The Worst Restaurant Service Ever

What’s the worst experience that you have had at a restaurant?

I still remember a particularly bad situation which for a long time caused me to avoid an entire restaurant chain. Our local franchise has since closed but even when I travel, that restaurant chain is never going to be my first choice. In fact, I’ve only eaten at that chain one time since this incident happened.

I thought about the incident over the weekend when my wife and I wanted to find a decent slice of cake to finish off a very pleasant evening spent together. We stopped at a local Cheesecake Factory where we had previously received bad service, giving the franchise a second chance. They redeemed themselves with good service and we likely will go back. But while our previous Cheesecake Factory experience was bad, it was nowhere near the worst service we have ever received. That incident happened at a restaurant which shall not be named in this post: a restaurant where the staff and management completely dropped the ball, almost like they did not want my business.

I should name the restaurant, but I’ll be nice. It was a place where we had gone several times before because we knew that the quality would be the same across the country, even if it wasn’t the best food in the area. My wife and I, along with our son (we only had one at the time) walked into the lobby of the restaurant and asked how long we would have to wait. The woman who was greeting customers told us it would be 20-30 minutes, so we gave her my name.

Because it was a bit crowded, we stepped into the hallway of the mall where the restaurant was located, where we stood just outside the door for about 15 minutes. The people who were there before us were just being seated, so we figured that we had to be coming up on the list. After another 15 minutes we asked the greeter if she had an estimate of how much longer we would have to wait. The woman responded by having some sort of breakdown and ran back into the restaurant. We all have bad days and at that point I was more concerned about her well-being than I was about our table.

It took another five minutes for her replacement to come to the door, at which time we again asked if our name was going to be called soon. This new greeter, without any real knowledge of the situation, told us that we missed our name being called and that we should have stayed in the lobby. I’m not sure what she based her answer on since she was not around to see what had happened prior to her coworker running away. And even if we had missed our names while in the mall, her response was not very customer friendly.

At this point I asked to speak with a manager but instead of a manager I found myself talking to yet another greeter who told me that they did not have a table large enough to seat my family. This answer came after they had already called in two groups that were much larger than my own, so I asked how they had tables that could hold six people but not a table that could hold three. Her response was enough to trigger protests from other customers who stepped in to defend me and my family after witnessing how we were being treated. I knew things were bad when bystanders were getting upset about the service that I was receiving and yet this new greeter stood her ground as if defending some cherished land.

I asked for the second time to speak to a manager and an assistant manager came to the lobby. Once again, I explained what happened and asked if there was a number I could call to contact their corporate parent. In response the assistant manager gave yet another excuse, telling me that the restaurant was having trouble because they had no hot water. At this point I was thinking it was time to call the health department as I’m fairly certain they were not supposed to be open without hot water.

Eventually we were given a table and the manager gave us a complimentary meal, which we reluctantly accepted. Something about not knowing how they were washing their hands without hot water made us hesitant to try the food. We ate and didn’t get sick (thank God) and I still tipped the waitress. After all, it wasn’t her fault that we received such bad service, but we never again set foot in that particular franchise.

I understand that people make mistakes and that in all likelihood the first greeter overlooked our names. I’m even willing to accept that the mistake may have been on our end and that we may have missed hearing our name called. However, there were several better ways to handle this situation without the breakdown and without all of the questionable explanations. Because of this, the situation ranks as the worst service I’ve ever received, not just at a restaurant but in any business.

What’s the worst service that you have ever received? Has anyone ever done something that cost them your business?

Moses’ Prayer Life: God Comes Down to Us

In the first ten verses of Exodus 3, God does most of the talking. Yes, Moses responds when God calls his name but beyond that it’s God speaking with Moses and in verse 8 God says something I find both amazing and reassuring. After telling Moses that He has seen the suffering of His people, God says, “So I have come down to deliver them…” God saw that His people were in a bad situation, and He came down to do something about it. I’m encouraged because I believe He still responds the same way today when His children are in a bad situation.

Going back to the definition that I found for the first part of this series, prayer is described as something that sounds one sided. It is defined in a way that makes it sound as if we do all the talking while God listens. Yes, there is the hope that God will do something in response to whatever we are asking but, in this case, God starts the prayer by describing what He was already in the process of doing.

