Dear Reader:

I had a God Wink over the weekend that has guided me into the new week. It all started with a comment from Michele Jones who graciously agreed to do the sermon while our pastor was gone yesterday.

Like anyone of us would have been in her shoes …she was concerned about finding the right words to help the worshipers in  the congregation. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to convey the real message God wanted her to say. But then she read Saturday’s blog that featured the quote by author Joyce Carol Oates: “I’m the garden hose water flows through.” Bingo! A sense of sheer relief flooded her…it was not her words but God’s that would be spoken…she was simply “the hose through which the words would flow.”

*As I was reading Michele’s sweet email to me about how the post relieved her from the inner turmoil and stress she was feeling due to too many life’s problems hitting at the same time while working on the sermon….the doorbell rang.

It was a box of cards I had ordered earlier being delivered by UPS. As soon as I opened the box…here lay the top card. A God’s Wink at its best.

There was a little girl with a water hose…letting love flow through the hose. I knew then who this card was intended for…and I gave it to Michele before the service started yesterday morning.

And “Boy” did the words flow yesterday! Michele’s message made a lot of people in the congregation (including myself) sit up and pay close attention. Using the scripture in Numbers as her background…Michele re-told us the story of Joshua taking over the leadership of his people (after Moses’ death) who had wandered for forty years amid turmoil and strife.

God was now giving him and them the Promised Land with no red tape, no hidden fees, no HOA’s, no time-sharing gimmicks…the land was theirs...free and clear. No down-payments, equity requirements, closing costs, title fees….the land was theirs free and clear. God had promised this land and God kept His promise…free and clear. 

Michele’s message was that God still does that for each and everyone of us as we, too, sometimes wander lost and troubled in our own personal “wildernesses.” Each of us is guaranteed our own”promised land”….our goals and dreams fulfilled…if we trust in life and God’s ability to deliver us out of the wilderness… like Joshua did. Without a doubt, Joshua’s greatest accomplishment in life was his unwavering loyalty and faith in God. *And the final “Promised Land” is, of course, eternity.

Out of every problem and obstacle that confronts us in this life…good can be found at the end of the process if we have faith.

It is said that Joshua died at the age of 110 and was buried at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. 110….and scripture says he was still of sound mind and body. Now that makes me feel like a spring chicken.

…And leads me to my next/last favorite card I would like to share with you today.

So until tomorrow…Let us keep our dreams and “promised lands” alive and well through faith and determination in God’s power to overcome any obstacle in our way. As Michele says “God Can” when we can’t …let us never forget that.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*On this last day of July…let us appreciate the extraordinarily beautiful day we had yesterday…Sunday…and another today. Cool temps with with cool breezes…what a gift to the lowcountry in July. (Usually by this time…whatever plants I planted in the barrel in the early spring are long gone with just a few pitiful stragglers left…but just look at the coleus and lantana…the flowers are still thriving and growing. Good-bye July…you were a good month this year!)