Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” I had no idea that the passion flower is the state wildflower of Tennessee. Actually I had never even seen or heard of a passion flower until I saw one for the first time a couple of years ago at a state park near me. I think it is the oddest flower I have ever seen. I only knew it was a passion flower when I came back again to take its picture and I happened upon a fellow hiker who knew what it was. “Oh, that is a passion flower,” she said as she continued on down the path. When I put the image on my computer and enlarged it is when I became so truly amazed at its beauty, its intricate parts, its colors. It is truly an amazing flower, so different from so many others.
Being amazed at the passion flower’s intricate beauty made the joy of finding the flower even more intense. Being amazed at something I think is the beginning of the search for understanding of the object of your amazement. The resurrection was an amazing thing for the disciples, so amazing that they had trouble believing it. Each searching for understanding and acceptance of a love so great that it would die for them. After amazement then comes true worship. It was Thomas who put his amazement into words, “My Lord and My God.” Take time to look again at the love of Jesus. “Stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene,” who will come to you in the way you need to understand and believe. Seek others along the way who know Jesus and can tell you his name. Do not disbelieve but believe. Then, like Thomas, in amazement, in worship, in gratitude speak those words with him, “My Lord and My God.” Prayer Lord Jesus We stand amazed in the presence of your love for us. Deepen our understanding of your love as we follow you and make you the Lord of our lives. Amen
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For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Last fall we got to take a road trip to the Great Lakes. One of the places we wanted to find was Lake Itasca State Park in Minnesota. It is here where the Mississippi River begins, yes this mighty river begins as a creek flowing out of Lake Itasca so small you can rock hop across it.
Our road trip was a journey to find new places of God’s world, like Lake Itasca. Today I found a wonderful book by the Australian photographer, Ken Duncan, “Where Jesus Walked.” He took pictures of the Holy Land and wrote about them. These are words from this book about Jesus’s journeys: “People often take journeys to find themselves. Jesus journeyed to find us.” So as the mighty Mississippi begins as a small creek so our journey begins with a rock hop across a small stream all the while knowing that Jesus is seeking us and he will find us. Be amazed at such love. Prayer Jesus, Seeker of the Lost Thank you for finding me. Open our eyes to see you and journey forward knowing that when we walk with you we will never be lost. Amen. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. I have been on Little River Trail in all seasons. I have seen it lush and cool in the spring and summer, beautiful and brightly colored with the leaves of fall, and stark and bare in the winter. I have seen it with clear blue skies and like this last time with the fog quietly rolling in. I want to see Jesus like this - in all seasons on clear days and foggy days. I want to seek him just out of sight around the next corner following the path he has laid out for me. I want to be like Zacchaeus who wanted to see Jesus so much that he risked what others thought of him and climbed a tree. Not to many adults I know climb trees. On that day Jesus saw him, the real him, the person behind the short hated tax collector. And he looked into Jesus’ eyes and saw how much Jesus cared for him. The fog was lifted on his way of life. He immediately changed everything he had been, the hated tax collector and followed Jesus.
Prayer Lord Jesus I want to be like Zacchaeus who sought to see you and then saw himself through your eyes of love. I want to seek to follow you on whatever path you lay out for me. Amen When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” I couldn’t believe it when I looked out our motel window on that rainy day in Two Rivers, Wisconsin and saw a sailing ship come into the harbor. I grabbed my camera and we drove to the docks to see this unexpected sight on our trip to the Great Lakes.
