Too Wonderful For Me

The other day I was composing an email to try to send some comforting words to a friend who had just suffered a devastating loss. As I typed, Psalm 131 flashed into my mind. This short psalm has been such a comfort to me over the years. Written by King David, it is only three verses. 

¹ O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. ² But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. ³ O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

“I don’t involve myself in great matters,” David says in v. 1. “Great matters”- the Hebrew adjective is repeated: “great great.” As if someone were walking through life with a loud voice, acting important.

Nor does he involve himself in things that are “too marvelous” for him. The NIV say “too wonderful.” In Hebrew “wonderful” often refers to God’s miracles. A form of the word is used in Isaiah 9:6 - His Name is wonderful.

An Angry Mob and the Power of Prayer

The little family heard the mob before they saw them. The angry voices seemed random at first, like a dispute in the marketplace or hot-headed men arguing over a traffic accident. But then the volume of Arabic words grew, shouted in unison by more and more voices.

As Christian missionaries they understood the risks of living in a Muslim country, but their home was in a good part of the city, just a few blocks from one of the royal palaces. Then the horror of seeing the chanting mob marching toward them confirmed their worst fears.

What if Christ Had Never Been Born

Last night my wife and I watched “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the 1946 Frank Capra film. For a lot of families including ours it’s become a Christmas tradition to revisit the story of George Bailey, his guardian angel Clarence, and his hometown of Bedford Falls.

As you probably know, Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, is a family man who has given up his own dreams for others. At Christmastime a lot of things go wrong for him and his family, and he reaches a point of despair when he wishes he had never been born.

Digital Photography and the Resurrection

My photographer friend Camden Bennett took some pictures of my wife and me a few weeks ago. Then he uploaded them to his website and gave us access to them via a password. Pretty nifty.

So I downloaded the pictures to my laptop, and decided to make some prints at everyone’s fine arts center, Costco. They went from my computer to the Costco photo center website, where I selected the size prints I wanted, and placed my order. We picked up the prints about 2 hours later.

Alone on the Mountain - An Amazing Story of Courage and Survival

The next time you’re going through a hard time, when you have the feeling that “it can’t get any worse and I can’t take it anymore,” you ought to read David Howarth’s We Die Alone. I just finished it - the most amazing survival story I’ve ever read.

In March of 1943 twelve Norwegian commandos set sail in a fishing vessel from the Shetland Islands north of Great Britain for the northern coast of Nazi-occupied Norway. Their mission was to organize the Norwegian resistance and to sabotage an airbase.

Unfortunately the commandos were betrayed almost as soon as they arrived. A German warship intercepted them, and they abandoned ship, transferring to a small dinghy while detonating their ship’s eight tons of explosive cargo. Soon the dinghy was riddled with machine gun fire, and they dived into the icy waters to try to swim 70 yards to shore. All but one of the men were killed or captured. Later it was learned that the captured men were tortured and executed.

What Clint Eastwood Taught Me About Getting Older - And About Living the Christian Life

Clint Eastwood just turned 86. I still see him young and handsome as Harry Callahan in 1971, with that sharky smile as he looked over the barrel of his .45 – “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

Eastwood is more than the iconic Dirty Harry, of course. He is a producer, Oscar winning director, musician, and businessman. At 86 he is weathered and lined, but certainly not at all a frail old man. He could still whisper ominously, "Go ahead, make my day!” and be believable. Especially accompanied by his old friends, Smith and Wesson.

So how does he continue to engage life at such a high level? When asked that question, Eastwood tells a story about a friend of his who was, at the time, 95 years of age and going strong. Clint asked him his secret, and his friend said,“I never let the old man in.”

For Clint that means banishing the idea that “your life is finished, you’re too old, all you’ve got is nostalgia.” So he keeps producing and directing movies, and writing music. Living life.

God in Camouflage

Our church just finished studying the book of Ruth.* One of the great things about this short narrative is that you get to see, from start to finish, a completed work of divine love, guidance,  and redemption. In real time, this usually takes 70 years or more. You can read Ruth in 20 minutes.

In Ruth you experience the invisible hand of God orchestrating events and circumstances, arranging everything to achieve His purposes. But He is God in camouflage. He does not usually reveal Himself, and what we see are secondary causes: people’s choices, famine, the weather. It is only in the big picture that you know He was behind it all.