So You Want To Be A Pastor

The most crucial advice I can offer to any pastor, whether they're seasoned, just starting out, or even considering ministry, is profoundly simple yet immensely powerful. It's a truth that has resonated in my heart for years, and I've finally found the words to express it.

In the book of Acts, there's a remarkable passage where the Pharisees are astounded by the disciples' wisdom and eloquence, despite their lack of formal education. The secret to their profound knowledge? They had been with Jesus.

This, dear friends, is the cornerstone of effective pastoral ministry. The single most important thing you can do as a pastor is to consistently spend time with Jesus. This practice will unlock wisdom, deepen your understanding, and provide divine insight. It will equip you with Christ's words and empower you to teach God's truth with heavenly wisdom, guided by the Holy Spirit.

But what does 'being with Jesus' look like in practical terms? It means immersing yourself in God's Word daily. Are you reading the Bible regularly? Are you not just reading, but truly absorbing it, pondering its messages, and meditating on its truths? Equally important is prayer. Are you engaging in meaningful conversation with Jesus Christ, both speaking and listening?

I firmly believe that if you commit to these practices daily - spending time in the Word and in prayer - you will become an effective pastor. Combine this with a genuine love for people, and I can almost guarantee your success in ministry. This is more vital than any seminary education or formal training.

Looking back on my years in ministry, I can clearly see that my most fruitful seasons were those when I prioritized being with Jesus. So, to all aspiring pastors, I implore you to take this to heart. Make spending time with Jesus your top priority. It's the secret to pastoral success, the insider information that will set you apart. 

Amen.

Stillness

 

For me, this is true. 

Lenten Reader Prayer Devotional

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

   

1   Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem!

    Raise the alarm on my holy mountain!

Let everyone tremble in fear

    because the day of the Lord is upon us.

2 It is a day of darkness and gloom,

    a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.

Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains,

    a great and mighty army appears.

Nothing like it has been seen before

    or will ever be seen again.

   

   

   

12  That is why the Lord says,

    “Turn to me now, while there is time.

Give me your hearts.

    Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,

    but tear your hearts instead.”

Return to the Lord your God,

    for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

    He is eager to relent and not punish.

14 Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve,

    sending you a blessing instead of this curse.

Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine

    to the Lord your God as before.

15 Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!

    Announce a time of fasting;

call the people together

    for a solemn meeting.

16 Gather all the people—

    the elders, the children, and even the babies.

Call the bridegroom from his quarters

    and the bride from her private room.

17 Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence,

    stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.

Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!

    Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.

Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,

    ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

   

   

-----------------------------------------------------

There are times when life with God becomes so mundane.

We believe there is more to be experienced with him because we’ve heard about it, and we’ve read about it in the scriptures. But we don’t know how to get from there from here.

So we try changing things up to try and improve. We might get up early for devotions. We might volunteer down at the food bank. We might try to memorize some verses. We might join a small group. All good things yes. But all the kinds of things that fit nicely into a New Year’s resolution.

Our passage from Joel today tells us that there is something we can do, but we might not think it’s written for us today. The prophet Joel gives us ample warning that the day of the Lord is coming. A day of sober sadness, a day of darkness and gloom perhaps unknown in our lives. It may be THE day of the Lord, or it may be a day of the Lord’s visitation in our lives. Whichever it< might be, it is a message of warning that Joel was called on to deliver to his generation, and to us.

What if this Lenten season we received his warning, and began to act on it as he instructs us. What if we would turn towards God with a sorrow filled heart? What if we were to call our hearts to a sacred assembly, a holy meeting with God, and repent?

Oh, we may say we have nothing to repent of. Our relationship with Christ is good.

Yes, I know it is. Mine is too. However, I found when I started to heed His warning, and I intentionally stopped and turned towards Him, and I asked Him what I should repent of, He showed me my selfish acts. My acts of pride. My incidents of self righteousness. He showed me my moments of anger. He showed me my envy and my careless attitude. On and on He showed me. I began to repent, and it has led to more repentance, and its turned into a season of repentance.

