When God Laughs

When God laughs—

The rivers gurgle and run,

The mountains beckon to come,

Trees dress in their gayest reds and golds

And wave their arms for fun.

When God laughs—

The animals skitter and scatter,

A summer rain may patter,

The ocean swells and kisses the shore

With her tongue of salty water.

When God laughs—

His children dance and sing

They know they belong to the King.

They in happiness wait for the feast near the gate

When given their golden wings.

A Still Running

“We must run the race,” preached the preacher. And we began to look at an acronym of RACE. Remain, Abide, Continue, Endure.

To run calls for activity. It calls for effort. Running is hard work. Keeping on running is harder work. Running seems synonymous to puffing or frenzy or emergency.

But Remain is a still word.

Abide is a quiet word.

Continue being still and quiet.

Endure.

Sometimes the race will not be a roar. It will not be flamboyant. It will not even be noticeable. But it will be sweaty tough. It will call for tenacity like never before. It will squeeze you till you think you can’t go on. It will test your roots. It will push you to the limits of your great faith and make you wonder if you have faith.

Then you will be still and remain. You will be quiet and abide. You will continue and by God’s grace endure. Because He has promised, In quietness and confidence is your strength. And God is true to His promises. He wants us to cling to them like lifelines. To breathe them like the invisible oxygen around us. Abide in me, and I in you. Jn 15:4

To Sum It Up

Teach-ing \=\ v. 1. That state of being in which all waking seconds are allotted to others 2. The delightful art of exploring unknown lands from Mt. Mitchell in the east, fording the ‘Great Water’, and crossing Death Valley 3. Expanding vistas with Mr. Popper and Captain Cook 4. Being enriched by seeing life though little people’s eyes – we have a spider just like the one outside the schoolhouse door and we watched it wrap up a fly in its web 5. Hearing giggles as we read ‘Antonio, Antonio went off on his polonio…’ 6. That fantastic treasure hunt for those antiqued math facts hidden in dusty attics 7. Is saying, Hmmm, I wonder too 8. Praying, Dear God, I don’t have what it takes, You do. You created these dear little people. Please help me understand them and help me as I open doors and walk before them. The task is energizing, awesome, and frightening. May they see You. Amen