With all the life decisions and potential pitfalls that this new job is bringing into our lives, I’ve changed my prayer strategy. Tell me what you think:

Instead of asking God to help us in this matter or that matter, with full humility, I thank God in advance for solving our hurt, pain, struggle, burden, thorn, issue, or whatever we are dealing with. Why not? God can do anything, and He will act, and He will carry us through the day. He promises that. Even Job ended up better than when his struggles began.

In the book of Daniel, God, by way of King Nebuchadnezzar, places an impossible task on Daniel. He has to tell the King what he dreamed, and interpret the dream, or be killed. Impossible for any human to do, but possible with God. Daniel prays, and in a dream, the King’s dream is revealed to him, and the interpretation of it. Daniel gets up in the morning and thanks God for the revelation, for it will save his life, the lives of others, and prove that his God is the God of Heaven. Then he goes and interprets the dream to the King . . .

Did you catch that? He thanked God for solving his huge dilemma BEFORE he went in to see the king! It’s one thing to “think” you’ve heard from God, go tell the king your thoughts, have those thoughts be correct, and then let out a sigh of relief and say “thank you, God.” Daniel had the faith to say thank you before he even knew he was right.

I think God wants us to stretch and grow all the time. When things look dire, impossible, or worse, that is the time to trust Him, and say thanks for getting us out of this tight spot.

“God, thank you for the way you will provide for us in our time of financial need. Thank you for the way you will give us courage in the times that Laura and I will be 12,000 miles apart for many weeks. Thank you God, for the answers you will provide us on the questions I have on how I am going to make this commute to work happen. Thank you for solving our family issues we are having. Thank you for showing us the way to proceed in job questions. I love you Jesus and thank you so much for choosing to love me when I hated you. Thank you for our salvation and the way you meet our needs every day, as your mercies are certainly new every morning. In Jesus’ name.”

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Scientists set out to find the darkest point in our sky. If, in between all those billions of stars, they could find a place in the sky that looked completely black, what would be there? They wanted to know if anything was in that dark corner of the sky. Would there be more stars? Would there be simply darkness? Blank nothingness? Our universe is expanding, and the nothingness that it is expanding into might appear in our sky. Could that darkness be seen from Earth? Scientists wanted to know.

After lots of research and scanning the skies, a single point was found in our sky that had no stars in it. This point is so small, that if a grain of sand were held up into the night sky at arms length, the grain of sand you held would cover this point in the sky. Said another way, the angle of view in the picture was narrower than how the width of a dime would appear, 75 feet away. That’s a small point of space in our sky.

Hubble was aimed at these coordinates and several timed exposures were made. Later, these pictures would be stitched together to form a full picture that we could see. The scientific community held it’s breath. Would would come back in the picture? Stars? Darkness? Another planet, perhaps? The photo was blown up to a wall size and placed behind a curtain. The picture behind the curtain, when revealed in the press conference, would blow away everyone in the room. It changed the way we humans look at the heavens. The revealing of this photo made our world infinitely more grand. The scientific community was shocked. The year was 1995, and you may remember it.

Here is the picture of the darkest point in our sky, the Hubble Deep Field (HDF):



There are no less than 1500 galaxies in this photo — not stars, but galaxies. There may be as many as 1800 galaxies visible. All behind a grain of sand held at arm’s length!

To help put this in perspective, here are some tidbits you’ll want to know:

The average galaxy has 100 billion stars.

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. So in one second, light will be 186,000 miles away from where it started, or seven and a half trips around the Earth. That’s fast.

Our average sized Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light-years across. Light, traveling 186,000 miles per second, takes 100,000 years to simply cross our Milky Way.

The Milky Way is 16,000 light years thick at its center and 3,000 light years thick at its outer edges.

The next closest star system to our Sun ( a group of four stars, called Alpha Centauri) is four and a half light years away from us.

The next closest galaxy to us is Andromeda, which is 2.5 million light years away.

Our local group, or the set of the closest galaxies to us, are spread out over 10 million light years across. That is just several galaxies.

Now go back to that picture of the HDF and think about the stars and distances involved. It is mind boggling and beyond comprehension.

. . . And yet. Like Pastor David Dykes has reminded his audience, Isaiah 40:12 says: The Lord has measured the width of the Universe with the span of His hand. Is there something you are struggling with today? Are you concerned about a decision you have to make? A situation that you think is impossible? Just remember that the same God who made the huge vastness of space and calls each star by name, is there for you, right now, this very second.