It turns out I do have things to repent of and to clean up between Jesus and me. (And if I run out of things to repent for, I can start repenting on behalf of my nation.)

And you know what? Life gets a little clearer, and my step gets a little lighter and gladness takes the place of what was once mundane in my relationship with God.

Amazing how that works.




Evangelical Covenant Church of Canada 2024 Lenten Reader

 

Daily Prayers for the First of January And I was able to record it outside!!

 

What a Weird Wonderful Winter We've had so far!!

The Daily Prayers run here:  thefieldpastor.com

Daily Prayers for Advent

 

We are bringing back Daily Prayers for Advent this year so if you are interested, come by thefieldpastor.com which is the link to my Youtube account.

Each weekday in Advent we plan to have another video available, so come and join in.

March

The world seems to be opening up around here, at least in this province it is. I know that some are very nervous about that, and some are very very nervous about being in public again or around people in general. They have been so long away from others that it has messed with their willingness to be around people.  But my point is that the world is opening up again. And we have our first Covid related funeral this week as well.

Where was I going with this??

Right, the beginning of March. Wasn't it March 15th here that every thing shut down? I think it was. So it's nearly two years to the day that it moves along. That will help the conspiracy theorists. :) 

I just uploaded the latest "Daily Prayer" video.  It's become an appreciated regular morning time in the book for me. Probably even if no body watched it, it would still have value for me. It is a good discipline for me and just being in the Bible in some way, pours life into me. And believe me, right now I need that life. Tomorrow's Daily is from Psalm 119 Ever Ponder The Direction Of Your Life? A perfect question I have been asking myself. The timing is good for me.

March is here. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and then we are on the move through Lent, into Holy Week and Easter. May that Sun melt away the snow and cold, outside and in.

Scattered but Worshipping Together

So, yes I am a pastor. I care for a church of people and each Sunday for 127 years there has been prayer happening here in this Field, barring bad weather or the occasional single Sunday away. I still don't know what happened here during the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918-1920, though I'm looking though old minutes. But I don't think they closed the doors then. But for this pandemic our doors are closed for who know how long.

So how do we provide some sense of community and corporate worship and prayer experience for the people who normally worship here. Many churches are internet streaming empty sanctuaries with preachers preaching from the front. That's fine for them. But we figure we're not really streaming people. For some they would have difficulty making it work, for others, they don't even have the internet in their homes yet.

So we settled on the idea of Scattered but Worshipping Together. We prepared a sheet of prayers and scripture readings along with a short devotional. At 11 am on Sunday, families, couples and individuals throughout the area gathered in their homes to worship "Together." Early reviews report that it was a significant time for people. This may not end up being a season of lack, but a season of abundance, as people worship together in ways maybe they've never experienced before.

Its the community people miss the most. Connection and community is a big part of our long history. I hope we don't have to do this for an extended period of time but it remains to be seen how long this will go.

I am comforted by the fact that none of this is a surprise to God. Christ has been the head of his church for over 2000 years and has seen it through some pretty dark days. He did warn us that in this world we would have troubles.

Boy, was he right

A Prayer for the New Year

Keep us, O Lord,
while we tarry on this earth,
in a serious seeking after you,
and in an affectionate walking with you,
every day of our lives;
that when you come,
we may be found not hiding our talent,
nor serving the flesh,
nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished,
but waiting and longing for our Lord,
our glorious God for ever.


Richard Baxter (1691)

The Tree Abides

It’s been a week of early mornings and late nights and now the cold has come to join us. Still the tree abides. Apparently we are in no big rush to see it go, and I’m ok with that.

In early mornings when I get up and late nights when I get home, it still inspires me with childlike wonder. And I can use all of that I can get hold of.

