Month: January 2019

lacking

God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” Exodus 3:14

Have you ever come across an idea a word cannot express, a scenery a photo cannot capture, a love a heart cannot hold? Too deep, too majestic, too weighty for an alternate representation. As I stare at my keyboard – the letters often fail to arrange themselves into words. As I gaze out my window – the beauty will not yield to the constraints of an image. As I peer into my past – the loss feels more than the sum of each day.

This is why, of course, God simply declared himself as “I am.” A truth that reveals nothing and everything in three letters. And so the undefinable will always remain questionable. Does God really speak? Is there a reality beyond what we can see? Can we know a perfect love that drives out fear? It seems a lofty goal to remain sane in the insanity of belief as I fight to find the words to communicate hope, the photograph to portray restoration, and the strength in a promise for what is still to come. 

favor

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” Ephesians 2:8 

You know the feeling of beating the odds with a roll of the dice, or discovering you were dealt a striking royal flush, or spinning a wheel that stopped on the perfect number, or pulling a handle to reveal the display of “jackpot!” I actually never gamble, because I understand the nature of probability. I’ve done the calculations. I’ve studied its implications. I’ve observed its outcome under the constraints of a small sample space.

There is no reason in the random, or cause in a chance, or objective in the odds. The outcome is completely undeserved and irrespective of any action that precipitated it. This is grace. A favor that is improbable, unfathomable, beyond belief. More than a gift, better than free – it is like winning the lottery everyday.