Laura and I are facing some unknowns in our life as we ready ourselves for a new job, and a trip halfway around the world in Hong Kong. Five airlines have gone under this past week, one, a competitor to Cathay Pacific: Oasis Airlines, based in Hong Kong. The airline industry is not the safest bet when it comes to having a steady job. The only way to live life with any certainty, is to look to Him for guidance and strength. We have to remember that the God of the Universe is also the God over tearful pillows, lost jobs, ruined dreams, and impossible odds. The same hand that marks off the heavens also holds our hand as we go through difficulties and holds us close to His heart. The One who created all we see, cares even for us!

When you look up at the stars tonight, and you ponder the vastness of space, think of the one who put it all together and be thankful that in all the universe, He cares so much for little old us.


As a side note, the Hubble deep field has been outdone. In 2004, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) was introduced. It is an even deeper view of space, seeing objects over 13 billion light years away. The size of the HUDF covers one thirteen-millionth of the total area of the night sky. In it, are pictured over 10,000 galaxies! Simply amazing. It is pictured below and you can click on it for better detail.

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 A good friend of mine was talking to me about the Watchmaker principle. He talked about this book, which can be purchased by clicking above on its picture, and what an excellent read it is.

There is an example in it that talks about a man walking through the woods. As he is walking, he looks down and sees a Rolex watch. “Ah, what a beautiful and random collection of earth, wind, fire, metal, and glass!” Someone who believes in the Big Bang Theory or evolution wouldn’t come to this conclusion. No, that person would say, “This is someone’s watch.”

And yet. And yet it is so much more possible for nature to create a fancy $5,000 Rolex than create the world we live in, with atoms, DNA, cells, humans, and the like.

This book showed up in my mailbox today! My friend sent me a copy, just for being friends. Isn’t that cool? I will read this book and let you know what I think.

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Guest blogger alert! Contributing Author, Jerry:

I want to relate a story to you that is a magnificient story. It really happened. It has elements of a mission impossible, of fear and risk and faith and angels. It tells of courageous obedience and success and the priority of God’s business.

And my guess is there is not one of us reading this blog who would not love to be able to tell this kind of story out of our own experience! Who wouldn’t want to relate to others how we got to play a part in God’s work in this world, how we got to be partners with an angel, how what we did shaped the course of history? So, what kind of person would we have to be to have this kind of life, to see God work this way on our behalf? Let me tell you the story first, then we can draw some conclusions together about what we can learn from it.

If you want to read this story I have in mind, you can turn to the first book of the Bible and flip over to chapter 24. I’ll wait while you get the Good Book and read the chapter. (How does that Jeopardy tune go?) Or if you want, I’ll just tell you the story…

A wealthy old man, Abraham, needed to find a wife for his very special son. He wasn’t interested in any of the local young ladies; their customs and culture were far too coarse. Not a one of them had the values and family background that was important to Abraham and his wife (that is, if his wife was still alive. She had just died). This special son had a great future ahead of him, a future that would have an impact on the whole world (so God had said), and so he needed a special woman to be by his side.

The ole dad called his most trustworthy servant to the office and gave him the assignment of finding a wife for Son #1 from among his own family back in a far country where he had once lived and where his relatives still called home. Now the old servant was no one’s fool. He hadn’t been born yesterday, and he hadn’t just fallen off the turnip truck. He wasn’t the chief servant, the oldest servant, the one in charge of everything the old man owned because he was stupid and foolish. So of course he was reluctant to take on such a weighty assignment. It was risky, it was fraught with opportunity for failure. The servant tried to wiggle out of the mission, but, after all, he was a servant, and eventually he saddled up 10 camels, gathered up some helpers, and headed back to Mesopotamia.

When he came to the city of Abraham’s brother, he put in place a plan that doubtless he’d been mulling over for days. He would ask one of the young ladies who came to the city well in the evening to draw water to give him a drink from her water jar. If she would offer him a drink and ALSO offer to water the ten camels, this would be the one. Now you ask, how did this servant come up with such a plan? More about that later, but for now you should know that before he even finished telling God what he planned and before he had completed his prayer asking for blessing, Rebekah approached the well. She is a va-va-varoom young lady (‘very beautiful’ according to the Book), single, chaste, and after going down to the spring, she comes back up with her water jar full.