When Simon Peter was mending his nets that day the last thing on his mind was going back out to deep water. He never expected to have the catch of his career that day. And he would have missed it if he hadn’t sad, “because you say so.” I have seen again in these days of my life the unexpected ways God is working, leading me to photography and this blog. These words of Debie Thomas from her essay, “Same old, same old,” on the Journey with Jesus online magazine, struck me in a powerful and unexpected way so I share them with you now. (I encourage you to read this whole wonderful essay.) "Second, the story honors the “same old same olds” of our individual lives. Jesus’s call in this story is specific and particular, rooted in the language, culture, and vocation his hearers knows best. Simon and his partners understand the nuances of the “catching people” metaphor in ways I never will. That is, they know from years of experience what depths of patience, resilience, intuition, and artistry professional fishing require. Simon knows the tools of the trade, the limitations of his body, and the life-and-death importance of timing, humility, and discretion. Most of all, he knows the water. He knows how to respect it, how to listen to it, and how to bring forth its best. When Jesus shows up and commissions the seasoned fisherman, Simon understands the call not as a directive to leave his experience and intelligence behind, but to bring the best of his knowledge and expertise forward — to become even more fully and freely himself. The hardest thing to do at these moments is to make the leap of trust that Simon makes. “Yet if you say so, I will.” Yet if you say so, I will try again. Yet if you say so, I will be faithful to my vocation. Yet if you say so, I will go deep rather than remain in the shallows. Yet if you say so, I will trust that your presence in the boat is more precious than any guarantee of success. Yet if you say so, I will cast my empty net into the water, and look with hope for your kingdom to come. May it be so." Prayer Lord of the Unexpected Help us to look at ourselves and then look at you and say, “because you say so I will.” And then put out to deep water. Amen Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; Sparks Lane is a favorite spot for taking pictures by professional and amateur alike. I always stop here every time I go to the cove. Pictures taken here have a clear focus for the viewer. The road leads the eye into the photograph and the trees make a frame. It is much easier to get a good image here then on a trail through the woods. In the woods the landscape is more complicated and it is hard to isolate any one thing to become the subject of your photograph.
Our complicated and often chaotic lives can be like taking pictures in the woods. We struggle to find a clear focus. King David must have also felt like this as we can see from many of his psalms. He asked God to teach him and to give him an undivided heart, a heart that had a clear focus, a clear subject for his life. As a result he knew he would praise and glorify God’s name forever. Prayer Lord In our complicated and chaotic lives teach us your ways and give us undivided hearts so that we can praise you with our whole lives. Amen Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, For those of you who have been following my blog you know that I never thought I would be a photographer or a writer. Yet here I am. I am only a novice photographer with a lot yet to learn. And while I have read the Bible since childhood, I still have so much to explore in God’s word. I do know that God has used my photography to show me the beauties of his world in ways that I would have never seen before I picked up a camera. While I would have enjoyed seeing a pretty sunrise or sunset now and then, I would have never gone searching for them much less have known how to take a picture of one. The more I learned about landscape photography the more I wanted to see and know about Creator God.
There are times when I feel so inadequate as a photographer and a writer, but in those times I hold on to the way that God has spoken to me through his word and world and has given me the courage to share the word he speaks to me through my images and his word. So I will continue to develop my photography skills but more I seek to experience God’s word in a way that moves beyond intellectual knowledge. In the words of D. A. Carson in an article in the NIV Theological Study Bible, “Desiring merely to maser the text is not enough; we must desire to be mastered by it.” Jeremiah didn’t expect this call to be a prophet and he made excuses about why he wasn’t a good choice. But God had different plans. The road Jeremiah followed as a prophet wasn’t an easy one. I do believe that God has a call and a plan for every life, a plan which can change throughout our lives. Like me it may not be the one you expected or feel qualified to accomplish, but as I have found, God will give you what you need. It may not be to speak to thousands but to simply take one step and take a picture. Prayer Lord God, Creator of all Life, Speak to our hearts and fill us with the courage to follow you. Amen He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” I was amazed when I happened to look at the dandelions in the field on that frosty morning and found them covered with frost. When I looked at them closely through my lens I saw the tiny drops of water turned to ice. From little beginnings, even those covered with frost, grow big things. This seems to be the way God works. God has always shone himself a little at a time as we see in the pages of scripture. The Bible is a story of how God works to bring about full maturity. This is the way we grow in grace. We begin with a tiny seed of grace and it grows until it changes our lives and we then can impart the story of God’s grace to all the world.
