In the gospel of John Jesus said, "All those who want to be My disciples must come and follow Me, because My servants must be where I am." (John 12:26)

This phrase caught my attention: "My servants must be where I am."

I realize that most of the time I'm asking Jesus to be where I am. Here, He's asking me to be where He is ... that is, to go where He goes.

Where does Jesus go? We learn from the gospels that He goes to the lonely, the hurt, and the oppressed. He's with those struggling with defeat and yearning for victory. He's with those who have nowhere else to turn.

And that's where He wants us to be.

We are "where He is" when we encourage the discouraged. We go where He goes when we reach out to the disenchanted and the disenfranchised, when we express love, mercy and compassion to others. This is what Mother Teresa referred to as reaching out to Christ "in all His distressing disguises."

Jesus reminded us, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me." (Matthew 25:40) He is waiting to meet you today, sometimes in a distressing disguise. Look for opportunities to express His love and to reveal His grace.

But where has my freedom been
for so long?
From what secret depths was it dragged out
in an instant
that I might agree to bow my head
beneath Your yoke which is gentle
and accept on my shoulders Your burden
which is light,
O Lord Jesus Christ,
my Strength and my Redeemer?

How suddenly comforting it was
to lose the false comforts of the past!
I had long feared losing them,
and now it was a joy to throw them away.

Truly it was You who put them far from me,
my true and supreme Comfort,
You put them far away
and set Yourself in their place.

O God, come to us, we pray Thee, with the resources of Thy power, that we may be strong within. We ask not for easy lives, but for adequacy. We ask, not to be freed from storms, but to build our houses on Rock that will not fall. We pray not for a smooth sea, but for a stout ship, a good compass, and a strong heart; in the name of Him who faced enmity and death without flinching, Thy son Jesus Christ our Savior.

God’s grace should provoke wonder and worship among all of God’s children. Once we understand who God really is, once we have experienced His inexhaustible lovingkindness, which like the dew is fresh every morning, it will change the way we worship. From a heart overflowing with gratitude, we will want to honor and glorify God by gratefully offering back to Him the many good gifts He has bestowed on us. We will not go to church to be entertained, to see “what we can get out of it” for our own private gratification, but rather to praise and worship the triune God of grace and glory.

Our sense of the grace of God, of our neediness in the face of His omnipotent love, is a true barometer of genuine spirituality and biblical worship.

Early in the ministry of Jesus, He and His disciples were caught in the middle of a huge, demonic storm on the Sea of Galilee. The Gospels describe it as a "seismos," an enormous shaking. Though commentaries frequently explain the storm in terms of the normal meterological patterns in and around Galilee, the truth is the disciples had never seen a storm like this before. They were together in one small boat. It was Satan's chance to wipe them out in one blow.

But Jesus, the Son of God, was asleep in the midst of the tempest. If it had been one of their customarily calm crossings of the lake, the Twelve might have been able to understand. But the boat is about to sink! "How," they say to themselves, "could we possibly be asleep in the midst of a storm like this? Doesn't He care about us?"

Mark, who tells the story from Peter's perspective, says the disciples castigated Jesus. "Don't you care if we drown?" they scream above the storm. Jesus lifts His head from the little, rough pillow that is normally used by the man who steers the boat, wipes the sleep from His eyes and rebukes the storm. "Be muzzled!" He says. They are the same words He speaks when He casts out the demons. With two words the attack disappears completely. Turning to the Twelve, perhaps with a yawn lingering on His lips, He says, "Where is your faith?" Trapped in the middle of a storm on a boat that is sinking. All the while, the One who can calm the storm with a word sleeps blissfully unaware.

Sound familiar? Is this your life? It frequently is mine. Just when He calls us into relationship, just when we "get into His boat," the storm descends on us. We are called to follow the Way, and, yet, we seems always to get lost, to lose Him. This is not the time to "try harder." This is not the moment to strain to manufacture more faith. It is the occasion to cry louder to the One Who, though He may seem asleep, is the most significantly still present in the boat with us. He is there to be awakened by our cries. He is moved to act by our tears.

