Bahia Falsa
4/12/09
Easter Sunday
He Is Risen!!!
Cacti silhouette the hills’ edge. Silence, except for the distant drone of traffic on the road into La Paz and the laughing folk in a panga nearby, graces the sunlit day. Sea Venture turns on her anchor, the scenery changing with the breeze.
We’re so glad to be at anchor again, away from near-neighbors at the marina. We’ve loved making friends, some for a lifetime, at each marina home, but our spirits crave this aloneness where God’s nature becomes so evident in His creation.
Church this morning was a sermon downloaded from Smyrna PHC entitled, “A Penny for Your Thoughts,” taken from Psalm 40:17: “…I am afflicted and needy, Yet the Lord is mindful of me.”
God hasn’t forgotten us, no matter what it looks like ‘round about. His thoughts are on me. And on you. Whether or not you know Him, His thoughts are on you, for you, calling and drawing you. When we feel afflicted enough and needy, unable to conquer the world on our own, unable to fix what’s wrong in our life, unable to sustain joy without some outside aid, then we can call on Him and know He will answer. Even if you think you’ve tried to call before, if you imagine you’ve heard only silence in the air, it may be because you weren’t ready. Because His thoughts for you are for good. Always. He has promised that joy comes in the morning. When the storm rages and the wind blows at 50 knots, it may seem as if all of nature is conspiring to batter you, and that the Lord is silent.
I’ve wondered why faith comes so easily to some and why others of us have to work at it. Why we go through so much of our life straining at bonds, thinking ourselves smarter or more sophisticated, thinking we need nothing more than we can find on our own. Until that moment—or moments—when all our striving turns to ashes, when our health or our wealth or our relationships aren’t sustainable through our efforts, when we finally recognize that we’re not sovereign after all. I suppose that’s the moment when we’re ready to admit that there must be more and that we are needy enough to ask and receive the more God has just been waiting to give us.
We’re listening to Marcos Witt sing “Gracias,” one of the most beautiful renditions of a Latin worship song I’ve ever heard. Gracias Senor for this place, this life, for all the riches of love. For holding me in Your thoughts, in spite of myself, in spite of what I’ve done or been, in spite of my lack of faith when it’s blowing 50, in spite of the times I’ve run or fainted. Gracias, mi Senor, mi Dios, Jesus Cristo, who died and rose again for me and for you and for all who will call on His Name.
