Claimed, gathered and sent

From a website that sends daily meditations by Henri Nouwen. God's faithfulness and ours When God makes a covenant with us, God says: "I will love you with an everlasting love. I will be faithful to you, even when you run away from me, reject me, or betray me." In our society we don't speak much about covenants; we speak about contracts. When we make a contract with a person, we say: "I will fulfill my part as long as you fulfill yours. When you don't live up to your promises, I no longer have to live up to mine." Contracts are often broken because the partners are unwilling or unable to be faithful to their terms. But God didn't make a contract with us; God made a covenant with us, and God wants our relationships with one another to reflect that covenant. That's why marriage, friendship, life in community are all ways to give visibility to God's faithfulness in our lives together.

Strength for the Day Prayer offered in early morning is decisive for the day. The wasted time we are ashamed of, the temptations we succumb to, the weakness and discouragement in our work, the disorder and lack of discipline in our thinking and in our dealings with other people - all these very frequently have their cause in our neglect of morning prayer. The ordering and scheduling of our time will become more secure when it comes from prayer. The temptations of the working day will be overcome by this breakthrough to God. The decisions that are demanded by our work will become simpler and easier when they are made not in fear of other people, but solely before the face of God. "Whatever you do, do it from your hearts, as done for the Lord and not done for human beings" (Col. 3:23). Even routine mechanical work will be performed more patiently when it comes from the knowledge of God and God's command. Our strength and energy for work increase when we have asked God t

I am the shortest. Next to me is Ray. Behind Ray is my son, Christian. On the other side of Ray is my daughter, Sarah. Abby is in the very front.

This morning I read Psalm 91. As I was meditating on this, the first verse really struck me. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (NIV) I am a visual learner. As I pondered this verse, I realized that the second line was just a restatement of the first, which was done in a number of the Psalms for emphasis. dwells = rest = lives shelter = shadow = home Most High = Almighty = God My home is where I live, grow and am refreshed. I need to make God my home to have the benefits mentioned in the rest of this Psalm.

Hope you are challenged by Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings. BONHOEFFER for THURSDAY February 22, 2007 Stepping into Faith Jesus says to anyone who uses their faith or lack of faith to excuse their acts of disobedience to his call: First obey, do the external works, let go of what binds you, give up what is separating you from God's will! Do not say; I do not have the faith for that. You will not have it so long as you remain disobedient, so long as you will not take the first step. Do not say, I have faith, so I do not have to take the first step. You do not have faith, because and so long as you will not take that first step. Instead, you have hardened yourself in disbelief under the appearance of humble faith. It is an evil excuse to point from inadequate obedience to inadequate faith, and from inadequate faith to inadequate obedience. It is the disobedience of the "faithful" if they confess their unbelief where their obedience is required and if they play games with

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" He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers" (Psalm 1:3). I was meditating on this passage yesterday and started using my imagination. As I thought about how trees are planted and grow, I realized they don't do anything to make it happen. They don't plant themselves, someone else does. They don't concentrate really hard to grow better, to be more fruitful. They just have to be trees. We cannot of our own strength be better, more spiritual Christians. We cannot cause our lives to be fruitful. For the Christian, this analogy brings us to John chapter 15 of Jesus being the vine and our need to abide in him. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (verse 3). Let us trust in God's grace to enable us to grow in him as we abide, then we too can b