Saying Good-bye

When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind...Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel."


But Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD lives and you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.


The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your your master from you today?"


"Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it."


Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the LORD has sent me to Jericho."


And he replied, "As surely as the LORD lives and you live, I will not leave you."


So they went to Jericho.


The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today?"


"Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it."


Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to the Jordan."


And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and you live I will not leave you."


So the two of them walked on....


As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.


Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"



And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.  (2 Kings 2)


                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elisha did not want to say good-bye. But he had to.
God's heavenly chariot had to actually separate the two.


It seems sometimes to me that life is just a series of letting go....of saying good-bye...over and over again......of letting go of, releasing,  earthly things and relationships...forcing us to cling faster (with both hands?) to Him who is leading us.

Over and over.  Letting go.

And sometimes it is really hard to say good-bye.

Monica's Prayers

A few years after St. Augustine accepted the gospel message of grace through faith in Jesus Christ, he wrote what we call The Confessions of St. Augustine, which is really a sort of autobiography of his life.

Augustine was born in 352 AD, struggled for many years with various heresies and was finally converted and baptized at Easter in 387. He is famous for his City of God, which he wrote during the time the Vandals were destroying Rome, and for his strong, intelligent leadership of the church.

When he was a young man he was widely known for his sinful ways and unholy life. His mother, Monica, prayed fervently for her son's conversion.

This is how Augustine remembered his mother's prayers:

And You sent Your hand from above and drew out my soul from that profound darkness, because my mother, Your faithful one, continued to weep before You on my behalf more than mothers weep over the bodily death of their children. For, by that faith and spirit which she had from You, she saw that I was dead.

You heard her, O Lord. You heard her and did not despise her tears which streamed down and watered the ground under eyes where she prayed. Yes, You heard her!

At one time she begged a bishop to see her son and try to dissuade him from the heretical teachings he embraced. The bishop did not want to talk to Augustine, but eventually relented, saying "Go your way and God bless you, for it is not possible that the son of these tears should perish."

She never gave up praying for her son. And today statesmen and theologians alike quote St. Augustine and credit him with many of our views on the role and function of governments and the foundational articles of Christian faith and doctrine.

God answered the prayers of Monica, His good and faithful servant, for her son.

We must never give up praying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD;

O LORD, hear my voice.

Let Your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

If You, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O LORD, who could stand?

But with You there is forgiveness;

Therefore You are feared.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,

And in His Word I put my hope.

 Psalm 130:1-5

I have heard your prayers and seen your tears...

2 Kings 20:5

Hear my prayer, O LORD,

Listen to my cry for help;

be not be deaf to my weeping...

Psalm 39:12

The Jesus Thing - Don't take it so seriously!?

Sometimes it looks like everybody thinks I'm crazy...

They say, "You take the Jesus thing too seriously!"


Well, I don't know...but Christ took me pretty seriously when He died for me on the cross...

A New Serenity Prayer

                     New Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity to stop beating myself up for not doing things perfectly....

The courage to forgive myself because I am working on doing better...

and the wisdom to know that You already love me just the way I am.


[Note: This prayer is most effective if read several times a day....
Or "take as often as needed"]

Depression...?

I'm experiencing times of depression these days. .... not usual for me...and I am surprised at my feelings. Maybe I am watching too much news. It is depressing to see how ignorant much of our population is!

I think it depresses me because  it makes me feel discouraged. Are we too far gone to be rescued? At least this generation seems to be....but that can't be the whole story!

God never wants us to give up. It is always too early to give up, He tells us!

So I  turn to Scripture - 
Joshua 1:9 is a good place to start: "Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."  

Very familiar words.... "discouraged" means "without courage."

So discouragement is sin...right?

 Lots of good news in this verse.

Then I turn to Ephesians 6:13: "Therefore put on God's complete armor, that you may be to stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and having done all [the crisis demands] to stand firmly in your place."

That helps me...yes, times are hard, and as the angel told Daniel and John - things will be worse...evil people will grow more and more evil...but good and wise people will continue to stand firm....

And we must be like those people. We must stand firmly as God's people, knowing that the victory is coming...Amen and amen!

We must continue to battle, if we can't battle offensively, we can
still stand and defend!

Then there's Winston Churchill, who, during World War 2, counseled his countrymen: "Never give up. Never, never, never, 
never, never, never, never give up!"  

Yes, Churchill certainly had a way with words! He used "never"
8 times in those two sentences....reminding us it is always too early to give up!

We must keep fighting...with God's full armor - until He calls us home or comes for us!