For those of us who live in the Houston Metro Area, we can declare that we have just lived through a catastrophic event.  There's something to be said about having over 6 million people experience something like a flood together.

As we watch neighbor helping neighbor as entire communities respond to the flood waters, there is a tremendous sense of community being felt and seen.

Years ago there was a man who walked among people and performed various miracles.  He walked on water and calmed the seas.  He was publicly executed and then a few days later rose from the dead.  He was then among his followers and continued to teach and prepare people for what was to become a new way of life.

When I see communities like Houston respond in a united way, it makes me begin to wonder how different the world would be if we all were to react to what Christ was attempting to promote during his years on earth, and even today, as Christ continues to seek refuge within the hearts of humanity.

While some of the images and the reality of what has happened is very tragic, the presence of the living God becomes overwhelming and by the grace of God, that is what we are all beginning to see!

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams

Dear Lord, as the waters began to overcome the banks of bayous in our city, may it be also with Your love for one another.  Amen.

"Sometimes I wish that God were more obvious," is something I have heard more than once from folks I have known.


God isn't in the business of being in a hurry. That is something I think all of us know a little something about.


When I consider all that we confront each day, I do begin to wonder why it is that God isn't more forthcoming.


Christ seemed to also have this encounter with the Creator when asking if he had been "foresaken."


In class one day in Seminary we were discussion God's viability and presence in response to violence and pain in the world. "Why doesn't God stop or prevent these things from happening?"


The discussion that ensued concluded with this, "I don't know," although with some of the comments and a few outbursts you would have thought God was conducting a test between saints and sinners.


The reason I even write about this is because lately I have had several friends question not just God's existence, but why things seem to continue to happen.


The presence of God for any of us must be met with an invite. Just as we often sit on the sidelines, thinking someone else will handle this, perhaps the shadowing of God is not so much about choice, but empowerment. It's not about tests, but rather answers.


Although my questions for God seem to become a litany that would keep all of Google busy, my intuition seems to lean more to the idea that God is always present. It's up to us to identify and point to what we see or know to be God. Rather than declaring where God seems absent, we should point out more of where we encounter God. Perhaps then there will be less declarations of "where is God," and more, "this is what God did!"


Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

We have spent the last two days at home preparing for and watching as Hurricane Harvey made it's way towards the Texas Gulf Coast.

As storm watches and warnings pass, and story after story of destruction seem to be all that's on the news, I am reminded that when situations that seem to be insurmountable arise, I try to remember that even those circumstances are built on foundations that can crumble.

I'd like to think that God always has a plan, but the reality of things, especially like today, makes me realize that at times we must look at Plan B.

That's how we learn. It's how we grow, while also reinforces such things as trustworthiness, hope, and outlooks on the situation.

The overwhelming urge to surrender can consume the moment. Even Christ cried out his concern of being "forsaken," but there was a plan.

Even as the sun arose this morning, and things looked bleak for many, God had a plan.
Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, help me to remember to pray, especially when I am consumed by the events of the moment.  Amen.

It amazes me with the advancements of technology, and how we are able to share so much information with one another, that we still must ask, "Who is our neighbor?"

I always remind folks that when God first made the earth, God didn't spend a day creating lines that would divide us from one another.  No, God looked at it all and simply pronounced it as being "good."

Unfortunately, humanity has taken that role upon itself!

Deciding who may live within our community is something I know far too much of. Even within faith communities there are both hidden and obvious boundaries, and each of us know the feeling that is involved if the community is accepting or rejecting.

We learn at an early age we learn how to choose who we want on our team, and who we don't.

From the moment we take our first breath we are part of a family. A group of people that you will forever be recognized as a part of.

I always find it funny when the the people during Jesus' time find themselves asking, "so who is my neighbor?"
I got news for us all. We ALL are!

Our neighbors are all around us, and by the way, most of the time, they are not, don't look like, or act like us!

It is painful for God when we don't recognize that we ALL are God's creation.  As many of us were taught John 3:16 at an early age, "For God so loved the world that God sent God's only Son so that ALL might be saved."

I love that there was not an addendum of clarification stating what ALL means.  As I often remind people, not only will heaven be marvelous, but it's going to shock some people when they see who is there!

