100 Years, a Cup of Joe and the Word

Think of what someone who has lived for a century has seen and experienced. The knowledge, the insight, the wisdom. I was thinking about this recently when a friend told me that his great aunt recently celebrated her 100th birthday.

I find it interesting to discover what those who've lived a long time attribute their longevity to, especially when they're in good health and have sharp minds. My friend shared that among his great aunt's daily routines, to start her day she always has a cup of coffee and spends an hour reading the Bible.

If you're Christian you've likely heard other Christians talking about how important it is to read and study the Bible. When you read the Bible, you'll see that the importance of regularly reading the Word of God is stressed throughout. In fact, the Bible says that your very success rides on being immersed in the Word, being grounded in it, never departing from it.

A Scripture that really drives home the power of living and being led by the Bible is in the Book of Joshua, in the Old Testament. It relates to the time after Moses had died and the Lord was charging Joshua with the task of leading more than three million people from the wilderness into their place of promise, Canaan. It was a huge job with serious challenges ahead. But in giving Joshua this task, the Lord also gave him the key to success:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

Meditation here is not a mystical, ethereal thing. It is practical. In Hebrew, the word "meditate" in this verse is translated "hagah" – which means to moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter, meditate, devise, plot, speak. So it's not only studying, thinking and planning/plotting Scripture; it is to speak it, to say it. It's active.

When I was young, I had an aunt (a bit young than 100:) ) who, with my uncle, would visit my family during the summer on their way back from attending her family's reunion in Kansas. I remember her reading the Bible and talking about how she was reading the same verses over again. Back then I wondered how anyone would find reading the same thing over and over again interesting. It didn't make any sense to me.

When I was in my 20s and actively started searching for God, my mother was the one who encouraged me to read the Bible and to keep reading, though at the time I didn't understand much of what I read and honesty, it felt really tedious.

Now that I'm in my 40s I see more than I used to see. I see in others and I experience personally the power, the supernatural power, of meditating the Word of God. I see and experience the difference that studying and speaking, muttering, pondering, repeating the Word of God makes. I see how believing in, meditating on, and speaking the Word of God changes things. Especially the things I can't change.

As a Christian, when you meditate on, speak and believe what the Word of God says it delivers results. As singer Donald Lawrence says, the Word does the work.

But the Bible is not a toy, something to exploit now and then for our own purposes. It's the Book that reveals the heart and character of God, that shows us Who He is and how He chooses to relate to us. To experience the power of meditating the Bible one has to put in the time. And while there's no legalistic requirement regarding literal time spent each day, Joshua 1:8 pretty much makes it plain -- for your way to truly be prosperous -- God's type of prosperous -- the Word has to be the basis for who you are and what you do every day. And the only way it becomes that way -- the Bible literally becoming the blueprint for your life -- is to utter, to muse, to ponder, to meditate, to speak the Word -- and believe what the Word says.

I'm sure at least some of us (including myself) have struggled with making the time to spend reading the Bible. Just ask Him to help you carve out and protect your time with Him. If you're willing, He will do it!

I have no idea how long my life on earth will last. But however long it is, I hope I can share the same report my friend's great aunt has -- that I'm still vital, learning and growing each year because the Living Word lives in me.

Courage in the Crush

For those of us working in social services and human services organizations in Illinois, these are crazy times. With a state budget mired in multi-billion dollar debt, the very agencies that help people and families most in need are about to have their funding slashed by July 1. Many organizations are bracing for the worst, including my own.

Amazingly enough when I think about all this I've got a peace inside. In the midst of this I truly believe God is going to do something great. It may not be what we might expect. It may not come in a nice tidy package that looks like what we want. But I believe it will be better.

Remember how when people asked the Lord Jesus questions, and He rarely answered them directly? Usually He'd respond with an answer that went beyond the surface request to penetrate the heart of the matter.

Maybe that's at work here. Whether we know Him or not, many of us are asking questions based on fear. But I'm thinking in light of all the anxiety, the hand wringing, the angsting, He's calling us to do something that flies in fear's face. He's calling us to "take courage," to know that He is poised to do something far greater than the expected.

I'm convinced that for those of us who will look to Him for leadership in this hour, and be willing to keep looking to Him even after this crisis has passed, He is willing and will do far greater things than the best efforts of man alone can achieve.

Despite what I see, I'm expecting Him to go beyond the obvious to do something extraordinary.

Welcome to the HopeLives Blog!

Welcome to the HopeLives Blog!

You're invited to kick back and relax here at HopeLives.

My hope is to share insights from everyday life and more that will uplift, inspire and encourage you to live the fullest life possible with the God Who made you in His image and loves you with a passion indescribable -- Jesus Christ.

Tonight I'm reflecting on the fact that though the last few days have been filled with rain and cold -- I can't believe this is almost summer! -- the flip side is that everything is so amazingly green.

It's like the green is so bright it's ready to burst off the leaves! The trees and bushes are flush, and the grass is so thick it needs moving again.

Yeah, it's a drag that I'm wearing a wool jacket today and I'm still cold! But in the midst of the rain I see the life that's all around.

People on the streets, juggling bags and umbrellas as they board buses, others driving and jockeying for position in rush hour traffic.

A sparrow pecking at a bag of bar-be-que in front of Leon's.

A clump of ferns unfurling their fronds in the spring rain.

It's the lush life, in miniature, on a wet Thursday in early June.