Do the Shuffle!

Times are tough! Did I hear an "amen"? Today my son tells me there is going to be a lockdown at school because of a rumored gang fight. Yesterday I read that China is joining the chorus for a global currency to be established. Unemployment is up. Stocks are down. Punches are being thrown right and left. Even nature is joining in the fray. Blizzards in the West. Flooding in the Midwest. Twisters in the South.

What's a body to do when one of the punches lands? Like a phone call. One that announces that your income has just been reduced by ten percent. Of course, that is on top of the drop of your stock portfolio that came earlier that wiped out retirement funds. An ole "one-two punch".

Well, I chose to dig out the Nikes and take it to the road. I chose to clip on the iPod Shuffle loaded with praise music and do a little worship on the run. So I chugged down the road working up a sweat and a beet red face (those who know me know what that looks like!!! Not a pretty sight...) I thanked God that we still had a job. Promised Him that their ten percent was not His ten percent. Thanked Him for letting us spend the winter at the beach. Thanked Him for our family and our health. Thanked Him for the baby blessing that will be delivered in August. Thanked Him for His goodness.

Then, I started to formulate a plan. Here is how it went...when I finished my out-and-back, I'd do my cool-down walk along the boardwalk. (yes, stinky and beet-faced.) And when I reached the end, I would walk out to the edge of the sand and sing whatever song shuffled onto my playlist to Him at the edge of His ocean. I was getting kinda excited about this! I liked this plan. Decided whatever the song said, I'd do it. If it said "with lifted hands", I'd raise 'em high. If it said "down on my knees", I'd bow down (after a run, I might not get back up, but I'd get down there!!) If it said "I will dance", I'd do a jig.

Man, I was feeling good! I couldn't wait to make my offering at the ocean! But do you know what happened. None of what I had planned. Not a single thing. I walked down to the edge as a song wound down. My heart raced with anticipation. What would the next song be and how had God chosen for me to worship Him?

The song started. I had never heard it before. Couldn't sing a single word. Had to be still and listen. And you know what happened? God sang a song over me!

The LORD your God is with you,

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

He will quiet you with his love,

He will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17

I have a choice!

Would you agree that things are pretty crazy right now? Headlines shout that things aren't the same anymore. Check these out "Iconic Corporate Giants Crumble", "Russian Scholar Says US Will Collapse Next Year", "Analysis: Goodbye Coke and Oreos". Coke and Oreos!?!? Say it ain't so!

Yet, the God of the universe who sits upon the throne tells us in Deuteronomy 30:19

"Today I have given you the choice...

Everyday we are given a choice. Not just a once-in-a-lifetime. Not a now or never. Everyday. Yes, even when today is like no other day we have seen in our lifetime. I have a choice and so do you.

...between life and death...

What???? Not between Coke or RC and Oreos or Kroger brand cookies. He's talking life and death. I don't know about you, but the Coke or RC was hard for me. Life and death? That seems like a no-brainer. Yet the world seems to place brand name versus generic above adoption or abortion...marriage or divorce...forgiveness or bitterness...truth or lies. Now wait just a minute. Those are hitting closer to home than I want to admit. How about you?

...between blesssings and curses...

So now it's saying that my choices have consequences? What I choose makes a difference? And that those consequences can be beneficial or detrimental?

Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make.

Can't I just make these choices in the privacy of my own home? or head? Do I have to have an audience!?!?!

Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

And that it is not "It's my life. I can do what I want." The choices that I make affect others? I have to consider long term effects for me...and them?

How are you feeling right now? Take out your thermometer and take your psychological temperature. Are you dangerously cold right now? Maybe at a fever pitch? Dangerously high and risking damage to the brain?

Consider this. In a world that is spinning out of control, our good Shepherd, our Abba Father, our Counselor says, "I AM giving you a choice today that can give you life and blessings and can be beneficial to you and your children. And we are watching. And We are for you. Not against you."

Now that is a hope I'm willing to invest in!!

How about you?