Closer Today Than Yesterday: Monday Night Dec 08, 2008

Monday, December 8, 2008

Monday Night Dec 08, 2008

Several things to post up here now.

First, I'm asking for your prayers. By now you may have noticed that I don't post everyday. Saturdays and Sundays in particular seldom get a post from me. That's because I can't seem to do my devotionals on those days. Here's the problem I need your help with... I want to do my devotionals everyday. But on Saturday, my flesh is weak, I sleep a little late and then with the schedules and routines all in disarray, I can't seem to ever get my devotional done. That's not to say that I'm not spending any time with God, because I often work on other 'related' things such as lesson plans, talks, etc. But between me and you, that's not what I've committed to. Sundays are a slightly different matter because I get plenty of time with God, I just don't have a devotional and I don't post anything. But again, that just doesn't get it. So... I'm asking for you to pray that I will live up to the commitment that I've made to have a DAILY devotional and not just a WEEKDAY devotional. The lack of a blog entry isn't a big deal to me but the lack of the devotional is. Help a brother out here. :)

Second, you'll note from the time of this post that I'm way off schedule. That's because I'm traveling this week. That means that I got up this morning and instead of engaging in my daily routines, I had to pack up and get to the airport. Guess what else that means? I missed my devotional this morning! See item #1 above! Anyway, I find that when my routines get disrupted, I find it far too easy to cut corners on the devotional. I don't like it, I'm not happy about it but I do it anyway. It's amazing to me how easily I can skip my appointment with God as if my 'stuff' is more important than my time with Him. That just smacks of arrogance! So not only do I covet your prayers (item #1) above, I covet your prayers that while I'm traveling I will TAKE THE TIME in the mornings to have my devotional. It seems insane that when I need God the most that's when I stop doing the devotional. Puh-leese!

That said, I'm going to have my devotional now and will post a suitable blog entry in a little while.

Thanks for loving me. Thanks for praying for me. Thanks for being my friend.

Not So Smart,
Carl

1 comment:

Bill said...: Well, I'm birthday motivated to reply to your prayer request. Of course I'll pray; but I'm also going to be praising God that your responding - not reacting - to God, the Holy Spirit with this conviction and directionality.

Whenever our battle plan is in need for tweaking or major wall building, God's Spirit will bring us, as He has you, to a point of conviction. Then, as He also has with you, if we are receptive to the enabling grace He has for us, we are directed into a more intense or clarified following mode. Sometimes this can take some major league wacks with His Shepherd's crook or even breaking our leg to get us into surrender mode; but when we finally are willing and intentionally choose to follow, He will give us the direction we need to redirect or retool our battle plan (i.e., life worship) and then to follow Him in the Spirit of Luke 9: 23 and Prov. 3: 5-6.

I praise God because that's what I see you doing, Carl ... <'KOKO><

Bill; December 9, 2008 at 8:55 AM

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So I Stand Near The Gate

I read the below poem at a critical point in my life and it's message resonated with me. My ministry, "Near The Gate" was named in homage to this poem. When reading this poem, feel free to substitute the word 'gate' for the word 'door' and you'll have a little glimpse inside my head.

SO I STAY NEAR THE DOOR

By the Reverend Canon Samuel Moor Shoemaker, Jr., D.D., S.T.D.

I stay near the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world–
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There’s no use my going way inside, and staying there,
When so many are still outside, and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it - - -
So I stay near the door.
The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door–the door to God.
The most important thing any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,
And put it on the latch–the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man’s own touch.
Men die outside that door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter–
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live, on the other side of it–because they have found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him - - -
So I stay near the door.
Go in, great saints, go all the way in–
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics–
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, or sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms,
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in,
Sometimes venture a little farther;
But my place seems closer to the opening - - -
So I stay near the door.
There is another reason why I stay there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great, and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia.
And want to get out. "Let me out!" they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled
For the old life, they have seen too much;
Once taste God, and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving–preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door,
But would like to run away. So for them too,
I stay near the door.
I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door,
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply, and stay too long,
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him, and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there, too.
Where? Outside the door–
Thousands of them, millions of them.
But–more important for me–
One of them, two of them, ten of them,
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
For those I shall stay by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
"I had rather be a door-keeper . . . "
So I stay near the door

Closer Today Than Yesterday

Monday, December 8, 2008

Monday Night Dec 08, 2008

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Monday Night Dec 08, 2008

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