Chasing After

Chasing after

King David was a humble warrior and King and referred to as a man after God’s own heart.  He was also a poet and musician. In Psalm 86 we find a man with a passion.  It reminded me of a

chorus to the song Chasing After by Christian singers, Clear, that says this. 

“What could I acquire 

To make my heart delight in what it finds

Nothing I desire could bring me joy like You”

Psalm 86:1-10

“1Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me; For I am afflicted and needy.

2Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man;
            O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You.

3Be gracious to me, O Lord,
            For to You I cry all day long.

4Make glad the soul of Your servant,
            For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
            And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.

6Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
            And give heed to the voice of my supplications!

7In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You,
            For You will answer me.

8There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord,
            Nor are there any works like Yours.

9All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You,

O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name.

10For You are great and do wondrous deeds;
            You alone are God.

Chasing after by Clear

All in all by Charmaine 

I’m not the king by Audio Adrenaline

The Return

The Return

Growing up on occasion I got to watch a cartoon called Transformers and when coming back from a commercial break it always said “We now return to Transformers.” Part of what I do at my job is fixing problems.  We have a term in the call center business called First Call Resolution.  We try to fix the problem on your first call so you don’t call back or even have the need to.  It trains the representative to in a sense be a control freak.  I get the mindset I have to fix every problem and I can’t.  Saturday I had a long horrible day at work I couldn’t fix all the customers, problems and often I feel like I clean up others' messes in the process.  By the end of my night I had to stop and pray because I was still trying to handle everything and I can’t and I had to turn it over to God. Like the cartoon said we now return to Transformers.  God is the one who transforms us.  Sunday morning I heard Micah preaching and he quoted this passage and it was Jonah’s discovery in the big fish and we need the same thing when our adventures in life go awry.  

Jonah 2:7-9

“While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.  Those who forsake vain idols forsake their faithfulness, but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving.  That which I have vowed I will pay.  Salvation is from the Lord.”

Jonah said all this while inside a fish big enough to swallow a full grown man.  When your problems are overwhelming you need to remember and return to God because you’re not alone.  

Psalm 139:7-12

“Where can I go from your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there;  if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there.  If I take the wings of the Dawn , if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me.  If I say ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night.’  Even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day.  Darkness and light are alike to You.”  

There’s nowhere you and I can go where God is not there.

I want to conclude with this from the song Nothing is beyond you by the late Rich Mullins.

“Nothing is beyond you 

You stand beyond the reach

Of our vain imaginations

Our misguided piety

The heavens stretch to hold you

And deep cries out to deep

Singing that nothing is beyond you 

Nothing is beyond you 

Time cannot contain you 

You fill eternity 

Sin can never stain you

And death has lost its sting

And I cannot explain the way you came to love me

Except to say that nothing is beyond you “

You are God by Twila Paris 

Nothing is beyond you by Amy Grant

The Stand by Hillsong United 

Great is our God by Plumb 

Great is the Lord by Michael W Smith

Indescribable by Laura Story

Good over Worthless

Good over worthless 

Been going through this Bible study plan Life Principles to live by, and it’s by Charles Stanley in my Youversion app and Thursday I came across this verse. Jeremiah 15:19.  We live in a world of lots of words and lately some of them have intensified to bad even downright worthless proportions.  We have protests going on that well aren’t that great at all.  I love the way the New Living Translation puts this verse.

Jeremiah 15:19

“This is how the Lord responds: ‘If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me.  If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman.  You must influence them; do not let them influence you!’”

As a representative at a call center on a daily basis I have to use good words or customers go ballistic.  Doing a blog and being a writer I have to carefully evaluate what to say.  God calls the Christian to return to him and weigh carefully the words they use because we represent Him. We need our words to be few and correct.  Most of us share things on social media of some sort but are you saying what God wants or is it worthless words.  There are people these days who say their mouth has no filter and that’s a lie because all of us make moment by moment choices about what we will and won’t say and that’s why God calls Jeremiah and us to “return to Him.  So he can restore us.  

Let me give you two examples from real life of how I know you can filter what you say.  Monday I had a call at work and this lady calls an hour into her time frame for her tow and says we’re towing her vehicle to the wrong place.  I verified where it was going a place she had told us to take it.  I call the service provider and they’ve already left the car and won’t go back so I had to set up a second tow.  At any point I could’ve told her it was actually her fault but no I had to reassure her we would get her car to the right place.  

Second example say I’m arguing with my wife at any point in that argument I could say mean harmful things that would hurt and harm her but no I filter what I’m saying because I love her.  You can control the words you use.  

 Psalm 19:14

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight , O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”  

The Westminster shorter catechism says this

 “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him Forever.”

I want to conclude with these lyrics from 

 God of All of me by Sandi Patty 

“Father take my heart

Hold it in your hand 

Be the God of all of me

Father take my life

Everything I am

Keeper of my soul 

God of all of me.”

God of all of me by Sandi Patty 

Let my words be few by Rebecca St James

Make us one by Twila Paris 

May the words of my mouth by Christy Nockels

For all the World by Sandi Patty

Increased Stress Level

Increased stress level

This week had a rough start for me.  Monday I had to resume taking roadside assistance dispatch calls and like I told a friend at work I was not ready for that level of stress again. For those not understanding why I got stressed out let me explain.  When the pandemic stuff started I was for at least a month or more taking calls for home food delivery and the callers were nice friendly and knew what they wanted.  Taking roadside assistance dispatch calls is a monster of another variety we deal with people who are frustrated with their situation.  They lash out at the people trying to help them.  I am part of a call back team that deals with customers who have called more than 3-5 times.  The people are irate.  Men cuss you out and women start crying.  It’s an emotional roller coaster each call.  Some people I’ve worked with claim once their shift is over they don’t think about it anymore I personally can’t shut it off that easy. I drive home in silence because I’ve had voices of customers and coworkers in my ears for 8 hours and hearing aids have amplified that noise level.  I’ve had nightmares that Marion has had to wake me and talk me down from.  

 I can honestly admit by the end of my shift Monday I came home and snapped at my wife.  I shouldn’t have and I apologized.   I worked out no relief from that stress.  I took a shower and broke down crying and praying in the shower.  See Sunday I almost started looking for a new job.  But the more I considered the riots and protests I didn’t feel safe being a security guard again.  I find myself praying and pouring my heart out more to God asking Him to help me trust Him more with things stressing me out.  Tuesday was a little better that’s when I heard the song Jesus, what a Savior by Sheila Walsh   And then in my Youversion reading plan I came across these verses.  To those also stressed out you need these too.  

Isaiah 40:29-31

“He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.  Though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.  

Psalm 23:1-3

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  

By Wednesday I was somewhat back in the rhythm of work and had regained my title of “Weird call magnet.”  Any weird call I seem to attract while my coworkers get ones that nearly make sense.  For those reading and watching this blog.  It is not really about Zac but about a person turning to God during stress.  Where are you turning?   

This was from the song I mentioned.

“You are my strength when all my strength has ended. You are my hope when all my hope is gone. You are my joy when my world is filled with sorrow.  You’re the peace in my tomorrow for I know that you’ll be there.  You’re my song when my melody has ended.  A light in the storm when I can’t find my way.  You are the one who gives my life a reason.  Someone to believe in you help me carry on.  Jesus, what a Savior you are.”  

Jesus, What a Savior by Sheila Walsh 

Cares chorus by Maranatha

Great are you Lord/ Lord I need you by Caleb and Kelsey 

God is faithful by Sheila Walsh