STEVE PRAYED PSALM 10 IN THE NIGHT, AS HE WAS NEARING THE END OF HIS EARTHLY LIFE IT IS A PSALM OF LAMENT, EXPRESSING THE PSALMIST’S GENUINE FEARS IT IS A PSALM THAT SEES THE SORROW ON EARTH, AND THE CRUELTY OF MAN. I KNOW STEVE FEARED FOR HIS DAUGHTERS IF GOD WAS REMOVING HIM FROM THE EARTH. HE THOUGHT OFTEN ABOUT BETH, WHO HAD EXPERIENCED THE TERROR OF MAN IN THAILAND, A LAND KNOWN FOR THE SEX TRADE OF YOUNG GIRLS. THOUGH SHE HAD BEEN PROTECTED UNDER STEVE’S CARE, NOW, IT SEEMED, GOD WAS CALLING STEVE HOME. HE CRIED OUT, REMEMBERING THAT GOD IS “THE HELPER OF THE FATHERLESS.” PSALM 10 TEACHES US HOW TO PRAY FOR THE HELPLESS FOR GIRLS LIKE BETH IN THAILAND. FOR FAMILIES CRUELLY DEPRIVED OF THEIR HOMES IN SYRIA. FOR WIDOWS AND ORPHANS IN […]

THIS BUCK AMAZED ME, LEAPING FROM THE BEACH, INCHES FROM MY WINDOW THE SONG OF SONGS COMPARES OUR GOD TO A GAZELLE OR YOUNG STAG, LEAPING OVER THE MOUNTAINS, BOUNDING OVER THE HILLS. JESUS CULTURE SINGS THIS — LET IT WASH OVER YOU. PSALM 9 SINGS OF THESE GLORIOUS TIMES WHEN GOD COMES, WHEN GOD FIGHTS FOR US, WHEN HE IS A STRONGHOLD IN TIMES OF TROUBLE. LAST WEEK I WAS IN THE TEXAS PRISONS AND DESPITE ALL THE PREPARATION, I ALMOST DIDN’T GET IN, FOR I HAD A NEW WISCONSIN DRIVER’S LICENSE THAT DID NOT MATCH THEIR RECORDS. WE STOOD OUTSIDE THE PRISON GATE PRAYING, WHILE THE OFFICER TRIED TO FIND A WAY, MAKING PHONE CALLS… WANTING TO LET US IN, BUT NOT WANTING TO LOSE HIS JOB. OUR NERVOUSNESS INCREASED AS TIME PASSED, AND THEN! THE GATE OPENED! […]

The Lord sets His face against the proud, but He is for the humble, the outcast, the afflicted. I’ve seen it again and again. This is my just born granddaughter, Sadie. She is a gift of God to my daughter Sally and her husband Phil. She was a much prayed for baby. (Many of you know Sally through her Aslan painting which you can see through this link: http://deebrestin.wpengine.com/products/aslan-posters-prints/ Sally was led to paint Aslan because she wanted to try to get an answer to why a good God allowed so much suffering. He did give her a surprising answer. Often we don’t know why He allows suffering, and we are called to accept the mystery of suffering, but we do know God is good. We also know, according to the psalms we will be studying this week, that “He […]