Here we see an active God who has come down to deliver. The same could be said about what we see in the Gospels. God saw that mankind was lost in sin and so He came down and took on flesh with the goal of delivering us from a bad situation. Because God loves us, He came down and did something about our situation. This is a fundamental part of the Christian doctrine. Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, came down to earth and died to pay our sin debt. God is not passively watching us from a distance, He was and is active in the lives of His children, just as He revealed Himself to be during Moses’ prayer time at the burning bush.

In my previous post about Moses’ prayer life, I wrote that we must be willing to listen from time to time when we pray. I believe that if we do so, we will find that God is active in our lives even before we ask. Prayer can serve as an opportunity for God to reveal what He is doing in our lives, if we give Him the chance to do so. So, continue to make your supplications known to God. Continue to ask with the expectation that He will respond in some way. Just make sure that you are willing to stop from time to time to give Him a chance to reveal what He is doing in response to what you are asking.

Faith or Extraction?

Every now and then a TV show reminds me of what Christians deal with as we try to serve our Lord, and this season one show in particular served as a reflection of one of the more difficult aspects of a life of faith. Recently Fox Television introduced a reality series called Extracted in which twelve teams work together to try to win $250,000. The teams were made up of one amateur survivalist who attempted to live in the woods of British Columbia and two family members or friends who lived in a nearby cabin, serving as a support team for the survivalist. The support teams competed to earn equipment and food that was sent to the survivalists, with the possibility that the losing team of each round might wind up sending an empty crate out to their teammates.

The support teams could see and hear the survivalists and had the ability to pull their survivalists out of the game by hitting a big red “Extraction” button but doing so would mean the end of the game for both the survivalists and the support teams. This set up left the support teams with two questions. What were they willing to do to earn the best supplies for their survivalist teammates? As suspected, some of them were willing to lie and manipulate others to improve their odds of winning. Then there was the big question. How much suffering would any support team allow before hitting the button and extracting their teammate from the woods?

There are times in my life where I feel like I am in a reality competition like Extracted, times where I feel like I am a survivalist enduring trial after trial while God watches from a nearby cabin. At times I feel like I am in the middle of nowhere with my very survival at stake and my only hope is that God is doing everything He can to get me what I need. Then there are times when life gets so difficult that I wish God would hit the “extract” button, doing something miraculous to pull me out of whatever I find myself in. I often wish He would help me avoid difficulty, but He often allows life to crash in, while telling me to, “Have faith!”

When I hear those words, I know I have a choice. I can choose to trust in God, knowing that His plan is perfect and it involves me reaching the goal He has set before me. I can choose to have faith, or I can ask to be extracted: pulled out of the situation without trusting that God has everything under control. I know which one I should choose but I don’t always act like it. Which one do you choose? Faith or extraction?

Like Christ, Go and Change Lives

Matthew 8:3 tells us that Jesus touched a leper and completely changed the man’s life. He could have simply given a command and the man would have been healed. Instead, Jesus touched one who was an outcast and I believe this is still how God responds to broken people. He touches them and He invests Himself in each individual person, no matter what situation they are in.

According to the law, a leper was to be declared unclean by the priest who examined him/her (Leviticus 13:3, 8). Jesus, by touching the leper, should also have been declared unclean but instead the leper was healed. Jesus then sends the former leper away to follow the law as prescribed for the day of cleansing healed lepers in Leviticus 14.

By touching the leper Jesus proved that He is not bound by the law in the same way that a mere human would have been. If He were a pagan we could accept this as Him simply being someone who was not born under the covenant between God and Israel, although we would still expect Him to contract leprosy. As Mary’s child, Jesus was Jewish and thus born under the covenant. As such the law should have applied and He should have been unclean immediately after touching the leper. The fact that the leper was immediately healed shows that this is not the case.

Assuming the law to be true, there is only one other explanation. Jesus was something or someone Who by nature was not governed by the same weaknesses that other people experienced. His lineage was also the Holy Spirit, making Him the Son of God. By His very nature He was on the other side of the Old Covenant: The side held, not by a human but by God Himself. The rules on that side of the agreement were different as they called for God to be Lord and to deliver. Jesus was God and Lord and He routinely delivered people. The healing of the leper was the evidence of this delivery and of the fact that Jesus is God.