Prayer King of Heaven Grow us up into your grace and the purpose you have for us this day. Amen Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Even though I can see the Great Smokey Mountains from where I live, I still will drive for at least an hour to be in them. Yesterday was such a day. I wanted to see sunrise from a place that I had not been to in awhile. When we got there we ended up having to turn around because, unlike the prediction, the clouds were so thick that they would cover the sun for most of the day. We drove on to the cove hoping to see something besides clouds. Most of our time in the mountains was still cloudy, but there was this one brief moment when the sun broke through the clouds and you could see the mountains covered with a light dusting of snow.
There are times like this when it seems that God is so far away. There is injustice everywhere we look. And then the light breaks through and we see the mountains that were there all the time. When I read this Psalm I had a hard time understanding these words, “Your righteousness is like mountains of God,” until I rearranged them and replaced the pronoun with its antecedent - God’s righteousness is like God’s mountains. God’s mountains are always there even when they are covered with clouds so God’s righteousness is always there even when we don’t see it. God is faithful. His love for us is steadfast and precious. We can take refuge in God at times when we can’t even see his mountains. Prayer Righteous and Steadfast God In times when injustice seems to rule and nothing seems fair, remind us that you are still there. Break into our lives like the sun breaks through the clouds. Amen Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Water is mesmerizing to me; it can bring out so many different emotions as I watch it. I find peace in the quietness of a gurgling stream and stand in awe at the power of a roaring waterfall. I watch the always changing waves as they crash against the shore and think about how they will surely change the landscape as all water eventually does.
I wonder what emotions water brought to Jesus. I wonder what Jesus felt when he stepped into the river Jordan to be baptisized. Did he feel the peace of a quiet stream or the raging power of a waterfall? Did he sense the danger that water can be, the dangers that he would face? The waters of baptism were a defining moment for him. In his baptism we see both his human nature and divine nature. We see him join other people, to identify with us. In the voice from heaven we have proclaimed his divine nature, the true son of God. We know that after his baptism he faced challenges to that identity, tempted to take the easy way out, to be an earthly king instead of a sacrificial lamb. His baptism was a defining moment in his identity for it was in this moment that he heard the Father say, “you are my beloved son.” It was beginning of the road to the cross and because of that cross we can now hear the Father say in a fresh way to us, you are my beloved - not because of anything we did but because of what Jesus did. Prayer Father God Open our hearts to hearing our name, to being called beloved. Remind us of our own defining moment when we found our identity in you. Amen This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. When I read this verse from the lectionary this week it made me stop and ask myself, what is my life’s work. Paul knew his purpose, but it wasn’t always his purpose. Remember the first thing we read about Paul is that he was passionate about stamping out the apostasy of followers of “the Way,” Christians. For 36 years my life work was teaching. Seven years ago I purchased my first DSLR so that I could take pictures at my son’s wedding. I would never have imagined that God would use that purchase to write an “almost” daily devotional blog with my pictures. It has truly been a real surprise. I have never considered artist expression to be one of my natural abilities. But God has equipped me for this my new life’s work. I believe, I know, that he has given me the right books and YouTube videos to learn this art of photography. He has developed in me a desire to hike and be in his world that I never really had before. He has taught me to write something besides lesson plans.
I offer you today one of my favorite pictures that I have taken this year. It is a sunrise, the beginning of a new day, in a place far away from where I live, a place I never really thought I would go. I still have so much to learn about photography and even more to learn about God’s word, but I am trusting a God who will equip me and use me in his way. The lesson is that this is what God does. He gives each of us a life’s work and he uses this to share the gospel. And sometimes, as with me, the thing that you never thought would be your life’s work becomes a way to share the gospel in ways you never could have predicted. And also like me you stop and think I am so in over my head, but that is the time that God can use you the most. As Paul learned, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Prayer Great Master Open our hearts to your calling. Come to us in a fresh way. Give us a new day. Guide us to our life’s work and equip us to share Jesus with all we meet. Amen And Mary said, I clearly remember the day that I took this image, one of my most favorite images of all I have ever taken. All the conditions were just right. There were some clouds and a little fog but no dark rain predicted. We were the third car in line at the gate to the Cades Cove Loop Road before the gates opened at sunrise so we could move quickly around the one way road. I knew exactly where I wanted to be and I made it there just after sunrise at the beginning of the golden hour. It was just a wondrous and glorious feeling when I looked at the images on the back of my camera. Everything came together and I got it. I think that we all have times like this in our everyday lives when everything just comes together; the project is finished successfully, the goal is accomplished. We also have those times in our walk of faith. We have questioned God, we have spent time reading the scriptures, and we have looked at all our experiences. Everything comes together and our faith is sure. In the words of Timothy Keller, “In the end faith always moves beyond mental assent and duty and will involve the whole self - mind, will, and emotions.” Everything comes together, our faith is sure.
