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Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

John Ortberg, in a little book called Waiting On God, tells of a lesson from The Flying Roudellas.

There are two primary people involved in a successful trapeze act — the “Flyer” and the “Catcher”. The Flyer is the one who lets go and the Catcher is the one who catches.

There comes a time for the Flyer to release, arc into the air, then wait as still as possible for the catcher to pluck him from the air.

The one thing the Flyer must remember is to “never try to catch the Catcher!” — wait as still as possible and trust the catcher to do his job. Waiting on God is a lot like that.

There is a certain vulnerability in letting go of old ways, things we know are not right for us, that which holds us back. There are long pauses, afterwards, where we feel as if we are just hanging there with nothing under us. But God is a good catcher if we let go in obedience, trust his word, and don’t panic in the process.

“They that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” — Psalm 9:10

“But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.– Psalm 5:11

“The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” — Deuteronomy 33:27a

— fritz

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“John (the Baptist) wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” — Matthew 3:4.

A former beekeeper, myself, I know bees don’t take kindly to being robbed. We wore special clothing and took special precautions to avoid being stung — but John ate wild honey. He would just reach in and get some! Why?

Evidently he valued the taste of honey more than the sting.

Now let’s focus on a passage from Saint Paul:

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” — 2nd Corinthians 4:7-10

For the Apostle, following Christ sometimes stung — troubled, perplexed, persecuted, cast down. Yet he kept at it! Why?

Evidently he valued the taste of Christ more than the sting.

There is sweetness in Christ found nowhere else that, once tasted, causes some to value it more than anything else. That’s what we have — Wild Honey, and it’s great!!

— fritz

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Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes … And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. — Matthew 16:33

Many don’t know this was the second time Jesus fed a multitude — the first was reported two chapters earlier.

So similar are the two that some think they were the same event. Not so, the timeline and details are different. What is the same is the disciples first reaction — “What?!”, they said both times, “Where are we going to get the food?!”

We stand amazed at those forgetful, faithless disciples — ’till we realize we do the same thing. No?

What is our first response to another danger or need? How often are we in disarray even after God just took care of our last crisis?

God can do again what he did before. We didn’t become too old, too sinful, or too anything to prevent God’s grace in Christ.

I’ve been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I’ll keep on carrying you when you’re old … I’ve done it and will keep on doing it, carrying you on my back, saving you.” — Isaiah 45:4 (Message Bible)

— fritz

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