work is run over by the freeway of daily busyness.

But God never lets the memories of missionaries fade. The finger prints of prayer left by praying leaders are like a tattoo residue on a Christian worker’s life to remind the Lord to keep blessing them.

Application

I’ve had many hands laid on me over many years. They were prayers prayed in the front of a service and then life rushed on. If I were to visit those churches now few would remember who I am. Yet from God’s perspective the residue of their prayers still lingers on my life. I am a sent one representing many churches that have sent me. I trust this day that the prayers prayed will be answered through my life in blessing many, many people.

Prayer

Father, remember the prayers prayed for me over many years. Remember the prayers of my ordination. Remember the prayers at my wedding. Remember the prayers at churches I have left that have blessed me. Today let me see the answer to those prayers. 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.