The story of the storm on the sea is more than a parable. It is more than a lived out example of being saved not from but through the tempest that would destroy our lives. It is all that and much more. The simple, trusting cry that comes from the lips of those of us who are learning that our last hope has always been our only hope - this is the cry that awakens the God who never sleeps.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me with His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With power upon my heart

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside
Who floods my weaknesses and strengths
And causes fear to fly
Whose every promise is enough
For every step I take
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who reigns above
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace
Whose every thought is love
For every day I have on earth
Is given by the King
So I will give my life my all
To love and follow Him

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

The word "balance" can strike some people as the code word for compromise. Calls for balance are sometimes expressions from those who are disconcerted by the new, the progressive, even the wild. This is especially true in the spiritual realm: history is replete with examples of spiritual zeal that deteriorated into excesses, thus creating manipulative and unbiblical environments. Such concerns are understandable, but the pursuit of balance was never meant to quench the flames of godly enthusiasm or mute the high praises of God.

Efforts at striking a balance in worship should not simply be attempts to determine spiritual protocol or subtly enforce stylistic preferences. Rather, these efforts shoulod be the result of our applying the full counsel of the written Word to every facet of our worship experience.

The Father seeks worship that is expressed "in spirit and in truth." When our worship becomes separated from truth, it rapidly deteriorates into religiosity, where experience itself becomes the barometer of our spirituality. This is nothing more than a deceptive spirituality that alleviates feelings of guilt but doesn't change character. There are four foundational truths that inform and shape our understanding of worship:

Worship is neither a spiritual "slot" in our lives nor merely a designated religious gathering. Worship is not a spectator sport, nor simply an emotional response. Worship is the means of divine communion, the dynamic that turns principles into lifestyle; the doorway to knowing God's presence in our lives. It is the secret to encountering God, which is the fountainhead that both satisfies and whets our appetite for righteousness. Worship is the face-to-face of our relationship with God, the sum total of our communion with His Spirit, our reception of His life, and our response to His revelation. Worship is a lifestyle.

Your mercy, my God, is the theme of my song -
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue.
Your free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Has won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

Without Your sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Your free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Your mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart.
Dissolved by Your goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Your goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Your crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

We must understand that music, preaching, and singing are not worship. These can be vital tools and activities that promote worship, but in and of themselves they are not worship. The worship service is about connecting people to God. The central focus must always be on God, not the style.

When you get the purpose of the worship service right, you find that music styles will always be evolving and changing. Music is then seen not seen as worship, but as a powerful tool that can help people connect with God and express faith, praise, and sacrifice to Him. When music is seen as a tool, we will no longer say, “What is our tradition so we can maintain it?” Instead we will ask “What kind of music will best connect members of our community and church to God?” For some, that might be music with a traditional focus. For others, that might mean country, jazzy pop sounds, or edgy alternative.

Let’s leave the worship debates behind and focus on connecting people to God. People do not need our debate. They need to be led to truly and passionately worship. Let’s be willing to do whatever it takes, to use whatever music style it takes, to connect people to God.

But what I know even more surely is that the greatest joy in God comes from giving His gifts away, not in hoarding them for ourselves -- and that God's glory shines more brightly when He satisfies us in times of loss than when He provides for us in times of plenty. The health, wealth, and prosperity "gospel" swallows up the beauty of Christ in the beauty of His gifts and turns them into idols. The world is not impressed when Christians get riches and say thanks to God. They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ's sake and count it gain.

No one ever said that they learned their deepest lessons of life, or had their sweetest encounters with God, on the sunny days. People go deep with God when the drought comes. That is the way God designed it. Christ aims to be magnified in life most clearly by the way we experience Him in our losses. When everything in life is stripped away except God, and we trust Him more because of it, this is gain, and He is glorified.

What a tragic waste when people turn away from the Calvary road of love and suffering. All the riches of the glory of God in Christ are on that road. All the sweetest fellowship with Jesus is there. All the treasures of assurance. All the ecstasies of joy. All the clearest sightings of eternity. All the noblest camaraderie. All the humblest affections. All the most tender acts of forgiving kindness. All the deepest discoveries of God's Word. All the most earnest prayers. They are all on the Calvary road where Jesus walks with His people. Take up your cross and follow Jesus. On this road, and this road alone, life is Christ and death is gain. Life on every other road is wasted.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord
Joyful noises to waken those who’ve grown too solemn
in their solemn assemblies.
So, get joyful!
Turn loose of your up-tight propriety,
your thumb-worn impiety,
your tiresome society.
Release your hold on your self image.
Get emphatic, ecstatic, even if it seems erratic!
Rejoice!

Worship the Lord with gladness
Gladness cannot be restrained with sensibility.
Gladness is a loud mouth which cannot be shushed.
Be gladder than the gladdest!
Let your happy face in on your happy state of heart!

