Evidence in The Storm
GOOD MONDAY MORNING! I ran across this article at Worshiptogether.com & thought it appropriate for the beginning of a new week. Job is my favorite book in the Bible. I know, I know, it's pretty depressing. I just love how in the midst of it all, Job keeps the faith. Can we say that to be true of us. Anyway...I give you David Crowder.
My Hope
Date Created: 5/22/2002
Author: David Crowder
Scripture References: Job 1:1 Job 42:17
Verse Text:
Job 1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Job 42:17 And so he died, old and full of years.
"Do you ever have just one of those days? Or, are you that guy. You know who you are. The one whose mouth is frozen in a perpetual grin. The one that walks outside on a windy day and has paper currency gather at your feet for your discretionary use. The one that is always found by the silver lining that the rest of us have heard tale of and searched courageously and diligently for, only to find you wrapped lavishly in it due, of course, to no cleverness of your own. Well this is not written for you so you can go now... no really, bye...
So now, do you ever have just one of those days? Or, perhaps one of those years? Now I’m not here to vent about our everyday, shared experiences such as the mud puddle that is completely avoidable by the passing car whose timing just happens to be in perfect symmetry to our proximity leaving us with a cool coating of brown mixing vividly with the new white shirt chosen conveniently enough for surely such occasion as this. No I’ll not vent here. I mean what would be the point to even suggest that on other people brown is a neutral even natural tone blending well with their attire but on you and I brown is indeed vivid. That would be pointless and we are at this point comfortably numb to these moments. They are only troublesome in their cyclical repetitiveness, really no more than trivial annoyances at this point.
I recently thought I’d found a loophole in the whole thing. I’ve told every soul I know about it and so I share it with you now. You know how when you and I set our VCRs to record say the season finale of Friends (or Everyone Loves Raymond according, apparently, to our socio/economic status) only to return to the flashing 12:00 or some other unexplainable occurrence that has overridden our double and triple check of programming. Well…enter TIVO. Have you heard of this? It’s incredible! It is a digital recording device that will record up to 30 even 60 hours of television. Through a series of very simple steps, including on screen instructions with visually appealing graphics, you set TIVO to record an entire series of your favorite show. You just click on SEASON PASS and you’re done. Oh, and did I mention it’s hooked up to your phone line making a daily phone call to get any scheduling changes, automatically adjusting it’s recording times accordingly! I am of the strong belief that it is the best invention of this century. Sure the century is new with more to come undoubtedly and TIVO was probably invented in the previous century but I did not own TIVO until last year and my rules allow for this. If you have TIVO you know what I mean. We are family. You and I and TIVO. I mean I talk out loud to TIVO and thank TIVO for making our television watching so efficient and enjoyable. We have a TIVO sticker on our car. But...just recently I returned home with my wife Toni from a pleasant evening out. We sit down in our very large TIVO viewing chair for two, ready to watch a desperately necessary half hour of Friends/Raymond that our dependable never failing TIVO should have ready to go for us. We scroll down the menu and to our delight find the show and push play and “oh my”… “Babylon 5?” “What?” “NO!” “ This is impossible!” “TIVO never fails!” “This cannot be!”* NT></DIV>
My Hope
Date Created: 5/22/2002
Author: David Crowder
Scripture References: Job 1:1 Job 42:17
Verse Text:
Job 1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Job 42:17 And so he died, old and full of years.
"Do you ever have just one of those days? Or, are you that guy. You know who you are. The one whose mouth is frozen in a perpetual grin. The one that walks outside on a windy day and has paper currency gather at your feet for your discretionary use. The one that is always found by the silver lining that the rest of us have heard tale of and searched courageously and diligently for, only to find you wrapped lavishly in it due, of course, to no cleverness of your own. Well this is not written for you so you can go now... no really, bye...
So now, do you ever have just one of those days? Or, perhaps one of those years? Now I’m not here to vent about our everyday, shared experiences such as the mud puddle that is completely avoidable by the passing car whose timing just happens to be in perfect symmetry to our proximity leaving us with a cool coating of brown mixing vividly with the new white shirt chosen conveniently enough for surely such occasion as this. No I’ll not vent here. I mean what would be the point to even suggest that on other people brown is a neutral even natural tone blending well with their attire but on you and I brown is indeed vivid. That would be pointless and we are at this point comfortably numb to these moments. They are only troublesome in their cyclical repetitiveness, really no more than trivial annoyances at this point.
I recently thought I’d found a loophole in the whole thing. I’ve told every soul I know about it and so I share it with you now. You know how when you and I set our VCRs to record say the season finale of Friends (or Everyone Loves Raymond according, apparently, to our socio/economic status) only to return to the flashing 12:00 or some other unexplainable occurrence that has overridden our double and triple check of programming. Well…enter TIVO. Have you heard of this? It’s incredible! It is a digital recording device that will record up to 30 even 60 hours of television. Through a series of very simple steps, including on screen instructions with visually appealing graphics, you set TIVO to record an entire series of your favorite show. You just click on SEASON PASS and you’re done. Oh, and did I mention it’s hooked up to your phone line making a daily phone call to get any scheduling changes, automatically adjusting it’s recording times accordingly! I am of the strong belief that it is the best invention of this century. Sure the century is new with more to come undoubtedly and TIVO was probably invented in the previous century but I did not own TIVO until last year and my rules allow for this. If you have TIVO you know what I mean. We are family. You and I and TIVO. I mean I talk out loud to TIVO and thank TIVO for making our television watching so efficient and enjoyable. We have a TIVO sticker on our car. But...just recently I returned home with my wife Toni from a pleasant evening out. We sit down in our very large TIVO viewing chair for two, ready to watch a desperately necessary half hour of Friends/Raymond that our dependable never failing TIVO should have ready to go for us. We scroll down the menu and to our delight find the show and push play and “oh my”… “Babylon 5?” “What?” “NO!” “ This is impossible!” “TIVO never fails!” “This cannot be!”* NT></DIV>
I still have yet to find a loophole.
No, for you and I life is unavoidable. And not just the mud on a shirt or a missed television show. I mean the moments that life really presses in. The moment the weight becomes crushingly unbearable by certainly any other. When tragedy intrudes and we are robbed of any logical proofs that God is good. When the book of Job suddenly seems our unauthorized biography. I wrote the song “My Hope” out of the experience of life and the comfort I found in Job. This book is not concerned so much with the why of life’s eruptions but the faith of a man throughout them. A godly man in possession of a faith that all of his afflictions could not shake. To find a man and eavesdrop long enough to hear him in intimate honesty ask “though You slay me, yet will I trust You?” (13:15) and to see his story answer in a resounding “yes” that can still be clearly and effectually heard today. And to see God show up in all of His majestic glory that pen and paper can express. Chapter 38. Everything that we thought was troublesome or painful or disappointing or hard or wearisome or frustrating or maddening is swept away. We become aware of His constant presence, and full of awe we, along with our concerns, are resized. We are swept away in this wonderful, beautifully glorious storm of who He is. He speaks out of the silence and it’s so terrifyingly plain that we have been right all along. He is in control. Beyond even our wildest imaginings."
posted by Me at 9:46 AM
6 Comments:
Good stuff.
Been there. Lived Job.
And he's right.
I love this - I want this - One thing - Psalm 27:4
Didn't comment earlier when I first read it, too busy wallowing in my own self pity. But it was good food for me today, as I was having one of those mornings. I got the mud off my face now. Thanks for the pick-me-up!
For me, the mud in the face is a "life thing"...sound like Eeyore? Well, it's true. However, it's at the bottom of the "wallow" that I look up and see the glorious light of the Lord and suddenly the mud isn't quite so neon brown. In fact, I don't even mind it at all most days. Today is different, but hey! God is still in control and His mercies are new every morning. Sounds corny, but it does make it worth getting out of bed to see what new mercies await me.
Wanta hear something that makes me laugh? The one time Travis Cottrell gets on Mark's blog is the time he posts a knock-off song in which the lyrics talk about being "naked in my cubicle". See previous post comments. That's hilarious! Sorry Mark!
That kind of made me laugh too. Hey, if It really bothered me who saw the post I wouldn't have posted it. We've actually had some good correspondance since then.
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