I love living close to the Gulf. Granted I have experienced a number of storms over the last twenty years. There is still something that draws me to the water's edge.
When I was in high school I read the book, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," by Richard Bach. In the book he writes, "Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly." For a young man who really only knew what it was like to live on a farm, and in a community that was very close, but also sometimes suspicious of "outsiders," many of those that I grew up with desired to spread our wings and discover what really was over the next hillside. The chapters following that initial "first flight," has shaped my view of the world, of people, and what I know of myself. I wish that I could say that all was well, especially on days when the perfect sunrise meets the horizon, and all creation pauses to take in the view, but we know from our experiences that each of us belong to a greater creation. Knowing this, however, is where our wings of faith encounter hope. I think of some of the storms that I have encountered since moving to the Houston area. They even have names like Allison, Rita, Ike and Harvey. I remember after a long night when Ike came onto shore, not ever entering the eye, but encountered the wall of the eye for hours. We listened to the cries of squirrels in the dark night as trees were uprooted and the light from transformers exploding challenged the lightening, filling the sky with bright lights and colors I will remember the rest of my life. The next morning it appeared that every tree had been stripped of folage, and for months neighbors seemed to have their homes covered in blue tarps, until each slowly returned to a new normal. I do, however, remembered that first morning, and the sun overcoming the darkness, reminding us that there will always be a new day. We forget that storms are a part of life, and even as one taking flight, we must remember what we have learned and hear the words, "Peace, be still." I'm unsure if any of us ever truly forget our want to fly, even as I encounter those who are dying as a hospice chaplain, I still listen to those who speak of "taking flight," and of "soaring among the clouds." I think I used to feel limited by the shoreline. It was the reminder to me that there will always be limits to the things I would like to do in life, but then I am reminded that it is the shoreline that protects me from the sea. It is God's way of creating boundaries, that are often filled with beauty, but also the reminder that we all are being protected from something. The older I get I realize that some things are just simply meant to be enjoyed from where we currently are. It is God's way of telling us, "I have made you exactly as I had hoped. Do not limit yourself by the reflection in the sea, for even the sea cannot see what I do." I'm thankful for the times we soar beyond, but I'm even more grateful to know that I will always be held in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018
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"As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." ~ John 17: 18 There is something about watching the sky and surrounding trees reflecting on water. Reflections are interesting. You know none of us have ever seen our face as others do. Only our reflection or photos. Not directly, but yet, we have an understanding of what we look like based upon these images.
For the world, we are the reflection of God. While none of us living have seen God's face, we understand who God is because of who each of us are. We are the reflection, or image, of who God is. Have you ever sat in a room full of people and realized that every person in that room is a reflection of who God is? It becomes clear to me that the reflection of God is simply impossible to imagine until we begin to realize that every person in this world is indeed God's reflection. So while you look into the mirror to start the day, take a closer look and discover the reflection of God. While you gather with others, ride the bus, or stand in line at the grocery store, begin to realize that what you are witnessing is similar to clouds being reflected upon the water. You are seeing the reflection of who God is in the world today. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty."
~ Psalm 91:1 In the story of Peter Pan, Peter has lost his shadow and is looking for it when he meets Wendy and her siblings. His shadow seems to tie him to the world where he then begins to interact with the Darling family. One of the young men I met while working with the homeless called himself, "Shadow," because that is how he felt about himself. It's interesting that no matter how large or small something is, it casts a shadow. One of the things I enjoy taking photos of are shadows. Do you realize even the smallest speck of sand casts a shadow? It's true. I can remember as a child attempting to step on my own shadow. Creating images with the flashlight on the inside of our tent was often a fun way to spend the evening. One of my favorite theologians, D. Elton Trueblood writes, "man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit." For each of us, we recognize our own shadow, but did you also realize that no matter who we are, all of God's creation casts the same color of shadow? To me, it is a significant reminder that in this world this similarity is a common place for us to begin. Each shadow represents a child of God, who seeks truly the same thing. Happiness, good health, hope, family, and so many other things. Each shadow represents a common thread. While in the light we all seem to focus on what something appears to look like, and prompts us to judge, segregate, and divide. A shadow prevents us from doing that. Each of us casts a shadow, and we ALL have been created to live and serve a wonderful loving and caring God. Isn't it amazing that the first thing God created was light that then created shadows! While you enjoy the light of day, what do the shadows around us represent? Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 The Lord said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ~ Joshua 1:5 For nearly six years of my life I pastored a church that predominately served the homeless in a part of Houston that had a large number of homeless teens and young adults. The average age of the congregation was 27. Many of the members struggled with addiction, mental illness, or issues at home that brought them to the streets to seek a different life.
