CamDevo

“The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭9‬:‭6‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I like garlic. I like it a lot. I routinely use at least twice as much as recipes call for. So I go through a lot of garlic.

I also like gardening. What I didn’t know is that garlic is really easy to grow. All you have to do is stick a garlic clove in the ground and it will turn into a whole new bulb with many cloves.

But gardening is a risk. There is a lot of faith involved. It almost feels like magical thinking. “Really? I’m going to stick this tiny seed in the dirt, and a plant will magically appear that magically produces a bunch of tomatoes (or peppers or cucumbers or zucchinis). Do I need to wave a magic wand?” I remember being overjoyed as a child when the first seeds I planted began to sprout. It was real!

Planting garlic is even more of a risk because I have to put something valuable in the dirt. Not just some useless little seed. I actually have to ruin a perfectly good clove of garlic. Just stick it in the dirt. But I went ahead and stuck my precious garlic in the dirt because I had learned to trust gardening.

According to today’s verse, God says that giving is a lot like gardening. To enjoy its rewards, I have to trust God with something valuable. I have to give away my perfectly good, hard-earned money. And then wait to see what happens. God promises a harvest.

I always harvested more garlic than I could use when I planted garlic. The more I planted, the more I got. It’s the same with giving. The more I give away, the more I will be blessed in return. Do I trust God as much as I trust gardening?

Dear God,

Thank you for the example of gardening. You have shown me how to trust you through the process of planting. Little sprouts poking up through the dirt never cease to amaze me. It’s a beautiful design you created. Continue to remind me how trustworthy you are with things besides seeds. Give me courage to trust your promises with all the things I consider valuable.

“Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I have a friend I’ve known since my high school days. It is because of her efforts alone that we are still close friends. Over the years she has adamantly refused to let us drift apart, even though we rarely lived in the same city.

Not only has she made sure we stay in touch, but through her I have kept in touch with several other high school friends I may otherwise have lost touch with and entirely forgotten about.

I’m sure they would’ve forgotten about me too!

But my friend is loyal. She is and has always been the most dedicated (stubborn?) and loyal person I have ever encountered. I have grown to admire her so much for that.

There were times in our relationship when I wondered why she would try so hard. At times in our lives we had little in common. At one point she was living on a farm raising two young kids in rural Wisconsin while I was a single Technical Director of a software company in Seattle. But she made sure I didn’t forget about her, and she made sure I knew she hadn’t forgotten about me. She asked me to be the maid of honor at her wedding, she made sure I met her kids, she contacted me for all the holidays and big events, and she was in my wedding party as well.

I do not deserve such loyalty. I have not made the effort she has made. She has done most of the work. Now that we are getting old, I realize the enormous value of her loyalty and friendship. And I am so grateful to her for this lesson which has taken me decades to learn.

And yet my friend’s incredible loyalty pales in comparison to God’s loyalty. His loyalty reaches so deep, it stretches beyond my life. When I put my faith in Him, His faithfulness to me reaches a thousands generations beyond me. I don’t deserve that. Not at all. But what a beautiful and generous gift.

I thank my friend. And I thank God.

Dear God,

Thank you for my loyal friends that I did nothing to deserve. Thank you also for the work you have done in and through this particular loyal friend. Teach me to be a good friend to everyone you place in my life. Thank you for your extraordinary loyalty and love.

“You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭13‬ ‭CSB‬‬

My favorite part of the game Hide and Seek isn’t the hiding or the seeking. It’s planning where a good hiding spot might be in advance.

I’m competitive but also don’t necessarily do well under pressure. So if I have a little time to explore and contemplate my options, make needed adjustments, and plan the logistics before the counting starts, I might ensure a win in Hide and Seek (if there is such a thing as winning and losing in that game.)

God doesn’t play Hide and Seek. He isn’t trying to hide from me. There are definitely times when He seems absent, quiet… hiding. But during those times, I’m actually the one who wandered off and ducked into some dark cubby hole. It’s like reverse Hide and Seek. God is out in the light where He always is waiting for me. But I turn away down some dark path. I poke around in the shadows and wonder where God is. Why has He abandoned me?

But in today’s verse, He’s saying, “I’m right here. I always have been and always will be. If you pull your head out, you’ll see me. Plain as day. Standing right here, like always. Come back out of your dark hidey-hole. Olly olly oxen free!”

