Presby-Musings

A couple of years ago, a video from the United Kingdom went viral during Advent.  The video was taken by the parents of a little girl who was deaf during a visit with Santa Claus.   As the girl sat on Santa's lap, it didn't take long for him to notice that she could not hear.  And so he began to speak to her in sign language.   Because of course Santa knows sign language--come on.   I sat there watching through misty eyes as the little girl brightened and began to smile as she and Santa talked about what she wanted for Christmas.   Just a video.  A moment in the midst of hundreds of thousands of other moments during this season of Advent, this season of expectation.  And the reason why this kind of moment gets shared and re-shared is because it's beautiful, amazing and surprising all at once.   Some might call it... miraculous We have been taught from an early age to expect miracles this time of year....

The hiddenness of God is often a challenge to our faith.   Philip Yancey once wrote, "If we insist on visible proofs from God, we may well prepare the way for a permanent state of disappointment."   I find that statement a bit pessimistic.  I feel like that miracles are all around us all of the time--we just aren't paying attention.   George Bernard Shaw once wrote: "Creation is a miracle of daily recurrence. 'A miracle a minute' would not be a bad slogan for God." In the weeks leading up to my mom's passing, I had been praying fervently for God to miraculously "show up," and in a way, perhaps God did.   When my parents moved into the house we all share in Texas, my mom fell in love with the idea of having multiple bird feeders in our back yard so she could bird-watch.   We positioned a variety of bird houses and bird feeders across from her living room windows where she could easily see them.  Her favorite visito...

"Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known..." - Habakkuk 3:2 I grew up hearing the stories in the Bible where God does incredible things to rescue God's people--stories of miracles, signs and wonders.  I grew up listening to how the patriarchs and prophets heard the voice of God speaking to them out of bushes, dreams, on top of a mountain and in a still small voice.   But as I grew up listening to these stories, I began to ask an important question about them that I am sure many of us have asked from time to time: "Why doesn't God do the same thing now?"   Think about it.  Wouldn't it make sense for God just to throw out a flaming pillar of cloud and fire once in a while to just demonstrate to the masses that God is still there, still working, still leading and guiding God's people?  Wouldn't it make sense for God to speak to us in an audible voice just once ...