a highway for our God
Isaiah 40:3 NIV
3 A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD [a] ;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.
As the pastor read this passage last Sunday, I had to smile. The freeway I drive each morning to work has been a terrible snarl of construction ever since we relocated to be "closer" to church. As the construction project has gotten to be more of a hassle as the weeks go by, I was about to deem it unbearable, when I looked over to my left one morning, as I crept along, inches behind the creeping bumper inches just ahead of me, squinting into the sunrise through exhaust fumes, and saw, incredibly, six brand new, straight, wide lanes had just risen out of the rubble and debris. I felt a renewed hope that the end of the construction was in sight. It reminded me of the final month of pregnancy, when the weight and pressure seem to become the most unbearable, until you think you'll never make to the end. Praise God for straight highways, for the end of pregnancy, and for finding our way through the wilderness!
Dear God, we are trying to find our way to you. But we struggle over the rough parts of the road, we bump our head on the low branches, we trip over stones in the path. We worry when we encounter obstacles, and we question our direction. Help us continue down the right path to you, give us persistence to push on when we are tired or wounded. Calm our fears and replace them with the steadfast knowledge that you are our guide. Help us to remove all the obstacles in our lives that prevent us from running into your protective arms.
We pray for those who journey with us along this road, those nearby and those far away. As we prepare the road for you to come into our lives, let us also pray that we can help others wherever we are along that road. The following individuals we lift up to your attention: Johnnie Mae Battles, Anita Davis, Wendy Ansley, Brenda Allen, Michelle Baer, Rheanell Ancinec, Debbie Lakey, Destini Mayberry, Donald Mayberry, Michael and Lyndee Johnson, Garrett Johnson, M. Lange, Fernando McAdory and his family, Jesse McAdory and his family, Calista Hedricks, her husband and children, Blanca Andrade, Angela Alston, William Luce, Angela llAsberry and Amber and Pheldon Flippin, Alma McCoy, Otis Westbrook, Brian Johnson, Trista Longoria, Sharon Price, and everyone who has joined our ministry this week.
We are all making this journey together. We have all stumbled, fallen, but with your help and the support of each other, we get back up and continue to make our journey to you, dear God. Heal our infirmities, remove from us the desire to do evil, open our eyes to the beauty in us and all around us. We celebrate the birth of our Savior, born in our hearts and into the world. Amen.
3 A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD [a] ;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.
As the pastor read this passage last Sunday, I had to smile. The freeway I drive each morning to work has been a terrible snarl of construction ever since we relocated to be "closer" to church. As the construction project has gotten to be more of a hassle as the weeks go by, I was about to deem it unbearable, when I looked over to my left one morning, as I crept along, inches behind the creeping bumper inches just ahead of me, squinting into the sunrise through exhaust fumes, and saw, incredibly, six brand new, straight, wide lanes had just risen out of the rubble and debris. I felt a renewed hope that the end of the construction was in sight. It reminded me of the final month of pregnancy, when the weight and pressure seem to become the most unbearable, until you think you'll never make to the end. Praise God for straight highways, for the end of pregnancy, and for finding our way through the wilderness!
Dear God, we are trying to find our way to you. But we struggle over the rough parts of the road, we bump our head on the low branches, we trip over stones in the path. We worry when we encounter obstacles, and we question our direction. Help us continue down the right path to you, give us persistence to push on when we are tired or wounded. Calm our fears and replace them with the steadfast knowledge that you are our guide. Help us to remove all the obstacles in our lives that prevent us from running into your protective arms.
We pray for those who journey with us along this road, those nearby and those far away. As we prepare the road for you to come into our lives, let us also pray that we can help others wherever we are along that road. The following individuals we lift up to your attention: Johnnie Mae Battles, Anita Davis, Wendy Ansley, Brenda Allen, Michelle Baer, Rheanell Ancinec, Debbie Lakey, Destini Mayberry, Donald Mayberry, Michael and Lyndee Johnson, Garrett Johnson, M. Lange, Fernando McAdory and his family, Jesse McAdory and his family, Calista Hedricks, her husband and children, Blanca Andrade, Angela Alston, William Luce, Angela llAsberry and Amber and Pheldon Flippin, Alma McCoy, Otis Westbrook, Brian Johnson, Trista Longoria, Sharon Price, and everyone who has joined our ministry this week.
We are all making this journey together. We have all stumbled, fallen, but with your help and the support of each other, we get back up and continue to make our journey to you, dear God. Heal our infirmities, remove from us the desire to do evil, open our eyes to the beauty in us and all around us. We celebrate the birth of our Savior, born in our hearts and into the world. Amen.
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