I quickly learned that providing options was essentially the mission of the church. Many of these folks often felt abandoned, especially by God. I quickly understood why. Each of them carried stories of shame, hurt, loss, and often, pain. I would spend hours on the street, under bridges, at soup kitchens, and some places that were often very dark, where shadows would retreat during the light of day. Some days I even found myself feeling abandoned while seeking help from others, and trying to share their stories in a way that would cause people to see these folks and try to make a difference. One evening one of the kids said, "Since you can't take me to your meetings, then at least take my shadow." I bought a roll of paper, and for the next three months I would exchange a bus token for the chance to draw the person's outline onto the paper, taking note of their birth name, their street name, how many years they lived on the street, and what caused them to be homeless. I took a roll of shadows to Portland one summer during the General Assembly of my faith tradition and rolled out 167 shadows onto the assembly floor and watched. I soon discovered that the folks at the assembly reacted to the shadows the same way that people reacted to the actual people on the street. Some people stopped, read the information, and stood there. Some didn't notice them and walked right over them. Some would turn away, realizing what they were, and go a different direction. To me, it was a powerful witness to what these folks experience each day. I left the assembly feeling many things, but mostly, a determination to make a difference. About two years later, after the shadows had made journeys from one end of the country to another, and they were beginning to resemble the actual people that were torn and tattered, one of the kids asked me, "So, are you tired of exploiting those of us in the shadows, and are you ready to simply stop and hold our hands?" I hadn't realized that my effort to bring awareness of others to the problem facing those living the life in the shadows was overwhelming my ability to be present for those I had been called to care for. While I thought I was doing what was best for the faith community, they were feeling abandoned again by another person. I was being reminded that they knew that God was present, but that I also needed to be reminded that I was being asked to be present as well. While Joshua was being reminded that God would be with him as he took the Hebrew people into the Promised Land, our need to hear these words are still needed today, in all kinds of circumstances. For people both living in the shadows and the light. For daily life experiences, no matter how mundane. There is the need for each of us as we begin each day to hear that God will be with us, as well as, at the end as we seek rest. Even when we may feel as if we are only a shadow, God is still with us. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world."
~ John 17: 18 I wonder how many of us see ourselves as God's presence in the world? It's a thought I have tried to convey. I would often remind my kids when they were growing up, "Remember who you are and what you stand for." It wasn't meant to be funny, although sometimes it was met with a grin. It is a statement that we should all consider each time we place our feet on the floor when we get up in the morning. Perhaps each time we clock in our work, or each time we stop for lunch. At the ballgame, or on the freeway. How about every time we use social media? Now that might be interesting! Let's just think about this verse. If we are sent into the world as Christ was, what does our life and actions then mean in the world? If the world were to perceive this message, I wonder what the headlines of the news would proclaim? I understand that what I'm proposing is a radical paradigm shift, however, it cannot happen unless we begin to see ourselves as God's presence in the world and start acting like it. Just a thought for today. I hope each day we find that someone recognizes that presence. "Remember who you are and what you stand for..." Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness."
