Before Sunrise

Main Street in the 5:30 a.m. stillness.

The almanac says sunrise here was at 5:10 a.m. But down in the village, it’s almost an hour later before the sun peers over the hill. It’s this in-between time that can be priceless and worth getting up for, no matter where you call home. Because except for a jogger and an occasional vehicle likely in search of coffee, the calm and stillness can be more refreshing than last night’s sleep. You see things you don’t see in the heat of the day. You feel the blanketing fog of God and His creation embracing and painting the town before disappearing until another time.

Each step can become an unconscious prayer, when you get a relatable sense of what the psalmist was talking about:

“Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning, for on You I lean, and in You I trust. Cause me to know the way I should walk, for I lift up my inner self to You.” (Psalm 143:8) 

These before-sunrise walks also have a way of awakening purpose for living, or as the great theologian J.I. Packer has put it, “If you’re trying to do something worthwhile, you will find that a great deal of what you’re doing will prove to be fun.” Amen to that.

It’s going to be a steamy day, but while you were snoozing, know that it’s already gotten off to a beautiful start. Just look….

Timeless Wisdom

My dad, mom and me at a cookout at my grandparents’ house many moons ago.

Hardly a day goes by when I don’t miss my dad, especially his wisdom. And I can’t think of him without also remembering his work ethic even when he didn’t feel like it, and his undying passion for family, community and serving others. While listening to the birds sing through the rain this morning, I realized that not only was today Father’s Day, but it’s also June 18 and nearing the halfway point of 2023 already. Good grief time flies!

A couple of timely quotes that dad lived and that I’ll try to hold onto, too…

From the apostle Paul:

“Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days.” (Ephesians 5:16)

And from the late pastor and author Leonard Ravenhill:

"Though you cannot be the salt of the whole earth nor the light of the whole world, you may season your community and lighten your neighborhood.”

So be it, dad, ’til we meet again.

Awaken the Dawn

A downtown Sunday morning, just before sunrise.

Running will come later but it is hard to beat a before-sunrise walk around town to awaken the senses to each morning’s little miracles…like no rain clouds in sight!

And for each step, wise words from Solomon for a new day: 

“Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you toward the path of integrity.

Consider well and watch carefully the path of your feet, and all your ways will be steadfast and sure.” (Proverbs 4:25-27)

 Keep looking Up. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Church with Feet On

On mission at the high school, on a Sunday morning.

Just about everyone knows that Church is not a building, even though that is what most people (even believers) think of when someone says the “C” word. Of course, it’s not really something you go to. Instead, it’s meant to be a gathering of fellow believers who meet with God and encourage one another to keep going on this wonderful, narrow road while sharing Hope with others in word and deed. But sometimes, when the right circumstances come together, a different kind of Church can happen in some unlikely places—where the “called out ones” actually get called out. Even on a Sunday.

Last weekend was such a time. Plans had been made in advance for spending several days on the Maine coast, partly to fulfill an obligation and partly to get a change of scenery. In the back of mind were plans to gather with fellow believers at some local Down East “C” building come Sunday. Instead, I cut all of those plans short and hustled back home in time to participate in a 5K run/walk to benefit teen mental health and suicide awareness. 

On a Sunday. A Sunday morning, even, when my body and soul were used to gathering with the saints and were pulling hard in that direction....

...It felt weird. It felt wonderful. It felt a bit like being that salt seasoning and light carrying that Jesus taught His followers to be in Matthew 5:13-16.

I do not know exactly when or how this particular mission grabbed my heart, but when it did, it hit hard. The more I heard and read about it, it crushed my heart to think that many young people felt so alone, so hurt, so isolated by COVID, so unaccepted (by others and themselves), so fearful of world conditions and things in their own little world, that they would think no one really cared. That there seemed to be no hope, no way out. To then keep it all stuffed down inside themselves in silent pain.

A guy’s DNA is to want to fix things, and fix all what was wrong for these young people. But in this case, there are very few fixing options for anyone. Until I remembered that Someone came for all of that, and cared for all of that, and that all that going to the “C” gathering-with-believers experience had stirred up a passion for things I knew I could and wanted to do—to pray, and to listen/“be there” in some way. And that 5K was one small but practical way to “be there” in person and for those providing resources, and to listen to stories, and to try to put names with faces of students who were rallying to do the same for their friends so I could pray. Even make it a habit to pray for the middle and high schools as a whole whenever I drive by.

“Why this mission, and why now?” It’s something many believers ask themselves. Only God knows. Seasons come and go, and so do the eternal things that God will suddenly pour into our heart out of nowhere with a sort of burning. And the only explanation I can come up with is that the more time you take to get to know, and listen to, and seek to follow the greatest Light of the world of all time, the more He becomes the motor that drives your thinking, your passions, your interests, and your everyday interactions—especially with those who find going to the “C” word on Sundays a very foreign idea.

Kind of like, that’s the whole point of the gospel.

Because nearly 900 years before Jesus, there was a prophet named Isaiah who described what His mission would be all about. And in Luke 4, the Light of the world Himself not only confirmed it, but passed the baton of salt and light on to all believers down through the ages to carry for as long as we have life and breath…

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;

He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed

And to bind up the brokenhearted,

To proclaim freedom for the captives,

And release from darkness for the prisoners”

—Isaiah 61:1: Luke 4:16-21, ISV

To go to church on Sundays, yes, but much more than that— to be church with feet on.

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For vitamins beyond Sunday, see the Day Starter morning devotionals on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/renewchurchhancock