It was Jesus’ nature as God incarnate that not only kept Him from becoming unclean but also gave Him the power to cleanse that which was by nature unclean. That same nature dwells in all of God’s children in the form of the Holy Spirit of God. By nature, He cleanses us and by nature keeps us clean with His word. Thus, by nature we are to touch broken people like Jesus did, even when we are afraid of being made unclean. We are to let Jesus touch them through us so that instead of us becoming unclean, they are cleansed by the power of the Spirit of God. And we are to know by His power that Jesus is God and LORD of all.

Like Christ, His followers should be ready to touch those who are less fortunate, sharing the Gospel that sets people free. Are you ready to be like Christ? Are you ready to answer the call to change lives?

 

(Note: This is based on an entry I wrote in my journal back in 2019. While researching more recently I came across a webpage on evidenceunseen.com where James Rochford makes a similar argument about Matthew 8:3)

How Can Prayer Help Us See What God Sees?

The burning bush drew Moses into a conversation with God and into a life altering prayer time where God revealed Himself. This conversation did not fit the normal definition of prayer where we make our desires known to God. In fact, God spoke first, letting Moses know exactly why the Creator of the universe wanted to get his attention.

“I have surely seen…”

Would you like to see the world as God sees it? True, we get the opportunity to see God’s viewpoint every time we open the Bible but what if there was a way to go much deeper? What if God wants us to see the world through His eyes? Would that be worth it for you to spend a couple of extra minutes in prayer beyond the point when you finish asking for what you want?

Exodus 3:7

After introducing Himself in Exodus 3:6, God tells Moses that He has seen the oppression of His people in Egypt. Moses of course knew of this oppression, having seen it firsthand. He had even tried to do something about the situation, however by trying to solve a problem his way he managed to get himself run out of town. But now God wanted Moses to know that He was not blind to the suffering of the people of Israel. He could see and He could hear, and He was determined to do more than just watch from a distance (verse 8).

While letting Moses know that He saw the oppression, God calls the people of Israel His people. Keep in mind that this is before God issued the Ten Commandments and before the people of Israel entered a covenant with Him. Yet, He saw them as His people, and He was responding to the cries of His people. He wanted Moses to know that He was coming to His own, and not to just some folks whom He happen to know about. In doing so, God allows Moses to see things from His point of view, giving him a perfect view of the world around him.

What’s interesting is that Moses had not spoken up until this point. He just listened and God did all the talking. This is completely different from the definition of prayer mentioned in Part 1 of the burning bush posts. That definition, along with most of what is taught about prayer, involves us talking, telling God what we want, either for ourselves or for those around us. But the example set by Moses at the burning bush involves listening as God gives His point of view.

Can prayer help us see what God sees? Based on what happened to Moses, I believe the answer is yes. But for this to happen we need to be willing to listen, not just talk. If prayer is a conversation, we need to give God time to speak. We need to spend time in the Bible, which is God speaking to us, but we also need to be quiet and let Him say what He wants to, how He wants to.

Moses did not know what to expect when he turned to see what was going on at the burning bush. Likewise, I believe we all need time when we quietly approach God in prayer with only an expectation of God revealing His point of view to those who are willing to listen.

 

See Also: Series page – Moses’Prayer Life Series

Have You Ever Prayed a Psalm 88 Prayer?

I’m writing this post during Holy Week, one of the most important times of the year for most Christians. Soon we will reflect upon the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, celebrating the fact that He paid our sin debt. Because of His sacrifice, those who believe in Him have peace with God and those who believe in His name have been given the power to become children of God (John 1:12). But do you always feel like one of His children or are there times when you feel distanced from the Father: times when you wonder if He really cares? Are there times when you feel like He may have forgotten you? Are there times when you prayed a Psalm 88 prayer?

No, things are not going well

When I read Psalm 88, I see something that is very different from most of the other Psalms and very different from the advice often given by the church. This Psalm starts of like the others, with the writer crying out to God because things aren’t going very well. But in the other Psalms the writer eventually musters up a bunch of faith and ends by looking forward to the great things God will do. Whatever the need, even if it’s a need for vengeance upon those who have done wrong, the writers of the Psalms seem to always come back to some variation of “I trust in God.” But not Psalm 88.

Psalm 88 begins by asking God to listen, followed by a description of how the writer’s, “…soul is full of troubles.” The writer describes feeling, “Like the slain who lie in the grave,” and like one who God, “…remember(s) no more…” The Psalmist speaks of being in darkness and of how he feels like he is under God’s wrath. He talks about crying out to the Lord but feeling as if the Lord has cast off his soul. Psalm 88 paints a picture of personal suffering and then…? And then the Psalm comes to an end.

