Thanks to Paul Tripp for this one:

Growing up, it was the source of endless entertainment. My dad was the guru of shortcuts. He lived on an endless quest for the shortest route to all of the places to which he regularly drove. He was never satisfied with his latest discovery. He was always after a better, time-saving route than the last one. My mom used to kid my dad that most of his shortcuts were in fact “longcuts.” I remember one thing my dad would say in his search for the shortest distance to wherever, “The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”

Have you ever wondered what David means in Psalm 27:11 when he says, "Teach me your way, O Lord, lead me on a level (straight) path because of my enemies"?

The life to which God has called us is the ultimate straight line. This line starts with dead rebels and ends with people alive and reformed into the likeness of God’s Son. The problem is that we all tend to have a "shortcut" mentality which leads us into "shortcut" problems. Our living is seldom a straight line. The paths that we think will be easier and better are often not better at all. They seldom end up being better routes to the life which God has designed for us to live.

What seem to be better paths to us are actually self-oriented "long cuts" that actually take us away from where God wants us to be. Somehow, someway we all take daily detours of thought and desire that move us off the straight path that God has placed us on by his grace. In magnificently patient, transforming love, he has redeemed us from the jungle of our rebellion, lust, autonomy, foolishness, and self-focus and placed us on the narrow pathway of the grace of his Son. The problem is that we all tend to get tricked into taking detours that get us off God’s path and into trouble.

Our problem is twofold. First, we get diverted because we are impatient. The trip to where God is taking us is not an event; it’s a process. And the process isn’t easy. God’s road takes us through the heat of the sun, through storms and cold, through the dark of night, through loneliness and confusion. All of these things are under God's control and are meant to change us as we journey. But, we get tired and impatient and begin to convince ourselves that there is a better way. But, that isn’t all.

We also get diverted because we are disloyal. Our hearts aren’t yet fully committed to God’s glory and his kingdom. So, we don't keep our eyes focused on the kingdom to come that is in front of us. No, we're looking all around, still attracted to the shadow glories of creation, because we still carry around in us allegiance to the small-agenda purposes of the kingdom of self. So in our impatience and disloyalty we see pathways that appear easier, more comfortable or that appear to offer us things that we haven't found on God's pathway, but these side-routes only ever lead to danger, destruction and ultimately death.

There is no time when this temptation is more powerful than when we are facing difficulty. This is exactly what the verse we are considering recognizes. When you are being hammered by the enemy, it’s very tempting to debate within yourself as to whether God’s way is the best way. It starts with bad attitudes. Perhaps you begin to doubt God, doubt his goodness, and question his love. Perhaps you give way to anger, impatience, and irritation. Or maybe you begin to allow yourself to envy. You wonder why the guy next to you has such an easy route to walk, when yours is so hard.

These bad attitudes lead to bad habits. You quit praying because you reason that it doesn’t seem to be doing any good. You stop reading your Bible because those promises don’t seem to be coming true in your life. You quit attending your small group because you can’t stand to hear the stories of God’s love that others share, when your life is so hard. You even begin to give yourself reasons for missing the Sunday worship service, reasons you once wouldn’t have given yourself. Before too long there is a coldness and distance in your relationship with God that would have shocked you in the early days of your journey. Your difficulty has deceived you into thinking that you have reason for wandering off God’s straight path, and your attitudes and habits have placed you on the dangerous side-paths of the kingdom of self.

So, David's prayer is an important request for all of us. All of us step off God's path in some way and all of us need restoring grace. Have you gotten off God’s straight path? Have you given yourself reason to take side-paths? How about praying, once again today, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path”? Thankfully, our Savior Guide doesn't leave us to our wandering. He relentlessly seeks us and places us back on His straight path and for that every son and daughter, still on the journey, should be deeply thankful.

a really bad dream

I woke up this morning from a really bad dream. Dale and I had been visiting family which had been gathered for a big social gathering. Could have been Christmas but there weren't any presents and the relative's house was being remodeled. The conversations were about topics I didn't understand. The people were enjoying interactions that didn't include me. At one point I had been handed a baby, or I had picked a baby up, and it slipped through my hands to land with a soft plop on the carpet. The decorations of the house were crowded and unattractive. I found it difficult to walk through the rooms without being poked or scraped. People who spoke of me used nicknames that I hadn't heard before. I had a strong impulse to leave because I was sure no one would notice I was gone, and being there was so heavy.

