My Heart Cries for Her

Dear Lord; Happy Tuesday Father!

A couple weeks ago Lord, I spoke with You at length about one of the children from Kay’s Kamp and how he was desperately in need of Your Presence.  Well, as I know You’re aware his physical condition has since declined, and he’s not been doing well as of late.

This evening, I read a new entry from his mother’s journal at CaringBridge.org and it brought me to tears.  It was posted on Mother’s Day, and reading it I felt her frustration, and her pain, and her anguish at watching her son endure these trials.

I’ve been where she is… And my heart cries for her Lord.

I know that we don’t have the “Big Picture” Father, and that while on this Earth we never will.  I know that all throughout our times of pain, and suffering, and grief that You’re by our side, whether we see that at the time, or not.  I know that You love us more than we can possibly comprehend Lord…

But my heart cries for her all the same.

When Your plan for our family led us to these remarkable children Father, I knew I had been forever altered.  I see things now that I could never have even begun to comprehend before, and yet I still feel like I have so much to learn.  My eyes and heart have been opened in ways that only You understand, but I have so far left to travel in Your Service.  I know of Your Wonder and Infinite Love for us all…

And yet my heart cries for her all the same.

Heavenly Father, please bring Your Healing and Comfort to this little boy and his mother.  They’re tired Lord, and frightened, and in desperate need of Your Divine Presence.  Whatever Your Plan is for them Father, please let them feel Your Loving Arms about them and know Your Peace.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

P.S. The journal and information on this courageous little boy and his mother can be found at : http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dorianh.  Please keep them in your prayers during this difficult time.

Spiritually Malnourished

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!

Today Father, as You know my thoughts and prayers were very much reaching towards Shannon as she began her new job.  This transition has weighed heavily on her heart, but today went very well and I believe she’s feeling better about her decision now.  Either way, thank You for watching over her today and every day, and guiding her along this path.

Mondays are generally busy days in my office Lord.  And while it’s wonderful from a business perspective to be inundated with work, days like today can hold my focus to the point of excluding other important activities from the list… like eating.

I really meant to take a break and get some food today, but it just never happened.  One project led into another until I looked at the clock and it was already after 4:00pm.  Driving home, I had to pause for a few moments as I got a little light-headed… not a good sign for me.  By the time I got to the house, I was tired, hungry, and even a bit on the grumpy side.

Very much like when I haven’t talked to You in a while Father… Spiritually malnourished.

With the crazy schedules we maintain these days, spending dedicated time with You can sometimes be slid aside by activities we feel are more pressing and immediate.  The catch-22 is of course, that maintaining a tight personal relationship with You is just as vital to our well-being as is food to eat, or air to breathe.  When we don’t spend that “meal time” with You each day, we suffer as a whole.

Nourish me Father…  Feed my desperate spirit.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the Blessings You bestow on us each day.  Please fill us with Your Presence, and sustain us through Your Word to lead the lives You Will for us.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thankful Thursday: The Gift of Prayer

Dear Lord; Happy Thankful Thursday Father!

Once again Lord, we come upon another Thankful Thursday here at PhatherPhil.org.  Unlike other weeks where I’ve struggled to narrow down just what I’m most thankful for, this week was almost prescribed for me by, oddly enough, the United States Congress.  Yes, in 1952 the U.S. Congress officially designated that the first Thursday of May each year would be a National Day of Prayer, and it just seems wonderfully fitting to me that it falls on a Thankful Thursday.

I am truly thankful for the Gift of Prayer Father!

I wholeheartedly believe that prayer is absolutely a Gift You’ve given us Lord, and in my opinion one of Your most magnanimous and precious gifts of all.  Through prayer, You Grace us with the inherent ability to commune with You.  Little, flawed, lowly beings such as we, can “dial up” the Creator of Everything and have a one-on-one conversation… How miraculous is that??  Through prayer you give us the path to obtaining the most precious thing we can in this life; a personal relationship with You.

It’s a humbling, and yet amazingly powerful gift Lord, and I thank You for that “Bat Phone” connection to You with all my heart.  🙂

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Dear Lord; Good evening Father!

Decisions; life is full of them.  Every single day we’re called upon to make choices that impact our lives, and in many cases the lives of those around us.  Some are small, simple ones such as what to have for lunch (although that never seems to be simple in my office for some reason…), and others, well, are not so simple.  Either way, our lives are shaped by the decisions we make, and the paths we follow.

Case in point:

My wife Shannon is in the throes of a fairly significant decision; one that could have both short and long-term consequences, but also the potential for significant life-changing benefits.  Like all choices of this kind, there are a number of back-and-forth arguments on both sides of the equation, making the correct path less than obvious.  Sitting down with her and talking about it this evening, we hashed it out from nearly every side we could come up with, and in the end were left with a couple piles of “what if” scenarios.  Finally, I asked her a simple question;

Have you prayed about it?

She indicated she had, and that during that discussion with You Father, You told her to follow her heart.  While I believe she would have preferred a “Do this and everything will work out.” answer, You instead left her to determine what her heart truly is leading her to do, and the knowledge that You’re behind her when she does.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” – James 1:5-6 (NIV)

I think that a great many of Your answers to our prayers are like this Lord.  We’ve become a “quick fix” society and want instant solutions to our problems, but You instead use these crossroads in our lives to help us to grow and to learn.  Just because You don’t give us concrete answers to our pleas doesn’t mean You don’t have the solutions, simply that we need to pay closer attention to Your Truths and use those resources to do what we know to be right.

Heavenly Father, please guide and enlighten us to make the decisions that best serve Your Plan for us.  Please help filter out the “noise” around us which can lead us astray, and allow us to focus on Your Voice so as to choose the best path forward.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Only What the Lord Says

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!

As I’ve discussed with You before Father, I’ve been spending time reading through the Old Testament as of late.  I’m not sure exactly why I’ve been drawn to these Books at this point in time, but I’m picking up perspectives I’ve missed in the past and a new sense of “origin” that’s added structure to my knowledge of You.  It always fascinates me how as I read, certain passages “speak” to me, and I’d like to go over one such section if I may.

The passages I’m referring to occur in the Book of Numbers, and describe an interaction between Balaam and King Balak following Balaam’s blessing of the Israelites for a third time, instead of cursing them as Balak had brought him to do.  In this dialogue, Balaam is dealing with a very frazzled Balak:

“Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times.  Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”

Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says’?” – Numbers 24:10-13 (NIV)

Now, Balaam initially set out on this job led by greed to get paid for cursing the enemies of the king, but was quickly reminded that You run the show and was instead brought into Your service.  In the end, his eyes were opened and he not only stood firm against the king by prophesying success for the Israelites, but also through the Spirit foretold of Balak’s fate as well.

Balaam learned his lesson; Your Voice is the one we need to heed, not those around us.  When all is said and done, Your Will is the only Truth.

Such a simple, but essential and fundamental lesson that is Father!  May we all go forward with the conviction You gave to Balaam on that day, and maintain Your Truth in our hearts.

Amen.

~Phather Phil