There is no, “God’s got this,” nor is there a declaration that the Psalmist will wait upon the Lord. Psalm 88 ends, leaving the reader wondering where the Psalmist’s faith is at this point. Does he make the seemingly quick recovery that we so often see in the Psalms and throughout the entire Bible? He may have but he doesn’t tell us here. Psalm 88 is an honest expression of how this writer felt at the time. Things were not good, and it seems as if he didn’t feel like ending on a high note.

So, what is a Psalm 88 prayer?

A Psalm 88 prayer is an honest prayer. It is a time of pouring out exactly what is on our hearts, even if we are struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a prayer that is covered in tears, driven by a feeling that all is not well and by a feeling that God is not close by. The fact that this type of prayer is in the Bible and inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16) gives permission for us to pray this kind of honest prayer, following the example set by the Psalmist during a time of suffering.

Do you pray these kinds of honest prayers? I know I have all to often tried to clean up my prayers, praying what I thought God (and/or my church brethren) wanted to hear. But doing so is telling God a lie, something I’m no longer comfortable with. I want to be honest with God, just like Psalm 88 is honest. How about you? Is your relationship with God one where you pray a Psalm 88 prayer when needed?

 

One Prescription Gone. Just Not the One I Expected

Managing Diabetes involves making several decisions each day, like what to eat and what not to eat. It also involves two or three doctor’s visits per year as well as the occasional visit to the pharmacy. One thing I did not count on is the fact that managing diabetes sometimes involves having to deal with rejection letters from health insurance providers, especially when the day job changes insurance companies. That happened to me this year and it resulted in a denial of one of my prescriptions. Since my goal is to get rid of all my prescriptions, I am fine with dropping one. I just wish it wasn’t the prescription for my constant glucose monitor (CGM): the most useful tool I had for making the changes I need to get back to “normal”.

To be honest, I should have seen it coming. When I was first diagnosed, the insurance company that we were paying at that time did not want to cover a CGM, sending me a denial letter in which they basically accused me of not taking my diagnoses seriously. I think they based that on the fact that I did not do things their way: going to a dietitian, signing up for their special monitoring program, etc. As I wrote in “Continuous Glucose Monitors Are Game Changers,” I am a researcher and I chose to find my own answers when it came to diet, exercise and other ways of managing diabetes. It seems as if the insurance company did not like that. Eventually, there would be a change in policy, and the insurance company began paying for the Dexcom G7 but it took two different appeals to get to that point.

As I wrote in the post mentioned earlier, having a CGM is a game changer for diabetics and should be a standard part of the health regimen for those dealing with the disease. I learned quite a bit while using the device and was able to make several big adjustments based on what I was seeing. During the second half of 2024, I was able to keep my readings in a very tight range resulting in an A1c that is trending in the right direction: remaining below 7 and hopefully at my next official reading it will be below 6.5. But what would life be without times of change and last year ended with a change in insurance carriers mentioned earlier.

I appreciate the fact that my day job offers one of the better insurance packages in the area and that they do their best to keep my out-of-pocket expenses from rising. To maintain that level of service at the right price, the company changed insurance providers at the start of this year. When they announced the change, I should have thought about the trouble I had with our previous provider in getting the CGM prescription approved. When it came time to renew the prescription this time around, I received a new denial letter describing the new company’s policy of only approving constant glucose monitors for people who are on insulin. I think this policy is a bit shortsighted as it overlooks the fact that a CGM could help keep me off insulin. My new insurance company would rather pay for treatment instead of paying for prevention.

So, I have lost what is a great tool for managing diabetes but while I am disappointed, I am not defeated. I believe that God is in control, and everything happens in His timing. God opened the door for me to get a prescription for the Dexcom G7 and this year He has closed that door and told me to move on. I have learned what I needed from wearing a CGM and God has said it is time to start getting off of my prescriptions. The first of them is done and gone. Now, in Christ, I work to get off them all.

What Did Moses Hear Part 3: His Name, The LORD

What Did Moses Hear Part 3: His Name, The LORD

Exodus 34 tells us that at God’s command, Moses cut two new stones, replacing the two that he broke over the golden calf, and took an early morning hike up Mount Sinai. There, in the midst of the cloud, the LORD descended and stood with Moses. As described in What Did Moses See, we know that something special happened at that moment and yet we are not sure exactly what Moses saw. The passage does tell us exactly what Moses heard as the LORD kept His promise from chapter 33:

Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you.”

