Meditations Monday: Back to School

Dear Lord; Happy Meditations Monday Father!

To begin our week’s conversations Lord, I first want to give You thanks for the Blessings You granted me this past weekend.  Although a busy couple days to be sure, I was Blessed to spend them in the company of family and friends.  I regularly find myself overwhelmed by the gifts You bring to my life, and thank You for Your continued Presence.  I am indeed Blessed.

Well Father, this Wednesday marks the return to classes for Jonathan and Aidan.  And while they’re a little disappointed that the freedoms of summer are waning, they’re both very excited to dive into a new school year’s “education adventure”.  With that thought in mind, I decided to focus this week’s Meditations Monday Scripture selections on what Your Word has to say about the advancement of knowledge:

…That the path of learning is important to both our head, and our heart:

The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge,
for the ears of the wise seek it out. – Proverbs 18:15 (NIV)

…That putting our children on the proper path will help guide their future:

Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it. – Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

…That wisdom, understanding and knowledge work together to make our lives fuller:

By wisdom a house is built,
and through understanding it is established;

through knowledge its rooms are filled
with rare and beautiful treasures. – Proverbs 24:3-4 (NIV)

Heavenly Father, as our children begin another year’s schooling, please keep Your watchful gaze upon them.  Please help them not only to absorb what they’re taught, but to apply that knowledge towards fulfilling Your desires for their lives.  Open their minds and their hearts, and fill them with that thirst for wisdom that only You can instill.  Lead them Teacher, that they may grow both in this earthly realm, and in Your Kingdom as well.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Our Spiritual Surge Suppressor

Dear Lord; Happy Friday Father!

Wow Lord… What a hectic day it’s been!  As I’m sure You’re aware, we had some violent thunderstorms roll through here last night which always causes a “surge” (pun intended) in business the next day.  In this instance, one of my clients took a spike which routed through their network wiring, killing off five machines and several pieces of infrastructure hardware… Not a pretty picture.  As I was surveying and extracting the damaged equipment for repair this morning, it got me thinking that sin works very much like that surge…

Once we allow sin to enter our lives, it runs rampant, corrupting and damaging everything else it can.

Now, in this client’s case there was very little they could have done to prevent this particular hit from doing damage; we’re very much the same way with regards to sin.  While as Christians, we try to avoid sin wherever we can, we’re certainly not always successful.  It’s a constant battle in our souls Father; the pull of our corrupted, sinful natures versus the righteousness of Your Spirit within us.  Thankfully, with Jesus Christ as our “Spiritual Surge Suppressor”, we have the protection we need to arrest sin’s progress in us so we can best operate as You intend.

Heavenly Father, as we go into the weekend we thank You for all the Blessings You’ve surrounded us with this week.  I pray that for all of life’s “surges” that present themselves, we remember to place our trust in the One that can see us through the storms safely.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thankful Thursday: The Right Perspective

Dear Lord; Happy Thankful Thursday Father!

You know Father, as I’ve mentioned before I really LOVE Thankful Thursday posts.  While I try to give thanks each day for the abundance of Blessings You grace me with, having a weekly post that leads me to recollect all the little things that bring a smile to my heart puts me in exactly the right perspective:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

I ran across a blog posting today at stevenfurtick.com that said it beautifully:

“With God, ‘thank you’ should always come before ‘please.’ The first thing that needs to come out of my mouth in prayer and worship needs to be praise for who God is and what He has done. Not just instructions for what I want or even need Him to do.”

So true.

Therefore Father, with that perspective firmly embedded in my heart, this week I’ve been thankful for:

196. A silly, giggly, tasty dinner with Shannon and the kids at a new Mexican Restaurant.

197. Getting some “one-on-one” time with Aidan while Jonathan was away at Kay’s Kamp.

198. For a sweet Bloggy Friend who reminded me to look at flowering weeds as flowers, and not weeds (Thank you Jean!).

199. Cool, clear mornings which let me leave my windows down in the truck on the way to work.

200. A fun night out with my lovely Wife last Friday night.

201. Getting the opportunity to attend “Media Day” at Kay’s Kamp, and seeing the Blessed work they do for the children.

202. Inspiring testimonies from courageous people.

203. Getting well over 50,000 miles on my truck tires before having to replace them.

204. Free lifetime map and software updates available for my GPS.

205. Finding new school uniform clothing for the boys at Goodwill dirt cheap.

206. Jonathan having another wonderful week away at Kay’s Kamp.

207. Having inexpensive generic versions available for the medications we take.

208. Tootsie Fruit Rolls.

209. My portable digital voice recorder that allows me to note things I’m thankful for at the time they come to me.

210. Waking up next to the lady I love each and every day.

Heavenly Father, once again I thank You for all the Blessings You grace our lives with each day; both those that shine brilliantly with Your Light, and those that Bless us quietly, without fanfare.  I pray that You will continue to open my eyes wider to Your gifts, that I may appreciate them to the full.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Meditations Monday: Our Darkest Hour

Dear Lord; Happy Meditations Monday Father!

