The Plumbline

Control - we all have issues from time to time, don't we? If we want control, we struggle every time is out of our control - like when traffic comes to a screeching halt on the highway and we have places to be right then. If we don't actually want control and it is thrust upon us, we wanna turn tail and run - like when we get put in charge of a project way out of our comfort zone. We all have times when our days just seem to spin out of control. It is not an easy thing for many of us - we just don't like to have control in the hands of anyone else, or to be told we need to control things! Whenever control shifts, we feel "out of control" - anxiety creeps in, frustration mingles with our anxious thoughts, until we end up on the edge of wanting to just scream, "Give me back the reigns, fool!" or worse yet, "I give up, I'm done, I am out of here!"  Okay, if this has never described your day, don't read on! If it has...maybe you'd be...

"I waited, and waited, and waited for God..." Have you ever been in the position of just waiting, and waiting, and waiting - all the while growing more fearful and frustrated that nothing is happening - at least nothing you can see? If you have walked with Christ for more than an hour, I think it is safe to assume that you might have experienced this kind of agony in waiting - not because he wants us to experience agony, but because we might just not realize all that is going on behind the scenes to get everything ready for the ultimate answer! We don't understand the delays and we don't remember the next time how long of a wait it was the last time! Now God, don't hold out on me, don't hold back your passion. Your love and truth are all that keeps me together. When troubles ganged up on me, a mob of sins past counting, I was so swamped by guilt I couldn't see my way clear. More guilt in my heart than hair on my head, so heavy the guilt that my heart ga...

" The years teach much which the days never know ." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)  I believe we all have had those moments when we simply stand in amazement at how well things just "came together", even when we didn't quite know what to expect or how it would all get accomplished.  I have put many a "build it yourself" piece of furniture together in my lifetime and let me just tell you this - those pictures look good on the outside of the box, but when you see all those parts on the inside - eegads!  I set about building, in faithful obedience to the instructions so as to not end up with parts left over or having to "redo" my work.  Try as I might, I usually have to take something apart!  Why?  I followed the directions, but somehow I didn't quite see how that one piece was just subtly different than the other. In life, what we learn from having to "redo" some of the things we have experienced isn't all that fun, but the lesson lea...