Posts Tagged ‘savior’

What About Saturday?

Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I know that it has been a bit since I have written here.  I have been pulling together a manuscript for a book on Hupomone living.  However I decided to pull out a piece from the archives.  It is timely considering the circumstances of our current Easter season.  Circumstances, that would be another great post to read but I will let you search for that one.

Blessings

Sam

Saturday

 We celebrate Good Friday.  We celebrate Easter.  What about Saturday?

Sandwiched between the suffering of the greatest sacrifice ever made and the glory of the most magnificent triumph ever won, past present or future, is What? I am going to call it Hupomone Day! because it is the Saturday’s of our life that grow true perseverance.

How often do we find ourselves on Saturday.  That blank day between the suffering and triumph.  At least as we watch the events unfolding we can focus on the horror, the pain.  We can anticipate the miraculous escape, the triumphant turning of the tide as God magnificently brings the victory.  Then it doesn’t happen the way we want or expect.  The night falls,  a restless night, perhaps without sleep, certainly with disturbed dreams.  Then what about Saturday, what do we do?  The dawn rises, but all that we can see is Friday’s darkness.  The birds are singing, but all we can hear are the screams and jeers of the crowd; the hammering of the nails; the moans of his mother; the pounding of our own heart.

What about Saturday.  What do we do?  What should we do?  Some will run.  Some will hide.  Some will lose faith and return to the life they had known before they felt the Master’s touch.  Some will struggle and doubt, but:

struggle and doubt + faith = Hupomone

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1

Some of us have longer Saturdays than others.  Take Thomas.  I often hear people make fun of doubting Thomas.  I can only imagine that his fellow disciples gave him some ribbing but here is the deal:  Thomas Stayed!  He made it through a Saturday that was longer and more intense than any of the others.  I can only believe this made his Sunday morning all the more amazing.  Thomas grew through his Saturday.  He walked away with an understanding of Hebrews 11:1 straight from the lips of his Savior:  Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” John 20:29.

If Friday is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter Sunday; Saturday is Hupomone Saturday.  Saturday is when we remember His Word.  Saturday is when we remember His touch.  On Saturday the fellowship of our brother’s and sister’s in Christ becomes paramount.  On Saturday we scream out to God.  On Saturday we worship, we cry, we hurt, we heal…in-spite of ourselves.  On Saturday we grow and mature as on no other day.  Perhaps that is why Saturday is in God’s plan for us.  I have experienced a few Saturday’s in my life.  Some I am still experiencing.  While the Sunday mornings are great!  It is the Saturday’s that draw me close to God and close to God’s people.

It is in the midst of Saturday the I make strides towards Philippians 2 , learning humility, allowing God to work in me. It is on Saturday that God makes those subtle changes in me that draw my spirit, soul and body closer to having His attitude and His values and to truly having His love.

It is on Saturday that we practice Hebrews 11:1 like no other day.  Do we trust the promise?  Are we certain of our hope? It is on Saturday that we say in the midst of it all with Joshua, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

Unfortunately I think that it is also on Saturday that all to many lose faith, not being able to hold on to the promise.  It is on Saturday that as brother’s and sister’s in Christ we fail each other as on no other day.  Perhaps this is because we do not realize that everyday is someone’s Saturday.

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 

Are you in the midst of Saturday?  Be certain Sunday morning is coming, and when it does the most miraculous thing, the most miraculous change will not be in the situation that you are experiencing, it will be in YOU!

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Father, Lord, Savior, Best Friend

Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 20, 2017| Leave a Comment »

What a Friend

http://fortune.com/2011/01/18/be-the-boss-not-a-friend/

This article from Fortune magazine a few years ago is all about the pitfalls of trying to be a boss and a friend.  I can confirm much of what is said in this article having made that mistake numerous times in my 25+ year career in management.  Perhaps these types of interpersonal issues are why we have so much trouble engaging our relationship with God.

Some can engage God as father.  Too often this can be based on the world view of fatherhood that their own personal experience has laid on them instead of the biblical view of His role in our lives.  This casts a fractured picture of God, one with many personalities.  Depending on the experience they have had this engagement is very similar to the boss or co-dependent or manipulative or aloof or even cruel.

Some can engage God as the boss, following the letter of the law.  They struggle with a judgmental policy bound God.  They tend to order the relationships in their life on this scale.  It is a cold place to live, one that is based on performance instead of relationship.  It recognizes the sovereignty of the almighty without a biblical view of His love.

Some can engage God as savior.  They are constantly looking for rescue.  Often as soon as they perceive the rescue has happened they disengage…until they need rescue again.

Some can engage God as friend.  In the absence of the fullness of who He is this engagement is shallow.  Just as our friends disappoint us when they do not act as we expect, we can become disappointed with God when he doesn’t come through the way that we want.

We need to understand that while God uses human types within Scripture to describe the way that he interacts with his children, he cannot and will not be limited by those types.  A recent list of the Hebrew names for God that I read had seventeen!  Each one represents an aspect of the way that God interacts with man.  Many sitcoms are based on the premise of people trying to interact at multiple levels and struggling or even failing.  The father who is the boss.  The friend who is the employee.  The family member who is the partner in business.  God does not have these struggles.  He wants and solely has the capability to be it all, Father, Lord, Savior, Best Friend.  We lose so much when we get trapped in our own definitions and apply them to our relationship with HIM!

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” Psalm 103:13

“If you then that are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”  Matthew 7:11

 

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Nineteen Days: Day 3

Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged , , , , , , , on December 17, 2017| Leave a Comment »

NisaHome

 

 

The frenzied posting, calling and emailing is over.  Nisa Faith has been announced to the world.  As we approached the day that we celebrate our Saviors birth, we finally get to truly celebrate Nisa’s coming.

D. A. Precious: And those cheeks! I’m so happy for you!
December 19, 2012 at 1:48am · Like

Allana Belrose Guidry: I know. They are getting lots of kisses
December 19, 2012 at 1:54am · Like · 2

Nisa’s cheeks are getting a lot of kisses.  Allana is feeling a little more tired than usual….but then she just had a baby and she is not as young as she used to be.

We were prepared for all of the life changes that a newborn brings.  Bassinet, Pack n Play, bottles, formula, car seat, diapers etc….  What we did not know was that God had also prepared us for the changes that most likely even on this day two years ago were beginning to take place in the depths of Allana’s bones (weird to type that and not mean it metaphorically).  Eleven years of growth through struggle as a family, as individuals and as children of the Living God was about to be tested in a way that we had not imagined even in our wildest nightmares.  Still even as we were prepared for Nisa’s arrival, God had prepared us for that which we could not have even begun to be ready for.  So many crossroads where God directed what seemed the long and windy path.  It seemed so foolish, as foolish as buying diapers and preparing a nursery for a baby that would never come.

Nisa was here, and the long and windy path would soon be clear.

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