Presby-Musings

  “Although no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.”— Carl Bard When I was serving a church in Florida some years ago, I had a wonderful church member who lost her husband after a prolonged illness.  She had been his primary caregiver for several years, devoting herself to his care.   In the end, she was exhausted, filled with grief over his loss, and spiritually drained from all that she had been through.   All of the dreams they'd had of how they would spend their retirement together were dashed, and I remember talking to her about what might come next, and she was too weary to even think about it.   For years, all of her energy had been focused on her husband, and after he was gone, she couldn't seem to think about anything else.   Grief has a way of narrowing our vision. When we focus on what has been lost, it can become difficult to imagine what remains possible. The f...

  “Acceptance doesn't mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there's got to be a way through it.” — Michael J. Fox When life doesn't turn out the way you thought it would, there is typically a fair amount of grief that goes along with it.   As I mentioned in my previous Devo, I  experienced this after my mom passed away, which carried an enormous amount of grief in itself, but then her passing was followed by a realization that the life I'd planned so carefully in my mind wasn't going to unfold.  What followed were years of struggle with the sadness of it all, and I didn't face it all that well, to be honest.   I found myself trying to bury the sadness in all sorts of unhealthy and unhelpful ways.  I spent too much money, ate and drank whatever I pleased, didn't take care of my mental health very well, nor my physical health, for that matter.   The greatest challenge I faced throughout it all wa...

  “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” — Joseph Campbell When I first moved to Austin nearly ten years ago, I arrived with so many hopes and dreams about how life would unfold.   My parents moved in with us, and my oldest son transferred to the University of Texas, which meant my entire immediate family was under one roof in a house where we could all live.  The plans we had talked about for months were coming into view right before my eyes.   I was incredibly happy in the work I was doing at my new church, and family dinners and activities abounded. It felt like my dreams were all coming true.   And then my mom passed away.  Then my oldest boy got married and moved to Chicago. In the coming years, my dad got remarried and moved out.  My marriage eventually fell apart.  My middle son went off to college, and my youngest went to live with his mom in Florida.  I was left...

  “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” — Allen Saunders This week in the Daily Devos, we will be exploring how to remain resilient and hopeful when life deals us a lousy hand, when things fall apart, and when the plans we have made are shattered.   We have all had moments in life when the things we have planned go awry.  Each of us has had unexpected interjections into our carefully laid-out blueprints for how we want things to be, sending us spinning.   Most of us carry a vision of how we expect our lives to unfold. We imagine careers that will flourish, relationships that will endure, dreams that will materialize, and futures that seem almost certain. We make plans. We set goals. We tell ourselves stories about where life is heading. Then something happens. A diagnosis arrives. A relationship ends. A career changes unexpectedly. A loved one dies. A door closes that we were sure would open. The future we imagined suddenly dis...

The Season of Pentecost & Summer Sermon Series These stores aren’t about perfect people. They teach us to trust God even when we cannot see the path ahead.   Today, we are going to read a story about sibling rivalry, a dysfunctional family, and how an impulsive decision shaped the history of an entire nation.    We live in a culture of immediacy.  We can order things on Amazon and have them arrive the same day.  We become frustrated when our favorite TV shows can't all be binge-watched, and we have to wait for the next episode.  We want what we want, and we want it now; we don't like to wait.   And sometimes, we are faced with decisions driven by our hunger or longing, and instead of being patient or surrendering to our outcomes, we take matters into our own hands, trading away what matters most for the lure of immediate satisfaction.   THE CHOICES WE MAKE IN MOMENTS OF HUNGER CAN SHAPE THE COURSE OF OUR LIVES Genesis 25:19-34 19...