It's not unusual for me to pray with my patients that I am visiting.  In fact, some folks whom I visit seem to think that is the only reason why I have stopped to visit them.  Soon they find out that I am often interested in more than just praying.  I want to know about "them."

While prayer is important, knowing a persons' journey is often a form of prayer for me.  Sitting and listening, while noting milestones, challenges and joys, is about creating a timeline, but also is reflective of a person's life, their faith, and how they handled each moment.  The daily events of our life is something that God is aware of, since God is always present, but taking the time to talk to God about the day is about creating a relationship.

I have watched folks bow their heads, fold their hands, and even drop to their knees to pray to God.  I have to admit, sometimes while I am driving from one patient visit to the next I spend time talking to God about what is going on in my life and what I am thinking.  Thank God for bluetooth connections!  Today's technology has made driving alone and talking something a little more ordinary, so when people see me talking to God while driving, they just think I am on the phone!  Little do they know I am working on my relationship with God!

Our simple conversations can have lasting results.  A dear friend of mine shared, "Last words are lasting words."

I have to admit, taking the time to be present with one another and sharing in prayer is one of the greatest blessings we can be to one another. 

While I am the one often offering the prayer for those in my care, occasionally I meet folks who then offer to me a blessing as well as we pray.  In those moments, it is hard to put into the words how I feel, other than to say that I feel "blessed."

Acknowledging our faith in one another, sharing and uplifting each other, and spending time in conversation with God not only brings us closer together, but enriches our life!

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

​

This morning I woke up about fifteen minutes before my alarm was to go off. I looked at the clock and rolled over, thinking to myself, "I will close my eyes and just not think about the alarm that is about to go off."

It must have worked because I dozed off. I even began to dream. I then woke up just before the alarm went off, thinking that I heard someone calling my name. It was a soft, gentle calling. I slowly opened my eyes and seemed to be wondering if my name being said was part of the dream I was having, or from some external voice. Instead, I seemed to feel like it was a still, small voice.

I love the story from Kings where Elijah seems to have a game of "Hide and Seek," with the Lord. Strong winds, an earthquake and a fire present themselves as the Lord passes by Elijah, but yet it is in a still, small voice where Elijah discovers the Lord.

Perhaps this experience was the reminder that finding time to be still and to listen is important. In a world filled with so many sounds, being able to discern the voice of God to us can become a real challenge.

With the season of Advent beginning this Sunday, our hearts turn to the story of a couple seeking a place to stay, and being turned away from one place to the next. It is in the shelter of a barn where Jesus is born. The place is unexpected, and definitely not where the son of God would have thought to be born.

Unexpected. In uncommon ways. In a still, small voice. Our encounter with the Lord meets us in unique ways.

I am reminded each day that while we continue to seek God in what may be obvious places, God instead, is already present in unexpected ways.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

My morning began with a trip to a surgical center where a friend was about to have surgery. The procedure is not something major, but leading up to today has been filled with several doctor's appointments, time off work, and preparation. My friend will then be off work for a few weeks while recovering. It is a journey that should restore movement and remove pain. It is a story about restoration.

God's way of restoring us can take many forms. A cancer patient completes treatment and begins to live life again. An unemployed worker gets a second interview and is hired for a new position. A blind man along the side of the road acknowkedges Jesus and cries out to him, and has his eyesight restored. These are all forms of healing and restoration.

The hardest part for any of us is getting used to a "new normal," when life has changed. Even when the restoration is not back to where you had been, but where you are now.

Restoration really begins to take place when we are moved from one place, or condition, in our life, to where God brings us.

As someone once shared with me, "No one fully appreciates the light, until they have spent time in the dark."

May we all recognize when we have been restored.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

​

Still to this day, the hardest thing I encounter is the death of a child. It doesn't seem to matter how "expected" the death may be, it still leaves me often feeling the loss.

While serving my last congregation, our pianist and his wife suffered the loss of two children. Both sons were loved, even though they had not taken their first breath, quilts were being made, plans for showers were being shared, and names were already chosen. It was as if the entire congregation was pregnant.

