A Slower Pace

This next week is going to be busy with visitors. First, I have visitors from my work team arriving this morning for a three day team work event. I enjoy my boss and my team and the three days should be productive, fun, and enjoyable with some good meals shared together. After that, I am blessed to have a special visit from a dear friend who has shared over two decades of my life. And while much of that time has been separated by space living in different states, he is one of those who you can just pick up where you left off. On top of that, he is what I call an “anchor point” — someone of true faith and a brother in Christ who I can go to for perspective and support.

So because of all that, I am up earlier than usual. I dove into my breakfast devotional which was based on Luke 7:36-50 — “A sinful woman anoints Jesus’ feet”.

What impacted me was a supporting note in my Life Application Bible for verse 7:47. It read:

“Overflowing love is the natural response to forgiveness and the appropriate consequence of faith. But only those who realize the depth of their sin can appreciate the complete forgiveness that God offers them. Jesus has rescued all of his followers, whether they were once extremely wicked or conventionally good, from eternal death. Do you appreciate the wideness of God’s mercy? Are you grateful for his forgiveness?”

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This “Sign From God” is courtesy of a family friend.

“God wants full custody,
not just weekend visits”

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This short video is a minute long clip of 1 second images of beauty. We frequently are too busy or jaded to slow down enough and take in these beautiful scenes. And lucky for most of us, some of these appear in our lives for more than 1 second.

Soak them up in your life so you can run your own video in your head.

Seconds Of Beauty – 1st round compilation from The Beauty Of A Second on Vimeo.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Having been raised in Texas as a kid, one thing I love about that great state is the annual explosion of bluebonnets. When they came out in spring we would point out all the bluebonnets to my parents as we drove along. I sure miss the sight of those beautiful pastures of bluebonnets.

A dear friend of mine happens to have two qualities that I do not — #1 she lives in Texas and #2 she has a very good eye behind a camera lens. Below are some of her creative works. All copyrights belong to her. Go check out her blog — CindyDianne. She hasn’t posted in a year but there are some great pix there for the enjoyment.

I think this one is my favorite. I sure with this was my pasture in the back.

Thanks, Cindy!!!!!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

He is risen indeed!

As sad as Good Friday is, Easter Sunday is even more glorious because of His love for us and His defeat of death.

We know how the story ends — and it ends beautifully with us spending eternity in Christ!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

While I am always sad that Jesus had to go through what He went through on the cross, I am happy He did — for my sake and for your sake. I guess what is sad, is that it is our sin that put Him there. However, even greater than that is His love for us.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I woke up to a beautiful, God-created day. Outside my hotel window I snapped what I thought was a very serene picture of the Hudson River with the George Washington bridge in the background. Little did I know that by waiting just a few minutes, the scene would get better and the sun would rise directly in front of me.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

While I think traveling is over-rated and I really enjoy being home with my family, the silver lining is that there are no chores, projects or distractions. That enables me to explore, wander, take time outs, ponder, and generally see things from a slower perspective that I might usually miss (because of all the aforementioned chores, projects and distractions).

Below are a few pix I took of this afternoon. An almost full moon hovering over Manhattan as the sun bathed the city in golden sunlight all viewed from across the river. The harmonious geese, ducks and waterfowl added audibles to these photos that enhanced my enjoyment of the scene.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I was recently listening to something that prompted me to ponder something that at the same time was profound but also incomprehensible (at least to me).

As created beings, we are bound by the physical world. A huge factor of this physical world is time — something we cannot slow down nor speed up. We are prisoner and slave to it and it marches on relentlessly. We put all sorts of parameters around it and try to control it. And while we cannot control it, about the closest thing we can do is measure it and maximize it. However, we all are guilty of wasting it, wanting more of it, and only thinking within it. On a daily or weekly basis, try counting the number of times that time impacts your thoughts, plans and actions. Whether it is “I’ll get to it later”, or “I don’t have time to…” or “Let’s do it next weekend”, we all are bound by this concept and fact of time. We also tend to frame so much of our spiritual on the time-bound physical (e.g. – not enough time to pray, only go to church on Sunday, occasionally read God’s word on a greeting card, etc).

However, (here’s where it gets cool) God is not bound by time. He isn’t bound by the invention of the Gutenberg press or text messaging. Noah’s ark or the U.S.S. Enterprise do not impress Him.

And a question popped into my mind that I had never thought of before — what if (because God isn’t bound by time) God sacrificed His beloved son Jesus 5 minutes ago for you? We tend to think of that cosmically important event as old, as 2000 years ago, as ancient history. But they weren’t – at least not for God. Because He is not bound by time. He laid down His only Son’s life for your transgressions, your sins, the areas in life where you suck! (And don’t get me wrong, I suck even worse – and He gave His Son for my transgressions, my sins, and my suckness too.)

What if God sacrificed His beloved son Jesus five minutes ago for you? Just so you could be reconciled to Him and have a way to spend everlasting life with Him.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net