Hope On the Horizon

A recent jaw-dropping Christmas evening in Northfield, NH.

My gift of thanks and appreciation to all of you who have been reading and a part of the conversation this year and the past eight: Words of hope and faithfulness from the past year 's Sunday Morning Vitamin (and some favorite photos) to carry into a new year and beyond. Because in this crazy world, we can't be reminded enough of God's goodness to us in every season, so that we can seek to live it out before those on our daily path. To remember to always keep looking Up...because Hope is on the horizon!

Remember this, O my soul: Whenever you clasp your hands in prayer, whenever you lift your hands in worship, whenever you write, whenever you grip the hand of another in fellowship, whenever you create anything with your hands, whenever you play a song or paint a landscape, whenever you applaud in encouragement, whenever you dirty your hands to grow a garden, whenever you offer a hand to someone in need—your hands are a weapon of worship created to bring glory to God… “Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.”—HANDS OF GOD“

Ah, Lord God! It is You who have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You.” (Jeremiah 32:17_…It’s good to be reminded that this Journey is not always as super-spiritual as we try to make it, but, rather, it is life to the full — just as He promised —in the midst of all of its circumstances, and through them. He is in it all. It just takes two words to get the right perspective back…“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is 'thank you,' it will be enough.” (Meister Eckhart)—WHAT’S GOOD?

Often, after I grab my coffee first thing in the morning, I’ll just breathe in deeply and thank God that it’s His breath in my lungs to live another day for His glory. It's “seeing” and feeling the Words on a page come alive: “This God is the One who gives life, breath, and everything else to people. He does not need any help from them; He has everything he needs.” (Acts 17:25) For the start of any new day, breathing that in always puts a lot of things in their right perspective. When you “see “ God, you see really well. With so much heaviness and troubles in our world and in the news, we all need that recalibration to remember that we are never alone and that He is always “God with us” and not off preoccupied with someone or something else more important.—SEEING

You are not “the Big Guy.” You are not “the Man upstairs.” You are not just a “higher power.”You are not just a lord to be respected but Lord of Lords—You are the plural of ALL majesty! You alone are ALL power, ALL authority. You alone are ALL-sovereign. You alone are maker of ALL heaven and earth. You alone are master and ruler over ALL-everything. And You alone own everything—and because I believe in You, that means I belong to You, too. I can cast ALL my cares upon You—ALL of them. The whole world—my whole world—even today, is in Your hands. And You love ALL that is Yours (even me at my worst). And You care for ALL that is Yours. And You alone are my only ALL-in-ALL protector, and provider, and Savior, and oh so much more. You never change—from everlasting to everlasting, You are Adonai Lord of Lords—a plural of ALL majesty! You are…worthy of ALL my praise, ALL my worship, ALL my life, for ALL of my days.”—THE JOURNEY OF BELIEVING ALL

There are few things better than the feeling of “git ‘er done.” But there is also this: "It is impossible to do everything people want you to do. You have just enough time to do God’s will. If you can’t get it all done, it means you’re trying to do more than God intended you to do…” (Rick Warren). Stay in your lane… Four of the most challenging words ever preached. But the smartest Man who ever walked the planet knows best and says it’s still the right way to go: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you, too. So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry about itself. Living faithfully is a large enough task for today.” (Matthew 6:33-34)—FINDING OUR LANE

Just a bunch of cool-looking rocks holding up a corner of the old Granite Block building at the corner of Main and Grove in my hometown. Colorful, artsy foundation architecture for sure, but I remember when I took that photo a couple of years ago, it was intentional—to help practically illustrate a teaching on something mysterious that Jesus said about Himself many years ago: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very stone—the cornerstone—that holds together the entire foundation.” (Luke 20:17). That's a great image to hold on to when you wake up every morning to a world gone mad, where all around seems shaken and unstable. The Lord who made heaven and earth and all that is in them is still the firm foundation of it all. —FOUNDATIONS

On this porch, to everything there is a season…A time to savor a warm breeze on a summer evening and time to feel the roar of a winter gale. A time to hear all of creation awakening the dawn and a time to to hear the deafening silence of a January night. A time to be grateful, and never a time to be ungrateful…“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” He’s been faithful in all the rest, and He will be now.—THE PORCH AWAKENING

Before planning and scheming the day ahead, rejoice, even if just a little bit—which means don’t just feel gratitude, express it. Give Him praise from whom every single blessing flows! This day may seem full or it may seem like just another day, but don’t be fooled; Remember that every day is His day, and for His glory, and how I walk—even run—through it really matters. And even if (and when) I veer off course on this day’s journey, or my heart and flesh fail, remember to end the day as you’re doing now, even out of breath: Give Him praise from whom all blessings flow! This is living life in all its fullness.—FULLNESS AT TURN TWO

“One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord—in His presence—all the days of my life, To gaze upon the beauty, the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur, of the Lord…” (Psalm 27:4) That’s it! That’s the goal. In writing, in speaking or singing, and especially in photography, I knew that I knew that afternoon in the woods that the goal of my life was not retreat but advance—to gaze upon and then point to the beauty of the Lord that’s all around us “all the days of my life.” And then get out of the way. Yes, there is surely darkness and ugliness. The goal is not denial. But the goal is built on a promise that trumps all ugliness: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered, defeated or understood it.” (John 1:5) Never has, never will.—THE GOAL

“The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.” Still. He is not some quarterback in the stands watching the game unfold, wondering if the players will ever get it right as the game seems to get out of control. From the rising of the sun to its setting. Our Captain of our Salvation is unfazed by wind and cold and storm...and headlines. His decisions are always perfect and unwavering. And He often calls amazing audibles, and plays that are not in our playbook and that don’t make sense Until at just the right time, they do. Even if we don't realize it until we look back later.—THE CAPTAIN IN THE FIELD

Stop striving. Stop trying to win this battle on your own. Stop running away and run perseveringly to green pastures instead. Stop trying to live by performance and approval and instead find God’s grace and mercy in time of every need. Be still and remember that you have a Savior who is forever your advocate, no matter what. He was, He is, and He always will be your defender: “The Lord will fight for you. All you have to do is keep still.” (Exodus 14:14)—FIELD OF DREAMS

“A very present help in times of trouble.” Whether it's times of sadness, weariness, stress, uncertainty or confusion, I needed to hear for the gazillionth time that God is not only my greatest-ever defense and offense, He is always “very present.” Things you know but things you forget in the heat of the moment. But very? How can anything be more present than present? Perhaps it was the psalmist’s “I don’t have the words for this” way of saying, of encouraging us all, that no matter what the season and unlike any other friend on earth, God is: Always ready. Always listening. Always near. Proven. Trustworthy...Undefeated! That wherever we go, there He is. That whether we are stuck inside during a snowstorm, or halfway around the world, or “If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans, even there Your hand will guide me, Your strength will support me.” (Psalm 139:9-10)—VERY PRESENT

"Jesus stands at the door and knocks, in complete reality. He confronts you in every person that you meet. Christ walks on the earth as your neighbor as long as there are people. He walks on the earth as the One through whom God calls you, speaks to you, and makes His demands. That is the greatest seriousness, and the greatest blessing, of the Advent message.”—Dietrich Boenhoffer