The Grace of Wonder

“Joseph it's time, he's here.”
Very few of us as human beings, are given a great dose of Wonder to face life with. For most of us as we transform from children to adults, we lose the sense of wonder. The grace of awe.
The wise ones hold on to their wonder, and the rest of us look at them with impatience, wondering when they will grow up and face the world like the rest of us do. We say “Grow up” BUT Jesus said you must become as a little child.

Christmas is a time when wonder is real, when Wonder became flesh and dwelt among us. Wonder has always been associated with Christmas.

What about Mary’s eyes as the angel told her what was to come?
“Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1)

There is a hint of fear there in her big probably brown eyes as she receives this news. But she asks how will this happen, since she is a virgin?
“The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

You can feel her confidence returning and the wonder start as she replies:
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

God was at work creating a way for humanity to be introduced to himself. Making a way for us to connect with Him. This baby in a manger is God’s best attempt to tell us in a gentle way, that he loves us. God came into this space and time to give us a hope in solving this human condition.

Born as a baby, Jesus Christ lived life here and had some dear friends and family but had an amazing relationship of love with his Heavenly Father. Some thirty three years later he died undeservedly on a cross, and then conquered death and came back to life. That’s pretty wonder-ful.

You see, wonder has always been associated with Christmas. Because God is the God of wonder.

This world needs a God of miracles, a God of wonder. A God who satisfies our tired hearts and offers us hope in a time of hopelessness.

Christmas was always about light shining in the darkness — Jesus entering this human existence. Maybe we should take a lesson from those with child like wonder this season.

Yes, wonder has always been a part of Christmas. It’s not just for five year olds and for women having babies. It’s for each of us because the God of Wonders is the God of Christmas.

Let me close with a line from a video;

But would they, could they,
imagine a gift so great,
a gift that compelled the whole world to wait
when a heavenly father gave all of mankind
his son
the one
love defined.
The magic of Christmas is more brilliant you see
then a bag or a box put under a tree.
The true love of Christmas really began
when holy God became wholly man.
My friends it's time, he's here.

A Prayer before Sleeping

Before the ending of the day,
Creator of the world, we pray
That you, with steadfast love, would keep
Your watch around us while we sleep.

From evil dreams defend our sight,
From fears and terrors of the night;
Tread underfoot our deadly foe
That we no sinful thought may know.

O Father, that we ask be done
Through Jesus Christ, your only Son;
And Holy Spirit, by whose breath
Our souls are raised to life from death.

Black Thursday?

It feels like it’s turning into one of those days where you have to push and fight for every inch forward. That every new thing on the schedule seems against you, like shoveling water, or running on ice.

Let’s just say that the car is in the shop, and I’ve just left the dentist with half a frozen mouth slurring speech. My appointments for the afternoon need to be rescheduled, depends on how long the car is in the shop.

But for today we do have the money to cover it. For today we’ll be alright.

There have been many years in our lives that we haven’t had the money. That we don’t get the car fixed or that we just pull the tooth and eat more soup.

Yet it’s not lost on me that all of our kids have straight teeth. That I have not had to eat more soup (although I want to eat more soup because I like it) And that whenever the broken cars we have had have died, there’s always been something else ready for us to use. Every time we’ve needed a vehicle, it’s been there.

So really I have much to be grateful for. I have not had to depend on my own strength or my own resources to save the day. Seems that the passage in Matthew 6 is true.

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

For us anyway.
Be blessed.

We called her the Velvet Fog because she always left a trail of blue smoke behind her.

I just never realized how many kms we put on it, till I found this photo.

We should have called it Jehoveh-jireh, God provides.

Love still changes people

Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche communities, said, “My experience has shown that when we welcome people from this world of anguish, brokenness and depression, and when they gradually discover that they are wanted and loved as they are and that they have a place, then we witness a real transformation — I would even say ‘resurrection.’ Their tense, angry, fearful, depressed body gradually becomes relaxed, peaceful and trusting. This shows through the expression on the face and through all their flesh. As they discover a sense of belonging, that they are part of a ‘family,’ then the will to live begins to emerge. I do not believe it is of any value to push people into doing things unless this desire to live and to grow has begun to emerge.”