~ Ezekiel 20:10 Wilderness moments. We all experience times in our life when we seem to be wandering. Two years ago I went through a period when I was struggling with so many things in my life. I even remember sharing with someone that I felt lost. One thing that I have realized is that even when we may feel lost, we are still on a journey. These pathways are significant, whether they are known or steps in the wilderness. I have often wondered what the Hebrew people really were thinking during their forty years of wandering. The wilderness has many names, and are not always about geography. Common roads have not always been the trails I have walked. I'm always happy when a clearing opens up, but the canopy of the forest, the overgrown fence row, and the unexpected stream winding over smooth rocks, cause me to breathe deep and to look up, seeking the faintest ray of light. "Thou art with me," the Psalmist shared. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ~ Acts 17:27 There are some days that I struggle to understand Christians, and it is okay. I know that each of us are created in the image of God, but anything beyond that image seems to be open for debate!
Of course I am kidding. Well, sorta. Can you tell that I am struggling with this? I grew up in a family who claims to be Christian, but sometimes I just have to cringe when they become judgemental, racist, and unable to realize that people understand who God is in all kinds of ways. Lately I think we know more about how not to treat one another, than how to care for one another. We will respond with words declaring that we will pray about things, while forgetting that in order for things to change, we must allow for the change to happen. Sometimes, that means we have to be the ones to make the first step. I have to admit, since the morning I ended up at Santa Fe High School after a gunman opened fire, killing several students and teachers, my ability to deal with some Christian "values" has really been tested. While refraining from cynicism, I want to make sure I am not coming across as one who has lost hope. I can assure you that this is still part of my own tapestry of life, however, sometimes I have to try just a little harder to make sure that I hold onto it! Even in the time of Jesus, Jesus noted that even among his most faithful followers there were those who lacked faith, were judgemental about different types of people, and even those who failed to believe. It is not failure to struggle at times to simply understand why things happen, or to wonder how it is that someone could believe in a particular way. If we all believed the same way, there would only be one place of worship in every community! But we aren't! I am thankful that we live in a world where diversity can and does provide beauty. Where people of different walks of life can, and often do walk together. I know that people are not perfect. I realize that not every person believes the same thing, but at the end of the day, realizing that we all are connected is the greatest lesson we must learn. While there are those shouting that God be brought back into society, God has never left! Perhaps we just forgot how to allow God to exist in a world full of all kinds of people who are still God's children! Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! ~ Psalm 130:1 - 2 Have you ever experienced a time that left you crying out to God? If truthful, I think we have all had that moment where the only words that you can find while praying are, "Lord, please help me."
I am reminded that the Lord knows us. God knows our hearts. And of course, God knows our needs even when we have yet to find the words to voice what they are. So often when I am praying with a group I will often thank God for those prayer concerns that have been shared, and those that have yet to find a way to be expressed. Let's face it, it is not always easy being vulnerable with others, especially when it comes to some prayer concerns. I am grateful for the times that I have been able to simply say, "Help me, Lord!" These are the times when our soul reacts in a way that both we and others understand. These are the words that we all know, and the supplication of transparency. It is not that others need to know the complete need, it is one that God already understands. Today I am thankful for the times I have prayed, "God help me," and that God has been present saying, "I am right here." Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ~ Lamentations 3:22-23 This morning I woke up thinking about a girl I met on the streets of Houston years ago named "Broken." This, of course, was not her birth name given to her by parents. It was a name she had chosen for herself.
