Inspired by the Number 2632

2632

One of my favorite numbers is 2632.  Why you ask?

Lacking extraordinary natural ability, Cal Ripken, Jr. excelled due to hard work and attention to fundamentals.  He did the little things right, and he did them consistently. Cal played his entire 20-year career with the Baltimore Orioles.

From May 30, 1982 until September 19, 1998, Cal played in 2632 consecutive games.  This feat eclipsed Lou Gehrig’s previous record by 502 games and earning him the nickname The Iron Man. Undoubtedly over the course of the streak, Cal played a few days when he just didn’t “feel like” playing.

Ripken’s baseball achievement should inspire us toward a spiritual achievement. We can be spiritually what Cal Ripken was athletically.

Read More

When God Delays

At some point, I would like to calculate over the course of several months how much time I spend waiting during an average day.  Traffic lights, on hold on the telephone, in line at the store, in the drive-through at a fast food joint, and a seemingly million other ways I am forced to wait.  I am not a patient waiter.

I have to admit, that in weak moments, I even get impatient with God. I expect God to immediately grant all my requests in the manner I asked Him to grant them, and when He doesn’t do so, I am tested. Recently I have some issues for which I have been praying and have yet to see God move.  As I prayed complained to God one recent morning, He reminded me of a truth I needed to remember.

I say that I believe in that God is all-knowing and that He knows best.  I say that I believe that God is all-powerful and is able to do ALL that He deems good and best.  I say that I believe in God’s providence and that He has planned my life for His glory and my good.  I say I believe those truths, but when I get impatient with God I act as though I don’t believe them.

Well meaning people console us in our times of waiting by reminding us that “God’s delays” are not necessarily His denials, but there are no such things as God’s delays – His timing is always perfect.  He is an on-time God.  What seem like delays – those times which tempt me to grow impatient – are only delays from my vantage point, not God’s.  He is purposefully working out His plan, His way, on His time, positioning my life and my circumstances for His glory.

I can relax, live in the moment and trust my future to an all-wise, all-powerful, on-time God.  He has my life on track.  You can trust Him too.  Wait. Rest. Trust. Believe. 

My times are in your hand… Psalm 31:15

How to Be Poplar

flower from tree in yardThe picture to the left is a flower my wife cut from a tree at the edge of our yard.  My Facebook friends helped us identify it as a Tulip Poplar.  What make this particular flower so unique is that is comes from a tree that fell into our yard last year.  I pushed the tree back into the brush and figured it would eventually wither and die.  The tree produced a stunning display of blooms in spite of the fact is had fallen, been pushed aside, and was overgrown with brush.  The picture below shows the mess through which this tree bloomed.

The Tulip Poplar bloom reminded me of the Biblical admonition to remain steadfast in the DSC_0038midst of adverse and difficult life circumstances.

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart. – Hebrews 12:1-3

We find it easy to allow our circumstances to dictate our effort.  When the going gets tough, we get going…in the other direction.  Jesus provided the example we can follow by enduring shame, ridicule, betrayal, pain, and ultimately death for us. Jesus was willing to endure the immediate hardship because He knew the payoff of joy that was to come.

What circumstances and situations currently tempt you to quit trying?  Tell Jesus about them and ask Him to overcome through you so that you can bloom where He has planted you.  He knows what you’re going through and He has already overcome.

 

For Those Who Hate to Wait

3 Comments

waitI am by nature an impatient person.  I hate to wait.  Doesn’t matter if it is a traffic light, check-out line, delivery, or even a date on the calendar; I find waiting to be one of my life’s most difficult tasks.

Yesterday morning while reading in Genesis 7, I came across something I have missed in my previous readings, something that made me stop and think.  There it was in black and white in Genesis 7:10 –

And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

For seven days after Noah, his family, and all the animals boarded the ark they had to sit there on that waiting for God to deliver on a promise.

  • Just like the blind man to whom Jesus restored sight could only see men looking like trees walking about and had to wait a little longer for his full vision to come to him.
  • Just like Mary and Martha had to wait four days for Jesus to come to Bethany while their brother laid in a tomb developing the stench of rigor mortis.
  • Just like Jesus’ disciples had to wait three days after His death to see the fulfillment of the promised resurrection.

Waiting is never easy and seldom fun, but we can rest assured that while we wait God works.

  • Perhaps we wait while God prepares us for the greater work He desires to do in us.
  • Perhaps we wait while God arranges circumstances so that He will receive greater glory.
  • Perhaps we wait while God tests our faith and in that testing strengthens us.
  • Perhaps we will NEVER know why we wait, but if He says wait, then wait we must, and that waiting is good.

So on what promise of God do you wait today?  Don’t get bored, distracted, or discouraged.  Trust God and seek Him all throughout the moments of your wait.  AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME God will deliver the goods.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you
will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:6