Come before His presence with singing
Can’t sing?
Anthems apathetic are sung too often with perfect pitch.
Devotion puts tunes in buckets for those
who couldn’t carry them otherwise.
A frog at praise is better than a proud canary.

Know ye that the Lord He is God
A welcome Lord for the godless.

We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
We are the sheep of God –
Black sheep seeking better wool,
Hungry sheep looking for green pastures,
Thirsty sheep looking for still waters,
Terrified sheep bleating our insecurities.
Fortunately, His rod and staff comfort us.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
Be thankful in all things.
Be thankful for all things.
Sing at the top of your lungs:
“Now thank we all our God, With hearts and hands and voices.”

And into His courts with praise
All complaining is out of place in His courts.
Sing: “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”
Praise God! He is faithful!
Praise Jesus! He is Savior!
Praise the Spirit! He is your constant attorney at the Bar of Grace.

Give thanks to Him
Say, “Thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks!”
Thanks for the good stuff,
Thanks for the bad stuff,
Thanks for the people who need to be better –
and the people who couldn’t possibly be any better.
Thanks for the tears that clear up my vision.
Thanks for the darkness that keeps me looking forward to the light.

And praise His Name!
Sing “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee.”

For the Lord is good
Our evil needs His goodness,
We must have a perfect Lord to deal with our imperfections.
We must have a sinless Christ to deal with all our sins.

His love endures forever
When clocks have lost their tocks,
And lifeless pendulums hang limp and dead,
When the sun dies and the world
will no longer spin to measure our days,
God’s love will be in place.
More faithful than the north star,
More certain than all the constellations in space.

And His faithfulness endures to all generations
“Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy Hand hath provided,
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.”

Selah.

Living God,
Help us to hear Your Holy Word with open hearts
so that we may truly understand;
and, understanding,
that we may believe;
and, believing,
that we may follow in all faithfulness and obedience,
seeking Your honor and glory in all that we do.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

But not forever. On a silent night in the little town of Bethlehem, God clothed Himself in the fabric of flesh, away in a manger. And while some heard a baby's hungry cry, others heard the song of a God, hungering for relationship with people. The baby grew and His voice grew strong. While some heard a rabbi teaching, others heard a virtuoso voicing the melody of grace. [Sharing the song] of God's love in comforting tones, the Singer calmed the anxious. [Singing] ever so gently as He'd heard His Father do in the beginning of time, He unlocked the song in women and men that they - and we - might sing it for the world. [The words in brackets are "editorial" changes that I have made. - dp]

The poet Francis Thompson called this crazy, sacred pursuer "the Hound of Heaven" in his ode to the chase of his life. No matter how many "labyrinth ways" he zigged or zagged, trying to flee that holy, constant hunter, He was unshakable. And the more the poet raced to escape from the dogged pursuit, the louder he hear above him the pounding feet, continuing the mad dash.

"I fled Him... and in the mist of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter." It becomes obvious we are dealing with a maniac, says Annie Dillard of her own dealings with this God. He is a reckless, raging power of the universe -- willing trapped inside His own seemingly reasonless desire to capture and redeem every life back to Himself. And He'll go to any length to do it.

Pure madness is what any sane observer might call it. But what else would explain His ways? A Messiah who arrives not to conquer kings, but hearts. A ruler who comes to break all the rules and let everyone in. A master of singular power who lives as a servant to all. A Christ to be be sought who instead pursues, even the ones who run away.

The chase is mad. No other god the world has ever created would have dreamed of it. When you hold the universe in your hands, you don't have to go chasing down anything else. When the world is at your feet, you don't need to race after it. But love has an incredible way of doing crazy things. A whole lot of heart and just a little bit of madness can go a long way toward saving the world. Redemption really does draw nigh every time He picks up His sword and heads out on that knightly quest for your heart.

Some people think it's crazy to dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to run where the brave dare not go. Not this Savior. Even the chance of netting just one heart seemed worth it all to Him.

In fact, He died trying.