The old servant springs into action. He runs to her and puts his plan in motion. “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” She does, and then she says the most amazing thing: “I’ll water your camels, too, until they finish drinking.” And she does!! Now we don’t know how long it had been since these 10 camels had had a drink. And we don’t know how much a camel can drink. And we don’t know how many trips to the spring this maiden makes as she fills the water trough over and over again. And we don’t know what the men who have traveled with the old servant are doing (standing around??) while Rebekah is working like a trooper. So many questions, so few answers! When the camels can’t hold another drop, the servant rewards the young lady with a gold ring (for her nose! YIKES) and two golden bracelets. When he asks about lodging for the night, it just so happens that there is room in her family’s home, and the family turns out to be the relatives of Abraham!!! How cool can that be? Talk about the proverbial needle in a haystack!! How does this happen? Coincidence? Happenstance?

To make a great story a bit shorter, the old servant asks the father if Rebekah can go back with him to her uncle’s home and become the wife of the very special son. Dad agrees, and on the morrow, the caravan starts out on the long journey back to Abraham’s place. If you have ever heard Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bochelli sing “Time To Say Goodbye“, now would be a good time to enjoy that musical piece and think about Rebekah saying goodbye as she leaves home. The travelers do arrive safely home, and the young man and the young lady make a perfect match, and they live happily (almost every day) ever after.

So what would it take for you and me to have the kind of experience Eliezer had? What would it take to have a real story like that to tell out of our own life? What kind of person would we have to be to see God work this way on our behalf?

First of all, it helps to be a servant. The Big E can’t turn down the assignment, he’s a servant. Perhaps we don’t see God work on our behalf because, in our independence, we turn down the Master’s assignments! This week, starting today, become a servant in as many creative ways as you can. You’ll make yourself a candidate for breathtaking experiences that will be stories you’ll tell from now on. (You can see from the story in the Book that the servant told the story several times, and if I had to guess, I’d say he’s in heaven STILL telling that amazing account of what God did for him.)

Second, take the assignment. Sure the Master’s assignments look scary, risky, HUGE, and we know they are full of challenge. But if we want stories to tell, we have to sign on for the mission. Yes, we will be inadequate, and we will feel inadequate, but we can take it to the bank that God has a great plan in mind for us. We will be in over our heads! Any of us, perhaps young ladies, reading this blog want to water 10 camels? Remember, there was no faucet and hose to use. There was a jar, there were slobbering camels, there was mud at the edge of the spring… How many fingernails did Rebekah break that evening? If the Master calls, just take the assignment.

Third, pray and pray and pray. Eliezer prayed often on this trip. Count the times in the Book. Abraham had assured him that God would send His angel before him. And before he even finishes his conversation with God that evening at the well, Eliezer sees the answer to his plan unfolding before his very eyes. We want to ask again, where did the details of that plan come from? To ask a young lady for a drink is one thing; to expect that she would water the camels was quite another. Surely the angel of God, who was going before the caravan, had impressed these details upon the old servant. Eliezer concludes that “the Lord has guided me STRAIGHT to the house of my master’s brothers.” That sort of thing happens when we pray and pray and pray.

What a great story! Thanks for joining me in it. Rest assured that God will guide servants who are willing to take on great assignments. Courageous obedience on our part can and will shape the course of history. Say “YES” to God and work with angels. Say “YES” to God and you’ll have a story to tell…for all eternity.

God bless,
Jerry

For more, visit TobyLaura.com!

For more, visit TobyLaura.com!

For more, visit TobyLaura.com!

This letter “from Jesus” came from Pastor David Dykes’s blog. It has truly changed my way of thinking during the holidays and has given me an extreme amount of peace. Basically, I can’t control how others celebrate the holidays, but I can control how I worship, celebrate, and remember Him during Christmas

Dear Children,

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you’ve forgotten that I wasn’t actually born during this time of the year. Historically, some of your predecessors decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don’t care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn’t allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that, there wouldn’t be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be plenty of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grapevine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. Remember to look up John 15: 1 – 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth, here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don’t have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don’t you write and tell him that you’ll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can’t afford and they don’t need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms–no matter how old they are–and remind them that I love them.

5. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take his or her own life this season, feeling so alone and hopeless? Since you never know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make all the difference.

6. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren’t allowed to wish you a ‘Merry Christmas’, that doesn’t keep you from wishing them one.

7. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary– especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

8. Here’s a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no ‘Christmas’ tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don’t know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity that believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

9. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don’t do things in secret that you wouldn’t do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of Mine.

Don’t forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I’ll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I’ll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember.

I LOVE YOU,

Jesus

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