Think of all the people Jesus spent time with that were rejected, including himself.

Is there someone that you have excluded? Or have you been meant to feel unwelcomed? Residents of planet earth, guess what? You are all neighbors!
Stay in God's grip!  

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, I'm so glad to know that You love each of us.  Help me to share that same love for my neighbor.  Amen.

Have you ever been on a pilgrimage? And if not, why not?

Every day we are bombarded by images that are glimpses of journeys. Ads tell us what groceries to shop for, what products to buy, school programs to enroll in, or what clothes to wear and where to purchase "the look."

For some, the idea of being on a pilgrimage is seeking out the "best deal."

You don't have to look far to realize that we all are seeking something.

The idea of a pilgrimage, however, is about seeking something much deeper, and something meaningful.

I have always been in awe of stories that involve doing something so radical that you just know that it had a deeper meaning.

When we labor to do something, not for our sake, but for the sake of creating a better world, or to help a single soul, then this journey suddenly has a deeper meaning and a context that might just border on the proverbial "walk of faith."

I have always loved stories that involve, "I don't know why I did something. There was just something inside of me that made me to do this."

That still small voice that reminds you that your life matters, and that you are uniquely designed for a specific purpose is the reminder that your journey matters. What is it that pulls at you to step out on faith and do something? The start of a pilgrimage.

I hope that today you recognize the purpose of your life, and that you begin your pilgrimage by searching within yourself. May it be revealed, and that your first step on your pilgrimage begins by believing that the journey is worth every step.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, where You lead, I will follow.  Today I will trust in Your journey for my life.  Amen.

I wish I could explain why some things happen in our lives, but I can't. However what I am learning is this...
Everything that is, is given by the God of love. All is grace. Light and water, shelter and food, work and free time, children, parents and grandparents, birth and death - it is all given to us.

The important thing is how we deal with it.

Why? So that we can say thanks: to God, thanks to each other, thanks to all and everyone.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, in Your knowing of me, help me to receive all things in the way that You have meant for me to receive them.  Amen.

"Love You Forever" is a wonderful children's book about the life of a son and his mother.  The book begins with the mother rocking her newborn baby, sharing, "I love you forever, I like you always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

The boy goes through various stages, and even into manhood.  The mother drives across town, climbs a ladder into her son's bedroom, picks him up and rocks him back and forth and shares the words again.

Spoiler alert...  at the end of the book, when the mother get's too old to rock her grown son, he then picks her up, rocks her back and forth and tells his dying mother, "I love you forever, I like you always, as long as I'm living, my mommy you'll be."

It's about life.  As we age we all realize that one day we will no longer be the ones rocking, and will need to be picked up and reminded of who we are, and be reassured.

Yesterday I watched as a daughter rubbed the hands of her father as he was slipping into the hands of God and shared stories of her life growing up with him, and how much she loved him.  The reassuring touch, the stories of love, reminded me of the boy rocking his mother when she was no longer able.  

When I mentioned the story to her, she broke out crying, sharing that the book was one that she read to her children, and she suddenly realized that she was the boy in the book.

When we are born we begin a journey from life in the womb to life in a family.  When we go off to school, we move from a life in the family to life in a larger community filled with others.  Even getting married takes us from one life into another.  At some point we may retire, making another passage from a life of a clearly defined path of life, to a life asking for new creativity and wisdom.

What we often don't realize that each new beginning involves the death of an old life.  When we encounter these passages, or new chapters well, we are becoming more prepared for that final passage.

Our life is full of moments that remind us that our life lived in purpose will give birth to many things.  It may not necessarily be our own children, but our ideas, our hopes, and our own dreams will be the things that remain when we take our last breath.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, help me to make this day the beginning of a new journey filled with Your purposes.  Amen.

Sometimes I realize just how well God knows us.

Today across most of our country there will be one of the many wonders of creation, an eclipse.  Sometimes I think that God placed things in motion like this just to remind us of just how remarkable all of creation actually is.

While we have been warned, "not to look," it reminds me of the words God said to Moses, "remove your sandals, the ground you walk on is holy."

