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"Running in Faith" is an electronic devotional guide written by members of Abiding Presence Lutheran Church. Each week, writers use their personal interpretation of scripture to write an inspirational message they hope will help readers take their Sunday faith into weekday lives. Your comments are appreciated and, when related to a particular devotion, passed to the writer. We hope you will share these devotions with friends and coworkers. We are always happy to add new names to our e-mail list. Please contact us if you wish your name to be added. Please adjust window width for the best appearance on your computer system. |
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Devotion for the week of January 6, 2003
Your throat is raspy. It feels like sandpaper. You try to swallow, but there's no moisture. THIRST! All of your energies are focused on finding some liquid. Your body is dehydrated. Clear, cool water is the only way to quench that thirst. Have you ever found yourself alone for hours without water in some remote place? Hikers usually carry a canteen of water to prevent serious thirst on a hike. Sometimes they fill their canteen from a spring only to discover later on that the water was contaminated. That's even more frustrating than thirst-to have water you can't drink. You end up being as thirsty as if there was no water at all. Physical dehydration and thirst aren't much fun. But there is another type of dryness, its called spiritual dryness.J Have you felt that way: empty, dry, spiritually dull, and even isolated from God. Do you have a spiritual thirst for God? God has been called the "spring of living water" (Jeremiah 2:13). Jesus Christ said that He was the living water. When your thirsty, you need and desire refreshment. That is what the above Psalm is talking about. When you are dry spiritually, how do you quench your thirst? Sometimes people are unaware of the fact they are spiritually dry. Perhaps its time to check the water supply. It's a shame to suffer from thirst when refreshment and replenishment are only a prayer away.
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Devotion for the week of January 12, 2003
Commencing a long anticipated "special vacation" in November (celebrating several important milestones for us in 2003) we sat in the departure lounge at the Philadelphia airport. My attention was drawn to an older man sitting nearby who closely resembled the "farmer with pitchfork" in Grant Woods' famous painting "American Gothic." He had an unfriendly countenance -- furrowed brow, mouth turned down almost in a grimace and ice-cold eyes. He was on our plane to Rome and I thought to myself, "boy, if he's also on our cruise I better stay clear of him!" (How's that for prejudice?) Well, he was; but, I didn't avoid him. Naturally, we saw each other frequently as we passed on the deck of our small ship and I made it a point to greet him with a cheery "hi" or "nice day." He'd nod, sometimes saying tersely, "yes, it is." A week or so into our trip we encountered really rough seas one night. The next day I stopped by his table where he sat alone having lunch, and I asked how he fared during the previous night's storm. He smiled, said "just fine." Then he said, "Would you like to join me?" Of course I did. I learned he was a retired government employee; was originally from Minnesota; had adopted a German infant when stationed in that country while in the Army; was a Lutheran; had lost his wife just two years ago and this was his first cruise without her. We talked on and on, striking up an amiable acquaintanceship. We continued to see each other regularly and, of course, at the Protestant Services which were conducted, by the way, by a retired Lutheran Pastor. What a nice man my "new friend" turned out to be. How fortunate I was to have ignored my first impressions and to seek to know him and to show Christian love for him. Moral 1: Don't judge a book by its cover.
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Devotion for the week of January 20, 2003
Nothing is more central to the Christian gospel than the message that God loves us. Yet, sometimes we lose confidence in that love, become entangled in our fears, and behave in ways that belie the miracle of our salvation. In the act of confession, we lay our human frailties and failures at the feet of our Lord and receive the blessing of His forgiveness and cleansing. We need not remind ourselves of the horror or heaviness of our burdens, nor take them up again. Rather, we ought to celebrate that God has lifted them from our shoulders, and rise up with grace, dignity, and equanimity. For in that moment, the darkness of our old life falls away with the dawn, and only its loveliness lingers. In the eyes of the Master, what remains are merely the reflections of His being -- the goodness in our intentions, the nobility in our struggles, and the courage in our efforts. His love is broad enough to embrace our full humanity, not with aversion, but with the utmost empathy and tenderness. It is deep enough to penetrate through the veiled layers to our inner self, where His light still shines. The Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, in a little volume called Gitanjali, offers this poignant image of God's compassion for us and our human condition:
"Thy sunbeam comes upon this earth of mine with arm outstretched From our perspective, sometimes our "pathetic shadow" may hide God's magnificent light for a time, but He always reaches down and touches our lives with His loving care, restoring their beauty once more.
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Devotion for the week of January 29, 2003
My favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 40:31. And though the illustration I want to use today does not speak directly to the meaning of this verse, God uses the eagle to demonstrate many wonderful lessons for our lives. One that I especially like is the story of how the eagles teach their young to fly. The eagles build their nests on a high precipice to be safe from predators. When it comes time for the young eagles to learn to fly, the mother nudges the baby eagle out of the nest. The young eagle looks down at the jagged rocks below, and tries to climb back into the nest to safety, but the mother gives it a push. Down the mountainside the little eagle falls, making a few feeble flaps of its wings, heading for the sharp points of the rocks below. But just before the eagle hits the rocks, the father eagle who is waiting below, flies under the baby and swoops it up and back to the nest to safety. All the while the mother was pushing the baby out of the nest, the father eagle was waiting below, ready to rescue the baby from hitting the rocks. In the same way, our Heavenly Father is always waiting "below" to rescue us as we try our wings in life. What a comforting feeling that is when we realize that as we are learning our life's lessons, our Father is always waiting there, ready to scoop us up when we fall.
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