Favorite Cruise Boat Story #1...

So...  As you all know, there was another horror story about a cruise boat at sea...  And what a horror story it was!  The Carnival Triumph was stranded out at sea after a fire started in the engine area.  All 4,200 passengers were left to drift out in the Caribbean without electricity and without toilets.  I love the last line in the paper that quoted this fellow who is an expert in the cruise industry as saying, "The fire could have potentially been serious."  I'm thinking those 4,200 people thought it was quite serious going 5 days without electricity and toilets!

So...  since cruise boats are going to be the brunt of jokes for quite some time, I thought I would tell you one of my favorite cruise boat stories.  I'm a cruise-boat-junky!  John and I have cruised 9 times... and I'm glad to report that we have had all the flushes we've ever needed...


Most people sleep late when they are on vacation, but John thinks he will turn stale if he's in bed after 5:00 am.  I'm not a late sleeper either, and on one particular morning, I jumped out of bed, grabbed my bible and headed to the top deck.  It was a clear, breezy-warm morning... there were clouds on the horizon...  the ocean was like glass... and after I jumped over a few barriers and 'keep out' signs, I found a spot where there was absolutely no one.  This is highly unusual on a cruise boat because the cleaning guys dressed in jumpsuits wipe everything down every day before anyone gets up.  I settled into a lounge chair and prepared myself for the most glorious sunrise in all of history.

I was not disappointed.  I could see a hundred miles in every direction (I'm guessing.)  As the sun was rising in the east, the storm clouds on the west caught the brilliance.  I could see ribbons of gray rain in the distance.

I told my heavenly Father exactly what I thought.  I used every adjective for the word 'beautiful' that I could think of... and even made some up!  I worshipped... I praised....  I sang... on and on...

And then a thought sprang into my head, "Father, You know how I love rainbows.  I think I would lose it all if I saw a rainbow right now.  But Father, I don't think it's right that I should say that...  That's terrible!  I shouldn't ask God for a rainbow!!!"

And in an instant, the most beautiful rainbow filled the western sky.

It was brighter than any I've ever seen...  more brilliant than possible...  and most of all, because of the timing, I truly felt it was for me and for my pleasure.

God was showing off... wooing me closer to Himself.

And from the tip of my toes to the top of my head, I could FEEL God's pleasure with me.  I knew that I knew that I knew, Zephaniah 3:17 was true:

"The Lord your God is with you.  He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you.  He will quiet you with His love.  He will rejoice over you with singing."

And folks, that's not just for me.  He's that crazy in love with you, too.
                                                 
                                       YOU please Him.

                                                    He delights in YOU.

                                                              He rejoices over YOU with singing.

Please take some time this Lenten season to be still with God.  Be still and know that He is God.  Let Him do some talking.  Let Him communicate with you.  Listen...

Psalm 46:10...
                                                "Be still and know that I am God"

A Brown Ceramic Teapot...

So... I have been on staff at our church for 18 years.  18 years!  And even after all this time, odd things happen on Sunday mornings that surprise me.  No matter how much prep goes into the planning, no matter how simple the service might seem to be, there is always room for some kind of emergency.  A small storm of panic is common;  that moment when the eyes of the staff meet and one of us flies into action...

That happened during communion a couple of weeks ago.

We were traveling along through the Sunday morning service quite well.  The music, the scripture readings, the message, the prayers - all was chock full of worship and brimming with meaning.

Communion was in progress; the bread broken, the cup lifted, the people were filing forward.  There was a rather large crowd...

One of the gals holding the cup cast a furtive glance around for more liquid, which in our case, is grape juice.  The day's communion style was called intinction, which means a chunk of bread is broken off and the receiver dips that in the cup and eats it.

All is in vain if there is no juice in the cup for dipping!

Emergency!  The cup was about empty...



So I dashed to the kitchen which is in the basement to get more juice to replenish the cup!  Well, the juice is in this giant Sam's-sized jug.  It's huge and more than a little awkward, full of spill potential.