Well Father, it certainly was a busy weekend, but all-in-all a wonderful couple days’ time spent enjoying time with family and good friends.  With Jonathan still at Kamp and Aidan spending the night with friends, Shannon and I got to go out Friday evening for a fun “date night” (I so love “dating” my wife Lord…).  Saturday morning we picked up Aidan, and spent the remainder of the morning attending the closing ceremonies at Kay’s Kamp.  We got some quiet time to rest Saturday afternoon, and then headed out to have dinner with a group of our friends.  It rained much of the evening, but we had an absolutely wonderful time nonetheless.  Sunday morning we braved the downpour to attend morning services at Ewell’s St. Paul United Methodist Church, and enjoyed jubilant music, a wonderful Message from Pastor Kris and the fellowship of our church family.  We managed to catch up on a little housework while relaxing the remainder of the day, and concluded the weekend with a tasty dinner out together at a new Mexican restaurant in Smyrna.  As I said before Lord, it was a hectic few days, but one that was truly filled with Your Blessings… Thank You!

Today’s Meditations Monday Scripture comes from Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, Chapter 2.  This morning while driving into the office, I heard an extremely inspiring story on 88.7 The Bridge which truly touched my heart.  They played an interview with a young lady who is currently facing her own mortality due to an uncontrolled cancer that has now spread to her brain.  Instead of dwelling in her suffering, she’s instead focusing on Your Blessings in her life, and lifted praises to You as she was baptized yesterday.  It was a humbling message of Faith Father, and it led me to the verse choice I’m praying on this morning:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)

So often when we get into situations that cause us pain, or discomfort, or even just inconvenience we develop “spiritual short-sightedness”, and mire ourselves down in our burdens rather than allowing those trials to strengthen our Faith, and to draw us closer to You.  I pray that we can all learn from her courageous example Father, and seek You even in our darkest hour.

Heavenly Father, I lift my voice in praise for the Blessings You bring to our lives each day.  I pray that Your comforting embrace continues to be felt by Kim and her family during this difficult season, and that they can draw strength from the knowledge that You’re always with them.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thankful Thursday: Kampers Give Thanks

Dear Lord; Happy Thankful Thursday Father!

As I wrote to You yesterday Father, Wednesday morning I was Blessed with the opportunity to visit Kay’s Kamp at St. Andrew’s School, and got to witness first-hand the wonderful work the Kamp Staff does for the children that attend.  As Jonathan has been a Kamper since they opened their doors in 2009, it was an emotional and eye-opening visit for me, and I left feeling very thankful for the Blessings You deliver through their hands.

As part of my visit, I spent time with the “Newsletter Group”.  Each day at Kamp, a newsletter is created by the staff and children which describes what’s going on, reports on Kamp gossip and lists some answers to interview questions posed by the Kamp “reporters”.  With the assistance of the staff, I was able to add a question to the list for the day…

What about Kamp are you thankful for?

Here are their answers Father.  🙂

– All the activities we do because can’t do this stuff at home.

– The Pillow Fairy coming every year.

– That kids get to enjoy themselves here!

– Thankful for just being here.

– Pranking the boys.

– Sports and Games.

– Coffee.

– Zoo Keepers.

– Just being part of it.

– The food.

– Bathrooms.

– Dessert.

– Jennie and all floaters.

– Bugspray.

– Learning new things.

– For coming here every summer.

– The Kampers.

– Derek.

– The kitchen staff.

– The counselors.

– Markie.

– Mr. Bling.

– Kristin.

– All the stuff they do for us so we can have fun.

While I don’t actually know what all of these mean, or who some of these folks are Father, it’s obvious that the staff and the Kampers are very thankful for this week of fun.  🙂

Heavenly Father, for all of the Blessings you bestow on us each day; both those that are obvious and those that grace us without fanfare, we give thanks.  I pray that Your Light continues to brighten our hearts, and that we are effective in shining that divine radiance to those around us.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil