Walking Out Loud

2:22 AM

…that’s when I realized I was seriously awake. My wife and middle daughter had left thirty minutes ago to take a six-hour trip to Cleveland for an accepted college student’s day. Traffic at that time was probably non-existent, but this is Pennsylvania. Visions of dare-devil venison ran through my head, and I hoped they had hung up their antlers and declared car-dodging season over. But it just takes one Bambi-Knievel wanna-be. “Tell Isabella to watch out for deer,” was the last thing I told my wife, right after I said, “I love you, be careful.” I was supposed to be on this trip. Yeah, I wasn’t going back to sleep. I don’t really suffer from insomnia; I’ve always taken comfort knowing God doesn’t need sleep and He’s got everything under control (Psalm 121:4). But occasionally…. In times of stress or excitement, usually the former, I can hack two hours or more out of a good night’s sleep. The mind either races from one thing to another or fixates on a particular situation and won’t let go. “Don’t look at the clock!” It calls to me. I look. That’s when it’s really over. “Why don’t you pray?” Good advice, but I’ve learned something. At these times it’s better for me to listen and not talk. Let me explain…. When I’m giving in to worry, I need to take an actual physical attitude of prayer – hands lifted or knees on the ground or sitting with head bowed low, barely balanced; that keeps me from losing focus on God and directing my thoughts to Dr. Doubt and Mr. Worry. Lying down and trying to keep from disturbing my wife while formulating prayers to God just doesn’t get it done. But listening, that’s a different story! David speaks of thinking of God (Psalm 63:6) and meditating on His promises (Psalm 119:148) through the watches of the night. I’m not sure of everything he had in mind here, but my application of what it means has really helped me out. When the mind races, I reach out for God’s voice in the scriptures lodged in my head and I suddenly find rest. I’m not expressing myself, I’m letting God express Himself to me. His voice is soothing and hushes my spirit into peace. Like a familiar voice to a baby, His comforts me, calms me down, and suddenly, He’s rocked me to sleep.

Of Broken Hips and God’s Grace

Galen Harrill / February 17, 2022

Maybe a bit on the ironic side – I can’t walk and I’m launching a site called Daily Faith Walk. It had something to do with ice, friction, gravity, angles, comparative densities, and force. It wasn’t pretty! I’ve got a non-displaced crack in the socket of my hip. Rest is the order of the day, or rather the order of a few weeks, and I’m not supposed to put any weight on my leg. No walking. So, I’m out of commission. Sort of…. In Genesis 31, Jacob decides to do what he wanted to do for years. He had been managing his father-in-law’s family business so to speak and it was time for a change. His father-in-law’s family was becoming jealous and Jacob was not feeling the love. It wasn’t going to be easy – Jacob had his hands full. Besides running a very successful goat-breeding operation, Jacob had other responsibilities – two warring wives; a household staff with complicated work/personal relationships and the resulting kids; a diversified portfolio of livestock. No matter, he was going home and the long-standing, unresolved personal issue of a brother who wanted to kill him would just have to sort itself out. Where was God in the mix? Well, not far away, even if Jacob wasn’t giving it much thought. He knew God promised to bless him. He knew God told him he would go home. That doesn’t mean he was completely ready. God wanted Jacob to see what happened now was all God’s doing, not his own – and it was all for his own good. Skipping over all the panic livestock installments Jacob sends to his bristly brother, we finally get to the part where God won’t be ignored. “Hey! You want the blessing? You want to know where I’ve been this whole time you were exiled? You want to know where all this good stuff you’ve got came from? Not you! It’s been me this whole time and if you didn’t have to put a little umph into it you wouldn’t appreciate it. You’ve already been blessed! Wrestle with that! And just so you won’t forget, I’m going to give you something to help you remember every time the weather changes – how about a trick hip?” So, I’ve had this dream of launching something new. I’ve taken some probing steps in that direction for years. But God is now saying, “Jump!” and I won’t worry about the hip. This is God’s blessing and He’s just making sure I know it….

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2:22 AM

Of Broken Hips and God’s Grace