Over the past couple of months, I have reflected much on the concept of journeys. And I am about to undertake a significant journey now in my own life. My church, Geneva Presbyterian received a grant from the Eli Lilly Foundation that will allow me to take a three-month sabbatical.  

In addition to vocational and spiritual renewal, it is my goal to spend some time studying Celtic spirituality, visit the birthplace of my Presbyterian heritage in Scotland, catch some waves surfing with my family in France, and conclude my time at a Trappist monastery in South Carolina. While I am out, several of our guest pastors have graciously agreed to step in to help provide daily messages for Dial Hope. For this, I am deeply grateful.

My prayer for you all in the three months that follow is that you would draw from the rich well of nourishment that our guest pastors will be offering. May you enjoy hearing from a diversity of voices from a variety of faith backgrounds. And may you continue to set time apart, as Jesus often did, listening for that still small voice of God.

Please know how much I appreciate your prayers and your ongoing support of Dial Hope. I’ll look forward to resuming my ministry on August 22, hopefully leading from a place of greater depth and spiritual strength.

Let us pray. God of Grace, I pray today for those who need you near, especially those who are recovering from surgery, others battling loneliness or depression. And for all of those grieving the loss of loved ones… Travel with us, on this journey of life, O God. Grant us friends. Grant us courage and strength. And grant us love to share. In Christ’s name. Amen.

I remember a few years ago, one of my friends had a daughter who had just started dating. We were joking around about it. He said, “When she comes home from that first date, I’m going be sitting on the front porch cleaning my shotgun.” I said, “You don’t even have a shotgun.” He said, “I know. But I’m gonna buy one just for the occasion!” We laughed. But underneath the laughter, I could tell there was a legitimate sadness – a realization that his daughter was growing up – that she didn’t need him like she once did. She was no longer that little girl clinging to his legs.

The truth is, things don’t stay the same, do they? Children grow up. Friends change. Some move away. Some go on to be with the Lord. We change. And even if we want to go back we can’t. It is not the way life works.

What we can do is appreciate what we have right now. What we can do is relish the time we spend with family and friends now. What we can do is practice gratitude for the moment. 

In one of his Dial Hope messages, my friend Roger Kunkel wrote about a sign he saw at a plant nursery. The sign said, “The best time to buy a tree was 20 years ago.” Roger read that and thought, “Thanks a lot!” But on the back of the sign, he noticed it said, “The second best time to buy a tree is today!” Today. Today!

That is true in life as well, isn’t it? If there are wrongs that you need to amend, forgiveness you need to offer, things that you need to let go of, people who need to hear how much you love them, prayers you need to say, may you do it today! 

Let us pray: O God of ages past, O God of years to come, we sit now in your presence giving thanks for all the time you have given us – time with family and friends – times of tears and laughter, times of hardship and of joy. Even as we look back, help us to appreciate all that is around us, even now. And, may we make the most of the time we have today. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Billy Strayhorn tells about a nature show he once saw about black bears. There was a particular cub that had been orphaned and then later adopted by a new father bear. At some point, the two bears became separated and the cub began to cry. The little guy wonder about looking all around for his new father. Then, just as he approached a stream, he looked up to see a mountain lion ready to pounce. 

The camera zoomed in on the cub who tried to do what bears do when threatened. He stood on his hind legs and bared his teeth. He then let loose a growl that should have shaken the trees. However, only a tiny bear cub squeak came out. Just when you’d think the mountain lion was ready to have the cub for lunch, to everybody’s astonishment, the big cat lowered his head and ran off in the opposite direction.

The camera panned back to the proud little cub still standing tall on his hind legs. The viewers were then able to see what that little cub could not see: a few yards behind him, at full, ferocious height, his sharp, white teeth bared in a snarl, stood Daddy bear. He may not have made a sound, but he was there.

Strayhorn offers, “…even though the cub couldn’t see his father, his father stood guard, protecting his young. The little cub had power available greater than anything he could produce on his own. There was a greater power watching over him.”

Often in life, we become afraid. Sometimes we become grasping or anxious. Sometimes we let worry or confusion get the best of us. Sometimes we forget that we too have access to a greater power.  

Let us pray: Loving God, in those anxious, fearful moments, help us turn to you. Remind us to draw our strength and courage and wisdom from you. Grant us the ability to trust. Ultimately we rest in your hands. Thank you, Lord! Amen.

Many years ago when Johnny Carson was the host of The Tonight Show, he interviewed an eight-year-old boy who had rescued two friends from a coal mine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As they talked, it became clear that the young boy was a Christian. So Johnny asked him whether or not he attended Sunday school. He did. So Johnny asked, “What are you learning in Sunday school?” “Last week, our lesson was about when Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine.” The audience howled, but Johnny managed to keep a straight face. Then he asked, “And what did you learn from that story?” The boy squirmed a little. It was apparent he hadn’t thought about this. But then he lifted up his face and said, “If you’re going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!” 

Isn’t that great! Think about how much richer all of our relationships would be if Jesus were at the center. My prayer for each of us today is that our faith in Christ would indeed shape how we interacted with those we love. May that faith inform and mold our lives together ever strengthening our bonds that together we would be a blessing to the world around us.

Let us pray: God of hope, we invite you into our relationships again this day. Bind us closer to each other and closer to you. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The book of Hebrews (chapter 11) tells us, By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to leave his homeland. Remember, he was in his 80’s when he and Sara first left home. And they set out, not knowing exactly where they were going — only that God was nudging them, prompting them, calling them.

This being called and sent out is a common theme all throughout the scriptures. We’re called to step out in faith. We’re called to do the next right thing. We’re called to follow Christ… And we don’t always know where that calling, where that journey will take us…

For myself, I think about the year I spent teaching high school in rural Jamaica. I remember my first week there, asking a neighbor when the next trash pickup would happen. Seems like a fair question, right? And he looked at me like I was crazy. “Nobody here coming to pick up after your garbage mon.” I had a trash bag in my hand and he took it from me and carried it over to the edge of a ravine. He wound it up and flung it down over the edge. I looked down and there was trash everywhere. My heart just hurt. Later, he informed me that I could burn the paper. The chickens eat the scrap food. “But the plastic,” he said, “you’re on your own.” 

Over the course of the year, I also learned to do wash by hand. I became pretty adept at water conservation because we so frequently had none. And I taught students who often did not have enough to eat. I had my eyes open to the hunger and poverty of the world. It was a pilgrimage that opened my heart to human suffering.

Sometimes, we think about calling as simply a vocation, which in one sense can be. But over the course of a lifetime, there are many callings, many journeys, many pilgrimages on which to embark. And plenty of them are more spiritual than physical.

Perhaps you are being called to go to a deeper place within your faith. Or maybe, you’re being called to heal or to transfigure what has hardened or got wounded within you. Or it could be a calling to engage the world creatively in some new way… to grow or to serve or to give to meet the needs that God has placed on your heart.

Today, I pray that you would continue to be open.

Let us pray as we prayed together in the past: We thank you O God, for your calling on our lives. Grant us dreams and longings that are in harmony with your dreams and longings for us. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.