With both pregnancies, they died while their mom was still pregnant with them. It was as if there was suddenly this darkness that seemed to overwhelm the entire faith community. And then the word for both, that their mother would be induced to deliver each child. We awaited for them to arrive, but the reality was very different than what we had planned.

There were some very hard days ahead for the parents, as well as, many people from the faith community.

I can remember a member of the community coming to me and saying, "Children are not meant to die. They are not meant to suffer."

There were no words for me to say. I struggled to find a way to comfort her, and then I learned that the woman had lost a grandson in a terrible accident. These were more than just words, these were words coming from her broken heart. I just remember telling her how sorry I was for her loss, and just hugged her as she cried.

In the days of Jesus, children were being brought to him. The disciples tried to stop the parents from bringing their children, even infants to him. He tells them to allow the children to come.

These are the words that I remind parents Jesus shared. While we live in an imperfect world where bad things happen to good people, even children, we are reminded that Jesus is present.

While I may not have the words to share, our presence for one another, and the reminder that all people are important, makes what we do for one another meaningful. Even if that presence is a silent hug, or the simple sitting with someone and letting them know you care.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

"But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you."
~ Psalm 39: 7

We all seem to try to find things to fill our life. Family, job, school, activities that seem to keep us busy.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about finding solitude. Sometimes I think that our lives become so absolutely busy that we can easily miss the blessings that are present or waiting for us.

When I think about hope, I realize that it is the one thing that we really must allow to exist.

People seem to have lost hope. It's really easy to do. When our lives become so busy, and then when we hear of some of the things happening in the world, the whole idea of hope seems to disappear.

To have hope is to once again believe in greater things, or that things will get better. Sometimes finding a quiet place, focusing on what lies ahead, and seeking the plans that God has for our life is exactly what hope is all about.

​While we are only days away from Thanksgiving and a week away from the beginning the season of Advent, I hope that we lift a prayer of hope that the world will become a better place.

Giving hope a chance means that we believe in God for greater things. I always try to have hope in the Lord first.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
~ Isaiah 40:31

I don't know how many of us ever truly learn to wait. Growing up, I learned that in the church there were three correct answers, "Yes", "No", and "Jesus."

Little did I realize there was a fourth, "Wait."

Our ability to wait on the Lord has been changed to reflect the world's desire for things to happen now. We have become a society where instant gratification has changed us from working to fulfill a goal, to basking in the prize immediately.

I can remember my grandparents working to save for something they wanted. They didn't just go out and purchase something.

It makes me wonder what they would truly think of Black Friday, or Cyber Monday.

One thing is for sure, they would have only purchased something after the research was done, at least one family discussion would have taken place, and only then would the item been purchased.

Waiting on the Lord is something that requires discipline. It's allowing time for God to respond.

What if God doesn't seem to answer?

The fact of the matter is, so many of us haven't waited ever! We probably wouldn't recognize the voice of God if God were sitting right on front of us!

It's okay! God always has a way of making God's own self be known!

Waiting, listening, praying, and knowing are all things to consider each day. Each day we are all given opportunities to do just that.

Today I shall wait on the Lord... allowing God to renew my strength... so that I may rise up...and seek to spread my wings like a bird about to take flight, demonstrating confidence in the things I set out to do... and because I have waited, prayed, and I am confident in what it is that God desires for me in my life, I shall be able to go about my day, and not be tired, because the Lord is with me every step of the way... even when I seem to be running!

​Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

Holiness exists in unexpected moments, as well as, places. This morning as I was busy grabbing my breakfast and cup of coffee to head off to visit my first patient, I was struck by the sunlight pouring in and over our family table. I acknowledged that this space had suddenly become holy to me, and I paused.

We encounter holiness in the smallest of light and in the grandest of cathedrals, but actually holiness begins with us.

When we are caught up, staring at a sunset, or the bloom of a flower. The emergance of boys who were trapped in a cave, to the woman standing on the corner with a sign asking for help, we suddenly find we are in the presence of holiness.

Holiness is our recognition and our response to what we are encountering and how we react.

As I fast forward to now, sitting in a parking lot outside of a care home where I have just sat with a woman who will soon be meeting eternity, I am once again embracing the moment, and declaring it to be holy.

Our relationship with God is met through these moments. For Moses, encountering a bush that seemed to burn without harm to its branches, God cautions him to stop and to remove his shoes because the ground in which he stands is holy.

We too, are holy ground, living instruments of Christ, who seeks to be known. Slowing down, and allowing the holiness of the moment to wash over us, allows for us to acknowledge and recognize this within and around us.

The place where you stand is holy. It is within you.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

I guess one of the things about working in the world of hospice, I seem to have more conversations about heaven than I do anything else. I realized that as I sat at a friend's birthday party for her three year old grandson on Saturday. I stepped away from the party momentarily to look at the bay that was next to the park. As I watched seagulls skim the edge for the water, and mallords make their way up the hillside to feed, I caught myself glancing across the water where the cloudy sky seemed to meet the water, and i suddenly found myself staring at heaven.

Of course mt idea about heaven has also changed over the years. When John walks through the wilderness proclaiming that the "Kingdom of God is at hand," I now suddenly realize that we often bump into it without noticing.

Our eyes, and for that matter, our entire self is so focused on our surroundings that at times we forget that eternity is actually our home.

I certainly don't want to rush its appearance, especially in my life at this time, but I do seem to discover it appearing in ways that I wouldn't expect.

The frost last week has left many of the plants in our area looking much different. Unlike the morning after a hurricane where leaves have been stripped from branches and water still receding, the entrance to eternity is already beginning with each new birth, and each season that we live.

​The writer of Colossians wants us to think about the things to come, and for us to long for it, or at least, begin to think of what eternity will hold for us. The words, "set our affection on heaven," reminds us to focus on having a relationship, or a feeling about what lies ahead.

Each day I meet people who suddenly realize that they must think beyond this lifetime, and for some it is not affection that they are experiencing. Sometimes it is about anger, fear, and the unknown that they are focused upon.

In any circumstance, we must befin to realize that heaven is also to be our home. Where we no longer need to prepare for an ending, but instead, to befin to live out our life, everlasting. For me, that is also about faith, hope and love.

With this being shared, Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

Years ago I remember spending time with a neighbor who was being very reflective. As she shared, she talked of her accomplishments, and the life that she had made for herself. She then summed it all up by saying, "You know, this will all go away. Everything that I have done in my life, will simply fade away."

It's hard for any of us to think about what it is that we will leave behind as our legacy. Our children, the work that we do, the efforts we have made to "make a difference," at some point will be part of history.

And what I have to say about this is, "And it will be okay."

I love thinking about the things that we can do today that will continue to have a lasting effect, however, I also realize that two generations from now it may or may not matter.

One of my most loved possessions is a set of China dishes my great grandmother gave to me when I graduated from high school. For me, they have history, because every time I use them, I think of her. But to my children, who never knew her, they are just dishes.

Leaving behind lasting words, or works, is something we all think about, but for Jesus, he wants us to think more about the future. Not creating monoliths that will one day crumble, but to think about what the Kingdom of God might be like. When we begin to realize our future, it does begin to impact our present, when then becomes part of our history.

Living each day, knowing that we are part of eternity, leaves us with a different outlook. For me, it makes loving my neighbor easier. Tedious tasks more bearable, and my understanding of hope more complete.

Yes, these stones may crumble, but our faith is made to last forever.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

Years ago I became friends with Rev. Lew Wiggs.  A Baptist minister who while undergoing treatment for cancer, which was thought to be terminal at the time, was asked to visit patients that were dying from a "mysterious" disease effecting primarily gay men in Houston.

His doctor knew that he was clergy and thought that since Lew was going to "die anyway," visiting these patients with this unknown disease that was killing them, wouldn't make a difference in the outcome of his illness.

Lew began this new chapter in his ministry, spending time reconciling family members with their gay children, or simply sat and held their hands as they died.  

