Amidst all the craziness of getting ready to move and trying to sell (and buy) a house, I’ve been slowly making my way through a much needed book for my hurried and distracted soul. It’s called Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey Into Meditative Prayer by Richard J. Foster. God has used this little book to slow me down as I listen to him and approach him with simple words of submission and surrender.
I want to share one insight from the book that was extremely helpful for me and I hope it’s helpful to you as well. Isaiah 55:8 says that “God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts.” The text goes on to say that God’s Word and his ways are like the rain and snow that gently fall down and sink into the earth, which in time, brings forth life. Foster writes,
What a contrast with our ways, which involve wanting to open up another person’s head and tinker around in there for a bit! But you see, God’s ways are all patience and love, all grace and mercy. Our ways are domination and control, all manipulation and guile.
Earlier he writes,
You see it’s one thing to love God; it’s quite another to love God’s ways.
Later he gives the reader a helpful illustration to grow in accepting God’s ways:
We might want to imagine ourselves on a lovely beach observing the footprints of God in the sand. Slowly we begin to place our feet into the prints. At some places the stride looks far too long for our small frame; at other places it looks so short that it appears childlike. In infinite wisdom God is stretching us where we need greater attentiveness and stillness. As we follow God’s lead, we enter more and more into the divine Stride, turning where God turns, accepting God’s ways and finding them altogether good.
That’s my prayer for you and me – that we would learn to follow his lead and love his ways. For he is good and is working for our good always.
If you’re a regular reader of Life2gether, you may have noticed a few changes. I’m in the process of redesigning the blog and adding some new features with the help of Currahee Graphics. I thought it was a good time for a change since my life will be changing dramatically in the next month. On December 4th, I will begin a new chapter as Senior Pastor of Oak Hill Baptist Church in Humboldt, Iowa. My wife and I are very excited about this opportunity and look forward to advancing God’s kingdom in Humboldt and beyond. Please continue to pray for us in these next few weeks as we make the transition. Blogging may be light, but I look forward to what lies ahead.
Jared Kennedy gives some helpful financial principles and devotions to walk through with your kids. These devotions would be a great supplement to a church-wide series on stewardship.
This is quite a story. It reminded me of my friends, Dustin and Kellie Shramek, who lost their precious son, Owen, about 8 years ago. In the book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, Dustin wrote a chapter about some of the lessons that God taught him–lessons about God, and also lessons about how and how not to minister to those in nearly unbearable grief and pain.
After the book was published, Women Today Radio did a brief interview with Dustin; here’s an excerpt:
How has Jesus sustained you through the dark days?
At first it was hard to see how Jesus was sustaining us through the dark days. Yet deep down I knew that he was. My mother died when I was sixteen, two years after I had become a believer. After her death God lead me to Romans 5:3-5, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Having endured through her death I had come out on the other end with my faith intact and I again had hope that God was for me.
After Owen died my wife, who had not experienced the death of one so close, never believed that she would be able to have joy again. And while I certainly didn’t feel joy, I knew that one day I would. The suffering I had endured through my mother’s death had indeed produced hope. Even though my firstborn was dead I believed that I would again have joy. I had experienced God’s faithfulness and I knew that he would be faithful again.
The text, though, that impacted me the most was 2 Corinthians 7:6, “But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.” During the first months after Owen’s death we felt very little comfort from God. At times I struggled with anger thinking, “God, I know you are sovereign and so you are the one who brought this about. I accept that, but the least you could do is draw near to us and give us comfort.” On the six month anniversary I was reading through all the e-mails and cards we had received from God’s people and I was reflecting on the help we had received from his people where he was born. Then I read this verse and it dawned on me. God was and is comforting us by the coming of countless brothers and sisters in Christ. Often we don’t feel the warm presence of the Lord in our suffering, but that does not mean he has left us alone. We are a part of the body of Christ and it is through this body that he ministers to us in our darkest days.
Paul Miller’s book, A Praying Life, literally changed my life and how I look at prayer. Listen in to this short podcast as he discusses the doctrine of prayer.
My good friend, Dr. Eric Johnson, recently spoke at the CCEF National Conference here in Louisville, KY. He spoke on the topic of Understanding Depression: Weakness, Willfulness, or Wisdom? Below is his description of the session:
Sadness is a common experience in a fallen world. It was even prophesied of the Messiah that he would be a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Is 53:3). In this session, we will look at the range of sadness that humans can experience (from healthy to disordered and sinful), the different kinds of dynamics that can contribute to it (biological, social, situational, psychological, personal, and spiritual), and the different approaches the church has taken to severe depression over the centuries. Attention will be given to the contributions of contemporary naturalistic research on depression as well as its inadequacies from a Christian standpoint. Diagnosing symptoms and labels for extreme sadness have their place, but only as means to help suffering and sinful saints to cope with and transform their sadness by means of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the sake of God’s glory.
Click hereto download the outline for this session.
Click here to download the PowerPoint for this session.
It is with sadness in my heart that my time at LaGrange Baptist Church is coming to an end. Last weekend, Oak Hill Baptist Church, in Humboldt (pronounced HUM-BOLT), Iowa, called me to be their Senior Pastor. After talking and praying with my wife, my kids, and close friends, we believe God is leading us to this new chapter in our lives. God has burdened my heart to preach the gospel, and I can’t not do what he’s called me to do. Though I feel a realsense of grief in leaving, I feel an equally strong sense of excitement and calling to be a part of what God is doing in Humboldt, Iowa, and beyond.
Eight years ago, I started serving at LBC. I was 27 years old with so much to learn. And the people of LBC taught me. They taught me way more than I could’ve taught them. They loved me. They prayed for me. They gave me patience to grow as a husband, father, and pastor. They supported me and sincerely cared for my wife and my kids. They celebrated with us and cried with us. They served alongside us and sacrificed their time to reach kids & families for Christ. They even let me spread my wings with new ideas and dreams. Some that worked and others that didn’t. Through it all, they have shown me what it means to be a church family.
We have loved serving at LaGrange. I never once thought of my position as a stepping stone. Pastoring the children and students and families has been a tremendous privilege … and I’m thankful that the vision to reach the next generation will continue when I’m gone.
My last day at LaGrange Baptist will be Sunday, November 6. We are hoping to move to Iowa and start at Oak Hill as soon as we can. Please pray for our house to sell and for our entire family during this emotional time of transition. God is at work, and we greatly appreciate your prayers as he turns the pages and begins this new chapter in our lives.
With you for the kingdom,
Doug and Jaime (Emie, Lily, & Luke)
Amidst all the craziness of getting ready to move and trying to sell (and buy) a house, I’ve been slowly making my way through a much needed book for my hurried and distracted soul. It’s called Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey Into Meditative Prayer by Richard J. Foster. God has used this little book to slow me down as I listen to him and approach him with simple words of submission and surrender.