There are things so spectacular that exist in the universe that while we know the scientific reasons for "why" the spiritual side exclaims, "WOW!"

While a solar eclipse doesn't happen to us every day, there are many moments that remind us that the Creator of all things is at work.  A newborn draws her first breath.  A man hears that he is going to live after cancer.  On and on, there are "WOW" moments.

God's presence and sacredness in our lives comes in many ways.  This happens to be one of those that makes people stop, look to the heavens in awe, and discover something very spiritual about the experience.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, even in the silence, may I discover Your overwhelming presence.  Amen.

Dear Lord, my cross is before me.  Help me to have the courage to pick it up and follow You.  Amen.

My grandfather's family grew up in Rush County Indiana and they attended the little Quaker meeting house on the Little Blue River.  Within the large room where worshipers gathered in silence, an old Regulator clock would tick the seconds away.  The last time we visited the meeting house, nothing much had changed in the three-quarters of a century since my grandfather was a child.

There is something very real and mysterious about time.  They say that "time heals all wounds."  Lately I realize that it doesn't necessarily heal, but gives distance between the event and the present.

Time.

Years ago I remember a patient sharing as she was dying that she had picked out a park bench in heaven for us to sit and talk. The most beautiful part of the conversation was her telling me that she had already learned that there was no such thing as time in heaven. I remember telling her, "that would be heaven."

In that old meeting house, the clock signaled the time as it passed, and people awaited the arrival of the Spirit to move someone to speak.  My grandfather shared that it would "Seem like hours until we would finally leave and head home for lunch."  

Of course as a child, and for some adults, allowing time to pass in solitude can be overwhelming.  What we do in silence can either bring us closer, or farther, away from God.  The two most used words in the Old Testament reflects the times that God's people "turned away," and "returned."

Perhaps that's what we all seem to be doing. As we seek out God in our moments of silence, prayer, or with each step, we seem to still be moving either towards or away from what it is that God hopes for us.

Whether we are turning away from or returning to God, we should never be anxious about God's presence.  It is there in the silence, and in celebration that the Spirit of the Living God calls us.

​Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, in my coming and going, let me embrace Your presence.  Amen.

When we enter into solitude to be with God alone, we quickly discover how dependent we really are on the need to have times of peace with God.

Without the many distractions of our daily lives, then the solitude of the moment allows our mind to unwind.

I seem to look at my life as that of an onion. Meaning, there are always many layers to who I am. Just recognizing that makes me realize that relaxing and allowing the layers to open must occur to allow God to completely meet me.

Our tendency is to leave this fearful solitude quickly and get busy again to reassure ourselves that we are not wasting precious time. 

A few years ago a group of people created a room that will absorb 99 percent of sound, meaning, it is completely silent.  At the time of the report, the longest anyone could "handle" being present in the room was around 45 minutes.  As our ears adapt to silence, we soon begin to listen to such things as our heart beat, the filling of our lungs, and the sounds of our stomach.

The fear of wasting precious time is also a temptation,  because what makes us is not the time we spend "doing things," but God's eternal love for us.

To claim the truth of ourselves we have to cling to our God in solitude as to the One who makes us who we are.  Where we experience God, we experience real peace.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, I want to know You in the silence.  Help me to experience that kind of peace with You today.  Amen.

At an early age children learn both love and hate. The examples we provide for them are how they see the world.

I realize just how lucky I am to have the family that I do. Even though my parents often forgot that my sister and I were watching them while growing up, through their divorce, moves and sometimes ridiculous fights that they would have with one another, we managed to become two fairly "normal" adults. Well, somewhat "normal."  

We both see what we "do" in our lives as our vocation.  My sister is a nurse and I serve as a chaplain.

I have often wondered what it was in our life that brought us to where we are? 

Christ calls us to love one another as we love ourselves. Sometimes I think that we forget that love is meant to be simple. Kindness is also something that is natural. And that sharing those things with others, priority.  

While the rest of the world seems to be so chaotic, remember this, "For God so loved the world that God sent God's son to save each of us..."

Understanding that love for us, gives me hope that each day can be one of love and kindness extended to one another. The challenge for us is not letting the world get in the way. 

