The Lord Is Upon Many Waters

Psalm 29 KJV

Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.

The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.

The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.

I woke up this morning to a beautiful red sunrise. Here on the river every morning is beautiful as well as quiet. The perfect place for hearing God's voice. We sometimes consider selling the place as it can be a lot to take care of. But, then I remember how fortunate we are to have it. When we first found it, I remember thinking that it truly was a gift from God. It is our sanctuary. It is a place where God can be heard whether it is but a whisper in the stillness or in the sound of thunder over the waters. 

When we first looked at this place, my husband was not impressed. Not one bit! He did not want to own or take care of property in a cedar swamp so he quickly had a pond dug at our camp hoping that would satisfy my yearning to be near the water. That pond is beautiful, as well; but, it was not the same. The home in the cedar swamp was falling apart and was meant at first to be only a place for rest; for quick retreats, and not our home. Thanks to help from his brother, it has become a home and a real place of rest. Something we need as our years continue to increase. Thanks be to God he has learned to love this place about as much as I do. 

It is a joy to be able to witness the beauty of God's creation each and every day whether the sun is shining or the storms are raging. 

All glory belongs to God! Thanks be to God!

God's Peace Pr. J.

Sweet And Bitter

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 

And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

                                                                  (Rev 10:1-3, 8-11 KJV)

Prophecy is often a "bitter pill" to swallow. We don't like to hear that we need to make changes in our lives. We usually don't care to hear that there are consequences to everything we do. Sometimes, those consequences are good. Sometimes, they are not. A lot depends on whom or what we choose to serve.

John is told by this mighty angel eat the little scroll. He eats. The scroll tastes as sweet as honey; but, it turned his stomach sour. He has swallowed the words and it is sweet to taste; yet, bitter to stomach. It sounds good and it is good; but, with the words that were delivered to John on the scroll will come many anxious and troubling times. Events and times that will be very difficult to stomach.

John must go out and prophesy with the words that he has swallowed about peoples, nations, languages and kings. It may well be that to those who believe in the Son of God and anxiously wait for the mystery of God to be accomplished that the word is sweet; yet, a very "bitter pill" to those who reject the Lord. It will not be easy for John. With the sweet word of the Lord will come much persecution from the world to all who love Him.

May God help us to hear the word and receive it no matter what kind of changes it asks us to make in our lives.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Sing Unto The Lord

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

                          (Psalm 100:1-4 KJV)

Today I will lead worship at Christ Lutheran for the last time as their pastor. I will be installing their new pastor, John Johnson. I am not really sure how I'm supposed to feel about today. I might feel sad over that fact that I am going into retirement and not seeking another call to another congregation. However, I know that as a servant of God, I will not stop serving Him, with gladness, in any and every way that I am able.

The service today will, hopefully, be full of joy. I will be reminding everyone at Christ Lutheran what God has done for us one last time. This time, I will be proclaiming the Gospel in a little different way than I have normally proclaimed it. I will be making a joyful noise. Instead of speaking; I will be singing. For those who have heard me sing, you know that I am not a great singer. I've been told by more than one person that I sing like a man. The electric piano has to go down an octave or two for my voice. Good or bad; it will be a joyful noise unto the Lord. 

Sing unto the Lord a joyful song; giving Him thanks for all that He has done!

God's Peace - Pr. J