Dear God,

Thank you so much for your consistency, your patience, and your grace. I’m so glad you promise to be found when I bother to actually open my eyes and my heart to look. Show me the way out of the crevices I go to hide, and teach me how to live without wanting to hide from you at all. I trust you and want to live in the light with you.

“Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭14‬ ‭CSB‬‬

We are all creatures of habit to varying degrees, meaning we fall into routines, get comfortable with patterns of behavior, and appreciate events that happen as expected.

I want my car to start up every time I push the button. If it doesn’t, I panic. I get annoyed if someone wakes me up earlier than usual or keeps me up too late at night. I’m suspicious when a friend uncharacteristically calls me out of the blue. Moving or starting a new job are two of the biggest stress triggers there are.

Although God created me to be a creature of habit, not all habits are good. But the older a habit is, the harder it is to get rid of.

I’ve heard the easiest way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one. That makes me think of today’s verse. It’s not enough to turn away from evil. I should do good in its place.

That’s one of the reasons Alcoholics Anonymous is as successful as they are at helping people overcome alcohol addiction. Instead of just telling people to stop drinking, they give them good, active things to do in the hard moments instead like going to a meeting or calling a sponsor or working the steps.

To turn away from evil, first I have to recognize it though. Would I recognize evil or do I let it routinely wash through my life unnoticed?

On the other hand, doing good takes conscious effort as well. I must plan it, even schedule it. I must intentionally consider what to do, how to do it and then follow through.

The psalmist doesn’t say “ignore evil and allow good.” He uses very active verbs.

Turn away from evil. See it, recognize it, acknowledge it as evil, and change my direction and orientation so that I am not moving toward it or even looking at it anymore.

Do what is good. Decide what is good and make sure it happens.

Dear God,

Please show me whatever bad habits you want me to examine and replace with good. Show me where there is evil around me and teach me how to turn away from it. Also give me ideas of the good you want me to do. Forgive me for allowing evil and hoping for good. Forgive my apathy, laziness, and complacency. Show me the good you want me to start with today.

“God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭46‬:‭1‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I remember a story I heard about a man who had been a prisoner of war. He said one of the torturous things about that experience was the sheer boredom. He was trapped in a small cage with nothing to distract him from his fear and pain. All he had was whatever he could dredge up from his own memories and imagination. He said he would have lost his mind except for some hymns that he had buried in his memories. He would sing them over and over, making up new verses of his own.

After hearing that story, I decided I should make sure I knew and memorized all the words to my favorite hymns. I didn’t think I was in any danger of becoming a prisoner of war, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

Today’s verse makes me think of that story because it contains the lyrics for one of the songs I have buried in my memories. We used to sing it in Sunday School when I was a child. So many of the songs I know are made up of Bible verses. I run across them all the time.

Today’s verse is an especially comforting one. It’s definitely one that might help me maintain a proper perspective and stay sane if I were imprisoned. I hope I never ever will be, but no matter what trouble I run into, God will always be my very present help, my refuge and my strength.

Dear God,

Thank you for the people in my past who taught me the Bible through song so that it stuck with me all these years. Thank you for the promise of your presence and your help. Thank you for being a refuge for me and giving me the strength to do what you ask me to do. Help me not to despair in times of trouble but to seek your face instead.

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41‬:‭10‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Today’s verse makes me think of the one time I went skydiving. Don’t be impressed, I did a tandem jump where I don’t actually have to know much of anything. I think we spent about one hour before the jump going over the equipment and the procedure. Not a whole lot of preparation for a death-defying activity.

Because it was a tandem jump, my very experienced guide would jump with me. Basically, I was his baggage, his screaming baggage.

Once I had been prepped and outfitted we took off in the plane to take us over our jump spot. Then I was strapped securely to my guide. Surprisingly I was strapped onto his front like the lead rider on a tandem bicycle but snugged together close. I would jump out the door first!

I remember the scariest part. The plane door was thrown open and the vastness of the open skies lay before me. Right outside the door was a tiny step. My guide yelled over the wind, “I want you to step out of the plane onto that little platform.”

I couldn’t do it. My foot just wouldn’t move.

My guide, now speaking right into my ear, said, “Don’t be afraid, I’m right here.” I could feel his weight behind me. I could feel the snug harness. I could feel his strong hand on my shoulder.