Of course, Lew was telling me of this chapter in his life twenty years later while serving as the Director of the Bay Area AID's Alliance.  Lew lived beyond his cancer diagnosis, and actually lived beyond the cancer doctor who had diagnosed him.

He would share that being with those who were "outcasts," taught him more about his faith than those who sat each Sunday in the pew in the church he served.  

He reminded me that it is, "not the well who need a physician," but those, "who are ill." 

Of course it would be tax collectors and sinners that Jesus would spend time with, and of course, those who were watching Jesus each day would have to comment about his ministry.

The example of Christ can be challenging in a society where it seems that people are watching.  Each day we encounter today's Samaritans, tax collectors and sinners, even when the person is us!  Being able to journey with others means that sometimes we will be asked to meet them along roads that we have yet to travel. 

Our challenge is to see one another as siblings and children of the same God, deserving of the same love and grace.  Each day we are challenged to see the world with these eyes, and to be the living instruments of Christ in a world that needs us to be present for one another.

Who is it that you are being asked to journey with today? 

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 

"Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
~ 2 Corinthians 12:10


One of the most difficult things that we can experience is weakness. In today's world our times when we seem to, or appear to be weak can be detrimental in so many ways.

I often see times when I am weak as moments when vulnerability overcomes the current situation and I see it for what it is. Being vulnerable isn't always seen as a sign of weakness. It identifies truth. It reveals personal struggles that often others can identify with, while sometimes it is just what was needed to make for a stronger relationship, or a desired outcome.

I have always respected people when they have shared both personal tragedies and struggles. I have often been moved to identify my own need for change, while considering options that people have shared in their own journeys.

Our ability to be strong in Christ during these times begins with asking God to walk beside us when we find that we have lost our way, or have fallen into times of weakness.

When we are weak, God is strong is what we learn early as a child in Sunday School. Somewhere along the way, weakness has shown itself in many expressions as we go through life.

Whatever the struggle, being truthful in those times, and remembering that it's going to be okay, can help to bring us through these times. The God who created you in your mother's womb, designed you to be fully human in strength and in weakness, while remaining fully God's.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
~ Matthew 14: 30, 31

"Why did you doubt?"

I think it's a question that we all have been asked at some point of our lives. It's more common I think than we realize. Yesterday I sat in a classroom full of theological students who were asked to discuss what "faith" is?

The ability to walk on water is surely not something we see everyday. Just because we dont, doesn't mean that we aren't exercising or experiencing, some kind of faith.

Just because I don't see the air I breathe all the time, doesn't mean that I don't recognize that it exists.

Faith is not something that one measures. It's knowing that there is a God. It's realizing that God knows me. Most of all, it's believing in the greater things.

Don't feel like a failure if you struggle at times in your relationship with God. The real step out on faith is when you know that even if you fail, God will still be there.

For me, that is when we are truly walking on water.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

Yesterday afternoon I spent time walking around a local park, taking photos, and simply watching people and their families.

Parks, airports, and hospital waiting rooms are places where we seem to have permission to sit and watch others. Frankly, I prefer parks. The surroundings are usually more peaceful, where children are allowed to run, and it doesn't seem to matter how loud your voice gets!

​I watched a young family with strollers, manuevering through the grass to reach a table in the middle of a meadow. The ups and downs, including a patch of water didn't seem to bother them.

Two people were playing tennis in a side court, and I watched as two boys climbed a fence near where a family birthday celebration was taking place, while making shadows through a plastic backdrop used to block the setting sun.

As I rounded a corner along the bayou that surrounds the park, I noticed a man with several fishing poles, all of which had lines in the water. He sat on a rail and watched. He waited to see what he might catch, but mostly, I think, he was just enjoying the peaceand quiet along the water's edge.

The words, "Follow me," came to mind as I saw him, thinking that this would be an ideal place where a man like Jesus, just starting out on his journey, would stop and begin a conversation.

While I walked silently by, I found myself imagining how those early days of Jesus' ministry must have been so very special while meeting those who would then leave everything behind to follow him, even up to the time that the silence would turn to screams from a crowd, demanding that he be crucified.