For worship requires that we see God as high and exalted, supreme and glorious, holy and pure, mighty and loving. And this view of God is not from an indifferent distance, as it were; a purely objective, ice-cold, merely factual “seeing” of God will not illicit worship. Rather, worship happens only when we are granted eyes to behold God’s magnificence, and splendor, and glory, and majesty. This is a seeing with deep and abiding longing, a seeing that savors, eliciting a savoring that satisfies. In this seeing, God invades our lives, and we experience the truths about him that we have beheld. Truth about him becomes existential within our own minds, hearts, hopes, fears, plans, dreams, values, and desires. We marvel at his character, we embrace his will and his ways as we savor the richness and bounty of all that he is. And as this happens—as we are deeply satisfied in God—we worship. So, God seeks worshipers because he seeks to fill us with himself, that we in turn may give to him the honor, thanks, and praise due only to him. [Here, the author gratefully acknowledges his dependence on the writings of John Piper.]

The God of the smallest detail and the grandest design, who issued ornate plans for an extravagant temple yet found pleasure in the humblest offering of a widow's two tiny coins there. The suffering servant who commands the universe. The sinless friend of sinners. The Savior who hung in agony on beams of wood He Himself had called into being. He is fearsome yet welcoming, unfathomable yet knowable. The God of kings and beggars, presidents and paupers. Who fathers the fatherless and works through our weakness. Burning with holiness, yet refreshingly graceful.

He who is worshiped by the multitudes of heaven yet rejoices over a single returning heart. Perfect in every way yet able to help those who are being tempted. He who is faithful even to the faithless, for He cannot disown Himself. This is the God we worship -- the God of all mystery.

An important mystery to embrace is the immanence and transcendence of God. In His immanence, God draws close to us and gets involved in our lives. In His transcendence, He is altogether otherly and self-sufficient. But for the mystery to fully ignite, we need both of these elements held together in a beautiful tension. We could watch Him from afar and forever be amazed, yet in His kindness God has drawn us near to Himself. Here the wonder is greater still.

In other words, when we truly draw near to God, our sense of His greatness and might will always be heightened, never diminished. Any sort of worship that portrays Him as merely a tame and cuddly friend perhaps isn't quite as near to Him as we would like to think. As A.W. Tozer puts it, "No one who knows God intimately can ever be flippant in His presence."

You see, even when the power has gone out and you are left in the dark of doubt and discouragement, all you need is a flicker of faith and a sincere desire that God's holy fire fall.

Sometimes in the Church, I worry that we've settled for a "goldfish bowl" worship. We convey a tame and domesticated God, and then find ourselves stuck in the endless pursuit of the ordinary. But the call is to venture out into the ocean, to encounter the extraordinary and to explore the mighty depths of God. And though our earthly-gathered worship times may never fully sound the depths of His glory, beware of those that don't even attempt to do so.

The plain truth is this: God has absolutely no need of our offerings. In fact, every single thing our open hands bring to Him - whether a good deed, a tithe or a simple act of compassion - came to us first from His hand. We cannot even offer a simple song of praise without using the breath God first gave to us.

One of the biggest mistakes a person can make in life is to think that God owes him or her something. It destroys faith and insults the sovereignty of God. There are some incredibly painful struggles in this life, and hard questions to which we may never fully know the answer. Yet even in these dark hours, we must accept that God is God, and as such, He never owes us an answer. As the hymnwriter William Cowper puts it, "God is His own interpreter." We cannot work Him out or force Him to fit into our way of thinking. He is high above our human understanding - high enough to see things that we could never see.

But the picture of God's otherness is only really complete when we add to the mix the reality of His outrageous grace. It's true that God does not need our worship. But there is a crowning beauty that completes this truth - God loves our worship. God delights in an honest and heartfelt offering of worship. Here is the all-sufficient Creator of the universe who could get along just fine without our little contributions - and yet He rejoices and delights in every adoring response to Him. It is the joy of a doting Father over a cherished child. It is the pleasure of a mighty King over a faithful and treasured servant. Just as we cannot begin to imagine the heights and depths of His great glory, so too we cannot begin to fathom the infinite measures of His fatherly love and grace.

To be human is to experience change. We walk through times of joy and times of sorrow, times of glorious light and times of impenetrable darkness. We will inevitably find ourselves blinded by confusion at times, wondering about life, the world, even ourselves. We struggle with the "why" questions; we find ourselves facing doubt. In those difficult times, we look about for something to hold onto, something to keep us secure when everything seems uncertain.

That's where we find God - our holy, loving God who is not capable of change. He is constant and true. He is faithful and forgiving. He is not affected by circumstances or our capricious attitudes toward them. The darkness is light to Him; our confusion is crystal clear. He is the anchor, the rock, the foundation. We must hold fast to Him, remembering that even in our times of darkness and confusion, He is holy and sovereign. Our doubts do not affect Him. He is changeless, eternal, perfect. So in your times of doubt, don't run away from God; instead, run to Him. In your times of change, He does not change. He is and forever will be holy.

Great God,
In public and private, in sanctuary and home,
may my life be steeped in prayer,
filled with the spirit of grace and supplication,
each prayer perfumed with the incense of atoning blood.
Help me, defend me, until from praying ground
I pass to the realm of unceasing praise.
Urged by my need,
Invited by Thy promises,
Called by Thy Spirit, I enter Thy presence, worshiping Thee with godly fear,
awed by Thy majesty, greatness, glory,
but encouraged by Thy love.
I am all poverty as well as all guilt,
having nothing of my own with which to repay Thee,
But I bring Jesus to Thee in the arms of faith,
pleading His righteousness to offset my iniquities,
rejoicing that He will weigh down the scales for me,
and satisfy Thy justice.
I bless Thee that great sin draws out great grace,
that, although the lest sin deserves infinite punishment
because done against an infinite God,
yet there is mercy for me,
for where guilt is most terrible,
there Thy mercy in Christ is most free and deep.
Bless me by revealing to me more of His saving merits,
by causing Thy goodness to pass before me,
by speaking peace to my contrite heart;
Strengthen me to give Thee no rest
until Christ shall reign supreme within me
in every thought, word, and deed,
in a faith that purifies the heart,
overcomes the world, works by love,
fastens me to Thee, and ever clings to the cross.

Those around Him replied gently, "Come and see, Lord." (John 11:34)

When have you invited Jesus to come and see?" When have you prayed,
"Lord, come and see my pain... my hurt... my grief."
"Come and see my broken heart... my broken hopes... my broken home."
"Come and see my discouragement... my despair... my doubts."
"Come and see the consequence of wrong choices... and failures... and sin."
"Come and see my weakness... and fearfulness... and emptiness."
"Come and see my guiltiness... and my sadness... and loneliness."

Have you erected a shield around your heart to prevent Him from seeing? A shield of pride.. or doubt... or shame... or anger... or resentment... or busyness? Did you think that if you opened your heart and let Him see inside, that He would blame you for what you have or haven't done? Or rebuke you for your lack of faith?

You and I can be so foolish! Why do we think we can hide our feelings from God? Maybe it's due to the secret resentment of Him we harbor or the resistance to Him we feel because, after all, if He had been on time this never would have happened. How could He understand how we feel anyway?

There is no shield thick enough or big enough or strong enough or tough enough to hide us from His eyes of loving compassion. He sees right through the shield, just as He knew without asking exactly where the tomb was in Bethany and who was in it and how long he had been there and what the source of all the mourning and suffering was. He simply wanted those who were suffering to show Him what was wrong and tell Him how they felt.

Would you open up your heart and show it to Jesus? Show Him your grief and pain and let Him see exactly how you feel and what you think. Don't hide it or repress it or cover it up or pretend it's not there. Just pour it all out to Him, and then wait expectantly for His response.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime, stars can be seen from deepest wells;
and the deeper the wells, the brighter Your stars shine;
May I find Your light in my darkness,
Your life in my death,
Your joy in my sorrow,
Your grace in my sin,
Your riches in my poverty,
Your glory in my valley.

In Genesis 22 God tells Abraham to journey to the mountain of Moriah and there build an altar to worship Him. But this is no ordinary worship time. God instructs Abraham to take his son Isaac, for he is to be the offering. And though God never intends to let Abraham go through with this, the incident illuminates some important truths about worship. Ironically, one of the main insights comes from the boy Isaac himself. As they reach the appointed place and build an altar there, he says to his father, "The fire and the wood are here...but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" In other words, "Everything seems like it's in place, but where's the sacrifice?" That's always a key question when it comes to real and meaningful worship.

We'd do well in our worship to ask the same question Isaac asked: Where is the sacrifice? Sometimes in our worship meetings the "fire" and the "wood" are there -- in other words, outwardly everything seems to be in place, and we think we're set for "great worship." A skilled music team perhaps - or above-average songs or an enthralling preacher. But something is missing -- where is the sacrifice? What I am suggesting is there must be times in our worship services when we cease to say, "Please give me more," and we start to say, "It's time I gave You more." Moments in which we journey from "Here I am, meet me" -- as wonderful a prayer as that can be -- and move on to complete the integrity of worship by crying, "Here I am; send me."

If you turn around and face north you will see a very different sky, a relatively dark one. No bright stars shine there, and few interesting nebulae or galaxies. Because of its position, this same set of constellations rotates around an exceedingly dim, slightly green star. Polaris is its name. It is also called the North Star.

When sailors or even astronauts are lost, they look for this dim little star to regain their sense of direction. It is always in the same spot, the tip of the northern axis that goes through the celestial sphere. It takes a bit of time to learn to find it. People who don’t know anything about the stars usually say, when it is pointed out to them for the first time, “Oh, is that the North Star? I thought it would be brighter.”

People are sometimes described as stars. We look up to them, at their apparent brilliance, and feel ourselves small and insignificant by comparison. They move across the sky of life, luminaries, attracting most of the attention and admiration. Like the moon they constantly change their faces to suit the season. Like the sun they often burn hot. Like meteors they usually burn up quickly.

If you or I have any choice in the matter (and I am convinced that we do), I would like to campaign for the idea of our becoming North Star people. Sure, we might not seem as bright or as interesting as some. Seldom will people point their telescopes at us. And when they do they will no doubt respond, “Oh, I thought she was brighter than that.”

But as North Star people we can serve a deeper purpose. When people need us, we can be there for them, pointing the Way. While the world is spinning at a dizzying pace, we can remain grounded to the same spot, less dazzling but unmovable.

After all, Jesus was a North Star person. There was nothing in his appearance that seemed especially brilliant, according to Isaiah. In his time there were far more dazzling messianic stars who came and went in a flash. But Jesus has always remained there, rooted to the same place in the universe, unmovable. He constantly calls out to us to turn around and behold the dazzling dimness of his light, as it shines in this present world—to find our way to it, and then to find our way by it.

No matter how good you are, no matter how much your admirers make of your work and seek your company, remember this: You are not all there is, even within the stylistic territory you may dominate. There are other territories, ones you may not be able to hold a candle to, and you must turn toward their particular worth, be further schooled and more deeply advised by them. You must, in turn, give your devotees a much-needed lesson in artistic width by telling them -- no, imploring them -- that as much as they love your art, they are severely impoverished if they do not seek to love that which to them may at first be unattractive or "not their style" or "not meeting their needs."

Yet these three tensions do not make us worse worshipers. Instead, they sharpen our devotion and strengthen our resolve to persevere in faith. We see only in part, yet what we see is enough to give us hope and purpose on our journey. And as we go about our worship here and now, we keep one eye fixed on the horizon, confident that one day the imperfect will disappear and we shall know fully even as we are fully known.

C.S. Lewis sums it up best: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sounds it masked. It was a terrifying night.

After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of a path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow.

It was the boy's father. He had been there all night long. Can you think of any better way for a child to learn how God allows us to face the tests of life? God is always present with us. God's presence is unseen, but it is more real than life itself.

God is always at work.
Believe this not only when you win the race and receive rewards
but also when you come in last
and feel defeated.

God is always at work.
Believe this and do what is right
even when others don't understand
and you don't understand
why they don't understand.

God is always at work.
Believe this even when you don't see what He is doing.

Noah had never seen rain when he built the ark.
Abraham and Sarah had no idea where they were going
when they left for the Promised Land.
Moses and Ruth, David and Esther - and millions of others
have succeeded in life because they believed and acted on this truth:

God is always at work.

Cancer is so limited.
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot invade the soul.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the spirit.

At the Lamb’s high feast we sing,
Praise to our victorious King,
Who hath washed us in the tide
Flowing from his piercèd side;
Praise we Him, Whose love divine
Gives His sacred blood for wine,
Gives His body for the feast,
Christ the Victim, Christ the Priest.

Where the Paschal blood is poured,
Death’s dark angel sheathes his sword;
Israel’s hosts triumphant go
Through the wave that drowns the foe.
Praise we Christ, Whose blood was shed,
Paschal Victim, paschal Bread;
With sincerity and love
Eat we Manna from above.

Mighty Victim from the sky,
Hell’s fierce powers beneath Thee lie;
Thou hast conquered in the fight,
Thou hast brought us life and light;
Now no more can death appall,
Now no more the grave enthrall;
Thou hast opened Paradise,
And in Thee Thy saints shall rise.

Paschal triumph, Easter joy,
Only sin can this destroy; From sin’s death do Thou set free
Souls reborn, O Lord, in Thee.
Hymns of glory and of praise, Father, to Thee we raise;
Risen Lord, all praise to Thee,
Ever with the Spirit be.