I stepped out. And then I stepped out into nothingness. What exhilaration!

Like my skydiving guide, God promises to be with me, to help me and hold me tight. My skydiving guide was an expert in skydiving. God is God, the righteous and all-powerful Creator of the universe!

If I can trust the skydiving guide with such a dangerous and scary thing, I can trust God with anything. And by trusting Him, I can leap confidently into the exhilarating unknown.

Dear God,

Thank you for this beautiful promise! Thank you for being with me. Thank you for reminding me of your qualifications. Thank you for strengthening me, helping me, and holding onto me with your righteous right hand. What a beautiful honor. Im sorry for the times when I am afraid and fail to step forward the way you ask me to. Please give me courage and faith to trust you.

“I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27‬:‭4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Someone once told me that heaven will consist of being around God and worshipping Him for eternity. I remember thinking that didn’t sound great at all. Why would I want to go to a heaven like that?

At the time I was a kid who was bored with church. We went every week no matter what. We had to wear uncomfortable clothes and sit in uncomfortable wooden pews for over an hour. Sometimes we stood up and sang slow, dull songs or recited strange words. And for a good part of the time, we listened to some guy drone on and on about things I didn’t understand. This is a child’s experience of church (and unfortunately, some adults experience it this way too.)

All of that was categorized in my mind as “worshipping God”. So boring, monotonous, confusing, and uncomfortable.

So when I heard heaven would be an eternity spent worshipping God in His temple, I was appalled.

But as I got to know God, I started to understand the difference between the rituals we humans have wrapped around worship and actual worship. God doesn’t care what I’m wearing or what I’m sitting on while I praise Him. He doesn’t ask me to sing songs that I can’t relate to. None of that matters.

God just wants my heart to be open to experience all that He is and to revel in it. And He is BEAUTIFUL. Imagine the most beautiful scene you have ever seen, smelled, felt, tasted… experienced. Imagine the satisfaction of learning something new and doing it well in an innovative way. Imagine the most deeply you have ever loved or been loved. Then multiply those feelings by a thousand. God is more beautiful, more lovely, good, awesome, wonderful than anything I can imagine. To be in His presence will feel better, happier, more joyous, more satisfying than anything I have yet known.

That’s why, in today’s verse, the Psalmist is asking for one wish, and his fantasy is to sit and gaze at God’s beauty for all of his days.

Dear God,

Thank you for showing me glimpses of your amazing beauty. I look forward to being in your presence, gazing at your beauty, and experiencing your amazing goodness for all eternity!

“Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I didn’t know aging was going to be like this. As a kid, even into my 20s and 30s, I saw old people almost as a separate species. They struggled with things I would never struggle with. They complained about things I would never need to deal with. They were old.

I remember the exact day I felt the first twinklings of age and degeneration. I was 22 years old. I spent the late afternoon playing frisbee with reckless abandon on a golf course. I ran fast, jumped high, and dove after the frisbee freely without a thought toward injury. What joy! But the next day I was sore. Very sore. So sore I could hardly move.

I was so perplexed.

I had experienced muscle soreness before but only after rigorous training as part of a sports a team. This time I was more sore than I’d ever been, and I had simply been playing. Just running and jumping and diving onto the manicured grass.

I realized then that I had crossed some threshold from the invincibility of youth into the nonstop, gradual decline of age.

But I still had no idea.

Now, well into my 50s I probably still don’t have a clue what it’s like to be 70 or 80. But I know that it’s not going to get any better. I’m not going to ever be younger than I am right now. I won’t be able to get much stronger no matter how hard I try. I won’t get more energy. My skin will just continue to sag and shrivel. My body is very slowly decaying. As today’s verse says, my outer person is being destroyed.

Cheery.

This is the result of our rebellion against God and the way of this fallen world. Everything decays and everyone eventually dies.

Thankfully the verse doesn’t stop there. It says I don’t have to give up because my inner person is being renewed day by day. My soul can be as vigorous as ever. I can have the invincibility of youth, in spirit, through the power and grace of God.

Because Jesus conquered death for me, I don’t have to worry about death at all. It will come, but that’s not the end. It’s no fun to age. But if I focus on the state of my spirit rather than the state of my body, I can be full of hope for the future instead of despair.