Is this what it is like to be non-born? To be unknown, to be unneeded, to be unreal?

A Thought on Christmas Eve

All of us are in a fight for joy. For life. For relationship in community. All of us long to see the Father's face more clearly.

Cancer makes the need and longing for these things more urgent.

A Moment to Enthuse

These are two very special ladies in our lives. Nora, on the left, and her older sister, Addie.

Until you have a grandchild, its pretty difficult to make you understand the relationship that develops. Its beyond pride and joy. Its beyond pleasure and enjoyment. Its way better than chocolate and reading. Way better.

When Nora sees me she smiles so wide you can see all of her pretty teeth (there are 4 of them right now). Addie likes to call me Non (rhymes with phone), and pretty much has the best ideas for what to do when we play. When I was a young mom, I felt I needed to juggle chores with playtime. Not as a grandparent. I get to sit down on their level and be with them for however long they like, and play as long as their mom lets us.

Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away our sin.

I am listening to Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb. And tears are just streaming down my face. What a beautifully, scaldingly holy, RIGHT moment it is. To hear words that open my heart's eyes to the truth that people waited a long long time for Jesus' birth. Centuries of people who longed to be holy. To be right before God. And there was no way, just a promise that one day there was going to be a way.

Have you ever waited for something that you wanted. Needed. Something that was going to be the Best Thing Ever? I have. But not like this kind of waiting. When old Simeon's old eyes saw the baby Savior his heart must have burst with joy. In fact, he claimed that now he could die because what he had waited for all his life had now come.

And then without us waiting at all for Him, we learn that He came. The shepherds heard it from the angels that this dazzling event was going to give us peace henceforth. Peace with God that would never end. God, the creator and Father, sent me a savior. And opened my eyes to the need for such a provision. I love that God just gave me a hint to what the exhausted and troubled creation felt at the incarnation.

What lasts?

Back to that thought about the wise man building his house on the rock. Conforming his 'house' to the shape of the rock. And then the house will be unshakable no matter how high the water rises, or how hard the wind blows. And that's what we want. Really. We really don't want things to go our way. It's just that we think out things and figure that our plan is a pretty good one and will endure the strains of life. We aren't the wisest life-constructors and shouldn't really trust all of our instincts.

I read this quotation this morning: "Genuine faith is tested by suffering; false faith will be lost. And that is a gift; the sooner the better."

At first I thought it was sort of mean...like, get the posers out of the room! But then I realized that it is a kind gift of God to expose in my life where my faith is not real. Where I have a different hope than a hope in God. Where I have 'heard God's words and didn't do them' and shortcutted my house/life's foundation in shifting sand. Because He knows that storms and wind will blast my life. He knows how hard my house/life will be shaken. And He cares that my house/life will be tested and found genuine. The sooner I find a false faith, the sooner I can re-orient myself to God.

Piper says, 'if all hell breaks lose in your life and you struggle with unbelief, it is a good to take the time to re-believe.' A good time, indeed.

Perspective

People who know more than I do about babies claim that babies can see but don't understand perspective. That when they look up and see the rail of the crib, and the rocking chair beside the crib and the door on the other side of the room, it looks like they are flat objects all touching each other. Like photographs piled on top of each other. And that being true, that the crib rail is bigger than the chair or the door. Because it looks bigger to the baby.

(Wait a minute. Babies can't tell you that. They can't talk. So how did 'they' come up with that?)

But for the sake of my ponderings I will assume that this is a real phenomenon. Because it happens to me and I am all grown up. Whatever is closest to me fills my vision. Consumes my thoughts. Takes my energy. Dominates my conversations. Like right now? Ryan and Ashley are getting married and there are shower and receptions details that are delightful and complicated and the dates are looming closer and I talk about this ALL the time.

Or I recently spoke with my oncologist's office. And the January dates for the next round of tests looms up large. It is not filling my vision yet, but I think it will because it has in the past.

And all of a sudden I am ready to try something different. I don't like the play when the entire stage is full of cancer props. I am thinking that there can be a way to make that just one of the things I have in view and not just the only thing. To adapt the landscape of my thinking will require some creative thought, though. And I believe I will start with poster size views of my amazing Redeemer. Perhaps song lyrics and verses blown up super large. That just might help crowd out the unattractive and unappealing characters that occupy my view.