When I asked, "Why Broken," she then told me about growing up as a foster child after her mother was arrested for drugs and her father just, "left one day and never came home." She was seven years old when she entered, "The system," as she casually called it. She would spend the next six years in four different foster homes. "Each one was different, but the same," she would share. "There were always broken toys in the home that I played with. When I was thirteen my foster father sexually 'hurt me,' and I ran away. They made me go back three times, until they just quit looking for me." "About a year ago I ended up here and I looked in the mirror one morning when I was at a hotel with some guy, and what I saw in the mirror reminded me of the broken dolls I played with growing up. 'Broken,' is what I saw. So that's my name." There were many things I felt as this 16-year-old girl told me of her story. Over the next six years as I walked the same blocks as the pastor of a church in the area, I would listen to the stories of those I met, and how they came to living on the street. Many of them still haunt me today, especially when I think back and remember how many of them disappeared into the shadows of night, and just never appeared again. I have never felt so helpless in my life. Where the least of these had to be stepped over on sidewalks when they were exhausted, tired, and broken by what they had experienced in the world. Telling them that, "God still loved them, and that God knew their pain," was not always enough. It was the raw reminder that sometimes in this world, we as instruments of Christ, must hear and react to stories that we either have no idea about because of our own lack of experiences, or because we don't understand how one human being could treat another human being in this manner. The day that Cain took upon himself to murder his brother, God asked, "Where is your brother," knowing full-well that he was dead. God wanted to hear the words, "He is dead." In our world we fill our life with violence as popular crime shows create story lines filled with such haneous events, that somehow they have been woven into the tapestry of our society. Our ability to see that God is being faithful has been preempted by the "following special report." Our need to be reminded that "Great is God's faithfulness," was even a struggle for the writer of Lamantations. We need to hear these words above all others, and to believe them to be true, even as we drown them out by what the world is shouting at us. In all honesty, we all know something about being "Broken." Broken relationships. Broken dreams. Broken hopes. A series of unfortunate events can lead us to places we never have dreamed of being, but then there are these words, "Great is God's faithfulness!" We then open our eyes and realize that it is the broken and pierced hands of Christ that hold us and recognize that it is the brokenness of God that is faithful to us now. Not only is God faithful, but God also understands when we are broken. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "My soul is full of longing
for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I love poetry. Some people just know how to capture a moment, or a feeling, and take the reader into their very soul. We are all walking illustrations of God's expression. Each are emotion, web and flow, of a gesture of who God is. While in college a professor once told me that in my writing to be kind to the reader. "Write so that the reader doesn't have to struggle to understand what I am saying." Obviously, he had never read scripture, or taken time to honestly look at himself or pedestrians crossing the road. There are just some things about this world that can be confusing at times. I try to wait to look at the newspaper, or listen to news headlines until I at least have my first cup of coffee. With some of the things in the world today I have to be somewhat alert to try to even comprehend the actions of others. It's both confusing at times and/or heartbreaking. In Ephesians the writer proclaims that we are God's workmanship. The word in Greek is "poemia." We get the English word, "poem" from this word. Whenever I read this scripture, in my head I refer to humanity as God's poem, created by God, to do God's will. Each of us are special. Connected by lines, and together serve as an illustration for others and one another, of God's creativity, but also beauty. We are sonets and periscopes, strings of prose, that create an image that others may see as the image and Spirit of the Creator. There is beauty, and a promise... live your life in hope, and realize that each of us are part of a living illustration of who God is. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:19 Years ago I can remember one of my grandparents telling me that God supplies "exactly what we need, not what we may want."
It was one of those moments where as a young adult I began to then question some of my own dreams of what I hoped to have in life. It didn't make for the dreams to disappear, but it did make me realize that anything I was going to "want," I would have to work harder for it to become a reality. It didn't take long for me to receive a better understanding of what my grandmother was talking to me about. I can remember a time when I was praying for direction in my life. Out of college, and living on my grandmother's farm, I really felt like I was supposed to be doing more with my life. On a trip out to Arizona to visit family, I "ran into" some friends from college at a mall where we were shopping. The friends told me about a job in Wyoming with the company they were working with. Once seeing me, they commented, "God just made this happen. You would really be a perfect fit." I remember laughing and kindly declining, even when they called me, telling me they had spoken to the owner of the company and that he was interested in talking with me. While gathering my mail at the Post Office after returning home from my trip, there was a brochure on top of the stack of mail with someone else's name on it, but also including the title, "Or Current Resident." The brochure was a travel advertisement for Wyoming. I remember talking to my grandmother and she reminded that, "Sometimes when God is providing what we need, we must be open to the change we need to make ourselves available to receive what God has for us." I ended up taking the job and absolutely loved the experience. To this day I try to look at what I need, versus what I want. I realize that even now I still struggle at times to understand when doors close, or things change that effect my life, but ultimately I realize that it is God's way of getting me to a place where I can be right where God wants me to be, and have exactly the right blessings for that time. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 |
AuthorRev. G. Todd Williams is the author of the book, "Remember Me When..." and is a former hospice chaplain and pastor. Archives
February 2024
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