My journey would remain peaceful today, and I instead tried to remain focused on those earlier times. I asked myself, "Would I have gone with him?"

Would I have left my walk today, my home, and my family had I encountered this man named Jesus?

Could I have left everything that is my life to simply walk away, and to follow someone I just met?

​I then began to look at those in the park differently. As a follower of Jesus in those days, would I have truly been ready to sit and listen to every person I met? To be willing to walk away quietly no matter how I was treated? Could I have had the faith later to look at a large crowd and believe that a few fish and loaves would feed the multitude, and what would I have done when I saw Jesus stop, and begin to cry, when he reached the tomb of a friend, then called his name, and saw him walk out of the dark?

Today that journey would include homeless shelters, street corners, and places of worship where people have been murdered. Hospitals where people needing care were turned away because of cost, and in places where people of color were the modern day Samaritan.

No, I am not sure what my response would be. In many ways I am thankful that Jesus allows us to walk with him within.

Although I must admit, the walk in the park left me wondering what I might do if I heard the words, "Follow me."

Stay in God's grip!
​

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
~ Ephesians 5:1 - 2

Look in the mirror... what do you see?

Years ago someone told me, "You know, you have never really seen yourself. Only your reflection."

It caused me to really think hard about what he said. It was true. I have only seen my reflection in the mirror, or upon the water, or in a photograph. It is impossible to look at ourselves directly in the face.

We are created in an image of God, and then we are asked to be imitators of Christ. Two amazing contrasts that are both telling and subjective to how we should look and act. While there are only a handful of folks who have even had a glimpse of who God is directly, Christ on the other hand, walked and talked with people, and lived among others in community.

The journey for any of us, begins with a breath, and with a family, but from there, the differences are as different as each breath thereafter.

We are reminded to love one another, and that we are all God's children. To be good neighbors, and to seek God with all our strength. To use our minds to seek justice, and to forgive others. To be imitators of Christ!

The list is endless and still is being added to with each new life.

When we look into the mirror, we are being given the chance to not just see a reflection, but to reflect. Is the image that each of us sees the image of Christ in a world that is still seeking?

For us, our image is always a reflection. What is it that you see?

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

I just left the home of a patient who is gently finding her way to heaven. When I walked into the home, I dialed for a translator who would help me with my conversation, because English was not spoken in the home.

As I introduced myself and was welcomed by the family into their home, I noticed that the only lamp in the home was near the patient's bed, and it illuminated a picture of Jesus on the wall. Of course the face was in the image of the family who had immigrated to the United States, and their matriarch, who had brought them through so many hills and valleys was now laying in a bed next to the picture, and is dying. I did not need clarification of who the man is in the picture.

His eyes were looking directly at those who looked at the image. His hands, pierced, extending outward, to embrace and to hold us.

The single lamp. A single Savior who loves us all.

In a world that seems to focus on the differences that we drag into the light each day, in this home and experience I am reminded that the light of Christ shines bright for each of us.

As I began to pray, inviting the family to gather with me, exhausted from keeping watch at bedside all night long, I listened as the translator took the words I spoke, and filled the room with words that would speak to those I was with.

I am humbled at times to think that what I am sharing can be shared in a way that even those who look different than me, who have journeyed in ways that I could never begin to imagine, can join hands with me, and share in thanksgiving to the same Savior that I also proclaim as my own.

It is both humbling and reasssuring. It is a glimpse of what the true kingdom of God actually looks like. Without differences. Illuminated by One light!

The family hugged me as I finished my prayer, and offered me a cookie. Their way of practicing hospitality to someone who is no longer a stranger, but a brother in the family of God.

I began to tear up and I thanked them for their generosity of kindness. The translator still on the line, also thanking both of us that he was welcomed into this moment, and both the family and I thanking him for his gift of translation.

As I prepared to leave, I took one more look back, realizing the the only lamp in the home was serving as the one light, but reminding all who entered of the One light that loves us all.

Stay on God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018