Ryan's Ramblings

Singing and Praying

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one who sings prays twice. —Augustine

 

The song, "Goodness of God," has been the constant soundtrack of my heart these past few days. I sing it in the shower and I sing it on my way to work. I sing it louder during my drive home. It is on my mind when I go to sleep and it is the song that I am humming when I awake in the morning.

I have been doing a lot of singing lately, and according to Augustine, twice as much praying.

But how can I not? God's mercy never fails me, he holds me in his hand. He's with me through the fire and in the darkest night.  All my life he has been faithful and so, so good. Even when I'm faithless, he's there, running after me—as a loving father and a faithful friend.

I will keep singing, with every breath that I am able, of the goodness of God. 

Check out this great song . . . and sing (and pray) along!

 

My First Grade Teacher - One of my heroes

On Saturday of Labor Day weekend Dina and I went to Twin Falls, Idaho and visited one of my heroes—my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Vira Amende. Mrs. Amende is 98 years old and resides independently in a beautiful continuum of care facility. We found her apartment, knocked on the door and she opened it and greeted us warmly.

She had no idea who we were. I was in her first-grade class at Washington Elementary in Twin Falls, Idaho in 1972—a mere 47 years ago. I remembered her as being taller—but back then I was a lot shorter. I showed her my first grade photo and asked her if she remembered the student in the picture. She immediately replied, “Oh that is Ryan, I always loved him.”

I then told her that I was the kid in the picture. She was stunned, gave me a big hug and invited us in for a visit. She is a long-time friend of my Great Aunt and has kept up on me, and my status, over the years. She was amazing—just as kind and cheerful as I remembered her being so many years ago. Her mind is razor sharp. She immediately asked me about my sister and where she was living, and she even remembered the name of the road that I lived on in Jerome. (We moved to Jerome the summer after my first-grade year.)

I shared with Ms. Amende that she was my favorite teacher. I shared that whenever I think of her, I remember the time, care, interest, patience, kindness and love that she extended to me so long ago. I told her that she was my inspiration to be a teacher, and that she is one of my heroes.

I shared with her that I distinctly remembered her husband visiting the classroom a couple of times during the school year. He was always dressed professionally and he was so kind and funny. With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Amende shared that her husband, Robert, to whom she was married for over 60 years, worked at Farmers Insurance and always liked to drop by her classroom to visit her students.

Dina and I sat in her living room and talked with her about our two daughters,  our time in South Korea, and about the fact that Dina and I were both working as public school teachers. She listened with great interest and asked us engaging questions. She shared that she loved teaching; however, she only taught for seven years at the schools, Washington Elementary and Sawtooth Elementary in Twin Falls, Idaho. As we were talking about the year that I was in her first-grade class she asked, “Was that the year that we made butter?” Yes it was. I remember getting the chance to work the churn and eating some of that butter on toast that we made in the classroom. Wow, what a great memory!

Mrs. Amende said that even though she didn’t teach long, she loved teaching and loved all of her students. However, she did say that she liked teaching little boys a bit better than little girls. To explain this, she said that little boys would come in from recess, red-faced and sweaty after a rough and tumble time outside, and they would shrug it off and ask for a pencil to do their work. Whereas, little girls would come in from recess and the first thing they wanted to do was to tattle and complain that so-and-so wasn’t being friends with so-and-so. She loved all of her students, but she said that she would have been fine with a room full of boys.

I am thankful that I was a student in Mrs. Amende’s first-grade classroom. I don’t remember a thing she taught me, but I will never forget how she made me feel. Her kindness, encouragement, care and love still resound warmly in my 53 year-old heart and mind. Mrs. Amende is my hero.

will you receive?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is an unedited sunset picture that I took at the Oregon Coast. I didn’t make this view, God did. God shared it with me out of his abundance, I recorded it, and now I share it with you. His generosity abounds and he loves to provide for our needs out of that abundance.

“God is not worried that he is going to run out of something. God is beyond rich. He is overflowing with everything that is good and everything we need. He has so much that he will never run out of any of it. It is so very important to remember this when we are fretting over a perceived need. In such a time we may be tempted to think that maybe, just maybe, God is as stingy and small as we are. He is not. God loves to give. God loves to forgive. God loves to just gush forth with his goodness (John 4:14). Nothing so delights him as giving to anyone and everyone who will receive. “For God so loved the world that He gave . . .” (John 3:16).  —Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack, p. 23

Did you catch that? "Nothing so delights him as giving to anyone and everyone who will receive."

So, the question is, . . . Will you receive?

drowning . . . or dancing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These lines are from a song that I recently came across by the group, We The Kingdom, called “Dancing On the Waves.” The song is one that God is singing to us. It tells of God’s extravagant love for people. It speaks of God’s understanding and compassion for us all in lines like these:

You're weary from it all

Been running for too long

I'm here to bring you home

. . .

Your past is dead and gone

Your healing has begun

I'm making all things new

The song title refers to water and waves and we know, either from the news updates on our phone or a quick glance in the mirror, that we’re all sinking in this vast ocean called life. We are drowning, either because of rough waters that surround us or due to entanglements (self-imposed or otherwise) that are pulling us under.

But God, the one who set every star into place and yet calls us His masterpiece, says this:

I'm reaching out, I'll chase you down

I dare you to believe how much I love you now,

Don't be afraid, I am your strength

We'll be walking on the water, dancing on the waves 

In Matthew 14:29-31 (NIV) it says, “Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

We can't control the wind and the waves and we can't keep ourselves from sinking. But what we can do is trust. Don't doubt the One who says,

I'm reaching out, I'll chase you down

I dare you to believe how much I love you now

It's the difference between drowning . . . or dancing.

