Arms Wide Open

We’re listening Lord,

You have our attention.

Our friends lost their house
The co-worker lost her job
The couple next door lost their retirement
It seems that everyone is losing their footing

This scares us. This bailout with billions.
These rumblings of depression.
These headlines: ominous, thunderous-
“Going Broke!” “Going Down!” “Going Under!” “What Next?”

What is next?

We’re listening. And we’re admitting: You were right.

You told us this would happen.
You shot straight about loving stuff and worshipping money.
Greed will break your heart, you warned.
Money will love you and leave you.
Don’t put your hope in riches that are so uncertain.

You were right. Money is a fickle lover and we just got dumped.

We were wrong to spend what we didn’t have,
Wrong to neglect prayer and ignore the poor,
Wrong to think we ever earned a dime. We didn’t. You gave it. And now, tell us Father, are you taking it?

We’re listening. And we’re praying.
Could you make something good out of this mess?

Of course you can. You always have.
You led slaves out of slavery,
Built temples out of ruins,
Turned stormy waves into a glassy pond and water into sweet wine.

This disorder awaits your order. So do we.

Through Christ,
Amen

*A Prayer by Max Lucado.

Inspired by my wife and with a little “push” by my good friend “D-Rich”, I recently started running jogging. Don’t tell either of them, but I am secretly enjoying it. My knees are not enjoying it nearly as much as my mind though. Anyone that has run knows that so much of the battle is mental. It’s pushing yourself to another goal and beyond what you perceive as pain. It’s digging in deep to find something that will carry you the next mile. I recently discovered something that really helps… prayer.

I have been amazed at how quickly that next goal approaches when I take the focus off of myself, my pain, my lack of energy and focus on that prayer list in my mind. It’s the list of people I have said “I’ll be praying for you” and quickly forgot to keep my word. It has been amazing to see how those names quickly come to mind as I am, if nothing else, just speaking their name. God knows their need. He doesn’t need me to go on and on and on about the request.

There is one request I would like to extend to anyone and everyone that reads this blog. Many of you follow the journey of my good friend Stefan Tarapchak. If you think of it today, would you mind praying for Stefan and his family? I will admit that there are times that I don’t know what to pray. I don’t have the answers or the words to pray. I don’t know what to say, but I know who hears our requests. As Casting Crowns sings:

You don’t need the answers
to all of life’s questions
Just know that he loves them
Stay by their side

How about you? How can I pray for you today? Is there someone or something on your heart that I can join with you in praying for?

Our friends lost their house
The co-worker lost her job
The couple next door lost their retirement
It seems that everyone is losing their footing

This scares us. This bailout with billions.
These rumblings of depression.
These headlines: ominous, thunderous-
“Going Broke!” “Going Down!” “Going Under!” “What Next?”

What is next?

We’re listening. And we’re admitting: You were right.

You told us this would happen.
You shot straight about loving stuff and worshipping money.
Greed will break your heart, you warned.
Money will love you and leave you.
Don’t put your hope in riches that are so uncertain.

You were right. Money is a fickle lover and we just got dumped.

We were wrong to spend what we didn’t have,
Wrong to neglect prayer and ignore the poor,
Wrong to think we ever earned a dime. We didn’t. You gave it.
And now, tell us Father, are you taking it?

We’re listening. And we’re praying.
Could you make something good out of this mess?

Of course you can. You always have.
You led slaves out of slavery,
Built temples out of ruins,
Turned stormy waves into a glassy pond and water into sweet wine.

This disorder awaits your order. So do we.

Through Christ,
Amen

-A prayer for America by Max Lucado

Many of you are praying for our friend Stef. Last night we had the priviledge of attending a very special prayer meeting with the choir at our church. The suggestion has been made that each day at 12:00 we stop whatever we are doing and say a prayer for our friend. For some of us that might even mean twice a day. I thought I would pass it along to you all as well. As I bring my requests each day, I will do so remembering what Hebrews 4:16 states:

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with CONFIDENCE, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (emphasis mine)

“Before the Throne of Grace” by Point of Grace.

[audio http://leftfield8.com/audio/pogbefore.mp3]

Tonight I sat down to write a post and I just can’t find the words. I wanted to do something about some very heavy prayer requests. I was going to explain that I believe we should “approach the throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:16) yet so often my finite understanding of an infinite God gets in the way. My struggle to make sense of everything hinders my ability to ask for anything.

In my search through scripture and various authors, musicians, videos and speakers, I found this. Many have probably seen the incredible Laminin video by Louie Giglio. This is not the same video. Louie goes even further. I post it today to anyone that is going through the storm. I post it for those that know someone going through a storm so we know how to pray. May this encourage us all….

Many of the readers of this blog have gone through the adoption process. For those that have, I would like to introduce you to my friend and blogging band of brother Mud Puppy. While he didn’t ask for this and doesn’t know I’m going to do it, it was on my heart this afternoon. You can read the details and follow the journey of his family on his Blog, but they are beginning the steps toward adoption. To those that have walked where he and his wife are about to walk, would you reach out to them? To those that have never adopted, would you  join me in praying for this family? I honor their courage and am challenged by their willingness to do something for another life. One day the streets of Heaven will be lined with faces of those that love took in.