Isn’t this the work of the Kingdom of God and the church as well?

The skies are speaking to us

From morning prayers.

  The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
  Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
  They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard.
  Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world.
                                      Psalm 19

Deep but good thoughts for me for a Friday.

The vote this week by the United Methodists showed clear lines of division between the African, Filipino, and Russian parts of the church and the more western, Americanised church. Those are generally poorer areas of the world that have experienced great humilities in life.

I was wondering this morning if its our wealth and sense of entitlement that causes us to come at scripture differently in many things. That the poorer places of the world come at scriptures differently than those of us who have much and suffered little.

Then I came across this talk by Dr. Jerry P. Kulah, Dean of Gbarnga School of Theology, United Methodist University in Liberia, from last Saturday.

Unfortunately, some United Methodists in the U.S. have the very faulty assumption that all Africans are concerned about is U.S. financial support. Well, I am sure, being sinners like all of you, some Africans are fixated on money.
But with all due respect, a fixation on money seems more of an American problem than an African one. We get by on far less than most Americans do; we know how to do it. I’m not so sure you do. So if anyone is so naïve or condescending as to think we would sell our birth right in Jesus Christ for American dollars, then they simply do not know us.
We are seriously joyful in following Jesus Christ and God’s holy word to us in the Bible. And in truth, we think many people in the U.S. and in parts of Europe could learn a great deal from us. The UM churches, pastors and lay people who partner with us acknowledge as much.

He continues;

Friends, not too long ago my country was ravaged by a terrible civil war. And then we faced the outbreak of the Ebola virus. We are keenly familiar with hardship and sorrow, but Jesus has led us through every trial. So nothing that happens over the next few days will deter us from following Him, and Him alone.

This is something to ponder. How has my approach to money shaped my thinking and formed how I read the scriptures.

I need to sit with this a while. There is something there for me to learn.

If You Are as Tired of it All as I Am

This morning my tired eyes fell upon the exact right reading for my weary spirit.

With two different prominent interviews happening today, one in Canada and one in America, and British politicians voting again today on the swirling flush that is Brexit.

With the vote yesterday the United Methodists aren't united at all.  (Seems either you "Don't follow scripture" or you "Don't love people.")

Seems that the world is a much sadder place this week and it looks as though the church is following right along, step by step in its behaviour.

My internal struggle the past two weeks has been with the injustices, and with the quickness to judgement evidenced out there. I am told more and more by the world and the broader church, just how I should behave and act, what I should believe and renounce, how I need to choose right now who my friends should and shouldn't be, and on and on.

So I've just about had it with people who have world views from other parts of the world and who expect me to have the same world view as they do. I've nearly heard enough from people who say these people are right and those people are wrong and on which side are you?

And yes, had enough of contextless opinions some share at me thinking that in their volume they will convince me of the rightness of their thinking or worse yet, their feeling on a matter.

Deep sigh.

So this morning I went where I need to go, and I came across the right medicine for my broken spirit.

Psalm 12
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.

Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!
    The faithful have vanished from the earth!
Neighbors lie to each other,
    speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.
May the Lord cut off their flattering lips
    and silence their boastful tongues.
They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.
    Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless,
    and I have heard the groans of the poor.
Now I will rise up to rescue them,
    as they have longed for me to do.”
The Lord’s promises are pure,
    like silver refined in a furnace,
    purified seven times over.
Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed,
    preserving them forever from this lying generation,
    even though the wicked strut about,
    and evil is praised throughout the land.


God's got this. It doesn't surprise him, doesn't catch him unaware.
He knows about it all.

This is my prayer
This is His answer.

So today I will follow His promises and not the news reports.
I will pray and study and go to meet with people who are needing a bit of encouragement themselves.

And I will remember pastor Pauls challenge:

"...one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."        Philippians 4:8


Good morning.