I hope you find ways to allow that love and kindness be part of your life today and always.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear Lord, help me to practice love today.  Amen.

Yesterday I had the privilege to spend part of the day with a Christian Pastor from Pakistan who is receiving treatment for an illness here in the United States.  He shared some of the experiences he has had in his ministry.  Some were very frightening, including the arrest and torture of colleagues, who dared to preach the Gospel in the Muslim country.

"Even when God wasn't being obvious, God was still present."

​He shared that since coming to this country for treatment, his spirit has experienced some very "dry" moments.  His heart's desire is to be out serving God, but his body is reminding him that he is very human.

He told me, "I now understand why it is that Jesus had to go off to pray.  It wasn't that he was seeking solace, it was that he was tired, and his body needed a break."

I believe we all experience dry periods in our spiritual lives.  Sometimes we find it hard to pray, or feel like we are experiencing God's present, or find that worship just isn't fulfilling some spiritual need.  It's hard not to look at God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as something distant or "up there."

He reminded me that these feelings and thoughts are just feelings and thoughts, and that the Spirit of God dwells beyond our feelings and thoughts.

He went on to share that the great grace of God is that we are able to experience God's presence in our feelings and thoughts, but when we don't, it does not mean that God is absent. It means that God's voice is calling us louder!  "God is calling us to greater faithfulness!"

What I have realized from my Pakistani brother is that in times of spiritual dryness or God's silence, we must hold on to our spiritual disciplines so that we may grow into a greater and deeper intimacy with God. 

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Dear God, in the silence, may my spiritual self seek You, and understand how it is that You are always there for me.  Amen.

Sometimes I have to wonder what the Spirit of God is actually saying to us.  I say this surrounded in prayer and solitude.  

We live in a world where 8 second sound bytes fill the airways and there are more opportunities to "hear the story" so that it is easy for the truth to be lost.  

While the world looks stares at "Breaking News" headlines, I am reminded that the Spirit is still moving, in very obvious places. 

Yesterday I was stuck in traffic, and at one point I sat under a bridge in a U-Turn area for several minutes, waiting for traffic to pass.  Yes, my radio was on the local news station as I listened to what was happening next.  And then I turned and noticed a man sleeping in the shade of the concrete overpass.

I realized that I was forgetting that the important thing in our life is being the witness of Christ in the world, and how that witness of Christ is being lived out through us.

The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of Love. Jesus himself makes this clear when he speaks about the last judgment. There people will ask: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?" and Jesus will answer: "In so far as you did this to one of the least ... of mine, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:37, 40).
​
Our greatest challenge is to remain focused on this.  Jesus comes to us in the poor, the sick, the dying, the prisoners, the lonely, the disabled, the rejected. That is where we meet him, and that is where we learn to once again be that witness for others.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams, (c) 2017

Dear Lord, help me to live my life with Your eyes today.  May I see what it is that I need to see, and then may my words, hands and feet be Yours.  Amen.

So much of the time we end our prayers by proclaiming, "In Jesus' name I pray..."

We forget that often whatever we do in the Name of Jesus, we must always keep the presence of Jesus in our hearts.  There was a time not that long ago that WWJD bracelets and bumper stickers showed up everywhere and everyone seemed to be asking, "What would Jesus do?"

When Jesus sends his disciples out to preach the Gospel, he says: "Whatever town or village you go into, seek out someone worthy and stay with him until you leave. As you enter his house, salute it, and if the house deserves it, may your peace come upon it; if it does not, may your peace come back to you" (Matthew 10:11-13).

Today the greatest challenge is to keep the living Christ fully alive within us.  With all the things that challenge us in this world, it is easy to become angry, bitter, spiteful, manipulative or even vengeful.  All these situations tempt us to take our peace away.

Taking time to ask Jesus, not what would "he do?"  Instead, may we offer ourselves to live in the Name of Jesus and strive to live through these situations with the peace of Christ so that others might witness the alternative.

Praying we all embrace the Name of Jesus as we remain in God's grip each day!

While Lord, I know that there are things that tempt to remove the joy from my life, help me to remember that when I seek to ask for things in Your name, that I am also inviting You to be part of my life.  Amen.