A Boat Ashore Ministry Devotional

^{Job 1.20-21} Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

A couple of days ago I felt that familiar itching right above my lip that signaled the approach of – cue dissonent Psycho staccato violin theme – a cold sore.  I have suffered these for as long as I can remember and they have always had the same effect – they make me feel ugly, ashamed and venerable.  This time was different and there was another effect that I had not encountered before.

I am unable, at least for the short term, to kiss my ‘cuter than I could ever imagine’ and ‘very huggable’ 3 week old daughter, not to mention my gorgeous and very kissable wife.  There is not much you can do – pump yourself full of amino acid Lysine and coat it with really odd tasting tree oils – it will shorten the length of time but you are still going to be infectious for a couple of long and drawn out days.  I had almost gotten used to this too.  They appear at random, under stressful conditions maybe two or three times a year.

At forty-one, I have my responses ready at hand. Just a couple of years ago I was at the receiving end of a malicious comment from a joker who ‘noticed that I had a nice case of herpes on my lip’.  My response, “Hey, in a couple days this will be completely gone and you will still be an idiot.”  I might have used a little stronger language, but let’s stick with that for the purposes of this article.

To the point, over the past few days I have felt a little like Job.  Agreed, I can’t hold a candle to the guy.  At the hands of the devil, he lost his family, his possessions, his health – more than I could ever come close to relating to.  Through it all he continued to worship and trust in the Lord and in the end was greatly blessed.

I can handle a little cold sore now and again.  Lord, take this Job and shove it.  Bend me, shape me, any way you want me.  You are the potter and I am the clay, and to my lovely wife Sarah and daughter Micah… X O X O X O X O.

^{Re-post from August 2009}

^{2 Corinthians 5.17} Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Poor little glow worm how you squirm
Inch by inch thinking life a cinch
Finding edge of leaf only to retreat
From whence you came trapped in endless game

But the leaf breaks free from its security
Carried upon the wind to another tree’s limb
You continue in what you think is gain
Seeking shelter from the wind and rain

But you heard His call above your crawl
A truth impart upon your beating heart
And resigned you ceased your breath
Wrapping yourself in a shroud of death

You slept…

Then still small shiver of leg and wing
And breaking the bonds of your covering
Bursting forth a meta-morph
A brand new life born of sacrifice

Up you flew into sky of blue
Colors bright as you took flight
Resurrected  from out of death’s bed
With a light so bright of brilliant white

Never could you imagine within your tree
What it was that you could possibly be
Until you gave in to that ancient call
Heeding a voice that would change it all

^{Psalm 43.3} The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.

I am sick.  I spent the better part of last night wrestling with my own little dementia brought on by a low-grade fever.  I am sure you have been there, caught up in a bout of restless sleep and fever dreams.  Mine started with a refrigerator door.

The door was simple – white and small with no handle – nothing to grab a hold of and break the seal revealing what was inside.  It hovered there menacingly a few ten feet ahead of me.  As I would approach, the door would retreat.  I was walking down a hallway never ending.  I knew in my sleep that eventually the fever would end and I would reach the door but I felt as if I was just running around in helpless circles chasing after it.

Around two o’clock I was awakened by our little girl, Micah.  She was apparently wrestling with her own refrigerator door.  She was restless, with a low grade fever.  She kept tugging at her ear crying that she was in pain.  We gave her some Tylenol fit for little ones and she eventually fell asleep.  I was not so lucky.

Drifting in and out on the verge of slumber, the door was antagonizing me.  I decided that I would use the better part of my mind to imagine what was inside.  All I could manage however was a small white plate with rotting, festering, maggoty meat and limp broccoli just a wee past its prime.  This was not helping at all.  I came around the circle again and started thinking about what I would write in the morning.

The title came easy enough.  Hmm, I thought, I will write my blog on the refrigerator door with those little magnetic letters that are colorful and fun.  After all, I was staring at a blank white canvas and I could not get back to sleep.  The letters were too big, or the door too small though, and I could only fit a few words on it.  It occurred to me that maybe one of those magnetic poetry kits would be a better way to go.  I began arranging words to form the first sentence.  ’Sarah swim s silently through shark infested water s‘.  This was not working either, and frankly was leaving me with a frightening vision.  ‘Sarah swimming ly smiled at Sam’.   Who put this magnetic poetry kit together and who is this Sam character that Sarah is smiling at?  I gave up on the writing for the time being. The refrigerator door continued to hang in front of me, leaving me feeling like I was on the verge of an episode of The Twilight Zone.  I eventually drifted off to sleep.

I can handle sickness.  A few days rest and I am back to myself.  I rarely get sick.  The worst part however, is watching your little ones battle illness.  What can you do but pray to God for a quick end to the sickness.   I love my Lord and I trust Him with my life.  I have faith but it is hard to stand by helplessly and watch my little ones suffer.  I imagine this is how God feels.

Parents, you need to keep your children home when they are ill.  Your little infections are running around drooling and spitting, noses dripping all over the place and spreading disease.  That last sentence may have been a little irascible, but I spent the better part of a night wrestling with a refrigerator door.

^{Proverbs 18.22} He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.

Sunset
Another perfect day’s end
Rolling clouds
A gift of grace
His glory descends

Everything I would
Long for
In a companion
Zero doubts remain
Another perfect day
Bound in sky where
Eagles fly and I
Try not to miss
Her

Mended hearts
Another perfect day
Under His grace
Soaring again
Together

A little rewrite of a poem I wrote a few years back about a girl

Psalm 19.1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

A while back, when Sarah and I were first getting to know each other,  we had gone over to the house of a friend for an afternoon barbecue.  We were not officially ‘courting’ but we were spending a great deal of time together.  On our way back, passing through Peterborough, New Hampshire, I was overcome with a feeling that I should pull the car over to watch the sunset.