When Hope Fails

When Hope Fails

I was talking with someone who has decided not to hope any more. “Why?” I asked. “Because when the hope is unfulfilled, it hurts too much, so it’s better not to hope.”

There’s something wrong with that. But I understand it.

Proverbs 13:12
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy.”

Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
“but when dreams come true, there is life and joy”

I want to talk about hope a bit today. And I want to start in the Psalms.

Psalm 33:13-22
13 The LORD looks down from heaven
and sees the whole human race.
14 From his throne he observes
all who live on the earth.
15 He made their hearts,
so he understands everything they do.
16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king,
nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
17 Don't count on your warhorse to give you victory-- for all its strength, it cannot save you.

God has a wonderful perspective of us and our little things. Nothing is hidden from his eternal, creating eyes.

He is able to see the whole human race, every heart, every mind, every one of our thousand secrets.

He’s able to see your motivations, that indeed you meant well even if it didn’t come out as you had hoped.

He created the hearts of men and women, to beat and beat and beat and give them life and breath. And Hopes and Dreams.

So, it says, “He understands”. Like no one else in creation.

He understands our desires. He understands our wishes. He understands our hopes. He understands our dreams.

He understands, and wants to remind us that sometimes our perspective isn’t great. Sometimes we can only see from here to the other side of the room. He see’s into eternity.

See, we often place our hope in the wrong things.

He reminds us...
A powerful army isn’t strong enough for a king. A good horse won’t give you victory, it can’t save you.

Strength won’t save us, neither will might.

The health system, blessed as we are to have it, won’t save us.
The government can’t save us.

We place our hopes in these powerless things.

We hope in due process. In the legal system.
We hope in our money, to provide a way out.
We hope in others to help us out.
We hope a relationship will work out.
We hope for a great job.
We hope in our children to make the right choices.
We hope for great presents.
We hope in our parents, to be perfect.
We hope that the pastor will have some answers.
We hope to roll up the rim and win!

Yet John 16:33 says "In me you will have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world."

Take Heart!

What happens when our strength isn’t enough? When our armies fail and our warhorses are not enough? What happens when hope fails and is deferred?

Lets continue in Psalm 33

18 But the LORD watches over those who fear him,
those who rely on his unfailing love.
19 He rescues them from death
and keeps them alive in times of famine.

Remember the one who’s perspective is from eternity?
The one who see’s everyone, who knows your heart?

He says he will watch over those who respect Him.

Those of you who rely on his unfailing love.
He will rescue you from the anguish of death. He will keep you from eternal death, and provide you with eternal life.

And, he will keep you as you live through seasons of famine. Not just physical hunger, but emotional hunger, spiritual dryness.

He won’t always stop the famine from coming, but he is able to keep you alive through it!!!

He won’t always stop the illness, or the poverty, or the joblessness, or the dryness. But he can keep you alive through it.

He will walk with you through the hopelessness. Through the heartsickness of unanswered hope.

You see, often we place our hopes in the things that can’t save us. In the temporary things that we can’t change. In our power and might.

We may even place our hope in Christ to change the story, the situation, yet that may not be the very best for us.

When our hope is deferred...
When it feels like God has not heard us...

We have 2 choices.

1. Get bitter
-Get angry. At God and humanity. And yourself.
-Never hope again because it always fails you anyway.

Or

2. Trust in God. Refocus your hope.

Remember, the one who loves you, who knows you, who made you.
When hope fails, we need to raise it up a level.

PSALM 33
20 We depend on the LORD alone to save us.
Only he can help us, protecting us like a shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we are trusting in his holy name.
22 Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone.

When our only hope is in man’s strength and ability, and that fails, it means we’ve been aiming to low. We need to lift our focus higher.

Only He can help us. Only He can protect us as life goes on all around us.

Because our hearts rejoice in him. They find life and meaning in knowing Him.

A few weeks ago I attended the funeral of a friend who had been ill for some time.
1970's heart attack. Heart disease for years.
Put on a heart transplant list, became too ill for that.

