Blog/ Devotionals

Hope

1/1/2019

Some churches, notably those of African-American tradition, hold "watch night" services on New Year's Eve each year to usher in the new year. The late-night service includes a time of thanksgiving and worship, as well as asking God to watch over the coming year. A watch night service is a powerful reminder that it is the Lord who holds our lives, and our hope should be placed in Him.

There are so many things in which we may be tempted to place our hope for 2019. Once I finish the degree......once I get the promotion.....once I receive the authorization......once I have a child/ spouse..... Education, power, recognition, a visa/ green card/ citizenship, money, relationships - these are wonderful gifts that some people may receive, but we will be sorely disappointed if our hope rests in achieving these. Consider what the psalmist observed:

"No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save." (Psalm 33:16-17)

God's way of working is mysterious. He can take a little and turn it into a lot. He can take a lot and turn it into nothing. Throughout the Bible, we see God using the few, the uneducated, the humble, the elderly, the little children, the unknown, the sinner, the five loaves of bread and two fish, the mite. It doesn't matter how little we have or are, just that we bring our all to Him.

"But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love....
We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.
In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.
May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in You." (Psalm 33:18-22)

Father, thank You for Your unfailing love that is beyond our understanding. Thank You for being our help and shield. For all the families and volunteers You have brought to Emerging FIELD, we ask that Your Presence be known and that You be the source of hope. We ask for Your watch care and loving-kindness over the families, especially those that are hurting or feeling hopeless. You are good.

Unexpected

11/22/2018

When it came time for Israel to replace King Saul, God gave the prophet Samuel instructions on how and where to find the next king. Go to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem; one of his sons had been chosen. Off Samuel went, and Jesse introduced his sons to the prophet. "Surely this is the one," Samuel thought when he saw the oldest.

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (I Samuel 16)

One by one, Jesse presented his sons. But none of the seven was chosen. Finally, Samuel asked if Jesse had any more sons. Jesse replied, "The youngest, but he is tending the sheep." This youngest son, of course, was David, whom Samuel anointed.

The Bible says David was ruddy with a fine appearance and handsome features. Yet that is not what the Lord was looking at. God was looking at his heart, for David was "a man after God's [sic] own heart." (Acts 13:22)

The outward appearance can be deceiving. As I read this familiar story recently, I thought of the children we work with. They are all beautiful children, with shy smiles and bright eyes, but frankly, some of them are small and skinny for their age. Add to that factors such as being raised by single mothers/ grandparents, low household income, speaking English as a second language, living in a cradle-to-prison pipeline zip code - the outward indicators are not in their favor.

Oh, but their hearts! The Lord looks at the heart. The heart of the fatherless child who regularly proclaims the love, faithfulness, and presence of the Heavenly Father. The hurting hearts of children who struggle in school. God is calling each to Him.

Father, thank You for looking at the heart. Help each child to hear Your voice as You look at their hearts. Cleanse and mold my heart that You would find what is pleasing to You.

The sheep of His pasture

11/22/2018

What a beautiful picture Scripture paints of God's children as the "sheep of His pasture." (Psalm 100)

As His sheep, God's people are well-cared for. The Good Shepherd leads them to green pastures and quiet waters; He restores their weary spirits; He protects them from evil and death. (Psalm 23)

So we joyfully give thanks to the Shepherd for guiding us through another year, for faithfully providing, for guiding, for protecting. In our last Bible Club, we talked about entering God's gates with thanksgiving in our hearts and entering His courts with praise. "For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness endures through all generations." (Psalm 100)

Father, we thank You and praise Your name. May we cling to You as our Shepherd all our lives.

Growing up in the midst of evil

11/8/2018

Samuel was no ordinary child. His mother had struggled for years to conceive, unsuccessfully. Living in a culture where childbearing defined a woman's worth, she suffered humiliation and shame. Even her husband's assurances of love did nothing to comfort her. She cried out desperately to God for a child and promised that the child would serve the Lord.

God heard Hannah's prayer, and Samuel was born. True to her word, Hannah took young Samuel to the temple to live there and learn to serve God. "My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn (strength) is lifted high," she sang. (I Samuel 2:1)

I wonder if Hannah knew about the problem when she left Samuel at the temple. She must have thought it was a safe place, a holy place.

The problem was that there was evil in the temple. Eli the priest had two sons who also served as priests. They had no regard for the Lord and treated Him with contempt. Corruption, sexual immorality, and blatant defiance marked these young men. Surely Samuel was, at the least, somewhat aware that something was wrong.

Scripture tells us that Samuel "grew up in the presence of the Lord." His life was a stark contrast to that of Eli's sons. Every year, Samuel's parents made the pilgrimage to the temple to worship God, and his mother always made him a new robe. Even though he had ungodly role models at the temple, Samuel did not falter. Instead, he grew "in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men." Under God's protection and plan, Samuel learned to hear God's voice and became recognized as a faithful prophet. (I Samuel 2-3)

Some of the children we work with are also growing up in less-than-desirable circumstances. Yet God has a plan for each of these little ones. It's especially marvelous to hear these children talk about the goodness and love of God. as we make crafts or read Bible stories. They who have no earthly father know the love and protection of God the Father.

