Updates

Dear SCC & Friends, …without ceasing… ~1 Thessalonians 5:17 Reflection #345                  It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ~Anon.~ To pray without ceasing is impossible unless we realize that prayer is far more than an endless repetition of words. There is no record of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to heal, but they did ask Jesus to teach them to pray… Jesus modeled prayer… And in the…

Dear SCC & Friends, …your inner room… ~Matthew 6:6 Reflection #344                  We are never too young or too old to pray… The first time I remember praying fervently was out of my need. It looked like my dad was going to be deployed to a war in the Middle East. I was only nine-years old, and when I heard about it, I got off by myself and told the Lord I couldn’t make it without my dad. I knew…

Dear SCC & Friends, …Where are you? ~Genesis 3:9 Reflection #343                  The Lord knows where we are and what we’re doing at all times in all places. Nothing is hidden from His sight… In a very real sense, there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit? To be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If…

Dear SCC & Friends, …marriage… ~Hebrews 13:4 Reflection #342                  Next week Dudley and I celebrate fifty-four years of marriage… We were married in the historic Post Chapel at Ft. Myer, Virginia, which is adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery. It was a beautiful fall day… Military honor guard, family and friends gathered to witness a promise Dudley and I were about to make… Looking back, our marriage was really a leap of faith. …the substance of things hoped for, the…

Dear SCC & Friends, …your times… ~Isaiah 33:6 Reflection #341                  Time is not just a ticking clock, but a sequence of purposeful seasons controlled by God. ~Anon.~ The ancient Greeks had two words for the concept of time, Chronos and Kairos. Chronos refers to chronological or sequential time… the literal passing of hours, days and years on a calendar. Kairos signifies a strategic or opportune time for action often revealed as a turning point ordained by God. Chronos time…

Dear SCC & Friends, …not in vain… ~1 Corinthians 15:58 Reflection #340                  Sometimes we’re too hard on ourselves… Our thoughts become echo chambers of what we could have done better… expressing regrets and second guessing ourselves… We could and should have worked harder, studied more and been a “better everything”… Even if true, is there any good derived when we play that mantra in our heads? …when they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they are…

Dear SCC & Friends, …in all labor… ~Proverbs 14:23 Reflection #339                  Work can be defined as a mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a desired result. It is an action focused on results… In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. ~Prov. 14:23 The old country song, “Take This Job and Shove It” is a disservice to both the dignity and necessity of work. Viktor Frankl, Nazi Holocaust survivor and renowned…

Dear SCC & Friends, …other gods… ~Deuteronomy 11:16 Reflection #338                  Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else. ~Spurgeon~ We may think of idols and idolatry as a thing of the past or only in places marked by primitive cultures and religious superstitions. The truth is an idol isn’t just a carved statue or an exotic object of great value… Idolatry can be anything we love, trust or pursue more than…

Dear SCC & Friends, For the vision… ~Habakkuk 2:3 Reflection #337                  Vision is what could be before it becomes what is. ~Anon.~ The spiritual is not first, but the natural… ~1 Cor. 15:46 …When I was fourteen, nearly one hundred of us tried out for the freshman football team. In that era, not everyone made the roster… Coaches could cut you from the team, and parents had very little say…. I vividly remember the sweat and strain of “Football Camp” in the intense August heat…

Dear SCC & Friends, …should anyone complain? ~Lamentations 3:39 Reflection #336                  Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins?  ~Lam. 3:39 Complaining is an expression of dissatisfaction, annoyance or frustration about something believed to be wrong, unfair, difficult or not the result we want. The opposite of complaining isn’t quietly pretending everything is good – It’s trusting the Lord is at work in present circumstances… Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean…

Dear SCC & Friends, I will sing… ~Psalm 89:1 Reflection #335                  He who sings, prays twice. ~Augustine~ I love to sing to the Lord… I just don’t do it enough. Listening to someone else sing and actually singing are two different things. It’s a bit ironic that some people who love music don’t like to sing that much. They listen and enjoy the best of secular and sacred music but rarely sing themselves be it in church or at home… Why? Maybe it’s…

Dear SCC & Friends, I am the way. ~John 14:6 Reflection #334                  We don’t really know Jesus is all we need until Jesus is all we know. ~Tim Keller~ A crisis may be defined as a turning point for better or worse in an acute situation… an emotionally significant event or radical change in situation. A crisis doesn’t make a person, it only reveals what’s in a person. …don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing,…