Day 5 – August 20, 2017
Today is the Lord’s Day, a day when we go to the Father’s house to worship Him. In his book, My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers’ thoughts for his August 7 devotional take us to the Luke 2 where we read the account of when Jesus was 12 years of age and went to Jerusalem with His parents for the Feast of the Passover. When the events were completed His parents along with several others traveled in a group back to their home. After a day’s journey they discovered that Jesus was not part of the group. They returned to Jerusalem and after searching all over for three days they found him in the temple with the teachers listening to them and asking questions. The Scripture states these learned men were amazed at Jesus’ understanding and the answers He gave. When His parents found Him they asked Him why He had not traveled with them. They explained to Him how distressed they were searching for Him for three days. I can imaging how they felt. Their son was missing and they had no idea where He might be. I can also imagine their questions of Him probably were not very gentle but possibly containing tones of rebuke for not following them when they started the journey back home. But Jesus responded with a simple question, “Why were you searching for Me. Didn’t you realize that I must be in My Father’s house?” It appears from this account that Jesus was very connected to His Father’s house and when He was not with them they should have immediately realized that Jesus would be in the Temple. After all, this was where Jesus was drawn and most likely leading up to this time in Jerusalem I suspect Jesus spent a lot of time in His Father’s house in Nazareth. You can almost hear the question in Jesus’ response to His parents, “Why wasn’t the Temple the first place you would have looked?”
Chambers extracts from this story some questions that pertain to our personal relationship with God and our prayer time. He asks, “Am I a holy, innocent child of God as a result of my identification with my Lord and Savior? Do I look at my life as being in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God living in His Father’s hosue within me?” If God is in us then we live in the midst of His house. Do our lives show this relationship? Are we so intimate with the Father that this relationship is reflected in all we do and say? Have we come to the conclusion that every moment of every day should demonstrate this relationship, this living in the Father’s house?
Chambers goes on to ask, “Are you so closely identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that everything comes from His hands?” Our prayer should be coming from this relationship, this closeness we have with God. As we walk with Him we converse and discuss and lay our concerns on Him and He teaches us. Our walking with Christ is being in “My Father’s house.” This relationship then spills out into everything we do. We reflect this relationship to everyone we meet and it becomes evident in our dealings with each other. It shows the oneness we have with Christ as we walk with Him.
Is my prayer life just and expression of my times of crisis, those times when I go to God when things go wrong or some disturbance in my life? Or am I so close to God in my relationship that everything that happens to me is mentioned and discussed with Him? The discipline of walking with Christ has moved me from only occasional praying to talking with God continually, sharing every moment, every thought, every issue with Him. We walk together and talk together about what comes before us on our path.
Father, thank You for these thoughts, these reminders of the relationship You seek with me, with those who walk with You as well. That relationship is so personal and uplifting, so filled with love and grace, overflowing with hope and joy. Thank You, Father, for pursuing me and inviting me to walk with You, to dwell in Your house continually, to learn to know You so well that Your thoughts become my thoughts, Your words become my words. I then become an extension of Your hands and mouth and can reach out and touch others to help them realize the relationship that is available to them. Thank You, Lord. Amen.
Last night was a continual serenade from the sounds in the night. These were human generated sounds and mostly manifest by loud music and thumping bass that continued on and on and on. It seems there is the survival of the loudest around here and most are intent on surviving the night. Even with the fans running and the white noise the thumping bass was persistent.
This morning we decided to meet after breakfast and have our own church instead of going into town and not be able to understand what was being talked about at the church Jane attends. Also, she was having some people coming today to give some quotes on a couple things she needs to have done with the buildings. So we gathered and I was asked to lead in discussion on a topic of my choice. I chose to talk about the Israelites crossing the Jordan River over to Jericho as found in Joshua 3. I told about standing on the site of old Jericho and looking across the Jordan to the Moab Mountains on the other side and viewing the area that probably looks similar to what it looked like in the time of Joshua. We read the passage and talked about the actual crossing and how God had performed an incredible miracle in stopping the water from flowing and allowing the entire nation, people, animals, equipment, tents, etc, all cross over on dry ground. And then we talked about the Jordan crossings that happen in our lives where God stepped in and did something absolutely incredible. I told of a couple situations in my practice and then recalled some situations that Jane and I had experienced in San Lorenzo. Jane was with us and talked also about those situations. We enjoyed thinking about how God works in our lives and how He will be there when we have those Jordon crossing moments.
After our church Henry and I spent some time talking and Howard and Katie and Tricia went outside to put up some more tile on the building exterior. Otherwise the day has been one that has been slow for Henry and me as we don’t have much to do. It is a day of rest as tomorrow the heavy work for us begins and will run all week. Jane has had the people come to give her the information she needed. The men are still here working on the generator getting it ready to run by tomorrow.
Our evening has nothing planned in particular. I hope to get a good sleep to be rested and ready for the full day of surgery tomorrow.
Father, I pray for our work here. Thank You for bringing us here to serve the people. Howard and Katie and Tricia are serving Jane right now in helping with the clinic maintenance. Tomorrow we all will be helping in the care of the patients while Howard continues with the tile work. Father, please protect all of us from any injury or illness. Give us the strength and endurance to complete the work set before us. Especially, Father, please hold the patients close to You and cover them with Your healing love. Thank You, Father. Amen.
Medical Missions 