There will be times in your life, and yet in my future, when living fully alive will hurt.  Many of you have already suffered this.  You have suffered betrayal, physical affliction, character assassination and sleepless nights.  You have walked dark and lonely roads.  Some of you are walking this even now.  It is a direct result of bringing the life and glory of God alive in you, to a world in need.  This life and glory is fiercely opposed, both by the world and by the realm just beyond our physical senses (more on that another time).  Still others have suffered in these ways and you have not yet discovered the weight and the glory of your life.  You pursue it and it so often feels like something just outside your reach.  And, there are those of you reading this who are, honestly, still asleep.

Eighteen months ago, I was fully engaged in life, living free, living alive.  In the course of living alive, I suffered a devasting double-ankle injury.  Only in the past few months have I become aware of how much damage was done.  However, last summer, in the deepest part of hurt and questioning, two dear friends prayed with me and woke me up to the life I had lost and how to get it back.  I am so deeply and forever grateful to these two men.  (Mike and Morgan, thank you, truly).  It was in the morning summer storms of the Colorado Rockies that I wrote this.  For the first time, I recognized the depths of the Book of Psalms in the Bible.  As I sat under the eaves of my cabin, at sunrise, my gratefulness, God’s power and my transformation showed up in these storms.

I share it with you, especially as you battle the wounds of living.  I pray there’s blessing in it for you.

Truly,

Doug

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My King and my Lord.  The morning thunder echoes with your might.

Swift and bright, the lightning cuts the sky and does justice to your majesty.

You have felled my enemies.

Those who would sabotage me, clung to my back and refused to lift their claws.

Yet you, you placed your warriors on my right and my left.  Their swords ring out with your truth and my enemies fall.

Those who would destroy me,  broke my legs and felled me in battle.  They feasted on my home and all seemed lost.

Yet you, you sent your swordsmen and archers to me on swift and bright wing.  On my right and on my left you placed them.  On their lips they bore the words of your healing.

On the fallen bodies of my enemy, you rain pellets of ice after days of battle.  In the early morning, storms of your glory pass over the fields.

You make known to the mountains that you are the King of Glory and my heart sings as your steward.