We were on the top of a hill on an access road beside a rather large farm.  The colors began to slowly change into deep burnt oranges, reds and yellows – an absolutely stunning display of color.  A flock of geese nearby suddenly took flight into the approaching night trumpeting and flying slowly off into the colors.  We stood by and watched this jaw-dropping spectacle with absolute awe.

At that point I really wanted to take hold of her hand, to gaze into her eyes.  This would have been the perfect time for that perfect first kiss.  I withheld however, as it turned out that it was not the perfect time for that.  It was, however the perfect time to heed the Lord’s call so He could give us a special gift – a gift of color, sight and sound that would rival any other I have yet seen.

I have witnessed a lot of beauty in the world, but this one was truly a gift from God.  I would have missed it had I been too busy with my life to stop and listen.  I did listen and we were awarded a glimpse into what it must be like on any given night in heaven.  God’s work, His masterpiece being shown privately and personally to two people in His theater in the round.  A panorama of living, breathing, moving and divine handiwork.

We walked back to the car in silence – how can words ever describe a scene like that.  You can’t capture it accurately with a camera and words just do not do it justice.  You can only thank God and capture it in your heart.

^{Matthew 16.2-3} He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 

It was not so long ago
The fields were bare and the rivers low
The tides had turned and the sun would burn
Forever

And the bombs they came burning black in the blue
It was no longer a game and everyone new
As the animals sat and watched
Their cities burn

And the animals ran for shelter though they wondered why
The animals tried to hide from the searing black sky
The animals ran for cover in the panic of war
As they cried into the night, clawing at their eyes

The flames grew high as the clouds in the sky
Grew black with ash as they drifted by
And the light that had glowed for so long
Just disappeared

Confusion spread where hope once bred
And the animals watched as their children bled
The blood of a thousand dreams
Just washed away

And the animals ran for shelter though they wondered why
The animals tried to hide from the searing black sky
The animals ran for cover in the panic of war
As they cried into the night, clawing at their eyes

It was not so long ago
The leaves given way to the fallen snow
The heart of a world extinguished
By the cold

^{Genesis 2.7} And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Breathe deeply in
Breathe deeply out

Listen carefully
To that respired sound

Breathe deeply in
Breathe deeply out

Meditate quiet
On that vaporous sound

Now open the eyes of your heart
What letters upon it would you impart

How would you spell that respiration
Let this be your inspiration

Y H W H . . .

Y a H W e H . . .

Yahweh

For in the beginning, there was the Word
And that Word was with God
And that Word was God

The name of the Father, everything’s creator
Whispered softly aloud there is no name greater

Yahweh breathes and the dead bones rise
Dust dancing in circles of amazing new life
Yahweh breathes and the mountains cry
The rocks weep and tremble in the wake of His sigh

Inhalation
Exultation
Restoration
Resurrection

Y H W H . . .

Y a H W e H . . .

Yahweh

Breathe His holy name wholly in
Breathe His holy name wholly out

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty
Completely and entirely

Breath of existence
Means of subsistence

Ponder and deliberate
Upon this we all must meditate

Each second of every minute of each hour of the day
We pray, Yahweh

^{I Corinthians 12.12 – 14} For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.  For in fact the body is not one member but many.

If we are the body of Christ then it follows that we are also the body of the antichrist.  As Christians, we are all birthed of one spirit, the Holy Spirit.  This was bestowed upon us by God through the death of His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  Fulfilled and filled by that Holy Spirit, we become the body of Christ.  We find togetherness and unity, a glory and beauty, in that gift.

If this holds true, then we are also the body of the antichrist.  The literal translation of antichrist is adversary, usurper, instead of, opposite to or in place of Messiah.  It becomes incredibly clear that the absence of the Holy Spirit becomes the creation of the anti  Holy Spirit.  Whenever we are not operating under the influence of the Spirit of Christ, we must be operating under the influence of  something else.  John stated it very clearly in 1 John 4:3… ‘and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.’  

All we need to do to recognize the antichrist is to look in the mirror at the absence of Christ within us.  This is a spiritual battle we are fighting.  Fight to win in His name by his power – be His hands and feet and crush the spirit of the enemy underneath.  The antichrist has been here since the beginning and he is getting stronger.  Yes, the devil is to blame but we are all letting him have his way.

Psalm 58.1-2 Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

Just God holds the defense
Just God to fight offense
And by those lines which He designs
Our province and providence must we define
Just God

Just God, the Truth provide
Just God, the Way to guide
Steep path’s travail we will prevail
Through narrow door of blood and nail
Just God

Just God, the Light oh let it shine
Just God to force darkness resign
Though bravely we go in death’s shadow
All trials and troubles be but conquered foe
Just God

And one day spent in His righteous court
Is better than a thousand in our own resort
Our credible judgement falling desperately short
His perfect and holy, worthy of exhort I retort
Just God

^{Psalm 33.3} Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

The tensile string
Vibrating
Resonating
Doth softly sing
Of a courageous king
No small thing
That He did bring
Upon wind and wing

The trembling reed
Birthed from wind borne seed
Fluctuating and fluttering
In harmony
Doth softly breathe
Of the Prince of Peace
Whom on a lonesome tree
Did bleed to free

The bow drawn nigh
Looses notes to the sky
And as they quickly fly
Without question to why
With a delicate sigh
They wave goodbye
To gravity’s tie
And lifted high

They sing out the praise of the Author of Life