As he was dying, and his human hope was deferred a final time, he was able to rejoice and be glad. Because he knew the one who knew him. He trusted in God and his heart rejoiced.

For his family too. The funeral was a real, true celebration of hope. And Gods faithfulness through life and in death.

This is how it is possible for those who have experienced tremendous brokenness and hopelessness, to actually rejoice and be glad. Because they knew the maker of their hearts.

Where is your true hope? In the things of this earth? Or in the things of Heaven?

Have you had hope deferred, even by God? He who knows and created your human heart understands.

Lift up your eyes, your broken hearts.
Trust the one with the higher perspective. Trust in God.

Another piece of life's puzzle fits into place

It has been terribly cold here in this Field for us these past few days. -38C this morning as I got ready to leave the warmth of the house. (I don't do windchill temperature any longer as it seems to be a different number in different places. And anyway if its -30s I already know its stinking cold out there and don't play around.)  So yeah, very very cold.  One poor heart froze to death in Edmonton yesterday. It is not safe out there.

I was in Denver for 10 days recently and a large part of that time there was to do the work of the Board of Ordered Ministry, a group of people in our church who gather to oversee and care for our credentialed leaders. It was my first meeting and it was challenging, intense and stressful, and fulfilling and extremely satisfying. Working with individuals who are considering credentialing with us, helping those who have stumbled and are under care, establishing processes that are helpful to individuals and churches who are looking for pastors.

As I say the work was intense yet profound, but much of the amazing-ness of the time was feeling like I was held in a level of grace so that I could do the work. Seven straight days of 10 plus hours each day, at an altitude that would always be a challenge to my lung condition, yet it all went so smoothly. I slept hard at night and woke early to face each days challenges. Then in the meetings and interviews when I needed to know a direction to move in I could simply quiet myself and I would hear the internal direction to move in, from other than myself, and it always led to life, always.

It is a reminder that when I am weak then there is room for God to be strong. It is a comfort that in those meetings that will change the whole direction of an individuals life, God is clear and leading well.

The gift to work with other hard working, Godly people from around the world is an added benefit to me. I am shaped by their discernment and grace and I am shaped by our shared experience together. God works in me, through them. And in ways I can't always immediately see, I am changed for the better. More goodness in my life.

I have been elected to five years with this board and there are at least two gatherings each year, and with the support of the local church here, it seems to be a great fit for my spirit. I am looking forward to more opportunities to live in this grace that overwhelms so deeply.


What's one of your opportunities for growth this year?

Good Christmas Worship tunes

This season we have been listening to Family Radio Inc on the house system, and they have been playing so many old carols that its quite a treat.

Old old Christmas songs like my dad used to sing in the choirs he led. And mid old Christmas songs that Lauralea and I sang in the choir in College. So many good old pieces of music that speak the language of my heart. Its a good deal of memories around here these days.

I say this because the station just played "Low, How A Rose E'er Blooming" and it seemed it was in the same arrangement as Lauralea and I sang in Chorale that first year we were married and in the college tour choir. We worked so very hard on that piece, and we did it accapella. I remember the night we sang it in concert in the darkened hall. It was crazy magical. One of many good memories of that first year we shared life together.

...

And now they are playing Evie's song 1000 candles. We had that record when I was a kid and I remember having it playing early one morning before I headed off into the falling snow, in the dark, heading to school. Funny how those memories yank you into the past with such clarity.


Its good medicine for when you get tired of Santa Baby and Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer playing on permaloop on the radio these days. Those songs take me deeper, to a place of worship, which is just fine with me.

It may not be that to you, but it's good around here for now.

God speaks, again and again

For God speaks again and again,
though people do not recognize it.
He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they lie in their beds.
He whispers in their ears
and terrifies them with warnings.
He makes them turn from doing wrong;
he keeps them from pride.
He protects them from the grave,
from crossing over the river of death.

Job 33