Sometimes Life Happens

Have you ever encountered a day where life seems to just happen to you in a way that completely disrupts your routine and re-routes your life forever? Perhaps you have encountered many of those days. I am certain that many soldiers can understand what it is like to encounter disruption when they lose a limb or are injured by bombs. Many civilians are also caught unaware by disruptions such as drunk drivers, car accidents, deer standing in the road, car bombs, doctors telling them they have cancer, etc.

These life changing moments can be overwhelming at times, but God has built into our bodies a mechanism to enable us to overcome these moments. It is a tiny little part of our brain called the amygdala which kicks into overdrive during these times of crisis. It takes over for the conscious mind and runs the body helping us to cope during crisis until the conscious mind can handle coming to the surface again. It constantly amazes me the more I study the human body how uniquely we are all formed. We are created to withstand incredible amounts of stress, yet there is a limit to the amount the human body can withstand before it starts to break down.

I often wonder if catastrophic life events aren't reminders to us to slow down. I am not saying that they are God ordained, I am saying that things happen sometimes for a reason. I believe that God knows everything that is going to happen in the universe and I believe that He knows how to help us through these events. Some of us get so caught up in our every day affairs that we forget to take the time to get quiet before our Maker, to listen for His still small, yet large voice. Sometimes, I believe that we get sick because we are not taking the Sabbath day off to rest like we are supposed to as God designed the Sabbath day to be. Instead we are using that day to go bike riding, playing golf, hiking mountains, etc. In the scripture, it states that on the 7th day, God rested from creating the world. This is the prototype for all creation. We are encouraged to rest from creating... from working, from doing. Many of us grew up in families where we were made to feel guilty for resting... well, today, I'm going to give you permission to rest. I'm going to give you permission to not feel guilty for taking care of your body. You might say, "who am I that I can give you permission?"... my answer is that "I am a child of God, just as you are a child of God... and I release you from the guilt and shame that anyone has put on you that is not from God, and I release you to be who you are as His child because that is what His word releases me to do as His child."

Now, I know that people from all over the world read this blog... so I hope that you can understand that I care for you, each and every one of you. I am saddened by the events in Pakistan especially, and I pray for my friends and readers in Pakistan. I pray for peace and tranquility to come to your door. Most of all, I pray for peace and rest. May the God of the Heavens and the earth give you peace and rest in Christ Jesus! Amen and amen!

RamyB

Safe Harbor

Oil Painting by John Poon

(c) John Poon

This painting called, "Safe Harbor" by John Poon, who lives in Wyoming with his wife and five children and family pet, Sven, is one of the best depictions of safe harbor that I have seen in a long while.

The phrase "safe harbor" is used commonly when referring to periods of sanctuary from any storm. That storm can be a physical storm, spiritual storm, emotional storm, verbal storm, etc. There are many applications for the phrase "safe harbor." But safe harbor most often draws me to the place of sanctuary from a physical storm or emotional storm. Every seafarer, airplane traveller, hiker, skiier, family member, etc., knows what it is like to experience a very traumatic physical or emotional storm. There is nothing like the experience of coming into a safe harbor, either, during the storm, or after the storm has passed.

For some people, the storm has torn up every normal piece of surrounding and there is literally no way for someone to catch their bearing. In death, most of the relatives and friends leave a couple of weeks after the funeral and the bereaved one remaining is left to pick up the pieces totally alone. For this person, a trusted friend can choose to become a "safe harbor" for the one who is experiencing loss. It is no understatement to note that in order to be someone else's "safe harbor" you must also be safe yourself. You must have anchored yourself well in the balance of life. As you can see from John Poon's picture, the fisherman tethered his boat to the pier to keep it from floating away. This particular pier looks like it has stone underneath it, that means it is more securely anchored than a floating pier. The fisherman knew which pier to anchor his vessel.

In the midst of a great physical storm, it can be difficult to find the place to securely anchor one's self especially if the storm tore to pieces the house, the church, the family, the marriage, the hillside, or any other part of life that had to go through the tulmult. Yet, there is one sure anchor. In the Psalms, King David wrote his enemies were all around him and war was breaking out in every region around him, he was being slandered and people were bringing false accusations against him, he chose to not be afraid. Why? Because He knew he could trust in the God of his fathers to deliver him. Psalm 27:5For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. (New International Version: Used with permission) King David knew that Father God would hide him in His dwelling (the Temple - which is where God's presence dwells) and the shelter of the tabernacle (which is the place of worship) and during his time of duress even though the storm raged, Father God would give him the highest vantage point on a secure footing, a rock, from which he could see how to defeat his enemies.

Now, in the New Covenant, we know that Father God chooses to live in our Temple (which is our earthly body) by the presence of the Holy Spirit and His son, Jesus Christ, when we dwell together with Him in worship and through worship and by worship. In His presence, we are hidden safely from all harm. Even though physically, there is no physical building around us, worship happens the moment we turn our eyes toward heaven and begin to thank the Creator, Father God for allowing us to have life, breath, limbs, love, bread, children, money, cars, etc. As we move into worship and thanksgiving, we enter the "safe harbor" and become anchored to the rock, which is the Christ, Jesus Christ, who is immovable, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then elevates us to a position above the storm whereby we can see the path out of the wreck that the storm has created.

There are moments... when we are called to enter into worship corporately and become safe harbor for one another. These are the times when it is necessary for the one who is able to carry the one who is broken into the place of worship, just as the one who was too sick to see Jesus was lowered into the place where Jesus was. By being Jesus to others, we become the presence of Christ that shelters others from the storm when they are unable to enter in on their own accord. Together, then, we are able to walk into the very presence of a very loving God, who desires nothing more than to love on His creation and restore them back into fullness of being.

This then is the true meaning of safe harbor. In that place, we all have the capacity to become vehicles of calm and transcendence of God's presence into a broken and torn apart world.

What kind of harbor are you?

With love,

RamyB

(c) 2007, Ram's Horn Ministries, with exception of photo of painting which belongs exclusively to John Poon.

Balancing on the Balance Beam of Life

Sometimes these days I feel torn between all of the demands prevailing upon the few hours that I have each day available for personal endeavors. Most of my day is committed to raising my children. Then a greater part of the next segment of my day is spent finishing my clinical for my Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. It seems like I don't have any time for anything else, let alone eat, sleep, wash the clothes, walk the dogs, and breathe.

One of the things I am trying to force myself to do is find ten minutes each day to sit on the side of the road and meditate on balancing my life and what that would really look like. I believe that it starts with focusing my strength and energy on worshipping a very living God who loves the Universe, yet, that focus must also have a practical reach in that if I spend all of my time up in the clouds, I will have no earthly value. Yet, if I take what I learn in the clouds and dispense it to those I interact with not so much with my words, but with my actions, then I will definitely have the value that is needed to make a world impact.

It is so easy these days to get things out of balance. But if we are faithful to ourselves and to our Creator, He will help us find the true center that keeps us in balance and in touch with a practical reach. I know that the very next time I start to feel overwhelmed with the things of this life, I will remind myself that I have lost my focus and inevitably lost my effective reach. To this end, the only way to get back into focus is to get back to that ten-minute time slot where I can afford to seek my Father in Heaven and get His perspective... sometimes to be honest, I end up spending more time than ten minutes, but somehow, the rest of the day comes together in a perfect array.

After all, if the Creator of the Universe knew how to create such vast and enormous heavenly creations and create you and I, then how much more can He help us with our every day, mundane lives.

My best to you,
RamyB