A Psalm of Joyful Praise

I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
    with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness

    to all generations.
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
    your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.

(Psalm 89:1-2)

Praise for you fills my heart, O God,

and I can't contain myself.

"Spring up, O well, within my soul!"

Even in this season of pandemic,

when troubles and trials abound,

nevertheless my heart is light with joy.

Of course, I grieve for the world,

my heart aches for the brokenness 

that your people are experiencing.

But still, a song of joy fills my heart,

because I know your love is better than life.

As high as the heavens are above the earth – 

that’s how great is your love toward us.

When I consider the problems and troubles 

that fill our world right now,

as great and numerous and burdensome as they are,

they are no match for you.

For your power and might are unsurpassed:

  you are Creator of heaven and earth, and all that is in them;

  you are Sovereign Lord over all the world;

  you govern all things by the unsearchable mystery

     of your Providence.

Great is your faithfulness, O Lord,

great is your faithfulness.

Indeed, we are deep in the midst of troubling days,

but then, so are you, right in the depths with us.

So as I see it, "If God is for us, who can stand against us?"

I am confident of this:

I shall see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living;

indeed I shall see the goodness of the Lord

every day.

While I have breath,

I will sing of your steadfast love forever, O Lord;

   with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness 

   to all generations.

My heart is light with joy;

praise for you fills my heart,

and I cannot keep it to myself.

Praise the Lord!

During the season of Lent, I am “Praying with David,” using prayers found in the psalms as inspiration for personal prayers.

How Great Is Your Love

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, 

     your faithfulness to the skies. 

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, 

     your justice like the great deep. 

     You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

(Psalm 36:5-6)

We do tend to be a worrying lot, don’t we, Lord?

We are anxious about many things:

  disease,

    economics,

      disaster,

        politics,

          relationships,

  did I mention disease?

And yet, as high as our anxiety is,

as great is our fear and worry,

we rejoice in this incredible truth:

YOUR LOVE IS GREATER!

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,     your faithfulness to the skies.

Your love is so far greater 

than we can possibly imagine.

In fact, good and loving God,

I have imagined your love to be infinite;

and against the laws of mathematics,

(or is it physics?),

your love even exceeds infinity.

It's. Just. That. Great.

Wow! Thank you, O Lord,

for loving us so much.

Thank you for caring about every detail

of our lives.

Thank you that, 

even before our anxieties and worries

invade our hearts and minds,

you are already present to us

to comfort us and help us.

Thank you that every time we are afraid,

your first words to us are,

"Do not fear. I am with you.”

Thank you, good and loving God,

that you have plans for us,

plans for our welfare.

We embrace this truth:

no worry, no fear, no circumstance,

nothing in this whole wide world,

can overcome 

your love,

  your justice,

    your righteousness.

You, O Lord, are 

our protector,

  our preserver,

    our sustainer,

      OUR SAVIOR.

Blessed be your name!

We will rejoice at the knowledge of

your goodness and your mercy

and your steadfast love.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

During the season of Lent, I am "Praying with David," using prayers from the psalms as inspiration for personal prayers.

Sunset, Sunrise

“I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.”- Philippians 1:3-5 

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”- Lamentations 3:21-23

I take a lot of pictures of sunsets and sunrises. The sky is transformed in the moments preceding and just after the sun sets in the evening, and rises in the morning. Beautiful shades of red, orange, yellow, purple appear out of nowhere, fanning out across the horizon. They are, truly, brushstrokes of the Divine Artist. Each day provides a new canvas for God to display God's amazing glory.

It's not just the beauty of the sunsets and sunrises that captivates me. It's also the joy, gratitude, and hope that stir within me as I witness God's glory unfolding before me. At the end of the day, when I watch the sun set over the bay, or behind the spanish-moss in a grove of cypress and live oaks, my heart wells up with gratitude for God's goodness and mercy. I find myself overcome with appreciation for another day in which God has been good to me, and granted me grace and life. Likewise, at the beginning of a new day, as I scan the horizon and see the darkness transform into beautiful daylight, I am filled with hope and optimism for the day that awaits me; I am inspired by God's glory to offer myself anew unto God's service.

I mention these things because I am currently experiencing a sunset and a sunrise in my vocation as a pastor. After nearly 12 ½ years of service as the pastor of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church, the sun has set on my tenure with that amazing congregation. And likewise, the sun is rising on the new church God is calling me to serve, the Graves Memorial Presbyterian Church in Clinton, North Carolina. Much like my experience of the sunsets and sunrises I photograph on a regular basis, my heart is full of gratitude and hope as I pass through this particular sunset and sunrise in my vocation.

The apostle Paul wrote lovingly to the Philippians, “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.” That is, truly, how I feel as I reflect on my time in Georgetown. My family and I have been on the receiving end of incredible love and kindness from the people of Georgetown Presbyterian Church. We have discovered the riches of grace, we have grown together in faith, we have experienced joy and gladness, and we have journeyed together through some very painful tragedies. Every step of the way, though, we have experienced the goodness of God together and we have sought to be faithful in administering God's grace in our everyday lives.

At the end of the day, my heart is filled to overflowing with love and gratitude. The sun may be setting, but there is so much beauty and grace to behold. I am, indeed, thankful, even if my gratitude is mingled with grief and sadness at the close of this day.

And I am also filled with hope, both for my family and me and our new church, and for Georgetown Presbyterian. I know that the setting of the sun on this particular day will be followed by an equally spectacular rising of the sun for the tomorrow that awaits us. I stand firmly alongside the writer of Lamentations who said, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; God's mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness (O Lord)!” Glory, splendor, and new mercy await us all tomorrow. There will be a beautiful new day of ministry and partnership in the gospel in Clinton, North Carolina. And there will be a beautiful new day of ministry and partnership in the gospel for the people of Georgetown Presbyterian Church. I know this, because I know that each day God gives us is full of glory and mercy and love; every day is different, to be sure, but every day brings God's goodness to us.

At the end of this day, I give thanks. I give thanks for a wonderful church family that has accompanied me through an incredible journey of faith and gospel ministry over the past 12 ½ years. I give thanks for my wife and four beautiful children (the fourth of whom we gained through marriage this year!), and for the daily demonstration of God's love that I experience through them. I give thanks to God for the opportunity to serve in Clinton, North Carolina.

But most of all, I give thanks for God's faithfulness. God's mercies are new every morning.

Really, they are.