Our prayer is that like Samuel, the children in Emerging FIELD will grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men, and that they will learn to hear God's voice and serve Him all their lives.

Giving thanks

5/29/2018

As the school year comes to an end, we are busy with final assessments and preparing for the summer.  Our list of reasons for giving thanks is long. Great is God's faithfulness, morning by morning. The main reason, though, is always the children, the families whose lives we are privileged to enter into.

For the first grader who rushes into class each day to play reading games before the other children arrive. At the start of the school year, he and sister spoke of a difficult family situation that had deeply "hurt their hearts." Despite the challenges he faces, the future is bright for this little one, who is learning the love of a heavenly Father and making great progress with his reading.

For the healthy baby born to one of our families after months of medical tribulations, now a charmer with his cherubic face and sparkling eyes.

For newfound confidence in children who have made significant improvement in their reading this year. Several of our new students in grades 2-4 started the school year with very low reading skills, and were repeating a grade. Over the past nine months, they have show increasing ability to participate in their general education classrooms and complete classwork alongside their classmates.

For increasing executive function skills in our most squirrelly students. We openly talk about controlling our impulses and emotions, persevering and pushing through the hard stuff. It hasn't been easy at all, and it seems that every step forward is followed by two steps back, yet we trust God is working in these hard situations.

For students who come to Bible Club each week, eager to sit with a group of friends and work on a craft related to a Bible teaching. "I don't want Bible Club to end" is a comment that has been made several times over the last few weeks.

For each volunteer who works faithfully and kindly with the children.

Father, thank You for each life and the opportunity to be part of every life story You are writing.

The giant before me

10/4/2017

The children in Bible Club have really enjoyed hearing the story of David and Goliath (I Samuel 17.) David, "little more than a boy," defeats the nine-foot-plus tall giant with his slingshot and five smooth pebbles.

Sometimes believers have to fight giants too. Internal giants like doubt and fear, external giants such as opposition.

When the giant comes, taunting and sneering, the truth anchors believers in the sovereignty and omnipotence of God. God has won the war. Believers have access to God's power. The enemy has been defeated. God is faithful to carry His children through the challenge.

Chris Tomlin's song "Whom Shall I fear?" reminds us that there is nothing to fear when we face the giant.

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in your hands
I'm holding on to your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful

Like David, our battle cry can be, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel....All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands." (I Samuel 17)

Does God speak to individuals today?

9/10/2017

One of the topics my friends and I talked about in college concerned the existence of God, and if God exists, the activity of God in people's daily lives. An atheist friend thought that everything in the universe happens due only to atomic collisions. Another said, "I believe in God, but I think God is impersonal. He just set things in motion, but doesn't get involved in people's lives." The Bible clearly gives example after example of God actively engaging in human history. God speaks directly to individuals and nations, through Scripture, the Holy Spirit, prophets, other believers, and even circumstances. This too has been my personal experience.

I woke up one particular morning preoccupied by worries. How do I solve this problem? Will this be enough? As I mulled over possible solutions and outcomes, fear and unrest churned. "Something" prompted me to stop and give thanks for three things. Just three. Surely I could be thankful for just three things.

Yep, no problem.
✔ A safe place to call home.
✔ Clothes
✔ Food
This was not hard at all, considering the recent devastation in Texas after Hurricane Harvey. I found I could genuinely give thanks for much, much, more.

✔ Family, friends, church
✔ Purposeful, engaging work
✔ Reliable transportation
✔ Beautiful weather
✔ Above all, a loving, righteous, just God
This brief exercise did much to settle my unease. The situation hadn't changed, but I realized how rich and how richly blessed I am.

Then, my devotional reading that morning also helped to look at the problem in front of me from a different perspective. The reading reminded me there are two ways of living: self-centered living or God-centered living.

Self-centered living is proud and relies on my own abilities and skills.
God-centered living looks to God to make things happen.

I realized I was approaching the issue with a self-centered approach. It was about me, and not about God.

Later that day, a friend gave me a copy of a short daily devotion.that she had found refreshing earlier in the week. It talked about the cartload of blessings that Jesus' followers enjoy.

At the end of the day, I could look back and see clearly how God had spoken to me directly - through a prompting, through Scripture, through a friend's encouragement and the writing of other Christians. No, there was no booming voice, no flashes of lightning. It was a gentle, quiet voice telling me to be still, to give thanks, to remember His goodness and watchcare over me.

God still speaks today - and if we will stop to listen, we will hear His messages.

Back to School

8/26/2017

Scripture: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)

As our students head back to school, they have expressed eager anticipation mixed with anxiety. Thankful to get back into the school routine and learn, but scared of what other people think, scared of themselves.

