Psalm 46:10

I've been rocked with work for a few days. Come to think of it, last week was no cake walk either. I actually took two days off, and put in a few hours on both of those days. The other days were 8a to 9:30/10:00pm-type days (barring Lindley's birthday). Couple that with my desire to be a helpful, supportive husband and dad, challenges sleeping, trying to keep up my running 3-5 days a week, etc...; I believe that it's reasonably forseeable that a moment of deflation was on it's way.

I guess it hit this afternoon. I had been left with another responsibility that I didn't expect. It has a timeframe that fits with neither my desired schedule, nor with everything else on my plate. So, I deflated. I called Lindley and she reminded me to turn to God. Then I started thinking. Well, what Paul suffered in Acts was pretty major...we're not just talking long days/big presentations here either. He kept his stuff together, and was able to spread God's word regardless of imprisonment, near floggings, plots on his life, shipwrecks, etc....

Then I ask.com'ed Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." The first entry I opened was by a parapalegic in a wheel chair that was having a rough day, and then turned to this verse and realized that his worries weren't that big of a deal. Needless to say, I chilled out a bit, and started to think about knowing that God is, and who God is.

I think it took me a while to understand why I know that God is, and that he is who he says he is. Without really thinking it through, I used to think God is God because the Bible says so. That's actually not true because God preceded the Bible. Now, before I go any farther, I do believe that the Bible is the word of God. That's how I know what God says he is. Reading the Bible is a key to communing with God, and praying scriptures is a great way to really commune with him in spirit.

But my previous thought process told me that God was basically only God during the times of the Bible, and that he is somehow different now. Hearing testimonies of some of my Christian brothers and sisters in Argentina over the last few years has really opened my eyes to this. They would say "Yo conocia al Jesucristo muerto, pero no conocia al Senor vivo." So, do you see my point? Just kidding, the translation is...I knew Jesus Christ, the guy who died on the cross, but I didn't know the one that lives. Well, that's the deal. He does live even today.

A clear example of this through prayer. It is amazing how much God answers our prayers. I don't think that Lindley or I could call ourselves righteous other than for the fact that Jesus died and atoned for our sins, but God answers our prayers anyway. This is how I know God is - we have fervently prayed on all of the following:

1. He comforts me when I ask him to
2. Because of the public nature of this forum, I won't go into all of the prayer requests he has answered in regards to work, but he has.
3. He has healed Luke on multiple occassions.
4. If any of you know Sara and Mac Vickers, then there is no way that you can't believe that he is an amazing God. A very long story short, they were in a car accident where the mother/wife nearly died, but has recovered in ways that doctors said that she never would.

I actually could name countless others, but I guess it's just important to know that God actually is, and that he is powerful, respondant, and loving even today.

peace,