Spring

A tree, barren of leaves, rests quietly in the courtyard.  Drops of rain from the night before hang, like pearls, on the empty branches.  Under a sky clouded shut and sunless morning, she waits…..expectant.

There is no anxiety here, no worry of ‘when’.  She waits, quiet and still, arms raised upwards.  She will bloom again, this she knows.  Leaves lush and green, birds and fruit making a home in her arms.  She has only to be still and keep looking up.

How does she know this?  Because she knows she is in the hands of a Master.  She knows she was created to bloom, to blossom. 

She has not been forgotten.  Spring is coming.

War

I am getting over a cold with the usual winter assortment of ailments. Congestion, body aches and watery eyes. Days pass and I try to get through my day as a performer feeling like death warmed over. No energy and even less enthusiasm about anything. I could hide a small child in the mound of spent Kleenex by the bed. I am waiting for this to pass. And it will. But it sure feels like nothing is happening. I jam some Advil or swig the Nyquil hoping to speed the process but still it lingers.
What is going on? Is anything happening?
Yes.
Beneath the surface a terrific battle takes place. A war is waging bare millimeters from the outside world. White blood cells have amassed themselves in a magnificent army against the virus. Back and forth blows are exchanged, the virus runs but cannot escape until the body, in a picture of His wonderful creation, corners and repels it.

Are you stuck in a situation that you are desperate to be free of? Are you down, listless and prayed out? Are you wondering if anything is being done in your behalf or if Anyone is even listening?

Someone is. In fact, if you could see into the supernatural you would see the Almighty waging war on your behalf. Atop His stallion He swings His battle axe for you. Just beyond the gossamer sheet of the natural into the supernatural He is fighting for you. Believe it. Help is coming. Soon this battle will turn. Even now, listen…..trumpets from a distant horizon……His victory comes!

On Time

I work with 15 kids picked from the audience in the show I am in at Disney; 15 kids ranging in age from 4 years old to 10 years old, all with hard plastic light sabers in their control; all with too much sugar coursing through their bodies.  I go home regularly with welts on my body.  I play a Jedi Master instructing these young ones.  It is a tricky line to walk, I have found.  Maintaining order in this show must happen.  HOW it happens is the trick.  Should I take one too many steps over the line into being a teacher, then the show is left with an awkward silence from the crowd and the kids feel manhandled.  Should I take one too many steps over the line into being just an entertainer then anarchy rules and it’s like herding cats.  Some days I walk off stage happy to have survived with my life but also quite amazed something resembling our show goes over; 15 children all with their own personalities and wills.

 How does God do it?

Think of this: God not only watches your life and misses nothing; He watches the world and misses nothing.  In fact, He is never late.  Not even by a nano-second.  Remember that whisper of encouragement you received from Him the other day while driving to work?  The timing of His whisper was impeccable wasn’t it?  Now think of His whispers to everyone in Orlando…..at just the right moment.  Now think of those whispers to everyone in this country.  Now just imagine His whispers to everyone in the world……at the precise moment….and in the right language!

It is easy to feel our lives are not being cared for as they should by Him.  Or that He is not moving fast enough in a certain area. 

But remember, He is a master of His own stage play right now and He is well in control.

Steve Beam, the founder of Missionary Ventures, tells the story of a young couple who truly felt they were to be on the mission field but had no clue how to do it.  They quit their jobs and waited, feeling they were being obedient that He would show up.  One afternoon they had lunch at a café here in Orlando.  A man, sitting next to them, struck up a conversation with them.  They told him they were going to be missionaries.  The man asked what organization they were with to which they said they didn’t have one and were praying for it.  The man they ‘just happened’ to be sitting next to was a board member of Missionary Ventures and ‘just happened’ to be having lunch at the exact same time as this young couple.  As you can imagine they became involved with MVI and the rest is history. Think of it: one couple praying for His intervention in a world of millions crying out for His intervention and He hears them all and He is never ever late.

Be encouraged today.  ‘Just happened’ could be right around the corner for you.