Woodrow Wilson - "I not only use all the brains that I have, 

but all that I can borrow."

~sacred echoes~

As I’ve been growing in my relationship with God, I’m finding that I’m not listening for the whisper as much as I am the echo. Often when God speaks, He will say the same thing through a sermon, a passage of scripture, a chance conversation, or an unexpected encounter. When we begin looking for these ~sacred echoes~ then we are better able to recognize God’s voice in our life and more confidently walk in the fullness of what God has for us.

Devotion

Making Room For The Savior While other people may struggle with worldly temptations, my struggle has always been in the area of spiritual disciplines. My devotional life has been haphazard at best. Because I hadn't developed the habit of a quiet time as a child, when the busyness of adulthood came, I found it difficult to find time alone with the Lord. Some of you may be aghast at such a thought. Your devotional life runs like clockwork. You find it impossible to make it through the day with out time alone with God. If that is true for you, may I tell you how blessed you are? It has taken me nearly twenty years to come to this discipline, and even then it has been a gift of grace, not an accomplishment of my own making. My spirit began to grow and thrive as the soil of my heart was tilled deep and fed by the Word of God. But then my Martha-like perfectionist tendencies kicked in, causing me to approach my devotional time as another duty to perform. I loved the feeling I got as I checked of chapters in my Bible reading and conquered another memory verse. Robert Boyd Munger's article "My Heart Christ's Home" changed all that. Through the simple analogy he suggested, I discovered what it meant to have a Mary heart toward God. Suddenly my eyes were open to what true devotion is. It is not a duty. It is a delight. It is not an exercise in piety. It is a privilege. And it is not so much a visit as it is a homecoming. "Without question one of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ Himself through the presence of the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there," Munger says. "[Jesus] came into the darkness of my heart and turned on a light. He built a fire in the cold hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been stillness and He filled the emptiness with His own loving, wonderful fellowship." Munger goes on to tell how he showed Christ around the house of his heart, inviting him to "settle down here and be perfectly at home," welcoming him room by room. Together they visited the library of his mind - "a very small room with very thick walls." They peered into the dining room of his appetites and desires. They spent a little time in the workshop where his talents and skills were kept, and the rumpus room of "certain associations and friendships, activities and amusements." They even poked their heads into the hall closet filled with dead, rotting things he had managed to hoard. As Munger described each room, they reflected my heart as well. But it was his depiction of the drawing room that would forever change the way I viewed my time with the Lord. "We walked next into the drawing room. This room was rather intimate and comfortable. I liked it. It had a fireplace, overstuffed chairs, a bookcase, sofa, and a quiet atmosphere. He also seemed pleased with it. He said, 'this is indeed a delightful room. Let us come here often. It is secluded and quiet and we can have fellowship together.' Well, naturally, I was thrilled. I could not think of anything I would rather do than have a few minutes apart with Christ in the intimate comradeship. He promised, "I will be here every morning early. Meet with Me here and we will start the day together." So, morning after morning, I would come downstairs to the drawing room and He would take a book of the Bible... open it and then we would read together. He would tell me of its riches and unfold to me its truths.... They were wonderful hours together. In fact, we called the drawing room the "withdrawing room." It was a period when we had our quiet time together. Little by little, under the pressure of many responsibilities, this time began to be shortened... I began to miss a day now and then.... I would miss it two days in a row and often more. I remember one morning when I was in a hurry... As I passed the drawing room, the door was ajar. Looking in I saw a fire in the fireplace and the Lord sitting there... "Blessed Master, forgive me. Have You been here all these mornings?" "Yes," He said, "I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you." Then I was even more ashamed. He had been faithful in spite of my faithlessness. I asked His forgiveness and He readily forgave me...He said "the trouble with you is this: You have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to Me also." What an amazing thought - that Christ wants to spend quality time with me. That he looks forward to our time together and misses me when I don't show up. Once that message started sinking into my heart, I started looking at my devotional time in a whole new way - not as a ritual, but as a relationship. And a relationship doesn't just happen. It has to be nurtured, protected, and loved.

RESURRECTION DAY

Jesus is Alive!!!!

Quotable

Think not that faith by which the just shall live

Is a dead creed, a map correct of heaven,

Far less a feeling fond and fugitive,

A thoughtless gift withdrawn as soon as given:

It is an affirmation and an act

That bids eternal truth be present fact.

-Hartley Coleridge