Check out this song from We The Kingdom, and be blessed.

 

 

Psalm 121--Message at Eagle Nazarene on June 23, 2019

Here is video recording of the message I preached on Psalm 121 on June 23, 2019 at Eagle Nazarene Church:

 

 

He put death to death - Easter Sunday

Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

(Hebrews 2:14-15, NLT)

Photo by Robert J. DeGray

Up and into the day. I enjoyed listening to the song, “His Heart Beats,” by Andrew Peterson. Easter is a time to remember that Jesus came and put death to death. I am reading The Slavery of Death by Richard Beck and he states that rather than sin leading to death, death leads to sin.

Huh?

As I entertain the power of death, with the end that it seemingly holds and the emptiness and the unknown that it affords, I am affected to live selfishly—getting all I can out of life right now. JOMO, the Joy Of Missing Out, controls me rather than hope and faith in God.

If the fear of death dictates our lives then we will strive for all that we can get. We will see every person and situation that “trespasses” against us (makes us late, costs us time and money, hurts us by what they do or don’t do, etc.) as the enemy, and we will treat them accordingly. We will even treat our loved ones as enemies if they stand in the way of us getting all that life offers.

When we live in the fear of death we live under the Sword of Damocles, with persistent thoughts like: the clock is the ticking, don’t let anything stop you from getting all that is yours, and look out for number one. In the fear of death we do all that we can to avoid the ticking crocodile through things like, fitness, cosmetics, surgery, hair plugs, new stuff, a new spouse . . . and on and on it goes.

The fear of death leads to sin. The fear of the Lord leads to wisdom and life. On Easter, the Lord put death to death. Thus, with hope we can say, “He is Risen!” and we can live as if, "He is Risen Indeed!"

 

His Heart Beats

by Andrew Peterson / Ben Shive

 

His heart beats
His blood begins to flow
Waking up what was dead a moment ago
And His heart beats, now everything is changed
'Cause the blood that brought us peace with God
Is racing through His veins
And His heart beats
His heart beats

 

He breathes in
His living lungs expand
The heavy air surrounding death turns to breath again
He breathes out
He is word and flesh once more
The Lamb of God slain for us is a Lion ready to roar
And His heart beats

 

So crown Him the Lord of Life
Crown Him the Lord of Love
Crown Him the Lord of All

 

He took one breath
And put death to death
Where is your sting, O grave?
How grave is your defeat
I know, I know His heart beats

 

He rises, glorified in flesh
Clothed in immortality, the firstborn from the dead
He rises, and His work's already done
So He's resting as He rises to reclaim the Bride He won
And His heart beats

 

So crown Him the Lord of Life
Crown Him the Lord of Love
Crown Him the Lord of All

 

He took one breath
And put death to death
Where is your sting, O grave?
How grave is your defeat
I know, I know His heart beats

 

The last enemy to be destroyed is death
The last enemy to be destroyed is death
He must reign until no enemy is left
The last enemy to be destroyed, to be destroyed is death

 

His heart beats, He will never die again
I know that death no longer has dominion over Him
So my heart beats with the rhythm of the saints
As I look for the seeds the King has down
To burst up from their graves

 

I know, I know
He took one breath
And put death to death
Where is your sting, O grave?
How grave is your defeat
I know, I know
He took one breath
And put death to death
Where is your sting, O grave?
How grave is your defeat
How great, how great is His victory
I know, I know His heart beats
I know, I know His heart beats
His heart beats

 

remembering last words

 

In the hush of Holy Saturday, here is a remembering of Jesus' last words from the cross.

 

 

good friday - when even the gods speak of God

 

 

When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39, NLT)

 

 

 

SELF PORTRAIT

It doesn't interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.

- David Whyte
from Fire in the Earth
©1992 Many Rivers Press

character you both admire and covet

So many books, so little time. I recently read a chapter titled, “Character”in The Aim of Life, by Philip Moxom, (p. 41). The book was published in 1894. It is an old book. According to the Smithsonian, all “true” diamonds are old—in the realm of hundreds of millions of years old. There is an amazing beauty and value in old things, and old books. I am glad I came across this gem by Moxom:

 

If you are to form such a character as in your best moments you both admire and covet, you will suffer yourself to be cowed by no circumstances, however menacing they may be; you will resist the slightest pressure either of fear or of selfishness; you will remember always that no evil can master you to which you do not submit. Your own choice determines, not whether you will be tempted or not, but whether or not you will be overcome by temptation; for the issue of the struggle turn not upon your individual strength alone, but upon your will reinforced by divine power. God is the ally of every soul that seeks wholly to be true.

may our incense rise

I am currently making my way through the book of Leviticus. The rules, the details, the ornamentation, the sacrifices, the blood, the altar, the hyper focus on purity, and the seemingly meticulous minutiae, . . . wow. I don't begin to understand much of it, nor do I find it engaging reading. But through it all, I am getting a glimpse of the One upon whom it is all focused—the "Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne," (Rev. 5:6). 

The One is Jesus, the friend of sinners and the only one worthy to receive all power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

I was up early this morning, clicking through YouTube, listening to songs of praise and worshiping the Lord, and I came upon the live version of "Psalm 34" by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. I have twice had the privilege to worship at the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City and . . . wow, what a blessing! The choir was amazing and the presence of the Lord was palpable.

This video of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir includes so many aspects of worship: scripture, sincerity, praise, joy, singing, prayer, reverence, freedom, abandon, tears and adoration. At the end it is beautiful and powerful to watch as the worshipers, awash in the presence of the Lord, lift their praise to Jesus, like incense arising from the altar,

. . . much like in Leviticus.