Today has been a sad day. Nicole and I said goodbye to our dear friends, Levi and Katie Holland, who are moving to Syracuse, NY to minister to the youth of upstate New York. While we're thrilled that God is moving them to this new place in their journey, its difficult to say goodbye knowing that our paths may not cross again in the near future. Levi was my college roommate all four years, we traveled together in a PR group, went through our degree programs together, and have been through seminary together. I befriended Katie within the first month or so at Olivet, and I introduced the two. Nicole and Katie have become quite good friends too.
We've all said goodbye before--when we went away from school for summers, when we graduated, and at our weddings. But this time is different. New York and the midwest are far away from each other.
And yet this time is the same. One thing the great relationships in my life have taught me is that the finest moments we share with each other are the treasures we store up in heaven with Christ. I am thankful for my friends and what they mean to me and Nicole. Lots of people have some pipe dream of heaven where they can indulge themselves till they are blue in the face and then keep going. I anticipate the peace of the lamb who was slain filling the new heaven and new earth, where we selflessly serve and enjoy each other's presence. It will be a day of rejoicing when we all see Jesus, because it is He who unites us, makes us capable of love (both giving and receiving), and who saves us. Though today I am sad, I know joy is ahead both in this life and the life to come. Amen!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Sweet Hour of Prayer
A good hymn:
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”
I have great interest in these words in this season of life. I some ways it is hard for me to agree with this hymn writer. I haven't always thought of an hour of prayer as "sweet." More appropriate ways of describing an hour of prayer for me has been frustrating, trying, boring, and wandering. Rewarding? Sometimes. Hard? Every time.
When I was in junior high/high school I was a part of a praying youth group. The two youth pastor I had always had in pray for extended periods of time on retreats and mission trips. I remember these times more than the games/activities we participated in. These were hard times were from an early age we were challenged to be disciplined to pray.
It's still hard. I struggle with the getting into a good prayer routine; finding a voice to praise, confess, and bring petition before God.
This semester I enrolled in a course were we have to pray for a whole hour a day six days of the week! My peers and I have just completed our first week of this discipline and there are many things I have learned through the course of the week. First, setting aside a whole hour to be in prayer and scripture changes the priorities of your day. Everyday I have to think about how I am going to spent 1/24th of it in prayer, and how I have to plan the rest of my day around it. Hopefully these things will eventually become habit. The second thing I have learned is that the time spent with God at the beginning of the day reminds me of his presence throughout the entire day. It is incredibly convicting. Already I have had to submit to a spirit of confession as I see my sinfulness in light of the Lord as He is with me through the day.
So, while I might not have always thought of an hour of prayer as sweet, I am trying to put myself in place where I will "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Ps. 34:8). I suppose we would be at fault to separate our prayer life from the other aspects of the Via Salutis. Part the struggle of figuring out how to pray is a means by which God sanctifies us. The sweetness is the joy of the journey.
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”
I have great interest in these words in this season of life. I some ways it is hard for me to agree with this hymn writer. I haven't always thought of an hour of prayer as "sweet." More appropriate ways of describing an hour of prayer for me has been frustrating, trying, boring, and wandering. Rewarding? Sometimes. Hard? Every time.
When I was in junior high/high school I was a part of a praying youth group. The two youth pastor I had always had in pray for extended periods of time on retreats and mission trips. I remember these times more than the games/activities we participated in. These were hard times were from an early age we were challenged to be disciplined to pray.
It's still hard. I struggle with the getting into a good prayer routine; finding a voice to praise, confess, and bring petition before God.
This semester I enrolled in a course were we have to pray for a whole hour a day six days of the week! My peers and I have just completed our first week of this discipline and there are many things I have learned through the course of the week. First, setting aside a whole hour to be in prayer and scripture changes the priorities of your day. Everyday I have to think about how I am going to spent 1/24th of it in prayer, and how I have to plan the rest of my day around it. Hopefully these things will eventually become habit. The second thing I have learned is that the time spent with God at the beginning of the day reminds me of his presence throughout the entire day. It is incredibly convicting. Already I have had to submit to a spirit of confession as I see my sinfulness in light of the Lord as He is with me through the day.
So, while I might not have always thought of an hour of prayer as sweet, I am trying to put myself in place where I will "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Ps. 34:8). I suppose we would be at fault to separate our prayer life from the other aspects of the Via Salutis. Part the struggle of figuring out how to pray is a means by which God sanctifies us. The sweetness is the joy of the journey.
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