So, when I spied this tea pot sitting in the corner, I seized it and filled it with juice and ran back upstairs.  I neatly poured more juice in the cup and more people stepped up...  and dipped...


It was not until I sat down that I realized an ordinary brown ceramic teapot was probably not the correct container for the job.  It looked rather silly up there next to the shiny brass cross and flower bouquets.  It was rather out of place.  It didn't look like a sacred container to hold the juice which stood for the sacred blood of Jesus shed for all of us...

I was desperate...  and trying to be speedy...  and it was available...

It did the job!

I kinda got the giggles...



Shortly after that, as I was reading the Message version of the Bible, I came across this very verse in II Timothy:  (I am telling the truth.  It's right there!)




In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets (and ordinary brown ceramic teapots, I might add) - some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage.  Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of  gift to his guests for their blessing.



And isn't that the truth!  We all need to be a 'container' that God can use to bless all those around us.  We can be used whether we are a fine crystal goblet or a waste can or even an ordinary brown ceramic teapot.  We carry the saving Truth within us.  We carry Jesus.  





So arise, ordinary brown ceramic teapots!  We are precious in God's sight.  We can be used by God.

We should be ourselves - the way God made us.  He wants us to be a blessing to all around us using the personality and gifts He gave each and every one of us. 

Now perhaps we need to be cleaned up a bit, but that's the topic of another blog...

Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.

Something Beautiful...

So...  Since January began, I've been moving slowly through The Message version of the Bible.  I haven't gotten very far, lest you think I'm spending hours and hours in the Word and achieving sainthood.  I'd like to... I'd like to be that extremely disciplined follower of Jesus that springs out of bed and cracks open my Bible at 5:00 am...  But let's just say that Jesus has not moved that mountain yet...

In my (slow and light) reading, I ran across some verses in 1 Timothy about women doing something beautiful:

And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it...




I like that:  "doing something beautiful and becoming beautiful doing it."

Yesterday, the wonderful choir that I have the privilege to direct and rave about quite often, served up a scrumptious dinner at the local House of Compassion.  One of the gals made 100 Italian meatballs!  We added roasted potatoes, clean-out-the-refrigerator-green-beans and a plethora of jellos.  We cut up some cake hanging out on the counter... A simple feast!  A banquet!








And I looked at the hands... The hands of the lusty singers were all doing something beautiful.




The House of Compassion is not a place where people look in mirrors... 




No one primps there... 




No one compares fashion notes... 




The humility factor runs at a pretty high level...



And beauty reigns...

The singers were using their hands and hearts to do something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it.





Father God, it's a new day.  What beautiful thing can I do today?

Like a Hot Air Balloon...

So...  You know how you can read something and it really seems simple but profound?  Your mind goes "a-ha!" and it feels like you're not quite so dense?  I had one of those moments...

I was reading early one morning from the book "Jesus Today" by Sarah Young (her books are tremendously popular... get one!)  and came across this description of hope:

          In some ways, hope is like a hot-air balloon.  It is very buoyant, so it can lift you up above your troubles.  It enables you to soar in the heavens with Me (Jesus) - helping you see things from a heightened, big-picture perspective.

What a vivid mental picture!

We Christians ought to be bursting at the seams with hope, our attitudes up-lifted and soaring in the heavens because...

The Bible is chock-full of hope-filled promises seen and unseen... some for now and some for later.  All these promises are from a heavenly Father Who has told us in His Word that it is impossible for Him to lie.

But here's the kicker:  (and I quote)

       
          To embark on this heavenly journey, you must climb into the basket beneath the balloon - by trusting fully that your hope in Me (Jesus) will not let you down.




For hope to power-up your thoughts, you must trust.  


Just as you can't go for a hot air balloon ride without climbing in the basket, it's trust that allows hope. 



Trust Jesus.  He's a 'basket' into which you can climb...