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Be still and know
By Chad Ragsdale [JAN. 8, 2005] Psalm 46:10 has always been a bit of a "life verse" for me (and I'm sure I'm not alone). It says very simply in the NIV, "Be still and know that I am God." Similarly, Psalm 62:1 says, "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him." I thought I really had a good handle on what these verses meant until a couple of weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago I was rocking our baby to sleep at the end of another busy day. I would love to claim "Superdad" status and say that this is a part of my new daily routine, but that would be untrue. Tara normally puts Logan to bed, but I had been recruited on this evening to give her a much-needed break. The thing about babies is that when they get tired they get irritable -- just like daddies (so I've been told). On this particular night Logan was very tired and so very irritable, and as I was rocking him, he was screaming, crying, batting at the air with his arms and kicking his dad in the stomach with his legs. Well, I started to get a little frustrated -- not in an angry sort of way -- more in a loving sort of way. I knew that he was tired and needed to get some sleep, but he was determined to fight against it. So I didn't give up on him. I surrounded him with my arms, held him close, and whispered in his ear. "It's OK, baby. Daddy's here. Go to sleep."
I realized only then the true meaning of those verses. We must look a lot like that struggling baby in the eyes of God. Many times we feel a deep discomfort and uneasiness in the deepest parts of our souls, and we fight against it. We kick and we scream and we flail our arms with purposeless passion. We exhaust ourselves searching anywhere and everywhere for some comfort and peace in this world. The whole time I imagine God is looking at us full of that sort of fatherly loving frustration, wrapping his arms around us and whispering to us in our discomfort -- "Stop your striving. Find true rest and comfort for your soul in me. Be still and know that I am God." In Christ,
Prairieland Christian
Church schedule and events
[JAN. 8, 2005] HARTSBURG -- News and notes from Prairieland Christian Church: Sunday, Jan. 16 -- All-church concert of prayer, 6:30 at the church. Start the New Year right. Join us at the church for a time of reflection and prayer for the upcoming year. Friday, Jan. 21 -- Friday night fellowship at 7. We do not yet have a host. Tuesday, Feb. 1 -- Prairieland group leaves for the Dominican Republic. Sunday, Feb. 20 -- "State of the church" Sunday. In the morning there will be a "state of the church" sermon, and that evening at 6:30 the church will have its annual gathering to celebrate God's blessings in the past year and dream about what may be accomplished through Prairieland Christian Church this coming year. Other news and notes: A new sermon series entitled "Religion or Relationship?" began in January. Christ didn't come to found a new religion. He came and offered himself so that you might have a living relationship with a living God. We need to recover this relationship mentality and save our faith from stale religion. Come in January to be challenged and renewed as we talk about this contrast between a religion of Christ and a relationship with Christ.
Also in January a new study of the book of Galatians begins in adult Sunday school. [News release] Send your church announcements and articles to ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com.
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