In the gospel of Luke we read of the time when Mary’s faith came together. She had been visited by Gabriel and submitted her will to God. She had made the journey to see Elizabeth. She had received Elizabeth’s blessing and was assured that what was happening to her was truly from God. And the result was her beautiful, exulting song of praise that is called the Magnificat. We know that there were future times when Mary would question again, but we see her standing at the foot of the cross, still there even in what must have been the hardest time of her life. Christmas is drawing near, the time of waiting is almost over. Read Mary's song of praise and the story of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus. Be amazed again at the incarnation and the coming of Christ into our world. I pray that you will have a time when your faith will come together and you will be able to truly rejoice in Christ. Prayer Father God, Thank you for the story of Mary’s faith. Strengthen our faith until it involves our whole self and may we rejoice in you. Amen Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Each morning the sun rises and while we may have some idea or plan about the day we really don’t know exactly what the day will hold - what challenges, what joys. How will we exercise our faith this day? Today I will leave you with this encouraging quote from Thomas Parker from the Feasting on the Word Commentary Year B, Psalm 127 in Week of Proper Time 27.
“God is greater than whatever threatens me/us n particular situations. There will be resources and challenges we do not now see: trust God. There will be purposes served we can know only looking back: be open to learn. This faith is a courageous hope that does not have all the answers. They must learn as they walk into the unknown future. Divine providence is not magic; it does not rescue us from trouble without following the way of God through it. Faith becomes courage to endure what we must without losing heart, and thereby losing our souls.” Prayer Father, This day keep us faithful and true as we follow you through the challenges of our day and turn our faith into courage. Amen Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. The Henry Whitehead Cabin in Cades Cove is one of the most unusual cabins remaining in the park. It is considered a transitional cabin because it has elements of both traditional log homes of the past and sawn wood homes that predated the modern frame homes like the Caldwell house in Catalooche. It seems Mr. Whitehead was a very creative man using new technologies and even making bricks for a chimney instead of using stone. Like Mr. Whitehead, building homes is apart of the creative work that we each do when we build our homes, places where we live and grow. Our home building work is a part of God’s creative work.
Photography has become a new way of home building that I would have never thought that I would create. I am new to this art and have a lot to learn. I want my photography to build a home where I can grow and help others to grow. I am not the best landscape photographer which is evident to me when I see some of the beautiful landscapes of some of my favorite photographers like Thomas Heaton and a former student of mine, Jason Eldridge. But God never asked that we be the best he only asks that we give our best (Colossians 3:23). Today as you go about your work think of it as continuing the creative home building work of the Lord. Build a house that he will use and I know that even when you see you work as not very creative or unimportant know that if you are using the gifts God gave you, you are letting God build a house that he will use for his purposes. Prayer Great Builder of Our Homes Give us strength and courage to build our homes. Shine your creative light into our lives and help us to remember the value that you see in each of the gifts and talents you gave us. Keep us focused on you as we build our homes so our labor won’t be in vain. Amen When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. You don’t really know what is in the other room through the door. The only way you can find out is to step through the door. Since you know that this door is in a cabin in a national park, it is very likely safe. It doesn’t take a lot of faith to step through the door. Unlike this simple action, there are times in our lives when taking the next step through an open door will take great faith. The man in this story came to Jesus desperate for Jesus to heal his son. He had a choice to believe Jesus and go or turn the other way, defeated and dejected. He chose to go and found his son healed when he returned home. We also have a choice each day - to believe and step through the door open for us or to turn away. Today make a step of faith towards Jesus, even if it only a small step. You will find what you truly seek.
