Communion in a time of covid

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God's creativity

Me to an extroverted friend at church: I'm going home to nap.

Extroverted friend: And then?

Me: There is no "and then".... 

Friend: Oh, it's "take a nap full stop" .....

Still in the process

Shared by Rach

Rainbow

Typhoon's path changed, but still some rain

Pastor Kevin's sermon on Gideon

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

This shows us God's intent for us:

“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, 14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

God knew

I was complaining to God and I said, "It's all your problem. Since You said You would solve everything, then You solve it! I can't. You do it all."

And He prompted Y to send me this.

hmm, so far so good

50 pages in so far. Get it. 

Reflection questions (Nehemiah)

How were you taught as a child to deal with failure? What is your emotional reaction when you fail in relationships, the workplace, or your personal values?

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). What makes it hard to admit our own personal sin?

Recall for yourself (or share in your group) ways in which you have seen God's faithfulness to you.

As you rebuild your "new normal," what commitments ("binding agreements") are you wanting to make of your life?

Lessons from my niece

Lesson #1 on being a toddler: develop independence by saying no

#2: doesn't always understand own emotions, ends up often frustrated

#3: doesn't understand deep sadness over something like a broken cookie will soon pass, needs help processing emotions

#4: still figuring out what rules to follow and why, needs coaching to learn

#5: has to learn to share and the concept of taking turns (developmentally focused on "mine")

#6: learning how to respond to other's emotions

#7: needs to be shown what to do instead of being told no all the time (save the no for dangerous things)

#8: older toddlers can accept explanations, but younger ones need redirection (other options) or help making desired behavior more fun

#9: learning to understand consequences (unfortunately for most of us, the consequences were probably too harsh)

#10: they need praise

Sounds like a fun series of lessons!

Devotions

I've been making my way through Isaiah daily. Father God has strong feelings for His children! And He also allows His children to feel strong feelings for Him. 

Isaiah 63: 7-9

7-9 I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
    love extravagant.
He said, “Without question these are my people,
    children who would never betray me.”
So he became their Savior.
    In all their troubles,
    he was troubled, too.
He didn’t send someone else to help them.
    He did it himself, in person.
Out of his own love and pity
    he redeemed them.
He rescued them and carried them along
    for a long, long time.

Isaiah 63: 11-16

11-14 Then they remembered the old days,
    the days of Moses, God’s servant:
“Where is he who brought the shepherds of his flock
    up and out of the sea?
And what happened to the One who set
    his Holy Spirit within them?
Who linked his arm with Moses’ right arm,
    divided the waters before them,
Making him famous ever after,
    and led them through the muddy abyss
    as surefooted as horses on hard, level ground?
Like a herd of cattle led to pasture,
    the Spirit of God gave them rest.”

14-16 That’s how you led your people!
    That’s how you became so famous!
Look down from heaven, look at us!
    Look out the window of your holy and magnificent house!
Whatever happened to your passion,
    your famous mighty acts,
Your heartfelt pity, your compassion?
    Why are you holding back?
You are our Father.
    Abraham and Israel are long dead.
    They wouldn’t know us from Adam.
But you’re our living Father,
    our Redeemer, famous from eternity!

from Y__'s you know who

Everything God says is true—-and it’s a shield for all who come to him for safety.  Proverbs  30:5

She started this joke "you know who" and now it's a long-running joke. I love it. I do know who.

sacrifice of praise

Yesterday, one of the sisters from my accountability group encouraged me to praise God. In the past, I had heard it before but somehow I missed the "why" so the injunction to "just praise God" came across as ritualistic and made me feel like I was lighting joss sticks again.

But last night, R's why stuck. We praise because it's an act of trust that breaks chains even when we don't know what the source of those chains is.

Then I realized finally that when we praise God, we enter into His presence and nothing can stand before Him. It's a simple truth that is easy to grasp intellectually. But it's only when we are suffering that the experience of this truth becomes real. Step into the presence of God--one step from suffering into His glory--and everything calms down. 

Would you believe it

I once witnessed with my own eyes how a lady was told by a stranger what she did in secret. A stranger who prayed for her said, "You have been going to fortune tellers. Please stop." She burst out crying and said, "I thought if I didn't tell anyone, no one would know." After I saw that, I thought, "This lady is going to have super-faith for sure." But it's not true. Three to four years later, she's still struggling to trust God to meet her needs.

And the funny thing is, I saw it with my own eyes, and I too struggle to believe that God will meet my needs! I can just imagine Jesus shaking His head at me. Smiling, but shaking His head.

"You saw that with Your own eyes, so why don't you have super faith??!"

two for one

My friend gave me a curry leaf plant (on the right) but it came with an additional mystery plant too!

Father God's little surprise?

I asked my friend and she said it looks like nasturtiums.

Ugh

There's something wrong with the platform. It won't allow us to upload images.

I don't think I have the energy to write much these days. But sometimes it's nice to leave images as a record of what's on my mind.

 

simple curry

Glad I tried this easy recipe. It seems to have worked! Waiting for the rice to cook. Should have started that first. 

For the record

Unprecedented times. Will our generation ever forget this?

Getting better

Volunteering has started up again!

Still semi-quarantining

Signs of summer: needing to bust out the fan.

Two new flowers and more buds!

New blooms!

Necessities

It's amazing how quickly this has become part of daily life here. I must say I want one, but I want one big enough so that I don't have to fold my mask in half. 

(My fingers, and probably arms too, are already tanned from just one hike!)

Jailbreak

I was so happy to spend the day out with human beings.... My lungs felt different!

And the weather was amazing.

We cannot have a crown without a cross

#pruning

The other disruptions

Nice to get out for a bit. We filled the smaller bottles with hand sanitizer.

I was supposed to do the Miss Hong Kong sign but since I don't know what it actually looks like, I guess I got it wrong.

Very foggy spring

Usually, it's foggy in the morning but this year, it can be foggy in the late afternoon too.