Exodus 33:19 (NKJV)

Exodus 34:5-7

As the LORD’s goodness passes before Moses, the Bible says He proclaimed His name but what He says beginning in Exodus 34:6 seems more like a proclamation of a title as opposed to a “name” as we would think of today. This title gives us a description of God’s nature which was often true in the Old Testament where names reveal a person’s character. And because this is coming from the LORD, I believe this is an important passage to understand.

The first thing He says is, “The LORD.” I looked at a handful of sources and it seems that the word used here is, “Yahweh,” which is the covenant name used by God in the Old Testament. According to biblestudytools.com, “The English language doesn’t have an exact translation of the word “Yahweh,” and this is why we see it written as “LORD”. The website goes on to point out that in Exodus 3:14 (in the passage where we first see the name used in the Bible), “...God uses ‘I AM’ and ‘Yahweh’ interchangeably.” 

So what we have is the word “LORD” which is very different from the word “Lord”. “Lord” is a title for someone who is in control: someone who is the master over someone else or over some domain. Most certainly God is Lord but “LORD” is different. LORD or “Yahweh” is about God being self-existent and eternal, as again pointed out by biblestudytools.com. God has always existed, does not need anyone in order to exist and will always exist. And so in declaring Himself as “The LORD”, God is telling Moses and us about His eternal nature.

As His covenant name, “Yahweh” is also God’s declaration that He will keep His end of the covenant even though the people had broken it when they worshipped the golden calf. Going once again to biblestudytools.com we see that this is a name that says that He is a relational God. He wants to have a very close personal relationship with us, so much so that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). This is still very important today as it means He will not break His covenant with us, a covenant sealed in the blood of Jesus our Lord.

Exodus 3:15 tells us that this is His name forever and is how He should be known to all generations. I believe that means that this is how we should know Him today: Eternal and relational. He is the everlasting God and He wants to share in a close relationship with you. Will you open your arms to “The LORD”?

See also:

What Did Moses See?

Biblestudytools.com

Random Thoughts February 14, 2025

Mental Toughness

Earlier this week I watched the Fox Television Program, “Extracted.” For those who have never seen it, this is a reality game show where twelve amateur survivalists live on their own in the wilderness while family members watch back at their headquarters. The family can hear but cannot talk to the survivalists. If needed the family can hit an “extract” button to pull the survivalist out but that means the family misses out on $250,000.

I like watching competitions and am looking forward to the rest of the first season of Extracted but there were a couple of things that bothered me during the first two episodes. Just like on Survivor and other shows like this there is always someone, often a black person, who does not know how to swim. Blacks in America really should make sure our children learn how to swim, not just for survival competitions but for survival in life. There is also usually someone who is not mentally prepared for the competition. That was the case with the first person extracted on this show. When I see this I often wonder what that person thought they were getting themselves into.

I also find myself wondering if I am mentally tough enough to do something like that. A much younger version of me, to be honest, was not mentally tough enough. I probably would have quit the first time I faced any kind of hardship. I believe (I hope) I am different today. I don’t know for sure because I’ve never really faced that kind of hardship but I hope that I could. I don’t take any credit for this change as it is all work that God has done to help me overcome being lost in my mom’s alcoholism and all that comes with that. I have been changed and I thank God for healing me and setting me free.

Spiritually there is something I have to remember no matter the trial. God will provide what I need. I believe this would even apply if I was on a survival game show and in real life that helps me deal with the day to day. God is my provider

He Holds the Future

President Trump, with the help of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is doing exactly what he campaigned on: cutting government excess. I agree with the idea but I’m not comfortable with the process, which will have an indirect effect on my current day job. And as coworkers and people in the same industry (scientific research) share their (justified and very valid) fears, I am at peace. I’ve been here before: those situations where the future is cloudy. Each time God came through, opening the right doors and providing for my needs. This time will be no different. God holds the future!

Is It Constitutional?

I’m not sure if all that the president and his administration are doing is constitutional but I’m not the courts. I agree that we need a smaller government but I think the president may have skipped some steps. For example, the proposed cuts at NIH seem as if they were made without really talking with the stakeholders. Ultimately, I trust that things will work out and I don’t believe we will have the constitutional crises that some fear. Will the limits of executive power be tested? That has already happened and will continue but I believe that the system will work as designed.