Prayer Jesus, Strengthen our faith today. Give us courage to take a step of faith through the door that you open for us today. Amen I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; It is hard to explain how different the rivers and waterfalls of Minnesota and Wisconsin are from the waterfalls that I see in the mountains where I live. There seemed to be no way to get to a position where I could capture the flow of water over the massive rocks in one image. While my images may help you to get an idea of their power and beauty, you can never fully know what they are like unless you experience them yourself.
Like these waterfalls, we can hear of God from others but we will only see God in a transforming way when we experience God for ourselves. The book of Job tells how Job learned of God through experiencing him. Job was a man who suffered greatly. He questioned God about the cause of his suffering. He refutes the answers to his dilemma offered by his friends. In the end, God doesn’t give Job the reasons for his suffering, but after experiencing God in the whirlwind he no longer seeks an answer. He experiences God in a new way and bows in humility to a sovereign God. Like Job, it is when we honestly seek God, question God, cry out in anger to God, that we experience God. Prayer Great God Honestly seeking you isn’t easy. It means we must lay open our hearts with all our questions, fears, and anger. Speak to our hearts and transform us so we see you in new ways. Amen Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. There are times when the sun seems to hide its light in the morning, as if it were playing hide and seek with the clouds. Finally it breaks through the clouds and we see it clearly - bright and shining on all things. Open your heart and let God sow his perfect light in you. As it grows it will bring wisdom, beauty, and joy.
Prayer Father of Light Sow your light in our hearts. Let it bring truth and wisdom to our everyday lives so that we can reflect your light to others who walk in darkness. Amen If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, While you can see flowers many places, there is something special about seeing many flowers of different varieties all in one place in a garden. Gardens require lots of work. They require a knowledge of flowers and soils and insects. If you have ever even planted a few flowers in a flower bed you know the work and also the joy of seeing the flowers you planted bloom. We are called to be gardens that bring beauty to the world where we live by caring for those who are hungry and afflicted. This will take the hard work of building a garden but God promises to keep our gardens watered with a source of water that will never fail, even when we must build our gardens in difficult places. Being sensitive to the needs of others brings beauty and peace not only to the ones that need the care but the ones who do the work of caring.
Prayer Our God, Master Gardner, Give us the strength and guidance we need to help those who need our help. Make our lives like well watered gardens that offer beauty and peace to those around us. Amen For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. This is the time of year when students of all ages are going back to school after summer vacation. New teachers, new schools, new learnings are ahead. In our culture we want quick answers, tips and tricks, but wisdom doesn’t come this way. True wisdom grows only from time spent being with God and studying his word. As we take time and develop the discipline of study, we find your wisdom. And in this wisdom do we find hope to walk in this world.
Prayer Great Teacher Be with all students as they return to their classrooms. Encourage us as we study your word and develop in us a discipline of study. Show us the encouragement and hope needed to live in our world that is only found when we study your word and learn to walk close to you. Amen The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. I have passed this tree along the roadside close to my home for at least 20 years, but I am sure that it is older than that. I only noticed it several years ago after I began taking pictures. While it isn’t a palm tree or a cedar, it still stands tall and strong as it has for years. I want my life to be like this tree. I want it to bear fruit and always declare that the Lord is my great and might rock. The only way for this to happen is for me to make sure that I plant my life in the house of the Lord.
Prayer Great God, Grow me strong and tall as I take shelter in your house. Keep me watered and pruned so that I may bear fruit all the days of my life. Amen So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Winter trees seem so bare and lifeless. They wait for the spring when the leaves return and their bare branches are filled with life. We all have times in life when we feel like we are wasting away. One day we will see that the difficult times we face today are preparing us for “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” We will come to see the beauty in the branches that was there all the time. God’s love and care is eternal.
Prayer All Seeing God, Give us the courage to look beyond the trials we face today and see the beauty that lies before us in your eternal love. Amen |
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Soli Deo Gloria,
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan