Learning to Be

We are about to head into some of the hottest weather of the year.  My weather apps have been blowing up on my phone.  Thursday is supposed to be 108 degrees.  When it was about 100 degrees a week or so ago, I put my thermometer outside on the front porch in the sun.  See above what it registered.  It’s always hotter out front of our house because we have lava rock instead of grass out there.  That’s nice if we don’t want to mow, but not so nice when it’s hot out.  It was that way when we moved here. I think my front porch will hit at least 120 degrees on Thursday.  I have seen it go up to 130 in the past on a really hot day.  Oh joy!

I had a great weekend visiting my mom and Blayne.  We had a lot of fun.  We laughed a lot.

Sunday I attended church with my mom in Walla Walla.  The take home message to me was that it is more important to "be" than to "do".  Be in a relationship with God first, then "do".  In 2 Cor. 8:5 the Macedonian believers first gave themselves to the Lord and then gave themselves to the service of God by giving themselves to the apostles for God’s service.  Since I have been meditating on that wonderful verse in Psalms that says, "Be still and know that I am God...". The concept of  "be" really hits home with me.  Be in relationship with God means to be still and know that He is God.

Relationships take time.  To cultivate a relationship with God is no different.  We need to take the time to "be" with God and "be" still and know He is God.  When things get rough, just stop and "be".  Be with it.  Be still.  Be with God.  Know that He is God.  Take a deep breath. God will get you through it if He has brought you to it.

I often think of those boys that were trapped in that cave in Thailand and the divers who rescued them.  The divers marveled at how calm the boys were.  They were told what they would have to go through to get out of the cave.  It included shots, and being put to sleep.  Not one boy whimpered or complained.  They were just calm and accepted the conditions to get out. This is the kind of calm I wish to cultivate.  Be still and know that He is God calm.

I think of the divers.  When asked about the idea that they were heros, one of them said, "No we aren’t heros.  What we do is just very calm and calculating. We do this all the time as a hobby and we were just able to use the skills to help rescue the boys."  Calm and calculating.  Can you imagine how stressful it was to swim in unknown territory blind, not knowing when you might bash your head against the rocks and then having this sleeping child with you that you had to guide out of the cave, not knowing if they would be alive at the next check point or not?  Yet they were very calm about their work.  There lives depended on that calmness.  Panic in those conditions would mean certain death.  Again, this is the kind of calm I want to cultivate.  Be still and know that He is God.  Just "be".