There are so many wonderful folks we have met through the years, as well as more recent friends, who bring the Living Word to life. Some are professionals. We call them pastor, rabbi and father. Some are ordinary folk from all walks of life who just share, in a remarkable way, how passages of scripture touch their lives.Regardless of your religious background, we hope you feel God's tender touch through His living word as our friends share what it is like for them to stand in the light . . . of His word.
Current Meditation:
Arms Wide Open By
Greg L. Hawkins
I've been depressed most of my life. Not really proud of that fact, but the reality of that statement serves me well. I want to live grounded in reality. Any other way of living just does not work for me.
My depression hit a peak thirteen years ago. I had a nervous breakdown. Or at least that is what I called my inability to get out of bed, panic attacks and a month long bout with insomnia. Eventually I found my way into a therapist's office. And over the next many months I learned a lot about myself, including the fact that I had been depressed most of my life.
It is also where I learned another way to live. Or more clearly stated, that is where I discovered my true self and started living out of that place. Ironically, that place was always there. Kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I wanted to go home and didn't know how. So I started a journey. A journey home.
And like all journeys, the path to come home took time. Years of wandering. Sometimes straight, but normally in a zigzag sort of way. I am not sure much of life is a straight line. Math and geometry fool us into thinking it could be. It is just not my experience.
Recently the path wound around to a dark place. It made me seriously wonder if I was any closer to home, or if it was all an illusion and maybe home was still far away. Or maybe not there at all.
But the trees parted and light filled the path and home was staring me in the face. And I was aware of how beautiful it was. Like a dream. A 40 year dream. And I was not sure if it was real, but as the days have gone by, I think it is. I hope it is. I believe it is.
And then I was driving in my car listening to a popular song* by Creed. The chorus said:
With arms wide open Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open
Now everything has changed
And that is how I felt. That finally I was feeling like I was living with arms wide open. Outstretched. Not closed and withdrawn to protect myself. Not lifeless and still at my side. But open. Wide open. With my face held high, looking up at the sunlight. Alive.
And then I thought about the most alive person to walk on earth. The one who always had arms wide open. Touching and healing and holding. A man who scared most people, because he was so alive. A man whose eyes told the deepest truth. A man whose words were the breath of God. A man who breathed his last breath with arms wide open. And they really didn't need the nails to hold his hands out stretched. He would have gladly held them that way. Because he always lived with arms wide open.
And because of him, I was able to find my way home. He was with me every step. Every one. And it was His face that greeted me the day I came home. And He is the one who waits for all of us. With arms wide open.
*Copyright
With Arms Wide Open
Mark Tremonti and Scott Stapp
Past Offerings are found below. Enjoy.
What's the Worst That Could Happen? by
Brian MulderRecently, I was in an extended, 2 day master planning session with 54 other leaders from our local church. After hours of sharing ideas, discussing problems, and imagining the future together, we were asked to commit to each other and trust one another in advance. We broke into 6 separate groups each with the authority and power to decide the outcome of 1 of 6 major changes in our church. These 6 areas involved million of dollars and a dramatic restructuring that would affect our entire future.
The facilitator asked us to raise our hands if we were ready to commit and trust one another and each group to separately make these decisions. Many did, but for those who did not, issues of trust surfaced immediately. Discussion became emotional and passionate. Some were feeling abandoned, others coerced, and many optimistic people were feeling that their hopes would be crushed by a great wave of uncertainty.
At one point, a wise man asked us, "If we do move ahead on these plans, what's the worst that could happen?"
Immediately, my mind recalled memories of a conversation from my past, a truly defining moment in my life. Five years earlier, I had been let go by the church I was serving. "Fired," if you will. In the restless weeks that followed, I was mentored and encouraged by a Godly friend and counselor who offered this word of encouragement: "If I had asked you before this termination, 'What's the worst that could happen?' what would you have told me?"
I went on to explain that all my worst fears had come true in the past few weeks.
"And you believe that your Father God still loves you," he added, "and that God still has a plan to bless you? And you still trust that God will not abandoned you, but has a unique purpose for you and good gifts in store for you?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Well," he replied, "if the worst thing you could imagine actually happened, and you still have faith in your Father God, that is a wonderful lesson you will never forget."
My mind returned to the master planning session. As we responded to the question before us, the conversation began to acknowledge that fear was at the heart of many of our thoughts and feelings. We stopped to pray, and to confess our fears and to ask God for insight and faith. We prayed that God would teach us to trust each other, but more importantly, to trust the Spirit of Jesus as He moved in each of our lives together. We asked Him to unite us, to give us His peace, and to show us His plan. We surrendered our need to control the outcome, or even the process itself. We trusted God.
I believe we won a great spiritual battle that day for ourselves and for our church, a battle similar to the personal battle I had faced years earlier. In that moment, God was integrating these two experiences in my own heart and mind, showing me again that my worst fears are often opportunities God uses to prove how much he loves me, and how completely I can trust Him with my life and my future.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all you heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord.Jeremiah 29:11-14
Brian Mulder is a husband, father, and Associate Pastor of Worship at North Suburban Church in Deerfield, Illinois, where he has served since 1997. He may be contacted at bmulder@northsub.com.