Fly Eagles Fly

As I type this, the Philadelphia Eagles’ Parade of Champions is moving through the city of Philadelphia on its way to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. My day job did not fully open today as we knew the city would be crazy, so I worked from home. (Hey, my work email is still open and visible on my desktop.) Back when the Phillies won the World Series I made the mistake of going into work on parade day. My trip home took forever as I wound up leaving right as the parade ended. They expect 1 million fans in the city for the Eagles’ celebration. Looking at the crowd on television, I think that estimate might be a bit low.

Having lived in Philadelphia for quite some time I’ve come to understand Philly fans, having suffered a number of deep disappointments with them. But today is about a celebration and I thank the Eagles for bringing the Vince Lombardi Trophy home.

Congrats to the Eagles and to the city of Philadelphia!

By the way, the best Super Bowl Commercial was the Nike “Love, Hurts,” commercial that aired after the final gun.

Another Look at Moses’ Prayer Life

Back in 2016 I took a look at the conversation that Moses had with God at the scene of the burning bush. At the time I intended to take a quick walk through the book of Exodus, looking at the times when Moses was able to talk with God. Why? Well, anyone with whom God speaks as one would speak to a friend, must have had a great prayer life, one that might help us in our prayers today.

So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

Exodus 33:11a (NKJV)

I never got to finish looking at Moses’ prayer life because…well…I’m not going to waste your time with any excuses. But today seems as good a time to take a look as any. Before we go into any new posts, I invite you to go back to “Should Moses Experience at the Burning Bush be Called Prayer?” Part I first posted on December 7, 2016: http://denniswcolemanjr.blogspot.com/2016/12/should-moses-experience-at-burning-bush.html

Part 2 posted on January 4, 2017: http://denniswcolemanjr.blogspot.com/2017/01/should-moses-experience-at-burning-bush.html

And Part 3 posted on January 11, 2017

http://denniswcolemanjr.blogspot.com/2017/01/should-moses-experience-at-burning-bush_11.html

What Did Moses Hear Part 2: What Did Moses See?

After breaking the original stone tablets, Moses ascended the mountain at God’s invitation carrying two new tablets on which God would write the Law. While Moses was up there, The LORD descended in the cloud and stood by Him (Exodus 34:5) . As I wrote in earlier posts, this had to have been an amazing mountain top experience and I think there is a lot to learn about God in what He says to Moses. (See also What Did Moses Hear?) Exodus 34 tells us that the LORD proclaimed His name and I want to take time to examine what He said. But before we do, let’s think about what Moses saw.

Moses cut two new stones and took an early morning hike up Mount Sinai as commanded by the LORD (Exodus 34:4). As he reached his destination, Moses was joined by the LORD who, according to verse 5, “...descended in the cloud and stood with him there…” My understanding is that the cloud represented the presence of God on the mountain. So at that moment Moses could already see the presence of the Lord on the mountain top. But then the Bible says the Lord went a step further by standing there in the cloud with Moses. It’s as if, according to Moses’ testimony, the LORD took some sort of physical form right there in the cloud. How awesome must that have been?

What did Moses see standing next to Him? Both Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers and the Pulpit Commentary point to God’s promise recorded in the previous chapter that His “goodness” would pass before Moses. Both also point to the pillar of cloud that led Israel out of Egypt. We are limited because the Bible does not tell us exactly what Moses saw or how he was able to see, or otherwise become aware of, the LORD standing with him. But somehow, someway the LORD was there and Moses got to see and hear God in some way, shape or form.

Are you aware of what the Lord is doing in your life? If you are a Christian, are you aware of God’s Spirit living in your heart? Even more important, have you surrendered your will to the One who is always with you? Today we likely will never have the experience that Moses had on Mount Sinai, at least not while we are here on earth, but the Lord is with us and will find ways to make His presence known. Ask God to help you be aware of His presence in your life. Seek Him with all of your heart and He will reveal Himself to you.

“But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Deuteronomy 4:29 (NKJV)

Coincidence or God’s Plan?

As a Christian I believe that my life is in God’s hands and that He puts me where He wants me, as long as I am willing to obey. Sometimes He puts me in the right place at the right time so that I can receive a blessing. Other times He puts me where I can be a blessing to others. Last week He put me in one of those situations where I am certain that His plan was for me to serve Him when someone else was truly in need.