"I flunked first grade, and I don't want other people to know....but I'm bigger than everyone else in my grade."
"I'm scared to get in trouble again this year. I have friends who pull me into bad things. My goal is to stay out of trouble."

The children's comments reflect the influence of school and social dynamics on their self image. At a young age, these children are already familiar with feelings of shame, unworthiness, and fear.

One of the most important things Emerging FIELD volunteers can do is to speak love and worth into their lives, and to remind them of the power they have through Christ to overcome the negative.

We can remind them of their inherent value to God, because He created each on in His image.

We can remind the children of the Holy Spirit working in them so they can say "No" when persuaded to partake in evil, so they can discern truth from lies, so they can make sound decisions. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)
We can remind them that it is possible to choose right. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Father, we pray Your watchcare over the children as they start school. Help them to rely on You as they learn and interact with friends. We pray for godly influences on their lives who will direct them toward righteousness. We pray for their minds, their hands, their feet, their hearts and mouths to be guided and used by You.

The Whole Reality

8/16/2017

At the end of the spring semester celebration, the music students performed their pieces at a recital, and Reading & Buddy students presented a Reader's Theater rendition of Seven Blind Mice based on the book by Ed Young. In the book, seven blind mice encounter a strange Something. As each mouse encounters part of the Something, each thinks it's a different object, and they begin to argue. It's a column, says one mouse. Another thinks it's a snake. Or is it a rope? It's not until the seventh mouse runs up and down and across the whole Something that they discover and agree it is an elephant. The moral of the story: "Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole."

So it is in life. The dilemma, the injustice, the temptation facing me, can seem so overwhelming that it distorts my perception of reality. How many times before have I grimaced belatedly for blowing things out of proportion, for making a mountain out of a molehill?

The psalmist Asaph knew what that felt like. He had tried to live a godly life and suffered, while the wicked lived strong and in prosperity. How could that be, God? Such injustice! Had he lived a pure life in vain? The incongruity bothered him so much that he teetered on the brink of sin as he questioned God's goodness. "When I tried to understand all this," he says, "it troubled me deeply.....my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You." (Psalm 73)

Until he entered the sanctuary of God;

That's when he began to see the big picture. When Asaph recalled God's faithfulness and goodness, he could see that the current state of things was temporary. God has a just consequence for evildoers, as He does for the righteous. Asaph recognized that he was in the best, eternal position under God's loving watchcare. He could say confidently then, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

For me, Sunday worship can be a call to reality. I may go to church with my mind preoccupied with this or that, but as I sing of God's power and lovingkindness and goodness, those burdens are lifted. They haven't changed, but my perception has, because I can see reality through the lens of God's omnipotence, omniscience, sovereignty, goodness, justice, forgiveness, and kindness.

"Ascribe to the Lord, the glory due His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness." (Psalm 29) God is a jealous God who will not give His glory to another. He wants our worship. I find that in the process of giving what rightly belongs to Him, I am healed and see a bigger picture.

A hope and a future

7/19/2017

Scripture: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

This is a busy time for our summer classes. The Literacy Movement Workshop with Miss Bonnie ended a few days ago, with the children performing a short dance from Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and compiling a writing portfolio. Even as a few students take a break from classes to attend summer camp or visit family, new students are joining. Our classes are focused on developing and mastering skills - literacy, math, music - sometimes it seems SO focused that I have to remember to step back and look at each child, not as a "skills machine" but as a whole person.

This amazing little person sitting in front of me has a life story that's coming together. God has promised a hope and a future for this child.

I so appreciate parents who are acutely aware of this, and consciously help their children develop strong executive function skills such as listening, self-control, and patience.

I have to constantly ask the Lord to give me eyes to see and a heart to sense what is happening with each student, each soul who bears the image of God. What is the long-term? The skills we focus on in class are just tools to help them fulfill this greater life picture. God is already speaking to them and breathing into them a calling and vision for what their lives will look like. Some of the children in our program, even at a young age, face an uphill battle - broken families, health issues, financial difficulties. Yet they are full of dreams and hopes.

At the beginning of the summer, the Reading & Math students completed an "All About Me" page that was attached to the cover of their folders. It included, "When I grow up, I want to be a _______________." We have aspiring firefighters, doctors, athletes, archaeologists, artists, teachers, even a pizza parlor worker. The beautiful thing is to see in each child a desire to live a life of meaning and service to others.

The obstacles each student faces today - that's not what defines them. It is God's calling on his or her life that gives identity. The role of Emerging FIELD is to help equip each student with some of the skills they need for the journey. If we can also help the students see with a bit more clarity who God is, His love, how to hear and obey His voice, what His calling for their life is - all the better.

Father, we pray each student will know You, and that they will allow You to write their life story. Thank You for the goodness, hope, and future You have in store for them. You are for them. You hear the cries of the weak, the fatherless, the sick. You restore, You transform, You make all things new. Our hope and our future are in You.

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