Dear God,

Thank you for the hope you gave me when Jesus conquered death. I’m so glad I do not have to fear my end. Remind me not to fret about what is happening to my body. Show me what is important. Teach me to look for and rely on your daily renewal of my inner person so that I can inspire hope in others no matter my age.

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭17‬:‭17‬ ‭CSB‬‬

As a student in school I always hated group projects. Ugh! And as an adult I did not enjoy meetings and collaborations and projects where I needed to rely on other people. Unfortunately, this was 98% of my job. (As for that remaining 2%, since I was the boss, I did manage to assign myself some fun projects I could do all by myself.)

With maturity (and humility), I have learned to appreciate the contributions of and camaraderie with others, but I still crave some projects all to myself where I can do things exactly the way I want to.

Despite my introverted tendencies even I recognize that God did not design me to live this life alone. This is especially apparent when things go wrong or the unexpected happens. Having close relationships comes in really handy when I get a flat tire late at night. It’s helpful to have a friend to call who won’t hesitate to come help. When I had to have brain surgery, I saw exactly how important my good friends were. They visited me, brought me food, took care of me. That was a very humbling experience but is exactly what today’s verse is talking about.

The key is to be that friend and brother or sister to other people in my life. When I first read that verse I thought of the people who have loved me and been there for me in difficult times. There have been so many, thank God!

But really I should be reading that verse thinking who I have been a friend to. Who have I loved at all times and been there for in difficult times?

Dear God,

Thank you so much for providing such good friends and brothers and sisters to me in difficult times. What a wonderful gift community and love is! Teach me to be a friend who loves at all times and a sister who is available and ready during difficult times. Open my eyes to see the people in my life who need my comfort, help, or encouragement today. And please give me the strength and wisdom to provide it.

“Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I’ve always wondered about the Old Testament and the New Testament. Why are they both included as part of the Bible? Why does God seem to have a different set of rules in the New Testament? Is the Old Testament still important?

The Old Testament describes God’s original agreements with His people and how that panned out. Short answer: it didn’t go well. When God first created people, He gave us just one rule (don’t eat fruit off one particular tree), with fatal consequences if broken. We broke that rule almost immediately. But God relented and allowed us to live, albeit with ugly consequences.

Later He gave us some new rules that came with wonderful promises if we obeyed and dreadful warnings if we did not. These rules are collectively known as the Law. He really wanted us to obey the Law and live with His blessings. But again we went very far in the opposite direction. God still allowed His people to live, but again we had to live with the ugly consequences of our rebellion.

And now comes today’s verse which is sort of between the Old and New Testaments. Isaiah is prophesying that God will begin to relieve the horrors of those terrible consequences of our rebellion. He will do a “new thing”.

The New Testament is the story of that new thing: Jesus. Jesus summed up the Law for us in two simple commands: love God and love other people. The huge difference with this new thing — the new rule, the new agreement — is that God knows I will fail again. He planned for that. He sent Jesus to take my disobedience upon Himself and die for it so I don’t have to. All I have to do is accept that gift from Jesus and keep trying to love.

Imagine a kid in a batting cage excited to try to hit baseballs coming out of a pitching machine. The balls are flying hard and fast. The coach is standing by the machine telling the kid where to stand safely and how and when to swing. The kid thinks she knows better and steps too close to the plate. Smack! She gets hit in the elbow because she didn’t listen to the coach.

She really wants to learn to hit fast balls though so once she recovers the coach gives her a helmet and an elbow guard, but she tosses them aside saying they are too cumbersome. She thinks she knows better. She steps up to the plate and crowds it. Smack! She gets hit in the shoulder.

The coach is sad. The kid is in pain.

The coach watches the kid try to recover and comes up with a new plan. He calls over his son, Jesus. He says, “Jesus, go stand between the ball machine and that kid. If she crowds the plate again, stand so that the ball will hit you instead.” Jesus agrees.

Hopefully when I am that kid, I accept Jesus’s gift and thank him, but also try my hardest to obey and not step into the line of fire.

Dear God,

Thank you for your new wonderful plan to save me from myself and my own stupidity and selfishness. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on my behalf so I don’t have to worry about my past sins. Guide me toward obeying you in the future and give me strength and wisdom to avoid making the same stupid, selfish mistakes again.