It all began with the recent cold snap, during which the facilities team at my day job had difficulties dealing with a rebellious heating control system. As MLK Day was drawing to a close, the day job sent out a text asking all nonessential personnel to work from home the next day. This meant rescheduling a meeting, which wasn’t a problem, except that one of the other person wanted to meet face to face and could only fit me in on Wednesday. I normally work from home on Wednesdays but in this case I was outranked. So I took the Wednesday time slot, making sure I had my winter coat ready.

It was still really cold Wednesday morning, which forced me to change my routine. Usually when I go into the office I take the train down the William H. Gray III -30th Street Station in Philadelphia and then I take a thirteen minute walk down to the building where my office is located. But I’m not a fan of the cold, especially when the weather people are calling it a dangerous cold. So that day, instead of walking I took an underground train that runs through the middle of downtown.

When I stepped into the train car I noticed what looked like a homeless person in a wheelchair. In Philly this is not an odd sight, so I simply continued to mind my own business. As we approached my stop, the person in the wheelchair moved over in front of the door that I had planned to use to get off of the train. My first thought was to move to another door but something told me that I should stay where I was.

When the door opened, the man in the wheelchair moved forward and I followed, giving him the space he needed to get off of the train. Unfortunately the front wheels of his chair got stuck in the gap between the train and the platform and as he tried to move, one of the wheels turned so that it was going in the same direction as the gap. I quickly realized that the wheel was going to drop down into the gap which would have caused his chair to pitch forward, so I reached out and caught the frame of the chair, holding it and its passenger up while pushing the man off of the train. He was thankful for my help and I was glad that I had not moved to another door.

Before that moment I saw the cold and the rescheduled meeting as simply a part of the normal course of life. After I sat down in my office, it occurred to me that I was in the right place at the right time in order to prevent what might have been a serious accident. That is when I realized that everything that happened that morning, as well as the day before, was orchestrated to make sure I was there to help that man. Yes, it could just be a coincidence but I’ve had so many of these kinds of coincidences that I am convinced that this was God’s plan.

My prayer is that I will be more aware of what God is doing in my life. I pray the same for you in your life as our Creator works to reveal His love and compassion to you and to those around you.

What Did Moses Hear?

In my last post I wrote about Moses’ mountain top experience and how God’s children have the opportunity to experience mountain top experiences daily because of God’s Spirit living in us. Knowing this helped me deal with being jealous of Moses as I realized there just might be something better than a mountain top experience. But I also have to admit that in Exodus 34 Moses experienced something truly unique. This was the second time that Moses went up the mountain to receive the commandments and what God revealed to Him is very important to all of us who want to follow the Lord.

Moses destroyed the original tablets when he broke them at the foot of the mountain after seeing the golden calf that Aaron and the people of Israel created (Exodus 32). In chapter 34 the LORD tells Moses to cut two more tablets of stone and to bring them up to the top of Mount Sinai, which Moses does. While Moses was on the mountain the LORD descended in a cloud and stood with Moses. The Bible says the LORD then “...proclaimed the name of the LORD.”

I hope to write a few posts looking at this proclamation. What did the LORD say and what does it mean? I think this is important as in this “name” God reveals His nature, helping Moses (and us) understand who God really is. I hope you will join me in this study as we learn who God is in His own words as He proclaimed:

“The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffereing, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”   Exodus 34:6-7

What’s Better Than A Mountain Top Experience?

In both Exodus 24:9-18 and 34, God invites Moses to come up on Mt. Sinai to meet with Him which must have been one of the most awesome experiences anyone could have. I used to get really jealous when I read these passages. I mean, this would be a dream come true to hear the voice of God and to be able to stand in His cloud as He reveals His glory. Such an experience would truly be life altering as it was for Moses and it would be one of the greatest opportunities on earth. Imagine getting the chance to have a one on one with the Creator of the universe. I used to cry out for a mountain top experience like this one…that is until God showed me what I have every day and right at this moment.

Jesus ended the Great Commission with:

“...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:20 (NKJV)

Hebrews 13:5 says:

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

If you are a Christian then God is with you! In fact, He lives in us through His Spirit:

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NKJV)

God is with us and He lives in us. This is the blessing that comes with receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. And because He is with me, mountain top experiences come more often than I could have ever imagined.